The only person you are destined to become is the person you decided to be – Ralph Waldo Emerson
That tingling sensation down my spine is telling me that I am currently being watched but the lack of itchy trigger finger lets me know that, surprise surprise, it actually wasn’t unfriendly for a change. I almost stop walking in surprise at that let me tell you. I’ve gotten so used to being attacked lately that being stared at in simple surprise was downright enjoyable. Of course people were watching me, I’m fantastic. Then again, the hulking man mountain of scarred face, bald head and blood slave collar next to me as bound to draw an eye or two himself. Maybe even a few of the wide eye stares of astonishment could even be directed at the Doctor walking with us as if we weren’t some scandalous scads in need of an escort.
The stares aside, I have to admit that I am feeling good. Like I suspected, Persephone eventually gave in to the idea and I know have Auctoritas on my ship. Holy side stepping, line dancing, tango with the devil, hell. Rorick was silent the entire time Perseph’s second in command Deidre whined and blathered about how pathetically lame my idea was until eventually she ran out of words to try and insult me with. When all of this is over, I might send her a lovely little card with a few more insults to help round out her arsenal with a little. It got mighty boring being called a leech and a criminal by a sycophant.
When the smallish child ran past us, ignoring the socially imposed ‘these are outsiders, avoid them’ space left around us, even prepped for it I barely felt the young urchin trying to lift the few coins out of my pocket. Rorick grunted as the wraith like child scampered on past, ignored by the Doctor and Dandy behind me, but he had to have spotted the lift even as I’d felt it.
No, despite my penny pinching habits, I did not give chase to the starved little wildling for stealing a meal’s worth of coin. And no, it wasn’t actually just generosity on my part; the coins were payment because even as the pickpocket was taking them from me, there was a small slip of paper dropped off at the same time. This was a job line up, as someone dirt side must have recognized my ship and wanted to offer me a Run. Goody. Hope it’s in the same general direction that we were headed in anyways.
Setting up a Run is actually fairly simple and most of the time not even all this cloak and dagger-esque. A lot of people will simply dial me up and offer me a job on the straight up. Then there are those that will go through intermediaries, that’s usually when you want a job done but don’t care who does it. Those kind of jobs have a sort of ‘likely dangerous, not much money, no special skills required’ tag to them, so a lot of us more ‘specialized’ Runners will let the new baby Runners take them to build a rep. It also helps weed out the failures. Sounds callous, but in my line of work the cowards never start, the weak die along the way and that just leaves those like me left, too stubborn to die and too stupid to succeed in anything resembling sane work. You’ve seen my life, so you know that there are days that make me question if my guardian angel actually cares about me or if I’m just kept alive as a source of entertainment.
“What was it that you wanted to see us on your ship about?” Wanda finally asked me, walking up to be at my side. Once again, her well born and properly raised nature made it almost instinctive that she try and ‘rank’ us even in a physical sense. I am so going to enjoy seeing the look on her face when she realizes that she can in fact have the man of her dreams. She just has to metaphorically sell her soul to me. I’m a fairly nice owner, though since Rorick is the only person I’ve ever legally owned before I guess that’s a small sample size to draw inferences from.
“Something that you’re really not going to want unfriendly ears over hearing. And considering that you tried to walk me into an ambush already once today, I’m not going anywhere you suggest. Might as well shut up, come with or bail out. Your choice.” My tone is harsher than the little Lady expects, and I feel Rorick’s body shift slightly as he tries to catch the shocked expression on her face. He might not ever express his hatred of them and I might actually be imagining it (I’m biased and it’s either he hates them in my head or I kill her in her sleep) but I like the idea of him revelling in her discomfort.
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The Legends of Twisted Felix Katt (Book 3)
Science FictionAfter a less than stellar Run that has left her ship damaged, her crew wounded and her own body battered, Captain Felix Katt is just about ready to go on vacation. There was just one small problem, after almost twenty-two years, she finally has the...
