Out from under the rock (Marcus)

[Marcus Prasad]

"Mmmmrph!"
Marcus grunted as he felt himself being tugged from behind. A Lesser man would have toppled. Marcus quickly shifted his weight and simply took a few steps back to turn on Silk with a bemused look on his face.

"Where the hell do you think you are going?"

"I....well.....bed?"
He managed to stammer out. Pointing a feeble finger in the direction of the attic, eyes still half closed from wearyness.
Suddenly and violently he would be yanked around and pushed into a new direction. A Room that inexplicably had all of his stuff in it.

"THAT, is now a Marcus bed. THAT is where you sleep. Understood?"

"But....but....."

"I told you I was going to move your room. I did. Now get some sleep."

"Oh. Errrr....yes Ma'am."
He finaly managed to spit out before trudging towards the bed and collapsing upon it. The last thing he remembered was a soft furry thing cuddle up beside him. On instinct he pulled the little fluff ball closer to him and nuzzled it like a teddy bear before slipping into the sweet oblivion of sleep.

As Silk called out, the only thing she would hear from Marcus' new room would be a bizzare half warble, half whickering grunt from the passed out man.

[Silk Sanada]

Chapter 2: The boy and his silver haired gypsy girl

Morning came and Silk reluctantly rolled from her bed. She wandered off into her shower and quickly washed up. Another night of tossing and turning with very little sleep in between. Bandit had slept fine of course. That feline could sleep through almost anything. Silk would emerge from the shower, a towel wrapped around her torso as she dried her hair with another towel. She hummed walking out of her room and towards the kitchen. She would get some tea started before going back off into her room to change. She slipped herself into a pair of boot-cut jeans, holes in the knees. A black Corset that zipped up the front and she tied on her black combat boots. She let her hair cascade down around her shoulders and back in waves.

A soft yawn passed her lips and she walked off into the kitchen to pour herself some tea and to start work on breakfast. She wanted to go check out the other houses that Marcus had been working on while she was... away. She figured Marcus had routines he did now and so she didn't want him going hungry while he was out doing what ever it was he did. The house was soon filled with the aroma of food, which promptly brought Bandit and Aiko out of the rooms and scampering down the hallway. Silk had already set out their bowls. Her eyes were brown again today. Not like her to not put in her contacts but, Silk figured... if she was going to just work about the compound today she had no need for them. The pets began eating and Silk finished setting everything up on plates.

"MARCUS!" She shouted unsure of the boy being awake yet or not. She set the plates down at the table and sipped at her tea as she cleaned up the kitchen waiting for him. Things were going to be a bit awkward no doubt, but Silk wanted things to get back to normal as soon as possible. She didn't want to feel tension around Marcus. He was her only friend now, aside from the pets. "MARCUS GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE I MADE BREAKFAST!" She shouted again and rubbed at her throat for a moment. It was still raw from yesterday. A soft sigh passed her lips as she pushed yesterday's events from her mind.

[Marcus Prasad]

With a grunt and a growl, Marcus found himself being pulled up from the blackness of sleep. Looking around the room bleary eyed, he found himself gripped by a blind panic that always came after sleeping somewhere new for the first time. Rising from his bed like an irritated bear, Marcus crawled over to the edge and plopped onto the floor with a dull thud. After finaly succeeding in untangling himself from his blankets, he slowly got back onto his feet and shuffled his way to the bathroom to have a shower himself, hoping against hope that Silk hadn't used up all the hot water.

As the thankfully hot water began to work it's magic, the man let his thoughts drift. he grimaced as he found them floating around the events of yesterday. He never realized how much deep seated resentment he carried for Silk and it left him wondering what the root of all of it really was. He could never remember a reason to be angry with her before back when they were silly teenagers. Did time really change them both that much? Had he developed some sort of idealized version of Silk in his mind after she had first left New York City? A version that seemed to shatter in the face of the real thing. Was that why he was frustrated? Naw, that's stupid! He knew better than that!

Did he?

"MARCUS GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE I MADE BREAKFAST!"

"BE OUT IN A MINUTE WOMAN!"
Marcus would scream back as he continued to wash himself down. He was halfway done when suddenly the water inexplicably cut out. Marcus looked up in alarm, reaching out to fiddle with the nozzle and give it a firm smack, only to yield a single dropplet and nothing more.
"DAMNIT SILK! TURN THE WATER BACK ON! THAT IS A DICK MOVE WOMAN!"

[Silk Sanada]

Hearing him call out saying he would be out in a minute, Silk sighed. She didn't think much about the day before. Everyone had fights so why not them? A yawn passed her lips and she covered her mouth as she sipped her tea trying to wake up. She heard Marcus shouting about the water shutting off and blaming her. Her eye twitched before she got up and began to march off towards the bathroom. She stopped and looked at Aiko and Bandit. "Don't touch our breakfast or we will have pet stew later." She growled lowly at them and both put their ears down in fear.

They knew Silk meant business. She set off back for the bathroom and stomped down the hall. Once there she grabbed the door handle. She jiggled it a moment and then slammed her shoulder into the door forcing it open. She couldn't rightly put Marcus in his place with out yelling at him face to face. She would enter the bathroom looking as tired as she had yesterday when she had come out of her room. "The hell I turned off the water! If I wanted your naked ass out there I would come in here and get it. Stop stalling! I made breakfast."

Silk pointed out the door ignoring the fact that Marcus was naked and then she crossed her arms as if she were annoyed by his accusation. "Stupid boy... blaming me for everything that goes wrong. You are lucky I don't get Bandit in here to torture you."

[Marcus Prasad]

"Stupid boy... blaming me for everything that-"

"Oh Shut UP already! You're bitching worse than an old Crone!"
Marcus interupted, seemingly unperturbed by the fact that Silk had just barged into the bathroom. This kind of behavior just wasen't anything new to him. Still, she seemed pretty serious and if it wasen't Silk........
"Wait a minute.....OH SHIT!"

Suddenly Marcus ripped the curtain open, revealing himself in all his wet, naked splendor with a look of complete panic on his face. The man blitzed pass the little spanish woman, wrapping a towel around his waist as he barged out the door and into the backyard. Reaching the primary pipeline that fed water into the block from the pump stations in the city, Marcus checked the gauges that monitored the water pressure only to slap his hands over his eyes and let out a loud groan.

All Gauges flashed red. Something had halted the flow of water to the entire suburb. A Realization that sent Marcus into a screaming red faced fit for a good ten minutes.

[Silk Sanada]

"Oh Shut UP already! You're bitching worse than an old Crone!"
Silk's eye brows rose up as she stared at him. The look on her face wasn't so much shocked as, well you know that face you get from your mom? That 'Oh Really?!" face when you said something stupid. Yea... that was her face right then. The next thing our annoyed silver haired woman knew, was he was storming past her with a towel wrapped around his waist. She followed him but only to yell at him.

Silk wasn't one who wanted to be flashed though, so she kept her distance just in case she had to run and hide or cover her eyes. "Now you just wait a fuckin minute! Don't think you can call me an old crone and walk off." She started in on him but just as they reached the gauges outside, Marcus turned red and started to curse and shout. Silk blinked as a rather clueless look came over her face. "Did you just realize you don't have pants on?" Honest to god, she was being serious. She always saw Marcus more as someone who joked about being an exhibitionist, but never actually did it.

"Cause... seriously... with dangling bits and a cat that likes to smack dangling things... I'd be pretty mad at myself too for being that stupid." She leaned to the left a little to look around him and seeing all the gauges she blinked again. "Hey... why are those things all... flashy red like. What did you break now?" Probably the only reason she wasn't flipping a shit like Marcus was, was because she had no idea what the red on the gauges meant. If she knew, well she'd put her ass into gear but for right now, she was utterly clueless.

[Marcus Prasad]

Marcus took a deep breath, cooling down his tattered nerves.
"What it means."
He began, answering Silks query about the lights with a level tone.
"Is that I'm going to have to put on pants and deal with this. I rigged this system to tell me when someone or something starts tampering with the water line. Each light represents one of the water mains that bring in clean water and flush out the skanky crap."

Marcus turned on his heels and began to walk back towards the house. The rig system wasen't perfect by any stretch. Hell, most if not all of the renovations Marcus had made to the block were done after some painful trial and error. Silk may be a hard headed angry spanish gypsy woman, but Marcus knew from experiance that she was a SMART hard headed angry spanish gypsy woman. He knew she would pick up pretty quickly how things worked despite his eccentric designes, which only served to send a pang of guilt through his gut over the things he had said the day before.

"Now, one or two red lights normally isnt a big deal and usualy mean a leak or blockage."
Marcus continued over his shoulder. He kept one hand on the towel around his waist as he walked barefooted. Living in an area where the nearest sign of human life was another few miles out, Marcus never really cared much about walking outside with barely anything on. It didnt help that he had definatly grown bolder as he had aged. He smirked to himself after noticing how much Silk was trying not to stare at him, relishing the irony for a moment before continuing his explaination.
"Hell, I've never seen more than that lit up at any one time cause the chances are stupidly far out. All the lights red mean that ALL the pipes are damaged or blocked at the same time. Which could only mean one thing. The water Pump stations been fucked with. Either that, or someones gone out of thier way to damage each and every pipeline, and we would EASILY hear that a mile off considering the heavy digging tools or explosives needed to pull THAT off."

Not only would this give Marcus a nice project to put hismind towards, but also would give Silk a chance to stretch her legs because there was NO way he wasn't taking her with him. This would be the perfect chance to mend the tear that had formed between them.
"Alright, why don't you put on some riding clothes and pull the bikes out. You and I are gonna go on an adventure!"

[Silk Sanada]

"Oh, well... that is a good, er... I mean bad that they are like that but good that you thought of setting it up that way." Yes, yesterday's events were still in her mind and she thought perhaps giving him a LITTLE encouragement now and then wasn't... completely stupid. However, she'd never admit she was doing it because he had said it. She'd most likely fight till she was blue in the face and stick to saying that she had always done it.

"I see...." Silk said as she continued to follow Marcus back into her house. Though they were adults now, Silk never could look at any of her friends if they were naked. Hell, even when her and Leon had stripped naked to run around Dragon territory she didn't look at anything. For her it just seemed a bit impolite, though she couldn't deny she was tempted to look. "Well... shit..." Marcus made it sound bad. What could block up all the pipes like that. She was told to get dressed and get her bike ready.

"But... but... breakfast..." She pointed at the table before sighing knowing this was more important. "I'll put it in the oven to keep it warm." She said before going off to the table and putting the breakfast away in the oven to be kept warm. Then, she'd go off and get dressed. Black leather halter top, faded blue jeans with holes in the knees, and her combat boots. She would go set up her bike which she named Marcus for the specific reason of messing with Marcus. She just hadn't told him yet.

[Marcus Prasad]

"If you can eat and ride go ahe- Actually better not. Tried that once. Very VERY messy."
Marcus decided as he whirled around to face Silk.
"And by the way, Nice first attempt."
He said with a playful smile. She had praised him? Sure it was alittle clumbsy but it succeeded in getting the lights behind Marcus' eyes to flicker brighter for just a moment. Despite his mocking tone, he truely was touched and his heart began to beat alittle faster. For one second it would have been as if the old Marcus from High school had looked back at her from behind those eyes.

"Anyway, this shouldn't take us too long I don't think. More likely than not the problem's the pump station. So We'll follow the main line towards there. It really shouldn't take us too long."
Leaving Silk to pack away breakfast, he went back into his room to fish out whatever clean clothes he could still find. Well, no laundry to be done until water gets flowing back. Whipping the towel off (How the HELL did thant manage to stay on so long?!?!? Back in the old days, SOMETHING would have snatched it by now) and Slipped into a pair of Blue jeans and a black tank top, throwing his black hoodie overtop of that, not bothering trying to figure out where his Leather jacket was put. Somewhere in his new room anyway.

With a crack of his thick knuckles, Marcus would make his way outside where Silk was fussing over her Harley Davidson Crossbones custom. A Gift from Marcus to her on the day he had first entered California.
"So. What did you name her?"
He asked with a grin. Honestly, what WOULD Silk name a bike anyway?

[Silk Sanada]

Silk blinked at him when he whirled around to face her. He told her it was a nice first attempt and the blankest look Silk has ever had crossed her features. "What?" She said with a tilt to her head like she had no idea what he was talking about. Once Marcus walked off and left her to put the food away she did. Bandit and Aiko were told to guard the house before she went into the garage to tinker around with her bike. Both pets took up a rather protective posture on the couch.

Silk hummed as she cleaned the bike up a bit. She hadn't ridden it yet. She knew how, don't get her wrong. It just seemed things happened before she could enjoy her new toy. Though it had been kept covered she still saw dust on it and chose to clean it up a bit with a dry rag. When Marcus came out and asked what she had named her bike she tilted her head. "Her? I believe it's a boy. My truck is a her." Silk said matter of factly. She dusted it a bit more before deciding to answer his question. She leaned closer to her bike as if inspecting something, to hide the big smile that crossed her lips.

"Marcus." She answered him, though she half wondered if he might think she was calling him over to look at something, or if he would actually know that is what she intended to call her bike.

[Marcus Prasad]

"Yeah?"
Marcus responded, thinking that Silk had called his name out. It wasen't after a moment of awkward silence as he watched her clean her bike up that he realized she had just answered him. He must have looked completely taken aback, not able to decide if this was a great honor or the punchline to Silks latest joke.
"You......named it after me."
He stated flatly. Eyes narrowing with suspision.
"Why?"

No surprise her truck was a girl though. It matched Silks personality almost perfectly. Tempermental, aggressive, deceptively powerful.
Loud.
Only difference was that at least Silk had a soft side. Case in point, how she took care of him after he passed out up on the guard tower. He had to admit, it was sweet of her to fuss over him like she did. In all his life he had never seen her do that for anyone else. Funny how after all these years, he had all but forgotten about that. Again he felt another pang of guilt over the night before. Silk was nothing but a true friend and......
'Ach! I said I was sorry already! Enough with the navel gazing, Jesus christ!'