"Nothing like a hard ride with the wind and bugs in your face to rev up the juices." He'd said to himself as he hopped on the motorcycle and took off along some of Nachton's darker backroads. He had no need of cops tonight, and the speeds he sought were well beyond what even the kindest of Nachton's finest would overlook. So to the isolated, vacant, and windy roads he took off at speeds that cleared 100mph easily.
Time completely got away from him when he rode like this. Before long he glanced at his watch, which he often forgot to put on, but had tonight. He had been riding for a good four hours, and was now in the mood for a break, before he added another couple hours to his evening's agenda.
Soaring into town, more careful about his speeds now, Nic caught sight of the neon lights inside the Qwerty Cafe, and pulled into the parking lot. He could kill two birds with one stone there...coffee, and use of a computer.
Though he had a computer in his place at Lifede, sometimes he wanted to check out things and not leave any kind of trail. Normally he didn't mind MARI, and even sought her assistance more often than not, but occasionally...well, try as he might to think of her as a machine, it just didn't seem to cut it when she spoke to him in that sweet, feminine voice of hers. Tonight he wanted to look up some stuff that he thought she might not approve of, so the anonymity of Qwerty looked promising.
Entering he noticed the place was its normal early morning empty, with one guy hunched over a computer, covered by his sweatshirt, appearing to want solitude. Nic had no issues with that, appreciating it because he wanted his own.
Grabbing up a hot paper cup of black coffee, Nic took a seat one computer over from the lone guy, and brought up a browser on the computer.
stranger
“What the FUCK happened to me. Where have I been?”
Nic glanced up from the computer, in the direction of the man speaking. He grinned ruefully as he put himself in that place, of not remembering things. He had gone through many a night like that back in the Hollywood days, but since learned the error of his ways, and hadn't fallen into that trap again for years.
strange man
“Think damn it! What’s the last thing you can remember?”
Turning his attention back to his own computer, Nic silently shook his head. He hoped for the man's sake his memory didn't remain elusive for long.
yea...that guy again
“Loved ones.”
Nic winced at the pain he perceived in the man's words. He wished he had words of wisdom that might offer the man comfort, but Nic wasn't too good at that, having relied on the wisdom of others to get himself out of those kinds of jams.
And the last thing he wanted was to barge into someone else's drama uninvited. He had memories of a couple fisticuffs resulting from such attempted intervention in the past. He was in a good space now, after his ride, and didn't want to spoil that unless necessary.
He turned his eyes, and fingers back to his computer, and began searching.
