[ action | open ] ain't into metal, just leather and lace and the taste of oxidation

[black_black_heart]

Who: Tannusen and whoever!
What: Planned threads: Telsen gets a job, Bracken meets a tiger. Other shenanigans also welcome!
When: After the cure's out for the Quiet Minds event. Tannu was... occupied, during that.
Where: Genessia City - Velvet Lust (Please read that link if you're gonna tag in!)
Warnings: Will add if any are needed.

Tannusen arrived at his bar before the sun began to go down, taking chairs down off of tables downstairs, prepping the first batch of steaks, and stocking the bar with freshly-cleaned glassware from the kitchen. For the first time in a while, he stayed behind the bar when the sun went down and the 'open' sign flickered to life, instead of retreating upstairs or completely ducking out of sight.

He was under no obligation to stay there, of course, but the regular bartender certainly didn't mind the help as the usual crowd started to trickle in. The boss had been scarce, lately; perhaps things were returning to normal, now. Besides, Tannusen never took anything from the tip jar. It was win-win!

Comments

[black_black_heart]

"Well, the original back in Toronto was already named that before it fell into neglect and shut down. I kept the name when I bought the place and fixed it back up, and again when I recreated it here."

One velvet-loving owner, right here!

"I find it useful, it scares off most of the people I wouldn't want in my bar to begin with."

And plenty more besides, but that was the price to pay.

[telsen]

"S'that so?" Telsen mulled that over in silence for a bit. Well, the name had drawn him in, so it was working. It was the only bar he knew about so far so it'd keep his business unless something got weird. It'd have to be pretty weird to drive him off.

"What's upstairs?" He pointed to the ceiling above.

[black_black_heart]

"The club part of Velvet Lust, Desire's Lounge," Tannusen smiled, "same story as the rest of the place, for the name. I'm sure your butterflies would be a hit, up there."

It was a massive, massive glamour-factory. To Fae eyes, the whole building was drenched in the stuff.

[telsen]

To not-quite-fae eyes, the place looked pretty normal. Telsen's ears flicked up in interest at the explanation all the same. He didn't go around in a tube top for the butterflies to not catch attention!

"Alright..." He pushed his empty glass at Tannusen with one finger, blue light reflecting off the ice. "I'll have one more and head up there."

[black_black_heart]

Tannusen poured him a refill, and saluted with it before handing it over. "Have fun up there."

Honestly, why didn't all Fae run places like this? So easy.

[telsen]

Telsen hopped up to do just that, after leaving a small pile of red bills, the cost of the drinks plus a generous tip.

-----

Turns out the sylvari was serious about becoming a regular at Velvet Lust. Adjusting to a new world was difficult, so he drowned out his anxiety with what the bar and club had to offer. Simple, not cheap, but simple. Mostly he'd kept away from Tannusen, he didn't want Trahearne to be brought up again. It wasn't worth the stress.

Today, however, he had a paper in hand and was on the lookout for Tannusen. His butterflies were covered this time, by a shirt that was comprised of sleeves, a lot of lace, and not much else. Shame had never really come up when it came to picking his clothing.

[black_black_heart]

Tannusen was easy enough to find; tonight he was upstairs, lounging around in his usual booth. The tiger rarely got more involved in the club than to observe it, other than the occasional visitor bringing the party right to his lap.

And at that point, it would just be rude to not partake.

[telsen]

Telsen was willing enough to join Tannusen in his booth but not for fun reasons tonight. Maybe for fun reasons tonight, after his main reason was dealt with. With that thought to drive him on, he paused by Tannusen's table and eyed the tiger with no small amount of interest. He had only had one drink before approaching him this time. He needed something to get himself to even talk to him about business.

"May I?"

[black_black_heart]

"Of course," Tannusen gestured at the bench seat across the table from himself, with the hand holding his own drink. Tea, of course. It was always, always tea. He was still taking up the entire bench he was on, leaning back against the wall with his elbow on the table.

His gaze flicked down to the paper Telsen was holding, curious, then back up to the sylvari's face.

[telsen]

Telsen was reconsidering the order of his plan for the night when he noticed the look at the paper. First thing should be the important one. He could argue that it was important on some level to get in Tannusen's pants but he wouldn't be coming by very often if he ran out of money.

The sylvari slid into the bench and set the paper down, face up. It was a job listing from the job agency in town. Simple and official look, pretty letterhead and all. It didn't look near neon or purple enough to pertain to Velvet Lust.

"I, mmm." Okay try again. "I wanted to ask about, well, you need a waiter and I'm going to be here anyway, so."

[black_black_heart]

Well, Telsen wouldn't have been the first person tonight to climb into Tannusen's lap and talk about whatever came up. But no, that wouldn't be very useful for the job situation.

The tiger watched Telsen over the top of his glasses like he knew exactly what the struggle was, here, and then he set his tea down. A gloved finger pinned the paper to the table and then dragged it over, so he could glance over at what it said. Upside-down, but he got the gist. It was a familiar ad, considering he'd written it.

"I... see," Tannusen pushed the paper back, and gave a slow and lazy smile. "So you're interested in the job? I assume you'd mostly want the upstairs."

Yes, he'd noticed Telsen's preferences.

[telsen]

Telsen's glow flared bright blue in a flush. He shouldn't be embarrassed by that, it was pretty obvious. Instead of going straight to picking at his skin, he just rubbed the back of his hand, where several more scabs had appeared over the week.

"Mmm, well you were right about the butterflies. They're popular up here, it would be a benefit, I think." And, hey, he sure is visible. In the dimmer lighting of upstairs, his glow is always obvious.

"I wouldn't do anything irresponsible while working, either." An important disclaimer when it came to him.

[black_black_heart]

"Well, that was going to be one of my questions," Tannusen chuckled, watching Telsen with a peculiar seriousness that was totally at odds with his casual body language. "I don't see why not, then. I need a waiter, you need a job. And you do seem to like the place."

That was important, too. Tannu wouldn't hire someone who didn't at least somewhat like the place! There was no point in having someone around who was a nervous wreck about the nature of the establishment. "You know if someone harasses you and you don't like it, we have security."

Okay, so it was a little more present in his mind than usual, after throwing Bryant off the roof the other day. Sue him.

[telsen]

Telsen shifted around on the bench and his nails dug into the bark, he couldn't help himself when he was this nervous. It took a lot out of him to hide what he could in his expression.

"I do like the place. A lot, yeah." He glanced around, a bit wistful. It'd be easier not to think too much if he was out having fun.

"Uh, security? The woman down at the front door?" Telsen was pretty sure that was a woman and that she was terrifying. "I can defend myself too if I need to but, um, it's easier just to ask for security. I'll keep that in mind.

[black_black_heart]

"Yes, and she loves her job," Tannusen chuckled. Enthusiastic violence was great, wasn't it? "So, I suppose you have a job here now. Start tomorrow night?"

[telsen]

Telsen laughed nervously. Yes, yes she did. At least she was having fun and kept the place pretty safe, as long as you didn't give her reason to lay a hand on you.

"Yes. Yes! I can start tomorrow night. Oh, um, do I need a uniform? I don't have many clothes..." It was pretty hard to find clothes for someone so tall and thin, especially "women's" clothing. Such a hassle, he needed to find a decent tailor.

[black_black_heart]

"No uniform," the tiger laughed, too. "Have you seen my staff? Tektite looks like a rainbow vomited on her, and Deadpool is in scalp-to-toe leather."

Probably with pretty dresses on top, sometimes.

[telsen]

Pretty dresses was something Telsen was plenty interested in. Leather was alright but dresses were far more comfortable. Less of a pain to get out of too. He'd build his own collection in time.

"Good." He'd be more noticeable in his usual clothing anyway. "...So that's business done?"

[black_black_heart]

Well... good, skirts meant easy access! Tannusen smiled, slow and lazy, "I suppose it is."

[telsen]

Telsen wasted no time changing the tone of this meeting. He slipped out of the booth and onto Tannusen's bench, scooting close to the tiger and leaning back to get comfortable.

"Good, this side is better," he said as he moved a leg close enough to almost touch Tannusen's. No touching unless he was allowed. He wasn't going to be a jerk.

Directly around him one could feel the air was slightly different. Like a fresh breeze without any movement.

[black_black_heart]

Tannusen's eyebrows went up a little, but it was mostly for effect. He wasn't part-ic-ularly surprised to have the sylvari join him on his bench.

"So, how many drinks have you had this time?" he asked, before taking a sip of his tea. Always tea, because no one wanted a drunk Tannusen -- including Tannusen.

[telsen]

Telsen tilted his head, a faint frown on his lips. Aw, was that really fair to ask? He was stuttering too much earlier to be that drunk!

"Only one," he answered truthfully. "Not enough to be impaired in any fashion."

His hand twitched, he really did want to get a bit closer...

[black_black_heart]

Tannusen smiled, slow and lazy, and reached out with a gloved hand to take Telsen's twitching fingers and draw him in closer. See? Easy.

In so many ways.