01-04-2014, 09:35 AM
Almost everyone they passed on their way back to the surface looked them over. To be particular about it, they looked over the smokey crystal adorning the arm of an apparent nobody. Each inquisition earned a gloating smile in return. Spectra was pleased as pudding. Hood was handsome enough, sure. She rubbed her palm along his arm. The man had a better body than a face, to be truthful, but Spectra's elation was bred from somewhere deeper and darker. She liked to see confusion in her choice, not because Hood was apparently unworthy of her, little did they know, but because they thought her on a pedestal above mere mortals. She knew she was where she belonged, but it thrilled her to sense their deference as well.
As a matter of fact, one little pony she wanted to ride all the way to golden goose was Rurik Alkaev. The little twit was completely useless. He oozed scum. His date for the night was the poetic Moana. She was an amateur compared to the magnificent Spectra, but recognizable enough in the right circles. In fact, Moana's jewels were worth more than Moana herself; likely a generous gift of a man. The display was disgusting enough that Spectra almost felt sorry for the polynesian girl, but not enough to share any of Spectra's hard-earned wisdom. Not everyone were fit to survive.
However, Rurik himself was a golden skeleton key. His business could introduce her to far more lucrative opportunities, particularly with his father. Any member of the Sphere was worth going out of her way to entice. Borislav Alkaev was one-seventh of the most powerful people in the world. If Spectra were going to see the world from the top, she needed to climb ladders like Rurik and Borislav's rungs, and hopefully snap their necks on the way up.
So imagine her surprise when the brightest star shining over the whole world was suddenly in their room. When Hood paused, Spectra tensed with shock. Rurik and all he represented were specks of dust compared to him. While her claws dug around Hood's arm, all thoughts of the man attached to it flew out the window. The Ascendancy was in arm's reach. This was her first time looking upon the man in person, and her eyes gleamed bejeweled with possibilities. What must it be like to be loved and yet feared by the world-over? A part of her knew, somewhere hidden so far in the recess of memory that she thought it must be imagination, but the sensation struck like lightning. The memory of flavors she knew she'd never tasted in this life, but she wanted to savor with every fiber of her being.
She watched the Ascendancy shift the intensity of his expression from person to person as though he allowed each one the right to speak with him. Hood dwarfed the man in size, but Nikolai Brandon won in presence.
She was suddenly torn. Hood admitted his journey was for her alone. That meant he wanted her, on one level or another. He'd gone far out of his way to make tonight happen. There was power in that as well, having the mind, memory, and loyalty of a spy.
A spy. Spectra's brow furrowed thoughtfully. She shot looks between Hood and the Ascendancy. Hood was a spy. A bloodied, ruthless American spy in the same room as the Ascendancy, and he was using the excuse of Spectra Lin's friendship to share it. "I'm the entire reason you are here?"
She asked. Her voice accusing. She had no problem with being used like that. In fact, she expected it, but the dishonesty vibrated to the bone.
He may have a job to do, but there would be a vaccuum in the absence of Nikolai Brandon, one Spectra was not prepared to see emptied.
She smiled to reassure him, but led onward. She took a very particular path, one that put her between Hood and the Ascendancy's circle, but she made the room her catwalk. Alongside a slab like Hood, Spectra was all the more woman, all the more curvacious, all the more sultry. Her dress swayed from full hips like cloth on a summer breeze. Her hair flowed soft as butterfly wings. Best of all, she glowed like a torch deep in the jungle. Until she was sure she was impossible to miss. Then she barely gave the Ascendancy the time of day. If she reveled over a spy seeking her out, making Nikolai Brandon chase after her would be downright lovely.
Their way was unobstructed, and Spectra made sure everyone knew she was leaving early. She was helped into the luxurious pelts of her coat, an onyx black foxfur that wrapped her up in mystic, dangerous shadows like a cloak. A clutch and elbow length gloves completed the look. Above a white-gray fur boa tipped with frozen blue nestled beneath her chin that caught the colors of her eyes, she captured Hood's attention one more time. "I am the only reason you are here. Sí, claro, and you are the only one I would leave for."
She slithered a finger tip down the center of his tie with just enough pressure to be felt on this chest beneath. "I expect to be taken somewhere, erm..,"
she picked through a selection of words, but none of them quite fit as well as she preferred, "nice."
Her laugh teased, "Or better than the last place you took me."
Although at the time the room shone like a pristine mansion, she did not miss the filth of that Bogotá hotel. Tourists called places like that boutique and auténtico. She had other opinions. Aquel barrio fue una gonorrea.
"I don't want to get my coat dirty,"
she said, dipping an elegant shoulder.
As a matter of fact, one little pony she wanted to ride all the way to golden goose was Rurik Alkaev. The little twit was completely useless. He oozed scum. His date for the night was the poetic Moana. She was an amateur compared to the magnificent Spectra, but recognizable enough in the right circles. In fact, Moana's jewels were worth more than Moana herself; likely a generous gift of a man. The display was disgusting enough that Spectra almost felt sorry for the polynesian girl, but not enough to share any of Spectra's hard-earned wisdom. Not everyone were fit to survive.
However, Rurik himself was a golden skeleton key. His business could introduce her to far more lucrative opportunities, particularly with his father. Any member of the Sphere was worth going out of her way to entice. Borislav Alkaev was one-seventh of the most powerful people in the world. If Spectra were going to see the world from the top, she needed to climb ladders like Rurik and Borislav's rungs, and hopefully snap their necks on the way up.
So imagine her surprise when the brightest star shining over the whole world was suddenly in their room. When Hood paused, Spectra tensed with shock. Rurik and all he represented were specks of dust compared to him. While her claws dug around Hood's arm, all thoughts of the man attached to it flew out the window. The Ascendancy was in arm's reach. This was her first time looking upon the man in person, and her eyes gleamed bejeweled with possibilities. What must it be like to be loved and yet feared by the world-over? A part of her knew, somewhere hidden so far in the recess of memory that she thought it must be imagination, but the sensation struck like lightning. The memory of flavors she knew she'd never tasted in this life, but she wanted to savor with every fiber of her being.
She watched the Ascendancy shift the intensity of his expression from person to person as though he allowed each one the right to speak with him. Hood dwarfed the man in size, but Nikolai Brandon won in presence.
She was suddenly torn. Hood admitted his journey was for her alone. That meant he wanted her, on one level or another. He'd gone far out of his way to make tonight happen. There was power in that as well, having the mind, memory, and loyalty of a spy.
A spy. Spectra's brow furrowed thoughtfully. She shot looks between Hood and the Ascendancy. Hood was a spy. A bloodied, ruthless American spy in the same room as the Ascendancy, and he was using the excuse of Spectra Lin's friendship to share it. "I'm the entire reason you are here?"
She asked. Her voice accusing. She had no problem with being used like that. In fact, she expected it, but the dishonesty vibrated to the bone.
He may have a job to do, but there would be a vaccuum in the absence of Nikolai Brandon, one Spectra was not prepared to see emptied.
She smiled to reassure him, but led onward. She took a very particular path, one that put her between Hood and the Ascendancy's circle, but she made the room her catwalk. Alongside a slab like Hood, Spectra was all the more woman, all the more curvacious, all the more sultry. Her dress swayed from full hips like cloth on a summer breeze. Her hair flowed soft as butterfly wings. Best of all, she glowed like a torch deep in the jungle. Until she was sure she was impossible to miss. Then she barely gave the Ascendancy the time of day. If she reveled over a spy seeking her out, making Nikolai Brandon chase after her would be downright lovely.
Their way was unobstructed, and Spectra made sure everyone knew she was leaving early. She was helped into the luxurious pelts of her coat, an onyx black foxfur that wrapped her up in mystic, dangerous shadows like a cloak. A clutch and elbow length gloves completed the look. Above a white-gray fur boa tipped with frozen blue nestled beneath her chin that caught the colors of her eyes, she captured Hood's attention one more time. "I am the only reason you are here. Sí, claro, and you are the only one I would leave for."
She slithered a finger tip down the center of his tie with just enough pressure to be felt on this chest beneath. "I expect to be taken somewhere, erm..,"
she picked through a selection of words, but none of them quite fit as well as she preferred, "nice."
Her laugh teased, "Or better than the last place you took me."
Although at the time the room shone like a pristine mansion, she did not miss the filth of that Bogotá hotel. Tourists called places like that boutique and auténtico. She had other opinions. Aquel barrio fue una gonorrea.
"I don't want to get my coat dirty,"
she said, dipping an elegant shoulder.