<strong>~ Sasha Dearing, First Officer - Making her way to the cargo bay aboard The Gamble - at Eavesdown Docks on Persephone ~</strong><br/><br/><br/><strong>“Sasha! I almost forgot! Have someone make sure our passenger knows we’ve arrived and she gets off my boat… unless she means to pay additional fare for room and board.”</strong><br/><br/>Hearing Griff call out to her, Sasha spun around in mid-stride, her dark ponytail whipping around as she strode back down the corridor toward his cabin.  As her eyes fell on Griff’s brazenly displayed nude body, her steps stuttered to a halt.  His firmly rounded backside and the masculine curves of his hip and torso were presented to her, his body a glorious expanse of tightly muscled mocha contours. Her admiring perusal was suddenly distracted by those damnable boxers, which he was again inexplicably waving around.  Griff had apparently assumed she had already moved out of hearing range, as his attention was already focused on Vincent and Mae as they stood across from him in the hall.  As the lascivious older man raked his eyes over the teen’s seductively clothed body, Sasha grimaced with distaste, a dull weight crowding heavily in the pit of her stomach. Of course she’d noticed Griff’s lust for the girl - she assumed everyone had; he didn’t exactly bother to hide his frequent lustful looks, or the way he constantly undressed her with his eyes - particularly when the undressing didn’t take much effort, like with the outfit she was wearing now. Sasha wasn’t sure if the attraction was mutual, or if Mae just had fun flirting with and teasing the much older man. Although she seemed to enjoy torturing him a bit with the Captain's attention, it was getting more obvious every day where the young woman’s true interest lay, and by the looks of it Vincent more than returned her interest. At least Sasha knew Griff well enough to know he would never use his position of authority or his greater life experience in an unscrupulous way in order to snare a woman into his bed; besides, she knew Mae could handle herself just fine around horny rutting males and wouldn’t let herself get taken advantage of - unless of course she was of a mind to let herself get taken advantage of.<br/><br/>The thought that the 30-something Griff would pursue an eighteen year old girl given half the chance - a vital member of their crew, even - was offensive enough to her to douse any latent sexual attraction lingering within her.<em>Anyone who was interested in the beautiful teenager wouldn’t have any interest in me anyway</em>, Sasha admitted dispassionately to herself, knowing that her intense, controlled persona was the polar opposite of Mae’s buoyant exuberance.  Mae was lively, light and full of life; Sasha was tormented by pain and darkness, haunted by death.  “It’s all for the best anyway,” she gruffly reminded herself. Griff was her Captain, and as such she had placed him strictly off limits. Breathing out a long slow sigh, Sasha turned her back on the trio before they saw her, and headed back down the corridor again.<br/><br/><div align="center">~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~</div><br/>Appearing at the top of the short set of stairs leading to the cargo bay, Sasha carefully escorted the Gamble’s sole passenger down the stairway, her left arm providing support while she lugged a hefty piece of baggage in her right hand. The short, white-haired old woman clutched her large pocketbook close to her chest with one arm, the other hand grasping firmly to Sasha’s offered arm for support. The two made an unlikely pair; Sasha towered over the tiny granny, with the tall younger woman effortlessly exuding strength and sensuality, dressed all in black; in stark contrast, the soft sliver-colored shirt and slacks of the old woman merged with her champagne white hair, giving an overall visual impression of aged beigeness - except for the intriguing punctuations of color of her brightly rouged lips and her lively blue eyes.<br/><br/>As the two made their way carefully toward where the crew gathered, an orange and white furball (http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_wFCOQNP_58w/TMm45te4qlI/AAAAAAAAHgc/1XH3T0wR_J4/s640/bettywhite.jpg) suddenly popped its small head out of granny’s pocketbook, the kitten’s wide grey eyes darting worriedly around the room before it let out a loud, plaintive mewl. Sasha’s blue gaze flicked from the kitten’s stricken face to roam over the assembled crew members as she approached, her full lips twitching slightly in suppressed amusement.<br/><br/>Knowing Si would be moving forward to assist at any moment, Sasha decided to pre-empt his gallantry for the sake of indulging her own amusement. Less assured of Griff’s gentlemanly instincts, her blue gaze challenged the Captain with a mischievous glint as she requested, “Captain, would you be a dear and escort Mrs. Sylvester off the ship and take her to her driver?”<br/><br/>Mrs. Marion Sylvester had mostly kept to her cabin during the entire voyage, as the lingering smell of dog had apparently disconcerted her kitten too much. That was unfortunate, because those times she did make an appearance had been memorable and entertaining. Eighty years old if she was a day, Marion was a firecracker. She may appear as a grandmother on the outside, but on the inside she was still as wild as a teenager. On the third night of her voyage, the little old lady had accidentally come across Griff during one of his graveyard shift romps. Far from being shocked and appalled, the frisky granny had thereafter taken to midnight strolls of the corridors, taking the long way around the ship while supposedly looking for a midnight snack.<br/><br/>Never missing an opportunity to get her hands on one of the virile men of the Gamble, Mrs. Sylvester eagerly exchanged Sasha’s arm for the Captain’s, but not before she firmly squeezed Vincent’s rear as she passed him, cackling a pleased “Oh my, indeed!” as she enjoyed his and Mae’s reaction to her inappropriate fondling. Stepping a little unsteadily toward Griff, her pleasantly wrinkled face beamed up at him as she patted her aged hand over his taut chest, then tucked herself against his side and reached around to firmly grasp his bum, leaving her hand curved around him as she rested her white-haired head against his side, lustily chortling, “Yes - take me, Captain!”<br/><br/>Before her laughter could bubble out, Sasha bit down on her lower lip and turned back toward the rest of the crew.  Doing her best to tamp down her amusement, a glimmer still danced in her eyes as she addressed the four awaiting instructions. “The Cap’n and I have a full agenda, so we’re gonna need the rest of you to pitch in, make sure everything gets done while we’re touched down.  We ain’t got time for lollygagging around Persephone just waiting to be noticed by the wrong set of eyes, so make sure and take care of what you’re s’posed to first and foremost. Then, whatever you do after that is your own business. As long as you're back on board no later than 0700 tomorrow morning. If you’re late, I better find you dead or dyin’ when I come looking for you - or I’ll make a point of making sure you’ll wish you were.”<br/><br/>Settling in to her familiar and well-worn professional persona, Sasha continued to brief the crew on their duties. “Si - you’re with me. Dani - I’ve got a contractor that’ll be by any minute, gonna finally wash the gos se stink outta here.” Walking forward, she handed several platinum coins to Dani; she hoped she wasn’t asking too much of the timid woman to oversee the contractor’s work, but if she didn’t stretch her comfort zone once in awhile it would only continue to shrink. “Hayes is staying on board to make sure the engine is good to go once the Cap’n brings back the new part he’s scrounging up.”  Looking into Dani’s eyes meaningfully, Sasha spoke in a lower tone directly to the quiet medic. “This cleaning guy gives you any lip, don’t hesitate to call for backup. You know Hayes isn’t one to pass up any opportunity for some target practice.”<br/><br/>Pulling out Dani’s shopping list from her jacket, she handed it over to Mae. “Xiǎozi, you and Vincent team together to rustle up all the items on this list you can get your hands on. Check the galley before you leave and see what all food supplies we need replenished, and add them to the list. Si can give you the rundown on where to try and score the meds; Lord knows he’s a wealth of information with all his readin' and research, plus he's got some solid contacts.” Handing the pilot a pouch of platinum coins and bills, she glared with pointed deliberation at the two cleaved next to each other. “Don’t go gettin’ so distracted you don’t keep an eye out for trouble; tracking down these meds ain’t gonna be like some Sunday stroll at the Sky Plex. I want both of you back here in one piece - and on time.”  Her care and concern for the crew ran deep, but she never wanted to appear - or feel - sentimental, so she didn’t soften her tone as she stepped forward, implicitly threatening as she stalked into the couple’s personal space, quietly growling, “Bao zhong, hao?”<br/><br/>Striding over to the big red button that controlled the cargo bay doors, Sasha turned back and looked across the crew and asked, “Any questions?” a moment before hammering the crimson circle with the side of her fist, the huge metal doors beginning to grind open, the blue sky spilling jubilantly into the dim interior through the slowly widening opening.<br/><br/><br/><em>gos se = dog crap<br/>Bao zhong, hao? = take care, okay?<br/>Xiǎozi = Brat</em><br/>