<div align="center"><strong>-= Simeon Gaorong - (unsuccessfully) quelling the urge to provide a lecture - Sasha's quarters, The Gamble=-</strong></div><br/>Simeon offered The Gamble's co-pilot a curt nod on his way out the door. There would be time for other conversations later. For now he was sure Vincent would be better consoled by being closer to Miss Little and farther from Miss Dearing at the moment. Besides, he was in no mood for coddling the injured. Berating the uninjured, on the other hand? Inappropriate, but it seemed a much more appealing prospect. Maybe he'd keep that one on the shelf for a potential follow-up, depending on how the early stages of this discussion went.<br/><br/>"So," he began, just the word by itself. The cabin door had long been shut by then, the ship already in the rumblings that warned of imminent takeoff. Absently he registered the Captain's warning across the comm; it didn't seem that important. There were enough handholds in the cabin if it became necessary to get a grip on something. Bridge to cross if it came. Until then, he felt better stepping away from his leaning perch to stand upright some few feet in front of Sasha. His arms lowered from their defensive crossed position to a less aggressive posture loose at his sides. He paced a small semicircle around the floor of the cabin and eventually settled down again, this time on the edge of Sasha's bed to her left. He kept a hand's length of space between them of course - a compromise of familiarity and propriety. He sighed. "So."<br/><br/>Each crew member's personal quarters had some hint of personality to them, some more than others, but in the end each was a part of a spaceship and, because of that, was at its core a construction of practical measures. Si wasn't sure what exactly he hoped to see on the cabin's ceiling when he raised his head, but all that waited for him there was metal panels and rivets and the like, at least in the space he found himself looking. Parts of the whole. Solid. Strong. Dependable right up until they buckled. It was that chance of critical failure that was always the greatest concern for a crew in the Black.<br/><br/>"You did a fine job today," he said at length. "From the sound of things Ferret has been under pressure from more than one direction. Competition is heating up. Work is getting scarce, at least safe work, and you secured the job for us when someone else might have been turned back. Even if the job itself is questionable that much is a good thing for all of us. I am puzzled, then, by the dour cloud you have had following you all day." Si turned his head to look over the young First Officer, his hands resting loose in his lap. "I first assumed it was residual dislike of our new crew acquisition seeping into your business sense, but surely, I thought, the success of the excursion would perk you back up. When it did not, I had to wonder why. Now, I am not so crass as to ask about personal matters in front of the others, Miss Dearing, but if you are coming unhinged I need to know about it<em>before</em>we get into situations where I might need to rely on you. Where all of us need rely on you. I'm sure you understand."<br/><br/>It was unpleasant - rude, actually - but it needed to be said. Sasha had always run a little hot under the collar, but this little outburst was dangerous. In here, aboard their own ship, it didn't threaten anyone, but the implications? Not encouraging. "If something is eating at you, you need to let that out. Even if it's only a little bit here and there it's better than bottling up entirely. That glass<em>will</em>break, and this crew is going to catch the jagged pieces when it does."<br/><br/>He let out a soft sigh. "If I can trust you will get this under control, with or without my help, I see no reason the Captain need hear about this little tiff between the two of you. I doubt Vincent will mention it; he's none too proud of how he acted, either. Just be sure that you<em>do</em>get it under control.  You don't have to talk to me about it. You don't have to talk to anyone if that is a problem for you. But you have to do<em>something</em>about it, and if I can help in that regard, you need only ask. Alright?"