Hub City!

Friday, September 1st
8:44-8:50 AM Local Time
Downtown- Uncle Lee’s Asian Market

“Some people will eat anything.” Saul shook his head as he dug into his food. He ate without a semblance of etiquette, almost shoveling food into his mouth. He was hungry and the food was only really so-so, it was hardly his fault. Though he did notice his daughter eyeing the shelves; he chewed his food a little more slowly as he watched her. “Hey, I should really head to work after we eat, but if you want I could give you some money and you could do some shopping before you head home?” He liked the idea both because it would give his kid something to do that would probably keep her out of trouble, and because they probably needed groceries; it seemed like they always needed groceries. “Just no live squid eh?” He smirked, chuckling lightly as he popped another bit of orange chicken into his mouth.

---

Friday, September 1st
9:53-9:58 AM Local Time
Paradise Lane-Uncle Ray’s Original Pizza

“Well, yeah.” Brother Wound gave slight shrug at the question, and then reverted to rubbing the back of his head as she ‘batted her eyes’ at him. He had no idea what the proper response to that was, honestly he was flying by the seat of his pants as it was. Thankfully things seemed not to be going too poorly thus far. “I mean. I know folks say it a lot but I was kinda like; lost, before. I was afraid of myself. The Religion taught me not to be. They showed me who I really was and taught me how to accept myself for who I am.” He gave another light shrug as he walked up to the counter, fumbling about his trousers for ‘his’ credit card. “It’s no kind of life to live running from yourself, especially since you don’t have to. You should never be afraid of yourself.” He actually smirked a little. “If anything, other people should.” He chuckled lightly, only half-kidding as he laid the hot-pink, slightly bedazzled credit card atop the counter.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:08-10:10 AM Local Time
Downtown- Ham for your thoughts Deli

It sounded light thunder; really close thunder, and the front window of the delicatessen burst into those little pellets of glass. Thank god it had been tempered or everything inside would’ve been peppered with needle-shards. Casey ducked down behind the counter with his boss. It was human instinct. “What the hell?!” He howled as he folded his hands over his neck and tried not to die. Then he blinked. He’d half expected the first gunshot to usher in a chorus of them; this was Hub after all, but when things fell quiet Casey dared to poke his head around the top of the counter.

“Get down you idiot! People are shooting!” The deli owner barked. Casey listened about as well as he generally did, and besides; curiosity and the cat.

Circuit saw the big guy from before hunched over someone he hadn’t seen before. “Fuck, did the big douche kill someone on our door step?” That was going to cause all kinds of trouble if the cops got involved. They’d probably close the deli for a few days, maybe even a week. And what’d you wanna bet Dave wasn’t going to want to pay him for not working.

And then the dude started off down the street, hollering to the guys who’d come in before him. Even Dave started poking his head out after Tony left. “Awh man! Look what they did to my store!” He complained. There was glass everywhere, and a few of the shot-pellets looked to have gotten into the lettuces. “Hey kid.” Dave scratched at his head grumbling as he thought. “I’m gonna need you to run down to the nearest hardware store an’ pick me up a couple of boards for that window.” He nodded to the front. “An’ get a move on. I wanna board up before the cops show up. Talkin’ to cops is never good for business…”

“Hey what about her?” Casey was halfway out the door when he noticed the tall redhead sitting up against the wall.

Dave grumbled again, closing his eyes as he scratched at his head trying to think. “Eh… Just, get ‘er out of here!” He waved a hand dismissively toward the door. “Hey honey! Grab the broom!”

---

Friday, September 1st
10:10-10:11 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

Casey rolled his eyes at his boss, and ducked out the front door, swinging around the corner so much that he almost stepped on the bleeding girl propped up against the wall. He gave a heavy huff and knelt down beside the bloody redhead. “Hey, lady, you okay? Damn, he shot her in the face?” He wanted to try to help her up, but didn’t want to get her blood on him, and the result was a sort of awkward no-touching fumbling. “Hey, can you hear me?” He tried to lean down and look her in the eyes, or eye at the moment.

Friday, September 1st
10:10-10:11 AM Local Time 
Downtown-Streets

Lifting her eye to meet the boy's in front of her, she angrily grimaced at him,  grunted at him. Rhode reached out and grabbed Casey's collar, blood stained his shirt and apron. 

She looked at him drawing him closer, rage filled eye, she the released her grip on him and her tense posture began to relax, her eye began to gaze an empty stare. 

"Occult."

Rhode closed her eyes and her head leaned back, she stopped breathing. 

Friday, September 1st

10:01-10:04AM local time

Stern’s End- Digger’s Field- North End


Misji giggled as her hair was ruffled, pulling Esiasch back towards her chest as she scrunched up her shoulders. When he was done, her bangs were messy and covering her large, dark eyes; she attempted to peer at Theo from behind them but gave up and blew them out of her eyes to remedy her problem.


“I have not! To be honest, I have never seen anyone who wasn’t my same skin tone!”


She bent at her waist to set Esiasch on the ground, who snuffed and waddled between Theo’s legs to head off towards where the men had been dutifully trying to pry stubborn Foliage out of the ground. Once her hands were free, the witch girl dusted them off and proceeded to pull up her sleeve. Exposing blue, naked flesh to Theo.


“See! So to say that your own skin isn’t fascinating—That would be a bold faced lie! Are you sure you’re not impervious to the sun?”


Misji proceeded to march up to the large man then, poking at him and grinning the whole while. She was apparently quite taken with how unique he looked. Eventually, her hands found their way to his bicep, which she wrapped her arms around and tried to dead weight on the limb. Testing to see if it was as strong as it looked.


“Are all Black brothers as big as you?!”

Friday, September 1st
8:44-8:50 AM Local Time
Downtown- Uncle Lee’s Asian Market

“’ey buck up Dari, it’s not like I’m goin’ off to die.” Saul said with a chuckle, stabbing some more of his meal and popping it into his mouth as he smirked across the table to his daughter; chewing and swallowing before continuing. “Besides, this way you get to pick out dinner.” He munched on his meal, finishing off the last few bits over a couple of minutes. “Hey you can even get some of those weird things that you like, what’re they called?” He snapped his fingers dryly trying to remember the name of what it was he was thinking of.

---

Friday, September 1st
9:58-10:05 AM Local Time
Paradise Lane-Uncle Ray’s Original Pizza

“Uhm…” Wound scratched at the back of his head. “Yeah, they were out of the blue ones?” He looked to her with a sheepish shrug. He wasn’t really a very good liar, particularly not when she was, touching him; it felt nice. But at the same time he didn’t want her to know he strangled hookers; not yet anyway. Maybe on their third date, wait, did that mean that this was their first date? No. Wound decided that this wasn’t their first day. This could be their ‘meet cute’ he’d want something better than pizza for their first date. Steak maybe, or maybe he should kill something… she didn’t look like she was into the macho ‘eat what you kill’ type. There was a decent Italian place up Third Street.

He rubbed at the back of his head. “You wanted a plain cheese right? Do you want to split a large?” Either way, he was happy to change subject, even from those in his head.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:10-10:11 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

Casey jerked back from the bloody woman. It was instinct you couldn’t really blame him, there was a strange bloody person grabbing him; this was how most zombie movies started. “O-what?” He blinked a little, had she just said ‘Occult’? What the heck kind of last words was that? It wasn’t even more than one word. Wait had she stopped breathing? Crap! “Oh fuck, uhm…” Casey thrust his hands down to Rhode’s chest, trying to ignore the fact that her breasts were beneath his hands as he pulsed lightning down into the girl.

He didn’t know how much voltage to give her, and to be honest he wasn’t really that good at controlling how much voltage he gave, it wasn’t like he practiced or anything; so he just gave her as much as he could, he didn’t even know how much that was. He just had to hope it was enough.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:01-10:04 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

“Well you aren’t exactly a common color yourself now are ya?” Theodor said with a slight chuckle referring to the blue girl’s own blue skin. He set his fists against his hips and beamed down to the little blue girl; ignoring for the most part, the large rat scurrying out between his legs though he did try not to step on him.

“Hey where you goin’ little guy?” Jenifer knelt down, hands on her knees as she looked down to the big fat rat butt waddling out toward the foliage. The blonde smirked softly, watching as Esiasch crawled off toward his destination. She didn’t follow; but it was fun to watch the huge rat move.

Theo smirked a bit as the young little blue girl hung herself from his arm. “Heh, nawh. I’m pretty black, I think some folk come a few shades darker than me; but I’ve not met any. Still lots of people come in lotsa different colors.” He lifted his arm up, supporting the weight of the little girl. He couldn’t do it for long, but he managed to get it done long enough to let the girl swing back and forth for a moment or two. “An’ I’ll admit, I’ve never had a sunburn, but to be fair, I’ve not really been any place where I might get one. It’s not like Hub’s known for its sunny beaches.”

Friday, September 1st
10:10-10:11 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

Both eyes snapped open, Rhode pushed Casey away and jolted backwards, yelping at the sudden shock that had resuscitated her. Her back pounded against the wall of the delicatessen, shaking what glass was left around the window pane off, as her feet shot off the ground. 

Hyperventilating, Rhode attempted to assess what was happening, piecing things together slowly, her eyes darted around her surroundings, until they focused on Casey who was on the floor from her push. 

"You…"

She managed to say in between heavy breaths. Rhode winced and grunted, holding her right shoulder tightly. Her eyes began to shift about again as if she came to some sort of realization. 

"Were you groping me in my unconsciousness?!"

That would explain why she pushed him away so hard …

Sept. 1
8:10
Patty's Apartment
Being the maker of the goods he made- and the sole delivery boy to boot- Travis had the liberty of pretty much naming his price of what he sold, depending on what he needed that week. He didn't like to jack up the price needlessly, that was sleazy and tended to send customers- and their money- elsewhere. Nonetheless, he needed to make a living. "Yeah but just pay whatcha' can, chica." He replied back. For the pretty ones, he tended to be pretty lax. Hey, teenage boys, you know the drill. He waited for a reply from her, half expecting the door to shut and to not see a penny but hoping for the best...

Sept. 1
10:11
Downtown- Streets
William was so used to the sound of gunfire that it took him a second to legitimately pay it any heed as the deli less than a block away was blasted with the sound of gunshots. Being as relentlessly curious- or perhaps nosy was a better word- as he was, his natural instinct was to see who was perforating who today. He skidded down the block to the shot- up deli, but it looked like whomever the perp was had already up and split. He was about to leave when he caught the sight of a foreign looking redhead tossing some boy off of her rather definitely, and could help but indulge in a rough laugh. "Damn boy, your ass just got shot DOWN!" He commented. Again, another sight he was number to- the sight of blood- became apparent to him on the redhead and the boy. It was sad, really, that he was so immune to the sight that he had to legitimately take a minute to realize it, but oh well. "Hey, you two ok...?" He asked. Yeah, it was painfully obvious they weren't, but he felt to indulge in the courtesy of asking the stupid question anyway....

Sept. 1
10:11- 10:15
Creeping about the downtown streets/ alleys

William wasn’t the only one that had heard the gunfire. Adrienne Smith, AKA Redwing, had heard the shots, but was much closer than him. She saw Rhode get mugged and shot, and subsequently saw Tony make his merry way out. 'Guh, so smug. Lousy bastard.' She seethed to herself. She wasn't sure which one was her berserk button this time around- maybe she felt a need to help the shot woman, sisters sticking up for one another and that crap. Maybe it was because of the huge wad of Cash tony had just pocketed, that looked like it would pay for a much better meal then the stuff she'd been forced to steal lately.

Or maybe he looked like a smug asshole with too much money for his own damn good.

Could be any of them really. There were strangers gathering around the woman, so to tell the truth she couldn't care less about her now. Besides, her mind was dead set on getting that payday, so she was in full blown predator mode as she slunk from hiding spot to hiding spot, following Tony and waiting for the right moment for him to let his guard down. She'd learned the craft from watching others do it- Adrienne spent a lot of time watching from rooftops, seeing master thieves perform their craft and rob some poor sucker blind, sometimes even slitting a jugular or two in the process. She wasn't quite at their levels of expertise yet, but she knew enough from a little practice of her own that she was confident to try her luck at this guy. Odds were he'd be swollen with his recent success, so she doubted he'd be on guard. She continued to follow him silently, not daring to make a move until she was absolutely sure she could make the snatch. Nonetheless, she found a small knife ever so slowly finding its way instinctively out of her pocket and into her hand....

Friday September 1st
10:04-10:07AM Local Time
Stern’s End- Digger’s Field- North End



Misji swung from his arm a bit before he set her down, at which point she released him and dusted off her apron one last time.


“Beaches? Sunburn? Oh my”


The witch girl cast another wide grin up at Theo before deciding then and there she quite liked his dark complexion. She clasped her hands behind her back and rocked on her heels as she cast a glance over at Jenifer as she spoke to Esiasch. She stepped closer to the towering Hub native, she tilted her head back to look back up at his face, her own nose wrinkled a bit as her smile waned slightly.


“So this place is called Hub. Well, so far it is not a horrid place. Especially if there are such fine people as you and Ms. Mabel and him”


Misji stumbled over that last word, casting a meek glance at Jeffry before her gaze snapped back to Theo.


Esiasch waddled over to the hole where everyone had been digging, looking about at the various tough foliage. His stomach gurgled, and it occurred to him that eating some roughage might not be such a bad idea. He liked meat, but plants were a must if he wanted to keep from spending his nights hunched in a corner, shitting his life away.


The hefty rodent snuffed around in the dirt, not bothering to worry about the stuff as it dusted his face and hands. His fingers gripped at the hard earth, before he gave a great grunt and began ripping and tugging it out from its packed position amidst the roots of the various shrubs and dead flora.


Debris, rocks and dirt clumps flew out from between his legs, his body working in a whip like manner as he began his descent back down into the earth. Ironic how he had started his day trying to escape the underground, only to try to dig back into it.

Friday, September 1st
8:10-8:11 AM Local Time
Uptown- Hotel Room of “Patty Parker”

Catalina gave a soft smirk and rolled her eyes. “Right, just a second.” She closed her door, not completely, just so the kid on the other side wouldn’t think she was just going to close the door on him. She fetched her wallet and found herself some one-hundred dollars, in twenties, and then after double checking that her robe was pulled tight in all the proper places, and any of the others; she was wearing her costume underneath and didn’t exactly want someone, even a delivery boy, to be able to say ‘yeah I saw that chick in #206 wearing an orange catsuit.’

She cracked the door open once more and smiled to Travis. “Here you are.” She said politely, handing the delivery man the wad of cash. In her mind was more than just a delivery fee, it was a ‘don’t tell anyone I bought this possibly illegal item’ fee. She didn’t want someone blabbing about her arsenal either.

---

Friday, September 1st
8:44-8:50 AM Local Time
Downtown- Uncle Lee’s Asian Market

“Is that what’s it’s called? Pokey? I thought that was Gumbi’s pet horse-friend dude, thing.” Saul poked at the last bits of meat on his plate, it was decent food and he was still kind of hungry. Maybe he’d pick something up on the way to work. “Anyway, let me give you some money so you can do some shopping.” He cracked open his wallet, he counted our five twenties; then checked the remaining money, and decided to keep two for himself. “Sixty bucks; that ought to be enough to get us some groceries an’ some pokey for yourself.”

---

Friday, September 1st
9:58-10:05 AM Local Time
Paradise Lane- Uncle Ray’s Original Pizza

Brother Wound gave a sheepish smile, rubbing at the back of his head. “Right,” he shrugged softly as the pizza vendor arrived to take his order. “One medium cheese pizza…” He thought for a second. “And cheese sticks.” He wanted cheese sticks; and plus talking to the vendor gave him an excuse to not look at Victoria. “So…” He tried to breach the awkward silence as delicately as he could; even as the cashier rung up ‘his’ credit card. “I’m a priest. What do you do?” He tilted his head toward her; “If you don’t mind me asking that is.” And immediately rubbed at the back of his head, becoming rather interested in her shoes.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:10-10:11 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

“What?! No! I-You, you had stopped breathing! So I-started you breathing again…” Casey stammered slightly, recoiling his hands from her holding them at his sides defensively. He tried to push himself up without cutting himself on the glass. “Are you okay? You said something about the occult and then just kinda, stopped breathing…” He pulled his legs up underneath him. “Look you’re bleeding, like; a lot. Can you walk? We’ve got to get you to a hospital.” Then again this was Hub, the local hospitals weren’t known for their bedside manner. “Or maybe a good friend’s house?” He offered awkwardly.

Honestly he had no idea what he was going to, or supposed, to do with the bleeding redhead; he just knew that leaving her on the sidewalk was probably a bad idea.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:11-10:12 AM Local Time
Downtown- Streets

Casey looked back over his shoulder as he heard someone say, something, he honestly was a little adrenolytic at the moment and hadn’t really been paying attention. “What? No. I’m fine, I think she’s F’ed up pretty bad.” He really didn’t know what he was doing but he knew this girl couldn’t stay here. “Dude help me get her up.” He moved to drape one of Rhode’s arm over his shoulders, nodding to her other side to try to get William to help support her.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:04-10:07 AM Local Time
Stern’s End-Digger’s Field Park-North End

Jenifer chuckled lightly as she watched the hefty rat’s butt wiggle as he waddled off toward the hole the boys had been working. She sat back up and gave a heavy sigh, looking back to the planting grounds, and to the work she had to do. There was just the one small patch of ground laid in flowers in the whole big grey-brown park. She pouted a bit and knelt back down to the fresh earth.

And the others took that as the signal to do the same. Theodor set the little witch-girl back down on her feet and took a deep breath through his nostrils. “Ah well, I don’t know about that.” He chuckled softly. “But we’re doin’ what we can to make it a better place.”

“Yer darn right.” Mabel added with a smile. “But it’s not gonna fix itself. So what’d you say we all get back to work?”

“Here, here.” Jeffry sarcastically cheered, chuckled softly as he snagged another cookie from the waning amount atop Mabel’s tray. “Woo work.” He scoffed, popping the cookie in his mouth and marched off toward where Esiasch dug. “Woah watch it there little buddy.” He called to the rat, stepping around where it burrowed to wrest his shovel from the ground.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:11-10:15 AM Local Time
Downtown- Streets

Antony Dechinko walked down the street; his back to the delicatessen he’d just shot up. It wasn’t the first person he’d shot and left to die; that’d been his primary source of income back when he was young, he actually didn’t know how many people he had killed. It was just business as far as he was concerned; he was top dog and he had to make sure people remembered it.

So at the moment; he wasn’t even concerned with the kid he’d just shot in the face. He was concerned with the cake waiting for him down the street. The heavy man gave a slight jaunt and caught up to the trio of younger mobsters ahead of him. “Yo, wait up kid. I still wanna grab that cake.” He called ahead.

Marley Salazar turned to look over his shoulder as he waited for the crosswalk light to change to green, Alicia Didrikson and Karen Stevenson at his sides. “Alright.” He wasn’t going anywhere anyway; not till the light changed at least, though his tone was obvious exasperated. He just wanted to do his job; make his rounds, and get back up to his home, maybe crawl back into bed or watch some television; the internet was probably up to something interesting.

Still, Tony caught up before the light changed so there was no real conflict to be had. “So what happened with the chick?” Alicia asked, tilting her head back over one shoulder to look at the mountain of a mobster.

“Shot her in the face.” Tony answered without missing a beat. He smirked to the kids as the crosswalk light changed; reaching into his pocket for the wad of cash he’d taken of the redhead. “Made a profit though, maybe I’ll buy that cake after all.” He smirked, waving the wad of cash around in front of his face. Free cake always tasted better than paid for cake, but paying for something with someone else’s money made it free too.

Alicia snorted as the four of them crossed the street. “Nice.” She added dryly.

Friday September 1st
10:07-10:10AM local time
Sterns’ End- Digger’s field- North End


Misji gave a firm nod and began rolling her sleeves up passed her elbows. It was the most skin the witch girl had ever exposed to anyone and it made her already heated features glow a bite more with the royal purple that seemed to indicate when she blushed. She huffed and puffed, sticking her chest out and stomping over to where Esiasch was busy digging away at the roots of some poor, unfortunate shrubbery.


“Just point me in the right direction my Brother! I will dig for you till my nails crack and my palms bleed!”


It was meant to sound cheery and tenacious; it would have earned her less contempt from the people back in Croatia.


“For such a worthy cause I will let my bones ache and my muscles tear! Let the digging commence”


It didn’t help her delicate sensitivities that manual labor was moderately terrifying. She’d never done it before, that was something you did when it was your time to die. But this was a new world, and no one around her looked like a Grundy. That meant that maybe, hard manual labor didn’t equal ones demise.


Hub surely was turning out to be a backwards sort of town.


Esiasch lifted his head up, looking over his dirty, furry shoulder at Jeffry before sneering at him and sending a chuff the boys way. He was already dirty, who cared if Esiasch kicked some dirt on his shoes (or maybe in his face, the pretty bastard).


The familiar then proceeded to ignore all else, using his mouth to grip a particularly thick root. Using his muscular, hind legs he grounded himself into the packed dirt under his feet, before jerking his head upwards and proceeding to dig down under the uplifted roots.


If there was one thing Esiasch knew how to do, it was dig. He had dug to get grubs and bugs to supplement his diet when he decided to have a night on the town. Which admittedly, back home was rather a dull night, but the wiggly, pink tips of earth worms down in the wetter layers of the earth, drove him to keep digging.


That, and Misji seemed to really like these people, and that good feeling of belonging sorta poisoned him till he felt cheerful enough to actually heed her telepathic plea for him to assist the sad, pathetic lot of do-gooders.

Friday, September 1st
10:10-10:12 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

"Get away, I'm fine." Rhode snapped at Casey and attempted to get up on her own, pushing her feet more so she could slide her back against the wall to help herself up. It wasn't working. 

She was talking about Occult? Rhode couldn't remember what the last thing she said was, she couldn't remember anything she had done or said from the point she saw Tony walk away, her fingers slipping from her grip on his pant leg. She didn't even remember grabbing Casey. Maybe it was all instinct, but ceasing to breathe is something that made sense, it was something she feared the most, being that she is, a fish out of water. 

"No. No hospitals. I'm staying at an acquaintance's. Not sure if he'll appreciate me bleeding all over his floor-" 

William had then arrived at the scene. He annoyed her. Casey annoyed her too, but William's voice was like rubbing sandpaper together. 

The more she sat there, the more bystanders were piling on; fuck. The second Casey was trying to throw an arm around her she snapped back. 

"Alright, everyone needs to back off. I'm fine." Rhode sternly said, trying to stagger up, leaning against a the brick wall not two feet from the broken window pane. Rhode then realized she was trembling. A dizziness overcame her, she hunched over and vomited, mainly liquids spilled onto the sidewalk and mixed with her blood that was already drying on the white concrete.

Friday, September 1st
10:07-10:10 AM Local Time
Stern’s End- Digger’s Field Park- North End

Theodor chuckled softly as he returned to his own shovel. “Well, you’re welcome to stop before that.” He smirked to the purple-cheeked girl. “An’ my name’s Theodor, you can call me Theo instead o’ brother if you like.” He continued to smirk as he easily wrested his shovel from the compacted earth.

“And you might want a pair of gloves.” Jeffery added, as he tucked his fingers into his own. “I think there’s one more pair in the back of the truck?” He didn’t honestly know, it’d been a while since he’d made a supply run to the back of Jerry’s truck.

However his question was answered as Steve held up the gloves in question; “Nope, got the last pair right here, you’re welcome to ‘em if you want. I’m not using them anymore.” New that morning and lightly broken in by the longhair before he decided planting flowers was more up his alley. He tossed the pair to the ground halfway between himself and the witch girl, kneeling down to trowel up some earth for the flowers.

The boys, and Alex who had volunteered to switch over to the more labor-intensive activity, settled in to dig up the bush, and between their hefting and Esiasch’s gnawing the bush actually started to come free.; roots snapped, branches creaked and fell, long dead from the stubborn thing determined not to give up its resting place, and then with a good joint heave from Theo and Jerry the last root pulled free from the earth. The teens hoped the wild whipping of plant matter and soil didn’t hurt or bother the rat imbedding himself in the hole they’d made.

Though not all the hole was manmade; beneath the plant, or more likely uncovered by the significant displacement of earth required to remove it was a tunnel, a small little divot in the dry compacted ground barely above the notice of the victorious church goers hauling the dead plant over to their pile of dead plants.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:10-10:12 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

“If this is your definition of fine; we need to get you a new dictionary.” Casey retorted with a somewhat awkward smirk across his face. “You’re shaking, and bleeding, and you stopped breathing. None of these things are ‘fine.’ Now tell me your friend lives close.” He didn’t really like the idea of walking, or dragging, a bleeding girl he hardly knew all over town. Maybe he’d have money for a cab, or; “Hey funny dude.” Casey turned toward William. “You have money for a cab? Wherever she’s going ‘Ms. Fine’ can’t stay here.” He felt kind of rude saying that, but no one else seemed to be trying to help; not even the girl who was bleeding to death.

Okay so maybe she wasn’t bleeding to death, but her face looked seriously messed up and she’d stopped breathing; you didn’t need to be a doctor to assess that that probably meant that she wasn’t in any condition to walk herself home.

10:15
Downtown streets
Adrienne cursed under her breath as she saw Tony meet up with the rest of his crew- even as crazy and ambitious as she was, she knew she didn't have a hope in hell of taking on four people, probably all trained and armed to boot, at once. but nonetheless, she had caught a glimpse of the fat wad of cash he had, and the prospect of eating something much better than the scraps in #1 Wok's dumpster had her drunken to the point of stalking the group just a little while longer- maybe they'd wander off in a minute or two, and she'd finally be able to make her move. In a city full of like- minded folks, Adrienne had almost no trouble blending in with the crowd, continuing to sneak about significantly behind the group, praying she'd get her shot, but also knowing in the back of her mind that the longer she followed, the longer they had to catch on to her presence, so anything more than five more minutes would be pushing it severely....

10:13
Downtown streets also
William was about to walk away at Rhode's request- she wanted to bleed out, that was her business- but Casey's request yanked at the former vigilante in him, so he genuinely couldn't say no. "Hold up, listillo." He muttered, fishing around in his jacket and procuring some change. Not a large sum by any means, a pair of fives, some odd singles and some change, but more than enough for a cab ride. "This ought to be plenty." He stated, putting the money back in his pocket for now- less people knew he had cash, the better. "Where we gonna' take her?" He asked. 'Accidents' tended to happen at a hospital, but at the same time all William had to do was look at Rhode's copious levels of blood loss to know she needed to see a professional. William stood to the curb and hailed anything that looked like a cab as he waited for anyone's input....

8:15
Patty Parker's Hotel room
Travis was used to all the signals by now, and when you were paid a large sum for a relatively cheap product to make (at least for him) it meant 'keep it on the DL, ok?' and he was more than happy to oblige- by the looks of the conspicuous, covered mounds in the room, the less he knew was probably better. He accepted the payment thankfully. "Thanks a lot. You know how to get ahold of me if you need anything else." He said, turning about and headed out...

Friday, September 1st
10:12-10:13 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

Rhode turned her head to face the two, looking at the floor, she pressed against the wall, her entire right side was stung. She was stubborn and didn't like the fact of people helping her, she was usually the one in charge; giving commands, helping others on their feet. It all changed when she surfaced. Rhode never had to swallow her pride before, she didn't walk away, but she wouldn't thank the men, though they weren't noticeably younger than her. She just kept quiet as if the pain made it too hard to speak any more, which was probably not too much of a long shot. 

Friday, September 1st
8:15-8:45 AM Local Time
Uptown- Hotel Room of “Patty Parker”


Tarantula gave the kid one more nod before effectively closing the door in his face. She sighed softly and immediately shucked off her bathrobe, returning to her simple shoeless uniform and taking her proper place back between the window and the bed. She threw the package onto the mattress; she’d get into it when she needed it for now she was content to observe the Barracuda club and the local mob. She’d been a thorn in their side for something like a year now, maybe longer; the cities kind of blurred together after the first dozen dead men.

When she’d first shown up after that; misunderstanding with Richard, Catalina had hoped to start a gang war; something to let the city’s citizens tear themselves apart without her having to do much more than stand back and watch. Though she did need, well maybe want, to make some money back, killing criminals was expensive work; even the price of bullets was going up.

But then Mandragora had shown up and, complicated everything. The pale pile of fat had united all the gangs, well at least all the gangs worth noting, and now Tarantula had an actual problem on her hands. Nothing that couldn’t be solved by a well-placed bullet of course, but shooting a mob boss in the face and surviving was easier said than done; and Catalina liked being alive. The Barracuda Club was a known hotspot for Mandragora’s mob; the building didn’t even exist before the mob had come to town, but she’d been watching the building for a few weeks now and not seen blubber nor leathery hide of the gigantic albino. He was smart; he left the grunt work to his grunts.

---

Friday, September 1st
8:44-9:15 AM Local Time
Downtown- Uncle Lee’s Asian Market

“Keep it.” Saul raised his hand to his daughter refusing. “Buy yourself…” What did Darcy like? “Something.” He shrugged a bit. It was payday; kinda, well for him it was anyway. He’d e flush by later that night. “Call it an allowance or whatever.” He offered with a smirk, before standing up from his place at the table. “I’m gonna head out to work, I’ll see you back at house for dinner?” He cocked his head and smirked down to his daughter, laying a hand atop her head to ruffle her hair slightly before he picked up his plate and dumped the trash out in the nearest receptacle.

Saul Cogan gave a slight sigh as he set his hands in his pockets and walked out to the street; he could’ve walked to work, but it would’ve taken him at least an hour, so with a check of his watch and a second slight sigh he decided to hail a cab. He had sort of wanted to stretch the money he’d kept a little further, but, eh, it was payday.

A short twenty minute car ride later Saul paid the cabby and stepped out in front of the Barracuda Club; he sighed again, but took a deep breath and steeled himself for another day of work.

They hadn’t been long open, fifteen minutes maybe, but he knew Johnny would be there; he wasn’t ready to rule out the theory that Mr. Bertellia just lived at the club. He seemed like the type and there were rooms even Saul hadn’t seen, that much he was sure of. That was fine with him; he didn’t want to know everything about these guys. The old gang was one thing, but this. He’d seen Mandragora, the guy wasn’t normal. Thankfully he didn’t have much contact with the big boss; he took his orders from Mr. Monroe.

---

Friday, September 1st
9:58-10:05 AM Local Time
Paradise Lane- Uncle Ray’s Original Pizza

‘Will’ nodded softly. “Ah that’s not that bad.” He offered Victoria an awkward smile and a slight shrug. He didn’t really know what to say to that but he was happy she wasn’t a filthy prostitute; those girls deserved what they got. He reached his hand to the back of his head and started rubbing at it lightly. “I’m not, not; really employed.” He didn’t exactly want to share about the whole ‘killing people to take what you want’ part of the Religion’s creed; so he didn’t. “I mean, the uhm order kinda takes care of us. Me and the other priests are sort of just squatting in this old apartment building downtown.” He shrugged again. “Though not many of us really spend much time there; well except the archbishop. He spends like all this time there.” He shrugged again; it made him feel better about talking about his brothers; and even then recalling that man set goose bumps against his skin. He swallowed lightly.

“Anyway it’s good to get out; spend some time with someone my own age.” He smirked slightly. “I… don’t get to do that too much.” He grinned self-consciously, just sort of trying to explain why he felt he was being so awkward around her. “Most of the other guys are older, and…” The sisters were weird. “It’s just nice.” He smiled again feeling like such a dork.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:12-10:15 AM Local Time
Downtown- Streets

Casey looked to the stranger. He didn’t know where to take the girl but away from here was probably a good idea. “Look where are you staying?” He swept a hand back through his hair, and then in retrospect hoped that he hadn’t just gotten the strange woman’s blood in his hair. He was pretty sure his hands were coated in it.

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He needed a minute to think, to come down from the adrenaline of it all. The girl was going to die if they left her there, that much he was almost certain of. If they took her to a hospital there was the strong chance that she was going to die anyway; the mob didn’t really like having witnesses; which come to think of it meant that he and the dude hailing a cab probably shouldn’t go to the hospital either, but on the other hand the ungrateful bleeding girl was messed up pretty badly, at least to his judgment, which to be fair was little more than ‘a face shouldn’t look like that’ and she probably needed medical attention. “Please tell me your friend is like, a Olympic level surgeon.” He looked to Rhode with clear fatigue. “A doctor? A nurse? Hell even a veteranian? Anyone with basic medical training?” He really didn’t want to go through all this trouble just to have her die anyway.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:10-10:15 AM Local Time
Downtown- Kirby Cakes

Marley Salazar lead the four of them if only for the fact that he was the one walking in front. The girls hung to either side of him, Alicia on his right, Karen on his left, and the shadow of Tony Dechinko between the two. Tony didn’t mind ‘following’ the kid. He knew Edward, Dr. Salazar was a good man and Anthony felt like he should keep an eye on his kid for him, at least until he had that cake. Then he wanted to eat it.

He could see it now; all delicious and chocolaty… actually he could see it now. The light had changed and they were coming up on the cake store. Smooth chocolate frosting coated its top and sides, though the lower half was coated in some kind of chocolate sprinkle-looking something, there was whipped frosting atop the, well, top, decorating it in a seductively decadent pattern, and; resting atop some of the frosting swirls, were chocolate covered wafer bars, about a dozen for the entire cake. Tony licked his lips just looking at it.

Erik opened the door and held it open for the other three members of the mob. Tony went in first; followed by Angel, then Karen, then Marley. “Yo Jack!” Erik Salazar called to the owner. He knew most of them by name, he saw them at least once a month, and those he didn’t he just assigned nicknames so he could keep track of them. “Pay day.” He said dryly, it was something to be expected in Hub.

“Alright, alright.” The confectionary owner repeated humorlessly, shaking some of the flour off his shirt as he stepped up to the cash register. “What’s the damage this month?”

Erik looked to Karen, who looked to her PDA. It took her a second to pull him up. “You’re paid up, standard fee applies, two-hundred fifty dollars for one month’s protection.” She recited with the vigor of a wage clerk.

“And one of those cakes.” Tony added, pointing back over his shoulder to the chocolate cake in the window.

Friday, September 1st
10:12-10:15 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

Rhode turned to Casey as best as she could, smiled more to herself as if he said something funny. Using the wall to continue to support herself up, she shook her head. 

"He's a detective. Lives on the corner of 25th and Possum." 

She chucked to herself, blood still pooling from her mouth, still shaking her head as if it was too hard to believe. It was like she was the worst kind of drunk. 

"He's a magician. Like magic tricks. Makes a tingly feeling in your hands."

Right now she was just babbling as her head dangled from her shoulders and blood spilled from the holes in her body, that same body she had begun to lose feeling of two minutes ago. Rhode shot her head back, trying to keep her chin up in a feeble attempt to show that she was still okay and didn't need any assistance, it wasn't very convincing. 

September 1st Friday
10:8-10:13AM local time
Stern’s End- Digger’s Field- North End


“Theodor, that is a good, strong name!”


Misji had nearly called him Brother Theodor but had refrained as to show the man some respect. He was nice and friendly and interesting to look at and Misji very much wanted to keep him as a friend. She turned to Jeffry as he spoke, staring at him awkwardly before opening her mouth to speak.


Fortunately for her, Steve spoke up, this was fortunate mostly because Misji was fairly certain she had been about to garble some sort of growling, blathering incomprehensible phrase at the attractive man. She merely nodded to the older man and skittered over to pluck the gloves up from the ground. Her hands were a bit too petit but they were only a little saggy around the finger tips, she could certainly use these no problem.


The witch girl opted out of helping the group with the stubborn shrubbery, mostly because they seemed to have it underhand, and Esiasch was a good set of digging muscles.


And while the group eventually uprooted the nasty thing, said Rat was not as blind to the small tunnel that was exposed once the gnarled plant was removed. Quite the opposite actually, his focus was solely on the small canal, he felt his nose twitch and his fingers stretch. His predatory interest had been invoked.


Without bothering to turn from the hole he’d help dig, he barreled down towards the tunnel, hands and feet flipping out chunks of dirt the instant his hefty body pounced onto it.

September 1st Friday
10:08-10:13 Local Time
Stern’s End- Digger’s Field-North End

The church group was quiet pleased with their newly successful efforts uprooting the particularly stubborn piece of possibly undead Hub City shrubbery, though the group was a little disconcerted when Esiasch decided to bury himself in the earth they’d just upturned. “Woah little guy; you can stop digging now.” Jerry spoke down to the rat with little expectation of it doing any good e was talking to a rat after all.

“Eh leave him be” Jeffry said with a slight shrug. “He’ll get bored and loss interest once we start up the next one anyway.” The shirtless teen wiped some sweat from his brow with the back of his hand before looking around the park. “Where is the next one anyway?”

“Over there.” Theodor said with a slight chuckle, pointing back over his shoulder to a rather cantankerous looking old shrub. Were it a woman, it likely would’ve been a classical hag of some sort.

“Oh goody.” Jeffry replied sarcastically before pulling his shovel from the soil. “Ah well, best get to work.”

It was then that their heard the most awful snarling coming from beneath their feet. It wasn’t Esiasch that was immediately clear; this was more feral, and muffled. All members of the group immediately backed away from its origin; which was of course the intention.

A rather unpleasant mole had happened to have been living beneath the bush the group had so rudely removed, and now with the large rat-familiar digging at his home the denizen of Hub City’s underground was putting on quiet a huff indeed, making all the noise he could in an attempt to deter the pesky intruder from his underground abode.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:12-10:15 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

Well, that didn’t sound good. “Are your hands tingling now?” Casey had no idea what that could mean, but he was fairly certain that having your fingers tingle after getting shot in the face was bad. He’d seen a few medical shows; enough to be either blood loss or brain damage, he might’ve come up with other ideas if he’d had a whiteboard. “Detective.” Okay at least that wasn’t… horrible. Detectives were smart people? They got shot at, at least in Hub they did, they knew basic first aid right?

“25th and Possum, alright. Twenty-fifth and Possum…” He repeated it as if it were his saving grace, or more accurately hers. “Dude, we kinda need that cab, like, now.”

Almost on cue a gypsy cab pulled up to the curb. “’ey man, you need a ride?” The toothless cabby asked already knowing the answer. "Twen'y-five dollar and I take you an' the bloody one whereever you need." Desperate people were great fairs; you could charge them whatever you wanted and they weren’t going to complain! "Plus ma tip."

September 1st Friday
10:13-10:16AM Local Time
Stern’s End- Digger’s Field- North End


Misji was moderately startled by the noise that had attracted everyone’s attention. She knew instantly it wasn’t Esiasch as his growl was far more….Well it just had more much-ness to it. Of course, the witch girl was biased and believed her rat was by far the most interesting, unique rodent in the world.


Esiasch jerked his head back when the furry, blind thing growled and snarled at him. The familiar gave off his own hiss, back arching up and maw opening to snap and slobber all over the place. This was the fun part, posturing before the fight. The dumb blind thing was running in instinct, it had nothing in it. It would be a favor. NAY! A mercy on Esiasch’ part, were he to destroy it.


With that thought in mind, and the worry of his Mistress driving subtly at his urge to destroy, the fifteen pound rat pounced on the mole. Mouth agape, teeth bared and hands outstretched to grab onto the furry thing challenging him.

Friday, September 1st
10:12-10:15 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

"My everything is tingling, just get me to Occult. Hopefully he has some healing spells or potions or whatever the hell magicians have." 

As her head rested against the brick walls and faced the sun, probably the brightest it would get in the time of day in this city, she felt the back of her head dampen against the cold bricks. Rhode checked her pockets but remembered she left her phone in her backpack; she didn't know why she was searching for her phone, she probably couldn't even operate it enough to call Oracle. She just wanted someone she knew to talk to. These strangers who surrounded her, she hated them. She wasn't sure why, maybe because they were making her feel dependent on others, yet calling up Oracle for help would have been just as dependable. 

The the cab pulled up, his voice was like gargling rocks. She hated the sound of other people's voices. It would be so much easier if they could just use telepathy. That way they could spare her sensitive ears. But no. They're so limited. Humans, that is. Rhode wasn't sure if this is what she signed up for.

The fair he was asking for was way too much. Twenty-five dollars? He did say wherever they wanted. Maybe she could ask him to drive it into the Atlantic. 

"I'll pay you back." Rhode assured Casey, the currency difference was so great, she was wealthy on land by comparison of Atlantis. 

Friday, September 1st
8:44-9:15 AM Local Time
Downtown- Uncle Lee’s Asian Market.

The meats section of the store was; not entirely unlike the meats section of other more American stores. They had fresh cuts of meat laid out atop beds of ice; they had frozen sets of the same meats laid out in packaged trays. The only real difference was that while more American stores would have cuts of beef or pork, Uncle Lee’s had fillets of halibut, cod, Alaskan salmon, displays of fresh clams, crab legs; of various species, and, for those who only wanted the freshest of ingredients; large salt water tanks containing live fish, some of which were quiet funny looking.

Behind the meat counter a little Asian woman wielded a cleaver almost as big as her head; removing the head from a rather large flattish fish while her younger compatriot skinned and prepped it to be made into even more fillets. Though it didn’t look like they were helping anyone in particular; perhaps just restocking what they had sold.

---

Friday, September 1st
9:58- 10:05 AM Local Time
Paradise Lane- Uncle Ray’s Original Pizza

“That’s generous of you.” Wound said with a slight smile, stepping back from the pizza counter as he waited for their order to be ready. “But that’s… alright.” He rubbed at the back of his head. “Your friends are your friends.” He didn’t really want to impose; and plus, the more people who knew him… Well things got dangerous, particularly when he killed people. “…Though, I wouldn’t mind hanging out with you some more.” He hoped that didn’t seem too awkward; it felt awkward. He should’ve said something clever instead of that; that was awkward.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:12-10:15 AM Local Time
Downtown-Streets

“Ookay…” Well Casey was about ready to say that the redhead was suffering from blood loss to the effect of messing with her head; but hopefully this friend of hers would be sensible enough to know what to do, though he was almost ready to call this ‘Occult’ a drug dealer, ‘magic potions’ didn’t sound legal.

Casey did his best to load the bleeding girl into the back of the cab on his own; he was already covered in blood and he could hardly expect a stranger off the street to help with anything unpleasant; not in Hub anyway.

“Woah ma’, money first!” The cabby called back; though he didn’t get out or actually try to stop Casey in anyway. “She be bleedin’ all over ma seats…”

“Uhm…” Casey actually checked his wallet. “Just a second.” He didn’t have twenty five on him.

“Wah? You leavin’ ‘er ‘ere? Ge’ back ‘ere!” Casey ducked back into the deli for a second.

“Hey uhm can I borrow some money for the cab?”

---

Friday, September 1st
10:13-10:16 AM Local Time
Stern’s End- Digger’s Field- North End

The group of boys, and one girl, backed rapidly away from the hole as both rodents came into view. The Hub City mole was covered in thin black hair, its eyes barley there and its claws as long and gnarled as the tendrils of its nose. The creature swatted at the, much larger, rat pounced down upon it. The creature furiously whipped its claws back and forth, wildly and blindly flailing its claws nails about in defense.

“Sh-should we help?” Jerry looked to Theo. The black man shrugged.

Friday, September 1st
10:15-10:17 AM Local Time
Downtown-Within a Taxi Cab

One eye forced to be closed, blood drying and crusting a scab as tears still streamed out of the slit, Rhode's good eye was blurring, even when she wiped it. Feeling ever pulse in her temple as if a pedal were to hit her head like a bass drum, she rested her head against the cracked cushion of the taxi cab, spreading her body across the backseat; a copious amount of blood plastering and staining the old leather. Rhode thought she was seeing everything happen in slow motion, it felt cold. Something was wrong. How long does it take to pay this man? It felt like it was taking forever. Where was the stuttering boy?

She was making some pretty stupid decisions lately.  

Bitching at Oracle, bitching at Occult, picking a fight without her arms, walking up to a guy with a shotgun while enticing him to fire instead of just disarming him, trying to shoo away help. She recognized these mistakes, yet she also had her pride, the toughest thing for her to swallow. Now she was bleeding in the backseat of some stranger's car put there by another stranger so she could go to some stranger's office. 

Breathing began to slow down again, and so did time. She mumbled something to the taxi driver, she was unsure what she said, only that it sounded coherent. 

"Your seats smell of salt."

September 1st Friday
10:16-10:19AM Local Time
Stern’s End- Digger’s field- North End


Misji approached the lot of them and smiled wide as she watched her familiar tussle and fight with the mole. She tilted her head, amused by Esiasch as he was normally so stoic, it was nice to see his stagnant mood was lifting.


“You needn’t fret about him, this is mere child’s play for Esiasch”


The witch girl gave a one sided shrug before turning to go pluck up random weeds from the tough dirt. She’d seem Esiasch hunt before, and him doing it now was no spectacle for her.


Esiasch growled as sharp, long claws dug into his hide. His fur was thick and wiry, protecting his skin from tearing but it itched and would leave welts for sure. This only fueled his blood lust as he grabbed the moles head with his clawed digits and proceeded to try and gnaw his way through the back of the creature’s neck.


The rats’ heavy body pressed down on the moles head as he rammed it with his haunch and side, using his back feet to kick and scratch at what he could as he fought to get a hold on a the moles scruff before jerking his head upwards to try and fling it out of its burrow and into the air.

Friday, September 1st
8:44-9:15 AM Local Time
Downtown- Uncle Lee’s Asian Market

“Ah?” The butcher woman looked up from her recently decapitated fish and smiled. “Yes?” She asked, actually speaking fairly clearly despite the possibly racist assumption that any small Asian woman who’s occupation involved decapitating fish wasn’t likely to have a firm grasp on the English language; or maybe it was just that the store was both an ‘Asian Market’ and named ‘Uncle Lee’s.’ The question as to whether there actually was an Uncle Lee was starting to become a little more relevant. “How can I help you?”

---

Friday, September 1st
9:58-10:05 AM Local Time
Paradise Lane- Uncle Ray’s Original Pizza
Deceiver just realized he named both stores ‘uncle ____’s’ *facepalm*

“Oh, uhm…” Wound returned to nervously rubbing at the back of his neck. “I, I mean, we… the order doesn’t really have a phone…” It seemed kind of ridiculous to say out loud, in this day and age who didn’t have a phone? Seriously. “Maybe I could just stop by your place?” And upon saying that out loud, well. “N-not that I’m trying to do anything!” He added quickly. “I mean, not that I wouldn’t do anything…” She was cute and all but… wait. “No! I mean…” Okay now he wanted to hit himself. So he did.

Brother Wound actually punched himself in the forehead; it was less crazy than it sounds. He balled his fist; the one that had previously been rubbing at the back of his neck, and struck his knuckles against the hard part of his forehead with a moderate amount of force. Really; he hurt his hand more than he hurt his head.

He took a deep breath uncurled his hand to sort of; wipe the shame off his face, or the egg. “I mean… I don’t have a phone, so, maybe I could get your address?” He offered Victoria a feeble smile. “I could stop by sometime, we could do pizza again?” And a slight shrug.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:15- 10:17 AM Local Time
Downtown- Street

Casey was calming down; a little. He was fairly certain the girl he’d just seen get shot in the face wasn’t going to die, if she was she probably would’ve done it already, and though his boss refused to give him the money for the extra ‘bleeding occupant’ fee the cabby was charging on the grounds of, why should he? Though after a couple of minutes of pointing out that he didn’t have the money and that if no one paid the dying girl outside would probably effect business more than the shotgun pellets in the meat, Casey finally got twenty bucks toward paying the cabby; he had to provide his own five.

He was actually down from ‘slight hysteria’ to ‘take-charge panic’ by the time he re-exited his place of, possibly former depending on how his boss was feeling after Casey got back from dealing with this whole ‘someone who got shot’ thing, employment.

Right now he didn’t really give a shit. He had a mission; make sure the bitchy bleeding girl got to her friend’s house before she died. That was about all he cared about.

He practically shoved the money into the cabby’s hands before storming around to the driver’s side passenger’s seat. “25th and Possum and step on it.” Okay, he may have always wanted to say that; or some variation of it, but seriously how often did the opportunity come up?

“Alright buddy, twenty-five and possum.” The cabby actually had enough gall to, after taking Casey’s twenty five dollars; flip the fare-meter up into its ‘on’ position. “What about your friend?” The toothless man took his cab out of park and looked back to Casey.

The young Mr. Anderson leaned out the cab window; sitting up somewhere beside Rhode’s bleeding face and called out of the cab to call back to the street-walking stranger. “Dude get in.”

“I don’t know.” William replied with a shrug. He really didn’t want to get involved, but he didn’t really want to just leave if hanging. If he didn’t find out what happened to this chick it would be bothering him for weeks. “Alright, fine.” But he wasn’t going to sit in the back with Bitchy Mc-Bleeds-alot. He was ridding shotgun.

“’ey ‘ey! No passengers up front!” Despite the protests of the cab driver.

“Man, if we were gonna rob you don’t you think we would’ve done it before handing you twenty bucks?” Will slammed the passenger door. “Just drive.” He buckled his seat belt and crossed his arms over his chest. This was turning out to be a hell of a day.

The cabby huffed, and mumbled something that sounded kinda-like a swearing in a foreign language, through a mouthful of spray cheese or another adhesive substance. He pulled into the street and started driving regardless.

---

Friday, September 1st
10:16-10:19 AM Local Time
Stern’s End- Digger’s Field Park- North End

“Satanic child maybe.” Jeffry muttered beneath his breath as he watched what he would’ve equated to rodent-based gladiatorial combat. Though he had to admit the rat did have the greater size; but the mole looked spunky.

At least; ya’know, until it just kind of crumpled in the rat’s jaws. The blind thing gave a rather pathetic squeak as the much larger rat took its neck in its jaws, and then just sort of went limp. It was a mole-shaped, slightly bloody, ragdoll by the time Esiasch had it tossed into the air. The poor thing landed in freshly dug hole and didn’t move. There was the obvious instinct to shovel dirt on it.

Friday, September 1st
10:17-10:21 AM Local Time
Downtown-Within a Taxicab

Rhode had to bring her knees in and her legs to her chest as best she could to make sure Casey had room to sit. The passage of time seemed distant, some unworldly entity that she couldn't properly grasp the concept of since she entered the taxicab. Rhode felt Casey's thigh against the top of her head; why was he helping her? It didn't make any sense. Why did he insist for William to join them? They were all strangers to her, and she hated the very sound of their voice.

She found it very odd that people she didn't know, or particularly like, people she even tried to shoo away were insisting on helping her. An ambulance would have been cheaper too, they could have just ignored her wishes not to go to any hospital. 

Rhode rested a bloody webbed hand over Casey's leg, staining it until his entire side was soaked with the gooey substance. Maybe he got use to the syndactyly, maybe he got use to the blood, but for whatever reason, he didn't retract this time. His calming nerves made her feel safe, as if it didn't matter if she made it or not, because she knew she was in good hands. 

"Why?"

It was a vague question to ask, but a legitimate one. Rhode was wondering why he was even next to her right now at all. Her head was still laying down, looking straight ahead, little bits of light bled through the skies of the city, the image burned into her eye as she closed it and saw the imprint of light against the darkness. 

"Why are you helping me?"

September 1st Friday
10:19-10-24am Local Time
Stern’s End- Digger’s Field- North End


Misji cast a pout at Jeffry, looking a bit hurt at the accusation but she shook it off and sighed. “There is not a satanic thing about Esiasch, he merely plays rough.” As she spoke the large rodent flung the moles corpse out from the hole, the blue girl felt the glee her familiar did at such petty carnage and laughed as he raced to the tossed body to give it another fling into the air.


Esiasch huffed and snorted as he climbed out of the hole and reached for the bloody, furry mess with his long, nasty teeth. He clamped down on the thing by its loose scruff and turned to look over at Jenifer. Once it landed the third time he simply grabbed it by whatever part of it he could and began to drag the bloody thing over to any girl that was closest.


He was a top predator and they should grovel at his superior hunting skills. Grovel and possibly shower him with feminine praise. He liked feminine praise.


His mistress on the other hand, had opted out of watching him make a spectacle of himself, instead she took the gloves Steve had tossed to the ground and tugged them on. She could dig up some smaller plants that she would assume were weeds, letting the ‘team’ handle the big projects while she took care of the small, shriveled sproutlings polluting the dirt about them.