Logan (hey_bub) wrote in carnaval_logs, @ 2013-09-11 21:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | !closed (15), ~kaylee frye, ~logan |
Meeting his Assistant
Characters: Logan, Kaylee
When: Way backdated to the 31st
Location: their trailer
Warnings/Rating: None
Summary: Logan meets his assistant
Status: Complete, gdocs'd
Logan still didn’t understand what was going on. He got the gist of it, sure -- he had somehow wound up a good 60 years into the past, in a place that as far as he could tell wasn’t actually his past. There were no mutants, no talk of mutants, nothing at all so far to indicate this was his world. It didn’t make sense, but no one he’d crossed paths with had seemed particularly interested in trying to explain it in depth. In fact, most of them seemed not to have any idea what he was talking about so eventually he gave up. He had discovered that his assigned position came with a trailer, and he guessed that was something. Given that he’d been living in a trailer of his own before he’d met Rogue, it wasn’t exactly a step down. It didn’t help or explain the situation, but it was somewhere to hide. Sort of. He’d also learned that he was to have an assistant. He had yet to meet said assistant, but apparently she was meant to have access to his trailer. He wasn’t going to argue, and if she wasn’t inclined to share with him, he was fine making other accommodations. It wasn’t like he was a stranger to roughing it, and he didn’t need all the niceties. He could surrender a trailer, if it came to that. For the time being, he was standing outside of said trailer. He had stashed a couple of cigars in his pockets, and he was currently smoking one of them. His eyes swept over the activity as it happened, trying to get a better feel for the entire situation he’d found himself thrust into. There was still no explanation he was content with, and he knew he was going to have to resign himself to the fact that this was inexplicable. He just wasn’t quite at that point yet. Stubbing out the cigar on the side of the trailer, he tucked what was left back into the pocket of his jacket. Leaning against the trailer, his eyes narrowed slightly as he watched, and waited … though even he couldn’t say what he was waiting for. __________ They'd pointed in the direction of one of the parked trailers, telling Kaylee she was to go meet the knife thrower; he'd need an assistant and she'd arrived just in time. Why that was her? They'd dismissed her confusion, her questions too, before they shoved a bundle of stuff in her arms and made it clear she best hightail it before they found someone else to take her place and left her on the road. Struck her she wasn’t going to get a lot answered for her today. She could spot folk who didn't know their way around a mile off, she knew that wasn't the only one that'd found themselves here suddenly, without explanation. They all had the same look, confused or lost – sometimes upset. Last she could remember they'd been docked in Beaumond less than an hour, she'd only followed the crew into the bar and here she was. No one had answer, no one wanted to answer, even a young girl who looked every bit the part here had only said new folk arrived all the time looking for work, which wasn't so easy to keep these days so she best be thankful and do as Art'd told her. Scuffing her feet on the dusty ground, she approached the man by the trailer, the cigar smoke drifting reminding her a little of Jayne as she peered around. “Ni hao.” Kaylee called out, she still had her arms full of the items she'd been given. How someone could turn up and have clothes and a place set aside for them? Then again, sense wasn't something she'd been offered a whole lot of today. “You Logan?” she asked, pushing an unmistakably apprehensive smile forward. He didn't so much look like a man who wanted to share his space. “I think we're workin' together, I'm Kaylee.” She carefully moved the pile in her arms about so she had a hand out to shake. __________ His brows arched slightly at her greeting, and he nodded slightly. He had a moment of wondering if they’d be conversing in Mandarin before she demonstrated she could speak English. That was good; his Mandarin was rusty at best. Japanese, he could’ve handled all right, but English was better. He nodded to confirm his identity, uncrossing his arms and pushing away from the trailer to accept her offered hand. “Working together,” he echoed as he studied her. Working together seemed to imply she was supposed to be the person he was hurling knives toward. Unless she was just the one handing him things, and that just didn’t seem to fit. What fun was an act if there wasn’t some element of danger involved, right? Logan had to take a moment to remind himself it wasn’t this girl’s fault. That she was as much a victim as he was, and that maybe she wasn’t as equipped to handle it as he was. Maybe she’d be fine, but maybe she’d need someone to help her along. So he cocked his head to one side and gestured with a jerk of his thumb that she was welcome to head inside. He figured they should probably talk about their assignment at some point, but he wasn’t in a rush. If she’d just shown up, she probably needed some time to settle in. Hell, so did he. “So where’re you from?” He asked. He couldn’t tell from her accent, but he’d guess somewhere southern from what little he’d heard so far. __________ Kaylee brushed off what was not an entirely cold greeting, but most certainly a lukewarm one with a small nod of her head in return. At least she got a handshake? “So them in charge told me.” She indicated the bundle in her arms again, as if intimidated enough to be attempting to make a point of it not being so much her fault here. “Don't know what I'm 'sposed to be doin, mind. They ain't big on the finer detail here.'” Kaylee admitted with a souring tone, looking apologetic about it too as she went on smiling softly, given the vibe she was getting of this guy. “Seems there's whole a list growin' of what I don't know.” she added with a slightly awkward sort of shrug, wondering if he was just as lost as she was, he didn't show it either way. “Beaumonde- “ She offered her last location, searching for some sense of recognition from the stranger. “How 'bout you?” __________ Not quite southern, he decided, but something close to it. Nothing he could place though, especially when he coupled it with the Chinese greeting. Interesting. “Probably standing still and looking pretty while I throw knives at you,” Logan speculated. He exhaled, because the idea of trying to plan some sort of act made him tired. But what did he really have by way of options? He could strike off on his own; he was no stranger to rough living. But if he wanted to get home, get back to find answers, his best luck would be staying here. It rubbed him the wrong way, but a lot about this situation did. Actually, so far, everything about this situation was settling on his bad side. Logan shook his head in response to the name she dropped. It sounded southern to him. Maybe something in Louisiana or somewhere. No where he was familiar with though. He hesitated before he answered. “Westchester. New York,” he added for clarification. It wasn’t where he was from exactly, but since he didn’t have a home address, his last location would be sufficient. “Is that in Louisiana? Somewhere south?” He asked. It seemed better to at least try to make conversation than to be a surly dick to his … assistant. Roommate. Whatever she was going to be. Once they were inside, he gestured around in a ‘make yourself at home’ sort of way. While he could be territorial (and occasionally was), this wasn’t his place so much as it was borrowed lodging until such time as he could acquire his own accommodations. __________ Kaylee stared at him, her mouth just a touch open as if she was on the verge of asking if he playing about. Thing was he didn't look so much like a fella to kid in this sort of situation. “Don't 'spose I wanna know what happened t'the last one.” As if she were replacing the last target trying not to get hit by knives. The idea itself was tinged with dread, more so as she thought about it. “Louisiana?” The name had a ring to it, like she thought she ought know. “No- Beaumonde's in th'Kalidasa system. Right out on the rim.” Kaylee trailed off, trying to jump in before they got too jumbled what who'd come from where.“You say. New york- ..Earth, New York? Y' mean like where we are now?” Kaylee's Earth-That-Was history was spotty, but there were some names that just stood out, even the basics learned you that much. She cautiously followed him in, only to find an area not so much bigger than her bunk. “Guess it's handy we ain't got much of anythin' on us.” She offered on a more positive note, a good thing seeing as there wasn't too much space to fill. There was a little clutter, a trunk and so on, bunks against the wall. __________ Logan shrugged. “Whatever it was, it was before I got here,” he assured her. He didn’t want her to think he was a killer. Well, he was a killer, but not randomly and wantonly. Just people who had it coming. He certainly had no intention of killing anyone here, but intentions were funny things sometimes. He hoped she wasn’t looking for an actual answer about the last assistant, because he wasn’t particularly interested in hunting it up. He didn’t know, and that’s as far as things went for him. A sort of strange expression crossed his face. Bemusement, mostly, but a sort of expectation like he was waiting for a punch-line. One didn’t come though before she was asking about New York. He was trying to decide if he thought she was unbalanced or if she really was from somewhere else, some version of Earth broken up into “systems” instead of continents and countries. The idea she meant planetary systems didn’t even cross his mind. “A different time,” Logan replied. “But Earth … New York,” he clarified uncertainly. He did have to wonder if this was the same timeline; he hadn’t been around quite long enough to really explore, but he hadn’t yet come across anyone or anything that seemed like a mutant. No telepaths, no boys creating fire or ice or anything else like that. He’d seen some other things, but nothing that seemed like a mutation. Still, he wasn’t ready to even consider the idea of alternate timelines, or alternate realities. Or the fact that if this was his reality, he might cross paths with himself at some point, because the odds were very high he was quite alive at this point in the world’s history. He couldn’t remember it, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t been around. Probably not here, but who could say? Logan snorted slightly to her comment, then he shrugged. He’d been traveling fairly light himself prior to this, so it wasn’t a drastic change. He wondered if she had had lots of things before she’d been brought here, but if that was the case, he didn’t want to stir up any emotions. “It’s not likely we’ll acquire much, either,” he admitted. “Pretty sure this was a poorer time in American history.” __________ Seemed he was just as new, she kinda figured that, but he wasn't exactly forthcoming with all the words and such. He didn't know the girl before her. “So I'm guessin' you've never had t'pitch a knife at someone for a show?” Wasn't nice to assume, but it was hard not to suppose, he wasn't exactly altogether unfamiliar to knives, was just that way he had. “How long you been here?” “Me too- 'bout 500 years or so straight ahead.”Strange thing was, other than being kidnapped and placed in a circus of the past, it wasn’t as if Earth was some alien world. But that's how they said they'd wanted it, dozens of planets, designed to be more or less like Earth. “Earth-That-Was t'me. First time I ever set foot.” Not that Earth was a location to be visited any more, nothing more than a memory now. “So when they pull you from?” she asked, a brow arching, still keen to get some talk flowing between them, as wary as she was of being too much a pest. The reasoning still confused her, if there was reason at all for it. No reason seemed far fetched enough to mean time-travel, kidnapping and a job she didn't so much know how to do. Not that there seemed much to it. Funny thing was, the landscape didn't look so different, at least not on some of the world's back home. It was sharp contrast to Beaumonde, though. “Don't that always depend on where you're from?” Kaylee considered with a wry sort of smirk as she found a cowboy hat hanging on the wall, trying it on for size. She couldn't help thinking Simon'd offer up what he knew and he probably knew something about it. “Just might say th'same for the for the future too, is all- dependin' on the world you live on.” __________ “Not for a show,” he agreed, leaving open the implication he’d pitched knives for other reasons. He had, and he’d also used the knives he couldn’t pitch … but never for a show. If they were going to be confined to close quarters, he figured she’d hear him having a nightmare at some point, and he thought he should bring that up, and caution her. His lips pursed briefly in displeasure, but she wasn’t Rogue, and if he wound up stabbing her through the chest … But it could wait, at least a little while. He could sleep somewhere else until it came up, and then he’d figure out what he wanted to do. How he wanted to deal with it. “Just a couple of days,” he replied to her question. He sort of wanted to scoff when she mentioned when she was apparently from, but why was that so far fetched? What was there to make him think there was a time limit on any of this? “That was?” He echoed. But he didn’t think he was surprised. Given the rate it was being overpopulated, overmined, and generally abused, it wouldn’t surprise him at all to hear it died in the next few centuries. “Two thousand,” he added to answer her. Shrugging to her speculation, he thought about attempting to clarify. “Not that I’m a history expert or anythin’, but the thirties were the Depression Era,” he began to explain. “So the economy and life was poorer than it was during other periods. Things, material things, were harder to come by.” He thought that was a reasonable explanation, and he regarded her as she tried on the hat. It of course prompted him to recall that they had an act to learn, and he sighed inwardly. “Whenever you’re settled and ready, we should … get practicin’,” he pointed out. __________ “That's gotta be better than ain't knowin' how to thrown 'em at all.” Kaylee voiced more for her own benefit than for his, as if it did something to reassure her. It didn't really. “A sense of aim bein' the important part, even if you ain't done it for show.” Her chatter still very much an attempt to keep a lightness, a distraction of sorts as much as it was a reassurance. Even if she didn't get the feeling it was so appreciated by the main star of the act. The thrower; the skill of it was what impressed folk, she'd seen an act like that at a local fair they'd encountered while parked during a job. Her brows arched a little and she gave a small sort of nod. “Oh- guess you'd know how things work 'round here a little better.” It did, even at a glance seem straightforward, at least as a campsite would, a carnival campsite. While she wondered how much there really was to know, could you really understand some place where those that ran it seemed not to so much as blink at folk appearing from other worlds entirely. “I mean- we don't gotta share- whatever they say.” He'd found the trailer first, after all. Of former Earth she glanced him briefly, shrugging. “Was- ..can't say I know too much. But some folk say there were just too many. Weren't room an' it everythin' got all used up.” The steps to lead to what the 'verse was as she knew it wasn't so clear either, the first pioneers and such, how they found the system. Well, she had even less chance of learning it now. Two thousand? “Weird- ain't it? We got so many years between us.” Her brow creased a touch. “Don't guess there's a reason.” It wasn't quite a question, but she wondered if he knew anything better from his few days. “Oh-” Kaylee nodded a little, taking in what he said. “Still don't seem so different. There's plenty who don't got a lot out on the border worlds, just 'bout everythin's hard to come by. Anythin’ fresh.” She tugged the hat off again, getting the feeling her stalling was all to obvious. “Maybe I ain't so lost here.” Her tone wasn't so sure, despite her words. Here she's didn't have Mal, or Zoe- or any of the others. The Captain was the one that always seemed to know just how to keep them running, even with supplies, fuel and most basic needs being scant. Practice being the only way to improve, Kaylee wasn't so keen, though she figured he wasn't wrong for wanting to practice. She feared where he had to start. “Guess so.” She agreed softly. “There some tent we oughta head to Don't 'spose you wanna show me 'round on the way?” She asked, with a little hope in her voice as she abandoned her nosing about the trailer. “They don't seem so obligin' with tours 'round here.” ________ Logan studied her, listening as she spoke. He had no answers to anything, so he shrugged to her questions and not-quite-questions. "I can give you the nickel tour," he offered. It wouldn't hurt to help her acclimate to everything here. Then he could get used to throwing blades that weren't attached to his arms. He could also tell her what little he'd learned in the few days he'd been here, and get to know her better. If he was going to be living with her ... well, he had a few things he should disclose. Like his nightmares, and why approaching him while he was having one wasn't a good idea. He'd be sure to cover that before tonight. Exhaling, Logan pushed away from the wall to start toward the door, gesturing for her to follow. There was no time like the present. |