Bounty-ful

Thea wrinkled her nose at the steaks then moved as far from the smell of burning meat as possible.

Ephraim turned the heat on the stove up moderately high, and, after letting the pan heat to a sufficiently hot temperature, he added a small amount of fat and the first two of the steaks. Once they were prepared to the rare side of medium, he removed them and placed them on a plate. "Got one for the first mate here, and an extra if anyone wants one." He commented, turning the heat up higher. When the pan was as hot as it would get, he quickly slapped down his steak, letting it sear each side without cooking too much of the meat inside. After he had finished preparing his meat, he got out some cutlery and started to eat deliberately.

Thea ignored the offer of steak and quietly ate her vegetables. She was sure that there would be plenty of offers on the steak from the meat eaters of the group.

"I'm fine, thanks," Orin said in response to Ephraim's question. "I already ate at a tavern earlier." He found himself a chair (or random flat surface) and sat down, taking off his coat and bag in the process.

"Captain?" Ephraim enquired, "A bit of protein to keep you going?" He gestured towards the steak, which he had covered, along with Aurelia's, in order to keep them warm.

Kestrel nodded emphatically.

"Yes, please!"

Once again, she ate as though starved, shovelling the food into her mouth as soon as she'd finished the previous mouthful.

Orin cleared his throat. "So, Um..." he hesitated for a moment before continuing. "Does anyone care to fill me in on the job? It would seem there has been some interesting goings on prior to my arrival." He adjusted himself where he sat, asking himself more comfortable. "The main things I'd like to know is what has happened so far, and what we plan to do next."

Kestrel looked over at the bookkeeper and swallowed a mouthful of steak.

"Tell you what, I'll fill you in while I'm giving you the tour of the cargo hold."

First, though, Kestrel cleaned her plate. Then she went out on deck and unlatched a large trap door covered by a tarp. She gestured down the ladder and followed Orin down.

"Hope you don't mind the smell. Couldn't air it out much, with all the rain."

Thea, having finished eating, began to wash the plates of those who were finished.

Seeing that nobody had brought Aurelia her food, Ephraim stood, took the plate, and walked through the door to deliver the dinner. "Here you are." He said to the first mate as he entered with the plate of steak and vegetables.

Aurelia shielded her eyes from the light spilling in from the door.

"I thought we discussed you barging in here, headaches, etcetera. The food smells good, though."

With a slight wince, Aurelia levered herself up into a seated position.

"I thought perhaps you might overlook this minor transgression for the chance to eat your meal while it's still hot." Ephraim said, placing the plate in front of Aurelia along with some cutlery.

Thea, having finished with the dishes, curled up in a chair and went to sleep.

Orin followed Kestrel out to the hatch. "No, no. The smell won't be an issue. Actually, I might be able to do a little bit about that. I've been about on airships before, a couple times I needed to help around for my passage fee."

Kestrel looked around the damp, dank space. There was little there, other than a few empty crates, ropes, and hooks in the walls.

"Well, knock yourself out here, for a while at least. I don't think we'll be carrying cargo anytime soon."

Orin scanned the hold. "Well, I'll have to see about getting this place a bit dryer, but it should do nicely once that's seen to." He nodded respectfully to Kestrel. "Shall we head back up?"

"First, let me fill you in, now that we're away from the bookkeeper," Kestrel said and did so, finishing with, "And now we're just waiting for this information broker to show up in town again."

"Good fun indeed." He said. "Well, I guess we're in for a bit of a wait then. I might as well get acquainted with everyone else in the meantime. Seems like a better use of time than just sitting around doing nothing."

Thea stretched and looked around. The others were still downstairs, probably bringing the new guy up to date.
"I am bored..." She announced, looking around for something to do.

Their boredom was not relieved through the rest of the day, a fact for which Kestrel was grateful. Aurelia came out after a while with her cleaned plate, announced she would take first watch that night, and promptly disappeared back into the bunk room for the rest of the day. The crew and the bookkeeper went to bed and Aurelia took first watch. She woke Ephraim around 2 a.m.

"Nothing strange so far, but I don't find that very reassuring. Keep your eyes open."

Thea volunteered for the last watch before curling up and going to sleep.

"Certainly. I know the drill." Ephraim said as he rose.

Orin dozed happily,  pleased that he had managed to secure a job so soon after arriving. He had been getting short on cash,  so he was glad to have a dry(ish) place to sleep.

Ephraim had been on watch for a little over an hour when there was an explosion in one of the more expensive parts of the docks, about 400m away. Fire blossomed in the distance.

At the sound if the explosion, Orin was awake and had pulled out his bow. He looked over to Ephraim. "What in the world was that!?"