Yours Truly

Interlude

Bane exited the car in front of the slum apartment building where Zamirah resided and made his way up the first set of staircase steps to the lobby of the building. Thugs and vagrants of the neighborhood had been laughing but upon his arrival, they watched him warily move about the grounds; in the same way, perhaps crocodiles watched a hippopotamus. The strength and power need not be spoken nor the difference between Bane's energy and presence and the lingering thugs; they uncomfortably co-existed with the always present notion that at any point should they make one wrong move... it was 'over'. In the sense that a battle they were unconfident to win, would commence and they would put up one hell of a fight but the law of nature would always prevail.

They were merely crocodiles. He was a hippopotamus.

The top predator glided through the lobby and up the stairs silently and approached the door of her home- stopping just before raising his hand to knock on it- "We have to leave." An unfamiliar male voice urged from within. The voice of Kalim who held his adoptive daughter in his arms. Bane stood there and listened to muffled sobbing from the other side of the thin apartment wall as he stood in the hallway. Listening. While inside Kalim had released her and wiped her eyes s Zamirah looked up at him "We could take the next plane from here and go somewhere else-" Bane raised his hand and knocked on the door to alert those inside to his presence and within the apartment, Kalim whipped around towards the door in horror. "They are here already?" The language rolled out as Bane stood at the door, wondering how to proceed- before his phone rang. As he reached to get it, the door opened before him to reveal Zamirah who held the phone to her ear before she lowered it and ended the call.

What does one ask or expect to be asked in this sticky situation? They were not lovers but they had no label and had been partaking in several intimate moments. Even as Zamirah stepped aside to let the giant male in she held no words that her frantically running mind had given her. When she shut the door behind him and shut in the man with her adoptive father and herself, she still had no words. She could not ask of Bane anything. She had no right to ask for understanding or safety. There was no ground for her to stake a claim to have some sort of romantic or symbolic relationship with him, for her to lean against for support. She could ask him to leave- but would he?

Bane looked at Zamirah; her face was tear-streaked. Her eyes were reddened and the soft skin around them puffy and tired. Color had drained from her features like water poured out of a cup, but the color and water were gradually being replenished now in his presence. He looked to the other man in the room though he was not so insecure as a man to 'puff up' or thrust out his chest in the issue of challenge. The man had caramel skin and bright, hazel eyes; he had medium-length platinum blonde hair and his face had the same structure as Rafiki's.

"My brother sends money for the Unwanted and I spend it." This was perhaps the brother.

Instead, Bane turned his attention to the lioness and seemed to be waiting for her to act. To speak? To sit? To ask him to leave? What did he want of her? Why did he always seem to look at her as if... he was awaiting her reaction before playing his lot in where she placed hers? If she declared the sky to be goldenrod and purple would he also declare it so? When she said nothing, he stepped closer and she looked up at him, "Are you injured?" He questioned and she shook her head in a 'no' answer and tousled her hair. "Should I take my leave?"

"...No." She said and sniffed to clear her airways, "Excuse me, I'll... I'll clean myself up." She said and left the two men alone while she slipped into the bathroom to wash up. The larger male turned his attention to Kalim who looked at him warily, but Bane walked over to the coffee table and picked up the paper again. He re-read its contents as Zamrah exited the bathroom and sat on the bed which drew his attention. Beside her on the bed was a tired old suitcase with several items packed into it.