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[virtual_ram]

After finishing the dishes and watching Java depart to her room, Ram decided to follow suit and go back to his room. No doubt Java would want sometime to unpack and rest. It had been quite a day for them both

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[_java_]

As Java snuck into Ram's room, she couldn't hide a small smile. Ram looked strangely innocent as he slept, his body slightly wrapped around a pillow and his face devoid of the concerns it wore during his waking hours, and Java felt a slight surge of affection for him as she slipped silently over to his desk. He had been a fool to pursue her worthless little sister, and an even bigger fool to push Java herself away, but she had made her own mistakes, and could forgive him. It's still your fault, Line's voice reminded her, as she sank, carefully, into the computer chair, her gaze still riveted on her sleeping husband. But I'll fix it, she shot back, a slightly sinister gleam coloring her eyes as she turned them to the laptop screen. And then you and I are going to have a -really- nice time together.Java's eyes quickly scanned the screen, her smile fading to a slight frown as she examined the code Ram had been working on. She had gained a fair bit of techinical ability in her years as his wife, but it was nowhere near enough to

[virtual_ram]

Ram stirred slightly in his sleep at the sound of the key clicking. He woke up slowly, bringing his up his arm to rub the sleep out of his eyes. "Javie.." He yawned, sitting up, "What are you doing?"

Surely Java knew better than to invade his privacy by checking files on his computers, yet he didn't really expect any better. It rubbed him the wrong way, though. Mostly because he wasn't quite finished with his nap and this is what woke him up.

He took a closer look at the screen through his sleep-blurred eyes. The email program was open. How could Java possibly be emailing? He racked his brain and couldn't think of anyone. As far as he knew, she and Siva weren't on the best of terms, despite Siva's concern for her sister. Ebony was out of the question, and so was Ved. None of them got along. There was Jay. Java had a thing for him, which of obvious to anyone with eyes, before the Techno downfall

[_java_]

In her peripheral vision, Java watched a small dialogue box pop up on screen, announcing that her e-mail had been successfully sent. Her fingers moved automatically to press the Apple key and "Q," quitting the mail program in one smooth move as Ram peered at the screen. He'd already seen it, she knew, but so long as he wasn't given a chance to investigate things further, everything should be all right. Putting on her sweetest smile, Java rose from the chair, crossing the distance to the bed as she spoke. "I was just e-mailing little Siva, my love," she purred, sinking down beside him. "I figured she deserved to be thanked for being so willing to help find me," and the smile fell into the perfect impression of regret, "especially since I haven't been as sweet to her as I should have been..." Java looked up at Ram's grumpy frown with well-meaning, loving eyes, one brow arching very slightly as she allowed the surface layer of her sincere pain at Siva's loss to add believability to her expression. "I hope you don't mind my using

[virtual_ram]

Ram stretched his arms. "I understand." He said groaning. He was glad Java had finally come around. She had finally seen Siva's concern and realized that she had been too harsh before.

Java's expression seemed genuine and remorseful. "Perhaps someday you should go visit her. I'm sure she misses you." he suggested absently.
He flipped his legs off the side of the bed. "As for your laptop, I'll see about getting you a new one. I possibly have the parts to make one laying around here somewhere."

Ram stood up, getting dangerously close to Java, he reached around her and shut off his laptop. "I'd appreciate next time if you would ask first, though, Javie." he whispered

[_java_]

Java felt her stomach twist slightly as Ram loomed over her, his whispered words sounding more like a warning than a request. He knew she was lying, she realized suddenly, her throat going dry, and he was not pleased... I'm sure she misses you... But Ram couldn't know the specifics of the lie, Java reassured herself, and there was no way for him to prove anything, to himself or otherwise. "I'm sorry," she murmured, actively pushing aside the painful thoughts of Siva that threatened to reemerge, and focusing instead on getting herself out of hot water. Siva was gone, Java reminded herself, and she couldn't let Ram use the loss against her. "I didn't want to wake you

[virtual_ram]

Ram gently placed his hand on top of her's. Java seemed so uncomfortable around him. It was evident in her eyes, but nowhere else. She was exceptionally good at masking her emotions, something he had never picked up because, as a leader, he didn't feel it was necessary.

Maybe she was emailing Jay. He thought. Maybe things between them have changed. Maybe that's where she was when she came up missing...
The thought made Ram sick to his stomach. Not only was Java, his Javie; his wife, lying to him and setting up a facade to trick him into playing happy families, she was seeing Jay; Jay the Merciful and virt-lover; in addition to it.

"Perhaps you're right, Javie." Ram said, still immersed in his thought. "Maybe I do need to sleep and bit more." He sat back down on his bed.

Maybe I don't deserve better than this. Maybe I'm just supposed to have people, especially the females, lie to me. Maybe I'm that bad of a person. This was the first true thought he had had about karma since the virus. He had been a terrible person during the

[_java_]

Java's smile broadened slightly as Ram sat down. He seemed more familiar and far less intimidating when he was seated, and if her husband was still willing to lie down with her, well, it had to be a good sign. There was a hint of distraction in Ram's voice, she noticed, as there always was when he seemed to catch her in a lie, but he was also only recently awakened; it was possible that the tone of voice was just a result of his exhaustion. Her smile broadening slightly, Java turned towards the man beside her, just in time to see him lie down with his back to her

[virtual_ram]

He turned on his back, arms crossed across his chest, and looked up at her. She was still smiling, kind of. Was that fake, too? The pleasantness.

"I don't want a massage." Ram mumbled, looking at the shoes he had forgotten to pull off his feet before getting in bed. He didn't want to be touched, especially if she had been with Jay. Jay, in his mind, was still dirty. He still had germs.

She owes you an explanation. She should be confronted. A voice told him. It wasn't the normal voice that he had taken on since living in the Paradise Mega had given him: Reality, it was the harsh one he often had heard during his reign. It was right, it always had been. Except he didn't want to hear an explanation. He didn't want to hear Java tell him that she had been with Jay and that she loved him.
You shouldn't let her walk all over you. You're better than that. You need to lay ground rules. The voice continued to speak verities. Ram mentally agreed. Only, he wished to handle this a more quiet way, not the way the voice would have which would

[_java_]

Java's hand twitched, very slightly, beneath Ram's. "I would never lie to you, my love," she purred, though her voice felt choked. Her control over the situation was slipping away as her emotions threatened to resurface, Java realized; she wanted to tell him the truth, and he deserved to hear it... There was just something about the look on Ram's face that insisted on honesty, and she hated to see him drawing away from her-- not that the truth would help with that. Why was she having so much trouble lying to him now, she wondered, now when it was so incredibly vital that she do so? Java had lied to her husband a thousand times in the past, about things both important and otherwise, but it had been so easy to lie to a man who seemed to hate her... Perhaps Line had done more to her mind than she realized, but the truth was that the Ram that Java had seen since her return seemed a very different man than the one who had thrown her out of his apartment a week ago. This was a man that she could have had a real future with, and it was

[virtual_ram]

Ram sighed. Going about it in a general matter was getting him nowhere, as usual. If she wanted to continue to pretend, then fine. He was through with it. Ram could pretend just as well as she could and he had the advantage: he already knew how to push her buttons, as where she had a whole new person to figure out.
"Of course you wouldn't, Javie. You're not like your sisters, especially Ebony, are you?" He ended with faux-thoughtfulness and assurance while he patted her hand. The mention of her younger sister was sure to peeve her.

Ram sat up and pulled off his clean black and white shoes. He tied the laces and set them neatly on the floor, almost under his bed.

"You're welcome to stay and use the laptop if want to, my sweet Javie." He still remained sitting up. He didn't really feel like sleeping anymore. Instead, he grabbed a book from the book shelf beside his desk, Metamorphoses by Kafka, and began leafing through it until he had found a page he wasn't familiar with.

[_java_]

[OOC: Continued here.]