15408/A night for something new
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A night for something new | |
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Date of Scene: | 01 August 2023 |
Location: | The Tunnel - Midtown Manhattan |
Synopsis: | Summary needed |
Cast of Characters: | Darkness, Willow Rosenberg
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- Darkness has posed:
It was time for a change in pattern, a bit of a break from the usual, even if the 'usual' is generally reliable. Jackie's not been here before and that's part of the point, tonight's not about playing up to his mob ties, or his reputation as a member of that mob. Tonight is about .. well _not_ being those things, or playin' that role.
So when Jackie walks in it's neither with the usual assumption of authority and presence he might have in a mob joint, or simple menace he might for one that's a purely criminal element. Instead it's with a quiet, almost dangerous, confidence that he pushes the door open and steps inside, walking down the stairs with a smooth gait towards the main floor whilst taking the time to look out over the crowd and let his eyes wander across it in an initial survey of who's here, where the larger more popular groups are, any obvious VIPs , and of course - those women that might most quickly catch the eye.
He's dressed in black slacks, a gunmetal grey button down shirt that's left open at the collar, the silver and onyx buttons standing out and catching the light easily enough, and he's a smile for the first waitress that makes her way to him and he just points his chin at the bar - making it clear that that's his destination..giving her a light touch on the hip as he passes by.
- Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Willow had *exactly* one dose of her polymorph self potion - after that? She could make some more, but what are the odds of it being as good as this one was? (Willow is getting better at potions, but she still doesn't trust herself!) Still? She took it.
To say it was a 'polymorph potion' isn't quite the truth. It enhances things that are already on the person, and accentuates them.
For Willow, it thinned her facial features so that she looked like a woman - instead of a girl. It slanted her eyes *just so*. Filled out her cheekbones and lips. Stretched out her limbs to make her appear to be 5'8'. And the piece de resistance - her hair went from nearly blood red to flame red at the tips.
With her stealing clothes from her roommate, Buffy (because there was no way in heck that she owned some suitable for *here*) - a cutoff dress in black (worn for Halloween when she was going out with Thomas, plus a trifle too large shoes that had ties that wended their way her calves ending at just below the knees.. Willow finished with some scarlet lipstick, and headed out.
She knew where the nightclub was (she looked it up!). But the thing that nobody told her was, you can dress up, but would you be able to act that part?
Willow was about to find out.
Entering the nightclub she made a beeline for the bar. "A long island iced tea. If you have them?"
So far?
1 for the nightclub : 0 for Willow
- Darkness has posed:
By the time Willow made her entry Jackie'd already made it to the bar and ordered his own drink, an 'Old Fashioned' made with a top shelf whiskey, and a bit of orange peel. He's just turning around to place his back to the bar and lean against it to survey the crowd again when the flaming red hair catches his eye.
Well, to be fair, catches his and not a few other men and women alike in the room, all eyes following Willow's progress towards the bar with varying degrees of interest.
Jackie's eyes? They sweep slowly down to Willow's feet and then back up again in a long appraisal that he doesn't really bother to hide, nor make any apology for should his attention be caught. Taking a sip of his drink he can't help but smile just a touch as he hears the young woman's order - the politeness behind it - his gaze turning a touch curious as well as simply intrigued.
He sees one of the younger college frat boys in the crowd start to make his way towards the clearly 'out for fun time' Willow, catches the 'jocks' eyes with his own and only just slightly narrows them - and the jock slows..suprisingly catching the hint that maybe this _isn't_ the time to go try and hit on the newly arrived redhead.
- Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Poor Willow. She doesn't even catch sight of the poor frat boy. Which could be good for him. Beyond Jackie's warning, there is something about Willow that seems a mix of naivety and self-assurance. About her? She is insecure. But about taking down demons and vampires? watch your step around her.
The bartender lifts an eyebrow. "Listen lady, we don't sell girly drinks in here. Liquor. Wines. Beer. Period. What can I get you?"
Willow really wanted to point out that a long island iced tea was /hard liquor/ (with a few things added), but looking at his face, she thought better of it. "No coke?"
The bartender turned around and filled up a glass with white wine and put it in front of her. "Will that do?" He had made the guess, with her clothes, she wasn't a beer sort of person, and white wine shut her other options down. "Ten dollars."
"Ten. Dollars?"
"Ten dollars."
At this point the nightclub was going to win.
- Darkness has posed:
And it's about there that Jackie sees, or hears, an opening he can't help but exploit. Picking up his drink he takes the couple of steps down the bar, and around the pair that'd taken up seats there, to step up behind Willow, whom he has quite a few inches on even with her current height and gives the bartender a look that's just a _touch_ less intimidating than the one he gave the jock a moment or so ago.
"You've got mixers back there, make her the long island iced tea, to 'book' ratios, with your top shelf. Stop lookin' to hike your prices - you _know_ she's gonna have folks clamorin' to buy her drinks all night long."
A pause, a quirk of a dangerous smile as he glances down at her from where he stands, "The first one's on me, in fact."
He exudes confidence, and to those used to noticing such things, a sense of .. danger that just can't really be hidden, even if he's not decked out for 'work' or even playing his 'role' in the mob.
To his credit the bartender just blinks a moment.. then fails to actually say whatever it was he was gonna say.. before nodding and getting to work on the Long Island Iced tea that Willow originally ordered. While the he does that, Jackie observes, over Willow's shoulder, close enough that his presence can be felt, yet not _quite_ close enough to be intrusive in a bar like this. "You just have to _tell_ them what you want. Places like this can serve you damned near anything you want - and a girl like you? They'd do it for free, that first drink, cause they know you'll have more on the way."
- Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Unbelievably the bartender listens. To Jackie. Not Willow. Still?
With her arms prickling up hairs, she looked up at Jackie and nodded. "Long island iced tea is really a hard liquor drink. Though why the addition of coke makes it a girly drink, I don't know. Except the concoction of liquors makes it seem like it has none. Weird.. oh."
That is about the time when Willow realizes she shouldn't have brought up the recipe, and, instead, should have pursed up her lips and said thank-you, but what about my second drink?
"Thanks for the tip. You aren't a demon are you? I mean there's this aura about you I can't figure." A pause. "Sorry that was rude. My name is Wi.. um.." Think, Willow, think! But nothing comes to mind fast enough. Drats! "Willow. Like the tree." Her parents would have died to know the alternatives for her namesake. Particularly her mother!
She reaches out her hand to him, and immediately her brain catches up. "Confidence! That's it." She grins. "You remind me of another person. Though he is more suave in his confidence. Yours is dangerous. More like my friend. Though she isn't quite like you either."
The bartender finally comes with her drink. With Jackie staring at her, she doesn't say thanks to the bartender. When he's gone to the opposite side of the bar, Willow whispers, "That was hard! Not saying thank-you. How do you do it?"
- Darkness has posed:
"Demon, hmm? Well.. some might think me so I suppose, but not for long - usually." Jackie replies with a touch of a smile, even if his eyes narrow just a touch at the mention of infernal beings, cause.. this isn't a place one might usually bring one up in casual conversation. That, and of course, he could easily be mistaken for one - or his friends might.
The proffered hand is glanced at a moment, and then taken, as his other hand sets his drink down on the bar - reaching past her to do so - and then just at about the time his hand surrounds hers in a strong but not overly aggressive grasp his other hand brushes against her hip and remains there for just a beat as he gauges her reaction to the forwardness of the touch.
"Dangerous, confident, not suave..but friendly. Damned if that's a first for those particular words to be assigned to me all at the get-go. " He says with a low chuckle, glancing at the bartender over her shoulder again to ensure that the man just leaves the drink and takes himself right the fu..well, goes to handle other clients.
"I'm Jackie, Willow, and it's a pleasure to meet you.
- Willow Rosenberg has posed:
"I did say I was sorry. Just a thought in my head. I should have left it in my brain. You know inside voices versus outside voices? Like that." Willow gives a tiny wee grin. "Besides, I can handle demons. Not so much humans!"
But that errant hand, brushing on her hips..
*blink..blink?*
"Uhm.." She swallows her words for a minute. Was he trying to come on to her? Showing why she should never be so open in a bar? Especially one like this? And if so, coming on to her, how did she feel about that??
That one she didn't have an answer to.
"I wouldn't say friendly? More like knowing what you want and leading the victim to your point. I know a man who runs a company. He's more nice than you, but the underlying premise is the same.. actually, I've run across several people. Weird, huh? I never thought of that before."
- Darkness has posed:
With Willow's .. clearly unclear idea on how she wants to respond to the rather forward placement of his hand, Jackie lets go of the one he's holding and leaves the other right where it is, resting on her hip with firm and casual sort of assertive confidence - a touch that will then give that hip a gentle pull, the slightest hint to turn slightly - or perhaps step towards him - it is a bit unclear. Or at least it until he gestures with is free hand at her drink, "Your Long Island iced tea. " He says with an almost wolfish smile.
"Demons, but not humans? Well.. I suppose 'handling' them is a rather cut and dried sort of decision." Jackie says, his tone very neutral in presentation - giving away neither that he believes in such entities, or doesn't.
Of course with the way they're standing and how close, her turning there in that small space is all too likely to bring them rather close together.
"No, you're right, I'd never make any claim about being nice. Too damned many bad things happen to nice people - and I tend to pick up enough trouble all on my own."
- Willow Rosenberg has posed:
Nope. Jackie has claimed her hip. Drats.
If she does nothing.. well, that would be tantamount to saying yes under certain circumstances. Though there still was a difference between a warning and a come on. And truth be known, Willow isn't sure which one fills her with dread..
"My good friend seems to be in the same boat as you. She gets in trouble all the time. Thing is, she never wanted it. Still, if she doesn't do anything, the trouble makers still will hunt her down. I feel sorry for her. The more I learn about her type, the more I realize she's got an age gap that she isn't likely to live past."
By now Willow has been turned almost 45 degrees facing Jackie.
"Can I ask you a question?"
- Darkness has posed:
He clearly senses her .. lack of protest and seems more than willing to take full advantage of it, largely by doing two things after taking a moment to down a good long sip from his drink, which is then set down - only to let his _other_ hand brush against the flat of her stomach...and remain there, if lightly, at that perfectly safe spot betwixt waist line and the underside of the curve of her upper chest.
He's quiet a moment, taking that time to give her an obviously appreciative once over now that they're close enough that they can certainly feel each other's body heat.
But eventually, a breath or ten later, he gives a touch of a shrug. "Seems that trouble likes to find me, rarely does it get to do so more than once on any given occasion though. Seems t'me that livin' the life you've got is better'n lettin anyone you don't care about try and push you around into doin' something else."
- Willow Rosenberg has posed:
A long swallow of her iced tea, before she prepares to question him.
"I really can't be your type. I mean with this get-up, maybe? But I nearly flipped going doing the entryway, and I nearly got taken advantage of by *a bartender* - and he's supposed to look out for the customers.. so.. Why?"
At this, she points to the hands on her body. "I'm not your type of girl. I take maths and computer sciences in school. I work copious hours at several jobs. I worry about my friends, to the point that I feel guilty for not doing what that think I should do, instead of what I think I should do. And, if I say so myself, you would be bored with me as soon as I said yes. So, what's the deal?"
- Darkness has posed:
If the questioning upsets Jackie, either by what it might imply about him, or just by .. interrupting the progress of things he doesn't show it. No, instead there's a touch of a smile and a slight shake of his head and the hand at her hip shifts - sliding into place at the small of her back about parallel with the hand in front of her, all with that same casually assertive air to it.
"There's type and then there's _type_. Quite a difference between someone to have a good time with and then someone to .. spend your life with, right? " A pause, a glance around the place they're in and the .. closeness of any number of couples and even three and foursomes on the dance floor.. and moving up to the private rooms. "I'm not looking for a permanent thing, hell, I've no idea what I wanna do in a month much less longer. You.. you're one of the hottest girls to walk into the bar this evenin' and I know there's no small part of you that just wants to see what a night'd be like - or you'd not even be here."