10766/Just A Night On the Town

Just A Night On the Town
Date of Scene:	13 April 2022
Location:	A dirty warehouse in New York City.
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Xiomara Rojas, Madison Evans, Irie West

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Xiomara Rojas has posed:
It was a school night, and even though Crush was technically nineteen and thus an adult, living in the dorms at Happy Harbor meant following the dorm rules. By eight o'clock on school nights, all students were to have checked in to the dorms with the dorm mother and be ready to spend the evening in their rooms by nine. In the grand scheme of things, it made perfect sense to keep a close eye on students in the dorms, after all the faculty and staff were responsible for each and every one of them. This did not stop Crush.

Bending the bars on her window open, just enough space to get her large frame through, she stood on the ledge beneath the window long enough to bend the bars back into place then silently jumped down to the ground below. A quick glance around told her there was no one in the immediate area, but those at a distance who might be watching couldn't miss what she was wearing, and guess that meant trouble.

This was not her every day style, in fact very few had seen her like this. She wore a V-neck turquoise tank top that reached just to her bellow button, leaving her stomach exposed, and over it was a worn black leather jacket with a fur collar and fur on the bottom edge. The sleeves of the jacket had long ago been cut short and left tattered. Her long legs were covered by a pair of tight red leather pants that disappeared into a pair of specialized thigh-high black leather boots. The tops of the boots came to points at the middle of her thighs, but from the knee down were laced tightly in place with bright red shoe laces, and looked to have a combat boot styled to them, including the soles. Fingerless black leather gloves covered both hands then crawled up the forearms to her elbows, and each was adorned by a red leather strap with silver spikes at the top. Around her waist was a studded leather belt with a double X eye smiley face as the belt buckle. Wrapped around her torso and waist was also thick black chain with had a large hook at one end. The last item of note was a wide leather collar around her throat, complete with more silver spikes.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "We're going, we're going!" Madison says good naturedly as they're ushered out of the dorms. Time for visiting friends to go home, it seems, as Irie and Maddie make their way down the corridor, and towards the exit. "We'll see you tomorrow in science, Dyani!" she calls over her shoulder, one hand to her mouth to cause her voice to project.
    There's still a chill to the night air, so Madison pulls her jacket tightly around her form as they step out, and start towards exit from the school where Maddie left her bike chained. As they walk, she complains, "I can't believe the new season of Dragon Prince isn't out yet. It feels like we've been waiting foreeeeever. I wanna know what magic Callum learns next, and-" She cuts off - falling silent as she watches Xiomara dropping to the ground and striding boldly away in her rather striking attire. "...where's she going?"

Irie West has posed:
    "Never watched Dragon Prince," Irie says after saying goodbye to Dyani and being ushered out. "Is it any good? I didn't get a chance to watch a lot of television growing up. Didn't have time." She draws her hoodie closed around her to stave off the chill. "Oh! I /did/ watch She-Ra, though! I heard it was really good so I binge watched it the other week. She-Ra and Catra make such a cute couple!"

    She stops when Madison stops, turning to see what it was that had caught her attention. "I don't know," she says quietly. "She shouldn't be sneaking out like that. She could get in trouble." She looks around to see if anybody else had noticed Crush's departure, but it looks like the campus is deserted. "Let's follow her," she says. "I have a bad feeling about this."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
There were numerous ways to get from point A to point B, but Crush was taking the less direct route and walking. Long legs, brisk night, and at least two hours to get there so why not?

First step was to get off the campus, and once she was clear of the buildings she broke into a jog to make it out to the street. Never in a million years did she think anyone would bother following her, after all she had no friends and no one who really cared where she was, so why would she bother looking back? With all the rules at the school about no fights, no punching anyone, etc., etc., she had taken to keeping her head down when around the other students and just trying to get through the day without breaking any of the major rules put on her. This one, about curfew however, clearly she didn't consider it a major rule.

Once on the street, she fell into a brisk paced walk, clearly heading for New York City.

Madison Evans has posed:
    It would be hard to out-pace the pair following her. Madison might not be a speedster like her companion, but she was still faster than the average teen. The further they went, though, and the later it got - the more worried Madison grew, glancing repeatedly at her phone. "Where do you think we're headed?" she asks the girl beside her. "My mom's gonna start worrying. I- uhh. Maybe I could text her that we're working on an essay together at the Tower?" After all, her mom had no idea that the Tower's main room was currently situated on a ruined moon. She taps out a quick text exchange - then offers the phone to her speedster friend. "How long would it take you to go to the Tower and back?"
    Looks like //someone// is well aware that her mother can track her phone...

Irie West has posed:
    The further they get away from the school, the more Irie's face pulls into a scowl. "I don't know," she says. "But I intend to find out. I don't want her to get in trouble." She, after all, looks like the kind of girl who would get into trouble, though that's not something Irie would say out loud.

    "A couple of minutes," she says, answering Maddie. "Want me to leave your phone in my room?" Then a thought occurs to her. "Tell your mom that you're going to sleep over. She knows the Tower is safe." She hesitates, "Even if the main room is being a little wonky right now. She doesn't have to know that."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
One thing most people don't expect any more is for someone to walk from Happy Harbor to New York City. It requires crossing a bridge, on foot, and only one allows for foot traffic... even still, at this time of night, mostly what is seen on the foot path section of the bridge are people on bicycles. Tonight however, they also got to see a six foot dix half-Czarnian and the two teenagers following her. Whether or not Crush noticed the pair at that point in time remained unknown because she just kept walking, right into New York City, the city that never sleeps, and of course parts of which were still being rebuilt.

There were lots of places the large teen could have been going, lots of open businesses, parties happening all over the place, but what she choose was no where near as nice. Once into the city, she turned her direction toward a seedier section, an area that although not touched by the shenanigans of the angels, should still be rebuilt due to all the derelict buildings and warehouses.

Madison Evans has posed:
    After a few more texts with her mom, Madison passes the phone off to her speedy friend. "Don't get lost in the weird, yeah?" she remarks with amusement.
    The further they walk, the deeper Madison's frown grows, especially as they enter the less friendly parts of town. She starts looking around, muttering quietly under her breath, "I should've brought my boken..." But they were tucked under her bed, put away for later practice. Her mother would //flip// if she knew where she was right now.
    "We're gonna have to drink some Monsters or RedBulls or something to stay awake in class tomorrow," she adds - starting to get the impression they might be up a little late at this point.

Irie West has posed:
    Irie takes the phone and Maddie's backpack and is gone in a streak of yellow and red. It doesn't take her all that long to get to the Tower and back. After all, she /is/ the fastest girl alive.

    When she returns she's only slightly winded, having sprinted all the way there and back. "If it comes to that, I've got my T-Comm with me and can call in backup," she tells Maddie. "I don't /want/ it to come to that but this neighborhood is giving me the willies."

    "Yeah," she agrees. "I'll make sure we pick some up on the way back."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Most of the warehouses and buildings have no lights, dark and dead like the entire neighborhood. One street light offers light for an entire block, the place city officials forgot. There is still life, still people moving around the edges of the buildings, in the allies, some brave souls even trying to live in some of the buildings.

Finally up the block is one warehouse with lights, not a lot, just enough to indicate there's power and people present. The truth is, Crush had begun to believe herself being followed on the bridge, but it wasn't until she caught the yellow and red, ever so briefly, that she truly knew she was in fact being tailed. Looks like a couple of young teens almost managed to get one over on the half-Czarnian.

A smirk plays across Crushes face, and before she reaches the warehouse with light she turns instead into one of the allies, goes about twenty steps and stops. It will take the two tailers a moment or two, but they will likely follow right into the alley and find her standing there, arms folded across her chest, staring at them.

Madison Evans has posed:
    Rounding the corner into the alley, Madison blinks, then closes the distances between her and Xiomara with a few, energetic bouncing steps. "What're you doing>" she asks bluntly. "Isn't it dangerous out here? Are you in some sort of trouble? Is someone like - blackmailing you and if you don't come out here and pay them six million dollars, then they'll publish like- some deep faked video of you playing with puppies and kittens?" Look. It would go against her //vibe//.
    "//Or//! Are you on a mission to rescue women who were brought into the country under false pretenses to be 'maids' and are not being forced into slavery with their passports confiscated?"
    "//Or//-!"

Irie West has posed:
    Irie stops up short when they round the corner to find Crush waiting for them. "Yeah!" echoes Irie. "Or maybe you have a /secret/ puppy petting club that you go to that you don't want anybody to know about! /Underground/ puppies!" Okay, it's ridiculous but she's rolling with it.

    "Yeah!" she agrees again, and then pulls up short. "Wait. Maids? Why would somebody kidnap people to be /maids/? Unless you mean..." Her eyes go wide as she realizes, "Oooooh. /Maaaaids/. Right."

    "Anyway," she says, turning back to Crush, "You shouldn't be out here. It's dangerous! You could get into trouble if anybody found out!" She blinks. "Well, I mean, if anybody /else/ found out! I'm not gonna tattle if you have a good reason."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "...Oh. Em. Gee, Underground Puppies. I am soooooo in!" Madison exclaims.
    Well. This has certainly been sidetracked.

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
"Fuck that's a lot of words!" Crush grunts out to shut them up. Why, why did it have to be the glee squad? "Where the hell do you two get all those words at once?!"

Original reaction of mean over, she takes a long, deep breath. "Listen, you two shouldn't be here. Go home, where it's safe," she points back toward the alley entrance. "I got business tonight, not the kind of things a couple of kids like you should be involved in."

She glances behind her for a moment, having heard something deeper in the alley, so she steps closer to the two. "Seriously, this ain't safe for you two, but this..." she gestures to the area. "This is my play ground, this is where I make money to survive cause I don't have anyone else but me. You think it's dangerous, it is, for the both of you... not for me."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "...a dictionary?" Madison suggests. "Sometimes a thesaurus. You can find really fun words in the thesaurus. Facetious! Ostentation! //Crapulous//!" She's not entirely sure that last word is real - or in a dictionary or thesaurus. But it OUGHT to be.
    At Xiomara's words about 'danger' and 'kids,' she looks behind herself, as if expecting to find a pair of elementary students standing behind her.
    She doesn't.
    "Oh. Ohhhhh, you mean //us//? Well, Irie's a Titan - and I'm a Jedi. It's fine. So, uhhh... you make money... how?" she asks in a hesitant tone.

Irie West has posed:
    Irie looks incensed. "I'll have you know that I was fighting supervillains when I was three years old! I can handle myself. And you're not much older than us!" She shakes her head, "Well. Maddie. But I'm a special case! I may not look it, or act like it most of the time, but I /am/ a superhero. I'm Kid Flash, fastest girl alive!" She seems really proud to have taken on the mantle her father wore back when Barry was The Flash.

    "And Maddie is a Jedi." Her eyes shift to her friend, "Well, kinda. She's in training, but she can handle herself." She settles her hands on her hips, saying, "So don't be all, 'oooh, it's too dangerous for you out here,' at us."

    "Besides! What do you need all that money for? You should have a scholarship that came with the room and board because you're, like, an alien and everything. That and, you know," she says in a softer tone of voice, "We were kinda worried about you."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Crush was prepared to go into another round of leave but Madison's announcement about Irie being a Titan skids the large teens brain to a stop, then her train of through derails at Madison being a Jedi. Somewhere she was pretty sure that her father was laughing hysterically at her, and plotting to kill her, but he could do both those things at once.

Blinking a few times, trying to get some sort of grasp back on reality, she looks between the two of them. "Okay, I only have about forty minutes so I'm going to make this quick." Her red eyes pause on each for a moment before she continues.

"Titan or not, Jedi or not, this isn't a place for either of you, but I don't have time to play games, so if you're tagging along, you'll need these." Reaching into her jacket pocket she removes two long red ribbons. "Tie em on your wrists, cause where were going... underground fighting ring. You report it, I'll punch you both into the Hudson River."

A firm snort. "As for scholarships, or whatever... no, I don't get that. MacIntyre let's me stay in the dorms, let's me attend the school, but there ain't no money coming my way. This is the only way I can make money, cause I win, it's what I do, so if you're going, you're keeping your mouths shut, keeping your heads down, and I'll point out who you need to avoid once we're inside. Got it?"

Madison Evans has posed:
    "...whoa... Underground fighting ring?" Madison repeats, looking towards Irie. //Was// this a good idea? But wouldn't it be dangerous to let Xiomara go alone? "Like, people fighting? Not dogs, or bulls, or cocks, or whatever? 'cuz that stuff's animal cruelty," she points out. "None of 'em are to the death, are they?" Because even if everyone was a willing participant - that's still //murder//.
    She looks down at the ribbon in her hand, and then looks to Irie for a second time.

Irie West has posed:
    Irie has mixed feelings about going to an underground fighting ring. On the one hand, it's illegal and people get seriously hurt. But on the other hand it's kind of exciting.

    Hesitantly, she takes one of the offered and ties it around her wrist. Looking back to Maddie she states, "I'm not gonna let her out of my sight until I make sure gets back to the dorms safely. /Then/ we're gonna figure out a way for Crush to get money that doesn't involve getting beaten up."

Xiomara Rojas has posed:
Another round of blinking at Madison before Crush shakes her head. How does the kid manage to ask that many questions in such a short amount of time?

"Not animals, metahuman, inhumans and mutants," she begins, already starting to walk toward the alley exit. "Never to the death and..." she looks back, past the two of them. "You two better fuck right off! They aren't marks!"

The only sound Irie and Madison hear is scampering, two sets of feet, in the other direction.

"Sorry, you two look like prime meat around here, so stay close," she then turns back toward the exit. "I get this ain't your thing, no idea why you even bothered to follow me all the way here, but I /like/ fighting. I get a rush from it, the kinda rush most humans get from drugs, so... it won't stop, the underground fighting I mean."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "They just don't know me. Not only am I a Jedi - I'm also a ninja." Pause. "In training." That's actually true - or at least true enough. Madison gets the ribbon tied around her wrist as she turns to accompany the pair towards Xiomara's final destination, stage-whispering to Irie (as she often does), "I'm kinda disappointed it's not underground puppies. That would have been //epic.// Like - some sort of underground Puppy Bowl with illegal gambling 'which one will take a wee first.' 'Which one will pass out with his nose in a bowl of food.' Etc."