Destiny Falls

She'd asked for a night out, wanting to get out and do something fun. He'd picked out an outfit for her and she figured they might go to one of the clubs, but no. He'd managed to surprise her. They had a hotel room and everything, though they hadn't brought any extra clothes. She didn't think about that much.

In the casino Erin was at her place, beside Callan, blowing on his dice as he played.

Lilah was dressed in a pretty, short and flattering to her figure dress, really tall shoes and not much else. She'd decided to grab a bunch of job applications and find something that wasn't manning the reception desk at Daisy's. Maybe she could get a job working public relations after all.

But for now, she just let the music drown out her worries as she danced.

Bea had went out today and bought Halloween decorations for the house. She figured it was a good way to celebrate her ten week mark, and with little ones on the way she thought it would be a good idea to start decorating the house for the various holidays.

"Baby," she said as she stuck her head into the front door. "I've got a big ol' Frankenstein out here. Think you could come lift it for me?"

Sterrin lay in the sun, her head tipped back on her shoulders and the white of her bikini contrasting with her already tanned skin, attempting to not think about much at all. It was her day off and she was hoping for a little relaxation. Or excitement.

She never really said no to either.

It had been a strange night, that was for sure. Not a bad thing, as this sort of strange meant she wasn't leaving the VIP room to do a floor show. Instead she'd been locked in the back with Sypher and a cluster of his finest friends, laughing and pretending that the big guy with red hair wasn't giving her the creeps. She'd seen him lean in to talk to Sypher on several occasions, and she didn't like the way Sypher looked at her when he did. The one thing she was grateful for was Jamie being the one to work security in the room.

Heeeeeeeeeeeeey handsome pants, you haven't been eaten alive yet, have you? If you're feeling sociable, I think I've got something I'd like to show you. Maybe. Or it could just be a clever ruse to get you alone. Perish the thought! Gimme a call, okay? MWAH!

Jake had the night off and wished he didn't. Time off meant time to think, time to want, time to feek the gnawing emptiness, the cravings for violence and sex that made so much sense on the one hand while scaring him a little on the other.

He'd finally met a woman who wasn't afraid of him, didn't go from orgasms to nervously hurrying off at the first opportunity. Unfortunately, she was also his boss, which meant his opportunities to take advantage of that came at her discretion or not at all. The contrast between that and other encounters was so strong that it had left him thinking about those other encounters...a lot.

What was it about him that frightened women once he got them into bed? It wasn't that he was too rough; he did whatever he could to check his strength even then. It couldn't entirely be the fact that he was built like a young giant, or they wouldn't have gone to bed with him in the first place. But something in him...some hidden thing...came out at that moment that always seemed to send them off, making excuses about their hurry.

Now he stalked Vice Alley, going from casino to bar to simply wandering the street, looking for a distraction from this...troubling little problem.

Lilah had desperately needed a night out after how hectic this week had been. She'd called Sterrin and left a message for her, then went out to Purgatory. After getting a few drinks in her she'd hit on the super cute broody bartender, given him her number and gone off to dance some.

"Hello, Mr. Astaire," Madalena said to her kitten as she walked into the bedroom dressed for the night out that Jameson was going to take her on, or she was going to go by herself. "How is it that you get more and more beautiful every time I see you?"

She walked up behind Jameson and wrapped her arms around his waist, closer to his height because of he heels, and pressed a kiss to his shoulder. "He must take that after his father."

Bea had done gone and ran out of pee.

Five tests. Five trips to the bathroom. Five identical results. She was pregnant.

It was sort of surreal, staring down at those tests and knowing that somewhere inside her, there was something else growing. It was finally here.

Holy shit!

So now she sat, waiting for Eli, attempting to school her face so she didn't give the news away first thing off of the bat.

"Oh shit, son!" Sterrin said as she swung open the door to her apartment and gripped Trevor by the tie to drag him into the room with her. "Here I was, thinking you'd forgotten all about me."

"...and as you see, Sir, it's really quite obvious that there's a discrepancy in the sliding fund issues related to the correlating accounts," Alice was saying, before she laughed self consciously and pushed her glasses up higher on her nose. "I'm sorry for babbling. It's just that when we really start getting into the issues, I'm afraid I get a little carried away."

Rhiannon had gotten all dressed up and decided to go surprise Tristan at the club while Rosie stayed with Harvey. Most of their time together lately had been spent as a family, with Harvey, which was amazing. She loved the way they fit together. She loved having Tristan around as more than just a boyfriend, but as a father figure for Harvey. It was really more than she'd ever expected.

Tonight, though... Tonight she wanted a boyfriend. Her boyfriend, and she'd dressed in the hopes that they could make tonight interesting.

When she got to the club, Sypher was there. She smiled at him, and he at her, and without changing his expression, one hand lifted to press a finger to her forehead like he was ET phoning home. Her mind was full of Tristan and some brunette, somewhere in the backstage area. She was kissing him, touching him, slowly working open his shirt...

She jerked back, ready to twenty question Sypher, but... Sypher was gone. In fact, had he ever really been there at all?

She forgot about it in the pursuit of getting to the back of the club. She blared past security, past the sputtering blonde giant, in just enough time to see Tristan, the boyfriend that she was so looking forward to seeing tonight, emerge from the girls dressing with lipstick kisses all over his mouth, face, and neck. She could smell the perfume from where she stood.

They gaped at each other for a long moment before, on a spin of her heel, she turned around. She was sure he'd have a whole list of excuses about how some girl was all over him and there was just NO WAY he could push her away.

She wasn't interested.

Erin had gotten home from work, slipped her feet out of her shoes and made dinner for them. There was a thick manila envelope addressed to Callan, which she set at his place. When he opened the door she was just pulling steaks off the grill.

"Hey baby. You got something in the mail that looked a bit important so I put it by your plate." She called in to him, figuring he'd check it out right away.

Anastasia sat at a table in the Cuppa Joe Cafe, still dressed semi-casually from her meeting with the head of the art department. Classes were resuming in two weeks, and true to her procrastinating nature, she hadn't made out a lesson plan yet. Oops. She'd managed to bullshit her way rather effectively at the meeting and now the only thing left to do was remember all the bullshit that she'd spilled and attempt to put it on paper.

Niles was standing behind the bar in Purgatory, polishing a glass as he looked out across the crowd. It was dark in there, it always was, but he didn't need x-ray vision to know what was going on. In the corner of his eye a blonde smiled at him and he smiled back, then glanced back out into the crowd. Just another night as usual.

Callan was out in front of his studio in a pair of jeans and beat up old sneakers and nothing else, painting over the sign on the front. He hadn't really gotten around to utilizing the wooden sign space since he'd taken on the studio space and now he figured he'd might as well do something with it. He wasn't any Picasso, but he did okay with a paint brush. However, the more beer he drank the better it looked.

Bea was sitting alone on a bench in the dog park, dressed casually and watching Pippa and Pax play together. Pax was getting bigger and it was easier for him to catch up to Pippa now, and watching them roll around and play fight made her smile. She smiled a lot these days, mostly because aside from Eli's job there was nothing to be sad about. Life was good.

Sterrin was one of the people currently in Purgatory, dressed in a deep pink dress and looking a little disgruntled as she sipped her drink. She'd been stood up tonight by a client, presumably because his wife had thought that her husband spending his evening in the company of a paid escort wasn't too kosher. Usually, she didn't care but this time around it was bothering her. Weird. Then again, who really liked being stood up?

Isobel stood alone in the front of her building, staring out at the people zipping up and down the strip. It was mostly quiet inside and right now she was grateful for that. Too much noise sometimes was a killer and peace and silence was hard to come by. She sighed, absently playing with the diamond locket around her neck as she thought of all the many things she needed to do tonight and none of the gumption she had to do it with.

Madalena was on her way home, dressed comfortably (for her, anyway) with an arm full of bags from the grocery store that she was doing quite a juggling act to maintain. She should've caught a cab or asked Jameson to take her, but she'd wanted to surprise him with a nice dinner. Now that seemed like the most stupid idea ever.

Rhiannon was in her shop with a pretty gay boy between her knees looking at the hem of her leather skirt. "Bossy, you got skills. I can't even see that shit," Lee said with a touch of awe in his voice. Rhiannon smirked and smoothed a hand down over her skirt. "Awesome, right? I should have someone snap a picture of this. I would, if it wouldn't give Tristan the wrong idea."
"What's that?" Lee said, dropping the hem and looking up.
"You in between my legs like that. Gotta be a first. Well, for you."

Sypher was everywhere, anywhere. He moved through the businesses in his island seamlessly, stopping here and there and making sure it was all business as usual. And it was. Everywhere.
Even the low down and the dirty were carried out on his orders. It was a good place to be.

So. This was...penance. Gabriel Sypher wasn't at all unused to such a thing, but as he sat in the first pew and looked up at all the glamour and foolishness of what amounted to nothing but presentation...nothing but empty promises...nothing but appearances...he drew in a heavy breath.

All of this, the very stones of the church itself, had been built to create an image that was meant to lead people toward salvation.

Didn't they all know it was impossible to find just by wanting?

Lilah had put off calling Sterrin mostly because she wasn't sure of Sterrin's work schedule. After returning home from spending the night with Jude, she'd written down the details so they would be on hand for telling Sterrin, as was requested. She'd called, left a message, and now sat on her couch in her pajamas, waiting.

Jason never went anywhere with a lady without dressing up. It didn't matter if she was the brooding, fiftysomething editor he was still trying to tempt here, or a fresh-from-highschool fangirl. They got him at his relative best, hair tamed back as best he could, nice outfit, bit of cologne. Today was no exception.

He wore a nice white linen suit, no tie to choke him, and a pair of those athletic shoes that disguised themselves as dress shoes. He'd picked Bay Rhum as the cologne, and only had his Netbook with him so he could share creative things (and possibly funny things; Anastasia seemed to have a really good sense of humor). No writing for right now.

He had wandered around a bit, getting his bearings as best he could once settled in his room, but the place was enormous, almost deliberately confusing in its opulence, and a bit intimidating. Plus he liked the idea of company. Fun company. Leaning near the lobby entrance, he checked his watch once, then glanced around again. Good, I'm on time.

Isobel sat at a table by herself clad in a white bandage dress and a pair of dangerous silver heels, watching as the night played out in front of her. Occasionally, she brought her drink to her lips, something deep red that was probably an out of place vintage of wine, and breathed in deep.

A nice stir fry was what the doctor ordered. Not some broccoli rabe shit, no, Christopher wanted straight up broccoli. Didn't care if that shit was organic, either. Nancy had been on his case all day about paperwork and missing vials of pills...whatever. Now he was riding a little high, just a little, with a serious case of the hungries.

For broccoli.

So far, he'd only found some string beans and a bunch of zucchini.