Hurry Up Next Time

[Karliah Crowley]

The pros to being a meter maid for the day: nothing insane happened. The cons to being a meter maid for the day: nothing happened. 

But some way or another Karliah had gotten stuck with the duty. Maybe it was her superiors letting her take it "easy" for a little while. Their generosity was understood, but not felt. Karliah was bored out of her mind. She'd rather be stuck in the bowels of a bad neighborhood investigating than this. Ticketing some car that had been overdue for 10 minutes. How thrilling.

She probably would've let the person off  any other day, but her mood wasn't the best. Even though she saw someone approaching the car while she was writing up the ticket. "If this is your car, then you're a little too late." She remarked bluntly. She didn't even bother looking up.

[Scarlet M. Brady]

"Shit..." Scarlet started a light jog when she noticed the meter maid ticketing her car. Technically she wasn't meant to be out and about in L.A., her parents had strictly banned her from doing so because she may have refused to appear with the family. But nothing would stop her from getting her weekly meet-up with friends in the city.

She flicked a few stray hairs from her face before giving the girl a glance over "Come on, I was just running a bit late. Can't you just let me off with a warning or something? Do you really want to be writing up a fine for a kid? Have you no heart?"

[Karliah Crowley]

And there she was. Young girl wasn't she? When she started talking, Karliah's eyes had finally flicked up from her writing. It was the same old sob story. Only a few minutes late. Couldn't them just get a warning? Had she no heart?!

It was enough to make her roll her eyes.

But she lowered the tab. Hell, this was the most interesting thing to happen to her all day. She might as well milk it for what it was worth. So Karliah gave the girl a once-over. At the end of it she pursed her lips. "No, I don't have a heart. Just a black hole." She said drily, looking down and finishing the ticket. She ripped it out, but then held it while looking at the girl expectantly.

"But if you can give me a good reason that's not some cliche reason, then I'll consider forgetting about this. So I suggest you think."

[Scarlet M. Brady]

At least a Black hole would suck less. Scarlet stared at the ticket as the meter-maid ripped off the ticket and offered her a deal. Something believable but not cliched. Fuck. The only reasons which popped into her head were the most cliched reasons someone could come up with. She bit her lip thoughtfully before clicking her fingers "I'm...running late because I ran into...uhmm..." She looked back at the meter-maid and gave a small huff "A large cobweb created by a fucking massive spider that I had to answer riddles to get past. They were hard riddles so I had to think a little and lost track of the time."

She readjusted her baseball cap before nodding at the meter-maid "So...you gonna forget about that ticket or what?"

[Karliah Crowley]

When the girl was clicking her fingers trying to figure out a story, Karliah fully expected it to be some excuse she'd heard before.

Definitely not something about a giant fucking riddle spider.

Karliah stared at her for a few seconds. Then she couldn't help but snicker before laughing outright. She'd expected something even vaguely realistic, but this was priceless. Good enough to dispel her bad mood, or at least for a little while. Karliah offered the girl an amused smirk and crumpled up the ticket.

"Good enough. But I've got to ask what the hell kind of riddle a giant spider asks."

[Scarlet M. Brady]

Scarlet gave a small sigh of relief before digging her keys from her pocket. Thank god, she has some sense of humour. Now I won't be killed for a fine. She had moved past the meter maid and was unlocking her car when the question registered "A particular hard one, like I said." She swung the door open and turned back around, offering the meter-maid a smile "Thanks, by the way. You just saved me from a fortnight of being yelled at for being in LA."

[Karliah Crowley]

Clearly someone was relieved. Karliah had to grin. Her mood had definitely improved now. Enough that she waved off the thanks. "Pffft, trust me; I've done my fair share of sneaking out. Besides, I've caught kids doing a hell of a lot worse than getting a ticket when they sneak."

There was that particularly weird incident in the park with costumes, but Karliah would never speak of that again.

"Long as you aren't trying rob someplace- which," She glanced over at the building they were next to and pursed her lips. "You'd have a really bad eye for a place to rob." She scowled but then looked back over at her. "But yeah, long as you aren't robbing, killing, or other dastardly deeds, you're fine."

[Scarlet M. Brady]

Trust me, I've done far worse when sneaking out... Scarlet just nodded and smiled as the meter-maid spoke "Trust me I don't feel the compelling urge to rob this place." She thought for a moment, biting her bottom lip, before giggling "And what do you consider a dastardly deed?"

She had opened the door but was leaning the car as she spoke to the meter-maid "I mean where's the cut-off from dastardly deed to slap on the wrist? Not that I'm making a list or anything."