Panties and thievery. [open!]

[Rhi-Rhi]

She found them in her bed while she was getting dressed that morning, the hotel bedsheets rumpled and smelling of booze and lady's perfume: a pair of lacy red panties that looked quite pricy, considering the rhinestones accenting them. Huh! Guess last night must've been a pretty good night! Racking her fogged brain, Trixy could recall snippets and flashes of the event and smiled as she brushed her teeth, applied her makeup, and took stock of the damage to her throat, dark splotches circling her neck like a collar.

Damn. Girl sure did like to bite. Ugh.

Blotting on some concealer and checking herself out in the mirror--short plaid skirt, cute tank top, chunky boots, and fishnets accented with stylish runs, topped off with a gun holstered to her thigh and hidden beneath the skirt--she was then ready to face the day! She threw the panties into her purse, another trophy to add to her growing collection back home. Hey, saved her money on buying new ones herself; lingerie was fucking expensive, and enough people liked stealing hers whenever she threw 'em in the wash and didn't have time to babysit it.

Fuckers.

Shouldering her backpack and her purse, she left the key on the dresser and headed out the door.

And into a clusterfuck.

Her first clue was the gun in her face, held by a stern older woman. At her side was a familiar gal--like, that's the gal I fucked last night sorta familiar, even if it took a couple hazy blinks before recognition dawned.

"Where d'ya think you're going, eh?" she asked, and Trixy blinked blankly.

"Uh...to breakfast?"

"Not without paying for what you bought, you ain't. My girl here says ya stiffed her. Also that she left something behind that she wants back. Pony up, girl."

Aw, shit. So the chick wasn't just a fling; she'd bought herself a whore. Crap. Trixy let out a long sigh and let her shoulders slouch.

"Fine. How much?"

"Whatcha got?"

"Whaaat?"

"You heard me. Empty that purse. Go on. You're a pilot, ain'tcha? You won't miss it."

Trixy glanced around at her setting, at the emptiness around her, and groaned. She was in the cheap part of Cancer. And dammit, she must've done a lot of talking and bragging or something, because now they apparently thought she was loaded.

Fantastic.

[GIR]

It had been a good morning for Drake Morgan. He'd somehow managed to get a decent night's sleep, his prosthetic arm was working beautifully (courtesy of a tune-up the previous day), and his favorite purveyor of sex had agreed to a foursome, so long as he bought the whores. This, naturally, meant a night in a hotel in the cheap part of the station (he didn't like bedding anyone but Alice on his ship, and she explicitly forbade prostitutes on hers, even ones supplied by the leader of their band.). Indeed, the pirate was happier than he'd been in a while, and, from the looks of it, he had all day to go running about Cancer while Alice, who had apparently already left, handled things with the band. As he donned his coat, Drake was already making plans for the day. Normally, he wouldn't have paid any heed to the holdup occurring in the hallway in front of the apartment next to him. He would have just kept on walking, leaving the idiot being held up to sort matters out on their own.

Except that they were blocking the short way to the lobby.

<A whore, her mistress, and a debtor john. Sounds like the start of a bad joke.>, he thought to himself as he drew his own gun, a standard-issue military plasma pistol he'd won off of a fellow pirate in a game of cards, and aimed it at the side of the madame's head in one smooth, swift motion. "You mind taking your stickup somewhere that isn't in my way? I leave port tomorrow and I was hoping to enjoy myself today.", the pirate's cold, almost indifferent tone of voice stated, the question being more of an order than a request. Sure, it was a bit gutsy (some would even say reckless), but Drake had fought much worse and lived. Besides, one did not simply block Drake's path if one intended to remain alive.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Trixy was so focused on the gun, and so into plotting exactly how she was going to talk her way out of this without having her funds totally emptied, that she didn't notice the other dude until Madame Boomstick went stiff.

She soon saw why.

Great! A distraction! In the form of a dude with a gun! That was exactly what she needed!

The Madame's surprise soon turned to annoyance and she narrowed her eyes. It took tough stuff to run a brothel, and she was not about to be so easily intimidated; she dealt with intimidating and dangerous men daily. "Then step around me, lovely. I'm only after this one. Go on, and mind your own damned business."

Trixy pounced upon a golden opportunity.

In the instant that the woman took her eyes off her, Trixy whipped her gun free of its holster, hidden beneath her short skirt, and aimed it at the woman's chest. "Yeah, motherfucker. Listen to the bloke! I don't owe ya nothin'!" She paused, sighed, and reached into her purse.

"Well. I guess 'cept for these. Guess ya can these back," she said with a disappointed shoulder slump, tossing the bejeweled panties to the woman.

[GIR]

Drake grinned. He'd almost forgotten that madames were like pirates in that regard. Still... "Sorry, love, but it's the principle of the matter. I have to say, though... It's refreshing to find someone with the blade to speak to me like that. We wouldn't be having this conversation if you'd done that on my ship.", the man idly commented, "You're still in the way, though. If you want me to go around, you should try cutting down on the ralpher legs.", he sniped, his attention only on the madame and whore enough to react if either was stupid enough to jump. The synthetic skin of his left arm puffed out a bit on his forearm, just in front of the rolled-up sleeve of his jacket, as the plate underneath rose slightly, just enough for a poison pellet launcher underneath to get a clear shot should the need arise. It never hurt to be quick on the draw.

The majority of his attention was focused on the john. <Nice reflexes, kid.>, he thought to himself. Out loud, "So, is there a reason you went and shorted the whoremaster here, kid, or does she just rob people on the side?", he asked, one eyebrow slightly raised as he spoke and looked her over, paying less attention to her clothes than to her stance and her grip on the weapon. Both spoke of formal training, possibly military or security, though there were many mercenary bands who actually cared enough to give their troops training. All the same, she was someone who bore watching. Careful watching. <I'll get Alice or Judith to send a tail after her when I get out of here...>, he thought to himself as he returned his attention to the person he had his pistol aimed at.

[Rhi-Rhi]

"Haha, funny story--I'm actually not sure," Trixy told the man with a sheepish half-shrug. "Either or, I guess. Either way I was drunk an' clearly taken advantage of!"

The brothel owner was not amused, and now she had drawn far more attention than she'd bargained for. With a disdainful sniff, she caught the panties, shoved them at the whore, and turned on her heel with a regal air. "Have it your way," she said and, taking the other woman's arm they both marched back toward the brothel.

Once they were out of sight, Trixy sighed and holstered her gun.

"Huh. Well. Tha' was mildly embarrassin'," she muttered, then laughed. "Or would be if I had any shame."

[GIR]

"That's why you stop before your senses start dulling.", Drake condescendingly replied, "Less of a chance of being taken advantage of.". Kids these days... No clue how to do a proper night of drinking, and even less sense.

"I always do, love. Rarely meet anyone with the blade to best me.", Drake retorted. Was it unnecessary? Perhaps. Stupid? For anyone else, maybe.  But it was one of those pointless things that Drake did for reasons even he wasn't always sure of, though he suspected it was something of a liking for people coming back to take revenge, only to usually get their asses beat.

"Perhaps you should find some. It might serve to occupy the empty space where your common sense should be.", was Drake's reply, "I'd wager that if I hadn't shown up when I did, you'd have been losing a lot more than a few Rolls*.", he continued, his tone one of disdain. A call to his terminal interrupted the pirate captain's lecture.

"Sir, Alice is wondering where the hell you are. She told me to use those exact words, too.", the voice on the other end announced.

"Tell her I'm busy. And that she can forget about that dinner if she's going to speak to me that way through a hired monkey.", Drake growled. Alice. The one person in his crews who routinely ripped him a new one. Drake shook his head. So much for a day off. "Well, kid, think you can make it around the station without being held up again?", he asked, the question more of an offer than a derision.

[*main currency within the Union of Andromedian Human Holdings (the union to which his home colony belongs)]

[Rhi-Rhi]

Oh jeez, was this guy actually lecturing her? Trixy rolled her eyes and let out a sigh. She lifted a hand and made a talky gesture with it. "Blah, blah, blah, be more responsible, yeah, yeah, I haven't heard tha' one before. Got it, pops, ya done yet or--"

That was when a call interrupted them both. She lifted an eyebrow as she listened in, then smirked knowingly. "Lady problems, hm?" she remarked when he was through. Seemed she wasn't the only one.

At his question, she snorted and pressed the back of her wrist to her forehead in a mock swoon. "Oh, I jus' don't know! Why don'tcha tell me: what'll make ya feel better, bro?"

[GIR]

Lady problems. Right. Drake had many words for the woman who ran his other ship, most of them flattering, some rather strongly not, but 'lady' was not one of them. He rather despised the idea of a lady, or, rather, what millennia of use in the culture of his homeworld had once turned it into (to the point that many of the women there found the word highly insulting). "Woman problems.", Drake replied, "As for that lecture, maybe you'd hear it less often if you actually bothered to listen to it.", he added matter-of-factly.

"I'll take that as an, 'I'm too stupid to keep out of trouble, too arrogant to admit it, and too prideful to accept help.'.", the pirate captain replied, "You remind me of me when I was a stupid brat.", he added, starting back on his way. After a few steps, he stopped. "Oh, one more thing:", Drake turned to face the girl, a rather dangerous half-grin on his face, "Mind your tone.", he growled, left hand extended in front of him as a launcher in the side of his hand shot a small pellet coated in synthetic Draconian tail blade venom at the girl's stomach. It was one of Drake's favorite ways of punishing out-of-line crewmembers who he didn't feel like actually killing. The captain turned and kept walking, activating a barrier generator in his left shoulder.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Anything Trixy had been about to say was lost and forgotten when, completely out of the blue, he shot her.

It may not have been lethal, but Trixy sure didn't know that. The pain that flared up in her belly, spread up through her body, and lit up her nerves like some psychedelic holiday display was enough to make her think that she was dying.

Her breath left her and she collapsed, clutching her belly as she writhed on the dirty ground, for a few moments unable to even scream as the sheer pain stole her voice away. Somehow, she managed to draw in a shaky, ragged breath, and it came back out as a sobbing, shuddering scream.

Oh fuck, oh fuck, the fucker had murdered her!

[GIR]

"That'll learn ya.", Drake scoffed as he kept walking, his voice purposefully loud enough for her to hear. The words were barely out of his mouth when his terminal rang again. "What is it this time?", Drake answered in an icy tone.

"Captain, we've found a stowaway in the Warmonger's hold. I thought you might like to deal with the bastard yourself.", came the reply.

"I take it that's what Alice was pestering me about?"

"That is correct.".

"I'll be there in a bit.", Drake growled. To the injured woman, "If you survive that poison, take it as a lesson to mind your manners around the dangerous people on this station. Or don't, come after me, and get your ass kicked. I'm not sure I care.", he sneered. Sure, the venom wasn't lethal in such a small dose, but it didn't hurt to play it up. He'd been on the receiving end of the natural version of that particular venom enough times to know that it certainly felt lethal. The pirate captain kept walking. <Yep. Whomever said there's no rest for the wicked couldn't have been more right if he'd tried.>, he thought to himself.

[Rhi-Rhi]

Trixy couldn't hear him over the sound of her own labored breathing and sounds of pain, and by the time the pain started to ease up, he was long gone. All she could really do at that point--all she wanted to do at that point--was drag herself to the nearest medic for treatment.

And pass out for the rest of the day. Just getting there had been difficult enough with her muscles spasming in all the worst ways.

Right then, revenge was pretty much the furthest thing from her mind.