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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Aug 12, 2012 17:31:21 GMT -8
Where Dr. Chloe does her doctorin'
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Aug 18, 2012 15:03:05 GMT -8
***Chloe, Jax, and Wendy enter from Cargo Bay***
WENDY
Wendy kept going over Frank's words. Why did he appear to be so invested in her well-being? Was it guilt over the past? Appreciation for saving his life? Pity? If this was just another thing he was doing out of pity, she would shoot him herself. "Frank seems to take the well-being of people aboard his ship very seriously," she said, fishing for information.
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Frank Pickett
Getting Hooked
Cashy-money: $500
Francis 'Frank' Pickett
Posts: 76
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Post by Frank Pickett on Aug 18, 2012 16:01:48 GMT -8
DR CHLOE UTTERSON
"Frank seems to take the well-being of people aboard his ship very seriously,"
Chloe shot Wendy a sideways glance. "Once, I was stranded on St Albans for three hours before he realized I wasn't on the ship," she said. "I was lucky I only caught the flu. He made it up to me by giving me a scalpal...that he'd taken from the infirmary a month earlier to trim his...region."
She patted the hospital bed. "He's a real prince. Now honey, what exactly happened to you? I need to know how this started."
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Aug 18, 2012 16:34:18 GMT -8
WENDY
"Once, I was stranded on St Albans for three hours before he realized I wasn't on the ship," "I was lucky I only caught the flu. He made it up to me by giving me a scalpal...that he'd taken from the infirmary a month earlier to trim his...region."
Wendy's eyebrows shot up. She didn't know if that had been an exaggeration and if not, if Chloe had followed through. She didn't ask because frankly, she didn't want to know the answer.
"He's a real prince. Now honey, what exactly happened to you? I need to know how this started."
Wendy laid back on the table with a weary sigh and rubbed her temples. Where did she even begin to answer that question? The it all started 16 years ago version was way too long and she wasn't ready to divulge that kind of information to someone she'd just met. So she settled for the basics. "It's a chemical imbalance. I'm prone to crippling migraines and seizures. I take a pill every morning to correct the imbalance but high levels of stress throw off the balance again."
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Frank Pickett
Getting Hooked
Cashy-money: $500
Francis 'Frank' Pickett
Posts: 76
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Post by Frank Pickett on Aug 26, 2012 17:22:08 GMT -8
DR CHLOE UTTERSON
"It's a chemical imbalance. I'm prone to crippling migraines and seizures. I take a pill every morning to correct the imbalance but high levels of stress throw off the balance again."
Chloe pulled down the rotating display, and began to run a quick diagnostic. It was rudimentary, but usually did the job of detecting if anyone more serious was going on beneath the surface. Pickett had stolen it from a hospital on Newhall. "You have a supply of those pills, right?" she asked. "When did you find out about this? What age were you?"
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Aug 26, 2012 18:43:09 GMT -8
WENDY
"You have a supply of those pills, right?"
"No, not really." Wendy paled slightly at the realization. "I only have one on me," she said, her hand automatically clutching the locket around her neck which held the one pill. "And there was only one left in the bottle. I was supposed to get my refill today."
She was busy concentrating on grabbing her data screen which held the information possible to cure her of the need of the pills and didn't think about going through the Alliance contact's things for her new bottle of pills.
"Last time I had to use the emergency syringe, I was okay for a couple of days." A couple of days didn't buy much time but it was all she had.
"When did you find out about this? What age were you?"
"I was 18. A medical procedure didn't go as planned." She couldn't help the sarcasm that accompanied those two words. "I've lived with it for about 16 years now."
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Frank Pickett
Getting Hooked
Cashy-money: $500
Francis 'Frank' Pickett
Posts: 76
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 4, 2012 11:47:23 GMT -8
***Frank Pickett enters***
FRANK PICKETT
"Mox and Mac are givin' it full burn. We'll be clear of this little slice of the verse in no time, long before any Alliance hounds come sniffing around," he said, not entirely sure if he was telling the truth. He avoided Wendy's gaze, instead focusing on Chloe. "How we doin'?"
Chloe tossed a look from Wendy, to Jax, to her captain. "Headache-y here needs pills in the next few days. I'll have to take down the particulars, see where we might get 'em."
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 4, 2012 21:24:11 GMT -8
WENDY
Wendy tensed when Frank entered the room. It was strange being stuck on the same ship as he after so many years. She watched him as he spoke to Chloe. Wendy noticed that he was avoiding looking at her. The fact that he seemed to be even more uneasy around her than she was around him eased her tension.
"Headache-y here needs pills in the next few days. I'll have to take down the particulars, see where we might get 'em."
Wendy finally pulled her eyes away from Frank and looked at Chloe. "There's nowhere to get 'em. They're made specially for me."
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Frank Pickett
Getting Hooked
Cashy-money: $500
Francis 'Frank' Pickett
Posts: 76
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 5, 2012 14:18:02 GMT -8
FRANK PICKETT
Frank folded his arms tightly across his chest. "False. We can get 'em," he said with simple certainty. "Right, Chloe?"
Chloe looked at Pickett, and reading his look, she nodded while looking at her feet. Frank finally looked at Wendy. "How're you feeling now?"
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 5, 2012 21:34:36 GMT -8
WENDY
Wendy studied Chloe. She was afraid of Frank. And it really wasn't any surprise. The few things she'd heard him say to Chloe so far had been in a threatening tone or a flat out threat. That irked Wendy. Chloe seemed like such a sweet person.
"Better. Just a little rest and I should be good as new. Chloe's been taking good care of me," she said, reaching out and giving Chloe's arm a reassuring squeeze.
Wendy was not up to arguing with Frank right now over the impossibility of getting those pills but she found herself itching for a good fight with him. "I have a potential plan but I'd like to be clear-headed before piecing it together."
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Frank Pickett
Getting Hooked
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Francis 'Frank' Pickett
Posts: 76
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 7, 2012 13:13:53 GMT -8
Frank scanned his eyes all around the room, from Chloe, to Jax, and finally to Wendy. "Chloe, Walking Door. Can you guys give us some space? I gotta talk to Wendy 'bout the circumstances," he said stiffly. Best to get it over with. Air all that dirty laundry and see what happened.
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Post by Brittany on Sept 8, 2012 15:13:48 GMT -8
JAX
He looks to Wendy to make sure she doesn't mind being alone with Pickett, then says to the captain when he gets the OK from her, "I'll be waiting outside. You upset her in any way and I'm coming back in." He may be a Companion, but he knows his way around a fight and Wendy's his closest friend; he'd do just about anything for her. He pauses next to her on his way out and speaks in a low tone, "Call for me if you need me." Then he plants a brotherly kiss on the top of her head and leaves the infirmary to lean against the far wall in the corridor.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 8, 2012 15:39:56 GMT -8
WENDY
Wendy smiled up at Jax and gave a single nod of agreement. She watched him and Chloe leave the room and then looked expectantly at Frank. "What do you need to know?"
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Frank Pickett
Getting Hooked
Cashy-money: $500
Francis 'Frank' Pickett
Posts: 76
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 8, 2012 18:59:36 GMT -8
FRANK PICKETT
Pickett walked over to the door, shutting and locking it. He then tapped a few buttons on the nearby pad, and the thin shutters around the infirmary windows came down. "I need - I want - to know everything," he said, dragging a chair screeching across the floor to Wendy's bedside. "I want to know about this medical regiment. How to get your pills. What you're doing all the way out here with your whore friend. And why I just had to slaughter a mess of purple bellies and place myself on the New Melbourne no-fly zone for a long while."
Frank levelled his eyes to meet with hers. No matter what height they were at, he always seemed to have to look down on her a little. She wasn't an overly short woman, but Pickett towered over most others and even with them both sitting, he tilted his head downward. "So where should we start, Wendy?"
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 8, 2012 19:42:05 GMT -8
WENDY
Locked door and shutters? Wendy raised her eyebrows.
"I need - I want - to know everything,"
She watched silently as he dragged a chair over, waiting until he settled. "What do you mean by 'everything'?" she asked, crossing her arms.
"I want to know about this medical regiment. How to get your pills. What you're doing all the way out here with your whore friend. And why I just had to slaughter a mess of purple bellies and place myself on the New Melbourne no-fly zone for a long while." "So where should we start, Wendy?"
"Let's start by clearing a few things up. Firstly, do not call Jax a whore. Secondly, slaughtering those purple bellies had nothing to do with me. You orchestrated that all on your own." She sat up straighter, bring herself more to his eye level in order to drive her point in. "Over fifteen years of carefully working to bring down the gorram Alliance from the inside and it's all ruined because I blew my cover in order to save your ass."
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Frank Pickett
Getting Hooked
Cashy-money: $500
Francis 'Frank' Pickett
Posts: 76
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 9, 2012 11:23:46 GMT -8
FRANK PICKETT
"Let's start by clearing a few things up. Firstly, do not call Jax a whore,"
"We'll put a pin in that for now, but it's what he is," said Pickett.
"Secondly, slaughtering those purple bellies had nothing to do with me. You orchestrated that all on your own."
He began to grind his teeth audibly. "They were after me. They were there for me and the contact-"
"Over fifteen years of carefully working to bring down the gorram Alliance from the inside and it's all ruined because I blew my cover in order to save your ass."
Pickett stood suddenly. "I do not need to be saved, Wendy. I'm the same person you knew, and from what you're saying, the door swings both ways," he snarled. "An undercover agent? Really? How stupid do you think I am?"
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 9, 2012 12:23:05 GMT -8
WENDY
"Do you really want me to answer that?" she bit out, unable to pass up the set-up of that last question. "They were not after anybody. They were there to meet with me. To give me my next assignment and a refill on the pills. That's how it works. I'm sent on a mission with just barely enough pills to last what they deem is an appropriate amount of time to get the job done. It's how they keep me in line and in their control. What the hell else do you think the Alliance has been "raising" me to do all this time?"
Tired of craning her neck to look up at his staggering height, she stood, still having to look up but at least it took the strain off. "Same person I knew?" she threw back incredulously. "I never knew you. I only knew who you pretended to be and if you'll recall, you were laid out with a gun pointed at that stupid head of yours and that purple belly was getting off on the thought of your brains splattered across that floor." She crossed her arms. "I'd love to hear how you planned on getting out of that one," she said sarcastically.
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Frank Pickett
Getting Hooked
Cashy-money: $500
Francis 'Frank' Pickett
Posts: 76
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 9, 2012 12:53:52 GMT -8
FRANK PICKETT
"They were not after anybody. They were there to meet with me. To give me my next assignment and a refill on the pills. That's how it works. I'm sent on a mission with just barely enough pills to last what they deem is an appropriate amount of time to get the job done. It's how they keep me in line and in their control. What the hell else do you think the Alliance has been "raising" me to do all this time?"
"How was I supposed to know? Huh? Was I meant to guess you were a deep undercover Alliance double agent?" he asked. "Or was I meant to assume that I, a wanted criminal on the purple-belly shit-list, was under attack? I had to react, so I reacted. It's an unhappy coincidence. Nothing more."
"I never knew you. I only knew who you pretended to be and if you'll recall, you were laid out with a gun pointed at that stupid head of yours and that purple belly was getting off on the thought of your brains splattered across that floor. I'd love to hear how you planned on getting out of that one,"
Pickett became very still. "I always have a plan," he insisted. "And maybe your cover is blown, but you're still on my ship. So I suggest you get on your knees and start begging me to save your ass because I'm the only one who can anymore!"
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 9, 2012 14:50:55 GMT -8
WENDY
Wendy furiously took a step closer, getting as menacingly in-his-face as she could from her height and glared daggers up at him. "It'll be a cold day in hell before you find me on my knees in front of you."
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Frank Pickett
Getting Hooked
Cashy-money: $500
Francis 'Frank' Pickett
Posts: 76
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 9, 2012 15:08:13 GMT -8
FRANK PICKETT
Pickett banished the image she'd conjured from his head quickly. She wasn't going to be able to defuse him. He was angry, damnit, and he was going to stay angry no matter how happy he was to see her again for the first time in over a decade. "You know that's not what I meant," he said, not backing away. "So what the hell happens now? We just shout at each other until one of us passes out? Because I have the body mass advantage."
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 9, 2012 15:34:15 GMT -8
WENDY
Wendy sat back down on the bed, deflated. "No. The more I push myself, the faster I burn through the meds. I've got maybe three days I can get out of the shot. Four if I really take it easy. I've only got the one pill but I need to save it. If worse comes to worse, I could probably cut it in half and stretch another day or two out of it but I need to save at least half. That leaves me a maximum of six days to find Simon Tam."
She would try to stretch it further just in case, which meant dealing with the migraines. It was a sacrifice she was willing to make in order to live on long enough to watch the Alliance crumble and do all she could to to help make that happen.
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Frank Pickett
Getting Hooked
Cashy-money: $500
Francis 'Frank' Pickett
Posts: 76
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 10, 2012 10:59:36 GMT -8
FRANK PICKETT
"I guess we won't be ploughing the fields back home anytime soon," he said, easing back down into his chair and clasping his hands together. "Simon Tam...who is he and how do we find him?"
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 11, 2012 0:41:25 GMT -8
WENDY
"He's my best shot at breaking away from the Alliance." Wendy laid back and stared unseeing toward the ceiling as a mental image of the information her contacts had gathered formed in her head. "Graduated in the top three percent of his class at the best Medical Academy on Osiris, finished the one-year medical internship in eight months, and probably the only Core-planet educated doctor that would consider helping us." She looked at Frank. "They are paid a staggering amount of money and that kind of money tends to buy one's undying and unquestioning loyalty. There's nothing in the 'verse you could offer them that comes close to what they have."
"Why is Simon Tam the exception? A little less than a year ago, he broke his sister out of the 'Academy'." She said the word with disgust. "The things I've heard they do to the kids there..." Wendy held back a shudder and turned her face back toward the ceiling. "Gives me no right to complain about what they put me through."
She looked back at Frank. "But back to my point," she said with a dismissive wave. "The Tams are now fugitives. We've been trying to track them down since they first showed up on the radar. So has the Alliance. I thought maybe, if I could combine their intel along with the intel we've gathered, we might be able to find the Tams. But the Tams file is beyond the highest security levels. Only a select few have access to more than the basic information found on the cortex. Even the names of those select few are withheld."
"Today, in that bar, I felt such a thrill of joy that it took all my willpower to not let it show." Wendy smiled. "My contact handed me the data we've been searching for. My next assignment was to track down the Tams."
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Frank Pickett
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Cashy-money: $500
Francis 'Frank' Pickett
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 16, 2012 8:29:49 GMT -8
FRANK PICKETT
Pickett bit down on the inside of his cheek as he listened with forced patience. "So what changes? We hunt the Tams, get you your cure?" he asked. If they even have one. "You still got the information your contact gave you?"
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 16, 2012 22:51:15 GMT -8
WENDY
"So what changes? We hunt the Tams, get you your cure?"
"Yes. Though I'm not sure what kind of medical equipment he has at his disposal, if any. He'll need to run tests. On me and the meds."
"You still got the information your contact gave you?"
"Yes. I handed it to Jax for safekeeping."
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Frank Pickett
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Francis 'Frank' Pickett
Posts: 76
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 21, 2012 13:45:39 GMT -8
Pickett nodded, bowing his head slightly. Then, without real thought, he moved forward and laid a large hand on her shoulder. He felt his skin tremble before lifting his eyes to match hers. "It's good that you're okay. That you're here, and alive, and not with them. The people who destroyed our home. The people who brought death to my hometown," he said, and then gingerly removed his hand. "To our hometown. I never really believed you were with them anyway. Not like that. I...don't know what I thought. I did think about you, but I didn't think about a lot of things. I don't know. I'm not good with words, really. Not when I have to be good with 'em."
He turned away, taking off his duster. He wore a tank top underneath, and his thick arms were littered with tattoos, scars and burns. "I guess I don't change. I get scars, and I get tattoos and a ship and I rack up a body count. Everything around me changes. Verbena changes. You change. The 'verse changes. But I stay the same," he said, before adding weakly, "I'm gonna help you, Wendy. I can still fix this. I can at least do that."
Without saying anything, he walked over to the sink and began to clean up his wounds.
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 22, 2012 14:57:27 GMT -8
WENDY
"Thank you," she said with sincerity.
Wendy's shoulder still tingled where Frank's hand had been. She had been taken aback by the fact that after all these years, during which time she'd convinced herself that she hated him, that he could still make her feel a charge with a simple touch. Maybe she'd hate herself later for it but right now, the past didn't exist.
She allowed herself to watch him for a silent moment before making her way to the counter to collect the disinfectant and gauze. "Here, let me," she said, motioning for him to stand in front of her.
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Frank Pickett
Getting Hooked
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Francis 'Frank' Pickett
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 22, 2012 15:34:51 GMT -8
Frank Pickett the terrorist and murderer wordlessly obeyed the woman before him. It seemed essential to stand right there, close enough to feel her breath against his chest and keep his eyes locked on hers. She certainly was beautiful. He'd always known she was, but he felt a heat increasing between them after so many years.
The dark hair that flowed around her seemed to create a pulling sensation within him, like she was dragging him toward her and guiding him to the supple invitation of her lips. Just by standing there, she was making something inside stir, whipping up desire he hadn’t felt for a long time. She made him want to place his hands on her and feel the perfect softness of her skin, and to trace every imperfection with the same desire. Frank could take her; he could make her tremble and shiver if only he could move, move, move now to enclose himself over her with thickly muscled arms, moving against her with heated, almost angry passion, feeling the sticky sweat that dripped between her cleavage that was crushed against his own hard, powerfully sculpted chest. And fingers working frantically through that dark hair that pulled him.
But he stayed still, and he looked at her, and let her touch the parts that hurt. "You been back there? Verbena, I mean?" he asked dully. "I haven't, not really. Not since the war."
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Post by Hollywood Heidi on Sept 22, 2012 16:48:35 GMT -8
WENDY
Wendy stared up at him, transfixed for... she didn't know how long. The memory of when she'd caused a diversion to sneak away from her Alliance guards and dragged Frank into the shadows between two buildings replayed in her mind. She'd wanted to kiss him for what had felt like an eternity and she'd finally, finally gotten to be alone with him. That had been one hell of a passionate make-out session before the guards found them and dragged him toward the gates and her back to her room. That was the last time he'd visited her. And the last time she'd seen him.
Sobered with that last reminder, Wendy pulled her eyes away from his and concentrated on cleaning the bullet graze on his arm.
"You been back there? Verbena, I mean?" "I haven't, not really. Not since the war."
So he'd been thinking of Verbena as well. Though with that dull tone, apparently not the same particular moment. She shook her head. "No. There's nothing for me there. Everything I loved was gone from that planet before I was." Wendy gingerly dried the wound and began bandaging it. "Do you still have family there?"
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Frank Pickett
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Post by Frank Pickett on Sept 22, 2012 19:04:24 GMT -8
"No. There's nothing for me there. Everything I loved was gone from that planet before I was. Do you still have family there?"
"Yeah," he said, wincing slightly as she cleaned the wound. "Yeah, my brothers and sisters are still there. Most of 'em are old enough to take care of themselves by now, so they don't need me. I talk with 'im over the cortex from time to time...send some money back every now and then, but they ain't left Verbena." He shrugged. "Maybe someday."
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