Vex didn’t like jazz. In fact, he hated it. It was loud and people gravitated towards it. People enjoyed jazz, but Vex didn’t enjoy people. Sure, he could interact with people. Some may even call him charming, but it was all an act. A tool of the job as it were. A burden if you had asked Vex.

This burden now meant he was sat in a jazz hall. He’d hidden somewhat in a corner, his hood pulled low so he could watch the room. Unlike the revellers, Vex had been in silence for most of the night, so he expected many had forgotten he was there. They all would have, had it not been for a steady stream of waitresses offering to empty his ash tray.

Vex was looking for someone. He didn’t know who, but he was sure they’d be here. Call it intuition. Despite what many said, there was still opportunity to be had and that's what had bought Vex to this jazz hall.

Having grown up a pickpocket and a petty thief, Vex had moved onto bank robberies. The work was harder, the hours longer, the reward though, so much greater. Vex didn't believe there was a better thief in the country. His silence was his best tool. When others bragged, he held his tongue and to date it had served him well.

His accomplices however, had had to learn the hard way. Each one had eventually given into temptation and told someone of their haul. When Vex had found out, as he always did, he made sure that person would never talk again. This was getting tedious though and if Vex was to move onto some of the bigger banks in the country, he knew he'd need people he could rely on.

So Vex sat in the jazz hall and he watched. His intuition told him he'd find someone here. He just hoped he was right.

Jazz. Fuckn Jazz. It meant energy moving about in constant streams that put the nervous system on edge. Only though, because Axel would rather be more casual and not so much bouncing around like a fuckn pogo stick. He didn't mind music in general, on the radio, or accompanying a drink. He was more against the crowds that seemed to gather and make his quieter drinking nights into something else.

Plus, he always seemed to get into trouble at such places. Less himself being on the receiving end of the trouble, and more so him rolling out punishment due to some poor sap not knowing how to conduct himself around certain people. It happened more than it probably should've. He would try to keep himself off the radar, drink alone at the bar, and end up outside at some point standing over a guy reminding him to keep his cool, with a bloodied fist.

Tonight though, so far so good. The jazz hall was where Axel found himself, and again he was alone with a drink in his hand. He didn't mind being out and about with people, especially when away from Vegas, yet he kept to his own energy and space. He was more in it for the drinks, and not wanting to keep himself holed up in his hotel room for too long. Because too long equalled sleep, and sleep equalled nightmares.

Axel would rather drink himself slowly into an eventual blackout stooper as his associates mingled amongst the crowd, and he was two drinks into doing just that.

Vex lowered his cigarette and placed it purposefully in the ash tray in front of him. Before a pretty waitress could clear it, he shooed her away, having seen something across the room. Women could be awful distractions at the best of times and Vex needed to concentrate. 'Did they come here together?' he wonderered.

Conn, a prominent figure in Las Vegas' The Garden of Eden Family, was a known regular in jazz halls across the country. Unlike Vex, he loved jazz and Vex expected his loathing of it wouldn't go down too well with him. He had just sat down with Axel, Left Hand Man of The Garden of Eden Family and that's what had Vex worried. One prominent gangster from one family in one location was none of Vex's concern. Two on the other hand certainly was. If for some reason things turned nasty in here tonight, which Vex thought wasn't unlikely given Axel's somewhat well known persona, one that often came before him, he was sure the two of them would be well armed and have a squadron of muscle not too far behind.

He decided he'd watch on and see what they got up to. Both appeared to have been drinking and Conn at least seemed in high spirits. At least if the bullets did start flying, Vex would have sobriety on his side. Nonetheless, it was an ending Vex was hoping to avoid. These were the sort of people that knew their way around robbing a bank. It was just a matter of how to cross the family lines.

Fate needed a place to go while she was in town. The inside of empty motel rooms bothered her more than they should. She got restless and tended to brood, so she'd made her way towards the livelier part of downtown, where clubs and bars were hopping.

As she passed each place, she slowed a bit, trying to get a read on the joint. Too many couples in this club. Too many drunks in that one. Wow, look at the line leading into that place, forget that one.

Turning the corner, she heard a piano tinkling out a catchy jazz tune. She didn't recognize the song, as she was more an admirer of classical music, but it sounded cheerful and happy, so she made her way towards it. A bouncer leaned against the open door, sizing her up as she approached, reefer cigarette pinched between two fingers.

"You a cop?" 

Fate barked out a laugh. "Not even close, brother."

The bouncer raised an eyebrow. "Prove it," he says, offering her the joint. Without breaking eye contact, Fate took it from his hand and inhaled deeply. After holding it in for a few beats, she released a cloud into his face. "Happy?"

The bouncer nodded and let her pass as she handed back his joint. Once inside, she headed to the bar and took a seat, waiting for one of the batenders to approach.

"Gin and tonic, please. Extra tonic...my mouth is dry." 

As the music kept on, Axel's mind kept shifting from thought to thought, as he strapped himself in to begin to ride the waves of the whisky. The music started to blur into a solid background, with the laughter, the peoples voices coming from the dance floor; like a canvas. The painting itself was the collection of his thoughts that kept streaming through his mind, and the paintbrush, the whisky itself.

Axel liked to drink. It kept his mind active till it no longer allowed his mind to be active. The first drink would take him away from the environment he was in, the second would bring him more into his body, and the third would warm his soul which would begin to encompass his present moment.

Some people though, used their own devices to become more present to the moment and less in their minds, like, music. As the beat kept on, Axel noticed Conn emerge from the crowd. He only really noticed him though when his words broke his stream of thought. Being less than a full drink in, Axel was still very much in his head.

Hearing the familiar voice, Axel turned toward it and immediately recognized the familiar face. Conn, his re-acquainted Garden of Eden business associate. Axel wasn't a man of the heart, more of the mind, so even though they would technically be more like brethren in a family sense, he just didn't get on that vibe.

"Doing good, how you doing friend?" Axel threw out, casually, and not too socially.

Axel downed his drink then shifted his eyes to notice the presence of Fate also seated at the bar, on the other side. His gaze darted beyond Conn's figure for a moment to notice her as she took a seat, then it promptly returned to Conn, all the while Vex was still somewhere in the jazz hall.

'Was it a risk worth taking?' Vex thought to himself. 

An introduction was brave, some may even say foolhardy. He had heard of Axel and Conn, but outside of Philadelphia Vex was unsure as to how much weight his own name held. Shootings in a place as public as this were rare, but not unheard of and Vex was sure that they'd be accompanied by someone else. At the very least. 

Nonetheless, these two presented an opportunity, and Vex wasn't in the business of missing opportunities. Vex stood up and lowered his hood. Keeping his face hidden wasn't going to win him any friends. He opened his jacket just a little, making his firearm accessible, just in case the worst happened, and walked over to the bar. 

He walked behind Axel and Conn and signalled to the man behind the bar. 

"I'll have a bottle of whatever these are drinking."