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Oct. 5th, 2008 04:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Just keep an eye on that card every now and then, he said. You'll know where to go when the time's right.
Beth's entirely aware that probably means it's magic. Which means there's any number of other things it could be doing. Which means she seriously considers not taking it home with her, in case it could be used to track her -- but the only other place she could keep it is at the shelter, and she won't do that. It'd endanger everybody else there, the ones who come in for food, the ones who work there, Peter --
She won't, that's all.
So she sticks it to the fridge with the same magnet Spike left for her back in May, and that's where it is the Monday after Thanksgiving, when she sees that it's changed. There's an address there now, in that same elegant typeface, like it's been there all along.
Aequitas. She's looked it up. Latin for justice.
It's with a certain sense of fatalism that she steps off the bus a block from the address on the card, five days later, and walks toward the building.
(It's also with the same black wig she wore that night, as a sole concession to paranoia.)
Beth's entirely aware that probably means it's magic. Which means there's any number of other things it could be doing. Which means she seriously considers not taking it home with her, in case it could be used to track her -- but the only other place she could keep it is at the shelter, and she won't do that. It'd endanger everybody else there, the ones who come in for food, the ones who work there, Peter --
She won't, that's all.
So she sticks it to the fridge with the same magnet Spike left for her back in May, and that's where it is the Monday after Thanksgiving, when she sees that it's changed. There's an address there now, in that same elegant typeface, like it's been there all along.
Aequitas. She's looked it up. Latin for justice.
It's with a certain sense of fatalism that she steps off the bus a block from the address on the card, five days later, and walks toward the building.
(It's also with the same black wig she wore that night, as a sole concession to paranoia.)
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Date: 2008-10-05 09:42 pm (UTC)The line stretching from the rusty double doors certainly isn't just any kind of line. Humans, young and old, mingling and chatting and cheering with demons of different sizes and shapes and species, vampires smoking right in their midst, and not one of them seems to mind standing around waiting in the cold, dark night.
Up front, there are a handful of big fellows keeping an eye on things. One of them (a tall, wiry guy with black and white-blond hair) checks people's cards, another (big blob of a man with a head the size of a ripe melon) holds up...something right in front of every last one of the eager party-goers.
A mic?
Someone's singing, softly in the distance. Row, row, row your boat, gently down the--
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Date: 2008-10-06 01:03 am (UTC)She walks past the line, cranes her neck to see the address on the double doors, looks down at the card in her hands. Looks back and forth between them several times, hoping she's reading one of them wrong.
The fatalism is nearly gone, and in its place is a growing conviction that there must have been a mistake somewhere.
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Date: 2008-10-10 07:41 pm (UTC)One pair in particular look the girl up and down, ice blue and inanimate. It's one of the bouncers up front, noticing the very obvious hesitation.
It's his job to be nice to new comers. Especially ones who can afford to embrace the white trash look to such perfection. "Hey, there, Miss. I'm gonna have to ask you to stand in line like everyone else, I do apologize."
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Date: 2008-10-10 07:46 pm (UTC)I took a wrong turn. Somewhere I took a wrong turn and this isn't the right place at all --
"This is Aequitas?" she asks, half-hoping to be told no, that's a block down.
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Date: 2008-10-10 07:59 pm (UTC)"The name's Reep, and I am here to serve you." He then bows his head and twirls his free arm in the caricature of a cordial bow. "At least if there's anything you need sortin' out back here. Inside, you'd best speak to the boss if you find anything's sadly lacking."
The grin, for being a human grin, might seem awful wide, all of a sudden.
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Date: 2008-10-10 08:13 pm (UTC)But the impulse passes, and she takes a deep breath of the chilly November air and stays where she is.
It's discomfort, not danger. Not threat. And she thinks -- she's pretty sure -- that by now she knows the difference.
She offers Reep a very small smile and a low "Thank you."
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Date: 2008-10-10 08:22 pm (UTC)And Emma is reaching the front of the line, and fast enough. More than a few anxious people up front have been made to leave or left of their own volition. There seems to be some sort of security check up front.
It comes in the form of a microphone thrust in her face. A very small microphone, held in the grip of a very big hand. The big guy is more than big this up close and personal. He's the living, breathing concept of a brick shit house (and just about as visually appealing).
"Sing a song, pleez."
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Date: 2008-10-10 08:31 pm (UTC)It unnerved her then; weirdly, it's heartening now, like seeing a familiar face in a crowd of strangers.
She gulps, takes a breath, and quavers out a line from the first song to come to mind: "A roomful of people, all waiting on one person's breath..."
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Date: 2008-10-10 08:54 pm (UTC)"She's green, Jarv'. Go on, let the lady pass."
And 'Jarv' dutifully steps to the side, sticking the mic in the face of the next hapless person in line.
Reep opens one of the doors, gesturing inside with a grand sweep of his arm; inside, the lights are dimmed as they are outside, save for the warm spots brightening the bar and its tenders, and the soft glow of candlelights, like fireflies in the darkness they're scattered about the room in warm, bulbous candle holders set on tables further in. Some have settled in already, others are being shown to their table of preference, all with smiles and soft gestures from the eye candy dressed as wait staff.
Beyond the glow of the candles, the dance floor, and its assorted, ecstatic chaos.
There is no music. Just the thrum of a heavy bass resonating in every moving thing, living, dead and otherwise.
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Date: 2008-10-10 09:04 pm (UTC)It's beautiful.
It's so not what she was expecting when she left her apartment tonight.
And she can't see Lorne anywhe -- wait, no, there he is....
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Date: 2008-10-10 09:14 pm (UTC)And, when Lorne throws a party, he makes sure never to outshine his guests. Dressed in a suit so dark purple it might as well be black, a slate gray pin stripe shirt and rich, dark red tie to match, he looks every bit the professional.
The perfectly made up face is all about fun and games, and most of all, style.
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Date: 2008-10-10 09:20 pm (UTC)She swallows, hands closing into nervous fists inside the too-long sleeves of her sweater, and starts forward to meet him.
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Date: 2008-10-10 09:30 pm (UTC)It isn't long before his eyes light on the new-faced, fresh-faced-- No, make that deer in headlights-faced woman by the entrance. Emma. Emma gets the tell-tale warning that a hug is coming; his arms spread wide in the plain ol' good cheer of the perfect host.
"Darling, I thought you'd never get your fine self indoors, you must be freezing!"
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Date: 2008-10-11 11:51 pm (UTC)Her return hug is belated, and uncertain.
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Date: 2008-10-12 09:37 am (UTC)"Red, Reep. Don't take 'Why God why' for an answer."
Aaand back to the present. "Can I get you a drink?"
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Date: 2008-10-12 02:18 pm (UTC)And she's looking oddly at him. "You're listening to the people singing out front," she guesses tentatively.
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Date: 2008-10-12 03:27 pm (UTC)"Ramon, darling, give my friend something nice and immaculate. The usual for me, pretty please with honey on top."
One Seabreeze for Lorne, a virgin Cosmo for the friend.
And then, only then, does he address the question what sadly lacked a question mark. He does so with a sip, and a scrutinizing look down his inescapable nose.
"Busteeeed. What can I say? Yeah, I am--" Speaking of which, "Greener than me, sweetie."
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Date: 2008-10-12 04:47 pm (UTC)Now that she's here, she has no idea at all what to say to him.
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Date: 2008-10-12 05:44 pm (UTC)But he is one of the more astute ones, even if he once upon a long time ago continuously used to blame himself for not seeing things that are right there. Nowadays, he doesn't even try.
Emma, however, she's right there, as is her rising discomfiture. "How ya been, doll? Halloween seems like eons ago."
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Date: 2008-10-12 05:54 pm (UTC)Behind her there's a cascade of silvery laughter as a pair of beautiful androgynes passes by, arms about each other's waists. Her head ducks slightly, the gesture involuntary and unconscious.
"You?"
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Date: 2008-10-12 06:20 pm (UTC)"Well, never is such a potent turn of phrase. I've been grand, though."
He takes the opportunity to tap the side of his nose. "All healed up."
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Date: 2008-10-12 06:22 pm (UTC)And enough bravery to say "So you never told me this card was for a club."
(Not enough bravery to say it with any sharpness. Her tone's closer to apologetic, as though it's her fault he didn't mention it.)
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Date: 2008-10-12 06:38 pm (UTC)"I didn't? I didn't." He reaches out to pat her hand in apology. "Sorry, my doveling."
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Date: 2008-10-12 06:43 pm (UTC)It's a word she hasn't heard since leaving England, and it sounds strange in her mouth.
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Date: 2008-10-12 06:49 pm (UTC)"Don't you worry. You fit right in."
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