The remainder of the night into the morning hours, when the sun finally did rise and cast it's yellow-orange hue onto the white penthouse exterior, had been rough. Vin didn't even make it from the pool to his bedroom, but instead crashed on the patio couch, and awoke with a pounding headache the equivalent of Chuck Norris kicking his ass while feeding him cheesy one-liners and dumb internet jokes. [i]Fuckin' Death in the Afternoon[/i] A drink he swore he'd probably not even bother with, but inevitably took the absinthe/champagne challenge and paid the ultimate price. "Never again" He mumbled to himself, a mantra he enjoyed listening to himself repeat, but never follow. Then again, the stubborn kid from Seattle was never one to back down from a challenge.

Vincent stood up and walked over to the balcony, which allowed an almost majestic view of the Atlanta cityscape. The bustling city, it's people, food, and culture were growing on him each day, and he couldn't get enough. "The Hollywood of the South" some might call it, mostly out-of-towners like Vin, but he also considered it so much more than that. It had the class that Hollywood only [i]wished[/i] it had, and that was good enough for him. He slowly leaned forward over the metal railing, looking onto the city streets fifty stories below, watching as ant-sized activities took place at a high rate of speed. 

"It's a long way down, bud." A familiar voice echoed from across the patio. "Probably best to take the elevator" 

Vin turned around to see James strolling passing the pool, a couple of coffees in hand, and giving a once-over to the chaos strewn across the brick pavement and wooden deck near the waterfall. "So...when are you gonna get your own place?" A sarcastic grin formed across his face. “You know the cleaning lady hates it when you leave all your shit everywhere.” 

“Whoa, this isn’t all my stuff and you know she just loves me, even though I barely understand a word she says.”

James lifted up the large coffee that was in his hand and put on his best cheesy smile.

“Starbucks?, really James?” Vin snorted, not finding it at all funny that only a couple of weeks out of Seattle - and away from the nine thousand Starbucks shops at every corner - only to have his best friend show up with one.

“Hey, it’s double espresso, bro, and you’re gonna need it today.”

Vin grumbled as he grabbed the drink. “Yeah well, thanks I guess. So what brings you here?”

“You mean other than the fact that I live here?...” James smirked. “I need you to get your ass over to the shop. We have a new artist swinging by there in-” He checked his watch and sighed. “Ten minutes”

Vin just about choked on his hot coffee. “What? I’m not even dressed, showered, or really anything, and I smell like a fucking sleezy nightclub.”

“Yeah well, you said it, bro” The other retorted, unsurprisingly.

“Why didn’t you call me!” Vin exclaimed, as he headed back toward the large french doors going into the living room with James in tow.

“Vin, I did call you, like seventeen times…” James said coolly, sipping his coffee and taking a seat on the leather L-shaped couch. “You only choose to answer when you feel like it.”

“Fuck you James!” 

Vin’s voice echoed from the second floor balcony as he scrambled to put together a decent wardrobe, leaning toward jeans and a black dress shirt. His took a quick shower, dressed, and checked his hair in the mirror, noticing a couple of small scratches and fingernail marks on his neck in the process. He vaguely remembered “play fighting” during the pool party, mainly with redheaded twins, whose names he probably never knew to begin with. Pulling his collar up a bit, he did a last second check before heading downstairs to the foyer, grabbing his keys from the wall hanger on the way out.

The elevator always seemed to move a lot slower when you were in a mad rush to get somewhere. Vin just leaned against the mirrored walls of the elevator car, watching the numbers slowly descend until it finally hit the garage level, where he all but sprinted to his ride, a sweet cherry red [i]Lexus RC Sport Sedan[i/] decked out to the nines and the only girl in his life that hadn’t let him down.

He pulled out onto the main drag, and kept [i]nearly[/i] to the speed limit knowing the ATL cops were prowling around like cats in heat, just waiting to pinch some poor prick for speeding. Yeah, he’s had plenty of spots in the city to open up all the cylinders, but this area wasn’t one of them, and this was no joy ride. He’d made it about halfway to his destination when, while sitting at a stop light, he noticed a scantly dressed young woman with a frightened expression running full speed down a narrow alley.

“What the hell is this shit?” He mumbled under his breath, while checking around for any police cruisers in sight. “Figures...not around when you need one.” 

Vincent cut the wheel hard and turned onto the one-way side street running parallel with the alley, sped up to get ahead of her before skidding to a stop and heading toward her location on foot. He saw the woman again, this time coming up to a fenced in dead end, looking over her shoulder to the adjacent building where it appeared another was turning the corner. 

"Well damn, this is going to put a dent in my day..." Vin grumbled under his breath as he stopped only a few feet from the girl, whose wrists were shackled with police cuffs, and her wide eyes flicked back and forth from him to the other guy. At this point, Vin knew he'd gotten himself into some kind of shit storm, but nothing he couldn't handle with a bit of reason, provided these were reasonably people.

"Whoa!...okay...[i]eh[/i], what in the hell is going on here?" He exclaimed, holding his arms in front and palms out trying to keep his composure while letting the other two know he's just trying to help.

"Is this guy a cop?"

[@Xandrya]
[@Subject Zero]