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Birdee watched and listened to Marcus and laughed at him. How could she not? It seemed like this was either the first time he had taken a ride on some sort of drug, or it had been a really long time. Either way, it was funny as all get up in her mind. "In here? Or in there?" She asked, not really sure where 'in here' was. The shop, or the little storage room. "Always is, I think so, but Percy never seems bothered by it." Birdee offered before cackling and coming up with one of her 'ingenious ideas.' "Just take off your shirt-not like it's illegal to see a shirtless dude. Problem solved." It was really just that easy for Birdee. If bits didn't have to be covered up, why cover them? And sometimes, she even went so far with the attitude of why cover anything at all-but that was usually when she was completely **** faced and beyond any semblance of common sense. Usually, when she came to, Birdee didn't typically feel so strongly about taking off all her clothing to not feel 'itchy', or 'hot.'

"No problem-told you it was good." She chirped almost too eagerly as her eyes bounced between him, the shelves and back to where Percy was. When the box started falling apart and magazines fell out on the ground, Birdee burst into laughter and then clamped a hand over her mouth, as to not draw Percy over by them. Her stifled laughter came to an eerie halt when Marcus mentioned 'Deja vu', her eyes bouncing on him."Deja Vu? You always come into drug stores and follow girls around?" She said in an almost teasing voice, but wasn't it strange to call what happened to her, that happened to him deja vu? "I'm totally fricken with you, man." Birdee said before she waved a hand over her face, because she too was starting to feel the change in the temperature from in the open store, to the small storage room. "Don't you like dancing?" She asked suddenly, finally recalling where she had seen him at. He was the guy she had bumped into while dancing in the club below their feet. The same guy she hadn't gotten any 'vibage' from. Now, wasn't that interesting? Birdee thought so.

Marcus wasn't quite sure where he meant it was hot, to him it was hot in the shop, but since moving into the smaller storage room he felt like he was about to roast inside the hoodie he had on. He looked at her with one eyebrow raised when she suggested he simply remove his shirt if he were that hot. The sensible side of him was there, as usual, Stone face is just a shout away., it told him, You know you should leave your shirt on.. Laughing at his own thoughts, he said, "Well, this should be interesting." He wasn't going to accommodate this chick and simply remove his shirt cause she had suggested it, at least that's what he was thinking as his mouth was saying the total opposite, "Aigh, since you suggested it, I'll do it! What could go wrong?"

Tossing the magazines back in the pile that had been the box, he stood up, crossed his arms, grabbing the bottom of his hoodie in each hand, then in one fluid motion pulled it up and over his head. Wadding the hoodie up he looked around for a place to put it, his muscles flexing with each movement, he finally opted to just toss it on the floor beside the door.

Marcus stood there for a moment, looking down at the magazines, then over at Birdee. Gesturing to the magazines, with one tattooed hand "I hope stone face doesn't take offense to my being bare chested." He grinned at her as she asked if he liked dancing, "I've been known to do it on occasion, so yea, I guess you could say I like dancing... but..." he closed his eyes and moved his body to the beat of the music coming from the club below them, then opened them again and finished his sentence, "but I rarely do so."

Maybe there should have been warning bells ringing in her head with how agreeable Marcus was to everything, but to someone like Birdee who wasn't overly cautious so long as someone didn't touch her, she took what everyone did and said at face value. "It's not illegal or against store policy. Haven't seen a sign saying you had to be clothed to get service." Birdee pointed out when Marcus referred to this as 'interesting.' Maybe it was for him-how often did he get some chick telling him to take his shirt off? Maybe a lot. Maybe never. She didn't know him that well, but she doubted it was a lot. People typically didn't do or say those kinds of things to strangers. To her, it wasn't all that interesting-or hadn't been until he took off his shirt and her green eyes fell on his tattoos. He had a lot of them, but the most interesting of the tattoos were two that looked identical. Two birds.

Her mother would call this a 'sign' and Birdee believed it was. But why hadn't she 'seen' or 'heard' anything when they ran into the other down in the club? If this was a sign now, why hadn't there been a 'sign' before? She was about to shrug it off as nothing but a strange coincidence, but when Marcus said he didn't dance a lot, even though he liked it, Birdee had to wonder why he was here then. Why would someone come to a place that was meant for not only drinking, but dancing, and not want to dance? Had he even had anything to drink yet? Why was Marcus here, if not to dance, or to drink?

"He won't care." Birdee finally said about 'stone face,' not knowing if it was true or not. Why would he care? "Just buy something and it's all good." Money made the world go round, and round, and round, and if he bought something, she was sure Percy could overlook the guy with no shirt that wasn't causing any issues. "How old are your tattoos?" She asked, before the fingers on her left hand ventured out to touch the bird on the right side of his body, for a fraction of a second before they dropped away and came to a resting point at the side of Birdee's body. "I like them. A lot." She said before stepping out of the storage room, just in case Percy was wondering what she, or they, were getting up to. "Frick it, let's go dance. First-get this." Birdee grabbed a magazine from a stack of other magazines on a shelf in the storage room, then pulled out a ten and slapped it to Marcus' chest. "Meet you downstairs. Be nice to st-Percy." She said before Birdee vanished from view, to grab her phone from behind the counter. Once she had that in hand, Birdee pulled up Heathen's number and sent him a text about this new discovery. Birdee wasn't going to let this sign pass her up.

Marcus didn't really give two fucks if stone face cared about how he was dressed, or in this case, undressed. He still had his pants on and it wasn't as if he and Birdee were making out or anything. Marcus also realized how it must sound to her for him to say he liked to dance but rarely did it, when they were in a night club. "Way to make a good first impression, Marc." he thought to himself, as he looked at her. She was looking at his tats as if she'd never seen so many before, he stood still with both arms at his side as she asked him how old they were, before reaching out with one hand towards him, only to let it fall back to her own side without touching him at all.

"You're right, I don't see any 'No clothes, No service!' signs anywhere." he chuckled and nudged some of the magazines on the floor with one foot. Grinning, he answered her query about his tattoos, "Some of them are over a year old, but the birds are my most recent addition, and thanks."

Watching her as she stepped outside the store room, he was wondering what the hell she was about to do next. She was as flighty as her name suggested, the thought only made him chuckle more as he made to follow her into the shop again. He pulled up short as she suddenly turned around, saying to forget the magazines, that she wanted to go dancing, then thrust a magazine at him, which he took without thinking, followed by her slapping some cash to his chest. He managed to catch the edge of the bill away from her fingers and hold onto it, before she let go, while she told him to buy that and be nice to stone face. "Percy, his name is, Percy" he admonished himself, as she vanished, once again, from his sight.

Marcus shook his head, still grinning as he leaned on one hand against the door jam, crumpling the magazine in the process, then picked up his hoodie from the corner with his other hand. He tied the hoodie around his waist, it was still hotter than hell in there, but being bare chested helped, as he left the store room, he saw st... Percy, behind the counter. Striding the few steps to where he was, Marcus laid the crumpled magazine on the counter along with the ten Birdee had given him and said, "I'll take this one, if you please, Percy."

Percy looked at him, then at the door Birdee had just left by, then back at him before nodding once as if in approval before pressing the appropriate keys on the register to complete the transaction. As the register drawer slid open, Marcus, was already half way to the door, "Keep the change and the magazine, Percy, and thanks man!" He didn't wait for a reply, he just hop, danced, down the stairs, he had a 'bird' to dance with.

With the bait set and out of the way for now, Birdee was free to do what she needed to do with her number one partner in crime. Once Heathen's name was pulled up and the message app was open, Birdee's fingers beat down on the screen in excitement.

To: Heathen
From: Birdee

Message: l


And just as Birdee was about to write a message, she frowned at the blinking cursor. What the frick was she going to say? More to the point, what was she going to do? Club Marcus over the head and drag him out of the club? Out of her workplace? See how fast she got the boot out of here. Alice wouldn't put up with that crap. Birdee had to devise a new plan, but first...

She had a dance to share with Marcus.

Birdee slipped her phone into the back pocket of her black jeans, and turned towards the stairs, where her sage colored eyes found Marcus bounding down them. Well, he had endurance at least. And spirit. She wondered if she was almost giving him the 'wrong' idea, but it was too late to go back now, wasn't it? Besides, maybe that would work in her favor. He was so eager to follow her around, a practical stranger, that maybe he would follow her out of the club. What she would do with him once they were out of the club, Birdee had no clue, but wasn't that where Heathen came in? Shoot. She hadn't expected to meet a future paladin (if things went right) at her work place.

"Hey, over here!" Birdee flapped an arm out wildly, calling Marcus over. Birdee wasn't a very good dancer, but she wasn't a **** dancer either. She was pretty average in a lot of things. School grades, dancing, socializing, cooking, baking (if it came from a box!) and many other aspects of life. Once Marcus was near her, Birdee closed her eyes and listened to the beat. Her body swayed to the heavy bass in the club mix that the DJ was spinning. Birdee was sure she heard this song once before in the club, a few weeks back when the same DJ was here, but it wasn't a bad mix. Wasn't a great mix either, because she didn't like 'club' music, but she worked in one (above one), so Birdee learned to tolerate it.

The sweatshirt had found a new home on Marcus Birdee noted by the time he made his way over to her. She grabbed the sleeves of the tied shirt and tugged him near her, making sure she never actually touched him in any capacity. Birdee kept the span of a hand between them as she danced, her hands still tight on his sweatshirt as she helped him to follow the beat of the music. Helped Marcus get into the mood and atmosphere, while Birdee thought about step 'B' in her suddenly not so good plan.

Marcus hated the kind of music the DJ was pumping out, hip hop and rap wasn't his 'thing'. But this club wasn't here to just please him, no club was, he'd learned long ago to just 'go with the flow'. He'd also learned to somewhat dance to **** like this just to hangout with his friends and family. Well, he had no friends or family now, he was free to do whatever whenever to whoever. Take this Birdee chick for instance, he didn't know if it was her making him lose his freaking common sense or if it was just the gum.
"Don't kid yourself, Marc! You know it's her, you've been acting the fool way before she gave you the gum. Question is, why are you so obsessed with a total stranger? Better yet, why was a total stranger suddenly so seemingly obsessed with him?" In a city like this, alarm bells should've been ringing like crazy in his head, but he didn't have time to think about it now.

As he reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked around for Birdee, "Great!" he muttered, how was he going to find one chick on a crowded dance floor? Somehow he heard her calling to him over the music, maybe it was the way she was waving him over. He didn't know or care, she had said she wanted to dance so he was going to dance.

Moving closer to Birdee, Marcus watched as she closed her eyes and started swaying to the beat. He wasn't sure how close was to close for her so he stopped about two or three inches from where she was dancing. He hadn't known her long, but he could already guess she only touched someone else on her terms, if ever. Ston... Percy hadn't touched her upstairs and other than her accidentally touching him as she tripped over him earlier, she had never actually touched him at all. Letting her set the boundaries of their dance, Marcus put both fists in the air and started dancing to the heavy bass beat as best he could. He almost stumbled when she reached out and grabbed the tied sleeves of his hoodie and pulled him closer to her, it was an unexpected move from her, but not an unpleasant one. He just grinned and kept dancing as he had been, hoping she wasn't laughing to much at his poor performance.

With her eyes closed, Birdee could focus on her plan of 'attack' from here. She knew she couldn't stick around here with him for too long or do anything here with him either. Birdee wasn't the brightest crayon in the crayon box, but she wasn't an idiot either. She wasn't going to try and make someone into a Paladin right here and now. It all was a little strange and went down looking all sorts of bad. Especially if Marcus died. But he wouldn't, right? He couldn't. Not with all the signs pointing to the obvious, right? In her mind, it was all so obvious that this was what he was supposed to be doing. He was a nice guy with a big-no, two big bird bows on him, waiting to be paladin-fied!

They had to get out of here. That much Birdee knew. Or at least out of the eyes of the public. Maybe the bathroom? After a few sways she decided against the bathroom too. People actually used it from time to time. Once someone's 'seal' broke (what her friends called the first time anyone went to the bathroom for the first time after drinking), they kept on having to go to the bathroom. Sometimes, Birdee and her friends made a game out of it. Saw who could hold it the longest and then give the person who went first some real ****. Bathroom was off limits for all those that couldn't handle their liquor. Closet? No. Too small, plus, she needed her 'crew.'

They had to leave. Birdee had to entice Marcus to want to leave. Fricksticks. Birdee had to pretend to want to do more than dance with Marcus. Birdee had to pretend she wanted to do more with Marcus than what Birdee wanted to do. With anyone. Ever. He was a nice enough guy and all, but she didn't want his, or anyone's vibage in her life. Fricksticks. Birdee had to say the unthinkable. But, she didn't have to lie. Not really. Her hands moved from his hoodie, to his arms, but never actually touched them. Not at first. Instead, they sort of hovered, daring to touch them, but never did. Until she got to his shoulders and her hands wrapped around them to gauge how strong he might be. "Woah. Got some beef there." Birdee admitted before she removed her hands from his arms as quickly as she wrapped them around his and then inched closer, the boundary of them actually touching, prevented by the knot of the sleeves of his hoodie around his waist. Close enough, but not close enough to be touching. "Want to get out of here?" It was an open ended question, that could mean anything-without suggesting anything. Without lying.

The gum was still affecting Marcus' judgement, was he delirious? He supposed he was, he needed to get some fresh air, but at the same time he didn't want to piss Birdee off by just up and walking out of the club. Normally he wouldn't have given leaving a second thought, but this chick had really gotten 'under his skin' so to speak. He should've stayed at the motel, but it was to late for that now. The loud thumping bass was starting to give him a headache, or maybe it was the gum. He supposed he'd have to get used to the gum all over again, if he was going to hang with Birdee. Hang with Birdee? He didn't know where that thought had come from, he wasn't looking to add anyone to his life so soon after being 'freed' from all of his previous obligations.

Marcus wasn't expecting anything from Birdee, other than a dance, only because she had wanted to dance and it was the least he owed her for the free gum. He looked down at her with a questioning look on his face when he felt her hands wrap around his shoulders and heard her say something about his having 'some beef there', before wrapping her arms around his and moving closer.

"Want to get out of here?"

Had he heard her right or had he just imagined it? He didn't really give a **** if she had actually said it or not, he HAD to get some fresh air. Loosely intertwining his fingers of his left hand with her fingers, he answered her by bringing both his hands, and her one hand, down to his side. Turning his body to one side, he started weaving his way towards the exit, tugging on her hand once, then opened his hand to give her the option of removing hers or what ever she wished to do. She could follow or stay. Her choice. All the while, in his head he was chanting, 'follow me, follow me'.

What if Marcus said no? What would Birdee do then? What would she have to do? What could she do? Birdee held her breath and waited as time passed by. It was probably only seconds that passed between them, but it felt like minutes because she wasn't breathing.

When Marcus reached for one of her hands, Birdee didn't resist. Only because she didn't expect Marcus to make such a bold move. At most, she expected a "Come on," After a nod, or no nod. Maybe a wave of an arm to have her following him. When their hands connected, Birdee expected 'something' to happen again, but nothing did. Not even a jolt of static electricity built up from their dancing, then abrupt stop. Was she wrong? Could it be nothing but coincidence that she met some guy with bird tattoos on his skin? Maybe.

Marcus led her out of the club, his hand hold slipping from hers by the time he realized Birdee was following after him. He no longer needed to be the source that tugged her, in case she had changed her mind (not that she had-even at the thought of things just being coincidental).

Birdee wanted to text someone. She should text someone. What if something went wrong? Wasn't that what Heathen was for? The muscle of the operation? What if things went really, really bad as soon as they got out of the club. Frickstick! Birdee scolded herself for being in such a hurry about this whole thing. It was too late to text Heathen-hopefully Marcus wasn't a Creepy McCreep.

All these thoughts clouded the woman's mind as they made their way out of Wonderland. The cold night air stung her cheeks and arms as the door closed behind them, the music growing softer, but still being heard due to their proximity of it. Birdee sucked in a large breath of the fresh air, then let it out, noticing the smoke cloud that came from her lips as she did this. Birdee immediately stuffed both hands in her pockets, scuffed her toes into the ground and looked in Marcus' direction. "Look. I don't normally do this sort of thing." Ever. Birdee never asked a guy to leave a club with her. Or anywhere. "But..." Birdee trailed off, then looked past him. "My apartment's over that way." She said, reaching into her back pocket and searching for something. Anything to get rid of the awkwardness of the situation. A piece of gum. A pill. Heck, even some pot. Which was at her apartment. "I've got beer there. Better than anything on tap." Maybe it was true, Birdee didn't care or really know. If she got offered beer for free, she was taking it. Tap or not.

She laughed then and bounced to keep warm. "I'm not picking you up or anything. Honest. You seem chill." Birdee confessed, hoping that Marcus would be 'chill' enough to go along with what she had planned.

Marcus didn't look behind him as he opened the door to exit the club, he just HAD to get outside, fresh air was his goal for now. He probably should've held the door open for Birdee, if would've been the 'proper thing to do', but Marcus had always had trouble with being 'proper'. He was Marcus, nothing more and nothing less, besides... he'd look foolish holding the door open for someone if she'd decided not to follow him after he'd released her hand.

Stepping through the door, he was greeted by a gust of cold Canadian air, inhaling deeply through his nose, he held his breath as he took a step sideways to his right and turned his head to look for Birdee. Exhaling through his mouth, he didn't notice how he could see the white puff form as he did so, but Birdee was right there, stuffing her hands in her pockets. Up until then, Marcus hadn't really noticed the cold, but he could feel the wind biting into his exposed flesh. He was still bare chested, so he untied his hoodie and was pulling it over his head when she spoke.

"Look. I don't normally do this sort of thing... But... My apartment's over that way."

He turned his head to look in the direction she was looking as he put one arm in the sleeve of his hoodie, then the other. If she normally wouldn't do this sort of thing, why was she doing it now? Alarm bells should've been going off again, but they weren't and he was damn curious as to why he was so ******* obsessed with this chick. Maybe it was coincidence that he had two bird tattoos and her name was Birdee. If that was her actual name, even if it weren't her name, she'd given it to him way before seeing his tats. He pulled the tail of the hoodie down, the material was a thin barrier between his skin and the cold Canadian air, but it was enough. He noticed she was fidgeting around some as she added.

"I've got beer there. Better than anything on tap."

One beer couldn't hurt, could it? He didn't want to give her the wrong impression, he wasn't looking to 'hook up' or 'score' with anyone, he just wanted... what? Hell, he didn't know, so he nodded his head and said "A beer sounds good." He heard her laugh and turned back around to look at her, she was bouncing to keep warm, he supposed.

Then she said, "I'm not picking you up or anything. Honest. You seem chill."

Marcus chuckled and replied with a grin, "I'm not in the habit of going home with chicks I just met in a club I've never been to before either." He gestured with one hand for her to lead the way, "It's ******* cold out here! Lead and I'll follow.".