Remnants of the Earth
AEDOLIS => Haviah => Topic started by: Anonymous on October 16, 2007, 01:48:44 pm
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Raichou grinned widely at the picture of her latest mark. Whilst she had been at the Space Station Cancer after the little incident with the vampire she had met quite a rich man wanting a certain someone dead. The task sounded interesting so she had taken it up. It was in Aedolis but for a shape shifter, getting in was all too easy, she had smuggled stuff into Edanith before.
So here she was now, in the Red Lit Desires, dressed in a kimono and her silver hair pulled back in a bun. She just hoped she wouldn’t end up servicing someone. Usually she would take on someone else’ shape but what was the point when her normal form was beautiful enough. She was so modest it was scary.
Currently she was serving tea but was also keeping a keen eye out for her target. Her mission was simple, find, eliminate, get out. She didn’t know what the guy had done and frankly she didn’t care as long as got paid and had relieved boredom doing it.
“A tea to room 3, Rae,� her boss told her.
Of course Raichou hadn’t used her real name; that would just be stupid. She collected the tea like the woman told her but in her head she was considering killing her after she had dealt the mark. Then again Raichou was the type of person who was massacre a whole village if should thought it would alleviate her boredom for a few hours.
‘Rae’ knocked on the door and entered when told to do so. She had to suppress her grin when she saw that sitting there was her mark, completely alone. As she placed the tray with the tea on the table she made sure that they knew she was fairly well endowed. Then she subtly checked her dagger and that it was ready to grab at a moments notice. This was going to be too easy.
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Stephen Albert Adrian III had been a very wealthy man during his time on earth, and appriciated the finer things in life. Being served tea and having a chance to admire a beautiful woman were of course parts of that. On Earth, he had bred horses, as earth died and became unfavorable to his trade, he'd began dealing in many other highly proffitable situations. Most, no one could tie to him; he was after all, not a fool when it came to business. He'd taken to dealing in biologicals. With his careful breeding of horses, he'd learned an emense amount about genes, and so biological seemed the next logical place to go-- plus it was in much higher demand than horses were in space.
He was well dressed, finely tailored suit that complimented his stately figure well. He appeared to be in perhaps his forties, but well preserved. He was refined, stately with a mature sort of charm about him, but the picture of perfect health. His hair had the slightest hint of grey at the temples.
"Ah, please, come in" He invited, appriciating her figure in a much more gentlemanly fashion than most clients probably did in a place as this. It was subtle, his eyes didn't linger.
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As Raichou made the tea, her back to the mark she grinned slightly, this was quite interesting. The only thing that would be more interesting would be killing everyone in the brothel and torching the place.
“Actually that’s not a bad idea when I’m done,� she thought to herself.
She turned to the man, smiling less evilly now and said, “White or black? And how many sugars?�
This was going to be too easy. She had noticed the man’s eyes glance over her. It was a little disappointing that he wasn’t like most other men would be, drooling over her with no shame but meh, it made a change.
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Adrian was much too dignified to drool, even if he might have done so inwardly. He was a man, he did have desires, but he was also somewhat old fashioned in certain ideals. Too many men had been brought down by sex scandals. He did not intend to be one of them. "One sugar, just a little cream." He instructed. His voice was not harsh. He'd learned that harsh just brought out the worst in people. Firm was much better, but he had no reason to be firm with Rae. She was giving him womanly company, and serving him tea.
"come, join me" He requested, guesturing to a nearby chair. Traveling for buisness was a lonely position for a man to be in so often. He'd never taken a wife. He'd been too in love with his horses. Now without them, his mind had turned to more carnal needs and domestic possibilities.
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As Raichou made the tea she thought that if she had brought some poison with her she might have been able to spike it, but then again what fun would that be. As she walked across to the ‘client’ she made sure to sway her hips a little, not too much so it looked completely unnatural though.
She set it on the table next to Adrian before sitting down next to him.
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Adrian smiled and took a sip of his tea, giving her a nod of approval. "Tell me, what has the head mistress of this establishment instructed you?" He suspected ownership had changed since when he first started frequenting this place. Communication was easily broken, and instructions were garbled.
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Raichou was a little surprised by the question, why did this guy even care?
She answered anyway, “That I was to serve you tea but it is of course expected of me to keep you company.�
Hopefully he didn’t want a different kind of company, if it came to that well she’d just have to deal with it. He was strange though, no the sort of person you’d expect to come to a place like Red Lit Desires but she guessed you couldn’t judge a book by its cover.
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Adrian nodded slightly. While as a man, of course other company was desired from time to time, but this was not the way to get it in his opinion-- though he had heard many tellings about the skills of the women here. "Well then," he said, taking a sip of his tea "I would say you are doing your job well." He enjoyed tea, he had for many years, and she had served it beautifully.
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Raichou had been told by a few people that she could make tea well, this was rather strange considering she couldn’t have anything with caffeine in it; it threw her powers out of whack.
“I’m glad you like it,� Raichou said smiling her sweetest smile.
All the smiling was making her cheeks hurt, it wasn’t natural.
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Adrian set the cup down again, leaning back in his chair and placing his fingertips together thoughtfully. "Are you treated well?" He asked, thoughts flying through his mind as he spoke. His mind was often a busy place. He was always planning or plotting something.
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“Yes I suppose. My boss is a bit of a slave driver though,� Raichou laughed.
She hadn’t had an opening to kill him yet. If she tried now, he would see and fight back or call for help, she guessed the former. The sooner she dealt with him, the sooner she could leave, murdering the owner on the way and possibly torching the place. She had to suppress her smile at the thought of all the lovely destruction.
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"Do you ever dream of leaving this behind?" He asked, glancing at the door at some outside noise, but disreguarding it and returning his full attention to Rai and the tea. He doubted either of them were going to get much sleep. Tomorrow, he would be on some ship, headed off to another buisness arrangement and wouldn't be able to have a decent conversation, that didn't involve bodyparts, for months. "Is this establishment the answer to your dreams?" Some girls did like their job of satisfying men in various ways, he couldn't understand why exactly, but he'd discovered they did.
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Raichou almost didn’t register Adrian’s question, she was listening intently to the noise outside.
“Shape-shifter! They let a shape-shifter in?� said a frightened woman’s voice, “A potentially dangerous one?�
“Uh-Oh,� Raichou thought, it seemed she might be in trouble.
The only thing that could save her really was the fact that she had started working there at the same time as about 5 other girls. She had as long as it took for them to narrow them down. She would have to be quick.
Realising that Adrian had asked her a question she replied, “Yes, sometimes…�
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"Well" Adrian said thoughtfully. "During my travels, I often desire a companion. Just someone to talk to, have tea with, maybe make a meal or two once in a while." He shrugged "I suppose I'm talking nonsense, but as much as I like my work, it does get rather boring and lonely sailing across the galaxy with a bunch of silent crew."
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“Well that was unexpected,� Raichou thought.
Was he honestly going to take some random brothel he just met with him? Well if he was serious it might be interesting…She could go with him and travel the galaxy instead of killing him. She could kill him later if she got bored. And if he was joking then she could just kill him anyway, it was a win-win situation.
“Oh, did you have someone in mind?� Raichou said sweetly.
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"Well, you're the first to actually serve my tea as I like it and not try to drape yourself over me in search of who knows what. Tips? I could never get it straight from them." He shook his head dismissively. He knew the house madam, and they had a decent relationship. He trusted she knew what she was doing when she chose the girls she sent up to him. "I was thinking you, though we might have to work on getting you to talk a little more. I feel as if I'm carrying the entire conversation on my side." He smiled slightly to show he wasn't upset about it.
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He wasn’t joking. This could be fun, maybe she act a little more like herself, be able to change form in front of him at least.
“Sorry about that,� Raichou laughed, “It’s just we’re expected to be fairly quiet, those who ‘drape themselves over you’ obviously don’t know the etiquette.�
This guy didn’t seem so bad and even if he deep down he was rally a jerk she was a shape-shifter, she could turn into a dragon or a panthera or some other nasty creature and maul him.
“Speaking of which,� she thought, “It might be a good idea to let him know I’m a shape-shifter, then if he doesn’t like it I can just kill him.�
“Oh yeah…� Raichou said, “There’s one thing you might want to know…�
She concentrated on the DNA of her chosen creature then turned into a silver cat.
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Adrian pursed his lips as he looked her over. "Magnificent" He breathed. "Are you able to change into anything? Or just the cat?" He'd heard of both types of shifters, and really, they facinated him. "I do believe, if you were to agree to come with me, we might have to set some ground rules reguarding your...talent there." He raised a finger and continued "Some of the crew men on the ships can be rather superstitious." Some cultures held cats as good luck, others as bad luck, and with the crews being so mixed, it got to be very interesting.
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Raichou turned back into her human form.
“Anything I like as long as I know roughly what the genetic makeup is like,� she replied.
She then turned into a dog, then a mouse, then an eagle and finally Adrian.
“Even you,� she said before turning back into her normal form.
That made things easier; he was actually impressed by her ability. Some people were scared by it.
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Adrian raised an eyebrow "Ah, well, I would have to insist that you didn't impersinate me or crew while on the ship, and I would discourage it while we were on the planets as well. Impersination can bring down trouble faster than many things do." He informed, leaning back in his chair and draining the last of his tea. "But it could come in very handy I imagine." He well knew to take a shifter aboard was a risk. For all he knew, she had killed and replaced the girl the house madam had trusted to serve him, but at the same time, perhaps it was that element of danger that made him so interested in her.
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Truth be told, Raichou didn’t turn into other humans very often, humans were boring. Cats, dogs, birds, rodents, they were all a little bit different; humans were pretty much all the same.
“It does come in handy,� Raichou agreed, “But this is my normal self.�
She wasn’t going to reveal her real name, it was known in too many places.
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Adrian nodded easily, setting his empty cup on the table to allow it to be filled. "Maybe with a little bit of training, you could even help me in my business ventures someday." He had many potentual ideas-- not all of them able to be implimented right away, after all, he hardly knew her, and his business was a sensitive matter. "But, until that time, when I meet clients for business, you would have to stay on the ship until I return for you." He wouldn't confine her there, but he could not have a brothel house whore shapeshifter showing up and scaring away his business. They would not find him trust worthy.
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Raichou didn’t hear what Adrian had said, she was too busy listening to the commotion outside.
“Raichou Fenix! That psychopathic shape-shifter!�
That was the voice of the establishment’s owner and it seemed that ‘Rae’ had been found out. She should just kill Adrian and run but she found she didn’t want to. It was a strange feeling; she had never hesitated about killing anyone before.
The door burst open and the owner and two bouncers came in.
“Sorry to disturb you, sir, but we suspect this girl may be potentially dangerous.
Raichou laughed, so she was ‘potentially dangerous’ now, well that was a milder way of putting it.
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"Oh really" Adrian said calmly "How do you mean?" The look on his face suggested it had better be a good reason for bursting into his room. If he took advantage of all the services available, he could only imagine the scene of them bursting in. A smirk tugged briefly at his mouth. It was quite an image.
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“This girl is Raichou Fenix,� one of the bouncers replied, “She’s been going round the solar system assassinating people and massacring villages for the last three years!�
“And yet, I haven’t been caught yet,� Raichou giggled.
It felt good to have a reputation. Maybe she could add to it by killing the intruders.
Raichou smiled at them sadistically before turning into a dragon with a flash of blue light. The dragon form barely fit in the room and its wings grazed the ceiling. She opened her mouth and roared at the bouncers who nearly turned to jelly in terror.
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"Raichou? Really" Adrian commented, shifting to be missed by a blue wing as she transformed "Madam, I do believe this is the most interesting girl you have set me up with yet." He stated. There were times he needed an assassin, and if he could get Raichou on his side, that would definately be a plus, though from what he knew of her reputation, she wasn't exactly a person who took sides. "Thank you for your concern." He pulled out a device and punched a few keys. Moments later a very stout creature walked up to the room. "Rai darling" Adrian said "could you perhaps be a slightly smaller dragon? I'm feeling a little smothered back here and Gerry there can't come in." He looked to the rest of the of the 'attackers' "And the rest of you are dismissed. I wish to speak with her."
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If she could have spoken, Raichou would have giggled and said ‘of course’ but as she was in a dragon form she couldn’t. Instead she transformed into a five foot tall baby dragon and sat on the floor looking cute.
She was quite surprised that Adrian was even more pleased that she was ‘psychopathic’ assassin than a quiet, shape-shifting brothel girl. He was quite the strange one. The shape-shifter was even more surprised when the owner and bouncer actually left, perhaps they were a little afraid of Adrian.
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"This is Gerry, my personal...assistan t" More like body guard, but he did other things as well. "I may very well have work for you if you're interested in coming with me still." Of course there would have to be precautions in place. Couldn't have an assassin running loose on a ship with no supervision. "Would you still like to leave this place?" Of course technically he would be harboring or something of the sort, but few people actually had the will to go up against him.
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Raichou turned back into a human so she could speak again.
“Sure,� she said, shrugging, “It’s not like I have anything better to do. And besides I used a fake identity to sneak in here anyway. I’ve only ‘worked’ here three days.�
She decided to omit the minor detail that the reason for working there was so she could kill him. Though she suspected he wouldn’t mind that much. She had chosen not to kill him after all.
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"Gerry, summon the transport" He requested before looking at Rai "I suggest we get out of here before your fan club returns." He stated, offering a slight nod to a backdoor he'd insisted be installed. Always have an exit.
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Why Adrian knew there was a back door she didn’t know. Perhaps he was a regular. She followed him anyways, cursing inwardly at how awkward, kimonos were to move in. Because of the inconvenience, she quickly undid it and left it on the floor.
It wasn’t like she was naked underneath it; there just wasn’t much under there, a pair of short, shorts and a strappy vest.
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Adrian glanced at her outfit, but didn't linger. However, it was far more distracting than the kimono was. A pod pulled up at a balcony like docking station at the end of the hall. "Into the shuttle" He requested, opening the door for her. It was a moderate shuttle, not bare bones, but nothing fancy. "Have a seat" He invited, point to a chair with a safety harness.
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Raichou sat down and pulled the clip from her hair, letting her silver locks cascade down her shoulders.
“So where are we going?� she asked.
She wondered what sort of business Adrian was in. It was kind of strange that as soon as n emergency arose he could have a shuttle come straight for him. The shape-shifter wasn’t going to complain though, the more interesting the better.
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Wealth and reputation gave him the opportunity for a great deal of things, escape pods included. She was not the first person hired to assasinate him, and she probably would not be the last. "We're going away from here where we shall be free to talk more freely. Space." He stated. He couldn't reveal exactly where his business transactions might take place. She after all, was not exactly what one would call trust worthy. Even she herself would have to admit that. He settled into a chair and snapped the harness in place, nodding towards her harness. "There have been events of abrupt, evasive measures" He commented mildly.
"I have not fully decided what exactly you need to know. Do you have a pressing question? I may or maynot answer it, but" He shrugged and left it at that. He had not gotten to where he was now by revealing all his secrets.
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Raichou guessed that Adrian wouldn’t tell her exactly where they were going because he suspected she had been hired to kill him. Oh well, it didn’t matter that much anymore. She buckled herself in like he had told her to but she wasn’t a big fan of sitting still. Maybe she could turn into a bat… they could grip things.
She smiled her usual mischievous smile and transformed. Untangling herself from the harness she began to fly around the pod.
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Adrian watched her mildly. She was certainly a fidgety one. He had learned long ago to sit still very well. Fidgeting was a sign that one was not to be trusted-- at least during business. It made one look shady, and he couldn't have that. No one wanted bits of biologicals from a shady man. "I'll take that as a no." He said mildly, turning his attention to reading something on a handheld screne for awhile until he deemed them out of range, or stopped caring. "Please, come join me, and choose a form you can communicate in."
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“Spoil sport,� Raichou thought.
He was obviously annoyed by her inability to sit still for extended periods of time. And by extended she met 60 seconds or more. That’s how she was though, sitting still made her feel like she was doing anything and was incredibly boring.
She did what he said anyway and flew back into her seat before turning into a 6 year old version of herself. She had been stupid, naïve and far too obedient to her grandfather when she had been that age. She was a much better person now, smart, beautiful, talented and a decent fighter if the need arose. And of course she was an expert shape-shifter, better than the old geezer had been.
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Adrian watched her a moment before speaking "You are by no means obligated to come with me. I'm quite willing to drop you off at any station between here and earth if you so desire, however, if you do decide to stay, there will be a code of conduct you are expected to abide by." Once they were on his actual ship, not an escape pod, piloted by a long time servant of his, he certainly couldn't have her flitting around as a bat. The crew would start jumping for the windows, wailing about vampires or some such nonsense that Adrian had very little patience for.
"Would you like to hear the code? or shall we just discuss where we are to land you?" He wasn't one to waste his breath. If she was absolutely uninterested in even the vaguest guidelines being applied to her, then despite her obvious, and less obvious business advantages for his side of things, it wasn't worth potentually loosing his ship.
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What the hell, Raichou kinda liked this guy; she might as well listen to what he had to say.
“Yeah, sure tell me.�
She turned back to her normal form guessing he wanted her to be more serious. She supposed she could sit still and behave for a little while.
Raichou guessed the code conduct for her would be things along the lines of ‘don’t impersonate members of the crew’ that wasn’t a problem humans were boring to turn into anyway, ‘don’t transform in front of the other crew members’ well she would have to work on that one. Maybe if she told herself they weren’t worthy of seeing her ability…
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Adrian observed her for a moment, assuring himself that she was paying attention and he wasn't completely insane by planning to bring her aboard. "On the ship, you are not to impersonate anyone or anything. Do not change outside of your room. If you want to curl up, and sleep in cat form in your own chambers, I have no issue with that...but if someone knocks on that door, I expect you to be able to pop back into whatever humanoid form you have chosen as your own for the duration." He steepled his fingers a moment. He wasn't a man to be hurried, though he wasn't one to dawdle either. "You are required to follow orders, mine and the captain's. I doubt he will ask much of you as you are not exactly crew as of yet, but he is captain, he keeps the ship running smoothly. When he says to do something, there is generally a very good reason behind it, even if he doesn't explain it." He didn't feel he needed to explain why she had to listen to Adrian. "You will need to join us for meals-- it keeps superstitions to a minimum if they actually see you consuming food. Some of them are old fashioned and think girls on board are bad luck to begin with so." He lifted his fingertips slightly as if shrugging. "oh, and no weapons, no killing of the crew. I need that crew to remain intact and functional." He eyed her dress "and...while you are welcome to dress yourself and look nice if you would like, don't taunt the men. They do spend the vast majority of their time on an all male ship, and while I would not call them animals, they are not the most...restrained of men. So, unless you want to follow through with your actions, don't tease and taunt them with your physical beauty. I do believe it would end badly for all involved." The captain would have a fit, but that was beside the point. "Questions? Concerns? Complaints? Refusals?" He wasn't set in stone, he was willing to talk it out, though he might not budge too much.
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It sounded like she wouldn’t be able to have any fun. Oh well, it would just be more of a challenge if she had to work at finding something interesting to. And she always liked a challenge. As for Adrian’s rule of ‘no weapons’ she didn’t need human weapons, claws and fangs were enough.
As for maybe negotiating the terms, she couldn’t think of anything that he was likely to say yes to.
So she just said, “Nope.�
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"So we are agreed?" Adrian asked, tilting his head just slightly as he evaluated her. "Do you have other talents or skills?" If he could give her something to do that was helpful, it would ease the crew's concerns in all likelyhood, plus, keep her busy and out of the way.
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“Other talents and skills…� she thought.
What could she do other change her form? Well she could fight well but she assumed he meant non-combat based skills.
“I can tell the DNA structure of something just by looking at it,� she offered.
What else could she do? When she had been living with her grandpa because of his rather old-fashioned views she had ended up doing a lot of the housework so she could do that as well.
“I can do a few domestic sorts of things as well…Cooking, cleaning, sewing…�
As boring as housework was she guessed she would probably have to do it in order to get to do more interesting things.
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Adrian nodded "Well, I may have you assigned to the kitchen once in a while. Sometimes the cook needs an extra set of hands and the guys usually ruin more than they actually help with." Adrian commented "it wouldn't be all the time...just when we actually get some decent food aboard the ship rather than the preserved stuff we keep stocked."
He paused a moment as he considered something "can you alter DNA? or just detect it?" If she could alter DNA, the possibilities of what she could do were fairly endless. Just to start, she could keep the fruit from spoiling.
Later on, if she was still around by then, she very well might manage to get in on the combat...after all, if the ship was attacked, it wasn't like he was going to forbid her to fight. He'd probably encourage it as long as it wasn't in her own form.
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“Sorry no,� Raichou said, shaking her head, “I can use DNA structures I know to turn into something I haven’t seen. For example modifying the DNA of a domestic cat to make a tiger. But that only really applies to my shape-changing abilities.�
The ability to tell DNA just by looking at something was only really useful for shape-shifting and maybe genetically altering animals. She wouldn’t be able to do it herself but she could tell someone how to do it.
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Adrian nodded. Considering he delt in biologicals, she could be very useful indeed. "You may end up with more interesting tasks at some point, but we'll start small, make sure this situation will work out for us before we write anything in blood."
"Can you detect abnormalities within the DNA? For example, a virus or disease?"
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“I should be able to,� Raichou replied.
She liked the sound of being given ‘interesting tasks’ even if it was sciency stuff, it made a change to wandering around aimlessly perhaps occasionally killing someone or massacring a village.
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Adrian gave a nod. That would certainly cut costs. He wouldn't have to bribe labs to test them and 'lose' the file. There were plenty of lab techs who needed extra money...but it was that need for the money that left him cautious and wary. If someone offered them enough money, they'd roll over on him in a heartbeat. "Good then. We should be joining with the ship shortly. Pick your form. It'll be yours for the duration we have that crew. I don't care if it's human or not, but it needs to be something with opposable thumbs and communication skills."
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“Hmm…What form should I choose?� Raichou thought.
She could pick something really crazy or maybe just a human but different colouration…Then again there were advantages to keeping her own form as well. Though Raichou Fenix was quite notorious, most didn’t really know what she looked like because she was a shape-shifter. Even if someone were to see her normal form, it could be one she had created or borrowed from another person. Meh, she’d stick with it.
“I’ll stay in this form,� Raichou said.
She guessed that Adrian wouldn’t want her walking around in her current attire. It was easy to move about in but probably distracting to males. For reasons unknown to her and most shape-shifters, when you changed into an animal form, your clothes didn’t show, it was like they were part of the transformation as well. And when she turned into another human, her clothes changed into their clothes. Needless to say she had used this ability to simply change the attire she was wearing on many occasions.
She changed into a reasonably length skirted blue dress. It was still pretty but not as revealing.
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Adrian gave an approving nod. She apparently possessed some common sense. "Good" He said, picking up a radio and speaking into it, a reply crackled back, but the conversation didn't seem to be english. "We'll be meeting up with the ship in about ten minutes....but you might want to buckle up. He's going to hyperdrive it." Adrian stated, taking his seat and leaving her to be thrown across the cabin if she declined his suggestion.
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Raichou wondered what the crew were like, from what Adrian had said they didn’t sound very pleasant, so she should get along fine with them. She adjusted her harness though she knew if she did fall out her seat she could just turn into a bird of something.
She had travelled through space before many times but usually hiding into cargo hold or in one of the empty cabins or as a small insect. She generally travelled on ships in a way that she wouldn’t be discovered. Being on a vessel in which the crew knew she was there was weird.
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"Remember what we have talked about." Adrian advised as they shot across the galaxy at speeds that plastered them to their seats. "A ship must run smoothly." It was the same with every member of his crew. If they were not compatable, they were replaced. It was as simple as that. It didn't matter if Adrian liked them personally or not, if their presence was more detremental than benificial, they were gone.
It wasn't long before they slowed and a ship became visable in the rapidly closing distance. It was a fairly normal looking ship, nothing to stand out terribly, but it managed to hold a carefully crafted elegance in its simplicity.
The conversation in the non-english started up again, this time between the pilot and the main ship.
Adrian seemed to be listening to the crackling voices before he gave a nod and the shuttle came almost to a stop, easing up to the ship. "You can unbuckle now" He informed, unsnapping his harness and standing from his chair. There was a lot of racket going on as the vessels coupled to allow for the transfer of passengers midflight so the shuttle could be powered down and stowed properly.
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"Remember what we have talked about." Adrian advised as they shot across the galaxy at speeds that plastered them to their seats. "A ship must run smoothly." It was the same with every member of his crew. If they were not compatable, they were replaced. It was as simple as that. It didn't matter if Adrian liked them personally or not, if their presence was more detremental than benificial, they were gone.
It wasn't long before they slowed and a ship became visable in the rapidly closing distance. It was a fairly normal looking ship, nothing to stand out terribly, but it managed to hold a carefully crafted elegance in its simplicity.
The conversation in the non-english started up again, this time between the pilot and the main ship.
Adrian seemed to be listening to the crackling voices before he gave a nod and the shuttle came almost to a stop, easing up to the ship. "You can unbuckle now" He informed, unsnapping his harness and standing from his chair. There was a lot of racket going on as the vessels coupled to allow for the transfer of passengers midflight so the shuttle could be powered down and stowed properly.
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"Remember what we have talked about." Adrian advised as they shot across the galaxy at speeds that plastered them to their seats. "A ship must run smoothly." It was the same with every member of his crew. If they were not compatable, they were replaced. It was as simple as that. It didn't matter if Adrian liked them personally or not, if their presence was more detremental than benificial, they were gone.
It wasn't long before they slowed and a ship became visable in the rapidly closing distance. It was a fairly normal looking ship, nothing to stand out terribly, but it managed to hold a carefully crafted elegance in its simplicity.
The conversation in the non-english started up again, this time between the pilot and the main ship.
Adrian seemed to be listening to the crackling voices before he gave a nod and the shuttle came almost to a stop, easing up to the ship. "You can unbuckle now" He informed, unsnapping his harness and standing from his chair. There was a lot of racket going on as the vessels coupled to allow for the transfer of passengers midflight so the shuttle could be powered down and stowed properly.
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Raichou undid her harness and stood up as well. She had seen better, bigger ships but still it was alright. As long as it did the job she supposed. Raichou guessed that she would be quite to useful to Adrian because he seemed to be interested in her DNA detected ability, he was probably a scientist of some sort.
As for not being ‘compatible’ with the crew she wouldn’t know whether she was or not until she met them. Being female didn’t seem to be helping.
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The ship was abuzz with activity. Crewmen moved from area to area, preparing for the boarding of the additional people, double checking cargo, readying the room for Rai, which had formerly been used as an unofficial extra cargo hold. Adrian had given particular instructions for its preparation.
Adrian led the way through the airlocked corridoor into the ship. "Stay out of the cargo hold." Adrian instructed Rai simply. Aside from that, there weren't many places he cared she went. "Your berth is yours, and yours alone, the same goes for every other crewman here." He pushed the doors aside. The majority of the crew had assembled to greet him. "As you were" He said with a polite nod. "This way."
There was mixed reaction in the crew. Adrian hadn't specifically said why they had to fix up the room. Some of the older, more traditional crew men were biting their tongues. Adrian was sure he'd hear about it later. The younger crew members were stricken with her beauty and a couple of them were in danger of drooling on themselves. And then there were the level headed ones Adrian prefered to hire when possible. They simply nodded to her as they did to the pilot of the shuttle. She was to be a member of the crew, she would be treated as such in their eyes.
The room Adrian had had prepared for her had the same silver walls that every other part of the ship seemed to have, but unlike the rest of them, there was a velvet coverlett on the berth that gave it a more bed-like look rather than the giant shelf with a mattress that it was. The room was very clean, having been scrubbed just that day. There was still a faint scent of the cleaner they had used. There was a desk that folded up against the wall, along with a chair. It was a simple enough room, but Adrian had done what he could to make it more presentable and ensure that she at least had the comfortable mattress. "If you have any belongings, there under the bed is a storage system. If not, you have uniforms in there. Nothing flashy or flattering, but good enough for sleeping in, or if you have some dirty work...or laundry. I'm not sure how you handle all that, but here we like things clean and sanitary. We're much too confined to allow bacteria, germs and viruses to run rampant." Not to mention the cargo that would be at risk if something infectious got aboard.
-
Keir didn’t stare at the new crew member like the idiot younger members of the crew. True, she was very pretty but still, she was a member of the crew and she probably didn’t want to be harassed.
However there was something in her eyes Keir didn’t like. Being a reader of souls he could work out someone’s personality simply by their eyes. Her’s was quite dark, unstable and easily distracted. She could be a problem… And then there was the many faced element to her. That could mean that either she was very two-faced, a very good actress, schizophrenic, or a shape-shifter. Possibly all of them…
If she was a shape-shifter it would make a lot of sense, her ability to read DNA like Keir could read souls would be very useful.
Raichou had to prevent herself from laughing at the crew’s reaction to her, particularly the younger ones who couldn’t take their eyes off her. Anyone would think they’d never seen a woman before.
The room and its blandness didn’t bother her that much. When she had lived with her grandfather the room she had there was much worse, dark and small with a bed barely passable for a bed. And it always seemed to be full of cobwebs no matter how many times she dusted it. This was one clean and despite the silver walls felt quite homely.
“The room’s fine,� Raichou replied,� I’ve slept in much worse, believe me.�
-
"Good" Adrian said with a nod "The meal will likely be in an hour or so. I'm afraid our arrival has disrupted the cook's usual schedule as he had to add enough for three more. We may very well hear about it for awhile, but pay him no mind. He doesn't really mind as much as he makes out to. He simply is a stickler for punctuality, and when he's late, he feels it reflects poorly upon him." He smiled slightly. The cook had been with him for quite awhile and while he wouldn't quite call him a friend, there was definately a relationship between the two of them as the cook had been in his employ for years. "I will leave you to your settling in, if you need anything, type it into the keypad by the door" He stepped over to it and rapidily pressed several buttons in sequence "And I will see it." He finished. "But now, I do have some things to attend to." He dipped his head slightly and left the room.
Adrian headed up to the pilot deck where he suspected he would find his navigator. "Keir, a word?" He addressed from the doorway.
-
Keir followed Adrian out of the room. He suspected his boss wanted to borrow his abilities to get a better idea of what the girl was like. That was one of the reasons Adrian had hired him, because he could work out how trustworthy new crew members were. The other reason was he had spent many years travelling the galaxy and knew it well. There were some advantages to being thousands of years old.
But there were also the disadvantages. Like everyone you know dying and watching everything you know change over time to be replaced by something unfamiliar.
Raichou slumped down onto the bed and gazed up at the metal ceiling. How long would this ship be her home? The thought of it being the rest of her life made her cringe, she would get bored eventually. She doubted she would be there for her rest of her life. If she hated it she could always sneak out when the ship docked.
Raichou then began to glance around the room. Maybe later she’d turn into a mouse and explore every inch of it. Adrian had said she could transform in her room if she wanted to.
-
"She is a shifter" Adrian said, as if a question had been asked. "An assassin actually, but there's something about her that I like. I think she'll be useful if she can harness her attentionspan long enough to focus on the task at hand. I'll need your help to keep an eye on her. You know how the old salts get about a woman aboard anyway...and I do believe a couple of our younger crewmen are run on little other than hormones." Adrian pointed out.
-
“Great…� Keir thought, “I get stuck babysitting a Shape-Shifter. I guess I was write on the many faces part of her souls.�
He didn’t like the sound of her being an assassin though. Had she been trying to kill Adrian? Sometimes that man did not make any sense.
“Very well,� Keir replied, “Just so long as she doesn’t start turning into a rodent and crawling through the air ventilation shafts.��
Raichou was bored now; maybe she could turn into a mouse and explore the ventilation shafts. No… she couldn’t do that, chances were Adrian would have someone keeping an eye on her and they’d notice she had gone from her room. Oh well…
She suspected it might be difficult to explore in human form though. The younger members of the crew would probably harass her or stare at her. And if she…persuaded them to stop it she’d get in trouble.
Meh…she’d think of something.
-
"If you catch her shifted into something beyond the confines of her own room, she is to be dropped off at the next port. Her agreement for being here was not to antagonize the men, no shifting and she's supposed to help out. I thought she could help Cookie with cutting the fresh foods when we get them. You know how he complains about the men and their hack jobs." In Adrian's mind, he could quite possibly use an assassin-- if he could get her on his side that was.
-
At least Adrian had enough sense to make sure the girl wouldn’t change form, it would make watching her easier. It also put Keir’s mind at ease that she had to help out; if she was doing chores she was less likely to do mischief. Just so long as she didn’t complain. He also suspected that his boss might ant to utilise another of her talents and if he had guessed right that she was an assassin they’d she’d probably get roped in doing that as well. Keir had to admit he was curious as to how Adrian came across her so decided to ask.
“If you don’t mind me asking, sir. Where did you find her?�
Though silver hair was more common these days than it had been when Keir was young, it was still unusual and shape-shifters were extremely rare, there probably only 2 or 3 per system.
To amuse herself, Raichou had taken to practicing her shape changing. Just because she was born a shape-shifter when many people weren’t didn’t mean it came naturally she had to practice a lot, particularly forms she hadn’t seen like large cats, dragons or anything from ‘the time before’ as her grandfather used to call it. Animals from old earth like lions, tigers, horses etc.
Currently she was doing birds. Parrot, sparrow, robin, cockatoo, heron. When would she get to interesting things? She couldn’t even change into some of her favourite forms because they wouldn’t fit into the room.. She sighed…She supposed she would just have to get used to it.
-
"The house mother at redlit desires had chosen her to serve my tea" Adrian informed with a slight smirk. He was amused at the whopping mistake his normally competent aquaintance had shown. However, if it had worked out badly, he would have been furious and she quite possibly would have lost her job if he had managed to live through it. He suspected there would be mischief, but he also felt that it would not be beyond the scope of what they could handle. "Find her a list of chores. I don't want her to get too bored."
-
Keir wasn’t expecting that answer but guessed that Adrian was not telling him everything. Then again he was just Adrian’s employee he wasn’t obliged to reveal everything.
As for find the new crew member some chores to do that wasn’t hard. There was always something to do and he could think of a few off the top of his head.
When he reached her room her knocked on the door.
Raichou was officially bored now. Currently she was laid on her bunk with her legs against the wall and her head hanging over the side. She wondered if the sensation of blood rushing to her head would make her forget she was bored…It wasn’t
Just as she was on the verge of turning into a bat and flying into the air duct there was a knock at the door. Who could that be? Adrian? Some of the hormone driven crew members? Or maybe it was someone coming to give her something to do.
“It’s open.�
The door slid open with a hiss revealing a man who looked to be in his early thirties. He looked fairly normal, brown hair, average build but what was unusual about his were his eyes, one emerald the other crimson. And the way he looked at her was quite piercing too, like he was looking into her soul.
“Actually…� Raichou thought, “He’s quite cute.�
“Yes?� Raichou said.
“Adrian asked me to find you something to do,� the man explained, “So I thought you could start by scrubbing the corridors.�
Scrubbing, that didn’t sound too bad, it was something to do.
“Okay,� Raichou said as rolled onto the floor then stood up properly, “What’s your name anyway?�
He paused but then said, “Keir.�
“Aye, aye! Keir,� she laughed.�
He rolled his eyes before motioning for her to follow him.
What did Adrian see in this girl, the eyes did not lie. She was a completely unstable, easily distracted shape-shifter who would quite likely betray her best friend if it had some benefit to her. Then again she didn’t seem the type of have friends.
Keir led her to the janitor’s closet, “The things you’ll need are in here.�
There did used to be a janitor but he had retired recently, as a result the cleaning had been passed to any spare crew members. But if they had a crew member standing idle then she might as well do the job.
“I doubt you can clean in that attire though,� Keir pointed out.
She glanced down at her attire and said “I suppose not.�
A light surrounded her and the faded revealing that she was now in blue overalls and a bandana.
Keir raised an eyebrow, “I was told that Adrian said you weren’t to transform outside of you room.�
“Oops,� Raichou replied, she was used to changing whenever and wherever she felt like.
Having restriction would take some getting used to.
Keir sighed exasperatedly, “I’ll turn a blind eye this time but if it happens again then I’ll have to report you.�
Raichou then realised that she had been right, Adrian did have someone keeping an eye on her, it was Keir.
Raichou smiled, “You’re the one stuck keeping an eye on me aren’t you?�
Keir sighed again then said, “Once you’re done, come find me. I’ll give you something else to do before walking off.
Raichou looked down the corridor and noted that it was quite long.
“Well, better get started.�
-
Adrian had informed other key members of his crew about the new crew member and the stipulation of her staying, though they were all required to keep the information to themselves.
He walked down the hall, glancing at Rai through a doorway before finding Kier. "The captain wants a word with you, and I have a few questions as well." He informed. Normally, he didn't do messanger type tasks, but today, he had apparently made an exception.
-
No doubt they wanted to know if he had found anything out about the girl or wanted to borrow his abilities for something. He didn’t really know much about the girl though, he had only just met her, her didn’t even know what her name was.
“Very well,� Keir replied, “If I can answer your questions I shall.�
-
Adrian lead the way back towards the cockpit, not speaking even after the door hissed shut behind them.
The Captain looked up. "Ah, Keir, we need a detour. There seems to be a disturbance in this quadrant" He pointed to the star map on the screne. "We need to go around, and either not gain a significant distance, or we need to drop in on a planet and refuel and continue on our detour. Work your magic and let me know." He slid the screen over to Keir.
Adrian sat back and waited. The detour took presidence, after all, it wasn't like he or Keir were going anywhere seeing as they were both confined to the ship.
-
So he was actually needed to do his job this time. That was good, a bit of normality. As he looked as the screen he determined they had two choices, go around and barely have enough fuel to get there and hope they didn’t encounter another disturbance or stop and refuel at Lanaes.
Keir had only been there once many years ago, just after they started allowing visitors. However it was not the friendliest of places particularly if you weren’t a mage. Keir laughed internally at that thought. Edanith looked down on you if you were a mage and Lanaes looked down on you if you weren’t. The galaxy could be strange at times.
“Captain, I suggest we take a detour to Lanaes to refuel. The shortest rout round without stopping would leave us with too little fuel and might cause problems if we encounter another disturbance.
Keir wondered if they stopped at Lanaes would Adrian let Raichou out for a bit. That might be a bad idea, who knows what she might do. But then again the creatures on Lanaes were different to anywhere else in the galaxy, it might be a good experience, she could add more forms to her arsenal.
…Then again perhaps it wasn’t a good idea.
Raichou hummed as she worked. Despite her rather mischievous attitude and short attention span she didn’t mind cleaning, she actually enjoyed it. When she was a child, if she was cleaning she was being shouted at or forced to practice her shape changing. She didn’t mind practicing but when she trained with her grandfather…he was pretty strict.
Obviously she’d had a few looks from various crew members walking past but none were confident enough to talk to her yet. She wouldn’t know what to say if they did. She wasn’t allowed to flirt and obviously she couldn’t say , ‘Hi, I’m Raichou, I’m a shape-shifter and I was going to kill your boss.�
Bad idea.
-
"Very well, set course for Lanaes." The captain wasn't particularly thrilled with the prospect, but it was far better than risking drifting through space on a powerless ship. "Announce that all crew not required for refueling must stay on the ship. I'll not have my crew picked apart for being non-mages. I don't like doing rescue missions when I don't have to." He commented as he looked the map over again. It seemed Lanaes was the best choice, even if he'd really rather it wasn't.
Adrian sat back, silently observing. He liked to watch people interact. It allowed him to learn things about them, and it wasn't often he got to watch Kier actually do his job. He smiled mentally. He did tend to favor the navigator when he needed his odd tasks done, but that was because the man was reliable and knew how to be descrete when need be.
-
Keir was relieved when the captain said that only crew members needed for refuelling could leave the ship. It meant Raichou couldn’t leave and though he doubted she’d need to be rescued, she did have magical abilities after all, it would likely be less trouble if she stayed put.
Keir then turned to Adrian, “You had some questions for me?�
Raichou was intrigued when she heard the announcement that the ship was stopping at Lanaes. She had never been there before, but alas she was not allowed to leave the ship this time. Oh well, maybe she’d see the planet someday.
Wait? Did she just shrug off not being allowed off the ship? This was an outrage! She had magical abilities, why couldn’t she explore?
Raichou sighed, she wasn’t really that angry about it. What worried her was why? She did what she wanted and didn’t give a damn? Why did she care so much that she would behave for this Adrian guy? Strange…
“Maybe it’s because I didn’t have a purpose before?� Raichou muttered, then realising some young crew man was staring at her.
“Go away!� she shouted causing them to flee in terror.
-
"I did" Adrian said lightly. "I wanted to know what you read off our new crew member. You generally have impecable perception, and while people can hide things from me, they usually cannot hide things from you." He settled back in his chair, lacing his fingers across his stomach.
-
“Well, as I keep telling you I only see colours and I can interpret them but not in detail. All I know is she had dark blue, which mean darkness. Black is evil, dark blue is one step down. There is also white: loneliness and red, anger. The different colours are fragmented which means there is a many-faced aspect to her personality. This could be her abilities but it could mean something else. There is also movement, which means she is very fickle and changeable and has a very short attention span.�
Keir thought he should remind Adrian that his soul reading ability wasn’t perfect; he had gotten things wrong on numerous occasions. Working out someone’s personality from just colours was very abstract after all.
-
"Well, then that would make sense." Adrian commented. "She is a shifter, an assasin, she does have a short attention span, but I knew that very quickly, I haven't seen the anger yet, but she could very well be multipersonalitied. That would be quite an interesting situation for a shifter." Adrian mused. Perhaps he was bored, and that's why he took the shifter aboard. With Adrian, there was really no telling why he did the things he did, but they generally worked out well, but like all men, once in a while, a risk failed to pay off as he hoped it would. Hopefully, his pet shifter would not be the risk that turned out to be a bad idea.
-
“One element of her personality might work to your advantage though, the white, loneliness. Being around people constantly might make her behave.�
It was possible, if all she really wanted was people to interact with, it might calm her down and make sure the rage didn’t manifest. If it were to surface, no good would come of it.
“As for multi-personalitied, I doubt it. At first I thought that might be a possibility but when I was with her earlier I realised the gaps between the collections of colours aren’t large enough for them to be separate entities. She isn’t schizophrenic, merely unpredictable.�
-
"Perhaps she needs a friend" Adrian mused "I think we'll assign her to Cook." Adrian wanted a bit of space between her and himself. He suspected he had been one of her marks-- and the fact that she hadn't tried to kill him yet tended to confirm her unpredictability. "You know how Cook gets, I think he'd like a project. He doesn't get out much." Of course, that was because he was usually busy with making meals and grumbling about young ignorant crew members.
-
“Perhaps,� Keir replied, “We’ll just have to hope one just get irritated with the other.�
Raichou might decide to use her powers around Cook if he pushed her far enough, then again he probably wouldn’t be impressed by it. If she bonded with him however some good might come out of it. Her abilities would be useful to Adrian and they needed someone to clean.
-
"Exactly. Cook has seen so much that nothing She might do or say would be likely to impress him all that much, but if they can get along and maybe even get on reasonably friendly terms with each other, he may be less crabby, and she may be less likely to do things simply for attention...or if she steps out of line, Cook might just smack her with the wooden spoon as he tends to do with his charges." Adrian looked up "Perhaps you'd like to brief him on the subject? Remind him that knives are not allowed out of the kitchen and that sort of thing?"
-
“Alright,� Keir replied.
Cook was grumpy and as Adrian had said would smack his charges with a wooden spoon on occasion but he wouldn’t really try to seriously hurt someone.
Raichou hummed as she worked, she would never tell anyone this but after assassinations, ones where she didn’t have to rush off quickly, she liked nothing better than to clean up all the blood. Blood was nice but there was just a strange satisfaction in cleaning up the blood you had shed.
-
"Dismissed" Adrian said, letting his navigator know he was finished and releasing him to go about his task.
Cook was in the kitchen as usual. His quarters were directly behind it, so he had no reason to leave it unless he was summoned, and that was rare. Even Adrian usually came to the kitchen to talk to him rather than calling him across the ship. The cook was not exactly a man in the human sense, but generally speaking, he was huminoid enough-- even if he did have a knack for sprouting extra limbs from time to time and had a few biomechanical replacement parts, the most noticable being his eye. The rest of his parts were either concealed or looked natural enough to pass, but the eyes distinctly didn't match. The old fashioned glas eye passed for real more easily, but his mechanical one was fuctional and even surpased his natural eye as he could magnify and telescope in on things.
No one knew exactly what he was or what he was capable of other than perhaps Adrian, but few ever asked, and those who did rarely got an answer
-
Keir headed for the corridor where he had left Raichou hoping she wasn’t slacking on or being distracted by the ogling crew men. As he walked through the door he was shocking when a crew member ran past him, seemingly fleeing for his life.
Keir sighed, “What had she done?�
When he found her she was cleaning the window on the other end of corridor. She had gotten that far already? It didn’t look like she had slacked off either; the walls and floors were spotless.
“Well, well,� Keir thought, “She has some other talents.�
Obviously sensing his presence she turned and said, “Yes?�
“The boss has assigned you to help Cook in the kitchen. He told me to tell you that knives are not to be taken from the kitchens.�
Raichou smiled at that, which made Keir very uneasy.
“Aye, aye, Keir!� she giggled.
This girl was very annoying.
-
Cook rattled around in the kitchen, finally having to stop and take a rest. He parked himself at the table and began disassembling one of his legs. It had gummed up and needed lubricating and a good cleaning. He listened a moment before speaking into the PA system "If I've been assigned a new assistant, now would be a good time for them to show up" He had excellent hearing and of course had been tipped off about having an assistant by Adrian. The man at least knew better than to throw a surprise in on the cook.
Normally, it took Cook only a few moments to detach, clean, and reattach his leg, but this time, there was a problem. There were things caught in the works and cooking grease had created sticky goo that prevented parts of it from sealing as it should. It seemed that his assistant was going to get a bit of a show before a proper introduction.
-
When she had heard the announcement on the PA system, Raichou was already on her way and it sounded like the Cook was a grouchy man. Oh well, nothing she couldn’t handle.
When she entered the kitchen she did a double take. There was a man cleaning a biomechanical leg! When she looked at him with her ‘shifter sense’ on she noticed that quite a lot of him was biomechanical. She wouldn’t be able to change into him even he she wanted to.
The middle of a kitchen was also not the best place to be doing that either.
“That’s very unhygienic, you know,� Raichou pointed out.
-
When she had heard the announcement on the PA system, Raichou was already on her way and it sounded like the Cook was a grouchy man. Oh well, nothing she couldn’t handle.
When she entered the kitchen she did a double take. There was a man cleaning a biomechanical leg! When she looked at him with her ‘shifter sense’ on she noticed that quite a lot of him was biomechanical. She wouldn’t be able to change into him even he she wanted to.
The middle of a kitchen was also not the best place to be doing that either.
“That’s very unhygienic, you know,� Raichou pointed out.
-
"We've got a ship of all men" The cook pointed out "I keep my food prep areas plenty steril, the rest of it, take at your own risk." He commented briskly. "Wash yourself, pass your hands under the sterilizer and start on those" He requested, nodding to a pile of food blocks. "I need them cubed." He was now stuck with tinkering on his leg as he couldn't very well go walking around on one leg-- though if he couldn't fix it, eventually he could probably manage to grow a tenticle to serve as a pegleg of sorts.
-
Raichou ran her hands under the steriliser and went across to where the food blocks were. She contemplated showing off and cutting them in various elaborate way, being an assassin meant she had gotten very good with knives and cutting things.
However she doubted the cook would be impressed and he didn’t seem like a man to be crossed so she just cut them normally, though faster than most people would have.
-
Cook looked up at her, watching for a brief moment before he went back to trying to fix the darn leg. Because of his odd biology and mechanical replacements, Adrian was disinclined to go all the way to a 'civilized' planet so Cook could find himself a replacement leg. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say the Pilot was disinclined. Adrian spent a great deal of his off ship time on civilized planets...though most of them Adrian still didn't approve of.
"You work in a kitchen before?" He asked, the newly reassembled leg giving a horribly metalic grinding noise as he flexed it. Well that wasn't going to do. He pulled it apart again, examining the more intricate workings of it with a magnifying glass over one eye as a jewler might wear.
-
“Not a professional one, no,� Raichou replied, “But I did most of the cooking when I lived with my grandfather.�
She had been relieved when she had left; of course she had to sneak out one night because her grandfather would never have let her leave.
Raichou flinched when the cook’s leg made a strange grinding noise, that guy must have gone through a heck of a lot. Hopefully they weren’t kitchen related injuries; that would make her all the more nervous about working with him…
Curiosity got the better of her however and she asked, “Were you in a war or something?�
-
Cook fixed his mechanical eye on her a moment. None of the men had ever dared to ask him such a question. He usually was so surly with them they just 'okay Cook'-ed him and scurried off to obey.
He set his leg on the bench and hobbled and hopped his way into the room off the kitchen, returning in a moment with a pan shaped to accomodate his leg and a jug of liquid. Unceremoniously, he dropped the pan on the floor, swept his leg into it and then poured a highly chemical smelling solution over the leg. If this didn't work, he was not going to be a happy cook.
"You might say that" He finally replied. "You got all those cubed yet?"
-
(OOC Sorry about the ickle post didn't know what else to type)
In one a few deft movements, Raichou finished cubing.
“Done,� she replied.
Okay, he wasn’t likely to be impressed but if she proved she was quick and neat it might help.
-
Cook watched his leg fizzle a moment before he looked over to the area where she was working. He sighed. She didn't know how to work the kitchen yet, he was going to have to hop around the kitchen until he could get his leg figured out. He knew it was in desperate need of service and that was the main reason it was malfunctioning recently. It needed a couple replacement parts as well.
Hoisting his less than dainty frame off the bench, he made his way over to the sterilizer and ran his hands and several tentacles under it. "Okay, watch" He instructed. "Start the stove" He pushed a series of buttons. "Cook up the cubes with a little oil. Just mix'm around and don't let them burn" He handed her a spatula and headed for another part of the counter to begin preparing the rest of the meal.
-
Keir thought he should check in on Raichou, he didn’t doubt the Cook’s ability to keep people in line but still. Maybe the silver haired assassin was too much for him.
But Keir certainly didn’t expect what he saw when he entered the kitchen; Raichou humming whilst stirring something in a pan. She was actually being obedient and seemed to be enjoying herself. She certainly seemed to be an odd one. The silver haired girl turns to the door where Keir was standing obviously sensing he was there.
“Hi, Keir,� she giggled, “Did you come to check up on me?�
-
Cook looked over his shoulder to see who had entered his kitchen. "Bah, I was hoping for a mechanic" He growled, though it was as playful as he usually got. He didn't have a problem with Keir. They didn't interact much, but Cook had no problem with him even so. "See if you can talk Adrian into making a stop on a planet with parts for that piece of rubbage" He groused, nodding to his leg laying in the dish. "We hit an astroid belt and I'll end up on the ground. No way I can stand steady on the one leg." He had hardly looked up from whatever he was working with. It looked like the same stuff the assasin had just cubed. It was likely the longer the leg was laying in that dish, the grumpier Cook would become over time. It wasn't fair to make him go to something as primitive as a peg leg, not after being biomechanically repaired in so many places.
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[2nd most popular post by replies ^^ we rule ^^]
“We should be stopping at Lanaes soon, I’m sure they’ll be a mechanic there,� Keir replied.
Lanaes was reasonably advanced despite the rather old-fashioned feel to their architecture. Keir had only been there a couple of times but you never really forgot the planet, it was completely purple and blue, was advanced but had older looking architecture and they disliked non-mages. In way it reminded Keir of the old Connlaoth though few people remembered it now, except those who were immortal…like he was.
“The mechanic will probably have to come to you though Cook, the Lanaerians don’t like non-magic users.�
-
"So that would mean Adrian would have to arrange for a mechanic to come by out of the goodness of his heart. Perfect" A couple of his parts whirred quietly as he shoved a pan of something into the oven and then hobbled his way back to the table. "It'd be really nice if one of your greese monkeys would be at least vaguely familiar with biomechanics." He sighed "Besides, should our ship blow up, it'd be handy to have someone who can patch everyone back together even if they can't find all the pieces."
-
The Cook did have a point; someone who was familiar with biomechanics would be useful. However good biomechanics were hard to find and difficult to train, they needed to be familiar with machines and the human body, the latter being the more difficult of the two. Though…Raichou knew about DNA, maybe, just maybe she might be useful if someone could teach her about machines…That would easier to remedy, Keir knew machines well and there were plenty of mechanics on the ship.
“Raichou, I know you can read DNA but how much do you know about actually fixing the human body?�
She looked thoughtful for a minute then said, “I’m a trained healer.�
Okay…he wasn’t expecting that but then again the best assassins were those who knew the human body.
Keir turned to Cook, “Maybe we can train her up as a biomechanic. If she knows the human body it shouldn’t be too hard to teach her about machines. It’d make her more useful.�
And possibly, more dangerously, indispensable.
-
The cook shot him a look. "That's a big jump from cook's assistant" He stated bluntly. "She's been on board one day and you already trust her with your life?" He asked. She had not earned his respect yet, so he had no problem talking about her like she wasn't there. She was just another of Adrian's projects. That man had far too much time on his hands. True, Adrian wasn't working with her much, but she was on his ship and was apparently staying aboard.
"You know anything about machines, Girl?" He asked, finally turning to her. If she was this old and knew absolutely nothing, in his opinion, she might be alright, maybe even good, but never great and if she was going to be building him new limbs-- if he even let her touch him-- he wanted someone great.
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The cook had a point it was a bit of a jump but Keir was a little annoyed at the suggestion he would trust Raichou with his life. Far from it he didn’t trust her all that much she was an assassin after all and being a shape-shifter as well made her naturally untrustworthy. Of course he was too polite to say that in from of her.
“I know a fair bit about military machines. I’ve snuck supplies into Edanith several times by posing as a soldier.�
That did surprise Keir, though she was probably taking black market items considering then line of work she was in still. Still that was very interesting and useful to know. Then again it gave him another reason not to trust her.
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"So if we started taking on scrap parts, you could build something?" Cook asked, going back to tinkering with his broken leg. The leg got a lot of wear on it and not a lot of repair. "Keir, do we have any spare washers, gaskets, pins and hinge joints?" He was going to practically rubber band his leg back together. Wasn't that lovely.
It wasn't uncommon for him to hold multiple conversations at the same time. When he did talk, and there was more than one person in the room, he was often talking to both of them-- sometimes giving orders to one while actually having a discussion with the other. He was not however, particularly known for being social. Most of his talk was somehow business related, very little about himself, though reports from those who had dared to tell him about themselves suggested he might be a good listener.
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Raichou shrugged, “Yeah I should be able to.�
Like she had said she had snuck into Edanith by hotwiring crafts and the like and a few times she had been snuck in disguised as a repair person. She could also hack into the identity scanners easily enough. Machines weren’t so different from anatomically wise.
---
“There should be some lying around,� Keir replied.
He had to admit he was quite intrigued by Raichou, she was certainly multi-talented; she could clean, apparently she could cook, she knew about machines, she knew about the human body and that of other being and of course she was a shape-shifter. She’d be very useful if it wasn’t for her less than sparkling personality. Though she had been good so far.
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"Then we shall see what you can do." Cook could talk Adrian into just about anything-- mostly because he asked for things so rarely and when he did, there was always a very good reason for it, so Adrian had stopped questioning him for the most part. He turned his attention back to Keir.
"Perhaps you might have someone round them up and bring them to me if you have the time." He suggested. If they hit another asteroid belt, he'd need all the legs he could get. He'd been in space for a long time, but his anatomy made it a bit difficult for him to keep balance when the thrust of the ship kept changing directions.
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[OOC If you can't be bothered with this thread anymore just say o.O]
“I’ll get one of the engine room monkeys to do it,” Keir replied.
Okay, calling them ‘monkeys’ was a little harsh but ‘men’ didn’t really describe them. The younger ones certainly were knuckle-dragging hormone driven idiots who were only really hired because they sort of knew their way around a machine. Keir and the other ‘veteran’ mechanics were supposed to be teaching them but they rarely ever listened. They assumed he didn’t have that much more experience than they did, it annoyed Keir sometimes that people didn’t know how old he was.
“I’d better go and tell them myself,” Keir said, “Lord knows they never listen unless I’ve got a spanner in my hand that I can hit them with.”
Keir actually had a large spanner affectionately nicknamed ‘Spanner of Doom’ by the other crew members, perfect for threatening the engine room monkeys.
Keir headed out of the door and left Raichou to the Cook.
////
Unsure if the Cook was actually listening, Raichou replied anyway, “I might be able to. I’ve never tried making limbs before. Shouldn’t be too hard though.”
That would certainly keep her entertained, domestic tasks by day and at night she could be tinkering away in her room with something or other. On the surface it didn’t sound like the most interesting existence but she found she liked the sound of it. And in time she might help Adrian with his business. So she’d have to behave she guessed.
It sounded like she’d be busy, it might not leave much time for practicing her shifting…When a shape-shifter didn’t practice shifting began harder; it expended more energy. After you had transformed maybe two or three times you’d be tired, unlike her limit at the moment which was around 30 or so.