Ruby Amarant vs. Abigail Lindsay

[Team Desire]

Ruby Amarant vs. Abigail Lindsay
 
 
 
FOR TACTICAL WARFARE: 2 RP per person (8 per team)
FOR OTHER SINGLES MATCHES: 3 RP Limit
Deadline: Noon ET Sunday, March 10, 2019

[Ruby]

The more I think about how I should explain myself, the more I'm beginning to realize that maybe working backwards is the real answer here.

Trust me, I've tried my best to remember where it all started, but almost as though I somehow have the ability to actually reincarnate into an entirely new person on command, trying to think back to that point only causes me to question exactly which starting point I'm looking for. My childhood almost feels nonexistent at this point as I seem to have no reason to remember it, or perhaps something happened that I blocked it out entirely. I don't even remember what name I was actually born into this world with... only that every name I've legally had over the course of the past several years of my life has been a lie that starts the entire cycle over. One wouldn't think a 19 year old would have any reason to be at this point in their life, but those people do not know anything about who I am or what makes me tick.

Sometimes, it feels like that even includes myself.

It's not as hard to get legal documentation and falsify records as you might think, as long as you have the right channels and know how to alter your appearance just enough that everyone loses sight of who I used to be and can only focus on who I am now. It all becomes second nature after a while, truly like I'm killing whoever I was before and becoming an entirely new person entering into the world virtually out of the ether, and even the memories fade after a while. Even if you know the reason why I do this so frequently, it never changes the question of why I bother going through it time and time again. Some might claim I should accept whatever fate I continue to dodge, others may take silent delight in the fact that I just seem to repeat the mistakes of old every time this vicious cycle begins anew. Many more question so many other facets of this process that I just become numb to the experience altogether as it's never worth answering.

Maybe I have a reason to continue lingering around a race that I have no compassion for, and maybe part of me feels that there's still something I can gain out of it in the process.

One thing I do at least remember clearly is the origin of Ruby Amarant, my current identity. I'll be honest... not one of my more brilliant moments in terms of concocting a new name on the fly, and even to this day I still cringe at the fact that both names are just dressed up ways to define the color red, but perhaps that's why I went through the trouble of settling on it. After all, to a woman obsessed with the color essentially, it immediately made me stand out as a potential ideal mate to get me to where I am now, and that I do not regret even if Scarlet Grey may take offense to that someday if and when this cycle begins anew once more.

I had just abandoned my last identity as a means of getting myself out of another scenario where I was practically evading the law, even though I still maintain contact with someone from those days who still seems fond of me for some reason. She and I had gotten in too deep with an organized crime outfit, and when we tried to stab them in the back and take everything they had it went south a lot quicker than either of us anticipated. She always somehow had a way of getting out of these kinds of situations scot-free and surfacing with no lingering effects some time later, but I do not possess that kind of luck. After getting as far away as I could from the area and finding the perfect opportunity for a little makeover complete with probably my hastiest hair dye decision yet, I found myself eventually sneaking into a club in Phoenix somewhere with no new name or ID sorted out yet looking, as I was told, 'gothic hot' with the attire I was clad in on top of my new hair color and makeup. I just confined myself to a table to try and piece together what to do next when that space was invaded by the woman who I would become affiliated with today.

Grey: Hey stranger, it's not often I see someone drop by a club and not actually indulge in the nightlife.

Me: I have my reasons, so with all due respect miss I'd like to be-

Grey: Left alone? Sorry, but you look more to me like someone who could actually use some company right now.

I could shoot her my most irritated look but it just seemed to be deflected by how intent she was to become my company for the evening, so I just gave up and let her continue to occupy the seat across from me. She certainly seemed like she was trying too hard in my opinion to get attention given the lacking attire she was covered in even by a club's standards, but she seemed to be enjoying the attention and was hellbent on getting mine as well. She certainly had no reservations about which way her proverbial gate swung, and my general inability to care period kind of classified me in the same light I guess, but I wasn't interested in whatever she was selling at first.

Grey: So, what brings you here? Trying to score tonight?

Me: I'm not exactly interested in such trivial matters.

Grey: Oh? Then what are you interested in?

Me: That's not exactly any of your business.

Grey: Maybe not, but I've found that the more secrets one keeps the more interesting it makes them, and also the more harm it tends to cause them as well whether they admit to it or not.

I have to admit that I was a bit taken aback by that one, because she wasn't exactly wrong. And yet, deducing that while she barely knew me both got my attention and caused me to put my guard up quite a bit as well, not that I could be blamed considering what I'd just left behind essentially. I decided to indulge her with a bare minimum of information just to see what her angle was, which in hindsight was a bit of a mistake but also where things truly began for this life I now live.

Me: If you must know, I'm kind of trying to leave behind some things from the past.

Grey: Running away, huh? I know some don't exactly look at that tactic as an honorable one, but what do people know of honor these days? Sometimes it's a smart tactic when you have the right reason, and you certainly seem like you needed it to get yourself in order, if you don't mind me saying.

I couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at this as our conversation seemed to grow deeper. For as much of an airhead as this woman seemed to come off as at first, here she was doing a fairly good job of trying to start an intellectual conversation with me, and I had to admit I wasn't prepared for this kind of situation. Someone like this isn't normally who you expect to find at a club of all places, which made it the whole reason why I ducked inside to help kill some time while my latest transformation of sorts settled in and enough heat died down that I could fully embrace whoever I was to become now.

Me: Alright, indulge me miss-

Grey: Grey. Scarlet Grey, and yeah I know they're both colors that fit me pretty much on the nose but I'm more comfortable telling people that than my actual name. Too many people needing it for all the wrong reasons if you ask me.

Me: OK... what is it you're hoping to gain from this conversation? You're trying your best to read me after seemingly implying you wanted a 'good time' out of me at first to some degree, and I'm not exactly interested in continuing without knowing what it is you think you can get out of me.

Grey: Truth be told? Something about you just speaks to me in a way I've never felt before, and I'm hoping that if you work out as well as I hope then you could be the missing piece to my proverbial Red Empire I'm trying to get off the ground. Consider it my way of trying to make a difference in the world while still getting some self-satisfaction out of it along the way, but I'm not going to go any farther than that with just anybody.

She clearly knew the game she was playing well, because she was pulling the same tactic I had earlier to get my interest while keeping her most important cards close to her admittedly impressive chest. Something about Scarlet in that initial meeting seemed to intrigue me enough that I felt compelled to try and crack every secret possible about her, because for all the intellect she was trying to hide behind her sex appeal I could also get the feeling that something was equally as off about her, a thought that manifested in my mind with how hesitant she was to give me anything besides this pseudonym she had concocted for herself in the same was I was going to need to once again soon.

Me: Alright, you've got me interested now. What are you looking for to let me into this proverbial 'inner circle' of sorts you have?

Grey: It's hardly an inner circle really... just me, unless you're referring to what my body's rocking as well. But I guess I'm willing to offer you a chance to stay with me and help me really get things moving in the right direction as a partner, and you can define that term in any number of ways you'd like. I try to fancy myself as everyone's ultimate fantasy and desire, which makes what I want to get out of this concept so much greater than it may seem on paper.

Me: You would offer me your home? That easily?

Grey: I bring people back all the time but never really to stick around. And yet, the psychologically gifted part of me just feels like this is the right move for the both of us, and I won't lie on wanting to get to know you a little better if you'll let me, and I'll return the favor since I see you're interested.

Me: And the catch?

Grey: I'm not trying to force one on you. Ideally, I'd like you to stick around and I can share more with you on my vision, but I won't make you stay if you don't want to go through with anything. I'm not someone who keeps people chained down and you seem like the kind of woman who has trouble sticking with anything long term as it is, so consider the door eternally open.

It was extremely tempting, I'm not going to lie, and this was the quickest I'd essentially found a way to establish my new life complete with a potential home and everything. The fact that she was even instituting her own version of an open door policy was surprising to me as well, and made it clear that this woman might just be that rare breed of intellectual equal underneath who she portrayed herself to be, right down to the clear obsession with the color red from her hair and makeup to her clothes and even the name of herself and this little project of hers. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to take this opportunity and see where it goes.

Me: Alright, consider me interested and on board to see what you've got up your sleeve Miss Grey.

Grey: Please, Scarlet's fine. And what should I call you, aside from partner of course?

Me: …Ruby Amarant will do.

Another spur of the moment decision I kind of look back on with regret as stated earlier, but it certainly made Scarlet happy enough as she enthusiastically shook my hand, and I didn't even mind the kiss she stole from me in that moment either. It was the beginning of a new life regardless, and one I would've never expected to bring me to where I still am today.