(Untitled)

[itwas_perfect]

She was drifting.

Perfection was an unattainable goal. There was nothing for her to strive for. No career. No featured role. No performances. Without those things, that perfect moment of letting go seemed... futile. What was the point of losing oneself if there was nothing to find on the other side of it

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[notfaking_it]

"I've been out of cigarettes for weeks," Lily said when she sat across from Nina, sliding into the empty chair and giving her a grin as she leaned her elbow on the table, chin in hand. She hadn't actually brought any with her, but for a long time, she'd been able to bum one whenever she felt the need, mostly from Dodge, but here and there from other men as well. It was strange to see Nina smoking by herself, but Lily thought maybe it was a good sign.

"So what's for dinner tonight?" she asked, looking at Nina's untouched plate. "God, I never think to come here for food. I probably should more often." It was a nicer atmosphere than the Compound kitchen, almost like being at a restaurant back home.

[itwas_perfect]

"The guy working the bar has them," Nina said, a smile ghosting across her lips as she leaned forward to offer Lily the cigarette she'd been smoking.

"It's steak and ale pie." On her plate, there was a tiny serving, surrounded mostly by roasted vegetables. Out of it, she'd taken a minuscule bite. "It's good. I'd never had it before."

[notfaking_it]

Leaning across the table, Lily took a drag from the offered cigarette without actually taking it from Nina's hand, then sat back again and looked at the plate. "It looks like you're still not having it," she pointed out, smoke escaping as she spoke before she gave Nina a grin. "I have to say, before I sat down and ruined it, you've got that whole mysterious girl vibe going for you right now," she added.

[itwas_perfect]

When Lily leaned forward, Nina felt a tiny flutter in her stomach, whether from discomfort or nervousness or something else, she couldn't be sure.

"I'm glad you ruined it," she said, then, ducking her head to hide the faint blush staining her cheeks, she added, "I don't think the mysterious girl vibe is really me."

Reaching for her fork, she took up a small bite of the pie, bringing it to her lips and finding that, even cold, it was still good.

[dishabille_mal]

Motherhood was one of the more taxing exercises Maladicta had ever gone through, but not the single greatest. Going cold bat, of course, had been a literal waking nightmare- weening one's self off the mystical properties of human blood just couldn't have been easy, could it have? Of course not. Arriving on the island hadn't exactly been a walk in the park, either, and then there had been what she was arriving fromBut as far as tasks she had been totally lucid for, raising a small human without totally mucking it up ranked right up there. She needed something else to focus on while her adorable spawn was foisted off on its father, some- as she'd been told it was called- 'mommy time

[itwas_perfect]

"I got it from the guy behind the bar," she admitted, feeling woefully, inexplicably inadequate, the same way she'd felt that first time Lily breezed into Manhattan and Thomas' studio.

"I don't even usually smoke."

[dishabille_mal]

"Fair enough," Maladicta sighed, "I'm certainly not supposed to." Technically, no humans were. Didn't mean she felt any better about the ban.

"I've seen you," she added, "but we haven't met. You've been here a few months now, haven't you?"

Honestly, it was a little difficult to keep track, only the other one who looked like this never went near the dance studio.

[itwas_perfect]

"Seven, actually," Nina said, offering her hand, "I'm Nina. Please, sit down if you'd like. I've got the table to myself."

The woman was, of course, distantly familiar, but keeping to herself was a habit Nina still hadn't completely broken out of.

[dr_robchase]

Chase had to take stock for a moment to figure out which woman he was looking at, but it clicked soon enough when the differences became apparent. He lingered by her side with a friendly smile, nodding towards the cigarette. "New habit?" he asked. "Or maybe something to do with your hands?"

[itwas_perfect]

"Boredom?" she offered, breathing out a laugh and hoping the answer sounded better than the truth. That she'd wondered if she could be the type of girl who felt comfortable sitting alone and smoking at a bar.

And she knew her mother would hate it.

[dr_robchase]

It was easier if Chase focused on this. It was small-talk and it was casual. It was perfect because he didn't have to think about how Sirius might be gone again (was probably gone again) and he had lost someone all over again. "You know, not to be a doctor or anything, but it's kind of bad for you."

[itwas_perfect]

"I had heard that," she said, a tinge of coy playfulness in her voice, and it felt a little like playing a part. Dance was a performance. She wasn't a complete stranger to acting.

"Maybe I wanted to do something bad for me, for once."

[pointzerothree]

Eduardo doesn't usually come here alone. He'll be with Olive, usually, or meeting Mark for beers, or something like that. Tonight, though, he's come in on his own, intending solely to get a drink, a plan that changes when he spots Nina at the bar. Heading in her direction, he slides onto the seat next to hers, ordering a drink for himself before he angles in her direction, hand at the back of his neck and one corner of his mouth hitched up in a crooked smile. "I didn't know you smoked."

[itwas_perfect]

"I don't," she admitted with a smile that was two things at once. She exhaled a stream of smoke over her shoulder, away from his face, and added, "Not usually. Maybe I'm thinking of picking up the habit."

[pointzerothree]

"You know, they say those things'll kill you," Eduardo says, tone light, conversational, as close to joking as it can be while saying something true. The way he sees it, there are far worse habits to pick up, and he doubts she'd be going from nothing to a pack a day or whatever the equivalent is, anyway. Besides, there's always something refreshing about seeing her smile like that. "But don't let that stop you."

[itwas_perfect]

"I'm glad you're so worried for my health," she teased, knocking her ash into the little clay ashtray sitting on the table.

"Are you meeting someone?" she asked, casting a glance around the room.

[scotsfriction]

Amy hadn't met the girl, couldn't tell the difference between this one and the one who looked a lot like her. None of that really meant much to her. Absently sliding into the seat across from the girl, she briefly contemplated picking at the girl's plate but stopped herself.

There was forward and then there was forward. "Hullo there, mind if I join you?" There was a grin on her face, the sort of smile that suggested that they were in the middle of having some sort of joke. Maybe they were except that neither of them had said it yet. "What you need," she gestured towards the cigarette in the girl's hand. "What we both need is a pint. What do you say?"

[itwas_perfect]

"Oh no, not at all," she said with a smile, though she was visibly startled by the girl's easy familiarity, like they were old friends and not complete strangers.

She hesitated, but only for a moment, smiling a little wider and nodding. "Okay. Why not?"

[scotsfriction]

"Brilliant." And just as quickly as she sat down Amy was up again this time headed towards the bar. There was something vaguely thrilling about having a mission, even a small one. Returning a moment later with a pair of drinks, she sets one in front of the petite brunette before taking a sip of her own.

Checking her upper lip for a bit of a mustache, she leaned back in her chair as she set her drink down. "There we are. I'm Amy, by the by. Suppose I should've started there but ah well."

[itwas_perfect]

"Nina," she answered, taking the offered drink with a shy smile. New York was a city you could disappear in, surrounded by people but totally alone, but it seemed impossible not to meet people on the island. It made things both more easy, and more difficult for her.

"I'm always a little surprised that the beer isn't that bad, here," she admitted, taking a sip. Not that she was a huge beer drinker, but it baffled her how well people seemed to adapt to what the island offered them, when she herself still felt so lost.