The woman sat at the bar, scrolling through a list of numbers that wouldn't go anywhere. She hadn't payed the bill since sometime last year. It was sort of hard to given she had been in Africa following leads over a guy she never actually got her hands on. Not for lack of trying, it was just he was a lot more powerful and untouchable than the vampire had imagined around this time last year.This thread is completely open.
To back things up, this time last year, Mari had met a crew of strangers-literally, in hopes of taking one of their boats all the way to Africa. Only, one of their party members hadn't shown up and the idea of taking a boat to Africa-a boat like Rudy's was virtually impossible for so many reasons. Not wanting to wait around for everyone to get their **** together, Mari decided she was going to take a plane to her destination and buy the things she needed there. All she packed was a small bag of clothing, along with essentials for travel, and a large sum of cash. And since most of Africa was hard pressed for money, it seemed to make the world go round and round.
At first.
Mari had little issues getting guns and smaller items like hand grenades from less than reputable people. She told herself at first that it was a necessary evil to take care of one of the biggest evils in her life ever. And probably of thousands of other's lives. But, after hearing a few rumors and scenarios about this guy, or that army, Marjani started to doubt her claim of 'doing the world a favor.' And not only that, but she was running out of cash quicker than she was making it, because it seemed in some parts of Africa, no one made anything unless you took it by force or other means.
Eventually, all her leads on the warlord panned out into nothing, except this one time when Mari caught sight of the ******, who lived a life as a coward, surrounded by military he handcrafted throughout the last two and a half decades. She was certain she could kill a handful of his men, but there would be another handful, and another, and another after that. Mari wasn't that fierce of a warrior, not like her Nishaa.
She had written Nishaa a letter every day at first, and then a couple times a week. Then, once a week, until it became once a month. Not because she didn't miss the woman, or loved her any less, but because finding a way to mail the letters successfully was an issue. And she didn't want any of her mail to get into the hands of the wrong person, which seemed to be a thing. Either mail was never mailed, or some warlord was stealing it by various means to read to see what people might be planning, or saying about them. Most of Africa was corrupt, which meant the deck of cards had always been in the man's favor.
Mari put her less than half smoked cigarette out in the decorative, but cheap ashtray on the bar, then looked at the drink she hadn't touched for obvious reasons. Mari tossed the phone down on the bar counter, then balled her right fist tightly, before she slammed it down on the phone's screen. It had been a year, things had changed. It would be naive to believe that they didn't, or wouldn't. She didn't love Nishaa any less than the day she left for Africa, but she couldn't and wouldn't expect the woman to feel the same. Or those that had been part of both of their lives.
"Thanks." Mari said as she pulled out a small wad of cash-what she had left over, and tossed two bills on the counter. "Know where I can get a cheap room?" She asked the woman behind the bar, as Mari put the money back in her dark green pants pocket. "Not around here. Might want to try around the Newborough area, or coastside." The woman suggested with a smile as she grabbed the untouched drink and dumped it down the sink. "Thanks, baby." Mari said with a smile, nothing really more meant to her words than that of an appreciative person who just received a good tip. With one last glance around the bar, Mari headed out of the bar and in the direction of the first area mentioned.
