Workin' For The Man

[tiny_dancer81]

The Dive never really got crowded until the weekends, but they had s steady stream of people coming in on weeknights as well. As the club's promoter, Theresa dealt with the reviewer from the local entertainment rag in addition to trying to book new acts. All in all, things were looking promising. With summer nearly here, the college crowd would have more time and money to spend in places like this.

The vampire was nursing a beer on the patio. She had thought of suggesting they start serving something stronger, but she hadn't gotten around to it yet. It sounded like the latest set was wrapping up. She checked her upper lip for beer foam, hauled her slight weight off of the bench where she'd been sitting.

Summer in Las Vegas might man the days were long, but the nights usually made up for it.

Comments

[maddy_ricks]

As the final chords faded from the amplifiers, Maddy burst through the door onto the patio. Her band wasn’t playing tonight; she just needed to get out and stretch her legs, and the Dive was a second home to her. The newly-platinum bassist cupped a hand around her cigarette and lit up as she wandered blindly toward a table and chairs. Her false eyelashes fluttered and she saw the vampire. “Hey,” she mumbled around the bummed cigarette. She tucked the lighter in her shorts. “You working?”

[tiny_dancer81]

"Not really. I was planning to check that the last band hadn't slopped beer all over the place again. The singer in the next set slipped in the mess and almost broke his ass falling off the stage."

Theresa was always a little torn when it came to interacting with Maddy. Especially since bumping into Melody at the coffee shop. It wasn't that she was capable of being truly uncomfortable, but she would like to avoid throwing a wrench into the gears if it was possible. To go on hiding in plain sight.

"I like your hair. When did you get it done?"

[maddy_ricks]

“Last week,” she blew a cloud of silvery smoke into the air. “I ran into my ex. You know how that goes. But! I gotta say,” she hefted herself onto a tabletop, “I’m still rockin’ hot. Him? Not so much.”

Okay, that wasn’t strictly true. Gus – or Whistler these days – looked much the same as ever, save for a few gray hairs near his temples. He even dressed the same. But time and perspective had changed Maddy’s feelings on the subject and she kept asking herself what she’d seen in the half-demon. She also asked herself why she could still hear her roommate’s over-wrought orgasm half a century later.

[tiny_dancer81]

"Old boyfriend? Must not have been a happy blast from the past."

The diminutive brunette drank some more of her beer, and she idly wondered about this random guy. Not that it was any of her business, and she had never really done the relationship thing, anyway. Not before she died and certainly not after.

"He must be a moron if he broke up with you."

[maddy_ricks]

“Aw, you’re sweet.” Maddy reached across and patted Theresa’s shoulder. “He was. Is. A moron. Goes around calling himself Whistler, like being immortal means he doesn’t need a real name. You have a real name. Even I have a real name. What’s his problem?” She snorted and shook her head.

The cigarette burned bright between her fingers as Maddy sucked on the filter.

[tiny_dancer81]

Record scratch!

Theresa paused for a second, looking down into the dregs of her beer. She could hear Maddy's heartbeat. In the main area of the bar, drums and guitars crashed into life. Something unfamiliar skated across her consciousness, and she grabbed at it before it could disappear.

"Either you talked to Melody or you already knew."

[maddy_ricks]

“Talked to Melody? About what, you being a vampire?” Maddy shook her head as she flicked her cigarette ash into the wind. “Please. Like I needed someone to tell me. I only see you at night, you’re paler than me, you have no reflection. Why do you think I told you there was something in your teeth that night at the club? I was fucking with you! Ow!” She looked at her hand, which had picked up a minor splinter from the wooden table. Maddy scratched it out of the top layer of skin and continued about her business.

[tiny_dancer81]

Theresa's eyebrows went up, and something like amusement touched the corners of her mouth. When The Weird was everywhere you looked, it was difficult to decide where it began and where it ended. Maddy didn't seem bothered by it. The vampire did wonder if she knew about the potential for being bitten.

And maybe-possibly she wondered if she'd be into it.

"So if you're a daywalker, how'd you manage the live forever thing?"

[maddy_ricks]

Maddy flicked the minuscule piece of wood out of her palm. “I guess you could say I have a job. Other than coffee bitch… One that guarantees I’ll be around until I quit, anyway.” Rubbing her lips together, she decided to level with Theresa, hearkening back to a time Whistler had referenced when Maddy wasn’t so passive, didn’t just warm up the bench. When she was a supernatural somebody.

She withdrew the key from her shirt and it dangled between them on its silver chain. “Think of me as a locksmith. I inherited this key and someday I’ll give it to another person. I’ll shrivel up like a raisin and die. Until that day, here I am. It’s as simple as that. Otherwise, I am perfectly human.”

[tiny_dancer81]

The vampire almost touched the key, then drew her hand away quickly. It might be blessed or something. She didn't like the idea of of her hand getting burned off because something shiny caught her attention.

"So it just, like, opens things?"

That weird whatever it was was still hovering in her mind. She looked at the mortal's dyed hair, then back at the key. "Do you get to decide, or is it random?"

[maddy_ricks]

“It’s only random when I screw up,” Maddy said. “Or like if I’m just… not paying attention.” The corner of her mouth puckered, a kind of ‘oops’ expression that wasn’t 100% sincere. She shook it off with a bobble of her head. “Anyway, I’m immortal, you’re immortal, let’s be friends. Forever…”

She gave a lopsided grin. “I’m not scared of you, if that’s what you’re thinking.” She smashed her cigarette into the sole of her shoe.