a nameless admirer, a faceless threat --/demetrio

[Nesia Notonegoro]

445 WORDS Demetrio Fortuna stalking tw

H e was here, sitting at the front row with a cigar hanging between his lips. Nesia ensured her gaze fell on the tables behind his, knowing that he would be delighted to have their eyes met. When tonight's act was over and the curtain closed, Nesia could not feel more relieved. The woman did not know him, save for his face. A man around his thirties, with a few streaks of gray visible between the jet black ones. He first came like other casino goers, attracted by the thrill of gambling. Soon the only table he frequented was the one closest to the show stage where Nesia performed four times every week. And then the cards and flowers appeared in her dressing room. It was always anonymous, and Nesia never asked for a name to any waitress who delivered said bouquet to her table --just a simple 'thank you'. The flowers would be handed to another girl --Nesia had no space left in her apartment and her boyfriend would be suspicious. All was forgotten. But things changed. Her table was bare tonight. She had long suspected the cigar man to be the anonymous sender, because the gifts were sent when that man was in the casino. Maybe the sender was someone else, but her intuition signaled that something was off. Just like it had predicted, when Nesia walked alone towards the tube station late night, an imaginary alarm blared in her mind. Strange, steady footsteps. She was stalked. Despite being an undercover agent, Nesia had no weapons in her possession. Moreover, she made a mistake by taking a shortcut through a deserted alley. She stopped at its end, where the alley met a big road, before turning to find her admirer standing under the shadows. Nesia could scream and run as fast as her heels allowed to, if he showed any weird behavior. "Sir? May I help you?" The man took a step forward, desperation danced in his eyes. "Walk." "To where?" "Wherever you're going now." "I'm going to my grandfather's house," she lied. "He didn't like surprise guest." "He'll like me," he replied, blowing smoke from his mouth. "Let's go, I'm curious about what kind of place you live in." Nesia narrowed her eyes. The lack of lighting made her unable to see if he was holding something. Both hands were in the pocket. He had no weapon when he's in the casino, that was obvious, but there's no guarantee he did not pick up any after he left the building. "I'd rather not having any stranger in my house this late," Nesia said after a prolonged silence, her feet ready to start running.

LAIKA OF GS!

[Demetrio Fortuna]

Before and after the times Demetrio had to take the stage, he scouted the casino on the basis of first getting to know the layout of where he worked, then finding stuff that he needed to do in the areas where he had determine the high likely of criminal activity would occur. Eventually, though, he had one costumer that wasn’t a normal costumer that had information specifically for him; one person at the agency who knew he was a sleeper agent that was allowed to bring him updates had visited him. It was odd for him to have this person drop in, but he would take what was given and decide what he should do with the information. Once she had left with the bit of money the agency could still provide him in these clandestine meetings of payment for services provide, he took the letter and read it, surprised at the information. Apparently one of his fellow workers was also an agent, but not a sleeper like him. Knowing he needed to keep an eye on her, for that would be the only reason he would have been provided her name, he quickly burned the letter with his lighter before heading out to his apartment.

That had been a few weeks ago, and either the agency knew that something was going to happen or it was just the luck of the timing, but Demetrio was glad that he had been alerted to her presence. After one of her performances, he saw flowers being delivered to her dressing room. While this wasn’t unusual, and he would normally not pay any attention to it since he had flowers every so often himself, the timing of the agency sent off warning bells in his head. So he continued to watch, night after night, during his own performances with the crowd and at the back of the room during hers. Every night, he saw one guy sending flowers to her, always with a certain look on his face that gradually changed from admiration to something that sent chills down his spine. He kept watch over this man and his fellow worker, determined to protect her if she needed help. He didn’t want to overstep their boundaries.

But the time came when the man didn’t send flowers after the performance, but left instead. This act alone had the trained man on high alert. He had learned how to read humans, and while he didn’t always use these skills, he used them tonight. The sudden change in the habitual behavior was a signal that the man had made up his mind about something, something that would probably be dangerous for her. All that Demetrio knew he could do right now was wait. Eventually she left the casino for the night and saw the shadow slip behind her. Carefully becoming the shadow of the shadow, he gritted his teeth, knowing there had to be a real threat before he could do anything. This cat and mouse game lasted for a few blocks before the confrontation began.

"He'll like me. Let's go, I'm curious about what kind of place you live in."

Walking behind the man, he carefully removed the gun from his pocket, and held the muzzle to the man’s back, cocking it loudly for everyone to hear in the silence of the night. Using his free hand, he grabbed the man’s shoulder and pulled him close; making sure the man felt the weapon on his mid back.

“The lady said she didn’t want you around. Now, I suggest leaving and never returning to the casino, and never bother her again. You wouldn’t want to find yourself missing a certain part of your anatomy now, would you? Now, apologize.”

Demetrio wouldn’t normally be that violent or this rough sounding, but someone had threatened a fellow agent and he had to keep his own identity undercover. Plus he despised creatures such as the one in front of him. He had to be the dominate one in this exchange, make the man fear bothering her again; it was the only way to get through to these types of men.

“Well, apologize and leave before I give you another hole in your body.”

---

(If you need me to change something, tell me please.)

[Nesia Notonegoro]

349 WORDS feel free to go after her

T he adrenaline was rushing, the blood pumped even quicker, echoing in small thump-thump in her hearing. Would her admirer-slash-stalker resort to violence? Nesia curled and relaxed her fingers several times, doing the first step in self defense: assess your surroundings. The man was taller than her, he might outrun the Indonesian agent. But Nesia was a good sprinter, she could reach the busy street and scream for help before he could reach her. Nesia was trained in pencak silat, and although it had been years since her last training, the agent could deliver a powerful kick right to his weak spot. A loud, familiar click halted her train of thoughts. At first Nesia thought the man had taken out a gun from his pocket, but both of his hands were still there. Then a moving shadow behind him explained it. Someone had followed them, and now the person was holding a gun to the admirer's head. “The lady said she didn’t want you around. Now, I suggest leaving and never returning to the casino, and never bother her again. You wouldn’t want to find yourself missing a certain part of your anatomy now, would you? Now, apologize.” The voice was too vague of a clue; Nesia could not determine its owner immediately nor find out its appearance. It was a male voice, calm and determined. He was serious about the threat. Her admirer was visibly trembled, his eyes darted from her face to the hand on his shoulder. “Well, apologize and leave before I give you another hole in your body.” The distance between them made Nesia unable to hear what words he said to the man behind him. She was interested to see who came following them, but her logic kicked in. This was a good chance to go. So she turned around and jogged to the big road, never once looking back. Who knows, perhaps her so called savior was a robber. That man was quite rich anyway, no one would suspect it if he was getting robbed; it was his fault for going through an alleyway.

LAIKA OF GS!

[Demetrio Fortuna]

Day after day passed and he continued to watch. There was no sign of the sleazy man anywhere in the establishment, which was just as well as far as he wanted it. He had knocked the guy out and left him to fend for himself. He would spare no feelings towards a man who would have hurt a coworker, used her for whatever purposes and who knows what. He would keep an eye on her though, at least for a little bit. Demetrio had watched her shows from the back when he could and left her alone otherwise. After all, she was a trained agent and capable of looking after herself, and she wouldn’t appreciate another agent potentially undermining her. Demetrio also knew he couldn’t take the chance in alerting her to his presence and bringing questions upon himself. He had to lay as low as he could in this profession, only drawing in the people he could, like a spider temps a fly with its pretty colors. Honestly, he wasn’t the best act they had with the exotic dancers, but he wasn’t the worst either.

Moving into the lounge room, he took a drink and murmured to one of the people he was friendly with. Exchanging a laugh, he went to get something to drink. He needed a drink after his last performance, and didn’t trust going out into the floor for at least an half an hour, or more, depending on what other things were going on that night. This night, he still had a while to go; he just sat down to enjoy the music he could here. Sitting down, he crossed his legs and let his muscles fully relax.

“This is the way to make a living.”

And it was a way to make a living, perhaps not his choice way, but it got him money to live off of while here and chances to learn information when the right costumers presented himself. He just had to make himself be in the right place to hear information, and in the right place to act if he should get the word, no matter what the word was.

[Nesia Notonegoro]

348 WORDS

A fter the encounter in the alley, the flowers had stopped coming. Not completely -- Nesia still received some bouquets every week or so from other casino goers, but none bore the signature mark of the anonymous flowers. The cards accompanying them were filled with compliments and occasionally, phone number. Nesia took them as a joke, and never bothered to call any of those numbers. But the important thing is, her admirer never showed up anymore in her shows Still, Nesia was curious about the man who saved her in the alley. Was he simply a passerby who decided to play a hero? Or actually a robber disguised as a kind person? Either way, Nesia owed a thanks to him. If he hadn't appeared, she would have to put down the commoner persona she wore, revealing the MI6 agent underneath. Of course if she defended herself and hurt him -- which was a certainty -- it would disrupt her undercover operation. No one in her workplace knew about her identity. No one, as far as the Indonesian woman knew. Bringing a small towel and a cold drink, Nesia headed to the lounge where other performers mingled when they weren't on the stage or backstage. It was rather full, and Nesia had to walk between tables just to find one unoccupied chair. Another chair in the same table had a man sat on it. He was one of the exotic dancers; Nesia recognized him even though she never watched his performance -- it always made her blush awkwardly. So she set her mind to look for another chair, but the man spoke up and the showgirl couldn't help but notice the voice and how he utter the syllables. A slight familiarity crossed her thought. Nesia placed her hand on top of the empty chair, bowing slightly to catch his attention. "Excuse me, may I?" she gestured at the furniture. "Other tables are already full and I don't want to walk too much, my muscles are stiff. Oh, and I'm Nesia by the way." She extended her hand, believing that they hadn't properly introduced themselves.

LAIKA OF GS!

[Demetrio Fortuna]

Demetrio had paid attention to the news as well as who attended the different shows for reports of an attack or for the man he had scared away from his coworker. There were no words either way about someone being held up, so he relaxed, letting it go. He was just glad that he could help, even I he was upset that he was given the name of another agent who was undercover here. He could only propose that it was because it was merely an undercover agent and not a sleeper agent like himself. It would have been no different than if he worked in headquarters and saw agents come and go. He only let these thoughts drift though his head though as he sat in the break room, keeping this persona going. He took another drink of water as he listened to everyone, only speaking when he had something to say. Though he did have fun poking fun of anther one of the dancers who had face planted earlier in some of the shimmer powder, it would be a while before he would live that down. Though that had been a while ago, or now, he was letting himself muse about living this life an enjoying this no stress life while he could… or at least appearing like he was.

”Excuse me, may I?

Blinking as the woman drew his attention from the space he was staring off into and back to the present, he could only smile at his fellow worker. He was a bit surprised really, since he had had no contact with her before this, at least not much any. It seemed like most of the different types of entertainment here at the Casino tended to ignore each other. But he would always talk to someone… and he could only hope that she didn’t recognize him from the other night. Lest if she did, there was nothing harmful that could be learned from it.

“Other tables are already full and I don’t want to walk too much, my muscles are stiff. Oh, and I’m Nesia by the way.”

Reaching up to take her hand, he shook it and let himself smile at her. Motioning for her to have a seat, he kept himself relaxed, chalking it up to a coincidence that she had taken this chance to introduce herself to him.
“I’m Demetrio, though most people call me Deme. Nesia... that's a beautiful name.  And you can sit wherever you want to, I’m in no place to stop you. Your shows going well, I’ve been able to catch a performance or two, you’re quite good.

[Nesia Notonegoro]

325 WORDS

❝ I’m Demetrio, though most people call me Deme. Nesia... that's a beautiful name. And you can sit wherever you want to, I’m in no place to stop you. Your shows going well, I’ve been able to catch a performance or two, you’re quite good." If that compliment was directed to another performer, they would smile and thanked Demetrio. But Nesia, instead of doing that she was stunned for a bit. A smile, half forced, appeared on her face as she seated herself. "Thank you," she nodded a little, and looked around the room to hide her discomfort. She felt embarrassed whenever someone complimented her performance. Yes, it's good, yes she does it almost daily and yes she had received compliments from a smitten audience; but receiving it this close from a rather attractive man just made her want to hide behind a door. She took several breaths, then returned his compliment, "you too. I think I've watched you perform several times. But we never talked beforehand, I believe?" Nesia couldn't recall whether he had been here before or after her. Sometimes they didn't work in the same shifts so when Nesia finally noticed him, he had been working for a while. But judging from Demetrio's age, it seemed that he's her senior. Nesia waved at a passing staff and asked for a glass of water. "Water for me, with ice, please." While she was a fan of fancier, non alcoholic drinks, Nesia opted for water whenever she just finished an intense physical work. It was an advice from her old martial arts teacher back home, and one that she remembered until this day. "So, is your shift over yet? Or are you going to perform soon?" she asked out of courtesy; to kill the rising silence and carry out their conversation. Although she said she saw his performances, Nesia always found herself unable to watch more than a few minutes. Her blush appeared too easily.

LAIKA OF GS!

[Demetrio Fortuna]

"Watched you preform sever as l times but never talked I believe."

He only smiled at her as she ordered a water; it was always interesting to hear another reformers view on the show. Some had only praise, some had only criticism, and others had both. Though he tended to dismiss most of the criticism as it was accusing him of being scandalous and how dare he reveal his body for the whole world to see and ogle. In the long run he didn’t care, He knew his job and would do anything to make sure it was completed. He didn’t mean his stripping job, no; but his other role as an agent. But that was one job no one could know about so a stripper he was.

"We are usually on different performing schedules. Mine got postponed due to a security incident and I just finished a bit ago. So we have the chance to talk now, yes? Though if you need to get home I understand… Not everyone can relax well in the break room."

He leaned back to relax more into his seat, letting his muscles unkink from the odd positions he had put them in to do this dance. It was a new performance with one of the other dancers, a different type of dance battle. Shirt lost for shirt lost. It had earned them both plenty of tips, but for now, he had on a regular pair of jeans and a t-shirt that showed off his muscles well. It was hard for him to find a shirt that didn’t cling to him, but he managed well.

“Did you need an escort home? I heard talk of it getting a bit rougher out there at this time at night. I’ll be more than willing to walk you home once I get my muscles to cool down,”