[RPG] Stargazer

Jane’s attention was diverted the instant she sat down next to Ed. A strange character entered afterwards. His eyes looked on fire as well as his hair. He was covered in weapons.

Ed whispered something in her ear and her attention was brought back to him. She looked at where his hand was in his coat pocket and she saw the flicker of metal. She was somewhat surprised. She didn’t think him to be the type to carry a gun around. All of her years of studying people and she failed slightly. We can’t win them all can we?

She looked at him dead straight in the eyes and saw a hint of fear and a gallon of courage. He had tensed up too. Looking again at his concealed weapon she laid a gentle hand on his and smiled. She leaned forward to his ear and her cheek gently brushed his, “Do you like music?” she whispered. She didn’t wait for a reply but gracefully walked towards the piano.
“Excuse me.” She said to the piano player, “Would you mind if a played a little something?” he eagerly accepted saying that he needed a break.

She sat down on the bench and looked up and down the piano at the glorious ivory keys. She took a second to think of what to play and picked the perfect piece. Waltz No. 7 in C Sharp Minor composed by Chopin.

Scarlett had just finished her favorite song when she noticed the newcomer aproach Kurt with an eagerness that made Scarlett feel nervous...but simultaneously she was intrigued by the woman's command of the piano. It was the most beautiful and unusual thing she had ever heard. Scarlett wasn't as worldly as she seemed so she had never heard a classical piece in her life beyond those old songs that were played in the bars she frequented. Graciously Scarlett took a small bow seeing as how the crowd seemed to be entranced by the young woman. "Looks like the stage is yours,kid." She tried to say as graciously as possible, Scarlett wasn't a hostle woman and she didn't want to give that impression but she had seen her command the audience and unconciously Scarlett felt like something was taken from her and she wasn't at all at ease.

She vanished from the stage, quietly for the first time in her career. It was an unfamiliar sound to Scarlett the hush of the crowds as she left. But the roar was replaced with beautiful music and to Scarlett there was nothing that meant more to her than beautiful music so it wasn't that bad. She caught a good look at the newcomer. Jane was beautiful. The sort of beauty that came from the heart and the type of beauty that always was elusive to Scarlett because Scarlett's heart was frigid. In fact that newcomer, Jane reminded Scarlett of herself in her eariler years. Then a warm feeling came over Scarlett...she remembered her first visit to the "Stargazer" but she wasn't given such a warm greeting...at least not from the women.

She retreated back to her dressing room and took her shoes off. She flung them towards the mirror. She draped her boa across the floor and took a good look at her face in the mirror. She changed into a purple knee length dress and brushed a cheery red lip gloss across her mouth. In her hurry to get dress she hadn't noticed that she wasn't alone.

"Looks like they're putting a new marquee up." A voice in said in dark mockery.
"So...it's not like I can't find something else to do."Scarlett replied not caring who it was.
"You mean *someone* else to do." He sneered.
"Why don't you shut up before I shut that mouth for you!" Scarlett was now both miserable and boiling over in anger. This man and her had a shady history. His name was Vincent Vale and he was the "collector".
"How long are you going to keep it up Scarlett? One...two years? I don't think they are going to keep you that long. A whore like you they can find in the red-light district."
"You know why I do it better than anybody."
"Yeah...that brat of yours...don't worry Scar, he's still alive. Tommy wouldn't let anything happen to his boy. Where's the cash?"
"Here," Scarlett held out a small roll of hundreds," Count it...it's there."
"Good...very nice." He sneered and tugged playfully on her cheek,"See ya soon toots."
"Just get the hell out of here." She demanded.

Scarlett was a woman who appeared from out of thin air...much like Jane had done that night but brought with her a heavy past. She only prayed that Jane wouldn't be the same.Scarlett seemed so blissfully aloof so unwittingly happy with who she was that no one suspected the one thing that haunted her she had a son and he was unmercifully taken from her.

Ed was entranced by Jane's song. It put him in a dreamy state, as he imagined Scarlett and him dancing to the song. Him in a fine suit and her in a beautiful dress. Such were the things of fairytales, the voice of logic in his head said.
Hushing that voice, he closed his eyes and let his imagination spin him impossible tales.

But then he realized something. It wasn't Scarlett. It was Jane.

"Heh. Guess my hearts that flimsy. Meant to fall for every pretty young woman that passes me."

He smiled to himself as he drank some more. Scarlett was gone from his thoughts now. He hadn't even noticed as she slipped away. Between the man who was carrying enough to murder everyone in the bar, and the woman who was playing marvelously, there was little room in his thoughts for pointless flames.

"Hey Arial, gimme some more of that lemonade," he said as he put down his beer.
"I think its about time I stopped drinking this stuff."

Scarlett walked out towards the bar where she had entered before. The same gentlemen was sitting entranced ( or possibly drunk) listening to the beautiful sound that was pulsating through Old Kurt's piano.

"Juice me, Arial." Scarlett said in a stupor almost as if the events of the evening had never happened...but they did and she wanted nothing more than to get drunk.

X took a drink out of the bottle of vodka and looked at a man staring at him. Ed was his name, at least, that's what X thought he may have heard. He smiled at the man, "Don't be scared by my looks and my bouncing. I really try to be a nice guy."

X held out his right hand, gesturing for a handshake, "My name is X-13, but you can call me X. It's shorter and doesn't sound like a project num--"

X cut himself off, because it was reminding him of something he didn't really want to remember. Even still, he politely held out his hand. He merely wanted to make friends with people. And protect them.

Crimson looked back at Arial with a pair of hazel eyes of his own. His white suede jacket had a hint of texture to it, that in the soft light of the bar looked like new fallen snow. But his green eyes held a promise of spring, and they looked at Arial as she looked at him.

"Are you all right?", he asked, standing up to help her.

" Oh no. I'm fine sir." Arial said as he helped her stand up. She could tell something was rather special about this gentleman. He looked very handsome is his suite. Arial looked down at her pants. The customer that had tripped her, had also dumped a icy cold drink on her. Arial ran her fingers through her hair. That's when she realized she didn't have her glasses on. Arial's face turned bright red. " Ah....... excuse me......" She said turning around and running to the bar. She slightly pushed edward out of then snatched her glasses. She quickly put them on and ran to the back end of the bar, where Scarlette would change for her performances. Arial sat back there for a very long time. She was so embarrased, she even cried a little.



Arial emerged from the changing room. She had changed into a long, black gypsy skirt. She also changed into a longsleeved black top. She kept her head down. She walked behind the bar, gave Scarlette and Edward their drinks. After that, she walkefd back over to Crimson's table. She still had her head down." Can I get you anything, sir?"

Crimson was very disappointed when Arial ran away, and even more disappointed when she had not returned after several minutes, but he could tell that she was shy, especially when it came to her glasses, so he did not take any offense from it. Besides, he had a little something to take care of . . .

Mr. Winters got up out of his seat, and walked back to the restrooms, where he stood in the hall with his cell phone, pretending to make a call. However, he did not make a call. Instead, he held the phone to his ear while scanning the crowd, waiting for just the right moment, when everyone would be watching the stage. He did not have to wait long. Jane, with her blond and red hair going all different directions and her bracelets and her piano playing -- which wasn't too shabby, and Crimson was picky about the piano -- was putting on quite a show. Usually Crimson didn't like people who seemed to go out of their way to get attention, but in this case, he didn't mind. Jane made an excellent distraction.

He waited until the music was building, then stepped out of the hall. With careful, almost painful precision, he moved across the floor, timing everything, his steps, his motions as he took the phone away from his ear, folding it with one hand, then reaching inside his jacket to put it away -- all so that he wound up behind the jerk who had tripped Arial. Just in time for the crescendo.

The sapp came out of Crimson's coat pocket in a graceful arc -- the path it travelled was actually a moulinet, if one cares for such things. The guy getting hit with it probably did not care, but then, he wasn't in a position to be caring about much of anything. The sapp struck the back of his head with an almost imperceptible thump. He slumped slightly, then slowly pitched forward. Crimson caught the back of his shirt to keep him from banging his head against the table, and slowly eased him to the floor.

"Whoa -- looks like someone's ready to be cut off," he said, just in case anyone had taken notice. Then he sat back down.

"Can I get you anything, sir?"

What a question. Crimson looked at her for a moment, taking in her unexpected new appearance. The glasses were back, but it was too late for that now; he'd seen the girl who lived behind them. It was a little like having a shy friend who only ever wore loose, baggy clothes, and then one day unexpectedly seeing her in a bathing suit. That's how it was when Crimson looked at Arial. It wasn't shameful, or lecherous. He was just a little embarassed, because he knew he'd seen something most people never got to see, and he wanted to keep this secret very carefully.

"I could use another sapphire martini", he said, speaking very slowly, hoping that she would read between the lines. "And you don't have to call me sir."

Jane never really had to pay attention to her playing when it was this song- her favorite. That’s how she was able to take notice of the man with the cell phone making a call. Actually he wasn’t making one at all but instead examining the entire room. From years of people watching herself she knew quite well when she was being watched. She followed his motions as he moved towards a man and then the rest was history.

The song finally ended and she continued to sit at the piano. Glancing up she realized that everyone was looking at her and a slight blush formed on her face. She hated when too many people took too much notice of her playing because she always felt flaws in it. Admiring their faces to note their reactions only made the blush more intense. The man who she had observed before seemed to feel that she was doing it all for attention as well as a few others, which wasn’t true. She hadn’t played a piano since China which had been quite a few weeks ago. What did it matter to them though? They weren’t going to think about the broad spectrum idea of the matter because they didn’t really give a damn just like at her first and last recital. She had gotten so nervous and messed up her piece entirely. Everyone either laughed at her or looked at her in disgust, assuming she hadn’t practiced it at all when of course that wasn’t true. She had known her song backwards and forewords. Did they care to think of that though?

She continued to sit there, hiding herself from the mob of people. When the applause died down she quickly rose and went to the bathroom. Looking at her reflection in the mirror she splashed water on her face, which calmed her a little. She thought she was going to throw up.

Ed looked at X cautiously before shaking his hand. "I'm Ed."

Then he listened and watch in a daze until Jane finished her song, and he applauded slightly. He never made it a habit to do it loudly. As she went out of sight, he was surprised. Arial looked stunning. He made an involuntary jerk backwards that almost caused him to fall over.

"Whoa. The sights get better and better every minute."

He laughed in that fashion of his and noticed Scarlett looked very disconcerted. If it were any other woman, he would have asked why. But in her case, a sense of dread formed in his stomach and spread thoughout his body.

Arial nodded. She looked up at Crimson and walked back to the bar to fix his drink. She looked at the clock sitting on the wall. " Yay, my break." She muttered to herself. She walked back over to Crimson's table, sat the drink and sat down with him. "Why didn't you say anything when my glasses weren't on my face?" She asked fiddling with her sleeve. " I'm not pretty, so why just kep your mouth closed? I mean be hoenst with me...." She said taking her glasses off and pulling her hair out of her face. " Am I pretty?" She asked looking at him with hazel eyes.

Scarlett in the stupor caused by the rapidly circling emotions within her caught just at the edge of her vision two things. One was that Jane, the new blonde in the bar as opposed the basking in the welcome of the crowd had scurried to the restroom and secondly that she had been caught herself in a sorry state by her admirer, Ed, and that she was for the first time in what seemed like an eternity; humiliated. Humiliated for not holding her head up, for not staying on the stage and most of all because she had run away. She stood to her feet on this note and on an irrational impulse followed Jane into the bathroom.

With her wide mouthed glass in hand she sauntered in cooly. The hot red shade she wore almost cooled on her lips against her ivory skin. Warm brown eyes hardened into a hard unfeeling stare. She sipped her beverage and set in down. The glass clicked against the marble countertop. She elegantly pulled out a smoke from her purse lit it and touched it her her lips.

"You did good, kid." Scarlett uttered but there wasn't even the smallest inkling of a compliment in her voice. It was almost as if Scarlett was stating a fact that she had to accept. "What brings you to the Stargazer?"

If Arial had hung around much longer, there might not have been a mister Winters anymore -- he just might melt. His hair, which had been so neatly combed back and to the side, had already started to slump forward, in front of his face, where it really did seem to suggest the slow thaw of something that had been frozen for a very long time.

He took a deep breath, trying to get bit of air, but instead he got a deep whiff of Arial's perfume, which was lingering in the place where she had been, and he was melting again, so he took another breath and fanned himself with one lapel of his jacket. After he'd recovered a bit, he took a good look around. Ed was talking with the very large gentleman in black with red and black hair, which was something of a relief. Crimson didn't really dislike men like X. They could certainly be good to have around. But they could also be very dangerous. It doesn't take a lot of thinking to figure out how a big guy with a lot of swords and guns and a very strong will to help people -- whether they want to be helped or not -- can be trouble, and Mr. Winters spent a few extra moments analysing the position of X's swords, noting the angles from which they might be drawn, as well as the various bulges inside his coat. He decided that if that coat ever came open in a hurry,, that was a lot of trouble indeed, and he meant to be careful about it. But for all that, X seemed to be all right.

A very different Scarlett was standing under a sign that read, "Staff Only", where she'd half emerged from the hall. Crimson smiled softly at her. He had not liked the way Scarlett had acted before, but he couldn't help but feel bad for her now. The woman who'd stolen the spotlight, Jane, didn't seem to be doing much better. For someone who seemed to go out of her way to attract attention, Jane didn't seem to be very happy about getting it. She looked like she wanted to hide, and after a few moments, got up and ran away. Then, a moment later, Scarlett followed. And here he'd been thinking that X might be trouble. And speaking of trouble...

"Why didn't you say anything when my glasses weren't on my face?", Arial asked, as she fiddled with her sleeve. 'I'm not pretty', she went on, 'So why just keep your mouth closed? I mean, be honest with me,' and here she took her glasses off again, and pulled her hair out of her face, 'Am I pretty?"

Crimson took a sip of his martini. There's a special talent to making a martini. The recipe is deceptively simple, just gin and vermouth, in certain proportions. The whole shaken or stirred thing is just for the movies. In fact, you're usually better off not ordering a shaken martini, because half the time you get some well meaning kid who's not too sure what he's doing because nobody drinks martinis these days, and he shakes the heck out of it, which melts the ice, and then you get a glass of gin, vermouth, and water, and that's no good. But Arial's martinis were perfect. Crimson only ever drank sapphire martinis. A lot of people said that tanquery was better, that is was crisper, colder, but he preferred the sapphire. It had a very subtle taste that was more complicated, more involved.

"You're beautiful."

" Your beautiful"
If Arial had heard correctly, she just heard Crimson say she was beautiful. At that moment, in her mind, she was in a state of shock. Arial couldn't beilive someone had said that to her. Especially a handsome, kind, and hezel-eyed man like Crimson. Arial let her hair fall back in front of her face.
" Does he like me or is he just being nice?" Arial wondered. She placed her glasses on the table in between her and Crimson. She looked at him carefully, examining his face. In his eyes she could tell that something was going on in his mind. She smiled at him. " You know, your a very sweet guy," she said moving his hair out of his face, " Nobody has ever told me that before. Well, I mean I've been told I'm beautiful, but when they said it, they didn't mean it. I think your being honest." She said and placed her hand on his his. Arial's heart was beating a million times a second. She wondered what he would say. Would he laugh at her and just joke about it, say he was just bein polite? Arial placed her hand on the side of his face. " Thanks for being so nice to me. I guess I had an effect on you, eh? I've been known to do that. Not on purpose though. What can I say? I'm just nice." She said smiling.

Ed continued draining his drink, but the sense of dread didnt leave him. His dealings always brought some people grudges agaisnt him. Nothing serious usually. As per keeping the people satiated, he gave out a few "good deals" every once in a while as bait, then letting them go on their own skill and luck.

You can assume some of the more unstable and dangerous clients get irritated. But he did what was needed for the money. All for the money. So far, there had been 4 attempts on his life. With varying amounts of killers. And the occaisional gang ups after a big roller dumps all his money on his table ended up making him a crack shot.

He could dispatch even the most armored thugs. His handgun made sure of that.

The scruffy guy finally got away from the bar and went toward the back, the dread stronger. He lunged into the bathroom and doused his face with water.

"Calm down man..."

He tripped as he exited, and just arranged himself so he was sitting at the farthest back wall.

"No one's after you tonight. Just get up.."

Jane was still crouched over the sink, water dripping from her face when Scarlett entered.
"You did good, kid." Scarlett proclaimed, though she didn’t sound as if she was complimenting her, “What brings you to the Stargazer?"
Grabbing a paper towel she wiped off her face and looked up at her from the sink.
“What brings me here?” she mimicked, her voice innocent yet with a hint of something else.
“Would you ever believe that I enjoy watching people, studying their every move? It is like a hobby. I have done it since I was a little girl. I know why one person does one thing and why another does something else. Of course…that’s not the real reason…but you wouldn’t be interested in that.” She answered, as she prepared herself to face the world again. She had wanted to stay for a little while longer but not with Scarlett in there too.

Exiting the restroom she saw Ed on the floor. A blush formed yet again on her face and she offered her hand politely.
“You okay?”

Ed looked up. He might have thrown up right there, but thankfully his stomach kept a bit stable. Your sitting on the dirty floor. You feel like you just swallowed hot sick. And now a beautiful womans looking at you. Speak!

"I'm ok. I just needed to...get away. Pressure gets to me every once in a while."

He took her hand yet by his own force lifted his own body up. A thought rang out in his mind that he might pull her down..and the last thing he would want right now is for Jane to be hurt.

Oh my. I've only seen her for short while and I'm already in love.

"Thanks."

He smiled a small(but undeniably sincere) smile.

"You played well. Bet Scarlett's felt a bit off that someone stole her thunder."

"Stole whose thunder?" Scarlett thought bitterly as she overheard Ed speak to Jane, however while the idea of uttering a few words to him hovered over her head they just seemed to fall flat. Her jaw hung nearly unhinged to hear such a thing...but Scarlett knew that it was true. That Jane with her youthfulness and innocence had intoxicated the hearts of every eligible man in the bar in a way that Scarlett with her blantant sexuality had never been able to achieve. Scarlett wasn't a heartless creature but she gave a good impression of it and up till now it's what she thought drew the crowds in, but perhaps it wasn't this harsh attitude at all that attracted men or audiences it was the flame of youth that used to sparkle within Scarlett's brown eyes that warranted such attention. She had lost it. She had lost it and it was then recovered by a stranger; a younger, more beautiful, stranger.

Scarlett strode away from the bar and perched herself on an empty table reflecting on what the young woman had told her in the bathroom. It was perhaps too deep for a woman like Scarlett to fully comprehend however she was intriged...Jane had said that she " watched people". "If that was true" thought Scarlett,"I wonder if she could tell me why I do the things I do..."

Scarlett glanced at Arial and the man known as Crimson. Crimson was lost in Arial in the same way that Ed was lost in her...before Jane walked into the bar. It hurt Scarlett...and she didn't know why...that Ed was suddenly so absorbed in Jane. She never gave him a shot, but it was for the best...if he fell in love so quickly with any pretty little thing that just waltzed into his life he leave her at the drop of a hat. Scarlett was afraid of loving and losing....but it was mostly the "losing" was what she loathed. She in one night had recoiled into a pathetic creature. But any sadness she might have had at the thought of this was lessened by the sight of Arial and Crimson. She loved Arial like a sister and a sultry sense of pride filled her as she discreetly watched.

Scarlett couldn't help as the memories rushed back to her...she thought of her son. He hadn't been a part of her life, at least not enough for her to be able to miss him but suddenly she wanted to see her child again. Scarlett had forgotten how to love a man but she could never forget to love her child. Then inevitably she thought about Tommy...the loathsome man who stole her child. Who had promised her marriage as a lowly trick to bait her into handing over her baby. Every moment she thought of him calling someone else mother she shuddered in disgust. But when she was able to pay Tommy off she would finally have her son and they would leave the city and the Stargazer...forever.

"Oh really? And here I thought I was special," Crimson said, taking another sip of his martini, then setting it down off to the side. "You know," he said, taking hold of her hand, "if you ever did want to have an effect on me, on purpose I mean, well, let's just say I wouldn't mind."

Jane looked into his eyes, guilt entering hers for more than one reason.
“I hope she didn’t fell that way…I didn’t mean any harm. I just haven’t played for awhile. Since my visit to China which was two or three weeks ago.”

Jane began to reflect on the China visit. It wasn’t so much a vacation as it was a business trip and a rather difficult one at that. It took Plan C too work and Plan C was always her least favorite.
China…
“How have you been, beautiful?” Vince asked, as he opened the door to his penthouse apartment. He kissed her passionately on the lips. She didn’t return his gesture.
“Don’t. This isn’t the right time…”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Why don’t we go out to the balcony?” she requested, all too eagerly. He nodded in response as she grabbed his hand, pulling him towards the patio.
“What do you want to talk about?” he inquired as they finally arrived outside, the bitter wind giving him chills. She turned away from him, putting gloves on as she messed around in her coat slightly, so slightly that Vince didn’t even notice.
“Nothing.” She answered her voice sadistic. As she turned around the cold metal of a knife flashed in her hand. It disappeared sooner than it had emerged and was now lodged in his stomach. Blood darkened his shirt as the deep, lethal wound began its agonizing fatal job. He grabbed the knife, wincing in pain, blood dripping on his hands.
“What? Why?”
She cackled, staring at his draining body as it sunk to the ground, “You were nothing more to me than a job.” She knelt down beside him, smiling maliciously, “By the way, you won’t die quickly. A puncture to the stomach will take a while to have all of the acids enter into you, poisoning you from within. I think it is about fifteen minutes. You care to have one last smoke or something? Maybe pray a little begging God to forgive you for your sins.” She got up and began to leave before she stopped short, “Also, Mr. Lee sends his regards.” The man stared at her in disbelief.
“You’re an assassin?”
“You didn’t get that before?”

She snapped out of her flashback, walking back into the bathroom. She saw that Scarlett was still there.
“Hey…I’m sorry that I…um, that I played. I didn’t mean for you to…well, I’m sorry I ruined your show.” She apologized, quickly leaving the room when she had got her point across. Ed was still standing there outside. She smiled wickedly.
“How about we start back from the beginning…excluding interruption this time?” she asked, extending her hand, “My name is Jane James.”