(Setting) The Blue Falcon Detective Agency & The Soullock building
| >That building, is know as the Soullock building. Owned by 57 year old landlady: Tina Harllot. This story... is NOT about her. Where our story lies is further within this very same building... on the 3rd floor. There, lies a office focused on the private eye investigating kind of work. Runned by a working soul called Douglas Jay Falcon- a man that despite apperances telling you that he just bumbled fucked his way into this line of work...
| >You would soon find yourself be proved wrong over his shiny and clean record of two years working in this prison of a city... a shining... brilliant 2 year record of examplary private eye work... that was 'never meant to be.'
| >Douglas finds himself browing the late evening news on his laptop. Seeing what else kinda of disastrorous news, or nothing sausages news this hour of the day had to offer. At this point in time, he already had exausted himself with all daily activies except the most important one of them all... work. In these last two days, Douglas haven't been able to get any cases for himself at all, which to him, was the weirdest thing.
| "Ugh..."
>He groaned, closing his laptop on a dead beat whim, not even properly shutting off the entire device.
"How in the hell do i live in a apocalypict hellscape of a city like this and get two days in a row with no cases?!"
| >He stands up from his chair, scratching his head in annoyanced.
"Tsk. I should really find something to do... there's no way i'm ending the night with nothing at all to do."
>As Douglas says that... the sound of lighting can be heard outside, along with the rapidly increasing sounds of rain pouring down.
"You gotta be kidding me... but the news said there wouldn't be rain until tomorrow!"
| >His face was slowly turning into a frown, the best he could just do now is eat his dinner and call it a night... until something in the back of his mind hit him.
"Wait a moment... aren't i forgetting something?"
>Lighting struck out and a clear picture of clothes almost at the verge of flying through out the wind to be lost fovered- showed up in his mind.
"DAMMIT! I left my clothes hanging on the rooftop...!"
| >As he said this, he wasted no time and rushed out of his office and started to climb up the stairs of the Soullock building, who has a elevator which should've been fixed- a long time- 13 years ago.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Let's get it!"
>If anybody was around to see it and appreciate it, Douglas athletic display was showing off as his feet quickly went up the stairs with swift steps that wasted no energy.
| >The Soullock Building had around 6 floors- 6 floors only and despite that, this building managed to be one of the tallest one's around the Neon District. It has hard to describe into words the madness the person behind the design of this building shaped into form. But enough said, the Soullock building was a VERY unnecessarly tall building.
"Come on...! There's still hope...!"
| >Douglas didn't stop the pace he setted ever since he runned out of his office. The truth is, one of his exercise routine's is to actually run up and down these very stairs... once. Just once, because he is not stupid enough to do that a second time in a day.
>As he was turning a corner that was at last, at the 6th floor, at full speed he bumped- or rather- crashed into someone... that he never actually saw in this building before...
>*BOOF...!*
| https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XxS5R1iyBQ4
| >>1060086
> The short woman felt something slam into her, too big and too close to know what exactly it could have been. Her guard was completely down and she can feel herself get caught with whatever the thing was. She clings to it, hoping to bring it down with her. There is the sense that both are falling in unison and once they hit the ground, she yells out.
"HEY. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING"
| >>1060119
"AW SHIT! S-so sorry! My bad! i didn't mean to- hey! here, let me just..."
>'Now you done it Douglas, you dumbass!' He thought to himself, if wind of a accident like this one was caught by Landlady Harrlot, he would never heard the end of it. Being two weeks late with rent as well was already enough of a reason to get kicked out- but if he ended up getting into trouble with any of the long date residents of this building... that might be it for his P.I agency.
| >Douglas stood up and extended his hand for small woman, their difference in height as clear as night and day. The rain was still coming down strong outside, and lighting could still be heard outside. Thundering... powerfully, one could say.
"Please tell me you're okay, i didn't ended up hurting you did i?"
>At this point, Douglas might as well kiss his clean laundry goodbye. But it was okay, he just had to make sure the small- unfamilar woman before him wasn't hurt.
| >>1060128
> She shot a glare back and takes his hand to get up. She practically yanks his arm off to get herself up, though that was probably unnecessary on her part. She pats herself off and checks her hips before breathing a sigh of relief
"I'm fine, it's fine. More worrying that I could have hurt you if you didn't catch me off guard. What're you in a hurry for anyway? Looking for pay dirt too? Running from someone like me?"
> Dusty eyes him up like a hawk circling its prey
| >The small woman in front of him seemed to be fine, seeing how assertive she was. That was at least one worry out of the way for Douglas, but being questioned like that after the crash that just happened kind of threw him off the rails for a moment.
"Someone like you? Well..."
>Douglas looked up and down at her figure, slightly getting what she mean't, although he wouldn't consider her his typical example of a threat, at least from his experience.
| "Ah, erm... no, i'm not running from anybody right now. I was in a hurry because-"
>Lighting strikes out. Douglas eyes widen, his sight locked on the end of the hallway, where a door to the roof top led.
"Shit...! Look, sorry! I really gotta hurry on okay? Talk to you later! Sorry about running into you like that!"
>And with that said, Douglas circles around Dusty, and runs off towards the end of the hallway, still retaining a faint hope that his clothes can still be saved.
| >>1060133
"WAIT STOP I– ah fuck, he ran off."
> Dusty stands in the hall and takes off behind the person, cursing herself for not taking the moment to ask for his help. All these buildings are confusing as hell to her and the fact she couldn't even drive herself here wasn't making her any less stressed. It's second-nature for her to chase others down as it is, so she kept up pace without issue. Where the hell could he be going anyway
| >>1060205
>Douglas eventually found himself in front of door to the outside which lead the rooftop, the rooftop door always had it's key on the keylock, seemingly permately stuck there. Although thankfully, it could still turn.
>Bashfully, Douglas got a hold of the door's handle, turned the key and-
"AAAAAARGH...!!"
| >A surreal force coming from the violents winds outside bursted through the hallway, making the door Douglas had a grip on cause a brute impact agains't him, sending him back flying.
"Ouch...! Wha- what in blazes?!"
>Rain was pouring inside the hallway, the agressiviness of the wind was so wild, that the rain coming from the door- flew in a straight line towards the other end of the hall way almost as if a endless barrage of bullets was being spread.
| "This is...! Not okay...! What kind of rain is this?! This a full blown... killerstorm...!!"
>There was no way to move onwards with the rain and wind invading the hallways with so much opression. Douglas knew that, and knew that staying there was dangerous as well. Screw the clothes! It was time to get out of there.
"My clothes...! FINE THEN!"
>Douglas chose to turn around and flee the hallway. Giving up the ideia of saving any of the laudry he left to dry up for that day.
| >>1060354
> Dusty keeps from getting the full force of the rain. She stayed back far enough to at least miss out on the worst of it, at least. Looks like a hurricane out there, she thought. At least seeing the guy turn around gives her the option to stop him by force. This time, she braces herself and spreads herself as wide as she can, hoping to at least make him stop in his tracks
"HEY. Don't run off like that! You're the only person I've seen here and i need your help, dammit"
| >>1060391
"Uh?! O-oh..."
>Douglas was quite agitaded, sure enough. All that running and adrenaline pumping makes it really difficult for him to settle down. But the call of help from small woman in front of him gave him a reminder to compose himself and calm down. The clothes are gone, it is what it is, focus on just seeing what she needs from you.
| >Douglas took off his wet sujakan jacket, a stylish blue and white asian style bomber jacket with designs that hinted at western and chinese influences. Placing it over his forearm, kind of like a clothe's hanger. It was noticeable Douglas had a special care for the thing.
"*Sigh..* I'm sorry for leaving you by yourself in the hallway like that... I was in horrible hurry to save my uh... laundry, that probably got lost in the storm outside by now."
| >Douglas placed his index finger and thumb over his eyes and squinted hard, then straighted himself up, feeling more well composed.
"But well, all that aside- You said you need something from me? Help? And you are? I don't think i ever saw you around the Soullock building before..."
>Being a detective for hire, the words 'help' and 'need' are always good sign's for Douglas. But he couldn't be so sure if that was the case yet. Normally clients have a easy time finding his office.
| >Although this WAS the Soullock building after all... newcomers here do tend to get lost pretty easily.
>'Maybe a introduction would clear things up.' He thought to himself. So then Douglas extended his hand and gave the small woman his trademark savvy, smug, but welcoming smile. A tool that usually helps his subjects of conversation feel more at ease with his presence.
| "Ah, but i think i'm getting ahead of myself here, aren't i? My name is Douglas, i run a detective agency on this very building. My office is at the third floor."
| >>1060527
> Dusty straightens herself out, though still obviously too short to be conventionally intimidating. She pulls her motorcycle jacket closer. Looks like the cold got to her. She looks Douglas up and down and walks to quickly shake his hand. Her grip doesn't feel like that a woman of her age and stature. It's bordering on crushing, but holding back.
"Oh, you're the detective I have to find then. Cool. I couldn't figure out these stupid directions at all."
| "if you are good, then you should be able to help me out. I got some... stuff that's outside of my line of work. Err... i mean... my old line of work. I'm I guess retired. Lead the way to your office?"
> She moves out of his way and extends her hand, as if you compel him even further into taking charge here. She feels like she's said too much already, despite barely saying anything at all. Had she even said her name yet? That could wait, she figured.
| "Oh... sure, just be ready to do a lot of walking downstairs. Musta've taken you a while for you to get here right? ...i've complained a lot to the land lady to fix that damned elevator, but it's a stall one after the next y'know?"
| >>1060532
>Those words said, Douglas went on ahead towards the stairs that lead down the 3rd floor- where his office was located, and made sure to ask the small woman to watch her step. A few of the lights within the stairs halls had a tendency of turning off withouth warning.
"There was this one guy... i think his name was Cody? The lights went out on him as the took a step down and tripped. They say he broke his pelvis when he falled down."
| "Although, when he came back to the building... he swored to everybody that never happened, that he just dislocated his shoulder. I never got to figured out how that word of his pelvis being broken got around but... people still made so much fun of him back then that he couldn't take it anymore and just went up and left the building forever."
>Even getting to the 5th floor feel like it took way longer than it should, Douglas knew that so he made sure to have a topic to talk about.
| >>1060586
> Dusty nodded along and did her best to listen actively. She had never been all that great at talking when other people seemed so into what they wanted to say. She felt a little awkward, unable to do much other than follow. The whole building felt like a maze. Was this a maze? This couldn't be hell, since she willingly walked into it and actively was trying to understand it. Once the anecdote about the broken Pelvis had finished, she figured it was her turn to speak
| "Oh yeah no. I've uhh. Once, there was a situation where me and some others were trapped in a stairwell. Some weird cyber psycho started attacking I guess. Everyone but me wanted to go stop him, but I decided to just take the fast way down and I like. I just threw myself down. And uhh... it really hurt. I think I bruised some bones. Nobody died, thankfully.
> That's a normal thing to follow up with, right? She was gonna get a good grade at socializing. she could feel it.
| >>1060631
"Hey, sometimes to live to see another day calls for some reckless abandon, at least that's what i think."
>Call it morbid way of thinking, but as someone who's been within Glitch City for as long as Douglas, which is just two years sure- and yet those two years were more than enough for him to understand just how rough survival can be for the unajusted.
| >In his eyes the two best outcomes are: Staying strong until the end and die well.. or just, move on with your life to somewhere else outside of this City. Easier said than done though... specially in Douglas case.
"You seem to be doing fine though, getting to the 6th floor of this building is no easy feat after all. And plus, i can already tell you're used to dealing with the more... uh, well you know, 'harsh' reality of this city."
| >Douglas doesn't even bother to elaborate what he mean't with those words. Instead just focusing on watching his step and proceeding further downstairs. Although clearly something the small woman previously, gave something away.
| >>1060709
"Yeah no. This city is weird and i thought i could lie low here. But trouble finds us no matter what. People like us kind of invite it though, looking for people who might not want to get found anyway.
> She shrugs, her voice flat. Seems like what happens in this city doesn't seem to bother her all that much.
"But like I said, I'm retired. I'm only looking for someone for personal reasons, and because I made a promise."
| >>1060741
>Finally reaching the third floor, Douglas's office was already pretty nearby the stairs for convenience's sake. Standing in front of it, he took out his keys from his Jacket's inner pocket and unlocked the door. On the door's window glass the name of the his workplace: 'The Blue Falcon Detective Agency' was written on it with fancy cursive text.
"Well, you can tell me all about it after you get all settled down. Please come in, and just uh... don't mind the mess."
| >The office itself was rather small- barely enough space for more than one person to live there, and clearly, live there Douglas in fact did. As he had dishes still yet to be cleaned up in the sink, trash to take out, and all over his desk- bills and rent to pay. Thinking there is worse to be seen is true, but one would think a detective would like to keep apperances professional-like.
| "You can sit down right there if you want."
>Douglas gestures to the large couch in from of the small low table, there was also another but single seat couch at the opposite side of the large couch.
"Would you like anything before we start talking it out? I have instant coffee ready to make, or if youre more into it, i can make tea as well."
>As if his office wasn't a unwelcoming mess, Douglas still insisted on the best possible hospitality he could offer.
| >>1060761
> Dusty looks around and gets a read on the place. This guy probably won't be any kind of threat, so she feels a lot more at ease. Plus, she's familiar with these kinds of living situations. There's a trust amongst those living day to day, she thinks.
> She takes the opportunity to plop down one the couch as one would at a friend's house. it didn't bother her at all to appear to be rude. She even unzips her jacket, now feeling a lot less cold than before
| "I don't need a drink or anything, I think. At least not right now. Thanks though."
> She looks around some more. There was an odd comfort to the space, that's for sure
"Don't mine me getting all cozy here. This day has so far sucked but this couch is at least better than mine. I'm ready to talk when you're ready to start writing down"
> She repositions herself, adjusting something at her waist as she does. A girl can never be too cautious, she figured.
| >>1060808
"Okay then. I'll be with you in a moment."
>Douglas not wanting to keep her waiting for too long, got on making a quick instant coffee for himself. He would need a warm cup after getting bombarded with whatever manner of bullet rainstorm that was.
>Water drops still falling from his shaggy hair for being slighty wet, hitted the floor as he gone over to the smaller couch and sitted down in front of the small woman.
| >He took a sip of his coffee, made a satisfactory 'aaah..." sound, then look at the small woman at her eyes and asked:
"So! I guess i'll start. You didn't tell me your name yet i don't think right? Who am i helping out today, Miss...?"
| >>1060855
"My name?! Oh, I'm Cas– uhh, right, Private Eye; lying to you about my name would be pointless. I'm Dusty. You might have heard of me and my bounty hunting partner, Pistol Pete"
> She flashes a wry smile. Her reputation generally precedes her whenever people connect the dots of who she is. Not that she really ever wanted special treatment anyway. Her old job was just that; a job. There at least was a little pride in taking nearly every bounty alive, unlike the rest
| "If you're wondering why the Big Guy isn't with me right now, he's a little busy these days and wanted me to take care of this"
> Dusty sighs and stretches a bit, getting more relaxed. She even takes the time to crack her neck, something which would always get her a yell from Pete over safety.
"Don't fret though, none of this stuff is gonna be any dangerous. And even if it was gonna be, I could cover for you so you can escape. Promise"
This thread is closed.
| 19:35
June 24th, 207X A.D
Blue Falcon Detective Agency, Neon District, Glitch City
>In a city that shouldn't exist... amongs't the small halls of the streets of the Neon District, there was a building worth about 13 years of standing tall around a ever changing district within a ever evolving gigapolis that is 'guinea pig of the world'.