Don't Tease The Shady Business Man

Participants:

diogenes_icon.gif kaylee_icon.gif tuck_icon.gif

Scene Title Don't Tease The Shady Business Man
Synopsis Kaylee helps out Diogenes by bringing him to visit Tuck's shop. She quickly wishes she hadn't and tries to fix the problem, but probebly not with the results she planned on.
Date June 22, 2009

Tucker's Pawn Shop

Every shelf, every flat surface in the entire shop is covered with things. VCRs, DVDs, small pieces of machinery, cheap jewellery - all the kind of stuff worth little money. It's the merchandise that's not worth protecting, even here. If someone wants to steal a VHS copy of 'The Little Mermaid,' then so be it. The primary purpose of the clutter of items is a front - to distract from the fact that the real purpose of the shop is to sell stolen, high-value goods. //
The front part of the shop with its knick-nacks and assorted low-value items is separated from the high value items by a counter and a layer of bulletproof glass. There is a slot beneath the window for exchange of money or small goods. At the base of the counter is a chute for larger items. Surveillance cameras keep a vigilant watch over every square inch.
There is a small arsenal of weapons up on a pegboard above the counter. Not just guns but knives, tasers, pepper spray, handcuffs, nightsticks, brass knuckles - all sorts of things meant to cause pain. There's a rotating case at the counter that holds many expensive jewellery pieces, including a few Rolexes and a large assortment of engagement rings. There are expensive cell phones, iPods, laptops and other various small electronics, including listening devices and CB radios. Just about anything worth stealing is displayed behind the glass and up on the walls. Many items however, are by special request. You gotta know what you're looking for.//


The young man who introduced himself as 'Diogenes of Sinope' to Kaylee during their largely silent boat trip stops right in front of the door leading into the fancily adorned pawn shop. Tuck's pawn shop. As he lays his hand on the door handle, he pauses to look at Kaylee with those deep, dark eyes of his. "You never told me how exactly you got away without paying to the boatman. Certain services?", he inquires brusquely with a tinge of venomous sarcasm ringing in his tone of voice.

It's true that Kaylee had gotten away without paying. When she arrived at the docks, she simply pulled the man aside and had a few soft words with him and off they went. When Diogenes asked her where he could get certain things.. she knew the place. She had heard he friends mention it a time or two, but never been in it. A good a time as any. What's that saying about the curious cat?

Kaylee gives the man an amused look at the tone of his question and laughs. "Oh please… What can I say? I have a way with people." She shrugs it away and pushes past him to move into the shop. "And no.. for your information I didn't offer the guy a blow job or anything.. I just simply asked."
The dirty streets of Staten Island are dirtier lately thanks to the fires in the 'burbs. They're out now, but there's still smoke hanging in the air and soot on the sidewalk that the rain hasn't completely washed away.

The fire'sve underestandably killed Tuck's walk-in business. But, disaster is usually good for the bottom line in the long run. He's got a series of generators and shop vacs and other types of equipment one might need after a disaster, all set and ready to go. Right now he's sitting behind the counter as he works at the guts of some kind of mechanical device. A horse race plays on a static-filled TV off to his left. The layer of bulletproof glass is closed and hinged shut. People get desperate in disasters too, and he wasn't born yesterday.

He hears the buzzer that indicates customers, but says, "Can I help you?" without looking up from what he's repairing. Finicky wiring.

Diogenes eyes Kaylee as she walks past him, his hand sliding along and off the handle as she strolls past and steps into the pawn shop, seemingly ignoring his presence whilst addressing his snidely posed question. He fails to restrain a smile that creeps up on his lips on its own; and in a few quick steps, he follows after her to wade into the pawn shop and close the door behind him. "I asked several guys and the smallest amount of cash they wanted was a hundred bucks… Then again, I'm not as pretty as you", he muses loudly, his gaze scanning the innards of the pawn shop. Considering the suffocating smog outside, indoors were a relief. Tuck's inquiry doesn't detract his attention from all the items laid out on the shelves and whatnot. Instead, he seems to let Kaylee speak with the merchant.

"Mr. Weird name I have a hard time pronouncing over there is looking for something." Kaylee offers helpfully in answer to Tuck's question, while flapping a hand in Diogenes direction. "I just showed him the way.. Oh hey.. is that an ipod?" She moves to eyes a shelf of stuff, before moving on. "Heard about this place.. never came here myself. No reason too." Moving around the store, she ends up watching the man behind the glass with a mix of curiosity and mild amusement.

"Well kids. What exactly is it that you're looking for?" Tuck's tone is dry, droll. He fiddles with a tiny screwdriver and picks up a pair of wire cutters to snap a red one. No bomb goes off, so it's probably a radio rather than an explosive device. Or maybe he just cut the right cable.

He glances at them both over the top of a pair of plastic framed glasses. "Yes. I have many varieties of the genus iPod for sale. Some are fully loaded with hundreds of tunes and videos for your listening and watching pleasure, though I make no guarantees as to their exact content." AKA, stolen merchandise.

Upon noticing a certain Disney film amongst the great many of miscellaneous items, Thomas snorts lightly. His heart warms up and his memory floods with memories; numerous nights spent with his family watching those fable-esque cartoons masterfully constructed both for children and adults. Too bad the household fell apart. His forlorn gaze tears away from the aged plastic DVD box, and he looks at Kaylee once again. "It's Diogenes. Die-oh-gene-ees." That certainly sounded stupider than it did in his head when he had decided to introduce himself like that to others. "It's a Greek philosopher, he… Uh, y'know, nevermind." He steps away from the shelves he was admiring, and walks up to the man shielded by bulletproof glass. "You're selling all sorts of crap, most of which you can find in Walmart. But cashiers don't hide behind glass there", he comments, observing Tuck as curiously as Kaylee, if not even more so.

"Yeah.. okay Die Genie.. or whatever.. I'll call you Dio and call it good." Kaylee comments blandly even if there is smirk on her face. She goes quet for a moment letting the two men talk, moving back over to the electronics eyeing them thoughtfully. "Wonder if Adam has an ipod," she murmurs softly to herself. "Man is so far behind the times.. "

"This is Staten Island, my young friends. Anything of value I keep safely tucked away. Else I would be robbed on a daily basis." Tuck snips a wire and strips the plastic casing off, then slides it into place. "Diogenes, the cynic if I recall." Funny. He doesn't really look like the type who'd be in to ancient philosophy. But then he adds, "I get books on a lot of weird shit coming through here." Like that's an excuse for being a mildly educated criminal.

The young adult's eyes glide over the wide glass wall separating him and Tuck. Considering the nature of Staten Island, he wondered whether it was bulletproof. But would a pawn shop really invest in something of the sort? After an idle glance shot behind his shoulder towards Kaylee, Diogenes looks at Tuck. Surprise is visible on his visage as he hears the seller recognise his name. He doesn't keep the surprised look for long, however, and soon announces all of a sudden: "I want an HK G-36 with some ammo. Failing that, an AKS-74U… With a scope, preferrably." Although he certainly sounded serious, it may have looked somewhat bizarre if not simply comical for someone of his apparent age to be ordering such things.

"True.. "Kaylee says turnng back to Tuck, looking serious all of a sudden. "Speaking of Staten.. how bad is it? I was coming to look for before he needed assistance. I mean when it happened I could see the smoke from where I was on the mainland." Dio's words pull her attention and she gives him a surprised look, but she doesn't comment turning back to Tuck.

Tuck looks from the machinery up to Diogenes. He squints, then pushes air between his teeth. "I don't sell guns to kids. Specially not fucking assault rifles. Sides. Don't have anything like that in stock. There's an arms dealer named Deckard. Might be short enough on morals to sell one to you." He raps the small screwdriver on the counter and raises a brow to Kaylee. "Depends on who you ask. It's just par for the course out here. Shit happens every day. People fight for their piece of the pie. I just keep my head down. Try not to get too involved."

Diogenes was standing tall and firm, barely moving if at all, his gaze fixated on the aged merchant. "I'm old enough to buy myself a drink, and in America, that means I am old enough to buy myself a gun", he notes, before indirectly disclosing the reason for asking such: "And while you might not have those guns in stock, you are determined not to sell any gun to me… means you have them. And that answers my question why you'd need this glass." The possibly over-analytical man looks behind him at Kaylee once more before his attention would return to Tuck with a tame smirk. "I needed a cell phone. Just something that can send and receive text messages." Leaning in forth just slightly, he whispers, "And it should be a cell-phone with a bom built-in, too." His tone makes it obvious that the last bit he is kidding about.
bomb*

Kaylee gives the man behind the window a grin. "Which I hear out here is a pretty good idea," is commented to the last, with a glance at Dio's back. Rolling her eyes at the younger guys request she sighs. "Which sometimes I think many don't get." She moves where she can, lean agasint the counter and give Diogenes a look. "Is there a reason your teasing the shady business man?" A brow is arch at him. "I mean seriously… it's like an invitation to be shot." She flashes an apologetc smile Tuck's way, since she's the one that showed him there.

"Listen, you can go on about how unfair it is all you want. But this is my shop, my regulations. I sell guns without permits. And because I do? I take some responsibility for who gets them. Under twenty four, best I'll sell you is a bowie knife, some pepper spray or a taser."

As for the cell phone, well, he has no moral issues against that. He reaches behind the counter and tugs out a drawer. This he tips up so Diogenes can see in. There's all kinds in there, from high end to old school. "All unlocked. Can buy a calling card or get a plan, up to you."

"If I shot everyone who teased me, miss, I'd be a serial killer. If you're both here, you're here looking for something you can't get elsewhere. Specially if you took a special trip over just to see me. Flattered, by the way. But assault rifles aren't something I carry. Hard to get ahold of, and I don't deal in military hardware except when the occasional one comes my way."

It's not Kaylee's veiled warning in the shape of mockery that prompts him to turn so that each of his side would face both Tuck and the blonde. No, it's the words that gnaw at his ego - the size of which would challenge New York itself, most likely - the words that imply that he is one who doesn't quite get how the streets work. Or so he interprets those words, at the very least. "I know more than you do", he tells Kaylee with a condescending smirk, and, even if for just a brief moment, he considers dropping both to the ground with his ability. Of course, a secretive man such as him wouldn't go through with that, although 'secrecy' wasn't the only reason. "Calm down, I'm not here for guns", he tells Tuck, still standing the way he is, but this time his head is turned to face the shopkeeper. "I'd shoot myself first long before I shot anyone." As he says that, he explores the many phones up on offer with a glance. "Do you have a Nokia 3310?", he asks, looking for that specific model.

"Don't be too flattered there." Kaylee says with a chuckle to Tuck, she point at Dio. "I just brought him here cause he said that he was looking for something on the boat ride over and I thought I'd see what my friends were talking about." She gives a shurg and pushes away from the counter. "Came out to check on the soup operation I help on when I can and make sure Shooters was still standing." She wouldn't like to loose her two reasons for coming out. "And don't be too sure about that, buddy boy." She comments lightly to the younger of the two men.

"Look, I'm not a Radio Shack. I don't know the model numbers. What does it look like?" Tuck paws through the drawer so that different phones are on the top. He shakes the whole tray so as many are visible as possible. "I have a guy I buy in bulk from. He just guarantees that they're unlocked and they work."

He sets the drawer down, then grabs for a cigarette. Kaylee is eyed. "You don't know Cardinal, do you? He was helping coordinate that soup business." Foolish soup business if you ask him, but they didn't, so he doesn't editorialize.

"See, we're both arrogant. And I don't think we both can be sure who - of both of us - knows more", says Dio to Kay, whilst visually browsing the many models on display. Eventually, he finds what he's looking for, and points to the rather old, slightly bulky phone with an aqua colour palette. Nokia. "That's the one, with the colourless screen", he notes. And, while Tuck and Kaylee are having a conversation, the young man voluntarily creates the illusion that he pays no mind to it, even if he was intently listening to what was being said and took care not to interrupt either.

The look Kaylee gives Tuck pretty much gives hi the answer. "Yeah. I mean.. Not a whole lot. But I worked the truck with him and I know he's pretty damn computer illterate." She pauses and then asks, "Why?" A glance is given to Dio, it's an rather bland look. "Yeah, okay. Personally I'm not in the mood for a pissing contest anyway."

"Thirty bucks." Chances are that phone's been sitting in the bottom of the drawer for awhile now. He lights his cigarette, takes a drag, then hits the power button. He holds it up to Diogenes to prove that it works. He seems rather indifferent to everything that's going on.

Kaylee's affirmation gets his attention though. "You seen him lately? He's…" a beat as he considers what exactly Richard Cardinal is, "…a friend. Haven't seen him in awhile." And he's getting a little concerned. Damnit.

"I could care less about a pissing contest." Diogenes turns and steps away from the counter. Not too far, though, for he still has to pay for and receive his cell phone. "I owe you one, whether you like it or not and I'm guessing… it's the latter." Just as he falls silent, he hears the raspy voice behind him. Thirty? That he can do. He steps back tot he counter to face the merchant and opens up his bag to let a hand sink in it so as to retrieve a wallet. It looks to be a fairly expensive leather wallet, out of which he pulls the required amount of money; the bunched up banknotes are tossed to Tuck, while looking at the phone and examining its function. "Works well enough. Thanks."

Turning thoughtful for a moment, Kaylee suddenly frowns. "You know… now that you mention it I haven't seen him." She mostly figured it was because he was busy… She tilts her head a bit and considers him for a moment. "So he's actually possibly missing?" Pressing her lips together she offers. "I could see if I can corner a person or two from the operation and see if they have seen him." She might not know him too terribly well, but she did like the guy. Already she's trying to think how to track down Abigail or Top Gun himself, Mr. Kobrin. She glances over her shoulder at Dio and just gives him a look, she's not going to dignifying that with an answer.

Tuck takes the cash from underneath the slot, tucks it away, then tucks the drawer of phones away as well. He folds his fingers together and regards them both, cigarette dangling from his lips. "Anything else?" He takes the cigarette from his lips, takes a drag, then waves a hand to cut the hanging smoke.
He turns his attention to Kaylee again. "Could be. Card gets himself into trouble at times, but it's not unusual for him to disappear off the map for awhile."

Diogenes extends his hand with an open palm, his fingers twitching inwards, seemingly asking for the phone. "No, thanks." After a pause, though, he reconsiders. "Actually, seeing as the blonde no longer likes me… Who's Cardinal? He must be important enough if two completely random strangers know him." He tilts his head to the side, and a single corner of his lips ever so slowly starts crawling upwards.

"Why am I not surprised? Just what I'd seen while working with him, kinda leave that impression" Kaylee comments with a grin. "I'll keep my ear out either way." She glances at Diogenes. "Who says I liked you in the first place?" She actually sounds a bit annoyed. Once He's got his phone in hand, a hand comes up pointing at Dio. "Know what.. Got your phone.. I think… You should just leave." To Tuck it would sound like she asking rather nicely, but Diogenes her words make a lot of sense and seem to have weight to them. Like they are pretty important and should be listened to and obeyed. Her finger wags a bit ash she continues with her ability. "and while your at it.. Forget you ever met me.. or heard of Cardinal."

That said she turns back to Tuck, though she looks a bit strained, but she doesn't say anything else til she knows the younger guy is out the door.

Tuck pushes the phone through the slot under the bulletproof glass towards Diogenes. He taps the end of the cigarette off into the ashtray and just glances between Kaylee and Diogenes. That's…interesting. He waits to see if the young man follows her commands.

The name Cardinal slips off Tom's mind, as does Kaylee. Although both individuals escape the grasp of his mind, the woman's initial command does not. With the phone in hand, he starts taking absent-minded steps towards the door. It seemed as though he was sleep-walking or hypnotised; he stared at the door which he approached, and which he opens when he's close enough. Once outside, and once the door closes behind him, he sobers up. With a frown, he turns to face what's behind him. Why has he left the pawn shop?.. He looks at the phone in hand. Of course. He got what he wanted. But had he really come alone? He doesn't recall striking a deal with any of the boatmen. All of them refused. His eyes find those who are inside. The inexplicable was perfectly explicable with people who could do the impossible. He smirks, and, having noted the woman inside the store who looked unfamiliar to him, walks off.

A hand rubs at her forehead and she gives Tuck a strained smile. "Sorry about that.. he didn't seem so crazy when I brought him here. Guess I should of gotten the clue with that crazy ass name." She glances over her shoulder, and for a moment there is a touch of worry. Maybe she shouldn't have have done it, the thought she caught as he left worries her. "You carry any of the new computer parts? Thinking of doing some upgrades on my computer and I figure if I can get them at better prices it might be worth it."

Tuck looks a bit bewildered, but he's stayed alive this long by not asking questions when he doesn't really want or need to know the answer. So he just files that away and clears his throat. "Computer parts? Yes. All sorts. A veritable electronic chop shop. What're you looking for, specifically?"

Her smile widens a bit more, whether from the fact he's got a toy land of parts, or what she might of gleaned from him. Smart man either way. "Actually I'm hoping to find some better laptop graphics cards and some sticks of RAM." She leans a hip against the counter and glances behind him thoughtfully. "Computer company's swear they give you the best, but they don't. So let's talk business and I'll keep the stupidity at a minimum for you, Tuck."


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