→ Application - betenoire-rp
1. Player Information
Name (or internet handle): Maggie
Current characters in Bete Noire: Beka Valentine (slipstreaming)
2. Character Information
Name: Taliam West
Livejournal Username: darkcrafting
Fandom: Original
Image: here
3. Character Information II
Age/Appearance: 23 years old. Taliam's not entirely sure where her heritage lies, but it's left her with tanned skin, thick dark hair and brown eyes. She's average weight, perhaps slightly heavier if only because while she may be a little short, she's very curvaceous. She's pretty, but constantly scowling, so her beauty has more of an intense, "don't fuck with me" edge than is typically found to be attractive.
History:
Personality: Taliam has so many sides to her personality that most days, she doesn't even know how to describe herself. It doesn't help that she went from damaged child to cold-blooded killer in nearly an instant, and while it was a good thing that she fell in with people who eventually came to care for her, it just added another layer of protectiveness that, in all honesty, makes her even more violent under certain conditions. She never had love, care and protection as a child, so she never learned to deal with a proper balance between showing mutual care and making sure she doesn't damage someone in the process. She's like the schoolyard bully with a posse - you pick on someone in her posse, she will find you and end you. She is very capable of making friends on her own, she just never sees the need to and therefore waits until others reach out to her instead.
Her social skills set only involves 1) dealing with crazy/annoying people, 2) not taking crap from anyone, 3) keeping quiet unless asked for her opinion, and 4) when asked for her opinion, using the least amount of tact necessary. This very firmly puts her in the "bitch" category according to most people's standards. She'd rather talk with her fists, or with a scowl, or maybe even an "are you retarded?" look. Mostly, it means that people will leave her alone, and she's perfectly fine with that.
On the job, she's just as mean, but she's far more focused about it. Her hatred for her own kind is enough of a driving force to make her do what she does, but the rush of the hunt and the feeling that she's making a difference makes her do her job well. She wouldn't call herself goal-oriented, since the end result is the same no matter what: the witch dies. She does, however, get extremely antsy if a wrench gets thrown into whatever plan she's concocted for the job. Her anger at being "played," "dodged" or "deceived" (even if that's not the case, she often feels like it is) can blind her and cause her to rush in for a sloppier finish than she'd like. It usually takes someone else's presence to make her calm down and think things through.
If it's clear she's won, often she likes to gloat about it. She's been known to taunt her targets before killing them off. Rumor has it she's molested a few. She hasn't, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been tempted by it either. She holds herself to a standard about it, and refuses to let herself touch. (Though she can look all she wants, and there's something sexy about a pretty little witch begging for her life sometimes...) She just doesn't care to quell that rumor, either. In general, she thinks that people will believe whatever they want to believe, no matter what you have to say. It's another reason she doesn't speak out.
Sexual Preferences/Orientation: Taliam treats sex quite liberally. She would classify herself as bisexual with a female preference, but that doesn't stop her from being with people of all types. Sex and love, in her eyes, are two very different things, especially seeing as she has no need for love but very much enjoys sex.
She is not above using sex appeal (or sex at all, really) to get what she wants if that's what it boils down to, but she will make sure she's tried everything else first. She even gets a kick out of it for her own sake, in a way. It amuses her that people can give into wants like that, and that includes being amused at herself when she falls for it, too.
Powers: Taliam has what's known in her world as darkcraft, which means she has the ability to use others' powers against them. For instance, if someone were able to create fireballs and throw them at her, she would be hit with the first fireball, but she could redirect any following fireballs back at the caster. If someone reads her mind, she'll be able to read theirs in return.
And, because she's a witch, Taliam is also capable of witchcraft. But, because she doesn't have much magic to her own name (she uses other people's -- see above), she's not capable of very strong witchcraft, just a spell here or there. She also has to have the full incantation, meaning it will probably be restricted to spells from her own world that she just happens to remember the incantations for. (Protip: that's not very many)
As far as weaponry goes, she owns a few knives, but her weapon of choice is her crossbow.
Reason for playing: I like darker characters, and Taliam is definitely dark. I would love to see her thrown into an environment where she can stop pretending she's perfectly balanced and a normal human being, which is why I am pretty excited to throw her into this game. She represents the negative spin I've tried to put on her "canon" ever since first dabbling into it, where lines between good guys and bad guys aren't very clearly drawn and there's no telling what the real truth is.
4. Original Character Supplement
World History: Taliam's world is Earth, present day, as we know and love it. The only major exception is that magic exists. There are two types of magic: self-magic, wherein whatever you do only affects yourself (say, improved healing or setting yourself on fire); and witchcraft, wherein whatever you do directly affects other people or things (setting someone ELSE on fire). Normal people don't know any of this exists. It's all kept extremely on the down-low.
Self-magic is considered okay in every way, shape or form. Hell, even some non-magically-inclined people have managed some self-magic just through experimenting around with stuff and figuring out exactly how to go about it, what to say, the timing... etc. It's rare, but it has happened. Witchcraft, however, can be tricker, especially since some people with witchcraft are driven crazy by the power and eventually turn murderous, torturous... yeah, it can get pretty nasty. There are people known as hunters who are sent to kill witches who have gone nutso, but unfortunately, some hunters believe that there is no such thing as a good witch, and that can get just as out-of-hand as bad witches themselves...
It's a convoluted mess, really, but at least these days there are fewer "shoot-first-ask-later" hunters. Unfortunately, there's been a steady rise of evil witches since the turn of the millenium, and no one's quite sure why.
Character History: Taliam was born to a family of witches, and unstable ones at that. Her mother was very psychologically disturbed, and her father was ruthlessly violent. Unfortunately, her parents took their woes and frustrations out on Taliam and her little brother.
The day Taliam discovered her own powers was the day she killed her parents. She saw her father, who could conjure fire, burn her brother until he passed out from the intense pain (he probably died right then, but Taliam doesn't know for sure). When he turned the flames on her, she used her darkcraft to turn the flames right back on him, and far more intense than what he'd done to his own son. When the mother found her husband dead, she tried to strangle Taliam in a blind rage. Taliam grabbed a knife from the kitchen and ran her through with it. She then ran away from home. She was fifteen.
Even though she knew she was a witch, she couldn't bring herself to seek out others of her kind and join forces with them due to all the hatred she harbored concerning her parents. In fact, she took the complete opposite route and became a witch hunter, actively seeking out other witches who would do harm to other people and putting an immediate end to them. She worked alone, taking jobs whenever she heard any sort of word. Eventually, she was noticed by a man named Ben, a higher-up who made it a point to find her and offer her a place in his own little... hunting company, of sorts. She was reluctant at first, but after meeting the other team members, accepted.
Taliam was eventually partnered with a girl named Melia Ryan, who at first was nothing more than an annoyance and a liability. As they grew closer to each other, and discovered both of them were trying to use the other to their own advantage, the girls came to a sort of unspoken neutrality in which they essentially just did their jobs and didn't speak otherwise. ... Eventually, somehow, they became best friends. And somehow, they still are. Even after Taliam came clean about being a witch, Melia stood by her, and so did everyone else in the group.
When Taliam was nineteen, Melia and she split from the others and formed their own little company, similar to the setup Ben had going (with Melia in Ben's position, aka the one handing out jobs instead of doing them). Life was relatively normal for a bit.
Taliam began to question the whole "killing her own kind" bit, naturally, but that came to a firm stop after a very particular mission. A witch got a hold of Melia and warped her mind until it snapped, causing her to go absolutely batshit insane (and that's putting it lightly). Taliam found the witch, killed her and brought Melia back home, even though Melia was so far gone that she was firing round after round of bullets at her. Taliam and Ben worked together to find a sort-of cure for Melia, but it was only that, sort of a cure. Melia got better, but was still sort of broken. Taliam has vowed to find a way to properly "fix" Melia, especially since they have to re-cast their semi-cure every so often when she snaps again. She will also never again question whether or not she should be killing witches despite the fact that she is one.
At some point, Taliam did fall for one of the witches she was assigned to kill. Said witch, Alyssa, turned out to be innocent after all, so Taliam ended up not having to actually kill her (hooray!). They broke up anyway (boo!).
5. Samples
First-Person: I've been driving all damn day, I feel like I'm clear across the country now. I'm getting tired of this. I guess the little bitch gets off on hopping from town to town, thinking she can really shake me off her trail. Don't care. She's mine next time I see her. Melia can tell me to wait all she wants. I'm not listening anymore.
I've parked just outside some big city I've never seen before. The sun's already setting, meaning it's going to be harder to see her, but I'll manage. But God, does this place look like a dump...
Third-Person: Taliam was up with the sun - an odd occurrence for her, but insomnia was a bitch she was tired of fighting. The day before had been long, demanding. She hated scouting. Seeing her target in their home, base, office, cave, whatever always left her with this hard-to-ignore urge to just do the job then and there. She'd been told it was a "hunter thing" - as if Hunters had some mystical attachment at all. The world as a whole may still be wondering if there was some truth to that, but Taliam was damn sure it was just rumor. Witches had their own bedtime stories to scare their kids, and they were all about her and her band of... crazies.
And speak of the devil, one was calling now.
She hit the hands-free button. "Yeah?"
"Rise and shine, Talindrome!" It was Melia. no one else could be that godawful fucking perky at goddamned six in the morning.
Taliam glowered at the phone and moved to her closet without answering. Melia would keep talking, and Taliam was tired of being naked.
"Target's a moving one now. Did someone get herself spotted?"
"No, the target's just paranoid."
"I'd run too if I knew we were coming to get me." Melia giggled. Taliam grabbed a pair of pants and contemplated getting coffee, just to find Melia and pour it over her head. "Oh, and kick your little lion out? Benny-boy misses him so."
Taliam glanced at the other body in her bed, face-down in the pillow and fast asleep. Lionel. One of Ben's underlings. Taliam's... friend with a hell of a lot of benefits. She shook her head. "Why is Ben awake? Job's ours."
"Target's got relatives, and relatives are targets too, lo and behold. And they're all scattering like scared little rabbits. Get your hunting gear, Tally mark."
"Yeah. I'll call when I'm close."
Melia hung up, and Taliam moved to stand over Lionel as she buttoned up the front of her shirt. She considered him carefully for a moment, watching him sleep, then yanked the pillow out from under his head and shook him by the shoulder. "Get up," she called, already walking to the door, "Ben's looking for you. Now."
He nearly fell off the bed. He managed to catch himself and blink sleepily in her direction. "Ben?" he asked, obviously not at all functional yet.
"Yeah." She snatched her keys from the top of the vanity. "Ben. Wants you." She was spelling it out slowly - his sleepy state was fun to screw around with most mornings, but she was antsy today. "Work. Come on."
That got his attention. He hastily pulled himself out of bed and began getting ready. "Both of us?"
"I've got a target on the run." She shrugged, trying to hide her anger (and failing miserably). "You need to call Ben and find out what you're doing. Separate cars."
He nodded. "Good hunting," he said simply. Taliam was just glad he didn't try to argue.
And with that, she was out the door.
Third-Person #2:
No one heard the blood-curdling screams coming from Taliam's living room on a particular Friday night. The gunshots, the cursing, the shattering glass and ripping of fabric all went unnoticed by the world outside the immediate floor plan of the house. Not even the neighbors raised an eyebrow, as the closest neighbor was at least a quarter of a mile away. Home-owning was awesome, Taliam was convinced.
Taliam took a good look around at what remained in the aftermath of the miniature war in her home. Two men and one woman lay on the floor in varying forms of agony and, well, dismemberment. If they were alive, they wouldn't be for long, especially the older teen with his head nearly severed and blood pouring from his eyes - it was a particularly nasty spell that Taliam had to redirect away from herself and back at him, and honestly, she was surprised the kid even knew that one. The guns they'd brought with them - simple repeaters, all three them - had mostly been emptied and tossed aside. Her couch was overturned and in need of a few stitches, and she would need to buy a new coffee table in the morning, but most of everything else was intact (except the window, but whatever, it had been jammed anyway). She hated cleaning the carpet, but really, there were some things you just couldn't avoid. That could be done tomorrow. She had one last thing to take care of tonight.
Beside the phone was a notepad and pen for taking down messages. That would do quite well for this, she decided, and she scooped both of them up. "I could be blunt and efficient, or I could be challenging," she thought aloud, clicking the pen against the wall. "What do you think, do I want more trouble?" She turned to face only other living person in the room.
The man stared at her, wide-eyed and scared like a beaten dog. It only took her glancing in his direction to make his heart begin thumping in his chest all over again - the fear of dying in the next few seconds was all too real for him now, and oh, she could tell just by the way he was trembling. What was he thinking, she wondered? Probably, "Oh God, she's fucking looking at me!" Or maybe, "Shit, she's fucking crazy! Fucking crazy bitch!" That was a favorite of hers. It was a pity he couldn't back away in fear, or just plain turn and run. No, being pinned to a wall by a crossbow bolt through your hand made that pretty difficult. She grinned at him one last time before turning to scribble a note to whoever it was that had sent the rag-tag group of would-be killers:
So sorry. Melia does not live here, and I will not give you proper directions. And don't think you can use me to get to her.
I'm the real threat.
"That'll do," she praised herself with a disgustingly semi-sweet tone that contradicted the hardened, deadly look on her face. She held one finger up, a signal for the man to wait right there (as if he could go anywhere anyway) and retrieved a heavy-duty stapler from the office. When she returned, she approached him and, with a smile, placed the note against his chest.
She unfolded the stapler and beat the top part against his chest with agonizing force, stapling the note to him.
As he screamed in shock and agony, she ripped his pinned hand off of the wall, crossbow bolt and all. She'd leave that little present through his palm, just one more sign to his superior that she was not to be messed around with. She then marched him out the front door and over to his car parked on the curb, as simply as if she were dealing with a creepy ex-boyfriend who couldn't take no for an answer. She threw him against the hood, brushed her hands off on her jeans, and gave him a glare filled with all the venom, anger and hatred she felt since his pathetic little posse and he had arrived.
"Make sure they get that," she snapped loudly at him, as he screamed and clamored and stumbled and skittered his way into the car. He didn't even shut the door completely before starting the car and driving off. Taliam laughed all the way back inside.
Name (or internet handle): Maggie
Current characters in Bete Noire: Beka Valentine (slipstreaming)
2. Character Information
Name: Taliam West
Livejournal Username: darkcrafting
Fandom: Original
Image: here
3. Character Information II
Age/Appearance: 23 years old. Taliam's not entirely sure where her heritage lies, but it's left her with tanned skin, thick dark hair and brown eyes. She's average weight, perhaps slightly heavier if only because while she may be a little short, she's very curvaceous. She's pretty, but constantly scowling, so her beauty has more of an intense, "don't fuck with me" edge than is typically found to be attractive.
History:
Personality: Taliam has so many sides to her personality that most days, she doesn't even know how to describe herself. It doesn't help that she went from damaged child to cold-blooded killer in nearly an instant, and while it was a good thing that she fell in with people who eventually came to care for her, it just added another layer of protectiveness that, in all honesty, makes her even more violent under certain conditions. She never had love, care and protection as a child, so she never learned to deal with a proper balance between showing mutual care and making sure she doesn't damage someone in the process. She's like the schoolyard bully with a posse - you pick on someone in her posse, she will find you and end you. She is very capable of making friends on her own, she just never sees the need to and therefore waits until others reach out to her instead.
Her social skills set only involves 1) dealing with crazy/annoying people, 2) not taking crap from anyone, 3) keeping quiet unless asked for her opinion, and 4) when asked for her opinion, using the least amount of tact necessary. This very firmly puts her in the "bitch" category according to most people's standards. She'd rather talk with her fists, or with a scowl, or maybe even an "are you retarded?" look. Mostly, it means that people will leave her alone, and she's perfectly fine with that.
On the job, she's just as mean, but she's far more focused about it. Her hatred for her own kind is enough of a driving force to make her do what she does, but the rush of the hunt and the feeling that she's making a difference makes her do her job well. She wouldn't call herself goal-oriented, since the end result is the same no matter what: the witch dies. She does, however, get extremely antsy if a wrench gets thrown into whatever plan she's concocted for the job. Her anger at being "played," "dodged" or "deceived" (even if that's not the case, she often feels like it is) can blind her and cause her to rush in for a sloppier finish than she'd like. It usually takes someone else's presence to make her calm down and think things through.
If it's clear she's won, often she likes to gloat about it. She's been known to taunt her targets before killing them off. Rumor has it she's molested a few. She hasn't, but that doesn't mean she hasn't been tempted by it either. She holds herself to a standard about it, and refuses to let herself touch. (Though she can look all she wants, and there's something sexy about a pretty little witch begging for her life sometimes...) She just doesn't care to quell that rumor, either. In general, she thinks that people will believe whatever they want to believe, no matter what you have to say. It's another reason she doesn't speak out.
Sexual Preferences/Orientation: Taliam treats sex quite liberally. She would classify herself as bisexual with a female preference, but that doesn't stop her from being with people of all types. Sex and love, in her eyes, are two very different things, especially seeing as she has no need for love but very much enjoys sex.
She is not above using sex appeal (or sex at all, really) to get what she wants if that's what it boils down to, but she will make sure she's tried everything else first. She even gets a kick out of it for her own sake, in a way. It amuses her that people can give into wants like that, and that includes being amused at herself when she falls for it, too.
Powers: Taliam has what's known in her world as darkcraft, which means she has the ability to use others' powers against them. For instance, if someone were able to create fireballs and throw them at her, she would be hit with the first fireball, but she could redirect any following fireballs back at the caster. If someone reads her mind, she'll be able to read theirs in return.
And, because she's a witch, Taliam is also capable of witchcraft. But, because she doesn't have much magic to her own name (she uses other people's -- see above), she's not capable of very strong witchcraft, just a spell here or there. She also has to have the full incantation, meaning it will probably be restricted to spells from her own world that she just happens to remember the incantations for. (Protip: that's not very many)
As far as weaponry goes, she owns a few knives, but her weapon of choice is her crossbow.
Reason for playing: I like darker characters, and Taliam is definitely dark. I would love to see her thrown into an environment where she can stop pretending she's perfectly balanced and a normal human being, which is why I am pretty excited to throw her into this game. She represents the negative spin I've tried to put on her "canon" ever since first dabbling into it, where lines between good guys and bad guys aren't very clearly drawn and there's no telling what the real truth is.
4. Original Character Supplement
World History: Taliam's world is Earth, present day, as we know and love it. The only major exception is that magic exists. There are two types of magic: self-magic, wherein whatever you do only affects yourself (say, improved healing or setting yourself on fire); and witchcraft, wherein whatever you do directly affects other people or things (setting someone ELSE on fire). Normal people don't know any of this exists. It's all kept extremely on the down-low.
Self-magic is considered okay in every way, shape or form. Hell, even some non-magically-inclined people have managed some self-magic just through experimenting around with stuff and figuring out exactly how to go about it, what to say, the timing... etc. It's rare, but it has happened. Witchcraft, however, can be tricker, especially since some people with witchcraft are driven crazy by the power and eventually turn murderous, torturous... yeah, it can get pretty nasty. There are people known as hunters who are sent to kill witches who have gone nutso, but unfortunately, some hunters believe that there is no such thing as a good witch, and that can get just as out-of-hand as bad witches themselves...
It's a convoluted mess, really, but at least these days there are fewer "shoot-first-ask-later" hunters. Unfortunately, there's been a steady rise of evil witches since the turn of the millenium, and no one's quite sure why.
Character History: Taliam was born to a family of witches, and unstable ones at that. Her mother was very psychologically disturbed, and her father was ruthlessly violent. Unfortunately, her parents took their woes and frustrations out on Taliam and her little brother.
The day Taliam discovered her own powers was the day she killed her parents. She saw her father, who could conjure fire, burn her brother until he passed out from the intense pain (he probably died right then, but Taliam doesn't know for sure). When he turned the flames on her, she used her darkcraft to turn the flames right back on him, and far more intense than what he'd done to his own son. When the mother found her husband dead, she tried to strangle Taliam in a blind rage. Taliam grabbed a knife from the kitchen and ran her through with it. She then ran away from home. She was fifteen.
Even though she knew she was a witch, she couldn't bring herself to seek out others of her kind and join forces with them due to all the hatred she harbored concerning her parents. In fact, she took the complete opposite route and became a witch hunter, actively seeking out other witches who would do harm to other people and putting an immediate end to them. She worked alone, taking jobs whenever she heard any sort of word. Eventually, she was noticed by a man named Ben, a higher-up who made it a point to find her and offer her a place in his own little... hunting company, of sorts. She was reluctant at first, but after meeting the other team members, accepted.
Taliam was eventually partnered with a girl named Melia Ryan, who at first was nothing more than an annoyance and a liability. As they grew closer to each other, and discovered both of them were trying to use the other to their own advantage, the girls came to a sort of unspoken neutrality in which they essentially just did their jobs and didn't speak otherwise. ... Eventually, somehow, they became best friends. And somehow, they still are. Even after Taliam came clean about being a witch, Melia stood by her, and so did everyone else in the group.
When Taliam was nineteen, Melia and she split from the others and formed their own little company, similar to the setup Ben had going (with Melia in Ben's position, aka the one handing out jobs instead of doing them). Life was relatively normal for a bit.
Taliam began to question the whole "killing her own kind" bit, naturally, but that came to a firm stop after a very particular mission. A witch got a hold of Melia and warped her mind until it snapped, causing her to go absolutely batshit insane (and that's putting it lightly). Taliam found the witch, killed her and brought Melia back home, even though Melia was so far gone that she was firing round after round of bullets at her. Taliam and Ben worked together to find a sort-of cure for Melia, but it was only that, sort of a cure. Melia got better, but was still sort of broken. Taliam has vowed to find a way to properly "fix" Melia, especially since they have to re-cast their semi-cure every so often when she snaps again. She will also never again question whether or not she should be killing witches despite the fact that she is one.
At some point, Taliam did fall for one of the witches she was assigned to kill. Said witch, Alyssa, turned out to be innocent after all, so Taliam ended up not having to actually kill her (hooray!). They broke up anyway (boo!).
5. Samples
First-Person: I've been driving all damn day, I feel like I'm clear across the country now. I'm getting tired of this. I guess the little bitch gets off on hopping from town to town, thinking she can really shake me off her trail. Don't care. She's mine next time I see her. Melia can tell me to wait all she wants. I'm not listening anymore.
I've parked just outside some big city I've never seen before. The sun's already setting, meaning it's going to be harder to see her, but I'll manage. But God, does this place look like a dump...
Third-Person: Taliam was up with the sun - an odd occurrence for her, but insomnia was a bitch she was tired of fighting. The day before had been long, demanding. She hated scouting. Seeing her target in their home, base, office, cave, whatever always left her with this hard-to-ignore urge to just do the job then and there. She'd been told it was a "hunter thing" - as if Hunters had some mystical attachment at all. The world as a whole may still be wondering if there was some truth to that, but Taliam was damn sure it was just rumor. Witches had their own bedtime stories to scare their kids, and they were all about her and her band of... crazies.
And speak of the devil, one was calling now.
She hit the hands-free button. "Yeah?"
"Rise and shine, Talindrome!" It was Melia. no one else could be that godawful fucking perky at goddamned six in the morning.
Taliam glowered at the phone and moved to her closet without answering. Melia would keep talking, and Taliam was tired of being naked.
"Target's a moving one now. Did someone get herself spotted?"
"No, the target's just paranoid."
"I'd run too if I knew we were coming to get me." Melia giggled. Taliam grabbed a pair of pants and contemplated getting coffee, just to find Melia and pour it over her head. "Oh, and kick your little lion out? Benny-boy misses him so."
Taliam glanced at the other body in her bed, face-down in the pillow and fast asleep. Lionel. One of Ben's underlings. Taliam's... friend with a hell of a lot of benefits. She shook her head. "Why is Ben awake? Job's ours."
"Target's got relatives, and relatives are targets too, lo and behold. And they're all scattering like scared little rabbits. Get your hunting gear, Tally mark."
"Yeah. I'll call when I'm close."
Melia hung up, and Taliam moved to stand over Lionel as she buttoned up the front of her shirt. She considered him carefully for a moment, watching him sleep, then yanked the pillow out from under his head and shook him by the shoulder. "Get up," she called, already walking to the door, "Ben's looking for you. Now."
He nearly fell off the bed. He managed to catch himself and blink sleepily in her direction. "Ben?" he asked, obviously not at all functional yet.
"Yeah." She snatched her keys from the top of the vanity. "Ben. Wants you." She was spelling it out slowly - his sleepy state was fun to screw around with most mornings, but she was antsy today. "Work. Come on."
That got his attention. He hastily pulled himself out of bed and began getting ready. "Both of us?"
"I've got a target on the run." She shrugged, trying to hide her anger (and failing miserably). "You need to call Ben and find out what you're doing. Separate cars."
He nodded. "Good hunting," he said simply. Taliam was just glad he didn't try to argue.
And with that, she was out the door.
Third-Person #2:
No one heard the blood-curdling screams coming from Taliam's living room on a particular Friday night. The gunshots, the cursing, the shattering glass and ripping of fabric all went unnoticed by the world outside the immediate floor plan of the house. Not even the neighbors raised an eyebrow, as the closest neighbor was at least a quarter of a mile away. Home-owning was awesome, Taliam was convinced.
Taliam took a good look around at what remained in the aftermath of the miniature war in her home. Two men and one woman lay on the floor in varying forms of agony and, well, dismemberment. If they were alive, they wouldn't be for long, especially the older teen with his head nearly severed and blood pouring from his eyes - it was a particularly nasty spell that Taliam had to redirect away from herself and back at him, and honestly, she was surprised the kid even knew that one. The guns they'd brought with them - simple repeaters, all three them - had mostly been emptied and tossed aside. Her couch was overturned and in need of a few stitches, and she would need to buy a new coffee table in the morning, but most of everything else was intact (except the window, but whatever, it had been jammed anyway). She hated cleaning the carpet, but really, there were some things you just couldn't avoid. That could be done tomorrow. She had one last thing to take care of tonight.
Beside the phone was a notepad and pen for taking down messages. That would do quite well for this, she decided, and she scooped both of them up. "I could be blunt and efficient, or I could be challenging," she thought aloud, clicking the pen against the wall. "What do you think, do I want more trouble?" She turned to face only other living person in the room.
The man stared at her, wide-eyed and scared like a beaten dog. It only took her glancing in his direction to make his heart begin thumping in his chest all over again - the fear of dying in the next few seconds was all too real for him now, and oh, she could tell just by the way he was trembling. What was he thinking, she wondered? Probably, "Oh God, she's fucking looking at me!" Or maybe, "Shit, she's fucking crazy! Fucking crazy bitch!" That was a favorite of hers. It was a pity he couldn't back away in fear, or just plain turn and run. No, being pinned to a wall by a crossbow bolt through your hand made that pretty difficult. She grinned at him one last time before turning to scribble a note to whoever it was that had sent the rag-tag group of would-be killers:
So sorry. Melia does not live here, and I will not give you proper directions. And don't think you can use me to get to her.
I'm the real threat.
"That'll do," she praised herself with a disgustingly semi-sweet tone that contradicted the hardened, deadly look on her face. She held one finger up, a signal for the man to wait right there (as if he could go anywhere anyway) and retrieved a heavy-duty stapler from the office. When she returned, she approached him and, with a smile, placed the note against his chest.
She unfolded the stapler and beat the top part against his chest with agonizing force, stapling the note to him.
As he screamed in shock and agony, she ripped his pinned hand off of the wall, crossbow bolt and all. She'd leave that little present through his palm, just one more sign to his superior that she was not to be messed around with. She then marched him out the front door and over to his car parked on the curb, as simply as if she were dealing with a creepy ex-boyfriend who couldn't take no for an answer. She threw him against the hood, brushed her hands off on her jeans, and gave him a glare filled with all the venom, anger and hatred she felt since his pathetic little posse and he had arrived.
"Make sure they get that," she snapped loudly at him, as he screamed and clamored and stumbled and skittered his way into the car. He didn't even shut the door completely before starting the car and driving off. Taliam laughed all the way back inside.