glitter on the wet streets

[hejhej]

Who: Lisbeth (hejhej) and Jesse (hostage)
When: Late night, waaaaay after evening sirens
Where: Twins Night Club in the Underground Mall
Summary: Lisbeth and Jesse have a drink, at Jesse's request.
Warnings: Language and maybe some frisky business. I'll change the warnings as it progresses.

Jesse had told her to give him twenty and the minutes were counting down. Lisbeth's hands felt unnaturally sweaty, a sensation she only experienced when she was nervous. Why was she nervous? Because someone had willingly asked her out for a drink, that's why. She only let Mimmi do that and that was because she'd known Mimmi for a bit. However, Mimmi wasn't here and to say that Lisbeth truly desired to be alone at all hours of the day and night was a bit of a stretch. Quickly, she changed into something a little more.. festive: she kept her racerback tank top on, but changed into a tighter pair of pants and a loose fitting shirt that exposed her dragon tattoo on the back. She kept her hair in the fauxhawk she'd put it in this morning. Who said she didn't put any effort into herself?

As she headed out of her apartment, she grabbed the steel pipe she used to get to places after the sirens. And the beasts she saw weren't any different than the ones she saw every night. It was quite a stretch since she had to get to Sector 3, but she soon found herself going down into the Underground Mall. This seemed to be a growing central part of her life. First Loki and now Jesse. Is this where she would meet the most interesting people she'd met on the Network?

Not wanting to wait in the long line outside the club, Lisbeth shoved her way to the front of the line where the bouncer stopped her. Without saying a word, she held out a wad of bills that quickly found her escorted in first. The booming techno music filled her ears and her chest as she looked around. She better have been the first one there; he'd already used her words against her. She didn't want him to do it again.

Comments

[hostage]

That snapped him out of it. A smile returned to Jesse's face, brought on by the unexpected lightness of Lisbeth's tone. And she was right, of course. He didn't know about her situation back home or how it compared to this place. But for him, at least...

"There's freedom here," he said. "I don't think most people get it, and maybe where they come from is better than here, but to me - all I'm seeing is opportunity, you know?"

[hejhej]

Siren's Port meant no Mikael, no government records, no Harriet Fucking Vanger, no anything. She wasn't a ward of the state and was free to do as she pleased.

Free to handle her finances. Free to do whatever she wanted without the threat of institutionalization over her head. Granted, she'd scared Bjurman straight, but she didn't like people thinking she was some special charity case.

"There is opportunity here," she said with a small smile.

[hostage]

Jesse was glad that there was someone here, at least, who shared his point of view. Even though Mary was also determined to stay, it wasn't exactly a matter of choice for her, and she looked sad when she talked about it. Didi had encouraged him to see this as a second chance, but that was only because she knew everything. Probably even knew that he'd end up dead meat back home.

Lisbeth, however, was just like him. He could tell from looking at her that she was an outsider, too. Maybe she was searching for a place to belong, same as him. Even though he didn't know the details, it was obvious enough that her own world hadn't been kind to her. So there they were: two fucked up kids who saw something in Siren's Port that no one else seemed to see.

"So what is it you wanna do here?" he asked. "I mean, like, got any big plans?"

[hejhej]

It was rare that Lisbeth found a kindred spirit. The people that she usually attracted and whom attracted her were usually the complete opposite of her. So if she ever knew Jesse's thoughts that they were alike, she wouldn't know how to react to them. She would at first deny it because she didn't want to be anyone but herself, but upon retrospect, she wouldn't know how to answer.

But plans? Lisbeth never really had plans. Lisbeth shrugged, but it was barely a shift of her shoulders. "Just live day to day," she said. "That's how I lived back in Stockholm. No one bothered me and I didn't bother them."

She finished her second beer. "You?"

[hostage]

Stockholm? Where was that? Somewhere in Europe, Jesse knew that much. He'd thought she was German, but he was pretty sure Stockholm was somewhere else. Now he felt like an idiot. He'd have to look that up before she noticed how dumb he was.

"Huh?" He almost didn't realize she'd asked. "Oh, uh... Pretty much the same thing, you know. Not used to settling down. Did a lot of, uh, traveling. Back home. Lotta packing up and going out into the wilderness, all that. But I can't do that here, obviously... I'm thinking I'll buy a house. That's the next step, yeah. Get outta those shitty apartments."

[hejhej]

A small smile appeared on Lisbeth's face and she tried so hard to hide it just as quickly, turning her head away from him slightly as she did so. "I think shitty is a compliment," she said.