When You Play With Fire {FINISHED}

[Lena Panick and Yulia Payne]

"So remind me again what we're doing here again?" Yulia asked in her thick Russian accent, sprawled out on one of the many concrete benches scattered throughout the garden. She was clad in a black mid-riff top and equally short black shorts. She combed her hair with pale fingers as she watched her friend busily tend to some flowers.

"Because, Lena admonished, her voice not quite as thick and laced with what sounded like an English accent, "these flowers are only in season for a short time, and I want them to last." She carefully weeded around the small plants, whose small purple bulbs were pregnant with the flowers waiting to burst forth. She tended them with the utmost care, and Yulia couldn't help but smile at her dearest friend's gentle nature. Now that they were far away from their home country, she would ensure that no harm would ever come to Lena again.

Lena gently pulled the weeds from around her little plants, placing them in a neat pile to her right. She patted the overturned dirt smooth where the roots had been yanked from it, then began pruning the plants, clipping the dead leaves away so that the flowers were bright and healthy.

"Moon lilies," she said, smiling at Yulia, who was still lounging about on the bench. "They only come bloom at night, and their absolutely beautiful, according to my botany book."

"That's nice," Yulia replied absent-mindedly, producing a small knife and sliding it across her arm; it left a small red imprint but did not quite break the skin.

Lena shuddered, waving her trowel at the black-haired girl, her eyes narrowed with disapproval. "Oh, do put that away. You know how much I hate it."

Yulia glanced at Lena and hastily tucking the blade away into her shorts. She muttered and apology and groaned noisily. "How much longer are we going to be here?" she whined.

"Not much," Lena said, ignoring her friend's complaints and returning to her garden work.

[Hal Fuoco]

Hal walked through the halls of the school, hands in his jean pockets as he did so. He was in a relatively good mood (for Hal anyway) and was walking to a meeting in the shed with one of his... workers. He was early and so he was taking his time.

Hal decided to take the normal route rather than his shortcut today and thus ended up walking among the flowers in the garden. He had never been fond of flowers or sunshine or happiness and so he was in no way planning on lingering. That is until he caught a glimpse of two ladies he knew although not as well as he wanted to. One of them was slipping a knife back into her pocket and the red marks where it had just been were just fading. He liked these types of people and so he stopped himself and changed his route, walking over to where the girls sat.

Hello ladies. What brings you here? Hal decided he would play nice for a bit and see what they would say before he made his offer. He wanted to get them to join his workforce but he would try to flatter them or bribe them into it. They weren't dumb enough for simple word games to win them over but he had a feeling he could at least win one over and if he guessed right, they were a pair: win one and you get two.

[Lena Panick and Yulia Payne]

Yulia's head shot up at the approach of footsteps, but Lena was oblivious, continuing to tend to her precious flowers. Yulia's eyes narrowed, her dark eyes becoming slits in their sockets, and she withdrew her knife again. Sure, it was a felony to pull a weapon on another student, but she was never one for playing by the rules. She toyed with the little blade, sliding against the pad of her thumb.

Lena didn't look up until the guy spoke. She didn't trust guys, but he seemed nice enough, so it wasn't time to flee yet; a glance at Yulia showed her that the raven-haired girl was still perched, albeit tensely, on the concrete bench, blade withdrawn and aimed to the other student.

"Not again, Yulia," she groaned with her thick Russian accent. "You heard Professor Yen Sid. One more assault and you're out. If a professor catches you with that, you'll get expelled." Yulia reluctantly put the blade away again, glaring at the male.

Lena offered up a shy smile and waved with her trowel. "Hello. Just gardening," she said sweetly, patting the dirt around her flower. She pointed the trowel at herself. "I'm Lena." She pointed the trowel at Yulia, who had moved behind her and was hovering protectively with her arms crossed. "This sourpuss is Yulia. Pleasure to meet you."

Yulia just continued to stare stonily at the student, her lips pursed in a thin line. If looks could kill, the boy would drop dead where he stood.

[Hal Fuoco]

Hal couldn't help but chuckle at the reactions he received. He had received many reactions but these were priceless. At least now he knew for sure who wore the pants in this friendship. These girls seemed to be acting as if they were evenly in control but if anything were ever to truly threaten them, obviously the girl with the flowers, Lena, would be cowering or trying to make peace without violence whereas Yulia would be in the modest of the gore defending for both of them. Now he knew who he should point certain things towards. How helpful.

Hal walked over to the girls as he spoke in his most charming tone. "I didn't mean to alarm you two and I am unarmed unlike you." He pointed at Yulia as he made this point, smiling but acting as if he meant no harm. In reality he was armed and he did mean harm but they didn't need to know this just yet. Win them over, that was the first step. Slight honestly would follow. "Don't worry though. I'm not one to tell so your secret's safe with me. ANy secrets you'd care to tell me are safe with me. Such as, oh I don't know, your need to feel pain by inflicting it or your distrust of men? I mean no harm. This is just a lucky guess. I'm quite observant. Hope you don't mind."

Hal knew he was pushing his luck but he wanted to see their reactions, make them squirm, show them that he was as dangerous as they could be if need be. He also wanted to earn their trust and getting dirt on someone was a quick way to get someone on your side. This was precisely what he wanted and so he watched these girls, his smile never wavering, as he waited to see what would happen next. He was excited. This game could be quite fun and these seemed like two very enticing players. If this was true, than it was time to play. Game on!

[Lena Panick and Yulia Payne]

Yulia did not like this person. There were very few people she did like, but this guy ranked somewhere between Lena's father and the pope. He was a snake; every word out of his mouth, a lie. She practically smell the insincerity oozing from his pores when he claimed to be unarmed.

Her blood froze in her veins when he spewed her dirty little secrets back at her. The self-harm was obvious: anyone with that many scars couldn't just be a klutz. And it was Yulia's release. None of this guy's business, that was for sure. But Lena's distrust of men? She'd avoided them almost completely since the pair had arrived at the academy, but that was no reason to assume that she didn't trust him. Who--no, what--was this guy?

Lena looked up, tucking a strand of curly auburn hair behind her ear, as Yulia stepped defensively in front of her. Playing with her hair was one of her nervous habits, especially now that she could sense Yulia's edginess. But Lena could see nothing wrong with the young man; he was just highly intuitive.

Lena gently touched Yulia's palm with her fingertips in an attempt to calm her down, but the dark-haired girl only stiffened in response, her lip curling and revealing the canines she'd had filed specifically for the purpose of intimidating others.

"What do you want?" she said flatly, her tone betraying none of the angry, confused emotions swirling in her brain, threatening to overwhelm her. She'd never met someone she'd disliked so intensely in such a short amount of time.

[Hal Fuoco]

Hal couldn't help but chuckle at their responses. He could quickly tell who wore the pants in this relationship- the sexy, tight pants. He also found the growling adorable. Down doggy. I won't harm you or your pup. I truly mean no harm, that is unless you want me to. I come with an offer of friendship and protection. I know many people here. You could say I run this school. In any matter, I am a valuable friend to have, or ally if friend isn't quite your choice of words. I also came to have a proper introduction and to offer my services if you ever need anything. I run a... very specialty business and if you ever need want or desire ANYTHING do not hesitate to call me.

Hal walked forward with his hands up in peace and a slip of paper in his hands. He placed it down on the ground before him and in the small space that was not between him and the girls. He than stepped on the edge to keep it from flying away. After all the red writing on that paper meant many valuable things to the wrong people. There's my number if you need me. Now I can see I'm not welcome so I'll leave.

Hal turned to leave and than stopped long enough to turn back and say Oh and if you ever want some work off the books, let me know. I treat my workers quite well and I pay wondrously so I've been told. I could always use another set or two of hands.. if you're interested. With that said he winked at Yulia and waved to Lena before turning to leave. He walked away someway slowly, giving them ample time to call him back if they so desired. He was in no rush and the offer had been laid out... the bait as he liked to think of it. All he had to do was wait and see which one would nibble at it first.

[Lena Panick and Yulia Payne]

Yulia continued to face off with the boy, knife clenched tightly in her hand. The only thing stopping her from slicing that annoying smirk off of his face was the admonishing look Lena threw her way every few seconds. She knew full well that attacking another student would result in immediate expulsion, but it wouldn't be the first time, after all. She could usually scare most of her victims into not ratting her out, but she had a feeling this little worm would manipulate the situation to make sure she ended up in jail, not just expelled. And that would leave Lena in a bad situation.

Lena smiled innocently up at the boy. He was so nice, so helpful. Yulia was simply her mistrusting self. There was nothing wrong with this boy. He'd even left his contact information. And all Yulia could do was scare him to the point that he couldn't even hand them the little slip of paper.

"Yulia," she said in a soft, warning voice.

Yulia looked down at the tiny slip of paper fluttering underneath the guy’s foot. He offered protection—in a manner of speaking—in return for services. There was not telling what these services would intel, but if it would get Lena some sort of protection, then perhaps it was worth looking into.

Snatching the slip out from under his shoe, she stood up and faced him, her eyes narrowed. ”You’ve got a deal.”

[Hal Fuoco]

Hal smiled a bit as he heard those golden words come from the girls behind him. He had taken a gamble and he had been right. This gamble would pay off in time he was sure of it. But he now had two more lovely ladies on his side. Perfect!

After a moment Hal turned to face them once more. He hid his excitement with ease and walked back to where he had stood moments ago. He looked Yulia in the eyes, seeing the anger and internal argument that went with this decision. He walked a step closer, closing virtually any gap that had been between them. We have a deal? Excellent. You work for me now. Both of you. Welcome to the business ladies. I promise I will never make you do ... promiscuous favors but you will be my right hand men... well women. If and when I choose you will be free of service but if you try to backstab me... Let's just say that is not a very smart idea. Shall we shake on this?

Hal held out his hands to Yulia and Lena and waited for the handshake that would seal the deal seemingly forever. Although his face didn't show it, Hal was more giddy than a child with a new toy or a grown man with a new sports car. This had been a great investment of his time and charm and it had paid off. He was quite happy with these arrangements and ht doubted that they could get much better.

[Lena Panick and Yulia Payne]

Yulia hated giving into anyone. Her father had drilled independence into her for so long that she wouldn't even ask to borrow a pencil in class, instead forcing herself to commit lessons to memory so she could write them down later. So to sell herself and Lena into service in exchange for protection left a bitter taste in her mouth. She wanted desperately to spit on the boy, but she figured that would leave their agreement null and void.

When Hal extended his hand, Lena carefully placed her trowel in the dirt and rose, brushing her filthy hands off. She reached out to shake his hand, completely oblivious to the battle of wills ensuing between him and her friend. She grasped the boy's hand gently and glanced at Yulia, who was still frozen in place, glaring at Hal. She coughed and murmured in Russian, "Budʹte vezhlivy."

Yulia snapped out of her trance and reluctantly reached out to shake Hal's hand, squeezing as hard as she could in an attempt to break his finger. She pulled him closer to her so that she was hissing furiously in his ear. "Yesli vy yeĭ bolʹno, ya sdelayu vashu zhiznʹ v sushchiĭ ad , svolochʹ."

Lena: Be nice.
Yulia: If you hurt her, I'll make your life a living hell, you bastard.

[Hal Fuoco]

Hal knew just enough of Russian to figure out what the girls were saying but even if he hadn't been able to roughly translate, he would have easily have been able to tell what was being said. Hal just chuckled at the angry fireball's harsh words before brushing off her grasp.

I see you two have plenty to discuss and you both seem to need to get used to the arrangement a bit. I'll leave you two to your gardening and...other activities for now but you may want to put that number I gave you in a safe place. I will be in contact with you the first moment I need you and I promise you, that will be soon. I do have a business to run after all. But for now, I will leave you two and bid you a... cheerful rest of your day.

Hal chuckled once more and smiled his toothy grin, the devil seemingly echoing in his features. He turned on his heels and walked away, quite aware of the eyes trained on him. He liked it this way, almost able to smell fear and regret at the deal that had just beed made. A deal with the devil... a selling of your soul. Just the way things should be in Hal's perfect world.