GR RP "Adventures in Gunrunning" ACT 21
POSTED BY: CapnRahn
UPDATED: Thursday, October 14, 2004 13:08
VIEWED: 20054
PAGE 9 of 10
JAYNE – COMMON AREA
Five... six... seven... he counts as he collects lengths of sturdy metal rod.
RIVER
"SIMON!"
JAYNE
"Na shi shen me?"1
Jayne leisurely grabs a couple more rods, pretty sure that there's nothing more than a bad dream causing that ruckus. Girl's old enough to be screamin' out other boys' names, he thinks callously, and makes his way to the side of the infirmary where he pauses to look in on her through a window.
1 What is that?
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Slights move
Slight rolls over, blind. He feels a shift in his stomach, slowly moving up his chest. It's warm.
Slight hacks up blood as his organs try to function again. But a lot is torn, and there's a lot of damage.
He grits his teeth, as he tries to focus. What happened?
In a rush, he remembers his life. His training, his epiphany, the years underground. Researching the Academy.
Dying.
Slight growls. And then he realizes he can't see.
He gently probes around his eyes, and feels the fine, metallic threads leading from his eyes into nowhere. Slight swallows the sudden terror.
We can't all be heroes, since some of us have to sit at the curb and clap as they go by.
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MERZ move
LOCATION – TRAVELING: CARGO BAY TO INFIRMARY
RIVER
SIMON!
Once again, as soon as the voice and the stress is determined MERZ is on the move. She drops everything and sprints for the infirmary, going around anything and anyone between them with a totally unconsious grace, and at her best speed.
EOM
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress
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LOCATION - UPPER TRANSVERSE CATWALK
As ...
DAMON
Well, I guess that’s that. Kaylee said six cords… I gotta go talk to Mal before he notices I’m avoiding him, though I’d just as soon braid bungees all night. He pauses. How long have you been on the run, Merz?"
Mal suddenly had 'that' feeling. The prickle that warned that he was about to be caught spying. Mal flashed back to the time the Pit Boss caught him eavesdropping on the planned assault on a no-so friendly neighbor of Mal's Mom - Mal barely got out of that one with his can intact.
At that same moment Damon turns to collect some thick braided bungee cords that are coiled on the floor. Mal thinks ...OK, meebe my instincts are more'n a tad rusty... On the heels of that thought, Merz, in precise motion, turns her head and locks eyes with Mal. Only slightly startled, Mal nods his head once at Merz. She returns the favor and inclines her head back in Damon's direction.
MERZ
"I left the “Geste” a little over 6 months ago. I have been moving ever since. I won’t be able to stay long. These people, she considers her words. You people don’t need the kind of heat I could bring down. But …
A soft sigh from Merz drifts upward, then she continues after a few moments pause. In that pause, Damon carries the coiled bungees and disappears into the Passenger section.
MERZ
... increasing her voice strength just enough to reach Damon...
"How long have you been running, DAMON?
From somewhere near the lockers, Damon's voice rolls with pride.
DAMON
"One year, one month, three weeks, five days and counting. Course, one of these days it'd be nice to not have to run."
Mal notices Book entering the starboard upper gangway and proceed to the stairs. As Book begins to descend, he hails Mal.
BOOK
"Excuse me, Captain, is there anything else you'd like me to do before I prepare for the cabinet opening?"
Before Mal can answer, River's voice shatters the momentary silence.
RIVER
SIMON!
Suddenly Merz is in motion towards the Infirmary. After sharing a knowing look with Mal, Book is barely a second behind her as he charges down the stairs. Mal jogs aft to the mid platform stairs. Disdaining the stairs Mal drops down to the next level and hops over the back rail. He lands just outside the Dorm hatch, using his knees to absorb the impact and then accelerate him through the portal.
EOM
"Remember, there is only ONE absolute - There ARE NO absolutes!!!"
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MERZ move
LOCATION - INFIRMARY
There is no one between her and her destination and it takes very little time for MERZ to reach RIVER’s location. River is sitting upright on the bed, hands flailing and her head scanning from side to side as if looking for something.
Merz moves in and takes her hands gently, trying to engage her attention, to return her mind to the present instead of where her dreams have taken her. Stilling her motion somewhat Merz attempts to pull her in close again, to show River she is protected and safe; wordless communication.
Others are approaching. MERZ, in this protective mode that is wholly novel to her, turns her head to face these incoming individuals. She is not concentrating on her mask, only on River, on making sure nothing will harm her. Facing River, her expression is gentle; when she turns there is a change - warning those approaching that certain lines will not be crossed. Her expression is … feral.
EOM
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress
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River
LOCATION - INFIRMARY
River's frightened gaze darts around the dark room, unsure of where she is. Before she has a chance to get off of the bed, a door opens and form comes running toward her.
"Simon?"
No, it's not Simon. She tries to fight off the hands reaching for her.
"No, Simon!"
The hands finally take her arms, gently pulling her into a comforting embrace. River recognizes this person, the invisible stranger. She burries her face in Merz's shirt and cries.
"Move too fast... couldn't save him. Jayne's cheating but he lost. They're coming... always coming... Simon's gone. lost. Can't escape." She opens her eyes to see more people entering the room. "Too dark."
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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Damon's turn:
LOCATION - CARGO BAY
Damon thought he heard someone on the catwalks but the noise is interrupted by a scream from the next room.
"SIMON!"
Suddenly, everything is moving. Merz runs passed him in a dead run. Footsteps can be heard running down the stairs and Mal drops from the air, landing with practiced ease before running after Merz. Apparently this ship has multiple alarms.
Damon lets Book past before he gets run over and walks into the common room. He stands on the top of the stairs, where he'll be out of the way, and watches the commotion below him.
I'm not broken, in my dream I win...
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INARA’s move.
Note: The flashbacks are lifted almost entirely from a post Ciara sent me that she and Geezer wrote, but didn’t get the chance to post as it was set the next morning. I’m extrapolating from their content and restructuring it in order to get Inara back into the game…
Location(s): Shuttle One, Cargo Bay, Infirmary.
INARA is stretched out on her side, watching a sleeping THORNE, idly running her fingers along his arm. He was an incredible lover, tender and powerful, and she enjoyed herself more than she has done with a client in a very long time. But more than that, they connected – something extremely rare. Something healing… In more than one sense of the word.
Quote:
Flashback:
Inara snuggles down into the crook of Thorne’s arm, pulls the coverlet up once again, and sighs contentedly.
“I had wondered if your natural empathy and my store-bought version would complement or clash, but I never expected anything so intense, so complete. The bond was amazingly deep. I hope that you felt the same?”
A soft chuckle emerges from the depths of the coverlet; Inara's face appears from a fold to give Thorne a significant look of agreement.
The two lay quiet for a while, and then Thorne becomes serious, as though he has made a difficult choice. He rolls on his side to face Inara and speaks.
“When minds and souls are as close as ours have just been, sometimes other things can be sensed. I ask this only because I wish to help. What else is it that troubles you, besides your love for the Captain?”
The pleasantly satisfied glow seeps from Inara's face, and she sits up in bed, resting her head against the high pillows. Refusing to meet Thorne's eyes for a moment, Inara shrugs. "Love? The Captain? I don't know what you mean, Thorne." There are some things a Companion should never discuss.
“Please. It doesn’t take an empath to see you love him, and he you. Everyone who’s been on the ship for more than a day knows, except the Captain. There’s probably some stray Puritan gene in his makeup that won’t allow him to admit it. The same one that doesn’t allow him to separate love from sex.”
Indifferent to her nakedness, Inara slides from the bed and retrieves her long robe. When she turns around, Thorne has donned a robe as well.
"It's not right, you know...to love someone when you know it can never work…” Inara picks at the edge of her robe sash, eyes downcast.“...To let them know how much you love them...when you know both your hearts will be broken eventually. It's easier, and kinder to just suffer it all alone.”
Thorne walks to her and takes her hand.
“I have had some experience with unrequited love, and wish now that I had acted on it. The heartbreak of never knowing what could have been is far worse, and lasts longer.” He releases her hand and begins to dress. “You and I will be great friends, and may share good times together. We have much in common and enjoy each other’s company. But the feelings between you and the Captain can be on a whole other level. It would be a shame not to give them a chance to blossom. I do sense, though, that you’re not yet ready to make that decision.”
With a tiny nod, acknowledging Thorne’s point, Inara replies. “I don't share my true emotions lightly, Thorne...I don't generally share them at all. But, when one empath comes in contact with another...perhaps it’s fate? You do have the truth of it, but my other problem may make it a moot point anyway.”
Inara strides over to the bedside table. Roughly pulling the drawer open, she throws a box of syringes and tiny vials onto the bed. As one vial rolls across and off the bed, Throne catches it surely, holding the label up to the light. With a harshness he can scarcely credit, she continues.
“Van Dreen’s Syndrome. A little genetic gift from earth-that-was. If I can stay on my drug regimen I do all right, but miss a dose and the nosebleeds start, and the headaches. Miss two and there are seizures. Miss three and you’re in a coma. Four…No one ever misses more than four...”
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MERZ move
LOCATION - INFIRMARY
RIVER
“Move too fast... couldn't save him. Jayne's cheating but he lost. They're coming... always coming... Simon's gone. lost. Can't escape. Too dark.”
MERZ does not understand. But she understands enough. She understands that the driving force behind making her a predator is the same as that which has hurt RIVER. This disturbs her. No civilian should be treated in such a manner. They are not … strong enough.
The doorway and the corridor outside, is filling with people. RIVER’s people, MERZ knows this. These are the persons that RIVER and her SIMON trust to take care of her. The people with the right to do so.
MERZ holds RIVER, carefully, one hand on her cheek. She turns to face the oncoming crowd, her head slightly lowered between her shoulders. She simply stares at them.
INARA is the first to speak, concern evident on her face. "RIVER, sweetie? What is it?" She checks all motion for an instant and then holds out empty hands. "No one here is going to hurt her, Merz. I promise. Is she alright?”
MERZ
"What is all right? How am I supposed to judge what is all right for her? For any of you?" Unconsciously MERZ is rocking RIVER gently, as she has seen others do, but never done herself. It just seems … right.
MERZ
"DAMON says that things have been … done to her. Bad things. If she has been in Alliance hands, then we are KIN. I have an obligation to her." MERZ lifts her voice, trying to make a point, to respond as one of them. Maybe she can make herself understood. "How can I help her? What do I need to do? How can I protect her?" . She lowers her head and her voice, but it carries to the back of the surrounding crowd anyway. "Help me."
EOM
If Justice is the dish, then I am your waitress
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Slight can taste the bile of fear around the taste of blood.
Again, he prods his eyes. He is totally blind. His mind tells him his eyes are open. He still can't see anything.
He tries to refocus his eyes. Tries to see thing on the slight. Slowly, the ship around him takes form. He bases it from heat.
Most of the obs craft is cold, but variations of heat, pockets of air help him to see the world in a bubble-like format.
"I'm in a lot of trouble here."
His voice is ragged, reflecting his damaged insides. What's more, the auto-tourniquet has restricted his breathing, holding him together, but also prisoner. He can feel it.
He staggers to what seems like a consol, and realizes the wires lead to it. He understands-the DeepRED is recharging his power cells. Fine. It should only be a little while longer.
Using the feedback systems, he has the nanyte swarm form a sort of "speaker." He uses his mind, shaping it into a clear, coherent command to review the past few hours.
"Biologic (that's me, Slight thinks) became unresponsive. Fourteen procedures were attempted to revive and repair biologic. Failed. Fifteenth attempt used nueral interface to re-enact death, using Gestalts psychological theory of association through memory overlay. At twelth attempt, power was reported failing. optical extension was calculated to be the most efficient means of recharging.
"Probes were extended from the ring and little finger of both hands, to observe and analyze to environmental conditions."
Slight has the nanytes return to their duties. He frowns. Luh-suh.
We can't all be heroes, since some of us have to sit at the curb and clap as they go by.
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