Coolsville

It was a starless summer night. The clouds overhead kept any natural light from augmenting the street lamps' illumination. They also locked in the humidity that made the air feel like you had to swim through it.

Mynah didn't look like he minded it, even though he was wearing a suit and tie. He always wore a suit and tie when he was getting ready for a job anyways. A little smile flicked across his boyish face as he leaned against the lamp post, waiting for the right moment. His eyes were fixed on the bank across the street.
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The muggy heat pressed in on all sides like a warm, moist blanket. It made Oz's skin crawl to slog through it, but slog he did. He tugged at the cuffs off his shirt, swept his hair off the back of his neck, and barely kept the snarl off his lips. It jsut figured he'd be wearing three shirts when they wandered into a town hot enough to boil eggs in.

"Cheer up, boss. It won't be much longer until we find a hotel -- I mean, there's got to be one somewhere, right?"

Ah. There was the reason he was even out of the truck to begin with. Oz glanced down at his companion and offered a stiff smile, "Of course, Kay."

She nodded, brown hair all pinned up like she'd just rolled out of bed, and rolled her skinny, bare shoulders back. He walked a bit closer that strictly comfortable, if only because he was well aware that she looked an odd mix between innocent child and jaded streetwalker in those shorts and the heels she insisted on wearing everywhere.

She spotted someone up ahead, leaning up against the lamp-post and brightened up. "Excuse me!" she called, quickening her pace enough to leave Oz in her dust. She lifted a hand to wave, "Excuse me, sir?"

Mynah's gaze swept toward her, the smile becoming a little more business like. "Can I help you?"

Odd mix of clothing the girl was wearing. He wondered who her friend was.

"Maybe," Kane chirped. She pushed a lock out of her eyes and smiled at the stranger, not in the slightest bothered by shyness, or social decorum, "Y'see, we're new in town-- just rolled in a few minutes ago, in fact -- and we're looking for a place to stay tonight. We can't seem to find a hotel, though. Map's not any good, either. So I said to myself, Kay, that looks like a gent who knows his way around, and I was wondering if you might be able to point us in the right direction, if you'd be so kind."

Oz, half a step behind her, barely kept himself from facepalming. She couldn't just ask for directions, no, he had to deal with a girl who had to tell a story. Fitting, since she travelled with an artist, but downright annoying most times.

Mynah took the onslaught of information he couldn't care less about in stride, nodding sagely. "I know a few places nearby, though you might be better off sleeping in your car if you're a nervous kinda person. There aren't many reputable places to stay anymore, y'know."

Nicky, who was walking pass a bank, paused in her steps to assess the people across the street. She was in her full police uniform, though she had no intention of policing that night. She didn't recognize them as any of her clients, so she kept walking. Her people knew to look for her.

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Alexander blended into the bench he was sitting on, and watched the cop as he strolled down the street. According to his research, this cop was involved in some illegal exchanges with criminals. Anger flared up inside him at the very thought. Corruption in the police was all too common in Coolsville. Too many times had he seen convicted felons skip out of jail scot-free because of someone on the other side who bailed them out. Cops were the real criminals and he was determined to prove it.

"All the same, the truck's a bit tight with two people. Any no-tell will be fine, the closest, if you can manage it," Kane said. She had to laugh under her breath, though, because the idea of there being worse out there than who she shadowed was a real gas.

Oz cocked his head to one side, pushed his glasses up his nose, "What's town like, by the way? We're trying to get a feel for the place. Might stay a spell."

Eve slid further down into the worn, threadbare, musty smelling chair, ignoring the spring biting into her back. Perhaps if she was really quiet and didn't move the desk clerk would forget she was there. Shouldn't be too hard, he didn't seem to notice the sickly yellow bulb that kept flickering, the dirty carpets, smudged windows, old furniture. It was laughable, completely laughable that anybody would actually pay money to stay in such a dump. Then again, who was she to say, she was sitting in the lobby, probably contracting a case of fleas, lice, or worse just by being there. Of course, she wasn't paying to sit there either.
Only one person had come in that evening, some grungy looking teen with a fistful of crumpled cash and a hollow look about him. Probably a runaway, typical place to find those kind of people. Wiggling a little bit to get more comfortable she decided she'd most likely move on if nothing interesting happened, if the clerk didn't toss her out first, that is.

An endless, mind-numbing volley of words echoed through Merrit’s worn-out mind. Again and again he heard the words of the witnesses, the opposing attorney, the judge, and finally, the jury’s verdict: guilty. He could hear his own words, too, and went back to them again and again, torturing himself with corrections and amendments, things he could have said or done that might have changed things. He stormed out into the muggy night air and headed toward the bus stop. If he hurried, he could still make it before the late night bus.

Noticing people ahead, Merrit slowed down, analyzing the little group quickly. He nodded a stiff greeting to a passing cop. He felt so utterly outraged by the entire justice system right now, it was all he could do to keep from slugging him. His eyes locked back on to the small group, two men and a young girl, none of whom looked like the trustworthy type at all. He turned away, trying not to draw attention to himself, and continued walking, keeping them in his peripheral vision.

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Finally the damned officer had decided to show up. Kaelin had smoked two cigarettes in the time it took him to get there, and had started a third. Standing up, he slid out from under the awning and into the dim light of the streetlamp, making eye contact with the cop, a rather short, unimpressive man, probably in his twenties. He jerked his head back to toward the awning, gesturing to the cop that they should complete the deal under there, and took a mental count of all the places he could have stashed a weapon.

((^Yes, this is Nicky.))

Mynah shrugged. "Closest place I know that doesn't have bedbugs is a street over from here. North Hill Inn, at the intersection of 156 and Kelly." The time was starting to get close. Hopefully they'd buzz off soon.

Melanie sat on a street bench, legs crossed daintily. She had her phone out and was pretending to text, however she was really observing the people around her. A French-tipped finger reached up to absently twirl a honey blonde curl. A slight sigh escaped from her lips; how she missed the days when money seemed to flow endlessly towards her without her doing a thing. Of course, now she was forced to actually work, albeit illegally.

Kane beamed, sweet and beatific.

"Really, that close? Well isn't this our lucky night, eh? Thanks so much!" she all but bubbled over with good cheer and good will towards man. Oz rubbed at his temples and made a mental note to talk to her about laying the act on thick. It'd save them some weird looks, later, and plenty of money on asprin. It wasn't natural, that voice.

"Thanks," he said, distracted, "156 and Kelly? Have a good night. We'll be out of your hair -- come on, baby."

Kane shrugged narrow shoulders and drew away from Mynah, unbothered by the sharpness in her companion's tone. "Have a good night," she said, and offered a little wave before she followed Oz down the street, her heels clip-clopping as she walked.

Nicky nodded to the grungy man and followed him to the awning. She didn't wait and banter. "So, are you looking for a trade or what?" She didn't get any specifics on the nature of their meeting. She didn't care too much so long as her rep was intact. Nicky casually glanced around the street for any eavesdroppers.

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Alex narrowed his eyes as the cop disappeared under an awning. He was about to leave when a girl sat on the same bench he was on. Would he look too suspicious going after the cop? What was she doing here anyway? He broke his gaze away from the cop and back to the girl. It seemed like she was waiting for someone, so he decided to stay put until she left.

Mynah waved back, but his smile was a little strained. There were a lot of people here. If this was any other city, he'd be worried about undercover cops.

((Buggy, what are the different criminal groups running around?))

Kane people-watched as she followed Oz -- they were moving in the same direction as an older man; stuffy, sort of harried looking. A lawyer by the cut of his suit and the shine of his shoes, though she didn't know what side he played on from this distnace. She grimaced and rubbed at her forehead as a ball of white-hot pain settled behind her left eye.

Damn these headaches, the heat brought out the worst in her.

"It's not much farther, babe," Oz said over his shoulder. He seemed distracted, and eager to get out of the heat. By the time they readed the no-tell, a sweat had broken on his face, and he wiped at it with his sleeve.

The air in the lobby was stifling and stuffy, smelling of old cigarette smoke and too much B.O. There was a woman off to one side, though why she`d hang around, Kane had no idea.

((Egh, unsure. I've got a person or two who could run one, and I think Contemptus has one too. We should probably stick with like two big ones and then have little gangs like Mynah's trio running around as well.))

Eve didn't move from where she sat, though she did send a cursory glance at the two, a heavy lidded, disinterested look that merely spoke of a second of curiosity before dismissing them as of no interest and returning to the battered magazine she'd picked up.
She studied them out of the corner of her eye, glad now for the flickering light and the odd shadows it cast, for they would not be able to tell she was looking at them, even if they stared straight at her.
The girl looked young, too young to be traipsing about in those heels, yet Eve knew better than a lot of people that looks could be deceiving. The guy looked tense, distracted, as though he was just waiting to get somewhere he could close a door and relax, temporarily out of sight from anyone. They both looked hot, and no wonder, in weather like this.
The desk clerk somehow found the time, and energy, to shoot her an annoyed look in the middle of asking the two what type of room they'd like. Eve melted a little further into the chair and swiped at some stray strands of hair before tossing the magazine back onto the scarred coffee table.

Chelsea was on her beat, and being very bored. The streetlamps gave off a harsh glow that only served to deepen shadows in crevices and alleyways, of which there were many, and none of the gangs we usually worked with had pulled anything recently, so there were no meetings to put together or tradeoffs to organize.

Chelsea didn't think of herself as a bad cop, just a smart one. There was too much crime and too many criminals for the force to put them all down, so why not reach a compromise? An agreement that was mutually beneficial to all parties involved, so to speak. As long as the criminals didn't do anything too drastic, and as long as Chelsea got her cut of every job, she wouldn't be responsible for their downfall and they didn't give her a hard time.

She wasn't a bad cop. Merely an opportunistic one.

Gopher, Spirit and Dain layed in the lobby. Gopher and Spirit wrinkled their noses in disgust at the Cigratte smoke and B.O.. But Dain didn't he just simplied keeps his odd smile that he alwyas had. " What are we doing here Gopher?. Spirit aksed. " Where here to rest tonight because tommrow we have to deal with a master theif".
Dain stared at a women just sitting to one side. Why is that lady just sitting their he thought. Dain reached in his pocket and pulled out 69 dollars. He walked uo to the inn keeper and handed him the money. The inn keeper reached in his desk and pulled out a gold key.
" Have a nice night the man said. Dain walked away from the innkeeper and stared once more at the strange lady. Strange women he thought.