H O R I Z O N // Sci-Fi // Literate (Accepting applicants!)

[Space Candy]

xxxx"Speech."xxxxx"Thoughts."xxxxx"Others."

XXXXXXXX Daniella stared into the inky darkness around her, and though there was nothing to be seen she could still feel a cold slick surface under her feet. With a frown, the blonde began walking. The darkness seemed never ending, and as she walked and walked she began to grow more concerned. Her face twisted into worry as her grey eyes scanned her empty surroundings.

"Doesn't it make you angry?" A voice sounded from behind her. Daniella spun around and found herself face to face with another person. Staring into those eyes, for a moment she thought it was her brother, but slowly the realization set in that she was staring at herself. An odd place to have a mirror...Dani knitted her brows, but her reflection didn't match that expression and instead stared back at her calmly.
"Does what make me angry?"
Daniella's other self reached out and gently touched the edge of the dark bruise around Dani's eye. "How he could just hit you like that."

The blonde tilted her head, moving away from the icy touch of her doppelganger. "He's only trying to help. He's teaching me." Daniella defended Alister. It fell quiet, and she watched as her reflection shook its head.
"Doesn't matter." She said. "Anyone who harms you, physically or otherwise, has no business being near you. Alister, Alexei. How are you not angry? Don't you want revenge? To be able to hurt them back."
"They don't deserve to be hurt."
"Neither did we."
We.
Daniella dropped her gaze, staring down to her bare feet and the darkness below her, not sure of what to say next. It was obvious now that she was dreaming. Daniella knew that, and yet...She looked up, staring at herself. She inspected her own features as well as the reflection's clothing. Her other self was dressed in a black knee length dress with thin straps, and the fabric nearly blended in with their surroundings. Her skin ivory and pale, contrasted drastically. Dani looked down at her own body, finding she was still in her training clothes. A soft clicking caused her to look up again.
"Oh no, that won't do..." She teased, gesturing towards Daniella's clothing.
Confused, Dani looked down again and found that her clothes had changed into a white dress that looked nearly identical to the black one her reflection was wearing. "Much better."
Who was controlling this dream anyway?

"Who are you?"
"Well that's an odd question. I'm you, silly. We are us." The two women stared at each other. And when Daniella didn't seem satisfied with her answer, her copy frowned. "I'm your subconscious, in a sense. I'm your strength. Your anger and your intuition. I am your gut." She lifted a pale hand and placed her index finger on Daniella's forehead. "I'm in here. Buried deep, but don't worry. I hear you when you call me. I know when you need me. I'm climbing and dragging myself out, for you. For us. I'm getting stronger. I'll be able to keep us safe. It won't be long, I promise. We're growing at a rapid rate. You know it already, don't you?"
Daniella nodded slowly, and watched as her reflection smiled. "Change of subject. How well do you know those around us? You've seem to have made quite a little nest with these people, but what's stopping them from turning on you. It's happened before."
"I...I trust them."
"You trust too easily. Just because you're comfortable somewhere doesn't mean you should trust your surroundings. And trust doesn't equal safety. Doesn't it make you angry? Doesn't it make you angry? How he hit you like that? You weren't even ready. Poor girl. He's not the only one to brutalize you, and surely he won't be the last. They will all turn on you. Everyone on this ship will break your heart in some way or another.
"That's not true. They have good in them, each and every one of them. I can tell. You should know."
"And they all have bad in them too. You can only tell when they think at a moment. Beyond that you know nothing. But I do. I know their pasts, and their heartaches, their pain. I've been absorbing every detail while you've been pushing everyone out. You're so blind. You're making us weak."
"What are you talking about?."
"You'll see."

---

Daniella opened her eyes calmly and stared up at the ceiling of her room. Since being knocked out by Alister during their training session, a crewman had brought here back there a placed her on the bed. Her eye was sore, and undoubtedly it would be bruising if it hadn't already. Sitting up, Dani pulled her thin legs to the side and pressed her feet to the ground. She stood and walked to her mirror. Her heart skipped a beat as she watched her reflection, waiting for it to move or speak...but nothing happened. Everything was positively normal, aside from the purple fading in around her eye from where Alister had clocked her. With a small frown, Daniella undid the braid in her hair and ran her fingers through the pale waves. She needed to go down to the medical bay...get an ice pack or something. Perhaps there would even be something to help prevent the bruise from being too bad. Daniella knew that medical care was quite effective these days, but how much supplies were on board, as well as what kind, was something Dani was unsure of. The blonde looked cautiously at the mirror again, staring in her own eyes. Her dream had...perplexed her to say the least. She was second guessing herself now, as well as her choices and her current situation. Dani shook her head. No, she didn't need to be worrying about that right now. The girl did her best to push her twisted thoughts out of her mind as she turned away from the mirror.

She exited her room and started down the hallway, her navy shirt clinging to her slim figure. During the two weeks of drifting, Daniella had made it her priority to construct a mental map of the ship. She knew where most things were now, and among that were some locations she surely wasn't supposed to know about...but reading minds to construct a map usually led to knowing some things you weren't supposed to. She would keep her mouth shut of course...She navigated the halls easily, and as she continued she could feel the pain in her face growing a little stronger. What was it Alister said? Pain is a given but suffering was...
Don't be a little wimp. That's what he really meant.
Daniella bit down on her bottom lip and paused just outside the medical bay. She could see Róisín, as well as Karl, and they were...Singing? It was so odd, and Daniella didn't know what to do. She stood there for a moment, grinning like an idiot. She didn't know the song they were singing, but it was nice. Daniella didn't know much music at all really...The blonde cleared her throat in an attempt to announce herself before entering the room. "That's quite a nice duet you two have going." Dani complimented. Her eyes wandered to the medical robot, Sara, that had been left behind when Gunnar....Dani looked back to Róisín, deciding not to finish her own thought. "I don't mean to interrupt, but perhaps you can help me find something to put on this?" Daniella pointed to her bruising, swollen, eye. Truthfully, Daniella was still a bit wary of Róisín and her static filled mind...but at least Karl would be happy to see her. Right?

"I've noticed that you've been cleaning up a lot around here, Róisín...It looks great. Not sure how Alister likes it, but believe me it is much appreciated by the rest of us." Daniella complimented the Skeleton Harvester as she absentmindedly twisted a strand of blonde hair around a pale index finger.

xxxxLocation :: Persephone - Medical Bay
xxxxCompany :: Róisín & Karl
xxxxHealth :: 90% - Forming black eye thanks to Mr. Buttface
xxxxTunes ::Empty Places - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
xxxxAttire ::Navy

[Sir Dietary Supplement]

Ｃｈｒｉｓｔｉａｎ Ａｄａｍ Ｂｅｒｎｅｔxxxxxxthe heir to GenEx


xxxxxxxweep » for yourself, my man,
xxxxxxxxx☎ You'll never be what is in your heart
xx■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
♔ x x WEEP LITTLE LION MAN
xxxxxxxxxxxxYou're not as brave as you were at the start
xx↷ *)Rate yourself and rake yourself
xxxx ● ● Tak ⊹ e all the courage you have left
xxxxxxxxxxxxxWasted on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head


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➤ mess hallxx➤ alexeixx➤ hungover and regretting


He started to regret a night of drinking once he was starting to wake up. Greeted by a pounding headache, his stomach being in knots, and in general he felt disgusting. He was sweaty and smelled of a mix of alcohol, sex, and the ever small hint of regret that would consume him once he full woken up. He was fighting the urge to wake up as long s the source of warmth of next to him. Though, seemed whatever that source was, or in this case who that source was. Seemed to have other plans and sat up from the bed, forcing Christian to groan and adjust to the slightly colder room. It was enough to get him to adjust so he could see who had been sleeping next to him.

He found it impossible to speak once he laid his eyes on the naked form of Alexei. No. Anyone but her. He had started to wish that he was actually dressed under the sheet, but it was a hopeless wish. It was clear what he had done with Alexei. [******** hell,' he was going to swear off drinking. It was a bad idea. Either that or just deny playing drinking games with Alister's crew ever again. That would be a good plan. Never drink with them again. Seemed to end with regrets.

"Don't saying a ******** word to anyone," Christian grumbled to Alexei before she left the room. It wasn't long after she left that Christian got up from the bed, much to his disliking. He wanted, no he needed a shower. He was feeling more disgusting than before. Of all the people to do anything with, he had to be drunk enough to sleep with Alexei. He felt like a damned idiot now.

None the less, he took a lengthy shower. The hot water was helping to wash off some of the hangover. He was surprised that he didn't get sick, he felt like he wanted to, but it wasn't finishing the feeling. He just wanted the hangover to be gone. There was only a few ways to cure that. Food would be the best best and a cup of strong black coffee.

Looking over himself in the mirror, Christian let out a weak chuckle. "I look like s**t," he muttered to himself. He had heavy bags under his eyes, his skin was paler then usual and he even had a few dark marks on his neck. No doubt from Alexei. There were a few scattered bruised, probably from the drunken tussle that the two had before it got heated up. At the moment though, Christian couldn't remember what happened after losing the drinking game with the crew. [******** hell," he grabbed a turtle neck and a pair of jeans. Simple, but it would hide any marks that could raise questions that Christian would rather not answer.

He was soon out of his room and heading to the mess hall to get some food and coffee. He stopped in the doorway as he noticed who was in the room. Just his luck. It would be Alexei. Christian cleared his throat and walked towards the kitchen area, pouring himself a cup of coffee. The first sip sat awkwardly in his stomach, but it wasn't going to come back up. So he happily took another sip as he fixed himself a small breakfast. Being on the ship was teaching him how to at least be a little more independent. He could start to cook for himself.

Sitting down at the table, he was doing his best not to make eye contact with Alexei. It left a rather awkward silence in the room and her guard seemed to pick up on it. Chuckling to himself. Christian ignored the man, he didn't want to talk about it.

"No one is to know," he warned Alexei quietly. He didn't want to think of what Alister or Nova would say about it. However, he was dreading coming into contact with Dani today. He would have to get his mind off of it all and hopefully feel anything but guilt when he would come across her. He doubted it though. He felt guilty in general already.

He just wanted to crawl in some corner and not come out. Instead he focused on his food and getting over his hangover.

{[ its something. distracted cause my aunt is texting me about dogs....knowing we want another one, but we shouldn't take another one in....might be hard to say no all the time though ]}

[Yasha_Glory]

I'm miss autonomy, miss nowhere, I'm at the bottom of me
Miss androgyny, miss don't care, What I've done to me
¤Company: Dani & Karl ¤Condition: 95% ¤Location: Persphone's Medical Bay
I am misused, I don't wanna do, Be not your slave
Misguided, I mind it, I'm missin' the train

Róisín continued to hum and occasionally sing out verses of the songs blaring from the headphones gingerly resting upon her shoulders. When one ended, there was another eager to replace it and fill the room with a soothing atmosphere. There was buzzing and small bursts of light as connections were made and life rushed through the medical droid’s new and improved circuitry. With her back to the door, the only warning she had was Karl’s ever chipper spirit and the clicks and hisses of the sliding panes retreating into the walls. ”Hi Dani!! I’ve missed you! Did you miss me? Did Mister B miss me? I missed him too! Did he ask about me? Did he? Did he? Did he? Did he?????”

“Stars shining bright above you, night breezes seem to whisper, ‘I love you’. Birds singing in the sycamore tree, ‘Dream a little dream of me’.”

Her good mood came to a grinding halt and her head picked up from her task, revealing her near perfect posture and tattooed neck. With a slight turn she was able to catch a glimpse of another being walking into the room out of the corner of her eye. Rather than allowing her face to be seen, she chose to keep the veil of anonymity up for as long as she possibly could. The less they saw of her true self the more room their imaginations had to run into pockets of fear and terror. It was these small instances that kept her in slight control of the situation. Without something to keep them at bay, they would continue to crowd in closer to the human aspect still locked away inside the woman. They had already proven able to get beneath her exoskeleton without much effort. How much longer would it be before they found the correct notes to play and orchestrate Róisín to her death? The woman still couldn’t fathom how they were all still alive and well after two weeks in such close contact with one another. They had done such a good job of avoiding one another until that day.

“Say ‘nighty-night’ and kiss me. Just hold me tight and tell me you'll miss me. While I'm alone and blue as can be, dream a little dream of me.”

From the black lines making up the code bar dripped a few drops of black fluid. It didn’t take more than a few moments to quickly flood out from the markings and wrap around the woman’s head, completely drenching her skull in thick black ooze that bubbled and pulsated as it filled each and every crevice of her face. Lines, circles, and angles glowed, flickering across the wriggling mass as the nanobots converged and hardened into Róisín’s signature mask. Every tooth, crack, and metallic band twisted into existence, armoring the monster from the shoulders up. Not a single strand of hair remained outside the impenetrable helm. It was instead nestled within the beast’s pseudo-head, serving as a cushion to prevent concussive damage to her brain. While she was sure just about everyone on the ship had heard the rumor that Skeleton Harvester was a girl named ‘Róisín’, she still refused to affirm their suspicions that the skin she claimed to have stolen and wore from another person was in fact her own. It wasn’t until her face was fully concealed that she was able to look at the blissful psychic blonde.

”Stars fading, but I linger on, dear. Still craving your kiss,”

The girl had already seen glimpses of her face from the party, something Róisín did not enjoy. As far as she was concerned, that made her dangerously close to a witness. There wasn’t any proof that Róisín had been the cause of the rogue signal that was still causing synthetics to malfunction and explode. However, there was indeed proof that Skeleton Harvester had been at the party when things started to go wrong. While Alister’s group had done a good job of tearing the place apart and attracting attention, that didn’t completely exclude her. People would wonder why the Harvester was there and whom had been the latest victim. It didn’t take a genius to connect the dots, nor would it take much effort to swing the masses into believing the entire fiasco from start to finish had been Skeleton Harvester’s doing, especially since she was now amongst the Persephone’s crew without so much as a ball and chain to suggest her capture. It was a dangerous place to be, especially with someone who was able to invade a person’s mind. Róisín didn’t like that aspect either. From the very first time she met the girl she couldn’t help but be a bit freaked out by the voice ringing in her head. She hated it. She hated temporarily wondering if she had finally lost her mind. Why couldn’ t the girl have just thrown caution to the wind like all the others and confronted her with words of ‘love’, ‘understanding’, and some bizarre sense of ‘glory’. She preferred the sickening slop gushing out of the foolish individuals that tried to appeal to the monster’s better nature over the ghostly ethereal voice poking its way into her head just to say hello. If it weren’t for the fact Karl could see and respond to the girl, Róisín would have simply assumed she was a figment of her imagination and done her best to ignore it away. No matter how hard she tried to brush the girl off, she seemed stuck to her like gum to the bottom of a shoe. A closed door wasn’t enough to stop a conversation or onslaught of questions about why her brain was ‘filled with static’. As much as Róisín wanted to just turn back around and work on her robot, she knew the girl would stand there and stare at the back of her head until something happened, waiting as patiently as an innocent puppy. The only solution was to give her whatever she needed from the medical bay so she could be shooed out as quickly as possible.

”I'm longing to linger till dawn, dear. Just saying this:”

Without acknowledging, or trying to vehemently to deny, their singing, Róisín put down her soldering iron and fully examined the girl’s face from where she was standing. Her silvery eyes barely shone within the deep dark sockets, tracing Daniella’s arm up to her fingertip and damaged face. Quietly walking over to the blonde, with only the clicking of heels and soft buzzing of swing providing the empty room with sound, Skeleton Harvester cupped the girl’s chin in her onyx fingers, gently pressing her thumb on Dani’s chin to tilt her head. Up to her elbows her arms were seemingly dipped in jet black tar, slickly sticking to her skin rather than the gargantuan claws she had displayed before. This form made them appear like fitted gloves, protecting her from nicks and shocks from Sara’s innards. The beast moved the young woman’s face this way and that, looking at the bruise from different angles in the light. It was fresh, barely staring to form, though there wasn’t any redness to be found. Something had hit her, or she had hit something, earlier that day and was barely coming to the medical bay for ‘treatment’. She couldn’t imagine pirates coming in and out of the medical ward for scratches and bruises like small children, and so far the ward had been relatively empty now that the doctor was dead. The monster was quiet while she examined the girl, only making a very dull and quiet, ”Hm…,” before releasing Daniella’s face. When she walked away to look for something to use, Karl buzzed into her place and shone his bright light into Dani’s face. ”Ouch, Dani! That looks like it hurts! What happened to you?! Did the flying man do this to you? DO WE HAVE TO—DO-- NOT NICE THINGS TO HIM?!” The little fish crumpled up his fins and fisty-cuffed the air, pretending to throw a few punches at would be aggressors. Róisín carried over an icepack from the small storage freezer and snatched a pen light from the counter, setting the former on a nearby table and clicking the latter on with her right hand. She shone it in Dani’s eyes for a few seconds at a time, checking her pupils’ dilation response. She didn’t seem to have a concussion. Whatever had hit her hadn’t been too extreme. She set the pen light next to the ice pack and pressed the orbit’s margins with her thumb, expecting to find a fracture or tenderness, and instead getting years’ worth of images flashing across her vision.

” Sweet dreams till sunbeams find you. Sweet dreams that leave all worries behind you.”

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“Why do I have to leave?” asked a small girl’s voice. A pair of finely dressed aristocrats stared down without the slightest twinge of emotion in their porcelain faces. “It’s what is expected of gifted children. You can come back when you’ve done all you can do. You have to make us proud. Don’t you understand how many unlucky children have to sit around in public institutions being spoon fed information and trained like monkeys to throw it back out at the snap of a finger? You’re going somewhere better. Be grateful.” The tiny voice cracked, squeaking from the tearful fledgling, “But I don’t want to be gifted! I want to stay with you!”
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“Miss Verbena? Why are you still here? Everyone else has left for the semester.” “I’m not going home,” replied a young voice. “Why not? Are you having problems at home? You can talk to me abo—“ “That’s not why I’m not going. I need to finish my studies. That’s all,” said the curt voice. “What about your family? Won’t they miss you? Do they know you’re not going?” There was some silence and a sigh that seemed more annoyed than sad. In a ‘matter-of-fact’ tone the adolescent replied, “I haven’t heard from them in months. Last time we had contact was when they paid my tuition. Now if you’ll excuse me, sir, I need to get back to studying if I want to pass the entrance exams.” “But you’re still so young… There’s no need to rush! Students graduate from the academy with honors and still have years of personal practice to do before Cyberteknik Industries even considers them! You need to give yourself a break… get some rest…”
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“A message for Miss Róisín Serafina Verbena reads as such,” said the monotone voice of a computer’s AI as an official looking document was displayed on a high tech screen. “’Miss Verbena, we would like to formally congratulate you on your acceptance into our prestigious company. You have proven yourself adequate enough to work in our labs, and we hope to see great things from you. We will mail you your new address, along with a keycard to gain access into the buildings, shortly. Please meet us at…”
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“No, I’m not going to hold your hand on this!” shouted a frustrated lady. The voice was oddly familiar. “You SHOULD be able to do these simple equations on your own. I’m not going to drop everything so I can reteach you what you should already know. I said I would help you, but not if it’s going to hinder my research! People are dying out there because the new organs they received can’t integrate into their bodies, and you want me to stop so you can continue to cheat your way to the top?! No! Why is your work any more important than mine? You should be glad I don’t report you for all the times you’ve slinked into other people’s labs asking for help and then sitting on your—your—YOUR a** while they finish everything for you! You never help anyone else! All you do is brag about how you make the higher ups happy! How do you think they’d feel knowing you can’t tell the difference between an amputation that can get a synthetic verses one that can function with a prosthetic? Do you even know the difference? You shouldn’t even be working here if all you care about is the money and prestige! It’s people like you that cause defects resulting in total recalls and lose the company billions of credits!” “My god will you shut up!” voiced a disgruntled male. “If I had known you were such a crazy b***h I wouldn’t have asked for your help. It’s always the quiet ones…”
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“Miss Verbena! How delighted we are to see you! Please have a seat!” It was the voice of a chipper old man. They were in some type of fancy office, several scientists seated at a long wooden table decorated with fine velvet fabric, wine glasses, and pristine white candles. A folder full of documents titled with Cyberteknik’s seal sat at the edge of the table before a refined young woman reflecting in a silver leafed plate. The woman looked nothing like Róisín, and instead had long brown hair wrapped in a red ribbon draped about her shoulder. Minty green eyes upturned in joy that was barely able to be contained reflected in the wine glass as the woman in white took her seat. “All the paperwork is there. All you have to do is initial and sign your name and we’ll start funding your project. We’ve been so eager to see your prototypes after reading your journals. They’re all the latest buzz about the Dominion right now, everyone wants to see the breakthrough technology and be the first ones to get their hands on your expertly crafted pieces! They’re more than happy to spare a few soldiers if it means the public gets safe, fully tested, products. You’re on your way to the top my dear, maybe someday you’ll replace one of us as Cyberteknik’s finest prodigy! But first, you need to sign your life away. There’s going to be long hours of work and you’re going to be wishing you even had time to think about missing a social life!” The group collectively chuckled as the woman picked up the provided fountain pen and filled in the empty spaces with, ‘R.S.V.’, and signed the bottom of the page with, ‘Róisín Serafina Verbena’ in intricate cursive that looped and curled over most of the space. She hadn’t read the papers. She had simply signed them without knowing exactly what she was getting into. As deep red wine filled her glass, she seemed more than happy to accept anything that came her way so long as she was able to help civilians. The group toasted their goblets, yet only the girl brought the liquid to her lips and drank of the bitter fluid. It wasn’t until the gulp reached her stomach that she began to regret the decision. There was an immediate burning sensation, like she had swallowed a colony of fire ants that were desperately trying to eat their way out of the acidic chambers. The heat came in a wave that was far different than the burn alcohol should have had on her innards. Her fingertips rested on her lips, feeling a hot wetness that shouldn’t have been there. The sting should have gone away by then, yet it was only rising in intensity. She dropped her glass, shards shattering about the table and spilling to the floor as she coughed and gagged up splatters of blood and increasingly large pieces of flesh. The heat within her stomach started to spread and it became harder to breath as something blocked her windpipe. When she tried to rise from the chair to run to the bathroom, she slipped and sent the entire chair toppling backwards to the ground with herself still firmly planted within it. She vomited, inhaling some of the contents as she started to drown in her own bodily fluids, unable to expel them from herself while on her back. Why wasn’t anyone rushing to help her or calling a doctor? Surely this was some type of disease she had been exposed to that was just reaching the end of its incubation period, wasn’t it? Her lungs began to sting, just as her upper digestive tract had, and searing liquid from blisters bursting along her esophagus couldn’t decide to go up or down as her body panicked, attempting to remove the deadly substance irritating it. Her scorched larynx struggled to form words, instead releasing gruesome gurgles and pops as she struggled to right herself up. Another backwards wave of her insides sent a large amount of thick red slurry from her mouth to the floor. It horrified her and again she tried to ask for help, but the only sound that came from her dissolving voice box was the hiss of air leaking from her lungs and muffled gasps. Blood continued to drip in a steady flow from her chin, a couple of teeth falling out without much trouble into the crimson pool below her. She looked down in terror as her tongue joined them, flopping into a puddle of liquefied tissue. She whimpered, the pain radiating into the deeper parts of her body as her inflamed organs perforated. Her vision began to go as the pain became too much for her to handle and her oxygen supply ran dry, the last thing she saw before her world went black was the unvarnished wood of the table being eaten away where the wine once sat. She passed out, slumping into the lagoon of her melted flesh.
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There was the intense white of a laboratory ceiling and blinding fluorescent lighting when the darkness dissipated. The girl couldn’t move, nor could she speak, though she could feel the weightlessness of her body on a metallic table top. Her arms were hanging off the edges and tubes were flowing in and out of her mouth and nose. She was afraid. She had no idea what was happening to her or where she was. The only sounds she recognized were the faint murmur of voices and the beeps and buzzes of computers monitoring vital signs. Something was touching her, prying her eyes open and pinning her lids against her skull, forcing her to stare upwards. Heavy footsteps approached and the blinding light was shaded by a large figure, masked in chrome gear and scrubs. Was she in a hospital? When she caught the view reflecting in the man’s googles she wanted to scream. She could see her body cavity hollowed out like a jack-o-lantern and pinned up in a Y-incision as though she were someone’s dissection experiment. No matter how hard her mind begged for the man to notice that she was awake, no matter how hard she struggled to move at least one part of her body to signal that she was not asleep or sedated; no one seemed to notice, or perhaps, they just didn’t care. The man unwrapped a sterile syringe, checking it in the light before resting his opposing hand on the girl’s face about her left eye. Slowly the syringe came closer to the woman’s vision until it was inserted into her iris and the green fluid was slowly sucked out.
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The woman stared at herself in a dirty bathroom mirror, touching every feature of her new face and scrunching up the unnaturally white hair that seemed to iridize gentle lavender in the light. “Oh ********… what happened to my face? WHAT DID THEY DO TO ME?!”
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Bloodied hands clutched one another, as the girl huddled up in a dark corner sobbing loudly and trying to not look at the gouged corpse in front of her. There was a sweet metallic taste in her mouth that was completely stained with fresh blood. She hadn’t wanted to kill the man, but what other choice had she had. It disgusted her that there was even a small part of her that not only enjoyed the flavor, but also refused to stop bringing handfuls of meat to her mouth and licking the remaining blood from every crevice of her hands. She hated it. She hated herself. She was all alone with a dead body that was only looking more appetizing the longer it fermented on the ground of the dirty bathroom.
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”But in your dreams whatever they be, dream a little dream of me.”

Róisín ripped her hand away from the blonde’s face and staggered a few steps backwards, letting a loud roar ring through the halls of the ship and echo deep into the bowels of the deepest hull. Her hands grew long sharp claws at their tips and gripped her face, covering her eyes as she hunched over in shock and agony. ”Róisín what’s wrong?! Are you okay!? Shhh! Shh!” The little fish hovered over to his dearest friend and tried to get in between her hands and her face to get a look at her as she writhed. Memories long forgotten and some never remembered till that unfortunate moment flickered fresh in her mind. She continued to growl out of both fear and anger, raising her face to look at the girl with bared fangs. ”What—what did you DO TO ME?!” she bellowed as her composure struggled to return.

And I don't know where I've been, And I don't know what I'm into, And I don't know what I've done to me
And as I watch you disappear into the ground, My one mistake was that I never let you down
So I'll waste my time and I'll burn my mind, On miss nothing, miss everything

[Space Candy]

xxxx"Speech."xxxxx"Thoughts."xxxxx"Others."

XXXXXXXX Daniella's face broke into a grin as Karl immediately began talking to her in his usual happy voice. Karl had a way of making Dani feel like everything was okay, even if he was just an AI. Dani could see why someone would want to keep him around, even if some could deem his demeanor annoying or obnoxious. "Yes. I missed you as well. As far as Mister Blood, I'm not sure he misses anyone or anything too much, so please don't be offended when I say I don't know..." Dani rubbed the back of her head and looked over to Róisín. Daniella listened in on her for a bit, and that same familiar static filled her ears. It was like waves almost...or at least Daniella imagined the sound was akin to waves. Really she'd never been to a beach, or ever been swimming. Her mind was wandering too much, she decided. Dani cut her connection with the Skeleton Harvester and put her grey eyes back on Karl. After a moment, Róisín made her way over to Dani. The blonde stood still, watching the woman carefully as she reached out and touched her face. Daniella let her head be maneuvered easily by the Skeleton Harvester, seemingly unafraid. Dani always did pick the oddest friends, she'd realized that by now, and Róisín wouldn't be an exception. Besides, treating the snowy haired maiden as an anomaly would only make things worse for the both of them. Instead, Daniella had approached Róisín with an enthusiastic friendliness...or stupidity. It was probably stupidity. The woman made a small sound, and Daniella's doe-like eyes stared back at her. Róisín moved away, seeming to look for something to use. Karl was on her again, this time asking about her injury. The smaller woman smiled and shook her head. "No, nothing like that. Alister and I were training and...Ah, well he got me good." Daniella responded in an even tone. She gave the green fish a small smile, trying to reassure him that nothing needed to be done aside from getting an ice pack or something. But she had to admit Karl's cute little punches gave her some form of comfort. At least he had her back.

As Róisín sauntered back towards Daniella she inspected what was in her hand. At least it seemed like Róisín had some basic medical knowledge. Daniella herself wasn't quite useful. Her knowledge mostly lied in mathematics and literature, albeit practically ancient literature...During her time at GenEx she had been educated, but they were always sure to keep her in the dark about things that may aide her in escaping. Or at least before she had been telepathic that's how it was. There wasn't much they could do to stop the girl once she could read minds and lied about her limits. Daniella felt an odd sense of nostalgia for a moment as her mind wandered back to her childhood. Back to when she was younger and couldn't hear anyone's thoughts but her own. Back when Kyle was alive. The woman was so preoccupied she hardly noticed Róisín shining the light into her eyes. She blinked as the light was set down, eyes focusing on Róisín's mask. That familiar static filled her mind, and then a clean cut voice. Her own voice.
"Are you ready?"

The next few moments were a blur to Daniella. Her eyes remained wide as she peered through images of Róisín's past. Her pain, agony, and torture at the hands of Cyberteknik. Even her childhood. It was a whirlwind of emotion and imagery, and it happened almost too quickly to Daniella to comprehend. But through all of the information she'd gathered there were certain things that stuck out to the telepath. R.S.V. Dani watched as Róisín signed her name. Such an elegant name for such an elegant looking girl. Daniella was probably one of the few people who knew how Róisín had looked originally, before everything. And that burning---that burning. Daniella felt her own throat on fire, and she wanted to scream...but she was far too transfixed on watching these things unfold. That damn fluorescent lighting reminded Dani all too much of her stay at GenEx. It was so familiar and still so terrifying. When that syringe hit her eye Daniella could feel her own round orbs welling up in response. The sensation of stinging tears was enough to start to pull Daniella out of this hellish vision, but not before more of Róisín's life was revealed to her.

When Róisín broke contact Daniella let out a soft gasp. Immediately the tears that had been welling in her own steel colored eyes cascaded down her cheeks. The familiar static sound of Róisín's mind was still audible, but Daniella was so distraught she was having a difficult time shutting it out. Her thoughts pretty much said the same thing as she said aloud, but right now the mix of words and static was almost maddening. She could still feel every sensation that had been exposed, and that self-loathing that had been delivered towards the end of her vision lingered with her and only reaffirmed Daniella's own guilt and hatred towards herself for everything that happened. The Skeleton Harvester's roar echoed through the ship, and Daniella lifted her hands to her ears in an attempt to drown out all the sounds she was receiving. Turn it off. Turn it off. Frantically Dani struggled to regain at least her mental composure: there was no way in hell her eyes would dry up at the moment.

Róisín let out a scream, and her words hit Daniella like knives. She did do it. She caused her pain, just like she caused everyone else pain. No matter where Daniella went she only brought pain and suffering to those around her. Of course, she'd known this for a while...Finally, the blonde was able to shut out that damn buzzing static. Still, the pain that Róisín had experienced lingered, and her mind replayed the images over and over as if analyzing them. That signature. Then her torso cut open and that damn needle. And back to the signature. Daniella swore she watched Róisín sign her name at least ten times. "I...I didn't mean to. I didn't want to. I'm sorry." Daniella spoke between her quiet sobs and slowly moved her hands to cover her teary eyes. "I didn't mean to." The woman almost pleaded, unsure if Róisín would believe her. Name. Name. Such pretty cursive. Needle. Needle. Name. Finally her mind came to a halt on the brown haired girl that Róisín had once been. Dani took a few shaking breaths and tried to wipe her cheeks with her fingers. They were one in the same. Their stories differed, of course, but both of them had been unsuspecting women who had been tortured by big budget corporations with ill intent and dark motives. Daniella felt more attached to Róisín than she could ever have thought possible. The blonde stared at the Skeleton Harvester, her vision blurry from the tears in her eyes.
Behind that mask there was a person. Beyond Daniella's telepathy there was a person. Neither of them had wanted what was dealt to them.
They were both human.

xxxxLocation :: Persephone - Medical Bay
xxxxCompany :: Róisín & Karl
xxxxHealth :: 89% - Forming black eye thanks to Mr. Buttface; shaken up
xxxxTunes ::Empty Places - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
xxxxAttire ::Navy

[Lysander the Poet]

”I think you’re being a bit too hard on her,” Rhia mused, as the girl was carried away to rest and recover. Alister just chuckled, dropping down and mindlessly going through a few sets of push ups. ”I have no idea what you’re talking about. She needs to toughen up...or she’s gonna get eaten alive out there. She hasn’t seen much of the real world yet...we’ve been sheltering her on this ship, for the most part.” The repeated up and down motion of Alister’s body was starting to make the Scott feel as if she were going to vomit, so she turned her glance away, sighing. ”Still...she’s dangerous, and needs to learn control. Her powers are beginning to manifest with more strength.” Alister hopped up from the floor, transitioning into jumping jacks. ”Between the traitors, the murderous beasts, and the psychotic fish-thingies, I think we’re going to be fine for a bit longer. It’s not like we have a manual for controlling telepathic and telekinetic powers. Everything that’s ever been written about it is either fiction or completely theoretical. As long as she doesn’t tear a hole in the ship with her brain…” Because that’s all they needed from this; saving Daniella to have her space them all on accident. ”I would think you’d be taking this more seriously after recent events. I still can’t believe you’re letting both Alexei and Nova roam the ship freely...especially after what Alexei did...and what Nova might do.” Alister’s feet dropped to the floor, his arms falling to his sides, and he shot a dirty look over at Rhia. ”Not this again. Why are you so insistent on arguing this. I could care less what Nova did to Liam and his little buddies. We’re going to fix that, by saving Tiberius. Simple solution to a small problem. As for Alexei, you just need to learn to give up on a grudge. You have every right to want to kill her, but you can’t. She’s pledged to protect Daniella. She’s trying to redeem herself...and if she tries to betray this crew again, I swear to you on all the years we’ve been friends, I’ll put a bullet in her skull myself. But for now, you’re just going to have to live with it. It’s not as if she isn’t being watched. There isn’t a moment on this ship that she isn’t being monitored...Persephone, give me a current location on Alexei.”

”Miss Santogold is currently located in the kitchen, Captain. Also, we’re going to be entering the vicinity of Copernicus Station in a matter of hours. I’ve already transmitted the necessary docking requests. I’ve also confirmed that she is on station, and it is most likely not a trap.” That was the thing about Maya; you could never really be mad at her for betraying you, because you should have been smart enough to see it coming. All you had to do to stay out of her crosshairs was be the highest bidder. Even their many past dealings didn’t accrue any true loyalty from her, and Alister was well aware of that, and that she could sell him out in an instant for what the Dominion was willing to pay. He knew that it was a risk they moment he reached out to her. But, she would be the one person that would absolutely know where they could find Tiberius Pierce...or she’d be able to find out, and fast. Plus, along with the information, there was always something a little extra that came with a deal with Maya, and Alister was looking forward to it. ”Listen, Rhia, you have nothing to worry about. You just need to get some more rest, and get back into fighting shape. I’ve already arranged an appointment for you to be seen by a doctor when we hit the station...someone that we can trust. He’s pro-Alliance, and willing to help us out, with Liam’s reluctant recommendation, of course. You’re not the only dissatisfied party when it comes to how I’m dealing with our ‘guests’.” Rhia shook her head, shifting her weight to her other leg. She took a few weak steps forward, and placed a hand on Alister’s shoulder, both to get his undivided attention, and to hold herself up. ”No offense, Captain, but with you, I ALWAYS have something to worry about.” Her smile was reassuring, to say the least, and he smiled back. ”But you are the Captain, and no matter what anyone says, or thinks, I’ll follow your orders. If you think that Alexei and Nova have some to offer this crew, then they do. Just remember...this isn’t the first time you’ve trusted someone, and they’ve broken that trust to tragic effect. And it will not be the last.” Alister gently guided Rhia out to the entrance of the gym, where a pair of crutches were leaning against the wall. Rhia firmly planted them into her armpits, and she hobbled along with their assistance, still not quite strong enough to walk without them for long periods of time. Alister watched as she went, and then went off himself, for a hot shower and a change of clothes. Inside his cabin, he stopped and lingered, staring across the room at the set of dog tags, hanging from the wall, Gunnar Davis’ now added among them. He scowled, stripping down and heading towards the shower. All that weakness and sentiment...it was going to get him killed too, if he didn’t remember how to control it. He was getting soft.

---

”I find your report...hard to believe, Sergeant.”

”I hope you aren’t calling me a liar, Doc. I’m not lying, and I’m not crazy. I know what I saw. You even said yourself, we don’t know everything about the Olympians, and they’re definitely some sick sons of bitches.”

”Yes, but be realistic, Sergeant. Do you really believe in these horrible monsters you described? Or is it just your mind, reacting to the horrors of losing your brothers in arms...and perhaps a feeling of failure, that you couldn’t save them, turning our enemy into something monstrous to help explain it?”

Alister’s fist slammed down on the table, and he scowled at the doctor, who sat across from him in his shiny white lab coat, and clean, recently pressed scrubs. The man was a military physician, a doctor of the mind. He wasn’t a soldier. He didn’t know anything...he just pretended to. He was just someone who was playing a ******** game, poking at his mind, trying to make him think he was afraid of shadows and boogeymen. But Alister knew what he saw. ”Would you just stop running your mouth for one goddamned second and listen to me, doc? I’m telling you, I know what I saw. It wasn’t my imagination, it wasn’t fear. Those...things, they ripped my unit apart. The Olympians...I think they’re into genetic experiments, body modification, some sort of disgusting enhancements. They’re mimicking creatures from old legends and mythologies...and they’re turning them into a war machine. They’ve reached a new level of depravity, the Olympian bastards.” The doctor nodded, as he typed away on his terminal, taking notes. ”Well, Sergeant, I do think that you believe what you’ve seen, and you are confident that it was real. You don’t have many of the markers of someone who is mentally unstable, and aren’t presenting with any of the psychological factors that would be typically associated with Post Traumatic Stress...though, that may manifest at a later date. Be sure to come see me if you start having any problems, trouble sleeping, terrible dreams, anything of that nature. Your report has officially been filed to your Commanding Officer, Captain Halloran, for review. You’ve also been prescribed a bit of R&R. Mandatory, of course. Should give you a bit of time to rest up before the ceremony.” Alister tilted his head in curiousity. ”Ceremony, sir?” The doctor nodded in response, and the realization came to him. ”Of course they haven’t told you yet. Your bravery in this operation, that no doubt saved more lives than you could possibly imagine, has caught the attention of the high level brass. You’re being given a wartime commission. Congratulations. I’m sure you’ll do the memories of the fallen proud. You’re dismissed.”

Alister rose from his seat, and departed the doctor’s office, and out into the winding hallways of the station. He managed to get lost a few times before finally making it back to the troop barracks, where the remainder of his unit was staying. They were all sitting in their bunks, some of them half asleep, one or two watching some vids, and Kahli was typing out a letter for her mother. Everyone who was awake turned to look at him as he entered, and the door shuttered closed behind him. He nodded at them, before tossing himself onto his bunk, and reaching into his shirt, pulling out multiple sets of dog tags, reading the names. The names of people who fought alongside, trained alongside...people he lived with, laughed with, a few he even loved with. He had met some of their families, had dinner with their spouses, held their newborn children. And now they were dead...torn apart, shot, mangled, and gone from this world. And there were no longer any bodies to bury, or send home to their families. He didn’t even know how he could even begin to say he was sorry for what happened. The doctor had been right about one thing; he did feel a sense of failure. He felt responsible for each and every death, and not just his squadmates. He murdered countless colonists when he destroyed Artemis, some of them even innocent people. But the mission had to be accomplished at all costs...even if the cost wasn’t really worth it. And now they were making him out to be some kind of ******** hero, when all he felt like was a failure, and a murderer; a butcher. He was feeling restless, and rolled out of his bunk. His hands were clenched into fists, and he was starting to feel closed in. It was becoming harder to breath. He made a beeline for the bathroom, his clothes finding their way onto the floor as he practically ran into the shower, and unleashed a torrent of scorching water. It burned at his skin, but it was comforting...and it burned away the dark thoughts, for a time.

---

It was with a hearty appetite and a good mood that Alister Blood sauntered into the kitchen. Training sessions with Daniella had been going as well as could be expected, and she had at least made a noticeable improvement, even if she still wasn’t anywhere near the level she would need to be for Alister to feel comfortable letting her into a dangerous environment. Perhaps it was the kidnapping that got him thinking about it so much, or maybe it was something else, but Daniella being able to protect herself from others was one of his top priorities. Protecting her was alongside that, and by extension, protecting Christian, even though the rest of the system was keen on believing the latter was a captive aboard the pirate vessel. The kid was shaping up too, in his own way, and he also still had a long way to go. Something had changed in Alister as well, though those aboard this ship that barely knew him probably couldn’t see it as clearly. It was as if someone wandered into the dark room that was his soul, and lit a single candle in its midst. His eyes scanned across the room, catching sight of Alexei, Christian, and of course, the woman’s escort. The man stood a bit straighter at the sight of his captain, but Alister waved a hand at him dismissively. Leaning over the counter, his hand felt around aimlessly for a moment, before opening one of the cupboards, and pulling out an old, dusty looking bottle of whiskey, which he then proceeded to take the cap off and consume a large mouthful, before setting the bottle onto the counter, and pulling up a chair. He looked around again, seeing various items of clothing laying around the room, and then back at the two other occupants, before shaking his head, and pulling a cigarette out from behind his ear, as well as a lighter from his pocket, inhaling deeply from the cancer stick. ”Just so we’re all aware...I am NOT cleaning this up.” He let out a stream of smoke, taking another swig of whiskey. There was an awkwardness in the air, quite unsettling in nature. Alister once again glanced between Alexei and Christian, his suspicions pretty much being confirmed. There was the silence, the avoiding each others gaze, and the smell. Oh, and the obvious look of hungover shame plastered across both their faces. He had worn that look a hundred times over. ”I’m assuming that we’ve all been having a relaxing trip so far...a nice rest from the chaos and commotion of constantly being shot at. Some of us are enjoying it more than others, I guess.” A subtle nudge to the two of them that he was quite privy to their activities.

He gave a sideways glance and a grin to Christian, speaking low enough that Alexei didn’t hear him. ”Good job, Junior. That’s quite a score. I never figured that she was your type...not that it really matters, as long as you get some, I suppose. Probably just what you needed, being cooped up in this crazy house without all your fancy rich kid toys.” And another swig of the whiskey, followed by another deep drag from the cigarette. ”So, we’re almost to Copernicus Station. Hopefully it’ll be a quick, peaceful stay. Just gotta get in contact with my associate, get the information I need, and then get Rhia over to the hospital. Hoping we can get some minor repairs to the ship that’ll carry us a little longer. Definitely don’t have time for the overhaul she probably needs...speaking of which, has anyone noticed how clean it seems to be around here recently? It’s almost...haunting.” As if on cue, his sentence was punctuated by the roar that was all too familiar; the monster that slept under the bed. ”Persephone, where is Roisin?” It took a few moments to process before the AI responded. ”She’s located in the medical bay, along with Daniella.” Alister glanced over at Alexei when he heard Daniella’s name, before jumping out of his seat, and rushing out of the room, only stopping to relieve Alexei’s escort of his rifle. He went hurtling down the halls, gripping it tightly. Daniella could already be dead...he was suddenly regretting letting that monster stay on his ship. He didn’t even take a moment to stop and check if Alexei was keeping true to her story of wanting to protect Daniella, if see if she was following him with the same protective intentions. He rounded the corner, and came to the entrance of the medical bay, and saw Daniella, completely fine, Roisin masked, but her body posture seemed pained or horrified, and Karl. ”The ******** is going on in here?”

[chibichick27]

Ʌℓεxεɪ Ϩαηʈɵɢɵℓ∂

"I need a FIX 'cuz I'm going down."

outfit // Copernicus Station
stamina // 81% - stimulated, aware, worried
addiction status // barely satisfied (on stimulant)

Of all the people in the world to walk into the kitchen as Alexei finally felt at peace, sitting down and spreading cream cheese onto her nicely toasted bagel, of course it had to be Christian. She tensed a little at seeing him. Normally, she didn't pay any mind to a man she had slept with. One-night stands were just that. No need to bring it into the real world, beyond the sheets. But this had been something completely different. The pit in her stomach grew large as he tried very hard not to notice her and go about making his breakfast. The only thing keeping her from leaving was her dignity--well, and the delicious bagel she was wolfing down to try and quell her headache. The guard escorting her, Kenway, could barely contain himself as Christian made his way to the kitchen table. "No one is to know," he whispered angrily and ashamed to her. Alexei looked away from him and stood up to fix herself some tea. She noticed the rich boy's turtleneck, and actually blushed at the thought of having covered him with bite marks. And it such noticeable places, too. She really had been wasted.

Alexei poured hot water into a cup and scooped some dried rooibos leaves into a pouch. She tied the pouch closed carefully and plopped it into the hot water. She concentrated on the soft steam crawling into the air from the cup, not noticing another person coming into the room. The smell of smoke alerted her to who it was, anyway. She turned, looking at Alister, but was unable to give him any sort of smile with Christian in the room. A sock--Christian's probably--fell from the top of the liquor cabinet (how the ******** did it get up there?) and practically into Alister's vodka bottle. ”Just so we’re all aware...I am NOT cleaning this up,” he declared loudly. As his gaze moved from her to Christian, Alexei grew red again. He knew right away. Of course he did. Alister was the master of angry sex. Hell, the fact that she hadn't been able to get back into his pants in the past two weeks surprised her. ”I’m assuming that we’ve all been having a relaxing trip so far...a nice rest from the chaos and commotion of constantly being shot at. Some of us are enjoying it more than others, I guess.” The raven-haired girl shot up from her seat and turned back around, carrying her plate hastily to the sink to avoid any more looks from the smug captain.

”So, we’re almost to Copernicus Station. Hopefully it’ll be a quick, peaceful stay. Just gotta get in contact with my associate, get the information I need, and then get Rhia over to the hospital.” Alexei winced upon hearing that. She thought back to the fight on Calypso. How she had brutalized the woman, for a man who had helped her, but was now of no help to her. How Alister had nearly choked her to death in response. Her mind swam with guilt--normally she knew how to push it away, but not this time. These people, most of them at least, had accommodated her without question. Now that Lethe had gone silent, she felt lost, and the only security she had was this ship and its crew. She longed to go see her father, and her family--she felt bitter about Dionysus' betrayal--she didn't even know what her mission was anymore--yet amid all of the uncertainty, here she was. Alive. And living was hard, but that had never changed for her. Thinking about Alister and the way he looked at Rhia, Alexei knew that look. The same look she had when she saw her father, her grandparents, her aunt and uncle, and her cousin. A bond that, when severed, left someone too cold. And Alexei had almost frozen Alister. "I'll pray for a full recovery," she muttered quietly, hoping Alister didn't hear her, but wanting him to hear her at the same time. Alexei owed Rhia too, now. Her and Daniella...

And that's when Persephone told them Daniella and Róisín were in the same room together. Alone.

Without hesitation, Alexei jumped from the table. Her head lurched and her stomach shook with pain, but she didn't care. Daniella's safety came first. While her SPK had been confiscated, Alister had allowed her to keep her crossbow, so she activated it, and as it formed around her wrist, she and Kenway kept close behind Alister who had already found the nearest weapon. Róisín was a wild card in the group. Alexei had no reason to betray anyone right now, but that cannibal couldn't be predicted. Chaos may be the name of the game, but order still had to rear its head for anything to get done--even on a pirate ship. As Alexei trailed behind Alister, she felt her fatigue from the night before hit her again. Cursing, she patted down her back pocket and pulled out the stimulant. Pausing to let Kenway pass her and put his body in between her and Alister so the captain (hopefully) wouldn't see, she jabbed the needle into her inner elbow and pumped the delicious drug into her system. Within moments, her tiredness washed away and she felt alert, awake, and fairly good considering how much she had puked an hour earlier.

They entered the medical bay and Alexei had her crossbow at the ready, though she did not aim it at the monster woman out of respect of their cease-and-desist agreement. It didn't even seem like Daniella needed protecting, actually, for Róisín looked out of her mind in fear and horror. Nonetheless, Alexei crossed over to Daniella and stood in front of her. She peered into the blonde's tear-soaked eyes, and for a moment, her goggles failed. Letting out a small gasp of surprise as the glasses rebooted and her vision remained, Alexei reached out and touched her shoulder. "Daniella, are you alright?" she asked softly. Her goggles failed her again, and she was forced to look away from the woman and take them off. As she went blind, she inspected every corner of the technology, and rebooted it manually before putting it back on. Was there some sort of glitch? Had the monster woman done something? Or...was Daniella doing it? Alexei didn't know, but it occurred to her that many God prospects were sent to temples for evaluation. She wondered which temples were on Copernicus Station.





_____________________________________



I, too, saw God through mud —
The mud that cracked on cheeks when wretches smiled.
War brought more glory to their eyes than blood,
And gave their laughs more glee than shakes a child.
Merry it was to laugh there —
Where death becomes absurd and life absurder.
For power was on us as we slashed bones bare
Not to feel sickness or remorse of murder.


- "Apologia Pro Poemate Meo", Wilfred Owen


_____________________________________

[The Smut Peddler]

ⓒⓞⓜⓜⓐⓝⓓⓔⓡ ⓝⓞⓥⓐ ⓥⓔⓖⓐⓢ

╰☆╮░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╭☆╯

╭☆╯░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░░╰☆╮

❝As long as a word remains unspoken, you are it's master...❞

╔══════════════════════════════╗


This shattered dream you cannot justify
We're gonna scream until we're satisfied
What are we running for? We've got the right to be angry.



╚══════════════════════════════╝

It was a huge relief being able to spend some time with some of Alister's crew enjoying the chance to just be pirates again. There had been some time since the last opportunity for some free outlaw fun, and it was just the thing that the young pink haired woman needed. A number of the crew were starting to get accustomed to the commander's specific leadership skills and how contrasting her style was from either Rhia or Alister himself. There was a easiness that had started to worm its way onto the ship, and that calm was something to take advantage of, and Nova was no exception to that. Taking a seat on a large crate the woman was offered a bottle of rum and she took it with pleasure. Taking out her own flask and filling it up before passing it back again.

Nova enjoying herself, had a cigarette burning down to the filter by the time the scream occurred. Hearing it however, her tongue pulled the the nib in before biting down to extinguish it. The group would turn to look at the direction that the noise came from, and a crew member determined the location. The med bay. Without a moment's delay the young woman hopped off the crate and started running. Pulling the chainsaw hilt from her belt and storming off. It was some ways from where she was to get to the medical bay, but she'd make quick work of the trek. Dipping into a ladder shoot she would step on either side of the railing and swiftly slide down. Once on the right level she tore through the halls at full speed, weaving in and out of everyone she encountered. As she met a sharp turn at the end of the hall closest to the med bay Nova went into a skid which caused the steel toed boots to screech against the floor causing sparks to fly about. Finally once she was at the wall she leapt off launching herself forward until she reached the entrance.

She would look around, noticing Dani, who appeared shaken, but otherwise unharmed, and Roisin, who seemed quite mortified. Which was quite a sight to see. Looking over at the rest of the group, Nova was relieved to see Alister there, like the faithful watchdog to the young blonde woman. He'd done so much to protect her, and still held true to his word. It was, an uncommon trait in pirates, but a respectable one for a captain. Especially one that Nova herself had made a verbal contract to stand in as first mate while his own first mate made a full recovery. And then she would rest her bright green eyes on Alexei. It wasn't hard to see from the looks of things, that Dani had a lot of people who cared about her. The thought itself was oddly calming. Had this bright eyed blonde woman really reinforced the humanity in each one of them? It almost seemed so.

Nova would look over to Roisin, who Nova was genuinely concerned for. Both for her own well being, and the safety of those on the ship.

"I'm quite relieved to see you're alright Dani. But Roisin, are you alright?" Nova would do what she could to keep from being a hypocrite by being bitter to the woman who's appearance was so drastically manipulated. She'd have wanted acceptance, and thus she would only base an opinion on the woman by her own actions not by looks. Sure she had tried to eat them, but she had kept to her agreement and therefore it was only right to give her the benefit of the doubt. At least to some extent.

The young pink haired woman would look about the room to the others. What was going on? She'd offer to exchange glances in hopes of someone knowing what was going on. She began to feel concerned by what the light haired woman might do. Eagerly on edge she waited, unsure what the next move should be, but she'd play it by ear. She'd even sling her chainsaw hilt back onto her belt, just to keep from any additional provocation. This event might have halted the ship's merriment, but that didn't mean it had to halt their existence. Roisin's teeth were bared, but Nova stared back unchanged. It was a gaze that acted more like pity than uneasiness. What had people done to turn her like this? What treatment and hate had to have occurred? It was a moment like this that Nova truly acknowledged the luckiness she had been bestowed by some random fate, how easy it could have been - to have been just like her.

She would then turn to look at the bubbly little fish with concern on her face.

"Is, she going to be alright?"

╔══════════════════════════════╗


We can't afford to be innocent
Stand up and face the enemy
It's a do or die situation; we will be invincible



╚══════════════════════════════╝

❝...once you utter it, you are it's slave.❞

xxxx┇ ✦ Med Bay
xxxx┇ ♢ 95%
xxxx┇ ✦ Concerned
xxxx┇ ✦ Meant to Live

[Space Candy]

xxxx"Speech."xxxxx"Thoughts."xxxxx"Others."

XXXXXXXX It didn't take long for Alister to show up, armed of course, but Daniella hardly paid him any attention. Instead her eyes remained focused on Róisín. She seemed to look beyond the woman's mask with that gaze of empathy. Her tears had finally subsided, but her mind was still a blur from the events that had just passed. How was she supposed to explain that to anyone? Alister wanted answers of course, but perhaps this wasn't the best thing to be blabbing about. People were already understandably uncomfortable at the prospect of someone reading their mind---but delving into someone's memories was a whole other level of privacy invasion. Daniella knew Alister well enough to know he wouldn't like that: not one bit. "It's...It's nothing. I just freaked her out, on accident..." Dani tried to ease the tension in the air, but knew her words were doing very little. Alexei was in the room as well, but Daniella hadn't laid eyes on her until she stepped in front of Dani. The raven haired woman stared at her intently for a moment and Daniella did her best to wipe the remaining tears off of her face. Her eyes were sore from her crying, and with Alexei standing so close she instantly felt stupid for having cried in the first place. Alister probably would give her s**t about it later too. She needed to get a grip, despite all the things she had just seen and felt.
And just when Daniella thought she was regaining control, Alexei reached out and touched her shoulder. The contact was enough to bring Dani into Alexei's recent past---the thing that seemed to be on her mind aside from the Róisín situation. She saw, and felt, everything that had transpired between Alexei and Christian, including their drunken fighting before things turned intimate. It was odd to know how it felt to have angry drunken sex with Christian. Even inside the memory, Daniella could feel her own cheeks turning a bright pink out of embarrassment. She did her best to focus and pull herself out of Alexei's mind, and that was made easier when the woman released her shoulder. Something wrong with her goggles apparently. Daniella took a subtle step backwards and stared at Alexei. There was pleasure lingering that Daniella could feel, and her face was still flushed. It didn't take long for it to dawn on Dani that this was what Alexei had felt, this is what she and Christian had done...and...

She was mad about it. Daniella face twisted into confusion and she looked to the floor and then back up to Alexei, watching as she worked with her goggles and put them back on. Part of her mind was screaming 'how could you' and 'I can't believe you', but another part of her knew very well that Alexei and Christian had both been intoxicated. Also, there was no way Alexei would have known that Daniella cared for Christian in that way---hell, Dani wasn't even quite sure of her feelings up until learning of the intimate escapade that had transpired the night before. And for that, she should have probably thanked the two of them for being so reckless. In the end it did clarify a few things for her. Dani's mind switched to Christian. He was out of her range, but telepathically confronting him about the ordeal probably wasn't the best way to go anyway. And what right did she have to confront him? They weren't together in any shape or form and had never talked about such things. Daniella had no claim to him: logically she knew this. And still, despite her reasoning, there was a hot knot in her stomach and an aching in her chest that she couldn't describe. Thankfully, her confusion about her own feelings set her back into reality. The fleeting feelings of Alexei's pleasure vanished, and she now looked at the curvaceous woman with a stern expression. "I'm fine." Daniella reassured her in a flat tone. Honestly she wasn't doing very well to hid her jealousy, poor thing. Her grey eyes narrowed a fraction at Alexei before moving and settling on Nova. And of course Nova was the one asking the real question. Was Róisín alright...and while Daniella was fairly certain no physical harm had come to the Skeleton Harvester there was undoubtedly some mental troubles she was having due to reliving all of...that.

The blonde pushed a hand through her hair as she did her best to block herself off from everyone around her. It wasn't hard for Dani to link the physical contact to the memories she'd received. Silently, Daniella moved herself away from the others in the room, somewhat fearful of what she could happen upon if another person touched her. Biting the inside of her cheek, Dani looked over to the Skeleton Harvester. She looked far less threatening than Daniella ever remembered, but perhaps that had to do with her insight into the woman's dreadful past. Surely the woman would hate her forever, but Dani wanted to do nothing but apologize. How could she make this right? She looked over to Alister for a moment, and she had half the mind to gripe at him for punching her in the face. This was all his fault. She'd been fine before.
It was a silly accusation, but it made the blonde feel better. Still, throwing angry words wasn't going to get her anywhere right now. She currently had too much angst, jealousy, and foreign feelings coursing through her with absolutely no outlet. She needed a distraction...

"Attention all. We will be docking at Copernicus Station in a matter of minutes." Persophone's voice called throughout the ship.
Internally, Daniella was relieved. Getting off this ship would be good for her...at least for a little while. Then again, with everything that had just transpired Dani wasn't sure if she wanted to stay. It was obvious that people on board, passengers and crew alike, were becoming a bit wary of Daniella and her abilities...and if they hadn't been this little fiasco certainly put the icing on the cake. Daniella was growing. She knew it. She hated it, but it was true. More apparent to herself was that she had little control over her newest abilities---honestly she was surprised she hadn't wind up tossing Róisín against the wall as she had done with Alister.

"Excuse me." Daniella murmured before rushing past everyone. She just wanted to get off this damn ship...

xxxxLocation :: Persephone - Medical Bay
xxxxCompany :: Róisín & Karl, Alister, Nova, Alexei
xxxxHealth :: 89% - Forming black eye thanks to Mr. Buttface; shaken up; jealous; upset
xxxxTunes ::Empty Places - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
xxxxAttire ::Navy

[Sir Dietary Supplement]

Ｃｈｒｉｓｔｉａｎ Ａｄａｍ Ｂｅｒｎｅｔxxxxxxthe heir to GenEx


xxxxxxxweep » for yourself, my man,
xxxxxxxxx☎ You'll never be what is in your heart
xx■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■ ■
♔ x x WEEP LITTLE LION MAN
xxxxxxxxxxxxYou're not as brave as you were at the start
xx↷ *)Rate yourself and rake yourself
xxxx ● ● Tak ⊹ e all the courage you have left
xxxxxxxxxxxxxWasted on fixing all the problems that you made in your own head


████████████████████████████████████████████████████████



➤ outside med bayxx➤ danixx➤ hungover worried


Christian was grateful that Alexei didn't seem smug about the whole thing. She actually seemed to be on the same page as he was. A night where it was only booze talking, if he hadn't gotten drunk last night. None of it would of happened. Personally, he was ready to forget any of it happened. As long as the two didn't bring it up, it seemed it would be fine. But, he wasn't so good at hiding things like that and it seemed Alexei wasn't either. Or, it was just how the two acted together that Alister had locked onto what the two had done right away. Christian groaned and caught his head in his hand. Of all the people to put everything together it had to be him. Well, at least it wasn't Daniella. Christian was feeling bad enough over the whole thing, he didn't want her to find out at all.

The who night really opened his eyes to just how much he cared for her. Maybe it was more than guilt over what the company did to her that kept him around. So willing to sacrifice everything to assure her safety. Those thoughts were quickly shoved aside as Alister gave him props for what he did with Alexei. He gave a small glare towards the captain. "She not my type," he retorted quietly. At least they would be landed soon. Copernicus station meant one thing. He could get some more money out and pay off Alister. It wasn't as dangerous of a station as the others they had been too. GenEx had a small base there, but he wouldn't be caught near it. It also meant that both him and Daniella had to keep their guards up. The companies guards were no doubt on the look out for both of them.

He froze to the roar and the answer the Persephone gave to Roisin location. Daniella was with her. Alister and Alexei acted quickly. They could handle it, right? Having so many people in one room couldn't be the best idea. Even more so if Roisin was on edge. But, he had to make sure Daniella was okay. She seemed to be more on edge as of late. He had heard of the mishap that happened with Alister. A force push as he had jokily called it.

Her abilities were growing, and Christian had feared it. Maybe when he was on the station he would try to find her file, get information on what they had on her. Figure out if they knew of any other abilities or possible abilities outside of mind reading. He had initially read over her file and it was only ever reported that she could read minds and communicate through them. The scientists knew of no other abilities that had yet to manifest themselves. But, there was something a few notes in her file. Possible mutations to her telepathic abilities. Without the facility or the doctors it was hard to say what was all going on with her. None the less, he was more worried about her. If something happened between Roisin and herself.

A sick feeling fell to his stomach and it wasn't because of a night of drinking either. Christian moved from his seat and down towards the medical bay. He stopped as he saw Daniella in the hallway. He let out a sigh of relief, but it was clear something was wrong. She seemed distraught.

"Dani, you okay?" he walked towards her and offered a small smile. "Roisin didn't..." he peered into the medical bay. Taking a glance at Roisin who seemed to be in some sort of pain. His brow furrowed and he looked back at Daniella. "What happened?"

If some new power did manifest. He would need to know, it would make things more complicated. It would call for everyone to be more vigilant, mostly Alister as he was doing a lot to help her. Christian couldn't be grateful enough to him anymore, and he was starting to feel it was more than just the money now. Still, at long as Alister was helping, Christian would pay him. It was a promise he wouldn't break.

"Look, once we land. We can all take a breath and keep ourselves from going crazy. But, you...what happened?"

{[ and thats the best my sick head can do. i slept for so much today. ]}

[Space Candy]

xxxx"Speech."xxxxx"Thoughts."xxxxx"Others."

XXXXXXXX Daniella shook her head fervently as she exited the medical bay. The only solace she could find now was that she would be able to get off the ship for a little while. Perhaps she was going a bit stir crazy....even so, Dani knew she would have to return to the ship eventually. What would Alister do if he was stressed out or heartbroken? Get a drink, probably...Daniella thought back to her first encounter with Alister. She had been drinking then, and the pirate had taken it away from her. That was likely for the best...maybe alcohol wasn't the best way for the small framed woman to cope with her troubles. She mulled her options over her in head, but it didn’t take long before she was standing face to face with absolutely the last person she wanted to see right then. Christian.

Daniella stood there and stared at him with a calm expression. Her slate colored eyes inspected the male calmly, but inside her heart was in turmoil. She was upset with him. Angry at him for what he’d done despite her reasoning. Yes, he had been drunk. Yes, Daniella knew that. No, he couldn’t have known that this would hurt her in that way. Dani was the only mind reader on board: she couldn’t expect anyone else to just know how she felt without verbally explaining herself. Logic wouldn’t stand though, and instead her heart won. Daniella bit the inside of her cheek as the anger grew and grew. Hopefully she wouldn’t cry again, her eyes were still stinging though...speaking of eyes...Dani distracted herself briefly by touching the edge of her forming black eye. Christian spoke, and of course he seemed genuinely concerned about what had been happening in the medical bay. He was so confusing. How could he act like he cared when he hurt her so? Purposefully, Daniella stayed out of his mind and kept physically distant from him. The last thing she wanted was to view the events from last night from his perspective---that would be disturbing. Alexei’s version of things told her all that she needed to know anyway. Her eyes moved and inspected the turtleneck Christian had on. It hid the bite marks well. Daniella knew exactly where each one was, and Christian would be none the wiser. The blonde looked back to Christian’s face. That concern in his eyes was killing her. It made her mad, made him seem deceitful. But they weren’t together. Why was she mad? It was dumb, and she knew it. Back and forth in her mind, Daniella twisted from logic to feelings even though it was fairly obvious which side of her would be the ultimate victor.

He had asked her what happened...and honestly Daniella wasn’t sure if she wanted to tell anyone, let alone someone she was mad at. The less he knew he better, right? But likely he wouldn’t let her walk away without gaining some sort of explanation. Finally, the petite woman frowned. ”I’m fine, and Roisin is fine. Everyone is fine.” Daniella averted her eyes from him and tucked a chunk of wavy blonde strands behind her ear. She could feel her cheeks turning red with anger and embarrassment. At this point Christian didn’t know that Daniella had seen what he’d done---but there was no way in hell she was going to let it stay that way. She wanted him to know that she hurt, and wanted to hurt him back. But how? And why was this making her so vengeful? It didn’t make sense, but she wasn’t going to fight herself anymore. ”I saw Roisin’s memories. It freaked us both out.” She said to him, but did not bother leaving the link open for him to respond to her mentally. After a moment Daniella looked back to Christian. ”And I saw Alexei’s too.” Hopefully that would provide all the explanation he needed. Daniella crossed her thin arms before staring down at her feet. ”Maybe you should take this chance to go back home. I can find some other way to pay Alister.” Daniella’s voice came out calm, but cold. Part of her genuinely meant those words. Part of her really wanted him to leave...and yet another part of her desperately wanted him to stay. Her mind wavered, and for a moment a few flashes and sensations from Alexei’s mind revived themselves. She needed to get this under control. Dani didn’t want to be reliving the experience over and over. ”I don’t want to talk to you anymore.” Daniella said bluntly, lifting her head to look at Christian again.

Doing her best to keep her composure, Daniella quickly moved past the white haired male and continued down the hall. ”Don’t follow me.” Dani muttered in passing. She kept her arms crossed as she moved through the ship. Eventually, the blonde found herself back in her room. With the door closed behind her, Dani finally let out a few angry tears. She tried to push past her emotions. She needed to get ready to go off of the ship, and the first part of that involved putting on some shoes. Dani sniffled quietly as she pulled on a pair of black knee-high boots. She rotated her feet a few times, feeling her ankles pop. Really she was just doing anything she could think of to distract herself. Dani located her gun, and the holster Alister had so kindly found for her, and attached her weapon to her hip. She also took the time to pull on her leather jacket, happy to find that it was just long enough to conceal the small handgun she was packing. Some change of scenery was exactly what she needed right now...Daniella took a breath and rummaged through her bag to see if there was anything else she needed. Her hands gripped something cool, and she pulled the object out. Dani stared down at a thin cylinder. A tube of lipstick that Alexei had given her at some point in the past two weeks. The two had been getting quite close, but as far as Daniella was concerned any type of bond they had formed was severed...at least for the time being. Perhaps in the future she would get over it, but right now there was no way in hell she could consider Alexei her friend. Daniella tossed the lipstick on her bed and continued to look through her belongings. Her hands gripped the fabric of the different clothes. All things Christian had provided her with when he’d helped her escape. She gritted her teeth. She couldn’t be mad at him over something so stupid---or rather she shouldn’t have been. After all he’d done for her, was she really going to ostracize him over something so insignificant? But the fact remained that she was angry with him. Daniella was hurt now and the kindness he had paid her in the past didn’t lessen the pain she felt at the moment.

With a small groan she stood, realizing that she never received the ice pack she had been seeking before all of this drama unfolded. Oh well, it was a little late now. The ship was docking and soon they’d all be on their merry way. Daniella made her way back into the hall, anxious to get going and to get some space.

xxxxLocation :: Persephone - Hallway
xxxxCompany :: None
xxxxHealth :: 89% - Forming black eye thanks to Mr. Buttface; shaken up; jealous; upset
xxxxTunes ::Empty Places - Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross
xxxxAttire ::Navy

[Kagome SB]

████████ ██ ᴏᴄᴛᴀᴠɪᴀɴ ｗｈｉｔｅ ██ ████████ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

⊰ ＵＮＩＴＹ ⊱ xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx









As if to add to his feminine stereotype, Jin found himself slightly tipsy after only two beers. For the sake of fairness, those beers were heavier on the alcohol content than what most people were accustomed to, but still, when surrounded by larger and muscular men and even some brash ladies, Jin couldn't hold a candle to their drinking capabilities. His face just a tad flushed, he avoided eye contact with a particularly feisty woman with a large chest and a flirty smile. She hopped a few stools over and leaned in towards him, offering him a full view of her goodies. "Hey there, you look like you're having a good time. Mind if I have a drink with you?" she asked, her voice dripping with sexuality. Jin stared intently down at his almost-finished beer, watching the little foam bubbles pop and sizzle in the coolness of the glass. "Ah, I'm afraid I'm almost empty. I would be happy to buy you one, but I don't want you getting the wrong idea--" "And what idea would that be?" she interjected, scooting the stool so close to him she was practically sitting on his lap. She finished her gin on the rocks and popped the little lime wedge into her mouth, sucking on it somewhat obscenely. Jin blushed again and looked away, but she pulled his face around back to look at her. She scooted the lime out between her lips with her tongue and it dropped back into her cup. "You're cute, I'm cute, and you don't have another chick with you. Let's get out of here for a few hours," she purred, kissing his cheek. Jin practically fainted in embarrassment.

x - x - x

With a final flourish of the pen against the pad, Octavian signed his name and discharged himself from the hospital. He watched as the nurses carefully placed his IV bag, and the vials of his blood, into a special biohazard containment unit, and amused himself on their horrified expressions as they examined his dusty and nearly luminescent blood. His final blood sample had been a normal deep scarlet, which meant that the parasite's infection had gone dormant for the time being, as it was wont to do when he felt better. Turning away from the nurses, he caught a glimpse of his shirtless body in the mirror, the geometric lines and shapes across his body hiding his nasty surgical scars. His ribs poked out from underneath a thin layer of muscle. Octavian couldn't help but flex, just to make sure the muscles he had tried to maintain were still holding on for dear life against his bones. He smiled when they bulged from his flesh. Confidence restored, he slipped on his cream silk button-down shirt that hugged comfortably to his body. He had made sure to have his clothing custom-tailored so nothing looked baggy on him. He couldn't stand the thought of looking shapeless. Octavian then changed out of his hospital pants and into a pair of khaki slacks, cuffed neatly at the bottom to show off his houndstooth wool socks and newly-shined leather wingtips. Finally, he shrugged on his Unity dress jacket, an indigo piece decorated with medals for courage, honor, leadership, and reliability. While people passing by him would assume he had enough medals to recognize him as one of the Dominion greats, Octavian knew several of the medals were typical and could be found on anyone's jacket. In fact, the most unique one he had lay unworn in his cabin on Barzakh. It was the "Medal of Perseverance in Scenarios Unprepared", and was awarded to him by GenEx because he didn't happen to die from their parasite. He hated that medal.

To complete the outfit, Octavian looped his pistol holster to his belt, tucked his durasteel knife into its sheathe, and strapped his sniper rifle to his back. The jacket itself was enough to warn any authority that any attempt to relieve him of his weapons would result in punishment, as an orange triangular symbol stitched onto the upper left breast pocket proved his status as a Fleet Captain of the Dominion. Smoothing his hair down in the mirror, he gave a respectful nod to the nurses as he left, entering the open air of Copernicus Station and welcoming the hustle and bustle of the crowds. Checking his watch, the captain was relieved to see there was still plenty of time for relaxation before his ordered rendezvous back at the ship. Instead of pulling his crew together early, he decided to let them continue with their shore leave, and he'd partake as well. Octavian made his way to Jin's favorite bar, where he also happened to be well-known, though not because of his drinking habits. The captain spotted Jin fending off the affections of a pushy woman, and he chuckled under his breath at the poor kid's situation. Jin never handled come-ons very well.

Octavian walked right up to the lady and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned her head drunkenly, nearly falling off of the bar stool. "What d'you want--" she spat, until Octavian gently caught her as she headed towards the ground. Her angry attitude at being interrupted vanished when she met eyes with the man who had helped her. "My apologies, miss, but the gentleman you're talking to happens to be a good friend of mine, and we have important business elsewhere. He's the shy type, and it's not that he's trying to insult your beauty, but he doesn't know how to handle such forceful women. Now," he said, moving her around to look at another man sitting by himself at the edge of the bar, "That man over there looks lonely, and I'm sure he would be more than happy to receive a visit from you." The woman looked at him in confusion for a moment, and then hobbled away from them and up to the man who looked incredibly blessed to be considered for her attention. Jin sighed in relief. "Oh, thank you, thank you. I had no idea what to do. She grabbed my...well, y'know, at one point and I thought 'isn't this sexual harrassment?' but no one came to my rescue..." Octavian laughed and put his arm around his pilot as they headed out of the bar.

x - x - x

The ship port was busier than usual that day. Octavian glowered at the obvious pirate activity going on behind the scenes as he recognized ships flying colors that weren't Dominion, Alliance, or anything somewhat official. It irritated him that the port police weren't keeping a watchful eye like they should, though he suspected there were profits to be made by turning the other cheek. However, several of the smaller criminal operations being conducted on the port--illegal trades, stolen merchandise, illegal citizen transportation--were immediately disbanded as Octavian walked through the port. His medals, and the Dominion jacket, alerted the small fry that they would end up in the slammer if he even stopped to consider alerting the authorities, or went after them himself. He walked by a few Olympian worshipers, holding their godforsaken statues and whispering about some sort of fight between Dionysus and Zeus. That pagan-cult nonsense didn't even register on his radar, but Jin kept close. The younger man had never been one for crowds.

"So you say you received the alert a half-hour after you left me at the hospital?" Octavian asked the pilot, examining the basic statistics of the flagged ship Persephone as the alert ran across Jin's tablet screen. Jin nodded and pointed to the time registered for when it entered the airspace. "If it hasn't docked by now, it will soon. But for the most wanted ship in the Dominion, there's no information on it. This Alister Blood is a really good pirate," he said with a hint of awe behind his words. Octavian shook his head. "There's no such thing as a good pirate, Jin. Only one who's slimier than the other. And this man," he said, pulling up Blood's wanted poster, "is the worst of the worst." He glared at the man's grinning picture, as if he was amused to be gracing a wanted poster. "The bounty is pretty high for both dead or alive, but as criminal as he may be, he doesn't deserve to die. He should be given the chance to surrender and repent, as we all are," Octavian added, putting the poster away and handing Jin his computer back. "What about the escaped girl? Daniella Pearson? She doesn't look like a pirate--" "She's a GenEx runaway, and I wouldn't be surprised if that damn company loosed some sort of monster on the world to destroy everything in its path. She may look sweet, but there's something more to her. I can tell. " "Gee, that sounds a little bit like a conspiracy theory, don't you think so Octavian?" Octavian grinned bitterly. "A conspiracy theory? Like GenEx is breeding parasites to infect and kill unsuspecting people? Sure, I wouldn't believe it either. Either way, our focus isn't Blood or Pearson. It's Christian Bernet. He's the priority. GenEx or not, I've been ordered to rescue him, and it's what I will do."

After what seemed like nonsensical walking, Octavian finally found the pile of crates he was looking for. A woman, beautiful and deadly and covered in tattoos, sat nonchalantly on a box, staring out into the port. Jin grew nervous upon seeing her, but Octavian didn't change expression. This woman was a necessary evil in the galactic game. An information broker, neutral in all regards and perhaps even just as bad as a pirate, but whose knowledge was indispensable. "Maya," Octavian said by way of hello. They knew each other, though it wasn't because of friendship. He honestly didn't like dealing with the woman, with her cold stare and her sexual nature. If Jin couldn't handle the woman from the bar, Octavian couldn't handle this woman. "Looks like you're waiting for something. I won't keep you long," he said, taking the tablet from Jin again and handing her the specs for Persephone. "Just wondering if you had any information about this ship. It entered Copernicus' airspace a while ago. Someone important is onboard who I need to find." In the top right of the screen was a hefty credit amount, an offer for the information. He waited patiently while Jin shifted uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact with Maya.





۞ ۞ ۞ ۞ ۞


WITH: Jin, Maya || LOCATION: Copernicus Station || MOOD: alert, dedicated, straightforward || MISSION/OBJECTIVE: to receive information on Persephone || OOC: ---


xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxDo you think I'm special? Do you think I'm nice? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxAm I bright enough to shine in your spaces?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxBetween the noise you hear, and the sound you like,
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Are we just sinking in an ocean of faces?

[Sir Dietary Supplement]

𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒂 𝑳𝒊𝒏 𝑻𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒔XXX


gσ unnσtícєd lєt thє frєєdσm wαsh αwαч
lσsíng fσcus thє prєtєnsє ís sєcσnd nαturє
ít's α вrσkєn lífє thαt í clíng tσ trчíng tσ mαkє ríght
í fєєl dísmαч just líkє чσu dσ í fєєl dєcαчєd


чєs í sєє чσu surrσundєd вч thє hσpєlєss
whєn thєч nєєd чσu чσu'rє much tσσ gσσd αnd вlσαtєd
вч thє hσpєlєss lífє thαt чσu clíng tσ trч tσ mαkє ríght
í fєєl dísdαín just líkє чσu dσ í fєєl dєcαчєd



The station was busy as ever. Maya watched the hustle and bustle from her seat on the crates. Her eyes scanning the people with mild amusement. She could tell everyone apart. She saw a few faces that went alongside wanted posters that were out on them. Had she not be meeting Alister she might of been half tempted to call over a few Dominion goons and get a decent payload. But, alas she was waiting for someone and it was best to not make trouble before Alister arrived. It always followed him. Which was why he was always charged a little bit extra. 'Cleaning up' fee Maya had jokingly called it. It stuck though. Other clients had to face the fee as well, but if they had that fee to pay it was usually because of something big. They paid her one way or another. Either in cash, information, or a bit of both. It was usually a bit of both.

Alister would have one hell of a fee this time around. With the price on his head he would know that as well. She was curious as to what he would offer outside of the usual. Sure the two had their fun and he was usually chalk full of lovely information. It wouldn't be as simple this time around. Hopefully, he would come prepared.

Maya wasn't left alone for long. She turned her head as she heard her name. A familiar face came into view. A client that had come to her a few days earlier. In town trying to find that Bernet kid it seemed. She told him to get her money and that was the end of the conversation. That was that. Nothing else besides sharing their names. His was what now?

It started with an O. Oliver. No, that wasn't it. Oscar, no not it either. Octopus? Now who in their right mind would name their child Octopus. Octavian! Bingo! That was it. She sighed and smiled towards the male. "At least you are bright, most would assume I'm sitting here for my shear pleasure," she took the tablet from the man. Her eyes first crossing to the amount he was offering. She smiled, it was better than she she asked for originally.

Then came the ship.

Oh, the irony of it all. A laugh fell from Maya's lips once she saw who it belonged too. Alister really had people on his tail now. If Octavian was looking for Alister's ship. That meant. It was all pieced together, the rumors were true. Alister Blood had kidnapped Christian Bernet. Why? Well, that was beyond Maya's knowledge and it would surely be a question she asked.

Something like this would put most people in a pickle. Testing their morals. Betray a previous associate for someone who laid that many credits in front of them. Most would say no, merely because of their morals. Of course, Maya wasn't most people. Money was her language and right now Octavian was speaking it very well.

A smug smile stayed on her lips and she passed the tablet back to Octavian.

"You offer me more than what I ask. So here is what I know, that ship belongs to one Alister Blood. Surely, you've heard of him. Rumor has it that Bernet kid is on it, and well judging by your uniform. That is who you are after," she hoped off the crates and stepped over to Octavian. Her hand running lightly over his cheek, before it rested on his shoulder and she leaned over to his ear.

"So lets make this deal sweeter. You upload those credits to me right now. And I can make sure you know the location of Mr. Blood and and Mr. Bernet, and afterwards," she chuckled lightly and ran a hand down his chest. "We can always do something a bit more fun. I might even cut off a bit of that cost. You are such a handsome man after all, and if your friend over there joins us...." she tossed a wink in Jin's direction before stepping back. She cleared her throat and once again seemed to address the two more professionally.

"Head to the Green Lady. Get yourselves a couple drinks. Talk to Marcus and he'll make sure you finish payment. After that just wait for me, and well....you'll have all the information you need boys. But, if you please. I must not be seen with you."

She walked back over to the stack of crates and sat back down on them. "Well go on. I swear I'm not setting you up. Paid me enough. You'll find Mr. Bernet, I swear."

This little thing would most likely tick off Alister. But, not like he didn't know this was how Maya worked. The best offer was the winner and at the moment, she didn't even know what he was offering her. She was grasping into the dark, but if all else failed she would turn on the light and hand Alister over to the Dominion to get a payload that would set her for life. Of course, she wouldn't stop her little information business. She had too much fun with it. Hell, Maya could of retired years ago with the money she had in her accounts. She never did though. Life was too boring to sit around doing nothing. She always liked a bit of action in it.

{[ maya bringing people together, one betrayal and pay day at a time! ]}


sσ fínd mє α wαч tσ lєαvє thís wαstєd lífє вєhínd mє
fínd mє α wαч tσ lєαvє thís wαstєd lífє вєhínd mє αftєr αll

[Yasha_Glory]

I'm miss autonomy, miss nowhere, I'm at the bottom of me
Miss androgyny, miss don't care, What I've done to me
¤Company: Nova, Alister, Alexei, Karl, & a random crew member ¤Condition: 96% ¤Location: Persephone's Medical Bay
I am misused, I don't wanna do, Be not your slave
Misguided, I mind it, I'm missin' the train

Róisín stood across from Dani, her chest expanding and collapsing with each labored breath, snaking its way through her clenched fangs. While her breathing was quick and shallow, it was quiet compared to growling that rumbled from her throat. Her lungs felt tight. It was as though she was pinned down to the lab table once again and every muscle was being tugged in a different direction. The hand still draped over her eye patted its palm against the orbit, attempting to bat away the flickers of memory flashing across her vision. Though her claws hadn’t returned to their massive form, they were still extended from the ends of her fingers like the hands of a witch. They had sharpened due to the rush of shear fear the vivid stream of images had suddenly brought about. It wasn’t a normal occurrence for her to think about her past, and it certainly wasn’t something she had planned on doing during a simple eye exam. Who was this girl and why was she able to get inside her mind? How was she able to access locked away memories and bring them to the surface? It was no wonder that they had taken her appearance so well when this was something they had on board their ship. Between the mind-freaks, pink haired modification laden females, and whatever other secrets were hidden upon the ship, Róisín had to wonder what could possibly be going through the captain’s head. As though he had also attained the ability to read minds, in came Captain Alister Blood through the doors to save the little savant from the scary monster with a couple of lackeys on his coattails. He demanded to know what was going on, and for once Róisín agreed. “That’s what I’d like to know,” she sneered as she removed her hand from her face and straightened herself up. “Someone want to explain how a band of pirates got their hands on someone with the ability to get inside the minds of others?” Karl looked between Róisín and the others, immediately fluttering towards Alister. ”Hiiiiiiiiiiiii Mister B! I missed you! Did you miss me?” he turned to the escort that had loyally followed his captain to the med bay and waved one of his little fins. ”Hello, friend!”

When the woman came between Róisín and Dani, an almost inaudible growling escaped the beast’s throat. She remembered her well. She had come after the lights returned to the Persephone and defended the man she had nearly killed. As far as Róisín was concerned, that meant they were somehow connected. If she hadn’t decided to let Alister question the man and simply killed him on the spot she would have never suspected a connection between the supposed ‘outsider’. It just gave the woman a motive to try and kill Róisín for hurting the man and that was more than enough reason to be wary of her. She watched the dark haired woman inspect her goggles and took note of whatever specifications she could see. The particular shade of orange, the shape, the frame, the thickness of the lenses; all of it was important information for the cyborg to understand what she was up against. Then there was the smell; the very faint scent of blood. Róisín’s eyes flickered down at the woman’s arm to the minute spot of crimson from a tiny puncture wound. It wasn’t a scratch and it wasn’t inflamed or even bandaged. She hadn’t been close to any syringes in the medical bay, so an accidental jab was out of the question. The beast thought back to the nights she had been straightening up the room, the tiny anomalies she had attributed to the normal hustle and bustle of people going in and out of the messy bay. Clean spots amid a sea of dust, shaped like long tubes and pens, which she had ignored. Had this woman taken something from the room? If so, what had she stolen? Was it even theft? Perhaps the woman needed treatment for something chronic. Róisín had no way to tell what their stock had been beforehand, but now that she had filled it with her personal inventory of chemicals and drugs she decided it would be imperative to keep an eye on just what was being removed from the room. It wasn’t her ship, which was true, so she shouldn’t have cared what the crew did with in their spare time. However, the assumption that came from the deduction that this woman and the man were not a part of Alister’s crew meant that they were either stealing from him or plotting to use what they took for something much more nefarious. It was entirely possible that the woman had taken a couple sedatives with the intention of putting the beast to sleep and rendering it helpless. It was a rather curious situation that was slowly bringing about thoughts of delicious entrails riddled with toxins. It had been a while since the woman had eaten, though it wasn’t as long a break as Karl’s. It wasn’t until she heard a muffled voice talking that cleared into her name. Someone was asking her something. Her eyes, which had been fixated on the speck of blood, flickered back up to the group of people blocking her exit. There was the pink-haired vixen again, asking if she was okay. It was a rather odd sensation to be asked such a thing and to be looked at in such a way. It bothered the monster. She didn’t understand what the strange woman was playing at, or why the blonde had taken such a liking to her. In the short time that Róisín’s mind had vacated the vicinity, something had happened to the grey-eyed blonde. She looked angry, flustered even. Towards whom, she wondered. She wasn’t looking at Róisín, no, she was angry at the woman who had gotten between them, even going as far as to curtly surge through the crowd of people, leaving Róisín to explain herself. Who was going to believe her even if she did explain what happened? How would they know what Róisín saw? What would they even do with such information? It seemed better to keep to herself the memories that had been reawakened for the time being.

The creature raised her clawed witch hands, peering through the dark sockets at each one quietly as she inspected herself for any malfunction or hole in her defense that could have caused the jolt between herself and the psychic. ”It appears to be so,” she stated calmly as the sharp tips of her fingers began to melt away like burning candles. Thick black sludge oozed down her hands, merging into her wrists as her fingers shrank to their normal size. It wasn’t long before her arms appeared normal, human, and just had a skin tight covering of shiny black leathery material up to her elbows. ”Oh don’t worry, miss! Róisín’s sturdy! She can survive lots of stuff like a cockro—“ ”Karl.” The little fish rotated in his bubble and let out a small whine. ”Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? You’d be a pretty cockroach!” Róisín lifted her hand to her face, pinching the space between her eyes as though the little fish were giving her a headache, and most likely an aneurysm. She still didn’t approve of him talking to the crew members, especially when they were in such a delicate situation. Before she could start another bout of scolding the Persephone’s AI came on over the intercom. It seemed that they would be landing soon and Róisín gave an internal sigh of relief. ”Finally… we can get off this ship,” she thought to herself as her head lifted back up. The little fish hovered by the crew, slightly following Dani as she rushed out of the room, though never straying too far. ”Dani wait! You forgot your ice pack!” It was too late, she was gone again. Karl happily buzzed back to Róisín, ecstatic over the information he was picking up from the nearby station. ”Róisín did you hear! It was the pretty lady again! She said we’re going to land soon! That means we can finally get something to eat, right? RIGHT?! I’m staaaaaaarving!” ”First we have to get our ship off of theirs, Karl. Then we’ll get something to eat.” Her hand brushed against the hot soldering iron still on the metallic table and turned it off. Her pet project was going to have to wait till she returned, if she decided to return at all. There were a couple of electronic pings that came from Karl, immediately taking her attention away from the group. She knew exactly what they meant. It meant that something had updated information that either of them considered useful. ”Róisín--“ ”Show me later, Karl,” she said as she reached up and turned her headphones off. ”But I think you should at least see this!” the little fish urgently pressed as he pulled up a list of active bounties and quickly shuffled through the links to bring up a picture of Daniella. The monster’s eyes moved back and forth across the projection, reading the details of the poster and spying GenEx’s seal on the image. ”Well that explains a couple of things…”

And I don't know where I've been, And I don't know what I'm into, And I don't know what I've done to me
And as I watch you disappear into the ground, My one mistake was that I never let you down
So I'll waste my time and I'll burn my mind, On miss nothing, miss everything

[Lysander the Poet]

Alister was worried about Daniella. Not only had he knocked her unconscious not long before, but something was off about her. The way she reacted at Alexei’s touch...it was curious. Of course, it wasn’t long before Roisin gave him a piece of the puzzle this whole situation had become. It was a pretty hard question for Alister to answer, how exactly a telepath took to traveling with pirates. He wasn’t sure how much of the truth was safe to reveal, both for Daniella’s protection, and his mistrust of Roisin. And then there was the inordinate amount of joy buzzing out from Karl, who was the only person in the room who ever seemed to be happy when he showed up. All that stroking of Alister’s ego put the little AI in a favorable light. ”Daniella’s….condition, and her reasons for being here are not your concern, for the time being. I’d very much like to know how you found out...many of us didn’t even know for awhile. Not exactly something we’re trying to advertise. If you’ve got a problem with it...you and I may have to reach a state of disagreement. Though, I would prefer that we did not.” Daniella had done something, obviously, to indicate their new companion that she possessed abnormal abilities. She had been gaining power, slowly, ever since she boarded his ship, and with that seemed to come a level of unpredictability. It started with basic telepathy and mental communication, then developed into mild telekinesis...what other powers could she have been exhibiting? And had GenEx know that what exactly they were creating? And then there was Karl, his positive attitude forcing a grin across Alister’s face. His crewman didn’t know what to make of the little fish, but Alister just went with it. ”It’s good to see you again Karl. I hope you and her have been behaving, while you’ve been cleaning my ship.” Alister wished to remove himself from the situation as soon as possible. Thankfully, Persephone broke the tension with her announcement, and Alister abandoned the crew members in the medical bay, to attend to his duties in the cockpit. Docking at a station like Copernicus was always a little more complicated than usual, seeing as it was officially a Dominion funded starport, boasting an extravagant interior, many different wards, top of the line shopping experience, and one of the most comprehensive spacebound medical facilities in the system. That being said, Dominion goons were crawling everywhere, even if the shadowy pirate underbelly was crawling right beneath the surface, like a cockroach crawling under your flooring.

”Alright Persy, talk to me.” Alister ducked his head as he entered the cockpit’s lowered doorway, and slid into the pilot seat, fingers dancing across the controls. ”It would seem that your associate has taken care of our basic needs, including getting onto the station mostly unnoticed or unidentified. I was a bit worried when it came to entering a dock that has Dominion security systems of this level of sophistication, but we’ve been given docking clearance. I recommend exercising an extra level of caution while aboard the station, Captain.” Alister chuckled at the AI, who sighed and shook her head. ”I’m serious. You don’t need to be causing anymore trouble as it is.” She was obviously a bit more serious than he was, but he noted the concern. ”I’ll try not to have too much fun then, Persy. I don’t need you to be my mother. Take us in, slow and quiet. Assemble our guests for disembarkation.” Persephone nodded, and flickered out of view. Alister made another return to his cabin, pulling open his closet, his hands shifting through different sets of clothing. It had been awhile since he had an ‘encounter’ with Maya. The best, and worst, part about this was that he didn’t know what to expect. He could walk into a simple trade of information and services, or walk into a docking bay full of armed Dominion soldiers, ready to haul him away, send Daniella back to a lab, give Christian a ride home, and probably execute the rest of them as criminals and traitors. He picked out a set of simple clothes, along with his signature trench coat, lined with a protective layer of thin, practically weightless plating, and plenty of space for a concealed arsenal. He also took some time to look at himself in the mirror. Hopefully he would get a little bit of private negotiation time with Maya as well. She always loved sealing a good deal, and he wasn’t one to argue. Persephone’s voice once again sounded throughout the interior of the ship. ”We’ll be docked in five. Everyone report to Captain Blood for briefing. A reminder; Copernicus Station is Dominion territory. Be careful.” The Captain took that as his cue, and as he exited his cabin, armed to the teeth with his hidden weapons, the ship was looking a bit more lively than usual. People running around, preparing for an assessment of the ship’s damage, last minute supply checks to see what they needed to get from on station, people taking advantage of a clear connection to the net to contact friends, contacts, and loved ones, since even pirates had people they cared about back home...even Alister. The clicking of Rhia’s crutches diverted his attention as she passed by him, her assisted movement not seeming to slow her down. ”Gonna let a cripple beat you down there, Captain?” She grinned back, seeing lines of frustration cross his forehead at her tease, before he rushed after her.

Everyone assembled and ready to get off the damn ship, after being cooped up for two weeks, and Alister was about ready to oblige them...but not before he got a few words in edgewise. ”Alright, you lot. I know it’s probably starting to itch under your skin, being stuck around each other all day, every day, for so damn long.” He silently noted that Rhia gave an angry glance towards Alexei, shifting her weight from one crutch to the other. ”Remember boys and girls, we’re here for business and not pleasure. Basic repairs, resupply operations, information gathering, and maybe a FEW days of rest and relaxation, because you’ve all earned it. Don’t mistake that for free reign of the station. We’re gonna be a** deep in Dommie territory. Most of us won’t be safe out in the open. You will all travel in groups, and you will stay on the comms at all times. If you even THINK trouble is coming, you say something, and we get the hell out of here before everything goes to hell...like Kessel.” A moment of silence for the shitstorm that started all of this. As if this was some kind of ceremony, Alister reached back, and his fist pressed down on the panel behind him, the doors shuttering open, revealing the dock outside. Copernicus Station was so...clean. The inside plating of the station was a stark, sterile white. There was a simulated sky, simulated weather systems, and if you didn’t know any better, once you left the docking bay, you could be tricked into thinking you were on Earth once more. The view outside of the Persephone was shockingly beautiful. Thousands of docks stretched out in every direction, and the entire expanse of space could be seen through a protective forcefield. On the other side was the docking bay doors, which connected to the station’s transit system. The docks were heavily populated, but instead of the haphazard chaos that was Kessel Station’s docks, or the oddly efficient state of Calypso, there was another field entirely. Deals being struck on the docks of all sorts, Coalition soldiers, firmly on Dominion payroll, marching around the docks, randomly interrogating shady looking inhabitants. Alister exited the Persephone with the others in tow, and frowned at the state of it all. He would have preferred not to come here, but he didn’t have much choice. He pointed out towards the doors at the far end of the bay. ”Up there you’ll find the trams that will take you around the station, as well as an information directory and a holomap. I’ve got a meeting with a friend, but I’ll catch up with all of you later. Check in through the comms every hour, on the hour. If you don’t, I might just cut a swathe through the crowds, and alert the entire ******** Dominion just to find you.” He motioned to a pair of crewmen, ”You two will be Miss Santogold’s escort for the duration of our stay here. And you two, you’ll be keeping on eye on Miss Pearson, for her safety. Remember whose nose we’re under. If there’s anything you think you’ll need for another extended trip, I suggest you find it. There are a few good shopping complexes on station. Don’t get too caught up in the moment, and don’t let your guard down.”

He would wait for the crowd to disperse, before gazing out, looking closely into the crowds, and a small smile curled onto his lips. A dark haired, heavily tattooed woman was caught within his sights, and he pushed his way through the people, the collar of his trenchcoat pulled up as to hide his face from view. He stopped next to Maya, and nonchalantly leaned back against the dock railing. ”It has been quite awhile, hasn’t it? You’re still looking well...though, to be fair, I think I have a permanent mental image of your tits bouncing up and down burned joyously into my brain, love.” Yes, that was the way he greeted his acquaintance and best source of hard to get information. ”Glad to know you got my message...and that you arranged a nice parking space. And, I’m assuming, because you know just about everything, that you know what kind of cargo I’m carrying.” People were walking back and forth in droves, but every so often, one of them would look over at Alister, and focus just a LITTLE bit too long, and it was beginning to bother him. ”We’re not going to do business here, are we? You know damn well that I do business best with inordinate amounts of liquor in my system. I’ll even get you the first round.” Judging his recent luck, at any moment, one of these assholes was going to recognize him, and that one was just going to HAPPEN to be a Dominion loyal scumbag. That meant he’d have to shoot his way through the crowd, attract a lot of attention, and then pull a Kessel and blow through the forcefield/containment doors to get the hell out of there. It wasn’t really a prospect he was too thrilled about, seeing as he had enough of almost being killed and being chased around recently to fill a few more lifetimes.

[Sir Dietary Supplement]

𝑴𝒂𝒚𝒂 𝑳𝒊𝒏 𝑻𝒂𝒚𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒔XXX


gσ unnσtícєd lєt thє frєєdσm wαsh αwαч
lσsíng fσcus thє prєtєnsє ís sєcσnd nαturє
ít's α вrσkєn lífє thαt í clíng tσ trчíng tσ mαkє ríght
í fєєl dísmαч just líkє чσu dσ í fєєl dєcαчєd


чєs í sєє чσu surrσundєd вч thє hσpєlєss
whєn thєч nєєd чσu чσu'rє much tσσ gσσd αnd вlσαtєd
вч thє hσpєlєss lífє thαt чσu clíng tσ trч tσ mαkє ríght
í fєєl dísdαín just líkє чσu dσ í fєєl dєcαчєd



Octavian and Jin were quick to take their leave, which was good. Maya didn't want to be seen with someone in uniform from Alister arrived. It would start up gunfire, which wouldn't be directed at her, but she would be caught in the line of fire. She didn't set him up, at least it wasn't the plan. At the moment she wanted information, figure out what was going on and why it was rumored that he kidnapped the heir to GenEx. It made her scratch her head, Alister was never one for kidnapping. So there had to be a lot more to this then met the eye. Maya would find out, after all it was what she did for a living. Gathering information was what she was good at. Still, right now she merely had to wait for Alister to arrive. She had been notified he was making port, so she should see him anytime now. Crossing her arms over her chest, Maya slumped back against the boxes. She did hate the waiting game.

It wasn't much longer until Alister made his way over to her. Maya smirked at his greeting. "Well, I gotta make sure I give you good images of me. Otherwise you would never come back to do business and that would be a shame, I enjoy the fun we have," Alister was one of the clients were sex sold and it sold well to him. She used it to her advantage, besides she wouldn't deny that he did know how to have a bit of fun. "Well, I gotta be accommodating, right? Its not every day that I see Alister Blood playing babysitter," Maya teased, her eyes falling onto the white haired male the world knew as the GenEx heir. He didn't seem kidnapped at all, rather he seemed to be here on his own choice. "You really do have some interesting cargo this time around, I gotta hear the story about it."

Maya glanced around as Alister mentioned doing business as a bar. It was how the two generally worked, but he was being careful. Maya did betray people when the pay was good enough. Judging by how he was keeping his face away from the seeing eyes of the crowd. Alister was actually nervous. "You know I never do business outside, too many prying eyes and ears. No good for what I sell if someone else knows what I said, but come on," she hopped off the crates and smiled at Alister. "But, I won't say no to you paying for the first round, hun."

The walk to the bar was quick, like many bars it didn't snag an extra attention. A small sign sat to the left of the door. It was a simple painted green lady and the bars name underneath her. To most it looked rundown, some hole in the whale bar that more specialized in serving regulars then new faces that were only visiting the station. Most would go to a more popular bar, one in a better part of the city as well. Entering the bar, Maya smiled towards Marcus. "We got guests, give Blood's friends what they want. I'll take a bottle and two glasses at my booth," she told the man.

Maya's eyes fell onto Octavian and Jin for a moment, and then the other two patrons that were in the bar. It was enough not to raise any eyes towards a man in uniform. Even if Alister wouldn't feel very comfortable. Taking a seat, she gestured for Alister to sit across from her. "So. The heir to GenEx is tagging alongside you? I heard he was kidnapped, but there is a lot more to that story, isn't there? You do know how I work. Indulge me before we talk business my dear Alister," Marcus put a bottle of whiskey and the two glasses in front of them. Giving a hard glare towards Alister, Maya only laughed. "You remember Marcus, Alister. We'll be fine, tend to the patrons and keep attention off of me and Alister," she told him.

Opening the bottle, she poured a drink for herself and Alister. "To getting to me in one piece. I think we can talk price in a bit, I know you are good on your word. And with rich boy with you, I assume you can pay me well enough? The price on your head is rather tempting," she admitted and took a drink from her glass. "But, if you need. I have accommodations set up for you and your crew. Only cost ya a tiny bit, this time for Marcus's sake. He owns the apartments after all," at least Alister was a client that she knew and didn't have to guess their actions on and he knew how she worked. They were on the same footing at the moment.

"Also heard your ships looks like hell, how you keep that thing running I will never know."

{[ ugh. my brain has been dead. so I'm pushing myself through some writers block ]}


sσ fínd mє α wαч tσ lєαvє thís wαstєd lífє вєhínd mє
fínd mє α wαч tσ lєαvє thís wαstєd lífє вєhínd mє αftєr αll