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Adventures on the Lost Continent (Midnight Lass x Blood Red Romeo)

"Depends on what type of rock is found in," Dr. Dimitriu answered. "In pure form, is bright orangish-red. However, trace amounts of silver and copper often found in darinum deposits. More silver and copper, darnium becomes dull orange." Dr. Dimitriu frowned for a moment, then stood up decisively. "You!" she said pointed at Tamra, startling her. "Show me your quarters. If they are not deficient, maybe I come, make hunt for darnium easier."

"I guess I'm showing her my quarters," Tamra said with a shrug to Orson. "While I'm gone, now might be a good time to talk to the twins," Tamra said, gesturing towards the de la Vega sisters, who were in a conversation with Miharu and her cousin Saki.
 
Orson was caught off guard by her sudden declaration. Still, if she ended up being able to find darnium, he wouldn’t complain. It was so rare that even small amounts of pure stuff would fetch a massive price. She would pay for herself if she was able to find some.

At Tamra’s suggestion, he moved towards the twins, though he stopped momentarily to stir up his confidence once more. With his plate of food in hand, he walked over to the quartet. “Mind if I join you?” he asked cautiously.
 
Vu and Qui exchanged a few Vietnamese words between each other, with Vu saying, "We have something to do in the kitchen."

Ninah and Cimonah studied Orson silently before saying, "We should have this conversation in private."
 
“That might be best,” Orson agreed, kind of wishing the two had stayed, even as just a mediating force. “Sorry. Would you like to talk now? Or wait until after we’ve eaten?” He had come over on Tamra’s advice. If they wanted to wait until later, he’d wait. There was no rush, provided they didn’t decide to leave the crew.
 
"We can wait until you finish your meal, Captain," Cimonah said. Nina nodded in agreement, remaining silent, rather than completing her sister's sentence.
 
“I’m...” he started, looking down at the plate of food. It looked and smelled delicious, that was no lie. But at the same time, he didn’t really want it. “I’m not really that hungry. I think I’d rather talk now, eat later,” he told them, abandoning the plate on the table. It was true. His nerves were ruining his appetite. He’d feel much better once this whole thing was resolved. “I’ll still wait for you two though, if you want to do it later.”
 
"Where should we go, Captain?" Cimonah asked, Ninah still remaining quiet.
 
The fact that only one of the twins was speaking kind of unnerved him. He hadn’t realized how used to their unique pattern of speaking he had already become. “Let’s go to my cabin. It’s the most private place on the ship,” he said. Having completely abandoned his food, he led the way out of the mess. He guided the way down the hall, ending with the trio in his room. He was quiet, trying to figure out exactly what to say in this situation. He couldn’t help but still be worried he’d screw up again. Plus, he was out numbered by women who were much smarter than him. That didn’t help matters.
 
Ninah and Cimonah entered the room, found a empty spot on the wall to stand, and got themselves comfortable.

"Should we start talking, or do you want to talk?" Cimonah asked.
 
“Why don’t you start,” he suggested, taking his own spot by the table, but not sitting down. He didn’t want to make it seem like they were on unequal ground. “Though Ninah doesn’t need to speak if she doesn’t want to.” He had noticed the other girl had been silent. He wanted to avoid unnecessary pressure. Though he was worried his concern would come off wrong. God, this was hard.
 
Ninah and Cimonah exchanged a look, and Cimonah continued talking, "If it's all the same with you, we'd like to make that particular decision for ourselves. That was our problem with what you did with Lauren. We have Mr. Tarloff defending our ideas, but Lauren didn't have anyone defending her ideas, and you just dismissed that. Decided you knew best."

"We know you are our Captain, and we respect that," Cimonah continued, "And there will be times you make decisions that we need to just comply with. When things are happening so fast that one person, you, the Captain, has to make the decision right then, and we need to trust you and obey. But the rest of the time, you have to recognize that we know what we're doing. And respect us."

"But we're going to choose to stay," Cimonah concluded. "We do trust you to make the right command decision, and to respect our professional knowledge. Just remember we're not extensions of you. We are our own persons. Any problem with that?"
 
“You’re right,” he agreed. There he was, overstepping his lines again. He needed to learn what looked considerate and what looked controlling. “What I did to Lauren was overstepping. I had never thought or realized things were as bad as they were. I guess it’s a privilege thing. I don’t face the problem myself, so I don’t think about it or take it as seriously as it deserves,” he added, trying to show how he was truly reflecting on his actions.

“But I meant that I’ll try to learn from my mistake. I don’t want to repeat this, and I’ll work to understand you in order to do so. So yeah,” he concluded, looking for a final thing to say. “I do respect and trust you two. I wouldn’t give free reign of my ship to just anyone. And I know you’re not just extensions of me. There’s no way any part of me could be as smart as you two,” he joked, hoping it would help lighten the mood. “But I am happy to here you’ll stay. It’s a great comfort to know you’ll be on board.”
 
The twins nodded to each other, a smile on their faces. Then, in a move that was almost identical to the one that Miharu and Saki had made at the Flying Toupee, Nina and Cimonah wrapped an arm around each other's waist, then extended their free arms to Orson.

"If you don't think it will compromise your dignity as our Captain, we'd like to seal this with a hug," Cimonah said.
 
Orson smiled at this as well. It seems like the two accepted his apology. He decided not to add that by normal standards, he had already thrown away his dignity as a Captain by apologizing in front of his entire crew twice. But he didn’t care. He’d be a Captain his way.

He closed the gap, extending his own arms to take the twins in with a hug. It wasn’t as warm as the hug between him and the two cousins earlier, him still feeling some distance and tension to them. Still, it was a nice hug held for a respectful amount of time before he let them go. When he stepped back, he did have a nicer smile on than he had worn for the past few hours.

“By the way, you may have already done this, but if not could you make sure we some strong insulating storage space for breakable things? We’ll have some extreme turbulence in parts and I know that those weren’t in place when I bought this ship,” he explained. Hopefully this would be one last push to bringing things back to normal.
 
"Done," Cimonah began.

"And done," Ninah finished.

"And we're ready for the test flight tomorrow," Cimonah added.

There was a knock on the door, with Tamra announcing her presence from the other side.

"When you have a few moments, Captain, I have some people who want to have a word with you," she said,
 
“Where would this ship be without you?” he asked. He genuinely meant it. He would never have made Safa’s right deadline without them. “Is there anything else we need to discuss? Otherwise, I’ll need to meet with Tamra.” He wasn’t looking to rush them out. If they needed more time, they’d get more time.
 
"Not to worry, Captain," Cimonah began, "The Midnight Curse..."

"...will be ready to go," Ninah added. "If there's nothing else, we'll..."

"...double check a few things," Cimonah concluded.
 
“That’s all. Thank you,” he said told them. He went to the door that Tamra had knocked on, opening it to allow the twins to leave. “Thanks for waiting, Dr. Wilson,” he said, remembering their agreement to use professional titles amongst the rest of the crew. “Who is it I need to speak to?”
 
"Actually, three people who'd like to speak to you, Captain," Tamra said, leading in Dr. Cristina Dimitriu, Lauren Evans and Safa Basta. Dr. Dimitriu's posture was very stiff and formal, Lauren's had a bemused if amused look about her, while Safa was her normal serene if enigmatic self.

"Dr. Dimitriu would like to talk to you first, if you don't mind, Captain," Tamra said.
 
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Okay, it was a party in the captain’s cabin, not that he could complain. It was his job after all. “Ah, of course. Welcome, everyone,” he said, giving a friendly smile. His meeting with the twins had greatly improved his mood. That said, he was still nervous around Lauren, hoping he wouldn’t proceed to fuck that up. Again.

“Dr. Dimitriu, what can I do for you?” he asked the latest person to come aboard the ship. He wondered if this was related to her declaration about potentially coming aboard.
 
"I have decided that the living conditions on your airship are adequate for my purposes, considering the nature of the expedition, and I will thus agree to accompanying you," she said, directing her speech primarily to Orson, though she did share her oration to the other women in the room as well. "Since I will not be lecturing, but instead providing my expertise, I will forgo my title of doctor. You may address me as Contesă Dimitriu My full title is, of course, Perpetuă Contesă din Hunedoara, but addressing me as Contesă Dimitriu will suffice. I will depart now, to secure those devices necessary for my part in the expedition. Miss Evans," Cristini Dimitriu continued, nodding at Lauren, who gave Cristini a lopsided smile, "has assured me she has several interesting devices that I may find of practical use in my contributions to this journey. Through translation, Miss Basta has assured me the purchase of any devices I need will not be an obstacle."

Safa, hearing her surname, gave a nod in seeming agreement, though she had no idea what Cristini was saying.

"Are there any other requirements I should be aware of, Captain James?" the Contesă asked.
 
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Contesă Dimitriu? She really was nobility. Or she was making it up and taking advantage of a situation where no one could prove her wrong. However, he extremely doubted the second one was true. And even if he did believe it, he had learned well enough to just roll with it.

“Contesă Dimitriu, it’s a pleasure to have you on board,” he replied. His ship really was close to capacity. But he wouldn’t complain. After all, all but one member of the crew was a beautiful woman.

“What you should know is that we are leaving soon. Tomorrow is a test flight that I want everyone on board for. The next day, we’re leaving for the Lost Continent. Also, while it is grim, everyone is required to provide a will or at least information on who to contact should you perish on the expedition. I don’t expect that to happen, but it’d be irresponsible me to not take those steps.” He tried not to look too grim when he told her this, but it was hard not to, considering the subject. “Beyond that, I think you already know everything else.”
 
"We make it through," Cristini said with a wave of her hand. "I will be here tomorrow." Cristini frowned, then announced, "Since this is a solemn and grand moment, let us mark it accordingly." Catching Tamra off guard, she hugged her fiercely, if briefly, then promptly embraced Orson, Lauren and Safa.

"La Revedere!" Cristini announced, before marching out of the room.

"I think," Lauren observed wryly, rubbing the back of her neck with her fingers, "That she might have gotten a crick out of my neck."
 
Orson didn’t know what to do in response. This Contesă really moved at her own pace. Not to mention this was his third hug of the day, which was far more hugs than he had received in a long time.

“Quite the optimist,” he commented when she was gone. Just dismissing the possibility of death wasn’t always a great sign. Those people tended to be reckless. Orson should know. He was one of them when he started.

“And you’re lucky, Ms. Evans. I think she gave me one,” he said turning his neck to try to crack it, but to no avail. “You also needed something?”
 
"Well, I wanted to say that I knew that it took a lot to eat that much crow in front of the rest of the crew, and I appreciate it," Lauren began. "You'll find, despite evidence seeming to the contrary, I can be an obedient crewmember. As far as our chiropractic countess is concerned," Lauren said, "I share her optimism, though mine is mixed with a healthy dose of the real world. My experience with airships is limited, outside the development of my foil parachutes, but I've been very well connected with the diving researchers. You are looking at the holder of the current diving bell record, roughly three thousand feet. I knew what the odds were then, and I know what the odds are now."

"And on a side note, I haven't got a title or a degree or anything like that," Lauren said with a chuckle, "So I'm happy to answer to Lauren. Captain James," she added with a nod to Orson, "Doctor Wilson," she added with a nod to Tamra, "And somehow I think I should call you Lady Safa," she told Safa.

Tamra translated to Safa, who smiled brightly at Lauren and said something in return.

"She says she's happy with just Safa from either you or Captain James," Tamra translated.

"Thank you, Safa," Lauren said happily before turning back to Orson. "I'll have everything I'm bringing on board by the test flight tomorrow, Captain James. Anything else?"
 
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