GR RP "Adventures in Gunrunning" Act 20
POSTED BY: Channain
UPDATED: Wednesday, September 8, 2004 13:24
VIEWED: 18914
PAGE 9 of 10
KAYLEE's move
LOCATION - ENGINE ROOM As ...
... finally, that's done ...
KAYLEE puts her tools down once again, and drags one hand across her forehead. That was a job and a half, fer sure. One more inspection of all that has been done today, one final testing of connections and she is satisfied that the grav compensation unit is as good as she can make it, and better than factory specs. Carefully removing all of the shunts and restoring the unit to full functionality is the final step. She closes up the access hatch, and calls it good.
Now, for the pilot's station. Wasn't as bad as she wanted WASH to think, really just wanted to scare him into a bit of caution. Probly never happen though, just did not seem to be his style, somehow.
KAYLEE replaces the tools she has been using in her toolbox, most of them she will need again right now. Adding a small package of LED's and other assorted buttons and lights, she starts out the door towards the bridge. Passing the comm, she toggles it on.
KAYLEE
WASH, I'm headed for the bridge to get ya all fixed up. Best you get your sorry pigu up there and give me a hand. Dong Ma?
EOM
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress
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Wash's Move:
Location - On the Bridge, next to the Hot Seat...
KAYLEE:
WASH, I'm headed for the bridge to get ya all fixed up. Best you get your sorry pigu up there and give me a hand. Dong Ma?
(Wash, over the intercom, back to engineering): "Ok, boss lady... I'm already up here, doing what I'm supposed to be a doing... Dong Ma?"
(Zoe smials at Wash, and moves away from the Navigation console...)
Decoy, they make me go first.
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Rowan's Move
LOCATION - CARGO BAY
JAYNE: "Fine. She's fine. Does this all the time."
How a fella could make a living as a mercenary with little to no ability to convincingly lie to anybody is entirely beyond Rowan's comprehension. Then again, maybe that's the whole idea. He'd never make a decent career out of being a confidence man. Jayne's more of a shoot-em up, rob-em blind, don't bother asking questions kind of fella.
ROWAN: "She's fine? And I'm a blond, blue-eyed governor's daughter.
She barely saw it in time. She heard it first, just the barest *woosh* of something passing through the air. If not for her heightened awareness of sound thanks to the gorram migraine, it's likely she would have missed it entirely.
Catching movement in her peripheral vision, Rowan automatically raises her handheld, just as something - no, someone literally drops from the sky. A quick touch puts it on video record and the delay causes her to miss most of it, except for that crucial moment that shows Merz landing with all the grace of a cat not three feet from Jayne.
ROWAN (to herself): Well. I will be gorramed. She is a Troy.
Watching Merz unceremoniously move in and scoop RIVER into the shelter of her arms with equal amounts of determination and grace, Rowan can't help but perceive the maternal instinct. Somewhere along the way, these two formed an attachment that resembled a mother lion and her cub.
MERZ: She is my burden now, Jayne. Leave her to me.
Hearing the tone, Rowan considers it wise that Jayne chooses not to argue. He's downright relieved, in fact, as well he should be. Rowan suspects if Merz thought he had been doing River a harm, she would have cheerfully rendered him limb from limb. He goes back to what he was doing, constructing the drop chute from the looks of it, recalling the captain's plan. Then Merz turns to face Rowan.
MERZ: I do not know what is causing her this distress. We are going to the infirmary now.
Although Merz didn't specifically phrase her order, Rowan decides not to take any chances and moves to follow. Still, she can't let Jayne off that easy.
ROWAN: "I got my eye on you, Cobb."
EOM
We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922
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JAYNE'S move
LOCATION – CARGO BAY
ROWAN
"I got my eye on you, Cobb."
Now what in blazes was that supposed to mean? Must be a woman thing. They come in here causing no end of trouble, walking around like they own the place, and thinking that they're going to protect River from him? He's known her for a whole year now. Sure, it was a shaky relationship to start, but they developed a healthy respect for each other, he thinks. What with his ability to kill a man in a hundred different ways, and her ability to kill a man in just that one terrifying way.
JAYNE
"What, now I'm the bad guy?" he shouts back at her, giving a sour look before he drops the heavy goggles onto his face.
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River
LOCATION - …
River is only dimly aware of movement and voices around her as she cries, still lost in a dark void of emotion. She feels herself being lifted from the floor and clings to her carrier as if holding on to life itself. She doesn’t know who it is, but she doesn’t care. It’s not Simon. When she catches her breath enough to speak, she starts mumbling to anyone who can hear her.
“Can’t escape… it’s coming… Too much pain, too much fear. Must face it, we all do.”
She clutches Merz tightly and continues to cry silently.
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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MERZ move
LOCATION - NEAR INFIRMARY As ...
RIVER is clinging to MERZ desperately, as if trying to anchor herself from being swept/taken away. MERZ had taken the girl from the bay for reasons unknown even to herself. Now she must determine what to do. She still feels that driving need/desire/obligation to protect this young civilian. How strange …
RIVER
Can’t escape… it’s coming… Too much pain, too much fear. Must face it, we all do.
MERZ
What is coming, bahini? What is it we must face?
… all data is useful. she may be aware of things i cannot see…
Vaguely aware of the person following and with her attention almost totally focused on the child MERZ addresses her companion. While speaking to RIVER her voice is gentle and projecting comfort. This speech is un-inflected to the point of seeming mechanical.
I will check her physicals. CORVAIR, analyze her mental state.
Upon hearing the almost inaudible intake of breath behind her, MERZ snaps back into focus, aware of what she has done. Merz sighs. … perhaps i see why we were raised as we were, fewer … distractions …
Thank you for coming along ROWAN. Do you have time to assist me?
What inflection may be in her voice is unintentional, MERZ is just speaking.
EOM
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress
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Rowan's Move
LOCATION - CARGO BAY
JAYNE: "What, now I'm the bad guy?" he shouts back at her, giving a sour look before he drops the heavy goggles onto his face.
Rowan turns to see him back to his work like nothing happened. Only she'd seen the compassion on his mug that reflected the heart inside the cynical shell that was the man. She's known other fellas like him--most of them overly eager suitors back on Osiris--who didn't know how to rightly express their feelings. She figures Jayne Cobb is one of them, and the fact that those feelings seem to almost embarrass him is entirely endearing.
ROWAN: "There's a lot of bad and good in this 'verse." She smiles ruefully. "You've seen some of both, probably more of the bad, same as me. I find the side you end up on depends entirely on your heart, not your character."
Jayne turns to her, goggles still in place, scowling at her.
ROWAN: You can try to be as bad as you want to be, Jayne Cobb, but you and I both know when it comes down to it, you know where you stand. That is indeed a rare thing."
He continues to stare at her as the scowl smooths away from his brow. Holding her smile, Rowan turns to follow along behind Merz. As they're headed to the infirmary, she can find something to take care of the effects of the headache once River's situation is alleviated.
RIVER is clinging to MERZ desperately, as if trying to anchor herself from being swept/taken away. MERZ had taken the girl from the bay for reasons unknown even to herself. Now she must determine what to do. She still feels that driving need/desire/obligation to protect this young civilian. How strange …
RIVER: Can’t escape… it’s coming… Too much pain, too much fear. Must face it, we all do.
MERZ: What is coming, bahini? What is it we must face?
Speaking of compassion, this must be something entirely new for Merz, if what Rowan had managed to pick up on the Troys held any credence at all. Imagine being raised and trained entirely for one purpose.
FLASHBACK
"I was supposed to be their golden son," he said. "Their shining heir."
The cynicism in his voice was heartbreaking. She couldn't understand how anyone could speak so callously about their own parents, and it made her realize how lucky she was to have such a good relationship with her own. "Supposed to be?"
He gave a short, scoffing laugh and ran his hand lightly over her bare skin from the nape of her neck to the base of her spine. He had such gentle hands, yet the knowledge he imparted to his touch indicated he'd had some instruction. How much, she wondered, was his own impulse, and how much was companion influence?
"When I was sixteen, we went to the lawyer's office to open my joint trust. Qu was on my left, and Mai on my right. They did not make eye contact, and did not speak to each other. He kept one hand on my shoulder, and she held my hand. That was the extent of their mutual contact. It occurred to me then that we had arrived in the hover trans that way as well. Anything they had to say, they said to me, not to each other. Once the papers were signed, it was the same. That was the day I realized that my parents did not have a marriage, but a business arrangement. I was little more than the physical evidence of a merger to them. As we rode home, I made a vow that never, under any circumstances, would I marry for any reason other than love."
She turned over to look at him, seeing the pain of that teenage boy in his beautiful eyes. Taking that hand, she rested it on her chest between her breasts and felt his fingers spread so that his palm lay over her heart. He looked at her, meeting her gaze with a sheen of tears.
END FLASHBACK
Rowan pulled away from that memory herself, before she could remember the words she'd spoken to him. The pain was back, but not nearly as severe as b
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River
LOCATION - INFIRMARY
MERZ
What is coming, bahini? What is it we must face?
River’s mind slowly starts to surface, the voices around her become clearer, drawing her back. Her breathing starts to even out but she still doesn’t let go of Merz.
“Shadows, darkness. Strange voices, familiar faces.”
She feels Merz trying to put her down and tightens her grip. “No, Simon, please don’t go. I need you.”
ROWAN: "River, can you tell me your full name?"
River opens her eyes, tears still streaming down her face. She looks up at Rowan, silent for a moment, seeming to see past her face. She reaches up and lightly brushes her fingers over Rowan’s right eye, temple and eyebrow.
“Too much pain. Physical hurts emotionally. Emotion hurts physically. Minds are caught in the middle, afraid, trying to survive.”
She lowers her hand and clutches Merz again. Fresh tears adding to the drying ones.
“THIS IS NOT HOW IT ENDED!!!”
OOC: ok, that's everything I wanted to use, she will be calming down now. Thanks Debs and Chan for all the fun and inspiring material 
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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LOCATION - MALs DORM
As ...
BOOK
adopts a more serious and concerned attitude
"Who is it you're wondering about Captain, is there someone specific that's troubling you?"
Mal takes a deep extended breath and exhales slowly. His gaze wanders off from Books eyes as he thinks ... why am I doing this? ... Inara ... Mal quickly chops his feelings off and reroutes his thoughts to the other problems. Each linking to another, stuttering across his consciousness.
... Thorne acting like he owns us ... losing Zoe to his charisma ... Wash knee-jerkin' ... Jayne fulla conspiracy theories ... Did Rowan let Niska loose ... Kaylee closed off, runnin' away ... Simon actin' foolishly, tryin' to keep his sister safe and sane ... River drifting again ... Blue Sun flunky jus' showing up ... runway slave stray, so angry ... nude military human robot in Serenity Valley ... Book a possible spook ... Inara ... I'm losin' myself ... responsible, gotta protect my crew, my Family ...
To Mal all of the little problems seem to be blossoming into bigger ones. All these thoughts run naked across his normally stoic features.
Mal closes his eyes and rubs the bridge of his noes with his right forefinger and thumb, as if a headache was coming on. A true migraine which, in reality, had been with him for a few days. The rub extends to his eyes, then to sliding up and across his forehead. With a a start he realizes he has paused longer that he wanted to. His hand, almost involuntarily, scrubs through his hair to the back of his neck where it rests, massaging the iron tense muscles residing there. Mal stares at Book's feet.
MAL
with resignation
"Shepherd ... I ..."
He drifts off, not noticing he has quit speaking.
EOM
"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"
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Rowan's Move
LOCATION - INFIRMARY
River opens her eyes, tears still streaming down her face. She looks up at Rowan, silent for a moment, seeming to see past her face. She reaches up and lightly brushes her fingers over Rowan’s right eye, temple and eyebrow.
RIVER: “Too much pain. Physical hurts emotionally. Emotion hurts physically. Minds are caught in the middle, afraid, trying to survive.”
Rowan blinks, confused, but well aware that River's gift - for lack of a more Academy-accurate term - was focused on her for that tiny little bit of Haiku. She's right about too much pain. Sometimes it feels like she's been carrying the weight of a space cruiser on her soul, carting it with her through the 'verse her entire lifetime. Only letting go of it means letting go of Xiang. As long as she holds on to it, and the anger that goes along with it, there's still a chance - in her mind at least - that he's still out there, somewhere. Waiting.
River lowers her hand and clutches Merz again. Fresh tears adding to the drying ones.
RIVER: “THIS IS NOT HOW IT ENDED!!!”
She seems too far over the deep end to bring back. Still, Rowan has to try. This time she reaches out and curls her hand lightly around River's arm.
ROWAN: "River, honey, I need you to tell me your full name."
EOM
We have art so as not to die of truth ~ Neitzsche
http://www.mnartists.org/artistHome.do?rid=7922
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