(Well I said I'd do it and I'm doing it. Kyvis Origin story, starting now. I've posted one or two other parts of this story here and there, so I'm gonna do a master post at some point! But for now, here's a link to the second part, and here's the first story! Set in a semi-futuristic world, but not so futuristic as to be unfamiliar)
Kate Davis considered herself a professional of her trade. Not necessarily the best, of course—not yet. She’d never done a job that was truly legendary, that would have others talking about it for years to come. But she was quick and smart, and hadn’t been really caught or seen for years.
Which was a good thing in her trade, which was that of a thief.
Frankly, Kate had never considered herself much good at anything else. She’d tried other things, and was currently barely holding down a job at the Starbucks near her house. But, as with the others, she knew she wasn’t long for it. If for no other reasons than she was terrible at customer service, and tended to blow off work for her real job. And truth be told, nothing made her light up like the thrill of cracking a safe, slipping past guards, breaking into a house that was far too fancy for her to ever set foot in otherwise.
It helped that her targets were almost exclusively the rich, arrogant, and corrupt. There was something satisfying about taking from people like that. Her boyfriend, Derek, didn’t seem to see it the same way. He’d told her on many occasions that she should do jobs with his gang, that he was working where the money was. Kate had just laughed at him—she didn’t let other people choose her jobs.
Hence why she was currently picking the lock on the office door of a senator who was not only the proud owner of three houses, but was a bit of a creep as well. He’d been at the Starbucks where she’d worked a few days back, and Kate had seen him hitting on her co-worker—a shy girl who was just out of high school, making her easily a quarter of the senator’s age. She’d gotten his name off of the order, and it hadn’t taken long to formulate a plan against him.
The lock clicked, and Kate let herself into the office. Getting into the building had been embarrassingly easy, and she knew for a fact that the senator was out on a lunch break. That didn’t mean she was going to sit around and wait for him to return, though. She had too much professional pride for that.
The safe was situated at the back corner of his office, not obscured by a thing. Kate rolled her eyes and knelt next to it. “Your owner is a moron,” she muttered to it, getting to work on the lock.
A few minutes later, it clicked open, revealing the contents. Allowing herself a smirk, Kate unzipped one of the pockets in her backpack and began filling it with stacks of cash.
She was halfway finished when she heard voices outside the door. Oh, no—he’s not supposed to be back yet. Smacking the safe door shut, Kate yanked the zipper closed. Slinging the backpack over her shoulder, she made a snap decision and darted forward just as the door opened.
She made it behind the door as it swung open, admitting two men. Neither of them was the senator, but both were talking animatedly, and didn’t notice as Kate moved. “Yeah, apparently there’s supposed to be some kind of robbery here today. That’s why all those law enforcement guys are here. Weird, right?”
“You can say that again,” agreed the other man as Kate caught hold of the door knob before it could fall closed. Silently, she eased it open again. “Can’t imagine what they’d steal from here.”
The first man snorted. “Try not to make it so obvious that you’re new. Now, what did Senator Littlejohn want from here again?”
Kate didn’t wait to hear the response. Slipping through the doorway, she let the door drop closed as she turned—and ran smack into someone.
Stumbling backwards, she caught a brief impression of a man wearing a button down shirt and a frown. Oh, crap.
“You’re not supposed to be up here—” he started, and Kate cut him off by doing the only thing she could think of. She punched him in the face with a satisfying crack, and took off down the hall.
She heard shouts behind her, but didn’t stop. At least, she didn’t stop until she careened around the corner and came face to face with another man. This one, unfortunately, was holding a gun.
“Good afternoon, miss,” he said, his voice mild and polite, with what sounded like a British accent. “Would you mind putting your hands in the air? I’m afraid you’re under arrest.”
Kate held back a groan, but did what he said. Double crap. Just when I say what I did about not getting caught.
Her backpack was taken, and she handcuffed and led down the hall to a meeting room, empty except for a table and two chairs. Kate was cuffed to one of them, while the man who’d stopped her took the one across from her.
“I’ll admit, it was mostly good luck we caught you,” he said conversationally. He was older, with graying brown hair, and was dressed in a neat, inexpensive suit. “None of us had the faintest clue you were already in the building. It was just bad luck for you that had us sweeping this floor when you were sneaking out. Bad luck for Chambers, as well,” he added as Kate heard the door behind her open. “How’s the nose, Chambers?”
“Could be worse, sir,” came the reply, and Kate glanced up as the man who she’d punched stepped into view. His nose was swollen and crooked, and he wore a frown that deepened as he met her gaze. Folding his arms, he settled behind the older man, like he was waiting for judgment to be passed on her.
Kate already disliked him.
The sound of a throat being cleared pulled her attention back to the older man, who was flipping through a file. “We also didn’t know it was you coming—well, not for sure,” he said. “We had a list of thieves that were known to hit targets like this, but we very nearly took your name off the list. We would have if Chambers hadn’t brought it to my attention that you work at one of those American coffee shops the good senator likes to frequent.”
Kate couldn’t hold back a scoff, and the man glanced up at her. “You disagree?”
“With the good part, yeah,” Kate said flatly. “He’s a creep, and if you’re here defending him that makes you just as bad.”
“We’re not defending his actions, we’re preventing you from breaking the law,” the other man—Chambers, Kate thought—spoke up. “His wrongdoings don’t make yours right.”
“I disagree,” Kate said. “I think anyone who takes payoffs from drug cartels and worse deserves to have his money taken.”
“A sentiment I’m sure you’re not alone in,” the first man cut in. “However, that’s not what we’re here to discuss, Miss—Davis, isn’t it? Kate Davis?”
Kate didn’t answer. The less you give them, the better, she thought. Because things could only get worse from here.
“Well, Miss Davis, I’m Agent Andersen. And I’m here to offer you a chance to escape from your otherwise unpleasant fate.”
That got Kate’s attention. Frowning at him, she said, “I was just caught robbing a senator. If I’m lucky, I’m going away for that. But most likely, you’re going to take me out to some back alley and get rid of me.”
“That’s what you think of us?” Chambers said, a look of disgust crossing his face.
“That’s how law enforcement works these days,” Kate shot back. “Surprising that you don’t know that, Officer. Or maybe you are as dumb as you look. I did think I heard an echoing sound when I punched your stupid face—is it actually hollow in there?”
He frowned even more deeply, and Andersen spoke up. “Miss Davis, we are not going to kill you. You’re quite right in your assessment—most government agencies are corrupt these days in the States. Luckily for you, I’m not from the States. And catching criminals is something of a passion for me. So your deal is as follows—you hand over the person we ask for, someone more valuable, and you go free. Otherwise, you go to prison. Simple as that.”
Kate felt her gut plummet. “But it’s not,” she said. “And you know it. Because prison is a death sentence for almost everyone these days.”
“In most situations, yes,” Andersen agreed calmly. Meeting her gaze squarely, he asked, “So. Would you like a way out?”
Oh, she hated this. She hated the idea that this man with his accent and his strange manner, to say nothing of his scowling sycophant, were in control of her life.
Fun fact #17: Kate and Kyle both love classic rock, although Kate also loves pop music. (Kyle's favorite band is Simon and Garfunkel, Kate likes Fleetwood Mac and ELO)
Meanwhile, Andersen prefers instrumental music, especially classical music!
AND WE'RE BACK fun fact #11: Kyle's mentor and boss Andersen is really really bad at taking breaks from his work (he used to be better at it but now. The Horrors. I shan't elaborate just yet). So Kyle and his partner Gloria (along with their medic Maryeme and their tech guy Ivan) consider it their solemn duty to trick him into having lunch or taking a break with some tea or napping. They have it down to an art at this point
#1,9, 19, and 21 for Andersen, Kate, and Rosemary, please!
1. Do they sing? Kate can sing-- she's not an expert, but she likes to do it! Rosemary, being her daughter, can also sing pretty well and now I'm contemplating her potentially taking voice lessons. Andersen is too British to reveal such things
9. Pick a quote from Avatar: The Last Airbender that describes them. Ooooh this is gonna be fun. Andersen gets "it's easy to do nothing. It's hard to forgive" which is very loaded if you know his backstory. For Rosemary, I'd go with "were your family now" because Reasons. Kate would want me to choose "Yeah! Let's break some rules!" and I honestly can't think of a better one, so that's hers!
19. Which Austen hero/heroine are they most like? OOOH THAT'S A GOOD ONE. Andersen is OBVIOUSLY Colonel Brandon. Rosemary I might go with Marianne, and Kate is.... Elizabeth Bennett
21. What is their love language? OOOOOH you keep sending me good ones! Hmm hard though. Uhh let's see. Andersen has acts of service and quality time, and Rosemary.... I don't think I know her well enough to say yet. Maybe words of affirmation. And Kate is either quality time or physical touch.
I'm absolutely DELIGHTED that you asked, I'm not gonna lie
So, a week or so ago, I had this weird dream that resulted in me coming up with a bunch of OCs, set in a futuristic-ish world where the government is incredibly corrupt and all but useless except in the circumstances where it really, really needs to be useless
The exceptions to this are few, and one of them is a task force/unit in the CIA (I think? It might be FBI, or maybe just SWAT or something) led by those two OCs-- Kyle Chambers and the recently named Martin Andersen!
Kyle is younger and very very serious. Everyone assumes that he's one of those no nonsense grumpy all about the business guys, but honestly that's just his face. He's really a very sweet guy who's pretty good at emotions. His main goal in life is to help people and prevent his boss from doing really really dumb stuff
Andersen is his boss, and he's also a really great guy. British, and he's got this very chill vibe, but he's also... not in a great place where I started writing imagining. He lost his wife and kids, and his main goal in life is to find and end the man who did it. At any cost-- but Kyle and his best friend Gloria, among others, keep an eye on him and are gently steering him towards less self destructive tendencies. Well, Kyle's gentle. Gloria has all the subtlety of a blunt axe
Anyway I've been thinking about them (and Kyle and his love interest hehehe) for a while now, and I deeply appreciate you asking!! Also I have face claims for both of them (for once) and so I shall share them under the cut just for fun, as a treat
Kyle Chambers, face claim Rob Mayes. I met him first in Frequency (2016), and his character in that kinda has my heart. And is also named Kyle
And then we have (slightly younger than I usually picture him) Martin Andersen, with a face claim of Rufus Sewell, whom I love in Victoria and Amazing Grace
Max Ionata en Assejazz (Sevilla. 7 de abril de 2022) [Noticias de jazz]
Max Ionata en Assejazz (Sevilla. 7 de abril de 2022) [Noticias de jazz]
El jueves 7 de abril de 2022, concierto de Max Ionata en Assejazz. El saxofonista actuará acompañado de Martin Andersen (batería), y Jesper Bodilsen (contrabajo).
Entrada general, 10 euros. 5 euros para los Socios de Assejazz.
Assejazz
C/Escarpia, 2
41004 Sevilla
Más información sobre Assejazz
https://assejazz.com/
https://www.tomajazz.com/web/?s=assejazz&submit=Search
