<div align="center"><strong>-=Vincent Kincaid – Taking care of the shopping list – Persephone=-</strong></div><br/>Vincent basked in Mae’s presence as she leaned closer against him as the two walked together.  He absolutely loved the feeling of her clinging onto him and strongly hoped that it would be a common occurrence after today.<em>”Oh that’s right, you are a local boy, rich in the knowledge of all the secrets Persephone holds.”</em>A grin spread across his lips as she engaged him in the familiar exchange of playful banter.<em>”Are you a favorite son?  Will they throw a parade upon your return?”</em>A small voice in the back of Vincent’s mind responded to those questions for him.<em>Not too far off the mark, but God help me if there is anything remotely resembling an announced welcome.  The Wah Ching would be eternally grateful to you for making things so easy for them.</em>Ever since he stepped foot on the Eavesdown Docks, he had made sure to stay alert and do everything he could to stay below the radar.<em>”I’ll just place our mission safely in your hands, shall I?”</em><br/><br/>A chuckle reverberated in his throat.  “Of course not.  It wouldn’t be fair if I had all the fun, would it?”<br/><br/>He compensated his balance to keep from staggering as Mae began tugging on his arm enticing another laugh as she continued.<em>”What part shall I play?  Ooo, do I get to play dress-up?  I like role play!”</em>Vincent filed that bit of information away in his mind under the ‘Oh Dear God, YES!’ category.<em>”Do we get to play bad cop, good cop?  Oh, I know, I’ll stun him by flashing them with my goods, and then you can grab the merchandise!”</em>That visual played itself a few times in Vincent’s head and knew precisely how that would play out, causing a wolfish grin to play on his face.  “That is a good idea, but there is one key flaw to that plan.  It’ll be impossible for me to remain out of the crossfire and one of two things would happen as a result.  One: I would be stunned with the rest of them, and will be too busy drooling from the tease to make my getaway.  Or two:  I will be unable to resist my resulting primal desire and be forced to take you right there, on the spot despite the audience and the transaction.  Certainly not something I’d be at all opposed to, but it wouldn’t exactly be helpful to the mission.”<br/><br/>As Mae stepped ahead of him, back stepping as they moved so she could meet his gaze, Vincent’s expression became inquisitive.<em>”We should make out…”</em>His eyes went wide with surprise at those words that caused his mind to reel for a moment as he tried to figure out if he had heard her correctly.  An instant before he could pull her towards him and into the type of passionate kiss he had dreamed about for so long, she finished her line of thought.<em>”with the extra cash, if there is any to make, and trip the lights fantastic!”</em>The second turn of his thought within a heartbeat once again threw off Vincent’s thinking for a moment as he tried to find his mental bearings, but Mae prevented his stride from slowing by pulling him forward.<em>”Come on Vinnie, shake a leg.  The faster we get our hands on the meds and supplies the faster we can…”</em>He had not missed that suggestive glint in her eyes and his heart raced with anticipation as he recognized the possibilities it contained.<em>”Get on with the real fun!”</em>That was all the motivation he needed and Vincent’s pace hastened with determination to milk every second of their free day to devote to time alone with Mae.<br/><br/>Along the way to the general store, Vincent stopped by a payphone and placed a call to one of his contacts.  He was thankful that the number had still been active and after a few terse exchanges, he had established a deal without giving any sort of information that would indicate who, when, where, or what to anybody who was not privy to the business or to the relationship of the two involved.  After shooting a sly wink back at Mae, the two went about gathering the mundane supplies for the galley.  With everything on the front of the shopping list checked off and his backpack stuffed with some personal provisions he purchased from his own pocket.  The general store was wise enough to expand their store to accommodate their customers, a large portion of which were the space-faring vessels.  Considering the bulk orders for such long trips into the Black, they could hardly expect crew members to file in and out of their store like army ants in order to supply months worth of food.  As such, they had the equipment necessary to transport bulk orders directly to the ship.  At a nominal fee of course.  After leaving the store he lead her back towards the Eavesdown Docks where he arranged the rendezvous.  Vincent trusted his contact entirely, but that did not mean that a lucky third party wouldn’t stumble upon the deal.  Even with the remote chance of things going awry, he wanted to make sure he had a fallback point nearby just to be safe.<br/><br/>Instead of heading towards the docking zones, Vincent veered towards the long warehouses arranged in a grid of roadways and alleys.  The front of the buildings were bustling with activity as dockworkers set about their tasks, but the alleys backing the structures were largely uninhabited save for the occasional worker taking a shortcut.  The space was just barely wide enough for a car to drive down with only minimal concern about ruining their paintjob, but the height of the buildings still managed to prevent direct daylight from reaching the ground.  That wasn’t a major issue since the indirect light was more than enough to save off any uneasy feelings about the location, severely limiting the number of ominously darkened crannies.  They had been approaching one such nook when a silhouette greeted them, his presence easy enough to locate once looking for it as well as the second next to it.  Vincent had known where to look the entire time, having done this dance a fair number of times before.<br/><br/><em>”It’s awfully reckless of you returning to Persephone given your situation…”</em>The smooth baritone voice said, a mix of disapproval, foreboding, and amusement in his tone.<em>”Of course, you were never really known for your common sense.  Especially when there was a cute girl involved.”</em>Vincent scoffed at the silhouettes unimpressed, the two groups stood within thirty paces from one another.  “Always with the melodrama.”  He then looked aside to Mae with a familiar playful grin in a voice that the two could easily hear.  “I swear, you see a few old Earth-That-Was gangster flicks and suddenly every deal becomes a performance requiring suits and fedoras.”  With a sigh, the two stepped into the light.  The first, the man who spoke, carried himself with all the confidence of a successful entrepreneur.  His slicked back dark hair and a neatly groomed goatee only served to accentuate the tailored suit that adorned his frame.  The man behind him was a few inches shorter and had a more youthful appearance to him that was reflected by his fashionably shaggy dark hair, business casual attire, and roguish grin that hinted to closely reigned glee.  The only thing that had detracted from his boyish appearance was the SMG held against his torso by a sling over his shoulder.  The man in the suit stopped just shy of arms reach before speaking again.<em>”Hide behind your jokes all you want, Vincent, but you know it isn’t safe here.”</em><br/><br/>Vincent stepped forward entirely casual and indifferent to the presence of the gun until he was less than a stride away from the man with the slicked hair.  He did not like the direction the conversation was taking; its context was quickly stepping away from vague insinuation to revealing details he had intended to remain in the dark about his history with the family business.  It would have been all well and good had Mae not been within easy earshot and he didn’t want to put a damper on their day off together.  “Between the firearm and that ominous diatribe, one would get the impression that you were making a threat.”  The man shrugged indifferently,<em>”Simply letting you know where you stand.”</em>The gunman didn’t so much as flinch when Vincent rushed in and wrapped his hands around the dealer, even as he groaned in annoyance from the hug.<br/><br/>"Despite the lackluster welcome, I missed you guys."  Vincent released the man then turned to face Mae for proper introductions.  "Mae, I'd like you to meet my older brother Tony," he said while moving to the gunman to drape his arm over his shoulders, "and my youngest brother Jacob.  Though his choice in accessories is new to me."  Jacob let out a chuckle at that remark and returned the partial brotherly embrace,<em>"You know how Tony gets when on the job."</em>