<div align="center"><strong>-=Vincent - The Gamble's Cargo Bay - Docked on Persephone =-</strong></div><br/><em>"I am well aware of certain parties' interests in what I have to offer."</em><br/><br/>Vincent's expression deadpanned with that statement, only reassured that every male upon the ship was out to exploit that nerve of his without reservation.<em>At least my gorram tease came with a compliment.  It hadn't even been a particularly scathing mock on my part.  It's no wonder why us in the cockpit get along so well.  We can joke without leaving somebody feeling like gos se.</em><br/><br/>"Shun Sheng Duh Gao Wahn!"  The copilot shouted in surprise with a voice that was a few octaves higher than his standard register.  Out of reflex he lifted to his tiptoes as he felt a hand grip his ass and squeeze with fingers that almost seemed to be aiming for penetration with as solid of a hold they had taken.  The surprise grope had interrupted his brooding and he had been instantly aware that it had come from the side opposite of Mae.  His eyes went wide with shock as he watched the elderly lady walk by with a wide satisfied grin on her face.  Vincent had been well aware of Mr. Sylvester's brazen nature from the conversations at the dinner table.  Had passengers not been restricted from the helm, he was sure there would have been several more awkward encounters such as that if not magnitudes worse.<br/><br/>Though his shock was quickly replaced by intense amusement as the woman was handed off to the captain.  News of her late night run in with the nude captain had spread quickly through the ship and had been the source of several jokes in the helm.<em>If only she had been upstairs a few minutes earlier...</em>Vincent thought with humorous glee at Griff's expense.<br/><br/>Once again his emotions took a drastic shift from pure delight at the captain's predicament to intense alarm as Sasha addressed the two of them.  The main issue was the way she addressed Mae.  He knew full well that condescending or parental tones directed at her was on par with challenging an aristocrat's honor within his own manor filled with guests.  Vincent had never been on the receiving end of that wrath given his age and affection for her, but he had seen it unleashed at others a fair number of times.  The aftermath of which had never been pleasant.<br/><br/>His concern redoubled as she stepped from his arms, suddenly well aware that Mae had been one mistake away from being confined to her quarters for doing who knew what to a superior officer.  The first thing that came to mind was to restrain her, but that was quickly shot down when he realized doing so would easily direct her anger upon him since he would be doing basically the same thing Sasha had.  So he just stood back and watched as the pilot fought with her anger to maintain her self control.<br/><br/><em>“Lex!”</em><br/><br/>Vincent let out a breath he had not been aware he was holding once her attitude changed as quickly as her attention to the friend that was waiting outside.<em>Wuh de ma.  Now <strong>that</strong> is some nice timing.</em>Smoothly he swooped in next to Mae and wrapped his arm around her as it had been before as they began walking side by side to greet their friend.  As he passed Sasha, he nodded in a way that would hopefully convey that he had his orders and would see that they got done.  The language of the head nod was vast and subtle like that, he just hoped he had the proper dialect for the statement to get through.  Vincent made sure to give Mrs. Sylvester a wide birth to say well outside of her reach as they passed by.  Once they had been a few paces away, Vincent parted from Mae long enough to greet Lex with a friendly hug followed by the obligatory platonic pats on the back.  "Lex!  It's been too long, my friend."  Vincent's gaze flicked to the stranger who had been waiting nearby.  "Already bringing work home with you?  I figured you'd be eager for some downtime after all these weeks on the job."<br/><br/><hr/><br/>Gos se. - Dog shit.<br/><br/>Shun Sheng Duh Gao Wahn! - Holy testicle Tuesday!<br/><br/>Wuh De Ma. - Mother of god.