Realistic or Modern The Philosophy of Man and Monster

[Viper]

A private RP between me and apolla

 

[apolla]

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Tags: Viper

Spoiler: current outfit

Despite the fact that Arianna had already been at her own job since six that morning, she'd agreed to take Luke's shift at the Pit Stop that evening. The Pit Stop was just what it sounded like-- a pit stop. It was a gas station, basically, a place for people to stop and refuel before hitting the road again. Her father owned the place, and since Luke had come back into the picture clean and sober, he'd given his son a job. Supposedly, it helped keep him on the clean and narrow.

Arianna might have been concerned that he had asked her to cover, but she knew the reason. His daughter, Grace, had a ballet recital tonight and the girl Luke had knocked up, Sarah, was allowing him to go. Of course, he couldn't be in two places at once, so Henry had said if Ari took the shift that he could go. Backed into a corner, Ari didn't have much of a choice, but overall she didn't mind helping out. Grace was what saved Luke's life, after all.

Pulling into the parking lot of the Pit Stop in her cherry red Toyota, she parked on the far side of the lot near Luke's beat up Jeep. Just a few minutes after that, she was pushing open the front door, the little bell signaling her arrival. Luke, who'd worked the first hour of his shift, looked up at the arrival.

"Ari!" Flying off the barstool he'd been occupying, he rounded the counter and swept her up into a hug. "You have no idea how much this means to me."

"I kinda do, but it won't matter much if you kill me." She choked out, drawing in a deep breath when he quickly released her and stepped back. The cheesy grin on his face made her feel all the better for taking his shift. "Now go, before you're late." She moved around the counter herself, setting her purse down on the bottom shelf underneath of it, before pulling herself onto the same barstool he'd been on moments before.

"Okay. Thanks again, sis. See you!" Luke barely spared her another glance as he fled, his jeep roaring to life a few moments later. He spun tires out of the parking lot, causing Ari to roll her eyes. She reached for a nearby car magazine, absentmindedly flipping through the pages as the minute hand on the clock slowly ticked by.

Code by Goldieloxx

 

[Viper]

The Ivory Hands may not have been the most powerful or influential groups in the city, but they had a name and a lot of business passing through their doors every night. Financially profitable was the best way to describe them. They could afford to operate from a much higher quality establishment, but instead of that, the group met up with each other and clientele in a shitty, low-brow bar that at first glance would not have passed a health inspection. But who really cared about cleanliness when the bar and tables were only met to be scenery anyways. It was rare to get customers that did not know that “White’s Whiskey” was just a front.

For Cole though, this place served as more than just a place to meet his boss, it was his home. He had a small room in the basement that was basically just a glorified storage space, but that was all he needed. After all, there were not many places that took in flesh starved monsters. To make the situation better, the basement also had a freezer large enough to store dead bodies in and plenty of chemical ‘clean up’ supplies that made the entire basement burn your nose. Although unpleasant in every way, it was perfect for Cole who could not risk smelling too much blood from the upstairs backrooms.

Cole spent all of his free time down there, not really doing much but listening to music on his headphones and staring at the ceiling. That is, at least, until The Ivory Hands had a job for him. And today was one of those days.

The job was simple. Someone had placed a hit on a local gas station, meaning that they wanted someone to make the place unnerved and unhappy by whatever means they wanted. The details for why this hit was placed was immaterial and so was never asked, all that mattered was that someone was going to need to terrorize the place. And in this case, terrorize meant robbing that place repeatedly over the next few weeks. Today was the first hit, and Cole was the only one around with a low enough pay grade to do such a simple, boring task. After all, it was a gas station, so there was going to be at most two people there and likely no working cameras in sight. Easy.

Still, it was always better to cautious. Before heading out, Cole put on one of the medical masks that he always kept handy. It was white and damp due to the liquid herbal mixture Cole kept it soaked it. This would dull his senses as well as hide the bulk of his face from the cashier. This was a no kill, no capture job, after all. The mask was far from subtle since it was far more common to see such things in asian countries than America, but what else could he do?

Cole drove one of his coworkers cars to the gas station since, although he did have his license, he had no car. It was a red truck with a handful of crap in the back all hidden by a pale white tarp that annoyingly flapped in the wind with loud snapping noises. Cole had requested to remove the tarp and whatever the truck was carrying, but the owner refused and said Cole would just have to deal with it.

It was a bit inconvenient to have such a large, loud vehicule when attempting a robbery, but Cole would adapt as always. This left one option, not to bother with subtlety at all. Pulling into the gas station, known as The Pit Stop, Cole parked the truck in one of the front parking spaces and jumped out without attempting to hide his presence or his masked face. What would be the point?

Cole walked into the building, being careful not to hit his head on the way in, before stealing a glance at the cashier. It was a woman, which sucked. Cole hated targeting women, or at least normal women without magical or combat skills. It always made him feel that much more guilty about what he was doing. And to make it worse, this lady was fucking gorgeous! Back in the day Cole would not have hesitated to try flirting with this woman or visiting this place a bit more often to take a few more glances at her… but the time for that was long gone and Cole was here to do the opposite of flirting.

Averting his eyes from the woman, Cole mentally berated himself for even thinking about his old self and behavior, as if he had the right to be distracted from his job. Easy or not, he needed to focus on robbing this place for The Ivories. So, returning his gaze to the cashier, Cole got back on schedule.

He gave the cashier a bit of a wave and a nod when he entered before heading to the back of the store to pretend to look at the drink options. Just the sight of the carbonated drinks made Cole’s stomach gurgle in displeasure. But, now that he had his back to the cashier, he could take off his mask.

With a single long, pale finger, Cole pulled down his mask and took a few deep inhales through his nose. He caught the scent of a fair number of other people, but they were all very light. The strongest scent was that of the cashier and only her. Normally this would be good news that she was alone, but smelling her scent in this room at such magnitude made Cole freeze for a moment. He was a statue, not breathing or even twitching.

“Holy fucking God,” Cole muttered under his breath that likely only sounded like a sigh to cashier at the other end of the store. She smelt amazing. There was not even a drop of blood in the area but Cole immediately felt his mouth water. Why in the fuck did she smell so divine? Most people did not trigger such a strong and sudden reaction no matter how hungry Cole was. And if she smelt this good without even bleeding, imagine how her blood would smell or what she would taste like? No one was around, so maybe he could sneak in just one little cut or bite--

Breaking himself out of his hunger driven thoughts, Cole quickly snapped his mask back into place and forced himself to make several loud, audible coughs into the mask. At the same time, he reached into the fridge and pulled out the first bottle he touched; it turned out to be some random cheap beer that for some reason had a bird on the front.

With a drink in hand and now, hopefully, his excuse for wearing the mask in place, Cole approached the cashier.

“Hey there,” he said through his mask, trying to sound casual despite his obviously odd appearance and the searing hunger roaring through him suddenly. “Can I get a pack of marlboro cigarettes; I don’t care which kind.” Although he was here to rob the place, there was no reason to pretend that he was not just a normal customer for a moment. Plus, the cigarettes were behind her, so she would have to turn her back to him to grab them. Then he could strike, knocking her out in one hit and stealing everything he could carry without further risks to his cover or her life. Better a headache then a missing head, after all.

 

[apolla]

Tags: Viper

Spoiler: current outfit

An hour passed before Arianna even had a single customer. She'd flipped through the same magazine three times, realizing too late that she'd forgotten a book or something else to keep her occupied. Social media and cleaning only went so far. She'd just tossed the car magazine aside when a woman came in with a child, obviously hurried and looking for a bathroom. Arianna pointed towards the back of the store and the duo took off.

Since then, she'd had a few other customers on and off, though the store had remained mostly empty. When Cole entered, she barely spared him a second glance. Though her first impression of him was that he appeared tall, she couldn't tell for sure just how tall from her position behind the counter. It was a thought that popped up but was gone within seconds as he sent a small wave her way, heading for the sodas in the back. She did notice the mask as well, and thought he might be sickly.

She watched him for a moment longer before swiveling on the stool, gazing out of the window at the parking lot. It, too, stood empty, save for her corolla and another red truck with a tarp on the back. She studied it out of boredom until she heard footsteps approaching. Plastering her customer service smile onto her lips, she turned towards the young man.

"Good evening." She told him cheerfully, reaching for his drink to scan it. Placing it aside to bag in a moment, she nodded, though found the request weird. From her experience, people were picky about what kind of cigarettes they smoked, with a rare exception. Perhaps he was just that-- an exception.

Either way, her mind didn't count on the possibility of danger, as this shop rarely got robbed. The thought far from her mind, she turned just slightly in her seat to grab a pack of Marlboro Menthols, one of the more popular types, it seemed. The cigarettes were above her head, not behind her; an extra stash the customers couldn't see. But it kept her from turning around, and she scanned them and placed them on the counter beside his drink. "Anything else I can get for you?"

Code by Goldieloxx