Rolling over for a moment, Nathan quickly became restless. It had been about two hours since he laid down and his thoughts were beginning to wander around the various people under his protection now. Trusting Zephyr to watch over everyone in the main lobby and knowing that Slacker Jack and his two ‘women of the night’ would be alright, Nathan stretched slightly. Garrus wasn’t going to show up for another day or two, Nathan had already acknowledged that fact and Lily arrived an hour after he had. She walked in without saying a word and shut herself into the bedroom portion of their little abode; the captain hadn’t bothered to try getting a word out of her. What she needed right now was time, that had made that clear and it now served as doubly evident with their attacker now with them.
Lifting up his head and raising up bare-chested, Nathan would wrap his hand around his mouth to hide it while he thought. He never understood it, but the position calmed him down and allowed him to think on a much deeper level than he usually would. Realizing that he still didn’t know where Tesla and Ludma were, the captain would stand up would pull his shirt back on and begin to walk towards the lobby. It seemed in the time he had napped and allowed himself a moment of solitude; the crowd had cleared out leaving only Zephyr and the old man in the shop. Both of them were now situated around two cups of hot tea, some form of Russian Caravan from the smell of it. The old man was flicking through the newspaper and occasionally he would point to something about politics, which would prompt Zephyr to laugh.
“So what? Your leaders are fat pig-dogs. Their power is little more than the might of the people too stupid to stand against them. Generations upon generations of idiots too bound by the concept of monetary gain and lost to the ‘rules’ that those in charge put upon them. “As the Yor’zvin stated this, the owner of the hotel would chuckle for a moment and flip the paper again to continue reading before he responded. It was clear that the pair were engaged in some kind of game; maybe to see which of them would crack first.
“They may be fat and lazy, but they are in power for a reason. Generally because they happen to be intelligent enough to know how to manipulate the masses; your people play with brute force, we play with the power of the mind.” He retorted before offering Zephyr a crumpet, which he took and dipped into his tea before chewing on it slowly.
“You’re over simplifying the Yor’zvin people, we know the purpose of mental acuity; however, we tend to favor the physical aspects over it. This in turn keeps our leaders in check. Those that are intelligent know to chisel their bodies and hone themselves into weapons; you used to complain about an obesity problem in the past, yet your answer was to encourage more intelligence?” Zephyr would pause for a moment pushing the rest of his crumpet into his mouth and chewing on it slowly. “The problem here is that everything in your society is hypocritical; on one hand, you say that such and such trait is bad, but either make it impossible to fix the issue without great sacrifice or continue performing the action.” Both of them laughed for a moment as the old man buttered up another crumpet before cutting it in half.
“I suppose your right, but at least we’re known as the region with our heads on our shoulders and continue to thrive in a prosperity rarely seen anywhere else.” Chuckling again, he handed the half of the crumpet to Zephyr whom declined it respectfully.
“Ahh, you can keep your prosperity. I’ve seen how corrupt and lazy it makes your people; it is a justification to kick the weak while they are down. At least my people give them a place in society to eke out a living or place them as members of houses to expand themselves. Your people, they just throw them out to die on the streets.” At that point, the older man just looked up for a second almost startled, but smirked.
“My, my…” Neither said a world after that as the owner folded up his newspaper and set it aside completely, leaving both of them to sip their tea in the late hours of the night. Both looked toward Nathan as he moved closer, but then turned back to each other as if they were locked in some sort of mental duel. After turning back around and wandering down the halls, he could hear that Lily was talking to someone in their room. Pausing, Nathan moved his head around the corner to see that Arachne was sitting on their couch and Lily was sitting a nearby chair across from her. From what he could hear, Arachne was talking to Lily about her past; which intrigued the captain. Pausing and leaning up against the wall, he just listened for a few moments.
“I came from a moon around the planet Vos, home was actually a pretty place. There were a lot of trees if I remember correctly, but there wasn’t actually a lot of water; my parents put me on a ship with my grandparents so I could study in one of the Universities here. What I found though was that it was difficult to….” Arachne paused for a moment and shyly looked up at Lily, the young woman fidgeting nervously as she had trouble finding the right word. “Sorry….my….common is not so good. At time, it ok, but others….you see.” Blushing for a moment, Nathan tried to make out what Lily was doing; however, he did not hear her answer. Rather, he just saw Arachne’s reassurance for a second before she continued to speak.
“Well….the university it was….kind at first. Then, money issues.” Arachne began to poke her fingers together slowly, and then looked down as she started to cry. “No options, grand parents couldn’t pay, needed money. My body became all good for, I do to stay alive. Been doing for six years, Mr. Jack showed me how to survive. I’m too ashamed to go home….not now…not after what happened.” After that statement, Nathan knew not to intrude any further and walked back down the hall as quietly as he could. Only to walk by moments later trying to make it sound as if he hadn’t overheard anything.
Passing through the spacious hall-ways, he eventually heard the sound of Ludma’s voice; it seemed to be addressing Tesla which meant that the two were at least on speaking terms. When he rounded the corner, Nathan was surprised to see them leaned up against opposite walls and neither one trying to strangle the other. Ludma was still in her turtle neck and Tesla had managed to at least find something that wasn’t too provocative or a trench coat. Clad in a pair of bright pink short-shorts, she looked toward Nathan with some minor irritation but softened a second later to adjust the form-fitting top she was wearing. The fabric reached all the way to her wrists in a honey-comb network of black hexagons, though Nathan’s thoughts were more on where Tesla got the outfit rather than why she was wearing it. Realizing it was Tesla and she had her lap-dog with her on the way back, the answer was fairly obvious.
Ludma on the other hand was glaring at Nathan as if she was going to kill him. “What.” Her statement was flat and shot directly at him; hiding most the heat that was present in her eyes. Glancing back at her, the captain’s amber colored eyes met the seriousness of Ludma’s false green ones before he rose his shoulders slightly.
“I got worried about you two and came looking. Just wanted to make sure everyone was safe and sound, after the fiascos we’ve been through, it would surprise me if a convey of soldiers suddenly kicked down the door to this place.” Tesla snorted out a laugh before shaking her head back and forth; it seemed the statement struck a chord with her. Ludma, merely let out a little sigh before leaning back against the wall and began to mull over what all had happened a bit more. “So, what did I interrupt?”
“Nothing for the most part,” tesla answered before Ludma got a chance to respond, “Ludma and I decided it would be in the crews best interests to get whatever conflict was in the way out of it. So, we were having a little conversation to get to know each other better. If I’m not mistaken, Lily is doing that with one of the little harlots you brought along with us.” Ludma sneezed shortly after that, but she rolled her eyes and looked back at the red-head.
“You’re hardly one to call anyone a harlot.”
“Oh on the contrary, I don’t sell my body for sex nor do I seek gratification from partners that I do not know or do not see a valid gain to be made from my actions. Fucking Nathan was beneficial in numerous ways, especially after my months inside of that box. When you consider the lack of physical activity that occurred while inside of it, sex can be considered a way to rejuvenate the atrophied muscle tissue. Not to mention the fact that on a political level, I am indebted to our captain and for a lack of a better way of putting it; he owns not only me, but everyone who happens to be subservient to me as well.” Ludma only shook her head out for a second, throwing her arms up in frustration, while Nathan looked at Tesla raising an eyebrow for a second.
“Yor’zvin bylaws are a confusing mess of dominance and submission; it’s like every sado-masochist’s dream come true. No wonder no feminist groups started out there; they’d like be forced to fuck under the system of law.” As Ludma said this, she would cross her arms under her breasts and huff before staring back at Nathan whom was contemplating the issue for a moment. Placing his hand on his chin and just letting the two women talk over him. “Not going to tell your slave to bend over so you can fuck her, Mr. Rapist?” Both Nathan and Tesla jolted upright at the statement, though Tesla did so more as a way of getting ready, while Nathan was more experiencing a cold chill going down his spine.
“Eh,” the captain stammered for a moment before relaxing again, “Ludma I know that isn’t going to go away, but you bringing it up isn’t going to help our situation. I don’t know what possessed me to do it and apologies have already been done; my actions earlier may have been in poor taste, but considering the fucking attitude after everything that had just happened I’m a little more than justified and pulling a low blow.” Tesla by this point had leaned back against the wall and was doing nothing more than watching the two talk.
“Right, right, I’m sorry your holiness. I forgot that your evil side just happens to seep out of your ass from time to time; do you have any idea what you did to me? Do you know the damage you’ve done?” Ludma asked this, while poking Nathan in his chest forcing him to take a step back as she bared her teeth at him. “No and you never will because you believe that you get a free pass because you ran off to save someone. Sin is sin you idiot, it doesn’t wash clean because you did one thing. It cakes on and it takes time to wash off, yet you keep coming around and rub mud over what is starting to wash away!” Ludma shouted for a moment turning away to march off before Nathan caught her arm and looked down; his eyes hidden as he clutched around her wrist and held tightly. “Let me go, Nathan.” Ludma responded with ice in her voice and murder in her eyes.
Just as Tesla was about to interject, Nathan pressed a small bottle in Ludma’s hand and let go. After that, he turned away from the pair and began to speak. “While I was a the hospital, I walked by another member of your race by the looks of it; apparently, she had taken a human lover and was worried about her libido getting out of control. The doctor prescribed that drug to calm down the effects before and after intercourse, I stopped in a drug market on the way back and got you a fifty pack of the stuff. So, yeah I found out what damage I did physically. Whatever is fucking with you mentally, that’s your own problem and we’ve got someone here who can help you through that damage. “ Just as Ludma was about to speak again, Nathan turned his head towards her and smirked. “You’re part of this crew and as captain, I can’t just ignore your needs now can I?” Walking away, he disappeared down the hall, leaving Tesla and Ludma looking dumb-founded at each other.
“Well, he was wrong about everything till that last bit.” Ludma finally said with a small sigh, popping one of the pills dry and swallowing it after reading the box’s instructions. “There is more damage done that just some mental scars and an allergic reaction to sperm, but I’ll let fuck-face figure that out when something isn’t trying to kill us. For now, this is….eh….not even a start really but it makes being around the asshole a little more tolerable.” Tesla only snickered for a moment as she wagged her finger at Ludma teasingly.
“You enjoyed it didn’t you?”
“You’re a whore.” She snapped back in response and drifted towards one of the darker corners of the hotel.
When Nathan returned back to the room, Arachne and Lily were still having a conversation; though they looked up at the captain when he approached. Lily looked towards Arachne and gave her a sweet smile before patting her hands gently. “We’ll talk later ok? It’s been a rough day and everyone needs to get some rest.” The younger woman only nodded and moved past Nathan, looking up at him timidly before retreating to another part of the building. “Sweet girl, it’s sad that she is stuck in the prostitution business.” Lily said calmly before looking at Nathan for a moment and shaking her head. “Still, we can’t keep taking in strays, our survival is dependent on being able to make money.”
“I…uh…cut a deal with them.” Nathan responded slowly before sighing and rubbing his wrist for a moment, then staring back out the window.
“What did you do this time?” Her voice was disjointed, not entirely there and already assuming the worse. “Did you agree to worse me, Tesla and Ludma out?”
“I’m not that cruel,” he answered his eyes already drooping and his exhaustion starting to kick in, “No, their kicking us the majority of their income so long as we provide food and shelter. It isn’t what I imagined doing, but at this point any sort of chance to make money is appreciated.” Lily would only nod in response before walking away and stopping in front of the door.
“Good night Nathan.” At those words, she closed the door behind her and the captain knew better than to intrude any further. Wandering towards the fridge, he opened it and could see that there was some food inside of it. Opening the container and sniffing at it, Nathan could tell the food was still good and it was nothing more than a half of a club sandwich. Chewing through it and at least getting something on his stomach; he would stare out the window watching vehicles go by for some twenty minutes while sipping water before heading to sleep.
Five hours later, he was brought slightly back to consciousness by a weight against his body actually two weights. Murmuring for a second, he was curious what it could possibly be. At the same time though, his body was numb and ached all of the soreness finally coming through. Sleep seemed like the better option and would likely prepare him for the day ahead.
A: Look and See who is lying on top of Nathan
B: Ignore it and go back to sleep.
Current Credits: 1,256
Next deduction for consumption of party: 400 in 2 Updates
Totals:
Tesla – 50 Contentment: 4/5 Mood: Mischievous Wants: More control/More information on Gilarose
Zephyr- 90 Contentment: 5/5 Mood: Paranoid Wants: A more secure location/weapons
Lily – 50 Contentment: 2/5 Mood: Confused and Shocked Wants: Medical books and crew analysis
Ludma – 50 Contentment 2/5 Mood: Angry, but less so Wants: Computers
Slacker Jack – 10 Contentment 4/5 Mood: Unreadable Wants: More customers
Gilarose – 70 Contentment 4/5 Mood: Promiscuous Wants: Cleaner facilities/Respect
Arachne - ?? Contentment 4/5 Mood: Curious Wants: Tranquility
Garrus – 80 Contentment 1/5 Mood: Irritated Wants: A ship
