2015.12.13: When Street Lamps Pop
| When Street Lamps Pop | |
|---|---|
| Strange things happen with Street Lamps, and People, in the Dilapidated Playground. | |
| IC Time | Night |
| Players | ShelbyST, Vervane, Chocolate Puss, Nikodin |
| Location | Dilapidated Playground #125 |
Begin Log
Nikodin and Shelby flew on his motorcycle through some shady fucking areas... even the black market... here he slowed down, just in certain streets where those with streetwise know you just can't speed... or fucked up things come out to enforce it. Powerful things. A few times they were so close to dropping, if Shelby didn't lean just right or stay perfectly against him, they would most certainly have died. So what was that, a trust exercise? It was the kind of ride that leaves a heart pounding and the hair wild. But at last. Here they are. The engine is still on as he nods for Shelby to get off. Only then would he kick the stand, kill the throttle and hop on out with a dexterity of someone who's trained to it. He stands six inches above ya, so it's easy to guess.... especially when he pulls the helmet off, shaking his hair free and wild. He's grinning as he puts it under his arm "How was the ride?"
As they ride, Shelby doesn't latch on to the driver. She leans as is expected of a 'bitch' rider, her hands out like she's flying the rest of the time. Of course she's leaned forward, because physics. Of course during those 'low' angles Shelby does get serious. Because if you don't tuck in your hands at that point, you're gonna lose one. She's got the area knowledge to know exactly where they pass through, but just when she gets wary, it seems the driver does too. She approves of her new-found telepathy with an impressed nod to herself. Finally they arrive at the playground, and as soon as they pull in, she instantly sneers. She pulls out a cellphone and it quickly picks up, she stays on the bike for the moment and gives Niko, as he pulls off his helmet, an exuberant thumbs-up, speaking into the phone-- "Yeah Mack. Grab my duffel bag and bring it to the park."
"Gifts? For me? It was my pleasure." Niko says, grinning widely, both hands out wide, the helmet in one of his hands. He puts it on top of his seat, but doesn't secure it. He just nods towards the swings, running for one and conquering distance, hopping right onto the swing with his leg on it, fists on metal chains, swinging himself. His eyes are dilated, manic, and he's grinning at the moon on those large swings. "Jesus FUCK I like not being a CRIPple!" He cries out for this bad part of town.
"No not Maple. The one on the west-side. Yeah. Alright, thanks," Shelby stuffs the phone in her pocket. She finally steps off the bike, swaying heavily and grinning at the sensation. She watches Niko take off, scream to the sky, swing on the swing. As her legs try to regain their feeling, she slowly lead-foots it into the park. As she looks around, her face sours slightly. "Last time I was here I almost died, y'know that?" She calls out toward the swing set, nodding pre-emptively. "Ain't gifts for you I've got comin'. It's my end of the deal for that cunt in case she comes back."
"What doesn't kill you makes you Stroooonger." Niko sings like in the pop song, watching Shelby approach on wobbly legs. He's pumped. Adrenaline rush so high that he's climbing the chain links to the very top of the swing from whence he begins doing pull-ups, one, two, three, then switching to just one handed - one.. two... okay, after ten he goes back to two hands, swings himself over and down on the ground. "For that cunt? Who'd that be? You don't gotta tell me your business but it's safe with me." Niko says, hanging from the chain in a lean towards Shelby, feet on the ground. "How'd sissoring go last night?"
Shelby just watches Niko clamor around, as she stalls, walking along the edge of the parking lot. "Yeah, it does. Little hot bitch in some daisy dukes, didn't catch a name. Thought she could roll up hard on me," She calls out, every word a threat to the sky, to the playground, getting angrier as they go on. "S-..Ohhhhh," Shelby laughs hard. "Curb went to a club, I offered her a ride home. She said I wasn't gay enough," She pauses her laughing long enough, barely, to convey the shout toward the swings, then starts laughing it up again.
Vervane enters from the street. Vervane has arrived.
Niko bursts laughing along with her, a boyish, raucous sound. His eyes are dilated, he's currently pumped, unlike Shelby's lead knees. There's no cast anymore, nor any crutches. And earlier he had yelled how awesome it is not to be a cripple for the whole world to hear. "You sound like you're about to start some shit girl. Am I gona be caught in the crossfire, or am I the human shield?" He grins at her. "Come over here and Play before the feeling's over. It's never the same the second time around. Shit, I should take breaks from it but I can't!" He has to sort of yell to her since he's on the swings and she's on the parking lot. Well, Niko's not on the swings anymore. He's actually moving off to the monkey bars, starting to move around like.... a goddamn fit little bastard, or a kid who had way too much sugar. "I found a used condom!" He announces, gazing under his dangling feet.
Shelby smirks across the playground, leaning against a lightpost. "I am. Or I will. And you, you're all the way over there. Kinda far for a human shield." Shelby pulls another cigarette, lights the thing coolly, watching Niko like she was at the zoo. She's waiting. Of course until the condom comment, and then she's laughing again. But a dusty, beat-up cadillac from the 90's pulls into the parking lot, and her face lights up as she struts over to it, her feet coming back to life finally. "You get it out of your system, I'll be over in a minute!" She wheels around to call back to the playground, before circling back around again in a fluid twist as she walks toward the car.
Not vanE's car, as it so happens. Actually, he's walking today. Hands in pockets, a deeply pensive look on his face as he makes his way into the playground. This is a place he likes to come and think, alone...and never expects to see people hanging out here. So when he hears voices, he pauses on the playground's edge and just waits, and listens, and tries to see who else might be here before he strides on in.
Niko does give that car a sideways glance... It seems even with his senses all pumped up like that, he's still paying attention. How else would he have stayed alive all this time? His attention paying gets him looking around. There's that itch at the back of his head until he... spots Vervane at the playground's edge. "YO, you gonna stand there like a creeper and make everyone think you're here to whack em or come over here and see who can swing highest, V!?" He calls out, getting his legs through the bars and now, hanging upside-down above the used condom..... except... as soon as he does that shit starts falling out of his jacket, phones, actually. He's cussing then, reaching forward, grabbing the bars, hopping down, kneeling to pick up some burners all over the ground.. "OH FUCKK!!!! My shit touched the CONDOM!!!!" One of them landed touching the used condom. He sort of gags, taking the phone by two fingers... and he's looking for something inside his jacket... He comes out with a handkerchief. It's hard to see in the dark but... it's white and it's got dark spots all over it. Shelby may have recognized it. So he just sort of wraps the phone in the handkerchief, because he's not touching no jizz, that's gay. Then, he's looking up at V, then Shelby.
The Cadillac rolls up and turns to meet Shelby, who stoops down into the driver side window like one of those classic hooker scenes in a movie about the deep dark gritty inner city. Only this 'hooker' is swallowed up by a big-ass leather jacket that covers up Everything worth looking at, if she even had it. And Shelby was not that blessed. A few words are exchanged, and after a large duffel bag is slid through the window and taken by the girl, the caddie starts rolling off just as it rolled up, slow, ponderous, inconspicuous. A short huffing swing of the bag takes it by it's strap up and over Shelby's shoulder, and having seemed to ignore the whole scene with Niko thus far, she now starts strolling into the playground, to watch him not be gay. "Ewww, don't touch it," She teases, from afar, the call carrying and echoing off the buildings beside the park.
It's enough. vanE does start heading over towards Niko, hands in pockets, his usual look of concern and confusion (when it comes to Niko) intermingled with the pensive expression he still wears. His eyes dart to Shelby, a girl he's only really "met" once or twice, who seems as much of a live wire as Niko. An upnod is given in Niko's direction once he's close enough. "Hey. Fancy meeting you here." A smaller nod to Shelby as his eyes sweep over the duffel bag.
Niko acts like he totally didn't see that exchange, just busy with his not gay used condoms and phones. He rubs his hand, and then... stands, taking out a flask with his free hand after tucking all lost items back inside. Did a... did something round and small fall out like a frag? Naaaah. Just a phone. He does pop the flask open and pour the whiskey on his fingers, thus disinfecting any bacteria that might have been there. He wipes his whiskey fingers on his pants as Vervane approaches, takes a swig, and holds it out for Vervane. "What's up what's up! You kidding? This is my kingdom!" He looks in higher spirits. Addiction can be dulled or its effects momentarily replaced by the now fading pump of adrenaline. Maybe that's why he keeps Shelby around? To Shelby, he does the Brad Pitt thing "What's in the baaaaag."
"Don't start none won't be none, stranger," Shelby notes the look, and responds to it. Why? Because as soon as he got close enough to talk, she'd had her eyes on him. No hostility, just a blatant, unhidden stare at the new person. Hell, even the words, threatening as they may have seemed in content, were just an idle remark. She looks over to Niko, drags off her cigarette, and grins at the question. "Not to brag, but my kids." She says, and with her hand, pats the strap on the duffel bag. "Toldcha I got reinforcements just in case." With that casual remark, her very suddenly uncasual face takes a good, long look around the street in front of the park, from building to building, alleys, streetlights, all of it.
vanE shakes his head as Niko offers the flask, choosing instead to fold his arms as he leans up against an iron bar, maybe part of the monkey bars. Both eyebrows raise at Shelby's remark. "There's nothing to start," he responds, perhaps a little too sharply. He doesn't come to this place when he's in a sparkling mood, after all.
Niko offers the flask to Shelby when V refuses it. He looks from one to the other, then grins to break any kinda awkwardness "I like things that go Boom, that fly fast, move fast. Looks like the playground's secured, Shelby. Shelby this is vanE." He says. And of course nothing to bind peace like pull out a little baggy full of joints. He takes one out, puts it in his mouth, sparks it up with a zippo, puffs, takes two long drags, and begins a circle, passing it to V first, then to Shelby if he won't take it.
With that from Vane, Shelby grins, and points. Not a grandiose gesture, just her hand raising up level with her chin, crooked out to point one finger at the man. "I thought that too. Why start shit, y'know? I mean if you're pissed off, I get it. Somethin' has to go. But your shit ain't other peoples shit. Nothin' to start. I live by that, usually. Until a bitch up and tried to gut me because -she- wanted to buy a gun. Yeah, you heard me. Wanted to -buy- a gun, from -me-, and she gets all fuckin' up in my face. She. Obviously. Weren't as cool as you." Shelby punctuates her words with quick puffs from her cigarette, and for the most part keeps eye contact with Vane throughout. The hand does eventually fall back to her side somewhere during her words. After a moment, she shrugs. "Ionno where I was goin' with that. Moral of the story I guess, is I'd sell you a gun. If, I had one to sell," She amends, nodding all conspiratorially at the end. She gently slides the duffel bag to the ground, off her shoulder, accepting the flask to take a swig.
Yup, vanE shakes his head at Niko's offer again. Then Shelby's talking. vanE tilts his head a little, listening with a slight frown and furrowed brow. "I already have a gun," is his answer to that, though he doesn't take it out and show it. It seems like his way of...going along with the conversation, such as it is. He's not always the most sociable guy.
Writing reality out to disk. Please wait... Reality saved. Thank you for your patience.
Niko just gives a sound like held back laughter, and then he's chuckling. Because of Shelby's subtleness no doubt. "Jesus fucking christ." He breathes, shaking his head "You're so fucking weird." That's to Shelby. "She's from Narnia, man, she's not like us muggles, or moggles... fuck man I only watched that film once with a girl." Course he watched it with a girl, just thought he'd need to say that. Since V didn't take the joint, he passes it over to Shelby instead, flexing his fingers for his flask back of which he'd take a drink. His eyes flicker to the duffel bag, just to sort of... judge the weight of it, the way Shelby at least is carrying it... is it easy, or is it heavy? He looks back to V then, studying him. Sure there's mirth there, but there's also that same thing going on like at the bar. Just looking.
And Shelby's fine with that. She seems to take it exactly like he meant it, and lets out a hearty little chuckle. At the passing of the joint, she accepts and puffs, and hands it back to Niko, and responds with "You have no fucking idea," to Niko, grinning. The duffel bag was indeed a heavy one. She didn't limp it down to the ground, and it wasn't hard to keep strapped it seems, but something definitely 'clunked' when it was set down. "So, you two friends? I'm Shelby," She had looked to and from the two of them for a moment, then looks and, after mouthing her cigarette, offers her hand to Vane.
"We've just met once or twice." vanE shakes his head at Shelby, too, apparently refusing all substances this evening. "I'm vanE, like he said." He glances back at Niko once he realizes he's being studied. He has a sort of perpetual frown on his face that doesn't seem to have anything to do with either of you, or what's happening here. Just the mood he's in and the baggage he brought with him when he showed up.
Niko's gaze lingers on V when the other's frown confronts him. Doesn't linger long. His eyes sort of slip off, not out of the weakness of being outstared but... politeness maybe, or some shyness, or just understanding to leave him alone? Course, that slide of a gaze brings out his own hollow loneliness when he looks off at the line of the Playground, staring past it over a Mountain crushing down to bury dreams and death. He takes another swig, deciding to look at Shelby. It could be that V's mood is contagious. Or sobering. Or that his own adrenaline has finally worn off and now that heaviness returns to his eyes with that craving. "The Curb. You take her to her place or something? Where she live? I wanna leave her an apology."
"Fuck no," Shelby huffs out with a laugh. "Indecisive as fuck that chick. She was gonna have me take her home. Then decided to call a limo. Fuckin' limo," She repeats, shaking her head at the thought. She looks around for a quick shot of her eyes around the entrance again, and when they come back they fall on Vane for a moment. Looks like for that moment she wants to ask the guy what's wrong. Her mouth opens, then closes, then she looks back to Niko. "What'd you do anyway? I close my eyes....Just for a second," The pause there adds a flicker of something to her eyes, and a frown that lingers. "And she's chewing your ass out." Her eyes fall back to Vane, like something she just can't shake, and she puffs her cigarette, blowing it to the side of her that no one's on. Because, manners yo.
vanE is usually this perceptive guy, attuned into other people, if anything because that's what happens when you're an introvert, and a thoughtful introvert at that. But right now, he seems almost spaced out. He also looks away for a moment, not looking at either of you, staring off into the darkness of the night, into some black patch caught between two streetlamps. Not everything is illuminating.
Niko hands Shelby the flask, but goes to take his joint back cuz she a little thief. He takes a nice deep drag, tired eyes on Vervane now. Adrenaline's definitely worn off, and there's a kind of edginess to his movements. A headache, maybe, judging by the vein at his forehead standing out. And it's like a sound somewhere, of metal grinding against metal as it falls - somewhere far far in the distance, or maybe, it's not even quite here. Metal against metal, and then a streetlamp pops - and it gets even darker in the playground. He looks up and over at that light, joint to lips, lungs inhaling deep as he muses at the odd occurence. Rubs his temple, and looks to V. "Seems like the spirits of used condoms don't want us here no more." He jokes, eyes on V. And then.. to Shelby. "I"ve no fucking idea girl. I mean, I made some lesbian joke right, and don't get me wrong, I like me some lesbians, but she took it all hella personal about sissoring and shit. Started talking Terrorist or some shit. I was thinking she had a shoe bomb." He grins a little despite the pain, and he smokes more to alleviate it. "But I got out on the curb, found out. See thought you and her had some girl talk she woulda told ya... but.. not from what you told me." He laughs again. "So.. I guess her boyfriend or something.. slept with a clown? Like, a mother-fucking Clown. I about died. I tried real hard not to laugh."
Shelby is a little too keen on that streetlamp going out. Her whole posture jumps for a moment into flexed fists, rigid shoulders, narrowed eyes. She looks down to Niko, and when she sees that he's looking at her, she gives a sort of 'wasn't me' shrug. But the serious look on her face goes along with her words. "That ain't funny. Condom spirits aren't somethin' to fuck around with," She tacks a little glimmer of a smirk at the end of that, but keeps quiet as she listens to him talk. He's got her ears, but not her eyes-- They -really- want to stare down that street light and everything around it. "She had a boyfriend and she said -i'm- too straight for her?" Shelby responds, belatedly but accurately enough to the conversation after Niko had finished talking for a full few moments.
The light popping doesn't startle vanE, per se, but his eyes do go to it the way a bird's might, head turning suddenly and gaze alert. He's tuned out of this conversation about people he doesn't know, lost in his own world of thought and who knows what else. Yet he hasn't left yet, either, maybe too caught up in whatever's going on inside of him.
And after that light flicks on again, the gleam of cats eyes can be seen from below the poor excuse for a merry go round. Yellow and vertically slit, the cat regards the group furtively.
Niko is smoking a joint, Shelby is drinking out of a flask, and Vervane is... sober. There's a beautiful fast motorcycle parked about 20 feet away. Niko's looking kind of tired. His eyes are getting blood-shot, probably from the joint. There's a little vein standing out at his forehead. He's rubbing at it as he looks to Shelby, grinning. "Weird chick. Said it was her soulmate. I don't know about you but a soulmate who fucks a clown dude? That's some nightmare shit right there. Fucking Ronald McDonald burger fuckers." He takes another long drag of his joint, and flicks the roach under the monkey bars and it lands... damn, right over the used condom he'd found and dropped a phone onto. He scores, with his hand, fist and elbow pumping back with victory. He'd watch V... again, and longer, maybe he's got something on his face or maybe it's just not often Niko sees a guy like that or maybe... he's like a light bulb, but then there's a flicker of eyes in the darkness and his eyes move to the cat. He squats, next, rubbing his fingers together for it and making some totally uncatlike sounds to call it over.
Chocolate Puss creeps out from under the merry-go-round. She walks on stealthy pads toward the condom and the joint. What a conundrum. She looks hatefully at Niko for a moment. The your a dumb ass look that everyone who has ever owned a cat knows. She uses her paw to bat the smoking roach off the rubber. "Reawr." Her tail swishes back and forth with irritation.
And Shelby's likely to steal that flask, given the time. She swigs it again silently, glancing at Niko...Well, at his back now, as he turns and squats. "So a clown stole her boyfriend, and she turns dike. Sounds like lifetime to me." She eyes the cat move, absently taking another swig, then looks out across the parking lot, sighing. Longfully, even. "Damn, I really wanted to shoot a bitch." She flicks her cigarette toward the parking lot, and, remembering something, starts walking toward Niko. "Oh, I owe you a cut of this," She says, pulling a wallet out of her pocket and thumbing around it. "Got twenty bucks with your name on it, and a driver's license if you want it." She murmurs as she peruses the black leather wallet, thumbing out the twenty.
vanE, for whatever reason, turns and looks back at Niko again. There's something a little softer in his eyes for a moment before he pushes off the bar he's been leaning against. "Good seeing you...meeting you," he adds the last part to Shelby. "But I should get going." He notices the cat, and even smiles a little, but does nothing to beckon it or anything else with it.
The cat carefully scoops the burning roach into its mouth, unlit end naturally and then tears away below the merry go round.
At first, when the cat paws at the condom.. he raises both hands to his head in horror. "NO KITTY!" He breathes "BAD." But it's too late. She touched it. Except then his mouth sort of gapes open as it... did it just fucking... He begins to raise slowly. Kind of in a daze. Reaching inside his pocket. Taking out a smart-phone in the Bomber... he puts on a flash... Snap Snap snap Snap, pockets it, shakes his head, looks to Shelby offering him money. He grins, not taking it yet, but he is gonna reach for his flask to take a big swig. "Fucking.. stoner cats. Why's the money for me, what'd I do?" He asks, and then.. turns to V. Looks at him kinda funny-like. Like he's the light bulb. Even takes a step forward, offering a hand in that bro shake that involves placement like when arm wrestling. They've done this before. "Alright vanE. Have a better night, you look like you could use it." He lifts his flask to him in a kind of parting cheers, watching him go like a moron.
Shelby has the twenty in her hand. Her hand's extended toward him. She stands there, less than three feet away from Niko. And she stares. Right into his eyeholes. "Alright, fuckin' suit yourself." She pockets the money and, with a tongue between her lip and top row of front teeth, sort of frowns and looks down at the wallet for a moment. Deep breath in, slow breath out. The girl taps the wallet twice against her hand and pockets that too, turning from Niko and walking back to her duffel bag. She kneels and twists, to sit down next to it, and lights another cigarette. "Peace," She says to Vane as he's on his way off, "You too." And after that, because she's got more important things to stare at Unlike Niko, she looks back up to that burnt out light.
Bro-shake completed, vanE gives Niko a final pat on the back and Shelby a little salute before shoving his hands in his pockets and wandering off into the night, maybe taking all of his brooding and bad vibes with him so you can go back to having a good time.
Vervane passes through a break in the fence and leaves the dilapidated playground. Vervane has left.
Niko is still staring after V for a few moments when Shelby walks off offendedly to sit by her duffel bag. He's staring like a total moron. It's weird though, that stare, contemplative, lost, traveling past his figure even once gone. His hand moves idly to scratch his back where his hand patted him like something lingered there. Then.. he snaps out of it. Snaps his jacket at the front, turns to Shelby, fast-walks over to her. "Jesus, what's up with women are they all crazy? C'mon. I should be the one paying YOU for you taking curb off my back. C'mon. I know how it is, I'm not throwing money around girl, I don't have much of it, but that there, I didn't deserve. So why don't you pay me when I deserve it." He says, walking over to sit beside her and the duffel bag. He... shoves her suddenly, with an extended hand, chuckling if she should topple over.
Chocolate Puss cannot be seen but if she could she would be smiling as she creeps lazily back around under the merry-go-round to look at the denizens of the park. She flexes the claws of her left paw again and again into the sand as she starts to purr.
"Hey. Look. You get offered money, you take it, -then- ask why. Fuckin' moron," Shelby doesn't -sound- offended. Nor does she even look it. One could gather broody from the action and movement, and one could assume she was sulking. But her words come out in a matter-of-fact, informational sort of way. As he speeds up, she locks eyes on him. Body language is a bitch, and he gets her attention with his. She smirks, moreso sneers as she watches him approach. "Yeah, we are. Then pay me. You obviously don't know, given you didn't take it. I was and yet..." She was in fact running a snarky commentary to -everything- he said. "Look, either take it this time," She watches him sit down as she's talking, she's trying hard to keep herself contained and not snickering at this point, "Or--" Then she's shoved. She does topple over, pretty unceremoniously. But she growls, sits back up furiously and revs that backhand up to strike Niko right across the face.
Despite the joint and the booze, Niko's reflexes kick in last second. Oh she's fast. But weird, so is he. Was he ready for it? He drops down on his elbow, back, feeling the air shift by his nose where her backhand passes him. His lips part, there's a kind of wander at her... fiestiness as he stares at Shelby, a crooked grin forming on his face. "You wanna brawl?" He asks. "I'm game. I just don't like to hit girls unless they ask. Fight you for your money. Or, you can just buy my weed like a civilized little criminal." It's almost like flirting.
The whiff, and then Shelby stands up. Right to her feet. "Boy don't fuckin' play with me. I was in a decent mood. But truth of the fuckin' matter is I don't know you from jack-shit." She stares down at Niko. There's anger, but a bit of something rustled, unsettled. Maybe she wasn't expecting the guy to be able to move that fast, seeing how she just saw him crippled the week before. She wrinkles her nose and tilts her head at his offer. "I don't. I can't. Fight for fuckin' sport," She breathes heavily once or twice before holding her breath on the third intake. She's not puffer-fishing it. just letting it out alot slower than normal. Woooosah. "I like you, you make me laugh. I don't break my toys."
The street lamp flickers again with that strained electrical sound. "Kkkk! Kkk kkkt!" Suddenly Shelby realizes she is being watched. There is no God but the Government and the government is run by devils. The devils are watching from the all seeing eye of the street lamp with its kkk-kkkt noise! Everyone in this park is an agent of these devils. Niko with his playful attempts at fighting. He is just trying to provoke her on camera so the police can come and cart her off to prison, or maybe he has a gun, or some chloroform and a basement full of toys. That fucking cat is in on it too, along with that old hobo who isnt really passed out drunk below the slide. He is waiting to strike. An eerie yowl emits from below the merry-go-round. No! The cat can't be in it too? "Kkk-kkkt." The light flickers as the all seeing eye watches Shelby.
Niko's watching Shelby when she gets a little puffy, taking those deep breaths. He nods, to the don't know you from jack-shit comment, then, his head's still. He's sitting there next to her with one hand behind him from the dodge.. now pushing himself forward. His legs are bent and arms comfortably draped around them as he leans forward. He's stretching. He is pretty limber under that jacket, but who could tell his body shape in all those bulky clothes? For all we know he could have a beer belly and chest hair like pubic hair on a Turkish guy. Except he doesn't really look the bear type.
"I'm a toy now? Wooohah. I don't know how I feel about that." He gives a half-crooked, a little... forced grin, like trying to figure out if she just says it playful like or for real like. What a good moment fora lamp to flicker and crack, washing them in darkness. He shifts his gaze to the source of it... The light bulb, staring up at it for a few long moments. Feeling bad vuju, not anything related to the actual one. There's a shiver though, too many light bulbs cracked today.. and even though his headache's fading and that vein isn't standing out on his forehead, it's still strange. "Weird." He voices, frowning, looking over at Shelby. "Something in the air tonight. You wanna get outa here? I'll take you wherever you need to go." He nods to his bike, hugging his knees as he's starting to push off and stand. ???? Shelby watches Niko move. Just the slightest of his movements putting her more on edge. Her hands flex, twitch a little at her sides, and there's a quiet, chirp-squeak kind of noise from her mouth as it pulls into a tight sneer. Her eyes fly around his form, watching his hands, then the bulges in his jacket, then his eyes for where they linger. Everything's a sign, everything has meaning. Was that bulge a gun? No. Come on, Shel, calm down. "BKKKKKT," happens and Shelby's staring at the light for a moment. They widen, and then force themselves closed. "No." She grunts.
The voices come surging forth. Something -is- in the shadows. If this was her own devices. Ma would tell her. Ma always calmed her down. But She, and the spirits were screaming. This -was- something, they knew, they see it too. There's magic in the air, the technocrats. They're here.
Shelby opens her eyes. There's nothing but seething, gnashing hatred in those orbs. She glares up at the shorting out light, and it explodes. Yep. The Evil Eye explodes in a fiery blaze of blue flame and sparks. The sound of tearing comes after her hand bolting into and disappearing inside her jacket, pulling out a revolver the size of her head. She aims it down at Niko, and without a word, a sound, pulls the trigger.
Niko is offering Shelby a hand to help her up. But when he looks down at her... strange things are happening. His hand falters... and he's left staring there, head full of curls inclined as he's peering at her chirping and her sounds. When she pulls out a gun... he takes a step back in a daze. Both his hands raise to her and his eyes widen. "The fuck..." He breathes, and then the gun goes off. He's fast, or maybe Shelby's aim is too slow, it's hard to tell. The bullet flies past him, ricochets, and Niko lunges at Shelby's gun, trying to pry it off. His teeth are clenched, he's scowling with effort...
...But alas, as he goes to swipe for the gun, Shelby had already wheeled it around to shoot at the bum. She didn't even know he was there. The spirits told her. They were screaming in her head, along with herself. Her beast, it raged, it thirsted, it roared the defiance against her watchers. Pulling the trigger while she whirled the gun around, the bullet hits the slide, the loud "CRACK" of the revolver echoing deafeningly a second time. Her next shot is at the jungle-gym, as something slithers or sails by. The shadows, they're everywhere....But alas, as he goes to swipe for the gun, Shelby had already wheeled it around to shoot at the bum. She didn't even know he was there. The spirits told her. They were screaming in her head, along with herself. Her beast, it raged, it thirsted, it roared the defiance against her watchers. Pulling the trigger while she whirled the gun around, the bullet hits the slide, the loud "CRACK" of the revolver echoing deafeningly a second time. Her next shot is at the jungle-gym, as something slithers or sails by. The shadows, they're everywhere.
Niko's wide eyed when that gun is already pulled back. He should have been a dead man next.. that barrel, it was practically pointed at his forehead. Instead... the bullet cracks deafeningly and ricochets off the metal at the jungle gym. That's when he bolts. The crack - it's like a shot at a racing track. Who can run the fastest mile. Niko sure as hell tries. Forget the fucking helmet or the glasses, he kicks his stand back, tires screeching as the bike begins to move.
Chocolate Puss passes through a break in the fence and leaves the dilapidated playground.
Shelby's growling, and panting, and sniffing, and completely feral. The gun is just barely being used as a tool, more from habit and convenience than anything more. She's glaring around, and when she hears the grinding of old mulch under freshly uncasted-legs, she whirls around, gunhand already pointed at his back as Niko's making a run for it.
He's shot as he's pulling the throttle, back arching inwards, chest hitting the front of his bike. He screams, an angry sound that, a roar that becomes quickly bitten off between clenched teeth of someone... who hadn't been hurt the first time. Oh jesus fuck it hurts, and Bad. He pulls the throttle and the tires go screeching as Nikodin speeds off, leaving a trail of blood behind him as it trickles from his shoulder. His left arm's hanging on the throttle, instead of straight, and it hurts turning, but he does make it out. One could follow him for a while just by the blood left behind, spattered in the air.
End Log
