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Post by Klove Makem on Jan 15, 2010 23:45:39 GMT -6
[repost from another thread]
Five levels up, Grace suddenly headed out of the elevator, leaving Klove scrambling to catch up. He couldn't keep the irked look off his face when he realized that she could have just told him to go up. The smile on her face said that she knew, and that she was taking a great deal of pleasure in it.
"You're a bitch." He muttered, receiving a sock in the arm for his words. Klove rubbed it, glancing around to find the ship Cassandra would be on. The large airlock at the end creaked and groaned as it opened and closed, letting in ship after ship. A crowd of people came and went, and the smell of human and assorted species was impossible to block out. It all mashed together to become a sort of omnipresent offence to the senses.
As they looked at ships, Klove found his eyes drawn to the end. There was one that looked familiar. It wasn't impossible to see ships he knew here, or models he knew, but this one was really familiar. Where had he seen it before? It had been quite recently. Really, very recently-
"Oh fik." He swore as he realized that he did know it.
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Post by Grace Forjacks on Jan 15, 2010 23:46:15 GMT -6
Grace made her way through the crowd, glancing at ships here and there, noting new models and old models, and customs that were made to draw the eye. No saucers though. Grace was starting to suspect she was one of the few people willing to fly a saucer, and one of the few who'd actually managed to make it worth flying.
Klove cursed and stiffened up beside her. She glanced ahead, not certain what to expect. She didn't see anyone in the crowd. And then she spotted the ship. Grace hadn't looked at it too much, except when she came looking for Olive's captain. Klove had kept looking at it, going out of his way to stare at it and impress it to memory.
"Huh." She said, shaking her head at the Adeala, "Didn't expect to see that here. We'll leave him be for now. Let's find your girl."
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Post by Klove Makem on Jan 15, 2010 23:46:47 GMT -6
He was about to follow Grace's command, no matter how much he would have liked to kill Solomon here and now. But then something caught his eye on the ship. A hand waving at him front a window. Klove looked at it blankly, not connecting the dots entirely. And then he got it.
"Oh fiiiik." He moaned softly. But the part of him that was really looking forward to the date made him raise his hand and wave at Cassandra. She kept waving, smiling so excitedly at him, and then disappearing. "I think I just did."
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Post by Cassandra Nida on Jan 15, 2010 23:47:09 GMT -6
Waiting was so awfully boring. Cass kept pacing back and forth between her room and the kitchen, trying to stay out of everybody's way but trying not to look so anxious (and failing awfully at it). She knew it was going to take Klove a while to show up, since the Underworld was so huge and he could be anywhere, but she kept nervously checking her window as if he'd show up and miss her entirely.
It was on one of her glances that she realized she did see him, and that he hadn't just mistaken someone in the crowd for him. Cass waved, and waved again when he looked at her. A moment later, he waved back, and she couldn't help the happy grin on her face. He'd really come to see her.
She grabbed her bag and ran down the length of ship, almost knocking Solomon over as she did. "Sorry! Sorry!" Cass said, moving with the sort of grace a 500 pound cyborg should have never possessed, "I'll be back later!"
Cass headed down the stairs and out the open gangway. It wasn't that far to Klove, and she crossed it easily, slowing to a halt just before she ran straight into him. A sudden shyness overtook her. She wanted to hug him, but she didn't really know if that was okay or not. And there was an older woman standing by him, looking at Cass and smiling. "um. hi." She said, stuffing her hands into her jacket.
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Post by Klove Makem on Jan 15, 2010 23:54:47 GMT -6
Cass came running down to see him, stopping just before she ran into him (for a second, he really thought that maybe she would, and maybe he would let her, even though Grace would make fun of him later). But she stopped, and he must smiled back at her. "Hi."
Klove really wanted to lean in and smell her. Did she still smell like machinery? He bet she did. Maybe it was some sort of perfume. It didn't stink like most perfumes did though. Klove still couldn't believe humans wore something made from whale vomit.
Grace quietly cleared her throat. "Um, Cass, this is my captain, Grace. Grace, this is Cassandra. We met on Terra. And now I'm going to show her around the Underworld." This last bit was a little defiant. He was going to show her around, even if Solomon came out and... well, he wasn't really sure what he'd do. They hadn't spoken at all last time. Mostly he'd just tried to kill Solomon, and then Grace had made him go back to the ship.
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Post by Grace Forjacks on Jan 29, 2010 20:18:12 GMT -6
Grace raised an eyebrow. First the faun, and now this other girl. Klove had managed to beat the odds and find two girls to flit with from the same ship, even more impressive considering he hadn't been aware they were both from the same ship.
"Nice to meet you." Grace shook the girl's hand, and was more than a little surprised to find out how solid the girl's grip was. The girl looked like she was maybe 50 kilos soaking wet, but that grip was stronger than half the mercs she'd encountered over the years, and they'd easily been twice this girl's size. Klove's tastes ran in interesting ways...
Ah, and there was Solomon, probably coming out to find out where Cassandra was heading off to. Grace raised her hand, giving Solomon a friendly salute. "Hello Solomon!"
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Post by Cassandra Nida on Jan 29, 2010 20:21:54 GMT -6
Cass happily shook Grace's hand. She had a nice smile. Klove had introduced her as his captain, but she looked more like Klove's mom. Maybe it was like with Solomon and Olive? Not really related, but kinda like family anyway? "Hi, it's nice to meet you too!"
But then Grace waved at someone behind her and Cass looked back. Solomon. Oh no. She'd completely blanked on telling him she was going on a date. Cass had been too busy thinking about Klove and what they might see to think about that. Her face feel a little, knowing he might tell her that she couldn't leave the ship. If he did, she'd have to stay.
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Post by Solomon Taylor on Jan 29, 2010 21:29:33 GMT -6
Sol hurried down the stairs and into the cargo bay, hoping to catch up with Cass quickly. Sure enough, the door had been opened. She would have had to wait for the doors to drop, so it would have slowed her down a bit. At least he had that going for him.
He hit the floor and glanced outside to see her just outside of the ship... with a pair of familiar faces. He was relieved it wasn't a stranger, but he wasn't comforted by the fact that it was a kid who had recently tried to kill him.
Sol did his best not to look uncomfortable as he headed down to meet them. "How about we don't run off without telling anyone where we're going?" he warned Cass. He could tell by the look on her face that she was already realizing her mistake, so he glanced at Grace with slight amusement. "...we gotta stop meeting like this..."
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Post by Cassandra Nida on Jan 29, 2010 22:47:58 GMT -6
"Sorry, I didn't meant to, I just forgot about it after I talked to Olive." Cass explained, still feeling bad about being so stupid. She couldn't let her excitement get the better of her. Just because they were so far away from the military didn't mean that she was safe.
She was about to introduce Klove and Grace when Solomon spoke to Grace. She looked between them, "You know each other?" Cass felt her heart lift a little. If they knew each other, maybe Solomon trusted Klove? Maybe her date-plans weren't completely ruined...
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Post by Grace Forjacks on Jan 29, 2010 22:57:14 GMT -6
"Afraid that people will start talking?" Grace grinned. It was nice to be able to speak to Solomon and not have to worry about shoving herself in front of Klove to keep the boy from killing him. She had no doubt that Klove wouldn't get violent, espeically not in front of the girl. There was no easier way to ruin your prospects than by attacking someone else's captain.
"We've met before." Grace told the girl, leaving out the bits that would have raised too many questions. She had no idea if Solomon had divulged his past to the crew, but that was his business, and Grace wasn't about to step over that line. Particularly not when she was sure Klove hadn't mentioned his own condition to the girl. "Olive got a little lost on Terra, but we managed to get her back where she belonged."
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Post by Klove Makem on Jan 29, 2010 23:03:09 GMT -6
Klove was doing his best to not deck Solomon. Grace would be pissed with him if he did, and Cass wouldn't understand, and this wasn't a good place or time to do it. So instead, he had to stand there, fixing Solomon with a look that said I'm not going to do anything about it, but I really, really hate you. It was more of an angry sulk than anything, but Klove kept it up anyway.
How had Cass ended up on the Adeala? The last time he'd seen Solomon, he was hiring crew members, not looking for passengers- oh no. Too late Klove realized that he had basically gift-wrapped Cassandra for Solomon. Look for ships about to leave, he'd said. Wait for them to post an ad, he'd said. Klove could have kicked himself for his stupidity. He'd just been looking out for her, but his looking-out had gotten her on Solomon's ship.
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Post by Solomon Taylor on Jan 30, 2010 23:49:06 GMT -6
He wasn't sure what they knew about Cass' 'condition', so he decided not to say anything further on why she needed to be careful. He was pretty sure she'd realized her blunder by now. But the fact that she had been making plans behind his back to meet people after the danger they'd all put themselves through to keep her hidden and safe? That wasn't sitting so well with him.
At least he's not trying to kill me, Sol wanted to say out loud. But since the kid was behaving himself so far--despite the death glares he was sending Sol's direction--he didn't want to push any buttons that might change the situation. "Can someone catch me up? I wasn't aware we had yet another connection..."
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Post by Cassandra Nida on Jan 30, 2010 23:58:59 GMT -6
"Klove helped me out on Terra." Cass quickly filled Sol in, still feeling sheepish. "I was trying to buy passage and I actually tried to get on his- her ship-" She nodded to Grace, not wanting to insult her. It was her ship after all, though until now, it had really felt more like Klove's ship... "But they weren't a passenger ship. Klove said I should wait and look for people leaving Terra, and try get passage with them instead. That's how I got passage with you."
"Klove's just going to show me around the Underworld. I'll be careful. Klove knows about my situation." Cass tried to find the right words. Klove knew that she was running from something, but he didn't exactly know all about her. She wasn't really sure how to bring that up. "I'm going to wear my hood up, and I'll keep in contact with the ship. I've got a padd, and I already wrote down where we're docked." She tried her best to assure Solomon that she did have it under control, sorta.
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Post by Klove Makem on Jan 31, 2010 0:03:13 GMT -6
Klove scowled a bit harder. He should have talked Grace into taking Cass on. They could have found something for her to do on the ship. And then he wouldn't have any reasons to not break Solomon's neck the moment he had a chance.
As Cass tried to assure Solomon that things would be okay, Klove knew he'd have to speak up and assure him that he wasn't about to kill Cass, or turn her in for money or whatever he was worried about. It wasn't like Cass was the only one with a bounty on her head here. She wasn't even worth all that much, not really. "We're not going to do anything stupid." He finally said, hands stuffed in his pockets, "I know this place like the back of my hand."
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Post by Solomon Taylor on Jan 31, 2010 19:07:29 GMT -6
Sol glanced between them, debating. He didn't like her wandering away without any backup, but that was because of the general population here, not the kid. He glanced around the docks, not liking the surroundings too much. The people here were different than those who filled the crowds of Terra. It was shadier, dirtier. But on the plus side, there didn't seem to be patrols anywhere.
He glanced back at Klove, sizing him up. They hadn't even had a chance to have a proper talk on Terra, what with Klove immediately going for his throat. It meant he was impulsive. But, Cass wasn't fully human either, and could easily take him on if she needed. Despite the fact that he'd tried to kill Sol, it still wasn't Klove he was worried about.
"Check in hourly," Sol finally said. "Let me know if anyone bothers you or if you think you might be followed or something. And be. careful."
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