unknownrival | [RL - aftermath of collar labor.]

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[RL - aftermath of collar labor.]

The moment Issei read Vanessa's post, he knew the jig was up. Someone had told her who was responsible for the theft. And someone else would doubtless provide a worldhop for her, so he did the only reasonable thing he could do:

He hid in his closet, curled into a ball and tried to look as inconspicuous as possible.

Maybe she wouldn't be able to find him. O-or maybe the other monks wouldn't even let her into his room at all! Maybe it would all blow over-

He was going to die.

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"'Ma'am'," she said with a smirk. "I think I like that."

She moved back to stand up, nearly six-foot-two in her heels, watching him curiously.

"Now onto other things. I want to know why, I want to know where, when, who, what, and I want it back."

Yeah, he was afraid she was going to ask that.

He sighed. "I don't have it any longer, I can't get it for you, and I'm not allowed to explain why I needed it. It has nothing to do with you - I didn't even know you had a collar until this was assigned to me."

That...really didn't cut the cake with Vanessa. Her boot was back in full force, forcing him back against the wall like the bad boy he was being.

"Not good enough," she said, staring at him intently. It was like she was looking right through him. "Do you know what my week has been like? Do you know what happened to me before you pulled your shit? Do you have any clue, little boy?"

Ow, that hurt! Especially considering that he'd just been shot, and those wounds weren't really healed yet.

Something about the impact must have shut off his sense of self-preservation.

"Miss, I have no idea what your week was like or what happened to you. Unless your immortal soul has been compromised by what I did, it really isn't relevant, nor would it have affected whether I would have done this had I known."

She stared at him a moment before, you guessed it, aiming a backhand right to the side of his face, and it wasn't a pleasant one.

You will call me "Mistress," came to her tongue, but she clamped down on it and kept it shut. She stared at him a moment more, snarling her lip up in disgust, and then she pulled back, standing with her arms crossed and watching him, waiting for his next words].

Issei let out another undignified whimper and rubbed his face where she had slapped him. "...I have nothing against you. I just had to do this for reasons I'm not allowed to explain."

It was really frustrating to not be able to just say 'is your collar more important than my friend's wellbeing? Is it?' Though with Vanessa, it might not have helped his case that much.

She stared. And stared some more. Gears were turn turn turning in the back of her mind. She licked her lips and turned around, moving to sit on the edge of the bed and put her head in her hands. She bobbed one knee up and down, feeling about ready to cry.

Vanessa Buckingham wasn't a woman who cried, unless, of course, it was out of pain which she enjoyed so much.

Issei stared after her. Was that it? Had he satisfied her with that answer, was she going to let him escape from this alive?

It was probably better not to say anything and not remind her that he was still here. He didn't move.

"I just...I don't understand," she began, trying to keep her voice steady. "My collar is the most important thing I ever have had and ever will have, save my rings."

Funny enough, she wasn't wearing any. It was best not to ask where the rings were that she was actually talking about.

"After...after Eris' curse on me and my boyfriend...just...why?"

If Vanessa was observant, she might have picked up Issei's intake of breath when she said Eris' name.

And really, Issei knew the answer to that question. Because Eris thought it would cause chaos. Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to explain or to mention Eris. ...Dammit.

It was probably a rhetorical question anyway, so it was better that he didn't answer.

"I you have nothing against me...why the hell would steal the most important thing I've ever owned?"

She looked up, watery-eyed, staring off at the wall in the hopes to keep from crying. "Let me correct that, what the hell did you say to get my boyfriend to take it? How is it in the name of science!? It's not magical, it's not like it's the only thing that makes me as sexual as I was before this God damn curse of mine."

"Because I was forced to," he said in answer to her first question. "And because I thought that must have been the reason she wanted it."

Funny, before all this, he'd wondered how a collar could be important enough to anyone to cause chaos. It must have been important somehow.

"Peer pressure!?" she ventured, trying her hardest to remain calm again. "Who!? Why...why would they..."

She put her head back down, crossing her arms over her knees and hiding her head between them. "I just don't understand."

"Not a peer," he corrected. It was tempting to throw caution to the wind and just tell her it was Eris, or at least say something in a way that she'd realize who it was. But this was important. If he messed that up, it wasn't him who would suffer the consequences.

"I can't explain. My apologies."

She groaned, the kitty bell on her new, insulting white collar dingling as she did so. She just didn't feel right without it. She wasn't whole with it.

"Do you have any idea how hard it will be to get a replacement? I had to work my ass off to get it in the first place!"

No, he didn't know, and he still didn't really care. Better not to say that to her face, however. "I'm sorry."

"Are you really!?" she exclaimed, standing up and staring down at him. A formidable sight indeed. "Are you going to keep taking other people's things and NOT GIVING THEM BACK!?"

She frowned, holding her tongue at the rest of what it was that threatened to force it's way out. No, this was not the time nor the place at all. "Don't monks have morals?" was the best she could come up with.

Issei quivered, shrinking back at her sudden outburst. "They do and I do, but I have to keep doing this," he answered quietly, as if he was hoping that maybe she wouldn't hear.

"No, you don't!" she exclaimed again, throwing her arms up in the air as though it was all absolutely futile. "You damaged that girl's inn, didn't you? People are saying it's not like you to do this! What the hell is wrong, are you cursed or something?"

"Yes, that was me, and I didn't want to do that and I still don't want to do this!" he answered, finally struggling to his feet. "And I know it's not like me, and I've told you again and again, I'm not allowed to explain!"

"What!? Is someone going to cut off your fucking balls if you explain!? Cut out your tongue, pry your teeth from your head, pull your fingernails off!? What can someone do to you if you actually fucking exPLAIN to one your fucking VICTIMS why the hell and what the hell is going on!?"

She was going to start stomping on him again, wasn't she. "You don't understand! It isn't me they'd do something to!"

"Oh, I think it's pretty much you people would do something to."

She stomped one foot, getting so close to him and leaning over at that her breath was touching his face, warm against his probably sweating skin. She looked down at him, face impassive and without expression.

"And what I've done to you is nothing compared to what other people will do if you fuck with the wrong ones."

"I wasn't talking about the victims, idiot, I was talking about the reason I can't explain!"

There was a girl close to him, get it away, get it away. It was difficult to subdue the urge to - to shove her away, or something. But that would probably make things worse.

"I was shot a few days ago, you think I don't know that?"

Edited 2009-06-22 19:46 (UTC)

"That might be a good thing!" she declared, staring him down, truly still a formidable foe. "Maybe they need to do it again. And over and over until you fucking learn not to fuck other people's shit up!"

She pulled back, nearly finished with him. Nearly.

"It could have been so much worse. Fuck with my boyfriend and find yourself a monster of epic proportions."

It was good that she was almost finished, because his temper was at its breaking point.

"And you think I care?! Do you think I would have started this if I wasn't willing to be hospitalized, lose limbs, never walk again, die, anything?! The only problem with that would be if I couldn't finish!

"It isn't for my own sake that I'm doing this! I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't more important than my own life!"

"You little prick! You took away something that made my life whole, something I never take off, the most important thing in the world to me, more important even than my God damn boyfriend! Much more important than him, and you're giving me this bullshit!? If I don't get it back, I'm going to kill you, do you understand? This will seem like foreplay. I will grind my boots into your eyes!"

"It's not my choice if you get it back, so threatening me won't do anything! Although I'm told you will, but only once I'm done. If you kill me I'm sure you'll never see it again.

"I don't have anything against you, but it doesn't matter what it is I have to take or who it's from or how much they value it. If it's for his sake, I don't care!"

His? His?

Somewhere in the part of her brain that was telling her to go get what she needed and go back to Birkin wanted her to stop. The other part, the reporter part, said to keep going.

"I'll find out. One way or another, I will, mark my words," she said.

And then, with one more look of disgust, her boots were against the floor one more time and she was gone with a slam of the door.

As soon as he was sure she was gone, he let his head collapse back against the wall.

"...well, that could have gone worse..."

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[RL - aftermath of collar labor.]

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