GR RP "Adventures in GunRunning" ACT 23
POSTED BY: CapnRahn
UPDATED: Sunday, November 7, 2004 21:02
VIEWED: 20468
PAGE 5 of 10
JAYNE - GALLEY
"I see how it goes... let the goushi buru sucker work all day and then screw him over."
Jayne is about to let out a careless comment such as "looks like" or "least yer only losin' half a share", but Damon interrupts him by slipping a knife from his boot and lunging for his gun satchel. Jayne's hand slips onto the handle of his pistol.
Damon's eyes flicker over towards Rowan. Gan ni niang, she could really complicate matters, and Jayne had more than just a hunch that she would.
Sure enough, after a moment he hears, "Hey da jia huo! You ever consider finding someone your own size to pick on?"
He repositions his stance to accommodate two hostiles. With two quick motions of the thumb, the holster strap is popped off and the safety is disengaged. His hand remains there with the weapon in its holster. "How's about you back on up outta there an' let us handle this all quiet like."
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Book's Move
Location: His Quarters
Book pauses in mid-sip and cocks his head to one side. The intercomm clicks on and the Capn comes over... He wants me in the Cargo Bay? ...and he sounds urgent. Yet, what could make him sound like that, now? There's been no warning signal of an incoming ship. All these thoughts float through his mind as he stands up, deposits his cup on the counter next to the burner and exits in a rush. Grabbing up his Bible on the way out his door, he hurries into the Cargo Bay to find no one there. The locks on the armory cabinet doors completely safe, the sound charges intact.
EM
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MERZ move
LOCATION - DINING ROOM As ...
That has done it. DAMON has crossed the line, pulled a knife and snatched what may or may not be working firearms. MERZ believes the guns are useless, she cannot smell propellant – but the knife is not to be endured. He is sidling towards the front hallway. He glares at her and then shifts his gaze to ROWAN.
MERZ trusts ROWAN to stay out of this, does not concern her. DAMON ... Damon will not understand her actions. So be it. She has too often followed her own path.
Around her everything slows. She knows that is not true – it is a perceptual anomaly having to do with relative velocity between two moving bodies. She flashes forward towards DAMON, not to harm. Not to injure. But he will not be allowed to act.
Her right hand takes his left wrist in a grip of iron. Her left grasps his right. She locks them both in position, holding him absolutely immobile. She looks directly into his eyes, her gaze mirroring his own cold eyes.
MERZ
“STAND DOWN!"
In the background she can hear ROWAN warning someone off, prog indicates JAYNE is likely. No, must not interfere, must not risk …
MERZ
ROWAN. You stand down too. No errors here. Wait. Trust. There is something … questionable here. Don’t, please."
She turns to JAYNE. “Call Captain Reynolds. NOW!”
EOM
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress
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JAYNE - GALLEY
Once again, Merz's lightning moves are only caught peripherally as Jayne's attention is focused elsewhere.
Jayne sidesteps over to the forward portal and leans in to shout, "Cap'n! Looks like Damon an' Rowan are a little nervous 'bout seein' ya. You wanna come down here with Zoe 'nstead, or should I drag 'em up there?"
He keeps a wary eye on Rowan.
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Damon's turn:
LOCATION - GALLEY
Jayne repositions his stance to accommodate two hostiles. With two quick motions of the thumb, the holster strap is popped off and the safety is disengaged. His hand remains there with the weapon in its holster.
Damon notes Jayne’s hand on the gun, safety off. Hopefully, he knows that dead bounty collects no coin- least not nearly as much- and will be hesitant to use it- though if things go bad, it might be better if he didn’t know.
JANYE: "How's about you back on up outta there an' let us handle this all quiet like."
“Yeah, you-”
Suddenly, Merz is in front of him, moving too fast for him to react to. Her right hand takes his left wrist in a grip of iron. Her left grasps his right. She locks them both in position, holding him absolutely immobile.
His first attempt is to simply pull away, but he can’t. His fist tightens around the knife, refusing to let go of what now seems to be his only hope. “NO! Let go, you liou koe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh bun ur-tze!!” His heel comes down on Merz’s foot, followed by a hard kick to the shin. Still she doesn’t move. His pulse races, heart thundering in his ears.
MERZ
“STAND DOWN!"
“PISS OFF AND LET GO!!”
This can’t be happening… I’m dreaming, I fell asleep somewhere… Shit, no, I can’t go back…
Merz turns to JAYNE. “Call Capatin Reynolds. NOW!”
Desperation begins to set in, clouding all coherent and logical thought. He pushes, pulls, kicks, all the while yelling all the Chinese curses he knows. But still Merz doesn’t move. It’s like he’s handcuffed to an iron wall… The fear is back, slowly replacing the anger. But still he pulls, beads of sweat running down his face as he strains against Merz.
“Tzao gao, let me go!”
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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Mal hears a commotion in the Galley, he heads for the gangway at a spirted mosey. By eye he collects Zoe. Then he speeds up to a power walk.
Mid way he hears Merz say "STAND DOWN". Damon yell "TZAO GAO LET ME GO!" and then Merz again - "Call Captain Renyolds NOW."
EOM
"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"
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Inara's move
LOCATION - GALLEY Where else? ;)
Mal's voice rumbles from the bridge and Inara sighs softly to herself. Rowan isn't wrong about 'one thing in particular' preying on her mind: it's a little simplistic to say that it's only the... situation with Mal -- which, lashî Rowan seems to have perceived -- that is bothering her. But... the other woman's not wrong, which is a strange, horribly naked sort of a feeling.
She's gathering a couple of cups, a tray -- the tea has almost drawn -- when the com clicks on. Mal's voice filters through, and it is absolutely plain that something is not right. Tianna, she thinks, what now?
"Book, Mr Thorne would you be so kind to hustle into the cargo bay and secure the sounding charges and the armory. Book maybe you could say a prayer over them bang sticks."
Mal's involving Rosie in the emergency? Inara's tension rises a notch, knowing all too well Mal's opinion of her client... She sets the breakables down carefully, adjusts the girdle of her robe, tightening it. The atmosphere in the galley has changed noticably from almost calm and friendly to tense.
Damon, in particular, looks like a cornered animal.
Intercom: "Jayne, I need you to herd that Damon fella up, step level priority."
That would, perhaps be why.
The cornered-animal look on Damon's face turns frightened, frightening. Ugly, dangerous and near-feral. Mal had better have a good reason for this, Inara thinks. Is the boy a threat to them all? Why would Mal broadcast it over an open com? It makes no sense. If the boy's a threat, why give him warning? Why give him a potential opportunity to take a hostage, to hurt someone?
Merz is the first to move on Mal's command -- again, a wave of nauseous-horrible irrational jealousy (stop it, Mal wouldn't!) -- springing like a jaguar, blocking the exit from the Galley. The movement was almost inhuman, but that's not Inara's first concern here. Lines in the sand are being drawn rapidly, and it's worrying. What's going on, Mal? Inara thinks, her eyes heading to the fore corridor, expecting to see Mal strutting painfully down to take control of the situation. But he's not there yet.
Beside her, Jayne looks over to Damon and Inara tenses a little for both of them, her protective instincts split between the two men. Jayne, thankfully is calm, moving slowly, not provoking anything further, but calm doesn't necessarily mean 'not dangerous'. She feels Rowan tense, and Jayne does, too.
"'Nara, wouldja take Rowan to the ladies room or somethin'?" Inara gently takes Rowan's arm; she doesn't plan on leaving the room, and can't imagine Rowan wanting to either, but for now she'll keep trusting Mal and Jayne...
"I think the captain'd like a word with you." Jayne's voice is low, almost gentle. Inara shivers a little, nervous, the tension in the room almost suffocating.
Damon erupts, pulling a knife, going for a satchel on the table, giving Rowan a meaningful look. "Jien tah duh guay! I see how it goes… let the goushi buru sucker work all day and then screw him over. Meh, tah mah duh hwoon dahn..."
Inara can taste potential bloodshed on the horizon, but she's holding back. Rowan slips her grip -- not surprising, Inara wasn't properly trying to restrain her, more keep her calm, but Damon and Rowan seem to have ended up quite close... This could be awkward.
Again, Inara looks to the front stairs, trying to will Mal into making an appearance to sort out the chaos his announcement has caused.
"Hey da jia huo! You ever consider finding someone your own size to pick on?"
Inward eye-roll. "Rowan, dear, you're not Jayne's size," Inara points out gently. "I think we should
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MERZ move
LOCATION - DINING ROOM
She is strong, no doubt about it. But DAMON is taller than her, broader in all directions. She can hold him, but she cannot hold him still. Not without injuring him.
Her abilities were never geared for restraint ... His struggles are beginning to buffet them both, a perceptible sway in all directions. Still MERZ is frozen in her place, preventing DAMON from any real movement in any direction. She takes each blow landed on her with no reaction. She leans back against every pull, stands firm against every push.
A single bead of sweat drops down the side of her face, the only indication of the struggle that she shows.
EOM
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress
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Mal reaches the Galley lock as Jayne yells, "Cap'n! Looks like Damon an' Rowan are a little nervous 'bout seein' ya. You wanna come down here with Zoe 'nstead, or should I drag 'em up there?"
MAL
"I'm right here!"
As he enters to the top of the fore hatch stairs.
He surveys the little passion play that was incited by his test of Damon. Apparently the boy had failed-he was too unstable to trust. A savvy person would play casual and move slowly, evaluate potentials -- it was a wonder Damon had survived to this point.
The niggling doubt about Damon is now a full fledged worry. Kid musta not kept his head in a crisis. Didn't the little hwoon dahn remember ANYthing from the past few days.
Like the fact nearly EVERYBODY on Serenity was on the run from the Feds and not Alliance friendly enough to collect the Big bounties, you had to deal with the Marshall's. Jayne had learned THAT harsh lesson. Suddenly Book's com unit springs into his mind -- no, Mal trusted Book. Damon was no where near Book's caliber of honor. Now if Damon hurt anybody cause of this, Mal had seriously misread the boy.
MAL looks quizzically at the assembly and says "WhaHuhWho ... I only wanted Damon. Needed to talk to him. Bout him joining the crew."
Mal now knows that Damon was eavesdropping - if they had a situation - Damon was sure to panic at the first sign of perfidy -- and that could kill everybody aboard Serenity. Better to know from a prank, than in fire-fight with Niska's men or even just Early.
Damon had to go, if this was his standard reaction to sudden twists of events.
Locking eyes brimming with disappointment with Damon's, Mal walks slowly towards him - with his pistol in Mal's left hand.
The whole room seems riveted on Mal. He steps down the stairs slowly and with care. Striding over slowly he lays a gentle hand on Inara's shoulder and nods at her. She seems to be a bit flabbergasted, and automatacally moves aside just enough for Mal to face Damon.
He examines Damon's captured knife and hand closely and with great attention to detail .. slowly. He then leans in and whispers loudly in Damon's ear.
"Been pokin' yer ears where they ought not be? Heard stuff that could be misunderstood have ya? Then panicked ... Panic is a liability. You a liability?" He dosen't allow Damon to answer.
"I don't know a GORRAMED thing about you ... knew you were there dragging you ears where they wernt invited ... and I lied. I HAD thought I saw a spark of potential in you - I suppoz I was wrong."
He steps back and crosses his arms, his stormy blue eyes boring into Damon - spilling over with extreme disappointment and even a little pain.
OOC
Not final draft post - just an idea holder ... tootired to think right.
"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"
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Slights move:
Slight slightly mocks Malachi, still speaking into his mind.
Better come back
Suddenly, he starts to feel a backwash. The power he has is limited. Apparently his "death" has limited his abilities. Oh well.
He lets his powers fade, hoping that the threat will not realize he ran out of juice.
Faster, faster, time runs out! Faster, faster, before you scream, before you shout!
We can't all be heroes, since some of us have to sit at the curb and clap as they go by.
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