[RPG] Stargazer

Ed was still coming out of his delirium, and didnt take much notice of Jane's little flashback. He smiled, the dread wearing off finally. With a bit of concentration, he spoke again.

"Hello again. I'm Edward Gallium. Jus' call me Ed, k?"

He reached out and shook her hand. He didn't even pay notice to the fact his burnt knuckle was shining. Again, he was entranced by her.

She looked down at his hand, noticing the scar and was about to speak when her cell phone went off.
“Excuse me, please.” She said letting go of his hand. She didn’t want to but this was important.

She moved to a discreet corner of the hall and answered.
“Hello?”
“Are you there?” the person on the other line hissed.
“Yes. Do you have the info?”
“Not yet. Your clients are getting…nervous.”
“I hate customers like that. If they want the job well done then they better forget their insecurities. They shouldn’t hire me if they don’t know what they want.”
“I think they might decide soon though. I’ll call you.”
“Okay.” She replied, hanging up.

Walking back to Ed she put her arm into his.
“To the bar?” she asked, completely forgetting about the burn.

" You wouldn't mind if I had an effect on you on purpose?" Arial asked. Crimson's hand felt warm in hers. With him, Arial felt a sense of belonging, not like she had felt before. She had people that cared about her like Ed and Scarlette, but something was different about Crimson. He made her feel special, like someone loved. Could Crimson possibly love her? No way. He doesn't really even know her. Arial tried to disperce the thoughts from her mind. Crimson was just a friend to her. Wasn't he? She wasn't even sure anymore. The way his blonde hair fell in front of his eyes gave her butterflies in her stomach. When he said nice things to her, her heart would skip a beat.Could this guy really like her for who she was?


Arial was somewhat oblivious to that fact that her break was to end soon.Out of the corner of her eye she could tell something was realy going on with Jane, Ed, and Scarlette. A love triangle perhaps. But in Arial's heart, she knew something else was bothering Scarlette. Arial was for the most part oblivious to what was happening since she met Crimson. It wasn't like Arial to not notice things going on in the bar, the place she called home.

"Since you don't mind me, having an effect on you, maybe you won't mind if I do this." Arial said smiling. She leaned forward and kissed Crimson. At first she didn't realize what she was doing. She had done it on impulse, but after the first 5 seconds, she started to relax a little. This was another actiaon that Arial wouldn't normally do. What going on with her. Was she experiancing love for the first time?

"Uhh..sure."

He walked with Jane back to the bar, feeling rather akward. With a slight effort he smiled at her and led them to his usual spot.

It was almost always void of others. Today was no exception.

"So what was that call about?"

"Work." she answered calmly. She noticed his change of attitude.
"Are you okay? I hope I didn't embarrass you."

"Oh its not that...I," he hesitated for a moment before finding the right words,
"I-I guess I'm just not used to this."

His relationships were trainwrecks in a populated area. So terribly gruesome and grueling you want to look away, yet some sick desire keeps your eyes peeled. Lack of faith it was. Thats why an old friend of his found it ironic he was a guy whose job was built of leeching off faith. The same guy was killed in a violent robbery.


Thoughts set off more thoughts, and the chain reaction caused his eyes to just stare off.


"So what kinda' work do you do?"

Jane didn't panic when he asked her the question. She was used to that. Instead she just looked at him and smiled.
"It's one of those business jobs. You know the ones that require you to travel. I get calls from clients all of the world. It's just a lot of meaningless business really." she paused. What else was she supposed to say? In effort to try to change the subject she asked, "What about you? No, wait. Let me guess. Gambler and dealer. Am I right?"

She glanced around the room, looking at the bartender, the man she was talking to, Scarlett, the piano player,...everyone. Someone in this room was going to die to day...and they didn't even know it.
A smile curled on her lips and she giggled.

"Yeah. I'm addicted to risk. Money's good. It just has a habit of coming in and out of my hands quicker than I notice. And theres the occaisional contract I'm the subject of."

He laughed a bit. A minute ago he was flipping out over it now he was joking. But there he was now, back in the normal daze of which he didnt like to get out of.

"So, what brought you here? Jus' stumbled in like the rest of us?"

She laughed a little.
"I came here to kill someone." she said calmly.
After a long pause to allow him to soak it in, she continued.
"I'm kidding. Yeah, I just fell in...like the rest of them." she lied.

A thought that had been nudging her finally reached her mind.
'What if it's Ed?'
"No." she whispered. Ed was too nice, too sweet to be caught up in mess like this. Yeah, he was a gambler but it just didn't seem to fit but...maybe...

Her phone rang. Unconsciously she answered it.
"Hello?"
"We have a lead."
She hung it up abruptly.
'God! What the hell did I do that for?'
It started to ring again, and again, and again.
"I guess I should take this." she said, smiling at Ed.

"Alright...just don't go plotting on killing Arial. She controls the drinks!"

Ed was a bit confused at her initial statement, but shrugged and laughed it off. When Jane stepped away, the one universal thought of "Whats your purpose" popped into his head.

To serve and perfect. To swerve and defect. To curve and perfect? Heh. Nah. Just another guy, doing a bad job, digging his own grave, hellbound. With a heavy revolver!

He called for another drink while Jane took her call.

She answered the phone.
"Sorry, Deadman."
"No, prob. I could here the activity behind you." she nodded, acting as if he was there.
"Well, we have a lead. Guy goes by Ed Gallium. Has a burn mark." Deadman said on the other line. She bit her lip.
"That all." she replied, tears in her voice.
"Yeah, might give us more later...you better not be backing out."
"No. I'm not." she hung up the phone and walk back out looking like she had seen a ghost.
'I can't do it.' she thought, 'I can't.'

She sat back down beside him, silently. What could she say to the man that she was going to kill and the man whom she had feelings for?

Edward looked at Jane. Putting 1 and 1 together, he asked a perfectly expected question with a perfectly normal answer.

"Trouble with your work?"

He casually streched his back and neck.

"They fire you? Deadline shortened? Overworking now?"

Smiling, he clapped his hand together.

"You there, Jane?"

When she kissed him, Crimson put one hand behind Arial's back, and drew her close, while his other hand ran through her hair. At first she kissed him very hard -- it was crazy -- but then, love always is. After a few moments, her lips went soft, and slowly drew away from him. He looked at her, with her red hair that threatened at any moment to catch fire, that was melting him, even as the fire inside him that had been there for so long flared, threatenning to melt him from the inside out as he held onto this creature, this girl, who seemed about to melt him from the outside in.

Behind her he could see the bar, the room, the stage. But in front of him was Arial, looking at him uncertainly. So he kissed her again, to let her know what things a kiss may tell. And then he spoke to her, very quietly.

"How much longer is your shift?" he asked, at first speaking with that kind of calm warmth that was so typical of him. "I know this great little place ..." And then something happened that made Arial shiver. It was like being out after a winter storm, when the wind comes up, and shakes some snow out of the trees, and you don't know if it was only the wind, or if it's really about to start snowing again. "Look", he said, still gentle, but very serious, "I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me. I'm not trying to pick you up --"

Arial frowned at him.

"Okay, I am trying to pick you up", he said, touching her cheek, forcing himself to continue talking instead of kissing her yet again. "It's just --" He looked around the room suspiciously, "Something very bad is getting ready to happen in here. I can't explain how I know that, but I do. And I'd just as soon not be here when it does. But I REALLY don't want you to be here when it does, because I can't stand the thought of anything happening to you. So do you think we could get out of here?"

Jane heard Ed call her name. His voice, so beautiful, sounded so far away. She wanted to be where it was but she couldn't- she was lost.

The only person Jane could never break the code to was herself. She could explain who everyone was and why they did things- even a mime-but never herself. That's why she didn't understand that feeling she felt in the pit of her stomach telling her that she couldn't kill the man next to her. Never in her career had she felt that way. So long ago when she first accepted the job, she had learned how to detach herself from it, but now she couldn't.

It couldn't be love, could it? She had been in love once and had killed him when she was assigned to...even if he was her fiancee. Looking at her ring finger she remembered that night- she remebered throwing the ring in the Pacific Ocean as the boat sped away from the mansion that had once been her home. She was in love then, right?

The feeling didn't go away as the flashback faded but she denied it and hid it deep in her mind.
'I'll do it.'

She regained herself and grabbed Ed's hand, shaking. Looking out the window, she didn't look at him. If she did it would ruin everything.
"Look at the full moon, Ed. Doesn't it look especially beautiful tonight." she stated as her voice cracked, "Let's go outside and look at it. Please, Ed."

Not even Gallium was dense enough to ignore that something was bothering Jane profoundly. He took this enigmatic young woman out of the Stargazer, and into the moonlight. The streetlights about were old and faulty, on some nights they didnt even turn on at all. A few still flickered on.

"Wow. It's really something tonight isn't it?"

The moon was bright, and illuminated the surrounding landscape with its bizzare pale reflection of the sun. He let go of her hand and cracked his knuckles, just staring at the bright disc in the sky. His index knuckle started bothering him, so he started gnawing on it. It was probably why the scar never went away. The burn and the habit.

When he realized what he was doing he quickly just rubbed it on his jacket and turned back to Jane, grabbing her hands and trying to look her in the eyes.

"Tell me. Whats wrong?"

A flicker of Scarlett past flame creeped up her face. She smiled slyly at Crimson and Arial. "Arial...little Arial...I can't get over it!" She thought whilst glancing at them, a silent witness to the romantic exchange. For a fleeting moment Scarlett was unpreoccupied about the numerous problems plauging her as she listened to the silent melody of love once again. Suddenly she regained her conciousness realizing that Ed was no longer perched up against the bar chugging down a cool beer and that Jane had vanished as well. There was something chilling about not seeing Ed there, something was going to go down.

Suddenly ideas began to accumulate in her brain. Jane...mentioned something to her in the bathroom. Scarlett's alcohol induced brain was hardly functioning properly enough to analyze it but there was something...odd...about Jane. "Come to think of it," She leaned back into her seat and lit another ciggarette, " It's almost as if she was here on purpose." Scarlett analyzed the situation cooly with a smile budding on the sides of her mouth. Jane's piano rendition, Scarlett didn't pretend to know what it was titled or who the composer was but she knew for a fact that any person who could play the piano with such ease and from memory was no simple wanderer. Jane didn't just 'stumble' in she had come for something else. Scarlett didn't know what...which always made her feel on edge.

Jane stared into his eyes but she didn’t say anything. Her mouth would open from time to time as if she had something on the tip of her tongue but it wouldn’t come out. Finally, she turned towards the stars.
“Look at them, Ed. Do you see them- the stars? So many, yet they are just one tiny speck in a vast galaxy. When one goes away do you notice? No. There are too many to care and they all look the same but…there are those special stars. Take Polaris for instance. You can pick it out of all the other stars because…it’s special- different.” She looked back into his eyes and squeezed his hands tighter. She was about to do something so out of character but…it felt so right.

She kissed him.

He took the kiss. At that point his mind was in overdrive, thinking of every possible outcome, escape routes, killing methods, how to play blackjack, etc.

Then it dawned on him. He could he have missed it? She even told him, even if it was in a joking manner. Ya would think after the second I would learn to recognize them.

He returned the kiss with a bit less enthusiasim than it was given with. Only a tad bit less, of course. She deserved this much at least. His hands moved with the gained finesse of a fast card player and grabbed Jane's head. Pulling her back from him and staring straight into her eyes, he said:

"They are one speck. But without all the specks it would be rather pointless to star at the sky, wouldn't it? If each of the smaller ones died out, what then? Stargazing would loose its beauty wouldnt it?"

With a sigh, he threw back his neck to strech it and looked back down at Jane.

"Your here to blink me out? Like one of those tiny stars up there, that no one realizes is dead until well after it is?"

He pulled out his revolver and dumped all the ammunition out, save one bullet. Taking a step back, he spun the barrels and took aim.

"You like risks, Jane? Feeling lucky tonight? Well lets see how lucky you really are."

Ed pulled the trigger.

Arial was on a cloud 9 at that moment. When crimson returned her kiss, it sent a weird feeling thorugh her entire body. Kind of like a surge of electricity.When She pulled away she looked deep into his eyes knowing there was something there. Knowing this was right.


"My shift should end in about...." Arial says looking down at her watch. Her break was way over anyway. " I still have an hour left in my shift." She said unhapilly. She was about to get up and continue working,Crimson had something to tell her.

"Something bad is getting ready to happen. I don't want you here when it happens." He said talking to her in a hushed voice. Arial knew he was concerned about her, but what bad could happen here? "I would leave with you rgiht now in a heart beat. But if sometihng bad is going to happen, why just tell me? Shouldn't everyone else know?" She said moving her hair out of her face and slipping her glasses back on. " I'm ont as important as everyone else here. Others should know so they can leave too, right?"

"I need to get out of here." Scarlett said bitterly between plumes of white smoke from her cigarette. She always admired the way the smoke seemed to cling to the air, almost mimicking the clouds of the afternoon sky. Although she very rarely saw a clear blue sky, the times when she was arroused from her slumber a little eariler than custom she would catch the fat white clouds floating in that endless blue and lose herself completely.

Scarlett stood from her seat leaving a big tip for Arial on the table, along with a note..."I knew you had it in you, Kiddo!" meant to be congradulatory and it would most likely provoke Arial to blush. Even then Arial knew that nothing was a secret at the 'Stargazer'. Scarlett vanished out the door...more quietly than she had entered...and slightly drunker.