Segue

[Existentially Odd]

When Phoenix immediately complied with Trick's request and headed off the dancefloor, Harm was startled enough to grab Trick's hand and chase after him. Not wanting to lose the owner in the crowd, Harm grabbed the back of his long jacket so that he and Trick could wind their way out of the throng in his wake. Phoenix was impressive at managing to part a sea of hot, writhing bodies and his spontaneous little conga line made it to the bar in no time.

"Yes, please!" Harm answered, releasing his hold on Phoenix's back when it became clear the bar would be a barrier. He moved towards the woman he'd noticed earlier, mildly concerned about her state of inebriation but mostly interested in seeing if he could find out if she was human or not. He arrived at his place - on her other side to the guy with the curious (and fascinating) eyes - and slapped it with his free hand as he bumped up against it. He arrived just as Apep introduced he and Dana and came onto the fierce bitch behind the bar.

Harm remained standing, leaning on the bar and uncertain whether he should stay where he was (crowded closer to Dana than he should be because he was leaving the stool for Trick to climb onto if he wanted) or move. With names being tossed around, he was suddenly invested in a conversation that was none of his business, watching them all surreptitiously from beneath his brows, relying on their involvement with one another to allow him to go unnoticed. He was curious how the bar bitch would take the come-on.

[Pocky]

Trick followed Harm through the mass of bodies. The weekend carnival had sprung to life in this pocket of a building, cramming as many people in as it could. Instead of compact dirt, tufts of grass, tents and rides, there were floorboards, support beams, stages and bars. The supe presence was the same but Trick couldn't see any vamps here. They had their own club.

Harm's hand was hot and clammy but Trick didn't drop it. He held on tight until they arrived at the bar and then their hands parted as Trick took the stool after Harm ignored it in favour of squashing himself up against a woman seated on the one beside. When Trick was handed his water he downed it in several consecutive gulps and by the time the glass hit the counter it was empty. "Another?" he ask-shouted at Phoenix, who looked fine behind the counter serving drinks.

Trick looked at Harm, then at the woman past him who was staring at the female bartender before he caught sight of someone familiar.

"Jesse! Hey!" Trick performed a wave salute then spoke close to Harm's ear. "Jesse was the guy who fixed my car." At the very least he was the guy who'd put a band-aid on it and told Trick to get some parts before his car failed again.

[pentagrandma]

Fuck your chances. The way he saw it, he wasn’t disrespecting no one. If anything, he was savin’ her bartenders the trouble of having to serve up to anyone who weren’t a real customer.

After expelling an irritated puff of air from his nostrils, Jesse complied by way of stepping out from behind the bar. That woman was aggravating as a rock. It was likely she could argue with a fence post. Her warning wasn’t enough to deter Jess from taking advantage of her current distraction and snagging up another bottle of something random on his way out; whatever it was, he held it not-so-inconspicuously within the open front of his blazer.

When came the enthusiastic call of his name, Jesse slowed his pace. His focus snapped toward Trick, snagging momentarily upon the blonde fella at his side. “Well, I’ll be,” he drawled, slow and cool, as he came to a stop near enough to avoid shouting, “Didn’t think you’d actually come.” Titivatin’ aside, our Jess looked heaps better without a bruise beneath his eye.

[Seragil]

Phaedre turned towards Dana as she grabbed her hand instead of putting the bottle in it and raised an eyebrow slightly at her. She was cute, drunk as a skunk true, but cute none the less in a austere looking way, those eyes of hers however were stunning, even bloodshot as they were. Phaedre smiled, the corners turning upwards until her smile was full and filled with genuine warmth as she shook Dana's offered hand. "Thank you." She studied Dana, her eyes traveling over her, taking note, seeing her. "So are you, black certainly suits you." It was a shame she was so drunk, Phaedre doubted she would even remember them meeting come morning. A pity, still, Dana had eradicated the foul mood Jesse had put her in and she decided to let the purloined bottle still in Dana's hands slide as she withdrew her hand from hers and turned her attention back to Apep.

She looked at him then then down at his untouched glass then back at him and smiled sharply. She knew of his reputation but more she had heard rumours of his shop dealing in magical items. She picked up his glass and tipped its contents down the sink before turning and grabbing two clean scotch glasses from the top of the shelf, the crystal gleaming with retracted light as she put them before him. She then moved over to where Marcus was she took a key from out of a drawer and used it to unlock a panel in the wall. The space behind was small and contained three short shelves few shelves, each shelf was lined with what looked like a collection of very select bottles. Phaedre ran her fingers over a few before selecting two and returned to Apep.

The first bottle she opened had the name Aberlour written on it with the number 19 under a few other words too small to be made out. She poured a good measure into one of Apep's glass and waited for him to take a sip with a raised eyebrow. If sniffed the pale golden liquor would give off a rich fruity aroma of ripe oranges and raspberry jam, syrup plums and a hint of warming spice ginger. Its palate when sipped would be round and complex with teasing taste of mandarin and orange marmalade with a touch of aniseed and ripe figs to follow, finished off with a hint of rich dark chocolate and cloves for an added touch of depth.

The second glass she splashed in a slightly darker, amber coloured liquid. The bottle for this one read Laphroaig and had 30 years written underneath it . It had a tantalizing earthy smokey flavour to it that enveloped the taster from nose to finish.with hints of vanilla, seaweed and grill smoke. It was heady and slipped down the throat like silken fire, leaving the tongue dancing with a complex and rich after taste.

"Two of my favourites." She said as she re-corked the bottles and carefully placed them out of reach of both Dana and Jesse; the later forgotten as she grabbed a couple of VIP passes for Phoenix and gave them to him. She was curious about his guests and had every intention of quizing him about them later, for now she just gave them a friendly smile. "Welcome to Club Zero gentlemen. I'm sure Phoenix and my staff will take very good care of you, as VIP's your night is on us."



Phoenix smiled as Trick called out for a second drink, he quickly grabbed  two bottles of water from the drinks fridge and filled two glasses, adding some ice and a couple of thin lemon slices to the mix before placing the glasses in front of Trick and Harm with a broad smile and a saucy wink. As Jesse sauntered past however he noticed the were swipe the bottle even if his sister didn't and frowned at him. He waited for him to greet Trick and Harm before moving causally up to him.
"What the fuck Jesse." he said just loudly enough to be heard but not loudly enough for his words to travel beyond the four of them. "She will kill you."

[Pocky]

"Thanks," Trick said to Phoenix, but as soon as the water was in front of him, he wrinkled his nose and reached into the glass with his thumb and index finger to pluck the lemon out. He dumped it immediately into Harm's glass beside his and gave a pinched smile of someone who knows they've been naughty before his eyes travelled back to Jesse.

[Ehcorn]

Phaedre thought she was pretty? She did, she’d said it, hadn’t she? And she’d liked her pantsuit. Her investment of a couple months worth of wages was finally paying off. She'd netted the attention of a woman who probably wouldn’t have spared her a second glance on a normal day.

Dana’s sloppy smile dripped off her face and her arm fell limp onto the counter when her hand was released and Phaedre shifted her attention to Apep. What was she even doing? Squinting and willing two overlapping images of the gorgon to transfer into one didn’t work, so she closed her eyes tight and willed it harder. The darkness swirled and she opened her eyes again. Everything kept on swirling. Fuck, she'd skipped straight from buzzed to the spins, hadn’t she?

It was time to take a break. Get some air. Maybe puke. Her stomach lurched. Probably puke. Rally. Do it again.

Dana leaned forward to get up, causing her cigarette to fall from behind her ear onto the counter. She paused to stare blearily at it.

"Get back here," she muttered, reaching out to reclaim her gift. All she did was knock her fingers into it and send the thing rolling off the counter and onto the floor. Curses flew freely as she twisted and turned and craned her head, searching the floor for her cherished white tube packed with happiness. When she finally spotted the cigarette under Apep's stool, she slid off her seat and stood swayingly and looked out on a club that rocked back and forth and oh fucking hell, this was not a boat she wanted to be on.

She attempted to take a step but all she managed was a muted curse before her legs went out from under her.

[Existentially Odd]

Once Trick climbed onto the stool he'd left vacant, Harm moved between his splayed legs, resting his weight against one of Trick's muscular thighs but not crowding him because he was too fucking hot for that. He really wanted to just tear his shirt off entirely and tuck that in his back pocket as well. He could see his face in the mirror behind the bar as he gulped his water down; his fair skin was flushed pink and shiny with a sheen of sweat, his eyes a bright green with little blue visible in his excitement. He kinda looked like he'd been having sex. His hair had surprisingly kept its volume and was still arched artfully upon his head; he fussed with it a little before he put his empty glass down on the bar and listened to Phoenix warn someone 'she' was going to kill them.

Instinctively, he leant towards Trick when he spoke about the mechanic, finding the guy with his gaze as he stopped just behind them. He realised that this was who Phoenix had been looking at, too, and wondered why Jesse's death was imminent. In the meantime, he'd picked up his second drink, squeezing the extra lemon slice Trick had gifted him into his water happily. Harm smiled at Jesse when he felt his gaze upon him, turning around and positioning himself so that Trick's knee was pressing into his stomach but he had freedom to swivel if he wanted. Jesse the Mechanic had beautiful eyes and his eyelashes were almost as pretty as Trick's, Harm thought. He contemplated reaching a hand out to introduce himself but Jesse had spoken to Trick, not him, so he didn't want to interrupt them.

A flurry of movement to his other side suddenly caught Harm's attention and he watched in horror as Dana the drunk woman stood, swayed and then pitched towards open space. Harm slammed his water glass on the bar without looking at it and dived to help. He'd stopped watching her when Jesse appeared and he regretted that immensely, as the woman fell much too quickly. Harm had to get past Trick's leg, weave around Dana's stool and get his arms under her in the space of very few seconds. A chivalrous instinct in his brain told him he wasn't going to make it and that she was about to get hurt so, in a panic, he more or less threw himself between Dana and the floor, hoping to cushion her fall.

When her face planted in his chest and he managed to get his hands on both her upper arms cleanly, Harm beamed, extremely proud of himself (even though neither of them had hit the floor gracefully by any stretch of the imagination). His face shifted from a grin to a wince in the next heartbeat as his body registered exactly which of his sharp joints had contacted the floor when he saved Dana. It felt like pretty much all of them. He exhaled slowly as they all began to sting and scream simultaneously then tried to focus on his rescue... victim?

"Are you okay?" he asked her worriedly, his voice fuelled by adrenaline and no doubt too loud but he wanted to be sure she heard him. He anticipated that the alcohol had dulled her senses quite a bit by now and he was also competing with the music. Not surprisingly, conversations around them had stilled, however. He looked down at her, hoping she didn't vomit on him. That would be a fucking grand end to his night.

[Black Philip]

When Phaedre tossed the contents of his glass, Apep raised a suspicious eyebrow. He assumed he'd be thrown out for insulting the bar, or that Phaedre was smarter than she looked and knew what he'd been soliciting in her bar. He was pleasantly surprised when she returned with two top shelf spirits. His suspicious brow rose further, with only his wry grin unchanging. This stuff was not cheap, and she had seemed more interested in him tasting her top stock than charging him for it. He smiled and nodded thankfully wrapping his lips around the first glass after taking in a deep whiff. Fruity. It was a bit too fruity for Apep's tastes, but he liked it more when he sampled it. The more bitter chocolate was a good offset to the sweetness, creating something complex. The second was more Apep's style. He visibly reacted to the second, loving the way it burned as it went down his throat. The more earthly flavors also made it a favorite.

"Both are excellent," he complimented. "The second is more me."

Truth was an interesting thing to give in tiny amounts. He'd told the truth, but about something meaningless. Apep had discovered people always felt more comfortable if they thought they knew him. He decided it would be interesting to explore what Phaedre wanted from him, but doubted that could happen here.

"Come to the Ouroboros sometime soon," he asked. "I'll be sure to share my best with you." He hadn't said best liquor, because his establishment offered something much more satisfying, and dangerous. "And thank you, for the drinks." It was as genuine as Apep was capable of being.

As he finished, Dana took a tumble. Apep was closer than Harm, and thought for a moment about intervening. He was quick, flexible and knew it could score points with her, but he watched as her knight in shining stupidity threw himself like a rag doll under her. He was cute, and the boy he was with was even cuter. Apep turned to Phaedre. "Perhaps Dana needs a glass of water."

He changed his eyes back to his normal human brown, and offered his hand to both Dana and Harm to help them up. "Dana, why don't you have some water, and then we get some fresh air. I'll give you a fresh cigarette. What do you say?"

His tone was helpful, concerned, and caring. Fresh air, water and smokes were a way to help her become less drunk, and more importantly, get her alone.

[Pocky]

He'd opened his mouth to introduce Harm to Jesse but that was sidelined by the flurry of movement that followed. Trick hadn't noticed what was happening until Harm slammed his glass down and knocked Trick's leg aside lunging for the drunk lady. As he watched it looked like his boyfriend had tried to set the woman right but she'd taken him down with her. His eyes widened, his eyebrows rose and his mouth opened as he was knocked partially off his stool and witnessed reaching limbs clawing at empty air.

There was a moment of silence filled in only by the music as everyone watched the pair land. Trick stepped off his stool to help just as his stomach spasmed and clenched. His cheeks filled up before he snorted laughter, bursts of amused air escaping his cheeks as he was obviously trying to hold it in unsuccessfully.

The guy still sitting on the stool watching the two on the floor made a suggestion that caught Trick's attention.

"Yeah, give her a cigarette to go with her fresh air, dumbass," he said to the guy before bending over to help pull Dana to her feet. His muscles came in handy to pull her up. She was sturdier than she looked, this woman. He wrapped her left arm around his shoulders and held her hand there with his left hand, while his right gripped her tightly around the waist. "Let's take her outside. You okay?" he asked Harm, who was now free to get himself up off the floor. Trick couldn't spare him a hand as they were full.

[Black Philip]

Apep decided to abandon this conversation, and Dana with it. People had stared, and now he had a loud neanderthal drawing attention to him and making it look like he'd somehow contributed to Dan's tumble. Apep didn't understand what he'd said to earn such an intervention. Dana had wanted a cigarette. He'd provided one. Many people went outside at bars and smoked, and nicotine was a stimulant. It might've helped with Dana's intoxication, along with the cold. Still, why pursue a hard mark, when an easy one was bound to come along? Jesse had walked right in. He made himself look confused, and dangled a cigarette from his own mouth.

Apep shrugged at Trick, turning back to the bar mistress, and taking a sip from the excellent cocktail she'd prepared him. He assumed Dana would return another night to this watering hole, and he'd make sure to be there. He let his eyes resume their serpentine gold, and leaned in to speak to Phaedre.

"Some people; am I right?" He said it as calm as a clear day. "I hope Dana get's home alright," he added, giving a wonderful performance of empathy.

[Ehcorn]

It was nothing short of a miracle, but Dana didn’t puke. Her stomach was all the fuck over the place throughout the whole fiasco of going ass over teakettle, landing on some guy, and getting picked up by some other guy, but she kept everything down. It probably helped the last thing she’d had to eat was a… Her entire face scrunched as she searched her memory but got mired in the muddy molasses that kept her there, hanging suspended in the air by sunflower seeds. She’d eaten sunflower seeds. She sucked on a tooth. Pretty sure one was still stuck there.

Dana registered a deep voice coming from next to and above her, real close, like she had her arm around his shoulder and he had a hand clamped on her waist. With her head rigidly set forward because that’s what kept the world from flipping over on her, she glanced from right to left, lips pursing when she determined that she was, in fact, being held up by some guy. Some random guy. And there was talk of water and outside and—

"Look, I’m fine. You can let me go," she said in the exaggeratedly deliberate way one did when they didn’t want to be caught slurring. It didn’t work. "Just…" She peered at the guy that’d lost the fight with gravity right along with her. "You should get off the floor," she said. "It’s not… You don’t know what all's down there." She giggled. "'Cept maybe you do 'cause you're down there."

Her expression grew serious. "But you shouldn’t be. It’s gross."

[Seragil]

Phaedra's lips twitched as she watched her patrons tumble to the floor amidst a flurry of arms and legs, she didn't trust Apeps act of gallantry, she knew what he was even if those around them didn't and she felt a sense of relief when Phoenix's friends offered to escort her outside instead. As they talked amongst themselves she grabbed a bottle of water and passed it to Phoenix, indicating with her head and her eyes that she wanted him to go with them. "See her home safely little brother." she said quietly to him before turning her attention to Apep.

"Totally right, little gold eyes." She said, mirroring his saccharine sweet tone. "Dana will be fine, don't worry. This is Club Zero, there is no danger here unless you come looking for it." She smiled sharply at the snake demon as she leaned over the counter slightly so that they could talk without being overheard or needing to shout. " "It's illegal to hunt other supernaturals in the North." She said conversationally, her tone warm and friendly as she picked up the glass containing the whisky Apep didn't like and took a sip from it. "My club especially is off limits." She stretched out across the counter and plucked Apeps cigs from out of his jacket pocket and helped herself to one. "Light?" she asked him with a raised eyebrow as she passed the packet back to him.

Phoenix shook his head at both Dana and Harm as he took the water and the VIP cards from his sister, the cards he would hand over as the took Dana outside and hoped Trick and Harm would come back into the club and take advantage of them before they left for the night. He moved around Trick and the very drunk Dana with a warm smile of amusement and held his hand out towards Harm, offering to help him if he wanted it.. " I think a little air sounds great."

[Existentially Odd]

At first, Harm's gaze was dragged up towards Trick, giving him an expression that said, 'Really?' because the fucker actually laughed at his graceless (but heroic, goddamnit!) rescue of Dana. But then Trick was being all gruff and sexy and gallant as he hauled Dana up and he did ask if he was okay - to which Harm nodded because he was pretty sure he was, his pride was wounded more than anything - which softened the blow to his ego.

Words flowed over him as he looked along his body in order to figure out how to disentangle himself from his awkward position around a stool and he laughed at Dana's concern that he was on the floor. Maybe she was some sort of germaphobe. That only made him feel more proud of himself, because if he hadn't put himself between the floor and her, she'd have been having his exact problem but it would've freaked her out way more than it did him.

In the end, he took Phoenix's hand with a smile and popped up into a standing position like he'd just been performing an extravagant dance move, bumping against the club owner's chest as he did. He let go of Phoenix and ran a hand through his sweaty hair, tilting his head at the owner, wondering how he'd got around the long bar so fucking fast. "Thanks, man," he enthused and then looked at Dana thoughtfully. "And some water," he announced, weaving towards the bar to reclaim the full glass he'd left there and give it to her.

The water was more important than the air, in his professional opinion, but he wouldn't object to going outside. He was fucking hot and fresh air would benefit all of them.

[Pocky]

Trick didn't react to the guy at the bar who couldn't even be bothered to get up off his ass. He also didn't react to the drunk woman's protests that she was fine, other than to turn his head away from her mouth when she talked. She was a walking target for creeps.

Trick watched as Harm took Phoenix's hand before the glass of water was grabbed. "Can you bring us a bottle of water once we're outside?" He spoke loudly to the club owner to get his voice to carry over the deep quality of the bass drops. Once they were all on their feet, he walked the drunk woman back to the door, getting Harm to grab both their phones on the way out.

Once they were outside he looked for somewhere to put her and saw a bus-stop shelter a little further down the street on their side of the road. He headed there, asking questions all the way. What was her name? Did she have a friend to call? Did she want them to take her home? Would she prefer an Uber?

[Ehcorn]

"Are you a reporter?" Dana asked the man that'd dragged her outside in a sing-songy voice. "If you're not, you should. You should def... Yeah, you should do it. You... You ask a lot of questions and you're really per- persisss..." She scoffed and pushed the water back at him. "You keep putting that in my face. Do you want me to piss myself?" She'd had at least three sips that she remembered, what more did he want?

Dana didn't get to ask, though, because they reached the bus shelter and she had to frown at it.

"But I didn't take the bus," she said slowly, squinting at the row of lights that illuminated the underside of the curved roof. "I—" She froze, eyes widening, and ran the flat of her palm over her chest. She didn't encounter the usual thick leather strap of her messenger satchel. "Those... Those assholes," she spluttered. "They took my shit!"

Setting her jaw stubbornly, she began to pull the opposite direction of the man, fully intending to march back to the club and retrieve her shit.