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Post by Blaze on Jan 23, 2022 14:02:07 GMT -8
There's a small bar out there in Fremont that used to have the best view of nuclear testing sites - back where there were nuclear testing sites this side of the desert. Atomic Liquors is a small brick building with a neon sight that shines invitingly this evening, beckoning people to sit where Barbra Streisand did, and play pool at the same table the Rat Pack used. But Blaze is not among the crowds that populate the slightly retro-feeling interior, instead sitting at one of the tables on the rooftop. Used to be, this is where people waited to see the mushrooms rise.
Blaze sits under the darkening sky, sipping her drink - mezcal, habanero, and a few more things she couldn't be bothered to remember - but she didn't start out here. Some may have seen her berating some poor bastard back inside the bar for what the Torrent must've perceived as wasting his life drinking. She didn't raise her voice once - didn't have to. White hot metal doesn't need flame to burn. Disgusted, the Winter Courtier went upstairs to cool off and drink in peace. It's probably not her first one tonight.
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Post by Victor on Jan 24, 2022 2:45:31 GMT -8
Bar-hopping was one few common activities that Victor partook without much plan or specific reason. Between the relative anonymity of a shady bar, and potentially eclectic clientele, these places could be an oasis of networking opportunities. Every few months he would go out, have one lucky night meeting a man with deep pockets or rare skills, and then inevitably a string of dud outings would make him give up the gig. Few months later he would forget why he stopped going, and the cycle would continue. This was the third bar of the fourth outing in his latest binge, and the thought of giving things up yet again was on the edge of being conceived.
The Autumn was sitting at the front of the bar, nursing a dark beer, when he thought he saw a familiar face between the shoulders and bobbing heads of the other patrons. He had been half-involved in a conversation with a man a decade his junior, whom he had been coaxing to talk about something other than the local football team for at least the last half hour. When she left the main floor, he decided that she would be his last-ditch effort to squeeze some decent conversation out of what was otherwise a catastrophically uncompelling outing. A minute of silence let the other man's friends take his place in the conversation, allowing him to slip away and up the stairs without so much as a departing word. On the roof, he took a moment just to make absolutely sure his eyes had been telling him the truth before he spoke up.
"Thought I saw a friendly face this side of the bar here!"
He smiled and held up his glass in greeting, staying conspicuously in place, as if he were waiting for permission to approach.
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Post by Blaze on Jan 24, 2022 15:55:23 GMT -8
Blaze immediately brightens up when she sees Victor. That guy was great - a pro, but not stuck up, and not constantly talking like he gets all his vocabulary from ghost campfire stories and creepypasta blogs. You know, like some Autumns can get. She raised her own glass and beckoned him with her free hand, inviting him to sit with her.
"I don't know about friendly." She laughs bitterly "Got called a bitch twice, and that's just tonight. Probably can't blame them. Let's just say that the score is even."
The woman looks pleased with herself and takes a sip of her fiery drink.
"Anyway. That's enough of that. Figured some unwinding is due after... everything." There's a shrug that does its best to look noncommittal but falls just short. It'd be useless to pretend like the barrage of shit cannons didn't phase the Torrent even a little bit, and that's just taking into account the stuff Victor knows about "So. What's a handsome young guy like you doing in a place like this?"
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Post by Victor on Jan 25, 2022 23:03:40 GMT -8
"Ah, It's all relative. You're friendly to yours truly, and that's good enough for me!"
A laugh rumbled from deep within the Chimera's chest as he plodded his way around the rooftop seating, taking care as to not jostle his drink too violently.
"I know plenty of folks with choice names for me, but they don't matter here. Hell, with some of 'em its a point of pride they don't like me."
He punctuated the sentiment with his glass, set down heavy on the table beside the firestarter. Either the man took a buzz like nothing, or he was relaxed, but otherwise completely sober. It was difficult to tell which. Chair legs protested against the floor as he slid the seat opposite out from the table, and set himself down with a similar energy to that which he had used on his drink. Blaze's compliments of questionable veracity drug out more grumbled laughter.
"I'm here 'cause I keep on forgetting Sturgeon's Law. Bars can be good places to meet interesting people- the kind that can be useful to know in a pitch, with skills or dough... Problem is, bars are also the perfect places to meet the kinds of people who are so uninspired that the most interesting thing about them can only be found at the bottom of a glass. I keep on thinking that the ratio is sixty-forty, only to come out and find its more ninety-five to five. You'd think I would have a better gambling sense, living in Vegas and all. Shows you just how much further I need to go to really become a local 'round here."
Victor shook his head
"Judging by the guys at the bar, I'd wager you're the five percent I was looking for. I'd say its a shame that the five percent happens to be someone I already know, but at this point I'm just happy to have found someone who I can count on being better company than the folks downstairs."
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Post by Blaze on Jan 29, 2022 5:29:21 GMT -8
There was something pleasantly grounding about how the Chimera moved, talked and laughed with a certain uncaring heaviness. Blaze's training quietly protested against it, but dulled by alcohol and atmosphere it had to cede ground to a good-natured laugh and a smile.
"Please don't become fully local. As far as I can tell going native in Vegas means draining tourists like Capri Suns with a smile on your face. Doesn't look like it'd suit you, even if you would look good in an Elvis cosplay."
There wasn't much left of her drink when he sat next to her, and now the Torrent finished the job, relishing the biting aftertaste.
"And yeah, I guess I could fit into your five percent. You're an expert in dead bodies, I am an expert in getting them that way. Or I can turn out to be one of those uninspired people - you don't know. But fuck, can we not talk about work please? And I mean I know you in the sense that I know what you do, but not who you are, you know? But that might be just my tilted sense of boundaries. I'm used to know people I work with very well."
Which is probably the exact opposite of Victor's experience, given his line of work.
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Post by Victor on Feb 1, 2022 1:53:30 GMT -8
A half-formed thought came to Victor as Blaze pleaded him to stay weird, though the night had worn on him and made him slow- too slow. He bobbed his head in vague agreement, but otherwise missed the opportunity to make a timely comment, even as she left him plenty time in upending her glass. Maybe it was for the best. Neither of them seemed to be in the mood for anything but lazy conversation. As such he let his eyes wander off to the red horizon and listened passively until the conversation came to, and hung in, a natural pause.
"Oh, you're the five percent alright, don't kid yourself about it. With folks like us, its a feat not to be; running away from interest is nearly a cultural pastime, and I ain't seen a lot of folks among us succeed."
He made a gesture that stopped a foot short of a friendly roughhousing push to Blaze's shoulder. He was grinning, equal parts grim and light.
"As for me..."
It seemed, a moment, that the Chimera was lost again. He leaned back slow and smooth, brows furrowed and lips tight. The chair squeaked as his weight fully came to rest against its back.
"The lines between work n' non-work are blurry for me. always have been. Like now-"
He gestured to the bar beneath their feet
"I can pretend I'm here for a break. I ain't getting paid, no one's asking me for this, and I got a drink in my hand. But we both know that ain't completely true, now is it? I'm here to relax, but I'm also here to network. Invest in the pool of people I know so I can do my job best I can. And as much as I would like to think that I'm doing both those things in equal measure, clearly the work's won out. Wouldn't have been complaining 'bout it otherwise, now would I?"
The Autumn picked up his glass to take a swig, sneering as he caught his own reflection
"We can talk about the procedurals I watch and pretend that ain't part of what I do now, or my car n' bike hobby, and pretend that ain't part of what I used to do back in Jersey... it all feeds back into this big old mess of a man."
He shrugged, taking advantage of the pause to finally take a drink and set his glass back down
"Maybe I should pretend. It don't sound like such bad of an idea, now that I say it out loud."
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Post by Blaze on Feb 2, 2022 6:03:50 GMT -8
She listens. Then listens some more, ordering another drink in a tall glass from a passing waiter in a moment of pause, but she never stopped watching Victor. Blaze was good at listening and watching. It was easy to look like you care when you really do, not least because you feel like you're staring into a mirror.
"God, you're worse than me."
The words are meant as something approaching a joke, in a light tone and with a smile, resting her head on her hand.
"You're going for a run in the morning and it's because your job needs you to be fit. You're learning to cook from nothing because the boss says so. You're watching a movie with someone you like and it's because the job needs you mentally clean so here's your prescribed unwinding hours. It never even occurs to you that you could be doing all these things for completely unrelated reasons. For the longest time, that was my experience. Probably still is to a point... feeds back into this big old mess of a woman."
She laughs bitterly. Who the hell is she to give advice on this? And yet here they are, in a moment of naked honesty of feelings, if not honesty of facts.
"I try to compartmentalize. Be my own master, pick what I do and why, keep things as separate as I can. It's easier to let go that way if - when - you need to. Easier to keep things secure when something is compromised."
There's a long moment of silence that started to be uncomfortable for the Torrent. She struggled to follow up what she just said with something that doesn't sound trite or forced. Ultimately, she just shakes her head.
"Sorry for unloading on you like that. I should probably stop drinking..."
She looks forlornly at the tall glass, then takes a sip and smiles wryly.
"But I'm not always the greatest at following my own advice."
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Post by Victor on Feb 5, 2022 13:01:14 GMT -8
"Nah, don't apologize. Spilling feelings cross the bar and drowning them in in spirits is why most people would come to a place like this. Even sorry whimsical sods like us deserve that little slice of normalcy. It ain't a pretty thing, but its a thing we can do that ain't defined by our jobs or circumstances... and in that way, I think you're following your own advice perfectly fine."
Victor was smiling now, though the grit that otherwise seemed to be a permanent feature of his expressions had evaporated entirely. Nothing about his face was built to express heart-felt emotion, and yet in defiance of his former Keeper, it managed to peek through anyhow.
"'Sides, I think we got a little tit for tat going on right now. Ain't common that I find another soul who knows what its like, and is willing to talk frankly about it. Though it is funny, for all that we share, it seems our coping mechanisms couldn't be more different. I don't compartmentalize. I just try not to put too much thought into it. You see, thoughts can't hurt you if you don't think!"
The Chimera tilted his hat to the side and tapped his temple wisely, managing only to get half-way through the gesture before breaking into laughter
"'Course that's just the silver lining I get for having a brain with an off switch. I don't assume brighter folks than myself have that particular luxury..."
He took up his glass again, mostly as an excuse to pause so his compliment could hit its mark. The excuse became transparent as he didn't actually bring the thing to his lips.
"Though there is something to be said about ambiguity, and a chicken and egg question. Did I get into cars 'cause I was working with them, or was I drawn to work with cars 'cause I liked them? Who knows. Not me. All I know now is that I can tell you from here that the pink Subaru parked three spaces from the left there was bought in the last year, and whoever got it has better funds than I. Best I can afford these days are desk-top models, and honestly I still have to save up for some of those, being collector's items 'n all. Had to pass up my third 166 Ferarri model just last week cause the asking price was over three digits!"
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Post by Blaze on Feb 10, 2022 13:38:34 GMT -8
Victor's lifehack of a coping mechanism makes Blaze laugh in an out loud fashion, for the first time in a long time. The Beast's wit was top notch even if he humbly claimed otherwise. And speaking of humility, although the compliment was caught and certainly appreciated, she couldn't accept it fully. Blaze wasn't that bright. She wasn't stupid either, but one should be aware of one's limitations.
"I wouldn't know, being smart is not part of the ol' resume. I just have a couple skills that I try to use efficiently and wing the rest in the field."
She shrugs nonchalantly, the remnants of laughter lingering in the form of a small smile.
"Maybe I'm just not used to ambiguity. Liminal states. For the longest time it was clear who the enemy is, what do we do and why we do it. Then I dreamt of fire and it was the most horrible nightmare I ever had, but it was also simple. But nothing is as clear cut once you're out of the uniform, is it? Maybe it's a Vegas thing. More likely it's a people thing."
Many Elementals struggle to get people at all, and even if she didn't have it as bad, the old instincts often took control. She preferred to focus on something less slippery, and so leapt at the chance to listen a bit about that Subaru that suddenly became a lot more interesting, and to drill a little deeper while draining the contents of her glass.
"So about those cars. Is there anything you're particularly proud of in your collection, or something you're looking for? Are the rare ones always that expensive? And since I'm asking: you any good with driving them? The big versions I mean."
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Post by Victor on Feb 12, 2022 9:03:09 GMT -8
"Its a truth thing, in a place where reality ain't dictated by the whims children and tyrants. Knowing the truth of things here- the blurred lines -its a burden and a curse, 'cause ignorance is bliss. Worst part is that knowledge clings to you. I ain't yet met a person who, knowing the truth, would really choose to forget. 'Cause everyone wants to believe the truth is simple, but no one wants to live in a lie once they know the truth ain't pretty and neat..."
Victor swirled the drink in his glass as he rambled incoherently, watching the last red light of the sun dance off the surface. Considering it was cheap beer, the gesture looked ridiculously out of place. He wasn't an Elemental and didn't understand, so in trying to talk about it he was spilling more of himself instead. He didn't seem to be aware.
"I got nearly the whole suite of Fords, from the Model T all the way up the the Perfect-"
He looked up to Blaze, his demeanor becoming less lethargic as a small pride took him
"all in desktop models, of course. Wouldn't have the space to fit so many large ones even if I had the funds for it. Barely have the space as it is, since I broke the damn display case."
He grimaced. There were plenty of things he could blame on other people, but that particular incident was all him, and he still hadn't forgiven himself for that.
"My dream find at the moment would be a Ford model A. First thing they ever built, all the way back in 1903. Barely owned by anyone and only out for a year before they came out with another... worst part is that it ain't even a matter of cash. I just can't find the damn thing. I know that someone has aught to have made a model of it at some point, but I've searched high 'n low and its like the car never bloody existed."
He paused and frowned
"As for driving the damned things, you don't get to doing car chases professionally for a decade and a half if you ain't any good at it! I may not own many, but I'd wager you that there ain't a category of civilian car or truck you can think of that I haven't sat at the wheel of. Let me tell you, there ain't much more of a formative experience than running a Soviet sack-of-potatoes car through a storm near the pine barrens when you have fuzz at your back..."
Victor was reminiscing, despite himself.
"But I'm going on about work again. You have any hobbies?"
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Post by Blaze on Feb 15, 2022 1:46:35 GMT -8
Blaze grows serious, but there's no denying she's in the mood for some incoherent rambling and quite willing to do some of her own. When Victor might be lethargic and slow, her gaze is intense, like she doesn't want to lose even one half-formed word, even the smallest gesture.
"In my experience people leap at the chance to let someone else handle the truth. You're right, it clings to you but it also changes you, and most people don't like these changes, what they become and what the world is now that they've seen the rot under the log. We - and I don't mean just the two of us, but every one of our friends - have seen how evil the world can be and chose to face it. Most people aren't ready for that and never will be."
Colonel Nathan Jessup was an asshole and a criminal. But he did have a point. It was a bitter topic and you need the bitterness sometimes to ground you but by God was it satisfying to see the shift into pride that the Chimera exhibited. The Torrent decided to ride that particular wave.
"What about supercars? I've never been in one of those. I have no idea where to find a model A or why it is so hard to dig up, but maybe doing a few spins would clear the mind enough to think of something? We all deserve a break."
Worst case scenario here is that he'll just say no, and so this thinly-veiled suggestion came easily. Blaze smiles enticingly, already eager to let the man have a chance show off his skills in an environment that doesn't have anything to do with work. It's the next bit that is harder for her and actually makes her awkwardly pause for a second.
"No. I mean, yes. I mean, maybe a little bit?" She answers quickly, like she wanted to kill the topic and then changed her mind at the last second "I like board games. And uh, food. I'm a terrible cook, but after years of eating mostly field rations I wanted to expand my horizons. Besides, did you know that people actually still do eating competitions? They're, uh. A pleasure."
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Post by Victor on Feb 16, 2022 7:45:07 GMT -8
Victor nodded thoughtfully, pleasantly surprised that Blaze had taken him up on the topic of his ramblings, despite its nebulous and depressing nature.
"I don't think I was ready for it... I don't think most of us were, but I ain't inclined to speak for all of us. Not that I would tell what it changed in me- I ain't got no pure bright-eyed past to compare to my present, and assure me that it wasn't always this way."
His eyes went down to his hands, creased and calloused. Other than a grey pallor, they could pass easily for the hands of a mundane man, even with his mien laid bare. The dim warm light obscured even that.
"I'd almost like to know what its like, to see the change for certain. Maybe it hurts the heart more."
The chimera took a drink, cleansing his pallet of the subject
"Oh, you know I've been in supercars. Its a real treat, driving them along abandoned stretches of highway at night. Places where you can actually put the pedal to the metal and see just how fast those shiny wheels can take ya. Its such a shame that they're made to drive so fast so smooth, and yet for most of their suburban lives, their potential never gets to see the light of day. Almost feels like I'm doing a moral good, like releasing a caged animal to nature."
He was leaning back in his seat, nearly far enough that it threatened to tip. A broad smile was interrupted by his arm, as he wiped stray droplets of beer from the feathers in his beard.
"I'd love to take another spin in one, if I could get my hands on it. All I have now are the van and the sedan. Great machines the both of them, tough and reliable, but neither of them are lookers. They don't exactly feel like driving on clouds either. Too bad joyriding ain't considered a kosher reason to take out a rental."
He chuckled, putting his drink down and leaning back forwards as Blaze enlightened him on her own pastimes.
"I am well acquainted with the tradition of stuffing one's gob for a prize- back in Jersey, there was a steakhouse that hosted one annually. Heaping piles of meat, and a bottle of something from a local brewer down the way. Prize was a coupon book of free meals at the place, a plastic trophy with a cow on it, and a reputation you wouldn't live down with your friends for years. My gang went twice,. Ollie won the second year. Would bribe the rest of us with the coupons for months."
He nodded to himself
"Have you tried grilling? Always found that easier than cooking with a stovetop. Or baking. I'd say I got the hang of smoking too, but I wouldn't want to invoke the wrath of men who've spent longer years than I refining that craft to an artform."
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Post by Blaze on Feb 17, 2022 13:09:50 GMT -8
Blaze sighs, for a while not knowing what to do with her own body language that exists in a state of suspension until it finally focuses on a glass with a drink and evolves from there.
"It'd probably sound stereotypical to say that I burn most things I've tried to grill or bake, but I swear it's true. I'll keep trying, just... if I give you homemade cookies or something you might want to chew on some coal first to get in the mood." She smirks. One could only be good at so many things it'd seem, and the self-fulfilling prophecy of not imagining yourself in an apron preparing dough materialised in poor ability to do that exact thing.
"Shame about the rentals though. I thought the entire reason you could get one is to go crazy with it for a day and hope to God no insurance agents get involved. Maybe I could ask Henley. This guy looks so loaded he probably has a used model lying around, or knows someone who does. If I do get one, though, you're driving. I don't think my experience on the passenger side of Humvees is exactly relevant here."
The Ifrit leans back herself, for a moment indulging the memory of a bumpy ride in that metal box on wheels under a clear lazure sky and the sun baking you alive in your body armor. A simpler time, a world that doesn't exist anymore, trying to pull her down like quicksand. No. She's over this now.
"You said you had a gang?"
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Post by Victor on Feb 20, 2022 9:02:26 GMT -8
"I'd still eat them, but that probably ain't saying much coming from me! I do survive on my own cooking after all."
Victor chuckled, though he wasn't entirely joking. Free food was an opportunity he wouldn't allow himself to snub.
"Henley! Yeah, he'd have the goodwill and the dough for sure. Probably would have to come with a promise that the car don't get scratched, but it ain't like that's a promise I can't make. And don't you worry about the driver's seat- if you wanted it, you'd have to fight me for it! And I'm saying that knowing that we both know you could kick my ass so hard that I'd land over state lines."
He tapped the rim of his glass, eyes alight in a mixture of good humor and anticipation. Truth was, he hadn't had a good joyride in months, and he sorely missed them. The Ifrit would make for great company in shotgun, and he wouldn't mind taking the spring benefactor for a spin too, if the stock broker would be up for the adrenaline rush. The mention of his gang slapped him out of his reverie.
"Mm, I suppose. Yeah, guess you could call it that. The guys I'd do the car runs with back in Jersey. We weren't officially organized, but we worked together lots. Small world and strong connections and all that. We knew we worked well together, so there was no point fixing what wasn't broke. Some of us got pretty close."
By the way he said it, it didn't seem as if Victor himself was one of the people who had gotten close. Or perhaps he wasn't allowing himself to admit it.
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Post by Blaze on Feb 26, 2022 14:37:12 GMT -8
Blaze nods, taking the Beast's good humour and running with it. She enjoyed the feeling of a plan coming from daydream to practice, doubly so when she had no idea even an hour ago that such an idea could even be formulated.
"It's settled, then. I will reach out to Henley and see what he'd want in exchange for letting us borrow one of those sweet rides."
She listens about Victor's gang with interest. She struggled not to imagine a band of merry men, with the Chimera cast in the role of Little John and the thought brought the shadow of a smile to her lips before she grew more serious - if still clearly invested in the tale.
"How did you meet up? I don't have a lot of experience with that... world." That was probably the most polite way she could put it. Before joining the ranks, and indeed before returning from Arcadia, the Ifrit had no criminal record - not even a parking ticket or a jaywalking offense - and very little experience with actual criminality "I had a team, too. There were four of us and I was the only woman. You can probably imagine how that went in the beginning. Things got better after a while, though. I was willing to work for their trust, and you learn to take what you can get when every day can be your last."
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