video; and action;

[hairlocked]

[ See comments for action headers! Flying lessons, shuttle repair sessions and chapel interactions available! ]

My name is Leoben Conoy. I'm with Flight. For you guys who volunteered to learn to use the shuttles, I'll be giving one on one sessions. They're in your own time if you're not already a full time trainee, minimum two hour sessions. They need to be booked in advance, but we can schedule ahead of time; we're all very busy.

I'm also available to train some of you in the basics of repair. We'll use the shuttles, because they need the work, and also many of the systems are simplified versions of the bigger thing. If you ever wanted to find out how to help out when things are broken, this is your chance. Maybe I can show you how to get in and outta the spacesuits, too.

If anyone is interested-- [ And here he scratches the side of his head awkwardly. ] I'll be teaching yoga in the oxygen gardens at oh seven hundred every morning. It's a hobby of mine, from my time on Caprica.

[ Leoben's voice has been soft but authoritative throughout, firm, but now he smiles and cocks his head slightly to one side. He seems to sparkle on this topic: ]

Finally I uh--I wanted to know... I read that there are some of you on the ship who worship various gods, and I want to hear all about it.

Comments

action; flying lessons

[hairlocked]

[ Leoben had moved one of the working passenger shuttles into the launch bay to keep it clear of the others during training, and he led his latest student out toward the platform where the raptor like vessel loomed like a waiting bird of prey. Leoben ran his hand lovingly against the metal hull as he approached, like a hello, indicating the hatch ahead of them. ]

This opens here. The hatch comes down, so you gotta keep clear. [ It was open now, so he led ahead of them. Getting to the cockpit meant walking in through the lines of seats--by torchlight, because extra energy usage was all powered down throughout to conserve power. ]

And this is us.

[ He powered open the door to the cockpit. ]

Co-pilot goes on the right, though that's instructor's choice. Take a seat.

action; maintenance

[hairlocked]

[ Don't mind Leoben in his insane glasses and gross, used, red print patterned shirt, because guess what, here's a pair of insane glasses for you, and a pair of tough gloves, and a big, heavy case full of tools. Once he's done handing everything over, Leoben hauls a welding kit and a fire extinguisher across his back, straps on a belt and heaves up his own big case full of tools, and sets off down the bay to one of the vaguely complete looking ships.

Which is funny, because as good as it looks on the outside, the inside isn't looking as healthy. All the inside panels are ripped off, and there are clumps of electrical wire hanging everywhere, consoles and screens dissected about the place, seats ripped out and taken away while work is being done in the big panels underneath the floor. ]

Watch where you're walking. All this is irreplaceable.

[lafautedevoltaire]

[Gavroche crawls out from under the panels. At least Carolyn had realized the advantage of having someone small like him to work on these sort of things.]

Do you have lots of people learning?

[hairlocked]

[ Leoben leaves his trainee to get to work in the cockpit, and comes back to Gavroche, crouching down beside him, his balance on the open frame almost catlike. ]

Some. Not as many as we should have, but I think they understand. [ He offered his hand. ] Can I help you up?

[compressioncoil]

Wouldn't dream of harmin' this sorta stuff! [Hello, Leoben, meet a plucky young heroine. She's said screw to the gloves, and prefers to work with her hands, the glasses pushing her hair out of her face. She's already stained with grease, and she can't wait to get dirtier.

Carefully, she leans into the shuttle to take a look at it.] Ain't never seen this type'a bird before. Other'n here. Mighty snazzy. Oh! Look at that, forgettin' myself all over the place! 'm Kaylee- I work for engineering, thought I'd take a day or two an' come down see what I can do for ya!

Ain't a ship in the 'verse I can't fix.

[hairlocked]

Leoben. Leoben Conoy.

[ Leoben had been staring throughout, watching her with a sort of amused adoration. That is some proper excitement right there. He's never seen anyone so delighted to be covered in grease and inside a sprightly little ship.

Oh wait, yes he has. Once. ]

She is beautiful, isn't she? Or she will be, when all of this is back in place. [ His hand brushed against an exposed part of the wall. ] What ship are you from? [ In case he recognises the name. ]

action; chapel

[hairlocked]

[ Leoben had found it after coming down to the oxygen gardens to investigate the possibility of his having done some work there in the past. He'd found pieces of himself here and there across the ship, but apparently he'd dabbled in building new hydroponics units--not that he knew whether he'd actually gone through with it. He'd been friends with someone called Jaye, who apparently kept animals, and while he'd seen some of the animals down here, he wasn't sure whether they were the same ones.

But he'd found it at last, the chapel, and it had made him so amazingly happy. Now in his free time that was where he could be found, sitting - reading the Bible or the Sacred Scrolls from his device - in one of the pews.

He smiled invitingly at anyone who found him there. ] Hello.

Video

[atent_dead]

[The old woman on screen is dressed every inch the witch, complete with pointy hat]

Never much held with believin' in gods. Cause enough trouble without us goin' and encouragin' 'em.

Video

[hairlocked]

[ Leoben is if anything unmoved by her appearance. It doesn't seem to be too unusual. Needs some floral print somewhere but... ]

Encouraging them? How do you mean?

Video

[atent_dead]

Get stronger when folk believe in 'em. More room to go 'causin' trouble with the smitin' and the carryin' on with mortals.

video;

[notmarieanymore]

Mr. Conoy? Hi, my name's Rogue. [She smiles good-naturedly at him, if not a little awkwardly.]

I ain't as religious as I used t'be, but, I could tell you about how I was raised and what my family believed.

And, if you don't mind, I'd like flying lessons at some point. I've tried to drive a plane before and it didn't really turn out so well.

video;

[hairlocked]

Leoben, please.

[ He smiles right back, charming, courting, a little bit cheeky. ]

I'd like very much to hear about how you were raised; if you believe in one god or in many. Maybe we can do both.

When you say it didn't turn out well--?

video;

[notmarieanymore]

Leoben, then.

You'd do that? That'd be amazing. Last time I drove I nearly crashed the thing, but... [She shrugs a little, blushing at him. With a gloved hand, she pushes a white streak behind her ear. Oh no.]

D'you wanna do it here? Or?

[trynotodie]

I don't need the lessons, Raven's taught me everything I needed already, but if you wind up needing an extra hand with the shuttles, I could probably scrape together the time.

[never mind there only being two members in his own department and the time he already puts in at engineering. those shuttles could be their way out one day, so proper maintenance is key.]

[hairlocked]

I'd always appreciate an extra hand, or even two, and I'd be more than happy to return the favor.

[ He's done some work in engineering himself, but working with a partner is safer, amongst other things. It lets him earn respect one person at a time, too--hearts and minds. It's so crucial to him, so much more important than sleep.</small ] You're with Science. Which department?

[trynotodie]

[a laugh.] Yeah I think I could spare both hands.

I'm in physical sciences. There's a whole two of us now, very impressive I know, but not every department can be as popular as mine.

[hedoniste]

( ilde and leoben have almost certainly crossed paths, working with flight, so presuming that she's already aware of who is offering teaching, she leaves that part to one side. )

I might join you in the gardens, after my swim.

( she can always just swim earlier than she usually does. )

As for religion...well. I was baptized Catholic, but it didn't really take. Wasn't going to be feasible, in the long term, it turned out.

[hairlocked]

I'd like that. It's always better to have company.

[ Leoben inclines his head slightly at her response about his religion question, though. It's interesting, he's found, the religious similarities and differences between here and the human in the colonies. He enjoys exploring the topic. ]

What was it about Catholicism that failed you? Was it the practice, or something in the beliefs themselves? [ Robot has done his research, it has to be said. ]

[hedoniste]

My father had me baptized to impress a woman. ( wry, but not a joke. that is literally and factually what occurred. the woman she was named after, actually, ilde decima featherstonehaugh. none of these things impressed her very much. ) His interest in religion was pretty much limited to admiring other people's devotion, and I never picked up a taste for it.

I did have a bit more patience for it before they brought back witch-burnings.

action;

[oversight]

[ By way of self-centered hotshots, Blake falls pretty damn short. He's cocky in the way a boxer's cautious of a blind left, so when he ends up with a surprisingly peer-to-peer relationship with his flight instructor, Leoben Conoy, John's (understandably) caught off-guard.

When he's not fighting tooth and nail against authority — one of Blake's long-lasting, rarely celebrated traits — he's actually a very quick and intuitive learner. He never bothered with college — it was straight to the police academy for him — not because he has trouble learning, but because Blake has trouble staying interested in learning. He'll take a manual over a bad teacher and a bad teacher over nothing, but at the end of the day, traditional schooling just doesn't work as well for Blake as it does for the average student.

So, it's been piecemeal, but good. They've had more than a handful of lessons already, and while they've remained brief and mostly professional, Blake's beginning to slowly open up to Leoben. ]

Okay, go over it one more time for me, please. 'Cause I wanna make sure I've got this right.

We're gonna attach this heavy duty cable to... [ Help him fill in the rest here. ]

action;

[hairlocked]

Any part of the frame that's solid. You don't want to attach it to anything that'll give under force, because once we start pulling-- [ He breaks into a grin, and moves up onto the wing they're heaving the thruster assembly out of. ] So the snap goes on here. You make sure it's secure by exerting your own force, and then we're ready to go.

[ Leoben wasn't a bad teacher. He was patient, could handle teaching structured or adapt the process to something more casual easily. His study of human nature gave him that advantage, and getting on with strangers was something that he'd turned into an artform.

There was an edginess to him too, and a godliness, but mostly he found himself fascinated by everything in the human condition, and so the close friendships that he was building up were important to him. Challenging Blake with extra pressures let him observe him better under duress, let him see what it meant to be human, and have to try just to do things that a Cylon might have taken in their stride. ]

I'll stay down here and guide it off the ground. You get the fun part. Think you're up for it?

action;

[oversight]

[ It's been a long time since Blake's felt unprepared for much of anything but he feels unprepared for this. Every day's already a reminder of their far-flung status in the universe, but the more he thinks about the vastness of space around them, the harder it feels to move forward with potentially destructive actions.

An unfortunate explosion could cripple the ship, right? Hell, a high-speed asteroid the size of a quarter could punch through the hull at any moment and compromise the already nebulous stability and he'd have no control over that, granted, but he has control of this.

Blake nods stiffly. He's by no means a coward but there's a guarded wariness and a tinge of concern and uncertainty bubbling somewhere below the surface. ]

Yeah, I got this.

[ Jitters be damned, he picks up the appropriate tools, gives his instructor a respectful nod, and steps away to do things as instructed. And just for safe measure, he'll be checking everything twice. ]

video;

[axeyou]

Hi.

Can you tell me what yoga is?

[not so much interested as bored but whatever]

video;

[hairlocked]

Yoga is an exercise of control and freedom, a way of mastering your body ad disciplining the mind. In time, it can help you visualize your goals and attain them, and reflect positivity from and into every aspect of your everyday life.

It's the path to enlightenment, transcendence of self. This is not all that we are.

video;

[axeyou]

Oh.

So a lot of crap. Thanks.