The Dingle -

[Esi Rousseau]

"OH! Blast it!" came the voice from the terminal next to Esi and she gave a sideways glance at the woman sitting there. "I love this shirt! Excuse me... You wouldn't happen to know a good SOAP to get this out of synth-cotton blend, would you? "

Esi frowned a little, finding the question a little odd, but she gave a slight smile and took her hands off the keyboard, pausing in her perusal of the nearby docks' launch schedules and crew manifests. “Soap?” she repeated, her dark eyes flickering from the woman's face to the spot she was trying to clean, while slowly counting to ten in her head to keep panic at bay. “Bleach is usually a good option, but obviously not a sensible solution for black cloth. A good laundry detergent without perfume will probably get rid of any stains if you make a paste of it and rub it in before washing. But here...”

She reached into a pocket and removed a fresh wet wipe and put it on the table, drawing her fingers back before the other woman had a chance to touch them. “That has some disinfectant in it. A temporary solution, I know, but it might help a little?”

[Octavius C. Roman]

In the Cafe

"Mocha, extra chocolate, with whippy if you've got the real stuff. If it's the canned, then forget it. And whatever these two want. Get the change, will you, Jack?"


"Yeah. Sure. Whatever." replied Octavius, as he scanned the cafe's occupants for their contact.


He had no doubt that the Kitten had done the same, but it never hurt to double check. Turning his attention back to the matter at hand, Octavius perused the overhead menu behind the counter. His mind went through the list of occupants as he figured out what he wanted. There was the raven haired beauty in the business suit. She was obviously cute, but didn't quite fit the profile. Neither did her lunch date, who appeared to be trying too hard to get into her pants. There was a well dressed guy outside and sitting on a scooter. He noticed the man looking inside like he was looking for someone. He stood out in Octavius's mind, but so did a few other people here.


"Have you made up your mind, sir?" replied the employee behind the counter, obviously peeved that Octavius was taking too long to order and disrupting the fast and efficient flow.


Octavius's cold eyes locked onto the employee's, making them quite uneasy. He smiled and calmly said, "Give me a regular coffee. Black. None of that frou frou whipped, mocha, extra toppin' go-se. Just a regular coffee, black as the night sky, dong ma?"


"Y-y-y-yes, s-s-sir." replied the employee, stuttering like a dry firing machine gun. "W-w-what size would y-you like that in?"


"OH! Blast it!"


Octavius turned his head to see the Kitten wiping at her shirt. He rolled his eyes as he shook his head and mentally muttered to himself, "What a klutz and not a very good one at that."


"S-sir?"


"Medium." came Octavius's reply, watching the Kitten harass a bald, ebony woman in the next terminal over.


"H-h-here you g-g-go, sir." replied the employee, handing Octavius his medium, black coffee.


Octavius nodded to the frightened employee, then turned to Sonya, smiled and said, "Hey, Mabel? When you get a chance to pry your nose out of that thing..." He motioned to her PDA and continued, "Do you think you can order somethin' to drink, so we can join our klutzy friend?"

[Sonya Gulliver]

Sonya pretended to read, tried to look at the patrons, saw Sammy spilling something. And absorbed very little. 'should be doing something', looked back at the PDA and the post-regressive growth for intra border trade companies with pre-tax exemptions.

Her jaw opened a bit, though her mouth stayed closed, and an eyebrow raised.

"Hey, Mabel? When you get a chance to pry your nose out of that thing..." He motioned to her PDA and continued, "Do you think you can order somethin' to drink, so we can join our klutzy friend?"

The name didn't jump out at her, but Octavius's voice did. She looked blankly back at him, then tucked the PDA away in one of the little pockets under the large flaps of the dress. After she stepped to the counter she only then started to look over the menu. "sorry, didn't uh; don't know what I want yet."

The clerk looked toward Octavius and said most politely, "No hurry, t'take all the time you want." Then stepped back one step, but on the ready to hop to it.

Sonya finally settles on a fruity tasting veggie supplemental hot tea something or other called a vegimatisipper. She walked over and slipped a hand under Roman's arm.

"So... " her fingers gripped his arm just a little, "I guess I'll be going then or something... so, when .. you know, you get around to wanting to look me up and apologize for pointing that gun in my face; I shouldn't be too hard to find."

She looked around the cafe, still not taking much in.
A mixture of anticipation that this would be over, a little regret about that;
but that certainty that it had to be. A fear that somehow her actions would be interpreted by the Alliance for more or less what they ended up becoming; complicit.

[Octavius C. Roman]

Octavius waited as Sonya ordered her drink and then pocketed the change the cafe employee handed to him once she got it.


"So... " "I guess I'll be going then or something... so, when .. you know, you get around to wanting to look me up and apologize for pointing that gun in my face; I shouldn't be too hard to find."


"You'll have to check with our klutzy friend on the leavin' part, hon." he replied. Giving her a smile, Octavius continued, "You know how she gets when someone leaves without givin' her notice. You have my support though if it makes you feel any better." His eyes lowered a bit as he asked, "So. What would make for an acceptable apology?"

[Sonya Gulliver]

"You'll have to check with our klutzy friend on the leavin' part, hon."

"She's not being a klutz, that's..." Sonya paused, not entirely sure what Sammy was doing, or how well.
"finesse?"

"You know how she gets when someone leaves without givin' her notice. You have my support though if it makes you feel any better."

"Yeah. I thought of running away. But I wasn't sure... " 'if you'd shoot me... '
"Or if I really wanted to, but I do... gotta be going."

"So. What would make for an acceptable apology?"

Her fingers dug into his arm a little sharper.
"Easy.. just don't go hurtin' anyone that don't deserve it."
She looked up at him,
"Well, uh, obviously using a more conservuhtive eval of who deserves it.. you got Karma to think of Octavius. You don't wanta get screwed over by the soul-refs and get made into something awful in your next life.. ya know, like Soap?"

Sonya let go of his arm, grabbed his hand and led him to a booth,
"Or just lock us up in a cargo deck with a bit more softer places, ... an.. a Jacuzzi and some side bars."

She looked back to Sammy, 'come on'

Sonya slid into the booth and scooted across to the end of the bench seat.
Made to toss her hair, but it was up in a bun... she laughed at how the flirty mannerism must have looked.

"Yeah, that'd work."

[Octavius C. Roman]

"Easy.. just don't go hurtin' anyone that don't deserve it."


"Care to explain this easy to me?" remarked Octavius. "That concept is sort of foreign to me."


"Well, uh, obviously using a more conservuhtive eval of who deserves it.. you got Karma to think of Octavius. You don't wanta get screwed over by the soul-refs and get made into something awful in your next life.. ya know, like Soap?" "Or just lock us up in a cargo deck with a bit more softer places, ... an.. a Jacuzzi and some side bars."


"Got it, darlin'. Although I'm thinkin' there was somethin' else I needed to say. Eh, it's probably nothin'." replied Octavius as he looked at her. "Just please stop referrin' to Soap. That man gives me the heebies."


They made their way over to a booth. After Sonya got herself seated, Octavius sat next to her on the right. He had a feeling that he had forgot to mention or say something to her. Something that was the utmost of important that Soap had told them before they left Paquin. His mind was mostly focused on Sonya ever since they had some fun in the Onion's cargo bay.


"Yeah, that'd work."


Then it hit him like a million ton freighter with a hopped up motor on an illegal booze run. He almost smacked his forehead with his hand as he turned to Sonya and said, "Now I remember what I was goin' to say. All that ruttin' must've scrambled my brain or somethin'." He grinned at the blonde and continued, "We can't let you go until after we meet our contact and only after you've been handed to the authorities, who have been bribed and/or told what to report."

This post has been edited by DrPain on Oct 6 2008, 04:03 PM

[Sonya Gulliver]

"Sure, sure. No problem, about how I figured... "
Sonya had out the PDA again, looking at the stock numbers before she again quickly lost interest and turned to the menu.

Under the table, a Sonya foot found its way to Roman, parked itself there against his leg, the motion undetectable above the table; and seemingly without much of a thought from Sonya.

"Anyone see anything that isn't fried in a hydrogenated corn vat?"
Her finger moved across the menu, finally finding something...
"oh hey, Microfish. It's real right?"

Without looking up, "So what's next Sammy?"
Sonya drank from her Vegimatisipper,
"These are good."

She pushed the menu away, "Microfish then, with the Brocalgea."
but then, she wondered... as she began to take in the surroundings of the restaurant. "We are eating yeah?"

'hmm,' Another spacer saloon.
Her foot against Roman twitched a little, nothing to eat yet, but she was getting antsy. A good run would be shiny, even after the previous night, she was starting to get a boiling of energy up inside her. Being off a ship, on dirt, it meant getting out and get going somewhere, this holing up in the local tav. 'oh well'.

She hadn't really figured she'd be on her way, not yet anyway.
Always another delay, another reason.
Always something.

Sonya sat straight in the booth, comfortable and relaxed - just liked she learned in little'debutante charm class, turned her attention to the facial profile of Octavius Roman.

[Sammy]

“Soap?”

Sam started to pat herself on the back. Right in one!

“Bleach is usually a good option, but obviously not a sensible solution for black cloth. A good laundry detergent without perfume will probably get rid of any stains if you make a paste of it and rub it in before washing. But here...”

Or wrong. Very wrong.

“That has some disinfectant in it. A temporary solution, I know, but it might help a little?”

"Thanks for the tip. I'm a worse at being merry-maid than I am at keepin' my drink in my cup. Honestly, I'm not usually such a klutz." Sammy made the white lie sound almost truthful as she took the offered wipe and dabbed ineffectually at the splash, trying to hide her disappointment. It wasn't unusual for her to be wrong about people, but not THAT wrong. "Sorry..." She blithered to the dark woman for a moment, "Didn't mean to interrupt."

For a half-second she glanced over the woman's shoulder. Baseline system. Definately NOT the contact. Sam snapped a business card out of her pocket, noting that Soap had gone through the trouble of including one of her seldom used secure-cortex addies, and handed it to the woman, "Christen Cane. Ever need an energy consultant, I'm your girl."

With a flash of a smile that didn't reach her eyes, Sammy was just about to say an inane goodbye when an all too familiar voice behind her caught her attention.

"... after you've been handed to the authorities, who have been bribed..."

Tzao gao! Her gaze flew to Roman and Sonya's table as she swore silently. Could he be any louder? Let's paint signs on our backs saying we're fugitives! It wasn't until she turned towards them that she realized Soap's genius in Roman's cover identity. A renegade performance artist with an anti-establishment bent meant nobody in the cafe was even blinking at him.

But it was what she glimpsed out the window over Roman's shoulder that seriously stopped her. On an orange scooter a lean young man, sharply dressed, was glancing casually, too casually, through the window. With a final smile to Esi, she waggled her fingers and then moved back towards the table.

Leaning over Octavius as she passed him, she tapped his shoulder and whispered softly, knowing he would hear her, "Wait one minute and then follow me. And xnay on the on the ribebnay, dong ma?"

Spinning on her heel, she met the gaze of the man outside for a flash of a second, then strolled out the door, deliberately sashaying as she walked away from the cafe.

[Riadon]

Murreigh Ave

As Samantha strolled out, Riadon closed down his smile and the face-plate of his helm. The scooter hummed as he hopped it off the curb and into the street, slowly matching her striding speed and staying a foot behind as she swerved from public eye into an alley between the buildings.

Smart girl. Soap said she was BSH'er, but these days half the key-clickers on the 'tex claimed the whole heaven and hell gose, lyin' gits the lot of 'em. Riadon only knew one way to find out if she was who Soap said she was.

He kicked down the scooters stand and stood up, yanking the helmet from his dark hair, his grey eyes, only shades lighter than the cement at their feet, and speckled with as many dark flecks in nearly in the same way, traveled the ground between them, then raised up to her face. A smirk of a smile appeared, "So, duckee, ye always lead strange men to dark alleys? I should be worried, yah?"

"You were watching me." She was shifting, uncomfortable like now, her gaze traipsing back to the street, "Wanna say why?"

He was taller than she, but not by much. She was pretty, but Soap had warned him about that. Riadon could handle 'pretty'. What he hadn't quite envisioned was the on-the-edge glaze to her eyes, the tired slump to her shoulders. "Ye don't look like your snappies, ducks. Not like the other two. They for real?"

"As real as I am. And I've had some.... work done."

The pause filled in the gaps in what Soap hadn't mentioned. The work wasn't voluntary, and it had happened too recently for her to know what she looked like yet, "Nah! Nah, suits ye, I think. Better than how you looked before..." Riadon hooked his helmet on the scooter's bars and waggled his fingers at the side of his face, scrunching his nose, "All mousy and weasled, rings under the eyes, saggy..."

"That's enough!" Sammy barked, hands coming to her hips, clenched into tight fists, "Look, I don't know you, and you don't know me, and you sure as hell aren't gonna get me from my old trial shots..."

Riadon had the good grace to at least try to look chagrined as he dropped his hands, "Sor, really sor, duck. But your wrong. I do know ye."

"No. You don't." She whipped back at him.

He shook his head, stepped forward, stripping off one leather glove and extending his hand slowly, "Sure, I do. Ye just don't know it. Let's try this 'gin, shall we? In the last two weeks, where-ever you been, is NOT on the Bayden's, sister-q. Ah, how do I know, you ask? 'cause while you were slack-doggin' I blew through Kitten's green zone, creamed her castle, ripped her loot, and my army is on it's way to take her entire kingdom down. Even found yer cache of tricks. I hit top score three days ago. Only real regret..." Riadon frowned, glanced to the ground, his flint-stricken eyes flicking up through his long black lashes, "... real tragedy is that the Cue is right behind me in the stats now. Sorry, duckee, you gotta watch your back."

"Gorram. Hip? You're..." She was already scrabbling with the wearable she was carrying, her fingers flying on the pact keypad. "Crap. You ... You're Hip! You're in the lead? You bastard!"

Riadon couldn't help himself. His grin busted wide. He had her. "You suck, girlfriend, and right now, that's me yer tastin."

"I hate you!" But Sammy was smiling back. Instead of shaking the outstretched hand, she gave it a hard-palmed low-five, "You creamed me while I was in hospital?"

"Like butter, baby-girl!"

"I was blown up, you now. Like for, real!" Sammy growled, dropping her spex, the gamer smack-talk coming up fast and hard, "You are toast, as of right now. You are waste and don't even know it."

"Alls fair in love... Well, let's just say all's fair, shall we?" Riadon leaned back against the wall, arms crossed, "But that's there, this is now. I figure we got...what? Half-a-min before the bulldog and the poodle get out here..." He tapped his wrist unit, "And my Fed 'tact is four minutes away."

Stepping close, Riadon dropped one hand on Kitten's shoulder, staring down into her eyes and holding her gaze, trying to read past the shields she wore, the ones far deeper than skin, "Are you in this, Kit? Full percentile? 'Cause I talk and there's no turnin' back. It's all up to you."

Riadon held her there, close to him, "But this is big. Bigger than anythin' you ever got into before. And if it comes back to me..."

"It won't." Her throat muscles convulsed as she swallowed, "And I'm in. Two-hundred percent."

"A'right." He glanced towards the end of the alley, thinking he'd heard the cafe doors over the street sounds, and Riadon nodded, slowly let her go with a serious tilt of his head, "Here tis. Your hubby-man's alive and kickin', but everyone who finds the proof goes into the pudding, dong ma? You follow this course, an' you're like to go with 'em. And then..."

Riadon winked as he backed away, positive he now heard Gulliver and Roman, "I'll hold top Bayden's score forever."

[Sonya Gulliver]

'what?'
Sonya hated that... 'hog latin GoSe'
She never could understand it.
"ribebnay?" She asked Roman just before they followed.

[Kasern]

KASERN ADMIN PLOT PROGRESS:

Melissa Wu and Carter Goodspeed. Technician and thief. The task they were given proved daunting, but finally, they got the break they needed. Armed with the fruits of their labors, the two have returned to Kasern with information that may prove, on examination, very valuable.

At ULC Headquarters, another story has taken place. Dog, along with three others, and the wild-seeming Kruw, loaded into a shuttle van. The van wound it's way through the back alleys of The Dingle until it arrived at the docks, coming to rest in front of a small grey Jayhawk passenger transport ship.

There with doors closed, engine off, it waited.

But not for long.

A hover-bus pulled up, a long low passenger van of the type that carries Bellerophon's workforce to and from it's elegant floating estates. Cade Quinn, Zira Griffon and Ian Dugan disembarked, along with the other passengers, twelve in total.

With the beautiful and gracious smile of an Airline Hostess, Idg guided all of the passengers onboard, reminding them all that she would need their work permits signed as they boarded.

The doors closed, and then the Jayhawk lifted from Bellerophon's surface, the rich world's floating islands twinkling starshine against her oceans before the ship tore through the atmosphere and was enveloped by the Black.

OOC: Dog, Zira, Ian & Cade are gone. ;) You'll begin posting on Nihalchi soon, I promise.

[Octavius C. Roman]

In the Cafe

"Wait one minute and then follow me. And xnay on the on the ribebnay, dong ma?"


"Yes, MOTHER." replied Octavius sarcastically as he looked at the Kitten from the corner of his eye. "Whatever you say."


"ribebnay?"


"It's Pig Latin." replied Octavius as he held the door open for Sonya, his other hand holding his cup of coffee. "It's a language game where you put the initial consonant sound of a word at the end of it and affix that with an 'ay'. For example if I told you to amscray that would mean I told you to scram."


He took a sip of his coffee, not bothering to blow on it first. It tasted like go-se mixed with sludge and dipped in Cosmoline. He grimaced as it went down his throat and he chucked the cup on the sidewalk.


"That was the nastiest tastin' coffee I've ever had." he told Sonya, closing the door behind her. He sniffed the air and locked onto the Kitten's scent. He also picked up the scent of the guy she was talking to. Pointing a finger in the general direction the scents were coming from, Octavius continued, "Follow me."

[Sonya Gulliver]

"It's Pig Latin." replied Octavius as he held the door open for Sonya, his other hand holding his cup of coffee. "It's a language game where you put the initial consonant sound of a word at the end of it and affix that with an 'ay'. For example if I told you to amscray that would mean I told you to scram."

"Right, right." 'i know, but.. what?' she puzzled through it.

She shook her head as she picked up Roman's discarded coffee cup from the sidewalk and dropped it in a trash bin.

"Follow me." he said.

She did. "so why say Nix for no and what ... bribe? and ... "
and she just shook her head again. At this point she didn't want to figure it out, nor was she supposed to she figured.

The urge to run off in the crowd rose again, and she pushed it down.
She'd be on her way soon. 'just keep following along.' A sighed escaped her lips, trying to remember a promise about not being led around by the nose, wondering how she was now having just that done. 'Kidnapped' she harumphed.

[Octavius C. Roman]

Alley

The two of them didn't have to walk far as the scents of both the Kitten and the man she was talking to led the duo into the alleyway behind the cafe and another building. She was talking to a man with a scooter. The same man Octavius had seen earlier before ordering that swill that was his coffee.


"I'll hold top Bayden's score forever."


"Nice bike." replied Octavius, as he walked over to the Kitten. "Crappy color though, but that's just my opinion." After he motioned for Sonya to stand next to him, Octavius crossed his muscular arms across his chest, tilting his head slightly as he looked the man over and asked, "So. I assume you're the man we need to talk to? If that's the case then can we please stop whingin' about who creamed who on some ruttin' vid game and get down to business?" He gave the man a grin and continued, "We kinda got places to go and potential people to see, so to speak."

[Riadon]

"So. I assume you're the man we need to talk to? If that's the case then can we please stop whingin' about who creamed who on some ruttin' vid game and get down to business?" He gave the man a grin and continued, "We kinda got places to go and potential people to see, so to speak."

Riadon scanned the bulk of muscle and glare up and down for a moment, and just for a glimmer, a tiny blink, the blue steel and black grit gaze darkened with a touch of fear, "I gotta talk fast. Try ta keep up, muscle-head."

"I know you." He tilted his head, looking up and meeting Roman's eye, but edging back away from him a bit, bouncing on the balls of his feet, almost dodging blows that had yet to come, "An know more 'bout you than I feel good about knowin', if you know what I mean."

"The company I work for has a moon. Whole moon. All theirs. It's some kind o' wacko retreat. They come by it from the 'lliance. Af'ter the war, didn't need it, so my boss bought it as a govo-clearance thing. They got maybe two hundred miles, maybe three bein' used up, but there's a lot ... whole lot ... they don't touch. Some of it's toxic waste dump, abandoned munitions... all kinda fun for the right party." The smirk on Riadon's face informed his audience that it wasn't HIS brand of party.

"Alliance installations, deep in the woods, or flat out on the plains, ain't touched since the war. I was cleanin' up the signal, yah? The bits of dreg bouncing out of ole tech in those bunkers and stuff- Alliance took the 'lites with 'em when they abandoned it... Those sigs got nowhere to go, just bounce around out there in the wilds wit' ta beasties, ya got? All encrypted ... There's no cryp i can't worm, though, 'ventually."

"Soap says you saw the clip I sent." Again the glimmer of fear as he looked up at the huge man, "Tha's where it come from. Nihalchi, she's secret, coords off the map an' all, that's the way Unity likes it. Way the 'liance likes it."

Reaching into his jacket pocket, Riadon held up the tiny chip, peering at it with one eye winked shut, his handsome face dark and shadowed, "'This here? This's your co-ords, along with the signal marker where I pulled that vid. Don't screw your traj, al'right, ducky? That planets got no 'lites, so she's blind out there. You overshoot, an' you better have more than a Traj and Course Calc manual, dong ma?"

Glancing back at his wrist unit, Riadon met Sammy's eye, his heel bouncing slowing finally, "Speakin' on 'lliance, my Fed 'tact is on his way any minute, so you two best get on gone 'afore he gets here. I told him who I was fetchin' in, not how they were gettin' here. An' not that I don't trust 'im, but let's just say there ain't a good cop gone wrong who won't jump at the chance to be right."

"Been uber-shine meetin' you both." Riadon tossed the chip to Roman, "An' I'd like to say see ya again soon, but I don't reckon that's in the waves, yah?"

From somewhere up the street, the low throated howl of a police issue hover-bike faintly reached above the distant streetsounds.