Remnants of the Earth
SPACE STATIONS => The Cancer => Topic started by: Anonymous on July 29, 2010, 12:39:39 pm
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Space Station Cancer, it wasn’t often that Mouse made trips to it. It wasn’t his sort of atmosphere, much to what others may believe about the space pirate - that is if they knew anything at all about him. You could get lost in the hustle, not just physically but mentally. Caught up in the voices, the dank smell of people, human and otherwise. You could forget yourself completely just at a couple of words spoken by a suave gentleman who knows his trade. Even when people were expecting it, watching out for it, and telling themselves that they would not be taken in by a couple of smooth moves. That was when they were the most blind. It wasn’t much of a challenge, really.
“I’m sorry sir..Er… We don’t deal with..” The man behind the counter trailed off as Mouse promptly sat down at the barstool.
“Don’t deal with what?” He peered over his round glasses, his grey eyes falling on the flustered face of the barkeep. The man’s cheeks were bright pink enough with the hot light fixture dangling from the ceiling. Mouse’s gaze did nothing but make the man squirm. The barkeep seemed to know the look well - the look of someone who has just been through an illegal hell and wants a damn drink. It was the look that said: he was either going to pay, or he wasn’t. “Customers?”
Mouse said it coolly, with that ever smiling expression on his face that seemed a little all too distant for most to perceive as welcoming. He had no plan to move, or find another bar. The space pirate wasn’t in the shape to. His right arm was cast in a sling, and he was damn tired. It would be some time before the repairs on his ship, Whiskers, would be finished. A hole blasted near through one side did not go unnoticed. It was a bit of rough and tumble play with another ship. They were nearly boarded, in all actuality. But when a ship docks with a pretty face like that it wasn’t bound to go unnoticed. However, nowadays it was becoming far more common. It didn’t stop the rumours. Mouse was keen on letting them think what they wanted.
The barkeep gave up and finally slid to him what he asked for.
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Alice was not having a good day. One thing after another had gone wrong and now she was not only jobless, she didn't even have a room to stay in anymore. Clutching the bag that held all her worldly possessions to her ample chest, staring at the closed door, Alice felt a little stunned. It had all happened so fast!
One minute things were all fine and dandy, then she accidentally broke some dishes and Jack was yelling and saying he couldn't take it anymore. Tears filled Alice's eyes at the memory. She had liked him a lot too, and so sure he had liked her. He had said he loved her!
With a sigh, Alice turned away from the door. She needed a drink. She needed more than one drink. Squaring her shoulder's, Alice kept her head up, blinking her tears away. She would get through this! Just fine!
It wasn't hard to find a bar on Cancer. There were a number of them to chose from and Alice avoided the ones that seemed to busy. She wasn't really in the mood right then for a party. She wanted to get wasted.
There was a nice looking older gentleman with a sling on his arm that caught her eye in one. Alice prided herself on her ability to judge people and he just seemed like a good guy. Setting her bag down on the bar, Alice smiled brightly at the man, "Wow. That looks like it hurt. Can I ask what happened?"
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Mouse hadn’t been looking for company. But he wasn’t entirely against it either. The lone seats on both sides of him had their charms; genteel wiles in the barely cushioned slabs of steel, with no backs so if one falls in love with alcohol enough the cold hard floor would catch them. Mouse did not recommend the last one. Love could hurt. But, he was a space pirate, and occasionally they tended to risk it all. He made no objections when a cute pink thing took the barstool next to him.
“Just a bad tumble, miss.” He said, smiling at her. It wasn’t a lie, and it gave enough information for others to get the picture. Mouse found that saying too much did not work for hooking them and reeling them in. He cradled his drink in his other hand, and glanced at its contents before looking back at her. She was pretty, young, and if he saw correctly had a slight redness to her eyes as if she was trying to stop herself from crying. His eyesight tended to be underestimated with the glasses perched on his nose.
“You look to be having a worse time.” He said, keeping his eyes on her. It helped to have good eye contact. It showed you’re paying attention, even when you weren’t. “Can’t say I meet too many nice women who cared to speak to an old thing like me.” Play the part of helplessness, misery…
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"Oh! I'm so sorry! I've tripped down stairs before and it's no fun at all!" Alice would have believed him if he had told her space ninja's on dinosaurs had done it, but the fact it was a believable lie just made things easier on her.
His next comment made Alice blush, not a good look with her pink hair, and try and scrub at her face. She had thought she had managed to not cry! "I..um...yes, maybe. I'm sorry. I've just had an awful day!" Sniffling, it was hard to keep the tears back when she talked about it, "And you aren't that old at all!" Alice gave another bright smile, "Besides, you're so nice! How could anyone not want to talk to you?"
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Tripped down the stairs? All right, he could work with that. He smiled sadly at the girl, her voice music to his ears compared to the sounds of machinery, guns, and oh yes, screams. Most of it was not his own however. At the very least it was the sympathy that rang in her words that made it towards the tiny, tiny nearly invisible strings of his heart. Wherever it was.
"Ah.." He said, "I'm sorry to hear that, miss." He could probably guess the reasons this pretty young thing was having an awful day. Yet, they would be shallow, relying only on appearances. Mouse had a tendency to want to find something deeper than that, in their eyes, their movements - never their words, words can so easily be twisted, the trick was to hear what they didn't want you to - and the situation. This woman was on Cancer, just as he was. No one wanted to be on Cancer unless they had to.
Mouse laughed lightly, taking a quick swig of his drink before setting it down. "You are the one who is far too kind." He mused, "to see that here in this dark and dank place, it's a, to be cliché, breath of fresh air."
"Why?" he started, laying his sleepy grey eyes on her and ended with a shrug, slightly jarring his arm which he over played by visibly wincing. "Ah...Dear me... That was a silly thing to do." He straightened up after a moment. That should be long enough.
"The name is Mouse.” He said, “May I ask for yours? It would help my inner voice a great deal to know what to call you.”
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Alice's blush deepened and she ducked her head shyly, her mass of pink curls falling forward to hide her face. The fae blooded woman looked like she belonged in some Children's book as a candy princess than in some dark, dirty bar.
She felt so lucky to have found such a nice man to talk too. He seemed so genuinely nice! And his words were so polite and pretty! A real gentleman! Not like the normal men Alice always found herself meeting, and, well he was pretty cute, even if he was a bit older. It just made him all.....experienced and such!
When Mouse winced, Alice gasped and started to reach for him, "Oh! Are you alright? You poor thing." She fussed, her hands gentle on Mouse's arm. She had been in enough fights to know how to take care of the body after one, "You should be careful how you move. Don't want to hurt yourself."
His name surprised her a little and she blinked her large blue eyes, looking puzzled for a moment before giving a small giggle, "That's such a cute name! I would never have guessed! Though I guess it's a cute name for a cute guy! You could be a little mouse, all sweet and soft. My name is Alice! Though, what do you mean inner voice?" She giggled again, an act that caused most of her to jiggle delightfully when she moved, "What is your inner voice saying about me?"
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His job was much more fun, and to say the least, interesting when people began to play directly into his charade. At least part of it. His arm in the sling was not the lie, however, the way he brought attention to it; the way he purposefully moved and winced and dramatically acted, were. He had to admit to himself, being fussed over wasn't entirely displeasing. Sometimes it was nice when it was the right person.
He found her words undeniably amusing. Why yes, Alice, he could be a sweet soft mouse. He laughed, clutching his injured arm lightly with his other one - to show that he would heed the woman's words and try to be more careful. But that was also an easily placed lie. He was hardly careful. There was no money in carefulness. At least, in his profession.
Mouse gave her a lopsided smile. "Oh the voice? Please do forgive me. I think I mean inner narration?" He paused to frown, if only slight, "Though I do believe it wishes to ask what you're doing on Cancer of all the places in the universe. Or maybe know a bit more about your awful day. A neutral ear can be helpful in letting off steam."
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"Oh!" Alice smiled again, her face still a little puffy from her tears earlier, but that and the redness were fading, replaced by her much more common cheerfulness. He was such a nice guy she was already getting over Jack. Alice had learned long ago to bounce back from most things.
"Really? You don't mind listening?" Alice leaned closer, her expression eager and her chest almost spilling out of her top, something most of the bar didn't fail to notice, "It's just been awful! I got fired from the ship I was working on. And then Jack, he was my boyfriend, he kicked me out! I don't know what happened. He just started yelling and...and...it's just been the worst day!"
Her story all came out in a rush, the words almost tripping over each other in an attempt to get out first, "And so now I am stuck until I find another job and I don't even have a place to stay and it's just awful!"
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He didn't mind listening in the least bit. Mouse had come to learn that one can find everything they need to know simply by listening, how odd of a concept was that? It only helped that he had a knack for being the sort that people felt they could open up to. It really helped.
Alice's words came out in a rush, Mouse nearly lost the trail at one point. He couldn't stop himself from feeling the pang of empathy at the pit of his stomach, remembering his own share of bad days; being entirely homeless and without a job to even pay for the slightest morsel of food. At those times he thanked the universe for his ability to shape-shift and that the idea of starvation overruled his own dignity. People's throw aways were often his treasure. Though he doubted that the woman would have the same luck. Such were the way of things.
What sparked his original interest was the that she was on Cancer in the first place. No one came here unless it was impossible to avoid or they had better places to be. Mouse trailed his finger around the lip of his glass, thinking.
“That does sound dreadfully awful.” He said pulling his best empathetically sad expression and looking at her. She didn’t look like space pirate material. The entire bar was more than likely thinking along similar lines. However Mouse knew not to judge a book by its cover. He himself was a prime example of that. But most of all, he was desperate to find a crew. In his latest series of escapades they either ditched him at the nearest station or were regrettably killed. Though, one or two were more helpful dead than alive considering they didn’t know which end of a gun was the shooting one. He had no place for people wanting to make a quick buck with no effort. He needed commitment. The woman‘s words practically bled desperation, too.
“But, I think your day might be looking up, Alice. I’m looking for crew for my own ship. I can promise a wage and living accommodations...” He lowered his voice slight and cast a quick glance around the room. It was important to show that you had nothing to hide and yet everything. “…All the requirements are that you know how to work a gun and won’t run off when it gets a little heavy.” He smiled.
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"It was! It was just awful." Alice's lip trembled slightly, her eyes shinny with unshed tears. It was so nice just having someone listen. And unlike most men that just seemed like they weren't talking, Mouse felt like he was really listening.
His words though, floored her. Her eyes widened, lips parting slightly in shock. He was offering her a job? Really? She couldn't be that lucky! With a small squeal, Alice reached forward, carefully hugging Mouse, "Oh yes! Please! I'm a great shot! Honest! And I wont run! Oh thank you!"
Tilting her head, she planted a kiss against Mouse's cheek, still ecstatic she had just been offered a job.
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He was pleased that when she leaned over to give him a hug it wasn't so jarring that his arm would be laced with pain. She was not forgetful in that part. And Mouse did not attempt to hide away how rosey-hued his face became when she gave him a slight kiss on the cheek.
That was nice. He liked the enthusiasm.
Mouse raised a hand to touch where her lips had been, feigning the embarrassment. "W-well then. You're hired, Alice." He said, "we won't be leaving right away, repairs are being done to my- our ship and it will take a couple of days at the least, I think." He paused, leaning towards her, "will you wait for me?"
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When Mouse leaned forward and asked that question, with that voice of his, Alice stood no chance. Her cheeks pinkened, clashing with her vivid hair and her heart pounded against her chest. There was something about the way he talked that just...melted her and made her want to do anything he asked. He was just so trustworthy and good.
Nodding, Alice struggled to get even her slow moving and hardly used thoughts into place, "Oh. Yes. Of course."
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It was far too easy. If Mouse wasn't Mouse, he'd almost be feeling sorry for manipulating the woman like this. Instead, he was rather pleased with himself. He had a new hired hand after all, with little effort. And if she was as honest about her skills as she seemed, it would be something he wouldn't regret. At least not instantly. He was an oddly trusting person, despite not being trustworthy himself. It was an interesting balance.
"Oh, that's good to hear." He sat back, giving Alice some space. She looked as if she was going to faint, with a face that flush. It nearly matched her amazingly curly hair. "I-I'm sorry." He said, stuttering for emphasis. Mouse's expression faltered from the smile, turning his lips to frowning slightly. Concern. It could be one of the most difficult emotions to fake. Too bad he was good at it. "I shouldn't be invading your personal space like that, miss."
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When Mouse leaned back, Alice remembered to breathe again, still wide eyed and pink cheeked, shaking her head, her voice a little breathy, "O-oh no. I don't mind at all. Feel free to invade it all you want!"
She gave a little laugh, her whole body jiggling from the movement, "You're such a gentleman! It's so nice to meet someone who is!"
It was going to pose a little bit of a problem figuring out where to stay until he was ready, but Alice was hopeful! She could manage and then she was going to have a steady job with the sweetest man! And he just begged for protecting, so vulnerable with his wounded arm. She would take care of him!
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Mouse let a laugh slip through. He wasn't pretending with that. Though, it could easily go along with the ruse he was putting up for her, at that moment. He could change masks just as easily and smoothly as water. He doubted she would call him a gentleman(Of all things!), if she knew that the same face she saw smiling was one that became the last thing many people had seen before they succumbed to a knife in one of their arteries. Well, if he chose to face them. Often he was a backhanded bugger.
He held up his glass. "The universe is large, miss. I can't be the only one." He paused to ask the barkeep for a refil on his drink. "Now, about where you can stay...I'm not going to leave you out in the gutter of this station. How would you feel about being put up in the same lodgings as I? Not in the same room of course!" Gentleman, after all.
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"Oh, but you never seem to meet them. Probably because most of them live in nice, high class places, you know?" Alice twirled a strand of vivid hair around her finger, "Not many live on Cancer. But you are a lovely gentleman!"
When he offered her a place to stay, Alice almost cried again. She slid off her stool and very carefully hugged him, mindful of his arm, her soft form molding against Mouse, "Oh yes thank you! Thankyouthankyoutha nkyou!"
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Oh the joys of people who trust strangers so easily. Mouse would never tire of it. When she hugged him, he returned it, placing the hand of the good arm gently on her back. He highly doubt she would mind from previous words. He was about to say more endearing and charming phrases that would hopefully further latch her onto his hook. Key word is about.
He heard the terrible, terrible noise the door to the bar made when it slid open. That crunching-never-removed-the-fingers-that-were-caught-in-it sound. He was grateful that his line of vision, not entirely distorted from the mass of Alice's pink hair, caught the scraggily figures lurching, no word of a lie(surprising!), in to the room. The familiar feeling of a racing heart batted at his chest like an old friend saying hello. And as his mind derailed to the thoughts of oh shit I recognise them he realised he needed to buy time to think of how he could get out in one piece and not have them notice him. The bonus would be if the lovely woman near him did too.
Mouse leaned in close to her ear and said, "you're on the clock, Alice." And then he kissed her.
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Alice didn't really understand what Mouse meant by that, but then his lips were against hers and she didn't mind that one bit! Giving a startled sound, Alice quickly leaned forward, getting into the kiss. She thought Mouse was quite dashing, but he hadn't seemed interested in her, so the kiss was exciting!
Though, her brain slowly, slowly began to work, trying to puzzled out what he had meant as she enjoyed the kiss. It took Alice much longer than most people, but she often eventually arrived at the right place.
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Whelp. That was quick. Mouse didn't have time to actually enjoy the kiss he planted unceremoniously on Alice's lips. He hoped it didn't give her the wrong idea. He was using her and was not particularly interested in something more romantic. A good person, like what Alice seemed to pin to him, would feel bad about doing such things even to someone they didn't have attachment to. Mouse never did. Was it because he was a slime ball, or didn't get attached? Didn't matter!
The space pirate realised a little belatedly that he was not going to get out of this unscathed, but that made it all the more interesting. In fact, the scene where he was kissing Alice drew more attention to him. This was working out to be perfect. While he didn't care for the pain of being injured or how much money he had to pay out to fix his ship, it usually didn’t deter him from making foolhardy choice just to see how he could get out of them.
He broke the kiss with Alice as the group spotted and approached them. “Fancy seeing you folks here,” he said, they were closing the distance as fast as he predicted. Without a rueful inch in their fury. He locked his grey eyes with the woman fronting them. Margaret Wright, or the Black Crescent as her alias goes. She didn’t like that he knew her name. She didn’t like that he knew a lot of things. But she really hated when he got his way with jobs. “Is your mother in the neighbourhood?”
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While Alice was rather dense, and a little shaken from the kiss, her cheeks flushed, lips half parted, it didn't take her long to realize that the people approaching weren't friendly. Instantly the girl went on alert, sitting up straight and her hand sliding back for the gun she kept at the small of her back.
She wasn't sure if they were enemies yet, so she just waited, taking her cues from Mouse.
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Mouse had divided his attention between the cluster of angry faces leering at him, primarily Margaret herself, and Alice. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the expression on her face change and her movements tensing. Oh good, she did know how to react. Don't make any sudden leaps of faith, miss Alice, he thought. She might be more useful later, he didn't need her being pounced on like a little rabbit. Well, not yet anyways.
He saw the twitch at Margaret's lips as he mentioned her mother. He knew her personally, in all honesty. And that she had an arms dealership on Cancer, and that her husband had left her when her daughter was only a babe. The Black Crescent was born using that gun on her side. Mouse knew a lot of things that she never wanted to find brought up from the grave; things that were dear to her. Things that he can wield against her better than any firearm or knife. And she knew it.
Which is why she took no hesitation to gesture to one of her companions at her side, a giant of a humanoid creature, no word of exaggeration, whom lurched forward for a play on intimidation. Mouse smiled lightly and gave a little wave with the fingers of his good hand.
"We had a deal, Mouse." Said the Black Crescent, she didn't seemed to be physically able to take her eyes off of him. Had she even noticed Alice? Or didn't care?
"I don't remember ever shaking on that." He said and turned to go back to his drink. It was a purposefully bad move on his part. She didn't like to be ignored. It fuelled her temper and the result was an adult having a fit like a child that didn't get their way. Mouse felt the terrible squeeze on his left arm as he was yanked off the bar stool. It clattered to the ground and the glass his drink was in just happened to feel like it needed to mimic it. That shattered upon impact, the glass splaying across his shoes. His poor shoes. Despite the pain lacing through is arm from the heavy hand gripping it, his expression stayed the same. Cool, relaxed. Unaffected.
"I can't wager a guess on how your other arm was broken, but I can make sure I know how this one was." Margaret said, her hand going to her gun, probably half expecting him to tear off his own limb to get away. "And if I can remember correctly. You're left-handed. Shame."
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Alice moved in one fluid motion, drawing her gun and pressing the barrel of it against the woman's temple, her expression no longer slightly dazed and happy, focused on the woman, "Let him go now."
She would blow the bitches brains out if she didn't let Mouse go in the next few seconds.
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The Black Crescent's hand stopped on the hilt of her gun. Mouse watched with growing amusement as her eyes drew away from him and onto Alice. From that look, the small smile spreading on the woman's lips, he could tell what she was probably thinking: I bet you can't even use that gun.
"This is not your conversation, little girl." She said, her hand sliding to pull out her own weapon. "It's between me and this bastard right here."
And by that, she meant him of course. By this time, the barkeep behind the counter had conveniently disappeared. Mouse didn't blame him. If Alice would fire, it was best to be out of range. Of the bullet, as well as the blood. However, either way, the space pirate himself had a plan of his own. He just wanted to see what would happen, first.
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"It is now, bitch. Let him go or I splatter your brains on the wall." To make her point, Alice cocked the gun. If she didn't let go, Alice was fine putting a bullet in her head. She had killed more people than she could count and this one was threatening someone that had actually been nice to her.
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He liked the way Alice spoke. Very aggressive, assertive. Good. He wanted to know now whether he was going to be dragging dead weight behind him or not. Health insurance wasn't a part of the employee package. Mouse felt his arm starting to go numb in the near iron hold the Black Crescent's grunt had him in. Well, one of them. The other was standing directly behind her. He couldn't say what species they were, it was certainly not human. Humans didn't smell that bad. And he'd smelt a lot of bad people in his time.
The Black Crescent raised her gun, fully confident that she could fire the trigger faster than Alice. Mouse dearly hoped, despite his love for the unfortunate, that the pink haired woman who he just met not even a hour ago, would know how to play that gun a little better. But either way, he had a trick up his sleeve. Mouse could have set that card down on the table the moment he was assaulted, yet they would have missed out on all this fun!
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Alice's gun was already in place and the second The Black Crescent's gun twitched, Alice pulled the trigger. Without a trace of hesitation, before the woman's body had dropped, brains splattered against the wall, Alice had swung the gun and put a bullet into the neck of the man holding Mouse.
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Mouse fell along with the one grunt holding on to him. You couldn't get much messier than that. If he was a greenhorn pirate not used to seeing the insides of another person's skull he might have been hurling right there without an ounce of dignity restraining him. However, Mouse wasn't a newbie, and he was still dealing with a giant of a hand clamped around his arm; a hand that could with ease peel off the attempts of making a shack on the Edanith frontier homely. And it wasn't because it was attached to a dead guy.
"Alice! You missed a spot!" He said, looking up while trying to free his arm from meaty fungus covered fingers. He did not include fingernails in that description, because there weren't any. The second of the Black Crescent's paid followers, or unpaid considering how angry they seemed to look, lurched towards Alice.
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Alice moved with the fluid grace of a fighter. She might be all jiggling softness, but she was a fighter at the end of the day and she had muscle under her curves. Sidestepping the arm that reached for her, Alice exchanged a few blows with the goon before slamming his head against the bar until he lost consciousness.
Chest heaving, cheeks flushed, Alice hurried to Mouse's side, "Are you okay? Did you get hurt? I'm sorry! I made a mess!"
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She could move. Oh she could move. Alice was the most promising recruit of his that he had seen in a while. One could say it was a pleasure to watch her take out a staggering giant without a single fire from her gun. Good, she could fight in close quarters with no weapon. That was a important piece of information. If Mouse wasn't intent on freeing his one good arm, a feat in of itself considering his other was injured and in a sling, he'd congratulate her. Alas, that would have to wait until later. They had some damage control to do.
"Oh no, dear. You were flawless." Mouse said, putting a boot on the body of the fallen corpse and using it as leverage as he attempted to pull his arm free. He grunted and stopped after realising he'd pull out his own shoulder before he got anywhere. "Alice, I know I've already asked a lot of you, but could you...?"
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"Huh? OH!" Alice flushed a darker red and looked about ready to cry. She quickly reached down and hauled the man off of Mouse, "I'm so, so sorry! I wasn't thinking! Are you okay?"
She tossed the man to the side with a grunt, chest heaving and skin flushed with exertion and embarrassment, "Here! You poor thing!" Carefully reaching down, Alice helped Mouse up, keeping him supported against her.
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Mouse leaned against her, clenching and unclenching what was the hand of his good arm. The tingling sensation raced through it. He'd be sore, but the mess on the floor of the bar struck him far harder on the head. His grey eyes scanned the room, the shadowed silhouette of the patrons sitting at the far back were absent. It was a swell idea, getting out before being dragged into a bloody situation for pure association. It also meant he and Alice were alone for the most part.
"Lets get out of here while we can," He said, a smile lingering on his lips, and slinging his arm over the woman's shoulder. He wasn't that injured, but when in Cancer... "You did well, Alice."
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Alice did her best to help Mouse walk, arms around him and watching him nervously, alert for any sign of pain in the other man, "Really! I did? Honest!" The hope in her voice was obvious, her dull eyes lighting up with the joy of having done a good job.
"I wont let you down! I'll be even better next time!"