hot_guitarist (hot_guitarist) wrote in btvsal, @ 2010-06-05 18:51:00 |
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Current mood: | happy |
Wonder How Long It Will Take to Get Back to Louise?
Who: Jack and Natalie
Where: Eden
When: June 1st, Evening
Jack sat at the bar of Eden, sipping a little slower than usual at a beer. He had been hoping to run into Louise tonight, but it seemed that she wasn't in. However, he was going to have a drink or two before he took off. OK, he was also going to silently snicker at the goth kids running around the place as well. Could you blame him?
While Jack was mostly amused at the occupants of Eden, Natalie loved them all. These kids were her bread and butter. The kids who helped make her band, Eternal Embrace, one of the hottest acts on the current rock scene. Hell, it wasn't for nothing that she had several bodyguards strategically placed around the place just in case anyone started anything or accosted her. Tonight? She looked simply dressed to kill: long black gown, raven-black hair down around her shoulders, and high-heeled, knee-high black boots. She took a bottle of beer from the bartender and grinned.
Of course, just because Jack internally made fun of goths didn't mean that he didn't also appreciate a goth beauty when he saw her. Of course he recognized her as well. You'd have to live under a rock to not know who Natalie was. Which of course mean that there were probably some very nasty body guards hanging around waiting to pounce. Instead of his usual jump and swagger, he simply smiled at her down the bar. Let's see how she reacted to that before he came and talked to her.
Well hey! Like she didn't recognize him as well. Broken Sunrise was starting to get a hell of a buzz, and she'd seen them play several times since signing on to the same label as them. She walked casually over to him, that smile as bright as the lights above her. Extending a heavily tattooed arm, she nodded to him. "Jack... nice to see you."
"Nice to see you as well, Natalie," he said to her, shaking her extended hand. "Been hearing a lot of great word about your latest work."
"Thanks. Same here, actually. The album came out REALLY well. You guys sound really tight. Looks like we're probably gonna play a few dates on tour, so, that should be really cool." For how dramatic, and almost operatic at times, her voice sounded on her albums, while speaking it had almost a sweet, fairy-esque feel to it.
"Yeah, Ben seems to be mixing and matching all of us while we're out on tour together," he said. He couldn't help but realize that she had a lovely voice as well. "So, what brings you out tonight with the masses?"
"Honestly? Just enjoying some down time before the tour starts. I got to record a song with Ben's cousin recently, which was amazing. It's gonna be a single for us soon, hopefully it'll help get him noticed." She noticed him drinking, which he seemed to be doing in pretty much every picture she'd seen. "Do I need to ask what YOU'RE doing?"
"Sounds like fun," Jack said. "That cousin of his has some musical chops as well." He grinned at her last question. "Nope, I'm sure you can put forth a good guess. You're a smart woman."
"Word of advice, sweetie?" She said, sounding perfectly sweet and not at ALL condescending, "This business has lost too many greats to that stuff. Don't ruin your career just as it's taking off."
"Oh I know," Jack said. "I'm taking it easier. I'd rather my liver not get up and run away from me one day, you know?" He laughed. He knew that he drank a little too much, but he wasn't going to worry about it much until he was needing to drink a beer just to wake up or go to sleep.
"Also... think about this:" And yes... Natalie was totally being the 'angel on the shoulder' here. "You have a recovering addict in your band. Shouldn't you be setting a good example for her? Not judging or anything, I swear. It's just... Wilson seems like a good chick."
"I actually don't drink in front of her for just that reason," Jack said. Yes, he actually had thought about it. "Which means we don't hang out too much outside of band practice and such, but she spends a lot of her time with her girlfriend, which seems to suit her fine."
"Ah... Ginnifer Callaway. Now THERE'S a girl with some demons in her." Oh, if she only knew how literal that was. "No girl that age can roar OR write like that without some issues somewhere. I'm sort of jealous."
"Jealous of the passion, not quite as much the demons," Jack admitted. That girl definitely had some problems if she was able to sing and write like that. That didn't come from nowhere.
"I think we all have SOME sort of demon inside us to really make it in this business. It's what inspires us when things get tough." Although really... hers were miniscule compared to some of the others.
"Hmm....very true there," he said. Jack's own demons were...somewhere in the middle in the range of what everyone else's were. Sure, his life had went OK, but he still had his wife disappear and turned into a vampire, which screwed with his head to this day.
"So... not that this really needs to be asked, but... buy a lady a drink?" She smirked, sitting down across from him.
He smirked. "Now that is something that I can handle," he said, flagging down the bartender so that he could get the lady a drink.
"So I hear your daughter... is feeling MUCH better..." She wasn't going to just blurt out 'HAY SHE'S HUMAN AGAIN' in public, so... yeah.
Jack nodded. "Yeah, she's doing much better now." Better enough to be practically robbing the cradle lately, it seemed. Well, to each their own, he supposed.
"Good for her. I didn't know that... um... her 'condition' had a cure, but I'm still damn glad to hear it." Damn... maybe she didn't know as much about this shit as she thought! "How are things with her band going? I know their vocalist is expecting..." Yes, word DOES spread quickly...
"I don't think any of us realized there was a cure. Turns out the creepy kid she likes to hang around had something up his sleeve," Jack said with a slight roll of his eyes. As much respect as Jack may or may not have for Ash for what he did, STILL didn't quite like him. Jack couldn't help that. "Things with her band are good. The lead singer seems to be pregnant more often than not." Skylar and Ben were going to have a litter before it was over with.
"You know? I'm happy for her though. She seems really happy right now. I think that's really all any of us want." Natalie really WAS a beam of sunshine, which was funny considering her penchant for wearing all black, and her singing in a gothic rock band.
"Yeah, she's happy," Jack said. "I can't deny her her happiness, even if the main person that she's finding it with is...well, I can't think of a word that properly describes Brayden Bale, actually."
"I don't think I've met that one yet. Mostly, I know Benjamin, Bretton, and and now Brandon. You know..." She blinked, trying not to giggle, "That family loves their B-names, don't they?"
"Yeah, they really do," Jack said with a chuckle. "I don't know if that's on purpose or what." He shrugged. "And yeah, there's a ton of them. All with a name starting with 'B' except Neely, although I think she may just go by her middle name instead of using her first name."
"They are an interesting family. But one with enough connections to make me want them on MY side if things go south around here." She might be only slightly familiar with the supernatural, but even she knew that this family... was NOT to be trifled with.
"That is true," Jack admitted. "Ben happened to hurt a friend of a friend once upon a time in one of the worst ways, but we still have to have a working relationship." At least neither had tossed the other aside, though. He wasn't sure if that made what they did OK, but at least it seemed to be true love. Or something.
"Ah. Drama. Gotta love it." She almost rolled her eyes. ALMOST. "Sucks, doesn't it? Feeling like the world around you is a soap opera that you're stuck watching with no way to turn the damn TV off?"
"You've pretty much described my life right there," Jack admitted to her. Sure, his life had its few problems, but it seemed to have NOTHING on what a few of the others had going on in their lives.
"We're surrounded by vampires, werewolves, demons, and everything else... and we're just the lowly humans who get to watch it allll unfold." She couldn't help but find the humor in it, really. "I mean, if someone had told me ten years ago that all this stuff exists? I'd have tried to get them locked up."
Jack snorted. "You know? I'm from Sunnydale, the HUB of all of this junk. And I STILL didn't find out about all of this until Mere was 'accidentally' shot with a stake gun during some kind of vampire raid or something." Jack still didn't quite understand what happened there. How do you accidentally shoot someone with a stake gun again? "I still think we're all a little nuts for having to deal with this."
"I think we're more nuts for so easily accepting it, personally. She said with a laugh, unable to do much but shrug. "At least we know what kind of stuff we're up against. That's more than most people have."
"That is a lot more than most people have," Jack told her. "And we are nuts for accepting it so easily, but it's either accept it or plug your ears and scream and pretend it doesn't exist at all, which is a good way of getting in trouble."
"You really MUST have a lot on your mind..." She said with a sly grin, stifling a giggle. "Either that or I'm not your type. Because you haven't flirted ONCE, and I *know* the legend of Jack Delany."
He laughed. "Well, it's not option B, that's for damn sure," Jack said to her. "I've been a little off lately, honestly. The life of Jack actually gets kind of complicated." He grinned. "Don't worry. You're very hot."
"Damn right I am!" She said with a teasing laugh, giggling to show she was teasing. "Of course, you and your vocalist are damn good-looking men, so... I'm in good company."
"Well, I don't know about Pat, but I know that *I* am one fine specimen," he said, still grinning at her. "Besides, it's kind of rare that I find someone I can just talk to for a change." Damn, and now he sounded like a girl! "I usually either VERY quickly get rebuffed or, like our drummer, get my head filled with disturbing images."
"Rebuffed? You? Doubtful." Was SHE flirting a little now? Perhaaaaps. "And your drummer.... is a very interesting human being." She replied with a smirk, not wanting to be offensive.
"Interesting is one way of putting it," Jack admitted, taking a drink of his beer. "And apparently some women find it offensive to be flirted with." He looked at her. "You are obviously a smart lady, though. It's a compliment."
"God, flirting's all I *have*, sweetie." She admitted with a roll of her eyes. "I've been so busy that my love life is about as alive as the vampires we were talking about."
He snorted. "I'm sorry, but that's hard to believe. A little sad if it's true. You should always make time to have a little bit of a life outside of work." Very, very sad, actually.
"I know! I try, I really do. But I'm picky. I think it was Cher in 'Clueless' who said 'You know how picky I am about my SHOES, and they only go on my FEET'. I feel that. Totally." Oh my god... did the goth queen just quote CLUELESS???
Oh that made him crack up. "You know, I never pictured you as a watcher of the movie Clueless." He had a daughter. That was HIS excuse.
"What can I say? I have layers. And I love good comedy." And maybe her mun had just watched the movie earlier in the day. Shh.
"Now that is amazing, and incredibly intriguing," he admitted. "I'm all about having layers."
"Layers. not 'lays'." She cracked with a grin. "Sorry, couldn't help it, really."
He actually laughed at that. "Oh I know," he replied. "Can't I love people who have both?"
"Well, I suppose you can... it's just that your reputation precedes you. I think most of us see you as a guy who just looks at women as pieces of meat." She was actually impressed to see a friendly, fun side of him. "I have to admit to being pleasantly surprised."
"OK, for the record, I like women. I like to have sex with women...A LOT. I do *not* regard women as objects or pieces of meat. Liking women and sex do not get you to the other idea," Jack said to her. "Please spread that around. I *am* a nice guy. I just happen to be attracted to ninety-eight percent of the female species is all, and I act on it."
"Oh, believe me... I will spread that around. I want people to see you're a good guy, and not a total sleaze like some people we both work for who I won't name out of kindness." She said with a sweet, impish grin.
He laughed. "Ben just doesn't have the decency to not go for a taken person is all," Jack pointed out. "Other than that, great guy, obviously." OK, a little sarcasm there, but what could you do?
"Would I be entirely out of line if I suggested we do this again sometime? Maybe in a more... formal capacity?" This was Natalie asking him out. Any wonder why she was single? She was horrid at flirting.
Hmm...should he? "Sure," he said before he thought on it any more. Well, technically, it wasn't like him and Louise were ACTUALLY seeing each other, and this wasn't a formal DATE, so he was OK, right?
And surely, Louise would see it that way. Yeah, that was gonna be a funny conniption fit when it happened. "Sounds like fun. Not that I really know how to have much fun. I'm a bit of a workaholic...."
"Now fun is something that I'm very good at teaching others to have," Jack said. "And it doesn't HAVE to involve sex or alcohol...although those are options, too."
"We'll just have to see about that, won't we." She said with a raised eyebrow as she stood. "Now... I've gotta get going. But I'll be in touch. Trust me on that one."