Natasha Peirce's Story

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“UGH!” The red punching bag came flying back at her, and once again Natasha threw her weight at the dangling workout equipment. With a growl, she jammed an upper-cut, then a crossover, a left, a right, a left-- she stepped back and kicked her leg up over her head to the top of the bag. A sickening -thunk- rang out as her shin connected with the bag. With a step back, she prepared herself for her next assault. Her pony tail whipped around and slapped her check as she did a round-off kick into the punching bag. Gasping for air after she landed, Natasha took a few steps back and put her hands onto her small waist line. Looking up to the ceiling, she took in some deep breaths to try and calm herself. The whispers had slowly drained away, replaced now by the soft hum of her heartbeat in her ears.

Grabbing her water bottle and taking a long draft, she made her way up the stairs and to her room. She smelled like sweat. Gross. She peeled her clothes off and tossed the sweaty garments into her hamper. The shower was warm, and soothing. Steam rolled up the glass shower door, fogging her view out of the glass. Taking in deep breaths of the mist, Naty closed her eyes and let her mind wander. They'd be going to a retirement party tonight. Old men, with weathered bodies, deep pockets, and crowded closets. The thought brought a smile to her lips. Old men tipped really well.

Natasha reluctantly peeled herself from her shower and dried herself off. She went light on the makeup, and chose to curl her hair into long beautiful ringlets. She strolled into her bedroom naked as a jaybird, seemingly unbothered by this. She chose a black lace corset that contrasted beautifully with her skin, and a matching black thong. Her dress for the evening, as she pulled it from her closet, was a skimpy red dress with black heels.

Once her outfit was finished she slowly walked over to her bedside table. Slowly she pulled the drawer out, and looked down at the half empty vodka bottle. I wonder if I can make it through tonight with you, old friend... Remembering that the Madam was coming with them, she gently pushed the drawer shut. She didn't really want to lose her job tonight. Nibbling on her lower lip she strolled across the room back to her door, glancing to her left into the bathroom on her way out; just out of habit. Her mother lay on the floor in a pool of blood. Natasha screamed and stumbled backwards, knocking over her coat rack by the door. The thin wooden pole hit the floor with Natasha. Scrambling backwards frantically from both the bathroom and the pole, Natasha sat against the side of her bed breathing heavily.

"Ivory, are you okay?" There was a pounding on her door, it was one of her 'Sisters'. She had come back to her old room in The Madam's to get dressed and prepare for the evening. She hadn't been able to take her punching bag with her to her new apartment, given that the ceiling wouldn't have held it up. "I'm fine," she finally manages to call back as she takes a steady breath and pulls herself to her feet. Collecting herself, Naty walks over to the door and opens it- all smiles. " I'm fine. You look fantastic. I just got finished getting dressed, are we ready to go? Awesome. Let's get to it then. Don't want to keep the gentlemen waiting!"

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After she got home she spent the better half of four to six am drinking. At some point she managed to write a text to Max to let him know she had made it back from her call safely.

To: Max <3
Message: Hey doll. I'm home. Come drink with me! Window's open xxx

Problem is, she was too drunk to remember to actually press 'send'. It was just as the other tenants were starting to wake up that Naty had finally crashed into her bed. She took one final look at her phone, hit the send button on a message she has typed earlier and was too intoxicated to read now, and took another swig from the bottle. The vodka was just slipping from the tips of her fingers as sound of people going up and down the stairwell echoed into her room. The walls were so papery that she could hear her neighbor Willow having quite the morning with her boyfriend (at least, who Natasha assumes to be her boyfriend). The rhythmic thump against the far wall of her bedroom helped lull her to sleep, and within minutes Ms. Peirce was dreaming. She was not a morning person, and so the events of the day would be lost to her- as she would sleep in for the majority of the day and not wake up until around five in the afternoon.

Lee was pretty sure that if the world he lived in didn't kill him, Max Parks would. The kid was a certain dash of annoying that made him check for gray hairs after every conversation they ever had. But he was nice enough. Didn't cause any trouble at least.

The man leaned back, flicking his dark hair out of his eyes before picking up the bills Max had dropped in front of him and smoothing them out. He was a little over his due rent, but then again he almost always was. Exact change was hard to come by with them.

Lee saw Max's excited wave before he noticed Vel, who was already up and on her way off to work, which probably meant the rest of the building would be milling around soon. Usually they weren't a morning bunch for one reason or another, but some of them had normal jobs. And some of them, like Max, would just be getting in.

As if proving his point, the sound of boots brought both of their attention to the steps where Celina was coming down stairs. He simply nodded at her in hello, bu Max – so much more social – grinned before pulling his lolipop out of his mouth just long enough to say, “Hey, Cel. You look nice. Love those boots.”

Before he could say anything else though, a new voice joined the group, and Max's attention was suddenly on the adorable little blonde bundle making her way into the boys arms. Lee shot Max a sharp look at the question that came out of Sam's mouth, but Max (surprisingly) managed to cover himself. “My gum, Sammy, can you imagine that?” he asked, swinging the girl around before cuddling her close. “You know, my mother once told me that if you swallowed gum, it would come out your belly button.” His eyes went wide in obvious fake fear.

Lee shook his head at Olivia, resisting the urge to roll his eyes and grumble something about the boy being a bad influence on her little girl. For one, it wasn't really his place and...he'd said it about a hundred times before since Olivia and Sam had called Lakeside home. His opinion on the subject wasn't doing much good. We were just heading to the cafe, if either of you would like to join!

“I'll go,” Lee offered, but Max was so wrapped up in the little girl that he didn't even seem to notice that Olivia spoke. Which wasn't surprising, really. He didn't notice Gim or Hei's arrival either. Lee just greeted both with a nod as he pulled his wallet out of his back pocket, putting away the money he had made for the day.

At least the next couple to arrive provided amusement. Martin and Jude, always a duo, came with a certain kind of package humor one couldn't quite find anywhere else. Both men looked somewhat tired, though Martin much more than Jude. Which wasn't unusual. Martin practically seemed to live in a state of tired.

"Ah, good morning- Max, fix your pants. It's too early for this.”

Jude snorted and Lee chuckled, while Max just looked up with wide eyes. Popping his lolipop back in his mouth, the boy moved Sam onto his back with practiced ease before buttoning his pants, all the while smiling sheepishly around his chosen treat.

Lee let the others talk around him as he focused on crossing out the tenets names who had already paid a months rent before leaving for breakfast. Even Max, usually so social, became distracted by his phone. He smiled at whatever text was there, but didn't reply or leave, so Lee knew it had probably been from Natasha.

Finally, the last person possible joined them all where they were gathered: Elias. Looking every bit like someone who belonged in New York or Paris than in the East Side slums. But Lee never said anything, at least nothing more than the judgmental eyebrow raise and the shake of his head. Elias paid his rent through, caused even less trouble than the rest of them, so he really couldn't complain that much.

What he could complain about was Max, who couldn't keep it in his pants on the job or off, and who found it way too easy to flirt with anything that walked in his path. Even if he did have a four year old on his back. The 'tsk, tsk' sound made Lee roll his eyes, knowing exactly what was coming, but it only brought Max's attention up onto the only male blonder than him. "I'd ask what you were doing, Maxxy, but I'm afraid I might have guessed it already."

Max smirked around his lolipop before pulling it out of his mouth with a definite [I]'pop'[/i'] and sent a wink Elias' way. “If you have the time, baby, I could show you...?”