Last night’s events encouraged Cole to avoid hanging around his house as much as possible. They had done the right thing for Jack’s immediate sake, only now police surely had the address of his place. God help him if they showed up asking questions. Yet another thing to stress about, as if he didn’t have enough.

There was really only one place where he could truly put out his thoughts, and now this place was becoming a drug. Out in the street races, the cars, the people, and the atmosphere. It was his gateway from the rest of the world, the place he could go to get himself lost in the passion he had for cars and racing. It was his personal happy place.

Tonight, he needed to be in that happy place. He’d just finished up the final touches on his Nissan Silvia S15 that had been a project car of his for way too long. The Silvia was almost fully stripped out, had a turbocharged RB26 putting out just over 500 horsepower, and was finished off with a metallic black paint job and some polished white Rota’s bolted on 6-piston Brembo brakes. It was a car he was truly proud of since it was the first car that he built up completely by himself…guess he would find out if he was any good at building cars.

The Silvia rolled into the pathway between a row of cars on one side, and a DJ with a gathering crowd on the other side. He nodded at a few familiar faces as he inched past through the crowd, and found a parking spot in a relatively open area with only a handful of other cars around. He backed into quickly and gave the engine a healthy rev before shutting it off.

It was good to be home.

((Haha, the edited part is at the end if you wish to save yourself the trouble of rereading through the sample.))

Another night where she was probably going to get her ass handed to her. A sigh escaped Alana at the very thought as she glanced over files on her desk. The racing didn't bother her, most of the time she didn't have anybody to blame but herself since she kept on running her mouth, but she knew very well if she kept on showing up like some wannabe racer that nobody was going to take her seriously, and she could kiss any shot at the people in her files good bye. She had gotten too used to Hawaii and the one scene, this had been a bit of a wake up call for her now. The only reason why she was preforming badly though was the lack of drifting, or so Alana told herself.

She had yet to take place in a race where she actually knew what she was good at. Maybe LA racers weren't really a fan of the art, but now, she didn't even care. Alana told herself that tonight would be the night that peoples jaws would fall to the ground in some form or another because for once, she'd be the schooler and not the schoolee. After all, it's not as if people really knew. Even though she had been running her mouth off for the past week now, Alana had yet to even let slip that she knew how to drift. Mostly because she wanted to gauge everything first, not to mention, blend it.

Green eyes flickered to her dog now, lounging about on the floor. God, she wished she could be doing that right now, "Catch you in the morning Luka," Alana muttered now as she got up from her desk. Pulling the drawer open, it produced her .40 caliber glock, holstered and everything. Grabbing it, she shoved the drawer shut with her hip before grabbing her keys and heading out. The air was cool outside despite the typical West Coast weather. Glancing around for a moment, Alana turned and locked the door before heading down to her Hyundai. The car has served her well, and thankfully, she had never lost it but that might be more because of her lack of wishing to participate in pink slip races.

Getting in, she tossed her issued weapon into the glove department haphazardly before backing out and hitting the road. Alana was trying to come up with a plan in her mind, plans were usually needed although at this point, it seemed almost trivial. She had yet to truly spot anybody in those files, and the races were always packed with people just milling about to check out cars and seeing as how she lacked her own group at the moment, Alana disliked the idea of leaving his Hyundai alone while she checked out things. Although, maybe that just also made her stand out as well, 'Damnit, keep it together Alana,' the young woman thought to herself.

If she kept on thinking about this, it was really going to mess with her zen or whatever it is that her parents liked to do to keep calm. Reaching down into her back, still keeping her eyes on the road, Alana fumbled for her cell phone to check a text message quickly and then dropped it back into the bag. Well, at least she knew she was close. It didn't too long before she could hear the music, loud and clear. The sound couldn't help but to bring a slight smile to her lips now as she pulled it, palming the stirring wheel and slowing down considerably before she had the misfortune of running some poor soul over. The Hyundai slowly moved, gliding through crowds of people as Alana searched for a place to park.

After a few minutes, she spotted one and quickly claimed it as her own as the parked her car right into it. Although, one wouldn't really call it much of a victory since the space was still fairly open. She wasn't blocked in yet, nor were there really any other cars on either side. Alana remained in her car for a moment, even after she killed in the engine. Green eyes scanned a few people walking by, but none of their faces matched the profiles sitting back in her desk. After a moment though, she finally opened the door and got out. Alana found herself wrestling with the idea of whether she wanted to wander about or stay by her car when somebody else backed their car up into a spot near her. A Siliva. Ha, she had seen a lot of those back on the Island.

Yet her green gaze did not leave it now as it unleashed quite the roar of it's engine. Somebody indeed was showing off their car. Alana leaned back, propping herself against the hood of her car as she just watched the Silva, waiting for someone to get out of the car.

This place was busy for early in the evening. Good thing he got here a little earlier than he normally did. Most of crowd however was gathered around the DJ, almost as if it was Tiesto or Deadmau5 playing. Sometimes it felt like the race scene was becoming less about racing and more about partying. It was just a congregating place for high schoolers and college students to bring their beat up Civics or daddy's Lexus, get high on whatever was cool that night, and go dance stupid. Of course, these types of people usually brought large egos with them, which sometimes meant easy money.

To each their own though, and truth be known these nights only became more popular, so how could he complain? There would always be the hardcore group of drivers out every night, those were the guys you took respect from.

He had to constantly correct himself each time he got into or out of the Silvia. They only made the S15's in right hand drive. He couldn't tell you how many times he ended up in the passenger seat when he meant to get into the driver's seat. As far as getting out, well, that was easier, but still didn't feel right, probably didn't look right either. Nonetheless, get out he did, and spied a girl giving a careful eye to the S15. Maybe he attracted too much attention with that rev. Oops.

The car she was by actually managed to get his attention (in addition to her as well, of course). He didn't take a liking to anything made by Hyundai, but that Genesis was pretty impressive. Eh, why not break the ice. "Dunno if I've seen a Hyundai with this much love in it." He said with a grin as he casually walked over towards the back of her car, taking a glance at her.

Was it just her or was the music getting louder? Whatever they were playing, dubstep maybe, it actually made it feel like the concrete was vibrating. Green eyes glanced over to the kids milling about once again and Alana could not help but to wonder if their parents even know they were out. Probably not, broken homes and such. Hell, her family hadn't been broken at all and they still didn't know where each other was half of the time. All of this thinking made her feel older than she was though, guess they were right, the things you see when you work a job change you for life.

Her gaze settled back on the Siliva until she heard the click of a car door, but surprisingly enough, no one came out on the left side, only the right. The driver. 'Huh,' she thought to herself, 'Import.' Or she may have just been jumping the gun. It's not as if Alana were a total expert when it came to cars, the young woman knew the bare minimum that she needed to know to survive. She knew her car completely and knew the basics of others, but she knew well enough that there were other racers out there that seemed to know anything and everything about the competition cars.

The driver of the Siliva though was young, younger than her by a few years she was willing to bet. She was guessing twenty, give or take a year. Green eyes followed him as he moved around his car now and headed over her way now, "Can't say you have," Alana replied back with a smile, "But maybe it's because people just don't know how to handle them correctly." But she wasn't going to lie, most of them usually ending up setting in the junk yard waiting to be destroyed and well, she herself had paid to get the modifiers that she needed to do all of those drift races back on the Island.

Pushing herself off her car, she walked over to him now, crossing her arms over her chest before leaning her hip into it, "I have to say though, my little Hyundai isn't the only thing attracting attention." Alana commented now, indirectly referring to his car and how loud it had been. And for some reason, it made her think that out of all the others here, that this kid was different. That unlike most of the others here who were just here to walk around with pretty girls, bet, and wreck their cars, "Alana, by the way."

Cole gave a nod of approvement as he studied the twin catbacks and rear diffuser that for once weren't riced out to hell, but functional. It actually looked like a pretty well built car, which was a increasing rarity out here these days. Already he respected her more than he would most. They say you could tell a lot about a person from their car. He never really believed that to be true, but found that more times than not, it was a good indicator.

"Don't know, or don't try." He glanced at her. "As funny as it sounds, kids think mismatched body parts and five inch wide mufflers make them cool, and fast." He shook his head with a laugh, how many of those he's seen.

He took his eyes off the car and aimed them more to her as she came over to him. She wasn't familiar in the slightest, must've been relatively new. He knew most of the "somebody's" that hung around here. Blame it on experience. He glanced back at the Silvia she was hinting at, or at least that's what he believed she was getting at. "I just finished rebuilding and overhauling that car, guess I was a little too proud of it." He said with wide grin. And he was, he half expected the transmission or something stupid to fall out of the thing on his drive here. Not that he didn't trust his mechanical skills, but there was a first time for everything.

"Cole." He extended his hand towards her simply out of his perception of manners. "Don't think I've seen you before, you must be fresh around here."

She was glad to see the nod of approval, it was always nice to see that despite the outward appearance of her car that it was very much up to racing standards. After all, one can never judge a book by it's cover. People should have learn that by now but it seemed that it still continues to be that very life lesson that centers around everyone, herself included in that equation. Alana couldn't really take the glory for it's built though, that was from outside help. All what she really could take credit for was that unlike probably half of the cars here, her Hyundai has never taken a crucial hit to it's side. Well, not since the 9th grade and that was several years behind her, as well as that first car.

"Can't say I blame them," she commented now, green eyes taking in some of the other cars around them. A lot of them were flashy looking and drew attention to themselves. Even more so were the owners, and half of them, well, Alana just couldn't seem to take seriously even with trying to keep a good moral. First impressions bite. So much for judging a book or a car, it's people where it was easy to do, "Although, I'm not really even sure if seventy five percent of these kids are here to race." Bet maybe, she'd give them that, or scope out the girls but hardly any of them are real condition. Just like Cole's comment, their cars are probably nothing mismatched body parts and wide mufflers.

Her gaze focused back on his car for a moment. Bet that wasn't mismatched body parts at all, it looked carefully calculated to the core. Judging by his car talk as well, Alana was willing to be that he had been the one to rebuilt it. No doubt it was his child in her mind, as well as a labor of love. Laughter escaped the young woman's lips, smiling gently at his words, "Hey, I'm not judging. If I could rebuilt something like that, I'd be proud as well." And now it made her wonder if he was connected. Sure, he was just a kid...or well, an adult legally at least, but what she learned from police work is that age never really mattered in the end, just the mind set. There was a mental note in her head now to ask what she wanted later.

After all, introductions were happening now, and that was one thing that she didn't want to miss for the world as he introduced himself as Cole. "Pleasure," she replied now, taking his hand has he offered it to her. The shake was brief though, Alana kept it that way. She could not help but to grin when he pointed out that he hadn't seen her before. Shaking her head, Alana only reaffirmed what he had thought, "Glad to hear that since I've had a few bad losses already in friendly competition. The rules are much different from where I'm from to be honest. Takes some time getting used to. That and the tracks. We like dirt in Hawaii."

occ; wow, I'm so sorry for that wait. I caught caught up in some things but now I'm pretty much back.

"I can blame them all day." He said with a shrug of his shoulders. "It's people like that who set the stereotypes for us. And they're always the ones causing the trouble with the rest of society, and the cops." He added. As reality would have it, it was the kids who showed up with the biggest mouths and the loudest cars that always stirred the drama that Cole simply hated. Every now and then one of those teenagers would come hauling ass into the scene and getting everyone and their grandma to notice. He'd always cringe when he saw that, did they not know that they were just asking for attention from the police?

Cole nodded at her observation. His experience told him that the majority of "drivers" here never touched the starting line. "Many of these guys you see have a big bark with no bite. You challenge them to a race, and suddenly their demeanor changes to freaked out kitten, they're too scared to race. They just come here to tell themselves that they're cool." He laughed at the thought. Admittedly, he remembered from his rookie days of how intimidating those first few races were. You were either a hero or a loser at the end. The difference between he and rest though, was that he was willing to take the risk of failure.

"A dirt track racer from Hawaii, eh? Now I've seen it all." He chuckled a bit, though definitely found her background interesting. "Ah we've all had bad losses. Ya know though, dirt racing teaches a driver excellent car control skills that pavement never will. You'll get with asphalt just fine, it's all a matter of practice." He smiled and rested a hand on the trunk of the Hyundai. "So I gotta ask the obvious, what brought you to the U.S?" There were a handful of clues to her Hawaiian heritage, and he could tell she wasn't a U.S citizen for long. Her accent was still there after all.

OOC: No worries, life always comes first. Glad you're back

"Really? I don't know, you look pretty young yourself," Alana commented now, glancing him over again for a few seconds before scanning the crowd once more. Although, now that she looked at the crowd, Cole certainly still had some years on all of the kids here. But it's not as if there were only dumb teenagers here though, there were adults as well. Can't put the blame on just the teenagers with their flashy cars. Besides, Alana was here because of some files, and everybody in those files were twenty five and up. His little cop comment caught her attention though as she glanced back over, "Can't argue with that one. Although, I don't see what the worry is, I hear the LA police department is kinda bad." It was at least stereotyped as that by almost everyone in the United States other than the LA Police department.

Well well, guess she wasn't the observant one here. But Cole had experience on his side as far as being from around here and knowing the ropes. Everything seemed a little different here than it did in Hawaii even though it hardly seemed like that much of a culture shock. Anything new could be daunting though and Alana figured that might be part of it, the other part being that she still needed a GPS to navigate herself around the city. How sad is that? But the young woman shrugged slightly, "Now I can't say that surprises me any. But I can't blame them, that's part of my problem here. I get too nervous about losing my car, not like I can really afford to replace it. At least I don't have parents to answer to."

Well, not as an adult at least. That should be the least on her mind though since evidently, the idea of being from Hawaii almost sounded foreign to the guy. Then again, it's not like very many people often opted to go and visit the mainland, that was expensive for a round trip, "Glad to have broaden your horizons there," the young woman said with a grin. Alana nodded at his statement, knowing fully well that it is the truth, but then decided that she could afford to play dumb for now. However, before she could even ask something, the tables had turned and that million dollar question came up: why did she come? Laughter escaped Alana now as she ran a hand through her hair, an embarrassed smile rested on her lips, "Don't laugh at me, but I came here because of cupcakes. I'm working at a shop to get experience so I can hopefully, open my own gourmet cupcake place. Plus, I mean, you get Island Fever in Hawaii anyways. There's only so much you can do for twenty six years." But she didn't want the conversation to rest on her forever, "I have to say, you seem rather experienced. Are you able to show me some of the ropes here or will you be too embarrassed to be seen with the new girl and her Hyundai?"

"Age doesn't always dictate maturity." He said with a grin, adding a light philosophical accent for humor. Though, he had to ask himself just how mature he could possibly be if he was a "street racer," those guys typically had a track record of being not very smart, rather stupid actually. Maybe maturity and wisdom were two different things. Cole shook his head at the LAPD comment. "Never underestimate them. They may be a little clumsy at times but man can they make your life hard if you slip up." He thought about all the countless close ones he had with police. It was probably a small miracle he was still free, all things considered. Hell, he wasn't sure that the international warrant from the Tokyo incident was lifted...he could only hope.

"That's just a confidence thing." He shrugged in response. "Every new guy...or gal, gets nervous with this stuff. I still got plenty nervous with the racing gig I recently had." He laughed briefly, but didn't really show it in his expression. Racing for the mafia really was a fearful experience, regardless of the rewards. "You just need experience...and skills." He added the last part with a bit of a grin. There was one thing he already seriously appreciated about this girl. She wasn't trying to act like someone she wasn't, and unlike about 95% of the other drivers here regardless of gender, she wasn't trying to pound into him how brilliant her driving skills were. Of course, Cole had been around long enough to know that it was possible it was all a trick, and that she very well might have been Danica Patrick or something. But it was the humility there that he appreciated. It'd been awhile since he'd seen that. He was far from a good example himself after all.

"Cupcakes? Yeah, I'm laughing." Cole broke out of his grin into a playful laugh. "Hey, that's an aspiration though." He contained himself. "Sounds like a tasty aspiration as well."

Cole always enjoyed when others asked him for advice. You could probably say it stroked his ego, as self-minded as that sounded. But he did actually genuinely enjoy playing tutor on things he was knowledgeable about, such as driving. "Embarrassed? Nah, and if I was concerned with my social status, being around the new girl is a plus around here." He almost winked but caught himself in time. "I have a feeling you're underrating yourself though, I know what dirt racers can do."