Taco Chime

Francis shivered, pressing on to his stomach and keeping his mouth covered as he stumbled out of the place, which, in his opinion, definitely did not deserve to be called a restaurant. The first step into it and he had caught the stench of something obscenely awful, and lingering in in the place only made him felt even worse, he thought as he steadied himself by a nearby lamp-post, moving his scarf and hair out of the way in case he threw up from the nausea that he felt.

He had to give him credit; Francis had lasted for at least four minutes.

Matthew followed him out of the restaurant, watching the man's reaction with a sort of scared awe. In hindsight, he probably should have brought him to some place a little better. Okay, so maybe he didn't expect to eat there and just wanted to see his reaction. Matthew didn't know Francis' reaction would be this extreme, though, and now he felt bad.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry," he said, eying him carefully in case he did throw up. "You don't have to go back in there, I was kidding. Really." He decided to save the story about the moving burrito for another time.

'I advise you to consult with your lawyers,' Roderich said shortly, now quite tired of dealing with the manager of the...well, restaurant was clearly too strong a word. He had been pressured into filling in for a friend by coming there to inform them of their impending lawsuit- someone had contracted a disease previously thought to have been eradicated in the civilised world, medical experts were stunned- and was extremely eager to get out. He turned on an expensive heel, and made to leave; as an afterthought, he glanced back. 'You might want to consult with an exterminator too, come to that.'

With that he left, keeping his composure until he was outside; once on the street and free of whatever that smell had been, he clamped a silk handkerchief over his nose and mouth and took deep breaths, waiting for the shakes to subside. He hated this city.

Francis waved his hand at Matthew, trying to shake his head. After a few deep breaths, he moved the hand from his mouth, and calmed down slightly.

"That place, Matthieu," he said, pointing at the restaurant with a finger, "is an abomination to all mankind. I swear, it needs to be closed down and sealed off! This city is awful. The sooner we get out, the better. A good motivation to work hard, I suppose." He added slightly bitterly, before sighing.

Matthew could to nothing but laugh worriedly as Francis complained. "I really am sorry, though," he said, finally. Though he agreed. He did want get out of this city as soon as possible. It was no wonder so many cases had lead back here, this place was sure something.

He looked around, sighing, before a person a few meters away caught his attention, mostly because he was in a state so similar to Francis it was almost humorous. Almost.

"If it makes you feel any better, you're not alone," Matthew told Francis, gesturing towards the other man, who looked like he wanted to leave this place as much as they did.

Looking up, Francis watched a brunette dressed in rather expensive clothing falter in his steps, just as Matthew has pointed out. He observed the man a little longer, noticing how he almost seem to mirror him in actions. Well, that was actually rather amusing, Francis mused.

Without turning away from looking at the shaking man, he whispered lightly to the other blonde. "I suppose that just goes to show what a disaster that place is, isn't it?"

Roderich leant against the wall, staring up at a greyish sky and breathing deeply. He wasn't used to being down on the streets, spending most of his time in a high-rise office. Unfortunately, his sense of direction was...well, if there were clearly printed signs everywhere, and he had a map and a set of directions, and he'd lived in the area all his life, he'd probably still get lost. As the tremors stopped, a new worry arose; how did he get back to the office? He glanced around, spotting two men who looked no more at home than he did. In fact one of them looked positively nauseated.

'Ah, excuse me...' he began, walking over to them. 'I don't suppose you know how to get from here to the district attorney's office? I'm not familiar with this neighbourhood...' He'd taken a cab, whose driver had been given clear instructions, to get there, but there didn't seem to be any around now. Typical.

Matthew nodded in agreement to Francis’ comment, looking curiously over to the finely dressed man before the other eventually approached them. The man looked a bit distressed, so it was a shame that they wouldn’t be able to be of much help to him.

“We’re not from here, I’m afraid,” Matthew said in an apologetic tone, knowing better than to say much more. He would have left it at that, but two things stopped him from doing so, the first being his natural politeness. The second reason, however, was a little more in self interest.

At the moment, he and Francis had no leads other than the city they were currently in, and if this man ended up being someone important, judging by the way he acted and dressed, then it could help them out in their case. “Though we can help you find a map, if you want,” Matthew offered.

Francis studied the man before them. He suspected that Matthew had the same thoughts as him, and that was that this person was likely to be an important person. It would be helpful to be in this person's good books. The stranger's destination also might prove to be a lead. After all, the district attorney usually held useful information. If he could convince one of them to let a little bit of information out, it would be just as useful.

"Matthieu, your phone has a GPS function, doesn't it?" Francis decided that he really should get a new phone, even if it was for convenience's sake. Turning to the stranger, he smiled politely. "If you don't mind, we could try to lead you to the office. After all, we were just thinking of heading towards there as well."

'You're going there too?' Roderich breathed a sigh of relief. 'I confess I'm very glad to hear that, thank you. I'm not really from around here myself, although...I take it from your accent,' he nodded at the longer-haired man, 'that you're not from this country at all.' He held out his hand to the two men. 'Sorry, where are my manners. Roderich Edelstein, attorney at law. Prosecutor, actually.'

He had no idea who these two were, although if they were headed for the DA's office, he could quickly come to the conclusion that they were in law enforcement themselves; it wasn't as if it was a tourist attraction. The French accent immediately made him think Interpol, or something like that, although that was likely jumping the gun. That was the trouble with working in law- you overanalysed everyone as soon as you met them.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Matthew Williams,” he answered, shaking Roderich’s hand with his right hand while looking for his phone with his left. “And you’re right, we’re from Europe. France, actually.” It was always a little awkward to him how his name and accent didn’t really fit his nationality, though in actuality it was rare that someone asked about it, which he was thankful for.

He had never really tried out all the functions on his phone; he got whatever looked nice and as long as he could call someone, it served its purpose. So it took Matthew a while to navigate through the options before he actually found what he needed.

“Alright, now all I need is the address, and we’re set,” he told the two.

"Francis Bonnefoy." He shook Roderich's hand, smiling as the back of his mind quickly churned out a story for them, just in case the other inquired more, even if it was an off-handed question. Roderich had said he was a prosecutor, but that was no reason to fully trust him. After all, just because one worked for the law, it did not mean that he was not influenced by the outlaws, or worse, assisted them. He hoped hard that they might, as slim a chance as it may be, that they might have a similar goal in mind.

He watched Matthew flick through the applications in his phone and nodded a little when the other said he was ready. Francis hoped that the lawyer could remember exactly the address of the office. Smart as the other looked, Roderich did give off a sense of being detached when it came to directions.

'Address...right.' Roderich paused to think for a second. He'd only recently begun working from there, having transferred from another city; a previous case had led him to his current one, one that he was reluctant to even discuss. In any case, it had meant a transfer, and since he was...less than directionally competent, he'd had some difficulty getting around. He could at least remember the street name, though. ...Could he?

'Well, there's only one district attorney's office, of course, so it shouldn't be that hard to narrow a search down...it's on, ah, Second Street, I believe.' Well, he hoped so, anyway. He was going to have to start carrying flashcards.

(I googled the most common American street name XD;; )

Matthew waited patiently for the address to come to Roderich and he wasn’t surprised, really. He somehow got the feeling that Roderich didn’t have the best internal compass. When Roderich gave him a street name, he entered it in, frowning slightly when he didn’t get a district attorney’s office among the other buildings.

Then, remembering what Roderich said about narrowing the search, he found a box he could type the destination into. Aha. It was almost at the corner of Third Street and Maple Avenue. Which was close enough; Second Street was only a block away.

“Okay, I think I found it,” Matthew said after figuring out how to zoom out to see both locations at once. “This thing’s telling me the quickest way is to start out this way,” he told them, pointing to the left without taking his eyes off the screen.

(I picked the two I thought would have been the most common. Darn... But close enough xD)

Francis glanced around the streets, making note of several details and the nearby streets on the sign-posts. He suspected that it might come in handy later. Listening in on the other two's conversation, he glanced down at Matthew's GPS when he said that he had found their destination. "Well, let's go then." He put his hands on the shoulder's of the other and steered him around, watching the arrows of the small machine and going along with it.

"We should be there soon, yes? It doesn't seen much too far away."


(I'm not surprised that Matthew would THINK Maple Avenue would be a very common name, no, no surprise at all. ;D I also apologise for writing so little... OTL)

'Excellent, thank you...shall we, then?' Roderich could have kicked himself- of course it was that way, it was coming back to him now- but he hid it well; a natural poker face was a great help in and out of the courtroom. He took a few steps in the direction Matthew had pointed out, boots clicking on the cold concrete, turning slightly to make sure his new acquaintances were following.

'So, what brings you here, business or pleasure?' he asked lightly. He didn't intend to pry too much just yet; if they were anyone important, he'd find out soon enough from the DA. It didn't hurt to ask a question or two, though, just to test the waters, so to speak. He noted Matthew's distinct lack of a French accent, but refrained from mentioning it, although he filed it away as something to wonder about.

Matthew thought of how to answer his question for a quick moment. He didn’t want to tell an outright lie, in case the other had means of finding out otherwise. But on the other hand, it would be very unwise to just go about telling people the nature of their visit.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been anywhere in this continent, really. I thought it’d be nice to take a trip,” he told the other, “And we— okay, now we make a right for two blocks.” What he said about taking a trip was technically true. He’d leave it up to his partner to elaborate if he wanted to.

"If my pleasure was business, then my business here would be pleasure, yes?" He commented cryptically with a hint of mirth. "After all, one must have a reason that makes them like their work to be able to keep going, isn't that right?" It wasn't so much his intention to drive the conversation the other way, but it would be nice if the other would take bait and follow the flow of conversation. After all, he also needed to evaluate this person subtly.

He let the other blond lead them around the place with the GPS machine and slipped his hand into his pocket to quickly type out a text. His decision might have been a bit of a desperate act to gain an ally, but Francis knew it would be a bit too optimistic to think that they might get any information readily. Pressing the send button, he trusted that Matthew would be able to read and carry it out without arousing Roderich's suspicions.

"Stall for a little bit of time."

“Hm? What’s this…” Suddenly his phone screen was telling him that he had a new message. Matthew paused for a moment to read it, but after he did, he realized that he probably should have done so more discretely. He hoped it wasn't to late to fix the damage.

He feigned surprise. “I made a wrong turn just now? Really?” he asked, turning to look at Francis.

“You know, you could have told me in person, I’m right here. Unless…” He paused to slap his forehead with the palm of his hand, “…unless you didn’t want to embarrass me in front of someone. Oops.”

Matthew laughed, turning around in the opposite direction so that he could make the “right” turn. “Too late for that, I guess.”

(*uses Max Revive*)