Rune Seeker 4: Innovation Refined

[Joa-Boo]

Jade and Whisper lucked out. Those three back there were one of the toughest soldiers they had ever fought. The two slumped further into their secret path until they reached a safe distance to rest. At this point, Whisper was dragging Jade along on her shoulder. She wasn’t strong enough to just carry him so so used herself as a crutch and let him put his wait on her while still using his functional leg. All the way over to their little crook, Jade whined in pain. It wasn’t like him to acknowledge any amount of pain but they where now out of battle and his adrenalin has diminished. There was nothing for him but the pain. Once at the safe distance, Whisper set him down on the ground where he could sit up and began to attend to his wounds. She was much weaker after casting her devastating spell so healing would take longer then it usually did. The master mage could dish out a wave of white frost and have a person good as new faster then anyone she knew. Now with her straining to focus on the wound it would take her the night to have him all the way fixed up, brakes in between and all.

Jade did what he could to keep his mind off the bullet wounds. He bandaged the ones up that Whisper wasn’t working with and marveled at his new toy. The gun blade was a prestigious. He liked the way that guy he fought used it and hopped he too would be able to work out the technique. Jade new what this weapon meant. It was probably an important investment for the Zolt Corporation. Something neither of the other companies had thought of yet. If he could only get this weapon to VPC, Vilinsky’s Machina Corporation, then he was sure to get a job with them. They could take the idea and transform all kinds of crazy weapons. After all he knew the CEO, Honard Vilinsky was the man that designed Jade’s pistols.

Whisper had similar hopes. They both needed work, and now that they were out of a place to live, a home too. Kine had always been a good place to live, the two hopped it had remained that way even after the destruction of the Kingdom of Kine. Stickler left with the other leaders and since then many wars over power had split the continent into countries. This company was the most nostalgic to their old company and the Omega Alliance, at least in theory things seemed promising.  

[Joa-Boo]

crying
//
( )
^^  

[Lenomie]

It was dark in my apartment, no light penetrated through the thick black fabric I called curtains. As I sat on the cold, wooden floor in the living room, the mostly dead body of a man lay across my lap. I couldn't remember his name or where I had met him. The only things I could remember about him were the ease with which I had seduced him, the fun we had had last night, and the warm feeling of his blood running down the back of my throat. Ahhh that was the best feeling someone like me could ever feel, the warmth of liquid strength running into your body. I leaned over the man and sunk my fangs back into his neck. By now he was to weak to scream or fight back, but last night when I first bit into him, you would have thought he had just gotten an extremity severed off. As I finished off my meal I began to brainstorm places to dump the body.
"Sephora, you know you can't just dump him in the nearest body of water, the human body floats and you can't risk someone finding a floating body."
After some time I finally decided to put him in the local grave yard. I decided to move him first thing after the sun set. So that meant at least 16 hours before I could do anything useful with this sack of bones. I knew in that time period he would start to smell if I didn't put some in of the fluid that I stole from the undertaker. I went to the kitchen and took the fluid from an overhead cabinet. I returned to the body and began to implant the preservation fluids by way of a syringe.  

[Joa-Boo]

“Yes mam, which floor was it. I understand you heard some suspicious noise. Could you describe that to me?” A tall figure in decretive armor asked a frail old woman who tightly gripped a cloth she had clenched on to all night. The women hardly had any sanity left after what she believed she heard going on all night.

“There was really, and moaning, and a lot of banging around. I only fear the worst sir. Then it died down just as quickly as it started. It came from the 4th floor. I saw them come in last night. Some trashy women with a man walked all the way up their and then it sounded like they were fighting.”

“Now mam, I can’t do anything about fornication. It’s a completely natural process that two individuals experience together.” The knight began to say trying his hardest to fight back a laugh. The other two soldiers behind him had removed themselves form the room to explode into laughter.

“You wash your mouth mister. I’m not talking about sex. I know what I heard and this was different.”

“It’s completely understandable to not know what that sounds like. Most of us have never experienced it like that before.”

“I’m just saying you better go take a look!” the women said before storming away into the back of her establishment. The guards all laughed together as they pulled it in for a mini huddle.

“Alright guys, so just to make this woman happy we should check it out. If anything we have just discovered the escort to visit when we need some action.” The leader of the three said as the others smile grew out of control. They moved together up the 4 flights of stairs and starting knocking on each door and talking to each room.  

[Lenomie]

I heard a knock on the front door of my apartment.
Great, I bet that old bat down the hall complained again about the noise. I have to start being more careful about how into things I get.
I thought this as I quickly moved aside the bed and lifted a few floorboards. This had happened a few times before and after one too many close calls; you learn a thing or two. I shoved the body into the small cavity in the floor, replaced the boards and moved the bed back into place.

Still wearing only my silk robe I went to the door and opened it. As I expected there were four guards on the other side.
“Hello gentlemen,” I said in a suggestively flirty tone, “What can I do for you?”  

[Joa-Boo]

“Sorry mam, just coming through about some noise. You wouldn’t happen to know about any loud noises going on all night last night do you? We were tipped off that some rowdy things were going down on this floor.” The knight asked as all three stepped back to get a better look. You could tell they were impressed and you didn’t have to guess, you knew the rest of the conversation none of their eyes would be looking at yours. At least you couldn’t tell through their helmets.

“you mind if we come in and have a look around?” One of the guards said from the back  

[Lenomie]

“Well, I do know about noises of sorts from last night, but I didn’t think we were that loud,” I said with a sheepish smile. I knew that it would be better to admit to the noises and that my appearance would help my story of a wild night. “If you need me to go into detail about what happened, I can, but I’m sure you can guess what happened.” I stepped aside so the guards could enter my apartment giving a seductive wink and smile as I did so.  

[Joa-Boo]

The three entered with fascination fishing their curious imagination. Every bit of this story had them on the edge. They all wanted to ask the woman but none of them wanted to be the pervert who did.

“Well mam that is very nice of you to allow us to come in but I think we have come to an understanding. I’m going to let you off with a warning but if things don’t get quieter around here we might have to find you and your man another place to stay. By the way, where is the guy?” The knight asked, qurious to see what it took to be the lucky guy.  

[Lenomie]

“He had to get an early start this morning, he had to get back to his wife,” I said with rye smile.
Keep this up and you might get yourself another meal tonight, I thought. Just to add to the image, I let my robe come open a little more at the top, hopefully setting in their small minds the thought of coming back to visit for something other than a complaint check.  

[Joa-Boo]

The men went crazy trying the hardest to hold back all kinds of immoral desires. The guard in the back was practically yelling to himself, you’re a married man you’re a married man.

“Well is there anything you need from us you just let us know. We are stationed just across the street and any one of us could come visit you if there is any trouble. By the way, try to keep yourself out of trouble if any of this is more then just personal then you might see us again and not in a fun way.” The knight said doing his best to keep his professional look. The whole time though he was goggling down the woman’s shirt just waiting for it to fall off. Once he finished the words they all turned, regretting every bit of it, and left the apartment.  

[Lenomie]

I shut the door behind the men breathing a sigh of relief. I decided to leave the body in the floor cavity for a while just in case any of the men decided to come back sooner than I expected. I crossed my bedroom to my closet and pulled out a pair of black shorts, a black and red bustier top and a pair of high black boots, it was time for me to make my way to the bar where I worked. It was always dark inside and it was right below the four floors that made up my apartment building.
As I made my way to the bar, I thought about what I could do to get the guards to come back to my apartment.
Maybe, if I pay their station a visit tonight after I dump the body I could invite them back for drinks. I don’t really need their blood tonight, so I can give them a taste of what could happen and then hope that one of them comes to see me tomorrow night.
That plan could work and it wasn’t like I could think of any more so I decided to make it happen right after sun down.  

[Joa-Boo]

“Did you see how hot that woman was, Holy crap that is one piece of art.”

“oh yeah, and did you see the legs on that chick?”

“Her legs, I was too preoccupied with her breast. They don’t make them like that any more.”

The three conversed all the way out of the building with a great deal of satisfaction about their new find. They even came up with a schedule of whom and when they would get to see her again. All of which was just a fantasy type deal but in the back of their minds they really wanted to go.

With the room and floor free of distractions it was time to get back to work. The body would be safe for now without any one noising around. Even if there was it was time to set that aside. There was work to tend to.

Downstairs unfolded into a huge open room filled with tables and a huge bar that stretched across the wall furthest form the main entrance to the building and a little on the left side. The stairs you opened out of was found just right of the main bar. The tavern was already full and with so many faces it was easy to get lost. A happy smile came from the male bartender, your boss, and a unhappy glare from all the other female waiters that saw you enter.  

[Lenomie]

None of the girls that work at the bar like me, big surprise, but it’s not my fault that all the men pay the most attention to me and give me bigger tips. Well, it’s not completely my fault. I will admit that I dress in a little less clothing than the others and I am far more successful at seducing men to get what I want, but it’s not my fault that they aren’t as good at it as me.

The first costumer I had was an attractive male in his mid-twenties. He acted like he was only at my table for the service, but it was hard not to notice that when he spoke, he wasn’t looking me in the eye. He ordered a pretty standard drink, scotch on the rocks, and spent two hours drinking it.

My next few costumers were all pretty standard and unexciting, but close to the end of my shift, a strange and alluring man entered the bar. He sat at one of my tables, but didn’t order anything. No matter how many times I asked if there was anything I could get him, he only smiled as if there was something he knew that I didn’t and shook his head in reply.  

[Joa-Boo]

The man gave a smirk and shied back to his thoughts. You could tell every now and then that he would look over at you and there seemed to be something that he was contemplating. As you went back his way to ask again if he needed help you were suddenly intercepted by the male bartender. You tried to look around the man but once you got a peek the stranger had vanished.

“Sephora, what are you doing tonight? We should hang again some time.” Darious said in a deep manly voice. His hands crossed over his heart to show how deeply passionate he was about the idea. His attention only brought more and more evil glares from the other women. They had all been asked, by their customers sitting at their tables, about you. It made them so mad they didn’t know what to do with themselves.

“You ought to be more careful miss, you dropped this.” The random stranger as he handed you the necklace you had been wearing that night. “You are becoming to well known. Don’t you think it’s time to move on to a different place?” He suddenly whispered while handing you the jewelry.  

[Lenomie]

I was taken back by the gentleman’s comment. No I did not thin it was time to move on, what I had going here was pretty damn good. But something about the way he said it, I don’t know, it gave me the creeps, and I don’t spook easily. Who did he think he was anyway? It was like he had been watching me, and that in itself was creepy enough, not to mention the fact that I didn’t remember wearing a necklace let alone it falling off in the middle of waiting tables.
I turned to Darious, “ Tonight’s not a good night for me. Maybe sometime later this week, but I don’t like to mix work with my social life.”