Post by Gray on Dec 14, 2009 0:34:09 GMT -5
Addie was in a crate.
She had been in there for over an hour; carving away at the inside walls, humming an infectious tune, and occasionally giggling at her work. The latter two activities could barely be heard over the scritch-scratch of the first. It was a horrible racket, but as long as she didn't mind it, no one else amongst the crew seemed to have the heart to suggest that she stop. She was, after all, their quartermaster. A perceived slight against Jove's Witch could be the difference between a full and empty belly, or even worse, a fully or empty pocket.
Not even the Captain fully knew how she did it, but every time it mattered, Addie pulled through. Guns, ammunition, rations, water, medicine, drugs. None of it seemed out of her reach.
The four mono-eyes were living testament to this. No one in the Asteroid Belt had even seen a mobile suit until the Jovians began showboating their second-hand models around. But their models were different. They lacked the heavy armor, swords, bazookas, and rockets that the Black Rock Pirates' own sported. In a stand up fight, general sentiment was the Pirate's four could put a hurting on anything the Jovians sent at them. Axis, the Zeonic fortress sitting cozy in the center of the Belt, was probably the only thing out their with anything that could really compare.
Questions were inevitable and they still persisted to this day. The mystery was made worse by the fact that Addie hadn't exactly been forthcoming with an answer. When asked the first time, she started giggling like it was the biggest joke in the world. The second time, she excitedly explained how she had cut them out of the belly of a moose. Addie went in particular detail about how bad the smell was, how much the horns were worth, and how to sneak up on one before the man who asked lost interest. Her third reply centered around someone named Sally asking her to hold on to them and then running off to some tropical oasis. The forth revolved around Addie tagging along several well known explorers, fighting a giant bird that vomited lava, and then finding the four cyclops in its giant egg.
The crew pretty much gave up at that point.
"Corkscrew!"
The sudden shout was quickly followed by the young women gliding out of the container with a triumphant look on her face. Jabez Stone, one of the few members of the crew that had to work with Addie on a regular basis, was slow to respond to his nickname. When the quartermaster had first started on her task, Stone was just starting to work. An hour later and he was feeling lucky to have just finished a tenth of what he originally set out to do.
"Yes, maam?"
"A barrel with splats, as many marbles as you can, a stick, and three twinkle saltines!"
"Yes, maam!"
Stone was one of the few men alive who understood what Addie was saying. Most of the time. He mentally jotted down each of the items while the young woman gleefully glided towards one of the hangar's exits. If she had stayed, he might have asked her to explain which of the cracker grenades "twinkled" and what "splats" were but past experience made him consider otherwise. He just sighed and got to work.
The shaded man was half way across the hangar when his focus shifted to the crate that Jove's Witch had been so diligently working in. He thought of leaving it alone for one moment but curiosity got the better of him. If the cyclops was going inside it then it would be best to make sure there wasn't anything harmful in it, right? He changed course to get close to it, and after a moment of cautious floating, was staring at Addie's "work".
On every wall of the container crude cyclops danced about while laughing skulls looked on. Some held what he guessed were fiddles while others shot bullets from stick guns in every direction. A few were even shoveling stick people into their mauls. What stood out most though was the message scrawled on the far wall:
Jabez Stone quietly shut the container's doors and then silently went to work.
She had been in there for over an hour; carving away at the inside walls, humming an infectious tune, and occasionally giggling at her work. The latter two activities could barely be heard over the scritch-scratch of the first. It was a horrible racket, but as long as she didn't mind it, no one else amongst the crew seemed to have the heart to suggest that she stop. She was, after all, their quartermaster. A perceived slight against Jove's Witch could be the difference between a full and empty belly, or even worse, a fully or empty pocket.
Not even the Captain fully knew how she did it, but every time it mattered, Addie pulled through. Guns, ammunition, rations, water, medicine, drugs. None of it seemed out of her reach.
The four mono-eyes were living testament to this. No one in the Asteroid Belt had even seen a mobile suit until the Jovians began showboating their second-hand models around. But their models were different. They lacked the heavy armor, swords, bazookas, and rockets that the Black Rock Pirates' own sported. In a stand up fight, general sentiment was the Pirate's four could put a hurting on anything the Jovians sent at them. Axis, the Zeonic fortress sitting cozy in the center of the Belt, was probably the only thing out their with anything that could really compare.
Questions were inevitable and they still persisted to this day. The mystery was made worse by the fact that Addie hadn't exactly been forthcoming with an answer. When asked the first time, she started giggling like it was the biggest joke in the world. The second time, she excitedly explained how she had cut them out of the belly of a moose. Addie went in particular detail about how bad the smell was, how much the horns were worth, and how to sneak up on one before the man who asked lost interest. Her third reply centered around someone named Sally asking her to hold on to them and then running off to some tropical oasis. The forth revolved around Addie tagging along several well known explorers, fighting a giant bird that vomited lava, and then finding the four cyclops in its giant egg.
The crew pretty much gave up at that point.
"Corkscrew!"
The sudden shout was quickly followed by the young women gliding out of the container with a triumphant look on her face. Jabez Stone, one of the few members of the crew that had to work with Addie on a regular basis, was slow to respond to his nickname. When the quartermaster had first started on her task, Stone was just starting to work. An hour later and he was feeling lucky to have just finished a tenth of what he originally set out to do.
"Yes, maam?"
"A barrel with splats, as many marbles as you can, a stick, and three twinkle saltines!"
"Yes, maam!"
Stone was one of the few men alive who understood what Addie was saying. Most of the time. He mentally jotted down each of the items while the young woman gleefully glided towards one of the hangar's exits. If she had stayed, he might have asked her to explain which of the cracker grenades "twinkled" and what "splats" were but past experience made him consider otherwise. He just sighed and got to work.
The shaded man was half way across the hangar when his focus shifted to the crate that Jove's Witch had been so diligently working in. He thought of leaving it alone for one moment but curiosity got the better of him. If the cyclops was going inside it then it would be best to make sure there wasn't anything harmful in it, right? He changed course to get close to it, and after a moment of cautious floating, was staring at Addie's "work".
On every wall of the container crude cyclops danced about while laughing skulls looked on. Some held what he guessed were fiddles while others shot bullets from stick guns in every direction. A few were even shoveling stick people into their mauls. What stood out most though was the message scrawled on the far wall:
"Beein a pirat is all rite wit me
doin wat i want cous a pirat is free
Im a pirat!"
doin wat i want cous a pirat is free
Im a pirat!"
Jabez Stone quietly shut the container's doors and then silently went to work.