Chris waited patiently in his room, wondering if Eve would return. He wondered if he was moving too fast. He shouldn't have kissed her, maybe he'd made her uncomfortable. God what was he thinking? He took off his shirt and layed down on top of the sheets. It felt like years since he had been able to lay down in a real bed. He couldn't remember the last time he'd slept soundly. It was bliss, but it would be infinitely better were she laying down beside him. "Stop fooling yourself Chris. You don't deserve her." he reminded himself.
"Black? Coming right up." He goes back to the bartender to place his order for two coffees. As he waited for the coffee, he checked his breath to make sure it wasn't offensive to the lady. He consumed a mint just to make sure. Bugsy brought some coffee and gave him a wink and a grin. Artie knew what the wink was for, he let out a little laugh and nodded, he was now on the way with hot coffee. He placed a black coffee in front of the lady before taking a seat across from her. "So, let's start this off slow. I didn't get your name in the truck. I think I heard you adressed as Mika or Mischa? Maybe Lisa?"
"Mika." She told him and took a sip of the coffee. It was hot and hit the spot perfectly. "And you're Artie." Mika said matter-of-factly, "A wizard with truck innards?"
Eve had disposed of the gloves and checked herself to make she there wasn’t any left over blood. She’d even had a breath mint it probably wouldn’t change the fact her breath smelt like a** and no doubt she had mouse fur caught in her teeth. There was a surge of self hatred and she pushed it aside. She was stupid to go back to Chris but at least if he told her to go it would all be over and done with. When she reached the room he was lying on the bed with his shirt off. Eve eyed him in an approving manner then sat besides him lifting up a bottle of scotch which she hadn’t opened yet. “I hope you don‘t mind I like scotch better then burbs it‘s a little smoother.” she stretched then flopped back on the bed. “Who knew laying on a bed would feel this good after being in the truck for so long.”
"And you're Artie." Mika said matter-of-factly, "A wizard with truck innards?" "Wow, that sounds nice." he said, blowing on his fingernails and dusting them off on his shirt. "I wish I was that eloquent, but I AM a Roughneck. We're not the most highly educated beings on Earth, in case you didn't notice. Is your coffee alright?"
"Coffee's fine." Mika told him, taking another sip, "hey, I only have what education I picked up on the way. It's not like there are a lot of schools out there in the ice, you know?" They fell into a silence for a moment and Mika groped for a good subject. "So you have kids? How many? What are they like?"
"I thought you'd come to your senses and escaped before i could finish seducing you." He smirked and grabbed her by the waist pulling her into a kiss. "I missed you." He grabbed the bottle from her and took a swig... "MMmmmm, good year." he said. " I can't drink too much, tomorrow's a big day, besides, i want to remember tonight."
"Really? Maybe I'll have to make some time if I get back home. That's a big if, though. Anyways, I have seven kids. All little angels, though Daddy's goin' through Hell raising them. They're a handful, but they're MY handful, you know?" He took a sip of his coffee, which he supplied with cream and sugar. It was a vast improvement over the Roughneck Surprise and Bourbon he had been swigging earlier. He pulls away from the gourmet brew long enough to get a good look at Mika. "I remember overhearing you had a husband you lost a little while ago. I'm sorry to hear that, did you two have any kids?" Mika looked to be choked as she thought about the question. Or at least, that's how it appeared to Artie. She got up suddenly, causing Artie to get up from his seat. "Is everything ok?" he asked her. Mika replied with, "It's really late, I should be going to bed." As she gathered her things, Arthur tried to assess where he went wrong. Drawing a blank, the next best thing to do was ask the lady. "Listen, did I..." he was interrupted by Mika. "I'm sorry, Artie. It's just really late, I have to get going. Goodnight." She was gone with the wind, and Arthur was once again alone. He looked down as he thought about why she left so suddenly. "Is it the fro?" he said to her as she left, running his fingers through his red hair. By now there wasn't a trace of her. "Damn" he said, trying to enjoy the rest of his coffee.
"MMmmmm, good year." he said. " I can't drink too much, tomorrow's a big day, besides, i want to remember tonight." Eve blushed at his words, she moved closer not wanting to miss anything he said. He smelt good and gently touching his cheek she smiled looking into his eyes. Then she paled she’d never done anything like this before it meant he’d see her see all of her then self inflicted cuts that her jackets covered so well. She told herself it wouldn’t matter this could be the only chance at love she’d ever get and she felt something for Chris that had forced her outside of her shell. “You know,” she said between several hungry kisses. “I haven‘t ever done anything like this before…but I like the idea of you suducing me. Just...just don't be shocked at what you see.”
“You know,” she said between several hungry kisses. “I haven‘t ever done anything like this before…but I like the idea of you suducing me. Just...just don't be shocked at what you see.” Chris was slightly confused, but he didn't let it stop him, He put the bottle on the nightstand and climbed on top of her. Driven by a surge of hormones and emotion, he pulled her black polar longsleeve sweater off over her head and looked down at her in her bra. Long deep scars ran down the length of her arms with hundreds of little healed nick and cutmarks surrounding them. Most of them were scarred over, but a few were fresh. Chris paused for a moment, not knowing what to say or do. He took one of her arms and looked at one of the fresh marks. "You... you did this to yourself... didn't you?" he asked, eyes welling with tears.
"You... you did this to yourself... didn't you?" he asked Eve should have guessed this was the worst idea she’d ever had. “I warned you.” she managed to say looking at her arms. “It‘s a complicated thing. I don‘t know how to explain it. This stops me from hurting other people. I don‘t do it for self pity, it…it‘s not like that.” She grabbed at the sweater. “I‘m really sorry Chris I don‘t know what else I could say to make this better and you too good a man to be lied to. I just couldn‘t do that.”
“I warned you. It‘s a complicated thing. I don‘t know how to explain it. This stops me from hurting other people. I don‘t do it for self pity, it…it‘s not like that." She grabbed at the sweater. “I‘m really sorry Chris I don‘t know what else I could say to make this better and you too good a man to be lied to. I just couldn‘t do that.” Chris threw her sweater on the ground and gently kissed her forehead. Chris wondered at her recently erased past, he wondered what would drive a person to need to hurt something. "It's okay Eve... It's okay..." he said wrapping his arms around her. "But the next time you get the urge to hurt something, i want you to hurt me okay? I can't stand to think of you doing this to yourself anymore." He follwed up his statement with a long deep kiss. "Promise me Eve."
"Promise me Eve." Eve pulled away from the kiss, “don‘t make me promise you that, the fight in the dunes it helped bring up a lot of memories, I think it was the reason my clan was so against me going, to protect me. Even my lack of memory was there to protect me. I‘m as much a reaver as I am Orlock, if I hurt you…what if I couldn‘t stop? Lewis was hard enough with that wound I wanted to put my hand in his chest and drink. It makes me sick to think I could do that to you.”
Eve pulled away from the kiss, “don‘t make me promise you that, the fight in the dunes it helped bring up a lot of memories, I think it was the reason my clan was so against me going, to protect me. Even my lack of memory was there to protect me. I‘m as much a reaver as I am Orlock, if I hurt you…what if I couldn‘t stop? Lewis was hard enough with that wound I wanted to put my hand in his chest and drink. It makes me sick to think I could do that to you.” She was a Reaver... well... that explained a lot. Chris looked down into her eyes, they didn't look like the eyes of a ruthless killing machine, they looked more like the eyes of a scared, confused,beautiful young woman. Chris had already made his decision, he didn't care what reasons she had, or what she had to say about it. "I'm hoping that my screams will be enough to make you stop. I'm hoping you'll care enough about me to not need to hurt anymore. I'm hoping i can save you Eve, besides, I'm not giving you a choice. Promise me or i'll inform Captain Hawke that you're too mentally unstable to complete your mission requirements and you'll no longer be a part of the group. You'll go back into therapy where you, honestly, may need to be. I care about you Eve, please let me help you... Let me try, anyway. Promise me."
"I'm hoping that my screams will be enough to make you stop. I'm hoping you'll care enough about me to not need to hurt anymore. I'm hoping I can save you Eve, besides, I'm not giving you a choice. Promise me or I’ll inform Captain Hawke that you're too mentally unstable to complete your mission requirements and you'll no longer be a part of the group. You'll go back into therapy where you, honestly, may need to be. I care about you Eve, please let me help you... Let me try, anyway. Promise me." Now there was a threat, she was being reasonable wasn’t she? Not wanting to hurt someone she loved. He felt the same way just to be threatening her that way. He didn’t want her hurting herself, the outcomes of not doing so might lead to something more dangerous. Maybe she should tell Hawke herself. Or she could cut her feet…he wouldn’t see them. “Okay,” she said. “your right, maybe I‘m being melodramatic. I‘ll just have to do what I can, I don‘t think I could home now not that I‘ve met you.” She ran her fingers through his hair and looked him in the eyes, “I promise.”
"Thank you Eve." He said smiling and expertly slipping a hand around, unhooking her bra. "Now if you don't mind, let's finish talking about this in the morning..." bow chikka wahhh wowwww!!
Steward's chest and leg began to cause him pain he decided enough dancing for now. He walked back over to the bar and ordered another lemonade, again the bartender smirked "AHH give over, ya bell-end" he said responding to the smirk. He scanned the room again and this time noticed Chris and Eve were nowhere to be found, Steward grinned to himself 'Damn i'm good' he thought to himself. He noticed a blonde lady sitting at a table alone, he recognised her as the girl Chris had carried, he began making his way over, she seemed to be slipping into a sleep. Steward did want to scare the living day lights out of her, he came behind her and placed his hands softly on her shoulders "Booo, mind if i join you?" he said with a warm smile on his face
Mika found her room and dropped her things on a handy chair as she shut the door with her foot. The pain in her heart wouldn't ease, not even with the alcohol buzzing through her blood. She hated being alone but she knew what life did to you. You fell for someone and then they died in front of her eyes. The scene played out again in front of her, broken ice, pitiless gray water, and watching the bubbles slowly stop rising as she knelt on the creaking ice, screaming for help and wishing for the courage to throw herself in. "Hey, lady, you okay?" It had been hours later. HOURS after anyone could have helped Boris. She hadn't even heard the engines of the truck that had brought the English men near the drill site. Mika shook her head hard. She had been keeping all of these memories down just fine, thank you, she didn't need them plaguing her now. She rose unsteadily to use the bathroom and undress. She dropped into bed, haphazardly wrapping a blanket around her and staring emptily into space for a long while before sleep claimed her, hearing one last echo from the past as she fell into darkness. Hey, Lady, you okay? No. She answered and thankfully knew nothing more.
Soon enough Sadie was left alone with her cocoa to watch the party really get started. For a moment she had considered going after Gask, but she decided if he wanted company he would have stayed – and she wasn’t exactly good at talking about feelings or dealing with awkward situations. So, instead, she did what she was good at – keeping herself to herself and just watching other people. The people she was travelling with were certainly interesting, and as Sadie had observed earlier no-one except her, and perhaps Spencer, was worried about staying sober. With a wry smile she turned back to her cocoa and her thoughts. Reaver territory tomorrow, and this Jeremiah the Elder sounded like a laugh riot. They would have been exceptionally alert, even more so that they’d been so far, and in top shape. Sadie rolled her shoulder thinking about it; it was still bruised and tender from where it had dislocated. She was wondering about finding somewhere quiet to exercise it when she sensed someone coming up behind her. She felt the warm weight of their hands placed gently on her shoulders. “Boooo, mind if I join you?” Looking up, she saw Lewis smiling warmly down at her. “Sure, go ahead,” she replied.
"Thanks" he said as he took a seat, sighing in relief. "Awww, whats with the long face," he asked in a polite manner "Was i disturbing you?" he raised his eyebrow in curiosity "Or you sulking over Chris?" he smirked at her. He clenched at his wounded chest, a shot of pain surged through his body, he took a few deep breaths before continueing. "I believe we haven't met formally before? Names Lewis Steward but ya can call me Louie like the rest of the others" he said raising his hand for shake, the giant hand hung in the air, he noticed the women looking at his hand "Don't like shaking hands? I can take a kiss instead" he grinned "but dont worry my hands clean, it hasnt been down you know where" he winked "The doc's disinfected every inch of my body" he made funny scrumbled face at the thought
Sadie raised a bemused eyebrow, taking Lewis’ proffered hand and wondering absently if he verbalised every thought that came into his head. He barely paused for breath so clearly the injury to his chest hadn’t permanently damaged his lungs. “Sadie Feist,” she said, mouth twitching into a smile. “And no, I was just thinking about tomorrow.”
Eve rolled in the bed, she wasn’t use to sharing sleeping space with anyone. She closed her eyes and all she could see was snow alive with the motion of movement. "He doesn‘t love you girl and I can’t either, not knowing what you are. Not knowing why you’re here." Eve moaned at her mothers voice it had been bothering her since the dunes. She was dreaming…at the time Eve thought she must has been at least five or six. There was a dog playing with her in the snow, it was pretty gold brindled with black and very playful too. Eve had her face licked to many times to mention. Now Eve was luring him with treats and he was coming closer, she’d picked up a pretty sliver from a mirror that morning when mummy had punched it. She was pretending to be a soldier and this was her bayonet. The dog finally took a treat from Eve’s hand and she smiled…Then with no thought attached she crooned to it “good boy.” and jammed the mirror dagger into it’s throat and drew it upwards. She let go of the mirror and watched as blood spurted from the dog. It was warm and sticky Eve licked the smell. She jammed two fingers into the wound, then curious she tried to make her whole fist fit. When she pulled it out it was crimson she sucked on it savouring the metallic taste, so dogs blood was the same as her own. Behind her Eve could hear mommy screaming in horror. Eve jolted upwards in her bed horrified, holding back a scream of her own.
"My mum used to say to me 'Baby boy don't you worry about tommorow its what you do today that counts" he gave a weak smile to Sadie then took a sip of his lemonade. He looked deep into Sadie's eyes "Tell me little about yourself, you got a story behind ya?" he carried on his gaze into Sadies eyes
Sadie grinned. “Well no offence to your mum, but when tomorrow’s taking us into Reaver territory I think we ought to worry. Second part might be right though,” she added dryly, glancing round at those left in the bar. “Today we get drunk, tomorrow our hangovers get us killed.” With a sigh she knocked back the last of her cocoa. Looking up at Louie she found his eyes locked on her. “Tell me a little about yourself. You got a story behind ya?” “I just like to shoot things,” she shrugged. Lewis kept his eyes on her but his gaze was now sceptical. Sadie sighed again and pushed her empty mug towards Bugsy in a request for a refill. Not alcohol, but she’d need something if she was going to be honest. “Fine. My dad died when I nine, and my mother remarried. My stepfather was an abusive, drunk bastard. I couldn’t protect her - she used to stuff me into cupboards so he couldn’t get me. When I was sixteen I found a gun in his stuff. When he came home that night and started hitting her I shot him. Twice, in his shoulder and leg. “He lay there like the bug he was and dared me to kill him. But I couldn’t do it. He got away. So I joined the army. I wanted to be able to protect the people I cared about.” Sadie paused, then smiled grimly. “And I figured if I couldn’t kill him, I’d at least get the other bastards out there.” She took a long sip of cocoa, then looked up at Louie. “Your turn.”
"Amazing! This is absolutely amazing!" the young man gushed. "I mean, Mr. Djalili, I knew you were working on something important, but..." Through the microscope, Omar saw the crystals flowing around, perpetually moving. "S-so, this serum could effectively give someone the ability to..." "I'm afraid that's classified, my sycophantic friend," the doctor said. To be honest with himself, the only reason Omar had brought the young man -- barely over twenty -- here was because of the ego-stroking he'd gotten. The boy had read almost every paper Omar had submitted. His enthusiasm was infectious. "Suffice to say, this serum," the doctor held the syringe filled with purple liquid up to the light, "could win the war against the Drekk." The serum was derived from the crystalline structures found in Drekk's brains, which gave them mild telepathic abilities. This made intercepting communications impossible. Until now. Omar had finally found a way to give humans the ability to listen in on Drekk communications. He hoped. Either that, or it would just turn into a malignant brain tumor and kill the subject. Which was why Omar would rather not test it on himself. He needed one of the other members of the team... "Mika!" Knock-knock. No answer. Excitement brimmed in Omar; he couldn't wait much longer. "Mika, it's Omar. Uh, the doctor. We should talk. It's important." He didn't know many people on this expedition. Steward was too injured to risk, Eve and Gask needed to drive, Sadie scared him. Mika was nice enough, wasn't too critical to the mission, and she did mention having no family to worry about. She seemed perfect to test the serum on. Plus, there was something he'd been meaning to say to her...
