[Open] The Bar (Thread to Mingle In)

[Dhara]

She came to Lancaster's not to see Pi or Elliot. She didn't even come to perform. She came to satisfy her curiosity. She came to find some one. And given the lineage of the person she was looking for, Lancaster's seemed like the logical choice to find him. Pushing the door open, she slipped inside and paused, waiting for her eyes to adjust to the different light inside the bar than outside. She had straightened her snowy while hair so it fell in a single sheet to her waist, the royal blue streak standing out boldly against her white hair and pale skin. After her eyes adjusted, she let the amber orbs rove over the patrons, spotting the man she came to look for. At least, she thought it was him from the description she had.

Taking a moment, she straightened the long tunic shirt she wore, the royal blue matching the streak in her hair. She gathered the long black skirt in one hand so she could walk with out tripping, and marched her way to the bar. Climbing on to a stool next to the man she sought, she ordered a glass of water and a black coffee, peeking at him from the corner of her eye. She swallowed her nerves and then turned slightly. Hesitantly, she reached out and gently tapped him on the shoulder, her uniquely accented voice drifting between the few inches that separated them.

"Excuse me? I am sorry to bother you, but is your name Forsyth by chance?"

[Forsyth (DELETED 6007)]

He sat there in silence to himself, listening to conversations around him from others in the Bar. It was all so much, so many voices, it would take him a while to get use to such crowds again with his senses so heightened after a change. He hasn't been out much, mostly stuck in Aliyah's apartment, or at work, or home in New York. Though when he was back at home he felt more at ease when it came to crowds and noises.

He didn't pay much mind to the person that took the stool next to him, maybe he should, try to get to know someone. Or would that be too front of him to suddenly introduce himself to the person, or woman that is. His lips pressed into a thin line, and the way his body became tense was perceptible to anyone around him. But that was all due to his nerves. He needed these senses go away, this life changed him monumentally, in a way that he didn't favor at all.

He was about to open his mouth to say something, to be polite at least, but the female beat him to it, and somehow she knew his name. That caused his grey eyes to lift and stare at her, studying her curiously. Did they ever meet? How does she know him? She looked nothing at all familiar to him.

"Yes. I am. And you are?"

[Lancaster]

It was time for the shift change. Elliot had been sitting in the office, finishing off the last of the paperwork; paying the bills and finally approving the bank so that the wages could be paid. He fiddled with the numbers a bit, wondering if he could afford to give them all a bit of a raise. Or would he save it for bonuses at the end of the year?

At this point, Shelly popped her head through the door; it had been ajar, and the staff knew they could bother Elliot whenever they liked. Yeah, maybe he should have been a little more cautious about the door, what with the portal that dropped all members of d'Artois into this office on a whim. But Elliot couldn't be bothered to care.

And anyway, the staff that he hired were savvy, to a point. They had to be, given that Lancaster's was a purveyor of the fine luxury blood that Ariadne sold and produced--somehow, Elliot didn't want to know how--at Arbor Vitae. Bottles of pure Virgin Blood, of priest blood, of ... well, whatever one might fancy.

"I'm outta here, Elliot. Lance isn't here yet. I'd stay but..."

"No, no Shelly. That's fine. Go home. I need a break, anyway," Elliot said. He stood from his desk after closing the lid on the laptop, and headed out to the bar. The atmosphere washed over him, and he was about to go and confer with the other bar staff to see where they were at when he caught a familiar face. Dhara. He wandered over.

"Dhara," he nodded and smiled. But he wouldn't interrupt. "Can I get you guys a drink?" he asked. He would do his job. He would serve them, and move on.

[Dhara]

"Yes. I am. And you are?"

She relaxed at the confirmation and smiled warmly, offering the same tiny, delicate hand with which she had tapped him on the shoulder, but this time in greeting. "I'm Dhara. I'm Ali's..." she trailed off, trying to think of a way to explain what she and Ali were to each other. Best friends didn't come close to touching how the two women felt for each other. They were like sisters. But that might get weird trying to explain. Her nose crinkled as she laughed at herself and finished her sentence. Aliyah is my best friend and flatmate." She left off the fact that she had moved out and down 7 floors. She still had keys and came and went as if she lived there. She still brought blood packets and ran day time errands for her. So it fit.

Movement from the corner of her eye caused her head to turn and her smile to widen, eyes shining brightly with recognition. "Guten Abend, Elliot! How are you?" She canted her head when he asked if he could get them any thing to drink. Glancing around, she realized that Elliot had replaced the woman who had been behind the bar. "A glass of water and a black coffee for me, thank you." She cast her gaze to Forsyth, waiting and wondering if he could actually drink any thing.

[Forsyth (DELETED 6007)]

His chin lifted slightly as he examined the woman over. So this was the woman who once lived with Aliyah. When he moved in she moved out, they never had a chance to actually meet or talk to each other. He took the offered hand in his and gave it a firm but gentle shake. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Dhara." His tone became more light, but his form still held that sign of conserve. "I know who you are, no need to explain any father." He nodded his head and took his hand back, placing his elbows on the bar silently. Conserved he was, but that didn't mean he wasn't up for a conversation. Especially with someone so close to Aliyah, someone who cared just as much of the woman as he does.

He lifted his glance when another joined from behind the bar, someone who seems to know the girl beside him. Everyone seemed to know everyone, but him. Or maybe he was just anti-social, that or he just likes to stay locked up in the apartment doing his work. There was the question he always questioned himself. Could he actually drink anything? He didn't want to risk it if there came any side affects. "Nothing for me." He finally spoke up. Just to be on the safe side.

[Tiamat]

Tiamat had begun to quietly sing to herself as she went over her notations. She set her pen down to free her hands to rub the sides of her nose. Something about her math wasn’t coming out right, and it was starting to frustrate her. A shadow stepped into her light and broke her concentration. She glanced up at the woman behind the bar when she asked her question.

“Oh, yes. I’ll have a glass of wine, please. Anything red if there’s any,” Tia answered as she tucked a lock of raven hair behind her ear. The other woman was pretty, but Tiamat cast her eyes back down at her notebook before sighing and tossing it into her purse. No point working on these without the chem set handy, she thought. Her thumb idly spun the engagement ring on her finger as she sat and waited for her drink.

[Lancaster]

Elliot’s gaze lingered on the man for a moment or two longer than it needed to. He had said he didn’t need anything. The blood that they carried was word of mouth only; it wasn’t something that was listed on the menus. The vampires had to know what to ask for, that special code word or words that would have fresh blood delivered right to their fingertips. The gaze drifted to Dhara, brow arched in a way that asked: does he know what we serve? Dhara should. Shouldn’t she? She’d worked there long enough, and had been a pretty regular customer since. ”Just dandy,” he said with a grin. He didn’t echo the question; he stuck to his rule of non-interruption.

In the end, he shrugged his shoulders and went to retrieve Dhara’s regular order. The same thing she ordered the first time she and Elliot had met. On his way past Pi—who was serving another customer—Elliot pinched her hip and muttered a fancy seeing you here into her ear. He went to the corner where the coffee machine was kept. Long black. Easy.

[Pi dArtois]

Pi smiled at the woman. She felt a little bad that she rather voyeuristically listened in as the woman sang under her breath. But she couldn’t help herself. She had lived too long with Elliot who sometimes treated music like a another language he actively communicated with, like her French, it was his way of sending out his feelings and she had learned to bend an ear to it when she heard music. Like now, with the woman and her softly sung song.

Pouring the wine she slid Elliot a quick smirk sliding him the amused glass even as the tilted the bottle up to stop the flow of wine. It was fun when they worked together. She spoke as she set the glass in front of the woman. “You have beautiful voice.” She opened, nudging the glass closer. And pulling another one and filling it with 'special wine' aka blood.

Without losing a beat she moved to the side, nudging Elliot with her hip and placing the glass of blood n front of Forsyth.

"Bonjour Forsyth... Dhara." She greeted. "You look better than you did since the last time we met." She gave Dhara a nod too, but directed her question to Forsyth. "Maybe you'd like this?" Pi offered the blood again before moving back to the woman with the beautiful voice.

“If you have a mind, we have an open mic policy.” She offered with another smile.] It was a practiced thing, her smile. It was a little coaxing, a dash of friendly too because no one wanted to talk to a grumpy bartender. She’d have asked what the woman was writing but she didn’t want to invade the woman’s space quite…. That much. And working the bar was sometimes a manic busy thing that required an almost uncanny ability to carry on a million conversations at one time.

Like now. Drop drink, talk. Drop another, talk to someone else. It was an art. An art she was slowly learning

[Forsyth (DELETED 6007)]

He gave the man who was staring at him a quick grin. Was it an issue that he didn't order something? He just enjoyed sitting there to get out of the apartment. He turned his gaze back to the girl next to him and furrowed his eyebrows curiously. Looked like she was quite the popular one.

His gaze was distracted when a glass was set in front of him, more so his name being spoken once again. He still doesn't remember meeting many people, but this woman behind the bar looked quite familiar to him. He smiled politely, but it quickly vanished. He didn't know exactly what was in the glass, so he lifted it to his nostril - something he was familiar to doing when wine testing. Oh, it was blood. He quickly set it down and shook his head. "Thank you, ma'am, but..." How was he suppose to deny this with humans around? Or be polite about it. "I appreciate it." Well I guess he will just take it, either he'll get the guts to drink it, or just leave it and explain later.

[Dhara]

She smiled at Elliot, catching his look, she gave the tiniest shake of her head as if to say "I don't think he does". She watched Elliot get her usual and wrapped her hands around the ceramic mug, a smile playing on her lips at the simple pleasure of the heat. She was about to speak again to Forsyth when Pi approached and her small smile became a full fledged grin.

"Hello Pi. It is lovely to see you again. I hope you have been well?" She asked, watching as a mug was set down and Forsyth picked it up cautiously to smell the contents. She didn't have to ask, she already knew what was in it. What struck her as odd was when he set it down and rather reluctantly accepted it from Pi. Her head tilted slightly, curious at why he wouldn't drink it. But then she remembered a conversation she had a while back. Some vampires just had an issue with human blood. She brought her mug to her lips and sipped the strong black coffee, giving a pleased sigh.

"It's okay you know. It's not every ones cup of tea." She said to Forsyth, turning to look at him with that same open, friendly smile. "Even if you never develop a taste for it, I'm sure you'll find a way to get what you need. You can always check the fridge at the apartment." She wouldn't tell him what was in it, if he didn't already know. But she always kept it stocked with blood for Ali, and now, she would do the same for Forsyth. "And of course if you have any particular flavor, just let me know. I don't mind getting it for you."