Yui shook her head and grinned at Stephan’s comment. ”That’s a sucker’s bet and you know it.” She said. Sitting cross-legged with her back against a largish rock, she had the breech of her gun open and was in the process of cleaning the barrel and the various moving parts with a fine oil; the desert dust could be murder on intricate devices like this.
She knew her weapon well enough that she no longer needed to look at what she was doing as she cleaned. ”A more interesting bet would be on what killed them.” pointing the rifle into the air, she tensioned the trigger and dry fired the gun a few times to feel how the action was working. ”I’ve got 50 that says some desert beast got ‘em.” Satisfied by what she felt, she loaded a cartridge but left the trigger un-tensioned for the moment.
Packing up her cleaning kit, she stretched her legs and yawned, taking in her surroundings. What’s with that? She thought as she saw a dark flicker on Jenramo’s face. She realized he’d been looking towards their sentries, and more specifically Gwendolyn. She knew the two of them didn’t really get on, but Yui was still a newcomer and had yet to figure out all of the interplay between the rest of the Irregulars.
NAME Lady Lei Xiao Duan-Flendeall of House Flendeall, Fifth Daughter of the Earl of the Silent Narrows, Lady-Commander of the First Regiment Flendeall Guards, Fourth Company (Honorary)
ALIAS Yui Ren
GENDER Female
AGE 35
APPEARANCE
There have always been whispers that the Duan Family had some Elf-blood in it, and Lei’s birth really didn’t do much to dispel them; with her fine boned face, with high cheekbones, slightly pointed ears and almost cat-like slanted honey-brown eyes further added to these scandalous rumors. About the only thing missing was fair skin, instead her skin is a warm brown, more commonly associated with those living near the desert. With the exception of one of her older sisters, she towers over most women, and quite a few men, at somewhere around six foot, and while not super heavily muscled, it is quite obvious that she is extremely fit. Once she used to have her raven black hair twisted up in long elegant braids, but that was another lifetime, now she keeps it cut quite short and right side of her head shaved to prevent any potential accidents with the flash over from her gun. - Under her armour she wears a long-sleeved tunic, some hard wearing pants and tall leather boots. Like all her gear its plain, but very well made; she learned early on not to skimp on the quality of the gear she used. To keep the weather off she has a broad brimmed hat, with the right side of the brim pinned up.
BIO
The Earldom of the Silent Narrows covers the river valley that leads from the Empire to the Silent Forest and since the Empire’s inception House Flendeall has stood guard at the city of Green Watch against the fell creatures that come from that forest.
After the old Earl died childless, Lei’s father Zeng Duan married the Earl’s younger sister Mathera Flendeall to ensure the continuation of the Flendeall bloodline; but to his dismay his wife only produced daughters. As the fifth daughter, Lei knew from a young age that she would most likely be married off to a rich merchant or a lower noble trying to elevate her status, and while she was never thrilled at the idea, she thought that that was the only way of things.
Her early life and tutoring was pretty standard for a young noblewoman, lots of etiquette lesion and such, but things took an interesting turn not long after her twelfth birthday. As her birthday was on the same day as the creation of the First Regiment of the Flendeall Guards, the commander (with permission from the Earl) thought it would be a good morale booster the name the young Lady Duan-Flendeall as the (honorary) commander of one of the companies. When Lei visited the men that she was to ‘command’, and saw for the first time, soldiers sparring with swords and practicing with their guns, she found something that she’d never realized she’d been missing. The need to be a part of that tugged at her until one night after the castle had gone to bed, she slipped from her room and headed to the companies barracks. The first time she went one of the soldiers on duty, firmly but not unkindly, sent her back to her room; after the fifth or sixth time, the commanding officer relented and let her stay awhile. As time progressed, she’d slip away to the barracks more and more; eventually taking the training masters into instructing her how to use the weapons of the men.
She loved the barracks, it was the one place where she felt free. Back in the castle, there was only her ‘duty’, to marry an acceptable man and then produce heirs for him so that her family could maintain its status. She cared little for all that, her parents and older sisters where largely unknown people to her, their ‘wants’ held no concern; she felt more affection for the nannies that raised her and men of the Fourth Company that treated her like their beloved little sister or their own headstrong daughter. By her fourteenth year, the talk of marriages began much to her dismay, and while she stalled as best she could, that was only a temporary measure. Still during all this she kept up her clandestine trips to the barracks, and her training. By her sixteenth year, she was one of the top shots, and while she lacked power, she could move and parry to hold her own in a sword fight with most of the actual soldiers.
Two more years of this passed before the Earl had finally had enough. During one of his, infrequent, dinners with his family he stated that in two months’ time, Lei was to be married to the son of local wealth merchant, much to Lei’s horror. She’d met the young man in question at a formal party, and he was as petty, shallow and dull as he was ugly. That night when she went to the barracks, she broke down in tears as soon as one of the men ask what was troubling her; the men, her ‘brothers’ were horrified, but like Lei they had no idea of what to do…or even if anything could be done. At was until the veteran sergeant-at-arms, whom Lei saw as more of a ‘father-figure’ than the Earl, came forward with an idea.
To her shock, he told her to run…and that he would help her if she chose to; to a man the rest of the company gave their support as well. As the First Regiment was responsible for patrolling the castle, it was easy for Lei and a small escort, pretending to be another security patrol, to get in and get what few keepsakes she really wanted. Using the servant’s passages they made good time, even after a detour to the Earl’s library, where much to her escorts dismay, she stole a significant purse of soverns and one of his hunting guns and its associated gear; as well as leaving a note full of rather inventive swearing on the blotter.
Once they were back to the barracks one of the men, who was the closest to her size, gave some of his clothes to help disguise Lei for the final part. When she tried to pay him for the clothing he refused to accept it, so she just stuffed the soverns into the tunic he was wearing. From there she was smuggled off of castle grounds and out of the cities wall. After a tearful embrace with her old sergeant-at-arms, she set off to the nearest crossroads inn and into the wider world. -- Sixteen years later, she has yet to go anywhere near the Earldom of the Silent Narrows. Using the alias Yui Ren, she’s made her way as an adventurer, bodyguard, hunter, mercenary and about a hundred different other things. The first few years of the ‘real world’ came as a bit of a rude awakening for ‘Yui’ but by now she’s gotten the hang of things.
To load, one twists the clock spring mechanism on the right side of the gun backwards, applying tension to the spring and locking the hammer onto the main sear. Then pull the latch on the top of the rifle backwards, and the spring loaded breechblock will pop up and open on a hinge to the left-hand side. Once the rear of the breech is exposed, insert the pre-loaded steel cartridge into the breech, slotting the tab on the rear of the cartridge into the notch on right-hand side. Press the breechblock back into position so it ‘clicks’ and now the weapon is ready.
To fire, bring the sights to eye level and pull the rear ‘set’ trigger until it ‘clicks’, the forward ‘hair’ trigger will now fire the gun.
Loaded cartridges (10)
The steel cartridge is reloadable and contains a small refined Soul Stone harvested from Lesser Salamanders; each Stone is good for ten firings before it needs to be replaced. With a Stone in place, to load a cartridge all one needs to do is pour in a measure of black powder, tamp it, add the wad, then seat the bullet.
When the gun fires, the hammer swings up through a notch in the breechblock, where it drives a small point through a hole in the back of the cartridge and into the Stone. The Stone flares when hit, igniting the black powder and propelling the bullet.
Tracker – Having taken many jobs to hunt both men and beasts, she’s learned over the years, and from those willing to teach, how to find and follow beings as they move through the world.
Bush Cook – If you live a life on the move and you want to eat good food, you better learn how to cook.
Smiling Politely – She may be long gone from that life, but the ‘manners and etiquette’ lessons that were drilled into her as a girl are still there and have come in handy on those occasions where she has had dealings with the ‘Upper Class’.
Singer – A little used talent of hers. She has, according to others, a rather wonderful singing voice, though it take some special circumstances, and usually some alcohol, to get her to actually sing.
Minor Alchemist - Due to the expense and the fact that blackpowder isn't always available wherever she is, she has learned to make her own small batches.
1. Listen to the GM(s), If you have a complaint tell me. I am not an evil dictator and if I am wrong I will admit it. 2. Romance and Gore allowed, But keep it in good taste and in site rules 3. Now not all characters will play nice with each other I understand that, but keep the disputes in the RP not in OOC 4. Be civilized and polite please 5. All basic RP rules apply to this roleplay: Power playing, Meta gaming, and others are not allowed. 6. The story isn't exactly set, If you have an idea for a mission feel free to pm me the details and I'll try to work it in. 7. Copy the rules into a Hider in the "other" of your cs so I know you read them. 8. Get into your character's skin become him or her as you are playing have fun and give us insight into their thoughts. 9. Try to keep active, in both the IC and OOC pages please. And even if you don't have anything to say, at least read the OOC
NAME Isbeil Camshron
ALIAS None
GENDER Female
AGE ‘30’ (It is…complicated)
APPEARANCE
Isbeil is dead average in height and weight at about 5’5”, maybe 100 lbs and has a slightly pinched, almost underfed, look about her. Despite the fact that she moves from place to place fairly often, she is remarkably pale, like someone who has rarely, actually stepped out of doors. Her deep green eyes are made all the more noticeable by her pale complexion. She has a shoulder length mass of wavy red hair that she rarely shows, under her head scarf.
Clothing-wise she wears some knee high boots, trousers and a slim fitting shirt under a pricey enchanted robe and with a head scarf that when wrapped up, only leaving her face exposed. The robes and scarf have been enchanted with both Physical and Magical Resist enchantments, which let them act as light armour. Isbeil also wears long gloves pretty much all the time.
The reason for her concealing clothing is literally etched into her skin. From her neck to her left wrist to her ankles, she is covered in an intricate series of wards, runes and sigils. The dark lines stand out in stark contrast against her pale skin, are used in to protect and guide her in her more challenging spell casting. To anyone even moderately versed in magical studies it is plain to see her tattoos are all centered on the use of Dark Magics.
Her right arm from fingertip to shoulder socket is something else however; there is nothing but bone. No skin, no muscle, no tendons, just bone. The bones themselves are obsidian black and inlaid with true-silver. The inlays form both the same designs that mark the rest of her body as well as runes of binding that bind the bones to her body and let her use it like one normally would. About where the bicep would be, a section of the bone has been removed, and a small true-silver cage has been grafted in place; inside the cage is a black Soul Stone.
Isbeil leaves her right arm heavily wrapped in cloth as much as she can and deflects any questions about with the explanation that she was simply born with a withered arm.
BIO
Isbeil’s early life is unknown, as she was left outside an Imperial orphanage as a toddler. From there, she was quickly made a ward of the Southern Coast Collage of Mages, as her magical affinity began to manifest before she was five. She was always a most apt student, eagerly absorbing everything he instructors taught her, willing to push herself to uncover whatever she could find on the latest interest to grab her attention; though this sometimes led to difficulties, like trying to preform spells that were beyond her current skill level, or trying to get in to place she wasn’t supposed to be. During one of these explorations, she managed to find her way in to a series of long abandoned cellar chambers.
During subsequent trips to the old cellar, she found a disused study, still full of writings. While looking through the accumulated works, she slowly began to realize they were all works on Dark Magic, specifically Necromancy. Isbeil was only twelve, but she knew enough to recognize what she was looking at and that if she told Mistress Thalia, her guardian, about her find, Mistress Thalia would have all of the writings sealed away or destroyed. Instead, Isbeil kept it a secret and over the next six years did what she could to teach herself Necromancy. She had no desire to try and raise armies of the dead, or to subjugate the world, or any of the other innumerable evil things people seemed to think Necromancy was used for; she simply wanted to know. It was a discipline that was not commonly known, and that alone made its pursuit worthwhile. -- While her guardian and instructors had hoped she’d stay in academia once she reached adulthood, Isbeil knew that if she wished to find more on Necromancy she’d have to try and find it herself. For years she signed on with expeditions that were going in search of pre-Starfall artifacts. The writings she’d found had on more than one occasion had notes mentioning necromantic knowledge had been found in the desert, so that seemed like the best place to look.
While on one of these trips, her party found some early pre-Starfall ruins that led into a natural cave network. Exploring deep into the caves, they found what could only be described as a necromancer’s lair. The rest of the band, hired more for their strong arms than their brains only saw the coin a trove that a find like this could bring Isbeil saw knowledge that called to her…and sensed that they were not alone. The spirits of the necromancer still inhabited the space, and it was not happy at the intrusion.
It lashed out, tearing the soul from one man, a slew a couple others with the shambling bones of undead who had found the cave in times past. Using what she knew, Isbeil halted the undead while the survivors ran, and when the shade turned on her in wrath, she bowed as one would as a supplicant towards a king. Speaking fast, she begged the spirit to impart what it knew to her. “What good is knowledge if it stays locked away in the sand?”
It took every bit of persuasion she could muster, but eventually the shade relented. It would accept the lives already lost as partial payment, but it warned her, she would have to pay a price in flesh and blood as well; without hesitation Isbeil accepted. -- When she awoke, Isbeil found the bodies of the men who’d died next to her were desiccated bodies wrapped in corroded and rotten armour, even though her own clothing was no worse than before. The shade was gone, and with nothing else to do, she staggered back towards the surface; she’d not gone far when the cave collapsed behind her. Staggering into the harsh sunlight, she finally saw her ‘price’; her right arm was nothing more than bones, tied to her by runes of binding far stronger than she’d ever seen, and across any skin she could find, black tattoos marked and protected her in ways she did not yet understand.
One would thing such revelations would be shocking to say the least, but, while she couldn’t remember the details of what transpired in the cave, she knew what had happened had been necessary and that she’d asked for it. The greatest shock came when she finally made it to the town the band had originally set out from. It had doubled in size and none of the outfitters that they’d used even knew of the group she’d been a part of. Eventually she came to understand what had happened, while she had communed with the shade it had preserved her, and passing so much had not been a quick task; while she learned, a century had passed, even though she still appeared to be a young woman in her 30s; before entering the town she’d done what she could to hide her right arm, explain to anyone who got curious, that she was born without it. -- After creating a new identity, she went back to what she had been doing. Much of what she’d learned in the cave was still beyond her, but the more information she studies and the stronger she gets, the more the understanding that was given to her makes sense.
FIGHTING STYLE(S)
Some basic knife fighting moves taught to her along the way, and her magic
EQUIPTMENT
Weapon
Dagger – A pattern wielded steel dagger with a black handle (The handle scales are actually made from the piece of bone that was removed from her right arm)
Armour
Enchanted Robes
Enchanted Scarf
Gear
‘Endless’ Grimoire – A book she found while on an expedition into the desert years ago. No matter how much you write in it, you can always find a blank page, and no matter what you may open the book to search for, you always open to the right page.
A leather pouch with four black Soul Stones. (Don’t worry, the world is better off without the people those came from)
Ritual supplies for some of the more complicated spell works
SKILLS & ABILITIES
Dynamic Mage – Isbeil’s innate magic allows her to impart or eliminate motion on any object.
Wind Blade – Creates a focused ‘blade’ of air that can cut through soft tissue quite easily; harder minerals and magic barriers are generally unaffected.
Barrier – A wall of super dense air to halt most moving objects, though something with enough speed and/or mass may still get through.
Hasten – Accelerates a single object to incredible speeds (The smaller/lighter the object, the easier it is)
Cessation – Robs the target of all motion
Necromancer – She can manipulate, summon or banish the souls of the dead and turn them to her own uses if she wishes.
Greater Life Leech – Powerful, but slow to cast and requiring much preparation; it allows her to ‘feed’ off the Life energy of a large area for a limited amount of time. The greater the drain the shorter it lasts.
Lesser Life Leech – Not nearly as powerful, it has a much shorter cast time and needs no preparation; however it does require direct contact with the subject and has no area of effect.
Soul Summon – She can recall a soul from the afterlife for a time, through the use of a talisman made from something that belonged to the soul in life. The closer the talisman was to the deceased and the more recent the death, the easier it is.
Reanimate – Turns any dead bodies into an undead automaton, capable of preforming simple tasks. Like with Soul Summon, the more recent the dead body is, the better.
1. Listen to the GM(s), if you have a complaint tell me. I am not an evil dictator and if I am wrong I will admit it. 2. Romance and Gore allowed, but keep it in good taste and in site rules 3. Now not all characters will play nice with each other I understand that, but keep the disputes in the RP not in OOC 4. Be civilized and polite please 5. All basic RP rules apply to this roleplay: Power playing, Meta gaming, and others are not allowed. 6. The story isn't exactly set, if you have an idea for a mission feel free to pm me the details and I'll try to work it in. 7. Copy the rules into a Hider in the "other" of your cs so I know you read them. 8. Get into your character's skin become him or her as you are playing have fun and give us insight into their thoughts. 9. Try to keep active, in both the IC and OOC pages please. And even if you don't have anything to say, at least read the OOC
NAME Lady Lei Xiao Duan-Flendeall of House Flendeall, Fifth Daughter of the Earl of the Silent Narrows, Lady-Commander of the First Regiment Flendeall Guards, Fourth Company (Honorary)
ALIAS Yui Ren
GENDER Female
AGE 35
APPEARANCE
There have always been whispers that the Duan Family had some Elf-blood in it, and Lei’s birth really didn’t do much to dispel them; with her fine boned face, with high cheekbones, slightly pointed ears and almost cat-like slanted honey-brown eyes further added to these scandalous rumors. About the only thing missing was fair skin, instead her skin is a warm brown, more commonly associated with those living near the desert. With the exception of one of her older sisters, she towers over most women, and quite a few men, at somewhere around six foot, and while not super heavily muscled, it is quite obvious that she is extremely fit. Once she used to have her raven black hair twisted up in long elegant braids, but that was another lifetime, now she keeps it cut quite short and right side of her head shaved to prevent any potential accidents with the flash over from her gun. - Under her armour she wears a long-sleeved tunic, some hard wearing pants and tall leather boots. Like all her gear its plain, but very well made; she learned early on not to skimp on the quality of the gear she used. To keep the weather off she has a broad brimmed hat, with the right side of the brim pinned up.
BIO
The Earldom of the Silent Narrows covers the river valley that leads from the Empire to the Silent Forest and since the Empire’s inception House Flendeall has stood guard at the city of Green Watch against the fell creatures that come from that forest.
After the old Earl died childless, Lei’s father Zeng Duan married the Earl’s younger sister Mathera Flendeall to ensure the continuation of the Flendeall bloodline; but to his dismay his wife only produced daughters. As the fifth daughter, Lei knew from a young age that she would most likely be married off to a rich merchant or a lower noble trying to elevate her status, and while she was never thrilled at the idea, she thought that that was the only way of things.
Her early life and tutoring was pretty standard for a young noblewoman, lots of etiquette lesion and such, but things took an interesting turn not long after her twelfth birthday. As her birthday was on the same day as the creation of the First Regiment of the Flendeall Guards, the commander (with permission from the Earl) thought it would be a good morale booster the name the young Lady Duan-Flendeall as the (honorary) commander of one of the companies. When Lei visited the men that she was to ‘command’, and saw for the first time, soldiers sparring with swords and practicing with their guns, she found something that she’d never realized she’d been missing. The need to be a part of that tugged at her until one night after the castle had gone to bed, she slipped from her room and headed to the companies barracks. The first time she went one of the soldiers on duty, firmly but not unkindly, sent her back to her room; after the fifth or sixth time, the commanding officer relented and let her stay awhile. As time progressed, she’d slip away to the barracks more and more; eventually taking the training masters into instructing her how to use the weapons of the men.
She loved the barracks, it was the one place where she felt free. Back in the castle, there was only her ‘duty’, to marry an acceptable man and then produce heirs for him so that her family could maintain its status. She cared little for all that, her parents and older sisters where largely unknown people to her, their ‘wants’ held no concern; she felt more affection for the nannies that raised her and men of the Fourth Company that treated her like their beloved little sister or their own headstrong daughter. By her fourteenth year, the talk of marriages began much to her dismay, and while she stalled as best she could, that was only a temporary measure. Still during all this she kept up her clandestine trips to the barracks, and her training. By her sixteenth year, she was one of the top shots, and while she lacked power, she could move and parry to hold her own in a sword fight with most of the actual soldiers.
Two more years of this passed before the Earl had finally had enough. During one of his, infrequent, dinners with his family he stated that in two months’ time, Lei was to be married to the son of local wealth merchant, much to Lei’s horror. She’d met the young man in question at a formal party, and he was as petty, shallow and dull as he was ugly. That night when she went to the barracks, she broke down in tears as soon as one of the men ask what was troubling her; the men, her ‘brothers’ were horrified, but like Lei they had no idea of what to do…or even if anything could be done. At was until the veteran sergeant-at-arms, whom Lei saw as more of a ‘father-figure’ than the Earl, came forward with an idea.
To her shock, he told her to run…and that he would help her if she chose to; to a man the rest of the company gave their support as well. As the First Regiment was responsible for patrolling the castle, it was easy for Lei and a small escort, pretending to be another security patrol, to get in and get what few keepsakes she really wanted. Using the servant’s passages they made good time, even after a detour to the Earl’s library, where much to her escorts dismay, she stole a significant purse of soverns and one of his hunting guns and its associated gear; as well as leaving a note full of rather inventive swearing on the blotter.
Once they were back to the barracks one of the men, who was the closest to her size, gave some of his clothes to help disguise Lei for the final part. When she tried to pay him for the clothing he refused to accept it, so she just stuffed the soverns into the tunic he was wearing. From there she was smuggled off of castle grounds and out of the cities wall. After a tearful embrace with her old sergeant-at-arms, she set off to the nearest crossroads inn and into the wider world. -- Sixteen years later, she has yet to go anywhere near the Earldom of the Silent Narrows. Using the alias Yui Ren, she’s made her way as an adventurer, bodyguard, hunter, mercenary and about a hundred different other things. The first few years of the ‘real world’ came as a bit of a rude awakening for ‘Yui’ but by now she’s gotten the hang of things.
To load, one twists the clock spring mechanism on the right side of the gun backwards, applying tension to the spring and locking the hammer onto the main sear. Then pull the latch on the top of the rifle backwards, and the spring loaded breechblock will pop up and open on a hinge to the left-hand side. Once the rear of the breech is exposed, insert the pre-loaded steel cartridge into the breech, slotting the tab on the rear of the cartridge into the notch on right-hand side. Press the breechblock back into position so it ‘clicks’ and now the weapon is ready.
To fire, bring the sights to eye level and pull the rear ‘set’ trigger until it ‘clicks’, the forward ‘hair’ trigger will now fire the gun.
Loaded cartridges (10)
The steel cartridge is reloadable and contains a small refined Soul Stone harvested from Lesser Salamanders; each Stone is good for ten firings before it needs to be replaced. With a Stone in place, to load a cartridge all one needs to do is pour in a measure of black powder, tamp it, add the wad, then seat the bullet.
When the gun fires, the hammer swings up through a notch in the breechblock, where it drives a small point through a hole in the back of the cartridge and into the Stone. The Stone flares when hit, igniting the black powder and propelling the bullet.
Tracker – Having taken many jobs to hunt both men and beasts, she’s learned over the years, and from those willing to teach, how to find and follow beings as they move through the world.
Bush Cook – If you live a life on the move and you want to eat good food, you better learn how to cook.
Smiling Politely – She may be long gone from that life, but the ‘manners and etiquette’ lessons that were drilled into her as a girl are still there and have come in handy on those occasions where she has had dealings with the ‘Upper Class’.
Singer – A little used talent of hers. She has, according to others, a rather wonderful singing voice, though it take some special circumstances, and usually some alcohol, to get her to actually sing.
1. Listen to the GM(s), If you have a complaint tell me. I am not an evil dictator and if I am wrong I will admit it. 2. Romance and Gore allowed, But keep it in good taste and in site rules 3. Now not all characters will play nice with each other I understand that, but keep the disputes in the RP not in OOC 4. Be civilized and polite please 5. All basic RP rules apply to this roleplay: Power playing, Meta gaming, and others are not allowed. 6. The story isn't exactly set, If you have an idea for a mission feel free to pm me the details and I'll try to work it in. 7. Copy the rules into a Hider in the "other" of your cs so I know you read them. 8. Get into your character's skin become him or her as you are playing have fun and give us insight into their thoughts. 9. Try to keep active, in both the IC and OOC pages please. And even if you don't have anything to say, at least read the OOC
@Arthanus Yay. My thinking was similar to what you said. My thought was each stone is good for (GM defined number) shots of ballistic ammo, or a one time 'Hail Mary' magical blast (for those utterly dire situations)
This has piqued my interest, and while I have a bit of an idea, I'd like to ask something before I get too involved in making a character. Would (soul stone powered) early firearms be allowable? (something akin to a real world matchlock musket)
Shanoa’s contempt and condescension rolled off Mary without leaving a mark; smiling, she moved into the compartment. “I didn’t see the need to bother; it’s not like you’ve even put much effort into being civil to me before.” She added, before waving away any reply.
Walking over to the data spike in question, she picked it up and looked it over for a moment; there were a few minor details to its housing that anyone who didn’t know what to look for would’ve missed, and upon seeing those details, Mary smiled some more and shook her head. Ah, here we go. She thought finally. “I know why you really want my…assistance…” Data spike in hand, she used it to gesture to Shanoa’s avatar. “This isn’t ‘just’ an older data spike, this is a ‘Black Box’ data spike; the sort of thing one would store information from things like black-site or spec-ops projects on. Used to see them from time to time when I’d sneak into my mother’s office as a kid.” She said the word ‘mother’ with the same contempt that most ‘civilized’ beings would say the word ‘pirate’.
“You want me to try and open it because you’re worried that if your decryption buggers up, the data will get wiped and there’s something important to you one here…and you’re betting that I, in my long and nefarious career as a heinous pirate, may have acquired a ‘key’ or two to try unlock it. After all, if it’s a legitimate key, even if it’s the wrong one, only the workstation gets locked out and the data persists.”
Mary walked around the space for a moment, admiring Shanoa’s new artillery, poking at a few odds-and-ends before returning her attention to the AI. “As it so happens, Ido have a couple of decryption keys that may work. Tell you what, since you’re crew, I’ll give you a discount rate, one hundred thousand credits. Fifty thousand, non-refundable, up front for my time and the other fifty upon successful completion.” Propping herself against Shanoa’s platform, she held the data spike up. “That’s at least fifty percent cheaper than any third party you’ll find on the black market and minimal risk to the data.”
Mary smiled as it became clear that she hadn’t managed to alienate herself from Mar; while she knew Mar still held a rather dim view of pirates in general, she was also the only one on board who might actually get why she chose to do what she’d done.
“Only one? Well more for me I guess.” She laughed, following towards the bridge. “That said, if he’s still about, there’s a fellow I should introduce you to…he’s very good.”
While upended helmsman walked off, glaring at the back of Mar’s head, Mary made her way over to Nav and brought up the local map of the system. To go with Sweety’s new armaments, and ‘official’ ID, she’d also acquired a much better NavComp. After a moment or two, Mary nodded with satisfaction before highlighting an area of space not far from the station and then sent the update over to Mar at the helm.
“Shipbreaker’s folks do good work, one kind of needs to when your clients are well armed and prone to violence; so we really shouldn’t have any issues on the tech side. Exiting the system is no different for a tub like this than leaving anywhere else, so that shouldn’t be an issue.” Moving over to stand beside Mar, she brought her update to the forefront. “Bit of a heads up though. That is the ‘Breaker Yard’ where Shipbreaker strips and scraps prizes that can’t be fixed and sold; as a result there’s a lot of little crap floating about there, so it’s good to give it a wide berth.”
With that out of the way, she dug into a pocket to check her personal comm; she’d felt it go off earlier, and she figured she should check it now, just in case it was something important from station-side. She was most confused when the message header said it was from Shanoa. Why would…right…the canner said it wanted to talk to me…
Patting Mar on an upper shoulder, she turned for the hatch. “Barring some colossal fuckery, you should be fine. I’ll be back in a tick, gotta sort something out.” With that she stepped off the bridge and began heading to where Shanoa had camped out. Reaching her destination, she rapped on a bulkhead with her synthetic knuckles to announce her arrival. “So clanker,” She inquired, making no attempt to hide her disregard for the machine. “What do you want?”
As they both moved to a quieter spot, Mary tried rehearsing what she was going to say; in a revelation that would’ve probably shocked no one, she wasn’t particularly good at apologizing for her actions. Words cluttered up and jumbled together in her head, but eventually she got something sorted out and was about to speak, when Mar stopped her.
As she spoke, Mary just stared at her, disbelief slowly working across her face. She’s apologizing to ME?! She thought incredulously. She’d figured it’s been her actions that’d upset the younger female…she had let her own libido take the reins after all.
As Mar finished speaking a smirk that bled into a grin crept across Mary’s face as she hung her head forward and began to laugh. After a few false starts she got herself under control, and beamed up at Mar. “Fuck me running,” She chuckled. “You’re apologizing to me?” Arching her back slightly to stretch, she shook her head, still smiling. “That was why I wanted to talk…I let myself get carried away, let my libido take over as it were. I was just looking to blow off some steam as the saying goes, and I didn’t really consider any consequences…”
The smile faded as she shook her head again. “Kid, you got nothing to feel bad for; Hell, if I hadn’t ‘ve kept pushing you in that direction, things probably wouldn’t ‘ve gone the way they did. I forget that my attitudes on sex are a bit different than more ‘civilized’ folks.” There was a mischievous glint in her eye as she spoke the last line. Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out her ubiquitous flask and took a long pull of something that’d probably do a fair job as an industrial solvent. “Tell you what, let’s call that night a wash and leave it at that. Next time, I’ll see if I can find you a nice Shree boy…or two?” She added, the smirk creeping back to her lips.
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