003 | OPEN. red lipstick on the end of a cigarette.

[norea]

Who: Hasibe Ozcelik, and OPEN.
What: A show premieres at The Vault.
Where: The Vault.
When: Evening til the wee hours of the morning.
Notes: I will set up sections in the comments for people to hang out.
Warnings: WELL IT'S AN ADULT CLUB, SO.

The show starts at nine o'clock, and the bar is full pretty quickly thereafter, but the variety in the club is pretty striking. Xenians in their best suits, non-Xenians in leather and ripped fishnets, everything in between. There doesn't seem to be a lot of cultural divide here between human and not, even given recent issues. Hasibe makes good on her promise to have members of her cohort given seating preference, as she's sweet-talked the cocktail dress-clad hostesses, and the bartenders (in their vague approximations of suits with very open shirts) are aware that she's invited a lot of heavy drinkers. ...she just assumes people in her cohort want to drink--they've been kidnapped to a strange city with many new things to offer, so why wouldn't they?

Comments

[mightyfallen]

Jack can handle a little glitter for what may be the first genuine affection he's had in months. (There's Balthier, sometimes, but that's not really the same.) He hadn't even noticed the lack of it before, but now that he has, he's not in any hurry to move away. "Too long," he says with a faux-frown for effect, and it's barely held long enough for that. Jack can't even pretend not to be happy right now.

"A year in Baedal, and half again in the city before that, but–" his smile falters a second, "This sounds crazy, but I didn't remember, somehow – you, the Nexus, any of it – it's only just coming back." ...He hopes she remembers the Nexus, as an afterthought, but since that's weird enough to have said aloud, he just keeps moving right along. "Thank God you're already here, or I'm sure I would have wasted away pining for you."

[norea]

If you just added Wes to this situation here in Baedal, she's beginning to realize, there's not actually much she'd miss. The thought strikes her as somehow callous, or perhaps disrespectful to her home world (even if Jack and Bruce are from different ones), so it's not one she examines; Hasibe stays close, casually affectionate, in her fashion.

"A year and a half," she says, more than mildly astonished--that's so much time. "I wonder why it didn't let you remember...but obviously the city was just waiting for me to come along and spur your memory back into motion, right?"

It's paired with a playful, self-deprecating little eyeroll.

"I've settled in okay, as you can see, but you--how are things here, for you?"

She knows better than to ask for emotional details in a crowded space like this, with Jack, but those inquiries are probably an inevitability.

[mightyfallen]

"I can see." That she's settled in, and that's she's up to her usual mischief already, madame. He gives a little once-over to her glittery ensemble, affectionately amused.

It's convenient (...and also sort of sad) that he doesn't have many emotional details to offer anyway. He's been very resolutely not having a personal life lately; the exceptions are rare and, as she expects, not anything he'd discuss in public.

"I can't complain." A shrug. "I'm not exactly royalty anymore," which he looks about as bothered about as he feels (not very), "but I've acquired some property and have otherwise continued to selflessly devote my time to public service."

'Selflessly.'

"Have you found a place already, by the way? Because I have a few..." He has a few buildings, actually.

[norea]

Usual mischief indeed--there are delicate but definitely fresh (as in less than an hour ago) bitemarks on her collarbones, not quite completely obscured with make-up. At the revelation of Jack's involvement in public service, her eyebrows go up; she remembers what she said to Deacon and the others about politicians in the club, but she hadn't expected to have a personal investment in one.

"You do keep busy," she says, approvingly, "and I have a place to stay, but...you know, if I ever need to go into hiding, I'll look you up."

As amiable as her tone is, that's a distinct possibility, given some of her activities lately.

"You will have to tell me all about this public service career of yours...and other things, too." But some of them will have to wait until later. "Oh, I brought Huan, by the way. So you're going to have to come by and say hello to him, too."

[mightyfallen]

Huan is– yes, the dog the size of bear. Protective but very well trained, he remembers, which reminds him briefly and potently of Henry, but he covers that flicker of emotion with a smile, like always. "How could I refuse. I have a shoe with his name on it, I'm sure."

He does not, by the way, discount for a second that she may someday need a place to lie low for a while, nor does he let that worry him any more than he usually does about Hasi. A certain degree of concern just comes with the territory.

"Anyway, it's all very boring so far, I promise." His career, that is, or at least the parts he can tell her about in public. "Tell me what kinds of trouble you've gotten into instead. Aside from all this, of course." His tone is casually flippant, as if the Vault is quite banal, and really, in comparison to the full spectrum of Hasi-related possibilities, that may not be inaccurate.

[norea]

In the span of about three seconds she considers hinting at her more illicit activities, and then disregards said consideration (at least while in The Vault); this location is too open, and she'd be more inclined to go into depth with Jack. So she sways, a little, shrugging her narrow shoulders, too coy to be trusted--at least, by anyone outside of this conversation they're having.

"Oh, you know. If I told you everything we'd be stood here for the next thirty years, so we should make arrangements to meet up someplace else--I promise, I'll give you full disclosure."

Well. At least fifty percent disclosure, which is twice what anyone else gets.

[mightyfallen]

"Hasi, my love," faux-scolding, "I'd never ask such a thing." Considering his apparent allergy to being forthright, he considers that only fair. It is, however, a good suggestion, considering their respective tendencies toward secrecy. He glances aside, then adds, "But you're right, somewhere more private."

If his smile takes on a slightly lecherous tilt there, it's just for show and doesn't travel to his eyes. He'd rather let people make incorrect assumptions about them than correct ones.

"Shall I pay Huan his visit, then, or... well, I have a few places of my own." Yes, a few. "And when would be good for you?"