<div align="center"><strong>-= Griffin Kingston, Captain – in the Captain’s quarters aboard The Gamble - at Eavesdown Docks on Persephone =-</strong></div><br/>Standing nude before his pilot and co-pilot didn’t seem to bother Griff in the least. He had been known to randomly roam about the ship in nothing but his birthday suit on more than one occasion. Griff had a comfortableness with nudity that seemed to unsettle most folks. He was comfortable in his own skin, for one thing, and he didn’t see anything wrong with wandering about the way he came into this world once in a while, though he usually kept those times during the ‘grave yard’ shift so as not to upset the other crew members too much. As he undressed Mae with his eyes he was instantly aware of the affect it seemed to have on her. He took note of the pinking of her cheeks and how her posture straightened for him as her gaze settled on his manhood. He was suddenly taken back to that night when he first met Mae in some hot night spot on Valentine, not far from Persephone.<br/><br/>He had gone to Valentine to meet with a trusted old contact of his, Zarek Akando. Griff had informed Akando he was in the market for a new pilot since his previous pilot had walked out on him after things got hairy with the Alliance and had asked Akando to keep an ear to the ground. Little did he know that Akando had his mitts on a hot shot jockey he was looking to help get out of the Bai Hu races and into a safer line of work. He was also unaware that girl he would bump into, the girl who would drag him to that darkened hallway where they had their way with each other in midst of the crowded club where people danced all around them to the pulse pounding rhythmically intoxicating beat would be the very same person he had come to audition for the pilot job. It wasn’t until later, when Akando introduced them, that they realized their error, to the tune of Mae’s remark, “Oh, sorry for earlier… I thought you were my present.”<br/><br/>Griff grinned sinfully as he undressed her with his eyes, remembering that night, their time spent in that hallway against the wall, on that mostly empty balcony as she bent over the railing, and in the women’s bathroom on the counter top and against the mirror. He learned, that night, why Akando called her his “Little Swallow”… or least the reason why Griff assumed he called her that. He noticed when she ripped her eyes from his nakedness and fixed her gaze somewhere beyond him, smirking knowingly at Mae as she whimpered softly just as she had done that night some eight or so months ago back on Valentine. Of course, Vince’s reactions weren’t lost on Griff either and, though he felt a twinge of guilt for making the younger man feel insecure and threatened, part of him found it comical and he couldn’t resist the urge to tease and torture Vince whenever he could. Mae and Vince may have thought they were fooling everyone, but Griff knew that the two were swooning all over each other. It didn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure it out, and the fact that the two thought they were being discreet amused him. He gave Vince a wink and a slap on the back as he moved off to join Mae once more.<br/><br/><br/><strong>“Coming Vince? I would ask you the same question but the answer is obvious…you need to get dressed before joining us. Unless it’s your intention to greet the afternoon as God made ya?”</strong><br/><br/>Her voice was noticeably huskier than normal, laced with seduction and arousal. He loved that he could still get to her that way. Shamelessly letting his eyes fix on the swaying hips as she sauntered away, Griff replied to Mae’s teasing remark with one of his own, though he couldn’t be sure if either she or Vince picked up on it as they disappeared down the stairs leading to the cargo hold. “Wo De Tian A, Yao Nu…. you keep that up and I’ll be forced to remind you of a thing or two from Valentine. Ta ma de!”<br/><br/>Shaking his head in amusement, Griff ducked back inside his cabin and quickly set about getting dressed. Normally he wouldn’t have gone to such lengths to ready himself when making planetfall, but he had entertained the thought of visiting a local girl he fancied for some much needed stress relief and good old fashioned fun and now that Sasha had decided to give the crew a night of R&R, he would have the time to do just that. Quickly pulling on a clean pair of boxer briefs, a comfortable pair of dark olive combat slacks, cushion-soled socks and his black combat boots, Griff holstered his sidearm, a Colt. 45 DX, and grabbed a form fitting, black, long-sleeved pullover before slipping from his cabin and rushing down to meet the others gathered in the cargo bay.<br/><br/>As he descended the stairs, he saw Mae and Vince practically mauling each other while Si stood with Dani’s arm draped over his. “Easy there, Romeo,” he quipped to Vince as he came up behind them, giving Mae a swat of her behind as he passed them, coming to stand between the four of them. “Hands off the merchandise, chief.” He teased further. He grinned at Si with a jovial wink as he added, “Maybe I should send you along with these two to make sure Cassinova here doesn’t offend our Mei Mei’s honor,” he joked, jabbing his thumb over his shoulder towards Vince at the mention of Cassinova. Looking around, he noticed the missing crew members. Assuming that Sasha had gone to check in on their lone passenger, Griff reached over and pressed the Comms panel near the loading ramp, keying up ship-wide intercom channel. “Hayes! You get that engine ready for the new cata-ma-whatzit. I’ll have the new one for ya faster’n you can say Tian-ling-ling, di-ling-ling!”<br/><br/>******<br/>Wo De Tian A, Yao Nu = Dear God in heaven, demon woman<br/>Ta ma de! = Fuck!<br/>Tian-ling-ling, di-ling-ling = Abracadabra-alakazam<br/>