[color=silver] [center][img]https://i.imgur.com/RUeksDd.jpeg[/img][/center] [center][h2][color=goldenrod]Dominic Blackmoor[/color][/h2][/center] [center][color=black][sup][/sup][/color][/center] [center][color=goldenrod][b]Location:[/b][/color] • The Undeground [color=goldenrod][b]Time:[/b][/color] • Night[/center] [center][color=goldenrod][b]Interactions:[/b][/color] • Vex [@Tpartywithzombi][/center] [center][color=black][sup][/sup][/color][/center] The bass was a living thing in here, crawling through floorboards and ribcages, licking at nerves until everything felt too close and too bright. Dom shouldered through the crowd at the Underground, sunglasses pushed up into rain-wet hair, cut still weeping along his brow from the cage. He saw it happen the second it started, the hand sliding where it had no business, the little glint of plastic kissing Vex’s back pocket...It was bullshit. Vex spun and laid him out with a clean right that sang off the man'ssull. The crowd hitched, then swallowed the moment whole but Vein Theory's song never missed a beat. Dom did not make a scene. He let the crowd swallow Vex again, then went after the man, catching him by the wrist before he could rabbit away, turned him with a hand at the belt, and walked him three quiet steps into the service gap between the bar and the hallway. One forearm eased across the collarbones, all that weight like a wall settling. His grip on the wrist tightened until something inside it began to splinter. Fingernails lengthened against the man’s skin just enough to break it, five small crescents that welled red and trickled down. The man sucked air through his teeth, blood still coming from the punishment he received from Vex. Dom brought his mouth close enough to be heard over the music. [color=goldenrod]“You are going to listen…”[/color] he said sternly, [color=goldenrod]“and you are going to learn.”[/color] He rolled the wrist inward and down, slowly with the kind of pressure that taught lessons better than words ever could. Cartilage clicked, a metacarpal started to go with a soft pop that got lost under the bass. The man tried to twist free and found there was nowhere to go. [color=goldenrod]“You never touch her again.”[/color] Dom murmured, eyes on the room like he was watching weather roll in, [color=goldenrod]“Plain and goddamn simple.”[/color] He felt the panic arrive. He let it sit. His other hand found the rest of the baggies in the man’s pocket and palmed them clean, then he lifted the pinned arm a hair and gave the shoulder a small sharp turn that promised worse if the fool even thought about squealing. Bones did not snap…[i]yet[/i], but they wanted to, and that was enough. [color=goldenrod]“You are done here.”[/color] he said, easing the forearm off the man’s chest by an inch, [color=goldenrod]“Walk. Pray I let you live to see the sunrise…’cuz I could still change my mind.”[/color] He released the wrist last. The man’s knees thought about buckling from the pain of it all. Dom propped him with two fingers, turned him toward the door, and sent him into the crowd with the tiniest push. A couple of regulars saw the look and opened a lane. The Underground ate him, but Dom tracked his scent to the door. He was gone. Dom came over to the bar. He took Vex’s lighter from her shaking fingers without asking, turned her hand in his, and cupped the flame out of the draft. The paper caught, the cherry bloomed, the tremor in her wrist settled under his thumb because he did not let it do otherwise. He looked at her knuckles, brushed a thumb once over the split skin, then set her hand back where it was. He slid the baggies across to the bartender with a look that gave plenty of instructions. [color=goldenrod]“Water, plate of fries, mozzarella sticks…anything bread and greasy.”[/color] he said calmly, [color=goldenrod]“and no more drinks for her. Nothing but water.”[/color] He let himself be a wall at her back, not touching her, just there. The bass rolled on. Neon burned her hair blue, then pink, then red. [color=goldenrod]“You’re being stupid again…”[/color] he said, eyes still on the crowd, [color=goldenrod]“Do you think this shit’s cute?”[/color] The water hit the bar and he nudged it to her fingers. [color=goldenrod]“Drink...”[/color] he told her...[color=goldenrod]“Then eat. If you want air, tell me. If you want out, I will take you home. Your call, but you're staying where I can see you.”[/color] A couple of men drifted by, caught his glance, and remembered they had someplace else to be. Dom did not look away from the room for a long beat, then he finally let his gaze slide back to her mouth, to the smear of blood on her knuckles, then to the light in her eyes. He leaned an elbow on the bar and lowered his voice until it belonged only to her. [color=goldenrod]“And Vex...What the hell are you trying to prove with all of this?”[/color] [/color]