gold and vain, open

[Ita Zhang]

What could possibly be said of the woman who slipped quietly through the sliding doors of the grocery store that day? She was tall, made taller by a pair of stilleto heeled boots hidden against the calf by a pair of slightly baggy black pants that concealed, among other things, a plain black handgun, loaded, and stuffed into the top of her boot.

She was tanned darkly, and extraordinarily muscular for a woman, though not to the point that it could be considered disgusting. In fact, the tight muscles that spread from under her black tank top down the bare arms (Marked only once by the tattoo of a swan clutching a black rose in its beak), seemed to enhance her beauty, make her seem as much like the thorny rose clasped so tightly in the beak of the swan, as much as anything possibly could have.

Her black hair was pulled back from her face, held in a ponytail, her dark eyes skipping this way and that over boxes and items that held little interest for this woman. She was distracted though, by one box, so distracted that she slammed straight into someone. The suddenness made her blink, and after a moment she opened her eyes and looked down at the offender, "Excuse you?"

[Coden Ackler]

Why was he here? Oh. Right. Food for him and his sister. Sighing, Coden lifted a hand to ruffle his already messy black hair. He needed a drink. Chewing on his lip for a moment, he forced himself to keep walking around, trying to decide what his sister would like. Erk. Had she told him, this would be much easier. But nooo, she just had to rush off with some guy. Joy. Groaning, he rubbed his hands over his face. Why did she get to have all the fun? It wasn't fair.

Shaking his head, he shoved his hands into his ripped, torn, and bleached tight jeans. Along with this, he wore a black tee, some band name across the front of it. Nothing too interesting. Still though. Black? In this weather? Whatever. Didn't bother him. Besides, he didn't exactly have enough money to buy new clothes. He was hoping for that to change soon though.

Unfortunatly, he got distracted. Which happened all too often and all too easily. Staring up at the ceiling, he ran or rather, slammed into someone. "Oof!" He got out, all air rushing out of his lungs before he lost his balance and found himself sitting on the floor. Wincing, he stood, rubbing his lower back for a moment. He then noticed who it was though, and brightened. "Heya Ita. Er..Sorry 'Bout that."

[Ita Zhang]

Ita snapped her dark eyes on him and looked him up and down, clucking her tongue once. "Yeah yeah, you'd better be." She rolled her eyes, reaching into the pocket of her jeans then pausing, realizing that though this was the time, it certainly was not the place for a cigarette. She slid the pack, peaking out just a bit, back into her pocket and reached up to grab a box of Cookie Crunch., turning it over to read the nutrition facts.

"So what are you up to Coden?" She asked, tucking the box under her arm and beginning to walk, headed toward the frozen food aisle. It wasn't her fault she couldn't cook, she had better things to do, maybe someday se would get around to it, learning to cook, but right now she had four bags of cocaine in the walls of her apartment, and wasn't in the mood to do anything but get it out of there.

Bending over she picked out a huge stack of frozen dinners and meals, then turned around so that she could devote more attention to her friend.

[Coden Ackler]

At Ita's reply, Coden gave a sheepish grin and rubbed the back of his head for a moment. Noticing that she was about to pull out a pack of ciggarettes, his mind switched back to the fact that he needed a drink. Pouting slightly, he remembered the fact that he had a stash of a couple different kinds back at his home, hidden from his sister who would probably put him in the hospital if she found out he was drinking. He grimaced at the thought.

Eeeh..Yum...Cookie Crunch. But, he was looking for dinners, not breakfasts, which they never ate. Then, hearing Ita speak, his gaze snapped back to her. "Eh..Well, I was looking for dinner but..Just realized that my sis' 'boy toy' is probably buying her dinner..So..Not doing that anymore. So, Technically, nothing really." He replied with a small smile. Yeah. Better to save up money. He'd just grab a coffee for dinner.

He wasn't going to ask the stupid response of, What About You? Or anything like that. Running a hand through his hair, he followed his friend as she grabbed some frozen dinners. "Anyway...I haven't seen you in a while..What have you been up to?" He asked, tilting his head slightly. Really, he figured it was his fault that he hadn't seen her in a bit. He'd been severely busy, trying to get stuff for his sister and all. Yeesh..It seemed like he was really the older one when really he was the younger. He rolled his eyes at that thought. Oh well. It had always been that way really.

[Ita Zhang]

"Oh, the usual." She winked briefly, balancing the meals in one arm and moving toward the liquor aisle. "Just working." She balanced the meals carefully, picking up a bottle of wine and somehow managing a six pack of beer as well. "Well, if your sister's out you could always come over to my place."

It was a brief offer, provoked mostly by the fact that she was carrying a six pack and vainly trying to imagine how in hell she could drink it all by herself and still manage to be coherent in the morning. Now, as she moved toward one of the casheirs, balancing her groceries precariously in her arms she dumped them loosely on the conveyor belt and brushed a loose bit of black hair away from her face, where it was brushing against the pink line on her face. "Come on, what do you say? We'll order a pizza, drink beer, and sit on the roof of my building." She grinned, reaching into her back pocket for her wallet and frowning slightly.

Fifty dollars worth of groceries and only hundreds. This was annoying. She shoved one over and yawned, "Sorry sweetheart. Wish I had something smaller." The transaction finished, four plastic bags full of snacks draped over her muscular arms she stretched slightly. "Wanna come over or not?"

[Coden Ackler]

Go over to her place? Coden quickly glanced at his watch. He had a small job besides being with the 'Pirates' so, he couldn't really afford to loose that. Needed all the money he could get. "Sounds good. Don't have to be at work for a couple more hours." Alright, so, she'd probably find it wierd that he had a job besides the whole 'Pirate' thing but, he'd never told anyone, including her, of his former, and current situation with money problems. Nor what had happened before in his life in Harlem.

He looked longingly at all the alcohol but, seeing as he was going to go over to Ita's, he'd just have to wait till he got home he figured. "Pizza? Sit on your roof? You're too kind Ita." He joked lightly, giving a small laugh. "I'll pay for the Pizza, but, i'll just grab a beer or something when I get home. It's only fair cause I can't pay for that too." He added. He was trying to not give away too much information but, at the same time, he wanted to make it clear.

Following her quickly over to the Cashier, he watched as she dropped all the stuff onto the conveyor belt. Reminder. You're carrying that Cody. He told himself. Seeing the hundred, his jaw dropped, eyes going wide. He could almost confirm that that was the most amount of money he'd seen at one time. He shook his head quickly though and brought himself out of his thoughts. Frowning as she picked up the bags, he reached out and took them from her, to carry them himself. "Lead the way!" He said, grinning as he headed towards the door.

[Ita Zhang]

Ita glared, taking the bags back, and turning quickly to leave the store and get to her car, "You will do no such thing. I offered so I am paying." Her eyes glittered angrily, she looked violent. It was just one of her mood swings, something that happened as she dropped the food into the back seat of her sleek black convertible and leapt into the driver's seat, pulling a pair of aviator's sunglasses out of the glove ompartment and turning the key in the ignition.

"Well, are you coming?" She asked, the mirrored glasses flashing in the light as she picked through the cds in a case under her seat. It was hard to decide, how could you pick from all the variety. Finally deciding on The Creatures' cd, sliding it into the layer as she waited, patiently.

[Coden Ackler]

As she turned angry, Coden merely pouted. He was paying for it and that was final! Hmph. He wouldn't say that again though. He'd be sneaky! He quickly jogged after her to her car. And yes, his jaw dropped once more. How the hell..? "Where do you get the money for these things.." He muttered, though he wasn't really asking her. Just saying his thoughts. Yeesh. First hundred dollar bills then this? God..It was a really nice car too..Self conciously, his gaze slid over to his run down, used when bought, black scratched up truck.

He also glanced down at his pocket which held the measly fifteen dollars he had been going to buy dinner with. Sighing, he shook his head and got into the car, sitting down in the all too comfortable seat. It was odd to him. He wasn't used to things like this. Biting his lip, he kept his gaze downcast. Geez..He even felt like he was taking away from the clean-ness and just all together costly-ness of the car by being in it, in his torn and slightly dirty clothes. Great. Now he felt bad. Was he forcing her to be seen with a disgrace like him? Oh yeah. His self conciousness was kicking in full force. "Erm..Sorry.."

[Ita Zhang]

"Drug trafficking mostly, I do a lot of translating on the side too, every once in a while I pack up and move down to San Francisco or even Hong Kong and work there for a bit, just so I have extra cash on hand. I speak both Chinese dialects and Japanese, as well as spanish." She shrugged, lit a cigarette, and pulled out of the parking space, hit the wheel hard, and pulled out into traffic, taking a long draw from her cigarette and tossing it to the side of the road, pausing for a moment at a stop sign and listning to his awkward apology.

"Why the Hell are you apologising? You haven't done anything wrong, I don't think. unless you sold your soul to the government." She slid her glases down her aquiline nose and examined him in the bright sunlight. "You haven't have you?"