undergrounds | [OPEN] The sun don't ever want to shine

Entry tags:

[OPEN] The sun don't ever want to shine

1. Singing @ Rhapsody in Red (a night club in Hackney) - Sept 4, evening

Singing at the club was quickly becoming Caroline's favourite thing. She'd always love to sing and was very proud of herself for being able to job doing it - and all without turning to mind control to land it. And sure, the place wasn't the nicest club in the world but the money was good and the customers generally behaved themselves. But most of all, on this little stage she was able to just put her emotions out there and not feel self conscious about it.

So far, London had not been what she'd hoped. Instead of feeling free in her life, she felt more trapped than ever. Trying to figure out just what was going on in the Nest from one day to another was exhausting - let alone dealing with any of the other factions and their politics. Plus, she missed everyone back home desperately. She had expected to be a little homesick but it was hitting harder than she'd anticipated.

All these feelings somehow led to her singing better than she ever had before.

She was singing the last song of her first set, an original rather than yet another cover, called Why Don't You Stay. It was a fairly standard break-up song, but there were a few lines that just had extra resonance now ...

I never thought it'd be so hard to let go.

When it was over, she was definitely read for a break. And a drink.

2. Outside Guilty Pleasures - Sept 5, evening

Soon after arriving in London, Caroline had decided to spend her nights off exploring Nest territory. She'd done a pretty good survey of Hackney by this point, so tonight it was time to go to Tower Hamlets. She's already done the tourist thing and checked out the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge, so tonight she was hoping to find places of "local colour."

She's pretty sure it doesn't get more uh, colourful, than Guilty Pleasures. She was pretty sure she'd heard the name before, though right now she couldn't remember why. She also couldn't decide if she wanted to brave going inside or not. It was about as far from her usual scene as you could get. But that was old, Mystic Falls Caroline. New, London Caroline was still figuring out her scene.

She was out there thinking about it for awhile.

3. Wildcard (must be @ night in Nest territory)

I'm pretty good with anything, if unsure send me a PM or say hello on plurk (

vkm13).

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Nice voice," he commented, his own accent making it clear she wasn't the only American here. "I've never seen you around here before. Are you new?"

Not that Thomas had a lot of room to talk. He'd only been here for four months himself, although that still was enough time to get a sense of who was usually around. Then again, he also didn't come here that often, so he really couldn't say. In the end it didn't really matter, though, because he was really just trying to start conversation.

It was interesting how the Americans in London kept finding each other. Caroline find it comforting too, since for a moment things could feel a bit like home.

"Thank you," she said with a smile. "Yeah, I'm pretty new. I started here a couple months ago."

"Huh. I only moved here four months ago myself." Making him almost as new to the area as she was to this job. "My name's Thomas, by the way. Thomas Raith."

"That's one more month than me," Caroline told him. She gave him a good once over. He looked pretty good, all nice and muscly. A bit like Tyler, so definitely her type.

"I'm Caroline, nice to meet you. So uh, where are you from, before four months ago?"

"Chicago," he answered. "I liked it just fine, but my father wanted a change of venue, so here we are. And what about you?"

By father, of course, he meant sire. Or, technically, step-father would be accurate as well. It was a whole, big, complicated issue.

"Mystic Falls, Virginia," she replied. "You probably haven't heard of it."

Her father was buried there, beside a long line of Forbes family members. She missed him.

Edited 2016-09-15 03:08 (UTC)

"I've...certainly heard of Virginia."

Of course, unlike when he'd said where he was from, the city name was not recognizable, and that was with her giving the state name as well.

Caroline laughed. "I'd be a bit worried if you hadn't. Anyway, Mystic Falls is a pretty small town and I felt like it was time to try out a big city."

That was true enough, even if it did leave a lot of things out.

"So naturally, the first big city you thought to try was across an ocean."

Yeah, he wasn't buying that reasoning. Not that it made too much of a difference to him why she was here, he'd just been making conversation, but he knew there had to be more to the story. Then again, his own explanation of his father wanting a change of venue was fairly lacking in and of itself.

Caroline raised an eyebrow. "You know what they say, go big or go home." And that was the only explanation she felt like giving a complete stranger.

"So, what do you do?" she asked.

Well, she had certainly gone big with that move. He wasn't going to ask too many questions about it, though, mostly because he doubted he'd get an answer. If she'd been going to answer, after all, she would have already.

"Me? I don't do anything, really, aside from living off my father's wealth. He runs a porn production company, though."

And Thomas did occasionally help out at the studios, though never with the parts of the business where he'd end up seeing much of his sire.

Okay, that was unexpected. But it did sound like something that could indeed make a lot of money.

"You don't get bored, living the life of luxury?" she asks, her tone making it clear that the question's half joke, half serious.

"Sometimes. Although, if I were to ever try working to see how it went, it would have to be at night. I'm not much of a day person. And really, I don't know if I'm the type of person who would be good at a steady job, though I sometimes help out at some of the studios my father runs." Then, after a moment and realizing how that sounded, he added, "Not as one of the actors."

And usually not if he thought his step father/sire would be around. The two didn't really get along, but Thomas liked a lot of the people who worked the lower, studio level jobs that his step father rarely got involved with.

Caroline shifted slightly when Thomas mentioned being a night person. In this part of London, that could mean quite a bit. "That's the nice thing about singing at clubs like this, it's always a night. Actually, I remember hearing that the words a musician hates most are good morning, because it means they got up at some ungodly hour to play a breakfast concert or something."

"Hm...well, that certainly is a bonus. Unfortunately for me, my singing voice isn't nearly as lovely as yours."

Not that it was terrible, he just lacked the fine control over his pitch that would lead to someone hiring him for his voice.

"And unfortunately, many of the areas I do have some talent in don't have many night options. Unless 'hairdresser of the night' becomes a thing." Then, by means of explanation, he added, "I have a lot of sisters."

Really meaning his sire had turned quite a few women before him, but he really did see them as sisters. And had often enough ended up helping them with their hair.

A man who could style hair was a good man to know, in Caroline's opinion. "You could probably get some decent clients, if you know where to look. I'd suggest night clubs as a good place to start."

She probably wouldn't be able to afford his services every night but once in a while, for something special.

"I'll have to keep that in mind. Not that I have any experience in running a business, or having a job, but I have to admit, it would give me something to do."

And it could be fun.

"Definitely let me know if you decide to go for it." She was already imagining what she might have him do to her hair. It was always nice to feel all dolled up and pretty.

"So, when you aren't working, what do you do for fun? Other than coming out to this exceptionally nice club, that is."

"And spending time with beautiful women like yourself?" Well, other than that...he had to think about it, trying to figure out the best way to make his life sound interesting. "I go to a lot of parties. Meet a lot of people. Generally do whatever seems fun at the time. And, of course, still adjusting to life in London, though I've been here long enough to have things almost down to a routine now. What about you?"

"About the same," she had to admit. "Though I have been planning to start checking out other neighbourhoods in the city, to try and figure out where everything is. And hit the big tourist spots while I'm at it." It was getting a bit easier to do that, now that summer was winding down. Especially since it also meant sunset got earlier and earlier.

"Yeah, I was thinking of doing that myself. I'm not much of a summer person, so I figured I'd wait until around late fall to really check things out. I'm glad summer's finally over."

That had been a pain, barely having any time he could get out before everything started closing.

"Me too."

Caroline frowned suddenly, as she began to realize a pattern here: both of them worked at night, both of them weren't summer people (well, she actually was a summer person, she just couldn't be right now). And, of course, they were both in Nest territory.

It wasn't conclusive by any means, but it was enough to make her suspicious. "So ..." she said, thinking fast, "have you heard about this Raymond guy?"

Raymond? That must mean she was in the know, then.

"Raymond Harris?" he asked, because she might mean someone else. He didn't want to say too much until he confirmed that, after all. "Yes, he's certainly very well known in my circle."

Seeing as he was their leader, even if he wasn't the sort of leader who inspired loyalty, success, or even promoted their survival.

She nodded. "That's the one. I'm still trying to get a handle on how some things, well ... work here in London. It's very different from back home."

"Yeah," he said, eyes narrowing as he thought about it. "Very different from Chicago, too."

And he didn't sound too happy about that fact.

"Basically it just seems like a free for all. Not much in the way of actual rules, and not much in the way of protection. Fortunately, there are a few members of our little group who seem to care about what goes on. Jean-Claude is great, and Cooper can be an ass, but he'll have your back if you need it."

[OPEN] The sun don't ever want to shine

1

Re: 1

Re: 1

Re: 1

Re: 1

Re: 1

Re: 1

Re: 1

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)