I love him! Ooh, what if Ares and Monique accidentally became petty friends solely to be annoying to Lonnie? That would be, uh. Funny. So, should I post a starter? I won’t be able to until later today but I just wanted to know if you had any more questions.
Lmaooo that’d be amazing, I’m game. And sure! I can’t think of anything else to ask
Hi! I’ll post a starter some time today or tomorrow, but I’m a bit busy now, sorry!
Hey! It’s all good, take as much time as you need!
Ares was currently "entertaining" at a party, at his boss's place. It was a nice place too, crystal chandeliers and all of that crap. He wasn't a bad dancer, and he knew what men liked, and so he was simply waiting around until his services were needed elsewhere, probably for going and having some fun with a gentleman in the other room. It was only a matter of time until one of these boring jerkoffs mistook him for one of the woman prostitutes, and he was pretty enough to be mistaken for one certainly. At least he'd had a few hundred years to perfect the voice, the voice was key to coming off as a man. He could be as lean as he wanted to be, curvy even, but if your voice could come off as masculine and if you didn't have an obvious chest most people would think of you as you were.
So he just sat around, lounging, chatting with people and moving to take the place of a dancer a few times. He adjusted the suit he was wearing slightly, but suddenly someone grabbed his arm. He jerked back, the gentleman who'd grasped at him looked confused at how much give there was to the flesh there but didn't comment. Ares gave his best "I'm interested in you" look and went off to do whatever was needed done for the other's night to get just a little bit better.
A few minutes later he was back, and there were people arguing. He shrugged his jacket off in preparation for a fight to break out. But he was surprised to simply see a gathering there, no negative feelings intended towards anyone. Except, however, the person in the middle of the thing.
"You know what rats get under my roof? They get gutted. Now, give me one reason to let you live." Ares' boss said. He was a heavyset man named Adrian Leto, with cruel grey eyes and a moustache that covered more of his head than his hair did.
Ares pushed forward, and saw that the man in the middle of this was… Lonnie? The new guy? He'd been with the group for a year or so now, seemed pretty timid. Not the type to snitch. But here he was, tied up for judgement day. His amulet buzzed a little, energy crackling in the air around him that few could sense and even fewer could question.
Lonnie wasn’t entirely sure about the details of the moments before he was circled and put on trial, in the middle of a party that had seemed to be going pretty well no less. Anxiety pricked at the backs of his arms and neck. The little hairs rising there, and the dank scent of sweat he could smell. Whether from himself or the general odor of human bodies trapped inside a warm building he wasn’t sure, but it was very off putting nonetheless.
He stood, staring right back at the boss with as hopefully intimidating defensive position as he could muster in himself, while his skinny self was probably laughably pitiful compared to the men surrounding him. No matter how hard he clenched his fists or ground his feet in his shoes.
“I’ll give you two reasons,” he retorted despite the obvious waver in his voice. He wasn’t so used to confrontation like this. “One, I’m not a rat. Whatever you heard about me is probably to cover somebody else’s ass. And two…” What was the second? “Two, if you kill me it’s one less loyal man on your side, right? The other guys out there aren’t gonna think I’m special, I look like nothing, but you—“ he pointed his finger at Adrien—“you know I’m valuable, hm? I’m on your, side, boss!” He ended up just rambling at that point, hoping that he said something, anything to save himself with the skin of his teeth. While he was lying through his teeth, sort of. “I swear on my life.”
“Your life? Let’s test that theory.” Adrien took a small revolver from his pocket and loaded it. “If you’re really loyal, you won’t mind dying for my cause. If you beg for your life? It’ll be damnation for you.” he chuckled. Ares sat back and watched, he didn’t want the man to die but he also didn’t want to get too involved. He’d have to wait for exactly the right time.
(Sorry for the short response, I just wanted to get something up before I forgot about this.)
(No worries! I don’t mind short responses)
Lonni stiffened when he saw the revolver pulled out of Adrien’s pocket, and subsequently loaded. He eyed the weapon warily while the man spoke, the words striking him with as much concern as what Adrien held in his hand. He didn’t particularly want to die either way. Although he supposed this was a ‘damned if you don’t, damned if you do’ sort of situation that needed to be handled carefully. He swallowed, mustering up the courage to say, “If you must, just…make it quick and painless as possible.” He couldn’t keep the tremble from his voice, but he hoped he was convincing enough.
Now was the moment. Ares didn't doubt that Adrien would strike, so he stepped in. "Boys, boys, no need to fight. I'm sure…" he kneeled down by Lonnie, "we can figure something out. Let me take care of him. If he really is a traitor, I'll deal with him as is needed to be dealt with. But if he is on our side, it would be a waste of a goon. You know that. Besides, I don't want his blood on your hands, worthless little cockroach that he is." he smirked. He stroked Lonnie's flank, coming up behind him and whispering something unintelligible in the man's ear that sounded a lot like "don't ruin this for me". He was going to get out of this life no matter who he had to betray to get there and he had a feeling Lonnie could help.
Lonnie snapped his attention to Ares, confusion first, and then curiosity. He’d seen the boy around but hadn’t ever truly interacted. Nevertheless he was grateful for the distraction that likely saved his life. Adrien didn’t appear to him like someone who’d show him mercy, no matter how convincing he edged his tone. He tensed as Ares knelt beside him, and then even more when he touched him. He wasn’t against playing a part, but worthless cockroach?
Lonnie narrowed his gaze and tilted his head closer to Ares when he spoke. He responded with an answer to a question that wasn’t asked, but one that could hopefully be easily explained away by any eavesdroppers. “I should thank you, I suppose,” he mumbled, but what he really wanted to ask was ‘What are you planning?’
Adrien waved a hand, and the group slowly dissipated, seeming a bit upset. They'd wanted a show, and the result was quite underwhelming comparatively. Ares helped Lonnie through the crowd, then to a back door where they could walk out into the puddle-strewn street for some time alone, to talk. "So, I'm pretty sure you ratted our little group out. I don't have a problem with that, but I don't intend to fall with them. My particular situation doesn't allow for such a thing." he said, pushing Lonnie towards the street, and down the road, touching him like he was some sort of strange, disgusting slime he didn't want to dirty his hands with. "So, spill. Who are you with?"
“I didn’t rat anyone out,” Lonnie answered with his eyebrows inching closer together. Unless of course telling his client little bits of information about the gang he learned along the way counted as ratting. He’d thought he’d been careful enough, or at the very least careful enough to last nearly a year. He walked faster and jerked his shoulder away, just as particular about not wanting to be touched by the man who seemed disgusted by touching him.
Lonnie sidestepped, adjusting his coat, and looked over his shoulder at the man. Lonnie hesitated for another long moment before speaking again. “My job relies heavily on client confidentiality,” he said.