24th May Afternoon - The Great Cabin

At that moment, the subject of Bolitho and Leat's discussion was approaching the great cabin's door with some apprehension. Aaren Dwerry had just reported aboard, hauling sea-chest behind him, and had promptly been accosted by some petty officer or another who'd relieved him of the chest and seen it carted off. Hopefully Dwerry thought, To my quarters.

And now he was staring at the door. And behind that door sat his new captain. It was a plain door, nothing terribly special. It could very well have been the door to his old captain's cabin. Dwerry shuddered and tugged his coat closer around himself. Could very well have been, save the chill in the air. Well, there was no point in stalling. Stomach flipping anxiously, Dwerry raised his fist and rapped out two brisk knocks.

Upon hearing the knock, Bolitho turned from Leat to glance at the door.

"Enter," he said.

Dwerry eased the cabin door open and stepped into the great cabin. The captain was there, along with another man - another lieutenant, it would appear. Dwerry pasted an uneasy smile unto his face and made his salute.

"Captain, sir, Lieutenant Aaren Dwerry reporting for duty."

He couldn't help but cast an interested look at the other lieutenant after he spoke.

((OOC: Dwerry's on the tall side of average with brown hair and hazel eyes, btw. In case you guys needed to know or anything. x.X))

"Ah Mr. Dwerry, excellent," Bolitho said, "I was just informing Mr. Leat that you were due to arrive. Welcome to the Terpsichore. I trust you had no trouble coming aboard?"

[OOC: Thanks for that! I've always wondered how Dwerry was supposed to look.]

When the captain replied in a friendly manner, Dwerry felt something inside of himself relax. He hadn't realized quite how much he'd been dreading a captain like his former. But his former captain would certainly never have been so genial.

When the man mentioned the other man as a Mr Leat, Dwerry shot him another interested glance and a small, polite nod.

"None at all sir," a small smile flickered across his face, "You seem to be blessed with with at least one efficient petty officer as well." His eyes sparked gaily as he said this, the smile lingering faintly.

((*must go look at the Terpsy's lists* You're welcome. ^^ His hair's curly, too, which I failed to mention. Perhaps not terribly noticeable when pulled back, though. I've been hunting for a model or actor or something to represent dear Aaren.))

"I am glad to hear that," Bolitho said as he looked the man over. He appeared perfectly competent, and to be of a rather pleasant nature, which was a promising sign. Then he said, with a perfectly straight face, "Well, as much as I'm sure you would like to become better acquainted with your new berth, I regret to inform you that you will have to leave the ship again...because Mr. Leat and yourself are both on shore leave now."

Dwerry fought the urge to shuffle his feet as Bolitho inspected him - such an action was far more like that of a midshipman than a full lieutenant, he reminded himself. He was less successful at restraining the broad grin that flashed across his face at the captain's words.

He had to bite his lip for a moment to keep from laughing, and managed to say relatively soberly, "Ah, of course, sir. I, ehm, greatly regret the postponement. But I shall try to make the best of it."

Goddammit, he thought, is it really so hard to keep a straight face, Aaren? Bolitho managed! Perhaps, Dwerry mused, that was what made the whole thing so funny.

Since it appeared Dwerry had appreciated the jest, Bolitho finally cracked a slight smile.

"I'm sure you will, Mr. Dwerry. But I should hope I will not catch wind of any incidents involving either of you while on shore." He was mostly joking again, for they surely did not need reminding of this. And he highly doubted that the lieutenants would be doing anything of that sort in the first place.

If Dwerry hadn't been so relieved by what he had thus far seen of Bolitho's nature, or in the middle of fighting back an unseemly grin, he might have bridled at the suggestion that he would do something of that nature. But as it was, he merely bowed his head and replied with a simple,

"I hope you don't as well, sir."

Silently Leat hoped that this would indeed prove to be the case. So far the signs were promising...

Bolitho nodded at Dwerry's reply, then glanced between him and Leat.

"Well gentlemen, I shall not detain you any further, so you may be dismissed," he said, "And I do hope you enjoy your time ashore."

"Thank you, sir," Leat replied, thinking that it was about time he said something again. "I daresay we shall endeavour to."

Dwerry glanced at the other lieutenant with interest as he finally spoke, and nodded along with his words.

"Thank you, sir," he echoed Leat, then he hesitated, not seeing Leat move immediately. He didn't want to be seen as over-eager and make a beeline straight for the door, especially considering he'd just spent some days in port.

((OOC: Why do we say 'make a beeline straight' for something? All the bees I've seen flew pretty crooked.))

And it seemed that Dwerry would not be the first one out of the cabin; which Leat considred could only be another good sign. Having been dismissed, he turned to Dwerry.

"If you would care to follow me, I will show you where they will hopefully have stopwed your dunnage. Good day, sir," he said to the captain, before knuckling his forehead, turning and leaving.

Dwerry opened his mouth to reply to Leat, but he was already heading out the door. So with a small shrug, he followed the other lieutenant's lead and knuckled to the captain with a simple, "Sir," before turning and exiting the cabin.

Outside Leat immediately started down one level to the wardroom.

"This way - and mind your head!" he warned automatically as they descended the companionway, the lieutentant remembering how Deverel had struck his head on the way down beforehand.

Dwerry followed and grinned at Leat's warning. He wasn't a terribly tall man, but ducked down any way.

"People hit it a lot, do they?" He asked curiously - the companionway didn't seem unusually low.

As they moved through the ship, Dwerry could feel himself relaxing - the anxiety of the previous weeks didn't fade entirely, but it felt quite good to be finally back aboard a ship.

"Not really, but our last new officer did," Leat replied over his shoulder. "I thought to be more safe than sorry."

Dwerry's eyebrows shot up at that. "Did he now? Was he a tall fellow or just...?"

He let the sentence trail off, mostly because he wasn't quite sure what would finish it.

"He was... just," Leat answered diplomatically. He may not have approved of Deverel, but he would not help along the gossip train anymore than it needed.

"This is yours," he said, stopping in front of a cabin door and opening it. "I am next door here, and Lieutenant Bush is directly opposite." He peered into the small gloomy space and smiled to himself. "I see they have put your dunnage in the right place - and that they have lit a lantern for you. How thoughful."

Dwerry nodded in understanding at Leat's (rather discreet and appropriate) response. Though he'd not met his predecessor, nor even really heard of him, he could easily imagine what sort of fellow he might have been.

Dwerry slid up beside Leat, peering into his new cabin as well. It looked surprisingly empty for such a small space, the lantern barely alleviating the gloom. Well, it'd look better once he was settled in.

"Well, that's good then," he said cheerfully.

"You will meet the rest of your messmates soon enough, I should say. Tadcock is the Master, Cheevers is the captain's clerk, we have no chaplain, and we are waiting the arrival of a new surgeon. Dr. Crozier unfortunately received a blow to the head on our voyage here from Lisbon, and though his is recovering shan't be in a fit state for doctoring anytime soon. We have four young gentlemen at the moment; but do not let that put you off."

Dwerry nodded when Leat informed of who his messmates were. With a crooked grin, he replied, "I'll try not too. Did you see action on your way from Lisbon, then, that the doctor got injured? Or was it just an accident?" And privately, he was relieved that the Terpsichore was currently lacking a chaplain. He'd never got on well with any that he'd known.

"An accident. We were carrying General Wellesley's horse from Lisbon - Lord knows why he could not use a transport like everyone else - and the doctor was unfortunately enough to get a hoof kicked into his skull when the creature took fright. Fortunately we were carrying the General's personal physician as a passenger at the time as well, so thankfully he was able to operate and save Crozier's life."

It would be too complicated to explain the circumstances of Maturin, des Sablieres and Padstowe being aboard in the first place.

"Still, we hope his replacement shall not be long in coming; having gone from two doctors to none the men are starting to get a little uneasy - you know how it is. Especially after shore leave..."

Dwerry started in astonishment at the tale. It certainly wasn't the sort of accident he'd been thinking of.

"Well!" He exclaimed, halfway between amused and startled, "That's certainly... unusual. And aye, I do know how it is." He paused to grimace ruefully. "We had a horrible time of keeping a doctor aboard my old ship. The men didn't like it there, either."

There was no need, he decided, to mention some of the more unfortunate circumstances around some of the doctors' deaths. Dwerry wasn't even sure why he'd brought up his previous posting.