Shopping Detour

She had been silent the entire ride into town. He had hoped for something, anything that could be a segway into a conversation that would explain what she had meant by previous statements. Unfortunately he had not been rewarded. Now as he stood next to her on the curb she looked lost in thought. He cleared his throats and she looked at him and smiled.

"Why are we here? You said you have to pick up a present for a friend?" he asked as they walked towards the shop.

Diane still held the black box in her hands and it had rested in her lap during the ride. He wondered what she kept stored in there that she was reluctant to set it out of her sights.

"Did you need me to accompany you inside as well?"

"We are here because I ordered something a few days ago and the shop owner called and told me they were in. It's a part of a gift I want to give someone. So yes it's a present."

Holding open the shop door Diane scowled.

"Trayce. You're being a dick and you've only said three sentences. I'm trying not to be snotty and you are making it hard. Just come inside I wont be long and then you can drop me off at the dealership and be done with me."

He walked past her into the darkened shop and she rolled her eyes. The tiny bells jingled when the door closed behind them and the shop owner came from the back.

"You didn't waste any time getting here! I finished them this morning and I must say they are a work of art. I told you you wouldn't need to special order them from Europe!" The owner said happily as he bent down and retrieved small cardboard box from below the counter.

"Well my friend here stopped by and reminded me I had something important to pick up. He was kind enough to drive me over to pick em up."

Diane walked up to the counter and opened the box. The owner studied her face as she looked over the tiny bullets he had made himself.

"They are the finiest silver. I got a really good deal per ounce so I made you an extra set. What do you think?" the owner was clearly impressed with his work and no doubt hoped she was as well.

"They look great Steve. I can't thank you enough."

Trayce was still as a pond behind her and she paid no attention to him. Setting the box on the counter she opened teh lid and turned it so it faced the store owner. His eyes lit up and the shock on his face made Diane smile.

"It's so small!" The owner exclaimed.

The tiny gold Swiss MiniGun reflected light off the itty bitty diamonds in the handle. It looked like a toy and no one ever blieved her that it actually fired live rounds. Small as shit rounds but none the less effective if aimed in the right places.

"I told you I wasn't shitting you."

Picking up the pellet sized silver bullets Diane dropped six into the revolvers chamber. The touch of the silver on her skin was all ready begining to tingle and burn but she moved quickly. The bullet wasn't a huge amount to do any real damage unless of course she decided to hold on to it tightly for a few hours, but that didn't mean it was comfortable.

Diane handed the owner her credit card before resettling the gun in the black velvet lined box. A few more words were exchanged with the man, including the website where she had special ordered the gun from years ago. Grabbing the shops business card Diane made a bee line back to the front of the store. Silently Trayce followed her like some secret service agent.

As they stepped outside Diane stopped and turned to ask Trayce what his deal was but before she could he cut her off.

Trayce watched as Diane and the owner chattered back and forth but when the man brought out the small case of silver bullets Trayce froze.

Why in the world was she buying silver bullets? What did she plan to do with them? Why in the fuck were they so small?

It didn't take long to find out two out of the three major questions that were ringing in his head. Diane's enamel box contained a gun the size of a half dollar.

She was planning on shooting someone, someone who would have a hard time with silver. Trayce didn't like where this was going but he stayed silent until they were outside.

"I need you to give me the gun. I don't know who you are planning on attacking with that thing but it isn't going to end well. First of all those tiny bullets won't cause enough damage to a puppy let alone a full grown adult. Even in silver it would have to sit and fester to do any real trauma. So it's just best you just hand it over to me right now."

He took an intimidating step closer to her.

Oh boy. Here we go again. For about an hour Diane had started to think Trayce was tolerable.

Did he just get closer in attempts to scare her? Had he not already seen that tactic didn't work?

Placing her hand on her hip she held up the box but not so he could take it.

"Trayce Mott, there is a lot you don't know about me. First of all I don't appreciate you trying to use your size as a threat. I know I'm sure as hell not scared of you. Secondly this is not for me, I don't plan on attacking anyone. This little gun saved my life once and not because it blew off some guys head. It's a destraction maker and sometimes seconds are all that matter.

She wanted to storm away but the only place she had to go was his car. How far was the dealership again? Maybe she could just walk there.

"You know what Trayce? You're a real stick in the mud and I'm being polite here. I'd get off my high horse if I were you, you have no idea what goes on around here."

Grabbing Diane's arm he wanted to shake her. How was it better that she was giving someone else a weapon against her own kind?

"Then why don't you tell me since I know so little? What I see here is a weapon that it's intent is to be used against my people. To top it off it's being given by one of it's own. Tell me how I'm supossed to remain calm about that."

He was infuriated that Diane saw no problem in this. He didn't care if he knew two shits about her, he knew enough right now that he wanted to tear her apart.

"That makes you a traitor in my book." he growled at her.

Diane shoved him away with her free arm.

"That doesn't make me shit. All you pure blooded home raised good ol' boys have no idea what it could possibly be like to be anything other than yourselves."

Diane shoved him again this time with both hands, the box edge sharply jamming into his chest but she didn't care.

"Damn it! You are an asshole. It's not some AK47 bullshit to mow down half the damn Legion. It's a tiny barbie doll sized nothing that can get a point across in a jiffy and if you want you're going to have to fight me for it right here right now because I'm not giving it to you."

She spread her legs to get better footing and readied herself for his attack.

Swallowing his anger Trayce stared down at Diane and watched as she moved herself into a fighting position.

"This is fucking retarted. We are on a sidewalk for godsakes in the middle of the strip. I'm not doing this. Stand up right."

She did have a point about the effectivness of the weapon in comparison to other things but still...it was a weapon.

"I don't like what your doing but you are right. It's small and nearly insignificant. Not worth fighting you over. Keep your toy, pass it out, I don't care."

Smoothing himself out Trayce brushed past Diane and headed towards his car. This wasn't worth making a public display over.

"Let's go."

Well that hadn't followed through like she had thought it was going to.

With a heavy sigh Diane faced the car. Trayce stood staring over the roof expectantly. The question now was did she get inside with him or did she hoof it the next five miles? Walking didn't bother her but she felt there was some sort of explanation to be said to Trayce so she went against her better judgement and got in the car.

"Look, I'm not letting this item go to some werewolf hunter so don't worry. I used it once and it saved my ass but it wasn't against a Were and the bullets weren't silver. When I first moved here I was attacked by a man. I shot him in the eye and it gave me enough time to get away. Not that long after I ran into that same man and his eye was completely fine. My whole life vampire stories were always just that, stories. They never came to life and tried to have you for dinner, but then again neither did werewolves." She shrugged.

"Anyways. Who's to say silver won't hurt them too? Maybe I should have rubbed them in garlic and filled them with holy water, I don't know. I'm going on nothing but stories and half ass experience that has a lot of holes in it."

His grib on the steering wheel eased up and the white in his knuckles leaked away.

Trayce listened to Diane's half pot explanation. Some of what she said he knew, it was in her file. He knew she hadn't been born into this life and that her attacker was some derranged individual who hadn't been born into this world either. Apparently the man hadn't been able to cope well enough with his new found life and lost his mind. He had attacked four women before being caught and put down. Later they learned that he was unstable to begin with and his lover knew it from the beginnig. She hadn't been put down but she had been punished.

Knowing all this, Trayce still found it hard to not shake the shit out of Diane and ask her to do some real research back at Shady Pines. Ignorance was not a substantial excuse for any ill behavior.

Pulling up in front of the delearship Trayce had made up his mind. Diane was hard headed and determined to learn things the hard way so for now he would play along. He looked sideways at her.

"Do what you will with your toy. Don't let it end up inside one of us. That thing won't be hard to trace back to you."

Unlocking the car, Trayce looked back forward down the strip.

It was clear that Trayce still disagree'd with her choice to load the gun with a potentially extra dangerous weapon.

She looked out the window to the front of the dealership as the lock popped, never more ready to leap from the smart modest car and into her own luxury. Diane heard the subtle threat in his words and simply nodded. Letting herself out of the car she leaned back in from the curb.

"Thanks for the ride Trayce. Next time you stop by you might want to not bring narcotics with you. What would the people say if they found out the man who works for the mayor carried illegal drugs on him?"

Slamming the door of his car she pulled straight her jacket and stormed away. She heard Trayce's tires squeel away. She wasn't dense and she knew what was in his coat pocket. He had come to her home with the intent to either knock her out or kill her.

"Asshole." She mumbled.

Thank the lord she wasn't as cloudy headed as before. Diane had never been more excited to get away from someone in ages.

(ooc : booth out)