The Sereni-Tree: Life, the Universe, and Everything
POSTED BY: TheRealMe
UPDATED: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 16:28
VIEWED: 32906
PAGE 1 of 21
This is Thread 42 of the adventures of the Sereni-Tree! Herein you will find Life, the Universe, and Everything!
For “The Guide to the Clubhouse / Treehouse / Sereni-Tree Threads”, see:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=11877
A very long post containing “TheRealMe’s Guide to the Sereni-Tree, V5” will follow this post.
Below is the (interim) summary of the previous thread, located at http://fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=11&t=18568
On Boros:
Making use of Jadehand’s Nametags of Shapeshifting, Jadehand (in the guise of various X-Men), TheRealMe (in the guise of Obi-Real Kenobi), and Monkeytail hold off the Alliance troops outside the hanger on the outskirts of Boros Prime. Inside the hanger, the last Bluehands is dealt with (BTW, the grenades tossed in the previous thread by Bride7 turned out to have been intentional duds, for “psychological warfare”). Then, SafeAt2nd, Citizen, Bride6, Bride7, and Needy take one craft (an ISSCV) and CastIronJack, Flechette, Versa, and Amylisai take another and both lift off from Boros. Quincey, still flying above in the Bonaparte, provides them covering fire as they depart the planet. Safe’s crew and Quincey plan to return to Sereni-Tree. Flechette’s crew plans to go off somewhere to support the underground. Unbeknownst to Safe’s crew, they have a pair of young stowaways on board. Once they are away, TheRealMe, Jadehand, and Monkeytail steal an old Eagle transport from the hanger and follow them.
In space near Boros:
SoulofSerenity, ThatWeirdGirl, and PsychicRiver escape the Triploi in a stolen shuttle. Soul uses his phasing power to float into the Sereni-Tree’s common room where the big battle is occurring. TWG and PR land in the Sereni-Tree’s Hanger Bay and make their way to the Infirmary through twisty air ducts. Somewhat later, the newly deaf Seryn and Ervin the Yeti escape from the Tripoli in her fighter, the Nandi, after hacking into the Tripoli’s self destruct programs.
In the Sereni-Tree Common Room:
The Killgore has docked with the Sereni-Tree and sends over a boarding party. They burn through the main airlock into the Sereni-Tree’s Common Room. Their first attacks destroy Sparky and severely damage the Ebo Golem (who had both been piling rubble to block the airlock). Ath, Kelly, Soul, Trey, Washie, the rest of the Yeti, Nugget the Meteor Troll, and perhaps others stand to repel boarders. ScorpionRegent takes up a position on the upper balcony to act as a sniper. At that moment down in Main Engineering, Jet and Cozen are working on repairs. Cozen crosses the wrong wires, almost electrocuting himself and plunging the entire ship into darkness. The invading Alliance troops turn on their night-vision goggles, putting Our Heroes on the defensive. Ath and Trey are wounded, and taken to the Infrimary, though Trey quickly returns to the action. Washie somehow merges her mind with the Ghost of River-clone, and wields significant psychic power. Kelly exerts power through Narya, the Ring of Fire, and illuminates the Common Room, blinding the Alliance troops. The Alliance commander sends in his secret weapon, a cyborg called McQ.
In the Sereni-Tree’s Gunnery stations:
With the loss of power, the Sereni-Tree’s weapons are all inactive. Kelly had already run off to help in the Common Room. Jake7 activates the night vision button on her gadet and goes, too. Deuce decides to run off to protect the undefended hanger bay. She feels her way toward it in the dark to find an unknown shuttle from the Tripoli! She follows the path of “intruders” through various air vents, and ends up in the Infirmary. She had only been following PsychicRiver and ThatWeirdGirl, who had used the stolen shuttle to escape from the Tripoli.
In space near Boros:
There is a space battle involving Safe’s ISSCV, the Bonaparte, the Eagle, the Nandi, the Sereni-Tree, the Alliance Cruisers [i
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THE REAL ME’S GUIDED TOUR OF THE SERENI-TREE, V5
Hello! I am TheRealMe. We’ve had some new folks join us lately, so I will provide another tour of the Sereni-Tree, my fifth. I have paid careful attention over time, and I believe that this layout is consistent with all the stories that have occurred in the Sereni-Tree to date.
WARNING: This post is very long.
Below, I also list the crew that we seem to have now, without bothering to track down every poster we have ever had. If I have missed crew or if anyone would like to change my one-line description of them, let me know. There is always the possibility that some missing folks have just been sleeping in their quarters for the last dozen threads, or perhaps they have been placed in the secret cryogenic freezing chamber of the Insidious Doctor Rat. CageyBee? CosmicFugitive? BadgersHat? Apple? ManiacNumberOne? KaySky? Knibblet? Aramina? ImEarly? GreekToomey? PyreFX? I have made a new category in the crew list for folks who seem to be missing in action.
The Sereni-Tree’s Past
The Sereni-Tree is our home. Originally, it took the form of a tree house built by Ebonezer, and this is the image it has on our flag, the Flag That Shw Made. The tree house was the immediate successor to “The Forgotten Not a Guy/Girl Clubhouse”. Later, PsychicRiver and a few others, including myself, modified the tree house to make it an air-ship, floating through the sky on numerous butterfly-shaped reactionless thrusters. In this form, the converted tree house was named and christened “Sereni-Tree” by Mal-licious, and we left the actual Tree behind as we flew off. Later, TheGreyJedi made even more modifications, and the Sereni-Tree became a starship. We have since been traveling the ‘verse, leaving the destroyed planets of Rukus and Black Diamond in our wake (we REALLY have to stop that). We returned to Earth-That-Still-Is to fight the Evil / Enemy Invaders and to face our own dark selves. After relaxing among dandelions and facing some Reavers, we boarded the nightmare ship Arkham. After that, we recovered ThatWeirdGirl and went on a second Mai-Quest where we befriended pirates. Then we got all caught up in the Boros Incident, where the Sereni-Tree was heavily damaged in a battle with two Alliance cruisers.
The Sereni-Tree on the Inside
The Sereni-Tree is a structure much larger on the inside than it appears on the outside, thanks to my ability to fold space-time in higher dimensions. On the outside, the Sereni-Tree is perhaps the size of a modest two-story house. On the inside, it is larger. MUCH larger.
The Common Room
The Common Room is the center of life in the Sereni-Tree. It is a huge cylindrical room perhaps 20 yards/meters across and three levels high. There are two encircling balconies, one above the other, around the Common Room. Equally spaced around the Common Room’s curving walls are the exits to the North, East, South, and West Wings. While it is true that the Sereni-Tree can move about and adopt any orientation, the names are traditional, coming from the time it was still a stationary tree house. There will be more about the Wings later.
In the center of the Common Room sits the pool table. In many ways, it is the critical nerve center of the ship, and battles have been waged for its possession. Underneath the pool table is the nest of the (currently missing) Captain Ebonezer, where she always piled her stuff (although the Captain has a designated room in one of the Wings, that room has rarely been used). Also under the pool table are the remains of Cozen’s Pleasurable Torture Chamber, which includes “the Chair”. The top of the pool table is where the Captain sometimes climbed to address the crew. Note that the pool table is missing its eight-ball, which Rat once traded for more Spam. Its cue-ball is stained purple from travel through the purple dimension. Above the pool table
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*Elemdee stands with mai outside of the infirmary, downtrodden. He looks over at mai and a little bit of the grin he's worn so often lately returns.
Hey, I know we haven't done much in the past little bit...but I'm not feeling too well anyway. I'm gonna go take a nap, I think.
I'll see you in a little bit?
/me gives mai a brief but meaningful squidge, then heads off
---
http://www.xffx.net/blog <-inching towards daylight
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(ooc: Finally got a internet connection in my place of living. I can finally hop back in now and be useful)
*Stepping out from a room in one of the wings, N0Skillz and Shadow make there way back to the common room*
"Wow, what happened in here?"
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RAF Lakenheath
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Jazaf sat in his bedroom for the better part of an hour. Even after his Bat-like wings crumpled and turned to dust behind him. His left arm remained the same, scaled from Shoulder Blade to fingertip with claws that were about two inches in length.
'Gonna have to go see the Doc. Hopefully the worst is over now though.'
Jazaf heads out of his room and walks to the Infirmary making no effort, this time, to hide his left arm. He passes by the Common room and notes the scene there.
'Hmm. A new addition...have to greet him properly when he is in a better mood.'
Jazaf continues his walk and spots N0Skillz walk out with his rather large feline.
Quote:
*Stepping out from a room in one of the wings, N0Skillz and Shadow make there way back to the common room*
"Wow, what happened in here?"
'Too much.' Jazaf replies. 'TRM could fill you in better than I could, I think He's in the Hanger bay.'
Finally, Jazaf makes it to the Infirmary. He pokes his head in to see if Simonwho is busy. Luckily, it looks like he just finished. Jazaf walks on in raising his left arm.
'Uh...Dr. Simonwho, I have a small problem.'
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Mystery Man on the Sereni-Tree
Navigator on Destiny
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Quote:
Originally posted by TheRealMe:
Ath seems to be lying on his back. He believes that he sees Riverclone standing over him. But that's... impossible.
She seems to stare down at him, a grave expression on her face. "No, not yet. But maybe soon. It looks like you might end up being a sacrifice after all." She gets a far-off look. "If you do, she'll name it after you. Heh. 'Atherton' would be such a silly name for a girl!"
Riverclone reaches out and lightly touches Ath's chest. "The problem is here." She smiles sadly. "You're suffering from a broken heart!"
The touch of River sends a spark through Ath’s body, filling it with life. He flexes his limbs and stands, facing Riverclone.
“Wacky fun,” he says, and grabs her hand. “You coming or what?”
On the table, Ath’s body convulses, causing both Kelly and Serenity to drop their cups of tea. The two women look wildly at each other, not knowing what to do. Ath gives one final shudder and then falls silent.
His eyes open.
A ripple like dappled shadows through leaves passes behind his eyes, and an enormous shape flows and separates from his body, slowly gathering form and color. Riverclone stands, looks at the two women, and laughs.
“What, did you think he died? Such silly girls.” She turns and walks out of the infirmary.
Kelly and Serenity stare slackjawed at the door until a welcome sound behind them fills their ears.
“My two favorite women,” Ath says weakly.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I love my Captain
Check out my Big Damn FF Icons at http://www.livejournal.com/community/bigdamnfficons/
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NOTE - This was posted at the end of thread 41, but reposted so it didn't get overlooked. (end note)Quote:
As she stands next to TRM, quietly watching Sparky clear what seems like a ton of debris from where they stand to the place the craft is docked, Washie whips around upon hearing a gut-wrenching cry of despair from something not quite human.
Their new friend McQ has found somebody close to him, and worse, has LOST her too. The body of his beloved is cradled in his arms, her long oak-colored hair rivals the gleam of his metal arms as he carries her, one small pale hand waves sadly as he ponderously steps out of the common room, heading down the hall to points unknown, looking for burial where there is none to be had.
Squeezing TRM's arm, she asks, "Sparky'll be a few minutes longer, TRM, I'll be back in less time than that. Stay, yes?" Not awaiting a reply, she rushes out the door following McQ, figuring this might be a job for her as ship's counselor, although lacking SimonWho's approval, she isn't technically employed yet.
Catching up with McQ easily assisted by still-winged feet, she calls out to him and skids to a halt as he does.
Staring up into his faceplate, Washie plumbs the depths of his mind, brushing past the dagger-like pain and want in the man, clearing a pathway to soothe where she can, heal where he is ready to allow it. Unlike Jadehand's tortured psyche from earlier, this cyborg is made of more easily healed stuff.
"Hey. It was beautiful, what you two had, Honey. 'Twould be easy to let the fact of your finding her and losing her again like this kill your chances of making a new life. Feel your pain, don't fight it, but know this for true: If you let it, the time will come when you will smile when you think of her, instead of wanting to weep. I promise, okay?"
She watches a tear streak down McQ's cheek to plop with a ping on his armoured torso. Looking down at the creature's large feet, Washie steps up onto his "instep" and hugs him and his sweetheart, tucking her head under his chin, her cheek against his cold metal shoulder. Taking off her outer robe, Washie gently lays it over the lifeless woman's body, tucking it carefully over the pale battle-streaked but still lovely face.
"The medlab's that way, my Friend," she points down the corridor. "Take her there and lay her down, McQ. We'll get her a proper burial, I promise, after the living are seen to. Will you trust me?"
McQ nods and strides heavily off toward the medlab, glad to have direction from a friend. Washie flies back to TRM just in time to see him begin striding towards the spectre of a craft attached to their home like a parasitic mushroom to the base of a Sequouia. She moves into step beside him, gathering power along the way, hands clenched tight, holding it in in case they need it, all her mind's considerable reading impulses tuned toward what's ahead of them.
McQ approaches the medlab with his deceased companion, but can't quite bring himself to take her into the room. He slides against the wall, making a nasty metallic screeching noise until he's sitting on the floor of the corridor holding his sweetheart's lifeless body close to his. He looks around and realizes he's alone.
"How could I let this happen?" he asks quietly as if she could hear him. "I should've found a way out for both of us. This is not right ... you had too much to live for ... had I known you'd be involved with this horrible battle I'd have tried to protect you."
He holds her gently and rests her head against his cold metallic shoulders. "I wish I could feel you more. These limbs don't let me touch as if they were my own." He kisses her softly on the lips although he knows she can't feel them. "Rest peacefully, Krysten Renae." He stands while supporting her body and carries her into the medlab, resting her body on a nearby bed. Turning to the medical officer and again says "She deserves proper burial." He sits beside her and holds her lifeless hand.
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Quote:I...think I might take up that idea of sleep.
Originally posted by KellyofLuthien:
The touch of River sends a spark through Ath’s body, filling it with life. He flexes his limbs and stands, facing Riverclone.
“Wacky fun,” he says, and grabs her hand. “You coming or what?”
On the table, Ath’s body convulses, causing both Kelly and Serenity to drop their cups of tea. The two women look wildly at each other, not knowing what to do. Ath gives one final shudder and then falls silent.
His eyes open.
A ripple like dappled shadows through leaves passes behind his eyes, and an enormous shape flows and separates from his body, slowly gathering form and color. Riverclone stands, looks at the two women, and laughs.
“What, did you think he died? Such silly girls.” She turns and walks out of the infirmary.
Welcome back Ath.
*PR looks to his mother and father.* Um, bye.
*PR also leaves the infirmary.*
PsychicRiver
"Two by two, hands of blue."
"We'll take care of each other. I'll knit!"
"I swallowed a bug."
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*Sits down just outside the infirmary unsure of what to do... until a loud crash from the infirmary startles*
*Runs into the room*
What happened in here?!
*notices Ath now very much alive*
Oh... thank god for some good news!
Mai, Secretary of Unmentionables.
http://iammai2.livejournal.com
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A newly re-embodied Riverclone dances slowly and gracefully back into the Infirmary. She spots PsychicRiver, runs over to him, and gives him a hug. Then she holds him at arm’s length and adopts a serious expression. ”Welcome back,” she says.
She releases PR and dances over to where Ath lay on the bed. She stops and smiles, and kisses him gently on the forehead. “I was cross with you, not for what you did… that was fate… but for how much you enjoyed it. But it wasn’t you at all, was it? It was another you. But now I forgive you both! No need to cut you at all, anymore! No need!”
Riverclone dances away from Ath and sees the dead ladylove of McQ on another table. She stares long and hard at her still form, then brushes away a tear from her own eye. She approaches McQ, reaches up, and gives him a passionate kiss. “Krysten... She never forgot.”
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