Of All the Gin Joints in All the World...

[Stirling Montgomery]

((I get a bit slow with loads of participants, maybe limit to 4- 5 PCs? Please stick to a posting order <3 This NPC has a large, ancient aura about him and he is on an alternate path. He has a strong southern/Tennessee accent is a big boi, just over 6'5" and very brawny. ))

Stirling hadn't been in England for long and his arrival in Sulis was particularly recent. His sister had been occupied with plenty of social and political errands since her return, none of which Stirling had particularly liked the idea of tagging along to. Instead, he had busied himself learning the layout of the city - taking vague note of the societal divide, kindred territories and late-night haunts. The Eve opium den seemed particularly accustomed to patrons with particular tastes and besides, he got a kick out of the fancy decor. The bars south of the river were more to his taste, but he was already starting to feel trapped in the dense urban surroundings. A little variety helped him to ignore the lack of wide-open spaces.

It was relatively early in the evening and Stirling had only been set up in his comfortable corner for half an hour or so. He sat slouched in a corner seat, one silver-spurred heel up on the table in front of him and one arm slung casually over the back of the back of the booth, swilling a tumbler of scotch. He was dressed for the road, thick work pants tucked into his boots with an empty pistol holster slung about his hips. His brown leather duster coat was folded up on the seat next to him, his wide-brimmed rancher's hat on top. In all, he did not cut the figure of the typical patron of the establishment but the proprietor seemed happy to have him sit, drink and observe nonetheless.

[Erika Leroux]

A sultry, feral looking woman approaches, her sleeves are rolled up, and her apron is stained from where she's wiped her hands down on it. She places a bottle in front of him, dark wild eyes filled with a hint of merriment.

"'s courtesy of Erik" she says as she places it in front of him. "Seems 'e left money 'bout this city, in case of visitors like you. Means you're welcome to stay, to refreshments an' that. Says you're welcome to his box too. Whatever that means..." She wipes her hands down on her apron once she's put the bottle down. It's scotch and unopened.

She turns, about to disappear off into the background, stopping only to turn back, a smile and a smokey eyed wink.

"Oh, an' he says, let him know if there's anythin' you want."

And then she's gone.

[Jean-Jacques]

A large framed man enters the drinking lounge, takes a seat near the fringes and removes a heaven woollen coat and cap that had only accentuated his size. His clothing, simple but not impoverished, bore the signs that he intended not to stand out in the crowd, woolen trousers, plain shirt, burgundy velvet waistcoat the only outward indication of extravagance.

His aura is becalmed, the colours gentle pastels with an almost iridescent hue, akin to a gently swirling pattern of the inside of a sea shell.

Seated, and with his coat and hat on a peg by the booth, he orders a drink though the waiter seems to already know what he wants, and takes from his coat a leather bound book and starts to read, interrupted only by the arrival of a bottle of brandy.

The waiter then pours a measure into a large bowl of a glass and sets it on a stand and lights the small candle which begins to warm the liquid.

The patron smiles at the waiter, they exchange a few words lost in the hubbub of the room and then For a few moments his attention is on the candle, before returning to his book,

Somewhere that isn’t there, away from glare to just be and just be lost in something mundane

[Caru]

((this is near DT2 end, after The Incident))

"There you are!" Caru exclaims, dropping into the seat beside Stirling, both of her hands wrapping over the elder's table'd boot. With an almost childlike glee she leans her chest over his leg to leer into his face.

"One of the girls has pigtails and cowboy boots! She says she can whistle from areas you wouldn't expect."

Little nails curl delightedly into the boot's leather. "Told you I'd find someone. She's blond, too. Not really my height but you'll make do, right? We can share or I'll be generous enough to stand back. She's free in an hour, for the rest of the night."

"Wait. Is that... Jean Jaques?" Caru interrupts herself, squinting beyond Stirling, at someone across the bar. "Oh no. I didn't think we'd bump into anyone tonight... I want sex."

[Stirling Montgomery]

Stirling laughed with open warmth as Caru dropped down next to him, jokingly knocking his boot into her chest as she grabbed it.

"Heeey these are my nice ones - watch your little claws, cub!" His deep voice was full of amusement as he looked around for the woman who had brought him the bottle of whiskey and settled for signally to the barkeep to bring another glass over.

"Wait, you what?" Stirling laughed again, encircling Caru's lithe waist with his arm and pulling her boisterously against his body as he settled back into the couch, "Where in the hell d'ya find a girl like that around here? An' hey, I like little women - you're just an exception, Legs."

Stirling growled affectionately, leaning forward to rub his nose against Caru's cheek and catching a glance of Jean Jacques over her shoulder as he did so.

"Yeah, that's him alright. Feels all wrong. Leave 'im."

[Caru]

Caru fell against him with a soft wheeze. Their table is right next to a cast-iron column, and affixed to that column is a notice saying: ‘GENTLEMAN ARE PARTICULARLY REQUESTED NOT TO PLACE CIGARS ON THE TABLE, AND NOT TO TAKE LIGHTS FROM THE CHANDELIERS, BUT FROM THE GAS-LIGHTS FIXED FOR THAT PURPOSE.’

Caru has no desire to smoke tonight, but vapour rises from the patrons nearby. Her little breasts and thin-skinned throat lift upwards, and her shoulders drawn crushingly in, as Stirling hoists her - and Caru settles inside the hold with a snicker.

"I found her with my magic parts," she fluttered her eyes. "I mean - no - I just paid that boy on the road a sixpence to tell me where the prettiest girls work. I asked for someone who has all their teeth, no child hiding in an alley, and looks like a cowgirl."

Caru's shoulders slump slightly. "I would go for the women who are using their kid as sympathy bait - I get it, family's gotta eat - but I just feel so guilty that it sort of puts me off. I can't even come properly."

Wrinkling her nose, Caru inhaled deliberately in one slow drag, the pinpoint pupils shrinking as they fix ahead. In the bright light of the gaslamps, the green looks almost yellow. "Huh. Jean looks differen't, you're right. He... smells different. How did you tell so quick? What's happened to him?"

"Hey, Marcheux!" she cried out across Stirling's face.

[Rhona]

The nights were growing warmer and muggier, and Rhona found herself wandering more often as of late. Frequently she would sweep past the clubs on the quieter nights, looking to see if there was anyone recognisable she would wile away some time with. Eve was no exception, as somewhere she had enjoyed some choice evenings in the past.

She entered the establishment with a smile, as was customary. Dressed in her usual solo travelling garb, she had the look of an intensely comely young working class man dressed in white shirt and pantaloons with braces, her mess of dark curls mostly gathered up under a dark grey cap.

Rue's eyes brightened with delight as she noticed a few familiar faces within the bar, some she had not seen for some time. Good lord it was nice to see some different Gangrel. Jean-Jacques on the other hand - she was still not very comfortable with that man. She didn't openly ignore him by any means, a polite smile and wave would suffice as she made her way towards her own clanmates - not that she had enjoyed any particular close comradeship with them in the past. Naturally, that didn't stop her enthusiasm.

There was an unmistakable difference in her demeanour to the last time they had met - she carried herself with a definite confidence, exuding far more social acumen than she had possessed before. Even her appearance seemed a little more magnetic.

With a respectful dip of the head she address the two Gangrel, smiling warmly.

"Good evening! 'tis delightful to run into you both again. I do hope I'm not interrupting anything particularly private..." She inclined her head as if to ask to join them.

[Stirling Montgomery]

"It's cus I have a big ol' nose - hey, don't!" Stirling hooted, trying to clamp his hand over Caru's mouth before she shouted across to Jean Jaques but with no success.

"Caru, why in the hell you gotta go and do that for?" Stirling squeezed her around her ribs and nipped at the air in front of her face, seemingly gearing up for some rough-housing before Rhona walked into the room.

"Oh, hello." He rumbled next to Caru's ear, nodding across the room at the young gangrel approaching.

"Jesus H. Christ, girl, you got a yen for followin' us around? Look at you, all shiny and new." He looked her up and down with more than a hint of a predatory glint in his blue eyes, "I dunno little sister, is she interrupting?"

[Jean-Jacques]

Ah yes this was the excerpt is looking for...

He takes a drink, swirling the liquid around the large glass bowl, it’s warmth spreading onto his palm, he smiles and drains the glass, before refilling from the bottle and resting it once a again on the stand, the candle fluttering slightly at the disturbance.

In the mound of Kouyunjik, opposite the town of Mosul, Mr. Layard discovered part of the Royal Assyrian library, and further collections, also forming parts of this library, have been subsequently found by Mr. H. Rassam...

’Marchaux!”

If it were possible to both look up and remain focussed on his book, then he might have managed it seamlessly, in reality he glanced toward the shout, whilst his face remained on the pages

How in the seven hells? That’s definitely Caru, and ....what...who. ..is that, and how ...the chase..how is my mind tricking me know, how did they evade him

Rhona enters, which breaks his glance and watches as she walks in and moves to join them,

Is that Rhona?, she seems ...different, what is it, yes is actually....beautiful

He locks his look on Caru and nods in greeting, resigned to the fact he’s been spotted, and smiles warmly

[Caru]

Forgetting immediately about the Frenchman, Caru openly oggled Rhona - no stranger to lechery, last of all in a bar.

"Jävlar Frøya," Caru grinned breathlessly, turning her nose into Stirling's face but not taking her eyes off Rhona. "No-ope, you are surely not. Come on and take a seat Rhona. It was Rhona, wasn't it? From the rescue party." Caru winked. "What the hell happened to you? You look... good." Caru's eyes travelled openly across their clanmate, her pupils dilating.

A second grin revealed one long slip of canine, longer than it should be, and growing. Caru pressed her lips together in a white line.

"Whoops," she cast an look about. "Hey, sit on Stirling's other side. I don't think there's space over here."

And besides, if she could hook him up with someone else, she'd be sorted.