RP [Firebrand Crew] Chapter One, An Odd Bouquet

[SirSkully]

Pietrov was impartial about anything the Neko said about his height, he was pretty average for a Daur after all so the comment did anything but offend him as the angry ball of fox shook his head dismissively and even piled a few smaller things on top of his bundle now that a better grip had been achieved. "I no need your food or your help, can put you both in your places any time," the boy challenged back as he moved to put his load away, stacking things precariously before turning to regard the two women who towered over him once more.

"Oh you know somebody that'll buy them?" Vinni asked this golden-eyed fellow outside, their own volumetric eyes beaming happily toward the crew's stroke of good luck that had materialized in the form of a Nepleslian - the fox-thing's face may have been hidden but you could almost feel the smile coming from behind their armoured faceplate. "OH, and you know where dear Grelish went too? you're awesome~" Captain Firebrand continued, wrapping their athletic arms around this stranger that just kept making things better and better.

"Attention you rapscallions, this guy knows where our big Nep is so either come along or do what you need to do before we take off, thank you," Vinni's modulated voice spoke through the cargo area's comms system just as one of the smaller boxes fell onto Pietrov's own bushy tail, causing the lad to yelp out something in pain that didn't quite translate right.

Upon hearing this yelp, Vinni turned around with their arms still wrapped around Wylde, speaking with a generous bit of concern in their synthetic, bi-gendered voice, "Piet, you okay?"

"Whatever..." the Daur grumbled out, kicking an empty can aside as his briefly happy demeanour dropped away.

 

[IQ]

"You sure about that," Zoeichi chimed happily, pushing the crates in the right place after scooting them on the rack by ducking slightly. Letting them slide off of eachother. Taking a step back, the one eyed elf rolled her shoulder with a grimace, before snorting, just at the time Vinni's voice called through the intercomms.

The elf arched an eyebrow but sighed regardless. "So. Nothin' of that untill we find big stick Nep," she hummed under her breath. Moving over to the ramp, swiping up her sheathed blades and strapping them to her back. Spitting the chunk that remained of the cigar out, before swiping another one for the box. Lighting it and walking out. "Aye aye, cap'n. Let's find us our resident clubber and we go."

The elf glanced at Pietrov, her joking attitude dropping momentarily. "But seriously, y'alright there? Shit must hurt, with that weight comin' down."

 

[club24]

Sakura winked at the fox again and chuckled, "Sure, you can tell yourself that." The neko mocked, "I'll be staying behind captain, got a bunch of supplies to unpack and cook up unless no one wants to eat tonight, send my love and regards." She said turning to face her looming pile of foodstuffs.

 

[Whitehart]

Ironically Wylde's thoughts echoed Vinni's, who was this person and why were things going to so well? He lithely unwrapped himself from the arm and held out his hand, "The name's Wylde and you sir are in for a whole lot more surprises. I am a freelancer by trade, Doing, solving and finding are my specialties."

 

[SirSkully]

With an adorably intense pout across his little features Pietrov moved to kick the spat-out cigar down the cargo bay's ramp and away into the surrounding grass before mumbling under his breath, "I'm fine... just go so we can leave this shit-hole," his voicebox translated rather accurately as the boy ruffled his own hair and then moved to pick up what had fallen on his tail.

Vinni chuckled a little as Wylde unwrapped from their embrace, an odd metallic rattle of two voices at once as the Captain waited for the ship's elf to join them and then followed where the golden-eyed Nep had directed them, "Heh, sir... Wylde meet Zoe, she's our other amazonian warrior goddess and general rough houser," the fox-tailed Captain mused while walking deeper into the crowded area, beady little volumetric eyes offering both people in tow a hidden grin they could tell was ear-to-ear.

"Mister Master Wylde here said he can offload our cursed missiles that seem to never want to leave us, so if that's true I reckon we could give him a ride a system or two over if he wants, how does that sound to you two?" Vinni continued to speak, their helmeted head almost comically turned away from where Wylde had last seen Greslish.

Meanwhile back on the Veilburner II Sakura would see a pair of foxy ears pop up at the edge of the counter, followed by a few sniffs that Pietrov made no attempts to hide before the ship's current grease-Daur popped his head up over the threshold. He still looked as pissed off as ever but something had gotten the boy's attention as his head cocked to the side a little, "What are you planning on cooking anyway? something smell good~" Piet's voice trailed off a little, though the tail's wagging betrayed his curiosity.

 

[club24]

"Well nothing yet my fluffy friend, still trying to get all the new ingredients into the cupboards and coolroom. Although that smell might be my snack, an egg and noodle broth... Did you want some?" The neko said with a grin as she began dishing herself some of the small dish she'd thrown together. "It's not poisoned I promise, and tastes pretty good."

Sakura finished dishing herself a small amount before offering a small spoonful to the curious fox to try before making his decision.

 

[IQ]

The elf didn't really respond to Pietrov, just a solemn nod before she moved out. Rolling her shoulder, before lacing her fingers together and stretching them. The loud popping of joints resounding. Though the elf whinced and shook one of her hands on approach, before finally arriving to Vinni, who had decided to let Wylde out of their clutches.

One purple eye rested on Wylde as she assessed him. Giving him a quick up and down, taking a considerable drag from her cigar, before nodding. Falling in next to Vinni. And while the Captain was nimble enough to weave through the crowds, Zoe's brusque demeanor led her to shoving and pushing people around. The muttered excuse me's and sorry's under her breath. "It sounds to me like that's your choice, Captain," she answered, glancing over her shoulder at Wylde. Offering a rather unsettling grin. "If he behaves, he should have no issues."

 

[Whitehart]

Wylde gave the elf a similar appraisal to her own, though his eyes lingered a little longer. He nodded his head in greeting, "No need to worry about me Zoe, I'm harmless and especially allergic to violence." He glanced back tooward their destination to ensure he doesn't lose sight of the woman with the club, their target.

"Yeah, I could use a ride actually, this place has certainly lost it's luster. Besides, it seems the environment on your ship would suit me perfectly for a while," he said as he looked back at the duo to ensure they were behind him.

He did make one small detour on their track, Wylde had seen a particularly surly mutant at a booth a few yards away waving his three arms wildly about as it snort out some gibberish. He knew that one and preferred he not run across him at this particular moment, it course had nothign to do with the money he may or may not owe him.

 

[SirSkully]

"Alrighty then, cool! glad to hear Sakura is the only one with beef then.. maybe, dunno what she has planned for us," Vinni mused with a small frown of thought before the Captain just shrugged it off and did an adorable little spin as they followed Wylde's round-about route to get to Grelish, though thanks to Zoeichi's towering nature she could probably get a line of sight on their Half-SOL who was across the way a bit, bartering with someone who was quite clearly a lot shorter than either of the women - though to be fair that wasn't hard to do when they were both pillars of muscle.

Back on the second and quite frankly a lot less impressive iteration of the Veilburner Pietrov gave the spoon a few sniffs before turning away with a frown, ears drooping slightly at the tips as his voice box began translating once more with that strong Kuznyetski accent it had decided to pick up recently, "Ew it does have no meat, I'll pass," the ship's carnivorous Daur voiced his disgust with a screwed up nose... but he didn't want to admit it did smell kinda nice despite not having his favourite kind of food in it - Sakura would probably tease him over it anyway.

As Wylde avoided the three-armed mutant outside though somebody did partially run into him - they were a lot less tactful about it than Zoe and without complaining or apologizing they simply moved on~ leaving the Nepleslian's pocket noticeably lighter without the presence of his wallet...

 

[club24]

"Well please excuse yourself then mr grumps. It's still delicious but suit yourself, I'll just toss you a steak if you feel like being a savage." Sakura said grinning, giving the Daur a pat on the head as she continued enjoying her snack. After another couple mouthfuls the neko got to work unloading the various boxes and stacking everything in the galley, her tail swishing back and forth as the neko hummed to her work.

"Since it's such a hassle remembering all the dishes of you weirdos, one being a carnivore and the other a plant muncher, what do you want for dinner little guy?"

 

[IQ]

Zoe moved through the crowd with practiced ease. Weaving between people as she picked up the pace once she had spotted her fellow Amazonian. Right now, politely pushing people aside and moving would take too long - instead, she just dodged and pushed through. The elf sucked in a deep breath before calling out; "Oi - Grelish! We're about to depart!" she shouted, hoping the club-wielder would heed her call and turn on her feet to return. "Git' over here!" She added to her shout, whilst still navigating through the mass of other people of all races, genders and ages.

 

[Whitehart]

Wylde initially brushed off the jostling that was laid upon him by the inconsiderate passer-by until he did in fact notice the subtle diffeence in his walk. His wallet had been pinched, that son of a bitch. To ensure his hunch he briefly touched his pocket and yes, it was true.

"That little shit stole my wallet," he said out loud before spinning an scanning the crowd for the pick pocket. His hand drifted to the stone thread whip at his side, ready to flay the little turd should Wyle spot the thief.

 

[SirSkully]

Grelish could be seen hefting a large Nepleslian-surplus machine gun over her shoulder by the thing's well-worn strap before the towering woman turned to face Zoeichi with an apologetic grin, briefly rubbing the back of her neck with one blue-inked arm before offering a thumbs-up from the visibly muscled limb and attempt to make her way back over to the crew - the metallic firebrand logo on the one remaining sleeve of her crew jacket glinting in the sunlight as the crowd parted a little around the half-SOL.

Closer to the trio though, the 'little shit' that had nabbed Wylde's wallet span back around on one heel, revealing the grubby face of some wolf-like halfbreed under a hood, mis-matching eyes widening at the sight of his whip as the pickpocket grabbed a handful of cash from Wylde's wallet only to toss it to the ground with a worried cry of "Fuck!" before disappearing into the sea of people - causing a little electronic chuckle from Vinni's helmet as the crew's fox-tailed captain sauntered over and squatted down on their strong legs to pick up the discarded wallet, dusting it off and turning to hand it back to Wylde before speaking.

"Well I reckon we can depart now, everyone back to the ship... I might have to do something about our current lack of communications infrastructure," the ungendered thing of questionable origins suggested under their helmet, gesturing for Zoe, Wylde and Grelish to head back to the Veilburner II where Pietrov was currently recoiling after having his head pat... it wasn't like he hated the gesture, but it was his head, not Sakura's to pat whenever she damn well pleased.

But she was taking suggestions for dinner... so the Daur tried to not complain too much, simply scoffing and moving to pack away the last of the shopping while answering her, "I wouldn't mind steak... BUT! cook it, no like raw," the boy's artificial accent spoke, golden eyes glued to the chef and waiting for an answer.

 

[club24]

"One raw steak right off the beast, gotcha." Sakura winked at the Daur before grabbing one out of the fridge, she always kept a couple defrosted each day for their local carnivore. "Hey are the others coming back anytime soon? I kinda need to take orders for the rest of them so I can prep the food y'know?" The neko was relatively knew herself but had managed to earn her keep as the best chef on the ship despite the amount of teasing she gave the captain, her favourite being calling them "Bushy"

Now that she thought of it, Pietov had a bushy tail too, were they the same species? Or maybe even family, but why did Vinni hide their identity so much, one of these days Sakura promised herself she would get that helmet off and take a good look, her inquisitive nature demanded it from her.

"Hey bushy, is Vinni like your brother or sister or something? Or a robot you made cause you two have the same tail, except they're way more fun than you."

 

[IQ]

Zoeichi glanced at the hooded figure as he seemed to cause a commotion, pulling several notes from a wallet, before tossing it on the ground and making a swift retreat. She was too far to actually intervene or help - the thief was already out of her grasp.

She greeted the approaching half-SOL with a wave. Lowering the hand to rest on her belt. Rolling her other shoulder with a sore look on her face. Turning on her feet, the elf waited for Grelish to join their group, before moving on. "Where've you been?" She asked with a soft frown once the half-SOL was within range of a proper conversation.

 

[Whitehart]

Wylde accepted the wallet from the diminutive armored Captain and growled low as he leafed through the now empty pockets. He looked up, "Yes, please, let's leave this shit hole. It has brought me no end of headaches and hungry stomachs." He looked up and began following the two masculine women, though at a safe distance behind to appreciate the views in front of him.

"So, besides selling off combat hardware, what is it that this crew normally does? I only ask because I happen to be a free agent at the moment and, while a lift would be most appreciative, prehaps you could use another deck hand."

 

[SirSkully]

"No, Captain smells all weird so not one of my kind, smells... fake~ not quite, it is hard to explain," the ship's grumpy Daur admitted as his eyes followed Sakura's hands, more specifically the red chunk of ready-to-cook meat she was toting around before one of his ears flicked. "They... sound like coming back now, good, we can finally leave this green piece of shit behind," Pietrov mused once more as he poked his head back out into the cargo bay to see that sure enough the crew's two tallest members were walking back through the crowd, Captain Firebrand's vertically challenged nature made it hard to spot the armoured thing in a crowd, so thankfully the two Amazonian women compensated for that.

Grelish looked back to Zoe with a bit of an apologetic smile before gesturing to the newly acquired, pre-loved machine gun being balanced on one broad, tattooed shoulder, a strong breath from the silent woman as her knuckles were rapped against the scratched metallic surface - whatever tore the half-SOL's throat out may have rendered her speechless, but even then it was pretty easy to tell she was sorry for taking so long, even guiltier at the fact a small search party had been sent out.

There was another huff, a stronger one, as Grelish rolled her shoulders - at least it was all behind them now, though she was oblivious to the golden eyes glued to the sight of her and Zoe side by side, focusing more on pulling up her scarf to hide the blush of shame as they approached the foot of the cargo ramp

"Ah well we can always use another deck hand so long as you are willing to pull your weight every now and then," the mysterious Captain Firebrand began to explain to their latest addition, thumping Wylde on the back with a deceptively strong arm before the fox-tailed thing continued, "I'll be honest with you, we're a little down on our luck at the moment and just looking for any contracts a small operation like ourself could take on - it pays well enough and one day we will be a reputable crew once more, just not yet it seems," Vinni mused, beady little volumetric eyes beaming up at the Nepleslian man before gesturing for him to board the ship with one gloved hand.

"SAKURA!! WE'VE GOT AN EXTRA MOUTH TO FEED, DON'T STAB THIS ONE!" Vinni's bi-gendered called out towards the kitchen, it didn't exactly scream professionalism~

 

[club24]

"Smells funny huh, you know I got a similar vibe too, thanks for the info. Pietrov." Sakura said slowly, flashing him a grin and a thumbs up afterward as a show of good faith. The neko didn't say anything about the telepathic communication she had with the captain, that alone was enough to keep her interested and she doubted the others knew about it. To the best of her knowledge, there was only two species that could communicate in that manner with her. "Alright, yours is going on the grill now buddy, would you mind checking what the others want for me? Apparently, we have a new person so I need to know their preference especially." She asked politely while getting the vegetarian dish ready for the local giant and got out a few bags of assorted other items ready to cook up, now that their crew roster had increased and they were loaded up with supplies again it was time for a good meal.

In a mental message to Vinni the grey cat said, “Is the newbie hot? If so you better not steal them before I can even say hi.” The neko hummed while moving over to another cupboard to retrieve her cooking utensils. “Also what’s all this about stabbing people?”