STPTown gets hard-boiled (a group story)

[usmu]

The woman looks up and smiles. I'm more than happy with my coke, but thank you very much for the offer.

Her voice was breath-taking. As was the rest of her. Usmu moved to the seat next to her and introduced himself. My name is Rachael, the woman awnsered and flashed him a smile that could and would leave most men in a puddle on the floor. What brings a gentleman like you in a dive like this one? Usmu smiled. What brings a lovely lady like you here, he anwsered.

At that moment both the front and back door opened. Knowing the kind of crowds Jake's normally attracted this made usmu very nervous and his hand automatically went to his holster. Both doors closed and nothing happend. In a very dramatic way though. Usmu relaxed.

The two women who came in through the front door were complete strangers, usmu recognized the other two as part of a famous band. Well not only did five ladies in the bar at the same time constitute some kind of record, it was a weird crowd as well. Two famous people, one lady who definitely was used to better bars and way to large for the time of day. But then again this always had been a strange town, so why be surprised?

[Miral]

Miral was dragged into Jake's by Lulu. "Lulu, I don't want a drink! I really want to change." Everyone turned and looked at her. She leaned in and whispered, "I don't have undies on either. I kinda need to change, it's drafty in here." Lulu turned to her sharply.
"What?! Are you crazy?! Here, take this." She handed her a bag, "Go change!"
Miral grabbed the bagged and hurried into the bathroom with a picture of a squirrel on it. The guy at the urinal looked up nonplussed and went back to what he was doing. "S-sorry!"
Miral went into the other bathroom and the man at the urinal looked up nonplussed and went back to what he was doing. "What the?!"
Miral locked herself in the handicapped stall and changed quickly into pink cargo pants and a Playboy babydoll tee. Making sure to put panties on. [img]wink.gif[/img]
She rushed out to the bar and seated herself next to Lulu. "So, why are we here?" She took a sip of the drink that Lulu pushed to her. "Why didn't we go pay off Crazya? And why do you want to kill Jax?"

[Lulu]

Lulu takes a swallow of her drink and shakes her head.

"Listen Miral. I know you're a kind, sweet, marginally wack and impulsive soul- but we're not giving a penny of our money to any "crazy" person. Especially one I don't even know!

Think of all the screaming fans and obsessive stalkers you endured to earn that cash- and then put it away!"

Miral got huffy. "He's NOT crazy. He's Crazy A! And he let me stay in his apartment before the fire broke out! He was very nice and helpful, even though I was amnesiac and not too receptive to his attempts to hit on me..."

"ok. Stop right there!" Lulu could stand to hear no more! "Miral- you need another drink!"

A second gin and tonic seemed to relax Miral somewhat. While she drank it, Lulu looked around. Several of the customers seemed vaguely familiar...

"Our first step," Lulu continued, still glancing about, "is to figure out where the rest of the band is. I mean- why were we the only ones to show up here? And where the #&!! is Jax?! He's our agent for Chrissake! He shouldn't be this hard to reach! I mean what is he? Suddenly neophobic? He owes us one hell of an explanation-"

Lulu broke off her rant rather sharply- She squinted and peered over Miral's shoulder.

"Hey, Miral? Does that individual" (she pointed) "look familiar to you?"

[Miral]

Miral followed Lulu's finger and squinted into a dark corner of the room. She stared for a moment noticing that as she stared other people stared at her. "Well, I don't know about the couple at the one table, he looks smitten and the girl, I might have seen, but one of the ladies that came in when we did is AsIs. I am not sure why I know her, though." She drank the last of her gin and tonic and gave the glass to the bartender. "I'm just confused as to why I am back in STPTown and what happened to make me lose my memory. And I want to know why Ms. Di' Flakes was looking for so many people. She seems like bad news, for some reason." Miral's eyes seemed to swim. "I don't think it was a good idea for me to drink with amnesia, I forgot what I just said."

[AsIs]

As we enter the bar it takes a few moments for my eyes to adjust. I'd met Mary Beth in a bar...

I shake my head to refocus on the situation at hand. Red is over at the bar talking to the barkeep. He gives her something, but I can't see what it is. She returns to my side, takes my hand and whispers something very inviting into my ear. She starts to lead me towards some stairs, as I turn I spy two women who look like some people I know. "Hey, isn't that..."

Red's head snaps around, her eyes briefly narrow and she mutters something too softly for me to hear. She turns me around, looks deeply into eyes and pulls me into a deep kiss that erases all thoughts of anything else. God, she smells nice. "Follow me..." She whispers huskily.

"Thru the fires of hell..." I whisper back.

Red pauses and turns from the stairs and instead leads me to a dark table in the corner. "Wait here," she instructs me.

She is quickly back with two drinks, but before I can take a sip, she pulls me into a kiss as her hands explore me under the table.

Bar, what bar?...

(edited to fit in better with the flow)

<font color="#776446" size="1">[ January 30, 2003 12:39 AM: Message edited by: AsIs ]</font>

[Lulu]

"Oh god! They're kissing!" Lulu covered her eye so as not to look. Then she peeked. Then she grabbed Miral's arm and shook her, so that she was forced to look back around and stop oggling the vaguely familiar couple macking in the corner.

"What?" Miral exclaimed taking mild offense. "You asked me if she looked familiar- I was just trying to place her!"

"oh criminy, Miral!" Lulu rolled her eyes heavenward. Then she sighed and reminded herself- This was Miral. Amnesiac or sane-ish, shock value was clearly still part of her character- subtlety was not! Time to refocus.

"Sorry," Lulu apologized. "Have another drink." She pushed her glass at Miral. "Lets start from the top. We're stuck in this stupid town all because Jax thought it would be cute to book a show here. Only HE never showed up! And neither did the rest of the band! It's just you and me girl- and lots of bad memories. Well, not for you so much..."

Miral looked confused. But then again, this was her fourth- fifth?- drink.

"So first we've gotta find Jax. He's not answering his cell and no one seems to be able to get a message through to him. Then second, we've gotta figure out WHY you have no memory and where you've been all this time. Hmmm." She frowned, thinking intently. (Not easy for a rockstar who usually hired others for that sort of thing.)
"Maybe this Ms... DiFlakes? would be a good person to start with? She sounds well connected."

[Miral]

"Well, I don't know where she is... all I can remember is that she works at some retreat. Maybe it's some kind of church retreat or something."

[Lulu]

Ok- let's ask somebody!

[Branflakes]

(for continuty, I figure the name of the bar is supposed to be Jake's Bar. I've called it Jack's, but since the bartender is Jake, eh, we'll leave it at that)

Bran parked her Honda Accord in the alley behind Jake's Bar. She stared at the back door through the car's tinted windows. Usmu was bound to show back up sooner or later. Jake was a friend of his, after all, and the back door would be the best way back into his apartment. She had to get to usmu, he had the information, whether he knew it or not. Of course, this all assumed her information from Casey and the others in Livejournal was correct. It better be, she'd paid enough to get it. Once she talked to Usmu, she'd have some answers one way or another.

Bran settled down in her seat. The back door remained empty. Her cell phone rang.

"Yeah," Bran said.

"It's Tammy. Rachael just called. Usmu's in the bar," Tammy said.

"He go in through the front door?"

"Yeah, a little while ago. A bunch of others walked in, too. You're not going to believe this..." Tammy said.

"Just tell me," Bran said. She didn't like the sound of this.

"Asis walked in. Red was with her."

"F**k," Bran muttered. "That explains why Asis has been missing." Bran ran her fingers through her hair. "Anyone else in the bar?"

"Rachael didn't see anyone else go in through the front door. There's always the back entrance, though," Tammy said.

"All right, so at least three people are in there, maybe more. And they all know who I am. Great." Bran thought for a moment. "Tell Rachael to stay outside and to be prepared for anything. Also tell her that I've got Crazy on his way to the bar and to make sure he gets in," Bran said. She could still make this work. Somehow.

"Anything else?" Tammy asked.

"Stay by the phone," Bran said and hung up. She quickly dialed Crazy's cell.

---------

Crazy had just paid the cahsier at Scenerio's Chinese when his cell rang.

"Hello," he said as he walked outside.

"It's Bran DiFlakes."

Crazy stopped and caught his breath. Her voice was still luscious, but something was amiss. She sounded coy.

"One of my girls called me to say she thought she saw Asis in Jake's Bar. I was hoping you could go be there and check if it's true," Bran said.

"Sure," Crazy said. "I haven't been to her apartment yet, so I'll just head straight there. Why don't you come join me? If we could find one of your friends this quickly, then..." Crazy said.

"I can't. I'm still dealing with that pressing business. I'd really like you to get there asap. In case she leaves."

"If she leaves, odds are she'll go back to her apartment, Miss DiFlakes," Crazy said. Soemthing was definitely wrong.

"Look," Bran said. "I hired you to find my friends. I'm still convinced there's foul play involved. So there's no guarantee Asis would make it back to her place. I'll throw in extra money, whatever you need, if you'd please just check out the bar. I'll be there as soon as my business is finished."

Crazy watched several cars zoom past him down the street. This was fishier than some of the food he'd just eaten. But, on the other hand, Usmu lived above the bar and might be home by now. He could kill two birds with one stone.

"All right, I'll check it out. We'll discuss terms later," he said.

"Great. Thank you very much," Bran said. "Please call my cell as soon as you find out something."

"Will do," Crazy said. He hung up the phone and jumped into his car. He leaned across and searched under the passenger seat. Yep, still there. He pulled out the solid black .45 and checked it. Putting it in his coat pocket, Crazy started the car and headed to Jake's.

<font color="#776446" size="1">[ January 22, 2003 04:42 PM: Message edited by: Branflakes ]</font>

[Terygon]

A short brunette examines the storefront that wasn't there five minutes ago. The sign reads 'Universal Stufferage: Hot Dogs for the Connisseur'. Or wait, now it's 'the Wienery'. Well, whatever. The brunette dusts off her hands, smiles approvingly and moves in.