OTA

[kersen]

Kersen sometimes did this thing where when he was feeling his worst, he tried to look his best. Elaborate drag when he was the most down, for example. Like maybe he could force cheerfulness with sequins and lipstick.

This time, he couldn't seem to muster up the energy for drag, though. What "look" said 'I just found out a lover is a serial killer'? Particularly coupled with 'what does this say about my taste in men'? Finally, he'd just gone with the forced cheerfulness: dark purple leather pants and a shirt (gifted to him by an employee years ago) that read OF COURSE I'M PRO-GAY, DO YOU THINK I WORK THIS HARD TO BE AN AMATEUR GAY in bright rainbow colors.

... also he'd started smoking again. Which was a little ironic since he was pretty sure that any effect they had on him was purely psychosomatic.

However, at the moment he was having a smoke break outside his bar. It was fairly early yet, just past 9pm. The streets were still full, lively with people leaving restaurants and shops, heading into bars and theaters. He liked this time of night, where the world was still alive. Wished he could experience more of it.

Some asshole walking by threw a homophobic slur at him, and he was briefly, stupidly tempted to flash his fangs as a threat. Instead he said, "The most fabulous you'll ever see, honey," and flicked the cigarette to the ground. Luckily it was the cowardly sort of asshole, and he just stuck up his middle finger and kept walking.

Comments

[utterly_mysterious]

"If anyone has ever said that bartending isn't an art, they've clearly never watched you do it," Angelique observed. "Though I believe that anything worth doing is worth doing beautifully. There is simply no excuse for ugliness."

[kersen]

"Agreed," Kersen said.

Though after a beat this statement made him think of Hannibal, and the tableau of the dead man in the hotel room. Well, there was a gruesome application of that principle.

He poured the contents of the shaker into two martini glasses, a shade of pink that was indeed rather like Angelique's hat, and pushed one to her.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique took the glass and smiled a sweet smile for Kersen, then tasted her drink and sighed contentedly. Delicious, of course. "What else shall we do beautifully tonight? I don't have your voice, but I can sing a decent harmony. Shall we duet?"

[kersen]

"Really?" Kersen looked genuinely charmed by this idea. "Yes, I'd love to. What would you want to sing?"

[utterly_mysterious]

"Do you know anything by Hozier?" Angelique asked, brightening up over sips of her new drink. "I'm utterly obsessed with him right now. His songs are my anthems."

[kersen]

Kersen laughed. "I do, actually. Mostly because of that video of the incredibly hot ballet dancer, but yes." He drank from the other martini glass. He did make a good cosmo.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique laughed, a delighted little sparkle of a sound. "I'm having a very difficult time imagining you lying around watching internet videos like the rest of us." Grinning, she sipped her drink. "Does that mean you'll sing 'Take Me to Church' with me?"

[kersen]

Kersen chuckled. "I do know how to use a computer," he teased. "You know, for cat videos and porn." Then, thinking of the American tabloid added, "Vampires, they're just like us."

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique broke into a helpless laugh over her drink, bright and easy. She traced a fingertip along the edge of her martini glass, and tipped her head with impish curiosity. "And what kind of porn do you prefer?"

[kersen]

Kersen laughed. "Oh dear, I walked right into that one didn't I. Let's just say I'm old and experienced and my tastes are varied. But I do enjoy beautiful things. I also lived a few hundred years without pornography so I'm not terribly dependent on it."

[utterly_mysterious]

"Certainly not when you could crook your little finger and anyone in here would come running," Angelique agreed. Her teasing little grin confirmed that she knew she was laying it on pretty thick just then. "Besides, it's all fantasy fulfillment, isn't it? Fun, certainly, but... I'd rather explore my fantasies with real people. Wouldn't you?"

[kersen]

Kersen smiled at her, almost a touch embarrassed. "I think you may overestimate my appeal," he said fondly. "But... yes, you're right about that last part, I suppose. What are your fantasies, Angelique?"

[utterly_mysterious]

"Well, a number of them are... physically impossible, I'm afraid," Angelique said with a brief glance away. She liked her body, and was quite attached to and enamoured with the equipment granted her by nature, but still, there were times she dreamed she could know what other women felt, physically. It just wasn't a permanent step she wanted to take.

"But I have a bit of a thing for outdoor sports. Nothing so tawdry as an alley," she was quick to point out. "I mean more... full moons, sultry summer nights in an empty meadow. The breeze on your skin, nothing between you and the sky."

[kersen]

Kersen wondered if he ought to tell her someday about the week he'd spent as a woman, after Will had changed him on a lark. He felt awkward telling her, because it had been so upsetting for him.

So for right now he just said, "Well I admit, I'm relieved that you prefer the night to the day."

[utterly_mysterious]

"Maybe I'll find us a a nice empty meadow some night," Angelique suggested, but she was still playful, still grinning secretly, just for Kersen.

[kersen]

Kersen smiled at her, and then said, "Come on, let's go sing." He slid hopped back onto the bar and over, then offered his hand.

[utterly_mysterious]

Laughing, Angelique placed her hand in Kersen's and hopped off her bar stool. She was bringing her drink with her, though; a little liquid confidence could only enhance her performance.

[kersen]

The bar patrons were not paying them a great deal of attention as they made their way to the piano, and Kersen slid onto the bench, leaving room for Angelique.

He put his hands to the keys and played the first few lines before starting to sing. "My lover's got humor..."

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique waited just one line to learn the tempo and key that Kersen sang in, and joined him on the next. Though she couldn't play herself, she sat near him and kept out of the way of his arms and hands, but traced her fingers across the ivory of the upper, unused, keys like stroking a lover's skin.

Her voice was low, but sweet, with a smoky edge that she couldn't quite smooth out. Nothing breath-taking, but very good, if untrained. Now and then she would catch Kersen's eye, and go quiet for a phrase, then pick up again, trading lines back and forth like a duet when it seemed a good effect.

[kersen]

Kersen liked Angelique's voice very much, and he enjoyed their duet quite a bit. He smiled at her a few times when she caught his eye, and when they finished, there was a smattering of applause.

"Come," he said, and offered her his hand. "Let's have another drink in private."

[utterly_mysterious]

The song was so slow, rich, and sexy, that by the end of it -- her voice twining with Kersen's through such intimate words -- Angelique was more than ready to take Kersen off for some privacy. She slid her hand warmly into his, and squeezed it with a slow smile, full of promise. "I think that's the most fabulous idea I've ever heard."

[kersen]

Kersen led her through the crowd and to his apartment downstairs. Being with Angelique felt so refreshingly uncomplicated. (Well, aside from some lingering confusion around his own sexuality.) No vampires. No murder. No drama.

"Wine?" he suggested.

[utterly_mysterious]

"Does it come with a side of you?" Angelique asked teasingly, tugging herself closer by her hand in his. She leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth, warm, but not too lingering. "You look utterly devastating like this, you know. I adore you in drag, but right now, defying the line between gender? You're positively delectable. I wish I could pull it off half as well."

Which was, admittedly, a very long answer to a very short question.

[kersen]

"Am I that androgynous even without the heavy eye makeup?" Kersen laughed, but he clearly didn't mind. "You make me feel positively manly, my dear, and that's saying a lot." He pulled away from her only so that he could pull out a bottle of red wine from the cabinet, uncork it, and pour two glasses.

[utterly_mysterious]

Angelique took off her hat, at last, setting it aside on a table. She ran her fingers through her hair, and followed Kersen at a slight distance and relaxed pace. "Do you mind?" she asked curiously. "That is, would you like it if I were a bit more manly? If I wore boy's clothes and less makeup?"