The Starving Wastes: Chapter 1

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Despite the late afternoon and setting sun, the heat was still stifling in Newcastle. Spring had been hotter and drier than was normal and there was almost daily coverage from the local news sources on the upcoming summer – wildfires, severe drought, and heatwaves were all a concern.

The small air conditioner in Ricky’s Diner struggled and the booths nestled against smudged windows surrounding it were the first to be taken. Amongst the truckers, salesmen and other transient folk were locals just looking for a reprieve from the heat. The locals knew better than to come to Ricky’s for the food, despite the inviting scents of meat grilling, onions frying and frying oil. The checkered laminated floor was perpetually sticky, as were the stools and the counter and a few years ago there had been several cases of food poisoning linked to the diner though the health authority had never been able to prove anything. The unmistakable sound of a Harley Davidson rumbled over the noise of quiet conversation, the TV over the counter and cutlery scratching against plates. The sound suddenly cut off, as the bike was turned off and moments later the bell above the door jingled as a figure entered Ricky’s.

The man was just under six feet and was dressed roughly. A simple t shirt gave way to a pair of soiled and worn jeans and leather boots that had seen better days. The leather cut the man was wearing was in stark contrast to everything else he was wearing. It gleamed as though it was new and regularly tended to. A sleeve was folder over, holding a pack of smokes. The figure ran a hand through his short brown hair before taking out a smoke and lighting it. Each of you knew who this was. Grant Lawson was a low-ranking member of the Brides of Dracula, a prospect. While he wasn’t a vampire himself, he wasn’t entirely human. The pack had been tracking him for days, hoping to use the man to find an in with the Brides. During that time, you had seen him nearly beat a man to death in a gas station after he had been cut off in traffic. During the altercation, he had been stabbed but had shrugged off the wound. Needless to say the Brides had a reputation within Newcastle and no one complained about the smoke.

Grant made his way up to the counter, leaning on it before banging and yelling for Ricky. A simple set of dog tags dangling from his neck and the cut rode up to reveal a handgun in the man’s waistband. A rotund balding man made his way from the kitchen wearing a dirty singlet and apron both of which would have been white at one point. Ricky made his way to the register and began to count cash.


Players Instructions: Okay, so I posted tonight since I had a bit more time than I thought I would. Each of you are either in the diner or outside and have been for some time. Feel free to post with what you're wearing, wear you are positioned etc.

Ricky's Diner



Grant Lawson:

Grant, if he'd been closer to human than he was, might have been her type. Then again, she wasn't entirely human herself. Selene snorted, giving him a look through the safe screen of platinum blonde hair and casually let her jacket fall to the grubby floor. Denim was easier to wash than leather, and cheaper. She was deliberately trying to entice Grant, showing off a little. Her left shoulder and upper bore a Celtic wolf tattoo in black ink, her right was scarred with something slightly... bigger than a German shepherd's bite and the midriff baring tank top (also black, for irony's sake) didn't doo much to hide the claw marks that vanished under the waistband of her jeans. Her father's doing, when he'd lost control but that was a different story for another time.

An artistic ex boyfriend had once described her as black and silver once. Flattering and maybe fair to say but he had stopped by one inconvenient night, seen her mid change and run after that. There were limits to what any artist could handle and a wolf problem clearly wasn't it.

Cecilia was in a booth finishing off some breakfast eggs and bacon. A book in her other hand as she finished shoveling the last bites in, she used it to look around a little while staying discreet. She'd already paid the bill and was just loitering now, ready to get up once Selene had hooked Grant in. The diminutive woman was wearing jeans and a simple top, with some good boots on her feet. Rugged for the environment, easy enough to work around if she needed to suddenly grow up half a foot. Hopefully not, that whole *thing* still messed with her a bunch, but she'd work it out eventually.

As Grant waited for Ricky, his impatience was clear. His fingers drummed relentlessly on the counter, before heaving a deep sigh and turning around and observing the cafe. As he did so, his eyes fell on Selene and he regarded her seemingly surprised to find someone like her in a place like this. Ricky cleared his throat and there was several moments before Grant turned back to the man. Ricky passed Grant a dirty brown paper bag that no doubt was full of money from the till. Grant grabbed the money before making his way to the door. On his way through he paused at Selene's table and seemingly debated whether or not to sit, before leaning over and taking a napkin, and writing a number on it. The man straightened, gave Selene a wink and a smile before continuing onto the door.

She smirked, tilting her head in invitation before pocketing the napkin. It might or might not be useful for later but for now, she was intent on following Grant and his money. This was one prey she wasn't going to lose even if it killed her. Which, all things considered, wasn't very likely. She, like the rest of her family were very hard to kill.

[spoiler]Sorry for the one line post. There wasn't much to go on story wise but she isn't going to let Grant get away that easily.[/spoiler]

[No worries, I've basically dropped you into an inciting incident and I'm just waiting to see what you do.]

Without looking back, Grant made his way out into the car park but just as he was about to start his bike, he got a call. Whoever he was talking to it was clearly heated as the argument went back and forward. As the argument continued, Grant continued to become more and more agitated and it wasn't long before his voice could be heard back in the dinner. It seemed that the argument was with an ex-wife or girlfriend around visitation and child support. 

"Family problems?" Selene strode out of the diner after Grant, giving his motorbike a brief once over. Red and silver. Not a combination of colors she was fond of - one was too much like blood and the other was too much a cliche. "Nice motorbike. It wasn't hard to overhear you yelling into your mobile by the way."

Even if he had been trying to moderate his voice, she would have gotten a good earful of both sides of the conversation from a few yards away. "I know something of that, one younger brother and four sisters after him."

That at the very least was a safe detail to give. Others... weren't and the further they were into her past, the better.

A few minutes later another motorcycle would pull into the parking lot of the diner, though largely unnoticed unless one was directly looking out into the lot at that moment- the lack of noise from the vehicle conspicuous to those who were familiar with the machines in any capacity. Getting off the bike, the figure would remove their helmet and adjust the dark leather dew rag atop their head before stepping into the establishment, ignoring the two individuals who just exited.. though just as they passed Selene they would faintly give her a nod. They were a man who appeared to be in their mid thirties, skin a sun kissed brown with a clean shaven face, bedecked in a leather jacket and pair of faded jeans. Taking a moment, to get his bearings, he would take a seat on a bar stool, waving to get one of the waitresses’ attention.

”Afternoon ma’am, if it isn’t too much trouble I’d like to order a coffee and your lunch special.” he said as he gave the waitress an easy going smile, eyes scanning the rest of the diner for a moment- catching Cecilia’s gaze for a moment and giving a half wave before returning his attention to the waitress. It looked like the plan was working so far.. just had to let Selene clinch it.

Seeing that Grant and Selene had started heading out, Cecilia put her book away and wiped her mouth one last time. She left a tip on the table and got up, heading outside with a slow saunter, making her way towards her vehicle. Just a pretty basic car, nothing fancy. Just like she wasn't going to be getting into any car chases with any success, it just had to be serviceable. She kept an eye and ear on Selene and Grant, getting ready to intervene if necessary.

"Something like that," Grant said with a wiry grin,"Sounds like a crazy household."

A chirp from his phone caused him to glance down and he regarded it for a moment before glancing back up at Selene.

"Look, I have business to attend to right now but maybe I could get your number and we could meet up later?"


"Sure no worries hun," came the waitress' easy response to Charlie's request. A moment later, she returned to the table and poured him a coffee. Just from the smell of the coffee, Charlie could tell that it wasn't fresh by any stretch but apparently the pie at Ricky's was meant to be decent. The glass might have been filthy but he could keep an eye on what was happening out in the carpark easily enough.

Selene rolled her eyes, taking a pen from her jeans pocket and writing her mobile number on Grant's hand. "My twin is the only sensible one since our... parents passed away. My sisters' are half wild things at the best of times. Mad, the lot of them."

”Thanks, Darlin,” flashing the waitress a smile he would take a sip of the coffee, not even grimacing. When one was on the road as often as he was, they tended to not care overly much on how fresh the Joe was. As he turned his attention to the pair talking outside, he took another sip as he focused. One of the perks to being on if their kind? While to the average person the sounds beyond the diner’s windows might as well been silent by how muffled they were.. to his ears he could make out what they were saying as if they were only in another room- the joys of being a child of Father Wolf. He had no real context for what they were talking about- but the British sounding one seemed to have a great deal of restrained aggression- which was odd especially since they were exchanging numbers.. that was the plan right? Cecilia was acting just as strange, she was hanging around and watching the two while trying to look like she wasn’t watching.. that was pretty suspicious and threatened to blow what cover she was hoping to have in his opinion. Well either way, it didn’t really concern him- though it did pique his curiosity. As he watched from his place at the bar, absently giving the waitress another smile and taking his food when she came back with his order.

If this fucker was connected to the brides.. the legit Brides and not just the human front... all the better for Charlie. He didn’t come all this way to some wanna-be Vegas shithole in the desert to be hunting Snipes after all. But he wasn’t going to move unless the girls got a little overzealous. Roughing up the guy didn’t bother him.. but Selene had proven to be a wild card the past couple weeks- one he had to be careful to not let her play at inopportune moments.

**Secret DM Rolls for...stuff**


Grant gave a small chuckle,"Yeah I have a few crazy sisters as well. Not the kind of ladies you want to get on the wrong side of."

His phone began to ring and a flash of rage crossed his face and for a moment he looked as though he was going to throw the phone into the traffic. A heartbeat passed and the look was gone as the man composed himself and hung up the call.

"Speaking of which, I really should get moving. I have to pick up my kids from their aunt's."

(Damn. Not giving me much of an opening here.)

Stay with her pack? Or just blow the other two off and hitchhike a ride with Grant? If she'd been alone, it would have been an easy decision. With those two, she had to hesitate, looking at the diner exterior again. Either way they were about to lose him. "Bloody hell."

Selene typed a message out on her mobile one handed and hit send, directing it towards Cecelia and the other guy. He had a name, but she couldn't be arsed to remember what it was other than wolf biker guy at the moment. "Do you mind if I go with you? My little brother took off for the woods a while back and I haven't seen him since. He was the driver."

This was not completely a lie. Arden would be back, she just wasn't sure when.

Hearing his mobile ding, he would glance down at the message and raise an eyebrow. He wasn’t worried that she couldn’t handle herself, but the idea of her just going off with the biker alone for a time still didn’t settle particularly well with him. Still, he would jot a quick response of : Hey see you soon, sis. and hit send, helping maintain her cover. He then sighed, and took another sip of his coffee.

”This better not be another dead end,” he quietly mused to himself.