Chromium

9.2

Omen looked at her for a long time, and when she was starting to believe he would refuse the deal, he nodded.

"Fine, ask."

Dia looked at the mess she made of the room and then stared at the door.

"Is it safe to talk?" She asked.

Omen looked a bit amused.

"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" He asked, and Dia couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed about her lack of control. "Don't worry. I already checked it out. It's clean." He assured, and she let out a sigh of relief.

"But I don't think we have much time." He warned her. "From the way you were yelling, if the guards didn't warn Reyes or the Umbra, they'd do it soon."

Dia blinked, well aware she had to hurry, but she was still out of sorts, and it took some time to collect her thoughts.

"What else did Reyes forget to tell me?" Dia asked at the end.

"Not much...but some of those Negs voluntarily replace some of their limbs with cybernetic implants." He said, wrinkling his nose like talking about it was like sniffing something foul.

Dia was the same.

God, I'm going to be sick. "Does Katrina...?"

"She doesn't." He reassured her.

Dia sighed with relief. She had enough metal and cybernetics in her body as it was.

"What about tattoos?"

"None." He said, and Dia cursed Suzanne in her mind. It seemed she worried for nothing. But maybe she talked too soon.

"Piercings?" She asked, but this time Omen didn't answer. "Omen?"

"She may have one or two." He reluctantly admitted.

Oh, shit.

"Where?" She wanted to know.

"Her belly button." Well, that's not so bad. "Her tongue." That's a bit close to my bottom line but fine.

"And..." Omen looked down at her, and as Dia followed his gaze, she stiffened.

He was staring at her chest.

"No way. I won't let anyone pierce my...my..."She tried to say the word, but she couldn't, not in front of him.

"Nipples" Omen supplied.

Dia frantically shook her head, looked down at her chest and then up at Omen's face.

"No fucking way."

Omen sighed.

"Fine. I think that it shouldn't be a problem if you just..." He faked a cough. "...cover them."

"Please stop talking about it." She begged him.

"Acknowledged...corporal." He said, and maybe she just imagined it, but it almost felt like he...winked at her.

Yep, I definitely imagined it.

"The piercings are alright, I suppose." She conceded. "But the dress..."

"Dia, try to understand. Katrina's character is very...peculiar. Her dresses are revealing, her manners a bit crude, and her habits extremely licentious."

Licentious? Really, Omen?

"You aren't a spy, and you aren't trained like one. We can do nothing about that, and we can't change the way you behave overnight. And that's why the way you look like is so important."