I Got Voodoo, I Got Hoodoo [Active/So Very Open]

[hasthecreepy]

Characters: Dr. Facilier, whoever else would like to join in
Location: Somewhere in NYC proper - probably a not-as-nice part of town, so beware of that
Time: All the live-long day?
Content: Voodoo, fortune telling, and Facilier just generally being himself. Who wants to run into/fall in with the Shadow Man~?
Format: Starting in action format, but I

Comments

[wantsthecreepy]

[Out of sight of the street, hidden by that long tablecloth, sits a weird-looking young boy wearing a peculiar set of goggles, designed to let him see clearly through the cloth.

He looks particularly bored and irritated, and maybe a bit cramped sharing the space under the table with his mentor's long legs. He grumbles loud enough for Facilier to hear, but not really enough for anyone passing.]

I am wishing to have less methods of indirectness and dull.

[hasthecreepy]

[And once again, Facilier represses the urge to kick the kid. Boy does not understand the meaning or importance of patience. Instead, he props his elbow on the table and rests his chin in his hand, all the better to cover his mouth with. Can't have it look like he's crazy, now can we]

You wanna go cause a scene somewhere, be my guest. 'Course, I ain't pullin' you outta no holdin' cell, either.

[wantsthecreepy]

[Fawful crosses his arms under his cloak and huddles against the chill, pouting spectacularly.]

Fawful will be waiting. The lurking has a lack of necessity, is all I am insisting to you. I have discomfort and numbed rearsides.

[He's been in more uncomfortable positions for longer stretches of time in more hostile environments. He just wants to make sure the man is aware of how annoyed he is. Not that it has ever really helped change his mentor's mind.]

[hasthecreepy]

[Yeah, Fawful's annoyance really isn't doing anything for Facilier. Not getting any points there, kid]

An' that's your own fault, ain't it.

Listen, kid, it's a lot easier t' work with a volunteer. You get a lot further with 'em if they're willin' from the start.

Now look, all that waitin's taught you somethin'.

[The tone of that last lesson is partially smug and partially warning Fawful that There Will Be Consequences if he questions Facilier's methods again. Remember who's the expert here]

[love_hurricane]

[Whilst the city on the whole seemed contented to sit and huddle inside their warm cafes and diner joints, there was one select gentleman who was traversing the winter-hued air of the streets of New York that afternoon. It had been a fraught morning, having had to make the fortnightly arrangements for the usual supplies from the various food stores and obscure delicatessens that he knew of around the diverse city to be delivered to the institute- procuring some of the ingredients for the particular tastes of some of the students, which not only including a Vulcan and a Tamaranian, but also a boy who would happily ingest several times his own body mass in meat, was no simple task

[hasthecreepy]

[Oh look, one of the well-meaning masses, complete with unnecessary business advice. Thanks. He'll file that away with all the other useless tidbits he never looks at.

Of course, everyone is a potential client, and so he shuffles his cards and casually draws one from the top of the deck.

...well that's interesting]

Don't you worry 'bout me, I'll be fine.

Though, 'f I do need a hot meal, mind tellin' me what restaurant I can find you at?

[Yes. He knows]

[love_hurricane]

[Although it's a rare day that someone catches Sanji off-guard, today appears to be one of those days, as the chef stops in his tracks and sends the skinny fellow in the tall top hat a puzzled and rather suspicious glance. Momentarily surprised he soon pushes this aside- a lucky guess, perhaps aided by some marks on his hands from cooking or the way he walked; he remembered reading that it was possible to deduce a person's profession simply by careful observation, if one knew what to look for.]

... my apologies, sir, but I am not currently working at an establishment open for public visitation.

[He regards the pack of cards with a raised eyebrow and a slightly teasing smile.]

Besides, if you're so well informed I shouldn't have had to tell you that now, would I?

[hasthecreepy]

[Aha, there we go. Drop a little bit of truth that he couldn't possibly know otherwise and just reel them in. Works like a charm.

He flips the card idly through his fingers]

The cards will tell, my friend.

I s'pose I'd have to head to Xavier's camp if I wanted your particular brand of culinary expertise, hm?

[hangyouslowly]

[With her eyepatch and hook, Dolce might have looked right at home on these streets. And nearly a century ago, she would have been. She hadn't gone slumming in quite some time. Truth be told, she would have been perfectly fine never walking through places like these again, but she had very little firsthand experience of the modern lower socioeconomic classes. If she intended to teach them to her class, she'd have to find out sometime.]

[As she passed the table, her good eye glancing at the sign, she held a laugh back. All nonsense, of course. No fortune teller or false psychic had ever predicted her suddenly piratical appearance back in the early 1960s. Then again, that had been nearly fifty years ago. Perhaps the field of psychic reading had advanced. After a moment of consideration, she took a few steps back and came to a stop in front of the table. Have a side of Welsh accent with your potential new customer, voodoo man.]

You've piqued my curiosity.

[hasthecreepy]

[Of course, Facilier knows better than to laugh at appearances. It comes from having tribal masks for friends and a green kid for a protege. Plus, people who don't fit in are more likely to...require his services than others. Either way, he puts on that easy grin and goes for it]

Is that so.

[That accent. She's not from here - some sort of European, maybe. He's also getting the feeling that eye patch and hook aren't just for show. She should be an interesting one. He fans out the cards facedown on the table with one hand, then scoops them up in one smooth motion with the other. Yeah, he's practiced this]

[hangyouslowly]

That's a fancy parlor trick, lad.

[And yes, though he may very well look older than she does, Dolce will call everyone lad. Because as far as she knows, at 105, she's the oldest one here. And almost everywhere. But here, doctor, have some good ol' healthy condescension from a woman who very well may have seen it all.]

But do you do anything that works?

[hasthecreepy]

[That's just the tip of the iceberg, Captain. Facilier simply shrugs off the condescension and the nickname - he's had worse - and gives her that charming grin]

Don't make a habit of havin' anything that doesn't.

[He fans the cards out]

Take three.

[mutedsilence]

[Tseng probably looks horribly out of place in this part of town, given that he has a tendency to wear a suit out of habit most days. He doesn't look noticeably lost though, or even particularly concerned that he'd fit in better somewhere else. The little sign catches his eye, and he wanders on over.]

I wouldn't think dreams sold well.

[hasthecreepy]

[Well, nice to see another man in a suit 'round here. He flashes the man an easy grin and idly shuffles his cards]

Now why'd I sell dreams when everyone's got their own?

[He fans the cards, picks one easily out of the middle, and places it facedown on the table]

I just make 'em happen.

[mutedsilence]

[Tseng makes no move to pick up that card, since he sees no real reason to. He's curious, but he knows better than to jump into something he doesn't fully understand.]

How fares that business?

[hasthecreepy]

[Good choice. Too bad Facilier's going to pull him right in anyway]

Can't complain.

[He flips the card faceup to reveal an image of a suited man who looks remarkably like Tseng standing in front of a blackboard and quite a few smaller figures in desks - typical schoolroom setup]

How's teachin'? Xavier's kids ain't givin' too much trouble, I hope.

[bisssss_cuiiiit]

[Ah now, isn't this just the cushty sort of corner of town that's right up Moddy's own street? He's done his hiking around the highstreet for the day, trying to 'appreciate' what new sways in fashion the retailers and more select boutiques had to offer, once again finding that most were rehashes of some previous style, which had been done and done better long before these 'new' ideas on the market. Everything clean and prim and proper- almost unbearable. Here, however, you got to see a little bit of the real life of the city, and wasn't that just the icing on the cake? How could he ignore such a charmingly suspicious little stall like that?

He stops in front of the table, giving the owner a broad grin of car-crash teeth.]

Business flourishing, I see?

I am intrigued and terrified all at once by the prospect of these two interacting

[hasthecreepy]

[Whoa who invited the limey?

But that's a surprised glance, maybe a double-take, that ain't gonna happen - Facilier's too smooth for that, and either way this particular piece of work looks to be interested. Can't knock that. He shuffles the deck easily, fanning the cards across the table and snapping them back into a deck, the smooth movements second nature by now]

'Bout as good as I can hope. Seems like I'm workin' a line nobody appreciates anymore.

{He gives the guy a conspiratorial grin] But you know exactly what I'm talkin' 'bout, don't you.

Truly it is a gloriously horrendous spectacle, perhaps beyond the capacity of the human mind

[bisssss_cuiiiit]

[Say, now that accent's a breath of fresh southern air in this part of the neighborhood- perhaps not as much a stranger to these parts as Mod could be considered to be, but still, the fashion designer was led to wonder what the New Orleans' native was doing in these parts.]

[He replies to the comment whilst inspecting his nails for flaws that couldn't possible be there in a marginally camp fashion.] Sad times, my friend, sad times- the world's too clipped and photoshopped to see the larger and altogether more interesting picture these days. [He leans on the cane a little, giving the gent with the talent for handling cards an appraising smile.] Then again, you don't look the type to walk around with your eyes shut.

[He nods a greeting before finally introducing himself.] Call me Moddy, and to whom do I owe the pleasure?

That is exactly what I'm worried about

[hasthecreepy]

[Followin' business, limey. Ain't that the reason most people hit up the Big Apple?

Either way, he's got a grin ready at that reply]

People jus' don't know where t' look - too distracted by the glam an' glitter of the big city t' see what's really runnin' beneath.

[This, of course, heavily implies that he knows, and he's startin' to figure the limey knows too]

Doctor Facilier. Pleased t' meet ya.