georgina kincaid (lyndsey hayes) (heartofgold) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2017-05-07 20:50:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, *hannah, *lena, abe mazur, georgina kincaid |
February 18, 2017 characters. Georgina Kincaid & Abe Mazur time. Late morning | location. Atlantis City rating. TBD | status. Complete |
It took Georgina a moment to realize as she first woke up that she wasn't in her own home any more. She stretched slowly and lazily, happy to be her old self again. There were parts about the succubus gig that she didn't like and there was a part of her that desperately wished she could have another chance at a human life, but losing her powers for a short time had made her a lot more grateful for the benefits of being immortal. Shapeshifting, aura sense, faster healing, the inability to catch a cold. As much as she sometimes liked to do things the old fashioned way, when she lost her powers, she'd really missed them. Life wasn't perfect, of course. She was saddled with a roommate who had once tried to kill her and she still harbored some guilt about what she'd done to Seth, but what life was perfect? Today, she woke in a good mood. As she opened her eyes, she realized the room looked different, in spite of the fact that many of her possessions seemed to be here. As if on cue, Aubrey jumped onto the bed, her green eyes studying her for a moment before she meowed loudly. As she started to sit up and look around, the hologram appeared to explain just after a second cat approached. Georgina indulged Godiva with a brief absentminded pat as she listened to the figure speak. Atlantis wasn't real and none of what she'd just experienced should have been possible, but over 1500 years of life had taught her to keep an open mind. An hour later, Georgina was out on her own, exploring the city. For all this situation was unusual and unexpected, Atlantis was a beautiful city and she found she was enjoying her exploration of it. One of the advantages of managing a bar was that no one expected the establishment to be open in the morning hours of the day. Some of its patrons may have wanted to spend the early morning hours there and wake up after sleeping on the dirty floor, but that was another issue entirely. Given his sensitivity to sun as a Moroi, the evening hours were an advantage to him although he did often enough venture out during the day. This was one of those mornings. It was still winter in Atlantis, so the sun was rarely out in full force. He decided today to enjoy a late breakfast or perhaps an early lunch at one of the cafes near the housing towers. Abe didn’t mind cooking and preparing a meal for himself, but he also enjoyed being around people even if he was eating a meal by himself. People watching and observation were one of Abe’s old favorite past times along with bribery and blackmail. For someone like Abe Mazur, information was more valuable than coins and dollar bills. Walking down the sidewalk, Abe tugged his coat around his body and kept his gloved hands inside the deep pockets. As with most of his ensembles, there was also a scarf wrapped around his neck, a red and black one for today. He turned a corner on the street towards the cafe and nearly ran into someone accidentally. He smiled apologetically at the woman. “Oh, please excuse me, miss. My apologies. Are you alright?” Georgina wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings as much as she should have been and looked up in surprise as she felt another person bumping into her. Handsome and with an aura that suggested something supernatural. He didn’t have the same feel as the creatures she knew, exactly, but she sensed almost immediately that he wasn’t human. Hardly unusual, she thought, although that did make her curious about him. He was a handsome man, if outlandishly dressed with that scarf he wore, despite the temperate climate. Georgina tilted her head and smiled at him as she graciously waved off his apology. “No harm done,” she told him, “but if you wanted to make it up to me with a cup of coffee, I wouldn’t object.” Abe smiled. “What about if I do you one better and make it up to you with coffee and breakfast?” He motioned to the cafe ahead that was about half a block away from where they were standing. “I was just headed there myself for a late breakfast, actually.” He checked his watch briefly to see exactly what time that it was and was satisfied that the restaurant would actually still be serving breakfast. He never understood why any establishment would stop serving the best meal of the day at all simply because the appropriate, normal time for the meal had expired. “I’m Abe,” he said as they began walking again. “You seem as though you may be trying to make your way around the city. May I guess that you haven’t been here for very long?” Those who had just arrived sometimes made their presences known quickly, but it was still generally not very hard to spot someone who hadn’t been here but for a day or two. Some were more obvious than others, but some looked like tourists in the middle of Istanbul or New York City. “Georgina,” she returned, as friendly as she usually was. Speaking to new people was neither uncommon nor uncomfortable for her and she found herself warming up to the man easily, particularly when he offered to buy her a meal. “Coffee and breakfast?” Georgina couldn’t help but smile at that. Breakfast sounded really great, actually, as long as it came with coffee. Not only had she woken up in a strange new place, but she hadn’t had an ounce of caffeine yet today. The cafe looked cozy, too and she found herself nodding at the invitation. “About an hour, actually,” she admitted. She supposed she did look more like a tourist than anything else as she tried to acclimate herself to her new surroundings, but she couldn’t help but grin cheekily at the man. “Is it that obvious?” she asked him. “As delicious as it may be, coffee seems quite lonely all by itself when there's such a nice place to stop in for a quick bite.” He smiled, and it was that smile that generally had a charming effect on most people. Sometimes it was on purpose but this time was one of those times when it came out naturally when he himself felt a bit charmed. “No, not terribly obvious,” he said as they were ushered inside the cafe. Most of heavy breakfast traffic had cleared out by now, so it wasn't difficult to spot a table nor was it too loud. “I like to think that I have good instincts about such things though.” He was also excellent at reading people, but little did he know that so was she. Once they were seated and a waitress approached, Abe ordered himself an omelet and coffee - black - as if there were any other way to drink it. “So, you've only been here an hour? You seem to be taking everything in very good stride so far.“ Smooth, Georgina thought, turning a charming smile of her own back at him. Hers was likewise genuine. She turned on that charm when she didn’t mean it all the time, but this was one of those times when she was genuinely enjoying herself. There was something else about him that she could sense. He wasn’t an immortal, but he wasn’t quite human, either, as she’d noticed before. His charming personality only made her more curious about him. As the waitress approached, Georgina had been wondering if they served white mochas here. A quick study of the menu showed they did, much to her delight, and she ordered one along with some banana nut pancakes. “It takes a lot to really faze me,” she admitted. She could tell he was trying to figure her out, but that didn’t mean she was going to lay all her cards on the table so quickly. “What about you, Abe?” she asked him, leaning forward in unfeigned interest. “Have you been here long?” “That’s good to hear,” Abe said. “Since there have been a lot of unusual things to happen here. Some haven’t been quite so nice but others can be endlessly amusing if you’re not the one experiencing them. Although, sometimes they’re still quite funny even if you are.” He’d personally had a blast when he’d been turned into a small child. He was pretty sure that the others having to take care of him had a harder time with it than he ever did. For someone who liked to be in control most of the time, Abe was able to take a lot of things in stride too, especially here where most things were completely out of his control. “Oh, I’ve been here for a few months now. Since November or so. Many of the others had already experienced this… dimensional hop, I guess you could call it, but for me this was a first.” There were plenty of things about home that he missed or wish that he could duplicate here, but overall he was enjoying his time and his work here. The waitress arrived with their drinks and said that the food would be along shortly. Abe took a small sip of his coffee and smiled. “Well, I hope you’re able to feel at home here. Have the powers that be assigned you any sort of job yet?” It sounded like this place was full of surprises, but Georgina thought that sounded like it could be fun. At the very least, it could be a nice distraction from her life at home, for however long she decided to stay. It sounded like the kind of escape she needed. Listening to him talk about how long he’d been here, she nodded when he asked if they’d given her an assignment yet as she took her first sup of her own coffee. “I’ll be working as a dance teacher,” she said, affecting another genuine smile. At home, teaching dance moves had been more of a hobby, something she’d done for fun for some of her friends at the bookstore. Here, it was going to be her only job and she couldn’t help looking forward to it. “A dance instructor,” Abe said with a nod of appreciation. “That sounds like it could hold a lot of fun and excitement or a bit of embarrassment depending on your pupil.” He appreciated a dance as much as the next fellow, especially when they had a bit of Middle Eastern flair added to them. He’d have to inquire later to see if she’d ever learned any dances from his home country. It wasn’t long before the waitress returned with their drinks, and Abe took a small sip. “I was given management of one of the local bars here - goes by the name Dive. The name does it justice, I suppose, but that’s part of its appeal to me personally. You’d be welcome there anytime, of course. First drink on the house.” He wouldn’t even require any information as he did many others. He had his generous moments every once in awhile when someone intrigued him. “Well, it’s generally fun for me either way,” she admitted. She thought of trying to teach Seth and promptly pushed the memory back. It was time she moved on and there was no time like the present to do so. Hearing what he did here made her grin and she suspected she’d be frequenting his place. “The quality of the vodka is much more important than the ambiance,” she pointed out. “If you can make a good gimlet, you’ll have my business.” “Well, I’m not positive that I could personally make one for you myself, but I know a couple of bartenders who most definitely can. I’ll be sure to notify them that they’ll need to make sure that their gimlet skills up to par.” Abe smiled just about the time their food arrived. New arrivals were always interesting, but Abe had a feeling that this particular arrival would interest him as time went by even if it was just a friendly hello anytime she came into his bar or a smile anytime he saw her out and about. It was widely known that he kept his secrets close to the chest more often than not, and there was something about Georgina that he felt was likely the same. As much as he liked to find out anything he could about most everyone for his own purposes, he liked a challenge in finding out about someone else. It was only the ones he had no interest in personally that he would look up their backstories to gather information. “I hope those pancakes are as delicious as they look,” he said just as he cut into his omelet. Abe was definitely glad that he had an early start today. “I’ll be sure and give you an honest critique,” she quipped. “Make sure your bartenders really are the best in the city.” Somehow, she thought he might live up to that expectation. Abe struck her as a man who had many useful skills. Taking a bite of the pancakes, she nodded around the mouthful, washing it down with a little coffee before she confirmed out loud that they were. It was pretty hard to screw up pancakes, she figured. Well, in theory it was. Georgina had never been much of a cook, so it wasn’t like she had ever made them. “What did you do before you came to Atlantis?” she wondered. “Did you also have a bar at home?” “I’ll do my best to make sure that they’re as good as I say that they are.” He grinned. He had every confidence in his bartenders, or most of them, that they’d make a good impression as any other in this city. If what a person was looking for was an eclectic or exciting atmosphere then Dive probably wasn’t the right fit, but a good drink and casual atmosphere? That, he could provide. “Before I came to Atlantis, hmm…” Abe pretended to mull the question over when really he was trying to figure out the best way to explain what he did. He didn’t care if people here knew that his business was best known on the black market, but it also wasn’t normally something he discussed during a first meeting with a beautiful woman. “I dealt mainly in trade,” he said vaguely. “A variety of items really, both on the public market but many also on the black market. A far cry from running a bar, but I spent many nights in them during meetings and exchanges.” He took another bite of his omelet, nearly finished with it. “And you? Anything exciting for you back home?” “I managed a bookstore.” Georgina went for the mortal-friendly answer, because she was hardly going to tell him she stole pieces of mortal souls and secured souls for hell on a regular basis, even if he wasn’t exactly an angel. Interestingly enough, he had a good soul, despite his admission that some of his business wasn’t exactly legal. A lot of sin was about guilt, though, and she got the sense he felt pretty good about the things he did. “Dance lessons were something I did on the side, for fun,” she added. “It’ll be interesting to change it up here.” “Reading and dancing. That’s a nice combination. It adds a bit of variety.” Abe’s voice was light and casual as he spoke, but the tone also indicated that he found her interesting which wasn’t always easy to accomplish. Many times, Abe found people dreadfully predictable. He liked it when someone had the ability to keep him on his toes and interested. It was one of the reasons why he found Ms. Sage-Ivashkov so intriguing, for example. “You’ll have to pencil me in for a lesson sometime.” After the last bite of his omelette, Abe finished off the remaining sips of his coffee while Georgina finished her pancakes. He took out a few bills and laid them on the table to cover the check, and smiled at her when it seemed that they were both finished eating. “Is there anywhere I can help you find or walk with you back to the towers?” “I am new to the city,” she answered with a smile. “Perhaps we can exchange dance lessons for a quick tour.” She stood, pushing her chair back in once she was ready and waited for him to do the same. Finding her way around on her own probably wouldn’t have been a great challenge, but she found herself enjoying his company and she was curious to see what parts of Atlantis he found the most interesting. |