Viane sat motionlessly on an overturned crate that sat on the roof of an old apartment building. Her wine red eyes focused intently on her hands as snow fell softly around her. Every flake that touched her skin melted quickly in a wisp of steam. She wore only a thin short-sleeved gray shirt and old ripped jeans, and the snow gave her pale exposed skin the effect of having an almost invisible aura of white writhing off of it. The corners of her lips twitched in amusement; she was too deep in thought to burst into a heartfelt grin.

A hand clapped her shoulder, and her head snapped up. Gray stared down at her for only a moment with cold black eyes before brushing past her. “Get your ass off that crate. I’m going to Unmired, and you’re coming with me,” he ordered in an inhumanly smooth voice.

Her eyes narrowed. “Why should I go?” She snapped. She stood all the same and followed him to the fire escape.

He leapt onto the iced over metal grating and almost slipped. He cursed under his breath. “Noir said not to go alone,” he grumbled. He noted her clothing as she climbed onto the fire escape in a more graceful move. “Aren’t you cold?” He asked quickly, in the hopes of avoiding a remark about listening to Noir.

Her eyes flickered over his ragged old black coat and knit hat. “No.” His bare hands clenched near his pockets as she responded.

He spoke with a grimace. “Neither am I.”

“Yeah, right,” she chuckled. “You better put on those gloves.”

“I’m fine,” he hissed, lowering himself down the ladder.

She followed. Where her hands touched the rungs, the layer of ice melted. “Don’t make everything a competition. Put on your gloves, Noir,” she said more coldly than the air around them.

He did not respond. Instead, his jaw set more stiffly. Viane rolled her eyes. By the time they reached the ground, Gray’s teeth chattered and he shivered uncontrollably. She shook her head. “Go back up, get your gloves, and then join me,” she ordered, luridly walking down the sidewalk without a glance back. He watched her for a few moments, considering her words and her curves before grunting and pulling himself back up the ladder.

Viane smiled to herself and hooked her thumbs in her pockets. She had no intention of going to Unimred. A club like that was a good place for trouble but not her sort of trouble. No, she had much darker business to attend to in barely an hour. Besides, Gray may be a dumb brute at times but unlike Noir, she believed he could manage himself.

As she rounded a corner, she slid a tattered cigarette box from her pocket and pulled one out with her fingernails. She smoked it slowly as she made her way through a few blocks towards the park. At least, it used to be a park. Now, it was just a jungle of curled chain link fences and leafless shrubs. Not far ahead, a man darted onto the path and walked briskly towards the other end of the park.

Here he was, her new liege… her new toy… whatever. It was time to ruin another life with her whispers.

Galvin sighed for the umpteenth time. He was walking briskly back and forth in the small office of his best friend's with his fingers twirling and shaking. He seemed nervous about something and Lee knew why. Apparently, Galvin had a bad dream that had him shaking for hours, which would explain why he was in his office in the wee hours of the morning. Add up the very cold weather and Lee's broken heater, it really isn't such a bad situation to start the day.

Sarcastically speaking, that is.

Lee was silently drinking his hot tea and warming his hands with it. He was still dressed in his pajamas and hadn't had time to change out of it because Galvin had decided to drag him off to his office. Hell, he was lucky he grabbed a coat and a scarf. It, at least, kept the cold out a bit. Just a bit.

"I'm just afraid something bad might happen to my brother. You know he and I had gotten into a big fight and I-" Galvin was distracted with the loud sip from Lee drinking his tea. Somehow, a face of distaste came up to his features. When Lee had resumed looking down at his tea, he knew it was safe to continue on despite his best friend being very unelegant. "I know how much his head can get out there unless I apologize-"

"Then apologize," Lee brutally cut in as he sipped his tea noisily again. He was calm. Very calm for a very cold man. He was wearing his shades so he could still see his best friend. At least, where the things are anyway in the room. With technology having been high-end, weapons of mass destruction had been created and used. Lee and Galvin were one of the lucky ones to be alive. Despite the rubbles and the broken, unused buildings, human life seemed to continue on with the bionic robots on the loose and creating rampage. If Lee remembered right, he'd already had more than fifty disassembled and made into much more useful things like that of a refridgerator or a television or a cell phone.

"But I can't find him!"

Lee smiled. "Can't you always not find him since you two were young?" he asked before he'd finished his tea and let out a deep sigh. Inasmuch as he'd want to suggest they go in back to his house, he didn't think Galvin would let him. He didn't really know why his best friend had an attachment to the investigator's office. It was like he wanted him to find out where his brother is. Was he implying that by bringing him in here? Knowing quite well what expression would be on his best friend's face, he talked again before Galvin could: "He'll come to his senses soon enough. It's easier to find him if he creates a ruckus first."

Oddly, the blind investigator didn't know why but he stood up and left back for his place where the heater was working. He got himself another cup of tea. He also got one for Galvin who he knew had joined him. It was easy to distinguish him with the sound of his footsteps. They were both heavy and his breathing told him he was feeling erratically annoyed or was it irritated? "Turn on the TV and let's just enjoy a cup of tea, shall we?" The male asked with a smile.

Viane drew up behind the man silently with a smirk. To his eyes and anyone who may be watching, there may be a slight haze in the freezing air where she walked. Nothing more. She had no intention of making a scene. She would make herself known to him when the time was right. Then, she would be known only to him.

She flicked away her cigarette and pulled out a fresh one. Humans faced detrimental consequences for chain smoking, but she had the pleasure of simply enjoying them without developing terminal illnesses. She sucked in the nicotine laced smoke, smiled and let it flow slowly out her nostrils. The smoke would fill the air behind the man, and he might smell it. It mattered little to Viane, though. Stray smoke was hardly an ordeal worth wondering over for most humans.

As they neared the other end of the park, she reached out and gently touched his shoulder to finally make herself known. “Good afternoon,” she said sweetly near his ear.

The smell of a cigarette made the angry man stop in his tracks. His brows creased even more as he thought of who'd dare to do such a thing with him in his current state. Thanks to his brother, he was very much vulnerable to being talked to doing an evil deed. Knowing him, too, he'd have consulted his best friend, Lee. Oh, he knew that guy. Handsome and deadly but blind.

Despite this handicap, he, even, could say in behalf of the guy that he was worth to be respected. It isn't even questionnable at all why his brother stuck to him like a leech.

The hand on his shoulder made him freeze a second time just as he was going to continue walking and he felt himself inhale quite heavily when he'd heard that voice. That sweet voice. But, why did he smell the cigarette from her? Turning to look over his shoulder, his anger momentarily dissipated but it returned back when he'd seen her wearing a short-sleeved gray shirt. It greatly reminded him of his brother who loved gray shirts. Ah... shit, he cussed in his mind as he growled under his breath.

"Sorry," he managed to say despite his anger, "What do you want? I'm not in the best of moods today."