[Jacksonville, Florida, Friday July 14th, 3:05PM]
It's another in a long line of 90 degree+ days in the city where the ocean meets the swamp. Like every day, it started raining about 5 minutes ago, and if the pattern holds, it should stop by about 4ish. Unless you're at the beach, there's no wind, and if you ARE at the beach, that wind is constant, forceful, and saturated with sand and salt. It's the sort of wind that mummifies shipwrecked sailors before the rescue boats can find them. If you're outside, you are sweaty. It's as simple as that. Jacksonville is relentlessly humid, and the reek created by the paper mill, the St John's river, and the swamp only makes it worse. Your hair sticks to your body constantly and everything you are carrying that can get wet, is wet, even when it isn't raining.
@Samuel, You're on foot, headed west on park street after dropping off a package downtown. It takes about 45 minutes to walk downtown from Daves shop on park and stockton, so you've been out in the sun for damn near two hours. You can almost feel the soles of your shoes melting on the sidewalk before it finally starts to rain, providing a temporary respite from the worst of the heat. You can smell the water instantly vaporizing against the scalding hexagonal pavement and you watch as it makes tiny, low-hanging clouds along the ground.
About 3 blocks east of stockton, your commlink alerts you to a message.
>> Incoming Message
>> Sender: Jeighk
>> Message: Wuttup, Sambo? New name new style new commlink wiz? TONIGHT! The CAVE! 580sum N hogan downtown. On the roof! I'm in a battle starts at 11 you should come out and support, SON! Be there early and well smoke some blunts.
@Isaac, It's friday afternoon, and the opportunities for this weekend before you simply boggle the mind. Not only are there two different "mom's outta town" parties here in palm valley, but there's also some kind of magerave thing going on in the westside, and even though you can't see half the show, you've learned that mage chicks party like CRAZY, so you don't really go for the show. Of course, there's the regular 6-8 clubs downtown that are actually worth a shit, but even when those are fun, Lone Star is always up in there, and it's tough to have a LOT of fun. You've also gotten a couple messages from a girl you barely met at a party once who wants to take you out on her parent's yacht for the weekend. There's a lot of shit going on.
Rather than make a decision, you've decided to let the world come to you, so you've been sitting in your bedroom, wearing boxer shorts, eating ice cream, and playing some Tac-shooter called "ERASER SQUAD: Borgoff 3" all day. About 20 minutes ago, you started to hear the thunder, but you didn't care so much, you were on a winning streak. By now, its raining pretty hard and you're busy looking for a server that isn't full of easy kill noobs when you get a message on your comm.
>> Incoming Message
>> Sender: Jeighk
>> Message: Ayo this yo boy from Riverside don use my old name on here. You shud come to this rap show tonite ill make it worth yo time say 500 to chill for a couple hours? Rooftop 580ish N Hogan. Battle at TEN!
@Slappendash, The goddamn motorcycles have been roaring past all goddamn day. Since they woke you up at about 7AM doing it, they've blazed past your house every 20 minutes or so, racing or whatever. Fucking Red Fivers and their fucking race day. You've spent the early morning maintaining your drones, cleaning your weapons, tuning up your engines, and when you were done with all that, you still found yourself bored, surfing the matrix, and playing one round of some tac-shooter, then getting bored with it and switching to another, only to play a round before getting bored again and repeating the cycle.
When you hear the rain on the roof, you figure it must be around 3ish. Finally, some peace and quiet. Those crazy bastards always stop for the rain, just enough time for you to catch a quick nap. You lie down on your couch and just as you close your eyes, your commlink lights up. You've got a message.
>> Incoming Message
>> Sender: Jeighk
>> Message: Hey girl, this is Sam. How's the new place workin out? You know if it dun work out you can always crash on this couch you know? Anyway, I found work for you. Meet me at that battle at the cave i told you about. The rooftop on Hogan. Be there before 11.
@Francis, You're in a great mood today. Sure, the smell of home-made cram being cooked up downstairs makes your whole apartment, and really the whole floor reek of ungodly chemicals. And yeah, someone is perpetually beating the everloving shit out of someone else somewhere in earshot pretty much all day long, but today, none of that drek is getting to you. Today was visitation day. You woke up bright and early, put on your best suit, and took the train across town to see your boy. Cynthia wasn't there, choosing instead to leave her parents at the house to meet you. Even though it was a bit disappointing, it couldn't hurt your demeanor. The four hours FLEW by like they always do, and you actually thought for a moment that your commlink had been hacked when you looked at the time. You were reluctant to go, but knew that you shouldn't make a fuss out of things. Gotta set a good example.
You're on the train, going though all the pics and video you took of you and Joshua playing while on the way from the glittering paradise you once lived in, back to the shitville you call home now, when the rain starts. As you flip from picture to picture, a notice pops up in the top corner of your screen. It's a message from an unfamiliar contact.
>> Incoming Message
>> Sender: Jeighk
>> Message: Hey kid this is Sam. got a new link wiz? I gotta buncha hedz need a brain. i know you need money and brain shit pays. come to cave battle rooftop of 580somethin hogan before 11. Follow the loud music. PEACE KID.
@Johnny, The rain still kinda makes your joints ache a teeny bit. According to those rehab fuckers, that should stop in about a week or so. Today's been a weird day. You were anxious to get out of the house all day, but every time you'd think about that heat and that smell, you sat back down and watched some more trid. You're torn between needing to get out and make that money and really REALLY not wanting to get back behind the wheel and do some crazy shit for that money. Even as you tell yourself you hate doing it, you know it's a lie. That rush you get from deciding your fate, second by second is better than the rush from the gambling, from the drugs, from anything you've ever tried. Maybe you should get crammed...
Checking your stash spot, you realize you're all out. Oh yeah, that party you were at on tuesday. You ended up bringin those two girls home and they ate up the last of what you had before things started to get really weird. You fire off a quick message to One, seeing what he's upto today, but not mentioning dope, as per the code. Within 30 seconds, he responds.
>> Reply
>> Sender: One
>> Message: Meet at the cave tonight. rooftop on hogan. starts at eight.
