The Phoenix Colony

"Son of a b**ch!"

Harold looked over. Big Joey was getting pounded by a blind guy.

"Hey!" called Krollita. "You, blind dude."

Juan kept kicking wildly.

"You!" said the former enforcer as he lifted Juan off of Big Joey.

The blind convict swung wildly. Harold avoided it easily.

"Now calm down," said Krollita, "I'm not going to hurt you."

"I don't need your help!" said Mercerdo.

"Yes, I can see that. But tell me genius, what're you going to do when Big Joey puts his gang back together? You think they'll let all let you get close enough to sucker punch them?"

Juan stopped struggling.

Harold smiled. "I saw you in the papers. Your that guy that blew everyone up."

Juan nodded. "Juan Mercerdo."

"Well you can fight." Harold looked at the burnt, bloodied stump. "And you have guts." Come on, stay close to me." Krollita led his new friend to the small rock pile. "I need small rocks and pebbles, about two handfuls."

Juan looked in the mobster's general direction. "Why should I?"

"Because when they Joey's crew comes after you, we're going to need something to fight them with."

 

Pasha watched in fascination, as one of the other prisoners stomped the face of another. He almost giggled with glee, until he was stopped by one of the others. He sighed.

“Crazy.”

“Shut up Yuri.”

He walked towards the two prisoners as they seemed to be collecting something from the ground. He brushed the hair from his face, standing awkwardly over them. He wasn’t much of a socializer, but he knew making friends now would be a good idea. No matter how big a guy he was, a group could still overpower him.

“Hi…” he muttered, looking at them with full eyes.

He heard Yuri laugh inside his head.

“Shut the f**k up, Yuri!” He snapped.

 

Harold nodded. "Harold Krollita. You can call me CJ." He nodded towards the blind man. "That's Juan." As the mobster was talking, he pulled off his socks and tossed them at Mercerdo. "Fill it half way and then we'll see about getting you a walking stick."

 

“Pasha.” He said, “Nice… to meet you two.” He picked up a rock from the ground, tossing it into the sock in Juan’s hand.

“Aren’t you the ever friendly.” Yuri said sarcastically.

“I can be nice.” He mumbled.

“Since when? You’re a murderer. You thrive on pain. You can’t be friendly. You’re so fake.”

He kicked the ground angrily and clenched his fist. He put his gaze back to the men.

“I can go find a walking stick, if you need.” He offered.

 

Juan smiled. "I need one about as thick as my wrist."

HArold looked PAsha over and then their surroundings. A new place. No rules. I could put a crew together. I could be the Godfather. "Yea Pasha, that'd be a big help."

Off in the distance, Big Joey was staring at Juan.

 

Some more people had shown up since Joseph and the two others he had been with had made their way out of the wrecked thing. Joseph even recognized one of them as the infamous Pasha Raskolnikov. More monster than man...Pasha had killed more than three hundred people. Despite being filled with disgust, Joseph couldn't help but think that he might have made a good soldier.

Joseph was pulled away from his thoughts by the sound of his stomach grumbling. It had been a while since he had eat...and that prisoner slop wasn't exactly filling. Granted, it wasn't much different from military rations. Joseph got to his feet and began to survey his surroundings. It definitely looked like Earth...but with minor inconsistencies here and there. Either way, there was bound to be food somewhere. Joseph stalked off towards the trees.

 

Pasha watched as one of the prisoners walked into the trees. His face seemed so familular, for some reason he couldn’t place it.

“Maybe he was a roomie.”

Pasha ignored Yuri and thought hard. That face. Suddenly he began to remember the newspapers he got every once in a while, that mans face had been all over the paper. The Icarus coalition, a government attack. He smiled and walked after him.

“Bardon?” he called over.

 

Joseph spun on the owner of the voice as if expecting some kind of attack. Well, he was stranded on a planet full of prisoners and God knew what else. It seemed reasonable to expect bloodshed at some point.

He was greeted by Pasha's face. He had been recognized. "Please...call me Brandon. I don't think many people have recognized me and I would prefer to keep it that way," he said in a loud whisper.

 

Pasha gave him a nod.

“Sure enough.” He trotted forward, keeping his eye on ‘Brandon’ as he looked for a walking stick.

“You think they’ll actually send someone after us?” he asked.

“Of course they won’t. We’re scum.” Yuri piped in. He growled under his breath and continued searching the ground. He looked up at the trees, almost sure he was going to have to cut a limb to get a good enough stick for Juan.

 

“You think they’ll actually send someone after us?” asked Pasha.

Joseph continues searching through the foliage for anything that looked edible at all. "Probably not. Assuming they even know where we are, we're just a bunch of criminals. Its just money they don't have to spend maintaining us on one of the quarry planets. Besides...I don't remember there being a whole lot of Earth-type planets in the directories that weren't on the fringe. Nope...I'm pretty sure we're stuck."

 

*Trembles* oh, this the first RPG I've joined in the middle...

Name: Viva
Type of character: Wrongly accused
Gender: Female
Age: 24
Appearance: Mint green hair (originally light brown) with dark green eyes. A little longer nose than usual with thin lips and a Caucasian skin tone. She is never very particular about her clothing, but its usually full-length.
Vocation/Skills: She's an agile, innocent-looking-and-sounding martial artist, who is also a yogi. She is a singer to some, a drug addict to some and a criminal to others.
Results of Genetic Alteration: Illusions - she is able to afflict people's thoughts with her imaginations to an extent that it would seem it is real. Unfortunately, sometimes she'd lose her own scope of what's real and not.
Personality: She's a very jolly person, who's always joking and laughing. She sounds like a little girl, and looks innocent. However, she knows when it's time to get real, and can handle it quite well. She can sometimes get herself in bad situations but almost always comes out.
Background: Viva comes from a very lively Asian cum Polish family, and has inherited their vibe and high-spiritedness. She was brought up on the Hawaiian coasts and then went on a world tour with her millionaire uncles. On her way back, she got into a singing club and soon became a singing sensation in Rome. She is known as many people: Viva Franks, Jubilee Hensley the drug addict, Jenna Roy the singer and also Amelia Ruth - the girl next door. She was charged with the crimes of murder as 'Viva Franks' during her stay at Boston.

 

Viva rubbed her eyes as she yawned like a newborn. She then coughed and watched the darkness around her being invaded by a diffused glow, and as she blinked things became clearer.
"Am I..." she yawned again, "in heaven?"
She asked the door in front of her and then kicked it, at which it creaked open. She was profoundly shocked.
"Awesomeness! The handsome guard forgot to lock the door!"
She giggled and then rolled out of the quarter, her glistening mint hair leaving her in a puddle of water.
"Eww. Someone vomited here?!"
She jumped up, and then eyed the liquid closely. In the dark ship, she couldn't really tell.
"Well, I'll just ask the guard to clean it up." She chuckled, and then walked down the hallway. "I'll also show him one of my best kung fu moves!"
As she wandered, she found nothing but loneliness to carry. She scratched her chin and then clicked her fingers.
"Bingo! I'm alone here!"
Her smile suddenly faded and then she screeched:
"I AM ALONE HERE?!"

Viva scooped her hair into a bun, crossing her legs in the yogi posture and sitting on the floor.
"The handsome guard didn't even think once about me. I thought they'd give respect to me, after racking the ship like an earthquake was here! I almost bled to death!"
She then pondered over her head injury, and touched the scab. It still hurt, but she had been knocked out too long to realize it. She then got on her feet and started pushing the walls.
"The handsome guard, yuhoo! I hate dark places...and dark men. Oops, you're Caucasian right?"
She giggled, and then fell forward as a loose door felt her. Her chin rubbed against the cold mud and she blinked to absorb the beautiful, yet terrifying sight.
"I thought the warden had no taste!"
She chuckled and then got up, her back aching badly. But her vivacious face showed no sign of injury. She pushed her long hair back and jogged around, yelling:
"Yuhoo? D'ya know where's my cell?"

 

Big Joey began walking around the wrecked transport. The scratch and flare of a lighted match caught his attention. "Tony! Ya made it out."

Tony nodded rubbing his hand over his bald head. "Yessir, it'll take more than a wreck to do me in. Yessire more than a wreck or a blind guy."

Joey walked up slowly. "Ya got something you wanna say?"

Tony shrugged. "How's the nose?"

Joey grabbed the con by his collar and slammed him into the wreck. "He got lucky! It was luck and nothing more! You think, you can take me? Huh Tony?! Wanna try your luck now?"

"So what are you going to do about it?"

Big Joey smiled. "I got plans."

 

Smith's head was slowly feeling better but he still needed some sleep. His vision had come back to normal as the pounding had recieded and he tightened his grip on the rifle and over looked the criminals who where no outside of the ship.

There seemed to be a fair number of survivors. He thought to himself. He hoped Ben decided to make his appearance soon or at least the others calmed down. He was exasted phisicaly and mentaly from forcing his body to keep moving.

 

Plot/Time Advancement

It’s about four hours later. Everyone is off the transport wreck unless they’re dead or too close to death to be moved.

Nearly all of the crew and about a third of the prisoners on board died in the transport crash. Most of the survivors were injured in some way but fewer seemed to have serious injuries than Reva would have expected. She glimpsed one man, apparently blind, who had lost a hand.

It took two tries for Reva and Fox to put the blonde woman’s shoulder back into its socket but they managed. Reva had found out the blonde’s name was Raylene and as Reva had helped her off the ship she realized that the woman’s slight figure was made of muscles like springs.

Fox was levelheaded and good in a crisis. Reva didn’t waste time on life questions nor did she pause to enjoy the first sniff of freedom in a year and a half.

Once Raylene had been tended to, Reva went in search of any among the prisoners who might have medical training. For the most part they stood or squatted in small groups around the wreckage as though it was a bonfire. Some laughed at her, some just shook their heads, still she searched.

She tried yet another group, hoping against hope when she saw that one of the men was wearing a suit that used to be splendid and now looked a bit worse for the wear. The wingtips and gold watch seemed a little over the top even for a doctor and she vaguely wondered how he’d managed to keep the watch for this long.

“Excuse me,” Reva asked him (Benjamin) having to tilt her head back to address the tall man, “are any of you doctors? We need to find anyone with medical knowledge.”

 

Allen had been knocked out by the fall, even with the mattress. When he came to he was outside the ship lying next to a tree trunk that had been dragged along by the ship during the crash.

"How did I get out here," he wondered to himslef as he stood up rubbing his head. Quickly taking stock of the situation he looked around at the group. It was a large one, obviously mostly prisoners. There were many injured people and suprisingly many that weren't. He looked down at his bright crimson jumpsuit. That wouldn't do. He needed to look like the other prisoners if he was going to keep out of the spotlight. He needed a new set of clothes, and a private place to change.

There! It would have to be the ship. He immediatly started for the door, trying to move when nobody was looking, but that was almost impossible. He would just have to hope nobody noticed him heading in, or that if they did they wouldn't think anything of it. On the way he passed a guard, obviously concussed, but otherwise looking all right. Allen would have to speak with him as soon as he could.

Allen clambered inside, found a dead prisoner, and exchanged clothes with him, then he immediatly went back outside and started heading for the guard.

 

“Excuse me,” Reva asked him (Benjamin) having to tilt her head back to address the tall man, “are any of you doctors? We need to find anyone with medical knowledge.”

Ben looked down at the women, obviously tired, but weren't they all? He shook his head and said in a sorry tone, "I don't think so miss, I've gutted things, deer, fish, what have you, but never tried to put anything back inside." Ben looked away, preoccupied, looking to see if Chad had made it out, his eyes scanning the ravine, the little river flowing trough the wreckage causing steam to rise, the scrubby bushes, and the company. Scum of the earth, all of them, standing around in there little groups, each one a free loader looking to suck a little more off societies tit, but then again, hadn't that same tit tossed away Ben for digging up a few skeletons? He kept looking, noting a few points of interest, a blind man with no hand, a rather large man with tan skin, and Chad, standing with a women and the tan guy.

Ben looked back at the women and said, "I'm sorry mam, I must be going now," before jogging over to him, nearly tripping on the unstable rocks that covered the side of the ravine. Ben raised a hand and yelled, "Chad!" as he drew closer to him, stopping just a few feet away. "**** man, glad you got out of there, and guns too! Thank God for small favors, big ones, and everything in between eh?" He looked over at his companions, and saying to neither of them in particular, he said, panting, "Benjamin Freeman."

 

Smith had watched the prisoner carefully as he had went past him into the ship, and now watched as the man approuched him now wearing a different set of clothes. Smith silently hoped the man he took them off of had been dead before he got their. "Whats going on?" He asked the approuching man. His grip tightening on the rifle. Ben was around here somewhere and Smith was feeling better he'd have to go looking for him soon. Right now everyone was to excited and on edge it'd be to dangerus to go out into that gaggle of criminals.

Then he saw Ben raiseing a hand and yelling, "Chad!" as he drew closer to him, stopping just a few feet away. "**** man, glad you got out of there, and guns too! Thank God for small favors, big ones, and everything in between eh?" He looked over at his companions, and saying to neither of them in particular, he said, panting, "Benjamin Freeman."

"Good to see you Ben." He said happy but weak. He shifted his shoulder so the shot gun slid off and into his left hand and exstended it out to Ben. "Care to take a loud of my back?"

 

Allen was about to speak when a man came running up saying "**** man, glad you got out of there, and guns too! Thank God for small favors, big ones, and everything in between eh?" Then he turned and introduced himself as "Benjamin Freeman."

Allen nodded at Ben and quickly changed what he was about to say.

"Do you know where we are, and how long it'll take for Earth to send someone for us?"

 

Reva watched the man in the suit go.

Mam? I hate being mam'd...I must look worse than I thought. Well, I guess somebody's making friends.

She made a small, helpless gesture with her hands and scanned the prisoners again.

If anyone here had medical training wouldn't they already be trying to help the injured? She sighed, it looked as though they were stranded without a doctor. Brilliant.

Reva's head swam with tiredness, her wrist ached from the wrenching it had received and her face throbbed from its bruises. Her face felt grimy and she was sure her hair was a wild tousel. Crouching to rest a moment she bowed her head and rubbed her hands through her hair, knowing that it didn't help her hairstyle (or lack of one) but the scalp massage felt fractionally better.

She looked up again, still crouched. The engine fire seemed to be over, the plume of black smoke replacing flames. She finally noticed that the air was cold, uncomfortably so, and she was glad for the long sleeves of her prison garb.

The sun was dropping in the sky. Soon it would be dark and much, much colder. Her stomach grumbled.

Straightening, Reva decided to leave off the search for medical professionals. There had to be food somewhere. Looking back along the furrow the ship had left she made a decision.

Reva walked quickly to Fox and Raylene, the only two people she knew at all, and outlined her plan to walk back to the broken nose section of the ship.

"We should look before it gets dark," Reva told Fox and Raylene quietly, "we might be able to find blankets, food, other supplies." She sighed and looked down. "I'm hoping to find some kind of water test kit as well although that may be too much to hope for."

 

Viva frowned when she received no reply. As she had made up her mind to lay back and bask in the beautiful symphony of the falling sun, her eyes found three people walking together. They seemed to be heading for the ship, right about where she was.
"Oooh, my partners in crime!"
She then clicked her fingers, remarking:
"Awesomeness! What a pun!"
She then raced towards them, her wild emotions pushing past the otherwise hostile mood.
"Hey, hey! Can you tell me where my cell is? I'm feeling tired."

 

"Hey, hey! Can you tell me where my cell is? I'm feeling tired."

Reva stopped speaking with Fox and Raylene as an odd figure came running pell-mell toward them. She seemed to be female with mint-green hair.

And she wanted back on the ship?

"Ah, you might need to sleep outside tonight," Reva told the green-haired girl gently, "I think we all will."

 

"Ah, you might need to sleep outside tonight," Reva told the green-haired girl gently, "I think we all will."
Viva played with her hair, and then giggled.
"Oh, so where's the guard party, especially the cute one...? And the warden? The pilot? Didja guys cause some havoc while I was knocked out?"
She grinned stupidly, and then looked around.
"Or am I just in heaven with a few basic injuries?"

 

"Oh, so where's the guard party, especially the cute one...? And the warden? The pilot? Didja guys cause some havoc while I was knocked out?"
She grinned stupidly, and then looked around.
"Or am I just in heaven with a few basic injuries?"

There was definitely something off about this girl. Reva checked the angle of the sun briefly and made a decision to throw the guard under the bus. She had seen him when the guy in the suit had brushed her off. Apparently they were bosom buddies.

Reva turned the mint-haired girl by the shoulders so that she was facing the little group with Suit and the guard.

"There's the party!" Reva told her merrily, "you go ahead. We'll catch up later. The guard looks like he could use some company."

God help me, Reva thought, I'm a terrible person.

 

For a moment Viva nodded and then started walking towards the guard. Then suddenly, she stopped and wiggled her head. She walked back, wary of the guards.
"You know, that guy so totally is not cute!"
She then giggled, and then pulled Reva towards herself, whispering:
"And the other one is way to skinny for you, hun."
Before Reva could comment, Viva chuckled and then asked:
"So where're we going? Isn't there any dinner on this place? And oh...I've been to places but never to a paradise like this! Why didn't the world tour guide tell me there's a piece of heaven on Earth like this one?"
She was looking around, her eyes lit up and excited like a toddler who is first acclimatized to candy.