A week passed in Roshire and the brothel had witnessed that week go by,
Gilarose and Arachne went to work pleasing their customers to the best of their
ability in the given conditions.
Business was slow, but it was enough to bring in a semi-decent amount of
credits into the coffers of the refugees.
Jack kept his eye on things well enough and with his new eating habits,
was beginning to fill into his lanky frame better; still, there were issues
with drawing in customers. Many were
distraught over the run down nature of the inn they were coming into and were
more so with the fact that the place was basically abandoned aside from the
crew.
The cover for the place was paper
thin and anyone who entered it was basically asking for judgment to be passed
upon them by anyone who so much as saw them enter. Only the desperate and the poor were coming
in and while their credits were just as good as anyone else’s, it meant that
business was going to be infrequent if something didn’t change and fast. The entire crew realized this, especially after
Ludma laid down a detailed report about their business that week.
“Alright, so for the
week we managed to spend about nine-hundred credits,” the statement sent a
shiver down Nathan’s spine. Had it not
been for his mugging of some innocent bystander, then they would have all gone
hungry. Looking back up, Nathan would
stare directly into Ludma’s eyes. There was a sort of civility between them now
at least, though the polite terms were only for the sake of everyone else. When their eyes met there was the feeling of
daggers being launched at him, it toned down when she looked back at the
report; however, Nathan was well aware that she hated him. He didn’t mind. “Still, Gilarose and Arachne managed to bring
in close to eleven hundred credits two hundred more than we spent; however, to
do that, Gilarose slept with six clients and Aranche slept with two. “
Most of the crew bit their lips
after that comment, they couldn’t charge more per screw. At
least not yet, their clientele couldn’t afford it, nor was their reputation up
to snuff to demand higher wages.
Drumming his fingers along the table top, Nathan wasn’t sure how to
comment to the rest of them that they may be going hungry for a little
while. Making matters worse was the
fact that Garrus was scheduled to be released from the hospital; which in turn
meant that more of their funds needed to be allocated towards feeding
everyone.
As of right now, Nathan was trying to save as
much as possible; after all, traveling in the era of intergalactic
communication was no small feat and it did require a decent amount of
credits. Contemplating what to do next,
Ludma finally spoke up and let her eyes cut towards Zephyr. Nathan didn’t miss the fact that her eyes
lit up a little bit as she looked towards him.
He already knew what was going on there, it seemed that the gender they
shared was enough to assure at least some camaraderie between the two men and
to some extent Jack. Granted, the later
of the three was more worried about drumming up business and pestering Tesla
occasionally, Zephyr seemed to know what was going on with that as well, but
would not let Nathan in on that secret.
Regardless, the warrior’s tongue
had a habit of wagging when it came to his own affairs, so long as they didn’t
involve Tesla.
“Well, from what I’ve seen…Zephyr and Nathan have the most
free time on their hands, with the exception of myself. Tesla and Jack spend most of their mornings
and evenings prowling for viable customers, Lily makes sure that our food is
prepared, all medical equipment is stable and basically being the answering
committee whenever our,” Ludma would
clear her throat at the next words, “clients happen to come around.” At the end of that train of thought, Nathan
would gaze back over at Zephyr whose eyes were cutting much like his own. Neither one of them liked where this logic
train was heading, particularly because Ludma had milked Nathan’s assault on
her for all it was worth in the last week.
Only in the last two days had she pulled herself out of her reclusive
shell and helped out around the place, which was little more than managing
expenses and attempting to become everyone’s boss.
Both bit their tongues for now,
hoping that what she was attempting to suggest wasn’t what they hoped. Most of Nathan’s time was actively spent in
borderline slave labor to the owner making sure his every whim was catered to
when it came to the cleanliness of the inn.
Beds were made, floors were scrubbed and vacuumed, dinner wear was
washed, rooms dusted, bathrooms cleaned and walls painted. Over the course of the week Nathan had been
there, the place went from being a dump into an acceptable place to stay, if
you happened to be poor. Nathan had
been managed to get a hold of some welding tools and patched up the outside
walls so that they appeared as one solid piece now. Yet, now that, that was out of the way most
of Nathan’s time was wrapped up in training with Zephyr and seeking another job
when he could bring in a more steady stream of income. What Zephyr did with the time they weren’t
training, well Nathan had heard about it.
Most of it was spent getting to know the rest of the crew’s strengths
and weaknesses and being a psychologist of sorts.
“Nathan, I understand you’re hunting for a job right
now.” Ludma’s quip brought the captain
out of his rain of thoughts and back towards the meeting, along with the scent
of coffee that was about to spill down the front of his body. Dipping it away and saving himself the
embarrassment, Nathan would nod slowly before sipping on the bitter liquid. It had cooled slightly, but still maintained
a healthy level of heat which warmed his throat and stomach as it passed into
him. This immediately contrasted by
Ludma’s icy tone and the venom she wanted to spit at him. “Why haven’t you taken Zephyr along with you
to do that? In fact, he’s probably
better suited getting a job around here as his face isn’t plastered on wanted
posters everywhere.”
“Uh huh.” Nathan
replied casually ignoring that statement for the most part, his eyes dulling
slightly as he looked directly into Ludma’s hateful gaze. Honestly, if it wouldn’t have upset the rest
of the crew, he would have slapped it right off of her face; not to mention
yelled at her for bringing up something so idiotic. Zephyr was his own man and not Nathan’s to
command in any situation as of right now; a captain without a ship is no
captain and certainly Jack was the owner of the brothel as of right now. As they were, he was an acquaintance to the
two men and a friend at best. Garrus,
Ludma and Lily were the only people who would dare give orders to, Tesla was an
iffy fifty-fifty on it depending on his mood and what she was doing at the
time.
Nathan stopped listening as Ludma
went on a tirade about Zephyr’s qualities and why he would be better off in the
work field than Nathan would be.
Turning to Lily, Nathan would smile a little bit and point out the
door. “Lily, would you be a dear and go
get the box of donuts from the other room for us please?” The comment stunned everyone with the exception
of the two yor’zvins and Jack whom stifled a brief chuckle. He enjoyed the gambit of emotions in the room
and sat with a smug smile concealed behind one hand; meanwhile, his eyes sat in
stone giving the impression of heavy analysis.
Lily got up slowly from her seat, doing as was asked of her as everyone
sat in silence. Tesla looked back at
Nathan, then to Ludma with a faint smile starting to grow on her lips. Zephyr on the other hand looked back towards
Gilarose and noticed that she was biting her lip and playing with one of her
strands of hair. He recognized it as a
habit that she performed when nervous . To her left Arachne was sitting with
her knees close to her chest, she hadn’t said a word the entire meeting and had
only sipped her cup of coffee with minor disdain.
Moments later, Lily returned with the box of donuts in
question setting them down before everyone as Nathan reached forward and picked
out a normal glazed ring from the box.
Carefully splitting it in half and dunking one end into his coffee, he
would take a bite then look towards Ludma.
“You can stop acting high and mighty.
Everyone here has already thought about what you’re saying, so I would
suggest you stop trying to be a manager and go back to being an
accountant.” At those words, Tesla and
Jack both had to quickly stifle their laughter while Lily stood up before Ludma
got the chance to explode.
“Nathan,” she
exclaimed in the tone of voice a mother might take with her child, “Ludma is doing her best to make sure we survive! You apologize to her right now!” Nathan looked back at Lily with one eye
raised and his expression quickly turning from a lack of care into annoyance.
“Her BEST to make sure WE stay alive?, HER BEST?”
Nathan stated with tinges of anger in his voice as he looked back at
Lily, then pointed a finger at Ludma.
“Her best to make sure we stay alive and fed is to sit blockaded in one
of the side rooms for most of a week doing NOTHING, is her best? Her best is to actively insult other members
of this crew as they work and to show disdain towards the ONE thing that is
keeping food in our mouths? No, if Ludma
was doing her best to keep us alive, her ass would be up in the air waggling
around for whatever paying customer decided she looked like a good lay.” At that point, even the two Yor’zvins were
looking at Nathan with their mouths agape.
Ludma was glaring at Nathan with both fists clenched and hot tears
starting to run down her face and Jack’s smug smile had become a wide
cartoonish grin. It had reached the
boiling point and the alien pimp was just about to get off on what was going on
around him.
Standing up and looking towards Ludma, Nathan would wave his
hand towards Zephyr and say: “He’s right
there, if you have a suggestion for him then give it to him. You want to manage us so god damn bad, then
get off your ass and take some initiative.
I am no one’s keeper as of right now; when we get on that ship and get off
this rock that will change. As of right
now, I’m a janitor and a guard.” Nathan
stormed out of the room a moment later taking the last of his donut and coffee
with him, finishing them off while Ludma’s neck went rigid in her anger. Zephyr on the other hand merely looked up
with his eyes a little wide and a ‘well then’ smile on his face before raising
up and walking out of the room as well.
“I’ll see what I can find Ludma,” he said as he left the
room and followed after Nathan.
Catching up to him, the warrior would push his arm playfully before
grinning wildly. “Well, it seems someone
finally grew a pair.” Nathan would
respond to the comment, as Zephyr had been giving him guidance on how to be
more assertive and make hard choices as they worked on their bodies. The janitor’s body still ached all over from
their constant training, but even the week worth of time that had been spent
was showing results. His core and arms
were toning up, he felt better; however, a week wasn’t going to do all that
much, he needed more time to train.
“I’m going to go change, it’s still early and exercise has
been helping me to think lately.” Nathan
finally said as he headed towards his room; seeing as the innkeeper had been
kind enough to give them an extra two rooms to use as thanks for all the hard
work and extra income they were bringing in.
As it was right now, Zephyr, Nathan and Tesla shared one room, Jack,
Gilarose and Arachne another and Lily, Ludma and Garrus when he returned would
share the last one. It was a decent
arrangement which made sure that everyone would be protected and was away from
people they disliked. Nathan’s past week speaking almost
exclusively to the two Yor’zvin’s had been…interesting to say the least. They had shared their culture, different
ceremonies and bits of their language with him; more so they had essentially
adopted him into the race at Tesla’s urging.
Feeling no right to deny them, he agreed and went along with most of
what they had presented; which had led to an…awkward threesome between them
that Nathan refused to speak of.
“Asa va kum?” Zephyr
finally stated looking at the back of Nathan’s head as he entered into their
quarters, the yor’zvin going through the same process of changing into proper
exercise attire. While Nathan wasn’t
entire used to his presence, he treated it like a gym locker room. The rule was just stare forward at your own
locker and if you happen to see something, do not dwell on it. It took him a few moments to translate what
Zephyr asked, which was there way of saying: where are you going?
“Qin,” was his only reply.
Ve qin meant to war and in the yor’zvin society that statement was
usually meant to say I am going to fight myself. Coaches and trainers often used the phrase
with their athletes in order to inspire them not to simply see fights as
battles with others, but a constant war to improve themselves. Nathan was slowly adopting the philosophy
which pleased the two Yor’zvin greatly, as his mood and actions were falling in
line with what they desired. Switching
into one of the articles of clothing that Nathan had picked up earlier in the
week, the janitor would find himself clad in something that felt alien. Dressed in a pair of breathable pair of
black track pants with two white pin stripes going down each leg and a forest
green hoodie, Nathan couldn’t recall the
last time he had been dressed in something that was actually his choice. Pulling the hood up to conceal his features,
Zephyr would toss him a gas mask that covered only his nose and mouth.
“Put it on, we’re going to start expanding your lungs.” At the comment, Nathan lifted up an eyebrow
but followed the command. Almost
immediately he could feel the marked difference in his breathing, just trying
to draw in a normal breath was hard enough so he had to inhale deeper. After a few moments Zephyr moved closer and
slapped him across the back of the head as his breathing grew more rapid. “Don’t force yourself to hyper-ventilate,
slow deep breaths. There….just keep
that rhythm.”
Following
that command, Nathan would find that while it was still difficult his air
intake was at least close to normal. At
that point the pair would wander out into the outside world, Nathan concealing
whom he was for fear of capture and Zephyr acting as both a guard and a
trainer. During their time away from
the rest of the group, Tesla would simply drift off towards the roof of the
building and sit down on one of the lawn chairs sectioned upon it. Laying back with her hands behind her head,
she was dressed in a simple sleeveless corset showing off her ‘assets’ in a
strikingly vivid purple while heeled thigh high boots and tight leather pants
showed off the rest of her curves with ease.
“You look like a dominatrix.” Jack’s voice cut through Tesla’s solitude as
he leaned back against a nearby pole, his body had filled out a little bit from
consumption. He was still looking
unhealthy due to how thin he was, but the odd alien was in high spirits. Tesla would only chuckle upon seeing him walk
up dressed in a pair of black slacks, dress shoes, a red button down and black
vest along with a fedora placed squarely upon his head. Smirking at him, the yor’zvin princess would
simply shot him a playful wink.
“Don’t you look nice.
I suppose we were both thinking the same thing. Go hunt down some more clients. As for your observation, a lot of guys are
into a strong woman…even if it is to show that they’re stronger.” Jack would only snort in reply. “By the way, Jack….how long are you going to
use that alias…it’s so bland. Jack…it’s
too human for you.”
“I just take what someone calls me and make it my own. Here it was Jack…next time who knows what
it’ll be.”
“My brother, he called you Yazette didn’t he?”
“He did and I was proud to carry that moniker.” Jack responded with a sigh before staring off
into the distance with a forlorn look on his face. Finally, he spoke with a faint tone of
sadness. “I miss him, he deemed fit to
call me nemesis, he chased me down and feed me more emotions than any of your
people. He took me to the edge of death
twice and let me see things that no one else has. He was what every yor’zvin child drea….”
“Stop talking about him.”
Tesla butted in after deciding she couldn’t take anymore. Both of her eyes were glued to Jack at his
point, gazing over his pale skin and the nubs that he called ears. “My brother is dead, you killed him and I’ve
had more nostalgia than I can bear for the moment. “ Standing up and dusting off her hands, Tesla
would move past Jack to walk downstairs before turning her head back towards
him. “You’d do well to remember that he
was a very weak member of our race and brought great shame to my family. Even so, we still loved him.” Jack’s response was to lick his lips and
watch Tesla walk away. “If you’re done
feeding, then I suggest you hurry up.
Our marks aren’t going to find themselves now are they?”
“Woman, you’re cold.”
Jack answered as he made his way down the stairs and back through the
front door with Tesla. As they walked
together it was impossible to see any sort of animosity between the pair;
instead, there seemed to be a slight affection masked by the seriousness of
their current situation.
Elsewhere, Garrus stood in front of
the ship that had been procured for the crew and everyone else. Whistling lightly, he held the key in his
hand along with a star map detailing the current astronomical anomalies that
were occurring in the area. An all green
flashed between Roshire and the destination he had chosen. Humming softly, Garrus would hold up one hand
and simply let the mechanical fingers twist and turn in every which direction;
only to open them all up into an array of pins and needles of extremely precise
movements and inputs. Returning his
hand to normal and looking over the rest of his body, it was painfully obvious
that he was mostly machine at this point.
Having gotten all of his movements back to normal, this was the first
time he had worn clothes in a long while. This was awkward as he was dressed in
only a plain white sure and a pair of grey and blue checked pajama
bottoms. Wiggling his toes in the pair
of sandals that had been provided for him, Garrus would huff out one brief
sigh.
Checking his bank account, he could
see that he still had over thirty thousand credits to survive on. Plenty to get where he was going and to never
have to look back, enough so that he’d never have to worry about anything ever
again if he played his cards right.
Garrus turned his back on Roshire and simply stepped into the cock-pit
of the ship that he had purchased.
Without a good-bye or so much as a final meeting, Garrus abandoned his
former crew and decided he would be better of simply starting anew. Twenty minutes later, the well-equipped frigate
sized vessel had long since departed Roshire and was well on its way to
whatever destination that Garrus had decided upon.
It was
around this time that Lily had gone to visit Garrus in the hospital and to
ensure his safe trip back home. When she
had arrived, she was over-joyed to hear that Garrus had left on his own a short
while before she arrived; however, that moment of elation soon turned sour for
her. She hadn’t passed him on the way
over and there was only the one way to get from the hospital to the inn without
taking a taxi or possessing a vehicle.
Both of which Garrus shouldn’t have had the funds for. Biting her lip, she prayed she was wrong and
ran out of the hospital heading toward the docks; when she saw that the ship
they were supposed to be in possession of was gone, she snapped. Lily grabbed the nearest port authority and
demanded that he tell her where the ship had taken off to. Scratching his head, the piggish looking
alien would look over his charts and the various charters before finally
rubbing a wrench against the top of his head.
“Couldn’t say.”
He
spewed out with a half-hearted oink between a dab of phlegm jetting from
between a row of crocked teeth. Merely
moving his head back around towards the exit gate and back to his chart, the
authority looked back up at her with dull almost blind eyes. “I just make sure everyone is good to
go. This says that the guy paid for his
release and said he was going to ‘wander’, he then paid extra for us to release
him without a defined destination. “
“Oh…thank you.” Lily
said before biting her lip and cursing the day she ever met Garrus. Walking away from the piggish man, Lily found
herself back at the inn disinterestedly listening to Gilarose handle a client
in the next room. Both of her arms were
wrapped around her legs at this point and she stared into the wall in front of
her, as if all the answers to her questions could be found there. How were they going to get off this planet,
could they feed themselves like this, was she going to have to whore herself
out from now on? All of these came
causing her to close her eyes and try to block out what was happening, this
wasn’t supposed to happen. That’s
right, none of this was supposed to have happened. Lily’s mind began to rationalize everything
rapidly, separating herself from her humanity bit by bit.
My ‘father’ was never
supposed to have died, he was a good man and he was good to his crew. Everyone on board respected him, even
Faulkner was generally happy to see him.
People had their differences, but I never heard talk of mutiny and I had
been on board that ship since I was six years old. What changed? Garrus piloted the ship for years and no one
said a word and Nathan well…most people just kinda shrugged him off. He was just some poor kid trying to
survive. There were only four humans on
the ship and it never mattered. So what
happened, what made them all snap the way they did. Something….someone had to have fucked with
them or maybe Faulkner just snapped and everyone followed along? No…that’s not likely….
Lily started to replay all the events surrounding the
mutiny, the crash landing and her current situation; none of it made any sense
what so ever. Garrus was a coward and a
greedy bastard, but why would he risk his life to save her, only to leave her
for dead by leaving the planet?
Moreover, hadn’t he and Nathan grown close over their time together on
the Thespian? Lily gulped for a moment,
she wasn’t one for conspiracy theories but the sudden feeling that she was
being watched didn’t help. Paranoia was
starting to set in and the cruel reality that surrounded the nurse made her
skin crawl and her nipple go hard.
Something was seriously wrong with the crew she was with or rather,
someone had it out for them and was being as quiet about it as they could be.
A knock on the door would cause Lily to nearly jump out of
her skin. Heart thumping against her
chest and a cold sweat running down her body, she relaxed a little once she
heard the familiar voice of Gilarose speaking to her. “Hey, I finished with my client….guy was a
quick shot, as usual. Anyway, where’s
the pilot you were talking about, I wanted to meet him.”
Lily almost vomited at the mention of Garrus, the wound was
far too fresh to be salted like it just had.
Trying to remain calm and get herself detached from the situation as
best she should, the nurse would find it impossible and hide to wipe away a few
tears before responding. “He isn’t
coming and I don’t think you’ll ever get to see him. The bastard flew off without us, we’re stuck
here.” There wasn’t a response for a
good two minutes, before Gilarose began to press up against the door.
“Do you mind if I come in?”
Lily didn’t expect that statement, she did mind….she minded a great deal
and while the door wasn’t locked; the nurse had no desire for any guests at the
moment.
“Yeah, I want to be alone for right now.” There was silence again, then the sound of
Gilarose leaving out of the adjacent room and entering the bathroom. Lily knew she was cleaning whatever residue
was left inside or on her, as some clients could get a little too eager for
their own good. Others weren’t exactly
the cleanest people either. The sound of
running water, followed by the gargling of mouth wash was enough for Lily to
know what deed had been performed in the room next door. It occurred to her that without breaking the
law or whoring themselves out, they were and would have starved a long time
ago. Staring at the wall again, she
clutched her legs closer to herself and cursed the day she ever set foot on the
Thespian.
It’s just another mile
and a half. Nathan kept repeating
his head as he tried desperately to match Zephyr’s pace and found himself being
run ragged by the alien warrior. Still
sore from their earlier excursions, the janitor was breathing heavily at this
point and sweat poured from him. They
had already been gone for two hours and the restlessness, anger and frustration
that had been eating at Nathan had all but vanished under the agony that his
body was in. Just another mile and a half.
That mantra did him some good, but the look that Zephyr suddenly gave
him along with the signal to stop caused Nathan to end up walking and then turn
around slowly to face Zephyr. It was
only now that he realized that they were within a meter of their usual stopping
point.
“You’ve got more on your mind than just venting anger. It isn’t sex and you haven’t gotten a taste
for blood yet, so talk.” That command
was enough to make Nathan pull back a little bit with wide eyes, it scared him
to know that he was so easily seen through.
Sighing and stepping forward Nathan would turn his back to the busy
intersection where a local diner, a Laundromat and several small businesses
were pulling away from the poverty of the rest of the area. Zephyr followed suit and soon Nathan let his
hands rest on the railing that blocked his path to the abyss of space.
“Honestly….I’m getting scared. I don’t want to live here for the rest of my
life, nor do I want to put the girls through prostitution just so we can
eat. Every time I turn around, I look
around at little laws that I made for myself and realize that I had to break
them to survive. “ As Nathan said this,
Zephyr merely turned towards him.
“Welcome to the universe as a whole. No one gives a shit about laws, no police
force alive could cover the amount of ground that now exists; everyone is vying
for resources and all that hokey talk about peace? That’s bullshit, everyone is out to stab
everyone in the back for the sake of spreading out and providing for their
people. Nathan, look me in the eyes.” Zephyr demanded and grasped Nathan as he
started to pull away a little bit.
“Listen and listen well, the universe is a cold place. No one would care if all of us dropped dead
tomorrow and no one out there as any problem killing us if it means a bigger
slice of the pie or simply a warm bed for a night.”
“So, you just want me to throw my humanity away!? You want me to become some brutal killer with
an alpha dog mentality that everything I do is right just because I’m
strong? What is wrong with your people
Zephyr!? I put up with it because you
and Tesla were teaching me how to lead, training me to be stronger and
well…let’s be honest, because Tesla is the best fuck out of anyone in the
group.” Nathan spat the last words out as an insult, but the yor’zvin was
unfazed by it.
“And what will your humanity do for you? You don’t want to kill, fine, don’t kill
anyone. You don’t want the girl’s to
sell their bodies, fine. Tell them to
stop and get rid of our only source of income.
You want to give everyone a chance, then do so, just realize that when
you do that…no one is going to think twice about doing the same to you.” Zephyr turned away and began to walk back
towards the inn. “There is a reason it’s
called humanity Nathan, because it almost exclusively belongs to humans. “
Grunting in dissatisfaction, Nathan walked beside Zephyr and
stared forward with no intention of giving the warrior his victory. “So what, I want to protect people without
having to slaughter everyone else. Is
that so wrong?”
“It’s a fucking pipe-dream is all it is. Keep telling yourself its possible, but
remember what you did to me in your blind rage, remember how you came to
kill? The more you talk, the more
hypocritical you sound to me. Morality
has no place out here in space, you might as well throw it away and get used to
having to fight or steal what you want.”
Zephyr knew he had touched a nerve, especially when Nathan didn’t
respond to what he had to say immediately.
“You nearly killed my two closest friends and ran off with
the only other companion I had. Was I
supposed to act like nothing had happened and attempt to talk you down!?”
“According to what you’re saying now, yes.” Zephyr responded bluntly to Nathan’s outburst
whom was now turning red about his face and was getting closer and closer to
attempting to strike his comrade. Yet,
he knew that was what Zephyr was waiting for.
No matter what he said or did, Nathan was going to prove the warrior’s
point which left him feeling small.
“I’m not throwing everything away. Not yet at least, not until I have proof that
what you’ve said is true.” At those
words, Zephyr’s eyes would half-lid illustrating his exasperation before he
retorted casually to him.
“We’re in the prostitution business, I don’t think you’ll
have to wait long.” Set further on edge
and more frustrated than ever, Nathan began to rush along the streets trying to
put some distance between Zephyr and himself.
It didn’t take long for the Yor’zvin to catch up to him and reverse
their situation. “You know the path back
to the inn, I’ll see you there in about twenty minutes.” Just like that, Zephyr was gone, he
disappeared behind a row of buildings and just kept going leaving Nathan to
stew in his own thoughts.
When Tesla and Jack got back into the inn around nightfall,
the crew for the most part was all there; the only person who had yet to return
was Nathan. That fact alone had Zephyr
on edge, who was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs around the
fireplace. Everyone else seemed to be
content with their night with the exception of Lily. She was sitting at the bar staring down at
the same glass of tequila she had gotten a hold of some two hours ago, not a
drop of it had touched her lips yet.
Tesla could feel something was bothering her, but she wouldn’t speak on
it at least till Nathan returned. Just
as the red-head was about to move towards the bar, Zephyr stood up and walked
up to her.
“Tesla dear, would you mind speaking with me in private for
a moment?” Tesla had to hide her
grimace, she wasn’t one for pet names and much less for honey or dear. Frowning, she would nod and slip out the
back, while a certain ash-rose colored alien looked on longingly at Zephyr’s
backside. Jack noticed it and would smirk
for a moment before heading towards Ludma’s side.
When Tesla had made sure that they were out of earshot of
everyone, she would place her hands on her hips before gazing fiercely down at
her husband. “What is it?” Her voice hinted at her current disdain for
their privacy and his cloak and dagger actions.
“I want you to stay away from this place tomorrow. Find something else to do, go off and
advertise all day, find a café and just stay there. I don’t really give a damn, but I don’t want
you here tomorrow.” Tesla’s fist was
under Zephyr’s chin in an instant, leaving the male to stare at her like a
cornered predator. She didn’t like
being ordered around by someone she considered an underling, despite their
‘titles’. Both of them knew who was the
stronger and more able of the pair, so the request was one that was understandably
a point of contention.
“Give me a reason or I’ll see to it that you remember why
you’re mine and not the other way around.”
Zephyr didn’t give her time to continue speaking before he
vocalized what was on his mind. “I don’t
like the feeling in the air, we’ve been here too long for nothing to have
happened. At least considering the
business we’re in and the crimes we’ve committed. I’ve got a bad feeling that tomorrow our
little project is going to get a wakeup call.”
Tesla didn’t respond at first, though her fist pulled back away from
Zephyr’s throat.
“You don’t want it to be too easy on him, do you? You want him to actually suffer so his heart
will harden. Here I thought you might
be getting weak.” Tesla teased before
turning around and moving towards the door, yet her head and heels would
immediately swivel back around to look upwards towards the second floor
walls. Dangling over one of the room
railings by what seemed to be nothing at all, Arachne was glancing down at the
pair; silently, she would creep down the walls without a word and stand with
her head level with theirs. Only she was
perfectly parallel with the ground beneath them, leaving both Tesla and Zephyr
to stare at the unnatural sight. Both
began to grow uncomfortable, especially when she tilted her head and
illustrated that her vertebrae were much more flexible than theirs.
At first there was just uncomfortable silence until Arachne
spoke to them for the first time. “Will
bad things happen tomorrow?” Her voice
was clear, but lacked any range of emotion making her impossible to read, the
two Yor’zvin looked at her and shifted from one foot to the other. Neither of them had experienced anything like
this and were quickly becoming off put.
“I have a feeling that something will, yes.” Zephyr managed to say as he felt his hand
curl up into a fist. He was ready to
strike Arachne and leave her unconscious outside of the inn; however, he
figured that Jack and Gilarose knew all about her, which would make the event
suspicious. Cornered once again, the
male felt his anger starting to boil inside of him. “So what?”
Arachne didn’t answer, she simply sat down on the wall with
her neck still at that odd angle before it righted itself. Shortly after, she began to move around and
climb back up to the railings.
“Secret.” That was all she said
before vanishing back into their current residence.
Zephyr and Tesla barely had enough time to get goosebumps
running up and down their skin before Nathan turned the corner and stared at
the two of them. “What are you guys
doing out here? Lily says she has
something to tell us.” Both of them
paused, collected themselves and simply nodded before following Nathan back
inside and into the meeting room where Lily was sitting with the rest of the
crew around the round table they used.
“Umm…” Lily was
blushing at this point as she looked at everyone and realized that she had to
be the bearer of bad news to them all.
Fidgeting and feeling herself becoming more and more flustered, she
blurted out what she had to say. “Garrus
left us all behind, he checked out of the hospital and then took off with the
ship he had purchased for us all to leave in. “
“FUCKING SON OF A BITCH!”
Nathan roared before his fist slammed into the table and everyone else
turned to the see the enraged janitor standing there with tears starting to
glint in his eyes. “We kept him alive,
we feed him, we gave him everything and he ran off with our last hope….our only
hope.” Nathan felt the hot sting of a
few tears roll down his cheek, while Ludma stared at him stunned for a moment. No one else was saying anything, Gilarose,
Arachne and Jack had never met Garrus so they had no reason to be upset, while
Zephyr only knew him from nearly killing him.
Tesla just stood stoically listening to Nathan curse loudly
at the loss of both a friend and the chance to get off of Roshire; meanwhile,
Lily who had been hiding her emotions well till that point broke down. She started crying and immediately began to
wipe her eyes attempting to cover that fact up.
Ludma just stared between the two of them, biting her finger and trying
not to be upset as well. She had been
desperate to get off of Roshire, to avoid the life that seemed to be becoming
all that there was for her. Nathan left
the room and to everyone’s surprise and to Tesla’s slight chagrin, Ludma went
after him.
The janitor was nearly to his room when Ludma caught him by
his arm and clutched on his sleeve weakly.
“Save your insults Ludma, I’m not in the mood and I don’t know what
might happen right now.” Barely keeping
himself together, Nathan would pull weakly away from her and find that her
resistance was greater than expected.
“Nathan…just stop for a minute.” Those words and the sound of concern caught
him off guard as he stood there with his back turned to her. Not turning his head, he looked down at his
feet and kept his body rigid for the time being, showing anymore weakness
tonight would be a sin in his eyes. “I
just wanted to say…that we all need you to be alright,” she would bite her lip as she continued
speaking, “I still don’t like you, but
from what I’ve seen….you’re not the type of man who would willingly do what you
did to me. You’ve worked hard and been
there for everyone, even me. So please,
we can’t have you breaking down.”
The janitor would turn his head to the side slowly and look
at Ludma from the corner of it before speaking to her slowly. “I’m not broken just hurt and all wounds are
easily fixed these days. You can break
my bones, my heart and everything on me; but so long as I’m still alive, I’ll
fix myself and keep on walking. All
this was, was another lesson. A harsh
one, but a lesson nonetheless.” Turning
to face her completely, the janitor would tilt up her head a little bit with
one hand and watch as the ash-rose of her face began to receive a subtle blue
color. Brushing his hand against the
side of her face for a moment, he would smirk a little bit before speaking
again. “We’re just a pack of desperate
animals now Ludma, doing what we can to survive after briefly tasting what a
normal life was. Now, we’re stuck doing
what everyone else considers dirty; so
what, let’s go running towards those monikers.
We’ll be whores, thugs, bandits and sluts. We’ll be everything society loves to see, but
demands that we hate.”
Laughing briefly, he would ruffle Ludma’s hair before the
woman pushed up and buried her face into his chest. Tears were flowing down from her eyes at this
point as she clutched up against his shirt.
“You bastard, you fucking bastard….everything in my life would have been
fine if you had never shown up.
Everything was fine and my life was good, but….I can’t bring myself to
hate you even after everything that’s happened.” Still crying, Ludma would pull away quickly
and try to compose herself rapidly before fanning herself for a moment. “That…well…that didn’t happen and don’t you
tell anyone.” She said with a pout
before seeing that Nathan wasn’t smiling.
Both of them had been serious a moment before and the situation wasn’t
going to be rectified by one cute comment.
“Do you want anything else?”
The curtness of his comment made Ludma purse her lips a
little bit before shaking her head a little; in all honesty…she was
lonely. Tesla got most of the attention
when it came to the men around them.
While she had the hots for Zephyr, she wasn’t stupid enough to try
anything and Jack scared her. Lily and
Nathan hadn’t slept together in sometime, which she knew, but she knew she’d
never live it down if she attempted to do anything with him. So, feeling pent up especially after the
effects of Nathan’s sperm was just beginning to wear off, the woman found
herself a little desperate for sex.
Shaking her head in response to the question, she would only start to
walk away.
Having more important things to worry about right now,
Nathan would stand with his hands in his pockets and watch Ludma’s back. He knew what she really wanted, he had seen
her staring at Zephyr for long enough to realize that the man aroused her;
however, his taken status and likely fear of Tesla kept her from pursuing
it. That left Nathan in the
uncomfortable position of being what Ludma would settle for. He had tried to treat the addiction he had
planted in her; however, he figured he had arrived a little too late all things
considered. Turning his back to her
again, he made his way into his room before Ludma came up behind him and poked
him lightly.
“What?”
“Shut up and let me fuck you. It’s your fault that I can’t stop myself
anymore and with Garrus no longer coming back, I can’t turn to anyone
else. I’m going to explode if I don’t
get off.” Nathan rose an eyebrow at the
response, then rubbed the back of his head before pulling Ludma into the room
and locking the door behind him. She
regretted her weakness and felt pitiful standing in front of the janitor after
what she had said; however, now determined to have sex.
“God damn it Ludma, what does fucking me solve? Can’t you just masturbate?” Nathan growled back at her, his time with
Zephyr had made him less than accepting of defeatist actions. Staring at her, Nathan could see that her
entire face was starting to turn bright blue as she looked down and began to
bite her thumb.
“There’s no….,” Ludma
would start speak only to stutter and stop herself too embarrassed to continue,
“what I mean is.” She would continue to
start and stop several times before Nathan gazed down at her and figured out
what was going on.
“There’s no sperm.”
As the janitor’s words rang through the confines of the room, Ludma
would nod before looking down at her feet feeling ashamed. “You haven’t been taking the pills either,
have you.” Ludma would shake her head
slowly to affirm what Nathan had just said leaving him to simply exhale
slowly. “So you’re looking at me for a
fix rather than any sort of arousal from me.
You know Zephyr probably won’t fuck you and now you’re coming to me out
of fear of rejection. “
Pausing, he would look around for a moment before pulling
her shoulder in and letting his mouth touch against her ear. “Look, the yor’zvin are whores….Zephyr will
probably fuck your brains out if you so much as go near him and I don’t Tesla
will have any problem with it. Granted,
she’ll probably join in and being between or around those two when they’re
going at it is, weird to say the least.”
Patting her shoulder gently, the
janitor would smirk and tilt his head to the side. “I’ll admit that I’m open to fucking you
silly, but I don’t want to be your last resort.
Come back when you actually want to fuck me without it being pity or to
serve your addiction.” Chuckling and
pushing her out of the room, Nathan would close the door and listen for a
moment.
Ludma was standing outside, still in shock from not only
being denied by her former rapist, but also by the statement that he had
given. She had known that Tesla was a
slut by all accounts, but did that really extend to the entire race? Turning her head, she noticed that Zephyr was
coming towards her, feeling herself already aroused and needy from the
rejection; she would move closer towards him.
“Hey Zephyr, I was thinking…we haven’t gotten to talk much over this
week and I was wondering if maybe you’d like to get a drink and learn about
each other.”
Zephyr just looked down at the woman, his eyebrow raising up
before he simply smirked happily; he had seen enough of other cultures to know
what she was asking. “That sounds
good.” After that statement, he walked
with her back towards the bar, while Nathan cracked the door to watch them move
away together.
Hmm, maybe I should
make sure those two are ok together.
Nathan thought to himself before thinking it over and realizing that he
should probably comfort Lily as well.
Tesla was probably going to be back soon and she might have something to
say as well. Contemplating it all, he
paused and weighed his options.
A.
Spy on
Zephyr and Ludma
B.
Comfort Lily
C.
Wait for Tesla
