Futuristic Another Round, Please!

[MidwayLives]

"You ever hear about a band called The Strokes?"

The question came out as a messy haired youth who's hair was black as a raven's feathers strolled towards the entrance of a local bar. Well, it was local to the area but the youth wouldn't have been surprised if the whole city hadn't heard about 'The Dead End' yet. The figure that he'd been talking to couldn't have looked more different if he tried. While the younger of the two by all means looked human with a leather jacket draped over his shoulders, grey fingerless gloves, and black skinny jeans that looked so tight you might have worried they were cutting off circulation. The other guy....not so much. Clocking in at approximately eight feet, give or take, he was decked out from head to toe in armor. But even without seeing his face or any part of his skin, one definitely got a 'this guy ain't just another Joe Smoe from down the street' vibe off him.

"No, but I'm sure you'll me all about em, Sketch."

The boy affectionally nicknamed 'Sketch' by his peers here at the bar threw up his hands. "Yeah, you got me, Leo. Been listening to em on Que during my last few shifts and you would not BELIEVE how great they are! I mean we're talking some of the best music I've heard in a long time!"

"Oh. Really?" Leo asked, clearly as invested as Sketch was. No, he wasn't trying to divert his attention elsewhere by fumbling for his keys. "Yeah! So when I got home I looked em up and could you believe it? I dress kinda like their lead singer! Dude wore leather jackets like me, sunglasses like me. Feels like I subconsciously took inspiration from him....Without even knowing who he was. I mean dude's long dead by now but it's just something to think about, Leo."

"Yeah. Uh huh." Leo pulled a keycard out and slid it against the card reader to the left of the doors. "You get a coffee or something on the way to work today? You're talking an awful lot, Sketch." The card reader's light blinked and blinked and then beeped red.

'ACCESS DENIED. TWO ATTEMPTS REMAINING BEFORE ALARMS SOUND. INTRUDERS WILL BE PERSCUTED TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW. DO NOT THROW YOUR LIFE AWAY OVER ONE MISTAKE.'

"Wish it didn't say that everytime...."

Sketch leaned against the door and nodded his head wistfully. "Yeah, I guess I'm talking more than usual, huh? It's just...This is just blowing my mind in ways I never thought possible."

"What? My card not working or you somehow imitating a dead guy without knowing who he was?"

"Both!" Sketch exclaimed as he threw his hands up. "But, uh, your card's chip is probably just dirty. Let me try mine." Pulling his own card out of his jacket pocket with a custom print on it with a burning skull with horns, he slid it in the reader. It blinked once, twice, and then the light turned green.

'ACCESS GRANTED. GOOD MORNING, SKETCH.'

Leo and Sketch looked at eachother.

"Thanks." Leo grumbled as he put his own card away. Damn thing was just on the fritz, his card wasn't dirty. Giving the alien a light slug on the hip, Sketch pushed open the doors. "No problem, Leo. Hey, you know who's working the counter today?" Ducking under the doorway so he didn't bump his head, Leo shrugged as he followed Sketch to go punch in. "Not sure. I know Ryuko called off. Said she was having some issues at home." Sketch looked over his shoulder. "Issues, huh? She clarify or anything?" "Dunno. Only heard it through the manager who was working yesterday." Reaching the timeclock in the back room of the bar where the employee lounge resided, Sketch pressed his palm against the screen to the side of the timeclock.

'Scanning....Scanning...'

"Maybe once work's done for the day, you, me, and whoever's working the bar tonight can head over to her place. Surprise her, maybe?"

"Nah. I got plans tonight."

'scanning....scanning...'

Sketch smirked. "Oh, that right huh? Well well, look at you Leo. Moving up in the world and making plans. They ought to give you the Noble Peace Prize."

"It's Nobel."

"What?"

"Nevermind. I'm not even from this planet and I knew that."

'scanning....scanning complete. Welcome to work, Sketch.'

Looking over the top of his sunglasses-which he wore even while indoors-and exposing his blood red eyes(a side effect of splicing gone wrong on his part. He'd attempted to try and go for just plain body mods. Ended up with glowing eyes and fangs instead. Should have read the rest of the paperwork before saying yes and blowing $300 bucks.), he grinned. "See you out on the floor, buddy." Patting Leo on the side, Sketch headed out to the floor ready to start the day...and stand behind the register at the dancing section of the bar's floor. Grumbling under his breath as he turned to look at the schedule list for the day, Leo's multiple eyes looked over the names and checked to see who was working the morning-afternoon shift. "Ah." It was that Nightshroud kid. As far as Leo knew she was alright. Did her job and did it well. Never had any problems with her. In fact it was her and that Akari gal that helped keep things interesting around here. Things got pretty boring when you didn't always have drunk assholes to throw out onto the street. Clocking in himself, Leo headed out back to the floor and as he did, he peered out a window.

The skies outside were grey and 'The Dead End' itself seemed like an untouched oasis amid the sea of violence that'd overtaken the city in the past few years. With gangs for and against the process of splicing(body modification, typically to give one's self animal attributes)causing trouble and the police cracking down hard on dissention, it wasn't a surprise even to an outsider like Leo that people came here to try and forget the issues of everyday life. When there was a chance that on your walk to work or the local pharmacy store, you'd be mugged and lose your money anyway..., why not just blow it on a couple of drinks and girls?

"..."

Leo sighed and took his place by the front doors. All to do now was wait for the rest of the staff to come in and for the clientele to follow behind.​

 

[Snowcloud Dreamer]

Akari, arrives at the bar she's got her purplish pink hair tied back with some bows, her fox ears perked up and moving a bit tracking the sounds around her. That tends to happen when ever she's nervous or is trying to listen to something, and right now it's the former this being a new job and with how hard it was for her to even get one she really did not want to mess this up. while they are eager to take your money and help you alter your look as much as your credit allows, they never have you stop to think about what others might think about your new look or how that will affect your job. but she shakes her head a bit as she trys to push those thoughts out of her mind as her tails start to twich and sway now reacting to her rising nerves as she stares at the door working up the nerve to go inside.
As for what she's wearing its a cute short sleeved blue jumper dress , a frilly apron with a nice pocket and heart pattern, as well as a pair of tights that look like stripped thigh high socks that end with with a little fox ear on the top,but then it's just skin colored tights the rest of the way up, for shoes she's got a black pair of flats on, and finally her purse nothing to fancy there just a plain leather purse.
Finnaly she takes a deep breath and heads inside, waving to the guy by the door and then heading over to the bar, to find a place to sash her purse while she's working and also waves to the guy at the cash register, not sure how long it'll be until someone shows up.

 

[PixelSymphony]

A small wisp of smoke trailed from the end of a lit cigarette, clasped tight between pursed lips as its holder steadily made their way down a set of poorly lit streets. The morning chill was still present in the air, the occasional gust of wind dashing itself against her face, blowing her hair upwards, only to have it fall upon her ashen horns. The girl, a young demoness clad in a long coat, gently brushed her wayward locks back into place as she continued along, keeping an eye out of any ne'er-dowells. The recent bio-modification tensions had turned the city into a slow-burn warzone, just waiting for the right powder keg to touch things off into a major conflict. She didn't intend to be that powder keg, no matter how many people claimed she was for modification due to her appearance or against it due to her race. She just wanted to get to the bar, do her job, and try and figure out how to proceed with things.

Striding up to the front doors, she gave an experimental push, only to find the doors still closed. Must still be opening things up. A brief moment of rifling through her pockets later, she produced her employee ID, sliding it into the slot and pushing through when the light turned green. "Oh, morning Leo, didn't know if you guys were in yet or not; the door's still locked." She sauntered through the main bar area towards the employees only door in the back and pushed through, doffing her coat into a locker and taking a quick look over herself to make sure she was presentable. Sans the long coat, she was wearing her usual bartenders "uniform"; black vest, gray shirt, red tie, white cuffs. She accessorized slightly with a two piece skirt/overskirt which draped down from her waist, but all in all it was designed to look professional while she went about her duties. Satisfied with how she looked, she gently placed a hand up to the side of the time-clock and once clocked in, headed back out to the front of the house to begin her prep work.

The bar section of the... bar was a fairly standard setup; long wooden high counter with seating, lower counter on her side for prep work, inset sinks and drawers and shelves, and then arrayed along the wall behind her, the array of spirits they had on offer, with a mirrored back wall to ensure she could keep an eye on things while her back was turned. So far she hadn't had to confront anyone over any shady business, but she was entirely too well versed in the trade to expect that day never to occur. Taking a quick glance over her stocks, she noted two bottle running low: a sour apple liquor she used in some of her fruity drinks and her go to bottle of whiskey for whenever someone bellied up to the bar and pretended to be a cowboy. She knew she had the latter in stock, since it was her own personal favorite, but the sour apple stuff was gonna be a long shot; she'd had to search half the suppliers in her area to find something that wasn't just neon green candy in a bottle. Still, the appletini's she'd made with it got rave reviews so it was worth the effort; she just hoped not too many people had a hankering for it at 8 in the morning.

Turning back to the main area, she spotted Akari already checking over the tables. "Heyo girl," she said with a brief wave as she started searching around for where she kept her reserve bottle of Three Stone whiskey. "You ready for the day?"

 

[Snowcloud Dreamer]

Akari looks over and smiles a bit. "Ohh hello, how are you doing?" she asks while walking over to val "First day on the job for me, have to admit I'm a bit nervous haven't done this before. But I've had jobs that where way more difficult so I think i can handle it. though still first day working here, and also first day I'll be standing for most of the day since I finished getting spliced." She shrugs. "so are you ready for the day?" She asks as she puts her hands into her apron pocket, as she continues to look over in your direction, her tails are still twitching and waving a bit all three of them, "uh also if you need help with any bit of tech let me know I'm pretty good at fixing that kind of stuff."

 

[BuggaBoo]

Rahne​

---

Well, at least Rahne looked like she belonged here.

The gist of what she got from this particular New York was that people here, for whatever reason decided that it would be cool to have living animal parts shoved into their bodies. If they only knew the horrors of being born like that. Another scoffing sound exited her lips whilst simultaneously exhaling a plume of smoke. Dark lashes closed over big yellow eyes; she could just hear her mates voices yelling at her, chastising her, questioning her as to why she continued such bad habits. Truth be told, yes, she did enjoy smoking cigarettes the old fashioned sucking-smoke-through-chemically-laced-filter-from-burning-tabbacco-wrapped-in-paper way. And my gosh the flavour/smell/rush of it all on this side of reality was absolutely brilliant! But the real reason was that it helped her focus. It helped her maintain her willpower. It helped her keep her control.

But being on this side of reality even for the scantest of moments was hard on her. The woman was born with extremely enhanced senses after all. The sounds, smells, sights... the desire, the temptation of this NYC and all it's concrete, steel and neon glory-hole glory... As much more 'real' as all of this felt, it was also immensely distracting. How much more distracting if she had a mobile on her or whatever they use now. My gosh, it was so hard to focus. But there was still hope for her. She was still out there. "Dani...m'love...?"

The bitter, salty waters welled up and threatened to fall from her eyes. And through the misty, blurred vision, her love's face manifested before her. Emotions burst from her heart and her red leather clad arms could not help but reach out to that dear, dear face. Then suddenly it was other faces, sliding one after the next. A trip down memory lane. With her friends, with her Dani, with their good times, with their losses, with them salvaging hopes and dreams, and with them fighting their--

DEMONS. <<We smell the stink of mortals here... We have you to thank for this new life... We have you to thank for freeing us... We have you to thank for this feast-->>

Rahne screamed at the exact same time an ambulance went hurtling past, its siren pitch perfect with her shriek. A huge hit she took from the cigarette like a madwoman trying to suck 100 dollar bills through a straw. "Demons-can't-come-in-churches, demons-can't-come-in-churches, demons-can't-come-in-churches, demons-can't-come-in-churches..."

She had the face and bob hairstyle of a short girl of about 16 or 17 tops. But her ears were pointed and eyes looked like they'd been spliced; yellow and with vertical pupils. A chain connected nose piercing to a small pendant piercing her pointed ear. 'Trendy' tattoos languished from her cheeks, exposed milky white shoulders and chest. A three-quarter length leather jacket that highlighted ghostly black designs in the light. Peeking out beneath the jacket's hem was black and white striped stockings that ran the length of her legs capped off with calf-high, multiple-holed black leather boots. But what really stood out was what was beneath the chain and collar wrapped around her neck. Quickly she removed the spiked collar and pressed her fingertips into the brand burnt into her neck. Soon she was rubbing at it frantically as she chanted her warding mantra, fingers tracing the bumps and ridges of the near decade old scar shaped in a letter 'M.'

When she had finally finished her chanting, the cigarette had burned all the way to the filter. Rahne flicked it away, into the dark of the alley. She took two breaths and held the air in after the second one. Dark lashes fluttered down over wild eyes. Slowly she released the breath and when her eyes opened once more, they spoke the truth; she was in control again.

Onto the hood of a long-forgotten automobile carcass she slid. Another breath she took as she crossed her legs, but this breath was one of measured frustration. Across the way from her, down the alley, she could clearly see where she wanted to be. But those that had entered that place, none did she recognize. Another cigarette lit and another plume of smoke out her mouth. And so she would wait a bit longer to see if anyone she recognized entered the premises. Once the doors opened, perhaps she would see what they had for breakfast; she'd never been there during daylight hours... but hard to even call this daylight with the constant gloom of pollution clouding up the sunlight. But regardless, she was nearly there. For answers. For truths. For love.

After all this time she was nearly at The Dead End.

 

[PixelSymphony]

Val gave a nod to the foxgirl. "Sure thing Akari. I'll let you know if the PoS machine lives up to its name. Lemme know if you need a little pick me up also; I got a bunch of caffeinated syrups I can mix in with whatever you want." She nodded towards the tables. "All right, back to stations then; I think we're gonna open up any second now, and I gotta start getting my sidebar ready."

A few moments later, a wide variety of fruits lay out before her, and with an expert brandish of a chef's knife, she began to slice them into various shapes necessary to top the drinks she would be making that day.

 

[Snowcloud Dreamer]

She nods "well I'm not much for alcohol, but caffeine well now your talking bout the good stuff!" she giggles "that I would enjoy if you could please mix up like an energy soda." She says as she just now though to grab an order pad, some pens, and straws to stick in her apron pocket. so she goes to find those and then comes back over to watch val cut up the fruit. while waiting for the place to open. since she's as prepared as she's going to be, and having something to focus on will help keep her mind from racing.