GR RP "Adventures in GunRunning" ACT 23
POSTED BY: CapnRahn
UPDATED: Sunday, November 7, 2004 21:02
VIEWED: 20468
PAGE 7 of 10
Wash's & Kaylee's Move:
Location - Bridge to Bridge Lounge
Mal: "First off, Wash, lock down both shuttles NOW, doors and all."
(Wash does this, not really paying attention to Mal's or the bridge's occupants by-play going on right behind him. He is lost in his own thoughts... Who and why and how were spy monitors placed throughout Serenity, how did Rowan stumble across them, and how did Kaylee miss them? When he looks up from his course work, the bridge is cleared, except for Kaylee... there are some voices coming in from the open door to the bridge, but nothing to be worried about.)
(With a double-take he sees Kaylee is sitting on the floor, behind the navigation/gunnery console... and she appears to be... crying?)
Wash: (to himself): "Uh-oh... Zoe never cries... what to do?" (Louder, to Kaylee): "What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself?... It's ok about the monitors, I guess they're small, and you were never lookin' for them... Please stop crying... help me make you stop..."
**********
MAL's words, tossed off so casually, are still ringin' in her ears. "... before our Simon went space crazy an jumped ship." a reminder she did not need. And then that bit about 'slavers plat bein' just as good as anyone elses', when she remembers him sayin', "... best location for a slaver is the guest of honor at a funeral." He's looking back and forth between Wash and Zoe ... and she don't understand, quite, what is goin' on... He sends Jayne to collar Damon, and what's that all about?
Mal and Zoe leave the bridge and there's shoutin' from the Galley. More bad feelin's ... Her stomach hurts, and Kaylee sits on the deck and curls around the pain... and the pain in her heart.
"What's wrong? Did you hurt yourself ...?" Wash sounds awful concerned. Wonder who he's talkin' to? She looks up to find him looking her straight in the eyes. "It's ok about the monitors, I guess they're small, and you were never lookin' for them... Please stop crying... help me make you stop."
Dear Wash. He's such a softy. She looks up at him, and scrubs the tears from her eyes with her fists, like a small child.
KAYLEE
Oh, Wash, do you think Simon's OK? I'm so worried 'bout him. And all the bad feelin's here on Serenity and shoutin' and Mal and 'Nara tiptoein' round each other like they's land mines. Is it ever gonna get better?"
Wash stands up, and holds out a hand to help Kaylee up. Puzzled she allows him to bring her to her feet.
WASH
“Let’s go sit in the Pilot’s Lounge, and you can tell me all about it. It always gets better. You’ll see.”
EOM
To be continued...
OOC: the Pilots Lounge is the sunken chamber in front of the bridge reached by the forward stairs. There are futons and easy chairs located there, at Wash’s request.
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress
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JAYNE - FORE HALL
Merz looks up at Jayne. "That's it. Ready to go."
"Ya din't hafta go an' do that. Hell, I'll prob'ly catch shi just cause you were the one hurt an' not me." Jayne stands next to the ladder with one hand outstretched expectantly for her bag. Merz, however, walks around him and proceeds up the ladder.
Jayne stays for a moment. He looks under the mattress and the bed, in the recesses of the washroom equipment and the night stand drawers. After he is satisfied that no weapons have been accidentally left behind, he returns up the ladder to the fore hall and tries to catch up with Merz.
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MERZ move
LOCATION – (PERSON) DORMS
JAYNE"Ya din't hafta go an' do that. Hell, I'll prob'ly catch shi just cause you were the one hurt an' not me."
MERZ climbs the ladder one handed, the handles of both bags clutched in her left hand. JAYNE is delayed in his ascent, having taken the time to verify that nothing of interest is left behind in the room. A reasonable precaution, which she would have taken, had she not known the precise location of everything she had brought with her.
MERZ does not wait for him to finish casing her room. Mission Parameters were given: "the speedier the better," and she is obeying. JAYNE catches up with her about halfway through the Galley on the way to the passenger rooms.
MERZ
"No reason you should 'catch shi' for my actions, Jayne. It is my function, to go first. Captain Reynolds is an honorable man. He will understand. This hurt - is nothing."
EOM
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress
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Malachi's Move
Location: In pain
The blood drips from his nose and eyes, his temples throb with the pressure of the vessels constricting. Holding his gloved hands up to his helmet, he considers releasing the catch and ending it all. Damn Blue Sun! He knows what's happening to him, it's happened before, it always seems to happen when someone wants something from him that he doesn't want to give.
Why else do people become murderers, assassins? Aren't they all made to do so, like he was? Aren't their perceptions and inhibitions striped away? It didn't matter anymore. Nothing really did. He was long past caring who controlled him. Malachi hated everything. He hated this man, controlling him. He hated the ones who sent him here after this man. He hated himself. Perhaps this was his end. "I recognize you... your kind at least." He sneered soundlessly into the emptiness, knowing the man could hear him.
------
"Better come back"
------
Malachi considered. This man had already survived the impossible. Twice he had unexpectedly forced the man into a vacuum and twice the man had survived. It was more than likely that regardless of what he did, the man on the ship would survive. The only real choice that remained to him was whether or not he wanted to go on. It would be so easy to let go. An end to the pain. It would be so easy. But he was a survivor. He always had been.
"I come."
As he releases his will yet again to the Blue Sun, he remembers long ago how he tried to close off a part of his mind. Tried to keep it safe from them. A part that grew smaller with each passing year since he was a boy drawn out of school and taken away. The part that was himself. The part that he knew if he lost, it would be his ultimate loss. They broke down every wall though. And now I am what I am.
Inside his mind a deep laugh echoed and the pressure began to subside.
-----
"Faster, faster, time runs out! Faster, faster, before you scream, before you shout!"
-----
Malachi turned with a shot of pressurized air from a vent on his suit and began to float back towards the hatch of the man's ship, and as he did he spoke. "Tell me that you want to kill Book as much as I do."
EM
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Inara's move
LOCATION(s) GALLEY, INARA’S SHUTTLE & then back to the GALLEY
Inara remains a breath behind Mal as Damon pleads softly to be let go; her heart goes out to the boy. She stands her ground as Mal dismisses him, sending Merz and Jayne out of the galley, too. Mal seems... weary. Weary as Inara, herself, feels, but he's channelling it into action somewhat. She saw the look in his dark eyes change as he faced down Damon, can see the pain and tension in how he holds himself.
She places her hand gently on the small of Mal's back, before moving away. Bends, flashing a little more leg than she would like, and picks up the fallen knife, setting it on the dining room table. It's then Inara realises that she's cold. Silk, as a natural fibre, does preserve body heat well... but she's still cold. Mal's hand, warm on her shoulder, had been a contrast, and she should really put some clothes on... Especially if she's to be around the crew.
Rosie's not in the galley yet, so Inara slips down the back stairs, along the catwalks, and into her shuttle. She stops, sighs. This place is less of a refuge than it usually is... and it smells strongly of sex. She burns some ylang ylang incense, and watches the tendrils of smoke writhe in the half-light, watches the glow at the tip slowly eat away at the sweet-smelling stick. It's a meditative exercise, and one Inara could all too easily get caught up in.
She crosses to her wardrobe and removes the blouse and skirt that have become her casual wear, the pale skirt with the ruffles from the knees down, the orange embroidered silk blouse with the flared sleeves and the deep v-neckline. Inara hasn't worn this outfit in a while, she notes.
Her hands crush the material convulsively as she remembers why.
Remembers scrubbing Nandi's blood from the ruffles. Remembers her own tears. The last time she wore this was the beginning of the end. She remembers telling Mal she was leaving Serenity: a decision never followed through upon. A decision that had broken her heart and ultimately hollowed out something inside of her, leaving a gaping empty place that she's still trying to fill...
They're just clothes. Don't be stupid. (Except for the fact that, as a Companion, she knows that clothes are often the outward means of expressing an inward state of being, that clothes can frame a person and how others view them. There's no such thing as 'just clothes'.)
She sets the outfit down on the end of her (unmade) bed, resolving not to be silly, and brushes out her hair until it gleams, thick and glossy. Pins it up atop her head, a thoughtless, elaborate twist. Warm water, jasmine soap, and her soft sponge: a quick wash down before pulling on peach lace underthings and her clothes. Necklace, shoes, and she heads back out of the shuttle to rejoin the crew, hoping that things haven't gone to hell in her absence.
She climbs the back stairs again, and stands in the doorway to the galley. Lurking, again. Just quietly observing from the periphery. This is getting to be a habit...
EOM
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JAYNE - GALLEY to PASSENGER QUARTERS
Stepping quickly through the galley, Jayne waits until no one is talking before he calls out, "The room's clean, Mal."
He catches up to Merz as she begins descending the stairs to the lower levels, where she picks up the previous conversation. "No reason you should 'catch shi' for my actions, Jayne. It is my function, to go first."
"We'll see."
"Captain Reynolds is an honorable man. He will understand. This hurt - is nothing."
"Least I know you're good to have round in a fight. That's gonna make me breath a whole lot easier t'morra." Jayne wasn't spending a lot of concious time thinking about it, but he was becoming comfortable with Merz. This was completely separate from his appreciation of her fine physique and actually went beyond gender. She acted so efficient and with such strength, he could almost consider her "one of the boys".
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ROWAN: "It'll be ready in time for your little shindig, captain. Provided everyone behaves from this point on. I've only started the prep work so far."
... If this woman was part of the skittish behavior Jayne was about, she certainly kept a cool head. Naw, Jayne is readin' wrong - as usual. But still, Rowan doesn't seem to be too riled and he could read in her this - she knew her time was soon coming to choose: to talk straight or not.
Eyes still locked on Damon, Mal is startled when a small cool hand rests on his lower back. ~~Connection~~ A warm sensation spreads from the point of contact, warming his resolve and reminding him of - her ... her strength. Steadied and resolute, his path was solidified. As silently as it was placed there, the hand withdrew.
Movement shifted around Mal in a shifting of colors, smells and indistinct sound. His attention was fixed upon Damon and all else was now inconsequential. Damon had backed up and was rubbing his wrists. His eyes were downcast and his who demeanor was of shock and numbness. A numbness that came from a crash from the heights of an Adrenaline rush.
Mal let him have his isolation for a few moments. Mal ears perked up as he heard the heavy tread of Jayne enter the galley.
JAYNE
"The room's clean, Mal."
MAL
... voice still eerily neutral...
"Excellent. Need to jaw with you -- don't go skippin' off too far."
Mal walks over to Damon and places a hand gently but firmly on his shoulder and squeezes once. Once Damon raises his head, Mal nods over his shoulder to the fore galley entrance. When the kids eyes flicker to the door, Mal drops his hand. Damon's eyes jump back only to see Mal turn and head for the stairs.
As Mal and Merz pass he glances over to her eyes. As they lock, his eyes fill with approval and appreciation. Without hesitation, Mal closes his left eye then his right and opens both together. This is an old military code that said: "Well done solider, carry on". He hope she knows it. And with that Mal was up the stairs and out of the Galley.
EOM
OOC: Sorry - yet another "Idea Holder" bizzy bizzy bizzy today!
"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"
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Slight chuckles.
Not today. But sometime, perhaps. Call me Puppet-I've actually left the Blue Sun. I have no desire to kill something right now. Let's just say our goal coincides at the moment.
Slight pulls out his pack, extremely tired. This is going to be tough. How is he going to get out of this one?
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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JAYNE - PASSENGER QUARTERS back to GALLEY
Jayne follows Merz to the passenger dorms, but she obviously knows where she's going and doesn't need Jayne showing her how to use the door. "Make sure ya give that foot a good lookin' at. Don't want any surprises t'morra."
With that, he turns and heads back up to the Galley. He pauses briefly at the bottom of the stairs to look through the lower levels of Serenity. Not much happening down here. Good. With that, he pounces up the stairs.
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Damon's turn:
LOCATION - GALLEY
Damon knows his alone time is over when sees Mal’s boots stop in front of him. He tenses when Mal’s hand comes to his shoulder but he doesn’t make any move to show his discomfort. He raises his gaze, still visibly shaken by the whole ordeal, and locks eyes with Mal- not angry or fearful, just… waiting. Mal nods over his shoulder to the fore galley entrance and releases Damon’s shoulder when he looks. Mal starts walking and Damon knows he’s expected to follow.
Maybe it’s because he’s hurting and exhausted, maybe it’s because he’s still winding down from a familiar fear, maybe it’s because he knows he would have lost it all if this had been real, or maybe it’s simply because he knows that Mal is not Crofton. But whatever the reason, he is feeling unnaturally compliant- as if it no longer mattered what happened.
What are you doing? Come on, snap out of it. Everything’s going to be fine. Tomorrow we’re landing on NH, I’ll be given a job to do, I’m gettin paid…
He starts to follow Mal and winces as pain from his gut shoots up along his broken ribs. He lifts his shirt an inch or two to see fresh blood on his bandage- another reason why thrashing against Merz wasn’t the brightest of ideas.
Oh, shi- Merz…
Damon turns to see Merz passing, with Jayne on her heel. He feels a stab of pain pierce his chest at her betrayal and equally strong is a pang of guilt for hurting her. Women are not to be hurt. Part of him wants to say that she deserved it- anyone who grabs him like that is asking to get something bruised. But he doesn’t believe that. He knows she was just doing her job and now he knows that job has priority over everything else.
Mal’s boots against the metal stairs of the galley pulls his attention back. Time to finally talk. Damon starts walking again, feeling and looking more like himself with each step, ignoring the pain from his injuries as if it was second nature. He follows Mal down the hall and watches him decend into one of the bunks. When he hears Mal touch the floor, Damon follows.
The room is small, simple, undecorated. It has a bed, a chair at a small table and a small sink and mirror with what he knows will be what he calls a space toilet beneath it. No window. He would have traded his bed for a window. Oh well, at least he’ll have his privacy.
He stands with his back to the ladder and watches Mal with an inward sigh. It’s always something…
OOC: edited to have Mal enter first as requested 
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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