Brakelatabasaasta watched as the movers carried the large flower arrangements down the chapel's center aisle, taking note of the individual flowers as they passed. He had specifically requested that the arrangements contain an odd number of red, purple, and green flowers, an even number of yellow flowers, and no blue ones. It was very important that the symbolism of the occasion be clear to everyone, and it simply couldn't be conveyed in any way other than these flowers!
"Hold it!" Brakelatabasaasta said to one of the movers. "Bring that one closer." The mover grumbled, and hauled the over-sized bouquet over to where Brakelatabasaasta had seated himself. Brakelatabasaasta hummed quietly as he counted each of the flowers. Red, red, yellow, purple, red, green, yellow, green... He paused for a moment, and pulled a single petal from one of the flowers. He held it in the light for a moment, before thrusting it into the man's face, barely an inch from his nose.
"What color is this?" Brakelatabasaasta asked the man.
"It's gree-"
"Wrong!" Brakelatabasaasta interrupted. "Looks blue to me. Why's there a blue flower in this big plant-thing? I thought I said no blue! I did, didn't I?"
The man holding the bouquet wasn't sure how to respond. It seemed as though the crazy little guy was actually asking him a question, as though he couldn't remember what he himself had said.
"It's as green as we could get it, sir," he said slowly. "Green flowers don't come naturally on Manhattan, so we had to dye a few. I guess... the dye on that one was a bit off."
Brakelatabasaasta finally withdrew his hand from the man's face, and continued to stare at the petal he held. "Oh," he said simply. "Well. Just fix it, anyway. I can't have any blue blinky-lights here. Not for this occasion!"
"Right..." The mover responded. "I'll get a replacement flower for that one, then."
As the mover left with his large bouquet, An older man in a suit came over to Brakelatabasaasta, carrying a clipboard.
"Is everything alright, Brake?" he asked.
Brakelatabasaasta looked up from his hand and smiled at the man. "Tim! Yes. Yes, everything is alright." Brakelatabasaasta frowned. "No. Wait. There was a thing with a blinky-light being blue... but it's fine now! Anyway, how are the rest of the... things... coming along? Do we have all the decorations yet?"
Tim checked his clipboard as he answered. "Well, yes, most of what you ordered just arrived today. Some of your more... exotic requests took some more time to be shipped here. Now, we just need some time to install it all. The flower arrangements are coming in now, and they're being set up as we speak. Your Whack-A-Mole table came in last week, and we're still trying to find a place to fit it in... the ten-foot-tall crab sculpture is being bought in from the truck out back, we've cleared a space for the petting zoo out back, which will be set up on the day of the ceremony, and in a few hours we'll be ready to cover all the aisles with fresh moss, once the sod gets here. And everything else is already in place."
Brakelatabasaasta nodded to himself, then to Tim. "Good. Good! So we're just about all ready to go. Man, it's great that you were able to find this place, Tim. That giant color-window behind the talky-box is just perfect."
Tim glanced over to the large stained-glass window behind the lectern. "Yes... it'll look pretty stunning, with the soft morning light coming in from the back there. Depending on the time of day, the light shouldn't be too bright, though. We don't want the audience to have to squint to see you two up there."
"Yeah. That. Whatever. Light or no light, that window will work out for me just fine," Brakelatabasaasta said. "Oh! I just thought of something else. This is an important one!"
Tim let out a small sigh, and got out his pen. "There's only so much room in the chapel, Brake... what is it?"
"A fishy-pool," Brakelatabasaasta said. "Right there. In front of the talky-box. A fishy-pool. Like the ones they have in Kusariland."
"A... do you mean a koi pond?" Tim asked.
"Yeah. Fishy-pool. That. Y'know. For the fish to swim around in!"
"We can't do that, Brake," Tim said, putting his pen back in his pocket. "Just like with that Hall of Mirrors you wanted, and removing the roof, we can't do anything to the building itself. A pond like that would mean we have to dig a small ditch right in from of the altar to fill with water, and we just can't do that."
"Well, fine then," Brakelatabasaasta said, crossing his arms. "I'll just figure out something else. It's, like, super important that we have this!"
Right, Tim thought, Just like the giant crab and the smoke machines and everything else he's asked for...
"Well, just let me know when you think of something. I'll see that it gets done," Tim said. "Now, have you decided on an actual date yet? I can't keep this up if all you're giving me for a deadline is 'soon'."
"Nah, not yet," Brakelatabasaasta said. "It depends on what I decide with Jenny Govvy. I still have to tell her about all this..."
"Wait..." Tim said, looking puzzled. "You haven't even told her about the wedding? Have you even proposed yet?"
"Nope," Brakelatabasaasta replied. "I'll let her know when she needs to know."
Tim was flabbergasted. This guy... hadn't even told his wife-to-be that they were getting married? How could he even be sure there was going to be a wedding, then? Had he done all this planning for nothing? What kind of idiot was this Brakelatabasaasta, anyway?
"Listen, buddy..." Tim said, not quite knowing how to explain it all, "Weddings don't work quite like I think you think they do. First, you have to ask your bride if she even wants to get married to you. Then you start going through the process of setting it up, sending out invitations, choosing a time and place..."
"Invitations? For what?" Brakelatabasaasta asked. "There are other people involved?"
Tim slumped down into the pew next to Brakelatabasaasta and put his head in his cupped hands. "Yes," he said through his fingers, "There are usually other people. Spectators, friends and family, a priest, all that stuff! You seriously didn't know that?"
Brakelatabasaasta seemed unaware of Tim's exasperation. "A priest, huh? Why a priest?"
"You need someone who can marry two people," Tim said. "Doesn't have to be a priest, just someone who's legally able to marry a couple. Usually a holy man of some sort."
"Oh." Brakelatabasaasta got up and started pacing the center aisle. "So... I have a lot of other stuff to do then, huh?"
"Yes!" Tim practically shouted, his hands shaking slightly. "There's a lot more to do. First off, you should probably go see this 'Jenny' of yours and propose to her. And after all the work we've put into this, you had better pray she says yes..."
"Oh," Brakelatabasaasta said. "Hm. Then... I'll go do that. Thanks, Tim! Fish, man, I'd be lost without you. Seeya later!"
Brakelatabasaasta ran out the front door of the small chapel toward Bert's hangar, leaving Tim alone with the decorators and a massive headache.
Safely seated inside Bert the Starblazer, Brakelatabasaasta launched from Planet Manhattan to find his one and only love, Jennifer Government. Well, that's not entirely true, Brakelatabasaasta thought. Jenny Govvy isn't my only love. I got lots of loves! Like rusty metal combs and Keepy-friends.
Once he had passed the ionosphere and entered into space, Brakelatabasaasta sent out a transmission to all ships in range.
"Hey everybody! So I'm looking for Jenny Govvy. Anyone seen her?"
"Jenny Govvy?" the captain of a nearby Gull Transport responded. "Who's that? I doubt I know them, but still..."
"Jenny Govvy!" Brakelatabasaasta responded quickly. Then, realizing that Jenny might be better known by her actual name, he cleared his throat and spoke again. "Jennifer Government. She's this person who flies a spaceship. Much like you! And me. And a lot of people. Have you seen her?"
The comms were silent for a moment before the transport captain spoke again. "Listen, asking random people in Manhattan orbit isn't usually the best way to locate someone. Have you gone to the LPI? Do you know any friends of this person?"
"I'm her friend!" Brakelatabasaasta said cheerfully. "And I know myself. So yes, I do know a friend of hers." Brakelatabasaasta thought for a moment. "So... you're saying I should ask myself where Jenny is?"
"No, that's not--"
"Okay thanks bye!" Brakelatabasaasta interrupted, and he cut the communications. He then reached behind his seat and pulled out a convenient hand-held mirror. "So... mister Brakelatabasaasta... if that is your real name!" He said to his reflection. "Tell me where Jenny is. I know you're hiding something from me! You know where she is, and I'm not letting up on you until you spill the three-bean-salad!"
"I don't know anything! I swear! It's all a misunderstanding!" The reflection pleaded. "Please, I don't understand what's going on here. These men took me from my home and put a bag over my head, I just--"
Brakelatabasaasta slapped the reflection. "I didn't ask for your life story, lady! I want to know one thing, and one thing only! Where's Jenny?!"
The reflection glanced around his frame, seeing no obvious exits. "I... really, I don't even know who Jenny is! Please, I need to get home! My family is probably worried sick..."
"You don't have a family, moron!" Brakelatabasaasta yelled. "I know everything about you, because you're me!"
The reflection suddenly stopped his nervous shaking and thought for a moment. "So... wait. If you're me, you know everything I know. Right?"
"Right," Brakelatabasaasta replied.
"So then, if I know where this 'Jenny' is, then you must already know where she is too, right?"
Brakelatabasaasta frowned. "No, that's... not right... at least, I don't think so... Fish! This always worked in those movies! Why-- you're-- I won't play your mind games!"
Brakelatabasaasta yelled and smashed the mirror on his dashboard console repeatedly until the cockpit was littered with small bits of glass and plastic. He threw the mangled plastic handle at the front window and fumed. Seconds later, he came to realize what he had just done, and shook his head slowly.
"Man, I loose so many good mirrors that way. If only those Atsaasabatalekarbs weren't so infuriating!"
Just then, the comms unit on Bert's dashboard crackled, and a voice filled the cockpit.
"Jennifer Government, huh?" The voice said. "I know that name. The chick's a real fireball."
Brakelatabasaasta locked onto the origin of the voice, and found that it came from the other side of the planet. He opened a channel with the mysterious voice. "You know her? Great! Take me to her."
The comms unit crackled again, longer this time. Brakelatabasaasta was having trouble receiving the newcomer's transmission with a planet between the two of them. Eventually, the static cleared up, and the voice spoke again. "Heh heh... I can do that. But first, I want you to do something for me. Tell me, what's the traffic like around the docking ring, where you are? Any cops?"
Brakelatabasaasta took a quick look around the space surrounding him. A freelancer in an Eagle was just exiting the lane from Fort Bush, a Universal Shipping convoy was on its way toward West Point... and a pair of LPI fighters were sitting right in front of Newark Station.
"Yeah. Two of them. Near the big space-building," Brakelatabasaasta replied.
"Damn..." came the voice. "Alright, listen. You gotta get them away from there. Otherwise, I can't take you to your friend."
"Yessir!" Brakelatabasaasta said. "If it's for the sake of seeing Jenny, I'll do whatever it takes!"
Brakelatabasaasta steered Bert over to Newark and parked himself only a few feet from the nose of one of the LPI fighters. "Hi," he said to them.
There was silence from the two policemen, but at this distance, Brakelatabasaasta could see the two officers fidgeting around in their small cockpits, scanning the small ship and pulling up their records on registered civilian spacecraft.
"Hello," the closer of the two finally said. "What's going on?"
"Well, I need you two guys to go somewhere else for a while," Brakelatabasaasta said simply.
This time, the other officer spoke. "What's that supposed to mean? What are you up to, civilian?"
"You see, there's this guy on the other side of the planet," Brakelatabasaasta explained, "and he--"
"All Liberty forces report to the Fort Bush/Colorado Gate lane immediately!" The transmission was system wide. "We have several Rogues and at least one Outcast gunship disrupting traffic. All available ships, respond!"
One of the LPI officers cursed as they both pivoted their ships to face the Fort Bush lane. "Listen, civilian, just stay out of trouble," the second officer said, and they left.
Making sure the two officers were well out of range, Brakelatabasaasta re-opened his channel to the mysterious voice. "Olly olly oxen free!" He said. Minutes later, a small, beat-up freighter came into view from around the planet.
"Thanks a bunch, man. Even if you didn't end up doing anything yourself..." the freighter pilot said.
"Nah, I totally planned for those Rogues and what-not to show up at that moment." Brakelatabasaasta said. "Like, totally. All part of my master plan."
"Right..." said the freighter pilot. "Well, just let me land and off-load this cargo. My buyer should be waiting on the docks, so it won't be long. Name's James, by the way. What's yours?"
"Brakelatabasaasta!"
James was silent for a moment. "Okay," he said finally. "That's... just fine. Anyway, I'll be back out in just a few minutes." With that, James entered the docking ring and began his descent.
Ten minutes passed, and James returned. "Sorry to keep you waiting; hope it wasn't too much of a problem," he said.
"No, no," Brakelatabasaasta replied nonchalantly. "I occupied myself by counting Bert's console-blinkies. Fish, man, he has a lot!"
"Right," James said, "Well, form on me. I'll take you to Miss Government."
Brakelatabasaasta entered formation with James' CSF, and the two took off into the debris cloud.
---------------------
"Well, kid, this is it," James said to Brakelatabasaasta as they walked into Rochester's living quarters. "She's renting a room somewhere on this station, but I don't know which. You should ask around, someone's gotta know." James gave Brakelatabasaasta a pat on the pack and turned to leave. "Anyways, thanks for the help out there above Manhattan. Good luck finding your friend!" James returned to the docking bays, leaving Brakelatabasaasta in a hallway with dozens of doors.
"Jenny Govvy's behind one of them..." Brakelatabasaasta told himself. "I just have to find the right one!"
Brakelatabasaasta pulled open the nearest door. "Jenny? Nope? Sorry. Next!" He opened the next door, and asked again. "Jenny? Nope? Sorry. Next! Jenny? Nope? Sorry. Next! Jenny?..."
At home on Rochester. Well, not really a home, since I don't have a place for Tookie in it. (Tookie's like my friend or something. We get along good and try to keep Brakky safe from flying spaghetti monsters and stuff. She has a Mini Razor thing, but I don't know why. We haven't shaved any midgets recently.) So it was more like a place for me to put stuff and sleep in. Sometimes take a bath. I was trying to take a bath now, anyways.
I'd just settled into the tub for a nice, long bath when the slamming started. It sounded like some lunatic was running down the corridor, opening doors and then slamming them shut again, As the thuds got closer, I heard loud and indistinct shouts perforating the opening and the slamming. I sighed. It was going to be one of those days. You know the kind, where absolutely nothing goes right except to go wrong. I got out of the tub, toweled off lightly and wrapped it around me. I turned to leave the bathroom and slammed into the door.
WHO THE FISH HAD LEFT IT HALF OPEN?
I slammed it open, stomped through (it came back and hit me!), and tripped over a carelessly placed shoe (totally not mine). Had to hop a few steps before I got to the kitchenette (more like a stove stuffed into a dishwasher shoved into a microwave stuffed into a refrigerator. Nobody wants to call it a Stovawashewavytor though), but I grabbed the conveniently placed frying pan, burning my wrist on the stovetop in the process. NOBODY interrupts my bath! Hell hath no fury like...Well, okay, I was just mad, is all. The slamming reached my neighbor. I heard a "*mumble*...Sorry. NEXT!" and then MY door was opening.
"Jen..." BOOM, HEADSHOT! Wait...that person looks familiar.
Oh. Oh fish. It's Brakky! So I said so. "Brakky! Oh, oh fish, Brakky, I'm sorry!" Then I started to cry, and my hand and my wrist and my face and my foot started hurting again and Brakky was on the floor broken and things and it was AWFUL. I dragged him into the living tiny-little-box-that-pretends-it-is-a-room-but-it-isn't, flopped him on the couch-that-is-tiny, fixed the rug that got a bit mussed, then frowned at everything in particular.
I really need to finish my bath, but Brakky needed a band-aid first. I found a little Space Jumper Happy Bear one in the closet under my toolkit (don't ask), but the glue was all worn off. I found some more glue in the dishwasher (Look, just...don't ask. I have a system.) and tried to put it on Brakky's face. He was screaming and yelling and saying that he didn't need a band-aid over his eyes, and definitely not attached like a Magic-Life-Mask, but I managed to hold him down long enough to stick it to him!
I'm so happy. He'll be okay now.
"Brakky! You're okay! But...What are you doing here?"
Then I realized I needed to fix my towel. At least he couldn't see me with the band-aid over his eyes though.
Today sucks.
Oh yeah, and he's got blisters from the frying pan now.
Dammit.
After several more minutes of incoherent screaming, Brakelatabasaasta seemed to settle a bit and regain control of himself.
The first thing he noticed was, of course, his lack of vision. He could tell that he was lying down on... something... but where was he? And why was he there? The jolt to Brakelatabasaasta's head had sent his tiny brain spinning. He had totally forgotten what he was doing.
Okay, he though to himself, No seeing-ness. What were those other sense-things that I could use? Let's see... there was hearing-ness...
Brakelatabasaasta stopped breathing for a moment and listened to his surroundings. He heard the low, distant hum of the station's various generators, the gentle hiss of a stove... and someone else, breathing softly. Why was there someone else with him? Brakelatabasaasta didn't know.
Um, what else... smelling-ness...
Brakelatabasaasta took a few deep breaths and tried to smell his surroundings. It smelled like that stale, recycled air that they have on old space-buildings. That's right! He thought. I'm on the Junky-base in the metal cloud. But... why? Things were still fuzzy for him.
Then there's tasting-ness...
Brakelatabasaasta turned his head and stuck out his tongue. Nothing. Just more air. He kept waggling his tongue around until... a-ha! It struck something! It tasted like... old plasticy fabric, worn and stained from decades of having various substances being placed or spilled on it. Brakelatabasaasta didn't recognize this as a couch-that-is-tiny or any other such thing, because all of his furniture was made from re-used garbage, like newspapers and soda-bottles.
Okay... I dunno what that is. Lastly... there's touching-ness!
Brakelatabasaasta reached out in the opposite direction and felt around, waving his arm until it hit something, making a soft smacking noise. He grabbed the object and tried to pull it closer, though it was seemingly rooted to the floor. He moved his hand further up the object... it was soft, pliable, and a bit slippery. As he continued on up, he reached a larger area of the object, rounded and firm. He gave it a squeeze--
Brakelatabasaasta heard a gasp, shortly followed by a smack to his already stinging face.
Oh yeah! he thought. I came here to tell Jenny-Govvy about the wedding! And... that means that this must be Jenny-Govvy!
Brakelatabasasta sat up on the couch-that-is-tiny. "Jenny! I have this thing to say. And it's a thing to say to you. So that's pretty cool, I guess." Brakelatabasaata began to stand up. "Jen-hunny, we're gonna get--"
Unable to see the floor he was attempting to stand on, Brakelatabasaasta tripped on the rug at his feet and fell flat on his face.
"Jmee!" He said into the rug, his words muffled. "Wur guttun murreed!"
Wait...what just happened? Did I just get groped? I mean, it's Brakky, but still. Bit of a shock. Oooooh. Did feel kinda good though. I fiddled with the towel a bit, and yeah, my hand stings a bit from slapping him. Hang on though, what'd he just say? I flicked a stray lock of wet hair out of my face, then stuck a finger in my right ear. Clean it out, there's no way I heard that right. I wiped said finger on my now-fixed towel as I bent down to pull Brakky up. I got a good grip on his collar and hauled him to his feet, then just stood there for a moment trying to figure out what to say. I decided to go with spluttering, a little bit of shock, and some slapping. Slapping is good for the soul.
slap
"Hey! Wake up! WAKE UP!"
I was about to haul back and give him another when he spluttered his own bit that he was indeed awake and wouldn't I lay off the slapping just a bit. Maybe not his exact words, but close enough. Actually, they were more like "AAAAAAAAHHH MY FACE IT BURNS OH FISH STOP THE BURNING SLAPPAGE AAAAAAHHH!"
But you get the idea, right? I'm not one to let a good thing go without a fight though.
"What"
slap
"Did"
slap
"You"
slap
"SAY?"
slap
Something about getting married, and please stop slapping me. I congratulated him on getting married, but wasn't it odd to drop by and see me, interrupting my shower, no less, to say so? Then he explained that no, it wasn't so odd, and that I should be congratulated too, since I was getting married to him. I pointed out that that didn't seem possible, since I was in my towel, and he had burns and a band-aid on his face, and besides, nobody'd talked to me about the whole thing anyways. Then...well, it might be better if he told that bit.
But I did say yes.
"No, Jenny! You don't understand!" Brakelatabasaasta said. "You see, I am getting married, and you are getting married, and we're getting married to each other!"
Surprised, Jenny let go of Brakelatabasaasta's collar and let him slump back to the ground. "We... what?"
"Yeah!" Brakelatabasaasta said, slowly getting back to his feet (which isn't easy when you've got gluey-band-aids over your eyes). "I decided to marry you. 'Cause you're awesome like that. And I'm pretty awesome too. So two awesome people like us just can't stay apart! Right?"
"O--kay... We're getting... married." Jenny said. "Um, when? Where? Do you have decorations planned? Who do we invite? Where is it gonna be, anyways? Did you forget anything, silly Brakky?"
"Yep, soon, a place I found, yes, some people, I already told you, and probably," Brakelatabasaasta answered all at once. "Actually, I didn't find the place. Tim found the place. It's on Manhattan and it's really pretty! And it'll be even prettier once I get that fishy-pond put in."
Jenny sat down on the couch-that-is-tiny and thought things over. "So... it sounds like you already have a lot of this planned out. Which is a little odd, considering you're supposed to let your fiance know these things beforehand... not to mention skipping the whole proposal bit... but what more could I expect from my little Brakky?" Jenny smiled.
"I know, right?" Brakelatabasaasta said to the kitchenette. "It's like there's a whole bunch of things that I didn't even know I had to do! It's like Arbor Day all over again... I'd be lost if not for Tim."
"Tim?" Jenny asked, "Who's Tim? Oh, and I'm over here, Brakky."
Brakelatabasaasta turned to face Jenny's voice. "Oh. Well, Tim is this guy I met in a phone book. He's helping me with everything! Actually, if not for him, I wouldn't even be here. I didn't even know I was supposed to tell you about the wedding-thing! Tim told me to ask you... something."
"The proposal, you mean?" Jenny said, sitting up straighter. "You're here to propose to me?"
"Oh, yeah!" Brakelatabasaasta said. "That's probably it. So, uh... let's see." Calling on his knowledge from the movies he'd seen and the few books he'd read, Brakelatabasaasta got down on one knee and said: "Jenny Govvy with your nose so bright, won't you be my... marriage-person... tonight?"
Jenny hopped up from her seat and ran to embrace Brakelatabasaasta. "Oh, Brakky, yes! Of course I will! I'll guide your sleigh with my blinkies any day!"
"Fish yeah!" Brakelatabasaasta said. "Hooray for things that work out properly!" He let go of Jenny and held her at arm's length. "So, I'mma go finish up with the preparations back home, and you can, um, finish your bath or whatever it was you were doing. Call me when you're done!"
With that, Brakelatabasaasta turned around, headed for the door, and slammed face-first into the wall. "Oh. Yeah," he said, peeling off the Space Jumper Happy Bear bandages from his eyes. "Those things... anyways. Bye!"
Comm ID: Brakelatabasaasta
Transmit to: Brakelatabasaasta
Writing my journal entry thing in a different place today! It's a special occasion.
So, I just got back from the Junky-house in the Junky-field, and told Jenny about the whole wedding deal I got going on. And she even agreed to marry me, so that's pretty cool I guess. With that, things should be just about ready to roll! Unless they're rocks. Then I have to cover them in moss, so they can't roll. I think that's how it works, anyway.
So, let's go over the list of things...
I've got a marriage place, which is almost perfect except that it's missing a fishy-pond. But I've got a way to fix that.
I've got a reception place, which is also filled up with all sorts of Brakelatabasaasta-ish goodies for the guests.
I've got Jenny-Govvy on board, so it's not like it'll be a forced marriage or nothing.
I've got my fancy fancy clothes all picked out for the ceremony, and Jenny should be getting hers, too.
I found a holy-guy who'll do the marrying bit.
I've got-- oh! Fish! I forgot the finger-bands! Um, well, I can get those too. Shouldn't take too long to find them.
And I've sent out invitations to all of my closest friends. My closest friends being everyone in the galaxy, of course.
So we're all ready! I'll just wait for more of my friends to respond to the invitations, and for Jenny to let me know that she's all ready, and we'll start! I'm thinking we'll be able to have the ceremony sometime in the next week, then. Oh, they'll all be so surprised...
"Sophie! Where's my clean Robe?. I can't wear a bloody loincloth to Brakelatabasaasta's Wedding!"
*Calm down, Boss! Did you think to look in the closet? That's usually where clean clothes are kept. Unless Lev borrowed it and forgot to have it cleaned..*
"Mmmph. Well, prep the Colonics, just in case these storms abate. I hate the thought of taking a bloody Armored Shuttle; but I will if I have to.
Mal sat at his media console, and started rummaging through his old music files. He hated Sirian contemporary music. Most of it sounded like a moose trying to mate with a bagpipe.
"Ahh.. here's a good prelude tune.. A bit more Texas than New York, but it seems to fit the happy occassion.."
"I'm with You!"
"Now.. I need a processional piece..."
"What? What do you mean can't launch? Why can't I launch? I like launching, and I don't like people who keep me from doing what I like!"
"I'm sorry, sir, there's a massive ion storm passing through the sector right now. All ships are grounded until--"
Brakelatabasaasta shut off his comms unit. "Grumble grumble... well, then I hope Jenny got here alright. And the other people. And Robert the Space Teddy Bear. But he was never invited anyway..."
Brakelatabasaasta hopped out of Bert's cockpit, a bit miffed that things weren't going as planned. "Well, Bert, stormy-thing or not, the grand plan doesn't change. So you know what to do," he said, and began his walk to the chapel.
Mal stood at the entrance to the Chapel, greeting a small stream of guests who had managed to dock on Manhattan before the storm had hit. While smiling, he couldn't help notice how sparse the crowd of people looked in the Chapel.
As he turned again towards the entrance, he saw Brakelatabasaasta approaching, with a rather petulant look on his face. Mal held out his and in greeting, and smiled.
"Good day, Groom Person. Bad news and good news, it seems:
"The bad news is your pre-reception reception has been hampered by this bloody storm;
"The good news is I am here, to seal your Vows, and Eris is definitely in attendance, and goosing your occassion mightily!"
This brought a semblance of a smile to Brake's face, and he began waving to those in the small crowd he knew from Liberty.
Malaclypse leaned over and said gently, "Go greet your guests, sir. I'll handle the pat-downs for weapons and ripe fruits here. Meanwhile, why don't we give the attendees
'Something to Talk About'."