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Post by Atticus Batman on May 11, 2015 3:42:09 GMT
Kakusi looks at Belle. "Non-sentient? Why would we hunt that? Poison non-nutritional shtako would kill us. Grid feed off the electrical impulses and nutrients only a sentient mind can provide. Grid will always feed on sentient cattle for it is what they need to live. I still did so until the Zhena array, though I did so more as a scavenger of a certain other's prey. I do not need to do that any longer because of "our" unique physiology from "our" forced evolution."
"We survive on specific nutrients found in Atticus' Irathiant "food". However I feel so much better when I have been fed pure energy, such as when the cunning Meatbag turned me into a lightshow. That was such a great meal. So for us to fully live, we need his rums and some electricity. Atticus does not talk about that, for that is his past. This "new" Atticus, that you all love and some of you even respect and call friend or family, is haunted by that past and wants to just forget it, like it never happened. Lady and his life here are his present and future. He will keep fighting for that or he will find a way to die, that even my survival instincts will not be able to stop. From what I can tell, Atticus was told once, "All sentient beings need a reason to live or they will wither and die." Lady gave him that reason, without her he will giveup. Much as I can sense that she is doing now. I know it, Dinara knows it, Kabule knows it, EGO Sandy probably knows it. Judging from the thoughts I hear of Atticus', thanks to our hivemind, he DEFINITELY knows it. He is still fighting but is on the verge of giving up. So if the cunning, Meatbag, Volodja's, plan does not work, then I am afraid this may be our last meeting, Belle With The Blue Eyes."
Kakusi's eyes and aura suddenly flash with worry and concern as he turns to Volodja. "Meatbag! Be ready! Atticus is coming back and coming back fast!!! Correction, he is here!!!!" With that, Kakusi pulls Lady tighter to him in a protective and loving manner. Then his aura lessens and he feints, his blue skin starting to shift back to Atticus' normal coloring.
I look at Sandy, my aura flickering between grey and blue. "I know Sandy, I can feel it with every fiber of my being. We are connected more than anyone knows. Without her I am nothing. I feel my energy draining as well. Do not tell anybody. I do not deserve their worry. All the focus needs to be on Lady. I will be fine, as long as she is alive. She is worth fighting for and I will keep fighting for as long as possible! Just do EVERYTHING that you can to keep her, the baby, or is it babies?, and yourself alive. I must go now!"
I turn and start running towards the void, that I entered from. I hit it hard and then I am in my body again. My eyes snap open and I hold Lady, as I snap out an order, the concern very obvious in my voice. "Fool whatever you are doing, do it fast and do it NOW OR WE WILL LOSE HER FOREVER!!!"
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on May 11, 2015 3:50:03 GMT
"Music to my ears," responded Volodja, sliding almost empty flask back into his boot. "Finally a decisive voice from Giant, who will remain to his place in that bed to provide Lady with feeling of security and will hold her in one place, because we are about to send a very realistic and painful artificial memory into Lady's brain. That may trigger the real one, because our creative team did superior job on making it believable, you can trust me on that, because I tested itself several times. But I do assume that Lady will start to struggle against it and that might cause physical reaction from her, so you better hold her tight. Unfortunately causing her emotional pain is necessary part, because we have to bring that traumatic memory back to her mind to be able to treat it. No pain no gain."
He looked around and wiped Belle to come closer and told her: "You better be ready to talk with her, dear Tinkerbelle, as I mentioned before. She might not trust me enough to listen what I am telling her. And creating feeling of safety is essential part, because we must convince Lady that everything is over now, she is safe again and she won Lena and soon it will be just another memory amongst others. You reminded me of that Sandy and Lady are alive before we started to test this gadget, so prepare to tell that to Lady too, in case it becomes necessary."
"Wolfram. Observe the process and be ready to pull the plug if Lady's reactions become too intensive...but you will put it back on my command, because we won't give up trying, no matter what. I am going to loath myself for doing that as usual, but we will begin NOW!"
And Volodja attached modified brain washing device to Lady's chalk white neck and switched it on, while he was explaining to Lady with his calm and soothing voice, what he was doing and convinced her that danger is actually over, because she defeated her assassin on her own, thus showing her inner strength, so she has already everything inside that takes to withstand the pain, caused by reliving that memory. And while Volodja was soothing his patient, part of him already thought about handling Lady's possible flashbacks in the future and how to deal with them. Broderick's game pad, he gifted her at birthday party, will be put in use. After his encouraging talk Belle took over his calming and soothing part, because Volodja was really busy with observing the situation and that meant keeping an eye on Lady and on device and on Atticus and on Belle and on Wolfram and...let's say that he had to observe everything happening in infirmary room.
Part of him was worried about Sandy and her possible reaction to that memory, so he send her an EGO message: "Be strong, my love. I know it is going to hurt you as it hurt me, seeing you there, but it's already over and you survived. If you need some consulting afterwards, then I will be here for you. Love you so much." He could not let himself being carried away and lose his mind, because of his feelings (he longed for Sandy a lot when they were not together and this time it was not an exception), so he put his brains into a work, but he let his heart to be with Sandy all that time.
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on May 11, 2015 5:01:50 GMT
Hearing interest in Lena's voice, Marcel turned into a businessman right away and said: "If you contact me with with that talented creature, your agency fee will be fifty thousand scrip, because all you have to do is give me a name and get us together. Considering the situation it is fair enough. Her cut will be bigger, of course, because we are talking about one million scrip here, and I am willing to offer her twenty percent plus all the fun, she can have and she doesn't have to pay taxes either. I need her to distract Varus's bodyguard and after neutralizing him, I have planned special task for her and it's not going to be even dangerous one, because I just need her to look good and use her imagination, that's all. I think that two hundred thousand scrip for having some not so innocent fun, is quite good offer and I would not even consider offering that sum, if I already knew somebody I could trust with that task."
Marcel light another cigarette, while Lena considered his offer, which seemed to be generous indeed at least from Marcel's side. Maybe he offered even too much, but he was only at beginning on establishing his foothold here, so he had to gain some allies and every investment he makes to win their hearts or greed, will handsomely pay off later, so he leaned against the wall, inhaled bitter smoke and waited Lena to respond.
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Post by Belle Starr on May 11, 2015 12:13:39 GMT
As Belle Starr explained to Lady Christianna Volodja's plan for getting back Lady's memory and sight, to which Lady tentatively agreed to, saying, "I trust you Belle," making Belle pray even harder that it would work, Lena Marr thought about scrip, and lots of it.
Lena didn't trust Marcel any further than she could throw a Monarch hellbug, but scrip was scrip, and she had worked for more disreputable people than Marcel. She half expected that he would break his word after the job, and that she would have to get her money from him at the point of her charge knife. People always thought they could take advantage of her because she was a pretty Castithan woman, and most Castithan females were so damn subservient, especially the pretty ones it seemed. In many situations, that fact was an advantage because people always underestimated her, but in others, like trying to get paid by lowlifes, it was a pain in the ass. Lena had only met one pretty Castithan woman, Lady Tarr, the local crime lord in Defiance, who was as diabolical as she was beautiful, but even she was underestimated by her enemies all the time.
"Hell, sounds like a job so far that I could do blindfolded, and may have before," Lena said, then chuckled without humor, "If you are talking about Varus' big Sensoth bodyguard, he already lusts for me, judging from the fact that he can't keep his hands off my butt every time I see Varus, so distracting him is way too easy! Of course, you could distract a Sensoth with a laser light, so I hope you have something more challenging for the rest of the gig, because I like to earn my scrip."
Lena then looked at Marcel intently with her sky blue eyes, her pretty chalk white face taking on an ugly expression as she whispered in a voice meant only for him to hear, "Just don't double cross me, or I'll cut off your balls and use them as earrings!"
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on May 11, 2015 12:35:07 GMT
"Just don't double cross me, or I'll cut off your balls and use them as earrings!" Lena warned. Marcus had heard threats of this kind before and sometimes they became famous last words, but not this time. He needed Lena and her skills, because it was obvious that she will do the job herself. And double crossing her was not part of his plans at all. Not because he developed any warm feelings to Lena, but he needed a partner and preferably independent one, because lackeys and are usually good only at flattering. But having a true psychop...pardon, sycophant like Lena on his side would be whole different matter, so he said:
"I am not going to double cross you, cherie. But I expect you to act likewise. I don't trust you and you don't trust me, but at moment we are business partners, so you will get your well earned share of the scrip. Remember Lena. I don't want that Sensoth dead. Besides - after we have done with Varus, he will personally do it for us," said Marcel and a grin appeared to his face."Besides -Sensoth makes a great errand boy, because Varus probably has to send someone to fetch our scrip, because we take it in cash. But I will guarantee that you like the second part of my little scheme and that outfit, I have planned for you to wear. You are going to look astounding in black leather with your white skin and your curvy body, cherie. Thinking about that gets even me...distracted. But it's your imagination I will be needing to complete second stage successfully. Keep that in mind that we won't kill anybody there. I need Varus to stay alive, because...I will explain you that later, Lena. I do believe that I and you can have beautiful relationship, so we better avoid deceiving each other from the very beginning."
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Post by Lady Christianna on May 11, 2015 13:31:49 GMT
As she watched Lady Christianna relive the experience that almost ended her life, Sandy, her EGO psyche, longed to reassure Lady, to tell her it wasn't real, but knew she couldn't if Lady was going to have a chance at regaining her sight and memory. As her body writhed in Atticus' strong arms, almost breaking his hold when she remembered Sandy's makeshift shield breaking and a piece of the hard light piercing her skull.
As the mind film ended, her memory came back in a whirl of bright colors and warm emotions, as Lady relieved every moment she had shared with Atticus Batman since meeting him, the good and bad, but only lingering on the good memories as she relived months of life in mere minutes. The hot showers they shared, the bedtime cuddles, the passionate kisses, the discreet, and sometimes indiscreet, touches they stole in the War Room, were the memories she treasured and those of indecision and regret she raced by.
But then Lady's imagination was released, and true memories turned to dreams. She dreamt of herself being a medieval queen, and him her sword wielding champion, slaying dragons together and beloved by all the realm. She dreamt of them being a pair of mated dolphins, truly free and swimming in tandem through a crystal clear ocean. In all the dreams, they both were always incredibly happy, so she sought out one dream after the other, and in the real world her enigmatic smile returned and the trembling stopped as she retreated further and further into the sanctuary of her mind.
Alarmed by the turn in circumstances, Sandy appeared in holographic form at Lady's bedside, saying frantically to Volodja, "Lady has her memories back, but now her mind is making new ones, all with happy endings! I can't reach her anymore, and although you saved her life, I fear we are losing her mind!"
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on May 11, 2015 13:41:44 GMT
"I am afraid that we pushed her a way too far, Sandy, my love," replied Volodja. "Lady's earlier fear and pain are replaced with feeling overly safe and secure about herself. She is overcompensating now. Another extreme condition, I hoped not to happen. As a start I will turn the device temporarily off and as a next thing we should try to remove her main source of security, so we can get things more balanced. That means we have to kick the Giant out of the bed now. Especially when you mentioned that Giant is a co star in her dreams. Regaining memory has to be Lady's personal achievement, because she must to learn to believe in herself more. It's part of growing up. She has a character, but it's still somewhat hidden and we have to help her to drag it to the bright daylight, so Lady can be herself and be proud of herself. Nobody can't learn to swim or ride a bicycle for another person. Everyone have to learn that on their own, so it's time to remove training wheels from the bicycle and a swim ring and let her practice herself, but we will be ready to catch her if she falls. That's what friends and lovers are for. I believe in Lady enough to let her try to come back from her mental retreat by herself, because we need her back! You can hate me later for doing that, Giant, but you will have to stand by her side and be ready to help her, when needed, because we must have a balance in her mind. Her love to you won't become less, when she learns to stand on her own feet. I am sure of it that she will keep loving you. You both deserve having a mature relationship with each other instead of puppy love. You remember what they say at weddings - for better for worse. So Lady must have both kind of experience in her mind to have a full life. But I can't exclude a chance that I am totally wrong here. Who am I to decide what is right and what is not? I cant really say what is best for you two."
Volodja grabbed his flask, and emptied it with single gulp. It was not hard, because Wolfram took care for most of brandy, but he was a gentleman when he let Belle have a taste too. And some of that brandy was even left for it's owner, so he could felt the taste at least. He might be wrong here, but he believed that supporting Lady in her battle, instead just carrying her away, would be better solution, because returning to her normal self would be her own decision, her own quest, her own magnum opus. And when she succeeds, then she has every right to call herself a hero. But Volodja could be dead wrong about that too. It would not been the first time for him to fail miserably, but unlike Pontius Pilatus, he was not intending to wash his hands.
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Post by Atticus Batman on May 11, 2015 20:55:41 GMT
I look at Volodja like he is fucking nuts. Then I kiss Lady gently on her lips and whisper, "Please come back to us MY Snow Angel. I will always be here for you, when you want and need me. I love you!"
I kiss her gently again. Then I slowly get up, staggering on my feet as I do. I walk over to a nearby wall to lean against, but after all that time of laying without moving or getting the nutrients my body needs and my injuries still not fully healed, I feel lightheaded. So I end up just sitting in a chair near Lady, fighting the urge to reach out and hold her hand and pull her back into my chest. I reach for my bootflask, I bought in Freedom, but it is not there and I remember it was removed with the rest of my belongings. So I just sit back and watch, while mentally praying to the Irathiant Gods, as well as one of Earth's Patron Saints; St. Julian the Hospitaler. Secretly I know the fool is right and she must choose to come back to us willingly, though I would never admit it to him.
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Post by Lady Christianna on May 12, 2015 0:16:46 GMT
Lady Christiana woke up, her pink eyes blinking several times as she sat up in the hospital bed, stretching our her thin chalk white arms as she yawned, then stared at Atticus in the chair across from her bed and frowned as she exclaimed, "Atticus! Needs to eat! I'll get it!" Before anyone can stop Lady she blurs to the quarters she shares with Atticus, grabbing a bottle of Irathiant Rum, then blurring back to Atticus with the nutrients he needs to survive.  |
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Post by Atticus Batman on May 12, 2015 3:17:41 GMT
I watch Lady strech, then blur off. She blurs back in and holds out a bottle of my rum. I smile at her, then reach out and, instead of grabbing the rum, I pull her onto my lap. I kiss her passionately, but she pulls back after just a couple of seconds and offers the bottle again, saying, "Drink!"
I take the bottle and drink half of it in one swollow. Then I kiss her again, this time feeling her melt into it. After I break the kiss, I say, "Glad you are back MY Snow Angel. I have missed you. You had me sooo worried. It must be obvious, if you noticed right away, that I was too worried about you, to even think or care about my own health. Either that or Dinara and Sandy blabbed. By the way our kid is nice but confusing." then I smile knowingly at that.
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on May 12, 2015 3:18:05 GMT
Volodja suddenly felt too old and tired for all of this once again. Lady was back on her feet and deciding from her rum fetching speed, she regained her eyesight and since she recognized Aticus, then she seemed to have her memory back as well. That means only one thing - his work here is done here, he cant't handle other's feelings anyway, so now he will treat himself with more brandy at canteen, before he starts to feel like a rag again. Wolfram remains here and can provide them with help and advice if needed, while Volodja restores himself. Three major incidents with people he loved and cared about during such a short time period (forget to mention that he almost bled to death during them himself so it was really personal), twisted his nerves again and he knew what will happen if he pushes himself any further.
Using moment when everyone gathered around Lady and Atticus, he left infirmary and soon he was sitting in canteen having a good time with his brandy bottle and lot of coffee. At least he didn't retreat into his cabin this time, but choose canteen. A public place, full of people, although one can feel himself alone among the crowd as well, but at least he had to have some small talk with crew members and that kept him on right side of the track while he was licking his wounds. Finishing off his brandy bottle, he just ordered some more coffee and sat there drinking it, observing the people and replying their greetings with absent minded smile on his handsome face.
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Post by Belle Starr on May 12, 2015 13:13:13 GMT
Belle Starr smiled warmly at the reunion between Atticus and Lady, and when they had settled down, she stood up and went over to the happy couple, placing a reassuring hand on Atticus's shoulder and kissing Lady on the top of the head, saying pleasantly, "Glad to have y'all back! Let Dr. Orion give you both the once over, then relax some, you both deserve it! Atticus, we can operate a bit longer without your say so!"
She noticed Volodja sneak out, and concern crossed her pretty freckled face, as she then went to Dr. Orion and asked, "Will you please have one of your people take that there dream device to Chris down in maintenance? I have a plan for it! Also, please check on all three of our patients - Father, mother, and child - to make sure everything is copacetic?"
Sandy, Lady's EGO psyche, appeared as a hologram with a look of concern, saying, "About that... actually, child is an inaccurate term here - more like children. There's is a second, smaller fetus hidden behind the first, and their heartbeats are perfectly in sync so hard to detect as separate. Still, I don't know how I missed it, although I can see how Dr. Orion's equipment might, not being pediatric specific. It could be that little Atticus was trying to keep the second fetus secret, but I am less than thrilled that he could do so from me, so I'm going to do a complete diagnostic examination on myself to see if I can stop that from happening again. If I can't, maybe I'll just have a talk with the little bastar - I mean tyke! I just don't like having the wool pulled over my eyes! Congrats on the twins otherwise!"
Lady's pink eyes gleamed with pleasure, her enigmatic smile gracing her thin white lips once again, exclaiming, "Twins! Sweeeeet!"
With that, Sandy disappeared, and Belle took that as a clue to leave herself, leaving the happy couple to some privacy, at least as much privacy as you can have in a hospital room. She took her leave graciously, thanking the medical staff for all their help, than left towards the Canteen, getting on her encrypted hailer and ordering, "Chris? Hi, it's Belle! I'm sending over a device for you to make some modifications to for me, if you please! I would like to have a timer put on it, so that it will automatically turn off after a set time! No need to bother Erika or Atticus with it, it's for me personally! I'll owe y'all a big one Chris! Thank you kindly!"
Belle got to the mess hall at the same time she ended her phone call, going over to Ralph the Cook and greeting him, "Hi Ralph! Staying out of trouble I hope! The usual please!"
Ralph gave her a black cup of coffee and a hard roll, which she thanked him for as she went and sat down next to Volodja. As she swiped the errant strand of blond hair from in front of her wide blue diamond eyes, she winked dramatically as she grabbed his bottle of Brandy and put a dash in her coffee. As she took a sip from the cup with one hand, her other pale hand touched lightly the top of his initially to get his attention, but then lingering there.
"Pardon my forwardness in stealing some of your Brandy, but I feel like celebrating," Explained Belle with a good natured smile, then continued in a more serious tone, "Y'all did an awful lot of good back there! Pretty sure we couldn't have handled it without you! You know, we don't always give praise or even recognition on this team for jobs well done, but we do appreciate them, even if we don't say so! As y'all might have noticed, we tend to have one crisis after another around here! Guess it's the natural consequence if you choose to try to make the world a better place! Anywho, the team is better for having you on it, and I'm a better person for having you as my friend, and I just wanted to let you know it!"
Belle removed her hand, but the warmth of it was still felt on Volodja's several seconds afterwards, as she then used both hands to lift her cup of coffee to her lips, her mind now focusing on her plan to make her life less lonely.
Meanwhile, back in the brig, Lena Marr was starting to warm up to Marcel Lestrange. He had mentioned two of her favorite things: Scrip and an interesting scheme, in that order of importance to her. More scrip got her one step closer to her goal of a lavish estate in Lima full of servents and syncophants. An interesting scheme meant less boredom, which to her was her chief enemy. Doctors in another age might have dignosed her as ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), but in truth she was just easily bored - bored by people, places and things - and she positively hated being bored, and she was fast getting bored with the brig.
"Hmm, black leather! I DO look good in black leather, but do I get a whip this time? Nevermind, I have my own somewhere in my duffle bag. Anyway, I don't care if I get to kill anybody or not, as to me that's only a means not an end, although if it was an end, Varus would be near the top of my kill list! He is such a male chavenist pig! Doesn't matter, I can live without killing him, and he does have his uses, so what do you want me to do and when do we get out of the cage - Boss?" Asked Lena, a wicked smile gracing her pale lush lips.
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on May 12, 2015 13:22:50 GMT
"No need to thank me, dear Tinkerbelle. Just did, what I felt was a right thing to do, and I could not accomplish anything without your precious help. And I really think that you had wonderful personality before I even put my feet on the ground of States, so I have nothing to do with that.
As you can see, I made a retreat to enjoy my, or at moment, our brandy and some coffee. I had a choice between coming here or going to my cabin to reload my batteries and I preferred to come here. Your charming company is an unexpected bonus, but I am allowed to treat myself with the best sometimes," said Volodja and smiled, flashing his white teeth before he continued:
"My lovely Tinkerbelle. Between friends and so on - Ralph is a great cook and I have slipped him some recipes, you should try. Poor guy longs for cooking challenges and prefers a la carte orders, but nobody, except Wolfram and I, won't make them. You better help him and order something decent, instead of rolls. Make his day happier, dear girl. Learn to enjoy those little joys, life sometimes surprises you with. Speaking of wolf...here comes Ralph himself with some covered platters. Seems that he has a little surprise for us."
Ralph surprised Belle and Volodja by making them some Salade Niçoise as a preface leading to Ratatouille afterwards. Long time ago Atticus ordered some essentials of French and Italian cuisine for Volodja to cheer him up, but until now Ralph hadn't put anything into a use, because Volodja lacked knowledge about Atticus's surprise. But Ralph wanted to treat Volodja, as one of his favourite customers, with something special and while he was busy in infirmary, Ralph showed some initiative, when he put his crew into work and personally supervised them.
And Volodja was gladly willing to share everything with Belle, so Ralph rubbed his hands, because he really admired her and having Belle to taste something more sophisticated, would allow him to show his appreciation and it can be good for a food business too. Belle's other admirers might follow her example and develop refined taste at last. That's why he secretly blessed Volodja for having an idea to introduce Belle with Ralph's advanced cuisine and put a lot of effort and care into his work, so Belle and Volodja could get unforgettable taste experience.
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Post by Marcel Lestrange on May 12, 2015 14:03:16 GMT
"Lena. Lena, Lena. You are exactly a girl to my sophisticated taste. Intelligent, attractive, so I hope that you like to work under me." said Marcel with devilish grin. "And you already guessed that whip will be essential part in our scheme, because I want to teach Varus a little lesson, but I want him to stay alive. If we kill him, then we have a crime war as a consequence, but I don't need that right now, when I am still a new guy around.
The winner, who fills Varus's ecological niche, might not like us at all. That's why I prefer Varus to be alive and on top of the food chain, to keep things balanced. But also I want hold him by his tiny Liberata balls and squeeze them, when I feel like it. If he is alive and under our control, then he will be a guarantee for our survival, because I know one hooded scum bag who is not very happy that Lady is alive and will be coming after both of us. And he promised to send Varus after me as well, so I want Varus out from the game. And I want that scrip, Varus holds at moment, as a small compensation for not telling me all aspects of that assassination. Of course, it will be our scrip now, Lena. I might be a chauvinist pig too, but I am also your pigbank.
And we must get out of here too, but that question is still unresolved when they let us out. As long as I know, you are about to be released from the cage, because Volodja gave his word of honour and will keep it at any cost. And he is not mind letting me walk away too, because I cancelled my plans about Lady Christianna. I have a car near by waiting for me. That black leather costume is in the trunk, because I knew that I can find a use for it. Especially when you have your whip somewhere. We will be ready as soon those good, reliable and extremely idealistic fools let us out. Mon Dieu, you look so beautiful in this light! It will be real pleasure to work with you." His last lines weren't exactly those, he was planning to tell, but Lena deserved couple of compliments in advance. Hopefully she justifies Marcel's high expectations about her, but they must find that out as soon as possible.
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Post by Belle Starr on May 12, 2015 22:35:06 GMT
As Belle Starr tasted gourmet food and discussed the merit of the Utilitarianism philosophy with Volodja, Lena Marr considered tastes and positions of a different kind. She considered Marcel's ill hidden sexual advances, and wasn't totally adverse to them, especially if it landed her more scrip. Lena had heard flattery before, but didn't comment on that from her new "Boss," nor did she reiterate her threat to separate his testicles from his body if he betrayed her. She didn't see a need to do either, although she had heard and done both since she was thirteen. The first man to do both told her what a pretty little girl she was, then refused to pay when the deed was done, beating her when she insisted payment with the very whip that was in her duffle bag. She had messily knifed the man with his own charge knife which she had pickpocketed from him and which was also still in her possession. She then used the knife to separate the dead man from his family jewels, which she then boiled and mummified, sewing them together and tossing them in a small wooden box. Lena had to upgrade the box over the seven years since, so much that now it was a small locked wooden chest at the bottom of her duffle bag.  A cold smile crossed Lena's pretty chalk white face as she thought about the chest, but turned her mind to the job at hand, "Part of the deal I made with the do-gooders was for a car with supplies, and they may get suspicious if we leave together, so let's meet at the Bug N Chug and proceed from there. Then you can tell me more about your plan where the do-gooders can't hear and maybe interfere. I know for a fact that Belle Starr worked for Varus in the beginning of her career as an Ark Hunter, and although she shares my opinion of him, she may feel she is honor bound to protect him. Stupid bitch and her misguided loyalties and principles! They'll be the death of her."  In fact, Lena Marr admired Belle Starr for her beauty, fame, and martial abilities, but couldn't understand why Belle didn't use them for self promotion. When they were engaged in "girl talk," Lena would often think what she would do if she had what Belle had, and that made her both like and envy Belle at the same time. If someone asked her to explain the contradictory feelings, she would refuse to do so, just saying the subject bored her, but really because she didn't know the answer herself. |
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