Haunted Roads

Who: Chloé and her favorite pet, Bo
Where: Vivant to start
When: Eightish
What: Chloé and Bo have some fun

The street level doors of Vivant had closed, but inside the lights still shown and a few people still milled about. Not customers, no. These were people Chloe had paid to be here. Models, a photographer, a videographer, and her highly paid web designer. If Chloe could ever convince Drystan to come into the 21st century, he too might find an appreciation for the kind of work those computer people were capable of.

The models and photographer were not an odd thing, and neither was the web designer, as Chloe had, for some time now, been posting high fashion art on her website. Tonight though, they would be doing something new, videotaping the session. That too would be posted on the site, and if Chloe was pleased with it, the next session might well be cast live on her site.

Not that Chloe could truly understand why the visitors to her website would care for the video but the web designer assured her they would, that they'd get a sense of being there, get a better feel for the shop, and then have more of a desire to actually be there in person. They would want to be a part of the action, to live as the glamorous beautiful people do even when they were being casual, and blah blah blah, Chloe had tuned him out after a while, lit a cigarette, and walked away to something of interest while the man had droned on. Though not for long of course, as he'd noticed immediately that the haute couture dress designer had left him hanging. He assumed she'd lost interest. He was right of course, but that didn't mean she didn't like the idea, just his continued explanation. Her attention could only remain focussed on something so dull for so long.

And where exactly did Bo come in? Well, there were other models of course, other male models, but none had quite the personality of her pet. Chloe knew that she loved being in his company, and if the idea of this video was to entice people, and to entertain, then no one could do a better job then that. Although, there was a certain succubus in their building Chloe decided would make a wonderful addition to the next video. Just not this one. Bo could play with the human girls, he didn't need the distraction of a demoness.

Already Chloe and her assistant had arranged several outfits for Bo. The three female models were already dressed in the first of their outfits, had their hair and make up done, and all that was left to do now was to have some wine and cigarettes while they waited for the star model to arrive. Of course, Bo had no idea what was in store for him. No matter, it involved her, and it involved other girls... Bo would be more than happy.

Who: Maggie and Bastian
When: Wednesday Night
Where: Barking Spider

Maggie was in the back, up to her elbows in suds as she worked her way through the last of a few odds and ends that needed to be cleaned before the evening could officially be called. A few knives, cutting boards... hand washing them kept her hands busy. Strains of music still made their way back to where she stood, the running water not even cutting off the butchering of 'Bohemian Rhapsody' that was currently going on. Maggie could only smile to that as maybe someone hadn't fully thought through their aspirations to follow in Queens' footsteps just yet. At least they had a passion for the song... even if it was entirely out of key.

And the keyboard they had brought in was just painful.

A towel was picked up and Maggie set to drying the last few items as the music finally came to an end. Open Mic night... you never knew what the proverbial cat was going to drag in and tonight it had been all sorts. Not that Maggie had been around for the whole evening but glad as she was to have the bar holding such nights again she'd had to stop by after her shift at the hospital. After work she had come she had managed to change out of the cheerful bear printed scrubs she wore while working... some how that just never seemed to work when she stepped foot in the bar. Instead she was clad in nothing more fancy then a pair of jeans and a simple scoop necked shirt that skimmed her figure.

It had already been near to closing when she arrived. Maggie had sent Jonathan on his way home assuring him that she could help close the place up and that she wouldn't take no for an answer. She did have her moments of stubbornness. A buss to his cheek and she'd made herself at home behind the bar, greeting regular customers but mostly just setting about tidying up and readying the bar for it's closure.

Hearing the music though... despite all the challenges life had thrown them over the past decade... always brought her back to another time. When she'd first met Bastian. The sound of his fingers working over the strings on the guitar as he worked out the chords that fit the melody in his head perfectly. It had been too long... felt like it had been too long since those days. And that was almost as painful as the reality of their lives now, complicated and uncertain.

But it was that simple thing missing that made it so much more difficult.

Maggie could hear the jingle of the door as the last few patrons begrudgingly made their way out. She hung the towel up and stepped out of the back and behind the bar. "Good night?" She asked, placing her palms flat on the counter behind her. "This place needs music, live music. Makes it..." her eyes closed briefly before opening them and looking over at Bastian. "alive again."

Who: Maggie and Sophie
Where: Starting outside Sophie's school
When: Friday Afternoon


Time moved too fast sometimes. Other times it seemed to move too slowly. The years that Bastian had been gone had felt like she was stuck in molasses, dragging her feet through the motions of day to day life, trying her best to make Sophie happy but knowing that the girl missed her father and no amount of Maggie's actions could change that fact. The past few weeks though, they seemed to be on a lightening pace.

She couldn't keep up with it. Didn't know what to make of the immense changes that had come so quickly. All she could do was keep her feet moving and hope that she didn't stumble. She wasn't sure she could make it much longer without that stumble.

Extra shifts had been handed out to Maggie like they were candy, apparently there was a bit of a staff shortage too many pregnancy leaves all coming at the same time. Must have been something in the water. Maggie couldn't complain too much about the extra hours, money was always something that their family needed, especially trying to keep the bar up and going. Expenses never seemed to stop adding up. But the extra hours didn't help the situation at home.

She didn't like to think of it as a... situation, but she wasn't entirely sure what else to think of it as. A change in circumstance? A change in the way she had to view the world? Knowing that things... no beings she had never thought to be real were very much so... it fundamentally changed a great number of things. Almost too many things. Despite all that it did change there was one thing Maggie was determined not to let it change and that was their family. She prayed every night that it wouldn't, that they could somehow sort through it all and make sense of this new world. But she knew that prayer alone wasn't going ot manage it.

She had to make certain that it didn't. She knew that talking with Sophie was the only way and once that hurdle had been crossed a small amount of peace had settled into Maggie's heart. Things were far from simple and far from certain but it was the small things that were what mattered to Maggie. Knowing that Sophie had accepted this... change in the person that her father was meant a great deal to Maggie. It wasn't easy for her, it sure as hell wasn't easy on Bastian but knowing that Sophie was finding her own peace with the idea went a long way to curing those nervous motherly worries.

Of course that didn't last long with a teenager. The message that she'd received from Sophie that she wanted to talk had sent a whole new flurry of those through her. Overreacting... perhaps but it was one thing for the mother and daughter to talk another to receive the request (that she didn't put out first) from Sophie. The topic... a mystery. Left her mind entirely to wander which wasn't always the best thing despite the fact that Maggie trusted her daughter. She wouldn't be a mother if she didn't have the ability to think of the worst.

So even before the final bell rang at Sophie's school she had her old worn volvo parked directly in front of the school. She was waiting for the students to come spilling from the doors including her daughter.