You should see me on a bad day.

[adorablespike]

Adora Belle did not much like the Compound. There were too many people that weren't golems or even from the same planet as her. But, occasionally, she found it necessary to visit the structure. Clean clothes and running water were too much to pass up

Comments

[apostatesupreme]

As of late, running into strangers had become entirely too common for my liking. The novelty of the introduction had run toilet paper thin by the second week, and I swear, I felt my sanity slipping. As I've said, one must keep a cool head while accoutered (suffocating) in a flesh stola. As I've said, a lesser angel would've broken and dropped the bleeding body on its arse long before now...

But there were strokes of familiarity here, even sans my angelic ESP. Which is why, upon discovering one sharp-heeled Miss Dearheart lounging in one of the Compound's common rooms, I really couldn't help but throw myself at her.

'What, out of cigarettes already?' I tsked from the doorway.

[adorablespike]

Adora Belle looked up for only a moment - it was all she needed to confirm the owner of the voice was, indeed, who she thought it was.

"No." She returned her gaze to her book*. Her posture was not inviting of conversation, but then again, it never was.

*Anger Management for Dummies. It was the only book not about how to quit smoking that she'd been able to find. The bookshelf, it seemed, was not above annoying her.

[apostatesupreme]

'From desperation to nonchalance in the matter of days?' I was, needless to say, intrigued. As evidenced by my my leisurely skip in the direction of her chair. 'What's your secret? You aren't still mooching the things off underdressed - albeit charming - strangers, are you?'

[adorablespike]

Adora Belle sighed. Clearly, she wasn't going to be able to get him to go away by simply ignoring him. She'd have to try a more direct approach if she was really going to commit to being anti-social.

Then again, he might have more cigarettes.

She looked up again, so fast her neck cracked. "The island's been regrettably short of people of that description, I'm afraid." She almost smiled.

[rictor_scale]

There were some people that you just knew needed to be approached carefully. Not because they were in a fragile or delicate or in some violently emotional state, but because at any moment they could spring into action and kick the crap out of you. The woman in the rec room --who looked just like Helen Bonham Carter-- was probably one of those people because almost instantly reminded she reminded Rictor of Rahne and Monet.

He cared for and missed all of the women in X-factor. Even Layla. But Julio knew he had this amazing ability to upset them by doing something seemingly harmless that was also --apparently-- remarkably stupid, so he did his best to creep over to the bookshelf without disturbing the new person. Maybe he could eventually wave to her or say 'hello' or offer to get her more coffee. Or leave her alone. It was a tough call.

[adorablespike]

Glancing up from her book when she heard footsteps but failed to hear a voice, Adora Belle raised an eyebrow at the boy's back.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," she said, sitting up. "The selection's remarkably limited." She cast a sour look at the shelves. It was a pity she had hidden her matches along with her cigarettes, or she might have set it on fire.

[rictor_scale]

Rictor eyed the bookshelf and sighed before moving away from it. "Great. It did this to me last time I was in here too." He was getting a little tired of bookshelves that thought for themselves. If he wanted someone to find books for him, he would have asked for their help.

[adorablespike]

"It gave me Anger Management for Dummies," said Adora Belle drily, holding up the book. Simultaneously, she took a sip from the too-hot, too-strong coffee mug in her other hand. Savouring the burn on her tongue that was completely unlike a fresh hit from a cigarette, she scowled to herself.

"I can't imagine why."

[forged_hero]

Moist was treading carefully. He'd recognized all three signatures following his name on that damned flier on the billboard - oh yes, he had - and now he was attempting, with marginal success, to be horrified.

He was an honest citizen! He was perfectly content! The bordem wasn't getting to him at all!

....especially in light of the arrival of a certain smokestack of a woman that was currently waving her heels like a cat might do its tail.

"You didn't get that off the bookshelf, I hope," Moist said, trying to get a look at the title while also trying desperatly to appear that he was not doing so.

[adorablespike]

Right then, Adora Belle could have really done with a cigarette. And not just to jam into Moist von Lipwig's eye - something to keep her mouth occupied, so she wouldn't say all the things she was dying to say to him.

She shut the book with a snap and looked up in almost the same movement, narrowing her eyes.

"Where else would I get it from?" She scowled, glanced at the volume, looked up again. "Do you think I need anger management?" There was a faintly accusing tone to her voice. But then again, there always was.

[forged_hero]

Moist blinked audibly, giving her a calm, neutral smile, spreading his hands in a 'What? Me? sort of gesture.

He gave a quick glance over his shoulder at the shelves before dropping down opposite her, jostling his leg up and down.

Conceivably, there have been worse questions asked of a man. "Shall we accept the large wooden horse outside?" "How do you feel about spandex?" Even, perhaps, "Does this bustle make my arse look big?"

The answer is never, ever yes.

"Er..." said Moist. "They have Gnus here, you know. Plenty of them. You might enjoy a few lessons, is all I'm saying."

And, as with most men, his sense of self-preservation was about three steps behind the speed of his tongue.

[adorablespike]

Adora Belle just looked at him. It wasn't a nice look, but so many of her looks weren't. This one said, I don't have the time of day for you, so why are you interrupting my morning? But she didn't say it, because he was Moist von Lipwig and she was...well...her.

Maybe, despite all that she knew about him, she still had some Hope, the greatest of all treasures. Or maybe not.

"What do you want, Mr Lipwig?" she asked, with a passable attempt at politeness.

[sheriff_pardy]

Bill Pardy, just like most'a the men hailing from Wheelsy, South Carolina, was built for Recreation. This weren't to say he didn't take his job seriously. Weren't much in the world Bill took more seriously than his job, apart from the welfare of one Starla Grant, and he'd been that kid (you know the type) who knew from the time fifth grade rolled 'round just what he wanted to do with his life

[adorablespike]

Polite nods weren't Adora Belle's style. Impolite nods, however, she could write a book about. There was a certain way you could cant your chin or twitch your head that implied she wanted nothing more than to see the other person fall into a pit of scorpions.

In this particular case, though, she managed to keep her nod to the sort that implied she merely wished to see the other person lose a limb or two.

It wasn't her fault. She was just born antisocial. Even the nurses had stayed away.

However..."Are you in need of anger management?"

[sheriff_pardy]

Bill gave pause, his brow screwin' up just a bit in thought, and decided, "Well, no, ma'am. Not today."

[adorablespike]

"Then you might not want to peruse that bookshelf," Adora Belle advised. "It's only giving out guides on how to manage rage at the moment. Oh, and smoking."

She scowled. If only it was providing a recipe for decent, nicotine-laden coffee.

[dishabille_mal]

Maladicta had been in better moods. She had coffee in one hand and had thrust the other into her jeans pocket and was making an effort not to scowl automatically at everyone she came across. She succeeded again with the woman at the bookshelf, though she did sort of stop a little.

Their postures were similar. She unconsciously squared her shoulders back and down.

[adorablespike]

Miss Dearheart glanced up, and something about the woman said: Approach With Caution. It was familiar, because Adora Belle had the same sort of aura. People stayed away if they knew what was good for them, for the most part. At least, they did when she had a look on her face like that, and she could see the look mirrored right back at her.

It made her smile. Inside, anyway.

"Is the coffee usually this awful?" she asked, conversationally, because what did a tiger have to fear from another tiger?

[dishabille_mal]

"Yes," Maladicta said, "though you should taste what it used to be like. I have my own supply, though." She canted on eyebrow, and said, "Klatchian Roast?" because the reactiont his was usually met with was something like mmnduh?

[adorablespike]

In this case, it wasn't.

"Really?" Adora Belle leaned forward. A fellow Discworldian - normally, that was no cause to get excited, but this was not a normal situation. The horizon was curved, for gods' sake. She felt sick looking at the sky a lot of the time, so she tried not to.

"You're not from Klatch, are you?" She didn't have the accent. Or the towel wrapped around her head.