Strange Psyche [closed for LassardLost]

[slut_in_white]

The morning was bright, sunny and crisply cold. Normally, Nasia would still have been on holidays - she took the last two weeks of February to go for a vacation somewhere hot and balmy every year, to get away from the dreary grey and snow of the height of winter in Chicago. But she'd come back a few days early this year because there was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that she simply couldn't pass up.

Nasia was the head of a powerful financial group who controlled the money of some of the wealthiest people in the country. You wouldn't know it to look at her, however - she was shockingly young, maybe in her mid twenties. Lovely, too, with long black hair and wide, almond-shaped, warm brown eyes. Most people took one look at her and assumed she was "Miss Kline's secretary" and Nasia had to inform them, sharply, to mind their assumptions because she was Nasia Kline. Most people followed up with an apology and a question about how she'd managed to become so successful at such a young age. And Nasia responded politely with a story of hard work and natural intelligence which lent her the ability to graduate early and dive head-first into her chosen field the moment she graduated. Which was true, strictly speaking. It just wasn't the whole story.

Nasia had a rather unusual... skill. She bore the ability to see and hear things no human realistically should be able to see or hear. It was extraordinary. She could hear phone conversations (both sides) from across a noisy building. As a fresh graduate, she'd managed to get herself into trouble with accusations of bugging a competitor's office because she'd been listening in on conversations she shouldn't have been able to hear. Not that it stopped her from using her abilities. Just that she tended, these days, to be more careful about how she used it.

Wrapped up in a warm, black peacoat with a red scarf, she walked into a tall glass office building with snowflakes clinging to her hair. A young man at the security deal nodded to her on her way in, and she stepped into the elevator, punching the button for the top floor. The man she was here to meet, it seemed, had expensive taste. The top floor on a building like this took untold amounts of money to obtain, not to mention contacts and favors from dozens of different and powerful people.

Which was why, when she stepped out of the elevator and saw a stunning young man waiting for her with a smile, she was shocked to find he appeared to be the one she was here to meet. He couldn't have been that much older than she was. And suddenly, she understood why it was people always looked so baffled when they realized that Nasia Kline was only 25.

 

[LassardLost]

Warren Holloway looked down abashedly at the papers in front of him on the conference table, while James Demetri, CEO of GearCorp, blew his top.

"What the fuck do you mean inadequate profits!? Didn't you fucking see our numbers? Our last three quarters have been nothing but black. More black than a prison block!"

Oh, shit. So Demetri was a racist when he was angry. Which of course meant that he was a racist when he wasn't.

Warren glanced up from his papers to see the rest of Demetri's team staring at their CEO, mortified. Some of them covered their gaping mouths with their hands, others simply blushed red and looked down. Poor people. Little did they know that it wasn't truly their fearless leader who was responsible for his behavior, but the guest at their table.

Warren had learned early in life - when he was 13 in fact - that he had the ability to tap into any person he chose to, and amplify whatever emotion or urge he so desired. He wasn't sure how it happened, or even how he did it exactly, but he knew that he could, and he had made very good use of the skill.

Emotional manipulation, as it turned out, was much easier when you could literally manipulate someone's emotions from the inside. Whether it was enhancing bureaucrat's compassion in order to bend the rules for whatever Warren's need was, or his teachers' being utterly enamored by his natural charisma, favoring his year report cards as a high schooler, it was easy for Warren to simply maintain the sway over his target. People simply ended up chalking up their unusual behavior towards him to his charisma. "There's something about that boy," he had all too often heard. But after years of manipulating people from within, Warren had become an expert at manipulating people from without. James Demetri was a standard case-in-point.

Take a man or a woman who is used to being in control of themselves and afflict them with a burst of anger that they have no control over and the results, depending on the personality, can be remarkable. If Warren had read the person right, they would respond to their anger with a deep sense of shame, guilt, and then... a deep desire to redress the situation. A desire that often manifested itself in advantageous ways to Warren. "I... I'm so sorry Mr. Holloway, I just don't know what got into me. Allow me to make it up to you..."

Warren wondered how Demetri would make it up to him, and had to do all he could to hold back a smile as he continued on his rant at the head of the table. Demetri may actually end up losing his job as a result of that last comment. And that would suit Warren just fine.

Warren had realized quickly that his skill could be employed in many a wonderful ways. Two areas of life in which he relied heavily upon it were, one: his business, The Holloway Group, a multi-national corporation that had come to deal mostly in tech but was rapidly growing into other parts of the market, and, of course, two: women.

Warren was an attractive man of 27 years. With short, messy black hair and dark brown eyes, he stood tall at five-foot-eleven, built well, and always donning the finest tailored Italian suits. He kept a five o clock shadow, only because most men he met in his line of work didn't. Warren wasn't a social inept who used a special ability to get ahead in life. He was a man of charisma and control, even without his uncanny power. He had already been sought after by his peers in school when he had discovered his secret strength, and this only enhanced his ability to get what he wanted.

And Warren always got what he wanted.

The meeting finished with the CEO gradually calming down - because Warren had allowed him to - and slowly sitting down on his chair, scratching his head and looking like he had just woken up from a bad night of drinking.

"Uh... I..." he stammered, the rest of the room deathly quiet.

This was when it was time to step in. Warren stood up from his seat.

"Mr. Demetri, I empathize with you." Warren said, a warm smile spreading over his face. He turned to face the rest of the group, his hand jutting out towards their CEO. "Here is a man who sacrifices everything he's got for the sake of the company. He has poured his heart and soul, his every waking hour, into GearCorp. What we've witnessed today is nothing but the stress that we all face, and if we aren't allowed a moment's indiscretion from time to time then that means we're not allowed to be human. Now certainly, I would have chosen some of my words differently," Warren made a calculated swallow to let that hang in the air for a moment, "but I can feel the meaning behind Mr. Demetri's... exposition."

Warren turned to face Demetri, who sat slumped in his chair, his eyes trained on Warren in some combination of disbelief, confusion and gratitude. In other words, like a lamb happy that he wasn't being slaughtered when he absolutely should have been.

"Mr. Demetri, thank you for taking the time. I am sure that we can arrive at a deal that will be mutually beneficial for both of us. If you are able to offer more from your side, we'll be happy to uphold our end of the deal. That was my stance at the beginning of the meeting, and it remains my stance now."

The only difference being that I just saved you from losing business with me in front of your whole board.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to be back at the office for my next meeting. My people will be awaiting your contact. Thank you."

And before anyone could offer a word of apology, Warren Holloway picked up his things, and he and his assistant marched out of GearCorp's board room.

***

At 4pm, sitting in his office atop a well-known Chicago skyscraper, the view of Millennium Park below, Warren heard the door to his office suite open.

"Ms. Kline is here to see you, sir."

Warren turned around on his chair, and immediately stood, walking out from behind his desk, hand extended.

Well, hello, what do we have here?

Before him was a beautiful woman - young! - couldn't have been more than mid-twenties - whose smile seemed to light up the whole room. This was the renown Nasia Kline?

"It's a pleasure to meet you Ms. Kline," Warren said, giving his warmest smile and being sure to look her directly in her perfectly almond shaped eyes. "Please, have a seat." He gestured to the chair across from his desk, and took his seat.

"I'm glad you could make it."

Nasia Kline was gorgeous. She was also wealthy, and clearly, given her young age, wickedly smart. She was just the kind of woman Warren would love to take home for a night or two. Warren could seduce women with the best of them. But why do that when all he needed to do was get inside them and ramp up their lust? If he wanted, he could simply turn her "on" for him right now, in his office. He had done it before with others, and they'd be having sex within minutes. But Ms. Kline was here on business, and some of that business needed to get done before Warren drove her up the wall for him.

Warren glanced at the clock on his wall. He could work this out with her in the next half an hour, and that would leave another half an hour for some wild office sex, which Ms. Kline would undoubtedly chalk up to Mr. Holloway's magnetic charm, even if it left her a little confused.

Warren Holloway began listening carefully to his new target, the beautiful Nasia Kline.

 

[slut_in_white]

Nothing escaped Nasia's notice. Not with eyes and ears like hers. She didn't miss the way his gaze travelled quickly up and down her body - barely noticeable, something no normal woman could possibly have noticed, but she did. She noticed the subtle twitch of his lips and intake of breath. He had masterful control over himself. She'd never seen a man with such an immediate reaction to her physical beauty hide it so well. He wanted her. There was no question. This was just the first man who didn't appear to drool all over himself when he noticed her. She was certain most men didn't, but Nasia noticed even the slightest reactions so they always seems rather cringe-worthy. Warren was one of the few whose response seemed remotely subtle to her.

And more? She actually liked it. It was extremely unusual for her to respond positively to the desire of a man. She wasn't cold, exactly, but she found the way men tended to stare stupidly at her when they thought she wasn't looking incredibly unattractive. That Warren Holloway had the decency to keep his tongue in his mouth (figuratively speaking) already put him leagues ahead of most other men. Add to that the fact that he was incredibly good-looking, with his perfectly-quaffed mess of dark hair and warm, dark eyes that looked like they were laughing at a joke only he got... She caught herself biting her lip in response to his attention, hiding a smirk.

She smoothed her features and offered him a smile in response to his greeting, shedding her coat, and took a seat as indicated, her cheeks still pink from the chilly air outside. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Holloway. I'm very pleased you agreed to meet with me. I think a partnership between our firms could be extremely valuable to both of us."

She drew a folder out and placed it down on his desk, flipping it crisply open and turning it to face him. "Take a look at these figures. I've taken the liberty of compiling some numbers as they apply to your own company, to give you an idea of just how profitable this plan could be..."

She spent the next half hour, her tone cool and professional - counter to the heat rising in her body at the way his gaze kept wandering over her body while she spoke - speaking about the detailed plan she and her advisors had put together to cover a complete overhaul of the way his company invested their funds.

She offered him a smile, leaning forward over the desk to snap the folder shut again. "In short," she said, amusement flickering over her features, "your CFO is completely incompetent. Your investments should be returning at least 15% more than they are, and that's very conservative." Then she paused, lifting a brow and grinning playfully. "You're not the one who controls the investments, are you? Because I'd hate to have just called you incompetent."

 

[LassardLost]

Warren pushed back from the table, sizing up the formidable woman that sat before him. Her petite build and attractive features had probably deceived many a man who didn't realize what he was getting himself into. Not Warren. With a slight smile he let out a single chuckle, and let there be a stillness in the air before responding.

"No. I'm not. But my current CFO is Harvard-trained and an absolute genius who has done very well for several Fortune 500 companies. So, 'completely incompetent' is a... strong phrase."

Warren leaned over and grabbed the folder full of neatly organized figures from Nasia, flipping through them again.

"These do look good, though, and after seeing them I'm inclined to agree that we could improve on our returns." He closed the folder and plopped it back on the table, sitting back in his chair, one leg crossed over the other, his arms crossed against his chest as he unabashedly looked right into Nasia's eyes. Those beautifully brown eyes. Looking into the eyes, even for a moment, seemed to be the one requirement that Warren had found he had needed in order to internally manipulate his target. He thought for the flicker of a moment, to turn on Nasia Kline's lust, but something - he wasn't sure just quite what - held him back.

Immediately Nasia seemed to shift somewhat uncomfortably in her chair, and a flush of red seemed to appear and then suddenly vanish from her cheeks. Perhaps he had inadvertently triggered her when he had thought about doing so. Warren spoke up so as to move things along.

"Well, I think you've definitely given me something to think about, Ms. Kline. Your company's track record is impeccable, and it speaks to your dedication, intelligence and, well, there must be a good deal of luck as well, the way your numbers have done nothing but rise over the last several quarters."

Warren ran his fingers through his stubble, thinking a bit more. Why hadn't he turned her on the way he had originally planned? Something was up here, and he needed to find out what. Warren had become extremely calculating, and ever watchful. Things generally always proceeded according to his design. When they didn't, especially when it had to do with something within himself that he should have complete control over, he always took note, and didn't let it go until it was investigated, laid bare, and dominated.

"Would you care to join me for dinner this evening?" Warren asked, almost abruptly, "I'd like to get to know better the woman that I'd potentially be entrusting my investments to."

 

[slut_in_white]

Nasia couldn't help the playful little grin that lit up her features as Warren spoke in defense of his CFO. He was right, completely incompetent was a strong phrase. The man did seem to know what he was doing, but she could have guessed he was Harvard-trained without even being told. "Ah. The Harvard alumni do always seem to be painfully cautious and conservative. I should have guessed."

They fell into silence again and she looked up around find him staring at her, his gaze intense and unabashedly demanding. Once again, there was no question in her mind that he wanted her, and, from the warm flush that rose through her body in response to his gaze, she wanted him too. She noted a moment of surprise on his expression in apparent response to her blush. Did he not expect her to respond positively to the attentions of an attractive, brilliant, confident man?

But before Nasia's mind could run any further in that direction, he spoke again, offering her several compliments and then suggesting that her success had to be attributed at least in part to luck. It wasn't, of course - she simply had a habit of collecting all the best ideas from her competitors, as well as a bunch of information she wasn't supposed to have. Her expression lit up into another grin. "Luck has nothing to do with it," she responded, winking at him. But she'd barely gotten the words out of her mouth when Warren invited her out to dinner with him, and her mouth popped open in surprise for a moment before her jaw snapped shut again. Her stomach twisted itself into a knot, as an awareness crept into her that there was something to this invitation other than a desire to get to know his business partner.

She couldn't. Nasia hadn't engaged in a relationship closer than a one night stand with a stranger in years. Her second last one had ended when she'd overheard him flirting with one of the women in his office from the parking lot outside. Not that a little flirting usually bothered her - it was that the flirting carried the suggestion that they were going to engage in... more. And he'd turned her accusations back around against her, claiming she was paranoid because there wasn't any possible way she could have known about his infidelity. And, in her frustration, she'd given him details, so he'd turned around by accusing her of hacking the password on his cellphone or tapping his office. Then, her next boyfriend had left her after her cheating ex had contacted him to tell him that she regularly spied on her boyfriends.

Over the intervening years, she'd come to the conclusion that she'd made the right choice. She couldn't accidentally reveal her abilities by knowing things she shouldn't when she only spent a single night with any given stranger. The thought of the potential issues were always enough to turn off any interest in a man she actually knew.

This was the first time in years she'd encountered someone who made her want to break her rules. She wanted Warren. She didn't care about any perceived lack of professionalism that came of sleeping with him. But she did care about her "skills" interfering with a professional relationship. If she just worked with him, she didn't have to care about his personal life. She could tune out anything she learned about his sex life. But if she was sleeping with him? She had a jealous streak, and a man like Warren was going to have women all over him. And Nasia frankly didn't trust herself not to let her anger get the best of her, but she'd never forgive herself if she lost this contract because of her own jealousy issues.

She couldn't let her interest in him develop into anything. Which is why the words that actually came out of her mouth shocked the hell out of her; "Sure. I'd love to join you for dinner."

 

[LassardLost]

Her little quip at the conservative nature of Harvard-trained grads was right on the mark. It had made Warren smirk. But now, Warren smiled broadly at Nasia's positive response to his dinner invitation.

"Great," he stood from his chair, "now if you'll excuse me, I should get home. How does eight o' clock at Spinelli's sound?" Spinelli's was a well-known Italian restaurant one block west of Magnificent Mile by its northern end, and was one of those places folks went to in hopes of catching a glimpse of the occasional celebrity. Warren just thought the food and service was excellent, and the ambiance was just right for good conversation.

But for now, Warren needed to get home. He needed time to think. It had become apparent to him by the age of 17 that he could use his ability to put any woman he chose into heat for him, leaving her with apparently no other choice than to want to bed him right then and there. Yet, it was also around that age when Warren had realized that though that was all well and good, if he didn't develop his personality and his own natural way around women, his relative ineptness would catch up with people and folks may start putting two and two together - yeah, he was a good looking, charismatic fellow, but why on earth was every girl he laid eyes upon jumping him? So, in an attempt to make sure that that particular ability would remain an option for him for as long as possible, he had decided not to use it when he got to college.

While he had suffered the occasional rejection, Warren had no difficulty in seducing almost any woman of his choice. It just took much longer. And because it took longer, feelings would develop. And when feelings would develop, things became complicated. He would have to fight distraction against his broader goals of getting ahead in life and making bloody hell sure that he didn't end up back home. Just the transient thought of the place sent a shiver down his spine.

So about a year of experimenting with his "natural" abilities, Warren went back to using his special ones. With that special ability, having become a bit older since he had first realized he had it, he then had understood that having sex with a woman "under his influence" left her a bit confused, possibly ashamed, but nothing usually more than that, and - most importantly - left him free with no strings attached. From the girl's perspective it had just been a fun fling, a mistake, or anything in between. But whatever it was, it wasn't serious, and Warren could get on with life without being attached.

And this mode of operating had served Warren just fine, especially in getting ahead in life.

So why was it that he had hesitated in using his ability on Nasia?

Going home to freshen up and change into something a bit less formal would give him the opportunity to think things through, to make sure he had control over the situation. There was something about this woman that he hadn't been able to read, and not being able to read someone - especially someone he was about to enter into a significant business deal with - was entirely problematic.

 

[slut_in_white]

Nasia was panicking on the inside, but she kept a pleasant smile while she tried to figure out just what on earth had happened to her to drive her to say yes to him. His suggestion that they part ways to go get properly ready for dinner was a relief. She, as much as he, needed time alone to think. She needed to figure out what had happened to her. A business dinner would have been fine, but there was an undeniable tension between them that was dangerously tempting. Exposing herself to his charisma even furthe seemed like a bad idea, but she couldn't say no. And she hated to admit it, but she was looking forward to seeing him later.

And so she arrived at the restaurant at 8pm sharp, dressed in a deep blue dress that expertly rode the line between professionally appropriate and scandalously revealing. The hem fell to mid-thigh, and the neckline plunged down to the bottom of her sternum, revealing the smooth caramel colored skin between her breasts without revealing enough of her chest to be trashy. Her hair was curled gently and she wore only the slightest amount of makeup.

As she was being shown to the table, she counted a dozen men who took a surreptitious glance at her. And half of them either looked too long or too unsubtly, and earned glares from the women they were with.

Warren was already waiting for her. He looked as tempting as he had earlier and she caught herself licking her lips again. Oh yes, this was a very, very bad idea.

 

[LassardLost]

On the drive home Warren thought about Nasia. He had met plenty of intelligent and assertive women during his business deals, it wasn't just that. Though, she was particularly smart, probably more than most people he interacted with - and his job mostly entailed dealing with very smart people. She was beautiful, there was no doubt about that. But no matter how hard Warren thought about it, he just couldn't crack it. He continuously found a hesitation in his bringing her lust out.

Ultimately, as he changed his clothes to get ready for his dinner with Ms. Kline, he came to the conclusion that more observation was required. There were two kinds of things one generally had to deal with. Things you already knew enough about to manage, and things you didn't. It sounded simplistic and silly, but it often helped keep things in perspective - this was a situation where Warren felt like he just didn't have enough information. He took solace in the fact that his gut instinct had been to invite her to dinner - his gut instinct had figured out what needed to be done before his deliberations had. This made Warren smile at himself as he looked in the mirror - khaki pants and a white button down shirt with brown shoes. Casual but proper. He added a sports coat to match the shoes. Better. It was a good situation when one's sub-conscious knew the answer before the conscious mind did.

"You've got nothing to worry about my friend, as usual." Warren mumbled to himself as he left his home.

***

Warren had been on the phone just a moment before Nasia walked in.

"Yeah, tell Demitri that that'll work. We'll accept at 1.2 billion. That's more like it. Yeah. Yeah. Well I'm sorry to hear that. Ok, great. It's done then."

Nasia came up to the table. Warren smiled, the twinkle in his eyes just as happy as the rest of his expression, "Ms. Kline, so nice of you to join me." He said, helping her with her jacket and then pulling out her chair.

"You're beautiful." Warren said, seating himself. Not You look beautiful, a phrase Warren simply didn't use for its ambiguity and lack of commitment.

"So, let's order. And then you can tell me a little bit more about yourself."

That was intentionally left as a glaring, open-ended question. How people chose to answer those kinds of open-ended personal questions told Warren as much about them as the content of their answer. Warren smiled across the table at Nasia, but not for too long, redirecting his attention to the menu in front of him.

 

[slut_in_white]

Nasia had overheard Warren's side of the phone conversation, naturally, though she'd been just a little too far away to hear the other person speak - at least, not over the steady murmur of conversation in the restaurant. Too bad, since Warren hadn't said quite enough for her to use anything she'd heard. Ah well. Next time.

She caught the difference between the usual "you look beautiful" and Warren's particular choice of words as she sat down, and offered him a rueful smile. He was used to this game, without question. Quite a talented player, too, it seemed.

She flipped open the menu and looked over it, and for a moment, it looked as though she either hadn't heard it didn't care to answer his open-ended question. Instead, she simply wanted to see how long she could make him wait. While she looked over the menu, her gaze kept flickering up to his to read his expression, and she waited until she saw that telltale twitch of combined uncertainty and impatience before she spoke.

"You know everything about me you need to know, Mr Holloway," she answered crisply. "You know about my education, about my experience. You know what kind of returns my people and I get on investments." She snapped the menu shut and finally met his gaze, a smile playing across her lips. "You know everything you need to know about a potential business partner."

There was a long, heavy pause, and she leaned slightly towards him over the table, raking long, delicate fingers through her thick hair. "So, I imagine then, that you're not asking me as a business partner, are you?" Her tone had lowered to something a little more intimate, and a little more sultry. "In which case, perhaps it's time to do away with the professional politeness. I'm Nasia. You're Warren. For this evening, anyway."

She sat back, her gaze as intense as his as she tried to read his expression, trying to figure out what he wanted to know. Then she smiled. "Since you've left it up to me to answer how I see fit, I suppose it would only do for me to give you the most flattering answer I can. So, the most flattering thing about me? I once saved a child's life. I was on a beach in Mexico when a child was caught by an undercurrent and swept out to sea. I'd just come in after a tour on a jet ski, and so I went out after the kid and brought him back in. Needed CPR for ten minutes, but he survived, and after he was taken to the hospital for a few days, ended up alright." She smiled. "The family still sends me Christmas cards every year."

She smirked, feeling like that wasn't quite the answer he'd been looking for. But if he'd wanted something specific, he should have asked for it.

 

[LassardLost]

Warren couldn't help but smirk, keeping his gaze locked with Nasia as she leaned towards him and broke any chance of hiding behind professional pretenses. As she leaned back and started explaining about her most heroic moments - finishing with the cherry-on-top of receiving Christmas cards annually - Warren couldn't help but grin from ear to ear, and then laugh at both himself and the woman sitting in front of him.

He put his hands up in surrender, "Ok, you're right. Nasia. And yes, I did leave it open, because as you know, how one chooses to answer that question can tell you a lot about them." Warren dropped his hands. "But while I am most impressed by your heroism, you've told me that you won't make it easy for me. And I should've figured that. So I'll be direct." This time Warren leaned over, slowly, and lowered his voice just a bit, as if abruptly switching his gears from playful banter to a serious inquisition, though still with a playful undertone, because he wouldn't tuck away a very slight smirk.

"Since we've dropped our professional pretenses, tell me, Nasia," his body language, the tenor of his voice suggested that something ground-breaking, terribly sexy - or surreptitiously manipulative - would come out. But instead, Warren said lightly, "Where did you grow up? What was your family like?" Warren let himself smile warmly and sat back in his chair, chuckling a bit at their little back and forth.

Though, the question, as lightly as it was queried, may have been deeper than Nasia would have liked. But he would let the next moment decide that, and let judgment step aside.

 

[slut_in_white]

Nasia only realized she was leaning toward him after she felt her chest pressing against the edge of the table. He was drawing her in, his gaze promising something shocking, intense, maybe arousing... But instead he asked about her childhood, and she found herself laughing in surprise at the simplicity of the question.

"I'm a Chicago girl, born and raised," she answered instantly. She offered him a cheeky smile and then slipped into a surprisingly thick Chicago accent. "I'm from the South Side, kind of a rough and tumble sort of neighborhood. My father was a factory worker, lost his job during the auto bailouts. My mother was a first-generation immigrant." Mail-order bride, actually, but she wasn't about to get into that kind of family dysfunction with a business aquaintance. She dropped the accent and smirked. "I had a speech-coach while I was in university. One of my professors admitted to me that people wouldn't take me seriously if I didn't sound blue-blooded enough. And it's true."

Nasia's home life hadn't been particularly nice. Her parents were poor and had never really loved each other. Her father spiraled into depression after he lost his job. Her success and drive could be largely attributed to a desperate desire to escape that life. Not exactly the kind of topic that made for pleasant dinner conversation.

So instead, she smiled prettily at him and rested her chin on her palm. "What about you? Same question."

 

[LassardLost]

Warren listened intently, and though he didn't let on by his facial expression, somewhere deep inside him the anger he felt towards his own background was triggered. What were the odds? What were the odds that she would have what sounded like a miserable childhood, and that she was running. Just like he was.

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that... really, I am." Warren said as he lowered his gaze to the table. He meant it too. He knew what it felt like. The misery of a childhood that should have been pure. Having that sense that it should have been another way. Swearing that one would do whatever they could to get the hell out of there and never look back. It wasn't wholesome, but was definitely functional. Nasia apparently had a similar drive.

Normally he wouldn't talk about his family, but he had the intention of doing so when he had asked Nasia about hers. Except he was expecting a more standard story from her, and wasn't planning on divulging details of his own, just skirting the surface. But it seemed that perhaps this was what was called for, since they both had it in common.

"Well, like you said," he began tentatively, "It's not the best dinner conversation but," he took a sip of his water. "I grew up on the north side actually. Evanston. Now, before you start chalking me up as one of those wealthy northerners, keep in mind that my Dad was the worst man I never knew. Beat my mother. Drunkard. Bastard, basically. Mom wasn't much better. Pain kilers, though, got started because of the Dad. I basically disowned them in high school - we just so happened to live in the same house. Once I hit college - which was of course nothing of their doing - I was out. And, to make sure I never, ever went back there... well, here I am."

Warren took another sip of his water, and then leaned forward again, this time casually. "But you know, I thank them for bringing me into this world and at least taking care of the basic necessities until I was old enough to realize I needed to be on my own. At least they had it in them to do that, even if they couldn't do anything else right." Warren said it casually, and without an ounce of spite in his voice. They were after all, just facts. He took another sip of his water.

Still, this was much more information than he had ever planned on divulging, but somehow, perhaps knowing that Nasia had experienced something similar, he felt comfortable doing so. In fact, he felt rather comfortable over all. And thus far, he didn't feel the need, or the want, to influence Nasia's emotions. He was happy to enjoy her company just the way she was. He still didn't have his answer, though, as to why he did. But, he consoled himself, he was still in the 'information gathering' stage.

 

[slut_in_white]

Nasia hadn't remotely expected the kind of personal detail that he offered her. Her expression sobered, and she found herself connecting to him on a personal level. She understood. Not what it was like for him to have a wealthy family, but they both shared the experience of having dysfunction. At least her father had never gotten that violent. Broken things. Yelled. But he's never hit Nasia, and she'd never seen him hit her mother, though he's threatened to, once or twice.

"My mother never learned to speak English," she offered, her voice soft. Something about his revelations had drive her to want to share more with him, despite her instincts screaming that it was a bad idea. "She used to demand nonsensical things because she couldn't speak the language well enough to be clear about what she wanted, and would berate me when I didn't perform to her expectations. And my father... I don't know. He might have been alright, but I still feel as though I don't even know the man. He was never home. I never saw him."

She was interrupted by the arrival of the waiter to take their orders, and once he was gone, she turned her attention back to Warren smiling. Her expression was warm and more notably genuine than before. The shared secret of their unpleasant childhoods had left her feeling a certain connection to him that she liked, quite a lot. "But enough of such unpleasant things. Tell me about college. What was it like for you?"

 

[LassardLost]

Nasia's softened expression most certainly did not escape Warren's attention, and he warmed even more to her, felt even more comfortable, as she volunteered more about her mother and father. For people like Nasia and himself, volunteering information just wasn't something you did. Yet here they were pouring out their pasts as if...

When Nasia asked about college Warren immediately felt uncomfortable. Mostly because college was so much about his exploring his innate ability, and so much of his college experience had been shaped by, well, him. Warren was smart, but that didn't mean he was a good student. Furthermore, knowing that he could get away with emotionally manipulating his teachers into giving him better grades than he deserved meant that he didn't really try. It was never by virtue of his grades that he had gotten where he had in life, anyway, but more so because of who he was in toto, coupled, of course, with his uncanny ability to bring out the best and worst in people.

No. This he couldn't divulge. But he'd been a good liar all his life, so he comfortably explained, "College was good. I did the standard things most guys my age did. Fooled around initially, and then around mid sophomore year started getting serious about studies." Warren paused, making it unclear whether he would stop at such a simple explanation. "My last year I met Leroy Jenkins, the CEO of Faraday Incorporated - he came to campus because he had donated some massive amount to the college. I had walked up to him with a portfolio of the things I had been working on on the side while at school - some ideas I had for a few new apps that I thought could really take off. Apparently - or so he says - it impressed him that I just came up to him with confidence and spoke. He took me under his wing and offered me an internship, and that was where I learned a lot of what got me where I am today."

It was all stuff anyone could find on Warren on wikipedia. The relationship between Warren and Leroy Jenkins was well known. Warren felt a bit poorly for not divulging more, especially after they had had what was almost an intimate exchange about their past. But what the hell was he supposed to say? I can make people angry, compassionate, lustful, just by looking at them? No. This would have to do.

"What about you?"

 

[slut_in_white]

Nasia wasn't easy to lie to. Strictly speaking, Warren wasn't lying, but still, she saw the flicker of discomfort in his face, and she recognized that what he was giving her was information she could have looked up herself on the Internet.

But fine, if he didn't want to divulge whatever he had really done at college, she wasn't going to push him. Instead she smiled and spoke about herself. "It was a lot of hard work. Obviously my parents couldn't pay for anything so I survived on student loans and scholarships. I had to maintain a 4.0 GPA to get the scholarship I needed to continue each year, so I had to work hard."

Which was only partly true. Her uncanny vision and hearing meant she could overhear anything the teacher so much as whispered during a test, and she could see the papers of half the other students in the room. She still needed to be smart to have the success she did, but she had an easier time of it than she might otherwise have because of her abilities.

"I heard about your internship. It was an amazing opportunity for you," she observed, wondering if maybe he'd be more willing to talk about that. "Tell me about Leroy? I imagine he's quite a formidable man."