Back with a Bite

Critical

Critical

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Jan 30, 2014
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The days and weeks that followed that eye-opening evening in the park were a mixed bag. Jacob had made it clear--or mostly clear--that the feelings of love were mutual between them, and that he would do whatever was necessary to maintain what they had even in light of... job as a hitman. Logically, it worked out for the better. Lenn's feelings were genuine, and Jacob believed a person's past should not completely overshadow their present or future lives, especially when they were being so honest. Her being a killer-for-hire seemed to have nothing to do with the woman he knew, and was easily swept under the rug.

However, there was always that nagging question in the back of his head, the tiny itch of curiosity and possible-suspicion that sunk many a relationship. She may have been honest with her feelings, but being a hitman did not leave a person untouched, right? Killing was a HUGE deal when it came to the human psyche. No one was immune from what it did to a mind. So, what could it have possibly done to Lenn? Was she changed ever so slightly in a way that even she did not notice? Jacob had to know. But he also did not.

So life went on between them as normal. Jacob still smiled and hung out with Lenn, went on dates, and slept with her. Sometimes he even forgot that she was a hitman. But those moments of bliss were quickly followed by the urge to question, usually when he was alone again. But how was he supposed to ask? If the big secret was an ex-boyfriend, that was mildly easy to slip into a conversation. This was far from easy. So the urge to question slowly snowballed as he felt guilty about now following up on his promise to understand.

It weighed on him even as he finished up practicing with his sword out in the sports field again. It was the first instance of him being so distracted that it interfered with his calm, meditative state that let him access his abilities. Eventually he had to stop and pack things up for the day. Students were filing onto the field to being their after school sports clubs. That was when Lenn's ringtone came over his phone, a ringtone many students had heard before when she called up to talk.

"Sounds like your trophy girlfriend is buggin' you again, Mr. Cunningham."

A few of his students had taken notice of him dating a younger woman, and hassled him about it. Jacob easily shrugged off the jibes.

"Whatever. I'm getting regularly laid with a lingerie model. You can't even hurt my feelings."

That shut the kid up quick, and he raised the phone to his ear.

"Hello there, honey! What's going on?"
 
JioJio

JioJio

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Jul 2, 2014
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This couldn't be happening.

At first it was just a nagging headache...Which was weird because Lenn never got headaches. she even had to take aspirin for the first time in years because it was just that bad. Then came the fatigue and she couldn't understand what was going on so instead of seeking any sort of medical attention, she decided to sleep on it.

That was the first mistake.

It was about a good hour's worth of sleep and at first things seemed fine until she sat up. The world shifted and blurred and her head felt like someone was beating it like a drum. The gunslinger fell back against the bed, shocked as hell and cringing from the brutal pulses in her head. What in the world was going on? It almost...It almost felt like...Oh god she rolled over and pain racked throughout her body. Even pulling on a shirt felt so uncomfortable. She felt every piece of fabric slide against her sensitive skin...

Showering was difficult, eating was worse...and eventually, she didn't feel like getting off of the couch. It hurt to think or move...and right now she felt helpless and...and...clingy.

What was he doing anyway? Oh, right work. Luckily for her, she didn't have any photo shoots to attend to and even if she did, she wasn't about to go in this state. Even if it did hurt to think, she rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling.

She never thought someone would ever come along and impact her life the way Jacob did and it all started with him strutting along and laying on the flirt. Now things grew and even came to a point where she was positive he was going to let her go. In the park he surprised her and pulled through. Ever since, things seemed to go back to normal between the two...Well, that's if one didn't read between the lines. She knew he had to be curious about 'it'. Who wouldn't? It was odd that he hadn't bothered to ask ever since her confession. She knew it was partly because he didn't want to be rude about it. How would he even fit that into a conversation? Oh, the kids were great today! Speaking of kids, did you have to shoot any today? That...Well, it was going to have to come up at some point and she didn't want him dancing around the subject.

It wasn't that bothersome...But still, she'd rather him just come out and ask it. The real question was, how was he going to take it? How was he going to take knowing that she had been efficiently trained in 'extracting intel' from enemies, hit vital organs, or slowly bleed someone out to death without hitting any vital organs? There were other things that now she wasn't proud of. Hm...Well if he asked, she was going to assume he was ready to hear of it.

Speaking of Jacob, she was supposed to meet him tonight for dinner, but seeing as how time flew by in her sickness, she didn't notice how the day went well into the evening. The street lights were going to come on at some point and she had no choice but to tell him she had to cancel. Slowly and painfully, she pulled herself off of the couch and dragged her sorry self back to her bed, uncerimoniously flopping down into the messy covers and snatching her phone from the nightstand.

Not once had he ever let her calls go to voicemail and as expected, he picked up with a cheery tone. She was about to respond with a somewhat pleasant 'hello', but she flew into a fit of nasty coughs on the call. She would have been embarassed if it weren't the fact that every single cough made it feel like her eyes were going to pop out of their sockets. "Agh--Sorry...Hey there, luv. I think...I'm gonna haf'ta take a -cough,cough- raincheck on our date tonite..." Of all nights, tonight she had to get this...This...what was this anyway? The news did say that there was something going around, but only humans got sick, not military experiments such as herself. It was confusing as all hell, but apparently it was possible and definitely happening. "Guess oy' got...this bug thas' been goin' 'round...I'm sorreh, but oy' don' wonna get you sick too."
 
Critical

Critical

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Jacob had to pull the phone away from his ear reflexively when the first reply out of Lenn was a nasty-sounding coughing fit. It was so loud that he could clearly hear the poor woman hacking even as he held his phone away for the duration of it, seemingly in an effort to mitigate phone-transferable germs. He only brought the phone back when he could hear her settling down. His expression had fallen somewhat. He already knew they would be missing their dinner date judging by the coughing, but more importantly Lenn sounded like she was in a horrid state.

"Hey. It's okay. You sound... Terrible. We can always go out whenever you're feeling better..."

He looked as more kids filled up the field, taking their respective places among their sports groups. Soon enough there would be no room for sword swinging, and he would have actually leave. Jacob considered how much, or how little, paperwork he still needed to do.

"Y'know what? We'll turn that date into a visit. You're at your place, right? I could come over and look after you for awhile, and damn you sound like you could use it. I'll get some chinese, maybe some hot soup. Whaddya say?"

Jacob first priority really was to look after Lenn while she was sick. It was his fatherly instinct kicking in after all. However it lined up nicely with a small, alternative agenda: scoping out her place. Lenn had been over to his apartment, and his bed, several times already, but he had yet to even hear where she lived, much less see it in person. He figured that seeing her living space could give him some insight into the private, secret life of Lenn.
 
JioJio

JioJio

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Jul 2, 2014
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Ugh. She was trying hard to not sound completely disgusting on the phone. If anything, she imagined him pulling away the phone like a disease when she coughed into it. She cringed just a little, feeling the irritation gradually beginning to build up in her throat. It was an itchy sensation that had her constantly rubbing it while Jacob talked about…oh no, coming to her place. A moment of dread swept over her as she looked at the floor, cringing at the fact that she had kicked over an ammunition can and had 50 Cal rounds spill onto the floor earlier today. Oh my god she was going to have to drag herself over there and clean them up. N-Not because she was actually going to let him come over…

”…Oy…Oy dunno, luv,” What could she possibly say to deter him from wanting to visit? Her neighborhood wasn’t the…greatest which was one of the reasons why she picked it in the first place. It would be the last place anyone would look for a woman of her stature and the thugs around did a good job of intimidating people in turning their heels away. Secondly, she had put them in their place the third day of her stay. Two men had broken into her place while she had stepped out and were caught red handed since they didn’t expect her trip to be so brief. Combined with being horrified with the amount of guns (some illegal) she hadn’t bothered to stow away and the thorough beat down that followed soon after, people didn’t mess with her. That was the first step in fitting in with your neighbors.

Now the fact that Jacob wanted to come see her, she felt slightly…embarrassed. The apartment itself had no personality. Not a single picture or poster on her walls. She was a firm believer that giving away any glimpse into her personal life put herself and the people involved in possible danger. She had all of her pictures of Jacob in her phone in which she used as an alarm clock and well…her digital photo album. Oh god, what was he going to think? Maybe she could deter him just a little. ”This place is sort of…messy. And…There’s a lot of scary people ‘round here,” Great, she sounded really stupid and sick. Oh, and it was beginning to rain. Weatherman did say it was going to pour sometime today…

Oh hell. Why was she putting him off? He already knew of her past and present…So really, what was the big deal in him coming to see her? She listened to his persistency. Wow, she must’ve sounded that awful on the phone in order for him to be so insistent. Besides, he could easily take care of himself if anyone around the neighborhood decided to act stupid and attempt to rob him. She was positive about that. With a resigned sigh and a pained chuckle, she finally gave in ”Alroigh’, alroight…Come ova’. My address is…” She gave it to him, struggling to hold a few coughs back until he got the whole address down. ”I just…Mnn, sorreh, it’s just that this really isn’t a good neighborhood…and my place is lame…” So empty and bare; just like how her life was before she met him.
 
Critical

Critical

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Jacob had anticipated Lenn's trepidation about a visit to her place. While he made it sound like his visit was 100% about looking after her and she made it sound like she was looking after his own well-being, they both were wise and mature enough to read between the lines. He felt a rush of anxiety when she relented and gave him the address, similar to the same bout of nerves he felt when she first revealed her dark past. They were both going to find out a little more about each other, uncomfortably. He would see her most private sanctum, where she stayed when alone; and she would see his reaction to it all.

"Don't worry. Don't worry. I'll be safe. Just hang in there until I arrive, okay? Love you, Lenn..."

He let out a quiet sigh as they ended the call and he put his phone away. His expectations would have to be tempered before he arrived. But in what direction? Would it be better to assume that she lived with nothing at all, or a place filled with assassination implements? The former seemed sad but optimistic, but the latter felt too fantastical if somewhat appropriate.

A trip to the local Chinese place and into downtown would help put his mind in the proper frame of mind. To put it frankly, the neighborhood was in the dumps. Jacob would have said it was simply unfriendly, but he knew what he saw. It was the place the rest of the city avoided, for better and worse.

As Jacob found the plain and used place that Lenn apparently lived, he felt guilty. As an educator, he knew that the people that lived there did not do so willingly. They were perhaps victims of the system, cast off and forgotten. The nerves he felt about getting out of his car was both warranted and shameful. Most of the people were probably good, if misguided, but... He still went up to Lenn's place with the Chinese in one hand and his sword in the other.

He knocked on the door with the handle of his sword.
 
JioJio

JioJio

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Jul 2, 2014
434
She was dying.

Her life was flashing before her eyes. Paris, Italy, America—Oh no wait. That was the the world map taped to the ceiling. She hadn’t moved from her spot since they ended the phone call with their..Tee hee~, their I love yous. It made her feel giddy and warm on the inside for about a good fifteen minutes before she felt like shit again. So much for dramatically dying of disease…Which was funny considering she was born with disease in the first place. She laughed bitterly before peeling herself off of her bed and moving for the hallway. Unlike Jacob’s apartment, hers wasn’t as…fancy. The walls were bare and so was the place itself. It was also smaller than his and had the bare minimum when it came to furniture; A bed, couch, nightstand, and a large table so she could clean her guns. If anything, there was the obnoxious Remington mounted on the wall facing the door, a SCAR under her bed, the glock under the kitchen sink, an MP-7 under the bathroom sink, and many more goodies somehow hidden or mounted. There was even an a sweet custom M4A1 casually leaning against her nightstand within reach for those ‘just in case situations’. Her room was down a short hallway, but it was easy to see the door from her bed.

She shuffled lazily down the hallway and almost fell over when her foot rolled onto one of the spilled ammo can. She grumbled some unpleasant things and bent down to clean up the mess. Right when she dumped a few back into the box, there was a knock on the door. Oh…Oh yeaah, he said he was coming over. She was surprised he didn’t turn away when he realized she lived in the slums!

It took a while, but Lenn eventually answered the door after six locks unlocked and a chain removed. She tried her best to look somewhat presentable, but she missed the fact that she still had bed hair and didn’t bother to brush it out. Her face looked pale with slight discoloration under her eyes and the poor thing was covered in a thin sheet of sweat from the trip to the door alone! ”Hey there,” She rasped, her voice worsening over time. ”Come in…” she opened the door wider to let him in, dropping a bullet or two in the process before she locked the place up again.

There was that silence…He was taking it in, wasn’t he?

”Well…Heheh-cough- This is how the otha’ half lives…It’s not much, usually neva’ is because oy’ neva’ kno’ how long oy’ stay. Easia’ to move from place ta’ place when you do wot oy’ do,” she explained and brushed the rest of the bullets next to the box so he wouldn’t trip on them. She wanted to kiss him so bad, but then she’d get him sick too and she’d hate herself for doing that. Instead, she squirmed in place out of frustration and then gestured to the couch to sit. ”U-Um sit! Please! Sorreh, oy’ um…neva’ have ‘guests’…” she took the food from him and placed it on the table. Man…She should have dressed nicely at least for him. All she sported was her underwear and sports bra. Jesus Chroist Lenn. Oh..Oh she didn’t have plates, SHIT. No, there were some paper plates she bought earlier! ”Oy’ll get the plates,” she turned for the cabinets (it really wasn’t a kitchen. Only cabinets, counter, and sink) and ohhh the world began to spin and blur. Her body grew hot and she tipped forward, giving out completely.

She forgot about being sick. Being sick sucks.
 
Critical

Critical

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Jan 30, 2014
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It was almost comical how many locks Jacob heard behind the door before it opened. He was half expecting some kind of loud metal banging from a bank vault-esque mechanism or the smooth clanging of a futuristic magnet lock. The situation put a little smile on his face before the door creaked open and he was greeted by the sickly Lenn. She looked like hell, and Jacob wanted to drop everything and just hold her. But she was sick and probably would not have liked the pity.

"Hey there, beautiful."

He kept his voice low for some reason, possibly in case she had a headache and was sensitive to loud noises. While she looked totally under the weather, Jacob put on his best smile for her, if only to try and brighten her day a bit more. Giving into a bit of temptation, and throwing a little cautious away, he leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek as he walked in. And she dropped some bullets on the floor.

The metal tinging was only the first in a series of sights and sounds that painted a picture of what Lenn was like when she was on the job, or before she met him.

First there were the bullets she was just casually dropping on the floor, no doubt from the little pile that in the middle of the floor and the can they came out of. They were probably for the shotgun mounted right next to him on the wall, and it was even pointed in his direction. But what was she protecting? There was almost nothing else in the apartment, save for the ammo hoard. And she was just so casual with it, especially when she brushed them all aside with her foot like nothing.

To Jacob, it painted a picture of a woman that was all... business, so to speak. When the business in question was professional murder. Guns to do the job, guns to protect from retaliation, and ammo to spare. Nothing else. He tried to keep his surprise hidden, but his wandering eyes were a dead giveaway.

He silently let her take the food as he gawped, moving slowly forward as he let it all sink in, partially afraid he might trip a mine or trap. Eventually, his eyes wandered back to Lenn in the kitchen, questioningly.

"Lenn... Is...?"

That was when he spotted her keeling over and his question vanished as he ran over to catch her. His arms went around her waist and her chest as he caught her before she hit anything, holding her in his arms while he knelt and put her in a seated position on the floor. Any other situation with his hands where they were and Lenn in her underwear would have been the impetus for some play time, but... the situation hardly seemed fitting.

"Lenn. Lenn? You okay? You need some water? Say something, honey..."
 
JioJio

JioJio

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Jul 2, 2014
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It was probably a good thing he had great reflexes because knowing her rotten luck for the day, she’d brain herself on the corner of the counter or something and even though that really wasn’t life threatening, there could be something else that magically would fall out of place and cut her head off. Like a butter knife for all she knew.

Lenn went limp in his arms and blacked out for just a second. Before she knew it, she opened her eyes and she was somehow sitting on the floor with Jacob’s worried face asking her if she needed water. She probably did even though she normally didn’t need sustenance. The only time she did was when she needed the extra energy to burn during a job or shortly after walking off of one with an injury. Was sickness considered an energy? Apparently so since her mouth was as dry as the desert. Really, was she going to die to some supernatural bacteria? Certainly felt like it.

Her eyes crossed when she tried to focus on the blurry handsome shape that was supposed to be Jacob. It took her a while to think. Water?...Well she hadn’t had anything since…Well, the last date they had, but she wasn’t about to tell him that now that she was on the floor. ”P-Probably…Oy’ jus’ lounged all day. Sucks being sick y’know~,” she said with a chuckle to hopefully reassure Jacob that she wasn’t about to fall over in a dead heap anytime soon…even though she had just keeled over seconds ago. ”N-No big deal. I can get it…!” She was already beginning to stir in his arms, even using him as leverage to get back on her feet.

God, she was so used to being so independent. This was ridiculous! This…flu or whatever the hell it was, was cramping her lifestyle. She was so used to just leaving the house, keeping her munitions in check, and randomly going to see Jacob whenever she pleased but now, she was leaning heavily against him and she hated it. ”Nngh…Oy’ should be eatin’ somethin’…” Jacob was a lifesaver. She would have resorted to eating up the foam plates if he hadn’t showed up.
 
Critical

Critical

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Jacob frowned slightly at Lenn as she attempted to get back to her feet.

"Don't push yourself, honey. There's no need for the ole tough girl routine around me. Here."

Lenn had very obvious jelly legs in addition to using him as a crutch. If he had not been there to support her, she would have been on the floor again. Rather than let her push her body beyond its current limits, Jacob picked her up entirely in his arms. He doubted she would have the energy, strength, or willingness to resist anyway.

Looking around for any place to set her, he found that her place was even more bare than it had previously looked. There was not a single chair in the place except for the couch. It would have to do for the time being. With the lightest touch, he sat her down on it, giving her plenty of space to lay back.

"You're sick, and I'm here to help. So sit here and be helped. I'll be right back."

Jacob went for the take out food and came back with a small container of hot wonton soup and a soup. Rather than just handing it to her, no doubt shaky, hands, he sat close next to her and offered a spoonful of soup to her, feeding her.

"Careful. It's hot.

You got any idea where you got the bug from? Cause this is one nasty case of the flu you got..."

He resisted the urge to make a quip connecting her symptoms to her job. Like maybe she staked out on a cold rooftop sniping position for too long, or maybe she got it when blood splattered on her. Even he knew it was tasteless and inappropriate.
 
JioJio

JioJio

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Jul 2, 2014
434
There was little to no protest when he suddenly scooped her off the floor. Mnn, even if she winced at the sensitivity of her body, she loved the warm secure feeling she got just being in his arms…Even if she did hate being picked up. She wasn’t about to scream like a pot bellied pig though simply because deep down inside, she knew she was downright useless right now and that he was here to help. He loved her and she loved him too so he was going to be the one and only person seeing her so vulnerable. Everyone else was going to be taking a ‘trip.’

She would be pouting and giving a hard time, but the fever alone put her in a loopy I’ll do whatever you ask state and she took in the spoonful of soup. That…was pretty good. She never had soup like that before. Then again, she hadn’t tried many things when it came to food.

…But damn, it really was hot. She winced just a little. Bah, this flu was making her feel like a big baby. She shrugged with a sigh. ”Oy’ dunno. Maybe it wos because of th’ rain. I had to do…” she gave him a look, ” Y’know. Hitman-stuff. Had to scout my target an’ oy got stuck in the rain for three noights straight. Neva’ botha’ed me ‘till now. Oy’ don’ get it…” What rotten timing too. She was just about to accept his second spoonful of soup with a bonus wonton…

Until the soup spoon was shot right out of his hand! Her eyes grew big as saucers as sloppy potshots smashed through the glass. Immediately her instincts kicked in and she reached over with newfound strength, tackling him over the couch and tipping them over. Sonova’ bitch! She made sure to keep Jacob and herself hidden behind the furniture. The wall above them was turned to swiss cheese while she cursed and pulled away the cushions, revealing a small SIG. She snatched up the handgun and checked it. Safety off…”Jacob? You okay, babe??...” The gun was good to go, but despite the very collected demeanor she had for the situation, she was grinding her teeth.

How did they go by unnoticed? Yeah, it was pouring outside, but normally that didn’t matter. She should have picked up that someone was going to be doing something stupid to her apartment…So why didn’t she sense it? Was it because of Jacob? No, it couldn’t be…What about this flu? She didn’t put it past her at this point, but she wasn’t about to dwell on it. Finally, the mysterious gunmen ceased fire; most likely to reload. One of the gunmen finished loading early and stepped in front of the shattered window and she took it as an opportunity. She shot up from the couch, aiming for the gunman. She squeezed off three shots, but two missed entirely and the last one winged his shoulder, giving him the chance to find cover again.

She…She missed.

She hid behind the couch again, squeezing the gun so hard, her knuckles turned white and she looked to him with …with…worry.
 
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