25 Cylus 722
Started from here. A continuation from a part two in the Adult Forum from here. Split in sections due to changing levels of mature content.
The heavy wooden door to Sabrina's bedroom quarters slammed open with such violence that the Naerikk woke with a dagger coming into her hand. Covers flashed with the panicked flail of someone so rudely awoken, and the breeze from the intruder entering with haste brushed upon the dancer's face. Sabrina stood frozen on the cold stone floor of her quarters. The cloaked intruder seemed to completely ignore the threat of the armed shadow. Instead they moved straight toward Sabrina's dresser, hood falling back while they rifled to reveal raven hair.
"What the fuck, Max?!" Sabrina exclaimed, exasperated. She sheathed her dagger back under her bed and yanked a robe off the back of a chair. The Rusalka continued her work in silence, yanking a dresser drawer open and driving her hands into it to fish about. The dancer slipped her robe on and wrapped her arms tight over her chest, disbelieving eyes blinking their confusion. "Max, stop!"
The cursed woman had no choice but to do exactly that. She ceased all movement. A haggard breath escaped her and she adjusted her jaw. Sabrina glared at her back expectantly. Max looked over her shoulder at her and the dancer stepped back at the wildness in her eyes.
"Tell me what you're doing," the Naerikk demanded. "Right now."
"Looking for the box," Maxine admitted, though she had no choice in the matter.
"Why?"
"Just...where is it?"
"I haven't had the buy yet. Can't you wait?"
"That's not it. Can I...? Can you just let me see? Please?"
"Bottom left..."
Sabrina kept her distance with a tilted head. Her eyes glanced toward the place she'd re-secreted her dagger but shook her head. Maxine followed her directions and indeed felt the familiar sensation of the wooden box against her palm. With haste, she plucked it from its hiding place in the drawer and moved it to the bed. Quick, shaking fingers wrenched the box open and lid fell backward against the comforter. A single vial of Katomise remained in the stash box, boasting a familiar, deep, rich blue.
"Max, you're freaking me the fuck out," Sabrina frowned from her corner of the room.
"Shhh," Max raised a hand to her, darkness falling over her expression instantly. "Hold the fuck on."
The junkie jammed her hand into her pocket and plucked a different vial of Katomise from her cloak. She placed the vial from her pocket in the indent of fabric in the mostly empty wooden box, right beside the pure vial belonging to Sabrina. Even without direct light the difference between the pair was obvious. The tint of the Katomise from her pocket was off. It was a far lighter blue shade and almost gritty-looking now. Her fingers curled against the comforter.
"Well?!" Sabrina threw her hands up. "What the fuck?"
Maxine crossed the space between them in an instant. Her forearm smashed the dancer back against her bedroom wall, bracing across her throat to prevent her from saying something less than desirable. Wild, blue-tinted eyes roved the dancer's expression as the woman's body tensed against hers. Sabrina winced, straining against her hold.
"Khenji is selling fucking poison," the Rusalka snarled her revelation plainly. "You knew that and you didn't tell me?!"
"I tried," Sabrina choked against the forearm. "I practically begged you not to go, didn't I?" Maxine's lip curled and her eyes briefly adverted themselves from the dancer's face. Sabrina noticed the subtle gesture and pushed back harder, expression turning fiery. "Didn't I?!"
"You told me not to buy from him, not that what he was selling was fucking killing people!"
"I thought you were smart enough to read between the lines of what I was telling you!"
"We were alone! When you're talking about shit like that, you don't fucking dress it up! You say it plain!"
"Do you not understand what I do? What this type of work at my level is?!" Sabrina shoved the forearm away and put her face in Maxine's. "I don't get to just 'speak plainly' about the shit I'm privy to. You don't just repeat the shit said around me to people. That's how you get fucking killed, and you should know that!"
"You're afraid of them?!" Max pressed her forehead into Sabrina's, driving her head back until it was pinned to the wall again. Her teeth were bared, lip curled in deadly defiance. "You should be fucking afraid of me!"
Sabrina's lips started to part in protest. The Rusalka's hand snapped up and wrapped around her throat, squeezing the words from ever breathing life. She felt a shift in the dancer's weight and her other hand caught the one reaching for a weapon. Fingers tightened. She could see the blood rushing into the woman's head, turning her face flush. Just as soon as she watched the turn did her grip release. Sabrina gasped, hand rubbing at her throat while Maxine retreated a couple steps.
"Fuck!" Maxine exclaimed, kicking a chair over. She paced away from the dancer with fingers laced behind her head. She couldn't believe no one from the brothel had come pounding on the door yet. She closed her eyes, trying to search within herself to discover whether her mood was the result of her innate anger or a change in mood under the influence of Katomise.
"So what now?" Sabrina hissed with narrowed eyes. "What's on the agenda the rest of the trial? You gonna go party with that blonde bastard behind my back now that you've taken your anger out on me?"
"Stop," Maxine warned her, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"No, no. You want to just storm in here like that and start screaming about speaking plain, that you shouldn't have to read between the lines? How about that bullshit, huh?" Sabrina started to slowly encroach on the space the Rusalka had put between them. "What about that party you asked me to go to, hm? What about that, Max? You think I wasn't going to find out where you went straight after I picked my show over you?"
"I said 'stop', Brina!"
"Where'd you go in that tavern? Did he at least buy you a drink or did you suck his dick before the end of the first song out back?"
The hand dropped from Maxine's face and she squared herself to the Naerikk. It trembled at her side. Adrenaline was coursing now. It was becoming impossible to distinguish which was emotion and which was becoming an impulse she was being shoved toward. The Naerikk's eyes dilated. She was just warming up and Maxine could see that.
"Oh," Sabrina agitated. "Hit a nerve?"
"Leave it alone already!"
"Go on, let's hear about it!" the dancer eliminated the space separating them, shouting in her face again. "Did you spread your legs for him or not?!"
"He's fucking dead, Brina! Fuck!"
"Good." The stun of information gave the dancer pause for only a moment before she iced over again. "One less to worry about then. At least when I do it I get paid for it."
For a split trill her body bladed, fist cocked and hip loaded. Sabrina's eyes went alight at the change in demeanor. The Rusalka recognized her own body language and took a rushed, uneven breath. Sabrina guffawed before biting her red lipstick.
"You want to hit me right now, don't you?" the Naerikk accused the rooted Rusalka. "Yeah. I can see it. You want to hit me." She extended her arms out and then let them audibly hit her sides. Max stared at her darkly. The dancer shoved her with two hands. The cursed woman regained her footing and rooted herself again. Sabrina's face contorted with rage. "I want you to do it, so why don't you just do it?" She shoved Maxine again with no response. "I want you to hit me. Hit me!"
The open-handed slap rung crisply through the bedroom and likely beyond. Sabrina stumbled with the strike, eyes widening as her legs worked overtime beneath her to keep her upright. The dancer ended up bumped backward into her vanity. Makeup spilled off the edges and to the ground. A bright, angry red mark instantly appeared on the Naerikk's face. Maxine's shoulders fell at the sight. She felt the stinging shame on her palm.
"Sabrina..." she tried tensely as the dancer rebounded from the vanity. Maxine inhaled a shaky breath in preparation for violent recourse. Sabrina grasped Maxine's face with both hands and planted her lips to hers. The Rusalka's brow rose but she gave instant feedback with her own. This was not the response she expected but she wasn't one to complain.
And she had some ideas as to how she might provide a proper apology.
