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Tweak says, "hot cocoa is my name-o"

Gwen Raiden will spark your ass (sparkingfreak) wrote in wariscoming,
@ 2009-11-25 13:30:00

Entry tags:

felicia hardy/black cat, gwen raiden

Who: Gwen Raiden and Felicia Hardy
What: Two hot thieves meeting up. Good guys, start headdesking
When: backdated to last night
Where: The bar Gwen mentioned
Rating: TBD
Status: In progress

So here she was, being the welcome wagon. Not a role Gwen had ever expected for herself, but for a fellow thief, how could she not? There was a code of conduct after all, support for one of her own stuck in this weird new world with far too many overly moral good guys wandering around. The last thing Felicia needed was to be introduced to all this by someone like Clark, who while cute did do the earnest morality a bit too much. No, better it be someone like her, someone who could relate to her on a closer level.

And besides, she really was trying the friends thing. Andrea had been good to her and hadn't stabbed her in the back even though it had been months. And even though her main contact with Buffy had been work based, Buffy hadn't seemed to just want to use her for her powers. And of course there was Lindsey, and just thinking of him brought a soft smile to her face. So maybe the human race didn't entirely suck after all.

She was curled into a chair in the corner of the bar, dressed as ever in her distinctive red leather. Away from the crowds, she had already placed a load of cash behind the bar to start a tab and had her first drink, a expensive looking cocktail. Even if it did have no alcohol in it. It was still too soon after giving up the cocaine for her to dabble in any other vices. So she sat back and waited for Felicia to arrive, bag of rock salt already at her feet.

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sparkingfreak
2009-11-25 04:34 pm UTC (link)

At least Felicia seemed to be taking it well, that was a relief. Gwen nodded approvingly, before she smirked, pulling out some more cash. "Get yourself the bottle if you want." She really would understand if she did. After all, when she had been new here, she'd gone back to hard drugs.

She half shrugged at the first question. "The in charge thing is interesting. I mean Sam's one of the locals here, but he's not really around all that much so I wouldn't call him the boss or anything. A bunch of the newcomers live at this apartment building that's all protected and these two people, Buffy and Andrew, from my world incidentally, they're running that. They got the experience for it. And then there's this doc, Martha, she runs the medbay there."

She leaned forward to take a sip of her drink. "I don't really know how the Seals work. I can guess though, I mean they're trying to unleash hell by breaking them, like breaking locks. So I guess it's damaging the dimensional walls and we're the ones falling through the cracks. And as far as I can tell Lilith is the big bad here, trying to unleash even bigger bads from hell. Or something."

And then there was the biggest question, the real kicker and Gwen looked sympathetic. "So far? There doesn't seem to be a way to send any of us home."

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crossyourpath
2009-11-25 05:42 pm UTC (link)

Felicia was still more than a little confused at the explaination, it was so far beyond her realm of experiance that she didn't know what to do with it. It made no sense. Because what Gwen was saying to her was simple.

"So...essentially we're victims of sloppy pandimensional locl picking?" she reasoned taking another sip of her wine. The others she named as leaders were unknowns to her as yet. Sam had been the one that set up the board and the name she'd known, the others apparently ran the apartments he'd mentioned.

But no way to go home. No way that they'd found.

"Great...thats just..." she sighed, "Get me the bottle?"

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sparkingfreak
2009-11-25 06:58 pm UTC (link)

It was an interesting way to put things and Gwen appreciated the angle of it, grinning as she sipped her drink.

"In a nutshell, that's it. This Lilith is being a sloppy thief and dragging us all into her giant mess. Thrilling huh?" She sighed ruefully. "Back home I was a millionaire several times over. Now I'm having to build that all from scratch again, it's just mean."

Not that she was doing too badly, she had stolen enough that the official good guys had been able to buy the damn apartment building in the first place. She was in danger of becoming 'good' herself at this rate.

"No problem," she grinned before moving over to the bar, coming back with a chilled bottle of the wine Felicia had chosen as well as a fresh drink for herself. "Here, enjoy. Let it take some of the shock away." She inwardly smirked at her choice of words, it was hardly the first time she'd shocked anyone.

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crossyourpath
2009-11-26 12:34 pm UTC (link)

Thrilling was one word for it. Grating was another, infuriating. Maddening. And those were the polite ones.

"Back home I had the Hardy Foundation. Legit and everything. Now I have to build it all up again because I phoned head office before I came in here and got a Burger King."

She'd have to get to work, Didn't want Gwen to get all the best targets in the city, maybe they'd split it, maybe she'd take Kansas City. It could work.

When Gwen came back with the drinks Felicia was still mulling everything over.

"I want to get back to my New York, but its also true that bar my mother there isn't much keeping me there anymore"

And the Black Cat could work anywhere.

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sparkingfreak
2009-11-26 12:47 pm UTC (link)

Gwen flinched with sympathy. Burger King, that was just harsh. She knew how it felt, she'd tried to get in touch with any of her contacts when she'd been brought over and had found a pizza place, a church and a sex line. Which was actually mildly appropriate for that one, but not exactly helpful in any way.

She sat back with her drink, casually stirring at the ice. "It's why I don't tend to stick in one place too long. But around here isn't so bad and we're free to leave to wherever we want. Been working on getting more money again and then some contacts before I spread out to the cities to really get working again. If the virtuous types decide to lay off for a bit I mean. Seriously, they wouldn't even have that apartment building if it wasn't for me, but no, stealing is wrong." She pulled a face. "Good guys."

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crossyourpath
2009-11-26 01:17 pm UTC (link)

Felicia nodded, "Yeah I made sure to check that up with that Sam guy. Apparently the apartments are just that. A safe place to stay, they don't expect us to sign up for any heroics so by that logic it seems like a fair deal. So I'm thinking I'll stay there for now, and see how things go"

So Gwen had stolen the money they needed, or rather had stolen something for the money they needed, or maybe she did bank heists. Felicia didn't know.

"Its hard to get them to lay off, they don't understand how we work. Peter never let me forget that stealing was wrong and I shouldn't be that person. That someday I'd wind up in jail for it. While we were up against actual evil. The things I've seen Gwen, you wouldn't even believe"

Kingpin, the super soilder program, everything she'd done in the name of her father. How could she even begin to explain it.

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sparkingfreak
2009-11-26 03:36 pm UTC (link)

It made sense, for most people to live in that apartment building. It was a nice place, Gwen had seen to it that Sam had had enough money to buy a good building, well protected. It was just she wasn't ready to live with people yet. "People seem pretty okay there," she commented lightly. "I'm still at a motel, for now. Not so good with the crowds thing."

She had to laugh at the idea of not believing anything, smiling ruefully as she glanced around. The bar was quiet enough and no one was looking over to them, which she was grateful for as she slipped off one glove, holding her fingers up.

"Oh I don't know, you'd be surprised at the things I'll believe," she smirked. "One because I used to work for evil lawyers and when I say evil I do mean hell god types. And two, well..." she let a few sparks travel up and out of her fingers, dancing over her skin. "I'm kind of a freak as it is."

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crossyourpath
2009-11-26 06:48 pm UTC (link)

She definitely understood that, it had taken her a long time after Ryan to trust people as friends. Peter had helped with that more than a little. Till he’d ended it with her. Confusingly. Because she’d loved the Spider more than Peter Parker... Felicia still wasn’t sure what to make of any of that.
“It’ll make a difference. Living somewhere like that but if its just an apartment block all self contained I can do that, Its how it is in New York. But knowing everyone. That’ll just be weird.

Felicia watched idly as Gwen slipped off her gloves and talked about the evil lawyers, Kingpin wasn’t a lawyer but he’d certainly been evil so she got the working for the bad guys too. Much as she’d hated being his lacky she’d had no choice.

“You make electricity?” she asked bemusedly. “Well thats got to help with the lockpicking. Can’t show you what I do indoors or indeed around breakables but lets just say I get pretty strong sometimes. Better agility, better balances, reflex. All of the above. Used to have more but that got...decidedly bad.”

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sparkingfreak
2009-11-26 08:44 pm UTC (link)

"The apartments are all pretty self contained," Gwen shrugged. "And the med bay is pretty good and the doc knows her stuff, I can say that with some authority. Had a heart attack a few weeks back and she saved my life and all so that was a bonus. Still, people. Lots of people and well," she shrugged, gesturing with her hand before she subdued the sparks and slipped her glove back on. "I don't deal well with a lot of people."

She carefully adjusted the glove, pulling it all the way up so no skin was uncovered.

"I generate it, I manipulate it. If we were outside I could show you a cool trick with lightning, but as we're in here," she concentrated, just for a moment, before the lights in the bar all flared, then dimmed and then returned to normal, causing mutterings from the barstaff. "I kinda love it when folks go for the high tech security. Electricity comforts them. Suckers." She sat back and viewed Felicia with a critical eye. Balance had never been something she'd had an issue with, life as a dancer letting her body stay strong and flexible. But there was something in the way Felicia held herself. "Better agility huh? Nice."

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crossyourpath
2009-11-26 09:19 pm UTC (link)

"I can live with that" she reasoned, not asking how a woman who looked as healthy as Gwen had wound up having a heart attack and needing a Doctor but she had to say it had her somewhat wary of the place, was that kinda thing normal.

"One of that mutant group Peter helped out can do that" she mused, name was something obvious, Storm, she believed. "Though not just lightning she does the whole weather deal apparently."

She supposed Gwen was right, but Felicia had her own way of getting around high tech and it worked for her. Still, she figured they'd make a good team.

"Yeah it is, pretty hard won though"

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sparkingfreak
2009-11-27 01:05 am UTC (link)

The apartment was a decent place and there were often times Gwen was tempted to ask if she could move in. But there was still the people, all those pesky people and even though they all knew what she was and how many ways she could accidentally kill them, Gwen was still afraid that one of them would get careless some time.

"Mutants huh?" She shook her head with a laugh. "I tend to just go by freak. We don't get them back home, though we do get all kinds of demons and magic types. More than here actually. One of them has a regular racquetball game with the CEO of the law firm every week." Not that she was thinking much of the current CEO of Wolfram and Hart and how annoying he was.

"Not a natural ability then?"

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crossyourpath
2009-11-27 01:48 am UTC (link)

"Yeah, feel kinda sorry for them sometimes, they get a whole lot of hate coming at them just for what they can do. Some look different and all and they get it from all corners. But y'know, what can I do. Especially here. I had a policy that the Hardy Foundation didn't discriminate but aside from that?"

Demons and magic, now that just confused her. She'd never seen magic or anything like it, and evil CEO's playing racquetball?. That was just weird. She briefly tried to imagine Kingpin taking up the sport. The image was...less than pleasant.

"Sounds less than fun, your world. Was there anything good there?" she mused before nodding to the question about her powers.

"No, not natural, but a definite improvement on what came before, I used to be...kind of a jinx and I don't say that lightly, but not anymore. Naturally I'm pretty fit, I've trained since college and I was hardly unfit before, and then there are some, enhancements I guess you could call them."

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sparkingfreak
2009-11-27 08:03 pm UTC (link)

"People hate what they're scared of, you see it everywhere," Gwen shrugged. She'd noticed it frequently herself, people hating her because they feared what she could do. "There's nothing anyone can do, attitudes will never change, not really."

Was there anything good about her world? A smile crossed her face momentarily as she thought of Lindsey. Yeah, definitely the best part of her world had come through here, that much was for sure.

"It made me rich enough," she responded casually. "Me, I never tried to do the epic fight against evil. Evil's always gonna exist so why make yourself crazy trying to stop it? Being what I am, living in a world like that let me be part of something and not a part at the same time. It worked for me. But equally, I'm not wailing and gnashing my teeth over not being there any more. I'm here, I'll adapt."

It was interesting for her, to hear about someone who had 'enhanced' themselves. "Sounds pretty cool. Being able to choose stuff like that. I was born with this, never known anyone get abilities before."

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crossyourpath
2009-11-29 07:03 pm UTC (link)

Felicia agreed, and wildly disliked that she agreed. She'd have loved a world where people could accept others but it seemed in hers that would never happen. Still, she had never had to deal with it like the mutants did. Not really.

"Of course they do. Hate what they don't understand. Its unfair. But its life. People are...paranoid in large groups, and people like them suffer from it

"I miss home. I do, and I'm gonna try get back there. But at the same time I can't sit and wallow either, I'll deal, I'll work something out always do"

A dark shadow crossed her eyes at the mention of choice.

"It was a stupid choice in many ways, and it nearly got Peter killed about a dozen times over. But it worked out in the end, not so much for us but..." she shrugged, "...its better like this. And I can still be the person I always was"

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