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 Posted: Tue Apr 24, 2007 9:52 pm
Shuura contemplated the options before her. Summer was quickly drawing to an end. Which meant fall semester for the second year at Durem U was starting. Which meant her free housing here at Jules' luxury crib in Gambino was coming to an end.
Shuura didn't like that.
"If only mammary glands had any persuasion over the guy," she complained to the shadowy figure floating next to her. "Then we could sic you onto him and make him agree to whatever we want."
Vyn made no comment. She wasn't all that sure what this "mammary gland" Shuura referred to was about, anyways.
Shuura sighed. There was only one way to go about this, and that was the hard way. Negotiations. She would have to call him and make a goddamned "appointment". Sighing, she reached for her cell phone. He should be happy that someone was actually calling him, anyway. Showed that his social life wasn't COMPLETELY dead.
"Jules!" She snapped into the phone. She knew that he wouldn't pick up, and now had to deal with his prissy stuck up answering machine. "Summer's up. Contract's ending," she spoke into the receiver after hearing the beep. "We need to talk. I'm in my apartment, you know where that is unless you're pretending you haven't been pissed by me blasting the music at 3 AM for the past three months." Hanging up, she turned to gaze at Vyn. "Guess we gotta wait now."
He better come soon. Shuura hated waiting.
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Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2007 10:34 pm
Julian's ability to ignore the universe when he had business to take care of was unparalleled. Where others might have actually picked up their ringing phone, the young man glanced up for all of a nanosecond before hunching back over his mountain of overdue paperwork. After the explosion that had destroyed much of what had previously been known as Lab 305, the young Mr. Sweet's workload had tripled. Thankfully minimal damage had been inflicted upon X Labs, but that did not mean he had no intention of rebuilding several areas of his part of the building. A kinder individual might have also offered assistance to the other half of the scientific establishment, but Julian was not one to give help to those who did not request it. He was not even the type of person who helped out those who did ask for financial assistance unless the pay-off was considerably high.
A small measure of Julian's attention was given towards his outmoded answering machine as Shuura's verbal message rang throughout his apartment. He scribbled a complex numerical figure onto a slip of paper before he stalled as he felt the compulsion to actually meet the woman's demands and set up a proper meeting.
"You are not going to pick it up?" Gage asked shrewdly as he exited the kitchen. Clasped tightly between his hands was a vase with withered husks of what had once been flowers contained within.
"You finished lunch. Good."
They both knew it was not a full response, but Julian was not fond of giving Gage the liberality of hearing his unguarded thoughts on any subject matter. As the two had hit a metaphorical bumpy road in their relationship, it seemed best for either to keep to themselves whenever possible. The human did a far better job of it than his Raevan ever managed to.
An hour later, both males congregated in front of Shuura's apartment's door. Unsurprisingly, Julian took the initiative and actually knocked upon the hard surface. While he possessed a skeleton key that would have allowed him entrance whether his tenant wanted him inside her temporary home or not, Julian thought using the item would have been in such bad taste as to have been illegal in several upper-class communities. Teeth clenched, he tapped his foot agitatedly against the hallway's expensive hardwood floorboards.
Julian hated waiting.
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Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:15 am
Shuura, as usual, was bored and blasting obnoxious rock music in her room by the time the notorious landlord had finally decided to show up for the meeting. Willfully oblivious to the sound of knocking at her apartment door, the ponytailed girl was busy calculating her earnings from her various jobs while pointedly ignoring most of her surroundings. As such, a rather noticeable amount of time had elapsed before the door was finally opened, and by none other than Vyn.
As usual, the perfumed scent of roses preceded the sultry Raevan before the door opened before the two standing outside. Heavy-lidded eyes grazing over the two figures before her, the Shadow Frei gave a dainty nod to acknowledge the rare visitors, and a hint of a curtsy expressed her respects. It had been a very long time since she saw them. Had they been on slightly more familiar terms, the female Raevan might have offered the brooding scientist and the green Frei a word or two of greeting, but in spite of her recently-gained grasp of spoken language Vyn still largely preferred to keep her floating black and crimson self enshrouded in an aura of silence.
"SOMEONE AT THE DOOR?" Shuura's voice could be heard shouting over the music from further within the apartment. A smaller, teeny voice could faintly be heard as well but was mostly drowned out by the dominating sounds of Dir en Grey.
Shuura barged out of her room just as Vyn drifted gracefully to the side to allow the visitors inside.
Expecting guests clearly had no effect on Shuura's unabashedness regarding the level of tidiness of the apartment, for there was barely much room to sit on as the two armchairs and 3-seater sofa as well as the coffee table in the living room were all littered with various eccentricities, such as empty coffee mugs, goth fashion magazines, scraps of paper with strange scribblings on them and DVDs of what apparantly were all zombie or vampire movies.
"Jules. Goo-boy," the teen offered by way of greeting. "Have a seat or something," she offered loftily, although her tone suggested that she really couldn't care less whether they sat or not. She promptly went about to take her own advice, plopping down in the middle of the sofa where one small spot remained miraculously uncovered by junk, and turned to look at her soon-to-be-ex-landlord expectantly. "I assume you got my message."
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Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:35 pm
“Thirty more seconds, Gage,” Julian seethed as he spoke, “and I am sending her packing. Nothing is worth this sort of aggravation.”
The toxic Raevan found he very much did not want such a thing to occur, if only because it meant he would no longer live near her. While Ms. Shuura was a rather interesting individual, he could very well live without her loud music and brash behavior, if only because her absence might bring down Julian’s abnormally high blood pressure. However, should her ward move with her—well, that would be very close to disastrous in Gage’s humble opinion. Fate seemed to be on the Frei’s side for once, because only twenty seven-point-six seconds passed before that most important person greeted them.
“Vy-vyn! Hello!” Gage managed to blurt out just before both Julian and Shuura took center stage, unceremoniously halting any encounter he might hope to have with the object of his slightly warped affections.
“My name is Julian, Ms. Shuura. You know that well enough.” Despite his obvious anger, the landlord was a person fully capable of reason on his better days. Tense and aggravated, he stalked through the open door and into the cluttered living room. The way his lip curled suggested he was not much of a fan of his tenant’s taste in… everything. It was a wonder they managed to live on the same planet, let alone in the same (admittedly massive) building. Unceremoniously, Julian pushed a variety of magazines off of one of the couch’s arms, before seating himself on it in what must have been a suitably uncomfortable fashion. If there was not a small mountain of seemingly random objects separating him from the young woman, he might very well attempt to snap her neck. “Before I answer your question, I’ll ask one of my own. Do you have any idea how long you kept me waiting out there? I, unlike you, have a very packed schedule. I cannot waste this much time on fickle matters.”
Generally, Julian was partial to the idea of Shuura abandoning her apartment. He was sure the property value would rise the second she left the premises. All the same, one would have to be both blind and painstakingly stupid to have not noticed Gage’s feelings on the matter. Strange, really, that for once Julian did not have only his best interest at heart.
“I assume you want a new contract? I could draw one up by tomorrow,” he said as calmly as he could through gritted teeth. Such sacrifice.
Gage wandered into the main room cautiously, sure that any moment something would go horribly wrong and Vyn would despise him for all of eternity. Politely as he could, he closed the main door behind him before hovering right before it, effectively torn. On one hand, his (minimal) happiness depended upon if Ms. Shuura would extend her lease. On the other, when would he ever have another opportunity to speak with that person without interruption by a third party? He wavered. Considerably.
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Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:45 pm
Vyn chose to remain in place where she was, which was a little ways away from the door that Gage had just closed. Despite the flurry of words exchanged by Shuura and the strange man that just came in, the stuttering greeting from the green Raevan did not go unnoticed. Vyn merely tilted her head a little in the other Raevan's direction to indicate that she heard, folding her hands delicately before her. People often came knocking on the door, but they were almost never allowed in, so it was a strange turn of events for the sheltered Shadow Raevan to witness.
"Karma, Jules, Karma," Shuura was saying disinterestedly, seemingly more interested in the condition of her nails than anything her stuffy landlord had to say. "You make me wait, I make you wait. My time, although seemingly more flexible than yours, is still MY time. Deal with it. Vyn, tea." The last part of her sentence was directed towards the floating rose-colored Frei.
It was not outwardly noticeable whether the Shadow Raevan felt affronted by the command. In fact, Vyn bore the request with a graceful sort of tolerance, as if used to being ordered about thus. Floating gracefully across the eclectic mess that was Shuura's living room floor, the Rose-haired Raevan appeared seemingly at ease as she disappeared briefly into the kitchen and returned dutifully with a pitcher of what was presumably tea, setting it down on one of the magazines that was approximately in the center of the coffee table before floating off a little to the side again, content to just watch and listen to the newcomers.
Yanking on a plastic bag half covered by a stack of zombie movies from under the coffee table produced a set of clear plastic cups, which she tossed onto the table next to the pitcher. Shuura evidently didn't see any merit in wasting good (stolen) china tea sets on Jules. Pouring a cupful of the iced beverage for herself, she took a few sips before continuing again. "Yes, I want a new one. However, I want to discuss a few....changes in the contract," she deadpanned without preamble. "My income from some of my recent jobs is enough to allow me to negotiate a new one in form of partial monetary payment, and less....voluntary babysitting." The look she gave the man perched rather awkwardly at the edge of her couch arm assumed that he was perfectly clear on what she meant by 'voluntary babysitting'. "It turns out that I do not like kids anymore than you do. I'll still be available for....the occasional emergency, of course--but on the whole I'll need more time to be allocated on my new jobs than spent diverting certain individuals from your path."
Her new job was much more important, even if it meant having to pay rent out of her own pocket. But of course in ShuuraLand what was most important for her had to be most important for everyone else, so of course she expected Jules to give her a sizeable discount on the rent. It wasn't like the guy wasn't already rolling around in wealth already, anyway.
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:42 am
Julian felt it was an accomplishment in and of itself that he was able to hold his tongue when his tenant invoked such concepts as “Karma.” As though the universe had decided to punish the man for his past transgressions by making him wait outside her door for longer than he might have liked. No, was the pure and simple answer to that unformed question; the world did not work like that. Breathing in deeply, the student just barely managed to contain his temper. It was rather fortunate that a moment passed by in which Shuura could enjoy her beverage and her landlord could ease a little of the tension that threatened to make his left eye twitch. He grasped the bridge of his nose—up near his eyes—between his thumb and index finger, and gently massaged the skin right there as the young woman described what terms she wanted for the new contract.
“Yes, well. I knew you would want to change that requirement. I just thought you might hold out a bit longer.” Aggravation coiled around the scientist, whispering sweet nothings in his ear about how simple it would be to snap that far too pale neck. There were witnesses, but one of them was Gage and the other was nothing more than a set of D-cups in a gothic frame. Would either of them actually say anything if asked to give testimony? “At the moment, I think it is… possible. To give you what you want.”
Coincidentally, the issue of Julian’s cousin was nearly all cleared up. After some careful discussion, it had come to the older of the pair’s attention that the girl was old enough to have her own apartment within the complex. They no longer needed to actually live together, which would lessen the strain on their relationship by a considerable percentage. In that case, having Shuura as a buffer between him and the irritation that was a family tie might no longer be necessary. Julian sorely wished he had something to eat—something preferably raw—but it was a weak sort of impulse. He ignored it. “While I’m not exactly impressed by your lack of integrity, Ms. Shuura, I am willing to alter the contract to your specifications. Would that sate you?”
Gage wondered if everyone felt peeved with themselves from time to time, or if only he experienced such an intolerable sensation of self-loathing every time he missed an opportunity to speak with her. Just before Vyn’s guardian had requested a refreshment, the male Frei had summed up his courage and prepared to say something more intelligent than “hello” to the one person that was always on his mind. Before he could even produce a syllable of conversation, the shadow Raevan was off to collect a pitcher of tea. A sense of failure weighed on Gage’s shoulders, so grand and terribly he was surprised he could even float anymore. Absently, he listened to the flow of dialogue between one owner to another, and it seemed as though everything was progressing favorably. At least Vyn would not be moving to some place so far away Gage would never set eyes on her again outside of some formal Lab function. That was a step in the proper direction.
If only he could hover an inch in Vyn’s. She was so close—so not preoccupied with anything of importance. If anyone wanted her attention, that was surely the moment to harvest it. Even someone as socially inept as a creature with no legs and green skin should have been able to at least exchange a few words with that fairest of maidens. Once, Gage had requested Rivener’s advice on the subject matter of wooing beautiful ladies, and the scorpion Frei had seemed inclined towards the direct approach. Why, then, could Gage not even leave the door for fear of taking up too much space, or even invading Vyn’s personal patch of it without her consent?
“Now, perhaps we could discuss the small matter of music volume…”
At least Gage had a little time to contemplate the pros and cons of idiotic bravery versus unsure cowardice.
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Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:13 pm
Shuura's eyes immediately narrowed. That was FAR too easy. Jules was NEVER this easy to negotiate with. "Don't kid yourself now, Jules," She scoffed instead. "I am fully aware of what integrity is, and fully aware of the fact that we both have none." In fact, because she had no need or reason to hide such a fact before him, it might just be slightly possible that the scruples-lacking teenager got along just a tad better with Julian compared to most other people--despite his holy bitchy prissiness, of course. She was going to add that he smelled like a broken down chemical factory, but decided that really wouldn't help her case at the moment, no matter how tempting the barb was. She still had to negotiate the amount of the actual rent, after all.
Instead, she simply fished out a piece of paper seemingly out of the folds of the couch and handed it over to across the small mountain of junk that acted as a slight buffer between them. The paper was a printout of one of Zony's newest, hottest, limited-edition designer items, a set of trendy black and red headphones with ultra bass boost, platinum inlay, supreme noise-cancellation ability, various customizable features, and an accompanying 10-year warranty. According to the printout, the headphones haven't been released to the public market yet....but they were being auctioned off in some "private" markets. "I really don't see how my music can bother you all the way up there...I mean, it'd be such a waste not to use my top-of-the-line speakers," she smirked, "But I guess I could be persuaded to switch to headphones instead...they'd have to be the same quality or better than my speakers, of course. I don't like to waste the use of my equipment when I have it. "
Meanwhile, blithely ignorant of her fellow Raevan's inner turmoil, Vyn was quietly and unblinkingly studying the stranger of the two new arrivals. Non-Raevans normally held little to no interest to the female Frei, but this orange-haired one had a strange sort of air about him that the young Raevan couldn't quite place. He was dressed in a black pants, much looser fitting than any pants Shuura wore. Vyn couldn't wear most of the things that Shuura or other 'walkers' could, but found that they were interesting to look at nonetheless. Sometimes she would see a few with particularly interesting-looking combinations. In the case of the one balanced on the sitting-thing in the room, his ensemble was not something that the Shadow Raevan's gaze would have lingered on normally, but at length Vyn decided that although overall it was not very striking or particularly memorable, it looked...not-bad on him.
Something else bothered her, though. There was an odd scent about him, like what some of the bottles in the bathroom smelled like sometimes (she had touched the contents once and it burned her skin)--and not even the constant scent of roses that lingered around her seemed to mask it fully. Vyn didn't know what chemicals were, so she didn't understand what exactly Julian smelled like, or why. Perhaps Gage will tell her why sometime. Her gaze flickered over and settled on where the Green Raevan hovered, some distance away from her. Did he not wish to come closer to her? Others usually did. The female Frei was so used to attracting attention that she was desensitized when she recieved it, yet quick to notice whenever attention wasn't being given to her.
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