Introduction
His name is Aric Thane. It should be thorn as in 'the thorn in my side' I can't seem to remove. That's not entirely fair since I've been imposing on his 'hospitality' for over a week now. I'm low on cash too, down to my last $50 but I have a plan. Only problem is finding something to steal. That shouldn't be the problem considering this is Seattle and there's plenty of rich folk around here but I can't seem to get around as easily as I thought.
Aric is no help. He laid about all day or he did at first with the excuse that he was recovering from his beating. The bruises were turning a sickly yellow green by now and the cut on his lip had healed. That morning I told him I needed to get a job. Krit had mentioned JamPony, the messenger service Max had worked for. Now that had been the best idea little Maxie had during her time as a regular homosapien. She'd had a pass that gave her the freedom to go about the city when she pleased. Since I needed to move about without calling attention I figured that was the best route, besides why not hide in plain sight?
-X-
"Don't you have something else to wear?" Aric asked eyeing the little brunette before him. She was in jeans, again. He wasn't complaining about them because as usual they fit her shapely body perfectly, acting as a second skin. There were plenty of male eyes that would latch onto that juicy ass the minute she walked into Crash but she was wearing the heavy biker boots she clumped around in all the time and a black long sleeved shirt with a round collar. She'd pulled her long black hair into a loose ponytail which still reached the middle of her back.
"What?" Nÿx glanced down at herself not sure what the problem with her clothes was. She turned inspecting the back of her jeans then her shirt before finally looking at Aric with a frown.
"You're like-some..." words escaped him. How was he going to tell her the clothes weren't sexy enough for a girl with her looks? "Tomorrow," he said pointing from her then to himself. "You're getting some new clothes and I'm gonna take you."
"Wha- hey!" Nÿx called after him indignantly but Aric had slipped out the door. She grabbed her leather jacket and followed.
-X-
Crash was the local hangout for everyone and any one but it was mostly a regular watering hole for JamPony messengers. The bartender recognized most of the faces present that night and handed out pitchers of beer with ease. His gaze traveled lazily over the crowd with studied indifference but in the back of his mind he wondered which one of them was Transgenic. He hadn't seen any barcodes on the customers but it wasn't as if he could ask them to bare the back of their necks for him.
The world had changed dramatically after the Pulse and people had adapted. Now, with this new threat... it was getting difficult to keep being civil. The mob mentally was taking hold and once more the world or what the citizens of Seattle considered the world, were re-living the Salem witch trials. Only this time they were hanging Transgenics.
The music played on, the beer kept flowing and people kept coming in to enjoy a couple of hours of fun or maybe just to wind down for the day. At the top of the stairs was another regular, this time with a hot girl in tow. The guy smiled lazily before sauntering down the stairs and toward a group of people on the raised floor of the bar. He leaned slightly speaking to the girl who barely reached his shoulder and led her to the table. Jim, the bartender, took it all in and watched the girl. Something about the way she stood nagged at him. She looked comfortably confident in her surroundings, moving easily, as if she knew the place and people. Jim hadn't seen her before so it struck him as strange behavior but she was with Aric and the guy was a regular, a decent fellow who always paid his tab on time, no matter what.
-X-
"Hello my working grunts!" Aric greeted with arms thrown wide looking like a winged bird about to pounce.
"Aric!" the big blond guy looked up with a lopsided smile then tilted his head to get a good look of the brunette. His smile widened to reveal perfect white even teeth and a dimple in his left cheek. "Who's the hottie?"
"Aah." Aric sighed dropping his arms and gently guiding Nÿx forward. "This is my cousin. Just moved from..." Aric looked down to Nÿx trailing off since neither of them had actually spoken about the night they'd met. He figured if she didn't want to talk about it then he wasn't going to bring it up. Nÿx figured the less she had to explain the easier life would be and so both found themselves in the awkward position they were in now.
"Los Angeles." Nÿx supplied. She turned a cute smile on the others noticing how easily the guys forgot about their slip up. "Never really kept in touch until recently. Figured it was about time I looked up some family, so here I am."
"Yeah, family." The blond mumbled still looking her over with mooning eyes. She could tell he was the charmer of the group and he would most likely try something to catch her eye.
"Don't you have manners?" the only other girl at the table asked. "Introduce her, moron!"
"Oh! Yeah," Aric snapped to attention and pointing to the blond flirt said; "This is Gryph."
"Hey," Gryph raised a big hand in a mocking salute before cupping it around his beer glass.
"And Audny-."
"Stavia." Audny finished for him reaching a hand to Nÿx with a smile. "Audny Stavia. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Nÿx Sawyer." Nÿx said taking the proffered hand. Audny shook once, firmly, before letting go and Nÿx immediately liked her.
Nÿx hadn't been raised like the X-5's so she didn't treat the world as they did. She still held herself back and distrusted everyone and everything but she wasn't as aloof or standoffish as the others were. To Nÿx the world and the people in it were something new to explore. At first she had approached them as a scientist would upon finding a particularly interesting specimen to analyze.
Krit and Syl had both patiently worked on that uncomfortable behavior until Nÿx was able to blend in with them and quietly observe as a bystander even while in their noisy midst.
She still found them interesting to watch and this was no different so Nÿx took a seat and listened to them joke and talk asking her questions which she answered easily with one lie after another though never straying too far from the truth she couldn't remember what she'd said.
'O what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.'
Nÿx smiled softly thinking that who ever had come up with that had never been as good as she nor had they enjoyed the lying game as much.
-X-
"Cousin?" Nÿx asked out loud on their way up to his apartment. It wasn't exactly plush the way Syl had described Logan Cale's penthouse suite.
'Haveta give big sis props on the rich boyfriend.' Nÿx thought to herself as she surveyed the chipped paint on the walls and the rickety staircase. Aric lived on the 3rd floor in a two bedroom apartment, not that he was her boyfriend because- No!
He'd told her it was one of the few that still provided hot water in the pipes and she was lucky to get a hot shower. Nÿx hadn't deigned to reply just closed the door to the bathroom and slipped into the steaming water for the next hour.
"What?" Aric turned a slightly puffy eye on her as they continued their walk up to the apartment. "I couldn't say you were my sister. They'd never believe it."
"Oh, but they'd believe we're cousins. I understand," Nÿx replied off hand. "You're an idiot."
"Whoa! Hey- what's with all the insults?" Aric stopped mid stairway and Nÿx didn't like having to look up at him anymore than she already did because of their height differences.
"Ah! Who's calling the kettle black?" she cried out indignant.
"I never said you were a kettle."
"What's wrong with my clothes, huh?" Nÿx asked going straight to what had been bothering her the whole night. She looked at herself again saying; "Everything's clean, nothing's torn so what's the matter with my clothes Mr. Don't-you-have-anything-else-to-wear? Huh?"
Aric's mouth worked trying to form words that would explain-explain-. 'What the hell is this?' he thought.
"Nothing." Nÿx stated going past him to the apartment. "That's what's wrong with my clothes. Not one damn thing."
"I was trying to help!" Aric cried going after her. But the damage was done and not for the first time did he wonder what it was about women that drove men up walls and into insane asylums for lack of understanding what the hell went on in their brains.
"At least she's getting a job tomorrow." He mumbled.
"Yeah, then I wont have to put up with you!" Nÿx yelled back. He'd forgotten about that enhanced hearing. That brought a whole new line of thinking to his already overworked brain. One, what was she doing in Seattle? Two, they needed to get some things straight.
"Nÿx! I think it's time we had a conversation."
-X-
Ooh, doesn't that sound ominous? We'll see.
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