Paint it Black (Invite)

[Roderic]

I expected payback, but maybe tomorrow, or next week. I expected Dominique to be in some sort of state of shock to actually do anything tonight. I hate surprises, especially when they're too hot to handle and this was one of those moments. She's wrapped herself up in me and my lap and the fire can't help but spread once it touches new material. She makes a smart *** comment and I'm half tempted to see if it's vampirically possible to yank her head from her shoulders. Can I handle it? More like, do I want to handle being burned alive?

I have no choice as the flames lick over my clothes and dark, grease matted hair. It's like an accelerator affect; the grease that coats my strands, welcoming the fire boldly. My arms move up to swat at the flames, a natural reaction due to being on fire, but they're stuck at my sides in some ferocious bear hug Dominique's pinned me in. She's as vicious as they comes, sometimes. This moment is one of those prime example moments and I know it too.

Am I out of my mind? Maybe. Probably. But she knows it. I know she likes it. As painful as it sometimes is, Dominique enjoys every second of everything we do. We're rolling and most the flames are out, all but a small spark on the corner of my shoulder. I wack it a few times with the hand that's chard and oozing black. I howl out in laughter, disguising the pain that riddled my scorched skin, as I lay with my back on the cool flooring of the shop. It doesn't help much, or if it does, I can't tell. Slowly, I turn my head in Dominique's direction and let my eyes sweep over her equally singed body. "Can't tell if it's still there. Can you?" I cough out some black blood and spit it in the ground before looking up at the ceiling. Was it too soon to confess that my way might have been the winner? Probably. But, I just can't resist.

[Dominique]

HOPE reached towards Ric’s face while he chuckled oddly at the way they ended up. The remains of her fingertips pressed inward and she shoved his face to the opposite side as she slid to her knees. The hesitation in her body gaining ground was brief. Soon her movement became slick like water over ice. She didn’t need to look down to see that she was leaving a brief but visible black dissipating trail of shadow blood and skin to ash behind.

All of it would fade soon enough. Their kind rarely required clean up when wounded. Outside the broom and dust pan. Or a good vacuum. She stood up with several low sounds of irritation. Man down or was it waiting for the next window of opportunity? She wasn’t going to stand still long enough to find out. She was a firm believer in never staying down or still for long.

“If it is when the rest of me heals you will know.” She reached for the back of her neck and instantly missed the sensation of hair sliding over her own wrist. The blinking lights associated with the fire systems started up as well as the expected sprinkler systems. “Trust me on that.” Great. So it would appear she was partially bald as well. “It came back and forth with me on each voyage to the realm so if this stunt works you topped it.” She peeled the crispy skin from her elbow and watched it disintegrate into ash as it dropped to the floor. Soggy or not it was all ashes to ashes.“Talk about earning huge brownie points for that.”

A roll of her shoulders revealed brief glimpses bone and joint beneath the stretching of what was left on the well cooked caps of her shoulders. If she was in better shape appearance wise she would step outside and let the fresh cool air of the shopping mall take issue with the smoldering still determined to remain in certain spots while she moved. Since that was not exactly wise given how they both looked she opted for something else. Only one thing could possibly make this more twisted and dysfunctional than it already was. A little more of what they already been through. Except this time Ric deserved the honors and who was she to come up short on delivering?

A pull of her dripping hand on a drawer beside where she took claim of a stool allowed her to view the sad shape of HOPE. The H was gone and the P and E were on their way out to Asheville. What was left of her top lip curled up as the drawer revealed a couple options that made her smirk. One was too predictable. Too easy to see coming and overdone in her opinion. The second seemed fitting, a surprise to be sure and a little element of the unexpected to shake things up.The click of a pin releasing left her to count down two seconds as she turned. That left her two seconds left to work with.

“Catch.”

The shadow tossed the palm size object in her hand. Using the work table as a springboard made her next move use the time that was left. Her dive further to get out of the way as the grenade reached him saved what was left of her ***. Now she was laughing. Laughing harder than she had been in a long time. She made that grenade for him. It was too damn bad he had not made use of it first.

[Roderic]

Dom's not impressed. Well, I think she is or will be once she gets some time to unwind; but she's probably not happy with my tactics. What did she expect? Do I feel bad about it? Not.One.Single.Bit. I'd do it again and do more, if it was required.

I feel the sticky pads of her fingers on the few pieces of muscle and tissue the remains on my face, but she's got more bone than anything. She shoves me away, but I don't look away too long. Fat chance on that. I trust Dom, which means I also trust Dominique to pull some slick ****, or at least try to. She's going to get me back and if she can get me back sooner than later, she'll try and take the opportunity. I watch her as she flings away the peeling skin and fling it to the ground before it smacks the ground with a slick 'splat,' and then disappears. I don't think I've ever been this injured in all my vampire existence. Good on her.

Her fingers go to her scalp and I have a '****' moment. Most chicks, no, all chicks have a thing about their hair. Yeah. She's going to get me tonight if she can. I deserve it, but she's going to suffer with me, that I can guarantee anyone, most of all, her. I chuckle as Dom talks about how I might have earned brownie points and I slowly roll a hand outwards, and take a bow, some ash and black goop falling from off the top of my own head and my shoulders. "Only the best for you, Dom." I can't help but laugh a little harder, but it's not one that's meant to be taken as I'm in good spirits. It hints at my true wickedness.

My eyes stay trained on her and before I know it, she's going for a drawer that I know just what is in there. I know where everything in this place is, so she's not pulling anything too slick. But just which item is she going for exactly? She tells me to catch and I know. I see the glimmer of silver as it comes reeling at me from behind the bench and Dom is off and running. I start to turn to take off running, but why? I already know that there's nothing I can do that won't end up with this place being blown to high hell. Besides, I wouldn't want Dom to miss this for the world. So, I summon her back to me and remain right where I am as the grenade's spinning its way towards us. "Boom." I say as my arms lock around her, my eyes piercing her dark irises and wait. She has two seconds at most to figure out how this is going to end, and I'm fine with either result.

[Dominique]

There was no time left except to do one thing. The only response that would save some damage to both of them. Ric pulled the wildcard and now she was about to feel her own payback. It would not be the first time she was on the business end of a palm size explosive that would create a man size hole and take a few parts with it.

“****!”

One word passes her lips while his arms lock her in a hold that would take some work to get out of. Ric was no slouch when it came down to grappling. They didn’t have seconds to spare or the energy it would take to fight over it. Fast thinking had her leg making use of the minimal room needed and pulled back sending her foot between his to connect with the hand made grenade. By luck and perhaps whatever skill she had left given her injuries she was able to spare them the brunt of the impact the explosion would cause. When time was finally up the potentially lethal offensive weapon was out the window just as it exploded. The force rocks the exterior wall briefly sending the window frame rattling in response as well as whatever is dangling nearby. Predictably anyone in the gerneal area will be alarmed. Which meant it wouldn’t be long before the response of sirens and emergency personnel is on the scene. Leave it to Ric to pull her into the ring of fire even if she was the one that introduced it.


“Got any other bright ideas? I am fresh out of them.”

Dominique was hardly short changing herself at the moment. Though it was a pretty humble statement coming from the shadow with the universe size pride that left her transformed into a pile of ash more than a few times. She had her moments like anyone else.Too many to count or to leave her comfortable while thinking about it in fact. She probably had been in better shape as far as outward appearances some of those times she landed in the realm of shadows. Not that she cared so much about how she looked. Her feet were still on the ground and she still had a few moves left in her. Not that she was preparing to make any. At this point both of them needed to reassess just where they were failing. She felt the crisp flesh line of her right upper lid gripping to her dry eyeball. The other was out of commision. One was still better than none. It was a safe estimate that it would be at least twenty four hours before it functioned like most observing her would expect for it to. There was enough to keep her busy until she had the energy for shadow strutting to avoid the gawking of customers or to just plain heal up.

“You see any signs of it coming back?”

The question applied to the side of her body that was known to sport the large marking that once identified her as a paladin. What it stood for now was entirely different depending on who was the one checking it out. Ric seemed to have the largest issue with it. Which is why she was asking him what he could make of it after all his efforts and physical investment. She could smell the damage given the lockdown his arms had her in. To look would take a little movement on his part which was food for her current thoughts. So were the increasing sounds of sirens approaching outside the building they were standing in.

Dominique Other NPCs/Objects Difficult Physically demanding To kick grenade away from her while in a hold. Succeed

[Roderic]

The grenade is taken care of with some quick thinking of Dominique. It draws my interest; not in the way most people would think, or expect. Did I care if my store got blown up? A little. It would take some time to fix, not that I cared about money; spending it, or making it. I hate money; but I hate bank accounts more, which is something I had to break down and get, but I keep it to a minimum amount. If someone only had a few hundred dollars in their account, compared to another person who had hundreds of thousands coming in each month-the guy with chump change wouldn't be raising any flags. But, did I care if I got blown up? I cared about that less than my store. But, Dominique seemed to care. Either to save her own ***, or to save both of ours. It's interesting to me. I know who is willing to go farther, now.

The window rattles after the explosion, the glass imploding inwards from the karate kick she gave the grenade before it went off. Well, at least I'd only need to do some structural repairs and some window repairs. It could have been a lot worse. I could have lost my projects. That thought has me narrowing my eyes as Dom asks me if I have any other bright ideas. I have a lot, but I think we've overstayed our welcome at the moment and should get going before we get some cops on our ***. I hate cops too. There's a lot of things I don't like I've come to realize, which only instills in my mind that it's a good thing I don't have to deal with people often. Just a few times a week, and more times than not, I do a lot of my work in my apartment to avoid people. "Yeah. I think we should high tail it out of here, unless you're up for twenty questions with some pigs?" I tell Dominique with a shrug of my shoulders, before I move to go grab my leather cut and pull it over my shoulders. Another question is tossed my way, and I turn my neck to look at her, and then down at the handiwork, then shake my head. "Nah. But guess we'll see tomorrow." It's the best I can think of saying, because it seemed that while we slept, our body started to regenerate to an extent and heal itself. Cool ****. I move around a bench and grab my pack of red's and then without saying much, other than giving Dom a nice one finger salute, I'm gone and standing outside Vita.