Risky Business [2430-2-1 Sun 6:00 pm]

[Regan Verena]

Regan was a mess. He'd barely slept in days, and he couldn't stop glancing over his shoulder. Every second, he expected his luck to finally run out (not that he had much luck to begin with) and for the cops or the soldiers or whoever the fik else was after him to be there, and to just... take him away.

All his friends had disappeared, and even his enemies wouldn't touch him with a ten foot pole. It was like everybody knew that Regan was a wanted man. Except nobody, not even Regan knew what the hell he'd done to piss off Tribulation Cain.

Tribulation Cain. Regan hadn't ever met the guy. He hadn't ever met anybody Cain knew. He hadn't even sneezed in the crazy bastard's direction. Regan was small time okay? Regan owed a lot of people money he couldn't afford to, and he was always one day away from getting himself killed, but he hadn't done anything worth catching Cain's attention. But he'd gotten it somehow, and now he was barely holding it together.

There was only one place left to go. He wasn't friends with Titus. He barely knew the assassin. All Regan had done was let himself be groped a little and got Titus in to see the racers at one event. That was it. That was all. But right now, Titus was Regan's only chance of getting out of this intact, and maybe of finding out why he was suddenly in so much trouble.

The walk to the Top was terrifying. There were cameras everywhere, and cops, and people who looked at Regan like they knew he didn't have any business to be up here. He'd bluffed his way in mostly, looking for elevators with extra credit or making up bunk about how he was somebody's nephew and he was in a bad way but it would all be good as soon as he got in. And he got in. For once, a little good luck came his way, and he managed to find Titus' apartment.

Regan knocked at the door, head swivelling around every few seconds to make sure the coast was still clear. If Titus wouldn't help then... then Regan didn't know what he'd do. Die maybe. Maybe Titus would save Regan the trouble and just do it for him.

[Skye Thompson]

The knocking startled Skye. She stood up from her chair next to the window, where she’d been finishing her sketch of the Terran city-scape. The knocking came again, and Skye tensed. Titus wasn’t home, and she wasn’t sure when he would be. She might have assumed it was him at the door, but she knew better now. Titus wouldn’t knock on the door of his own apartment. He’d just let himself in. Why hadn’t she thought of that before accidentally opening the door for Digeo?

But that was over, and at present there were more pressing questions. Should she open the door? Who could be out there anyway? Perhaps it was Persephone. Skye wanted to see her so badly that she almost ran to the door and threw it open at that very moment. But she stopped herself. It could be someone else, but who? Digeo perhaps? But then it could also be Persephone. She could ask who it was, but that might seem suspicious. If it was someone like Digeo, Skye knew that she didn’t want to seem wary. She wanted to seem relaxed, and perfectly normal, as if everything was fine. No, the only thing she could do was open the door.

Skye ran down the steps and approached the door cautiously. She grabbed the handle, twisted it and pulled the door open before she lost her nerve. It wasn’t Persephone. It wasn’t Digeo either. She had never seen this man before. Trying to keep her expression calm and unphased she studied him uncertainly for a moment. “Hello?”

[Regan Verena]

Regan almost flinched when the door was open. Titus was his only hope, but Titus was still an assassin, and Regan had a healthy fear of men who killed for a living. But he managed to keep himself together, reminding himself that Titus had liked Regan... sorta. He'd liked him enough to be creepily close to him, and that was something that Regan could use.

It wasn't Titus. It was just some pale blonde chick who was looking at him like he was a piece of dirt on her walkway. Maybe he was. Maybe Regan was just a piece of dirt, but he was a piece of dirt that was going to survive.

"I need to talk to Titus." He said, not able to stop himself from glancing around her to see if maybe he was just out of sight. "I'm Regan. I uh. I met him down at the Circut. I helped him meet Mac, and he uh. Look, is he home? I really need to talk to him immediately."

Another glance to the right. Was that a cop coming his way? Regan felt his heart size up a little. no no no no he thought go the other way, don't be a cop, don't come here, please, fingers clenching a little as he tried to force the figure to go away with his mind.

[Skye Thompson]

“Titus isn’t home.” Skye regretted the words as soon as they were out of her mouth, but it was to late to take them back. She struggled to keep her face impassive, hoping she had managed not to flinch when he mentioned the Circuit. Adrian had loved it there, always helping his gang devise new plans to sneak inside without paying. But Skye pulled herself quickly away from the memory and looked back at Regan. Titus hadn’t mentioned him, hadn’t warned her about him the way he had about Digeo. Did that mean it was safe to let him inside?

Somehow, Skye didn’t feel threatened by Regan. There was something familiar about him, the look in his eyes, his tense expression, in his halting manner of speaking and the way he kept glancing around nervously. It was like looking at her reflection in the mirror. And suddenly, Skye found herself experiencing an emotion rare to her. Pity. She felt bad for Regan, knowing how hard it was to feel so frighted, to spend your every moment glancing around corners, waiting for the thin ice to break under your feet. Skye wanted to help. “Look,” She said, gathering her courage once more and trying not to doubt her decision, “Do you want to come in?”

[Regan Verena]

His heart sank as the girl told him Titus was out. And Regan knew she must have seen his face fall, because she reacted to what he'd said. It wasn't outright disgust, but it must have been close. What did she think he was? And who was she to Titus? Some sort of girlfriend? He must have looked so pathetic, some kid showing up on her doorstep, asking about her boyfriend. Maybe he'd call to the cops and that would just end it all right now.

But then, against all odds, she offered to let him in. Regan glanced to right again. It was a cop coming his way. Well. Maybe not his way, but in his direction. And if he saw Regan's face- "Yes please." He said, not able to keep the desperate tone out of his voice. "I would love to come in right now." Regan stayed polite, even as he was panicking. Politeness would get him inside. Politeness might save his life. He couldn't afford any less at this moment.

[Skye Thompson]

Skye opened the door wider and stepped back so Regan could come in. She still wasn’t sure that she’d made the right decision, but she could tell she was giving Regan what he wanted. Whether that would turn out to be a good or bad thing in the end she had no idea. Yet somehow, she had a good sort of feeling about the whole thing. She was helping someone else, the way Titus had helped her. That was a good thing to do, wasn’t it? In the past, Skye had always been the one needing help. She’d never really had the chance to help someone else.

It was a strange sensation, feeling needed, rather than being the needy one. Her father had needed her, but in a completely different way. This felt good. She was in control, rather than having someone rip what they needed out of her. She could choose if she wanted to give it to them or not. This time, she had chosen to do so. Hopefully it wouldn’t turn out bad for her. But what now? “I’m not sure when Titus will be home.” Skye murmured finally, “He said he didn’t know how long he’d be out.” She thought she knew why that was, but she wasn’t about to tell Regan. And she wasn’t going to think about it either.

[Regan Verena]

Regan wasted no time, entering the moment the door was open to him. The relief he felt at being away from the police officer, and Cain for a few more hours, was quickly replaced with a feeling of awe... and of jealousy. Titus' apartment was gorgeous, stark and clean and expensive. The guy made more in a day than Regan had probably seen in his entire life.

Deep in Regan, a part of him loathed Titus and his apartment and all his money. It was the same part that had loathed his parents and sister and her useless awful fiancée, who wouldn't even respond to Regan's messages now that Cain was on the warpath. They got everything, and Regan had to do whatever they wanted, just hoping they'd give him a little slice. Sometimes, it made him laugh a little. Mom and dad had turned Maggie into a whore, and now Regan had ended up in the same boat.

The chick didn't seem all that bad. She'd let him in, which was better than he was expecting. And she wasn't demanding he pull off his boots or stop being so filthy. He hoped she was right, and Titus would be coming in soon. "Thanks again. I'll just. I'll wait here." Regan didn't want to think about sitting on those black and white couches, or stepping any further in. At least, not until Titus was here.

"So um..." Regan wasn't good at conversation. At least, not this sort of conversation. Yelling and cursing, and begging, yeah okay, he could do that. But polite conversation? He gave it a try, since she had let him in, and if he just stood here all quiet, she'd probably think he was one of Titus' assassin friends and maybe get creeped out. "How do you know Titus? Are you his girlfriend or wife or... something?" Something was pretty likely in the top. Years of watching Maggie be somebody's "something" had taught him well. This girl didn't seem like that thought. Seemed pretty young for a wife, but hey, the Top did things differently.

[Skye Thompson]

As soon as Regan was inside, Skye shut the door behind him. She had really done it now, but so far she did have any regrets. All she could do was hope Titus wanted to see Regan as much as Regan wanted to see him, or he might be angry with her for letting him in. She nodded as Regan spoke, feeling incredibly grateful to him for starting a conversation. What he said however, shocked her.

“What?!” Skye’s eyes were wide. She might have laughed if she was more relaxed. “No! No!” She shook her head vehemently, “I’m Titus’ sister!” Then , feeling she might as well get the story out of the way, she continued, “Well, half-sister actually. I used to live in the Below with my step-dad, until Titus found me and brought me here.” She hastily pulled her mind away from thoughts of her “step”-father, and focused on Regan’s face, waiting for his reaction. Hopefully he believed her, because if he didn’t well, that was a big problem. And somewhere in the back of her mind, a little part of Skye thought it knew exactly how Titus would solve that problem.

[Regan Verena]

Titus has a sister? Regan was kinda shocked, even though he knew logically that it was more than possible. It was just hard to think of Titus having a... well. A family. He was an assassin, and he was terrifying, and intense in all the wrong ways. The thought of Titus having a sister just... didn't compute. It felt more like the punchline of a joke he'd only caught the end of.

"oh um." Regan made himself respond instead of gawking like a dumbass. "Really? That's. Cool. I mean. It's nice that he found you. Family's important..." He trailed off. Regan had just meant to make conversation, just silly fluff, but the last thing he'd said had been a little truer than he'd meant. His face slipped a little, thinking about Maggie. Where the hell was she?

He could see Skye looking at him. She was probably getting weirded out by Regan. That wasn't good. He espeically didn't want the assassin's sister thinking he was a creep. "I've got a sister too. Only I don't know where she is. I'm looking for her right now but it's hard... she just disappeared a few years ago, and never wrote or anything." Of course, it was hard to write when you were wanted for murder, and Regan had gone to the Below to get away from the cops, but sometimes he wondered where Mags was, and why she hadn't ever come back. The police would have cleared her pretty easily, espeically with Bastian in the wings. But she hadn't, and now it looked like Regan wasn't ever going to find her. Bastian was the least of his worries with Cain in the picture.

[Skye Thompson]

Just when Skye thought she couldn’t be anymore shocked, Regan started to talk about his sister. She watched his face, listened to him speak as if in a trance, stunned at how similar they were. In fact, it was starting to creep her out a bit. Tears started to bead up in her eyes, but Skye fought them, hoping it wasn’t too obvious. At the same time, she couldn’t help wondering if Regan had ever cried himself to sleep, missing his sister. And slowly, cautiously, she opened her mouth.

“I… My- friend, disappeared a few years ago too.” Thank God she hadn’t said ‘my brother,’ “He was a pilot, he went to Nox, and he… never came back.” Her eyes stung, but she refused to cry. “Since I got here, I’ve learned more about Nox and I think… I think I know why he didn’t come back.”

[Regan Verena]

Regan couldn't help but wince a little when she finished her sentence. Nox. Regan didn't like to even think about going off-planet. Space was full of things that would kill you, and Nox was even fuller of them. Vampires and werethings and whatever else monsters they had lurking out there in caves. Titus' sister's friend was long dead if he never came back.

"That sucks." He said, sincerely, and then realized that maybe a little more tact was called for. "I mean, I'm sorry about your friend..." Regan didn't bother offering any false hope. If he was alive and living out there for whatever reason, he would have send her a message over the Network. But he hadn't, so the man was obviously dead.

There was a bit of a silence. Regan didn't talk to people about his sister, unless he was showing them a picture and asking them to find her for him. But nobody had seen Maggie. Her network account was untouched, and her face wasn't to be seen anywhere on Terra. She had just... disappeared.

"Sometimes I'm pretty sure Maggie's dead." He blurted out. Regan hadn't ever said that outloud. He'd only thought it, and only at night, when he was kinda drunk and another person told him that no, they didn't know his sister's face. It was a bad thing to think. It was like, if he thought it, it would be true. "I've never told anybody that. I don't know why I'm telling you it. Sometimes I think she's dead, and I almost think it's better because if she's not dead that means-" He stopped himself before he went ahead and told Skye that it meant he was free. If Maggie was dead, then he could never give Bastian what he wanted. Bastian would just have to go fik himself because Maggie was never ever coming back because Maggie was dead.

But he couldn't say that. He just looked at Skye apologetically, hoping she'd fill in the blank with a more appropriate answer.

[Skye Thompson]

“Yeah.” Skye murmured. “Yeah it does.” She’d never heard someone put death so plainly, but in a way it made sense to her. It was probably the same thing she would have said. When you came down to it, without going into the gory details, that was all there was to say anyway. She was surprised by what Regan said next, but not as much as she should have been. Nor was she all that shocked what he admitted he’d never told anyone of his suspicions about his sister’s disappearance.

Skye remembered only to well the first time she’d met Persephone, when she’d shocked even herself by suddenly blurting out all her fears about her father. On a smaller scale she’d done the same thing with Titus. This whole thing was starting to frighten her a bit. Stop it! She wanted to scream at Regan. Stop reminding me of myself! And when he stopped talking, she knew exactly what he been going to say. “Because then you wouldn’t have to worry about what would happen if she came back.” She whispered. It was exactly what she would have said. Not about Adrian, but perhaps about her father. “What did your sister do?”

[Regan Verena]

Regan nodded, feeling a sudden rush of relief over him. Skye had filled in the gaps all on her own, and even better than that, she'd filled it in with something that Regan agreed with. If Maggie came back, maybe that would solve everything. Or maybe it would make everything worse. Regan just wished he knew, one way or the other, if she was dead or alive, and if he could stop living his life in this awful holding pattern.

"My sister..." Regan paused, not sure what he should tell Titus' sister. Lying was second nature to Regan at this point. But maybe this wasn't the best time to lie. Titus could find out the truth anyway. And if he lied and told Skye one thing, and she told Titus and he found out? That could end badly. That could end so badly for Regan.

"My sister was a whore." Regan said, and there was no stopping the bitterness in his voice. "Sorry if I offend you, but that's what she was. A whore for rich men." And now Regan was on the edge of doing the same. That's what Maggie had reduced him to. She'd left, and now Regan was in the home of an assassin, hoping to buy himself another week, just enough time and money to keep alive.

[Skye Thompson]

Regan seemed to be wondering what he should say. Skye watched him hesitantly. She knew that look, knew Regan was thinking about lying to her. That fact that she knew what he was thinking had her completely on edge. It wasn’t right that this man was standing here like her reflection in the mirror. But it was true. Regan moved like Skye. When he spoke, his voice rose and fell like hers did. His face displayed his emotions just like Skye’s, although she knew he could make it look perfectly impassive if he wanted to. So could she.

But she wasn’t expecting what Regan said next. Skye flinched and let out a small cry, as though Regan had hit her. She knew he’d noticed, because immediately he started to apologize. Skye shook her head. “No.” She whispered, “It’s-it’s not that. It’s just that- that word. M-my stepfather used to call me that. But I don’t- can you- I mean… no one ever told me what it means.” Skye’s father had called her lots of words she hadn’t known the meaning of, and Adrian had always refused to tell her. “They’re just words Skye,” he'd said over and over. “The less you know about them, the less power they have to hurt you.” But Skye wanted to know how she was being hurt. Otherwise it was like dying of a sickness you couldn’t cure because you didn’t know the cause. And Skye didn’t want to die.

[Regan Verena]

Her stepfather called her a whore? Or...he used to. There was a noticable past-tense in there. Maybe that's how Titus had gotten his start as an assassin. One dead step-father later, he decided that maybe he liked the idea of killing other people for lots and lots of money. The thought made Regan's blood run cold. Regan had done a lot of bad things and he'd done them over and over, but murder was the one thing he never wanted to do again, not unless he had to.

He wasn't sure he wanted to tell Skye the meaning. If she'd lived in the Top for this long without hearing it, maybe it was because Titus didn't want her to know. But... it was weird, but he didn't want to lie to her. It wasn't just the fear of her brother keeping him quiet. Skye felt familiar. And it almost seemed like she understood him, as strange and as unlikely as that was. Maybe Titus wasn't his salvation here. Maybe it was Skye.

"Well... a whore... a whore is a woman who has sex for money." He explained, trying not to hurt her feelings, but striving for the truth. "They get paid to do whatever somebody else wants. Maggie did that, but for rich men. My parents pushed her into it, so we'd get rich. And Maggie just went along with it..." The bitterness crept in again. Maggie had done anything for mom and dad. And what had they done for her, for Regan? He hated them. And deep in his heart, he hated Maggie too.