May 25, 2012 ? Friday 2 PM

Paulie's Pool Hall sat in the middle of the block, tucked between a record store and vintage clothing shop. Above the stores and hall, small lofts and apartments housed an assortment of the elderly and hip twenty-somethings. The afternoon on a nice day saw more bodies enjoying the outside and very few taking refuge in the shady lighting within the hall. One bartender on duty, clean-cut and serious looking with both his arms done in custom sleeves, kept the area of the bar and watched anyone coming or going. A couple sat at the bar, taking a late lunch, while a quartet of older men had a game of cards at a table. Candy leaned over a pool table, lining up a shot while her unlucky opponent watched.

It was the sort of place - and the sort of neighborhood - that Astrid had been all too familiar with during her time on Earth. It made her smile to think that it was the sort of place that Candy felt most comfortable in. Astrid turned heads as she walked down the street in a black t-shirt with the back cut out into a skull pattern, revealing shoulder blades and sections of her back. She paired it with blue jeans and black boots, and had her face done up with dark red lipstick and dark eyeliner. She pushed the pool hall door open, smirking as the eyes that drifted her way lingered a beat or two longer than they should have.

A glance up from the shot she lined up as another person came through the door. A moment of consideration, but her eyes didn't linger. They dropped back to the balls before her and took the shot, sending two solids in to different pockets. Her opponent muttered and looked away. Candy straightened and considered the table while moving to a new position. She wore a red t-shirt with black writing on the front that read: Ready to meet your maker?

Astrid sidled up to the bar, casting a look over at the pool table as she did so. Candy obviously wasn't any of the old men playing cards, or the couple already at the bar. No, if her intuition and knowledge was any indication, it was the hard-assed looking woman shooting pool. And winning running away, if the table was any indication. Astrid ordered a vodka cranberry from the bartender, cast a smoldering look at the couple, and turned away to hide her grin when she caught the male half blushing.

"You kiss your sister with that mouth?" Candy said to the man she currently fleeced of his earnings.

The guy gave her a dark look while she lined up another shot and might have been thinking of trying something were it not for the Bartender offering a warning, "Earl." while getting Astrid her ordered drink.

Candy glanced up at Earl with a sly eat sh*t grin and sunk the last solid. She straightened again, moved to the opposite side of the table and indicated the pocket for the eight ball. Sinking the black orb without trouble, Candy collected the cash and tucked it away into her pocket.

Astrid glanced back in time to see Candy sink the eight ball and collect her winnings from Earl, who looked none too pleased at the defeat, but unwilling to push the issue with the bartender. Astrid gathered up her drink and slinked over to the table, sipping from the thin straw in the glass as she did so. She cast a look aside for Earl, then dismissed him as she honed in on her primary target for the afternoon. "Buy you a drink?"

Dismissed from the game and from the woman that approached them, Earl decided to take his losses and go--closing his tab with the tender and headed out.

Candy moved around the table, returning the balls to the green and racking them up again. Once more her eyes settled on the woman, taking in her appearance. Candy didn't look interested in whatever the woman had to offer, be it the mysterious A or not. She kept a hard gaze on the woman while addressing the bartender, "Alec. Badsider. Gonna be on this one's tab." Alec, for his part, looked to Astrid to make that that she agreed to the arrangement.

"Astrid," she called to the bartender, identifying herself to both parties and indicating that she did in fact want it on her tab.

"Astrid with an -A-." She settled into a lean with her cue stick. Another look at the woman, considering the first suggested meeting place?a demon bar called Idle Hands. "You don't look like something with a tail."

Alec nodded to the order and took out a cold Badsider, setting it on the bar for Candy to fetch. He didn't play waiter.

She snorted, then laughed an airy laugh that careful observation would reveal was forced. "I'm not sure what you're *implying*, Candy. But that's not why we're here. Alec," Astrid called to the bartender, with a sugar-sweet smile. "Is there somewhere more...*private* we can talk?" She gestured toward Candy.

Alec looked up, and for as much as he could appreciate Astrid's appearance... he couldn't help but be amused at her asking him that. He gestured to Candy, "Take that up with her."

Moving closer to Astrid Candy spoke at a level only the other woman would hear. "Fired in the wrong direction?" Twitch of a smirk. She moved to place the cue stick back against the wall rack and fill her empty hand with the cold beer. A nod to Alec. She checked the beer cap's security and headed toward a doorway that led to the restrooms. Astrid could choose to follow or be left behind. In the hallway two other doors sat near the ones marked for men and women. Candy moved by the one marked 'Employees Only.' Balisong taken out and used pop the cap from her beer, and then she opened the other?unmarked?door.

Astrid tossed her hair as she laughed again, at both Alec's response and Candy's whisper. With drink still in hand, Astrid followed Candy back toward the doorway leading to the restrooms, then followed her through the unmarked door.

The interior of the room looked akin to a police interrogation room, minus the two-way window and spruced up with slightly more comfortable chairs and a small window in the upper back wall. The light overhead, lit the room with a yellow glow. Candy shut the door behind them and took up a lean against it. She held her beer in her left. The Balisong?with blade tucked away?tapped in her right hand against her leg.

Astrid took a moment to look around the room, then to look more closely at Candy. Her eyes lingered on the knife in the duelist's hands, but she said nothing further about the weapon as she took a seat at the table. "Funny. He always *claimed* he preferred blondes, yet here we are. Two brunettes. Though I suspect you have more muscles than I have *ever* had." Astrid chuckled as she pointed at Candy's arms.

Amusement didn't enter into Candy's features. The line about 'blondes' garnered a short snort on her part. "I'm at a disadvantage. Jay never mentioned you." Astrid looked the sort that wanted mentioning.

"I could say the same about you, but Jay and I don't talk much these days." She bit a painted fingernail, then smiled. "At least - not until recently. Would you like to know what he said?" The grin turned wicked - Astrid was tempting Candy, and she knew it would be hard to resist.

Candy took in the way Astrid bit her nail, the general way the woman carried herself. Something tempting and taunting you... a treat just out of reach. Candy was tired of games. That hard look in her eyes went deep. "If you're gonna tell me."

Astrid huffed, blowing a lock of hair out of her face, then reaching up to push it back. "Of *course* I am. That's why we're here, aren't we? Jay said...you told him you killed somebody. I'm guessing *that's* why he turned." She leaned in the chair, lifting the front two legs off of the ground.

A pull from the beer taken as Candy watched Astrid as the woman spoke. The beer lowered once more. "Couldn't tell you why Jay turned or why he does anythin' else he does... but him saying that to someone?you or otherwise?isn't news." Her tone bordered on boredom, showing no tell if there was any truth in what Jay said.

Astrid sipped from her drink, watching Candy from the corner of her eye. She felt like a mouse in the eye of the hawk - after the injury Jay had inflicted on her long ago, she had lost her devil-may-care attitude when it came to humans. She might not die, but losing a fight definitely hurt like hell. "I don't give a sh*t either way," Astrid said, with a harsher laugh than before. "What I do care about is the fact that Jay is a rabid dog, and he can't be controlled. He needs to be put down, and I think you know why I'm asking you to help me."

"Think a child of six could string that together, but thanks for the confidence." That smile with the hard edge. Her mother's smile?the deadly twist of lips, brunted by the roughness of her father. Candy stood up from her lean, but didn't sit down... a preference to stand with the current company. "Why would someone that kills time at demon clubs" a pointed look toward Astrid's back, perhaps looking for the previously mentioned tail, "want my help? Dog has a little too much bite for you, A?"

"I'm a lover, not a fighter, Candy," Astrid purred, holding up her fingernails for closer examination. "And I *hate* breaking a nail." She mock-pouted, then grinned a nasty grin. "Let's just say I hold a certain...*sway* over him, but that's only half the battle. With my looks, and your muscles, well...we can slip a silver knife between his ribs and get back to the things we *really* want."

Candy's expression didn't give away her thoughts as she considered the proposal. Another long pull taken from her beer. She leaned back against the door, "You got a plan, or you need me to bring that to the table too?"

"If you have one, I'm not opposed to hearing it." She stirred the straw in her drink, forming a tiny whirlpool in what remained of the cranberry juice and vodka.

"Hard to have a plan when I don't know where he's hidin." She'd made and executed plans before, but Astrid didn't encourage enough trust for Candy to spout off about that.

"I don't know either. I've met him in Cadentia, and in front of the Star's End Bar, but I'm pretty sure he's not living anywhere near those places. What we need is a bait and switch - or a way to force him out, on our terms. You would know better than me. Does he have any other friends or...?" Astrid's smile turned coy, as she let Candy fill in the blanks.

Another time to consider the people she'd seen Jay around--some mutual acquaintances. The Blondes. Jay hadn't introduced her to anyone, either cause he'd been as much of a loner as she... or because he had trust issues she hadn't been in on--maybe Astrid could explain that. Candy smiled and it said she felt her time being wasted. Her slow, clear tone held a sharp edge. The small room warmed a few degrees. "You keep comin up with the short straw, A. Can't say I'm impressed. You got anythin' to bring to the table... or am I supposed to believe this... sway... you got... can cover the bill you're tryin to stick me with?"

Astrid smiled, as she felt the room get warmer. "Nice trick. You sure you don't have a bit of Hell in you as well?" She laughed, shaking her head, seeming to realize that her offer for a team-up was falling flat. "What do you *want* me to bring to the table? We both know what it will take to kill him. We both know he can *smell* us coming. What do you need to make the job easier?"

Astrid finally said something worth hearing. The same reason Candy couldn't attempt shadowing Sheila on the delivery, was the risk she didn't know how to avoid his nose. The hand holding her beer lifted, Candy held up first one finger, "Kill his nose." then a second, "Get me access." Then tipped the beer to Astrid with a gesture. "And clean-up." Just like that.

"On it." She stood up, walking towards the door and Candy. "And don't worry about that pesky murder investigation. I know a guardsman... *quite* well." She looked past Candy, towards the door, and then down at the knife. "May I leave now, or were you planning on shanking me for my troubles?" Deep, throaty laughter accompanied her words

"Who said I'm worried about it?" The investigation only a part of the wrench in her current plans, the others being Jay and not knowing what he might do next and her target seeing her. She'd had to wait with or without the investigation. Candy took a step to the side, a gesture for Astrid to pass. "Next time you want to meet. Leave a message with Alec. Don't need more trouble at my work."

"Understood. I *highly* doubt you'll do the same, but...surprises are known to happen. If so, send someone to leave a message for me at Idle Hands. Or leave it yourself, if you're brave enough." She didn't wait to see Candy's reaction to that challenge, instead stepping through the door as she was saying it. Without looking back, she headed for the bar to pay for her drink and Candy's.

Candy remained behind the mull over the exchange, giving Astrid enough time to pay and get out of site, before she headed out to catch another game of pool.

Play Posted with Permission of Astrid's Player

July 7, 2012 ? Saturday Night, Arena

Candy sat on the couch of the Arena, watching the rings and the clock until her shift ended. A total of two duels had been fought. Her eyes remained on one of the fighters as he left the ring?Jay.

He reached into his pockets, retrieving a stick of gum and unwrapping it, before chewing. He glanced over at King by the couch, sending her a flat look. He felt Candy's eyes on him and stared right back with sharp blue eyes, before turning away.

"You blinked first." For Jay's back.

"Wasn't aware it was a contest."

"Somethin you're not aware of?" Mock shock.

"Sure." Shrugging. " There's lots of things I don't know."

"A few come to mind right off the bat." She agreed, setting an empty bottle to the side. Pushing off the couch and heading toward Jay.

Curious look at Candy, as she approached his table. "If you're going to try to kill me again, you might want to pick somewhere less public than the Arena. And somewhere without Wards."

"Thought those were only in the rings." She kicked a chair out and claimed it. "Try to kill you again? You must have me mistaken for someone with bad aim. If I tried. You wouldn't be here to accuse me of missin." A pointed look, did anything of their history show otherwise?

"Because if I get stabbed bad, the first thing I'm not doing is crawling for the Wards." He looked ringwards.

A low chuckle. "That's an amusin image. But I'm not the one plannin t'put a knife in your back... much as you enjoy doin it yourself." A dip of hardness to her tone, words lowered for Jay. But the edges eased and she was... as soft as Candy could be following.

"You hiring someone out?" Jay clucked his tongue. "You'd be so much better at it, though. Knowing my weakness and all. Or...I guess you could tell them." Grim smile.

Smile, she took out a cigarette and leaned close. "You really don't know who your enemies are." A look of pity. "Cause you're lookin in the wrong place."

"Where should I be looking, huh?" He smelled that tobacco and started chomping more furiously on his gum.

She lit up with the touch of her hand. "You want to know. We'll talk later." Standing up, she blew smoke over the table--though not directly at him and headed for the couch.

Jay sighed, sniffing at the smoke-rich air just over his head. He got another piece of gum out and started chewing even faster.

~~

With her queue close, she looked toward Jay, "You interested in that?"

"In what?"

"Watchin the challenge."

"Watching an arrogant @$%hole? Pass. Got training in the morning, anyways."

"So do I." Smirked as she thought about it. Her days of the week filling up with some form of training. A nod given to the new caller, Candy headed to Jay's table again. Stubbing out her smoke on the way.

To Jay, "We'll have to talk another time." Pause. "When?"

"Dunno. I'll send word."

"I won't hold my breath." A gesture of her hand, a fire portal opened at a distance from the floor to reduce possible fire damage. She stepped through and it closed behind her.

((Taken from Live Play))

July 8, 2012 -- Baronial Manor

Simon sat waiting in an arm chair near the fire portal. "You're late."

"What of it?" The portal vanished behind Candy as she stood with arms crossed before her.

"Seirichi's taken a number of tees."

"There's enough to take."

He folded the paper he'd been reading up, setting it on the table by the chair and stood with a gesture to the empty air where the portal had been. "What was that?"

"That was my business, Simon."

He could easily hear it in her tone, the edge of violence waiting to be unleashed, and didn't push further. Hands settled into his pocket, patiently turning to the matter that brought him there. "The Advisory Council?"

One slow breath before she responded, "Yes." A hand lifted towards the stairs, "We can talk upstairs."

Candy scrawled the note as the scene from the Arena played through her mind. The air about her running hot as she considered the, now meaningless, time she'd spent with the man. He picked this. He couldn't even give her an inch. His life had been, perhaps, her last bargaining chip to keep him quiet... but a bargain couldn't be reached when the person refused to hear her out. Did he just expect her to air her information in front of his Crew?

Candy had never planned to kill Jay, but agreeing with Astrid had kept the woman at bay.

No point in that anymore...

Through a message delivered to Idle Hands, Astrid received the note.

You're on your own. I got better sh*t to do.

- Candy

July 25, 2012 ? Wednesday

The note had been delivered to Jay after a roundabout trip through the Crew's mail channels. He had known just by smell who it had come from, even though there was no name or address written on it - just his own name. He opened it up, read the simple message on it, and sighed. Candy wanted a meeting, but she wanted it promptly. Too promptly for him to bring in his new bodyguard. Despite that, he gave the man a call, told him where he would be going, and told him to contact Ria Graziano if he wasn't heard from in two hours. Jay's bodyguard wasn't happy that Jay was going out on his own, but it was a risk he was going to have to take. Jay handed a quick note back to the courier with just two words written on it: "Dead Cow".

They had at least provided him with some other measures he could take to keep himself protected. Beneath a plain black t-shirt he wore a thin ballistic vest. Careful eyes might have seen it for what it was, but the average person would just think he was stronger than he actually was. Instead of shorts, he wore navy blue sweat pants, and he wore a pair of black running shoes to top the look off. He took a cab to the Dead Cow, carrying nothing but his wallet and phone with him. When he stepped inside, he didn't see Candy at any of the tables, booths, or in line, so he took a seat at a booth with a clear view of the window and the door.

The appointed time came and went, minutes passing. Though The Dead Cow didn't have a clock on the wall to keep track. Seven minutes after the time written on the message sent, After a brief scan of the exterior, Candy made her way in. She wore the black 'Renegade' tee with the usual jeans and boots. Today she didn't carry her messenger bag with her. First her eyes found Jay, easy enough. Then searched the room for anyone looking out of place. She didn't trust him completely to come alone. When no one else caught her eye, the attention returned to Jay.

She didn't leave the doorway, yet. Now focused more on him. With his shacking up with Crew she expected something a little more... guarded. Then she spotted the ballistic vest and a smirk curved her lips. Her father a mercenary, her mother a spy... Candy wasn't the average person... and she knew Jay better, having spent time and time again watching him.

The anger of two night's prior didn't show, it'd taken most of a day to school herself. That smile stayed in place as she left the doorway and headed for the booth, approaching his side of it. "Jay." The simple familiar greeting before her fist headed for his face.

Later, he would curse himself in his head for keeping his guard down, for letting her get the drop on him, for not postponing the meeting or making sure he'd had a bodyguard with him. In the moment, though, he had left himself unprepared for Candy walking up to him and punching him in the face. All he had time to do was turn his head so the blow bounced off of his cheekbone, up around his eye. His head cracked back against the bench of the booth, and his next reaction was reach for Candy's throat, snarling as he did so. He was either unable or unwilling to talk. He watched as some of the patrons scattered out the door, and others watched in disbelief, but the staff didn't lift a finger to help either of them, or to call the guard.

After throwing the punch, she didn't react or move. She stood still while his hand closed around her throat and met his angry gaze with a calm detachment. Her only emotion showing in the slight hint of a smirk at the edge of her lips as she did her best to breathe through the gasp. She waited. Knowing the employee's would leave them to their exchange.

He snorted a couple of times, nostrils flaring, before blinking. Once. Twice. Then, he let go of her and started to laugh, shaking his head. "If you're trying to kill me, that's a pretty shitty way to do it. So, you just wanted to punch me in the face one last time, for old time's sake? Well done, Candy. Well done." Jay stood up, and started to make his way towards the door. Unless, of course, Candy decided to get in his way.

Released, she fought the urge to touch her neck and watched his reaction. As he tried to leave, she put herself in her way. "Do I have to repeat myself? If I was going to kill you, you'd be dead." The sharp edge to her smile, almost a match for the wolf-grin he flashed from time to time. "I told you, I'm going to tell you something you need to know." She stepped out of his way and returned to the booth, sliding into the seat opposite of where he'd been.

"Spill." Jay glanced over at the customers and workers who had been brave enough to continue watching their spat, and growling at them, his lip curling back. That seemed to get them to pay the pair less attention. He did go back to the booth, but he didn't sit where he had been sitting, instead leaning against the side of the bench.

"Sit." A look from where he leaned toward the open booth, then back to him. "Or leave. But you won't like what happens if you leave without hearing what I have to say." She tilted her head, "That isn't a death threat, Jay. Just a threat."

"I'm here, but I'm not sitting. Deal with it." Jay reached into one of his front pockets and retrieved a stick of gum. He unwrapped it and placed it in his mouth, before leaving the wrapper on the table. He could feel the area around his eye swelling up, and he knew he was going to be sporting a shiner the next few days.

"No?" She looked bored. "You think you'd take more care with someone that knows so much about you Jay."

"Not as much as you might think," he said, smiling wolfishly. "So unless you got a silver knife, or a silver bullet with my name on it..."

"I could cry wolf." A smile in return.

"The same way I cried murder?" Jay sighed, and flopped into a seat. "Let's just get this over with."

She lowered her voice, leaning forward. "But it wouldn't be impossible to prove what you are, while your cry of murder..." Leaning back, her tone returned to normal. "I'm sure you've heard the case has been closed. A lack of interest." As she continued to talk she reached into the back pocket of her jeans, slowly the movement when it was sure to catch his attention, before producing a clipping from the gossip rage. "You know what I find interestin Jay?" The bit of paper pushed toward him.

"Huh. No." Jay sighed again, then picked up the newspaper clipping and reading it over. "Hmm?"

"That you're tellin people I'm your ex-girlfriend." The anger showed. Her voice low and holding a hard edge. "We never broke up, Jay. Because we were never together. You don't get to turn your relation to me into somethin it wasn't."

"One..." He pushed the newspaper clipping back in her direction, sending it floating in the air briefly before it landed back on the table. "That's the GangSTAR, right? Gossip? Like a tabloid. Not everyone's going to believe it's true. Second...what the hell does it matter?"

"One. Enough people will believe it to be annoyin, the person who brought this to my attention for one. As far as anyone should be concerned, I-don't-date." She left the tabloid where it rested on the table, not looking to it again. "Two. It matters because it isn't true."

Jay looked up at the ceiling, amazed. "Really. This is why you dragged me out here? After all the other shit, this is what we're talking about? I'm going to say it again. Why does it matter?"

Her face remained set in determination. "You don't have to understand -why- it matters, Jay. It matters. And you're going to fix it. You're going to write to..." A hand reached out to turn the paper so she could read it, "Marc and tell him that you must have been misheard, but you an I have never been girlfriend an boyfriend." Removing her hand from the paper, her eyes went back to him. "After you clear that up, I'll tell you who's tryin to kill you..... and. If you don't think my request is worth your time, I will have to write my own note. You wouldn't be shrugging it off it there was something about -you- published in the tabloid. There will be so many eyes on you, you won't know which belongs to people that want you dead and which belongs to people that intend on following through on that desire."

Jay looked her over for a second, seeing that all-too-familiar look of determination. He pulled his feet up onto the booth he was sitting at, assuming a lotus position from the waist down. "Blackmail. No wonder you have so many friends." The words were dry, accompanied by a chuckle. "What's the deadline?"

"I don't have friends because they only betray you." Her eyes growing harder as she regarded him. Even in her anger, she managed to keep FireStar in check. "You have a week. If there's nothin from you, then I send in my letter on Thursday."

There was nothing on his face to suggest whether or not he was going to acquiesce to her request. Just a slow shake of his head, and a sad smile. A smile born out of pity. "I don't think you're really gonna tell me who's trying to kill me, even if I do write in. You've basically got me over the barrel. One week."

"You don't know anyhin' about me Jay. What I wanted was a trade, your silence for helpin you keep your life... but you weren't willin to hear me out without your friends. I wouldn't have bothered again but for..." another look at the paper, the edge of her jaw twitched in her irritation. She looked to back to him, catching the hint of pity in his expression. "Unlike you, I mean what I say."

"You're right. I don't know nothing about you. I'm going to do what I have to do, and you're going to do what you wanna do, and we'll see how the whole thing ends up." With that, Jay got up from the table and swiftly walked for the door, banging it open and shut as he left.

((Taken from Live Play with Capistrano))