Das Flugboot: A Flying Circus adventure.

Bergfluss 13:00 | Hard +1 Keen +1 Calm +3 Daring +1 | Stress 06/10 | XP 4 | Þ 13 | Vice 2/5 | Tab 4

You look from Anne to Stephan, who grins sheepishly back at you. Marianne takes your momentary hesitation for weakness and begins gloating

"Ah, see, she is scared of my little protégé here. The pride of Geinshoven is intact!"

You shake your head and sigh.

"Alright, but no whining and you're paying the bill if I break his arm."

The tiny crowd whoops and jeers as you shed your jacket and sit down across the table from the big lad, who looks a little alarmed at the mention of getting his arm broken. Marianne looks less confident as she notices your musculature, Jana shows her teeth and chuckles hoarsely through her gills, Andreas takes up a position as referee and Anne is licking her lips in anticipation.

You clasp hands, with Stephan having to position his elbow a little further back to make up the difference in arm length. Apart from the burn scar his hand is soft like he's never worked a day in his life and you find yourself idly wondering if all his skin is-

"GO!"

Andreas' yell catches you slightly off guard and you very nearly lose immediately when Stephan puts in a monstrous early effort, only catching him an inch or so above the table. You can see how he could get used to winning these contests, but then you've got your feet firmly planted and your grip starts to bite into his hand and your long, long years of heavy lifting all day pay off. He tires little by little, and you ratchet your arms back to level.

Stephan is sweating now, trying to hold you back as Marianne yells encouragement at him and the table groans a little under the strain. Your sleeve rips apart at the bicep and you mentally curse at the thought of having to stitch it back together or replace this blouse. Jana and Anne are chanting your name as you push past the perpendicular, and then with a sudden rush all resistance goes out of the beefy arm and his knuckles hit the oak surface with a sound like someone dropping a heavy book.

You take the high road by saying:

"Guter versuch, Stephan. Nearly had me at the start. Work on your endurance for next time."

and pat him on the shoulder as Andreas declares you the new champion. Marianne makes a dismissive sound and flounces to the bar to get something to salve 'the pride of Geinshoven'. Jana chuckles again and hi-fives the mail pilot. Anne hobbles up and sits down next to you as you massage your arm. She leans over and whispers in your ear with boozy breath.

"That was, like, super hot. Sorry if this is weird, but...are you into girls?"

[ ] Uh...yes?
[ ] Yes, but I'm married.
[ ] Yes, but you're basically a child.
[ ] Yes, but I'm married and you're basically a child.

(CW medical terminology I guess?)

Bergfluss 14:00 | Hard +1 Keen +1 Calm +3 Daring +1 | Stress 06/10 | XP 4 | Þ 13 | Vice 2/5 | Tab 4

Ah, right. That was kind of the vibe she'd been giving you since you first met, now that you think back on it. You probably should have noticed earlier, maybe you could have cut this off at the pass before it got awkward. Now that it's too late to avoid awkward you should probably just let her down gently. Not that she isn't cute, but...how old is she exactly? Also you're married to a woman you love and you have not discussed this with her.

"It...it's not weird, and yes I do like girls. So much I married one. Sorry, I don't wear the ring when I'm working."

Anne's face runs through a gamut of emotion - hope, delight and despair, before settling on what looks like resignation - in something that must be a record time.

"Oh. Ugh, that figures. Just my luck, I meet someone awesome and she's taken. Doana's tits, Andreas is going to laugh at me. At least I don't have to worry about him stealing you away with that 'innocent little fawn' act of his."

You give her a sympathetic look as you pick up the beer you think is yours.

"That happen to you a lot?"

She groans and cups her head in her hands.

"All the time! He's got those big pretty eyes, and cute little antlers, and a tight butt with a fluffy tail! If I wasn't as gay as a...a...very gay girl I'd be all over him"

You raise an eyebrow over your stein but refrain from asking your question until you've swallowed and wiped the froth off your top lip.

"Wait, I thought you were like, cousins or something?"

She pulls her head up and fixes you with a condescending stare.

"What. No, you club, I'm from Schuckert, he's from Lohner. They're two thousand miles apart. Practically three. Anyway, why don't you wear the ring while you're working?"

You grimace at her question. It technically has two answers, but 'married waitresses get less tips' is kind of a bummer. You give her the other answer. It's gross enough to be true.

"You ever see what happens to a finger when a ring gets caught in a machine? Doc Friedmann can show you some pictures if you ask her about 'de-gloving*'"

DO NOT GOOGLE THIS*

She shudders involuntarily and sticks her tongue out.

"Bleugh. Not necessary, I can guess. Also, that doctor scares the hell out of me. "

Anne is just about to start listing the various ways Barbara is a quack when Andreas starts banging a spoon on a glass to draw attention to himself. He clears his throat and raises his stein towards the ceiling.

"Alright, it's been too long since I last said their names it so I'm saying them again! Uwe. Uta. Ulrike. Ursula. Four friends we lost today, four good pilots. They flew till the very end for a town none of them knew! They were heroes! And I...I...oh. Excuse me."

He rushes off towards the toilet, choking back what sounds like tears, but could be the start of an extensive regurgitation. All eyes are on him as he leaves and the room falls into an uncomfortable silence.

[ ] Go make sure he's OK (Get Real with Andreas, +1 stress)
[ ] Get someone else to go make sure he's OK.
[ ] He's probably OK.
[ ] Oh gosh, would you look at the time?

Bergfluss 15:00 | Hard +1 Keen +1 Calm +3 Daring +1 | Stress 06/10 | XP 5 | Þ 13 | Vice 2/5 | Tab 4

You push your chair out and stand up to follow Andreas. While he was headed for the men's toilet you know for a fact that the staff of the Eagle have an extremely relaxed attitude towards who uses the toilets and for what, as there is an expectation that pilots will be...different. Non-conforming. That sort of thing.

Anne grabs at your wrist and gives you an accusing look as you walk past her. You roll your eyes at her unspoken rebuke.

"I'm just going to make sure he's OK. I promise not to have sex with him in the toilet."

You make the pilot sign for CONTRACT and she lets your wrist go and turns slowly back to making a little man by sticking bits of her food together. You studiously ignore Jana's exaggerated leering and eyebrow movement as she watches you go by. She knows you better, and is just trying to get a rise out of you. You've both cleaned enough drunks out of enough toilets to know it's not exactly a romantic hidey-hole.

It's not hard to find the young pilot. He's closed the door to a stall and is sobbing loudly. You give him a minute before knocking. He yells for whoever it is to fuck off, trying to choke off his tears and failing. You turn around and lean back on the door, which creaks a little.

"Dresner, it's Ilse. You want to talk about this, I'm here. You want to be alone, I can leave for now. But you've got to know that what went wrong today, it wasn't your fault."

There's silence and then he unlocks the door unexpectedly, causing you to nearly fall backwards onto him before you catch yourself. He looks a mess with his big brown eyes bloodshot and a line of snot coming out of his nose, which he thankfully wipes off onto his sleeve before you have to do anything about it. His voice is small when he manages to talk to you.

"What do you mean? It was my mission, my formation. I was the leader and I lead us all into a trap. Someone fed me all that information and I fell for it like a sucker and now they're all dead!"

He starts to tear up again and his lower lip trembles as he tries to suppress it. You put your arms around by instinct and pull him close, patting his head and speaking gently.

"Hey, woah, woah, it's alright. You let it out, don't feel like you can't show it. They were your friends, you should be sad. But you're not alone, alright?

The words feel hollow and meaningless even as you speak them but you don't think he can hear you anyway as he leans in and cries on you until your shirt is as damp as a bar rag and his voice is hoarse. He tries to apologize a few times but you shush him until he stops. Eventually he cries himself out and you feel better about talking.

"Listen, Andreas. You didn't kill them. They died flying and fighting, and doing either of those things is dangerous on its own. Maybe you wish it had been you instead?

He nods into your chest and you take that as a sign to continue.

"Do you think they would want that for you?

He mumbles: "No."

"I'm not going to tell you how to grieve. If you want to do it in private that's up to you, if you want to sing maudlin songs in the town square go for it. Losing people is going to happen all your life, you need to figure out handling it for yourself. What I am going to tell you is that while you have people? Hold on to them. Don't push them away because you're afraid of what they might think of you because you're sad."

He pulls away from you and wipes his nose again. You wordlessly hand him your handkerchief and direct him to the sink to clean his face. He splashes water around for a bit to make himself presentable before turning back to you. He manages to keep his voice level this time.

"What...what do you think went wrong? They shouldn't have had any idea we were there, those guns shouldn't have been ready, there definitely shouldn't have been a...well, you know. One of those there."

You think back yourself. The approach had been well time to avoid those problems, that much was true. You really only have one theory to work with.

"The militia caught a saboteur in the act earlier in the week. They shot them before they could talk, but maybe they weren't working alone? Phillip...the captain, that is, he thought it was a Von Ribbeck job, but maybe they were a pirate? An organized band like that operating this close to the town would be daft not to have a spy in a place like this."

He nods slowly. Then he tries to offer you back your hankie, which you decline.

"Wait...who are the Von Ribbecks? We bypassed a town called Ribbeck on our way here because the barman at Flottbek said they were charging big levies on Circuses for fuel and repairs."

You catch yourself before launching into a tirade about the 'Butchers of Bergfluss', but it's not easy. You keep the story short enough to hold the attention of Andreas, who is after all still very drunk.

"They used to run this town, among others. They were a pack of bastards and we threw them out, but they're not happy about it. They've had a couple of tries at coming back, and paying pirates to mess with our trade is exactly the sort of thing they'd do."

He stuffs the hankie in his back pocket and dries his hands on his shirt, nodding as he listens.

"Yeah. We had local nobles like that all over the place back home. Some of them are OK, but the bad ones are fucking awful. Hey, uh...thanks. For sticking around and talking. I needed it."

You nod seriously, then grin.

"If anyone asks I'll tell them you were vomiting so bad I needed to keep you from drowning."

He snorts with laughter as you exit the toilet together. Jana wolf-whistles at you as you re-enter the taproom so you pick up a bread roll from the bar and throw it unerringly at her face, knocking her off balance and off her stool.
As you rejoin the table Marianne is in the middle of a rapid fire discussion with Stephan that she breaks off as soon as the realizes you're there.

"Ah. Pilotin Schmidt, there you are. I...Stephan and I would like to continue working with you, please. For the foreseeable future. You still need the extra hands, yes? I believe we proved ourselves acceptable this morning, under somewhat trying circumstances no less."

What do you say?

[ ] I don't want to regularly fly with someone with a Von in their name, thanks all the same.
[ ] Money is pretty tight at the moment, sorry.
- [ ] I can only hire you
- [ ] I can only hire Stephan
- [ ] I can't hire either of you
[ ] Yes, if you could handle the heat today I'm happy to fly with you.


Get Real with Andreas: 3d10l2+3 19 even with the disadvantage from being burned out that's a win. Ilse has reduced Andreas' stress and cancelled the stress gain from rolling Get Real.