FicWad

Honey & Blood:

Simone's Notes:

The evolution of sex is a major puzzle in modern evolutionary biology. Many groups of organisms, notably the majority of animals and plants, reproduce sexually. The evolution of sex contains two related, yet distinct, themes: its origin and its maintenance. However, since the hypotheses for the origins of sex are difficult to test experimentally, most current work has been focused on the maintenance of sexual reproduction. Several explanations have been suggested by biologists including W. D. Hamilton, Alexey Kondrashov, George C. Williams, Harris Bernstein, Carol Bernstein, Michael M. Cox, Frederic A. Hopf and Richard E. Michod to explain how sexual reproduction is maintained in a vast array of different living organisms. It seems that a sexual cycle is maintained because it improves the quality of progeny, despite reducing the overall number of offspring. In order for sex to be evolutionarily advantageous, it must be associated with a significant increase in the fitness of offspring. One of the most widely accepted explanations for the advantage of sex lies in the creation of genetic variation. Another explanation is based on two molecular advantages. First is the advantage of recombinational DNA repair and second is the advantage of complementation.

Alessia looked at him blankly. "What?!?" she asked him in surprise. Syd let himself into the apartment. He closed and locked the door behind him.

"I mean it," he said calmly. "Ms. Ella and I really need this picture. Could you draw it for us?" The girl kept staring at him. She just couldn't understand it. What did Syd need her for with a drawing? However, the girl was too scared and confused to really think. Without thinking, Alessia nodded quickly. Syd smiled at her kindly. He handed her the colored pencils.

"Thanks," he said to her. "Just take me to your desk now." Then the girl led him to her room. The deity was keeping his hopes up. "Old girl," he thought as they walked down the hall. "You better be right on this one! If not, you are so dead!" They came into Alessia's room. The girl sat down at her drawing table.

"What do you want me to draw?" she asked. The deity looked at her still smiling.

"Just draw the first thing that comes to your mind," he ordered her.

"Anything?" the girl asked.

"Anything," Syd replied. The little girl nodded at him and thought about something to help him out. An idea quickly came to her and got right to work. While he waited, Syd looked all around. Drawings were all over her room. He suddenly noticed a pattern. Alessia's drawings were all arranged in some sort of a timeline. This wasn't just any normal timeline. This was a timeline of all of the growing Fallen World up to this point. Then, something caught his eye quickly. A series of drawing was split into nine sections. The series wasn't complete just yet. The last picture was of the tart city after it had been tested. Syd figured out what it was too. "This is Manami's fallen world!" he thought. "But it's not finished!" He was smiling to himself now. The deity now knew where they stood. Now the next part was how to combat the growing harvest plague before it spiraled out of control. At the moment, they were stuck.

"Finished!" Alessia called out. Syd returned to Earth and turned to her quickly.

"That fast?" he asked.

"Yeah," the girl replied softly. The deity rushed over to her.

"Well," he said. "Come on! Let's see it! Show me!" Alessia showed him her work. Syd studied the picture for a long while. An interesting piece this drawing was. It depicted Edward lying romantically in the arms of Nurse Derdra Chopin. But that was only part one. Syd noticed that there was very thin line between the couple. The deity just couldn't take his eyes off of it.

"Alessia," he said aloud to the girl. The young artist looked up at him in silence.

"What is this line?" Syd asked her. Alessia smiled at him kindly.

"The fallen angel can't really touch the goddess," she said. "He doesn't want to taint her. Otherwise he is doomed into hell for eternity." Syd took it all in slowly. A smile came across his face. "So Edward," he thought. "Derdra is your concubine! Very interesting!" The deity turned back to the little girl.

"Alessia," he said to her. "May I take your picture with me? I'll give it back soon."

"Sure..." the little girl replied. Syd took the drawing and folded it up into his bag. Then, the man left in silence. Alessia watched him silence. She still wasn't aware of what was going on.

Meanwhile at Irene's apartment, Ella was still waiting. She looked up when she heard a shuffle sound. Irene was almost back again. The deity smiled brightly. "Great!" she thought. "She's sober again!" Ella rose to her feet and hurried to the struggling artist. She found Irene in the bathroom vomiting. Ella rushed to help her right away. She knelt over the woman in hurry.

"Are you okay, Ms. Myer?" Ella asked her. "You need any help?" The artist kept vomiting. The deity just held her hair back while she threw up. This went on for a few moments more. Irene finally sat back on her knees. Ella lightly rubbed on her back.

"You okay now?" she asked. Irene paused for a moment. Then she leaned over in the toilet again and threw up once more. Ella held back her hair again. Irene went on one more talk with the toilet before she sat back up again. The women waited a few more seconds before speaking.

"Any more?" Ella asked her at last. Irene shook her head sickly.

"Okay," the deity asked. She waited a few more seconds before talking again.

"Irene," she said. The artist looked right at her. Ella smiled at her kindly.

"Irene," she said again. "Do you know about the huge paneled painting across your back wall?" Irene looked at her highly confused.

"What paneled painting?" she asked. Ella looked at her kindly. She knew that the drugs had effected her memory. It was best to work lightly with this lady.

"Come on, I'll show you," Ella replied. "Up you go!" The deity helped Irene steadily to her feet. The artist stumbled around a bit, but was to her feet in seconds. Ella walked her all the way down the hall. Irene insisted that she could walk alone, but Ella didn't let go of her. They came into her main studio. Ella pushed in front of the paneled paintings.

"This one!" she said aloud. Irene took a long while to look at her latest work. The thick and heavy colors were painted in a sultry yet frightening way. She knew it was her work because each panel had her initials in her brushwork in the lower right corner of each panel. The artist looked at Ella confused.

"I don't what this is," she replied softly. Ella was really confused.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Irene turned to her.

"I painted this when I was high," she admitted. Ella looked at her with growing surprise.

"Don't you get it, Ms. Myer!" she yelled out. "You have the ability to paint the future!" The artist looked at her as if she was crazy.

"What the hell are you talking about?!?" she exclaimed. "I don't even understand what I paint most of the time. I only paint when I'm high!" Ella kept smiling at her. She sat down in one of the chairs in the studio.

"Sit down," she told Irene. "I will explain it all to you." Irene looked at her nervously at first. Ella was sounding crazier by the minute. The deity kept smiling at her.

"It's okay," she encouraged. "I'll explain everything." Irene hesitated at first, but then she sat down in the opposite chair in front of Ella's. The deity carefully explained the whole mission, Ai-Oni, Manami, the incubi and succubi, the Red Jasmine virus, and the growing fallen world. Irene listened in utter disbelief. The information was just too hard to sink in. When Ella was done, Irene stared at her with big eyes. The deity waited for her to say something. Ella was slowly growing nervous. "I knew this would happen!" she thought. Irene calmed down some, but was still heavily rattled.

"So you're saying... I... can paint the future?" she asked.

"Yes!" Ella replied.

"But... but..." Irene began again. "How?" Ella just shrugged.

"It's hard to see," she replied. "There is a little girl that can do the same thing. We don't know how it is possible, but we need your help." The artist just stared at her even more confused.

"Me?" she asked.

"Yes," Ella replied. "We need you to make as many paintings as we can. Starting with finishing the panel painting on the wall over there." The deity pointed to the unfinished masterpiece. Irene began to look disappointed at her commissioner.

"But I can't!" the artist replied. Ella slightly frowned at her.

"Why not?" she asked.

"I paint most of my work when I am high!" Irene explained. "That is the only way I can get anything for you, Ms. Ella." The deity saw this as a problem already. "I can't have her high during this mission!" she thought in high concern. "I have to save her from herself if I'm going to stop Manami and the fallen world." I lightly touched her on the hand.

"It's okay," I told her calmly. "I will help you get off of the drugs and learn to paint without them." Irene didn't seem to believe her at a all. Ella kept her smile.

"Come on," she went on. "I haven't let you down at all, have I?" Irene slowly shook her head at her. Ella just kept smiling softly at her.

"There you see?" she asked. "You're in good hands with me!" Irene still looked uneasily about the idea. Ella didn't mind it. She knew that she would be doing the right thing in the end.

Out in the fields, Shane came across a disturbing discovery. The last thing Syd said to her at their last encounter just wouldn't leave her head. Both learned about Ivy's blackmailer. The deity said that he had the problem taken care of. She knew that Syd was plotting something. But she was too nervous at first to find out what it was. But now, it just wouldn't let her be. That was until today...

Shane was scanning the field when she saw a pair of feet sticking out along the tree. She just couldn't look away. "What is that?" Shane thought. The deity flew down to the thick willow tree. What she saw next really shocked her. Jo Wyatt's dead body was lying cold on the ground for the world to see. Shane flew down to the dead body for closer inspection. Her eyes grew big in shock. "It's that bitch Jo!" she thought in surprise. The tech deity could do anything but forget about that former council member. Jo used, cheated, lied, stole, manipulated, and blackmailed people into giving what she wanted. So many people and lives had been ruined because of her. Shane felt great happiness at seeing her dead. "I wish I could thank whoever killed the bitch in person!" she thought in great joy. But then, something caught her eye. The tech deity flew down closer to the body to get a better look.

Two notes were pinned down to the woman's paper thin black robe. Shane knelt down over the body and read the first note. It was the letter Syd got from his investigation on who blackmail Ivy to her suicide. Real anger filled Shane up fast. This was the bitch that drove her Ivy to kill herself over that night. The tech love deity looked down at the dead body. "Bitch!" she thought in anger. Then, Shane spat on the body. The deity had to walk away from the body in order not to desecrate it. (Believe me, she was tempted to the do so!)

When she was calm again to face the body, the deity removed the first note to read the other one. Here is what she read:



A Gift for You, the Bitch That Drove Ivy to Death



Syd



A sick smile came across Shane's face. So this was what he meant when he had the problem taken care of. For once, that bastard did something right by her. "Syd!" she thought. "I ought to kiss and hug you later!" Then, Shane held footsteps behind her. She looked up and saw a farmer and his dog coming closer. Shane smiled to herself brightly. "Well," she thought. "Hate to see how this one ends!" Then, the deity quickly ascended up into the sky invisibility. In seconds, the farmer and his dog found the body. Moments later, the police turned the field into a crime scene. The whole beauty of Syd's crime was that he was so damn careful not to leave a single trance of events behind when he was finished. He was untraceable to the military and police. Within weeks, Jo's case in the living realm went cold. But both Syd and Shane knew it wasn't over yet. Jo's real trial had yet to begin. Shane planned to be there for that one. But first, she had to make a few arrangements before she could get her final say.

Shane had to convince her current girlfriend and head of the love lab night shift, Carmen, to take her place for the day of August 20th. The night deity looked seem keen to do it.

"Why should I?" Carmen challenged her.

"Oh come on!" Shane reasoned. "I'll take over your shift tomorrow night! Just this once!" Carmen still didn't look convinced.

"On what grounds?" she asked. Shane looked away from her to the outside window.

"It's an old debt I have to pay off," she replied. Carmen quickly became suspicious.

"Does this have to do with that Ivy woman again?" she asked sharply. "Then the answer is no!"

"Carmen, please!" Shane said. "Do this for me! If I get this out of my system, I'll feel much better again. So please take my shift for tomorrow night! Please do it for me!" Her girlfriend eyed her sharply.

"And what if I get caught?" she challenged. Shane stood straight and tall.

"Then, I'll answer to Mother Superior, myself!" she replied. Carmen still thought about the offer for a moment. Her girlfriend kept hoping for something positive to come out of her mouth. Finally, her girlfriend looked up at her with stern eyes.

"Okay!" she replied. "But if I got caught, I'll have your head!" Shane smiled at her brightly. Then, she kissed her on happily on the lips.

"Thank you, Carmen!" she said. "You won't regret this!" Carmen just rolled her eyes annoyed. She hoped that this wasn't going to end up stupid in the end.

Jo's final trial was in the morning. Shane made sure that she had front row seats to the action. Jo was sentenced to the fourth level of hell. The level of avarice was going to be her home. Shane smirked to herself bitterly. "She should get worse!" the deity thought to herself. But in the end, Shane settled for Jo's punishment. It was fitting for the crime after all.

On the way to the portal gate, Jo taken away in handcuffs by two demons. At the end of the passage way, Shane stood there waiting for her. The old lady's spirit looked up at her miserably.

"And what do you want?" she snapped at the deity. Shane just glared at her.

"I only came to see you suffer in hell!" she snapped. Jo just rolled her eyes.

"Aren't you going to ask me why?" she challenged.

"Oh, I already know why!" Shane barked. Jo looked at her desperately.

"But it wasn't fair!" she snapped. "She had all of that money! I was left with nothing when the council collapsed. She had all of that money!"

"Yeah," Shane replied. "Money that she inherited from her old dojin!"

"But it should not have gone to her!" Jo whined. "The council should have gotten her money! It was ours to take. It wasn't fair that she got the money and we didn't! You understand, don't you?"

"Yeah," Shane said bitterly. "I understand! And I bet a judge on the fourth level will understand too! Especially if it happens to be a woman today!" The demons took Jo away to her permanent prison. Shane just snorted and walked away back to the academy.

Shane ran the night shift with great ease. For once, she felt happy to be at work. Sure the girls on the night shift were confused on the change of leadership, but they knew what to do and rose above to work around it. Everything worked out just fine. Well, almost. There was still one more thing left to settle in the Shane-Ivy-Syd drama.

"Okay, start talking!" Carmen demanded when Shane got back to their dorm from her one-time stand at the night shift. "What was so important with this Ivy woman in Hell this morning that you had to trade shifts with me?" Shane looked up at her from the bed where she was lying down on her back. Carmen looked so hot in just her lacy black bra and panties. The day shift deity just smiled to herself wickedly. "Well, might as well tell her!" she thought in a relaxed mood.

"Carmen," Shane replied with a smile upon her charming face. "I will tell you the story about a bastard, a princess, a tech geek, and a wicked witch..."

Next Night

Next Time: Random people have been getting beat up by a random group of thugs throughout the city. Syd and co. have to track them down before they get out of hand.