[color=silver][right][sub]TIMESTAMP — After [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/posts/5447770]Here Lies The Answer[/url]
FT —[color=dc143c]Mordechai Boaz[/color], [color=910bf4]Allegra Cardenas[/color], and [color=gold]ReyRey Gonzales[/color]
Small appearances by [color=E43736]Poison[/color], [color=3041cb]Scorpion[/color], [color=2d9c21]Kamilla[/color] and [color=d3baff]Jokes[/color]
[@Aces Away], [@BrutalBX], and [@LovelyComplex][/sub][/right][/color]

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[img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/92eb8558-5b95-4a65-82a6-26a962785f21.png[/img]

[img]https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/57396c4a-fffe-46c3-ad12-483bbd40b452.png[/img]

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[indent][indent][color=darkgray]The Edge was surprisingly slow when the two brunettes walked through the front. Jokes was sitting on a stool at the front to keep guard and gave Mordechai a wide grin in welcome before his eyes cut to the woman beside him.

[color=d3baff]“It’s time then, huh?”[/color] He asked, excitement shining through his tone while Mordechai looked between the two warily.

[color=910bf4]“He’s settin’ foot in the snake den, ain’t he?”[/color] Allegra replied with a grin back, the gesture becoming a smirk when she saw Mordechai’s confusion. [color=910bf4]“Did ya really think everyone was gonna leave ya alone without a bit of threat? I made my rounds while Badger was watchin’ you the first week in. The hardest part was trackin’ ‘em down all over town.”[/color]

[color=d3baff]“Ya got a scary lady here, Boa, but it was mostly because she actually explained [i]why[/i] it was best ta stay away for a while,”[/color] Jokes added, reaching for Mordechai’s shirt to pull him into a tight hug. [color=d3baff]“We’re all proud’a ya for gettin’ sober again, y’hear?”[/color]

[color=dc143c]“I hear ya,”[/color] Mordechai replied, hugging back just as tight before they released each other. [color=dc143c]“Thanks, Jokes.”[/color]

[color=d3baff]“Any time. Now head on back, ReyRey’ll be out soon,”[/color] the native man directed while pulling out his phone to send said man a text informing him of his guests.

The soon to be snakes followed his instructions and headed towards the back of house, towards the same place Mordechai had battered a man his first day back with no remorse, just because R2 had said to. Knowing not to enter unless beckoned, Mordechai leaned back against the wall while Allegra took her spot on the single stool next to him, crossing her legs at her knees and pulled out her dark purple swiss army knife. While she flicked out the file and began to touch up her nails, Mordechai looked around and let his shoulders hunch a bit.

[color=dc143c]“Feels like waitin’ outside the principal’s office in highschool,”[/color] He finally commented a few minutes later, eyes still wandering. 

[color=910bf4]“Hm, is it?”[/color] For her part, Allegra had finished her nails and returned the tool to her brown jacket pocket, casually picking off imaginary lint before brushing the sleeves off with her hands. [color=910bf4]“Wouldn’t know.”[/color]

[color=dc143c]“Right, my bad,”[/color] Mordechai grimaced, forgetting that Allegra hadn’t even gotten that bit of normalcy in her life, having become payment for a debt at such a young age. [color=dc143c]“It makes ya more anxious the longer ya have ta wait, even if ya didn’t do nothin’ bad. Psychological shit.”[/color]

[color=910bf4]“And how often were ya actually [i]not[/i] doin’ somethin’ bad?”[/color]

[color=dc143c]“Not often,”[/color] He answered honestly with a sigh, letting his head rest against the brick behind him as the attempt at conversation very easily died out, leaving the two in silence once more aside from the heavy beat playing over the Sin’s speakers. It seems Allegra had slipped into one of her colder moods already, though that was to be expected with the current situation. He knew Allegra had never had the best view of R2, and that it was made even worse by the event on Carlisle and her subsequent move here to help pick up the pieces of Mordechai he’d broken off that night. Her detaching from the situation was much better than the alternative.

There was a reason many came back to Sin, even after they tried to get out. Once you’ve built familial bonds, there is little to no room to see anything else. Through thick and thin, highs and lows, good times and bad times, when others turned their backs on you, Serpents were there standing at your side. Serpents always supported their brothers and sisters. No matter the circumstances, serpents were [i]there[/i]. They support, they protect, and they never betray. 

Some had their visages fade over time.  No one talks about how Rusty looks, ‘side for his red hair. An enigma of a man, a hero among snakes. His reputation intact. His story, legend. Some lurked in the shadows, quietly building their legacies away from the light. Some got out and used their journey, their experience, to open doors for the rest of the den. Together, however, old generation and new, they’ve built a home, brick by brick, which continues to evolve and grow, for better or for worse. 

[i]When times change, we change with them.[/i]

An unassuming, yet gorgeous [url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/7a/d4/52/7ad452bb8cd3d0e6984308faab4621bb.png]woman[/url], with red locks, and dressed unlike any serpent, wearing a striped shirt, fitted jeans and tall boots, sauntered inside the Edge. If people didn’t know who she was, they would think the poor girl was lost but everyone that was anyone knew exactly who they were looking at. Fallen royalty. Before Allison Davies found comfort with the Kingsnake, there was Primrose Lyon. One of his best friends. 

A surprisingly venomous woman who has proven herself before high school that she has more grit and aggression than the boys she grew up with. Two of the boys she befriended happen to be the ones in charge, the other boy, Yardie, was someone that left a deep wound in them all, especially her, seeing how he was her lover and he was no longer alive. 

Here they called her Poison. 

With a welcoming aura, misleading and not to be trusted, Prim greeted those she passed by before slipping behind the bar, giving Kamilla Briteson a quick hug and accepting the motherly kiss to the cheek in return before entering the backroom, where another office hid. The office of R2’s right hand man, Tate Paxton, formally known in this neighborhood as Scorpion. This wasn’t an unusual sight since those two had personal jobs given to them that no one else knew about. They were R2’s most trusted friends and there was a reason behind that. Looks could be deceiving and Primrose was the prime example of that.

[color=910bf4]“Do the Serpents only hire models or some shit?”[/color] Allegra asked as she followed the prowling figure until she disappeared from sight, almost tense from the energy that the redhead exuded. She had felt a shiver down her spine when the woman glanced over her and Mordechai. [color=910bf4]“Who the fuck was that?”[/color]

[color=dc143c]“Poison, one’a the Lyons,”[/color] Mordechai answered. [color=dc143c]“She’s probably goin’ ta talk ta Tate.”[/color]

[color=910bf4]“Wow, thanks for the details, you’re a regular poet,”[/color] Allegra grumbled, sticking her tongue out at him when he glared at her and crossed his arms. He shook his head and looked away from her, towards the door to the back.

[color=dc143c]“You’ll learn more when you’re actually a part’a things.”[/color]

[color=910bf4]“Pshh, yeah yeah.”[/color]

This was not what Rey wanted. The simple rule was that he not be bothered during his visits to the Blue Hill Reservation. That was his quiet place and his time with Jadyn was sacred. He was not to be bothered by Serpent matters unless absolutely necessary. Yet he now found himself having to cut his visit short to deal with a problem that kept reading its ugly head; a problem called Boaz. Having sped back to Eden that morning, he awoke Vivia for only a moment as she seemed more out of it than normal, just to let her know he was safe before letting her pass back the fuck out. Upon his arrival at the Sin, Tate mentioned there were no immediate issues in need of ReyRey’s attention so the temptation to fly his ass back to the Rez once he had finished with Decky was strong. He would visit Yardie’s grave and then go back to Jadyn’s waiting arms and the relief that he could steal a moment's peace for at least another day.

Still, he had to deal with his business first. Getting up from the desk that his abuelo, the original Serpent himself hand carved with a hunting knife, ReyRey walked towards the door and stood paused for a moment. He was beginning to unravel slightly, there were so many loose ends and threads that needed his attention like the Montero’s moving in, Vivia’s mental health, the affairs with Lexie and Jadyn and his own grief for Allison and Maxine that he thought he had buried alongside them. He was a man being torn apart by his own avarice and pride. God, he hated himself.

With a balled up first R2 opened the door of his office and glared at Decky and the women he was with. [color=gold]“Let’s get this over with. Come grab some seat.”[/color]

Mordechai had pushed himself off the wall and squared his shoulders the second he saw the doorknob rattle, ignoring Allegra’s eye roll while she slipped off her stool to stand before the door a half second before it opened. R2 beckoned them in and Allegra ducked under Mordechai’s arm to pass the threshold so the man could let the door swing shut behind them. Her sharp eyes stayed on the deadlier man in the room, watching the way he acted around the man she cared about but also watching for weakness. At the least, Mordechai had been right in saying ReyRey looked tired, she didn’t even have to have met him to see that. He didn’t seem the most present right now, either, as if his focus was miles away.

The man that towered over Allegra’s five foot frame was not the one she’d heard about in Mordechai and Mika’s stories. This was a man just as haunted as everyone else by the things he’d seen and done, but with a will and an absolute refusal to be caught in the arms of his ghosts. If Anya wanted her to believe in curses and ghosts, then Allegra could almost see a [abbr=Jewish Mythology: Spirit that clings to a living soul and causes misfortune and mental illness][i]dybbuk[/i][/abbr] that had wrapped itself around ReyRey’s soul and begun to weigh him down. This man was not as untouchable as her Ken Doll believed.

Mordechai for his part pulled out his and Allegra’s seats and they both sat down as directed, two pairs of dark brown eyes reflecting the dim yellow lighting above them as they stared at the King Snake whose head had begun to hang heavy under his crown.

[color=gold]“So.”[/color] ReyRey crashed down into his seat behind the desk and rubbed his tired face. His eyes were burning like they had been washed by chlorine and acid and his shoulders were ruined with tension. [color=gold]“You want back in?”[/color] The Kingsnake asked rhetorically. He already knew based on their conversation that Decky wanted to return to the Serpents. R2 was not a man that repeated himself, so he felt no need to rehash their previous conversation at Blue Hill about his usage of drugs. It was simple really, if Rey found Decky was back on the gear, he would kill him without a second thought. He did not have any space for addicts in his organization. 

With his heavily ringed hand, the Serpent Lord took a hold of his glass and brought it to his lips, taking a long drink from the pint of beer that Scorp had poured for him. A small sip of heaven on a day that would end up being hell. He placed the glass back down onto the table and sighed before he spoke again. [color=gold]“Why don’t you tell me where you think I should put you?”[/color]

Oh. That was unexpected. When ReyRey had told Mordechai to come see him for placement, he hadn’t thought that he would be given a choice in the matter. ReyRey doesn’t usually give many options, only commands. He knew he wouldn’t go back to Captain, that was Sonny’s now, with Prof taking over the Lieutenant position. But he wasn’t just a Captain back in the day, most of the snakes double dipped when it came to jobs, many of them cross trained and perfectly capable of filling in when one person couldn’t make it.

[color=dc143c]“Runner,”[/color] Mordechai finally replied, tilting his head in thought as Allegra watched him carefully. [color=dc143c]“Have me work on earnin’ my way back up. I can start fightin’ in the Pit again ta bring in some more money, and if ya need a shadow for any business ya gotta conduct at the time I can do that too. Have me do whatever frees up the rest’a the pieces on your chess board, y’know I can be versatile.”[/color]

ReyRey leaned forward and placed both his hands on the table. [color=gold]“You got it all covered huh?”[/color] He glanced over at Allegra, who it seemed obvious had become Decky’s support. Even her just sitting there silently and without a glimmer of fear was enough to show him that she was some kind force to be reckoned with. [color=gold]“Here’s what we’ll do.”[/color] Rey took a piece of paper and scribbled some notes onto it before sliding it to Mordechai. [color=gold]“You’re gonna start at the Rose Motel. Bottom rung of that crew. You run. You get the re-up, you wipe their asses and you stay the fuck away from anyone who can get your ass in trouble.”[/color] R2 looked at Legs again. [color=gold]“There’s some whore work out there too if you’re girl wants a different dick between her legs and some walking around money.”[/color]

[color=910bf4]“Thanks, but I’ve been warned away from trickin’ anywhere around here,”[/color] Allegra drawled at the brash statement, unaffected by the disparaging words. Ignoring Mordechai’s warning glance, she crossed her arms and leaned back in the chair, meeting ReyRey’s eyes and kicking out her foot playfully as she finished with, [color=910bf4]“I’m too used to bein’ an independent contractor at this point. Not to say I can’t use my body to your advantage if ya need, but I’m not gonna just be known as some gash around here.”[/color]

[color=gold]“I don’t really give a shit what you do.”[/color] Rey shook his head. [color=gold]“I don’t even know why I’m bothering to entertain either of you.”[/color] If he was being completely honest with himself, the Kingsnake would rather just put a bullet in both of them rather than sit through any more awkward conversations. It would be a hell of a lot easier for him to dispose of their fresh warm corpses than it would be to try and act like he cared about them. He had too much on his mind and like he always had been, Mordechai Boaz was on the lowest rung of the totem pole. 

These last few months, ReyRey did not feel like himself. He did not feel like the leader of the most powerful gang in Massachusetts or the most feared gang banger in town. No, he felt empty, hollow, exhausted. Ever since that night on Carlisle, where Decky and his friends brought up Allison’s death something inside of him had changed. Rey had no idea what it was but whatever it was he despised it. It was ruining him, burning him alive from the inside out. He was lucky he had Tate to handle day to day operations because at the present time, Reynaldo’s heart just wasn’t in it. [color=gold]“Just go and speak to Scorpion and he’ll set you up with the latest package to take down there.”[/color] 

[color=910bf4]“That it?”[/color] Allegra scoffed with an eye roll, uncrossing her arms and standing up, buttoning up her brown jacket and straightening it out at the waist. [color=910bf4]“Why even have us sit down? Just got a thing for pretty faces?”[/color]

[color=dc143c]“Not now, Legs,”[/color] Mordechai bit out at the woman, well aware of how thin ReyRey’s patience seemed to be recently. He too stood up, glaring at her when she made no move towards the door that led back into the legitimate part of the Edge. She held his gaze for a brief moment, challenging him, and when he didn’t waver, she rolled her eyes again.

[color=910bf4]“Just sayin’, Badger’s brother sure don’t live up to the stories. Whatever,”[/color] She turned away and strode for the door, stopping in front of it and looking back to him with a raised eyebrow, hands stuffed in her jacket pocket. [color=910bf4]“Come on, then, we’re both busy people today.”[/color]

With an ungodly roar, ReyRey flipped the table over and watched as everything on it crumpled to the ground below. He grabbed the small wooden statue of an Aztec God that his grandmother had gifted to her husband on the day of their wedding and launched it across the room towards the entranceway. His manic gazed moved upwards towards the woman in the [url=https://img.roleplayerguild.com/prod/users/febc73c4-440b-40f8-897a-448aa2784113.jpg]brown jacket[/url] but her face had changed. She was much paler, her hair a chestnut shade of brown and her eyes a sparkling ocean of blue. 

[color=gold][i]Maxine.[/i][/color]

She was never supposed to see him like this. The same way Allison wasn’t. Both women haunted Reynaldo’s mind like ghosts. They were permanent scars in his memory that he wanted to be rid of but was too afraid to lose. Stolen smiles across a room, a scent drifting around them, a sound that reverberated down his entire being. God, the disappointment the beautiful departed must feel for the man that Rey had become, the man they wished he had left behind. 

Sharply, R2 turned away and looked around the ancient room that he stood in. The Original Sin. Over the years it had expanded, with an entire new front section added by his father several years prior. Yet the first building still sat within; the building which was once nothing more than a warehouse built during the founding of Eden. When Gory Gonzalez acquired it, he transformed it into a club for he and his brothers who had lost parts of themselves in Vietnam. It was within its hallowed walls, when interviewing dancers that he met the love of his life, Martina, Rey’s grandmother. Much of the decor in the building was hand carved by the pair of them. 

In that moment ReyRey wanted to burn it all to the fucking ground.

Mordechai stood stock still between Rey Rey and Allegra, eyes wider than a deer’s in headlights while his form shook with fearful tremors, his mind flashing back to the years of bottles and cans and any other solid object in arm’s reach getting hurled at him like he was born with a target on his body. Fight or flight made way for freeze as R2 turned his back on them, but Mordechai felt like he couldn’t breathe until he heard Allegra’s soft but insistent call.

[color=910bf4]“[i]Mordechai[/i], let’s go.”[/color]

The shaken man turned jerkily towards his friend, and it was then that he fully returned to reality, seeing the angry red mark spreading from her newly split cheek. He quickly made his way over to her, reaching out to her face but freezing as she caught his wrist at their waists, opening the door herself and dragging him out after her before slamming it shut so hard the picture frames on the walls rattled.

[color=dc143c]“Are y-”[/color]

[color=910bf4]“I’m fine,”[/color] Allegra answered coldly, her eyes angry slits as she surveyed the room they’d returned to. A wooden figure to the face was not the worst physical assault Allegra had ever endured, and she had no doubt it wouldn’t be the last one either, but when Allegra had stared deep into Reynaldo Gonzales’ eyes, primed and ready to unleash unholy hell, the man had not been staring back. His eyes had been on her, lingering on the jacket- another item of Maxine’s, Allegra was really starting to dig the girl’s style- but he had not been seeing Allegra as she was. He had lost himself to a ghost that had taken over his senses, and Allegra got a rare glimpse of how truly fucked the King Snake of the Serpents was. She’d already had a hunch, but this had confirmed it.

Under R2’s leadership, they were joining in on a crumbling legacy. This man was going to break soon, and she really hoped this line of ghetto royalty had an able heir that could take over in the next few years, because Rey Rey wasn’t going to make it long as he was. 

Allegra glared at Jokes, who had turned around from his spot up front to catch sight of some of the commotion, looking between the two jews worriedly. [color=910bf4]“[i][b]What[/b], funny boy?[/i]”[/color] She all but hissed at him, posture as aggressive as it could be without actual hackles to raise. [color=910bf4]“Got somethin’ to say?”[/color]

Jokes just raised his eyebrows, now looking between Allegra and Mordechai assesingly.

[color=2d9c21]“Don’t you talk to my baby like that,”[/color] Kamilla scolded as she came out from behind the bar, a clean towel wrapped around a bag full of ice in her hand. [color=2d9c21]“He didn’t do nothin’ to you, baby girl.”[/color] Her gentle hands went up to apply the ice to Allegra’s face, but paused when Allegra jerked back and glared at her. Cocking out her hip and resting her bent wrist against it, ice still in hand, Kam raised an unimpressed eyebrow at the girl. [color=2d9c21]“Now what you’re not gonna do is be actin’ like that with me around. I’ve iced bruises and cleaned cuts on every person that’s walked through those doors for the past twenty-odd years, and you ain’t gonna be some exception. Your. Face.”[/color] She held her free hand out expectantly for Allegra to rest her chin on, an air of weathered patience around her. Allegra responded to her disposition, eyes losing their defensive glare and turning wary, shooting to Mordechai for direction. Still trying to calm himself from what just happened, Mordechai just nodded numbly back, and Allegra followed the approval. 

[color=2d9c21]“There we go, let’s clean it up a bit first,”[/color] Kam wiped her cheek gingerly with the damp rag until the blood was gone before wrapping it back around the ice and applying the pack to Allegra’s face. Allegra moved to hold it up herself when Kam indicated that she’d be letting go, and the older woman smiled warmly before taking a step back and putting her hands on her hips. [color=2d9c21]“I don’t even wanna know what just happened. Did y’all at least get an assignment?”[/color]

Mordechai nodded dumbly again before shaking his head to clear the cobwebs.

[color=dc143c]“We gotta see Scorp,”[/color] He answered, eyes straying back to Allegra and staying there.

[color=2d9c21]“Well, he’s in the office, go on ahead.”[/color]

When they were alone again, before Mordechai opened the office door, he looked back to the woman who promised to stick by his side, eyes falling on the cheek covered by the ice pack. He opened his mouth and the look she shot him immediately told him it was a bad idea.

[color=910bf4]“[b]Don’t.[/b]”[/color]

[color=dc143c]“...Right,”[/color] And with that and a deep breath, Mordechai opened the office door to reveal Tate at his desk. Hoping the man hadn’t heard the loud incident, Mordechai mustered up a shaky. [color=dc143c]“Reportin’ for duty for the Rose Motel re-up. Long time no see, man.”[/color]

[color=3041cb]“Hey,”[/color] Tate greeted, with far less emotion than his best friend. He was amidst preparing the budget forecasts, going through the numbers and profit/loss statements. He didn’t glance at Mordechai, not one to show much compassion and seeing how he was focused on a discrepancy of their own shorting them on their money. He hated when new recruits stole from the organization and he wanted to believe this round of young serpents had integrity, like the last set, so he went through the numbers again. Unlike ReyRey, Tate was good at compartmentalizing, which meant the news that Prim gave him about her work situation and FG activity was shelved until he could look deeper into it. She had left the moment she heard the commotion and went unnoticed. Presently, she was likely in R2’s office, comforting him or even just keeping him company in the silence. 

Prim was good at that, entering and leaving without a trace unless she wanted to be seen. Even with such vibrant red hair, she was good at slithering her way through a building, no one really batting an eye at her presence. It helped that she was someone people easily liked too, which is why they assigned her on Afterlife duty. The only reason why she stays is because she has many girls she cares about that work there. In spite of that, she aimed to get out and she wanted to take her girls with her. It wasn’t fair she had to be that close to the enemy, knowing exactly when they came in and out of the building and even having conversations with Misery herself.   

[color=3041cb]“You sure you can handle that job?”[/color] Finally, Tate put his papers down and met Decky’s earnest gaze. It’s a good thing he didn’t bring a girl in because Lord knows his wife would find out and want to cut her face open. [color=3041cb]“The job might sound easy but you’re a recovering addict, correct?”[/color] The Rose Motel was a drug den, a crack house, and a massage parlor. It seemed like an easy drop off but Tate knew more often than not the kids they sent there got curious and dabbled into the product. This wasn’t the lowest of jobs Mob could’ve gotten. This was a test. 

[color=dc143c]“I got reason ta stay away from that shit, too much incentive for me ta go fuckin’ up again,”[/color] Mordechai answered, shoulders squared and eyes locked on to Tate’s equally dark brown ones. He knew that ReyRey had little faith in him, and honestly anyone else that doubted him was probably right to, after all he’d proven several times that staying sober was his true issue, not just getting there. Mordechai remembered ReyRey’s threat from Aponi.

[color=gold][i]“You screw me or I find out you’re back on the gear? I’ll bury you in the ground next to Decker.”[/i][/color]

It wasn’t a threat to be taken lightly.

He wasn’t stupid, he knew ReyRey was shoving his achilles heel in his face and sending him headlong into the area he should be avoiding most, but if Mordechai was going to prove himself again then this is what he had to do. At least Allegra will be with him keeping him straight, it could be worse.

[color=3041cb]“Good. I got enough on my plate and cleaning your dead body ain’t one of them,”[/color] Scoprion wiped his eyes, exhausted at the thought of Mordechai fucking up, especially with how unhinged ReyRey has been lately. [color=3041cb]“You know where to find your bag, squat at the motel for a few hours, come back with money. Oh, and do note.”[/color] 

The older man cracked his knuckles as he thought of the climate change of their town.  [color=3041cb]“Police activity has picked up there. Try not to get caught on your first job back, kay?”[/color] It would come to Mordechai’s surprise that Scorpion softened while he was away. He actually gave him a warning and heads up. The Scorpion he knew wouldn’t even give him a second glance. He’d be given the product and properly dismissed with a fuck off. Instead, the man that Decky was looking at was a man, like himself, trying to change. Yet the obstacles this man faced were uphill battles and as of now, completely out of his reach, so long as ReyRey needed him.

Mordechai nodded back at Scorpion, the strong edge to his shoulders softening a bit as he looked at another former untouchable turned tired and showing vulnerability wear there was previously venom. Taking that as his cue, Mordechai turned to leave.

Snapping his finger before the boy left his office, Scorpion offered, [color=3041cb]“Heard you brought someone to town, if she’s looking for a job we got a new strip joint. Kinda something I’ve been doing in the background with the Angels. It’s not too far off from the Afterlife too. Give it a look, see if there’s anything she’ll like.”[/color]

[color=910bf4]“Strip joint?”[/color] Allegra’s head popped up over Mordechai’s shoulder from the hallway, intrigue shining in her once again bambi wide eyes while the man’s own eyes went heavenwards.  He turned around and herded her backwards as she grinned and called out, [color=910bf4]“Y’all got a fuckin’ strip joint here? Got an application?”[/color]

[color=dc143c]“Later, Legs, it’s time ta go,”[/color] The woman was surprisingly maneuverable given how standoffish she’d been in the main area, allowing Mordechai to turn her around and lead her back out towards the door. With her mind now on something else, Allegra dropped the ice pack back with Kam and began moving on her own. As they walked up to Jokes, the man turned around and grinned. [color=dc143c]“Ya off soon?”[/color]

[color=d3baff]“Yeah, right about now actually. Need a ride?”[/color] Jokes asked, tilting his head at the two.

[color=dc143c]“Always,”[/color] The slighter man griped. [color=dc143c]“But I’ll settle for just this time.”[/color]

[color=d3baff]“You’ll build yourself another bike soon enough,”[/color] Jokes placated with a fond pat to the shoulder, getting up fully from the stool when Emira walked through the door to take over for the evening. [color=d3baff]“Don’t mind bein’ a chauffeur ‘til then,”[/color] He unclipped his keys from his belt loop and called out, [color=d3baff]“Bye momma!”[/color] to Kam, who replied with her own farewell, and led them out the door to start their first shift.[/color][/indent][/indent]