wanderingwolf

Art by Wanderingwolf

Globalt:

Firefly - Second 'Verse

Just wanted to highlight that the last post I added occurred in the past and lays a bit of foundation for what's coming!

Firefly - Second 'Verse

'Ret' What?: Hurry!

OOC: The events in this post occurred in the past!

Things were right on track. Hook and the Sister would soon be bound for the China Doll with the last dozen Anabaptists, and the volunteers were scheduled to arrive to take their places. The Captain, seated in his chair with his foot up on the console, armed with a toothpick, was engaged in a duel with what remained of his lunch between his teeth.

"Hurry-" The wave had come through while he engrossed thusly, but it didn't prompt on the deck--it came through his personal 'tex. After a moment, he rose, donned his duster and hat, and quit the bridge without a word. His mind furiously ran over the message while his legs carried him through the cargo bay.

"Hurry, they're here-" it had started, Lyen's calm voice straining toward discomposure. Her eyes were wide, like she'd seen a ghost. 'They' weren't supposed to be here for 'nother day. 'They' were the inbound slavers the China Doll and crew had been working double time to ferry the Anabaptists from, at the nun's behest.

The mule roared to life as he kicked it down the ramp toward the dusty spaceport's exit. Saddled, the Captain made a b-line for the city proper.

"-and they're going to take all of us."

That set the Captain flying down the boulevards of Osiris at break-neck speeds. The students who had signed up to risk their hides to help smuggle out the wretched souls tucked inside every cranny of his ship were about to get snatched in their stead. And the Sister, too.

Rolling to a stop, Cal ditched the mule outside the checkpoint. The wary looks from the guards told him they were curious as to his presence; after all, to them, he was the man who'd ordered all those wheelbarrows of bricks they'd stopped searching out of boredom. Little did he know Detective Hekubah had yet to set the local constabulary's sights on his back. Strand did know, however, exactly where he'd find the volunteers and their ring leader: Club Banebdjedet. As he approached the open doors, the neon signs depicting men spread over poles were lit only by the light of the setting suns. And the door hung ajar...

---

There hadn't been much time to get the S.O.S. out to Cal and the China Doll. A contact from the Underworld had alerted her, Isaac the bartender, with a sly message scrawled from beneath the bar. By the time she'd received it, however, it served only as grim confirmation.

She was in the club Banebdjedet when she saw them. The nun had revisited to her regular haunt to tie up loose ends when she caught a glimpse of a shadow cast over the papered glass of the club's front doors. Nearing the entry, she held her breath as she listened to their exchange.

"It's all gorram fucked."

Sunlight from between the gaps in the newspaper fell across her face as she moved a tendril of hair from almond her eyes. The pair of men looked hardened, one with a scar across his cheek, the other with a shaved head burnt in the Osiris suns. One glanced at a Cortex in his hand, while the other cleaned his nails with a hand-and-a-half blade.

"Boss said H. screwed the pooch on this one. Blamed a nun for the whole operation goin' south." The man's shadow leaned against the door, cupping his hands for a better view inside past the plastered paper. Lyen flattened herself against the wall, trying to stay out of sight.

"The nun fucked us?"

"...We got nothin' to show for this run. So he said to nab anyone what looks like who we're 'sposed to be here for."

As one man turned to the other, she slowly backed away from her hiding place toward the center brass pole on which, over the years, dozens of men had undoubtedly danced lithely around. Now, it stood alone in solemnity. It rarely drew the nun's eyes any longer after a year here, but now she walked up to it with a resolute expression on those high cheek bones. She lay hold of it with both hands and, as quietly as she could, gave the rod one violent tug, aiming to uproot it. Her plan to brace the door with the rod came to an abrupt end as she emitted a muffled yelp.

"You hear something?" Said the large one to the bald one.

"-Like a fuckin' nun."

"Will you shut up with the nun? I don't wanna hear who touched you as a kid. Now, get this open," he said, rattling the lock.

Lyen was already carefully closing the back exit when the pair stormed through the double doors of the club, and into the darkness of the shuttered strip club. From the alley, the nun raised the hood of her kasaya and melted into the workers and philanderers of the Blackout Zone. Hook, he has to get out now, she thought as she circled around the back of her destination.

She entered through the service entrance of the Underworld as was her custom. Isaac, recognizing her, sent his message on a cocktail napkin via bus boy, continuing to polish the glasses behind the bar of the steadily filling club.

With a nod, Ly acknowledged his warning before burying herself in a booth. Extracting her cortex, the Sister recorded two one-way messages in the dim light of the Underworld.

"Joe, take the last dozen now. Don't wait for me."

Quickly followed by:

"Hurry..."

Firefly - Second 'Verse

@psych0pomp Wow, I'm sorry to hear that, and I'm glad you're doing better now. Real life comes first has always been our motto.

Firefly - Second 'Verse

Glad to see that this RP is still up and going! Congrats! You guys are awesome.

I promise I didn't die. I almost did, though. Seriously. That's not at all over-exaggeration.

@psych0pomp

Psych! So glad to hear you're okay! Thanks for dropping in and saying hello :D We've certainly missed you.

Firefly - Second 'Verse

Happy holidays all! It’s a pleasure to write story with the lot of you, crew!

Firefly - Second 'Verse

Hey crew! Things are moving along swimmingly for our crew-wide JP--extra thanks to all who have been participating. I'll be traveling this weekend, but next week Sail (he's the brains of this operation) has some great stuff in store for the crew and passengers of the China Doll. I hope you all have a great Guy Fawkes day!

wolf

Firefly - Second 'Verse

Unforseen Circumstances

Osiris, Suburb

The 'Verse is a big, wide place. There's plenty of folk running around, and Osiris is no exception. Cal picked his way through the crowds of the shipyard and into the city proper with its high skyscrapers and pristinely modeled architecture. The suns seemed to shine brighter here, every shop window a perfect reflection of the manicured world just across the street. The duster and hat he wore, let alone the sullied boots he tromped in showed he didn't belong same as any billboard might've.

Even the Gorram street curbs were embelished with inlaid moulding. The Captain may have unintentionally scuffed a boot on said moulding while crossing the street. The place reminded him of Londinium for more reasons than one, and that unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach was exactly what propelled him forward on his errand now.

He checked the scrap of paper scrawled with his destination; just a little further now. The skyscrapers thinned into older buildings, buttressed, nonetheless, in brick and mortar in addition to the city's typical plasteel. A corner emerged which finally realized the sharp relief between 'Osiris' proper and a neglected suburb. He glanced at his watch, the hour walk from the China Doll was necessary for the privacy he needed, and this time it was from S.A.M.N.T.H.A.

The digital entity was the very reason for him traipsing around rather than taking the mule to get where he was goin'. With no com or cortex on his person, Cal hoped to obfuscate his trip from the AI, in order to get ahead of things may or may not be coming for the Doll and its crew. The contact, he'd sussed through old fashioned word of mouth on Greenleaf; man went by the name of 'Dmitry' and not much else.

Way he heard it, Mr. Universe left behind a whole lot of tech that was still piped together. And even as he was survived by his sex-doll-turned-wife, the place lay wide open to for just about anyone to send a 'Signal.' Dmitry, way he heard it, was just one of those 'someones,' and he could use it to answer a question gnawing at the back of Cal's mind.

Ever since Cal purloined SAM from Londinium, he'd been meaning to check her at her word for her tracking capabilities, just to know without a shadow she wasn't coyly playing the long game for the Alliance afterall. And now, on the stoop of a shady looking apartment with boarded windows, Cal gave the nonedescript door a solid rap.

---

An hour later, the Captain reappeared with a cigarette in his hand, lighter cupped around his face. What he learned seemed to have made a deep grimace all the deeper. The paper in his hand now gave additional instructions from the hacker in unsteady handwriting. Strand folded the note into his breast pocket. As he checked his watch, Strand loosed a stream of smoke before hitting the street back to the China Doll.

Good Morning, Starship! The Earth Says Hello!

Welcome to RPG! I'm sure you'll find some literate partners up to the challenge to engage. Best of luck out there!

Firefly - Second 'Verse

@Gunther Sounds good. Take your time; I look forward to seeing it on the board. Feel free to post it up!