Blood and Whiskey

[Kaelyn]

Stagger Lee had answered her question, but not only that, he delved further into the conversation by asking her in return. Her smile perked up even more as she tugged at a curl that framed her face. “Well, yes and no. That’s sort of a difficult question to answer. I’m not even sure how to answer it.”

This really would be a strange conversation to get into. In all technicality, she was born outside of the city limits. Raised outside of the city limits. Her hospital had just been located here in Harper Rock. However this new body...she wasn’t sure where it was from. It lived here and went to college at the local college here, but was it -from- here? She had no clue. And then now, yes she lived here in Harper Rock. She had a few different homes around the city. With that last thought in mind, she nodded her head in a ‘yes’ fashion. “I live in Harper Rock...I get around.” Kaelyn chewed on her bottom lip a little and smiled.

[Stagger Lee]

He watched her as she seemed to struggle with the seemingly harmless question he had asked her. She seemed to have her secrets too, secrets or complications. In this city, even the most simple of questions could get so complicated to answer. Especially if you don’t really know who or most of all what the other person was. He nodded at her final reply on the matter, “don’t we all?” he asked. “We all get around one way or another.”

“Its quite an interesting city”, he mused, his eyes wandering to the empty glass in front of him. “Get me a wild turkey.” It was time for an aged bourbon now, as the evening progressed. Stagger Lee had decided to stay at this place at least a little longer than he had originally intended.

[Kaelyn]

Fingers tucked a curl behind her ear before taking his empty glass. The young girl had never really been one to drink before, so most names of drinks to her were completely foreign. Luckily, she wasn’t filling in for the bartender.

“I’ll get right back to you with your Wild Turkey. I’m assuming that’s a drink.” Kaelyn smirked a little and even chuckled a bit. She knew that it had to be an alcoholic beverage, so before he could even respond, she had turned on her heels and made her way over to the bar once again.

She waited just like she had every other time. Her gaze was focused on him, watching the stranger as he sat at his booth. She was quite literally fawning over him. The girl wasn’t one to typically wear makeup, but Clover recently had taken her shopping and even helped her learn to put some on. She had put this new knowledge to use and had adorned some smokey eyeshadow and liner. Kaelyn still struggled with the whole look of lipstick on her, so had stuck to a simple pale pink gloss. She took the opportunity while waiting for his drink to apply a new coat.

Once the bartender had the chance to pour Stagger Lee’s drink, she grabbed it up and carried it over to the man. However instead of standing there, leaning against the table as she had been, she decided to slide into the seat across from him, a closed smile playing on her freshly glossed lips. “So, have you always lived here in Harper Rock? Honeymead is a nice area. I have an apartment over there.”

[Stagger Lee]

“A bourbon” he replied to her. She really must have been new to this job, it was rather cute that she didn’t even seem to know one of the most popular bourbons. Cute or suspicious? He noticed that - again - she was looking at him all the time she was at the bar to pick up his drink. From his booth he had a good view of her, so he took the opportunity to let his eyes wander over her as she stood at the bar, from her head down to her feet, and up again, then as his eyes reached hers once more, he gave her a bold and approving smile.

“I like this lipstick” he said, the smile still on his lips as she returned with his whiskey. Then the young waitress surprised him once more, this time even taking a seat opposite him. “Kaelyn”, he slowly spoke, looking into her eyes as he was addressing her by her name. “You are asking quite a lot of questions.” His hand now gently reached out for hers, his fingertips lightly resting on top of hers. “I’d like you to answer some of mine first.”

[Kaelyn]

His smile had shocked her and set her cheeks flaming red. Hair nervously twisted around her finger as she smiled in return. The comment to her lips didn’t tame her blush in the least. It felt like butterflies fluttering around inside of the pit of her stomach. She couldn’t help but let out a small giggle at it all. In her seat, one leg tucked up underneath her. Probably not the most ladylike way to sit, but she was not thinking straight and it was comfortable. Her chin came to prop up on her hand as eyes watched him.

She had been asking a lot of questions, hadn’t she...Well, she wanted to know more about him! It wasn’t her fault...she just needed to know him. Kaelyn chewed nervously on her lip as she felt his hand rest upon her free hand that was laying on the table. She felt almost giddy at the touch. At this moment, if she weren’t careful, she might just actually answer any question he asked. “What would you like to know, Mister Stagger?”

[Stagger Lee]

He leaned in a bit now. “Don’t turn around right now,” he said in a rather low voice, “but if you did you’d see two of your colleagues, pointing at you and sticking their heads together. And neither of them looks very pleased. I think sooner or later one or more will approach you and remind you about your duties. As their seem to be a number of guests not getting what they have ordered. Don’t turn around before you have answered my first question...” He told her the last sentence spoken more firmly than the rest, his eyes locked with her again.

“The question is: would you rather stay here, and wait out if its either the guests or the waiters who approach you first and remind you of your duties. Or would you rather..” his fingers slowly caressed hers now, “... join me to head to a place with less a chance of interruption.” If he wanted to find out more about her and her motives he had to lure her away from her home ground. He already had a place in mind.

[Kaelyn]

Oh crap, she was going to get in trouble. He told her not to look, which caused her to want to look even more so. She wanted to know who had caught her. But he had ordered her not to turn around, to listen to his question and answer him first. Forgetting the two behind her for the moment, her focus shifted back onto solely him. Would she rather stay here and possibly get reamed a new one? Or would she prefer to leave with him and find somewhere more private?

This question didn’t even need a second of consideration. She wanted to go with him. Where to, she wasn’t sure. Her curled head bobbed in a yes fashion, a blush still flushed over her cheeks as his fingers caressed over her hand. “I think it would be easier for us to talk...to get to know one another elsewhere. It’s a bit loud and I’m going to get in trouble soon.” This was crazy that she was going to just ditch out on work to run off with some stranger. This wasn’t like her in the least. Kaelyn was typically a very responsible girl when it came to her work, but there was something pulling her, something that was making the normal rational Kaelyn fall blindly into something. “Where should we go?”

[Stagger Lee]

“The 8th Dimension Mall” he replied, already taking her hand in his and getting up from the chair. “There is a place I’d like to show you.” It was quite a bit too early to take her home. That particular place in the mall was a public one, but one where he still had the homefield advantage.

He quickly paid his tab at the bar, leaving a generous tip. “Do you like the supernatural?” he asked casually as he steered the woman towards the door. The mall wasn’t really that far away, just one stop on the public transport. Stagger Lee had taken the initiative now because he preferred it that way. He was the hunter after all. Being someone else’s game made him feel uncomfortable.

[Kaelyn]

Well, that didn’t seem too unreasonable. The mall was a public place. What bad could happen there, even with a stranger? However, even if he had suggested some secluded place, she probably would have gone at this moment. Fingers curled around his hand as he took her’s. Kaelyn eagerly followed him towards the door til he asked his question. She faltered in step a moment and blinked. Did he know? What was he? Or maybe this was just a random question and she was reading too much into it. Footsteps quickly picked back up as she walked with him.

“Umm, yeah you could say that. All aspects of it, really. It’s cool to think about, I guess.” She tried to play it off a little like maybe she was just interested in it, rather than actually being a part of the supernatural. “What about you? Do you like the supernatural and what not?” This could be a dangerous topic of discussion, but she trusted this stranger that she had just met.

[Stagger Lee]

It was always interesting to study people’s reaction when the supernatural was brought up. Especially in this city, where it was quite impossible to go for a short walk without running into something unnaturally odd. A raging fadebeast in the middle of a busy nightclub, a clumsy fledgling vampire messily feeding, or a badly hidden secret door into a house full of skeletons were rather normal occurrences around here.

Stagger Lee noticed Kaelyn got a bit nervous when the supernatural was brought up. He decided it wasn’t time yet to bring up the ‘v-word’. If she was one of them - and everyone could be a vampire around here - she might run or way or attack him. He didn’t intend to provoke either reaction. At least not at this time.

“Yes I do” he replied instead, giving her hand a little reassuring squeeze. “I just read a pretty cool book about werewolves. Was thinking about buying silver bullets. But someone told me that there are no werewolves around here. Only in Europe. France and places like that. Ever been to Europe?”