GR RP "Adventures in GunRunning" ACT 18

POSTED BY: Channain
UPDATED: Tuesday, July 27, 2004 02:50
VIEWED: 20189
PAGE 1 of 11

PREVIOUSLY ON FIREFLY:
ACT 17: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=5306&m=74524#74524

CREDITS & BIOS:
http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=3498

RPing TOOLS:
Tools and tricks for the hip RPer.
http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=4266

GREEN ROOM:
Storyline work and a place for the acKtors to hang out.
OOC 16 http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=5279

ARCHIVE:
Includes episode synopses and links to all the threads for prior acts
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=17&t=3681

DIRECTORIAL STAFF:
Guest DireKtor - DragonflyDireKtor { CapnRahn@aol.com AIM, MSN }
Guest Asst. DireKtor - MercedesTroy { tampa.cyberose@verizon.net AIM}
GameMaster - Geezer { fireflygeezer@cox.net }
Co-Director - FrauDirektor { htempe@hotmail.com, MSN, AIM: MissAstriana, Yahoo!: MissAstriana, ICQ: 9592266}
Co-Director - Channain { channain@yahoo.com; AIM}
Minion - DirektorsSmeagol { DirektorsSmeagol@aol.com } , MSN, AIM)

STUDIO OWNER & RP DISTRIBUTION:
FireflyFans.net produced by Haken

GENERAL POST GUIDELINES
None have been established yet. Each player has a unique style for posting a move that is consistent within itself. You'll catch on!

ACRONYM DEFINITIONS & TERMS
EOM = End of Move
OOC = Out Of Character
POV = Point Of View

Last but not least, the Gunrunners would like to extend a big THANK YOU to Joss Whedon for creating a whole new 'verse for us to play in, and to Haken for giving us a bright, shiny new sandbox theater!

JossGunrunners
HakenGunrunners

We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

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Wash's Move:
Location - Studio for the commercial shoot

Flashback:

(One quiet day, deep in the black, the good ship Serenity sails along its crime-ridden course… unmolested, ignored. Suddenly a message appears from over the cortex… Destined to change the life of the addressed, the addresse… and everyone who will ever know that this message ever existed… for good or ill.)

Sometime in the near future, or in a parallel dimension:

(Wash is on the bridge, guiding his ship through the black… A beep is heard, and the accented female voice of Serenity says: “Message received for Wash Warren” in both English and Chinese. (Wash turns to the cortex panel, and reads a short, prophetic message. He lets out an excited squeal of laughter, jumps for joy, and races off the bridge, leaving the message still on the screen… the type is blurry, and then it fades out, as if it had never existed before. Wash’s voice is heard from somewhere below decks: “Captain Mal, it won’t take long, we’ve got to orbit anyway, you won’t even know I’m gone… They said that it would only take a day, and I’ll make a live wave commercial for it. It’ll make me be a valuable asset to the team, other than the piloting thing, like when we’re on the ground.”

Time passes, as time usually does… somewhere in the black, a single quiet planet, named, but never visited, turns a full revolution on its axis… Just a small simple thing, in the grand scheme in the cosmos, but some things are better off undone…

Onboard the Serenity, Captain Mal gathers his rag-tag crew together in the common room, minus his heroic, useful pilot. They sit quietly, and stare at the cortex communications screen, as the following is broadcast, live, to the entire sphere of human influence.



(i swear I will craft an infomercial, just bear with me.)

- EOM -

Decoy, they make me go first.

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Damon's turn:
LOCATION - CARGO BAY

MERZ
"I apologize. I thought that was the appropriate response. I meant no harm."

Damon keeps his gaze fixed on Merz as she turns to pick up the cover and hardware. Her appology seemed genuine, more so than her strange form of gratitude anyway. His anger fades, leaving him somewhere between confused and skeptical.

MERZ
*tai-kong suo-yo de shing-chiou doh sai-jin wu di pigu -- i surrender. i will be what they made me until death claims me.

The words hit Damon like a punch to the gut as he realizes what Merz was trying to do: fight the very same battle he has been fighting all his life. He watches her, as the emotion drains from her face, relaxing into nothing but what appeared to be calm and peaceful.

Quote:

---

“i surrender.”

---

Is that what giving up is? Peace? No more fighting, no more running… just… that simple decision…

MERZ
“It was good you remembered this. I will see to it that it is installed as soon as possible.”

Damon suddenly feels his anger boil up at the sound of her voice- not calm or peaceful but dead. Was that how he sounded to Xiang? No wonder the guy felt so determined to smack some sense back into him. His rage builds, rage toward his father, Crofton and the Alliance… and toward himself for even considering letting them win.

He walks up to Merz and snatches the cover from her, his hardened glare boring into her dying eyes.

“You listen to me. I don’t care how many times you screw up, I don’t care how many times you fail, and I don’t care how many people you piss off to do it, but you do not give up. You give up this fight and you might as well put a bullet in your mouth because dead is all you’ll be to yourself and everyone else around you. You give up this fight and you are no better than those weak cowards who would rather piss themselves kissing their oppressors’ feet than fight for what is theirs. Those bastards don’t deserve that victory and they can rot in hell before we give it to them. Dong ma?”


I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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___________
River sees Simon, just before the transmission cuts. She logically goes through the reasons why it could have cut off. She decides to go to the cargo bay. As she walks in, she sees Jayne. She looks down to him, and says out loud, with a smile, for everyone in there to hear:

"Jayne is a girl's name. You had a face to match it."

She gives a little laugh, and meanders away, not a care in the world.
____________

_____________
"Freedom is the Freedom to say that 2 plus 2 make 4. If that is granted, all else follows"-Winston, 1984
Teela Brown, keeper of the delete key
"No one reads these things any way."- Bart on Blackboard

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MERZ move

DAMON stalks to MERZ, and snatches the cannon cover from her hand. The hardware drops to the floor between them. He is positively livid with anger and he stares directly into her eyes, willing her to listen, to respond to him. MERZ stand mute, waiting for him to finish. DAMON’s words are impassioned, harsh, and so like he would have said more true than MERZ wants to deal with, to acknowledge. Maro, wherever you are. do you remember me. do you still … care? This time she cannot stop that thought pattern, it bounces around the inside of her skull.

DAMON ends up, almost nose to nose with MERZ, neither shouting nor whispering, but all the more intense for that very reason. This is something he believes in with all of his heart, not for show, but for real. Those bastards don’t deserve that victory and they can rot in hell before we give it to them. Dong ma?

Time stops. Motion stops. DAMON’s words echo and rebound from the furthest depths of her being, her soul. Nothing he says is new, but presented like this, the concept that another she has known would have thrown back to her the same way, is forcing MERZ to choose, to decide what she really wants. And again she is surprised and perhaps gratified (if she knew to apply that word to this new feeling) to realize that above all things she actually has a choice. That she has wants.

Heard in the distance: but not particularly attended to -

ROWAN
Excuse me! Whoever's up there, if you have a minute, could you send out a ship-wide comm? Chow's on!

MERZ is suddenly inundated with impressions, half-understood feelings, half-understood interactions, confusion, regrets, fear, loneliness, and finally rage. Does it show on her face, in her stance, in her eyes? She does not know. For this moment she is utterly free of any pretense or attempt at control, so completely indrawn that her outward appearance is of no consequence to her. And finally, it is the rage, the anger that wins. Anger she has never allowed herself to feel, to show, to even contemplate. The anger that she needs. She looks at DAMON for an instant, with smoldering eyes. "Oh yes, I understand. I understand well." Her hands clench, but it is not DAMON for whom her rage burns.

She whirls looking for a target, something to vent her feelings on. Her eyes catch the now-empty crate behind her. Perfect. how dare they raise us to be helpless One fist pistons out at the crate. It does not shatter, her hand breaks clean through the side with a sound like a pistol shot. how dare they take feelings away from us The other fist lashes out and makes another hole. Her thoughts become words as she continues to take her anger out on this oh-so convenient and inanimate object. "There can be no surrender." {punch} "I do not give up." {punch} "They shall not win." {punch} "They cannot win. " {punch} "They … will … not … be … allowed … to … win!" {punch – both fists} The crate collapses into a splintered ruin.

She turns back to DAMON, the fire dying from her eyes, but the humanity, what there is of it, remains. "A Troy never surrenders. I will not be the first. This fight I will take to my grave if need be. Dong ma, little brother?"

EOM


If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress

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Damon's turn:
LOCATION - CARGO BAY

Damon stands in shocked silence as Merz suddenly turns and starts pounding the go se out of the empty cannon crate. He runs his words through his head- it was something he told himself all the time but he never realized they were that convincing. He smiles as the crate collapses at her feet.

If only Xiang could see this...

Merz turns back to Damon, the fire dying from her eyes, but the humanity, what there is of it, remains. A Troy never surrenders. I will not be the first. This fight I will take to my grave if need be. Dong ma, little brother?

Damon's smile widens into a grin. "Damn right."

He bends down, grabbing the bag of hardware from the floor and hands it to Merz with the cover.

"Here. Appropriate responses vary from place to place. Where I was workin, people didn't have time for graditude, though I think most folks around here just say thank you."

Quote:

---

"Jayne is a girl's name. You had a face to match it."

---

Damon looks up at River and then back down at Jayne. He had completely forgotten Jayne was there. He briefly wonders how she knew about the make up before he remembers her ability. Lucky for them, her words only make sense to those who already know what she's talking about... at least so far.

He can't help but chuckle at River's words and starts walking toward the stairs when he remembers Rowan's.

"Hey, Jayne, I hear grub's on the table. Let's grab a quick plate or two and talk about what needs doin"


I'm not broken, in my dream I win...

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INTERLUDE 4 - VOLUME ONE
The Hexx Chronicles Continued...

LOCATION - Outside a Small Villa in Uchigatana City
2518 AD, Solar Day 24 / January 24th
2306 hrs/11:06 PM Alliance Mean Time

Thankfully the Noshimoto Way was clear at this hour of the night, no vehicles to spoil the idyllic quiet of this section of Uchigatana. None of the other solos, couples or other groups walking the street took notice of tall female drifting across the cobbled avenue. Her movements practiced and deceptively at ease, insured her obscurity. Risking a glance back at the high smooth limestone and mortar wall surrounding the Traders villa and it's modest grounds, she allowed herself a grin. One of the Blue Sun 'actors' was on the wall, her shadow barley breaking its outline. But still visible nonetheless -- at least to those who were trained in observation.

Even so, Or'sha felt strangely at peace. The ability to play off the rumors coming from Mercedes' regrettable defection was a comforting irony ...Mercedes ... I wish I could analyze your reasons for leaving... she thought with a sharp angry pang of regret. Unaccustomed to the fierce emotion that thinking of Merz elicited, Or'sha brought up the details of her current operation.

Skipping past the relitivly solid facts, she focused on her chosen chesspieces. The five standing guard did not know what a 'Troy' was. They were informed of their cover and family name of "Troy". The operatives of the Blue Sun were always excellent at playing the parts required. Having no contact with them or her 'commander', allowed Or'sha to observe and analyze in peace. The requirements of her 'employers' would be followed - to only a point. Past that point, they would have to resort to their own tools. Or'sha was here on another mission - information to be processed and delivered to Corvair.

Now to the least known variable: Jonas Hexx, Cleaner, Professional, Assassin.

As she dropped into her chosen blind, she mentally accessed his file. It was sparse. His history was documented, but the manner in which it was written suggested that a large part was a carefully fabricated facade'. He had arrived today in a vessel called the Longshot, cased the Villa in the early evening and was following his usual pattern of having no pattern. Other details about him and his trip to New Hokkaido gleaned from her sources had no bearing on this operation. But the information built an interesting picture. One she wanted to understand. But again the file was a hoax, a blind within a blind.

Not as limited a file as what Or'sha had found concerning her own 'family'. The times between activation's must have allowed any memory of the Troys or other ABELs to blend into history, inconsequential as ghosts.

Could Merz have been right? How could she truly believed what Merz recounted to her back on the Beau Geste, so many months ago? After all, this Marovech Merz spoke of was only an engineer and ... limited.

Sighing, Or'sha checked to see of the myriad video and biometric feeds were operating. The triple redundancy checks and filters assured her that none could be compromised by even a 'Pro'.

Yes, this Jonas Hexx will be interesting to watch, she concludes.

End Of Interlude 4 Volume 1

"Observe Analyze & Respond"
Motto of the A.P.E.s
Alliance Protean Engineers

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