Ramshackles [Private]

[Switchback]

It was the day that Lensblot had feared the most; the final billing date for his shack of a home and office, and as he looked at his meager profits he still could not come to the painful realisation that he couldn't afford what little he had, but as the stallions started to move out what little he had left in, the items that reminded him of his clients and cases, all taken away to settle his debt, including the office and home he had used for the last few years. Once he had composed himself he looked down at the saddlebag of items that he had managed to keep, the items needed for his survival, and a few other things. He took one last look at the building, the council planned on taking it down and building an extension onto one of the blocks of flats that had sat next to it. He sighed as he started to walk away from it, deciding what to do now he thought one way to take his mind off things would be to go to a nearby casino and play a few hands, at least make some profit out of the day. As he arrived at one of the many casinos that littered Los Pegasus he takes a seat at a poker table, winning a few hands before he had enough money for a meal, so he sat down at a booth with some fries and a drink, and thought about what he could do now.

[IceStorm]

~~~~Wind Dancer~~~~

 

Las Pegasus... It was the city of entertainment. It was also the City of peril. It wasn't a city for the weak or the absent minded. It was a city that if you weren't careful, would consume you and everything that you own. Many ponies that have come to Las Pegasus trying to hit it big have fallen by the wayside, throwing families and opportunities away at the chance of hitting the big score, coincidentally for the family that they no longer had. Gambling and entertainment was the economy here. The shows raked in money for the performers and the gambling raked in millions for the casinos. everything was always regged for the house. Occassionally there would be a big payout, but the millions upon millions of bits otherwise brought in... Often lead to corruption. Which lead to the third successful business in Las Pegause but by far the most dangerous. Law Enforcement and detective work. If a detective caught something big... they had to be smart about what avenue they pursued from. Otherwise.... well ponies had ways of making them disappear.

 

Wind Dancer had it lucky. She was a performer, and while not the best performer in Las Pegasus, she had a very high following so her shows always made bits. Enough where Casinos would regularly call for her. As was such tonight she had just finished one of the routines and had the rest of the night off. After a substantial payment, she made her way towards one of the restaurants in the casino. As she did, she spotted a familiar face. It was the detecting that she had met that night on Hearth's warming eve. She'd seen him around here a few times before, but never looking this bad. The pinstripe shirt wasn't as well kept as normal and she noticed a suitcase with him, as well as well... just bare essnetials. "Lens? Is that you?" she asked walking up to the table. Had he pursued a case that got him in trouble.. or did the big agencies force him out? so many questions but she knew better then to ask right away.

[Switchback]

Lens was sat there thinking through possibilities in his mind; he certainly had the skills required to rack up enough money for a train out of Los Pegasus, but where to go then? He had a few contacts in Ponyville, however such a small town would bore him quickly, there was always Canterlot, although the residents there typically preferred letting the guards do all of that sort of work, and it was twisted in a way that so much could just be ignored or called 'democracy'. He could try travelling to Appleloosa, except for the fact that ponies there tended to take matters into their own hooves, and he wasn't sure how he would cut it as a sheriff. Probably get a cool hat and badge from it though. All that he knew was it seemed he was no longer welcome in Los Pegasus, he didn't remember ever stumbling across anything huge here, and yet after the case with helping Rarity it seemed the opposite happened to what he wanted, with business drying out in Los Pegasus for him. He looked up, noticing the dancer he accompanied before was here, seeming to recognise him as well. He nods to her "Yep, it's still me. How's the wing healing?"

[IceStorm]

~~~~Wind Dancer~~~~

 

Hearing the response from Lens, she looked him over again. It was very unusual to see him here like this and her interest was definitely piqued. He immediately turned to her and asked her how her wing was healing. The question itself wasn't anything out of place, but the entire scene. She noticed the lack of food, as he only appeared to have fries and a drink, not even a hayburger to go with it. The sight was definitely unsettling a bit but she responded. "The wing is as healed as it's ever going to get unfortunately. I at least have almost full range of motion in it again after the therapy, but the scar is there for life. At least without some serious cosmetic surgery which only has about a seventy-five percent success rate, and can otherwise malform the wing even more. For me, anything dealing with my wings have to be an all or nothing thing. I want guarantees when doctors are messing with them that they are going to get better, not worse. I've been through enough of that on my own without the doctors helping," she said with a small giggle at the end. "How about you though? You don't look so good," she addressed hoping that he didn't mind her taking a seat in the booth with him on the opposite side.

[Switchback]

He listens to her talking about her wing, nodding as she speaks; he didn't know too much about how to recover from injuries; he normally just managed to scrape away from harm so rarely needed medical treatment, but to him the scar wasn't that noticeable. "Seventy five percent sure doesn't sound promising to me. But hey, scars build character and provide a great talking point, it's not that unsightly." he laughs, taking a quick sip from his drink "I understand that, if anything happened to my horn I wouldn't want anything that could make it worse. Why gamble when you know you can already come away with a profit?" he chuckles, half inspired by her little giggle; she was an adorable thing. When she asked about him though that made him not with more of a subdued smile "Don't look so good huh? Heh, understatement of the year. Well you know about the city redevelopment project to make the lower levels more comfortable for those living in them? Well that included planned extension of a block of flats into the area where my building was. I didn't move out so they kept on raising the rent, and my business has dried up recently so... long story short I'm now homeless, planning on scraping together enough bits for a train out of here, see if I can grit my teeth and find a place elsewhere with cheaper rent and more jobs available."

[IceStorm]

~~~~Wind Dancer~~~~

 

"Exactly!!" Wind Dancer replied as she heard him talk about the condition of her wing. "Plus it serves as a reminder to never take anything for granted. You never know when a gust of wind is going to ruin your day, and you have to rebuild all over again," she said unintentionally leading into Lens's own response. He added that it was a similar situation with his horn. that he wouldn't want somepony messing with it if something happened to it that had the possibility of making it worse. As long as it worked, then nothing more was needed. If it ain't broke... at least any more, don't fix it.

 

As Wind Dancer listened to Lens talk, there was no deny the expression on her face changed from somewhat lighthearted to shocked and disheartened. She was very much aware of the redevelopment of the city to make it better for those on the ground. In fact, she was one of the ponies trying to spearhead the movement so that it would be more appealing to ponies that weren't pegasi... but she didn't have any idea it would have affects like this. Apparently the council was raising rents to make it unmanageable. "That was not on any of the affidavits that we voted on when we passed the redevelopment project.... I wonder what else they put in after the fact to bend the project for their benefit instead of the pones that are actually in the ground district," she sighed. 

 

When he told her that he was homeless, at least for the time being, she shook your head. "Nope, you're not homeless. You might have thought that you were, but your not," she told him with a smile. "You live with me now, that is... if you're comfortable with that. I'm at least partially responsible for this because I helped pass that project. So it's the least that I can do, and then if you still want to leave Las Pegasus, I can help you try to find someplace that would benefit from your skill set and won't leave you on the streets like this place can. They don't call this city unforgiving for nothing," she responded to him. "Or we could stay here and maybe work something out. Perhaps you could run your detective agency out of my house. I have a large basement that would be good for storing case files and the like. I can make sure it's padlocked and encoded so that only you can get into it."

[Switchback]

Lens nods. The idea of something coming barreling through your life seemed very apt right now with his situation. It seemed life enjoyed situations like these, he couldn't understand Wind's optimism about it, then again he was normally a cynic anyhow, so optimism came to him very rarely.

 

As he speaks to her about the project, he notices her face fall as she seemingly starts to panic about her part in passing the project. He shrugs "Yeah well sadly that's the way things really work round here. A thin vestige of control peeled back to see the true profit driving the actions. Its why folks like me get pushed out; double benefit, more progress for everypony on the project and one less issue for later down the line."

 

Her next statement surprised him a fair amount, though evidently not as much as the ponies around him in earshot of this who gave him a little cheer at the prospect of a dancer inviting a homeless pony to live with her. He sighs "Well... Guess I ain't in much of a way to say no, now am I? May as well take you up on that offer, thanks Ms Dancer."

[IceStorm]

~~~~Wind Dancer~~~~

 

Wind Dancer just shook her head when she heard Lens mention that much to her disappointment, that was just how things worked here. She knew that Las Pegasus could be scummy, but she honestly didn't think that they were that scummy. No matter though. It's not like she could just go into the town hall and demand that the endorsements be reversed. That would be a sure fire way to make sure that she never had a job in Las Pegasus again, and that would have been the best possible outcome. The most probably being no pony would ever find her again. Ponies that caused problems had a mysterious way of disappearing around here, one way or another. "Doesn't make it any more right, but there isn't anything that can be done about that aspect now," she told him rolling her eyes from the cheers that was sent their way.

 

She knew exactly what they meant by it and she felt herself get a little bit flustered by it. It was like this everywhere. Dancers got little respect in any sort of friendship or relationship because everypony else around them just assumed ponies like her to be... dirty. It was a stereotype that she was starting to really dislike. She wasn't that type of pony. She actually cared about her friends, and wanted to make sure they succeeded as well as she had. When Lens spoke up though, saying that he wasn't really in any sort of position where he could decline, he accepted the offer and.... called her by a name that made her shudder. "Please, call me Windy. I'm nowhere near old enough for Ms. Dancer," she said with a small smile still noticing the small box of fries. He probably hasn't had a decent meal in a bit.... she thought to herself before looking to a waiter.

 

"Excuse me, could you bring us a couple of menus please? VIP menus only," she said showing her card for the access. Normally she didn't like to use it, but the VIP price to food quality and quantity at this restaurant was very good. They could get a lot of food here for not an extreme amount of bits. When he returned with the menus, she handed one to Lens. "Go nuts."

[Switchback]

Lens shrugs as he looks around at all the other ponies who had seemed to fall silent to listen to their conversation, he focuses in on one with a stare "Aren't you supposed to be at your hearing today?" and with that suddenly a fair amount of talking seemed to start up again, most likely to get Lens to look back around to Windy. There was something nice about her brand of optimism, perhaps it was just rarity of the location, or perhaps it was the oddity of a optimistic realist, either way there was a comfort to the way the pegasus spoke, one which Lens was very thankful for. "Aye, not a thing that can be done for now."

When she asked for the menus he shook his head, turning to scratching it as the menu arrived "Well Windy, although I appreciate the gesture. I can't even understand what half of these things are meant to be. 'Broiled wheatoat on a bed of stringed hay'? Is that even a real thing?" he asks, turning the menu to see if it looked better from another angle. A pony tapped him on the shoulder, pointing down to the menu.

"You'll enjoy option five."

"Yeah and you'll enjoy keeping your nose out my business mate. Go listen in on somepony else's conversations." he grumbles, looking at it "Although yeah, think I will just have that, it's the cheapest thing on there."

[IceStorm]

~~~~Wind Dancer~~~~

 

It seemed that Lens had a bit more of an issue than Wind Dancer did with the other ponies around them chiming in with their thoughts on the situation. Okay well to be fair, she also had the frustration, but Lens was actually able to speak up on them. He was a bit blunt about it, but sometimes that's what ponies in this part needed. Perhaps that was a bit of the reason why they were doing to Lens what they did. It wasn't right by any means but nothing that she could really do about that. When she heard him talk about what was on the menu though, she laughed. "Yeah that's a real thing. It supposed to be a pasta-like dish made from hay and oats. It's usually served with a salty butter sauce. It's actually really good. I've had it a few times," she explained as another stallion chimed in saying that he would enjoy option five.

 

She rolled her eyes when he responded, but at the response to the stallion and the response to her when he said that it was the cheapest thing on the menu so he would just have that. that wasn't exactly what she had meant by go nuts, but she figured if he was still hungry afterwards she could just get more. And after explaining the entree to Lens, she could actually go for the Broiled Wheatoat. She motioned for the waiter to come over to them. "Excuse me sir," she said politely and waiting for him to come over.

 

"Good Eeeevning ma'am. Are we ready to order?" she heard the waiter ask in a heavy Itaillian accent.

"Indeed we are.  We'd like one of your entree number fives, and a number thirteen with extra stringed Hay," she said while the waiter wrote it all down.

 

"Anything else I can get for you."

 

"Yes, a bottle of your finest Moscato Wine," she finished with a smile as the waiter left to put their order in.

[Switchback]

As Windy explains the dish, it doesn't seem to help Lens' confusion much, his head tilting somewhat as he mouths the words trying to get his head around the idea of such a dish. "Still, why go through all that effort when you could just have a hay and oat sandwich? That has hay, oats, butter, and no need to mortgage a couple of family homes to pay for it." he says, evidently not one to understand the rich pony life style in any way shape or form. It was almost entertaining, at least the pony who suggested his dish seemed to think so, chuckling quietly before adjusting his sunglasses again, nudging Lens as he leans over to the other pony, giving him a gentle hit, the display covering the fact that his horn lit up briefly as the other pony's did shortly after. Something that could be explained as the two about to fight before they thought better of it, turning around to their tables again as the pony with the sunglasses gets up and leaves, leaving the two to their meal. "Some ponies, huh?" Lens says, relaxing back again.

He watches the waiter coming along, listening to them talk he tried to decipher the accent; he wasn't racist as much as uncultured, and so an accent this heavy took him a few seconds to process, leaving him happy that Windy was the one doing the ordering. He relaxes a bit more as he starts to feel safe around the mare again, remembering last Hearth's Warming and the mare's kindness to him. He chuckles as the waiter leaves "Wine huh? Starting to sound like a date." he jokes, leaning back on his chair, fiddling with his shades.

[IceStorm]

~~~~Wind Dancer~~~~

 

"Someponies just like it better as a pasta then they do on a sandwich. I will agree though that the price is a bit steep, but this is one of the fancier restaurants in the casino. Ponies generally know what they are getting into when they come here. It's kinda silly though, cause the restaurant in the Mareage sells the same thing, but it's about half the cost, and they geit their stuff straight from Ittaily. The owner of the restaurant there though is Itailian though, so that might be why it's cheaper," she responded as things seemed to start heating up a bit from a pony that really couldn't seem to mind his own business. Wind Dancer would put a stop to this now. She walked over to the table that had the stallion listening to them. "Excuse me for a second..." she said walking over to the other table.

 

"You know.... it is very impolite to start eavesdropping on another pony's conversation, and you've sure got some audacity to even thing about trying it in a city that is full of guile, corruption, and subterfuge. One of these days, you're going to listen into the wrong conversation, and you're not going to wake up the next morning, and nopony will bat an eye. Especially in a fancy establishment like this. This kinda place is where shady deals go down all the time, and they don't take kindly to eavesdroppers. Let this serve as a warning for you. Keep to yourself if you know what's best for you," she said turning around. the stallion started to say something but a flick of her wing made a gust of wind that knocked his drink into his lap, immediately silencing the pony.

 

"Sorry about that, they won't be bothering us anymore," she smiled as he commented on the wine and how it was starting to sound like a date. "Well, perhaps it can be somewhat. We're living together now, and nothing ever said that dates had to start off as the romantic type. However, if it came up, I am single," she winked to him a bit as the wine arrived and was poured for the both of them. "To the future and to forget the past!" she raised her glass.

[Switchback]

"Ah yes of course. There's no easier prey for the rich to feast upon than themselves, the whole form over function thing which seems so prevalent in high society. Always confuses me really; a culture of spending more and more for the sake of spending. Makes me wonder how long your average rich pony stays rich really. But hey, this Mareage place sounds nice, actually, I think I've been there before, purely business sadly, but I liked the decor of the place; seemed comfy, went along well with the owner's personality." as Wind stands he nods "Of course."

The other pony seems very calm about her talks and threats, almost too calm really; like everything she said was something he had hoped she would say. Unseen to Wind, Lens was shaking his head at the other stallion with a worried expression, the other stallion went to speak quietly "Don't wo-" he looks down at his drink then to Lens, giving the 'really' eyes. Lens shrugs with a smile. That was when the stallion got up and immediately walked into one of the back rooms, the sounds of things being thrown about were heard with a lot of voices before a trio of ponies were led out by the stallion, keeping them held with magic as he leaves.

"Yeah I guess they won't." Lens says, ignoring the display of the ponies being led out by force "Well I mean, isn't the whole thing about dates that they are romantic? Have to be a pretty unlucky stallion to go on a platonic date." As Wind announces herself to be single Lens blushes somewhat "Erm... yeah, to the future and whatnot." he said, quickly raising his glass; he may be smooth and on top of things normally, but he was normally prepared; this time he was caught endjob by a pony who seemed to be on the chase.

[IceStorm]

~~~Wind Dancer~~~

 

Wind Dancer really couldn't disagree with the presumption that Lens had come up with on how the rich seem to feast upon themselves. That the form over function mindset seems to be ever prevail ant in the line of nobility and that it always really confused him. Why a pony would spend more for the sake of spending. She also nodded when he complimented the Mareage. "You should see their backstage. One of the best prep rooms I've ever been in. It was clean, the staff were friendly, and respected privacy. I don't have to worry about the fact that I'm a showhorse there. Their eyes don't immediately drift backwards, and they don't give into what everypony else makes us out to be," she replied as the stallion she told off started to get rowdy before looking back at him. She watched him get led out of the establishment and smirked.

 

"I wouldn't say that," when she heard Lens say being an unlucky stallion if he went on a platonic date. "After all, so many times stallions move in one a date that's gone south, and that usually completely platonic, if not lustful. In this instance, circumstances led me to you. I can't say that I know you well enough yet for this to be a romantic date, but we already have some experience, and I'm buying you dinner, so it's definitely a date," she smiled as the glasses clinked and she downed her wine. "May we make the best memories possible."