p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Dutch's POV -/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"When I first met Johnny he was trying to steal my ship, I wasn't angry at him because, at the time Lucy was just a ship, she wasn't my home yet. You might be wondering how Johnny went from stealing my ship to the person I trusted most in the world, someone I would die for. I don't know of many people who invite thieves into their homes, let alone their beds. I'm getting ahead of myself though, that comes later. So with my blaster pointed at his head (he says it was his crotch, but I think that's just his over inflated... ego) he does what I have learned comes naturally to him, he talked. A LOT. I briefly considered shooting him just to shut him up, still do sometimes. "... I really wasn't here to steal your ship, see what had happened was, well there was this girl and you know how that goes. A pretty girl comes up to you in a bar, you buy her a drink, you get to talking and... so anyways there was this girl and she casually mentioned that she has a thing for handsome guys, like me who have big ships! So I start thinking, "I'm already incredibly attractive and that really is the hardest part here, so how hard could it be to borrow a ship for the night? Just the night you know, I would have returned it.." and he just kept talking and talking and, yep, still talking. I mean he just would not stop! He was unlike anyone I had ever met!/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"See Khlyen wasn't a big talker, he believed that words should be precise and that long, flowery speeches were for marks you were trying to seduce, but for everyday life words were nothing more than a distraction. Words take time, you have to think about how you are going to say what you want to say, then check before you say anything at all to make sure you are saying it correctly, without being insensitive. The truth is that words can be a waste of time, especially when I could be doing something else, like sharpening my skills as an assassin for example. Yet as the thief was talking I realized that I was calm and distracted, I wasn't thinking about all of the things I had to do and worry about. I wasn't thinking about how I was going to escape or getting the blood out of my wedding dress, the only thing I was thinking was, "don't shoot him Yala, it'll take time that you don't have to deal with his body." Annoying as he was, I wanted him to keep me company. I needed someone around me who could fill the silence. Who would keep me from thinking about Khlyen and everything he's made me do./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"That thought brought all of what had happened in the last day rush over me, Johnny's voice fading into white noise and I felt overwhelmed. Khlyen. He was the reason my husband's blood stained the white of my wedding dress. I loved him and we hadn't even made it to our honeymoon before he was killed. This ship, "Lucy", was supposed to be for us. I had told him once of my dreams to see the Quad and he had wanted to surprise me for our honeymoon. You need to breath Yala! You needed to stay calm, you can mourn later, but for now you needed to run. "You are not weak, you can survive this" I said to myself, but, "you need to get yourself together before Khlyen comes for you."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Johnny's POV/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"This girl was sending me signals, like let's go to you place signals. She was hot too, I had spied her coming in with a friend earlier. She had wavy blonde hair that hung unrestrained down her back, eyes that scanned the room and told me she knew what she was looking for and as soon as I saw her, I knew in that moment, what I was meant to do that night, or rather who. What can I say? I'm a romantic./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I went up to her and we started talking. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about foreplay, but this girl wanted to tell me her life's story. "I once dated this guy, and looking back I don't think he was the right guy for me. To be honest I don't even know why I dated him. You know what? I think it was his ship." "Okay", I thought, "I'm out." I do not need to be talking to this chick about some other guy's ship. I guess it showed on my face because the next thing she said was, "no! Not like that! He has a ship that he uses to transport worker's to and from Hokk farms on Leith. At least he did when we were dating, but we aren't together anymore- we haven't been together for a long time. There's just something about a guy who can handle a ship with that much power." She leans over a little more, seductively whispering in my ear, her breath hot on my neck./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Now we're getting somewhere", I thought to myself, "I can work with this." "You know..." I had no idea what her name was, "beautiful", she giggled at that. "It's funny you should say something about ships because I'm here docking in Westerly until my crew and I sell our cargo." "Really!?" she exclaimed excitedly, "mhmmm..." I said, "what if we head upstairs and you can give me a proper send off?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I know what we should do!" She said, to be honest I had pretty much zoned her out at this point. I was imagining all the fun we would have when we finally got upstairs. "Ya, totally", I replied to whatever she said. "OMG! This is going to be so cool!" Wait, what? "I've always wanted to "do it" on a ship, my ex would never let me come visit him though", she trailed off, telling me more about her ex then I wanted to hear. "This is going to end badly", I thought to myself./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"When I first met Johnny he was trying to steal my ship, I wasn't angry at him because, at the time Lucy was just a ship, she wasn't my home yet. You might be wondering how Johnny went from stealing my ship to the person I trusted most in the world, someone I would die for. I don't know of many people who invite thieves into their homes, let alone their beds. I'm getting ahead of myself though, that comes later. So with my blaster pointed at his head (he says it was his crotch, but I think that's just his over inflated... ego) he does what I have learned comes naturally to him, he talked. A LOT. I briefly considered shooting him just to shut him up, still do sometimes. "... I really wasn't here to steal your ship, see what had happened was, well there was this girl and you know how that goes. A pretty girl comes up to you in a bar, you buy her a drink, you get to talking and... so anyways there was this girl and she casually mentioned that she has a thing for handsome guys, like me who have big ships! So I start thinking, "I'm already incredibly attractive and that really is the hardest part here, so how hard could it be to borrow a ship for the night? Just the night you know, I would have returned it.." and he just kept talking and talking and, yep, still talking. I mean he just would not stop! He was unlike anyone I had ever met!/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"See Khlyen wasn't a big talker, he believed that words should be precise and that long, flowery speeches were for marks you were trying to seduce, but for everyday life words were nothing more than a distraction. Words take time, you have to think about how you are going to say what you want to say, then check before you say anything at all to make sure you are saying it correctly, without being insensitive. The truth is that words can be a waste of time, especially when I could be doing something else, like sharpening my skills as an assassin for example. Yet as the thief was talking I realized that I was calm and distracted, I wasn't thinking about all of the things I had to do and worry about. I wasn't thinking about how I was going to escape or getting the blood out of my wedding dress, the only thing I was thinking was, "don't shoot him Yala, it'll take time that you don't have to deal with his body." Annoying as he was, I wanted him to keep me company. I needed someone around me who could fill the silence. Who would keep me from thinking about Khlyen and everything he's made me do./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"That thought brought all of what had happened in the last day rush over me, Johnny's voice fading into white noise and I felt overwhelmed. Khlyen. He was the reason my husband's blood stained the white of my wedding dress. I loved him and we hadn't even made it to our honeymoon before he was killed. This ship, "Lucy", was supposed to be for us. I had told him once of my dreams to see the Quad and he had wanted to surprise me for our honeymoon. You need to breath Yala! You needed to stay calm, you can mourn later, but for now you needed to run. "You are not weak, you can survive this" I said to myself, but, "you need to get yourself together before Khlyen comes for you."/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Johnny's POV/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"This girl was sending me signals, like let's go to you place signals. She was hot too, I had spied her coming in with a friend earlier. She had wavy blonde hair that hung unrestrained down her back, eyes that scanned the room and told me she knew what she was looking for and as soon as I saw her, I knew in that moment, what I was meant to do that night, or rather who. What can I say? I'm a romantic./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"I went up to her and we started talking. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about foreplay, but this girl wanted to tell me her life's story. "I once dated this guy, and looking back I don't think he was the right guy for me. To be honest I don't even know why I dated him. You know what? I think it was his ship." "Okay", I thought, "I'm out." I do not need to be talking to this chick about some other guy's ship. I guess it showed on my face because the next thing she said was, "no! Not like that! He has a ship that he uses to transport worker's to and from Hokk farms on Leith. At least he did when we were dating, but we aren't together anymore- we haven't been together for a long time. There's just something about a guy who can handle a ship with that much power." She leans over a little more, seductively whispering in my ear, her breath hot on my neck./p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Now we're getting somewhere", I thought to myself, "I can work with this." "You know..." I had no idea what her name was, "beautiful", she giggled at that. "It's funny you should say something about ships because I'm here docking in Westerly until my crew and I sell our cargo." "Really!?" she exclaimed excitedly, "mhmmm..." I said, "what if we head upstairs and you can give me a proper send off?"/p
p dir="ltr" style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I know what we should do!" She said, to be honest I had pretty much zoned her out at this point. I was imagining all the fun we would have when we finally got upstairs. "Ya, totally", I replied to whatever she said. "OMG! This is going to be so cool!" Wait, what? "I've always wanted to "do it" on a ship, my ex would never let me come visit him though", she trailed off, telling me more about her ex then I wanted to hear. "This is going to end badly", I thought to myself./p