What Could Possibly Go Wrong? {Cole/Ashley}

[Layne Riley]

Well....this was giving her the creeps.

"Who did you say you were looking for ma'am?" Gaze snapped away from the window and she shifted to see into the front of the cab. When her eyes did meet the male drivers, she saw the fear in the reflection of the rear view mirror. (Yes, I'm keeping that this chocobo cab has a rear-view mirror) It didn't help to relieve her own discomfort about where he was taking her, that was for sure. Cab drivers were usually the most savvy when it came to bad places to be. Glancing again at the little piece of paper with a name, Layne read it off. "Ashley Beecher." Of all the times she had read and then reread the name, it still sounded like a serial killer to her. She didn't quite know why she got that vibe, but she did. The man’s reaction made her even more weary. "Oh..." "Do you know him at all?", she prodded a bit more, glancing at him as he seemed to ponder over the question a bit more. "I've...met the guy, yeah," he muttered out, his hands clasping the reins as tightly as possible, causing his knuckles to be white. Dang, the guy really did seem terrified. Was it just the creepy location?

Layne's eyes turned back to the location the chocobo was taking them through. This was definitely not the nice side of town, that much was for sure. But she had dealt with unsavory locations and unsavory characters plenty of times. It was hard to avoid when you were in her profession, as generally the good tip offs came from the rough crowd. This place just gave her the creeps though. Sighing, she turned and glanced out the window right as the man in the front seat spoke to her again. "You did tell someone where you were going...right? A husband? Boyfriend? Father?", he desperately whispered out. Layne thought he looked almost desperate for her to confirm that when she caught his eye in the rear-view mirror. "Nope! You're all I've got Jim," she mentioned with forced cheerfulness. The driver tightened his hands even more on the reins, if that was even humanly possible. "God...", he whispered, which didn't help Layne's nervousness.

She almost wished that she had told someone where she was going. Though she had told her mom she was going to the Archadian empire, Layne realized that if she got into some sort of pinch, that her middle aged parent wouldn't be able to help her. And her social life had been basically nonexistent because of her pursuit of treasure, so there weren't many men in her life to cal-...Cole. He would be able to come get her if something happened, as well as have the resources for traveling all the way across the countryside. And he would. She knew he would. Taking out her phone, Layne scrolled through her contacts until she reached his name, her finger hovering over the call button. Just one quick 'Hey how are you? Doing good? Great! Hey...if you don't hear from me in a few hours, I was probably kidnapped or killed. Can you do something if that happens? Yeah? Great! Catcha later Cole!', call, and she would be set. She was just paranoid! Layne shoved her phone back in her pocket and tapped at her leg with her fingers. This Ashley guy was probably the nicest character ever, and here she was, making him out like he was some sort of creep.

Watch...it would just be her luck that he turned out to be some mime or a clown on the side for being a chocobo cab driver. She almost groaned aloud. She hated mimes and clowns. Hated them! ...No, there was probably no chance that he was a mime or clown. Probably just some average Joe that had gambled away his money and that was why he had to be on the bad side of town. ...Yeah, that had to be it. "Miss, I don't mean to be forward...but, I mean, there's still time to turn around. We don't have to keep going..." The guy sounded as if he was near tears. This time his nervousness just made her shrug and get more confident. "I'll be fine.", she assured him. Yes, Layne had dealt with her fair share of bad guys in her life, or unsavory characters, and if worse came to worse, she had the gun on her hip for a reason, and she was an excellent shot. But she wouldn't STOP going after the treasure she was after when she was SO close to finding it! This guy might, according to the man she had been speaking to last, have the key she would need to actually find where the crest of the ancient Archadian King. That would be worth a ton, and she had been after it for months now!

But that didn't really keep her from getting edgy again when the chocobo was pulled to a stop. Getting out of the little seating spot reluctantly, Layne glanced once more at the address she had been given. Okay, so this wasn't right in front...she would have to walk down this creepy street by herself in the dusk. Great. Juuuust great. On a whim she turned around. "Hey Jim...if I pay you an extra hundred, would you stay for me? I'd hate to have to wait for another cab to come..." He agreed reluctantly, but only after she'd added another fifty to the offer. Walking down the street also gave her the jitters. An owl hooting made her jump, before she slid her handgun out of her holster and continued on. Why had her informant sent her to the creepie-...he hadn’t sent her on a false lead, had he? Maybe this Ashley Beecher didn't even exist! As she continued to walk, she almost wished it were true. She also wished that perhaps her mom could have had a nosy moment and looked in on Layne's work desk. There had been the address, this mans name, and the lead she had been told he might have. Maybe her mom could have worried and...and sent someone after her. Like the police, or...her mom remembered Cole, right? She had mentioned him to her, right? She couldn't remember, but she noticed that her mouth was dry and her eyes darted around. Still, she chided herself for being a wimp. Since when had she ever been this jumpy? Everything would be fine!

Yeah....everything would be perfectly alright...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 1273
Muse:; Amazing
Location:; Archades - Rough side of town XD
Outfit:;Click!
Tagged:; Cole and Ashley
Notes:; LOL the justice in this thread...
Listening To;: Suds in the Bucket - Sara Evans

[Ashley Beecher]

It was dusk, which meant Ashley was in an even worse mood than usual. It was at this time that he got off work and had a minute to think of all the killing he’d missed out on while driving old, wrinkled up grandma’s around the city. His face scrunched up, and his palm curled into a fist, which he instantly drove into his wall, creating another nice crack to his already shady looking house. Ashley exhaled through his nose and began to unload his car, throwing his belongings carelessly on the porch and occasionally glaring at the chocobo that always pulled his cab. His eyes narrowed, and with shaky hands, he reached for the bird’s throat. It would be so easy to just strangle the life out of this bastard, but… his hands lowered. He needed this little (or big) shit in order to do his work and make money to go on hunting trips. Again he exhaled through his large nostrils. Beecher was in a killing mood now, and the only breathing thing near him was his ‘partner’ that he was sadly stuck to for the rest of his lousy cab driving days.

Goddamn that animals, goddamn this city and its people that needed to get places. Goddamn him too for needing money and food and yadda to survive, why couldn’t he just survive off his bloodlust? Life was so unfair for people like him. The laughably short guy bent over his car to get something, and even lifted his feet off the floor a little and let them thrash back and forth a little to keep him from tumbling into the car itself. After he got his tip-jar, which was always filled to them rim because people just felt inclined to give Ashley a little more money for his effort, he got back out of his car and walked over to the porch. The chocobo made some stupid wark noise, which enraged the short man enough to throw his jar of tips at the wall in anger as he glared over to the bird. “QUIET, CHOCOBO!!!” he roared at the animal, who seemed mighty unimpressed. It probably knew Beecher couldn’t hurt it even if he wanted to. One of these days, he was gonna wipe the bird’s grin off its face by eating it for breakfast, let’s see who’s boss then, chocobo, you feathered bastard. Yes, the bird’s name was “Chocobo” because Ashley wasn’t a creative man, and because he utterly despised his chocobo, unlike some of the other guys, who gave them affectionate names. Ashley had a nice name for him, how does Christmas Dinner sound?

His eyes at this point almost bulged out of his eye sockets, the arteries in his neck were nice and thick with rage and his teeth were gritted. Why was the one creature he wanted dead the one he couldn’t touch? His eyes glanced over to the side when he heard a pair of footsteps heading his way. What in the crap were people doing near his property? It was a well known thing around these parts that one did not wander over this way while Beecher was home, it was what they told their children every single day before they all went about their day. ‘Don’t go near mister Beecher’s house baby’, who in the almighty hell had decided to break that rule and come to bother him? Ashley jumped off his porch and glared down the alley, his finger were tingling, maybe this was a good thing. After all, who would miss just one person? He did wait to see who it was that rounded the corner though, just in case some prince or whatever decided to pay him a visit. He’d have to act differently in front of a prince, after all, the sissy’s royal army needed to know exactly who had offed him so they knew whose house to come to. It would be like a dinner that threw itself on your plate. A wicked grin appeared on the man’s face as he stared straight down the alley, because that wasn’t scary or anything, standing there as though you’d been expecting them. Tonight could very well be a good night if someone died, Beecher was pleased by this turn of events.

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Words: 715
Tagged: Layne, Cole!
Location: Archades, Ashley's House
Outfit: Regular
Notes: Ashley uses so little speech, he doesn't get a special speech color.

[Coulson Pike]

What was he even doing?

Layne would be fine! She could handle herself; this he knew almost too well. Any problems she faced, she would surely shoot them in the ass...yep...yes she would.

Yet here he was sitting in the captain's seat of his buddy's airship, frowning to himself.

The ship jerked violently. His drunk buddy.

Cole had been having a pretty normal day about four hours before. He'd had some delicious eggs for breakfast. He'd been planning on doing some reading on something specific to give a group of excavators a help with a haul tomorrow. And he'd gotten as far as a rich guy's public library before receiving a call he hadn't expected. Layne's mother. Now for a second he thought he was getting some really weird booty call, but that notion had been cast away very quickly, thankfully. Nope, she'd just wanted him to come and look into something Layne was doing. Well that was new. Cole could remember her mother calling him a problem on several occasions...so he assumed she really wanted something if she was willing to call him there. So he'd gone, he'd looked into the thing that was, as he found out, worrying her about where Layne had gone.

And then things had gotten kind of weird.

He'd learned that Layne had gone off to meet some kind of informant or helper or something. An Ashley Beecher. At her mother's request, Cole had made a few calls to check up on the man...and what he'd found out was equal parts ridiculous and disturbing. He'd fought with himself. He'd told himself it was nothing, that this Beecher was just a normal, uh, informant guy who...happened to have a stinking suspicion of a few disappearances around him...yeah. But Layne always dealt with dangerous people, right? Cole should know; he did the same work she did. Yeah, she worked with dangerous people she was more than a match for, he had decided.

Yet here he was, flying out to the address indicated on Beecher's "card."

"What'n'ya say this purdy name was 'gain?"

Dear gods his breath smelled terrible. Cole's frown deepened. "When was the last time you weren't drinking, Cutler?" The other man laughed hard enough that the ship shook from his body's heaving. "I can' reme'ber! But I think it was'as Tues'y! Good thing, I fly better af'er a drink!" Well, he couldn't prove it by Cole, but he was about the best pilot he knew to get a man to a place quickly. Cole just stifled his own frown and went back to silence again, staring out the window. "You didn' tell me the name!" There was a reason for that. he didn't want Cutler getting drunk, remembering her name and deciding to spend the better part of one evening seeking Layne out. Yep, her mother would love if he ended up leading to that end. But, it had been what, months since he last did that? He was clearly reformed.

"It's not that hard of a name, Cutler. Layne." The man laughed again. More of the ship shaking. More of Cole wanting to pee himself. Flying had never been his favorite thing though he certainly didn't dislike it when it was necessary, and Cutler was part of the reason for flying's low position on his list of hobbies. "And ya want some a' her, huh?" Oh boy. Here this went. Cole sighed audibly, which Cutler apparently picked up on in spite of his intoxicated state. "Well why else would ya be goin' after her, boy-o? You said ya don' even know if she's bein' in tr- in tr- in danger?" Cole rolled his eyes a little, rubbing at his neck to buy time to think up an answer. He wasn't sure either. Yep, he'd decided she'd be just fine earlier. But he'd ended up seeking out Cutler and recruiting him for a check-up job, just to be sure. It didn't actually make much sense, now that he thought about it. She'd probably tell him he was an idiot once he got there and found out she was just fine. She'd probably be right.

"Fine, ya keep on with your starin'! We're there. Hurry up an' jump off the back...I can' land when I'm...this drunk." Cole popped his head up and glanced out the window to see what was below them. Holy crap this place looked like a dump. "This place is a shithole..." "It's the place! I know this...place well enough to know what where! Now get off, an' I'll come back when ya give me a...a..call."
Sighing again to himself, he gave his old friend a pat on the shoulder and moved to the back, putting himself by the door as he opened it. It was just a miserable looking part of town...just a coincidence. Cole glanced down at the at the paper with the address on it again. Yeah...

"A'righ', off!", Cutler called, before Cole poked his head out to make sure it wasn't too high of a drop before dropping and landing pretty softly. He glanced up to watch Cutler warble the ship a bit and manage to leave, before he actually took in a breath of the air here - which didn't smell good - and tuck the address into his shirt pocket. Yep, he'd just drop in, act as if it was a total coincidence that he was here, and then get out and get home. Right...perfect plan.

He started walking towards the right place, thinking just that. This was just for her mother! Just for Layne's mother.

Words - 1057
Muse - Beyond excellent.
Outfit - Boop
Notes - If this isn't going to be awesome, I don't know what ever will.[/size]

[Layne Riley]

imageshack.us/a/img211/6792/laynetemp.png

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As time progressed, she was getting more and more jumpy, which said a lot for her. Layne didn't consider herself someone that worried needlessly. There had really been only a few situations in life she had faced that had truly made her nervous to this point, in fact, she could count the times on her fingers. Though this wasn't, by far, the worst case of nerves she'd ever had. No, that time in that one cave had probably been the worst, when those creatures, which she still hadn't figured out what they actually were, had tried to kill her and drag her away. Well...she hadn't ever gone to that cave again, no matter what treasure was supposed to be inside. Yeah, that had been the worst case by far, but she was getting the same vibe here as she had gotten there. Which was just plain silly. She had been in plenty of tight situations before this, so she should be fine with whatever it was that she was going to face.

At the same time she wished that she had someone here with her. Even if her dating life hadn't been exactly up to par, she had plenty of friends that she could have asked to come with her...or at least she could have told them...or something. Bah! She had this by herself! Here she was just being a chicken. Yeah, that had to be it, because there was obviously nothing wrong here. Sheesh, she hadn't even seen anyone yet, so how could she say that this was going to be creepy? Aside from...how creepy the place was. But she'd been on the wrong side of towns before and hadn't ever felt out of her league. This was her life, she shouldn't be worried about a few shadows, an odd owl hooting, the fact that this informative had a serial killers name, or that this looked like the classic drug running side of town. Oh no, not at aaaaalllll.

This pep talk was not making her feel any better-

Oh God...what was that?

Layne had stopped abruptly when she saw the person standing on the porch. He couldn't have hardly been any taller than she was, though he had a lot more...weight. It didn't look like hardly any of it was fat. Why was anyone standing on their porch looking like he was? Swallowing hard, Layne stood there for a second, peeking at him from under her lashes and once more thinking she should take her cab drivers advice and just get the hell out of here. If he was still sitting there, she could turn around and make a break for it, without meat head here getting any ideas of following her. That was to say if the cab driver had remained. She doubted he had, with how terrified he had seemed just over the area. One look at this guy and he would be running in the opposite direction. Not...that she could really blame him. She wanted to be doing that exact same thing right now too.

If he just...wouldn't look quite so much like he was ready to kill her and drag her body somewhere, than she might not be so afraid. From pure reflexes Layne took a half step back, eyes flickering back and forth as if trying to plot her escape route. 'Come on...it's a harmless man! He probably snuggles teddy bears in his spare time.' That really didn't do much to comfort her, but she did decide that she was as big a chicken as possible, which was unsettling to a girl that prided herself in being courageous. With a steadying breath, she took a step toward him, and than another, her hand resting on her hip, close to her gun. If worse came to worse, she could defend herself. Right? Right! Of course she'd be able to...except he seemed to be getting thicker and thicker the closer he got. God was he big. "Hello, Ashley Beecher?", she asked as she got closer. "My name is Layne, a Mr. Jameson told me you might have a lead on the location of the Archadian King's crest of ancient times. Would you happen to know anything about that?" Layne willed her knees to stop with this whole trying to give out on her thing. Hopefully Mr. Jameson would ring a bell to him...because the man had made it sound like he knew Ashley at least somewhat. So...yeah, hopefully. She really wished she had someone else with her...really, she did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 925
Muse:; Great!
Location:; Bad side of town
Outfit:; That one I linked!
Tagged:; Ashley and Cole
Notes:; Bahahaha
Listening To;: Calling all Angels - Train

[Ashley Beecher]

Ashley couldn’t help but feel a little giddy at this change of events. One moment, he’d been alone with that son of a whore he wasn’t allowed to kill, the chocobo, and now fresh meat was merrily running into his arms. What more could a man ask for? As he stood on his porch, watching and waiting with glee for the arrival of his “guest”, he considered all the possible people that might’ve wandered over here. It could’ve been a idealistic guard with the naïve believe that he could change the scum that lived here into decent citizens, or it could be a drunken moron who had accidentally stumbled into the wrong alley on his way home. Whoever it was, they would make a fine trophy to hang over his bed. Grinning wickedly, his eyes doubled in size with excitement when the footsteps inched ever closer to the corner that lead to the Beecher property. Yes… yeees… YEEEES. …a girl. Okay, a girl, he could work with that. He’d hoped for a man, because men always put up such a nice fight whereas girls tended to just try and escape. Ashley did love a good hunt though, so all was well in his world. Still… he could’ve used a good fight before bed. Maybe next time. Rather than storming her right away, Beecher remained rooted to his porch with the same disturbing expression lingering on his admittedly rather dumb looking face. Oh ho, she was one of those travelers looking for treasure. Ashley didn’t have the slightest idea of what the treasure even was or where it was supposedly located, in fact, he was fairly certain the treasure didn’t even exist. He simply used it as a means of luring people this way, so he could “kindly” offer to drive them to the right location, which was far outside the city where no one could hear your screams. But he didn’t tell them that, obviously. In fact, he said nothing but “get in car, I will take you”, which was usually all the encouragement they needed. The first few anyways, the newest arrivals had been more cautious. He had a feeling that that sissy Jameson had something to do with it. He’d caught him dragging a red “paint” stained carpet into his house one day, and ever since then, he looked like he was terrified of him. Though his fear made Beecher a very happy man, it displeased the tiny man to see that he was warning his prey to stay away from him. He obviously knew too much. Ashley would have to deal with him one of these days. But not this day. This day belonged entirely to his new arrival, Jane.

Turning his head sharply towards his cab, he stomped his way over there and threw the door open. “Get in car,” he slurred again, his lack of intelligence clearly showing in his speech patterns, “I will take you to grave,” He grinned again, but then realized the error of his ways, “Grave of old king.” He corrected himself quickly, forcing his eyes further open to seem more sympathetic. The chocobo warked and flapped its wings a little, no doubt to warn the little lady, because that feathered jerk always aimed to ruin Ashley’s funtime. Lacking the discipline to keep his emotions in check, Beecher turned towards the bird once again and glared ,”QUIET, CHOCOBO!!!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, making another strangling motion for the bird’s neck. He turned to look at Jane once again. This was not good, she looked scared, he needed to do something to put her mind at ease, otherwise she’d never get into the cab. Dropping his hands to his side, he just stared at her for a moment, before raising his hands again and placing them on his hips. He’d been to nightclubs before, having been called by the owner to pick up some drunk teens. He knew what went on in there, and he had professionally mimicked their strategies to get people into a positive mood like the proper genius he was. He turned fully towards the woman, and started to seductively shake his hips, bringing one hand up over his head and then lowering it once again, brushing a single finger over his lip like he’d seen that one lady do. Inching the slightest bit closer, Beecher turned around and slapped his own butt before peering over his shoulder and placing a hand over his mouth in mock surprise, again, like he’d seen that lady do. Aw yeah, he had the moves. Jane would get into the car after having seen his funky fresh moves, he was certain of it. Nothing could possibly go wrong here.

----------------------------------

Words: 790
Tagged: Layne, Cole!
Location: Archades, Ashley's House
Outfit: Regular
Notes: Had to use a little more dialogue to build up to the dare.

[Coulson Pike]

The further Cole went throughout the streets of his miserable place, the faster his steps became. The looks of the place wasn't the only thing making him suddenly think that he needed to be quick in getting to the house Layne had been directed to visit, though knowing what kind of happenings when on in these sections of a town certainly contributed. No, Cole's skill for rationalizing had started to trigger as he skimmed back over what Layne's mom had said and the circumstances in his mind. Layne was going after an Archadian king's crest, right? Not everyone knew about an item like that, and especially not where to find one. It took at least something of an education and an interest for someone to know enough to have a genuine "lead" to an item of such value. Why, then, did this guy apparently live in a dump and why didn't Cole know anyone who'd dropped the name "Ashley Beecher" as a worthwhile informant? None of it added up, and though Cole was still very much determined to show up, act like he was around for no particular reason and then return to a place that didn't smell like spoiled milk, worry was starting to bother him eeeever so slightly. But, still, Layne was fine. Yep.

Blowing out a pained breath to himself as he reached the alleyway that would cross over to the good sir Beecher's house, Cole lingered there a moment, ear turned to try to listen into a voice that had suddenly managed to reach his ears, exclaiming something very loudly. It was a damn good thing it wasn't a female voice, or Cole's whole theory about getting in and getting out would go down the drain. Still, someone was mad at something, and it sounded like the something was somewhere around the house Cole was needing to head to. The little voice in the back of his head that always conversed with him before performing a job he wasn't too sure about or something similar was making sure to tell him he was going to totally waste his time if he continued on....but still, Cole started walking forward, cursing himself internally before finally saying, "You are a moron."

His steps were heavy, belying how much he was frustrated at himself and, in some strange way, for Layne too for ending up in a place like this. Regardless, they carried him as far as the back of the Beecher guy's house. Okay...so...no death machines in the back yard, Cole noticed, as he stepped past and made damn sure to take in all he could see. Some weird paintings and stuff that looked like someone had beaten them up pretty good. Cole could understand that, he wanted to beat up most paintings he saw, or the painters that had created them. Then there was some rickety-looking old furniture too that didn't look too great. Still, pretty standard fare for a crappy neighborhood like this one. Cole was just starting to think the guy was simply some guy who dumped old furniture and paintings in the back of the yard once he figured out they didn't have any sort of historical value to them. Yeah, sure, that was the case...

Cole finally approached the front of the house, and there all he could see was the exact woman he'd been looking for. Well, the back side of her (not that the back side was ever a bad thing). Cole wheeled around the corner, unperturbed, at the sight of her, trying to approach all casually from the back to try to cling to that one little shred of hope that he could still make it seem like a coincidence that he was here and simply see her off. So he stepped up behind her, giving her a light pat on the shoulder. "Now I thought you'd sworn of the opiu-"

Then Cole saw him. And he was not proud of the yelp that came from his mouth nor from the instinctive action to hide behind Layne that he made in response to the sight.

What the hell was that thing...man...thing?

Cole deftly recovered, though, and popped back up, an eyebrow raised to its highest peak as he looked at the man standing across from Layne and the very end of what said man was doing. What...was...what.... Cole looked at Layne with all of the confusion present in his mind, wondering for a second if she didn't have a freaky thing going on that he didn't know about. "Did you...did he...what's........up?"

Was he going to have to report this back to her mom? Pleeeease, gods, say no.

Words - 835
Muse - Excellent!
Notes - I figure, so we can go with the "arriving at the right second" thing, one of them can shoo Cole off? [/size]

[Layne Riley]

Layne didn’t know what to make of this man. Her contact had said that this guy knew more about what she was looking for…but…that did seem unlikely. She had thought that he would be giving her directions to someone that was intelligent or perhaps wealthy and had some sort of obsession with this crest. Still, perhaps she was wrong. What harm was there in just seeing if he knew anything? He was a big guy…but simpleminded, or…that was her first impression of him. She would be able to handle him if she had to, right? Right! Of course she’d be able to… So then…why was her mouth so dry and hands shaking lightly? Oh cuss it all! She was no weakling! Why was she acting like one? He couldn’t be hardly any taller than she was! A lot more muscled…oh shoot, here she was, doing it again. Judging him when she had just met him. She told herself to give him a chance even as her mind was screaming at her to hit the road and run screaming like a little girl as she fled from this place.

She hesitated when he told her to get in. What grave? Was he talking-…oh, the King’s grave. Something still told her not to trust this man, but she couldn’t honestly find any reason to think she was in danger. He hadn’t threatened her in any way, and aside from his…lovely location, and a name that sounded like a serial killer’s, there was really nothing that should make her think that he was going to harm her. She was probably just being completely unfair here. She was sure he was a fine, upstanding citizen…that happened to live in some creepy house on the bad side of town? Oh man…she really wished she had taken the advice of Jim and called someone to tell them where she was, or…that she hadn’t chickened out back in the chocobo cab and had actually called Cole. He could be a pain in the ass, but he would be there to help her if she needed it. Oh for heaven sake…what was wrong with her? This was all perfectly…wonderful.

The movement of the chocobo made her flinch slightly, which she was chiding herself for when he suddenly started screaming. Almost instantly her eyes widened, along with her taking a step back, staring at the man in an odd light. Oh god…what had she gotten herself into? She felt fear for one of the first times in her life. Why was she such a fraidy cat today? He probably...just...had had a bad experience with chocobos in the past or something! Yes…there was probably a wonderfully normal explana-

Oh god what was he doing now? Her jaw actually dropped open when he looked back at her and started doing…whatever the hell he was doing. Shaking her head in disbelief at the odd sort of situation that was going on right at that moment, Layne couldn’t find the words to do anything but stare. Oh god…what even was this man doing? “Ssss…” Layne couldn’t even get her dry throat to croak out the ‘stop’ that she was trying to do. What the hell…but hadn’t her contact warned her that he was a bit simple in his thinking? This was…this was…oh god.

In the midst of that, the hand on her shoulder was her undoing. With a startled half gasp, half scream, Layne whirled around, ready to attack whoever the hell had come up behind her, not registering at first who it was that had spoken to her. Obviously Cole had been as ill prepared for this odd show of-…what the hell was Cole doing here? “God Cole!”, she gasped like a fish out of water. A moment ago she had nearly been in tears over being alone, and now that he was here, she felt suspicious. “Are you after the crest too?”

For the moment she had blocked out Beecher doing…whatever it was that he had been trying to do. There was no way that she was going to let Coulson Pike see her afraid. At that moment she realized that she was clinging to his shirt and abruptly let go to clear her throat and try to get her poise back. “I’m doing business.”, she explained with as nonchalant of an expression on her face as possible. Layne was torn at that moment, between grabbing his hand and fleeing and sticking this out. She didn’t want anyone to think her some weakling! Somehow, seeing him, as always, gave her some odd burst of stubbornness, like she didn’t want to be bested by him. She supposed it was some odd rivalry or something…whatever it was, it gave her back her poise and confidence. And she…she had been searching for this crest for a long while...she couldn’t give up if this man had any idea where it would be. Besides that, she didn’t doubt that Cole had gotten wind of her research and had come to try and steal the glory away from her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Words:; 1028
Muse:; Great!
Location:; Beecher's house
Outfit:; That one!
Tagged:; Ashley, Cole
Notes:; XD Oh God...yeah...I don't know what this was
Listening To;: Losing Grip - Avril Lavigne