War of the Roses
Residential District - Londinium =>Londinium<=
The area here is of one of the larger residential regions of Londinium. The majority of the buildings in this area are built in long rows, varying between two, three and even a few four story houses that rise above the ground. Small alleyways split the many buildings into sections. The streets are paved with smooth blacktop and lined with concrete sidewalks. Tall light poles run along sides of the streets to provide light to the streets and walkways in the later hours of the evenings. Around the neighborhoods roam Alliance troopers, and patrolling police units to provide security for the residents of the housing. Security cameras are placed on every street corner to watch for illegal activities.
Slightly out of place, Wren wanders through the streets of Londinium, her feet taking her on a non-linear path toward the residential district. Humming softly, she's mostly oblivious to the other people around her, who are occasionally obliged to stop short or run into the slight figure when she decides to pause for no apparent reason.
Sunan just happens to be wandering down the same way as Wren, also looking somewhat unusual - not too many brown coats on a planet like Londinium. He catches sight of Wren from behind, and grunting softly, begins to speed up to catch the woman. "Wren, I figured you'd still be on the ship."
Another abrupt stop sends the person just behind Wren into a flurry of shifting steps as he tries not to run into the woman, or anyone else, a few imprecations muttered under his breath as he bobs and weaves his altered path. Wren herself seems completely unbothered by this, hazel green eyes searching out Sunan. A bright smile lights her face as she finds him, and she gives a wave. "Isabella went to the garden," she says by way of explanation,
Sunan looks clearly amused as the man behind Wren does his best not to make a more embarrassing scene. After he's moving off, Sunan returns Wren's smile, and waves as well. "...Oh yeah?" he asks, unphased by crazy, "Well, normally you're in the gardens too, aren't you?"
Wren cants her head to the side, still smiling as she considers Sunan. "I take care of them," she responds with a nod. "She was too cold, needed to get her feet into the dirt," she adds, shifting her gaze away to scan the area. "Should be better now, so I want to see what's blooming," she continues, starting off again in the direction she thinks will take her to the home of their Captain.
Sunan tilts his head slightly as well, curious, though he knows better than to follow that line of questioning. "Oh yeah? Hm. Well, on to the estate, then, eh? Sounds good." he slips his hands into pockets on the outside of his coat, and follows Wren at a close distance, a few steps behind the woman.
Sure enough, it isn't too long before the pair are facing the Temporalis Manor. After a moment to be certain she has the right residence, Wren brazenly walks right up and onto the property, bold as you please. She's begun humming again, an oddly haunting and yet cheerful line of melody.
You are entering Temporalis Manor - Gardens - Londinium. Temporalis Manor - Gardens - Londinium =>Londinium<=
Flora and Fauna abound throughout the gilded paths of dark slate. The colorful display of manicured lawns and flowerbeds wind to and fro, giving a most pleasant view of the breathtaking beauty of the property. Arising in the short distance past the landscaped garden is a majestic manor, its structure built of stone masonry. Each window is beveled glass, tinted lightly against the sun's rays. Three stories of grey stone take up most of the horizon.
Sunan follows after Wren through the gardens, rubbing the back of his head as he looks about the area. "Huh... guess this is Wren's... natural... habitat..." he murmurs softly, hopefully not loud enough for the girl in front of him to actually hear.
And it is. The girl positively glows as she takes the winding paths through the flowerbeds. Glancing back over her shoulder she grins at him. "Wren's are troglodytes," she informs him, a hint of teasing laughter in her voice. "Caves and crevices," she adds, lowering her voice to intone the words. "But hiding in flower gardens works too," she declares, crouching down to inspect one specimen in particular.
Sunan flashes a grin at Wren as she speaks back to him, "Oh." he responds smartly, "So, yeah... gardens." Sunan stands idly by while Wren snoops, and idly snaps his fingers to an unheard song.
"Gardens," Wren agrees in echo, one hand absently reaching up to trace a path from her temple down her neck, stopping at her collarbone. Standing again, she continues on the path, pausing here and there to sniff a blossom or touch a leaf.
Sunan follows dutifully behind Wren as she continues. The snapping ceases, and his hands slip into his pockets once more. Instead, he begins to whistle a cheerful tune, though not loudly. As he whistles, he continues to look around the gardens, but remains constantly a few feet behind Wren.
Somewhere, in the midst of all of these flowers, sits Isabella. She's sitting on a large, marble bench, a large, thick robe wrapped around her tiny body. She sits alone, watching a few of the gardeners tend to the plants in the beautiful gardens. She stares blankly at the group of workers in front of her, not even realizing that some members of her crew, were also amongst the gardens.
Neither the snapping nor the whistling seem to bother Wren as she wends her way through the grounds. It takes a little while, but eventually the pair of them reach the marble bench where Isabella is sitting. There's a fractional moment of hesitancy as Wren takes in the woman's condition, and then she continues right on over to the bench and plops herself down. "It's warmer here," she observes, as if continuing a conversation.
Without even looking away from the workers when Wren sits down next to her, Isabella gently nods her head. "They don't cut the flowers.." The robe is pulled tighter around her body, her arms folding across it to keep it in place. Slowly, she begins to stand from the bench, taking a few steps closer to the group of purple roses in front of her. She points to the flowers as she nears them, turning back to look at Wren. "My favorite.."
Sunan continues to follow Wren through the grounds, to Isabella's bench. He doesn't sit down upon arrival, instead dipping into a bow at the waist to Isabella. "Temporalis shao jeh." he says respectfully, "My name is Sunan Rettburg. Along with my biao xiong, Jiao Long, we're the newest members on the Invictus..."
"Purple," Wren agrees, her gaze following Isabella to the roses. "Gabriella's back," she states, watching the woman carefully to catch her reaction to the news she may or may not already know.
Ordinarily, news such as that, should be enough to make someone happy. Especially when that someone is the mother of that missing child. But, at the news of Gabriella being back, Isabella doesn't so much as even change the expression on her face. She turns to look at Sunan as he approaches and introduces himself. "I'm Isabella..I'm no one.." She turns away from the man, looking back to her roses as she sits down on the small wall in front of them.
Oh. Well. No wonder they get along so famously together. Sunan's face falls slightly, before he recovers and takes on a blank mask. "Oh, well. 'Kay." he replies, purposefully oblivious. He turns in a slow circle, possibly wondering if he's the only sane person in the gardens, though this question isn't given voice.
"So'm I," Wren responds with a shrug. "You were 'sposed to dig your roots in deep, soak in the sun," she says slowly, a frown creasing her forehead. "Not wither away. This isn't helping."
Isabella turns herself so that she's facing Wren and Sunan and she looks up at Wren. "Can't fix it. If a person's dying, they're dying. Nothing left to do but wither." She slowly shakes her head, one of her hands reaching from within the long sleeves of her robe, her fingertips lightly brushing over the delicate bloom of one of the roses. She stares curiously at it for a few moments, taking extra care not to disturb any of the petals.
As he wasn't addressed, Sunan doesn't deliver his usually obligatory crazy-deflecting "Mm." or "Oh." Instead, he turns so that his side is presented to the other to, and pulls a small flask from an inner pocket in his duster. He takes a nice, long swig from it, then slips the container back in. "Ahhh..." he turns back, looking substantially better.
Wren stares at Isabella, the crease on her forehead deepening. "Well, you're doing it wrong. Gan ni lao shi (fuck your teacher, implied: for not teaching you)," she declares, anger edging her voice and making it sharp.
Drawing her attention away from the flowers, Isabella looks back up at Wren, her head shaking slowly. There is a soft, faint smile on her lips as she looks at the other woman, and then to Sunan. "Time's up..can't stay.." She slowly stands from the small wall she had been sitting on and takes a few steps back towards the house. "You didn't see me.." she whispers softly to Wren as she moves past her.
"Did too," Wren states, standing as well and stomping her foot on the ground. "I see you! I hear you," she declares, voice rising angrily more and more with each word. "Your turn-- YOU look, YOU see," she adds, the words practically spit from her mouth.
As the crazies begin to get crazier, and sparks begin to fly off Wren's tongue, Sunan gradually meanders back in the direction of the street, not exactly tip-toeing, but not trying overly much to draw attention to himself.
"Just close your eyes, it'll be over soon," Isabella mutters as she continues on her way back towards the large house. She doesn't stop as Wren yells after her, doesn't even bother to protest what the other woman is saying. She drags herself to the small set of stairs, grabbing the railing tightly as she literally pulls herself up them, trying to gather enough strength to make it all the way up them.
It is an odd sight, and possibly a little terrifying, Wren throwing a tantrum in the middle of the well-manicured garden. Sounds that are probably attempts at words are entirely incoherent as she grabs hold of the purple flowers, heedless of their thorns, and begins ripping them out.
"W-what?" Sunan grumbles under his breath, as he watches Wren start to rip at the roses, and the thorns rip at her hands. "Dammit." he curses softly, his backpedaling reversing, he begins to stride quickly toward her, long legs clearing the distance easily. "Wren! Wren! Stop that!" he speaks forcefully, ready to move forward and stop her, if she doesn't of her own volition.
It's as if he isn't even there, Wren is so focused on her one single task, continuing to rip at the rose bushes. Words are intermittently comprehensible as she's forced to slow a little in an attempt to uproot the plant, "That's... how... done!" she yells, pulling the base of the plant free in one tremendous yank, both hands wrapped around thorny branches. Just in time for Sunan to bring a halt to her rampage, before she can move on to the next one in line.
"Hey, dammit!" Sunan hollers at Wren as she pulls the entire plant out. "Put that down! Watch your damn hands!" he moves forward and reaches to push the plant out of Wren's deranged mitts. "You're coming with me back to the ship. Your hands are probably torn up now." his tone isn't angry, just... alarmed.
The plant is easily discarded, Wren no longer interested in it once she's pulled it free. Her hands are more than a little torn up, and becoming slick with blood, the scratches and nicks running all the way up her forearms. Wild eyes focus on Sunan, wide and dilated and definitively irrational. "That's how," she repeats, yelling the words at him between panting breaths.
"Whoa, hey, whatever." Sunan replies, reaching out for one of Wren's wrists, "Just come with me, Wren. We can get back to the ship, and I can clean your hands up in the medbay... don't think we should be around here anymore..." he casts an annoyed glance around the gardens at various workers who have turned to stare in shock. "Go back to work, dammit." he curses at the general surroundings.
Wren jerks back instinctively as Sunan reaches for one of her wrists, eyes darting to his outstretched hand. Most of what he's saying doesn't seem to be getting through very well, but there's one word that jolts through her. Medbay. It's as if someone physically struck her, the way she staggers back from it.
"Okay, okay." Sunan takes another step forward, once again reaching for her wrists. "Wren, you're bleeding. If you don't want to go to the medical bay, that's fine. We can use the commons, and I'll get some bandages and cleaning solution and..." he continues on that way for a while, trying to calm the woman, even as he tries to get a handle on her.
The fact that Wren leaves one arm out in front of her in the universal, 'stop, go away' gesture is probably helpful in taking hold of it. She shakes her head violently from side to side. "No-- not goin', not goin' in there," she declares repeating the words in a voice full of panic. "No more games!"
A slowly growing crowd of gardeners is taking form, and with it a discussion as to how to handle this turn of events.
"Dammit. I can put a blanket on you, but I can't stop you from bleeding?" Sunan dips forward, under Wren's arms, almost as if bodily tackling her. Then he lifts her up, onto one broad shoulder. A quick turn, and baleful glare at the gardeners - his green eyes blazing, "Get back to work. The hell did I say?"
Suddenly she's up in the air. How the hell did that happen? Complete shock at her sudden elevation prevents Wren from doing much more than gaping for a long moment as Sunan tells the gardeners to get back to work. Several of the gardeners share her expression, mouths open as they stare at the little drama that's at least as good as Jerry Springer and live. None of them seem inclined to do anything other than watch, so long as The Problem is going Away.
Sunan continues to glare around at the gardeners and hands for a moment, before shaking his head. "Probably half of 'em don't even speak English..." a brief roll of his eyes, then he's marching off for the residential district, and eventually, beyond it, the ship. "Now, Wren... calm down..."
"Not going in there," Wren insistently repeats, shaking her head a little. The abrupt change in altitude and scenery seem to be enough to break the line of thought that pushed her over the edge to begin with, leaving her concerned with one thing only.
You board the Invictus. Invictus - Cargo Bay =>Invictus<=
This is the largest area of the Dragonfly class: a huge, cavernous room nearly the full length of the ship minus the Engine Room. The reinforced metal floor is littered with quick release clamps to easily attach or detach standard cargo containers. The huge cargo ramp is broad enough for the MULE parked on it to head in and out to load cargo. To conserve space, the MULE is usually parked on the ramp, causing it to be halfway outside the ship when it opens, although there's enough space left to park it inside when the ship's bay isn't fully loaded.
Beyond an airtight bulkhead to the aft is the ship's Engine Room. To the front, closer to the ramp, a stairwell leads up to the crew deck; and just beside it is some equipment for the crew to work out and exercise. Apart from that, the cargo bay contains shelves and lockers for the ship's own supply of parts, food and other things, along with any cargo onboard.
Sunan has pretty much ignored Wren's psycho(literally)babble on the way here, though he occasionally mutters something like "Yeah." or "Stop struggling, dammit." as the situation warrants. Upon reaching the ship, and boarding, he doesn't set her down, but continues toward the stairwell to the crewdeck.
Apart from the occasional wriggle testing to see if maybe he's forgotten she's up here and she can get down now, Wren's been relatively calm on the way back here. But as Sunan begins heading toward the stairwell, she starts panicking. "You said no-- no, not going in there, not going, not going-- Ni shi pian zi! (you are a cheat!)," she exclaims, truly working at getting herself free.
"Dammit, so help me, if you don't calm down, I'll spank you!" Sunan rumbles darkly at the woman over his shoulder, "Swear to God!" he begins up the stairwell. "We're just going to the crew area... not the medbay, so calm down." he'll be okay, as long as she doesn't try to pull his hair.
"Just crew, just crew-- promise!" Wren demands, struggling slowing a bit-- particularly once they hit the stairs. She may be crazy, but she's not dumb. A tumble down the stairs would be a real disaster. The fact that she's actually, literally, shaking in fear is transmitted quite clearly through Sunan's shoulder as they near the top of the steps.
Invictus - Crew Commons =>Invictus<=
This is the ship's common room, a place for the crew to relax, eat, and talk. In the middle of the room is a big table with comfortable chairs placed around it. To the port side near the Med Bay's entrance is a simple kitchen beside a basic storage rack for food and drinks. Starboard, the entry to the Crew Quarters can be found, as well as a number of large lockers for the crew's kit storage. To the room's aft are placed some couches opposite to a Cortex terminal and a large screen where currently some sort of gaming console appears to be hooked up. Between the couches, a small table holds some books and other things to read. Finally, to the front near the entrance to the Captain's Quarters, a corkscrew stairway up to the Bridge can be seen.
"Good girl." Sunan says to the young woman, the hand cradling her giving what he hopes is a reassuring pat on the back. He marches her clear to one of the couches in the crew commons, and then sets her gently down on it. "See? Not going there. But I'm going to go grab some things to clean those cuts with, okay?"
"Not going there," Wren echoes with a nod, sitting very still on the couch she is deposited on. She's a mess, blood streaking her hair and face as well as her hands and arms. Sunan's going to need a change of clothes himself, since she liberally smeared him as well with her panicking. But for the moment, she's being very well-behaved indeed, eyes focused on the deck below her feet.
A few minutes later, Sue walks back out into the commons from the med bay, a bundle of clothes in one hand - his duster and tunic - obvious, since he's now bare down to the waist. His duster and tunic are nice and bloody at this point, and he doesn't particularly want them to get bloodier. In the other hand is a kit with gauze, bandages, and antiseptics. "I wasn't a medic, but I know how to clean and wrap wounds, at the very least..." he says assuringly, tossing his bloody clothes carelessly onto the table.
Wren watches him carefully, eyes lifting from the deck to watch as he comes back with the kit. "No drugs, no needles," she asserts, flinching a little as she speaks. That made clear, she offers her hands out to him, wincing as she uncurls them from the protective fists they instinctively formed. The skin is shredded in several places on the palms, thorns raked through flesh without regard for the damage-- and one or two of the spiteful things is still lodged under her skin.
"Yeah." Sunan agrees, "No drugs, no needles." he shakes his head a bit, kneeling down in front of her, "That was dumb, you know." a pair of tweezers is produced, and then he's going to work on the thorns still lodged in her hands. His attentions aren't particularly caring or gentle, simply going about the process methodically, but he does seem to be taking some care not to actually hurt.
Wren gives little hissing indrawn breaths as the thorns are removed, doing her best to hold still for the process. "Dumb," she agrees, gaze shifting to random items scattered through the room. "She doesn't hafta wither," she continues, shaking her head.
"That's right, good... stay still." Sunan does his best to speak soothingly as he finishes with the last of the thorns. Dropping the tweezers into the tray, he pauses for a moment, before grabbing a bottle of antiseptic solution. "She probably doesn't, but... I don't know the whole story with Isabella." he sets the solution aside for a moment, before grabbing some disposable cloth, with that, he begins to wipe away the majority of the blood on her hands and forearms.
"Her name's wrong," Wren states, watching in some fascination as the blood is wiped away, revealing rough, irregular cuts into her skin. "Fifteen, sixteen now they're stitching," she murmurs, the singsong words barely audible. "Ailani," she says in a clearer voice.
"Uh, yeah." Sunan finds her crazy talk a bit distracting, under present circumstances. With her hands clean, he begins to wet some gauze pads with the cleaning solution. Once done, he starts to wrap the gauze around her hands and her forearms, "Okay, well, the good thing is, you're not going to be able to manipulate things for a while, which means you can't hurt yourself. This is gonna be kinda like wearing... oven mitts." he cracks an amused grin at that, and then keeps wrapping.
Wren blinks, canting her head to the side as her hands are wrapped. "I should bake?" she wonders, frowning at her mitted hands.
"No!" Sunan warns instantly. "You shouldn't do anything. This will make it so you can't hurt yourself again." after the gauze is applied, he begins to tape it around her hands and forearms. As he comes to a finish, he stands up and nods in satisfaction. "Okay. Murdering plants is a no-no. And well, I doubt if you could even eat alone like that. Good. Means you can't do anything less than intelligent."
"Sometimes you have to make a point," Wren comments with a shrug, moving her hands a bit experimentally and frowning at them as she discovers her new limitations. "And she pissed me off," she adds, making a face.
"That's the most sane thing you've ever said." Sunan replies, "You're scarin' me." he passes out of the room briefly to return the supplies, then reappears. "Just do me a favor and don't trip down any stairs."
Wren cants her head to the side again at Sunan's comment, expression rather bemused. "Don't trip down any stairs," she nods, repeating the words. "No Captain flambe, no glowing Captains," she adds in a small litany. "Sometimes things make more sense than others," she notes after a moment of further thought, shrugging her shoulders.
"Be safe, Wren." Sue's patience for the night has apparently worn thin, because after a faint smile directed to the young woman, he's headed down toward the crew quarters, probably to sleep.
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