9861/Sometimes, crime just really doesn't pay...

Sometimes, crime just really doesn't pay...
Date of Scene:	01 November 2019
Location:	Lower East Side, Manhattan
Synopsis:	Chun-Li 'saves' Rachel from a couple of terrible 'criminals' and then they agree to meet again (Rachel and Chun-Li, not the 'criminals').
Cast of Characters:	Raven, Chun-Li

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Raven has posed:
    New York is an interesting place. In noplace else does a random woman wander out of an alleyway looking, in all senses of the word, overwhelmingly vulnerable. Hands firmly seated in the pockets of her sweater, Raven rather swiftly makes her way into a seemingly random building that happens to have an eclectic looking collection of books in its window, dimly lit from the inside as it is.

    Of course, it is impossible to know from this street that Raven did not -enter- the alleyway from this plane of existence. Furthermore, those who are interested in the girl only have to wait a few minutes for her to re-emerge, a large tome of some kind stuffed under her arm. It seems old and, for the record, expensive. That is enough in concert with the fact she looks the way she does that it'd be enough to keep attention off of the fact that the storefront she just made her way out of no longer physically exists.

    Either way, she does not stop to talk to anyone present- instead, she just makes her way back in the direction of the alleyway from whence she'd come mere minutes before.

Chun-Li has posed:
The guys in the alleyway didn't really see Raven 'come in' to the alleyway but they were caught off guard by her leaving it. Bash smacked Slice in the head and grumbled, "You let a girl like that walk past us?" He asked in an upset tone.

"Hey, she didn't walk by me, I swears it!" Slice calls out before bash just grumbles and shakes his head.

"Whatever, keep a better eye out!" Bash states and then moves to the end of the alleyway, looking around. When Raven starts coming back, he steps out with a smirk and leans against the wall, "Hey there, sweety. You lost? Cause you in Bash and Slice's territory and that means you gotta pay up."

"Yeah, pay up." Slice chuckles even as he slides up to a spot opposite Bash and grins, "You get it? You ain't gettin' through here without payin'."

"I think she gets it, Slice. Let me do the talkin'." Bash nods his head and then looks back to Raven, "Listen. Just give us your cash and you get to walk away. No muss, no fuss. Got it?"

Meanwhile, coming from the direction of the nearby dojo, Chun-Li has a bit of a bounce in her step, smiling as she walks and loving that most recent excercise she had. She always felt great after a bit of excercise. Of course, then she spots that girl...uh. The meditating one right? Raven. That's right. And...some punks. Chun-Li sighs.

"Hey!" She calls out and starts jogging across the street, "Raven?" She smiles and keeps a wary eye on the two punks who suddenly look annoyed but not threatened. What is one more little girl, after all?

Raven has posed:
    Raven stops on a dime, pausing in her stride with this... Unimpressed look on her face. She is silent for a few moments, then- sort of staring on in disbelief at the thugs that had accosted her so. Slowly, one brow raised. She looked, then, between the pair from the alleyway, as if this ruse, this farce, was going to end soon and be some sort of Halloween prank.

    "What." she responded, shaking her head for a moment. "Are you guys... New?"

    Then, Chun-Li approaches. Raven, by this point, is now actively bothered. Her day of solemn consumption of some olden text is... Altogether ruined. These two punks were one thing. Someone she has met, that she cannot jettison from this reality at a whim without Facing Consequences, that is another. It is a problem that she can only solve with teleportation, and that is rude, she's been told.

Chun-Li has posed:
"New? What?" Bash asks and blinks at Raven before looking to the approaching Chun-Li and stating, "Hold it, there, lady." He nods his head and grins as he looks her over, "I don't know if you are out Trick or Treating or what but you are in the wrong neighborhood. We'll collect from you after we are done with her."

"Yeah, after we're done." Slice nods and then nods to Bash who sighs and then looks back to Raven. He idly flips out a knife, a practiced motion and grins at her.

"I don't know much about who you think is new but I think you should listen. You got m-" And then he is cut off as a flash of blue goes by his face. He looks confused for a moment. Like confused and his jaw don't feel right.

"Huh..." He seems to be trying to say something but his jaw kinda just moves wrong and blood starts dripping down his nose.

"Hey, Bash...something wrong? You're bleeding man." Slice looks to Raven and then at Chun-Li who is standing there frowning.

"You." She points at Slice, "Help your friend walk away." She then idly flips a knife in her hand. Bash's knife, "I'm keeping this."

Bash looks over at the knife, "He...hey...that...is..." And he stumbles back into Slice who catches him.

"Bash!" Slice calls out and stumbles under Bash's sudden weight. He then looks to Chun-Li, the knife and then bash before saying, "Hey! This...this ain't over lady!" He then starts dragging Bash away who looks, decidedly drunk. That kick from Chun-Li was fast, brutal and luckily...pulled quite a bit.

Chun-Li slides the knife away and looks to Raven, "You ok?" She offers that winning smile. Literaly, the same smile she gives when she wins.

Raven has posed:
    Raven overall looks nonplussed. Her 'savior' is quicker on the draw, in this instance, than Raven is. The thug drawing the knife doesn't necessarily leave Raven quaking in her boots of course... She mostly just looks down at the knife and then up at the good ol' street tough. "Are you serious? A knife? Wait, you're calling yourselves Bash and Slice? So one of you has like a bat, and the other has a knife, and that's somehow going to earn you a mugging income in a city where people literally throw buildings at their enemies relatively often?"

    It is at this point that Chun-Li does her thing. Raven doesn't necessarily 'catch' it. She can't see it, but she is aware from whence it came. Idly, Raven stares unblinkingly at the still-standing Slice. Had she a cup of coffee, she would have sipped from it. The two of them back away with a significant lack of bluster, and it is likely that Slice is not necessarily paying enough attention to notice that he is no longer in an alleyway, but rather backing into the shape of a great black bird, that suddenly becomes a Police Station not too far away from the ally that he'd been in before.

    "I'm fine. Thanks. Lucky you came along."

Chun-Li has posed:
She blinks a few times. Chun-Li got that same feeling she had from Raven before only to turn her gaze back around and just notice a strange ripple in reality. She didn't really see the two guys vanish at all, only note that they are gone. She could have...sworn. Either way she turns back to Raven with a grin, "Good to hear. You seemed to handle yourself quite well." She chuckles, "I am betting you are more talented than meets the eye."

She nods her head with a shrugs and then states, "A surprise to see you here, though. I wasn't at all sure I'd see you again at all. I assume you found a quieter spot to meditate?"

Raven has posed:
    Raven's hands never really left the pockets of her hoodie. That never -really- matters. She has this sort of eerie presence, of course, and now that someone more friendly than the other two is speaking to her, Raven has little to offer, for the moment. Usually, Raven is irresistably snarky. As well, the last comment from Chun causes her to momentarily reminisce that following her quiet meditation that this other woman didn't really disturb, Raven went back to the tower to find out that a green man and half of a robot had joined forces to shake the tower apart with something known as a 'Laser Bass.'

    "No. No I did not." she responds, after a moment of internalizing her own anger. "I did not need to, and depending on the news reports you've seen, I am exactly as skilled as I appear. It all depends on to whom I am appearing. The ignorant will often find that things are more than meets their eye."

Chun-Li has posed:
"Well, now I feel like I saved those two from you." She winks and her smile widens to include teeth. She then shifts her hip slightly, placing a hand upon it before tilting her head, "Well, you are welcome to come out and meditate back out there if you don't mind me occasionally coming out to do my excercises." She nods her haed, "I will do my best not to be a bother."

She then considers Raven a moment, stepping back before looking up to Raven, "Do you often wear the same thing? I recall what you were wearing when meditating." She nods her head, "It's a good look for you though, if I'm not being too forward, I didn't mind you without the hoody."

Raven has posed:
    "Yes. As I said, it was lucky you arrived when you did. I did not say it was lucky for me." There is, following that, a silence. Raven is not necessarily trying to perpetuate the conversation. However, as is her usual, she is... Not at all lucky enough that her conversation -partner- is okay to just... Stop talking.

    "I... Often wear similar clothes. They are... Useful." she notes, though almost purposefully the second comment goes without any real comment. "I... Wear the sweater for specific reasons. It is comfortable, especially in the latter half of the year."

Chun-Li has posed:
A nod and she smiles, "Yeah, that's the reason most people wear them." She nods her head before shifting her eyes to the side a little and then shrugging her shoulders a bit and then she just laughs a little. She shakes her had and laughs before looking again to Raven and then nods her head, "Sorry, I am not really great at this. I feel like neither of us are." She shakes her haed, "I am often just kicking people's teeth in and then arresting them."

She then lets out a sigh, "And then paperwork." She shrugs before clasping her hands in front of her and looking back to Raven.

"I, uh, well, you are the first person I have spoken to since I moved here that I have actually somewhat enjoyed talking to." She nods her head, "You are calm and straight forward. It's oddly comforting."

Raven has posed:
    Raven is somewhat of a sensor for the... Internal feelings of others. Standing in close proximity to the other woman, she catalogs- idly- the things that Chun-Li is feeling. It makes her pensive, as she considers whether to stoke certain flames to her own ends- such as making the other woman abandon the conversation- or not to do so. It's a temporary temptation, one that she ignores after a moment's hesitation.

    "I typically prefer not to speak very much. I like the silence, and breaking it seems often like a tragedy, especially when I am not even sure what I am saying is worth saying." Then, she pauses, somewhat. There is a somewhat... inquisitive look. One brow raises again, as it had before. "If there is something you are trying to say, now is the time. This should probably go wherever it's going to go."

Chun-Li has posed:
A chuckle escapes her and she shakes her head, "First, I have not known you very long but you don't strike me as someone who says anything that isn't worth saying and Second..." SHe pauses a moment and tilts her head, "Are you asking me to get to the point?" She smirks and chuckles, "I almost wonder if you are asking me to ask you out or something." She either read that wrong or right, but she's taking the chance either way, "Well, alright then." She nods her head.

She smiles that bright but not too bright smile and stands up straight, "Raven, would you like to go out with me? I know of a perfect little place we could go have coffee. It's quite and out of the way." She nods her head and then seems to calmly away the response. Strangely, while there is some tension and nervousness, it is overshadowed by a strange confidence that carries practically no arrogance. She just is sure of herself.

Raven has posed:
    Raven watches this conversation shift quietly in a direction that instantly makes her uncomfortable. She is... To no small degree on-edge, and she tries to dissuade the other woman along the way with... Little success. "Uh- No, that's-" she offers, altogether buckling under the weight of Chun-Li's assumptions.

    "Listen, I probably shouldn't-" She offers this... Disappointed sigh, then, finally pulling her free hand out of her pocket. For a moment, she's pinching at the bridge of her nose. The confidence isn't necessarily endearing, but it makes it harder for Raven to be comfortable letting her down. "Yeah. I think that'd be... Great. I agree. We should go, sometime. I live in the giant T out in the bay near where we met the first time. You can look up the number and just... Let me know when, with plenty of advance notice."

    Clearly, Raven worries that Chun Li is now going to show up with a bouquet or ten, unannounced.

Chun-Li has posed:
A blink and that confidence cracks only briefly. She wonders if she read this wrong or not. She gets the affirmative answer though. Even if it got there oddly. She widens her smile and nods, "I'll do that." She nods her haed, "I look forward to it, Raven. I know you probably want to finish getting home though. I have taken up enough of your time." She nods before looking in the direction of the T-Building briefly before looking back.

"Until then?" She asks and then shrugs and then takes in a quick breath before letting out with a slow hmm and nods her head before turning to walk away, "It was good seeing you again, Raven."

Raven has posed:
    "Right." she stated, allowing the other woman to... Calm down and, to some degree, vent. The exhalation, of course, is the sign that Raven sees Chun Li had more invested in this emotionally than she was letting on- something that Raven already knew. She nods herself, and allows the other woman to get her bearings. Raven, for her part, begins to depart.

    "Until then." she offers, in this somewhat languid tone, making her way into the alley. If Chun watches her go, Raven walks into the alleyway, and then steps into some convenient wall that was, at this point, uncharacteristically pitch black for this time of the day.

    Needless to say, she is simply gone, after that- and there is no real doorway where she had been before.