... (cruelwanting) wrote in the_dome, @ 2013-06-27 14:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | 04-03-2017, kenzie, kenzie and mannix, mannix |
You Hiring?
Who: Mannix and Kenzie
Where: Mockingbird Lane (near the cornfield)
When: Late morning
Warnings: Mild language
With her ‘date’ with Mickey almost completely forgotten, Kenzie stayed in bed until she found herself simply laying on her back in bed, staring at the ceiling above her. After a while, she managed to find the energy to slide out from underneath the blankets, and she yawned as she climbed into the shower.
Almost an hour later, she dressed in a loose, black shirt and her frayed, well worn jean skirt. Kenzie reapplied her dark eye make up and braided her hair before leaving the house to find something distracting. Kenzie finally felt like herself again, more than she had the night before, when she’d gone to meet Mickey.
After a bit of wandering, Kenzie ended up at the end of one of the streets near the corn field. The sky looked ominous and dark, and Kenzie found it a bit fascinating, as she wondered if it would actually storm inside the dome. Or maybe the dark clouds were just rolling through, creating overcast for a while before the sun reappeared. Finding a tree to sit down against, Kenzie lit up a cigarette and stretched her legs out in front of her. She had the vague observation that her left Converse would need some duct tape around the heel, as it was starting to separate and flop from the shoe itself. Kenzie knew she ought to just buy new shoes, but shoes cost money, and she liked her Converse. They were sort of like a security blanket, in a silly kind of way. Swaying her feet back and forth on the grass in front of her, Kenzie lifted her gaze to the sky again, watching as the sky seemingly grew darker.
It was rare for it to be so overcast that Mannix could step outside during the day, but when he had the opportunity, he had to take it. He hadn’t realized he would miss the daylight until he’d gone a week without it, and even if it wasn’t bright outside, it felt good to be out. He’d taken the time to go into town and get some supplies, using a wheelbarrow to roll them back to the house. It was on the road to home that he caught sight of Kenzie, sitting beneath a tree.
“Hey!” he called out, rolling the wheelbarrow to the side of the road then setting it down. “I didn’t know you were stuck in here. Where’ve you been hiding?” It was more likely that he’d been the one hiding, unable to come out during the day, but she didn’t know that.
Kenzie glanced in the direction of the male voice, but it took her a second or two to realize the greeting was directed toward her. She squinted for a moment, then realized that she knew the man approaching her. It was a more familiar face than anyone she only sort of knew within the Dome, which prompted a quick, almost relieved lopsided grin as she lowered her cigarette. "I didn't know you were stuck either. I've been all over the place, though. Don't like staying inside much. You live over here?"
“Yeah, Jack and I bought a house,” he said, strolling over to join her under the tree. Nothing he had in the wheelbarrow would go bad if he took a small break and if anyone tried to steal it he’d break their legs. Well, maybe not. He had to remind himself this was avoid confrontation week. “We figure that if we’re gonna be stuck, we might as well make the best of it. We’re opening a brothel.” He almost came right out and asked her if she wanted to work for him, but that felt a little presumptuous. Just because she was good in bed didn’t mean she wanted to make her money that way.
The fact that Jack and Mannix were opening a brothel didn't surprise Kenzie in the least, although she did raise a brow, simply because it was a good idea. And almost immediately she envied the dollar signs that she knew the brothers would probably see. Because not every guy was as noble and stuff as Mickey appeared to be. "Yeah?" She offered him the cigarette, in case he wanted a pull off of it. "You're gonna make a shit ton of money, huh? Bet it's hard getting laid in here."
“People in here seem to be a little more uptight,” he agreed, accepting the cigarette from her and taking a drag before handing it back. It reminded him that he wanted to track down Skylar at some point, or visit Clementine again. “Everyone I’ve talked to seems to think it’s a good idea, and over half of ‘em are women, which I think really says something. I don’t know why getting laid is such a big deal in here, but I’ve decided it’s because they see the same people every day. They see consequences instead of opportunities. So we’ll give ‘em something that’s guaranteed no strings attached.”
"I guess being uptight is a way to describe it." Mickey had said people wanted normality. And it seemed not putting out was normal. Kenzie took the cigarette back, taking a drag off of it thoughtfully before she smiled and blew the smoke up and away from them both. "I offered no strings attached to someone last night and he didn't bite. Though you sorta have strings... the money kind." Looking over at Mannix, Kenzie studied him with interest. "How much you paying the girls?" Because she was running low on cash herself, and since she couldn't read, she didn't know what she could possibly do and be good at. It wasn't like she was about to go work on one of the farms or anything. No way. Her skills were limited inside the dome.
“You’re shittin’ me,” Mannix said, then laughed, shaking his head. “His loss.” He couldn’t imagine why a guy would turn down a night of fun with Kenzie, especially when he knew what they were missing out on. He wouldn’t turn his nose up at the chance, especially since it had been a good two or three weeks since he’d gotten laid last. “The money kind of strings is easier for people to handle. They know the cost and what they’re getting for it. Relationships aren’t that simple.” He wasn’t really one to know, but he’d seen it on the outside. Hell, the few he had were complicated enough. “Depend on how much they bring in. We take sixty percent until they’ve covered their living expenses, and then it drops to forty percent. Seventy-five for oral sex and a hundred and fifty for general sex. For every additional hour, it’s another hundred. Five hundred for a whole evening, which is six o’clock to two a.m.”
Kenzie shrugged and smiled, not at all bothered by Mickey turning down her offer. It was what it was, and she was pining over it. Like Mannix said, it was his loss, right? She watched him as he spoke, taking the occasional pull off her smoke and glancing every now and then down to his lips. She liked their shape, and how he spoke. It was probably why she had always been willing to find a private place with him whenever they crossed paths outside the dome. The talk of money, however, distracted her, and Kenzie brought her gaze back up to his face, offering him the last of her cigarette as she tried to do the math in her head. She wasn't terribly educated in math either. Her cousin always did that stuff for her. But it still sounded like a lot of money. More than she had now. Kenzie twitched her lips to the side thoughtfully and then grinned. "You hiring?"
Mannix took the cigarette and finished it off, enjoying the calming effect it had over him. Smoking had always been the vice least likely to kill him and now that he knew it couldn’t he smoked like a chimney. He eyed her carefully as she asked the question he’d been anticipating, since he could see no other reason she’d want to know what the girls were paid. They’d never been more than a casual fuck to each other, yet he found himself mildly protective of her. She’d be the only girl he employed that he’d actually slept with. “We are,” he answered, exhaling away from her before stubbing the cigarette butt out in the dirt. “Are you interested?”
"Might as well," Kenzie said with a small shrug. "The longer I'm stuck in here, the poorer I'm getting. And I don't think I'd be good doing anything else around here that would pay me." And she didn't think she would have the patience to answer to a stranger. At least she knew Mannix. Kenzie rested her head back against the tree bark, still watching him. Then her lips curved slowly. "Bet I could make you lots of money." Overconfident, maybe, but Kenzie knew what she was good at. If she could earn some cash from getting a guy off? Why the hell not? Kenzie had never had any emotional ties where sex was involved, and she was pretty damn sure that wasn't about to change, especially while she was stuck in the dome.
There were plenty of other things Kenzie could probably do, Mannix thought, but the problem was that she wasn’t likely to do them. Neither was he, nor was Jack. They weren’t cut out for farming, or fishing, or chopping wood. They’d been traders for a reason and being stuck in the dome didn’t change that part of them. “Oh, I know you would,” Mannix answered with a little smirk. “You’re the only girl I can actually vouch for... Is that gonna bother you?” It shouldn’t, but he wasn’t sure. He’d already decided that he wasn’t sleeping with any of the girls that worked for him. If he’d done so in the past, there was nothing he could do about it now.
Kenzie lifted a brow and then shook her head. "No. Why would it? Not like anything we did out there is gonna affect what we do in here." And hey, if someone asked Mannix for a personal recommendation, didn't that give her an edge? They'd have plenty of fun together before, and he always seemed pretty satisfied when they parted ways. Kenzie went back to swaying her feet back and forth, her eyes studying his face again as she smiled. "I'm guessing I won't be allowed to fuck the boss, huh?"
“Well, you don’t work for me yet,” Mannix said, his grin becoming wolfish. “But no, it’s kind of a personal rule. It’s bad business, and I don’t need any of the girls thinking I’m playing favorites or some shit.” He also liked a bit more of a chase and he wouldn’t get that from someone who worked with him. Mannix knew he’d have to work at it for December, but so far he’d only taken steps backwards and he was working harder than he’d ever had to. At least he enjoyed it with her. Even when they were just talking, it was more of a connection than he’d ever had with another person other than his brother.
Laughing, Kenzie could just imagine a whore throw down over Mannix's favor. Girls could be super catty over that kind of shit. Kenzie liked to think she was above all that crazy bitch stuff, but the fact of the matter was, her temper was mostly violent and explosive. Never over anything as insignificant as jealousy, but Kenzie had definitely had her moments. "It's a smart rule to have, I think. We'll just leave the fact that I'd be your favorite between us, huh?" Smirking softly, Kenzie let her gaze fall to his lips again. She really did like the shape of them. "You think I can get you into bed at least once before I have to call you Mr.?"
“I think that can be arranged,” Mannix smirked, his eyes dropping to scan down her body before eventually finding their way back up again. There were things he should probably tell her, things she was bound to notice, but then maybe he would work them to his advantage. He was colder than she’d remember him, but it wasn’t like it was hot outside, especially with the sun completely hidden by the dark clouds in the sky. Listening to her heart, it was almost like his own was still beating. “Where are you staying?”
She liked it when he looked at her like that. Really, Kenzie liked it when any guy looked at her like that. Girls sometimes acted all offended and uppity when men blatantly checked them out, but Kenzie thought it was flattering. Who didn't want to feel desirable? Especially these days. "Strawberry Lane," Kenzie answered, wishing she could remember the exact address, though the numbers escaped her. She lifted a brow and straightened a bit from the tree, her eyes still on his face. "Not too far from here. You gonna come by?"
“Come by?” he grinned. “You mean you don’t want to fuck out here, under the tree?” While a good part of him was teasing, he wouldn’t actually be against it, except for the part where just about anyone could stumble by in the middle of the day. There were kids in the dome, the one thing that Mannix actually wanted to shelter, and he didn’t think an advanced lesson in human sexuality would be appreciated. Mannix rose to his feet and offered her a hand. “Come on. I’ll show you the place, though I’ve gotta think about how to work it if you don’t live on site.”
Her eyes lit up, because she would have screwed him right there under the tree. It was exciting, and who didn't enjoy public sex? But Kenzie didn't often put a lot of thought into her actions, even if those actions involved corrupting the youth living under the dome. Smiling, Kenzie took his hand so he could help her to her feet. He was the second boy in two days to do that for her. Wasn't that nice? "I think I could live there, if you wanted me too. Not like I've grown attached to where I live now or anything. It's just a roof over my head."
One thing that most people didn’t often realize about Mannix was that he’d been brought up with manners, good schooling, and money. He knew how to treat a lady and was more intelligent than he often behaved. Helping a lady to her feet was just something he did. “It’s up to you,” he said, releasing her once she was back on her feet. “We have room and it might be more convenient, but I’ll let you decide once you see the place.” If she stayed there, she could count on Mannix and Jack making sure any and all customers adhered to the rules. If she was at her own place, it would be a bit harder for them to enforce anything.
"Okay." Kenzie wasn't entirely sure what to expect, and she decided to wait until Mannix showed her the house first. Obviously it would be more convenient, and she knew her cousin wouldn't want her dragging strangers in and out of their place all the time. But she was also wary about having to share living space with a bunch of people she didn't know, especially girls. Maybe if they left her alone and stayed out of her stuff, Kenzie could handle it. "Whose idea was this anyway? Yours, or Jack's?"
“I think it was Jack’s,” he said, leading the way. “We used to talk about what we might do if we ever settled down. Not that we ever planned to, but it was fun to come up with ideas. I’m pretty sure this one was his. I thought growing pot would be a lucrative business, and I still do, but it takes longer to establish and you’ve already got a dealer in town, so I hear.” He hadn’t met Skylar yet, but he planned to, at least after trying a little of Clementine’s stash.
Kenzie grinned, imagining that conversation. Let’s open a whorehouse! Of course, it wasn’t likely the discussion involved those words, but still. She liked thinking that it did. At the mention of pot, Kenzie lifted a brow briefly before nodding. “Yeah. Ace. Well, Skylar. But I think Ace fits him better. I bought some from him a couple days ago. Gone already.” She sighed, completely put out by that particular fact.
“Did you give him that name? Or was it something he came up with?” Mannix asked, amused. “I’ve only got one little plant, so it’ll be a while before I can do anything with it, but the idea is to tie it in to the brothel. If people need a little extra to relax, it’ll be available to ‘em.” If they were going to build a house of debauchery, they might as well go all out.
"I heard him talking to himself," Kenzie explained with a soft chuckle. "He called himself Ace, so... yeah. I don't know if he came up with it or not. But hey... sex and drugs. Just like the good old days. People're gonna love you." She paused and smirked. "Or hate you. Should be fun, huh?"
Talking to himself? This sounded like the kind of guy who’d grow pot, that was for sure. “Hey, I’m used to that kind of polarization,” Mannix grinned. “Though if they’re gonna hate me, I hope that comes later. I’m trying to practice restraint this week.” Right now he was only one day in, which didn’t mean shit. Anything could go wrong before now and the end of the week.
Kenzie gnawed on her lower lip for a second before looking up at Mannix. “Yeah, but it’s more that they’ll hate you to your face. The ones who hate you the most’ll be the ones lining your pockets. I don’t think people can resist the forbidden stuff, you know? Especially now when it’s so rare or something.” Wishing she had another cigarette, Kenzie tugged idly at one of her braids. “Why are you practicing restraint so much? Just to make it a habit or something?”
"They can hate me all they want if they're paying me in the process," Mannix laughed. The key was that he needed to avoid threatening them, and definitely needed not to kill them. He needed to adapt to a life that was a little more low key than he was used to, even if that involved being a pimp. That would never cease to amuse him. He was a pimp. "This girl I know challenged me to go a week without threatening anyone. To make it a habit, since I'm really can't go killing people while we're trapped in here."
That prompted a quick laugh from Kenzie. Challenges were fun, as long as there was something beneficial for her in the long run. "I guess that's smart, since you're stuck in here for... well, however long. Don't want to get a reputation, huh? Though sometimes threats are necessary. You're gonna be selling pot and sex... seems like you can't be rainbows and sunshine all the time, huh? Besides, that's not who you are anyway." Kenzie patted her pockets, trying to remember if she brought anymore cigarettes. Which she hadn't, seeing as how they could have gotten crushed in her pocket. Shit. "Is there something in it for you if you make it a week? Or just bragging rights?"
"I don't mind the reputation, but people will act out if I'm seen as too big a threat. They might be comfortable in here, but they're still survivors. So I'm trying to tone it down a little," Mannix explained. December was right; he couldn't keep punching teenage girls and threatening to cut people's fingers off. That didn't mean he wouldn't teach them a lesson if need be, but he could deal with that when it came to it. "Well... besides it being something I probably should do, I'm kind of trying to prove to this girl that I can," he said, looking over at her as he started up the front walk towards the house.
“Yeah?” Kenzie looked up at the house as she followed Mannix, already taking in the details as best she could. If she ended up living there, she probably ought to try and remember where and what house it was. She wasn’t used to being settled in one spot this long, and while she should have had a good sense of direction, the dome continued to throw her a bit. “You want to fuck her or something?” It seemed plausible, if Mannix was taking the time to try and change himself for a girl.
"You could say that," Mannix said with a little smile. In terms of what he generally wanted with girls, December was... something different. He most definitely wanted to fuck her, but he also enjoyed her company and that wasn't quite as common. Mannix was always willing to work for what he wanted, but in December's case he wasn't even sure there'd be a payoff, not since he'd become a vampire. And yet he was still working for it. "This is the main house," he said, dropping off the wheelbarrow and leading her inside. "Jack and I live in the basement."
Given that she had never been interested in a guy beyond sex, Kenzie couldn’t really comprehend wanting to do anything more. Obviously not everyone had the same mentality that she did, but Kenzie didn’t always remember that. Following Mannix inside, Kenzie began to look around curiously, trying to imagine the place with other girls. “How many girls are you gonna have?”
"Three or four and at least one guy, maybe two," Mannix said. It depended on the guy and if he swung both ways. And the same went with the girls. They needed at least one on each side to cater to same sex interests, but it would be nice if they had a little variety. "We could always have more, I guess, but the house is only so big."
Three or four wasn’t a terribly intimidating number. And Kenzie felt like she could avoid three or four pretty easily if she wanted to. “Guess that’s a good number for the size of the dome.” She shrugged and continued through the house slowly, looking around at everything that came into view. “I like it,” she decided finally, turning to look at Mannix with a grin. “It’s bigger than my house, anyway. Not that I spend a lot of time there. Give me a good room and I’m yours to boss around.”
“It’s a good number for the size of the house,” he said, leading her from the sitting area to the kitchen, then past a couple of the downstairs bedrooms. “It’s one of the biggest houses in the dome, and has to be to accommodate that number. If we end up with four girls, two guys, plus Jack and I, there’ll be eight of us.” And that was the most the house could hold. He wasn’t even sure they’d get to that number, but there were options to do so, if necessary. “You’re mine to boss around?” he asked, raising a brow. “I’m trying to decide which room would fit you best.”
Kenzie glanced briefly in the bedrooms they passed, mildly amused to know there would be bought sex happening inside of them. It was probably clear that her morals were skewed, but to Kenzie, sex was nothing more than an act designed to get off for fun, or relieve occasional bouts of tension. Or pop out babies, but she had no intention of ever doing that, so it barely crossed her mind. Smirking softly at Mannix, Kenzie shrugged one shoulder. “As long as you’re payin’ me, why not?” That didn’t mean she would be complacent and obedient, but if there was money involved, Kenzie didn’t mind answering to Mannix on occasion.
Mannix turned to face Kenzie as he stopped in front of the room that he thought could be hers. The question that sat in his mind was one he hadn’t asked any of the other girls, but that was because he didn’t know them. It wasn’t that he cared for Kenzie, but he knew more of her than any of the others and this wasn’t a line of work he’d ever pictured her in. “Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked. “It’s good money, but it’s not for everyone.”
She arched her neck to look past him into the room, wondering if it might be hers. Then she looked at him and shrugged. “It’s just sex. And it’s money. I don’t think I’d be good at anything else. At least this way I’m dealing with just one person at a time, getting paid and then they have to leave.” Kenzie cared more about the money than anything else. There was alcohol in the dome, and pot and they weren’t free. Her lips twitched softly. “I can do it.”
They were very different, the two of them. Mannix was used to taking what he wanted, or earning it, but he would have never used sex to get it. It just wasn’t his way. Now, pimping out the girls, that was different, at least in his mind, and if she was willing to be one of them, then he was fine with that. He just wanted to make sure. “Then the room is yours,” he said with a little smirk. “And the sooner you get working, the better for all of us.” He still had some work to do around the house, but he needed money to make that happen.
Kenzie used whatever she could to get what she wanted. If that included sex, she had no qualms about it. It probably helped that Kenzie had never complicated the act with emotion, and she didn't plan on that happening now. Things were different inside Delphi, and she had to adapt quickly to maintain some semblance of a decent lifestyle. "My room, huh." Kenzie stepped inside to take a look around before she turned toward Mannix and lifted a brow. "You're not technically my boss until I officially start, right? You ought to help me christen my new bed before I start sharing it with other people."
It was a tempting offer, but one he should have taken when they were out by the tree. Now that he had her in her room, she felt too much like an employee. It felt too easy, like he should be paying for it himself. Mannix found himself shaking his head, halfway annoyed with his response even before he said it. “I’m not christening any of the beds in this house, as appealing as that may be,” he said, leaning against the doorframe. “You’re not the first one here. It would set a bad example.” Like he said, he didn’t need anyone thinking he was playing favorites.
Lifting a brow, Kenzie studied Mannix's face, torn between amusement and annoyance. Amusement won out, for the most part. And then Kenzie shrugged and moved past him, back into the hall. "You're going to get my hopes up and then leave me hanging, just like that. Rejected twice in a day and a half. Between you and Mickey, I might just start doubting myself before I even get one guy through that door." She grinned before turning on her heel to head back to the front of the house. "See you soon, bossman."
“Wait, Mickey?” Mannix asked, half shocked, which was rare. “Mickey was the guy who turned you down?” Now he really wasn’t sure how he felt about missing out on his chance to fuck Kenzie.
Looking over her shoulder at him, Kenzie paused in her steps as it sounded like Mannix knew Mickey. "Yeah. Guess he's too nice a guy or something. Some girl paid me to bid on him at the auction. I had to go on a date and everything." Which was fun enough, despite the guy being hung up on someone else. "You know him?"
“I know him,” Mannix said, his arms crossing over his chest as frustration began to bubble up. “The girl that paid you, did she have dark hair and piercings? petite?” He wasn’t sure if he was annoyed or amused himself.
"Yeah." So Mannix knew her too. Kenzie was guessing all three knew one another, though she didn't know how and wasn't entirely sure she cared. "Mickey was nice to me though. I even got a kiss out of him." She grinned, leaving out the part where she had bribed it out of him. "Doubt I'll see him again though."
“Yeah, he’s a nice guy,” Mannix said with bit of a sneer. Mickey was a nice guy that needed to get his teeth punched in, in his opinion. If Kenzie wanted a kiss out of Mannix at this point, it wouldn’t exactly be a nice one. Instead, he turned and punched the wall behind him, putting his fist clear through to the other side. Having never done that before, he stared at his work, not sure what to say.
She hadn't been expecting that, and Kenzie cringed when his fist hit the wall. Then she stared wide eyed before walking over to look at what he had done. Damn. "Okay," she said slowly, turning to look up at Mannix. "So you don't like Mickey. And now you've got a huge fucking hole in the wall..."
Slowly, Mannix pulled his fist from the wall and inspected the hole. It was one thing to lose his temper and another to destroy the house. “At least it wasn’t a person,” Mannix sighed, thinking of his bet with December. One week. That’s all he had to manage and he’d already put a hole in the wall. “Mickey just pisses me off. He had no reason to turn you down.” Neither did he, for that matter, except that he really wasn’t feeling it at the moment. Instead, he just wanted to rip someone’s head off.
"Yeah, because they would have probably ended up in the hospital," Kenzie pointed out, given the damage Mannix had just done. Well, that was interesting, she supposed. Did Mickey hate Mannix too? Appearing confused for a second, Kenzie eyed Mannix. "Not everyone is casual about sex, I guess. It was possible he just wasn't attracted to me. Which is cool, I'm not heartbroken over it." She decided not to add that her so called date had been kind of enjoyable, even if it hadn't been real.
“I might have over-done it,” he agreed, looking again at the hole in the wall. That really was more than he expected and something he should probably look into. If he was stronger than he’d been before, he needed to be aware of it. “He’s hung-up on December,” he said, looking back at Kenzie. “I don’t think you’re the first he’s turned down because of her. And I’m probably wasting my time there, as well. You want a drink? Or a cigarette? Because I could do with both.”
Over-done it. Yeah, with a new hole in the wall of his yet to open brothel. Kenzie studied the gaping, drywall again before his offer of a drink drew her attention away from the mess. “Yeah, both sound good to me.” She hadn’t had a drink in a couple of days, so she wasn’t going to say no if he was offering. “You might not be wasting your time, you know. If she’s bribing a stranger to bid on Mickey, instead of doing it herself... kinda telling, isn’t it?” Kenzie had no designs on Mickey whatsoever, so she wasn’t exactly sure what to say about that situation. Relationship drama was not for her.
At least drywall was easy to fix, and he still had the paint, seeing as how he’d just painted that wall yesterday. Both walls, in fact. Being stuck inside all day, Mannix did a lot of painting. “Let’s go downstairs then,” he said, leading her back out of the main part of the brothel. “I don’t know what’s up with them. It’s obviously more complicated than anything I’m used to.” And he honestly wasn’t sure he wanted to get involved. It was the hanging around thing that was messing him up, seeing the same people over and over and not fearing that his involvement with them might get them killed. Outside the dome, he’d been prone to flings, but he’d just turned down Kenzie. A part of his brain said taking her up on her offer was too easy, even if it had been easy before. Not knowing what he wanted, having a drink seemed like a good option.
"I don't like complications," Kenzie said simply, following Mannix downstairs. "That's why I don't like being stuck in here. I like trading, and selling, and then leaving. I'm good at that. I don't want any of this... Mickey said it was normality. People want it, apparently. Dating, and developing relationships and making things hard. You start to feel it, and you can't run anymore." Kenzie reached up to tighten the end of one of her braids, her darkly lined eyes on Mannix. "If you like her though, you're already screwed, I think."
The door to the basement was in the back of the house and Mannix used a key to unlock the door. They’d added the lock for their own privacy, to separate work from their own lives. They had even set up the storm door as a separate entrance, for guests that they weren’t going to take through the brothel. It said something that they were even thinking like that, considering guests, when they’d been living out of a truck for years. “Nobody likes complications,” Mannix pointed out as he led her down into the basement. “You don’t like attachments, which some people find comforting.” He wasn’t going to include himself in that group, since his attachments were extremely limited. He found having his brother around comforting, but that was a different sort of attachment. “I can like her without being attached,” he said, circling around to the fridge and immediately pulling out two cold beers. “Why do you avoid it?”
She liked people every now and then too, but she was never around them long enough to become emotionally invested in them. Honestly, Kenzie sometimes thought she was too damaged to ever get to that point anyway. But she simply figured liking someone you saw often, wanting to change your self in any way - even repressing violent urges - meant that attachments were bound to happen. But Mannix's life was none of her business, and he could live it however he wanted. She glanced around the basement, always observant, always searching for something to swipe and add to her collection. Then she watched Mannix as he fished two beers out of the fridge, walking closer to him so she could hear him better. "Because it's the smart thing to do. Least for me." Kenzie had a tendency to latch onto things she began to think of as hers, and that included people. And she feared that would ultimately lead to pain, which was something she tried to avoid, though she would never say so to Mannix. It wasn't something she often thought about, herself.
The basement had a different feel from the rest of the house, set up a bit more like a bachelor pad than a brothel, with all the windows painted over with black paint. Neither Mannix nor Jack were used to having space for knick-knacks, so there was little laying around, other than the start of Mannix’s attempts at creating weapons on the coffee table. It was a new hobby, one he hadn’t quite figured out yet. “Same here,” Mannix said, opening her beer then handing it over before he opened his own. He took a sip before fishing his cigarettes out of his pocket. “You’ve always been this way? Or just since the zombies?” he asked. He didn’t really know that much about Kenzie, but he’d never really asked. It had never really mattered.
She reached out for the beer and took a long pull from it, her eyes still on his face as she considered his question. In all honesty, Kenzie wasn't sure how to answer him, because she had always been whatever, and whoever, she needed to be in any situation, even before the zombies. So she simply shrugged and lowered the bottle, licking the taste of the beer from her lips. "Maybe. Kinda helps that I haven't met anyone yet that I think I could tolerate for very long. Or who could tolerate me. Sometimes I can talk to someone and know that if I get attached to 'em, they'll hurt me. Or worse, I'd hurt them. So it's better to step away from it before it gets to that point. Being a trader made that easy."
Mannix could relate to all that. It was along the lines of how he thought, though he generally wasn’t worried about someone hurting him. He’d never let anyone that close, though he’d seen it happen the other way around. People that knew him got hurt, or got used against him. Keeping them at arms length kept everyone safer. “What’s your end game, Kenz? Did you just plan to keep trading till it killed you? You like the rush, or you just can’t stand to stand still?” These were all suitable answers in his opinion. He was just curious where she stood, as someone else that was trapped in the dome.
After another drink from her beer - it would likely be gone in another few gulps or so - Kenzie felt her lips twitch into a small, lopsided smile. "I guess I planned to wake up every morning, do what I gotta do to make it through, then hope I'd wake up again the next day. I don't like standin' still, but I don't see anything wrong with that. I don't like feeling trapped." And that was about as honest as answer as she had given anyone who wasn't her cousin. But it was the truth. She had felt caged in, claustrophobic, when she lived in that tiny trailer with her parents, then just her dad. Kenzie had never any place to hide but her closet when her dad wanted to use his fists on her and even then he'd always found her. In a way, Delphi felt like one big closet, though she couldn't expect anyone else to understand it. Or her. She tapped a nail against the beer bottle, lifting a brow as she studied Mannix. "And of course I like the rush. Never knowing what's gonna happen, never feeling like my life's become predictable. Being a trader, though... making deals? It's what I do. What I like to do. I'm good at it, and I like getting what I want."
“Awesome how the people who don’t like being trapped got trapped in with the rest of ‘em,” Mannix said, taking another sip of beer before he took the time to light one cigarette and hand it over to her, then light one for himself. He hadn’t realized there was a claustrophobic bone in his body until being trapped in the dome. It was something he tried not to think about, or else he’d get all worked up over it again. “So will the routine here be too monotonous?” he asked. “Not that anything in Delphi’s been predictable thus far, but you’re basically taking on a steady job. One with a different kind of rush.” He supposed that, from her angle, it could still be a game. Pick a guy and try to reel him in. She could still get what she wanted.
Kenzie took the cigarette, taking a drag from it before smirking. "Hard to imagine working in a brothel as monotonous, but I'm sure it'll be fine. I need the money, and I like sex. So why not? It's a steady job, sure, but it's better than being on those farms, or waitressing or whatever. And if it does get boring, there're ways to make it more exciting, huh?"
Mannix liked sex too, but he didn’t like it... like that. He decided it might be better to hold his tongue in this case, since he wasn’t sure he could explain why without putting down the job he wanted Kenzie to take up. “Very true,” he said with a little smirk. He was pretty sure he’d had her up against the hood of his truck. Not even in the truck. That had been fun. “So we’re ready to go whenever you are. The rest of the girls know the drill. Knock on their doors if you want to meet them, though I don’t care one way or the other.”
She wouldn’t have cared much if he looked down on her, or her views on sex. Kenzie supposed she had her reasons for shutting down her morality, or the emotional aspects of how she went through life, and those reasons were her own. She could count on one hand how many people she cared enough about to value their opinions. Really, she probably only needed two fingers for that. “Okay, yeah.” Kenzie pulled the cigarette from her lips and released the smoke. “Tomorrow, okay? That way I can get some stuff from the house, and talk to my cousin and all that.”
He wasn’t in a place to look down on anyone, not with the life he’d led. His morals were skewed and he knew it, but there were just some things he wasn’t into himself. Paying for sex was one of them. Despite his lack of personal interest, he knew there was an industry in it and he was perfectly fine with taking advantage of it. “Tomorrow’s fine. Soon as you get moved in, I’ll put you on the books.” If she was anything like him, she was probably bored and looking for something to do. This would keep her occupied and earn them money.
“Okay.” Kenzie grinned and lifted her beer bottle. “Can I finish this before I go?” Her cigarette was already half gone, but she thought it would be nice to knock back the rest of the beer and enjoy the subtle buzz for a while. Generally, she could hold her liquor, but it had been awhile since she had a drink, and she was small enough that most alcohol had some kind of impact on her.
“You can even take it with you,” Mannix smiled, then took an extra cigarette out of his pack and tucked it behind one ear. “And one for the road.” He appreciated her dealing with him today, since he was apparently in some kind of a mood. Normally he’d find it a good day to go on a raid and put that energy into killing zombies, but that was currently out of the question. Instead, he had too much time to think... but in the meantime, he had a hole in the wall to patch up.