DarknessDawning

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Ona's face fell in to a somewhat over dramatic frown. "Oh for Pete's sake Jules... you act like I told you to go to time out." She pressed her lips together firmly and rolled her eyes, setting her drink down on the counter. For as much as she was hard on herself she didn't empathize much with how lenient Jules was with himself. He could clean his own house if he didn't want a maid... or he could just hire a maid... he made enough money. Either way there was really no excuse and she didn't feel like she was being overly difficult about it. In her mind, she was just trying to help. "She's a kid... it's not a set up. But whatever. It's not my house, and not my problem. Live in filth if you want."

With that her attention became somewhat blank and distant, staring in to one of the cabinet doors in his kitchen as though it were a window in to the abyss. She idly ran the tip of her index finger around the rim of the glass, letting the smooth pressure distract her from his antics.

LF Long term, multi chara partners (Mature 18+)

Bumpity... maybe one more?

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The redirection was effective enough. Ona seemed to snap out of whatever mist of imagination had come over her and her eyes snapped to the sub par drink he offered her. She reached out to take it, her eyes catching quickly on her thin long fingers. They were so awkwardly shaped to her... why was she cursed with such malformation. She cleared her throat and took the drink, drawing it in close to her and using it to somewhat shield the view of her hand.

"I thought you did some interviews for a maid though... Did you not find one you liked? No offense Jules... but I'd think your standards would be pretty low."

She looked around as she said it as if to emphasize that really any sort of assistance was better than the current state of things. "What about one of the janitorial crew from work? They're always looking for work on the side I hear... no one's ever happy enough with the wages the company pays."

The comment was laced with loathing for the minute pawns of the system, but at the same time they both know it was true. No one working blue collar work could afford any decent quality of life, and the no compete contract prevented them from holding almost any other legitimate employment elsewhere. They were slaves of the system who hastily snatched at any scraps the better off may drop. She picked up her drink and took a sip, her face contorting slightly as the flavor washed over her tongue. She barely kept from choking on it. Her sense of taste was always so much more sensitive when she'd not eaten for several days. The lemon water inundated her system and made it susceptible to shock at the slightest of changes. "Oh... what about what's her name... mmm... Marina... no Marianna that's it. The girl that does the cleaning for the administrators. She's someone's daughter. I don't remember who, but she's only twelve or thirteen, so she can't work yet anyways. I hear she's good though.

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Ona just sighed, giving a silent shake of her head as she stepped carefully to drop the key on the counter like he asked. No point in arguing with him. It was his apartment, not hers... men. The thought made her sneer slightly with a thought of "Ick". Perhaps another reason to justify forever being alone. Men were dirty. She didn't want to deal with a dirty man. It was a good way to excuse her perpetual isolation at least.

She stepped over to a bar stool layered in jackets and scooped them up carefully trying to not imagine the potential for a bug to come crawling out or whether or not they'd been cleaned since he last wore them. She set them on the next chair down and gingerly dusted at the seat with her fingers. For a moment she considered just standing instead of risking that the cushion might leave a circle of dust on her black pants, but her ribs were aching from her bindings and the shallow breathing they caused tended to leave her without much energy. She carefully warily perched just on the edge of the seat and watched him as he mixed her drink.

"So did you meet anyone nice on your vacation? I overheard that the shift supervisor on B level got married when he was on vacation... they were saying how he was still trying to work out the paperwork to get the girl in to the country. Not as easy as it used to be I guess... all those people who were just marrying to get in then divorcing and running off."

At first it almost sounded like a good idea - go to a tropical country and bring back some beautiful exotic partner who you knew for sure didn't work for any of the companies... yet. It felt safer for someone in Ona's position than Ona imagined it being trying to date and pretend to be non-biased. But the curiosity in her eyes darkened.

"I heard that if you bring someone in to the country now you're responsible for their actions... so if they run off or they do something, break the law or something, that you can be fined and go to jail on their behalf."

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"I guess that's nice... just seems like a waste of your time though... I mean you rarely ever get to take a vacation." It was a polite way to voice her disapproval without making it a long conversation... again... beating a dead horse and all. Besides, it was ironic enough that she would even make that degree of a comment considering that she took vacations even less than he and yet spent hours picking out clothes and doing her make up on a daily basis. The two of them would never see eye to eye on what activities were 'wasteful' and which ones served a purpose.

"That sucks that you didn't get to go scuba diving though. I thought the clean up efforts were being more successful lately. Didn't AI (Atlantic International) install that big filter station a couple of months ago?"

She wandered in the room with a perplexed look on her face, almost as though she were trying to recall the exact date that their competitor may have completed the install. Pollution had been an issue for a longtime now. The air and water quality was constantly tipping back and forth between 'toxic' and 'barely usable'. The people wanted to see that corporations were actively trying to make things better, and so every now and then one of them would run a clean up campaign to inspire consumers and better their public image. Usually these projects had multiple causes though. Many suspected that the AI clean up station was either a drilling rig or a shipping midway point to cover the cost of its supposed 'clean up' operations. All of the projects were considered long-term anyways. By the time anyone suspected to see any improvements the public would have forgotten all about it anyways. Ona shrugged it off and closed the door behind herself and glanced casually around his apartment.

"Seriously Jules? I thought you hired a maid..."

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Ona pulied in to an available spot a bit further from the lifts than she'd hoped... but a spot was a spot. She cut off the engine and gave Jules a smirk. His offer made her throat feel dry. Even though she'd been doing this "diet" since she was a teen, she'd never been able to fully kill her body's desire for food. The little ache in her stomach or lump in her throat always reminded her of her self deprivation.

"Maybe just one... a small one. If you promise to make it light. I don't need to be woozy the whole afternoon."

Indeed the few times he'd seen her drink before she was definitely a light weight, mostly likely due to the fact that she couldn't weigh more than a hundred pounds... probably less really.

She stepped out of the car and took a moment to wiggle, adjusting the leather straps that encased her torso and the high waist of her pants. Despite them reaching almost to the ground he would be able to immediately tell she was wearing ridiculously high heels. He'd seen her without them a few times before as well, and as much as she liked to hide it... she wasn't even five and a half foot tall. Currently she nearing six foot, which meant her ankles were bent at painfully sharp angles to adhere to the pressure of the stilts she insisted on wearing. Her steps click clicked along as she walked over to him.

When he held out the door key her eyes narrowed slightly, but she took it without a word and proceeded as gracefully as she could manage toward the building. They'd had this fight before and he never let her win... no point in trying to carry something for him now. She stepped up to the doorways and swiped the card across the reader to call the lift.

"So what else did you do on vacation besides eat lemons? "

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She gave a curt nod and pulled forward, turning sharply in to the parking garage much to the relief of the line of traffic she was creating. There was never any parking near the bottom and she'd long since quit even trying to look for it. Many people didn't even drive; leaving their cars permanently parked while they used public transportation. Seemed pointless to even have a car if you didn't intend to drive it, but some would argue Ona's investment in her wardrobe was pointless... to each their own.

She turned around the bend to speed up the incline to the next level and glanced over at him quickly. There was a slight harshness to the look but it gave way to a softer smile. "Oh stop it. There's nothing to apologize for." The words were a tad too quick. The damage was already done. Perhaps not consciously, but subconsciously Ona's impression of herself had already been tainted as someone that is not trusted by even those who are closest to her. The sick reality was that Jules even fell in to this category. Ona spent so much time focused on her career and her looks that she had nothing and no one to show for it. She would never admit that though. On the outside she was a happy, fulfilled woman who was madly in love with her life. She kept her self-loathing contained and tucked neatly away, only ever exposing it by accident to those who knew where and how to look for it.

"Sure... with traffic and the insanity of the airport, I went ahead and put in for the whole day today... just in case. I figured we were better reviewing the applications together anyways, and if I get done here early, I can always go in and put in the extra hours you know?"

That was Ona's vacation... picking him up. She hadn't taken a real vacation in the history of her work. She never called out. She came in on the weekends all the time. She was the perfect employee - overworked and underpaid and never asking for more while always assuming that someone was noticing. The silent, polished wheel never gets the oil.

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Ona Ví

Wardrobe Examples

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That got a breathy laugh and a brief smile. As mean as it might seem, it was a long standing joke at the expense of all humankind. The retirement age had been raised and raised until it was so high now that no one ever seemed to make it. On the rare occasion that someone did manage to escape the confines of fifty hour plus work weeks confined to a small grey cube in a building that smelt of mold and sanitizers, they generally died soon after. It was as though the freedom was simply too overwhelming and their bodies gave up. Of course most people in the manual labor positions worked themselves to death or died in work accidents. People in desk job positions lived longer, but grew fatter and weaker, their immune system and metabolism becoming compromised by long excessive hours with little physical activity.

"Yeah... I just wish they gave us the death report you know? I'd like to see what changed since we hired him years ago. Diet or something... Just to compare with my initial assessment."

And that's what it came down to. Ona didn't know the man and couldn't really care less that he died. People died all the time. No one would mourn her when she was gone. She simply hated the idea that his passing might suggest that she made a mistake on his assessment. That was impossible. If she couldn't be beautiful, couldn't be loved, couldn't be successful... at least she'd be right. She put more energy in to being right on a daily basis than she put even in to her personal appearance. Mandeville's death questioned that perfection.

Ona pulled up in front of a tall drab apartment building. "You want me to drop you at the door or go ahead and park? I can help you carry your things in..." Much to the disappointment of traffic around her, she sat there in the road as she looked to him with those grey blue eyes.

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Ona imagined a smaller version of the yellow oval shaped plastic container that held the sweet and sour juice she added to her water daily. If she left it out on accident the sour could become overwhelming, enough to make your lips curl involuntarily. She couldn't imagine why anyone would want to partake in such a flavor. Perhaps people's taste buds were different back then... less sensitive or something.

A sensor beeped loudly, a red light flashing on the left side of her vision as her and the vehicle next to her seemed to drift a little too close to each other. Perhaps both drivers were distracted. Ona didn't hesitate to grumble and throw up her hand at the guy like it was his fault though. "Stay in your lane! For fuck sake."She pushed forward, passing the man quickly before sliding in to the turn lane to pull off the highway and head towards Jewel's home.

"Yeah... not a lay off. It was Alphonse Mandeville. They said he had a heart attack."

There was a slight apprehension to her voice. She hadn't known Mandeville personally, but she'd been part of the review in his hire process. Though it had been several years, the man was relatively young and possessed no known problematic habits. No smoking, no drinking, no dangerous hobbies. No history of substance use. He'd been an exemplary employee. No nearby family, no major connections. His profile suggested that he would be a devoted worker with few distractions; married to his work.

"He fell out of his chair during a meeting. They called the paramedics, but he died in the hospital just a few hours later. Unknown heart condition or something."

Something not picked up during the rigorous testing that was included during the hiring physical. Statistically speaking, Jewel should have dropped dead before this guy. The lack of logic behind it all perturbed her enough to turn her usually serene face to a small scowl.