Monday, March 29, 2010

Throwdowns and Reincarnation

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Gabe kicked my ass. Well, thankfully she didn't actually kick me. She might have, my head hurts so much I am not sure if my butt got hurt. Cage Fighting in Eavesdown. It was slow going. Gabe, Coop, Calina and me sitting around. Pod came by to check on the fuss, whined a bit to Coop.

It looked like it would be just Gabe and Coop fighting. I have sparred with both of them in the past, with little hope of improvement on my part. I had no only a little bit of worry about Gabe serious hurting me. Then Immy showed up. Cody showed. Zade. Okay, all friends, no worries. I got into the ring.

It took me a few minutes to get ready because I wear a lot of clothes. The cape, hood and mantle, my EVA tether, trenchcoat, pilot gear, EVA boots, body armor, spectra gloves. Oh wait, a knife, forgot I was wearing it. By the time I was standing there in my stillsuit skivvies, it was nearly a full house.

Huan Dan Joe, the fight promoter, said G and I had 2 minutes. Pfft, like G needs that much time to slap me around.

I remember very little. I remember Huan Dan Joe saying fight. I am not sure but I seem to recall that Gabe knocked me out of the ring. I remember being back in the ring then being face down on the mat and Gabe asking me if I was okay.

I head was spinning and I had an awful headache. I wondered why I was in my skivvies. I woke up disoriented in a cage, wearing only my skivvies, with my head spinnig and a pounding headache. This must be what its like to be Cody.

Someone said something about a concussion and that I shouldn't sleep. Luckily I had a thermos of espresso with me. Zade was kind enough to tickle my feet while I recovered in the first aid station. When I was done at the first aid station I curled up on the couch next to Coop and sipped my coffee.

It was a bit blurry for me from there. I sprung up when I heard that Cody was going to fight Immy. I wanted to place a bet on Immy. Huan Dan Joe was slow to take my bet, wimp. No one else was quick enough on the draw either. The fight started. I couldn't see it, but Cody won. Joe lost out, moron.

Ziggy and Coop mixed it up. Zade and I made a friendly bet of one of his special milkshakes against my private stash of jellybeans. Ziggy put Coop down, it was a good fight. Everything I thought I knew about the verse was wrong. I assumed I imagined it, cuncussion and all that. I paid up my jelly beans to Zade, Zade gave me a consolation milkshake, but not his "special" milkshake. Fair enough.

The place was filled to capacity, glad that some of the people I called came out. I talked to Pod earlier in the day about sponsoring a fighter. I am going to talk to Zeno about having the Consolidated Associated Traders of Zenobia sponsoring a fighter. Because I am sure as hell never going back into the cage and we should have better representation. I am going to talk to Tri-V and CNS about sponsoring a fighter too. I liked how Raveinn, Chrysalis and Applecado all had representation in the ring.

I had to go find a proper doctor, the first aid station was not enough. I left money with Gabe and told her to buy Ziggy a good drink.

I hear tell that Cody "The Meatbag" Winterwolf held his own against Gabe and Ziggy and ended up with the purse for the night.

I had just come from the CATZ office on Hale and ran into SEANA on the landing pad talking with a heavily inked gal named Opine. Yes, SEANA.

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Opine was working on a thermal coat for her minimalist ship to shore shuttle (say that 3 times fast). Minimalist mean a teeny tiny place for her and her wife and 4 big guns and 2 big engines. Pretty fly though.

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Sheriff Gallagher Aeon is a trendsetter. I told Miya and Skura about the cool new water feature Gallagher put in his bathroom by the famous artist Yuri Nall. Yuri Nall's work is known throughout the 'verse and even back to old Earth That Was. Mainly in men's public bathrooms. Within a day Miya and Skura were showing me their water feature. All very nice, but lacked the primitive utility of Yuri's original concept. Respect art people.

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I ran into Xoxo redecorating her office. She inquired about whether we do certain kinds of acquisitions off the books. We have a lot of latitude off the books. We discussed quantum computing. When I say this, I mean she talked about it and I tried to remember enough so I could get Professor Qui to explain it to me later.

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Have you ever wondered about reincarnation? Like if you were bad in this life you might be reincarnated as a cat forced to be store mannequin on Londinium.

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I know rumors about a robotic dog with the transplanted brain of a human, just a rumor. I don't know if they have that kind of technology or not. But could Scientists on Ariel take the brain of a judge and put it into the body of a robotic hover-cat?

We have spoken to a few people directly and hired a few Independent Midbulk haulers already, but we have more work that needs doing. If you have a 25 ton capacity sloop with a crew of 3 or a 120 ton capacity cutter with a crew of 4, please contact me at the Consolidated Associated Traders of Zenobia and let me know what routes you can work so we can have you ship some cargo. We have some salvage work also.

Applicants should be willing to work with Pork, Meat Byproducts, Radionuclide Ores, Special High Intensity Terraforma (S.H.I.T.) and other flamable, explosive or hazardous substances. For bonding and insurance purposes, we are required to inspect your ship to insure that you can handle the cargo.

We understand that some people have special legal issues, please be frank and let us know what places you or your crew cannot operate. No felons or crew with outstanding Alliance warrants further into the Core than Persephone. It is not really a major limitation.

The Consolidated Associated Traders of Zenobia is looking to sponsor a fighter to represent it at Fight Night in Persephone. Please contact Jai Raghilda or Zeno Baxton to apply.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Avoiding my to-do list

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First, a nice milkshake.

I cannot bring myself to make a list of how many half finished projects I have, I would have to add that list to the list. If I made it, which I won't because I wouldn't finish it. .... voice trails off. Mutters something about a PDA, smartphone, pffft.

Well, top of my list of unfinished things is putting my office back together on Hale. This week for sure. Juicy location next to Fook Yoo's and good access to Firefly's.

I started to work on it, but quickly got distracted by my new office neightbor, Applecado Transport and Salvage. I think they are a transport and salvage company. Brooke, Dex (if that is his real name), Cody, Ibram, Becca and some twitchy gal with a gun. Nice folks. Ibram assures me he flies better than he drives. He would have to.

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Right down the street from Applecado and the Consolidated Associated Traders of Zenobia is Firefly's Bar, the friendliest bar in the 'Verse. Zade makes my milkshake special. His blender has been broken for a while, but like good frontier folk, he adapts. He does shake it marginally faster if you slap his butt.

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Doctor Johnnie Spargel from Eavesdown Docks has a produce shop and Greenhouse on Hale. Good to see ya around, Doc. I preordered a salad from him, 1 ton.

The ubiquitous Cortex News Service, now expanding into other businesses I hear. Hey Tillery, call me.
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Another name I see cropping up around is Valiant Vuckovnic's Tri-V.
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There are a lot more things, some all cool and secrety, but I keeep getting distracted by people who talk to me and get me involved in something interesting or important like, "Let me show you the new shuttle for my ship," or "Hey, the church is burning and there's marshmallows...."

Hale is not just about business, it's educational too. Just yesterday, the Replicant Order gave a demonstration why you should consider not constructing a wooden building near the mines. Or that replicants hold a grudge for a long time. Ummmm, moving on.

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I had to check on our secured warehouse on Mac, as I have been given notice that it is moving. Despite how many shifty characters staked out the warehouse, no one robbed it. Several cows were taken from the corral and my inventory tells me about 3 that were shoved over a cliff.

Checking on Bootlickers Bar, ummmm Bootleggers Bar, and I found Immy guarding the Pong Game. She was in an eerie gunhand trance and I wisely did not interupt her.

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I think Brooke was supervising Immy as she guards the Pong Game.

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WHODAT?

Whoever she was, she was watching Brooker supervise Immy as she guarded the Pong Game.

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Okay, this is kinda lame, not my best work. I had the pics and wanted to get them out. I will start putting info of significance soon. Love Jai.