||Quiet Time|| }{ Tag: Shield

[flame3]

Occ// No coding. Lazy

Jadyn was sitting in the lounge, just sitting. They were finally in space, and there wasn't much for her to do. So she sat, and listened to the ship. Her gaze was far away, in a time when life was easy. The former Alliance assasin (or as close to it as a rich gal could get), was a bit lonely, and distant.

Occ// Also... lame post.

[Dexter Shield]

Shield made his way out of his quarters, and began moving toward the common area, humming slightly as he walked. "Lets see what we shall find today." He walked through the door and stopped.

"Hello Captain," He said, softly "How are you doing?" She looked like she needed someone to talk to, at the very least. "Is there anything I can do?" He raised an eyebrow, and waited for her to speak.

[flame3]

The slim woman looked up as someone entered the main living area. Shepherd Shield. She almost wondered if he had a power to know when something was wrong... or maybe it was just the lord, pushing him to go where he must. She smiled just a little at him.

"Fine. Just lost in memories. Not much for me to do while we are in transit. At least for now." she said simply. "We have a job, transfering a doctor, and that's about it. So I don't actually have to do much. You?" she asked, siting up, and uncurling herself.

[Dexter Shield]

Dexter took a seat opposite her, pulling a chair so he could face her. "Child," he said with a smile "I have been around far too long to think that this," he indicated her, "Is the face of someone with nothing going on." He smiled, and leaned back. "What is on your mind?" He waited.

As he watched her face, he began to realize there was much more to her than she would ever admit herself. Something about the face, as he had seen before, showed that she had seen too much. Her face was that of a young woman, but her eyes were much much older. He wondered if she was who she said she was. "As for me," He said, deciding to answer her question. "I have been doing fine. Not much to say." He winked, "You think you have nothing to do." He raised an eyebrow. "Try being a passenger."

[flame3]

She sighed. Great. She couldn't even touch his mind, but he could read her like a book. Just what she needed. Another complication. "Just memories." she said, deciding that's all he needed to know. She'd done plenty of bad things in her life, and didn't want to hash them out with a preacher.

"Or a military official." she added to his last part, with half a smile. "I can understand the frustration." she said with another half smile. She started to relax. "It's nothing Preacher. Been doin' this a while." she wasn't gonna open up that easily.

"You must've been a passanger before. Can't see you just popping up on Persephone like that."

[Dexter Shield]

The preacher knew she was trying to brush him off, and part of him was dying to keep up the conversation, knowing she needed something, but he restrained himself. She would come to him if she needed. He saw a flicker of what could be frustration, but he ignored it. Listening to her words. "Alliance officials always seem so busy when the likes of us need something." He said, with a sly smile, and he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Oh, believe me." He chuckled, "I have been a passenger on more ships than I care to count, but that doesn't make it any less of what it is." He shrugged, and kept his eyes on hers, noting the looks she made. "Besides, my job starts when things aren't normal..." He let that hang out in the open, rather mysterious. He caught another flash of frustration in her eyes, and he frowned.

"What is it?" He asked, opening his arms, "You are looking at me like I am a threat.... I don't have any weapons, and believe me, i don't have any interest in hurting you." He left no room to assume that he was scared, he wasn't. If it came to a fight, he could take care of himself, but that wasn't important. "Talk to me child, and stop bottling your feelings."

[flame3]

Jadyn chuckled a little. She was a bit worried, but still, she let things slide. He was right about the Alliance, of which she knew to well. She listened to him. "When things aren't normal?" she asked, wondering what the hell he was talking about. "I thought your job was to preach religiosity to the fuzzy wuzzies." she said, giving him another half smile. She had to get in control of herself.

She frowned as he spoke to her about not being a threat. "In a way you are. Your safe, comforting, and like everyone religious grandfather. I've been bottled up to long to feel safe to open up to someone like that. In my life, i've had to many people turn on me who seemed like friends."

[Dexter Shield]

[[Any firefly lines in here are too tempting to leave out. Ye be warned]]

"Oh yes, when things don't go as plan." He said, leaving the vague tone to be hers to interpret. "You'll just have to take your own meaning of that." Shield found her words amusing. She had almost a youthful impetuosity that he enjoyed. It was obvious that nothing would cause her to regret what she said. She spoke her thoughts, at least it sounded like it, and she didn't care what anyone thought. "Well," He thought, "At least she isn't afraid to have opinions." He smiled as she jabbed at him. "I have heathens aplenty right here." He said with a wink. "The fuzzy wuzzies, as you call them, are often much less in need of a man like me." He shrugged, "Living on the edge cultivates strong faith on its own, it seems."

Then she spoke of her unease with his personality. "Strange," He mused, "I would have thought a grandfather was a good thing." His eyes sparkled, "But i understand. The child who is bitten by the pit bull, is more likely to fear the retriever." His eyes flashed a brief, almost undetectable look of sorrow, before he continued. "However, if it is betrayal you fear, i assure you, you need not worry over me." He again extended his arms, palms up. "I have no desire to hurt those who help me." He smiled, "The bible is fairly clear on that one." He laced his fingers together, and rested his chin on them. His elbows on his thighs. "So, riddle me this." He began, curious, "How did you manage to get your hands on a firefly?" He looked around, "They are fairly.... rare these days, aren't they?" He looked back at her, questioning.

[flame3]

The slim woman had to smile. "You get used to that easy Preacher." she said with a half smile. She enjoyed talking to the Shepherd, she found. She liked it. Probably more than she should have, but that was beside the point. There was something relaxing about him. She couldn't read his thoughts, and in a way, it made it easier to relax, when you didn't know everything that was going on in someone's mind.

She smiled at his next words. A real one, not one hidden by fear, or other not so great emotions. "I ain't one of them, just don't see the use of prayin' all the time. Get's tiersom." she added, a half smile on her lips. Her dark gaze held his for a moment. She had started to pick up the border slang easily, though she thought that might be because she was a bit of a chamelion. She listened with a sharp eye. "A child who is bitten by the pit bull may fear the retreiver, or hate it enough to lash out. But sometime's it has nothing to do with either." she said carefully, keeping to the thoughtfulness he'd used.

"The bible is fairly clear, but sadly, those who follow the bible don't always stick to it's every word. It also says that women should, after having a child, disappear for a week, and fast out in the wilderness." she said, remembering something from when she was a small child. It hadn't made sence then either.

"Baught her. On Londinium. She was in a Collector's museum, and just askin' to be in the black again. Hence why she's in such good condition, though the last six years or so haven't been doin' so well on her wellness." she said, not telling him how much, or why she'd baught Raven.

[Dexter Shield]

Shield smiled as she spoke, her wit was quick, and he was impressed. Some of her words, however, troubled him. She spoke of lashing out for other reasons, which he interpreted to be some repressed issues, which made sense along with the rest of what she had told him, however he raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "then what does it have to do with?" He asked, not expecting her to answer, but asking all the same. He didn't know why, but this girl had become a serious point of interest.

"There is no need to pray all the time." He said with a chuckle, "Not much point in that really, no time to live a life worth praying about." He winked, and then his voice became slightly more serious. "But that doesn't mean prayer is a bad thing..." he trailed off, "You didn't ask for a sermon." He said, and changed the subject.

"It must have been a real interesting bargain." He said, in reference to the acquisition of the ship. "Not too many collectors part with pieces that are this, well, this desirable." He gave her a slightly questioning look. "This wouldn't be the result of a less than honorable business dealing would it?" His eyes sparkled merrily. "Not that I am suggesting anything...." He smiled.

[flame3]

Her gaze went cold, as the preacher spoke those simple words. That was none of his business and she wouldn't talk about it, as her gaze showed. She let him speak of other things and relaxed, though there was again wariness in her eyes. "I didn't, but your right. I just haven't seen anything answered ever." logic wasn't so much fun, when you were a brillient child, and your parents were trying to make you religious. It didn't make sence. Like Noah and his ship. How he ruttin' hell do you fit five thousand mammal species into one boat? PLUS the birds? And bugs, and Lizards and everything else? Just didn't make any gorram sence.

"Nothin' less than honorable. Had quite a bit of cash, and a few connections. He had two. This was the worse off one. Don't know her history, but I get the feelin' she's been around."

[Dexter Shield]

Shield hadn't really been expecting an answer, but her sudden coldness was more of an answer than anything. It was obvious that there was something in her past that had greatly warped her, and it was slightly tragic. "So that is how it is then..." he thought sadly. All the same, she was speaking to him and he listened. Her next words, however, caught his attention in a negative way. "Thou shalt not test the Lord, your God." He said softly, but then softened. "Perhaps you were looking in the wrong places?" He suggested, treading softly around the volatile area. On occasion faith was more of a war zone than anything he had ever experienced.

"You have a ship, security, a crew." He gestured, "That sounds like an answer to the prayers of more than one who aren't as lucky as you." He gave her a slightly stern look, but it didn't last long. "I suggest, you look at it from the shoes of others." He shrugged, "Sometimes it is harder to see what we have when we are caught up in ourselves." He lifted his sleeve, exposing the scar on his shoulder. "Some have to learn the hard way." He replaced the sleeve and lapsed into silence.

[flame3]

She sighed. "Ah, but he test's us constantly, and he's supposed to be a fair God." she had no ire in her voice, though she could have had it. It was anger, really, soft anger, but it was there. Quiet, hidden away. She believed that there might be a god, but that there was a god? No she wasn't so sure about that.

"I didn't pray for them. I worked for them. And sure, someone else may pray for a ship, but that ain't my ruttin' problem." she snapped, sitting up straight, for half a second, looking the the soldier she used to be. She relaxed a second later. "I believe there may be a God, but I haven't seen anything to show me proof, and sometimes, preacher, those of us who haven't seen the light, need proof, and not from our own hard work."

[Dexter Shield]

Shield sighed, knowing that for now, she wasn't going to listen to what he had to say. There wasn't much he could do, except try one last time. "Here's to hoping." He thought, and then plunged in.

"Yes." He began, "He tests us, and it may seem unfair from time to time but that is the point. It is like the child who knows where the birthday presents are hidden, the temptation to look is there, and even if you wrap them back and no one knows, the magic of the special day isn't the same." He sighed, "It is all about the belief though. That is where the magic really is." His face warmed and he smiled. "The simple act of believing that there is someone who loves us so unconditionally that he is willing to forgive us, no matter what." He shrugged, "I'd say just our existence, after all the horrible things we have done, is proof enough of Him."

Shield paused, and looked at her. Looking right in to her eyes. "The proof is in the simplicity of believing." He said, "In a time like this, who is to say that we aren't being tested?" He raised an eyebrow, "And as far as not seeing the light, you shouldn't lie to yourself." He stood, wincing as his leg throbbed. "It isn't that you haven't seen it," He walked to the door, and stopped. Turning around he spoke. "If you are honest with yourself, you'd know it was that you were afraid." His eyes were calm and serious as he spoke. "Afraid that when the night is the blackest, that light you see will go out." He turned and headed back to his quarters. "But the truth is that when the dark is darkest, the smallest light seems brightest."

[[If you want, it can end here. But she could always come after him, or even have it continue in later places.]]