'Casper' Will Be Right With You (Ana Lucia, Open)

[naomi]

Miles snarled as he entered the place. After his complete humiliation the other night (granted, only in his own mind) he hated to set foot back in this bar. It was becoming a bad habit... well... it would be a bad habit if Cortez Junior didn't co-own the place.

He swung open the door of the Stone Pony and let it slam behind him, wondering where the dark-haired broad would be. With her little taunts at the police station the other day, he wondered if she actually thought she could pierce through his thick skin by making little ghost jokes and trying to deny him credibility with the detective he was talking with. If she did, she was more stupid than he thought. But then again, going and popping a few in the guy who'd just been arrested for shooting you wasn't exactly the smartest plan of action in the first place. Not that he could blame her. The reason he wanted to become a cop when he was younger was for the same reasons as her apparently... the gun.

He looked around the almost empty bar, it was too early for anyone but the regulars and sidled up to who it was manning it. "Cortez around? Tell her she needs to have a little talk with 'Casper'." He snorted. Yeah, it's a good thing junior Cortez was hot.

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

Through the corner of her Ana saw the kitchen doors swing open, though she didn't pay it much attention as she loaded up the next load into the dishwasher. The hired chef left early, before she had arrived, and no one had put any away to be cleaned, leaving it all on her. Pursing her lips, she stuck a few more glasses in and nudged the door half way up with her hands, and the rest with her hip before she turned around, coming face to face with one of her waiters. "Yeah?"

"There's some guy here to see you."

"Who?" she inquired clearly confused, tossing the rag in her hand over onto one of the tables, not really caring where. Last she recalled she hadn't been expecting anyone to visit her... Though a few people came to mind that would want to come and specifically ask her, though the one who was there?

"He said his name was... Casper?"

"Casper?" she repeated, her brow cocking up slightly, the name not registering. Running it over and over in her head it took another another moment for it to finally bring up a name. Narrowing her eyes slightly she exhaled a breath, crossing her arms over her chest. "He about ye high, dark hair... scorn face ?" At his nod, she pursed her lips, only one person fit that description. Straume.

Without much further questions she moved forward, pushing her way through the doors as she headed out. This should enlightening came the sarcastic thought at the back of her mind. Sidling right up to the bar as she saw where he was, she stopped right in front of him. "You need somethin'?" she asked him cooly, though not all that unfriendly, she wasn't annoyed... yet at least.

[naomi]

Miles looked her over, but felt that familiar chill when she got close. He didn't get it. He reached out a hand and placed it quickly on her arm, as if checking her temperature before starting slowly, "Something you may not know about me, is that in my line of work I've been around a hell of a lot of dead bodies. And the funny thing is that they all seem to have the same thing in common, a lack of body heat. Now as much as I'd like to offer my services exchanging body heat," he put on a wide grin, "I'm here to figure out why you're such a freakin' paranormal anonamly."

He couldn't understand it, he'd taken all sorts of cases before but none of people that had symptoms of the 'dead' while still being very much alive and kicking. He smirked and took a seat at one of the bar stools. "Oh yeah, and you can get me a beer."

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

As Miles placed his hand on her arm, Ana narrowed her eyes slightly, pulling her arm back, out of his grasp. The man made her skin crawl and not in a good way. Besides the fact he was like an insect she wouldn't mind crushing, and him being her bubble of space wasn't in the least bit comfortable. About to asking him why he was here, began speaking. About temperatures and dead bodies, none of the topics that she wanted to hear, nor any of his suggestions that made sense towards her with his little ghost... 'Gift'. "You think maybe that's cause I'm not dead?" Ana replied smartly, ignoring the jab about swapping body heat, she rather be dead. Nor did she move to grab his beer. "Last time I checked I was living, breathing and had a pulse for that matter."

"Honestly, were you dropped on your head as a small child, because this whole 'ghost' business with you is getting old." And real fast. She was tired of the bullshit were bringing up about her. First that Eko guy and not Miles getting in her face, probably just to annoy the shit out of her. She wasn't about to play into it.

[naomi]

'Last time I checked I was living, breathing and had a pulse for that matter.' The woman had a smart mouth on her. Not that it was a bad thing. It was hot that she had to counter everything he said with a minor-insult. Miles just chuckled. "Yeah, it would seem that way wouldn't it?"

When she said that the 'ghost business was getting old' (another class line) he didn't flinch, he just lazed forward on the bar and continued to grin. "So what would you rather talk about then? The fact that your boyfriend stopped wanting to be around an angsty ex-cop who wants to get even with the world?" He knew enough details to assume the rest about her personal life, enough to piss her off, to cut her. He hadn't tracked down the guy she killed, but he knew that things fell apart for her after the shooting... in all areas.

He stared her in the eye again, "look. I've got some buddies that would really want to check you out. To see what made you such a frozen bitch, in the literal sense of the word. So what do you say?"

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

[iYeah, it would seem that way wouldn't it?[/i]

Ana rolled her jaw slightly, the way he talked to her made her almost feel like he knew something that she didn't. Though that was impossible. She never died and she was pretty damn sure there was no truth in the words. Because even if in some bizarre instant where she was dead, dead and gone, there would be no coming back from it. Life wasn't like that, it wasn't like some toss up.

However, a muscle in her cheek twitched slightly as he tried to poke at her history. Sure it was sore, but she was long over the jabs, nothing he could say would really bother her, she heard it all before and not just from the man in front of her. Running her tongue over her teeth she snorted slightly, letting her eyes drift away before she looked over at him again. "If you're trying to get under my skin, Straume, you're only succeeding in testing my patience." Which she had a lot of, though if he didn't stop she was sure he'd be in for a rude awakening.

look. I've got some buddies that would really want to check you out. To see what made you such a frozen bitch, in the literal sense of the word. So what do you say?

A soft scoff, escaped her lips this time, as she stared right back at him, keeping his gaze and holding her stance. The guy honestly never quit, and she really wished she knew what he was trying to get at because it was nagging at her as much as he was annoying her. What gain what purpose was he there at the bar. "I say.... that whatever you're trying to sell, I'm not buying into? Vete a la mierda, okay?" she muttered, muttering the last sentence a little lower, shoving away from the bar and heading down the other end of it. Though, if she had to guess, he would probably follow her like the good little puppy he was, she thought sarcastically, trying to immerse herself into another customer, in the hopes he'd end his charade.

(Translation: vete a la mierda = fuck off)

[naomi]

You didn't spend half your life hanging out L.A's seediest joints without learning the phrase she just pulled on him, but he hardly cared to address it. He followed her down the bar, running his fingers along the course edges of the wood underneath that hadn't the need to be polished like the rest of it. He brought a finger up as if intently interested, feeling a grainy substance between his index finger and his thumb before speaking again. "Think we're getting communications crossed" he started up with a glance to the alcohol lined up behind the bar, "I wasn't offering you an option to buy or sell. But you can always make me an offer..." He added suggestively with the ghost of a smile.

He was used to people not listening to him, trying to block him out. Those were times when he had to bank in on the knowledge he had... not only that but the knowledge he could get. Blackmail, extortion... they weren't foreign concepts to him. They were realities. A way of life. A way for a guy like him to make his living. Even when it was non-profit, he still knew to apply the same tactics.

"So how would mamacita feel about your real motivations for killing that guy? Thought you were smart right? Keeping yourself clean of it. But evidence has a way of popping up if it needs to be found. Now I don't have to start digging into your personal life, I don't have to uncover things that would make your precious little mami look at her little miha like she had become a monster instead of the baby girl she had birthed. I don't have to do any of those things." He gave her a smile and walked to the other side of one of the regulars who seemed too immersed in their own self pity at the bottom of a bottle to notice him, and took the bar nuts to the side of him, sticking some in his mouth before ambling back over to the stool he was on a second ago. "Or I could always go after the El Capitano Cortez herself and just skip the middle man." He smirked and grabbed another handful of nuts, popping them in his mouth one at a time.

He looked her deep in the eye, "now I don't give a damn why you have no soul, you can take that up with whatever god you're praying to. What I do care about however is why the undead would be walking around, owning a bar in L.A. without the slightest suspicion that they're already dead."

He drummed his fingers on the bar in front of him impatiently, taking another handful of nuts. "So how about you get me that beer?"

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

(really sorry for the lateness, luv, it's just been hell on my end the past week or so on my end)

As she pretty much expected Miles just packed up and followed her. Rolling her eyes to the ceiling, she tried her best to ignore him as much as humanly possible. Once more she pretended to just glaze over an innuendo aimed her way, reminding herself that it wasn't worth it. It really wasn't worth it to reach over the bar and knock his teeth down his throat. No only that, if she did, she'd probably end up in overnight if it got that serious. One less thing to worry about if she didn't...

So how would mamacita feel about your real motivations for killing that guy

However, as he spoke, the words and those following them made her pause in her movements, her hand stopping on a bottle she was going to move to throw out. Slowly, her jaw set, and she slowly turned to face him, unsure of what she was hearing was something she was really hearing. Nobody knew of that, sure rumors were floating around, saying she killed him, some people said she hired a hitman... if it only was that simple. But no one, with the exception of her own mother, knew of the real reasons. It could have been pinned away at people that had wanted to get at the guy and the case would have been closed because of the kid's shady past. She had made sure it was plausible, so the fingers wouldn't have been pointing in her direction.

Yet, the man in front of her threatened to undo that, and more, going as far as to mutter it aloud in public, even if no one was listening, all for just to find out why she was the undead? Swallowing thickly, she tried to keep her face for the most part, keeping what she was thinking off if it, because nothing felt right about it. He was wrong, she wasn't dead, she remembered nothing of dying, even when she was shot to the ground, she remembered being alive. Though, she did grab him a beer finally, taking it as a cue to lean in closer to him so she could talk quietly as she placed it down. "I don't know what you're talking about, Miles. I think I would remember dying, and lets see, I don't, okay?" she told him, pulling back and rubbing at her temple as she felt another migraine well up, as growing trand it seemed. Though, she didn't deny the fact that she killed the man, Jason. The guilt wouldn't let her deny it, while it ate her up inside.

[naomi]

((so you've said... sounds awful, hon!))


She paused for some time... but eventually gave in and handed over a beer, leaving Miles with a complete look of satisfaction like a cat that had just eaten a large rodent.

Then when she leaned into him, that Cheshire like grin just grew broader and he tried not to relish too much at how he was getting under her skin. After all... there was work to be done.

"You see, that's the mystery Cortez" he began to answer her, "characteristics of the dead but no memory of it and still harboring a pulse. You know, hypnotism might work for that..." He paused and gave her a hard look. "Unless there's certain memories that you're too afraid to relive."

He took a sip of his beer. "And you can't say that you're not the least bit interested in why your aura has been icy cold lately." Another sip. "After all, people are always dying to get information on themselves."

If it worked to manipulate Charlotte, Miss Cortez couldn't be that much harder to get to.

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

Watching as he took a swing of his beer, Ana tried to ignore everything else until she had some alcohol floating around in her veins. Maybe then what he was saying would start to make sense to her, because it sure as wasn't now. It really didn't make sense at all, the whole death bit and why he was trying to blackmail he into it. People didn't blackmail concrete evidence, whatever he was trying to get at that he 'possibly' could get, over something so... intangible.

Of course, ignoring him didn't work, either, and she listened to him quietly as she turned and grabbed herself a glass, filling it full of tequila before she returned. Bringing it to her lips, she took a long sip, almost drinking up half the glass before she set it on the counter. The familiar feel of the alcohol burning down her throat, warming her as it when down to her core. Licking her lip, she leaned on the bar again. "But there lies the problem... I didn't have any so-called 'aura' problems, till you came along and decided to 'point it out'," she told him, being ever skeptical. "And not only that, I don't believe in this aura and... ghost crap, or whatever it is that you do, and considering your track record, I'd be rather stupid even consider anything... anything at all, that might come out of your mouth."

"But I'll tell you what... get me some proof. Find a ghost even and bring it to me. If you can do that, maybe I'll consider going along with your charade, all right?" she asked him tilting her head to the side, slightly, her brow righted some in inquiry. Because honestly, it didn't seem she could lose at all. And if for some bizarre reason he did some up with something, well, that would be something then, wouldn't it? But ghosts didn't exist, that was common knowledge to everyone. They were nothing more then stories and fables setup to scare little kids, and she sure wasn't gullible like one.

[naomi]

"Find a ghost..." Miles began to scoff. "Yeah, doesn't quite work that way." He downed the rest of his drink and slapped the bottle back down on the bar, tapping on it for another one. "How about you research my track record for a bit and see if I have enough credibility to make sure that the undead aren't walking the streets of L.A. Is that good for you?" He asked, with a slight annoyed tone.

He was annoyed that she would insinuate that his track record was no good when he'd worked on different cases all over the county. Sure, stupid things came out of his mouth, but he didn't know what that had to do with his professional track record at all.

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

"Right," Ana drawled, rolling the word off her tongue a little exaggeratedly. However, she still got him another drink as beckoned for one. Pulling it out from under the counter, she easily twisted and popped the cap off before she sat the other one in it's place, making quick work of the old bottle in the trash bin. "Call me a skeptical, man, I've learned to not trust paperwork especially because you can fabricate one just as easily as you can toss it," she told him, though taking a little pleasure in the fact that he was starting to get annoyed. Which was rather good, he was getting his shit thrown back at him.

Of course, that didn't change the fact that she really couldn't trust paperwork, especially which such a 'delicate' topic. Which she knew better then anyone, that with the right people in the right places, on either side of the law, anything with filing could be edited... changed, or even completely forgotten about. "But say if I for a moment, I entertained the idea," she began that, taking a sip of her tequila before leaning over and resting her elbows on the bar, while grabbing one of the peanuts out of the bowl and popping it in her mouth. "Why should I even trust you?" she asked him seriously, her brows creasing on her brow some.

[naomi]

She seemed to be seductively hovering in front of him now, and he wasn't going to fall for whatever tricks she could have up her sleeve. "That's funny" he commented off-handedly, "I didn't think we were talking about trust."

His eyes ran over her as she leant over, half of him trying to get a better look at her cleavage, the other half making sure she didn't have a broken bottle or something hiddle behind her manipulative little back.

"This has nothing to do with trust" Miles didn't trust hardly anyone himself, "this is just research." He paused looking over her again, there was more than one thing he wanted to research that was for sure, but he'd handle getting answers about the afterlife first.

He took the beer she offered and ran his hand over the rim of it before looking her in the eyes this time for a straight answer.

[Ana-Lucia Cortez]

"Actually, I'm more interested in finding out what exactly you're getting out of this," she told him, rather then being for the trust. But she was playing her words carefully, trying to figure him out because he really was a hard guy to pin down. Of course, this was probably the longest they'd ever spoken before, so she didn't have much to go off of either. His mouth always annoyed her enough that she didn't want to stick around longer then she had to.

"You say it's research, but why even bother?" 'Why would he even care', was more what she wanted to ask. Why would he care to bother her with this 'information', the question being torn straight down the middle since she still wasn't sure if he was doing this for some other motive, or if honestly he really did think this way as crazy as it sounded. Because it still sounded like something fictitious, and which it was. There was no such things as ghosts, not such thing as walking around dead people.

"I'm not saying I believe you, I'm just curious." And she was back to disbelieving the idea, even if he was trying to be rather insistant, and convincing. But there were somethings the human brain couldn't change in thought. The entire thought of believing him was even crazier.

[naomi]

"I don't know about you, but I'm just a little interested to find out of the laws of death and life still apply" Miles told her before having another drink of his new beer. "Don't think I'm going to butter you up with 'you need to save the world' crap" He continued, thinking of what they told him about his mission before boarding the freighter. "But I'm just looking to get simple answers to what should be simple questions."

He took another sip and let his eyes go over her again. It was the only perk of being here at the moment, she was being annoyingly stubborn, which was Miles' problem with all women of late, and really it should have been simple enough to get her to comply to the tests to get his answers. It's not like he was asking something hard out of her.