The Elbow Room

[Melody Arachne]

Melody leans on the bar and watches Vito with an arched brow.
"Never mind what we got into, what the hell did *he* get into?"

She digs in the small fridge, coming up with a bottle of creamer that's only a little out of date and a plate of pastries. "You guys watch him, if he starts messin' stuff up for real I'm gonna have ValJon stash him in the cold room. Vito! Veeee-toooooo... look! Want a turnover? Hmm? There's a good Vito ..."

"It's almost ironic, isn't it? Stuck in the biggest bad trip ever, and having a bad trip? It's almost ... surreal." She shakes her head and looks around. "Where is ValJohn, anyway?"

[Magatsu Taito]

Magatsu jumps back over the bar, and sits down on a stool that doesn't look too trashed.
"I don't know, he is the bartender, right? I'm not good with remembering bartenders, they tend to disappear around the 10th drink or so... Maybe you can check if he has a shotgun or something under the bar? If it's there we can at least assume he's still around somewhere..."

[Vito The Don]

Vito looks back as if to reply to Melody, but shrugs and keeps on walking. He rummages through his pocket with his good hand and pulls out a cell. Quckily he dails a number and prays for service. "Michael? Its Vito. Yeah its pretty hectic out there. You by the fire works? No? Listen grab an Humm, and meet me there with about 10 guys. No I'm not gonna tell you why! Jeeze just listen, meet me there and make sure you're not followed, AT ALL. Alright? Alright. See you in 60." He shuts the phone and heads to a nearby parking garage. Hopping the barrier he walks over to a dark corner of the building. An engine roars to life and Vito busts out on a Hummer. Smashing trough the barrier he heads east, towards the commotion. About halfway to his destination he pulls up next to a bar called "The Hideaway." As he wanders in he chukles to him self. "The Hideaway" He thinls, "Truer things were never said of this dump." He bursts through the doors, confindent that no zeds were in. Why should he? He closed the place down him self. He strides past the bar and into the kitchen. From the kitchen he opens up a walk in freezer. He pulls down a certain box, and the walls part. Behind it lies an treasure trove of stolen goods,fakes, guns and booze. Pruruzing the many asiles of selection, he grabs a duffle bag and tosses some things in it. Clearly, its safehouses like this were Vito stocks his mysterious bags. On his way out, he makes sure to lock the place down, and make as if noone has been there for a couple of years. He tosses the bag in the back of the hummer and peels out, headed for the next stop on his hidden agenda.

[Definitely Not Axe Hack]

The DJ looks up from his stash of CDs.

"Hey! Anyone seen my Pink CD? I was hoping to mix something up with that!"

The DJ picks up a note. It says, "Axe Hack was here."

"Damn it! That fuckin' CD stealing PKer!"

The DJ runs to a small case and opens it. Inside, there seems to be only a few shotguns. But no shells.

"Hey...what happened to my 2 pistols? And my 2 fire axes?"

The DJ picks up another note. It says, "Axe Hack was here too, bitch!"

"Damn it! Somebody please remind me not to keep my supplies in the open...At least the FAKs are safe..."

The DJ opens a case, slightly larger then the weapon case. It, however, is empty. The DJ finds another note inside.

"OK...I don't want to read this note...It probably says 'Axe Hack was here' again...Here, Mel. You can read it..."

The DJ hands the note to Mel.

[Melody Arachne]

Melody comes out from behind the bar and takes the note from DJ. She purses her lips thoughtfully as she reads, stopping every now and then to give DJ a wondering look.

"Well hey, he doesn't sound that bad ... he says he'll return your stuff if you tell us what happened in Miami?"
She gives him a grin and settles on the stool, leaning back to snag her cigs and lighter. "So what happened in Miami, and why can't you ever go back there?" She lights one up, and passes the pack over to Taito.
"Come on, DJ, tell us a story."

[Prisonner Of Today]

"Christ, do you really need to ask him why he can't ever go to Miami again?" Priz says, finding his own pack of cigarettes by rummaging in an uncharacteristically clumsy way through his many pockets. He is obviously a little grumpy from a bad sleep. "I mean, have you completely forgotten about this whole zombie thing we have going on right here? NONE of us can go to Miami again, let alone him."

With a look of mild annoyance, and the telltale signs of a very, very bad hangover, he gets off the stool. Noticing ValJohn's absence, walks around behind the counter into the kitchen. Pausing at the doorway, he glances back. "I'm gonna go kill something to eat. You guys want any?"

[Vito The Don]

Loud gunfire is heard outside the bar, and a voice can be heard booming over the screech of the tires, but the words are mangled in the cacophany. Outside Vito fires blindly over his shoulder while another man drives like a man possesd. They he a pothole and flip the hummer, Vito flies throug the air and land on the doorsteps of the bar. He painfully crawls in, all the while muttering to himself. He manages to say"Creedy....alll.......dea..." in a weak voice before passing out on the bar room floor.

[Magatsu Taito]

"Thanks Melody" Taito says as he take the smokes, pulls one out gently, and puts it between his lips. He looks around for the lighter, but can't seem to find it... He then realizes something, and pulls the lighter out of the pack. He lights it, watches the flame for a second or two, then lights the smoke.

"Sure Pris. I'll take some rat for breakfast, or whatever you can find actually... It's gotta be better than seaweed at least." He throws the pack of smokes towards Pris, but misses, and they end up next to a bottle of something clear and unlabeled.
Taito shrugs, leans back, and enjoys his smoke.

[Melody Arachne]

"Christ on a rubber crutch, Priz, I know none of us can go now, this ..." she waves the note. "This says he can never go to Miami, ever. Not that it's any great loss, unless you like Cuban food ... speaking of food, there should be some canned soup back there, somewhere. If you see ValJon tell him Vito's bleeding on the floor again, gonna need the mop, the bucket, and ..." She looks over at Vito with a critical eye. "...two or three FAKs, at least. Thank God that door closes automatically."

She stretches, inhaling deeply from her cigarette, then letting the smoke roll out of her mouth and inhaling it again through her nostrils. "I think this coffee would go down easier with a shot of irish whiskey ... that doesn't count as drinking, right? If it's in food? Does coffee count as food?"

[Prisonner Of Today]

Priz disappears into the kitchen, and the sound of cupboards being pillaged and things being looted overwhelms all other conversation, until a cry of "AHA!" is heard, and the noise is replaced by an odd buzzing and the sound of a knife. Soon, the pleasant aroma of steaks being cooked fills the air, and about twenty minutes later, Priz emerges from the kitchen carrying three plates.

On the plates are some of the biggest steaks ever witnessed by man. Next to them are some mashed potato-like things, and what looks like some kind of lettuce. He sets down plates in front of Melody and Magatsu, and puts the third in front of his seat.

Disappearing into the kitchen again, a different buzzing noise is heard, followed by a "whoosh", and he returns this time with sliced pears, which look to be covered in whipped cream. Setting those down, he reaches into his bag, which has been sitting on the counter as if waiting to be addressed, and pulls out three wine glasses and a bottle of some kind of fancy looking wine.

All in all, the meal looks surprisingly good, and very out of place...

"I present to you: Meat ala Priz, with a side of powdered mashed potatoes, and my own special herbs and spices. For desert, we have preserved pears, covered in aged whipping cream. To drink, we have a homemade ice wine, vintage 2005."

Sitting down, he pauses to study the meal for a moment, and proceeds to dig in.

[Magatsu Taito]

Taito sucks on his smoke until it gets to filter, he starts to cough, and spits it out on the floor. He gives Priz a vindictive glance, and then another, though this one seems to be more of a suspicious one. But after making sure he is actually eating the food, Taito looks at it for a while, breaths in the flavors filling the air, and gently cuts a slice of steak. He holds it up in front of his face, and puts into his mouth. After slowly chewing for a while, he starts eating with more gusto, almost throwing the food into his mouth.

[Prisonner Of Today]

Priz smiles, and reaching for some salt, says "How is it?"

Look at Melody, he adds "By the way, I found ValJohn!"

[Leon Silverblood]

Leon has been attempting to coerce his poor motor skills into grasping and using a syringe, but it falls to the floor as his head slowly flings itself up way too high, so that he mostly faces the ceiling as his eyes look down his nose at the stripper. If they weren't so deadish, zombies might be seen as arrogant for this sort of uncontrollable gesture.
He starts to limp toward her, his intentions obvious, but pauses, turns, and asks
"Cubans??"
Leon's eyes scan the room for John Leguizamo's character in Land of the Dead, "Cholo", although he's actually Columbian.
"Puerto Rican Rum?" he asks as he does the electric slide to the bar.

[Magatsu Taito]

"Oh, it's great, though I can't eat any more now, I might hurt myself if I did..."
He gets up and stretches his arms out behind him, and notices Leon's attempts to use a syringe. He watches him for a while, and looks a bit alarmed at first when Leon suddenly heads towards the bar, or rather, slides towards the bar.
"Wha... Leon! Have you found rum somewhere?"

[Leon Silverblood]

In response, Leon does his best impression of an inverted water fountain and vomits a quart of blood and brains onto the floor. They smell strongly of liquor, and he looks at Magatsu with a grin.
"I never could hold my liquor. Here," he says, offering a half empty fifth of NMC brand Puerto Rican Rum, "you hold it for me."
His greyed eyes roll sideways to the stripper again and he lets out a grating, disturbing, lusty groan and pitches an undead tent. "She ain't runnin'...Is she new?"