spin_kick_snap | Club Risqué, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Thursday Night

That morning, under the guise of calling her family to wish them a Happy Lunar New Year, Kathy had asked her sister, Sarah, about all-ages clubs in LA. After Sarah had spent ten minutes explaining that no one over the age of fifteen went to an all-ages club gawd, sis, seriously? Kathy'd asked if she knew about any dance clubs that weren't too keen on looking at IDs. Sarah had been so excited at the idea of her nerdy big sister wanting to go clubbing that she hadn't even questioned why Kathy was looking into places on the other side of the country from where she went to school.

Fortunately for Kathy, Sarah knew just the place. Situated in Hollywood, just a few blocks away from Paramount Pictures, was Club Risqué. It was technically meant to be 21-and-over, but the bouncers were well-known for ignoring IDs in favor of Grants. Or, better yet, Benjamins. While the age limit wasn't enforced, the dress code definitely was: dress to impress only, losers need not apply. There were rumors of the owners being a little shady, but even if that were true, there were no ties with the South Seventeens.

That was good enough for Kathy. After getting back from Selkie Peak with Edward and taking a long shower (a warm one this time!), she made a few more calls to let everyone know that they were good to go tonight.

***

Coming to LA had been the perfect choice, Kathy decided. Rather than freezing on the walk from their portal to the club and the following wait in line, they got to enjoy temperatures in the mid-50s. Maybe it was appreciation for the lack of shivering, but one of the bouncers noticed them right off and gestured them forward. They even got a break on their entrance fee; for an extra $200 he waved them all inside without even mentioning the need for identification. Once the heavily soundproofed doors were open, they could hear the loud hip-hop/dance-pop playing over the club's speakers. Even without that, the heavy beat was palpable, the floor almost vibrating with it.

A huge bar took up one section of the club, and across from it was the DJ's island. Along the walls were plenty of tables and padded booths for people to sit in, if they wanted to--or more than sit, as they could see when the brightly-colored lights would flash over them, illuminating couples making out like LA had been filled with pollen, too. More bouncers held positions inside the club, scattered in little pockets of isolation, keeping careful watch over the club-goers, occasionally touching their ears to hear information relayed through their headsets. Several doors dotted the walls, leading to the coat-check, a back room area in the bar, bathrooms, and a VIP area, where small 'champagne rooms' could be rented for the hour, or enjoyed by high-profile guests and friends of the owners. The rest of the space was dominated by the dance floor, filled with writhing bodies, while bubbles and even foam occasionally rained down to roars of approval.

"This is it!" Kathy yelled, trying to be heard above the din. So long as they stood close and shouted, they could carry on a conversation. "We ready to dance?"

[For the LA clubbers, please, and NFB! Up early for timezones and great SP]

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From:

spin_kick_snap

For he with the terrible taste in dudes...

From:

myownface

So, that guy that Sparkle had been making eyes at all night? Apparently he'd been making eyes right back, and when the bartender set a drink down in front of him and gestured over to the one who had bought it for him, Sparkle excused himself from keeping company with the throng of ladies he'd come in with, and went over to introduce himself. The guy said his name was Iván, Sparkle said his name was Mikhail, neither believed the other one in the least, but that was fine. They weren't here to make lasting friendships or anything like that.

Sparkle didn't notice Iván checking his wristwatch thoughtfully before he explained that he knew a quiet place he could go, but that wouldn't have made any difference, really. The guy had him the moment he showed interest. How could Sparkle argue with that? Or the way they were getting handsy already as they made their way across the dance floor? They went through a door leading into the champagne room, with only the dull thud of the bass spilling in around them, and Sparkle's belt was already open and his shirt was on the floor by the time somebody behind them cleared their throat.

Iván stopped tugging at Sparkle's clothes and looked up. Sparkle stopped tugging at Iván's clothes and looked up. Iván started yelling something in Spanish that Sparkle didn't have a hope in hell of translating. Sparkle started yelling swear words in English without even really thinking about it, and threw in a bit of Chiac French because Lewis had taught him that one and it was excellent for keeping people guessing at what the fuck was coming out of his mouth.

The men who were sitting at the table with a full spread of guns that could not possibly be legal and an open briefcase full of money reached for their own, loaded guns, one of them barking something to Iván about how the buyer was late and they knew they were supposed to be out of here by now but look, they were here conducting business and they'd be done soon, okay?

Sparkle... kneed Iván in the balls. And then went tearing out of the room like somebody had set his ass on fire, because oh shit oh shit oh shitshitshit and he was never picking up a guy at a club or going into a room off the main floor of a club or going to a club again and he wasn't even going to look back as he ran for the nearest group of Fandom ladies in the building and made desperate gestures for the door.

"Time to go, ladies!"

Iván and some pretty pissed-off-looking men were making their way out of the champagne room and squinting into the crowd, looking for the half-dressed little shit who had seen too much and then went and left their boss wheezing before taking off. Now might be a good time to...

Leave? Right? They were going to leave?

From:

giveherahand

Mara glanced over (she wasn't nearly as oblivious to her surroundings as she pretended) and blinked. "Why?" she asked, hand already going to her sleeve and the vibroblade she had hidden in it.

From:

myownface

"Because our options are 'go or things get messy,'" Sparkle replied, wide-eyed and ducking low so that he wouldn't be so easy to pick out in the crowd.

He... had kind of left his shirt behind. His belt was still undone. These were not exactly his top priority, here.

"And I'm not actually a huge fan of messy? I like my brains in and I've already been shot at enough this week for like a whole lifetime."

... "Long story. Can we go?"

Edited Date: 2015-02-19 06:16 pm (UTC)

From:

giveherahand

"But I haven't finished my drink yet!"

MARA.

From:

myownface

".... OH MY GOD SERIOUSLY?"

Keep that down a few decibels, Spark.

From:

giveherahand

Don't pretend Cade wouldn't say the same thing.

"Fine, fine, keep your pants on..." She gave him a little smirk.

Hilarious, Mara.

From:

myownface

Sparkle at least expected it of Cade!

... Okay, he wasn't hugely surprised to hear it from Mara, either. He was, however, giving her a bit of a scowl and wrinkling his nose as he reached down to buckle his belt again.

"My pants are actually the last thing I'm worried about right now, oh my god."

He was going to die here tonight. He was going to stick around to warn the girls and he was going to die.

From:

giveherahand

"What'd you do?" Mara asked, looking toward the door.

From:

myownface

"I followed a hot guy into a weapons sale, I think," Sparkle muttered, crouching a little lower still. "And... then I kneed him in the nuts."

It had been a very emotional moment!

"So now they're sort of going to kill me and I'm going to leave now."

Yep. Right now. This second. Except that one of them was covering the door to make sure he didn't slip by. So, maybe not.

From:

giveherahand

"Um," Mara said, eyes widening slightly at the guy by the door now. Yeah, they were screwed. "Maybe he found weapons sales a turn on?"

From:

myownface

"No," Sparkle muttered. "I think he arranged for it to happen in the first place."

Which meant he totally had that knee to the balls coming to him. Jerk.

From:

not_a_moonie

"Wait, what is going on over here?" Alana asked when she got back from the bar. "I heard something about weapons?"

From:

giveherahand

Mara nodded, only looking about half as scared as she should. "Sparkle made a bad friend."

From:

myownface

"I'm going to die and we need to leave now," Sparkle agreed, super helpfully. And only a bit high-pitched panicky.

Okay. A lot.

"Except they're watching the doors, so mostly I'm just going to die?"

From:

beautifulsenshi.livejournal.com

Okay, Sparkle being a bit high-pitched for Sparkle caught Minako's attention from where she was dancing with her two new friends just a few feet away, and she excused herself to get a drink of water. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but it sounded rather strained and he didn't look happy.

"Why is Sparkle squeaking?" she asked as she leaned over the bar to flag down the bartender. "What about the door? It ate your shirt?"

From:

spin_kick_snap

"Sparkle's upset?" Kathy asked, coming over with a glass of soda of her own.

She was wearing an excited grin, her hairstyle ruined completely because she'd pulled it up into a messy ponytail to keep it off her neck and back. There was a sheen of sweat on her forehead; she'd been dancing almost non-stop.

"What's going on?"

From:

myownface

"I'm going to get shot in the face, probably," Sparkle replied, bunching his shoulders up and wondering if maybe he could just crawl across the floor and get trampled to death instead, and maybe that would suck less. "Like, you guys can probably slip out before the bouncers realize you were with me, I wouldn't blame you."

... He kind of hoped they did. And sort of hoped they didn't. Being in deep shit with guys with guns had that funny effect on a Sparkle.

From:

justwantedfriends

"Why would we sneak out?" Kira asked, genuinely confused. "You're not seriously expecting us to leave you behind, are you? If someone wants to shoot you, we need to stop them."

From:

spin_kick_snap

Kathy rolled her eyes at his dramatics. "Sparkle, you can't believe everything you hear on TV. Just because you're in LA doesn't mean the Bloods and the Crips and the Seventeens are lurking around every corner just waiting to shoot some skinny Canadian kid--"

She turned back to put her glass down on the bar and saw the bartender's mouth moving inaudibly, his eyes locked on Sparkle. His hand came up from under the counter, holding a small, silver gun.

"Oh shit!" she squealed and threw her glass into his face. That distracted him long enough for Kathy to duck down below his sightline and try to tug her friends down with her. "What did you do?"

From:

myownface

"I didn't do anything," Sparkle-- didn't wail, really. Wailing would be unbecoming of a kid who was clearly about to die here. "There was a guy, and then there was a table, and the table had guns and money and I'm sorry!"

... So, there was one for the calendar, Sparkle apologizing. Being so very aware of one's mortality so many times within the span of a single week apparently had that effect on him. And he wasn't on the island! If you died off the island, you died in real life!

From:

spin_kick_snap

"Okay, okay, we're not going to let anyone die tonight, especially not you," Kathy told him. "You stay down, maybe call the cops on your cell, try to find a way out. Are there windows in the bathroom? Try to get as many of the others with you, okay? I'll try to lead them off you."

From:

kenselvren

Jalian saw the others gathering and made her way over to them. "Trouble?"

From:

justwantedfriends

"A little trouble," Kira said, understating things for Sparkle's benefit. "But nothing we can't fix, I think?"

From:

beautifulsenshi.livejournal.com

Minako looked at everyone, and made a tactical decision. As far as she knew, they only had two other people here with powers or training, and Sparkle needed to get out of there.

It was time to protect the princess. Kinda.

"We can so fix this," she said, all business. "Jalian, Banzai, if we make a big enough distraction, can you get him safely outside and away? We can rendezvous elsewhere later."

...Minako, Kathy never told you her codename.

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Confessions of an Ex-Hero

Club Risqué, Hollywood, Los Angeles, Thursday Night

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