Life Onboard Serenity: #40 - Burnt Stew, Dinner and a Job - Let's Celebrate!
POSTED BY: EnglishIvy
UPDATED: Tuesday, December 16, 2008 19:54
VIEWED: 23027
PAGE 10 of 11
Pain and Ivy's Bunk
Pain had fallen asleep while watching Ivy. His head was resting near hers' while he still knelt before her, the bag of grapes still clutched in his hand. He awoke to the sound of someone thumping on his hatch and woke up.
Quote:
Originally posted by Isahiah:
"Pain, get your ass up here on the double. We gotta talk."
Pain blinked and shook his head, then looked at Ivy. She stirred a little, but was still sleeping. He kissed her softly on the forehead and stood up, gently placing the bag of grapes where his head had lain. Pain climbed up his ladder and quietly opened the hatch before stepping out to face Mal.
Outside Pain and Ivy's Bunk
As he closed the hatch as quietly as he had opened it, Pain said to the captain, "So. Does this mean I get to punch you in the jaw this time, sir?"
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WWJD: What Would Jayne Do?
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Simon stood hunched over the infirmary counter, poring over the many charts that denoted the state of his medical supplies. The figures didn't make sense, like something was missing. He hated to think that someone might have plundered his stock, yet he couldn't wantonly discard that scenario, as there was no shortage of seedy individuals coming through his infirmary on a regular basis. He was determined to look more deeply into it before reporting it to the captain though. He feared that the man's already impossible disposition would devolve into something truly ghastly should he come to learn that passengers had been helping themselves to the medical supplies.
Drawn away from his investigation by the sound approaching footsteps, he straightened and spun his head toward the doorway to see Isahiah walk in with a tumefied face and a distinct stiffness to his gait.
"Oh there you are," he said. "I was beginning to wonder if the captain would ever let go of you."
"Yes, and to be perfectly honest with you, so was I," Isahiah replied as he rested his bottom on top of the infirmary bed. "I think I might have antagonized him further then I originally intended to."
"If it's any consolation, I don't think he ever harbored a particular fondness for me either," Simon shrugged as he pulled a drawer open and reached for his sewing kit and a vial of Iodine.
"But you have that trauma surgeon skill set going for you. Doubtless he can ill afford to part with that."
"Yeah, well believe it or not, that hasn't stopped him from exerting violence on me when the mood struck him. Lie back."
Isahiah did as he was asked as reclined on the bed, stifling a groan as his bruised ribs twinged in protestion. "Captain Reynolds doesn't seem a man very considerate of his allies." he observed.
Simon produced a white piece of fabric and soused it with disinfectant. "I guess he has his moments," he said. "You'll want to close your eyes."
Isahiah complied and vowed not to flinch as Simon brushed the acrid smelling cloth across the gash that traced the line of his cheekbone.
"Any other notable injury or ailment you'd have me take a look at?" the doctor asked, looking to divert him from the discomfort of the moment.
"Why yes, now that you mention it, I was just on my way to see you when I ran into captain Reynolds... or rather, he ran into me, but no matter. I've been having the most intolerable headaches..."
"I see." Simon said. He pulled the cloth from Isahiah's face and walked over to the farthest end of the counter where he dropped it down a small chute before turning back to face his patient. "It might be an aftereffect of the prolonged state of dehydration you've suffered through," he diagnosed. "Have you made an earnest effort to try and keep your fluid levels up?"
"Probably not," Isahiah admitted.
"Then I advise you go ahead and do that. Drink two or more cups of water per hour for the next couple of days. If the pain persists then come back and we'll look into other means of treatment."
"Yes doctor, thank you."
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BigWolf18 "Way i remember it, you said you was leavin', dare say that saved us a whole peck o' trouble. now i gotta wonder what could spur on a fine disreputable man like yourself to show your fine disreputable face here again."
...Dust monkeys...
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Outside Pain's Bunk
Quote:
Originally posted by DRPAIN: "So. Does this mean I get to punch you in the jaw this time, sir?"
"Is that the way you want to do this?" asked Mal rather coldly.
"Depends on where you want to take it." replied Pain, returning Mal's coldness with some of his own.
"She's a passenger, Pain." replied Mal as he spoke about Ivy. "One who's steppin' foot off this boat once we're dirtside."
"You know that for a fact, captain?" Pain said, crossing his arms across his chest and looking into Mal's eyes.
"Surely as I know my own ship like the back of my hand, Pain." replied Mal, matching the bigger man's gaze. "Ain't nothin' goin' to change that."
"I think you're wrong about that, sir." growled Pain. "I've already moved her into my bunk."
Mal let out a stupefied chuckle and shook his head. Looking up at Pain, he scoffed and said, "Ta ma duh, Pain! I'm really thinkin' 13 was right about you bein' strung around her little finger! Sounds to me like you care about her!" He could tell the big man was getting angry and continued, "Do you honestly think she's goin' be stayin' aboard my ship and what? Be part of the crew just so you two can rutt each other all willy nilly and the like?"
Pain uncrossed his arms, his hands flexing as he growled, "First off, her bunk's filled with plants and she's got no place to sleep in there, which is way I graciously provided my bunk to her! Secondly, what me and Ivy do in our bunk is none of your ruttin' business! Ain't my gorramn fault you can't get a woman! Lastly, if'n you'd give her a chance she'd be able to prove herself a valuable part of the team!"
"Give her a chance? Give HER a chance!?" scoffed Mal, not believing for one second what he was hearing. "What's she goin' to do, Pain? Commune with the plant life of every single inhabited planet and moon we step foot on? Is she goin' to make money grow on one of her trees?" Mal pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head. Finally he said to Pain, "Pain I'm thinkin' your mind's become befud..."
Pain's left fist connected with Mal's jaw hard enough to knock the man flat to the floor. Pain's anger had been bottled up from the moment Mal said that he planned on having Ivy leave once they landed. It started to bubble when he scoffed at Pain and Ivy's relationship. It finally burst out of the bottle when Mal brushed off Ivy's usefulness to the crew. That was when Pain clenched his left hand into a tight first and hurled it at Mal's jaw like a heat seeking missile.
"Saw that comin' a mile away." Jayne said, standing in the galley's doorway. He had been watching Mal and Pain's argument since the beginning.
Pain ignored Jayne's comment as he looked at Mal laying prone on the floor. Pain was glad that his captain was still breathing, but he was still seething with anger at the man. As Mal checked to make sure his jaw wasn't broken, Pain said to him, "Give. Her. A. Chance. Let her show you that she can be useful to us."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WWJD: What Would Jayne Do?
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Ivy rolled over in the bed with a smile plastered on her face. She was dreaming.
The jungle was steamy hot, water droplets hung in the air like it had just rained. She stepped around plants and over roots looking…
Select to view spoiler:
“Hey babe,” she heard him say. She looked up and there stood Pain, leaning up against a large tree, absolutely naked. She sidled up next to him and pressed her own bare body against his. He picked her up, leading her mouth to his as he savagely took possession of it. He turned her around pinning her up against the tree as his hands wandered. Her head fell back as she moaned, baring her throat to him. He starting setting a tantalizing rhythm when she heard a big thump from above her. She looked up into the trees wondering what kind of thing could make a noise like that in the jungle. Then it was followed by angry male voices.
And like that, her dream slipped away. She noticed Pain wasn’t next to her and then remembered that he was supposed to talk to Mal. She slipped on one of Pain’s T-shirts and climbed quickly up the ladder to the foredeck.
Sure enough, Mal was lying on his back, checking to make sure his jaw was still attached to his face.
Quote:
"Give. Her. A. Chance. Let her show you that she can be useful to us."
The argument and subsequent punch was all about her. She looked at Pain, who was clearly angry, then down at Mal, who seemed less than happy either.
"I know you don't like me, Captain, but Pain is important to me," Ivy said, her eyes pleading with him. "I can be helpful. Just let me try. Please?"
Mal sat up, still rubbng his jaw.
"Fine," he said flatly. "We have a job later. Might need some help."
"Mal," Pain started. "She's no soldier-"
"Gorram it, Pain!" Mal hissed. "I wouldn't put her on the front line."
Ivy patted Pain on the arm and smiled widely.
"No. It's OK. I want to help. It'll be just shiny!" she said as she looked back at Mal. "You can count on me, Sir."
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John had felt the distinctly male emotions as he walked to the bridge. The desire to prove oneself with violence was a mixture that John could never mistake. Anger, with a little bit of pride thrown in. He rushed up to the hallway hoping to stop the fight before it got to rough, but was happy to find it had dissapated. Mal stood there with Ivy and Pain. He had promised to talk with him, too late. "Captain!" John called as he approached them. "Pain! Don't we have enough trouble without intercrew disputes happening every few minutes. Mal if you trust Pain or me and we trust Ivy then you need to trust Ivy." He pushed past them and continued to the bridge.
johnttf
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Simon removed a needle from the stitching kit and briefly held it under a germicidal lamp to rid it of all bacterial contaminants before moving in to sew up the wound. A transient quiver shook the muscles of his patient's face as he poked the needle through the skin. "You know, I think I've finally managed to place you," he said.
"Oh did you?" Isahiah replied, his inflection rendered rigid by the sting of the suturing.
"Osiris, tunnel 86A. The man with the eyepatch."
"Very impressive doctor Tam," he congratulated, smothering a smile so as not to interfere with Simon's handiwork. "As I recall it, I had gone to great lengths to alter my appearance. What gave me away?"
"You did look vastly different from what you do now," Simon conceded. "Different complexion, different eye color, the mustache—which, as an aside, you did well not to hold on to..."
"Oh! That dreadful thing!" Isahiah chuckled, a look of fond reminiscence playing about his face. "I remember seeing duplicates of it cropping up around me for months after I had snipped it off. I imagine the men took exception to it as well."
They fell into silence for a moment, Simon's expert hands deftly weaving the thread through Isahiah's skin with a precision nothing short of mechanical. "So, where were you trained?" the doctor asked matter-of-factly.
"Excuse me?" Isahiah said, puzzled at the apparent arbitrary nature of the question.
"Well you're a space-faring outlaw, a master of disguise and a bona fide terrorist mastermind. Clearly you must have undergone some measure of training."
"That's an odd assumption to be making," Isahiah countered. "Many of the thriving figures of the mid-Rim demimonde have prospered without formal training of any kind. What is it that makes you believe I would be any different?"
"Hmm..." Simon reached for a pair of surgical scissors lying on a nearby trolley. "Just a hunch, I guess." He cut the thread and pulled back, tossing the needle down the sink. "You're all done," he said as he snapped off his rubber gloves. "Remember to rinse it regularly to keep it from collecting dust and other foreign materials that could cause an infection."
Isahiah stood up, tentatively fingering the join as he did so. The stitches were narrowly knitted and tightly strung; A prime piece of work. "The nicks are starting to pile up," he noted, alluding to the other line of needlework that barred his head. "It's a chance I can rely on a pundit such as yourself to mend me. I doubt these'll even leave a mark!"
Simon brushed aside the compliment. "Still, I suggest you steer clear of hurling fists in the future," he said. "If only to lessen the bulk of my workload. Now is there anything else?"
"Possibly," Isahiah replied, bending his features into a farcical grimace to try the sutures' strength. "Would you happen to know where I could find a coat?"
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BigWolf18 "Way i remember it, you said you was leavin', dare say that saved us a whole peck o' trouble. now i gotta wonder what could spur on a fine disreputable man like yourself to show your fine disreputable face here again."
...Dust monkeys...
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Warning: Some PG-13ish stuff below.
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Quote:
Originally posted by EnglishIvy:
"You can count on me, Sir."
"Yes. Well." replied Mal, feeling uneasy about letting her tag along on the job. "Just stay out of trouble and don't get yourself hurt."
"She won't, sir." replied Pain, the anger from his voice fading away. Something about Ivy's smile had a calming effect on Pain. He still felt unwary about her coming along on a potentially dangerous job, but he had a feeling she wouldn't take no for an answer. "I'll be with her and I'll protect her. You have my word, captain."
"See to it that you do, Pain. She's your responsibility, not mine." replied the captain.
Quote:
Originally posted by johnthetheatrefreak: "Captain!" John called as he approached them. "Pain! Don't we have enough trouble without intercrew disputes happening every few minutes. Mal if you trust Pain or me and we trust Ivy then you need to trust Ivy."
"Yes. Trust, captain." replied Pain with a smile. "It's a good thing."
Taking Ivy's hand in his, the two of them climbed back down into their bunk and closed the hatch, leaving the captain to do his captainy duty. Once they reached the bottom of the ladder and Pain's source of anger was no longer in sight, Pain turned his attention to Ivy. She let out a surprised gasp as he picked her up and set her down on his desk. He gave her a smile before giving her a slow passionate kiss.
Ivy broke off the kiss and asked Pain, "What was that for?"
"Do I really need a reason?" he answered, letting his hands run up and down her back, eliciting a small moan from her.
"No." she replied, tilting her head ever so slightly. Wrapping her legs around his waist and pulling him closer, Ivy smiled coyly and asked, "Do we have time for a quickie?"
Pain gave her another lingering kiss, before telling her, "I'd love to, baobei, but I need to gear up for the job." He looked at the shirt she had on and added with a smile, "You should probably get dressed too. I don't think just a shirt is proper job attire."
Ivy pouted, but knew he was right about the job and her clothing. She let him go and hopped down off the desk as Pain opened up his weapons locker and went through it, picking the right weapons needed for the job while she got dressed. Pain put on his gun belt with the two leg holsters attached. He then placed in those holsters his two trusty, black .44Magnum Desert Eagles. They were big, they were intimidating, and they packed a wallop. Pain slipped in four extra magazines for each of them into the corresponding magazine pouches on the belt.
Taking off his shirt, Pain reached in again and pulled out his ceramic plate bulletproof vest. It looked just like a normal shirt, but it had ceramic plates sewn in the chest, back, and side giving Pain's torso complete protection from bullets, as well as knives and other sharp poky objects. Slipping his shirt over it, Pain once more reached into his weapons locker and pulled out a shoulder holster.
Ivy watched as he put it on and asked as she slipped on her panties, "Do you really need all those weapons for the job?"
"Yes, darlin'." replied Pain, sliding a hand cannon into the holster. "I do. Wouldn't be a one man army without them."
The hand cannon was equipped with a seven and a half inch barrel and was thirteen inches overall from barrel to grip. It came with a low glare stainless steel finish and was chambered for six powerful .454Casull rounds. Pain loaded the two speed loaders into the pouches on the right side of the shoulder holster. Should he run out of ammo for his other guns or if the cannon was the only one he had left, Pain would have eighteen rounds to dispense justice with.
Pain finally checked and rechecked all his gear to make sure it functioned properly and that nothing came loose. Sheathing a combat knife behind his back, Pain took out his black trench coat and put it on just as the captain's voice came over the comm.
"This is your captain speakin'. We'll be landin' near New Allansburgh shor
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Ivy inched towards Pain’s weapons locker and was shocked by how many guns were held inside.
“That’s a lot of them in there,” she said very softly.
“I used to have more,” he said as he came up behind her. He reached around her and pulled out a couple of smaller ones. “These might do well for you. Pick them up, see which one feels better to you.”
She picked up the first one as she took a deep breath.
“Too heavy.”
She picked up the next one.
“Nah, that don’t feel right.”
“How about this one?” Pain said as he placed one in her hand. “I think it’s a perfect match. Lighter, but powerful enough. Low recoil.”
She gripped it. It felt familiar. She looked down at it and her hand began to shake as a stifled sob emitted from her lips.
“Noooo…” she whimpered as she let go, letting the gun fall with a heavy thud on the floor. She stumbled backwards, her hands flying up to her face.
Pain turned and quickly followed her.
“Ivy?” he asked. “You OK? What’s wrong?”
“Not that one. Never that one. Never again,” she mumbled with tears streaming down her face. He eyes never left the gun on the floor.
“Ivy?” Pain asked again as he led her over to the bed. He sat down, then pulled her into his lap, cradling her close. She was shaking and her eyes were locked onto the gun. “Ivy. I’ll get rid of that one. OK? Will that help?”
“Don’t look, Ivy. Don’t look. Don’t look, Ivy,” she kept saying over and over.
“Tommy?”
“She can’t look, Pain. She can’t. Don’t let her look…” Tommy pleaded with him.
“I won’t. Don’t look bao bei. Just don’t look,” he whispered trying to reassure her.
“Not that one,” she whispered again, Ivy floating forward again. He voice started to get louder. “Never again. Never. Never. Never.”
In her head, a gunshot sounded and she jumped. Her eyes showing shock and filling with tears. Her hands covered her ears and she buried herself against Pain, but her eyes still never left that gun on the floor.
“I’m here, darling.’ Don’t look. Tommy says not to look, so don’t,” he soothed further. He slid his foot over and kicked the gun under the desk so it couldn’t be seen. “There. All gone. You’re OK. I promise.”
She relaxed a little and buried her face into his neck and sobbed. Suddenly, she stiffened up, pulled away from Pain’s embrace and moved to the middle of the room.
“I think I’ll ask Mal for my old one back. Just for this job,” she said flatly. There was no emotion at all there.
Pain looked at her. For the first time since he knew about her situation, he didn’t know who he was talking to. It scared him. He needed to talk to her though, so he guessed.
“Tommy? Can I do anything to help?” he asked. “Is she OK?’
“She’ll be fine,” Tommy said as she headed for the ladder.
“Where are you going?” Pain asked.
“I just need out of here for a bit.”
“Where are you going?” he asked as she started climbing the ladder towards the hatch.
“Just get rid of that thing.”
When she got to the foredeck, River was standing there waiting for her. She wrapped her arm around her shoulder and led her away.
Pain just looked at the open hatch. That reaction was so strong. He crawled onto the floor and reached under the desk and pulled out the gun.
“What in the rutting Hell was that?” he asked as he slid it in the back waistband of his pants. It was bad enough that it drove her away from him. And away from their bunk. Their bunk. He climbed out of his bunk and ran into John.
John held out his hand.
“Give me the gun, Pain. River told me to hold onto it for the time being.”
“Is that where she went? With River?” he asked as he handed John the gun. John simply nodded. Pain looked towards the stairs leading down into the cargo bay. “I’m… uh… I’m going to finish getting ready.”
He left John and headed downstairs. He needed to talk to Simon.
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"Poor thing," he said in the empty hallway. Another dose of psychic turmoil on top of everything else. He walked to his bunk and placed the gun in a small lock box under his bed he took the key and hid it in his dresser. He grabbed his holster and loaded up. Light for now, just his two pistols and a knife. If needed he would grab another gun later. He went down to the cargo bay and sat on a box off to the side waiting for the captain's orders.
johnttf
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Simon kept his eyes squarely trained on Isahiah's back as he walked out. The moment the outlaw passed from his sight, he tore a sterilized pouch from a roll to his right and reached down a hand to collect the bloodstained needle from the sink, sliding it into the pouch right away. He sedulously rubbed his fingers along the ax of the seal until it turned a satisfying deep blue color, then walked over to the refrigerated compartment. "I'll have a look at that later," he thought as he punched in his password. The latches retracted with a muffled clang and the freezer let out a hiss as its door slid ajar. Simon swung it wide and hastily tossed in the pouch, hurried by the sound of approaching footsteps.
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BigWolf18 "Way i remember it, you said you was leavin', dare say that saved us a whole peck o' trouble. now i gotta wonder what could spur on a fine disreputable man like yourself to show your fine disreputable face here again."
...Dust monkeys...
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