Ghostly's Things and Stuff [Read-Only] - Printable Version

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RE: Ghostly's Things and Stuff [Read-Only] - Ghostly - 09-19-2017


Physiology and Anatomy:

The Naki are in simple terms what one might assume at a glance to be traditional Terran reptiles that managed to somehow make it out into the far reaches of the cosmos and evolved into intelligent bipedal creatures, not unlike their human counterparts. One would not technically be wrong in assuming as such, as this was hardly a far-off comparison. Cold-blooded by design, they fundamentally live in temperate or hot environments. With technical advancements, a Naki can be allowed to survive in all locales, however. Like most reptiles, the Naki do not possess what most humanoids have in terms of outward distinguishing features. Their ears exist as small slits on the side of their skulls that serve them adequately in auditory senses. Naki vision is subpar at best, their eyes a bundle of connective tissue and a pupil, they do however have a third eye of sorts located on their forehead that is able to pick up on thermal signatures around them.

Naki skin as one might guess lacks any sort of hair follicles that many a mammal has, instead, being covered in scales of either a smooth sort or more of a ridged variety depending on the genus. The scales of a Naki traditionally are in varying hues of green and brown, but odd colorations do pop up from time to time and are not frowned upon. Smooth scales would best be compared to the scales of snakes, while the ridged variety is similar to that of bearded dragons, often having spines as well. These scales provide far more a defense than that of human flesh, but it is hardly a deterrent from arms fire of a higher caliber or a razor-edged blade. The scales can be one continuous hue or pattern, or of a mismatched sort depending on the family.

As with their lack of protruding ears, a Naki's nostrils are instead a duo of small holes at the end of their protruding snouts. Like with their third eye, their nostrils are adept at picking up thermal signatures but are also quite capable of scent tracking.

Naki society is a complicated caste system of sorts based on a families combined merits, and for two to pair off as mates they must belong to the same caste. A male Naki possesses a singular slick prehensile penis hidden within a genital slit along their groin which will reveal itself with either arousal or direct stimulation. Females have a cloaca, an all in one genital slit for reproduction and waste. Females also lack the mammaries of mammals and both genders lack nipples of any sort. A Naki female carries a clutch of one to three eggs to be fertilized, upon such they'll be laid within a nursery for a gestation of nine months before hatching. Naki infants have a decent maturation period to adolescence in about five years and adulthood by ten wherein their families plan a role for the new addition.

Naki are bipedal, with two arms and two legs ending in digitigrade feet.
Naki have four fingers and an opposable thumb on each hand each with claws and three clawed toes on each foot as well as one dewclaw.
Naki oculars are akin to many that of a snake, their scalera being a collection of various colored connective tissue usually in shades of green or brown, and pupils that adjust to the light.
Naki lack hair and the coloration of their scales vary from region to region as it is with humans living on Earth. Their scales can come in either a smooth variety or a rough ridged sort.

The average Naki male lives to be 72-80 (earth) years old.
The average Naki female lives to be 78-86 (earth) years old.
The average Naki male is 6.5-6.8 feet tall.
The average Naki female is 5.10-6.1 feet tall.


Planet Tallist-3c details and composition:

Tallist-3c is a relatively small planet orbiting the red dwarf star Tallist in the Appolyon Nebula. While it is within the habitable region of the star to support life, unfortunately, it is in such an orbit to its host star that the planet itself is tidally locked, which in essence means that one side perpetually faces towards the sun, while the other is cloaked in darkness. Nearly half of Tallist-3c is continually being baked by Tallist at over the boiling point of water, while the other side is almost a singular glacier of frozen sea water. Its saving grace is that there is a narrow strip running vertically along the midsection which provides temperate conditions to support life upon Tallist-3c, though it is difficult and cramped.

Like its sister planets, Tallist-3c appeared to once have been covered almost entirely by water at some point, but by whatever measure cause the planet to become tidally locked, ended up baking close to half the planetoid to barren wastelands of mountains and valleys of sand where ocean trenches would be.

The other half without the warmth of the sun is left to freeze over into a glacier that one could traverse without impasse if they could survive frigid winds and sub-zero temperatures.

This led to a habitable band of forests and savannas being created overtime right in between the two inhospitable sectors, which is where the majority of life upon Tallist-3c came to be and exist to present day.

Today, nearly every inch of space is taken up within the habitable sector, crowding becoming an issue, settlements required to be dug into the earth below along with sprawling tunnels to connect them. As the species advanced through the technological ages, the Naki started branching out slowly into the desert wastes and arctic tundras with structures capable of resisting the intense heat and cold.

Eventually, with space travel an option becoming the next step, the other planets within their solar system were explored and mapped, terraforming efforts started with help from the newly met galactic federation, whom the Naki welcomed with open arms in order to take a place on the galactic stage.

Galaxy: Appolyon Nebula
Planet Type: Tidally locked exo planet of the red dwarf star Tallist 3
Satellites: Zero
Internal structure of Tallist-3c:
1. Crust: 100 km thick
2. Mantle: 2,500 km thick
3. Core: 2,300 km thick
Orbital Distance: 3.21 e+8 Kilometers
Orbital Period: 4.3 Earth Days
Radius: 4900 km
Day Length: A tidally locked planet, there are no days or nights, but perpetual twilight. Their biological clocks give way to a roughly 28 hour day.
Surface Pressure: 113.2 kPa
Surface Gravity: ~0.69 Earth gees
Surface Temp: Min (-17.2° C/-63° F) Max (22.2° C/72° F)
Mass: 0.41 Earth Masses
Water Sources: 45% of Tallist-3c is made up of water sources (Underground Lakes, Rivers, Ice shelves, and glaciers)
Biomes (by spatial size): Mountains (25%), Desert (20%), Plains (2%), Forest (2%), Shrubland (3%), Arctic (40%) Ocean (5%) Lakes (3%).


Inhabitants:

Naki: The Naki are the dominant sentient species living on Tallist-3c as any competition on the small livable landmass were wiped out early on by the primitive carnivores. They have no natural predators save for themselves and the planet itself trying to kill them on each side, but that has been more than an ample prod to keep the species as a whole on the path of intellectual advancement.

Today, the Naki are in a constant struggle to find space for their sprawling population as any expansion into either the deserts scorched by the eternal sun or the glacial wastes is a slow and arduous process. While space travel is an option, they are hardly the most unified race, with constant infighting between castes and families for hierarchy and dominance. That said, the Naki are far from foolish to lose their only habitable region to a civil war. When coming of age at twelve, each Naki serves four years in the singular military policing force which belongs to no family or caste as to remain wholly impartial to any dispute that occurs within the castes.

The caste system is essentially a social ranking wherein families are placed depending on their combined merits and contributions to Naki society. Whether it be in military service, the medical field, space exploration/discovery, the arts, sciences, and engineering, as well as pretty much anything else one can do. The defining guidelines are muddied at best as each family contributes members to a caste's council and councils that are a part of a higher placed caste are the only ones capable of judging the merits of lower caste families. Naturally, if there are more families to a caste, there is greater competition within, so for a family to rise out of a caste to another is a rare process filled with political strife.

Having been discovered by the galactic federation, trade routes were established and the Naki were able to export precious metals, gemstones, ores, and rare herbs for medicinal purposes based on their world's unique makeup. Not to mention the numerous good pumped out by the countless families vying for prestige. Not unexpected, however, is the need for the race's powerful bodies and unified military for systems all across the stars.

World Population: 168 Million Naki
Largest agglomeration: U'evello
Most Widely Spoken Languages: Galactic Standard primarily with Nakian as secondary.
Government: There is no singular government body, as each caste manages its own sprawling families within, however, there is a trickle down from higher castes stepping in delegating decisions made by the collective of castes. It's all very complex, if not a bit archaic.
Religion: The Naki worship no omnipotent power, instead, their families and in a sense, the castes set their core values and belief in them as a whole.

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RE: Ghostly's Things and Stuff [Read-Only] - Ghostly - 09-19-2017


Sipping down alcoholic swill through the little space he had to fit the rim of a glass through the otherwise sealed helmet he wore, Kiuza absentmindedly kept oddly green oculars on a nearby screen. Just the local newsreel that had played at least a dozen times since he sat himself down in this bustling bar, nothing in particular that caught his attention per usual. At this point, he was simply taking the peace that came from not having sights trained on his person. It wouldn't last, but he was more than prepared, or he'd not be in the position he was. Long since had the Naki accepted the path he walked and the future he'd lead when the Zeloans tore his home apart with an orbital strike. Before, Kiuza never found himself a man for politics, especially when related to his profession. Individuals or an entire faction hired this savant of a weapon technician when they wanted the absolute authority on efficiency in bringing death to another. He cared not for their reasons or what cause they served. All he asked was how he could tailor a design to the needs they had. He always thought it amusing, his people were well known and in hot commodity for their less than legal gun manufacturing and modifications; yet by the same lips that would bar their creations, did a deal be made to purchase in bulk. War, war never changes; of the most importance would be just how many bodies a side put to the earth on the battlefield.

Perhaps in these numerous dealings did Kiuza become complacent. While true in that he'd met with and been contracted by the Zeloans in the past, he figured that the quality provided would keep them fat and happy. Clearly by the glassed hole in the ground that used to be his home such was not the case. Latching the front of his mask securely he set the empty glass down on the table and paid his tab. Few cared for his appearance in this place, as there were several oddities hanging around this dive. It was the closest place for a drink near the local race track, and everyone came here to talk about the outcomes. What kind of haul they pulled in from bets, or losses, even. In here, Kiuza picked his next ride off this rock; a racer who'd been persuaded into a drinking contest by a certain lizard with light insults about his skills in his profession. His ID card and keys were now safely tucked away in one of the many pockets of Kiuza's jacket, and the man more than let his lips flap about specifics of how his ship worked when goaded about it. The Morning Star he called it, a ship able to rival that instant flash of light when the sun rises over the horizon. A bit of embellishment for sure, but Kiuza did not doubt it could clock a decent run at the tracks; he'd seen such first hand. All that mattered was that it would put more than a few parsecs between him and his Zeloan pursuers before they figured out where he darted off to next.

Pushing up from his seat and almost on queue did a pair of new faces barge through the entrance to the establishment. Kiuza wouldn't even turn towards them, he knew his moment to breathe had passed and he started to make his way towards the back door. Without knowing that he was in fact who they were chasing, the hunters dared not open fire into an innocent crowd less they be reprimanded. In the alley out now behind the bar, the Naki had enough time to reach into his jacket and pull out a small disk. Tapping one of the panels on the face and moving the slider about half way, he dropped it on the filthy ground behind him and went about his way hurrying to the tracks where his new ship was being stored away. One thing was for sure, he had no intention of sticking around when the gift he left went off. From the door burst the same two men that entered prior, one could tell just by their insignia that each belonged to the Zeloan army in some manner or another. "You go that way, I'll go the other. Find him, he can't get too far since we flagged the ride he came here on." Nodding, both went their respective ways. A few steps to the right of the door, however, did a low hum come from the ground. A single exclamation of confusion came from the soldier that triggered the mine before a single silver ball popped up from the disk. In a split second did that low hum turn into a screech, a razor-thin line of green energy being shot out horizontally from the object. Neither had much time to react, the one closest to the proximity mine being bisected at the gut almost immediately, falling to the ground in a mess of intestines and blood. His partner managed to catch what was coming, turning around in time to try and drop as low as he could to avoid it. Sadly, all this resulted in was losing the top of his head. Like his ally, he fell face first, brain matter spilling out like a shattered egg.

Kiuza who by this point knew what had transpired by the series of sounds coming from the computer attached to his forearm breathed easy. That better had been worth it on his part because he had none of those shredder mines left. Up ahead the storage unit was in sight, and like the pilot had said, the guards too were out having a good time for the evening. Coming to the towering fence of the holding facility the technician pulled out the ID card and scanned it at the gate, immediately getting a chime in reply and the mechanisms whirring to life to pull open the solid metal entrance. With it closing behind him, Kiuza now had the hassle of finding out exactly which one belonged to the racer. He knew it'd be marked with the team insignia, a sun with a ship flying through the center of it, but that still didn't help much when there had to be at least a few dozen spread out over the entire compound; he better get to work finding it. Picking up the pace of his movement, he darted along from one building to the next. Each minute that passed by meant one less he had ahead of the Zeloans. Right now what he needed was a stroke of luck more than anything. Corner rounded in a hurry, practically skidding on his feet his mouth curled into as much of a grin as it could for someone of his race. There it was, that ugly fuck of design lit up in the darkness of night. Like before, he was able to raise the shed's door with the drunk pilot's card. His lucky streak continuing, the ship indeed was there, and after opening up the cockpit to climb in started to run a quick diagnostic. "Please let there be enough fuel." After it began, Kiuza linked the computer of the ship to keep an eye on it without sitting in the seat. Now he could keep guard of the perimeter which he'd attend to after jumping to the cold metal below. The area remained silent, kept far enough away from any commotion aside from the hum of his acquired vessel and a couple signals at his wrist sporadically.

Diagnostic complete

Rang from his computer, and he turned to get back into the pilot seat. A little uncomfortable he found it, definitely not designed for someone of his stature in mind. His fears were alleviated as his eyes scrolled down the list he had been given from the scan he ran. Not only did were the tanks nearly full, but it had been recently tuned up and carefully inspected, probably for the race tomorrow. Engines slowly powered to life, the Naki having decided everything was in order. There was a general course laid out in his mind for where he wanted to end up next, and with the fuel levels being what they were should be just enough to get there. Out of the storage unit, the lizard piloted his ship slowly around, trying to find a stretch of land long enough to take off from. This site has been designed to hold ships though, so he had little fear in such a task. As expected there was an empty lot not too far away he lined up and let the engines roar sending him along at a breakneck speed. The man pulled up and ascended into the dark bowl of space dotted with stars as far as the eye could see. This wasn't a large planetoid by any means, simply a small moon of a giant red gas giant. In the distance, several ships could be seen floating about, and not that he could tell from where he was, they were assumed to be Zeloan crafts waiting out his old vessel. Hopefully, they wouldn't pursue him immediately. Coordinates set, Kiuza punched it causing him to slam into the back of his seat as the ship jolted forward and appeared as a tiny spark while it vanished into space.

His ship coming out of warp, Kiuza found himself in the Sol System. A spec of dust in the grand scheme of things, but what better place for him to hide than the target of their aggression. Quickly, he scanned through the collection of planets and rocks that had some type of habitation on them and came up with a rough list that only one stood out as being a viable choice for him at the moment. The last thing he wanted was to spend another minute in an enclosed environment, so Earth it would be. From here he could pretty much coast to the world and dock, so he kicked it into autopilot and waited out the few hours it'd take for him to fly to Earth. The time passed and Kiuza turned resumed control upon seeing the blue marble in sight, all that water, if he didn't know any better he might think that it was inhabited by fish more than land walkers. Com radio in hand, he sent the typical signal from his ship to ask for landing then opened the mic and relayed it personally. "Bravo Indigo Delta three one four one zero eight eight two, Morning Star looking to dock." What he was greeted with, however, was silence, even after another few hails. Were they seriously ignoring his requests? Or perhaps they shut the ports down in preparation for the Zeloans. Either way, he had no intention of turning around, partially because he'd spent pretty much the entire fuel tank getting here in that jump; it was a small race ship after all. A single trip from system to system to get to an event was all it was made for. Without someone on the other end to accept his docking, he'd simply crash. Left with only one option, he turned to point the front of the ship at the surface. In this, he began to set a trajectory to make contact with the land somewhere, because fuck him if he were to touch down in the water. When his course was set he powered down the engines, the last thing the lizard needed was his engines flaring up and taking him out before he even got close to the ground.

In minutes, the situation went from peacefully approaching, a few bumps here and there, to screeching through the atmosphere with practically every sensor and alarm on the panels surrounding him going off. Kiuza gave out a shout for everything to just shut up, which of course didn't work nor did it make him feel any better about what he was about to go through. As Kiuza continued his decent it was time for him to grip at the controls and take a deep breath. This wouldn't be the first time he needed to enter a planet. He just hoped it wouldn't be the last. Odds for surviving a crash landing have gone up dramatically in the years gone by, but by no means was it something one wanted to experience. His vision was pretty much nil, a flaming blaze covering the cockpit screen and would remain such until he made it further towards the surface. Finally, the ship stopped shaking as though it was about to tear itself apart, exterior cooling to the point where the weaponsmith could stare at the landscape below. "Shit." Would be all he grumbled, a sprawling city below him, unavoidable now that his fins had pretty much fused together from the extreme heat. As long as the emergency chute and backup thrusters were still operational. At least the atmosphere had slowed his speed down considerably, however, he was still coming in way too hot to hit any of what he saw looming much closer now. Kiuza slammed the console to activate the thrusters to decelerate what was basically a rocket. All he received in return was a sputtering click. Well, his luck had to run out at some point. From his eyes, a tall structure stood out, for sure this is where he'd impact. If any chance of survival was to be had, he'd have to hit the chute at the right time to hopefully reduce the momentum to not tear the craft and himself to pieces. Almost there, he could count the seconds on his hand; it was now or never. With that though, he pulled the lever, if it didn't come out he was dead for sure. From the back, a massive black mesh of highly resistant fiber opened up and gave enough of a halt to shove the lizard back into his seat. A single 'oomph' came out of his lungs, right before the ship barreled through the glass and concrete of the side of the building. No explosion came from the hole, just a cloud of the debris, so it was anyone's guess to the outcome.

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RE: Ghostly's Things and Stuff [Read-Only] - Ghostly - 09-24-2017


Golden eyes scanned across an illuminated screen in a manner bordering on instinct at this point, Azreal's workload increased significantly as of late. With The Corporation's influence now spanning galaxies, merely managing the day to day activities on such a scale became a nightmare. Even at his spot on the totem pole, these decisions could likely be made autonomously, but he was one of the final checks and balances. When the ramifications of a single action went beyond affecting simply a city, a country, a planet, to even a whole system, there needed to be a cautious pair of oculars, and a sole figure to place the blame in terms of a mistake.

With his palm, he pushed up his reading glasses further up the bridge of his nose and let out a quiet sigh while he tapped a series of boxes on the tablet in front of him with a stylus he twirled around absentmindedly. Zeno had thrown the entire chain of command into chaos with his most recent escapades, tearing a wake of destruction throughout the stars and using The Corporation's resources as his own without regards to just what kind of trail he was leaving after him. Scrolling through another set of documents and either signing off on or denying them, Azreal figured he had carved out a decent headway for now.

An alarm rang out in his earpiece as if to coincide with his thoughts, right, he was behind on his personal schedules as it was.

Pushing himself out of his ergonomic seating, he'd stretch out his lengthy arms, stiff joints popping off one by one. Removing his earpiece and setting it down, his office space would begin to power down. A normally fine manicured Azreal looked somewhat disheveled, but thankfully, where he was off to next knew nothing of this current face of his. In a matter of seconds, Azreal was no more, now standing at close to seven feet, with impossibly slender limbs and reddish hued skin speckled with darker maroon markings. His bright blonde hair which so many would know at a glance was gone entirely, showing now a quite alien head to his own. That said, he still had his trademark golden hues within, albeit they were obviously of a different shape and size to fit the new skull.

---

Tamera Prime, a core world nicely situated along a major hyperspace lane, population roughly twelve billion and having significant pull within the Federation's own governing body. No one could argue that this wasn't a tactful position for Azreal to settle in with one of his many faces. "It's good to see you in these parts again, Adjudicator Vetiv'iat, how was your vacation?" Attention averted from his mental side notes by the chauffeur driving, Azreal, rather Vetiv'iat, gave a reply in raspy inhuman clicks before they passed through a translator around his neck. "Absolutely, the Federation is requiring far too much work off-world as of late. I hope to be able to spend some quality time home while I can."

The banter continued until they arrived at the air dock to the adjudicator's apartment, and with a wave, he bid the taxi farewell before heading onward to his dwelling, fumbling about in his long coat for the keycard, though it proved unnecessary as the door opened up to another of his race. They were similar in shape, but the other had a deep blue coloration and a shorter stature, but they wasted not a second in embracing Vetiv'iat, their foreheads pressed together as the spindly digits of their hands intertwined. "Shant'nia, I didn't expect you home, yet, I wanted to surprise you." The shapeshifter began as he was led inside. "Allisae, let me know when you passed through customs." A feminine voice to his own replied, gently guiding him with graceful movements towards the seating arrangement so she could sit alongside Vetiv'iat. "I'm glad you're back." The Yangval were a highly empathic race, where few words were spoken as each one carried the full weight of one's heart. Azreal would remain on Tamera Prime with his life mate for several weeks as his fictional schedule allotted. Shant'nia never questioned her partner's reasoning behind living such a lifestyle for she knew he would return as he always had, and always would, she could read his soul.

---

On a private craft headed off world, Azreal reverted to his most recognizable form. While he did not personally care for Shant'nia, Vetiv'iat did, absolutely. Not every one of his personas had significant others, but that did not diminish the effort and care placed behind each face and their actions. He had seven lives to attend to and maintain, and they were all of an importance alongside Azreal, not to be merely tossed aside. Retrieving a small tablet from inside his pants pocket, his form altered once again, on to the next life.

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RE: Ghostly's Things and Stuff [Read-Only] - Ghostly - 09-26-2017


Luck favored the Kitsune prince; he lived a blessed life back home in China being groomed to take on the mantle of his clan once his father passed on. However, from Shi'ai's view, this proved too complacent a life to live for someone who would in due time lord over his people and lead them to greater dent prosperity; so he left. In having stolen himself away from his sheltered kingdom to see what the world outside his closed walls actually held, the young man experienced one incredible encounter after the next. Stowing aboard a cargo ship to travel halfway around the globe, to exploring an oceanside city filled with all kinds of strange creatures including a variety of shifters he'd only heard stories about. From there he backpacked across the country to opposite shores where he met a Bunyip that he'd bumped into but briefly nearly three thousand miles back.

Orion Black, a woman who could run her mouth a mile a minute, far faster than the Kitsune could comprehend with his limited knowledge of the English language. Besides that, she talked with what he would learn was a New Jersey vocabulary and accent that he could only be astounded by. A shifter on hard times, Orion gladly took advantage of Shi'ai's naivety and genuinely decent nature, as well as his small horde of coin and gems pocketed from his clan's coffer. The pair could be only barely be considered roommates at first, but to Orion's surprise, Shi'ai couldn't be further from the legends of a trickster fox that his kind was known to be, at least inadvertently. With an almost childish innocence and a smile that could hardly be thought of as anything but good-natured he'd slowly won over the drug peddler against her better judgment, and the two moved into a more permanent living situation together sharing a modest apartment in downtown Seattle.

Unbeknownst to the rather simple Shi'ai, the bunnykin had been with child, quadruplets to be precise. Several times she had to explain that they were not, in fact, his children, despite the pointed feline ears. Subsequently, she had to then describe the unfortunate circumstances involving Rei and how none of this was his responsibility if he wanted out. After all, he wouldn't be the first man to skip out on her. Partly out of defiance to prove himself of a higher moral fortitude than those that had come before, and partly out of his youthful stubbornness, did the Kitsune stay with Orion and become far more invested in her life than likely either thought would occur.

The coming months were interesting, to say the least, Shi'ai worked odd jobs with what nonexistent skills to be brought to the workforce and Orion continued to wheel and deal in her chosen trade, to which Shi'ai assumed was something akin to a pharmacist as he never pried with any real conviction. Orion repeatedly stressed that it was dangerous to try and live solely off of the Prince's knicked treasures, especially if the wrong individual caught wind of their worth. Pinching their savings, when the time for the children to be born came around, Orion made the decision to continue walking the streets as soon as she recovered, as Shi'ai, much to his arguing, could not be trusted to keep out of trouble without a chaperone, at least not in a sense to rely on him for an income.

Shi'ai had to teach himself how to keep house as the stay at home figure. Luckily, as Orion showed him with a dumbfounded expression on her features, there was all the information he needed on something called the Internet. The babies were a handful beyond anything he expected especially with four in total to manage. Everything was a learning experience to the fox, certainly when Orion came home one night to him cooking rabbit stew and screamed at the top of her lungs for the better part of an evening did he finally understand that Bunyips were vegetarians. In which, Shi'ai became quite accustomed to tofu for many of his meals, until they reached a compromise that it would be acceptable to eat fish now and again.

The Bunyip kids had sprouted like weeds in the blink of an eye, and at four years each, they were getting to be nearly impossible to keep up with for the Kitsune. Still, he kept them occupied by telling them stories from his homeland and teaching them Chinese here and there when Orion wasn't paying attention.

Tonight would be a special night, he thought to himself as he checked on the simmering miso soup while preparing the other ingredients for their dinner this evening. It was the first time the two had met at the One Night Stand those years ago. How things had worked out the way that they had, the man could only attribute to the winds of fate. With bright looks about their faces, four sets of eyes watched on from their chairs around the kitchen island counter as Shi'ai began to set up the sushi mat to roll the tuna rolls.

With all the mouths he had to feed, sushi was hardly efficient with the amount of effort needed to be put in, but he loved the process in doing so as well as the presentation of it all, and after he laid it all out on the dining table, the man knew it was worth it in the end. As if on queue, the sound of a key being inserted into a lock could be heard, and the patter of feet commenced before the guest of honor would even be able to open the door. Several shouts of 'mom' and grasping hands for her own would give her a struggle in getting the door shut much to Shi'ai's amusement. "Welcome home!" The man cheerfully beckoned with a shine of his impossibly bright smile. "Jeeze, you really went for it tonight," she sighed on approach, tired from the day, but still carried the slightest curve to her full lips.

Passing the Kitsune by with a kiss on his cheek, she'd retrieve a tall bottle that had been in a plastic bag hanging from one of her hands. "I'm glad I stopped and picked this up then, should go well with dinner tonight." Setting it down on the table, Shi'ai leaned over to peer at the red-hued rice wine she'd brought.

"Did you pick this out yourself?" He mused while motioning the children to their chairs, but before she had a chance to rebut, the Kitsune continued, "It's quite popular back where I'm from, a fine choice." Not surprisingly, compared to when he'd first arrived in the west, his English improved tremendously, though he still had quite the accent which would probably never truly go away.

"You never stop talking," Orion said, this time having him take a seat before joining. "I'd have to be as dim as you can be to have not picked up on you mentioning it at least once."

"Happy anniversary," Both Shi'ai and Orion spoke in tandem as they turned to look at each other in a brief moment of awkwardness before they both broke out in a fit of laughter.

---

RE: Ghostly's Things and Stuff [Read-Only] - Ghostly - 10-19-2019


Zasz Fenris found himself in a tight bind.

Though his eyes were open, darkness enveloped him, and while he could not see his surroundings, the slaver did understand that he was currently in motion. Not of his own volition, as his limbs were about as useful as his helmets optics; his suit had been locked up. Through force of will, he pushed down the urge to retch as it would only exacerbate this terrible situation to cover his face and neck in bile. Nausea accompanied by a consistent, dull throbbing at the back of his skull were the tell-tale signs of a concussion, that and the fact that he had been straining to remember how he'd come to his current predicament, and who exactly his companions dragging his paralyzed shell were. Minutes passed by silently, without the speakers in his helmet, he couldn't make out the faint mutterings of the individuals, only the scraping of his metal legs across the floor rung out clearly.

Right, they'd caught him mid-jump. Zasz had just met with a prospective client in a region that was rather heavily policed due to political unrest in the sector. He was no amateur, though, the course back to his main vessel had been painstakingly charted as perhaps the most obtuse journey possible, many of the hops being through void zones where no one lived or trafficked.

Still, someone had managed to ambush him all the same. Their opening salvo had torn his transport skiff apart without outright killing him, and likely the sudden impact caused him to lose consciousness. Maybe the meeting itself had been a set-up, strange considering how vetted the client seemed to be.

Federation Police? A private mercenary force looking to claim his bounty? A militant squadron from some planet he'd wronged?

Mentally musing at the list of usual suspects, his thoughts were interrupted by the abrupt halt to his movements and then the whir of a laser cutter. Precise incisions allowed the handler to remove his helm and toss it aside, allowing Zasz the gift of sight once more, which he immediately stare right up at the one who still held the power tool in his grip with a vile grimace. Most would have winced and strained to see their captors at this moment due to their eyes being unadjusted to the unexpected flash of light, but Zasz long since had his sight cybernetically enhanced.

"Fuck"

Groaning out the curse, he strained to twist his vision at the others surrounding him. They were all clad in full-body cybersuits jet black aesthetics with silver accents. Even at a glance, Zasz could tell these were high-end models, military-grade, not unlike his own. On their right shoulders was an embellished insignia that might have been insignificant to an unknowable eye, but he was intimately associated with this particular group.

These assholes were Taldarian special operatives, his homeworld had managed to track him down.

"The infamous Zasz Fenris in the flesh, or mostly anyway. I'm sure you've still got a bit of meat somewhere under that suit." The digitized voice came from the figure in front of him, whom he assumed at this point to be the one in charge of the operation.

Zasz opened his mouth to utter a snide rebuttal, but before he could even begin, his words turned into a guttural howl as voltage coursed through him; his body could only bruise itself against the metal confines of his suit as he convulsed from the forced stimulation

"Yeah..." The officer began, motioning to one of the soldiers next to him, who he now noticed had a tablet with a cord jacked into his armor. "It took us a bit to break through your jerry-rigged encryption, but we've got you quite restrained now. I'd prefer you not to speak unless it's to answer a question."

Zasz guessed their first inquiry before it left the vocal speakers in their helmet. "Where are you keeping..."

"The princess." Zasz cut them off, though this time he was not subjected to an electric muscle massage.

The only reason the squad hadn't spaced him with their surprise attack, he possessed rather key information regarding a missing member of Taldarian royalty.

"Quite right, it'd be in everyone's best interest for you to divulge her location. Her people, your people, miss her terribly."

Zasz weakly chuckled even though it pained him to do so before his response. "You've not offered an incentive for me to do so, but I assume that is because my information would not absolve me of my crime. You're going to torture me and drag me back to the empire in chains regardless." Zasz would shrug indifferently if possible, but sadly the motion was impossible. "Do your worst, I'd prefer to be brought home with you having failed to break me. One of the few insults I can give you in this circumstance" He grinned up at the commander and grit his teeth as he was once more shocked, this time until his vision faded and he passed into unconsciousness.

"Put him in the cage, we've got a long trip back to Voskova"

-----------

When Zasz regained consciousness he had indeed been retrained in a cage of a sort. This metal box restrained the slaver by holding him aloft with restrictive cabling from the solid walls. Of course, their true purpose was to constantly keep his suit powered down; a fact which his current guard seemed to be currently checking out. Zasz didn't feel any worse for wear than he had been earlier, so he couldn't have blacked out for more than a half-hour. Through the sole transparent wall of the microprison, each inspected the other, however, only one would be alive a second further.

A quiet clunk, as if the tumbler for a lock had fallen into place, then crimson and brain matter spattered the shell of his cage. A hole had silently been blown into his jailer skull, helmet and all. Before his guard dropped to the floor like a rag doll, Zasz peered through the perforated head, smoke poured from the barrel of a gun, or at least he assumed it to be one. His savior had a personal cloaking device of sorts, a decent model too as it prevented Zasz from making out any details other than a general size and shape. "How did these idiots managed to catch you?" A distorted voice echoed from the figure, though somewhat feminine as their light refraction program shut down to render them fully visible to Zasz. "This is dangerous territory, highly monitored. I thought you'd be smarter than to take a contract out here." A pause, likely accompanied by a sigh, not that the microphone picked it up. This person, Zasz examined, wore a full-body encloser of a similar model to his own, though, clearly modified for use in subterfuge and built for a feminine frame.

Zasz, however, did audibly sigh, "The whole endeavor was a setup, which I realize now after the fact, it didn't matter which route I took. Why are you here though, Andy?" His cracked lips curled into an awkward sort of smile that only the slaver could wear, his response immediately garnered a kick to his cage as if to silence what he thought was a decent show of compassion for his twin sister, Andrea Fenris.

"One of my connections picked up a black ops mission to pick up a high priority target. I did a bit of digging and found the squad being sent after you. Sneaking this suit aboard the vessel was easy enough, they weren't expecting betrayal from within the empire." Quickly she went over to the control panel to the prison and jacked into it, beginning the laborious process of cracking through the credentials to free her brother. "Remote connecting to this suit from Voskova was the hard part, but you would know that wouldn't you? You're quite experienced in long-distance control of these suits." Zasz couldn't see her raised brow from back home, but he certainly knew it was there along with her condescending tone no matter how modulated it was.

"The safest place to keep my insurance against the Voskovan government is right under their noses. I have a high ranking contact who shares similar views to my own and whom I paid a sizable credit bounty to build a backdoor connection through their planetary firewall." As he finished explaining, the locks holding him rigid disengaged, the dampeners cutting power to his suit ceased their humming as well. Little by little his enclosure began to recharge its batteries and he regained the control of his motor functions. As soon as his ocular implant received enough of a charge his standard HUD scrolled across his vision and Zasz began to assess the damage done and what systems to prioritize coming back online.

"The brass ones you have to pull that off." Another pause, another silent sigh, "They will never stop hunting you as long as you continue to hide her, but you know that right? I suppose that's you just sticking it to the government, though. I don't have to sense your thoughts to understand that much." Andrea went over to the door of the cage and released the latch to free Zasz from within.

Slowly, Zasz pushed himself to his feet, not without some struggle, however. Thankfully, his sister was soon there to stabilize his movements, wrapping an arm around him and holding him against her side as they made their way out of the room. "It was the best way for me to right how I've been wronged." He winced as she flicked a hard metallic digit into the size of his bald head.

"Idiot" She dragged out the word spitefully. "What you've done is worse than your initial crimes they charged you with. They'll never forgive this, so you'll never release her. It's a self-propagating cycle." The two continued their mindful gait, passing from one hallway into another. Zasz assumed their destination to be, well, not this; he thought, staring at the airlock they were now stopped in front of. "You're a lucky SOB, brother," Andrea muttered while jacking into the controls.

"Because all of the soldiers are already in cryo?" He knew this wasn't what she meant, as it was merely a prerequisite for his rescue in the first place.

"Obviously that is not what I'm talking about. You're a martyr back home for the radical technophiles. They've grown into a full-blown political party, and are recruiting more to their side by the day. Some are theorizing that there will be a global ideological shift within the deca..." She caught herself from rambling further, as well as taking note that she had sliced into the door commands. Zasz, on the other hand, was turned away from her, reaching a hand behind his back to remove what had been a small circular disc that as previously concealed. Analyzing it through her own HUD she gasped, audibly this time. "There's enough detonation wire in there to blow a hole right through the hull." As if a natural response on his part he moved to slap the hand sided explosive to the wall next to the airlock door.

"Insurance in case I ever found myself in an impossible scenario and wanted to take a few bastards down with me or to avoid an unnecessarily painful death."

Shaking her featureless masked head, Andrea removed a small black circle from one of her waist compartments and placed it against Zasz's forehead. "You're bad for my heart, brother," she replied as a translucent bubble formed an airtight seal to provide a temporary replacement for his discarded helmet. With him secured against the vacuum of space, she opened the first stage of the airlock and pulled him along to enter the compartment. As the door hissed closed behind him, she posed the final question, "Are you ready?" He merely nodded, grinning at what she knew would be immense satisfaction killing his prior captors. The duo embraced each other tightly as not to be separated, and Andrea tapped a command on her writ console.

With the outer airlock door open, the two were unceremoniously spit into the bleak darkness of the void. Before the vessel could make it too far from Zasz, he made sure to detonate his explosive device, which in turn blasted away the entirety hull surrounding the airlock. In the blink of an eye, with the vessel tore itself apart from the sudden depressurization.

Andrea, linked to her brother emphatically, couldn't help but share in his giddiness over murdering those soldiers.

A sickeningly wide flash of his teeth and laugher which couldn't be heard past his mask.

Behind her monitor back on Voskova, she too was cackling and clutching her lengthy violet locks between slender fingers.

As they drifted through space laughing, each pressed their faceplates to the other in a rare show of affection.

-----------

Zasz would eventually be picked up by Rocket, to whom he sent an encoded message to after his escape. His sister had long since disconnected from her suit, which left Zasz with the awkward task of lugging it onboard his mechanic's ship while he waited for the heat on him to die down to return to the Greenhouse.

Just another day in the life of Zasz Fenris

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RE: Ghostly's Things and Stuff [Read-Only] - Ghostly - 04-15-2020


A black lacquered cane tapped across polished marble, the short strides of its owner following with more subdued clicks from his dress shoes. Silky Johnson strutted through the main hall of one of his numerous casinos, an impromptu inspection of their operations, record books, etc. His assistant, Pillows, was already hard at work pouring over their financials, while he was taking a personal look at the training of the employees with his guard Lilly in tow.

Miss Vander was of mixed opinions on this particular assignment. On the one hand, she was allowed to dress in her casual garb, not stuffed into a uniform and dealing cards at one of the many tables she passed by. Counter to that, the werelioness was to keep the company an individual that repulsed her to her very core. With her height on the dwarf, her appraisal of the man's gaudy attire could hardly be seen as anything but dismissive. His outrageous purple suit and immaculately coiffed hair at least fit the theme of the casinos he built to a 't'. Coming to a halt, Silky's deep blue hues snapped up to stare daggers into her equally fierce emeralds as if he knew her current train of thought. Lilly didn't flinch, however, she had learned all too well to show no weakness to this demon who fed on secrets.

Whether the business tycoon had been impressed or disappointed in her lack of exploitable reaction, he didn't show with his features or words, merely motioning with a wave of his cane that the two change venue to check out a few of the VIP rooms. As they walked upstairs, Silky finally questioned her, his smooth baritone of a voice always betraying his stature. "I value your visual acuity and insight Miss Vander, give me your opinion of the staff working here that you've observed." Lilly glanced upwards briefly as she gathered her thoughts and hurriedly gave her response as she knew Silky was anything but a patient man. "It is as we should expect; I see no gross negligence on the part of the security, dealers, or servers. No one is without a drink, the dealers are perfect with their sight of hands, and they are allowing just enough wins to keep people at the tables. There is always room for improvement, but if from what I observed of the main floor is accurate, if there are issues with this place they lie elsewhere." Lilly put little energy into her report because honestly, it was something she expected Silky to already know. It wouldn't take the eyes of a shifter like her to pick out poor service or sloppy dealing, and if workers were stealing, the camera systems and security were more than capable of stamping that out right quick.

"Good," he said dryly, cocking his head back in her direction briefly to peer up at her from behind his spectacles with those devilish hues. Lilly nearly stumbled, surprised that the imp sized man had come to a stop and was now staring her down, so to speak. The shifter was not so slow on the uptake to glance at the crimson door they were now stationed in front of, and immediately the hair on the back of her neck rose. A cold sweat she understood would start to form even as she tried to suppress the innate fear welling within her.

She would not enter without a fight.

Tense knuckle joints popped quietly as she formed her digits into a clawing state, but suddenly she found herself nearly kissing the tiled floor. The sharp pain in her right knee brought out a loud hiss from the lioness, and as she made a move to regain her standing position, Lilly felt the magically reinforced wood of his walking stick press to the top of her head to keep her kneeling. The demon had been far faster than she anticipated, he'd taken her leg out from under her in the blink of an eye.

"So you know what fate would come to you beyond that door? Excellent!" He exclaimed with a quick, chiding laugh, removing the pressure directing her eyes to the ground. When she glared upwards, Lilly was keenly aware that he was directing her attention with a pointing of his cane down the hallway where they had come from. Rising to her feet, she cursed under her breath at the sight of two individuals, one a fair maiden of a girl with curly chocolate locks and a beaming smile, a wave of her hand as she acknowledged the huntress. The other a young man, skin pale like fresh snow and scalera solid black with glowing blue irises. Those defining characteristics alone were all most in Silky's organization needed to see to mark them as his private enforcers, Eris and Scion.

Okay, she'd likely be taken with a hell of a fight; Silky at her back and the Sword and Shield duo at her front were not the best of odds.

"I'll put it simply, Miss Vander," Silky started with a tap of the metal tip on his cane to the polish stone. "You're being offered a promotion of sorts." Lilly had a quizzical, scrunched look about her features, and she was ready to butt in, but Silky shot her a cold stare and continued. "Eris and Scion have decided against renewing their contract with me as my personal guard, as such, there is an opening that needs filling." He paused, and this time, Lilly assumed it was for her to finally inquire about the ludicrous nature of the matter.

"You don't let anyone, just leave, and you wouldn't bring me...here," she motioned to the door, refusing to put her gaze on it a second time. "Unless you were planning on retiring me." The last words were practically spat out with barely restrained fury, her muscles taut and ready for a fight she could feel coming with every fiber of her being.

"Scion is an insociable monster that only lives to fight, and Eris is one of the few people I can trust will be discrete upon leaving. You..." he paused again while his lips curled into a frown that only accentuated the waxed mustache he was so proud of. "Are a pill-popping drunk with a gambling addiction who spends her free moments scrapping in the few illicit fight clubs I don't operate to scrounge for extra cash to fund the aforementioned issues." He finished with a sigh and a shake of his golden mane, running his free hand through the coifed hair to reset it. "That said, you are an incredibly gifted fighter with impeccable instincts and senses that are far above the average rabble I could hire as a replacement for them. It's like this Miss Vander, either you impress me by facing off against them to earn their spot, or you can be let go from our ranks."

The unspoken price of the latter option gave her a single spine-shivering option.

Eris clapped her hands together and beamed the whites of her teeth towards Lilly as the lioness removed her leather jacket and tossed it aside. "I've never seen a werelion shift before, this will be so much fun!" The enthusiasm she spoke with faded as her smile turned into a thin smirk. She didn't waste time in reaching a hand out towards Scion, quietly murmuring incantations. Buffs, obviously, the girl was a talented support magi that served as the perfect partner to hone a blunt weapon like Scion.

"I am Lilly Vander, a Simba of the Bastet." Lilly roared as her back arched violently forward, sickening pops echoing from her joints in the process. "I won't let you forget that after tonight." Her vision had blurred over with fury as her flesh and bone structure altered to fit her Crinos form. Her attire fell off of her flesh in tatters, replaced by golden fur and rippling musculature. Towering before the pair was a ten-foot bipedal beast, a lion maw full of razor-sharp teeth and five-inch claws just as deadly. Lilly possessed a number of gifts, natural abilities she'd gained over the years. Only a handful were useful in combat scenarios, but they made all the difference when staring death in the face.

Tile shattered under her massive paws, the lioness kicking off the floor with a speed that garnered a look of shock even from Scion. Still, not fast enough to gain a free blow; the swipe of her arm, claws meant to eviscerate, had been caught with open hands. The man was knocked sideways into the wall smashing into it and creating a dusting of stone particulate, but Lilly had not made contact directly, and she knew why. In the same motion as her first attack, she got into a low crouch and extended a leg in a quick sweeping motion towards Eris. The brunette did not even flinch, the leg stopping inches away from her form with a magic crack. Visually, a golden wall materialized for a moment, until Lilly removed her limb off of the barrier so that she could jump back in time to dodge a flying kick from Scion who looked no worse for wear. Eris was called the shield for a reason, her magical barriers were second to none as far as Lilly knew.

Scion removed a pair of daggers from sheathes on his legs, and with another chant from Eris, they were enveloped in a silver glow. A silver enchantment, Lilly took a step backward instinctively and cursed internally. The magic that emulated the effects of silver was almost as bad as the metal itself, as silver proved to be one of the few methods that could quickly put down a shifter. One of her gifts would soak any major blow from such a strike that might prove fatal, but enough knicks and tears and she'd be worn down regardless.

Scion came at her first this time with a flurry of slashes, unfortunately, her massive size advantage made for easy targets. He was aiming to cripple, targeting tendons at the joints of her arms and legs. Lilly blocked and deflected with her claws, sidestepping when she was able. An opening presented itself and she felt the fire emanating from her chest, one of her gifts to significantly enhance her physical strength. She delivered a front kick at his chest and heard the magical crack as she hit the barrier, though this time her hind paw was not stopped and like glass shattering, she smashed through the shield to connect with a surprised Scion.

Lilly winced as she placed her leg back on the ground, crimson spilling from a gouge in her calf that he'd given her as she'd struck him. Thankfully, the huntress had delivered a good blow, he was on his rear near Eris, spitting up a mess of black ooze from his mouth and clutching his chest with a hand, dagger still gripped. Lilly needed to press her advantage. Biting through the discomfort she made to pounce, but Eris shot her a chilling glare, pointing with an index finger and tapping the golden band on it with her thumb. Immediately, a dozen bright blue bolts of magical energy materialized and shot at the hulking shifter. Lilly did what she could and made herself as small as possible to shield her vitals with her forearms. They weren't silver bolts, which would have torn straight through her, instant cast magic tended not to be so specific, but they hurt, all the same. The pain from her charred fur and flesh converted to rage as she lowered her arm back into a combat stance. Her strength buff also added to her rage, so the fight could only go on for so much longer before she reached the point where all reason would leave her, and the lioness would turn into a senseless ball of fury. While she had defended against the attack, Eris has already tended to the cracked ribcage, she'd delivered to Scion, as he was back to his feet with a vile grimace.

One blow, that's how Lilly would have to take down Scion, how she'd get to Eris after would require a lot of her feline luck. Lilly and Scion collided once more and began to trade strikes, though the lioness was trying to provoke the man into committing to a major strike to her midsection that he couldn't uncommit from, and sure enough when she reached out her arms for a double slash, he saw the opening. Stepping back, he twisted himself into a forward launch with both daggers to her solar plexus. Lilly knew how much this would hurt, even though her feat that would soak the worst of the attack, still, her vision went white with pain as the enhanced blades sunk into her chest. Scion looked befuddled at how easy that had been but noticed out of the corner of his strange oculars that those claws were now glowing like they were engulfed in fire. He made to retreat, now seeing the furious determination in the shifter's cat eyes.

A masculine grunt, another magical shattering of barriers, the spill of black bodily fluids and gore and then the slick thump of two hunks of meat to the ground. Lilly had sunk both sets of her claws into the smaller man and bisected him unceremoniously at the stomach. The twin daggers slipped out of her chest and clacked against the ground as well, her body having pushed them out to try and heal the wound as best as it could, though the pain remained.

Scion continued to writhe and gurgle on the cold tile in a growing pool of his filth, but he was harmless as he was now.

Eris went through a mix of facial features; shock, sadness, disgust, disappointment, before settling on a look of cool-tempered anger.

Lilly felt fire fill her muscles as her last feat kicked in, a final boost of speed to try and outpace any attempt that Eris had at casting a lethal spell. The lioness was a blur of messy fur and an outstretched claw in a mad dive to impale the much petite caster in one vicious blow. Unsurprisingly, Eris had placed a number of barriers between her and Lilly, and one after another they were broken through with the fierce change of the werelion. Several feet until contact, ethereal chains emanated from the floor beneath Lilly and shackled her at the torso and legs to try and halt her progress, and they did just that, but not before those long claws had reached the delicate throat of the mage.

"Enough," Silky hollered in a deep bellowing command that echoed across the battle-scarred hallway. "I don't see myself benefitting from all of you biting the dust here." Lilly almost scoffed, she had won this fight in the end, he was just protecting a valuable asset like Eris. That was until she glanced down from those oddly determined chocolate hues and noticed a spear made of silver light held in her hands aimed at her heart. She'd have been impaled if she had followed through. The chains binding her in place disappeared along with the spear Eris held, and the girl wasted no time in brushing past Lilly to tend to Scion. It took every ounce of willpower the huntress possessed to not cut down the little woman as she passed, but she managed to push down her rage and begin the shift back into her human form before losing herself to the emotional abyss.

"Is that all you need us for, Mr. Johnson?" Eris was in the middle of collecting the pieces of Scion into a translucent golden bubble, but it was more a question to if the battle had been a sufficient display of the shifter's abilities. Several raps of the cane to the floor, Silky rubbed thick digits through his beard while eyeing the scene, including a limping, bloody, and fully nude Lilly slowly making her way towards the dwarf entrepreneur.

"Yes, I think she will work out just fine," he chuckled giving the duo a dismissive wave. "I'll deposit a nice severance package to the usual account for your troubles." With that, Eris nodded and walked away with Scion still grunting and making awkward motions in his magical cage floating behind the woman. Not a glance was spared to Lilly, and the duo exited without pause, destination unknown.

"Clean yourself up, get changed, and meet me in the main office in an hour. We have a lot to discuss concerning your new position."

------

Lilly, grime, and blood washed off, wounds bandaged, and a fresh set of her casual garb donned stood stiffly before Silky who sat relaxed behind an appropriately sized desk. He was thumbing through a thick stack of papers, speed reading them with those golden hues behind a pair of small spectacles.

"This is your contract. You're done dealing cards at the casinos, you don't have to wear the suit any longer. your debt with us will be wiped clean and you'll be given a decent salary for your duties." Raising the stack he'd been reading he waved it for a moment before setting it down on the table closer to Lilly, then motioning for her to take hold and begin examining it herself if she wished. Lilly did just that, taking a cautious step forward and picking up the contract to diligently read through as he continued.

"Now I'll let you know what you'll be less than thrilled with. You will essentially be on call for me at all times unless I say otherwise. Your free time will be dependant on circumstances that can change by the hour. Whatever I tell you, will be done, no hesitation, no questions asked." She looked at him with a look that seemed to question how he could trust her to follow such commands considering who she was as a person, but Silky was far from finished, so she was left without a chance to get a word in edgewise.

"Also, you're going to be attending a rehab program before starting. I won't be trusting a pill-popping drunk with a gambling addiction who frequents fight clubs because she blows all of her money on the prior mentioned activities to watch my back."

This time, Lilly couldn't contain herself, audibly grinding her teeth, practically spitting out her response to what she found to be a ludicrous ultimatum from her boss. "I'll admit I've always had a gambling problem, but the pills are on you, the inescapable debt was unavoidable after that, and I drank to cope with the situation. Take all of that away, and I will have no fucking reason not to bolt the first chance I find." She stood defiant, her pride accepted many things, but she'd been working diligently to remove the binds that this organization had placed on her, and she'd be damned if she'd stick around when she freed herself.

Silky merely laughed in her face, and then gave her a grim look, his eyes became narrow slits filled with demonic malice. "I'm just replacing one set of shackles with another. The debt and pill addiction won't be shit once you see the things I'm going to involve you in. Just remember, Miss Vander, I can always find someone bigger and meaner than you to drag you back to that door." Like a cold bucket of water had been dumped on top of her, Lilly shuddered, setting the contract on the table and quickly signing on the appropriate lines.

Silky nodded and retrieved the papers once she had finished, promptly waving the lioness off with a dismissive gesture. "Now, off with you. I'll send you the details with where you'll be heading to for rehab soon enough." A quiet sigh, Lilly hobbled to the door, still in pain from her earlier bout, and less than gracefully exited the room. So began a new chapter in her life, though she found it hard to argue it was a better one.

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