Title: Girls Have Germs
Author: Pixie Princess & Bunny
Date: Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Somehow, Prudence had encoded the area of virtual space that had been created for her so Ram
couldn't enter. She was mad at him. In a way, it made Ram smile, because she was escaping
from him the same way he escaped from everything else.
Unfortunately, she was upset with him, and was obviously just as smart as he was, if not as
smart as Ved. So she had encrypted getting into her world, and was escaping from him. Still,
there was something about her...
"Lord Ram, you asked for us?"
Ram looked up at the doorway, and smirked. "Yes Jay, Ved.... please, come in." Prue's little world
would be shattered in a matter of moments.
~ * ~
Lex paced back and forth in front of the bar. Ebony was taking too long. What if she'd been
lying when she said she knew someone on the inside? What if she couldn't get him to KC? What
if-
"Gee Lex, with all these people here, someone might think you didn't trust me."
He scowled at Ebony. So self-serving and self-righteous. "History has tended to repeat itself
with you, Eb." Lex watched Ebony huff and stick her hands on her hips, so he gestured towards
Clark. "This is Clark, a friend of Ellie's from the before. You know Jack." He stepped closer to
her, and was eventually right in front of Ebony. "So, ready to take me to my brother?"
"We've gotta make it quick. Let's go."
~ * ~
Ram hadn't expected THIS kind of reaction from Jay and Ved. And normally, no one would DARE
lift him up out of his chair and to the wall. However, it seemed this thing with Prue was
different. Jay and Ved were her brothers - and they were not pleased with him.
"What the hell is she doing in there, Ram?"
Jay seemed to be the most agressive of the two. He WAS the one holding him gainst the wall,
whiel Ved was merely jamming a tazer into his side, ready to shock him. Ram felt his air being
cut off, and he only managed to choke out, "She's living her life, Jay." That got him to let her
down. Rubbing his throat through gloved hands, Ram cleared his throat. "She's upset with me."
"Ram, if you've HURT her..."
On the contrary, Ram thought, she was the one who was hurting him. Althuogh she was
escaping, she couldnt' find her brothers, nor her friend. And Ram now knew where both of them
were. And it was hurting him.... because he was beginning to think he might love her. That she
might be his saving grace.
~ * ~
"Prue, what's wrong?"
Prue turned around and smiled. "Pride..." Yeah, she knew he wasn't real, but she knew him on
the inside. She knew all of the Eco tribe on the inside, and missed them all terribly. So, in her
writing of the program, she had had Ram's techinal officer program them all in exactly the way
she remembered. Even Eagle, who took pride away and likely convinced him to STAY in the city.
"...it's good to see you."
"Now Prue..."
She knew what he was gonig to say. That she knew he wasn't real. Stupid her programming
them this morning, along with her encryption, to know that they were all just mirror images of
real people. "It's him." She sat down next to her virtual Pride, on a log by the lake near where the
eco tribe had been to the best recollection of her knowledge. "THat stupid, self-righteous-"
"You're using his technology for exactly why you say he shouldn't. It's hypocritical."
"I don't know where my brothers are, I dont' know where YOU are... Java and Siva won't help me
because they DESPISE me..."
"What's the problem, Prue?"
"I won't be able to survive in virtual space. Sure, it would make me happy for a bit, but... it
wouldn't last."
"Because you'd know it wasn't real."
"Exactly." Prue frowned. "He doesn't realize that with his nature, which I was able to tell within
the first five minutes of waking, Pride..."
"No droning. Get to the point."
"His nature will cause him to become frustrated and likely blow everything up."
Pride, even thuogh he was virtual, gave her that all knowing look. She hated that look. "You care
about him." He grabbed her hands, and her eyes teared at how real his hands felt. "Prue, you
have to teach him that everyone's views are different. That it doesn't necessarily mean that his is
all bad..."
"He's stubborn. He won't listen."
"Then you've been arguing, not reasoning. Not debating. Agressive to counter agressive." He
kissed her forehead. She missed that too, but not because she loved Pride like Prue was
beginning to suspect she loved Ram, but because he was all she had of someone like a brother.
"Now you have to go back."
Prue looked at him, puzzled. When Ramhad been sleeping, she'd also programmed into her
characters to alert her when something was occuring in Ram's quarters. he wasn't the only one
who could monitor someone's vitals. "Why?"
"Because his heartbeat is irratic."
~ * ~
"Ram, I'm WARNING you..."
"Prue!"
Jay turned around at the sound of Ved's voice scremaing his sister's name - and indeed, there
she was. Standing at the door to Ram's quarters, walking in. She looked worried. He looked at
Ram, glaring. If he'd hurt her, he'd hurt him like he'd never been hurt before.
"Jay...." And then his sister looked at Ved. "...Ved..." Then Ram. The look on his sister's face was
priceless. So full of fire, and hate. "...what's going on here? And why do I have the feeling that
I'm going to need to reprimand you?"
As his sister's hands went upon her hips, Jay laughed. And he hadn't laughed in a good while.
She was mad, and frustrated, and it looked like she might care about what happened to him.
"He couldnt' get into your program, sis."
"Yeah," the excited voice said, and it belonged to Ved this time, "you encrypted it well." Jay
watched his little brother grin at Ram. "She taught me all that I know." Then he watched Ved
frown. "How do you know Ram?"
Jay saw the familiar smile of his sister's return to her face. She cared about Ram, and if the
rumors he had been hearing were true, Ram wanted her for a pawn. Or, at least he had until she
had woken up. "He saved my life." Now that shocked him. Ram nodded to both him and Ved, as
Prue walked over to him, and looked down at Ram. "And now I have to save his."