i_misbehave Open
Mal had quit asking questions a long time back.
How a city this big managed to get by without a single wide wave comm unit, was anyone's guess- but everyone's guess would be about the same: not very well. People came, and people went. Every one of them looking for someone, and Mal was just one more long coat in the crowd.
All things considered, Mal had managed to land on his feet; no matter what time or place a body was in, folk still needed work done... and it was'nt always legal. He still wandered about every now and again: keeping an eye out for the ones he'd lost, but more and more of every day was taken up with the dirty details of getting by.
Taking a few boxes from one fella in a funny suit to another fella in a bad hat (without drawing the attention of the local lawmen) had landed him the bare basic welding gear, to start repairs on what was left of Serenity.
Getting that message out for Lucy had'nt gotten him a proper comm unit, but the pretty boy had been good to his word, and set Mal up with what passed for one in this place: a little short range unit to unit device.. It beeped from time to time when work turned up.
All in all, it was like things used to be, way back when. Every time the sun went down, Mal got a little bit closer to how he once was.. he got a bit colder, and he got a bit meaner.
That's the way a body gets when it gets lonesome.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 05/31/2006 11:34:01
Ever get that funny feeling like there's eyes staring at the back of your head? Sure, the City had its share of cut throats and people that'd eat you alive... just not all of them were quite so literal.
The undead biker wasn't the quietest of fellows. He was Jayne sized and with a bigger belly. Still, if he played his cards right who was going to notice all the rattling of his chains and leather chaps? Certainly not some lonely little snack.
To charge or not charge?
From: i_misbehave Date: 05/31/2006 14:48:14
Some people's neck hairs stood up when something was amiss. Mal's neck hairs, on the other hand, rarely settled down- and this certainly was'nt one of his calmer moments. Sure, the sensable thing might be to just keep his head down and keep walking.. Sometimes a body would be left alone if it did'nt notice things..
But in the end, Malcolm Reynolds was the sort who liked to see things coming, so with one hand raised to itch at the back of his neck, and the other hanging patiently at his right side, the lean wanderer turned a frowning look about the dark cityscape around him.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 05/31/2006 20:25:03
The vampire's silhouette moved into view, a shadow obscuring the important details of his face. He didn't have a gun, the leather vest made the lacking holster apparent, but that didn't mean his type didn't carry knives.
"You lost, boy."
The voice lacked any sign of concern.
From: i_misbehave Date: 06/01/2006 00:33:42
A humorless grin tugged at the captain's expression. "Ain't we all, really? Just a whole lotta ships passin' each other in the black-" Mal rambled with an edge of dry derision, painted over with innocence.
"So hows about you just.. keep passin' on by," he suggested 'helpfully'.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 06/01/2006 08:23:29
"Hows about you just shut up!"
Ah yes, the endless wit of the undead.
He stepped closer and instead of taking Mal's kind advice, the stranger seemed intent on starting something. Perhaps he was for unification. Perhaps he just wanted to pick a fight. More than likely he was looking for his next meal ticket.
His features came into the light and the vampire redefined the toothy smile.
From: i_misbehave Date: 06/01/2006 11:22:18
Whoa, and he'd thought Jayne was ugly... But then again, once a body had stared down Reavers, anything else just seemed a mite less... creepy.
At least this ugly sonuvabitch could talk. After a fashion.
With a small snort, and a feigned sigh, Mal complained, "See, that's whats wrong with this 'verse: people just ain't willin' to banter anymore-"
In another day and age (or maybe just in a better mood) Mal never would have drawn a gun on a fellow who was'nt packing iron themself. But he'd been a helluva lot less patient recently.
His right hand drifted down to rest on the handle, some lingering sense of fair play kept him from drawing it before giving this ugly cuss another chance to bugger off..
Letting any trace of good humor slip, he voiced flatly, "Now, I'm in a less than charitable mood, and to be blunt you're workin' on my last nerves, so I'll be plain: move along, or you'll wish you had."
From: i_amregistered Date: 06/01/2006 13:28:24
Hardly even made it to the limits of the uptown section of The City before she heard that familiar voice. She knew it as clearly as she knew her own, Malcolm Reynolds.
Her steps quickened, already a smile pulling high the scarlet glossed cupids bow of her lips. The impossible was possible..once again Mal had beaten the odds nd bested fate. Eddie was surely behind her wondering at her erratic behavior, she had up till now been poised elegant and at least partially reserved. But finding a part of ones life tended to make even the most finely trained woman a bit giddy.
She rounded the corner almost plowing into the back of the unwashed man Mal was apparently doing business with. Teeter and quick side step to see him properly, her smile wavered...Mal looked.... She'd only seen him like this a very few times. Drawn, gaunt...he lack that defiant gleam in his eye that had so oft gotten him tossed from her shuttle.
"Mal?" Not the greeting she intended but with the bulk blocking her she could hardly really be more expressive.
From: i_crackjokes Date: 06/01/2006 14:47:19
It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the rather hard looking man was one of Inara's people. Apparently the one named Mal. Eddie was happy for her sure, but all the hairs on the back of his neck where standing right up at attention.
So, Eddie was hanging back a few paces, not shy, but that other fella … the one who looked a little like Roland, he had his hand on a gun. Or on the holster of something and Eddie wasn't about to get up close and personal like until he made sure they hadn't walked in on something.
"Seems to be a certain tenseness in the air. I'm just saying." He might not be about to get up close and personal, but he was going to be a smartass. That was just his nature.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 06/01/2006 14:50:04
The vampire snarled when it felt the presence of something gentler crash behind him. He quickly turned his head to find... food that smelled better. And that poor, tender neck...
He quickly snatched her, grabbing her harshly by the bicep, while his other grubby hand snapped the pretty jewelry from her neck. That'd be worth something in the pawn shops. Twenty-dollars at least...
"Why, it's a walking buffet in here, ain't it Mal?"
The vampire snickered with glee. He leaned close and caught the scent of her hair. Yellow eyes darted to the fellow behind him. He was a big man, but three people in one setting? Someone was going to have to be a snack for later. He would have preferred the woman, but...
He was kinda hungry. She was convenient.
From: i_misbehave Date: 06/01/2006 15:07:30
Mal's hard eyes had slipped to one side as someone came out of the dim light behind big-ugly here.. For a momwent, his mouth came open- hardly believing his eyes. Her face, her voice..
Even her smell, half sweet perfume, and half smokey incense that he always complained about, and would never admit liking..
Sure, there was someone else, but for the moment all that mattered was Inara, and the stinking hand on her arm. "Fella, there's some lines a body does'nt cross if it likes settin' in one piece.. And you just crossed one."
That's all there was to it. Whether this big ugly fella had a gun or not did'nt matter none. Not now. Quick as a whip, Mal's gun came out and without batting an eye, the gun levelled on the bastard's ankle, and the trigger was squeezed. In about the time it takes a body to blink.
Funny thing that- no matter bow big and tough a body is, without a foot to stand on...
From: i_amregistered Date: 06/01/2006 15:19:51
Too quick for her to have formed any sort of polite response, not that polite was of much use in this situation, her arm was hooked in the bruising grip of that behemoth. Inara staggered with the force of the pull and the harsh snapping of her jeweled pendant, her elbow thrust back into the chest of the man as his breath swept over her neck. Her elbow sunk in with little resistance and less effect.. she hadn't gotten a good look at him but the panic in her mind flashed the concept of a reaver.
Mortality had it's passing through her mind, Mal's voice and the subsequent firing of his gun brought her back. Cold liquid splattered across her ankle, not at all the way blood should feel.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 06/01/2006 16:20:43
The ankle hurt, and you know? It just wasn't nice.
There was some congealed blood.. cold.. that splattered against the pretty stockings of the companion but other than that? The bone didn't crack like it should have. No matter how big this fellow was, he should have been on the floor.
At the very least, he should have been actively bleeding.
The elbow to the chest might have been effective, and in fact the vampire seemed surprised by the amount of force that came from such a delicate little creature. There were two reasons why Inara's self-defense failed; one, he didn't breathe and two, he had that strength and constitution factor going for him.
The growl that came from him sounded less than human. Mal had angered him quite fearsome and with that he sunk his fangs into Inara's neck.*
The shooting started, and Eddie had drawn his own firearm – technically it was Roland’s but Eddie was feeling rather possessive about it – but than the other guy Mal had gotten a great shot in (and Eddie was impressed, seemed that maybe the future had some sort of Gunslingers) and than – the thing was biting Inara.
This Eddie hadn’t got a chance to meet Father Callahan, had he wouldn’t have been as .. shocked as he was when the thing bit into her neck.
“Jesus fucking Christ.” It wasn’t hollered, it was muttered because Eddie was moving into the zone, he didn’t want to shoot Inara, so he aimed for the things other ankle.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 06/01/2006 18:09:49
The vampire's head snapped upward, freeing Inara's non-drained-of-blood neck for a new moments. He was standing, but the vampire with two bad ankles was probably not capable of much more.
Irritated and not thinking quite as clearly as perhaps he should have, he flung the companion a short distance in order to connect with Mal. Then dragging his feet slowly across the ground, he moved similar to a zombie (but wrong kind of undead).
Didn't these heroes have any manners? Why couldn't they just keep wet wipes in their pockets so that the vampire could comfortably wipe off his mouth after he finished devouring them? People these days. Always wanting to live.
He started to move toward Eddie, draaaaaging his body one step at a time.
From: i_amregistered Date: 06/01/2006 21:19:30
Short shriek tore from her throat as those sharpened canines sunk in. She writhed in the things grip in a state of pure panic, feeling the fetid cool of what passed for breath as the man..drank her blood. He was biting to rend flesh but she could hear the gurgling sucking sounds he made and feel the flow of blood. Eyes flashed to Mal, this was not how she wanted to die, he would take care of it, he was a dead shot, it would be quick if not painless.
Another pop sounding distant and soft compared to the first, then the grip on her wobbled. The mouth withdrew from her neck and she was hurtled forward falling into Mal with clumsy dazed steps. She clung to him with weak fingers, one hand curled tightly into his shirt collar the other pressing hard on the crook of her neck to staunch the flow of blood there.
From: i_misbehave Date: 06/02/2006 00:39:46
He should be appalled, and terrified. Inara was bleeding, and stumbling toward him, and Malcolm Reynolds knew that she was hurt- that if that sunovabitch had nicked the jugular, she'd bleed out in the time it took a heart to beat nine times, and there was nothing that he could do about it.
And he was. But as her hand curled around his collar, and his free arm went around her back, holding Inara against him to keeop the Companion up, the first thought to flit through his head was almost ludicrous..
Too pretty to let die
"Don't you dare," he heard himself mutter to her, as his right arm reached past the wounded woman, gun extended like a bright steely extension of his hand to fire at the base of the bastard's skull. Twice. Thrice.
The fourth shot was aimed at the soft tissue below the pelvis. If this thing's nerves still worked, that would surely get it's attention.
From: i_crackjokes Date: 06/02/2006 03:22:52
Mal wasn’t the only one shooting at the ... creature. Once it had let go of Inara and started shambling towards him, Eddie had started firing too. Whatever this thing is, it needs to learn to lay down and be dead.
That’s the thought that flashed through Eddie’s mind, Mal was shooting at it, Eddie himself was taking shoots at it, and part of his brain, in a rather detached and calm away made him aware that they where making a hell of a lot of noise. No matter, this is what Eddie did now, he was a gunslinger, and for the first time since arriving here he felt … okay.
He’d feel even better once the thing stopped moving.
From: i_amregistered Date: 06/02/2006 12:51:07
Corks were popping,she smiled as her eyes slid heavily shut. Champagne, she liked champagne and just listen to all the corks popping...
She was cold, her body shivering and the night was rapidly becoming darker. Shock was setting in, amazing how the human body responded to trauma by just shutting down. Her breathing and pulse slowed while her mind was elsewhere. She was dancing to some indistinct music only the sharp tang of iron in the air seemed out of place.
Don't you dare
Again the dreamy smile.
"I have to dare to get you to dance with me?"
Dark tresses fell forward and her head came to rest against his chest, her voice trailed off to soft murmuring.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 06/02/2006 14:45:31
Before long, a large part of the vampire's head was missing. What was strange was that even after the first couple of shots it continued to drag its body toward the gunslinger.
This vampire had not considered that he had anything to fear besides stakes, fire and sunlight. If it still had some capacity for thought it might have regretted its decision. Instead it turned to ash quickly and the wind carried away whatever remained of it.
From: i_misbehave Date: 06/02/2006 17:56:39
"Why is it every time you get on about dancin' one of use ends up bleeding?" Mal demanded half-aware, as he let the gun drop and pressed his shooting hand firmly down over Inara's bloodied fingers at her neck.. the pressure was sure to be uncomfortable, but so be it.
"Inara.. INARA-" he insisted louder, to get her attention, "Stay with me, here-" She was going into shock. Hell.
"Woman, I will slap you if you start driftin' off.."
From: i_amregistered Date: 06/02/2006 22:37:27
"Owww"
Petulant whine at the painful pressure he applied to her neck, but it did pry her eyes back open and up to him.
"How dare you...."
The situation returned to her in bleary truth, she'd just been attacked, bitten on her neck. Her mind fought the seductive fog of shock with the continued jostling and yelling of the captain.
Not a jugular wound, proof only in the fact that she was still alive, the bleeding had slowed with the force of both their hands at her neck. Comically her mind looked over her dress.
Good day to wear red.
"Mal, I think I might need a doctor."
From: i_crackjokes Date: 06/03/2006 06:35:58
“He just turned to … he just …” Eddie wiped a hand across his face and than quickly used that hand to brush off some nonexist creature dust from his shirt. That, that had been one of the more surreal experiences he’d had so far. And that was saying something.
He re-holstered his gun, and moved over to where Mal (?) and Inara where, he didn’t want to intrude, but he thought she had a point. A doctor was certainly going to be needed, unless this Mal fellow had some medical experience.
“Shit, I think she’s right.” A quick glance at the other man, “You know where a hospital is? I’m assuming you folks have hospitals where your from ..” Well they had doctors, so one had to assume …
“Because I’ve never taken any medical courses and that,” pointing at the neck, “sure as shit is going to need more than a few does of antibiotics and some aspirin to fix. And the more we stand around here talking the more time we are a wasting, so lets’ get going.”
Eddie was keyed up, and he kept glancing over his shoulder, half expecting that thing to reform and come back for a second attack.
From: i_misbehave Date: 06/03/2006 12:08:06
"Mal, I think I might need a doctor."
"Sure. now you agree with me.." the captain returns with a wry edge to his voice.
Mal looked up curtly from Inara to this.. other guy. "I don't care if he turned into a ballerina and tiptoed off, so long as he's gone. Pick up my gun, willya?" Looking back down to the wounded woman he was holding upright, "You're gonna need to keep pushing there, alright?" he notes, making eye contact while he instructed her to keep the pressure applied. "Hard enough that it hurts some.."
Shifting his arms to take the companion about the shoulders, and behind the knees, he picked her up, and held her close.. Hell, this was'nt the first time he'd gotten blood on his coat, and- unless his luck took an epic turnaround, it would'nt be the last.
He needed to keep her attention.. "And where the hell have you been? Better not have wrecked my shuttle-"
From: i_amregistered Date: 06/03/2006 15:15:15
Bit more of a struggle to the picking up then he might have liked, somethings could never possibly change. She wriggled trying to get her feet back to the ground, honestly it wasn't as if she was incapable of walking, not yet anyway, you could get allot of mileage out of stubborn pride.
"Mal really, I can walk it isn't necessary-"
There he went off talking about the ship, the shuttle...her shuttle.
"I've been looking for you! And the others. I've been looking for everyone. Not just you." Never did it seem civility could come between the two, she stammered off the expansion on her answer quickly enough to stress it.
"And I'm paid on the shuttle through...well.." Now she frowned, the pain and lightheadedness taking toll on her eloquence and memory. "My rent is paid to current at any rate."
And her manners as well, wince more to the situation then the pain at the compression on her neck. "Malcolm Reynolds, meet Eddie Dean, Eddie this is Mal." Well now, at least that was done.
From: i_misbehave Date: 06/03/2006 16:14:20
Mal really, I can walk it isn't necessary-
"Oh yeah, that's a right shiney idea, there.. Just have a little walk. Get the blood pumping, I'm sure you'll feel a lot better in no time." Never let it be said that Mal passed up a chance to use sarcasm when an honest opinion would have sufficed.
He looks again toward 'Eddie' at the introoduction.
From: i_crackjokes Date: 06/04/2006 11:24:17
Eddie had been examining Mal's gun while Mal and Inara had their conversation about going to the hospital. Eddie had weighed in with his opinion earlier, and now he was going to let them sort it out. Although if they didn't start walking somewhere soon he was going to leave them. Let them deal with anybody who was drawn to this place by all the noise.
Well, no he wouldn't leave. One because Inara was the closest thing he had a friend here, and while this Mal's fellows manners might need some work (or not, Eddie could admit to himself that standing there blathering about how that thing had turned to dust had deserved a sharp comment) he was a good shot. Plus he had a very cool gun.
The lull in the conversation following the introductions made him look up, he used his free hand to sort of wave with - - "Hey. You two done talking, we ready to move out? Find a hospital?"
Sheesh, and people said he talked a lot.
From: i_amregistered Date: 06/04/2006 11:59:23
Wonderful thing about The City, it was always in motion, constant shifts and changes. Things would appear, move or vanish over night. So that worked in their favor this time, mere three blocks away Inaras eyes came to rest on the sterile white and blaring red cross of a medical facility. Not a grand operation like the one Mal had formerly made such a profitable heist from, neither was it run down.
The closer they neared the louder the buzz of human activity became, Inara pulled herself closer to Mal, something in the nearness of such a house of medicine made one recall how near death they might be. It was not a feeling she relished.
"Don't leave me Mal." Edge in her voice, worry that if he left she wouldn't find him again and she knew as long as he was with her he'd look after her. He might have a less then stunning track record for his life, but he had a knack for beating the odds, that luck rubbed off on those around him.
From: i_crusade Date: 06/04/2006 12:30:03
The Batman glided out of the shadows above the scene. All the way from 2nd Street, he'd heard the shots. Came as soon as possible. Passing the insane girl he'd met during his recent encounter with a vampire, Batman wondered if she was involved in this debacle as well. He would have to find out who she was. Locate her home. Visit her soon.
For now, his descent honed in on the three. Landing silently before them, he pressed a hidden button to bring the Batmobile to his location. The streets had been recently remapped into the computer that directed it, and Bruce estimated that it would take a minute, perhaps less, for his vehicle to appear before them.
But the one who held the bleeding girl - he knew him. His identity - name, rank, history - was unknown, but Batman knew him. The stark contrast of his eyes with his face. The tightness in his shoulders, a weight he carried that had been with him for some long while, the firm line of his mouth that did not break even while his sarcastic words (tinted with concern) spilled off his tongue. Yes. The loneliness radiated in waves. The courage encompassed him as well. In different circumstances, in a different life without capes and money and machinary, this Mal - for that was what the woman called him - could have been Bruce.
Bruce knew this man. A big damned hero.
By the hold he had on the beauty in his arms, it was clear to anyone with eyes that Mal would not release her. She was a fool to have to ask him not to.
As the three sized him up, he spoke. Wasting time was not his forte. "I can help you."
On cue, the Batmobile skidded around the corner, raced down the street, and halted suddenly behind Batman. The doors opened.
From: i_misbehave Date: 06/04/2006 13:04:52
A curt nod was Eddie's answer- it was high time they got moving.
"Don't leave me Mal." Quietly, he wondered, "Is there a promise I can make that you'd trust?" he wondered dryly. "Don't you worry none," was offered in an even tone. "I ain't going anywhere, and neither are you."
He could say more- he probably should say more. If they'd said words like these way back when, Inara might never have left at all.
But they never managed to say what they ought, and today would be no exception.
The caped man in a bat costume dropped down before them, joined shortly by a sleek wheeled transport.
"Huh."
From: i_amregistered Date: 06/04/2006 16:12:21
Time was beginning to be a factor now, she was having trouble keeping pressure on her neck, her vision was fading out. Mal had gotten her through shock and done a valiant job of it. But there is only so much that can be done without proper care or treatment. She was blacking out, the was evident from the limpness of her body in the captains arms.
"Mal, I'm sorry ....about the coat." Yes it was absurd, but she was hardly in a position to say things now that she had never been able to say in full health.
The words dwindled off to a whisper and finally silence, whatever they were going to do, they needed to do it soon.
From: i_crackjokes Date: 06/04/2006 18:08:17
"This day could not get weirder." Eddie glanced between the guy in the suit and the car and just … shook his head. Weird was the order of the day for him lately but this, all this was a little much.
He glanced over at Mal, after all the other man was holding Inara and had that 'take charge' attitude that made Eddie want to get all sarcastic with him, but this was not the time nor the place. All Eddie knew is that no amount of money in the world was going to get him in that car.
It looked like it could be sentient, what with the way it came flying around the corner like that, and Eddie was done with sentient modes of transportation. His hand rested on the butt of his gun, he wasn't going to pick a fight, but he was going to be wary.
From: i_crusade Date: 06/04/2006 22:51:56
His eyes narrowed behind that black mask. The slow limpness in the woman's wrist, the way it slid from the bend at her waist to hang inert in front of them both, fingers dangling like the remnants of streamers from a birthday party gone awry...
Time was up.
It was a battle not to move toward the three of them and this battle was wholly unchecked by the second man's itchy fingers on the butt of his gun. Batman's detestment for the weapon on the stranger's hip came through in the icy shift in his eyes. But it was not up to this man.
It was up to The Hero. And Batman realized this. It stopped him from his choice of action. Silent, then, he stepped to the side to allow the passenger side door - open still - to fall into view for the one who held the girl.
It was the only invitation he would give. And from the looks of the rough man, he was intelligent to need nothing else.
Whether he took it or not, now that was up to him. Batman braced himself for the fury that would occur should he be required to walk away. Walking away. It was not something he did well.
From: i_misbehave Date: 06/05/2006 00:16:41
Mal was not the trusting sort. Given the choice, there was no way in the 'verse he would put Inara's fate in this clown's hands..
But those silly little words she muttered to him took that choice away in a hurry. Jaw tightened, and the lean wanderer's eyes hardened again as he nodding brusquely, and took the door fate had chosen to open in front of him..
Funny how fate sometimes took the form of a guy in a cape and bat-cowl, pushing a button.
From: i_diedtwice Date: 06/03/2006 01:07:56
Just a few blocks away...
Buffy heard the gun shots and frowned. While she wondered what was happening she was smart enough to realize that she wasn't bullet proof. Besides, vampires and demons had this weird shtick where they never seemed to carry guns. It sounded more like a matter for the police.
Besides, it wasn't like she was some sort of crime fighting caped crusader!
With no cell phone, Buffy started to look for the nearest phone booth.
From: i_amregistered Date: 06/16/2006 01:05:28 (OOC Just wanted to be sure everyone knew of the new thread.)