Nice dodge, no work girl. "I meant mutation, though surely you do something to keep yourself occupied all day long." The idea of a life of leisure made Lori sick.

She shrugged even as the girl lost pace with her. Lori glanced over her shoulder and noticed the girl was stiff, but smiling. Crap. Her body language said that she was tense about something. Something Lori had said had set her off.

Lori did a quick mental review.

She hadn't said anything that normally would set off alarm bells. That meant she was missing some factors here. She needed to contain this quick and discern what the issue was.

"Lily." She lied without batting an eye. Lying was breathing. Giving a false name was easier than giving her real one. It took years of practice to carry a pack of lies as well as Lori did. "I'd offer to shake your hand, but... you know." Another shrug. Even with the gloves she'd rather not risk it.

"What kind of name is Sveta? Ukranian?" She didn't say Russia because that was too obvious. Any eastern European accent she thought was Russian, so she went with something else. Although... if Sveta was a Russian mobster's girl, that would explain a life of leisure in New York. Taking Sveta by force suddenly seemed a better idea if the taking had meaning to it.

>>"I meant mutation, though surely you do something to keep yourself occupied all day long."

"I'm married" Effie answered with a half shrug. It was so close to the truth it didn't even count as a lie "I stay at home."

>>"Lily. I'd offer to shake your hand, but... you know."

Effie shrugged again. Lily sounded about as real as Sveta. How did it come to this, she asked herself with a small smile, I am using my real name for cover. It only proves one point: giving a false name is easy. Looking into the blonde woman's eyes she tried to see if she was lying. Well, if she was, she was at last as good at it as Effie herself.

>>"What kind of name is Sveta? Ukranian?"

"Svetlana. Russian." she answered, not really knowing why it was important. Ukrania? Seriously? Most Americans didn't even know such a country existed.
The whole situation was getting uncomfortable. Effie smiled.

"Well, nice to meet you, Lily. And tank you for de gloves. I tink I have to go, husband is waiting for me."

Smile. Wave. Walk away.
Easy.

Aaaand she was walking away. Lori couldn't have that. Pampered Russian bride or not.

"Can I ask you something?" Lori reached down to the pocket lower down on her leg. She pulled out the gloves she had brought with her because it was looking like she might need them now. She moved them to her more easily accessible front pocket even if they did bulge.

"If I asked real nice, would you be willing to give a blood sample?"

She would give her the chance first because she liked the girl. And because she had a marble in her pocket. If it came to fighting, things would get messy. In this part of town no one would admit to seeing anything, but that didn't mean that it would be easy to lug a body across town. Especially since her powers were a bit on the theatrical side.

"It could save lives." It would save them from a life of human mediocrity for sure. "I was hoping to get to know you a bit more first so it'd be less weird." Well, after she followed Lori out to the street that was the plan anyway.

If not there was always the hard way.

>>"Can I ask you something? If I asked real nice, would you be willing to give a blood sample?... It could save lives. I was hoping to get to know you a bit more first so it'd be less weird."

Don't freak out. Do NOT freak out. Don't you DARE freak out.

Effie bit her lips as she turned back to stare at the woman. Here we go. Lily or not, she was one of them. The people - the mutants - Garrett warned her about. Out to get her. Because of her gift.
She. Was. In. Trouble.

Save lives? Effie highly doubted it. From what she'd heard, they would do quite the opposite. But then again, they were willing to go that far, and this woman was a mutant, who had something to do with electricity. And they were... who knows where.
That only left one question to ask.

"What" she asked, trying her best to keep her voice steady "happen if I say no?"

Someone should be here. Someone should be saving me.

How was she to salvage the situation when she had no idea where it had gone wrong? She wasn't in this girl's head. She hadn't enough surveillance to know who she'd been talking to... or what she'd eaten earlier that day. Maybe it was a bad hotdog? Heh. Wishful thinking.

"I would rather you hear me out." Lori shrugged, but there was hurt in her features. Someone was making things harder for her. It would only take a touch to find out... too bad that was out of the question.

"Geez Louise I've never seen anyone get so worked up about giving blood before." Not even the girl she'd taken blood from just yesterday... who had been kidnapped.

>>"I would rather you hear me out. Geez Louise I've never seen anyone get so worked up about giving blood before."

Effie shuddered. She didn't like giving blood. She didn't like needles in general. There used to be a time when needles looked very tempting, but she never went that far. Mostly because of Bo.
And she really didn't like the idea of some mutant mafia talking a sample of her blood.

"What you need my blood for?" she asked; she was not backing away from the woman. She suspected she wouldn't tell her the truth anyway, but she really wanted to hear the cover story for making some virus against humanity.

"If it weren't important I wouldn't be here." And if Lori were as demonic as Sveta's eyes were making her out to be, she wouldn't be asking.

It didn't really sound like she wanted to know the specifics. It sounded like she wanted something to pick apart in order to find a moral high ground. People liked moral high ground. Call it a safety blanket. People just like to be right.

Lori shrugged, hands still in her pockets. "I offer you a choice, Sveta. I am one of the nicest people I know. The next you meet might not be as gracious." Threats were not her favorite way to go, but necessary at times. This was her one last chance to avoid making a scene. One way or another Sveta would bleed. How much was entirely up to her at this point.

>>"I offer you a choice, Sveta. I am one of the nicest people I know. The next you meet might not be as gracious."

It didn`t take perfect English to understand the threat. Sveta´s eyes narrowed. The woman didn´t answer her question. But she seemed very much intent on taking her blood, one way or another.

Sveta was not stupid. She knew she wouldn´t have a chance if she ran. She could try to fight, but since she would make her opponent stronger with every hit, it didn´t seem like a good idea either. Call for help? Not in this neighborhood.

One thing for sure: these people hated humans. Which also meant they liked mutantkind in general. They wouldn´t waste one so special as Sveta. Hopefully.

"You let me go if I give you blood?" she asked, looking into the blonde woman´s eyes "Let me go alive?"

The way that Sveta asked made Lori suspicious. Alive? "Uhhh. Who do you think I am?" Because people didn't usually think she was the boogeyman until she had done something to deserve it. Not that she didn't often deserve it. If she didn't so thoroughly deserve it, she might have felt a little hurt by the accusation that she was a murderer. That didn't keep her from looking a little hurt in her face and body language, though.

"Yeah. You can leave as alive as you want to be. The only non-optional part would be the blood sample and I am sorry about that." She tried not to say that she was sorry when she really meant it.

>>"Uhhh. Who do you think I am?"

Someone who knows who I am and wants my blood?
Effie held her breath.

>>"Yeah. You can leave as alive as you want to be. The only non-optional part would be the blood sample and I am sorry about that."

She might be telling the truth. Or might not. The whole thing felt like rather non-optional to Effie. She folded her arms, and nodded slowly.

"All right. I go with you."

And let's hope for the best.

((OOC: Feel free to skip ahead when you feel like it ))

((OOC: aye, aye, Cap'n))

"You don't have to look, you know." Blood Bank volunteers petered around with their lab coats, gloves and needles. Lori needed the largest sample from this girl and Lori didn't want her to know exactly where it was going. Also, having human volunteers take the sample excluded the chance of a mutant to mutant skin contact slip up.

Lori sat next to the empty blood bag, Sveta's supporting friend. Once the bag was full, she'd be taking it with her and Sveta would walk away with a band aid and a free bag of cookies.

Sveta could make more blood. The Order could not.

"You want me to call you a cab after this?" There was a blond hair sliding down across Sveta's face. It was tempting to reach out and brush it back. Not that tempting when she remembered what the cost of that action would be.

Effie sat back and closed her eyes. Someone might have thought she relaxed. But she didn't.

Apart from the fact that she was threatened into giving blood to the bad guys so they can use it for their evil purposes, she also was not a great fan of needles and... well, giving blood in general. Not to the point of panicking, or doing something stupid, of course. There were far worse sharp objects than needles, and she'd encountered many of them before.

>>"You want me to call you a cab after this?"

"Yes." she answered, not opening her eyes. But not knowing how much blood they took started to seem stupid - if she was going to correct what she had done, allowing them to do this for she was afraid, she could at least have an idea about how much blood they have. So she looked. It was no big deal, really.

Turning back to the blonde woman, she looked into her eyes.

"You still not told me why you need my blood."

Lori tried not to cringe around the eyes as a volunteer walked by and Muse spoke. It wasn't exactly common knowledge yet that she was taking this blood home with her. Right now she probably just appeared as the supportive friend.

"I don't know how much you've seen if New York, but there is a lot of hate here between humans and mutants. I'm hoping to change that. I think your blood can help." Another answer that was a little more truth than lie. She must have really liked Sveta.

Once the bag was looking a bit full a volunteer bumbled by to collect it. Lori licked her lips and waited a bit impatiently for the woman to finish sealing the blood packet and tending to the blond Russian.

While the volunteer wrapped pink stretchy tape over the gauze that stemmed the bloodflow, Lori pocketed the bag of blood. It was still warm in her pocket.

When the woman turned around, Lori shrugged and suggested another volunteer might have taken it. While they were sorting all that out, she waited on Sveta to collect her cookies and juice. It was safer to run now, but she had promised Sveta a cab. She would see her to her cab and give the guy a couple bucks to get Sveta home as long as no one bothered to frisk her.

She also avoided helping Sveta move around. Touching a booster mutant just wasn't on her list of things to do today.

>>"I don't know how much you've seen if New York, but there is a lot of hate here between humans and mutants. I'm hoping to change that. I think your blood can help."

It was still rather gray, the way she talked. Changing the human-mutant situation... even Effie could tell, with her recently discovered place in said conflict, that there were many ways to accomplish that.
Like using her abilities to make evil mutants stronger and killing humans.
Or lobbying for peace.
Many ways, really.

Effie didn't say anything as she watched the blonde woman steal her blood, and act as if nothing happened. Of course, it was part of the deal. At least she didn't take her to some hidden underground lab. Or a torture chamber.

Once the cab was there, Effie turned to look at the blonde woman one last time. She was not making sure she'd remember her - she was pretty sure she wouldn't forget that face anytime soon. She was just looking at her, holding her chin high, and not saying anything. Not verbally, that is.

I don't believe a word you said. But it's better be true.

Getting into the cab, Effie braced herself for returning to the Mansion and breaking the news to the people there that she just made a pact with the enemy.

She refused to keep thinking about how similar she was to the blonde woman, in more ways than one.