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Post by Vanessa VanRyan on Mar 29, 2009 3:24:24 GMT -5
Vanessa was more than a little nervous as she entered the stodgy little bar, not necessarily because she knew nothing about the place, or the possibility of it being a bit seedy, but rather because she was desperate to be there.
She had no real skills, she couldn't do magic very well, except for apparation, she couldn't work in any sort of profession that would actually earn a decent living, the only thing she knew how to do was wait tables and sing. Those two things she knew how to do very well and she was eager to prove as much, she needed to do something or she'd starve. She hadn't eaten in three days as it was.
Walking up to the bar she spotted a pretty, and entirely too vivacious girl (well to someone who hadn't eaten in three days) moving around with ease. "Hello." she voiced trying to get the woman's attention, for all her weaker looking self, her voice was strong and resonant.
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Mar 30, 2009 1:03:20 GMT -5
For some ungodly reason, Stu's was busy tonight. Someone very loud and very drunk was at the microphone, and it made Nathalia laughed, but she clapped with the rest of the crowd all the same. Which was why she made good tips.
She heard the girl, amazingly since she had such a quiet voice, and said, "I'll be right with you, sweetheart." She was carrying a tray of drinks, and delivered them before sliding behind the bar again.
"What can I get you?" She asked the brunette. "Let me guess, you're meeting someone?"
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Post by Vanessa VanRyan on Mar 30, 2009 1:06:47 GMT -5
"No." she hastened to assure her. "I'd just like to speak to the manager if that's alright." she said but took a seat, she was trying not to slump into exhaustion at the mere sight of a chair, and not become a ravenous beast at the sight of food. She turned and gave a passing glance at the person singing and couldn't hide the immediate wrinkle to her nose, it wasn't so much that the man was bad...although he was, but did he have to be *so* loud?
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Mar 30, 2009 1:13:28 GMT -5
Nathalia shrugged. "Well, hun, Stu's not in right now, so I'm afraid you're going to have to make due with me. Though I don't do complaints... if you're here to complain, the best I can do is give you a drink." She laughed here to show she was kidding... halfway, anyway.
She leaned against the bar. "So if I can't get you anything, what can I do for you?"
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Post by Vanessa VanRyan on Mar 30, 2009 1:16:38 GMT -5
Vanessa bit her lip a little defeated, it was the exhaustion that made her a little less reactionary in keeping her poker face, but the determination was soon back, " I'm looking for a job." she said in a firm voice that belied her brittle appearance. She was more desperate for a job then "looking" for a job, she needed something to get by on before her luck of staying in an abandoned medical facility ran out and the cops found her, or worse whoever it was that was chasing her.
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Post by Derek Burke on Apr 12, 2009 19:51:51 GMT -5
Derek was unaware of the young girl's plight as he walked through the doors of the shady little bar. It irked him a bit that his beautiful niece was working there and yet he would never presume to lecture her. That was one of the reasons they had the relationship they did, and that they were as close as they were, Derek didn't lecture, and he respected her decisions, didn't mean that he wouldn't *Kill* anyone who hurt one of his girls.
"Bartenders get younger and prettier every year." he said with a classic smirk as he took a seat at the bar. He had intended to show up earlier and see her but got caught up.
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Post by Vanessa VanRyan on Apr 12, 2009 19:55:54 GMT -5
If Vanessa took any notice of Derek's Adonis like beauty she didn't outwardly show any signs of melting at his feet. In fact a part of her looked a bit more fierce, her hand tightened it's grip on her bag in a show of mild frustration but her face remained indifferent.
She didn't really care about the man's looks, except for the fact that he was young and handsome and he had just complimented the bartender, Vanessa understood at the very least that a paying customer was more important than a street urchin looking for work, but a customer as handsome as Derek was? Why she might as well have been invisible now.
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Post by Nathalia Webb on Apr 18, 2009 13:57:05 GMT -5
Nathalia gave the girl a once over. She didn't look like a bartender. She looked too sweet and too gentle, and, perhaps, too naive. Especially for a dive like Stu's.
"I can probably get you on as a cocktail waitress," Nathalia said, tilting her head. Before she could say much else, a familiar face showed, and Nathalia's attention was drawn away from the girl.
"Well look who the cat dragged in. It's good to see you, Derek," She said, leaning over the bar to hug him.
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Post by Vanessa VanRyan on Apr 18, 2009 14:11:47 GMT -5
Vanessa bit her lip, coctail waitress, it was a start, not that she wanted bartender or anything like that. She would do what she had to but she really didn't think she'd do well behind the bar, but waitressing, waitressing she could do.
She smiled at the girl just a moment before Nathalia hugged Derek. Vanessa swallowed, she didn't want to interupt but this was important...this was her life, she needed this job, she needed the job and then she needed somewhere to stay, but first, she really needed something to eat.
"I'll start whenever...I could even do a few tables now if you wanted me to audition...I'll work for fr-" she seemed to consider it, "for a cup of coffee and a sandwich..." she tried not to sound forceful, she tried not to sound too desperate but she knew she needed something to eat.
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Post by Derek Burke on Apr 18, 2009 14:15:07 GMT -5
Derek returned the embrace with a smile and sat down at the counter. He loved his niece but that didn't mean he didn't worry about her, and looking around the din he almost wanted to growl at the rest of the men to be nice, he saw the girl, who really looked like she could have been fifteen or so asking for a job and he hid his surprise, a place like this could chew her up and spit her out certainly, it took someone with Nathalia's constitution to put up with the animals that came every so often.
Still it wasn't his affair.
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Post by Vanessa VanRyan on Jun 11, 2009 16:20:25 GMT -5
Vanessa raised hopeful eyes toward Nathalia, who would now decide her fate. In either case she needed that sandwich and coffee, and was very reluctant to part with the small funds she managed to have. Somehow they needed to last her a while. She still didn't know what she'd do about living conditions.
She turned her head as there was a commotion on the stage, someone was horribly drunk and buchering a decent song. Vanessa winced as the man was being booed off the stage and by the looks of it some other man threatening to beat some silence into him.
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Post by Derek Burke on Jun 11, 2009 16:24:26 GMT -5
"Doesn't look too appealing does it?" he asked, finally speaking to the small waif. Stu's might not have the same clientele as the Rusty Nail's and certainly it was more safe than many places, however at the end of the day it was still a bar. Nathalia could handle it, of course she could, she was too vivacious, too full of life and steel coursed through her veins, but a little girl like the one in front of him could very easily be trampled under in a place like this.
He glanced at the same commotion then back at the girl.
"You should sit down before you fall down." he said rasing a skeptical brow at her.
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Post by Vanessa VanRyan on Jun 11, 2009 16:35:49 GMT -5
She was overly fatigued from her journey and looking over her shoulder every ten seconds. She hadn't eaten, and indeed she looked as if she was going to fall down, but it had nothing to do with the bar, no she had seen much worse and handled her fair share of drunken men.
She smiled however at Derek's raised eyebrow and met his challenge, "I'm perfectly fine thank you." It was a lie, and he'd recognize it as such, but perhaps he'd also hear the steel in her own voice. She could do this, she had to, there was no where else to go.
Naturally she assumed Nathalia had to go and see to the impending fight so she focused her attention on Derek, and she felt his challenge all the way to her toes. She had something to prove she knew, and while they were two strangers facing one another, staring one another down almost, she knew it was impossible to retreat. To go back to the proper meek and submissive mouse hunger and desperation had reduced her to.
In the end she didn't really know why she took the stage. A fight was breaking out. An impudent stranger was challenging her with skeptical eyes. She needed this job and the possibility to get some food in her was overwhelming. Or perhaps, she needed to release everything inside her once more, in the only way she knew how. She hadn't taken to the mic since Wes' death and she didn't know if she'd survive it, but she had to remove the agony from her soul, even if it was only a temporary release she found in song.
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Post by Derek Burke on Jun 11, 2009 16:52:20 GMT -5
Derek stared at the little twit. She managed to surprise him. She had been so eager to start working the tables she stood up from her stool in order to get started and he saw her nearly tip over. She looked so tired, and that's why he challenged her. Some inner bit of common sense and chilvalry. He was a bit perturbed at how ungentlemanly he was becoming. It was naturally all Suzie's fault, and had started when she forced him to close down every hotel she wanted to stay at. Of course it started before that when he had acted the cad.
Now he was behaving in the same way to this young girl, trying to scare her out of her decision to look for employment at a seedy bar. Just like Suzie the chit defied him, and flaunted his challenge. He admired her for it, and at the same time grit his teeth against stubborn women. Women? this girl couldn't be older than fourteen what was she doing even being allowed in a bar?
In a matter of seconds everything Derek was thinking disappeared. The first gentle notes came from an acoustic guitar, then it faded into silence and her voice fell over the crowd
"The falling leaves drift by my window
The falling leaves of red and gold
I see your lips, the summer kisses
The sunburned hands I used to hold
Since you went away the days grow long
And soon I'll hear old winter's song
But I miss you most of all, my darling
When autumn leaves start to fall "
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Post by Vanessa VanRyan on Jun 28, 2009 20:01:03 GMT -5
A shaft of light created a halo like appearance over her as the music played in the background, and for a few moments she was an angel, at least to the men who frequented the place. Even those who usually taunted anyone who dared to stand up there were stunned into silence.
She wasn't putting on a show for them, she wasn't trying to impress them, she didn't have a need to. Instead it was as if she was sharing something with them, or rather, letting them witness some deep secret vulnerable part of her that in turn made them vulnerable as well. She taught them how to be vulnerable, taught them what it was to have loved and lost and it was this lesson that settled them, and soothed them.
Finally when she was done it was silent enough to hear a pin drop, eyes followed her off stage and she returned to her seat, a far look in her eye.
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