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Creativity
Level 71
Cutely Creative
Joined: 3/4/2013
Threads: 253
Posts: 5,852
Posted: 7/20/2023 at 8:15 PM
Post #1
Please do not post unless you are Britters or myself
Creativity
Level 71
Cutely Creative
Joined: 3/4/2013
Threads: 253
Posts: 5,852
Posted: 7/20/2023 at 8:34 PM
Post #2
'The world is a vampire, sent to drain. Secret destroyers hold you up to the flames.'
Weave felt herself begin to calm down as the music streamed in from her earbuds. She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall and used the breathing regulation exercises that Miss Cara taught her back at the compound. It was all Romeo and his despicable posse and world domination and all of it, and Weave was slowly beginning to learn how to draw back when she was brought to high alert, but it was hard.
And she was never the type of person to say she couldn't do something, but when something worked her into a fit and she began to see red and wonder how it would feel to just brute force a problem away, the voice in her head helping her rationalize things got just a little quieter.
'And what do I get for my pain? Betrayed desires and a piece of the game.'
She opened her eyes and snatched a pack from her pocket. She took one out and looked it over for a minute or so before putting her lighter to it. She fiddled with the thing, letting out a soft sigh when it refused to cooperate.
It was always there, the fire. It was always burning, coursing through her blood and simmering in her fingertips. It was a quiet roar in her ears, a metallic taste in the back of her throat. Things would happen and they would stoke the fire, and then it would be loud and hot and everywhere, but even when it was subdued, it was so painfully present still.
The night sky was comforting, in a way. The stars were mostly faded with the light pollution from the city, which was frustrating in its own way, but she tried to hold onto the fact that they were there. They were the same stars that were there when she first breathed fresh air, they were the same stars that would be there when she stopped.
'Despite all my rage, I am still just a rat in a cage.'
Britters
Level 72
The Eggstraordinaire
Joined: 8/25/2014
Threads: 167
Posts: 2,034
Posted: 7/27/2023 at 12:45 AM
Post #3
The smell is what Dev first as he wanderedalong the pier. It was damp, mildewed smell mixed with the salty breeze coming off of the water, and of course the overwhelming scent of fish. He hated the smell of fish, almost enough to consiser abandoning this ridiculous journey, but his sense of duty, battered snd bruised as it was, kept him moving.
There would be nothing to find here, of that Dev was almost certain, but he knew he was fortunate even to still have a job at all after everything he'd been through...and everything he'd done as a result. His information about the Roaches meeting somewhere around here was likely bogus, especially considering no one else was bothering to check it out. Much better to let someone like him to make the pointless trek to this dismal place.
Yes, Dev had fallen from grace at terminal velocity, saved only by his vast experience with the Roach program. Of course, he had ceased caring about the looks his colleagues gave him, and the barely whispered conversations that went on around him as though he wasn't even there. Why should he care? Their opinions of him could never be as bad as his own self-loathing.
Lost in the muddy waters if his own mind, Dev might have missed the young woman standing in the shadows, but the scent of smoke reached his nostrils and halted him in his tracks. His piercing gray eyes scanned his surroundings with automated effeciency until he spotted the telltale speck of light and saw her leaning casually against a wall. Could be nothing, but it could be something...
"Mind if I ask you a question?" he inquired as he took a few steps in the womans direction, stopping a safe distance away so as not to alarm her.
Edited By Britters on 7/27/2023 at 12:45 AM.
Creativity
Level 71
Cutely Creative
Joined: 3/4/2013
Threads: 253
Posts: 5,852
Posted: 7/27/2023 at 10:37 PM
Post #4
The thing was, it had been three years since the Roaches broke out of the lab. That meant that Weave had only spent a little over one-ninth of her life around normal, non-lab-coat-wearing people. The kind that didn't have modified genes and the ability to run three miles before breaking a sweat. The kind that weren't hardwired to be able to perform complex mathematics functions in their minds.
And to a large extent, she didn't harbor the same intense hatred for humankind as the rest of the Roaches. Humans were weak and - in her experience - cruel, but that didn't mean that they deserved the brutality that Romeo tried to inflict upon them. The scientists were sociopathic and cold, but Weave would be hard-pressed to apply the same judgments to humans she'd yet to meet.
Just like Romeo. Romeo, who tried to convince her to join his 'righteous cause'. Romeo, who tried to pretend that nothing had happened. Tried to pretend that he hadn't been the one to teach her about heartbreak.
She wasn't like Romeo and the others. She wasn't the same discriminatory hunter as Romeo and Foxtrot and Charlie and Zulu and Whiskey. Why would she assume all humans to be akin to the ones in the lab? Of course it was hard, sometimes, to make the distinction, but if Miss Cara taught her one thing, it was that humans could be good when they chose to be.
That being said, she didn't go out of her way to interact with them, and as a human approached her now, rather late in the evening, she rolled her eyes and brought her cigarette to her lips.
"I do mind, actually," she said as he got closer. Her green eyes swept over him exhaustedly, taking in the scruff on his jaw, the weapon at his side, the familiar emblem on his shirt.
Exterminators.
It sure wasn't like the Exterminators to send a single soldier into enemy territory, so either Scruffy had backup somewhere or he was about to be Roach meat. Either way, Romeo would eat him alive.
Creativity
Level 71
Cutely Creative
Joined: 3/4/2013
Threads: 253
Posts: 5,852
Posted: 1/5/2024 at 10:45 PM
Post #5
(^^^)
Creativity
Level 71
Cutely Creative
Joined: 3/4/2013
Threads: 253
Posts: 5,852
Posted: 1/13/2024 at 4:01 PM
Post #6
"I've got a record player that was made in 2014; dyed my hair blue, it came out a seasick sort of green. I like vintage dresses when they fall just below my knees; I pretend I scraped them climbing in the trees."
The sun was already getting low, casting the roads in shades of navy blue and misty gray, and since driving in the dark was even scarier than driving during the day, she had to hurry if she was going to beat her nerves. She hadn't driven since she was a teenager, and even then only at the insistence of her uncle that it was an important skill to have in an emergency.
The interview was going fine, she supposed. It was the life of a celebrity, interviews and reporters and photographers. Even as her perception of reality shattered, even as she debated whether she had a future, her producer had convinced her that life must go on. It was just an interview about her latest album, she reassured. Just about the music.
And it was, mostly - at least, until the host of the show leaned in with a sad glint in his eye, and Sasha's hands tightened because she knew immediately that her stability was about to abate like an ebbing tide again.
"About your agent - I want you to know that I and the rest of my team are deeply sorry. We were wondering if you'd be willing to answer a few questions."
Oh. Oh, no. She wasn't strong enough for this.
Her hands were shaking as she loaded her single suitcase into the backseat - all that she dared to bring with her. She didn't know what would happen, or really, where she would go, just that she was completely alone and she needed to find some way to bring justice about for his death.
"Crack a smile, crack a smile... Stay awhile, stay awhile..."
There was a high--pitched ringing in her ears. The interview was for her music - just her music. It had been three days, why would they bring this up now?
"Some of the Roach researchers are investigating whether this was a targeted attack. Do you have any comments on the matter? Perhaps any inside knowledge about your agent's dealings with the Roaches?"
Her heart was pounding so hard, she wondered if she'd pass out right then and there. God, she'd never felt so weak. She shut her eyes and counted to ten before plastering that same precious smile on her face and looking back at the interviewer.
"I have no comment. My agent had no dealings with the Roach program."
He was a victim of brutality, and she was the one to suffer for it.
As she took the seat behind the steering wheel, she glanced briefly into the rearview mirror and tried to pretend she recognized the face that stared back at her. She'd dyed her hair - naturally a light blonde, now a messy inexperienced-dye-job red. Just something to make herself harder to recognize.
She sang quietly to herself as she shifted the gear into drive.
"Sometimes, I think all I'm ever doing is trying to convince myself I'm alive..."
"Now, if you don't mind my asking, have you heard about Fangz's latest interview?"
Oh, no. Her heart sped up even more.
The interviewer flipped a page on his clipboard. "He expressed his grief for your agent's untimely and devastating death. You know, I don't think many of us knew he was on such good terms with Mr. Novokov. Do you have anything you'd say to your once-betrothed?"
Sasha stared down at her hands, her smile gone. She couldn't keep it up, not now. She shook her head slowly, raised it to stare out at the crowd, and in an instant, her mind was made up. She stood up fast enough to knock her chair over and ran.
She drove slowly, too anxious to go even a single unit over the speed limit. She knew how dangerous cars were, knew how dangerous they could be, but she couldn't let anyone - even her personal driver - know where she was going or what she was doing.
No. She had to do this, and she wasn't going to rely on anyone.
"Sometimes, I think all I'm ever doing is trying to convince myself I'm climbing in the trees..."
For Fyodor.
Edited By Creativity on 1/13/2024 at 6:22 PM.
Britters
Level 72
The Eggstraordinaire
Joined: 8/25/2014
Threads: 167
Posts: 2,034
Posted: 1/14/2024 at 9:18 PM
Post #7
Truthfully, there was a part of Devlin that knew he shouldn't just be approaching some random stranger in some dark area of the docks. It wasn't as though these years in disgrace had destroyed his instincts entirely...it was simply that he didn't particularly care. This woman could attempt to cause him harm, or there could even be other people hidden among the shadows waiting to ambush him, but none of that mattered. He had accepted a long time ago that there would be no crawling his way back from his own personal abyss, but he carried on with dogged determination like the soldier he was...or at least, once had been.
There were actually quite a few reasons that Dev shouldn't be here, but he wasn't even aware of the biggest one, and he wasn't supposed to be. As far as he knew, the information he'd been given had the approval of his superiors, meaning that they believed it was worth investigating. His years of experience made him skeptical, but he recognized that his cognitive abilities were questionable of late, not to mention the fact that he was lucky to be given any assignments at all.
So, here he was, standing in a poorly lit area that smelled of rotting seafood, staring at an attractive woman who probably shouldn't be here anymore than Dev did. This was not a place that people spent much time in unless they absolutely had to, and she didn't appear to fit that category.
"I apologize for the intrusion," he said, his voice steadier than he would have believed possible, "I'm just looking for someone I was meant to be meeting here and I was wondering if you'd seen anyone else around?"
A simple lie, one that he'd used countless times. He noted the woman's glance at his shirt, and immediately cursed himself for not putting on a jacket. Rookie mistake...
Edited By Britters on 1/14/2024 at 9:19 PM.
Creativity
Level 71
Cutely Creative
Joined: 3/4/2013
Threads: 253
Posts: 5,852
Posted: 1/20/2024 at 10:08 PM
Post #8
Weave let her eyes subtly travel over the Exterminator. No obvious weapons on his person - it'd be a naive thought to assume he had none at all, but it said something that he wasn't wearing them.
Normally, Exterminators didn't go to hunt down Roaches on their own. Humans were squishy and feeble, if one hit them on the head wrong they'd fall over like they were made of paper. But here was an Exterminator with no obvious signs of backup and no clear intentions of running to the Roaches with guns blazing. He wasn't trying to intimidate, he wasn't trying to appear aggressive.
What was he trying to do?
And the way he spoke to her... Perhaps he didn't even know she wasn't like him.
A part of her recoiled. To be human... Weak, pathetic humans who, although she wasn't particularly aggressive towards them, she recognized the irony that they had developed a race of superhumans to solve their problems, as they themselves weren't enough to.
And yet, a part of her warmed at the thought, too. Imagine. The simplicity of it all.
She chewed her lower lip to silence the thoughts. The fire burned, and it would always burn, and that's all there would be. Still. She'd let herself indulge, for a minute, and maybe wait until he figured it out on his own.
"I'm afraid I haven't seen anyone. I was just taking a break after work is all," she waved the still-smoldering cigarette lightly in indication. "It's probably not a good idea to go alone in the dark. You never know where nasty little bugs could pop up."
He may be an Exterminator, but maybe he didn't deserve to be torn to shreds. She glanced towards the shipping container that Romeo had just cornered her in, and hoped that the Exterminator didn't see the flicker of fabric as Foxtrot left in the opposite direction.
Creativity
Level 71
Cutely Creative
Joined: 3/4/2013
Threads: 253
Posts: 5,852
Posted: 4/11/2024 at 5:13 PM
Post #9
(^^^)
Britters
Level 72
The Eggstraordinaire
Joined: 8/25/2014
Threads: 167
Posts: 2,034
Posted: 4/15/2024 at 1:26 AM
Post #10
There were a great many things about this situation that Dev had been questioning ever since agreeing to come out here to this awful, smelly part of town. He was no fool, despite appearances, not at least when it came to the job. Many years of his life had been dedicated to the Roach program, and many more once the project's proverbial excrement had hit the fan.
Once he had tried training them, now he hunted them...the irony of the situation was not lost on Dev, but he no longer had the reputation necessary to question his superiors on their choices. All he had left was his menial position, a drop on the bucket compared to his former rank but he had long since ceased caring enough to complain, and his damaged sense sense of honor.
Was it honor or something else that compelled Dev to continue standing before this strange woman? He knew her presence here was curious, but there was something about demeanor which he found strangely comforting. She was clearly capable of handling herself, that much was clear from the tension in her muscles and the alertness in her eyes, and he could appreciate that...
There had been a time when Dev had wanted nothing more than to protect the people around him, but he had proven himself a failure time and time again...until finally it was the people he cared most about who he failed.
"Yes, bugs...," he began replying, his voice vague and absentminded as he glanced around the area, the hairs on the back of his neck tingling ever so slightly, "I would ordinarily not hesitate to offer to walk you home to ensure your safety, but I'm afraid I have further business to attend to. Perhaps we'll meet again." He nodded to the woman, allowing the briefed ghost of an empty smile to form before he turned back to the shadows of the pier.
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