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“Is this her?” Jonny asks, breathless, and covered in blood from the battle they just escaped. “How do we wake her up?”
“You could try kissing her!” Nastya offers, helpful and hopeful despite the red spatter across most of her face.
Jonny frowns. “I’m not going to kiss a sleeping stranger, Nastya, that’s really fucking creepy.”
“Oh. Well…” She sighs. “Just do your normal plan, then… Shoot the machines until they explode.”
“I will! I will do that!” Jonny answers with a pointed look. He raises his gun.
The “her” they’re referring to is the nude woman currently suspended in a viscous greenish liquid in a glass tube. It looks almost like a coffin, if it weren’t for the wires and cables coming off of the thing. She looks to be sleeping, though restless. Her arms and legs twitch occasionally, and in response, some part of the defense grid reacts outside. No doubt that the cables and lines stuck into each pale limb is hijacking some set of nerves, signals, whatever it needs to keep this facility running. They sit just under her skin in some cases, making her veins look grossly raised. The line in her abdomen seems to be buried up under her rib cage, likely passing dangerously close to her heart.
Jonny fires his six-gun three times. One shot for each metal cylinder on either side of Briar Rose’s coffin and the third for the glass protecting her. He half expects the bullet to simply bounce off, and so does Nastya based on the way she raises his arm to protect her own face. It doesn’t, though; The cylinders both pop, then spark, fizz, and burst. The glass shatters, spilling that green goop all over the dark tiled floor.
He passes a grin in Nastya’s direction, tail wagging triumphantly. “What do you know? It worked.”
Nastya rolls her eyes. She starts to cross the room, intent on looting what parts she can now that the defense grid is powering down.
Jonny follows a bit behind her, weapon still at the ready, to stand over Briar Rose. Just as he comes to a stop, tail swaying, her eyes fly open. She twitches, coughs into the mask over her face. She looks like she’s trying to move, but her body doesn’t listen. She’s starting to shake, no doubt the chill in the air biting into her bare skin.
“Good morning!” Jonny greets, drawing her attention.
Briar’s bloodshot eyes snap to him. She moves again as though reaching for something and suddenly stands. In doing so, she tears the wires out of her veins in several places, leaving behind gaping wounds that make her wince. Briar stumbles, then hits the tile on her knees. The mask breaks away at that with a hiss of air and she sucks a struggling breath. Yet more wires free themselves from her, taking bits of flesh with them.
Jonny grimaces, having the good sense to step back. With her wild red hair hanging in wet strings around her face, she looks just that much wilder. “Easy, princess , you just woke up. Try not to bleed out just yet.”
Nastya huffs from where she’s dismantling a control panel. “Give her a break, Jonny.”
He rolls his eyes in return. “I am! Why do you think I didn’t shoot her- YEOW!”
Briar has her hand around a thick shard of glass, which she has just lurched forward to slice across Jonny’s shins. He jumps back, aiming at her on instinct. His finger tightens on the trigger, except she suddenly collapses flat on the ground.
“Those were my good socks!” He huffs. “What a way to thank your rescue party…” Jonny grumbles as he stares down at her shivering body. He holsters his gun to put his hands on his hips.
Nastya glances over, watching him for a moment with an amused expression. “You didn’t think this far ahead, did you?”
“I did!” Jonny snaps back. His tone says otherwise. His tail flicks. “Uh- Nas, give me your coat.”
Nastya raises an eyebrow, staring at his outstretched hand. “No.”
He frowns. “What, you expect me to drag her out of here naked and get goop all over myself?”
She frowns back. “You expect me to let you get blood and goop all over my nice coat?”
Briar, unaware of the argument overhead, gurgles and promptly vomits. All that comes up is red, and more goop.
“ Ew .” Jonny’s nose wrinkles.
“I’m just saying…” Nastya sighs. “This was your harebrained idea to play Prince Charming.”
“It’ll make a good song!” Jonny defends. “C’mon Nastya, help the poor girl out. I’ll pay to get your coat cleaned.”
Nastya continues to stare at his hand… Then drops the bag she was holding and starts to shrug her coat off. “Fine. If you lose it, I am going to tie cinderblocks to your feet and throw you into an ocean planet.”
Jonny mocks her as he takes the offered article. “You know, if you don’t start making good on your threats, I’m gonna stop believing them.” He teases.
Nastya doesn’t respond verbally, and Jonny moves close to Briar Rose again. He crouches down, holding the bundle of fabric close. “Now princess, we’re not going to do anymore cutting up of knights, hey?” He wags a finger at her, then unfurls Nastya’s coat and drapes it over her wounded back.
Briar makes a strangled, frustrated noise, lurching like she’s going to hit him. She misses by a mile though, and her arm moves as though she’s still in water. Then she squirms, looking deeply confused.
“I don’t think she can hear us, Nas.” Jonny voices as he shoves his hands under her shoulders. Immediately, they’re soaked in goop. He resists the urge to gag. Briar needs to sit up.
She does with his guidance, limp and trembling. Her eyes are full of a mix of fear and fury as she stares up at Jonny again. Her mouth moves like she’s trying to speak, but her tongue won’t obey.
“Struck speechless by good looks, I see!” Jonny cackles. “Uh. No, really. I think we really need to get out of here.” He pulls the fabric tighter around her.
Briar seems to get the idea, if only in the back of her mind. Her hand clutches the collar to keep it in place.
“She’s awful tall, Jonny. Are you going to be able to-“ Nastya starts, only to be interrupted.
Jonny groans, now attempting to help Briar rearrange her crumpled legs. “Nastya, unless you plan on offering to do my job for me, I suggest you stop questioning it.”
“Actually.” She chides back. “I was going to offer to do it. If you carry my bag.”
“That thing weighs a million fucking pounds already, I’m not putting that on my back!” He whines.
“Mm. Suit yourself. Let’s go.” Without much effort at all, she slings the bag over her shoulders.
“Show-off.” Jonny grumbles.
Briar’s legs may as well be made of jelly. Even with Jonny helping, he’s struggling to get her to keep them in a decent position. He’s about to bark at her to sit still when he decides this is likely as close as they’re going to get and moves to her side. One arm slides under her thighs in yet more goop, the other looping behind her back. It takes him a moment to brace himself before he lifts the woman with all the strength his knees can manage.
Jonny’s tail lashes in an attempt to balance him as he stands fully again. Briar is quite a bit taller than him, and she has some heft to her that’s taking a moment for him to get used to. She’s practically dead weight, right up until the moment she attempts to thrash. She makes a choked, gurgling noise and tries to hit Jonny again. Nastya’s coat starts to fall off of her, Jonny struggling to keep his grip without dropping the poor woman.
That’s when Nastya jogs over, pulling her coat back up over Briar. She grabs her face in both hands, forcing eye contact. “Stop. Stop… We are leaving now. Leaving, gone. No more.” She looks at Briar like she expects her to answer, nodding.
“Yeah… what Nastya said.” Jonny agrees, steady again.
Briar moves her mouth in a way that might be talking, but it doesn’t make any sound, or the shape of words. She settles in Jonny’s arms, though.
Jonny huffs. “Great. Thanks, Nastya.”
Nastya lets go and turns, waving over her shoulder. “Anytime.”
She leads the way up the stairs, and out of the heart of the defense grid.
Briar Rose wakes for the second time. It is just as much of a shock as the first time. She takes a gasping breath, then leans over to the side to vomit. The action is something of a muscle memory, she thinks, and that’s when the pain hits. Everything burns badly, her arms, her legs, all up her stomach and through her back. Everything hurts. She feels like she’s wrapped in static, which quickly turns out to be a pile of blankets she discards. It helps, some. She doesn’t remember too much before this moment. She remembers glass shattering, a flash of pain, and a grinning, scruffy man saying all kinds of words to her. Something about a princess and knights, and there was a woman with him. They took her away, the pair of them, and the scruffy man with armor over his heart.
Maybe he was a knight.
With a start, Briar realizes that it’s quiet. It’s so deathly quiet, compared to before. The constant feed of information to every fiber of her being was so overwhelming, and so normal. Now… that’s gone. She sees through only her eyes; things are touching her skin directly. It’s foreign, it’s awful. There’s no constant rush of wind, the clicks and whirrs and clunking of heavy machines at work. Now, there’s only a quiet hum. One large machine working away, somewhere distant.
There are bandages all over her body, some starting to stain through. When she got them or where from, she can’t say. That’s the first thing she sees, along with the fact that she still isn’t clothed. Next are the blankets she kicked away, a pile of brightly-colored things with all different textures. She’s in a bed. It’s not her bed, far from it. Or, more accurately, it’s not the bed she remembers being hers. The only real bed she’s ever known was wet pods that sealed her inside until it was deemed safe enough to free her.
Right now… she is free. She’s unrestrained in this real bed. In a real room. She looks around. Her bed is more of a cot, really, but it’s generously lined with soft material. It’s one of several lining the walls and in her mind, she thinks of a sick bay. There’s a large computer terminal to one side with a chair. No one is in it, or on the other cots. She’s alone in this room, and it’s perfect.
Briar pushes herself up and attempts to stand. She avoids the pile of vomit she left, but only barely as she tumbles to the ground. It sends shockwaves of hurt through her entire body, the feeling somewhere between exhilarating and completely disabling. She presses a hand to her abdomen, where it seems to be bleeding through the worst.
After a few ragged breaths, she stands again. Surging forward, she reaches an electric door. Slapping a deft hand against the panel, it slides open. Her vision is immediately flooded with white from the lights overhead. That alone nearly takes her down again, which infuriates her. That anger is motivation, and she keeps pushing until she hits a wall. The wall is paneled gray and cold to the touch. She doesn’t know this place, this hallway, this sick bay. Frankly, she doesn’t know where she is at all.
The knight really did whisk her away.
There’s only one way to go from here. Squinting, she follows the hallway and turns left. She’s leaning heavily on the wall, moving agonizingly slowly on shaking, aching legs. She strains her ears, listening out for something, anything that may alert her to anyone else… or worse, the other way around. The hum is softer out here, barely audible at all. Somewhere in the distance, music. It’s a slow, soft melody, and not at all one she recognizes.
She comes to a fork in the hallway and chooses to go left. It leads to a set of metal stairs that go up, leading who knows where. It strikes her very suddenly that she should have taken at least a few moments to scout the scout the sick bay for a weapon of some kind, but turning back now seems to be a bad idea.
Brian nudges his arm, pulling Jonny out of his deep thoughts and away from the screen in front of him. He blinks, turning towards the drumbot. “Hm?”
“Better go get von Raum, your Sleeping Beauty is awake.” Brian explains.
Still, Jonny raises a brow. “What?”
“Briar Rose? She’s left the med-bay. Aurora just told us.” He gestures to the center console. “She’s currently in the stairwell leading up to the quarters.”
Jonny looks, and what he sees is a series of signals he really doesn’t understand. “I’ll take your word for it, Bri.” He hops up from his seat, stretching with a hearty pop . He gives Brian a firm pat on his broad metal shoulder, then slips out of the cockpit.
Jonny begins to whistle a tune to himself as he makes his way to the lift, then down, down into the lower parts of the ship. His tail sways with the melody and he has a certain pep to his step. Drifting from the direction of the commons is a melody of dual violins. He switches to their tune, recognizing Nastya and von Raum’s work. Ever since von Raum joined up, they’ve had points to prove to each other… luckily only musically. If nothing else, it’s fun to listen to.
Coming to a fork in the hallway, he stops. To his left right would be the med-bay, and straight ahead, the stairs. For a moment, he wonders if he’s already missed Briar Rose’s escape, but then he sees it; A lump of bright red hair and peach flesh wrapped in bandages, laying at the foot of the stairs. She’s in an awkward position, a small pool of blood forming below her. Jonny frowns, and sees small splatters up the stairs as well. Seems she never made it all the way up. He sighs, and steps closer.
Briar Rose blinks up at him, eyes unfocused, squinting against the harsh overhead lights.
Jonny stands in a way that casts a shadow over her face, flashing a grin. “Wandered a little far off-course, have you?”
She just groans, starting to roll over.
“Oh, I know, I know… von Raum was supposed to look after you, lazy lump found something better to do…” As he speaks, Jonny bends down to wrap an arm around Briar, putting one of hers across his back. He starts to pull her to stand.
Unfortunately for them both, her legs won’t stay under her. She yelps as she starts to go back down. “ Stop! ”
The voice that comes out of her is sharp, commanding. It’s enough to make Jonny blink. The distant music stops. “Look, I get it… I don’t exactly look like a knight in shining armor, but I am trying to help you. You’re bleeding on our floor.”
Briar frowns at him, shoving away to lean against the wall instead. “Who are you?!”
Jonny lets go, standing with his hands on his hips. “Really? We’re doing this now? Couldn’t even let us get you dressed first…” He sighs, rubbing his face, then turns to shout up the stairs. “Paging Doctor Dumbass! You’ve got an unattended patient over here leaving a blood trail!”
Moments after saying it, a set of heavy footsteps begin down the hall, briskly coming closer. Jonny crouches down to look at Briar, who glares at him. “ Who are you? ”
Jonny, resting his arms on his knees, smiles. “The closest thing with star-bound crew has to a captain, Jonny D’ville. You don’t know us, but we certainly know you.”
“Oh, shit.” Marius’s voice comes from above them. He starts to descend. “I didn’t think you’d be up so soon, my dear. Looks like you’ve torn your stitches already.” He tuts, shaking his head.
“And who’s fault is that?” Jonny glares up at him.
“Shut it. Miss Briar Rose, we need to get you back in bed. All will be explained… very soon.” Marius too flashes her a toothy grin, his much less friendly looking than Jonny’s.
When the pair reach for her again, Briar doesn’t protest. She does her best to stand, failing miserably as she’s practically dragged back to the med-bay. Together, Jonny and Marius deposit her back onto her cot, Marius tossing one of the many blankets over her. The doctor pulls up a stool from the side to sit on, Jonny simply hovering nearby.
Marius grimaces towards the floor. “Ooh, my bad. Should’ve left you a bin.”
Jonny follows his gaze and quickly mimics his expression. “Ew… Some doctor you are.”
“I didn’t see you tending her at all.” Marius glances at him. “You know, you could fix that now! Jonny, fetch me some supplies, will you? Gloves, needle and thread, all that junk.”
Jonny starts to protest, but the withering look from Briar, of all people, stops him. Instead, he huffs and turns to do just that, smacking Marius with his tail as he does. “Fine.”
Marius, in return, swats it away. “Careful where you stick that thing or you’ll lose it.”
“Whatever!” Jonny snaps back, rummaging through cabinets.
In the meantime, Marius looks to Briar. “Terribly sorry about Jonny, he’s a bit of an ass. Once I get some gloves on, I’ll take a look at you and get you patched back up, how’s that sound?”
Briar stares at him. “Agreeable. You’re a doctor?”
Marius full-mouth grins. “Of course! Finest doctor around, Doctor Baron Marius von Raum, at your much-needed service.”
Briar is not amused. “You’re not like any doctor I’ve ever seen.”
“No, no, I imagine not.” Marius laughs.
Jonny returns to their side then with a tray of supplies, grumbling about them. Marius accepts it and starts to pull on a pair of white gloves.
Doctor Baron Marius von Raum is truly not like any doctor she’s ever seen. He’s loud, and dramatic, and come to think of it, so is her supposed Prince Charming, the not-quite-captain Jonny D’ville. For one, their uniforms could hardly be called that. The doctor is dressed for war, unsurprisingly, but in bright reds and blues she doesn’t recognize. Under his coat, though, he’s rather disheveled. He’s scruffy- not as scruffy as Jonny, but still- and has flight goggles around his head. Well, one flight goggle. What it’s for, she can’t imagine. He also has a metal arm, which she only saw for a moment when he was putting on his gloves. How far up it goes, she isn’t sure. It looked advanced, though, and behaves just like a real hand would as near as she can tell.
Jonny, on the other hand, looks nothing like a prince or a knight or even a soldier. He also has flight goggles around his head pushing back his wild hair. He’s wearing a leather vest and a clean white shirt. Over them, he wears at least five belts that she can count, one of which is holstering a firearm. Over his heart is a piece of golden metal, fashioned into what she recognizes is supposed to be a heart, decorated with little chains and a small dial on the front. His face, though, is what has her the most intrigued. His eyes are red-brown, surrounded by black veins. It looks like face paint, if it weren’t for the way they catch the light. He’s also seemingly wearing eyeliner, but everything else makes it very hard to tell. His ears are large, almost animalistic, pointed down as he frowns and looks away from her.
Marius undoes the bandages around her abdomen first, then has her lay back on the cot. He carefully pulls a blanket over her lower half when she does, then prepares to stitch up the hole she tore open.
“Who are you?” She asks to both men.
“I assume you mean collectively.” Jonny says, raising an eyebrow.
“ Obviously .” Briar answers, not having it.
“You know, normally we’d have a song about this.” Marius answers.
“A song?” It’s her turn to frown.
“Of course.” Jonny answers like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “We’re a band of roaming space pirates, collecting songs, history, and whatever the hell else we like as we make our way across the universe.”
“Emphasis on band.” Marius nods, confirming.
Jonny nods more enthusiastically. “Yes, exactly. In fact, I was just writing a song about you when you made your little breakout attempt.” He chuckles.
Briar blinks at them, slowly. A band. Of pirates. Her prince isn’t a prince at all, he’s a pillager. She supposes that’s not far off from what she deserves, though. “Where are we, then?”
“Space!” Both Marius and Jonny answer at the same time.
Why did she even bother?
Marius is the one to elaborate. “You, my dear Sleeping Beauty, are aboard one of the finest starships around, the faithful Aurora. Our home, and yours, for the foreseeable future.”
Lovely .