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The Ace of Spades Joined: 7 May 2006 Posts: 402 | Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 4:00 pm | Characters: All for this theme; By The Ace of Spades: This theme, Any theme Evie could tell that Rokky was worrying-- could practically hear his worrying-- and took a moment to wave him back into his seat, wishing he would stop being so concerned. It wasn't that it annoyed her; to the contrary, it was part of what made him such a dependable guy. But she didn't want her first mate spending all his energy worrying when Janika had that covered as well as he did. It was why Evie hardly ever worried about bullets and knife wounds and the like. She had complete faith in the doctor, which is what allowed her to be so nonchalant about her own injuries. Also, he was really good at worrying, which meant she didn't have to.
She glanced down, noticing that Rokky wasn't wearing a shirt. Hm. "Nice," she said, completely sincere, but also somewhat detached-- she was aware, at least vaguely, that he had some amount of aesthetic appeal, but it was like telling a brother that he had nice hair, or that his shoes looked good with his outfit. Of course, being Evie, she had to take it a step further. "I should enact a dress code," she said. "Make that mandatory." She turned to Janika. "Can I do that? I'm pretty sure I'm allowed to do that." It was a very good thing that she and Rokky were so wholly not attracted to one another. It made life on board the Wessel so much more fun. Although she did sometimes wonder whether her oddball sense of humor annoyed him. He seemed... uncomfortable, sometimes. Maybe I should tone that down, she thought, fully aware that she'd have forgotten by the next time an opportunity for joking rolled around. At Rokky's question, she only shrugged. "I'd assume so," she said. "The cake's not really all that valuable, aside from the fact that it'll probably be delicious. Really, we're just trying to sabotage the wedding. Our new employers think stealing the cake is the best way to do that." She considered Janika's objections, seemed to actually think about them for a long moment. "So," she said, with an easy shrug, "we don't get caught. That takes care of that problem." She had it all planned out-- or, at least, she had a very basic outline, and she figured Janika and Rokky could work out the bumps. She would've included Valentin in that consideration, except the boy was really better suited to following instructions than inventing them. "I figure we can maybe knock out a couple of the caterers, steal their clothes-- you know, like in those old movies-- and then someone can create a distraction or something and we run off with the cake. It'll be a breeze." OOC:I love that our plan has "Evie" written all over it. That's totally the kind of thing she'd come up with and just expect it to work. |
Digithe Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Posts: 885 | Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 9:20 pm | Characters: All for this theme; By Digithe: This theme, Any theme Janika sighed, wiping his hand down his face as he came to terms with the fact that they were, in fact, going through with this job. Every time Evie found some job like this, Janika would argue and try to use logic to dissuade her, of course, but every time, she would have none of his "nonsense," and would go off and do exactly what she wanted to do regardless. At first, Janika had been more than willing to let her go off on her adventures and take any mission she cared to. Actually, he was still just as willing. However, he'd quickly discovered that, if left to her own devices, she was very liable to come back with a couple extra holes in her that didn't belong-- not to mention missing a significant volume of blood.
And Doctor Janika was the one who had to clean up that mess. Rokky was a Godsend, of course, and the lad had proven more than capable of keeping Evie safe. Sometimes that was at his own expense, but at least he didn't seem to have Evie's inexplicable aversion to seeking medical care. He also had a pretty good head on his shoulders-- surprisingly so, in fact-- which had probably helped get them all out of as many scrapes as his muscles had. Nevertheless, Janika had not quite gotten out of the habit of going along with Evie's missions-- especially when he felt she could particularly use his help. Though he was not particularly keen on getting involved with the mob again-- he'd had one or two... encounters in the past-- his gut told him that this happened to be one of those times. "I'm only surprised you haven't already." Janika offered the captain a wry grin in response to her idea about the topless uniform. "You've gathered a crew of all men-- well, Valentin doesn't exactly count-- but I was expecting some harem-style rules long ago." The doctor caught Rokky's look of concern and added: "When you hired Rokky, I assumed from the beginning that it was to that end." Janika listened to her explanation of the plan. It seemed best not to interrupt her when she was explaining the plan-- it was usually short enough that he didn't have to wait long, anyway. "Okay, old-fashioned film-style costume thievery is all well and good-- let's assume for a moment that we can find two guys and a gal our own height and build, you know, for fun-- but what kind of distraction were you thinking of that would not result in, say-- oh, I dunno-- death?" OOC: Janika the Optimist is what they called him at his first job. Also, poor Rokky. |
| The Ace of Spades Joined: 7 May 2006 Posts: 402 | Posted: Sun Mar 14, 2010 10:19 pm | Characters: All for this theme; By The Ace of Spades: This theme, Any theme "Has anyone ever told you you're a killjoy?" Evie asked, not really expecting an answer. (She told him this herself, roughly half a dozen times a day.
Although, really, it depended on the day.) Whatever drugs she'd been pumped full of during her life-saving operation-- she liked that phrase, which made it sound like a big deal, as though this wasn't a regular occurrence-- they were beginning to wear off, and her side was beginning to ache terribly, with this weirdly-familiar sting every time she drew breath. Nothing to worry over, though. She'd had this exact same wound enough times to know that this was perfectly normal. But that damned itch. Evie leaned on the ship's consoles, careful not to touch anything important, and tried to sneak a scratch in while she spoke. "All our plans before--" scratch, scratch, damn bandages-- "have generally pointed toward death as the--" why the hell are the bandages so thick-- "most likely outcome, and yet--" goddamn itches like a-- "here we are, alive and well. Ow." That had hurt. And it still itched like mad. She sighed and gave up, not particularly wanting to deal with a lecture from Janika on why it was of very great importance not to rip the stitches out of newly-aquired gunshot wounds. (Janika always seemed to have a lecture prepared on every possible subject.) "Listen, whatever death or non-death related distraction goes down, it has to be something that one of you two can pull off. I'm on cake duty." This apparent avoidance of conflict was unlike Evie, but she made no further comment on it. (Normally, she was eager to be the one put in harm's way. Her reasoning was as follows: if Rokky was injured, they'd have a hell of a time carting him off toward medical attention, and if Janika was hurt, well, they were all screwed.) "So, you're right. Preferably something on the safe side this time." She paused, considering. Safe, on this ship, was a very relative concept. "As safe as possible, anyway. I don't know. Act like you're dying or something. They'll be less likely to shoot you." She handed Rokky a slip of paper with handwritten coordinates scrawled across it. "This is where we're going. Huge wedding destination planet, they've built most of their economy around it. So chances are, we're looking at an outdoor ceremony, lots of open space. Probably on a beach. Whole damn planet's full of 'em." She grinned. "Beach weddings aren't as fun as they look, though. Had one, once. Sand gets everywhere and all in your dress, and then when you go to take it off--" She shook her head, and her grin turned a few degrees toward evil. "Not worth it. That poor bride's gonna be chafed from here to next week." |
spy_4_hire Joined: 14 Feb 2004 Posts: 569 | Posted: Mon Mar 15, 2010 12:37 am | Characters: All for this theme; By spy_4_hire: This theme, Any theme Rokky shrugged at the compliment and gave a modest nod. He tried not to let it get to him, but any compliment from his captain kind of made his insides swell with pride, but he did his best to remain nonchalant and kept his cool. He mastered the art after all this time, and didn't even flush pink when she teased him, most of the time anyway. There were plenty of other times he had been caught totally off guard by Evie which resulted in him feeling like a complete idiot, but a person, he discovered, could get use to that. Besides, he still hoped that someday, maybe, she'd open her eyes, and look at him, really look at him and see that he was perfect for her and he could finally make her his...
Well, a guy could dream, couldn't he? "You bloodied my last clean shirt, Cap'n," Rokky said with a good-natured half smile. He did not sit back in his chair abut leaned against it instead. "An' we were in a somethin' of a rush to leave. "'Sides, y'know you hired me fer my purdy face." Rokky did not care much for the doctor's personality, though he had come to respect him and his skills as a physician. He thought it odd and a bit annoying, at first, that he would come along on the various jobs, but he came to expect Janika to join them. He even appreciated it now, after countless situations when having the doc on hand made all the difference between a new scar and being deader than bacon. He never argued with Evie when it came to the captain's hair-balled schemes. Jankia's job was to argue and point out various flaws and try to talk her out of it. As first mate, he quietly accepted that his job was to take these crazy ideas of hers and make them work as well as he could without getting horribly wounded, knowing that it would only make the doctor a reason to say "I told you so." "The wedding cake is a pretty big deal nowadays," Rokky said knowledgeably, scratching the side of his his head as his eyes skimmed over the piece of paper. "I mean hoity toity people with lotsa money like these folks ain't gonna settle fer chocolate flavored protein. They're goin' t'get the real deal. The cake will constantly be accompanied by a' least two caterers at all times. After all them weddings ye had, ma'am, I'd thought you'd've noticed." He gave her a wry smile, but narrowed his eyes slightly when he thought he saw her try to scratch her side. "Hope ye don' mind the company, ma'am, but I'm gonna haffta insis' I come along. It'd be too suspect if ye waltz around with a huge, fancy cake like that all on yer own." "An' you can handle distractin' the party fer a bit jus' fine on yer own," Rokky said, addressing Janika now. "We just hafta figure out a way... Do we know anything about these people anywhow? Names maybe?" He sat back down and started looked up the planet, Hera, the most posh place to hold one's wedding. |
| Digithe Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Posts: 885 | Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 12:53 am | Characters: All for this theme; By Digithe: This theme, Any theme OOC: We might've posted more in the last couple days than SH has seen in the past year
Saying that Evie's rather apparent interest in avoiding contact with the victims of the day's job caused a red flag to go up in Janika's head was like saying St. Albans was a bit chilly. As a matter of fact, it was not just a single red flag, but hundreds, all twice as big as a normal flag, and lit up by spotlights and fireworks. Evie was not one to avoid the dangerous, "interesting" part of a job-- that she was meant that there was something she was trying to avoid. Which meant trouble. Which meant an Ex. At least, if it were the doctor himself, that's what it would mean. "Yes, the people wanting to ruin a mafia wedding are going to give us their real names," Janika said. "Why don't we ask them for their bank account numbers and where to find people they'd pay a ransom for while we're at it? You know, so we could really screw 'em over if we turned them in to the people they're trying to mess up." Though he didn't actually roll his eyes, there was something about the set of his jaw that gave off the same impression. He was rather curious about the people involved himself, but his gut told him that Evie really didn't want to say. If she had seemed just the slightest bit less against discussing that particular item than she did, Janika probably would have agreed with Rokky. "Since it seems I've been volunteered to do the distracting, my biggest concern is having an escape route. I trust the kid to keep this ship running, but I'd sooner let him play William Tell with a shotgun than fly her, so that means you two need to be back here with the cake and ready to leave as soon as I am. I can't fix the stitches you two pull out from scratching too much if I'm dead!" OOC: I don't know. Let's just keep moving >_> |
| The Ace of Spades Joined: 7 May 2006 Posts: 402 | Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 4:38 pm | Characters: All for this theme; By The Ace of Spades: This theme, Any theme Evie had the grace to look a little ashamed of herself at the doctor's implied censure, but she didn't say anything about it. Her usual response would have been to argue, if for no other reason than that it frustrated him immensely, but she was still being silently grateful to him for not pushing the subject of the mobsters' identities-- she didn't think either of them knew the names of most of her various husbands, but she may have mentioned one or two of them at some point, and wouldn't it be just her luck if one of them remembered? With any luck, she figured they could complete this job with something like efficiency (or as much of it as was possible when crashing a mob wedding), and Dr. Wilhelm Austerlitz would never even know his ex-wife had made an appearance.
Yes, she thought, that would be perfect. Or perhaps she could sneak her way into one of the photos, give him a big, cheesy smile, and revel (from a very safe distance away) in the thought of his reaction upon seeing her. Now that would be fun. She couldn't help wondering who his bride was. Natalia something, she thought the boss had said, but she hadn't caught the last name. She was probably blonde. Wilhelm had liked blondes. (She was not actually bitter over any of her husbands, although she supposed she had a right to be in this instance, if she felt so inclined. It was more that she found them all to be perfectly ridiculous, and viewed the events surrounding them as one continuous farce. She rather enjoyed living in a farce.) "We'll be here," she said, pulling her thoughts away from the likelihood that her ex-husband's new wife would be wearing a maternity gown. "We've got the easy job this time, remember? We grab the cake, get back here, and you have got nothing to worry about." Which was a lie, of course; on this ship there was always something to worry about, but she supposed it was true on a relative scale, so she didn't correct herself. I didn't even know Will was in a mob. Confusion flitted over her features for half a moment as she thought about this, then she blinked and grinned and it was gone. "Anyway, Rokky, since you seem to know so much about cakes and all that, it'd be good to have you with me." It helped that he was significantly larger than her, and she could probably duck behind him if she needed to hide. "No doubt they'll be a little suspicious of caterers carrying as many guns as we do, Rokky, so find some way to hide them." She'd thought about telling him to leave them behind, except they were dealing with Germans, and Evie had a newfound dislike of them after the recent incident at the bar. Besides, if WIll recognized her, things could get ugly fast. "Hopefully you won't need them, but, ah... you never know." |
| spy_4_hire Joined: 14 Feb 2004 Posts: 569 | Posted: Tue Mar 16, 2010 10:14 pm | Characters: All for this theme; By spy_4_hire: This theme, Any theme "Sorry fer not makin' myself clear," Rokky said, not looking back at the doctor as he flipped switches and pushed buttons to put in the new coordinates. He took the opportunity of having his back to the other two, and rolled his eyes. "The names of the people who hired us ain't gonna help me much. I'm gonna need to know at least one of the names of the happy couple we're tryin' to ruin to track down the bakery they're orderin' the cake from and I can find out what caterin' company they're gettin' in case we can't." He frowned and focused on what he was doing to avoid shorting the system. It could get finicky sometimes, and Valentin would complain until the cows came home if he had to come up and rewire everything... again.
"Will do, ma'am," he nodded, acknowledging the order. "No one will know we're packing heat..." He sighed a little, knowing that he would not be able to tote the big guns. He knew that in the best case scenario they would not need them, but the crew of The Wessel rarely experienced the best case scenario, and he liked the security big guns offered. "All right, then," Rokky stretched and leaned back with a smile. "We should get to Hera with more than enough time to track down and capture the package." |
| The Ace of Spades Joined: 7 May 2006 Posts: 402 | Posted: Wed Mar 17, 2010 3:50 pm | Characters: All for this theme; By The Ace of Spades: This theme, Any theme Rokky did, as usual, have a point. There was really no other way to find the specific wedding party they were looking for without using specific names, so Evie took a moment to reassure herself that she'd never actually used names when telling her companions of her various marital exploits (she generally stuck to "that jerk," "that other jerk," and "no, the other other jerk"). "They should be under the name of Mr. and Mrs. Will-- ah, Wilhelm Austerlitz. Her name's Natalia something. All I know about her is she just inherited some business or another. And he's a doctor. Or something. I mean, I think. Probably." She cleared her throat, and pushed herself up to sit fully on the console behind her. "Anyway," she continued, "from what I can tell, we're lookin' at a pair of real-life star-crossed lovers. Except I guess they don't look so star-crossed anymore."
She wasn't sure how much of this they really needed to know, but she figured it was better to tell them too much than too little-- other than the obvious, we're-crashing-my-ex's-wedding bit. Besides, they had a bit of a wait ahead of them, and Evie had never been the type to prefer quiet and solitude. Usually, she just picked one of the guys, plunked herself down next to them, and talked until she thought of something better to do. Rokky never really seemed to mind, and Janika responded with the same long-suffering sarcasm he applied to every other situation. She had a feeling Valentin enjoyed her chattering, but she always felt bad afterward. Damn kid believed everything she told him, it seemed like. "Rival mobs, you know. One of them's German-- which probably explains Mr. Tall, Dark, and Horribly Rude back at the bar." She glanced over Rokky's shoulder and heaved an impatient sigh. (She was well aware of the fact that she occasionally acted all of five years old, but she wasn't about to change. It was her damn ship, anyway.) "Are we there yet?" OOC:I... have no idea. Time warp go? |
| Digithe Joined: 24 Aug 2003 Posts: 885 | Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:47 am | Characters: All for this theme; By Digithe: This theme, Any theme OOC: "Long-suffering sarcasm" might be as good a summary of Janika as I could ever have come up with
"Natalia, huh?" Janika asked thoughtfully. "Name like that, she's bound to be star-crossed with someone--at least in my experience. I dated a Natalia once, made me really feel like a Romeo. By which I mean to say, I felt like taking poison a few days into it." The doctor shivered, decided he'd rather not finish telling that particular story. "It's the times when I manage to escape from situations like that make me believe in a higher power." OOC: Blarg. Okay. Time warp go!
As with most things it was a part in, the Wessel broke atmo on Hera just in time for the big event. They estimated that they had only half an hour, perhaps an hour at best, before the happy couple made their way down the aisle and everyone made their way toward the cake. Still, it was not the most rushed the crew had ever felt before. Janika had fond memories of the time he and Evie had literally run out of time, and had to jump out of the underbelly cargo doors with bungee cords around their waists, so they could place the explosives and have Rokky fly them out just in time to not die. Wait a second, no. No, those weren't fond memories. Janika been so angry with Evie for "forgetting" to tell them that the charges were remote-sync'd to detonate at a specific time until she realized that they wouldn't be able to set them in time the normal way, that he didn't even yell at her. Once they'd been reeled back in, he just glared at her for a full minute before taking a long pull from his bottle of emergency vodka and passing out on the infirmary bed. Also, he slipped diuretics into her drinks for the next week. Oh, that's why they were fond memories. "We about ready?" Janika asked, adjusting his cuff links. Though he didn't like playing the distraction, it looked like he didn't have much choice. Sure, he could stay behind, but without something to draw everyone's focus, it would be very difficult to filch such an important symbol as the cake from a wedding. He still wasn't quite sure what he would do-- he figured things would fall into place when he saw the crowd and the couple-- but he was preparing to act like he'd had a relationship with the bride and interrupt when the priest asked for objectors to the union. It wasn't his first choice, but it would certainly create enough of a commotion that Evie and Rokky could make off with the cake. His escape plan was even more vague-- I'm spending way too much time with Evie-- but he figured, in the worst case, Rokky could fly by with the Wessel to pick him up, and they could escape in the confusion. It's times like these that I really want to believe in a higher power. We're going to need any help we can get! OOC: Did this help? I'm not even sure. Let me know and I can fix it if need be |
| The Ace of Spades Joined: 7 May 2006 Posts: 402 | Posted: Sat Aug 21, 2010 10:10 pm | Characters: All for this theme; By The Ace of Spades: This theme, Any theme OOC:Am not really sure... yay for moving the plot along?
As the Wessel neared Hera, Evie found herself growing more and more comfortable with the plan. It was a good, solid plan-- letting Janika figure things out usually was-- and if she knew her ex-husband, the wedding would be a grand enough affair that nobody would notice a couple of caterers even if she and Rokky knocked them out in plain view. And if she knew her ex-husband-- which she was willing to bet she did-- the cake would be chocolate. And delicious. The promise of payment and cake was enough to lift her spirits and kill any lingering doubts she might have had about the entire situation. Chances were, she'd never even be within a hundred yards of Will. Mob weddings were probably grandiose in the most extreme sense of the word. So by the time the Wessel landed, Evie had all but forgotten that this was anything but a chance to get money and eat cake. Both of which were things she very much enjoyed. "We certainly are," she replied, in response to Janika's question. "Try not to get shot." Which was ridiculous coming from her, a fact that was emphasized by a well-timed scratch of her bandaged side. It was still itching terribly, and would for a long while. The hell with pulled stitches; Evie had already decided that she would scratch when it itched, and Janika could fix the damage later. The sunlight was bright as they stepped from the boarding ramp onto grass that was springy and probably would have been cool beneath her feet, had they been bare. "No wonder this is such a popular wedding planet," she commented, absentmindedly giving the Wessel's rusty hull its usual good-bye pat. It stood out among the shiny, sleek ships parked nearby, looking dull and scratched and painfully clunky. Evie didn't like the idea of parking it in the walled-in area with all the other vessels, but there was nowhere else to put it, really. Every square foot on Hera was accounted for, it seemed, and unless they wanted to plant the Wessel right in the middle of another wedding party, this would have to do. The trio was approached immediately by a young man in an immaculately-pressed suit and dark glasses that made Evie think immediately of old mobster movies. How original. He held an electronic pad that appeared to be a guest list, and when he spoke, it was to Janika-- he must have looked the most respectable of the lot. "Name, please?" Which made sense; they had washed one of Rokky's shirts so he wouldn't have to run about half-naked, but even in a clean shirt and pressed pants he looked every bit the farmboy he had when she'd met him. And she'd had to forego the usual leather vest, as her favorite one now had a very conspicuous hole in one side, but she supposed even her clean white blouse must look awfully rustic next to the gowns everyone else would be wearing. "Ingrid Schwarz," she replied, ignoring the startled look the man gave her. She gestured to Janika. "And my brother, Heinrich. We're friends of the groom." How her contact had gotten them on the guest list, she had no idea, nor did she care. Everything seemed to check out, although the man cast another disapproving look at her clothing before turning to Rokky. "And you are?" There'd been a third name, she was sure-- she'd told her contact going in that she would need three spots in the wedding party to make this work. But she couldn't for the life of her remember the third name. Hm. Oh well. "My date," she said instead, latching onto Rokky's arm without missing a beat. "Isn't he cute? Picked him up at a bar a few years ago and we have just been inseparable ever since. I thought, you know, he'd be a nice one-night-stand or whatever, but mein Gott, he was just so good, I couldn't bring myself to kick him out the next morning." She reached up to pat him fondly on the cheek. "You know how it is. Anyway, that was something like two years ago and, let me tell you, things have only gotten better. I'm thinking of booking a weekend here on Hera just to formalize it, you know? Make sure he doesn't get away." She gave him a wink. "Because, seriously, when I say good, I mean--" The man held up a hand and said, "Okay, okay. Schon gut*. Enjoy yourselves." "Will do!" The man left to go badger the next newly-arrived guests and Evie grinned up at Rokky, whose particular shade of red was verging on alarming. "Sorry," she said, clearly not sorry at all. In front of them was a large, rustic gate, beyond which there appeared to be, as she'd suspected, a beach. She could hear waves breaking on the shore. The people milling about were all, not surprisingly, better-dressed than she was. "Look, there's the cake." It was a massive confection that would obviously take both of them to move. There were, as Rokky had predicted, two caterers standing beside it, as well as several swarming around the nearby tables full of food-- real food, not protein bars. She wondered if they could steal a few other things along with the cake. There was some kind of fresh fruit being laid out on platters, and little iced pastries with sugar flowers on them. And they were late. The first few notes of the traditional bridal march rang out, and Evie dragged both of the men behind a parked ship, where the check-in mobster wouldn't see them. "We'll have to be quick," she said, already scanning the group of caterers for a pair who looked to be of a similar size to Rokky and her. "Give us a few minutes to shoot us a couple of cook-types, then go... be distracting." It was a nebulous plan, at best, but she was never the type to worry over things like that. OOC:*"That's fine." |
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