[RP] The 'Verse (Accepting profiles)

[DeirdreTonbo]

Midorikawa Aria

"Well I was thinking more along the lines of a peaceful homestead, a dog, that sort of stuff." Aria answered.

She pulled her hair free of the kanzashi keeping it in place, being careful with the sharp ends of both of them. Stupid Alliance soldiers never thought to really search a Companion properly. To them jewelry was just jewelry. These she wrapped in a spare piece of sacking in the bay before heading to the bridge with Jas.

"I can't say that I paid any attention to the warrants." On the bridge, Aria started correcting their path to Sihnon since they had gone off course to meet with the Alliance ship. She arranged her skirt so she could sit comfortably in her chair, hiking it up just slightly.  

[Akai_ryu]

Captain Jas Sturm

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"What would I do with a homestead and a dog?" Jas asked rhetorically as she sat in her chair, fingers dancing over the panels to prep the ship to move away from the patrol ship. "I'd be stuck on the ground and that's just boring."

While Aria did the math for the rest of their journey, Jas carefully guided her ship away from the Alliance patrol cruiser then oriented it in the right direction. The tall blonde slouched in her chair and popped her neck the moment their engines flared and they were making good speed away from the cruiser.

"Warrants aren't much of the sort of thing that pays off often. But, I like to keep an eye on them just in case we run across one of the fugitives. Most probably don't deserve their warrant since they probably only did something to annoy the Alliance, but...there's some that should be put away somewhere. Besides, fugitives come with a hefty reward and you know how much it costs to keep this boat in the sky." Jas mused, watching the screens for any sign of pursuit.

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[DeirdreTonbo]

Fayra Gardiner

Fayra smiled a little, a cold pack on her temple as she looked at Jaden. "I guess I wasn't paying attention. Thank you though... you got hurt trying to help me, that much it at least clear."

A little rummaging and she came up with something to make the swelling in Jaden's nose go down, offering it to her with a glass of water. "Take these, you'll be able to pop it back into place in about five minutes?"  

[Akai_ryu]

◣ Jaden Chu ◢

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Jaden took the pills blindly with one hand, popped them in hir mouth, swallowed then reached blindly for the water without lowering the cold pack. Once ze was sure where the cup was, Jaden tilted hir head back and chugged it before setting the cup down next to hirself.

"Wasn't nothing, doc. Cap says you're part of the crew. You've got a room in crew quarters and even I noticed you don't much like folk standing too close to you. Least I could do was try and make them stop long enough to listen. Not that they did." Jaden shrugged. "Besides, the choo-shung tza-jiao duh tzang-huo deserved it."

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[DeirdreTonbo]

Midorikawa Aria

"Well you wouldn't get hungry in the winter. You might need a new dog come spring though," Aria thought about what Jas would do with a homestead though, tone joking about the dog. Mostly.

When she was done crunching numbers, Aria flicked them to Jas' screen. As far as fugitives and warrants went, Jas usually had a good instinct who deserved to get handed over and who did not. She got to her feet and walked to Jas' chair.

"Lean forward."

Aria had a natural assurance people would do what she wanted- probably because most of the time they did. She reached over to rub Jas' neck, hands expertly finding the knots that the captain had been attempting to relieve on her own.  

[Akai_ryu]

Captain Jas Sturm

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"Yes ma'am." Jas said jokingly, but she obediently leaned forward slightly and automatically sat up straighter.

Dozing off in the pilot's chair never did good things for her neck during the best of times. That added to the stress of trying to fill out her minimal crew and then getting harassed by the Alliance while trying to make a delivery on time had left behind large egg sized knots through Jas' neck, shoulders and back. Then, of course, there was always trying to keep Jaden out of trouble. Jas had promised Jaden's brother that she would look out for his younger sibling and she was doing her best, but Jaden didn't exactly make things easy.

"I don't pay you enough, you know." The tall blonde groaned softly as Aria expertly worked several of the knots out.

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[DeirdreTonbo]

Fayra Gardiner

Another smile played across Fayra's face and she took something different than what she'd given Jaden.

"He may have at that. It's not... having people near. It- I-" She gave a short little sigh of frustration, not sure how to explain herself. "There's some things and... I don't like to be touched. Not by strangers." As she talked her shoulders tensed up.

With a little shake of her head, the medic brought her attention away from herself and back to Jaden. "Will you need help setting that?" Her eyes flicked over the muscle's face and she set her ice pack aside.  

[Akai_ryu]

◣ Jaden Chu ◢

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"Eh. I've done it before." Jaden grunted into the cold pack. "Last time was after Cap got us into a bar fight. Time before that we were...on a job. There were soldiers. My nose got broke in a remarkably similar fashion."

After a few moments, ze lowered the cold pack and gingerly felt at the mostly numb parts of hir face. Jaden grabbed just below the broken spot then abruptly let go with a grunt of pain.

"Right. Need some booze first." ze grunted and hopped down off the counter.

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[DeirdreTonbo]

Midorikawa Aria

"Jaswinder Sturm," Aria said in a chiding tone, "You could not afford me."

She didn't stop what she was doing though, leaning down with her elbow to work out a particularly stubborn knot in Jas' shoulder.

"Don't worry though. With me bound to be summoned by my mother, Jaden loose amongst the cultured populace of Sihnon, and your new medic I'm sure you'll have plenty to put new knots in your neck."  

[Akai_ryu]

Captain Jas Sturm

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Once upon a time, Jas could have afforded to pay for Aria's time. It wouldn't have been a common thing, but it wouldn't have been too much of a burden either. However, it was certainly seen as an oddity, just as Jas had been seen and that had been a long time ago.

"Don't remind me." Jas groaned. "I'm half tempted to just turn Jaden loose on Sihnon and stand back to watch the mess. But if I do that then all of our profits will go to bailing Jaden out of jail and paying fines."

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[DeirdreTonbo]

Fayra Gardiner

Fayra lowered the cold pack from her own face and watched Jaden. Likely by morning her eye would be puffy and bruised, hopefully with the application of ice it wouldn't be too bad. She felt her eyebrow gingerly when Jaden wasn't there to see. Despite her trepidation around strangers, Fayra did have a small streak of vanity.

After a few pokes she lowered her hands and waited for Jaden to come back. Mostly they had gotten everything as put away as they could manage since leaving Persephone so there wasn't a lot for her to do.  

[DeirdreTonbo]

Midorikawa Aria

"As long as you invest in some good alcohol before you spend all our money bailing hir out I don't mind actually," Aria thought about it and smiled. "Have you got anything good lined up out of Sihnon or are we going to be there for a few until something floats our way?"

Most people would be excited at the prospect of spending time there, but Aria sounded worried. The longer they spent on Sihnon the more chance the mistress of the Midorikawa Okiya would have to guilt Aria into promises she didn't want to make.

"Well, captain, I'm to my quarters to lay something out to air and get some sleep. Buzz me on the comm if you need me."  

[Akai_ryu]

◣ Jaden Chu ◢

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Jaden's boots rang against the deck as ze strode out of the infirmary and into the cargo hold. Ze could be heard moving crates about and before long, the androgynous muscle-for-hire returned with a mason jar in hand. It was filled with an amber liquid of some kind and when ze opened it, the infirmary was filled with the fumes of strong alcohol.

Jaden sat back on the counter again and took a sip before offering the moonshine to Fayra. It wasn't particularly good tasting, but it was potent, available and cheap which was why Jaden had a crate of it stashed in the cargo bay. By the time the mason jar had lost a third of its contents, Jaden was...well, just on the verge of being completely drunk. Hir face had gone bright red under the darkening bruises shortly after the first sip and hir movements became less precise.

And that was when Jaden decided to reset hir own nose using the bottom of the bed pan as a mirror.

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Captain Jas Sturm

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"Sausages." Jas replied. "Then we're supposed to acquire some salvage and drop off the sausages in Hera and the salvage in Jiangyin. If you've got business on our way out, we can make stops, but not too many, I think."

The tall blonde nodded absently when Aria excused herself, leaving the captain alone on the bridge amongst the glow of the console lights. Leaning back in her chair, Jas stared out the windows, watching the patterns of far away stars shift as they flew through the black. Eventually, she nodded off again and eventually woke to see that Jaden had left a covered plate of food for her on an open bit of console.

Jas had time to eat and fall asleep again before an alarm went off, warning her that they were approaching Sihnon. Yawning, the captain went through the usual procedures to get permission to dock at one of the space ports in the main part of the city, not far from where the melons were to be delivered. Once she had a berth secured, she picked up the comm.

"Strap in, folks, we'll be entering Sihnon's atmo in ten." She announced as a warning before buckling in herself.

It wasn't entirely necessary since she was already sitting, but there were so many ways for re-entry to go wrong and then for a landing to go wrong that Jas had never found it a bad idea to strap in. The few times she had to make emergency landings, she had been glad of them and they didn't really interfere otherwise.

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[DeirdreTonbo]

Midorikawa Aria
Fayra Gardiner

Fayra didn't accept the offered alcohol, trying to politely hide her disapproval as disinterestedness. She could smell that it was highly alcoholic which, hopefully, would at least ensure that Jaden wasn't poisoning hirself. The medic made sure that the muscle didn't make hir nose worse or that ze didn't make hir nose start gushing blood. It would take a little more time (or a greater emergency) before Fayra would feel assertive enough to take over an operation like that.

Once she was certain that Jaden was going to sleep it off, she herself went to her own quarters to unwind and rest. The two pills that Fayra had taken put her right out. When she finally woke, one quick check of the time showed she'd slept right through the sit down meal that Jas preferred. She was already midway through hurriedly getting cleaned up to go that way she Fayra saw that someone had slid a plate of food into the room.

Rather than finish in a rush, Fayra continued to get dressed and pin her hair out of her face. It had only been a short few days she had been living on this ship but already... Well she had more privacy and control than she had on Persephone living with her family. And after crossing paths with the Alliance and Captain Unpronounceable it felt more secure. Two days and Jas, Aria, and Jaden had given her a home she hadn't experienced since before. She rolled the sleeves of her white blouse to just above her elbows, leaving Fayra about as casual as she knew how to be.

Plate in hand, Fayra walked to the common eating area to eat her semi-warm meal. She was there when Jas made her announcement; Fayra secured herself after rinsing her dishes and setting them in the sink to properly clean once they were landed.

--

During the flight, Aria was quite busy. Landing on Sihnon wasn't in any way a vacation for her- much as she might love the planet and its sights. When she left Jas on the deck she had gone to contemplate which of the kimono she had with them aboard the ship were most suitable for the event. It was an excellent time to change what she had with them, but much of what she had was in -need- of exchange. Some were simply written off as they needed repair or cleaning. After some thought and a lot of heavy fabric moved around, Aria had what she wanted airing out.

She flitted through the deck once or twice to check on Jas (putting a blanket on her once) but spent a large portion of her time grooming. While Jaden was cooking dinner, Aria kept her company while sitting at the table paining her toe and fingernails with a degree of precision that seemed uncalled for; given that she was going to cover her toes with tabi once she finally got dressed. As they chatted Aria arranged with Jaden time to help with her makeup as well as getting her tied into her kimono.

When the captain announced they were going into landing procedures soon, Aria pulled on a long skirt and hauled onto the bridge to make sure she wasn't needed. In normal circumstances, Jas was fully capable of landing on her own, but it never hurt to be ready.  

[Akai_ryu]

◣ Jaden Chu ◢

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"Hey doc." Jaden grunted as ze walked into the eating area, staggering slightly as the ship hit a patch of turbulence. "You want anything while we're on planet? I'm restocking."

Despite their preventative efforts, Jaden had two black eyes that were just on this side of not-swollen. When the ship shook again ze steadied hirself against the bulkhead before snagging a seat a bit away from where Fayra sat.

"I figure you can people watch while I help Aria and then if you want to, you can come with when I go out and put in orders and you can see the sights. Y'know, do the tourist thing. Cap might come with too."

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Captain Jas Sturm

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When Aria came up to check to see if help was needed, Jas was prepping to enter atmo and fairly clearly had it under control.

"How long do you want this visit to be? We can be gone in a day if you need, but I don't want to rush you." the captain said absently as she guided the ship into the planet's atmosphere then downward toward their berth. "But we can't stay long. I hope it doesn't offend your...house. I got a wave earlier from our mechanic and if we wait too long to get off planet, she'll find another ship. Even if she does like us."

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