The City Never Sleeps [thread] [open to: ALL]

Jun 16, 2008 20:24

Lou swiped the rag over the gleaming mahogany surface of his bar, his smirk long and thin as a knifeblade. He'd buffed it to the point of creating a mirror-like shine, reflecting that glimmer of too-white teeth back up at him ( Read more... )

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mine_own_image June 17 2008, 06:36:46 UTC
Emily did not belong in a bar, she didn't drink. But bars were sometimes in restaurants and she didn't not go to a restaurant just because they served alcohol. Even if this seemed more like a bar that happened to serve food. ...She didn't belong at a bar.

But Gen was here. Gen had told her about her job during tea earlier and invited her to drop by any time. Considering "any time" looked to be rather close to curfew (because Emily didn't want to get in trouble by breaking the rules in this new "home" of hers), she was out and wandering away from her apartment which already made her uncomfortable, but stepping in through the front doors of a place she really felt she didn't belong...

'Relax. You are so totally over-reacting. We're here to see our friend. Or at least the one we hope will be our friend.'It was easy enough to spot Gen (unless you were in a room crowded with tall people), her bright red hair quickly drawing the eye's attention. ...But she was taking care of a table, so Emily couldn't exactly just jump over and ( ... )

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gray_eames June 17 2008, 15:01:39 UTC
Gray had been alive for three hundred and twenty years and never in all that time had he felt compelled to obey anybody's curfew. It had occurred to him that getting sent to do two hundred push ups in mud up to his ankles for breaking curfew when he'd been stuck in a barracks (you couldn't protect your charges when they were enlisted unless you were too) would be tame punishment compared to what awaited him if this supernatural black hole decided to be pissed about it, but nevertheless he was outside and the darkness was deep as he paced along the sidewalk, hands in pockets, eyes tracing the sky as he wandered along. Quite a few things seemed to be closed early by American standards, he wasn't sure how that reflected on Truth & Consequences but he was sure it meant something ( ... )

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mine_own_image June 17 2008, 15:24:01 UTC
Emily physically jumped forward a foot with a quavery, "Meep!" and spun around on her heels, hands crossed over her chest and under her chin in a defensive reaction. She hadn't sensed anyone coming up behind her, but it wasn't like she had super kung-fu skills or anything so that wasn't unusual. It didn't take her long either to realize she'd been blocking the door and therefore anyone's way in. She was being a nuisance.

"Sorry!" she blurted, looking down at the floor between their feet. "I didn't mean to be in your way, I'll move." To prove it she backed up all the way into a waiting area bench five feet away, nearly falling back into it with her enthusiastic backpedaling. "Sorry. It was my fault."

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gray_eames June 17 2008, 17:02:33 UTC
A look of confusion flittered across Gray's eyes as he watched the girl's antics, but the way she was acting also quite sealed the fact that no self-respecting guardian angel (whether he had any self-respect or people to guard or not) would just leave her flailing around and tripping over furniture in a strange bar.

Not that Gray had spared any attention for their surroundings yet, having focussed on this blethering kid. He tilted his head to the side, but didn't move any closer to her save to step to one side so others could get in the door. "I don't care," he told her quietly - accent audible even in the bar's din, eyes curiously examining hers. "I was wondering if you were alright, are you?"

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mine_own_image June 17 2008, 23:16:29 UTC
"Huh?" They wanted to know if she was alright? That was kind, although it made her worry she'd been looking unnecessarily distressed. (She was a little, but she also believed it was unnecessary. Probably.) And they didn't care about her being in the way, huh. Well that made her reaction earlier a little embarrassing now, didn't it.

"Um, yes, I'm fine." 'More or less. No, I'm definitely fine. Just...very over-reactive tonight.' Emily looked up to see who she was talking to.

Grey. It was a first impression, not so much made by his hair buy by his eyes. Or maybe by his eyes matching his hair in a rather uncanny way, or...visa versa. Older people had grey hair, some people had grey eyes, she'd just never seen them together at once before. But it wasn't just his hair and eyes, there was something...just grey about him. Washed out. (The pale skin probably didn't help.) And his accent made her wonder where he was from, and imagine he was very far from home. Emily wasn't sure what it was exactly, but something about him ( ... )

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gray_eames June 18 2008, 00:32:46 UTC
"You're welcome," Gray told her, not sure what she was thanking him for and not particularly concerned by his ignorance. What he was somewhat concerned about was what somebody so utterly ill-suited to the bustle and blend of a place like this was doing here.

Not that Gray was going to outright ask: after three hundred and twenty years he'd figured out that asking what a girl like blank was doing in a place like blank got you nothing but glare if you were lucky. And this girl would probably spontaneously combust if she thought he was making advances, which he wouldn't be - under any circumstances.

So Gray improvised. Cleverly. "You wouldn't happen to know which road I take to get to Portland, would you?"

If she knew, resident - probably here to meet a new boyfriend or something and thusly nervous; if she didn't know, somebody like him - and in that case clearly not one to leave dithering in a doorway in the night.

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mine_own_image June 18 2008, 01:42:54 UTC
"Um...Portland?"

She should probably really know that, regardless of having a spotty memory, but geography had always been one of her worst subjects. Then again, if he didn't know, it shouldn't look too bad for not to either, right?

"Sorry," Emily replied with a tiny, sheepish shrug. "Even if I knew, I'm not very good with directions anyway." Which was probably the main reason why she ended up here.

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gray_eames June 18 2008, 01:56:42 UTC
Yes, Portland. The largest city in this state. Gray was supposedly Canadian this half-decade and even he knew that. Gray decided he needed to stop being clever. And it was right then (not coincedentally) that he remembered he was hungry, and had been for about five hours. He'd just gotten lost in thought and forgotten.

A loud growl, replete with odd little ticking sounds at the end, issued from his stomach to remind him to eat something before he actually fell over and died.

Gray glanced down and sighed at his tiresome digestive tract. Then back up at the brown-haired girl with a face, he'd already noticed, was oddly young for the rest of her. "That's alright. It was a pointless inquiry anyway. It looks like I need to eat something before my intestines mutiny."

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mine_own_image June 18 2008, 02:11:11 UTC
"No, it's not pointless. I'm just really not from around here, so...I'm pretty useless. Sorry."

And from the sound of his stomach, she'd have to agree his hunger sounded quite dire. Well that's what people were coming here for, right? Food and...something to drink. And Gen would be busy waiting on them all and Emily didn't have any plans herself for ordering anything so...

Maybe it was best she leave after all. She could come another night (maybe), or just let Gen talk her ear off over more tea and cookies tomorrow. In any case, it was best not to seem a further bother to this man, wasn't it.

"Uh, oh, and I really am fine, thanks for asking." Ah, the reason came out easily enough that time, didn't it.

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gray_eames June 18 2008, 02:29:20 UTC
"I'm not from around here and I'm not particularly useless," Gray pointed out, not unkindly, being as he was convinced that you oughtn't to profess your uselessness until you'd proven it. Well, he sort of had an answer then - she wasn't a resident. But he wouldn't keep her back if she had somewhere else to go (which her general demeanour suggested might be the case - though for all he knew she was always like that) so he just nodded for her repeated thanks and felt his belly twinge again at the scent of food being delivered to a table not too far from them. He'd just ask her one last thing.

"You're not trapped in this selective black hole with the rest of us resident in Ashwood Heights, are you?" he inquired, looking at her curiously. Wondering.

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mine_own_image June 18 2008, 02:34:30 UTC
Oh, he also was new? ...And he knew about her not being able to leave. No, more than that, from what he was saying... He also lived in her apartment complex?!

"I can't leave, if that's what you mean." She bit the inside of her bottom lip in yet another nervous/worried gesture. "You can't either?"

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gray_eames June 18 2008, 02:43:10 UTC
Gray shrugged slightly, hauling a hand out his pocket to rub the inside of his elbow - which had oddly just begun to itch. His eyes, though, never left the conversation. "No. Though it's not for lack of trying. There's a number of us who've simply found ourselves here and unable to be elsewhere - and apparently we're all living in Ashwood--"

Before Gray could continue, not that there was anything more to be said, a server leaned over a rail nearby and whistled down to them. "Table for two?" Gray blinked, realized what the teenager in the apron had assumed, and shrugged idly before glancing back to the girl. "Coming?"

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mine_own_image June 18 2008, 02:54:20 UTC
"Huh?"

Emily stared between the man and the server, both staring back. What had just happened? Suddenly she was...eating with him? She'd been assumed to be sharing a table and meal with a strange man she'd just met at a bar?! W-what would her parents think of her if they were to find out about this?!

"No-no-no-no! We're not together!" she quickly informed the server, nearly blushing at her own words. Then, so as not to let her apparently-neighbor get offended by her insist denial, she hastily fumbled what she hoped was a decent explanation. "I-I was just here to see a friend but she's busy so I should probably just be going home!" Not really her home, but that wasn't important right now. "I-I mean...the curfew..."

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gray_eames June 25 2008, 01:36:24 UTC
Gray supposed that was a decline to his offer, not that he minded over much but he did wonder a little at how utterly stuttery this girl got for no reason he could comprehend. He'd been alive a while, after all, and he'd yet to see a reaction to a dinner invitation go so awry.

Not that he could quite assess why he'd made it in the first place. Oh well.

He lifted a hand and waved slightly to her, tilting his head curiousy to the side as he did. "Well... walk safely," he said quietly, hoping she would. He'd have offered to walk her back... if only he wasn't quite sure she'd have some sort of anyeurism. For her own safety it was probably safer if he just said 'goodnight'.

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mine_own_image June 25 2008, 04:40:56 UTC
It was hard to tell if he hadn't been hurt by her rather energetic refusal. It didn't seem so, but throughout their entire conversation this man had been rather...blank. Serious, she corrected herself. '...sad, maybe.'

"I-I will," she replied, unable to retract her statement and change her mind about staying. There were just too many reasons to go now it seemed, so she turned and opened the doors back up to leave.

"Um, you too!" she called back as they were closing behind her. He probably hadn't heard; her own fault for not remembering her manners earlier. Disappointed in herself for not only that, but for not even achieving her original goal to congratulate Gen, Emily shuffled back to Ashwood.

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