InsaneJournal

After the rather embarrassing display she, Gunn, and Wes had put on in Caritas a few years back, after Angel had fired them all, Cordelia had all but sworn off alcohol save for the occasional glass of wine with dinner. However her day had been a rather stressful one what with the astrally projecting, her emotional reunion with her friends, dying, and then finding herself miraculously alive again and in a city that was beyond her understanding of the word 'crazy'. Therefore she decided, if there was ever a night to tie one on, this was it.

Finding a bar hadn't been difficult. The city definitely didn't have a shortage of hole-in-the-wall places to drink away your worries. And okay, the one she found wasn't exactly the nicest establishment she'd ever entered. However it was close enough to the apartments that she could stumble her way home afterward and was just dingy enough that most wouldn't even blink should she have a vision and start levitating or emitting a bright light or any of the other weird things that might happen when she was seeing the future nowadays. So after little more than a cursory glance around the room after stepping inside, the brunette made her way to the bar. Opting for a screwdriver 'with only a touch of orange' rather than one of the fruity 'girlie' drinks that she used to nurse back when she was rubbing elbows with directors in the hopes of making it in Hollywood, she took a sip then pulled out her PDA, studied it for a long moment and, with a shrug of her shoulders, turned it off for however long she decided to stay off the radar.

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Cordelia had to give this guy credit. Whoever he was, he apparently had decided striking up random conversation that bordered on ludicrous was a better opening than some cheesy compliment or pick-up line. It was certainly a way to keep from putting her on edge, at least. And a glance sideways as he took up the stool beside her told her that he wasn't a local, which also helped. In fact, the realization that she might have some conversation that wouldn't be derailed if it turned toward their location was enough to bring an amused smile to her lips as she swivelled enough in her seat to look at the man being spoken about.

"Gay lovers spat," she said after a second. She looked back to the man beside her and flashed him a knowing smirk. "Look at his shoes. No straight man would wear shoes like that in here. Most straight men wouldn't even own shoes like that." A long sip of her drink, another casual glance at the drunk man in the corner, and she tacked on, "Although I can see him possibly selling his soul to get a matching suit of that calibre, so you might be on to something there."

Then she set down her drink and held her hand out to him, meeting his gaze with a grin. "I'm Cordelia Chase," she offered, deciding to get the introductions out of the way early. "And do you always approach girls in bars with whacked out theories or should I consider myself lucky?"

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Sirius Black. Cordelia hadn't lived under a rock for the last several years, even if she had spent a lot of time tracking demons in the sewer. She recognized his name easily enough but had never bothered to read the books or see the movies that were such a cultural phenomenon back home. So she didn't comment on them, didn't say a word on the subject at all, which was really proof that she'd grown at least somewhat as a person recently.

Instead she glanced down at his boots, blinking past the faint shock of the mud and oil to really look. A few seconds later she met his gaze with a knowing smile curving the corners of her mouth. "You're attractive and you know it, so you don't bother wearing nice shoes just to pick up a girl, and you go out of your way to make sure you aren't taken for the adjective that sounds like your name," she stated before finishing off the last few swallows of her drink. Placing the glass on the bar, she motioned for the bartender to pour her another then looked back to Sirius with a dazzling smile.

"And your technique is pretty good, though you might want to go a little more out there with your theories. Next time, change the secretary to the wife's sister," she suggested as she picked up her refilled glass. "Every girl loves a Maury moment."

Crossing her legs, she raised her drink to her lips but paused before taking a sip. "So, how long have you been stuck in the city that reality forgot?" she asked curiously.

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Although Cordelia did know enough about Sirius that she could have faked her analysis with information from the books, she hadn't. Well, okay. She'd used a little information to aid her but, honestly, his boots did tell her what she'd said they did. What could she do? It was some sort of freaky talent she had and, although it didn't always come in handy, it definitely made for interesting conversation.

She didn't bother explaining the Maury moment. It was one thing to reference something from a television show and have someone who watched television regularly not figure it out. It was quite another to do it, without thinking, around someone who was a wizard and therefore likely didn't watch much - if any - television. Trying to explain it was just a waste of both of their time, in that instance. So instead she just grinned when he told the bartender to put the drink on his tab and took a sip of the now-free drink as he answered her question.

Swallowing the liquid, which wasn't burning her throat nearly as much as the first one had, Cordelia arched an eyebrow. "Oh please," she replied in a flat tone that was utterly ruined by the grin on her face, "of course I'm new. Like I'd have been here for months and gone unnoticed the whole time. Pfft." She waggled her fingers a bit, as though waving the thought away.

"But yes, still new enough that the weirdness hasn't worn off yet. Of course, I'm alive here where as I wasn't, back home, so I'm not necessarily complaining..." She gave a shrug then sat up a touch straighter before nodding her head in the direction of the drunk that had sparked their initial conversation.

"And check it out. Looks like Mr. Might-Have-Banged-His-Male-Secretary is starting to stir. I bet he doesn't even get halfway to the bar before toppling over."

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The man fell, Sirius commented, and Cordelia couldn't help but smile broadly. Realizing she should have bet something rather than simply used the term flippantly, she took another sip of her drink and turned her attention away from the drunk on the floor to the wizard beside her. "Yes, I died back home," she stated, smoothly glossing over any chance of picking at wounds with a casual shrug of her slim shoulders. "There was this whole higher calling thing, I decided to take the martyr route."

She took another quick swallow of her drink. "It's no biggie. I knew what I was getting into and hey, like I said. Still breathing here, so definitely not complaining," she added with a smile before turning her gaze back to the man who was attempting to get up off the floor and finding it spectacularly difficult to manage.

"Why is it some people look good when drunk and others really, really don't, I wonder?" she mused as she once again turned her back to the drunk and looked to Sirius. "I'm not saying I've never been three sheets, but I managed to look pretty good while doing it. Not... slobbering, drooling heap girl." As far as a definitive change in subject went, it wasn't particularly insightful. However if Cordelia had wanted intelligent, insightful conversation she would have found a bar a bit more reputable than the one she'd managed to stumble into.

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