Junon Inn

[Steve Harmer]

Come here for all your Junon Inn roleplays.

[Gdosimirj Sunset]

There is a table.

There is, of course, more than one table at the Junon Inn. But this one is special. At this table are six chairs. Five of the chairs face outward- two on each long side and one at the far end, each touching against the table just so. At the head of the table, there is a chair.

This chair is also special. For the past two and a half weeks, this has been the sanctuary of a shadow.

It is the cloak that protects the sanctity of the shadow from the glare of light. The cloak that is draped over her face does not move. Her eyes are hidden from the world, and the world is therefore protected from her eyes.

At least, this week.

She is not aggressive today. If you try to move the chairs, she simply starts to shake, then she starts to cry, then waits for you to go away so she can put them back. She doesn't feel like hurting people this week. She just wants to feel safe.

It feels like a cactus growing in her head.

Tonight, she's been increasingly fidgety. The candle on the table before her that burns when she needs it to, her source of relaxation and calm, does not have the same effect, no matter how long she gazes into it.

Someone has taken her chair.

It's the one on the far right hand side. That's the one that stands between her and the door, and it's the most important one. But some weirdo decided they needed it, despite the perfectly decent one on the other side of the room. She has to get it back.

She stops her jitters and stands, a single tear dripping down her right cheek. She blows out the candle, then walks over and turns down the lamp in the room. She would not generally take such drastic measures, but this could only be tolerated for so long... and this was the wrong night for anyone to screw with her chairs.

She walks over and stands before the man with her chair for a few moments, letting her presence slowly interrupt his raucous laughter.

"Excuse me... sir?" Her voice shakes with quiet indignation. "I would be very much... obliged... if you would give me back my chair."

He glances back at the table from whence she came and snickers. "You expecting a party or something?"

She takes a step closer to him, causing his snickering to fade. The desperation is obvious in her voice. "But don't you see it's incomplete?"

He tilts his head a little in confusion and curiosity. "Why don't you just get the one over there?"

Her hands shake. She closes her eyes, then slowly pulls back her hood and leans deliberately down into his face. His visceral reaction is obvious as she opens menace filled, yet pleading eyes. She speaks with finality. "Please. It hurts. Please."

He leans away from her, then stumbles over the leg of the chair as he gets up and pushes it in her direction petulantly. “Whatever. Gad.”

The others at the table snicker as she takes the chair, tears of relief rolling down her face. “I'm sorry I had to intimidate you. It was for the best.”

One of the guys at the table starts teasing the man as Vieve walks away. “Oooh, Wally was intimidated! Why'd you let her intimidate you, Wally?”

He shudders. “Freak.”

Vieve spins around, silent fire in her eyes, walks up behind him, and gives a resounding thud to the back of his neck. His eyes roll up into his head and he drops to the floor, blood dripping from his mouth. Vieve grins maniacally, darkness practically radiating from her eyes. “That's why.”

The inhabitants of the room watch her silently as she places the chair exactly where it belongs, turns the chair at the head of the table outward, puts her hood back over her face, turns the lamp back up, and walks out of the door before the innkeeper even realizes that anything is wrong.

A generous bag of coins and a note sit at the table which has forever been contaminated by her insanity. The note has a single word scrawled on it.

“Sorry.”

[Gdosimirj Sunset]

Gdosimirj had arrived, checked in, unpacked, and collapsed into a deep sleep in her room. She was just getting into the first nice decent sleep she'd gotten in a week when she saw Rude walk into the room. He pointed at a hooded figure, which had also magically appeared in the far corner of the room.

"Ten seconds."

Reno leapt in through the window, over her bed, yelling. "D**N TEN SECONDS!"

He was wearing a pink suit with red hearts all over it.

He did a cartwheel towards the hooded figure and landed just in front of it. With a flourish, he yanked the hood off and...

There stood a girl. Reno gasped. "Nikky?"

And then she exploded.

******

Gdosimirj woke up lying on the floor next to her bed. What the c**p? She pulled herself up onto her bed, sitting on the edge and rubbing her head where she'd banged it on the floor. I don't know what the heck that was about, but it can't mean anything good.

She sighed and pulled her guns out from under her pillow. It's time to get involved.

((To Lower Junon))

[Amnesty Lazuli]

The limo pulled up outside, and Rude handed over the gem. Mishy ooohed over it. "Pretty..."

"Yeah, nice," he said dismissively. "Now remember, you didn't get that from us, you didn't have any jobs from us today."

"Sure," Mishy said absently, still staring.

Reno sighed and snapped his fingers next to her ear. "Yo, Mish?"

"Huh?" Her head snapped up and around.

"Run the alibi past us one more time?"

"Oh, yeah... umm... I gave a ride to some rich guy and he musta dropped this, but I forget his name and where I took him, and I drive about a million rich people around every day, so I didn't know who to give it back to," she parroted flatly, her eyes never leaving the pretty mineral in her hands.

Reno sighed. "OK, fine. Well, thanks again, yo."

"No prob, no prob, I love you guys," she replied absently.

"Riiight," he replied. "Well, c'mon, folks." He piled out of the car, the others behind him. He held the door open for Nikky and walked her to the door of the Inn as Rude began to discuss fees with the man at the front desk. As well as Reno's reward, he also held the other fees that had been accessible to the group and divvied these up prior to departure from the camp, while the others were packing.

Kadaj stopped and looked back on his way out. "Kamen, coming?"

[*~Nikkole~*]

Nikky got out and gave Reno a funny look. "Must you be so... proper?? It freaks me out." She teased as she let herself be led.

Kamen got out of the limo and sighed. "Yeah, yeah I'm comin'." He grinned at him. "It's not like I can run now..." I don't think I can ever run away from these guys.... they might just hunt me down. He joked with himself.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Reno winced at himself. "Oops. Sorry... heh, it's the bodyguard training kicking in. Old habits die hard, I guess." He grinned sheepishly. "It kinda freaks me out, too, so you're in good company."

The brothers managed to get to the front desk without attracting too much attention... over their normal outfits they still had the tunics the Silken had given them, in hopes this would make them somewhat less conspicuous. They got a couple of funny looks, though...

Kadaj was keeping his gaze fixed firmly on the floor. "Whatever you do," he muttered, "don't make eye contact with anyone."

"Yo, Rude," Reno suddenly piped up. "Could ya maybe hook me and Nikky up with... ha... private acoomodations?"

Kadaj rolled his eyes as Reno pulled Nikky closer for a brief PDA. He'd never been one for the mushy stuff himself... but then, it wasn't exactly like he'd ever had any serious prospects. The last thing I want is to go around perpetuating my strain, he thought to himself darkly. If all indicators can be relied upon, the line of Jenova will end with me. And... that's as it should be. "And if it's no inconvenience, Rude, would you mind requesting a room for us... about as far from theirs as possible?"

Loz elbowed him, and Kadaj shot a nasty look back. "What?"

Loz shook his head. Maybe they were right. Maybe he IS gay.

I heard that.

Rude accepted three keys from the Innkeeper. "One for you," he said, handing a key over to the boys. "One for you," he continued, giving another to Reno and Nikky. "And one for me." He kept the last one. Finally I get a reprieve from dealing with these lunatics. He stalked off.

Reno stuffed the key into his pocket. "Scooore," he remarked, leading Nikky off to their temporary abode.

Kadaj eyed the key. "Room 187." He set off in the appropriate direction, the others following.

****

In their room, Reno flopped face forward onto most notable piece of furniture in the room. "Wow," he observed, muffled. "Finally, a real bed. Wonders never cease."

****

As soon as he and the others were all securely inside, Kadaj had the door bolted, shades drawn, and radio up on high volume. "No one comes in, no one goes out, so long as we stay here," he said, somewhat loudly over the blaring chat show broadcasting right now. "We've risked too much exposure already." He turned on Loz. "And no long distance prank calls to Balamb again!"

Loz groaned with disappointment as Yazoo looked to Kamen. "Now, shall we get back to business?"

[*~Nikkole~*]

Nikky followed Reno and laughed softly at him, shutting the door. "Yes... it will be a luxury not wasted." She joked happily.

Kamen followed before watching Kadaj curiously. He figured it was because he was taking extra precautions. He stifled a laugh at the prank comment before looking to Yazoo. He sighed and nodded. "Yeah. Let's do this before I start to doubt myself." He grinned a bit, really hoping they were going to help him through and through. Years of being like this made him nervous and scared of actually facing his former Master....

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Reno grinned. "You never told me you were psychic, babe... you just read my mind." He pulled her down next to him for an embrace, snuggling into her and kissing her for a long moment. "Tell you what," he suggested, still holding her tight. "While we're waiting for those other maroons to finish up their biz, why don't we order in a pizza or something?" He laughed quiestly, kissing her again. "Our first and possibly last chance for a real date, y'know?"

****

The boys nodded to Kamen. "So what do we need to do?" Yazoo inquired.

"How do you contact him?" Kadaj added.

"Can I go to the vending machine?" Loz requested.

Kadaj shot a look at him. "No, Loz. Stay focused."

"You're boring!" Loz shot back.

"Shut up."

"Make me."

"Enough," Yazoo intervened. "This isn't getting us anywhere." He pulled up a chair and sat next to Kamen. "Allow him to contact you. We'll help trace his signature."

[*~Nikkole~*]

Nikky laughed and cuddled, kissing him back. "Sounds great." She grinned and kissed him back. "I've been craving pizza for a long time now... as for the date thing?" She teased with a wide grin. "We could call it that.... I guess." ^.^!!


Kamen blinked before looking to Yazoo and nodding. "A-alright..." He took a deep breath, calming his nerves a bit. He left it open for his Master to reach him....

It's been awhile, little one. Where have you been? Vikktor's voice was silky, almost inviting. I could not reach you either way.... He casually beat around the bush.

Kamen swallowed. On a much needed vacation. He replied curtly, trying to take control of this situation. His master couldn't pry into his thoughts like he used to... but it was still nerve-wracking.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

"Then by all means, let's call it that," he joked. "I've never been one to muck around with semantics." He pulled her close and put his lips to hers... I love you so much...

****

Kadaj felt Kamen's unease and tried to steady him. Easy, brother. He gauged the strength of the Puppetmaster and could not suppress a small increment of surprise... He's more powerful than I thought, but still no match for four Seraphs.

They began to carefully trace the memetic trail Vikktor's communication left behind on its way to Kamen, back towards its origin... staying outside the reach of his detection but close enough to not lose the "scent"... Keep him talking, Kamen. We're almost there.

((The colored italics are psychic communication. Black italics are characters thinking to themselves.

You'll have to tell me where Vikktor is to complete the trace... he's not my character, so I won't make any assumptions about him.))

[*~Nikkole~*]

Nikky grinned wide and nodded before kissing him. "Me either. Now, I'm hungry... lets get some food." She laughed a bit.


Kamen barely nodded as he kept him talking. Did you really miss me or were you just wondering where I was so you could continue your torture? He tried not to sound mean.

Vikktor seemed to smirk. Your tongue as grown, little pupil. As did your spine....

I'm not a child anymore, Vikktor. He addressed him by his first name and not master.

Of course not, Kamen.... Even now with your shields I can feel how much you have grown on your 'vacation'

[[KK Got eet. Ummm.... well, I'm not really sure where I want him to be. I have no idea when it comes to the maps and cities. Got any ideas?? Feel free really, I'm not too picky 'bout where I want 'em. Yeah... We could just pick a random place. Idonno.]]

[Amnesty Lazuli]

Reno smiled and got out the phone book. "OK, before I start calling around, what do you like on your pizza? Me, I'll take anything but anchovies. They make me gag." He made a face and stuck out his tongue.

****

Kadaj could feel that he was getting close... something blocked him. "D**n it," he muttered aloud. Shields... d**n strong ones, too. We can get past this, but it will take a minute. Distract him or he might detect us messing around. Say something that'll get his attention... insult him, maybe. Whatever.

((I'll look for a likely place.))

[*~Nikkole~*]

Nikky laughed. "Awww but I like anchovies." She teased before shaking her head. "I don't care really. Anything but pepperoni." She smiled a bit. "I don't know why but I've nevered liked it."


Kamen blinked. Insults... um. Hm... He frowned slightly. At least I get out and actually do stuff. Unlike you I have friends...

There was a long pause and Kamen wondered if he should not have said that....

I think... little Kamen... I liked you better as a groveling idiot.

Kamen froze as he heard the bite in the mans tone. Sh*t... that might have been too much I'm really sorry... I thought you were something much greater then you really are... I was mistaken.

Even now your conscience is controlled by another; whether you know this or not... You have not the ability to control your own life. That is why I am still here....

Stop it! You're wrong! Kamen seethed, clenching his fists.

[Amnesty Lazuli]

"Don't like pepperonis?" Reno asked disbelievingly. "What blasphemy is this?" He laughed teasingly. "OK, no pepperoni. But I get an extra breadstick." He grinned and punched in a phone number. "Deal?"

****

The brothers' eyes popped open.

"Locked," Kadaj announced simply.

"Fortified structure on the north border of the swamp between Kalm and Midgar," Yazoo continued.

"Piece of cake," Loz grinned.

"Cut him off-- now," Kadaj ordered. He can track us as easily as we tracked him... He noticed the strained look on Kamen's face. Are you all right?

[*~Nikkole~*]

Kamen snarled softly before sighing, giving up on being angry. I'm done with you, Vikktor. He broke it off before a reply could be heard. He looked to Kadaj before averting his gaze quickly. I'm fine. He looked to the rest. "Lets go...."

Nikky laughed at his face and shook her head. "Nope, never have." She grinned. "Deal." ^.^;;