Zatanna Zatara (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} i_kaeps) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} we_coexist,@ 2012-01-11 14:00:00 |
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One giant ape settled in the zoo. The fact that there were facilities to handle Kong kind of made even Zatanna go “buh?”. Whatever. At least it was contained with minimal damage to anything or anyone. The new JLC seemed to be pulling together, personality conflicts not withstanding. They might just need to let Dinah take a free shot at their new comm guy though just to get it out of their system.
Zee had her own things going on outside of the League. She was trying to stay busy, get into the swing of things in the City since it looked like she was going to be here a while. She had her own research into what magical properties were present along with what she said she’d do for Lindsey. All of it was slow going since a lot of the things she was researching was temperamental at best. Shadowcrest would help or not as the house felt was necessary, and recently one thing kept coming up over and over in her research on the City: some sort of bar by the name Caritas. Apparently it was being suggested that she check it out. All righty, then. It wasn’t as if Zee’s social life was burning up her calendar so she took the subtle hint and went to look into this bar.
It was easy enough to find. Then again all she needed to do was call a City cab and she was taken right there. Yet one more piece of evidence that the taxi drivers were in league with some nefarious deal that they could navigate the changing streets with ease! Zee paid the driver with a respectable tip then headed into the bar.
Since she was on her own, and not knowing precisely what manner of clientele the bar typically catered to she dressed casually but nice. Sweater dress, leggings and leather high heel boots fit in with any dress code…unless it was formal or a redneck bar, but either of which she’d probably walk away from.
The thing about Caritas was that it catered to everyone. Everyone, that was, except people who wanted to blow it up, or harm its patrons. there was no dress code, and the House Rules were pretty lenient for a place that allowed sanctuary to everyone inside.
Lindsey sought it out pretty quickly after arriving. He'd always gone there, in L.A. It was a nice outlet for his playing. Lorne was a decent guy.
He hadn't gone to the club to get his fortune told, either. He simply wanted to play. He'd waived off the karaoke songs when they were offered to him and just sat up on the stage with his guitar. The club's set up was like being back in L.A... which was a little disconcerting. Lindsey half expected the creepy Files and Records chick from Wolfram and Hart to come in and order a Scotch. There weren't any familiar faces in the crowd, except Lorne's, in the back--and he hadn't gotten to speak to Lorne yet.
"S'been a while," he said into the mic. Then he started to play.
"Had a rag-top Cadillac
Rode it on Sunset Boulevard
And I had a hold
Of a centerfold
And a Tony Montana cigar
I had the top down
rock 'n roll sound, and palms blowin' in the breeze.
Sounds like paradise..."
Lindsey laughed, then kept singing.
"... Somebody save me, please."
Zee had paused on her way to the bar after she heard a familiar voice and blinked, lifting up onto her toes to see over heads towards the stage. Seeing Lindsey made her smile in surprise before she smirked. Shadowcrest had recommended this place. It hadn’t been above manipulating her social life in the past so she had to wonder if this was why it had sent her here.
She squeezed her way through the crowd to get to the bar where she hoped she could see the stage as well as order a drink. She didn’t want to make her presence blatant in case Lindsey didn’t want to know she was here and listening. Finding an open space she absently muttered to the person behind the bar. “Scotch on the rocks. Top shelf.”
Lorne was leaning on the bar, looking somehow quite at home in his bright orange suit. He smiled amiably as people came in and sat down, sipping on his third Sea Breeze of the evening.
When Zee came in and ordered her drink, and Lindsey started singing, Lorne sighed.
He wasn't trying to read Lindsey. It was just happening, because he knew the guy. "Oh, boy," the demon said. "I tried to tell 'em." He shook his head and took a drink.
He'd always liked Lindsey's singing, even if sometimes he wanted to punch the bastard into next week.
The bartender delivered her drink just as she heard the man next to her. “Tell him what?” She glanced at the man in the bright suit then did a quick doubletake. Oh! Well. She hasn’t been to a club quite this open in a really long time. In a way it was kind of refreshing so her smile had hesitated only for a moment.
Lorne didn't flinch. "Too pumpkin-y?"
He smiled. She was new here. He could tell.
"It's all part of the show, so to speak. This is my club," he said, looking around proudly. He was still glad it hadn't exploded yet. "And when people sing, I can... set 'em on their paths. Little nudge in the right direction."
No matter who Zee was, her being here meant she was subject to the rules, and the lack of violence. Harry Dresden had helped make the magic take. From the way she was eyeing the stage, Lorne didn't think she wanted to hurt Lindsey.
So she must not know him too well.
"He's from my world," Lorne said. He took a long sip of his drink. "He used to come in and sing. Regularly. Folks he worked for, I don't blame him. I told him what he did with my advice was up to him." Lorne shook his head. "He's doing something with it, alright. Kicking the damn hornet nest."
“I was thinking melon.” Zee chuckled as she nodded to the suit before taking a sip of her drink.
No, she wasn’t here to cause trouble or hurt anyone. She was just here out of curiosity and to maybe enjoy a night off. It sounded more like it was becoming a mixture of business with pleasure however. The demon’s explanation about his abilities and Lindsey made her smile become fixed in place and tilted her head a little, spilling her hair over her shoulder. “Oh? What was your advice?”
She was supposed to be helping Lindsey. If she was supposed to do that she needed the whole story or risk getting her nose bit for butting it into places she wasn’t aware were there.
"In that case?" Lorne shrugged, trying to remember. "I recommended to him that he work with his most favoritest person...er, sorry. Vampire. Ever. To solve a case." He took one more sip. The crowd began to clap as Lindsey's song ended. He'd probably do another one. He usually played two or three.
"But I don't get any say, is the thing, sugar. All I can do is advise. What people do with that advice, where they take it, is up to them. I was hoping he'd get away from the Big Bad Wolf breathing down his neck. But he's still thinking about them."
He turned to fully face Zee, and extended his hand. "I'm Lorne."
Onstage, Lindsey was nodding, brushing hair out of his eyes with one hand. He was checking a guitar string, and then started singing again. A new song.
“And thinking about them could attract their attention?” It was half statement, half question. She thought she understood the gist of that. She glanced back towards the stage with a more thoughtful smile on her face as Lindsey continued. “Sometimes it’s hard not to pick.” She knew that from personal experience.
She brought her smile back to Lorne and lifted it as she put her hand into his without hesitation. Nope. Demons didn’t scare her. Especially not ones in bright orange suits. “Zatanna. Nice to meet you.” She tilted her head again, her eyes holding her curiosity. “Oracular abilities through vocalization. That’s not a common gift.”
Lorne shrugged. "They're kind of everywhere. Different dimensions, super powerful... Y'know. Major players."
Sometimes it's hard not to pick.
Lorne thought of Angel, and Darla, and he took a long drink, draining the rest of the glass. Oh, boy, did he know it was hard for humans not to pick at things. "Believe me, he shouldn't be picking. I haven't seen him in a while, and we didn't get here from the same timeline. I'm flabbergasted by what he did... or what he was gonna do, I guess, from my perspective. And it's been YEARS since my flabber's been gasted."
He could see it, in Lindsey singing. He'd tried to take Angel down, which wasn't the thing that shocked Lorne. It was that he'd tried to take down Wolfram and Hart, entirely. That Angel was CEO. He felt like throwing up a little.
Still, he smiled at Zatanna. That was a name and a half. It sounded like it belonged in Pylea. "I'm not a common guy, toots," he countered.
On the stage, Lindsey kept right on playing. He was actually doing it with his eyes shut. He'd really missed this.
Major players. Wonderful. Well, when wasn’t Zee getting neck deep in alligators to help out a cute guy? It was kind of her schtick. At least Lindsey had more manners than John, but that wasn’t hard to accomplish.
“I’m not so sure he’s picking so much as trying to figure out what bandaid might work better.” Zee wrinkled her nose playfully, but there was a serious glint in her eyes. She had definitely gotten the impression from Lindsey that he wanted to NOT be found. From what she was hearing she couldn’t blame him.
She chuckled for the toots comment and took another sip of her scotch. “It’s not every oracle who can wear orange so yeah. Definitely not common.” She smiled and lifted her glass a little. “And you serve good scotch.”
Lorne was going to say something about how bandaids didn't really solve much, but then she mentioned Scotch. He wrinkled up his face.
"One of the downfalls of being as fabulous as I am is I can't get drunk," he said. He sounded sad. "Drinking things that taste like what I'm told is a combination of newspapers and dead people... let's just say I'll take your word for it." He grinned.
Lindsey polished off another song and that seemed to be the set, at least for now. He was getting a wave of applause, and getting to his feet, and packing up the guitar.
Lorne asked the bartender for Lindsey's drink. T&T, the imported. It was waiting on the bar for him.
Zee giggled through another drink before putting her glass down for a refill. “Well I had an on again off again boyfriend from Liverpool. He kind of built up my tolerance so I can drink like a sailor.” She wrinkled her nose cheekily at Lorne. “Can talk like one too given the right reason.”
She glanced back towards the stage but waiting until Lindsey had spotted her before giving him an applause a bit of a smirk on her face. “Hey stranger. I promise I am not stalking you.”
Lindsey arched an eyebrow at Lorne. There was no way the green guy hadn't read something in what he'd been singing. But he nodded a hello as he approached the bar. His guitar was stowed off the stage, in the back, with the sound guy. Lindsey could pummel him into oblivion if anything happened to her.
Lorne held out the drink a slight smile on his face. "There's a thing I should say about pilgrims and saddles but I think you get it," he said.
Lindsey smirked, taking the glass. He knew what was in it.
He took a sip and set it down behind Zee and Lorne. As long as her intentions had nothing to do with a hell dimension, or killing him, she could stalk him all she wanted.
"Much," he teased her in response.
Zee watched the interaction between the demon and Lindsey closely as she picked up her new drink. There seemed to be a tension there, but more like two dogs waiting to see what the other would do. So long as things remained casual that was acceptable. She could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.
She chuckled and snagged herself a barstool. “Shadowcrest was advertising this place so I thought I’d check it out. The dumb house usually has good taste and lo. I can’t fault the entertainment.” She smirked with a wink then nodded at Lorne. “Lorne here was telling me his party trick.”
"It's only a party trick if you get to turn it off," Lorne corrected. "This is a full-time gig. No benefits." He chuckled. "Well, the occasional benefit. It's nice to know things before they happen--sometimes."
Lindsey smiled, in that way that was slightly a grimace. It wasn't that he wasn't smiling. That was just what his face did. Like it'd crack if he actually let himself be somewhat happy. "What's Shadowcrest?" he asked.
One of the benefits of the sweater dress was the comfort and ease of movement as proven by her being able to cross on leg over the other without having to adjust on the barstool. She didn’t even realize it which was why the leggings were good. No accidental flashing the world when she was caught up in a conversation like now.
She chuckled for Lorne. She liked him. Laid back with a lazy sense of humor. “Hey I couldn’t pull off a good divination without a containment circle, a bowl of water and a black goat offering so you’re one up on me.”
Lindsey brought her attention back to him and she gave her hair a little toss without realizing she was doing that either. She was flirting and not aware she was doing so. Oh yeah. It was bad. “Shadowcrest is my home. House.” She made a wry face. Shadowcrest has at times irritated her, like locking her outside on the porch in her bunny sleep pants. “Family manor. Whatever. It came with me to the City. It tends to think it knows what’s best for me.”
Lorne didn't let the flutter of worry about a goat offering show in his face. There would be time to find out if she was a good witch or a bad witch. He knew that even good magic practitioners sometimes needed things like that. But given the number of attempts on his club and the lives of his friends back in L.A., he'd developed a healthy sense of skepticism. He hadn't even been fully trusting of Harry Dresden at first.
He wasn't missing any of the non-spoken stuff, here. Lorne could read some people without them singing--it'd always been that way. If you were vibin' all the way out to Texas, well, he couldn't help it. It took a little restraint not to start humming some kind of lovesong, or make a jibe about how Lindsey's last love interest had ended up. If he'd known much about Eve, other than seeing a little bit of her when Lindsey sang, he'd outright be laughing in a corner.
Lindsey arched an eyebrow. "Does it?" he asked. He didn't bat an eye at what she just said, otherwise. It sounded like the kinda thing Angel would've looked into, before he started working for the Dark Side. Back when he was helping random people who needed it. "Do you trust it?"
Zee would say she was a mystic and not a witch at all. She could be a witch once a month but that had nothing to do with her magics. Good. Bad. Black. White. It was all intentions and what you wanted to accomplish. She would say she was a good person, however.
She tilted her head with a slightly confused smile on her face for Lindsey’s question. “Of course I do. Shadowcrest has been in my family for generations. It might give me a hard time once in a while, but it wouldn’t betray me.”
Lorne waved at the bartender for another Sea Breeze.
"Eh, excuse me kids," he said to Lindsey and Zee. "I've gotta go play host before that guy starts singing the Titanic song again," he said, nodding toward a middle-aged man with a gut who was browsing through the karaoke song selection. "Believe me. Nobody wants that."
He hurried over there to stop the trainwreck before it started.
Lindsey shrugged. "S'just a question." He polished off his drink and set the empty glass back on the bar. The bartender refilled it without a word. Lorne must be taking care of him tonight. Lindsey took the barstool the demon'd been leaning over, boots hooking onto the rungs of it. "So how's things?"
She gave Lorne a smile and a wave feeling a little like she dodged a bullet. No way did she like to be read by an oracle, but she definitely wasn’t going to sing! No one deserved to hear that!
“We captured King Kong.” She chirped that out a bit to Lindsey then chuckled. “Seriously. Big monkey climbing Wayne Tower. The City zoo took him off our hands. Imagine our surprise that they can accommodate a fifty foot gorilla.”
Lindsey nodded. He'd seen the news reports and the havoc that all caused. Personally, he'd been nowhere near where the big ape was, so his life hadn't changed too much.
He'd also spent a fair amount of time drawing protection runes all over his apartment to hide him, just in case. He didn't like how easy it'd been to find him. Zee was great, yeah. But not everyone was. Shit, all it'd take was someone like him. Someone sitting on that fence.
He grinned at the zoo comment. "Well, I imagine this ain't really the first time they've had to deal with somethin' like this. It can't be. Not with super heroes and villains runnin' around." He threw a hand up and pointed at Lorne, both eyebrows raising. "We're not exactly normal."
She shrugged for that. “Normal is relative.” Her eyes went to Lorne and she nodded towards him. “There are times when I talk to people like him more than I do another human.” Looking back to Lindsey and smiled. “It’s been that way my whole life. The only thing about Lorne that made me blink was that blinding suit he’s wearing.” She chuckled as she lifted her glass for another drink.
“I’ve been working on those wards for you.” She set her glass on the bar before leaning her elbow on it, her chin going to her palm. “It’s taking a little while for the generalization, but I’m latticing them together so it’ll mesh.”
Lindsey snorted. "At least that one doesn't have sequins."
Wards. She'd talked about helping him. Helping him hide, or be tougher to find, whatever. "I appreciate it," he said. He smirked at the thought of what the walls of his apartment looked like now.
"You happen to know any half-decent tattoo artists?" The question sounded absurd, but she'd been here longer than he had. And Zee was smart. He figured she could put two and two together on this one.
Her brows lifted for the question, but she caught on pretty quickly, one side of her lips quirking upwards. “I haven’t gone looking, but I’m pretty sure I could find you one for what you’re thinking of.” Then she got a more serious look on her face as she lifted her chin from her hand, holding up a finger in a wait gesture. “On one condition. I want to be there when you get inked.”
Lindsey was working on his second drink. It was against his lips when Zee started to mention being there for the tattoo. He didn't laugh, or chuckle, or choke.
That was about as clear as it could be. Either she was a flirt--very possible, considering--or she was interested. Considering the expanse of body the tattoos used to cover, Lindsey wondered how much of an exhibitionist he was, to just sit there shirtless like that, for hours, with someone else there.
"Oh yeah?" He smiled a close-lipped smile. Lorne was getting on the stage, having successfully waived off the Celine Dion-wannabe singer. "Y'know a lota people might take that as a come-on."
That actually hadn’t been her reasoning, but now that the thought was put into her head her eyes seemed to scan over him briefly and she grinned a bit but entirely unrepentantly as she brought her eyes back up where they belonged. “And maybe it was.” She arched a brow at him almost challengingly as she lifted her glass from the bar for a contemplative drink then put a less suggestive smile back on her face. “But I could also work some magics into the tat as it was applied. Have ward will travel, y’know?”
Now he chuckled.
"What, you wanna make 'em more badass than they were before?" Lindsey grinned. "I was invisible to everything but the naked eye. Had its perks."
Meanwhile, Lorne grabbed the microphone, drink in his other green hand, and smiled at the crowd in his club. "Alright, kids! It's a real pleasure to get some live music in here, don't you think?" There was some applause, and Lindsey was silently grateful that Lorne hadn't mentioned his name, or anything about him, really. He just nodded and smiled when some of the people standing and sitting near him and Zee clapped, or said 'good job,' or patted him on the back. "Maybe we can talk him into doing that more often."
The applause got louder. Lindsey scratched his head.
"Anywho, we're going back to our karaoke evening. Make sure to sign up over there, and if you don't tip your waitress, I'm not responsible for what she does to your food," Lorne said, with a grin.
Zee smirked in response to Lindsey’s grin, her head turning just slightly with a knowing glint in her eyes. “Mine could blur the edges of the naked eye if someone was looking at you with the wrong intent. Including me.” She threw that last bit in just so he understood she wasn’t looking to trick him in anyway, but she ended it with a shrug. “Your choice, though. I understand if it’s a more personal thing you want to do on your own.”
She was distracted then by Lorne and she took the moment to take a drink of the scotch. Thoughts of Lindsey minus whatever article of clothing getting the tattoo played in her mind now that the suggestion was made. She hadn’t seen John in months before she got plunked into the City, and there hadn’t been anyone else. It’s been a while. Gah!
Fortunately, Lorne complimenting Lindsey subtly and the acknowledgement he was getting from the people around them was distracting enough to make her smile and chuckle. “He knows how to work a crowd.”
Lorne handed off the mic to a young girl with glasses that proceeded to launch into a rendition of "Respect" that would've made Aretha Franklin proud. He was grinning as she got going, dancing his way through the crowd and checking on tables.
Lindsey'd have to decide if he trusted Zee enough to let her do that. If she'd worked with Batman...
Hell, though. He'd worked with Angel. Did that make him a good guy? And Angel had ended up... CEO. He shuddered a little.
He grinned and nodded at Zee's comment, and pointed to the Rules posted on the wall near the door. "He's kinda born for it. But, uhm, the thing about this place? It's a sanctuary. Nobody gets hurt here. Was that way back home, too. That's why so damn many of us went there."
Wolfram and Hart lawyers weren't exactly well-liked. They got a lot of death threats.
Lindsey'd never seen Lorne lose it, but he bet that when he did, it'd be brutal.
"Only guy I ever met keeps his judgement to himself."
She followed Lindsey’s finger to the rules, scanning over them quickly then chuckled for the method of eviction. Would that even work here in the City that doesn’t tolerate her teleporting? Interesting. She might need to ask about that. It could be a way home. “I like it.”
She looked back to Lindsey with a smile seeming more relaxed for knowing the neutrality was enforced. “I’ll have to remember this place since I like to go out for a drink now and then. It’s nice to know there’s someplace a girl won’t be pestered if she doesn’t want to be.”
Yeah, it probably wouldn't work. But a vague disclaimer was nobody's friend.
Lindsey nodded. It was very enforced. He knew that, back in L.A., there'd been a gang hunting down demons, and the final shoot out had been at Caritas, much to Lorne's horror. He'd defended the place and everyone in it the entire time.
"Sugar pie, make sure these onion rings come back with actual onion in 'em. I don't know WHAT they're doing in the kitchen, but this is not happy happy hour food," Lorne said. He was a few tables away, handing a basket of fried... stuff... back to a waitress. He gave Zee a wave before coming back to the bar.
"No chance you sing, is there, kitten?"
Zee’s brows shot up as she took another drink then half laughed and half coughed for having to swallow a lot faster than she’d intended. She held up her free hand as if warding Lorne off, placing her mostly finished drink on the bar. “Oh gods. Nobody wants that.”
Yeah, she could sing. She could even sing well, but she didn’t think so. What she was certain of was she would be turning five different shades of red while singing in front of people. Oh sure, she could be on stage half dressed while performing an escape Houdini would be jealous of, but sing? Eek!
"Actually, they really do," Lorne said. "It's a karaoke bar."
He put his arm around Zee, casting an eye Lindsey's way purposefully. "It doesn't matter if you're any good. Some of the best people aren't. I had a regular, a good friend, back in L.A. Couldn't carry a tune in a bucket and used to force me to sit through 'Mandy' over and over. And over." Lorne rolled his eyes.
Lindsey looked a little uncomfortable.
"Thing is? You cannot be worse. It's just not possible. And he never got so much as a 'boo.' Heroes tend to be able to carry it off no matter what."
Ouch. Lindsey felt that one. He nodded, though.
Zee was a bit flabbergasted to find herself being ushered towards the stage and shot Lindsey a pleading look over her shoulder. Lorne kept them moving so the crowd got between them. Any escape or rescue was effectively cut off. “Can’t I just hum a few bars into my drink?” But she whimpered when she realized they were at the little stand with the song choices. CRAP! This was going to happen.
Her fingers went into her hair as she tried to figure a way out of this, realized there was no way out of this that didn’t require her to run like a frightened little girl then spied a row of tequila shots at a nearby table populated by a few young men. She gave Lorne a disgusted look then grabbed up two shots from the table and put them back like a pro. If she was going to do this then by the gods she was going to have some liquid courage.
She gave the guys a smile in thanks then shot Lorne another glare before going to the guy running the karaoke thingy. Every karaoke she’d ever seen had this song so she didn’t bother looking for it in the list. She just hauled the guy down by his shoulder and whispered in his ear. He nodded just before she took to the stage, nabbing the mic off the speaker.
The opening was like a raised heartbeat and she took a deep breath to collect herself before beginning to sing without the need of the prompter.
”Mississippi in the middle of a dry spell”
She had a good voice for all of her protests. Throaty, some might call it smoky without the edge like Joplin had. She started out a little shy with hitting the notes but her choice in song allowed for that, building up to the chorus.
”Black velvet and that little boy smile
Black velvet with that slow southern style
A new religion that'll bring her to your knees
Black velvet if you please.”
Lorne concentrated as she sang, more than a little impressed with Zee's singing (and more than a little amused at what he was starting to see as a pointed song choice.) He just listened. For the intentions. For all the things that made a person a person, and put them on whatever path they were on. There was a lot in there, and Lorne was not missing the clear "type" the girl had. Hey, if that was the case, he thought, mazel tov, you crazy kids.
Lindsey was not entirely prepared for this. He already kinda liked Zee, even if he was skirting the issue. She could sing. And she could sing songs like the ones he wrote. That went a very long way with him.
He also wasn't missing the parallel, here. The song he'd sung tonight outright begged for a girl like the ones he knew back home, when things were simpler. Country. She had a gin & tonic and Manalo Blahniks and that Dolce & Gabana suit...I said, "Damn, you're fine, but have you ever tried jeans and cowboy boots?"
He walked over to where Lorne was and arched an eyebrow.
"Counselor, I'm gonna say this once," Lorne said. His voice was more gruff than Lindsey'd ever heard it. Lorne must've seen a lot in his songs. "That girl up there is way too good for you. Don't," he said, turning and half spitting the word in the shorter man's face, "screw this up."
After another few seconds, Lorne's face twitched. He had to say something else. "And if I catch you so much as thinking about going back down the path where you hunt down guys like Angel, with Cordy standing right there, I will shoot you myself." He sighed. "You remember 'The Karate Kid,' right? Either you karate do 'yes,' or you karate do 'no.' Walk middle..."
Lorne made a squish noise. Lindsey scowled at him. "Got it."
Zee had no idea those two were talking about her or anything else for that matter. The showman in her took the reins and threw her more into the song than she’d intended. That or the tequila. Whichever, by the end of the song she was owning it, and the audience. When the applause broke out she did indeed blush with a grin. It was a big grin but tinged with embarrassment and after a quick bow she tossed the mic to the guy running the machine and escaped the stage.
It took a little doing to get through the crowd and the pink in her cheeks was more of a flush when she finally made it back to Lindsey and Lorne. She gave the demon a wry grin and pointed at him. “I never want to know what you saw. Got it?”
Lorne chuckled. "Here's the thing, muffin. If that information ever turns out to be the world saving or destroying kind, it'll see the harsh light of day."
The look on his face was friendly but serious. He meant it.
Lindsey, meanwhile, looked at Zee a little more in the way he used to look at Darla. It was slightly more apparent that he was developing a crush, but only just.
“Fair enough.” Zee gave Lorne a smile to match his and nodded. She could appreciate oracles, but she didn’t like them peeking into her. Lorne wasn’t the first. She’d learned before that it wasn’t that they peeked it was being told what they saw that she didn’t like.
When she looked back to Lindsey she blinked for a moment. There was something she thought she saw there but she couldn’t be sure. It was like a heat vision caught out of the corner of your eye. She knew better than to try to keep looking for it so just smiled. “What. No critique from the pro?”
Lindsey shook his head. "You know you sounded good," he said, with a slight smirk. "Tellin' people how to sing is a lot like tellin' people what food to like or who to fall in love with. I just don't do it."
Lorne raised his eyebrows. That was a lot of insight into Lindsey as a person. He wondered how well these two knew each other.
"That WAS something though," Lorne said. "You two oughta pair up and remake 'Walk the Line.' With more scowling. you've got a great voice. It's always nice when we get patrons that know their way around a song."
Zee gave Lindsey a wry smirk for avoiding any sort of critique but instantly perked for the mention of a duet. More specifically who and what. "Oh! I love Johnny Cash!"
She slid back onto her barstool and picked the fresh drink the bartender supplied for her. She took a drink through a hum then shook her head. "I really doubt I could do justice to the man in black though."
Lorne gave Lindsey a pointed look. Just as he was about to open his mouth, a drunk patron behind the trio grabbed him and loudly started to tell him how much he loved Caritas. Lorne held up a finger. "Uh, be right back, guys. I have fan." He grinned brightly.
Lindsey arched an eyebrow, watching for a second, then turned his attention back to Zee. "Does Batman sing, too?"
This time Zee did choke on her drink and had to cover her mouth and cough for a little while, swiping a cocktail napkin under her eyes before the coughing became a chuckle. Bruce Wayne. Singing! Dear gods and spirits if she ever heard that she knew she was ready to die because then she could honestly say she’d seen it all.
She shook her head with a few final coughs. “Uh. No. I doubt there are songs stoic enough for him to be that frivolous.”
"Just checkin'."
Lindsey was still working on his drink. Periodically, Lorne looked over at the pair, making sure things were still pretty much the same. He didn't expect Lindsey to just go full on evil or anything, but you never could tell.
He'd been both surprised and not surprised by what he saw when Lindsey sang.
"So are you sure you wanna help me?" Lindsey asked. "Nothin' better to do?" He gave Zee a slight smile.
It was more that he was completely unused to receiving help without someone wanting something in return than that he did not believe she wanted to help.
This wasn’t the first time that Lindsey had questioned whether she wanted to help him or not so it wasn’t entirely unexpected. She had made the guy hit her with his truck and instead of just driving off, tearing into her or at the most waiting for an ambulance he had taken her personally to the ER. She’s pretty good at picking up on ulterior motives and she wasn’t with him so the continued questioning made her eye him for a moment then sigh with a lopsided smile.
“Do I need to get a tshirt that reads ‘Lindsey is a nice guy’?” She chuckled as she contemplated adding where that lettering would go, but kept it to herself. “I have plenty to do with the League, but you did me a good turn when you really didn’t have to. If something’s after you I want to help.”
A shirt like that would be a target, plain and simple--though he got the point. Just was having a hard time believing she really wanted to help. From his perspective, all Lindsey'd done was hit a girl with his truck and make sure she ended up in one piece.
He just nodded. If anything happened to Zee, Lindsey was going to remember this moment. And he knew it. "Okay. Won't ask again."
“Good.” Her smile became more easy going as she gave a nod then she drained her drink. She was tipsy from the scotch, but not drunk. She’d like to keep it that way. Drunk League members in public would be frowned upon since they made a point of being the good guys.
She slid off the barstool then, giving Lindsey an askance smile that could mean a whole lot of things. “Let me know when you want to come see the results of my research so far.” Part of her was tempted to suggest that he give her a ride home and she could show him now, but wasn’t sure where his head was at with how that could be interpreted.
That definitely sounded like a come-on. He'd heard things like that more than a time or two in his life. Eve was always good at 'em.
Lorne smirked, still busy with other patrons but overhearing parts of this here and there. He waved a hand at Lindsey, who excused himself from Zee for a moment.
"Consider this one a freebie," Lorne said, leaning over a very drunk, very smiley frat boy who kept calling everyone 'bro.' "Go get your guitar and take that girl home."
Lindsey arched an eyebrow. "I really don't need someone to hold my hand through bringin' a girl home."
Lorne snorted. "Your evil hand? Yes you do. Scamper off. Or don't. But I told you it was a good idea." He raised his glass. "Remember that."
With a growl and then a scowl, Lindsey did what Lorne said, retrieving his guitar from the stage and heading back to Zee.
"Can I give you a ride home?" He licked at his lower lip. "Y'know. Without hittin' you with it."
Zee was left a little confused and blinked when Lindsey excused himself to go talk to Lorne. She glanced at the bartender who smirked at her and shrugged before offering her a shot of something pink that seemed to glow faintly under the black lights. She wrinkled her nose with a wry smirk of her own and politely declined. A chuckle escaped her as the tender put back the shot then winked at her before he went down the bar to help another customer.
She looked back with a smile when Lindsey came back with his offer, finding herself a bit pleasantly surprised by it. “Sure!” She tilted her head quizzically for a moment then smirked. “You hit like a girl anyway.” She chuckled as she turned to wave to Lorne then head for the exit.
Lorne waved back. "Night, cupcake! It was nice to meet you!"
Lindsey didn't smile in response. He just hit her with the sarcasm Lilah Morgan and Angel grew so familiar with over time, that stupid smart-ass crap that made him just this side of a total jerk. "The freight train was in the shop."
It was nice to have a place to play again, even if it seemed that this time around a place to play was gonna come with a preachy demon who was watching his every move. Lindsey didn't know that he blamed Lorne for that. It was just a pain.
This was the second time Zee would be riding in the truck. That was more than any other female... anything ever had. Darla never let him drive her anywhere. He'd gotten her back to his place to take care of her, and that was that. He ran errands for her, sure, but he never took her anywhere.
That snuck up on him. "So where's home?" he asked as they approached the truck.
She laughed for the sarcasm. Really, he’d have to try a lot harder to prove to her that he was a smart ass. She was used to dealing with the likes of John Constantine. John was crass, brass and unapologetic. What might shock people is how much she could keep up, giving back as good as she got. “Just give me fair warning when you decide to take the tank for a spin.”
She chuckled at him with a wink before getting into the truck, which was a bit of an exercise in trying to remain publically acceptable in the sweater dress while getting up the step side. “State Street. Can’t miss it if the streets don’t change constantly.”
Lindsey was only crass and unapologetic when not around women he liked, or when enraged. There were plenty who could attest to that.
Once Zee and the guitar were both safely inside, Lindsey turned the engine over with a nod. State was, usually, not hard to find. Here was hoping.
"S'funny how damn much that place is exactly the way it was back home," he mused. Minus the soul-having vampire who'd been the bane of his existence of course.
She looked out the window with her brows lifting. “This is nothing like Gotham. It’s cleaner for one. Less creepy.” She turned to look back to Lindsey with a small tilt to her head and a curious smile. “Where was home?”
He was still managing not to laugh or make any noise when she said things like 'Gotham' and 'Batman.'
He thought he'd told her about L.A. Maybe he'd been playing that close to the chest, too. Could've sworn, though. "Last place that was home was Los Angeles. S'also where Caritas Is. Was. I dunno."
"Real home?" Lindsey's eyebrows drew together. "Oklahoma."
She’d had a lot on her mind recently. He probably did tell her, but she can be a flake at times. She’d be the first to admit it, too! “I played L.A. once or twice. I had a brownstone in San Fran. Made it easy to bounce around So Cal.”
His expression about his real home confused her some. Usually people seemed fond of talking about where they grew up. “Hard not to peg you for a country boy.” There was an edge of a question to that saying he could talk about it or not. His choice.
"Yeah, it's a real struggle to get your head around," he joked.
"Mostly lost the accent for a while," Lindsey said. His eyebrow rose and fell. It'd been easier to get into Wolfram and Hart without it, to excel at Hastings without being the dumb hick kid or the cowboy. It was never fully gone, just more polished and less of the drawl he'd learned from his mother.
"Decided I wanted it back."
He stopped at a red light and waited for it to turn.
She tilted her head, watching him closely as he explained. He kept a lot inside, not revealing what he was thinking or feeling. She makes a mental not to never play poker with him. Then she smiled at him. “It suits you. I like it.” Compared to John’s Liverpool accent Lindsey’s was smooth. Charming. And, she admits to herself, sexy.
The light changed, and Lindsey smiled. It did work, the accent. The whole thing. Trying to erase his roots had been stupid.
State street seemed to be where he'd last seen it, which was nice. He really didn't feel like getting growly over trying to give a girl a lift home. He turned onto it in another minute.
"Thanks for offerin' me your help," he said. "I don't get that a lot. Which you could probably tell based on reaction."
Her smile became a little knowing and wry. “Yeah, I could tell.” She chuckled quietly and turned in her seat to face him a little more. She wasn’t worried about Lindsey missing Shadowcrest. Really. It’s kind of hard to miss a big ooky spooky looking mansion.
“I’m not going to ask why you aren’t used to someone being friendly.” She held up a hand as if to forestall any protests or explanations. “Everybody has shadows in their past. Even me.” Her very recent past. “But everybody deserves another chance.” Even her. “So. I’m offering that chance.”
He'd figured. It was like watching a kicked dog to an extent, dealing with someone who didn't trust people. There was a lot of flinching and disbelief. Lindsey could be incredibly self-confident, but not when it came to trusting people.
He just nodded, briefly turning his head toward Zee to see what she was doing. When he looked back at where he was going a second later, he damn near hit the brakes as hard as he could.
He was figuring that the giant thing at the end of the road was the house Zee was talking about, the one that decided things for her. If he was gonna name something Shadowcrest, that'd be it. "Huh," he said, jaw hanging open a little. "So, that's inconspicuous," he added, chuckling.
"Where do you let the jerks with the pick-ups drop you off?" He couldn't tell from back here, but Lindsey bet there was a gate.
Okay she understood the being hesitant and awkward, but putting himself down would not be tolerated anymore as evidenced by the light punch she gave to his shoulder. “You are not a jerk!” She chuckled with a stubborn looking smirk on her face before she pointed at the gateless but winding driveway. “That’ll take you to the front of the house.”
Lindsey chuckled. It had been a joke. "I meant in the way of, y'know, working class guy without a mansion. But thanks for the vote of confidence. And for hittin' me."
He turned up the driveway, taking in the mansion. Holland had a really nice house, up until the... I believe you said you wanted a massacre...
This put it to shame. Lindsey'd only ever had an apartment. He didn't need more than that, and even when Wolfram and Hart started to pay him half to death, trying to drown him in money, he hadn't taken a bigger place to live. He just didn't see the point. Still, he could appreciate things like mansions.
And the beautiful women who lived in them.
She grinned at him, glad he could joke back with her. Someone had to have a sense of humor to keep up with her sometimes. John had a hard time keeping up a lot. “I’ll have you know the house is my family home. I didn’t necessarily earn it. It’s been in the Zatara family for generations, originally in Romania.”
She pointed to where the driveway pulled up in front of a set of long stone stairs that led up to the front porch. “That’s it.”
Lindsey'd spent a small amount of time in Romania, while hiding from Wolfram and Hart. He'd learned a few tricks there, too. And if he knew Zee'd been dating... sleeping with... whatever... John Constantine, he'd have been seriously amused and flattered she liked him. Good movie, Keanu Reeves aside.
He stopped in front of the stairs and killed the engine. "Home sweet... whatever you call it."
“Ostentatious abode.” She smirked at him as she chuckled and opened her door to get out. “The inside is even worse than the outside.” She jerked her head in a come on gesture then slid out of the truck, shutting the door behind her.
Even in the modern sweater dress there was something about her that fit with the house. It could be that her magic showed more with Shadowcrest backing her up, but she waited for him at the stairs to see if he was going to follow. If not she’d be content with a smile and a wave.
His parents had raised him to walk a lady to her door.
Lindsey got out of the truck, pushing hair out of his face, and followed Zee over to the stairs, eyebrow raised, looking at the place. All it was missing was a damn spire.
He had a feeling that Zee was inviting him in for a specific reason. And while Lindsey was a big fan of that reason, he also tended to freeze up around women he liked. Darla had to outright ask him why he hadn't kissed her.
He had a feeling this was going to be interesting. Or embarrassing.
She might have that reason in mind, but she wasn’t intending on pushing anything. She was getting the impression that Lindsey was the type to take his time about everything in his life. Push him and he’d just walk away. Besides, there was always that chance she was misreading a few things.
When they got the front door on the large porch she turned to him with a smile. “You’re welcome to come in if you want. I could show you the research. Give you the nickel tour.” She shrugged as if to say it was his call, and she wouldn’t be offended it he took a rain check. Behind her, the curtain to one of the bay windows crept up a little as if someone inside were peeking out at them but there was no one to be seen.
Lindsey saw the curtain move, and that was just enough to make going inside right now a bit much. Pretty girl he could deal with, even if he didn't fully trust her. House that was sentient was gonna take a little bit to get used to.
Lindsey gave her a close-lipped smile. "Think it's gonna have to be another time," he said. He really did want to know what she'd found out. "Glad I got to see you tonight, though."
Her house had scared off stronger people than him. Clark really wasn't comfortable coming to see her, but she thought he and Shadowcrest had a friendly war going on.
She smiled back and nodded. "It was good to see you too! Thanks for the ride home." She turned for her front door and the deadbolt opened without her even touching it.
"Okay. That's fuckin' creepy," he said. Lindsey sighed. "I'll see ya soon."
He stopped just short of the door. "You, uh, you probably can't find my apartment anymore." He gave her a smile that suggested he was proud of that. "Means I might hafta drop by. With or without the tank."
“That’s Shadowcrest,” she said unapologetically with a shrug. Her house was what it was. It protected her, helped her. Yes, it was a pain in the butt sometimes, but in that big brother kind of way.
Her brows lifted for his pronouncement and the look on his face. She hadn’t intended on tracking him down again, and she tried not to take it personal that he apparently warded her out along with everyone else. She put a smile back on her face and nodded. “Come by any time.” Then she lifted a hand as her front door opened for her. “See ya, Lindsey.”