restless
who: sonny & magnolia setting: their temporary place
Rez had been true to his word, giving them somewhere to stay that was off the radar. A basement apartment, little more than a couple of rooms, accessible via a steep set of stairs via a narrow alleyway, if Sonny hadn’t been told how to find it, he’d never have known the place was there.
Magnolia was happy so far with the accomodations. Sure, it wasn’t anything like what she would want eventually, but she’d come from humble beginnings, had had to start over before, so this was good. It was hidden, and that was the most important part, period. She was, however, chomping at the bit a little. She needed patience, and while she could do that, it wasn’t the easiest thing for her to pull off. She was a woman who liked to take action, not sit back and wait.
So that led to her pacing the little place, trying every half hour or so to connect to the neural network to find whatever buzz she could manage. It kept shorting, and she had a blistering headache and pain down the back of her neck, the ill connected implant burning a little every time it failed. She was on her third glass of wine and so far it wasn’t doing much to calm her down. Maybe she needed another. Crossing to the little crate that served as a table, she poured another glass, pausing as she considered then she just dumped as much into the glass as she could before she took a few long swallows.
“It won’t do any good you know.” Sonny spoke from where he was lounging on the couch in the corner that he’d converted into a makeshift bed. It was too small for his frame and godly uncomfortable, but he’d taken one arm off, so that his legs hung off the bottom at least, rather than his having to make like some kind of cat and kill his back curling up into a ball each night. At the moment, though, he just looked like he was artfully splayed out on the multi coloured blankets he usually slept under. Half sitting upright, a couple of cushions behind his head, eying the glass of wine in her hand and watching her pace. “If there was no news an hour ago, there’s no news now.”
She shot him a Look. “I know,” she said. “But there has to be news at some point.” She drank more of her glass, then eyed it, seeing she’d already drained most of it so she finished it off, setting the empty glass on the table with a click. She eyed him and momentarily fought the urge to roll her eyes at the fact that he looked good there. He had an effortless sort of attractiveness that happened at inopportune times. Like right now, when she didn’t want to be distracted. “I hate feeling like I’m not doing anything, like I’m waiting for other people to make a move.” She was back to pacing, voice clipped as she snapped her words even if the ire wasn’t actually directed at him. “I still have to wonder at the very idea of this situation. How exactly do men like that function? They destroyed everything we have because I’m not going to be a party to rape. And they do,” she made a sweeping gesture with one hand. “This, and I’m sure they’re licking their wounds right now but to them it probably looks like they won.”
“Short terms gains,” Sonny said, heaving himself up off the sofa and crossing the room to pour himself a glass of wine. “This won’t last. Let them have their petty victories. Let them pretend that we didn’t hurt them. We’ll come back and we’ll come back in such a way that we’ll break the ground from underneath their feet.” He lifted the glass toward her in toast. “It’ll crumble and we’ll bury them forever.”
She sulked just a little, looking up at him for a moment. “I know,” she said. “And they’ll be made an example of too, because you can’t let someone pull shit like this without everyone understanding that putting a foot as wrong as they did comes with consequences,” she continued. “And it doesn’t help that the things I want to do I can’t actually pull off right now.” She exhaled in a sigh. “I miss the old days where I just dragged people behind the train.” Her streets beginnings were showing, and she knew it. So she shut up. “Tell me your ideas,” she invited. Maybe listening for a while would help.
Sonny kept his back to her for a moment, taking a sip of the wine and using it to bide some time. The way she spoke, it sounded like she expected him to have a fully functioning plan and he had to admit that past experience had no doubt taught her to think that. Sonny was, however, more adrift than he let be known. His main contact even here was dead, they were reliant on someone he’d only known as a child, he was hiding quite how precarious their situation may be from Lia and hoping that they’d figure things out sooner rather than later. He was still confident that they’d come out on top, he just wasn’t sure how long that would take.
Taking a breath, he turned and changed the subject, hoping it didn’t sound too much like he was. “Do you know in what area of the city you want to re-establish ourselves?” he asked her.
She watched his back for a moment but since he didn't turn back around she went back to pacing. “No,” she answered. “I rather liked our old place,” she added. It had been pretty perfect. She'd enjoyed its location and the fact that it was hidden away. But that clearly hadn't ensured its safety. “Anyway, I don't know that I want to open doors again without taking down the threat hanging over our heads, I don't want to hand them a second target. I want to get a place up there and make them stare us down every day while we secretly plot their complete destruction.” She kept going. “What I want is to start digging. Hard. Get Lore on finding the dirt we need to exploit all three of those little cockroaches. Because they have a ton to lose, and no one like them doesn't have skeletons to rip out of the closet.” She stopped and looked back at him over her shoulder. “I’ll turn over every rock I need to. There have to be girls they’ve left in their wake who were paid off, or run underground. I mean to find them.”
“The guy that set us up with this place may be able to help with that,” Sonny said, hesitantly. “He seems to be well connected and his mother was good people.” He paused before continuing. “But I don’t know him well and I can’t guarantee how far he can be trusted.” So far, everything was as promised, but Sonny was an untrusting man by nature.
She considered that. “Nothing in life is guaranteed,” she said. She'd learned that the hard way. Her life had very much lent itself to the idea that nothing lasted forever, you never truly trusted anyone, and anyone who tried to sell you something 'foolproof' was just getting theirs. “If you trust him enough, then by all means, get him on it. I'll talk to Lore. With two on it, it should go faster.” Which was what she needed. Being allowed to languish would just have her crawling out of her own skin and that wasn't pretty. She tried to check the feeds again and it went through this time, but as expected, there was nothing.
“My guy’s probably gonna want something in return,” Sonny warned. “I have reserves, but if it comes down to promises and favours, I won’t commit us to anything without going through you.” He chuckled a little. “Not that anyone expects me to have that kind of power anyway.”
She nodded. She tended not to expect free favors from anyone either. “Ask what he might take in exchange,” she said. “If he wants a little private time, I'll take that on myself,” she said. She didn't know if he would or not, not everyone was the type, but a hell of a lot of people were. And while she didn't exactly enjoy entertaining clients herself, that didn't mean she wouldn't if it was for the greater good. After all, she'd started out as a whore, and still was no matter how far she put that in her wake. Magnolia glanced around for another drink, but wasn't sure they had any left.
Sonny glared, tightly, his first instinct to tell her that if what he wanted was a little private time then all deals were off. He wasn’t a total idiot though. They were backed into a corner and even with their nesteggs, they had very few bargaining chips. You didn’t just take one off the table without hearing terms. “Let’s see what he wants first,” he said instead.
She caught the glare, but was glad she didn't have to try and explain anything. He understood. She didn't relish the idea either, but still. “Maybe I'll see a little action this century,” she deadpanned, not serious, but having to find something to say. Magnolia had made the decision once she'd stopped taking clients that the only people she would be with for the duration would be those she chose. She would choose Sonny, did choose him, really. She was emotionally attached, whether she liked that or not. But he never made any moves toward her. To her it felt like there was something in the air between them, but it could be wishful thinking on her part, too. She'd go get in his space and tease him if she were in the mood to.
Sonny rolled his eyes and with that, the glare was gone. “Like you couldn’t just have anyone you chose,” he said in the same tone of voice. She had a way about her - everything she was, in his opinion, just who she was - that would make people go to the ends of the earth for her. Himself included.
“I’m not everyone’s type,” she said, eyes on him. Sometimes she thought she felt something between them, sometimes he seemed like a monk and she second guessed herself. She walked closer to him, til she got up close enough to brush imaginary dust from the front of his shirt. “And there’s of course the part where sometimes, a girl doesn’t want to do all the heavy lifting in the seduction department.”
He looked down at her. From this distance he was always aware of the size difference between them. She was so tiny, yet such a strong person. He didn’t kid himself, he’d be nothing without her. He was usually such a confident man, but with her… There was just so much to lose. “You want to be wined and dined? Swept off your feet in the old fashioned way?” he asked her.
“I’m not even sure what that would entail,” she confessed, still watching his eyes. “I’ve never been wined and dined without it being a show for someone to show up someone else. There’s always been an agenda. Not sure I would trust someone not to have an ulterior motive beyond trying to get me into bed.” She shrugged one shoulder in a smooth motion. “Maybe I just want to be wanted so bad someone can’t help themselves anymore.”
“Don’t look to me for answers, “ he advised. “I’ve never wooed anyone in my life. I wouldn’t know where to start.” Which was the god’s honest truth, even without getting into the real problem, which was the way he felt about his body. The scars the malfunction had left him with, the twist in his leg that had left him with the clear limp. The idea of getting that close to someone - even worse, someone whose opinion mattered, who he cared about, risking their reaction - left him frozen on place at best, running at worst.
Magnolia made a play at looking him up and down. “Shame,” she told him. “Someone’s missing out,” she added. She stepped a little bit closer to him, subtle, more just a shift of her weight from one foot to the other without coming into contact at all. “You do realize that you could woo someone with no real effort on your part, right?” she asked. “I’m positive you wouldn’t actually need to find flowers and candle light to get it done.” He was a beautiful man, to be certain, and she tended to find his ‘flaws’ all the more enticing. She loved the notch in his brow.
“Wouldn't want to lead them on then let them down,” Sonny said, easing himself back a little, maintaining his personal space, uncomfortable with anything else, even with her. Especially with her.
She noted his backing off, though she expected it. He only let her get close at certain times, and usually not for very long at that. But she kept pushing a little here and there, because, well, it was in her nature. That and he drew her in like no one else ever had. Of course she would find herself wanting someone who was utterly unavailable. Penance for her life as a borderline sociopath before everything went sideways for her. Arching a brow, she eyed him. “What possible standards are you imagining women are going to hold you to where you wouldn’t measure up?” She crossed her arms and drummed one set of fingernails on her bicep. “I’d lay money on the idea that you wouldn’t even come close to disappointing a girl. Or man, or ‘other’ for that matter.”
He laughed, darkly. “Right, because I’m such a bundle of joy,” he said, dismissively, side-stepping the real issues by concentrating on his less than stellar personality. Though, she saw the softer side of him more than most. The part that had a sense of humour, that could be quick witted. With her he had given up the pretense of playing the dumb brute some time ago. She knew him better than probably anyone ever had.
“Bundles of joy are exhausting,” she countered without losing eye contact, amusement on her lips, reaching her eyes. “Besides, you already have down what a lot of people find a huge turn on - you’re tall, dark and handsome with a big helping of the strong and silent type,” she continued. “Some people also get off on feeling protected, and you project that impression loud and clear.”
Sonny’s gaze skittered away, upable to look at her as she spoke. He couldn’t argue with that, but he also knew that things weren’t that simple. “Lia…” He made himself raise his eyes again, though he looked anything but confident. “I’m a mess.” Quite literally. He may have been able to shake off the addiction and move forward with his life, clean now for years, but the choices he’d made as a young man still haunted him. His ruined body, the fact that everyone from his past thought he was dead. Plus there was the added point that most people thought he was dumb as rocks. Everything she said was both true and a projection he put forward to keep on going.
She was slightly surprised at the turn there. And the use of her shortened name. He looked vulnerable, more so than she’d seen in...ever? It had her gazing at him, responding in ways she couldn’t describe. “Name a single person who isn’t,” she said, though it wasn’t a real demand for information. In her estimation, everyone was a mess. It just varied in degrees, in what areas of life were in the most disrepair. She was very obviously a mess herself, always had been, and she doubted very much that she would ever come out the other side. To her that idea was as plausible as unicorns. “Everyone’s a mess, Sonny. Even the people in their towers, who apparently have to go roll in the mud to make themselves feel alive, and can’t handle the slightest diss to their ego without gross overreaction. We both know I’m far less than perfect,” she added. He knew better than anyone else. She kept that firmly under wraps, always projecting an image, but he understood the truth.
“Then clearly you handle it better than I do,” Sonny snapped, then immediately wished that hadn’t come out so sharply, but he was feeling defensive, knowing she was pushing him. Knowing he wasn’t running away, but wasn’t running toward her either.
That was more like him. Shutting down even the hints of vulnerability. It was pretty much just what he did. While disappointed, she wasn’t exactly shocked. She also didn’t appreciate getting snapped at, and she took the opportunity to turn around and head for the door. “Clearly,” she repeated his word in answer to that, and then. “Don’t wait up.”