[h2]Hi-Hat Crew, Tiana's Palace, New Orleans[/h2]

A loud shot, followed by a mournful, almost humanlike animal noise rang out across the shop. The host and apparent head chef, one proud-looking african-american woman, seemed concerned. Shazay felt the atmosphere of the room get a little colder.

"You feel that? Shit, man-- I think someone just got shot!"

Xiangshi, still streaming tears, folded his arms and glared at Shazay. "You were in a gang and you're worried about [i]someone else's[/i] murder?"

Shazay blew air out his mouth derisively. "Pfft, no! I'm just thinking about how the people here'll react! Look at that chick, she's practically shaking in her boots! We gotta get outta here 'fore the cops start profiling, you know what I'm saying?"

Hi-Hat nodded. It was a shame to skip out of a meal early, but urgent matters required urgent attention. "We'll head out the back. Buncha metalheads like us'll stick out like a sore thumb in a lo-tek place like this." Hi-Hat placed his thirty dollars on the table, and he and the rest of the crew slipped through the kitchens and out the back door, into the alley.

In the alley was a man wearing almost period-appropriate attire, a still-smoking elephant gun, and the ventilated corpse of a bull american alligator. Still trapped in the alligator's hands was a well-kept trumpet. All in all, it was probably the second weirdest sight involving an apparently-intelligent wild animal and a gunman Hi-Hat had seen. It couldn't possibly beat one that time with the Rainmaker and the insect spirit that had possessed a mountain lion.

Xiangshi was the first to break the ice. "Nice shot," he said, with startling coolness, "why's he got a trumpet?"