No Being Sacrificed To Giant Serpent Gods For Us (For Polos and Kiras)

Axel jumped at the sudden loud 'bang' that resounded around the room. His head jerked around in the direction of the noise, and he cast a cautious eye over the jet of steam issuing from some part of the machinery.
Ruth said something about needing to close a valve, so Axel just nodded mutely, and followed her over to the treacherous jet of steam.
He watched anxiously as Ruth crawled under the pipe. After a moment, she called to him, "Well, it's stuck. I'll need you to slide a few tools over to me."
"Sure." He replied instantly, grabbing the toolbox, and scratching urgently through it for a moment, before he realized that he didn't yet know what tool Ruth needed.
"What do you need?" He asked, dropping to his knees beside the pipe, toolbox under his palm.

Ruth hesitated a moment, studying the valve carefully. It was really smooth, so she needed a wrench that was rough...
"Slide the alligator wrench over here." She said, not bothering to take into consideration that he might not know what on Earth that was. She blinked as she realized this, then glanced over at him. "It's the one that looks like it has teeth." She explained, then attemptec to turn the valve again, but to no avail.

"Got it." Axel replied, selecting the correct wrench from the toolbox, then leaning under the pipe to hand it to Ruth. "Let me know if there's anything else I can do..." He added helpfully, trailing off in a slightly shy fashion. He glanced aside, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly, then pulled up a little wooden stool that was leaning against the wall, and sat down to watch Ruth work.
The room was hot was the steam, and Axel could feel sweat dripping off his forehead. He shuddered involuntarily at the unwelcome feeling, and automatically removed his glasses, hooking them onto the front of his shirt so he could wipe the sweat away from his forehead.
It left his hair standing up in a spiky fashion, but he didn't seem to mind. Ironically, it actually looked better than in its usual mop-like state.
"You got it?" He asked Ruth after a while, "If it's too tight, I could give it a try... I mean, maybe. If you show me what to do..." He swallowed nervously, losing confidence halfway through speaking just like he usually did.
Then again, at least he actually was speaking now. That in itself was an improvement, especially considering he'd known this girl barely a day.

Ruth picked up the wrench, and set to work on the valve. It was definitely a lot of work, but after a while of trying she got it unstuck and was able to turn it. She looked over her shoulder, and the steam dissipated. She grinned and Axel and pulled her gloves off.
"Nope, looks like I got it." She told him, walking over to him. Her face was shiny with sweat, and little pieces of hair had fallen out and were now framing her face. She grinned up at him, then seemed to notice his hair.
"Oh." She said, her mouth forming into the same shape as the letter 'o'. "Your hair looks nice like that." She said, giving a 'not-bad' frown and nodding.
Ruth shoved the wrench into the tool box, then shut it and locked it. She sighed a bit, and looked around the engine room. It had cooled off considerably, but was still very hot and stuffy. Her kind of place.
She wiped her brow off again and then headed on out into the hallway. "Thanks for your help, Axel." She said with a grin as she turned back to him.

When Ruth commented on his hair, Axel blinked at her in surprise, and stammered awkwardly, "Th-thanks..." He reached up a hand to touch his hair, blushing slightly, then cleared his throat, and unhooked his glasses from his shirt - slipping them back on so he could hide behind them.
Ruth walked past him out into the hallway, then turned back, and said with a grin, "Thanks for your help, Axel."
"I just passed you a wrench..." He chuckled in response, managing an awkward smile as he followed her out into the hallway. The air was much cooler out there, and hhe shuddered at the sudden change in temperature.
"That was, um..." He blurted suddenly, endearingly shy as ever, "That was impressive. You... You really know your stuff."

"But a mighty helpful wrench!" She interjected, smiling at him.
Then it was Ruth's turn to be embarassed when he blurted out his praise. She blushed and looked down at the ground.
"Nah, all I did was fix a valve. You haven't seen anything." She told him, waving off his compliment with ease. "My dad was definitely someone worth watching. This'll sound corny, but the way he fixed things...it was like he was that one Greek god." She paused to remember the god's name, "Hephaestus! It was like he was him." She confrimed with a nod, grinning. A bit of sadness danced through her eyes, but it was laced with happy memories, which ultimately pushed the sorrow down.

"He sounds incredible." Axel replied kindly, offering a gentle smile. Judging by the look in Ruth's eyes, he assumed she didn't see much of her father, though whether he was deceased or just absent, Axel couldn't tell, and he knew better than to ask. If Ruth wanted to talk about it, she would. Life had taught him that.
"So..." He changed the subject innocently, falling into step beside Ruth as they began walking away from the engine room, "Why did you come on this expedition anyway?" He asked curiously, casting her a questioning glance. Once he'd been talking to people - especially Ruth - for a while, he tended to become a little more comfortable and confident in himself, and managed to make conversation more easily.

"He was incredible." She agreed softly, nodding. She stared down at the floor, then straightened her back and squared her shoulders, putting on a pleasant facade.
"You really want to know?" She asked, casting him a sideways look with a half-smile. She looked ahead and lifted her eyes to the ceiling. She shoved her free hand into her back pocket and thought about it.
"Well, I haven't had much else to do around here. They originally asked my cousin, who's also an engineer, but he had 'other plans' and convinced them to take me instead. I guess you could say it was the opportunity of a lifetime. I mean, what other chance would I get to explore South America?" She asked, though really didn't expect an answer. She looked over at him and tilted her head.
"What about you? What could possibly possess you to come along this insane expedition?" Ruth asked with a wink.

Axel considered Ruth's reply, and nodded in understanding. Of course, it was an opportunity not to be missed... She was lucky to be on the expedition. They both were.
He smiled slightly at her, then considered her with a thoughtful eye as she asked, "What about you? What could possibly possess you to come along on this insane expedition?"
"Well," He laughed, "I don't exactly know why I'm here. I'm pretty useless, really - but I did design the ships navigational software, so I suppose they invited me along to update the software to plot a map for our route." Axel shrugged, "That's what they said anyway, but I don't know. Either way, I'm glad I'm here. As you said, it's the opportunity of a lifetime..."
He trailed off, turning his gaze to stare absentmindedly into the distance.
What if the fountain was real? He thought that it was. Or maybe he was just wishing, because deep down he knew it was a legend... But if it was real, he needed it. So, so badly - for reasons he did not care to express.

"Useless?" She repeated, scoffing and shaking her head. "Hardly. So far you've done two incredibly helpful, as well as dangerous, things and helped me a load. I wouldn't say that's useless." Ruth glanced over at him and shook her head. She stopped by the door to her cabin, then looked down at her grimy hands.
"I ought to clean up a bit." She said looking back up at him. She realized he seemed to be off somewhere else entirely, and since the usual glint of his glasses wasn't obscuring her vision she could see a bit of sadness swimming through the blue. Ruth took a step back and opened the door using her hand behind her.
"I'll see you later?" She asked, waiting to go through.

Axel smiled slightly at Ruth's response, shrugging his shoulders self-consciously, and muttering a barely coherent word of thanks.
"I ought to clean up a bit." Ruth said suddenly, and Axel turned his attention back to her. "I'll see you later?"
"Yeah." He nodded, managing another small smile. "Later."
He bid her farewell, then headed back to his own room, and flopped down on his bed with his laptop to make a few little adjustments to his program. When he was done, he headed out onto the deck, and found a quiet place to sit.
The sun had come out through the clouds now, and with its subtle warmth on the back of his neck, Axel flicked leisurely through the pages of a book, enjoying the suddenly warm weather.

Ruth quickly washed herself off and came out of her lavatory with a towel wrapped around her head. She quickly put on a new pair of shorts and another tank top. She pulled the towel off and wrung out her hair, then brushed her hair out and braided it down her back.
She grabbed her notebook and walked out of her room, looking up and down the hallway before walking up to the deck and toward the mess.

[ha. I'm sorry. I have no brain xD]

((Me neither, Dude. Welcome to my life. XD ))

Hearing the creaking of the floor, Axel looked up, and saw that Ruth had emerged above the deck - notebook in her hand. He wasn't sure whether or not to greet her, so he looked away - pretending he hadn't noticed her arrival. His gaze shifted to the horizon, and he squinted as he saw something in the distance, splitting sea from sky.
Surprised by this sudden change in what for so long had just been a monotonous seascape, Axel leaped up - dropping his book - and dashed to the edge of the deck, where the ship held a built-in telescope. He grabbed it, tossed his glasses unconcernedly aside, and pressed his eye to the end, then swung it to face what he was sure was a distant landmass.

He was right. They had come upon an uncharted island, and as the winds picked up and filled the sails, they began speeding ever closer, and the distant speck of darkness gradually began to grow.
"Ruth!" Axel called, leaving the telescope and beckoning to her, "An island- We're getting closer!"
It was the first time his voice had betrayed any sort of excitement about the mission, but now it was obvious in his grin, and the eagerness in his magical blue eyes. In fact, in his excitement, he seemed to completely forget his shyness.

Ruth looked around the deck, catching sight of Axel. She was about to make her way toward him when he became uncharacteristically excited and bounced off towards the ships telescope. Ruth stood still for a bit, unsure of what to do. He looked as though he was going to pee himself, but she figured she would keep that thought to herself.
When he called her over, however, she was quick to oblige. "Land, you say?" she asked, taking the telescope and looking through. "Oh!" She exclaimed, stepping back and grinning. "We have to go tell someone!" She said excitedly, bouncing from foot to foot. "Come on!" She ran off toward the Captain's quarters and threw the door open.
"Captain! There's an island!" She said, rather loudly. But at the moment she didn't particularly care. "An island! Axel found it!"

Axel stepped back to let Ruth look through the telescope, and though he pushed his glasses back onto his face, he did not stop beaming. He could not wait for the expedition to begin in earnest, and now that it seemed they were finally there, it was all he could do to contain himself.
After a brief moment, Ruth pulled back looking as excited as he felt, and exclaimed with a grin, "We have to go tell someone!"
Axel just smiled uncertainly, but with a bouncy step she added, "Come on!", and he wasn't strong-willed enough to resist the urging of her voice.
When she ran off, he followed more slowly behind her, finally shuffling to a stop at the door to the captain's quarters - hands deep in his pockets and eyes locked shyly on his feet. He listened as Ruth told the captain of the island, and blushed when she added that he had found it.
"It was nothing really." He mumbled under his breath, although he knew that without his software, the ship would probably never have reached the island. As this thought occurred to him, he felt perhaps a small spark of pride, but sadly not enough to drown out his insecurities.
He looked down again, shuffling his feet awkwardly, and waited to be told to leave.