Breathe In Half Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. IV)

Mie · Posted: Sun Jul 10, 2011 11:53 pm

With a puff of air out her nostrils, Jam's head fell to a cant simultaneous to her sassing hips, while she fixed the freshened primate with a look that, for desperate want of a much better term, very clearly said, "Monkey, please."

"Well, as a person with no less than three guns strapped to you at any given point in time, how would you feel about havin' electro-powers?" asked the girl with an impish smirk and air quotes. "Honestly, at this point, let's just say, 'I'm grabbin' everything I can,' and call it insurance."

psikeout · Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 12:34 am

"Hey—I haven't carried more than one in ages," he objected jovially. The cabinet opened with a sharp *clink* noise, and he quietly appended: "Until now..."

The selection was actually pretty crummy; no awesome experimental space weapons here. A mess of semi-auto handguns, four identical assault rifles, two shotguns (one painted for less-than-lethal use), and a grenade launcher for tear gas use comprised the entirety of the present offering. It was a small security armory in but one wing of bajillions aboard the ARK, so he couldn't have expected much. Whatever the case, his military background must have gotten the better of him, because he quickly gravitated to the classic standby, the assault rifle, and snatched one. It had a folding stock, compact overall length, sling, but no frills to be spoken of otherwise. He grabbed a pre-loaded magazine, snapped it in, slung it over his shoulder, and took as many spares as he could bear to carry (two, in this case, since he was already carrying too much stuff).

"... Gotta find someplace to keep our crap," he observed sourly, as if noticing for the first time that he was now carrying a knife, crowbar, pistol, assault rifle, ammo, and two duffel bags full of tools, medical supplies, and clothes. He also appeared to be... leaning a little bit—unclear whether this was because of the load or other reasons.

Rock shifted uncomfortably with the equivalent jangling and clattering noises of a whole platoon while he waited for Jam to finish making her acquisition. (As if they needed more stuff.)

Mie · Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 1:25 am

While her mouth scrunched thoughtfully off to one side, a single hand raised absently to scratch discerningly at her nose as she deliberated her choices for armaments as one does their impromptu drive-through breakfast order. With much finger twiddling, and hmmming, and general indecisiveness, she at last shouldered the more-than-lethal variant of the two shotguns, ascertaining the stock-side clip of extra shells was loaded before seizing a couple more fistfuls of loose rounds, and shoving them into whatever available pocket storage her fit-to-bursting backpack offered.

"No kiddin'," grunted little Layla as she shoved one last uncooperative shell into her bag. "I think we have this conversation every time we find new toys to mess s**t up with; 'yes, it's free, yes, we can use it, but where the hell're we gonna --' Hello."

She'd made to heave the big, cumbersome thing onto her back, but stopped short at one more glinting goody in the weapons locker. As greedily as a child assaults unsupervised cookie jars, she jammed both hands in, and emerged with a pair of 9mm pistols in a thigh-rig holster. Holding it up to herself as one tries on pants without going into a fitting room, Jam half-turned toward her fairer furred accompaniment and waggled her brows over an implicit grin.

"What do you think, huh? Little Grave Robber action; pretty hot, right?"

psikeout · Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 4:45 am

"Yeah, but... you can barely aim one pistol at a time," Rock protested, waiting by the door, one brow plenty higher than the other. "You'll shoot yourself. Or me."

Mie · Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 10:02 am

"Oh, you're no fun," pouted the punch-red primate, shoving the belt back into the weapons locker in a mock-huff, flouncing after her party-pooping counterpart.

"Like it'd even hurt you," Jam challenged, seizing hold of the door handle as she passed through. "Mr. Missles-to-the-face."

*SLAM!*

psikeout · Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:42 pm

Rock just shook his head (but with a suppressed look of amusement) and led the way back through the main security door into the hall.

As he walked, he briefly rotated in place and took a few backward steps, looking around as if he was uncertain of which way to go. He ended up stopping and looking... kind of grim, maybe restless. It was a sudden shift, as if he just realized something.

Mie · Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2011 11:51 pm

Jam followed along with a little more berth than she usually allowed Rock; she dawdled distractedly, looking over her shoulder at her new acquisition, just a little too evidently tickled. But even as novel as the notion of shotgun ownership was to her, it couldn't hold her attention with so noticeable a shift in the paler primate's demeanor.

"Laz?" she asked with a concerned frown. "Somethin' wrong?"

psikeout · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:11 am

"No," Rock answered reflexively; after a second or two of blank-staring thought, he modified his response to a more vague "I dunno."

He shook his head as if warding off a mental haze.

"Sorry," he mumbled and dragged his hand down his face. "I know I oughta rest now, but I just... don't feel like I could if I wanted to now."

Mie · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 12:25 am

With visible apprehension, the smaller monkey took a deep breath in through her nose, and held it, as if teetering on words that she weighed before releasing. She glanced avoidantly off to one side, while cradling her elbows in her gloved palms.

"I... can understand that," she said very slowly at last. Her posture softened, as did her worried stare, before in a considerably more normal tone, she asked, "What do you feel like doing?"

"The recon team's out, and I doubt you're wanting to play research assistant to Dr. Bushy-tail..."

More than anything, Jam seemed to be vocally sifting through their options, until suddenly starting with the impact of an unexpected brain wave. "Hey. Why don't we find someplace to dump off the luggage, an' go see what we can see on this old space cruise liner? That seems like something not useless we can do without ripping a new hole in you, maybe."

psikeout · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:21 pm

He thought about it, nodded, then said, "Yeah, let's do that." He actually seemed fairly interested in this. ARK was a big place full of interesting things; it was probably only natural that the curiosity of his inner engineer would come out, given pretty much free run of the place.

"There's living quarters above the infirmary," he noted, and began heading off in that direction. "We can claim one for ourselves. May be here a while, anyway..."

***

With the security clearance Tau had established for them, they had no problem accessing whatever quarters they liked. It took a couple tries to find one that looked... unoccupied, though. There was something eerie about the place—the way everything was just as the previous occupants left it, denied even a layer of dust by the colony's air filtration. Clothes in drawers and closets, unmade beds personal effects, books... It must have felt disrespectful to even move anything, being the moment in history frozen in time that it all was.

Whatever the case, with their things tucked away and hidden, and their burden lightened to but one duffel with the most basic tools plus their new weapons (in the event they ran into anything unfriendly, or needed to show their authority to any unfriendly refugees [Murdoch]), they set out.

Uncertain where to begin, Rock guided himself and Jam down the bleak, bluish-lit main corridor near the cargo bay, aimless for the time being.

"Maybe we should try to find another ship," suggested the simian vaguely.

Mie · Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2011 9:37 pm

Jam had ambled along at a pace that, while not lazy, didn't push for effort neither of them felt like putting forth for so aimless an excursion. Her hands hovered awkwardly at her hips, as though desperately wanting for pockets, or belt loops, or some kind of "hand holder," yet as unnatural as she looked, she seemed unbothered by it.

The monotony of the eerie blue-on-cold-metal had quickly become passe, so it wasn't the fascinating environment Rock's suggestion pulled Jam's attention from. Whatever had been on her mind, it seemed long gone; she turned a mildly confused pucker toward him, both brows creasing her forehead as they flattened over her eyes.

"A ship?" she repeated, as though she hadn't heard correctly. "What for?"

psikeout · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:25 am

"Just seems like it'd be a good idea to have an extra," answered Rock with a shrug. "Such as... in case the other ship doesn't make it back."

Before the grim insinuations could be thought on for too long (as he must have realized they were a little too dark, especially since Ace was on board), he pulled a quick subject change.

"I probably shouldn't be doin' much space travel until I figure out some way t'more permanently fix my suit and helmet, though."

Mie · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 1:46 am

A single quirked eyebrow was Rock's only indication that his reddish audience had even heard his answer, but as a person who frequently required a diversion from an ill-thought word or two, Jam sportingly chose the second conversational lure when selecting which to bite.

"Y'think?" she asked chidingly. "I mean, I'm pretty much the 'just slap some duct tape on it' poster girl, but even I know you don' dick around with space suits."

"Or head injuries, for that matter..." Jam's implicit glance turned into a frowning, scrutinizing leer. "Are you missing your ear?"

psikeout · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 2:02 am

Rock very subtly leaned back, as if away from her stare, and returned the alien look.

"Well, I can still hear, if that's what you mean..."

He knew it wasn't.

Mie · Posted: Wed Jul 13, 2011 7:42 pm

With a flicker of a sneer that was thankfully only play-irritated, Jam shook her head, digging the knuckles of both her fists into the small of her back as her meandering steps carried her along.

"You sure about that?" she asked loftily, unable to keep the grin out of her tone. "'Cause I mean, you did --"

Abruptly, Jam stopped talking... or, it certainly sounded as though she did, but her lips continued to move, and her hands continued to gesture (probably moreso than she ordinarily would).

If anyone in the vicinity happened to read lips, they might catch something akin to; "...nowhere near as cute as you thought it was, but then again, this probably ain't all that cute, either."

Whoop. Sound back on. "Anyway. If you're absolutely sure you're okay, before we go lookin' for somethin' new to joyride around the cosmos in, why don't we see about a change a' clothes for you, first, huh?"

Breathe In Half Stop (Ch. 3b: Day 1, pt. IV)

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