Lords And Ladies (2.1)

Lord And Lady Ilucis-White

Dante watches as his estranged wife rolls the red and white serpent ring back and forth along her thumb and fingers in one hand, holding the VIP room’s phone in the other.  A couple of hours had past, and the party was still going strong below, but up here...Well, it certainly didn’t feel like a party.

For Dante, anyway.  Mindy was, as she had ever been, a walking, breathing, particularly laughing party.  That familiar old snorting chuckle of hers traveled leisurely through every corner of the room.

“Okay, thank you.  My husband’ll be happy to hear that, I know.  I’ll pass it along.  Thank you again!  Later.”  She puts the phone down, turning back to Dante with an enthusiastic grin.

Dante’s arms ware folded.  His dragon mask is off, revealing the dark green eye shadow underneath.  His mouth is presently curled up into a pout.

Mindy’s expression doesn’t change.

“That was the lady from the hospital, what was her name...Skloo...Skloh...Sklodowska, right?”

Dante says nothing.

“Right, Lady Sklodowska called.  Your friend Damian is going to be all right.  They’ll be keeping an eye on him for a little while, but there’s no lasting damage.  Isn’t that great?”

Dante manages a nod of acknowledgement.  Damian was his oldest male friend and his favorite bodyguard.  He could give Mindy a nod for that, at least.

“Hmmm...” Mindy pulls her legs up onto the couch.  “Did she and Tom Ianthe ever get married?”

“They keep putting it off,” he responds.  “Somehow,” he adds, rather tersely.

“Oh.  I suppose she’s not Lady Sklodowska then.  Yet.”

Dante shrugged, as well as he could.

“What about his brother Felix?  I heard he might have had a teen bride arranged, but I’ve never heard it confirmed for certain...”

“I wouldn’t know about that.  I haven’t exactly kept in touch with the royal family.”  Dante’s voice shakes a little, briefly.  “I would think you would know more about that, seeing as you’ve been spending time with the princess.”

Mindy laughs again.  “Only for today, hubby.”

Dante winces.

“Don’t hear much gossip through your stepmom, eh?” she asks.

“Mindy,” says Dante, quickly changing the subject.  “What are you doing here?  I was under the impression that we had agreed to spend as little time with each other as we could get away with.”

“Pfffff.”  Mindy flips her wedding ring in the air and catches it as it falls.  “I never agreed to that.  I just go where ever I feel like at the time.”

“Ahuh.  And you felt like coming to me.  Again.”

“Yep!”

Dante frowns, and sighs.  He generally tried to be an empathetic person, he really did.  As exhausting as it was, he had always tried to understand and give equal attention to every friend and every girlfriend, and the children that he lived with.  When Dante wasn’t at the garage, he was generally lending someone he cared about a sympathetic ear and bed.  It was practically a full-time job in itself, but it was how his mother had taught him to behave.

His wife, though.  Understanding of her in particular had always escaped him.  She was a whimsical fire to herself, burning wherever she pleased.  And Dante was fine with that.  Dante didn’t want to control anyone.  But usually he had some idea of what they wanted and needed out of life, at least.  Not so with her.  

What could he do to help a flame?

He leans to her.

“You know my father will kill you if he finds out you’re here.”

“Ha!  I doubt it, Dante.  Besides, if he didn’t want me around, he shouldn’t have arranged the wedding.”  She reaches over to a peanut bowl on a side table, picks it up, shoves one peanut in her mouth, chews it, spits out the shell, and swallows.

Dante fights the urge to applaud her.

“After what happened last time-No, every time you’ve shown up to one of our parties, I don’t think he cares.”

“Ha!”  Mindy turns and lays against Dante’s chest.  Dante tries to move back a little, but finds himself backing up against the arms.  “I don’t care.  And besides, to most of these people, I’m still Lady Ilucis, at least.  If he tried to throw me out most of these noble worshiping punks wouldn’t know what to do.”

“Whatever.”

Mindy pulls off her own dragon mask, shaking her blonde hair out and laying back.  Her orange eye shadow seems to glow in the dark.  She reaches up and touches her husband ‘s cheek, and he winces a little.  “Smooth.  You still shave right down to the skin.”

Dante doesn’t answer, continuing to look away.  This becomes harder when a light ebony thumb with fluorescent orange nails suddenly moves up into the lower range of his vision and proceeds to cover his lips.

“You’re just avoiding me because you hate everything about your Dad, right?”

Dante continues trying to look away.  He twists his head far enough to see behind him.

Officer Kiplin, apparently still sitting behind the couch with a glass of scotch in her hand, waves idly at him.  He blinks, confused by the continuing presence of the officer who allegedly injured his best (male) friend, before Mindy grabs his head and pulls him back.

“Aren’t you?”

“Neither of us wanted to be married.  We shouldn’t have had to be.  Decisions like that shouldn’t be made by parents for politics.”

“Yeah, see, that’s your problem,” says Mindy.  “You let his opinions control you anyway.  I, on the other hand, don’t care.  At all.  I’ll spend time with you if I want to.”

“You don’t know him like I do.”

“You think my dad’s any easier?”  She grins up at him, head in his lap.

“Mindy...”

“Hey, how are your girlfriends?  I saw your bartender today.”

“They’re doing well.”

“How many are you up to?”

“Five, I believe.”

“That few?”

“Well, you know, I’m trying to avoid one-night stands, Mindy.  It’s hardly comparable to your record.”

Mindy giggles and pats his cheek.  “Well, you could do better.  That’s still more than most of the men manage.”  She grins and pinches his cheek.  “That’s my handsome olive skinned beauty.”  Dante rolls his eyes.

“Father,” says Diana’s voice suddenly from the entrance to the room.  “Lady Ilucis requests your presence.”

“I’m right here, thank you Diana,” says Mindy.

“The other Lady Ilucis, Mother.”  Dante sighs.  He has no idea how they picked that up.  “A ‘Lady’ also requests an audience with you, Father.”

“Number six, perhaps?”  Dante ignores Mindy’s ribbing.

“Is it Lady Dragon?”

“No, Father.”

“Then which other Lady is it?”

Diana pauses.  “Father, her name is Lady.”

Dante and Mindy sit in silence for a moment.

“I was wrong,” says Mindy.

“Indeed.”

Books And Covers Thereof (1.23)

Kitty decides to follow Kiplin into the room, rubbing her arm nervously as she does so.  Annie, of course, quickly follows, as does Mindy.

Haruka and Diana follow in behind, blocking the exit from the room.  Kitty turns and looks at them, gulping.

“Don’t worry,” whispers Mindy.  It’s not comforting.

The room is dark.  A flat screen television hangs on a corner wall, presently featuring a news reporter prattering on at about insipid, repetitive romantic gossip pertaining to Annie’s parents’ harems’.  At the end of the room is what Kitty suspects is a one-way mirror overlooking the ballroom’s floor.

On a couch overlooking this floor, the figure of a man - Kitty’s pretty sure it’s a man, anyway, from earlier comments - sits, a bottle of an alcoholic beverage clutched in his hand.  The top of his head is outlined by a small mask that appears to represent the upper half of a green lizard snout.  A thick but well-maintained mass of black hair hair flows down to his shoulders.  The lower half of his face is clean-shaved, his light olive skin covered in understated but slightly pale makeup, common among the upper class males of the city.  Kitty spots a light shade of lipstick on his mouth.

His head turns to Kiplin, then the rest.  He sits, up, looking around.  His eyes meet Mindy’s, and he sighs.  “Hello, Mindy.”  His voice is tired, unenthusiastic.

“Heeeeeeey, Dante!” says Mindy, waving, her orange nails and lipstick glowing slightly in the darkness.  “I see we came in the same costume.”

There’s another sigh.  Dante glances at each of the girls in turn.

“Annie, hello,” he says abruptly.  Annie opens her mouth, and shuts it, looking at Kitty with confusion.

“Did you know him?”

“No...” says Annie underneath the shark mask, clearly trying to force herself to remember.

“You probably don’t remember me, but I’d know you anywhere.  How are you?”

“Um...Good.”

“Life treating you well?”

“Um...”

Dante suddenly reaches out, takes Annie’s hand, and gently pats it.  “I know we didn’t know each other well, but I am sorry about your loss.  It must be hard on your brothers and parents.  I wish I could have been there to commiserate, but alas...”

“I...Um...Um...” Annie’s voice suddenly drops to a tone with which Kitty is unaccustomed.  It’s shaky and unconfident.  She awkwardly twists her hand out of his grip, taking a step back and rubbing her arm.  Kitty hears a quiet sniffling.

“Annie’s, what’s...”  Kitty begins, but she’s interrupted as Annie suddenly slaps open the shark mask.

“It’s all right,” she pleads.  “Nothing you need to worry about.”

“Did something happen?  I...”

“It was a really long time ago, okay?  It’s not important!  I don’t even know why he would know or care.”

“Annie...”

“Sorry, just wanted to say it, didn’t know if I’d get another chance,” interrupts Dante.  “And you’re...” Dante shuts his eyes, snapping his fingers a few times.  “Ah, yes!  The Librarian.  Your sister is a lovely woman, by the way.  I’m not her type, of course, but still.  Very genuine.  A little cranky.  Don’t get the names, though.”

“Er, my mother and grandmother were both really uninventive with names...Um.  Speaking of, the reason why I’m here...”

“And who are you?” Dante asks, turning to Officer Kiplin.

Kiplin abruptly sticks an arm out.  “Officer Aoife Kiplin, Lord Ilucis.”

“Aoife, eh?  That’s a good name, if a bit unusual.”  He shakes her hand with both of his.  There’s a definite difference in hand sizes.

“It’s Irish, lad.”

“Ah, of course.  I’m sorry if I seem a little subdued, it’s been a long day and I...”  Dante looks back at Diana and Haruka, and shrugs.  “Was not expecting company.”

“We figured,” says Kitty.

“What did you need to talk to me about?”

“Erm...”  Kitty clears her throat.  “You have an overdue library book,” she says, quickly.  “Two weeks ago, you checked out a book called the Zoinomicon, and, um...I would...Appreciate it if you would...Return it...Immediately...”

“...Zoinomicon, Zoinomicon...Hm...I don’t recall heading down to the library two weeks ago.”  he taps his chin.  “Hmm...Don’t even recall the last time I went to the library...I have quite a large collection of my own...Hmm...No, I’m afraid I don’t remember checking out a book from the Library.”

“But,” insists Kitty, wishing Pamela was here.  “You, um...You...THere’s a record,” pleads Kitty.  “It’s written down.  It says you...Checked it out...”

Dante watches Kitty for a moment.  He sighs.  “Floor 12 by the VIP elevator.  It’ll take you right to my private room.  Feel free to take a look around, but go alone, and try to put everything back where you found it, okay?  And don’t tell anyone.  It’s probably in my room up the stairs, if it’s anywhere.  Three floors down and on the left.”

“Can’t I go with her?” asks Annie.

“No, I’d rather not.  Sorry.”

“I’ll be fine, Annie,” says Kitty quickly.  “It’s just a hotel room.”

“Can I g-” begins Mindy.

“Absolutely not.”

***

Kitty steps out of the elevator into a dark room, dark shapes illuminated only by the window to the blue sky outside. She can see couches, chairs, a television, lamps...She turns and flips the light on.

She looks out at the room.

She flips the lights off.

“Okay, Kitty, you probably just imagined it...” she murmurs.

She turns the light on again.

She looks around at the massive, lovingly decorated, and presently strangely trashed apartment.  Pictures frames lay broken on the floor.  Chairs have been overturned.  The only area that appears to be relatively untouched are a set of stairs in back, leading up to the second floor.  ...Or perhaps technically Floor 13..

Someone has written MOTHER LOVES YOU in big, red (hopefully just painted!) letters on the side wall.

The elevator door shuts behind Kitty, and she listens with mounting horror as the elevator leaves, moving to another floor far away.

There are stairs in the corner.

There is pretty much no other choice, well, aside from hiding in the bathroom.

Kitty moves up the stairs.  The upper floor, Kitty quickly realizes, probably didn’t always belong to Dante.  it appears to be a normal hotel hallway converted into a single massive apartment.

She opens the third door and walks into...a small but very comfortable looking apartment, which she quickly realizes is now a large bedroom.  A big, comfy looking, luxurious bed dominates the room.  There’s...A medium sized bathroom, small kitchen, and small living room off of side doors.  This is really too much for anyone.

Nevertheless, Kitty begins to move about the room, trying to hide her terror and looking through the drawers.  No books...She keeps finding underwear and other clothes, some of them...Obviously belonging to women, Kitty assumes, unless Dante has decided to wear bras.

Something on the top of the drawer catches her eyes.  She looks up.

There are two picture frames standing up.  One picture features...The bartender that took an interest in Kitty earlier, standing next to a short, pale woman wearing a police form.  Her facial features are very similar to the bartender’s and her hair appears to be tied up in a bun behind her.  Neither one of them looks particularly happy to have the photo taken.

The second, though...Kitty doesn’t recognize them.  Two identical twins, strawberry blonde hair, one arm around each other.  One of them looks extremely happy and cheerful, and the other...Still looks happy, but more subdued.  They...look like Annie, around the face and skin tone, though they both clearly haven’t tanned as much.  They appear to be teenagers.

And right next to that is a ring on a ring holder.  Curious, Kitty picks it up and looks at it closely.

The ring looks like red and white serpents, entwined with one another, biting their own tails.  A marriage ring of the Dragon tribe, symbolizing the union of two families.

A ring Kitty has seen before.

“Told you not to trust her, mon ami.”

Kitty twists around.

There’s the French woman, sitting on the bed, cross legged.  She’s taken off the skull mask, which is presently lying on the bed.  She smiles warmly.

“Um...No, you just said she was crazy,” says Kitty.

“Did I?  Oh, well.  You shouldn’t trust her.  Crazy, though.  Everyone’s pretty crazy.”

“I’m definitely...Very confused.  In a number of ways.  Erm.”  Kitty gulps, shakily putting the ring back down.  “Errr...”

“You look tired.”

“I do?”  says Kitty, backing up and glancing towards the door on the other side of the room.

“You should rest.”

“I, um...I don’t feel like resting.  I...”  Kitty glances at the door again.  “I should go.  And keep looking.”

The woman smiles again.

“Sleep.”

Kitty couldn't remember anything after that.

Books And Covers Thereof (1.22)

“Maybe you could bore him with in-depth literary analysis?” whispers Annie.

“What?  But that's not boring.”

“I know, I know!  But there’s a lot of people who disagree.”

“Fine.  Sir?” says Kitty, raising her voice.  “Do you like books?”

The thug considers this.  “I love books.”

“Damn!” Annie hisses.

“Ah, good, good...Uh...”

“Hold on, Kitty,” whispers Annie, pulling her back.  “Let me try something.  I’m going to use my feminine willies.”

“Wiles.”

“Willies.”

“It’s pronounced wiles!”

“That’s a stupid way to pronounce it.”

“No it isn’t!”

“This isn’t going to work, you know,” says Mindy.

“Says you.”

Annie clears her throat, adjusts herself, and sways exaggeratedly over to the thug.  She plays a hand against the wall and speaks in an incredibly deep voice.

“HELLO!” she says seductively.

The rest of the group just kind of stares.

“Is that where you learned seduction from?” asks the French woman, who Kitty realizes still hasn’t told her her name.

“...Yes.”

“I can’t imagine how you could have messed up with the bartender, then.”

“Shut up, miss Grabbyhands Mcspaceinvasion.”

The thug has mostly failed to respond.

“YOU LOOK, ahem, you look real tired.  Why don’t you and I go some place and-”

“I’m gay,” says the thug.

Annie continues smiling.

“What a coincidence!  So am I!  We’ll have so much to,”she drops into her seductive voice again.  “TALK ABOUT.”

The thug’s mouth twitches.  “Ma’am, I did not mean happy and enthusiastic.”

“I’ll make you so gay.  I am filled with gaiety.”

“Ma’am, I like guys.”

“Guys are boring.  Try girls!  I do!”

The thugs eyes are wide and incredulous.

“...So you’re a lesbian.”

“Yep!”

“Trying to seduce a gay man?”

“How am I doing?”

“Marry me,” he says dryly.

“My goodness, this is all moving so fast, I-”  Kitty grabs Anilin’s arm and pulls her back.

“That’ll do, Annie.”

“I told you,” says Mindy.

“Anyone else have any good ideas?”

“I do,” says Officer Kiplin.  She walks up to the thug.

“Official police business,” says Kiplin.  “Let us in.”

The thug smirks.  “That’s funny, ‘cause I’m guarding this door on official Ilucis business.  Guess which one I care about?”

The thug stares at Kiplin.

Kiplin watches the thug thoughtfully, through the helmet.

“Back o-” says the thug, interrupted by a helmet to the face.

The thug’s mouth shuts.

He stares at Kiplin.

He opens his mouth to make a smart comment, and promptly collapses onto the floor.

***

Pamela walks into the ballroom looking around through her mask.

“Where’d those dames go?  I should’ve made them promise to meet me somewhere...”  She sighs, putting her hands in her pockets and looking around.

“Pam?”  says a familiar voice.  “Pamela, is that you?”  Heels clack against the floor, rapidly approaching Pamela with all the predatory skill of a...

Pamela turns on her heel.

She looks into extremely familiar eyes.

“Oh, no.”

***

“...Did you kill him?”

“Nah, he’s still breathin’.”

“He almost looks peaceful,” says the French woman.

Kiplin steps over the body, walking straight into the VIP room.  The French woman follows.  Mindy does too, but kneels down and pats the top of the thug’s head.  “Sorry.  Though that was pretty funny,” she says, before following.  Annie follows too, but Kitty pauses at the body.

“I am so, so, so sorry.  Um...”  she takes out a notepad and scribbles down a long-winded apology and some notes she once read on how to treat a concussion.  And a broken nose. She gently rolls him over.  “...Oh god I hope you don’t die I am so sorry about-”

“Kitty!”

“Coming!”  Kitty gets up and hops over the poor fellow, walking into the VIP room after them.  The group has stopped in front of a small side room overlooking the ballroom floor through glass.

Inside a figure sits in shadow, sipping from a glass.  He seems mostly unaware of the intrusion.  Unfortunately for the group, the rest of the occupants of the VIP room disagree, surrounding them.

Somewhat more surprisingly, they appear to be four young women.  All of them share vivid green eyes and pale skin, their faces both beautiful and yet too symmetric, subtly off.  Two of them, one black haired and the other blonde, are wearing french maid outfits, though - mercifully, Kitty reflects - they are at least mostly covered.  The third, a short haired, more teenage-looking redhead, appears to have recently walked out of a Victorian novel judging from that long black dress and boots.  The fourth one has vivid blue hair, a hairstyle not particularly common in this particular reality.

“Hello,”  says the black haired maid, cheerfully.

The group collectively murmurs out a series of indistinct and uncomfortable greetings.

The maid turns her attention to Mindy.  “Hey, Mindy.”

“Hi, Mindy,” says the blonde maid.

“Mindy,” says the redhead.

“(Fornicate your life with a spoon,) Mindy,” says the blue haired one.  Kitty gasps in horror.

“Thank you, Haruka!”

“(You don’t even know what I’m saying, idiot.  You are a cucumber!  Half off diseased foodstuffs.)”

“(I speak it too, you know,)” says Kitty, suddenly.

“(Fuck),” says Haruka the Blue Haired.

“Why are you here?” says Red Hair.

“We’ve come to see the wizard,” says Annie.

“...The wizard?” asks Blonde Hair.

“Yes, the wonderful wizard of Oz.”

“...What?” asks Red Hair.

“Sorry, she’s always wanted to say that.  Um, we’re not actually looking for a wizard,” says Kitty.

“Or are we?”

“We are not, Annie.  We’re looking for-”

“Father,” interrupts Mindy.

“Ah, of course,” says Red Hair.  “I thought so.”

“Wait, they’re all Dante’s robots?”  Kitty gasps.

“We are our Father’s children,” says Blonde Hair, failing to reassure anyone that this isn’t creepy.

“But you’re so...human.”

“We’re a different line from our Brothers.  Far more expensive and complicated,” says Blonde Hair.

Kiplin yawns, bored.  The French woman remains quiet.

“I am the First, Diana,” says Red Hair.  “My sisters were all built from my initial design.”

“The rest of us were built on commission to wealthy patrons, but were all returned or rejected.   I was the Second, Fiona.”  Blonde Hair curtsies.

“I am Maria,” says Black Hair, “And my owner didn’t want me.”

“...So what’s up with th’ blue haired lass?”  asks Kiplin.

“I was commissioned by a weeaboo,” says Haruka.

“...Oh.”

“So...Can we meet him?” asks Kitty, hesitantly.

“Father doesn’t want to be disturbed.  He is thinking.”

Mindy clears her throat, stepping forward.  “Really?  He’s too preoccupied for a small horde of attractive fan girls?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah, right.  I know Dante, he’s not exactly going to mind.”

“He is busy,” insists Diana.

Kiplin begins to walk forward, pushing her way past Diana.

“You cannot go in there,” insists Diana, getting around in front of her.

Kiplin pushes her aside again.

Diana walks in front again.

Kiplin pushes her aside.

“Um,” says Kitty, as the other androids move in on Kiplin.  “Incidentally I believe the room’s guard needs medical attention.”

“He’s hurt?” says Maria, a certain amount of uncertainty even through her slight monotone.

“Yes. He’s unconscious.  I think he got hit in the head.”

Maria suddenly rushes out of the room.  Fiona follows.  “Maria, wait!”

Mindy turns and whispers to Kitty:  “That elevator will take us right to Dante’s penthouse.  Just say the word and we can try and take it.”

There are now only two obstacles: Diana and Haruka.

Kitty has a few choices here.  She can either attempt to follow Kiplin into meet Dante, or she can try to get into the elevator and bypass him entirely.   Either way, she’ll have to get past Haruka and Diana, whether or not she take her friends.

What will she do?