Night's Omen

Fax never had any trouble thinking of something to play when he was seated at his keyboard: he had a tremendous repertoire. Sometimes he would noodle around, improvising jazzy filler, while he waited to see if anyone would approach him with a request. In his month or so working here, he'd only had one such request, and it'd had been a frankly disappointing one forwarded by Liten...incidentally, Fax had asked him to request a song: the leopard had looked at him blankly for a few moments before jerking his thumb towards the TV, where a jingle for some obnoxious commercial was merrily underway (not too loudly, as Fairfax requested that it be turned down when he "performed"), and said, "That" before returning promptly to work. Fax had successfully recreated the theme on the keyboard --and improved on it, he felt-- but it had not been terribly satisfying. Or dignified, for that matter.

He really wondered if anyone ever noticed him playing. Granted, he wasn't at the keyboard as often as he'd originally anticipated, back when he first took the job-- Mr. Leone frequently had him back in the kitchen or waiting tables or doing odd jobs around the establishment (though not working the bar, naturally). So, sure, he was hardly playing long enough or often enough to be noticed. But still. It was a little disappointing that no one seemed to be paying heed.

This particular evening he was just finishing up a little Billy Joel medley..."Piano Man" seemed appropriate, to a certain extent. Fax never sang while he played, not at the Hollow (he had a nice voice, really, he was just got cold feet about a talent he invested much less time in than his piano playing), but occasionally he would hum the melody if his hands were too busy shaping the harmonies and accompaniment, which he often embellished. Once finished, he sighed and set his hands in his lap, looking around the bar to see if there was any acknowledgment, still accustomed to a "recital" atmosphere.

...Acknowledgment? Right. Not so much, not that he could see. Yes, clearly time for a break. Perhaps he wouldn't even head back to the keyboard tonight; they'd probably like him in the kitchen soon, anyway. He headed over to the bar and asked Liten for a "fizzy drink", then apologized and rephrased his request in slightly more American terms-- unecessarily, for Liten clearly knew what he was talking about and delivered a coke with a grin. Fairfax proceeded to sit on one of the stools, indulging in some people-watching; not as fun as in Central Park, but nevertheless a new hobby that'd grown on him ever since learning he was a shifter...heightened senses made everything more interesting.

The piano was a nice addition to the atmosphere of the Hollow. Not that it had much of what some considered "atmosphere," but like all places it had a feel to it. Something about having a consistant musical underscore kept the chatter at a steady rumble. There wasn't much worse than working on the nights when it got hopelessly quiet. But that hadn't really happened since Fairfax had been hired. Allison was appreciative. And the kid didn't seem unpleasant.

Allison was mercifully unoccupied, rare occurance as it was, so she perched herself on the stool next to Fax, gave him a pointy grin, and asked Darren for apple juice.

"Evening, Piano Boy," she said brightly. "That was quite nice."

Fax had paused in the midst of his people-watching to clean his glasses carefully on his shirt when the cheerful voice rang out next to him. He fumbled with his glasses before jamming them back on his nose to see that it was one of the waitresses...A...Allison, of course. He was getting pretty familiar with his fellow employees; well, familiar with their names and appearances and such. A month wasn't long enough for someone like him --that is, on the shy side of the spectrum-- to get to know anyone too well, or feel completely at ease with them.

But...had he heard her aright? He blinked owlishly, then smiled a cautious, albeit grateful, smile. "I...er...thank you. I was really starting to think...you know..." He flipped his hand in a halfhearted gesture, indicating the bar as a whole. "No one seems to notice," he admitted, then inwardly berated himself. Bloody brilliant, Fax, you sound like a worthless sod. Desperately rushing to cover how pathetic his words were, he spoke a bit too hastily: "Doyouhaveanyrequests?"

Oh, really nice. Nothing to see here, folks. Not pathetic at all.

Looking at the sign on the door, "Hellcat's Hollow?  This must be the place"....being new to this side of the earth he is looking to establish himself and the name sounded like just the place to start.  "I have to start somewhere"...Pushing the door open, he sees a simple place not heavily occupied, tables, a bar, a piano.  Stopping just inside the door, he scans the room.  Nothing in particular catches his attention.  He see that his entrance has drawn a glance from most people in the bar.  "This is a good start".  Sade always wants to be the center of attention.  He unbuttons his leather coat and adjusts the tailored silk jacket underneath.  He might be a tad overdressed for this place.

This looks like a place that would have waitresses so he finds a corner table where he can sit with his back to the wall.  He wants to make sure he can watch the crowed and the door. 

"New York is all new to me".  He notices two people at the bar talking.  It seems to be a younger crowd.  The drinking establishments in Russia would always be packed with patrons that were closer to the end of life then the beginning.  "Kids" as she slowly shakes his head......maybe death comes earlier here....

He wonders which one is the waitress.

Elke had returned to the Hollow in order to speak with Ash about the affairs of Simon, more importantly, what she could do to try and reduce some of the damage that had been done. She evidently was unaware that the area was completely occupied with feline shifters at the moment, or she might have waited until another time. As it was, she was completely clueless -- until she opened the door.

Damn, she thought to herself, and for her to even mentally curse was something. I picked the wrong time to make a visit.

She continued towards the bar, trying to ignore the fact that even with her natural charm on low volume she would be turning every head, twitching every ear. Elke was actually a little mortified, really, because when and if Ash came downstairs, he was going to laugh his head off. She straightened out the slim black coat she wore and cocked her head to the side, scanning the bar for Darren. He must've been in the kitchen getting something. She sat down, pushing back strands of her long, dark hair. Her eyes fell to a female shifter she'd never seen before, a... lion, by the scent. She arched a brow, but said nothing. There were two more males she'd never seen, but cougars. Perhaps she could introduce Simon to them.


((OOC Note: Yeah... if you haven't seen Elke's supernatural power, you need to. LOL!))

Hmmmm nice, Sade thought to himself as he watched a young lady walk in the bar.  He fllt an attraction towards her from the moment she entered the establishment. Even before he even had a good look at her.  "That's odd?"

He watched her as she walked to the bar.  She looked as if she had been here a few times before.  She was very beautiful, but he knew that wasn't what was drawing her to him, he wasn't a kid going through puberty, he would be drawn like this by lost or desire.  It was as if he smelled something, but there wasn't anything in the air.

He kinda enjoyed the feeling and cracked a wicked smirk. "This is definitely going to be an interesting town,  I better keep my wits about me."   Sade had no hesitation to talk to himself.

"but damn....I'd follow her into hell" 

Where is the waitress?

Whether the nice waitress had a request or not, Fairfax did not hear: something had arrested his attention, catching him off guard enough that his cougar side --which had been rather dormant since he'd gone through his first full moon as a shifter; he tended to subdue it unconsciously-- jerked to attention. He found himself fixing his gaze on a rather large, intimidating (to Fax), well-dressed man who was taking a seat in one of the corners...not only a shifter, but a cat! he observed proudly, glad that his people-watching habits were paying off. He was getting much better at recognizing specific shifter lines.

But he hadn't encountered this one yet, as far as he knew...and yet it seemed so familar!

He was just debating with himself whether he had the nerve to go over to the shifter and ask what sort of feline he was (he did suspect that he was, in fact, a cougar, but he couldn't be positive)...when another distraction walked through the door.

It might not have been so bad if the presence of the other shifter hadn't already piqued the interest of Fax's feline half and consequently drawn it out a bit. As it happened, the lovely brunette in her black coat was like a bloody magnet for all of his senses: he stared openly, hardly aware that he was doing so, at first. There was something overwhelmingly...was the word attractive? That was a part of it...but...there might have been more to it...all right, yes, fecking hell, she WAS attractive, ever so.

When her eyes swept the bar for Liten, they passed over where Fairfax sat, and seeing her look anywhere remotely in his direction gave Fax an embarrassed, nigh horrified little jolt as he realized that he was, as a matter of fact, gawking at her like a git of a schoolboy who fancied his teacher. Flushing, he hid his face behind his coke, practically splashing the fizzing liquid up his nose with the jerky movement. He didn't, however, turn back to face the counter, and after a moment he even peeked up over the rim of his glass, peering out at the pretty woman as she sat down.

Fax was naturally shy, yes...but never so overtly as this. If he didn't want to attract her attention, he was doing a terrible job of it.

Elke smiled to Allison as she made her rounds. She had a lot of respect for the staff in the Hollow, they'd had to put up with more than Elke thought she'd have the patience for, and she was ever so patient. It was fortunate for the group of cats that she found herself somewhat immersed in that she had the power over felines, and not her sister. Sigried had already proved that she didn't use her abilities responsibly, and Elke could only sigh as she would watch on while the snake charmer wrapped the leader of the Onyx guild around her pinkie.

Elke rested her hands on the bar, perking as she caught a glimpse of Darren through the window to the kitchen. She glanced back at Sade and smiled a little smile to him, not entirely aware of what he was saying. She tended not to invade on private thoughts, even if they were spoken aloud, and so she'd tuned her hearing down to almost a normal, acceptable level for this venture. She behaved as human as she could most of the time.

Fairfax, though, had indeed caught her wandering eyes. Ah, but that reaction was almost always one she got. She couldn't ever dim her somewhat unique ability; she didn't actually think any of them could. She'd never been successful if it was possible to, but she'd heard of other, older vampires in Silver's line who had the same sort of abilities and couldn't shake them either. It was just a natural sort of charisma towards one species or the other, and there wasn't anything she could do about it.

She tilted her head a little as Fax nearly snorted his drink, and then ducked behind it, though it did little in the way of hiding him. She smiled, and patted the seat next to her. Elke had something of a 'come hither', even with no oomph of magic applied to it.

Oh. Oh, GAD. She's looking at me. And... She was patting the seat next to her.

That did it. A nervous thrill shot through Fairfax: he was bashful and elated all at once. A deuced difficult mix to cope with, resulting in his remaining half-hidden behind his glass, but mouth splitting in a ridiculously goofy grin.

And it was like this that he slipped off his barstool and went over to claim the one beside her, grinning like a fool, glass glued in front of his face (part of him was absolutely refusing to accept that he could just waltz up to this woman without sitting through an overture or prelude, so to speak, while the other part was already immersed in the performance and loving it). This was not Fax at his most dignified. "Hullo," he greeted her coyly, after staring at her for another few indulgent seconds.

"Hey," she greeted him brightly. She reached out to move the glass away from him before he hurt himself with it. "Did you just start here? I don't think I've seen you before - Darren never mentioned new staff, though I suppose it isn't his job to inform me of Ash's employment details. Are you a bartender, too?" she asked curiously, tilting her head a little, like a cat would. She appeared interested, at least.

The thought had never occurred to Elke that she'd not been in this room with such a large amount of cat activity in a while, and since she wasn't openly controlling what went on, it might lead to some complications - at least, it seemed to with Sigried. She found this to be a much more mellow crowd, and as long as it stayed that way, things would be just dandy.

"I'm Elke," she said, holding out her hand. "It's short for... it doesn't matter." She smiled. It was hard to try and explain to someone who wasn't native to her part of the world that Elke was actually short for Adelaide during her lifespan as opposed to Heidi. She'd heard one Swiss Miss joke, and one was all it took. Elke didn't always play nice, just... mostly.

Darren TRIED to exercise control over himself, if only for dignity's sake, in most situations.  Usually, he was pretty good at it, but even in the kitchen, he felt the pull of Elke's presence.  Dave was cooking (fortunately for the felines out at the bar), and he wandered out with a customer's food with a nod in Allison's direction with a glance to Sade.  He was trying to keep his mind off of Elke long enough to do his job, and not even CONSIDERING the fact that she had some crazy cat ability that might make Allison not want to leave. 

"Wanna grab that guy?  I think he slipped in under the radar," he remarked, assuming that if she hadn't seen him, he'd been quiet about coming in.  No biggie, and neither was getting the food to its intended target, though DIRECTLY after, he was headed for Elke with a pleasant smile.

Elke was great.

He knew that she'd been there when he was hurt, which only made her better, in his opinion.  She was actually the one he remembered most clearly from the situation, and for good reason.  It'd been bad, and she was the nice part of it. 

Obviously, he'd recovered quite nicely, though perhaps just a little more cautious regarding vampires and cars.  They didn't mix well with cats, except Elke.  "Hey!  Want anything to drink?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at Fax curiously.  The kid looked like he might wet himself, either with natural fluids, or his drink.  "Oy, Faxface, you didn't spill any of that on yourself, I hope?"

At least he hadn't said that the guy looked like a tomato with all that blushing.

Fairfax let her move the glass. She could have the glass. "Hi," he repeated idiotically, before shaking his head rapidly, as if to clear it. He wasn't entirely swept up, after all. Asking such mundane, reasonable questions of him was bringing him slightly back down to Earth. He definitely had a moment of bewilderment as he wondered why, why this woman was rendering him a blushing mess. But then, she was rather stunning. "Y-- I...no, yes," he managed to say, flushing further. "Er. I mean, I've been here for a month, I reckon...and...heh-heh," he emitted a nervous laugh before continuing his flighty rambling, "no, Mr. Leone can't really let me work the bar, not yet twenty-one, see, but...but I-I do things in the kitchen, I clean, I..." He perked up and gestured happily to the keyboard in the corner. "I play the piano, livens things up in here, if I do say so myself..." It was really uncomfortable to listen to Fairfax when he was shy around someone; usually he kept quiet in such cases, but Elke's presence was enough to make him want to speak to her.

She introduced herself, holding out her hand, and he took it without a moment's hesitation to shake it. He calmed instantly upon contact: what did he have to be nervous about? She was so nice! "Fairfax," he answered, and as he continued speaking he really stressed his English accent-- in the back of his mind he was confident that most women enjoyed such accents (well, non-Britishers; nothing glamorous about having a British accent back there, of course). "But you can call me Fax. Er, not as stuffy, eh? You have a lovely name, I must say...Scandinavian ring to it, but I could be wrong..."
...Oh bollocks, he was still holding her hand. With yet another flush, he let go and fetched his drink again, half-taking a sip, half-masking his face.

It was about that time that Darren showed up. His comment caused Fax to splutter on his drink and, as a matter of fact, spill a bit down his shirt.

"You'd be correct, Fax," she said, shaking his hand. "It's so lovely to meet you," she purred. She listened intently as he told her about how he wasn't old enough to work behind the bar - Oh, he's so young! - and that he played the piano. She raised her eyebrows a little as he said that, and she tilted her head. "Do you?" she asked, interested. "That's lovely. Are you taking a break right now? I wouldn't want to interrupt you," she explained.

She laughed a little as Darren popped up and startled Fax to the point where he spilt some of his drink on his shirt. She handed him a napkin from the bar and turned to look at Darren, scolding him in jest. "Now, you should learn to be less stealthy. I could have ended up wearing that," she said, pointing to his drink. "I'd love a water, if you're offering," she responded to his query of drinks.

When he returned, she leaned forward and gave him the briefest, friendliest of kisses on the cheeks - Elke was so European. "How have you been, darling?" she asked. She was always so bright and friendly, it was a wonder why her sister couldn't imitate her more.

Allison felt oddly... groggy as she approached Sade, but nonetheless smiled for him, gave her first name and asked, in a warm, encouraging tone, if he would like something to drink. She was suprised she had missed his entrance - she was normally good about such things, and he was a touch out of the ordinary in dress. Peculiar all around. The blonde blinked a few times and felt the creak of her spine as she straightened her posture slightly. Her body felt awkward.

Out of the corner of one blue-grey eye, the lioness watched first Fairfax and then Darren seem to nestle into place near the brunette who had also come in recently. She was a lovely one. Very lovely. In fact, Allison caught herself turning her head to get a clearer look. The college girl had been straight as a pin her entire life, and was confident there was nothing in the lady's appeal that put that into question, but damn she was something to see. Maybe she could find a way to stop over after she was finished with the done up fellow at the table. Oh right, him. Allison snapped back and grinned again, trying not to look appologetic.

He couldn't HELP but grin even more when Fax DID spill his drink, and though he reached for a towel, Elke had already given the kid some napkins.  Good, that left Darren to go get her a water, which he naturally did immediately, just for her.  Elke was special, so she got the immediate service that she absolutely deserved, whether he was busy or not.

Fortunately, he wasn't, so he didn't have to worry about it.  Elke always seemed to come in when the place wasn't all that busy, which was excellent for him.  He liked to have the chance to talk to her when she stopped by, and he obviously wasn't alone in that.  Fax looked like he might have a stroke if he wasn't careful.  Naturally, Darren had no idea about her kitty charm, and he really wouldn't have cared if he did.  He liked Elke.

He especially liked Elke kisses, even if they were on the cheeks and all 'European'.  They brightened his mood almost to the point of outright purring or some other potentially embarrassing display, and he couldn't help but get the immature thought that HE had gotten the kisses, and nobody else had.  Ha!  His Elke.

"I've been okay.  I haven't been hit by any cars lately, but I've definitely decided that you're the only vampires I like," he asserted.  Sure, he'd figured out that Elke was a vampire (not to mention, someone had said something about it), but she was different.  She was a nice vampire.  He didn't like the others because they hit him with cars, fed on him and made him play in traffic.  "Too bad they can't all be like you."