VIII-The Eventual Meeting (Adele/Maurelle)

[Ryan D'Alteau]

C'mon, let's get high!
Well, I found a new way! I found a new way.
C'mon, don't amuse me! I don't need your sympathy!
La! La-la-la-la! Ulysses!
______________________________Franz Ferdinand - "Ulysses"

It had now been three weeks since Maurelle had last called upon him to attend his job but, as Ryan stood in the shower, the lessons which had been imparted upon him were very much fresh in his mind. Having failed to dispatch Morales and Sun with the expedience his employer had requested, he had found himself lumbered with a demotion meant to punish him and teach him to obey orders much more strictly from then on. Instead of being asked to attend another formal function as her personal assassin-for-hire, Maurelle had instead had a different duty in mind.

The address with which she had supplied Ryan corresponded to an office building on the outskirts of Brownsville and, with the risqué and very unorthodox uniform she had delivered that same morning, she had instructed Ryan to arrive and assume the role of her subservient secretary. Normally, people would have taken issue with the "mistreatment" and quit the job then and there but, as Maurelle and other women besides had quickly learned, Ryan was far from a normal person. Arriving at the office's reception desk punctually and wearing every single component of the uniform with which she'd supplied him, it was almost as if he was eager to jump straight into his punishment.

After a short lecture, during which Maurelle had given Ryan an official-looking nametag to wear - emblazoned with an innuendo-ridden fake name - she had shown him to his desk and quickly set him to work, taking phone calls and ensuring that any visitors were promptly shown into his employer's office and extended every courtesy. He had effectively been placed at Maurelle's beck and call. If she or her clients wanted anything to eat or drink, it was Ryan who was tasked with bringing it to them.

At midday, when the entire office traditionally ate lunch, Maurelle had commanded Ryan to venture to the nearest deli to collect the colossal order. Although the establishment in question had only been a couple of hundred metres down the road - barely a single block away - his boss' insistence that he remain clad in his uniform for the entire trip made the task a lot more embarrassing than it needed to be. Although the entire day had been intended to punish him for his insubordination, there had been a deep, dark part of Ryan's mind - the part which longed for Adele to bend him to her carnal whim - that had enjoyed every minute.

Much of his conscious mind couldn't fathom or reliably explain how or why he got such a primal rush from being embarrassed and humiliated but, when he had been given an order by Maurelle, he had carried it out with the prowess and enthusiasm befitting someone in his role. Upon his return from the deli, carrying a large box filled with freshly prepared food, he had been sent around the whole office, hand-delivering everything to the employees that had ordered it. Only he and Maurelle were aware of the truth; both behind Ryan's sudden presence and the specifics of what he had been ordered to do during the day. As far as everyone else was concerned, they were being handed their lunch by a cute woman in a latex bodysuit.

The entire day had continued in a similar vein until the time came to send Ryan home for the evening, his lesson hopefully learned. Although the day's punishment wouldn't have been sufficient for him to reclaim the role with which he had started working for Maurelle, it was apparently enough for him to begin the gradual rise through the ranks. Next time the two of them met in a professional capacity, he wouldn't be a lowly secretary and, as a memento of the occasion, she had even allowed him to keep the bodysuit.

A bodysuit to which Ryan had grown somewhat attached ever since. Costing the better part of a hundred and fifty dollars - according to the internet - it was a shame for him to lock it up in his wardrobe and never wear it again. Being as skin-tight as it was, Ryan had elected to wear it under his normal clothes, often in lieu of conventional underwear and, as he clambered out of the shower and dried himself off, that was precisely what he did. After lightly dousing himself in talc powder and satisfied that the latex wouldn't cling to his skin, he slid himself into the collection of azure rubber and, after zipping everything up, he threw on his shirt and jeans as normal.

It felt slightly strange to have his naked body covered with latex as opposed to fabric, but just the act of wearing the bodysuit evoked the pleasant memories of his day in the office. While Adele may not have fully understood his reasons for wearing it, Ryan had seen the look in her eyes when she had spotted him wearing it. She could see every contour of both his body and what the latex happened to cover in the process. In a change to the normal procedure, Ryan had - at Adele's urging - called Maurelle, requesting to see her. He had explained Adele's desire to meet her and that she would be the only "extraneous" person at the house when she arrived.

"She ain't gonna be long," Ryan explained as he sat himself down in the living room beside his fiancée. "She's gotta couple o'things to take care of b'fore she can drive down here." Since the discussion at the clinic, Maurelle's name hadn't arisen in conversation as much as Adele would have liked. Whenever it did, Ryan had quickly deflected the subject. It was only last night when he had finally relented, setting up the meeting she obviously wanted. "Now..." Ryan smiled, sliding his arm around Adele's shoulders. "Are y'gonna be a good girl when she shows up?"

[Adele D'Alteau]

In a trail of fire I know we will be free again
In the end we will be one
In a trail of fire Ill burn before you bury me
Set your sights for the sun
Bring it on home

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

Babylon
South Padre Island, Texas

[dropcap]Adele had perpetrated her own unique brand of justice against the woman who had threatened to either hurt or humiliate Ryan; it didn't matter what she'd had planned. Whenever Ryan was threatened, she felt compelled to put an end to whomever happened to be threatening him. As much as he'd told her that she'd gone after everyone who looked at him cross-eyed, hadn't he done precisely the same for her? Though she wasn't keeping a strict tally, their body counts had to have been nearly even.

She'd been on edge the entire morning and had attempted to take at least some of the edge off by imbibing a substantial amount of thirty year old Romanée Conti. The bottle lay nearly half-drained next to her hand which was resting idly on the counter as she prepared a bit of lunch for the three of them, being careful not to lose her grip on the knife she was using to slice their sandwiches. She'd put together a nice spread of toasted stone ground wheat bread drizzled with olive oil and stacked with slabs of mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, fresh basil leaves, and oregano. The wine they would be drinking would be a refreshing Cheval Blanc from the cellar which had been a gift from her grandparents celebrating one of her and Ryan's anniversaries. She thought it was their not-so-subtle way of telling them to get on with it and get married.

She brought the small platter of food into the living room and set it on the table before them, awaiting Maurelle's appearance. Ryan sat beside her on the love seat, offering an explanation for what was taking his employer so long. "She's gotta couple o'things to take care of b'fore she can drive down here."

“She's only postponing the inevitable.” They were bound to meet at some point or another. If not now, she could have asked her father for information. What better a way to fight a precog than with another precog? Her father had been honing his ability for several years before Maurelle had even been born.

Ryan sighed and slid his arms around her shoulders, gently drawing her closer. Adele resisted the urge to push herself away from him—that and she was just tipsy enough that the movement probably would have resulted in her falling off the small couch. "Are y'gonna be a good girl when she shows up?"

Did he honestly expect her to answer that question truthfully? She always behaved. As long as Maurelle was polite and didn't overstay her welcome, Adele would be cordial. She could at least promise him that. And the more she drank, the more likely her mind would remain in a temporarily numbed state and the less likely she would feel that Maurelle was moving in on her territory.

With how little Ryan had spoken of Maurelle, she was left to wonder if Ryan feared for his employer's life. She was well aware of the few semi-embarrassing things Maurelle had requested him to do, and she was willing to let those slide. Putting Ryan in harm's way was another matter entirely. Although Ryan was more than capable of protecting himself, like her he was still only human and could succumb quite easily to a stab wound or a bullet to the chest. At least she could redirect her blood if she were injured as she'd done in the past. Ryan hadn't been blessed with her particular ability.

She glanced up when she heard the tinkling chimes of their doorbell and stood up, slipping out of Ryan's one-armed embrace. She gestured for him to remain seated where he was as she saw to answering the door. The last thing she wanted to do was give a bad first impression—but since Maurelle would be able to see straight through it anyways, she dropped the fake, saccharine smile from her face and took a deep breath before she opened the door.

Like mostly everyone else in the world, Maurelle was a head taller than she was. Adele was used to looking up to people by now, though all of her patients claimed that she “sounded” taller on the phone, or that she looked taller in the ER as she ministered to them while they were conscious enough to maintain some semblance of cognizance. She wasn't about to tell anyone that sometimes she needed to used a step stool in order to perform more delicate procedures. No one doubted her prowess as a surgeon and a physician, though she did have to be accommodated in the OR by a stool or something else sturdy enough to stand on that would hold her weight for hours on end.

When she opened the door, her face was nearly expressionless. She didn't want Maurelle there, but was willing to tolerate her presence—for now. “Good afternoon, Miss LaCroix. I'm Doctor Adele Couteau.” She gestured for the short-haired brunette to follow her inside and shut the door behind her. Adele resumed taking her seat next to Ryan while Maurelle sat across from them in an armchair. “I believe you're already acquainted with my husband.”[/dropcap]

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۵ ۵ ۵

† Word count: 960
۵ Mood: I have to pee again. I thought you'd like to know.
† Outfit: Whatever the hell she's wearing here. A peasant dress and a camisole?
۵ Lyrics / Quote: Propane Nightmare, Pendulum
† Illustrations: None.
۵ Comment / Informational links: None.

[Helena Rahal]

What was the future but what she decided to do with her time Maurelle pondered as the cab drove across the causeway and to the sub tropical island in deep south Texas. As a person befitting her station and her powers, the future was hers to do with it as she so desired, to change it however she wanted. There were others to with the same gifts that she had been blessed with, but so few of them knew how to properly utilize. She had met a single one so far who had the vision to use this power to its fullest, to utilize the way it was meant to be used. That she had survived that encounter brought her a certain amount of satisfaction and had furthered her own goals and pursuits considerably.

This meeting was inevitable Maurelle knew, if she wished to retained her puppet master's services. As much as his handling of the execution of Cantu was sloppy and really had nearly compromised her entire plans. Yet he had his uses and Maurelle generally liked having him around, even if his learning curve in being a mafia hitman was going to be large. At the very least, he had made a very good secretary and amount of eye candy for her and a few of her subordinates.

Sure she teased him that his duties might take on a sexual nature, but it was only to keep him in line and somehow Maurelle thought he took pleasure in the threats. Whatever, as long as he was able to do get the job done after his reeducation, then Ryan could be whoever the hell he wanted and get off on whatever made his candy sweet, so long as it did not undermine her authority or the operation's success.

However it all came back to this inevitable meeting though and the same worry that made Maurelle have to come save Ryan from his misfortune with Cantu. The doctor. Ryan's fiance, wife, life partner, whatever they wanted to call their relationship status. Adele was the thorn in her side for whatever Maurelle decided to do with Ryan as an employee in the future. Maurelle knew all about Adele's profile thanks to Inaki and the Company resources he had at his fingertips and she knew that the woman was incredibly protective of him.

That meant Maurelle was going to have to be as well, more so than normal with her employees, if Ryan was even allowed to continue on after this meeting. Adele was not someone Maurelle wanted to cross or in all reality, meet in person given what she knew the woman was capable of. Maurelle could very easily kill someone, but there was always a cause, always an end game that was being pursued with such a cost. Maurelle failed to see any such thing in the deaths Adele was associated with, bar an overprotective nature of Ryan.

Yet there she was, stepping out of the cab wearing a red styled outfit and heading towards the condo that was their residence. She rang the doorbell and was not at all surprised to see a slightly agitated petite Frenchwoman answering the door, much as she had already seen. That such a tiny thing was capable of the things Maurelle had heard was surprising now that she stood here in front of her.

"A pleasure to meet you Doctor." Maurelle said politely as she entered the house and took her place in a spare armchair across from the couch where Ryan was sitting. Maurelle could only watch as Adele sat in a somewhat defensive and owning posture next to Ryan and her words sounded as agitated as Maurelle would be if the roles were reversed. "And it is good to see you again Ryan."

"So, I'll just cut to the chase, I am the head of the most powerful criminal organization in the southwest United States and Mexico. Ryan is my employee, a fact of which I am to understand that you are not at ease with. I am here because I respect your concern for your husband as I take great care in all my employees. So I ask you, what is it that you want Ryan to do?"

[Ryan D'Alteau]

Come on! Take my hand and follow.
Open virgin eyes to see a promise of a dark tomorrow, staring down eternity!
Blood runs cold on stolen souls when all has been revealed.
No turning back. The fade to black.
Because your fate is sealed.
______________________________Anarchy Club - "Blood Doll"

"Good afternoon, Miss Lacroix."

From the living room, Ryan could hear the conversation - if it could be called such - coming from the hallway. Located only a couple of metres over his left shoulder and behind a solid wall, the sound had to carry around and through the open door for him to hear it, giving the momentary impression that the noise originated from elsewhere. For the moment, Adele was treating Maurelle like any other house guest; with cordial propriety until the doctor was granted an excuse to introduce the crime boss to the business end of something sharp.

However, it wasn't just Adele's potential reaction that was worrying him. Having invited Maurelle over to talk to both himself and his fiancée, Ryan knew that the conversation would invariably reach the subject of precisely what it was his duties as Maurelle's "personal assistant" had entailed thus far. Although Adele was aware of Ryan's submissive nature when it came to the more intimate facets of their relationship, she had absolutely no idea of the things he would willingly allow himself to be talked into doing, given the right circumstances.

While the things Ryan had been commanded to do by Maurelle had started out mundanely enough, she had quickly seen fit to escalate things as she came to realise Ryan's state of mind. His enjoyment of being subject to another person's whim coupled with his unwillingness to get fired had made Ryan willing to participate in things which, in retrospect, had surprised even him and, as a result, he could feel the latex against his crotch starting to strain slightly the more he silently reminisced.

Although further insubordination would have been more likely to have Maurelle dispose of him outright instead of demoting him a second time, Ryan realised that he would have been lying if he concluded that part of him wasn't at least tempted to intentionally go against his employer's orders in the future. He was abundantly aware that the day spent as an office secretary had been to punish him, but it had been a situation in which he had enjoyed being. Once again, a woman he knew had taken the reins of his life for an afternoon and coaxed him into a situation that warranted time for him to rationalise everything in his head.

Resting one of his forearms across his stomach, Ryan allowed his index finger to lazily trace its way along the seam of the bodysuit that sat beneath his clothes. With the shirt of his casual ensemble being a somewhat loose-fitting garment, it was difficult for the casual observer to get any real insight into what he was actually wearing underneath. Even when he was sat down, there was enough of the shirt above his waist to keep his entire torso concealed with fabric to spare, leaving the subtle ridges caused by the latex almost invisible unless someone got up close and really looked for them.

"A pleasure to meet you, Doctor," Like Adele, Maurelle was making an effort to be polite. To Ryan, it seemed as though their respective reputations had preceded the both of them and, before any discussion had begun, the two women knew the other's stake in proceedings. Adele was Ryan's fiancée and, over the past three years, had been through more hardships and strife than most married couples experienced in a lifetime. Maurelle, on the other hand, was Ryan's boss; only the third he had had since leaving high school and, having seen the potential of a young man who was both capable of fooling over a hundred hardened criminals into believing he was a member of the opposite gender and being what she called a "puppet master" due to his ability, she wanted very much to keep him around.

Although she was, herself, a special, Maurelle saw the benefits of having more abilities than just precognition in her arsenal. "And it is good to see you again, Ryan." Having been ushered into the living room by Adele, Ryan's gaze quickly shifted to watch his boss sit herself down on the single-berth armchair across from him. Even now, three weeks after his day at the office, everything was still fresh in his mind, having replayed the different scenarios over and over again in his dreams. Sometimes, it had been Maurelle sitting at the desk. Other times, his mind had replaced the woman with Adele. It was as if his mind didn't really care who was holding his reins, provided it wasn't him.

Ryan felt it strangely ironic that he - a man whose ability centred around the control of others - would end up dreaming about someone else taking control of him, even if it wasn't as literal as his own methods. "Hey, Maurelle..." For a moment, he was tempted to call her Miss Lacroix, just as Adele had done. If he had been at work, he would have gone ahead with it but, in the comfort of his own home, he didn't really see the need to be formal. Almost unconsiously, Ryan shifted his posture on the couch, rising from the semi-lounged pose he had struck while sitting with Adele until he was sitting up straight, looking rather attentive.

"So, I'll just cut to the chase," Deciding to cater to the perceived need for immediacy, Maurelle took the initiative and spoke first. "I am the head of the most powerful criminal organization in the southwest United States and Mexico. Ryan is my employee; a fact of which I am to understand that you are not at ease with. I am here because I respect your concern for your husband as I take great care in all my employees. So I ask you, what is it that you want Ryan to do?"

As informal as he perceived things to be, Ryan remained quiet. The question was obviously meant for Adele and, until one of the women surrounding him needed his insight, he was just going to listen.

[Adele D'Alteau]

Sacrifice my heart how I want it
Crave the pain you give 'Cause I need it
Claw away my skin then I see it
Losing all my mind 'til I find it
You are all that cuts and is biting

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

Babylon
South Padre Island, Texas

"And it is good to see you again Ryan."

Adele could have reached across the table and slapped her for having the absolute gall to call him by his first name as if they were the closest of friends. As it was, she settled for picking up one of the sandwiches from the platter and tearing into it with unnecessary harshness.

"So, I'll just cut to the chase, I am the head of the most powerful criminal organization in the southwest United States and Mexico. Ryan is my employee, a fact of which I am to understand that you are not at ease with.” Maurelle knew that she had to choose her words carefully. While she might have been precognitive, being precognitive wouldn't prevent all of the blood vessels in her brain from being blocked simultaneously with blood clots. “I am here because I respect your concern for your husband as I take great care in all my employees. So I ask you, what is it that you want Ryan to do?" She hadn't picked up anything to eat yet. Was she afraid that the sandwiches were poisoned? If Adele had wanted to kill her, she would have done it already.

She picked up a glass of the white wine from the centre of the table and took a sip to calm her nerves. The nearly half bottle of Bordeaux hadn't been enough to bring her temper to a more tolerable level, and she really wasn't in the mood to dispose of a body in the bay this afternoon. “What Ryan does isn't my concern.” Ryan was a grown man who was more than capable of taking care of himself. The Company seemed to think that he was Adele's little lapdog with no real purpose of his own. He had his purpose; sometimes it led him off to do stupid and brash things like kill an entire family in Missouri without telling her, but that had been sorted out, aside from a few odds and ends which still needed culling.

“I'm more concerned about your less than amicable 'business partners' showing up at my door.” They lived close enough to the border that drug violence spilling over into the border town of Brownsville wasn't unheard of. People were kidnapped and ransomed all the time from the U.S. side of the border. Both she and Ryan had more or less been left alone. “While I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I accidentally happened to wipe out the entire Colombian drug cartel on a whim, I doubt very much they'd appreciate the power vacuum that would follow.”

As the years progressed, she had more and more control over her ability than she ever had in the past. She could have given a large crowd severe hyperemesis or have caused them to all start bleeding out of their eye sockets if she so wished.

"Hey, Maurelle..."

The sound that escaped her lips was somewhere between a sharp hiss and a snarl. His posture shifted slightly on the couch, and she could hear what sounded like two rubber balloons being rubbed together. Leaning closer to him as he leaned away, she inhaled the scent on his shirt, and used her ability to magnify the intensity of the scent particles nearly a tenfold as they bombarded her olfactory bulb. Beneath the scents of cotton, detergent, sweat, and Ryan's own unique musky and arousing body odour, she could smell latex. Either he was already wearing a condom (though why he'd be wearing a condom while fully clothed and not particularly aroused was beyond her), or he'd taken to wearing a form fitting wetsuit under his clothes. He seemed to enjoy the feeling of being restricted in some way.

She placed her sandwich back onto the plate in front of her and leaned back on the couch, quite content. Getting a nostril full of his arousal—even if it was a little weak—instantly calmed her mind.

But just because she was calm didn't mean she'd forgotten her reasons for being irate. From over the rim of her glass of wine, she stared intently at Maurelle. She'd walked right into the lioness's den, and would not be leaving until she'd paid in blood.

Adele raised a hand to Ryan's cheek and she stroked it adoringly with her knuckles. She loved the way his stubble felt as it scraped along her skin, and she smiled at him. “Ryan, s'il vous plaît nous apporter un sac de mes grands-parents paquet de soins dernier.” How some of her grandparents' “care packages” made it through the mail without being confiscated was beyond her. But they'd been sending them to her regularly for years; she wasn't about to question their methods. “N'oubliez pas les papiers de roulement.” He hesitated, perhaps a bit wary of leaving her alone in the same room as his current employer whom she greatly disapproved of. “Je ne vais pas la tuer. Il suffit d'aller.” She made a dismissive gesture with her hand and waited for him to push himself up from the couch and make his way into the room where her grandparents' 'gifts' were stored.

When Ryan was comfortably out of earshot, she turned back to Maurelle. “What exactly do you have him doing? And be specific. I'll know if you're leaving anything out.” One of the best things about her ability was that she could essentially turn her senses into a physical lie detector. She could sense the barest changes in temperature, pulse, heartbeat, and bloodflow, which were each intimately keyed into the nervous system's response to stress. If a person was lying—even by omission—their stress levels often increased, however slightly.

Maurelle was in no way under the pretense that she'd been welcomed into their home with open arms. The only reason why she was behaving was because Ryan was keeping her in line. Somehow his mere presence in the house afforded her unseen comfort and made her less likely to lash out and attempt to scrape out Maurelle's vocal cords with a cheese grater. She gestured to a large apothecary jar to her left, placed upon the top of a miniature Roman column with a flat top. Both the jar and the column were spotlit by a small conical light which hung from the ceiling. The jar itself was constructed of clear glass, though the liquid inside was almost an unhealthy shade of amber. Settled at the bottom of the jar was something that was the size of two fists placed together, with large holes on its anterior and posterior sides. The two holes corresponded with the anterior and posterior vena cava of an adult human heart. Having been left to sit in the preservative solution for several weeks, it had now adopted a depleted, grayish tinge to it.

“That's what's left of Sun Mi Ja. I really shouldn't disclose precisely how she met her untimely demise, but I'm feeling generous.” Maurelle had probably already 'seen' Sun's death play out in her mind, or perhaps Ryan had told her. He'd been in on it as well. “Her spinal cord was severed when we hung her from the coat rack on the wall in my office.” She tapped her finger thoughtfully against her lips. One thing she didn't want to do was drop Dr. Perrette's name; she didn't need to wind up being involved in further fraudulent activity. “That occurred after I broke her arm and removed a portion of her radius. Since I didn't want to sully any of my own surgical instruments with her blood, I used the sharpened edge of the severed bone to eviscerate her.” The fact that she was describing the brutal manner in which she'd killed a human being didn't faze her. She may as well have been discussing how she'd fileted the Chilean sea bass she and Ryan had had last night for dinner. “She finally expired when I reached elbow deep into her ribcage , dug my fingers into her still rather feebly beating heart, and wrenched it out of her. I managed to keep it as a trophy, though I pass it off as an antique medical curiosity to anyone who asks.”

Adele finished her glass of wine and leaned forward to fill herself another. She passed the bottle across the table to Maurelle. “With that in mind, since Ryan has been in your care, he's already been put in harm's way once. What assurances can you give me that such a transgression will never happen again?” Whether or not Maurelle left with all of her appendages intact depended entirely on her answer.

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۵ ۵ ۵

† Word count: 1541
۵ Mood: coughing. ):
† Outfit: Same as previous posts.
۵ Lyrics / Quote: Stick Me in My Heart, Archive
† Illustrations: Included in post.
۵ Comment / Informational links: I'm gonna go buy eyedrops and orange juice now before I forget.

[Helena Rahal]

Maurelle listened as politely and patiently as she could as Adele aired her grievances for Ryan's employment for her. They were reasonable concerns for anyone associated with a criminal organization, particularly where they were located. Yet Adele severely underestimated the amount of control and precaution that Maurelle took with all things, a benefit of her gift. Maurelle made no move without a fairly certain idea of where it was headed and knew when to turn tail or where to reinforce. That was her key to success and a key to keeping the casualty rate among her associates to a minimum.

"You will have to take my word that Ryan, and yourself by extension, will not have to worry about such situations arising. On top of my gifts to foresee such maneuvers, there have been enough defts, lies, and a false paper trails to prevent anyone looking to harm me or my employees from finding their true identities and residence."

Ryan's introduction though seemed to raise the ire of Adele as there was a distinct hiss coming from her as he said his hello. What followed though was particularly peculiar, as Adele seemed to inhale his scent not once, but twice like some animal. Part of Maruelle was intrigued by this, wondering what might be happening or what could be discerned from a smell, but another part of her was sufficiently weirded out by the display as well. Luckily there was a glass to fill with wine to distract her from the continued display.

What finally got her attention again was the piercing of the air of her native tongue, to which her eyebrow was raised. Oh this was indeed a very interesting development, her own employee had smuggled drugs of some sort and Ryan was afraid to leave her alone with Adele. Something about Adele killing her, hah! That would be bad for all involved, it would mean the death of both Ryan and herself, though the couple likely did not know about that little tidbit.

"Je serai bien, elle ne va pas me faire du mal." Her voice added with Adele's dismissive gesture sent Ryan to collect whatever the care package was. Maurelle wondered if she should be concerned by these care packages and the potential pitfalls that could ensue if they were discovered. Oh well, the postal service in this area was soon to be on her payroll already, an added bonus to keep these packages from becoming suspect would be a minor matter to fix.

Adele also wanted to know exactly what Ryan was doing for her and even went through a display to show her threat and aptitude of killing. It was an impressive display as far as those things went, but it was unneeded and did nothing to phase Maurelle. It seemed that Ryan had neglected to inform Adele how Sun's employer had met their end the night before Sun met hers. Ah well, this was not the time to be having the game of who had the better kill, perhaps when they were better acquainted and Maurelle did not think the wrong choice of words would send Adele into a temper.

"After his failure, he has been demoted to the mere position he applied for, a personal assistant. Until he can show that he can work within a team and organization and follow orders, his tasks shall be be that of any assistant, filing paper work, making sure my schedule doesn't overlap, and things of that nature, nothing dangerous at all. In time though, I want him to be one of my main assassins and bodyguards, that gift of his is quite useful for both accounts, as is the added ability to covertly move through crowds as the opposite gender." Maurelle paused and took a sip of her wine, allowing Adele to take in her words.

"Afterall, there is no Ryan Alcroft on my payroll, but a Calla McKnight, recent graduate of a local high school with remarkably skills at accounting and other computer related abilities." Maurelle offered her hostess a small grin, wondering how Adele would take that revelation.

[Ryan D'Alteau]

Yes, I'm alone! Then again, I always was; as far back as I can tell!
I think, maybe, it's because you were never really real to begin with.
I just made you up to hurt myself. And it worked. Yes, it did!
______________________________Nine Inch Nails - "Only"

"Ryan, s'il vous plaît nous apporter un sac de mes grands-parents paquet de soins dernier."

Although Maurelle was a crime boss and, as such, decidedly uninclined to report the presence of marijuana to the police, Ryan was silently wondering whether breaking out one of the bags in the latest care package sent by the Maignys from Saint-Tropez was entirely wise. While the consumption of wine - in small amounts, at least - was manageable enough, the last thing he wanted was for an important discussion about his working life to become derailed due to all of the participants being high. Annoyingly, he also knew that, once Adele had a notion in her head, it was rather tough to get it out again. Her mind was made up.

But, even so, he was hesitating; an assertive action from a submissive man. "N'oubliez pas les papiers de roulement," Of course he wasn't about to forget the rolling papers. After all, they couldn't exactly get high by eating the stuff now, could they? Or maybe they could. He wasn't sure. He would have to discuss the possible translation of a chemical high through the mastication of plant life with his fiancée some other time. "Je ne vais pas la tuer. Il suffit d'aller."

As much as he was loathe to leave Adele in the room alone with Maurelle, he was aware that Adele rarely - if ever - went back on her word. When she said she wouldn't do something then, barring Maurelle suddenly calling her a psychotic, domineering bitch-queen from hell, that something would remain undone. Rising to his feet, the sound of latex on denim signalled the shifting of his leg muscles. While the bodysuit didn't stretch all that far down his thighs, it was more than enough to cause an extra bit of noise.

He still couldn't quite fathom why he had discovered a liking for wearing it. When he had first lifted it out of the parcel Maurelle had sent him, he had seen it for what he believed it to be; the main component of a humiliating costume designed to convey the fact that he was being punished for his failure. Although Morales and Sun had both died, it hadn't been him - as she had instructed - who had performed the deed. While the end result had been achieved, the means by which it had were all wrong.

Maybe, he surmised, it was because of the form-hugging nature of the material. While it was by no means a corset, it did serve to rein in the manly bulk around his stomach somewhat, flattening it out into a more appealing form. To have it clinging to the contours of his body - even the artificial ones - felt strangely appealing. It made his body feel otherworldly and less-than-real; just as his ability allowed his consciousness to be. Even when it was worn like this; just as a surrogate for his underwear, it felt good to wander around in it. With his normal clothes covering everything, nobody would have been any the wiser.

The package Adele had requested was simple to find. In order to store it, his fiancée had chosen a corner of the driest and darkest place in the condo: the wine cellar. Amid the shelves and racks that held all of the vintages Adele had collected over the years, was a pile of partially opened parcels. While, on some occasions, they breezed through a consignment of marijuana rather quickly, the more frequent scenario was that they still had a couple of bags remaining when the next "care package" arrived. Over time, their surplus had grown into a stockpile with a street value in the tens - if not the low hundreds - of thousands.

Grabbing two of the small plastic bags, Ryan made his way back out of the cellar and, once the door was closed behind him, he set off in search of the rolling papers Adele needed. They weren't located very far from the cellar door; nestled in one of the kitchen drawers along with a bunch of cheap lighters. Lighters for their recreational smoking habit were like pens in other households. Sometimes, they got lost, necessitating the purchase of more. So they had simply bought them in bulk, grabbing packs of five from some cheap supermarket on the mainland. They didn't care what they looked like. As long as they produced fire when the striking wheel spun, that was enough.

With everything he needed, Ryan made his way back into the living room. "After all, there is no Ryan Alcroft on my payroll, but a Calla McKnight; recent graduate of a local high school with remarkable skills at accounting and other computer-related abilities." Just as he thought, the two women had been talking about him while his back was turned. The fact that Maurelle was still conducting a conversation meant that she hadn't been killed. Which was definitely a good sign.

Oh, how tempted he was to make a remark in Calla's voice right then and there. It would have certainly brought him some amusement. Maybe even an incredulous look from Adele as she wondered if his voice had really been contorted to that extent. Alas, he didn't. Yet. "I don't 'ave t'separate you two, do I?", he asked with a smirk on his face. Striding into the room, he set the "equipment" Adele had requested onto the table before taking his seat.

[Adele D'Alteau]

Mirror shatters in formless reflections of matter
Glass hand dissolving to ice petal flowers revolving
Lady in velvet recedes in the nights of goodbye

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

Babylon
South Padre Island, Texas

[dropcap]Not even a thickly-rolled joint was going to melt away the borderline rage she could feel welling up deep in her chest as Maurelle ran her mouth about how they had nothing to worry about. Adele took a piece of rolling paper from the carton and laid it out flat on the table, only half-paying attention to whatever Maurelle was saying. Using her fingers to dip into the rather large and fragrant bag of marijuana, she pulled out several particularly nice looking clumps of buds and sprinkled them in a line near one edge. She repeated the process several more times until she had a roughly three quarter-inch high by three quarter-inch long spread of the narcotic dried plant on the swatch of paper. She deftly rolled the paper up ad brought the remaining loose edge to her lips. She wet it with her tongue and pressed it down with her fingers, sealing it.

She took her lighter from off the table and held the large blunt between her fingers, using her thumb to strike the wheels on the lighter that would provide enough of a spark for the butane to catch. She lit one end of the hand-made cigarette until it burned red with cinders and passed the lighter to Ryan.

Maurelle explained that due to Ryan's failure to follow her explicit orders, he had been demoted to being her personal assistant. “Until he can show that he can work within a team and organization and follow orders . . . ”

Adele snorted. Ryan? Follow orders? He didn't even follow them when he was working for the Company, but that was something completely different. She pulled in a deep breath, drawing the smoke from the joint deep into her lungs where she held it until they burned. Adele exhaled through her nose and casually leaned over to flick her ashes into a small glass tray at the centre of the table.

"In time though, I want him to be one of my main assassins and bodyguards, that gift of his is quite useful for both accounts, as is the added ability to covertly move through crowds as the opposite gender."

She paused for a moment, tempted to reach across the table and put the cigarette out in the palm of Maurelle's hand to give her a more permanent reminder of her trip. Perhaps she should allow Ryan to have his own voice. She knew from personal experience that he was a fine assassin, but a bodyguard?

“Praytell how being a bodyguard doesn't fall under the classification of 'nothing dangerous at all'?” Unless he was inhabiting someone else's body, he would be putting himself in danger. That was something she couldn't allow.

Maurelle poured herself a glass of wine. She knew that she would have to choose her words carefully or risk stoking the doctor's anger. " . . . there is no Ryan Alcroft on my payroll, but a Calla McKnight, recent graduate of a local high school with remarkably skills at accounting and other computer related abilities."

“Çfarë dreqin?” Adele glanced at Ryan and slowly began piecing the parts together in her mind. Ever since he'd met with Sophie, he'd indulged in a more feminine aspect of his nature, which was all well and good. Maurelle, however, seemed to be taking advantage of it. Taking another drag off her joint, she crossed her legs and stated calmly, “A mendoni se kjo është një lojë e ndyrë?” It didn't matter that she'd switched to her father's native language of Albanian. She'd been raised in a household where both French and Albanian were spoken quite regularly, though Albanian was rarely her language of choice.

The only thing keeping her from launching herself across the table at Maurelle were the various narcotic compounds unique to the marijuana now passing through her bloodstream.

"I don't 'ave t'separate you two, do I?"

Adele held Maurelle's gaze for several seconds and blew a stream of smoke from her nostrils. It gave the impression that she was a little dragon, just waiting for the most appropriate moment to spew flames at the other woman seated not five feet from her. “No.” She continued to stare unblinkingly at Maurelle. In all honesty, she wanted nothing more than to rip off all of her limbs and feed them piece by piece to the sharks that roamed off shore. “If you're as precognitive as you say you are, you shouldn't require the assistance of a bodyguard. Do you doubt your own ability to predict your own death, or are you simply looking for someone to be your stand-in when Death comes for you?”

From her tone, Death was much closer than Maurelle may have initially thought.[/dropcap]

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

† Word count: 872
۵ Mood: bbbzzzz
† Outfit: Same as previous posts.
۵ Lyrics / Quote: Dark Star, Grateful Dead
† Illustrations: None.
۵ Comment / Informational links: So you can kind of gauge what Albanian sounds like.

[Helena Rahal]

“Praytell how being a bodyguard doesn't fall under the classification of 'nothing dangerous at all'?”

Maurelle knew this was the dangerous part of the trip to her employees residence, navigating the fine line with the significant other. Already Adele was blending Ryan's work with the home safeness and trying to spin back on Maurelle as an attack of her cunning. It was true, while he was at work with the more shady accepts of her business, he would be put in danger. That danger was minimal though, but Maurelle knew that trying to get Adele to see that in her current state was a lost cause, so she simply let it slide.

Ryan seemed to pick either the best or worst time to return and try to intervene between the two ladies. Maybe it would have been better had he not returned and let Adele have had her tantrum and perhaps even attack at Maurelle, to get the poison out of the system Sure there was a small chance of that leading to Maurelle's death, but Maurelle was confident that even Adele would know better than to kill her. What would be the point in drawing even more suspicion to her, with the Company and other organizations already looking to take her down? Why add the most organized criminal organization on this side of the Mississippi to that list?

“If you're as precognitive as you say you are, you shouldn't require the assistance of a bodyguard. Do you doubt your own ability to predict your own death, or are you simply looking for someone to be your stand-in when Death comes for you?”

Maurelle remained calm even as Adele hurled her double pronged accusation at Maurelle. The woman was quite sharp and Maurelle had expected such, she had evaded being recaptured by the Company afterall, though it did help for the longest time they believed her to be dead. Yet if Maurelle's instincts about Adele were right, plus what she had read about the woman, any sign of weakness or doubt would be like blood in the water for Adele, and she the shark attuned to it.

"I am a powerful precog, it is true, as it is true that I am equally skilled in taking lives. What is not true though is that the future is set in stone, that one can glimpse into it and know the exact course it will take. You can grasp the idea, but every action ripples through eternity."

Maurelle pulled her purse into her lap and from its contents she pulled for a bloody knife and laid it in front of her. "Just as I had seen the death of Cantu and my absorbing of his criminal empire, I did not see that I would be the one to take his life. This knife dug through his chest cavity and pulled out his heart and sent ripples through the future, which lead me here, to a place where I can just as equally wind up dead or enjoy a pleasant afternoon with unique individuals. That is where the choice is yours. I for one would prefer to live and have a prosperous relationship with Ryan, but I also realize it is not just my will that is in play here. It is yours and Ryans and mine here with the least amount of influence of that choice."

[Ryan D'Alteau]

When the Devil is too busy... and Death's a bit too much.
They call on me - by name, you see? - for my special touch!
To the gentlemen, I'm Miss Fortune. To the ladies, I'm Sir Prize.
But call on me by any name! Any way, it's all the same!
______________________________Aurelio Voltaire - "When You're Evil"

"If you're as precognitive as you say you are..." Adele began, musing aloud as she watched Maurelle for any reaction. With her father having the same ability, the doctor wasn't entirely unversed in ways precogs worked their magic. Even though the content of their visions seemed to stray into the realms of time-travel theory from time to time, provoking questions as to whether the future they saw would actually come to pass now that they knew it, Adele realised that Maurelle had at least some insight into how her future could be. "You shouldn't require the assistance of a bodyguard. Do you doubt your own ability to predict your own death, or are you simply looking for someone to be your stand-in when Death comes for you?"

Ryan wasn't exactly able to blame his fiancée for her way of thinking. Bodyguards, by their very definition, were mandated to shield their charges from harm regardless of the personal cost. Although he was somewhat loathe to do so, Maurelle was expecting him to put his life on the line whenever he ventured outdoors with her. However, given the nature of his ability, he was rather confident that he could mitigate a sizeable portion of the inherent risk. If he wasn't willing to take a bullet for her, then he would simply force someone else to do so in his stead.

Even so, he could tell what Adele wanted to do at that particular moment, just from the tone of her voice. He had heard it numerous times before and hearing it directed at him wasn't entirely unheard of. Although she was putting up with Maurelle's bullshit for the time being, Adele sorely wanted to be given the excuse to fling herself over the table and begin tearing at the vital arteries of her rival's body. Ryan, on the other hand, wanted today to be one free of bloodshed. If Adele killed - or even injured - Maurelle, he would likely find himself out of a job; whether by the crime boss firing him on the spot or his future wife forbidding him to answer Maurelle's summons.

Deciding to calm himself down before he tried to take possession of both their bodies and send them into separate corners for a time-out, Ryan reached out and started making a small joint of his own. The marijuana high would have made him less prone to rash decisions, but its size meant he could keep relatively in control of his own faculties and not reduce himself into an easily amused, chocolate-devouring heap on the couch. "I am a powerful precog, it is true, as it is true that I am equally skilled in taking lives," Maurelle explained, calmly conducting herself with professionalism. If Adele hadn't been Ryan's fiancée, she wouldn't have put up with as much insolence as she was. As it stood, however, the diminutive doctor was being given a lot of leeway. "What is not true though is that the future is set in stone; that one can glimpse into it and know the exact course it will take. You can grasp the idea, but every action ripples through eternity."

Hoisting her purse into view, she set the small container onto her lap and snapped it open before reaching inside. What she produced came as something of a surprise. While Ryan had seen a bloodied knife before, the fact that it was one Maurelle had in her possession meant it could only have been one knife in particular. Just what the hell was she doing with a murder weapon. More to the point, why had she brought it to his condo?! "Just as I had seen the death of Cantu and my absorbing of his criminal empire, I did not see that I would be the one to take his life. This knife dug through his chest cavity and pulled out his heart and sent ripples through the future, which lead me here, to a place where I can just as equally wind up dead or enjoy a pleasant afternoon with unique individuals. That is where the choice is yours. I, for one, would prefer to live and have a prosperous relationship with Ryan, but I also realize it is not just my will that is in play here; it is yours and Ryan's. And mine here with the least amount of influence of that choice."

The objects which now lay on the living room table would have been the ticket to any patrol cop's speedy promotion, were they to walk in at that moment. As well as enough recreational drugs to incapacitate a small college fraternity, there was now the large kitchen knife used to murder one of the biggest drug barons in the United States. "Provin' a point's all well an' good, Maurelle," Ryan suddenly began, a little unsettled by what he was seeing. Thankfully, the buzz from the smouldering herb-like material in his hand helped to stop him being too irrational. "But did ya have t'bring th'damn thing with you? We're gonna have t'get rid of it b'fore y'leave. Thankfully, we're right next to the beach so we can just toss it in th'ocean."

Ryan then turned to Adele. "An' while we're on th'subject, I know full well what the dangers of this job are." He might not have been gifted with their collective insight (yet), but he certainly wasn't dense. "I've got a pretty good idea what she does for a living and the kinda people who wanna stop 'er from doin' it. I was part o'th'Rogue Society, just like you were; I know what th'people're like. I also know that I'm better trained than they are... an' that's before my ability has anythin' t'do with it. I can handle this, Adele."

[Adele D'Alteau]

BG is too lazy to look one up.

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

Babylon
South Padre Island, Texas

"I am a powerful precog, it is true, as it is true that I am equally skilled in taking lives.”

Adele hadn't meant to laugh, but whether it was the psychotropic substances running through her system or that she found it laughable that Maurelle considered herself 'skilled' at taking lives, she chuckled. “Vraiment? Prove it.”

Before Maurelle even lifted her purse into her lap, her nose immediately picked up on the scent of blood. It was unmistakeable. She didn't even flinch when the bagged, bloodied knife was presented to her on the table. What was this supposed to be? A peace offering? Something to show her that they were truly comrades in arms? Ryan was the only one who seemed upset by the appearance of the knife. Adele remained unfazed.

And then Maurelle launched into a verbose and tedious recounting of precisely how she'd killed the man whose blood was on the knife before her. Adele took another drag on her joint and drew the noxious smoke into her lungs where the marijuana's numerous narcotics were given direct access to her bloodstream. Setting the joint aside for the moment, she picked up the plastic bag and pulled it apart, then reached inside and grabbed hold of the knife's handle. “You brought a weapon into my home.” If the knife had come from anyone else, she might have considered it a gift and would have had some silver coins ready to trade in return. “You've come here uninvited more than once, at least to my knowledge.” Ryan had admitted as much to her after a lengthy discussion, the result of which were a new series of lines that had been artfully carved into the skin on his back.

Her eyes grew darker as her pupils dilated and swallowed the whole of her eyes into their impenetrable depths. The blood had long since dried on the knife, but that didn't mean it couldn't be removed. Like wax being held over a flame, the blood gradually returned to its viscous, fluid form. It dripped from the tip of the knife into her palm where it coalesced into a small sphere roughly the size of a nickle. She brought the dark red sphere to her nose and inhaled.

From its scent alone, she was able to tell several things about the man the blood had once belonged to. He was at high risk for cardiovascular disease and would have died from a heart attack or a stroke sometime in the future. His blood was laced with cholesterol and harmful triglycerides. His liver function was also off; the blood smelled faintly of toxins from being poorly filtered through his liver and his kidneys. The iron levels in his haemoglobin were borderline deficient as well. Physically, he might have appeared fit and healthy, but his blood told another story.

Adele looked over at Ryan, the ball of blood hovering between them upon her palm. She wasn't entirely sure of where to properly dispose of it, though the thought of throwing it at Maurelle had crossed her mind. It was Maurelle's fault that his blood had wound up in her home. Even she had standards. Except for the heart in the jar on a showcase table, she rarely kept 'trophies.'

In all honesty, she wasn't looking for a fight. Maurelle knew where she stood in their hierarchy, and hopefully she was happy with being the omega.

She concentrated on the blood, first breaking it down into its component parts before manipulating the chemical components of the bodily serum. It began to slowly turn an opaque shade of crimson, then pink, before being reduced down to the clarity of glass. Her eyes returned to normal, and she tipped her hand forward, spilling the now-water onto the front of her shirt.

Ryan was an adult who was capable of making his own decisions. He wasn't stupid or careless enough to make a fatal decision that would result in his death, and he was clever enough to find his way out of several complex predicaments. She would simply have to trust that he knew what he was doing, but that didn't mean she had to tolerate Maurelle's presence in their lives.

Eying the knife on the table, she issued a succinct command to Maurelle, silently hoping that she wouldn't listen.

“Good. Now get out.”

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

† Word count: 782
۵ Mood: Feh.
† Outfit: Same as previous posts.
۵ Lyrics / Quote:
† Illustrations: None.
۵ Comment / Informational links: suck post is suck.

[Helena Rahal]

It seems that the point of her demonstration and the production of the knife had gone completely over the heads of both Adele and Ryan. That was unfortunate but could not be be helped at this point. Ryan had become too transfixed on the knife itself and not the meaning, not even beginning to think why Maurelle felt comfortable enough to travel with a murder weapon. If he had, he would have realized that she had no reason to fear cops or other agents of authority, her influence and payroll was indeed quite large. That was a lesson to be learned another day however.

Today was a day about survival and Adele had provided her the open to leave with little in the way of casualties. Sure there was a bit of hurt pride but it was well worth having less pride for this day to even to be considered marginally successful. Maintaining the employ of her little puppet master had been the forefront of her goals and that goal had been achieved, if not directly though her actions or words. Yet there it was, Ryan still an agent within her organization and Maurelle with life and position in tact.

"A shame this could not be had under a different set of circumstances, but I suppose that is the business of the business. Fare well doctor and take care Ryan, you'll be hearing from me." Maurelle spoke as calmly as she could. She was not here to provoke a fight despite how much Adele seemed to teeth with anger and frustrations. That was not a powderkeg that Maurelle seemed intent on lighting.

Maurelle collected the knife before her and deposited once more into her purse. It was the only thing that was keeping her here any longer than she wanted to be. This was a meeting that she hadn't wanted at all and now that the path was clear she made her way out of the household and pondered her next move. There was so much potential, indeed, and the party in the near future at this very place seemed brimming with it. Yes, that would be her next move, a lovely evening of pure entertainment and chaos.