i_amregistered Dreams and hospital food (Inara in the Hospital. Open to Rose/Eddie/Mal/Dream/a
City General was a busy little medical hub, something like what one would expect to see on those TV dramas about hospitals. Green scrubs and cold sterile white walls, the smell of alcohol and bleach, the faint buzz of florescent lighting and the low rumble of hundreds of voices made up the soul of C.G.
Tucked off in one quiet corner a dark haired woman lay in a clean clinically white bed, under clean clinically white sheets, in a clean clinically white gown. Inara Serra had been down graded to stable condition and awaited only a few blood tests before her release. The incident which had brought her in had raised more then one eyebrow in the C.G.E.R. She wasn't the first to come in, she had however been the first to be brought in alive.
A dozen or so like her were in the morgue, disturbingly three of those had decided to go missing a number of days after their arrival..and more disturbingly, their autopsies. Inara offered a chance the hospital had not yet seen and they jumped on it. While she was slumbering away her blood was being tested in every batch of blood work that they could think of. City General was about to discover the truth of the existence of vampires.
For her part in the matter Inara only wanted to be warm and safe and among friends. Perhaps that was what drew her in her dreams to the dining hall of Serenity. Warm friendly faces smiled to her and food..real food not just protein shaped like food, filled the table. Kaylee was smiling brightly, Simon seemed to catch her eye with a blush of his own. Zoe and Wash were doing some not-so-subtle flirting under the table, even Mal seemed in rare form. They were all there, regardless of Books death or Jayne's desire to leave or Rivers..being River.. all of the crew that had been was together. As joy full as she felt, something nagged in her dream mind that this was not quite entirely right.
(OOC: Ok, great for any Firefly'ers to jump into the dream. Even Dream himself. Feel free to take surreal turns with it. Feel free for others of the waking world to step in as well. Have fun!)
From: i_travel Date: 07/07/2006 21:14:37
The grinding noise of the TARDIS was well known to her, of course to the technophobe Eddie it might be understabdably disquieting. Rose offered him that all too wide grin again hopeing that would cover for the fact that her fingers were indeed cross that this might work. The entire process was quick, barely two minutes time and no physical sensation of movement later and the central console ground to a stop letting her know they had arrived.
"Let's check it out."
Rose walked for the door, held her breath for a silent prayer and stepped out...right into the lamp post on the corner of the City General Hospital parking lot. How the TARDIS had managed to not land in the pole was beyond her, but as it was the bright blue box was sitting in a very natural looking position next to it.
This was a moment she would have turned that smug smile on her Doctor, but he was not here anymore was he? Half sigh and she hooked a finger at Eddie. "Come on then."
From: i_crackjokes Date: 07/10/2006 16:39:05
"Wow, that … that worked." Eddie grinned, maybe all technology wasn't bad. It was a pleasant change for something to work and not try and kill him. Remembering that he did indeed have a gun on him, he once again made an attempt to conceal it under his shirt. He was not taking it out of it's holster and hiding it in his waistband.
Sure they where at a hospital but Eddie didn't want to experience the hospital as a patient, he wanted to experience the hospital as a visitor looking for his friend. "right, so the plan? Let's go see what passes for a hospital here, find a nurse …"
He walked around the lampost, giving it a wide berth.
"Lampost. Nice touch. Very Narnia-like."
From: i_travel Date: 07/12/2006 09:14:49
"Yeah, heh...'ow 'bout that."
She was less interested in the quirk of anything that didn't have the words Bad Wolf involved, even now she felt like she might stumble over something again. The nagging in her mind that she was unsure why she even felt that way bothered her. She shrugged it off and pulled her hoodie closer around her, some odd chill swept past.
The wide mechanical doors whooshed open to let them in to the off white lobby area, it tried, and almost completely failed, to look more hospitable then hospital. A large reception desk stood over to the side and they headed for it.
From: i_crackjokes Date: 07/12/2006 16:43:16
"Hi." Eddie leaned on the counter and flashed the nurse/reception person behind it a wide grin. He hopped it looked charming and maybe a little daffy. "I'm looking for a friend of mine…"
"Name and relation?" Barked out in a crisp no nonsense voice. Still Eddie had been raised to believe that you got more flies with honey and all that. So the slightly goofy grin remained and the friendly tone remained.
"Inara … she came in hurt." He started to speak a bit quicker when the woman behind the desk started to look a little annoyed. "With a guy, Mal I think his name was but he's not a patient …"
The Nurse knew the name. Everyone at C.G.E.R knew the name. After all she was the woman who had come in and had survived one of those attacks. "Wait here." The nurse wandered off to get someone else.
Eddie sighed and turned to Rose; "I hate waiting. How about you? Want to go take a look around?"
From: i_travel Date: 07/12/2006 20:02:57
"Fine by me."
Rose could not abide standing still, is it any wonder she'd wound up with a time and space traveling alien? Sure he seemed human enough, if you discounted one of his hearts and his unerring ability to know just about everything.
A hand shoved into her back pocket, a carefree toss of blond hair over her shoulder and Rose deftly stepped forward and snagged the floral arrangement nearest the door. She beamed that grin, he'd be knowing it by now, at Eddie.
With the practiced clueless look of a faux blond, she stared at the card in the flowers and chewed her lip, this went one for about thirty seconds until a middle aged man in scrubs stopped by to help the pretty young thing.
"Umm yeah." Was her response to his inquiry on her needing help. "'Sposed to deliver these to a..." Another show made of reading the card. "Inara Serra..but I fink they got the room number wrong."
She blinked up at him with big eyes, classically playing the helpless female to cater to his ego. In twenty eight seconds flat they had her room number and directions to get there.
"Fanks!" The accent helped, seemed all american men enjoyed dialect not their own. She turned back to Eddie with a devilish look. "Well... waitin' on Christmas?"
From: i_crackjokes Date: 07/13/2006 12:27:14
"You sure you didn't come from England by way of Brooklyn?” Girl was a born scam artist, Eddie was impressed. He glanced back over his shoulder to make sure their “friend” the receptionist/nurse person wasn’t back. She wasn’t, which meant that the coast was more or less clear. “Right, let’s blow this popsicle stand.” Okay so maybe the slang was dating him a little … but in Eddie’s mind it was still 1987.
He really had no idea what he was going to do once he reached Inara’s room. Make sure she was okay he figured, and than … than well he didn’t know. This Rose girl was friendly as all heck, and she had that cool machine he might be able to find his people. If they where here. Of course Inara’s people where here so …
Logic he reminded himself as they moved down the hall, does not apply here. The streets move.
“So.” This to Rose; “You got here in your traveling machine thing right? Anything weird or wonderful happen to you prior to that? Looking for a pattern you see ..” Not that Eddie considered him having to take care of business so to speak an unusual thing. But maybe there was a pattern there. Or maybe he was clutching a straws. “And I think we take this left here ..”
From: i_travel Date: 07/14/2006 21:56:17
"Never been to New York, heard it was nice though."
They wound their way through halls each looking pretty much the same as the last. All medicinal and all creepy. At least it wasn't Albian Hospital..now that had been disturbing.
"Weird, lots of, wonderful..a bit less..or more." She quirked a smile at him. "It's complex. One day I'm a shop girl with a fairly average life and boyfriend and the next..I'm travelin' through time an space with this... this man who.." Ohh how to describe him? "He's a good man. Bit funny sometimes, odd in almost every conceivable way. But he's, he's my best friend and he's shown be a better life then what I had." Well that was a bit of bunched up nonsense now wasn't it? "So basically it's go here an go there an try and make fings right. He'd died to set things right sometimes." She'd seen it..twice actually, once for her father and once for her. "Good man." She quietly echoed her former thought with a soft smile for the former incarnation of her Doctor, they'd been closer and she missed him terribly.
From: i_crackjokes Date: 07/16/2006 15:08:30
"Was nice in '87. Barring any unforeseen circumstances I guess it still is nice." Eddie was a little surprised to find that his feelings about New York had diminished so much. Typical. He finally accepts he's in this quest for the Dark Tower for the long haul, no more cities for him and … here he is. In a city.
Somewhere someone is laughing at him he's sure.
And than Rose started talking about what had transpired before she had ended up here and he found himself smiling despite himself. Well when she said things like that it made him feel better about sharing his story. Or a Coles Notes version of it.
"Huh. Well. I was in New York, meet this guy – not a Doctor, more of a Cowboy – went through this door, ended up in his world, found some other people, and other stuff happened, and here I am. Oh, just a heads up, vampires are apparently real .."
He figured he should warn her. Perky blonde girls where always getting munched on by vampires in the movies and comics Eddie had read as a kid.
From: i_travel Date: 07/17/2006 10:25:57
"Vampires. Check, got it. An for the record, messin with the time steam sends some nasty flying creepies after you and the entire human race in the future is ruled by a giant slug on ice and then psychotic hovering machines wif disintegration beams."
He thought his vision of things was bad? She'd seen the end of the Earth, literally. Watched the sun envelope it and scatter the remains of the dead planet across the galactic winds.
"Met a livin' tree once, claimed she was a direct descendant of the Amazon rain forrest...but I always wondered if that was a bit like claimin' ta be related to the royal family...or..bein at Woodstock."
From: i_crackjokes Date: 07/17/2006 16:58:37
Oh, so this was how it was going to be than. Well if she thought that she could out weird him, well she had another think coming. Although he had to admit that the whole thing about a slug on ice, well that was kind of weird.
"Slug, something like Jabba the Hut than? And when Ro – this person I know messed with the time stream no flying things went after him. He just went crazy for a bit."
"Talking tree? Well I might a talking train. That tried to kill me and my friends."
From: i_travel Date: 07/25/2006 00:33:25
"Talkin train...right. Well guess that's no crazier then anyfing else."
She took it in stride and listened o the rest of his story, glancing at the numbered rooms until...there it was...
"Looks like this is it."
Rose poked her head in, flowers held like some sort of protective shield in front of her. The room was empty except the dark haired woman in the bed. She seemed to be sleeping.
"Pretty."
Rose walked forward and put the flowers in a water pitcher nearby.
"Well...this is her right?" She saw the recognition in Eddies eyes and nodded, well someone had found their way at least.
"Chalk up a win for the TARDIS. Uhh..well...guess I'll leave you be then. Stuff to do an all." Rose gave a half wave and shoved her hands into her pockets, she had done what she had learned from The Doctor, found someone in need and helped them. She should feel good about that, so why was she suffering a sudden bout of loneliness?
From: i_crackjokes Date: 07/25/2006 03:17:40
"Hey, Rose, thanks." Eddie glanced at Inara and than back at the other girl. "I would have never found the hospital. So .. thanks." He grabbed a seat and slouched down it, not sure what he was going to do now himself.
Wait he guessed. Mal might have rubbed him the wrong way, but Inara was good people.
He glanced back up at Rose and pointed at the sleeping woman; "She found her people, we'll find out people."
Maybe that's why he was sticking around. Inara was proof that people could find each other in this city.
From: i_prosecute Date: 07/10/2006 15:24:58
Harvey slept fitfully, in spite of his heavy sedation. The medical staff was waiting for him to stabilize before they attempted any reconstructive surgery.
He wandered through winding hallways that at times seemed to be the warm, wood-paneled corridors of Gotham City Hall and other times the stark, marble bowels of this city's federal building. Harvey knew somehow that he was at work, everything was normal. He didn't remember his recent accident at this time. Somewhere, a voice like his own growled on and on about justice, human law, fate, and circumstance, and he pursued the sound as if looking for a lost child. Later, upon waking, he would remember a few key phrases that this voice intoned, though they would not make any more sense than they did now.
Somewhere else, he became aware of a group of voices. None sounded like his own. He turned down a hallway to follow these voices and found himself on some kind of enclosed, metal ship. His footsteps echoed in the passage, and he could hear the voices more clearly, now.
From: i_misbehave Date: 07/11/2006 00:22:37
Mal was leaned forward, both elbows on the table (Sure, his table manners were terrible.. But at least he kept his boots off the table these days). chopsticks were held in his right hand, presently being brandished in the way he had of talking with his hands whe he told a story.
"And then I look at her, and I said 'Hell Zoe.. why don't you just marry him?'" His broad scoundrel's grin split into a short chuckle. Her looked sidelong back at where Zoe was no doubt giving him the eye..
From: i_canhurtyou Date: 07/11/2006 17:14:48
The Eye it was. She didn't even look to either hawaiian-shirted husband or sloppy in-command as she replied directly to Inara, "And I told him flat there and then, not but a few strides from this very table," a point was made to indicate location, "that if I ever were to do so it would be his singular solemn duty to toss me out the airlock and never look back because I was sure to have lost every sense in my head to even consider that houzi de pigu."
She leaned her head back to give Wash an affectionate peck on the cheek. "Isn't that right, sweetie?"
From: i_getdirty Date: 07/11/2006 19:12:22
Kaylee bounced in, a slight skip to her step. Hopping down in a seat across from Mal, she grinned.
"New converter fit!" Reaching across, Kaylee plucked a strawberry from a bowl. She shook her finger at Mal, teasing. "Now all I need is a converter column. No more of that fei-oo, Captain."
Kaylee took a bite out of the strawberry slowly, savoring each chew.
From: i_amaleaf Date: 07/12/2006 03:31:14
"That's the truth as a I live and as I breathe." Wash responded to Zoe, shaking his sadly. "So here I was thinking that I was going to be rid of her, if we made an arrangement to get married, and Mal over there, well he didn’t carry through on his part of the deal, and now? Now I guess I'm stuck with her. Aren't I sweetie?"
An oh so innocent smile at his wife, and a wave to Kaylee as she joined them.
From: i_amregistered Date: 07/12/2006 09:08:36
She laughed...what more could she do? Great dark eyes misting over in her mirth. Inara looked from the entrapped Wash to his warrior wife. She loved them, loved them all, crazy and insane as it was.
Kaylee the sweetness and light of the ship, so thrilled with her grease smeared face and the fruit. "Enjoy mei mei those are especially for you, a gift from Sihnnon."
Eyes slid over to Mal, taking with them the adoring smile she'd so recently shone on the ships mechanic. He looked happy, for some silly reason that made her smile all the more.
Her head canted to the side as vision moved past Mal and toward the corridor beyond. "We have a guest? Mal you never told me." Inara looked at Harvey, strange clothing and even more startled expression.
From: i_misbehave Date: 07/12/2006 09:50:53
The captain leaned back in his chair with a chuckle, "Oh you should've just SEEN these two though-" A wave of his chopsticks at Wash and Zoe. "All they ever did was argue.. did'nt even need a reason. Kinda like a troublesome little mechanic I could name- Even if every piece of the 'verse were holding together, they'd find something to yell about bein' amiss-" A sidelong grin at Kaylee, before Inara's comments drew his eye and attention.
In the real world, Mal would've been rightly sharp about somebody just wandering his ship. "Looking to go someplace, stranger?" Mal queried of Harvey without standing up. "Normally I'd be a bit sore that ya did'nt knock first, but I've already sat through one sermon, and that's plenty for me.." he offered the newcomer with a wry grin.
A look of thin displeasure at Book, where the shepard was no doubt winding up some nonsense on thue subject of charity, and something about Samaritanians..
Back to Harvey: "Pull up a chair."
From: i_prosecute Date: 07/12/2006 13:02:56
Harvey obeyed. He seemed to have wandered into some kind of amalgam of the TV shows he watched as a child - sci-fi adventure and old west action - though why they slipped occasionally into Chinese was beyond him.
"Ni hao," he greeted, dusting off his limited experience with the language, and attempting to get into the spirit of this world. "Name's Dent. Harvey Dent. What's the good word, folks?"
From: i_amregistered Date: 07/12/2006 19:46:46
"Unlike you Mal, who never has an unkind word to say." If Mal had the brass to outright say Zoe and Wash could argue he had to at least admit how he was. Well..with her at least. Rare were the conversations between them that didn't end in one storming out on the other, unless one happened to be unconscious of course.
And there was the new arrival, Inara smiled warmly and rolled her wrist to indicate the seat next to her at the far end of the table from Mal. "Ni hao. Mister Dent, please, we don't have much food but the hospitality makes up for it. Kaylee really can do wonders with protein, spices and her eternal optimism."
The others seemed to fit, in a quirky way with the ship, she however...looking like a wealthy woman and certainly presenting herself as such...dining with the salt of the earth.. and now him. As Alice would have said some centuries past.. Curiouser and curiouser.
From: i_canhurtyou Date: 07/12/2006 23:01:36
Zoe gave her man a wide smile, with a little danger thrown in for good measure. "Stuck with me," she repeated, floral print shoulders getting a firm squeeze. "I will say a lack of liphair made you far more agreeable," she let go of him, building up a modest little plate and getting it passed to this Harvey.
"We didn't have a conversation that didn't end in some sort of shouting or storming," she admitted to Inara, dream logic following her train of thought subtly. "Next thing I know he makes himself presentable and we had more to talk about..."
From: i_amaleaf Date: 07/13/2006 12:28:33
“A guy makes one unfortunate choice in facial hair … I don’t know o’ light of my life, I’m thinking that maybe I might let it grow back in ...” Wash might not always be the wisest man ever, and this might be a dream but some things stayed the same in the waking and in the dreaming. And one of those things was Wash and his (mostly) keeping his mouth shut about the yelling and arguing he and Zoe had done, and the comparisons that one could drawn between that and yelling and arguing that Mal and Inara did.
A nod and a wave to the newcomer to the table. One of the differences in between the waking and the dreaming that Wash would have been asking how come no one told him when they where taking on passengers and than have than made a comment that nobody told him anything, but that was okay. If he didn’t know anything he could always plead innocence if caught – even if he was the one flying the ship.
He did however give the newcomer a bit of a quizzical look after a moment; he looked somewhat familiar ..
From: i_misbehave Date: 07/14/2006 15:32:21
"Hey, my unkind words are plenty deserved," Mal protests, with a sniff.. A moment's pause to allow for the expected groanbs and rolling of eyes his statement may draw.
"And about better things than a fella leaving a crazy bright shirt sitting on the floor of his own cabin.." Zoe draws another look. "Or going on about plastic lizards perching around the cockpit.." forgetting completely that he'd throw a fit if he ever caught a hint of Inara's incense wafting around..
A fresh set of chopsticks were set in an empty cup and the captain leanded forward to hand the items across to Harvey.
"Just 'cause the lot of you are so fond of.. shiny sparkles and pretty words, don't mean I have to be.."
From: i_amregistered Date: 07/14/2006 21:34:38
"Really? So everytime I catch you going through my things it's purely ships business?"
Try as she might the smirk would not be denied and finally blossomed into a full grin at the Captain. His habit for playing with the 'trinkets' in her quarters was more to annoy her and she knew it. But who could resist the chance when it was baited like that?
From: i_prosecute Date: 07/16/2006 15:29:31
Harvey took the food offered him, but did not eat. As much as he wanted to escape into this fun little world, a lurking shadow reminded him that there was something deeply important outside.
He caught Wash's questioning glance and returned it. "I feel like I know you from somewhere," he finally admitted, "but I can't place it." The thought that this might be a dream finally began to occur to him. "Where is this ship headed," he inquired, wondering if he could pick the dream apart, or perhaps steer it in some fun direction.
From: i_misbehave Date: 07/18/2006 11:15:33
"Manifests, woman!" Mal returns to Inara's teasing, still possessed of a good humor. "Captain's responsable for anything found on his ship.. Could'nt have a.. questionable character like you bringing contraband aboard an honest ship.."
With a glance around the table, even Mal could'nt keep a straight face, on noting the two fugitives; Jayne, who was a whole bundle of illegalities; the shady shepard; and oh yeah.. Two old browncoats whose names were so hot Mal had to use a fake identity whenever the authorities asked.
Cracking a grin, he took a drink and looked to Harvey, "Where you headed, stranger?" before also looking sidelong to Wash, when the question of thier heading comes up.
From: i_amaleaf Date: 07/23/2006 09:47:57
ooc: Ahhh! Sorry for the lapse in response time.
"You know that's funny, because you look familiar too, you every fly with –" Wash was trying to talk at the same time Mal was, having not yet learned the lesson that he Captain was always going to win in a contest of who could be louder.
Where you headed, stranger?"
Wash caught the glance and frowned, he should know this, as pilot that was really the main part of his job. Keep the ship in the air and keep track of where they where going. So why didn't he know? Well that was troublesome …
"Where headed to Persephone?" If that came out sounding like a question … well it was.
From: i_canhurtyou Date: 07/23/2006 17:55:42
Zoe had busied herself with the task of eating, certain portions within certain times. Meals could only last so long with the old soldier, one of many habitual tics instilled long ago.
Absolutely silent while Mal and Wash seemed a little off center about their heading, it was only when Inara happened to glance in her direction did Zoe seem to animate. "Four hours from Persephone, just dropping off something for an old friend," she noted pointedly, "shouldn't leave us there long, just enough for the Captain to drop in on some folk then we're back out in the black." A lifted eyebrow. "If it'll help, I can tell you what you'll be wearing tomorrow too..."
Because who but Zoe would have answers?
From: i_amregistered Date: 07/23/2006 20:58:07
Leave it to Zoe to be the level head in the mass of chaos. Inara smiled a wide gesture of thanks. She should get on the Cortex and see if there were short term clients available.
"I should,"
She'd half risen from her seat before excusing herself, something odd in the entire situation hitting her just then like a wave of dizziness. She lost her footing and slid back to her seat.
"Forgive me, I should get back to my shuttle, tend to my affairs."
Awkward wording, internally she winced at it knowing what she could expect. But she steeled herself against it, bowed a polite parting and headed off away from the others and for her shuttle.