Not A Moment Longer Than Necessary [Eliane, Solo]

Well, well, hadn't life taken a fun little turn of late? The collar around Eliane's neck certainly irritated her, and she was all too willing to blame her dear sister for it. The threat of death, just to maintain this house of cards? That was all well and good as a threat to Wolfina and Antonetta. But it was almost funny to her that Claudia had threatened her with death, as if that had ever mattered.

Unlike Arlette, Eliane hadn't ever cared one iota about wealth or profits. Why should she? You didn't need much money to see things take an interesting turn, to see people squirm. But that didn't mean she wasn't seeing money go places. She'd put plenty of funds into military groups, guerilla cells throughout the world. Places Claudia was perfectly willing to let things disappear to, and places Eliane was thrilled to support. Most would have thought seeing a woman step into a terrorist cell was peculiar, particularly dressed so nicely. But Eliane?

Well, she came here often. She'd died here plenty of times, in fact. Gunfire, stabbings, lost limbs, plenty of other difficulties. You got used to it, traveling so dangerously, and Eliane was known for being plenty willing to die for the sake of the Duvalier Group's aims.

So much so, in fact, that nobody even questioned it when a body wasn't found.

"Mr. Fassad, a pleasure. I hope you've kept my little corner of the camp safe? Ah, you have! Lovely. Well, the shipment I've brought is in the truck, so please, let me alone while I attend to my own matters."

Eliane waved off her escort as she walked, not wishing for anyone to see what she was dealing with here. It was only her business, after all, what lay inside the insulated, unmarked refrigeration unit in a quiet corner of this outpost.

The interior of this little unit was thoroughly lined with medical equipment, much of which had rather unfortunately disappeared from some Duvalier shipment or another during her expeditions into this dangerous part of the world. It was all in service of only one thing, however, and that was the upkeep of the countless pieces she'd left in storage. Blood stored up, a few arms and legs here and there, whatever necessary to build a backup body of her very own. And, perhaps most thankfully, a mostly-intact corpse she'd left here.

Had she expected Arlette to pull a little stunt like this? Quite frankly, yes. She might have thought her sister was a plain, uninteresting square, but she still knew the woman far better than anyone else. Claudia might have liked to think that she knew them all perfectly, but Eliane was aware of just how untrue that was. She was the one who took after the woman most, after all. She could see it in those ice blue eyes whenever one of the others had irritated her.

Eliane played along, of course. It was just in her best interests. But seeing Claudia angry always made her day, in a way that no one else could quite match. As the phone in her pocket rank, she flipped it open rather casually, particularly for a woman surrounded by her own corpse pieces. "Oui? Ah, Dr. Hess! Yes, yes, I'm quite glad to hear your voice. You're nearly here, then? Splendid." Eliane's content little smile twisted itself into a grin as she listened to the man's faintly irritated voice. She did love to hear that. "Well, I'll be glad to see you."

Snapping the phone closed, Eliane simply hummed to herself, running a finger idly over the glass that covered her own body and staring into her own vacant eyes. This would be a risk, and Eliane didn't always like those. But there wasn't any alternative, now was there?

Working for the Duvalier Group was always such a hassle. Most probably would have considered it outright not worth their time, and seeing as Dr. Hess had operated far more closely with them than most, he knew quite well what a danger it actually was. After losing a finger the first time, anyone sensible would have quit. But reattaching a finger was hardly even difficult for him, and they paid so handsomely that it was well worth a little discomfort now and again. Hell, a finger was child's play. Now, what Ms. Ovide had presented him...that was more interesting.

Of course, he wasn't entirely confident in simply putting a corpse back to working condition. But Eliane seemed quite sure she had something or other here, and for all her nonsense, he knew that she wasn't one to take chances when it came to her continued existence. Once he'd been patted down and checked for any weapons, he was let into this little compound, and greeted Ms. Ovide with a nod.

"A pleasure. Let's get to it, shall we?"

He walked into the unit she was standing outside without waiting for her permission, and whistled to himself at what he saw inside.

"This everything? Seems workable."

"Only workable? Dr. Hess, please, I like to think that I've done my very best to provide everything that you'd possibly need for this situation."

Taking a seat on one of the surgical beds that she'd crammed into this space, Eliane started to undress with an exceptionally casual air, hardly concerned about the situation. She wasn't much for propriety in the first place, but even if she were, this was something a bit bigger than just a fun little time. For once, Eliane had to actually take things a little seriously.

Ugh. Did Arlette really always live like this? How dreary.

"Well, Dr. Hess, I imagine you know what to do from here. I've been told you're the foremost expert on spiritual surgery that money can buy."

Dying was nothing new for Eliane, and she was hardly afraid of it one more time. But this was quite different. As she felt the doctor connect his equipment, set up the backup corpse on the opposite bed, it occurred to her that this was the end of the life she'd always known. To simply treat her life as something disposable wouldn't be in the cards anymore.

Ah, well. She'd make do. It wasn't like she was incompetent, after all. She simply grinned to herself as the good doctor gave her a thumbs up, taking a handgun from her folded suit pocket and aiming it squarely at her temple. Only one way to see how this went, hm?

Mm. Dying wasn't quite as swift and pleasant an affair when it was being handled in a little back alley manner like this, but it was better than dying for good. Far better than being collared like she was some sort of dog, huh?

"Well, Doctor, I guess I should thank you. Though I'm not exactly looking forward to gunning down the next version of me that gets sent out, you know... Say, what was your theory about the soul again? That it isn't even real? You ought to submit that one to the shinigami for study. They'd love it, I'm sure."

With a laugh, Eliane studied her now-empty corpse, pure contempt in her eyes for the body she'd briefly inhabited. Things really hadn't needed to go this way, but she supposed Claudia had made it inevitable.

"I don't think we'll be seeing each other again, doctor, so I'll be sure to pay you in full."

Eliane was many things, but she was also a woman of her word. Not for ethical reasons, of course. She just understood the value of keeping a good reputation.