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| Scene Title | After Curfew Blues |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | A broken down bus and bad timing bring the law gently down on Noriko and Sable. |
| Date | October 18, 2010 |
Harlem stretches from the East River all the way to the Hudson, miles of tpacked residential districts filled with refugees and vagrants, a neighborhood stricken with crime and poverty. Harlem was, and has been for generations, one of the urban hearts of New York City. Before the bomb, this borough of Manhattan was the center of the Afircan American community in New York City. Now after the destruction of Midtown and the wake of social devastation brought in by the bomb, the borough has seen better days. Much of Harlem suffers from the same plight as much of New York — Overpopulation and crime in the wake of the collapse of infrastructure in 2006. With major traffic arteries cut off, power and water only recently restored, the area was in chaos for those first few terrifying weeks after the blast.
Before the bomb, Harlem had been shaping up, cleaning up its crime rate and working towards becoming a safe place for its residents. All of that hard work was laid to waste in a single night. Many of the buildings on the southern side of the neighrhood bordering on Central Park were gutted by arson in the chaotic weeks following the bomb, and the vast majority of them haven't been torn down yet, leaving the southern edge of the neighborhood a burned out and dangerous ruin. Even if it wasn't for the fires, the looting, vandalism and crime that spiked shortly after the bomb only made things worse for the Harlem residents, followed by the electricity and water stoppage from the damage done to the city's infrastructure.
With the major highways mostly repaired, Harlem is in a process of reconstruction and revitalization. Most of the neighborhood's historic landmarks still remain, and the region surrounding 125th street continues to be the urban pulse of Harlem as a whole, and from that street it's hard to tell anything has changes. It is the center of the reconstruction movement, constantly packed with repair crews, construction workers and maintence teams.
Just one more transfer, one more, and Sable will finally be home. It's the last possible bus before curfew, and as little as she regards the laws of the land, she knows that to fight the law is like playing the house. They always win. For now, at least.
This is, also, not an awesome part of town for a young woman (particularly of her stature) to be hanging about in after nightfall. Sable's weird yellow eyes scan the sidewalks with a trained wariness, her posture nonchalant, not giving off 'easy prey' vibes… though vibes alone aren't quite enough to keep you safe.
She's not stupid, she's survived in worse places for longer nights, and her hand is in her pocket, hand wrapped around the handle of a folding knife. Running is, of course, usually a much better idea. But, for all that she is Registered as a musical talent, she knows full well that she might also have some other talents that make mugging just a little less scary - particularly if you're crazy. Like Sable is.
Speaking of crazy, the poster child for craziness comes walking along. Not that she has been as active upon the scene as she once was. Her kidnapping and torture at the hands of a previous lover and a psychotic doctor. She's taken to the habit of wearing a veil across the lower part of her face, hiding the hideous scars that she had acquired.
Her green eyes scan the sidewalk, her mind already registering sources of water out of old habit, making sure that she knows wher her bst weapon is at and that she can get to in a hurry if need be. She doesn't walk tensely, but her body does have the carry of someone who knows how to take care of herself, and isn't quite afraid to unleash deadly force upon any one that attempts to harm her or her person. As she stops at the bus stop, wanting her own ride home she looks over at the person who is already standing there waiting. Her green eyes look over Sable's form, sizing her up and not caring if Sable gets that feeling or not. After a couple of moments of silence, the woman finally speaks, her voice soft and somewhat distorted from the veil and the scars, "Hello."
Of the list of things Sable imagined might walk out of the darkness, Noriko would have been very low. Below Jim Morrison, in fact, though still above Elvis. She blinks, once, rather pointedly actually, then lifts a brow like: 'really now?' She has a smile on, and she adjusts her cap to what she judges to be a 'jaunty' angle. The 'sizing up' is met with a simple nod. She's not looking for a challenge. She's accepting Noriko's control of the turf. Just passing through, man. Simple survival tactics.
The greeting, though… it's not one that she senses to be aggressive. Which means she… probably should respond, just to get information and to keep a close eye on her new companions emerging intentions.
"Evenin', hon," Sable says, smiling pleasantly, her already put-on accent growing extra twangy, "just waitin' f'r th' bus. Gettin' my sorry ass home t' my shithole-type apartment."
Noriko's eyes twinge slightly at the accent. Not from Sable's use of it, but from the general sound of a country accent in general. "Sounds like fun," the woman says softly as she stares out into the darkness, eyebrows knitting for a moment as she seems to consider something or the other. "That doesn't sound like too much fun. A shit-hole apartment is never fun. Though, admittedly, I've never owned one, but, been in some shitty accomadations," Noriko states easily enough.
"So, something important that keeps you out almost past curfew? Not a good time to be out and about I hear," Noriko adds, her hands going back behind her, as she looks towards one of the sewer grates on the street, enjoying sensing the water that lurks just beneath there, and knowing that at anytime that can become a lethal weapon, along with the water in the body of her companion. For now, however, she's saving that particular skill for someone special and close to heart.
"Aw, hell, my shithole apartment's a goddamn blast!" Sable says, grinning with a hickish sort of broadness. Eyes crinkle. She affects, as best she can, something of a hay seed - a little out of place in New York. "Can't wait t' get me home, y' know? I don't own much, but it's a fine fuckin' place t' live. Wouldn't wanna live nowhere else."
This chick is asking questions. That makes Sable a little nervous. But she's not ready to bolt yet… plus bolting might end up being worse for her. Missing the bus, having to walk home through this neighborhood?
"Gettin' back from seein' m' special lady friend," Sable states, amiably, with a hint of banal lasciviousness. Unlike her usual lasciviousness, this is actually entirely put on. "Nothin' more important th'n that."
An eyebrow is raised up at the comment about a lady friend, an unseen smirk dancing along her smile that would only serve to make the scars that much more unsettling. Thankfully the veil hides all of that. Her eyes flick down the road, perhaps looking to see if she can't make out that bus. Her green eyes return to the woman she has been talking with, "Well, it is all about the people in the home that makes the home special." Her feet tap a little on the street, before she says, "So…" She trails off, no longer able to find some topic of conversation.
Sable lets the silence roll out for a bit. She's not getting a threatening sense from Noriko, so this makes her willing to let quiet settle in. But after a bit… Sable gets sort of bored. As stilted as it might have been, at least conversation was conversation. She glances up at Noriko again. "Y'all have real pretty eyes. Green, but nice 'n' Chinese. Y'all part Chinese?"
Noriko looks over at Sable for a couple of moments at her conversation, a faint smirk on her lips. "Japanese," she easily and gently corrects on her ethnicity. "Full japanese," she goes on to continue her ethnic routes, a roll of her shoulder going, "Don't get too many comments on my eyes mostly," her eyes self conciously going down to her rather large chest.
"That's 'cause gutter minded mother fuckers 'r' too busy starin' at yer chest," Sable says, shaking her head like 'what a world', "which, don't get me wrong gal, y' got a fine set 'f tits. But men 'r' fuckin' pigs. 'n' yer eyes are Mikimoto pearls b'fore swine," she grins. How charmingly almost-racist!
Noriko looks at her for a couple of moments unsure of what to make of the statement. After a couple of moments she says with something of a life in her voice, "Well, that'd be almost correct, except I mostly only see other women." She winks before looking back down the road, and then back towards Sable, "But still, don't always get compliments on the eyes."
Oh, now this was a direction Sable not expected. So many surprises. Sable is pleasantly nonplussed for a moment before she rolls her shoulder, mirroring Noriko's previous motion. "Well, some women 'r pigs, too. But once in a while y' find a gentleman, y' know?"
"Ain't that the truth," Noriko murmers, recnt memories stirring in her mind of particular women who betray her to be used as a guinea pig. Yes, she's still a little mad about that, and the scars on her face don't particular help her forgive Bella. Her eyes growing hard, before looking back into the street, her hands coming out from behind her back before folding in front of her.
"Y'all stirred up 'bout somethin', hon?" Sable inquires, casually enough. She sees lights in the distance. Could that be the bus? To far to tell, the streetlights could be in the way of the telltale orange lights or the glowing display.
Noriko shrugs her shoulders a little at the question, clearly deflecting it. "Its nothing really," she lies, her eyes looking towards the approaching lights, trying to judge the size of the vehicle. "So what about you, had any bad relationships with pig woman," Noriko asks the other woman.
"Naw, jus' wolves," Sable says, shaking her head, sounding matter of fact, "devil women. It's th' femmes gotta watch f'r pigs. Butch like me's gotta dodge th' wolves. Damn fool self always thinks y' c'n train 'em. But a wolf's always craftier th'n y' think."
An eyebrow gets raised at what the woman says, before she asks, "What do you mean by train? Teach them to be better, or what?" She's mildly interested in the answer, watching the woman as the lights come closer and are finally identified as a police cruiser.
Sable immediately perks up, though it doesn't show in her posture. Speaking of pigs… "Aw shit, I smell bacon. Hell… it ain't past curfew yet, is it? I could swear I w's on time. I don' wanna get took in…" She glances up to Noriko, and realizes that she's been asked a question. Nervous though she, she has to answer. Philosophy of love is sort of her bag. "Yeah, yeah, make 'em come home t' you 'stead 'f roamin', know what I mean?"
Noriko and Sable are waiting at a bus stop for the last bus of the evening before curfew. However, that bus unfortunately had broken down, and as the two chatted together, curfew came and went. A cop car is coming up the street, close enough to be identified by the two women and for them to be seen.
As Sable asks if it is past curfew, Noriko reaches into her pocket to look at her phone, "Shit it is," the asian woman says, a veil covering the lower portion of her face. Her eyes flick nervously to the cop car, tensing just a little as she stops to see what they do.
The white and blue vehicle with it's reflective paint clearly states that it is NYPD. Clearly seen as well when the dome light comes on inside the approaching car is two officers. That comment about female pigs? That's who's in the passenger side all dark skinned and navy blue uniformed. Doing the ride around to make sure all the terrible people who don't have permission to be out and about, aren't out and about.
The report of a broken down bus and the curfew meaning that the bus will not be replaced has the two riding along the route and sending people home. Of which there hasn't really been. Most got smart and found other ways home when the little hand on the clock started creeping closer and closer to the half past 9.
Whoop whoop goes the sirens, a quick little bleat to say hey there, we see you, don't bother running or making our life hell tonight or maybe we'll make yours. The lights also all come on, making this part of the city, this little corner of big bad new York a little lighter in Harlem.
The vehicle parks pulls over just down from them, the passenger getting out, not very tall, maybe 5'5 at most, hat on, vest, and standing just behind her door. Her flashlight out, she aims it at the feet of the two women. "Ladies. Do you realize what time it is?"
"We gonna play this cool, okay?" Sable says, quietly, to her incidental companion, "don't be too badass 'r nothin', 'kay? No attitude…" She saw how Noriko was walking before. But you don't want to get in a cop's face. Never a good idea, no matter how much the square son of a bitch deserved it.
The yellow eye girl gives the officer her hayseed grin, her twang a little less pronounced than it was with Noriko, but still prominent. Just a harmless hick, she… "Been waitin' f'r the bus, ma'am," Sable says, "'n' I don't got no watch. Jus' tryin' to get home t' the Bronx is all. Sorry that time ran so quick over me. This here lady ain't with me, but I figure she's doin' just th' same."
Noriko nods her head in agreement with Sable at her explanation to the cop that is walking towards them. "Yes, Ma'am. Just waiting for the bus to go ahead and arrive so that I can get on my way home. We got to talking and didn't quite notice the time slip past curfew, honest mistake, really." She smiles behind the veil, not that the cop can see it. For now, Noriko is willing to work right along with Sable and be as non threatening as possible.
Not walking, not yet. Still standing by the door to the car. There's protocol's to keep track of. "There's no other bus. The city shuts down ladies at curfew. The last one on this line broke down and they didn't have time to put another one out" She looks to the dash of the vehicle then back to Noriko and Sable. Her partner, a male, opens his own door but doesn't get out. But she does start moving forward now. "If I could see your registrations and another form of Photo identification please? It's ten after nine" Her nametag across her right chest states her name is Castalides.
Aw shit. Sable doesn't want to flash her fake ID, these cops will see right through it like that piece of crap was tissue paper and they have X-ray-freakin'-vison. Which leaves her with her registration card. Which she does have. Tier 0, baby. Harmless as they come.
So she keeps up with the story she told the lady who registered her. Keep the lies straight. "Don' got no other photo idea, ma'am," she says, tugging out her registration and offering it up, "I live up at th' Sisters 'f Saint Dominic, if y' must know. Don't think ill 'f me 'r nothin'. Just down on m' luck, 's all."
Noriko reaches into the back pocket of her jeans, having eschewed a purse when she left her house. She comes up with her registration card and a New York identification card, both in the name of Noriko Amagi. Offering the requested documents to the officer, adding as she catches a glimpse of the nametag, "Not looking for any trouble. We were just on our way home, Officer Castalides."
'Well the bus isn't going to get you home ladies and it is past Curfew. Please wait here a moment" Both ID's are taken from their respective owners, the flashlight running from side to side over the pieces of government identification before Officer Castalides starts heading back to the vehicle. When she turns her back to the girls, her partner is easing out, watching the two. It's dangerous these days. And it's plain to see what she's going to do. Run the ID's.
Sable doesn't say jack shit at this point. She almost always keeps her mouth shut around cops. As tough as she talks, and as much as she bitches and moans about 'the man', she's got the street instincts of a 5'1" teenager who's spent years on them. She does not talk smart to authority, not unless she's sure she can get away with it. Even then, she can be wrong.
Noriko looks over at Sable to see how the smaller woman is holding up, patting her on the shoulder while she stands there, in an effot to perhaps get her to relax a bit. For one, Noriko isn't too worried about the cops, in her mind they're minor annoyances, but she won't voice that opinion, best to just do what they tell you and then move on with life.
It takes a few minutes, a quick return on the legitimacy of both cards. Fully registered evolved's, nothing coming up wrong to trip the system, no flashing warning in big red words to detain. A glance shared between the two cops and a shrug, Aude is removing herself from the vehicle, even as her partner is moving to pull open one of the back doors.
"Miss Amagi, Miss 'Sable'. We're not going to cart you down to the precinct. It's only ten after and you can't control the bus breaking down" The ID's are still held in her hand, not quite giving them back yet. "If both of you would follow me, get in the back, we'll give you a rid to your respective residences and make sure you get safely home"
Aw, hell.
This means Sable's spending the night at the homeless shelter. This is going to be fucking miserable, she'd gotten used to living the life. She doesn't even know if the smell of piss and vomit is something she can ignore anymore. She's gone soft…
But like hell is she going to bring the Law to Gun Hill. Or admit she kinda sorta committed what is probably perjury. Whoops! Sable tips her hat to the law-woman. "Much obliged ma'am. 'n' you too, sir," she tips her hat to the other fascist pig as well, "I surely will be more careful next time."
Noriko smiles lightly while she stands there, her eyes looking around her before she nods her head. "Sure thing, Ma'am. Thank you for the lift." Her eyes look over at Sable, before looking back to the cop car and starting to walk towards it and the backseat, working hard to calm a few nerves that twinge.
"Just keep better track next time. Giving you just a warning is all. Next time, please plan accordingly yes?" Evolved's, there's a bit of a scowl on castalides's face and she opens the other door for the two ladies to start sliding in, their ID's handed back as they actually get in. "And Sable?" This comes from her partner who looks at the young woman that is the greneish eye'd young woman.
"I'd really pay that fine and pay it soon, you don't have that much time left on it. You also might want to update your registry with your last name. IN case you don't get such understanding police should this happen again"
"Ma'am, I'll try 'n' scrounge up th' cash but… where 'm I'm gonna find that kinda cash? I don't do no crime or nothin', but that means I got nothin', 'cept what I c'n panhandle," Sable says, helplessly, her shrug in line with the rest of the affect, "'n' I told th' lady at th' station that I don't got no last name. Parents were in a commune." Yup, that is the story. Told like it's gospel truth, before she ducks into the cruiser.
Noriko follows behind Sable as she ducks into the back seat, before looking at the other evolved. "Its alright, I'll give you my number and I can help you out with that at some point," Noriko says, her eyes looking between the bars to the front seat of the cop car. She smiles once again beneath the veil, before looking over at Sable to se what the other woman says to that.
"I'm sure you'll think of something Miss Sable" The male of the two speaks again as he shuts the door, Castalides doing the same before both make their way to their respective streets. Addresses punched in so that they can start the ride to the two residences, starting with the closest. Any conversation, will not be had by the 'facist pigs' at least.
The Man. Always getting you down. Why, the Man, why? Why you gotta be like this, the Man?
"Hon, I 'ppreciate it, but I ain't no charity case, 'n' that fine's bigger than you think it is. It's a fuckin' recession, hon," Sable huffs, "I ain't gonna take no handout, though. I'm a goddamn American."
And this little goddamn American is spending the night in the care of the Sisters of Saint Dominic.
Noriko shrugs her shoulders a little to what Sable says. "Alright, was just an offer," Noriko states, her eyes turning to look out the window. Her mouth moving as she thinks, though it isn't really seen beneath the veil, she just waits for the cops to take her to her apartment.