[Parking lot of The Cave, Friday, July 14th, 10:15]
Only about half the streetlights that ought to be working actually are once you get this far north of downtown. Not that there's much to see around here anyways. Just the light drizzle and the tiny rivers of rainwater, winding their way through the gutters. The building this show/meet/whatever is supposed to be on top of is really run down and dilapidated. It looks like it'd make a decent squat if things really went south. Far enough south from Northside proper to be free from any serious gang violence, but just too far north to be part of any serious police patrols, it's an ideal area for panhandlers, looking to hit up rich kids on their way to their cars at the end of the night. At least 4 or 5 such people are clearly visible, roaming about looking for a score, and it's obvious that there's really nothing one can do on the street without being observed by SOMEONE. The parking lot is almost full and you can hear the thump of far away bass, most likely coming from the roof.
@Slackjaw
Marcus has been on auto-pilot for the whole drive and thank god. Between the bliss and the sleep deprivation, he's barely able to remember where you guys are going. He tells you all about how fucked up he got last night and no matter how much he tries to make it sound interesting, it just sounds like every other story about how fucked up someone got. He also spends about half the drive switching back and forth between "Dude, I'm SO SORRY i got here late! I know you wanted those tacos and I fucked it all up man!" and "Man, FUCK you and your fuckin' tacos, man! Think you're all hot shit, fuck YOU, man." This has been one of the longer half hour drives of your life.
Once you're in the parking lot, he looks confused. "The fuck kinda bullshit is THIS? You never told me we were going to some drekhole in the fuckin' northside!" Despite all your reassurances that you DID indeed tell him multiple times, he refuses to believe it, and just keeps getting angrier and angrier. He even pushes you at one point and dares you to do something about it. You can tell he's absolutely obliterated, so you go easy on him, but eventually, no matter how cool you are about it, he calls you a faggot, jumps back in his car, and drives off in a huff. You can hear his tires squealing around the block.
As you turn to look around, you realize everyone in this parking lot has been watching you. Not only the panhandlers, but also two others. One is a rather large and muscular human who's just gotten off a dirtbike. He's got shaggy brown hair and a face covered in stubble, which gives him a very slackerish look with the grey faded t shirt, big baggy khaki pants, and dark brown combat boots.
The other is a human male and you swear you recognize him from somewhere. He's standing at the far edge of the parking lot near a crappy little beat down yellow Peugeot, watching the action between you and Marcus from afar. He's got the collar of his dark blue knee length coat popped up to help keep the rain out, but still, something about this guy seems familiar. At the moment, you can't quite see him well enough to be sure though.
@Samuel
It's never fun riding the dirtbike in the rain, but you've gotten used to it over the years. You're pretty much guaranteed to get soaked to the bone, but the helmet at least keeps the worst of it off your head and out of your eyes. Just a quick jaunt through riverside and over the bridge put you smack in the middle of downtown. Being careful to stay away from the nicer parts where you'd be almost guaranteed to get SIN checked, you wind your way north until you find yourself in the right place. Shit, you went right past here today on a route. Looks way different at night.
As you park the bike, you can see a little bit of foot traffic in the parking lot. What really draws your eye though are the two young guys in nice clothes screaming at eachother near a gorgeous ice blue Ferrari. What the hell these rich kids thought they were getting into is beyond you, but it looks like one of them is having second thoughts about it.
By the time you get your alarm and everything settled, the car is gone in a cloud of smoke and the ork in the expensive clothes is standing alone in the parking lot, looking around.
@Francis
You pulled up quietly and parked the car in an easy to get out of spot, then waited and watched for a little bit, just to get a lay of the land. So far, it looks like your standard low grade social sort of event. None of the people you've seen enter have looked particularly dangerous, although some of them are obviously trying to. You've seen enough killers in your day to know who's real and who's playing a role. You get a little nervous when you see the Diabolus pull up, thinking maybe there ARE gonna be some real players at this thing. Could this be bigger than you were told? Then you see the two rich kids get out and your nerves are settled. You wouldn't have looked twice at either of them until they started screaming at each other, but now that you have you're pretty sure you know the kid who just got ditched. It looks like this decker named Slackjaw that you used to get information on the sly from every now and then back in your old life.
Checking the time, you notice it's getting close to 10:30. Don't wanna keep people waiting.
