Hiding from Hell

[Ripple]

Lian needed a cigarette... badly. She had already spent several hours with Sky yelling at her and crushing the bones in her hand from the pain in her ears and whatever. Lian didn't really respond well since she thought yelling right back and not taking orders was the appropriate thing. Once the Doc helped Sky out and everything, Lian was able to relax and not worry so much about her friend anymore. F*ckin' need to relax already, she thought as she approached the maze. It was a good place to hide, especially from Ms. Frost since she didn't approve of the smoking and everything. Nor did several of the teachers. But sometimes a girl needed her fix.

Lighting up her cigarette, Lian inhaled and heaved a big sigh of satisfaction. Ugh... thank you, she thought immediately as she inhaled another long drag. She could feel the smoke in her lungs and mouth and loved it. She had already gone almost a whole day without one and it was killing her. She lay down on the soft freshly cut grass and sighed. It was rather nice out and she knew there was dinner either right now or soon. She would bring some to Sky if the bitch didn't find her first. In the meantime, being alone was her preference.

[Haven]

Niki'd been sorting things out. Hunger notwithstanding, she wasn't in the best of moods after all that was said between herself and Jasper. Tummy grumbling, she emerged from the seclusion of the hedge maze to see a cloud of smoke and a girl who couldn't bluff her way out of a pair of deuces. "Hey. What's up chika?" she said by way of a greeting, not really caring what Lian was up to, but needing to hear another voice aside from her own rattling around in her head.

It had been all day and she'd yet to bump into her man. An unusual turn of events must have taken place or, she furrowed her brow slightly as she thought, he might be avoiding her. Admittedly she had pulled some crap the night before. Ian, not a big fan of public displays of affection, had been just so adorable sitting there and being a guy in his element that Niki couldn't help herself. She wanted a taste of him and his tough-guy lips and, never being the kind of girl to wait to be invited, she walked right up behind him and helped herself. Since then and the chiding he'd given her with his tone she wanted to give him his space, but enough was enough already and she was starting to miss him.

"Been here long?" she asked Lian, wondering if she might have seen Diesel, but not wanting to 'show her hand' just as yet. Lian was cool enough, but Niki didn't count her a friend or a person she could confide in. By keeping her question close to meaningless she might work her way around asking who the Paragon might have seen and if she had any idea where Diesel was.

[Ripple]

"Hey," Lian replied with a nod. So much for being alone, but Haven wasn't bad company. On the contrary, whenever Haven was in the room, something always happened and Lian was always entertained. But the girl herself, Lian never really had any qualms with her. She was a tough chick, of that Lian was certain and when it came to shit she did in the past, that was the past. At the end of the day, Haven was a kid just like Lian, as well as human.

Taking another pull of her cigarette, Lian shook her head in response to the Acolyte's question. "Nah just sat down couple o' minutes ago. Want one?" She offered a cigarette to the girl, not really knowing if she smoked or not but it was Lian's way of being polite. "What's happenin' at the mansion?" she continued as she took another drag. Every single day at the mansion was a mad house and Lian loved it. But once in a while, peace and quiet was necessary.

[Haven]

"No thanks, never did like cigarettes. Not against smoking, but tobacco is just not my weed of choice." She winked with a dry grin on her lips. "And hell if I know what's been going on in there. I cooked some rice and beans and left, didn't even eat any."

She sat down on the grass near Lian but not too close. "You get any? It's an old recipe, but I threw in some of my own flair." For some reason her cooking was one of the few things she wanted to share with people, when she cooked that is, and it made her feel something of a warm homey feeling. If Lian put down her cooking she just might have to kill her, but she didn't let it show on her face.

"What've you been doing since the big bang?" That was the last time Niki'd seen the Paragon and she wasn't sure why she asked, but maybe she might have seen Ian and any news would be welcome.

[Ripple]

"Didn't really have time to eat," she replied. "Took care of the blair bitch and then came here. Sky's cool now thank GOD... I don't need to hear her screaming in my ear anymore." Lian talked a lot of smack about her best friends. But that was just a cover/joking way to lighten up the subject. It's how she was and people who knew her well enough would know that. She would see Sky later and the two would probably wrestle each other while watching Predators for the ten thousandth time while screaming "GET TO DA CHOPPA" in their best Arnold accents.

She smirked at the thought and took another drag while putting her pack away. It was cool that Haven didn't want one and understandable as well. "Then I came here," she continued before she exhaled. "So where's your boo at? Thought you guys were like tied to the ankle with shackles or whatever the phrase is." Lian didn't get serious relationships, at all. It just wasn't her thing but she never really cared if someone she knew was in one. She was just the first to say "I told you so" when it didn't work out four days later.

"I haven't seen him since the 'big bang' actually is he alright? He wasn't in the medlab when I was," she finished.

[Haven]

"Yeah, oh hey.. you know him. He's tough. But I ain't seen him for a while myself." She looked up at Lian from pulling at a few blades of grass to meet her eyes. "What d'ya mean shackled? We do our own thing, he gives me my space." She said it that way around because she didn't want to imply that she herself might be the one who was more in love with Ian than he might be with her.

In every relationship there seemed to be one person who was just that little bit more in love with the other, and in that infinitesimal fraction of inequality lay all the power. She had been the one who loved less than the other, or so it had turned out, every time she had gotten together with someone.. and she knew well that sense of power, every time that is.. until now. Now she was sitting there and wondering if she didn't love Ian more than he loved her. That might be the scariest thing she ever had to face. If she did love him more than he loved her what did that make her?

"I'm surprised to see you alone too, now that I think of it." Niki said flipping the script and putting it back on Lian. "You, Sky and Chase are like never apart yourselves. So you enjoying the freedom?" A slight cock of her head and a raise of her eyebrow "Or are ya missin em? Doc's the best, girl trust me. It's good to hear Sky's up, but Chase looked like shit on a Triscut. I wouldn't worry too much though cause he's in good hands." She smiled slightly then thinking of how good a man and how wonderful a friend Doc McCoy was to her. If there was one guy to put your trust in when someone was hurt it was him and she nodded her head to confirm what she had said to Lian and what she was thinking to herself.

[Ripple]

Lian snorted into a light laugh and smirked. She, Chase and Sky were a close group. However Lian wasn't the type to start raping her f*ck buddy in front of a bunch of people in the Rec Room. Sometimes lack of PDA was better. Not that the couple shouldn't show affection but just not so much to where the people around them want to throw up. That was for private time.

Finally finishing her cigarette, the Paragon put it out on the grass and flicked it away. Yeah she littered but eventually the paper would just decompose and get in the ground and be part of nature and blah blah blah.... "Yeah the Doc's cool," she agreed as she lay down on the cool ground and placed her arms back over her head. It was time to enjoy the scenery and relax. "He should be since he deals with injured retards on a daily basis. So Chase and Sky are no different." She smirked again at her comment and continued to observe the sky.

The sun was setting and added some great purple and orange hues to the sky. It was always a beautiful thing to witness and it made her think of her mom. Lian's mom loved sunsets and would always make Lian watch them with her on a clear day. They would sit outside on their lawn and just sky gaze, talking about anything or nothing. Sometimes stay awake, sometimes sleep. It was one of the few childhood memories Lian had of her mom. Once she got into junior high, they never bonded in that way ever again.

Erasing the memory from her current train of thought, Lian looked to Haven and shrugged. "When it comes to you and your guy though, I was just messin' around. I'm not one for relationships like that but most people are, so I won't judge. Hope it works out and shit," she said in the nicest way possible.

[Haven]

"Aw hey, well gracias chikitita. You touched me right here," she tapped two fingers high up on her chest in a very gang sign sort of a way, right where her heart was supposed to be. If it weren't for Aideen and Ian she might never know it was there and yet sometimes, even still, she had to really wonder if it was.

"I mean who woulda guess you'da give such a blessing." Niki scoffed a sly snicker, shaking her head slightly. "I ain't usually one for what I got now either, most times it's easy to find yourself in things for the fun of it or some other reason," like you're starvin and you need to make a buck "but hey I hope you get a chance to feel what I'm feelin now. It's worth puttin yourself out there."

Niki's eyes held almost a look of pity for Lian then, since she'd been the girl to shrug off love and just keep right on truckin once upon a time in her own life. "If you play your cards right who knows. I seen how you looked at Dante there in the rec room yesterday.. and didn't you and Riker have somethin goin?" She wasn't sure if it was her or Sky or both of them, or if it was Chase who the girl was with. The way those Paragons slopped all over each other she bet Nighcrawler just dunked the lot of them in a de-lousing bath every morning, but she didn't judge.

"So who knows.." she stood up and nodded her head as a farewell gesture before turning and walking off, saying over her shoulder "..you might get your own happily ever after one day Chinadoll."

[Ripple]

"I have a long way to go before I get my happily ever after man," she replied automatically. Another cigarette was calling to her and she took one out of her pack and lit it. After putting her lighter away she inhaled deeply and noticed Haven was leaving. "Later dude." She waved goodbye with one swift gesture, not really caring if Haven saw it or not.

Now she was alone again and she was going to enjoy it before going to meet up with Chase and Sky. Haven's question about Lian and who she was interested and with stayed in her mind. She and Chase never had any flings like she and Riker had. Riker was more of her type as was Dante. But once she noticed Riker having a thing for Kat, Lian backed off seeing that maybe Riker was one of the commitment types. That was a bit of a turn off. Dante was able to liven her up a bit even though she didn't really try anything yet. It would happen in due time, and as much as she loved a challenge, her mind was on a lot of other things lately....