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fateandfortune2016-03-12 10:58 pm
theycalledmeacurse) wrote in fateandfortune2016-03-12 10:58 pm
Entry tags:
Just a job. [For Caine Wise]
She couldn't catch a break. That was the thought running through Rogue's mind as she waited in the rain at the meeting point, across the street from a random restaurant in a not quite seedy but not rich part of the city she'd dropped into and been trying to make a life in before things had gone south. She'd been on the planet for all of two months before she'd somehow managed to catch the eye of the wrong person. The type of person to run a genetic scan and take a keen interest in the anomalies found - an Earth human, a tersie, but different. Unique.
Rare. That had been the word the dealer had used when he'd been trying to restrain and drug her. She'd fetch a pretty penny on the black market, where certain noble houses went to find additions to their collections.
Rogue hadn't meant to kill him, but she almost had. The bastard hadn't wanted to let go, so she'd turned on her power and held on until she'd been able to pry his fingers away. It had been long enough to leave him in a coma, and if she was lucky he wouldn't wake up until she was on the other side of the universe.
Absorbing him had given her one hell of a headache, but it had also given her enough information to follow the channels to hire someone to help her. Rogue wasn't a helpless little girl anymore, but she was out of her element when it came to space and navigating beyond the planets she knew, so a bodyguard to get her from point A to point B was necessary. It had taken a lot of greased palms, but she'd finally gotten a message into the right hands and now here she was. Waiting. Hoping this would work and she could just find somewhere to live her life and not have people constantly trying to put her in a cell or a lab.
Was that really so much to ask?
Rare. That had been the word the dealer had used when he'd been trying to restrain and drug her. She'd fetch a pretty penny on the black market, where certain noble houses went to find additions to their collections.
Rogue hadn't meant to kill him, but she almost had. The bastard hadn't wanted to let go, so she'd turned on her power and held on until she'd been able to pry his fingers away. It had been long enough to leave him in a coma, and if she was lucky he wouldn't wake up until she was on the other side of the universe.
Absorbing him had given her one hell of a headache, but it had also given her enough information to follow the channels to hire someone to help her. Rogue wasn't a helpless little girl anymore, but she was out of her element when it came to space and navigating beyond the planets she knew, so a bodyguard to get her from point A to point B was necessary. It had taken a lot of greased palms, but she'd finally gotten a message into the right hands and now here she was. Waiting. Hoping this would work and she could just find somewhere to live her life and not have people constantly trying to put her in a cell or a lab.
Was that really so much to ask?
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"...that's something, anyway," he muttered quietly. Her admission sparked a little bit more of curiosity's fire, prompting him to ask, "Will gloves help?" He tended to wear them anyway, for better grip, as well as to conceal the longer-than-normal "claws" on the ends of his fingers. "If you get scared...do you change color, or something?"
Less than polite, but damnit. He needed to know these things. If he wasn't able to get a grip on her when the situation required, this job was going to jump about six levels of difficulty.
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"I wish I just changed color," she commented in an almost despondent tone. "I can control my ability for the most part, like I said, but I didn't used to be able to. For a decade, I had to keep myself covered all the time, to make sure I didn't hurt anyone. Because when people touch my skin with theirs, I absorb their life force into myself, even to the point of death."
It came out so easily, yet there was a panic rising in her chest. "It's mostly just a defensive measure now, after I started being able to control it a few months back. It's not always stable though, so I do have gloves with me, and I'll wear them all the time if you'd prefer." She turned her attention back to him fully as she continued, straightening her spine as standing as tall and brave as she could. "Or you can leave now, while there's still time for you to get off the ship, and I'll get to Espirion by myself. You can even keep the payment for your discretion."
adulting just...sucks, i swear. :(
As for the rest... "As long as you follow my lead, don't pick any fights, and keep a low profile, we shouldn't have a problem." Caine recrossed his arms again. "I don't make a habit of backing out on a job. Doesn't do much for the resume."
Helluva mutation to be saddled with, to be sure, but she'd said she could keep it under control, and as long as they were in agreement on these few things, he had no reason not to make good on his word. He supposed it was a "pack" thing--a bit on the low side, his loyalty could be bought, as such, but shit, a lone lycantant had to make a living somehow, right?
it does, it really does!
Still. "Thank you, on all counts," she said, visibly relaxing as she let her hands fall to her sides. "I don't plan on making things difficult for you. All I want is to get someplace where I can live my life in peace, and I'll do whatever's necessary for that to happen."
She took a deep breath and moved to sit on the edge of the lower bed, leaning forward to rest her elbows on her knees. "I should probably also mention that I don't sleep well. Nightmares. Usually it's not that bad, but sometimes... Well, I'm sorry in advance if I disturb you."
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Try as he might, Caine couldn't entirely squealch the twinge of sympathy her admission piqued. He understood the mindset, probably more than most. He knew exactly how it was to simply want to be left alone, and how precious--and rare--achieving such a state actually was. Thus his responding nod wasn't as quite as cool as his previous replies had been.
"...you're welcome." He stepped over and tossed his small duffel on the top bunk. "Don't worry about disturbing me. I don't sleep all that well, either." He never had, really. Minute vibrations in the floor then told him the ship was cycling up and preparing to pull out of the harbor.
"You want to head up and watch the launch? Beats sitting here staring at the walls, anyway." They'd have enough time to do that in the following days.
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Well, that was one thing to be relieved about. Back when she'd been a student at the mansion, they'd ended up having to give her a single room before she'd even graduated because she kept waking up the other girls she'd shared with - and they'd all been scared of her after the incident with Logan, of course. Knowing that she wouldn't be the sole cause of his losing sleep was actually kind of comforting, in a weird way.
"Yeah, okay, let's do it," she answered with a nod and a smile, standing and smoothing her hands down her coat. He was right, it would be better than just sitting around, they'd have a few days of staring at the wall and each other, so might as well take advantage of the opportunity.
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Caine led the way, heading back to the upper deck. He cut through the maze of passengers with relative ease; being a head taller than most did help. Gave him a comfortable vantage point, anyway. The viewing ports were nicely large on this deck of the ship, retrofitted as it was for relative passenger comfort. He took station at one just as the horn sounded, signalling the ship was ready to move away from its dock and off into space.
The lights of the station below them twinkled merrily, as if wishing them good voyage, and Caine couldn't suppress a half-grin. He'd always loved to travel through space; he'd seen some strange places during his stint with the Legion. The military did have a bit better ships, though; the acceleration in this beast was anything but subtle, as the pilot braked a bit too roughly and sent a nice jolt shimmying through the entire ship.
The lycantant shook his head with a sardonic snort, refraining only barely from rolling his eyes. "Ham handed pilot, that one," he muttered.
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It was nice to have someone to follow through the crowd, rather than having to fight through everyone on her own steam. This made things a little easier, and certainly faster, and they view they were rewarded with was pretty great. Rogue had always loved flying, especially in the Blackbird back in the day, but this was an entirely new experience that she was actually really looking forward to, despite the circumstances.
Her eyes widened a bit at the jolt that resulted in the rough handling and shot Caine a questioning look with a raised eyebrow. "You're sure this thing's safe?" she asked, a hint of amusement in her tone. She knew that they wouldn't be there if it wasn't - the job was to get her to her destination safely, after all.
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He shrugged a shoulder, gazing absently out of the window port. "More than likely." A small snort. "They'd never be able to afford the insurance if it weren't." But being a third and lower class vessel, the merchant companies tended to hire any pilots who'd work for the pittance offered, and he said as much as the ship continued to lumber out away from the docking bay.
A gaggle of other passengers were beginning to fill the upper deck, and Caine's attention turned from the view to the crowd, automatically scanning for possible threats. Habit, that one. His crossed arms and nonchalant slounge against the bulkhead may have suggested casual indifference, but the fingers of his right hand tickled the butt of one pistol riding nicely against his ribcage, the left hand rested snugly against the hilt of a heavy dagger along the opposite side.
Yet he sensed little out of the ordinary, which did nothing to relax his guard however; the lycantant simply kept his gaze flicking from the crowd to the window port, as he'd always enjoyed the chill blackness of space. Quiet, solitary and familiar, that. He gave a nod towards the void beyond the plexiglass.
"We'll probably make the jump in fifteen minutes or so, as soon as the ship's flight path is given the all-clear." Caine gestured to a window port across the bay, where twinkled the spaceport in a bevy of white, green and red lights. Ships of all shapes and sizes crowded its docks, the planet looming just behind, providing a bright canvas of artistry.
"Not a bad view, leaving it all behind."