Odette Episode 0 : Eggs

[noseatbelts]

Deep in the backroom of Lil Sebastian's Bail Bonds and Pawn Shop, the man himself sat in a large wing back chair, the leather well-loved and shaped to his ass in particular. His fingers were folded in front of him, his brow folded in concentration. Before him sat a sweaty man named Danny in a chair that might have been designed to be rickety. If it was, it was a genius idea, keeping whoever was sitting before the big boss of Iscariot station uneasy. Some say it was Sebastian's idea to name it after Judas, others just think it's an apt metaphor for him to be in charge.

Danny, red-faced and sweaty by nature, the strain of keeping himself and the chair upright, or perhaps just being interrogated like has, sputtered and tried to explain himself. "LS, ya gotta know I didn't do it on purpose. I would never-"

Sebastian leaned back in his chair. His desk covered his legs, which otherwise would be found to be swinging more than a few inches from the floor. The desk, he found, helped hide his shortcomings and present a larger than life persona, especially in situations like this one. He just stared at Danny.

"I mean, how did I know they was gonna board me?" Danny looked over to the third person in the room, Francis Church, standing shadowed by the door. Francis, Danny knew, was not there to help him. Much the opposite in fact. "I mean, yeah, it was an Alliance check-point and I forgot to pay my registration. But it still ain't my fault. You gotta believe me. I would never do anything to jeopardize you."

Sebastian cracked a smile and nodded to Francis before turning away in his chair.

Francis didn't hesitate before pulling his weapon and shooting Danny in the head.

"Get the boys in here to clean this up before my next meeting." Sebastian said, pulling a cigar from a box on the desk and clipping the end. He played with it for a moment without lighting it while Francis opened up the door and motioned for the two men waiting outside to come in and retrieve Danny. A third followed after with a mop and bucket and made quick work of cleaning up the mess. All in all it was very efficient. "You think I should install like a trap door or something? Might be quicker."

"I don't know, Sebastian. Trap door sounds kind of like a pain. And then you just have a hole in your floor. And where would they go after they fell? Is there just like a pile of dead guys under there? You could kill them somewhere else." Francis said, offering a sort of annoyed tone that he didn't intend to be audible.

Sebastian just laughed. "YOU killed him, Frankie." And then he was suddenly serious. "Maybe you clean up the mess next time, eh?"

Francis took the misname (he hated it when people called him Frank or Frankie) with gritted teeth and silence. He knew better than to correct Lil Sebastian when his hackles were up. "No. It's fine. Sorry." Curt but respectful. He knew his place.

The boss nodded that it was alright. Kids these days. The cigar went in his teeth and with the strike of a match, it was smoldering in no time and filling the room with smoke. A cortex feed flickered across the room, showing a camera feed of the exterior entrance to the pawn shop. Charity, King, and Gwen had just entered the frame. "You think this broad will do the job?" Sebastian said, asking about their next meeting.

Francis shrugged. "I don't know." Francis was notoriously bad at reading people, so he wasn't sure why Sebastian had asked him.

"Yeah..." Sebastian said, thinking. He stared at the screen as he tongued the cigar. "Bring'em in."


Moments Earlier...

As Zeke and the Guns led Charity, King, and Gwen through the halls of the Space Station, there was an eerie quiet among the group. Was it nervousness? Dread? What does one say on a march between armed escorts? When someone is looking for an underworld boss only to find out that same nefarioso is looking for you? King was vigilant and equipped for any scenario; trouble was he didn't know what to expect. Charity was hopeful and almost annoying confident in her abilities to handle whatever was thrown at her. And Gwen was... distracted.

Emit Culpepper had found his way out of his room, but didn't look like he exactly knew where he was. A symptom of his injuries or just being unfamiliar with his new surroundings? Either way he looked like he needed help.

[Gwen Eiber]

It wasn't that Gwen was distracted exactly, she was decidedly unhappy, as evidenced by the way she was fiddling and tugging at her braid.  She had been on the station long enough to know that anything Lil Sebastian was likely very bad business and nothing she ought to be involved in.  Nothing a fine lady like Miss Charity should be involved with either.  Of course, turning down an invitation, if that's what you called sending a trio of goons to fetch them, wouldn't be very wise either.

She had only gone to that bar to try and find the wayward pilot, Amorru, because she'd given Charity her word.  She might also have been concerned for Charity and Mr. King leaving the medbay so soon. She was still worried about Mr. Culpepper and his lungs, but a final dose of antibiotics and a few more breathing treatments should set him to rights.

Mostly she was worried about her situation.  She'd placed an ad for a position on a ship, looking to leave the station when her contract was up but she wondered what would happen if she couldn't find a ship willing to take her on.  She'd been off Santo for less than a month and was already making a mess of things. 

All in all, she stayed quiet near the back of the group.

[Emit Culpepper]

Emit had hoped that he would have seen Doctor Gwendola before his time was up within the recovery ward. He certainly was becoming fond of her and would have liked to have had the opportunity to chat more with her. However as the time grew near on the clocks of the medical area she had yet to return.

Not wishing to upset the Head Nurse who had taken over the last hours of his care, he thought best to depart the medical ward. She wasn't like Gwendola who had a genuine pleasantry about her,no the Head Nurse reminded him of a Drill Sargent  on a mission.

As he departed the Medical Ward,Emit did ask a staffer for directions toward an area where he might be able to purchase some pie and coffee.

[Charity]

Charity lacked the proper nervousness that this situation might have called for. What did she have to fear? She'd asked to see this man anyway, so the fact that he wanted to see her as well was simply convenient. The brief worry that she might run into a familiar face alongside Mister Little Sebastian had crossed her mind, but with King there, she found her fear dissipating. No one could take her with him there as her guard. A hand rose from where it had been clasped with the other at her lap, fingertips idly outlining the stitches in her arm as they pushed up ever so slightly against the rich fabric at her sleeves.

She glanced up at the man and pursed her lips a little. When looking back, the debutante finally noticed Gwen, who had been following along with the silence of a ghost. She jumped a little, then set that hand over her heart and took a breath. Perhaps she was a little more nervous than she had originally thought. Despite this, Charity offered the medicine woman a warm and genuine smile of greeting, inclining her chin a fraction of an inch. She wasn't sure how Gwen had ended up there with them, but she had promised to find Amy for her and so she didn't mind the doctor being with them now and it didn't bother her that perhaps they'd all find him at the same time. As long as promises were kept, Charity didn't much mind the 'how'. As she looked around, she noticed Emit wandering about as though looking for something or someone. A perfectly manicured brow arched and she extended an elegant finger toward the lawman. "Gwen, love, I think your patient has taken himself on a walk about," she told the doctor, turning her attention back toward the other woman and grinning. Of course, she had no way of knowing that Emit had been discharged, or what he was looking for, so to her he just seemed to be wandering aimlessly.

As they approached the entrance to the pawn shop, Charity's hands lowered to her lap again and she tilted her head curiously, chocolate curls slipping off her shoulder too rest against her collarbone. "A pawn shop?" she asked, looking around at the group as if to gauge if this was a normal sort of place for someone like Mister Little Sebastian to be. She didn't have much experience with clandestine backroom meetings with men who had information networks. She pursed her lips and thought on that. Well, perhaps she did. However, the rooms she'd seen them in had always been large, full of mahogany and cigar smoke, and fitted with such furniture and antiques to make this place look like a hole in the ground. She smiled a little, admitting that it already looked like a hole in the ground, before the mental comparison. "Is this where Mister Sebastian is?" she asked Zeke politely, brows raised in question.

[noseatbelts]

Outside Lil Sebastian's

Zeke looked back at Charity after her question and gave her a strange look. "Um. Yeah. Says it on the sign, Miss." He opened the door for her and for anyone who was coming with her into the shop. King led the way inside, a not-so-veiled attempt to play the heavy and make sure it was safe before Charity went in. Once the two of them were clear, Zeke held out a hand for Gwen. "Sorry Doc. Lil Sebastian only asked for them two. You mind waiting out here?"

Nearby Lil Sebastian's

Emit turned a corner, which seemed like maybe he'd been given bad directions because the cafe he'd been looking for appeared to now house what used to be a shoe store. A quick glance would reveal that Charity, King, and, perhaps most importantly to Emit, Gwen were within shouting distance.

Still Near Lil Sebastian's but the other direction

It hadn't been long since her short time running around with Tricky O'Doyle and his crew, but long enough for Pele Kesher to get back from Osiris, find that the credits had been wired to her account (perhaps a surprise) and find herself once again restless aboard the Space Station Iscariot. All of these things and more whirled about her head as she waited inside of the lift. What would she do now? The lift stopped and let Pele out. Waiting to get on was A man she recognized. Gianni "Johnny Cap" Cappetti, right hand man to her ex-fiance Cecil Soavi. "Well now, what a coincidence. Just who I was looking for." Johnny had always been kind to her in their interactions and he wore the same smile he always did when he would pick her up for an errand or to go to a party. A smile that said he had been told to come and get her.

[Gwen Eiber]

Gwen was surprised when Charity pointed to Emit walking down the corridor. She felt two spots of color bloom in her cheeks. She didn't expect to see him out of the medbay and she was concerned.  She wasn't sure about leaving the little entourage of Zeke and his boys to check on him, fortunately she wasn't invited to the meeting with Lil Sebastian so she was happy to slip away to see to her patient.

She approached Emit with a little smile, though there was a tiny furrowing of her brows. "Mr. Culpepper, I didn't expect to see you out of the medbay so soon. Did you finish your breathing treatment and get your chest tube removed?  I intended to be back to take care of that myself but Mr. King and Miss Charity disappeared when I was attending to something else and I went to find them."  She laid a gentle hand on his forearm, looking apologetic. "I'm glad to see you up and about. I hope you didn't think I'd abandoned you."

[Pele Kesher]

Pele still wasn't quite sure whether she was disappointed or relieved that her stint as a ringer had been so short-lived. All moral qualms aside -- of which she had fairly few to begin with -- it had been thrilling. She could see herself excelling at it over time, even if she couldn't picture herself ever making friends with her crewmates.

On the other hand... it had been the most draining thing she'd ever gone through. She could still feel the lingering after-effects of the ordeal as she stood in the elevator on Iscariot, too exhausted to think about her next move. What she really wanted more than anything was to soak in a nice, hot bath and forget about the world. But luxuries like that were in her past now. Unless she used some of the credits she'd earned from her last job on a spa vacation. Would it be a frivolous way to spend her funds now that she no longer had a steady income? Self-care was important, wasn't it?

The elevator doors opened, and Pele felt like someone just dumped a bucket full of icy cold water on her.

"Well now, what a coincidence. Just who I was looking for."

"Johnny! What are the odds?" She promptly plastered a pleasantly surprised yet bemused smile on her face, as if both of them didn't know exactly what Johnny was doing here. As far as Cecil's lackeys went, she'd always found Johnny to be one of the less disagreeable ones. He never hit on her, for one, probably in part because he knew full well that Cecil would have his head if he caught him putting the moves on his woman, but Pele liked to think it was also because Johnny was a fairly decent guy.

For a gangster.

"Look, I don't know what Cecil told you, but it's over between us. There's really no need for you to be here." The words rang hollow and desperate in her ears. She knew there was no way she was talking her way out of this, yet she found herself stuck enacting some pathetic parody of her usual shtick, like an actress realizing she's forgotten her lines and having to bullshit her way through a scene knowing full well she's losing the audience.

"Anyway, I would love to stay and catch up, but I have a ship to catch. Excuse me..." And with that frantic, paper-thin excuse, she attempted to push past the man blocking her path and make a run for it.

[Emit Culpepper]

LOCATION: Nearby Lil Sebastian's

He'd turned another corner following the directions provided to him, thinking now that perhaps someone was playing a trick to get him lost. Just as he was about to turn around and go back,Emit caught a glimpse of her standing in the middle of the corridor. His heart quickly began to race a little. Maybe those directions were right all along, leading him exactly to what he was seeking.

The lovely Doctor Gwendola along with Miss Charity and that King fellow were standing  perhaps fifty paces from him now. The Verse sure did have a way of placing him where he needed to be lately and he was thankful. Emit thought that she might have even smiled too upon seeing him. Which caused him to smile and give a slight wave.

The good Doctor greeted him with her pleasant nature showing true concern.

"Mr. Culpepper, I didn't expect to see you out of the medbay so soon. Did you finish your breathing treatment and get your chest tube removed?  I intended to be back to take care of that myself but Mr. King and Miss Charity disappeared when I was attending to something else and I went to find them."  "I'm glad to see you up and about. I hope you didn't think I'd abandoned you."

He couldn't stop smiling that boyish grin as she spoke to him. Becoming lost within her words. An awkward pause of silence occurring between them as he didn't respond immediately to her questioning.
"Forgive me,still getting back to normal,I didn't mean to stare. I did finish my treatment and was seen to by I believe the Charge Nurse, however I don't think I caught her name. Think they needed the beds for another patient, was all a bit of a rush honestly. I'm glad to be seen up and about, for which I still owe you my deepest gratitude as well as some pie I do believe."
Placing  his hand upon hers gently gazing into her eyes. "None to worry Gwendola I know you didn't just up an leave me by my lonesome. You're very talented and your skills are needed all over of which I'm sure. Oh gosh, your not busy now are you? Here I am talking your ear off and you are probably needed."

[Gwen Eiber]

Outside Lil Sebastain's

Emit placed his hand over the hand she had resting on his forearm and her cheeks flushed. She looked down shyly before she answered. "I appreciate the sentiment Mr. Culpepper, but really, I was just doing my job. You don't owe me any special thanks. I was happy to help." She remembered the pie she'd brought back to the medbay for him, forgotten when Charity and King had left. "Miss Charity and Mr. King have some business to attend to, business I'm best left out of I think. If you'd like I can show you to Alice's, they have the best pie on the station." Her eyes flickered towards the Pawn Shop, feeling a tad guilty for leaving Charity, though with Mr. King looking after her surely she'd be okay.

[Charity]

Outside Lil Sebastian's

"Um. Yeah. Says it on the sign, Miss," Zeke answered, and Charity chose to ignore the mildly baffled condescension written clearly on his face. Best to ignore that sort of thing rather than acknowledge it and give it life. She waited for King to enter first and clear the room (as much as one could clear that type of environment) before she sashayed forward with all the glimmering jewelry and rustling skirts she could muster. Her bejeweled hands remained clasped near her lap as she walked, chin held high and dark mass of hair bouncing against her neck and upper back with each clicking step.

She paused just a moment when she felt the warmth of their third party member leave her personal space bubble and glanced back just in time to see Zeke holding his hand out to stop their doctor from entering with them. Charity lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers a little in a gentle wave, either dismissing the woman or assuring her that they'd be fine. The message would really depend on how Gwen interpreted it.

As she entered Mister Little Sebastian's lair, her expression remained pleasantly cheerful, although her eyes did slide around the interior with a slow thoughtfulness that made it clear that while she might have been  naive to these kinds of situations, she wasn't the idiot she tended to play. Her cherry lips remained quirked up at the corners and she remained slightly behind and to the side of King, knowing he was her best bet at not ending up in a hospital so soon after her last visit.

[noseatbelts]

Near Lil Sebastian's - Pele

Johnny Cap shook his head. He was sorry to have been the one to find Pele, he always had liked her, but glad at the same time. Cecil had sent all manner of animals and cutthroats to find his wayward wife-to-be and, if you could believe it, Johnny Cap was the most reasonable. "It don't work like that, Pele, and you know it. Boss asks for something he expects it delivered." Johnny reached for her arm. "Come quiet now." Pele obviously had other plans. "Hey! Don't make me run." Johnny didn't want to get rough with her but he would if he had to.

Outside Lil Sebastian's - Emit and Gwen

The sheriff and nurse had their meeting interrupted by a shout from down the hallway.

Inside Lil Sebastian's - Charity and King

Fence, noun.
a: a receiver of stolen goods
b: a place where stolen goods are bought and sold

Lil Sebastian's was filled with overburdened shelves covered in all manner of junk. They pinned a person inside once they were there, making it difficult to rush in or out. Careful steps were required up front. The shelves themselves were brimming with such an odd assortment of junk that it seemed that it could only be there to present the appearance of a successful pawn shop. And maybe it was. But that wasn't why they were there.

Zeke led them through the shelves and past a few more gentlemen, each armed, meaner, and uglier than the last. They got to a back door barricaded by a thick metal door. A metal slot about hip level slid open and a pair of wild brown eyes poked out, then slammed shut quickly. Another slot, at a more appropriate eye level, slid open as well. These eyes were a bit more even tempered.

"Frankie, let'em in already!" The door's hinges, badly in need of some grease, screamed in protest after the door was unlocked and swung open.

Francis Church, whom the other voice had named Frankie, met them at the door and looked at Zeke as if to ask if they'd been cleared of weapons. Francis rolled his eyes at the negative response. "Zeke. What have I told you? Search them. Always. Jeez, man."

"Sorry, Francis." Zeke vamoused, leaving Charity and King in the fine hands of Francis.

"Sorry. I gotta search you. You understand." He looked at King and raised an eyebrow. "This guy is definitely carrying something. You wanna just give it to me now or..." King reluctantly handed over one, two, three knives hidden about his person to one of the shop goons. "That it? You sure. Okay." Francis sighed and turned to Charity. "Ma'am. You aren't... nah, probably not. You're good. Come on in. Can we get you guys anything?" Francis let the two of them inside and closed the door behind them.

Lil Sebastian had taken his seat back behind his desk, his fingers steepled in front of him but, you know, friendly like. "Hi!" He said. "You must be Miss Vornbach. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. You can call me Sebastian. All my friends do."

[Pele Kesher]

Near Lil Sebastian's

"It don't work like that, Pele, and you know it. Boss asks for something he expects it delivered."

Pele felt the cold fear drain from her body, replaced by seething hot rage. That was really all she was to Cecil, wasn't she, some thing to be delivered. Not even a nice thing you treated with respect, just a cheap trinket you could manhandle as you pleased. Well, he had another thing coming -- they had another thing coming, both Cecil and his stupid lapdog.

"Come quiet now."

Pele yanked her arm away and locked eyes with Johnny. Her fake smile was gone. In its place was a resolute look Johnny had seen before on those occasions he'd happened to witness an argument between her and Cecil. It was the look Pele got in her eyes when she was about to get her way.

"What are you doing? Stop that!" At the flick of a switch, Pele's look of determination vanished, and her eyes flew wide in a very convincing approximation of shock.

"Hey! Don't make me run."

Pele did exactly that.

"Jiùmìng! Help! HELP!" Even if Johnny managed to grab her now, her screams echoed down the hallway and out of the reach of his grubby paws.

[Emit Culpepper]

LOCATION: NEARBY LIL SEBASTIAN'S

Emit was just about to offer Gwendola his arm to continue down the hallway in search of Alice's. But was interrupted rather abruptly by screams for help from the opposite direction."Did you hear that? Emit wanted to be certain he wasn't hallucinating again. The shouts for assistance echoing again from down the hall,shouts calling out,calling out to the lawman he still was.Gwendola I think somebody needs our help,stay behind me til we figure out what exactly is going on though. Don't want to rush into anything too quickly." Emit quickened his pace a little as he headed towards the sounds of distress but was sure not to rush into anything. Pulling his flashlight  from it's holder he toggled the thumb switch to strobe,waiting to engage the light until he needed it. Was the only weapon he had should it come to that.

[Cooper Brown]

Inside the air ducts leading towards Lil Sebastian's

Cooper was a private man.  A quiet man. He didn't really like sticking his neck out save for some specific circumstances. And damn it, if one of those types of circumstances didn't come along while he was right in the middle of a pretty complicated power re-route. Lil Sebastian needed a discrete power supply to run into his back office to power something he referred to as "None of your space-gypsy business". And to be totally fair Cooper didn't really care that much. He was going to run the cabling through these vents, collect a decent bonus and then finally finish that detective novel he'd found the other day.

But that's when the dubiously employed mechanic heard the tell tale shifts in tone in a conversation that was about to turn violent. Through the vents, only the bass of everyone's voices came through, but as he was right above them, he could tell something was up before Pele started shouting help. Frustrated, annoyed, and covered in all encompassing layer of dust, Cooper smashed through the grate beneath him, and lowered himself down with his arms carefully, then dropped.

--
Bam

The Aussie accented mechanic hit the ground with a loud thud. Just a simple hammer clenched in his fist, he hit the ground about ten feet from Johnny, dust billowing off him like he'd been molded from a solid lump of dust. He pointed the hammer forward at the woman-harasser to make who he was speaking to obvious.

"Oy! Mate! I think that lady said she doesn't require your company. Best time to jog on, eh?"

Right now he was half thinking of two things. Where to swing the hammer if the guy threw a punch, or to throw it at his head if he reached for a smuggled pistol. Though mostly he was thinking about if he could use a cat4 cable for the rest of the run or if he should just keep using the cat5 Sebastian gave him. Decisions decisions...

[Gwen Eiber]

Emit and Gwen were headed towards the shouts for help as Pele broke away and started to run.  Then the ceiling crashed in and a dusty covered (Big Damn) hero stood in the corridor between them and Johnny.  Gwen has squeaked at the initial BAM but that didn't stop her forward momentum.  She might have even been a pace or two ahead of Emit, despite his words of caution, because someone needed help and medbag and walking stick in hand, that's exactly what Gwen did.  She couldn't have stopped herself if she wanted to.

Three sets of eyes were now on man who had upset the woman fleeing down the hall.  Gwen's large cornflower blue ones were filled with an indignant anger, her brows furrowed. She held the walking stick like one would hold a bo staff in her right hand.  Whatever Johnny had planned would definitely be witnessed and very likely interfered with.  She gave Pele a reassuring smile.

[Charity]

Inside Lil Sebastian's

Charity paused only once at the sight of the walls of things, her steps faltering and a brow lifting in surprise and uncertainty. She wasn't sure if she was intrigued or horrified at the junk heap being used to guide her further in. The thugs didn't seem to bother her, despite their strict hatred for fashion and hygienic upkeep, but she did stay quite close to King, even if it was out of a subconscious sense of self preservation now. She tried her best to ignore the eyes peeking out from the door so near to her hips and made eye contact with those at a more polite height, her head tilted curiously.
 
The debutante gathered near her bodyguard, watching Francis' face with a raised questioning brow as he discovered they hadn't been searched and moved to carry out this duty with King. Impressing herself, Charity was not surprised to see that King had several weapons hidden on his person, and had she been a betting woman, would have wagered that he still had more after parting with three.
 
"Ma'am. You aren't... nah, probably not. You're good,"  Frankie or Francis began when he looked her over, and she smiled charmingly in response, her head tilting in the other direction like some colorful brightly plumed bird. "Come on in. Can we get you guys anything?"  he asked. "Oh! Some tea would be absolutely splendid, if you have some? English Breakfast, if you can?" she replied, a hand lifting and index extending as she clarified her drink of choice.

"Hi!"  the little man on his little throne exclaimed, pulling the aristocrat's attention away from Frankie/Francis, as was likely his intention.  "You must be Miss Vornbach. Pleasure to make your acquaintance. You can call me Sebastian. All my friends do."  Normally, she would have dipped her head in a polite gesture and offered some compliment about the stateliness of his interestingly filled establishment or said something about the pleasure of their meeting being all hers. However, he said one thing that stopped her cold and turned her amiable smile into a hard line. Her last name.

With a deep breath that pressed her chest hard against the fabric of her bodice in a visible demonstration of just how much oxygen she needed after that shock, Charity lifted a hand to push her silken curls back off her shoulder, smile returning with a forced sunshiney warmth. "An absolute pleasure to meet you, Sebastian," she began, slipping her hands calmly into the hidden pockets at the sides of her skirts. "I was hoping you could assist me in finding a wayward member of my...the... a wayward acquaintance," she asked, her shoulders tense and toes curled in her expensive boots.

 

[noseatbelts]

Near Lil Sebastian's - Pele/Emit/Gwen/Cooper

Johnny folded his mouth into a tight frown as what was very briefly a simple grab became something much more complicated, and that was just when he knew that Pele was hollering for help. Help came, first in the form of some cowboy and his dame friend and then, bam, out of the ceiling. "You gotta be kidding me..." He muttered, stepping back from the mess. "Listen, this don't concern you." He said to those who had gathered around to play hero, his tone of voice conveying the authority and tone of someone who was usually listened to, outnumbered or not. "Pele, hon', this ain't smart. You and I both know you're lucky I'm the one who found you." This was no threat. Cecil employed a lot of guys and Johnny, while no shining model of modern manners, was far better than the thugs and cutthroats who were no doubt also after Cecil's flighty fiance. "Come on, let's make this easy." One hand went into a jacket pocket and stayed there.

Inside Lil Sebastian's

Francis nodded helpfully at Charity's request and as soon as she turned her back his smile dropped. Tea? Did this look like the kind of place that had tea? Who asked for tea? Francis frantically foraged through the heap of materials to see if he could find something approximating tea. Bingo. He got an idea. "Um. One tea, coming up." He excused himself from the room via a back door and disappeared into the back hallways of the station.

Once his racket was over, Lil Sebastian gave Charity a wide smile. "Go'n. Take a load off. He'll be back in a sec." He hopped down out of his chair and came around the desk. He didn't quite disappear from view, but his stature (or lack thereof) was on full display. Did this mean he trusted Charity? Or just that he felt he had nothing to fear from either her or her bodyguard? Hard to say. "Listen, this missing acquaintance of yours, can it wait? I got some business I wanted to discuss. Kind of a time sensitive kind of thing."

Just then Francis returned holding a disposable cup from the noodle shop next door. It had steaming liquid in it. "Sorry. They didn't have breakfast tea. Well. I guess I don't know that for sure. I asked Gary and he just looked at me like he didn't understand the question. Anyways. Here's some tea." He held out the cup just awkwardly enough to be endearing. Or maybe annoying.

Lil Sebastian found it annoying. "Will you just give her the cup already?" He rolled his eyes like 'can't find good help these days' and continued. "So, the proposition. Just wait, you're gonna love it." He built the suspense, his hands jazzy and excited. "You wanna be the Captain of your very own ship?"

Francis joined in, though he hadn't been aware of the plan. "Surprise! I guess."

[Sionnach]

Nowhere Near Lil Sebastian's

Sean woke up with a start from the very long and unpleasant dream he'd been having and hit his head.

He grumbled to himself as he looked around the glorified broom closet of a room he now occupied that he felt cost much too much for what it was. It didn't even have a bed, just a mat on the floor. Not that a bed could really fit in this place. As it was he was laying on top of the three duffel bags full of thieving, rappelling, and other necessary gear he'd spent weeks obtaining one way or the other. Gear he'd lost on that fool's errand with Reyez and company. He'd spent all of his money and pissed off a lot of contacts getting all this, which is why he was staying where he was at the moment.

What Mama Finnegan's third favorite son (there were five of them so Sean figured that wasn't too bad) needed was a job on a ship leaving this place and a job on it. God, he'd even take honest work right now.

[Emit Culpepper]

LOCATION: Near Lil Sebastian's exterior

Emit stepped forward as the balding man continued to speak his threats and finish his jaw yapping with a finale plea to the fleeing lady. Brandishing his badge,Emit set forth to give this polecat his best law dog back down speech. "Sir unless you can show me bounty papers or a badge.  I suggest you take that hand outta that pocket before I bind you by law for illegal operations!"
Emit continued to step cautiously towards the balding man,placing himself purposely between him and the women he was after.
If the man made a move too quickly with his hidden hand,Emit would strobe his eyes then shoulder into full force.

[Pele Kesher]

Near Lil Sebastian's

Pele's chest swelled with triumph when not one, not two, but three knights in shining armor came running to her rescue. She didn't let any of this show, of course, continuing to play the part of a scared, blindsided victim. Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes as her gaze darted from the dust-covered mechanic brandishing a hammer, to the lawman delivering an ultimatum, to his young female companion giving her a smile of reassurance.

"I-I don't know what he's talking about," she choked, addressing her words at the woman, fishing for solidarity. "We were just having a conversation, and the next thing I know he's trying to grab me!"

She glanced at Johnny, who was still trying to talk her down despite being outnumbered. She didn't give a damn about what he had to say; going with him still meant ending up back in Cecil's hands, no matter how nicely he treated her on the way there. Eat shǐ, you bastard.