So not quite carte blanche.  Oh well.  Focus on the problem at hand.

"On the way.  Be ready quicker'n a fire in a who-... uh, well, quick."

Geoff ducked his head, seemingly backpeddalling and moving forward simultaneously.

-- to bunk

Wei-Li smiled up at Kale.  "Stealth is my middle name," she answered cheerfully.

"Actually its Heloise," She confided.  With a shrug she returned to the weapons locker which she had abandoned for the great 'balloon round-up.'

"I guess my question is, are you going to need me more as a sneak or as another gun?  Perhaps a bit of both?"

Kale nodded distractedly at Geoff as the new first mate headed out of the cargo bay to his bunk to gather his personal supplies.  He knew the man took pride in his own collection.  Kale would stock up from the weapons locker though, save for his own pistol that he always kept on him - issued to him back during the war.

He moved down the stairway and onto the ground level of the cargo bay as Wei-Li spoke, "I'm thinkin' we'll be needin' a bit 'o both.  I'm gonna try ta do this as quick an' quiet as we can, but things don' always go smooth." he smiled and there was a bit of the old Kale in that smile.  The one who hadn't lost his pilot, doctor, and first mate in the past few months.

He was almost at the weapons locker when he heard Connor's voice come on over the comm.  He looked to Wei-Li, "Suit up, and grab a few grenades fer me an' Geoff.  I'm gonna go see what's what on the bridge." he said.

He moved back up the stairs hoping that Connor had some good news for him.

[To Destiny: Bridge - via Destiny: Dining Hall]

Wei-Li looked up at the intecomm for a moment and nodded.  She quickly pulled out two pistols, spare clips and a handful of grenades before closing up shop.

Then she trotted off to her quarters.  She was going to need something a little more substantial then her stretching clothes, though if she was being sneaky-- she'd need her unitard as well: the black one.

She took a deep breath and waved to Lei.  "Duty calls."

----> To Wei-Li's quarters

[ from bunk ]

Geoff trotted back into the cargo bay, just narrowly missing a collision with Kale.  With a spin-twist-slide, he stopped and shrugged slightly.

"Sorry, Cap." he grinned slightly nodding upward to indicate the comm.  "Hope 'at's good news."

He then continued on his way into the cargo bay proper.  He'd flesh out his arsenal from the main weapons locker.  If there was anything interesting to be found that is.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:07, Thu 24 Jan 2008.

Lei moved toward the side of the cargo bay as Kale came in and started giving out orders.  She was still feeling guilty for causing such a commotion and making such a mess when the crew really had more important things to be dealing with.  She knew that it was important that they got Rhaef back - even if she thought the man was kind of scary.

When Geoff started going through the weapons locker Lei sidled her way over to him.  In a quiet voice she spoke, "Do you think that you guys are gonna get hurt?" she asked.  She had never seen them load up on so many weapons and she wasn't entirely sure what it meant.  And although Geoff had yelled at her and hadn't really been himself lately - Lei was scared.  She didn't want him to get hurt.

Geoff paused, caught both by the innocense of the question and the fear in her tone.  Was she willing to trust him again?  If so... No, don't think, just act.

He crouched down, one knee on the ground, meeting Lei's eyes.  "Don' worry 'bout it, mei mei.  We're gonna be jus' fine."

Taking a brief glance around the bay, he turned to focus more fully on Lei.  He wanted to reach a hand out to her.  He wanted to grab her up into his arms and hug her and promise he would never, ever, ever be mean again... ever.  Instead, Geoff just smiled in what he hoped was a reassuring way.

"This'll be simple.  All smooth.  We're jus' goin' t'get Cap's right-hand-man." he indicated the vast number of weapons.  "An' all this?  This is jus' fer fun."

Again he tried to smile reassuringly.  Whether or not it worked, only time would tell.  At least she was talking to him again.

Lei glanced skeptically from Geoff to the weapons and then back to Geoff again.  She had begun to understand social interactions enough to know when someone wasn't telling the whole truth.  But she could also tell that he wasn't trying to be mean or hurt her by it.  He was trying to stop her from worrying.

She nodded her head, "Just for fun." then tilting her head she added, "Promise me you won't have too much fun?"

From anyone else this would have been a joke, a play on words.  From Lei, it was an honest request.

Geoff smiled with an echo of sadness in his eyes.  He wanted her to be safe; to not worry.  The sound of her earlier laughter - so innocent and free - came to his mind.  If only he could hear that sound one more time.  If only he could cause that sound...

"I'll be careful, mei mei." he said softly.  "An' I'll make sure they're careful too."

Wei-Li paused in the entry way to the cargo bay.  She was far enough away that she couldn't hear what Geoff and Lei were saying, but judging by their positioning-- Geoff was... maybe trying to be Geoff.

She bit her lip as she tried to figure out what to do then simply stepped into the cargo bay, draping her haversack like a bandolier across her chest.

Looking up at the sound of Wei-Li, Geoff cleared his throat and stood up, if a little too quickly.  "But there ain't nuthin' ta worry 'bout.  We'll be fine."

The lightness in his voice was a little forced, as if he were embarrassed to have been caught being sensitive.  After all, he wasn't the sensitive type.  Those kind stayed on the core planets, worrying about whether or not they'd get a paper cut counting their money.

He reached into his vest pocket and was pleasantly surprised to find a pack - only slightly wrinkled - of cigarettes.  With an almost too-eager glint in his eye he withdrew a bent cigarette, struck a match, lit the end and took a deep drag.  He held the smoke inside for a long moment, then exhaled slowly.  A look of peace settled over his face.

He grinned over at Wei-Li, trying to ignore the femininity of her - which was never an easy task.  "Lookin' ready.  It's gonna be easy, right?"

Geoff nodded slightly toward Lei, silently hoping Wei-Li understood.

Wei-Li winced slightly.  While she realized he was trying to reassure Lei, you never, ever said something like that before a show, or in this case mission.

She looked to the top of the cargo bay and shook her head as if to say 'when is he going to learn?' before turning towards Lei and smiling.

"He’s never going to learn is he?” she asked with a sigh.

Then she looked back at Geoff.  “Paquin-brat,” she reminded him point towards herself.  “Performer… never.. say that… ‘Break a leg’ is good, ‘we’re going to knock ‘em dead’s all right.   But “easy?””

Geoff smacked his forehead, very nearly knocking the cherry off his cigarette as he did so.  "Sorry 'bout that... forgot." he looked semi-apologetically, semi-clownishly at Lei.

"Can I help it?  I'm good fer shootin', climbin' an' mayhem.  I ain't built ta be performin on a stage less'n it's the kind what's drug about by horses."

Again he tried a slightly sheepish grin, only the expression was marred by taking a drag from his cigarette.  Sometimes warriors just never learned.

Wei-li smiled and shook her head.  "We'll get you straightened out yet, won't we Lei?"

Lei smiled.  It wasn't like the smile from earlier when her and Dake had been running around the ship throwing make-shift water balloons.  But it was a smile.  And it was directed at Geoff - so that was something.

She nodded her head to Wei-Li with a slightly confused expression on her face, she wasn't entirely sure what she meant by 'straightening out' and was hoping that it wasn't a very painful process as what immediately came to mind for her was the process of ironing a shirt to get all the wrinkles gone.

Geoff stood up to his full height and looked, almost beseachingly, at Wei-Li.

"Look!  I'm straight!"

He grinned, then winked at Lei before relaxing a bit.  After another drag and exhale - directed away from the women - Geoff ground out his cigarette.

"Hate waitin', ya know?  I'd rather just get into it and be done with the whole mess.  This waitin' though... that's rough."

Wei-li nodded.  She knew all too well.  "Performance peak," she answered.  "When you're on you want to be at your best, but you have to time it--- peak too soon, it shows, peak too late, there's no point."

She shrugged and set her bag down before facing the bulkheads and bending her forward leg.  "Might as well stretch," she said with a shrug and set to work limbering up.

It wasn't as if she hadn't already warmed up with the tumbling runs, but it was something to do.

Geoff nodded his understanding, then turned to watch as Wei-Li bent her body in ways no normal body was supposed to bend.  It confused the heck out of him.  He looked over at Lei, frowning slightly, then nodded at Wei-Li.

"I don' know how y'all do that.  If'n I tried movin' my legs 'at way, y'd be scrapin' me up off the floor an' shootin' me full a' pain meds.  I betcha my bones'd snap quicker'n leaves in Fall."

Again he turned his attention to Wei-Li.  He could, of course, see the obvious benefits of being able to move a body that way.  And those were very beneficial benefits.  But, it still wasn't natural.

Wei-Li continued, blissfully unaware of Geoff's attention.  It had been so rare lately she didn't expect much reaction at all.

She did a simple back layover, then simply dropped to the floor.  There was limbering up and then there was overdoing it.

Since they had no idea what to expect, she left it where she'd landed.  She shrugged and looked over at Geoff.

"Well, you don't start with what I do... but if you do the exercises regularly-- you'd be surprised how flexible you can be."

Geoff laughed, loud and long.

"I'm a man, darlin'.  Ain't nuthin' flexible 'bout me."

Wei-Li blushed slightly, then raised an eyebrow.

"You'd be surprised."

How could such an innocent as Wei-Li fully understand the truth behind his own statement?  Or, was there truth behind hers?  It didn't much matter.  At the moment he wasn't flexible in mind or body.  At the moment he was doing his best to remain relaxed.  It wasn't easy.

In order to dispell the faint tension - something he didn't quite understand at the moment - he pushed off the crate he'd been leaning against and hit the ship-wide comm button.

"We gonna do this or not, Cap?  It's gettin' close t' supper time an' I like t'work up an appetite."

Though the comment was meant to be humorous, there was a heavy note of seriousness within it.  He had an itch what needed scratching and only a good dose of violence would sate his current hunger.

COMM: "We're preparin' to hit atmo here in a few ticks, Charlie's shuttin' down non-essential systems so just be prepared fer things ta get a bit finicky."

(From Destiny: Kyoko's Shuttle)

Kyoko descended the steps from her shuttle down into the Cargo Bay just in time to hear the captain's announcement. She nodded and grabbed onto the railing, figuring here was just as good a place as any...

Wei-Li listened to the announcement and scanned the area around her.  After a few moments thought, she pulled herself into the overhead rigging.  If they were shutting things down, especially non-essentials, she guessed the lights would be going shortly.

Ever since the 'incident' she hated the idea of being on the ground in the dark.  Being in the rigging just felt... safer.