Gambling on Midas: Flight of The Phoenix Episode 1

[Gisk]

Elijah grimaced at being called "Doc," but said nothing this time. Perhaps he'd have to get used to that name after all. "It's a bit hard to deal you in on a one player game, but I can try." He picked the cards back up and shuffled them.

"So I suppose I'm not the only one with a questionable status with the purples? Not terribly surprising, I suppose." He dealt her seven cards, and the same for himself. "Ever played Mao? It was very popular in medicad."

[OiHarkin]

When it was over, Narcissus had his rent on the shuttle all sorted, slipped into a perfumed envelope to be placed in the captain's chair later on. The rest went into a lockbox cunningly hidden in - well, he wouldn't tell you, now would he? This was lucrative work and it paid to be a little paranoid when it came to matters of payment. Clients could go to any unlicensed brothel and drop their cash for a disease ridden sally. Companions cost more but took steps to be worth it.

Narcissus would have to dally on the ship a while longer after Galloway left. It wasn't exactly a discrete service if he accompanied the man to the door half-naked and still smelling of sweat and lust. First, a wash-down for Galloway and then one for Narcissus himself. After the money had changed hands, of course. Once all the little nigglings of the business were done and the client made his way off the ship, Narcissus spent some time fixing his hair, ready for any other clients that might be interested in coming along. When that was done, he picked up the envelope with the captain's cut of the proceeds and headed out into the ship proper again.

He headed over to the captain's cabin and rapped one knuckle delicately against the hull, ready with the envelope. "Genesis, my dear? Are you in there?"

[InkedWolf]

Zoey smiled as she took the cards, "Yea, shortly before I hopped on board with the Cap'n I was the head crew with the Alliance. I was one of the top candidates from the acadamy. We saw a browncoat ship, unmarked, sufferin' with a broken life support system and busted engines. I wanted to bring em on, instead we were forced to leave em floating." She looked down at the cards, "I left the job, as I made my exit I disabled every ship I could get my paws into that night. As I was leaving, I met Trixie. I figured we weren't meant to be on that ship, so we signed on here. I didn't look back, considerin' the bounty on my head fer what I did. So what's yer story" Zoey asked curiously, rarely were any medical professionals caught up in a misfit ship like this.

[raindrop]

Genesis had managed to sleep for a little while but had drifted awake all unwilling and was lying with her hands under her head, ankles crossed as she stared at the ceiling. Who was this Ackry? She frowned, not insensible to the run of bad luck that had plagued she and the crew. It was good that they'd gotten here somewhat ahead of time, her people needed to depressurize a little, her instincts were on full alert for the possibilities of how this job might go down.

A light rap sounded from the door above and a pleasant familiar voice accompanied it.

"Genesis, my dear? Are you in there?"

Genesis sat up and rubbed her eyes, reaching for a hairbrush as she called up, "Be there in a sec."

She dragged the brush through her hair, causing it to frizz viciously as she got up and went to the mirror. She swiftly groomed the auburn mass and wrestled it back under control into a leather ponytail band. Static crackled as she added another band further down to keep it subdued.

Looking away from the tired eyes that faced her in the mirror, Genesis took the few steps to the ladder and swung up, emerging into the walkway beside Narcissus.

"Why Narcissus, this is unexpected. Is everything all right?"

[NecroTec]

Lawri hoped Narcissus did not wake the captain. Focusing inward on the ship he could feel Elijah and Zoey in the dining room and Narcissus at the captain quarters. The preacher's door is closed but Lawri hasn't felt him in the open areas since they landed so it's a safe bet he's inside. Then he can feel the captain as she opens her door. He wishes he could hear them to know if he should make himself scarce. Then he vaguely feels something near or larger moving sort of close to the hatch.
He turns and sees what he wanted and had almost forgotten about. About 50 feet away is a man pushing a large cart laden with all sorts of small knick-knacks, household items and what-not. Lawri adjusted his focus to stay on the ship's hatch as he moved out to the cart.
"Hold up a moment please!" he calls out to the vendor as he trots out.
"Ni hao?" (Hello?) the little old vendor replies.
"Ni hao," Lawri replies with a bow of his head. "Do you have sunglasses among your wares?"
"Wuh tzai chien shr ee-ding ruh dao shuh-muh run luh bah." (I surely annoyed someone or other in a past life, didn't I.)
"Shuh-muh," (I'm sorry.) Lawri says.
The vendor waves a hand at him, says, "Fahng-sheen," (Don't worry.) then starts digging amongst his wares. "If I left the sunglasses out you would have asked for what was now on the bottom." He mutters under his breath as he re-arranges piles of stuff and Lawri wonders if the glasses will be intact.
Lawri can feel someone move to a spot near the hatch then just stand there. He closes his eyes to focus on all the movement. The man is just standing near the hatch. The vendor reaches out handing him glasses which he slips on to make sure they fit. They do so he holds onto the feel of the man at the hatch and takes off the glasses to look at them. The vendor is looking at him oddly.
"I was concentrating of the feel of the glasses," he says hoping to deflect suspicion.
The sunglasses are ordinary and have a dangling price tag that is a bit high but not bad. He puts them back on and hands over the money. He turns and the waiting man is looking around as if a tourist – although not dressed as one.
"Tyen-sah duh uh-muo," (Goddamn monsters.) the vendor says not quite under his breath as he secures his wares to move on.
"Fahng-sheen, wuo dway-nee boo-woon boo-jen," (Don't worry, I neither see nor hear you.) Lawri says quietly.
"Boo-tai jung-tzahng-duh, nyen ching-duh." (Not entirely sane, young one.) the old vendor lobs back at him.
Lawri laughs and walks back to the ship. The "tourist" looks at him when he laughs then turns and walks away. At the hatch he turns and lounges there as non-barking barker again.

[OiHarkin]

"Everything's positively post-coital, my dear. Nothing to be concerned about." It seemed he'd disturbed her during her slumber, which was unintentional - but since he was delivering good news, he was sure she wouldn't mind so much. But then, she always seemed rather tired and crabby, in need of some quality relaxation and therapy. Idly, he pondered making an offer for a discounted rate, but reached the conclusion that she probably wouldn't appreciate it that much. Instead, he flashed the little red envelope before her nose. "Here, this is for you. Your cut, as agreed upon. I shall let you know if any more comes in. But it seems I was disturbing your dalliance with Morpheus, that dream-boat. Shall I leave you to him?"

[Gisk]

Elijah blinked. He wasn't used to talking to Zoey, so he was somewhat surprised to find her so forthcoming. But then, just about everyone on this ship had some criminal past; it's not like it was a surprise.

"Well I suppose I'm more or less the same. Doctors have an oath, see. 'First, do no harm.' And doing nothing can be harmful. I was working for the Alliance military, and there were a couple of Browncoats in custody. I patched them up as best I could, and the next thing I knew I was joining them. There was a raid on the prison, to get some clever tactician out of lockup, and they took me along with them," he put down the first card, "Seven of Spades. Have a nice day. I don't have a bounty on my head, but I may still get arrested if I show up someplace purple."

[raindrop]

Genesis gave the 'post-coital' comment no reaction but a long blink and an inner reminder that this was Narcissus that she was speaking to. He followed a vastly different script than anyone else she spoke to on a regular basis. Most of the people she had contact with wouldn't know who Morpheus was and what's more they would probably try to find him to knock him over and turn his pockets inside out. She took the envelope with a little nod.

"Appreciated. As you know, our agreement was for a monthly payment but I suppose it's obvious that things haven't gone well this time around." She refrained with difficulty from grinding her teeth at the thought of Prudence and her acerbic comments, her triumphant smile. "Glad to see that someone on this boat is making a decent living. As for me," she gave a tight grin, eyes flinty, "time for sleeping is over anyway. I've got a meeting to attend."

[Knighthawk]

Goose never heard from anyone but he wasn't going to waste an hour sitting in the sun, he put himself to labor in scrounging around for parts waiting for a callback. He managed to find a dozen parts from the primary list, in pure luck he found a Catalyzer. They didn't need one, but he knew that it was one of those parts that was written by Murphy's laws. This guy seemed like he didn't know his grav boot from his work boots, so he might have to flabbergast the guy with peddled wares.
(Comp ate my 4 hours of making a post, I'll redo the rest later, pissed off for right now)