Athens Allegria, Season 1, Episode 2

[The Sherwood]

WELCOME, SHERWOOD CREW!

The Universe is constantly changing. Planets rotate around suns. Moons rotate around planets. Asteroids drift with the call of the Black. And man moves here and there, with the softest of heartbeats and the loudest of mechanical roars.

And so it is with The Sherwood, one small object in such a great space.

Ryan DeSouza, learning of enemies in pursuit on Hera, has left The Sherwood, and with him the faithful Jaelle and Gogol Petrulengo and Melody have gone as well. To protect his beloved ship and ensure that it stays together, Ryan called in two acquaintances, both old friends of The Sherwood who have shared before in it's triumphs, trials and performances.

Reno Carson and Titania Praed arrived at The Sherwood in deep space, delivered by the ship of fellow Browncoat sympathizers, and are doing their best to reduce the effects of lost captain and crewmembers. It's not an easy job, but they hold hope that if they can just get through one job, one more performance, all will be well.

As the Sherwood retreats further out on the Rim, the crew listened for any news from Hera that could be led back to them. Good reviews for the circus performance were a bright spot in the local news.

The Tipido gang and the shoot-out was less positive. The spin the newsmongers were taking gave all the credit to locals, even stating they'd captured the Gang’s leader who had been turned over to Alliance Authorities. In the editorials, there was speculation on a larger net being cast. The best that could be said was that there was no mention at all of The Sherwood or her crew in connection with any of the ‘goings ons’ while they were there.

“One would think anyone that can read would make a connection,” Rose said as she made the observation that was on everyone’s minds.

It was normally a week’s ride to Athens, but The Sherwood took her time, surveying a roundabout course to visit some of Athens' smaller moons, the way villages too small to be mistaken for a town or even recognizable as a settlement. Some were tiny havens where Browncoats tried to live without notice while others were forgotten colonists who were in need of a few of the necessities of the Core, namely substantial nourishment and medicine.

The Sherwood provided the supplies without compensation, giving to those in need of what they'd taken. But a people's pride cannot be held back and those who could contribute, did. The ship took on goods that were usually in the form of fine handmade crafts or homegrown foods.

So the final days found themselves in the Black, only days from Athens, with a performance to plan, a job to do, and a whole lot yet to sort out.

WELCOME ALL, TO ATHENS ALLEGRIA!


Props & Credit to Rex for writing the original version. I just edited it to tie in the new stuff

[Ariel Duquesne]

Ari sat inside the aerial hoop, slightly out of breath.

(Posted Image)

It wasn’t her favorite apparatus, but since the departure of some crewmembers, she had to expand her repertoire of acts in order to make sure the circus side of the Sherwood stayed viable. Everyone was helping out by adding where they could.

She would have loved to reintegrate the flying trapeze into her act, but she didn’t have a catcher, so it was a moot point. It was too bad because she actually missed flying through the air. She probably would have continued with it, but the silks called to her. They reminded her of her past, of her mom and of feeling… safe. Like being wrapped up in a cocoon.

She looked up at the beam above her. It was heavy, metal and it spanned across the entire cargo bay. It was where practice for the aerial stuff was done. The riggings had to be mounted somehow. The hoop used the same one that her silks did, she just had to change out the apparatus itself.

She let her eyes travel up and down the beam. She noticed two mounting holes that were currently empty. They were on either side of where her current apparatus was mounted, but more towards the end of each side of the beam. She smiled. She had forgotten about another favorite of hers: the cloud swing.

(Posted Image)

A small squeal erupted from her lips as she dismounted the hoop. She went to one of the storage areas and rummaged around until she found the thick corded swing and the riggings. The riggings were new, but she had discontinued use of the apparatus before she ever had them mounted. Grabbing one of them she went up the catwalk until she reached the beam and casually walked across it until she was at the mounting site. She tried to affix it to the beam, but the holes no longer matched. The new screws were thicker.

Ari sighed in disappointment.

Then another idea popped into her head. Darren. Darren could take a drill and adjust the sizing so that the rigging fit. She left the rigging on the beam and literally skipped back across the beam and onto the catwalk.

She found him in the engine room, his coveralls pulled down to his waist, showing a gray tank instead. She supposed the tank might have started out white, but lost the color battle to the engine grease. He was sweating, holding a rather large wrench in his hand and mumbling at whatever part was giving him trouble.

Ari hadn’t noticed his arms before. They were actually quite muscular. She smiled a bit then wondered if she could somehow teach him to catch her. He certainly looked like her could handle the job. She’d have to bring it up later.

“Darren? I need some help. The kind that needs heavy tools,” she told him. “I need a metal mount to be adjusted. Bored out a bit and tapped for a rigging.”

“Sure,” Darren said as he looked over at her. A thick streak of grease was smeared across his forehead. She almost giggled as he went to far side of the room and grabbed an impressive sized drill. “Lead the way.”

Ari lead him out to the cargo bay, across the catwalk to the beam. As light as air, she climbed onto the beam and nonchalantly walked out to where the first mount was located. She bent over effortlessly, picked up the rigging and demonstrated how it wouldn’t fit.

“You see? It won’t fit. I just need the holes bored out and retapped for this rigging.”

She stood there for a moment and studied the area some more before realizing she was still alone on the beam.

“You know, in order to get this done, you need to be out here,” she said as she waved him towards her. “I can hold your hand if you’d like.”

*Darren GMed with permission from Pain.

[Raphael]

Enough. Raphael indulged himself.

It had been a brutal week. Ryan DeSouza had given no warning, and was gone. Leaving Raphael Santo, after a quick election, in charge of the entire ship. So he dove in, and found himself quickly over his head. The papers in the Captain's quarters offered few clues and a lot of red herrings on exactly how former Captain DeSouza had managed to keep the ship flying.

Rules and regulations seemed to be followed, ignored or violated in an entirely random manner. Which of course was DeSouza in a nutshell. 'Yes. Nutshell.' So after a week of sorting and struggling, he'd managed to get most of it figured out. There was still a crucial matter of where they were supposed to refuel for their rather lengthy tour of the Rim, but that seemed to be in the category of, to be determined. The philosophy of Ryan.

"works for me." He had put aside the futile search for a source of fuel. Something to work on when they landed.

And for the second time in that week, he'd fallen asleep in the pile of the ship's papers again, scattered in a pretense of organization that he could further piece together later. When he woke in the former Captain's quarters, he needed an escape. He found it in the cabinets that lined the upper hall of the ship along with the sewing machines and costuming gear. Between galley and bridge were the closets, drawers and trunks of a dozen shows. And of a life he'd left behind long before Sherwood. It was there he found the old disguises, and unable; certainly unwilling; to resist, he doffed the bald dome and the rest of the trappings. A little trimming of the beard, the jacket, the glasses and he was the old scatjazzer.

After a little time in front of the dressing mirror, and of course with a little help from the shortened up soprano clarinet, the computer chip to let him play more or less like an accomplished musician; he was once again. Someone else.

A flick of the hidden switch, and the instrument played. With the required coaxing from his fingers, more or less in the right place at nearly the right time, he was a cool cat in a smoke filled underground club blasting out some cool tune.

So he indulged.

(Posted Image)

[Nate Crawford]

Nate was in the galley, fixing a small meal for himself while they were still stocked up on fresh produce, received from a grateful community at their last stop. While the bacon was sizzling on the pan, he was cutting up the tomatoes into thick slices, trying not to think of what else a knife might slice... Sitting in the strainer beside the cutting board was the still crispy lettuce, dripping moisture from the washing he'd given them. Finishing the tomato cutting, he reached out and flipped the bacon strips over with wooden tongs before the meat started burning, then turned to get the bread out of the breadbox and sheared off two slices, hesitated and added another two slices to the pile, then transferred each slice to the toaster.

Over the last week, he'd taken to wearing turtle-necked t-shirts or sweaters, at first to hide the hideous bandage on his neck and then, after the bandage and stitches were removed, to hide the still angry red scar lingering straight across his Adam's apple. It had luckily been a clean cut and Artani had done a stellar job stitching it together, but it would still be a long time before it faded enough that he could go without disguising the thing one way or another.

That first day since the catastrophe on Hera, he'd been more or less unconscious, only waking now and then to see either Raphael's face or feeling Artani's fingers on his wrist. Since then, he'd stayed as far away from the infirmary as he could manage, only coming back yesterday to have the stitches removed and then only after having Raphael talk him out of doing it himself. In the meantime, he'd rehearsed the next act, something more upbeat and much less depressing than the Serenity Valley act and the he'd almost finished the new dress too, though it still needed the finishing touches. Touches that he would probably continue making until the tent was up and the music started playing...

Speaking of music, he heard the tones from Raphael's clarinet filter in from the fore corridor and he smiled, finishing up the two BLTs, spreading mayo on the toasted slices of bread, then layered the bacon, lettuce and tomatoes, leaving a few strips of bacon on a plate by the cooker in case the scent of cooking meat drew hungry souls to the galley. The sandwiches went on plates of their own, the plates went on a tray, along with a pair of glasses, which he filled with ice tea and then he left the galley, carrying lunch to the fore corridor, beginning to sing when Raphael's tune hit the right cue.

“She had a dream about the King of Sweden
he gave her things that she was needin'
gave her a home built of gold and steel
a diamond car, with the platinum wheels”



<< Lyrics: Minnie the Moocher as per Rex >>

[Darren Roberts]

Cargo Bay

Darren eagerly followed Ari out of the engine room and into the cargo bay with the drill in his hands. He was more than happy to help fix something of hers' that needed his attention and skills to fix. That was all fine and dandy until they got up onto the catwalk and she started walking across the metal beam that spanned the width of the cargo bay. He stopped at the foot of the beam and placed a shaking hand on the nearby railing. Was she freaking kwong-juh duh to think he was going to walk along a beam that was only a little wider than a human foot? Did she not know about his fear of heights? Of course she didn't, but now she was going to get a firsthand lesson about it.


“You see? It won’t fit. I just need the holes bored out and retapped for this rigging.”


"Uh huh." replied Darren, a little quiet and nervous as he peered slightly over the edge of the catwalk and down to the cargo bay floor below. He thought to himself as he gulped and watched as the floor suddenly drop another twenty feet, "Wuo duh ma! She seriously does not expect me to cross THAT!"


Darren's stomach started to doing somersaults inside him as his face turned a shade of green. Vertigo was setting in and everything around him was starting to go blurry as his head was being to feel a little on the light side. He increased his grip on the railing while holding onto the drill with his other hand, as he closed his eyes and took some long, deep breaths in order to calm himself down and not vomit, pass out, or a combination of both.


“You know, in order to get this done, you need to be out here,”


Darren snapped open his eyes and shook his head as saw her standing on the beam. He managed a nervous smile as she waved him forth onto the beam. Everything was still set on spin cycle as he did his best not to sway or loose the contents of his stomach. She must have thought he was some sort of spaz for just standing there on the catwalk, holding onto the railing for dear life and not following her onto the beam.


“I can hold your hand if you’d like.”


"Uh.. you might have to, Ari." Darren responded after finding the strength to get words to come out of his mouth again. "You see I um.. have this fear of heights. Anythin' twenty feet or more off the ground and I uh.. freeze up, get lightheaded, get sick to my stomach among other things, and um.. turn a nice shade of green." He gave her a nervous chuckle and continued, "That's uh.. why I'm still here on the catwalk and also why I look funny and don't stay long when I watch you um.. practice in the cargo bay."

<< Kwong-juh duh: Nuts. >>
<< Wuo duh ma: Mother of Jesus. >>

[Hagar]

Galley

"Hum! Bacon!" Hagar announced gleefully to no one in particular. The galley seemed to have emptied of the mastermind who had cooked said substance. Peeking back to the doorway, and then through the corridor, Hagar instigated his 'prowling' stance; on tiptoe, hands held up and close to his body, head forward, and snuck up slowly on the abandoned foodstuffs.

When no one appeared from nowhere to stop him, he dropped the sneaky act, grabbed two slices of the rare and flavorful meat and threw himself down at the table, boots properly propped up on the place once reserved for DeSouza's dinner plate.

Alas, it seemed even that show of irreverence would be unnoticed.

"What's this ship coming to?" Hagar asked aloud. But he knew what it was coming to. Ryan had played his cards close to the chest. Raph was doing his best, but the crew was instable and incomplete. Hagar even missed Gogol and Jaelle. Crazy lunatic Gyspies. That was their way, though, wasn't it? Ride in for a day and be on the way.

At least Reno would be back soon. They hadn't had a good blowing up of anything for a while. A few bad blowing-ups, but Hagar didn't want to dwell on any of that.

Bacon consumed, Hagar threw his boots off the table and leaned over for the com. Stifling a belch, he gave a shout-out to the entire ship, "I." He announced definitively, "Am bored. Bored Hagars are RASH Hagars and you don't want that. So, Tall Card in the galley in ten minutes. Bring your chores lists and your spare candy rations... and expect to lose 'em all."

Switching off the com, he shuffled through his pocket to come up with the one Tall Card deck he owned that wasn't marked, and dropped it on the table. In the cooler, he recovered several bottles of mead prized from their recent trades.

"Hidee hidee hi!" He sang to himself as he waited, echoing Raph and Nate's song.


OOC: Tall-Card is the game the crew is playing at the beginning of Shindig. Folk have different ideas of how it goes, but general idea is that it's like poker. A description of the deck Lux created can be found here...
http://www.fireflywiki.org/Firefly/TallCard

[Ariel Duquesne]

The Sherwood's Cargo Bay

"Uh.. you might have to, Ari.

You see I um.. have this fear of heights. Anythin' twenty feet or more off the ground and I uh.. freeze up, get lightheaded, get sick to my stomach among other things, and um.. turn a nice shade of green.

That's uh.. why I'm still here on the catwalk and also why I look funny and don't stay long when I watch you um.. practice in the cargo bay."

"You watch me practice?" she asked.

Ugh! Did I say that out loud?

It had been quite a while since anyone other than Raffy watched her practices. She did a lot of them at night while everyone was asleep. She was a night person. When dirtside she stayed out until last call and slept in . It worked for her.

"Did you say you were afraid of heights?" she asked him, quickly changing the subject. She couldn't imagine why anyone would feel that way. She felt so at home in the air. He also mentioned things over 20 feet. "Anything over 20 feet?"

She leaned over peered down at the floor.

"I'd say this beam was more like 35, maybe 40."

An impish thought crossed through her mind and she turned, did a back handspring towards where he was standing and spun around to face him again. Then, she started waving her hands a little like she was off balance.

"Whoa...." she exclaimed as she wobbled. She looked at Darren's face and thought he was about to vomit right there on the spot. She straightened her posture and her wobbling came to an easy stop. She smiled sweetly. "Sorry. I was just kidding."

She shrugged her shoulders.

"I couldn't resist. A beam this wide is like doing flips on the floor. I've done a slackrope routine before. Balancing on a rope that was a little less than taught is way harder," she explained. "But it's not the most graceful act known to man, so I don't do it anymore."

Without looking at the beam, she walked over to him with ease.

"So, what will it take to get you out here? she asked. She held her hand out to him. "I'm serious about holding your hand, but if you feel better, I think we may have a safety harness around here somewhere.

[Rose]

Rose stood in the shadows of the cargo deck. She had been watching and listening best she could. Darren and Ariel seemed to be engaged in more than a little circus apparatus repair and set-up. And they didn't seem aware of it. Ariel was probably in denial about that too. Her and her stupid rutt rules.

A few minutes prior Roselyn Renwick had finally put away the quite sophisticated tracking device Melody and she had found on the goods they had acquired. Tiny and strong it was. Melody deactivated it and left it behind. Rose had been trying to figure a way to use it, or duplicate it, but some of the components were just too small and delicate. Micronization had reached new heights, all to the benefit of Alliance eyes and ears she figured.

Well, it was Hera business now. They seemed to have dodged a bullet there. Again. How long can their luck hold?

Rose gave a pet between the ears to one of Ani's rats, or actually, her rat. 'amazing' She had figured she would have claimed one of the private rooms now that crew had moved on. Already it was just 'crew' that had moved on. That's how you deal with it.

Amazing indeed. Hard boiled Renwick enjoyed living in 'the girl's dorm'. Joe and Ani laughed and giggled. Even she, Roselyn Renwick, ballbuster and criminal crew-chief, had been giggling as well. And they talked about rats and horses and other things besides jobs and semi-autofire rates and concealing a ceramic knife.

And she'd adopted a rat of her own. All black with a tiny stripe of white like someone had taken a swipe at her with a brush of paint. Her rat. Stinky, or Stripe... or, she smiled, 'stripey'. Rose rolled her eyes at herself. 'jeeZUZ.'

"I." Hagar's patented dramatic pause. "Am bored. Bored Hagars are RASH Hagars and you don't want that. So, Tall Card in the galley in ten minutes. Bring your chores lists and your spare candy rations... and expect to lose 'em all."

Rose moved a quiet few steps to the comm, turned the switch to the bridge. "Be up in a minute Mulrooney, but if you figure to try that using your own laundry... as a chore again. It's going to count as a week of scrubbing deck, not a day."

Rose closed her eyes, tucked Stripey into her large shirt front pocket. The shirt was huge, one of the crew from ages ago, it hung loose to her knees. Underneath were gym shorts and deck shoes on her feet. She had also stopped dressing up as much as before, on the ship she been more habitual about slacks and a sweater, or a skirt and a nice shirt.

As she listened to the voices in the upper cargo deck, Ariel and Darren's words echoing just a little off the walls; the harshness of their life returned. The conversation of ten days ago.

...........................t.e.n.....d.a.y.s.....a.g.o.............................................
Ariel's room, "Ari, I know you remember what happened in that saloon. You almost got raped and killed. That affects folk, no matter how strong they make themselves out to be," Rose said in a soft voice so no one else could hear. "Ignoring it doesn't make it go away or easier or make you tougher or..."

Rose paused for a second.

"It doesn't make you weak. We all know you ain't weak else you wouldn't still be in this 'verse."
..................................................................................................................

[Ariel Duquesne]

FLASHBACK: Ten days ago...

"I know I ain't weak, Rose," Ari said as she interrupted her friend. "I came out on top didn't I? It was his body we jettisoned from the airlock, not mine. Nothing happened, so there's nothing to talk about. I got enough 'what is' that I don't need to think on the 'what if.' Now I gotta practice."

[Rose]

FLASHBACK: 9 Days Ago

..............................
Rose cornered her again the next day. For reasons beyond her, and Raphael as well, she'd asked if it had been his idea; but no. For unknown reasons Ariel had been practicing on the hoop non-stop and Rose knews she had never liked that apparatus. Hate was probably more accurate.

"All those knots you've been ignoring on the inside, they're showing up on the outside too. Can't keep it in. You may think it's your nature, but it won't last. You won't last. You figure to wait until Raffy grounds you, or figure to take a fall and we'll lay you with a feedin' tube and you can watch from vid feeds?"

"You can't find it out there in the taverns and the bottom of tequila bottles. Hot body of some anonymous cowboy, that keeping it sorted out? Hell, I bet you ain't woke up with someone's arm around you in years."

"good ruttin set a rules you got there."

Her voice had increased to a near scream. The 'Rose and Ari' exchange wasn't on the low key at this point.

[Ariel Duquesne]

FLASHBACK: 9 days ago...

The words from her friend were like a slap in the face and she had two ways that she dealt with things: Ignore it and let it settle in or lash out. She went with the 'lash out' option.

"Well, finding a nearby tavern, having some good tequila and having a warm body to rutt isn't a bad deal," Ari spat at her. "And so what if I haven't woke up with someone in years. Hasn't it been about that long since you have even entertained a man in your bed?

"The rules are there for a reason. The rules make things less messy. I've done messy and I won't ever go back there," she continued. "And they're my rules and they have worked for me so far, haven't they?"

Ari turned and started stalking away, she was going back to practicing with that gorram hoop, and her final comment was more than loud enough for Rose to hear.

"Stay out of my rutting business."

[Rose]

... back to present time ....

Rose didn't know, it felt like it might have been the end of their friendship. They'd avoided each other mostly. Or just ignored anything had been said. But Rose had been worried. Worried and premonitions of the impending doom. Which she always had anyway. Rut it anyway, she wasn't her mother. It was up to Raffy to play nursemaid, but he didn't seem to notice. Or he waited. Patient huhndahn.

It wasn't like she could crack up at some desk in some cubicle and get carried off to a room with pillows on the walls and they'd get her sorted out. What she did, what they all did could crack you up and break you down. And mister new captain waited.

Rose gave Stripey another little scratch between his ears and headed up to the galley. "We did what we could didn't we pal?" It didn't make her feel any better. And Roselyn Renwick was beginning to get a bit pissy about that. Now if she could only figure if it was cause she didn't want to care, or couldn't seem to stop. Or not getting laid in, how long was it?

Stepping into the galley she found Hagar. "What are we drinking Muhrooney?" Rose sort of shuffled to the music of the duo in the forward hall, but didn't go more than a couple steps. She just didn't have the spirit. She picked up one of the bottles of Mead.

"Yeah." A good bit of drinking, that'd do the trick. "Good choice."

[Ani Daie]

Everything had happened so fast, the bar, the fight, running and then… quiet.
Ani stood in the middle of the med bay, her med bay.
To her eyes it was absolutely beautiful; Clean and reasonably well stocked if not a little… empty

“look what we’ve got boys, liv'n the dream?”

Two of the furry rats Ani always carried with her bruxed on her shoulder, seeming very happy with their new situation.

She looked over the charts for the few animals onboard.
Lions, Tigers and Bears oh my!
She stopped on the stallion, Porto. It was his hander Joe and her friend Rose who had really been the only ones to warm to her so far.

A shocking thought struck her. She was on a ship filled with people she didn’t know and though they seem friendly (if not a little rough-edged) a little cautioned to strangers.

You did just run away with the circus, who would of guessed girl? Hopefully they’ll let us stay, maybe Ill get to dress up and be part of the show!
Shrugging her shoulders, she continued to rummage through draws and move a few things around.
“Animal pain… here… people pain…here. Wound kits, bandages, scalpel check hmmm… books”

Pulling up the last doctors log she noted a few people that probably should be checked up on and frowned as she realized she didn’t know how to approach them. She’d never had to deal with people problems before. Sure she’d explained things to owners but it was always to do with their precious ‘fluffy’ and much more easily dealt with.
Laying down on the bed she sighed,
“Maybe they’ll just come to me?”

A rat crawled out from her top pocket and nested in her hair, not caring much for the rhetorical question.

[Darren Roberts]

Cargo Bay

"You watch me practice?"


"Um.. yes.. I do." Darren blurted, his voice cracking a little. Feeling his face get warm and tingly, Darren cleared his throat, gave a nervous chuckle, and added, "Not uh.. all the time, just uh.. the nights when I don't have anythin' goin' on in the uh.. engine room that um.. needs fixin'."


"Smooth, bonehead." he thought, running the hand he had on the railing through his hair and clasping the back of his neck. "Make her think you're some sick weirdo or somethin'."


He caught sight of the cargo bay floor again and promptly replaced his hand on the railing, as another wave of vertigo and nauseousness set in. He closed his eyes again to help get the spinning sensation he was feeling under control, and so he couldn't see her looking at him funny like he thought she was going to.


"Did you say you were afraid of heights?" "Anything over 20 feet?"


"Um.. yeah. That's what I said." he replied, opening his eyes. He thought to himself as he saw her on the beam, "Oh God please don't."


"I'd say this beam was more like 35, maybe 40."


He couldn't take his eyes off of her. He wanted to, mostly due to the thing with her on the beam and the heights, but at the same time he was entranced by her beauty. His eyes wandered over her curves and they were beautiful curves indeed. Even though his stomach went into his throat during her feat on the beam, Darren still couldn't take his eyes off of her body. It was almost as if he was hypnotized by her moves.


"Whoa...."


His eyes grew wide and his stomach churned as she started to sway in front of him. He fumbled to put down the drill and give her a helping hand, but by the time his brain started to send coherent instructions to his arm, she was standing there perfectly still. She was teasing him and she knew it despite what he said about him and heights.


"Sorry. I was just kidding."


"Why did she have to do that?" he asked, looking at her smiling at him and then shrugging her shoulders.


"I couldn't resist. A beam this wide is like doing flips on the floor. I've done a slackrope routine before. Balancing on a rope that was a little less than taught is way harder," "But it's not the most graceful act known to man, so I don't do it anymore."


"Yes, well please don't do that again." he asked, taking a few calming breaths and waiting for his heartbeat to slow back down to normal.


"So, what will it take to get you out here?" "I'm serious about holding your hand, but if you feel better, I think we may have a safety harness around here somewhere."


"The uh.. safety harness would be good." Darren replied. He looked at her hand, then looked into her soft brown eyes and added, "But I'll um.. probably still need you to hold.. my hand."


Darren stood there looking into Ariel's eyes. They were deep chocolate in color and Darren couldn't help but be entranced by them. He forgot all about the beam and the cargo bay floor amid other things as he lost himself in her gaze.


After what felt like an eternity, Darren blinked, shook his head, and said, "I should um.. probably get the uh.. safety harness. It's uh.. right where it's um.." His brow furrowed as he asked, "Where is it exactly?"

[Ariel Duquesne]

The Sherwood's Cargo Bay

As they talked, Ari really noticed his extreme discomfort about the whole heights thing. She wondered idly if there was something that happened in his past to make him sensitive to such things.

And then she caught that… look. You know, the one she got from some townie who was checking her out. But it wasn’t quite so lecherous. His eyes had indeed run over her body, but he had no immediate designs on her. He wasn’t drooling like a wolf in a hen house. He was just admiring. It was almost… sweet.

“The uh.. safety harness would be good. But I'll um.. probably still need you to hold.. my hand.”

She was only a couple of feet away from him, so it didn’t take much to notice of the bluest eyes she had had the pleasure of gazing into in a long time. Sure, she’s seen her share of guys with blue eyes, but Darren’s were clearer and lacked that cold edge that most she met had.

What beautiful eyes, she thought.

She almost couldn’t tear herself away from them. She could tell that they were just so… deep. If she didn’t watch herself she could drown in them.

If he were a townie, he would so be on my short list, she thought.

Then the realization of that thought sunk in. She was having not so innocent thoughts about a crew member. Crew. Darren was crew.

Rule #3 started to repeat itself over and over through her head, which gratefully, put a huge damper on her little musing. Luckily, he started to talk again.

“I should um.. probably get the uh.. safety harness. It's uh.. right where it's um.. Where is it exactly?”

She smiled again at his oh-so-obvious fear of heights.

“Hold on. I’ll go get it for you. Just stay put.”

She stepped towards him, quickly maneuvered around him when getting off the beam and headed down to the place where she had found her cloud swing. The safety harness was there. She quickly grabbed it and brought it back up to the beam.

“Let’s get you into this, shall we?”