Name: Mallorie Chen

Age: 15

Role: Head Engineer

Appearance: Short and slender, wearing rolled-up overalls and aviator googles.

Personality: Clever, does well in a crisis. Is witty and jokes a lot.

Home country: Japan 

Adalicia~ 

I stood in front of the entrance to Hotel Le ‘Fay. Its tacky neon sign boasted, ‘The Most Renowned Hotel in the World!’, but I suspected that it was just another rundown inn past its days of glory. I sighed, and picked up my luggage, and walked inside. The interior was pasted with faded wall paper, and the clerk sitting at the front desk barely glanced up from her magazine. 

“Yes?” she drawled. “How can I help you?” 

“I booked a room here. .” I started. 

“Name?” 

“Adalicia Rivoire.” 

“You’re on floor nine. Here’s your room key. Your name will be on the front of your door.” 

The woman tossed the key across the tabletop. 

“Thank you,” I said, but she had already turned back to her magazine. 

I turned, looking for the elevator, which was covered with caution tape, and a sign that said: Elevator Out of Service. 

I sighed again, and headed for the stairs. Nine floors later, I opened the door to my room and collapsed on the bed. Then I pulled out my phone and texted my assistant, Aileen. 

Pierre

~

I seat myself at the banquet table, feeling like I should move stiffly and properly rather than crease my three-piece suit and tie. I hate formal clothes.

I look around. I'm still working on my English, so I'm even quieter than usual. There are only two other men, and they're both at least ten years older than me. Okay. That's a little awkward. Maybe the sailors will be nice.

"Hello," the woman on my right says. She looks my age, so really more of a girl. "I'm Aileen. I'm Assistant Zoologist."

I take a deep breath. I can do this. "Pierre," I say, holding my hand out for her to shake. "First mate."

She shakes it. "Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," I repeat, stocking that in my English vocabulary. I learned English in school, but mostly the tenses and conjugations instead of conversational English. I guess "Nice to meet you" means "Enchanté" in English.

"Where are you from?" she asks.

"Je suis de France," I say, completely forgetting where I am. I flush crimson. "France. From France."

"I'm from London," she says. She doesn't seem to notice my mistake. Good.

"Are you excited about the voyage?" she says. "I am!"

I nod. "Yes. It should be... fun."

~Aileen

I sit at the banquet table, squirming with excitement. On one side of me is the first mate, Pierre, from France, a beautiful place. I've always wanted to see it for myself! And I'm glad I'm not the youngest one here. He looks about my age, quite enchanting, actually. And he can talk in fluent French! How marvelous! 

On my other side sits Rachael Annas. I'm her assisstant, and I'm quite excited, although she is very quiet... but that doesn't matter. I smile giddily as the food comes in, and I gasp with excitement. There's marvelous food, and a beautiful glass chandelier above us, shining light down on us.

I pick up my fork and we start eating. I chatter away to Pierre, who nods along and smiles at me, saying, "Yes," or something like that every once in a while with that beautiful French accent he has. I hope to get to know him better on the boat trip, along with the captain and his wife, who I've heard are very kind and jolly. 

I turn to Rachael Annas, saying, "I'm very excited to be your assisstant! Do you want me to call you Ms. Annas, or do you prefer your first name?"

She looked surprised, then said in a soft voice, "Oh, Rachael will do perfectly." 

I nod, "There are many animals on the boat, I've heard? Aren't you excited to meet them?"

She nods, smiling, "I'm very excited, Aileen. I love animals." 

"So do I!" I smile, sure that I've come off in a good start. The table goes silent as the captain stands up, with his short, white beard and big belly, "Well, I guess this is the crew! We'll set off tomorrow morning, and I hope you all have your sea legs, because I've gotten seasick a handful of times myself when I was a young lad, and I can tell you it wasn't a pleasant feeling!" 

This brought a laugh from everyone, and I hoped that I wouldn't get seasick. It would ruin the beginning of the journey, a part I definitely did not want to miss! He continued with his speech, and I smiled, happy that soon I would be going on a journey with all these people to a newly discovered island. Adventure was something I truly craved, and now my craving was being satisfied. 

NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

IT'S TOO LATE!!!!!!!!!!

Can I join still? You need some more sea people. (aka sailors, captain, etc.) 

I can join, I call head engineer. 

Mallorie~

I arrive fashionably late to the dinner, wearing a plain blue dress. It'll be replaced with overalls soon enough.

I sit down at a table with a boy and two girls.

"Mallorie Chen," I say, "Head Engineer."

"Oh, hi!" says one girl. The other smiles and waves.

The boy turns. I grin at him. "Oh, yeah, aren't you the first mate? Cool. What's your name?"

"Pierre," he says. Oh, French.

"Ah, the Frenchiest Fry. I remember you now. I read the passenger list earlier," I grin. He blushes crimson. I wave and turn away; other crew members wave, calling me over and catcalling from afar. I laugh and sit with some sailors. 

I wave to Pierre one final time before sitting down. He waves back.

I think I'm going to like him. 

Don't let this die! come on, post, people!