New Orleans by Night: The Stroke of Midnight

[Jans]

Cole shrugs expressively, stretching his arms out to the side. He leans forward and points out the words "If necessary" while covering the rest of the sentence.

[SirNitram]

"Power of any kind is best used only when needed, not frivolously. You don't see me doing anything flashy, do you?" A shrug. A glance is sent back at Cole. "...You're the one with access to the Akashic Record. Wonderful...." A resigned sigh.

[LadyTevar]

"Anyway, Jax was going to meet us at a bar in the area, and we should be there soon. Just try not to look out of place, ok?" Says the girl made up like a pony-tailed Catholic schoolgirl drawn in black & white.

[Dark Silver]

The bartender looked at the picture, glancing at it for a moment, before shaking his head, setting another beer infront of Jaxson. "Can't say that I do, just started here a week or so ago, maybe Martie knows him, she's been here for awhile. She won't be around till tomorrow though, she's off tonight"

[Jans]

Cole gives Ally a contemplative look as the previous conversation draws to a close. He hops out as she parks, leaving the door open for Rumor should he decide to exit.

He steps forward and makes a fairly flashy production of opening Ally's door, with a bow, for her.

[LadyTevar]

"Why thank you," Ally replies with exaggerated Southern Charm and a smile as she allows Cole to help her out of the car. "This is the bar Jaxon meant, but I don't know if he'd be here yet," she added as she walked up to the door, assuming the men were following her. "If he's here, he'd probably be at the bar with his second or third glass by now."

She walked inside and looked around the bar, and true to prediction, there was Jaxon bellied up to the bar.

[B4UTRUST]

Jax reached into his pocket and laid out another ten dollar bill as a tip and set it on the bar. A well tipped bartender tended to give better service and a little stronger drink. Keeping them well tipped was Jax's way of making sure they kept the drinks coming when he wanted them, and it never hurt to establish a good working relationship with the new help since this guy was the new bartender. First impressions and all that.

He spun around on the stool and started watching the crowd, letting his eyes drift over it as he worked on his second drink. He was getting ready to turn around and order his third when the rest of the group wandered into the bar. He grinned when he noticed that Ally has spotted him, and raised his mostly empty glass in salute. He tilted it back and finished off the remainder before setting it back down on the bar. When they got closer Jax called out to them.
"Cher! Guys! Thought you dun forgot bout me down 'ere. Come on, whatcha drinkin? I'll grab da first round, no?"

[LadyTevar]

"First round for us, and *how* many for you?" Ally asked, although she did hug Jax tightly, the better to speak softly in his ear. "I'm glad you're safe, we had trouble, but can't talk about it here."

[B4UTRUST]

Jax hugged Ally back, whispering "Tell me later," when she was close. He leaned back away as the hug ended and made a show of holding up his hands and using his fingers to count.
"How many for me? Well....there was that one round and then that other round..."

He went on like that for several seconds, fingers going up and down as he counted and did mental drunken math.
"I think I might need more fingers, can I borrow yours Ally? What time is it? That might help... Oh, um...two. Two rounds."

[LadyTevar]

"Silly," she said, giving him a friendly shove. "Bartender, give me and him a Rogue Guy Hazelnut Brown, ok?" she asked, pointing her thumb over to Cole. Afterall, he couldn't talk and couldnt order. "What would you like, Eddie?"

[SirNitram]

"Someone should stay sober. Give me a seltzer." Eddie nodded to the bartender.

[B4UTRUST]

"Sober," Jax asked, just slightly insulted. "I drink more than this before breakfast. I'm as sober as... as... as one of those really sober people everyone uses in those anal-thingies!"

He turned back around to the bartender and grinned.
"'Nother round, chief. Keep it," he stated, sliding a twenty and a crumpled ten across the bar.

[LadyTevar]

"For once, Eddie, Jax is right. Three beers won't do anything to him," Ally sighed, picking up her glass of dark brown ale and sipping the craft brew delicately. "He's got a way to make himself sober quickly too. But we can't stay long, just one drink. We have to talk about what you found."

[Dark Silver]

The bartender poured the drinks, and set them on the bar in front of the group, pouring a double for Jaxson, "Thank you sir," he said, his accent, unfortunately, gave him away as not only being the new guy at the bar, but not from New Orleans - still to mid-American in accent to have spent any deal of time in NOLA.

"Hey, who let that cat in here?" the man asked, as he say a black furred cat stroll in through the front doors, moving around to go shoo it out.

[SirNitram]

"Cat's with me." Eddie commented simply. "Never seen a helper animal that wasn't a dog before?" The dry deadpan of the comment made it almost seem fact, not sarcasm.

[Jans]

The nice part about Golden Tee was how ridiculously dull it was.

It didn't require much attention to play, and you could fiddle with it to waste time and the vast majority of people wouldn't have a clue what sort of arcane ritual you were attempting to make the little white ball go in the hole. No one ever watches the guy playing Golden Tee. Even the guy playing it is like "What the hell am I doing here? This is awful." Still, it gave Cole something to do while he kept an eye on the room. He wasn't being sneaky about it, just some guy, bored out of his mind and probably waiting for his date to show up.

[Dark Silver]

The bartender did a double take as Eddie "vouched" for the cat, shaking his head. "Man, this is a weird city..." He muttered, heading back behind the bar.

Rumor, for his part in house-cat size, walked right up to Allie and began rubbing along her legs, as if in wait.

"Want another drink sir?" the barkeep asked as he passed by the trio as he got behind the bar again.

[B4UTRUST]

"Nah, chief," Jax said as he set down his empty drink and picked up the next full one. "I tink we be good for da moment, man. Tanks though."

Jax looked at the others, keeping an eye on Cole off playing the video game.
"So, anyone got any leads?"

[LadyTevar]

Ally finished off her ale, and nodded. "It's a Loooong story, Jax. Why don't you tell us what you got on our missing friend as we go outside." Mostly, because she had nothing on her end, other than the whatever that attacked them, and Rumor had killed. It was Other and you didn't talk OTHER in public.

[B4UTRUST]

Jax nodded, slammed back his drink and set the empty down on the bar. He slapped his hand down on its top and stood up from the stool he was perched on.
"Alright den, lets git outta here and see what we got den. Someone wanna tell Tiger Woods o'er dere we goin?"

[LadyTevar]

"Cole, Eddie, Rumor, let's go," Ally said, laying money down on the bar before walking outside into the night. Once in the parking lot she took Jax by the arm. "We don't have much, but someone tried to attack Cole and Eddie. Dressed like street-person, but non-human... or once human but no longer."

[Jans]

Jax nodded, slammed back his drink and set the empty down on the bar. He slapped his hand down on its top and stood up from the stool he was perched on.
"Alright den, lets git outta here and see what we got den. Someone wanna tell Tiger Woods o'er dere we goin?"

Cole abandons the game he wasn't paying that much attention to with an over-expressive eye roll. He gives Jax a Look on his way out, grabbing the Lager and nodding to the bartender. He cracks the cap off and raises it in Ally's direction as they walk, bringing it to his lips but not taking more than a sip.

[LadyTevar]

"Keep the bottle out of sight, Cole," Ally warned. "This isn't Bourbon Street, the cops will be watching."

[Jans]

The bottle was out of sight with the flick of his wrists, stashed under his coat with the ease of a practiced showman. He gives Ally an innocent "Who me?" look in response.

[LadyTevar]

They were outside now, and Ally felt it was safe to talk. "So, like I said, while I was getting the car, Eddie and Cole had a meeting with this street-person..." Ally started, filling Jaxon in with the story as she heard it from Eddie, and ending with "The remains were swirled with Entropy, like, heavy contamination. It really felt wrong. Eddie said it was a 'Formori', and if we see another one we shouldn't try to fight it, just run."

She paused for a moment, then sighed. "But... I really doubt we're gonna run, because he was hanging around the Chantry which means he had some reason to be there and we really should find out why."

"SO, what did you find out?"