Wraith stalked down the corridor like a bat out of hell, with Alyssa hot at her heels, scattering Exiles who were walking down the corridor as she made her way towards the prison cell and her target, upon entering the prison section Wraith scanned the room with her eyes looking for the group of Exiles she knew had to still be here and strode over to where they stood watching the interrogation of the rebel on the other side of the mirrored glass. The group turned to face her as she approached, Jack and Elisa stiffening slightly at the approaching authority figure while Katrina turned to face her casually, Wraith didn't have the same high standing and awe inspiring ability she did with younger Exiles, with those from the old world.
"So what's been going on?" Wraith demanded from the group as she came to a stop by them, her voice full of authority and I-am-the-boss-here attitude as she glanced the group over, the group was a fairly reliable with none of the terrible trouble makers the clan seemed to accumulate.
"Not much since Alyssa left really" Katrina replied, chewing a nail and gesturing to the two on the opposite side of the mirrored glass a glance, Archon was still sitting on the edge of the table to the Rebel who was sitting in the chair however it seemed that Archon had deemed the Rebel trust worthy enough as she was no longer handcuffed.
"Has Alyssa told you about the Rebels activities in trying to discover how the backdoors work?" Katrina asked curiously, she wanted to know how much Lilith's second in command already knew and how she'd react.
"She told me on the way over" Wraith answered simply before stepping in front of the observation window and watching the two in the room with idly curiosity. "Has the Rebel said anything about how they managed to come across this information in the first place?" She asked trying to discover if there was an Exile on the lose that was leaking secrets to either the Rebels or the Agents, such a person would have to be taken out.
Katrina grinned and gave a faint nod before leaning back against the wall near the mirrored window and explained to Wraith. "One of the ships crew had an almost obsession you could say with the Exiles and managed to convince the ships captain to researching into that particular field, he apparently set up cameras and sensors in an area of town that was heavily frequented by Exiles and by luck managed to catch one of us using the backdoors before his captain got bored of his idiotic messing around, it went from there."
Wraith frowned "How far does this knowledge go? Is it too late to stop any of this information spreading?" She asked already planning contingencies for the worse case scenario, this den was an almost impenetrable fortress that couldn't be dug out without major expenditure on either the Agents or Rebels sides which would leave both sides weakened and easy prey for the other.
This meant they were safe for the foreseeable future, should the secret of the backdoors be discovered and Exiles could no longer rely on the back doors for protection, not that any of them could predict far into the future besides the Oracle and she was not on Lilith's happy book, the two being rivals long before either Matrix's were created.
Katrina looked relieved, easing Wraiths fears and natural inclination to believe in the worst case scenario that all leaders have "Fortunately the crews illicit deviation from standard research topics and the Rebel general attitudes toward unauthorised AI or Matrix studies means that the crew would have hidden any information that they had gathered on the backdoors until they were 100 certain they had stumbled onto something major." She repeated the information she had learned from the interrogation to Wraith. "If we strike quickly and destroy all the information, we stand a real chance of dodging this bullet"
Wraith looked thoughtful "I agree, there is no time to waste however if we attack and don't take them out then they will most likely transmit the information straight to Zion. I'll get our scouts to keep an eye out on the Rebel ships, when our target re-enters we'll strike most of her crew in the Matrix whilst simultaneously attacking them in the real world." Wraith said, coming up with a better plan than just "attack" on the spot while her mind went over various tactical scenarios refining them hopefully into something that would work.
Katrina from her place leaning against the wall frowned before asking in confusion. "We don't have any forces in the real world do we?"
Wraith sighed, she knew full well that Lilith clan had no one in the real world and her plan would require negotiating with Rogue machines in the real world who would not be precisely eager to face one of the Rebel ships and their EMP's. "Don't worry about that... I'll work something out" she dismissed that minor problem till later turning her attention to a more pressing one.
"What is the deal with the Rebel?" Wraith asked, looking through the window again at the Rebel. "She doesn't exactly look like she is under duress, so what's she getting out of this?"
"Life.. She gets to live beyond the time it takes for her crew mates to pull the plug" Elisa told Wraith entering the conversation for the first time, finally getting an opening in the conversation, she nodded her head to the room beyond the glass where the Rebel was visibly agitated.
"I think we should convert her soon, she seriously has very little time left" Jack added in his opinion before Elisa had the chance to verbalise it herself.
Wraith looked at the Rebel for a long while, trying to make a decision either way to whether the Rebel should live or die, finally she sighed.
"Alright, Alyssa since you were the ones that you offered you can deal with the Rebel" Wraith ordered her companion. "I have to organise the scouts and plan the attack on the Banshee, you lot can take a break for a bit but stick around since I want you on the team later, you'll be as good as any"
With that Wraith turned and left the group to sort their own problems out amongst them whilst she attended the more pressing details, she first had to inform Lilith before somehow trying to convince the Real world rogues that attacking a Rebel research vessel was in their best interests... that in itself would prove to be an interesting experience, she truly loved her life...
"Right..." Alyssa said trying to take control of the situation after being dropped in it. "You lot... do whatever" Alyssa dismissed them to go about their own business before walking down the corridor and into the interrogation room with Archon and Laverna, the Rebel. The pair looked up as she entered the room and she stared at them both.
"Its my understanding that you were to give us the information about your ship in exchange for being an EAH?" Alyssa asked of the Rebel, she already knew the answer but wanted to see the Rebel answer herself.
"EAH?" Laverna asked with a frown, not understanding the term.
"Exile Affected Human, it's the tech speak for a human who has been changed by an Exile. The most common forms of these are the Vampire and Werewolf EAH which despite being weaker than their program forms still hold significant advantages over unaffected humans." Alyssa explained as she walked towards the Rebel.
"The myths about Vampires and Werewolves turning humans are true?" Laverna asked in amazement, having not believed that part of said myth.
Alyssa grinned at that. "Yes there true and your going to have a chance to experience them first hand" Alyssa informed the rebel with a tone of amusement in her voice as she stepped well within the rebels personal space.
"Now... what was your answer?" Alyssa asked one last time looking the rebel in the eyes.
Laverna locked eyes with Alyssa for a long moment before replying. "Yes.. yes I am"
Alyssa brushed Laverna's hair away from her neck, leaving it uncovered.
"This is going to hurt... a lot quite honestly..." Alyssa told Laverna, who merely nodded mutely at that, before pulling her head to the side and suddenly biting deep into her neck.
Laverna despite being prepared for the bite, yelps and pulls away, staggering away with her hand slapped over the bite mark in shock before her eyes roll into the back of her head and she collapses to the floor.
Alyssa knelt down beside the Ex-rebel and placed two fingers at her neck, checking for a pulse just in case. The pulse was strong and firm against her fingers and she nodded satisfied, Archon walked up over the two.
"She going to make it?" He asked in slightly uncharacteristic concern.
Alyssa looked up at her underling and smiled faintly. "You know if I didn't know better I would accuse you of caring..."
Archon looked affronted. "Ma'am?"
Alyssa shook her head as she stood up. "Take her to the medical ward, make sure she's fine and tell the doctors to put an implant in her, just in case."
Archon knelt and scooped up the fallen rebel in his arms. "Its done" He said, confirming that he'd heard her orders before he carried the rebel out of the door and towards the medical ward.
Alyssa watched the pair leave the room for a moment before settling down to her own tasks, she needed to check in with Tokyo to see if everything was alright although she was equally sure that Lorelei could handle her crew whilst she was gone, it still felt better to check. She strode out into the corridor outside the cell where the others where still standing, obviously been watching her turn the Rebel and not bothering to go anywhere else.
Katrina raised an amused eyebrow at Alyssa. "The neck?" she asked with barely restrained mirth.
Alyssa shifted and crossed her arms across her chest, instantly getting where the damned vampire was coming from. "Well where else was I suppose to bite her?" she asked defensively.
Katrina's eye sparkled naughtily and Alyssa groaned inwardly, now was not a time she wanted to get into various vampiric kinks. Fortunately Katrina took a slightly more discreet route than Alyssa's mind was taking and answered with a simple "I could answer that" retort, still that was enough to get a smirk out of the guard exile called Jack which in turn was enough to earn him a solid glare from Alyssa.
It was roughly this moment that Marcus decided to wander into the cell block from the medical ward looking rather good without his top, gaining various admiring looks from the females... mainly from the young Elisa who was blatantly adding that to her fantasy life.
"So what have I missed?" He asked as he came close to the group
Katrina looked rather carefree to his direction. "The Rebel joined Alyssa's crew plus her ship definitely did know about the backdoors... Seems we hit the right ship" She said with a similar carefree attitude whilst Marcus spluttered through her explanation.
"The Rebel?! Joined us?!? How? What? Where? And when?" Marcus asked, confused and disbelieving as hell.
"She didn't want to die, she began an EAH, here, about 4 minutes ago" Katrina calmly said, ticking each of his questions off on her fingers.
"I don't believe it..." Marcus muttered
"Get used to it honey" Katrina advised. "Its not like I ran away with the milkman"
Elisa scowled. "You know they don't deliver milk here anymore... not since someone ate the milkman" She told with some annoyance. "We have to go out occasionally and collect some for the kitchens... and I don't mean a little... it's like a tanker of the stuff."
"It's a big clan" Alyssa put in. "With 300 odd people there not likely to just need a few pints of milk are they?"
"Suppose not" Elisa reluctantly let out
"Makes me glad I only have to deal with 46... 47" Alyssa said correcting herself as she remembered the new EAH that she had just gained. "Well, I'd best be off" She told the group before walking off into the depths of the Den.
"I'm going down to Library, want to come?" Katrina asked the others, who were standing around looking rather bored.
"Nah" Jack answered with some reluctance. "We're still on duty, so we really should head back before someone comes and shouts at us."
"Yeah.." Elisa murmured before moving to leave. "Well, we'll see you guys around I guess."
"Bye" Katrina gave them a half wave as they left to head back to their post.
"Hmmm.... So you're going to tell me more about this rebel thing?" Marcus asked curiously, hoping to work out what had happened whilst he was in medical.
"Sure, we'll talk on the way to the Library... I want to look a few things up." Katrina told him as she headed out towards the library leaving Marcus to catch up.
Ember lay draped across the rug in front of the large fireplace lazing in the rare warmth it provided for her; very few things could provide enough heat to make her feel warm and a raging fire just happened to be one of those things. So she enjoyed the simple joy of being hot for once and not having to be wrapped in layers upon layers of clothing, at the moment she was wearing a simple tank top and jeans letting the heat play across her bare arms. She had a book in front of her that she occasionally flicked the pages of as she read through it; she absentmindedly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear as it fell in the way before continuing with her book.
A little further away from the large fireplace that dominated the common room the Werecat triplets also laid lazily across one of the large sofas that surrounded the fireplace, they too enjoyed the heat produced by this massive fireplace although the cold didn't bother them as much as Ember. The triplets seemed to enjoy the fact they were all identical, they had originally been a trio of programs all designed to perform identical tasks, so it made sense that when their series became obsolete all three of them would end up looking identical and having the same abilities. They took that to the next stage by deliberately wearing identical clothing and having the same hair style, even their names were similar Kat, Kita and Kitty; all in all they enjoyed to cause mischief and confusion from people mistaking their identity.
So the triplets lay sprawled across each other lazily in true cat style simply basking in the heat of the fire, stretching with feline grace Kita lazily opened an eye and looked from her position across her sister's lap and looked at Ember. "You enjoying that?" She purred to Ember half lidding her eyes again.
Ember turned and flushed guiltily from where she had been stretching and bathing in the heat, her book forgotten for the moment in the warmth.
Kita just chuckled "Don't worry about it kid" she closed her eyes sleepily "Being warm 's nice"
Ember lay back down on her front across the rug while turning to look at the Werecat that was lazing sprawled between her sisters "How long have you been around?"
Kita smiled "Who us? We've been Exile for almost 30 years now. It's been an interesting life, well worth it despite some hard times. M'names Kita" She murmured and then looked Ember over from where she lay. "You're fairly recent aren't you?"
Ember lowered her face letting her long brown hair fall in front of her face in embarrassment perhaps before lifting her head back up and looking Kita in the eye. "It shows huh?" she asked almost ruefully.
"Not so much as you'd imagine" An identical voice answered, at first Ember had through that Kita had answered but her mouth hadn't moved, at the end of the couch another one of the triplets yawned and looked at Ember, this one Ember assumed had spoken. "You still have naivety and innocence of younger exiles though."
"You make it sound like a bad thing Kitty" Kita scolded her sister "I think its sweet that someone can keep innocence in this place for long"
"So how long have you been an Exile little one?" asked Kitty trying to pin an age on Ember which was difficult to do when Exiles physical shell rarely changed.
Ember tucked some hair behind her ear shyly before answering "Only for a few months"
"Its nice to know you've chosen our little group over someone's like the Merovingian's" Stated Kitty looking at her sister Kat who was sleeping soundly through this little interchange.
"I started off in London" Ember admitted "but I've heard stories about the Merovingian, I don't think I want to work for him no matter how well he pays"
Ember chewed her lip nervously, unsure if she really should be asking this next question. "How can Lilith afford to keep people like me if I don't do anything to help?" she asked quite worried, her room had a custom installed heating system making it possibly the hottest place in the entire Den.
The heating system had been a godsend, she shuddered to think of how she had survived on the streets before the vampires Raven and David had found her and brought her before Lilith.
The cost of the heating system had made her eyes bulge, she had never seen that many Zero's in one place before. Whilst part of her wanted to believe that Lilith was doing it out of the good of her heart, the rest of her doubted that vampires just did "goodness" and she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Kita chuckled lazily in that reassuring way of hers as if Embers worries were silly. "Lilith is one of the old ones alongside Mero, Vorteau, Pandora, Morganna, Baal and the oracle" said kita carefree, spitting out names that only half of which did Ember know.
"Being around so long means that they have had time to accumulate fortunes and power. If your worried at feeling useless, don't. You'll eventually find something you enjoy and some way to contribute." Advised Kita as she continued, Ember taking in what she was saying and relaxing a bit.
"So what do you three do?" asked Ember curiously looking at the lazy cat like triplets and trying to put a job to that.
"Hunters, trackers, scouts and sentries. We're Werecats, we have sharp enhanced senses and unlike Werewolf's, we can transform at will." Kita told Ember before shifting around on the couch to find a new comfie spot.
Kitty grunted as her sister managed to put a knee in her stomach while Kat murmured sleepily before rolling over and falling asleep again, Kitty rolled her eyes in disgust at her sister before explaining something to Ember. "We don't do too well in a fight; we're built for speed and agility. Leave the fighting to vamps and 'Wolves, they're better built for it."
Kita look disgruntled at her sleeping sister. "She could sleep though an earthquake" She said half disgusted, half in awe at her sisters sleeping habits.
"You forget she has" pointed Kitty remembering that particular incident.
Ember laughed "She didn't?" She asked incredulously, unwilling to believe anyone could sleep through that.
"She did" Confirmed Kita "Although technically that wasn't an earthquake, just a really big explosion" She mused.
"Rise and shine sleeping beauty" Murmured Kitty before she pushed her blissfully unaware and sleeping sister off the couch, Kat hit the floor with a thump and shot bolt upright.
"I didn't shave the werewolf!" she blurted.
That was it, everyone burst out laughing while Kat looked around grumpily.
"Very funny guys" Kat grumbled rather put out that her naptime had been cut short.
Ember was having trouble breathing, she was sure her face was the same colour as a tomato and having a sleep tousled, grumpy faced werecat glaring at her, reminding her bizarrely enough of grumpy the care bear didn't help.
Bring her laughter under control Kita chuckled "I'm sure there's an interesting story behind that"
Kat pouted, playing the injured party while Kitty burst out laughing again.
"I'm not going to be able to get rid of the images of a bald werewolf before the meeting with Alyssa" She declared.
"Well that's going to make the annual meeting interesting" Kita stated before a horrifying thought came to her.
"You didn't actually shave Alyssa?" She asked.
Kat's eyes widened "No!" She protested "I'm too young to die!"
Ember watched the byplay between the sisters with interest before something came to her. "Who is Alyssa?" She asked not recognising the name.
"Alyssa is a female werewolf; she's only been around for 15 years but already controls Lilith's assets in Tokyo. She's quite a tough cookie; you'll recognise her from her distinctive waist length grey hair." Kat informed Ember before frowning.
"Have we been introduced?" Asked Kat curiously, not remembering the girl she was talking to from anywhere.
Ember opened her mouth to answer and then closed it again puzzled. "Erm... actually no, I'm Ember" She offered tucking her hair behind her ear again; she was going to have to tie it back or something.
Kat looked at the girl with brown hair lying on the rug in front of the fire, who she now knew as Ember. The girl had a strange scent kind of like fire and brimstone, 'strange' thought Kat 'She doesn't look like a demon type' and then remembered she had forgotten her own introduction.
"Oh, I'm Kat and these are my troublesome sisters Kita and Kitty" She told Ember pointed each in turn; the sisters gave half hearted little waves.
"We've meet" Ember said smiling.
"While I was asleep I guess?" Kat asked rhetorically before looking between Ember and her sister mischievously. "Hey, have you heard of the time when these two" she pointed to her sisters "managed to get themselves trapped Naked in an elevator whilst Agents combed the building top to bottom looking for Rebels..."
Kita and Kitty groaned as their sister began a tale of their humiliation and mortal embarrassment.
In the rather massive 'Aquat' a group of younger Exiles were taking the time to relax, off from her shift at the kitchens the rather disaster prone red headed Exile Jennifer was sitting on the rocks at the edge of the lake along with the Den's resident Pyromaniac known creatively as Pyro and Nimee, a mermaid with long green hair that matched well with a sweeping blue/green tail that sparked as the Mermaid idly swished the bottom of it in the water below.
The Mermaids were extremely social Exiles, despite being limited to the crystal clear lake they had a very tight gossip net and always seeming to know what was going on, usually before the people involved themselves knew. They always offered an ear and would help wherever they could; this was probably the reason why Lilith had brought the Mermaids here, as they performed absolute wonders for moral even in the darkest and most despairing times. They didn't judge people either, considering vampires and others similar types as merely predators, not monsters unlike others such as angels did.
At the moment Nimee was sitting on the rocks near the edge of the water listening to the two younger Exiles bemoan the various banes of their existence, they weren't alone as twenty or so other Exiles could be easily seen lounging in various places around the pseudo beach slightly further down the lake edge where the rocks finished off and the water was much shallower. The shallow water was quite a discomfort for the actual Mermaids despite how land dwellers preferred it, it provided very little room to manoeuvre and as it provided the potential to get 'stuck', it gave Mermaids the equivalent of claustrophobia.
However from looking down at the beach at Lisa and Crystal, both the children were suffering various discomforts just to play with each other, Lisa being half cat had a disliking of water whilst the young Mermaid Crystal disliking the lack of room to easily move. Still they got on well Nimee observed as she watched the pair laughing and playing rather carefree in the water, Crystal's pet dolphin joining in a ball game. Whilst Land dwellers had dogs, cats or birds as pets the Mermaids had three dolphins which shared the water with them, they themselves had been modified to survive in this new habitat and as a side effect, which nobody couldn't tell was deliberate or not, they were intelligent and could even talk existing on the border of being actual Exiles in their own right.
Nimee was shaken from her musings by a stone splashing into the water; she turned to watch Jennifer idly trying to skim stones across the surface of the water, most of which barely managed a single bounce before sinking below the water.
"Do you know what really annoys me?" Jennifer asked the pair of them with the air of someone about to make a point. "It's the lack of trust people have in me, every time something goes wrong its always 'Jennifer!', they wont even trust me around anything vaguely complicated and that damn man Jameson has begun calling me 'Murphy' for Christ's sake"
"Who's Murphy?" asked Pyro confused and with a frown on his face, Nimee was listening to everything the girl said with an amused attention and secretly agreeing with the others that perhaps the girl was a bit of a disaster zone, almost unnaturally so.
Jennifer rolled her eyes in disbelief and annoyance "You know? Murphy? As in Murphy's law?" She said stressing the name 'Murphy'.
"Anything that can go wrong will go wrong and at the worst possible time" Nimee supplied the law itself helpfully in an attempt to jog Pyro's memory.
"Oh that one.." Pyro said remembering it from somewhere and then grinned before commenting cheekily "Sounds like you alright"
Jennifer scowled and hit him none too gently on the shoulder before returning to throwing stones into the water.
"Does it really bother you that people are calling you Murphy?" Nimee asked carefully whilst playing with the water with the edge of her tail.
Jennifer sighed. "What bothers me is no one is giving me a chance not to screw up" She told the mermaid
"Well you do screw up quite a lot" Pyro admitted.
Jennifer sighed and shot him a glare. "Do you want to be hit again?" she asked him before going back to the stones.
Nimee looked out at the stones Jennifer was trying to skim across the surface of the water, thinking. "Maybe your just not cut out for your current job? Maybe there is something else out there that you'd do better at" She suggested as she looked at the red haired girl sitting besides her.
"Maybe your right" Jennifer conceded. "But what else would I do?"
"Anything you want" Nimee told the younger Exile "The world is full of opportunities"
Jennifer looked down the beach to where Lisa and Crystal were playing in the shallows along with Crystal's pet dolphin. "I wish I was that young and carefree." She said wistfully, looking at the pair playing about in the water.
"It must be fun to just play all day and not have to worry about any work" Pyro piped in, looking at the pair too.
Nimee shook her head before telling them with a resigned voice "It's a double sided blade, Crystal for one hasn't aged a day in nearly 20 years and will probably remain a child for the rest of her existence."
Pyro half choked despite the fact he wasn't actually eating or drinking anything. "You mean she's older than me?" He asked in disbelief.
Jennifer raised an eyebrow too, she was a few years old herself. "She's older than me too" she commented idly. "I knew she was older than me as she's been here since before me but 20 years is quite a long time"
"One of the few things that never changes in a hectic clan such as this" Nimee said "Beside you should have long learnt that you can never rely on a Exiles appearance to work out their age"
"Oh I have" Jennifer reassured Nimee as she watched the kids playing.
Lisa splashed as she threw the large inflatable beach ball to Crystal, who caught it easily, back swishing her tail in order to remain upright, Crystal's pet dolphin swam easily and quickly through the water despite its relative shallowness. Lisa giggled as Crystal's pet dolphin prodded its nose into her stomach, before sending clicks of echo sound through the water and Lisa by relation, Lisa patted the dolphin's nose away and it went off swimming around her clicking happily.
Crystal threw the inflatable ball at her dolphin, which hit it with the tip of its nose flipping the ball back into the air; the dolphin back pedalled positioning itself under the ball and then balancing it on its nose carefully as the ball came back down. Lisa laughed delightedly at the dolphins antics and Crystal grinned with pride as her pet pulled of the stunt perfectly, balancing the ball carefully on its nose for several moments. Crystal swam up to the dolphin once it had dropped the ball, wrapping her arms around it before gesturing to Lisa to swim in close to her and the dolphin, once she came close enough Crystal put Lisa hands over the dolphin's dorsal fin so it could pull her along. Crystal then split off and went swimming away at a blistering rate with the dolphin and Lisa in tow right behind her tail as they swam out deeper into the water.
"Its kinda like watching that TV show Oceana, you know? The one with the dolphins and the kids?" Pyro commented before turning to look at Nimee "I suppose you don't have a TV being a water dweller and all"
Nimee hmph'd. "I do actually own a TV you know... I have this nice underwater cave with an air pocket which I sleep in, I keep the TV there and I cant believe you watch such a lousy show" Nimee said with some disgust turning to give Pyro a 'I don't believe you watch that crap' look.
Jennifer got a strange look of confused thought on her face "How on earth did you get delicate electronics that deep underwater without getting them wet?" she asked picking up on an interesting fact.
Nimee turned to look at the red head and grinned wryly. "Where there's a will, there's a way" She told the girl "Water proof bags help a lot too"
Jennifer nodded thoughtfully as she accepted that.
"Still a bloody bugger to get 'em down there" Piped up a sweet sounding voice from down below at the waterline.
The group looked down at the waterline and saw another adult mermaid, this particular one with purple tail and wild black hair which shone dark purple when the light caught it giving her a very exotic look, not that the mermaid wasn't exotic in the first place but this accented it.
"Hello Delphi, how are you doing?" Nimee asked the purple mermaid who had just joined them, Delphi had her head and shoulders out of the water and was leaning on the edge of the rocks using her elbows whilst looking up at the group with interested amethyst eyes.
"Oh I'm doing great thanks" Delphi beamed "I meet this cute guy who showed me his.."
"Delphi!" screeched Nimee horrified "We don't need to know that!"
Delphi looked puzzled for a moment until she finally twigged on what Nimee was going on about. "Ooh! Not that Nimee!" Delphi cried out half amused, half horrified. "I meant his guitar, he's really quite talented.." She trailed off wistfully.
Nimee blushed and ducked her head so her hair obscured her face before coughing. "Ahem... well.. besides that.. what else have you been up to?" she asked hoping to move the conversation onto a new topic.
Delphi raised an eyebrow. "You mean besides wondering exactly what goes on in your head?" She asked sweetly and innocently hoping to further fluster Nimee however all she got was a health glare in response.
Delphi sighed overdramatically before continuing. "You know what I've been getting up to! Its not exactly like I can walk out into the town for a night of crazed sex now is it?" Delphi asked theoretically before frowning "I just ruined any innocent appearance I may have held with that, didn't I?"
Jennifer grinned at Delphi "More than a little, its good to see you again Delphi" She greeted the mermaid warmly.
"Ah yes, the red headed rascal, I was wondering where you'd got to. I assume their keeping you busy in the kitchens as always?" Delphi asked.
Jennifer rolled her eyes. "You have no idea" She lamented.
Before Jennifer had an opportunity to begin a tirade against her current job, Nimee cut in and introduced Pyro to Delphi, in an attempt to not fall back to previous conversations.
"Ah hello young man, I'm Delphi, the good looking one of us aquatic girls" Delphi introduced herself cheekily, letting Nimee roll her eyes in disbelief as she lifted her hand off the rock and offered it to him to kiss.
Pyro looked at her hand in confusion, after several moments Delphi let her hand drop back down onto the rock with a sigh and gave him a frustrated look. "You really need to work on your gentleman skills, even Nick knows to kiss a ladies hand" She chided him.
Nimee looked interested at that. "Nicks the name of guitarist?" she asked
"Yes he is and no... you can't do whatever it is your planning" Delphi warned Nimee giving her a stern look, under which Nimee tried to look innocent.
"Would I do anything?" Asked Nimee mock innocent, Delphi raised an eyebrow and said volumes with her silence.
Jennifer was looking out across the lake. "Should they really be out that far?" she asked referring to Crystal and Lisa who were now quite far out and definitely in deep water.
"They'll be fine. I doubt Crystal will let Lisa get into trouble, water is our natural habitat so we're pretty good swimmers" Delphi answered with some humour.
Ross swooped in and grabbed Pyro dragging him from the group, they passed a large black preying mantis type exile, it was one of the few non human Exiles as most survived by blending in with the normal human population. "Hey! What??" asked Pyro as he was dragged off unceremoniously.
Ross stopped and turned to face Pyro "You should thank me for saving you from that never-ending female tide" he stated
"I like the never-ending female tide" Pyro complained "besides that was only 3 women"
"Never mind" Ross dismissed "Here's what's going on, Jameson is having a big fuckoff party on Friday, 'The Queens Arms' up in the city, you planning on being there?" He asked.
Pyro gave his future plans a quick check, it so far consisted of get up, eat, drink and sleep. "Yeah sure" He answered.
"Right mate, Well cya there then" Ross said before wandering off to somewhere, Pyro wasn't go to even bother working out where.