Dark Nights, Bright Lights [O2A]

[Adrian Taylor]

"This fuckin' city..."

~...were the words that passed through Adrian's lips while he gazed upon the non-stop commotion of the city below. He found himself standing there, leaning forward, elbows resting on a security rail to ensure no one falls over the edge. A cigarette rested in between his index and middle finger. Smoke danced from the burning ember through the warm, desert air. He raised that cancer stick to his lips and took a nice long drag from it before withdrawing it. Then he exhaled a poisonous plume out the side of his mouth and continued to stare at the people below. People walked every which direction going to God knows where to do God knows what in this God forsaken city. They were as small as ants from where he stood. The rooftop of the Sin City Wrestling Towers was a nice place to come to get away from it all, even if it were for only a few moments. However, Adrian knew better. He was never alone. He could feel that familiar chill creeping up the back of his neck. That dark shadow of his stepped forward and leaned against the railing beside Adrian. That familiar smirk of his own on the face of his dark shadow before they greeted him...~

Lairota: "It's a long drop from the top, huh?"

"What are you talking about?"

Lairota: "Don't play coy with me. I know that look in your eyes and what you're thinking."

"Is that so? You've got me all figured out, don'tcha?"

Lairota: "I'm simply stating I know the man standing before me and he's looking a little unfamiliar right now. Certainly not the kind of person you should be."

"Oh? And who should I be then? If I may ask."

Lairota: "The viciously vindictive, vile, venomous villain we all hate to love and love to hate."

"How poetic of you."

~...Adrian rolled his eyes and shook his head. Ugh. He knew his dark shadow was correct. He wasn't himself. He certainly wasn't the man he used to be when he first stepped into the business. He remembered being public enemy number one from the moment he arrived. All it took was to beat down one of the more beloved talents in the locker room to fuel the instant hate he'd receive for years to come. Look where he was now. Just another cog in the machine. Try as he may to continue the notoriously infamous reputation he'd built for himself, he found it difficult to care anymore. Adrian was simply unhappy with his current position in life...~

Lairota: "What? You thinking of just leaning a little further over this railing and all your worries will go away?"

"Thinking about it."

Lairota: "Don't toy with me, Adrian. The only way you'd go over this rooftop is if I threw your off. "

"Heh. I'd like to see you try."

~...Adrian cracked a smirk, thinking of how ludicrous that would look. Him trying to both throw himself over this railing and prevent himself from falling off the top of the Towers. Damn this uncooperative being he found himself trapped in. It certainly wouldn't be any stranger than him holding conversations with himself like he was right now. He saw his dark shadow crack a smirk back at him, his smirk. It was at this moment he saw the smirk fade from his dark shadow's face as the presence of another was among them. His mirror image's parting words before disappearing from Adrian's sight was...~

Lairota: "We're not alone."

"Huh?"

~...Adrian raised an eyebrow, watching his dark shadow vanish. He knew that they will not be far from where Adrian was. The damn man lived inside of Adrian's cranium. However, it provided less of a distraction among those unaware of Adrian's dark shadow. He wouldn't feel the urge to look away to his dark shadow nor would he feel the need to respond when provoked by them. Adrian turned away from the security rail that he was leaning on and lifted the cigarette in his hand to his lips. Taking another drag from it as he wondered who else would be coming to the top of the Towers tonight. Friend? Foe? Or just another who liked the solitude of the night sky and the warm breeze? He would soon find out as he exhaled the cloud of smoke from the side of his mouth into the humid Nevada air.~

[Lessien Melwasul]

"Don't let me stop you, Lover."

~She didn't step from the shadows. What would be the point of that? For his benefit? For his viewing pleasure? Her concern for his general existence did not register on any known scale. Her face briefly glowed with the orange embers of her ever present Lucky Strike. The only thing that was different were her notoriously sensitive eyes were uncovered and free in the desert night. But reading them? That would take a lifetime that Adrian simply did not seem to have.~

"I love a silent departure as much as the next girl."

~Alice saw the edges of everything and everyone. Alice sang their fucking songs. Alice would have liked nothing more than to wrap her poetic fingers around the throats of Adrain's voices and silence them once and absolutely for all.~

"Cry for me."

"Oh yes, it makes me downright weepy.

~The smoke escaped her Cheshire lips which could have been mistaken for something resembling a bitter laugh. Her face faded as the ember dimmed, waiting for her next breath.~

"All you fucking rock stars come up here to fight gravity before diving between her legs, hmm? It's in your DNA, I suppose. Die young just isn't fast enough, is it? When you could die

right

now."

~The ember caught light again, but the face of Lessien had not changed at all. She was a plastic mirror to a plastic world, covering all the little clock works that turned inside. One thing was absolutely certain though, she did not like the warm breeze or any other picture postacrd scenarios. So why indeed was she there at all...~

[Adrian Taylor]

"Oh, Lessien. How lucky am I to be blessed with your presence?"

~This was quite the surprise for Adrian. He wasn't expecting it to be Lessien who was joining him among the stars. A face... who you could say he was 'friendly' with... from days gone by. There was something different about her. Her glasses. Those dark shades were missing. It was weird. He'd grown accustomed to her wearing those dark shades so often that he couldn't even imagine what her eyes looked like behind them. She was more than welcome to accompany him. Adrian held no ill feelings toward her. He simply shook his head and scoffed before saying...~

"As much as I'm sure everyone would love to see me become a stain on the sidewalk... I don't think I'm going to give people the satisfaction of departing from this world. History has shown that it's quite futile to try and depart my soul from my being. Guess you could say, I don't die so good."

~He shrugged his shoulders. Death doesn't come easy to Adrian Taylor. Many occasions have occurred in the past thirty years of his existence where you would think he should have been pushing up daisies. Recreating the O.K. Corral in front of his own home leading to the demise of his younger sibling in the beginning of his reign of terror. That famous pseudo-suicide playing Russian Roulette with the enemy in Chicago. The many wars waged inside the squared circle where it's a wonder that he can even walk today. Too many close calls to count, but none allowed Death to get his damned dirty mitts on Adrian's soul.~

"I suppose the same could be said about you, eh? I mean, whodathunkit that you'd come walking out of that ladder match weeks ago to become the new Bombshell Champion? I swear... I almost thought the life would have drifted out of someone's eyes that night with the way you gals were trying to kill one another for a piece of leather and gold. Heh, heh, heh."

[Lessien Melwasul]

~The voice of Lessien did not come so quickly. She let his words sit in the air and slowly sink. Finally she managed a reply.~

"Oh, yes. That."

~How unimportant was that title in all things that made up Lessien and her

long

hard

life. She had been a bounty hunter for Gaiden Industries in Ohio. She had hunted down his loose ends with a mixture of a single Glock 30 and two years of sleep deprivation. That particular lifestyle had driven her to Chicago where the violence rained for 40 days and 40 nights, until there was nothing left but the rumors and, of course, Lessien. The details were hazy, dulled by a state of dreamlessness and rather low grade alcohol. But she was sure her name was carved in the flesh of many... insurance that she would absolutely live forever.~

"Little girls dream little dreams."

"All these little breaths of air are following their precious, fucking dreams. They want to be strong. They want to be bigger than life. They want to famous."

"Adore."

~Alice always knew just what to say.~

~A certain amount of contempt had tainted her words as they trailed from her lips, until her eyes centered on Adrian.~

"Then there are people who end up here the old fashioned way. The dreamless, like me."

~A pause, the the edges of the Cheshire grin that was almost as famous as her glasses.~

"And then the walking nightmares, like you. What a fucking pair."

~She snorted, and flicked the Lucky Strike into the breeze and watched it sail over the edge into the loving and eternal embrace of gravity. Hard eyes, did she respect him? Probably not, the last person she had respected had gone up in a literal blaze of fire and smoke. Adrian? He was still standing there, unharmed. But there could be no doubt that they were from another part of wrestling that didn't get displayed on High Definition multi-screens.~

[Adrian Taylor]

Lairota: "What a fucking pair, indeed."

~Adrian should have know better that his dark shadow wouldn't hold his tongue for long. He could see the mirror image of himself stepping out from behind Lessien's form. Of course. There must've been something that attracted the dark shadow out of the recesses of Adrian's mind. He could tell by that twisted grin forming on his dark shadow's face as they stood beside Lessien. Adrian tried to not make it seem so obvious that he was aware of their presence to the woman in front of him. Sure. He knew Lessien had a screw or two loose in her own head. However, he hasn't come to terms with publicly announcing to the world that he doesn't just hear voices in his head, they manifest themselves in his own image. Gah. If only his dark shadow had remained hidden... Then, Adrian's mirror image chimed in again...~

Lairota: "She's a keeper. I like her. Where have you been hiding this one?"

"Of course."

~...Adrian finally said, breaking his brief silence before it became apparently obvious that he wasn't talking. A walking nightmare. Was that what he was? Pain and destruction did seem to follow him everywhere he went. Both friend and foe alike always seemed to get hurt when he was around. His own Familia had been the victim of some near death experiences in Toronto, or so he hears. The details are still fuzzy since he'd awaken from that coma. He still hadn't heard the whole story, but that's for another time. A walking nightmare. That certainly would be one way of looking at Adrian Taylor. He simply nodded and said...~

"They don't make them like they used to. Everyone is concerned about the here and now. They want to be the King or Queen of the mountain. Standing there at the top with that gold on their shoulder. Etching their names into the history books, no matter how long or short their reigns may be. Stained in blood. They simply must be known to have come and conquered. They don't seem to realize that gold is simply just shiny metal. Nothing more. Nothing less. If you can get a few bucks for some, then so be it. Some hold the value of it more than others. Some try to give their fuckin' lives for gold. It's a pity. There's so much more to life than that, isn't there? They just don't make them like they used to."

Lairota: "Now look whose being poetic."

~Adrian raised his cigarette to his lips to take another drag. Inhaling the smoke before releasing it into the wind. It was a shame what pathetic excuses for competition had infested this business. An influx of gold hungry glory hogs who only want to be known a champion. That gold and leather was just a trophy. If one really wanted to scribble their names in the history books, they'd better do one better than being a paper champion.~

"I suppose we're simply just cut from a different cloth... From another world... From another bloodline... However you'd like to think about it."

[Lessien Melwasul]

~The minds of Lessien did not like to think about that equation. She preferred more direct approaches to the current times and short comings. She preferred a course of corrective action and destructive violence. It truly was the only way to get down the road. It was the only truth that cut through it all.~

"Lives? Lives!?"

"There is no living here."

~Alice's eyes cut straight through 'Lairota'.~

"You make it all so cheap, Lover. These ... these half-formed breaths are not alive. They are the soulless puppets of apathy and unwinding time. Broken clocks and empty glass wrapped in used up skin. Alive?? That little building stopped taking reservations years ago."

"You and I, Lover. We burn these towers to the ground, and not one of them crawls from the rubble and smoke. Do you know why? Because that is exactly what they are, rubble and smoke. But you and I? We crawl up by the fucking, broken nails and hit the road again until the next city comes into view."

"Welcome to the world of the living."

~Alice started her song again.~

"Oh yes, what's next? California? Seattle? Vancouver? Qingdao?"

"Starcrossed and blind."

~Was that to Adrian or the other? It was hard to tell anymore.~

~The song of Alice sang only the truth, as always. While Betty ranted against all its many forms.~

"There is no difference anymore. An endless sea of fucking ghosts just to remind you personally how fucked up living is."

~She could have pulled the Glock out right there and started it all again. That would have been true poetry of life. But instead she snorted in half disgust.~

"Maybe that's why nobody does it any more, and maybe our time is done. But I'm taking as many of these empty, little things as I can with me. One by fucking one, Lover. One by fucking one until I come crashing down."

~Her Zippo sparked another Lucky Strike to life. The light capturing her own version of a smile again. Satisfaction in her long exhale.~

[Adrian Taylor]

~The dark shadow raised an eyebrow in confusion at what seemed to have just occurred. Did they...? Is there...? What...? It seems someone, or something, is aware of his existence. Did Lessien also have 'roommates' living inside her head? There must be because someone was looking at Adrian's dark shadow. This made things a little more... interesting. ~

Lairota: "Well, hello, hello stranger."

~Adrian didn't pay any attention to his dark shadow's dilemma. He couldn't see anyone beyond the woman he knew as Lessien Melwasul in front of him. He began to nod his head, thinking over what she had said a moment ago. '...maybe our time is done.' Maybe she was correct about that. These old, weary bones have been through the battlefields of Hell and back. His scars told tales from wars he'd gone through and somehow miraculously survived. A saner man probably would have hung it up long ago, but Adrian isn't exactly what one could label as 'sane.' Or maybe the world around him was just equally as crazy and we should be more concerned about those who feel they are getting saner. One thing Adrian knew, he wasn't the kind of person to go out without a fight. He cracked that smirk of his before responding...~

"Going out in a blaze of glory, eh? I can't argue with you there."

~Adrian shrugged his shoulders. Taking out the pathetic excuses for competition that currently reside in this building beneath their feet did sound appealing. He knew his dark shadow wouldn't object to spill the blood of another with the intention of wiping them from existence.~

"What kind of example would we be setting for the victims in waiting if we were to just roll over and die? As much as they pray for our downfall, fate is always stirring the pot for their demise. Us? We don't get the luxury of having a happy ending waiting for us at the end of this fairy tale."

~Adrian drew another drag from his cigarette as he paused. A flick of his thumb to drop the ashes into the warm breeze before continuing...~

"There's only two endings for people like us. Only two. We either get carried off the battlefield, resting on a stretcher, gazing up into the heavens above, our being rendered completely useless. A fucking vegetable, crippled and doomed to be a shell of our former selves. Forced to fade into obscurity because flesh is weak. Or, we get dragged out of here in a body bag. The flicker of light burning out. Soul fleeting the body. The tank reaching empty. Reaching the end of our rope. Fate scratching our names off her long list and becoming sustenance for the lower lifeforms in the dirt. Ashes to ashes... Dust to dust..."

[Lessien Melwasul]

"That's where your wrong, Lover. There is no choice. It's door number two or you were never in it to begin with. I can name them all: Crymson, Jennifer Drew, Anjyl, Oichi, Veronica fucking Valentine and worst of the all Lilith Creighton. They retired to their fucking, happy endings. They wanted 'more' out of life. They wanted 'love' and 'belonging'. They wanted everything they had supposedly turned their backs on. Lies, that's where each and everyone of them lived."

~She despised each one of them personally and intricately. She hated them for all that they simply had not done. She loathed their little tickets to reality. Their escape and most of all their peace. Smoke and shadow swallowed her voice but not the voice or the eyes that did not feel.~

"You are a prisoner. I am free."

~Alice made a simple observation of the Shadow's state. While Betty turned all the words around again.~

"Lies like that, Lover. You and I are locked in and there is no changing course."

~The face of Lessien seemed happy with this, a certain pleasure in her voice... with the world and the way she saw it.~

"Fate, is for the rich. Not the likes of us at all."

[Adrian Taylor]

~The names certainly did ring some bells in Adrian's head. Crymson, he was aware that she had been linked to the Family. The last he knew, she was stuck to Raven. Jennifer Drew, another familiar name. A woman that he once had something of a crush for. Nothing ever became of it because they simply came from two different walks of life. The next three he didn't know much about. The names sounded familiar, however, he couldn't quite say he ever really knew them. The last one, however, he was guilty of having feelings for. Deep, intimate, feelings for.

Maybe Lessien had a point. There was no room in the life of a walking nightmare for 'love' and 'belonging.' Wasn't that why he cast aside Kenisha Williams? He was afraid of her falling victim to Adrian's road of death and destruction. She had already come close to it in Toronto. Too close. Another stray bullet meant for Adrian pierced Kenisha's flesh, much like his younger brother. However, she was lucky enough to walk away from it with her life intact. As much as she probably hated his guts for breaking her heart, Adrian figured she was better off without him. His son wouldn't be in danger being in his presence. Kenisha wouldn't be in the way of another bullet with Adrian removed from the picture. Why did he ever think pursuing Lilith would be any different? How would she be any safer from his curse? Had she already? He had not seen Lilith in quite some time since their last encounter. He must've been foolish to think he could have both a significant other to share his pain and continue the path already set out before him.

He wondered...~

Lairota: "Don't ask it."

~Adrian raised his cigarette to his lips. In the same motion, he looked away inconspicuously to his dark shadow. Wondering...~

Lairota: "Don't. You know the phrase... Curiosity killed the cat? Don't. You're just going to fuck it up."

~He withdrew the cigarette from his lips and exhaled the smoke from his lips. Almost sighing in the process of doing so. Fuck it. He was going to ask Lessien whether his dark shadow liked it or not. It was something that he was curious about. He didn't know much about Lessien's past, but something must've made her heart grow cold. People weren't born this way, were they? Monsters aren't born. They were made through years of abuse and violence. He just had to know...~

"You never considered wanting more? Or rather not even just wanting more, but more along the lines of having another to walk the lonely road with? Another monster with darkness in their heart to share the destruction with? Or maybe even wanted a little Lessien of your own to breed chaos for the future?"

Lairota: "You fucking idiot."

~Of course, the only thing his dark shadow could do was slam the palm of his hand into Adrian's mirror image. Shaking his head and sighing. Stupid, stupid Adrian. The dark shadow knew this wasn't going to end well.~

[Lessien Melwasul]

"Lies."

"Every. Last. Fucking. Thought. In. Your. Head."

~There was something truly ugly lacing her words. As if Adrian Taylor had taken the most vile and atrocious acts of humanity and turned them into a hat. A hat which he now wore on his head.~

"Betrayal."

~Judgement was quite swift in the mind of Alice.~

"I'll never understand that longing in your voice. Your loneliness? Your desires?? Your needs??? Your future?"

~Everything had been in his voice. Somewhere deep inside and past the shadow's house, he wanted those things that Lessien despised most of all. The cigarette fell from her finger tips. A simple distraction as she pushed her hand into her deep trench pocket and slipped the safety off to kill.~

"You are her reflection."

~The form of Lessien stepped into the night light directly. The moonlight captured her ragged form and face. The days were piling upon her, and she had snapped long, long ago.~

"You are her fucking song. Every last woman I have torn to pieces thinks about you, Lover and that lame piece of poetic nonsense you've spewed just now. Lonely? I am a solitary entity the likes this world will never see again. I! Am!! Complete!!!"

~She pulled both hands from her pocket and the Glock 30 did not shine or glitter. It was simply a natural extension of her fingers, dark as she preached her song. Alice use the arms as wings outstreched. Their naked eyes far, far away.~

"Broken toy."

~Alice saw the shadow man and Adrian for what they were, a toy in pieces. They had made a mistake. He was nothing like them at all.~

"Are you tired, Adrian?"

~The gun turned with the question. A straight line from her finger tips, pointing away from the both.~

"Would you like to sleep?"

~She almost seemed to care.~

"Dream of me."

"Hm, dream of that elusive missing piece that will make everything clear again. The missing form that will finally make all the years now spent worthwhile."

"You"

~The barrel of a gun stares at him for the thousandth time, and it is good. The Cheshire smile tells him so. She slowly begins to circle him. The same way she had done with Lilith before the violence had exploded. The same way she had done them all, her signature.~

"disappoint me, Lover. But I can fix everything."

~Those eyes bored into him more than the barrel of the gun. She was looking for something that could probably not be imagined.~

"Just say the word, Lover. I'll make it all go away."

~A thousand times and everything hung in the balance again.~

[Adrian Taylor]

Lairota: "And things were going so well..."

~Gah. Leave it to Adrian to make things all sentimental and fuck things up for the both of them. The only thing the dark shadow was interested in was picking the enigma's brain that was Lessien Melwasul and her own traveling companion. Perhaps, get to know them in a more intimate setting. Leave it up to humanity to take something that could have been an entertaining night and turn it into a life or death situation. Though, it wouldn't be the first time they've laid a woman down who had threatened to kill them before. Adrian's mirror image drew a deep breath and released a heavy sigh. Was it wrong to think that her holding a gun on them only made the devilish woman more attractive to the dark shadow? Guess it was up to him to save his and Adrian's neck.

The dark shadow slipped into Adrian's skin. Ice flowing through the veins. The eyes growing colder. The grin having that slight twist in it. And the response to having a loaded gun being pulled on them? A scoff. He just grinned that twisted little grin of his and scoffed at the barrel of the gun.~

"Oh, how cute. This is just rich."

~A darker tone in his voice than before as he responded to Lessien. Almost demonic, but not in the deep, throated kind of way. No. There was just something... different. He shook Adrian's head and looked into the eyes of Lessien.~

"Oh, Lover. If you wished to dance with me, all you needed to do was ask. I'm sure I could have penciled you in, if it had fit within my schedule."

~He gazed into Adrian's palm, pretending as if he was looking into something. Maybe his palm pilot? Get it? Then he shrugged and looked back at Lessien and that lovely weapon of hers.~

"Tell me something, do you always bring these little toys with you when you go on dates or is this a first? I'm just wondering because it always seems to be a common occurrence that whenever someone decides they 'like me'... Or as you girls like to say... 'like-like me'... It always ends up being this life and death situation. Should I kill him? Should I not? Do I love him? Do I hate him? What will my parents think of him? Oh, woe is me. Whatever will I do with these raging hormones of mine?"

~He shook Adrian's head again, taking some amusement at the thought of someone actually saying these things.~

"Ahh. You people. Always craving violence like you crave sex. Maybe there's a link between the two? Does violence cause a stir in your loins? Does blood make you drip? You can tell me, Lover. We're all alone up here."

~He snickered. Almost mockingly. Fuck it. Not almost. Completely mockingly. A sane person wouldn't spout out such obscene suggestions with a gun drawn on them. He raised Adrian's hand to point at Lessien before continuing...~

"I'm sure you would just be a psychiatrist's dream patient. Can't say the same about myself. I've already gone through... Oh... I don't know... Three or four now? I lost count when I stopped listening. They're all the same anyways. Trying to figure out whether or not I believe my mother or my father didn't love me enough, so that's why I lash out. Or maybe I'm just an attention whore and I love all the eyes to be on me? Who really knows? It's one of life's little mysteries."

~Humans certainly were a complex breed. It's a wonder why God favors this bunch. He raised Adrian's cigarette to Adrian's lips, taking a final drag from it before dropping the spent stub on the rooftop. He ground it out with the bottom of his boot heel while another beautiful plume of smoke escaped. His eyes never leaving Lessien and her gun.~

[Lessien Melwasul]

"You think I care? That's so sweet."

~Betty reflected cold.~

"You're faces of a coin."

~Things were becoming all to clear to Alice.~

"Let ,me guess, you're tails."

~The innuendo was as cheap as his attempt to put her in a box filled with the women of his past, no doubt. Cheap as his pass at her loins. Alice had the answer at her finger tips.~

"I'm just a girl."

CRACK!!!!!

~The sound a real gun makes. You hear it after it's razor trail had found its mark, tearing flesh with white hot teeth that Adrian or his shadow knew only to well. Heat, smoke and that thick smell of home and war. She stared down the barrel dead eye, the same Cheshire grin as before. She was not trying to kill him. That was certain, though not quite as certain as before. She was not trying to scare him either. She was simply speaking the language they both understood and obviously it had been effective. His frequencies had shifted, of that there could be no doubt as she studied the lines for subtle change.~

"Please put your mind in the upright position, and listen to me. Talk is ever so cheap and you? You've never seen anyone like me."

"Lies."

"And you never will again. I'm the fucking Looking Glass, Lover. One look is all you need."

"Mirror, mirror."

"The person you are right now? Is the only reason you're still here. That bard of fucking love is the reason you won't be here much longer."

"Your clock is breath and blood."

"Oh Lover, it's simply pouring out of you. You don't have the time left to find what you're looking for."

~The gun of Lessien lowered it's simple straight line with her hand. She held it next to her, the warmth the only warmth she needed. She watched the shadow and Adrian meet reality. The scent of violence stealing away with the desert air.~

[Adrian Taylor]

"Son of a whore! Gah! The fuck?!"

~Just a few of the phrases passing through Adrian's lip, a hand pressed hard against the wound oozing human blood. That was the one bad thing about taking control of this body. Whenever Adrian felt pain, the dark shadow felt it too. And damn did it ever hurt. Sure. It was a familiar feeling. It wasn't anything new to him. However, that doesn't change the fact that his flesh burned from the bullet that pierced him. They can't teach you this at any school. There's no teacher who can tell how to take a bullet. No. This is something that must be experienced personally. Adrian's dark shadow didn't actually think that Lessien was going to shoot him. Scratch that. He had an inkling that she might do it. Just an inkling. He had to be thankful it was only a minor flesh wound to the shoulder. Anywhere else and well... It would be hard to explain to Adrian when he woke up from his dream about why he can't move anything from the waist down or worse. And he could bet the people below their feet heard that gunshot alright. It's not exactly a sound that you can write off as something else. There wasn't fireworks going off right now. It was going to bring attention to them. He just hoped later rather than sooner.

Once the initial shock of what had happened began to subside, his gaze returned to Lessien who seemed to have taken some joy out of what she just did. And what did the dark shadow do in response to being shot? Well, that grin of his returned to his face. Sure. There was some grimace behind that grin. He couldn't exactly fake not feeling pain, but there was a grin there nonetheless. And a laugh. A faint laugh. Before he finally started to speak again...~

"Heh... Heh... Heh... Oh shit. Damn woman. You sure know a way to a man's heart.... Heh... Heh... Heh... You missed by a little bit. Tsk, tsk... But I know what you were trying to aim for... Heh... Heh... Heh... There's just one teeny, tiny, little mistake you have made here tonight, Less'. In all this excitement we've been having here... You actually managed to contradict yourself."

~He tries to stand himself upright now. Adrian's arm with the bullet hole just above it dangled at his side. The dark shadow kept a grip on the wound. Trying to stop the blood from leaking. Fuck. He was probably going to need to go to the hospital and explain what happened. Shit. He'll figure something out later. No need to spoil the fun here tonight. The dark shadow shook his head and continued...~

"Don't sit there and lie to me, Less'. You think I think you care? I know you fucking care. I know you fucking care a lot. Why else would you bother remaining up here with me? Why not just write me off as one of those petty breaths you despise? Oh, you care. You really do. You've just got a different way of showing it. I see it. I know you see it. You're just trying to keep a man like me honest by reminding me of just what the fuck I am... And in that act of honesty... You show you care."

~His eyes drifted down to Adrian's shoulder. He took another deep breath and released a heavy sigh. A hard, labored breath. Still can't believe this freaking woman shot him. Fuck. Then he nodded at his shoulder before looking back at Lessien.~

"Damn, I actually liked this shirt too. And now look what you did to it.... Damnit. Now, you sit there telling me talk is cheap and all that jazz... The fuck you want me to do? You want me to show you something? You want proof? You want to see the devil in the details? The darkness beneath the surface? The walking nightmare, as you so eloquently put it..."

[Lessien Melwasul]

~He had her there, didn't he? The best logic was usually simple, and found in the most unusual of circumstances. The gun of Lessien raised again. But instead of blowing his words back down his throat, she tapped the slowly cooling barrel to the side of her nose. The nose knows. She stared in those eyes again and with the cooling of the Glock 30, her Cheshire grin began to fade away. She lowered it again.~

~She took her eyes off the prize, and studied their surroundings once more. It was a strange place of shadows and height. The breeze was pure desert. The concrete tower still radiated the days heat, just like her skin. Her naked eyes looked up at the stars. Was that where this 'meeting' had been arranged?~

"What are the opposites of stars?"

~Alice asked no one in particular as her eyes circled above them all. Whatever the answer was, that was most likely the place this had meeting had been made and sent into motion. It really didn't matter, the minds of Lessien did not believe in fate. The form of Lessien started to back away into her shadows, and then back farther still. She wasn't stupid enough to turn her back on a wounded man just for the sake of the dramatic. She hoped everything was quite clear to everyone. Her retreat was slow and steady with her eyes back on the prize.~

[Adrian Taylor]

"Heh... Boy, Adrian... I think ol' girl might actually have a thing for ya... Heh..."

~The dark shadow said beneath painful breathing. In some weird, sick, and twisted way... He could actually write this off as being a good night. Every night above ground was a good night, but this night in particular became special somehow. There was some kind of name for the thing that occurred on this rooftop tonight, but he'd be damned if he knew what to label it as. He took a brief moment to let his eyes fall back upon Adrian's shoulder. He lifted his hand up a little bit to check out the damages done by Lessien. A flesh wound. Adrian'll survive, just like he always does. He'd be lying if he said he didn't feel a little bit scared that the bullet could have made it a few inches more to the side and pierced a lung. Or even his heart. The thick ice that encased it wasn't bulletproof. However, Adrian would indeed survive this night. If not? Give or take three days and he'll wake up in a hospital bed with Hennessy IVs hooked up to his arms. Death's icy grip was always a few steps behind Adrian, but never quite close enough to get a firm hold on his soul.

Right now? Adrian's arm was starting to hurt like Hell now. He just really needed to get himself to the closest hospital in order to get this damn hole looked at. Fuck. And he was going to have some 'splaining to do too. Oh well. He'll figure it out when he gets there. Another warm breeze blows. And so, the dark shadow proceeded to walk this bloodied form of Adrian to the fastest route of the medical attention he needed, dripping a trail from his fingertips behind him.~

"...I really did like this shirt too... Damnit...

End