TEST DRIVE #3 - Alien Bazaar/Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

#1

Option 001. Alien planet, marketplace: So you're new to this whole space travel thing. The ship is cool and all, but there are hundreds of alien worlds out there. You want to explore. To see what the universe REALLY looks like.

Well, here's your chance! Your first stop is this lovely indoor marketplace, which looks kind of like a mall. There are stalls one after the other as far as the eye can see, and they sell all kinds of things: food, clothes, trinkets, animals, fabrics, jewelry, perfumes, books, etc etc. Some things look human, easy to recognize; other things look very alien. There are two levels, and constant chatter as people hawk their wares and discuss prices.

Do you want to explore? Poke at the weird shops? Buy a gift for a new friend? Flirt with someone at the food court? Maybe you see a pickpocket, and must run to the aid of the victim. Maybe there's some other villainy afoot. After all, a crowded marketplace is a good place for villains to lurk, causing trouble. Whether you're a hero or just an unassuming traveler, there proves to be some adventure for you on this planet.


2

Option 002. Aboard the Enterprise, Ten Forward: You have no idea what just happened. One minute you were home, and now you're on a spaceship, in the middle of a crowded room. It looks like a bar. There are people eating and drinking, some in uniform, others not. Some are clearly aliens.

You've managed to land in Ten Forward a long bar with barstools and a bartender, tables sprinkled throughout, and the far wall is nothing but windows out to space. It looks like a nice lounge, low conversation making the room hum.

Better ask some questions and find out where you are, or just tap the closest person on the shoulder and try to make friends. The bar is open.

Comments

[osirian_doctor]

Her accent is unfamiliar, but here, on the Enterpise and on the worlds it visits, that shouldn't be a surprise. Still, there's something comforting about the way she speaks, like hearing Inara's carefully enunciated vowels after a week on an Outer Rim backwater world.

She stands and walks like a society lady from Osiris, though from her clothes, she's no such thing. He thinks she came with the group from the Enterprise along with Simon, and that would mean that she may be from another world, another time. Perhaps she's the equivalent in her own world.

She certainly has an eye for the fine; some of the things in the bazaar are the sort of junk you see in the souvenir shops that cluster around wherever ships dock all over the Outer Rim. This stall, though, has beautiful things. Things that remind him of the life he'd once had, of the precious parts of that life he still clings to though they're left so far behind.

"I have a sister. Back home." When it's cold in deep space, she likes to take things from Inara's quarters and wrap herself in them. This could be something to wrap herself in of her own. "I think she'd like it."

[queenofthenile]

"How thoughtful."

She draws out the how and emphasizes the thoughtful, with a coy little curve of her mouth and a frank gaze interrupted only by the bat of kohl-black eyelashes -- the entire effect is one of very nearly teasing, but as if it's an inside joke between two old and intimate friends. From nearly anyone else, it would seem supercilious: from Phryne, it is merely natural inclination. Taking anything seriously -- particularly something as mundane as meeting a new acquaintance -- runs rough against her nature. "I'm sure she'll love it. You have quite a fine eye."

He's also dressed more fashionably than others she's seen walking about, with his hair slicked neatly down, and a strong-jawed, handsome face. She puts her hand out, with unfettered amiability: between her gloved fingers is an engraved calling card, styled in the best of quiet taste. "Phryne Fisher."

[osirian_doctor]

"Thank you. I think I'll get it." Buying something for River, as small a gesture as it seems, is something definite for him to hold onto, a reminder that he will get back to his world, and to her.

But this is also a nice change.

Most of the times he's been off the ship with other crew members, they've tended to be dismissive of his taste for the few fine things he can find.

Except for Kaylee, who's heard more of his thoughts and secrets than anyone except River, who's known him her whole life and always been able to get just about anything out of him. To the crew, the fine things that Simon would want to buy if they were ever on offer in the backworld towns that Serenity visits, would be useless.

To Simon, something as lovely as this shawl would be a reminder of civilization, of the world he'd abandoned for his sister's sake. The world he wishes they could still have.

He smiles as she holds out her hand -- gloves, another sign of refinement he'd been accustomed to on Osiris and sees rarely now -- and takes the card. It's elegant, like her, but more understated than its owner, with her smile that would seem teasing from almost anyone else he knows.

"Miss Fisher. It's ... it's a pleasure. I'm Doctor Simon Tam."

[queenofthenile]

"Doctor Tam."

Doctor Tam, young, handsome, and with precise and elegant manners: Aunt Prudence would certainly approve.

Phryne won't count it against him. "And what is your specialty, Doctor?" Her smile is mobile, never quite slipping away, at turns coy and others frank. "Alien diseases, perhaps? The effects of faster-than-light travel on the fragile human frame?"

[osirian_doctor]

This time, Simon's smile isn't mere politeness, it's amusement, unusual for him from a complete stranger, but her attention is rather flattering, whether because she's good-looking or because her bearing and enunciation remind him of times long lost is difficult to determine.

It doesn't have to be one or the other. It could just be because so far he's managed to have a conversation with a woman without making a fool out of himself.

"None of those, I'm afraid. I was a trauma surgeon, and now I'm the medic on a small transport ship."

That's ... probably the best way to describe Serenity without going into too much detail.

[queenofthenile]

"A transport ship?"

She is all polite astonishment, but there's keen interest and curiosity behind the question. "Do those often require the skills of a trauma surgeon, or were you simply seeking out a simpler life?"

[osirian_doctor]

He rubs a hand across his neck.

"I did go looking for a simpler life. But ... uh. More often than you'd think. The Outer Rim isn't the most hospitable of places."

He's never been particularly good at hiding the truth, and he hopes he manages not to sound too evasive with that.

It's true, after all. The Outer Rim proved to be much more wild and lawless than even a former supporter of the Alliance like Simon had guessed.