Seeking Fortune in a Faraway Land (Attn England!)

[zionwings]

The sun filtered through the soot and steam of a thousand vessels, both from sea and sky to weakly shine on the glossy brown hair and coppery skin of a young man threading his way through the port crowds. In his right hand, he clutched the strap of a large canvas bag, the golden mark of a journeyman engineer glinting from a buckle. In his left, he held a scrap of paper with the name of a local inn scribbled on it. But what drew the most attention to the foreign boy was the state of his left hand; it was entirely made of brass mechanics.

Amos sighed again as the Londoners gasped with shock at his false arm, or the strange vents that were threaded through his leg. He was used to everyone in the port town he'd trained in being used to these things; he'd had them since he was 15. Shoving the paper into his pocket, Amos hurried off to look for the inn, although he didn't know what to make of an establishment called "The Fairy Ring".

[England]

The scowl on Arthur's face was more pronounced than usual - which was odd, considering he'd just come in to the Fairy Ring and promptly ordered sheperd's pie and sat down behind a newspaper. Something about the meeting he'd just gotten out of was... off. A sense of something being kept from him. It was like... like the magic in the air was telling him to be more aware of what was going on.

That and the fact that Alfred had gone and messed around with the engines again - claiming to make them 'more heroically awesome' ... so now, here he was. Back in England. With a ship that wouldn't go anywhere. Needless to say, James wasn't the one who'd be cleaning the toilets this time around. Sometimes he worried about Alfred (how did anyone have that much cheer and pep in this day and age?). And then sometimes he just wanted to... to... tie him by his wrists to the flag pole and watch him flail about in the breeze.

But for now... all he wanted was a good meal, a long nap... a chance to talk to Afonso because good god he needed to vent... and someone to fix his damn ship so he could leave. He was getting restless.

[zionwings]

Amos walked into the main hall of the inn, tired from the crowds. London was much larger than he thought it was. After ordering a large pitcher of water and a steak, he collasped onto a chair to wait for his food. How was he going to find work in a place like this? There were more ships than he could count, but none looking for an engineer as fresh into journeyman status as he was. Amos was frustrated, so he pulled out a piles of springs and gears he kept on hand and begin to toy with them, until before he knew it he'd built a small wind up rabbit. He smiled at it and watched it hop around the table before beginning to eat.

"Now, if only finding a job was as easy as that."

[Australia]

Today had been a mix of very good, but very, very annoying and bad. It was good because for the first time since joining the Grim, he wasn't the one on the end of the captains threats to mop the deck. No, today Alfred was the victim of those threats (though, the American ignored them like the Australian often did).

It was bad however because now they were stuck in London (and goddamn this place was dreary), until the ship could be fixed. And it didn't help that members of the crew thought he could fix it because he tinkered with the weapons.

But, the Australian was not going to let any of that get him down. Leaning back in his chair in the Fairy Inn (Arthur picked the weirdest places to stay) he glanced around for either his grumpy British captain, or Alfred. They were suppose to meet here, right? James was starting to wonder.

Of course, that thought left his mind when he caught sight of a curious thing. A young man sitting at another table, with a mechanical arm. Now that was just cool. What was even cooler was the same kid made a toy rabbit in a few minutes. Blinking, James forgot the purpose of sitting at the table to wait for the others, instead approaching the strange young man and looking at the rabbit.

"How'd you do that mate?"

[zionwings]

Amos started, surprised at being approached. He looked at the tall man who had spoken, then down at the rabbit. Did he mean how he'd made it?

"It was easy... I've been doing this for years, it helps keep your fingers nimble. I learned the hard way that if you're not quick, you can get hurt."

Amos held up his arm to make his point clear.

"Working with steam engines, you need to know about mechanics and stay sharp when it comes to the little details, you know? Making these wind up toys from spare gears helps me with that. I don't want another accident, I've only got one real hand left. Although it's my right..."

He laughed at his own joke and scooped up the rabbit before it could hop of the edge of the table. It was a quick thing, and would have busted apart if it fell. Amos looked back up at the man.

"I'm Amos. What's your name?"

[England]

Flipping the page of the paper he was reading, Arthur felt himself relax minutely, even if Alfred and James were late (again) it meant he had a moment to himself - something that he was missing quite often with the rowdy crew he'd amassed.

At the point of considering going back to the ship and radioing Afonso - it had been a couple days since they last talked and he was missing the man like he was missing a limb. He made up his mind - he was going to make a call - when he heard James's voice over the rest of the people in the Inn. Wincing, he looked over - just to make sure nothing bad was happening to the australian... for no matter how annoying the boy could be, he still found himself being incredibly protective of the teen - only to see him talking to a boy who literally was missing a limb.

Staying where he was, Arthur decided to see how that would end up - after all... James may be oddly attracted to all things dangerous, but he could take care of himself in a conversation... right?

[America]

Alfred huffed as he dropped the mop in his hands, looking down at the deck below his feet. Well, good enough. Granted, he was probably the last person you wanted to mop anything--he had spent the last ten minutes getting in a fight with Moptastica, an evil mop from the future, and gotten the muddy water all over the deck.

Well, it looked clean to him anyway. Giving a satisfied nod, the American headed off of the ship, tossing his brown jacket over his shoulder. The old bastard was probably bitching about him being late. Well, it was his own damn fault! Stupid old coot.

Alfred entered the establishment loudly, as always, swinging the door open and surely attracting the attention of most of the bar. "YO, CAPTAIN BROWFACE! I FINISHED THE DECK!"

[Australia]

("James may be oddly attracted to all things dangerous" Thats one way to sum him up XD)

He blinked, once, twice and then a third time. Looking from the little wind up rabbit to the stranger, Amos. "You made that thing!? Holy! That's amazing!"

James could not help staring in amazement. Laughing along with Amos before grinning. "Ah! Names James. Are those little guys hard to make? I mean, it looks so cool. Wouldn't mind trying to make my-"

His rambling came to an abupt halt when Alfred entered. The Austrlian looked towards the entrance of the inn, catching sight of his crew mate (and that meant Arthur was somewhere around here, James must have missed him). He gave a friendly wave to the American, before returning his attention to Amos. It would be rude after all to just end the conversation. Plus he wanted to learn how to make one of those toys. And there was a very, very, very good chance Alfred and Arthur were going to get into an argument, which meant they wouldn't actually discuss how to fix the engines for a good hour...

Wait...

"... You work with steam engines?"

[zionwings]

Amos jumped when the loud blonde came into the inn, yelling. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn't place where.

"I don't think it's too hard, but you have to have the knack for it I suppose. I've been doing it for years. I suppose I could teach you..."

He waited while James waved to the newcomer; they must be friends. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of name "Browface" was, and what kind of captain would have it. So lost in thought, Amos was startled when James asked his question. Fumbling with his bag, he wrangled it around so that his journeyman's badge showed.

"Yes, I work with steam engines. See, I've got a journeyman status from my home guild. I'm quite good actually, not counting the incident where my arm got crushed. But I can get pretty much anything moving again. Why do you ask?"

[England]

He had been considering getting up and going over to talk to James - the lad seemed rather excited about something that Arthur couldn't hear from where he was sitting. But then Alfred came in and he just wanted to die - or melt into the floorboards, whichever could come the quickest.

"God damnit Jones! Don't call me that!" There was nothing wrong with his eyebrows! Gritting his teeth and clenching his hands into fists, Arthur set his mind to coming up with new and unusual punishments for his cheeky aide.

This of course, took all his attention away from James and the young man he was talking to - as nervous as he'd been, a part of him in the back of his mind said that the australian would be fine.