|
|
Post by Klove Makem on Aug 7, 2009 15:04:35 GMT -6
Klove had spent most of the day going in and out of a rage. He would be good, sitting on his cooler, drawing blood from people in the Below and then he'd smell something too familiar or think about Solomon's face and he'd feel the red creep up and over his vision. He kept it together, barely, and he got the haul Grace expected him to get.
It was all hung up in the refrigerator, neat little rows of blood packs, all labelled by batch and strung together on hooks. He stood there with the cold rolling over him for at least half an hour, staring at those little red bags and really desperately wishing he could find something to bite and tear at. When he was young and this happened, he would find a neighbourhood kid to fight with. These days, he had to tough it out or wait for Grace to give him the go-ahead. He couldn't just fight just anyone. Not with his strength.
Klove finally shut the door and sat outside on the boarding ramp, watching people go back and forth in the crowd. He didn't look over toward the bay where Solomon and his ship were sitting. He just looked straight ahead and waited for someone to come back.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cassandra Nida on Aug 7, 2009 15:05:10 GMT -6
Cass walked with the crowd, arms pulled tight to her chest and hood up. People bumped into her but she didn't get knocked over. She looked small, but all the metal made her solid. Nobody really paid attention to her. There were other people to see, other places to go.
She looked at ships. Cass needed to get off planet, but she didn't know where to start. Did you just ask if they had passengers? Or was there somewhere to look? Cass didn't know. She didn't know anything.
There was a noise behind her, a house. Cass glanced back, and felt her heart turn to ice. She recognized the military uniforms. They were looking for someone. Her? Maybe. Cass darted into the nearest dock and hoped they didn't see her.
|
|
|
|
Post by Klove Makem on Aug 7, 2009 15:05:56 GMT -6
Klove was thinking about going back in when the girl walked right into their port. He stood up. She was wearing a thick sweater, and it was hard to see her. If it weren't for the smell, he wouldn't have known she was a girl at first, but the smell was undeniable. Perfume, old but expensive, lingered on her. There was another smell. Oil? And metal?
"Hey." Klove said. She looked up at him. The girl was pretty and terrified. "You lost?"
|
|
|
|
Post by Cassandra Nida on Aug 7, 2009 15:06:37 GMT -6
"I'm um." Cass glanced behind her. She walked toward the strange boy sitting on the gangway. He was grubby looking and not too friendly, but he was better than the police. "I'm looking for a ship. To travel on."
Cass grabbed onto her bag, awkwardly digging around for her money, "I'll pay cash. I just need a ride. It doesn't matter where." Notes were in the way, but she knew they were there somewhere.
|
|
|
|
Post by Klove Makem on Aug 7, 2009 15:07:37 GMT -6
Klove was already shaking his head, even as the girl was trying to dig out money, "Sorry. We don't take passengers. We don't have the quarters for it." Once in a blue moon, they'd take someone if Grace knew them and the price was right, but strangers? You never took strangers on. You never knew what sort of things they were hiding, or who they were running from.
"You should check the Network. They'll list when they're looking for passengers." Klove stood up, dusting himself off, "We're just a cargo ship."
|
|
|
|
Post by Cassandra Nida on Aug 7, 2009 15:08:14 GMT -6
"Please. I'll pay double." She pulled out three blues, "I'll give you these. I don't need a cabin, I can sleep on the floor. Please."
Cass was trying not to cry, but she was having a hard time of it, and her voice sounded choked when she spoke. "I just need to get away. I don't have access to the Network. I... I lost my access code and I d-don't have a padd and-" She stopped, voice too thick to speak. Cass wiped at her eyes.
|
|
|
|
Post by Klove Makem on Aug 7, 2009 15:09:00 GMT -6
Klove didn't deal well with crying people, especially crying girls. He was used to mercs and Grace and none of them ever got teary or choked-up about anything. And none of them offered $1500 to just ride on the ship. You didn't offer that much money unless you were desperate.
He took a better look at her face as she reached up to wipe away her eyes. It took a moment, but recognition kicked in. She had a bounty on her head, a decent one at that. It would be easy to cash in on it. Someone her size would go down quickly and then he could just call the military. If he'd needed the money, he wouldn't have thought twice.
Except. She was crying, and afraid, and nowhere in the bounty call had it said she'd done anything bad, only that she was wanted for questioning. Whatever her dad had done didn't involve her and if she didn't want to rat him out, he couldn't blame her.
"Wait here." He said, and headed back up into the ship, "I'll be right back."
|
|
|
|
Post by Cassandra Nida on Aug 7, 2009 15:09:43 GMT -6
Cass barely got herself back under control when the boy headed inside the ship. She waited, tugging on her sweater's sleeves and waiting for him to come back. Cass looked at the ship. It was a saucer, which was weird because you almost never saw saucers anymore. They were old and outdated, the sort of thing that only collectors bothered to drive. The boxy models had gotten more popular and the saucers had disappeared. She remembered reading about it in her mechanics books.
The three legs were holding it up, two on either side of the gangway, and one in the back. She could see how they would pull up as the engines kicked on. It was a neat design, but inefficient compared to the boxy ones who could just land flat on the ground. She wondered why anybody would use a saucer when you could get one of the others for just as much.
The boy came back out and she looked hopefully at him. Maybe he'd changed his mind?
|
|
|
|
Post by Klove Makem on Aug 7, 2009 15:10:18 GMT -6
Klove grabbed a padd from the chest in the crew quarters, then powered it on to make sure it was working. It was. He grabbed the charge cable and headed back out, clanking down the gangway.
"Here." He said, giving it to her, "It's just general access, no special subscriptions or anything. But you can check the Network from it at any terminal. I'm going to bookmark the passenger listings for you." Klove brought it up and bookmarked it for her, showing her how to get to it, "Just keep an eye on here. You're going to want to look for somebody who doesn't ask for a background check. There are plenty of those. I hope you're not picky about destinations."
|
|
|
|
Post by Cassandra Nida on Aug 7, 2009 15:11:00 GMT -6
Cass looked at the padd, and then at the boy again. She started to cry again and then threw her arms around him, hugging him tight. After everything that had happened, the nightmare that had taken over her life, he was like an angel. Or a knight in shining armour.
"Thank you." She managed to say, and then shoved the credits into his hand, "Thank you so much. What's your name? You don't know how much this means to me."
|
|
|
|
Post by Klove Makem on Aug 7, 2009 15:12:05 GMT -6
The hug caught him off-guard. He hugged back after a moment, feeling how soft and warm she was. She smelt even more like metal and that old perfume. He wanted to know why she smelt like that. It wasn't just like she smelt like she'd been around metal, she smelt like... like she was metal.
Klove carefully gave the credits back to her. "You're going to need these. Running from the law isn't cheap. Just make sure to keep this charged, and keep your head down. If you stay on a ship, you've got a better chance of disappearing from the grid."
He gave her a bit of a smile at her shocked look, "Just... stay safe. And. My name's Klove. Klove Makem. Now go on. You should get out of here before anybody else comes by." He didn't know Castle that well. Maybe the merc would collect if he saw her.
|
|
|
|
Post by Cassandra Nida on Aug 7, 2009 15:12:47 GMT -6
He knew who she was? And he wasn't going to collect on the money? He really was a prince. Prince Klove. Cass smiled at him through her tears. "I'm Cassandra. But you can call me Cass."
She wiped off her face, and headed back into the crowd, giving him one last glance as she did. He waved and she waved back, getting caught up in the crowds. She checked the padd and then pressed it close to her heart. There was hope. She would get through this.
|
|
|
|
Post by Klove Makem on Aug 7, 2009 15:14:05 GMT -6
Cassandra disappeared into the crowd and Klove watched her go, walking out a little to see her as she slowly went out of sight. He sat on a barrel near the entrance of the Queen of Spade's dock. One moment he could see that dark hood, and the next, she was swallowed up by the sea of people and gone, just like that. Klove was going to have to pretend he'd lost a padd, or go out and buy an old one before Grace got back.
Less than twenty-four hours, and he had two girls he didn't know how to feel about. Life was getting way too complicated way too fast. He sighed and waited for something else to happen.
|
|
|
|
Post by quillan on Aug 7, 2009 23:40:21 GMT -6
His day had started off with a sloppy waltz that landed him on a ship that was host to several rather brutish looking men.
Not the kind of brutish as an ogre, but the kind that if you stepped in their way they'd have no second thoughts about pulling your spine out through your nose and beating you to a pulp with it.
On that note Thomas did not feel that his interview, if you could call it that, went very well. After all, he certainly was not invited.
After that incident, he strolled through the ship ports, just glancing back and forth watching the happy people roll by and the angry people throw others off the docks.
He had to get off this god-forsaken planet of smog and haze.
"Well isn't that just peculiar," Thomas said as he looked up.
"You don't see many of those any more..."
It was a dark ship that had a shimmer to it's exterior panelling. He didn't think they still made those old saucer-styled models anymore. He thought it must be quite the oddity to still have that thing flying... Or maybe it was a special-build.
He looked back and forth and all around him in a suspicious way. He felt like someone was watching him from afar.
He hesitated before taking a step.
The next one.
Even the next (next) one.
Before he knew it, his hesitant steps took him all the way to the loading bay of this mysterious ship.
There was something alluring about it.
Perhaps it was just how shiny it was.
Looking around, Quillan finally noticed the man standing almost directly infront of him.
Quillan jumped.
"Pardon me," he paused, looking at the shiny exterior.
"It's a nice boat... Does this nice boat have a nice kitchen? I know alot of the newer modelled ships are rather... Lacking in the kitchen department. They must've been designed by anorexic-" Quillan stopped himself.
He was rambling again.
Unprintable.
Note: In lieu of being unable to think of an appropriate cuss word, I have used (in tradition with writers such as Asimov) the word "unprintable" to imply that the word being said or thought was too vulgar for the audience to witness.
|
|
|
|
Post by Klove Makem on Aug 7, 2009 23:49:06 GMT -6
Klove didn't notice the skinny guy at first. He'd been staring out into the crowd, just watching the people wander around. And then this guy stepped right into his eyeline. He blinked and looked the guy over. Kinda weird looking.
The guy finally noticed Klove, and promptly started rambling about a kitchen. He didn't snort with laughter, but only because the guy seemed pretty serious about the questions. "Um. It's alright. The stove and fridge are pretty huge. And the cupboards are okay."
Might as well make introductions and figure out what this guy was doing down here. Klove extended a hand, "Hi. Klove Makem. You like kitchens?"
|
|
