The Red Lands ::Private RP::

[FrauleinD]

"Yeah. Thanks." Dylan mumbled as Shannon stood and left, her cheeks bursting red as soon as he was gone. Gay men always did make Dylan uncomfortable, especially when they thought she was a boy. She took a deep breath, and turned to leave, waiting until Pegasus and the suits were out of side down the opposite hallway before she left. She wasn't sure exactly the way to the new apartment, but she figured walking around aimlessly would help to calm her stomach a bit before she settled in.

A big familiar hand grasped Dylan's shoulder as she exited the banquet hall. "What in god's name y'think yer doin' kid?" Captain Nancy demanded in a raspy whisper. "Why're y'still here? Y'want 'em to figger y'out?"

Dylan ducked away from Nancy's hand and glared hatefully up at him. "Don' touch me." she growled. "I do wut I want."

"And what izzit y'want?"

She didn't have an answer for that one. "Leave me alone." she barked, taking off down the hallway, just happening to catch a glowing sign out of the window that indicated where her new apartment was.

"Ugh, damn fool. Damn ignorant fool." He turned his head just to see the blonde he'd been eyeing earlier leave with another man. "...Damn married wench."

...

Dylan struggled furiously with her keycard to open the door to her new room, flinging the door open, slamming it, and locking it in one swift motion as she forced her jacket on the floor and stepped over it to the bathroom, where a full-length mirror was waiting for her as she approached, scratching angrily at her scaly arm with her newly cleaned fingernails. Bits of her skin were still flaking off, leaving those same crimson scales in their stead. A hand went to her mouth, and then her whole frame was bent over the small, polished chrome trash can that sat by the sink, finally relieving itself of that night's banquet. She lay silently for a moment, spitting the leftovers into the can and wiping at her mouth with the back of her hand, feeling not flesh wiping at her cheek but warm scales.

Her right arm had almost a sleeve-like skin of scales on it now, her left wasn't far behind, though her fingers, at least, still looked presentable. She'd just get some fingerless gloves for them in the morning... As she stood, her head began to pound, and her eye again went to the mirror. The bandage had an almost eerie amount of blood leaking through it now, so much that she dared not remove the bandage to see her mutilated eye underneath. She pulled off her hat and let it drop to the floor, fingering the horns that seemed to have stopped growing for the time being, glad because wearing hats was starting to give her a headache, and finding a bigger one might have been a problem.

Dylan watched the mirror for a moment, saying and thinking nothing, watching for what seemed like an hour as blood still slowly, slowly soaked through her bandaged face. In a flash, in that mirror she saw Roi's familiar face, though instead of the bandaged eye was the golden, hawk-like one, the one Pegasus had hunted her down for.

Except Pegasus hadn't been the one to hunt the girl down and force her into servitude. Her hand fell to the faucet to turn it on, muffling out the sound of her sobs as she sunk into herself on the floor.

[KatDrama]

The suits and settled into the cozy alcove to Pegasus's quarters. Shannon cozied down in a rich chair by the fire with a glass of whine. He honestly didn't care much about the girl or what the boss had planned for her. Shannon's mind was occupied with that strange person Dylan. Shannon had the gift of empathy, he could sense other's feelings and make them feel whatever he wanted them to, either by eye contact or touch. When Shannon had touched Dylan's shoulder he sensed such girlish feelings. Shannon blushed a little, a shy smile on his face as he drank his wine. That person certainly called for further investigation.

Alone in his room Pegasus could let his nice guy facade fall. He ruthlessly half dragged Roi to his silky bed, forcing her down on it. His face was contorted in a ghastly smile as he kept making lip contact with her. Roi's face became flushed but there was nothing she could do. She couldn't fight back. She closed her eyes and almost began to feel like she would stop breathing.

"You." Pegasus said, his voice so serious. "You who with that eye resist my control." Pegasus forced her eyes opened and gazed straight into her golden eye. Pegasus's powers were a huge secret that few knew, but it was the power of almost total mind control. If he made eye contact with you he could control you. But this girl...this girl. No matter what he had tried he couldn't control her. But now she was hand delivered, bound to him. "What's the matter...no more fight?" He mocked. His fingernails began to dig into the skin of her face leaving small scratches on her pale skin.

All Roi could do was silently cry and pray for the night to end. Finally at some point from all the strain she thankfully lost consciousness.

[FrauleinD]

Dylan's lip twitched and her good eye blinked, her ears being awakened by the sound of the faucet, still running. Her neck and back ached from falling asleep in that position but other than that she felt better rested than she had in the past few days. She dragged herself up, the bandages on her eye pretty well useless, and she knew she couldn't go out with them as bloodied as they were. Under the sink she found a medical kit-perhaps Pegasus really did know too much about her-, and pulled out fresh supplies for her bandage.

She somehow cleaned the wound and rewrapped it without letting herself look at the gash she was sure would have just made her sick again. At least from the wet wash rag she could see the bleeding had pretty well stopped. She turned the faucet to cold water to clean the blood from the rag, and was taken aback a bit when the icy water burned the scaly back of her hand, hissing as though she'd just thrown cold meat in a hot skillet. Mumbling something incoherent, she flipped the flow off and changed her clothes, not even stopping for a second to take in the fresh fruit bowl, shining bottles of wine, and sparkling glass cologne bottles that decorated the room. Actually, maybe she would put on a bit of that cologne. It smelled like something a little boy would wear to attract little teeny-bopping girls, but she somehow liked that same smell and figured it suited her anyway-an ugly little scrawny boy. Pulling her hat on as she was relieved to find a longsleeve shirt to cover her arms, she was ready to head out and do whatever it was that was in store for her.

Dylan wondered if she even any longer cared what Pegasus would have her do, or to whom she would have to do it. With a deep breath, she headed back to the minion's room, where new jobs were posted on a bulletin board, and suits were seen there usually only to buy the most expensive drinks and post new job offers: so basically, this was just a glorified tavern, with better decorations and cleaner occupants. It was early yet, but perhaps she would find something there or in the mess hall to occupy her.

[KatDrama]

"Dy-lan." A smooth voice called out to Dylan the moment 'he' walked into the room. At a small round table by the bar Shannon sat in a plush chair sipping wine while eating some grapes. Shannon smiled with such sparkles that his beckoning dared not be ignored. Shannon was so happy to have found the object of his thoughts so early in the morning. "How is your new apartment?" Shannon asked politely, offering Dylan a bowl of mixed fruit.

--

Slowly Roi opened her eyes. It was obvious, she must be in hell, for that's what she felt like. Her entire body was stiff and ached from the various bindings, not to mention what Pegasus had...Roi closed her eyes again, she didn't want to think of the feel of that man.

The handcuffs that had bound Roi were now replaced with a more ornate set of cuffs linked by a thin decorative chain. The stiff collar dug into her neck, but every time she had tried to touch it she got one of those shocks. Pegasus had dressed his doll up in a silk knee length dress this day, and left his hawk in a room filled with white fluffy furniture. Big chairs and a bed of feather down, a small table loaded with heaps of fruit and breads. The floor was one large shaggy carpet. The room was nice. But it didn't change the fact that Roi was still a caged bird. Quite literally. Her little room had four white walls and a high ceiling, and one long window directly overviewing the Shield dome. The window was lined with steel bars. There was one door to the room, and from the inside there was no handle, only a pad where a key card had to be swiped.

Not wanting to think about what she could do or what she had to do Roi remained motionless all morning. Her wings were bound tightly with silk that she couldn't reach to untie, and if she thrashed about too much a guard would come in. So the bird sat on her birch and sullenly stared at the food before her.

[FrauleinD]

That voice sent goosebumps up Dylan's spine, but at the same time there were definitely less welcome visitors for her at that moment. She turned, not to her surprise, to see Shannon. "Ain't it a li'l early fer alcohol?" she questioned, the food offered to her, for once, actually appetizing and appealing to her, and she took one of the peaches, much fresher than the one she'd left for the fish merchant, and took a good hearty bite of it, trying not to seem too eager for food as she swallowed it and sat on the arm of a nearby chair. "That apartment's real nice," she said, politely taking another bite of the fruit, wondering why his presence was so soothing and somehow still creepy at the same time. "The floor'n 'at place's nicer'n the bed in my old place." he didn't need to know that for the night past the floor had, in fact, been her bed.

"Ain't you got better things to do'n hang out in this joint with all us little people?" she wondered allowed, blushing slightly as the thought occurred to her that that might have been too rude a question as she quietly munched on the peach, slowing her eating when the fresh food set off her stomach that was unaccustomed to such things.

[KatDrama]

Shannon chuckled a bit at Dylan's frankness. "What do you mean? I was waiting here for you." His gaze became suddenly serious and he looked sincerely at Dylan, his gaze positively radiant. Shannon paused to drink his wine. He was only half lying, but he wanted to see how this shy person would react.

"Honestly though, I have a job for you and I thought you'd be interested." Shannon chuckled, eyeing this person with most interest.

[FrauleinD]

Dylan cocked an eyebrow, and lowered the peach from her mouth rather than taking another bite. Maybe Shannon really was gay. He was just waiting for her there? But Dylan was just a scrawny, ugly boy, right? Maybe she shouldn't have put that cologne on after all... She blushed a little but tried to hide it by taking a cup of juice from the waitress that offered it. After taking a good sip of it, she looked back to the pretty man before her.

"What kinda job?" God don't let it be a date... She thought to herself, not even pondering that she could easily refuse such a request with the simple answer that she, was in fact, not gay. Dylan was starting to confuse even herself, but seeing as she'd gotten so angry at Nancy, she needed more 'friends' in this place. She eyed Shannon as seriously as she could manage without cracking and asked, "Y'want me t'kill a man?" wondering if he would catch her humor or not.

Where had that even come from? Was Shannon just such an open and easy person to approach that he'd made her want to be friendly? Maybe his own cologne was intoxicating her.

[KatDrama]

Shannon stared at Dylan oddly for a split second before bursting out in honest laughter. "To kill a...ah, seriously, you need to relax kid." Shannon wiped the trace of a tear from his eye. "Not everything in this place involves such sour tasks. No, I need an extra hand today." Shannon took another sip of his wine. Shannon didn't drink wine for the alcohol or the taste, he drank it for the sake of appearances. Beautiful men looked best drinking something sophisticated, and Shannon had begun to acquire quite the taste for it.

Finally his glass empty Shannon set it down on the table before him and looked back up at Dylan with a more appropriate 'business face.' "You see kid..." Shannon leaned, forward, interlocking his hands and resting his chin on them. "I'm part of the collections agency...and there's a few people around town that need, erm..." Shannon cleared his throat a little. "Reminding to pay their dues. We don't even have to rough them up at all..." Shannon stood up and walked over towards Dylan, a sly smile on his face. "We just have to put the right moves on them...with a charming face like mine and a tough little injury like yours...who can say no?" Shannon asked smoothly, coming very close to Dylan to the point of whispering in her ear.

Shannon backed off and shrugged a bit. "It's up to you, but it's a great way to move up the ranks without getting your hands too dirty." Shannon winked at Dylan as though he was doing him a favor.

[FrauleinD]

Dylan smiled, but didn't laugh after all, though she was still somehow pleased to have gotten a reaction out of Shannon. She listened tentatively to his words, wondering what she would do with herself if she ever ended up high in the "ranks" as Shannon was. Would she end up as charming as he was? Of course she couldn't , she was a girl after all, but she didn't want to seem reluctant or doubtful after the show she'd put on just the night before, and the thought of getting a bit more money without having to kill someone, whether literally or metaphirocally, seemed to strike an interest in her.

Somehow she hadn't recoiled or inched away as he'd approached her, not even when his face was practically on top of hers. His cologne had, in fact, smelled nice. But why was she even noticing that?! She blinked and cleared her throat as he backed away, dropping her peach pit into a napkin on the table. "All I gotta do is look rough? Sounds too gooda be true." Was her way of accepting his offer. "Whad'ja want me to do ezactly?"

[KatDrama]

Shannon stood back and grinned, happy that she had accepted. "All I need is for is to be a second person to help intimidate, and in the event of a runner, help catch or block off escape routes. Think you can handle that?" Shannon's smile seemed to grow more radiant by the moment. He was positively beaming that he'd get to spend the day with such a cute and interesting person!

"Good. Then meet me in the lobby in two hours and we'll be off. Just be sure to change into something a little more classy." Shannon winked. He knew that Dylan's apartment had come stocked with new threads, and he was hoping Dylan would wear them. He wanted to see what that person looked like in a suit. "We are, after all, business men." Shannon said with a coy smile, laughing at his own joke as he adjusted the lapel of his own suit coat.

[FrauleinD]

"Catch the li'l piggies? That ain't no problem," she said, not intending 'piggies' to be insulting, it was just how she was used to phrasing things. For some reason, Shannon seeming so happy felt like it was rubbing off on her, even if the thought of 'classy' clothing made her a bit skeptical, since she hadn't even really looked at whatever Pegasus had stocked in her new closet and drawers. God, don't let it be a suit... "I'll be gettin' changed, then..." she said absently, assuming the oversized jacket and jeans she was wearing were most probably not what Shannon was expecting. As she felt like she had been dismissed, she gave him one last smile and headed back to her room, taking a banana from the fruit bowl sitting by the door as she went.

So she had two hours to play dress-up, huh? Dropping her coat in front of her door, letting it shut behind her, she chewed on a mouthful of banana as she pulled open the walk-in closet. She blinked in awe for a moment, leaning up against the door frame and taking another bite of her fruit as she looked at the ridiculous things in that closet. The closet was bigger than her last dwelling, and it was awkward for her. There were the suits she expected, ten pairs of shoes-who knew black and brown came in so many different shades-, button-up shirts, ties in every color of the rainbow, different hues of gold and silver interchangeable buttons for the sleevecuffs: well, it looked like that closet was worth more than she was.

Just as she started to feel her heart sink, she spied in an opposite side of the closet a small collection of shiny new combat boots, complete with perfectly starched and pressed military issue bits, many grades and ranks higher than the old camo she'd worn the day before, definitely a lot 'classier' in her definition, than the t-shirt she was wearing under her old jacket, and somehow it was all in size extra small. Well, that actually was kind of creepy, maybe Pegasus's special ability was that he could look at any one person and instantly know all their clothing sizes. She shuddered at the thought, since what followed was that he might have x-ray vision of some sort. On a shelf above the garments that sparkled before her was a hat with shining lieutenant's pins-it was one rank below Nancy, but now she had a rank! That hat alone made her feel so self important she just had to put it on right away and admire herself in the mirror. So enamored with it was she that she even bothered to comb her hair and tie it back off of her face, save for the lingering bits of bangs that refused to stay back.

Not exactly the stereotypical little girl playing dress-up, but that was what Dylan felt like in those moments as she hurriedly changed into her starched and stiff-but she'd break them in-dark hunter hued Lieutenant's garb. She felt so happy in her 'classy' Lieutenant wear that she hoped Shannon would be as well: after all, it fit her perfectly, unlike all of her old clothes, it was as if everything was made to perfectly accentuate her boyish figure. Again, that was kind of creepy. Now she looked just like those boys who so proudly sent home their military pictures to their mother, all shined and spiffy. She didn't even realize how giggly she must have seemed until the man who shared the elevator with her cocked an eyebrow, at which she was again aware of her situation and cleared her throat, trying to put on a more serious front as the lift took her to the lobby level.

[KatDrama]

Shannon was waiting in the lobby, looking as classy as ever. A female worker had approached him and was making small talk with him. She looked overly happy and was obviously blushing, whereas it was obvious Shannon was talking with her just to please her. He seemed to like to please people. With Shannon's empathy he'd rather that the people around him gave off pleasant vibes than negative ones, and he'd do almost anything to turn a negative person to a happy one. And so Shannon was so pleased with himself that with barely even having to use his powers of persuasion he had gotten Dylan to accept the job.

When Dylan excited the elevator in his newly acquired military attire Shannon found that for a moment it seemed that his heart even skipped a beat. "If you'll excuse me..." Shannon absently left his female gawker behind and quickly approached Dylan, a warm smile on his charming face. He found it so cute that she was wearing the military suit rather than a normal black one. It certainly stood out a little from the norm, but that oddness seemed to fit Dylan well. Especially that green beret...

Shannon had to focus his wandering mind. Dylan was a gentleman as well! While Shannon didn't have a problem with falling in love with any gender, it was in his nature to pleasure everyone, both male and female, but he didn't want Dylan to have to cope with Shannon's awkward feelings. But still...so cute! Shannon cleared his throat once and then waved to Dylan as he approached. "Those suit you very well!" He sparkled, trying to keep his emotions in check. He didn't want to project any unwanted feelings unto Dylan. Shannon was the definition of a considerate gentleman.

[KatDrama]

The morning was nearly passed. Roi still sat motionless when an attendant came in to freshen the water basin and remove the untouched breakfast and replace it with lunch. Roi's head rolled to one side as she watched the normal looking man servant at work. All at once something in Roi snapped and she jumped to her feet. The man continued at his tasks in a smooth and calm fashion. Roi ran to the man and jumped him, attacking like a wild animal. She pounded at him with her small fists and tore at his jacket trying to find a key to the door. All at once the door swished open and one of the suits stepped in and quickly approached her, trying to pull her off the man. Roi screamed. Roi bit. Roi kicked. She had stopped thinking in coherent thoughts. If Pegasus wanted a pet an animal he would get. She was a bird beating her breast against the walls of her cage.

She felt a sharp shock jolt through her body that collapsed her to the floor. She twitched for a few moments before betting back up. Her teeth bared she was emitting growls like a wild animal. The shock went off again but Roi fought the pain and instead jumped the man in the black suit now. The man put up an arm in defense and Roi clamped down on him. The black suit ended up violently flinging her off of his arm. Roi crashed against the white wall, knocking the wind out of her. Roi stared madly at the two ragged men, grabbing at her stomach as she struggled to breath. The attendant scrambled madly away and the suit glared at her menacingly before exiting as well, the door closing behind them.

After they were gone Roi panted for a long time until her breath came back, and slowly those wheezes turned into quiet sobs. Kneeling on the floor Roi buckled over and rested her face on her knees and cried bitterly.

[FrauleinD]

"Haha!" Dylan laughed as Shannon approached. "Y'think so? It ain't too fancy?" She asked, hoping she hadn't outdone herself, adjusting her beret, more out of habit than that it was uncomfortable. "I think these suit me pretty well," she added, glad he wasn't going to press her to dress exactly as he was... She couldn't think of an excuse to keep her head covered in a suit! "Y'sure seem pretty happy 'bout this job," she noticed aloud, not realizing completely she'd voiced it.

In any case, she was happy that he seemed pleased enough and patted her pockets to make sure she'd come well equipped. The new jacket even came with a standard issue Swiss army knife! And this one wasn't rusted like her old one. Everything she had now seemed so new and shiny, it was almost as if she was living someone else's life entirely.

"So what's our first order o' business, boss?" she said unmockingly, ready to do something to get her mind off of unpleasant old business transactions.

[KatDrama]

Shannon chuckled for a moment then moved closer to Dylan. "Of course I'm happy. You're accompanying me." He smiled harmlessly. He enjoyed teasing the little twig of a man.

"Let us be off then." Shannon indicated to the door, outside of which was sitting a relic of a transport vehicle. It looked kind of liked the relics Dylan and Roi had discovered in the old parking garage, only modified to be more modern, with solar and hover technology.