Location: Old Town Square Christmas Market, Prague
Time: Saturday, 10 AM
Players: Mia (LadyBelz) and Dixie (CharlotteCarrendar)
“When Roles are Reversed”
LadyBelz: Christmastime. That time of year of goodwill toward men and spending every last penny you ever made on expensive presents for greedy children. But in Old Town, Prague, it was different. Marketeers peddled their wares to the tourists and citizens alike, hoping something catches their eyes and shows off the wow factor to lure in the unsuspecting. But for Mia De Luca, it was mostly a time of reflection. It had been many years since the fire that claimed the lives of her mother and father, and as always, this time of year was a difficult one for her. But because of her role at the club, she had made some good friends there and felt she owed it to them, and herself, to show them how much their friendship meant to her. She was loaded down with bags already, having already picked up a couple of things for Nick, Maggie, Inga, and Kraus. She was browsing the stalls and store windows hoping to spot something for Dixie, Dem and Helena. She was even contemplating buying something for Anna and Alex. She was so in to her shopping, she was unaware that she was being followed by the two people she was loathed to see. Steven was a good distance behind her, trying to blend in using all his skills as a former CIA operative. Andrei was on the other side of the street, standing out like a sore thumb. If Mia had seen either one, her anger would have been explosive.
CharlotteCarrendar: The fall of winter snow blessed the streets of Prague, creating a wondrous backdrop for the shoppers that walked the crowded pathways, to the centre of the city. Walking along briskly through the crush, Dixie can be seen, wearing a black knit reindeer jumper, black baggy jeans, and matching boots. Also sporting a black fur hat, that complimented her ensemble, she did seem to have taken Mia’s advice and smartened herself up. The blustery winter chill, had her cheeks turn a pinkish hue, and with a crooked smile, she trotted along, gripping Christmas shopping bags in her hands. Having made a few quid from some of her sketches, which she had sold in the park, she had enough to buy gifts for all her work colleagues and friends at the Death Club. Course, she still was yet to get Dem his gift, for she had something special in mind. A curbside choir was singing carols, and Dixie stopped not far from the crowd, to enjoy their harmony, singing of songs she remembered as a child. Things were starting to look up.
LadyBelz: Drawn to the street choir, who were currently running through a refrain of ‘Auld Lang Sine’, Mia stood before them for a listen, drawn into her thoughts of what this last year had brought her and hoping that the next year would be better. Someone tapped her on the shoulder and she turned around quickly, the glare on her face hot enough to melt the snow falling around her. “What the hell are you doing here?” she demanded, staring at Steven. “I wanted to talk to you without having you hang up on me or ignore my messages.” Mia turned on her heal and stormed away, Steven hot on her heels. “I thought I made it clear to you that I wanted you to leave me the fuck alone.” she bit out. “I need to talk to you.” he repeated. “Will you at least stop and talk to me?” he demanded, grabbing her arm to halt her forward progress. She jerked her arm out of his grip and turned to face him. “What could you possibly say to me that would justify your behavior?” she snapped. He took a deep breath, running his fingers through his snow covered hair. “I should have told you who I was from the beginning, but I couldn’t. I was investigating your former boss-” At that she snorted. “You mean my former pimp and torturer.” His mouth dropped open in shock. “What? What do you mean by that?” he demanded, resisting the urge to grab her arms and shake her till her teeth rattled. Mia sighed and turned away, walking at a more sedate pace to calm her racing nerves. “Yuri was not my boss. I was a possession, a toy, a plaything to him and his associates. If I didn’t do what I was told, I was beaten, raped and tortured until I complied.” She had never been this blunt about her past life other than Helena and Dem and she didn’t know why she was telling this to a complete stranger…one she fucked, but a complete stranger from a certain standpoint. Steven could only stare at her. “And you didn’t report this?” She glared at him. “To who? He had the police in his pocket and the one time a possession tried to report him, she was tortured and killed in front of the rest of us as a reminder of how quickly our lives could change. Why am I telling you all this? You’re just going to run to your boss with it.” She turned away from him. “I was fired.” came his reply. She stopped, not turning back, but not moving away either. Across the street, Andrei was glaring evilly at the two of them, wondering who the man was that dared touch what belonged to him.
CharlotteCarrendar: Dixie was bopping her head along in time with the choir, and tapping her foot. The weight of the bags was getting considerably heavy, and she made a face, sticking her tongue out. “Blah, so heavy.” Turning on her heel, she wanted to find a bench to sit and rest a bit, when she noticed Mia, or who she thought was Mia, having some sort of a disagreement with a man with silvery locks. Course, Dixie had no idea who Mia kept company with outside of the Death Club and she did wonder if this might be a disgruntled client, or maybe a very keen fan. Dixie hesitated. Not sure if she should go over and interject, in what looked to be one hell of a blow up. “Ooo bugger.” She said, biting her lip. Dixie knew that Mia was not one that liked people pressing their noses into her private life. Just then, a man pushing a cart filled with lollipops and all manner of sweets in bright coloured bottles and packets came past, and Dixie suddenly found herself intoxicated by the delicious scents.
LadyBelz: “Why were you fired?” Mia couldn’t help but ask. She had yet to turn around. He stepped close behind her and she could feel his body heat radiating against her back. His presence alone was doing something to her insides. “Because of you.” he replied. She finally turned to face him, staring him in the eyes. “You’re blaming me for losing your job?” she scowled. He held up his hands in surrender. “No. I was fired…because of my feelings for you.” he admitted. Shocked couldn’t even begin to cover what Mia felt right then. “What?” she gaped. It was rare to see her so speechless. “The second I saw you in that restaurant, I knew I was in trouble. No woman has ever affected me this way. And you did it in less than 5 days.” he stated, stepping closer. She backed up, pressing a hand to his chest, her heart beating like a triphammer in her chest. Things like this did not happen to her. She was not capable of having these kinds of mushy feelings. He stepped closer, despite the hand pressed against his chest, crowding into her personal space. She found herself pressed against the wall behind her and he pinned her in with his arms on either side of her. “Move.” she hissed. “No.” he refused, bending his head toward her. “Get away from me. I mean it.” she snapped. “Don’t think so.” he replied with a chuckle, attuned to her moods. “I can’t breathe.” she tried. “That makes two of us.” he murmured before his lips claimed hers in a fiery kiss that started the flame of passion between them. Mia moaned low in her throat, causing him to slip his tongue into her mouth to seek out her own. Across the street, Andrei saw this and finally had enough. He darted out into the road, causing cars to screech their tires and the drivers to yell at him. He tackled Steven from the side once he made it across the street and both men tumbled to the sidewalk in a tangle of arms and legs. Mia stood there, shocked, for all of two seconds before she decided to beat a hasty retreat, sparing not one glance to the two men fighting behind her. Her gaze caught someone she was familiar with, eying a cart of treats and she quickly made her way to their side.
CharlotteCarrendar: :- Now, for anyone who knows Dixie, they know she loves sweets and lollipops with a passion unmatched. So many fancy colours, swirls, bon bons, candy canes. Strips of licorice, fairy floss, chocolates. The biggest lollipops she had ever seen. Marvelous arrays of the kind of toffees that will you could suck till your eyes popped. The man who pushed the cart, came to a stop and tipped his hat at the wide eyed Dixie. “Madame?” Dixie just kept pointing and nodding as she picked out some coffee fudge, and then a large green lollipop with a Santa picture in the centre. Placing her bags on the edge of the cart, she dug about in her purse for the right amount of change, when she happened to take a glance back at Mia, and saw she was pressed to a wall, and being snogged something fierce. “Go Girl…..make up sex is the best. Woot Woot.”- Course, Dixie was so busy paying for her sweets, and putting them in her bags, she totally missed Andrei flying over and tackling the latest hunk that was sucking face with Mia. “I am set for the next two weeks of my sugar fix.” When she finally grabbed her bags, she found Mia at her side, and then looking back at the spot Mia was, two men were wrestling on the ground. “I knew you were popular….but fuck me, you’re causing a scene. You shagging both those blokes?”
LadyBelz: “I knew you were popular….but fuck me, you’re causing a scene. You shagging both those blokes?” Mia heard Dixie ask as she stared at both Steven and Andrei. “I was, lord only knows why.” Mia complained, successfully covering up the fact that Steven’s kiss effected her far more than she thought it would. “They’re both idiots.” She then noticed the amount of candy the cart man was putting in a bag and she looked at Dixie. “Getting in your holiday sugar fix, are we?” she grinned, ignoring the sounds of someone calling for the local police as the two men continued to beat the hell out of one another. “Getting your Christmas shopping done as well, I see.” She nodded, spotting the bags draped over one of Dixie’s arms. She held up her own bags in comparison, which were far more.
CharlotteCarrendar: One look at Mia, was all it took from Dixie to see that the snog session against the cold stone work, had made the temptress a bit shiny in the cheeks. “You dirty girl. I can see that look. You like him.” Dixie joked, giving her arm a punch, then looking over to the action on the street. “He is a bit old for me, doing him would be like….doing my Uncle. But you are more mature, so I can dig that you are into the Salt’n'Peppa kind of guy.” The sound of police whistles were heard, and a crowd was gathering as they watched the two men trading blows, and trying to strangle each other. Mia, of course, was trying small talk, which at this moment, was comical at best. “I’m a good kid, I hardly could call myself a Sugar junkie, but yeah, sucking on these babies, always makes me smile.” She laughed and then she started to shadow box, to imitate the guys that were fighting. “No…upper cut, ya Nancy. God, where did they learn to fight? St Ivy’s for the Disadvantaged?”
LadyBelz: “You dirty girl. I can see that look. You like him.” Dixie joked as she punched Mia in the arm. Mia glared at her. “I do NOT like him.” she practically growled, trying her damnedest not to blush. “I don’t do mushy feelings and all that shit. I’m not capable of it. Not now and not ever. He was just a bed warmer. That’s it. I’ll leave that mushy, feel-good stuff to you and Dem. And how’s that going, by the way?” Behind them, it took 15 of Prague’s finest to separate the two men and getting them locked into handcuffs. There were boos from the surrounding watchers as the men were dragged apart. It wasn’t everyday they got to see a live fight in the middle of the street.
CharlotteCarrendar: – Oh boy. There was that line frown, that old people get when they tell fibs. Mia strenuously denied that she cared for Salt n Peppa man, but Dixie could see differently. As she voiced her feelings on not being mushy, of how she did not even like him, Dixie shook her head and acted like the Momma bear for a change. “DENIAL. You can sing the song till your blue in the face, but you are, prime time, one hundred percent in lurve….with…with. The guy getting arrested. Hey, if you bribe the copper, he might throw in the handcuffs. ” Dixie said with a huge grin. She knew she was right, even if Mia thought she was wrong.
LadyBelz: Mia refused to listen. She was firmly in Denial-land. And that voice was back, telling her that what she was feeling toward Steven was anything but dislike. Growling, she kicked the voice’s ass, shoved it back in the closet and cemented it up. “I am NOT in love with anybody, least of all a man who lies to me! Now drop the subject already. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.” Mia had that look on her face that said if the subject was brought up again, she was going to explode, and not in a good way. “So what are you getting Dem for Christmas? I need some ideas.”
CharlotteCarrendar: Yep, Mia was entrenched in the land of denial. Dixie sighed, and shook her head. “One day, you are going to wake up and kick yourself, but, who am I to tell someone as mature as you how to live their life.”- Dixie shrugged and picked up her bags, which were near full to the brim. Question asked as part of a way to steer the conversation off to a new course, was a serious one, and Dixie decided to divulge. “Well, I was thinking of getting him a new biker jacket, you know, one of those swish Italian ones. But, I really want to get him a signet ring….with two D’s on it. Kinda like an engagement ring, but not. Does that sound funny?” she asked innocently, as the paddy van pulled up to take the two men into the lockup. “Aren’t you going to go over and say goodbye to your lovers?”
LadyBelz: Anger derailed for a moment, Mia listened to Dixie describe some ideas of what to get Dem for Christmas, Mia started to get a few ideas of her own. Until what Dixie actually said penetrated her thick skull. She glared at the woman standing beside her. “Did you just call me old?” she demanded, trying hard not to laugh. “And no, they deserve whatever they get. Idiots.” she snorted, watching the paddywagon drive away. She turned back to Dix, who seemed to be trying not to laugh outright. “You’re evil, you know that right.” Mia glared, but it was half-hearted. She sighed, seeming to deflate before the young woman’s eyes. “Okay. I admit I like the guy. Is that what you want to hear? But love? I don’t think so. I’ve had to much happen in my life to even know what that word means.”
CharlotteCarrendar: – For a minute, Dixie thought that Mia was going to whallop her with one of her shopping bags, for suggesting she was old. “Oh no, I would never call you old. You’re only old if your clit flaps are so long you could make an annex out of them, and I know you work out and such, so….nah, you’re pretty chipper.” Which was her way of saying that Mia wasn’t ready for the Maple leaf retirement home for Escorts….just yet. Dixie was happy to get going, when Mia had dealt with her male problems, which she seemed reluctant to do. “You’re evil, you know that right.” Mia said with a half glare, bit of a smirk. “Well of course I am evil. Check out this ridiculous sweater I am wearing. Who wears Reindeer at Christmas? You know I look better in torn hoodies.” Walking along with Mia, Mia finally relented, showing a bit of her soft underside, which made Dixie laugh. “Love is a many splendid thing…Love..lifts you up where you belong.” Dixie sang and then jumped up on a park bench and waved her arms out wide. “ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE!!”
LadyBelz: Mia stared, incredulously, as Dixie started an impromptu singing session in the middle of the shopping district before she finally cracked up and laughed. “My god, you are crazy!” Mia chuckled, holding out a hand to help Dix climb down from the bench she was standing on. “And I’ve had no complaints about sagging clits or otherwise, thank you very much.” she grinned. Then her face became solemn. “But seriously. How did you know you were in love with Dem? What is love to you? I only remember the love my parents gave to me as I was growing up. But that isn’t the same kind of love, I don’t think. I like him, sure enough. But love? That’s a foreign concept to me.”
CharlotteCarrendar: – Taking Mia’s offered hand; Dixie jumps down off the park bench and then does a small bow to the gathered folk in the crowd. “Next show is on at Midnight….try the veal.” Dix suggested, before poking out her tongue at Mia. “Maybe a little crazy, but not enough to wrap me up in a straight jacket and cart me off to the clink.” Dixie joked, as she then listened to Mia give her the reasons, why she would not be considered old, for having sagging dangly bits. “Yeah, if they were in the way, I would get surgery and have them snipped and tucked away. But mine are just right…I think. You know, I have never really looked at myself down there. Maybe I should buy a hand mirror.” She mused, deep in thought. Adjusting her grip on her bags, Mia then asked about how Dixie knew she was in love. “Wow…love? Well, you get like a tightness in your chest, when they hold you. Uhm…you just feel so alive when they wake up beside you, and Dem, he just….just. I feel complete with him, like I don’t need for anything. Like the whole world is swept away, and there is just us. And when we make love…if I could hold those moments, forever. I would. He is my morning, my night, my sun, and my moon. The stars don’t shine, when I am without him. He is everything. To me that is love.”
LadyBelz: Mia threaded her arm through Dixie’s as they walked the snow-covered streets. She listened as Dix told her what her version of love was. “I don’t feel any of that with him…Steven, that’s his name. I met him on my vacation. I only slept with him the last night I was there and it was just the one time. He says he has feelings for me. I don’t know what I feel about him. He lied to me and he used me. That’s something that I cannot forgive.” she explained. “He’s a CIA agent, and he was using me to get information on Yuri. How can I base a relationship on a lie? That’s not in me to do. And I really don’t want to be tied down to one person the rest of my life, especially with the work that I do. Can you honestly say he’d would be okay with me working as an escort in a bar the rest of my life? I won’t let any man tell me what I can and can’t do, especially when it comes to my job.”
CharlotteCarrendar: As the two women walked arm in arm through the crowded street, passing market stalls and shops, Mia finally revealed just why she felt that she didn’t love Steven. But the more she said, the more it intrigued young Dixie. “You were dating a Spy? Like…James Bond? Wow, and he looked so handsome too. You know, he may have been doing his job to start with, but did it ever occur to you, that you can fall in love with your work?” Dixie was trying to point out, that maybe he did lie, to protect her, but he found himself falling for his target. “I think that is so hot and romantic. Ever thought of writing your life story? I bet it would be a best seller. You would be bigger than Jackie Collins.” Dixie said with a firm nod of her head. “I know you don’t want to be tied down, and that your line of work does not make it easy for you to have a proper relationship, but…you know, I have heard of sex therapists that have proper families and all, and they still get in bed with their clients. I don’t know if it pays as much though.” Dixie held onto Mia’s arm tighter. “I know you are thinking of the now, but one day, you might turn around, and….wish you did have that someone there.”
LadyBelz: Mia was silent for some moments as they browsed the stalls. She was currently admiring a multi-colored scarf trimmed in silver, thinking this would be a nice gift for Anna. She indicated that she would take it and payed the shopkeeper for it. She looked at Dixie as the man was placing her purchase in a bag. “All you can see is the romance of the situation. The point is, he *LIED* to me, Dix. How can I forgive that?” She thanked the shopkeeper for the bag and waited to see if Dix was going to buy anything before the moved on. “Yes he’s handsome, and funny, and thoughtful, and sexy.” she admitted the last reluctantly. “Did I tell you he bought me a $45,000 dollar necklace? But I’m no longer sure if he did it because it was part of his job or because he wanted to.”
CharlotteCarrendar: This man sounded like every woman’s dream come true, and he gave her a necklace to boot, that was worth a staggering forty five thousand dollars. Dixie’s jaw dropped open on hearing that juicy tit bit. “Oh..my…God!” Stunned mullet look, she then slapped Mia’s arm. “No man would waste that kind of money on a one night stand. Are you crazy? That guy must be head over heels. That’s it.”- Dixie was ready to drag her along if she had too. “You are going to bail him out. Then you are going to take him home and shag him rotten. Cause, it’s obvious. You do feel for him and I could see the way he hammered you to that wall, he was feeling a lot of love for you. Now…don’t be a mule…let’s go to the lock up and get the poor guy before he ends up being some prison bitch in Armani.”
LadyBelz: “I can’t face him. Not after what I said to him.” Mia replied, shaking her head. “And then there’s Andrei. His jealousy is reaching dangerous levels and I don’t want to see Steven be hurt, or worse.” Mia never realized that with that statement alone, she as good as admitted that she felt something for Steven. “How about I give you the money and you get him out. I’ll wait outside or something.”
CharlotteCarrendar: “Fine…I get him out, but damn, don’t you go trying to pull the wool over my eyes again. Hmmph.”- Dixie said indignantly, and then when Mia gave her the wads of cash, she went marching up the street, and into the city lockup. Dixie went up to the attendant, and then batted her eyelashes, explaining how she was the lost sister of Steven, and that she was shopping when he got arrested for the altercation in the street. Putting on the big doe eyes worked a treat and the Police officer took her money, and led her through, past all the prisoners, till they reached Steven’s cell. The officer barked in Czech to Steven to stand up, and that his bail had been posted by his sister. Dixie waved in from behind the large officer, and then helped escort Steven out of the station, and into the waiting arms of Mia.
LadyBelz: Mia paced outside the police station, chewing on her thumbnail. She didn’t see when Dixie and Steven came out, but noticed him immediately after she turned and bumped right into him. She backed up a bit and stared at him. His face was a mass of bruises and there was a slow-oozing cut over his left eye. “You look like shit.” was all she could think to say. He chuckled, hissing in pain as his ribs protested the movement. “I’ve had worse.” he replied, drinking her in. “You can thank ‘my sister’ for bailing me out.” he turned to look at Dixie. “Steven, this is my best friend, Dixie. Dixie, this is Steven.” Mia jumped to introduce them, embarrassed all of a sudden for reasons unknown to her.
CharlotteCarrendar: Poor Bloke, he did look like shit. It was actually sad to see him having been beaten up so badly. When the couple bumped each other, and Steven hissed like a tire losing air, Dixie cringed. “Ooo love making is going to have to be on the slow and the down low. I recommend, a nice hot bath, and maybe a steak for his black eye.”- Dixie said, leaning to her side for a better look. When introduced, Dixie did her usual. “G’day…you can call me Dixie, or Dix.” She then dug in her bag and pulled out a lollipop and offered it to Steven. “Fancy sucking on one of these? Or taking Mia home for a …..”
LadyBelz: Steven laughed as Dixie greeted him with a lollipop and sexual innuendo. He liked her already. He turned to look at Mia, giving her his sexiest grin, despite the bruises on his face. “How about it, darlin?” he drawled in a fake Texan accent. “Wanna take me home and nurse me back to health?” Mia stared at the two of them like they were crazy and she was the only sane one left. She shook her head. “You’re going to the hospital to get those ribs looked at.” she stated, already starting to sound like a nag. “No doctors. I hate them.” he scowled at her. Without preamble, she stomped right up to him and poked him in the ribs, hard. He yelped like a cat that had gotten its tail caught beneath a rocking chair. She glared at him, and he admitted to himself that her glares were fiercer than his own. “Yeah, all right, fine. The hospital it is.” he stated reluctantly.
CharlotteCarrendar: Watching Mia take charge of the situation and cause poor Steven even more pain, by a good poke in the ribs, Dixie knew that Mia was falling hard for the guy. I mean, why else would she be acting so odd. Grinning, she sidled up to Steven and whispered in his ear. “I know why she wants you in hospital. I have seen those naughty movies, of the nurse giving a special kind of bedside manner. Mhm. Naughty Nursey.” – Dixie did a big wink then pretended to look at an invisible watch on her wrist. “Well blow me, it’s a hair past a freckle, going onto a mole. I better get to the jewelers before they shut. Oh…and I hear those hospital beds can be pretty freaky.”- With that, Dixie went to cross the street, blending into the shopping crowds.
LadyBelz: Dixie was gone before Mia could retaliate. “That little witch.” Mia scowled. Steven cleared his throat and Mia turned the scowl on him. “Not a word.” He threw up his hands as if to say “Not me.” and followed Mia as she stomped away to her car. He wisely kept his mouth closed as she drove him to the hospital, muttering angrily the whole way about “stubborn men” and “evil teenagers”. He was pronounced as having two bruised ribs which were wrapped tightly, and was given some pain killers before he was allowed to leave. Mia took him to her apartment and settled him into her bed. She refused to join him when he asked, deciding instead to take her purchases into the living room to be wrapped, and to make some dinner. She just didn’t want to be around him at the moment as she tried to deal with these unfamiliar feelings she was having about him.
