RP: "Adventures in Gunrunning" - Act 11
POSTED BY: FrauDirektor
UPDATED: Monday, March 15, 2004 03:00
VIEWED: 19707
PAGE 9 of 12
Slight's shocked at the reaction.
"You say most folks call you 'Slight'. I'm not interested in that. What do you prefer to be called?"
Slight shrugs, locking eyes with her. He keeps waiting for a flinch, a shudder, a gasp. But there is still. . .nothing. A calm, almost serene acceptance. "Slight is who I am. Or was." Suddenly he feels lost. The humanity that Thorne saw return is creating confusion. He was so used to being what others saw of him. . .
"What is it you see, when you see me, Brink Helsing?"
Slight decides to be truthful. "Nothing, m'lady. That's the point. I. . .Blue Sun designed me as a sensitive, a reader of others'emotions, thoughts and memories. But my eyes have been able to go farther, to see things that everyone else misses. But you," he hesitates, before saying a name so simple it almost pains him, "Merz, are a blank. It's like you're immune to me. I know you're not a creation of the Blue Sun," he says, continuing as she opens her mouth with a question, "trust me, I know. And that makes me all the more curious of you."
Slight has a sudden moment of inspiration, as everyone begins to hassle them on the limited time.
"I'm going to be leaving for a while, and I was wondering if you'd care to help. We could use the extra hands, I'm sure."
I'm talking about geese.
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MAL's Move:
Location: Cargo Bay
JAYNE:"Uhhh, wow that done cleared my head right up. Gonna head to my bunk real quick for a change then later on, Zoe and I are gonna adress my soggy britches... Meet ya' in the bay in 20."
[Apparently the misunderstanding about who the Captain is has spread from the hitchers to the crew. MAL hopes that it's just a side effect of the drugs, and that the more common, and unpleasant, ones will kick in soon. Before that, though, he'll have to set JAYNE straight.]
MAL:"I'd try to feel bad 'bout your soggy britches, but knowin' the Alliance is 15 minutes out has sucked all the 'Give-A-Shit' right out of me. You bun tien-shung de ee-duai-ro! Get your sorry ass up there an' tie that container down soon as it stops rollin'! You want to change? There'll be da bianhua in your health if you don't move right now!"
[At MAL's last word, the conex wheels hit the pre-placed chocks, and the winch automatically switches off. Folk are needed right now to secure the cargo.]
MAL:"Tzao gao! (shouting)Little help here. Anybody not doin' three other things come help soggy-pants JAYNE tie off the load."
EOM (plus edit for Squee)
Bun tien-shung de ee-duai-ro = Stupid inbred sack of meat
Da bianhua = Big change
Tzao gao = Shit
"Keep the Shiny side up"
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LOCATION - DINING ROOM
Quote:
DAMON: "Hate to interrupt, but don't you guys think we should be worrying about that patrol boat? I doubt the Feds are taking a tea break right now."
Quote:
ROWAN: Hang on - patrol boat? Nobody said anything about a patrol boat - what’s the ETA?
Quote:
DAMON: "Less than fifteen minutes."
Quote:
ROWAN to MERZ: Hey, having just woke up and all, I’m little behind the eight ball on current events. Somebody wanna clue me in on which corner of hell we happen to be sitting on right now?
MERZ can hear the conversation in the background, and she knows that she is going to have to play it back and pay attention to it . . real soon now. But for this instant, something is more demanding of her attention than the simple if important words going on behind her.
Quote:
SLIGHT: "Nothing, m'lady. That's the point. I. . .Blue Sun designed me as a sensitive, a reader of others' emotions, thoughts and memories. But my eyes have been able to go farther, to see things that everyone else misses. But you," he hesitates, "Merz, are a blank. It's like you're immune to me."
MERZ wants to speak, to say something to stop this, outpouring. Somehow what he is saying and what is being said does not completely mesh. he does not know that he is showing . . anything. he has forgotton his mask He prevents her speaking, this time.
Quote:
I know you're not a creation of the Blue Sun, trust me, I know. And that makes me all the more curious of you."
This time is is MERZ who has raised her hand, but he goes on, driven by a something that is watching her completely and yet seeing nothing.
Quote:
"I'm going to be leaving for a while, and I was wondering if you'd care to help. We could use the extra hands, I'm sure."
Again MERZ raises her hands to SLIGHT; she will respond to him in a moment. Right now other things come first and she would like the room emptied.
MERZ to ROWAN: "We are sitting on the floor of Serenity Valley while the actual crew are loading whatever they came here to get. Yes there is a patrol boat incoming soon. The good news is the Laser Cannon is installed. The bad news is we have not had a chance to actually test the blessed thing. Please go with Damon and have him show you where to stand and see the gun from the cargo bay. I don't want you outside, but someone has to watch and see if it will actually respond to the controls. Test firing is just going to have to wait for a target.."
MERZ to DAMON: "Yes you are right. This is a bad time for a tea party. Feel better? I will be out in two minutes."
As they clear the doorway she returns her absolute attention to SLIGHT. Her voice has remained unemotionless and her face almost locked in a non-look. "You are correct, I have nothing to do with Blue Sun. And there is much I do not understand. But I understand this - you would do very well indeed to curb any curiosity you have of me. You do not want to be in my head. You do not want to know where I come from. And should you ever meet another like me, be wary. If they are working they are dangerous." MERZ put her palms together and rested her chin on them, eyes still locked with SLIGHT. "If they are rogue they are more dangerous . . . and unpredictable." She pauses and considers is offer once again. But . . "It might be interesting to go with you. However I can't help but believe that would let me in for more complications than I can handle right now. I decline your kind offer. And I would request a favor of you. Unless you can keep others of your kind from knowing your mind, I would appreciate it if you forget you ever met me." until we meet again . . . perhaps
"And in case you are wondering - I am the third option. I am free." And MERZ turns away and hurries into the hallway, before he can see the doubt she can feel reflected in her eyes.
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress
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Damon's turn:
Location: on the move to DINING ROOM/GALLEY to on the move again
Quote:
MAL:"Tzao gao! (shouting)Little help here. Anybody not doin' three other things come help soggy-pants JAYNE tie off the load."
Damon stops halfway to the engine room when he hears the captain's voice hollering from the cargo bay. Sounds like time was runnning out. He sets the box down in the hall and drains the rest of his beer before running back toward the galley.
Quote:
... The bad news is we have not had a chance to actually test the blessed thing. Please go with Damon and have him show you where to stand and see the gun from the cargo bay. I don't want you outside, but someone has to watch and see if it will actually respond to the controls. Test firing is just going to have to wait for a target.."
MERZ to DAMON: "Yes you are right. This is a bad time for a tea party. Feel better? I will be out in two minutes."
"I'll feel better when we're back in the black." he says. He looks at Rowan and then heads down the stairwell two steps at a time.
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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Book's Move
Location: Book's Room
Book closes the drawer containing, among other things, a tube of extremely potent ointment and a bit of med tape and walks back over to his bunk.
Staring at his injured hand, which he's cunningly wrapped to be inobtrusive, he feels a chill go up his back, as though someone's watching him. There are many souls watching me in this valley.
Suddenly he is reminded of the memory stick that Simon gave to him. Where did I put it? Ah yes. Still in my pocket. Book pulls the slim blue stick from his coat pocket and studies it. A retinal scanner, hmmm. ok.
Book puts the scanner in front of his eye and clicks a small indentation on the side of the device. A purple beam shoots out and runs up and down swiftly across his retina then focuses into a small beam for a moment before disappearing back within the stick. Book listens as Simon's voice speaks a few words, and then Simon's face appears in Book's mind.
----------- * a few minutes pass *
Book sits, head in hands on the end of his bed, thinking about what he just heard on the memory stick. Wearily looking up at a sound outside his door, he stands and goes to the damaged mirror to turn off the light and put back on his collar.
EM
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BETWEEN DINING ROOM and BRIDGE
MERZ moves down the hallway hardly aware of where she is going. She needs to find DAMON - there is someting important he needs to know about the cannon.
Part of her is listening for his voice, to identify where he is, part of her is listening to another voice entirely. nothing m'lady. m'lady. no one has ever called me that before. am i pleased, or scared? *may laman ba yang kokote mo, mercedes? deep breath, let it go
EOM
*may laman ba yang kokote mo = you got anything in that head of yours (Filipino)
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress
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Rowan's Move:
LOCATION: DINING ROOM/GALLEY
------------------------------
MERZ: "We are sitting on the floor of Serenity Valley while the actual crew are loading whatever they came here to get. Yes there is a patrol boat incoming soon. The good news is the Laser Cannon is installed. The bad news is we have not had a chance to actually test the blessed thing. Please go with Damon and have him show you where to stand and see the gun from the cargo bay. I don't want you outside, but someone has to watch and see if it will actually respond to the controls. Test firing is just going to have to wait for a target.."
------------------------------
The second impression Rowan receives with Merz's tidy and succinct information and commanding attitude is that this is a woman who has commanded people before. She also can't help but wonder which side Merz was on during the war. All of that is set aside, however, with the first eight words of her statement. We are sitting on the floor of Serenity Valley.
Serenity Valley on Hera, the bloodiest battle of the war - where most experts say the fall of the Independent Movement began. Rowan can remember hearing the reports that eventually came in from there, how nearly half a million people lay dead on that field at the end of the day day's end, about a third of them Alliance soldiers. Rowan still found it hard to believe how quickly it happened. That no less than five days in, there were so many officers dead that the only ones left to command were staff sergeants meant to command a squad of only thirty or so foot solders, not entire platoons. And by the time the fighting was over there were less than 500 still standing, such as they could.
And she would never forget the sorrow that haunted Xiang from the end of that awful battle until the last moment she saw him. Sometimes she even thought he let himself be taken as penance, rather than to save her.
ROWAN (angrily): "We have to leave."
Rising from the table - absently wondering if anyone has had time to run diagnostics on the weapons systems yet - she accompanies Damon as instructed and meets the young man's eyes as he speaks.
------------------------------
DAMON: "I'll feel better when we're back in the black."
------------------------------
Unsteady on her feet thanks to lack of depth perception - qingwa cào de lâotou chùsheng xai-jiao de xiang huo - Rowan nonetheless follows his quick descent, guiding herself with one hand on the bulkhead as she goes.
ROWAN: "You and me both, xiâo dì dì. Hey, you've run a diagnostic on that gun's systems, right? Made sure there isn't some surprise waiting when we power it up?"
EOM
qingwa cào de lâotou chùsheng xai-jiao de xiang huo = frog humping old geezer, animal-fucking bastard
xiâo dì dì = little brother (unfamiliar, like saying "man" or "dude")
We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922
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Zoe's Move:
Location: Outside Serenity to Cargo Bay As...
Quote:
MAL: "I'd try to feel bad 'bout your soggy britches, but knowin' the Alliance is 15 minutes out has sucked all the 'Give-A-Shit' right out of me. You bun tien-shung de ee-duai-ro*! Get your sorry ass up there an' tie that container down soon as it stops rollin'! You want to change? There'll be da bianhua* in your health if you don't move right now!"
At MAL's last word, the conex wheels hit the pre-placed chocks, and the winch automatically switches off. Folk are needed right now to secure the cargo.
MAL:"Tzao gao*! (shouting)Little help here. Anybody not doin' three other things come help soggy-pants JAYNE tie off the load."
ZOE follows the conex up the ramp, guiding it as it goes. As the conex comes to a halt, ZOE and JAYNE immediately begin securing the conex. As she works, ZOE thinks about where they are and what's coming down on them.
ZOE (to herself): Don't seem fair, all this ruckus over one conex. And to hafta come back to the 'Valley for it, too. I know we need the work, gotta keep flyin', but whatever possessed MAL to bring us here? We got folks on board we know nothin' about, an ex-Blue Sun op, and the Alliance is on us again. Maybe WASH is right: We should tell MAL we need a break - all of us. Wouldn't mind not bein' chased every time we turn around. Take a break - take a real bath! - maybe find a little peace. She gives a mental sigh. Ain't likely to happen today, though, and the Alliance ain't gonna back off just 'cause I'm tired.
ZOE mentally shrugging off her growing disquiet, ZOE and JAYNE finishes securing the cargo just as DAMON, MERZ, and ROWAN appear on the catwalk. Checking the ties one last time, ZOE stands and looks at MAL.
ZOE: "Five minutes, Sir. Cargo's as secure as it's gonna get. Don't mind sayin' I'd be glad to be on our way."
ZOE glances at the newcomers and back at MAL, bringing her hands up to her hips. To the others, she appears perfectly calm, but MAL can tell she's waiting - anxious, even - for him to call WASH and tell him get the ship moving before the Alliance comes bearing down.
End Move.
bun tien-shung de ee-duai-ro = Stupid inbred sack of meat
da bianhua = Big change
tzao gao = Shit
~A~
...I'm still free,
You can't take the sky from me.
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Damon's turn:
Location: Cargo bay
ROWAN: "You and me both, xiâo dì dì. Hey, you've run a diagnostic on that gun's systems, right? Made sure there isn't some surprise waiting when we power it up?"
"It'll work fine," he says over his shoulder. He reaches the floor of the cargo bay and walks down the ramp, dropping his bag in a corner on the way. He looks up at the cannon, inspecting it one last time, and then looks toward the bridge for Merz.
"Merz! Everything looks good from here! You need anything else?"
He looks out over the valley and spots three specks getting closer. "Shit... he didn't say three..."
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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Rowan's Move:
Location: Cargo bay
------------------------------
DAMON: "It'll work fine."
------------------------------
Spoken like a fella who has no point of reference when it comes to Alliance duplicity. Considering his youth, Rowan figures Damon never saw much more than the media coverage that used to pre-empt entertainment vid on afternoons after school.
ROWAN (with extreme skepticism): "Uh-huh, and apples tossed over enemy lines are completely harmless too - you won't mind if I get my gear and find out for myself before the top of this ship blows off?"
EOM
OOC: Who knew that the media coverage of Vietnam that used to pre-empt my cartoons when I was a kid would come in handy as a point of reference for Firefly?
We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922
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