Anklebiters (Feb open post)

[wolfmarked]

Why do you care what people think?
Department store, early February

"No. No, no, no. Also no."

To say that Skip is picky is... Well. It's very accurate. But Lupercalia with a new pack isn't exactly an every day occurrence. What she does and what she wears there will get back to her father, so she actually has to put some thought into all of it. Even if she'd rather just ignore everything that happens in the middle of February.

"Purple and gold, maybe?" she says, half to herself and half to whatever poor person might be walking too close.


Try to remember how it felt
Jolly Roger, all February

On the clock, Skip has only two settings. She is either excessively friendly or incredibly short-tempered. The usual good will of her as a bartender is sorely lacking, and woe to the person who implies that anything related to her being female has any bearing on the situation. Women are given proper service with a fair amount of friendliness, but men are singled out more than usual as either targets of her rage or objects of her interest. In the bar itself and in the back room.

"'Nother round?" she asks, stopping at a customer to collect what's empty.


Fall in love with yourself
Coffee shop, mid February

February and Skip simply do not get along. She's on edge far more than usual, especially when out and about. And being out with her sketchpad, sitting at a table by the window. It's deceptively warm with the sun pouring in.

The drawing she's working on is of a skeleton, laying back against a bush. Thorns have encircled the ribs, and, in the center of his chest, there is a single rose where the heart should be.

Skip sips her coffee as she sketches in details.


The only one you've got
Simon's flat, February 17th -- closed to Simon

Lupercalia is done. Valentine's Day is over. And Skip can finally start pretending that this month doesn't exist. She still hates February, yes, but at least it's almost done.

So, after a bit of warning -- mostly to make sure they're alone -- she's at the door, holding a bottle of vodka and dressed in an blue ombre cocktail dress.


A broken mirror to reflect
North Pole, late February

Dressed in thigh-high tights and a skirt that barely covers the top of them, Skip is completely at home in the noise of the club.

Tonight, she has only one goal: not going home alone. Maybe not going home at all.

With the music pounding in her ears, she sways to the beat and moves from partner to partner on the dancefloor. The more eyes she can get on her, the better.

When she does take a break from dancing, she stays close to the bar, leaning against it and making sure her cup stays full.

Comments

The only one you've got

[protagonized]

Simon, on the other hand, is wearing a hoodie and jeans and sports a patchy two day fuzz on his chin. His eyes are rimmed with red from lack of sleep, making Skip's sudden phone call out of the blue even the more startling. And now she's at hos door and he realizes he hadn't expected his...sometimes-girlfriend? Friend with benefits? Fuckbuddy? to show up looking so formal.

Suddenly, he feels distinctly under-dressed.

"Hey," he says with a small smile. "You look amazing. C'mon in."

And once she does he adds, "Are you all right? I hadn't expected to hear from you."

[wolfmarked]

"Well," Skip says with a grin as she skirts into the flat, holding up the bottle of vodka, "a little birdy told me that someone has a new job."

She doesn't follow politics, but she makes sure to know who's who in it. Which is a totally different thing, according to her.

"Thought maybe I'd come over an' we'd celebrate a bit."

[protagonized]

"News travels fast," Simon replies, guiltily eyeing the vodka. It's a big bottle, and he had promised himself that he was going to cut back on his drinking. Getting blackout drunk every night has its merits, of course--it sure beats the nightmares he gets every time he tries to sleep without it--but he doesn't particularly like himself this way.

The three solid weeks he'd spent on a bender last month were quite enough for a long time.

Still, he takes the bottle and rummages for a couple of shot glasses. With Skip, he doubts they'll be drinking very long. This is part celebration, part booty call, and he knows it.

"Did your birdie mention who nominated me for it? Because I haven't any idea."

[wolfmarked]

"It was all tweeted out." And she hadn't asked. But a Guardian? Well. That was a very, very good source for information on the vampires who'd attacked people. Not that she expected much just a couple days after. But he'd be easy to get information from once there was some to get. Having friends in which places always helped.

"Doesn' really matter, though, does it?"

[protagonized]

"Hope it wasn't actually tweeted," Simon says, lamely. "What would the hashtag be? I don't think Norrell's even close to being that tech-savvy." The joke is dead on arrival and he has to busy himself with the glasses as it falls with an almost audible clunk.

He pours Skip a shot. "Guess not. It's all a bit overwhelming, honestly. Wasn't exactly expecting to get nominated, much less get the job."

Try to remember how it felt

[facethewolves]

Alex is there hoping to meet a witch who might have information on where her old pack's new den is. There's no point sneaking into Russia just to end up searching hundreds of thousands of acres of forest. She needs a more specific target, which is why she's willing to wait for hours on the slim chance that the witch will show. She doesn't like spending time here, the sounds and smells of drunkenness set her teeth on edge, and even close to the new moon her temper is fraying. The only drink she's ordered is a glass of water, which she occasionally sips from as she glances around the room.

The bartender is vaguely familiar. Another wolf, maybe, someone she's seen around with James or other members of the pack. Just as the girl stops to address another customer near Alex, a man - a stranger, not the witch she's waiting for - sidles up to Alex and drunkenly asks for her number. Even after unsubtly being warned off, he won't go away, and Alex's patience finally snaps. In a burst of pure vicious instinct, she slams the heel of her hand into his throat, knees him in the gut, and then kicks his legs out from under him. He falls backwards, directly towards the bartender.

[wolfmarked]

"Oi! What th' fuck!"

It's the shout everyone can know to expect when someone starts trouble in the bar. Skip is very nearly back at the bar when the guy falls toward her. She has to step quickly to put her tray of glasses down on the bar then duck around its corner to avoid him falling. Then, she moves just as quick back around to get between him and the girl.

He gets her attention first. "You leave a girl 'lone next time she says 'no,' got it?"

Then, she looks at Alex.

"An' you. There's the fuckin' door. Use it an' get th' fuck out."

[facethewolves]

Immediately, Alex regrets her reaction. At least half the people in the bar are staring, and she feels like a deer in the headlights. Normally, she would like nothing more than to retreat and never come back here, but she can't.

She scowls and shakes her head. "No, I'm waiting for someone."

[wolfmarked]

"I don' put up with fightin' here. Don' let guys get away with that, don' let girls get away with it. Y' fight, y' leave. So get the fuck out."

On a personal level... More guys deserve to get their asses handed to them when they're pricks. And if she were a patron? She'd have bought the girl a drink.

But. Well. That doesn't work when she has to maintain order. She lets one go, then they're all going to think their special. So, she crosses her arms over her chest and watches the girl.

[facethewolves]

The guy seems to have gotten the message, as he quickly picks himself up and leaves. Alex, though, has no intention of going anywhere, even if that means fighting off the bartender and anybody she might bring to her aid.

She would rather avoid causing an even bigger scene than she already has, so she sits back down and says, quietly but with a certain amount of force, "Once my friend shows, I'll go and you won't see me here again."

Try to remember how it felt, early Feb

[paenumbra]

Matt was in a bit of a haze at the Jolly Roger. It was one of the many pubs in his rotation as he wasted the nights away, avoiding the moment when he would have to crawl home. He was still avoiding Simon, among other things, and drinking let him drown the sensible voice in his head that told him he was being stupid.

The voice didn't register right away. Matt glanced up and smiled, the old charm immediately kicking in. He didn't bother to hide it anymore. He was beyond caring if he pushed someone too far, manipulating their wants to sync with his own against their better judgement. It was easier when everyone loved him.

"Sure thing," he said with a wink, his words heavy and seductive. "In fact, why don't you sit down and have one yourself. I'm sure no one will mind if you go on break."

[wolfmarked]

"Long as you're buyin'," Skip replies with a grin. And, in fact, she turns right back to the bar. "Oi! Don!" The other bartender looks up. "Get this gent another round, and I'll have my usual. Goin' on break."

Don might not be... particularly happy looking about it, but there's not much he seems to be able to say either as she takes off her apron, sets it on a chair and slides in right next to the customer.

[paenumbra]

Matt shifts over, giving the lady a place to sit next to him. He isn't worried about money and with every drink the responsible voice is drowned out even more. The warm body pressed next to him does even more than the alcohol to push any thoughts of restraint out of his mind.

He waits until the drinks are in front of him before he picks up his glass and clicks it against her own. "Cheers," he says. "Drinking is far better with a pretty girl at my side."

[wolfmarked]

Skip's drink is a shot, one that's a nice orange-red in colour, and she raises it before drinking it.

"I hate drinkin' alone. Lot more fun when you've got some good company with you."

And a cute guy? Just what the doctor ordered to make February a lot more bearable.

[paenumbra]

"I think we're on the same page."

There's something about her that is oddly familiar. Matt has a nagging sensation that he's met her before but he can't place where. "How long have you been working here?" he asks. "I can't imagine that I would have missed meeting you. Seems rather rude of me not to invite you to have a drink with me before tonight."

Valentines

[youronlylaw]

James drives like he's being chased by something until he gets close enough to the park to see her standing there all skinny and ... shit, covered in blood.

He doesn't think about her rules. He can't. It scares the crap out of him to see her like this and he leans over to pop open the passenger side door. There's traffic coming to a standstill behind him and

"Skip, Jesus...," he can't even smell her under all of it. It makes something like instinct in him want to kill something and - he didn't realize he still had his Moonlight Jewelry on, but his claws scrape against the steering wheel.

"Get in!"

[wolfmarked]

There is absolutely no attitude to her as she approaches the car, halfway there before it even stopped. When the door opens, she slides immediately in. What had been a silver dress is streaked with blood, and there's plenty on her skin, including a shallow wound on her right shoulder. Her hair has just as much blood. By scent, there's at least ten people accounted for and two different vampires.

Despite the weather, her feet are bare. Her heels were the first things she got rid of when it became very apparent it was time to run.

The car's warmth is a relief, but, honestly, she only just registers it. The goosebumps on her skin are probably hardly visible under all the blood. When she puts her phone down in her lap, the screen is streaked with bloody fingerprints. The make-up on her face is entirely ruined, and she's still crying, thin body shaking. Only once the car door is closed does she raise her hands to cover her mouth and give a kind of shrill cry, just barely down from being a scream.

[youronlylaw]

God, the smell makes him gag on it and he wants, desperately, to roll down a window just to breath but his brain kind of shuts down when Skip shrieks into her hands.

...Oh god she's such a girl right now. He doesn't know how to deal with this. Skip has never once been anything but Skip before.

"Do I need to call 999?"

He asks as he pulls back into traffic. He's not going to take her anywhere but his place. It's safe and he knows the way back better than he does the way to Skip's aunts.

[wolfmarked]

"It-- It was vampires. Nothin' th' cops can do. It jus'--"

She's trying hard to actually remember what happened. Because one minute she was grinding against a guy, her hand in his hair... and the next, she felt blood on her hand and someone grabbing her.

"Everythin' went dark an' people started-- started screamin'--"

Someone else would tell the authorities. Someone else could deal with the responsibility. All she wants is to get to her basement and lock the door. And know she's safe because she always rescinds invitations in when she shows someone out. And that part is hers. Isn't it? Will that still keep out someone her aunt invited in?

Even just thinking about that has her crying again and thrashing a little in her seat because she can't do anything else.

"It was jus' s'posed t' be a party."

[youronlylaw]

"Jesus."

James is having a hard time imagining it but Skip being covered in blood and shaking and crying in the passenger seat is pretty damning evidence that she isn't lying. He'll call his firm, get the cleaners out there to make sure nobody tries to torch the place - he wants the Night Council to know about this.

He needs to call Coward too.

All this is racing through his mind while he drives by route and he knows Skip can react violently to things she doesn't like - so he doesn't touch her either, as much as he wants to.

Before he knows it, they've pulled up to his place.

James doesn't think to ask if this is where she wanted to go. All he can think of is getting her inside. He opens her door for her and offers his hand, if she wants to take it.

Why do you care what people think?

[akillersmile]

"I don't know if purple's really your color. Did you try the red?"

Kyle leans on the edge of the door frame into the boutique, looking fairly out of place in a t-shirt and jeans. He caught a glimpse of her from outside and decided to pop in, especially after Simon's glowing review of her as a person. Almost. Still, he doesn't exactly like how they left things and he has questions about werewolves that he's hoping the damn girl might be willing to answer if he can get her out of the hate camp.

[wolfmarked]

"A redhead in red? Y' don' say."

She has plenty of red in her wardrobe. After all, it's perfectly fine if you know how to wear it. But she knows that American accent.

"'Sides, plenty of people're gonna be wearin' red. So definitely not."

[akillersmile]

"Green seemed too cliche," he defends himself, giving a light shrug. He crosses his arms as he watches her, exaggerating how casual this all is so she has no reason to worry about an attack or anything as stupid as that. Except she doesn't even look at him.

Kyle straightens and grabs a nice black and gold dress from nearby, eyeballing her size to guess. He steps up behind her and puts the dress in front, emulating every cheesy romance film ever made and not caring in the slightest.

"Big plans?"

[wolfmarked]

"Black's fittin'," she mutters under her breath, but she is at least considering it. And actually takes the hanger to look at it more closely. "Got a party t' go to."

Which she is not thrilled about, and she won't pretend otherwise.

"Haven' gotten yourself killed yet, huh? Guess that's a good thing. You're dumb. But you're cute."

[akillersmile]

Kyle hands off the hanger and steps around her to admire the dress. Not wanting to be in the way of the mirror, he moves off to the side a little and leans there instead. A half dozen questions fly through his mind at the mention of a party, but he knows better than to admit too much ignorance with her.

"Thanks. You're not bad yourself." No use in being coy. Kyle lowers his voice to ensure they're not overheard, but that's about all the consideration she's getting. "I'm mostly up to speed. Your boyfriend said you could tell me more about werewolves though."