A man in a white muscle shirt, torn jeans, worn hiking boots and sporting copious tattoos along his torso and arms leans against a sign in a parking lot. Cigarette butts line the pavement around his feet. He adds another to the collection and lights up again instantly. He’s been standing there completely motionless (save for the motions required to smoke) since dawn.
He hears movement behind him but doesn’t turn. “See anyone?” the voice asks.
“No one as of yet,” he responds. The figure walks up and joins the man in leaning against the post, standing downwind from the smoke and on the other side of the sign. Neither says any more until the girl walks up. She stands in front of the two gentlemen and glances at each of them.
“You look very conspicuous,” she tells them under her breath.
“Says the girl wearing vertical stripes and carrying a parasol,” the boy counters at normal speaking volume. He is known only as Eugene; no last name or any variation on his name present. Anyone who ever meets him will know him as Eugene and Eugene alone. “Sleep any?”
“An hour maybe. It’s hard. I don’t mind, though. It’s almost amusing.” Her voice returns to a mutter as she turns to the straggled-looking man. “Any casualties?”
“Oliver.”
The girl inhales sharply. Her name is Velvet; she’s the youngest of them all, but she didn’t seem it. She’s also the most amusing of them all (when she’s not on the job). “Damnit. I loved him.”
“You love everyone,” Eugene points out.
“You get too attached,” the man tells her. He is strictly emotionless, and he has no name; the crew refer to him as Shady due to his manner toward everyone. At first glance he seems an eyesore and probably a personalitysore as well. At second glance he still seems that way. But he’s a kind man with a good heart, though he never shows it.
"It's not like he's actually dead or anything. I could still hang out with him, right?"
"Sure, sure. I mean, if you don't mind becoming one of them. I mean, what's not to love about constant homicidal thoughts?"
"Shush, Eugie.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Both of you, get quiet,” Shady growls. “You speak of inconspicuousy and our lack of it; stop yammering about homicidal thoughts and maybe we’d get some.”
“Homicidal thoughts?” Velvet asks.
“Inconspicuousy.”
“Oh.”
“What the hell do you keep glancing at?” Eugene mutters.
The ragged man stomps out his cigarette and lights another. He nods his head just slightly enough so no one except the people standing right in front of him notice. “Her.”
“Her?” the boy clarifies.
“Her.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who is she?”
“I don’t know. Send her to me. Time and place as usual.”
The three of them watch and wait. The girl in question grins at someone in a tall black hat and walks over to him, striking up conversation.
“Oh, no way,” Eugene groans, almost silently. “Not her. She knows him.”
“That’s just an obstacle.”
“Pretty big freaking obstacle.”
“As long as I get to her first, she’s in no danger.”
Velvet glances up at the man, who’s still chain smoking. He’s watching the girl nearly unnoticeably. She had to admire his stealth. “You’re not usually on a one-track mind like this.”
“I’m convinced.”
Eugene double-takes. “You’re joking.”
“I don’t joke.”
“Of course you don’t.”
Velvet shakes her head after a while. “If you’re wrong, we're a little screwed. We'll have another unbeliever.”
Shady throws his cigaratte on the ground and sighs. “That’s why I’m right,” he states. The man turns and walks away without so much as a glance backward.
Velvet sighs. “Yours or mine?”
“Take another look. You already know her. We both do.”
She blinks and squints after the girl, still deep in conversation with him. “Blaise.”
“Well done.”
“Shit. He’s getting stronger; he can deface people now.”
Eugene glances over. “Then you have work to do.”
Velvet scrunches her nose. “Can’t we make Queui do it?”
“No. She’s got a different job, you know it. You’re the informant, love.”
Blaise laughs and walks away from the man with the hat. Velvet takes a deep breath and half-jogs after her, parasol trailing.
|
|
|
|
Rave
Barbie Girl (Becca)
biscuit07
Filmtheory (Jim)
Malice (Jess)
MebbtheScribe (MichaelB)
Reset (Allie)
Shay (Marrisa)
somnambulist29 (Shea)
Stephanie Loss
Wendyness (Wendy)
Questions?Contact Us
|
|
All stories on this site have been archived with the authors' consent. Do not copy these stories for your own uses without the express consent of the author themselves. Buffy the Vampire Slayer TM and Angel TM are © UPN, WB, Fox and its related entities. All photos on the site are © UPN, Fox, Warner Bros, and/or their respective owners. No profits are being made by use of these images.
Powered with the assitance of eFiction.
|
|
|
