Register
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 12:06 AM
@dada_dragon ~~~The sound of glass shattering was deafening to him. He woke with a start, on edge from the sudden noise. His eyes darted from Kita to James to the floor, and he visibly relaxed when he realized what had happened. His expression hardened."Pick it up." he said bluntly. Vladan moved to put his face back in his arms, but stopped.He sighed, before getting out of the chair. With shaky fingerss, he piled the glass up careful in his hand, before tossing the pieces into the trash bin.
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 12:22 AM
"Vladan..." James said, looking at Kita, who was beginning to tear up.He had never seen her like this... not even after Xavior died. She was trembling, and avoiding eye contact with both James and Vladan."I'm... sorry..." she said again.James served up some food and gave it to Kita."Don't worry..." he said gently. "Just eat. Vladan and I will take care of it."James grabbed a broom to sweep up the pieces. He dumped it into the trash and sighed."Hey Vladan, can you help me with something?"He gave Vladan a pointed look and gestured to the hallway. @bunnyshadow
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 12:28 AM
@dada_dragon ~~~"Not interested." Vladan said stiffly. He stepped into the hall, but moved to the living room without bothering to see if James was following. The man began stacking up the paperwork left on the table from the night before.
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 12:45 AM
James followed him."Listen Vladan... She's... Kita is... You need to be more..." He said, not sure what to say. "She's... different."He sat on the floor, leaning against the wall."I don't know what to... I want to help her but she... What can I do...?"Any conflict that he'd had with Vladan was forgotten. He knew that Vladan cared very little for his feelings, but there was no one else..."I'm scared, Vladan... She's..."@bunnyshadow
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 12:59 AM
@dada_dragon ~~~"How am I supposed to know?" Vladan said bitterly. He picked up the stack of papers, before turning to face James. His eyes were cold and dark and stormy. "I'm not your prophet, and I'm definitely not your fortune teller. You want to do something for her? How about you grow up and realize that not everybody in the world is nice?" He turned his head away angrily."If you keep up your i-can-help-everybody attitude, what's to say you can't hurt Kita like this again?" He asked rhetorically. "You should have just listened to me and left him to die with the russians."The papers crinkled from Vladan's tight grip. "You would have saved everybody a lot of trouble.""Look." He said plainly. "I..." Vladan trailed off now, mood shifting from irritation to something a lot softer. "I need some time." Vladan said. "Let me take care of myself before..." he struggled to find the proper wording."Let me take care of myself before you start pushing your responsibility onto me." Vladan said, words taking on a sharp tone as he motioned towards Kita's direction. "She's your girlfriend, not mine. I couldn't care less about her.""You are nothing to me but another mercenary, and Kita just another poor soul that owes me a unpayable debt."
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 1:17 AM
"Yeah, I guess you're right..."He walked back to the kitchen, where Kita sat. She hadn't touched her food and was staring at the same spot as when he'd left."Kita... you need to eat...""I'm sorry..."He looked at her sadly and sat down next to her, putting his arm around her shoulder. She tensed up at his touch but then relaxed."It's okay, Kita... Just... Just have some food..."She nodded and grabbed her fork, taking small bites while James watched.@bunnyshadow
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 1:31 AM
@dada_dragon ~~~Vladan slammed the door shut behind him, dropping the papers on the floor angrily. He laid down in bed, curling up in a warm caccoon.--Willow ventured into the kitchen hesitantly, having watched James and Vladan'a exchange from afar. One of the dogs paced after her energetically, hopping around as it awaited her attention. She gave it a few light hearted pats when she sat down in an open chair. The animal caught sight of James and snarled lowly. Willow gave the animal a disciplinary pat on its head, and the animal lay by her feet, though it kept it's gaze on James."How are you two faring?" She asked quietly.
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 1:40 AM
James looked at Kita who was still staring at her food blankly, occasionally taking a bite."Not well..." James admitted, looking up at Willow. "It's... it's taken its toll on us..."Kita hardly reacted to their conversation... She just continued staring at her food."Did you... take care of things?" James asked.@bunnyshadow
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 1:53 AM
@dada_dragon ~~~"Yes." Willow said hesitantly. "Well no. Andrew is dead, I didn't know where to put the body..." She trailed off. "I asked Vladan and he said to just leave him in there." The woman reached a hand out towards Kita, but stopped herself."He won't be coming back Kita. You don't have to worry about it anymore."
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 2:03 AM
Kita didn't respond. She just kept staring.How many days did he have her...? Four? Five? How had Andrew done so much damage in such a short time? To bring her to this level of despondency?"Thanks Willow... I appreciate it." He said, a hopeless look on his face. "Did you want something to eat? I made some pasta. It's on the stove."@bunnyshadow
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 3:02 AM
@dada_dragon ~~~"I'm not particularly hungry." Willow said softly. "I already fed last night..." She trailed off, hoping he got her implications. "It's enough for a while." "It's going to be a rough week." Willow admitted. "For all of us."
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 3:19 AM
~~~~~~~~~~James sat down at the table to drink some coffee. He yawned as he absent-mindedly browsed the newspaper that Willow had purchased the day previous. He wasn't particularly interested in it; he just wanted something to do that didn't involve staring blankly at a wall.Kita was in her room as usual... She didn't leave her bed much since she'd been freed from Andrew. He had already brought her some breakfast, but he knew that when he returned, she would have only eaten a small portion of it, leaving most of it untouched.She looked so frail... it had only been a week, but it was frightening how much she had changed in that time... He didn't know what scared him more... Andrew pretending to be her or the way she was now...She didn't talk unless she was asked a question, or if she was apologizing for some little mistake that she'd made... She hadn't smiled... hadn't reacted whenever Willow tried to talk with her... It was eerie...@bunnyshadow
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 3:33 AM
@dada_dragon ~~~The phone rang angrily in Vladan's ears. He silenced it by declining the call, before rolling over and enjoying the warmth for a little bit more. It rang again, and he declined the call for the second time. The third time it sounded, he picked it up. "Mr. Veitkov."Vladan winced at the familiar voice. He headed downstairs, phone held against his face tightly. "Yes?" Vladan mumbled, entering the kitchen. He overlooked James. "You haven't gone to work in one week." His secretary said. Vladan put the phone on speaker now, placing it on the table as he picked out a bottle of liquor. It cracked noisily on the table."That better not be alcohol, Mr. Veitkov. Your papers are overdue, you've missed two important meetings, an interview with a reporter and a total of 19 phone calls."He rolled his eyes, continuing to fill his glass. "I'm busy." Vladan lied. He could hear the woman tapping her nails impatiently against her desk."Just because you're CEO does not mean y-" Vladan hung up the call before she could finish the sentence. He brought his glass over to the table, yawning as he sat across from James."Am I in there?" He asked narcissistically.
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 3:42 AM
"Not so far..." James said casually, taking another sip of his coffee and turning the page.Lately, he and Vladan seemed to have reached some unspoken truce... either that or they were both too tired to argue... Either way, James secretly appreciated their short, meaningless conversations... it was the closest thing to normal that he had these days."Was that your secretary again?" He asked conversationally. He already knew the answer, of course... "Maybe you should just take vacation time or something... Then at least she'll stop bugging you..."@bunnyshadow
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 3:52 AM
@dada_dragon ~~~"I don't have time for vacations." Vladan said. "Even that 4 day trip to Russia left me with an extra pile of work." He motioned at the pile of papers sitting on the edge of the counter. It had gradually grown as the days passed. The man grabbed the paper out of James's hands. "There has to be something about me..." Vladan said with a short frown. He sighed when he saw nothing. The man finished the glass, before walking over to the sink and placing it inside.He snapped his fingers enthusiastically."Let's give the media something to talk about." Vladan said obnoxiously, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. "I was going to head out today regardless...it's been to long since I've left the house."His tone turned serious. "I'm sure it'll be better this way, too. We can give Kita some space and Willow can try talking to her."
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 4:03 AM
James raised an eyebrow."Do I want to know?" He asked, folding up the paper. "It isn't going to be something illegal, is it?"He didn't like leaving Kita in the house, but Willow would likely visit her anyways... she usually did. Plus, he needed to get out of the house... Being indoors all the time reminded him too much of prison...@bunnyshadow
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 4:15 AM
@dada_dragon ~~~"No." Vladan said. He headed into the other room, pulling open a cabinet when he arrived. "Pick a car and go start it up." He called over his shoulder. "I'm going to get changed." The man motioned at the dozen of keys sitting in the cabinet, before leaving and heading up the stairs.He put on a blank white shirt and a pair of jeans, before making his way back downstairs. What he didn't want to do today was to attract any unwanted attention--his secretary would definitely not be satisfied if she found out fooling around outdoors was Vladan'a definition of 'busy'. He seemed ready to leave, but turned tail and picked up a section of his files off the counter."You're going to drive." Vladan ordered. "I'm going to try to get some work done on the way there." He arched a brow. "No need to say anything, I am also proud that my productivity level has risen significantly today."
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 4:24 AM
James had pulled up his own truck. He didn't like driving Vladan's expensive cars... they made him nervous. He watched as Vladan got in, carrying some papers."So where are we going?" He asked.
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 4:34 AM
@dada_dragon ~~~Vladan scoffed at the sight of James's car. "What's wrong with taking one of my babies?" He said with fake hurt. The man began skimming through the top page as he spoke. "I got a call last month to come in and test drive one of the newest model of sports cars from that new company." Vladan said with a satisfied smirk."I would have done it for free, but they offered to pay me to advertise it for them and to take it out for publicity." Vladan bragged. "I just hope they recognize me if I'm showing up like this, hm?" --Willow knocked lightly on the door, before letting herself in. She walked over slowly, taking a seat on the edge of Kita'a bed. "Hey..." The woman trailed off, having noticed Kita touching her scars. "I could fix that for you." Willow offered.
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 4:53 AM
James smiled for the first time since Kita was freed."This baby's a classic." He said, giving Vladan a sideways look as he pulled onto the highway. "Fixed it up myself. Xavior and I used to be really into repairing cars... He raced his, but I was never into that.""And I wouldn't worry about them not recognizing you... the second you start bossing everyone around, they'll know." He said teasingly.
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 1:46 PM
@dada_dragon ~~~"I'm not bossy." Vladan said indignantly. "I'm just good at doing my job, which I'll have you know...is currently to be the boss." He flipped to the next page. "It should be the next exit." The man said. "Have you heard of this new company?"---Willow scooted in, moving onto the bed so that she was sitting crossed legged in front of Kita. "What made you the most upset out of everything that happened?" She asked gently.
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 2:04 PM
"Only that it exists... I don't really keep up with that kind of thing." He admitted, taking the exit. "As you can probably tell, it's been a while since I've looked into getting a new vehicle."
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 2:11 PM
@dada_dragon ~~~"Hmm...." Vladan said thoughtfully. He pulled a pen out of his pocket and signed off the corner of the paper. "Over there." He said, pointing with the pen. "They're holding a small show today, laying out all of their vehicles for everybody to take a look at." He put the papers aside. "We can park in the reserved spots...though we're going to look a bit out of place." He said with a raised brow, glancing at all the glossy vehicles in the same area.--Willow placed a hand over Kita's. "It wasn't you that hurt them, it was Andrew." She said. "He could have been inside anyone...you were just unfortunate enough to be there at the wrong place and the wrong time."
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 4:02 PM
James nodded, pulling into one of the reserved spaces."It's not pretty to look at, sure.... but this old girl's got character." He said, giving Vladan a sideways smile. "It's survived this long and Xavior and Kita raced it twice, so I think it deserves some respect."
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 4:17 PM
@dada_dragon ~~~"I could outrace you in my worst car." Vladan said, rolling his eyes. He opened the door, stepping out and taking a look around. The man put on his shades, and an employee rushed up to him with a clipboard. "I'm sorry sir, these spaces are reserved for VIPs only." The man said."I am a VIP." Vladan said. "Vladan. Veitkov? I should be top of the list in fact. I donated hundreds of thousands in the construction of your cars.""Ah... yes. Sorry sir, I didn't think you would uh..." Vladan pulled down the glasses, maintaining eye contact with the employee.He scoffed. "This truck may not be pretty to look at, but it's got character." Vladan said, giving James a smirk. "Probably runs a lot better than your best models here."The employee looked offended, but cleared his throat and motioned for the James and Vladan to follow him. "Yeah uh.. sorry sir. Right this way."---"It's nothing that time can't fix, I'm sure." Willow said, though she knew she didn't even believe her own words. "Vladan gets like this...that's what Dawn told me. As for James, I haven't known him long enough to be able to tell what's different."
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 5:16 PM
James attempted to hide a short chuckle, but was ultimately unsuccessful. The employee gave him a dirty look, but he didn't care.He wasn't sure that he completely liked or trusted Vladan, but for the time being, they seemed to get on fine.
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 5:51 PM
@dada_dragon ~~~They were led past dozens of slick vehicles that basically screamed power and technology. A man in a white suit greeted them once they had gotten past most of the crowd. "Hello, Mr. Veitkov. It's good to see such a solid supporter for our new 'Enabled' model cars." He said. "Power, grace and intelligence -- our vehicles are built individually to take after those special superhumans... I thought you would like the name, considering how you work with them often."Vladan nodded his head, but he couldn't stop the small smile that crossed his face. "Yes, yeah... Am I taking this one out today?" He asked.The man in the suit nodded, handing him a pair of keys. Vladan sidestepped the action, before nodding his head at James. "My friend here would be test driving for me today." Vladan said. The doors of the car slid open. "I hurt my hand." He said, though his hand obviously looked fine.He didn't give James a chance to reply, looping under the ropes and getting in the passenger's seat.--"Yeah." Willow said. "She was wondering how the lot of us were holding up, and was asking about how our trip to Russia went." She picked at the blanket, drawing pointless circles across the surface of the cloth."She told me about how she met Vladan." Willow said conversationally.
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 6:27 PM
James climbed into the driver's seat reluctantly."You know I don't like driving cars like this..." he said after closing the door. "That's more your thing. So why am I the one behind the wheel?"
bunnyshadow • 23 December 2016 at 6:57 PM
@dada_dragon ~~~"Just relax and enjoy the ride. I heard this car can go from 0 to 60 in 2.3 seconds. " Vladan said energetically. "Start it up, I'm looking forward to see how well this new car runs." He smirked. "Rev the engine, I wanna hear it roar."A set of workers got out of the way, and a representative gave the thumbs up for James to go. --"She found him dying on the street one night." Willow said lowly. She glanced over her shoulder, even though she knew that Vladan and James weren't home. "He was in terrible shape. Bleeding, barely breathing and more scars and broken bones than you could count. Dawn said she was surprised he was still alive when she picked him up.""He told her what happened, but it took a lot of prying for Dawn to get him to tell her everything. Puppet took him away, tossed him to several dozen mutts that had a score to settle with him." Willow tugged at the blanket, staring at the dents left from being folded over."A man named Ero took care of Vladan after Kirah died. Ero introduced him to the night life, made sure Vladan knew how it was run. Taught him everything he needed to know, how to kill, deal and talk his way out of everything. The two of them made lots of enemies that way."She looked up. "Ero and Vladan..." Willow trailed off. "I guess their friendship grew into something more. Vladan wasn't interested, he was still hung up over Kirah. They got into a fight and...Vladan was the reason Ero went mute.""At that point, Andrew managed to get inside Ero's head. Ero turned into Puppet, and Puppet threw Vladan under the bus as a way of revenge." She smiled sadly. "The police raided the building they imprisoned Vladan in, and it went up in flames. He escaped into the city, and Dawn found him in an alleyway, barely hanging on.""There's a reason he treats everyone the way he does. Vladan doesn't want to admit it, but I'm sure he's afraid of letting someone in only to lose them.""I was surprised when I heard that Vladan killed Puppet. It was probably very hard for him. I'm glad I wasn't around to see it."
dada_dragon • 23 December 2016 at 9:04 PM
James revved the engine. He would be lying if he said it wasn't exciting. It reminded him of Xavior's car. It had been a cheap little thing, but it revved like a car twice its size and was incredibly fast..."I suspect you'd like me to test out its 0-60 capabilities?"He pulled onto a closed-off strip of road that was obviously there for exactly that reason.