GR RP "Adventures in GunRunning" ACT 22

POSTED BY: CapnRahn
UPDATED: Thursday, October 28, 2004 03:16
VIEWED: 19308
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INARAESQUE

Saturday, October 23, 2004 4:57 AM

Inara's move...

LOCATION - COMMON AREA , moving to the GALLEY

Thorne and River's game lies forgotten as the conversation turns to Simon, and Inara feels like she's invading somewhat. Thorne is more likely to get something from River if Inara is not there distracting them both. She meets his eyes briefly and touches his shoulder as she slips from the Common Area, heading to the Galley: tea would be welcome at this point, and would give her something to do.

Inara heads through the cargo bay quietly, and along the catwalks. She smiles at Merz and heads up the aft stairs, emerging in the back hall between the engine room and galley.

Her mind is on Simon and River: Thorne's words echoing in her thoughts, Why would such a cautious man get so reckless all of a sudden?

Thorne’s right, she thinks. It makes no sense: why would Simon leave his sister, after sacrificing so much for her sake? Inara doesn't doubt for a moment that, somehow, come what may, they'll track him down -- Simon is crew and Mal doesn't leave crew behind -- but she's suddenly worried about what tracking him down may entail.

She heads into the galley and puts on a kettle of water to boil almost absently, still lost in thought. What will happen to River if they can't find Simon? It's a horrible thought, one Inara does not want to dwell upon .

Selecting some green tea, she hears voices from the fore hallway and allows them to pull her from her thoughts, padding to the center of the room to look out curiously. It's Mal and Jayne. And Mal's... waving a gun around? And Jayne's stripped to the waist? Well. That’s not something one saw every day, even on a ship like Serenity.

Inara's not sure whether to be amused or concerned.

EOM

CAPNRAHN

Saturday, October 23, 2004 5:42 AM

LOCATION - FORE HALL
As ...

Jayne is uncharacteristically quiet and his eyes never stray from Damon's piece that Mal is waving about. Mal decides to shorten this bit of comedy.

MAL
... holding the gun at his side and suddenly serious...
"Jobs?"

JAYNE
... simply and with an air of caution...
"Finsihed. The drop arm, and the 'xplosives are checked. I was just headin' down to clean up."

With a barely perceptible curt nod, Mal acknowledges Jayne's report. As Jayne moves to his bunk and boots the door open, he locks eyes with Mal.

JAYNE
... innocent and profanely casual...
"Headin' up to the bridge? Looks like somethin's going on up there."

MAL
... his back to the bridge, Mal's brows knit, but his tone is also casual...
" Yep, I got ta yap at Kaylee for the mess she had Merz and Damon make in the Cargo Bay. I'll check into whatever else is a'boilin' on the Bridge too."
...wrinkling his nose...
"...And the quicker you get de-skunk-a-fied, the better."

Mal catches sight of Inara lurking in the Galley 'lock as he turns and strides over to the stairs. He attempts 'not' to see her, but his head betrays him. Its turn is interrupted by her visage. Jerking the offending extremity around with a nearly audible growl, he leaps up to the third step. Unfortunately for Mal, it is slick with copious amounts of Jayne's oily sweat. His left hand descending to grasp the rail is overtaken by his rapidly rising arse. Instinctively clutching the rail, he half flips and is forced to change his grip onthe rail. His landing is punctuated by a wet slap and gong of the stairs. His arm is wrenched a tad and he is now facing the Galley.

Again Mal's luck flees him as his eyes lock with Inara's at the very moment of Impact. Her features flicker from amusement to genuine concern as she begins to step forward. However, Mal's features harden to tool steel and despite the pain, he jerks himself upright. He focuses the pain into a "Don't" look that he fires towards Inara. Not wanting to see her reaction, he throws Damon's pistol to his left hand and uses his good one to spin him around and drag his body up. Burning off pain, anger and embarrassment as physical energy, he yanks himself up the gangway with his good arm. Continuing quickly up to the Bridge, he is relived that Jayne had already descended below deck level before his pratfall - he hoped.

MAL
... thundering in his best Cap'n Ahab growl...
"KAYLEE GIRL ... WHERE'N THE GORRAM HELL ARE YE!!!"

EOM

"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"

SAINT JAYNE

Saturday, October 23, 2004 11:54 PM

JAYNE - HIS BUNK

Jayne hastily descends into his quarters and lets the door clang shut above him. Ignoring the commotion outside, he pulls open the sink unit , soaks down the cloth that he finds inside, and starts mopping down his torso, arms, and head with cool water.

This quiet time allows Jayne to reflect on his run-ins with Mal today. He was used to receiving nothing more than a minimum of respect on this boat, but there was still something off about him. He was very physical today. Jayne knew he could beat Mal in an arm wrestle easy, assuming Mal didn't cheat somehow and turn the tide in his favour.

Quote:
Eight months previous:
KAYLEE
"Jayne's strong, yeah. I seen him lift a bag I couldn't even budge onto his shoulder 'n walk off with it like it were nothin' but feathers. But Mal's got... I dunno, spirit. And smarts. He just got a way of, you know, finding a weakness and never giving up."

JAYNE
"Spirit? Spirit ain't always a help. Sometime's nothin' fer it but to use raw power. An' I figure I could take anyone on this ship when it comes to strong armin'."

Mal, sitting next to Jayne, pushes his empty plate away from him, the scraping and clattering drawing the attention of everyone seated at the dinner table. They might as well have issued and accepted a challenge, and Jayne falls silent at this realization.

MAL
"You show me a time where muscle is the only way to get something done then, Jayne."

JAYNE
He chews and swallows the bread in his mouth as he thinks. "Arm wrestli'", he answers. Now there was something he knew he could beat the captain at.

MAL
"All right then, we arm wrestle." Mal's right arm take position on the table top. Jayne's moves in to meet his with a clap, and still other hands clear the table around them of empty plates and cups.

Jayne cracks an evil grin. Mal is about to get a schooling. From his point of view. But that point of view is not the popular one at the table that night. Kaylee rushes over to cover the clasped hands, and with a cry of "go" she lets them free. All eyes watch the initial wavering, then the slight teeter against Mal's push. Jayne's smile only grows in satisfaction.

MAL
"Eehhhhrgh... This is such a drain on my weak... uh... little arm." Uh oh. Mal was talking. That was just as bad as cheating. "I'm not going to be able to... to polish all them... floor panels. After... you win, Jayne..." Their eyes lock together. Jayne doesn't have a good feeling about this. "I guess... you'll have to... urgh...do that... for me."

Jayne's smile has faded, and his arm hangs motionless against Mal's. Seconds pass while Jayne studies Mal's expression and pieces his options together. Like his daddy always said, being a winner is fine, but what are you really winning?

Jayne's arm snaps backwards and clubs against the table top. He immediately pulls it back with a sour look, snatches his dishes, and walks them over to the kitchen.

CHANNAIN

Sunday, October 24, 2004 2:10 PM

Rowan's Move
LOCATION: BRIDGE

First his head was there, then it wasn't. Hearing the resounding clang and scuffle in the hall, Rowan frowns at the same time as Zoe. As the first mate turns, Rowan and Wash both lean forward again, trying to see what all the commotion was about. Did the captain take a tumble on the steps?

MAL ... thundering in his best Cap'n Ahab growl..."KAYLEE GIRL ... WHERE'N THE GORRAM HELL ARE YE!!!"

And now he sounds liquored up besides. Since she didn't see him imbibe anything during his talk with Merz, Rowan is left wondering yet again what manner of captain she's signed on with this time. Every one she's ever worked with has had some quirk or other. Most ran along the lines of the objects they collected, the clothes they preferred and in one case an mightily odd affection for a snake of all things. Reynolds doesn't seem to have any of the more odd fetishes, just some pretty erratic and extreme mood swings and a wit sharp enough to cut glass. Was it the effects of living in the weightlessness of space that did it? Or maybe it's some kind of 'versal pre-requisite; all captains of long-range cargo ships had to have some little bit of crazy in order to keep themselves sane.

Plus, he's a browncoat besides. Now there would be an interesting little research project. Just how far did he go while in the service? Since they actually set down on Serenity Valley, Rowan thought maybe he may have escaped that awful episode. Although, if he had been part of that, and the appalling conditions afterward, it would go a long way toward explaining things.

As if answering her questions, the sourcepad sends up a signal indicating the reception of a masque query for contact. Smiling slowly, Rowan touches the screen to acknowledge it, well aware that it could only be one thing. It will be nice to finally have some real data to work with.

ROWAN (loudly enough to carry into the Galley): "No engineers up here, Captain. Sounds like you started the pre-landing party without us."

EOM

Fans come and fans go...but zealots are with you until the bitter black end.
I draw...therefore I am.
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922

INARAESQUE

Monday, October 25, 2004 12:15 AM

Inara's move...

LOCATION - GALLEY, moving to the BRIDGE

Inara's amusement at the comical scene playing out in the hallway dies as Mal falls on his backside -- their eyes meet and she sees the pain flash in his stormy blue eyes. She's barely aware of the fact that she's already moving toward him until Mal's dangerous glare brings her up short. She recoils a step, stung, feeling the ice of that glare like a knife-wound, and dropping her gaze to keep him from seeing the hurt in her own eyes.

He's gone -- up onto the bridge, bellowing -- when Inara looks up again.

She turns back to making tea, planning to bring it down to River and Thorne. But her thoughts keep turning to the mean-spirited hundan on the bridge... who might have actually hurt himself.

Stupid, stupid man. Stupid, stupid her for letting him get to her. She should return to Roosevelt and River... but she would only worry if she didn't check up on Mal, and that would be unfair to the gentleman to whom she had committed her evening.

Inara pours a cup of green tea from the pot and heads to the Bridge. She stands silently watching Mal for a moment, reassuring herself that he hasn't damaged himself seriously... Her original thought was to press the cup into his hands, sit him down and have him drink it... but with his mood of late...

Her 'excuse' suddenly feels a little flimsy. It always was a flimsy excuse, but now it felt obviously flimsy... And walking away now would make her look even more foolish... perhaps --

"Would anyone like some tea? I just made a pot."

EOM

MERCEDESTROY

Monday, October 25, 2004 2:44 AM

MERZ move

LOCATION – TRAVELING: CATWALK to FRONT HALL to BRIDGE?

She is some time just standing on the catwalk. Events claim her attention. Confusion paints her mind. People pass, conversations occur … Inara slows in passing her to smile. Merz does not externalize her impressions enough to acknowledge it. But she is still, as always, absorbing every observation, impression, and conversation going on within her scan radius. Overloaded as she is right now, Merz still cannot justify any attempt that she could make to cease the dataflow. ~’all data is useful’~; She does not have a clear idea when they first started drilling that into them. Memory, true memory, requires speech or some reliable communication method. Her earliest training began before that. Spoken language planted into their impressionable brains, to be accessed later when the language was learned…

One thing does come through clearly, to her conscious thought. ROWAN is indeed on the bridge, she has spoken; location verified. But between Merz and Rowan are too many people … fresh from her confrontation with Mal and with the memory of her last interaction with River far too recent, MERZ cannot bring herself to walk through that crowd. Not just yet.

Merz moves forward to the foot of the stairs up to the front hallway. She sits on the steps and waits for events to finish, for people to move on. She will talk to Rowan soon, yes, soon. But not now.

EOM

If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress

MERCEDESTROY

Monday, October 25, 2004 2:57 AM

KAYLEE’s move

LOCATION - FRONT HALL As ...

Kaylee moves as briskly as she can up the stairs. She is not sure why she lugged the toolbox along – a vague notion not to leave it in a walkway to trip people, is the best reason she can arrive at.

She reaches the hallway in time to watch MAL do a splendid double-take on something in the direction of the galley, slip on the bridge steps and dump himself on the deck. Stifling a giggle she moves forward as MAL throws himself onto the bridge.

MAL
“KAYLEE GIRL … WHERE'N THE GORRAM HELL ARE YE!!!”

~OK,~ she thinks, ~that is not a happy captain.~

KAYLEE
“Coming, she calls, and hurries towards him. She sets the toolbox carefully against the wall in the hallway before running up the steps to the bridge.

EOM

If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress

SAINT JAYNE

Monday, October 25, 2004 4:01 AM

JAYNE - HIS BUNK

Jayne screws up his face in the mirror. That was pretty terrifying. He flexes his arms and holds them up menacingly to his own reflection. What backwater scum wouldn't be slipping on his own shi running away from that?

Jayne's ego built back up, he pulls a clean shirt on and flattens his hair down with both hands. He hesitates before leaving his bunk, though, and instead walks over to his bed while thinking about the captain. What was his problem? Maybe Jayne was outstaying his welcome. Maybe Damon was right and Mal had decided to go with the cheaper labour. Those explosives - they might not even work! Damon might be trying...

Woah there, Jayne thinks. Tain't no reason to be flippin' out like this. Take 'er easy.

Jayne breathes slowly and stares at his weapon collection on the wall. He grabs a leather satchel and packs it with three small arms and his cleaning kit.

SQUEE

Monday, October 25, 2004 5:56 AM

River
LOCATION - COMMON AREA

THORNE:"But to find him, we need to understand why he left, and why he's getting into so much trouble. Why would such a cautious man get so reckless all of a sudden? RIVER, did he seem himself the last time you saw him? Was there anything out of the ordinary about his actions or demeanor? Have you sensed anything strange since he left?”

River is quiet for a long time as she looks down at the jacks on the floor with diminishing interest. As the others start to wonder if she heard the questions, she picks up a few jacks and starts placing them on top of each other.

“He left to help me.” She frowns slightly, trying to piece together the garbled information she was getting from her brother before he left. “Wasn’t thinking again- was trying to help but something went wrong.” She looks up at Book with that penetrating gaze. “He knows.”

The last jack is placed on what has turned into a small pyramid.

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

CHANNAIN

Monday, October 25, 2004 4:05 PM

Rowan's Move
LOCATION: BRIDGE

SOURCEPAD TEXT MESSAGE: "Message received. Security sweep completed. Code TAP. Awaiting playback."

ROWAN (Internal): Well I will be gorramed. Thal finally got back--about time too.

Holding back a delighted smile, Rowan checks Serenity's diagnostic, and finds absolutely no sign that the sensors have detected Thal's little messenger, hovering somewhere outside the ship. Too bad he isn't close enough for a live feed. She would have welcomed a face-to-face. The diagnostic is nearly finished, then she can track down Merz and play back Thal's message. Knowing Thal, the little messenger is programmed to await a response. He's nothing if not thorough.

Movement at the hatchway has her glancing up, then looking again. Inara is standing on the threshold, more than a little uncomfortable, as if the bridge was unfamiliar territory. Or maybe--seeing how Inara's entire focus is on Mal--it's just the man standing in front of her.

Well now. That is indeed an outstanding thing to witness. Companions aren't generally prone to letting themselves be undone by a man, any man, for even a fraction of a second. Aside from the Guild laws against such things, there is the matter of the comprehensive training designed to specifically curtail such things.

FLASHBACK
"So you can't fall in love." She stared at her sister, doing her best to comprehend. "Not ever?"

Aislin smiled gently, "It's not so much a matter of can't, but that I won't, no."

"Not EVER ever?" She frowned. "What, did they do some kind of procedure or hypnosis or some such to twist your brain against it? I mean how do you not get even a little emotionally attached with any man you grapple with?"

Breathing a sigh of infinite patience, Aislin reached over and took her teenage sister's hand. It confused her--Aislin had never been so eerily calm. In their lives together, one would have thought she were the dragon rather than her baby sister. How could three years at a companion academy have such a profound affect?

"What good would it do, to allow an attachment to every man, or even to one?" Aislin asked. "I would constantly be comparing everyone who came after and torturing myself with the notion that I should be with HIM. It would stain the focus I need to maintain with the one I'm engaged with at the time, and that would be unfair."

Put that way, it made some modicum of sense. Companions weren't exactly being trained to go husband hunting, which is the romantic notion she used to harbor when she was little and didn't know any better. Finally she sighed and shook her head slowly. "I couldn't do that," she declared. "I couldn't re-wire myself like that."

Aislin gave her hand a squeeze. "I know. You're an all or nothing girl. You always have been."

"Gorram straight." She saw her sister wince ever so slightly over the crass anglo vernacular she had picked up from a friend at school, and gave Aislin a smile. "Don't get me wrong, I'm glad it's all you wanted it to be. I just see things differently."

Aislin laughed. "Of course you do--you're Rowan the Fearless." All too soon, her enthusiasm dimmed. "Promise me one thing, xiâo long."

"Anything."

"If you ever find the resources available to you, find out anything you can about that Academy. I'll keep my ears open too, and then maybe, between the two of us--" Her voice caught and she had to carefully compose herself again. "Between us, maybe we'll finally find out what happened to Ru."

The sisters sat together in silence, brushing away each other's tears as the spirit of their beloved older brother hovered between them.

END FLASHBACK

Inara watches Reynolds for a long moment--longer than is entirely proper for a companion. Rowan has to wonder if it's as obvious to Wash or Zoe, or if it's just because of her own experience with Aislin. It's odd that Reynolds can't feel it--he se

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