Aberrant: Dead Rising - A Moment of Quiet [Complete]

[Priest]

There was a part of him that wanted to argue with her, to convince her that James was an idiot and she could do better ... but he opted not to go down that road, because that road was frought with perils and in the end, Priest was sure James would regain his sight and come looking. So, instead,

"Okay, V. I think he did something brutally stupid and hius current state bear that out. You tell me it wasn't intentional then I'll accept your word on the matter. Your word. Okay? We good now?"

[Venus]

Violet had to take a deep breath to calm down. Priest was making amends and she shouldn't push the matter too far. Her finger was still pointed at him which she quickly withdrew taking a less offensive stance towards Priest.

"Thank you... and I agree with the brutally stupid part.", she smiled weakly at him which was still breathtaking by normal standards. Violet nodded at Priest and gently patted Sarah on her head. "Take your time with growing up, Sarah. Maybe one day you'll be like me but I think you'd do better if you followed your father's example. He is a good man."

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine relaxed visibly, and smiled a little at Priest, trying to force a little levity.

"I think that makes three of us.. but I'm glad we got that settled. Now, I think we all came here to help people out, and we're gonna get a lot more of that done if we're not standing around and chatting. C'mon, Violet - Jo seems to be taking care of helping James out, and Sarah here too. Let's go get to work on the framing - I need the practice to help you on the walls upstairs for the extra bedrooms and such, you know?"

Jasmine hoped Violet would take her lead. The last thing any of them needed today was any extra drama, especially while all the regular folks were standing around doing real work.

[Fox]

"Well I for one hope we're all friends again." The tone was light as Bond came over to the small group, smiling easily at all and sundry as he wiped his hands on a rag tucked into his belt. He lowered his voice as he joined them. "It's a silly thing to fight about here and now in front of half the Refuge, don't you think?" He said with a serious look in his china-blue eyes, though his wry half-smile stayed.

"Now, I think introductions are in order. James I know, but we haven't yet met." He took the larger man's hand and shook it firmly. "I'm glad to see you up and about. And you..." he turned to Violet with a wider smile "Can only be the lovely Miss Violet. A pleasure to meet you." He offered her his hand. "The name's..."

"Bond!" giggled Sarah, unable to resist. "James Bond!" Bond rolled his eyes at the girl, sending her into a further fit of giggles, then winked at Priest before turning back to Violet.

"Out of the mouths of babes comes truth. That is indeed my name, and you can blame my parents, but please, call me Jim."

[Venus]

James Bond?, did Daniel lose his mind? Violet would've blushed if she was Jennifer but since her becoming she could handle these kinds of situations with more ease and kept her perfect smile up.

Violet curtsied and extended her hand but not to shake hands with the handsome brit. Instead she kept the backside of her hand faced upward so he had the chance to kiss it briefly like in the 'old days'. James quickly adjusted and mirrored her 'etiquette' with perfect elegance taking her hand gently and planting a faint hint of a kiss on the back of her hand without actually making skin contact.

"I'm flattered, Jim.", is he putting up an act to avoid any publicity? It's not like any paparazzi will jump out a cardboard box around here. Violet realized how silly that line of thought was and had to suppress a laugh.

"I'm sorry - if the circumstances were different I'd ask you for an autograph. When I heard about you the first time I thought it was a prank but people kept insisting that you were really James Bond. I somehow had the picture of Sean Connery in his prime when I thought about that.", Violet didn't intent to do much flirting but her bodylanguage betrayed her. Even her voice had a playful tone to it which a good observant of social interactions could only interpret as 'Hey, look at me, I'm interested.'

The incredibly, yet unreal beautiful woman put a strand of auburn-red hair behind one ear and flashed Bond another smile while she slightly turned sideways to give him a better impressionj of how she was built underneath her clothes.

[Fox]

"It's a long story, but the canned version is I got sick and woke up like this. The name really is James Bond, though." He gave Violet a charming smile, and the inhumanly lovely woman was treated to what was, for her, a rare experience.

He was looking at her. Not at her bust, or lips, or hips, or eyes. Her. He'd given her a flirtatious and admiring evaluative once-over, but was now regarding Violet with calm friendliness in his sparkling blue eyes that was a little strange to a woman who usually had trouble getting red-blooded men to make eye-contact, especially on the first meeting. It wasn't that he didn't find her attractive. It was simply that he was seeing and evaluating Violet the person rather than Violet the sex-goddess.

"Well, I won't keep you ladies all to myself." He winked at Sarah, who giggled, then smiled, his eyes glinting merrily. "Especially since I have a sneaking suspicion that there isn't a single woman in the Refuge that can't out-bench me with one hand." He waved in the direction of the concrete pouring platform. "I'll be right up there where I can get the best view of the... work in progress." His look of mock-innocence was devilish as he gave Jasmine a sly look then turned to go.

"Till later, then." And with that he jogged back over to the form, practically running up the ladder before moving with easy coordination across to the next pouring point.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine had watched with a sinking sensation of dread in her stomach as Bond approached them. She watched warily as Bond kissed Violet's hand, and as the stunning woman turned on the charm. Her eyes flickered back to Bond's with a touch of surprise though as he spoke, and she made a mental note to herself not to underestimate him again.

At Jim's remark, though, Jasmine couldn't help herself - her mocha-colored cheeks turned that dusted pink color again, and her mouth curved up at one of the corners in a half-smile. Oh yeah.. she was smitten.

[Venus]

He’s not Daniel?, Violet looked surprised at Bond. Maybe it was just another front? This man did have his looks and some more but his behaviour was very much unlike Daniel’s. Maybe his story was right after all? As she refocused on the situation she noticed how Bond treated her like a ‘normal’ human being regarding her more as a person and less like an sex-object. His gallant nature appealed to her and she couldn’t stop smiling even as he made his elegant exit.

“He sure has his moments – wow…”, Violet said almost in a whisper to Jasmine. Her body had responded to the little flirt and she was feeling hot all over. Jasmine appeared just as affected by him and Violet had to take her hand and drag her to the end of the line just like they intended in the first place. “Hey, you are here to take care of me not vice versa.”, she said jokingly to the younger woman.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine's blushed deepened at Violet's remark, and she followed Violet along to the end of the line.

"I certainly don't need to be taken care of in that manner - I don't cause accidents by crossing the street."

Her tone was joking, but she still looked a little flustered. They got to the end, and she picked up some of the tools they would need - which primarily consisted of a nail gun, a bag of nails, and a large stack of two-by-fours and other pieces of available wood. The only other person working over here was an older man in his sixties, who ran the saw, cutting the wood to the lengths they needed. Jasmine greeted him warmly, and then set a couple of the wood pieces up for Violet. She demonstrated where to use the nail gun, and at what angle to make sure everything was secure. And then, with the intensity of someone determined to make sure they get as much done as possible, she got to work, only speaking again once they had gotten into a fairly steady rhythm of construction.

"You look kind of confused.. when you were talking to Jim, that is. Don't look at me like that - he told me to call him Jim! He told me his parents named him James Bond - which just makes them kind of sick, in my opinion. Apparently the virus changed the way he looked, amongst other things. He's a pretty nice guy - and he saved all our asses back in Kansas. He was the one who disarmed the detonator, or Elijah would've blown us all - and probably his whole flock, too - to Kingdom Come with the other thirty pounds or so of C4 that hadn't been ignited yet. And he's giving me lessons in martial arts too, along with Jules - you know, the Captain's assistant - so hopefully I won't accidentally hurt anyone again."

The work she had given Violet wasn't too difficult, but it made the process go quicker and after awhile, they were assembling sections of the wall at a fairly swift pace. Jasmine didn't even notice the occasional glanced Bond shot in their direction.

[Venus]

Violet did fairly well considering her total lack of experience in any kind of physical labour. She was sure if it wasn’t for her superior strength and stamina she would’ve failed on the first 3 panels. Jasmine could tell that Violet did most of the work relying on her supernatural physical prowess and less on skill but at least she was trying to do her part.

“It’s a strange world we live in. The Virus changed me too as you know. It would’ve been too much of a coincidence if he was the ‘real’ Daniel Craig. Jennifer and him were friends. Well, not like real friends but they knew each other from the Oscars.”, Violet was still referring to Jennifer as a third person in case someone was eavesdropping on them.

“You do have the hots for him, though. I saw it as much as I felt it, honey. Don’t let him break your heart, he seems the type.”, Violet smiled at Jasmine and gave her a wink. There was a lot of tease in the way she looked at her and she definitely was having a good time especially after knowing how Jasmine felt for Bond.

[Jasmine Gentian]

"Yeah.. I guess he seem like the type, doesn't he?"

Jasmine shook her head, still blushing a bit.

"Oh well - I don't have time for that kind of stuff anyway. I'm too busy killing zombies and building walls, didn't you notice? He can just keep looking good, and teaching me how to fight, and I'll enjoy the view.. and that'll be that."

She grinned a little at Violet, and pushed another board into place for her to nail.

[Venus]

"So he is fair game? Are you sure about that?", Violet kept driving the point a little wanting to see if Jasmine's feelings for the handsome brit where just a fluke or something deeper. The girl sure could need someone to make her enjoy her life more than just killing zombies.

Without doing much Violet implied that she would hit on Bond if Jas didn't mind. Her plan was to get the young woman think about her feelings twice before she acted. She could imagine Jas and Bond being a couple if his feelings were the same for her. Lets see if I hit a soft spot.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jas tried to maintain a calm expression, but Violet could feel a flare of jealousy, followed by a bit of surprise, all of which Jasmine managed to keep pretty well hidden.

"I don't know, Violet. Like you said, he's probably a real heart breaker. Then again, I'm sure James wouldn't be too thrilled to find out you're spending more time sizing up handsome British men than working on the wall. He seems more like one of those "the only man in your life" types to me.."

Her tone was playful, but a bit catty too. Jasmine had been fairly mellow around Violet - with the exception of when she was being brutally honesty of that morning. It was out of character enough for Violet to know she had gotten a rise out of the young woman.. even if she hadn't felt the surge of emotion behind it.

[Venus]

"Common Jas, there's no reason to hide it. You really enjoyed the combat training with him and are more than looking forward to meet him again. I can tell a flirt apart from a serious crush and you for sure are smitten.", Violet winked at her again and shoved her playfully with her hips.

"There's no reason to be ashamed of that, honey. Your heart needs more than just a purpose to survive. Love is essential for all of us and time is probably not on our side. Don't waste your time with what-ifs and what-nots and instead enjoy yourself. I think he is more than interested in you, too."

Violet's little ruse was revealed. She never intended to actually hit on the brit but wanted Jas to give away her true emotions for him. The young woman really needed a partner - at least that was what Violet was convinced of.

[Jasmine Gentian]

Jasmine laughed a little, and shrugged.

"Maybe. I mean, you grow up hearing all these rules, you know? You should date this kind of guy, settle down with that type of guy, don't hang around with players.. believe me, my Momma had a list a mile long."

She set up a couple boards, then stopped for a moment to fix the angle Violet was nailing the wood at. Her father had always taught her to do jobs right, and that was going to apply to the person she was working with too. She waited while Violet nailed it again, the nodded.

"Good - like that. But the world's completely different now, you know? I mean - who's gonna get married? Is there even a such thing anymore? And you're right.. time's probably not on our side. But at the same time.. I don't know. Maybe I'm afraid. I never got to do any of this stuff. Dating, and relationships, and sex. My Daddy always told me I had to worry about getting better before I could worry about the rest. And that's what I did - and I studied, so I wouldn't be so far behind everybody I'd never catch up. And now.. what good has all that done me? Here I am.. in the middle of Nowhere, Oklahoma, nailing up a wall to keep out the zombies, trying to beat the guys off of you with a stick, and with the hots for a good-looking British bad-boy."

Jasmine shook her head, looking a bit amused.

"My Momma used to tell me that you never knew what life was going to throw at you - but I don't think this is quite what she had in mind."

[Venus]

Violet nodded just as amused. Jasmine was opening up and that was a good omen in her book. No matter how grim the future looked like having something to look forward to or have faith in was extremely important for survival. Not just surviving but also living.

"Once you open your heart Jas, you'll see how much strength you can draw from it. You may become vulnerable to some attacks but given your strength of will and force of personality I'm sure you'll do just fine. And if not - I'm always here to help and protect you, I promise.", Violet was being very serious at the end and looked Jasmine straight in the eyes.

[Jasmine Gentian]

"I appreciate it, Violet. Really - thank you."

Jas smiled at her softly, and took a brief moment to give the other woman a very brief, casual side-hug of sorts. She took pains not to make it anything sensual - not only to keep Violet from reacting too much, but to keep the men around them from getting any ideas. Then she grabbed another stack of lumber, lifting it almost as easily as James would have, though the stack wasn't quite as big as one he would have picked.

"C'mon.. we've got this section finished, and they look like they're almost ready to pour over here. So.. we'd better get moving."

With that, she turned at went back to work on the wall.