This is Not a Flop House {Cassie}

[AISHA]

Aisha had been down in the tunnels when the blackout happened. Of course, she hadn't noticed it right off the bat. The tunnels were lit by fires, and small, battery operated lanters. There were a few dim lights wired in the sewers, that hadn't been used in years, and the truands hadn't used them either. So when the very few working lights shut off, Aisha hadn't noticed. It was only when she climbed the ladder to see if she could track down Max and Alex--did she notice that the city was dark.

Her brows furrowed over her startlingly blue eyes, and her lips twisted. Scrambling up the ditch, she looked carefully over the top. There wasn't a single light in Central Park, not even along the walkways. Those lights were never shut off, ever. She huffed, and stood up on solid ground, and brushed her jeans off. Well, that wasn't good, none of the city lights were on, and for the first time in a long time, she could see the stars in the sky. Stars that looked like someone had just thrown flecks of paint into the sky. It made her smile, before she began to run out of Central Park. First thing's first--check on Kiddo.

The streets where chaos, and her running form seemed to blend in just fine. Some people were running around screaming, some just looking confused. There were smashed windows in some places, people taking what they wanted, while the cameras, alarms, and communication systems were down. She paused, and hesitated. This would be a perfect time to stock up on neccesities, because she wasn't entirely sure that Max and Alex could pull their lips away from one another to notice. She shook her head, and continued on her way, before trotting up to the door of Kiddo's home. It was a rouse, of course--she pretended to be one of Kiddo's teachers. Kiddo's grandmother fell for it, every time, and it gave Aisha a chance to see her.

Aisha didn't stop by for too long, and she made that clear to the curly haired kid. She was just checking in to make sure the two were okay, and if Kiddo needed anything. But Kiddo apparently, had everything under control in her own...wacky, rambunctious way. Aisha parted with a hug, and borrowing one of Kiddo's bags. Heading back into the city, it was time to stock up. Aisha managed to fit several bottles of water, cups of ramen, batteries, and extra bandages. Just a few, miniscule things--anything big scale, she was almost certain Max would think of it. She slung the bag over her shoulder, and wandered back into Central Park, listening closely. This was a prime time for neanderthalls to be out, some even felt they could take whatever they wanted--even if it wasn't materialistic.

Aisha had half a mind to take refuge inside the Church again, but Julius may have his hands full with the bible-thumpers that thought this was some delayed Rapture or something. Instead, she hefted the sewer lid off the opening, and swung down the ladder. "Max, Alex, any of you guys home?" She called out while she walked through the tunnels to get to the main room. The main room consisted of a large firepit in the middle, that they made sure was always on. Usually it was kept just below a blaze, as the tunnels could get warm, providing more light than comfort. There were various blankets pushed about, and it was sort of the centerpiece of the large entry way. The half-finished stage was off to the corner, and the second hall was covered by a large drape. That hall branched off into smaller rooms, which were Max and Alex's, Aisha's, Kiddo's, and...ugh. Cassie's.

The thought curled her nose, and made her twist her lips again, while she started to put the items she had looted away. On her insistance, they had gotten a few cabinets at yard sales, and stacked up crates to keep things in. Making it feel a little more homey, and less scattered. They were still thinking of a way to get some sort of a fridge down here, which was going to be difficult without running electricity. But still...Aisha's eyes lingered on the flap that covered where the rooms split off. There were more rooms that wern't being used, and that made her nervous. She didn't want more people down here, in their spot, in their home. She already felt intruded on, by Cassie. Cassie, with her weird way of talking like they were some big, happy family.

Aisha had been doing her best to keep Kiddo away from the blonde nuscense, and Max seemed to be completely against her attitude towards her. Alex...Alex was harder to read, but there was almost a mutual distaste--nowhere near as vicious as Aisha's--but the mutual feeling had brought Aisha and Alex closer. The brunette unzipped her hoodie, and tossed it onto her blankets, and shook out her messy, tangled hair. She was expecting to have the tunnels to herself tonight, because now with the blackout, she was almost certain that Max would be taking full advantage over the darkness.

She flopped down ontop of her blankets, and stretched her arms out over her head, knees bent while she reclined; her unruly hair wrapping around her arms and face like gentle black fingers. Relaxation. No Max, no Alex--sadly no Kiddo, and greatfully--no Cassie. At least, not yet.

Tags: Alice / Cassie / Olley / Aisha
Notes: Ding, bitch fight!
Outfit: Always with her necklace!
Song: Red Star by The Birthday Massacre
Credit: OLLEY MADE THIS SHIAT

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[CASSIOPEIA MENTIOUM]

This was not any old darkness. This. This was...advanced darkness. Of course, when the lights went out, Cassie was...a little busy with a nameless gent in his room. She was simply just trying not to go back to the tunnels. Max and Alex were nice enough, and Kiddo was just to die for, but the hostility created by Aisha was too much for Cassie to handle most days. She stayed at the tunnels about once a week, and usually came in too late to find anyone, but when she was there when Aisha was...

It wasn't pretty.

Of course, Cassie tried very hard to get on her good side, and when she was there she acted like it wasn't happening, and acted like everything was fine. But after taking an unhealthy dose of abuse, she would shoot an apologetic glance at Max (who would be annoyed or angry for the rest of the day, and then worried until Cassie showed back up again), and hightail it out of there, finding places to sleep, and people to sleep with. She didn't really know any better.

Tonight was no different. There was a party, Cassie gatecrashed, charmed the pants off the host, and tumbled into bed with him. She was used to the whole thing, but he was in a world of ecstasy. When the lights went out, he hardly noticed, but Cassie jumped slightly. No lights, it was eerie. But, her attention was captured again soon enough. Predictably, he finished, and rolled over. She waited about 30 seconds until she could hear a faint, light snoring. Out like a light.

The thought had crossed the psychics mind that with all the sex that she had, and her destitute state of living that she might start charging. And then she had thought of her father, and what he might say. Just because he didn't care about her and hated her with every fiber of his being didn't mean that she didn't care what he thought. She drew lines. However, speaking of lines, this boy did have about a gram and a half of cocaine on his bedside table. Honestly, it was like candy from a baby. She snorted up two lines, one in each nostril for symmetry, and let the high hit her cautiously. For good measure, she took the pack of cigarettes, and the money she found there too.

Who needed morals, anyway?

She dressed quickly, and stepped out into the chilly night air assessing the situation. It appeared that New York City was in the middle of a blackout. Of course, the people were going crazy. She wondered why she hadn't seen this coming, and then she realized that she had seen it in quite a strange context. It was one of her earliest visions, back before she even told her parents. There was violence, and looting, and fires, and darkness. To escape as a teenager, she looked up, and stared at the stars. Dazedly, amidst the chaos, Cassie looked upward, surprised to see the stars. She shouldn't have been, she knew they would be there. But they were beautiful, so vibrant in the darkened sky.

Continuing onward, Cassie got a brilliant idea. It was a great time to go shopping. Perhaps if she brought home some presents for the truands, things might improve? It was a long shot, but it couldn't hurt. Not like it would matter with all the chaos going about. So, she stepped through the smashed window of a sporting goods shop and grabbed the first six duffel bags she could find. After that, Cassie set down the street, to do her shopping.

She could have gotten practical things. A bunch of food and water, blankets, air mattresses. But the practical didn't much occur to her very often, so she filled one of the bags to the brim with clothes for her, and then started searching. She would scan through stores calmly, as though there weren't people lifting flat screens in their cars, or sending molotovs into the subways. She would put her hand on an item, and search the future to see whether or not said item would make one of her angels happy. If it did, she would put it in the corresponding bag, if not, she'd leave it be.

For Kiddo, Cassie kept settling on toys, and brightly colored clothes, a razor scooter and some rollerblades. A pack of fireworks, and much to her surprise, a dictionary. She smiled as she zipped closed Kiddo's bag, putting it on the same arm as her completed clothes bag. For Max, she darted into a vintage thrift store for some clothes, and then a pet store for a ferret mansion complete with little mini silver bathtub for Prometheus. She was unsatisfied that she had found so little for him, but she wasn't trying to win him over. For Alex, she found a bunch of books in French, by French authors whose names she couldn't pronounce, along with even more clothes, as winter was coming.

Now for Aisha. This would be difficult, and it had to be just right. After finding some obligatory clothes (flow-y, dance-y, without being too Cassie), she scoured store after store until she found a state of the art boombox, a years supply of batteries, and as many CD's as she could fit into the biggest bag. She really needed Aisha on her good side, because she was so tired of the constant animosity. One quick trip to the shoe store to sate Cassies obsession, and this impromptu coke-fueled shopping trip was over.

Loaded down with bags, she moved surprisingly quickly for someone so small. Making sure she wasn't being followed, she took a long winding trip through the park, sweating out some of the coke. She reached the mouth of the tunnel, and set the bags down. Oh shit. Aisha would murder her if she saw the dilated pupils. Easily remedied. She fished out a pair of sunglasses from her shoe bag, and slid them on, opening the grate. "I brought prezzies!" She called quietly, tossing down bag after bag until finally dropping down the hole herself.

Flitting through the tunnels, Cassie dropped every bag where it needed to go, before stopping at Aisha's area. Aisha was here. Crap. Softly, she tapped at the wall. "Um...hey. I was out, and I got everyone stuff. I got you a bag of things that I thought you would like. It's kinda...here. So." She turned, and walked to the front room, and did a quick bump off of one of her nails. She lit a cigarette and sat, staring at the fire, willing Max to come back soon. This night was not going to be fun, but she was tired of running away. At some point, she would have to stand up to Aisha sooner or later. And right now she was feeling pretty fucking invincible. Let her come out. Cassie was ready. She wouldn't even cheat.

Tags: Miss Aisha
Notes: This. Should. Be. Fun.
Words: 1165. I request the HIGHEST of fives.
Outfit: Look! Presents!
Song: Twilight Galaxy by Metric
Credit: Template Credit-Olley @ OUAC

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[AISHA]

Aisha was just at that point where she was going to drift off, when she heard another female voice. For a split second she thought of ignoring it, and leaving it to Max to deal with--except she suddenly remembered Max wasn't here. She sat up, and blinked at Cassie, loaded down with bags. Aisha stared up at her expressionless, but she noticed the sunglasses on Cassie's face. It made her startling blue eyes narrow into glimmering slits, before she pushed to her feet.

What to do first? Look in the bag, or go after Cassie? Ultimately, she decided that if the bag contained things that would be worth while, then she'd take it easy on her. Eyeing her skeptically, Aisha unzipped the bag. There was plastic clacking of randon CDs, and a nice, decent boombox, as well as a fuckton of batteries. The batteries would be good for the lamp, but everything else seemed to be luxury. Part of her wanted to be nice to Cassie, because it was thoughful. But at the same time, when Aisha did steal, she took what she needed for survival. At least, in her eyes, that's how she felt. And Max had respected that enough--the only luxury item she had, was the emerald and silver necklace on her throat that Max had given to her when they first met--and had never been removed since.

Without a word, Aisha rushed Cassie, and snatched the glasses off her face. Normally, her touch was soft, and gentle, but there was a roughness to her hands when she grabbed Cassie by her chin, and turned her face towards the fire, to get a good look at her eyes. "Again? Really, again?!" Aisha let go of Cassie's face, with a slid shove, her jaw set tight. "So you go out, get high, and come back here? This isn't some crash pad, this isn't some place for fucking junkies. This is our home. Moreso Max and I's than yours." That's how she viewed it, at least. Alex had his own place, his own home--and he'd crash here when he was trying to hide away for a little. Kiddo rarely spent the nights, but she had her own room for naps and to hide away if someone upset her. Max and Aisha were the only ones that full-time lived here. Ate here, slept here, played here. Cassie had stopped turning up, and only came back to crash when she was off her ass.

"What if Kiddo was here, hm? I don't trust you to be fucked up alone here with her." She then pointed at the bag, her unnatural eyes attempting to shoot laserbeams at Cassie, "Food. Did you ever think of stealing food, or medicine? Maybe more charcol, or gas for the fire?" Aisha's hands went to her hair, and she spun away from Cassie, letting out a growl of frustration. Her hair bounced against her lower back as she paced, barefooted infront of the little set of blankets she had been previously laying on. Max wasn't here; she could very well kick Cassie out. And then just tell Max she up and disappeared. Then Max would hate her forever. Aisha sucked in a breath, and tried to relax her shoulders, and let her arms fall to her sides, before turning around for Cassie again. "You don't do shit around here. And when you do come over, you're higher than a kite. I can lock your ass out of this place, so either you sober the fuck up, or you get the fuck out. Pick one, Cassie."

Tags: Alice / Cassie / Olley / Aisha
Notes: I proudly give you, the highest of fives, my dear!
Outfit: Always with her necklace!
Song: Red Star by The Birthday Massacre
Credit: OLLEY MADE THIS SHIAT

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[CASSIOPEIA MENTIOUM]

Honestly, she should have seen it coming. Aisha crept up on her like some kind of bitch ninja, and whirled her around, whipping her sunglasses off her face. Cassie rarely got angry. When she got angry, it would unlock surges of anger at her whole life, her entire situation. She would fly into a fit of fury until whatever small fraction of rage that had been unlocked had burnt out. Of course, anyone familiar with the term coke rage would understand that when one of these bouts of Anger hit Cassie while she was under the influence of yeyo, shit was about to go down. She tried to wrestle her chin out of Aisha's steel grip, but nothing doing. When Aisha let go, the shove combined with Cassies attempts to squirm away sent her tumbling to the ground, her wrist landing painfully on one of her thick bangles.

Okay, this was too fucking much. Cassie's normally serene expression turned hard and angry. "You know Aisha, I'd come here clean and sober every fucking night if you weren't such a goddamned bitch all the fucking time."

[/b] She pushed herself to her feet, her eyes narrowed, the flames from the fire casting half her face into menacing shadows. "Do you have ANY idea what it's like to just be around you? Listen to you talk? Hell, I'm surprised that Max and Alex aren't wasted all the fucking time! I have to get high so I can deal with what a cunt you are!"[/b]

She was breathing heavily, sweat dewing up on her forehead and under her arms. She was starting to shake, and she knew that something was coming. She scoffed at Aishas half hearted attempts at guilt tripping. "Oh fuck off, would you? I knew Kiddo wasn't going to be here. And I'm pretty sure that if I had brought home any food or something, you would rather have starved than eat it. Don't want Queen Aisha's food to be contaminated by Coked out Cokey Coker McCokeHead. Yeah, I have a fucking problem. But you don't know the first thing about me. I spent THREE hours looking for shit for you, and the only thing you want to do is shout abuse at me? Well, fuck all that noise. I've TRIED to get you to like me, I really have. And I'm sick of it. I try to leave and be here as little as possible to make everyone happy. Because you know as well as I do that if I was gone for good, Max would be pissed the fuck off at you."[/b]

A smug smile crossed her face as the vision came to her. Max and Aisha fighting, Max walking away, thoroughly fed up, and Aisha crying. Of course, the vision meant that Cassie was bound to leave for good at some point, meaning that Aisha won.

Fuck that.

Cassie leapt at Aisha, a feral cry escaping her throat, her fist colliding with the side of her skull. The odd combination of tackle/punch had left the two of them in a heap on the ground. Cassie was on top of Aisha, her face just inches from the angry, self-entitled gypsy. "And for the record?"[/b] She hissed, feeling pleased at the flecks of saliva she could feel leaving her lips, "These sewers? Are public property. You don't own them. I can come and go as I please. Besides, kick me out, and I'll just camp out till Max comes back, where I'll get my side of the story out before you can say one fucking word. If he comes back that is. I highly doubt that he'd want to. Who would want to come home to you?"[/b]

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Tags: Miss Aisha
Notes: She's being so mean. I didn't know she was capable of being this mean.
Words: 618
Outfit: Look! Presents!
Song: Twilight Galaxy by Metric
Credit: Template Credit-Olley @ OUAC

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