NWF #2 Rainy Days and Mondays...

(I know it's technically not friday yet, but I am waking up early to clean the chicken coop then go to the beach, so I doubt I will be able to actually sit down and write anything tomorrow)

1. July 23rd, 2140. Grey City

It was nearing sundown in Grey City, the rain was pouring, louder then normal it seemed for this time of year, and people were scurrying to get to their respective houses before it got too dark, or too wet outside. Through the crowds of people looking as grey as the city's namesake there was a strange figure that gave off a violet glow, maybe it was her coat, or her umbrella, both colored a bright violet that made her stick out of the sea of grey that was the people of the city. A small girl tried to get close to tell her how pretty her coat was, but her Mother grabbed the child and fiercely apologized to the figure in violet. She bowed her head and out of the coat came a skeletal hand that gave a reassuring gesture for the woman to stand tall, the Mother was about to speak another apology when the hand gave a quieting gesture, then took a violet stone out of her coat and gave it to the Young Girl. "Thank you Ma'am" she said and the figure told her "This will be our little secret, so let's just keep it between us, ok?" "Yes Ma'am" the little girl replied.
"What's your name sweetheart?"
"Misha"
"Well Misha, I need you to keep that stone safe for me ok?"
"Just leave it to me!" She said excitedly
"Good" and with that the Muerta in Violet disappeared into the rain and the crowd.
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The rain was pouring outside, and for most this meant they would be safe and warm inside their houses, apartments, flats, rooms and what have you. But unfortunately for one Mr. James Rojo this was not the case. as he lay in his room, if one could call it that, and slept in his bed, the only thing he really sprang for, everything else was either second hand, third hand, or found in some dumpster on the side of the road, the rain was drip dropping onto his face. There was a small leak in his roof, well make that many small leaks in his roof. He lived in a boarding house on Union St in Grey City, his room was the attic. It was also his office, where he took cases, he was a Private Investigator, at least aspiring, 2 years and running. Grey city was a place for those people who aspire to things, whether it be artists, musicians, actors, writers, salesmen, crooks, kinappers, Zombi, Zombi artists, and anything else that anyone with aspirations could think of aspiring to. The biggest aspiration in this city for most was to get out, to find a way to make enough to live in another city, now most of the Humans and Zombi living there were not delusional, no one thought of getting out and moving to a place like Violet City, or Gold Estates. No, they just wanted something nicer, Red Town, they all heard, was nice this time of year, this was said about Red Town anytime of year. So and so had a cousin from Blue Stone, they always had fresh bread, and the fields of Gre-En were always full of fruit. But to live in any of these places one had to have money, or be born into money. Grey City was one of the largest cities this side of the L Gate, it was full of people trying to make a living, honest or otherwise, so that they could get out and live somewhere where police weren't needed, or P.I.'s James Rojo presumed, but then he could find something else to do, he was always good at that. in fact he used to make a living between the Gates of L&C, in Section S.


The two Gates were formed in the year 2099, the year the governments of the world united under one banner. What was the United states was now part of the North-West District, of the four Districts, which were divided by Hemispheres, the government and the Hex decided to build large imposing borders around each old country in order to control commerce and populations, only a certain amount of people were allowed through the borders each day. Some of the larger countries had Border Gates put up between them, the United States was one of them. That is when things started a turn for the worse in some people's opinion. James wasn't sure what he thought about the Gates, he didn't live in a pre-Gates America, well that was what it was referred to, pre-Gates the country was America, post-Gates the country was divided into three sections by the Gates, West was L, east was C and the Middle was S. No one was sure what it meant, but according to lawmakers it had to do with two men whose names began with an L and a C, no one was sure who S was.  James lived in North-West District, Section S for 15 years of his life, it's where he was born, though he wouldn't dare tell anyone in Grey City where he was born, and at the age of 15 he ran away from home to try and make his way through life.

Since then he had held any odd job that would get him paid, or get him food. Finally he made his way into Grey City where a man had offered him a job as his assistant, a P.I. named Daniel Rochester, he made his way up to the very attic room he found himself sleeping in, only to find Mr. Rochester dead, a murder, only a note left saying "You're Hired." What a great first day James thought. He got rid of the body and before he had time to rest a woman came to the office looking for help, and he'd been helping people ever since. He was pretty good at this P.I. stuff, mostly missing people, or missing Zombi, or missing Zombi Parts, he always liked to give those cases names "The Case of the Missing Hamstring" "The Case of the Cat That's Got His Tongue" "Mr. Rojo Saves A Left Eye" Yeah they were cheesy, but it made him laugh, so why not? He met most of the people in his building, and his neighborhood. And they all greeted him with "Hello"s or "Go to hell"s which he didn't mind too much, because he knew all their dirty little secrets, the affairs, the poisoned birds, the stolen pies, even the buried rug. But all of these cases could have in no way prepared him for the one that was finding it's way up to his attic room, he was pretty small time, nothing larger then that buried rug, and there wasn't anything particularly interesting about that damned rug, just some old food stains and some body fluids that glow under blacklight.

There was a knock on his door, "Mr. Rojo" a deep voice said. He didn't stir, he did brush the water off his face, but a simple loud knock and a call wasn't enough to get him up these days, not in this part of Grey City. "Mr. Rojo? Mr. James Rojo?" The knocking and the voice got louder, James began to toss and turn as if there were fighting cat's outside his window, god he hated fighting cats outside his window. "Mr. Rojo, I know you're in there, I'm coming in, in three, two" BAM! The door flew open and crashed against the floor, James sprang to life and looked across the room at the large man who just busted down his door. He didn't quite get a good look at him at first, he waited in the hallway, but he looked about 6'5" broad shouldered, Human, he thought. Who the hell is this guy?