Albino startled awake to the sound of a phone ringing. He attempted to dig the sleep out his eyes, giving them a rub and squeezing his eyelids open-and-closed, trying to unblur his vision. He yawned and looked around the room, eyes still half shut. Wondering whose room he'd woke up in this time, it took him a few moments to remember he'd flown out to Las Vegas on business and grabbed a hotel late night after his flight over. The phone persisted.

"Yes?" He lifted the handset and answered abruptly. After some chattering on the other end, he shot bolt upright, his eyes now wide open. "They did fucking what..? I'm on my way."

He leapt out of bed, dashing to the toilet to empty his ageing bladder. He then quickly whipped round the room, gathering the few belongings he'd brought with him when he headed out West and darted out of the door. As he flew down the hall, he snapped his fingers at Big Bernie to follow who had been left guarding the outside of his door all night - it was fortunate he never required much sleep.

After arriving at the airport, Albino headed straight for the phone to get a call out. Two wack attempts had been made on his ladies in North and South Side and he wanted names. His frustration grew. He was already late hearing of the news and if he didn't get some information soon, these fucks were gonna get away with it - he couldn't have that. He jumped on the plane and headed for Chicago, hoping these dumb fucks were still in town and maybe he'd catch them himself.

As the wheels touched down in Chicago Midway International, he was told he had a call waiting. He rushed off the plane and into the building, grabbing the phone, once again answering abruptly, "Yes?" It was good news. They'd manage to identify a shooter and his whereabouts. Letting out a deep sigh, he was less than pleased to hear the shooter had flown to Vegas, the very place he'd just left to come and aid in the search - fucking typical Albino luck.

In his haste, he'd forgotten all manners and swiftly ended the call to dial another number. It may have been the middle of the night, but his people were undoubtedly reliable. Within moments he'd managed to get hold of one of his most trusted and the hit was arranged - the assailant would be dead within the hour.

Some pacing and a few cigarettes later, the phone burst to life ringing once more. The hit had gone awry - his assassin was caught out of position and the sneaky bastard managed to narrowly escape his death. Albino knew these things happened but it didn't make it any easier to stomach. Slamming down the phone, he hurried back towards the plane and headed for Vegas. This guy would be dead soon, no matter the cost.

If she had known that working in a bookstore would result in so much cross-country travel on behalf of Qui-Gon she probably would have declined the position. But the appeal of being around books all day, and endless cups of tea was too much to resist so she had agreed. It wasn't until a few days later she had been informed she was now promoted to her current position, and it involved travelling around finding rare and unique books for the shop. Not to sell, no of course not, boss wanted them so he could read them. 

So after handing her plane ticket to the man at the counter she followed the person in front of her to the door of the plane and boarded. She hated planes, they were cramped, stuffy and she always seemed to get stuck next to someone who either insisted the arm rest was theirs or fell asleep the moment the plane was in the air and snored the entire time. Resigning herself to two hours of misery, she trundled down the aisle before finding her seat, which for once happened to be an aisle seat. She couldn't decide if she was excited to have an easy escape from a bad seat-mate, or disapointed as she wouldn't be able to see the lights of the city from the air.  While she was settling in and pulling out the book she planned on reading for the journey, she wondered who would end up next to her and if the urge to elbow them repeatedly "On accident" would start immediately or perhaps halfway through. While lost in her own thoughts of annoyance for a person who hadn't even shown up yet, she did not notice @Abino standing next to her seat. 

Albino stood in the aisle, peering down at the girl who was clearly too far in la la land to realise he was waiting. It had been a long day already and the stresses he was juggling were beginning to sway his mood. He tried to remain patient, gently clearing his throat to gain her attention. Maybe it was the loud tannoy blaring in the background, but she still didn't seem to take any notice. He cleared his throat a little louder - still no reaction.

Before he could give her a tap on the shoulder, a large boulder of a man came hurtling down the aisle towards Albino, knocking him 6 feet up the plane. Managing to keep on his feet somehow, he turned around to face the cannonball, stepped forward and finally his stress became obvious,

"Oi, you stupid fuck - watch where the fuck you're going!" He bellowed at the man as he tried to squeeze into the seat the other side of the aisle to Charlotte. Before the man's arse could touch down, he bounced back up and towards Albino. In an instant reaction with little time to consider what was happening, Albino grabbed the book from Charlotte's hands and smashed the fat guy over the head. He clobbered him four times across the nose, leaving the book a blooded mess. Albino held the book above his head, ready to take another swing as the man's gigantic arse thudded against plane floor. Immediately the man burst into tears, holding his nose in disbelief.

"Dickhead." Albino hissed, wiping the claret from the book on his shirt and handing it back to Charlotte, "Would you like the window seat or the aisle?" He asked politely, now much calmer for his outburst.

She stared, her eyes wide and took her book back. "I..." she was at a loss for words really, "my ticket says aisle, but..." she looked around to see what the other passengers were doing. Perhaps she had been lost in thought a bit too much but they all seemed to be turning a blind eye to the altercation that had just happened. She was still stammering when she stood up and moved to let the man sit, shaking slightly she gripped the book with both hands. "Are...are you going to hurt me?" she blurted out while standing there, "Because I can move or get another seat or..." she trailed off.

The large man was still sat there and while she waited for Albino to take a seat she dumbly reached in her pocket for her handkerchief and handed it to the large man. "you got something just..." she kind of gestured towards his nose, "There.." She said before giving up and then just gesturing to his whole face. While she was speaking a flight attendant came by, moving through a row with a face set for trouble and business. 

"Sir, you need to get up and find your seat, which I can assure you is not on the floor." she said brusquely, "Now sir." her tone brooked no argument and the attendant watched as he struggled to get his mass up from the tiny aisle while still holding the fabric to his face. He muttered something which might have been an apology or a thank you, before following the attendant towards where he was supposed to be. 

Charlotte turned to Albino who hadn't moved and with a sigh that only a woman can pull off properly, she moved into the seats and took the one by the window. Leaning over she tugged her bag towards her side and then up into her lap. Pulling another bit of fabric out she tenderly wiped the book down. "Really, knowledge is power, but even that seemed a bit over the top." She said dryly looking up at him, she was still shaking slightly, but perhaps it was best to not be a coward in this instance. 

Albino looked a little puzzled, "Hurt you..? No, no. I try not to upset someone I'm stuck sitting next to for hours." He chuckled at her dry humour and took a seat next to Charlotte. Noticing she was a little on edge, Albino grabbed the attention of the attendant as she made her way back down the aisle, "Hey, can we get a stiff drink for the lady please?" The attendant rushed off. Albino turned back to Charlotte, "Sorry about that... I usually play it by the book on airplanes, not sure what came over me... It's been a long day, y'know?"

He took a look around the airplane as the seats began to fill up, "I hope they didn't overbook..." He turns to look at the young lady next to him, "Albino, by the way - Al, if you prefer." Offering a smile and a handshake. The attendant appeared again out of nowhere, handing Albino a tray full of various alcoholic beverages. "Thank you very much." He rested it on the pop-out table in front of them. "Help yourself. What're you reading anyway? I hope I didn't spoil the story for you."

While she was still trying to process what had happened, and decide if this man was going to strangle her mid-flight, but then suddenly as he was speaking she put her head in her hands, bent over and her shoulders and body started shaking. No sound was coming from her, but as the flight attendant returned with the strong drink requested, Charlotte was still shaking. 

The stern faced woman handed the drink to the man and with concern looked at the woman who appeared to not be taking the kerfuffle very well. "Miss," she said lowering her voice to make sure she was alright, "We can move your seat if you're not comfor..." her words were cut short as the woman started to make sound, although still in her position of what she had thought was a crying breakdown, but it turned out the strange girl was laughing.

"By the book?" Charlotte finally said before laughing some more, "Oh for gods sake." she wiped her face where tears had started to form from her laughing fit and smiled at both the flight attendant and the man, "I am fine, thank you." she told them both, but made sure the flight attendant knew for sure that she felt perfectly safe. But still, there was a drink at hand so she gratefully took it and lowered her tray to rest it there with her book. 

"Hi Al, I'm Charlotte." she said to him accepting his hand. "Pleased to know I'm relatively safe," she told him with a sly grin, "Although any more unintentional puns and I can't promise anything." At the change of subject she ran her hand over the cover of the book, which was scuffed, battered, well loved and now a bit blood stained in certain places. "Oh this?" she asked, showing him the Faulkner cover, "Its called "As I lay Dying" and although I'm not very far into it, its very interesting." She told him, her eyes lighting up. "Well, interesting if you like books, and reading about how people live in different areas of the country." 

Albino nodded, quizzing Charlotte on her book, "Sounds interesting. And what's that about? Not one of these silly love stories, is it..?" Albino rolled his eyes, losing his attention on the tray of drinks in front of them. Noddling in all the right places as the bookworm began to rush off into a frenzied declaration of love for books. Everyone had finished finding their seats and the plane started sizing up the runway for takeoff.

He began picking at the dozen glasses scattered in front of them, rushing each one in turn to his nose for a quick sniff. After making his way through all of them, he reached forward to take one of the darker drinks. Chucking it down his throat before taking a moment to surrender to the burn in his chest, he placed the empty back down in front of him. He proceeded to grab four of the drinks; doubling, tripling, quadrupling them up into each other until they made one larger, stronger, quad-drink. "Perfect every time."

He took a sip and tuned back into what Charlotte was saying. Peering back over at her as she continued to jabber, he noticed the runway stating to disappear behind them over her shoulder. He watched through the window as the ground continued to creep away from them. Slowly but surely, they gained altitude until the ground began to vanish from sight and expand to become a birds-eye view of the airport, growing into a gathering of buildings until eventually the developing city of Chicago disappeared into the distance. He broke his daze as they entered the clouds.

"But sometimes books just..." Charlotte continued to rabbit... about books.

A woman suddenly burst into screaming, grabbing their attention. Fear and panic erupted as the people near her fled from their seats. Albino struggled to get a proper look past the stampede hurtling down the plane towards him. Curious, his eyes grew narrow. Concerned he was getting busted, he sat up straight. As the scattering customers began to clear from his view, he noticed the attendant familiar to them, but now with less concern and more terror slapped across her face.

Behind her stood a crazed man with a fresh gash still oozing blood from the bridge of his nose and his teeth firmly clamped together with his arm wrapped around her throat. He laughed maniacally, waving his second arm around in the air, his clenched fist firmly gripping a small solid object. Albino downed the rest of his quad-drink and squinted his eyes in disbelief. He stared harder at the man as drool began to gather on his lip and drip down the attendant's crisp uniform. The second look confirmed it... Grenade.