Oct 28 03:03:14 107 PA - Learning about the new world
From Chronicles
Oct 28 03:03:14 107 PA.
IVORY LADY: Learning about the New World
When one has a recent influx of credits, spare time, and the intent to relax, a drink or three are high on the list. Having those drinks in the presence of wonderfully under-dressed women is even higher. Leonard is seated at one of the glass-topped tables, able to view most of the room but still avoid the crush of eager patrons crowded around the cages and poles.
With the wind at his back, blowing some stray leaves past him, creating a rather more dramatic entrance than anything even intended, Gabriel quickly blends into the crowd. His short stature, common clothes, and that certain odd way that he's always had about him making it easy, apparently. The next spot that most people who see him pop back up is at the serving counter, where there is a momentarily heated discussion. Judging by pointing and gesticulation, it's over the requested beverage.
People wear many things to clubs like the ivory Lady, and few things as well. A formal gown is not so common though. Which is why Tirzah might stand out as she makes her way through the den of debauchery in hers. Calmly she makes her way to the bar and takes a seat. Not looking to feel as out of place as she looks.
Leonard keeps his requests somewhat simple, but not without sophistication. A glass of wine arrives for him to sip from whilst he casually observes the pleasant scenery. He is not alone, but the black-feathered corvid would not exactly be considered date nor drinking buddy. It also watches over the patrons and performers, albeit with a much more disinterested gaze than Leonard can feign.
A small, conical glass full of perfectly clear fluid is finally delivered to Gabriel's waiting hands after a short discussion with the bartender. Something apparently catches his interest, and he holds up a second finger. After another short break in time, an identical glass is delivered. Credits are exchanged, one drink lifted per hand, and the man begins to carefully make his way toward Tirzah, as she must have some kind of interesting story to tell.
Tirzah peruses the drink menu, so far oblivious to the drink coming her way and its bearer. She seems focused on shaved ice and creams. Putting it down she starts to order when she notices the bartender looking behind her. Turning to see why she finds Gabriel and a smile to give him. "And what pray tell is this the fates have brought me?"
As entertaining as the flexible, inverted, and very nude woman on the nearby pole may be, Leonard still notices Tirzah's passing. It just happens to be delayed a few seconds. He blinks and rises, curious. Her formal wear does make her conspicuous here, and the fact that it's Tirzah inside the the dress even more so. The raven trades perch of chairback for Leonard's shoulder, and so the two approach the bar. "Did I overlook a special occasion?"
Gabriel reaches the woman at about the same time as the other fellow, giving him a very faux-evil eye. "Hey. I don't think this young lady wants to be bothered by you. Go back to peeking at the dancers." He hesitates just a moment before breaking into a wide smile, "I'm just screwing with you, Leo." However, his interest isn't with Leonard. Instead, he maneuvers himself into Tirzah's sight, and bows somewhat at the waist, holding out one of the conical glasses, "It's a Vesper, miss. Back from my time. Three measures gin, one measure vodka, half a measure of Le Blanc. I promise, you'll like it." Her name goes unspoken for the time, as do any questions about why she's here.
Tirzah's look goes coy as it shifts between the boys and she accepts the drink. She settles on answering Leo first with a shrug. "No, I just came as I am. There was a time a few years ago when this gown was all I wore. I was petrified to create an image without it because it was home, it was me. Much has changed, but I'm still most comfortable and confident, showing my truest colors." She explains before taking a small sip of the vesper. Swirling it lightly in her hand she shrugs at Gabriel. "The original Kina Lillet is better than Le Blanc, but thank you." Apparently she knows something of drinking.
"Oh, I'm well aware that she doesn't want to be bothered by me. That is the norm." Leonard returns the smile and raises a chuckle. He accepts the explanation with an easy nod to Tirzah and a quaff of wine. "It is a surprising change to me, but you look lovely." Leonard can't easily recall her wearing more than the most unflattering pantsuit or other less than feminine clothing. Edgar, perched on his shoulder, takes the time to peer over Tirzah, but doesn't voice an opinion.
"Sure, if you can find it," Gabriel states in response to Tirzah's short query. "Guy behind the counter says he's never heard of Kina Lillet. You substitute what you can," the man says with a shrug. His eyes are somewhat distracted by the bird on the other man's shoulder, but for now any questions or statements regarding it remain silent. "You really look like you should be at the Silver Spoon dancing with some nice young man in a tuxedo. Or at least a good suit. Not here." Gabriel waves his drink, in his left hand, by way of taking in the whole of the Ivory Lady. "To be honest, I come here for the music. Everyplace else is too loud." He then gives a sad smile and states finally, "I'd offer you a dance, but unless you'd like the stage, there appears to be no room."
"Jeeze guys, I wear this gown all the time. You just need the eye opening attractions of the Ivory Lady to notice it." Tirzah retorts with a dismissive wave. "You wont find it here, or anything else fine for that matter. But its not hard to make, only takes twelve months to age. Best to make a dozen bottles and set them separately then pick the best." She explains to Gabriel, very familiar with drinking.. "The Alibi carries more refined brands, Desmond was open to my input and I directed him to suppliers doing it right. I make my own spirits, but not on the scale to supply, just entertain."
Like a cautious follower, Sage quietly slips into the club. She hasn't dressed up like her partner, preferring a more low-key appearance. She hadn't expected to visit this club either, yet her partner has come here. She walks slowly into the place, and her gaze travels with mild curiosity about the place. It is likely her first time here by the way she moves... but, she hasn't started to blush or show other signs of embarrassment yet. Above all, she seems to delay her presence being known to her partner for the moment.
Leonard upgrades to a laugh. "I'll remember that. Perhaps I can use it as an excuse for my being here, and claim that it is... therapeutic to the senses." He turns to Gabriel, begins to speak again, but pauses to regard Edgar. "That could be considered insulting, though I suppose I can understand your confusion."
Leonard's statement elicits an odd stare from Gabriel. "Huh?" Not stated, not audibly, anyway. Just written on his face. His attention is then momentarily split between the other man, and the attractively-dressed woman. Sage has yet to be noticed. He allows his drink-hand to fall to waist height, and with a genuinely furrowed, genuinely confused brow, asks, "I'm sorry. Insulting? You mean to this place?" His hand is wave around a bit to indicate the Ivory Lady.
Tirzah smirks, reaching to tap Gabriel's shoulder after taking another sip. "He's talking to his bird hun." She informs him gently before looking to Leonard. "Who is Edgar looking down his beak at this time?" As she pauses at a decent vantage point of where Sage has noticed her partner sitting, she is soon approached by one of the skimpily clad waitresses. A small conversation ensues as she starts to get a mischievous look and gestures towards where her partner sits.
"Hmm?" Now it's Leonard's turn to be confused, for a moment. "Oh, my apologies, but..." He returns Tirzah's smirk as he's preempted, then shrugs his shoulders apologetically "There was some confusion on you, in fact. Apparently he's not often seen you in a fine dress, either. In his defense, the concept of gender is entirely foreign to him. I merely refer to Edgar in the masculine for convenience."
With a little shrug, Gabriel begins in an accented, "Well, in my experience, bird's are good eating, laying eggs, eating bugs, and chirping. Wouldn't ever personally think to sit down and share thoughts with one," his passage ends with an eyebrow raised. But then whatever questions that he might have about speaking to birds, or probably any other animal, for that case, disappears. Instead, he asks Leonard and Tirzah at the same time, "I'm here for the music and a semi-good drink. What's your excuse?" His eyes roam between them as he takes a sip of his Vesper.
Tirzah shrugs with another casual sip of her drink. "Well you may reassure the occularly fixated avian that I am looking to resolve my square edges with some supple and useful implants. Once I can afford them." She informs Leonard without any sass. "I need an excuse? The wind was going this way." She tells Gabriel with a cunning smile.
With an amused look and a small exchange of credits, Sage moves to sit with a drink as she watches the waitress make her way towards the party of three with a flirtatious message regarding a woman offering to meet Tirzah in a silk curtained hideaway.
Leonard arches a brow. "Well, should you wish a friend's opinion afterward, Tirzah, I'll remember to offer one. And to duck afterward." It may not be her he needs to dodge, either. On that topic, he turns to Gabriel and chuckles. "The wine is tolerable and the music not nearly as loud, so my reasons are the same."
Gabriel seems suddenly uncomfortable at what Tirzah has spoken. "Implants? No, no. Don't scar yourself," he suggests in what was probably a more fatherly tone than he ever would have intended. He then shrugs and seems to accept, "Well, you certainly are your own woman, and I'd never intend to tell you what to do." His lips quirk. "I guess I'm just too old fashioned." It appears as if he's going to continue the conversation, but he's suddenly bumped from behind by a woman wearing a set of red-sequined pasties and not much else who obviously propositions him right there on the floor. She does not take a polite, "No thank you, miss," for an immediate answer, and any further, immediate conversation is momentarily distracted.
For a moment Gabriel is left to his plight as Tirzah takes the message and a moment to read it with another sip of her drink. Then looking to Gabriel she turns to Leonard. "I think this was intended for you actually, enjoy." She says, handing him the invitation. Then she rises to place her hand possessively on Gabriel's shoulder before bringing her fiery eyes to the offending woman's. "Get your own honey." She states quite firmly.
Celaeno makes her way into the bar meets club slash stripping location, dressed more provocatively than her day to day fare, but infinitely more conservative than would be needed to take center stage. A gliding walk on her stiletto heels takes her directly to the bar, where a series of rapid-fire orders produces a basket of fried foods and a row of three drinks - escalating in size.
The playfulness seems to lose some of its enjoyment as Sage doesn't seem to notice any true reaction from her partner. She shrugs to herself before taking the next sip from her drink from her secluded seat of watching.
Within a matter of moments, Leonard now finds himself with an anonymous invitation, in the presence of a propositioning pair of pasties, and now Celaeno, who appears dressed to kill (in many possible interpretations of the phrase), joins their vicinity at the bar. Having just overcome the appearance of Tirzah in a dress, he first blinks, then simply smiles. "Thank you?" Leonard looks to the waitress messenger to ask, "Whom did she just pass off?" It sounds much more polite than 'Which curtain?'
Gabriel gives Tirzah a polite, thanking nod and tells the young prostitute, "Young lady, you should go back to school or learn a trade. Stop selling out your loins for cheap traffic. Now, I am going to go back to having a few drinks with my wife." He pats Tirzah's shoulder and holds his ring finger up so that the girl can plainly see it. Sure, it's a lie, but who cares? Sometimes lies *are* okay. The girl huffs and puffs, but turns and stomps away toward another possible inviting guest. After making sure that she's gone, the colonel from the past returns to the conversation. "Hello again."
Tirzah manages the hold up the ruse Gabriel exaggerated by the bar long enough for the offending mark to move along. Later in the evening that the Lady sure brings out the desperation. That done she retakes her seat to slam back the rest of the Vesper in one go. Gaining the courage to look around to see who else may have caught that little act. Not seeing anyone in earshot She lets out a sigh an orders a pair of Black Russians as she looks to Gabriel. "I know I stepped right into that one, but you do know I have a wife right?" She asks him directly, the familiarity of the handwriting in the invitation starting to nag on her.
Having meant it only as a joke to see whether her partner would react or have any curiosity, Sage never instructed the waitress much beyond the delivery portion of this tease. As a result, the waitress looks back towards Sage as if for guidance. Should Leonard look over towards her, she'll just give a faint smile and a little wave.
One shot is almost immediately taken before Celaeno turns to appraise the situation on the floor, her second hand just scooping up a second glass that's slightly larger. Sipping at the glass directly she peers at one of the dancers from a distance, appraising, before turning back to assault the basket of fried crunchy artery-destroying goodness. One, two, three nondescript fried things disappear before the rest of the second drink is finished -leaving two more - and her attention begins sliding up and down the bar.
"Whose invitation you generously passed on, in fact." Leonard states this while returning Sage's wave with a salute of wineglass. He did look, obviously, and now approaches her table from the bar. A sip of his drink and a smile accompany him on the journey. "You seem to be well, and playful, tonight."
Gabriel's expression is blank. Really, intensely blank. "Uh." His eyes are boring into Tirzah's face, his erstwhile pretending wife, but while they look, it's obvious that they are seeing nothing. A non-violent thousand-yard-stare. His whole body, too, is motionless, a veritable David, but of flesh, not marble. To anyone from this time, he might simply be locked up in a normal way. But for someone born in America, 1918, someone raised Roman Catholic in a small Kentucky town, the fellow is just... totally locked up. He eventually manages to grind out - obviously not purposefully being rude, just being... locked up - the very obvious, "You're a woman."
Tirzah grins pushing the dark drink towards Gabriel to help him swallow that one. "Yeah, and the love of my life, the air to my fire, is also a woman." She says quite boldly before giving the drink another nudge. "Breast implants, lesbians, whats the world coming to right? Come and gone a few times is more like it. But regardless, love is timeless. I'm sure that you understand, if nothing else." She explains before rising to take another sip of her drink and nod in the direction Leonard took off in. "Would you like to meet her?"
Sage considers her drink a little as the man approaches before sipping from it lightly. "This does seem to be the place to be a little playful... well, not that playful." She adds with a faint nod gestures towards one woman in particular, then glances back towards where her partner is sitting. Noticing the woman is getting out of her seat, she purses her lips. "I could suggest we teasingly make our way towards a curtain... but that might be a little too playful for our own well being." She muses quietly.
Celaeno's gaze falls on the group, her head cocking to the side for a moment, eyes becoming slits. A sudden motion places basket on large-pink-hurricane glass, and both glasses are then clutched in hand as she glides over, smiling though the basket clatters off her glass as she moves to place them on the bar, scattering breading and grease. "Hey, hey, hey," she offers the two, the pink-drink lifting to her lips in salute.
Leonard smiles wide enough that he couldn't hide it with his glass, even if he tried. He leans down towards Sage once he reaches the table. "That's a wonderful idea. I doubt the lack of well-being would be severe, or permanent." A wink follows in encouragement of her suggestion.
Gabriel, older than most adventurers and with a different set of social expectations, continues to be about 90 percent locked up. Any conversation going on around him? Not there. But the 10 percent that's free manages, "I've never heard the words, 'lesbian,' or 'breast implant,' before this moment." Though his body remains rigid, Gabriel's eyes finally manage to find movement, and they flick to Tirzah, clearly aware though still stunned. A stammered, "Meet? Her?" After another long pause, he does allow, "Love. True, good. Long and cherish." His right hand's ring finger (which may seem odd considering that in America, it would be on his left) comes up and he manages to flick the plain silver band with his thumb. "Women who.. loved. Women. Only in France." He then also blankly adds, "Maybe Italy." Not that he means to be insulting, clearly. Obviously at the moment, the world around him does not exist. The Ivory Lady could probably erupt into an action-flick gunfight without him noticing.
"Not french or Italian. Well at least I don’t think so. Didn’t spend much time with my birth parents so who knows. What I do know is the people the world over are capable of love. With all kinds of people. Heck, some of them are in love with non-people. Love is the universal constant though." Tirzah laments as she waits for Gabriel to recover and Celaeno somewhat stumbles over. "Hey there Cel, another night on the town?"
Sage's gaze shifts between the man she sits with and where her partner stands near a seemingly poleax'd Gabriel. She purses her lips before turning her attention to a nearby waitress and ordering a quick but tasty snack. "Room service couldn't hurt." She muses before she begins to rise from her own chair before gesturing in a direction to head.
"Every night's a night on the town," Celaeno says, looking at Gabriel curiously for a few moments before shrugging. "But that's all right, right? If you want some chicken or some potatoes or some seafood or whatever the hell else is in that," she gestures at the basket, "have it it." A sip is taken from each of her drinks before she straightens up. "Taking about all the wonderful things in life, are we?"
"Of course. I'd be poor company if I let you starve." Leonard straightens up and pivots to escort Sage to the destination of her choosing. A quick glance towards the bar informs him that Tirzah is not yet incoming, Celaeno is as nonchalant, hungry, and/or inebriated as ever, and that Gabriel appears ...damaged. "I think she broke another one..."
"Um, yeah. Love is a good thing." Gabriel tosses back what remained of his Vesper and grabs two drinks off of the passing tray of a serving girl, replacing them with creds so as not to piss off the intended recipient. These drinks, too, are downed, one chasing the other like a boar on a rabbit. His body finally unlocks itself as his mind appears to begin to wrap itself around this other new shocking reality of where he is in time and space. "So... ah, who? A nice girl?" Whatever that may mean, well, who knows. Then his brow furrows again - but he manages to stay lucid. "The Church married you?" Celaeno is finally noted with a nod, though as Sage and Leonard seem to be disappearing for a reason that he missed, Gabriel does not try to get anyone's attention. Finally, he just looks away toward the stage where some live action - musical action - is going on. "Sorry. It's not my place to question your life."
Pausing just long enough to direct traffic on the snack, Sage begins to walk towards their intended direction. "I suppose you would be." She replies to his first comment before glancing over towards the crowd. "He may have come a little broken, though. He hasn't exactly adjusted to this place yet." She comments before pursing her lips. "Now then... feeling a little sneaky?" She asks softly as she looks back to Leo with a little mischief in her features.
"Well we could have gone to a church, almost went to a shaman, yadda yadda.. We just prefer a more personal touch. Our own courtship, vows, ceremony. All significant and sincere." She explains with a gesture to the beads in her hair, now sharing the symbolism of the ring on his finger. "Are you going to drink that Black Russian or should I take it with me? She then asks him in an abrupt change of topic before nodding to Cel. "Yeah, apparently he was formerly oblivious to them."
Celaeno's eyebrows knit for a moment as her eyes slide between Gabriel and Tirzah, though Tirzah's comment at the end draws a solemn nodding, "An absolute shame." She plucks up a bit of finger-food, eating it in a quick bite fore drinking from her pint of rather dark looking beer. "If only there were somebody to teach him the joys of love, somebody... closer than... one would have..." she turns to look at Gabe, "thought." She drains off half the pint before turning deadpan to Tirzah, "If he doesn't want it, I'll take it, hey?"
Leonard 's friendly smile turns impish, just before it turns from view of the bar and towards Sage. "I certainly am, now." Edgar chooses to depart the shoulder with a thrust of wings and glide towards the bar in search of a new roost. Three is a crowd, in this instance. "What did you have in mind," Leonard now asks Sage, in a softer tone, curious and conspiratorial, "or will I be surprised?"
Gabriel is recovering, and waves off the drink. "Please. I've had enough. Enjoy yourself." He manages a genuine, sincere smile. Then he turns to Celaeno and nods very vehemently, very happily. "Oh, I know love. The greatest love that a man and a woman have ever known." At least, that's how he feels and believes, apparently. A 3x3 inch slightly-faded color photograph is fished out of one of his chest pockets. Him and an even shorter woman, both in nice clothing, the woman's long black hair wrapped around her. There must be at least twenty children, all girls, ranging from 12 to 18, by the looks of it. "Natasha. The girls. They're gone now."
Tirzah pauses, trying to think of consoling words for the man but finding none. She nods to Celaeno. "It's yours, if you take good care of my friend here." She offers before taking her Black Russian in search of Sage and Leonard
The cherished photograph is quickly put back into the pocket from whence it had come, and the pocket latched carefully closed. He smiles to Tirzah and anyone else who may be present. "I'm glad that we could speak. It's good that I learn more about this place. May happiness follow you wherever you go." That said, he sketches a sloppy, civilian-style boy scout salute, turns, and exits the strip club.
