you got a way with words, you got away with murder

[heavyhitter]

Who: Ramir and you!
What: Shenanigans with a wanna-be villain, anyone?
Where: Anywhere through LA.
When: any time last month to next month man anything goes
Warnings: probably not!

i:

There's an art to this. You can't look like you're worried about being caught, that just ruins everything. You gotta play it cool. And not just cool, you gotta play it like you've barely even noticed anyone else on the street with you.

And you have to pick your target carefully, too.

Tourists are the best, the ones that haven't caught on yet. Tourists with a backpack hanging obliviously off a shoulder are the very best, but the square of a wallet in a back pocket is doable too. And if you get a golden opportunity with what's probably a local, well, you can't just pass it up.

Ramir has made her choice, and started an ambling walk closer in, hands pocketed. Maybe it's you she's drawing stealthily closer to, or maybe she's being a little less subtle than she'd hoped and is just working in sight of you — either way, she's aiming to be one wallet richer very shortly.

ii:

Okay, now she's got it, and it's genius. Genius, and surprisingly legal. Sort of.

She'd found a box somewhere, a crate, and set it up like a table. It had taken some doing, convincing people to arm wrestle for money. It's not much! Just a $10 entry fee, and if you win, $100 pay out. (Not that she'd had $100 when she started.) But eventually she'd gotten a crowd around her, which is the doing of her spirit of showmanship, and she's been able to keep her strength down to just above the person she's arm wrestling. Give them a show, make it seem real. Like maybe her opponent actually had a chance.

She's earned about $260 so far, and the day is still young. This? This is fun. She should've thought of this way sooner.

"Hey, come on! Check it out, I got an easy $100 for you!" comes her sing-songy tagline, directed at whoever may be headed down the street in her general direction, and her little crowd of amused onlookers provides the perfect backup.

iii:

Legality is fun, and she likes that she's pocketed a neat little $500 or so today, but Ramir never stays amused with any one thing for too long. Which is why she can be found strolling down an evening street now, eying the cars parked along the side. LA never really goes quiet, but evening gives a little cover. A little room to work with.

She won't keep the car, probably. She'll just take it for a little spin, see what it can do, maybe catcall any attractive people she sees... but she'll put it back where she got it.

Probably.

Her hand slides down the hood of a fancy red one as she passes it, and she eyes it speculatively. Yeah. Maybe this one.

iv:

Once in a while, in a great while, Ramir can be found doing something neither illegal nor shady. Sometimes she can be found doing something, like, say... relaxing on a park bench! Oh, the excitement. She sits with both legs folded under her and arms laid out along the back, looking pretty comfortable as she enjoys the breeze that's starting to pick up.

It's just an interlude, she'll be at something shifty again pretty soon... but for now, a quick break.

Comments

[cackling human sounds]

[heavyhitter]

Score. Ramir glances over her shoulder just once when she can confirm by the sound behind her that she's got pursuit, just to gauge this lady's speed. She's not bad. She's really good, actually, and Ramir has more crowd-smarts and familiarity with the area on her side than speed.

It just means she's got to do this smart, is all.

Having Artemis in the street helps (she's grinning hugely, whenever she shoots looks over at her), but it's not a permanent solution. Any second now she could put on a burst of speed, cut over, and that's it. So Ramir makes the next move preemptively: she cuts across a crowded square, heading for an even more crowded mall.

[hunter2_0]

Oh crap more civilians. Artemis dodges between alarmed people, head ducked low to avoid letting anyone get a good look at her face, and all but groans when she sees the mall. Of course.

But then again... Artemis has only ever found one reason to go into malls: They're full of power outlets. And electric lights. Basically, there is electricity everywhere.

If she can find a way to work with this without causing too much damage, she might be able to use this to her advantage somehow.

She keeps pushing forward. It's not much of a plan, but it's better than nothing.

[heavyhitter]

Ramir kicks in through the front doors, spins around a large family nearly lost under all their bags, and laughs as she dashes for the food court inside. These are the kinds of crowds she can get behind. It takes some creative maneuvering to thread her way through it, but she can count on people stopping and staring after her in confusion, and being even more in Artemis's way. Perfect. She risks a glance back just once, halfway to her goal (the escalators), to see how it's going back there.

[hunter2_0]

Okay. Stationary is good. Even if it's "very suddenly stationary and not getting out of the way because they're too busy gawking at the teenager bolting through the mall like she's trying to tick off a vigilante". That's still better than "milling about unpredictably".

Sort of.

That's what she keeps telling herself in an effort not to get too pissed by the time she actually catches up to Ramir.

Despite a couple near-collisions, she's managed to keep up pretty well, particularly once she starts taking advantage of any nearby empty tables or benches to get above the crowd for a moment.

She glances from Ramir to the escalators, an unplaceable shift in expression flits across her face, and she keeps running, waiting for her to actually set foot on the escalator.