( SHADY BUSINESS ) - LUCAS

[ANDREYA BLAKE PERRY]

MY HANDS AND HAIR SMELL OF SMOKE
MY TONGUE OF OLD BLACK LUST AND JOKES, OH NO
THAT HAVE BEEN PASSED THROUGH LIARS
LIPS ON TO THIS OLD WEATHERED PARCHMENT

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Carefully she set down the box, taking a step back in case something should go wrong. Thankfully, nothing went off and Dreya approached the box. Pulling out a few things, she set them on the ground next to her. Wires and small makeshift explosives where what she was testing today. The resistance found a supply of chemicals in a local high school in the ruin city they were located in, and with what they had they combined a few chemicals to make some deadly weapons, but rather than set them off in the city, they wanted to test them far away. No one was willing to risk their life for the first few test runs, so Dreya bitched out the makers and told them they owed her for testing the bombs and weapons.

So here she was, out in the open lands and away from headquarters to test out crazed weapons by a bunch of angry people. Today was going to be a good day. Before doing anything, she set up the foldable Plexiglas shield to protect her from any shrapnel that might come her way. Taking the first weapon, she walked out about one hundred yards and dug a small hold in the ground at least a foot deep. Then, she placed the pressure sensitive weapon inside the hole before covering it with dirt and spray painting a large orange circle on top of the dead grass. Walking back to the safety shield, she activated the bomb remotely. Taking a weight that was at least twenty pounds out of the box, she rolled it across the ground to the orange circle. The moment it rolled directly across the circle there was a large explosion. A laugh left the girls lips as dirt and shrapnel flew everywhere. “Pressure sensitive defense bombs, success.” She wrote her words across a paper for the creators.

The next item on the list was a portable bomb like a grenade, but supposedly with the chemicals Dreya found it was more lethal and the fumes from the chemicals would be toxic if inhaled. Rather than just throw the thing, she checked which way the wind was blowing so the dangerous fumes wouldn’t affect her. The wind was blowing to the west. Turning her back to the east, she made her the bomb she was about to throw would head into the western direction. Pulling the pin she tossed the grenade, quickly running back to her safety shield and covering her ears. Suddenly there was another explosion, and they were right. The flames were twice the size of a normal grenade, and her brown eyes could see a light blue haze start blowing to the west. Grabbing the clipboard again she checked off the second weapon test for success.

There were only about four hours left before the sun would start to set. Andreya had to work fast if she were going to get all these prototypes tested so the resistance could start mass production. She would have gotten an earlier start, but her combat practice went longer than she anticipated, but Dreya didn’t mind when it came to combat. If anything she needed to be able to stay on her toes, out her anything could happen, and with a box of dangerous explosives, she would have to be able to defend herself and the box in case something should go wrong. She hoped however that this wouldn’t take too long and she would be back at headquarters before it was dark.

tag: lucas - hay ; words: 585 ; lyrics: shady business - the audition ; notes: let the games begin!

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[LUCAS MASON CARTER]

He stumbled around in the heat for what seemed like weeks. With him were only a few supplies and the clothes on his back. Part of him would rather just drop everything and strip all of his clothing off, but he knew that he had to keep going. The black v-necked shirt was killing him, the black trousers were killing him, and the black boots were killing him. He was like a sunray magnet and the light brown pack that he was carrying on his back wasn’t really making him feel any jollier. Sweat dribbled down his forehead, falling over his eyes and he could feel damp spots on his clothing from even more sweat thanks to his long journey. Finding the Resistance was not an easy thing to do but he had expected as much. He hadn’t excepted to find them in the first few days but he had hoped that someone would have found him suspicious by now. He supposed nobody had noticed him or he simply had not been around enough people. Okay, he had actually had not seen many people at all and had been camping out in the open lands all these warm nights. And whenever the sun started to rise he would get back up and continue his search. It was a good thing that he had the will power of a God damn ox or else he would have given up on this mission days ago. But he was determined. Completely determined to please his superiors.

The man trudged through some thick grass; keeping his eyes on the ground every now and then just in case there was something worth looking it (he didn’t exactly feel like blowing up or being booby trapped at the moment). But there was nothing of interest where he was looking of course. No, no, right when he looked away from the places ahead of him something happened. Then something blew up and scared the living daylight at him. God forbid that he actually be looking in the right place at the right time.

Lucas jumped back a good foot or so and several strands of… err… ‘colorful’ language escaped his lips as he stared wide eyed over in the direction that the explosion had come from. His arms were wide at his sides, helping him to keep his balance as he continued to take some steps back, his fingers spread like some cowboy from an old western preparing to draw his gun. But he had no weapons on him. He was vulnerable to anything out here. The only thing that could save him was his own physical strength and combat training. Neither of which he was lacking but it was always comforting to have some kind of firearm at your side when you were faced with some crazy ass random explosion.

Just as he was regaining himself and letting his stance close up again he was faced with yet another explosion. This time, however, it was tossed over in his direction. How did he know that? Because he could have sworn he saw a grenade flying through the fucking sky in his god damn direction.

The icy blue eyes widened as he watched it started to curve downward, stuck in that frozen moment of shock. But then all that training kicked in and he turned in the opposite way and floored it, diving to the ground when he heard the explosion go off behind him. His hands fell over his head and for a moment he simply laid on the ground where he was just in case anything else was flying in his general direction. But after a moment of silence he poked his head up and slowly looked over his shoulder. Just his luck that there would be some blue smoke headed toward him, wasn’t it?

Lucas hurried to his feet and snatched up his bag before taking off away from the blue smoke. Instead of running in the direction it was going he ran toward and then around it. He wanted to see who was trying to kill him on the other side of it. By the time he had caught sight of the Plexiglas shield that was set up he was starting to pant a little just from all the walking for weeks and then dodging damn bombs. He squinted his eyes, raising his hand up to block the sunlight. It looked like a girl was behind it but he had no idea what she was doing except… throwing shit in his direction.

“Hey!” he called over. “Hey! You know where the nearest town is?”

TAGS!? andreya - telsa
WORDS!? 771
NOTES!? dreya like boom?

[ANDREYA BLAKE PERRY]

MY HANDS AND HAIR SMELL OF SMOKE
MY TONGUE OF OLD BLACK LUST AND JOKES, OH NO
THAT HAVE BEEN PASSED THROUGH LIARS
LIPS ON TO THIS OLD WEATHERED PARCHMENT

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Setting the clipboard in the grass, she crouched down again to dig through the box. Her eyes watched the blue smoke catch the wind like she predicted and start to blow away. There were still several items in the box to test, and it was hard for Dreya to pick which item to test next. There was a nine millimeter gun sitting at the bottom. It resembled the one sitting on her right side, but the resistance had changed the bullet caliber it could shoot and what was contained within the bullet. Andreya wanted to blow off some steam, so she grabbed the gun at the bottom along with the foldable target. Yet, before she could move a voice caught her ears.

She looked out to the area in front of her. Her brown eyes spotted the young man dressed in black, and scoffed slightly. What an idiot for wearing all black. Dreya herself was in black pants and boots, but she wore a white tank and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. So, this stranger was looking for the nearest town? It was hard to tell who he was so far away, other than that he was dressed in black. There was no way to trust him, so rather than just respond back immediately Dreya stood slowly, the modified nine millimeter still in her hand, but she left the foldable dummy on the ground. Her gaze remained steady on him as she stepped out from behind her safety shield.

The nearest town was the one that belonged to the Resistance, but there was no way Andreya was about to tell him that. No one could be trusted, and this man wasn’t any different. Headquarters was northeast from her direction, and the next closest town was abandoned. Still, did that even really matter? Dreya decided no. Looking at him through her black glasses she finally called back to him, “The nearest town you say? The closest town is abandoned, but if you really want to know, its west of here.” It was the second nearest town from here, well not really but she was going to make this man walk more than he would probably like to. But, it was for better protection of the Resistance to send him in the wrong direction. Those outside the Resistance couldn’t be trusted, and if they really wanted to join… Well, Dreya would push you to the limit to make sure this is what you really want and that you can stand up for yourself in the real world.

Dreya leaned against the safety shield but kept her eyes on the stranger. “I suggest you get going. It will be getting dark soon, and if you don’t want to lose a limb then you had better get out of the way.” She had to finish testing all these experiment items before she could return, and anything that was left that would give way to the Resistance being out here, she was supposed to burn. Well, she wasn’t supposed to but she did it as a safety precaution. There could be anyone out her, like the man passing through that might come across the Resistance’s work, and staying hidden was a major goal in order for the Resistance to be successful in their mission against the Perfect Nation.

tag: lucas - hay ; words: 555 ; lyrics: shady business - the audition ; notes: dreya like boom, but don't like luke

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[LUCAS MASON CARTER]

Lucas had stopped walking her direction when she noticed him, being wary of girls with guns and explosives was always a great idea. He knew that if his fiancé ever had anything like that in her hands that he would stay very, very far away form her until she was checked over and over that nothing was on her. Yeah, they didn’t have the greatest of relationships and girls were already frightening and confusing to begin with. Them and their damn emotional outbursts were enough to freak him out for a good while. Add some weapons to that and there would be some dead men.

From the looks of her she didn’t look like the nicest of girls. God, why did he have such bad fucking luck with everything? He was a magnet for the worst. In any case, that did not mean that he was going to give up on any of this. He stood his ground and furrowed his brow at her while she explained to him where the nearest town was. He supposed that wasn’t exactly the information that he wanted to get out of her. He would rather just straight up ask her where the Resistance was hiding out so that he could join. Unfortunately he had to be about fifty times more careful than that with this mission. Especially if this girl just so happened to be apart of the Resistance. He wasn’t going to doubt it because she was kind of out here blowing things up. That wasn’t what normal people did. Then again when he was a kid- that was a different story though.

The man inhaled deep through his lips, though barely separated them. He crossed her arms over his chest and pulled his shoulders apart to stretch out the worn muscles on his back as he looked toward the west. Lucas really did not want to do all that walking to find any kind of town. He was sure this girl would say no but…

“Show me the way? Surely you’re from the closest town from around here,” he told her matter-of-factly. He tried to bite back the attitude in his voice since every now and then he did get a little grumpy with these kinds of things. He just didn’t like rolling around in dirt with hardly anything after being dumped out in a place that he had no idea of the layout of. Not to mention he didn’t like the hostility of it all. Not that he had been expecting any different. He hadn’t even made time to hope for any different really. He cocked a brow at her, deciding to state his case. “I’m looking to join the resistance. Though I doubt any of them would just open up and find me, hmm?”

A slight look of annoyance crossed his features as he turned away from her and looked back west. Somehow he doubted that she was going to help him and that meant he was just going to have to take her advice and hope for the best for now. At least until he found out more about any of this.

“I have a feeling helping me won’t be in today’s agenda,” he muttered to himself with some aggravation.

TAGS!? andreya - telsa
WORDS!? 542
NOTES!? dreya no like lucas YET.

[ANDREYA BLAKE PERRY]

MY HANDS AND HAIR SMELL OF SMOKE
MY TONGUE OF OLD BLACK LUST AND JOKES, OH NO
THAT HAVE BEEN PASSED THROUGH LIARS
LIPS ON TO THIS OLD WEATHERED PARCHMENT

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Dreya had other things to do than show a lost puppy their way home. Her eyes glared at him through her dark sunglasses, the wind blowing across the open field. The closest town was something she wasn’t about to show him. Taking a few steps towards him, she crossed her arms with the gun still in her hand. The tone of his voice didn’t sit well with her, and it was hard for Dreya to not pop off a few rounds and scare him in to letting him know that she was the one in charge here. If he didn’t want to find it on his own she would gladly let him wander the rest of the open lands to find his way home, or to his final resting place.

“Sorry, but I’m a little busy here or did you not notice since you obviously almost lost a limb. Besides, it’ll be dark soon and I live in the opposite direction of where the closest town is located. I can’t afford to show you the way and then walk by to my town in the dark. You’ll just have to go back on your own.” Stepping away from him she reached for the foldable dummy and walked out one hundred feet before walking back. Taking her stance, she raised the gun and aimed at the dummy. She fired three rounds at the target. The gun fired like normal, but as the bullets crushed into the dummy, small explosions erupted. A laugh left her lips as the weapon was a success. “I want one of these personally.” She told herself as she checked it off on the clipboard.

However, Dreya heard the man speak again this time asking about the Resistance. Her head lifted and she wanted to point the test gun at the man, but she would be giving herself away. And if anyone was going to go look for the Resistance, you didn’t ask, you knew. Her eyes glared at him through her sunglasses again, and she set the test gun down by the other successful test weapons. “You’re looking for the Resistance?” she asked, pretending to sound surprised, “Well, I wouldn’t know the first place to look for them. Besides, I hear the people there are quite ruthless. They’d eat you up then spit you back out into the dirt. You’re better off continuing your journey alone.” Andreya wasn’t about to expose the Resistance to a stranger, especially out here in the open lands.

If wanted the Resistance, you knew in your blood where to look and how to find them. That’s how Alileah and Dreya found each other, knowing that just by looking at each other they would do something great. This man, he was aimlessly wandering to find a group that he was not meant for. Then again, Dreya didn’t trust anyone that was new to the Resistance, and if they passed their hard training and her sharp tongue, then they were worthy to join their fight. Lifting her gaze to him again, she leaned against the shield and watched him. “What makes you think you’re worthy to join the Resistance anyways? Would do you even want to join them? You don’t look like you have anything to fight for.”

tag: lucas - hay ; words: 544 ; lyrics: shady business - the audition ; notes: she no like luke long time

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[LUCAS MASON CARTER]

Lucas turned his eyes back over toward the girl, looking her over from the distance he was at again. He couldn’t tell much about her though. Still just that mysterious, feminine figure blowing shit up. She could have looked fairly attractive if it wasn’t for the maniac vibes that he was getting from her and the snobby little attitude that she was showing off to him. He merely scrunched his nose up at that thought and found himself frowning. Lucas also found himself thinking of one of the stereotypes that he had been told about constantly behind the walls of Peony. People on the outside were either desperate and lost or crazed fools out to destroy mankind since they were greedy bastards with little consideration of others. Guess what stereotype this nutcase happened to fit into? It was obviously not the desperate one who wanted to find a savior.

For a moment he watched her play with her firearms and do whatever it was that she was doing but it wasn’t long before he found himself growing somewhat impatient with this cow- err, woman. He rolled his eyes, reminding himself to at least try and be polite. If you wanted information sometimes you needed to suck up to people you seemed to automatically despise, right? Right. And even though he wasn’t so good at sucking up he was quite good at pretending to be a weak nobody. He was a good faker when he needed to be. Why else would he have gotten this mission?

Yes, the resistance. Now he had managed to grab he attention. Rather peculiar that something like that would suddenly make her pay attention to him, no?

You’ve heard? Oh sure, she had heard. Everyone had heard stories about everything and whenever someone went and said horrible despicable things he was usually disappointed to find it was just like training for him. Years of hard work and hell before anyone even looked at you and realized that you had a name that didn’t start with ‘pussy’ or something like that. Yeah, but he would go ahead and let her think whatever it was that she wanted to think. She had the guns and explosives after all. And he wasn’t an idiot.

“Oh, so now you’re an interrogator for the resistance?” he questioned her airily, not concerning himself with answering her questions right away. He knew he should be careful with his words though, in case she was as much of a psycho as she let herself look. He cocked a brow at her. “What’s it to you that I’m looking for them? You’d only care if that would suddenly make me an enemy or you were part of the movement? But… pfft, what would I know? Surely a rough and tough girl like you also has more brain power than a maggot like me.”

He then gave her a frown, shrugged his shoulders, and turned around on his heel. He squinted his eyes, casting his ice blue stare out over the horizon, breathing in the stale air around him subconsciously praying that perhaps he would get a scent of whatever it was that he was looking for. Wishful thinking… he had plenty of that. He looked over his shoulder at her, but only briefly just to say a few parting words to her.

“Au Revoir.”

TAGS!? andreya - telsa
WORDS!? 559
NOTES!? da da da.

[ANDREYA BLAKE PERRY]

MY HANDS AND HAIR SMELL OF SMOKE
MY TONGUE OF OLD BLACK LUST AND JOKES, OH NO
THAT HAVE BEEN PASSED THROUGH LIARS
LIPS ON TO THIS OLD WEATHERED PARCHMENT

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Dreya wasn’t about to tell this stranger where the Resistance kept their headquarters. People outside the Resistance couldn’t always be trusted, but if Dreya didn’t give people a chance she knew that there was the potential for them to miss out on a good opportunity or a helpful ally. And if they didn’t turn out to be who they said they there, they were quickly executed before any damage could be done. Just how did they know who was truthful? From time to time they did random background checks without telling people so they couldn’t try to clear any hidden information they didn’t want people seeing.

A few people had been caught to be telling lies and the Resistance, and Dreya had personally executed some of them. It was hard to see people go, but in this war they couldn’t take any chances. Usually her anger for the betrayal made it easier to remove the snakes. At his question she laughed. “An interrogator? Is it a crime for me to ask questions? But if want an answer then no I’m not.” That was a lie. Yet, Andreya wasn’t about to tell him that. If anyone outside the Resistance found out who she was they would either kill her, or torture her for information. Or maybe just hold her captive until their demands were met. Hell maybe all three! Andreya couldn’t afford to expose herself out in the open especially to a man she didn’t know; then again she was the one with experimental weapons.

Dreya was growing tired of testing weapons with a stranger, yet if he was in anyway useful she didn’t want to just toss him away. Setting the gun back in the box she walked out behind the safety shield. She could tell that he was leaving, and she caught his French goodbye. A smile came to her lips; it was time to test him in how much he really wanted to be part of the Resistance. “You know, you’re never going to find the Resistance on your own. There’s lots of open land out there and unless you know where to look you won’t find them.” Leaning against the shield, her arms folded across her chest.

Her brown eyes watched the young man as started to leave, Dreya was going to make sure that he didn’t get very far. “If you really want to find the Resistance, I can help you. I know someone who has information about the Resistance, I mean, if you really want to join them that is.” Just how well would he take to her news? Patiently Dreya would wait to see what the man would do. And if he wanted to join, well there was only so much Dreya could do before she would take him. There was quite a process to go through when becoming part of the Resistance, and unless you passed the ‘initiation’ process would show if you were actually cut out to be part of the Resistance. Oh yes, Andreya was going to test every nerve in this man to make sure he was cut out to be a part of the group. And if he lied to her, Dreya would make sure that he personally would died by her hand.

tag: lucas - hay ; words: 544 ; lyrics: shady business - the audition ; notes: can he pass the test?

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