Willpower, ~open~

(Late! Midnight or later. April 7th, 3572)

Rikker had different levels of comfort. He felt nothing when he was required to attend black tie affairs, except a slight desire to wreck up the place (all that perfection makes many people have the similar desire to ruin it, or so he's heard). In his military affairs, he felt the comfort of routine. The expectations are virtually set in stone and years of trial and error have scoped out the ones that needed a little more attention. But here, in the urban sprawl, where the lowest desire is the top priority, Rikker felt hunger. With the barest flicker of dark energy, augmenting his senses, Rikker could hear, practically taste the violence. It's an agonizing symphony screaming all around him, as hovercrafts sped by and laser light shows reflected a spastic paradise beneath glass skin.

It's not often Rikker came through this part of the city. It was a little bit too tempting. And while still involved with the underground, since most illegal dealings can trace their ties back to the White Regime anyway, wasn't necessary to be in control while wallowing in filth on a regular basis. But every now and then, just to test himself, maybe even tease himself, Rikker would walk through Treq, maybe drink at the bars, maybe watch the shows. It was a world so close to his own, but just safe enough to be a bad joke.

For now, Rikker just walked, watching the people fall apart, switching back and forth between his mind's eye and the real world. He wondered briefly it was insanity to lose track of one or the other. But if it was, what did it matter? Who was going to tell him he was being insane, when the next breath would be missing a jaw?

Outfits!

Some might have said it was odd that a woman was wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night, followed around by a child that barely looked to be ten years old. Even odder so that they were in Treq, the tiny slip of a woman holding lightly to the arm of the most massive Jovian one might have ever seen. He'd been a brute, before she'd altered his mind and made him one of her own. Now, thankfully, he was solely hers to command - she honestly didn't give two shits about his wife or child. She'd shown them exactly how many shits she'd given - that was why they were dead in their tiny, filthy apartment, the four year old's blood smeared across the wall where he'd decided to try to protect his mommy. Her child still had blood under her nails, which had been claws just a short while ago.

Her dark aura had frightened the woman, but she hadn't had enough time to scream as she'd had all of her life's energy drained out through a simple touch. The child had still been twitching when she'd called her own damned spawn off of him, and she made prompt work of what remained of his energy as well. It filled her like the sweetest of sensations, the act of completing her energy-compiling needs somewhat satisfying. Master wanted energy, and energy master would get.

Bored of his company, she sent her brute of a slave off to find something to do - she'd given him a false name, and he'd probably end up on Mars or something. It didn't matter - all of her youma (positioned oh so carefully inside their bodies) would come back to her at her command if she so desired. The only real protection she needed, she had - her child, complete with serpentine youma and transfiguration abilities, and her own dark energy... Oh, the things she could do.

Her eyes were still glowing slightly from the raw power of the energy she'd taken just minutes before, which was the reason for the sunglasses. Her trips into Treq (and those that involved taking out those annoying members of the Feet) were becoming more frequent - Master was pleased. She licked her lips, smiling.

Her attention was drawn from the blood caked underneath her daughter's fingernails to a Jovian man, walking towards her. His eyes were... interesting, one might have said. "Well hello there." This one was different than the other foolish prats - she could tell immediately. This one was special.

Rikker almost missed the greeting, so caught up in his own thoughts and the noises of the violence that reached his augmented senses. Collecting himself, Rikker stopped just short of walking into the woman. He looked at her diminutive frame and then down further at the child that appeared to be accompanying her. Were it another day or night, were they someone else where a quarter or more of the waste system was not filled with blood, Rikker might have inquired about the child. This was the wrong environment for a mother and child pair, even were they prostitutes, which was not uncommon in the area, this bordered on absurdly unsafe.

"Peddle your wares on someone else, woman." Rikker growled in response, his usual chatty persona nowhere to be found.

For all that Treq might have been the ideal hunting ground for a man like Rikker, it was here where he was in most danger of revealing his true colors, blowing his cover, and becoming a liability rather than an asset to the White Regime. That in itself wasn't an issue, the issue was, Rikker liked his life and it wouldn't be put in jeopardy by a fling with a woman carting around a child in the most dangerous part of town, practically begging for a massacre.

Rikker side stepped her, intent on continuing his prowl, when he caught a glint, her eyes, just as he was passing. The glow was unmistakable in the gloom of the night. His hand flexed, a black glow beginning to rise from his fingertips, before being shut back down. His own energy from the White Regime wanted to respond, meet this foreign element and annihilate it. It was a reaction worth the risk of succumbing to bloodlust. He would find out what this woman was.

"Unless, you're not a whore." It wasn't the best save, but hell, any woman walking the streets at this time of night ran the risk of being labeled a whore, and if not that, then stupid.

His traveling gaze wasn't missed - Fille found herself wanting to chuckle, but instead simply smirked. So he thought that she was a petty whore, eh? Not that she was particularly insulted - she'd been called much worse in her youth, when she'd been all too eager to dump her male children on their other genetic halves and be done with them. Even now, the mere thoughts of what she'd done with those filthy, unworthy men, and even occasionally women... It made her skin crawl like she was filled by and covered with maggots. And there had been so many... Now that she'd thought of it again, she was going to have to scrub herself raw to get that feeling to go away. Ah, there it was - the second look.

"Indeed, good Jovian, I am no filthy prostitute. Nor is this child, because as most others would at this point, you must have assumed so." As if the girl was backing up what she'd said, the tiny thing's bright eyes locked on the man's hand, and she let loose a growl and half of a hiss in the same motion, an entirely inhuman noise. Her fingernails were still caked with the blood of her last kill - she wouldn't be allowed to mourn the child she'd been made to slaughter until she was safe and alone, in her closet in the dark where her mother wouldn't go. But at the same time, without her mother's constant presence, she would have nothing, so she couldn't let this intruder harm the woman.

It didn't seem to matter that she wanted her dead. She knew better than to ever even think those things, lest the creature inside her hear and tell her mother.

"And you yourself are more than meets the eye. Tell me, what brings you to this filthy hole so late at night? Is it just a slight more than the garden variety lust that most men feel, or perhaps something more?" Fille was intrigued.

Rikker's eyes immediately fell on the small child, her reaction unmistakable. The average human wouldn't have noticed the slip, the darkness acting as a cover for the unnatural energy seeping from Rikker's fingertips. He felt a tug of curiosity, wondering what the little thing could do. Rikker had killed many Martian children, who exhibited the same feral attitude, one that in itself was unimpressive, but here, out of place as the entire scenario was, the child was another element to interest him and keep their precarious little game going.

Returning his gaze back to the woman, Rikker had no doubt that she had sensed the energy too. Now here they were, each having offered gestures of threat and intrigue, while the world around them continued its frenzied rush towards mayhem. In other words, not a good place for the rest of this particular conversation to happen.

"The same reason as anyone, as you, I imagine. It's easy to get around when everyone's preoccupied with something else." As Rikker was, before this woman broke into his thoughts. But all he had occupying him were idle day dreams, feeding the madness that had grown and lurked inside him since his days stalking big game animals in Jovian jungles. Now it was time to go to work.

"If you're done, I'd like to invite you out of here." There were limits to what Treq could contain and based on their mutual inhuman proclivities, Rikker knew he had to take the woman and her monster child to where the walls had more soundproofing capabilities than cardboard. "I'd suggest my place." Which was designed to keep the peace, so to speak. "But wherever a more private atmosphere is available will do."

This could be a very fun game, if the cards were laid out correctly. This man had the aura of someone with power – not just self-assumed power, but literal power. Like he knew that he could do nearly anything and not get caught. Of course, she could do nearly anything and not get caught... This behemoth of a man might be a good ally for the future, in any case.

”Indeed, the night is always a time for frights. So when the fools believe that they're imagining things...” She trailed off, shrugging one bony shoulder. The child had positioned herself between her mother and the man, tense as a coiled snake, with a very similar look to what the animal would have. Fille glanced down at her, one eyebrow raising just slightly. Usually, the girl would have already killed this man – the moment that the serpent in her had realized that he was a potential threat, he'd have been dead. But something was holding her back, holding her still...

She looked back up at the hulking Jovian, nodding her head. ”Yes, we've concluded our business here. Free for the rest of the night. Lead the way, good sir.” Her voice was laced with enough of Metallia's dark energy that if the man had a hint of sane in him, he'd probably have turned and run immediately. Perhaps he was just one of those brave fools...

She took that last few precious steps towards him, feeling Metallia's energy spike in her again. No, perhaps he wasn't just one of those fools. There was something more to him, something interesting. The dark energy was reacting enough that she'd be able to knock him back, should the need arise (she still hadn't quite grasped that handle over the power that she'd had last time – not enough practice. Soon fixed.), so she pulled her glaring, coiled-snake of a daughter to her other side, ignoring the girl's flinch at the contact.

Under ordinary circumstances, Rikker would be compelled to turn the woman over to the White Regime scientists for experiments. Anyone capable of manipulating energy like this (like him) that did not stem from the White Regime was an anomaly worth investigating. That was the plan for any of the senshi caught. Assuming they were still alive, there was a lot of interest in isolating the source of power that fueld the so-called planetary warriors. But Rikker doubted this woman and her child were of that ilk, not unless the soldiers of love and justice had taken a turn for the worst. So what was it then? Who else was being brought into the world with unnatural powers?

"Great. We can go back to my place." Rikker watched her approach, feeling his gut tighten, waiting for that one movement too quick that would ignite their playful interaction. The attack never came and the dance was still on. Standing so close, Rikker could feel the energy resonating under the translucent shell of skin and flesh, as if her body could barely contain the energy inside.

Rikker's eyes flicked down to the child again, the desire to eliminate this secondary threat rising steadily. If they gave him a reason, she would be the first to go. "Let's be off then." Rikker gestured to the street and started to lead them away from the brittle neon lives falling apart around them.

It was a surprisingly quiet journey to the hovercraft hub, where all the taxis hung out. No one bothered the three of them, walking along as they were, almost an ideal family, were it not for their surroundings, and the night quite human glare of the monster child. In this area of town, they were almost all automated, the risk of leaving one's back open to the whims of drug addicts, criminals and the insane having chased away any face to face customer service along time ago. Rikker lead the pair to a sleek black hovercraft that lingered towards the front of the hub, and opened the door to a spacious and immaculately clean back seat. The company was private and well known for discretion and catering to the White Regime's less savory needs. They certainly made a small fortune off of Rikker.

Once they were all in and settled, Rikker told the hovercraft to take him home. The vehicle purred to life and seamlessly lifted off the ground and into the night.

While the car was spacious, it was still a small enclosed space. With the noise of the street suddenly muted, the tension overwhelmed the silence. It wouldn't be the first time Rikker left behind a bloody mess in a taxi (hence the fortune the company made off of him), but that was really too crude for such an interesting discovery.

"It won't be long now."

This was turning out to be a far more interesting night than she had imagined. A fun kill, a full stomach, and now an interesting potential... whatever he might be. She and the girl followed walked beside him with ease, apparently completely comfortable with their filthy and undesirable surroundings. Well, at least, Fille was. The girl never looked comfortable by any stretch of the word, so there was always that. She was coiled like a viper, though she looked more prepared to run than to strike. Having been pulled away from the potential threat to her care-givers safety, she was more intent on self preservation. And staying around, she felt, if things went bad, would be bad for her self preservation.

Fille pushed the child into the car first, the girl curling into the opposite side door and apparently trying to make herself smaller. Fille climbed in after, somehow still managing to look graceful as she scooted across the seat and barely managed to fill half of it. She was slender, yes - probably just a twig compared to the log of a man that was going to be sitting beside her - but with the mass of dark energy that was currently bouncing around inside of her like a bumper ball table, she was pretty certain that she'd be able to hold him off or kill him. As long as he didn't have some secret mass of energy that he kept stashed.

"I thank you for your hospitality, Mr..." She trailed off, making it a bit obvious that she wasn't just overlooking interactions. If she got what seemed to be a real name, or was most certainly a real name, than she'd give hers. If not, then she'd probably give one of her sisters' names - there were certainly enough of them.

"Jalkan. Rikker Jalkan. You can call me Rikker. I don't think we'll need to stand on any pretenses, Ms..." Rikker smiled, offering his hand casually. He shot a glance at the child, to make sure it wasn't going to try to come at him. If it did, the car company would probably make a mint off him from just this night. And to think, he might some day be a father...

"Have you been on Earth long? It doesn't seem like your native origins..." It would all depend on the rest of their night went, but Rikker would find out where her power came from and what it could be used for. Venus had already spawned the jungle Venusians with the hyper-pheromones, and were already being used for the Regime. But Rikker doubted sincerely that there was more than this woman, with powers like she had.

She was almost like a senshi... At least, what Rikker suspected a senshi would feel like. Minus the monster child. It was more likely that this woman fell on his side of the war, if at all. Rikker glanced out the window, the hovercraft was speeding through the night, oblivious to the traffic laws. No one would stop it, though, and they would be at his house on the edge of Kejona within fifteen minutes. Then they could drop the small talk and get down to business.

”Wynne. Fille Wynne.” She accepted his hand cooly, ignoring the tensing motion of the girl on her other side. She was waiting, it seemed. She flopped her other hand at the creature – not so much her daughter as the seraphine youma inside her, at this point – ”No need for that.” Immediately the girl shrank into her seat, a much more human and fearful look entering her eyes as she swallowed.

”I’m from Venus, yes. We’ve been her for about nine years.” Small talk was annoying and useless, but it allowed them to pretend. He was calm – almost delightfully so. She wasn’t enough of a fool to let her guard down. She would be able to block a first strike, certainly, and then the youma would come back to the surface to deal with the rest. And worst come to worst, she’d be able to escape. There were few creatures on any planet that could catch her when the dark energy flowed strong in her.

She followed his gaze out the window, pupils widening significantly. That was one of the things that her Queen had had to change about her. Before, she’d been as all other Venusians – night blind and senseless come the dark hours. But now – that was probably the reason that so much of her energy flowed at night – she could walk among them like she belonged, a creature of the midnight hour. ”So tell me, Rikker.” She enunciated his name, smiling. ”What do you do for a living?” Information was always the key.