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Vincent, who thankfully changed from Slaanesh cosplay to his normal jeans and Bullet for My Valentine t-shirt, was currently singing his heart out at a karaoke dive. "Feeeeed my eyes," seems it was Alice in Chains tonight, he poured every ounce of frustration and general ill feelings into the words, "Jeeeesus Christ." (edited)
Zoey comes back in from the bathroom, smiling as her bouncing steps take her back over to the bar. Nobody should ever be that happy coming out of a bar bathroom unless they're coming back out with someone else, or went in with them, so it's kind of weird. She's part way to the bar when she starts walking kind of sideways so that she can see the person up on the stage doing karaoke and let out an encouraging, "woo! Yeah!"
Holding the door open for Tsara, Yael explains, "So, mostly the food here is going to be greasy fried stuff, and there's booze, and... " she pauses, scratching her cheek with one hand. "And... there's kareoke tonight, apparently." She laughs and shakes her head, shrugging herself out of her battered brown leather jacket once they're both inside. "You can grab a table, we can sit at the bar... " Yael's wearing a worn-out Jane's Addiction t-shirt and a pair of jeans and boots, her frizzy auburn hair falling loose over her shoulders. (edited)
"I've been finding I like greasy fried stuff," Tsara answers with a shrug and smile. Her accent is distinct but her English is otherwise fluent, and the distinctiveness of that accent doesn't make it identifiable. "And booze, actually, but I do not like hangovers," she adds. "I don't think anybody does, do they?" She's wearing a coat and a t-shirt that she got from a thrift shop, and because she's an Acanthus and odd coincidences follow them around like lost puppies, the t-shirt is an Alice in Chains one. A band she's never actually heard before, so she doesn't even know about the coincidence herself. "Is there an advantage to one or the other? Table or bar? And what's karaoke?"
Vincent finishes the song and gives a dramatic bow to the people who clap, and salute to the woman who have the encouragement. He then does a hop and skip to the bar where he orders a beer and onion rings, tapping the bar to the rhythm of 'Welcome to the Family' by Avenged Sevenfold as he sits down at the bar, "God I love bar food." he says to no one when the rings come
Zoey's being here is another of those coincidences, and she similarly has no idea that it's even happening. She might look like old pictures hanging around the farm that Yael has spent many years at, even looking after, but she while she looks just like pictures of her that Yael's great aunt had, she has never laid eyes on Yael.
Does that stop her from smiling widely at Yael and Tsara if either of them looks in her direction, of course. She'll gladly just treat anybody like they're an old friend, even if they've never spoken. Shortly after she's at the bar where she admits to Vincent, "I don't know what that song was, but I recognize enthusiasm, and you had it. I love it when people just go for it at karaoke."
Her hand dips into her pocket, and comes out with a silver coin. Tsara has seen her constantly playing with it, flipping it in the air or walking it over her fingers, and she does that now. "Well, we can go to the bar, and that will give us the ability to meet people, and a table gives us more privac-- " Yael stops for a minute when her eyes land on Zoey's face, and then says, "Hunh." She scratches her cheek absently, and heads over towards the bar. "You know, it's the funniest thing," she says to Zoey casually, her grin lazily sliding across her face, "but you look just like some pictures of my great-aunt's from the farm I grew up on."
The thing about People of the Hour is that they just sort of... do things. If it doesn't work out, after all, you can always turn back time with a snap of your fingers.
"I guess it's the bar!" Tsara says when Yael just veers off that direction, but the thing is that Tsara is very much the sort of person who is often happy to just go with the flow, letting fate guide her to where she needs to be. At least, she is now. She's only a few steps behind Yael, dodging her way through the bar and getting a share of attention that's almost certainly going to result in one or more drinks being bought for her. She's not unaware of it, but she's more interested in other things.
"You don't look like any photos from where I grew up," she adds to what Yael just said. "Just in case you actually cared about that, which you probably didn't." She gives Vincent a smile too. "Time for a break?"
Vincent smiles at the strangers words, "Thanks," he beams at Zoey, "Only live once ya know, live fast, leave no regrets, leave a sexy corpse." he laughs then looks to Tsara, "Can't be singing all night, got to get some drinks before the night is over." he says as he eats an onion ring and downs the beer to chase it, "Name's Vincent, friends call me Vinny."
Hey, those strangers are coming over to talk to her! Zoey hops slightly from one foot to the other, back and forth, a bit like an eager puppy, and she never stops smiling at the two even if she starts looking at Yael with a bit of a squint, too, like there's something familiar there and she's trying to place it. She sniffs like she might be getting over a bit of a cold. Why Yael looks vaguely familiar becomes clear to her as soon as the words are spoken to her. "Your... your great-aunt's farm?" she asks. For a few heartbeats she's not sure what to think or do about that, and then there's a realization. "That you grew up on? I used to live on a farm!" she says. "With a whooooole lot of sheep." She laughs. "Which was always funny because my last name is Shepherd."
She isn't ignoring Vinny, either. She looks back over at him and asks, "yeah, but the question is whose corpse you're leaving, right?"
"Yeah, sorry, I, uh." This is said sidelong to Tsara, not like she probably hasn't gotten used to Yael just sort of randomly -- seemingly randomly -- changing direction. She continues to spin and roll the coin over her fingers, not even really seeming to notice that she's walking the silver disc over and under her fingers. " Shepherd. Zoey Shepherd?" Sorry, Vinny. Yael will catch up with the rest of the conversation in just a minute.
The silver coin pops up from her right hand and spins to her left, which catches it neatly and closes around it so she can offer her right hand to Zoey. "Yael Zaderikhvost." Well, that's a last name you don't hear often. "This is Tsara." That's sort of offered to Vinny as well, though he doesn't get much of her attention, or a handshake yet.
"Oh, it's fine." Tsara waves the concern away when Yael apologizes to her. "You had asked me which I prefer, but I probably would have ended up saying the bar anyway, and it sounds like you might have more important factors in your decision anyway."
Tsara is mostly listening to the conversation going on between Yael and Zoey, because that seems like it has the most interesting outcomes likely to result, but she does keep talking with Vinny, too. "That's true," she says, "this is Tsara. Should I be calling you Vincent or Vinny? I do like making new friends, but we also only juts met." She glances over at Yael and Zoey with curiosity about what's going on there, but only briefly.
"Very true, preferably I don't want to be the corpse but at the same time I don't want to go around killing sexy people," he chuckled and turned to Tsara, "I like to think everyone I met is a potential friend, but we did only just met so I'll leave it up to you." he smiled before sipping his drink, "I love meeting new people, it's one of the secret joys of life."
"That's me!" Zoey says with a bit too much cheer.
Over at a nearby table someone says, "I knew it!". About her confirming the name, or about something else? Probably the name, since a couple of people at the table are looking their way.
"Does that mean the farm is still there?" she asks, not paying that whole situation over at the other table. Noticed, but not noted, so to speak. "It's still in the family, even? I mean, not many people have that surname, so it seems reasonable to assume that you're related to Leah in some way?" She speaks more than a little bit too fast and looks like she's rather anxious about these answers.
Her smile is a sort of rickety thing; there are a lot of emotions underneath it, shaking that smile like a wobbly bridge over a deep, fast-moving river. "Leah was my great-aunt," Yael explains, and she pauses to offer her hand to Vincent next. "So, uh, Vincent or Vinny, like the lady asked?" she prompts him again.
"Yeah, yeah, the farm is still there. I looked after it after Leah passed away, and, uh, her next of kin also, and then it passed to my cousin when they turned eighteen. I still go out there all the time," she offers with another little wave of her hand. "She promised she'd look after it, so, you know. She did." It's like there's a whole second conversation happening underneath the surface of this conversation. "And then my aunt did, and I did. Yeah."
"Then I'll just go with Vinny," says Tsara with a shrug, because she was given leave to pick, and that just seems easier. "I guess that I need to be slightly less worried about you just deciding to murder me, so we can be friends." She looks over between Zoey and Yael with suddenly more curiosity and says, "I feel like I'm definitely missing something, and not in the way that I always seem to be missing something these days. This woman has been to your farm, Yael? Or your cousin's now, or whatever?"
Vincent takes the hand and shakes, "Nice to meet the three of you, can I offer an Onion ring?"
That's a lot, and while Zoey is often happy-go-lucky about a lot of things, there's a lot to react to here. People have been looking after her farm all of this time because Leah promised? For a second or two Zoey just stares, not sure how to react to the news. Then she reaches for the nearby barstool and tries to sit down, but kind of stumbles into it and uses it to keep herself from falling down, instead. "It's still there..." she says softly. "Leah's gone, though? I..." she swallows so hard it's audible, then musters the coordination to actually get herself onto her seat. "I was sure she must be. And you've all been... because she promised." She seems to actually see Yael again. "I need to talk to your cousin, don't I?"
"I'm good," Yael offers aside to Vincent, and then her attention flicks back to Tsara. "Yeah, that's one way to put it. Kind of a complicated thing. Maybe not best to talk about at a bar," she offers to the other Mage with an apologetic little smile aside. "But yeah, you do need to talk to my cousin, and I should probably, uh, chat with you. But for now, maybe I can get you a drink? And we can... sit down and chat?" And pretend like things are normal? Ha ha.
"Sure," Tsara says, taking one of the onion rings, seemingly oblivious of how close she gets to Vincent, briefly, in the process. Once she has it she steps back again, then chews on it while listening to the other two women talking about things. "You okay?" she asks Zoey, stepping closer to offer a hand in case it's needed, though it does seem like Zoey gets things under control herself. "Yeah, might be good to go sit down, maybe? Does anyone want anything to drink? I can order things and bring them over."
Vincent looks at Zoey with some concern, "Hey, do you need some water?" He asks before the two do farm talk, he's not sure what's going on but for now just sits back and listens, "I could use another beer, I can go get them and some food if any of ya are hungry." He offers
"Yes. Yeah. Sorry. I just. I don't. Yes. A lot of things to talk about somewhere other than a bar." Zoey gathers her wits about her again, offers a grateful smile to the people offering to help, nods a couple of times, and reaches up to touch something tucked under her shirt. "I think I need at least one drink. At least. I don't usually like to get drunk, but this might be the night for it, right?" She shakes her head, and the shake seems to turn into a shiver down the length of her body. "A table is a good idea, too. I don't care what I get to drink, really. A second of whatever you get for yourself? You can have them put your drinks on my tab."
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