| Needs |
[04 Sep 2005|04:08pm] |
It was the middle of the afternoon, not that you'd know it by the inside of Julian's apartment. High above the Witching Hour, he kept his lair dark, dimly lit by a few bulbs and candles. He found it relaxing. Sitting in a lax pose on his couch, he looked up from the book he was reading momentarily, to take a brief look at a small picture frame resting on his end table. With a strangely sincere smile, he trailed his fingertips down the frame, and then went back to his book.
The elevator shot past the floor Star usually selected, and climbed to the top of the building. She'd never been up there before. There had never been a reason. Most of her needs were several floors below, in the nightclub, where lately she'd downed as many drinks as she served.
But this trip didn't bring her there as Star the waitress. Today she was Star the brassed-off witch. It was a face she wore rarely because, of all the irresponsible choices Star made on a daily basis (money, men, not to mention her driving), witchcraft had never been something she took lightly. It wasn't magic. It was the goddess.
Unless, of course, her boyfriend had gone against his promises and decided to take on a veritable monster by himself. Then it was game on.
She arrived at Julian's door looking a little wind-blown. Star hadn't bothered to comb the tangles out of her hair that morning. Last night's mascara was beneath her eyes, and the straps of a camisole kept flying off her shoulders. She didn't care. There was something she needed, fast.
Star raised a fist to Julian's door and knocked hard enough to wake the neighbors. If he'd had any.
Startled from his thoughts, Julian hopped from the couch with almost feline grace, seemingly up and to the door with one fluid motion. Wearing simple black slacks and a tight black crushed velvet tee, he brushed a stray strand of hair from his eyes, and opened the door with a small smirk. "Well... this is a nice surprise."
Star opened her mouth to tell him what she needed, loudly, but was interrupted mid-thought. "I..." Was that velveteen? She couldn't resist reaching out to touch his shoulder, just to confirm it. That was a ballsy enough fashion maneuver to take her completely off-track, even with the severity of the situation.
"Sorry. That's..." Star blinked herself back into focus. "Yeah, I need something from you. Something a little bit sketchy. And I figure if anyone will have it, it's you." She arched a thin eyebrow at Julian and waited for him to respond.
( They Don't Grow on Trees )
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| Earned Trust |
[04 Sep 2005|06:25pm] |
Things were way too quiet.
Not on patrol. If anything, recent nights had turned up some of the more unusual demons that Rhiannon could remember; Strange, fleeting creatures that moved fast, hit hard, and left you with little other than your gut to tell you where to strike. Which was fine. Rhiannon trusted her gut implicitly, the way she trusted Las Vegas to always keep her on her toes. More often than not, the city sent her home with muscles aching in ways she'd never felt before.
God, she was starting to love that city.
But afternoon found the Slayer in her empty Searchlight apartment, with all the quiet. Her fingers combed through Mary Sue's fur, until she was reduced to an immobile lump at her side. An afternoon away from the bookstore, and Rhiannon was finding that, unlike her cat, she couldn't relax.
Rhiannon hauled herself off the couch, made a quick grab for her cigarettes and sunglasses, and headed out on the porch.
Kris had taken to walking to help get her mind off things. Patrols were strange at the moment. Odd creatures stirred and Kris had a few concerns. She'd have to call up Corbett and see if he had any idea about the creatures she had been seeing. However, right at this moment, she wasn't the Slayer. She was just Kris.
Eddy ran free ahead of her and seemed to be enjoying the time out and away from the apartment. Kris smiled as she watched him chasing after his tail before she whistled and brought him back to her. Kris crouched down and rubbed both hands over his ears. She pushed her shades atop of her head before taking a quick glance around herself.
She wasn't too far from Rhiannon's and she hadn't seen her fellow Slayer in a while. Maybe a home visit was in order. Kris got back up to her feet and brushed a few stray grains of dust from the back of her jeans. "C'mon boy," Kris muttered to Eddy as she set off towards Rhiannon's.
Eventually she found herself walking up towards Rhiannon's apartment and smiled slightly as she spotted Rhiannon out on the porch. Kris held up a hand in greeting and called, "Hey Rhiannon." As Kris continued towards her porch, Eddy bounded over to greet the other Slayer enthusiastically.
Rhiannon smiled a little as the dog came leaping up the steps. "Hold on," she told him, and pushed her shoulder away from the wall. The mounted mailbox provided a good resting place for her cigarette.
Once her hands were free, Rhiannon knelt in front of the dog and wrapped her hands around his ears to scratch behind. "Hey... you giving Kris a work-out?" she asked, leaning close to look Eddy in the eye. The dog leaned close to sniff her cheek before licking the sunglasses off her face.
Rhiannon squeezed her eyes shut and made a face. "Yeah, you're the one with a mouthful of make-up, so who's the jackass?" She propped her sunglasses on her head. A few more dog scratches later, she stood up.
The Slayer retrieved her burning cigarette and leaned back into the wall, arms crossing. "Long time, no see," she called to Kris.
( Walk and Talk: Spitting Demons and Father Figures )
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