Turnabout is fair play (BB)

[Roderic]

In two nights I had healed, just as I said I would. Night one was the back and an arm. Night two was the other arm and a gash across my torso from the fence. I still had a couple bruises and minor scrapes, but nothing major. And now that I was healed, I could take care of some much needed business.

Sure, I had things to do in the apartment. Organizing, reclaiming my space, changing the locks and things related to that, but those things could wait. They've waited this long, so what was another night or two? After lounging on my *** for two nights, I hopped in the shower, quickly, changed my clothes and sketched out the image I remember seeing. I'm no artist, but it wasn't that hard of a design to sketch. I needed to do some recon and then sort out some things with some asshole and then go and see the mighty ***** queen herself.

I move to my closet and grab a small hunting knife and a filet knife. I close the trunk after collecting two black universal mag holders, which was good for holding a couple mags of a gun, or a single, decent size blade. I store each one in the holder and secure one around my bicep and the other around my thigh, blade on the outside of each appendage. My feet find my typical black colored boots, are laced up and the legs of my pants pulled out before I rip the drawing from the pad, fold it and stuff it in my back pocket.

I head to the elevator, and press the button for the second floor. I will walk down to the main floor, simply because 'G' is really the first floor and I can't stomach the idea of landing on the first floor. I get out on two and get a look from a little girl who is following behind her mom, mom holding bags of groceries in her hands and looped around her wrists. I stare back, kick open the fire exit door and keep on my way.

When I arrive on the main floor, I take out the piece of paper and show it around. I ask people if they know what it is and if they've seen it before. Some answer me, some don't. Those that do, tell me they haven't in a variety of ways, so I pocket it once again and continue forth. I will find out what I need to know, I am confident about it. I don't give up after a few no's and misses. Normally, I would ask Velvteen or even Doc, but I don't think Doc will be so willing to offer me up the information I am looking for, and since this is not a faction related thing, I want to keep Velveteen out of it. I can handle my own ****.

As I walk through the QZ, gaining more glances, but nothing serious, I pull out the paper and get one hit. Some woman, covered in a couple splotches of ink says she's pretty sure she's seen that design in one of the markets. That narrows the search down a little. I know of Honeymead market, Riverwood and I'm sure there's one more. I'll look on my phone later. For now though...

“Come.” I say quietly, but sternly as I bring Daegal to me. He never fights or resists. I think he enjoys doing work for me, because he knows it's usually something that ends up bloody and ashy. One night, I'll make an effort to try and get to know his back story. But not tonight. He appears two seconds later and is standing before me. “Yeeeeeeeesh?” He asks, remaining as best as he could in the place he arrived. Floating sometimes made that difficult, but he did it pretty well.

“There is something I want you to try and look for. I owe someone a visit.” I tell him, with a narrowed look in my eye as I reveal the drawing in my hand by turning it around to face him. “Go to Honeymead and go in every shop. Engage no one. Answer no questions. I'm looking for someone named Foster, but I'm also looking for someone named Dominique.” I describe what Dominique looks like and even smells like. I'm not sure wraiths can smell, he's never indicated so much, but it couldn't hurt any. “Go.” I point in the direction of where the market is, and then head the opposite way, taking the river east, then taking the streets to the Riverwood market area.

When I get there, I once again show off the drawing and get more shakes of heads and nos. This is going to be a tedious task, I'm realizing, but again, one I can handle. If I just got one solid lead... “Maaaaaasther.” I turn around to see my wraith right behind me. “Yeah?” I slowly put the piece of paper in my back pocket as I wait for his report. “Find Fossssshter. No lady. Twished Shister.” I'm used to his garbled speech, so I know what he's saying. I vaguely recall the name in a couple of hunts while looking for people hiding in very public places, as if that would save them from their predestined fate.

I nod my head. “Good work.” I start to move past Daegal, but then stop and glance at him. “Coming with?” I don't wait for his answer, I already know he is. He stays until the very end and then hangs around. I think it gets him off, but what do I know? Do wraiths get off? If they did, mine got off on watching people get stabbed and shot and then hovering around where the scent and feeling of death ran rampant. Once Im out of the market and walking down the alley of a block in the Riverwood area, I vanish in the blink of an eye and end up a few blocks from the market I sent Daegal to. He found it before, he'll find it again; if he wants to. I head through the old remains of a corn maze and pass some temple and enter the semi-bustling marketplace of Honeymead.

The paper is withdrawn once again, because I won't be making the mistake Foster and Dominique made. Tonight is not a night of mistaken identity. No, I will know exactly who I am delivering to. I glance left, and don't see anything that resembles the picture I made. I look right and again, nothing. I head north and it's not too long after I head through the grassy mid section of the entire marketplace that Daegal joins me. “North easht.” He blubbers on before moving ahead of me. Really, there's no reason for him to stick around. No one knows he's mine...or well, no human can see him, that I'm aware of and she wouldn't know he's mind. I follow after him and watch him disappear behind the door with a visible emblem. I pocket it for the last time of the night in my black jeans and then push the door open slowly.

I'm hit with a lot of color. Or a lot of the same color. Steel and blue hued lights make the place up. I'm not sure what the place is yet, but I'm sure to be finding out soon. I look at Daegal who is heading to another room connected to the main one. I see a couple women, and a few men, who all glance at the man with two knives in his possession. Daegal keeps going and disappears behind the door and so I give a short whistle. “Anyone not named Foster, should vacate the building immediately.” I look at the five people in the store, who look at me and they either just stare or chuckle a little. It's a hesitant chuckle, but nothing I've done or said has made anyone move their ***. Why does everything have to be so difficult when it comes to this woman?

I step to my right where there is a tree and touch the trunk of it. The leaves immediately start to curl up and lose its vibrant green color. A few go fluttering to the floor and that's when all the women get smart and leave, and most the men too. I shrug my shoulders at the one that's left, some geek with big glasses, a sweater vest and dark brown hair that's straight up in the air, held by some product and approach him. “Get out, or get hurt. Badly.” I pull out the elite hunting knife and he wastes no time zooming past me in a hurried scuttle. “Better.” I nod and head to the door. I stop short of it by two feet and then raise my foot up and slam it hard against the wood surface. It was probably unlocked, but I'm done wasting time searching for this clown.

There are a couple sounds of surprise as the door bashes open and hits the wall behind it, and a 'what the ****?' to go with it. I move through the door and ignore all the people. I'm looking at Daegal who is behind two guys. One in front of a desk, the other behind it. “I'm here for Foster.” The woman sitting on the couch bolts out of the room without being prompted, while the two guys both point at the other. I look at Daegal who is as confused as I am, so I just shrug. “Two for the price of one. Sweet deal.” I pull out the filet knife, so I now have two knives, one in each hand. The one in front of the desk is screaming about how the guy with dreadlocks is foster and pissing himself. The other guy just keeps pointing to the guy that pissed his pants and I just shake my head. “Get the **** out of here.” I tell the guy covered in his own piss with a jerk of my thumb in the direction of the door. “And close the ******* door on your way out.”

I've seen people scared shitless before. And this guy was scared shitless. No way was some guy who had people doing his dirty work that ******* scared. He probably expected people to come help him, but that was going to be pretty slim. With everyone out of the building now. Unless BB shows up. I smile at the thought.

The door closes and I step forward. Daegal remains fixed in his position, eagerly waiting for me to begin my work. “I'm here to return a favor.” I start out as I slowly walk the length of the desk as Foster moves to open a drawer in the desk. “Don't.” I tell him. “You see, a few nights ago, you sent someone to deliver something and it really screwed up my plans. I hate when that happens. So, here I am to screw up yours.” I turn my neck to the right, and then to the left and listen for the bones in it to crack as I start to put away both knives, slowly and one at a time. Foster decides to make his move and the hunting knife gets chucked in his direction and hits him in his bare shoulder. “I said don't.”

I finish putting the filet knife away and then hop on the desk so I'm smack dab in his face with my own. “I want you to know that tonight is really, really going to suck for you. But on the bright side of things...You're not going to die?” I pat his cheek with two slaps to his right cheek and note the cast on his leg. “Seems someone beat me to it. No worries. I can work around them.” My open hand slaps the hilt of the blade in his shoulder, to send the rolling chair backwards.

I sit on the edge of the table, legs hanging over the edge so that the drawers are no longer accessible to the semi-helpless man. “Sucks to be helpless, don't it ******?” I pull out my pack of reds and a cheap lighter and light it and look around the room. “Where's the girl? Dominique?” I ask and he looks at me, remaining closed lipped. I sort of expected it, but every now and again I get a surprise. “Man of few words, huh? Me too normally.” I lean back and then kick my left foot up and connect it with his jaw and I heard the sound of lower teeth smacking against the uppers from the forceful impact. “Not like you were talking anyways.” I shrug my shoulders as he howls in pain and opens his mouth to not only show off my handiwork, but to spit the three teeth out I kicked from their holding place. “I hate odd numbers.” I sigh, and put the cigarette down on the table's edge and hop off it.

Foster hobbles around on the chair, trying to get up now, but I grab the computer monitor off the top of the desk and slam it against the side of his skull and hear not only teeth connect and break, but I know somewhere he has a fracture in the head of his. “I said don't. And this kids, is why we don't do drugs. Turns your brain into mush.” I allow the broken monitor to fall to the ground and raise a hand to the guy's shoulder and pat it. He's out cold and slumped forward, only remaining where he is due to the knife I stuck in and through his shoulder and into the chair. “Massssshter.” The sharp whisper of my thrall catches my attention and I see what he's looking at. A portal.

“Know where it goes?” I ask, but only get a shake of his head. “Keep an eye on ****** here.” I nudge my thumb towards Foster, who probably got off easier than I should have let him. Well, until I had that thought. I grab my filet knife out of the holder and head back to the guy. I shove his head back with the palm of my right hand, and let it lay on the top of the chair, against the wall. I pull open his mouth, yank his tongue out and slice it right off. Why? Because if I ever see him, I never want to hear a single thing come out of his mouth. No one should hear anything come out of this level of stupid's mouth.

I nod and then head to the portal and go through it and what the hell did I just come into? It's a playground. For me. Where has this thing been? What was this place, even? There's wilderness everywhere, a lake and even live animals. I turn around to look at where I just came from, but I can't seem to go back. So what do I do? I sit on the chair on the dock, kick my feet up and wait. I wait for the inevitable and grin.

[Dominique]

Swirls of cool fresh water caressed the shadow’s bare skin beneath the moonlight. Each like an embracing finger passing by as her body moved against the current. In the darkness below the surface the freedom of fluid movement was gained through each stretch of her arms. Teamwork of both shooting forward and then pulling back to her sides effectively sent her further ahead. Even the of something on the move, gliding across her back, slick over her skin is no deterrent. Peace filled her in this journey. Her feet kicking leisurely back and forth bringing her closer to her destination. Home.

The illumination of the iPhone screen glowed while the body of the communication device shivered for attention. From where it was currently sitting there was none to be had. The shadow destined owner was still navigating the route back in the river. All went dark then a few seconds more brought another glow from the screen. The business number belonging to Twisted Sister Custom & Design scrolled across as an alert while the incoming phone call icon flashed.

“****! ****!” The woman who hated the sight of blood was being forced to see more than she ever planned on. How Foster managed to call her she had no clue but he did.

Foster was gagging and leaning forward gagging on his own blood. Rainbow was dropping the F bomb darting around like an aimless moth beneath the shop lights in the office. Dominique always had a first aid kit around. It was nearly the size of a steamer trunk that she kept stashed out of view because all of the stuff in it.

Everything was inside. Surgical trays, intravenous fluids, narcotics, various tubing and even an ambu bag. Not only that, the business owner even gave inservices as to how to use it all routinely. Some of it was helpful but soon it went into bizarre. It didn’t make sense on how she went into splinting legs and setting shoulders instead of heading to the emergency room. All the employees in the small group at the equally odd mandatory 1 am meeting sat with jaws dropped. As soon as someone asked why would they need to be setting shoulders or splinting possible breaks instead of doing the normal thing and just heading to the E.R. she went on a rant about the evils of modern medicine. Ten minutes was spent on how accidents happen where you least expect them. Examples of planes going through business roofs, bulls charging through cement walls and most memorable… possible alien encounters were covered in detail from start to finish. It was extreme to say the least and only slightly softened by the ending when she reviewed the history of wilderness medicine and homeopathic options that save money and don’t feed the mass market monsters.

Three out of the five shrugged, the nice mellow buzz flowing through them thanks to her liberal stance on smoking weed. The fourth asked about the current employee healthcare benefits and got the honest answer when their boss patted the suitcase size first aid kit. It had every painkiller inside and an ample supply of antibiotics. She assured them she had it good with a prominent physician that would deal with anything invasive that her hands couldn’t get a hold of. The fifth was still not sold. He wanted dental and asked if she knew a dentist. He had a cavity that he couldn’t afford to fix and it was getting worse. Dominique offered up a solution for it and he went pale instantly.

Rainbow finally got her hands on the white piece of luggage with a red cross on the top. A cross that had been formed out of two strips of red duct tape with the message beneath ‘Do NOT call 9-1-1! Call me!’. Her shaking hands opened the clasps that held it shut. Once it lifted the weight of it dropped to the floor beneath it. The sounds of a plethora of bottles and pills landing was brief.

“She isn’t answering!”

Rainbow kicked the luggage and looked back to find Foster pulling the blood soaked towel from his face. It was finally apparent his tongue was partially missing. Horrified she burst around and looking for what was no longer in his mouth. They sewed things back on. She just needed to find it and grab ice. Ice. Where the hell was some ice? She flipped up the ice cream cooler lid and grabbed two frozen treats then rushed back. A little more searching had her flailing her hand as she picked up the lower portion of his tongue. Foster passed out hunched over without notice as soon as the pink thick severed muscle was sandwiched between two fudgsicles. Rainbow was running on adrenaline and shock. She wouldn’t realize until much later just exactly what she did in the very moment at hand.

“**** it.”

She tried to push Foster back but she felt the slick material of his blood drenched shirt move beneath her hand. The knife that had held him up had been removed too soon. There was no more time to waste. She ignored the directions on the suitcase and called for emergency services. While they were on their way she left a voicemail on Dominique’s cell.

“Foster was attacked. Check the cameras. You didn’t answer so he is heading to the hospital.”

The iPhone on the kitchen counter ceased its movement. The glow of the screen lasted long enough for the incoming call alert to switch to 1 new voicemail. The sounds of sirens and voices came as a relief to the woman and she instantly started sobbing as the first responding officer became visible.

Breaking the surface of the water several hundred yards from the dock had the dark head and eyes appearing just above the water line. She wiped the water from her eyes and brushed the limp strands of her hair from face. Her toes used the slick rock and loose bottom to grip on beneath the water to keep her at the very edge of the bank while her hands gathered and twisted the excess water from her hair. Slowly her feet braved the challenge of the unpredictable surface they walked on. The closer she came the more aware she became that her dock had a visitor.

Using care not to make a sound she approached and finally make out who it was. HOPE reached up as she sprung from the rocks beneath her feet and attempted to take the uninvited by the back of his collar and toss him into the river. Unfortunately on a larger scale some things were just not meant to be. This was one of those. HOPE was met with a resistance that the shadow did not plan on. The body she was aiming for stayed put and in her failure she did the only reasonable thing she could do being that she was bare as the day she was born. She embraced the shadows around her and went quickly for the bank to gain solid ground.

Dice roll results: To catch off guard-succeeded. to pull into water-Failed, to use shadow power-Succeeded

[Roderic]

I'm thinking of all the ways to initiate the meeting tonight. Do I just sit here in silence, or talk first? I think I'm going to stick with my usual resolve and follow the whole 'silence is golden.' I don't even have a real purpose for being here, other than I can be here. Most of my beef was with ******, and he'll have a reminder for the rest of his life on how to do his job effectively from here on out.

To the left of me is woods, to the right, open water and in front of me, even more open water. She could come from anywhere. Hell, she could even be in the building now somewhere for all I know, but I've got no where to be for a long time. I'm listening more than I'm watching for anything. I might have better vision now that I'm a vampire, but I don't have night vision. So, I have to rely on my other senses, like hearing and smelling. And I don't hear anything but the gentle sloshing of the water against the shoreline and an occasional whoo-ing of an owl somewhere in the far distance.

Suddenly my senses are invaded with a stronger scent of wetness, and earth, but I don't see her. Even as I turn my neck to the left and then to the right, I see nothing. But, I know she's here. I'm just about to call out for her, when something grabs me and tries to tug. I don't know what is tugging at me for sure, but I have a pretty good idea. Seeing might be believing to most people, but I know better. I believe that what you definitively hear, and what you smell is the truth too. Seeing, in the real of supernatural and the unexplained, leaves someone with more questions than answers.

The pressure from around me is released as I don't move, because unless she does what she did the second go around we met that one night, I'm confident she isn't able to pick me up or pull me anywhere. I slid off the chair and find both my feet, turn and look behind me. I'm met with nothing more than the shoreline from behind me, and more water crashing against the shore, but I smell her. I glance around, grab the chair I was sitting in and turn and face it in the direction I believe her to be in. Then sit. “I've got all night, BB.” I cross my arms at my chest and just stare at the seemingly empty dock.

[Dominique]

Dominique was at a loss as to why the vampire who seemed to have finally found his clothing was sitting on her dock beneath the stars. Vita Bella stars to specific. Her body was dripping but hardly a reason for her to avoid her barefooted progression that had her walking down the dock. It was her property and she didn’t expect to have to dress for anyone and she certainly wasn’t going to start at that particular moment. Besides the shadows that clung to her, protected her was the best ensemble to grace her body.

“So, this is a surprise.”

The wet prints left by her feet sparkled beneath the partial moon’s light. She found the opposite and empty adirondack chair and claimed it with her bottom. Sliding back she relaxed as anyone would who owned the spot they were currently on, which she did. The position left her downwind and with that advantage she was taking in the scent of what was close to the dirt just at the edge of the dock. Moist dirt that was rich, it’s source from a deeper layer. Had he been digging somewhere before he arrived or ….yes. It was there before. That and the leftover scent of spent Marlboro reds. Her nose twitched subtly and her head reclined so that her dark eyes were heavenward.

“What brings you by?” He was entirely comfortable where he was. The recent fail at attempting to send him to float away told her as much applied with him. “Surely couldn’t be out for a walk. It is quite a hike.” It was then that she caught a few more scents that struck her with a night breeze moving in. Overpowering the chemicals that remembered in his apartment a couple nights back was the sweetness that only could be found in the slick walls of a warm palatable vein. She licked her lips slowly, top first then bottom,as she waited for a response.

[Roderic]

Drops of water form on the surface of the dock, indicating where about Dominique is standing at. Small drops and big ones, indicating some took time to form, while others had nothing to latch on to and cling to before falling downward. Hair typically made larger pools of water, than those coming off an arm or leg. She's still facing me, judging from the pattern of water droplets on the dock.

She's in a chair and knocked out of the shadows. She sits as if we're in a casual conversation, and maybe we are. She says my visit is a surprise and I just shrug my shoulders. “I thought you liked surprises. You gave me one the other night.” I say, with no inkling of any feeling to my words. There is a lack, or absence of tone to my voice. It was just stated as a fact, because that is what had happened.

“I like walking. Running. I was in track in high school until I realized it was a team sport. I don't generally play well with others.” I tell her as I glance over her naked frame, looking at her, but looking through her. There's nothing specifically that I'm looking at or for, but just looking. Mostly at all the coloring on her skin. Her breasts, curves of her knees, the bend of her elbows...all are lost on me and get no more attention than the other parts of her body. “Maybe I just happened to be in the neighborhood and thought, hey, it would be grand to see BB.” I say, my tone still the same, but the pitch in my voice rising slightly.

Though, it's quite possible that I recalled the emblem or logo on that delivery box the other night..The one night you were in my apartment. I might have done some snooping around, found out where the box originated from and decided to have a little get together with Foster. He's a crazy kid. Drugs kind of made him slow, huh? Did you give him that tattoo on his chest? Nice work. But, I think mine will stick with him a little longer than what you gave him. Can applesauce and ice cream be a complete meal?” I pull the cigarette from my lower lip and glance at the glowing red ember before coming to an end.

“Or maybe this is all just some strange circumstance. Me being here. You decide.” I shrug my shoulders, flick the ash off my cigarette that I had lit a couple minutes ago and look her dead in the eyes. “You should get dressed.” I tell her in a slightly suggestive tone before taking a drag off my cigarette for a fourth time tonight.

[Dominique]

Dominique was finding it increasingly hard to keep human employees around. The longer that time passed the more fragile she found them to be. Namely for the way the seemed to be targeted and she knew she was the issue more than they were. Her choices would need to adjust to this revelation but for the moment she was finding out that perhaps her shadows have worn off and if so she was sitting there wearing a lot less of the darkness than she thought she was. Her brow lifted as HOPE was rather visible which meant the rest of her was as well. Nothing was ever fool proof. Even what she had in her bag of magic tricks.

This was not half as important though as the mention of Foster. It just so happens that he was allergic to apples. Apples and celery. How she knew this wasn’t anywhere as important as to why would Foster be eating applesauce or ice cream? And how in the hell did Ric know Foster had a chest tattoo? She stares at him leaving the silence between them to speak for itself. She had sort of been in this spot ...kinda before. Right? So, maybe there was something she was not getting till this point. She did have a way of skipping over those she was not willing to accept. She had time to work on it.

“So do you feel better?” Evidently Foster was going to be laid up for sometime depending on how manhandled-scratch that-vamp handled the guy got thanks to a visit from Mr. Sunshine himself. It was a little disappointing. The guy was at a serious disadvantage to start with. “ I got a mess to clean up I guess. Paybacks are a *****, is that it?” She lifted off the chair and figured clothes might be a good idea if there was any validity to her assumptions. “Yeah, clothes.”

Dominque walked towards the house. Her path cleared the steps up to the main grounds and took her by the tent she first called home. The glowing eyes in the distance of the masked bandits did little in the means of distraction. She had bigger issues to worry about than three nights of garbage strewn about the northwest corner of the property. What the vampire did in her wake was his business. Follow, stay or leave. It was his choice as was all that lead him to the point of being there. She was done looking back...on many levels. True to her nature she was ready to take whatever came at her head on. Including the recent blood spill likely still needing clean up and even him if it became needed.

[Roderic]

I don't answer her questions, I just let her go on for now. I'm waiting to see if she's going to take the suggestion or rebel in a sense, which I was sort of expecting. I didn't ask her to put clothing on because anything about her form distracts me, or gets me off. There were certainly differences to the female body over the male one, which I could appreciate. Muscle tone and definition were some of those things, which were noted in her arms. Her legs were not overly muscular like a runner's or climbers would be, but they weren't in bad shape. Her arms were the real advantage to BB. Something I keep in the back of my mind.

She gets up and I just sit there until she walks past me and the chair I'm sitting on. I sit there because I'm mildly surprised that she's going to do what I suggested. I hear her pad away on the dock towards a structure I saw from the corner of my eyes a minute or so ago when looking for her, and it is then that I stand up and follow her. My boots fall solidly on the surface of the wooden dock, letting her know that I'm following her. I don't look at her, not really. I see her, but I see our final destination better.

“You misunderstand my purpose and reasoning.” I say quietly, keeping a good two feet between her and I. “I do not feel anything about Foster and his predicament. Or the fact that you have a mess to clean up.” I stop in the gravel, my boots dragging on the stones and dirt, letting her know I stop, only to crush the cigarette I placed on the ground with my right boot. “What I did serve only one purpose and that was to let him know to be a better...boss?” I'm actually a little confused as to their situation, as she's a vampire and could easily be his boss, but there she was playing errand girl for him the other night. I continue towards the house, staring at her right shoulder, to focus on her moving and the house we're approaching. “The guy is a dick.” I say it because it's true. And I'm more than confident that she'll come back with something similar about my character, but it won't bother me.

“I actually feel very little. I just like to make my meetings and lessons impactful and to serve as continual reminders for the duration of an individual's life span. However long that may be.” The final statement could be taken as a threat, and maybe it was? I stop at the threshold of her home once she enters and either wait for an invitation, or wait to use the same ability that she used on my apartment, here.

[Dominique]

The tell tale sounds of feet moving over the ground she considers nearly sacred for many reasons is not lost on her at all. The aroma of smoke that was distant continues to trail behind until the vice loses its duration of use.

While her uncle went on about how he didn’t really care about the condition Foster was currently in, what it meant to her or what it would require of her as Foster’s boss she felt less concerned about the repercussions of her own upcoming actions. Foster was a dick? Well when was the last time he had he looked in that mirror one is expected every so often for a reality check. Of course he wouldn’t do it literally and find his reflection. It was apparent he had no reason to.

The man lingering behind but still moving along gave two shits less about pretty much everything. Except, it would seem, for her sire. Two peas in a pod those two are. She knew Doc well enough to see it in how he dealt with their first encounter. It made a lot of sense. Ric wore similar shoes through his existence as the one who created her. They were rugged, hard and free from offering any sort of apology or reason. Both would sink in anywhere, immerse themselves wherever they damn well pleased and stomp down anything in their path. Ric may have been spared how well she knew the type. Doc talked about their history as much as she did. Hardly at all. Barefeet stepped onto the warm stone tile at the ground rear entry. The heavy industrial door was held in her hand as she looked over her shoulder to find him stopping short of it.

“You are confused about something.” She had her back partially to him but her range to eye him evenly was not compromised in the least. Her eyes fixed in a hard line right back at his. “I don’t give a **** if you care or not when you make a mess. And I sure as hell don’t expect you to give a **** if I am the one about to clean it up. Memorable?” Her lips tightened when she paused. “You are about as memorable as what I had two weeks ago for dinner.”

With that she slammed the door in his face and locked it as if she was shutting up like she routinely did. Onward she went through the rear corridor that opened up to the stairwell that would lead her through darkness up to the top floor where she would get the clothes she needed. Not because he suggested it but because she sure as hell could not walk into her business like she looked when there could be people around looking for answers.

[Roderic]

She puts a door between us and progresses with her night. I stand outside the house and give her a minute to rethink what she did, but she doesn't. It doesn't bother me one way or another. A door isn't going to stop me in the slightest. I shrug my shoulders, reach out for the door handle and slowly turn it. It's locked, but I already figured that because I heard it lock. Again, can't always trust on your eyes. I turn it a little bit more and give the door a stern shove with my shoulder and right foot. It pops open thanks to my weight and sneaking around capabilities, and the first thing I do is look for the human coloring book. She's not visible, so I take it she's moved to another location. Her scent is still lingering, but the weakness is or absence of its strength is noticeable.

I glance to my right and then to my left and shrug my shoulders. I'm not sure which direction to go in, so I head west. It's just a fluke that I pick that way, and I'm mildly disappointed in my choice when I hit a dead end. I start to think I should have turned back, primarily because I don't smell the scent of wet earth as I keep moving west. I turn, ready to go back, just a little too sharply and I find myself against the wall. I notice something when I hit the wall with the side of my body. When I hit the wall, it doesn't make a typical noise. It's hollow.

My left and right hand moves along the width of the wall, searching for a crack, a handle...something to open the wall. I don't find it, so this must need some other sort of way to open. I push on the left side, and nothing. I push on the right and it swings back to reveal a black filled room. “Huh.” I say with a shrug, and keep both hands stretched out, using them to navigate my way through what seems like never ending black. It never is, obviously. While most people might shrink back or turn back when greeted with never ending darkness, I do the exact opposite. I embrace it at every single inch. I am comfortable in the dark, it's safe in the dark. I have known the dark at least half of my life span. I am aware, unlike most people, that scary things don't exist just in the cover of darkness where no one can see what goes on.

My hands take me through the maze of darkness, leading me down a narrow corridor to a set of steps I practically trip up after avoiding a random plethora of traps; anything from bear traps to turrets. It's either my lucky night, or the quality of the traps are plain ****. This happens for another three floors (all possessing easily avoidable traps), by the time I get to the fourth set of stairs, I'm familiar with where they would be, based off counting (a technique I've used during hunting in the wilderness, seems to be effective in this situation too).

I go as far as I can go, and stop in a large room. It appears to be a living room, connected to a game room and a kitchen with some other room closed off besides the living room. The trampoline in the corner of what I guess is a game room, holds my attention for a minute before I shake my head and decide to sit on the white sofa. I might not be a pro with a television system or gaming system, but once you power those things up, it's pretty easy to navigate around it after a few trial and errors. I click the television on, jab the plus sign on the volume indicator. A few minutes later I'm in some video game main menu, deleting all the saved game information, before starting a new one. My terrible video game skills might not gain her attention, but it will gain someones. Regardless, BB will know that I'm still here and there really wasn't a thing she could do about it. My boots find a home on the glass coffee table, as the noise of failure emits through the entire top floor of whatever this place is.

[Dominique]

Alarms were in effect. The iphone lighting up and blinking on the kitchen island counter said as much. The shadow that the device belonged to was all too aware that the space she took for hers and hers alone was once again penetrated with a presence she thought was left outside. Filling up on the needed blood pack was the only reason for delay in dealing with the return of the uninvited. Each draw on the plastic depleated the sweet fluid within. Once it was sufficently drained she deposited it in the compacter that did a fine job of reducing it’s existence into nothing traceable.

It was while she was in that space that she could react and grab the weapons she passed on the second floor but left them where they were stored. The third floor was passed through on light confident steps. Nothing in her pace would give notice that she was unsettled. On the fourth floor she arrived to find Ric perched on her white sofa with a game controller in hand and his feet on her glass table. LESS was quick to curl at the tips and hook the fabric of the cuffs of his pant legs and knocked them off.

“Seriously, do you mind?” A heat filled her as she looked at him pointedly. The itch beneath her skin crawling and digging at the layers that blocked it from release. “So you come in and prove your point. I didn’t mess with your stuff.” HOPE reached down and disconnected the controller from the game console. The screen continued to display the game in progress showing a scene of demise to the character he was running. “You have some huge boundary issues.”

Not waiting for his response she made her way to the bedroom wardrobe and quickly hopped into a set of black faded rock climbing shorts and a white tank that stated boldly in black letters “TRUST ME...I have a beard.” She scooped up the cell phone from the kitchen surface while passing it by and hit the voicemail. The faint sound of Rainbow announcing that indeed there was a huge mess to clean up could be heard until the voicemail ended its play while she pulled it away from her ear.

It had her attention, of course, but much less in the way such things would have in the past. Humans could be fixed. She had been too many times to count. At this point she was done investing her energy on saving every last one she was affiliated with when the warm body got in a predicament. Foster has his issues and a deadly sense of direction. He was fortunate to be enroute to one place that could help him. If he had been the one who showed up at the door he gave her the directions to he would not exist...or worse. Her jaw tightened as she shut off the cell and tossed it on the white chair she moved by as she came to the sofa where he was seated. Any resident animal within viewing position quickly disappeared in a blur of multi-color patterns and fur as she closed in on the man.

“Need some help finding your way out, hmmm?”

The subtle stretch beneath her skin was stirring, simmering through her dark blood as her eyes stayed on the one who was close to meeting the beast within her. It wouldn’t be cute and it sure would not be kind. She never intended to see one of her walls broken but if he didn’t leave she had no issue sending him through the unfriendly sky once again.

Dice roll: Knock feet off table.-Succeeded