Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment
<h1 id="title">Elliquiy Role Playing Forums</h1>
		<h2 id="linktree">Play-By-Post: Bondage, D/s, S&amp;M =&gt; Bondage: Human Small Groups =&gt; Topic started by: Veluux on 06-06-2012, 22:03:28</h2>
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				Title: <strong>Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Veluux</strong> on <strong>06-06-2012, 22:03:28</strong>
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				<div align="center">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/451376d0f84614b5c6bf28d8d37450ef1.jpg)</div><div align="center">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/LivingRoom2.jpg)(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/699e14b15a0b38c4a59c00bf9a2ed79d.jpg)</div><br><hr><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The Crew's Apartment is located above their Garage and Autoshop in a very old downtown warehouse district. Despite the wear and tear on the building, the Crew keeps the place in great shape and has fixed all of the plumbing and electrical systems to accommodate them with the necessities. Aside from the out-door common area pictured above, all the rooms are enclosed and leak-free. There is the main common area, where the group is usually hanging out when not in the garage, as well as a living room, kitchen, two full-size bathrooms, and four bedrooms, and a den that has a couple of fold-out couches for unexpected guests.<br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The Crew has left the interior wall's very rough and bare, because like themselves - traditional roots matter - so they enjoy the classic brickwork of the original building, although it has been cleaned up nicely. Despite their love for the old-fashioned, the crew also is open to new possibilities and the furniture is an ensemble mixture of antique and modern furniture, while the whole place has been outfitted with the most up-to-date electronics and technology including: two offices with high-end server computers, wi-fi throughout all rooms and garage, flat screen TV's in almost every room, wired in sound to all common rooms that can be accessed from any trusted mobile device, as well as a digital PA and high-end security system. <br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;There is a main interior stairwell that leads down to the garage and shop area, as well as a private direct entrance with stairs going down into the back alley where there is a row of personal garages for everyone's individual ride. Everything is equipped with modern lighting, electronics, and security. There is also a locked room upstairs behind the bar-room that is used as the Crew's armory and is loaded with both high-tech and classic weaponry and plenty of useful defensive and offensive gadgetry. 
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				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Veluux</strong> on <strong>12-06-2012, 03:58:47</strong>
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				<div class="floatright">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/36827_421832359861_518524861_4822950_3819136_n.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Taras Ivan Markovski (Pronunciation: Ta-<em>rr</em>oss Ee-von Mar-Kovf-skee)<br><strong>Title:</strong> Co-Leader / The Muscle<br><strong>Location:</strong> Heading upstairs to the Loft from the Garage<br><strong>Tags:</strong> None<br><br><hr><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<div style="text-align: justify;">Metal clinked loudly and Taras tossed the three-quarter-inch wrench he had been using into one of the many tool drawers that held wrenches of similar size and brand. He reached back to grab the slightly-used red shop rag he had tucked halfway in the back pocket of his jeans. With the cleaner side, he wiped the thick beads of sweat from his forehead before trying to wipe the thick grease spots off of his rough and abused hands and knuckles. Once finished, he tossed the rag into the dirty rag bin that they shipped off to recycle every month. The tall man then carefully closed the hood of his bright orange 69' Firebird and made his way over to the oil-stained garage sink and flipped on the cold water. Before wetting his hands he pumped a few squirts of Lava pumice-soap into his palms and rubbed them together thoroughly; the movement formed a thick coat of brown-white foam as the powerful orange chemical ground the oil and grease from the pours of his hands.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; He then rinsed them off completely before splashing a little water on his face. He had lost track of time working on his classic ride - getting it ready for the big race this weekend. The older muscle cars tended to be much more temperamental then the newer import cars, probably because it had a lot of modern components under it's hood and the two didn't like each other much. Taras was a big fan of classic style, but he also saw the value of modern machining and had his old v8 re-bored to increase the power ratio. Modern headers, gaskets, and coolant systems made it possible to pump a potent mixture of air and gasoline into&nbsp; even an older engine block - if it was properly prepared. He'd probably never have had the knowledge to add the modern boost to his ride if it weren't for Nick (Nicholas Trent). <br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;While there were several other very good mechanics in the shop - including Taras himself - Nick had the sharp engineering mind. He was the one guy in the shop that had the knowledge required to calculate the dimensions and run the machinery that could alter an older engine and re-machine it for modern cams and pistons at a higher combustion ratio without weakening its integrity. Nick was a whiz and had helped Taras make the major modifications back when he was a sophmore in college. The guy had graduated since then, and had been working at the shop as an official employee for a couple years now - despite knowing a couple members of the crew for much longer than that. The shop only had a handful of workers - since the crew had to be extremely careful who they let get close to their cars. They couldn't risk a car failing on them in a race or on a 'run' (a common word they used when referring to a drug-trafficking shipment).<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The shop was mostly quiet now though. Most everyone else had already left to go home and shower before the big Bar-B-Que tonight. It was only July 4th once a year - after all... and despite the fact that the majority of the crew had mixed nationalities, they all took great pride in celebrating the holiday. America gave most of them a shot at a better life, where they normally wouldn't have had one. Taras glanced over at the clock and cursed under his breath, <strong>"Blyat'!"</strong> It was already have past two. The morning had flown by, most of the crew had been trying to finish customer work on Monday and Tuesday and were finishing up the rest this morning so that they could use the last two days of the week to work on their own rides before Saturday night's big race.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;This weekend's July 4th race was traditionally what kicked off all the other big street races that took place during the summer. There had already been some races going on here and there, but they were smaller and Taras hadn't participated in any of those - he had just been watching. As one of the veteran members of the crew, he often just observed most of the smaller races - either watching some of their younger crew members compete, or taking mental notes on other drivers that they were bound to see at the bigger events. Taras had already established his name and reputation. While his own crew had several different names they called him, the majority of the underground street racing scene new him as "T.I.". Those were his first two initials, and most called him that because they couldn't quite pronouce his first name correctly, even though it was just a simple roll of the 'r'. The Hispanic drivers called him by name, but the rest just used the initial nickname.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Probably his favorite young racer to watch from the crew was Allison. He had developed a very close relationship with the younger girl, having been there for her through a couple traumatic events in her young life. She had taken to him immediately, and he didn't mind. He thought of her almost as a baby sister, and was definitely protective over her as if she really was one - though he was rather protective of everyone in the crew to some extent. He had really been rooting for her when she got accepted into the Asian Formula 3 circuit and raced in Malaysia, but life events had pulled her away from that and now she was back here. Allison shared his instinctual style of driving - but unlike Taras, she was very technical behind the wheel and had several practiced techniques and skills that escalated her above much of the competition. Taras usually won his races on sheer fearlessness and bold, decisive maneuvers that most professional drivers wouldn't try either out of the risk involved or by the percentage of how unlikely it was to actually work. Maybe he was just lucky or something.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; The 6'4" Ukrainian national picked up the tank top he had tossed on the roof of his car and headed to the back of the garage where the stairs that led up to the loft were, his body glistening with sweat the sheen of which was slightly dampened by dirt and dust that had stuck to his skin. His upper torso was practically covered in tattoos, which he frequently seemed to be adding to every year. As he neared the strong steel door that led upstairs he quickly punched in the keycode that unlocked the thick barrier. Components inside the door clicked loudly as the door latch snapped free, and he opened it and headed inside and up the tall flight of stairs.</div><br><hr><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<div style="text-align: justify;">The cold water felt refreshing after a hard morning of work in the sweltering garage downstairs - their AC unit had gone down at the end of last week and they all had been too busy to try and take a look at it and see what needed to be fixed. It wasn't a complete sauna downstairs, but it was pretty warm. Taras had already finished showering, but he stood for a couple more minutes in the chilly water to cool down as much as possible. He was the one who was going to be manning the grill for the holiday meal, so he wanted to enjoy the cold while he could. Knowing he had to get the grill heated up and started soon though, he shut off the water and stepped out of the roughly tiled shower, grabbing a large white towel to dry himself off.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;He was in one of the upstairs bathrooms of the multi-floor loft. It was a shared bathroom between his own bedroom and one of the guest bedrooms, having a door on both ends. Christian's master bedroom was the only one that had its own private bathroom, but there were three total - which was plenty enough for even the whole crew to share on the not-so-rare nights that nearly everyone bunked over. Many of them probably would tonight, since it was the holiday and most everyone would be drinking heavily. Even those who weren't big drinkers would probably want an early start on gearing up and tweaking their rides. They only had two days left... well... three if you include Saturday - since their illegal races always took place well after midnight.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Taras headed into his room and put on a clean pair of tattered jeans and a thin white t-shirt that barely seemed to be large enough for his massive frame. He usually didn't even bother with a shirt, but he figured he should look slightly more presentable. He wasn't sure who all exactly was coming - not that he cared beyond being suspicious of outsiders. He typically shied away from large crowds, and didn't like a lot of attention - even though it sometimes looked like he did. That was one of the reasons he had decided to volunteer for cooking the meat on the grill - it was a role that required much less talking and socializing, and it also gave him some busy-work. <br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;He didn't like to sit still often. When Taras was quiet, that was usually a good thing - his outbursts usually involved equal doses of anger and violence... but that didn't mean that he didn't stay active. If you caught the man in a pensive state that usually meant he was thinking hard - and deep thoughts only produced two results, concern and admiration... or suspicion and confrontation. He wasn't a big fan of showing either extreme of emotions, but he also didn't hide his true feelings. He was rather straight-forward, which bothered some while only a few others actually appreciated it.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Taras was the first to enter the large semi-outdoor dining room (picture above, the largest picture), and he wasted no time pouring coals into the big grill on the far-side of the room opposite the office windows that looked out on the common area. He doused the coals in a generous amount of lighting fluid and then sparked a match and tossed it onto the soaked briquettes. They instantly flared up into an excessive blast of flame that nearly singed his face an arm-hairs. He just chuckled to himself lightly, a slight show of emotion he thought he could sneak out before the place began to fill up with intruding eyes - particularly Piper's. Taras got along extremely well with pretty much everyone in the crew... but Piper knew far too much for his liking. Sometimes he felt like she knew more about him than he did. If it wasn't for that fact that he purposely avoided her, they would probably butt head far more often than they already did.</div> 
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				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lithium</strong> on <strong>12-06-2012, 18:37:47</strong>
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				<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/eDJMl.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Allison Saurer<br><strong>Title:</strong> Mechanic / The Final Touch<br><strong>Locations:</strong> Garage &gt; Loft Second Floor &gt; Dining Room<br><br><hr><br>Standing below her baby blue Porsche which laid on top of the raised alignment lift, Allison struggled to adjust her front toe-in to the specifications that she'd decided on for Saturday's race, her usual city course setup which she'd already meticulously calculated and adjusted down to the hundredth of a degree. She normally wore a pair of sweatpants and a long sleeved shirt while working in the garage to avoid getting her skin dirty as much as possible, but with the air conditioning system being down, she'd opted for a thin black tank top instead. As usual, Ally had a bit of trouble with the physical aspect of it, struggling valiantly against one of the tie rod jam nuts with her pair of wrenches until it finally came loose as she groaned from the exertion. She usually enjoyed tinkering with her car despite the occasional difficulties that her slender frame presented her with, but today she was getting impatient and just looking forward to finishing.<br><br>Ever since she'd come back home a couple of months ago, she'd been having trouble sleeping properly, so the fatigue just kept piling on day by day to the point where even working on her own car had become a chore, and now the air conditioning situation was making things even worse. Allison's eyes were glued to the huge flatscreen monitor mounted on the wall in front of the alignment lift which displayed the adjustment values of each wheel as she messed with the tie rod until the toe-in degree was just perfect. The more challenging part came next, however, since she had to re-tighten the jam nut without moving the tie rod at all. It took several tries, in between which she had to pretty much start over each time. By the fifth attempt, Ally had sweat dripping down into her eyes and she was already really frustrated, so when she pushed against the wrench, her hand slipped and slammed into the steering knuckle.<br><br>She bit her lower lip hard, partially muffling a yelp right before the wrench that she'd suddenly let go off came clamoring to the ground loudly. "Damn it!" Ally cried out before kicking the wrench away in anger, causing it to crash against the large tool cabinet placed in front of the alignment lift, making even more noise. She immediately regretted letting her frustration get the better of her and felt ashamed of her little tantrum, which was quite unlike her and would normally never have happened. Ally doubled over and clutched her hand, pressing it tightly against her stomach until the pain began to recede, at which point she straightened back up and wiped some sweat away from her face with her forearm. She picked up the wrench from the floor and collected the other one which was still hanging from the tie roe, putting them both away in the proper drawer before hurrying upstairs, realizing that she needed a break since she was tilting hard. Allison kept her head down until she reached her room on the upper level of the loft, feeling too embarrassed to make eye contact with anyone and just wishing that she could go crawl into bed and sleep for the rest of the day.<br><br>That wasn't a realistic option though, she knew that. It was the fourth of July and the barbeque was an important family event, and she wasn't about to blow off her family just because she was feeling gloomy. Allison had pretty much staked her claim on the guest room near Taras' room since she'd moved into the loft a few weeks earlier, and she could hear the water from the shower running in their shared bathroom, so she was at least able to lie down on her bed for a few minutes while he finished up. Turning her head to the side so that she was staring in the direction of the wall that separated her room from the bathroom, Allison allowed her mind to wander off to places that it probably shouldn't have until the water got cut off. She suddenly realized that one of her hands was on her belly, the tips of her fingers just barely beginning to poke beneath the waistband of her pants before she jerked it away and sat up.<br><br>She hopped into the shower as soon as Taras had left and stood still underneath the cold water for several minutes before finally turning the heat up and washing herself, feeling at least a little bit more calm and awake than before. After that, she spent a good bit of time working on her hair, applying various products, combing and finally blow drying it out piece by piece to achieve those soft curls that were basically a signature look of hers. Then came the always challenging task of finding something to wear, made even more difficult by the fact that it was for a special occasion. Even though Allison wasn't feeling her best, she could still try to look good at least.<br><br>She settled on a long, pink tunic style shirt which she wore as an extremely short dress that barely covered her butt, although she did put on a pair of very short shorts underneath to prevent any wardrobe malfunctions. Ally pulled a pair of grey thigh high socks over her long legs and slipped into a pair of strappy black gladiator heels that put her slightly over six feet tall and made her legs seem like they went on forever, leaving only a few inches of her thighs peeking out in between the socks and the shirt. Finally, she threw on a thin grey cardigan with big pearl buttons that she kept open, a studded black leather cuff bracelet and several mismatched necklaces of various styles and sizes. She kept the makeup relatively subdued; mascara, nude glossy lips, a bit of eyeshadow and a dab of foundation to conceal the light purple creases beneath her eyes.<br><br>Using the railing to make sure that she got down the stairs without breaking her neck, Allison succeeded in making it to the first floor without issue, at which point she headed towards the super spacious exterior dining room to join everyone else...which was apparently only Taras for the time being. Butterflies began to flutter about in her stomach as she walked over towards the grill to join him, her high heels clicking delicately against the floor with each step. <br><br>"Hey." Ally put a hand on Taras' shoulder. The part of her that wanted to tell him the truth about everything, not only about how she felt but also about who she was and everything that had happened nagged at her, pleading with her to finally unburden herself from those secrets. "I'm gonna go get something to drink, you want anything?" She couldn't do it. Maybe she'd have the courage after a few drinks, she told herself half-heartedly. She'd been using alcohol - amongst other things - to numb her feelings a lot ever since the loss of her family, and the fourth of July was as good of an excuse as any to drink more than she should. Ally lingered a bit before turning back towards the kitchen to fetch the refreshments, secretly wishing that Taras would turn to look at her and notice her in a different way than he had before and that she'd be able to read it in his eyes. That&nbsp; just a pipe dream, she knew. Especially since her 'big brother' was always stoic and far from overt about his feelings, which he probably didn't have for her beyond their sibling-like relationship anyways but a girl could still dream, couldn't she?
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				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rachubka</strong> on <strong>12-06-2012, 19:49:44</strong>
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				<div class="floatleft">(http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x111/Lammy519/Models/Girl21/3df19d18.jpg)</div><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font"><strong>Claire Tang</strong></span></span><br><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font">The Nurse<br>Walking from Mama Tang's house to the Loft Apartment, alley way entrance<br>All by herself, with mentions of Christian, Ally, Taras, Liza, and Piper</span><br><hr><br><em>"We've come a long way since that day / And we will never look back at the faded silhouette"</em> (http://youtu.be/6VJBBUqr1wM)<br><br>Claire had a bit of a swagger in her step, a light bob to her head, loving being able to just walk to the autoshop with her music blaring into both of her ears. She was truly a fan of every music genre, willing to give everything a listen (especially if the right person suggested something she should hear), but lately she's been on a real electro dance kick, which did wonders for motivating her to keep up the pace.<br><br>With the heat and the breeze, the young woman's towel dried hair wasn't having much fun. What once just sort of clung to her neck, her light brown hair was now matted and messy between her shoulders. It would definitely be something to fix once she got to the loft. Claire never really had a designated room at the apartment, figuring that it would be put to better use by someone who needed a place to stay for a night or whatever. She was perfectly content with having something of a little footlocker in Christian's room and a cup in a bathroom with a spare toothbrush in it.<br><br>As much of a social being she was, Claire enjoyed her alone time nearly as much. It was an opportunity to get things done; to think on things that she really can't do when she's around those she loves. Today, the young woman was simply thankful to have decided against doing any coursework during the summer months. She had a feeling this was going to great one! Ally was back among them, having returned from a stint in Asia. Was she driving? Doing school? Claire couldn't remember for the life of her. That fact alone bothered her and she made a mental note to lure it out of her before the night ended.<br><br>Rounding a corner, Claire remembered the many times that Taras would drive her home. From the garage it was such a short distance, but he insisted, always saying something about how a girl shouldn't be out and about on her own on these streets. She stuck her tongue out as she wondered where her own dear brother was at these times, but maybe Christian allowed the Ukrainian to do it as a sort of blessing. She coupled her earlier gesture with a rolling of the eyes. Boys.<br><br>Getting closer to the garage, Claire got more excited. It's been a while since she saw anyone, but there's really been no excuse to have not seen either of Liza or Piper. The two of them were practically at each other's necks, but she got along well enough with the both of them and she likes to take credit for them not having killed each other, yet. Piper had gotten a bit of reputation thanks to her attitude, which Claire understood completely, though she wished that the others would just see what she does in the blonde. The girl is a great friend... when she wants to be.<br><br>Claire made a point to traverse the alleyway by the warehouse quickly, should someone peel in or out of it in their fancy cars. The corner there was a favourite for everyone to try and squeeze into at top speeds, but it just made the half-Asian girl nervous each and every time. Climbing the steps, she took her ear buds off and stuffed them into her purse, turning off her iPod as she did. When she got to the doorway, she turned on her toes toward the intercom, pressing the buzzer several times before pressing the button to speak.<br><br>"Knock knock!" she practically shouted, ecstatic about seeing everyone. Almost everyone, she mused, guessing that Piper would probably make an appearance well into the night. Claire stuck out her tongue at the security camera pointed at her, waving fast and obnoxiously at it in hopes of giving the person on the other side at least a smile. "Hurrrrry up! I want to drink face off!"
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				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Savant of the Wastes</strong> on <strong>12-06-2012, 20:09:56</strong>
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				<div class="floatright">(http://www.ticketonline.de/obj/media/DE-eventim/galery/kuenstler/d/david-garrett-10-2009-006.jpg)</div><br><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>Name:</strong> Nicholas Trent<br><strong>Title:</strong> The Scientist<br><strong>Location:</strong> Garage; Loft<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Taras Markovsky, <br><hr><br>The clinking of glass, the sloshing of liquids, the hiss of chemicals mixing and the soft sound of the clock ticking on the wall. These sounds were Nick's company during the day. Even though the Fourth of July was a day off for him, Nick had stopped by the garage even earlier than usual today, setting up show in the little chemist's workshop he'd set up in the back of the garage. It wasn't exactly a laboratory, but it got the job done. He'd been messing around with nitrous/fuel mixtures, trying to optimize the performance on a new car that had come in. There was some big race coming up soon. Nick didn't pay attention to those details, normally. He'd know when the group was racing, and then he'd go. He wasn't one of the racers, anyway. At the moment, he'd entirely forgotten what sort of car the engine belonged to. He'd taken opened up the engine, tuned it up a bit, and got to work. Experimentally running the engine with each new mixture, he ate up most of the day that way. He thought he heard some tinkering behind him in the garage, but he was in the moment, and didn't pay it any more attention.<br><br>~~~~<br><br>Hours later, Nick was heading back to the loft. He'd spent most of his time tinkering, then, noticing that the light was rapidly fading, hours later, had rushed home. He got a quick shower, tugged on a loose. Nick was actually looking forward to his BBQ. It had been a while since he'd seen their entire quirky "family" in one place. It was going to be fun. Heading up to the loft, he noticed that Taras was there. The large Ukrainian man was tending to the grill. Nick offered him a cheery wave and a nod before grabbing a chair, and leaning it against the wall. He knew that Taras wasn't a big one for talking, he'd keep quiet unless the other man wanted to talk.<br><br>Allison and Claire were there too. Now there was fertile ground for conversation. Nick smiled cheerily. It was also a nice backdrop for any scene. "Happy Fourth of July ladies, and Taras. How are all of you doing tonight?"<br><br></div>
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				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Veluux</strong> on <strong>12-06-2012, 21:42:18</strong>
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				<div class="floatright">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/36827_421832359861_518524861_4822950_3819136_n.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Taras Ivan Markovski (Pronunciation: Ta-<em>rr</em>oss Ee-von Mar-Kovf-skee)<br><strong>Title:</strong> Co-Leader / The Muscle<br><strong>Location:</strong> In the open Dining Room<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Nicholas Trent, Allison Saurer, Clara Tang<br><br><hr><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<div style="text-align: justify;">As the coals continued to burn and slowly whiten, Taras occasionally applied more lighter fluid - not really that the grill needed it... he just liked to watch the flames jump up hungrily out of the hot metal container. He was always a bit of a pyro when he was a younger kid but almost starting his adopted parents apartment on fire had quickly gotten most of that out of his system.&nbsp; He was having so much fun playing with the grill and the flames inside it that he hadn't even heard Allison walk up behind him. Luckily she had warned him of her presence with a simple "Hey" just before she touched his shoulder - he had never really been a big fan of surprises.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;He glanced slightly over his shoulder at the young woman an nodded - it was about as close to a smile as one would get out of him without a fair amount of alcohol in his system. Several members of the crew frequently offered him drinks - preferring his more light-hearted and friendly persona that a few cold ones always seemed to inspire. He never turned down those offers either; so when Allison asked if she could get him something he responded right away. <strong>"Yeah, just the usual is fine. There's a fifth of 'Stoli' tucked under the bar in there I was saving for today."</strong> Allison knew that he was a vodka man, true to his slovak roots. When he wasn't drinking it straight, he usually mixed it with orange juice or any form of soda. Normally he just drank cheaper brands of vodka, but 'Stoli' or Stolichnaya as it was properly called... was his favorite and he liked to save it for special occasions. Today was one of those time.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Allison lingered for just a moment, he wasn't quite sure why... he figured maybe she was waiting for him to say 'thanks' so he obliged her just before she headed for the bar, <strong>"Thanks, Ally."</strong> Taras still hadn't quite caught on to her subtle hints. It wasn't that he wasn't keen enough to pick up on them - he had just been so busy lately, and since he viewed her so much as a younger sister... his mind never really made the connection that her admiration went beyond just sibling-esque respect. Before he had the chance to even begin to think more about Allison, the doorbell buzzed loudly and Claire's voice came through the PA. <br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Taras just shook his head in amusement, she always rang in - even though this was almost more of a home for her than half the crew members. Anyhow he quickly bounced over to the nearest touchscreen panel that operated the loft's sound, securty, and other internal systems. He swung the display over to the exterior door camera just so he could get a look at her impatient form waiting on the doorstep. Then he pushed down the 'speak' button that was hovering in the corner of the screen and replied. <strong>"Get your butt in here then."</strong> After he let go of the button he slid that screen to the right and brought up the security panel, and touched a few more things to unlock the back door for her.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;He was excited that Claire was coming - he figured she would come, she always made it for most of their big get-togethers - she had been so bogged down by finals that he hadn't really seen her in about a month. That was a bit too long for him. He had a thing for Claire, he always had, and even he didn't know exactly why. She had just always been around, so perhaps she'd had the opportunity to tempt him the longest. Most of the reason he hadn't really pursued a relationship with her yet was the fact that he didn't believe he really had much to offer her. His job was dangerous and illegal, and so far Claire had managed to avoid getting involved - even though her brother was the real ring leader of it all. Chris tried hard to make sure Claire wasn't put at risk, and if Taras started a serious relationship with her, that would be practically impossible to avoid. <br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Taras had just made his way back over to the grill as Allison returned and Claire finally made it inside. He tossed a bit more lighter fluid on the simmering coals just as Nick entered the room. The engineer offered the three of them a pleasant greeting and pulled up a chair to tilt back against the wall in his favorite spot. Taras turned his back to the grill to face the wider side of the open room and nodded to the other man. <strong>"I'll be better after I've eaten"</strong> he said plainly, but not in an unpleasant tone. It was just a fact. He had been working in the garage all day and hadn't stopped for lunch... and a guy his size... well he was <em>VERY</em> hungry. He crossed his arms and leaned against the makeshift brick counter next to the grill that lined that wall of the room. <br></div>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lithium</strong> on <strong>13-06-2012, 00:34:26</strong>
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				<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/eDJMl.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Allison Saurer<br><strong>Title:</strong> Mechanic / The Final Touch<br><strong>Locations:</strong> Dining Room<br><br><hr><br>"Sure..." Allison replied softly, feeling quite deflated as she drooped her shoulders slightly and walked away after Taras had more or less brushed her off, seemingly oblivious to her attempts at making an impression. It was the response that her brain had been expecting, but not the one that her heart was waiting for, so it still stung pretty sharply. Just then, the doorbell rang through the loft, undoubtedly heralding Claire's arrival since she was generally the only member of the group who chose to use it. Ally couldn't help but be reminded of the obvious chemistry between Claire and Taras at that moment. It filled her with mixed feelings, since she obviously loved them both very dearly as friends and wanted them to be happy even if that meant that they would end up together, but that darker side of her psyche kept intervening no matter how hard Ally tried to suppress it, causing a pang of jealousy to ripple through her thoughts.<br><br>She quickly snapped out of it, feeling like a horrible person for even thinking that way for a single second as she reached the kitchen. That wasn't the kind of person that she wanted to be - and yet those kinds of dark thoughts and feelings kept cropping up in her mind recently. She tried to wash the darkness away by taking two large gulps of vodka from the bottle that she'd retrieved for Taras, grimacing and leaning against the counter as the alcohol blazed down her throat. It seemed to work, at least for the time being. While she was already there, Allison also fetched the large pitcher of Sangria that she'd prepared the previous day in anticipation of the barbeque. All that was left to do was to add the appropriate amount of lemonade and some ice, which she went about doing before bringing it to the dining table, having to use both of her arms to carry it. She went back for the bottle of Stolichnaya as well as a stack of several glasses, placing the former on the table before bringing the latter to Taras as promised.<br><br>Ally forced out a weak smile as she handed it to him before moving to intercept Claire, hugging the girl excitedly and exchanging a peck on each cheek with her. They'd hardly had a chance to cross paths ever single Allison's return, and all that she could think about at that moment was that she really missed her, the darker thoughts from earlier having completely receded back into whatever depths that they'd emerged from. "Claire-bear!" she exclaimed happily, a genuine smile having returned to her lips. "You done acing all of your exams yet? You're always off studying, you must be a machine," Ally added with a mix of humor and admiration. She respected Claire a lot for sticking through school and succeeding so well at it, she knew that it wasn't easy, especially studying to become a nurse. It was also a considerably more noble calling than street racing or drug running, Allison mused to herself.<br><br>"Happy Fourth!" Ally let go of Claire and turned around towards Nick, giving him a silly little wave before pouring Sangria into a couple of glasses and handing him one. "Cheers. To you not blowing us all up yet," she toasted jokingly, knowing that Nick had been playing around with different fuel mixtures recently. Drinking about a quarter of the contents of her glass, Ally found that the Sangria went down easily; you could hardly even noticed the alcohol in it, which was a bit deceptive since it did contain a decent amount. She liked it a lot more than hard liquor like Taras' vodka, and she gave herself a small pat on the back, deciding that she'd done a pretty good job brewing it.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rachubka</strong> on <strong>13-06-2012, 05:25:16</strong>
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				<div class="floatleft">(http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x111/Lammy519/Models/Girl21/3df19d18.jpg)</div><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font"><strong>Claire Tang</strong></span></span><br><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font">The Nurse<br>Apartment Loft, open dining room<br>With Taras, Nick, and Ally</span><br><hr><br>With a rather boring buzz, the back door unlocked and Claire practically slipped through it, having only swung it open about halfway. She'd missed this place! It was a choice study area during the early parts of the semester, but when it came down to finals, she found far too many distractions (seeking them, more like), and did her work either at home or at the University of San Diego campus. Again, she was really thankful that she did decide to take a break for the summer.<br><br>She bee-lined it to the dining area and was quickly met by Ally. It was so good to actually see her in the flesh! The two hugged and pecked each other on the cheek as they normally did, though Claire made a point to have the hug linger a bit more than usual, squeezing the 'I missed you' feeling into oblivion. When they parted, there was no wiping off the stupid smile Claire had on her face. It really has been a while since she was called 'Claire-bear." <br><br>"Glad I'm done, but acing? We'll see." Claire replied, shrugging as she did. Even if it was gospel truth that she was going to university, she felt that it alienated her amongst the others in the crew, so she didn't like talking about it. "For real, though, I'm glad it's all over and get to hang out here all summer!" <br><br>When Ally turned her attention to Nick, Claire took notice of him and Taras further in the dining area. It was just then that she became significantly more self-conscious of her appearance. Trying not to be entirely awkward about turning tail and running off to the bathroom, the young woman waved to the both of them before slipping away.<br><br>Practically slamming the door behind her, she swiftly moved to the sink and the mirror on the wall, looking herself over closely. She wondered why she didn't bother with fixing herself up at home, then recalled that the ventilation is terrible at home. The time it took for the mirror to clear up always made her forget to touch-up. For the next few minutes, Claire brushed her hair as straight as she could without having to wash, blow dry, and murder it with a flat iron. Poking through her designated drawer, she managed to find some eye-liner, mascara, and foundation that she leaves at the loft for last minute outings and such. She was lucky enough not to need too much make-up, but this was the difference between regular old Claire and pretty Claire. Or so she tells herself.<br><br>She returned to the dining room, pouring herself a glass of sangria from the pitcher. She didn't want to interrupt any conversations, so she just sat on the bench closest to the large table, looking about to see if anyone else had joined them. Eventually, her gaze stopped on Taras, as if to gauge whether or not he had taken notice of her quick leave. She hoped he would, but not in such a way that he'd think that she was just being one of those girls.<br><br>Claire sipped heavily as the thought rolled through her mind. She finished her gulp with a sigh. She really was being one of those girls right now.
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>AdrianZef</strong> on <strong>13-06-2012, 06:20:13</strong>
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				<div class="floatright">(https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTDx5aF-CrEImja-ATW2GktOFHjgwZjkP_QIoXF3IfpjD9xXnXz)</div><br><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>Name:</strong> Adriano Guillermo<br><strong>Title:</strong> Black Market Liaison / The Informant / Driver<br><strong>Location:</strong> His Car &gt; The Loft<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Chris, Taras, Ally, Nick<br><hr><br>Adriano was driving through the streets calmly, headed to the crew's loft apartment. He loved to race, and was ruthless when racing, but outside of that, he wasn't a huge fan of random street racing. Unless some asshole pissed him off enough, or the police were chasing him, or he was running late for something. He was a quiet person, and he liked his alone time in his car. His car that he used when making deals was an old souped-up Maserati. It wasn't the fastest thing on the road, but it had a luxurious interior and enough horsepower to pull whatever parts he had stored in his trunk. His trunk was also modified to be larger, at the cost of the back row of seats. This wasn't a school bus, though, so he had no need of any seat other than the driver's seat.<br><br>His racing car was a Ferrari. His Italian roots were obvious from his slight accent, but his love of cars extended that way too. Not that he preferred them that much over other cars, but they reminded him of home, and gave him comfort when driving or racing. In any case, the Maserati worked well when he was with other gangs or dealers, and the Ferrari was built for speed. He usually left it at the shop, though. Between all the mechanics there, he knew there was no better place for it.<br><br>Most of the crew knew bits and pieces of his history in Italy, and his identity was no secret. His father's murderers did not care about him enough to chase after him all the way to the USA, which was good enough for him. He would've hated living under another name, in any case. However, few knew the whole story except for Chris. Chris was his best friend in the crew, the one he'd known longest. He was one of the few people who could joke around Adriano freely, and have a chance of eliciting that slight twinge of his lips that could be mistaken for a smile. And Taras, he was a man of his own heart. The two had not spoken much, but there was a silent brotherhood between them, both similar men, with rough childhoods.<br><br>That was when Adriano pulled up to the shop, and parked the car in his garage. He wasn't a huge socialite, but he enjoyed being around other members of the crew, and he enjoyed drinking. When he was with the crew he felt more open than usual, even if the difference didn't amount to much. Today, he had brought some special cargo in his car, which he would reveal later. He wanted to be able to surprise the whole crew at once, and he didn't know who had arrived yet. He finally got out and locked the doors before heading upstairs. Regardless of how much he trusted the crew, he didn't feel safe leaving his car wide open anywhere. Besides, he didn't want anyone to stumble on his surprise cargo.<br><br>He plodded up the stairs, emerging into the opening and seeing Taras, Ally, and Nick. He didn't say anything, but made a gesture with his hand, somewhat like a wave to Ally and Nick, before going to the grill, to see what was cooking. "Smells good." he said, even though it was probably just because he was hungry. He nodded to Taras, peering over the grill to see what was cooking, as he leaned back against another part of the wall, waiting for the food to cook. He watched the flames as they danced. "Where's everyone else? I'm usually last." he asked. It was true, he was usually here last because he usually was around a gang or dealership during the week. He came into the loft and garage as much as he could though, and he would be in the area until the race, for sure, getting ready.</div>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>JDrew Spider</strong> on <strong>13-06-2012, 08:05:19</strong>
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				<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: verdana;" class="bbc_font">Alisa </span><span style="font-family: impact;" class="bbc_font">"The Style"</span> <span style="font-family: verdana;" class="bbc_font">Lopez</span></span>:<span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"> <em>THE LOFT</em><span class="bbc_u"> Greeting Everyone</span></span><div class="floatleft">(http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r628/Love_Smile_Kiss/New-Kat-Graham-photoshoot-katerina-graham-25157133-734-780.jpg)(http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff428/xdobreva/xsunshinex_/68.jpg)(http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h411/xwesley/kat3.jpg)</div><br><em>It's sunny in San Diego.</em><div align="center"><br><br><br><br><br>It wasn't long before she pulled up next to the garage. By the looks of it only a few people had shown up. Which was just great for her because she could throw these bags down and get right to the cooking. She didn't the doubt the Ukranian's skills on the grill, but honestly a man should know his way around the kitchen in any case. Hoping out the car she grabbed her bag of groceries and locked the door before heading inside through the garage. Claire was most definitely here, she could recognize that girls voice a mile away and of course her car was parked outside. It was just so refreshing to see old faces and the vibe of excitement just creeped up her spine. Rounding off towards the kitchen after conquering those stair the chatter grew only louder. Having these little events kind of reminded her of that Christmas with a her grandma, everyone was together having a good time. For the longest&nbsp; it had just been her and her mother, she barely remembered living in Colombia with her father and brother. To think of them was like a distant memory, but she never forgot. Alisa was like seven years old when they left for the states and until this day she can't really remember why either. Her mother always told her it was better this way and maybe she was right, but this most definitely felt right. Being here with the crew always felt right.<br><br>Inhaling as much air into her lungs as possible she shouted (something she's known for doing) in the wide open space of the room. <strong>" ALISA&nbsp; IS HERE AND WITH HER USDA CERTIFIED ORGANIC FEED POULTRY....might I add."</strong> She said before busting into laughter.&nbsp; Alisa was health nut, she was the girl that watched the health channels, followed fitness gurus on twitter and read up on the "Daily Woman" magazines while waiting to checkout. She was always tossing out random facts about health despite the fact of her being young and in shape she wanted to live to be over hundred, but in this kind of life who knew how long they had. The day of the race was nearing and so was the late night activity her in the crew were involved in. Alisa was never the type to turn down bets or a good hustle, but she made it her life's practice to walk away if she had to. Out of everybody in here she was the most street savvy and she never let them forget it. <br><br><br><br>Placing the bags down on the counter she greeted Taras&nbsp; first&nbsp; with a quick tap on the arm. <strong>" I just want to say you can officially back away from the grill now the queen of&nbsp; food is here." </strong> Reaching into the bag she pulled out a bottle of rum and two packs of beer.&nbsp; She had to admit when she first meet Taras, his lack of personality made her want to jump off a bridge, but after getting to know him a little better he was alright in her book. Plus he had a really nice body so she had no choice but to like him, right? Then there was Adriano looking like a starved puppy as the food Taras had put on the grill began to cook. <strong>"Hey"</strong> She said still wearing a smile on her face, Adriano was a cutie too, but he was just so serious all the time which didn't bother&nbsp; her much because she was hardly serious except when doing her job. <strong>"What am I the only who brought something? You know what all you guys owe me shots of tequila for this.. comprende?"</strong> Next was Nicholas, though the smart guy wasn't part of the crew , she had managed to hook him up with a little gig. He often made her wonder what it would of been like if she dragged her but off to college, her mother would of been walking on sunshine at that news, but she had meet him through vocational school and they got along real well. Besides they guy was adorable and really sweet. <strong>"What's up?" </strong>She asked him with a soft smile. "<strong>Glad to see you here...now where is.." </strong>Her voice trailed off before spotting the remaining candidates.<br><br><strong>"Claire Bear and Ally Walley&nbsp; if I don't get hugs in the the next three seconds I'm going to be pissed...3.2..o-one..."</strong> Her eyes were closed at this point and from where she stood she had the options of jumping them both of the same time or them jumping here. From what she could tell Ally had been racing abroad Clara was just studying hard. She'd definitely would love to tour over there in France, Asia or wherever.<strong> "I'm waiting ..."</strong>she tapped her foot impatiently and held her arms wide trying to hide the smile on her face.<br><br></div>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Photo</strong> on <strong>16-06-2012, 07:03:27</strong>
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				<div class="floatleft">(http://whisty.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/blonde-smoke-shades-weheartit2.png?w=655)</div><br><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font"><strong>Piper Adams</strong></span></span><br><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font">The Mouth<br>Making her entrance</span><br>With Alisa Lopez at the front door.<br><br><br><hr><br>Piper Adams' favorite holiday was the 4th of July. Her favorite celebration, however, was procrastination. <br><br>So, she had spent most of the day searching for fireworks, and eventually ended up fifty miles east of San Diego at a fireworks stand in the middle of nowhere with two Native American men above the age of sixty as clerks. She felt comfortable with them, oddly. They were probably high when she appeared off of the highway, and her presence alone was enough to provoke clinically blissful smiles. The two of them had made no compromise with the prices. Still, Piper was able to get all of her favorite firecrackers, bottle rockets, roman candles, mortar shells, and air sky boxes. It was beautiful. She had searched for over six hours all over four different counties. Buying supplies for the party was a relaxing chore in comparison. It was an easy list: 'fucking Rum, root-beer, jaggermeifter, red bull, cola, and vanilla vodka. Then, two tubs of guacamole and a shitload of chips. Two packs of Marb reds.' That only took fifteen minutes.<br><br>The drive to the garage after that was even more relaxing, it involved a wonderful red dixie cup full of vodka and two cigarettes on the busy streets of San Diego to the wonderful sounds of an excited city. She kept her back windows rolled down, and the radio off. the lights were even more relaxing than they had been before. "I love ciggies, so much. That ciggy-butt. Give my lips something to...ciggies" she sang to herself, quietly but not without passion. the drive felt like no time at all.<br><br>Piper had arrive before Alisa had, she had just parked in an odd place for one more cigarette before the party officially started, and everyone would judge her every time she went downstairs.<br><br>She watched Ms. Lopez' car arrive with a grin on her cheeks. 'Smoking felt like a super power. I am like a comic book hero. My awesome fucking bat-mobile car.' She humored herself, pleased in a flurry of smoke. Leaned up against her Cadillac Deville, nearly all in black, like the paint job. Her jeans were dark blue, but in most light, the denim looked black. Her flats were black, almost like ballet shoes, no laces or straps to speak of. She was wearing knee high black socks underneath that no one could really see. Her shirt was light red, glowing under the mane of her blonde hair, under a loose black hooded sweatshirt. She was parked about a half of a block down the street, the crew didn't like her to smoke in the garage. She broke the rule pretty often, but she wouldn't do that tonight, while everyone was here. <br><br>Her clothes were very modest, at least the outer wear was. This was a family meeting to her. A couple of the men, though, felt like guests, open for a night alone. Piper always covered her bases. She looked good, but she didn't look tasty, for the lips or the eyes.<br><br>Alisa wasn't looking her way as she came into the loft. Piper made no motion to bring her over. She just kept smoking, leaning against the Cadillac, like a really wasteful statue, poorly placed by the city planner. Eventually, her third cigarette in the pack was gone and she moved away from her Deville and into the garage. She didn't need to take up room in the garage. She had four grocery bags, and most of it was booze. Piper was only about ten seconds behind Alisa through the door, she was carrying about as much as her counterpart, sneaking up behind her, smelling of smoke, but mostly silent. She pressed her pelvis against Alisa's unsuspecting back-side. "It's good to see you Super-girl."<br><br>Piper sneaked her arm around Alisa and gave her a weak hug from behind, using the motion to sneak by, and enter the loft. Her arms were soar, she longed to set down her baggage, and she wanted another cigarette already. Making the adult decision to drink instead, she waited on the fourth smoke and proceeded deep into the loft as quickly as possible. Without saying hello to anyone, she b-lined for the kitchen, unloaded her 'jagger', her root beer, and her red bull, she started to make herself a drink. As she finished mixing one part jagger, and equal parts red bull and rootbeer quickly, she filled a whole pounder with ice and brown liquid. Piper looked around subtly making a mental list of who had arrived. Both Adriano and Nicholas were there. She hoped to have already been making them nervous, by giving them zero attention, Taras recieved almost nothing from her either 'Now, thats a party drink,' she thought to herself. She wanted to give Claire a chance to say hello to Alisa, but for a moment longer than every one else, her eyes lingered on young Miss Tang, hoping that the girl would look her direction. She wanted to offer her oldest friend a drink.<br>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Veluux</strong> on <strong>16-06-2012, 08:54:44</strong>
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				<div class="floatright">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/36827_421832359861_518524861_4822950_3819136_n.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Taras Ivan Markovski (Pronunciation: Ta-<em>rr</em>oss Ee-von Mar-Kovf-skee)<br><strong>Title:</strong> Co-Leader / The Muscle<br><strong>Location:</strong> In the open Dining Room<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Ally, Nick, Adriano, Claire, Alisa, Piper<br><br><hr><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<div style="text-align: justify;">Taras leaned there quietly and watched as a few of the other crew members greeted each other. It was good to see them all getting together, for some reason it had been quite a while since they had all been in one place before. He figured it was all due to age. As you get older, more responsibilities seemed to pile up, so it seemed to be less and less often that they could all come together and just hang out a little bit. When they were teenagers they seemed to have all the time in the world - but that just wasn't the case anymore. He smiled as his two favorite ladies greeted each other. Perhaps he got along with Allison and Claire so well because they rarely invaded his personal bubble of space... or maybe it was something else - he really didn't put much thought behind it.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;When Claire came back into the room, she definitely caught his eye. She looked just fine before she'd gone to the restroom to touch up, so she looked even better now. When her eyes rested on him for that brief moment he just smiled slightly - it wasn't awkward, but it wasn't comfortable either. He knew that his crush on Claire was no secret to anyone in the crew - so he always felt as if eyes were watching him when he was talking or flirting with her. He felt just fine around Claire, she had a way of making people feel calm and comfortable - a trait that would help her greatly as a nurse. Though he never felt like he could truly relax around her unless the two of them were completely alone, but that didn't happen often. It was so rare in fact, that the few times they did end up alone together he never knew what to say to her. Even being such a confident, decisive man, Taras could never really choose whether or not to pursue her. He was torn between developing a closer relationship and not putting her in danger. He wanted both, but it was impossible.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Adriano pulled him from his thoughts as he commented on the food and the Ukrainian gave the man a nod and a quick response to his question,<strong> "Liza stopped for food and Rosha and Chris aren't quite back from a parts run."</strong> He felt no need to comment on Piper, she was usually one of the last ones to arrive. No sooner had he finished his sentence than the back door had opened down the hall, where Alisa and Piper came through it. He wasn't sure how he had managed to get along so well with Alisa, she was quite an in-your-face type... but she pulled it off in a fun and friendly way. Usually when she invaded his personal space - she was doing it for his own benefit, so he must have subconsciously seen the value in her intrusions.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;One of the other reasons he got along with Alisa was the way she ate. Being a gym-rat and all-around fitness freak, Taras also carefully watched what he ate, though he wasn't quite as particular - and <em>definitely</em> didn't press his lifestyle on the other crew members like Alisa did. She just loved them all, and that was why she did it - but Taras wasn't quite <em>that</em> pushy. The young street-savvy girl wasted no time imposing her will as she came back into the room and ejected him out of his comfort zone. He didn't even bother protesting with her - that was just a battle that even <strong>he</strong> couldn't win. Alisa was too relentless. He also knew that she was doing it just to keep him from hiding off to the side like he usually did at most of these big get-togethers, and that was a good thing - even if he didn't like it. He just grinned and put his hands up in surrender, <strong>"My apologies your highness..."</strong> he said sarcastically. She was one of the few people he joked around with, mostly because she actually appreciated his dry humor.<br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;He glanced back around the room then as Alisa greeted the rest of the group. Since he no longer had a good excuse to avoid conversation, he headed over to Allison. He probably would have gone straight for Claire, but he had no idea what to talk about with her. His crush on Christian's sister had been a thing that existed for years, since they had known each other for so long - but they didn't actually have too much in common. He did though with Allison, and it was easy to find a few words to say. <strong>"I heard you really giving your front end some hell."</strong> He'd heard her fighting with the car as he was leaving the garage, but he was running too late to offer her any help. <strong>"Did you get it where you want it?"</strong> His knowledge of mechanics wasn't quite as detailed as her own. He knew the basics and he knew them well, and he got by with that. Usually if something wasn't quite right Nick or Ally would notice it and help him make the adjustments before he went out on the street with it. <br></div>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>AdrianZef</strong> on <strong>16-06-2012, 17:59:42</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTDx5aF-CrEImja-ATW2GktOFHjgwZjkP_QIoXF3IfpjD9xXnXz)</div><br><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>Name:</strong> Adriano Guillermo<br><strong>Title:</strong> Black Market Liaison / The Informant / Driver<br><strong>Location:</strong> Crew's Loft Apartment<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Taras, Claire, Piper, Ally, Nick<br><hr><br>It had been a while since they had last gathered, and Adriano was glad it was happening again. He missed these gatherings, as they were one of the few times he could relax his guard. Only a little bit, though. He would be more comfortable talking about business if the other semi-members were gone, but he wasn't planning to talk about business just yet, so it was fine. Preferable, in fact. This way he would get to talking more. Besides, watching the crew's interactions was fun.<br><br>His business was in watching and learning, and he made it his point to see everything. But he didn't have to do that to see the obvious attraction between Taras and Claire, yet something was holding them back. That was interesting, watching Taras not know what he wanted to do. The crew didn't get a chance to see that often. He watched as Taras struck up a conversation with Ally instead. She was an interesting one, and she was almost like Taras's little sister. But she was also a great mechanic. He had to admit he didn't see female mechanics much, and she was all mystery. Nick, now that man was good too, him and his science experiments. They were vital to the crew, though Adriano would hate doing what they were doing. He liked his part in the crew just fine.<br><br>He left them alone, though, as he saw Piper walk in with several types of fireworks. They were all ordinary consumer fireworks, though, not the huge ones that you needed a permit for. Adriano technically had a permit, though it was pretty fucking fake. That didn't change the fact that he had some huge rockets in his car, though. He walked over to the drink she had brought in, and made himself a drink of vodka and cola, in about a 50:50 ratio. Adriano liked his alcohol fairly raw, though he sometimes mixed it with soda.<br><br>He made his way over to Piper. Some of the other crew members had their reservations about her, due to her mouth, and how she found secrets about people. Adriano had no secrets that she could hold over him, though, which might have explained why he felt more at ease around her than most of the others. "Nice fireworks." he said at first, casually. "But nothing compared to what's in my car. I thought it would be a surprise, but I guess most of us are here anyway, right?" he said, as he took a sip of his drink, and eyed the others slipping into conversations as well.</div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Savant of the Wastes</strong> on <strong>16-06-2012, 21:49:20</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(http://www.ticketonline.de/obj/media/DE-eventim/galery/kuenstler/d/david-garrett-10-2009-006.jpg)</div><br><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>Name:</strong> Nicholas Trent<br><strong>Title:</strong> The Scientist<br><strong>Location:</strong> Loft<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Piper<br><hr><br>Nick eyed Piper as she came in, giving her what he hoped was a nonchalant smile. Which she promptly ignored. He would never quite be able to understand women, he felt. The Mouth least of all. When he was feeling poetic, he mentally compared her to a glass knife. Nice to look at, sharp, but mostly liable to end up hurting you. At the moment he wasn't feeling poetic, so she was only mildly terrifying. Reaching for the drinks, he poured himself a stiff cup of something, he wasn't sure what, and drained it. It was a party. He wanted to enjoy himself without any drama. He relaxed a bit, lounging in his seat. <br><br>The best way to enjoy himself was, of course, to talk about cars. He wasn't one of those people who was bitter about coming in to work every morning. For him, the work was practically his leisure time. Though he had to admit it was nice to unwind sometimes. "This new stuff I've got working," He said to the world at large, smiling easily. "It's beautiful, it really is. Practically rebuilt the engine from the ground up to work with this new nitrous. It has a kick like a mule now. You can -feel- the engine humming." He rocked in his seat as he talked, excited. "What's this race it's supposed to be for, anyway? Chris told me to have the car up for some time next week. Told me to make it special."</div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rachubka</strong> on <strong>16-06-2012, 22:05:19</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatleft">(http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x111/Lammy519/Models/Girl21/3df19d18.jpg)</div><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font"><strong>Claire Tang</strong></span></span><br><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font">The Nurse<br>Apartment Loft, open dining room<br>With Taras, Nick, Adriano, Ally, Liza, and Piper</span><br><hr><br>Claire gave Adriano a weak smile, lifting up her cup of sangria at him to say hello. She didn't have a problem with him, per se, but if there was anyone that epitomized that shady, 'negative' aspect of the whole crew, it was him. The suave, cool deal maker's presence always put the idea that the people she hangs out with aren't complete angels at the front of her mind. She did well enough to ignore that nagging feeling, though, neither of them really making a fuss about having the other around. Having another sip from her cup helped alleviate the worry, too.<br><br>It wasn't much longer after that did Alisa bust into the loft! Her entrance much more... dramatic than the others. The poor effort of a smile to Adriano grew much wider when the Alisa went this way and that, saying hi to whoever she could while finding a place to put down her groceries. Well, maybe chicken and alcohol would be a better way to put it. It was easy to laugh with her around, and Claire was sure she was going to laugh even harder when Alisa stood still, her arms outstretched looking for a hug from her and Ally.<br><br>The half-Asian girl dragged her sunglasses from the bridge of her nose to the tip, glancing over at Ally with a sly smirk. She shook her head a few times before gesturing to Alisa, as if to say to the young brunette that neither of them should bother hugging her, just to see how she would react. Confident that the younger girl got her signal, Claire pushed her shades back into place, her smirk fading to take a hold of the lip of her cup. It'd be a good idea to get a few sips in before her gut ached with laughter.<br><br>Before she knew it, her cup was empty, save for an orange rind and some ice. With a mock pout, Claire left the cup on the bench as she stood up and away from it. Catching sight of Piper, who made a relatively quieter (and surprisingly early) entrance than Alisa, Claire practically skipped the distance between the two and gave the girl a tight, warm hug. One that she'd imagine she'd give Alisa later when she realises that neither of the girls she was looking to embrace were going to indulge her. <br><br>"Hey girl," Claire said into Piper's ear while she pulled away from the hug. She tried to keep her voice down to indoor levels just to keep the joke on Alisa running for as long as she could. "It's been a while! I'm not sure how, but I think I've actually missed seeing you." Claire stuck out her tongue at Piper, making the sure that her words were taken clearly as a joke, if her tone wasn't enough. Her tongue stayed as it was for a bit, though now accompanied with a disgusted scrunch of her soft features, looking down at the blonde's drink. It looked dangerous, though she didn't say anything about it as she turned to face the rest of the crew and caught sight of Taras and Ally in conversation.<br><br>Claire wasn't sure why, but there was an undoubted pang of jealousy deep in her heart as she saw the two of them hit it off as they always do. It wasn't anything serious, she knew that, but the two of them had such a natural way of being around each other that she and Taras didn't seem to have. At times, Claire strained to think of anything to talk to Taras about, often turning to the relationship between himself and her brother, current events, or poor, basic car knowledge to keep the man engaged. For what she could only hope was a split second, Claire had a sullen look on her, thinking a little too much about the whole mess. <br><br>Quickly wanting to brighten her own mood, as if the atmosphere of the entire party was based on her own feelings, Claire reached over for Piper's drink, wanting to take a heavy sip from it, if the other girl let her. Either way, she turned to the dining room table, brushing up against Adriano who had come up to talk to Piper as she went by. In a bout of wastefulness and just generally not caring at the moment, she took another one of the cups Ally had poured full of sangria and wasted no time in taking a healthy gulp of it. She could hear Nick talking aloud about cars and engines, but the mix of emotion and alcohol was making it hard for her to really register it. <br><br>With a sigh, Claire just turned away from the dining room table, leaning her bottom on the edge of it. She figured watching Alisa freak would cheer her up, so she watched and waited for the inevitable.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lithium</strong> on <strong>16-06-2012, 22:41:43</strong>
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				<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/eDJMl.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Allison Saurer<br><strong>Title:</strong> Mechanic / The Final Touch<br><strong>Locations:</strong> Dining Room<br><br><hr><br>The loft, particularly the outside dining room was really starting to buzz with movement and conversation now, as would be expected during one of the crew's gatherings. That suited Allison just fine since everybody's festive mood helped to raise her spirits, and she was also just glad to be surrounded by all of these people who were now literally the closest thing that she had to a real family. It made her feel safe.<br><br>Ally had waved back towards Adriano meekly when he'd arrived before looking back down at her drink almost immediately, her cheeks taking on a slight rosy hue as they always did when he gave her any sort of attention, even something as meaningless as a wave hello. She felt silly, and yet the slightest of smiles had formed at the corners of her lips, not even she was sure why. Greeting Alisa came infinitely more naturally to Ally, although she and Claire had exchanged mischievous glances when their friend had demanded hugs from them with open arms and closed eyes, making the energetic girl wait until she lost her patience and opened her eyes to frown at them before finally going over to embrace her. "Sorry," Allison whispered to her friend sweetly, her voice tinted with a subtle hint of guilt. She wasn't the hardened practical joker that Piper was, often feeling the need to apologize after messing with somebody. "Hi, precious," she added, letting the hug linger for several seconds before finally letting go.<br><br>Before Allison could even make it back to her seat, she was unexpectedly approached by Taras. It wasn't as if she wasn't used to talking to him or anything, they were close and spoke all the time, but she'd just gotten the feeling that her big brother wasn't particularly interested in her that evening based on their earlier interaction where he'd hardly even noticed her. Then again, maybe it was just her being oversensitive about the whole thing. Ally bit the corner of her lower lip and looked at him with big, exaggerated eyes like a child that was feeling guilty after she'd just been caught red handed doing something bad when he mentioned the difficulty that she'd been having in the garage earlier. Not exactly one of her most resplendent moments, she'd hoped that nobody had noticed, or at the very least that they wouldn't bring it up, but the fact that it was Taras considerably lessened the impact. They rarely ever felt the need to censor themselves when speaking together, and Ally was very glad for that, plus she knew that Taras didn't care if she'd lost her temper and kicked a wrench or whatever.<br><br>"Not quite, it would be a lot easier if I could magically sprout muscles like you whenever I needed them. I'll finish tomorrow, it's no big deal," Allison assured him. "I should go to the gym with you and bulk up so that I stop being such a wimp," she joked, both of them knowing full well that Allison wasn't a big fan of working out. She was lucky to have been blessed with an incredibly high metabolism, since she didn't eat nearly as smartly as Liza either, indulging in junk food and extravagant desserts far more often than any normal person should be allowed to get away with. "Guys are into the whole female bodybuilder thing, right?" Ally asked with mock curiosity. She liked herself all slender and willowy as she was, no longer hating her body for its lack of more pronounced curves like she had back in high school when she'd gotten mocked for it and called anorexic despite the fact that she ate like a horse.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>JDrew Spider</strong> on <strong>17-06-2012, 00:09:49</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: verdana;" class="bbc_font">Alisa </span><span style="font-family: impact;" class="bbc_font">"The Style"</span> <span style="font-family: verdana;" class="bbc_font">Lopez</span></span>:<span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"> <em>THE LOFT</em><span class="bbc_u"> Getting back at Claire</span></span><div class="floatleft">(http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r628/Love_Smile_Kiss/New-Kat-Graham-photoshoot-katerina-graham-25157133-734-780.jpg)(http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff428/xdobreva/xsunshinex_/68.jpg)(http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h411/xwesley/kat3.jpg)</div><br><em>It's sunny in San Diego.</em><div align="center"><br><br><br>She had no idea Piper was behind her until she hugged her. She nearly shocked the crap out of her. <strong>"What's up Pipes!" </strong>She said returning the hug glad to see somebody else had brought bags.&nbsp; It felt like forever, but Claire and Ally finally came over to hug her. So they called their selves practical jokers, well she had a few jokes of her own.<strong> "Har har"</strong> She said to Ally giving her firm squeeze. She left a much worse fate for Claire, which reminded her, where was Chris and Rosha? As Allison left to talk to Taras she shot Claire the<em> "look"</em>. She knew what the look meant and if she didn't, she would know soon. <br><br>Allison had a thing for Taras and she believed he really liked her to and she wasn't talking about the brotherly-sisterly type either. She thought they would look cute together, even where Allison was the delicate soft flower, Taras was like the huge un-movable mountain. She was never the type to meddle in others affairs, especially affairs of the heart, but Allison needed a walk through and Taras needed a wake-up. She figured she would pull&nbsp; Allison over later and&nbsp; give her that wonderful friend talk. At any rate she still didn't forget about Claire and slid on over back to the kitchen table to grab a can of beer. <strong>"Oh....Claire dear.."</strong>She said with a very mischievous look on her face as she started to shake the hot beer can up. <strong>"Let's try this again...I get my hug or you get beer splattered...."</strong> She said before approaching her best buddy. <strong>"I'm going to count back down to one..3....2.." </strong>Alisa was huge practical joker too, but her jokes a little different.<br></div>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Veluux</strong> on <strong>17-06-2012, 13:48:02</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/36827_421832359861_518524861_4822950_3819136_n.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Taras Ivan Markovski (Pronunciation: Ta-<em>rr</em>oss Ee-von Mar-Kovf-skee)<br><strong>Title:</strong> Co-Leader / The Muscle<br><strong>Location:</strong> In the open Dining Room<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Ally<br><br><hr><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<div style="text-align: justify;">He didn't even notice it, but the rest of what was going on in the room seemed to zone out into the distance whenever he was talking to Allison. That was one of the reasons that he was able to speak more freely with her and not really think about what he should or shouldn't say. There was also the off-chance that he might show a hint of expression every once in a while as well. Ally's gym jokes actually sparked a slight chuckle from Taras. The humor in her words was mostly for the fact that he knew she had no intentions of starting a gym routine. She might make it once or twice - then he envisioned her kicking something across the gym floor in frustration the same way she had booted the wrench. It was then that he'd noticed her disguised compliment, and surprisingly it didn't make him feel the least bit awkward. When she extended the joke out all the way to talking about female body builders he just winced slightly. <br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<strong>"Please no."</strong> He said evenly. There was nothing worse in his opinion than a girl with layers of visible muscle, especially taking it to the extreme of bodybuilding. Taras was about as big as a guy could get before you pass into that stage of self-obsessively working out to get just freakishly huge and ugly. Most of his time spent in the gym was to vent anger that would otherwise end up coming out incredibly destructive. He actually wished she would be interested in working out with him once in a while. The loft had a little weight room in it - which the entire Crew pretty much considered another room of his own. Even though it was there for everyone, Taras used it at least ten time more than the next person. <br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;<strong>"I'll help you get that thing straightened out tomorrow."</strong> He didn't ask. He had a feeling she might be too stubborn to accept it if he went that route. So he just stated it plain and dry, leaving no room for objections. As he was reading her reaction to his words he noticed the fatigue in her eyes and that there was something weighing her down - even though she had done an excellent job hiding it so far. Taras was not the type to be careless with his words though, so he made a mental note to bring it up later in private. He did show just the slightest look of concern on his face - so she would know that he'd noticed something. Allison and himself had spent enough time together that their understanding of each other's little nuances went a long way, and they could catch things about each other that even other members of the crew wouldn't notice. <br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;He took another drink from the bottle of Stoli he was holding in his hand and the raw vodka burned slightly on the way down. He didn't want to completely overwhelm her with a barrage of intrusions into her life - having already forced his way into helping with her car, and hinting that he would be wanting to know what else was going on with her. So he opened their private conversation back up to the larger group. <strong>"Quite a turnout we've got here. It's too bad that Chris and Rosha aren't back from Texas yet. I thought they'd have made it back by now."</strong> Especially with the way Chris drives. There were several reasons that the Crew tended to look up to him - even Taras - and his driving was surely one of them.<br></div>
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			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rachubka</strong> on <strong>17-06-2012, 16:30:02</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatleft">(http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x111/Lammy519/Models/Girl21/3df19d18.jpg)</div><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font"><strong>Claire Tang</strong></span></span><br><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font">The Nurse<br>Apartment Loft, open dining room<br>Tags: Alisa</span><br><hr><br>'Claire-Bear' was having a time. She wasn't entirely sure what to do with herself save for getting drunk. Alisa's freakout about being left hanging wasn't much of one and the others were deep in their own little conversations, leaving her watching from her perch at the long, central table. After a few more sips from the drink in her cup, the girl had practically lost herself in the crowd, her focus pinpointed on a wall plant on the far side of the outdoor space, everything before and around it blurry. Only the sound of an oh-so-familiar voice and a peculiar shaking sound brought her back.<br><br>She twisted herself to face the direction of the voice, finding Alisa priming up a can of beer to explode on a victim of her choosing. It took Claire a few seconds to figure out that she was going to be that victim unless she acted quickly. Practically tossing her drink onto the table (without spilling, mind you), Claire pounced onto her long time friend, hugging the life out of Alisa as if she wanted the beer can to fall to the ground from the exertion. <br><br>"Okay! Okay! Bad joke," Claire started, laughing into Alisa's hair. "You should know better that I wouldn't do anything to make you REALLY mad." She moved back to peck Alisa square on the cheek, then let go of her tentatively, keeping her eye on the shaken up beer can. "Uh... yeah. You should totally put that away, now!"
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lithium</strong> on <strong>18-06-2012, 01:09:51</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/eDJMl.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Allison Saurer<br><strong>Title:</strong> Mechanic / The Final Touch<br><strong>Locations:</strong> Dining Room<br><br><hr><br>"No!" Allison replied, raising her voice somewhat and sounding more upset than she probably should have. It was ironic, really. For years Taras had been like a guardian angel to her, always being there to help or protect her whenever she needed it and often even when she didn't. She was infinitely grateful to him for that, and Ally knew that she owed him more than she could likely repay in her lifetime, but it wasn't what she needed now. It wasn't what she <em>wanted</em>. "I can do it myself," she added dryly, her face hardening as she frowned (at least as much as Allison's face <em>could</em> harden). Taras still saw her as a fragile little girl that needed his help, and maybe she was - Allison wasn't quite sure - but at that moment she'd found it infuriating just the same. The way that he'd subtly insisted, the concerned look, it all made Allison feel like she could never hope to be anything more than a porcelain doll that needed to be preserved in bubble wrap as far as Taras was concerned.<br><br>He wouldn't understand why she was so irritated with him all of a sudden, Allison knew that. She was being unfair, maybe even cruel, two things that normally didn't characterize Allison at all. She knew that too, but emotion was getting the better of her, and with everything that she'd been going through recently, she wasn't being herself. Her eyes went from Taras down to her own feet as she blushed, a mix of guilt and anger which she didn't know how to deal with swirling within her like a tornado. Exhaling loudly with exasperation, Ally walked away without giving him the chance to say anything back. She knew what Taras was going to say. He was going to ask her what was wrong and then try to reason with her, but she wasn't in the mood for logic or reasoning. Not wanting to make a scene, Allison didn't storm off, she simply slipped away through the crowd and went over to join Liza and Claire who were goofing off a bit further away.<br><br>Had they been alone, she might have taken the opportunity to talk with Alisa about the matters of the heart that were causing her so much trouble, but it felt less than appropriate with Claire around for obvious reasons, so she just tried to put the situation behind her and have fun regardless. "Damn, remind me not to mess with her again," Allison said to Claire before giggling at their little standoff. She knew that Alisa wasn't <em>really</em> going to spray her. Or did she? That girl could get pretty crazy with her pranks, and now Ally and Claire had added fuel to the fire by playing&nbsp; trick on her first. Still, she probably wouldn't...<br><br>"Sooo, anyone want to go shopping tomorrow?" Allison asked completely casually as if there was no tension at all between her two friends.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>JDrew Spider</strong> on <strong>18-06-2012, 02:38:54</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: verdana;" class="bbc_font">Alisa </span><span style="font-family: impact;" class="bbc_font">"The Style"</span> <span style="font-family: verdana;" class="bbc_font">Lopez</span></span>:<span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"> <em>THE LOFT</em><span class="bbc_u"> Getting back at Claire</span></span><div class="floatleft">(http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r628/Love_Smile_Kiss/New-Kat-Graham-photoshoot-katerina-graham-25157133-734-780.jpg)(http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff428/xdobreva/xsunshinex_/68.jpg)(http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h411/xwesley/kat3.jpg)</div><br><em>It's sunny in San Diego.</em><div align="center"><br><br><strong><br>"Oh now you want to hug me"</strong> She said laughing at Claire. Hugging he friend she noticed Claire was little red in the cheeks. <strong>"Ok, how much have </strong>you had to drink already?" She said with a curious brow arched. Neverminding the chatter in the background Alisa reminded herself that she would have to put the food on the grill. As Allison she approached she noticed fellow member and longtime friend had a look of disappointment in her eyes. Could it be another Taras failure? She sighed before greeting her with a smile. <strong>"Allison you may have just saved Claire's life, I was tempted to do it, but now that you mentioned shopping I'm game." </strong>Alisa loved to shop, but she didn't really shop like a girl who just lived for the mall. She knew exactly what she wanted when walking into a store. She knew her size, waist and bust and didn't bother to try on clothes, she knew she had a great shape so she never worried.<br><br>However Alisa was strongly against dresses. She would never be caught dead in the dress. Even as a little girl&nbsp; her mother caught pure hell trying to put her in a dress for formal occasions and church. She was never really interested in doing some of the same things other girls did. Like playing with dolls, she had a better operating her motorized toy truck. Recently she had picked up skate boarding and she could never reject a game of paint ball. <strong>"What time tomorrow?"</strong> She asked Allison. <strong><strong>"Oh wait...step over here, the grill is calling me."</strong></strong> She wanted them to follow her towards the grill so she could begin the cooking. Grabbing a bag she pulled out the pound of meat before tossing it on to the grill.</div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rachubka</strong> on <strong>18-06-2012, 03:18:33</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatleft">(http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x111/Lammy519/Models/Girl21/3df19d18.jpg)</div><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font"><strong>Claire Tang</strong></span></span><br><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font">The Nurse<br>Apartment Loft, open dining room<br>Tags: Alisa, Allison, Amanda, Ashley (Not really)</span><br><hr><br>Claire reached up to touch her cheek as soon as Alisa had mentioned how much she had to drink. There was a bit of heat there, which really shouldn't have surprised her as much as it seemed to. It didn't take much to get the half-Asian girl to redden up from alcohol - a sip or two (in this case, several) was enough. She kept touching her cheeks with both hands, only stopping when Allison strolled up beside the two of them, looking a little dejected. Ally had one of those faces where anything but happiness and contentment looked wrong and out of place. <br><br>Nodding in agreement with Alisa was all that Claire could muster as a response at first. She was just forgetting her little bout of jealousy when the thoughts came rolling to the front of her mind again. She made a point to keep looking at her two friends and not make her gaze wander over to the man who's apparently causing trouble in the female ranks in the crew. In drunk courage, Claire suddenly thought that Taras is an adult and if he wants something, he will reach out for it. Whether it's Allison or herself, it made no difference anymore. Emotions are STUPID!<br><br>As a blind zombie reaction, Claire simply followed Alisa as she walked over the grill without even thinking about it. She wore another weak smile at her drunk revelation, going as far as to take another sip of her drink to make the feeling last a bit longer. The young woman watched Alisa work, only remembering the conversation they were having as soon as the meat hit the grill.<br><br>"Oooh, yeah! Shopping would be sick. I could get a nice summer dress for the race or something." Claire shot a glance at Alisa, hoping her mention of a dress would cause a rise in the girl. It was well known fact that she would sooner walk around buck naked than wear a dress involuntarily. She couldn't help but laugh, though, giving away the ruse. "Well, fine, no dress. I should get something for the occasion though, huh? I might even get to be the girl who waves the flag if I doll up enough." <br><br>That one was a half joke.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Photo</strong> on <strong>20-06-2012, 00:05:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatleft">(http://whisty.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/blonde-smoke-shades-weheartit2.png?w=655)</div><br><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font"><strong>Piper Adams</strong></span></span><br><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font">The Mouth<br>Making her entrance</span><br>With Adriano in the kitchen, among some of the others.<br><br><br><hr><br>Piper had accidentally toated one of her yellow plastic bags full of fireworks. the other bags full of food were white. however, This one was full of firecrackers, and bottle rockets. the packages of gun powder were spilling out of their plastic, lying on the kitchen counter in-between the vodka, already half empty and her six-pack of red bull. "Oh these?" Adriano was busy with himself; drinking, speaking of his rockets. Piper took a moment to stare at his chest. Their height difference allowed her to slowly look up at his face without drawing too much suspicion. She had removed his coat and his shirt with her eyes, though. He was a figure of lust for her, and it made her a little uncomfortable, how fast he had come up to say hello. <br><br>"Yeah. I get off pretty easily on little fireworks. Big mortars and rockets are pretty, but I can get creative with these." Her hand didn't seem to reach out for anything, but she was holding a thirty pack of bottle rockets, now.&nbsp; an excitement was lifting in her, knowing now that Adriano was an explosion supporter. It felt like he had been sent to this party for her. she would ask Claire later who had extended his invitation. <br><br>As Piper's energy flowed into Adriano's ears, she made herself another drink, and took off of her hooded sweatshirt all at about the same time. Nick was going on about what he had been up to this week. Piper didn't have to listen, she had been holding the wrenches and screwdrivers the whole time. His mouth had gone on about this to her for a few days in a row now. she had faked her interest, the same way that she was now. Adriano and her took a moment to listen to him. Although they didn't turn to give him their attention. Ms. Adams' hips were pointed directly at Mr. Guillermo's. Piper looked over Nick's way, once or twice. But, her eyes were glazed over and passive, only to return to Adriano's chest with a lingering air of fire. It looked like she was trying to solve a crossword puzzle with the buttons and thread of his clothing.<br><br>So, the other girls were approaching the grill, Taras and Allison were drifting apart, Nick was mostly done with his pitch, and she was equipped with another drink, same formula as before: one parts jagger, equal parts red bull and root beer. "Do you want a root beer barrel, Adriano? It tastes like drunken liquorice." Her eyebrows raised up, and her right foot lifted off of the ground without a conscious thought. Her toes twiddled against the ground, both of her hands were on her pounder glass, almost overflowing with ice and brown liquor. She looked hungry.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>AdrianZef</strong> on <strong>20-06-2012, 06:29:26</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTDx5aF-CrEImja-ATW2GktOFHjgwZjkP_QIoXF3IfpjD9xXnXz)</div><br><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>Name:</strong> Adriano Guillermo<br><strong>Title:</strong> Black Market Liaison / The Informant / Driver<br><strong>Location:</strong> Crew's Loft Apartment - Kitchen<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Piper<br><hr><br>Adriano took a glance at the yellow plastic bag of firecrackers and other small types of fireworks. "Not a bad collection." he observed. There was quite a bit of variety there, which he approved of. There were some larger ones, too, probably the largest kind you could get without a special permit. He was studying the brands of fireworks and the types of fireworks that she had bought, and didn't notice her eying his body. Not that he was oblivious of it, he simply hadn't interacted with her much. He did think she was attractive, but he knew better than to go after the first attractive woman he saw, having seen many a gang member taken down by a pretty woman. None from his club, though.<br><br>"I suppose so. But you haven't seen anything like what I brought." he said, with a sense of self-satisfaction. He had spent the entire last week looking for those fireworks, and had finally found them. He figured they could launch it from a corner of the patio itself. As long as they all stayed back behind some protective barricade, they should be fine. Adriano had brought some bulletproof clear barricades that were commonly used for explosive testing.<br><br>"I could certainly do with something like that. Although perhaps with a bit more alcohol." he said to Piper, as she asked him if he wanted some strange kind of drink. As long as it had at least half alcohol, he was fine with it. As she made the drink, he walked over with her to the grill, where it seemed most of the crew was gathering. "Hungry, eh?" he said, as he motioned for them to walk over.</div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lithium</strong> on <strong>25-06-2012, 00:19:00</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/eDJMl.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Allison Saurer<br><strong>Title:</strong> Mechanic / The Final Touch<br><strong>Locations:</strong> Dining Room<br><br><hr><br>"Ummm...whenever Claire-Bear over here is done recovering from her hangover?" Allison replied to Liza tentatively. She was only half joking, since miss Tang did seem to be hitting the alcohol pretty hard, although there was a good chance that everyone at the barbecue would be pretty tipsy by the end of the night. "You're too good to be doing that," she said solemnly, turning to Claire as they all migrated towards the grill. Ally realized that her friend probably wasn't being entirely serious, but she still felt like it warranted saying since they all knew that Claire was going to achieve great things in her life. That was just the vibe that she gave off, being so sweet and hard working and all. Ally was a total slouch in comparison.<br><br>"Speaking of which, I know some cool little vintage stores downtown, and don't worry, they even have clothes for boys!" she segued from Claire's comment about dresses into a joke directed at Alisa, smiling sweetly at her. In truth, Allison completely respected and supported Liza's fashion choices, as different as they may have been from her own, but it was always a fun subject to to tease her about nonetheless. She was already looking forward to tomorrow; they were definitely going to have a great time, she had decided.<br><br>Almost unconsciously, Allison straightened herself up a bit as Adriano approached their little group, bringing the ever unpredictable Piper along with him. She and Piper had always had a strange relationship, though that wasn't to say that it was bad. In fact, they got along perfectly fine on the surface and Piper seemed to go a bit easier on her than she did with most everyone else, but Allison often got the feeling that there was something more subtle and subliminal going on during their exchanges. What that something might be, however, she wasn't socially adept enough to put a finger on it.<br><br>As for the tall, dark and handsome Italian, well, he still made Allison's palms get sweaty, but she vowed to herself that she would successfully get over her silly crush. They were going to be seeing a lot of each other now that she was back and living at the loft, so she couldn't go on always getting so awkward and fidgety around him. A bit more alcohol surely wouldn't hurt, however.<br><br>"Hey!" she greeted Piper with a smile. "I'll take one of those if you feel like making more," Ally added cheerily while glancing at Piper's glass. She'd always been Piper's guinea pig when the blonde was brewing drinks and testing out new mixes, so she had a special appreciation for her concoctions and fond memories of having gotten drunk on them many a time while they goofed off.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Photo</strong> on <strong>28-06-2012, 23:03:02</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatleft">(http://whisty.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/blonde-smoke-shades-weheartit2.png?w=655)</div><br><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font"><strong>Piper Adams</strong></span></span><br><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font">The Mouth<br>Making her entrance</span><br>With Adriano in the kitchen, among some of the others.<br><br><br><hr><br>Piper shrugged her shoulders as Adirano walked away towards the Barbeque with a drink in his hand. She heard a compelling order from the group to make more of her concoctions at the bar.<br><br>So, she continued as the rumbling continued in the other room. she could see through the apces between the cupboards in the kitchen, and didn't give a shit as to what they were up to. she emptied her jaggermeifter, and her rootbeer, almost exhausting the redbull completely as well. Five drinks were left on the kitchen counter, with ice, and straws to match, and keep cool. A lazy bartender, and unpaid for the job, Piper poored a string of vodka into a two glasses of ice and redbull.<br><br>"You want some drinks? They're in here!" Piper shouted to the group, as she lifted her feet and carried the vodka red bulls away from the BBQ and towards Nick, her boss at the garage downstairs.<br><br>"here. You look thirsty." Piper set herself up next to him and lifted her glass for his to clink against. "what are <em>we</em> drinking to Nick? speed?" Piper hoped that her misguided attention toward Mr. trent might get Adriano's jealousy bones to start sparking up. She hadn't seen his eyes light up with fury before over a woman. But she had seen it in other men. As she toasted to drink with Nick, she positioned herself so that both men were in her line of sight. <br><br>'this is going to be a fun night.' she mused to herself in private. She was already feeling drunk, and there were folks there already with more booze in their systems, Claire most specifically. Piper tried her best to keep an eye on that young women as well.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>JDrew Spider</strong> on <strong>30-06-2012, 00:40:09</strong>
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			<dd class="postbody">
				<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: verdana;" class="bbc_font">Alisa </span><span style="font-family: impact;" class="bbc_font">"The Style"</span> <span style="font-family: verdana;" class="bbc_font">Lopez</span></span>:<span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"> <em>THE LOFT</em><span class="bbc_u"> Greeting Everyone</span></span><div class="floatleft">(http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r628/Love_Smile_Kiss/New-Kat-Graham-photoshoot-katerina-graham-25157133-734-780.jpg)(http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff428/xdobreva/xsunshinex_/68.jpg)(http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h411/xwesley/kat3.jpg)</div><br><em>It's sunny in San Diego.</em><div align="center"><br><br><br>Conversations carried formally as the sizzle of meet on the grill popped in her ears. Never minding the fact that her two closest friends were teasing her about how she would never be caught dead in a dress. Aliza would wear almost anything, except a dress and a clown outfit. Her thoughts had entered and exited her head as she grabbed a pair of tongs and flipped the meat over. Looking around she spotted the pan to put the meat in. Everything else she had brought from the store was already out on the counter. She wasn't big on using BBQ sauce as much as the seasonings because the meat should have a nice flavor of it's own. However if someone wanted to use sauce that was their loss.<br><br>She tuned back in to the conversation Allison and Claire were having next to her. Turning around she gave Allison the curious look. <strong>"Vintage clothes.."</strong>She repeated.&nbsp; One thing she liked about Allison was that she had her own style. Claire however would just toss on crap that complimented her figure, but clothes were an intimate thing for her. <strong>"You know....I think I want to buy a suit."</strong>She started to say. "A black silk suit with a red tie and really nice heels with a mob hat to match!" It was a random thing to say, but she always thought how dope her favorite Gangster of all time looked in a suit -Scarface was a legend to her. She had Scarface posters all over her room right next to the pictures of her mother and crew. However she had only one picture of her father and brother and she kept that hidden in the draw under a few notebooks. She never really told anyone much about her family except what they already knew about her and her mother. The longer she thought about it the more&nbsp; it reminded her of Chris and Claire- two pea pod heads and she loved them both. <br><br><strong>"Which reminds me.."</strong>She said balancing the tongs in her hand nonchalantly. <strong>"Where the hell is Chris and Rosha?"</strong><br><br></div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Savant of the Wastes</strong> on <strong>30-06-2012, 03:09:13</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(http://www.ticketonline.de/obj/media/DE-eventim/galery/kuenstler/d/david-garrett-10-2009-006.jpg)</div><br><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>Name:</strong> Nicholas Trent<br><strong>Title:</strong> The Scientist<br><strong>Location:</strong> Loft<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Piper<br><hr><br>Nick blinked as Piper approached him, confused. She was nice. Did that every happen? Alcohol really did work wonders, it seemed. He grinned, clinking his cup against hers. "I think we get enough speed in our day to day lives. Don't you? It's a holiday. How about to making a really big bang?" He nodded over at the pile of fireworks. "You went to all the trouble of bringing those over here. It needs to be worth it. You like setting them off all at once, or staggering it a bit?"<br><br>Nick relaxed, feeling his drinks starting to take their effect. It was nice to get away from work sometimes, and all the stress of his normal, non-work time as well.</div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>AdrianZef</strong> on <strong>30-06-2012, 09:14:49</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTDx5aF-CrEImja-ATW2GktOFHjgwZjkP_QIoXF3IfpjD9xXnXz)</div><br><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>Name:</strong> Adriano Guillermo<br><strong>Title:</strong> Black Market Liaison / The Informant / Driver<br><strong>Location:</strong> Crew's Loft Apartment - Kitchen<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Alisa, Allison, Piper, Nick, Taras<br><hr><br>"Very nice." Adriano said as he reached the grill and saw the meat almost fully cooked. He was hungry, at that meat looked good. Despite her constantly blabbering off and carrying what seemed to be multiple conversations at once, she was doing a pretty good job handling the grill, as always. And of course that always was a plus point in his book. But, he realized that he <em>still</em> didn't have a drink yet, so he excused himself from the grill to get a drink. Alisa was in conversation anyway. He heard her say something about a suit and was baffled. That girl never wore 'dress-up' clothes like that.<br><br>In any case, he went over to where Piper had carried off the drinks to talk to Nick. Nick was a nice guy, just different from Adriano. He saw them both carry on in conversation, though, and turned to see Allison. Since Piper seemed to be engaged, he grabbed two glasses and mixed what he thought he'd seen Piper do. Handing one to Allison, he said "This stuff's not bad, eh?" he said, as he took another sip of his drink. He hadn't interacted with Allison much either, come to think of it, but she was part of the crew. She was a damn good mechanic and driver, as well, and he was impressed by her. Attractive, as well. There was still something off about her, though, but he had no clue what it was.<br><br>As Alisa spoke, he looked up towards Taras, "Yeah, where are those two goofballs? You think they'd have found their way back here by now, even after going off to Texas..." he said, draining some more of his drink as his words trailed off.</div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Veluux</strong> on <strong>01-07-2012, 02:50:09</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/36827_421832359861_518524861_4822950_3819136_n.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Taras Ivan Markovski (Pronunciation: Ta-<em>rr</em>oss Ee-von Mar-Kovf-skee)<br><strong>Title:</strong> Co-Leader / The Muscle<br><strong>Location:</strong> In the open Dining Room<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Adriano Guillermo, Allison Saurer, Claire Tang<br><br><hr><br><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Taras watched the girls interacting, although it would be a lie to say that the big man wasn't partially looking past the three of them to the grill every now and again. Big man likes to eat. He tipped back his bottle of vodka and took another long pull, clearly in the mood to drink - but then what slovak man wasn't? His biological father was a hardcore alcoholic, something he'd noticed and remembered even at the age of 6, before his mother was able to find an adoptive family for him in the U.S. In fact, the man's drinking problem was probably most of the reason they struggled to support the family to begin with. Taras had some siblings from his parents, they were all slightly older then him. He was the only one that had gotten the 'opportunity' to come to America, but the well-intentioned move had singled him out badly. <br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;He knew why his mother had sent him off, she had good intentions... but as he grew older he just wondered if she didn't think he was tough enough to handle the rough life. That is when his wild-side came out. He was constantly getting into fights over the most inconsequential affairs. He lost some, but we won twice as much - and he learned a lot about his limits and how far he could push himself. He started working out regularly even back in high school and had never stopped, even now ten years down the road. He'd never finished school and graduated with the rest of the members of the Crew that had attended Rancho Bernardo High. He had regretted not being able to compete in football for what would have been his senior year... but then the faculty had long gotten tired of his misbehaving, his poor attendance, and his need to constantly pick fights. It wasn't hard to expel him.<br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;It didn't affect him too badly though, he had learned to take care of himself. Over the last few years he had also gotten close with the majority of the crew members and now he kind of looked after them too. Chris was the main leader though, and he was the only one that really chose to lead and take responsibility for the others. Taras would step in and support, and would occasionally lead unintentionally. He was born with the talent and ability to be a leader, and probably developed the outward confidence for it too; but he didn't really trust himself to be counted on regularly. Tars had talked to Chris on the phone earlier this morning, and he'd said they might be back late into the evening... but the big Ukrainian couldn't help feeling like something was wrong. Chris new how to take care of himself though, and he had Rosha with him - that kid could talk himself out of any situation. What little anxiety had begun to well up quickly faded and he took yet another deep drink from his nearly half-gone bottle. He'd probably consumed eight or so drinks' worth of alcohol, so he was already feeling buzzed. <br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;He replied casually to Adriano, <strong>"When I talked to Chris earlier, he said they might run really late tonight. He'll be here."</strong> He said to reassure the man, and himself. Without Chris to lead the gang, that role would most likely fall upon Taras. He tried not to think about what it might be like without his best friend around. Chris and Claire were probably the only reasons that Taras wasn't already back in prison. The two did a good job of keeping him out of bad situations, or rescuing him from the ones he did get into. Now that Allison was back he had also tried to be more level-headed. He didn't want to be a bad influence on the girl. She had so much potential.</div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rachubka</strong> on <strong>06-07-2012, 04:31:02</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatleft">(http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x111/Lammy519/Models/Girl21/3df19d18.jpg)</div><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font"><strong>Claire Tang</strong></span></span><br><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font">The Nurse<br>Apartment Loft, open dining room<br>Tags: Alisa, Allison, Piper, Adriano, Taras </span><br><hr><br>Claire shot Ally a faux-death stare, playing at being hurt by the younger girl commenting on her state. The glare was quickly turned skyward, the half-Asian touching a cheek again with the back of her free hand. "Yeah yeah yeah, that sounds about right, actually." She laughed in her usual cheerfulness and somehow took it to another level when Ally commented on her being a race girl. "You're right about that, too. I'd hate to get comfortable and just do that for the rest of my life!" <br><br>Sipping at her drink, Claire almost lost it when Ally poked fun at Alisa. It was easy for everyone to tease each other without fear of consequence. Hopefully it stayed that way when the drinks start to get poured more liberally. It's been a while since Claire had drank, given her schedule, and in truth it was hitting her a little harder than she'd like to admit. She'll be at her worst when she starts talking far too much, solely in whispers, gossiping about this guy and that girl until she eventually just wants to cuddle up with someone and sleep.<br><br>Shaking her plastic cup about in the air, listening to the ice spin around with no liquid in between them, Claire practically skipped into the kitchen after Piper. She thought to herself why she hasn't just pulled the girl over to her and just talk her ear off, but Piper always tended to be on the move, tonight being no exception. Not bothering to think about it too much, Claire practically slammed her empty cup onto the counter, picked up three of the blonde's mixed drinks between strained fingers and turned to make the slow journey back to the grill.<br><br>With occupied hand outstretched, Claire invited any two of the people around her to help themselves to the cups. If no one was eager enough to help themselves, she would just place them on the nearby working table close to the grill. Having just got back to the conversation, she heard Alisa mention Rosha and her brother Christian. Knowing Christian, Claire wasn't too worried about what he was doing. There was no chance he would ever miss an opportunity to have his 'family' together, no less in his own loft. Taras and Adriano touched on the fact that they were running behind schedule, but Claire just scoffed at the idea.<br><br>"Not to worry, folks!" Claire nearly shouted out, trying her best to make the point that the two of them would make it back in time hit home. "Well, maybe we should worry if Chris is driving."
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lithium</strong> on <strong>11-07-2012, 07:28:20</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/eDJMl.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Allison Saurer<br><strong>Title:</strong> Mechanic / The Final Touch<br><strong>Locations:</strong> Dining Room<br><br><hr><br>Allison brought a hand up and rested her chin against her thumb and middle finger and extended her index up so that it was pressed against her cheek while she gave Liza a quick once over as if she were sizing the girl up and picturing her in the mobster inspired outfit that she'd just described. Suits were currently in vogue and Liza was undeniably stunning, so she'd obviously be able to pull the look off - or just about any other look, for that matter - but she was worried that the tie might make it look too comstumy. Ally got the fact that the idea had been inspired by the Scarface movie, having seen the posters up in Liza's room countless times, but it was possible to draw inspiration from something while still tweaking a few details here and there. After all, she didn't recall Scarface wearing high heels, either. <br><br>"Spiffy, we'll have to make that happen," Ally replied diplomatically. As Liza's self-appointed style consultant, it was her responsibility to talk her friend out of the red tie, but there would be plenty of time for that while they were shopping the next day.<br><br>Turning her attention back towards Claire, she sucked in her cheeks, pouted her lips and widened her eyes&nbsp; so that she wore an exaggerated expression of guilt and fear on her face, playing along with the not-so-icy stare that was coming her way. It was fun to just hang out and mess around with the girls, she'd really missed it.<br><br>It wasn't just them, of course, and Allison was reminded of the boys' presence a few seconds later when Adriano offered her the drink that she'd asked Piper for. He caught her a bit off guard, as he always seemed to do. Had it been anyone else bringing her the drink, she probably would have just said <em>thank you</em> and not have given it too much more thought, but just because it was him, even that small gesture seemed so gentlemanly that it made it difficult not to swoon.<br><br>"Oh, wow, thanks," Ally replied only slightly nervously as she accepted the glass, trying her best to bounce back from the shock and awe that her silly crush was making her feel. Feeling a bit warmer and more uncomfortable than before, she took several small gulps of the fizzy brown concoction to help cool herself down, also using it as an opportunity to lower her eyes and avoid Adriano's gaze. After a couple of seconds to compose herself and a bit of additional liquid courage, however, Allison got some of her nerve back.<br><br>"Mmm...well, can we settle on less bad than most?" she joked, poking a bit of fun at herself since it was no secret that she wasn't a big fan of the actual taste of alcohol, particularly the stronger stuff, although she did enjoy it's effects just as much as anyone else. She quickly reached a hand up and tucked her hair behind her ear, a minor little tic that she had whenever she felt anxious or nervous. It never stayed put for long, though, especially when her hair was all voluminous and wavy as opposed to straight, so it prompted Ally to keep doing it every now and again.<br><br>She wasn't too worried about Chris or Rosha when some of the others began wondering where they were or why they were late. They were completely dependable when it came to serious business, but neither of them were necessarily the type who you'd expect to always make it on time to casual gatherings or things like that, so Ally didn't consider it a negative omen that they hadn't arrived. As the crew's leader, Chris also had a sort of intangible aura of invincibility around him as if nothing could truly touch him, so she really couldn't picture him having gotten in to trouble.<br><br>"Sooo...anyways, how have you been?" Ally changed the topic slightly clumsily as she turned her attention back towards Adriano. "It seems like we hardly ever get to talk." She left out the part where it was mostly her fault because she found Adriano too intimidating and kind of avoided him, trying really hard to suppress her instinct to just bolt so that they could get to know each other a bit better. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>JDrew Spider</strong> on <strong>13-07-2012, 20:06:58</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<span style="font-size: 14pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: verdana;" class="bbc_font">Alisa </span><span style="font-family: impact;" class="bbc_font">"The Style"</span> <span style="font-family: verdana;" class="bbc_font">Lopez</span></span>:<span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"> <em>THE LOFT</em><span class="bbc_u"> FOODS DONE!</span></span><div class="floatleft">(http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/r628/Love_Smile_Kiss/New-Kat-Graham-photoshoot-katerina-graham-25157133-734-780.jpg)(http://i1235.photobucket.com/albums/ff428/xdobreva/xsunshinex_/68.jpg)(http://i1108.photobucket.com/albums/h411/xwesley/kat3.jpg)</div><br><em>It's sunny in San Diego.</em><div align="center"><br><br>She noticed the look on Allison's face as she contemplated on the whole idea of the suit and red tie.<strong> "Okay so maybe not the suit, but I'm definitely getting a red tie."</strong> Glancing over to Adriano as she noticed him lingering over the meat she had cooked she laughed slight. <strong>"It's almost done."</strong>She told him before tossing the rib stack on the grill and taking the nicely grilled pound of meat off and placing it on the tray with the other meat she had already cooked. The tray was heavy and as she attempted to lift if off the counter she nearly lost her balance. <strong>"Whoa...okay, less back more knee power."</strong> She muttered under her breath. It was kinda funny how she completely took over the role of cooking the meat, which also reminded her that any good cookout had side items. She placed the tray of food on the table. Then flew over to the refrigerator and took out the toss salad she had prepared earlier that day. It was a huge bowl of toss salad that consisted of everything that made a real salad good. She managed to balance the salad bowl in one arm before grabbing two bottles of salad dressing, pepper and parmesan cheese and various other cheeses. Who ever wanted to add things like nuts and berries to their salad had the option of doing so. <strong>"Alright so I have, pepper, cheese, bags of berries, nuts and what the hell ever else for whoever wants to hook up their salad."</strong> At this point she was practically talking to herself.<br><br>Never minding the multitudes of conversation going on she headed back to the freezer and pulled out a bag of corn on the cob. Fifteen maybe twenty minutes was all that it would taker her to grill that and her shish kabobs. Aliza was completely focused on the grill at this point. Grabbing her tongs she flipped over the meat and began to make room for her corn on the cob and the kabobs. She had decided to make two kinds, one for shrimp the other for chicken, both would have peppers and pineapples stacked onto them. She fiddled around the kitchen until she found the&nbsp; foot long sticks for the kabobs to go on. The aroma of the food carried through the room and it was fine signal&nbsp; that the food was almost near to completion. In another life maybe she would though about opening up a restaurant , but it seems like her first love would be cars , but food was definite close second.<br><strong><br>"Okay!" </strong>She announced&nbsp; before placing the last of the ribs the be grilled&nbsp; onto another tray and delivering it to the table along with the corn on the cobs. <strong>"Meats ready and&nbsp; just a few more minutes till everything is too." </strong> She really had to pat herself on the back for this one and a drink would be nice to add.<br></div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Photo</strong> on <strong>18-07-2012, 18:28:23</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatleft">(http://whisty.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/blonde-smoke-shades-weheartit2.png?w=655)</div><br><br><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font"><strong>Piper Adams</strong></span></span><br><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font">The Mouth<br>Ignoring people</span><br>not un-aproachable<br><br><br><hr><br>"It doesn't really fucking matter, dude," she spit towards Nick in a quiet frustration. On the outside, Piper had disguised the bitter sentence as a joke, something to be taken lightly, something to be forgotten about in the next ten or fifteen minutes; likely while the fireworks were exploding. It wasn't. Piper had a serious issue with people, in one care free moment, she wanted to be talked to, in the next, every word from anothers mouth felt like retarded rambling, or delusional behaviour.<br><br>She had swallowed half of her drink to his toast about a bang. The liquid wasn't settling very well though, and then he had asked her a question that deserved no answer. Imagery, irony, and the urge to slap a baby in the jaw. A thick flavor, tight syrup, sweat, and the fact that she didn't belong. Piper's head was too full to communicate, she wasn't even drunk yet, and she was already pissed off about nothing. <br><br>So she walked away, leaving her halfed cup of jaggermeifter next to Nick's empty hand. The food was ready, but that wasn't a good reason. the night had turned dark, but she wasn't carrying any fireworks.<br><br>Piper ignored everyone, she walked right passed the food, the drinks, Claire, the cheer, the laughing, and the scorching vision of Adriano. She pulled her cigarettes out of her jaket.<br><br>There may have been a patio, or a deck above the street, but she didn't care. The window was square in the center of her vision, and she marched with a slick lighter in her left hand. Piper grabbed the window and threw it ope, the wood slammed into the frame, and she failed to turn and guage anyone's reaction. Piper dropped her cigarettes, her lighter, and her jacket on the floor, only to pick up her smoking tools again. She straddled the window sill, and poked her head out over the city. Her left hand, and her left shin were the only things keeping her from spilling out onto the concrete. It looked dangerous.<br><br>The smoke helped some, in a way it only made her angrier, but perhaps her private adolescent tantrum would reset the balance of the room. Breathing turned into a chore, and the pain felt better than any form of speed, explosions, food, sex, or drink. 'je'taime' she thought to herself, in loving favor of her favorite habit. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>AdrianZef</strong> on <strong>21-07-2012, 08:56:51</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTDx5aF-CrEImja-ATW2GktOFHjgwZjkP_QIoXF3IfpjD9xXnXz)</div><br><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>Name:</strong> Adriano Guillermo<br><strong>Title:</strong> Black Market Liaison / The Informant / Driver<br><strong>Location:</strong> Crew's Loft Apartment - Kitchen<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Taras, Piper, Allison<br><hr><br>"Well, maybe we should just go ahead and start the fireworks then." he said to Taras, half-joking. "Maybe it'll help them find the way home." Chris and Taras were the two cornerstones of the group, so he knew that they wouldn't let him down. Taras was here, in any case. They would get home safe, most likely. The recent gang scene had not changed much, or at least had not changed enough for Chris and Rosha to suddenly get caught.<br><br>He saw Piper storm out, and saw Alisa cooking away excitedly. Their group had quirks for sure, but that just made it more exciting. Unlike those boring gang members he was with half the time. It was almost as if half of them didn't have brains. The people here did. Allison was one example of that. She had the skills to pull off being a driver and a mechanic. "You know, not many girls your age could pull off being as good a mechanic and driver as you are." he said simply, as he stared into the distance, thinking, and sipping his drink.<br><br>"I have been good. Busy." he replied to Allison. "I spent quite a bit of time procuring some special fireworks for us tonight." he said. "I know, a shame, right? No worries, the family will grow closer with time." he said, as he smiled at her. "How about you, how have you been?" he asked her. As he asked her though, he turned to face the stairs. "Would you like to come with me to the garage, and we can bring the fireworks up here now, before we start eating?" he asked her, motioning for them to walk and talk. And drink, of course.</div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Veluux</strong> on <strong>03-08-2012, 08:28:24</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/36827_421832359861_518524861_4822950_3819136_n.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Taras Ivan Markovski <br><strong>Title:</strong> Co-Leader / The Muscle<br><strong>Location:</strong> In the open Dining Room<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Claire, Adriano, Allison, Piper<br><hr><br><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;The tall Ukrainian gave Adriano a nod and almost let a grin show, perhaps the alcohol was starting to finally sink in. Taras was fairly bottled up with any displays of emotion or feelings, but he tended to come more out of his shell when he drank. He loosened up a lot, which most of the crew was able to appreciate. Deep down he had a slight sense of worry about Rosha and Chris - but he was confident in their abilities. He rationalized away the worry and besides - he didn't want to kill the mood of the party.<br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;He noticed most everyone was caught up in conversation, so he made his way over to the grill that Alisa had stolen away from him, seeing the meat finished and just a few odds and ends still in the works. He was far too hungry to wait for all the accessories, so he picked up a plate and tongs and plopped on a bit of BBQ's meat to get himself started. <strong>"This looks good..."</strong> He said in compliments to the chef. <br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;After he had gotten enough food on his plate to placate him for the time being, he turned around and took in the rest of the crew. Some were getting fireworks ready, others were just chit chatting with on another. Piper was in one of her usual fits, which didn't surprise him too much anymore. Even Taras had his minor bouts of rage from time to time, but he usually kept those to himself.<br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; His eyes wandered over in Claire's direction, she seemed to be equally confident that Chris and Rosha weren't in any trouble, and her energetic personality put him even more at ease. Taras had always been attracted to Claire - ever since they were kids in school. Well, before he'd dropped out anyways. Claire had stuck with it, and was making a fine life for herself so far. She was still really close with the crew, but he wondered if it would ever work out between them. From time to time it seemed like she might have similar feelings for him, but she was equally talented at hiding how she truly felt - so he could never get a really good bead on her.<br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;His gaze shifted over then to Allison as she talked with Adriano. He didn't like it. Adriano was a decent guy, but he probably had the darkest job on the crew - and half the people in the room didn't even truly know exactly how deep into the underground Adriano really was. Taras didn't want Allison to get caught up in that. He was concerned about her, as any protective sibling would be... but there was a minor twinge of jealousy that he felt as well. His eyes narrowed for the briefest of moments when he realized that he actually was slightly jealous. He'd never really thought about Allison in any other way than as a sister... yet for some reason her womanly qualities were standing out to him at the moment. Was it the alcohol?</div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Lithium</strong> on <strong>05-08-2012, 12:32:10</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(http://i.imgur.com/eDJMl.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Allison Saurer<br><strong>Title:</strong> Mechanic / The Final Touch<br><strong>Locations:</strong> Inside the loft, heading towards the garage<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Adriano, Taras<br><br><hr><br>Allison bowed her head slightly and brought her right hand up to her face, covering half of it and incidentally giving Adriano a good look at her festive nail varnish. Her thumb was painted blue with a few tiny white star decals sprinkled on top while the rest of her fingers alternated between red and blue. She looked down briefly before raising her one exposed eye back up towards the handsome Italian and showing him half of a bashful smile. Receiving compliments was always a somewhat awkward affair for Allison, even though she truly appreciated them from the bottom of her heart. Undoubtedly, it had something to do with the fact that she'd received so few of them from her peers during her childhood and that she'd been so excessively self-conscious for a long time as a result. <br><br>Even now, she had a bit of trouble accepting Adriano's flattery without questioning herself about whether or not she was worthy of his praise, but this time she was able to combat the doubts away and just enjoy the moment for what it was. And it <em>was</em> certainly a nice moment, as Adriano's sweet words flowed through Allison's veins like molten gold, making her melt and feel warm and special all at the same time. "I don't think that many girls my age would to," she punctuated her reply with a short giggle. <br><br>Already, Allison was beginning to feel more at ease just from the short chat, but Adriano's next inquiry rocked her boat considerably and threatened to undo any progress that had been made. Whenever possible, she did her best to avoid situations in which she'd need to discuss her personal life since she hadn't exactly been entirely honest with the crew in that regard and lying to them made her feel sick to her stomach; the relatively recent deaths of her parents had made things even more delicate, the pain from that having hardly dulled since the moment that she'd found out.<br><br>This time it was particularly bad, though, because Allison felt as if Adriano might be able to just see right through her soul and realize that she wasn't being truthful. After all, it was his job to deal with mobsters and all sorts of other shady characters who were surely far better liars than her, so what chance did she have of fooling him? She could only hope that he wouldn't be scrutinizing her too closely since they were friends; family, even.<br><br>"Oh, um, yeah of course." Allison bought herself a few seconds to regroup her thoughts and calm herself down by agreeing to help with the fireworks, not that she would have refused even if she wouldn't have been benefiting from the distraction. She could scarcely ever refuse a favor to anyone, even a random stranger, so hell would likely freeze over before she turned away a fellow crew member.<br><br>"Well, I won't lie," <em>that was a lie right there</em>. Well, kind of; she tried to keep things vague so that she didn't really need to lie, only to omit certain facts. It probably wasn't much better, but for whatever reason it made it a bit easier for her. "I've had some ups and downs, but at least I think I've grown. I don't regret going off to do my own thing and see a bit more of the world, but I'm really happy to have ended up back here with everyone. I guess in a way it made me appreciate everything that I had that much more, you know?" <em>Especially the lives of the people that I love</em>, Allison thought to herself gloomily.<br><br>Suddenly remembering Taras, she hazarded a quick glance at him over her shoulder just before reaching the entrance to the kitchen behind Adriano as she followed him. She had no idea what her 'older brother' was thinking, or if he'd even realized that she'd gotten upset with him earlier. If he had, then he hadn't shown it, anyways. Oddly enough, she wished that he would have. Now that she'd had some time to simmer down, Allison was pretty sure that she'd overreacted and she wished that he would have gotten annoyed with her; perhaps angry, even. At least then she'd know that he was capable of seeing himself as something more than just her stalwart protector. <br><br>Then she remembered how Taras hadn't even noticed her despite the fact that she'd tried to dress up as cutely and enticingly for him as she could and her hope waned like the dying petals of a flower. It filled Allison with a whirlwind of confusion emotions which she wasn't prepared to deal with at the moment, so she pushed them out of her mind for the time being and turned to face the front again as she followed Adriano down to the garage.<br><br>"It's funny, when I think about you, I don't really think <em>loud, bright fireworks</em>," Allison said offhandedly before realizing her less than ideal choice of words. <em>Did you just tell him that you think about him? You dork!</em> Alison cringed at herself and nervously tucked any loose strands of hair that she could find on the right side of her head behind her ear, concluding that it was probably a better idea to shut up rather than clumsily try to explain herself and potentially stick her foot even further into her mouth.
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Rachubka</strong> on <strong>26-08-2012, 03:35:13</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatleft">(http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x111/Lammy519/Models/Girl21/3df19d18.jpg)</div><span style="font-size: 12pt;" class="bbc_size"><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font"><strong>Claire Tang</strong></span></span><br><span style="font-family: arial black;" class="bbc_font">The Nurse<br>Apartment Loft, open dining room<br>Tags: Taras</span><br><hr><br>Claire pursed her lips to one side, silently taking stock of where everyone was getting at. No one was really pairing up per se, but there was definitely something in the water that drew the boys and girls into more exclusive, private conversations. Right. Alcohol.<br><br>Snapping back to reality, she she caught the scent of the mound of meat that had come off the barbecue and slowly made her way over. Or at least she was going to before she caught sight of Taras and stepped up in front of him, his plate well covered in proteins. Claire craned her neck to look him in the eye with a stuck out tongue, as if to distract him from her stealthy hand reaching to nab a loose nibble from his plate. Not that she noticed at all, but he did well enough to distract himself with his attention firmly held by Allison and Adriano. At the very least she thought she was being funny.<br><br>Claire let out a pleased groan, managing to do so while sucking on her thumb and index after popping the bite-sized piece of meat into her mouth. She let out a far more panicked squeal when she had to chase down trail of meat-juice traveling down her forearm with her tongue. <em>'Real sexy, Claire'</em> she thought to herself, looking up again at Taras to see if he picked up on her forgetting how to eat. Either way, she straightened herself up as soon as she could, taking a heavy sip of her drink to wash down the shame.<br><br>"Hey Taras," Claire started, realizing that she hadn't said much to him this whole time, aside from yelling at him through the intercom. The girl made a mental note not to mention Chris or Rosha as that would pretty put a damper on this conversation real fast. "Liza outdid herself again. Or maybe the drinks have something to do with it." She offered him a weak smile, then covered it up with the rim of her cup to take another, much smaller sip. As she did, she strained to think of anything else to say. The mixture of her nerves, the alcohol, and the bout of jealousy she had earlier weren't helping her in her attempts to be casual, natural.<br><br>She herself wanted to wait for more of the spread to come out and give the others a chance to grab what they wanted to eat, but as Taras seemed set (knowing the way he eats), Claire gestured for him to make his way to the dining table, where she'd no doubt follow. 
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>AdrianZef</strong> on <strong>30-08-2012, 17:43:04</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTDx5aF-CrEImja-ATW2GktOFHjgwZjkP_QIoXF3IfpjD9xXnXz)</div><br><div style="text-align: left;"><strong>Name:</strong> Adriano Guillermo<br><strong>Title:</strong> Black Market Liaison / The Informant / Driver<br><strong>Location:</strong> Crew's Loft Apartment - Heading towards the Garage<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Allison, Taras, Chris<br><hr><br>Adriano looked over and saw Allison's hands covering her face, from his compliment. Her hands had a bit of roughness to them, from working with cars, but they also looked delicate, and had some colorfully decorated nails. There almost seemed like there were two sides to the girl. He wasn't sure how her attitude was to outsiders or strangers. It was true that he was somewhat of a stranger to her, but they were both part of the family, and that made things different. Adriano felt his spirits rise a little as Allison giggled from his compliment. These were the sorts of things that never happened to him when he was out with the other gangs. They weren't really his friends. So Adriano had to come back here every now and then, so that he didn't become one of them. Though he did walk the line quite narrowly.<br><br>He walked down the stairs, heading towards the garage. More specifically, towards where his car and the hidden fireworks were waiting. He was sure Taras knew about this already, as the man seemed to know what Adriano did. Sometimes Adriano forgot whether he had told Taras, or if the man had simply figured it out himself. Either way, he didn't think Taras would object to them. He didn't even have to think about Chris, he would've loved something as crazy as that.<br><br>Adriano looked back at Allison, who seemed to have taken a bit longer to respond to his question than normal. He didn't mean it to be an intrusive question, but it was more of a general conversational inquiry, as he might have done to anyone in the family. Of course, the fact that it was Allison blurred the lines a little bit. She had always attracted his attention a bit more than most women. He sipped on his drink as they reached the bottom of the stairs, by which time Allison had finally answered. He thought maybe there was something wrong, that he should check on her a little more. But then again, he was the kind to do more thinking than was necessary, and less talking than normal.<br><br>What she last said did ring a tone with him, though, "Yes, it is nice to be able to come back here, it feels like it makes all of the other problems better. Even if they're still there." There were some things brewing in the outside world, but Adriano didn't want to think about those things at the moment. There was an appropriate time to think about those. As they reached the bottom of the stairs, he opened the door, gesturing for her to go ahead of him. "In any case, these fireworks are loud enough to make you forget any of those problems. Except maybe this one." he said, holding up his now empty glass.<br><br>As he headed towards his car, he saw that it was fine. Maybe it was just his cautious self, but he always checked if his car was tampered with before going to it, though that was hardly necessary here. "You don't?" he asked her, his eyes twinkling as he opened the trunk of his car. It had been modified to include the space that the rear seats were in originally, so it was quite spacious. There were a two or three boxes there, and the assorted equipment required to launch those large fireworks that were lurking inside those boxes. He chuckled, though, "I'm not a huge fireworks person, this was a one-time thing. I imagined the others of the family might like this, though, would you agree?" he asked, as he let his arm slip off the top of the trunk and pull some of the boxes toward him, so they would be easier to lift out.</div>
			</dd>
			<dt class="postheader">
				Title: <strong>Re: Fast and Furious: Crew's Loft Apartment</strong><br>
				Post by: <strong>Veluux</strong> on <strong>03-09-2012, 06:45:45</strong>
			</dt>
			<dd class="postbody">
				<div class="floatright">(http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b52/jotunusmc/36827_421832359861_518524861_4822950_3819136_n.jpg)</div><strong>Name:</strong> Taras Ivan Markovski <br><strong>Title:</strong> Co-Leader / The Muscle<br><strong>Location:</strong> In the open Dining Room<br><strong>Tags:</strong> Claire, Adriano, Allison<br><hr><br><div style="text-align: justify;">&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Sizzling. The evening in general, the meat on the grill, his mind after contemplating Adriano's interest in Allison, and of course - the blood in his veins whenever Claire was in his immediate vicinity. The alcohol probably only intensified the feeling as she drew close. His eyes quickly peeled away from the departing black-market dealer and his "sibling". That jealousy faded drastically when Claire came around, and he managed a weak smile - which was a decent show of emotion for the stone-cold Taras. <br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; It was interesting, the two women of the crew he was most attracted to were the exact two that he feared to draw into the darker parts of his life; but then, perhaps that was precisely why he feared for their well being more than the rest of the crew. He just cared about them both too much to put his desires in front of there well being... <em>most</em> of the time. When alcohol was involved, it was an entirely different story - and the dampened jealousy over Allison was testament to that. <br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; Claire's happy-go-lucky mood drew him out of those deeper thoughts and he couldn't help but chuckle as she nabbed a morsel from his plate, watching it get the best of her. It truly was. The best of her, that is. As far as Taras saw things, Claire's fun loving attitude was the primary component to her personality that he gravitated towards. She seemed to always know how to let loose and leave her worries aside - something Taras could rarely do, and never well. The only occasions when he let loose and ignored consequences were when he was down right pissed off... and also when he was drinking. So now was about the best time Claire could approach him - as even in the brief time the crew had been assembling he had already killed half his bottle of Stoli.<br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; <strong>"Hey Claire."</strong> he offered, more confident than he normally would have been around her. Well, he always gave a show of confidence most of the time, but it wasn't often that display was authentic. <strong>"Probably a good bit of both."</strong> He answered her with a better smile than he'd weakly given before - his confidence clearly growing as his body continued to soak up that alcohol. <strong>"She stole my job."</strong> He said with no conviction at all. Everyone knew Liza; and they knew she had no problems intruding or changing people's plans to fit her own view of things - which probably had more pros to it than it did cons.<br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;His crush then motioned towards the tables, and he was quick to accept the offer to be the first one to sit down with her in tow. They might get a quick moment of time together before everyone else piled in around them. He picked a seat somewhere near the middle of the table. Since Chris wasn't here, he'd probably be the one speaking and making the toast once everyone gathered around and was ready to eat. He didn't like running the show, unless it was race day of course.<br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Taras wasn't the talkative type, nor did he enjoy a bunch of attention... but when it came to racing cars and the crew's reputation, he was a fierce and bold leader - much the same way we went about driving his car. Saturday morning, the crew would likely get an extra dose of Taras' muscle. Not the muscles of his body, but the muscle of his influence. He'd make sure that everyone was set and completely ready for the race. The crew - while individually motivated in races - frequently worked together to get the best of the rest of the racers. They would draft each other, block out other racers, among other strategies that didn't break the rules. That was one of the reasons Taras was usually running his firebird or some other muscle car. New racers, exotic punks, and the Mafia drivers didn't usually like to risk roughing up their aluminum and carbon fiber rides against the pure steel of his 60's classic. So Taras would generally take the lead when it came to talking race strategy and making sure everyone understood it. That was the biggest part of being in the crew - looking our for each other. Race day was no exemption from this rule, and they all knew that. It didn't, however, stop Taras from being a slight annoyance those days as he made his checks. Though, after being used to the way Liza was, Taras being bossy was probably mild. <br><br>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;As soon as Claire had time to catch up and sit down he started to make conversation. <strong>"How've you been Claire? I'm glad you're here. We don't see very much of you these days."</strong> He's started off general, and then actually shared a bit of his feelings - which was probably some of the alcohol speaking for him... He must have realized it however, because he was quick to put 'we' in the very next sentence to mask that it was really his personal thought. After those words he took a large bite of meat, trying his best not to look like a lion ripping apart a carcass.<br></div>
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		</dl>
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