Note to self: Don't Anger The Customer (Open)

[Anonymous]

"You can't leave us here![/b]" The necromancer shrieked against the deafening roar of the engine as the ship's doors ground to a close and it prepared to pull away.  The roughened features of a middle aged centaur appeared in the porthole, an unpleasant smile etched across his lips.  A hand raised and he waved at her, pretending to be oblivious to the obscenities being screamed at him from the sealed bay door.  

"Two-faced, double-crossing little pissant!" She spat, fist hammering fiercely against the window as if breaking it would buy her a spot on the ship that was now pulling away from Cancer.  A grunt of anger and a booted foot struck out, hitting the door of the bay hard, her fists bunching at her sides as she glared at the retreating ship.  That had been her taxi home.  Her luggage.  Her payment for the job.  Everything save for her pouch of tools that was slung about her hips.  Tools of the trade, they were.  Seemingly random objects, small animal skulls and various dried and reasonably fresh appendages that would have customs stringing her up by her ankles if she took a public transport home.

So screwed.

"Congratulations." She declared to no one in particular.  "You managed to whore me out and get us stranded on this station for who knows how long."  Her expression tightened and beneath the skin there was a shift.  A subtle slither of light behind her eyes and everything skewed.  Her manner changed; seeming to hang looser than before, her back dropping to thud against the sealed door behind her, eyes roaming lazily across the platform.  Those eyes flicked over the occupants that had stopped to look at her, but didn't react.  She carded her fingers through the board-straight hair, a mottle of blues and reds that hung loose beyond her shoulders.

"Me?"  The tone was slower as if it took too much effort to speak.  Rougher around the edges than before, she started talking to 'herself'.  "The half-breed weren't gonna pay us anyway.  I were just tryin' to get us a little extra for the trouble."  

She slid her hand into the pocket of her pants beneath her tunic, pulling out a pendant of precious metal.  On the end, a fat emerald sat, glinting invitingly.  The woman, despite having pulled it from her own pocket, looked surprised.  She snatched it with her other hand and held it up, both horrified at what she saw, and calculating its worth.  

"Where did you get that? That was on his--When did you--?" That tense, angry tone filtered back into her voice, the switch flagging a change not just of attitude, but of person.  When two women occupy the same body, things can get...complicated.

"You was sleepin'.  I didn't reckon it was my place to disturb you.  I'm nice like that.  Considerate, like."  

She rolled her eyes at herself and pushed away from the door, her fingers dropping to check her pouch instinctively, before slinging the heavy pendant around her neck and dropping it beneath her shirt.  She didn't fancy getting herself strangled should someone take a shine to it, after all.  

She didn't walk from the platform, but swaggered instead through the station, eyes skipping constantly across her surroundings as she tried to get her bearings and work out where to go from here.  There were occasions where she would seem to dance on the spot.  Pulling to a halt unexpectedly and turning one way, taking half a step before being yanked back to the middle again.  She would appear to argue with herself before dragging herself in another direction before continuing on in her usual lengthy-stride swagger.

A discontented grumble left her and she stepped through a doorway held open for her by a passing patron.  Music thrummed above them, a constant wave of ever-changing light flowing like water by the ceiling, the colours shifting with the tempo of the music.  It was calm today.  That's exactly what she needed.  She crossed the bar, dropping clumsily into a seat near the door, slouching down and cocking one leg up onto the neighbouring seat.  She shifted uncomfortably, taking up space but not pausing the pursue the digital menu that was projected onto the table's surface.  There was no money to be had.  She needed to sort her thoughts out, something which was easier said than done.

"We're stuck on this station until we magically pull money out of our ass to pay for transport.  We have an appointment tomorrow.  We're screwed.  We'll lose our clientèle and end up resorting to your line of work, Tal."  Ah, so the rougher voice, the other half of her had a name of its own.  

"Yeah, because playin' with dead bodies is plenty more respectable than selling your body.  we'd be worth more if you'd actually bring up a couple o' stiffs.  We could use the muscle, right?"
"There'll be no stiffs of any kind.  Get it? I don't do that.  Not anymore."

Heads turned to look at the woman slouched in her seat, arguing with herself.  She didn't look like her cheese had slid off her cracker...Or at least, she wouldn't if she stopped talking.

[Anonymous]

Daien was an overbearing, slimy asshole who always seemed to somehow trick her into doing more than was in her job description. She had lost count of the number of times she had done and every time couldn’t work out how. Many times she promised herself it wouldn’t happen again… but it always did.

     Pi didn’t really have an official job title but her two main tasks were to keep an eye on the happenings in the Cancer and report it and get the crew jobs, preferably jobs that were legal. This job description did not include find passengers so the crew could earn a little bit of money with the fare. The kinds of people who wanted trips across the galaxy and didn’t have access to a proper ship were freaks, weirdos and generally beings that had a screw loose. And in her search for passengers for the Amadriegar she had seen her share of nutters.

     After searching to no avail she had decided to go for a drink in the usual bar, the Songbird where the crew of the Amadriegar, all 19 of them including the robot canine Dharma who had a liking for whisky, had a tab and she could order anything she wanted and as much of as she wanted. And right now she just felt like getting smashed so she wouldn’t have to remember the awful and terrifying day.

     However when she stepped into the bar, sat at a table near the door was a perfectly normal young woman…except she was talking to herself quite loudly and obviously.

     “Argh!” Pi thought, “Do I attract the mentally subnormal?”

     She strode over to the bar quickly, her flowing sari brushing the ground as she went.

     “The usual,” Pi said to Yarrow, the bar’s owner, “Triple.”

     “That bad?” Yarrow laughed.

     “Daien wants passengers,” she explained, “I’ve been interviewing weirdos all day.”

     She downed her drink which seemed to be a strange blue and green swirling liquid that seemed to smoke a little, “Another.”

     After receiving her second drink she glanced across at the people in the bar, most of whom were watching the strange girl near the door who was still talking to herself.

     "We're stuck on this station until we magically pull money out of our ass to pay for transport. We have an appointment tomorrow. We're screwed. We'll lose our clientèle and end up resorting to your line of work, Tal."

     At the word ‘transport’ Pi’s ears pricked up. Hmm…Well she guessed she had seen worse weirdos today. She downed her second drink and strode across the girl.

     “Hello, I couldn’t help overhearing that you’re looking for transport. I represent a ship called the Amadriegar.”

[Anonymous]

Things were not going well.  Pandora had received the evil-eye when she had slid into the seat without intending on ordering anything.  She debated with herself whether or not she would be allowed to stick around.  Taking up space and not spending money was generally frowned upon.  However, given the performance this far, no one had approached.  While weird people were not uncommon, it didn't make them any less of a potential threat Sometimes the appearance of insanity worked in one's favour.

When the sound of footfalls grew closer, she bickering a little quieter with herself over whether or not to order something cheap.  The debate wasn't so much in the ordering but more whose tab to put it on.   When they drew to a stop by her table, her eyes dropped to said boots then travelled up to look the owner over.  A woman.  Pandora blinked her brown eyes at her and shifted in her seat, reaching to the place where she would usually keep her money.  

"Alright," She began.  "We--I'll buy a dri--"

“Hello, I couldn’t help overhearing that you’re looking for transport. I represent a ship called the Amadriegar.”

Well that was a turn up for the books.  Her expression shifted and she slouched a little more into her chair, hitching an elbow over the back of the seat, she slid her feet from the chair and kicked it out for her.

"Let me handle this." She muttered under her breath.
"Ah, but I never get to run the show--"
"My body, my rules. Shh."  She cleared her throat and let a smile trickle across her lips, attempting to look more...normal? She wasn't even sure what that resembled these days.

She extended her hand--the nails tipped with chipped red paint, a cheap, silvery chain hung from her wrist.  

"Pandora."  She offered, then without considering her personal safety when hitching a ride with strangers, without hesitating to wonder whether or not they'd take her to where she needed, she got straight to the point.

"I need to get to Aedolis.  I have a business appointment."  Her face spasmed as she swallowed a scoff.  Straightening her expression out once against appeared to be a bizarre internal fight.  "Are you heading anywhere near Haviah?" She could commute from there easily enough and she knew at least one man who got such a hoot out of the walking freakshow that he'd get them to where they needed to be from there.  

She shifted in her seat, ankles crossing (though that was the only lady-like thing she was capable of) and her back hunching as she clasped her hands on the table, doing her best to avoid the baleful glare of a nearby bar-staff who was scrubbing a neighbouring table so ferociously that it looked like it might fall through.  

"What'll it cost to get u--me that far?"

[Anonymous]

Pi accepted the seat when the girl pushed it out for her and listened to her request.

     “Aedolis huh?” Pi said, “That shouldn’t be any problem. As for how much it’ll cost I don’t know, you can negotiate that with the Captain. It usually depends on distance and how much luggage you have. The ship should arrive in the Cancer soon, you can ask him then. Oh, my name’s Pi by the way.”

     Well…it wasn’t really but that’s what everyone called her, she disliked her real name anyway.

     She then noticed the sound of rapid scrubbing noises, she turned and noticed
Oleander was frowning at the girl as he scrubbed a table ferociously, Oleander was Yarrow’s son and not really as friendly as his father was. Pi smiled sweetly at Oleander causing him to falter then turned to the girl.

     “Do you want anything to drink? The crew has a collective tab here so I’ll just put it on that.”

     Oleander looked a little more appeased now and headed off to scrub another table.

     Pi couldn’t help noticing how the girl’s face seemed to twitch a bit and how she would occasionally mutter to herself. Well…Pi had known Pandora was a bit odd when she approached. She imagined there were far crazier people on the ship though; to co-pilot Tasanee sprang to mind… Whenever she was flying the ship alone the whole crew feared for their life.

[OOC Yarrow and Oleander along with another of my characters Azalea run a bar in the Cancer Red District so whenever I do a plot in a bar there and the other player doesn't specify what it is I just use the bar they own called the Songbird. Sorry for being crafty lol, I haven't used those three character yet so I try and squidge them into to my other posts ^^]

[Anonymous]

She observed the woman as she in turn looked at her.  Both of them looked as though they had something more to say.  Pandora was conflicted as to why the woman would so readily offer a place on a ship to someone who was so...odd.  Not that she wasn't grateful, of course--it was just peculiar.  She must have been really desperate.

"W--I don't have any luggage."  She had to correct herself; this wasn't the first time she'd slipped up in public.  When you were joined so closely with someone else it was hard to see yourself as an individual anymore.  However, for the sake of a ride, she wanted to appear as normal as possible and not give anyone a reason to kick her off before they reached land.  Space deaths were messy affairs.

"Well I did but it's long gone.  Centuar called Joranae...forgot... to give it back."  

Nilo Joranae; a hothead and modernised Centuar whose claim to fame was the various bars and other entertainment facilities he owned.  Mostly bought and constantly expanding.  Unfortunately for all his modern ventures, he still held certain things close.  One being the crossing of a soul from one plane unto another.  That was, of course, where Pandora had come in.  Until Taliana had attempted a little business venture of her own, that is.

She thought of the pendant, and whether it would suffice as payment.  She could always offer them a consult if there was nothing else.  

The offer of a drink sold half of her.  She pitched forward, slapping her palms on the table suddenly, her expression oddly different, her entire demeanour shifting for a couple of words.

"Hell ye--"

Her hands came up, her eyes flooded briefly with fear as she clamped her own mouth shut, skin hitting skin with a painful sounding slap.  She rocked back, legs kicking out on instinct.  Her chair rocked back a couple of feet.  

She recovered dramatically, removing her hand and appearing to regain control.  However, the strike of her own hand had left a white mark across her jaw.  

"That's kind of you.  Very kind.  I would love anything non-alcoholic."  

A shadow passed over her face and she looked devastated at the idea of a drink without a kick.  Her left arm raised and her fingers snapped, fine bangles on her wrist sliding down her arm with the motion.  She caught the eye of the young man who had been furiously scrubbing the table.  

"Anything without alcohol that's not extortionate."  She looked away before she could receive any filthy looks.  There had been plenty of those for one day.

She folded her arms against her belly, regarding the woman with a curious eye.

"So what sort of name is, 'Pi'?"

[Anonymous]

“Yep Tasanee and Pandora are going to get on just fine,” thought Pi after the girl’s little display.

     She seemed to be schizophrenic or possibly some kind of strange being with two souls in one body.

     Pi laughed at the woman’s comment about her name, she got that a lot, “It’s not my real name, my real name’s Phelia Circle but everyone on the Amadriegar just calls me Pi. I don’t like ‘Phelia’ anyway.”

     It sounded too formal and like an old-woman’s name and just calling herself ‘Circle’ sounded strange.

     “You say that Joranae ‘forgot’ to give your luggage back. Yep sounds like him. Yarrow, that’s the owner of the bar, doesn’t like him either he tried to buy this place. Didn’t like the answer.”

     Pi then remember how part of Pandora had loved the idea of an alcoholic drink, “You can have an alcoholic drink if you want, god knows the Captain’s made me do more than my job description today.”

[Anonymous]

Most people who met her assumed schizophrenia.  Others, who had the misfortune to see it often enough to recognise it, assumed possession.  Both were accurate in their own way and both earned themselves an uneasy atmosphere.

Pandora snorted softly at Pi's reaction to Joranae.  Arrogant little shit, that one, and as skilful as he was and as successful as he had become, he was a child at the core--like all males.  

"Bet he didn't.  If things don't go his way, it tends to end badly."  Hence why she was stuck on this station, scrounging for a ride.

At the second offer for a drink, before Tal could intervene, she shook her head violently.  "No.  No--absolutely not.  Thank you, but no.  Can't afford it--"

"Oh come on!" She interrupted herself.

"No. Uh...Lightweight.  One drink and there will be nudity, dancing and probably violence.  And vomit--" she chucked that bit in just to drive the message home.  "-loaaaaads of vomit.  Projectile, usually.  Best if I stick to the tame stuff."  She admitted, looking most disappointed.  

She cleared her throat, features rearranging themselves into something resembling curiosity.  A subject change might be in order--the less Tal was tempted, the better.  So, she groped lamely for a topic, eyeing the bar employee as he begrudgingly set the drink down, giving her a pointed look.  Pandora wondered if the ground in this place would open up and swallow her until he went away.  Then, just like that, his attention switched, along with his demeanour, to look at Pi.  

"Usual?" He asked.

Pandora waited quietly until he left, then leant forward in her seat, ankles clocking around the front legs of her chair.  

"So, I'm not that in-the-know about ships and that.  What do you do on the err...Armadriegar?" Boy, that was a mouthful and a half.

[Anonymous]

Pi nodded when Oleander if she wanted her usual again, she wasn’t worried about getting tipsy, her usual drink was strong enough to kill an adult human male but she wasn’t quite human, at least not completely and it took a lot more than three drinks to get her drunk. It was very amusing when she challenged stubborn alpha-male type humans to drinking competitions. They never learned.

     “Anything really,” Pi said in response to Pandora’s question, “Whatever jobs they get offered. I’m not usually on the ship most of the time, my job is to stay on the Cancer and get jobs for the crew. The usual sort thing is transporting goods, passengers and the like.”

     It probably wasn’t a good idea to mention some of the other jobs they did, for all she knew Pandora could be a spy. The crew had gotten involved in things like kidnapping, theft, sabotage, anything that most government would frown upon.

     “What do you do Pandora…and…um friend?” Pi asked, it was obvious by now that Pandora was more than one ‘person’.

     She might be in a profession that was interesting or useful. Though if it was magic based then Seraphita might not be too pleased, she hated anything that was ‘unscientific’.

[Anonymous]

(Guh, SO sorry! I've had some things I've had to be dealing with, IRL and on another board, but it's levelling out now, at last : ) )

Drinks were set down before them and Pandora snatched up her own with a little too much enthusiasm.  She stuck her nose in it first, giving it a suspicious sniff (it wouldn't be the first time someone had tried to poison her) before touching her lips to the rim of the glass and taking an experimental sip.  Zesty.  It would suffice.

She eyed Pi's drink with curiosity, but seemed ready to refuse any offers for sips...Though she didn't expect the woman sitting opposite her to want to share germs with someone as...colourful as she.

"You stay 'ere?" She blinked and cast a glance around the bar--both at the furnishings and the people that occupied it.  "Really? Dun't you ever get, like,...itchy?"  An honest enough question asked with a pitch and tone that varied subtly from the one she had been using before.  The bold way she questioned the other woman's working arrangements was enough to attest to a change within Pandora.

Unfortunately, the query into her own affairs only made her burst out laughing.  She laughed as if her voice was coated in grease and grit.  It was filthy, with no hope of redemption.  It was, however, heartfelt.  

"She..." She thrust a thumb at her own chest.  "She ain't my friend."

"Absolutely.  She's my...tormentor?"

"The life of your non-existent party.  My prison warden."  

The exchange was oddly smooth, and much bolder now that Taliana was no longer keen on keeping schtum.  Her demeanour, the softness of the eyes, The way her body tensed and relaxed was seamless.  

"I don't do much, I run a business of my own, it's--"

"--she's just being modest." Interrupted Tal.  "Our Pan' 'ere is a bringer of hope! Good will! Peace o' mind an' a valiant soldier in the war against evil deeds an' all that crap."

"I'm a Necromancer," Pandora explained sheepishly as the blood rushed to her cheeks.  "Freelance.  You name it, and if it involves something dead, I'll do it.  I'd give you my card but they're on the ship with Joranae."  She shrugged helplessly.

"They were lovely though.  Very tasteful." Piped up Tal.  "Taliana Grimwire, by the by.  I don't deal with the dead people.  I'm the sidekick."

[Anonymous]

“She certainly is a paranoid thing,” Pi thought when Pandora sniffed the drink

     Did she think it’d be poisoned or something? That wasn’t really Pi’s style…okay yes it was but she didn’t just poison random people she knew nothing about. She only poisoned people who deserved it. Then again she didn’t really know all that much about Pandora so for all she knew the girl might deserve it.

     She then noticed Pandora, or maybe her other half eyeing her drink, “I wouldn’t try it if I were you. You’ll die, or possible have severe liver damage.”

     If a drink smoked it was always a good sign it was potentially dangerous.    

     “You stay ‘ere?” Pandora asked in response to Pi’s comment that she lived at the Cancer.

     She looked around, "Really? Dun't you ever get, like,...itchy?"

     Pi laughed, “No, not here, here. I have a residence on the Cancer. Quite an interesting place to live to say the least.”

     ‘Pandora’ seemed to be acting differently now so it looked like the other half had emerged.

     “She…She ain’t me friend.”

     "Absolutely. She's my...tormentor?"

     "The life of your non-existent party. My prison warden."

     Okay…this was going to get confusing. It seemed that Pi had been right in her assumption though; two souls one body.

          "I don't do much, I run a business of my own, it's--"

      "--she's just being modest .Our Pan' 'ere is a bringer of hope! Good will! Peace o' mind an' a valiant soldier in the war against evil deeds an' all that crap."

     "I'm a Necromancer. Freelance. You name it, and if it involves something dead, I'll do it. I'd give you my card but they're on the ship with Joranae."

     "They were lovely though. Very tasteful. Taliana Grimwire, by the by. I don't deal with the dead people. I'm the sidekick."

     Pi’s head was starting to hurt now. Maybe Pandora and ‘Taliana’ were too weird even for Daien to handle. Oh well, it would serve him right.

     “Nice to meet you Taliana.”

     And Pandora was a necromancer, Seraphita was going to love that. As was Nafet the doctor, he’d probably be too terrified to leave the infirmary if there was a necromancer on board. Though, Daien could handle it or more correctly, she’d make him handle. She suppressed her evil grin at the thought.

     Her thought’s were then interrupted by the beeping of her communicator.

     “Excuse me a second,” Pi said politely to the pair.

     It had one message displayed, “Hiya babe, we’re docking now ^^”

     She put it back in her pocket then downed her drink, “The Amadriegar’s here now. Shall we?”

[Anonymous]

"You're a freak." Pandora hissed to herself as Pi got up from her seat.  "You have to open your mouth, don't you? Can't just leave well enough alone."

"I dunno what you mean."  Talk crooned in her smoothest of accents.  She crossed her ankles and planted her palms flat against her knees in an expression of eerie innocence.  "She's fine.  She's prob'ly just gone to make arrangements.."

"Yeah, for her escape.  Ungh."  She struck her palm flat against her forehead with an exasperated groan.  This was how it went down so often.  Taliana couldn't bare to be left out of any conversation for too long, and invariably when people discovered what appeared to be wrong with her. they either made a sharp exit, or they turned out to be even weirder than she.

She was however, pleasantly surprised when Pi turned and didn't flee.  So when she announced their departure, she snatched up her drink and knocked it back in three impressive gulps. A swipe of a hand across her mouth and the scraping of a chair, she virtually skipped towards the door of the bar, offering any onlookers a tip of her imaginary hat.  

She dipped a hand into the pocket of her tunic, feeling the cool metal of her 'fare' for the trip.  she hoped it would be sufficient to at least let her planet-hop.  She dreaded to think what alternative Taliana would offer up.

She slid her hand deeper into her tunic and entwined her fingers around her payment.  She didn't want it going walk-about.  

"Lead on, Pi." She said, casually jilting her chin in the direction of the signs that pointed the way to the various docks.  

"An' on the way," oozed that roughened tone, "yeh can tell us what that verifiable acid were that yeh just downed."  

The way to the docks was familiar to her.  She had swaggered this way once before, albeit her head not entirely on where she was going.  Still, she managed to avoid looking like a tourist, and only hesitated once they reached the walkways for various platforms.  

"I might be a bit late in asking, but..." She hesitated for a beat, wondering if it was a waste of time to ask.  "Exactly what sort do you work for on this ship? Anything we should be watching out for?"

[Anonymous]

[OOC o.O Why did they have to ask what the drink was >.< I had to go on wiki and try and work out what could be in it o.O My science nerd brother helped too ^^]

     “Lead on, Pi.”
They began walking past the various bars and shops that existed on the Cancer. Some were black market places, some were legal and then there were those which were a bit of both like Immortal Artefacts for one.

     "An' on the way, yeh can tell us what that verifiable acid were that yeh just downed." Taliana continued.

     Pi laughed, “Oh it’s just ethanol and absinthe with a hint of aniseed, a bit of blue food colouring and some potassium particles. It’s not really that acidic though, ethanol has a lower PH than water.”

     They entered the docks and began walking along the walkways.

     "I might be a bit late in asking, but...Exactly what sort do you work for on this ship? Anything we should be watching out for?"

     That was a far question. How best to explain them…

     “Well…they’re quite a varied bunch. Some are pretty normal, some are arrogant bastards, some are a tad strange and well the rest…well like I said, they vary a lot; from normal to insane to ‘put me out of my misery now’.”

     Maybe that wasn’t the best analogy to use around Taliana and Pandora, but they’d probably get worse insults on the ship by certain members. Kaiya seemed to spring to mind. Hopefully she’d be her usual anti-social self and just not talk to the pair.      

     Pi then spotted the Amadriegar. It looked like it had once been silver and there were some shiny patches left but overall it had dulled to a dark grey. The shape of it suggested it was a transport ship but the weapons said otherwise. At one time, yes it had been a transport vessel but had been added to and modified since then.

     She led Pandora/Taliana down the steps to just in front of the ship.

     “This is the Amadriegar. Not really all that much to look at but she flies well.”

     Someone came down the ramp then, a large muscular man covered in several scars. He had short brown hair and a generally bored look on his face.

     “Hello Hamite, I managed to get Daien a passenger. This is Pandora…or Taliana”

[Anonymous]

(I had complete deja vu. I was convinced I had responded to this before I left.  What a noob I am.)

She did not follow Pi's explanation of the drink--or rather, she did, but Taliana's inability to grasp it, her distracting thoughts and general over-active mind made following Pi's description more difficult.  Unfortunately, the moment science entered the equation Taliana made life terribly difficult.  It was one of a large number of reasons she had never approached TRIM.  As talented as she thought she was, the nitty-gritty workings of her abilities, the study of the biology, chemistry and physics that came with it, were all slowed down by a niggling urge to run the hell away.  There had even been occasions when she'd gotten herself into a conversation with a magi-physics enthusiast when her leg had started twitching involuntarily.  However, it had been the constant yawning that had lost her the man's fascinating company.

Pale hands grasped the pendant tighter as they entered the docking platforms, gaze skipping over the various ships.  Taliana became disheartened by the clumsy bulk of the  Amadriegar--transports, bah.  She was starting to regret not keeping her hands to herself.

Best not make the same mistake on this vessel, or she might get herself stuffed into one of those gun canons.

She sidled up next to Pi, one foot doing a semi-nervous twitch against the titanium grating.  She seemed very focused on the approaching figure, and spoke at a hiss out of the side of her mouth.

"His arms are the size of my legs..."  She had to resist the urge to take a step back as he approached. They straightened as he neared, and stole a cursory glance up and down now he was closer.  He looked normal.

She stuck out her hand.

"Hello.  I'm perfectly normal--"
"HAH!" The sudden outburst caused her whole body to jolt, as if she'd startled herself.  "What the hell were that, Pan? 'I'm perfectly normal'?"

"Shh."  She tried to speak without moving her lips.  All she succeeded in doing was looking constipated.  "He could snap you like a twig."  
"Mmhmm.  I'm 'avin' an off day, matey.  Taliana at your service.  Well, not your service, I'm 'en't allowed to do that anymore, but I'm at your disposal to do passenger-like things."

This was going much better than her last trip.

[Anonymous]

Pi laughed when Pandora introduced herself as ‘perfectly normal’ and when Taliana interrupted. Hamite raised an eyebrow at the odd girl but Pi knew he was amused.

     “Charmed,” Hamite grunted in his usual emotionless way.

     “Anyway,” Pi said, “I’m going to escape now before Ka emerges.”

     Ka was the ship’s resident weapon’s expert and an insufferable flirt especially towards her. He was too much of an idiot for her tastes though.

     There was a strange crackling noise then, which was the sound of the intercom at the top of the ramp.

     “Pi don’t leave me! I’ve missed you!”
     Pi clamped her hand to her face in exasperation.

     “That’s Ka,” she explained to Pandora/Taliana, “And he isn’t the weirdest of the crew. Don’t worry you’ll be fine. Now excuse me while I make a run for it.”

     She strolled off briskly leaving the two girls with Hamite.

     “Follow me,” he grunted.

     He began heading up the ramp towards the bridge not bothering to check if there were following. This Pandora or Taliana or whatever her name was seemed rather interesting and he suspected Pi had chosen them as revenge on the captain. Not that the idiot didn’t deserve it.

     He entered the bridge which was full of hanging wires and machine parts. Several of the control panels had been dismantled and tools and bits of metal and tube were lying everywhere.

     “Watch your step, we’re re-wiring and making repairs,” Hamite explained.

     Sat in the pilots chair with his feet resting on the console was a man in his late thirties with untidy brown hair, dressed in a long coat. He seemed to be asleep.

     “That’s the captain,” Hamite said indicating the sleeping man.

     He climbed over the machines and roughly shook the man awake.

     “Wha!”

     He awoke with a start and promptly fell off the chair, causing himself to become entangled in many wires in the process.

     “A passenger,” Hamite said simply.

     The man rolled over to look at the Pandora/Taliana.

     “Oh hello!” he exclaimed, “Captain Daien Harlite at your service!”

[Anonymous]

Pandora ducked in all the right places.  Sometimes the misses were near ones, however.  This was a far cry from the luxuries of other ships she'd travelled on, but then again, she'd also been on worse.  There had been a time when she was a child, when Pandora had travelled from Libra and home again in a transport ship smaller than this one with her father.   They had smuggled themselves on board but she hadn't known it at the time.  They had taken up 'seats' between crates of livestock until they reached planetside.  She had been too afraid to sleep, sitting opposite a heavily reinforced crate that growled and shook every few minutes.  

Hopefully she would not be put in with any livestock today.

She felt as if the ground had shifted beneath her; a child again, stood before the drowsy looking captain of a ship, her escort come and gone, leaving her in the alien company of a man and his crew.  What if her fare wasn't enough?  What if Taliana tried her old tricks again?

She groped around for some confidence and sucked it up.  She would have to make do with the hand she was dealt.  She wasn't dependent on Pi before she had arrived, why should she feel so lost in her absence now?  Maybe it was the idea of being snagged and being chucked into a vessel with barely a, 'see ya!'

When the captain got himself together to offer her a greeting, Pandora wasn't sure what to do.  So her left hand came up of its own violition as she spoke, offering a casual salute.  

"Pandora Lyle."  She offered, though remembered rather quickly that she had introduced herself as Taliana a moment ago, to the other crew member.  Thankfully, her counterpart didn't miss a beat.  "An' Taliana Grimwire.  Pleased to be makin' yer acquaintance. "  She offered, giving the bulky man who had shown her the way a wary glance before offering her hand.  

"Money's like discussing freelance harlots in the red district--a dirty topic--but we ain't fancyin' getting' dropped out the ship half way to our destination, yeah?" She dipped her hand into her pocket, pulling out the pendant Taliana had lifted from the neck of the centuar.  The emerald managed to catch the light that illuminated the bridge.  ""We're headed to Aedolis.  Will this get us that far?"

[Anonymous]

[OOC, sorry I'm head-hopping a lot o.O I'll probably hop into Tasanee's next play her for the rest of the thread]

Okay…Daien thought, two people…in one body?

     “Pi, you devious bitch,” he thought.

     He wasn’t going to turn the odd woman away but still, Pi had definitely planned this.

     “Urm…Can I call you Paliana? Or maybe Tandora?” he said cheerfully, it wouldn’t be right to show her he thought she was a freak.

     Using the wires for support, he got to his feet and dusted himself off. He then glanced at the emerald the girl pulled from her pocket and suppressed a whistle. Someone else in the room however didn’t bother to be polite.

     From behind one of the control panels a head popped up, a female one with long tied-back blonde hair and green eyes.

     “That’s quite a rock you’ve got,” the girl giggled, “Steal it from anyone I know?”

     Hamite frowned at the girl before proceeding to throw a spanner in her general direction, “Don’t be so rude.”

     “What?” the girl demanded as she climbed over the panel to stand next to the much larger man, “She don’t look like she got much money so she must have stolen it. We steal stuff as well if I remember correctly!”

     Daien at times wondered why he had hired that particular girl, Tasanee the co-pilot. She was rude, crazy and if she ever flew the ship by herself they entire crew were left wishing they’d made out their wills. However as a navigator and co-pilot she was the best around.

     Tasanee wiped her hands on the seat of her overalls and held one out to Pandora/Taliana, “Name’s Tasanee, nice to meet’cha.”

     “Anyway…”Daien said interrupted the gathering of the insane, “That rock is far too much, maybe you have something a little less valuable? What’s your profession? Maybe you could provide a service as payment.”

     As long as it wasn’t prostitution, anything else was fine.

[Anonymous]

Well that was a blow! Prostitution--or freelance pleasure seeker--was Taliana's calling, once upon a time.  It was distressing for Pandora, who had to resist the occasional compulsion to buy six inch heels.  However, fortunately Taliana kept her mouth shut and though Pandora hesitated, she did speak up.  

"I guess your um..." What was the woman's title? She had no idea about ship-lingo.  "Your Pi should have told you.  I'm a necromancer."  And it was a full time job, at that.  To her left, a man was staggering around with a sword thrust through his belly.  Blood dripped from the wound, along the edge of the blade.  The fact that no one else seemed to take any notice of him told her that he was indeed, dead.  That was the problem with dead people.  It could be difficult sometimes to tell who were dead and who were recently injured.  That was why she didn't like stepping onto the battle field.  For her it was much more crowded than it was for everyone else.

He seemed to see her, though.  He stumbled over and Pandora tried not to look.  Instead she smiled at the captain, managing not to wince as the ghost stopped beside her, face coming in close to hers.

Do I know you?  He asked.  Pandora didn't react.  React, and they wanted the world.  React and she would feel obliged to help.  

I'm sure I know you...

"I err, don't know how much use it'd be to you, but if you want my services in exchange for a trip, I'd be happy to.  You name it, and so long as it involves a dead person, I'll do it."

Ah hah! The ghost said, so close she could feel the odd, tingling cold his presence brought with him.  Necromancer.

"I mean I can see you have...one or two spectres present.  Do they cause any upset?"

[Anonymous]

So she was a Necromancer, that would come in handy, as long as they could keep it a secret from Seraphita.

     “A Necro huh?” Daien replied, “Well we might have a job for you there!”

     He was a little surprised when she said there were one or two spectres present, in the bridge? He knew there were some in the rest of the ship but he hadn’t been aware of any in the bridge…oh well.

     “I didn’t know there were spectres in the bridge area so the ones here obviously don’t cause any trouble. There’s a particular one that wanders the mecha holding bay and lab though.”

     They all knew who the ghost was, just not how to get rid of it. It was one of the former mecha pilots, Nefel, her mecha Blanc had come loose from its restraints and fallen on her. Her spirit wandered around the weapons lab and where the mecha were stored, generally causing upset. Daien had always found it odd that she would haunt them though; in life she had been a really sweet girl who wouldn’t hear a bad word against anyone.

     “We know whose ghost it is, just not how to make it leave or really why it’s upset.”

[Anonymous]

She shook her head, looking somewhat uncomfortable with what she was about to say.  "They can move."  She explained, desperately trying not to let her vision pass sideways as the ghost came to stand behind her.  He phased himself through her, so that, to her, it looked as though she was skewered.  Pandora shuddered.

"Not just at any time, though.  Typically ghosts--especially ghosts who die of unnatural causes--will wander the area they were killed.  It's instinctive, see.  But me..." She frowned, hearing Taliana's warning tone inside her head.  If they did this then they would have to see it through to the end.  "Think of me as a magnet, and ghosts as fragments of metal."

"They're like a bloodhound with the scent, like."  Chipped in Tal.  "Winged monkies with a victim.  A proper good one,too."

A halo.... whispered the ghost, his hand passing through her features, trying to grasp the ethereal glow he could see around her upper body.  A glow that was, of course, invisible to the eyes of the living.

Like an angel...you must help me.  You must!

Pandora felt a fresh wave of guilt at the thought of ignoring yet another lost soul.  

"Okay..." She began, uncertainly.  It wasn't that she didn't relish her job.  It was just that 50% of the time she was lying.  When she wasn't lying, she was at least, in an open playing field.  This transport ship suddenly got very crowded to her.

"Tell me what I need to know and show me where I need to be.  I have the basics of my kit--" She motioned to the pouch.  "But I need..." showmanship counted for a lot these days.  "an open flame," she caught the girl's eye.  "Candles." She explained.  "Old fashioned, but effective."

"We ain't doin' posession again, are we? D'you even remember that thing with the mage? We nearly got put in lock-up!" She protested.  

"Back off, will you?" She argued, unfastening the pouch from around her waist, loosening the neck with her fingers.

"It gets so crowded...There's barely room for two, yeah?"

"Yeah..." She muttered.  Then, as if nothing had happened, she looked up, stepped through the ghost had was stood nose to nose with her and nodded to those alive in the room.

"Shall we?"

[Anonymous]

Daien climbed over the many obstacles until he reached the door to the bridge. Finally, they could find out what Nefel’s problem was. It saddened him that she couldn’t rest in peace; she had been such a sweet girl.

     “One second,” she said to Paliana once he reached the door to the bridge. He typed the number for the janitor’s closet into the intercom’s keypad.

     “Kaiya, darling you couldn’t find us candles love?”

     There was a disgruntled sound, some shuffling then, “The hell you want candles for? We got perfectly good lamps. You doin’ some kind of séance?”

      “That we are,” Daien replied cheerfully.

     Kaiya sighed, “Hate to tell you this cap’n but you aren’t a soothsayer, voodoo mage, shaman or anything of the sort. So for the last time stop trying to exorcise Nefel! If she don’t wanna leave just deal with it!”

     Daien laughed, “Actually we just took on a passenger and she’s a Necromancer.”

     “You gotta be kidding!” there was a sigh, “Alright…I’ll have a look.”

     “Ta love, bring them to the mecha bay please and thanks.”

     He released the button then turned to Paliana, “All sorted, now onward!”

     He began heading down the corridor, passing a few confused looking crew members.

     “Sorry, you’ve been asked to work after first setting foot on the ship. We don’t usually do that with passengers. Though, I might as well give you some of the tour now!”

     He cleared his throat, “Anyway this is the Amadriegar, modified cargo ship Silverfox class. It has a crew of 19, 13 humans, 2 mages, 1 Lanaerian, 2 Unknowns and 1 Robot Dog. We also have 3 Mechas who aren’t really crew but we still consider them family.”

     Stopping abruptly, he said, “Ah! We are here, this is Weapon’s Lab and beyond it is the Mecha Holding Bay!”

     He pressed the button for the door and entered. Unlike the bridge which was a mess and the corridors where people were constantly milling backwards and forwards, the lab was quiet. There was only person in there, a man with long silver hair and a mopey expression on his face, he was screwing something into a rather large rifle.

     “This is Ka,” Daien explained, “Our weapon’s expert.”

     “Hi,” Ka sad mournfully, “Captain why doesn’t Pi like me!”

     Daien shook his head, and then whispered to Paliana, “Ignore him.”

     He started walking toward the mecha bay where he suddenly felt a cold presence. Ka looked up as well.

     “I…think she’s here…” Ka said.

EDIT
[OOC Nefel has long wavy bluish-white hair and blue eyes, she's quite short and was 19 when she died]