RP: "Adventures in Gunrunning" - Act 10
POSTED BY: FrauDirektor
UPDATED: Thursday, March 4, 2004 20:12
VIEWED: 17840
PAGE 7 of 11
LOCATION - INFIRMARY
As ...
RIVER
"She still has the most beautiful eyes."
SIMON still in the middle of the procedure, notices RIVER standing nearby.
SIMON
with a light smile and much affection in his voice...
"Mei-mei, could you hand me the PermaLense Keratotomy tool over there on the sideboard?"
EOM
"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"
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LOCATION - CARGO BAY
Book's Move
Book's mind rolls over many different passages from many different versions of the Bible. He thinks to himself...
The Lord told many people in many places that the way to defeat their enemies was to wait until they were drunk, and then move in easily.
Book waits until Jayne's stumbling brings him nearby and says, "Jayne, you're going to fall down."
Book catches Jaynes wandering eyes and points him to a crate. "Sit, just sit."
EM
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LOCATION - INFIRMARY
Rowan's Ruminations:
"Recording angels and the poets of the night bring back the trophies of the battles that we fight. Searchlights fill the open skies and I surrender." He follows her around the table, pausing within four feet of her. She still can't see his face. She isn't looking, in point of fact, staring down at the nine ball instead.
This time when she sinks it - because it has never been a matter of IF - will things change, or stay the same? Will she go on as she has been, trying to forget, surviving from planet to planet, trying to lose herself in brief, meaningless throes of passion, playing game after game of nine-ball, or will she have to choose?
"Do you remember the last line of that passage?" he asks again.
She does choose - to ignore him for now - and leans down into the shot. Nine ball. Corner pocket.
She's about to take the shot when his hand comes down and covers the cue ball. Startled, she looks up and follows the line of the cream herringbone suit all the way up his arm to his shoulder and finds herself looking into his eyes.
Clear, deep brown to the point of being black, fathomless. There is such wisdom there, such depth of spirit that she feels she could easily be swallowed up by it. It was what made her fall in love with him in the first place. How he can say so much with just one look.
"Tell me the last line, mêilì long."
His voice, so easily able to touch her heartstring and to gently pluck. Only he had called her Beautiful Dragon. She will never allow it from anyone else and hearing it now only opened the chasm in her heart that much further.
"Scarcely," she whispers, stops, then starts again. "Scarcely had I passed by them, when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let him go."
She sees his smile, the one that made her aware that his feelings for her were not just a teacher's affection for a former student. God, how can she have ever thought that she could forget? Not him, but the connection they had shared. The sense of quiet unity that now, without him, left her feeling hollowed out and dead inside?
"Xiang." She reaches for him, nearly touches his face. His hand lifts away from the cue ball as if to cover it, just before he fades to smoke and vanishes like a character in one of the ancient stories. Frozen there, she lets her hand fall, and then her gaze. She stares again at the cue ball and the nine - the last ball. The last choice.
She hears the next line in her head and all around in the vacant space, half whispered, the voice unidentifiable. "Outrageous cries of love have called me back. Derailed the trains of thought, demolished wayward tracks. You tell me I've no need to wonder why I just surrender."
EOM
OOC: The David Sylvian lyrics are from the track "I Surrender" on the Dead Bees on Cake CD. The passage is still Song of Solomon. Sometimes you just gotta go with the greats.
She can wake up now...hello? Anybody out there?
We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922
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Thorne's Move:
Location: Cargo bay/His quarters
[THORNE completes setting up the cargo bay for the load. As he leaves he sees the Shepherd trying to keep JAYNE from falling over. To avoid the potential tension when SIMON and SLIGHT meet again, he goes up through the galley and down the aft stairs to his quarters.
He removes his soiled clothes and takes a quick sponge bath, then shaves and dresses in fresh clothes.]
"Keep the Shiny side up"
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Mal's Move:
Location: Bridge/Port Shuttle
[MAL nods at WASH's affirmation thet the scanners are on line]
MAL:"Guess I'll get down an' see if that DAMON fella really can get th' laser installed. Holler if anything happens."
[Heading across the catwalk, MAL sees THORNE heading for the galley, and BOOK minding the staggering JAYNE. He reached the shuttland and raps on the port.]
MAL:"Damon. Time to earn your keep. You awake in there?"
"Keep the Shiny side up"
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Damon's turn:
Location: spare shuttle
Damon wakes up with a start when he hears someone knocking.
MAL:"Damon. Time to earn your keep. You awake in there?"
He looks around the small shuttle and slowly remembers where he is.
"Yeah, I'm up," he calls. He stands up and checks the time. He had been sleeping for just under 30 minutes.
"Tzao gao," he mutters to himself. Somehow sleep was never a luxury that he could enjoy.
Walking over to the door, he opens it and sees the captain waiting for him.
"What's up?"
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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I'm loving Rowan's dream Channain!
________
River obeys Simon's request, and grabs the PermaLense Keratotonomy tool, though she seems to be more fascinated with Rowan than anything else. She says:
Yes, you held him and you wouldn't let go. But someone did, and both are lost.
She hands Simon the tool.
_________
_____________
"Freedom is the Freedom to say that 2+2 makes 4. If that is granted, all else follws"-Winston, 1984
Teela Brown, keeper of bad typing.
"No one reads these things any way."- Bart on Blackboard
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LOCATION - INFIRMARY
As ...
RIVER
"Yes, you held him and you wouldn't let go. But someone did, and both are lost."
RIVER hands Simon the tool.
As SIMON turns to accepts the implement, he sees a shocked expression flash across INARAs face, then her normal expression drop back into place.
SIMON accepts the tool and holds onto RIVERs hand for a moment. He gazes at her with a calm and easy expression of love. He seems to be fully enjoying this brief moment of quiet connection with her. But as in all things it must end, SIMON turns to finish flensing ROWANs damaged contact lens away from her cornea.
SIMON completes the procedure and checks ROWANs vitals. She will be in a deep comatose state for a short while.
SIMON decides that she needs the rest in order to recuperate fully. He then places a Rapiheal patch over ROWANs right eye.
With a bit of luck the swelling in her eye will be nearly nonexistent in a few hours.
SIMON shakes his head in a small silent and ironic laugh - ROWAN will have a small scar to commemorate her encounter with NISKA.
SIMON suddenly feels as if he is being watched. He quickly looks over his shoulder to the door. Framed in the doors window is ZOE and SLIGHT.
SIMON visibly sighs. It was time for him to apologize to SLIGHT in a proper manner.
The information on the memory stick SLIGHT gave SIMON was more than he had believed was possible.
But to fully understand what was done to RIVER, SIMON knew that he would really need the progress reports from the Academy butchers records.
SIMON briefly wonders if SLIGHT may have any leads in that direction.
Unbidden, a plan begins to form in SIMONs mind. The plan was somewhat reckless, but it just may work. SIMON decides to talk to SLIGHT privately and see if his plan was feasible in SLIGHTs opinion.
Yes, SIMON thinks, that is the right course. With that in mind, SIMON turns to see if his peace-offering project was complete. Totally lost in thought SIMON forgets he is not alone.
"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"
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SLIGHT pauses at the door, finding it locked. ZOE taps on the door, nodding at SIMON.
ZOE: "Whatever you have to say to the doc, be quick about it. Ain't no need to be makin' him lose his head and pummel you again. You say what you need to say, then get out."
SLIGHT: "You know, it seems to bear quite a bit of repetition-I underwent many of the similar treatments River had to go through. It was my father, and not me, who ordered these. . . upgrades. And no one seems to be interested in the fact that I am trying to save her."
ZOE: "Don't much matter what you're trying to do. What you are doin' is makin' folk a might uncomfortable. May have escaped your notice, but most folks 'round here got plenty o' reason to hate anything to do with Blue Sun. What with you bein' a Blue Sun assassin an' all, I don't think anyone here's like to take to you any time soon."
SLIGHT smiles sadly. "How'd you know?"
"I fought in the war." ZOE answers bitingly. "I've seen that look in Core operatives a hundred times. Tells me just what I can expect from you, and I ain't likely to subject that girl to anything you'd care to do."
SLIGHT sighs, and shrugs. "I left, didn't I?" He suddenly snarls. "I walked away from that. I knew the crimes I was commiting, but walking away didn't seem like an option. True believers in the Blue Sun. . . Tell me, if you betrayed the captain, how long would it take him to kill you?"
ZOE doesn't even blink. "Wouldn't happen. Not that I expect you to understand that, or that it's any o' your business."
"If you did, you would be dead before your next breath," SLIGHT finishes. "Well, death would be a blessing if I turned on Blue Sun. They would make the Reavers look like compassionate monks as far as the torture I would endure. The only way I even managed to turn off was in the middle of a mission."
ZOE locks eyes with him, not flinching as his bloodred gaze meets hers. "So you finally got it in your head to help folks. Don't mean you didn't crawl out o' a pit of blood lookin' to be a hero."
SLIGHT smiles, resembling a sorrowful demon. "You fought in the war. Didn't you?"
ZOE: "Damn right, and wasn't lookin' to be a hero 'bout it, neither." ZOE pauses for a beat, folding her arms over her chest. "You just say whatever you need to quick, then let the doc and his sister be. We'll be reachin' the Valley soon enough, and you can go be a hero to your heart's content."
Everyone Dies. Someone's carrying a bullet for you, doesn't even know it. The trick is, to die of old age before he finds you.
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Book's Move
LOCATION - CARGO BAY
Book steers Jayne to a crate and thumps him down heavily. Jayne's eyes wander over the cargo bay. "What's he looking for now, Rowan or more tequila? Book thinks to himself. Jayne mumbles a tune under his breath, then bursts out loudly with the words, "...the man they call meee."
"Stay right there." Book says to Jayne
Book tries to give Jayne a withering look, but Jayne's eyes have closed as his singing lowers again. Book turns away and heads up the metal stairway in the cargo bay to the fore stairs and into the galley.
LOCATION - GALLEY
Rummaging through the boxes of supplies that Thorne brought aboard, Book finds what he was looking for. He rises from the box, and carries two small packets to the stove.
He sets some water to boil, then goes back to the boxes. He notes the fresh vegetables with a smile, and removes them from the box to a refrigerated cubby hole.
Down at the bottom of one of the boxes, he finds another case of tequila (undamaged) and smiling again, decides to hide it away before it gets consumed in a great gluttonous binge.
EM
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