[color=lightgray]
[center][h1][color=goldenrod][b]Gears[/b][/color][/h1][/center]
[center][img] https://i.imgur.com/HWP0qbL.gif[/img][/center]
Interactions: Wendel [@FunnyGuy], Val & Scratch [@Apex Sunburn], Bobi

Gears was on her third round of polishing the same damn glass. Not because it needed it...it didn’t. But because her hands needed something to do. The movement kept her hands busy and her thoughts from drifting too far down memory lanes she didn’t care to revisit.
She didn’t like giving ‘em the chance.

So she scrubbed at a nonexistent smudge, eyes drifting absently toward the front of the bar...until the distinct clink of coin on wood snapped her right back to the present.

She looked up just in time to see Wendel...who, bless him, looked like someone had just handed him a golden ticket and a nap...sliding two gold coins her way like it was the most natural thing in the world.

She blinked. Once. Then twice.

[color=goldenrod]“Well now,”[/color] she murmured, lifting the coins between two fingers like they might flutter away. [color=goldenrod]“Either this is the best mead you’ve ever had, sweetheart… or I’m gettin’ tipped for my radiant personality.”[/color]

She gave him a soft smile. Not her usual teasing one...no, this was warmer. Real.

[color=goldenrod]“You ever figure out which it is, you let me know. I’ll keep the good stuff pourin’ just the same.”[/color]

She tucked the coins away without another word. If the man needed to feel generous today, she wasn’t about to get in the way of that little bit of peace.
She then turned her attention back to her lovely, if not a bit odd, coworkers.

Vallena was already launching into food requests, talking about the honey and fruit in the cargo hold like she hadn’t been [i]expressly[/i] banned from it.

Gears arched a metal browplate.

[color=goldenrod]“Honey and fruit, huh? I betchya’ I can cook something up for you darlin.”[/color]

She looked at Scratch with a wink as he placed his own order...egg sandwich, simple and to the point. Then came the follow-up, casual but not really:

[color=EBA536]“Don’t suppose I could convince you to put everyone’s bill on the Captain’s tab?”[/color]

[color=goldenrod]“Now see, this is why we can’t have nice things.”[/color]
She handed him the drink. [color=goldenrod]“I could [i]technically[/i] do that, sure. But I like my job. I like my pantry. I like my [i]life[/i].”[/color]

She leaned in just a bit, lowering her voice.

[color=goldenrod]“And explainin’ to Jovik why I charged half the liquor shelf to his name on account of ‘a little joke’ just doesn’t feel like the hill I want to die on today.”[/color]

Then came [i]that[/i] grin from Scratch. That little crooked thing he did when he was about to be a problem on purpose.

And sure enough...right on cue...he threw out a line about her [i]“curvature.”[/i]

Her head turned slow, almost theatrically, and her optics narrowed at him.

She rested both hands on the counter, leaned in slightly, and with a smirk just shy of dangerous, she spoke. 

[color=goldenrod]“You tryin’ to sweet talk me into gettin’ your sandwich for free, darlin’? ’Cause if so, you better come with a little more heat than that. I’ve had steam valves flirt better.”[/color]

Then she glanced at Bobi, the [i]stranger than the average[/i] gnome, and added:

[color=goldenrod]“And [i]you[/i], sugar, don’t let him scare you off. He’s just grumpy ‘cause I won’t let him peek at the goods beneath all this armor plating.”[/color]

Val was still hanging halfway over the counter when she changed the subject, in the smallest, most sincere little voice. 

[color=E579FF]“You said something about… emotional discomfort? Is something wrong?”[/color]

And for a beat...just a beat...Gears’ hands went still again.

Scratch echoed the sentiment, and for a moment, something passed over her face. Not sadness, exactly. Just... tiredness, worn gentle by time.

She leaned forward, elbows resting gently on the wood, and looked at Val...not over her, not through her, but right [i]at[/i] her.

[color=goldenrod]“Ain’t nothin’ for you to fret over, sweetheart,”[/color] she said, voice soft like worn cotton. [color=goldenrod]“Just one of those mornings where the past feels a little closer than it oughta. Y’know?”[/color]

She tapped her chestplate once, lightly.

[color=goldenrod]“But I’m alright. Takes more than a few old ghosts to gum up my gears.”[/color]

She smiled at both of them then, wide and bright. 

[color=goldenrod]“If you keep fussin’ over me like that, I’ll start mistin’ up my optics and y’all ain’t gonna have nobody to make your food. And I know how cranky Scratch can get when he’s hungry.”[/color] [/color]