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Post by Vespyr on Feb 5, 2013 23:09:06 GMT -8
Hot damn, I love those breaking noises.
Late afternoon in early autumn.
A less-patrolled area of Barker's territory: south of PCH, west of Cherry street. A street lined with weathered abandoned cars.
Occasional sound of smashing glass.
A man strolling down the sidewalk: Cain "Leech" Perrish.
Spiky black hair, shaved bare around the sides and back. Eerily realistic tattoo of a single red eye glaring from the back of his skull.
Black leather moto jacket and a white wifebeater. Worn-out blue jeans with ripped knees. Steel-toed combat boots. Red laces.
Flippant demeanor and overconfident mannerisms. Intimidating ruby-red eyes seem to molest everything they see. A pair of black Ray Bans. Gaunt cheeks. Cheeky grin. 14g labret piercing under his lip with a 3/8" spike. Cigarette. Yellowing teeth still in decent shape. Handsomely sharp canines.
Scratched-up metal baseball bat resting on his right shoulder.
Comes in handy.~
As he sauntered down the cracked sidewalk Leech passed a silver Nissan with half of its windows still intact. Aiming to remedy this, he slung the metal bat off his shoulder and took aim. He swung. The window fractured and exploded into a thousand little shards, making a mess all over the interior of the car and the sidewalk.
The man cackled to himself and drew back the bat again. He sauntered around to the front of the vehicle, slammed the sole of his boot down onto the hood of the car, raised the weapon over his head in both hands, and brought it down onto the windshield. Fireworks of beautiful little glass shards. More devilish cackling. and admired his work for a moment before kicking off and skipping back over to the sidewalk. The bat rested on his shoulder again. He took a casual drag of his cigarette and kept walking. |
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Feb 6, 2013 0:47:56 GMT -8
Another reconnaissance mission of the Barker territory. Watching the citizens, making reports on how Barker and his soldiers treated them. And as these sorts of missions often did, they left Delilah feeling sick and disgusted. Barker was one thing, but the people were another. Instead of working together and moving into groups that offered strength in numbers, they ratted each other out in hopes of currying Barker's favour and earning supplies, stealing, killing, pillaging. All in the name of survival. And those weren't even the worst ones.
Still a bit moody, but otherwise quite wary (this was Barker territory, after all) the mechanic continued to make her way up and down various streets, picking through the rubble that was not yet cleared, keeping her pace moderate. Not brisk, not meandering...just another wandering refugee looking for a place to spend the night. She was dressed in her usual gear of a black tanktop and worn jeans, a longish unzipped hoodie thrown over-top, concealing her knives. Sprinklings of dust in her clipped back hair and over her clothes. Only the boots, newer than the other bits of her clothing, might have given away that she was not all that she seemed.
But her attention was not on the state of her attire. As she rounded the corner, the conspicuous sound of smashing glass could be heard, as well as a gleeful, slightly maniacal cackle. Her brow furrowed and she turned to walk down the street, towards the sound. This wasn't unusual to see this kind of mindless destruction, especially not here. What was strange was that it seemed to be only one person doing the destroying. As she came closer and a tall, black-haired man came into view, she saw this to be true. He was alone. The street was oddly deserted, save for them. Had he scared them away? Were they hiding from him?
Was everyone that lived here either dead or forced to leave?
Either way, her curiosity was piqued, though she remained wary. Continuing to walk straight down the road towards the man with a...baseball bat, she could make that out now. Wanting to see what would happen. Not yet aware of the blackness that emanated from him.
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 6, 2013 1:25:55 GMT -8
Just as the sultry breath of smoke passed from his lips, Leech noticed movement on the street corner ahead and flicked his ruby stare up to meet with the mirage of an unfamiliar dame a hundred or so feet down the road. Rosy late-afternoon light burned the edges of her silhouette; the man stopped walking and paused to study her approach. He reached up to tip the sunglasses further down the bridge of his nose as he slowly tilted his head attentively in her direction, his red eyes blazing in the bare light.
"Hey, lady." he said once she drew near enough, saluting her with a friendly, roguish grin. They faced each other in the street, the vandal regarding the woman with devilish curiosity.
"Who might you be, wanderin' around all comely such as you are?" he asked in a beguiling tone, his voice gravelly and deep. His arched eyebrows cocked up questioningly and another breath of smoke snaked in and out through his lips. |
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Feb 6, 2013 2:22:47 GMT -8
As she came closer and the man stopped in the street she could see a curious red hue glinting off the man's eyes as the light caught them when he lowered his sunglasses. Nonchalantly, almost lazily as the smoke from his cigarette twined around his head. She thought it unusual, but she had seen stranger eye colours around here before. Usually in Qi users. A tell, perhaps? In any case, he didn't resume his pace as she approached. Delilah would forge on, feeling...uneasy.
"Hey, lady. Who might you be, wanderin' around all comely such as you are?" [/color][/blockquote] The way he eyed her through the haze of smoke brought an unwilling dash of colour to her cheeks. Sometimes, she really hated men. More so when they paid her mind as he was now. She was going to have to do something about that. That almost didn't matter at the moment, though. He seemed perfectly friendly. His smile seemed sincere enough. But she couldn't read his eyes, and that worried her a little. And there was the fact he seemed totally carefree about addressing a perfect stranger in public, not knowing (or caring?) about what they might be capable of. It said to her that he was cocksure and...perhaps a little sadistic. Relax. You just met him. Form an opinion after you've spoken.
And don't give him your real name.She returned his smile easily enough, slowing her pace to stand across from him. Seven feet away to be exact. Enough room to maneuver if she needed to, but close enough to talk. "Anna Garcia," she would say with a slight hint of a Spanish accent. She rested a hand on her hip, trying to look relaxed. "Headed South. Warmer climates and all that," the tropics, in other words. "Might I ask who is asking?"[/size]
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 6, 2013 2:46:59 GMT -8
"Well met, niña bonita.~" the man grinned, his spanish accent hardly resembling the language at all. Medusa had tried teaching him to dictate his words with more finesse, but nothing Cain blurted out could hold a candle to the licentious latina lady's voluptuous accent. She'd given up on him, but he spent enough time with she and the other rascals up at Orange-Spring North to glean a few useful phrases for his own amusement.
"I'm Cain Perrish, or Leech." [/color] he introduced himself, and then in a slyly softer voice said, "but you can call me whatever you want." He pushed the Ray Bans back up the bridge of his noise, muting the fire in his eyes for the sake of sparing them glare the dying fire in the sky. The tall man extended a hand casually, offering for the lady to draw nearer and shake it, or to take his arm if she so pleased. Leech wasn't much for gentlemanly gestures but could pull them out of a hat every so-often for the sake of sarcasm, or irony, or whichever of his campaigns they suited best. Right now, he offered his company, to walk with Anna for awhile as she headed for greener pastures. Why? It wasn't as if he had much else to keep him entertained that afternoon aside from smashing windows. [/blockquote][/size] |
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Feb 6, 2013 14:13:40 GMT -8
"Well met, niña bonita.~"
She managed a small laugh at his attempt at a Spanish accent, feeling a touch sympathetic. She had learned Spanish under her Chilean sensei for three years during her training. The syntax was way different than Japanese and German had been to learn. The accent was acquired, not already added to the words.
"I'm Cain Perrish, or Leech.
"but you can call me whatever you want."
A deepening of the blush and a small shiver coursing up her spine as he extended his hand to her. Her instincts told her that might not be the best idea...but social courtesy and whatnot. It was a damned burden. Still smiling, Delilah/Anna would step closer and take his hand lightly in hers for a shake. "A pleasure, Señor Cain."
Her gaze would drop briefly to the metal bat in his hands before traveling back up to the eyes hidden by his sunglasses. "Am I interrupting your fun?" |
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 6, 2013 14:34:47 GMT -8
Cain's grin widened to satisfaction as the lady stepped forward. He found himself tempted to stoop and kiss her hand, but on second thought, found the gesture a tad more droll than he really felt like stooping to. That said, both of his hands were now occupied and he still had the cigarette clenched in his teeth, so he settled for clutching the girl's hand with confidence for just a moment, not too tight and not too long. His hand snaked away from hers and casually removed the dying cigarette from his teeth, flicking it away into the street with an air of devil-may-care.
"Interruptin'? Not at all, doll." the man insisted, lowering the end of the bat to the ground so he could lean on it. His other hand perched on his hip for a moment as he cocked his head to one side, evidently intrigued.
"Mind if I tag along with ya for a few?" he smiled, invitingly, pivoting a little on his heel so he was half-facing the direction that Anna had been headed. The hand on his hip lifted again, elbow crooked, offering escort. |
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Feb 6, 2013 15:12:22 GMT -8
The broadness of his grin made it seem to Delilah that he was making some sort of game out of this. It was almost...predatory. A hunter luring prey to a trap. But this was only speculation as a result of her inherent wariness of the area. And the vibe she was getting from him, too.
Eyes moving once again, to the arm he offered her. Well. Wasn't this completely unexpected and charming. It deepened her mistrust. But she smiled and lightly laid her hand on the inside of his arm anyway, though she took care to ensure there was still about a foot of space between them. Something he may chalk up to her 'demure nature' (the damn reaction she got from 'attentive' men and women may actually come in handy...).
"Not at all. How kind," she would begin walking again with him, South. It occurred to her how strange this all was, being escorted down the street by a total stranger (who had just been bashing in car windows).
"Do you migrate here too?" she would ask with a note of curiosity, tilting her head to look at him.
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 6, 2013 15:31:20 GMT -8
Cain rested his arm closer to his side when Anna linked her hand to him, and began walking with her at a nonchalant pace, using the baseball bat as a sort of cane with each confident step. Its aluminum head scraped lightly against the pavement and occasionally produced an unsettlingly sharp metallic sound, but Cain didn't seem to mind. The wily grin on his face said so, at least. It was as if somewhere during the utterly fluid transition from hooligan to gentleman, the man's roguish nature could bend no further than the point of deviously persuasive.
"Could say that, I s'pose. I'm from Huntington Beach originally, but that ain't too far from here." he expounded, tilting his head a little this way and that conversationally. He kept his red eyes rooted forward for the time being, glancing proudly at all the windows he'd already smashed.
"How 'bout yerself?" [/color] the man asked, inclined. [/blockquote][/size] |
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Feb 6, 2013 16:01:30 GMT -8
Delilah did some quick math in her head to try and determine a plausible story. "I haf been walking from Sacramento. I haf family in Venezuela. I want to see if they are still alive.
"Do you haf any family?" More questions. But she was still trying to decide what she thought of this man, who was looking rather like a cat that got the canary. But he was being polite and she had no reason to leave immediately as she felt inclined to do. It wouldn't be polite.
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 6, 2013 20:56:43 GMT -8
"Only my little brother, Gunner. Bastard should be around here somewhere," Cain chuckled, lifting the bat for a moment to twirl it at his side once, knocking it back into the pavement on his next step. he turned to glance at Anna and furrowed his brow in a charade of concern.
"You been travellin' all this way alone, sweetheart? Venezuela's a pretty long way to be goin' solo." he questioned, more pleasantly surprised than disbelieving. Cain was by no means a man who saw females as a weaker sex, but he admired tenacity in a woman when he saw it, among other traits. Perhaps he saw it as a challenge, or maybe it just reminded him of his mom. |
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Feb 6, 2013 22:09:56 GMT -8
She watching him twirl the bat in his opposite hand, noting his lazy skill. Seemed he knew his way around his weapon. Another note was made on the invisible paper in her mind. Otherwise, the raven haired woman just nodded and smiled. Still pretending to be 'Anna', though how long her facade would last was up for debate. At least it was nowhere near night time.
"Ci, for most of it. One or two companions along the way. The last one is around here somewhere, I theenk. Talked about joining a 'gang' or something. I'm here for some supplies and I'll be leaving in the morning."
They were coming towards the end of the block and Delilah still hadn't made up her mind about him. He was difficult to read. Other than the vague sense of danger in the back of her mind, like she was being stalked. Or perhaps, just mislead. Either way, it was not a comfortable sensation.
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 7, 2013 0:09:46 GMT -8
"Oh?" [/color] the man said, with apparent interest. "What sort of companions?"[/color] Cain raised a coy brow at the girl and gave her an endearing, toothy smile, almost suggestive. Almost. it would have been if not for the fact that it was trying not to be, an admirable stab at discretion at best. Or perhaps a charming one; that was up to the lady to decide.[/blockquote][/size] |
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Post by Delilah A. Black on Feb 7, 2013 0:43:33 GMT -8
It wasn't so much the smile or his tone that unnerved her so much as it was the way he smiled. His eyes crinkled all the right places and it appeared genuine..but she could sense a little bit of private amusement here. An inside joke perhaps?
If only she knew...
"Jackie until I reached Valencia and for the last little ways, Tanner. He is...a good man." she decided on a whim. "Having trouble finding these gangs. Do you haf any knowledge of territories?" She looked up at him with her best doe-eyed look, expectantly.
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Post by Vespyr on Feb 7, 2013 2:13:49 GMT -8
"I know enough," Cain replied, returning his coquettish ruby gaze to the road ahead. He wore a sort of sly, ambiguous grin, the sort of smile that hid a big secret behind it, but with clenched teeth that would never let it go. His mind slipped into darkness for a moment as he mused, setting two trains of thought on the same track: what would happen if someone like Anna were to wander onto Rogue territory? Even he, though he felt perfectly civil at the moment, might not stop himself from doing terrible, terrible things.
An inconspicuous instant passed and Cain snapped out of his morbid thoughts. It was kind of a really nice day and he felt that it needn't involve any of that. Today was for sunshine and pretty girls and broken windshields.
"Enough to tell ya where not to go." |
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