INNOCENCE
~*~
Your body's dying. Pay no attention. - Lestat, Interview With A Vampire
~*~
It was Yù-Lién who first took notice of January Mitchell, known around campus as Plain Jan. The girl was being harassed by a pair of men who wouldn't get any if they went to Russia and paid for it, if you asked Yù-Lién's humble opinion. "Ugly girl," they were calling her, "No-Man Jan." Yù-Lién's eyebrow twitched. The shy, unsocial girl was in two of her classes, and this persecution was really pissing her off. Still in a bad mood due to last night's oversexed assassins, she focused all her rage on the pair of lackwits before her.
The Chinese beauty had a legendary temper. As her jaw clenched, a clear sign of danger, innocent bystanders fled lest they be scorched by her wrath. She fell upon the two males with all the unrelenting force of a Class-Five hurricane combined with a raging typhoon and wound up chasing them down the hall, out the door, and outside, where a severe ass-kicking took place.
January blinked, stunned by the sudden, unexpected championship of her by one of the most beautiful women at the college. A hand came down softly on her shoulder as its owner chuckled. "Looks as if Hard-Hearted Hannah's got herself some new prey." She turned to see Yù-Lién's twin brother standing behind her, looking amused. She flushed bright red, and his grin broadened. "None of that, now. Yù-Lién must like you, or she wouldn't fly off the handle like this."
Jan wasn't sure of what to say. She was shy and awkward in social situations; however, Yù-Lōng had come prepared. With very little persuasion, he'd gotten her into the cafeteria/lounge area and seated across from him. Yù-Lōng had an open, easy-going manner that soon had Jan chatting with him as if they were old friends. It was very easy for him to find out that she spent much of her free time online under the handle 'Seasyngr'. To his disappoint, she wasn't a hacker; however, she was still useful.
She made a perfect cover and would be easy enough to cultivate; besides, it would be good for the shy, insecure girl to unplug from her computer and get out some. Thank goodness his beloved twin had taken the first steps toward befriending her. It'd be so much easier now.
His mind's eye handed him the image of last night's albino twins. If they were to run into himself and Yù-Lién while January was with them... well, she'd make for a good distraction. They would find her easy to dominate and would likely focus on her long enough for himself and his sister to get the hell out of Dodge. Odds were they wouldn't kill her. Yes, sweet, shy January Mitchell was the perfect cover.
Jan had no idea of what was going on behind his smiling façade, and it was just as well that she didn't. Anyone who could see beyond Yù-Lōng's light-hearted attitude to the man underneath would run away, screaming in terror.
Sun Yù-Lōng was the sort of person who would smile to your face after you insulted his family, then stab you in the back a few hours later. He felt no remorse and seemed to have no morals. His loyalty lay only with his sister and with his clan; insult either, and the insulter might find a potentially fatal poison slipped into their food. He didn't care about innocent bystanders: if they were smart, they'd get the hell out of the way.
The Shining Dragon was one cold piece of work.
Jan had no idea of who she was dealing with.
~*~
Asmodeus hadn't left the girl's side since he'd jumped into the "water" after her. Nobody could figure out why he was trying so hard to keep her alive. A good week and a half since she'd self-substantiated, and she still hadn't regained consciousness. The Zion-born was becoming as thin as she was; skipping and forgetting meals as well as lack of sleep were taking their toll on him. Genesis had already drugged his food once and was threatening a repeat performance.
Twice, the girl had stopped breathing, only to be revived by an attentive Asmodeus. No one could figure out why he'd taken on such a... nurturing role towards the girl. For one thing, in the equation that made up his core personality, Asmodeus≠Nurturing, unless Object(Nurturing)=Plant.Life. For another, Asmodeus didn't like anybody excepting Danaë, one of Zion's best medics, and little LCD for reasons unknown.
It was rumoured that Asmodeus' only fear was Captain Niobe of the Logos... but then again, everyone feared Niobe. It was a survival thing. Niobe had wound up taking Ice's place as the undisputed matriarch of the fleet. Sure, Commander Locke dictated where everyone went... but it had been first Ice, then Niobe, who made sure it was done. Rumour had it that even Morpheus thought twice about disobeying Captain Ice of the Gnosis.
At the moment, Asmodeus was getting pissed off at his body, which was betraying him once more. It kept trying to go to sleep without his permission. He started to nod off once more, and jerked himself awake, muttering a curse. He opened his eyes and almost jumped as he saw LCD in front of him. "Where'd you come from?"
"Genesis says you're to get at least twelve hours' rack time or she'll make sure you get twenty-four. Under sedation, if necessary." Asmodeus grumbled, but LCD gave him a plaintive look. For some reason, Asmodeus couldn't resist LCD's plaintive looks. At last he sighed, heaving himself out of the chair. "All right, I'll tell Genesis I'm hitting the sack. Watch her for me, will you, kid?" LCD nodded eagerly, and Asmodeus ruffled his hair. "Thanks a lot." He walked off, leaving a flushing LCD behind.
After a moment, the trainee took Asmodeus' abandoned seat and turned his head toward the girl. Any jealousy he'd felt originally towards her evaporated in a flash. He remembered what it had been like when he'd self-substantiated. LCD had not been ready for the truth at all. He was sure that he would have snapped if Asmodeus hadn't stepped in.
Come to think of it, Asmodeus had been taking a personal interest in each of the self-substantiation cases. He wanted to figure out what was causing people who weren't ready for the truth to download themselves into their real bodies. LCD, unfortunately, couldn't remember anything beyond being caught by his pursuer. Everything from being caught to waking up in Zion was a blank to him.
In the two years since LCD's awakening, eighteen others had self-substantiated, most of them female. Of those eighteen, five had snapped, nine had committed suicide, and four had been able to handle the change. Of those four, two had died from pneumonia, a common affliction of the recently unplugged. LCD had caught it as well, but had ultimately survived his bout with the disease.
The self-substantiations were troubling both the machines and the Zionites. What was causing them?
LCD reached over to check the girl's temperature, and noticed a pair of bruises on her neck right over her jugular vein. Frowning, he inspected them closer, and realised that the bruises looked familiar. He had seen a pair of bruises exactly like those, he reflected, tracing his fingers along the slash-like markings. They had been in the exact same place... on himself, two years ago.
This... was no coincidence.
~*~
Isn't LCD t3h ky00t? *huggles him* I adore him!
*notices all her readers staring at her*
*coughs*
Okay, um, time to play a game! I want you to look over my stories carefully when you can. We're going to play "Who Can Spot the Reference To Other Works of Literature"! If you can name who the reference is (yes, the references are people) and the author of the works, you get a special prize that is TBA. We'll just play with Legacy for now. The more you can name, the better the prize! Ethan, I told you about them, so you don't get to play.
~*~
Megami: Updated because this was begging to written. I'm doing better now that I dropped a class. ^_^
Winter: Here ya go.
Dragonet: Go read Fifth Cycle: Transition. Plenty of Molly action to come there, I promise. And Yù-Lién and Yù-Lōng are not around to be the Twins' lovers. They have another purpose.
~*~
Well, that's all for now! Enjoy!
Because I'm a blonde, I don't have to think
I talk like a baby and I never pay for drinks
Don't have to worry about gettin' a man
If I keep this blonde and I keep these tan
'Cause I'm a blonde, yeah, yeah, yeah
'Cause I'm a blonde, yeah, yeah, yeah
I see people workin'; it just makes me giggle
'Cause I don't have to work: I just have to jiggle
Because I'm blonde, B-L-O-N-D
Because I'm blonde, don't you wish you were me?
('Cause I'm a Blonde © Julie Brown)