Part Forty-Nine: Nitika's woes

[matrixrefugee.livejournal.com]

Miss Meglomania: I think it's fine to have running chatters--- I'm so hyper at times I need to talk to somebody, anybody, so my RP characters and I have got good running conversations with each other...
Matrixrefugee197: Oh, I do that!! I often have Hal and Frank bickering away in the back of my head, with Cecie interjecting as the voice of semi-reason. Occasionally with Le Meroveque and Julien intruding... and once in a while Mero 2.5 doing something odd like juggling open switch-blade knives, just to get a rise out of everyone...
Miss Meglomania: My characters pop up with advice like the archtypical devil-and-angel-on-the-shoulder...sometimes good inoffensive advice (Nicky, always), and sometimes...NOT so good advice (Nitika and Ilia, I'm looking at you
two). and just plain WEIRD advice (Simone, that means YOU, girl!!)
Matrixrefugee197: I haven't seen the French giant around lately... wonder if it has anything to do with the trick *I* played on him: I took the label off the bottle of Merlot wine he had in our refrigerator, bought a bottle of low-carb
wine of the same type and stuck the label of the first bottle on over it...
Miss Meglomania: Me: "Should i take the Ashwar contract or continue helping Mike out?"
Simone: "I think you should dye your hair GREEN!!!"
Matrixrefugee197: Hm. Yeah, that sounds familiar: Frank on one shoulder as the angel, Hal on the other as the devil...
Miss Meglomania: Me: "How does THAT answer anything?!?" Simone: (shrug> "Can't hurt."
Matrixrefugee197: ROTFLMAO!!!
Miss Meglomania: LOL at the wine-switch...
Matrixrefugee197: You haven't known chaos in the kitchen until a French bio-mechanoid pours himself a glass of what he thinks is normal wine, then splats the first sip of it out all over your kitchen window...
Matrixrefugee197: MR's dad: "The French guy has got to go...
MR: "Which one?!"
MR's dad: "The bigger one. I can whip the little one's skinny butt."
Miss Meglomania: Nitika: "*I* can whup his butt and I'm only 2 inches taller...that's not much of a boast."
Matrixrefugee197: Castor: "Oh yeah? try getting past *US*!"
Pollux: "Don't hurt her, Cas."
Cstr: "I'll hurt her if I need to!"
Miss Meglomania: Nitika frowns a little at them, her voice a litle offended. "It was just a *joke*..."
Matrixrefugee197: P: "Don't take it too seriously, ma'am: my brother's a little short on humor."
Cstr: "I am *NOT*!"
Miss Meglomania: Nitika: "It's okay...I'm not feeling too humourous myself these days."
Matrixrefugee197: Cstr: "Yeah, it's a little hard to the way things been goin'..."
P: "You tried watching "Monster House Party"? Y' might get a laugh out of it: I did."
Cstr: "It's a *family* movie, you idiot!"
Miss Meglomania: Nitika: "Thanks, but I don't watch a lot of movies. I'm just sorta...I dunno. Usual teenage angst, I guess it'll be okay." Gets off the couch and walks onto the balcony, resting her chin in her hand and leaning on the
railing...
Matrixrefugee197: Cstr: "Pollux Capponi, what the hell are you trying to do, make us look bad in front of the Contessa's kid?!"
P: "I was just trying to help."
Cstr: "Yeah, help us over the side of a cliff, dammit!"
Cstr: (breaking the fourth wall> "Yep, me and my bro *do* have a last name... I wanted it to be Capone, but for some reason the boss wouldn't let us."
Miss Meglomania: Nitika crawls up to lie on the balcony railing, lacing her fingers over her stomach and watching the clouds...not sure exactly how she DOES feel...worried, and bored, and lonely...
Matrixrefugee197: Cstr: (getting a ping from 'the boss'> "Oop... the boss needs us for something..."
P: "Can it wait?"
Cstr: "No, you fiberhead!" (already hauling Pollux to his feet and dragging him down the hallway to Le Mero's rooms...>
After a long moment, the twins emerge:
P: "Why do we always have to stake out his little romantic nooks?"
Cstr: "So no one plants a bomb in it, idiot, and to make sure no one's got any little recording devices hidden away."
P: "So why doesn't Vlad do it?"
Cstr: "Excuse me? Because Vlad, like, looks like something out of 'Interview with a Vampire'."
Miss Meglomania: Nitika hears them as they pass, but doesn't think much of it...they aren't realy worth her time, are they? Hops off the balcony anc comes back inside, wandering around to look for Astarte...
Miss Meglomania: ((LOL-- Valley Boy Castor!))
Matrixrefugee197: Cstr: "Two little Italian guys going into a hotel room in Rome; who's gonna notice that?!"
P: "Um, maybe some cute Italian girls workin' there?" (their voices fade into the hallway heading out...>
Miss Meglomania: Nitika pokes around the building for a while...finally asks someone if they've seen the Princess anywhere around...
Matrixrefugee197: One of the French maidservants: "She was sparring with one of her mother's guards in the courtyard."
Miss Meglomania: Nitika thanks her and heads downstairs to the courtyard...officially she's not supposed to be doing this, but she doesn't care..."Astarte?"
Matrixrefugee197: Asarte, in the midst of sparring with a tall, masculine-looking woman nearly twice her size, pulls back and looks up. "Yeah?"
Miss Meglomania: Nitika: "Oh, you're busy...it's okay, it's nothing important. Mind if I watch?"
Matrixrefugee197: A: (breathing hard, just from effort> "It's okay... we're almost done for the day..."
Large woman: (something in French that sounds like she disagrees>
A: (replies somewhat curtly, to the effect that she's a bit winded>
Matrixrefugee197: Astarte's sparring partner hands her a large violet towel lying on a stone bench. Astarte blots her brow and shoulders, which are slightly beaded up with sweat.
Miss Meglomania: Nitika doesn't understand French, but she gets the drift...sits on the edge of a potted plant, watching them...God, why is Astarte allowed to be so happy when *her* world is falling into pieces? But that's not nice to think...
Matrixrefugee197: Astarte approaches: her jaw-length hair is tightly pulled back with a plain black clip and she's clad in a form-fitting body suit over looser-cut leggings...
Miss Meglomania: Nitika: "It's really nothing important, i just wanted a distraction...I'm hideously bored, I've no one to talk to."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Yeah, tell me about it: Not that my brother's the best guy to talk to anyway, but the way he and my dad have been shut up in each other's offices the past few days..."
Miss Meglomania: Nitika: "I'm not even supposed to talk to you-- the EA has very clear restrictions about fraternising with members of an opposing government during legal matters. But..." she shrugs. "What am I supposed to do, just sit in my room all day?"
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Tell me about it... I've been wanting to chat with you for days, but every time I try to, someone catches me sneaking around..."
Miss Meglomania: N: (smiles> "Glad to know I've been missed."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Not to pry, but did I hear your mom was sick? I've heard the servants whispering something to that effect."
Miss Meglomania: Nitika nods a little. "Yes, she...had a short illness, she's convelecing now. She'll be okay, so I've been told."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "That's good to hear... though my mum's been acting... odd lately.... sleepy-like..."
Miss Meglomania: N: "I assure you, it's not contageous."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Nah, she started acting like this before that. Maybe it's the weather..."
Miss Meglomania: N: "Has she been seen by your personal physician?"
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Yeah, but she's been real hush-hush about the results. She gave my dad some vague answer like it's her age or something..."
Miss Meglomania: N: "How old is she?"
Matrixrefugee197: A: "She's maybe 12 years younger than my dad, so that makes her... 45..."
Miss Meglomania: N: "Hm, I would have thought she was older, but..." shrugs. "I guess I'm used to almost half my Mom's age."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "She looks young, anti-aging treatments and stuff... she used to be an actress before she moved in with my dad permanently when she was pregnant with my brother."
Miss Meglomania: N: "Was she in anything I would have seen?"
Matrixrefugee197: A: "She did a lot of romantic comedies, she won a couple Oscars... 'Sibling Rivalry Gone Awry' was her second Oscar... I think the first was for some science-fiction thing about banishing genetically imperfect people
to a colony on some planet..."
Miss Meglomania: ((Oooo, found a *perfect* Nitika pic-- Winona Ryder in 'Dracula', actually, but perfect for Niti:
http://www.moviecostumes.com/Dracula/minared3.jpg ))
Miss Meglomania: N: "I think I saw that first one-- 'Omega Zero' or something? Don't really remember the name-- my brain's a little fuzzy around that part of my life..."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Yeah, that's the one... she won't let me see it, just because she's got one love scene in it..."
Miss Meglomania: N: "Ugh...I don't even want to *think* about either of my mothers doing it, much less see it on film. There's no reason why your algebra teacher should know what your butt looks like."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "My dad told me there's nothing in that scene that nobody shouldn't see, but when you consider the way *his* mind works..."
Miss Meglomania: N: "I think all of that should be kept private...I mean, I'm not one to talk, I know, I'm as debauched as they come, but..." shrugs. "I'm not thinking clearly this week."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "I'm told I don't think clearly and it's because of my age... Not that *that* statement bugs me."
Miss Meglomania: N: "You're what, 14, right? I don't think you're supposed to think clearly. Of course, I slept through that year so i don't know for sure...enjoy it while you can."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Not that it's that much fun... though my dad keeps telling me the same deal."
Miss Meglomania: N: "Young teenagers, especially ones like us, have it made. You don't do anything, you've got all the money in the world and you can get anything you want. Once you hit about 16..." she shakes her head. "whole new
ball game."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Exactly... Mom's already trying to figure out where to send me to school: I've had a tutor all this time, but she thinks it's time I got a formal education. Better not be some finishing school." (rolls eyes>
Miss Meglomania: N: "My birth father was in the military, so my birth mother homeschooled me until I got sick-- then when moved in with Mom and Daddy, they got me tutors in everything cos Sobor Volkov's so damn out of the way. But there were kids my age there, so it wasn't a total bust."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "There's a few kids my age at the Chateau-de-Rennes, but Versailles's a different story: most of the palace kids there are waaaay younger than me."
Miss Meglomania: N: "We have a townhouse in St. Petersburg, and Daddy's official office and apartment was in Moscow, but I was a little too young then to know how to have a lot of fun in a city."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "We spend most of the time at the Chateau... except in the spring and early summer. I'm not sure which place I can't stand more: at least at the Chateau, I can dress like myself. Versailles has a bit more action, but
it's got this damn 19th century dress code..."
Miss Meglomania: Nitika laughs a little and smooths out one of her layers of floaty skirts. "Really? with corsets and everything? I would die!"
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Oh God, yeah..." *WINCING!*
Miss Meglomania: Nitika stands up and spins in a circle, the various fluttery layers of her sari-dress fluttering about...she also wears a traditonal choli blouse, which is like a capped-sleeve t-shirt that covers her breasts and not
much else: "I wouldn't stand it for a minute-- give me chiffon, and air, and silk, but keep your bloody boning to yourself!"
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Nice.... You'd think I could stand a corset since I'm a leather freak... NOT!"
Miss Meglomania: N: "a lot of people at home wear Edwardian stuff, but that's mostly cos that's when the Royal Martyrs got killed so it's like a tribute...Daddy always wore his full military dress uniform in public, but he
had to look official. And Mom is the official fashion plate of the entire East!"
Matrixrefugee197: In Le Mero's office, the phone rings. He picks it up... "Hallo?"
Cstr's voice: "Hey boss, the den is clean. You want me to send Pollux back?"
LM: "Yes, that will do.... if he can find his way back."
Cstr: "Gotcha."
Miss Meglomania: ((if. Keyword: if))
Matrixrefugee197: Cstr: "Want me to radio reinforcements?"
LM: "*Yes*."
A few moments later, two more Werewolves, Tantalus and Pelops, head out of the Palazzo...
Miss Meglomania: N: (continuing> "We have an entire tower back home that holds the court dressmakers-- 45 of them, and 23 tailors. They make everybody's clothes, and everybody in Russia wants to look like we do." (said with a hint of pride>
Matrixrefugee197: A: "A lot of ladies in France have adopted my mom's styles... mostly the ones who certainly don't have her figure... and they say you can spot male fans of my dad: they're the ones in the frock-coat jackets: I think I've
heard they them call 'em "Mero jackets" in the States."
Miss Meglomania: N: "Mom once wore a short wig for a photograph, and by the end of the week millions of women had cut their hair off because they thought she had-- can you imagine that? The grandmother of the Chechnyan prime minister even wore a bindi and she's as Russian Orthodox as they come."
Matrixrefugee197: A: (chuckles>
Miss Meglomania: N: "Of course, now everybody in your country will be looking to Nadia for style -- I hope she's up for it."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Oh, God, I hope not... she's kinda cute, but she's the frumpiest dresser I ever met: whatever made my dad and-or my brother get interested in her, it ain't her fashion style."
Miss Meglomania: N: "He told me how he proposed to her...it's so romantic!" smiles. "God, that sounded stupid."
Matrixrefugee197: A: "Yeah, he's a sweet guy, ain't he?"
Miss Meglomania: Nitika nods. "He really is. She's lucky."
Matrixrefugee197: ((Dice roll...))
Matrixrefugee197: OW!!!
Miss Meglomania: ((whimper?))
Matrixrefugee197: 5/6... Re: Nitika's convo with Gaston...
Matrixrefugee197: Nadia happened to pass by a window overlooking the courtyard during the course of it...
Miss Meglomania: ((owchie))
Matrixrefugee197: Nadia: "What on earth...?"
Matrixrefugee197: As Astarte and Nitika are chatting, Nadia tries to approach Gaston about this... sighting...
Matrixrefugee197: Except that Gaston is now sequestered with his father and the court lawyer Gabriel DeChardis...
Matrixrefugee197: Resolves to confront him as soon as she can get him alone...
Miss Meglomania: ((hm. Hot-tempered, isn't she?))
Matrixrefugee197: She has her moments...
Miss Meglomania: ((N: "We were only talking, don't get a bee in your knickers..."))
Matrixrefugee197: Castor and Pollux return to the Palazzo, mission accomplished...
Miss Meglomania: ((ah, so they didn't get lost? Good!))
Matrixrefugee197: Pollux is the one who tends to have trouble finding his way out of a phone booth...))
Miss Meglomania: ((but he's so *cute* when he's ineficient!))
Matrixrefugee197: True... I love the Twins!))
Miss Meglomania: ((how can you not, lol?))
Matrixrefugee197: Best goofy henchmen a sometimes-benevolent dictator could have...))
Once they''ve returned, the Twins report back to 'the Boss'... who's in a meeting right now, but manages to step away from it for a moment...
They emerge from the office, Castor sealing up something inside a compartment in his forearm... Runs a security scan, checking for Ilia...
Miss Meglomania: The scan shows that Ilia's in his studio-- as if the blaring Stravinsky didn't tip of everybody already!
Matrixrefugee197: Cstr: "Got 'um... You stay put, I got a packet to deliver..."
P: "Why does he always let you deliver them?"
Cstr: "Because *you* pick your teeth with the envelopes!"
Pollux pouts slightly, then heads to the common room and settles on a couch there...
Castor heads for Ilia's studio....
Cstr: (Micro-burst back to Pollux: Bet you the remote that the Boss doesn't make it so well with the Goulash-Eater.>
P: (microburst: Good idea!>
Miss Meglomania: ((ewwwww...))
Matrixrefugee197: Pollux doesn't have much artificial saliva, so the envelopes just look nibbled on...))
Miss Meglomania: ((still...yech!))
Matrixrefugee197: Cstr: (approaches the door to Ilia's studio, listens for a moment... Hm, how to deliver this in an impressive way...?>
Matrixrefugee197: Fold it into a paper airplane, open the door and wing it through? Nah...Slide it under the door? He might miss it...
Miss Meglomania: decisions, decisions...
Matrixrefugee197: Eh, what the hell... just do the boring normal human thing and give it to 'um...
Miss Meglomania: The door opens and a Russian serving girl comes out, carrying a tea-tray. "Oh, hello, Mr. Castor! Would you like to come in?"
Matrixrefugee197: Cstr: "Yeah, if 'e don't mind..."
Miss Meglomania: SG: "Please, go right ahead. Pardon me," and she bustles past him towards the kitchen
Matrixrefugee197: Steps through the door, pushes it shut behind him, unseals his arm and removes the envelope hidden there...
Miss Meglomania: Ilia stands by the window drinking tea, and rocking back and forh on his feet...slowly, from the heel, to the ball, until he's standing en pointe for a few moments, then repeating..."Who is it?"
Matrixrefugee197: Cstr: "Castor Capponi, atcher service." (mock bow, grinning a little>
Miss Meglomania: Ilia turns and rolls his eyes a bit. "Spare me...what do you want?"
Matrixrefugee197: Cstr: (approaching Ilia, holding up the envelope> "My boss has a message for you... burn it as soon as y' read it."
Miss Meglomania: Ilia glances at the envelope and takes it. "Thank you. Now please excuse me? I am only half-finished."
Matrixrefugee197: Cstr: "As y' insist..." (glancing up and down Ilia... hm, a little scrawny, but he can see why the boss likes 'um... Heads out>
Miss Meglomania: Ilia puts down his teacup and opens the envelope with a letter-opener, pulling out the contents and scanning over them quickly
Matrixrefugee197: The message: Meet me this evening at midnight at the Hotel Ariosto, room 303. H.d.M
Miss Meglomania: Ilia (under his breath> "Short and to the point..." takes his zippo out of his trouser pocket and sets one corner of the letter ablaze, watching the fire eat it up before dropping it into the rubbish bin and going back to practice.