dancing on the ceiling

Adam

So what's the point of robbery

"Nice. I'll come by and sort out the details with ya later." Now, he'd still be taking the lion's share of the cut; after all, he had to do the sorting and the selling - but if Ira got anything particularly juicy, there could be some good Lasti in it for both of them.

Making his way back from the dance floor and taking the drink, he knocked back a healthy swig without looking at what it was. The sweetness took him by surprise, but of all the mystery things he'd put in his mouth (there had been many) it was one of the most pleasant. Nodding approvingly at the glass, still a little out of breath from the dance, he perched on the edge of a barstool next to his nightlife companion.

"Ooh. Ooohh." He mumbled as the drink hit his brain, the immediate flash of fuzziness fading into a buzz. "That's some strong shit. Nice."

The next song began to play, a soft slow ballad - definitely not the vibe. "Maybe we should go somewhere. Do...something."

When nothing is worth taking

Do not try me Devil, Devil.  Cannot buy me Devil, Devil.  You won't make a fool of me, oh no

She'd probably won't mind Adam taking most of the cut. It would seem only fair, it being his main job and all that and she had hers already, even if she wouldn't be against making extra money. It's more about the principle of not just giving everything away for free out of the kindness of her heart.

She leans her back against the bar, continuing to take small sips out of her own drink while letting her gaze wander between the dancing people and Adam. Even while being careful about it, the strength of the drink in combination with her downing the first one rather quickly very soon starts to grow the fuzziness in her head.

Adam's reaction brings a smile out of her, happy that he seems to like it, but then turns her head to first frown at the dance floor. The slow song really takes away from the club vibe indeed and feels very out of place. When Adam speaks again, she looks back to him with a brow raised in an amused expression.

"Go somewhere and do something? You make it sound... Awfully suggestive when you say it like that." She huffs a short laugh with a teasing smirk and has a larger swig of the drink, the sweetness masking it for a second before it hits her more proper and she shakes her head briskly. "Alright, let's go... Wherever. This song is making my head mushy." Because that's totally the effect of the ballad and not the mysterious drink she had ordered for them.

ira

What makes you so special, special to think I would ever settle for that devious dance between you and me

Adam

So what's the point of robbery

For once, Adam really hadn't been talking about sex; he scoffed and shook his head. "Not drunk enough to make that kind of mistake. Doubt you are either." Besides, he was beginning to feel dangerously committed to his sort-of-thing with Nate...and Sunjata; recently he'd found himself hesitant to indulge in his normal hook ups and trysts around the nightlife alleys of the Drench, something about the way things were going in the clinic stopping him.

Anyway, somewhere to go. Putting the glass down on the bar and squeezing out through the still-present crowd at the door, Adam paused in the sudden cool air of the street and considered their options. Of course, there were always other bars and clubs, but that seemed so boring...

"Okay, wait here two seconds." He said to Ira once she got out, then promptly began to climb the club's front wall, ignoring protests from the bouncer - even drunk, he was too nimble to be caught unless he tripped, and most people knew this was his thing anyway. Only a couple of rooftops away, in a box vent long ignored by most, was one of his little stashes. Some booze, some smokes, some Lasti...useful things for a night out or for leverage in a deal needed on the fly.

Before too long, he'd come back, holding a bottle of some kind of spirit, the label worn off. The slam with which his booted feet hit the street was far too loud, Adam wincing at the impact his too-quick jump sent through his body. Still, he was now in front of Ira with a bottle of something to drink and in the time it had taken him to leap around, an idea: "You ever seen that abandoned warehouse off the end of the south dock?"

When nothing is worth taking

Do not try me Devil, Devil.  Cannot buy me Devil, Devil.  You won't make a fool of me, oh no

Ira shakes her head. She really isn't drunk enough for anything like that either, and suspects that's one of the things she might never be drunk enough for. At least not while already seeing someone else. Doesn't stop her from making suggestive jokes sometimes, however. Still, good to know that Adam isn't have any such ideas as well and no one will have to wake up with very awkward flashbacks.

She finishes the last of her drink before following Adam as he suddenly takes off through the crowd and she soon catches up to him outside. "Right, waiting." She watches as he starts climbing and then finds a spot a few steps away from the crowd outside the entrance to the bar. Leaning back against the wall, she takes the opportunity to take some deep breaths of the cooler air in an attempt to clear her head somewhat.

The sudden sound of Adam's landing startles her a bit more than she is prepared for, having not even noticed that her mind had floated off in the hazy effect from the alcohol while she was waiting and it takes her a second to come back to reality.

She's about to ask if he's alright when he mentions the warehouse and she nods with a grin. "Yeah, seen it. Not had a chance to check it out yet, though. Door did look bolted shut, but I think some windows were missing." She pushes away from the wall and starts walking, assuming that Adam has an idea about checking it out, but slows down after a few steps just to check if he's actually coming with.

ira

What makes you so special, special to think I would ever settle for that devious dance between you and me

Adam

So what's the point of robbery

Even though he didn't finish his sentence (oops sorry), Ira knew what he was getting at. Adam nodded, lifting up the bottle to tap against his head in place of a finger. "Exactly! See, you're getting it."

He followed along, pretty sure of the way from the rooftops but less sure when taking the lower path. As they walked they passed the usual set pieces of Drench nightlife - drunk parties wooping outside bars, girls surrounding eachother squatting over grates, people doing very stupid things involving climbing on buildings and other obstacles (of course, when he did it, it was cool and sexy).

"Right. And windows are like, opportunities, or some shit." He'd heard that once, from one of the poor deluded Drench Poets who liked to perform on busy market days. "I say we go in there and see what we can find. Maybe something worthwhile." Truthfully, it was unlikely and he knew it. Any building in the Drench with a visible opening was looted immediately and this warehouse had been sat there for weeks - but perhaps there would be some interesting scraps.

If nothing else, it was a little adventure. They could sit on a tattered rug and drink liquor and stare out of the windows at the Plates above, which was how most Drench evenings ended.

When nothing is worth taking

Do not try me Devil, Devil.  Cannot buy me Devil, Devil.  You won't make a fool of me, oh no

It had been a bit of a wild guess, put she's happy she got it right. It's sort of nearby and even if there are a lot of abandoned places in the Drench, this one was the most recent that she knows of and the first one that did come to mind. And even if she had been wrong, they would still find some place to check out either way.

Confident that she knows the way, she takes the lead through the streets, smiling a little for herself at the nightlife they pass by. In some way, it's nice to see people being able to enjoy themselves without a care even with the never-ending lockdown and whatever other shitty situation the city's held in. At least there are no signs of Enforcer patrols being on their way to ruin the fun and tell people they have to go to bed like good little children.

"I do like opportunities." She agrees with a laugh. "Maybe there's like a secret safe no one's found yet. Or some hidden room filled with cool stuff." She doubts it herself, but lets her drunk mind have fun with its imagination anyway. They'll most likely find trash, empty bottles left by others and whatever useless furniture no one felt like dragging out. But who knows. Sometimes there seems to always be something left behind.

They come to the warehouse in question and just as she remembered, the front doors are properly shut and the same probably goes for whatever cargo bay the building might have. She does find the missing window, or the empty hole no longer holding any frame. The actual window is indeed missing and only some glass shards are left on the ground. From the street, it is a bit high up, but without hesitation she gives herself a few steps of a running start and jumps up, pushing off against the wall with one foot to boost herself further and gets hold of the edge. Using her arms, she hauls herself up to sit in the window and has a look inside.

"It's not that far down to the floor in here, at least! She calls down to Adam before jumping down inside to get out of the way.

ira

What makes you so special, special to think I would ever settle for that devious dance between you and me

Adam

So what's the point of robbery

Since the curfew had had very little effect on Adam's night-to-night activities, he barely remembered it existed, only vaguely having the sense that they ought to be the lookout for Enforcers. Given how busy clubs and bars had been though, it seemed like the patrols may have given up. The Plates had power, but attempting to stop Drenchers from accessing the only fun they had was never going to end well.

"Damn, a secret safe? You've been listening to too many of those radio stories." He laughed. He'd been in many, many dusty old buildings and the best he'd found was a pile of cash or a box of mechanical parts; nothing quite so romantic as a treasure chest. "Honestly, if we did find one I'd assume it was booby-trapped or some shit. That'd be waaaayyyyy too suspicious."

Once they reached the warehouse, Adam scanned his eyes over it, at first missing the broken window he'd seen before. Instead he ran his gaze up and down the building, wondering if he could climb the entire thing, try to get in from the top. In his now-a-bit-drunk state, he didn't notice Ira's run up at first, but he saw the hop into the window. His mouth hung open in amazement - sure, he managed plenty of parkour tricks, but he didn't get to see them from other people. "Holy shit! That was so cool!"

He followed with ease, opting to take a bit more of a calm approach and find handholds in the cracks of bricks and grout, pull himself up to the window. As his head popped over the threshold and glanced down into the building he continued, climbing in: "Seriously, you been practicing? That was a fucking clean jump."

When nothing is worth taking

Do not try me Devil, Devil.  Cannot buy me Devil, Devil.  You won't make a fool of me, oh no

She grins down at Adam just before she gets down to the floor on the other side and moves a few steps away, looking around in the darkness from where she stands while waiting for Adam to make it up to the window as well. When he does appear, she turns to him again, still grinning at his reaction.

"Kinda? Been doing it plenty since I was a kid. Useful whenever I didn't want to go through the front door and risk having to talk to dad. Just climb up to the bedroom window all sneaky like." Though she is secretly impressed with herself for not slipping and slamming her face into the wall, seeing how she's not completely sober at the moment. The walk had cleared up her head a little bit, at least, but it had not even crossed her mind that it could have been a risk.

Confidence perhaps boosted a bit too much by the alcohol, but at least she hasn't done anything embarrassing yet.

Still looking pleased with herself, she turns around and waits for her eyes to adjust to the extra dark inside the building. Only some light from the streets making it through the windows. "Alright, so yeah maybe a secret safe is a bit too much dream thinking, but maybe there's something fun in here still." Not that she knows what it would be, but she's sure they'll notice whenever they find it. And if nothing else, they can probably indeed find a good spot to just sit and share that bottle Adam brought with him.

"Do you know what they used to keep in here?" She throws a glance over her shoulder at Adam and slowly starts walking further out into the room they've ended up in. It looks be to a larger storage hall. Sadly not a cool office with a secret safe ready to be raided.

ira

What makes you so special, special to think I would ever settle for that devious dance between you and me

Adam

So what's the point of robbery

"Aah. We always lived on like, the fiftieth floor, so I didn't do much out of my own window as a kid." Taking his other leg over the windowsill and sliding down the wall into the building, Adam frowned at the murky darkness within and fished his lighter out of his pocket. The light it gave, a barely there flickering flame, wasn't much - but it was better than nothing, just about.

He took a few cautious steps, a little more spooked by the dark than he'd like to admit. The sound of tiny bits of dirt and glass crunching under his boots echoed through the large building. "Hmmm...I remember seeing a lot of guys coming in and out, but.." Now that Adam thought about it, he was struggling to recall what it was this warehouse actually produced. There were so many like it in the Drench, mysterious businesses that operated in dark streets and more often than not were fronts for more sinister enterprises.

Still, with the benefit of the doubt, he headed to where he could see some crates stacked up against the nearest corner. Holding up the lighter to the label, hoping Ira didn't mention how long it took him to read it (the flickering light made it worse, the way letters always seemed to swap and dance before his eyes), he eventually announced: "Err, construction shit, by the looks of it. Look. Meres and Son Building Supplies. Boring. But you never know, they might've sold some other stuff on the down low."

When nothing is worth taking

Do not try me Devil, Devil.  Cannot buy me Devil, Devil.  You won't make a fool of me, oh no

"Yeah, we lived way further down than that. First on more or less ground floor, then moved a few floors up at least." Even with just a floor up, that second apartment had been further into the city and spared any water coming from below. Still had some ceiling leaks every now and then.

She looks away again when Adam pulls out his lighter; the flickering flame almost too bright for her eyes at first and in less than a second takes away what night vision she had managed to gain. Keeping her eyes on the darker parts of the room, she continues to walk slowly in the other direction while Adam moves over to investigate the crates. That it takes long for him to read the label is nothing she seems to think about, or at least nothing she comments on.

Hearing about it being building supplies, she curiously turns to move closer despite the flame annoying her eyes. "Wouldn't surprise me if most places down here got something else going on as well. Plates probably taking a large cut of the legal official productions or whatever." She squints at the crates in the flickering light. "Guess you could easily hide drugs and weapons inside like cement bags or something, right?"

She moves away from Adam again and makes her way through the large hall with no indication of being spooked by the dark. She's on a mission to reach a wall. Preferably one with doors leading to corridors or other rooms. "Maybe there's some kind of office. They usually keep stuff hidden in those in like crime novels and such. They must've gotten some of that from reality."

Maybe she's been reading too many fictional books and her drunk mind is getting too creative with ideas from them, or she really has been listening to too many radio stories, as Adam pointed out. Either way, the idea of the possibility that there could be something hidden around the place makes it all the more exciting for her and way more fun in her mind.

ira

What makes you so special, special to think I would ever settle for that devious dance between you and me