The Carrot, the Egg, and the Coffee Bean
The freezing cold of the waterfall did little to cool the burning of her cheeks and the arousal in her belly that she's trying to push down. Dominique dunks her head down and rises, trying to clear her head. She's disgusted in herself, getting turned on by that smug, psychotic…
"I make you horny. There's a difference."
If only she could just wipe that goddamn smirk off his face when her body arched into him…
She bites her lip so hard she feels the skin break.
His hands sliding up her waist as she grinds into his lap…
She scrubs at her body with the soap.
His hardening member pressing against her through the thin fabric of his pants as she winds, evidence that he's enjoying it too…
"Fuck," she grits out, taking large chunks of her hair and braiding it away from her face.
"The feeling's mutual," he says in his ear, the tip of his tongue flicking over the shell of her ear and neck.
She dunks her head again back in the water, forcing herself to have self-restraint. This is wrong, so wrong on so many levels…
She hears a muffled voice as she's underwater. Anxious and fearful, she swims towards her hiding place for her gun…
"Dom? Dom, it's me, Anika. Are you here?"
She slowly creeps out of her hiding place and sees Anika crouched at the shore, covered in dirt and holding a fresh batch of clothes.
"Figured you'd be here. I need to bathe too. It's been a long day."
She strips in front of Dominique; Dominique sits at the shore to join her in her naked glory.
"How's Mike?" she asks.
"Stable. We got him on some sedatives with the medicine we found. Thank Gabriella for finding him when she did. He never would've made it." Anika's eyes become watery; she'd been crying for the past hour. Dominique rushes to hug her.
"It's okay. What matters now is that Mike is still alive and he's hanging on. He's fighting." Dominique offers. Anika nods.
"Yes. I don't know what to do with Kingston and Vaas. I don't think I'm capable of taking someone's life. They may have done horrible things, but I refuse to stoop that low…"
"We don't have to kill them…"
"Something needs to be done with them. They're a threat and a danger to this island and they have cost many of our women their families, their lives. They don't deserve to go unpunished."
"Then let the women have at them. They deserve revenge."
"Are we really capable of doing that? Let someone get torn to shreds while we look the other way…?"
"They kidnapped us, Anika. They kidnapped us, severely injured Mike, sold innocent people into slavery, and Kingston was about to wipe out an entire village with men, women, and children. They're not good guys."
"And neither are we. Do you know the horrific things we done when you were gone? We have blood on our hands."
"Because we did what we had to do to survive. We're survivors. We're not going down without a fight. We can hold a council and let the women deal with Kingston, his crew, and his men."
"Did I ever tell you about the story of the carrot, the egg, and the coffee bean?"
She turns to face her. What the hell is she going on about?
"What?"
"Did I ever tell you the story of the carrot, the egg, and the coffee bean?"
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"Get three pots and put them on the stove and fill each with the same amount of water. Get a carrot, an egg, and a coffee bean in each pot. Bring them to a boil. The carrot starts out hard and becomes soft. The egg comes in fragile and comes out hard. The coffee bean, however, turns the water brown."
"What's this supposed to mean—"
"instead of letting the obstacles weaken you and change who you are, you change the obstacles and work the environment to your advantage. That's a testament to the strength of the coffee bean. It may look small, but the strength of that bean changes its environment compared to the carrot and the egg."
"What does that have to do with our decisions regarding Vaas and Kingston?"
"Kingston is the carrot that let the island break him and make him weak. Vaas is the egg that let the environment destroy his fragility and make him cold to the world. But you, you are the coffee bean. You can either let this island get to you too or you can change it. You still have your humanity; you still haven't taken a life. You still have the chance to break the cycle of violence here. No more people have to die."
"Why is it falling on me?
"Because," Anika's eyes sharpen.
"The island brought you here to end this madness."
Dominique wrings her hair out and twists it away from her face, ignoring the strands that cling to her face. She must look a mess right now, but she doesn't care; she needs to get away from this craziness. This is happening too much too fast; she captures Kingston, exchanges wordplay with a psychotic pirate who she has distinct sexual tension with, and now her best friend has drunk some hippie juice and is preaching about finding potential in others and it's her destiny. All in a span of a week.
This is too much.
Why is it her destiny? Does she have much of a choice? She reflects back on all that she's accomplished. She's saved a few villages, became a spy, slept with the enemy and lived to tell the tale, held on to her humanity and never took a life. And, despite all the horrors she'd witnessed, she still sees hope. There's got to be a better way out of this. She knows it.
Perhaps, Anika has a point.
Maybe she can make a difference.
She makes her way back into the holding cell where Vaas is. He's sweating bullets and groaning.
Her hands shake as the pail of cool water slowly lowers itself into the ground and she grabs the sponge.
"Hey. Anika sent me here to talk to you."
His eyes snap open, and a smirk dances on his lips.
"Want more foreplay? Got to tell you, hermana. Leaving your partner hot and bothered is a very impolite thing to do…"
"I'm not like you." She grits out.
"What?"
"I'm not. Like. You. I will never be like you. I won't let this island get the best of me and turn me into a monster."
"Cute. Where's all this talk coming from? You got done watching Oprah and feel a need to tell me what a strong, independent, woman you are?"
"Let those blows to your head be a warning, Vaas. I will not lose control. I will not, let this island break me and turn me into you. I still have my humanity and I'll hold on to it as long as I can."
"The island will chew you up and spit you out. No matter how much of those inspirational quote-bullshit you swallow, the island will break you and take away your humanity, your sanity. It will eat away at you until there's nothing left. You will be a shell of what you used to be."
"It won't. The island may have changed you, but it will never change me."
"What makes you so sure?"
"I am the coffee bean. Instead of my environment changing me, I change it for the better."
She presses the sponge to his face, determination in her eyes.
"People always underestimate the strength of a coffee bean until they realize it packs a serious punch."