Any bar, any drink (Liv)

[Anonymous]

Kav couldn’t help it – as soon as Liv proved that he really was misguided enough to go to bed with a complete stranger (Kav was under the impression that if someone had little enough sense to trust someone they didn’t even know, then they deserved everything they got – and if they were foolish enough to trust him of all people, a man who was obviously out for everything he could get, then they really didn’t get any sympathy from him), he was instantly relegated in Kav’s brain to the ‘mark’ category. The moment Liv got up and started to lead him to a room, Kav gave up and accepted that he was going to get some good sex out of this, but that he was definitely going to skim away all the money he could.

So it was that a part of him had already switched off by the time they got to the room – the part of him which had been appreciating Liv on a more mental level had gone silent, and Kav felt as detached as he did when he was about to get into bed with nay other client. He would be able to enjoy things on a physical level, but he was no longer as engaged by Liv has he had been just a few minutes ago. One of Kav’s friends had once described him as being cold inside, with a centre it would be impossible to melt – and maybe he was. He was rueful as he realised that he would be insincere for the rest of the night, but he didn’t really mind.

As Liv pulled him into the room Kav gave a smirk, watching with interest as the other man tilted his head back so that they could look at each other. The order (it was more of an order than a question) made Kav raise a wry eyebrow as the door closed behind him, and he looked Liv up and down very deliberately. Liv certainly was very alluring when he was like this, and Kav slid his hands down the Candidate’s back to pull him close. The benefit of Liv not being a real client was that Kav wasn’t afraid to be a little rough with him – it also seemed to unnerve the other man just a little, and that was always worth it. “I can think of better things to do than just look,” he murmured, and pulled Liv in for a hard kiss.

-    -   -

Damn. If there was one thing Kav hated, it was if he got marked in some way – and as he twisted to look at his back, he could see that Liv had left some pretty interesting scratches in his skin. It looked like he would have to leave off whoring for a while until they healed, and that was irritating – it was the most reliable way of getting money, after all. With conning, there was always the possibility that the mark wouldn’t fall for it, but with whoring the outcome was always guaranteed. Stifling a sigh, Kav glanced at Liv for a moment before reaching for his shirt.

Liv was asleep. He’d dropped off as soon as he had ‘finished’, and appeared to Kav to be dead to the world. It didn’t surprise Kav – the sheets had started smoking after they had been at it for a little while, and Kav figured that if he could do something like create fire, it would take it out of him a little. Which was lucky for him – as soon as he was clean and dressed, Kav was able to pull out his scanner (a tiny object the size of a matchstick), and hold it to the microchip implanted in Liv’s wrist. He knew, deep down, that it probably wasn’t very wise for him to be lifting credits from someone who could turn him in…but he needed the cash, and in the end it always came down to that. Past experience had taught him that money was everything.

As soon as he had skimmed off a fair amount (100 credits, say), Kav checked that he had everything and got the hell out of the room.

[Anonymous]

*******THE NEXT DAY*******

"I thought you were smart, Sulo."  Alesku's hand came down on Liv's desk, and Liv twitched.  Sound and vibration hurt.  "A hundred credits stolen and another fifty in damages to a rental room--fire damages, Sulo--is not acceptable behavior from a Stage Five Candidate and particularly not one of your longstanding tenure."  Was that sarcasm layered into Macky's usually deadpan voice?  "I'd have you TRIMMed if it weren't my head on the chopping block too, and you richly deserve it.  As it is I'm barring you from Haviah for two weeks, and you're lucky it's not two months."

Liv sat in his desk chair, knees up grasshopper-style and fingers twined together, and concentrated on self-control.  This really wasn't the moment to take a dig at ol' Macky, however ridiculous he looked with one vein throbbing and his face red over the whole business.  Not that he wouldn't like to get his hands on Kav motherfucking Carras himself.  He wouldn't tell, though, Livvikins was no tattletale, good boy.

"Instead of whoring, use the time to train.  Your control is inadequate and you must stop running unfinished sims."

What the hell, it was always time to take a dig at Skumac.

"Oh, c'mon, Mackaly."  Liv slid his chair forward until he was quite close to his mentor, and looked up at him, rather childishly flirtatious.  Throw in a batting of the lashes, why not?  "A guy gets lonely.  We don't all have love affairs with our dragons to keep us busy."  

"Don't push me, Sulo, do not push me."  

"Like to pull you a b--"

Alesku's hand went up, as if ready to hit Liv--a move Liv knew for a fact he only used on the gracies and the twosies--then dropped.  He stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest, his face set along its usual impassive lines.

"If I thought for a moment you were serious I would be less upset with you than I am.  Sulo, one more offense and I'm washing my hands of you.  Intransigence I can manage, but irresponsibility and the refusal to face the consequences of what you've done--"

"Consequences, consequences, they're such a bore.  I thought good soldiers didn't think too far ahead?"  He glanced up and read disapproval with widely faux-naif eyes.  "Oh, right, just far enough.  Fair enough.  Listen, Lesky, I'd love to chat, but you're cutting into my hangover time, and Pilot Plucky McPluck has set me to work on his scheduling, so if you don't mind--"

"Meet me in twenty minutes in Eyrie 3-14.  Calliope and I need some target practice."  Alesku strode away, but not before efficiently zapping Liv's terminal off.  Guess that was a no to finishing Plimpy's schedule anytime soon.  Macky was really in such a bad mood today, you'd think it'd be Liv who had something to complain about, but no, it was all about him.  Ha.

Two weeks.  He could use the time to get some of that objective distance everyone was always talking about.  Personally, he'd never seen the point to it.  Besides; he'd have much more fun beating the shit out of Carras than he'd had fucking him (come to think of it).  And it had been good sex, what he remembered of it; not that that was a whole lot.  Happy days, forgetfulness and bluebirds and sex.  He hoped it'd hurt.  

Liv got up and started pulling on his boots.  Macky would be so fucking sad if he were late.

******TWO WEEKS LATER*******

It'd taken a good deal of wandering and a great many queries, graphic descriptions, and a few commiserations--but he'd finally found him. Or one possible place he might be.  If Liv had been a stronger telepath he could have scanned the neighborhood for the guy, but that wasn't remotely possible.  

Instead he headed for the corner of Bridge and 38th, chin tucked into his collar, one hand on the handle of his blaster.  It was set to 'paralyze'.  Handy.  When he spotted what looked like a likely profile, he flattened himself to a nearby wall, ducking into shadow.  When he turned the corner--though he hadn't expected it and the profile was someone else's--he found Carras.

"Don't move."  Damn, he had always wanted to say that!  Sexy.  "I mean it, Carras."

[Anonymous]

Shit. Shit.

Kav had been waiting for something just like this to happen ever since he had taken Liv’s credits and run off like that – he had known it was a stupid move, even at the time part of him had known, but it had just been so irresistible. Maybe he had a problem. Was there some kind of addiction to doing stupid things like robbing a potential Pilot? If there was, Kav knew that he had it, and had it in a big way. He’d been keeping an eye out for the past two weeks in case Liv showed up, had been keeping one ear pressed to the ground, as it were, to see if he could hear the other man coming.

A friend had warned him that a redhead was looking for him, and ever since then Kav had been alert. He’d noticed Liv’s presence (or, rather, lack of presence) about an hour ago, and had been trying in that time to move away from him as stealthily as he could, trying to make sure that a healthy distance was always kept in between him and a man he didn’t doubt would want to do him a lot of harm. These were streets he had known for all of his life, and he had been successful in staying away from the other man until he had come to a dead end – road-works which he hadn’t known about. In the time it took him to re-trace his steps, Liv had, it seemed, caught up with him.

He could feel Liv behind him, that strange emptiness where normally he would feel a consciousness – it had been that which had warned him that the other man was near. To do a sweep of your position and meet only shields was as noticeable as it was to find a mind you could actually get into. Kav swallowed hard and review his options. He could run, or he could stay here and face the other man. If he took the first option, Kav knew that, fit as he was, he could never outrun someone with Liv’s training. Combine that with the other man’s gift for fire, and he had a big negative on option one.

So option two: it was the only one he had. Kav had frozen completely at Liv’s voice and the touch of his mind, and now he turned around very, very slowly, arms akimbo and hands spread so that the other man could see he wasn’t going to try anything. He surveyed the other man for a moment, his heart sinking when he saw Liv’s hand on a weapon – there was no way he was going to get out of this one without some kind of heavy injuries. You’ve had worse. Shut up, he told himself, and met Liv’s eyes. There was a lot of emotion in his gaze – defiance, interest, amusement (it took a hell of a lot of willpower to dredge up that last one), but no apology. Kav made a resolution to be as honest as he could be to Liv from now on. “We all need to make money, Livos,”[/b] he told the other man, deliberately using his mental voice in an attempt to throw Liv off. “That just happens to be my way. You going to beat me up for it, now?”[/b]

[Anonymous]

Liv stared him down, refusing to speak mentally.  He was too angry to keep a handle on the form, anyway, too angry and too purposeful.  He liked being angry, he didn't get to let it out often, or had to bury it, or--anyway, it was hardly the point, playing Casey's game.  

"All need money, do we?"  He laughed, jerkily.  "Shouldn't think you'd have trouble with getting it the semi-demi-honest way, Kavvie, shouldn't think so, do you know I got about six names when I asked for you?--'course you do, you just like living that way, on the edge, isn't it exciting pretending you're free as can be."  Ha, ha.  "I just want my money back, Casey, and I'm not buying your anarchic bullshit, can't even buy my own anymore, you fucking bastard."  His voice wavered through geniality and into strident jest.  That was what he did at his absolute extreme of rage, when he no longer wanted to waste time on the self-control he usually employed with such, such, such panache.  

"So how self-destructive are you, or are you just stupid enough to think it's a good to fuck over anyone nice enough to protect you?  Don't say anything.  I don't want to hear it."

He drew his blaster and motioned with it for Kav to step forward, away from the wall.  "And hands up, m'lad.  Don't think of running.  My aim is very good.  You're just lucky I'm cracked as I am, know that, chum?"  He feinted upward with the blaster, then relaxed.  

He really hoped the man tried to run for it.  He hadn't gotten to feel bone on bone on flesh in far too long, at least not the right way 'round.  Liv took no care to guard this imagination from Kav's mental probing.  Let him see it.  

"You want me to beat you up, you sick fuck?  Gods, Kavvet, you're almost as bad as I am."  His grin was vulpine, feral and toothy.  

"Before you say anything, tell me, 'cause I just gotta know.  Was I stupid to trust you or were you stupid to trust me?"

[Anonymous]

Kav’s heart was beating much faster than usual – he could feel the spike of adrenaline kick into his stomach, and knew that in spite of himself, he was afraid. Not enough that it was going to overcome his rationality, but just enough that his breathing was shallow and his mind was racing to think of any means of escape possible. He was listening to Liv’s babble in an absent-minded way, hardly concentrating on the words – on one level he knew that there was an element of truth in what the other man said, but he also knew that Liv was venting, and that to interrupt him would only provoke the Candidate into doing something that Kav would regret.

He was more interested in the fact that Liv had stood there for this amount of time, had said all these things, had been pointing a blaster at Kav’s midriff…and hadn’t done anything. Kav didn’t know if that meant that Liv wasn’t going to do anything at all, but he did know that it was a hint that the other man wasn’t going to kill him just yet. Generally if someone didn’t immediately lunge at you, it meant that they were at least a little bit reluctant to do something bad there and then. Maybe they could even be talked out of it…although the look in Liv’s eyes didn’t make Kav think that this situation would be anything like that simple.

On the other man’s orders, Kav took a slow, careful step forward, raising his hands to shoulder level. He’d decided to keep things slow and careful – although he did flinch ever so slightly when Liv made a motion with the blaster, and immediately hated himself for it. The Candidate was trying to make him nervous, and Kav was just playing into his hands. For a moment Kav wondered if he should act more scared than he was to appease Liv, but then he figured that it would only give the other man a power trip that he didn’t need to be on – it might even encourage him to do something stupid.

Kav saw what Liv was thinking about, and raised an eyebrow. Well. The last person who had thought like that had been of Kav’s acquaintance twelve years ago. He gave a slight smirk when Liv asked if he wanted to get beaten up – an expression which changed to one of incredulity at the other man’s last question. He was very tempted to point out to Liv that he had never trusted him for a moment, had fully expected to be turned in…and that he was very surprised that Liv hadn’t done so at the first opportunity. And that was in interesting thought – if Liv was this mad, why hadn’t he done anything like that?

“Did I ever give you the impression you could trust me, Livos?” Kav asked honestly. He didn’t recall having told Liv anything of the sort – he had assumed it was a given that he was untrustworthy. “And if you want your money back, then fine.” He had learned a long time ago that the person holding the weapon was in charge. “But tell me, Livos – if you’re this fucked off with me, why haven’t you turned me in?”

[Anonymous]

"Well, I thought you weren't stupid, Kav."  Liv's lip curled, and he took a step forward, blaster coming up as though he were doing to club the other man across the face.  It was an unconscious, or semi-conscious, reflection of Alesku's move with him.  He wanted to see Kav flinch again.  

"– if you’re this fucked off with me, why haven’t you turned me in?”'

"Because no one deserves that," he spat, face contorted for just a moment.  Then he snapped back upright and into an indolently lounging upright posture, blaster held loosely between thumb and forefinger, not that he wouldn't fire immediately if Kav lunged for it.  His mouth quirked into a quicksilver smile.  "Because I like to sleep at night, and there are some things, Kavvie, some things I won't do.  If they ever do pick you up I'd be curious to see what's left after they've had a go."  

Now he was smirking.  It was a joke, an experiment, an incidental amusement.  He surprised himself.  Liv had been angry, quite angry, but then, the thing about anger, hey, was it was masochistic, most fun of all when impotent.  Like fire for the sake of fire.  Pleasant to watch, but only up to a point.  

"Come on.  Come on."  He gestured lazily with the blaster, then stepped forward and tucked one arm around Kav's shoulders.  "We're gonna go to a credit station and transfer what you took right back to me.  Friendly stroll.  Lovely night for it, isn't it?"  He squeezed Kav around the shoulders pleasantly.  "No need to make this painful."

[Anonymous]

Liv’s apparent mood-swing was startling for a moment, and Kav realised just how much he was thrown off by not being able to use his seventh sense. It was thrown into relief by this in particular – Liv could really have cooled off a little, or he could just be very good at hiding it. He’d looked perversely pleased when Kav had flinched away from him as he had raised the blaster, and Kav figured that this was more a power trip than anything else. Liv was having fun making Kav squirm, since it allowed him to take some kind of revenge and get his money back. People like Liv always felt the need to do something spiteful as well as just take what was owed to them.

Kav just hoped that the other man wouldn’t do anything too lasting to him. He seemed to be claiming that he wouldn’t turn him in, but Kav felt he was justified in thinking that the Candidate wouldn’t be at all afraid of hurting him a great deal. It wasn’t pain that Kav was afraid of, since he’d experienced enough in his life to know that it stopped hurting soon enough – it was the idea of being permanently scarred in an obvious place. After all, such a thing would not only harm his business, it would make him much easier to track down: if you were looking for a good-looking guy with dark hair, well, they were ten-a-penny – but if you were looking for a guy with a scar on his face, he would be easier to ask after.

Walking to the credit transfer point with Liv’s arm around his shoulders, Kav tried his best to make it look as if there was nothing amiss between them at all. He wasn’t stupid enough to even think about trying to run away – it was as if he had stolen Liv’s money in a moment of madness, and had now returned to sanity. He knew that if he made any move, he would be either shot or – if he managed to get the other man’s weapon away from him – he would be turned in. Kav doubted that his new acquaintance would be full of such scruples if Kav ran away from him.

There was a convenient machine set into a wall a couple of streets away, and Kav gave an inward sigh as he contemplated the lack of money in his account. It was lucky that he had robbed someone the other night and now had approximately 107 credits in all the world. At least with 7 I can buy some kind of food… he thought wryly, his agile mind already running through places where he could go to get money tonight. Reaching up to the machine, he scanned in his credit chip and brought up his balance for Liv to see. It was better than he had thought: 108 credits.

He hit ‘Make A Transfer’, and waited for Liv to scan in his chip so that the machine knew who to transfer to. “A hundred, wasn’t it?”