Just Like Her

Posted on Saturday February 9th, 2019 @ 07:53 hours by Colt McCormick & Ares Onasis
Edited on on Wednesday February 20th, 2019 @ 12:24 hours

Mission: Pixie Dust
Location: Hallway, Deck 7
Timeline: MD01 - 1945 Hours
1612 words - 3.2 OF Standard Post Measure

[ON]

It was so quiet as Ares and Colt walked through the hallway that each click of their boots on the cold floor echoed off of the surrounding walls. The silent two minutes had felt like an hour for Colt who kept looking over at the solemn and mysterious Ares walking next to him. She had this fierce energy that beamed off of her. He had met, and been with, a lot of strong women, women from all sorts of different backgrounds, in his business but none quite as daring and borderline dangerous as this one. He was a lifetime bachelor enjoying the high life and freedom with his somewhat illicit enterprise which entailed a profit from what can be considered a more ‘innocent’ vice. He expected his journey back home to his club to be uneventful to say the least. What he didn’t expect was to be hit by a thunderbolt.

Colt was considered an expert with women but he had run straight into Ares’s cement skin and he didn’t like it one bit. He had always had an ability to melt women like ice cream in his warm hands. Women like that, women who were cold and distant, turned him off. They weren’t worth the time and effort. What was so different about this one? Why was he chasing after her and putting forth the effort to break through to see what kind of story she has to tell? There was only one way to find out…

“So, ummm, the Captain is rather, uhh, strident, would you say?” Colt kept his usual playful smirk on his lips as he reached for a topic to clear out the silence between them.

Ares, keeping her hands in her pocket, kept her eyes straight ahead towards the lift. She had to keep her attention elsewhere; she feared if she even looked at him again her insides would shatter completely from the reminder that he wasn’t Adam and he will never be Adam. After a pause, Ares finally answered nonchalantly. “Yes, she is.” And that was it. Her stomach was in knots and it felt like her head was swimming in murky water with zero visibility.

Her short answer only increased Colt’s frustration with her cold shoulder. “Look, Ares,” he stopped in the middle of the hallway and watched as Ares mindlessly continued taking a few steps forward without noticing that he was stopped behind her, “I don’t understand what your deal is and I don’t know what I’ve done wrong but you’re giving me this weird, like, flippant attitude. And this morning…”

“It was like I saw a ghost,” Ares stopped, letting out the breath that she was holding before turning around to finally meet eye-to-eye with the strong and well built, average height man. She had a trillion questions for him and finally settled on one extremely awkward and slightly gruff inquiry. “Who are you?”

Colt chuckled since that was the question he probably should’ve started off with because now she had gained the upper hand in the conversation. But if he wanted to learn about her he had to give her a bit to push her to feel ok with sharing a bit about herself to him. “Well,” he drew out with his Scottish tongue, “my name is Colt McCormick. I’m 36 years old from Scotland. Unmarried. I’m on my way back to my place of business where I, shall I say, strive to entertain the masses with my collection of illustrious female ecdysiasts and compan-”

“Strippers and prostitutes.” Ares interrupted him with a sharpness on her tongue. Colt had shattered the mirror. He wasn’t Adam at all. “So, you’re a pimp.”

Colt’s lips waned slightly at the abrasive statement. She was very smart, and very quick. He wouldn’t be able to bullshit his way into her life. Though when he first saw her he thought she was nowhere near the straight and narrow way. “I prefer to consider myself a procurer of beautiful women.”

“Also known as a pimp,” Ares repeated again. “A person who makes money off of the bodies of others.” She didn’t consider herself a hypocrite. In fact, she had fought the past year against the people who took advantage of innocents to make some extra money. They were the ones she went after.

Colt furrowed his eyebrows at her. He felt like he had just stepped in quicksand. “What, so you think I’m just some gross trafficker who buys and sells women against their will?” He scoffed at the idea. In fact, he had a deep love and appreciation for women and the beauty they had to offer, even if it was in a seedier environment. “I would think someone of your caliber would believe in and appreciate the legality of certain vices in order to establish and maintain a level of respect, dignity, and health standards for all participants.”

Ares paused, feeling at a crossroad. A pimp with a heart of gold? Her teachings and experiences would say otherwise. How honest was he? How much was he trying to wrap up his life in pretty wrapping paper for her? He had tried to use fancy words to describe his line of work to her so it was obvious where he was going prostitution may not be exactly legal. “Then why the fancy verbiage?”

Giving off a casual shrug, he was attempting to hide the fact that she was making him very nervous. He felt a strong desire to impress her and he obviously wasn’t. “The words ‘pimp’ and ‘hooker’ don’t exactly bring a fair light to my work.” His bright eyes looked at her with worry. “Look, Ares. Every one of my girls wants to be there. They enjoy being looked at by lustful eyes and being with men eager to please them. I give them food and housing and make sure they’re at 100 every day. I only take a bit from the top, giving them most of their own profits. Besides, if a woman doesn’t want to be there it shows. Any man who believes they need to feel more powerful by taking advantage of a woman who feels forced to do something they’re not comfortable with is not welcome in my establishment and deserves to be castrated.”

“You must have a lot of girls if you only have to take a small portion of the customer’s money,” Ares said, untrusting of his ability to provide for ‘his girls’ while only taking a small profit.

Colt shook his head. “A fair amount, but I also am an investor of a gambling hall attached to my club. That’s where most of my profits come from.” He held his breath in hopes that he had explained himself properly for her. He wasn’t able to break free from her magnetic pull.

There was a long pause while Ares analyzed the hell out of Colt and his lengthy explanation. He held strong under her questioning. He didn’t fidget and his voice didn’t waver. He kept his blazing blue eyes strong on her. Colt was telling the truth and was very sincere about the credibility of his underworld business. She gave him an ever-so-slight nod in approval.

Colt’s lips twitched up in satisfaction that he was beginning to win her over. “What about you?”

Ares remained in her spot, keeping the distance that hadn’t changed since they paused in the hallway. “Ares Onasis. 22. Born and raised in Greece.” She paused. “Unmarried.” The words felt sour against her cheeks. “Hustler.” She refrained from acknowledging the fact that she was at one point a dirty cop. If he could use fancy descriptions, she could too.

“So, you’re a con artist,” Colt jested, making fun of Ares’s earlier comment about his work.

Ares couldn’t help but smirk. “I like to shake down thugs.”

Colt’s smile widened. She was loosening up a bit and revealing some rather intriguing information about her. “Steal from the rich, give to the poor.”

“Yes, I’m poor,” Ares replied without missing a beat.

Colt raised his eyebrow with intrigue. She was a very startling woman. A woman who only targeted criminals but didn’t share her profits. Did she do it merely because she could and that it was a fun challenge since criminals are of a less oblivious mindset? Or did something happen to her that caused some mental hunger that fed off of exacting revenge? He hoped for the former since he was at risk of falling prey to her. “Technically I’m a criminal.”

Ares shook her head. “You don’t treat the women like products. You treat them like they’re business partners.”

Colt took a step forward, trying to close the gap between them. “You hungry?” He asked innocently.

Ares tilted her chin up slightly to meet his eyes. “I am.” She subconsciously and out of view slipped the ring off of her finger in her pocket.

Colt felt his skin chill as her dark eyes seemed to read right through him. “Good. Join me for dinner? I’d like to hear about some of your more successful jobs.”

“Sure,” the woman answered, surprising herself with her sudden openness. The fact that, while Colt looked like Adam’s twin, the man wasn’t Adam in any way, shape, or form. Colt wasn’t her hero. He was a criminal just like her.

[OFF]

Ares Onasis
Quartermaster

&

Colt McCormick (NPC)
Passenger
As written by Ares Onasis

S.S. Fawkes