My Archives: July 2004
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Livewire had always had a strange relationship with her own intuition, and she was beginning to get the idea that it was becoming a problem. Kaitlyn had always known of acting on impulse as an intensely weird desire she could rarely ever hope to control.
It was getting to the point where she saw it as some kind of masochistic need on her mind’s behalf. Almost as if the deepest, innermost recesses of her psyche were doing their damnedest to completely ruin any chance of self preservation whenever, and wherever, possible. That fact had begun to disturb her deeply, really, especially considering she knew full well that in every instance she had decided to follow that ‘gut feeling’, she rarely achieved anymore than a few fleeting moments of self-gratification; and those moments were hardly ever worth it.
Perhaps, to her, rationality meant conformity. She didn’t much like conformity, she wasn’t really sure why. But then again, she never understood herself anyway, so it was a possibility.
Nevertheless, the urge was there, and feigning disinterest was not an option. At that particular moment, frozen still in the hallway and staring off to the right, Livewire didn’t fully understand why she needed to do what she was thinking. In fact, idea had come to her so subtly, and she had stopped so abruptly, that for a split-second, she had the opportunity to continue on as if such a thought had never crossed her mind.
‘…Y’know, I wonder what she does in there… Does she just sleep or what? Always so damn mysterious…’ The young woman pondered, tentatively taking a step back and staring at the beige door, Raven’s quarters, which was faceless for the most part, save for a hardly discernable number in the smallest font capable of being read, and the awkwardly designed handles that littered many of the manual doors on the lower floors of the Typhon rig.
‘Room 312… Maybe I should just take a quick look.’
The more she thought about it, the more she came to realize that in all the time she’d known Raven, she hardly ever bothered her, and couldn’t recall for the life of her their last, casual conversation. And the longer these thoughts drifted in and out of her mind, the more apparent it became that the moment to just walk away and ignore impulse was gone. Regardless of weather or not the secretive woman was in there, Livewire was going inside.
Livewire boldly rested her fingers along the cold, steel door-handle, grinning at the very thought of attaining a glimpse of the gothic décor of Raven’s bedroom and living spaces, and actually getting to see under the surface – perhaps a brief lift of the veil that shrouded the mysterious woman Claudia’s background and personality, a feat that, amongst all of the Angels and including herself, had only been pulled off by Dominique; whom had accepted her in the first place.
‘Well… There’s no time like the present.’
Kate could not deny the slight rush she had gotten from slowly opening the door and taking her first steps into the unlocked interior of Raven’s room, especially after having built it up to such an extent.
Suffice to say, she wasn’t quite sure if she was (or should have been) disappointed, but the feeling that began to stir up within her definitely wasn’t too dissimilar from that. She wasn’t particularly sure where she had heard the saying, and honestly couldn’t remember the exact wording of that saying, but a person’s environment was usually supposed to mirror their personality. Kaitlyn had pretty much known this to be true; be it her own cramped, messy collage of music and clothing apparel, to the smoke flavored air of Dominique’s station, and even better, Denise, who’s living space resembled the unkempt city apartment of a 20 year old male, both in look and smell.
Raven, however, was an absolute neat freak. Or it at least appeared that way; as it became clear, after closer inspection, that there wouldn’t have been much for her to clean if it ever did become untidy. Practically empty save for a large collection of literature upon a somewhat plain dresser and bookcase, no taller than she, there was an eerie normalcy to everything. Her bed was made with the utmost precision; its brown and white sheets folded neatly and the floor was extremely cleanly. A lot of other random pieces of furniture seemed to be piled around, almost as if she was too lazy to get rid of them or put them to use. What was in use, however, was a desk – typical of most of the rooms the Angels had chosen, furnished with whatever was left behind from past occupants – of which more books and a pull-chain style lamp rested on the top.
Being one of the only two sources of light in the room (excluding that from the bright hallway) Kaitlyn was slightly annoyed by the fact that they were so dim. She couldn’t see how Claudia could read so much without even really being able to see. But then again, the small book-lamp on the nightstand next to the bed was most ideal for any sort of reading while lying down.
Closing the door behind her, Livewire walked around the space for a second, and taking note about the size of it – it being much bigger than her own, which made her wonder why she didn’t stumble upon this one first. She took her time wandering over to Raven’s bed, her eyes focusing on the wall and the grey curtain that hung against it and over her mattress; one of the few variations from the beige and brown that seemed all too prominent in her room, as blatantly tacky as it was.
The young woman curiously crawled onto the bed, doing her best not to ruin its impeccably neat sheets, and sat her knees as she pulled back the curtain, the rings sliding back and revealing a window, almost as dirty and unattractive as the curtain; as if it was usually ignored. But as Kate scrubbed away at the thin layer of dust with her sleeve, she realized the sight beyond it was definitely something she didn’t expect.
The salty ocean waves crashing and swaying under the frozen twilight sky. Set in an oily hue under the scorched clouds, and obstructed in no way by the mass of the facility, in a strange way, it was a serene and hypnotic sight; almost picturesque. Kaitlyn had no idea that Raven’s room sat at the edge of Typhon, nor was she aware it had a view anything like this. Blinking, a light-bulb lit up in her head, and she quickly tore at the Velcro side pocket of her turquoise cargo pants, pulling from it a small, 35 millimeter camera, sliding the loop of filament at its end around her neck so that the camera hung gently against her chest. Her fingers pulled at the lock on the corner of the window for a moment, temporarily unable to flip the ridiculously small latch until she put in a bit more effort, succeeding, but nearly at the cost of a nail.
Sliding the window to the side, she was hit by a cool breeze of Atlantic air against her cheeks, and grasping the camera in her fingers, she positioned it against her eye, looking off into the shuffling waves and holding in the trigger at the top of the camera. After taking a minute to let the lens focus and adjust, she released the trigger, only to be rewarded with a bright flash. Following an audible beep and a click from the snapping shutters, she pulled back from the rectangular windowpane.
For a few minutes, she stayed on her knees, wiggling her toes in her socks against the oak wood brown comforter, the feeling of accomplishment from sneaking into Raven’s room and snapping a photograph beginning to wear. Slowly leaning onto her back, she tilted her head down against the side of the bed, sighing, and looking across the room, before a smirk slowly washed over her expression.
Past the small bathroom at the other end of the room, was a section of wall that couldn’t have been anything but a walk-in closet. There was bound to be something interesting in there.
‘There had better be something interesting in there… I don’t want to resort to raiding her panty drawer or anything..., Livewire thought to herself, shuddering at the idea. She hated wearing black, and she assumed any and every drawer of Claudia’s had lots of it.
She carefully wormed herself around until she sat upright, her heels on the floor. Standing, Livewire began to walk towards the slightly cracked closet door, whistling and completely unaware, or perhaps, just uncaring, that she was spending far too much time in a room she wasn’t suppose to even enter.
Another door caught her eye, and she suddenly pivoted. The light inside the bathroom had been left on, and its door was wide open. Detouring from her original route, she stepped inside the fairly cramped space decorated with nothing more than a toilet and an unremarkable sink. Positioned just above the sink was a plain, frameless mirror that extended from the wall – a typical cabinet.
Kate took a moment to study her calm expression in the mirror. Due to the way she had been sitting on the bed, her short bangs had flopped down awkwardly along her forehead, instead of brushed back, as usual. Running a hand through her Robin’s-Egg blue and chrome hair, she smiled briefly – entertained by the fact that she looked so good when she hadn’t even bothered to pick out a decent shirt.
Her eyes found themselves looking down at the sink in wonder. They slowly fixated on the object lying on the side of the wall-bound porcelain, next to the faucet.
There, was a long and slender stainless steel knife, bearing no brand name of any kind and gleaming as if it had gone unused. The knife itself wasn’t special – probably one of the ones from the kitchen, as it looked like it could cut through meat and bone – but it had no place here, in the bathroom, of all places. Had Livewire looked up into the mirror during this moment, she would have seen her incredibly confused expression, and closed her mouth.
The moment she brought her hand against the blade handle, and scoured its soft, polymer grip with her azure nails, she heard a noise. She had always hated those god-awful, cheap and loud doors, but thanks to the irritating clacking sound it emitted, she reacted quickly enough to withdraw from the blade and the bathroom, quickly facing the entrance as Raven came into view.
Her hood was down so that her expression could be seen, and Livewire had half-expect a surprised, and quite possibly angry, reaction to her presence. Instead, she was rewarded with a slightly confused stare from the darkly-clad woman. Livewire stood in the middle of her room, staring back at the brunette awkwardly and drumming her fingers along the side of the camera, and beginning to feel uneasy under the consistent eyes. It seemed like quite awhile before she thought of something to say. It wasn’t very good.“Oh, I was looking for you.”
“Why?” Raven instantly inquired, still watching the nineteen-year-old with a perplexed look. It was then Livewire realized her excuse wasn’t – and that was because she didn’t have a reason as to ‘why’. Or at least, she didn’t until she looked down at the camera in her hands; but even then it seemed like a long period of time before she responded.
“…I wanted to get a picture of you?” Kaitlyn mentally slapped herself for being such a shitty liar, but she honestly could not tell if the obviously befuddled woman could tell the difference. The moment was intensely awkward – added to that, was the fact that Claudia looked as if she wanted to ask ‘why’ once more, and didn’t, at the risk of sounding repetitive. So they were both at a monumental loss for words until the girl draped in long, black hair began to close her door and head over to her bed.
“Did you leave my window open?” Raven slowly raised a hand as she stood over her bed, pointing at the windowpane Livewire had left wide-open; besmirched curtain and all.
“Yeah, I did,” Livewire admitted rather sheepishly, before she later added, “You have a great view, you know.”
“I guess.” Raven quickly set back both window and the smoke-colored drape, rubbing her forehead lightly as if already annoyed. Before she got the chance to ask Livewire to leave, she looked up only to find a camera leveled in front of the young woman’s eyes, aiming right at her. Almost immediately, Raven turned around, frustrated, and raising her hands in an attempt to shield the sides of her face. “I don’t take pictures, Livewire. Get out of my room.”
It had occurred to Kaitlyn that of all the photographs she had taken of the Furious Angels during their travels, Raven was never present, and always objected to the idea. It was difficult for the young adult to understand her need to be camera shy, but she was determined to break the habit – at least just this once.
“You know, Raven, you’re rather photogenic, especially from this ‘over-the-shoulder’ perspective.” Kate teased, a sly grin producing across her face.
Turning just enough to shoot the most caustic of glares Livewire’s way, Raven quickly covered her face with her palm and pushed around Kaitlyn, with a threatening tone. “Leave me alone. Unless you want to stop being able to take pictures.”
“Just keep still for a moment.” Livewire lowered the camera slightly and ran a hand through her hair, still attempting to implore Raven into some kind of compromise.
Claudia came to a complete stop, and groaned into the air. “Are you still not aware that I’m trying to get away from you?” She couldn’t see, but Kaitlyn had a fairly good idea she was rolling her eyes.
“Listen, just ditch the mood for a moment and let me take a shot, I honestly don’t have a single decent one of you.”
Raven took her time in responding. Her veil of hair swayed gently as she just sort of let her eyes wander in thought.
“At least consider it?” Livewire continued, with a most convincing tone.
“Why are you so… persistent?”
Kate shrugged. “Because you’re part of the group— At least consider it, after we get back from England, okay?” She pleaded with a questionable smile on her face, before mouthing the word ’please’.
There was a bit of a sigh, and then Raven turned just enough to give her the evil eye, before giving in. “…Alright. I’ll consider it. Now, do you mind?”
‘Damn, Kate, did you just get her to agree with you?’
Livewire backed off a few steps, smirking and leaning back against the door. “…Not at all.” Nodding slightly and feeling somewhat accomplished, her bracelets chimed in the air as she quickly slipped out the door, and saw herself out of Room 312.
* * *“Weapons deals are a fuckin’ cinch man, but Dominique insists that we all go out there – Me and Raven could just go out there and land the deal ourselves. Maybe even Kaitey too, if I could. Claudia can be interesting, but she hardly ever fucking talks.” Haven leaned his back against the wall of the cabin in the Eclipse, popping the cap off of a beverage before giving it a bit of a taste test. When it came to food and drinks in Typhon, choice was far from limited. More often than not, you’d find something good, and occasionally, something less than great. Unfortunately for Haven, the cold draft in his hand was under the latter.
“I see. Hand me that box with the wire cutters over there, under the seat.” Denali said, looking down into the bundle of wires that lie under the paneled grating in the corner closest to the cockpit, reaching his arm around and pointing at the seat not far behind him.
Haven quickly retrieved it and sat the heavy tin box next to Sphinx’s working hands. Joshua had agreed to help repair the last of the wiring in the Intrepid, and had been there for nearly twenty minutes now, watching the middle-eastern man hard at work; and only until this moment had he actually been needed. Still, he didn’t much care; seeing as he didn’t have anything else to do anyway, except maybe discard the tasteless drink in his hand. His eyes wandered for a moment, looking for a way to do so, without being rude and just taking leave.
Even though it wasn’t too soon ago that it had happened, none of the Angels could figure out just why the Aleph, Rook and Bishop’s previous aircraft, had suddenly gone to shit and crashed into the Dynatech Labs governmental facility, but at this point, it hardly mattered.
The ship was lost, and the only viable replacements in their possession were two, much newer, but much smaller ships they had acquired just a few months back: the Chilastra and the Eclipse. They were in fairly decent condition, but they needed a good deal of electrical work, and as such, Sphinx had spent the last few days calibrating, repairing, and installing whatever he’d need to for them to fly. He was nearly finished, thanks to Cube’s help over the weekend, but she wasn’t available to fix the last of the cabling for the lights and such – so he enlisted Haven instead.
Joshua’s eyes looked off, out of the ship, beginning to zone out. Denali’s hand suddenly smacked him slightly on the chest.
“Alright, the hard part is done. Put these panels back, then we’ll see if the outside lights work.” Denali slowly stood, heading into the cockpit and taking a seat, presumably to make a few changes to the ship’s computer settings. Haven looked about the cabin, where various other sections of the walls and lattice on the floor had been temporarily removed for work. Lifting up the piece closest to him, and realizing this might take awhile, he spoke again, inserting the piece into the floor of the plane.
“So what is this going on with you and Livewire?” Sphinx said, both of them in the midst of fixing up the Eclipse, and neither looking at each other as they spoke.
“You mean ‘what isn’t’, which would be nearly everything.” Josh replied, manually twisting the screws into place so the panel would not suddenly fly off during turbulent flights. “She hasn’t really wanted to speak to me in days.”
“Dominique mentioned you three had an altercation.”
“You could say that.” Joshua muttered, moving to the next segment of floor that needed to be dealt with.
“She also mentioned she apologized to the both of you.” Denali elaborated, with the sound of switches being flipped and the odd warping noise of the control panel being toggled with coming from where he was, and ringing throughout the Eclipse.
“That she did,” Josh replied, recalling the conversation she had with Dominique early during the day, when she came to talk to him. “Though, it’s not going to get Kate to talk to me. I’d have asked her to help with that, but she’s too busy playing with that girl and lugging that fucking gun everywhere. I mean, don’t you think its ‘kind of dangerous’ to have a fuckin’ rail gun at the dinner table?”
“It’s more of a…” Sphinx snapped his fingers in the air for a moment, looking for a decent term. “It’s more of a heavy shock rifle.” Haven mouthed the word ‘whatever’ and came to his feet, going to work on the next section of grating. Denali turned his head to the side and leaned around the chair, heading back to the topic of the, apparently life-altering entity that was Livewire, the renaissance girl. “So why don’t you talk to her?”
“Talking to Kaitey... Talking to Livewire is kinda difficult,” He stopped and sat his hands against the grating, not bothering to put in the screws as he talked. “Do you ever get the feeling you’re talking to someone, and you know they aren’t listening to half of what you are saying, but you don’t… Say anything about it?”
“I’m sure everybody does. I suppose I understand the feeling.” Sphinx assured him with a rather a-matter-of-factly tone.
Joshua paused for a moment, before resuming his work, twisting the coils into place and continuing his verbal annotation. “She’s impossible, rude, random… She’s a very random girl, you know. I don’t think she really listens to anyone. Not even Dominique; and definitely not me. Well, half the time, and anyway.” He rolled his eyes and let out a huff of dissatisfaction, continuing on. “Fact of the matter is, I’ve never met a woman as… Intimidating as her, and I’m the type of guy who just likes to wing it, so I always feel like I’m making mistakes. And I do care about her, so…” Haven suddenly stopped, turning around only to see Sphinx looking at him with his mouth slightly open, completely unsure as to how he should respond.
“Did I lose you?”
“There is not a doubt in my mind that you did… However,” Denali dropped what he was doing and left the seat, heading over to Joshua and putting his hand on his shoulder. “If what you told me is exactly what you think, then the best advice I, or anyone else, can give you would be this: Just go and tell her what you told me. I can finish up.”
Haven was quiet for a moment, finishing the last screw on the grating and staring blankly out of the ship, pondering for a moment weather that was a good idea. “Maybe after we’re done, I haven’t really been much of a help…”
“That is alright. I never really have Cube do any of the work either.” Sphinx produced the slightest of smiles and pulled his hand away from Haven, heading back into the cockpit of the Eclipse. “Honestly, I just enjoy the conversational element. Now get out of here.”
Joshua quickly got to his feet and headed down the lift, before stopping, and putting his hand on the edge of the airship’s inside, looking back slightly. “Hey. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” The older man said, resuming his work at the control panel of the small aircraft and shaking his head slightly.
* * *
Tucked away within the various tunnels that lead to the large storage areas, where hundreds of stacked drums of oil and boxed up machinery were housed, there was a small, slightly confined bunch of rooms. These small spaces weren’t adequate lodgings for any of the Angels, and thus, went unused. Except for two – both located at the end of hallway A-9, a bathroom and a small, four walled enclosing not even half the size of her own, extremely untidy, bedroom. Both of them were parallel to each other in the hall, their doors uniformly blank like the rest down here, as they were never fully used in the time Typhon was used for extracting crude, not an apartment complex for renegades.Livewire processed and printed her own film, procedure which didn’t take more than a few minutes, for her. The temperature this deep into Typhon was just right – it hardly agitated the film, and the result of the picture she took in Raven’s room was a testament to that. Lately she had tried to experiment with her photo development, but this time, she was careful to get it out as clear and satisfactory as possible.
Fog suspended over the eastern sea, twisted waves frozen still in time under a perpetual night. The flash from the camera didn’t make any of it look unnatural – which she was thankful for.
Kaitlyn’s soft, smooth fingers and their meticulously painted nails pinned the image against the wall, amongst a massive amalgam of photographs taken by her over the last few years. Most of them were filed away in albums inside boxes that rested in the corner of the same room, but every so often, she took a picture of something really unique and interesting, and those ended up here, on the dove-white forth wall.
Her eyes took a moment to briefly scan over some of the images posted along the wall. Some of them were just random things, like the result of an over-exposed negative of her giving the middle-finger to the camera, but the majority of them were of places she’d visited over time.
Kate had definitely gone places, that’s for sure; Spain, Las Vegas, Miami, London, Sydney, New Two York, and dozens from Seattle, many of her pictures showcased the various areas she had traveled to with the Furious Angels. Throughout their odd jobs and scams, their activities that had given them the title of ‘terrorists’ and so much more, she always tried to make sure she had a moment to pause and appreciate what was around her. After all, you only live once.
Her favorite pictures were of the people, though: of her family. The ones most partial to her were Denise and Dominique wrestling around in the recreational room, Dominique burning her hand with her own lighter while looking at Icarus, and Haven in nothing but a pair of cargo shorts, saying something.
That was one of the more recent photographs. She took it from the wall and flipped it to the backside. She had quickly scribbled what he said on the back, her poor penmanship almost causing her to wince. Instead, she smiled.
After a minute, she pinned the picture back up and left the room. Kaitlyn reflected on the last few weeks, and dozens of thoughts and feelings began to flood her mind. And at the center of them all, was Joshua.
He was next to the doorway. It didn’t surprise her, as he had a habit of finding her when he needed to, as if on cue. Obviously, since she hadn’t been in her own bedroom – and God knows she wasn’t cleaning or preparing like the rest were, she was in A-9. Despite all her attempts to be unpredictable and different, learning of her whereabouts was far from a difficult task.
He had come to talk to her. She knew exactly what he was going to say. He was going to apologize and try to make amends, and she would stop him, knowing it was her fault anyway. Josh was no less predictable than she.
After all, he was just a boy, and that’s how boys were: predictable to a fault.
She did care about Haven. From the way she was looking at him, throughout their shared silence, there was no doubt about that. She had asked herself many times before if her feelings for him went any farther beyond that, and they didn’t – not truly. He was just convenient. And she was sure that he knew that as well.
But Kaitlyn would have been lying to herself if she said she didn’t need him.
Haven never got the chance to apologize. He didn’t have to. Wrapping her arms around him slowly, Kaitlyn Willows whispered the words she had read on the back of that photograph, smiling slowly and closing her eyes, the soft chime of her bracelets sliding against each other ringing throughout the air. Joshua was taken aback for a moment, but eventually settled into the embrace, allowing her to rest her head on his shoulder.
She hadn’t spoken to him in days, and had almost forgotten how much she missed him, and this feeling. There wasn’t much like being close to someone. Even if Haven was just a boy, she wouldn’t be there with the rest without him.
The azure-haired nineteen-year-old girl slowly pulled him back, taking both of them into the darkroom that no one other than them knew of. Closing the door slowly, her lips parted as her eyes watched his own, both of them bathed in a slight crimson hue – what wasn’t hidden in the inky shadows of the enclosed space, before leaning inward and closing her petal soft lips over his own.
* * *
“I fucking hate London.” Rook stated bluntly, leaning back in the co-pilot’s chair of the Eclipse and tossing his legs up onto the piloting console. He managed not to turn anything on, but the simple act against the newly claimed vehicle had pissed off his brother enough to earn him a shot in the ribs.“You’re going to break something, genius. Move your damn legs.” Bishop forcefully pulled them down from the console.
“Bastard,” Rook winced in annoyance and glared at him sideways, continuing his original statement. “Look, now I don’t have anything against the populace, but I fucking hate London. The bright lights and shit just do fuck-all for me. Especially with that…” Rook made a face of disgust and began to snap his fingers briskly, his eyes searching about, as if browsing through some kind of inner thesaurus. “…With all that greasy and grimy shit on the sidewalks everywhere. You’d think with all the fancy hotels that they’d be able to hire a decent city worker or two to clean up all the piss on the streets. I fucking hate London.” He added once more, becoming increasingly repetitive but making his point clear.
Bishop rolled his eyes at his twin and looked over his shoulder, peering down the corridor of the plane and past the small cargo ramp, making sure no heard his brother’s inane speech. “You’re such a jerk sometimes, you know that? You’ve only been whining your ass off so you could get out of doing the job, and you managed to do that, so just be quiet for once.”
He groaned slightly, looking down at his feet and wondering where he misplaced the one laptop he needed right now, keeping his voice low on the rest of his sentence. “Besides, you know exactly were Seth is from,” he stated, referring to the slums on the southernmost, ass-end of London. “I don’t want him hearing you and you two getting into shit, and then pissing off Dom. Dominique has enough to deal with as it is.”
Bishop had found his portable computer tucked away in a pouch next to his seat and quickly brought it to his lap, booting it up as he warned Rook of the dangers of an angry Phoenix. He mumbled something to himself as he began typing with alacrity; unlocking the series of virtual doors he had setup to keep people from accessing his files, with the same innate skill as a musician might have with a Piano.
His sibling stared at him flatly and replied, “You’re the one who crashed the Chilastra, the first Chilastra. There wouldn’t be a need for a second Chilastra, Christopher, if you hadn’t gone and wrecked the first one.”
Bishop’s typing came to a very abrupt stop, his eyes widening in disbelief at the comment. Rook knew that a malfunction was to blame for the loss of the plane at Dynatech labs, but knew that saying otherwise would infuriate his twin, and send him into serious self-defense ranting mode. Before Bishop could do that, however (and before Rook could be satisfied with setting him off, Cube quickly poked her head into the cabin, interrupting them both.
“We’re ‘bout ready to go. Shouldn’t you two be…?” The sporty American began to trail off. After a moment, she rested her elbow on the back of Bishop’s brown leather seat and turned her hand over suggestively, as both of them watched her silently. “I dunno, getting ready to leave? You can’t drive a race if the car’s not even started, boys.” She pulled out of the cabin and gave a sarcastic shrug, before turning and jogging back out and onto the deck.
Bishop looked at the computer on his lap, confused and embarrassed by his own forgetfulness. He then quickly glanced back at the retreating figure of Denise, allowing his eyes to linger on her tight-fitting shorts, before turning to scowl at his brother Douglass. “Bastard,” Bishop muttered, returning to his work. “You made her mad at me.”
Rook rolled his eyes and stood, slapping his brother across the shoulder. “Have fun in England, Romeo.” He laughed and took off rather hurriedly, most likely to go back inside and get out from under Dominique’s radar, so she wouldn’t change her mind about him getting to stay behind.
His departure left Bishop alone in the cockpit of the second Chilastra, locking the laptop into a space on the core of the ship’s console, and he began flipping a series of switches, heating up the engines. But during the entirety of this exercise, his mind was not on the current mission or the accident during their last escapade, or even Denise.
‘I could have said something better than bastard… Tch.’
* * *
“How does it look?”“You look just fine, Dominique.” Sphinx assured her.
“Thanks. I can’t conceal it, so I might as well have it look cool.” The leader of the Furious Angels tightened the strap just a bit more, tugging on it a bit to adjust the heavy gun on her back so that it wouldn’t look too awkward when she was walking around with it. The over the shoulder sling it was originally built with had to go – she could have sworn she heard her spine bending before.
Now the LSR cannon on her back went diagonal with her body. It was a nice look for the trench coat bearing Dom, who understood that with these illegal weapons deals, that certain ‘mercenary look’ was needed to tell the other side you weren’t just doing business, you were all business.
“Dominique, we’ve got just over two hours to make this trip, I need you to help me take this stuff inside!” Kaitlyn shouted from a distance, on the northernmost deck of Typhon. Dominique quickly yelled back something like “Hold your goddamn…” and realizing midway that to even pilot the plane, she’d have to have the gun anywhere but her back. She moaned in distress at the sudden quandary. “I can’t… fly with this shit on, help me out here Denali.”
For the next minute or two, he struggled to keep her still as she frantically fought the strap loose, before Sphinx was finally able to lift the LSR-x89 away from her back. She gave a sigh of relief, and turned to find Cube at her side, just now laughing at her predicament. “Everybody’s ready to go but you.”
“Thanks, the walking-jewelry-store already informed me, yeah.” Dominique said unenthusiastically, as Cube continued.
“Alright, well, listen… I told Psyche I would be staying with her, but Seth is going to need help with some of this stuff, and if someone else could cover for me and take care of her until we get back…”
“Yeah… I’d rather you were with me on this.” Dominique said quietly, turning her head to the side toward the center building and not surprised to see the young psychic girl standing against the doorway, watching them all with almost saddened eyes.
“So, if you could ask one of the others, I don’t know who, but…” Denise tried to continue, but was obviously distressed at the fact that she was breaking a promise.
‘I’m already letting Rook stay behind, but God knows he won’t watch the kid… I certainly can’t take her…’ Dominique thought to herself, attempting to solve the problem quickly.
Then, unexpected to both of the women, Sphinx interjected. “Perhaps… It’d be best if I stayed behind with her?”
Dominique looked at Cube ponderously, and after a moment Denise gave a shrug and a nod. The blonde Angel leaned back and turned her head to the side, whispering, “You sure? You’ll keep an eye on her?”
Sphinx raised his hand slowly and used his middle and index finger to point at his eyes. “Two.”
“All right then. I’m counting on you… If anything happens, you let us know.” Dominique turned to Cube and nodded her head in the direction of where she needed to be, and the pony tailed woman quickly smiled and waved good-bye in Psyche’s direction, before sprinting back across the deck and to the Einlanzer, where Seth was waiting.
Dominique took a moment to walk with Sphinx back to the main building, stopping at the door in front of the young, brown haired child and crouching to meet her eyes. Phoenix smiled. The shirt the girl was wearing was far too big for her.
“Listen, Psyche… Denise has to come with us. She’s really important for this deal we’re about to make, so she won’t get to stay behind with you. I’m sorry, kiddo.”
There was a bit of silence between them, the young girl’s eyes gazing down to the ground between Dominique’s boots. “She said…” Psyche trailed off, clearly saddened by the change in plans.
“I know, I know… but she also says she’s sorry. Now listen up, I have a mission for you, okay?”
“…A mission?” She questioned, her curiosity piqued but her mood unchanging.
“That’s right. Sphinx here is going to stick around to take care of you. And I want you to show him the wonders there are to be had in making a pillow fort. You remember that, right?” Dominique slowly smiled, as Sphinx gradually frowned, having no prior knowledge of this, and Psyche’s eyes shone in a violet hue for just a second, her spirits instantly revitalized at Dominique’s ‘mission’.
“I remember that.” Psyche, who began to show signs of cheering up, nodded her head. A few nights ago, Dominique has suggested a pillow fort, and read from a book to her. That book, which she had found only a week prior, was called ‘A Light in the Attic’.
“Good,” Dominique smiled warmly, offering Psyche a hug, which she accepted without hesitation, and all the while, the strangest feeling started to wash over Dominique. It was surreal; the blonde didn’t want to let go. She felt… happy and sad, all at once. “Don’t get into trouble, alright? I’ll be back soon.”
Phoenix rose to her feet and looked at Sphinx, opening her mouth to talk and letting out a frustrated grunt. “Um,” She put two of her fingers against her temple, looking for the words she was prepared to say, which momentarily escaped her mind. “Right, well, you take her inside. I’ll see you when I get back. Shouldn’t be too long.”
“I know. We’ll be fine,” Denali smiled and nodded his head toward the rest of the group, and Dominique looked to see Livewire staring her down from across the deck. “They’re waiting for you.” He gave a rather relieved look when he had to hand over the LSR Cannon, the bulky gun becoming too much of a burden. Slinging it over her shoulder, Dominique waved to the two as she left, and raced toward the last open cargo ramp – the Valclyn’s.
She placed the hefty gun just inside the interior of the ship and watched as Livewire flipped the switch on a box that was connected to the ship via a thick, black cable. Two thick, closed crates connected to rails on either side of the cargo ramp began to slowly climb and slide into the ship. When she was finished, Livewire shut off the box and sat it aside, heading to the cabin of the Valclyn.
Dominique looked out at Psyche one last time, pondering about the mixed feelings that had rushed through her during a seemingly simple hug.
Her grayish-green eyes did not feel the need to break away, so they didn’t. Instead, listening to the hum of the burning engines outside and the chiming of bracelets resonating from her fellow pilot, she closed them. Placing her hand against the wall at her side, she pressed the button to close the lift, and said good-bye to Typhon and the nameless girl who had changed everything.
Posted by Jubilation Link @ 06:07 PM CST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]
Sunday, July 11, 2004
Seth had ended his visit to the deck and made his way back down to everyone else. Speaking to Psyche was his first priority, therefore he wouldn’t do anything else until he met with her. He went over what he would say in his head, in a feeble attempt to sound like he was prepared. He quickly realized that he was acting moronic and ceased all thoughts on the subject, as most things are left un-rehearsed anyway. He was genuinely sorry – he just wished he had all the right words to say.
He waltzed past the slew of movement coming from the bottom deck and reached Ana’s room. He placed a simple knock on the door, hoping that someone else was in there with Psyche, otherwise she probably wouldn’t answer. People had grown on her, so Seth doubted anyone would have left her alone after what happened.
Seth should have been relieved that Cube had opened the door. It wasn’t to his relief he soon found, however, as the glare Cube gave him made him quite uncomfortable. He wasn’t surprised though; Cube to saw Psyche like a daughter, just like Dominique.
“I figured you’d be coming.”
“I’m here to apologize.”
“I know. I’ll leave you two alone.”
“Thanks…” Cube left the room and Seth sat down next to Psyche. She never looked up at him, or acknowledged his presence, and he didn’t blame her.
“Listen, Psyche, I’m really sorry that I yelled at you like that. I know you’ve been through a lot and the last thing you need is me ripping into you. I don’t think you’re a creep, I think you’re a great kid. I just get touchy and don’t watch what I say when people get too close to… before. So, again, I’m really sorry. I hope you can forgive me.”
Ana didn’t reply, instead she jumped up and hugged Seth for only a moment, before she quickly sat back down, her face flushed with red. Seth smiled at her, happy that she accepted his apology.
“Heheh, I’ll take that as a yes then. You don’t need to be embarrassed Psyche…” She looked up and gave him a shy smile. Ana felt more comfortable around him now that she knew he hadn’t meant what he said.
“Uhm, Seth…I just want you to know that I really didn’t mean to do that to you, it was an accident…”
“I know it was Psyche, don’t worry about it.” He said with a smile. Ana looked back down to the floor, her hair falling over her face, once again becoming silent. Seth got the impression that she wanted to say something, but was hesitant to ask. He figured it was probably about what Psyche saw, and after his reaction she had every right to be cautious about what she asked.
“You can go ahead and ask about what you saw Psyche, if you want. There isn’t any reason to hide it from you anymore. Just keep what we talk about to yourself. All of us have pretty fuc- uh…Bad history, no one wants to hear about anyone else’s, you know? Puts a damper on the mood.”
“I understand, yes…” Ana said shyly. She was actually a little surprised Seth was so willing to talk about it with her now, but she understood that she saw what she saw and it wasn’t a secret anymore.
“Well then I do have one question..”
“What’s that?”
“Who’s Lydia?”
Seth smiled, but it slowly changed and he gave a bit of a saddened look.
“Lydia is- was the only other person besides my mother who ever cared for me. She saved me, I guess you could say.”
“What was she like?” Ana asked, curiously.
“You would have liked her, I think. If you got over her sometimes cryptic attitude, you’d find she was someone you could always turn to for help or advice, she was always very caring, toward me anyway. She wasn’t ever afraid to speak her mind either, she had a bit of a razor tongue.”
“You really loved her didn’t you?”
“I still do. Even though she’s gone, I’ve never stopped loving her.”
“How did she die…?” Ana could tell Seth was growing sad thinking about her, so she wouldn’t ask any more questions after this.
“She was shot. I went out to take care of something, and when I returned she was dead. I still, to this day, don’t know who it was, but they must have been pretty skilled to take her down, she was a good fighter. The cops came before I left and thought I did it. They never saw my face though, and never did catch me. Not like it was hard to lose them in the slums though, they never looked there. They didn’t like to stay there.”
“I’m sorry Seth…” Ana said sympathetically.
“Don’t be sorry Psyche, you had nothing to do with it.”
“I know. I just feel bad is all.”
“Hey, don’t sweat it kid, it’s my problem anyway.” He gave her a smile and stood up.
“I’d better get going though, I still have some things to do for Dominique. I’ll go get Denise.”
“Okay, thanks...And...Be careful out there.”
“I'll make sure I am. If you ever need to talk again, I’m your man.” Seth left and closed the door behind him. He got Denise and told her the group would probably be leaving soon. He walked back over to the deck to get ready for the departure.
Posted by Sylpheel @ 05:53 PM CST [Link] [Karma: 0 (+/-)] [No Comments]