thepainted_lady: (Carnival beauty)
Lydia ([personal profile] thepainted_lady) wrote2010-11-11 04:04 pm

JMM 37.10 Defying Gravity [For [livejournal.com profile] hadtobeahero and <lj site="livejou

Something has changed within me
Something is not the same
I'm through with playing by the rules
Of someone else's game


The music was loud and the crowd was already drunk at noon, as Lydia made her way through the press of their too-hot bodies. She’d killed a girl heading this way and taken her clothes--her own far too ripped and bloody from her run through the woods--and boots (since she’d run off without any shoes) and felt like she fit in fairly well, though she was still occasioning quite a bit of comment.

Then again, women in leather miniskirts, corset tops and boots tended to do that anywhere. She felt a hand on her ass and let it pass. It was a grope, sure, but a quick sense from the touch...he wouldn’t take it farther if she complained. Not what she was looking for, then. She wanted her usual prey, but she needed a lot of them, or their kin. People the world wouldn’t miss, people she could use and still face herself in the morning.

Edgar had mentioned this place as somewhere to avoid, last time they passed through the area. She saw why when her attention was caught by the group in the corner.

Unfortunately for Edgar’s peace of mind, she had no intention of avoiding them today.

* * *

A half hour later, she was on the back of the bike of their leader, his blood singing in her veins--not enough to incapacitate him, but enough to give her compulsion an iron-clad hold. She’d tasted the others, too, for the same reason, and killed one more so she would be at her strongest and now they were winging their way back to Füssen. She locked down her emotions tight, letting herself go numb for the moment to give no signal of her approach. If she was right...Samuel wouldn’t be able to feel the bond between her and Sylar as sire and progeny, and if her emotions were shut down...he wouldn’t pick up on anything empathically, either.

Besides, she needed to be cold to face Peter again.

“Stay here,” she told the men, sliding off the back of the bike and pointing to an abandoned warehouse. John was down here somewhere, she was sure of it. “Don’t make any noise, don’t get into trouble. Sleep, until I call you.” She took one of their cell phones and waved it at the leader. “When I call...you’ll come immediately to me, understood?”

He nodded, looking at her a little glassily.

“Good boy.”

* * *

She visited a shop she’d found a couple of weeks before, filled with teas from all over the world, and smiled at the woman, who recognized her despite the somewhat...drastic change in her appearance.

“Everything’s at the cleaners,” Lydia said, making a face at her clothes. “All I had left was the costume I wore to a party on Halloween...”

The woman laughed, then, and they discussed the silliness of men and costumes and the things they forced themselves into, and yes, of course, she had exactly what Lydia needed, and she handed it over. Lydia shuddered a little bit, though she hid it, and was careful not to let any of it touch her skin.

“Could you mix some up for me, straight, in a to-go cup, and then another batch....blended in with something to mask it? My boyfriend hates the taste of the herb, but it’s the only thing that helps with his headaches, and he’s got such an awful one today...” She gave the woman an appealing little smile, tucking the pure herb away in a bag.

Another smile, and five minutes later, Lydia walked out of the store with one hot cup of vervain tea in her hand, ready to be poured down the throat of one Peter Petrelli, forcibly if necessary, and a neatly wrapped up tea bag, just waiting to be brewed.

Some people’s habits were, after all, just a little too predictable.

Now to find Peter, and change the rules of this game to hers.
hadtobeahero: (Default)

[personal profile] hadtobeahero 2011-05-03 03:26 am (UTC)(link)
"Sounds good." And truth be told, it did -- he wasn't just saying that to placate her. He wanted more than anything to be out of Germany right now, and London was as good a place as any.

[identity profile] thepainted-lady.livejournal.com 2011-05-03 03:41 am (UTC)(link)
"Okay, good." Lydia was really glad he didn't argue. "Try and get some sleep, at least."

Not that she would, either, but it was one of those things that she could hope for.
hadtobeahero: (Default)

[personal profile] hadtobeahero 2011-05-05 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
"Yeah." He hesitated, glancing between Lydia and Sylar in her lap, and the stairs, nibbling at his lower lip as he debated saying something more, trying to apologize again. He thought better of it, though, not wanting to strain the three of them any further if and when she blew up over the two little words, and shook his head slightly, moving towards the stairs. "You, too."

[identity profile] thepainted-lady.livejournal.com 2011-05-07 06:48 pm (UTC)(link)
"Thanks," Lydia managed, staying civil, acting like things were normal though part of her felt like nothing ever could be again. She'd felt like that before, though, and life had stabilized eventually. She had to believe it would this time, as well.
heroslayer: (fast asleep where i keep my memories)

[personal profile] heroslayer 2011-05-07 09:31 pm (UTC)(link)
Sylar listened as Peter retreated, not daring to open his eyes again, sighing once he'd gone upstairs. He wasn't exactly tired, his thoughts tortured by what he'd been forced to do, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to stay conscious much longer. The poison was still in his system, after all, and under the nausea and the feelings of weakness, there was a growing sense of defeat from his body. It wanted to shut down, to rest, and he wasn't sure he had the strength to fight it.

[identity profile] thepainted-lady.livejournal.com 2011-05-07 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
"You should rest, too," Lydia said softly. "Are you comfortable here, or do you want me to help you move to a bed?"
heroslayer: (passed you by and left you defeated)

[personal profile] heroslayer 2011-05-08 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
"I'll just ... stay here." Comfort wasn't really that big an issue to him at the moment, and he really didn't want to force Lydia to carry him upstairs. Sure, she had the strength for it now, but ... in the face of all she'd done and had done to her over the course of the last few days, he didn't want to ask more of her now.

[identity profile] thepainted-lady.livejournal.com 2011-05-16 06:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Lydia nodded after watching him for a moment, banking down her relief so it wouldn't flicker through and be something for him to feel, to wonder about. "I'll stay down here with you, in case you need me," she offered, though she let the thought flicker through that she might be fully intending to shift into leopard form to do so. Curling up somewhere would be more comfortable that way and she needed to not feel for a bit. She wouldn't sleep otherwise, and she desperately needed it.
heroslayer: (fast asleep where i keep my memories)

[personal profile] heroslayer 2011-05-29 06:22 pm (UTC)(link)
He got the sense of that and hummed, accepting. He couldn't fault her for not wanting to have to deal with the roll of memory and emotion that surrounded the last few weeks -- hell, if he had the strength for it, he might have considered doing the same. As it was, though, he was stuck with it all bouncing around in his head, and he'd have to deal with it at some point, likely if and when he woke in the middle of the night, or after he had some untainted blood in his system, the latter of which seemed vaguely worse, somehow.

For now, at least, he had his weakness to hide behind, and it didn't take long for it to claim him, blissful unconsciousness closing around him after a moment or two more.

[identity profile] thepainted-lady.livejournal.com 2011-06-21 09:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Lydia shifted almost as soon as his eyes closed, moving to another sofa and hopping up on it, curling up slightly. She watched him unblinkingly, even as exhausted as she was, until she could hear everything slow down, could tell he was asleep.

Only then did she close her own eyes and let herself drift away with a hope that tomorrow would somehow bring the start of something better.