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[sup]Collab Between [@psych0pomp] & [@sail3695][/sup]
[indent][indent]Persephone! Planet of wonder, planet of sights, planet of tall buildings, and even taller egos. Rex rubbed his nose with the palm of his hand, smearing the darkening blood across his tan skin. He tsked. “You know, you can stop bleeding any day now? No one is asking you to continue to spurt out like a fountain.” The trickle of warmth from his nose answered his question. One more glance at the paper with the docking information for the [i]China Doll[/i], and he ripped the edge of it and balled it up. He rammed that into his nose like a jagged, ink-stained plug.  He then crumpled the rest directions up and went to hurl them over his shoulder. That was when he caught the eye of a woman, her brows furrowed. He just smiled and pitched the piece of paper in the next trash can before curtseying to her. 

“Remind me again, Lucky, why we thought it would be a good idea to come here of all places?” he asked the cage in his right hand. A plum-colored scarf, from an employee of an above-board business that definitely wasn’t a brothel, covered the small black wired cage. Rex could feel the small bird stir underneath and let out a chirp. It wasn’t as if he knew what Rex was saying. He just knew his name. Still, it was nice to pretend. He shouldered his bag and moved forward. Frankie had just let him off with a bloodied nose because she had something else to attend to before she could finish the job. It was a nice way of saying [i]“you have twenty-four hours to get out of here.” [/i]

As Lady Luck would have it, planning his escape was easier than expected. After spending his last credit on information for escape routes, he found one [i]China Doll[/i] docked. And more to his surprise was that it was still captained by one [i]Cal Strand[/i]. He was unsure how he was going to pay for a ride off the planet.  But favors didn’t cost anything immediately, and Rex was fine with racking up a few more with his dear friend. If anything, Cal could pay him. The man couldn’t ask for a better First Mate. Rex knew the ship. Rex knew Cal. Rex knew where the secret whiskey was stored. The last part was more for him.

He approached the dock, his steps getting a little faster not wanting to catch any shadows out of the corner of his eyes. The tall and broad man was dressed in a bright blue button-up with pink lotus flowers printed on it. He had a few of the buttons undone, allowing for his necklaces to be shown and the chains of some unseen ones to be visible. He had a thick belt on, holstering both his knife and pistol. The leather that held his pistol was practically new. His gray coat with a fur-lined collar caught the sun and shimmered a bit in the light. As Rex came closer, he brought up a heavily ringed hand to pull down his circular, red-tinted glasses.

“Cal didn’t tell me he had a kid.” He whistled. “Shit. Got you doing his paperwork? Who taught you to read and write? Sure as hell wasn’t him.” 

Abby looked up from the weight calc she was writing up.  Their timing for New Melbourne was turning out to be alright, what with King Tuna season about to kick in and folk wanting to be there for work or sport.  And then...this guy.  “Who’s askin’?” she cocked an eyebrow at the explosion of color that stood before her.  [i]Hope he knows there ain’t no casinos on New Mel…[/i]

“Rex Black, your new first mate, or old first mate. Honestly, I don’t know how long you’ve been around. We go way back.” He pushed his glasses back up. “He wasn’t expecting me. I’m what some people like to call a [i]surprise.[/i]” He waggled his brows. “Now, what do I have to do to get by you? You know, besides pick you up and move you myself. So tiny.”

Abby’s eyes landed on the clipboard.  “One thing yew got right,” she said as she thumbed pages, “Cap’n sure wasn’t expectin’ ya.”  [i]But,[/i] she noted, [i] he did have a First Mate on the wish list.[/i]  Reason enough to let him walk the ramp.  But there was somethin’ about this guy...made her feel like steppin’ aside was akin to invitin’ a hurricane to come callin’.  “First mate?”  she asked.  “Done tha job afore?”

Rex considered what he had in his pockets. Was she too old for chocolate? Too young for cigars? He squinted. It didn’t seem like she was the sort that would take to bribery. “Does a bear… you know what, just ask me a question. Anything.” He paused. “Anything First Mate related. Don’t ask me about other things. Like, for instance, where I got the bloody nose or why my fingers smell like they do.”

“Peacock like yew,” Abby snorted, “take a body some time tah spot a little dab ‘o’ blood.  Cap’n hired me today,” she said.  “Just sized me up an’ gimme this clipboard.  I know me some first mates...an sizin’ you up agin them?  Y’ain’t makin’ me feel all warm an’ fuzzy ‘bout yah.”

“Peacock? Awe. Been a while since someone said something so sweet to me. See, I’m already wearing you down, kid.” He snorted, the makeshift plug in his nose holding fast, but more red seeping into the white. “You literally just met him today? That figures. You aren’t ugly enough to be his kid. Anyway, I’m not here to make someone feel warm and fuzzy. If that was the case, he could plop a teddy bear in a seat and call it a day. I’m here to do a fucking job and make sure we don’t get fucked by it in return. That good enough for you?”

The sudden shift of his demeanor raised a thin smile from her.  “Watcha say yer name was?”

“Rex Black.” He shrugged. “I’d ask for yours, but I think I’m just going to stick with Cal Junior.”

“Well, Rex Black,” Abby scratched his name onto the sheet, “If the Cap’n hires yah proper I’ll give it.  Til then, yer fixin’ to bleed on my cargo ramp.  Bad fer business.”  She closed the clipboard, glancing up to meet his eye.  “Cap’n’ll be back in a couple hours.  We’s loadin’ fer New Melbourne.  Go on get cleaned up...afore yah stain some ‘o’ that perty shirt.”

“Awe. Hear that, Lucky?” he seemingly asked the air, but drew up his arm holding the cage. “Someone likes my shirt.” The bird was small, maybe a hand tall, but had bright blue and white plumage. His black eyes fixated on Rex before rotating his head in an odd way to look over at Abby. It was hard to say if he was being judgemental or just being a bird. “Thanks, Junior. I assure you, if I’m not supposed to be here, Cal’ll have me flying off that ramp faster than you can fly into the sky.” He then reached into his jacket and procured… something. At first, he thought it might have been something of use to the girl, but instead it was a deck of playing cards. He extended the deck, twined up, towards her. “Um, don’t spend them all in one place?”

“Keep ‘em,” the girl’s eyes didn’t move.  “Mebbe put’em down so the bird don’t [i]la shi[/i] on the deck.  I don’t mop up no bird [i]la shi,[/i] Rex Black.”

He pocketed the cards. “Not with that attitude, you won’t. Keep doing a good job and someday you’ll be promoted to bird janitor.” Rex started to move past her, his arm going numb from the weight on his shoulder. He wasn’t about to admit that, though. “And if I can’t give you the cards, Junior. Maybe I can give you a bit of advice. [i]Diction.[/i] It’ll make people respect you more if you don’t sound like you’ve eaten your own shirt and are storing it in your cheeks for winter.”

Abby Travis held her tongue as Rex’s boots clattered up the ramp.  [i]Yeah,[/i] she mused, [i]just like a hurricane.[/i]  Flipping to the back page, she set the pen to work, scratching out a single word for herself.  D-I-K-C-H-U-N.

Rex made his way up the ramp, turning away from the young woman with the clipboard. His smile faded to a pained look as he paused at the threshold of the ship. He wondered if the ship being here was as lucky as he wanted it to be, or if he was trading a coffin in the ground for a coffin in the sky. 

It was a little too late to ruminate on that, though. He’d hate to go back down the ramp and explain to Cal Junior his indecision. Rex didn’t have many fears, but being mocked by someone more than half his age was definitely one of them. So, he swallowed his doubts and moved on. Time to claim his room back. He just hoped it wasn’t filled to the brim with storage boxes or something sadder… like hand-sewn cat dolls.[/indent][/indent]