Spook
Christina left Christian alone in the cabin while she went to find some breakfast. She would make him eat this time. RK she told to guard him and she knew the cat would. The alien hunter hurried out, intending to come back as soon as possible. If she could manage it, before Christian woke up.
Alice sneaked up to Christina's cabin. With a bit of a twist of a lockpick, she was inside and softly slid shut the glass door behind her. RK looked up sharply.
"It's alright, RK, just me," Alice said as she started looking through Christina's stuff for the hunter's headache tablets. "Remind me not to go skinnydipping when I'm high. It's really most unwise."
The cat snickered.
"Oh hush. Don't laugh, or I'll freeze your tail."
Christian
Christian heard a vaguely familiar female voice as he began to awaken...
He blinked a few times trying to adjust his eyes to the light, before they fell on Alice.
"Alice..." he half whispered, then groaned as his head fell back.
Alice
"Eeeep!" Alice jumped a bit in the air, before she landed and fanned herself with one hand. "Don't *do* that, darkling! Scared me so."
RK was quite evidently laughing at her.
"Truly, RK, you are one of the most ill mannered cats I've ever met. It's not *that* funny. Stop playin the Cheshire cat, you beast." Alice walked over to the bed and sat down next to RK to pet him and look at Christian. "What happened to your wrist? And why, exactly, has Spooky tied you up?"
Christian
"Why don't you ask her yourself? If you're not too busy going through her stuff..." Christian trailed off.
He yawned.
"Kinda tried to kill myself last night. Didn't work that well."
Alice
"I was looking for headache tablets," Alice said regally as she stroked RK. He purred loudly. "Hangover from hell, don't you know. Mixed in with a bit of I don't know what, and I slept strangely. Makes for an unhappy Alice's head, not that it likes me most of the time anyway. And why would you want to go and do a silly thing like that for?" Alice asked crossly. "You're a bad darkling. Don't touch the blood, for it sings too sweet to resist. You need to have some strength of will if you want to hunt again. Whether you hunt chocolates or Dathrians isn't the important thing. The fact is, you're a kitty just like Spooky."
Christian
"I am *nothing* like her," Christian glared at the ceiling.
"I don't just randomly kidnap other hunters for the hell of it and help drive them to the point of $#!+ing suicide."
He pulled on his bloody wrist, but because of the way it was chained, the wound was hardly touched.
Alice
"Ahhh. But you don't want to understand why she's done what she's done," Alice said cryptically. She cocked her head and looked at him, then gasped. "Ohhhh, your eyes are so blue...so pretty." She ran her finger down the side of his face. "So very pretty...such a darkling child you are."
Christian
Christian shivered from her touch, looking into her eyes for a moment, then away.
"Leave me alone, please..." he begged softly.
Alice
"I won't hurt you." Alice leant down slightly closer to his face. "Unless you ask me to." Her finger traced along his eyebrow with the piercing in it. "I especially like this. It just...it's shiny. I adore shiny things. Such a nice collar too..." She ran her other hand along the smooth metal. "Such eyes..."
Christian
Christian gulped, pulling on his arms a little as his fists fell open.
"If you'd hurt me... would you kill me?" he asked softly, staring at the wall.
Alice
Alice shook her head, mesmerised by the blue of his eyes. "No. No no no. For one thing, Spooky would have my hide stretched across the barnyard door. And another, I think that your time to escape this vale of tears is not yet." She laid her head against his chest. "I can hear your heart go bumpety-bump. Such a strong heart you have. It's why you're so confused now." She sat up again, then brought her face down very close to his, warm breath mingling. "You don't know yourself anymore." She suddenly licked up his cheek. "But you will, sweet boy. So sweet, you are. Like dark chocolate and cherry liquers..."
Christian
Christian took a shaky breath and pulled on the chains on his wrists again.
He squeezed his eyes shut and winced.
"I can't do this," he said softly.
Alice
"One never knows what one can do until one tries," Alice said firmly. "You know what would look really great on you? A nipple piercing. Silver hoop, I think." She sighed wistfully. "Such a pity you're not a girl, you're exactly my type." She scracthed RK's ears as she lay next to Christian on the bed. RK purred loudly. "But such a beautiful darkling child you are...no wonder RK likes you. You're so wonderfully sorrow ridden. Whyfor Spooky dearling wants you...I don't know."
Christian
"How could I try?" Christian opened his eyes and turned them on her.
"How the hell can I try and do *anything* when I'm like this? I don't know what's happening to me, I don't..."
He trailed off and bit his lip, before closing his eyes again.
"I don't know what she wants from me."
Alice
"To live is such a hardship," Alice sighed. RK nuzzled his nose into
her cupped hand. "To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause..." She sighed again after she finished reciting
in a clear sweet voice. "Ay, there's the rub. For what dreams come in
death, and yet we cannot wake again?"
OOC: Hamlet, Shakespeare
Christian
"I don't care," Christian was staring at the ceiling again.
"I have nothing to awaken for. I just wanna go. Leave all the confusion and guilt behind."
Alice
"And how do you know you'll leave it behind?" Alice asked him. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Christian, then are dreamed of in your philosophy," she said, shamelessly misquoting. "Which circle of Hell would you end up in, I wonder? Fifth cirle I think, the wrathful and sullen. Me? I'm going straight to the one with either lust or gluttony." She petted RK. "Or you could end up in the seventh circle, for the violent. How does standing in a lake of boiling blood for the rest of eternity sound to you?"
Christian
"I don't believe in heaven and hell," Christian blinked.
"If there is a God, he didn't bless me with anything. I don't have a reason to believe."
Spook
"What a blinded child you are," Alice murmured. Her hand fluttered above his face for a moment. "But listen to me, you will not. And why should you? I'm mad, mad as a hatter. But sometimes only the truly mad see the truth." She giggled. "And I'm not even that!"
The door slid open and Christina slipped through, juggling a pastry box that sent the most enticing aromas outwards. "Idiots. The world is populated with idiots!" She locked the door and put the box down on the table. Then she did a double take. "Alice!"
"Spooky!" Alice mimicked, drawing her hand over Christian's chest. "I havta admit, I didn't think you had it in you to do something like this."
"He tried to kill himself. What else was I supposed to do to make sure he didn't hurt himself?" Christina opened the box. "Breakfast?"
"What is it?"
"Danishes, croissants, brioche..."
"Perfectly delicous sounding. I'll make tea."
"Coffee. And no additives."
"Spoilsport."
Christian
Christian watched Christina as she came through the door, then turned away and closed his eyes. Great.
He took a deep breath, hoping Alice would keep her distracted for as long as she was here.
Spook
Christina walked over to the bed and sat on the end of it. Alice reached for the box and the hunter handed it over.
"You're such a good hostess," Alice cooed. "You can hold the next mad tea party, if you like."
"I think not." Christina got back up and put the kettle on to boil. She fixed cups of coffee for her and Alice. "Christian, you want coffee?"
"Mmm...good food. Where did you go to get proper pastries?"
"Little French patisserie down the road and across it. They'd just opened."
Alice bit into a cherry Danish, humming with pleasure.
Christian
Christian hesitated.
"No," he replied finally.
He stretched his right arm, one of his legs falling asleep..
Spook
Christina shrugged. "Want something else to drink then? You really should."
"Coffeeeeeeeeeee, Spooky," Alice said.
"Coming." Christina poured hot water over the instant and the aroma of fresh coffee joined the smell of hot fresh pastries. Christina walked back over and handed Alice her mug, settling herself on the other side of Christian. She reached over and grabbed a brioche from the box, and bit into it. "Have a job lined up in a few days. We'll leave after that."
"I think I need to go talk to my uncle. Agents were quite rude this time," Alice sniffed.
Christina chuckled. "Ah, the wonder of nepotism..."
"You have to use every advantage."
Christina raised an eyebrow and licked sugar off her fingers delicately. RK mewed and Alice got out a croissant and started feeding it in pieces to the cat.
"What do you feel like for breakfast this morning, darkling?"
Christian
Christian twisted his left wrist, hating that they were crowding him.
"Nothing. I'm not hungry," he insisted, before looking over his head at the window.
Spook
"Piffle," Alice said. "I can hear your stomach rumbling." She dipped her finger in her coffee and sucked on it thoughtfully.
"Oh, and won't that be dignified. Force feeding." Christina rolled her eyes. "Honestly, you're being so melodramatic."
"He's drowning, Spooky. Give him some air."
Black eyes looked into crystal ones. "Don't push me Alice."
"Too close to breaking, the two of you. You're brittle, Spooky. One good tap with the right thing, and you'll shatter into a million pieces." Alice thoughtfully popped the last of the croissant into her mouth. "He's breaking already."
Christian
"You shove anything down my throat and it won't be staying there," Christian warned, glaring at the ceiling.
"I *know* when I'm hungry." Whether I'm going to tell you is another thing.
Spook
RK mewed and Alice picked him up into her arms, cuddling him. "Oh, they're both so angry at each other, kitty. It's a good thing I sent you along. Maybe they can talk to you, instead of each other? All they do is talk and cross each other up more. Love, ah, love! Whyfore is winged Cupid always painted blind?"
"Sometimes, Alice, I sincerely worry for you."
"Don't fret for me, Spooky. Worry for yourself. Woe, woe that the dark child is chained and the blood spilled forth over." Alice clutched the cat to her chest, eyes shining with something other then sanity. "Drowning into deepest despair, and none can finish what they started. If he leaves, she becomes colder then the deepest space, cracked and frozen time drifting amid the stars. If he stays, the despair will kill him. He was born to spread his wings and fly, fly away." She whistled a trill of birdsong. "And why would you listen? You're both dying from the inside out."
Christina stared at Alice. "Alice...what the hell did you take this morning?"
Christian
Christian frowned a little, understanding what she was saying.
But he wasn't going to admit that.
He turned his head to the side and rubbed his frehead with his arm. His sunglasses fell from his head and landed next to it.
Spook
"Sooth, sooth, speak soft." Alice shook her head. RK licked her face comfortingly. "You speak too hard, that's what's the matter. Your power is consuming you, Spooky dearling."
Christina shrugged, then reached down to pick up Christian's glasses. ""Perhaps." She spun them in her fingers.
"Perhaps? It's certain, Spooky." Alice sighed. "And this really isn't going to help. Well, he could help but he's not going to. He's angry spitting hissing mad at you, or he would be if he could summon the energy. But despair's such a draining thing. Sucks the life right out of you. Of all people, I don't need to remind you of that."
Christian
Christian watched Christina spin his sunglasses around, before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
Everything was so depressing.
He turned his head away as he yawned, feeling sick from not eating. But he refused to give in.
Spook
"Now maybe there's a God above
but all I ever learned from love
is how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.
And it's no complaint you hear tonight,
and it's not some pilgrim who's seen the light-
it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah!
I did my best; it wasn't much
I couldn't feel, so I learned to touch.
I've told the truth, I didn't come to fool you.
And even though it all went wrong..." Alice but her lip, and faltered
in her melancholy singing. "And even though it all went wrong. All
went wrong..." A tear slipped from one glittering eye and hung on her
eyelashes before she blinked and it fell onto Christian's face.
"Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That's how it goes
Everybody knows," Alice switched into another song, and Christina
joined her, husky voice complementing higher pure soprano.
"Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that you love me baby
Everybody knows that you really do
Everybody knows that you've been faithful
Ah give or take a night or two
Everybody knows you've been discreet
But there were so many people you just had to meet
Without your clothes
And everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
And everybody knows that it's now or never
Everybody knows that it's me or you
And everybody knows that you live forever
Ah when you've done a line or two
Everybody knows the deal is rotten
Old Black Joe's still pickin' cotton
For your ribbons and bows
And everybody knows
And everybody knows that the Plague is coming
Everybody knows that it's moving fast
Everybody knows that the naked man and woman
Are just a shining artifact of the past
Everybody knows the scene is dead
But there's gonna be a meter on your bed
That will disclose
What everybody knows
And everybody knows that you're in trouble
Everybody knows what you've been through
From the bloody cross on top of Calvary
To the beach of Malibu
Everybody knows it's coming apart
Take one last look at this Sacred Heart
Before it blows
And everybody knows
Everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Oh everybody knows, everybody knows
That's how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows..."
'Hallujah' Leonard Cohen
'Everybody knows' Leonard Cohen
Christian
Christian groaned and turned his head away from Alice again.
"While this is supposed to be moving... can you just give me some space?" he frowned.
"I'll even say please. Please."
Spook
"But you're so cute and cuddly!" Alice laughed. RK crawled a little further into her lap as she finished off her coffee.
Christina chuckled as she got up, taking Alice's mug with her. "She's got you there."
"Like a big black cat, rawr! With teeth!" Alice bounced slightly. "Where death awaits you with sharp pointy teeth! Oh, nobody listens to Tim, oh no. It's just a harmless little bunny rabbit..."
Christian
"Bloody hell..." Christian rolled his eyes.
He twisted his wrists again, then pulled on his right ankle with a grunt.
Spook
Christina washed up the utensils they had used, listening to Alice with half an ear.
"Thought you didn't believe in it, darkling," Alice said lightly. She eyed the cuffs and flicked one with a magenta painted fingernail. "Spooky darling, if you're going to keep him chained for any length of time, you can't keep using these. He'll get bracelets."
"Cash is at a premium, Alice."
"Oh, you can have a pair of mine," the diamond eyed girl said chirply. She got up off the bed and went to the bunkbed where she had dropped a bag. She dug in it for a minute, before tugging out a pair of black leather, furlined manacles. Wandering over to Christina, she dangled them in front of the hunter's eyes.
"Very nice, Alice. You weren't a Girl Scout at any stage, were you?"
"Nup! After I froze one of the instructers when my mum was talking about putting me in it, they banned me for life." Alice grinned.
Christian
"I *don't* believe in it," Christian frowned, eyeing the manacles.
He turned away again. It wasn't as if he had a choice whether they used them or not.
Spook
"Then why talk about it?" Alice said flippantly as she walked back over to the bed, holding the cuffs in one hand, and a medbox in the other. "God must get sick of people talking about Him all the time when they don't even believe in him." She held her hand up and Christina tossed her the key. Alice caught it and undid one cuff. She took his hand and traced the lines of it lightly before getting some antiseptic cream out of the kit and smoothing it into the red soreness around his wrist.
RK rumbled his approval.
Christian
"Stop taking things so literally," Christian frowned, annoyed.
"Learn to distinguish sarcasm and venting, if you haven't already."
Spook
"I know how to, I just don't want to. Besides, it gets you so wonderfully annoyed, darkling child." Alice tapped his nose with her clean hand, before sliding the cuff aound his wrist and chaining it back up. "Something rather then apathy is nice to see, pretty boy."
"You really have a death wish sometimes, Alice," Christina said, leaning back against the cabinets as she dried one of the mugs.
"You think? Nooooooo," Alice said, rolling her eyes. "And that was sacrasm. See, I do know it when I hear it. So there!" She poked her tongue out at Christian.
Christian
Christian groaned and turned away again.
He pulled on the leather cuff to test it. It was tighter than the chains, so he inevitably had no hope of getting out of it.
Spook
"Oh, he's so sweet," Alice cooed. Then she bent her head and pressed her lips to his for a brief kiss. "Sweet as sugar and dark as black, black coffee on a midnight tortured night."
"Uh huh." Christina wasn't really listening.
"He almost reminds me of a vampire...does he bite?"
"Sometimes...but only on occasion." A slight smile quirked Christina's mouth.
Alice did his other wrist, repeating her actions from the first one but a lot gentler because this was the wrist he'd slit.
Christian
Christian gulped a little, but didn't move or respond as she kissed him.
His fingers twitched a little as she touched the wrist with the wound. He probably should have done what Christina said and washed the blood off his arm...
Spook
Alice licked her finger, then drew it across one of the trails of dried blood. She then stuck that finger in her mouth and sucked on it thoughtfully, looking oddly innocent.
"Are you scaring the poor boy?" Christina asked as she flopped down on a chair.
"Probably," Alice said cheerfully around the finger. "I'm ever so frightening."
Christian
"You're not scary," Christian frowned a little, more than a little uncomfortable.
"Believe me, I've put up with worse. You're just annoying."
Spook
"Isn't he ever so lovely?" Alice said brightly. "Hand us a washer, Spooky."
Christina got up and dug out a face washer from her bag. She went over to the sink, wet it, then threw it to Alice.
"Thank you," Alice said as she caught it. "Let's clean you up a little bit." She started to wipe off the dried blood, humming something slightly. "You know what I need? I need a rabbit for the Rabbit Hole."
"Of course, Alice. What type of rabbit?"
"I was thinking Playboy Bunny, actually."
"Right, Alice. Of course."
"It's more or less the one thing I don't offer."
Christian
"Well I don't think you're gonna find one here, if that's what you're implying," Christian's voice was soft, but harsh.
He was so tired of this. If he didn't move soon he was going to fall asleep.
Spook
"Well, of course not, silly," Alice said. "I was offering an idea to my friend, Spooky over there. She's got good business sense."
"Mmph."
"Which reminds me, I wanted you to cook for me."
"No. Haven't got anything, and besides, this kitchen is a mockery of the word."
"Ok then..." Alice pouted at Christina.
"No, Alice."
Christian
"Fine and dandy," Christian scowled.
He looked up for Christina, but had to fall back again.
"When and where are we going after this?"
Spook
"A few days, I think. And I don't know. Why should I tell you?" Christina asked. "If you managed to get to a phone, you'd just tell Tanya. And I really don't feel like dying, even if you do."
"Oooh, ouch. Careful of the claws, kitty."
"Alice, don't you have a business to get back too?"
Christian
Christian groaned and banged his head back onto the bed, closing his eyes again.
He was guessing that the only time he'd be allowed to move now was to go to the bathroom.
Hm...
Spook
Alice scratched RK's ears one more time, then stood. "Well, I'm off."
"So soon?"
"Yes. Although, I really do need to go talk to my uncle. Agents, so rude nowadays!" Alice shook her head.
"Yeah, you get that," Christina said dryly.
Christian
Christian instantly thought of Tanya, and clenched his right fist.
Gritting his teeth, he held back a comment. Why bother? It was only going to get him in trouble. He shifted a little now that Alice had moved.
Spook
Alice leaned in over Christian so she could whisper in his ear. "I would suggest you do what she doesn't expect. Be nice. For now. It will get you further then this type of behaviour will. Of course, you probably won't so then..." She straightened up. "Be good, RK. Look after them both for me. Heaven knows they're gonna need it."
"Hmm." Christina rolled her eyes. Alice walked over and dropped a kiss on Christina's forehead.
"Don't be so inflexible. You used to be *very*flexible...in more ways then one. Learn how to do that again. And for god's sake, do try to be nice."
"I'm not a very nice person, Alice."
"Neither's he, you know."
"Gee, what clued you in?" Christina said sarcastically.
"The fact that he worked for Craig? Toodles. I'll send word if I hea anything about him." Alice waved, then left.
"Well, now that brief period of insanity's over..."
Christian
"Do what she doesn't expect," Christian mumbled, "yeah, sure, easy for you to say."
He took a deep breath and turned his head to face the wall. He wasn't interested in talking to Spook.
Spook
Christina fished her book out of her bag and settled down to read it. He wasn't going to talk to her without Alice to provoke him. "You will eat today. Even if I have to force it down your throat," she told him calmly, then turned a page.
Christian
"I'll eat when I'm hungry. Not before," Christian fumed.
He ground his teeth and pulled on his right wrist again. The leather was hurting against the bandage on his left.
Spook
"Uh huh." Christina turned another page. "Tell it to the humans, the hunters will never believe it."
Christian
"And what the hell does that generalization have to do with anything?!" Christian exclaimed, angry again.
"I will eat when I'm hungry. I'm not hungry. Get the $#!+ over it."
Spook
"Don't want you dying. You don't eat or drink, you die," Christina said simply. "And it's just an adapted saying. You know, tell it to the sailors cos the Marines will never believe it. Thereby implying that the first group is more gullible then the second. Geez. Get over yourself, Chrissy baby."
Christian
"I'm too $#!+ing messed up to think straight," Christian shook his head.
He gulped. He ignored what she said about eating. He didn't exactly need her to know he planned it.
Spook
"Bullshit," Christina said. "You're trying to play me. Don't think I don't know it, Christian darling." She turned another page in her book.
Christian
"And once again, any respect I had for you goes down the drain. You're a bit $#!+ing screwed if you can't tell when someone else is."
Christian winced slightly as he moved his left wrist.
Spook
"You can be screwed up in the head, and still be one of the best bullshit artists in town," Christina said calmly. "You are hungry, but you don't want to eat. You're convincing your body that it's not hungry so that you can tell me that you're not. And yep, we're both screwed in the head."
Christian
Christian growled slightly, knowing what she said was true. Damn it all.
"You can't force me," he said finally, "you shove something down my throat and I'll make sure I choke on it."
Spook
"Maybe, maybe not. I have some basic medical traiing. Worst comes to worst, I'll set you up with an IV and put a tube down your nasal cavity to your stomach to feed you. All you're doing is making yourself uncomfortable," Christina told him.
Christian
"I'm making myself uncomfortable?" Christian raised his eyebrows, "oh, yeah. That's rich."
He sneered.
"If it wasn't for you I wouldn't be in this position. Not to mention a number of other things I'd rather forget."
Spook
"Or you might be dead," Christina said. "I'm not the only hunter out there, you know. And Blakesley wants you real bad. I think he just wants you dead now, and your body in a reasonable condition."
Christian
"$#!+ him, he's not gonna get me."
Christian gnawed on his bottom lip.
"I have to admit, nothing like this has happened before... I've been targetted before, mainly just to get to Craig. Hunters who didn't like him, trying to get to him through me."
He raised his eyebrows.
"Sucks being well known. Blakesley's different. He hasn't got a hope in hell of getting me, but me getting to him first on the other hand..."
Spook
"And after this is done, you can try." Christina turned a page of her book. "If the Hansons and Mouse don't get to him first. But doesn't it feel good to be wanted?" She said cynically.
Christian
Christian glanced at her, the turned back tot he opposite wall.
"It's different when you know who wants you," he sighed, "with Craig I never knew. They just kinda... stopped trying when they realized the speed I could gather. With my power. Sometimes... sometimes it feels like too much. I've been told by telepaths that my power is a lot more advanced for me than it should be."
He bit his lip.
"Kind of worrying. In that respect. But then again, useful."
Spook
"I bet," Christina said. "I been looking up n this Null thing...I shouldnt've been able to disable those cameras and stuff Alice had set up. But I did. Cos I know I don't have atom manipulation...it's an odd and puzzling thing." She turned a page.
Christain
"I was wondering how you did that myself," Christian frowned slightly.
"As far as I know, Null only involves powers. And both disabling them and reversing their effects."
He sighed.
"Craig would know more."
Spook
"Maybe Alice had a spell powering them, I don't know." Christina shook her head slightly. "Or she had a technokinetic do them. Alice knows a varied type of people, running the freehold as she does. And a lot of people owe her favours. She said she'd contact us if she found out anything about Craig."
Christian
"I know," Christian said uneasily.
His thoughts turned to Miette as he bit his bottom lip. What the hell had she done to him?
Spook
"Oh!" Christina sat up as a thought struck her. She started to search through her things. "Where did I put that letter from Alice? She sent a picture of Craig with yours."
Christian
Christian frowned.
"Why would I want a picture of Craig?" he began.
"The guy brought me up, I know what he looks like."
Spook
"So you can see if there's something wrong that you can see from the picture," Christina said as if she thought he was stupid. "It's recent. And it had that girl in it. You know Craig better then anyone. You're the one who'd know, most like. Here it is!" She fond the letter and picked out the photo. She went over to the bed and held the photo in front of Christian's face.
Christian
Christian took one look at the photo and frowned.
Craig was talking to Miette, a hand on his chest, and stance partly submissive.
Christian gulped and turned away, not wanting to see it.
"What the hell has she done with him?"
Spook
"And that's the $64,000 question, isn't it? What the hell has she done? Who the hell is she? And who put that telepathic control in her mind?" Christina said, sitting up and sliding the photo into a pocket of her pants.
Christian
Christian just closed his eyes, all his worry for his father-figure coming back.
Well, like father like son. Sort of.
"I just want him back," he shook his head slightly.
Spook
"Miette's an idiot, and an amateur. She'll slip up, sooner or later, And then she;ll die, and everything will be bak to the way it was before." Christina shrugged. "Craig's a smart bastard." She stood and went over to her bed to lie down. RK cuddled against Christian's side, purring slowly.
Christian
"Some people just get so lost without him. I didn't think I was one of them," Christian added.
He hesitated thoughtfully.
"I'm hoping it's an act. That most of it's an act. And that he's using her in some way."
He shook the hair out of his eyes.
"Do you have any idea... if telekinetics can bend light?"
Spook
Christina pursed her lps thoughtfully. "Never heard of anyone doing it. But then again...I don't think anyone's tried." She gave Christian a thoughtful look as she sat up from where she was lying down on her bed. "I have absolutely no idea. Just becausae it hasn't been done, doesn't mean it can't be done. Asimov's Law. Find out what the experts say can't be done, then do it."
Christian
Christian turned to the ceiling, thinking it over.
"It would be interesting to find out I could. If I can... I'd love to face off with her. I'm not sure exactly how fast my telekinetic reflexes are, but if it can coutner darts and bullets... it should counter light."
Spook
"Light moves a hell of a lot faster then bullets or darts. But hey. If you think you can nail the bitch, do it. She annoyed me." Christina picked up her book and opened it. "Idiot. Thinking she has Craig on a leash..."
Christian
"Even if I can't move that fast, I'm sure I can work on it."
Christian took a deep breath.
"I'd love to learn from Ike what she was talking about. I don't doubt I could do it, seeing as how it's his power."
He faced the wall again.
Spook
"Miette has a very short life expectancy, so I hope he doesn't still like her." Christina turned a page. "Ike...nice guy. Totally doesn't hold the knife I threw into his leg against me."
Christian
"Doesn't seem to hold me impersonating his brother for a month and trying to kill him against me either," Christian considered.
"Although I'm sure he wouldn't mind if he never saw my face again."
Spook
"We don't understand him, cos we're not nice people," Christina said. "F'r instance, in order to actually survive this, I;m gonna have to drug you before I leave you and then leave the country." She raised an eyebrow. "Actually, that probably won't help either. I can try though."
Christian
Christian pursed his lips.
"Depends on where you disappear to. But I doubt you'd be able to stay away from your 'hobby' long enough to be forgotten."
He pulled on his wrists again.
Spook
"Hey, I have self control!" Christina protested. "I get bored, that's all. Hunting is a way of having fun, being occupied, and if I go after a bounty, I get paid too."
Christian
"I don't remember being paid for killing anyone," Christian frowned a little.
"Always offered for the sake of it. Then again, I didn't really need money."
Spook
"Exactly." Christina nodded. "But take it from me, there are just as many aliens willing to pay for other aliens to die as there are humans willing to pay for other humans to die."
Christian
Christian smiled.
"When I was younger I used to wonder where all the hunters' money came from. Think I learned when I got offered. I was about twelve. Didn't really care about money back then, cos I always had Craig."
He shrugged slightly.
"He probably would have liked the extra money. Unless they paid him and I did the work."
Spook
"Nearly starved before I figured that out and started offering my services," Christina mused. "Still went after a lot of targets just because they were alien. But I managed to make enough in bounties to keep myself afloat without having to turn tricks."
Christian
"Heck, if you run low on money and are running out of targets, you could always go after humans too."
Christian shrugged again.
"I would if I had to. Don't have to. That's the beauty of it."
Spook
"Oh, I wish I had a sugar daddy too, Chrissy baby." Christina urned the page. "Or a top agent for a surrogate mother. But I just have me. Oh, and RK now. RK's nifty."
RK looked up and meowed in agreement.
"Vain animal."
Christian
Christian turned worn eyes on RK.
"Interesting cat," he said.
"Just a little annoying during escape attempts."
Spook
"I asked him too," Christina said. "So he did. Cos RK loves me, don't you, sweetie?"
RK meowed in agreement.
"See? Someone loves me."
Christian
"Yeah, someone. And the only one you could get to love you isn't even the same species."
Christian glared at the ceiling again, then turned away from her.
Spook
"Irrevalent." Christina waved a hand lazily. "And I don't get to know members of my species for very long before I kill them. Usually. You and Alice are the exceptions. Oh, and Mouse and the Hansons now."
Christian
"Yeah well... Hansons and Mouse are definately off my ever-growing list. Unless Craig wants them dead, which I don't see a reason that he should..."
He ground his teeth for a moment.
"Although apparently he did screw with them a while back. Maybe he hasn't quite gotten over the Taylor-escaping-him thing."
Spook
Christina giggled. "Hoorah for him then. Craig really shouldn't have it all his way. And if Craig was screwing with them, then he deserved all he got."
Christian
"But he must have had a reason," Christian frowned, shaking his head.
"Why would he just go and do something like that for the sake of it? That's not like him."
He chose to ignore the way she spoke of him.
Spook
"He probably had one. No one else would understand it though." Christina shrugged. "Craig is odd. Telepaths."
Christian
"You get used to them," Christian took another deep breath.
"You know, after living with them for a certain amount of time."
Spook
"S'pose. Really not planning on spending o'ermuch time with them." Christina settled to reading.
Christian
"No..." Christian agreed.
He sighed and closed his eyes again with a yawn.