Room with a Hellview [Devil's Lair | Vega Estate]

[Esper]

The estate was immense. Esper craned her neck, curious at the walls around this self-enclosed world. She was still contemplating the options when there was a crack like a lightning strike, and then shouting. The boy fell like the ropes cut. With some alarm Esper saw the flashing muzzle of a gun in the doorway. It wasn’t his house? But it was Roza she went to first, her arms cradling comfort. She could parse the other girl’s emotions as if they were her own, and knew the line between feigned and real well enough to not be truly worried. It didn’t explain what happened, but between them they rode worse waves than this. The boy had mumbled awake now. Lights flooded them like a stage. It wasn’t hard for them to look small and vulnerable.

“What’s going on, Cruz?” Distress soaked her own voice. ”This isn’t what we expected.”

[Cruz]

Cruz rubbed his head, his eyes and his ears. He was still fogged from the remnants of the drug he'd taken. Why was he home? He didn't want his mom to see him like this. The girls with him were dazed on the ground next to him asking him by name what was going on. "Hell if I know."

Christian was there with a helping hand, tending to the girls first. He only glared at Cruz when he looked in his direction. His mother stood in the doorway. "I should go."

"Absolutely not!" his mother shouted from the doorway then made her way to his side in her frilly bathrobe that probably covered a silky set of pajamas she wore to bed with Christian. She took one of the girls hands in hers and smiled. "I'm so sorry the traps got you. But the signs are there for your protection." Cruz knew he'd be spending the rest of tomorrow resetting all the traps Nox had probably refreshed earlier that morning -- since he hadn't done in a while, he expected Nox came by and fixed everything. There was still an Atharim threat even though he no longer lived there. They knew he came and went as he pleased. Though Christian said he never stayed for long -- his father had done a big number on his trust for the Vegas.

But Cruz was still confused. He stood up and helped the girls to their feet. One cared for the other, and she clung to Cruz's arm like she knew him. She was vaguely familiar. But he didn't remember. He didn't think he'd picked them up at the club... but he rubbed his head as his mother herded them through the house and up to his bed room. She looked at Cruz with a half smile -- a knowing smile. "Feel free to stay the night ladies. Breakfast is at 9am sharp." And she left the three of them in Cruz's bedroom.

"I'm sorry... Do I know you?" he said as he made his way deeper into the two room suite he had once called home and sank into the couch in the sitting room, the double doors led into his bedroom which then lead into a walk in closest Sage and Nox used to say was a whole other room unto itself. But it was hardly big enough to change in while lined with clothes.

[Roza Vas]

It was all so sudden. The flash, the bang, the people and the guns. Esper was at her side comforting her and Roza played the game even more when the parents arrived. She clung to both Esper and Cruz. He smelled good despite having just spent some sleeping time on the ground of a filthy club.

The house was opulent. Though many of the halls looked as if they were under renovations, paint cans and tarps littered places they didn't go, but obviously they were making the place look better. She wondered what it had looked like before. And why were they changing it now. Were there blood covered carpets or guts splattered all over the walls? Roza wanted to look in the places they hadn't been taken. She loved a good mystery. But they were herded up two flights of stairs to the third floor and ushered into a room that looked bigger than her entire house. It was spacious and the decor was guilded and decadent and everything looked so overdone. So much so she giggled as Cruz sank into the couch rubbing his head from the P. He asked the obvious question and Roza looked to Esper for the answer. It was technically Esper's gig, she was just here for the ride. Zeke didn't mind, he liked them both, but technically Roza didn't work for him, was never invited into the little circle of spies. Though she fed the information to him through Esper none-the-less anything for Esper. She whispered, "I'll follow your lead"

[Esper]

Soon there was a woman too, and they were swept up in the care and concern of strangers. Parents, Esper imagined, faintly amused. Apparently they trusted whatever strays their son wandered home with, else they were simply that desperate for him to stay. The undercurrents made her curious. She thought about the signs on the grass and what the woman said about protection. Who were these people?

Meanwhile they were ushered upstairs through an extravagant house. 9am sharp. They’d need to be long gone before then, leaving just enough lure to pull Cruz that little bit further down the rabbit hole. He didn’t appear too worse for wear after the P trip went bad; in fact he seemed more bemused than afraid now that he was awake. So it shouldn’t be hard.

She smirked to acknowledge Roza’s whisper, and slipped the sequined jacket from her shoulders. The little dots of light danced across the wall as she dumped it on some random piece of furniture. She came to stand in front of Cruz, bent so her hands rested on her knees and she filled his vision. Waves of purple hair pooled over her shoulders. Glitter smeared her eyes.

“Really?” She sounded royally offended, perhaps a little hurt, to have been ‘forgotten’. Esper wouldn’t lie; she never did. But there were lots of holes in the things she did say. Roza would want the opportunity to poke around most like. It felt like they were in a palace. Esper didn’t steal, but she never minded what Roza took. And it wasn’t like Cruz would even miss anything here. She pressed her hand across his forehead, concerned. “Do you remember anything at all?”

[Cruz]

The girls followed him into his room. His mother thought the wrong thing. He didn't know these girls... did he?

And they seemed offended that he didn't remember them. But they weren't there before the P. He knew that. He was alone. He'd bought the pill alone. taken it alone and then there was the recoiling memory of fear as he drifted off into the bliss that was supposed to be P. A dream so real he thought it must be real. Blood and terror. Nightmares. He shuddered as she put her hands on her knees and glared at him through long pretty eye lashes. He'd remember that face. She was beautiful. So was her friend. Though she seemed to busy herself with looking around.

"You weren't there when I took..." Cruz whispered as if his mother might be listening at the door door. "P. Why did you bring me here? I haven't lived here for months." Cruz reached up to caress her cheek with his fingers. "I know I wouldn't forget this face. Or your name. So logical explanation is you are taking advantage of the fact that you know I took P and don't remember anything. And you are trying to make me feel guilty. I know I was asleep or whatever facsimile of sleep is on P. I definitely didn't meet you while high. So why are you here?"

[Roza Vas]

Esper played the guild card. The one that presumed he'd think they did something while he was totally out of his mind. But he saw through the guise. He thought he was smart... hmmm.

Roza giggled. "He thinks he's clever." She said as she nicked a crystal bauble from the desk she was eyeing. Slipped it in a small pouch on the inside of the gauze dress. She sashayed towards Cruz and Esper. Her eyes never leaving the curve of Esper's body before she wrapped her friend in her arms and leaned against her back. It felt nice having Esper close she giggled at Cruz. "I think we should tell him the truth."

Roza spun around Esper and sat down nearly on top of Cruz, and flung her legs over his and leaned in while she spoke to them both, "But how will our dear Cruz really know if we are telling him the truth? He doesn't remember us." Roza mimicked Cruz's caress of Esper's face with a seductive smile.

And in the blink of an eye Roza was up and taking Esper by the hand taking a step towards the door. "Or maybe we'll just go now. You are home, safe and sound. I think whatever it is that happened outside has changed my mood." She giggled softly. "We'll be seeing you around Cruz."

[Esper]

Esper watched him try to work everything through in his mind. There was a little doubt still embedded amongst the iron resolution, but the boy was stubborn. When his fingers trailed against the side of her face it made her shiver with the amplification to her senses. She did not recoil, though she did not entirely like the unsolicited touch. Outwardly her gaze only softened as though charmed. This was a stage, even if there was only an audience here of one.

“You shouldn’t do P alone,” she told him. “Anyone might have found you.”

Her voice was soft, somewhere between concern and warning. The truth was Cruz could pick for himself the truth he wanted to believe. Zeke’s ministrations spun on the flip of a coin, but the game was all about paths. Cruz was playing whether he knew it or not.

Roza’s arms wrapped from behind her then, and she leaned back into the heat of her body, suffusing herself in the connection. When the question of truth tickled past her cheek, Esper’s lips fell into a mischievous smirk. She laughed a little as Roza spun around her to fall across Cruz’s lap, teasing him with a siren’s lure. In the whirlwind Cruz was unlikely to know what hit him.

When a moment later Roza pulled her hand Esper followed easily, though her attention lingered a little longer over her shoulder. She wondered on which face Cruz’s coin had landed. Ultimately it didn't matter though. She smiled at him a little and was swept into the orbit of her friend. She knew what Roza was doing, but part of her hoped Cruz simply let them go. Playing with him was fun, but she'd rather have Roza to herself.

[Cruz]

It was a warning but it was more than that. Something could have happened sure. But it didn't. Or did it? Cruz blinked as the whirlwind of the girl with the fluttering dressed swooped in and over his lap and her touch on his chin. It'd been a while, not so long really, but a while. But she was gone just as fast tugging her friend after her.

He wasn't about to stop them. He didn't even know them. Though they looked familiar. Did they go to school with him? Moscow University was a big place, many students. Where they there in passing?

Cruz got up and opened the door. "Let me walk you out. And maybe you'll forgive my rudeness for not remembering you. But I can make it up to you, and thank you. Maybe take you out to dinner or something else you'd enjoy."

Cruz pointed down the hall towards the direction of the stairs. "You'll want to stay off the grass, all the way down the driveway. Otherwise you might set off another flashbang. It's a security measure. I could call you a car to take you home."

[Roza Vas]

Roza giggled. He was asking them both out. Sorta. Repayment for taking his pretty little bauble? Though he didn't seem to noticed she'd nicked anything, and he was watching too closely to find something else in the hall as they left the large mansion full of money and decadence. "I don't know. Sounds like you want to string us both along." She pouted. "He doesn't even remember us. What do you think?" She looked at Esper, her name unspoken but she wanted to say it, but they hadn't given Cruz their names yet. And they might never. It wasn't part of the job.

The halls were wide, and decorated with vases and tapestries, and ceramic busts of people she didn't know. Roza plucked a flower from one of the vases and tucked it behind her ear and danced down the hall towards the stairs. At least she could have fun, if she couldn't nick anything of value. She twirled and mimed playing her violin and a soft breeze fluttered the fabric of her dress. "Maybe he can take us dancing for real? We could show you how to really use P."

[Esper]

"I think he's trying to get rid of us quickly, while still being a gentleman," she laughed. Her arm threaded through his in the hallway, though she leaned to glance at Roza on his other side with a wicked smile. Whether a gentleman was a good thing or a bad thing was lost in the glitter of her gaze before it swept back up to his. "Though I dont think your mum minds us being here, Cruz,” she added, stretching up to a whisper into his ear: "We won't tell if you don't." The words were sultry and soft. This close she could feel every tiny flare of emotion inside him.

Roza whirled ahead, and Esper's attention followed.

"Dinner might be fun, we could dress up fancy. But I do like dancing." Her touch dropped to catch Cruz's fingers instead, and she flared outwards to twirl herself slowly under his arm. Her eyes were dark and intense. "What do you enjoy doing, Cruz?" The movement ended with her back pressed against him, his arm warped against her stomach. It wasn't solicitous but it was familiar, the way strangers found unspoken rhythms in clubs. She slipped his hand from her waist to hip, over the buckles and leather, then let go and pushed away to catch Roza.

They fit together easily. The flower woven into her dark hair made Esper smile. When the other girl stilled, she pressed a finger to her lips with a grin. The soft heat of her breath made her shiver. "Shh. He's worried about getting in trouble. Good boys don't do P."