He wants to lock me in, does he? Two can play at that.
While Portar gapes at the hand that his bullyboy mangled, my good hand slips inside his pocket where he keeps his keys. I try to pull them out without him noticing.
"I trusted you," I say,…
I give the two washer women a wry smile and close the door between us. Halcy earns himself a nod. "A moment of privacy, boy. You know how it is." I still haven't met Portar's eye, just kept my eye on the shape of him.
I step closer. Might as w…
I keep heading to Portar's room; I saw his shadow there first. I nod, business-like, to anyone I pass. I am clearly moving with purpose so that they won't stop me.
Despite myself, I can't stop looking for Glover, wishing she'd step around a doo…
I'm not sneaking, I'm just walking purposely through the halls as if I have a right to be here. As if I lived here. Wearing their suit, carrying injuries made by their people. My expression is brutal, my stride is inexorable. No one will question me.
I'm climbing up towards Portar by jamming my injured hand around the rungs and then pulling with my good hand. I move slowly but with care for the reduced mobility caused by my suit.
When I get to the top, if the coast is clear, I'm heading for …
I have to get to Portar.
It's an odd bit of choreography - Bon is shooting and I'm jumping off the bike behind her, grabbing on to the rungs with my good hand.
Do I say something? Reflexively, I feel the syllables, "I love you," come out of my mo…
My arms twine around Bon reflexively.
Too late, I realize that my wounded hand is practically in her lap. I move it awkwardly, compensate by holding tighter with the other hand.
Begloved fingers pressed against Bon's side,
against the bottom o…
I talk out where the Captain's quarters are, where the ship's logs might be. I describe Portar. His ugly face. His uglier hat. I talk out what I remember of the layout, the quickest ways to get to the engine room.
When Dog offers me gear, I sha…
I'm gearing up. Slowly. Paying attention to my wounded hand. When I think about the ship exploding, I feel a small bit of gratitude, pleasure that Portar would be dead. Unable to burn the world.
But then I'm remembering those women who spited m…
My eyes move from Bon picking through the debris to smudge on the horizon that is Portar and the threat he and his crew bring to me and mine.
"They would remove us from the landscape, cut us away and cauterize the wound. Instead we will remind t…
Fortunes (Hocus): fortune, surplus and want all depend on your followers. At the beginning of the session, roll+fortune. On a 10+, your followers have surplus. On a 7–9, they have surplus, but choose 1 want. On a miss, they are in want. If their sur…
I return Bon's embrace, holding on for dear life, just for one moment.
Then I'm hearing SeaTac's words and nodding. "We need to move. You ride with Dog -- she'll get you in close. I'll ride in with Bon." I look to Dog -- this is a good plan, ri…
Riding behind Dog is the closest thing to a warm welcome home as I am ever gonna need. Though the comfort of it is interrupted by the worsening pain in my hand as the adrenaline wears off.
"SeaTac!" I hail the soldier as Dog does. When I see Bon, …
I agree reluctantly when Dog is clear about the circumstances by which we can save Glover. It's not ideal, but nothing is.
"I don't know what Watauga will do when it is clear that this has all gone to shite." A pause. "Did he bring Bon? Is she …
I let go of Val's hand to start untying the h-bike keys from my hair -- in the end, I require zir assistance to remove them. "That seems wise. I should ride with Dog."
I hand them to zir and turn back to Dog. "The engines in the hull are poorly m…
"We need to sink the ship," I say absently, once again against Dog's chest.
I grab Val with my good hand. My bad hand is a bloody claw pushed past Dog and pointing towards the horizon. "We need to sink that ship."
My legs are moving back towards…