The Last Equation - Scene 1.5 - The Bar [ASH]

[christopher knowles]

Ash:


You swing open the saloon doors to "The Drunken Troll". The place is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. It smells of stale sweat, beer, and something you can't quite recognise. It might be urine, it might just be the beer. In short, it is an awesome dive bar. For no discernible reason, the cantina band song from Star Wars plays faintly in the background. You aren't sure where the music is coming from. No bar has ever had balls this big.

The main window is cracked, though the cracks have been taped. The seats are stained. You hope it isn't with bodily fluids, but as with so many things in life, you might be hoping in vain. That aside, the bar is one large room with a number of smaller booths and alcoves set into the wall. It is dimly lit, though still well lit enough for you to see that this place is quite clearly, a hole.

The one-eyed Mexican behind the bar puts down his loaded shotgun, and twirls his moustche. It is a fantastic moustache. If this moustache had a moustache, that moustache would be Tom Selleck's moustache. He reaches for a pint glass with the hook where his left hand used to be. He looks suspiciously like Danny Trejo's bigger, meaner, brother.

"Beer signor?"

[wiggles]

I sit down on the closest stool to the bartender, eyeing his moustache the entire time. 'Yeah, whatever you got.' Before throwing a few notes down and scanning the rest of the bar for the reporter.

[christopher knowles]

The moustache eyes you back.

The bartender slides a beer over in a filthy glass. In any other bar the red stains on the glass might be lipstick. Here... you're fairly sure they're blood. With the beer you receive a complimentary bowl of peanuts: a fine vintage, circa 1985. The beer, however, tastes surprisingly good: it's a nice german wheat beer.

You spot the reporter in the corner, smoking like a chimney, and looking incongruous with his immaculate suit. He motions you over to the table.

[OOC there is a small part of me that wants the next sentence to be something like "You can see a trio of karate masters practising in the corner. The leader air-fives you. You can tell he is the leader as he rides a wolf and has an eye patch". When I improvise, I do like to dick around. But I will refrain. I might test out a combat on you under some flimsy pretext though, for laughs, and to see how well that runs under a posting system.

[wiggles]

I take my drink without saying a word as I walk towards the reporter. Silently taking an note of the locals and wondering how hard it would be to suplex one thorugh a table if the need should arise. I stare the reporter down as I take my seat. 'Now I'm sure tradtion dictates that you sould be buying the first one at least. I'd be offended if this wasn't a business call.'

[christopher knowles]

It only occurs to you now, but the chairs are folding steel ones, and the tables are breakaway tables, of the kind commonly used in TLC matches in pro wrestling.

You sidle up, and the reporter immediately starts chattering:

"Before you ask, just don't, firstly, my family are luchador wrestlers, and there's a big pro-wrestling crowd here, secondly, it's out of the way and no-one will expect me to be here. Thus no-one will follow me, and no-one would believe the regulars here over me. So what you got for me?"

[wiggles]

'Now that my friend depends.' I take a massive gulp of my drink before continuing. 'What do you have to offer me? My bosses back at the ageny would have my ass just for talking to you.'

[christopher knowles]

"2 grand, cash only, any tips you might have, keep me updated, that sort of thing?"

[wiggles]

'One grand. I'll give you all the info I have. But I need something else. You see strictly speaking our organisation doesn't like to be plastered across the news. So if you give me the video you took of us, because lets face it a group of officers saying no comment is hardly award winning stuff, then I can supply you with everything you need to cover this case.'

[christopher knowles]

"Well, I can't give back footage that has already gone to the station, and everything goes back within an hour or two of shooting, but I can pull some strings and use some...better" shots. The film will be stuck on a hardrive in an archive somewhere, to be forgotten about. Good enough?""

[wiggles]

'For now. When your covering the case make sure you don't get any more shots of my boys and we'll be golden. Now then, ask away my friend. What would you like to know first?'

[christopher knowles]

"Well, to be honest, with all the news outlets covering this, we know the who, the where and the what, but no one has the why. Any leads as of yet? Also, why all the effort? Presumably it's a show for the media, as the killer and the victim's are both dead, but the public are still whining?"

[christopher knowles]

[OOC: Me and Ash finished up this scene in person, over several beers, the key points are as follows:

• The reported is now under the impression that the police suspect that Wei may have been forced by someone else to kill the Ridgeways.
  
• The footage of you all arriving at the scene is to be archived, and will likely never be shown.
  

On to day 2...