Electra Posted December 20, 2009 Posted December 20, 2009 The plants always reacted when Stesha came home. Sometimes, when she was feeling mellow, it was just to turn her way in momentary acknowledgement. Today as Stesha transmitted in, the plants filling her living space rustled as though moved by an unseen gust of wind. Runners began climbing the walls, covering the windows and blocking the door as she tugged the pins from her hair and tossed them angrily into an enameled bowl on the coffee table. She was mad, and she hated being mad, but underneath the mad she felt sick and sad, and that was worse. She'd take the anger while it lasted. The first thing she needed to do though, was to expend some energy before her plants filled the entire living room. Kicking off her shoes, she walked into the kitchen and started filling her mop bucket. The floor needed work anyway, and that was a nice, mindless exercise. The side of her neck ached as though she'd been stung by a bee, but surely that was just imaginary. Stesha resisted the urge to rub it.
Cyroa Posted December 20, 2009 Posted December 20, 2009 Dark Star flashed across the city in a heartbeat. He came to Stesha's place and moved to the door. Yes, technically he'd been spending quite a lot of time there even though he didn't officially live there. He was...hesitant to introduce on some level but also needed to be there for her, to help her. But he wasn't sure if she even wanted him there. He reached out and rapped gently on her door with a little TK and moved to just inside. He could see her through the walls of course but he was giving her the option of...what he wasn't sure. This whole thing had thrown him off and certainly not improved his rather mediocre social skills. "Stesha? It's me..."
Electra Posted December 20, 2009 Author Posted December 20, 2009 He could hear water running in the kitchen and smell the strong tang of Pine-Sol in the air as soon as he came through the door, but Stesha didn't make an appearance. The plants were interested though, turning and moving in his direction in a way that didn't seem entirely friendly. "What do you want?" Stesha called from the kitchen. "Shouldn't you be celebrating the engagement?"
Cyroa Posted December 20, 2009 Posted December 20, 2009 Dark Star moved down the hall slowly, noting the plants but not really concerned. He wasn't exactly sure how to handle this. He pushed aside his own angry emotions and went with the direct approach. "I'm here for you. You were, or are, upset. You are my priority, not the engagement. Regardless of what was going on over there, I'm here for you. You left so suddenly I didn't even get to respond to you. You mean far more to me than staying there and hashing all this out with Jack."
Electra Posted December 20, 2009 Author Posted December 20, 2009 Stesha was standing over the sink with a stormy expression on her face, waiting for the trickle of hot water from the faucet to fill her bucket. She spared him a glance. "I can't believe you didn't tell me," she spat. "You knew I went out with him, you know what kind of person he is. Or maybe you don't. You were awfully quick to believe that he couldn't do anything wrong, despite what Moira told me, and what I tried to tell Taylor." Giving up on the faucet, she hauled the half-full bucket out of the sink and put it on the floor. In the tiny kitchen she had to brush through him to get the mop, but that wasn't hard in his current form. She dipped the mop in the bucket and began sloshing hot water onto the floor. "I guess everybody's known except me for months. That's a heck of a joke."
Cyroa Posted December 20, 2009 Posted December 20, 2009 He nodded, moving out of her way. "Of course I said nothing about it. He trusted me with his secret. I couldn't share that. It wasn't my place to." He shook his head a little. "And there are probably plenty of people who don't know. Moira didn't either until just now. I'm not exactly up on all of that." He frowned to himself, trying to sort his thoughts and emotions out. "I thought Jack was a good person. A true hero. But that didn't make him a saint. People can act poorly to others. They make mistakes. But they're still good people at their core. So even though he was a jerk to you, he still is, or was, my friend. Not really sure anymore. But I never would have believed he would have...bitten you or any other innocent. Never. I just don't know what to do about that."
Electra Posted December 20, 2009 Author Posted December 20, 2009 "Act poorly?" Stesha snapped, slamming the mop head against the floor. Water and suds flew everywhere as she stared into his blank, empty face. "It's acting poorly if you don't call someone when you said you would, or dump them with no explanation. He sank his teeth into my neck and drank my blood, and somehow made it so I didn't remember it later. That's a lot more than behaving like a jerk. I'm pretty sure it's a crime. Not that I could prove it. The fact that he was out there doing that, might still be doing it, for all I know, and you've been protecting him, makes me sick." Whirling away, she began to scrub the floor with great vigor, the sponge mop making squeaky noises against the linoleum that were loud in the quiet room.
Cyroa Posted December 20, 2009 Posted December 20, 2009 He was more than a little frustrated and up himself, and doing his best to remain calm wasn't exactly working 100%. "I didn't know that! None of us did! I truly and honestly believed he wouldn't, couldn't do such a thing! He was supposed to be a hero dang it! That he could do such a thing, DID such a thing...that he hurt you, makes me very, very angry! Let alone that he abused and destroyed the trust and faith I had in him! Do you think for one minute, if I had known he was assaulting innocents, let alone you, that I would have stood by and done nothing?"
Electra Posted December 20, 2009 Author Posted December 20, 2009 "What did you expect him to be doing?" Stesha demanded. "He's a vampire, right? Feasts on the blood of the living? Not everyone who's living is totally innocent, but they don't deserve to be eaten by monsters. I wonder how many of the criminals he's rounded up have never made it to the police station. Did you or anybody else ever check up on him to see where he gets what he eats? There was obviously nobody paying attention the night he was with me. Since when does fighting crime give anyone a free pass?" She turned back to her work, wringing out the mop and soaking up some of the water she'd carelessly splashed around. Maybe she wasn't being entirely fair to Derrick, who wouldn't see the worst in people if it bit him, but she wasn't yet willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Part of it was that she was pretty sure that when she was done being mad she was going to cry and possibly jump in the shower to never come out again. She at least wanted some privacy for that.
Cyroa Posted December 20, 2009 Posted December 20, 2009 "I expected him to be a hero! I trusted him. I have to, had to, believe in the man, not the 'species'. That he could overcome his condition and be a better person for it. Just because he's a vampire, it shouldn't automatically make him 'evil' or unable to control his own action. He should have been better! He wouldn't kill people...Or at least I didn't think he would ever do that," he said somewhat quieter. He was angry, confused and hurt and rather lost as far as his feeling went. Still, he was doing his best to help and be there for her rather than vent his own emotions out on the unsuspecting. "He has money, connections. There are those people who are...deluded enough to want vampire to take from them. Synthetics, animals. But never from an unwilling person...I never believe he would violate someone like that. He was supposed to be a hero. I never would have let him if I had believed otherwise," he said softly. He'd have to deal with he said softly. He'd deal with his own guilt and culpability in Jack's (possible but now seemingly very, very possible if not probable) crimes another time. Now was the time to be here for her, not for him.
Electra Posted December 20, 2009 Author Posted December 20, 2009 "Not everyone's as good as you are," Stesha replied, quieter now, but still attacking the little spots of dirt on the floor as though they'd done her a personal injury. "Not everyone has the same moral code, or lines they won't cross. Have you ever thought he might have started hero work because the people who could stop him would pay less attention to him if he looked and acted like one of their own? Or maybe to make himself feel better for the bad things he did every night? He was already on your team by the time I met him. It wasn't like he had some major change of heart, changed his ways, and started being a hero. Now I have to wonder whether he bit Moira too, and she just healed up too fast to ever notice it. It seems pretty likely with Taylor, anyway," she added sardonically, "since she didn't seem surprised, or even to care, that Jack was eating people. I don't even know how you tell with her if it's voluntary or not anymore." She stopped mopping for a minute, wrapping her hand around the end of the mop, then resting her forehead against her knuckles. "What are you going to do about him now?" she finally asked. "You know what he is, and what he does. Is he really worth your silence and your complicity in whatever he does when he's out at night?"
N/A Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 DarkStar and Fleur each heard the familiar, if long-absent voice of The Scarab once again echo through their minds. Derrick, please bring Stesha and yourself to my lair when you are able. It appears there is much to discuss, and my aid has been sought in providing illumination.
Electra Posted December 21, 2009 Author Posted December 21, 2009 Stesha startled at the sudden intrusion into her mind. It took a moment to realize what was happening, and who was talking. "Tell Jack he can take his illumination and shove it," she said aloud to the kitchen ceiling, unsure of how to actually respond. "You've all been covering for him, why should you stop now? I haven't got anything to say to him." If she could've slammed the door of her mind, she would have, but Stesha didn't even begin to know how one went about doing that. Instead she flipped on her radio and turned it up loud, as though the music would drown out the voice in her head.
N/A Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 The music did not drown out the voice in her head. Not at all. Instead, Stesha's mind was suddenly filled with an image, not so much seen as remembered. A small Latina woman lay unconscious on the floor of a living room indistinguishable from any of a million middle-class American homes, save for the dried blood caked on every surface she could see. The woman was bleeding from her eyes, her ears, even her nose. A man clad in black leather loomed over her, tearing off his hockey mask to reveal Jack's face. First, he looked panicked, checking her pulse with obvious concern. Then his eyes glazed over and his fangs popped out as he stared at the blood on her face. Stesha felt a shudder of revlusion that was not her own pass over her as Jack proceeded to scoop up the woman in her arms, pull her close, and lick the blood rivulets from her flesh. Rest assured, covering up the sins of Jack Faretti is a concern that could not be further from my mind. Again, I humbly request your presence in my home.
Cyroa Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 He sighed, torn, her question cutting to the core. What was he going to do about it... "I...I don't know. But if it is true, I can't let it continue. How could I? I've never been silent about truth. I do not let villains go free. If Jack is one, then I suppose I shall have to deal with him." He was pretty certain that doing so was going to destroy everything he was. But if it was true, he'd have to do something about it if he was going to be true to himself. Scarab's voice rang out in his head at that moment. It didn't bother him, he was rather used to it after all but he sighed. It wasn't exactly the best timing. "That was Scarab obviously. And baring some significant powers, you won't be able to hide from her voice. Scarab, if you will give a few moments of privacy please." He waited until he felt her presence recede. "Stesha, I think I should go. I want to get the details of what has been going on and Scarab is someone who can get them. I know you don't want to go and I'm not going to pressure you to go. But you're upset and I don't want to leave you. If you want me to stay, I will stay nd ignore Scarab's call." He loved her so much he was willing to give up his duty for her and to hell with the consequences to the others or even to himself.
Electra Posted December 21, 2009 Author Posted December 21, 2009 "Thanks, Derrick, I-" Whatever Stesha had been about to say was cut off abruptly as Scarab made her exceedingly graphic argument. She stood motionless for a moment, the mop slipping from her nerveless fingers and clattering to the floor. As the vision unfolded and the vampire fed, she grabbed the edge of the counter with both hands as bile rose in her throat. "What do you want from me?" she demanded, obviously no longer talking to Dark Star. "If you already know, what more am I supposed to tell you? I don't even remember!" Clumsily pushing her mind back against the strange presence, Stesha called up everything she remembered of her evening with Jack, how pleased/excited/nervous she'd been to be asked out by an attractive, charismatic man for the first time since moving to the big city, the adrenaline rush of her first real brush with villainy, how impressed she had been to realize he was a superhero. That led into the heady and innocent pleasure of the way he had kissed her, first in the alley behind the super museum, then in the deserted movie theater, followed by fuzzier memories of the awkwardness and confusion as he'd suddenly broken away and taken her home, only for her to find her neck embarrassingly black and blue later. All of that was overlaid now with revulsion, knowing now what she hadn't then about him and his motivations for the whole encounter, and shame that she had missed it and let it happen and even been sorry later that he'd dropped her. "That's it!" she said aloud, grabbing a paper towel and scrubbing her face clean of the tears that had started falling during the memory. "Is that good enough? Can you just leave me alone?"
N/A Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 My apologies. It was not my intent to add to your distress, nor to interrogate you. I will take my leave. Stesha felt for a moment like someone had switched off a television in her brain. Then, there was nothing.
Electra Posted December 21, 2009 Author Posted December 21, 2009 Stesha was quiet for a minute after the Scarab's departure, staring down at the counter. "You can go if you want to," she told Dark Star, not looking up at the expanse of empty darkness that currently comprised him. "I'm not going. I think I'd rather be alone right now anyway." Leaving the mop and bucket in the middle of the floor, she left the kitchen and went into her bedroom, gently closing the door behind her. It was an empty gesture, one that wouldn't stop him seeing in, let alone coming in, but it was a gesture nonetheless. The plants had stopped moving now as well, laying sulkily on the floor or hanging over the sides of their pots.
Cyroa Posted December 21, 2009 Posted December 21, 2009 Dark Star stared after her and through the walls at her for a long moment while his insides felt like they were being torn to shreds. He gestured, cleaning up the water, bucket and mop so at least she wouldn't have to. He didn't really know what to do, but she didn't want him there and his duty pulled him as well. He rose silently and invisibly. He only hoped they survived all of this; his duty and his relationship.
Moira Morley Posted December 24, 2009 Posted December 24, 2009 A while later Moira had been through a lot today. Coming home. Seeing old friends. Finding out things were not as they seemed. Telling others things were not as they seemed. It all happened so fast. All within the span of about an hour. Now that she had left the Scarab's Lair, she quickly found herself on Stesha's doorstep. It was not comforting to be here, but she had to do some uncomfortable things to clear her mind. And her friend's mind. "The truth shall set you free," as the old proverb said. She wanted to obtain freedom for herself and her friend. And it started with a knock on Stesha's door.
Electra Posted December 24, 2009 Author Posted December 24, 2009 There was no response for a little while, leaving Moira to stare uncomfortably at the friendly plush turkey wreath that Stesha had hung on her door for the season. She was just about to knock again, or leave, or do something else when the door finally opened a crack and Stesha looked out. She'd obviously been crying, and been in the shower as well. Her green hair hung braided in a thick, wet rope down her back, and looked odd without its usual dressing of flowers. Stesha stared at Moira for a minute, almost too tired to think what to do. Crying hadn't really made her feel better, but it had dulled the sharpest and most overwhelming edge of what she'd learned. It had also been kind of exhausting. But Moira was her friend, and Moira hadn't known either. Jack had said that much, she was pretty sure. She opened the door wider. "Hey, come on in."
Moira Morley Posted December 24, 2009 Posted December 24, 2009 This sad and weary sight made the pit of Moira's stomach drop even lower. No, it had to be done. She wanted this. Stesha deserved this. She greeted Stesha with a hug as she stepped inside. She didn't care about how wet she was, just something to get the sinking feeling away. Stesha smelled like fresh grass as Moira held on to her. In what seemed like an eternity, but was only a few seconds, Moira was still holding on. "I'm sorry for what happened today," Moira spoke in a soft nursing tone, "Everything. If it wasn't for me this whole little scenario would not have happened. And I apologize. To you especially."
Electra Posted December 24, 2009 Author Posted December 24, 2009 Stesha didn't hug back, precisely, but put her head against Moira's shoulder for just a moment, leaning in. "It's not your fault," she told Moira, stepping away to close the door. The living room looked a little bit odd, with green vines filtering the light coming through the window and all the plants looking as wilted and tired as their gardener. "You did your best to tell her what happened, and she didn't want to believe you. As for the thing about Jack, well, you didn't know it either, did you?" That last was said in search of reassurance that she hadn't, in fact, been the very last one to know.
Moira Morley Posted December 24, 2009 Posted December 24, 2009 Moira sighed a bit nervously, "Yeah, we all have to come to inconvenient truths some time." She let go of Stesha and found herself totally drenched. She didn't care. Holding on to her by the sides, she looked into Stesha's eyes, "I have something I must tell you." Taking the her friend's hand loosely, she guided her to the armchair and beckoned her to sit. Once she was seated, Moira got on her knees in front of her and hung her head. "I must tell you the truth. Well, the whole truth." Looking up to Stesha, Moira looked like a scolded child with a saddened voice. "Everything I told you and Taylor was the truth. But I left things out." Pausing for a second to swallow her pride, she planned what to say. Hopefully it would not engineer another plant escape. "Jack didn't take advantage of me. It was consensual. I was feeling frisky and I offered him into my home." She frowned, "What I didn't know is that he was a bloodsucking fiend of the night. If I had of known that things would have gone differently." She sighed this time more sad than nervous, "I... I hope this doesn't ruin our friendship. I know you may never trust me and hate me forever. But know, if you do, the hate will be deserved. I lied. It hurt people. Badly." Moira looked to Stesha with a half smile, hoping she would do what was right.
Electra Posted December 24, 2009 Author Posted December 24, 2009 Stesha stared at Moira for a minute, lacing her fingers together tightly in her lap. "Wait... you told me you didn't remember what happened. You said that you couldn't have said yes or no, didn't you? You said you wouldn't have done it if you'd been in your right mind. I believed you. Why would you lie about that?" She didn't speak louder than a murmur, but her eyes were already darkening with confusion that edged back toward anger. "Or is the answer to that obvious already?"
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