ten feet off the ground */

[sylvia ashton rivers]

---A BLACK HEARTED HARPIE with platinum locks, an appealing bone structure, and a taste for fine liquor. that was how people saw sylvia rivers. she was a volcano anticipating a devastating erruption, making the exquisite inhabbitted island totally and completely unbearable to any mere mortal. syl wasn't the type of crazy that could be cured. she wasn't the type of bitch who need enlightenment. her grey shaded heart wasn't in need of love to brighten her world with color. syl was syl. she always had been, and she always would be. her icy disposition and die hard glares were a permanent aspect. nobody ever changed; the mere prospect of somebody going through an all out metamorphosis was entirely impossible and utterly idiotic. it simply did not happen. the ferocious blonde wasn't about to pretend like she was going to change, nor did she have any desire to do so. if anybody had a problem with which she was, they could go violently gauge out their eye balls and cook them to a crisp delicacy over a cannibal camp fire. the catastrophic criminal wasn't looking for social acceptance, or the approval of the masses. public opinion didn't faze her, it never had. that was a positive outlook, really. she wasn't bothered by the scheming whispers when she walked into a room, nor was she irritated at the fact that most gave her curt answers and made heathen comments about her when she turned to walk away. if she was irritated, it was because humanity as a whole was totally and irrevocably idiotic. she'd lived in various places throughout the course of her life, even if the stays were short. india, china, canada, brazil, africa. not once had the elder rivers girl felt compelled to befriend the locals, never had she had the dying urge to be acceptable amongst the people she would meet. sylvia rivers was all about business. she wanted to get in, do her job, and get out of dodge as quickly as possible. she wanted to make money, and she wanted to be renowned for her talents, even if it was never exactly her person taking the credit since she took the part of "messenger" or contact, claiming the person behind the computer refused to be met, and people bought that lie time and time again because how often was the hot blonde babe a computer geek? not often at all, and so she gave herself various names to keep her identity safe. it was a good system, and it prevented any sort of attachment to unnecessary people. most only figured she was the pilot girl who helped her sister out with their tactical crimes, but she was so much more, there was just no need to share that with the stupid. her heart was an inferno laced with white satin drenched in deadly poison. syl rivers was invincible to the world. people did not get to her. she simply did not give a fuck. there was no single weakness she possessed aside from the fact that she was mortal.

except one.

they said one's past defined them throughout the course of their life. it shaped who they were, who they became, and how they proceeded to act when in the face of adversity. a past determined a person, for better or for worse. there was no way to avoid it. everybody had a past, and everybody had a future. granted, there were a few people who laughed in the face of destiny and took their lives into their own hands despite the cards dealt to him, but there were also the people who let what had happened to them affect them for the rest of their pathetic existence. the pilot had been one of those people who laughed in fate's face. she wouldn't let herself fall apart like the good majority of humanity would have done in her place. she was better than that, she always had been. syl had grown up in bombay, india. she'd had wonderful parents who always had their children’s' best interests at heart. she'd been raised in a warm house with friendly faces and congenial visitors. she'd been adored and the indians had fawned over her ashen skin, pale eyes, and blonde hair ever since she was a baby. the girl would run out into the streets with the locals and her siblings, she'd play little games and run to the locals stores and buy fruit. her ex-military father gave her private flying lessons, making it her passion to be in the air. her entire had traveled the world together as a whole. they were as tight knit as could be. they'd been places together most people only dreamed of visiting, places a good majority of them could only hope to even be permitted entrance into. because of all the traveling, she'd become fluent in several different languages, although hindi and english were the main two. and then in the middle of her adolescence, both of her parents were brutally slaughtered by none other than her own brother. she still didn't know why he had done it, nor would she ever, in fact, she usually tried to not think about it, and it didn't exactly make the top ten memories of her life. it was something she'd rather not remember, and so she'd forced it out of her mind for good. there was no need to have some sort of tragic loss holding her down, chaining her to the pathetic planet she was forced to spend the entirety of her sorry existence on. she never knew why he did it, it didn't make sense, but he did it. he left her alone, orphaned. alone except for one person in this world whom syl genuinely loved. except for the one person who was her best friend. except for the one person who'd always been there for her. except for the one person who'd always had her best interest at heart. except for the one person who also happened to be her sole weakness - josephine rory rivers.

joey was syl's baby sister. she was the only person on the whole planet that syl cared about more than herself. syl was a storm, a haphazard that hit so suddenly nobody could ever prepare for it. she was cold, and a blizzard, and self-destructive as well as annihilating those around her as well. joey was just the opposite. she was warm, the sun. joey was a safe harbor amidst the deadly, thunderous clouds. they balanced each other out with utter perfection. the rivers sisters were like yin and yang. they were like dark and light. syl wouldn't be able to function without joey in her life, she couldn't even imagine being without her. syl was the rhyme to joey's reason. where one went, the other was surely close to follow. it sounded overly dramatic, like something straight out of a book, and perhaps it was over-exaggerated in the slightest, but it was true nonetheless. most would probably be unaware of the extensiveness of their relationship, they didn't see the dependencies syl felt for her sister. it was always there, however. joey was the only person who could safely remove the poisoned ivory satin and touch the roaring inferno brooding beneath. they were as close as could be, they always had been, ever since they were children. it grown even stronger since they were all each other had. blood triumphed over anything else, if something ever were to happen to jo, syl would never forgive herself. she would live her life in a well of remorse, ruined and confused. losing joey would be the one thing that could break her. she need her more than she would ever admit. syl wasn't much of the emotional type. she was passionate in fury, but not much else. joey just seemed to understand without a need for words. they'd been through a lot together, from their charming childhood and exquisite adventures to the tragedy of their teenage years and the incessant desertion that followed. they had seen the world together, while simultaneously conning the rich out of their money and values. syl liked to think of them as a modern day robin hood, stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, or well, keeping it for them. they could consider themselves unfortunate though. they were the best damn team around, the government would kill for two talented, undefeatable people who worked magnificently with one another. somehow, they'd ended up in las vegas, and really put their skills to use. it was like disneyland for white collared criminals. they'd scammed and cheated every big casino as well as pulled schemes on all of vegas's head honchos. they were good at it too, spending the entire past year giving vegas a run for its money. that was until they became recognizable, thus being exiled from sin city. syl didn't find herself upset about having to move, she loved to travel. the city of sin was losing its touch, anyway. what ruffled her feathers was the fact that they got caught in the first place, but there was no changing it, and so the rivers sisters ended up in valkyrie, california.

valkyrie wasn't a bad place to get stuck in. it was pretty, nice waves, some decent hang outs, and enough criminal activity to give al capone a heart attack. the natives were a bit dull, always bitching about their precious little town being destroyed, but people were annoying all over the world, so syl ignored it and drowned herself in alcohol. it wasn't like she was some binge drinker, but every now and again she'd go out and get hammered, especially since she had a new drinking buddy in town that happened to have full free access to the best damn liquor she could have found. it wasn't like they'd had much business lately, mostly because they were trying to settle themselves, currently just living at the inferno, which was a bit pricy, but syl had so generously taken it upon herself to "alter" the prices and give themselves a little discount. tonight, however, seemed to be the start of having a bit of action again. syl was eager to dabble her feet in a bit of adrenaline, and joey had called her earlier saying they had a job. syl had gone surfing earlier, and planned on partying the night away, but doing something devilishly illegal sounded much more appealing to her fun deprived soul. in the dead of night, she'd been hanging out beneath the golden arches of a mcdonald's just across the street from the museum. the night seemed a bit dull, but maybe that was because nothing else quite compared to the thrill she was anticipating. it wasn't long before she spotted another gargantuan blonde figure across the street, closer to the museum. with a box of french fries and a burger in hand, syl jogged across the street, slowing to a walk as she got closer to joey, stopping when she was by her side, "want something?" she mumbled with her cheeks gorged with food, she held out her offering, waiting, "what's the plan, anyway?" syl knew joey, and joey always had a plan.

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(STATUS) finished. (TAGGED) sole sisters <3 (OUTFIT) black jeans, black long sleeve shirt, black beanie, black sneakers? xD (COMMENTS) yay! (CREDITS) banner to lainey, format inspired by vsiders.

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[joey]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, background-image:url(http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r71/maggiesrpstuff/BACKGROUNDS/fk5qwnjpg.png); width: 457px; padding-top: 30; padding-bottom: 30; -moz-border-radius: 35 35 35 35; -webkit-border-radius: 35 35 35 35;] hi » been around the world and back again. --- SO BY NOW SHE HAD BEEN IN VALKYRIE A COUPLE MONTHS. it took her a week to find trouble and another week to start working again. it was a little surprising that the rivers sisters chose a city that had recently come under destruction with an earthquake. but after settling here joey rivers realized that desperate times really did call for desperate measures. that's where joey was swooping in recently. back in vegas, joey was sort of known for her theifing abilities. her older sister was a natural genius with computers but jo? jo's talents laid in the art of stealing. her clients in vegas never had a budget. what they wanted, she got them. joey never did it for the money though, clearly, since her and syl were sitting on a mountain, but joey did it for the challenge. the planning, the organizing, the execution. thank god their parents blessed at least one of them with the logical reasoning. if you would have told joey at fourteen that her life would have consisted of running from country to country and making a life as a common criminal for the next eight years she would have laughed and not believe it. then again if you were to also tell her that her older brother was going to kill her parents and attempt to kill her, she wouldn't have believed that either. but all that shit happened and here she was, in valkyrie, california. the past eight years had been a whirlwind. she had been to so many places and somehow managed to graduate from high school. surprisingly, it took them awhile to get to the united states. they had been all around the world before the landed in the land of the free. though they were quite far from what the 'american dream' was, they did the roadtripping around the states before they went to vegas and stayed there the past year. yeah, only a year before joey was exiled. the two sisters never did stay in one place for very long. they tended to attract some attention. two beautiful blondes with mad skills? yeah. and then away they would go. syl's firery personality often got them into trouble and joey's collected features often got them out of it. syl was great a computers. with forged documentation, she helped them get into places. joey liked stealing things. pick-pocketing, and of course the whole reason she was kicked out of vegas, card-counting. jo also had a knack for languages. for some reason, they just came easy to her, and moving from place to place she could carry conversations in some countries. the two sisters would probably be snatched up by the fbi or the cia for their abilities, but the two were probably still wanted in mexico for stealing a car. yeah... long story. mexico was where it all started. if syl hadn't heard that they were planning on splitting the two of them up into foster care, that was just a no, and they split, stealing a car in the process, and leaving the country. here in valkyrie however, joey started to build a clientele of wealthy people. how some got her name was a mystery, though it was probably by referrals from some other clients that liked how she did things. the assignment she had been working on for the past couple weeks was stealing a painting from the valkyrie museum. she spent a lot of time researching the painting she was suppose to steal. she never understood why people had to have the real deal, but whatever, right? she was still getting paid. guess those one of a kinds really made the rich want them since they were unattainable. after the research was done, next came the walk-throughs, or as others called it 'casing the place.' jo took tours of the museum to get a feel of their security. the valkyrie museum wasn't a smithsonian by any means, but they had to keep the place safe. she took note of all the cameras and where they were placed. once she located the painting, on the second floor, she checked all exits and cameras up there. yesterday she took another tour and on the first floor unlocked one of windows behind a display case. hopefully since it was out of the way, no one would double check it. she assumed there were going to be security guards. there was no way for her to know where they all patrolled, so that would be a wild card the night of. today, she packed what she needed in a black backpack. inside were tools she needed to take the painting out of the frame, other common criminal tools they might need, a laptop because she needed syl to hack into their security system and shut the cameras down so they wouldn't get caught and a container she could put the painting in once she rolled it up. pretty fool-proof. jo then made her way out of her room at the inferno and called syl to meet her. it didn't take long to keep in the shadows and make her way to the museum. a few minutes later she spotted syl crossing the street. burger and fries in her hand. she shook her head. "no." she moved towards the back of the building, syl following her asking what the plan was. "the plan? stay quiet, look out for security guards, and get the fuck out of here as soon as we can. here," she said and swung her backpack off her shoulder and unzipped it quickly. jo took the laptop out and shoved it at her sister. "shut down their cameras." she also threw some gloves at syl. "you'll need these too." fingerprints were a bitch. joey moved around some of the bushes and pulled out a crate she placed there a few days ago. just big enough for the two of them to climb through the window. "i hope it's still unlocked," she said and hoped up on the crate hoping for the best. joey peered through the window. beyond the wooden display case, she couldn't see much. "i think we are a-go." tagged; syl notes; sole sisters! outfit; black pants/shirt

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[sylvia ashton rivers]

---ADRENALINE. IT WAS AN ADDICTION. that was why syl did what she did. it was why she lived the life she lived. it was the basis of everything she'd known since that tragic family vacation that ended in bloodshed when she was just fifteen years old. since that day she heard the carefully construed whispers about the separation of her and her sister. since joey stole that car, and syl flew that plane, all by themselves. that was the beginning of the adrenaline rushes. sylvia rivers was an adrenaline junkie, she could admit that. the thrill of flying a plane in a way that would endanger herself and anybody with her, the remarkable tingling in her spine when her and joey did a job. that stuff stuck with her, it put her on a high that she couldn't achieve in any other way. almost getting caught was the greatest, to be able to slide by unscathed, but to have come so incredibly close, now that was what left her with a sense of accomplishment. yes, she was good enough to do what nobody would ever expect from her. that was always something that could get under her skin, and easily too. sure, nobody really knew the depth of syl's job, they didn't realize that she wasn't just the catty messenger; she wasn't the conduit between the actual brains. she was the brains. in fact, she was that badass pilot that could fly circles around those military bozos. she wasn't one to rub that all in, surprisingly. she liked being the dirty little secret kept away from the world. what really put fire to her barbed wire nerves, however, was when some ass hole knew it was her, and they still underestimated her. syl was the best god damn thing on this planet. she knew that. she had the looks, the brains, and she wasn't some annoying, whiny whore. syl wasn't moody. she never had those pms bi-polar mood swings that made men only want to "toot it and boot it." nor did she victimize herself every possible chance she got. syl was dealt some shit cards in the past, sometimes she still got some shit hands thrown at her, but she made the best of it. it was funny, how just because she was stronger than everybody else, they all assumed she didn't have problems. bullshit. the modelesque blonde had faced her trials and tribulations, but instead of hiding or running away, she charged at them with a shot of adrenaline and never looks back. syl owned her mistakes, and she owned her past. that didn't mean she wanted to think about it anymore, she'd already made her peace with it, and she'd locked it away where it wouldn't be unveiled to her mind and heart ever again. no, sylvia rivers liked to live in the moment, and preferably, that moment should be adrenaline filled.

it wasn't the only reason for her way of life, however. syl was naturally intelligent. truth was, yes, she did drop out of school. what most people didn't realize was that she dropped out of oxford university. she was like a bill gates prodigy, though nobody ever expected the intellect to fall out of her pretty little head. most didn't even realize the brain power was stored up there in the first place. when people saw syl, they saw a tall, lovely girl. a girl who could easily pass for some high fashion model in a magazine if she dropped the rocker grunge look, took a few more showers, and brushed those beautiful blonde locks. nobody saw the sheer genius shining in those pale blue eyes; nobody saw the manipulative deceit escaping her lips. it was pure addiction, the constant opportunities in which she was able to put her devilish skills to work. it was like breathing in pure mountain air, the unrestrained ability to exercise the things she'd learned over the years, and the obvious gifts she's undeniably attained. she lived this life because it was all she knew, because it was the way she made her money, and because it highlighted her very being in the best, or worst depending on how you looked at it, way possible. it was where every aspect of her personality and mind really managed to shine. not to mention, in what world would sylvia rivers have ever passed for a sustainable housewife, living a mundane country life behind a cliché white picket fence? her entire soul would have had to have been sucked out and a new, alien one replacing it. the american dream wasn't exactly the type of life syl ever intended on living. she wasn't the type of person to settle down or have a family, she wasn't ever going to have a real job as a lawyer or maybe a teacher, she would never fall in love with some unlucky bastard, only to end up with a divorce, three stupid children, and an insufficient amount of child support for every miserable month of the sorry life she'd be living. that wasn't an aspiration of the talent-soaked hacker, not in the slightest. she may always look like a vibrant rose, beautiful and delicate, but underneath the velvet petals there would always be the killer thorns, just anticipating every moment when they could shock and innocent soul with the pain of coming even an inch too close. syl's job was her life, even if it was as unstable as a nuclear weapon.

mm, fast food. what type of world would they live in without it? syl didn't care about any of those lawsuits against mcdonald's or the ghastly ingredients their food. hell, she was extremely slim herself, and non of that did anything to her. the morbidly obese were full of crap when they acted like fast food was the reason they were fat. right. she stared at joey's face when she said no, "well fine, your loss," syl shrugged, knitting her eyebrows together. she was only vaguely listening to jo at the moment, preferably spending her time admiring her corporate burger. her eyes shot back to joey, however, when she heard the vague plan, "uh, okay," she snorted. right, like she had nothing more planned out than that. joey was a tactical genius. the laptop was being thrust at her soon afterwards. syl glanced at the food in her hands longingly, and then reluctantly threw them into the gutter, "damn homeless people better appreciate that," she muttered, snatching up the laptop and following joey to the window. she propped the sleek piece of technology up on the wall, and got straight to work. she was scowling at the screen, a natural occurrence, as her boney fingers hit the keys with excess speed and precision, "huh, this was done quite well," she murmured, as if perplexed by the security system, but only seconds later she smirked, shutting the laptop, "chink in the firewalls. we're in," sliding the laptop back into joey's bag,she slid on the gloves and gave her hair a little ruffle, "aw see, sis, this is the type of plan i was talking about. you're always two steps ahead. pure fuckery," she hopped into the museum through the ominous window, a little uneasy about her limited sight. normally she'd let joey go first, but man, it had been a while since they'd done something exciting. without much care, syl walked out into the open, relatively hidden, looked around, and waved back at joey, "clear." that was like spy speak, something only seen in james bond movies, "lead the way, my conny compadre," she whispered, her eyebrows dancing playfully on her forehead, "let's knock out a guard. that'd be cool," syl was violent, but not a killer. it would look pretty badass if they took a guy out, but that'd be rather conspicuous.

sliding through venting systems and climbing through windows, that was how the rivers sisters managed to be so good at what they did. they were total black ops, hidden by shadows, and acing every move. joey always kept them ahead of the game, and syl managed to make them invisible to the security systems, not to mention she lent an extra pair of hands. they were a team, they always had been. she really wasn't all too aware of what they were here for yet. she never really knew ahead of time, mostly because she rarely gave a rat's ass, but also because she knew she'd always find out eventually. she had insinuated from joey's words that the guard patrols were a bit of a wild card, but that kept things interesting. it was a part of the adrenaline rush factor. they'd stolen money, jewelry, works of art, cars, and so much more, and yet they really had never been caught or convicted. they were professionals, and they had a good reputation, "so jo, what are we after anyways?" she said under her breath, preparing to follow her little sister into the depths of the boring hell hole people actually paid to visit.

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(STATUS) finished. (TAGGED) sole sisters <3 (OUTFIT) all black. (COMMENTS) they're my favorites. yep. (CREDITS) banner to lainey, format inspired by vsiders.

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