Getting off Work [2430-1-3-Fri-2am]

[Alexander Riggs]

Alex watched another man's head finally drop to the counter and decided it was time to call it a night. He would let Rusty close up the bar tonight, having no desire to deal with kicking out the people too wasted to even realize they were still on Terra. In all honesty he wished he was one of them, but it was too late to start drinking now. By the time he got home, it would almost be ready to start getting light out again. Even his irresponsible brain knew that he needed to use those few precious hours for some sleep.

He wiped his hands dry after washing one last glass, and then headed to the back room to grab his coat. January weather was never his favourite, but he was grateful at least that he lived in the part of the city that didn't get regular snow in winter. If he were any more northern on the planet, he'd probably never step foot outside.

He punched out while juggling the act of pulling his coat on and then slipped out the back door, immediately pulling a cigarette out of his pocket and lighting it up. He breathed in deeply, filling his lungs with a mixture of smoke and crisp cool air. "Ahhh, death," he commented to no one in particular as he leaned against the alley-way wall. "Why must you taste so damn good?"

[Mac]

Mac stifled a yawn as she headed down the street. The reason for her visit to the more "civilized" of Terra was a night spent with her parents, and it had been intentionally chosen as a family dinner. Thankfully she didn't have a race for another few days, because she'd managed to stuff herself to the brink of exhaustion, and she was pretty sure she was going to regret it the next day. Whenever she was in the Inbetween, she made sure to stop for a good meal. As much as the atmosphere of the Below appealed to her more than the above levels, the Below could never compete with the level of fine dining one could find in the higher levels of the city. Mac had yet to manage to make her way to The Top, but she could assume the food was even better up there. Maybe one day.

The restaurant her parents had chosen didn't allow parking nearby, so she'd parked her bike--her street bike, not her racing one--about a sector away. It wasn't a long walk, but at this time of night, even in the Inbetween, she knew she shouldn't spend too much time alone on the streets, and so she ducked into an alley way between some buildings hoping it would be a good shortcut to cut down a few blocks out of her walk. Most regular people were told to stay out of dark alleys at night, but when the Below was essentially one large dark alley, Mac felt she had nothing to fear up in the Between.

She spotted the first person she'd seen since exiting the restaurant, leaning against the wall and enjoying a smoke. She smiled. Just what she needed. She headed towards him, "Hey, care to spare a cig?"

[Alexander Riggs]

Alex glanced over in surprise at the sound of a woman's voice. He inspected the woman approaching him, giving her a good once over, and then smirked and dug another cigarette out of his pocket, holding it out to her.

As he rummaged around for the lighter he'd just tucked away, he eyed her strange attire, her firey dyed red hair, and her intense makeup. "Aren't you a little far from the red light district?" he commented out loud.

[Mac]

She took the smoke from his fingers, smirking at him as she pulled out her own lighter. "I'm not sure what you're implying, Sir." Her snarky tones tended to appear more often around those from higher levels of the city. Though this boy certainly looked a little rough around the edges himself. She decided to do her best to reign in the attitude and give him a chance before jumping to conclusions that he was as judgmental as the others.

"I'm certainly not from these parts, if that's what you mean," she added as she lit the cigarette and took a deep drag. She wrinkled her nose immediately, glancing at the cigarette. "What kind of shit is this? Light?"

[Alexander Riggs]

She seemed to take offense to his comment. That was alright. Most people tended to take offense to him. He was used to it. Even reveled in it.

He smirked as she waved off his comment with a second response of much more vagueness. Oh sure, pique my curiosity why don't you? "So where are you from, then, strangely hot lady?"

He paused in surprise when she turned her nose up at the cigarette. He was pretty sure he had the same kind he usually bought. Lifting an eyebrow, he stated: "Nope, just regular ol' tried and tested cancer sticks. I bought light once, when I had this crazy idea about quitting. But god they were terrible."

[Mac]

She brushed off the comment about her looks and decided to focus on the question that accompanied it. She just smiled and pointed downwards. "A few hundred floors below our current location, that's where I'm from."

Mac took one last drag on the cigarette before she tossed it away in disgust. She ground her the sole of her boot into it. "That's fiking weak stuff, bud. You higher levels don't know how to do anything right, do you? I had a beer at dinner earlier... was like drinking apple juice."

[Alexander Riggs]

He watched in sadness as she tossed away one of his last cigarettes as if it were diseased. Those things were fairly expensive, so he was surprised that she would waste one so flippantly. Especially being that she was from the Below, he thought with realization. If she was truly from the Below, she wouldn't be insulting what was given to her and wasting it... those people were desperate for anything that was given to them. There was something else about this woman... somehow, she was becoming familiar to him.

"The Below, eh?" he cocked his head to the side, giving her a bit of a grin. Here's where he would test her comment. And her patience. "So... you go down often?"

[Mac]

Mac blinked at him in disbelief for a moment, before her expression turned into a scowl. "As if you actually just said that to me. Disgusting."

That was it. She was willing to give the kid a chance, but he was still making inappropriate comments, and she wasn't sure which ones were more degrading: the ones about the place she lived in, or the way they were incredibly sexist at the same time. Mac turned and began heading back on her path down the alley in search of her bike. She didn't have any more time for immaturity.

[Alexander Riggs]

Aaaand there it was. It wasn't avoidance of a real answer, it was genuine offense. The strangely familiar redhead really was from the Below. And probably not one who was going to give in to his amaaazing charm.

"Hey wait!" he called after her as she turned and stalked away. He followed behind. Sometimes the unrelenting stalker move actually worked. "I'm sorry, I didn't think you were telling the truth when you just wasted one of my cigs like you were a Topper or something. Also, you seem kinda familiar to me, and I'm pretty sure I haven't met too many people from the below..."

[Mac]

So, he recognized her. A little bit, at least. That was interesting. The races were far more popular in the Below, and they weren't regarded as much in the higher levels, except among the high society folks who used them as an excuse to gamble and party with one another. She wasn't often recognized on the street when she made trips to the Inbetween.

She didn't stop walking, though. Didn't even look at him as she finally spoke again, continuing on her way. "You watch much sports, scruffy?"

[Alexander Riggs]

He followed after her for a bit, pulling his coat tighter around him to keep out the biting cool night air. He really needed to move more southern, he thought again, cursing the fact that he didn't want to lose this job. He'd actually worked hard for it, and was proud of it. That was saying a lot.

"You watch much sports, scruffy?" she asked.

Scruffy. Oh nice, he already had a pet name. Maybe she was warming up to him. But, sports? "Not intentionally," he replied, wishing he had remembered a pair of gloves when he'd left his apartment earlier that day. "But the bar plays cycles of the days stuff on it's view screens. Why? You a cheerleader or somethin'?"

[Mac]

Mac was slightly amused at the way the guy was dealing with the cold weather. Sure it was cool, and she was certainly regretting wearing a skirt and fishnets, but the guy was acting like he'd never been cold before. "You should come check out the Below once and awhile. It's way warmer down there, what with all the generators and smog and good ol big mouthed promoters and their hot air."

She noted they were nearing the end of the alley. "Anyway, no. Not a cheerleader. Not on your life." Few sports even used cheerleaders anymore. Light up prompt signs usually did the trick. There were a few of the more macho sports, such as football, that still preferred their scantily clad women though.

Mac glanced down the road as they emerged from the alley, finally spotting her bike. Finally, she could get home. She headed towards it at a more quickened pace, eager to get out of the uncomfortable environment of the higher levels. Once reaching the bike, Mac unlocked her helmet from it's storage hook at the back and began pulling her hair up into a pony tail to fit it inside. She glanced at the guy who was still following her. "I'll let you figure it out for yourself."

[Alexander Riggs]

"Sounds like smelly heat to me," Alex shriveled up his nose as they walked. "I'd rather just move south." He was a bit disappointed at the non-cheerleader comment. She'd probably look hot, if not still kinda freaky, in a cheerleader's uniform.

When they emerged from the alley and she headed directly for a hover bike that was parked on the edge of the platform, suddenly it all clicked. Of course... she was that one girl racer that was rising her way up the ranks recently. He couldn't place her name, but he definitely remembered seeing one of her races a few weeks back, and the newscasters wouldn't stop talking about her. "Ohhh, hover bike racer..." he nodded. He had to keep himself from making a comment about a sport with something between her legs, as he was smart enough to realize by now that the comment definitely wouldn't fly with this woman. But still, he had to say something...

"...hot." was all he managed to blurt out.

[Mac]

The little wheels in his head were clearly turning. He was actually kind of cute when he looked like he was actually using his brain, she pondered. When he finally figured it out, she just gave him one last smirk before sliding her helmet over her head and swinging her leg over the bike.

She was definitely itching to get out of this place and climb into her own bed. It would probably be a long ride until she got to her destination, and her stomach was beginning to ache from the size of her dinner. She flicked the switch on her bike, letting it roar to life fuller than it's simple hover above the ground where she'd parked it.

Mac gave the guy a salute, and then took off, immediately heading in a downwards direction.