THIS TAKES PLACE BETWEEN THE PROLOGUE AND MISSION 1
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
To call Alice, when she was just small
Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
Bronzi sat in the bar far longer then anybody else, but it was only his biology. He was a creature of the magic hour. He seemed to come most alive during the dusk and twilight hours. Right now he sat at one of the shambling bar tables in full gear, though his helmet and face mask were off, and it looked like he was assembling a weapon of sometime and from the sound of it, Lina was starting to take a shine to him.
"Don't you have a home?" Lina hissed from over the bar top, her comely features showing a hint of disdain.
"No, I just like looking at yer chest." Bronzi snorted back looking dead at Lina's cleavage.
This action prompted the older woman to cross her arms over her chest. "Or not." She said scowling back at the stocky Gartagen.
"Awwww. did I make you blush?" Bronzi said with a smile on his face as he snapped in the barrel to his new Machine gun.
Lina shuddered. "No...you are making me nauseous."
The exchange continued in this fashon for some time. Never once did Lina tell Bronzi to leave however. Those who knew the woman would say she was probably enjoying the company. It was the most company she'd had in months with the arrival of the Phoenix crew - they were stimulating the town whether they knew it or not.
Luca was sitting on the roof of Lina's, by the man shaped hole and watching the sun's last rays of the evening disappearing slowly beneath the horizon. He never drank to get drunk since it'd require quite a lot thanks to the Yamataian biology, but he was suitably buzzed and in control of his facilities. He poked his head through the hole and looked at Bronzi. "Well, you do have a face only a mother could love!" He taunted from his roof perch.
Bronzi and Lina both looked up at Luca. Bronzi's face drew into a smirk, his gruff, but full face looking almost forced into the smiling position. To look at him, a stranger would not guess him to be as cheery and pleasent(though crude) as he was in disposition. "That's what my mother used to tell meh. I never got what she was trying to say..." He said shaking his head.
Bronzi paused from tinkering with his new weapon, to take a puff from another one of his stoogies. 'But she kept me fed and clothed...my ma was alright. Speakinga which, where is your pride and joy. She looked all pumped up for the action we may have coming our way."
Bronzi then quickly set back to assembling the weapon. He finished it up, peicing it back together and then locked and loaded the gun with minimal effort. He gingerly pushed the gun aside, and then set removed one of his revolvers from its holster on his hip. Her started delicatly disassembling the weapon.
His pride and joy, his ward, his protectorate - his daughter. There were many ways to define what Vitalia was - but to him it was a reminder. A reminder not to get caught up in what destroyed her mother and nearly killed her father. "She should be at the apartment. I left some dinner there." It was probably Yamataian take away from that place a couple of stores down. "She'll probably watch some telly and go to bed - we've all got a big day tomorrow." She was a big girl, despite being only a couple of months old, able to take care of herself.
Bronzi snorted in amusement. "Good kid." He said more to him self then to luca.
"I am suprised she is ain't in here lookin fer trouble...she gets that gleam in her eye. The one I saw in you when we first met...damned if you weren't kin, because she has it."
"She has a few friends. This little punk called Nathan G. she likes to hang out with." He had a measured opinion of Nathan, and trusted the kid as long as Vita remained safe.
"Oh, Nathan's a little devil." Lina piped in, leaning in with her arms concealing her cleavage. "Great graffiti artist though."
Bronzi attempted to get anothe view of Lina's breasts, but failed in his attempt. 'Aye, I caught him tryin ta put the moves on the girl. Threatened to put on in his arse if I caught him again..."
Bronzi let out a laugh, but he was not joking, he would probably shoot Nathan in the ass if he caught him with his hand's down Vita's pants out back again. "Not that Vita was'nt into it...she found the event funny...girl can laugh too."
"I never told you about her mother, did I?" Luca said from his afar perch, before the sound of the grapple stunner could be heard clicking to the roof and lowering himself down to the floor on a tether, dropping down and the grappling line retracting. He could've floated or jumped down - but this was much cooler. His expression was berift of joy.
Bronzi looked up at Luca with a bit more serious of an expression on his face, he puffed his cigar. "naw. I never bothered to ask...figgered it was...something for you and just you or some shit..."
"She was just like me - a deadly force of nature. She was no ordinary woman." He then put his fingers above his ears and made a downward curve and back to the bottom of the ear, indicating Neko ears. "One of the older models too - from before the Yamataians got soft."
He then sat down at the bar and snapped his fingers as bitter memories flowed back into his consciousness. Lina passed him a drink of beer. "She died consumed by battle rage. I almost followed the same suit - and I don't want history to repeat with this second chance I've got."
Lina's face was concerned for the mercenary, she stood back, frowning as he watched Luca slam the drink down in one go. Bitter memories indeed.
"Eh, we have a sayin." Bronzi said knowing he was not good at this kind of shit. "Live by the sword, ya die by it. It is simply the way the universe works...can't run from it, so I always chose to face it." He said continuing on.
"But your girl has it in her blood. That much i've seen. An I ain't the brightest coin in the cup."
Bronzi considered it though. A female warrior. His wife was no warrior, at least not with a gun. But he never discouraged any of his spawn from following in his rather bloody and filth encrusted foot steps. "It's in her nature."
"But I want her to enjoy life first before she comes wading into all the blood and chaos." He exchanged a stare with Bronzi, his right eye examining him closely. "Its the least I can do for her, considering that she was born buried in her mother's corpse and under six feet of sand - and clawed her way out."
"She's had the instinct to survive and kill from the start." Luca's grip on the bottle was starting to overwhelm the vessel, and a crack could be heard.
"Battle born." Bronzi said knowing the term his people used to describe such a situation. "What you want may differ from what she is. It is in her nature...and she see's you. To deny her this...you'd eventually loose her i'd reckon. You'd put her in a safe hide away, but eventually no matter where you went she would go out seeking it. I ain't no father to envy mind ya, I am just sayin nature verses nurture. She can't fight it and you can't neither."
Another puff of his Cigar and Bronzi had flipped his revolver's cylinder off and was cleaning it with a fine brush. "Now what I'd do...keep her as close as possible...and If I am wrong about her.."
Bronzi shifted a sincere look to both Luca and then to Lina. "I HOPE I AM."
"She will find her own path...but if she chooses the red path well...there ya go."
He took a sip from his mug and drew silent, he closed his eyes and muttered something in his native language. "But lets all be honest, People like me and you Lewks...we exist for a reason. Space is a dark and dangerous place filled with monsters...the galaxy needs guys like us to kick the monster's teeth in when they start trying to hurt the innocent and the meek. Some one has to fight back the darkness...its shit, yea I know but it is the way it is."
"And it's something I'll probably never escape." He sighed for a moment. Then he grinned and eased his grip on the bottle - which fell apart outside of his hands. "But it isn't a bad thing. The world does need people like us, whether we like it or not - simply because nobody else is willing to." Lina then passed the two a drink each.
"Need? Guys like us are always needed...we always end up dead!" He said with a morbid haughty laugh.
"And yet here I am living up to my namesake - I came back for more!" Luca chuckled.
"One day you won't be. Then who will save the universe? Because the bad guys, they won't be quitting anytime soon. So what becomes of the Great Warrior Luca Pavone and his deck of cards? Will we fade off the face of history? Or will his mighty spawn take up the cause and start a legacy?"
Bronzi looked over at Lina. "You should be writtin this shit down by the way...would make one kick ass holo-book."
The legacy was already there. Luca Pavone was the son of Sebastian Pavone. The next person in line to inherit the mantle was Vitalia. "I don't know. My father probably didn't see any of this coming either." His dad had made no effort to contact Luca after he announced his return. Luca knew that he was on his own now.
"Eh, my dad was a mean sombitch." Bronzi said in response to it. "He used to strike me and my ma down when I was a boy. One day he got fuckin plastered, and came home...put my mom's head through the holo screen cause she did not have enough money for proper food.."
"I waited till he slept and clawed his eyes out in vengence for my ma."
He took a deep swig from his mug and continued on.
"So don't ever think that ya failed as a dad...not for a moment." Bronzi snorted once more and took another puff of his cigar.
And that was all the assurance he needed. "...Thanks Bronzi." Was all he said as he put his bottle up close to him to clink them together in cheers.
Bronzi accepted the cheer, and polished off his mug. He perked a brow and looked over at Lina. "I'll give you twenty creds for a tear soaked handy J with your hand covered by a sock."
"Oh, dream on!" She retorted to the gartagen.
"Hell, if i'm dreamin, then we've already fucked."
And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
To call Alice, when she was just small
Jefferson Airplane - White Rabbit
Bronzi sat in the bar far longer then anybody else, but it was only his biology. He was a creature of the magic hour. He seemed to come most alive during the dusk and twilight hours. Right now he sat at one of the shambling bar tables in full gear, though his helmet and face mask were off, and it looked like he was assembling a weapon of sometime and from the sound of it, Lina was starting to take a shine to him.
"Don't you have a home?" Lina hissed from over the bar top, her comely features showing a hint of disdain.
"No, I just like looking at yer chest." Bronzi snorted back looking dead at Lina's cleavage.
This action prompted the older woman to cross her arms over her chest. "Or not." She said scowling back at the stocky Gartagen.
"Awwww. did I make you blush?" Bronzi said with a smile on his face as he snapped in the barrel to his new Machine gun.
Lina shuddered. "No...you are making me nauseous."
The exchange continued in this fashon for some time. Never once did Lina tell Bronzi to leave however. Those who knew the woman would say she was probably enjoying the company. It was the most company she'd had in months with the arrival of the Phoenix crew - they were stimulating the town whether they knew it or not.
Luca was sitting on the roof of Lina's, by the man shaped hole and watching the sun's last rays of the evening disappearing slowly beneath the horizon. He never drank to get drunk since it'd require quite a lot thanks to the Yamataian biology, but he was suitably buzzed and in control of his facilities. He poked his head through the hole and looked at Bronzi. "Well, you do have a face only a mother could love!" He taunted from his roof perch.
Bronzi and Lina both looked up at Luca. Bronzi's face drew into a smirk, his gruff, but full face looking almost forced into the smiling position. To look at him, a stranger would not guess him to be as cheery and pleasent(though crude) as he was in disposition. "That's what my mother used to tell meh. I never got what she was trying to say..." He said shaking his head.
Bronzi paused from tinkering with his new weapon, to take a puff from another one of his stoogies. 'But she kept me fed and clothed...my ma was alright. Speakinga which, where is your pride and joy. She looked all pumped up for the action we may have coming our way."
Bronzi then quickly set back to assembling the weapon. He finished it up, peicing it back together and then locked and loaded the gun with minimal effort. He gingerly pushed the gun aside, and then set removed one of his revolvers from its holster on his hip. Her started delicatly disassembling the weapon.
His pride and joy, his ward, his protectorate - his daughter. There were many ways to define what Vitalia was - but to him it was a reminder. A reminder not to get caught up in what destroyed her mother and nearly killed her father. "She should be at the apartment. I left some dinner there." It was probably Yamataian take away from that place a couple of stores down. "She'll probably watch some telly and go to bed - we've all got a big day tomorrow." She was a big girl, despite being only a couple of months old, able to take care of herself.
Bronzi snorted in amusement. "Good kid." He said more to him self then to luca.
"I am suprised she is ain't in here lookin fer trouble...she gets that gleam in her eye. The one I saw in you when we first met...damned if you weren't kin, because she has it."
"She has a few friends. This little punk called Nathan G. she likes to hang out with." He had a measured opinion of Nathan, and trusted the kid as long as Vita remained safe.
"Oh, Nathan's a little devil." Lina piped in, leaning in with her arms concealing her cleavage. "Great graffiti artist though."
Bronzi attempted to get anothe view of Lina's breasts, but failed in his attempt. 'Aye, I caught him tryin ta put the moves on the girl. Threatened to put on in his arse if I caught him again..."
Bronzi let out a laugh, but he was not joking, he would probably shoot Nathan in the ass if he caught him with his hand's down Vita's pants out back again. "Not that Vita was'nt into it...she found the event funny...girl can laugh too."
"I never told you about her mother, did I?" Luca said from his afar perch, before the sound of the grapple stunner could be heard clicking to the roof and lowering himself down to the floor on a tether, dropping down and the grappling line retracting. He could've floated or jumped down - but this was much cooler. His expression was berift of joy.
Bronzi looked up at Luca with a bit more serious of an expression on his face, he puffed his cigar. "naw. I never bothered to ask...figgered it was...something for you and just you or some shit..."
"She was just like me - a deadly force of nature. She was no ordinary woman." He then put his fingers above his ears and made a downward curve and back to the bottom of the ear, indicating Neko ears. "One of the older models too - from before the Yamataians got soft."
He then sat down at the bar and snapped his fingers as bitter memories flowed back into his consciousness. Lina passed him a drink of beer. "She died consumed by battle rage. I almost followed the same suit - and I don't want history to repeat with this second chance I've got."
Lina's face was concerned for the mercenary, she stood back, frowning as he watched Luca slam the drink down in one go. Bitter memories indeed.
"Eh, we have a sayin." Bronzi said knowing he was not good at this kind of shit. "Live by the sword, ya die by it. It is simply the way the universe works...can't run from it, so I always chose to face it." He said continuing on.
"But your girl has it in her blood. That much i've seen. An I ain't the brightest coin in the cup."
Bronzi considered it though. A female warrior. His wife was no warrior, at least not with a gun. But he never discouraged any of his spawn from following in his rather bloody and filth encrusted foot steps. "It's in her nature."
"But I want her to enjoy life first before she comes wading into all the blood and chaos." He exchanged a stare with Bronzi, his right eye examining him closely. "Its the least I can do for her, considering that she was born buried in her mother's corpse and under six feet of sand - and clawed her way out."
"She's had the instinct to survive and kill from the start." Luca's grip on the bottle was starting to overwhelm the vessel, and a crack could be heard.
"Battle born." Bronzi said knowing the term his people used to describe such a situation. "What you want may differ from what she is. It is in her nature...and she see's you. To deny her this...you'd eventually loose her i'd reckon. You'd put her in a safe hide away, but eventually no matter where you went she would go out seeking it. I ain't no father to envy mind ya, I am just sayin nature verses nurture. She can't fight it and you can't neither."
Another puff of his Cigar and Bronzi had flipped his revolver's cylinder off and was cleaning it with a fine brush. "Now what I'd do...keep her as close as possible...and If I am wrong about her.."
Bronzi shifted a sincere look to both Luca and then to Lina. "I HOPE I AM."
"She will find her own path...but if she chooses the red path well...there ya go."
He took a sip from his mug and drew silent, he closed his eyes and muttered something in his native language. "But lets all be honest, People like me and you Lewks...we exist for a reason. Space is a dark and dangerous place filled with monsters...the galaxy needs guys like us to kick the monster's teeth in when they start trying to hurt the innocent and the meek. Some one has to fight back the darkness...its shit, yea I know but it is the way it is."
"And it's something I'll probably never escape." He sighed for a moment. Then he grinned and eased his grip on the bottle - which fell apart outside of his hands. "But it isn't a bad thing. The world does need people like us, whether we like it or not - simply because nobody else is willing to." Lina then passed the two a drink each.
"Need? Guys like us are always needed...we always end up dead!" He said with a morbid haughty laugh.
"And yet here I am living up to my namesake - I came back for more!" Luca chuckled.
"One day you won't be. Then who will save the universe? Because the bad guys, they won't be quitting anytime soon. So what becomes of the Great Warrior Luca Pavone and his deck of cards? Will we fade off the face of history? Or will his mighty spawn take up the cause and start a legacy?"
Bronzi looked over at Lina. "You should be writtin this shit down by the way...would make one kick ass holo-book."
The legacy was already there. Luca Pavone was the son of Sebastian Pavone. The next person in line to inherit the mantle was Vitalia. "I don't know. My father probably didn't see any of this coming either." His dad had made no effort to contact Luca after he announced his return. Luca knew that he was on his own now.
"Eh, my dad was a mean sombitch." Bronzi said in response to it. "He used to strike me and my ma down when I was a boy. One day he got fuckin plastered, and came home...put my mom's head through the holo screen cause she did not have enough money for proper food.."
"I waited till he slept and clawed his eyes out in vengence for my ma."
He took a deep swig from his mug and continued on.
"So don't ever think that ya failed as a dad...not for a moment." Bronzi snorted once more and took another puff of his cigar.
And that was all the assurance he needed. "...Thanks Bronzi." Was all he said as he put his bottle up close to him to clink them together in cheers.
Bronzi accepted the cheer, and polished off his mug. He perked a brow and looked over at Lina. "I'll give you twenty creds for a tear soaked handy J with your hand covered by a sock."
"Oh, dream on!" She retorted to the gartagen.
"Hell, if i'm dreamin, then we've already fucked."