InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Redbull gives you wings!"

daughter2 (daughter2) wrote in jh_corporation,
@ 2008-02-19 13:30:00

Keep Good Company(Max)
Take care of those you call your own and

It was too easy to get out for the day. Much too easy. Usually there was a lecture. Usually there was the long and laborious process of her father getting someone tied up to the Corporate security web to untangle themselves from their routine to "baby" sit her for the day. A term her father insisted wasn't the case. But, Holly knew that it was exactly how it seemed. She also knew it wasn't because John thought she was untrustworthy....She should have been sacred perhaps but she couldn't face life being locked away. She loved him for being protective but it was terribnly inconvenient sometimes.

Today she had noticed that it was way too easy to make plans that didn't involve this process. Her father hadn't even paused to consider. He had something up his sleeve. He had done something and hadn't told her. He was smiling about it so she knew he thought he was being clever. Or actually he was because she had no idea what he had done.

At breakfast the situation had flowed breezy and sunny. She had expected him to be more closed off about the possibility of her leaving for the day long expedition. She had prepared to do some heavy negotiating instead it was as simple as folding paper "I'd like to go shopping today." Holly sipped at her tumbler full of orange juice, she licked at the pulp that had settled on her upper lip.

Her father had answered, "I thought the Germans were coming in around 10:30. Weren't you going to meet them and make sure they knew where they were going?" She had thought this was the excuse he would use while he got on the horn and called his people to find a suitable guardian for her.

"Of course Daddy. But that shouldn't take more than an hour. Maybe two if we get to chatting. It's been awhile since I've had an afternoon to myself. I'd like to get out for awhile if it's alright." She blinked then, her long lashes brushed her face with sweetness.

"I think you deserve to Sweetie." He smiled at her then. Holly noticed a secret in his eyes. It was too easy. He'd not even voiced concern. He was keeping something from her in a soft, sneaky sort of way that drove Holly crazy. She was such a snooper. She needed to know everything. "I'll have the car ready for you at 11:30"

She thought about how she could get him to reveal a hint of what he wasn't telling her, "I'd prefer to walk. I think the air will do me well. Ed said it would suit me to get outside more often and exercise would help me sleep better at night." She smiled at him with a cheeky grin and tugged on the tie of her robe. It was 7 am. He was already dressed and impeccably so. She thought he was the most handsome man in the world. She reached up and wiped at some lint or dust that had settled on his crisp navy suit.

But he didn't budge from this alleged independence he was gifting her with. He only said, "If Ed says that is what you need then maybe walking would be better." He kissed her forehead and added," Have a nice day today." That illusive rascal!

"You too..."she said after he had stepped away but she was still trying to figure out why this was so easy, "Did you hire someone else?"

He didn't answer her. He smiled at her, winked at her and then opened the door, "You said you wanted more independence right? Well...why are you asking so many questions? I'll see you tonight." She nodded and he left for his appointment.

And she got ready for the day right after, all the while wondering who he had hired, if anyone would be watching her for the day, if she could pick her wedge without someone seeing. She wore her most comfortable pair of underpants just in case.

At 10:30 she had met with August and Dieter, showed them the building, went over their appointments and suggested a few of the best places to have lunch near the JH Corporate Head Quarters. After she called a Taxi and waited for them to leave with the cab she started off on her own...immediately suspicious of whom was trailing her.

She even stopped to peer at the world around her. She scanned every face within her perimeter, watched everyone like a detective but no one seemed out of the ordinary. Then it struck her to go in to few small places and stay in each one until some same person followed her into the next.

The stores would have to be unrelated. She'd get a tea which was easily unassuming and easy to get at a nearby café. .... and then go all the way to the red light district to someplace she'd never had the balls to go to before. Yeah! It was brilliant. Maybe an adult book shop? And if the same person who was in the tea shop also happened to get some adult literature at the very same store she had gone to then she'd have her man...or woman.

And this was exactly what she started to do. First there was the stop off for tea at Dunkin Donuts. She grabbed a table facing the door and looked over each and every face that came in. Did anyone look like a body guard? Did anyone seem out of place? No one fit the bill. Not even....Hey?! Wasn't that....Max?

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guarding
2008-02-19 07:20 pm UTC (link)

It was a strange order coming from John. He was to follow Holly, keep Holly safe, and not let her know that her father had sent him to do such a thing. Max had wanted to argue, wanted to point out to the man then he would be little better than a stalker and would possibly scare his daughter. Except he did not argue with authority figures, even those figures that did horrible things like ruin people's lives. If that were so he would have dropped out of the military long before he did.

He wanted the job as well. Guarding Holly. Nothing could possibly get him closer to John, except he did not like the idea of using a girl. He also did not like the idea that John even had a daughter that he loved. It made things all the harder to consider, things were more complicating, because logically he knew how to hurt the JH Corporation more than anyone else. Except that sacrafice would be too high, he could not do that, he could not turn into a monster for the sake of revenge. His mother always told him never to take an eye for an eye. Max would just have to find an ear to cut off instead.

Following Holly was not too difficult. Max was generally one of those guys that blended easily into the crowd. He was trained to be invisible and blend in with his surroundings when he was in the army. Except wearing camaflouge right now of any sort would just make him stick out like an asshole in the crowd. The only camaflouge he had been able to come up with was a camera, very old fashioned in today's modern world because it took film and was not digital. It hung around his neck making him look a bit more like a tourist than he would have liked.

It only occured to him when he slipped inside the Dunkin Donuts that if Holly saw him with a camera she would think him even more of a stalker. Max bit his lower lip for a moment, suddenly wanting a cigarette, as he began to scratch the palm of one of his hands. He had paused inside the doorway of the cafe to sweep a glance at all that were in the room, though it appeared he was staring at the menu, only to have a guy push him from behind. Luckily he was not so jumpy as to pull his carefully hidden weapon on the man and just stumbled to the side.

"Move outta the goddamn walk way you faggot." The fat man said and from the look on his shirt appeared to have already had a few too many glazed donuts.

"S-sorry." The words came out a mutter under his breath Max did not give into anger, even though he should have punched the guy in his stomach. Instead he just fell meekly into place behind the man, shoving his hands into his pockets, and thinking rather mean thoughts of what he wanted to do to the fat man. Never acting any of them out.

He noted that Holly was watching him but instead of acting invisible he tried to give her a smile, nearly blushed, and gave a little wave of his hand before he stood in line to get a coffee. A coffee he was thinking of 'accidentally' spilling on mister fucking-sunshine in front of him.

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daughter2
2008-02-19 08:32 pm UTC (link)

It was Max! What a spot of luck. She'd wanted to see him every since that night. She'd been trying to find out where he lived. Her father had told her that when he was able he'd disclose that information to her. But it looked like she didn't have to wait to see him. Here he was now! She waved back at him with a smile as bright as a campfire and just as melodic as a song.

The thought of whoever trailed her was pushed back to the back of her mind...This was much more pleasant. Maybe she could even convince him to be her partner in discovering who it was.

She certainly didn't think he was the one her father had hired. He was young. Usually all her body guards were older, experienced, stodgy and a little on the serious side. Though, Max certainly could fight. Holly had witnessed this first hand that night...She sipped her tea instead of diving to far back in the past. She wanted this to be their real first meeting and their proper introduction to each other.

She ran manicured fingers through her Auburn hair, adjusted the ring on her finger and pinched her cheeks for appearance sake while his attention was turned toward the menu. Then she grabbed her tea, looped her bag around her wrist, got up and stood and moseyed on over as pretty as she pleased. There had been too much distraction for her to get a proper look at the potential body guards entering and exiting anyways. She'd have to convince Max to come along with her elsewhere. Was it too outlandish to get him to go to the red light district with her without him assuming any thing. Maybe if she explained. "Hello Max..." She saddled up to him while he waited in line. "I'm Holly...remember?" She didn't assume he'd remember her even if he already waved and she knew that he knew exactly who she was. "I've been Yearning to catch up with you. Fancy this! What a coincidence right?" She turned her attention to the entrance for a moment, a glance, as two more people entered. They were an elderly couple, the man had a perfectly groomed mustache that tickled his lower lip. The woman wore those comfy looking granny shoes. It was no one that was body guardish so she dropped her suspicion immediately upon recognizing that they could never guard a dessert never mind her. But it didn't deter her from going on with Max, barely with a breath as the excitement of stumbling upon the one person she'd wanted to see more than anyone had happened.

"What are you doing right now?" She was not shy at all. Not one bit of shy. She couldn't even imagine what it would be like not be able to talk to anyone. And talk she did. She barely gave him the opportunity to answer. "I'd love if you came with me. Will you spend the afternoon with me? I am trying to find some information out...." Her eyes glistened like a spy's would. There was something mystical and moving within the gleam of knowing that mirrored his face. "It would be such an honor if you came with me..." She fluttered her lashes out of habit.

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guarding
2008-02-20 05:10 am UTC (link)

It was hard to forget a face like Holly's and voice for that matter. Granted the voice came with a scream and was followed by the question of his name and had been the last thing that he had heard... Still, he did not like thinking back on times like that, she could likely describe the fight better than him. All he could remember was a distinct ringing in his ear which came from guns being fired so close at range. He still felt the ghost of those rings even now.

Or maybe it was just the sound of her voice. Holly had come up to talk to him, he was not sure what to do about that. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he watched her talk so animated and full of life. Max opened his mouth to say something, to stutter out something that would be suave and considered 'cool'. Briefly his mind flickering to what one of his buds would say in a situation like this, but somehow 'nice shoes want to fuck' did not seem like the appropriate answer to any of the questions she was asking him. Or, for that matter, anything a man would say to a woman whose father could have them turned into dog food.

Still, this felt lucky, she was asking him to go somewhere with her. Except she had to do the eye-lash batting thing that produced a faint blush that crept across his cheeks and made him cough into his hand. "I.. I.. I would be d-d-delighted to come with you, miss Holly."

He finally got out and saw the line move a step forward, he followed after it, not quite sure what else he was suppose to do. "Wh..where are you planning to go? All I am doing is.." As if she should care what he was doing, it was obvious what he was doing, he was buying coffee! Max mentally smacked himself in the head and finally just shrugged his shoulders and smiled full-on at Holly. "Just lead the way. You are doing better then? I.. I worried for a bit that you had gotten hurt."

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daughter2
2008-02-21 02:13 am UTC (link)

She didn’t even let on that she noticed the blush on his cheeks though her eyes certainly sparkled at all the possibilities this afforded her. And he was blushing. It was sweet. He was sweet. He had a nice mouth…the sort of mouth that’s adush with sincerity. His lips were soft as he stuttered through every word. It made her wonder why he stuttered at all. “You’re flattering me.” She said, spuddling through her ego and feeling he was putting her on. She was only a girl. The daughter of an important man…maybe. But still only a girl. “But I will swallow up your flattery like it’s a spoonful of sugar.”

She stepped up with him closer to his turn. The big man that Max had words with only moments before she swooped in was at the register ordering his late morning coffee, a latte, 2 dozen donuts, a breakfast sandwich, some jelly sticks…It was going to be a little while.

Max had asked her a question and she turned to him with a head chock full of secrets and her face alight with mischief. She leaned in close to him, close enough so that the sweet scent of peppermint tea might be sniffed off her breath, “I need your help Max. I think someone’s following me!” She kept it at that for the time being. “I think we should shake him up somewhat. What do you think? I thought you could accompany me to somewhere dodgy. Somewhere girls like me shouldn’t go…..” Now her face was full of questions…curiosity. “You wouldn’t happen to know a place like that would you?” her eyes went shifty and she looked to and fro. Then she smiled. It was sweet. But it was full of trouble.

He’d changed the subject! Then he did know places like that!! It made her giddy to realize he did. She’d let him off the hook for now, until he got his coffee and then she’d sneak the question back up again, “I’m fine. Fit as a fiddle really…because of you.” She didn’t mention Jerry, her scrapped AIA. She wondered if he had been buried….burned…recycled. Maybe she should ask Ed about that when she saw him at her next doctors appointment. He’d be frank with her. He’d tell her the truth. “You look good Max.” She tapped the camera around his neck, “What is that? A film Camera??” She looked surprised that he’d have such an antique weighted around his neck. It was a novelty….obsolete

The line moved up again. It was Max’s turn to order. Then they could be on their way! To somewhere he wouldn’t want to bring her she was sure….What better way to get a body guard to come out of the wood work than to go somewhere dirty and dingy?? In her mind she was rubbing her palms together.

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guarding
2008-02-22 03:30 am UTC (link)

Nerves. Despite being in the army, and seeing how other men acted towards women while he travelled, Max had always been unable to disrespect them and found them all a bit intimidating in someway. Especially if they were pretty in any sort of way because a part of him felt unworthy for a woman like that to even glance at him. One like Holly, who was kind and sweet, he did not know how she could stand to even talk to him. A little low on self-confidence, he had always been second in life, so why would any girl look to talk to him first? "Mary Poppins fan?" He asked quietly, Missy always liked the movie when she was younger. A classic these days, but the poor watched a lot of old movies having given up trying to obtain any new ones.

She leaned in close, he stumbled back, caught himself with one arm out. Then he began scratching his arm with his hand as he watched her and listened to her. "Wh..why would you want to go somewhere like there? Isn't that d-d-dangerous?" Following her? At that Max glanced around at the crowd to see if anyone was watching her. He knew what to look for in the types of people that followed another and he saw his refletion in the glass door and frowned. Right, following her, that would be him. "Not that I'm scared or anything," he felt he needed to inform her of this since he caught himself stuttering on a bad word for anyone that was a proper guard to stutter on, "Um.. I suppose my old neighborhood wouldn't be a good place for girls like you..."

He was trying to think of a place she would be relatively safe and a place that she would not normally go to. That seemed like the best and safest option apparent so far.

Max almost appologized for Jerry, not that it was his fault, but because it was sad now-a-days even when an AIA died. He worked with plenty of GI-AIs in the military. When she mentioned the camera he smiled a little, as if proud of it, and held it up a bit. "Yeah, I like old pictures. I feel they get a better sense of the image than the digital ones. In the ancient days they thought a picture stole parts of your soul..."

Then it was his turn to order and he stumbled up there. He ordered a large cup of coffee, two packets of sugar, one creme. When the lady gave him his total he fished in his pocket for money, it all came out to be mostly change, and paid the annoyed looking cash register lady. "Th..thanks." He said as the woman let out an annoyed sigh.

"So now where too?" He asked Holly, stepping away hurriedly from the woman. The fat man was no longer around to have the coffee spill on him, how tragic..

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daughter2
2008-02-29 06:58 pm UTC (link)

She smiled knowingly at him and offered him a wink. Mary Poppins? Sure.....She liked all those movies. She hadn't seen any of them in forever but she knew what he was speaking about. Umbrellas and Soot was what she thought of first. But Mary Poppins was the least of what she was interested in ,and, especially how into the movie he was. What she wanted to get to was what sort of seedy part of town he was willing to take her. She glanced behind her shoulder to see if she could give a gander at the fellow responsible for her safety. There wasn't a hint of who it was. She pursed her lips, duck like and defeated and turned back again to Max.

"Why would I? No...The correct question is; Why wouldn't I?" She pontificated. "There are very few places I've been that haven't been full of gold leafed spectacle. I want to see the whole city. I want to go somewhere I shouldn't" This wasn't an entire a lie but it wasn't the whole truth so she bridged the gap with, "Plus....I am positive my father's hired a new body guard for me or I wouldn't have been allowed to go out this far. I am curious to see what hard handed weapons master he's gotten for me this time." There was another glance over her shoulder. "I am sure he's playing with me by not telling me. He's such a jokester." But she'd get him back and rightly.

His Camera. Well? She couldn't make fun of his ancient technology if it made him happy. "I'd love to see whose souls you've stolen then Max. Maybe some day you'll take me home and show me." She smiled prettily. This camera might come in useful later. She wasn't sure how but it could be.

Now it was his turn and she waited patiently. Sipped her coffee and felt guilty for not offering to purchase his. Maybe later she could treat him to something in the darker bits they were journeying to. "Where to? Don't go soft on me Max. I want to see something scintillating." Her cheeks flushed as she admitted, "Somewhere naughty." Of course...you had to understand that her idea of "naughty" might not be what you expect. She thought of naughty in the most literal way.

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guarding
2008-03-01 08:41 pm UTC (link)

Once more Max flushed with her words because she was talking about him, well unknowingly, the whole body guard thing that her father had hired. And now she was trying to put herself in danger to find out who it was. For some reason he had red lights flashing off in his head that warned of trouble. In fact, he could feel the world fading into red around her then turning back to its original color. Max took a deep breath, not sure if he would use the word 'jokester' in the saem sentence as Mister John, but decided not to point that out. "Maybe the reason why you.. you shouldn't go there is because you might get hurt." He said in all seriousness, wondering if as a bodyguard he was also suppose to sway her decisions away from going into 'no-go' zones.

Take her home? Show her? Well, that would be safer than doing what she wanted to tod. He just dumbly nodded his head to her words because he could not think up a further arguement. His mind was not moving quick enough and he was dully reminded this was why he would always be a follower and never a leader.

"Naughty?" The first thing that popped into his head with the word 'naughty' was a strip club. No, he should not take her to a place like that. He should not go into a place like that because he always seemed to need to hide in the restroom. Women were so pushy in those places... "Couldn't you just look in a magazine for those type of things?" Words almost came out a squeak, and he briefly wondered if that was the wrong thing to say to Holly.

Either way he started to walk, and motioned for her to walk beside him. His eyes were casually scanning the area around them as he looked for potential threats. In this part of the area there was none. "We.. well, I guess..." He was thinking too hard, it was hurting his head. "Red Light district has naughty things." Wow, that word did not feel right in his mouth. "N-n-not that I would know, or anything, about how naughty, like I go there looking for the naughty... And.. I think I'm putting my foot in my mouth so I'm just going to hush."

Great, now she was likely to think him a pervert on top of a million other things. She was probably thinking he used his camera to take pictures of naked women, not fully clothed. But women that were disproportional and always liked having their legs spred.

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daughter2
2008-03-03 03:42 am UTC (link)

Maybe Holly thought of a strip club too. But in her weird, romantic mind it was old fashioned burlesque with pasties and tassels and those ruffled on the derriere under pants with…What were they called? Oooh Fish net stockings. She knew about nudity and crass pornographic perversity but that wasn’t naughty at all. That was down right crude in her understanding. Naughty was fans and flirting. Naughty was spankings. Naughty was kissing someone’s neck and giving them goose pimples and toe curling sensations for the thrill of wanting more.

Naughty was not a fully exposed vulva, shaven bare like a child’s bits and parts.

That was gross and didn’t have the least bit of imagination attached to it.

“No!” She said and giggled embarrassed. “I don’t want to see…you know…that much exposure.” Well…maybe she did, but in a detached way. He was starting to walk. For a second she thought she had completely offended her but then he motioned for her to follow after him. And she did. Without any hesitation she did. And it wasn’t because she was blindly trusting neither. It was because she happened to trust him that she went.

“You don’t like that word. Naughty” She told him. It wasn’t up for debate. He didn’t have a chance to argue. It was obvious by how his cheeks were red and his iris had swollen and swallowed up most of his pupils. “I couldn’t think of a better word. I don’t want to see anything soooooooo crazy that I wish I never saw it. I just want to see something I probably shouldn’t but then again something that is colorful and fresh. Something that wouldn’t completely turn your thoughts upside down at the thought of sitting in on it with me.” That was the most truthful she had been all day. “I’m not sure about that sort of thing.” She corrected herself because she saw how embarrassed he was too, “Not that you do. But you a man right? Men know more about that sort of thing…don’t they? I mean….” She shrugged, “I just want to go somewhere a girl like me hardly goes.” And she knew what sort of girl that was; Privileged and Spoiled.

Positively, if he had brought her somewhere with Donkey Dorks and Virgin Mouths she would have been frightened and turned off and she would have excused herself and gone home and wondered about Max - the man that had saved her, no more!

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guarding
2008-03-04 04:00 pm UTC (link)

He laughed, softly, more of a chuckle at her words. Max had to briefly wonder if this was what happened to a girls that were sheltered and privileged, unlike himself, if they just wanted to go into places that they could potentially get into trouble because they had never seen them. There was still a faint blush to his cheeks, but he was relaxing, as he watched her from the corner of his eye. Holly could demand his full attention but he had to keep a look out for potential threats in the area.

“Well, I can take you to the places I use to go to get into trouble, when I was a bit younger then you.” He offered, trying to take his mind off the naughty word and the pictures that flashed through his mind, none of which were appropriate to share with Holly. Max was very glad they had not developed mind reading technology because his thoughts were the only thing that ever seemed private anymore.

“And a better word than naughty could be…” and he paused in thought, thinking really hard because there were suddenly wrinkles on his forehead. “…semi-sinful?” Because full on sinful might equal up to all those odd bondage places they had in the red light district.

Not that he had ever been, mind you, but he had heard about what went on there. Those rumors were so shocking he thought he might faint.

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daughter2
2008-03-04 04:34 pm UTC (link)

She walked with him, maybe a step behind out of habit. Not because he was a man but because she had body guards her whole life. The blue sky didn't help the grey of the city. Concrete and cement loomed up and over them, reaching up to the gods and the clouds with humankinds own message about advancement and evolution. How pitiful she thought.....How pitiful that it was amazingly complex for the animals they were. She had no idea the irony.

"Deal. You want to bring me to your old haunts?! I accept your invitation entirely!" The thought made her giddy with excitement. She loved knowing people. This seemed an intimate enough gesture for two strangers. She felt like she really could make a good friend today.

"Semi SINful! Why Max...you are controversial aren't you. What would my father say!" She was only kidding of course. Semi Sinful was as dangerous as a chocolate bar or a pack of chips. She'd let him think he got away easily for now. But as they moved along...if ANY thing caught her fancy she'd drag him in with her. He was a gentleman and wouldn't allow her to go in to a place if ill repute by herself. She found it wickedly entertaining to exploit his sweetness for THEIR good. She felt he could do with some excitement.

There was a quick look behind her as she tried to determine faces that she'd seen through the morning but there was none she recognized. In fact, The only face that had been with her so far was that of Max's. He seemed alert didn't he? She wondered.....It would be too good to be true. If she knew for certain then the sky was the limit.

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guarding
2008-03-06 07:01 am UTC (link)

At least there she could be protected and it honestly was not that far of a walk. It was interesting how she fell into place behind him, so use to having a bodyguard. He wondered briefly what she would say when she found that was what he was, her bodyguard, her safety. Then decided he was not sure he really wanted to know. What if she was angry at him? Not that her anger should really matter, but somehow it did. Women were really scary when they were angry.

He smiled a little at her excitment. Of course his smile quickly faded when she mentioned her father and there was that mixture of rage, which did not show, and that fear which did shine through briefly. He swallowed, one of those large swallows, his coffee burning his throat. "Hopefully he would say I found a good change of words for you to use." Except he had paled again. Oh yes, this one was trouble.

Still, it was not much of a walk to get to the poor part of New York, pushing through all the crowds of people. She would likely suddenly notice a difference in the people as they walked, there were more sitting on the sides of roads, a lack of cars, the streets a little more dirty, and buildings condemend. It did not so much as scream as a bad part of town, but it certainly was not a place anyone would like to travel alone at night. Or even in a group of two.

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daughter2
2008-03-06 05:01 pm UTC (link)

Holly saw the flicker of fear that overcame his face like a shadow. She couldn’t understand how anyone could fear her father. He was the most loving man she’d ever known. He was generous and kind. He had a sense of humor that was twinkling and playful. He was sunlight. He was everything to her. “He might. I do keep him busy worrying.” This was meant to relax him. To make him feel like he had nothing to fear. Why would the man that rescued her from death have anything to fear from the man that would be eternally grateful to him for saving her?

Speculation.

Inside her mind, wires and microprocessing hardware were sparking with analysis. Memory patterns bounced back against numbers, numers made up her experience. Finally she formed Suspicion. Nothing her processors had returned was logical fact. But the way he was acting and her past core of memories alighted some lost resource that had her believing her father had hired Max as her new body guard. She didn’t know for sure. There was nothing in her databanks that concluded that he was definitely who she was guessing he was.

There was no anger. She hardly ever got angry. Only when she felt it was required of her. Even then she would never realize that was all it was. Electric Organic Impulse. Manufactured. Fraud. Faux.

None of this registered in Holly. None of it registered TO her. None of how her mind worked was known to her. It was similar to the way Max was questioning how stupid he had been to take this job. He wasn’t sure how nerve cells worked the way they did. So it was the same for Holly.

Then she realized that they had moved through a picture reel of disintegration. Maybe he wasn’t aware of how much trash littered the street but Holly was completely aware of every weed growing out of ever cranny, every piece of paper that littered the path they were on, ever weather stained board that patched up a broken window. She’d never walked through this section of town before. “This is where you live?” Not disdain. That wasn’t what was hinted at as she asked. No. There was surprise. She didn’t have anything else to add to that. There was no, “it’s nice.” (that would be an obvious lie. At least to her it would be.) She was used to velvet and immaculate, satin and flawless. This was grungy. “I dig it.” It reminded her of some distant place.

She considered asking him if he was who she thought he might be. But that wouldn’t be fun….She stepped out in front of him and into the street seemingly not bothering to look where she was going or what cars were coming. She wasn’t going fast. In fact there was plenty of oppurtunity for him to yank her back.

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guarding
2008-03-08 04:58 am UTC (link)

"I think I can see why." He said, without really thinking, or maybe he was thinking too much. Thinking more about the places they were going and how she wanted to go somewhere she should not. He imagined if he were a father, even if he was evil man like Mister Corporation, and had a daughter like Holly he would certainly worry. And he could see himself hiring a man to keep her protected at all times because she wanted to go running off into dangerous places where girls like her could hurt.

Whatever went through her mechanical mind did not seem to go through Max's. To him she was just a girl, a little odd, but she was just a normal girl. He would never suspect her for being anything else, just like every other person who had ever interacted with Holly. Not that he could really tell the difference between real human and fake human. All thoughts on SMs were rather mixed.

They entered into his old home and he was not quite sure what reaction she was going to give him. He was still trying to think of a good place to take her that he haunted when he was a kid. There were plenty of abandonned buildings and he imagined a girl like her had never explored those and seen the things people left behind. "Use to. I don't live here anymore." He said, with an almost fond smile given to a place the held good and bad memories.

Then his attention was drawn to the fact she was moving ahead, out into the street, where people sped in cars because the law was their own here. The car came, blew its horn, right about the moment Max reached out to grab Holly's hand and tug her back from the street and to the safety of the sidewalk that had him.

The man driving rolled down his window and screamed, "Get outta the fuckin' street!"

Max shouted right back at the man, "Slow down you wanker!" Wanker, a word he picked up overseas, that he enjoyed its use. But in that moment he had fallen away from being the stuttering, blushing guy that she had met at the coffee shop.

Though the instant that moment passed he was looking her over, for bruises or wounds, his cheeks flushing. "A-a-are you alright?" And he had just managed to stop with the stuttering.

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daughter2
2008-03-11 03:00 am UTC (link)

The way he tugged her from the street was startling. He exuded strength and power. The way he was when he wasn't flung in to action had confused her the most. He had been completely in control just then. It made her wonder why his confidence was shattered when everything came back together as seamless as water.

“I..um. I should have been more careful.” She looked up at him through her strawberry hair, light and wispy and no longer precisely in place the way it had been. No she looked more like a rumpled teenager than the heiress to a unmovable corporate powerhouse. But her wits had gone nowhere and her thoughts were definite, “He’s my bodyguard alright….” and it scared her. Because she liked him. And she was trouble. She figured anything having to do with her was trouble. He was blushing and she felt guilty.

She reached out and adjusted the camera around his neck so that the strap was flat how it should be and the lens was facing out, waiting to capture the world around it with it’s large black beckoning lens. “Are you alright Max?” He was so soft now, so unsure…and suddenly she wanted to go home.

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guarding
2008-03-12 02:15 am UTC (link)

Of course he would have saved her bodyguard or not. It was just in him to try and help others. It was how his mother raised him, to look after others, Markie tried to do the same just in the bad way. Max was trying to do it in the right way. Even though there were alternative motives for working with JH Corporation, for watching her, he still wanted to protect her. And did hope nothing bad would happen to her.

"Yeah, and he should have been driving slower. I guess that's what makes this place bad though, right?" He said trying to get himself straight. Carefully he backed up away from her, his cheeks still red. He wanted to move his palms over them and wipe the redness away but refrained. Instead he coughed into his hand before scratching at his palm.

He nodded his head to her question, searching for words again. "I'm fine. I'm always fine. But lets get out of the street." Max glanced about them as he lead her further onto the sidewalk where children were drawing pictures with chalk on the street. The future gangs of new york, already showing off their artistic talent.

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