Visitors & Other House Guests
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Ren sighed as she took a seat on the couch, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the woman’s endless questioning as she pondered whether or not she should simply toss her down the stairs outside the room. It would be cruel but… It’s not as if it would be any worse than what she had originally intended for the evening.
These days had been… violent. Better to soldier through them with a little bit of company at least. Though on the other hand… People had never been this pushy back in Japan.
“They destroy them.” she said. “They take them from their homes, transport them across the world and sell them off to whatever buyer is interested in honing their craft over on the dark side of life.”
“Meaning?” Lara asked with an entirely unconvinced look in her eyes. Whatever this strange individual she caught, hiding out in what must’ve been the worst rest stop in the city, had been up to… She would need one hell of an explanation if she simply expected Lara to wave away the large slab of meat she had chained to the table in the backroom.
Parts of it were clearly still more than a little bit alive judging by some of the howlings it gave out every now and then.
“Meaning…” Ren let out with a not too soft grumble. All she had contacted Lara for was help with getting into a hard drive she hadn’t even acquired yet… Now the silly woman had managed to track her down, prodigy that she was, before walking into what could only have been described as a… sensitive operation.
Needless to say, the cat was half out of the bag and most of the entrails were showing… Should Ren hope to maintain the help of her new hacking acquaintance while sticking to her own brutal intentions then… She’d certainly need to get a bit creative with her explanations.
Where would be a good place to start, she wondered.
Well… How about the truth? Nothing gets people motivated quite like a vindictive sense of self-righteousness after all.
“The people who buy up the captives do so only with the highest of aspirations. These captives, most of them are women because they’re… easier to keep and subdue.” Ren started off her mumbling with a slight roll of her eyes. The irony wasn’t lost on her, not that she could have ever understood the gruesome trail of services either. Some people were simply… Unique, one might say.
“But beyond that… A lot of the buyer’s aftermarket clients are women as well. Not that they’re always excited about it but… The underground’s a nefarious scene if you know where to look. Some people have certain tastes and others have certain skills they can give out to the highest bidder.” Ren said, though she ended her vague words with an odd little smile.
“Take our friend for instance… She’s a broker, one could say.”
Lara then… scoffed before stepping away from her companion and going over to the large pile of folders on the table in the corner of the room. She started tossing them around a bit haphazardly as she looked for the one she had already seen.
Perhaps she didn’t have the nerve to try out any of the others. The first one was voyeuristic enough as it was, Ren figured. How much excitement could a busybody tolerate in one evening?
Lara eventually found it… and then she tossed it down onto the small coffee table in front of Ren. It was clear her own… client had long since been desensitized to such matters.
“Explain why the fuck you’re keeping all these photos in this goddamned motel and why the hell you’d think I’d be interested in any of this shit! You contacted me, remember? And here I am, walking into a scene from a horror movie while you sit there smirking at me. I think you’ve got some sick tastes all of your own! Don’t you… Ren?” Lara almost hissed.
But if she truly wished to play this game then…
Ren sighed, daming her own luck before resigning herself to this ridiculous fate of hers. If this hacker truly wished to stick her hands where they didn’t belong… Then she could help peel off the flesh with that big mouth of hers while she was at it as far as Ren was concerned.
“You are… a ridiculous, and insolent cretin.” Ren admitted. “But seeing as how the gaping maw on your face doesn’t come with an off button, then you’re right when you say it’s time to cut the shit, how you say, and get right down to business. Take a seat and try not to knock over anything else while you’re at it. I had all those photo albums… categorized.” she grumbled as she quickly glanced over at… Yes, the pile on the table in the corner of the room. It wasn’t always a pile, was it?
But even now, Lara simply scoffed before taking a few more steps towards her… friend. It didn’t take long after before she simply kicked the coffee table with an indignant scowl for an expression.
“Knock over what, your scones?” Lara hissed.
Well, Ren thought in the darkest sides of her own mind. Perhaps…
“Listen to me, you psychotic and clearly sadistic piece of shit!” Lara continued. “The only reason I’m here is because you’re a two-faced fuckwad who tried to rip me off. Now, if you don’t tell me exactly what the fuck you’re planning to do with that woman in the backroom then I’m going straight to the police so I can make sure you’ll rot in a hole for the rest of your life. And that’s after I beat the money you owe out of that demented smile from your face. Do you understand me or would you like me to shove that tea cup up your ass?” she politely inquired.
But soon enough, it was Ren who simply scoffed right back without a damned care in the world. She promptly leaned forwards towards the… photo album before she tapped its cover a few times in as demeaning a manner as she could muster. Like an abusive schoolteacher asking why her student hadn’t bothered to do their homework perhaps.
“Your money’s right here, asshole, and I suggest you sit the fuck down before I also take off half your face with a rotator saw. Do you understand me?” Ren asked, not that she wasn’t prepared to make good on her debts, now that she had been caught… in such an awkward situation. Just as well, plan B hadn’t been much of a help either after all.
Ren took some money out of her nearby bag, of which there were many laying neatly across the room before she simply tucked it between a couple of random pages from the photo album. It wasn’t much, maybe a few dozen euros but… It got the message across just as well.
“Sit!” she repeated, again like a demeaning authority figure would.
Lara… Well, it was obvious she likely had little respect for such things, judging by the fact she came across as a bit of a lost child. Mostly because she was, not that she didn’t love seeing how far she could push it. But even her own style and aesthetics had their limits, as Ren would so kindly point out now.
Soon enough, the rowdy woman relented as well before a quiet moment then passed as Ren closed her eyes and tried to settle the restless spirit inside her body. So often she would try to maintain a calm, even cold and ruthless demeanor some might say, and yet when shit started hitting the proverbial fan… Well, everyone has their own reasons to be unsettled after all. It's not as if she wasn’t racing against an increasingly brutal clock, of course.
Ren… opened up her eyes once again, seeing the misfit Lara staring at her with a crude and judgemental expression as she now sat on the other side of the coffee table. But even with that defiant look of hers, it would appear she still hadn’t bothered to open up the album again. Not that desperate for the money after all? Oh, if Ren didn’t need her now then…
“Alright.” Ren spoke. “You want honesty? Then settle in because I’m not going easy on you.”
She then glanced down at the album… she could enjoy this at least.
“First, I’d like to apologize for skipping out on my payment to you. I thought I could do better with another hacker I found but it ended up being a waste of time… and money. That’s two hard drives I’ve paid to break into and I’m still coming up short. I’m on a deadline, and believe it or not… I’m not exactly made of euros, am I?” she taunted.
But even now… Lara could hear those soft whimpers coming from the bleak depths of the room beyond. Whatever deadline this Ren was on… it surely couldn’t have been good.
“Not made of Yen either? Guess your chink money’s no good here, huh?” Lara mocked.
Well, Ren thought… How polite of her.
“For someone who hunted me down and broke into my motel room… You’re not exactly going out of your way to convince me not to throw you in a hole either. Couldn’t you have taken off your shoes at least? It’s part of my chink customs, like you said.” Ren retorted.
And with that… Lara simply let out a bothered sigh before leaning forward to untie the leather scraps she called shoes. Soon enough, she tossed them back over her shoulder and towards the door.
One loud knock… and then two. That’s the other thing she had forgotten to do after all.
Ren smirked in the most patronizing and sociopathic way she could… Before she went on with her explanations, that is. Western-God-she-didn’t-believe-in help anyone who truly got in her way.
“And as I was saying… There’s something in one of these hard drives that I’m looking for. You didn’t know it when you barged in here but now you’ve gone and walked into a mess with no way out. That… woman in the back. Do you even know who she is? Did you even bother looking into her eyes before you tried swinging your switchblade at me?” she asked.
Lara paused for a moment, trying not to let the haunting sight crawl back into her mind.
And yet, she felt she was obligated to bring it up just the same.
“I didn’t… Because you left her with her left side facing the door.” Lara grimly mumbled.
“Meaning?” Ren subtly taunted as she raised a brow.
“You just threatened to cut off half my face, not two minutes ago… That’s the side. She doesn’t have a face there anymore.” Lara was forced to recall and a cold chill went through her heart as she did so. So many had called her rude, rough or even unseemly. But as for this Ren? What was she supposed to be?
“Do you even feel bad about it?” Lara asked.
But what else was she expecting from the reply?
Another smile.
“Of course not.” Ren proudly said.