Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 3, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 4 ) Re-rolls: 1
Kalen Holliday[How awake are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10, 10) ( success x 3 )
Kalen Holliday[How distracted by Resonance are we?]
Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (2, 2, 3, 3, 3, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )
Kalen HollidayKalen is lounging at a booth. There is a tall, slender glass that seems to contain mostly crushed ice. A little paper umbrella lies near the glass, still opened. Bright orange with pink flowers. Kalen is holding a tablet, fiddling with it.
He's wearing jeans and a rust-colored hoodie that looks more appropriate for ten degrees colder judging by what the rest of the population is wearing. He seems indifferent to the rest of the population though, only looking up occasionally outside of catching movement out of the corners of his eyes or hearing footsteps. And rather seems oblivious to the fact that people tend to come to bars to interact with other people. Other people who are not the bartenders.
Danny*He'd gotten in to ask if he could do a short set, just one or two songs. It hadn't taken much for him to be given the nod, he'd ordered his usual poison, red bull was in it as usual. Then he'd gone to get set up with a high stool and his guitar. A black beast that had strangely enough when the switch was flipped and she was connected to an amp lit it up so it looked like liquid lava had pooled and was cooling on the body. It looked like someone had partially melted it in places. Tonight he was performing, did they know that there was a rising star in their midst? Probably not. He slipped off his leather jacket and set it down on the back of the stool, then took a seat. Just a few strums, one or two of the chords to check the keys were still on the right note, then he began to play.*
He's a stranger to someAnd a vision to noneHe can never get enough,Get enough of the one
For a fortune he'd quitBut it's hard to admitHow it ends and beginsOn his face is a map of the worldOn his face is a map of the worldFrom yesterday, it's coming!From yesterday, the fear!From yesterday, it calls himBut he doesn't want to read the message here
Danny(How aware is he?)
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 5, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )
Kalen HollidayKalen glances up at the sound of music starting. His attention catches for a few seconds when he recognizes Danny as someone he's met before, but only a few seconds. He's hardly deaf, but you don't need to look at a performance to hear it. Sure, there's visual elements, he knows that. You don't live with a musician for years and not know that.
He spends only a moment with that. Then goes up to the bar and returns with not one but two rocks glasses with whiskey in them, sets both down, resettles, and takes the tablet back out of his bag to resume working. What would Kharisma say about refusing to stop and appreciate the moment? Serafine? Ian? He tries. He does. But all he can think of in response to wonder what those listless ghosts Alexander told him about would have given to hear this. How many more are there now? How many will there be?
And after that? There are always more monsters. Always more bodies and more ghosts.
They aren't even safe when they're dead. He knows that now too. There are monsters in this life and monsters in the afterlife and everywhere, everywhere there are things that make it nearly impossible to just focus on anything.
Danny*The song was over far too soon, he was hunched over the guitar, one knee on the bar of the stool, the other on the floor tapping time on habit. But he was happy. He trod on the FX pedal and worked into the next song after taking a sip from the drink, that too was over all too soon for him. He smiled, a glance to the booth then back to the room and the people that were in it, some had stopped to listen, some where still having their conversations. He rolled up the shirt sleeve, the tattoo's on his arm in evidence. Then he struck the next cord, this one was about the same pace as the song before it.*
A hundred days have made me older. Since the last time that I saw your pretty face.
A thousand lies have made me colder. And I don't think I can look at this the same. *his fingers picked the melody, dancing round his voice while he sang, his eyes half closed. His foot tapping in time to the music.*
Kalen HollidayKalen pauses at reading through news stories. He watches Danny for a moment while he considers something. And for some people, it would be whether to try to get Danny's attention. How to respond to the fact that he is a phenomenal musician. But Kalen...Kalen is thinking that if he could justify sending someone into the Black Orchid, Danny wouldn't be the worst choice.
If.
But no. Grace has a thing and Alexander has investigations and these Mages in Denver...they are not like the ones who trained him. They will do this differently. Perhaps with less blood.
He could live with that.
Danny
I'm here without you baby, but you're still on my lonely mind, I think bout you baby and I dream about you all the time.
I'm here without you baby, but you're still with me in my dreams and tonight,; it's only you and me.
*He lifted his foot onto the bar as well, his eyes lifting to watch the effect of the song on the crowd. Sure, it might be better with another voice to counter his, but he didn't have that option tonight, perhaps that's why he was playing this set. His arm lifting to strum the notes in perfect timing. The notes that he picked out did the job for him instead. His faded grey jeans, the black shirt he wore, a beaded bracelet around his wrist, the guyliner, tonight he looked a little more like his stage persona. A pair of silver tipped cowboy boots finished the look. Thankfully he'd gone without a hat, that'd have just been corny. He finished that song too. Tempted to break into something else, but no, he just played a few notes to hint at something else. Then slipped the strap from his neck and set the guitar on the stand near the bar, a nod to the tender to keep an eye on it and turned the amp off. He'd not missed the other glass by Kalen. The crowd were pleased and took their share of applauding him, he bowed to them as he made his way off the stage, some of them patting his back as he slipped into the seat.*
Kalen HollidayKalen looks up when he sits, holds his eyes for a second. In the dimness of the bar, his green irises are so pale it is hard to tell they have any color at all. And then he nods, barely perceptibly.
"Bravo." It is, likely, the most understated praise of the evening.
"I got you a proper drink. Though you may already have dissolved your tastebuds with redbull, making it impossible for you to properly appreciate it."
Hello, Kalen. Some people...they say hello.
Danny*He chuckled and picked up the drink, then took a long sip of it after raising it in toast to Kalen.* I appreciate it, thanks. Really? People have tastebuds? Over rated. *He smirks and sets the glass back down.* Thank you. *But he folds over the table, one hand on his heart as he bowed in his seat.* So how's things? *he himself had molten brown red mahogany eyes And his face, well, angelic and alluring would probably just about describe it. His nails as usual were black. One hand, his left, his fretting hand had shorter nails, while the right, the picking hand he'd just shown to have with such expertise were longer.*
Don't get me wrong, I do drink things other than coffee, I just have my vice and I can't help it. I've progressed to tattooes now instead. *That smile came back, or had it never really left?*
Kalen HollidayKalen huffs at that dramatic little bow. "The world remains as she has always been, full of infinite possibility. As evidenced by her current state...infinite possibility isn't, in all manifestations, exactly the blessing people might imagine."
Up arches one eyebrow. "Am I going to have to teach you to drink proper coffee too? You are seriously such high maintenance. You're lucky you're pretty."
Danny*At that he really did laugh. throwing his head back with his eyes closed then he shook his head still chuckling.* I'm a well trained coffee junky. It's all good.
*He smiles more picking up the drink to take another sip from it.* Lets put it this way.. I got through school on a coffee bean, I get through most things with a coffee buzz. *He shrugged.* Can't help it, I'm just that little bit wired that way. *he held his other index finger and thumb a smidgen apart in emphasis.*
So what brings you here tonight? I mean, it's hardly as if you knew I'd be here.
Kalen Holliday"Oh. Welcome to Denver, the land of extraordinary coincidences. You'll get used to this. It happens all the time." He smiles a bit.
Now what? Right.
"How are you?"
DannyFinding my feet? *He shrugs a bit still smiling at the question.* I've yet to find a few places, but I'm sure they'll reveal themselves in time. They always do. And you'd be surprised how coincidental I can be. Time is fleeting.. *he shrugs.* turn it around, flip it on a pinhead and let it shoot out all over the place.
*On his right wrist, the one that wasn't marked with Musica Delenit Bestiam Feram had the infinity symbol tattooed onto it. It appeared he had a clockpiece on the inside of his left elbow as well that could be seen. Hours of intricate work.*
Kalen Holliday"Well. That is certainly a way to approach the subject." Kalen says with some amusement.
"I don't doubt you'll find places to play, you're not half bad." And then a slight shrug. "I meet so many musicians in Denver."
DannyIt must be some kind of mecca. *he chuckles.* and thank you for the compliment. *He turned his head, watching the world go past slightly in that little bubble they had, then his attention was back on Kalen.* So what makes you think I'm high maintenence? I might be easy and mellow to deal with for all you know.
Kalen Holliday"Well. I suppose there are more demanding things in the world than teaching you to drink something that doesn't taste like battery acid." He regards Danny for a few seconds, by all indications serious. "Please tell me that you at least grind your own coffee? I will, for now, forgive you if you use one of those terrible drip machines."
Serafíne(Awarenesssssssss.)
Dice: 7 d10 TN5 (2, 2, 2, 4, 4, 6, 6, 10, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 6 ) Re-rolls: 4
Danny*He gags slightly at the notion.* Puuurlease... *He gives the guy that level serious look he's capable of when in need.* I would rather drink puddle water than percolate. No, the first thing I did when I got here was buy three things. A grinder, and a decent espresso machine, the last was a good milk steamer. I can't write music without a decent blend in my hand to work with. *He grinned after that. He didn't tell the connoisseur about the starbucks he raided on a semi daily basis though. Didn't dare!*
DannyMy what a flashing resonance that is... like a strobe light.
Kalen HollidayKalen nods. "Very well. I suppose there is hope for you yet." He still sounds serious. He still mostly looks serious. But he is only trying so hard, and there is a bit of twitching at the corners of his mouth.
"How are you finding the city so far?"
DannyWell.. *he lifts his chin and raises his hand to rub it slightly then lowers his hand again.* It's not quite what I thought I was expecting. Mind you, I'm not sure what I was expecting, probably more stetsons and the such, but no, on the whole it's okay. I've not met anyone that's given me cause to worry yet... despite your best attempts. *he smiles again, recalling their last meeting and Kalen's comment about being eaten.*
SerafíneIt has been: weeks since Sera and Kalen saw each other. The last time was in a park, at Twilight, the edges of the sky seamed with light, everything else sunk into darkness. She was fine, you know? and it was chaotic and strange and fucked up and disorienting and they all knew from the wrenching immediacy of her resonance and her sudden-knowledge that something had happened. Though not, perhaps, what.
--
She is: a bit thinner now, though perhaps that is hard to see. Just a kind of sharpness to the already sharp bone structure of her face. Something taut or perhaps clarified, because she is not eating as much as she should, and this has taken on, in some ways, the cast of ritual. Which does not mean that she is fasting, precisely, as her first stop when she slips into the bar is, you know, the bar itself, where she tucks her arms against the edge and beckons the 'tender over and murmurs something and pays something and waits for something.
Oh, she is aware of the brightness of Danny's resonance. Kalen's tumult. Aware of them right down to the finest little bones of her inner ear. Senses them as stars flung out on some spiral-worked arm of whatever galaxy she inhabits.
She'll be on her way over, soon.
Kalen Holliday"Oh. Well, shall have to-"
But then, there is Serafine, and he pauses and breathes in the sense of her. He turns to watch her, eyes on the light and shadow playing over her face and those always sharp bones. He knows how close her ribs always are to the world, has always thought that perhaps it is some physical correspondence to the way her heart is always so close to the world. He knows how those ribs fit, their curves a little too evident, against the palm of his hand.
"Try harder." But his eyes, his attention really, is still on Serafine. Danny is entertaining. Danny is also stunning. But Serafine...Serafine is like stars. She has gravity. Light.
And one day, perhaps, she will explode into a great blaze of light. And then all of that light will collapse in on itself and then all of the world around it will follow. Fall into whatever place the light went.
What in all of the world wouldn't want to follow that kind of brilliance anywhere?
Danny*He shook his head softly and took another drink of the whatever it was that Kalen had gotten for him, his head turning to look where Kalen was... yes he'd picked up the entrance, but now he picked up the body that came with it and had to nod his approval.* Friend of yours? *He asked quietly, turning his attention back to Kalen, then waited to see if the man was as captivated as he appeared to be.*
SerafíneWhat she is waiting for is a bottle of tequila, and a trio of shotglasses and a lowball glass full of lime slices. Wheedles some maraschino cherries out of the bartender, too. The sticky pink syrup clings to the lime slices and stains the glass, in a way that makes her smile this rather still and rather private smile, entirely meant for herself.
She seems so tall, so attenuated, but that has something to do with the five inch heels on the thigh-high leather boots she's wearing, black naturally, and laced up all around with silver chain. A short leather skirt, a plaid bustier, a torn Jesus and Mary Chain t-shirt and a worn black hoodie complete the look. Her wrists are stacked with these colorful Moroccan bracelets, covered in little diamonds of mirror, which catch the light and gleam with every movement. She has a bike chain wrapped 'round her neck, mixed with a strand of genuine tahitian pearls, by way of further adornment.
Sera picks up the bottle by its neck and the shot glasses by their rims and balances the low-ball glass with its lime slices and too-red cherries by gathering it up and wedging it against her body, between her wrist and her ribs and armed with all of this bounty nips away from the bar and starts toward Kalen and Danny. Swaying a bit.
Kalen Holliday"That," Kalen says softly. "Is Serafine. She also sings."
He notes the sway, but Sera swaying a bit isn't precisely abnormal. He watches her, but she is coming to them with a bottle of tequila and a bowl of limes and shot glasses. Maraschino cherries. He wonders, briefly, if he could convince her to eat a salad with tangerines and those ridiculous cherries and almond slices. Some kind of crazy vinaigrette. Does vinaigrette come in blackberry? If so, if nothing else, he should get some for Grace.
He slides across the bench in the booth, into the corner, so Sera has room to join him. Of course, she could also join Danny, he supposes. Of course, it is Serafine. Perhaps she will perch on the table like some mythic creature that has no use for such common things as benches. How would he know until she's done it?
Danny*His faded grey jeans, the black shirt he wore, a beaded bracelet around his wrist, the guyliner, tonight he looked a little more like his stage persona. A pair of silver tipped cowboy boots finished the look.* Oh she does? *he nods as well at that and smiles when the woman makes her way over, then notes that Kalen made room for her, and my what goodies she has!! He finishes his drink with a long glug, then flicks it aside to the table near the wall.*
SerafíneThe sway is far from unusual. It could be just the effect of gravity on someone wearing heels like that. They're harder to walk about in than most people, men at least, understand, but she walks with the the same raw physical confidence as if her feet were flat on the ground.
And it's a Saturday night, still pretty fucking early, all things considered, but it seems likely that she has started in on something, somewhere, for some reason, and she comes up to the table and puts her bottle of tequila quite solidly down and then the glass of limes and cherries follows and finally the shot glasses, this little trio of an array, spread out to catch the light.
"Hey," Sera to Kalen, flashing Danny a peace sign like a goddamned hippie, or maybe just showing off the sharkscissors tattoo on the palm of her hand, as she slides in beside Kalen. No, she doesn't really believe in benches, but they are there for a reason, and she smiles at Danny across the table and then slews a look over to Kalen beside her and studies his pale face in the bar's uncertain light and inhales in a way that tells anyone who has ever gone drinking before that these will not be her first shots of the night and leans veryvery close to Kalen and murmurs something to him, that Danny might overhear if he tries to listen in.
SerafíneMurmured, "Are you guys on a date? I'm not interrupting?"
Kalen HollidayKalen smiles a little as she climbs onto the bench with him and then he listens to her murmured questions and then he laughs. He leans into her to murmur back. Danny saw Lucy touch Kalen. And he certainly permitted that. He'd even smiled. But there is something different about how he responds to Serafine, and it isn't just the warmth. He trusts her. All the watching he does, every movement of hers he tracks, there is not even a hint he wonders what her intentions might be.
And then, despite the fact that Serafine has all that gravity, he does look away from her, toward Danny. He does reach out to rest his hand against the curve of her ribs - because gravity. "Serafine, Danny. Danny, Serafine."
Kalen Holliday"No, and no. But it is charming you think I could be on a date. I think you may be one of three people who think I'd ever manage a thing like that."
Danny*He knew about people and he knew about gravity but it was fascinating to see it all in action. It made him smile as he watched them together, she was certainly entrancing and he found himself leaning his chin on his upturned left hand, his elbow on the table as he watched them, then blinked when the introductions were made.* Hey.. *his hand detached temporarily from the chin to wave his fingers slowly just the once.* Good to meet you. Kalen says you're a musician as well?
Serafíne"Not much of one, these days," Sera to Danny, this quick little smile on her mouth that finds a moment's purchase in her dark eyes. "We've never come up with a name for the band and haven't played out anywhere in weeks. Me and my housemates noodle around a bit though, yeah."
She is: thinner than Kalen remembers, yes. Her ribs fractionally closer to the surface. His hand folds over the cursive lines of some script tattoo that crawls up her flank, whose letters are too concealed by her posture, the bustier, and the tattered remnants of her old band t-shirt to make out.
And her head is canted toward Kalen as he leans closer to her to murmur back and there is a scissoring moment when she tips her golden head a bit more upright to meet Kalen's pale gaze. Then she glances across the table at Danny, all direct.
"I asked Kalen if you guys were on a date." She is busy now, see. Distributing the shotglasses. She likes the way her lungs feel, so she breathes in again, warm body sliding beneath the skim of Kalen's hand. "He said no." A smile, across the table, just for this stranger. " - tell me he's wrong, Danny."
Danny*He nodded to that.* Yeah, names can be a pain in the ass when you just can't find the right one. Something that sounds pretentious, or dull, or just isn't the right thing. *Then his eyebrows shot up in surprise.* Uh.. Well... *he had to laugh at the baldness of her question.* If we are on a date, no body told me. Mind you, the first time we met he told me we were on a date... So... *He shrugs, his hands uplifting in a helpless cute little shrug.* Beats me?
Kalen HollidayKalen makes a little huff somewhere between amusement and indignation when Sera tells Danny about the question and then starts that. "Hey!"
And then he turns those pale eyes on Danny. "Metaphorically speaking. Don't help her. Your introduction to Denver really shouldn't be figuring out how alarmingly not like human I am sometimes. Seriously. You seem lovely. And you are very pretty. But I am...both driven and broken in ways that make it basically impossible to date me.
"Serafine...has too much faith in me. For which I adore her." And see here, here, even though she is meddling and even though he is trying to undo her meddling, he wraps an arm around her and pulls her, briefly, against his side. He does adore her. Partly because practically no one here will fight for him at all. Ian wouldn't let him die. Serafine won't let him not live. They are such different things. He doesn't know how not to love either of them.
"Besides. I think we might have to meet on purpose for it to be a date." He glances at Sera. "And I don't have his number. So this is clearly, clearly not a date."
SerafíneEverything that Danny says about band names is fucking true but Sera does not give him one of those strange empathetic half-smiles and chime in on the truths he utters. And anyway the band doesn't have a name for other reasons that Sera also: cannot name, or perhaps refuses to name. The band without a name is: provisional, you see, transitional, free.
Sera smiles at Danny, across the table. She's picking up her bottle of tequila, scooting forward on the bench seat to reach, because the illusion of height that her heels give her naturally disappears when she sits. For all her boldness there is something fragile about her tonight and as this is the first time Danny and Sera have met, perhaps he will think that fragility native to her.
"That wasn't a no," Sera is saying to Danny across the table when Kalen wraps her up and pulls her against him. From her: a film of resistance that feels - taut, consumed, unnatural - before it breaks apart, dissolves itself beneath her skin.
"Everyone's driven and broken, Kalen." She's pouring him a shot, lifting her chin to glance up at him, her dark eyes shadowed by dark lashes, straight brows curled in inquiry. Or challenge. "Doesn't mean you can't share a drink."
A flash back at Danny.
"Or exchange numbers. Right?"
Danny*He chuckled again at that, the smile still on his face, sometimes it was hard to just not smile at all. Clearly in their own special way they were devoted to each other.*
Don't make me go up on that there stage and play something just for the pair of you!! *he threatens with a laugh as he points at the stage of sorts, then he shakes his head with another laugh.* Digits I can do. But promises I can't. I'm driven too in my own way, slave to the music within I'm afraid. And she's a fickle and difficult mistress. But she has her wonderful side too. Like just before the dawn when you slip out for a smoke and the sky is just on that dark side of light. You know, when it's that slate colour of black, the sort that sort of warms you to the new day coming.
*Then it was as if he caught was he was saying and he sighed.* See? Even when I'm not writing, I'm writing. *he shrugged again.*
Kalen HollidayThere is a look at the edge of resistance, a slight narrowing of his eyes. He looks over the sharpened line of her cheekbones again. Sometimes they are nothing alike. Sometimes they are alike. Rarely.
But he doesn't ask her now. His expression smooths back out, melts back into that same expression he used when he was playing with Danny before in ways that suggest if he tried he could have held a normal-looking conversation, if not meant it.
He flashes Danny a smile, as though this getting his number was the victory he wanted. Look, Sera. You are winning. And see, because you can't ever seem to help but see everything, he is letting you win.
He turns back to Sera. "Very well. He makes no promises, and I am very careful of mine. You know that. One date, I promise. I will invite him and if he agrees I will even go. One."
SerafíneSerafíne hums her acknowledgment of her goddamned victory and pours another shot. The tequila's sharp scent bright in the air, all the volatile compounds oily against the liquid. Then a third. She's good at this. She knows just when to stop before the shots spill over the edges of the shot glasses and then she nudges them around the table, lines them up. Preens maybe a little bit - lovely - enthralling, right? as the gentlemen decide to exchange numbers.
"Nobody has to make any promises," she tells them both, though her gaze catches more on Kalen's eyes than on Danny's. She is trying to tell him that she is okay. Or at least, that she is getting there. "I just thought you'd enjoy each other's company."
And she picks up her shot glass. Clinks it against the others. Inhales a great big breath. And throws it back.
Savors the burn.
Danny*He picks up the drink and slams it back then down onto the table upside down, the way he was taught to by... someone. A slight cough at the burn of it before he grins again.* You're trying to get me drunk.. I've got to drive later and I'm not going to leave my car here... *he chuckles again, then realises his cards were in his jacket.. which were on the chair up there. One finger is held up as he gets to his feet slowly and makes his way through the crowd to go get it, then gets his guitar to go with it.*
Kalen Holliday"Well. Aside from the part where you forget I'm impossible, you seem to know me remarkably well. Maybe we would. He is entertaining, after all." He smiles for Sera, and it is a real smile. Maybe he didn't make her really fight for that win, but he doesn't seem unhappy with this one date promise. Sure, he assumes there won't be a second date. But...hey. It's Kalen. He also assumes he'll be dead by 30.
Of course, he thought that number was 20 once, and look at how he was wrong there.
"Sera tries to get everyone drunk. It's a hazard of being around her, the liver damage. She's worth it though."
Serafíne"I'm not - " insistent, see, after Danny throws back the first shot and insists that she is trying to get him drunk and that he cannot get drunk and that he has to drive and he is not leaving his car here, downtown, damnit. Then he's getting up to go grab his jacket and guitar and her dark eyes spike up to follow his progress and she glances back at Kalen, who is not unhappy with the promised date and who assumes that there will not be a second date and that's fine. Look how many times the world proves you wrong, Kalen.
"I'm not trying to get him drunk," Sera is telling just Kalen now, because Danny left the table. She is doing it with this exagerrated certainty, punctuated and alive and oh, hey, a litle bit drunk herself. Empty stomach and tequila and all. It doesn't take long until she's floating, floating, floating.
"I'm getting him drunk." Still with drunken certainty. "Who drives to a bar, anyway? Take a cab." Which is a mantra for Sera on par with safe sex. Usually.
Danny*When he came back he had his ax with him, the strap over his shoulder as he had his jacket over his other arm. The jacket his thrown into the corner, while he carefully lifts his guitar to have it across his knee's at the table and pushes himself right back into the seat to make sure there's no scratches or chance of it being knocked. The pattern even while it was switched off was impressive the lava flow and bubble black and grey in the odd light that the bar was in. On habit his fingers twitched as they hit the strings absently, he couldn't help it, it was like a tourette's twitch, something he had to do, his fingers danced on his left hand as he ran a short but fast riff then stilled the strings. Then he leaned and reached for a card from his jacket after watching the pair of them again and slide a card across the table in Kalen's direction.* There you go. *Drothe it said on it. Just a name and numbers. Nothing else, no address. Just that. Now anyone that listened to music or had their nose to the music scene might well recognise that particular name. * So... You were saying? Liver damage? *He grinned and reached for a slice of lime to chew on.*
Kalen Holliday
Kalem looks at the card, so similar to his with its lack of titles or addresses, and smiles. He slips it into the bag at his feet, and then glances at Sera.
"Well. He doesn't scare easy. He might survive Denver. And me. It's promising." Look at that praise.
Kalen laughs and takes a shot of tequila. "Liver damage. I think we have people for that, though."
SerafíneSera has already tossed back her first shot and poured another one. Right now she doesn't bother with the lime and there is still that exagerrated care about her, framing each action, as if she were made of both cotton wool and half-shattered glass that she had to be leary of disturbing and she is very focused on the shot glasses and inhaling again, pours Kalen and Danny each other as they toast each other or whatever about the possibilities of liver damage, while Sera ignores them, or at least that part of their banter.
She does not toast to liver damage, no.
She glances at the card that Danny slides across the table toward Kalen and she knows the name, of course she does. Flicks her dark eyes back up to Danny's face and lets them rest there, then drops them to the guitar as he flexes his fingers up and down the neck in that instinctive riff.
The edge of her mouth sliding, ironic, sweet in its way.
"I don't see what's scary about Denver. Or you, Kalen." Sera returns, lifting her second shot glass, holding it very carefully about the rim and toasting, "To new friends. And the date I engineered."
Okay, that was a little smug.
"I get to officiate at your wedding, you know. If you get married. That's like the fucking rules." Then, to Danny - "Your guitar's so cool, man. How'd they do that?"
Danny*He chuckled again, the fingers of his left hand still on the strings as they idled and tapped out a tune that slid its way into his head, he flicked off the right hand slightly as if dismissing that comment about the liver damage but grinned.* It's all in the mind, damage is just one more thing on the list of the many to take us all to bits before we get put back together and dance our own little decadence dance.
*Then he looked at Sera.* I can't leave my car here, c'mon.. *Oh god, yeah, alcohol was a great liberator and his of his right hand found the strings as well and he danced them, both hands moving as he founds chords, stretched out the fingers of his left hand, then strummed out a little riff of chords, making the guitar sound like it was laughing as well.* WEDDING?! *Now he had to laugh to go with it!* HOLY SHIT woman!! You're trying to make me an honest to god married off man? Either you're nuts or your an evil genius hell bent on world domination!
Denver's cool in its own way.. and I already figured out that Kalen is Blofeld. *his right hand moves to pick up the glass and he downs that too screwing up his face in that cute little grimace before sticking his tongue out and the glass goes back onto the table upside down again. Then it went back onto the strings as if the alcohol was just another means to tapping into that rich vein of music.
He laughed again.* Fucked if I know! Just kind of said what I saw in a dream once and that was it... picked her up a few weeks later... ain' she fucking darlin? *he stroked his baby, leaning in to rest his head on the board with that cute pleased smug bastard grin, like he'd made it himself.*
Kalen Holliday"If we get married, you can co-officiate. But Ramon might be disappointed if I don't let him help." He sighs. "Well. Actually. He probably can't help. Nevermind. It's all you then."
He raises his glass to their and then takes that shot too. No lime. No salt.
He settles back with a smile. "Although. We may have to see other people too. I don't believe in monogamy and he clearly has some kind of existing relationship with that guitar."
SerafíneSera has no idea whom Blofeld might be and responds to Danny's outburst with mildly drunken glance that has enough blank in it to be either charming or frustrating. He remarks that she is either nuts or an evil genius and something about her goes strange at his pronouncement, and that strangeness does not and will not leave her for some small time.
And then there are shot glasses to be refilled and she is pouring again, her spine a bit hunched, her shoulderblades back.
"He's right, you know," this to Danny. "You do have quite the relationship with that guitar."
Then a more present glance, sidelong, lashed, toward Kalen. "You don't believe in monogamy. Why not?"
Danny*He laughed even more at that and sat up again, then lifted his right hand to push his hair back out of his face with a soft sigh.* Well, I do believe I'm getting wasted.... Not what I had planned... but... *he shrugged.* shit happens, right? Ahh monogamy... the best way to piss off everyone around you, becoming so totally into someone you can't talk about anyone or anything else. *Did he notice the effect his words had on the girl? Not in the slightest. He picks up the next glass and salutes her with it.*
Uh... To.... *Now he has to think and gets this comical sort of thinking look on his face, staring above their heads.* To every one we've ever known.
*Well he thought it was good and downed it anyhow.* I do yes, but that's because she's probably the best guitar I've ever had. I might go buy an N4 some time, but... *he shrugged.* Washburns have their moments. This... this is mine. This is the image I had and her pickups are just plain old perfect. I couldn't want for a better beast. *He runs his fingers down the fret board again.*
Kalen HollidayKalen shakes his head a little at that definition of monogamy.
"Honestly," he says to Sera, "It just sort of happened that I ended up dating this couple that was very...it was very open. It's less open now, a bit. For them, anyway. I'm kind of - it's complicated. But...mostly, everyone I dated wasn't monogamous and it didn't seem like something I really necessarily was concerned about."
Danny's toast gets a slightly odd look, because he just had two shots of tequila on top of what he'd already had and he was just being not really guarded with Sera and.... But he nods after a few seconds of perfect silence, and raises his new tequila shot. "To everyone we've ever known." And there is a softness to that. But then, most of the people he's ever really known are dead.
SerafíneHere's the thing. Danny tosses out his toast without much thought, or perhaps with the kind of thought that goes along with getting drunk with strangers, with banter, with the atmosphere where the world slews together and peels itself apart. Kalen repeats it, with that softness in his voice that blurs lines and has an ache of sorts behind it, because some portion of everyone he's ever known is dead.
Sera's too-sharp features have softened too and there's the burn of the tequila in the back of her throat and inside her the strangest and absolutely sudden urge to cry that she swallows down, and closes her eyes, holding the drink up, breathing, smiling this close-mouthed smile, so interally focuses for these passing seconds until she breathes out. Says,
"Hear hear," because you have to say something, and throws another shot back. She's had nothing to eat today. That shot hits her and makes her head spin but Kalen tells her honestly and she hum/huffs out a breath, using the shot glass to gesture in Danny's direction, before turning back to Kalen.
"So, it's not that you don't believe in monogamy then, right? Just that you don't think it's necessary. Right?"
Ian[Oh right, Awareness]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 5, 9, 9, 9, 10) ( success x 4 )
IanTechnically, it was Emma's fault that Ian was at the bar that night, but Emma wasn't with him when he got there and, if her texts were anything to go by, she might very well not show up at all. It was just verging on chilly as Ian stepped out of his car, and a brisk autumn wind cut through the fabric of his shirt. The sky was dark, but the university district was bright and lively around him. Ian pocketed his keys and walked over to the bar, where he had to step aside to allow a group of noticeably tipsy sorority girls to breeze past. Their laughter echoed behind him as he made his way inside.
...And there they were. Kalen and Sera and someone that Ian hadn't met before, drinking tequila in one of the booths. Ian's eyes found them almost immediately, and if Kalen happened to glance his way, he'd receive a light smile (just a faint curve of the lips) and a raised eyebrow. But Ian didn't approach their table immediately. Instead he strode over to the bar and ordered a drink.
Danny*Oh yeah, he had the glass in his hand. He set it on the table, leaning his shoulders back into the cushions before resting his head back and watched them. The corner of his mouth still in that smile but he was just in the buzz now that the alcohol had given him. No need to argue with that and he was most assuredly not in the right state to drive. But atleast he wasn't being melancholy on them. No, instead when his fingers were free of the glass he began to play again, just running his fingers at the heart of the board where it met the the neck, picking out the notes in rapid succession without thinking about it, then sliding them solidly his foot tapping rapidly to the temp in his head. Then he speaks again.*
So... Monogamy is unnecessary, but in a way it's also necessary. Just that you kind of don't think it's for you? *His eyebrows raised as he asked the question, staring right at Kalen as he did so.*
Kalen HollidaySomewhere, in the middle of all this discussion about dating, which is almost the most serious conversation he's had about dating in a decade, there is Ian. And Kalen cannot help it, he laughs softly and looks up, and when he catches sight of that smile he nods back.
Look. Danny. Are you really ready to share him the people he has and the people he does not have and his practical compulsion to go jump between people and monsters?
"I just fell in love. It didn't, at the time, even seem like a thing to question. Of course, that worked out better, then." Blink. Well, there was that one time his probably-but-not-definitely-ex-girlfriend left him half-dead and didn't look back, but they're way past that now. "I was less...that was before a lot of things."
A lot of things he doesn't want to talk about apparently, since his more customary distance settles back into place. "It's hardly relevant now, since I basically fail at all human relationships. And anyway, it's probably for the best. What's my life expectancy? Why would I do that to anyone? It would hardly seem fair."
SerafíneSera is inhaling through her nostrils and holding her breath in her lungs and letting it go again, in this deliberate way, and the world around her feels all unhinged and open as it always starts to past a certain hour on certain nights, and Danny keeps pawing at the guitar he has across his lap in a way that feels familiar to Sera - familiar but without context, mind - such that when he does that, the look she gives him is fond and a little bit aching with the strangest sort of edge.
Kalen says that he just fell in love which happens, you know, to people, sometimes for good and sometimes for ill and sometimes for a helluva lot of both and Sera lifts her chin and gives Kalen this sliding/sparking uplift of a glance. Smiles, rather fond, until he starts to shut down, and what he says next makes her roll her eyes - fondly - just a little bit, because he's being dumb.
She stops him with a drunken hand on his mouth, the bronze ring she always wears still on her index finger, her nail polish a chipped black, and leans up to kiss him on the temple. Murmurs, shhhhh, to him when she is close to his skin.
Then pulls back. "Danny. Tell Kalen the best thing you say today. Kalen, tell Danny the worst thing you saw today. I'm gonna be right back. I hafta pee."
--
And she gets up. Heads not to the Little Girl's Room, but right over to Ian at the bar.
She is carrying her shot glass, she doesn't remember why and it's empty but these people will fill it with things.
"Hey." Sera to Ian. She's a bit thinner than she was this summer, but what would he know about her usual weight? "Do me a favor?"
Tarrin Rasvelg[Perc + aware]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 5, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )
IanIf one were to go by Ian's clothes, one would assume he made more money than he actually did. Not that he was dressed in anything unusual tonight, but his jeans were a high-end brand and his leather jacket was sleek lambskin. Beneath it he had on a black t-shirt, and there was a leather cord tied around his neck. The boots he had on were Frye - black leather to match his jacket, with a harness strap across the top.
He ordered bourbon. And then, with a relaxed motion (because he was not in any particular hurry tonight,) he began to turn in the direction of Kalen's table. Except then there was Sera, and she looked... thin. And a little less than present. And she was asking for a favor.
Ian looked at her with dark eyes, and he did not immediately respond. But then he tipped his head and asked, "what?"
Danny*He sighed softly hearing Kalen out.* You hang up too much on that whole dying thing. Life expectancy being as short as you seem to think it is, would make me if I were looking down the barrel of a gun want to strike off my bucket list rapido and keep on going. I mean think about it... You don't know when it's all goin to end; so live. *He shrugs a bit as if to him it were all so simple.* Sleep when you're dead man. No point in worrying bout failure, it's experience... *he certainly seems to believe in that.*
Don't turn away the experience for a what if. Life's too short for that. Hell, the human race'd have died out by now if we'd all done that. *His fingers kept on playing, endlessly working notes out in a myriad of patterns as he did so.* Don't back down, grab it by both hands and scream that you want to go faster. It's everything.. Zen.
*Then his attention drifted in a different direction as he sought out something with a little frown on his perfect face, then his eyes settled on Ian.*
Okay... *he has to think about that one, the frown deepens as he thinks of it.* Uh... Shit... thinking, drunken thinking. This could come out bad... Okay... *He tilts his head back then chews his lips as his fingers genuinely stall.* I saw... Oh hey I got it... I was just chilling out this afternoon and saw the most amazing sunset. The colours man, they were just, purples and blues and pinks and oranges all with this set of clouds just riffing through it like... *he shrugs looking down at his fingers.* can't describe it. It was just real pretty, you know like when the world goes this odd orange everywhere and all the light seems unatural?
Kalen HollidayKalen's head tilts, and Danny gets his attention back not because of agreement but because of confusion. "Bucket list?"
He sighs. "Regardless, there are things I would like to do before I die, it's just that in the grand scheme of the cosmos...there are things more important than whether I am happy.
"Also. I'm not entirely sure you've quite grasped the concept of Zen."
But. look, he does soften, a little when Danny describes him a sunset. It's enough to pull his attention back from trying to see what Serafine is doing with Ian. "Yeah. I know."
Oh. He's supposed to say something. And he'd just refuse but it was Sera who requested and he just doesn't tend to refuse Sera. "Just dreams," he says after a long pause. "It's been a quiet day."
SerafíneSera gives Ian this neat little smile. Well, she intends the smile to be neat. She feels it curling itself around the edges of her mouth. Her eyes are glassy and her gait is pretty much unhindered by the thigh-high spike-heeled leather boots she wears but there's also a looseness to her movement that betrays not so much how much she has had to drink - though that is the natural assumption - as how little she had to eat before it. Some people draw circles in chalk or blood or powdered diamonds to cleanse themselves. Sera stops eating and watches Batman on IFC.
And the truth is: it works because she wills it to.
Ian though. Sera steadies herself with a hand on his shoulder and leans close, smiling, to murmur something into his ear.
Then she straightens up, and lets him go and waits for the bartender to fill her thingy. The thingy in her hand. Which should have stuff in it.
SerafíneMurmured: "Go save them from themselves."
DannyBucket list, that whole, things you wanna get done before you die. No, Zen is a form of Karma, like the whole universe in motion, like Newtons Cradle but in a higher sort of purpose thing. *his hand lifts and he sets it above his head.* serious Karma, not just meditation. You know? Bigger than.. *he shrugs.* everything. *But he had that smile on his face as well.* I told you it'd probably come out wrong. Besides.. *he lowers his hand again.* I think it's kinda supposed to be personal.
*He grows a little more serious about the comment on dreams.* That's not good... *he shakes his head.* I don't think I want to know... *he reached and poured their shots, taking care to cuddle his way around the body of his guitar and concentrates like the devil to make sure his hand doesn't sway too much. Staring intently at the glasses before he move it on to another glass then sorts out the bottle to have it on the table without spilling it. Then he picks up his drink.* To not having fucking clue about the next toast.
IanWhatever Ian expected Sera to say, it wasn't the thing she murmured into his ear. And look - were things a bit different between them (and if Sera hadn't been drinking) Ian might very well have ignored her request in favor of something else entirely. Of falling into her gravity and breathing in the scent of her skin and her hair and her sweat. But nothing was ever that easy between them.
All the same, Ian laughed. And the sound was warm and natural and a little surprised. The gesture faded into a relaxed, wry smile. "I'll do my best."
There was a lingering glance thrown her way as he lifted away from the bar, then he threaded his way through the tables until he reached the booth where Kalen and Danny sat together. Ian's balance didn't waver as he moved. He had yet to drink anything, and even if he had... one would be hard pressed to imagine Ian capable of inelegant motion. He felt like a predator sidling up to their table. Cunning and graceful and feline.
"Mind if I crash the party?" His eyes slid from Kalen to Danny, taking in the unfamiliar mage with a lingering gaze.
Tarrin RasvelgThis was not a place he would have normally found himself on a saturday night.Oh he liked a good place to drink, certainly, but he found that some places seemed to be geared to a different mind set. Despite his desire to linger on the couch with a torn copy of Beowulf, she dragged him up and out to see the city, or at least the younger nightlife.
Unfortunately, the moment she pulled him in, she was wandering off to indulge herself, and left Tarrin to find some sort of grounding. Alcohol was always the best method of finding one's place in uncomfortable affairs.
Beer, in that way, is his anchor. Tarrin makes his way to the bar slowly, the worn bottoms of his boots pressing into the floor. He pushed the dark blue sleeves of his button up towards his elbow, rolling them them just enough to keep them there. Casual and simple, that's how he liked it.
Kalen Holliday
"You don't." And that is flat. Final.
But at that toast Kalen laughs. Because, sometimes, if you surprise him (or catch him in a perfect storm of circumstances), he get out of his head long enough live in a moment. Very, very rarely. But he laughs, and he means it because Kalen's moods shift all quicksilver.
And so, he turns to Ian and he is still smiling and this is, while not Kalen drunk, Kalen about three shots past anything Ian has ever gotten to see. "Hey. Not at all. This is Danny, and we are about to toast to having no idea what our next toast should be. Join us?"
Danny*He looked up as yet another face joined them at the table, then knocked back the shot and grimaced again before grabbing another slice of the lime to bite down on, well, that was comical wasn't it? When he set the glass back down on the table he'd sunk his teeth well and truly into the lime, making a smile around it. Then his fingers were back on the guitar again, the notes flooding out of him as the alcohol hit. He nodded to the toast and mumbled something bout, 'what he said', with that lime slice still in his teeth as he sucked on it.*
SerafíneSera gets another shot at the bar. She shouldn't really be served right now but she's difficult to resist when she wants something and she always wants something. Like now.
A shot. Which she gets, and pays for, and then checks her phone and does head to the ladies' restroom, texting while she walks. The bar's more and more crowded as the night goes on and even with her heels anyone watching her will soon lose sight of her in the crowd. Then her resonance will dwindle and fade, until the sense of her is well and truly gone.
No comments:
Post a Comment