On the Rocks [Mira/open]

[ABADDON]

"Whiskey, straight." Benjamin Colfax groaned the words as he practically melted into the stool at Flanagan's Pub. The young bar tender was a sight to behold, but the one behind him was even worse. Several chairs laid broken along with three glass mugs. Small specks of blood painted the floor sporadically and somewhere on the floor someone had lost a tooth. Benjamin was never one to get involved in bar brawls. Most of the time it was his job to diffuse any sort of situation like that before it escalated to that point. Tonight had just been the perfect combination of bad luck, poor timing, and some sort of hellish karma that only he could muster. Most nights Flanagan's was watched over by a sole bouncer.  A hefty Gifted named Issac who had a knack for scaring anyone straight who thought to cause trouble. Issac never called in, never took vacations, and was never late. So when the big man called and said he was taking a few weeks off to elope with his boyfriend the entire bar was caught by surprise. Flanagan had never thought to hire another bouncer in case Issac never showed and so he had only one choice. He called in the only bar tender he had that looked even moderately intimidating and that man was dear ol' Ben. Benjamin was hesitant to accept the job. He'd never worked as a bouncer and never wanted to, but he couldn't pass up the time and a half Flanagan had promised him. Benjamin turned his head back towards the scene of his brawl and sighed. "Dell, what're the chances Flanagan isn't gonna take that out of my paycheck?" 

"Not so good, Benny-boy. My brother's a right bastard. Maybe a drink on the house'll ease the pain in your pocketbook though?" Dell offered Benjamin a reassuring smile as she poured a liberal dose of Jack Daniels into a shot glass and passed it over to her coworker. Benjamin took the glass in hand and downed it in an instant, the fiery liquid scorching its way down his throat working to ease the pain that radiated from his limbs. At least, it would have if Benjamin had actually been hurt in the fight. Benjamin, or if he was going by his true name, Abaddon, scarcely had to worry about getting the shit kicked out of him in some barroom brawl. He was more upset than anything having lost out on the overtime that he was supposed to use to fix his truck's transmission. Not too many Daemons had to worry about such trivial manners but Abaddon had given up that right when he'd adopted the identity of Benjamin, well to do twenty something year old with a trouble streak. As he brought the glass down he caught sight of himself in the large mirror that lined the bar wall. His hair was tousled chaotically and the left sleeve of his flannel shirt was hanging on by a thread, revealing the black tee underneath. He didn't particularly look any worse for the wear. A strange occurrence considering the three other men left battered and bruised.


"So, is that your tooth layin' on my floor, Ben?" Dell asked casually, waving a dirty rag in it's general direction. Benjamin made a show of peeling back his lips and running a tongue over his teeth. He sucked his tongue back into his mouth with a wet pop before shaking his head.


"Can't say that it is. All mine are present and accounted for." Ben got up and scooped up the tooth, noticing that it was vaguely fang like. Shifter? He thought to himself as he appraised it in the light. He looked back at Dell and beamed. "Maybe if Issac doesn't come back and I keep this gig up I can start a collection." Benjamin half joked. There was no way in Hell that he was going to keep this bouncing thing up. He let out an internal sigh of relief when Dell responded. 


"Like Hell ya will. The whole point of being a bouncer is to stop trouble. Not cause it. You did more damage in one night than Issac did in five bloody years. Now, sit your ass down before you piss off any more of my clientele." Benjamin obeyed his boss's sister and plopped back down in his original spot. 


"Aren't bar tenders supposed to call rounds on the house when shit like this happens?" Ben asked, hoping to draw attention away from his mistakes and more so towards her's. 

"You're absolutely right. Hey everyone, next rounds free compliments of Flanagan's own knight in shinin' armor." Dell snickered as Benjamin's jaw dropped from his face. When Dell presented Ben with another shot he took it without thought, sure that he was paying for this one as well as the others she lined up. He sat the tooth to the side and inspected it. The three men that had been in here had seemed like a Shifter pack or at least part of one. He wondered if the fight had broken out because of some mood swing. There thoughts had been fuzzy, all full of rage and fury. He'd lucked out and been able to scare them off before any of them shifted and caused more trouble. He became lost in thought as he looked at the tooth, his thumb circling the rim of his glass.

[MIRABELLA]

"Ommpfh."

A grunt escaped the body as it thudded to the ground before her. A curious look crossed her features as she watched the rise and fall of his chest, and the groans it emitted from it's bloody mouth. It wasn't passed out yet, but in a few moments it would be, Mira resisted the urge to poke at the body and watch it twitch. She wasn't generally into blood and gore, but she wasn't going to lie and say she wasn't the least bit amused by it. She giggled softly to herself, feeling a slight tinge of guilt for making light of this man's current state. Something knocked against the top of the table Mira was taking refuge under, bringing her back to her current predicament. Not that she was scared by the bar fight going on around her, she had seen and been part of worse. But she wasn't in the mood to get her claws out tonight. She had been having such a good time before all this.

She smiled to herself, watching stray glass, splinters of wood and Lord only knew what else fly through the air and splatter against the walls and floors. The young shifter was curled up in an area that had so far been untouched by the brawl. But she figured it was only a matter of time before one of those wolves sniffed her out. Another knock on top of the table, the sound of rolling, and then a beer bottle fell just to her right. She scrunched back farther under the table to avoid being splashed by the beer, a hiss escaping her lips.

Damn wolves. Always so aggressive. You show one of them some interest and the other four have to go around trying to prove their worth to you. Snapping and growling, quite brutish really, it made Mira long for her fellow cat shifters. They were sensual, lazy, they didn't care who wanted who, they just wanted to cuddle. But wolves... Mira rolled her eyes as she tried to sniff out what had fallen in front of her. Human? Perhaps, he didn't smell like a wet dog, so chances were he was an innocent bystander. Oh well, things happen. She ventured to stick her head out from under the table to see if the coast was clear yet. Before her laid several broken chairs and quite a bit of broken glass. She scrunched her nose in distaste, and huffed. She wasn't fond of messes, she preferred things to be neat and tidy. Clean.

The wolves seemed to have dispersed, she couldn't smell them anymore, not that she necessarily wanted to. It had been the first time in weeks she had found others like her in Brookings. They were part of a larger pack traveling through the town towards Vegas, and she was hoping to bed one before they carried on. She needed something that didn't mind the scratches she left behind, and would heal quickly from her own bit of aggressiveness. But of course, singling one out had been a mistake. She had hurt the egos of the other four and they turned to their basic animal instincts to solve the matter.

Damn wolves.

Mira climbed out from under the table slowly, still expecting to see one of them jump out of nowhere. Nimbly she stepped over the body on the ground and through the glass and broken chairs without disturbing any of debris still left on the floor. A feeling of guilt swept through her. She hadn't meant for this to happen, she was just flirting. Then again they had smelled of sweat and anger when they first came in, more than likely Mira had made a bad situation finally explode. But she didn't mean to make such a mess of her favorite place.

She rather liked Flannigan's, it hosted a dirtier and grittier part of Brookings that Mira could more closely relate to. The goody two shoes in other parts of the town were to... Happy, for her. Mira liked some aggression and gloom with her whiskey. It made things more exciting. She was also more welcome here, her sensual body language and flirting was more accepted here than in the other bars in town.

Approaching the bar she noticed that there was still someone left standing, well, sitting. He wasn't the only one left, but out of the people involved in the fight, he was the only one still awake. Mira looked him over as she slowly moved closer, he wasn't someone she'd usually find interest in. Not that he wasn't appealing physically, but the amount of tattoos that peeked out from under his clothes turned her off. She wasn't a fan of poisoning the skin, she had hated it since her early days in London and the men who's tattooed hands were too rough with her. His beard was rather glorious though. Mira had a thing for beards, they were so scratchy and fluffy, she just wanted to rub her face against it, purring.

She stopped short of the bar, glancing at the man again before sniffing the air. He smelled of fire, and brimstone, and something else she couldn't quite place. Thankfully he wasn't one of the wolves. With relief she perched herself on the stool next to his.

You're absolutely right. Hey everyone, next rounds free compliments of Flanagan's own knight in shinin' armor.

She recognized Dell's voice almost immediately, and was excited to see a shot of whiskey placed before her on the bar. A purr escaped her lips as she thanked the small woman. Mira was glad to see she hadn't been hurt in all the excitement. She lifted the shot glass to her nose and inhaled deeply, it was her favorite, the only thing that seemed to effect her. She downed it in seconds and placed the shot glass back on the bar top and waited patiently to see if she'd get another.

Something glinted just out of her line of sight and in curiosity she turned her head to find the source. A tooth, held by the bearded man next to her. She recognized it almost immediately as one of the wolves, her face fell into an exasperated look. A soft sound took her focus away from the tooth and she watched intently as his finger circled the rim of his own glass. She cocked her head to the side, returning her attention to the tooth a few moment later.

"Wolves teeth aren't worth very much. Dime a dozen really. Most you'd get is laughed out of any self-respecting shop. There's too many of them, really. Wolves. Tsk. Cat's teeth are where it's at." She flashed a smile at the gentleman, her own fang's glinting in the soft glow of light above her. Mira generally hid them from people, she was quite good at it, three hundred years of experience helped significantly. But if this man had just fended off the bar from five shifters, he wasn't going to be put off by her incisors.

"Actually bears, if you're looking for the most value. Very rare bear shifters are these days. Thanks Dell." She received another shot and downed it within seconds of Dell setting the glass on the counter. She continued to stare at the man beside her at the bar. "How did you manage to take those five down without being murdered in the process?"

TAG ABADDON WORD COUNT 1241

[ABADDON]

Benjamin was pulled from his inner musing as he noted that someone had taken up a perch next to him. He took in another sigh, though, in truth it was just a cover as he caught the scent of the woman beside him. Shifter,  he thought to himself as he lifted his head to meet her gaze. The woman before him was enchanting, to say the least. Even perched upon the stool she seemed a creature of grace that radiated confidence. The fanged grin that she presented Benjamin with hinted at an underlying ferocity. If Benjamin had any doubts that the woman before him was anything other than a Shifter they had been banished with that smile. "Bears, huh?" Benjamin reached up and stroked his beard, feigning to give the idea some thought. "I don't know if I like my odds wrestling with a bear Shifter. I get the distinct feeling that if I do end up getting one of their teeth it's because it'll be lodged somewhere in my corpse. Think I might stick to wrestling with packs of wolves. Seems a lot safer." He watched the woman with interest as she downed two fingers of whiskey. He got the distinct feeling that he had somehow just paid for both of those glasses judging by the look Dell was currently giving him. He glanced up from the glass, his umber color eyes meeting her stare. He gave a slight shrug in response to her question.

"Some ungodly combination of dumb luck and a hearty constitution,"  he replied as running a hand through his hair in order to get in back into some semblance of order. He looked over his shoulder at the wreckage that he and the wolves had left in their wake. He was going to need to offer up a better solution than that. The entire bar had seen Benjamin take a mug to the back of the head and shrug it off like it was nothing. A normal man would have ended up flat on his ass with a concussion. "I suppose it helps that I've got a Gift." Most of the patrons in Flanagan's had suspected Benjamin of being some sort of Gifted human at some point or another. It was a rumor that he never felt the need to quash seeing as how it aided in his attempt to blend in with mortal society. He pushed his glass forward, prompting Dell to fill it up once more. He paid no attention as she pulled a clear liquid from behind the counter and poured it into his glass. "Vodka?" he asked quizzically taking the drink for face value. He spluttered, surprised by the taste of water when he'd expected the harsh sting of spirits. 


"You're still on the clock here, Benny-boy. Can't have you gettin' smashed this early in the night. Not that you're much use now, but you'll be even less if I let you off your chain. As for you, Mira, dear, I love you, but I'd appreciate it if you didn't go fillin' my employees heads with dreams of being mauled by bears. I'm gonna need him until Issac makes it back from his honeymoon." Dell placed a glass of water in front of Benjamin before setting down the mostly empty bottle of Jack Daniels in front of the two. A bottle that had been practically full before the night had begun. 

Mira,

Benjamin had heard the name mentioned a few times around the bar. He was sure that he'd even served her at least one since the year he'd been working at Flanagan's. 

"I don't think we've ever exchanged more than a few words before tonight." Benjamin mused aloud as he took his water in hand. Absentmindedly, he traced obscure symbols into the condensation that was beginning to bead down the glass. "Kinda makes me feel like I'm a crap bar tender. I like to think that I know all of our regulars or maybe I just know all the one's who come in here looking for some bar stool confessional." Mara didn't seem the type to look for solace and advice, half drunk in a dive bar. That already made her different than most of the customers Benjamin saw roll into Flanagan's. "Suppose introductions are due, I'm Benjamin and please don't call me Benny-boy. The only reason Dell gets away with it is because her and her brother sign my paychecks. "


"So, did you like my little performance back there?" he asked jabbing a thumb towards the remainder of the table.


TAGS;; MIRABELLA

[MIRABELLA]

I suppose it helps that I've got a Gift.

Mira had suspected as much, seeing as the man had taken down more than his fair share of wolf without so much as a broken bone to show for it. But his smell didn't remind her of the Gifted she had met before. They always smelled of fear and overconfidence, all this man reminded her of was fire. Her nails tapped the side of her shot glass lightly.

Dell was back again, this time with a bit of scolding, Mira's eyes glittered with amusement as she raised her hands in surrender. "I wasn't telling him to find a bear, Dell. I was just giving him some advice." She laughed, throwing both of them a mischievous look. "I know I wouldn't try to take on a bear, they're pretty strong... Dumb." She added as an after thought, "but still pretty strong."

Her eyes drited to the empty shot glass before her again, then shifted to the bottle that Dell had so graciously placed between them. Raising an eyebrow she reached over and grabbed it, pouring herself a health amount and downing it in mere seconds.

She listened to the man speak, her eyes closing as she savored the flavor of whiskey trailing down her throat. "I don't need a confessional, I'm too far gone." Mira offered another laugh, her thoughts drifting to her early days in London. They way the Church forced their good opinion of religion and right and wrong on anyone they reigned over. Confessionals were the last thing Mira needed to save her rotten soul.

She let her memories take hold before returning her attention back to the bar. "And don't feel bad, I make it a point to not be remembered. It's easier to move in the shadows." Mira had come into Flanagan's at least once a day since she came to Brookings a few weeks ago. She spent her time curling her way around anyone sitting at the tables and slinking her way along the bar. She never stayed with one person for too long. Once she figured out if they were interested or not she moved on. And anyone who did want her company left the bar pretty quickly with her in tow.

She'd spoken to Ben a couple of times, usually with the arm of some stranger wrapped around her. She also tended to have her hair straightened or tied back in a bun. Tonight she had let it's curliness reign free, and was reminded why she usually didn't by the pool of heat at the back of her neck.

Benjamin. It was a rather subtle name, nothing as mysterious and magical as she had predicted for him. Especially with that beard. "I'm Mirabella, but you can call me Mira, or Bell. I don't mind which." Her head turned from the bar for the first time since sitting to take in the mess of table and chairs that she had almost forgotten littered the floor.

She was reminded almost instantly that this was technically her fault, and felt a sheepish smile grace her lips. "You managed to do quite a number to multiple things. Though I guess the wolves helped." Mira suppressed another laugh.

"I have to admit though, you took their beating like a champ, I think a lesser man might be lying on their back over there." She pointed at the passed out bystander still lying on the floor by the table she had used as protection. Her cat like reflexes had saved her earlier from a flying mug, but this guy had taken one to the head and was still standing.

"Not entirely sure how you plan on explaining this to Dell's brother though. Don't think he'd accept horny wolf attack as a decent answer." This time she laughed loudly, finding her own joke a little too hilarious.

TAG ABADDON WORD COUNT 649

[ABADDON]

Benjamin or, rather, Abaddon knew something about being too far gone. He'd been brought into this world too far gone and had spent his existence trying to understand those that had been born into grace. He couldn't help but allow the corner of his lip slide upward into a lopsided smirk. "To being too far gone," he said, lifting his glass of water off the table in a subtle toast. "I know why I've already lost myself to eternal damnation. " Millenniums of picking fights with angels, corrupting the innocent, and putting cities to the torch will do that to a guy. "I suppose that it would be poor manners if I asked how you started your way down this slippery slope of being irredeemable." He thought to reach out and touch her mind, maybe get a small glimpse, just enough to satisfy his curiosity. He restrained himself. Delving into the mind of strangers wasn't exactly polite and while he was sure she wouldn't notice he was still attempting to be a decent man... more or less. "Can't say I've every really had good manners though." 

Benjamin raised a brow quizzically as she mentioned sticking to the shadows. It was an odd statement to make in this day in age. Something he might have expected himself to say, he was sure that their reasons differed. "Oh, that sounds very mysterious." he said, his tone taking on a playful quality.  "Men love a woman with an air of mystery. It makes everything seem incredibly dramatic." he added.Benjamin shouldn't have been making any sort of comments about being mysterious. No body really knew anything about him beyond his name and a few pieces of information that had to be wrestled from him. He was sure that if you got all of the regulars together at Flanagan's and asked them to make a list of what they knew about Ben they couldn't write more than four or five things down. He liked to keep things vague in that regard. 

As Benjamin looked at the woman beside him he summoned up what memories he had of her. She was right, most times that he had served her she was hanging on to the arm of someone else. That was reason enough for him to not talk to her. Benjamin tended to get most of his tips from women by shamelessly flirting with them. Trying that while another man around seemed like a good way to get stiffed on the tip and called out to the parking lot, two things Benjamin wanted to avoid. 

Mirabilis, so odd to hear a Latin name in this day and age. Most people run about with some sort of biblical nonsense.  The name had changed and evolved over time, but it's meaning held true.  "Wonderful," he said aloud, teasing at the original meaning of the name. "Seems fitting. A lot more interesting than Benjamin. " So Abaddon had taken a small peak into her mind. It was difficult not to whenever someone mentally called his name. He had to agree that his name was rather boring, but that was the reason that he'd picked it in the first place. A common name, easily forgettable. 

A smirk played across his haggard features as she "complimented" his earlier performance. "See, my goal was to cause as much collateral damage as possible, make it look like a scene from a movie. I' have been a lot happier with how things turned out if somebody had gotten dragged across the bar top. Been working as a bar tender for three years and I've never seen that happen." When Mirabella indicated the still unconscious man Benjamin gave rather casual shrug. "Like I said, I've got a Gift. Can't do anything as impressive as throw fire or change shapes. All I can do is take a vicious beating and, if I ever do get hurt, I tend to heal faster than most folks. Comes in handy I suppose. It's nothing special though. Nothing worth going to school over." Benjamin said with a snort. The mention of Flanagan put a slight damper on the mood.

"I won't. He'll just know. He always does. I'm not sure if it has to do with being an immortal being of the night or if he just likes to watch the security footage for fun. All I know is that I'm going to be paying for that table for the next week." Despite Dell's warnings Benjamin poured a finger of whiskey into his shot and downed it and a feeble attempt to try and forget that he was working for free at the moment. "... Wait, how did you know that the wolves were horny? I hope you aren't implying I had something to do with that."

TAGS;; MIRABELLA

[MIRABELLA]

I know why I've already lost myself to eternal damnation.

Mira lifted her empty shot glass to his toast, noticing it was void of liquid too late. She wasn't sure if she wanted another drink tonight though, her stomach was empty, but her head was floating. She'd downed most of the drinks the wolves had ordered without them even realizing it. And now her thoughts were stuck on Benjamin's words. When had Mira lost herself? She was born a gypsy but her father and mother had raised her to be a decent human. But she wasn't a human.

She was a shifter, cursed by a witch and unfortunate enough to outlive everyone she loved. Maybe it was after loosing her father that she turned to drinking and debauchery. Spending countless nights in the beds of married men and women and even those who were intended. There was a point she didn't care anymore, if her parents could have seen her though, they would have been disappointed. She had almost three hundred years and the images of countless men and women in her mind. She couldn't remember their names anymore, none of them had even been special enough for her try to remember. There had never, in all those years, been one person worth missing. Mira's eyes glanced towards the whiskey bottle again, her hand reaching for it and pouring her another shot before she even registered her own movement.

"Some people just can't handle their own emotions." She smiled, downing the shot in her hand. It was a piss pour answer to his statement, but she wasn't friendly enough with Benjamin to start pouring her heart out. It wasn't her style. Mira set the shot glass upside down on the bar, using her index finger to push it away from her. She was determined to stop drinking, before she didn't become a sob story. The last thing she needed was to start crying and sharing all the stories with a stranger. She didn't have any horror stories, and most of them wouldn't even make sense to someone of this generation. Who would know about the agony of having to untie a maid's corset, then have to take off the three layers of slips and unclasp the large hoop that made her look like all the other women in the castle. All for ten minutes of fun and then have to help her get everything put back on and in order so she wouldn't get in trouble with the Masters of the house. All that work wasn't even worth it half the time.

Mira sighed a little, her mind had wandered too far away from her current conversation. She turned her attention back to Ben and smiled. "Mysterious is my middle name." She winked, resting her arm on the bar top bending at the elbow so that her head could rest on her hand and she'd still be somewhat upright. Mira's mind imagined the scene Benjamin was describing, her eyes flashing with amusement as a giggle escaped her lips. "Yes, that would have been very amusing to see. I haven't seen a good bar fight in many years."

Mira felt another twinge of guilt as she looked back over her shoulder at the bystander still passed out on the floor, and the broken chairs that were scattered across the room. For a usually full bar no one was bothering to get up and help clean up the mess. They were just going about their business. Not that she particularly wanted to do much about it either.

"I... Uh, might actually be the one to blame for them getting rowdy." Mira cleared her throat, a sheepish grin on her lips as she looked back at Ben, purposely avoiding Dell's eyes. "I didn't mean for it to happen, but you know wolves, you give one of them attention and the others get all in a huff." Mira had only wanted a play mate for the night, and the wolves had seemed as good as any. She had picked out the biggest looking one, assuming it was the alpha of the group, that way she wouldn't have to deal with the others. The alpha always came out on top and the rest of the group wouldn't have tried anything. But she had managed to find a group without an alpha. They were part of a pride, but none of them were any higher on the totem pole than the other. So, of course, once she went after one, the others would feel slighted. Mira had felt stupid for a moment, she really should have seen that coming.

She didn't have much to hide behind, so instead she made herself as small as she could on the stool. "So, I guess any bruises you have would also be my fault." Although he didn't look like much had hurt him. Benjamin claimed to have a gift, but he also didn't look or smell like a mortal. There was something more to him, but she wasn't going to pry. So long as he didn't try to hurt her, there was nothing she needed to worry about. The panther within her would save her anyways, she was a bit nasty when the claws came out.

"Sorry?" She wasn't really, Mira had been apart of a survival of the fittest world for too long, but it was always nice to be polite. Besides, he survived.

TAG ABADDON WORD COUNT 906

[ABADDON]

"Others are just born already set on that path.e Benjamin felt that it was only right that he share some of his own story with Mirabella. Especially after her own solemn response. It told him nothing about what had truly set her on the course to ruin but it's implications had started the wheels of his imagination turning. What sins lingered in this woman's past? He watched passively as she poured what was almost the last of the whiskey into her glass and downed it without a moments hesitation. By his reckoning that was her fourth shot since they had started speaking and judging by her scent there had been some before that as well. His eyes lingered on her as she made the silent promise that she was done for the night, flipping her glass top down against the scored oaken bar. She seemed to stare off for a moment, lost in some thought she deigned not to tell him. He wouldn't fault her for that. It was a shame though. Benjamin was possibly one of the only people around that could have shared in her hatred of corsets and the fashions of a bygone age. Abaddon remembered well how clothing became more intricate and more inconvenient as the world pressed on. Only recently had clothing become less cumbersome and more accessible. 

Benjamin returned Mira's smile as she extracted herself from that memory. Whatever it had been had not been particularly pleasant. He felt his own tinge of guilt at forcing her to relive what he could only assume was a painful memory. The feeling was dispelled once he heard a laugh ring out from her. It was a pleasant sound that had cleared the air. "Many years?" he asked, drumming a finger across the bar as he eyed her. "Exactly how many is many?" Benjamin was usually pretty good at guessing others ages usually within the closest millennium. It was always harder for him to identify younger individuals. He couldn't get a read on Mirabella's age but he had an inkling she was much older than she seemed. 

Benjamin was about to say something before Mirabella piled more guilt on top of herself. Ben looked at her, his expression going slack as she made her small confession. "Sorry for flirting with a pack of wolves? I don't think you really have to apologize for that. Besides, I'm completely fine. I mean, that table isn't and my shirt's fucked up," he lifted his right shoulder drawing attention to the sleeve that had been torn almost clean off. The slight movement had been the final straw and the few threads that had held it together frayed allowing it to fall down to Benjamin's elbow. He looked at the shirt for a moment before resuming his statement. "All of that stuff can be replaced though." he informed her as he began to unbutton the ruined flannel. He slipped free of the remaining sleeve revealing a plain black tee shirt underneath and the rest of the etchings that ran the course of his arms. "If you really feel obligated to make it up to me you can always buy me a drink." He said as he reached out and took a hold of the bottle of whiskey, shaking it to indicate it's lack of contents. He lifted it up and prepared to put away the rest before a pale hand darted out and snatched it away. 

"Not tonight, she's not." Dell's voice responded as she sat the nearly empty bottle down several feet from Benjamin. Those were the only words she said as she buzzed about the pub, moving out of ear shot. 

"Someday you can buy me a drink." he said, choosing to have a sip of his water rather than going thirsty. "Just promise me that you won't try and flirt with any thing else with fangs then. I think if I go around beating the shit out of wolves my lucks going to run out. That or I'm going to inadvertently beat every wolf in the state and end up as their Alpha." Benjamin paused for a moment as he gave the idea some thought. "Probably a lot more trouble than it's worth." he said, as if he had truly considered the idea. He looked to Mira and casually glanced at the tooth that he'd knocked from the other shifter's mouth. It had hadn't looked anything like the rows of pearly whites that she'd shown him. He grabbed a hold of it and ran a finger over it's curvature. "What sort of shifter are you, miss mysterious?" he asked as he flicked the tooth lightly, causing it to spin atop the bar 

MIRABELLA

[MIRABELLA]

Exactly how many is many?

Mira made it a general rule not to tell people her real age. Most humans didn't believe her, they weren't as in touch with the magic of the world as others were. Gifted also had a hard time believing her, not sure if she should take it as a compliment or an insult. They didn't seem to want to believe her, but she liked to think that she blended in well enough with the current times that she didn't seem like an age old cat in disguise. She smiled at Benjamin debating on how much of herself she was ready and willing to reveal.

"Hmmmm, I lost track awhile ago, I think about fifty years or so, it's been awhile." She laughed softly, raising a hand to her cheek and petting it softly. "I know, I barely look like I'm old enough to drive." She smiled again and winked at him. She wasn't sure how old she was anymore, she'd forgotten over the course of a couple centuries just what year she was born in. She didn't even have an actual birthday. In her pre-shifting years she had just simply been born in the summer. And her parents lavished her with gifts as often as possible so birthdays were not that important. When people asked however, she said July seventeenth, a random day she picked out of 365 choices. She knew that she was at least over three hundred, and wondered just how long she'd been sitting at three centuries.

Mira's focus was torn from her thoughts when Benjamin pulled off his shirt. If her tail had been out she'd have started swaying it back and forth. Even with the ink he was a rather attractive man, and Mira could appreciate attractive men. She stared at his arms, following the trail of tattoos until they disappeared beneath his black shirt. She was attracted to their colors but aside from that wasn't impressed. Mira had seen plenty of body modifications in her time, and had seen her fair share of abuse come from tattooed hands. Her eyes skimmed over his chest and took in the muscles that lay beneath cloth and skin. Mira felt a purr pool inside her throat, but she held it back with sheer determination. She was glad he wasn't hurt, though she was still having a hard time believing he was just a gifted human.

All of that stuff can be replaced though.

She glanced over at the broken table again, "I feel as though Flanagan won't feel the same way. Tables can't be cheap, plus there's the chairs and the mugs. Ugh, it's a mess." She scrunched up her nose. A small part of her wanted to get up and start cleaning, but the larger, lazier part of her didn't care to move from her perch. Thankfully Dell set down a glass of water for Mira before she moved down the bar, removing the temptation with her. It gave her something to put her focus on as she sipped at the cool liquid and purred softly. She didn't realize how parched she was, alcohol didn't really satiate her thirst, it just helped her relax and feel good.

That or I'm going to inadvertently beat every wolf in the state and end up as their Alpha.

Mira burst out laughing, almost knocking her water over in the process. That wasn't how it worked, technically, but the idea of Ben running around Nevada and beating up wolves was fantastic. "Not sure how well that'd turn out for you, but I promise not to make the same mistake twice." She couldn't help but see a movie play out in her head of every wolf getting their ass beat. "Next time I see you, drinks are on me, Mr. Alpha." She teased, downing more of her water. She couldn't promise not to flirt with whatever she wanted, but she'd make sure to be more careful in the future, at least while she was in Flanagan's.

What sort of shifter are you, miss mysterious?

"Panteră," her voice deepened as she spoke in Romanian, "Panthera pardus, or panther in layman's terms." Mira smiled again, showing off her incisors, she wanted to let herself loose, but thought Dell wouldn't necessarily enjoy have a large cat wandering around the bar and getting fur everywhere. Instead she let her nails grow long into a semblance of the claws she had in her cat form. She lifted her hand and scratched at the air, letting loose a catty, "maow, hiss!" in his direction.

TAG ABADDON WORD COUNT 761

[ABADDON]

Benjamin gave a low whistle as Mira hinted upon her true age. "And here I am bitching about the fact that I'm going to be turning thirty in a few years. " he said as he began to do some simply arithmetic and estimation. Benjamin surmised that Mirabella was older than a century but certainly no older than eight. She didn't carry herself in the same haughty manner that most did when they reached that age, but there was still something behind her eyes that spoke of her age. A sort of somberness that Benjamin saw in his own whenever he looked in the mirror. Something that he couldn't quite hide with contacts. When others brought attention to it he simply wrote it off as being well traveled and, in his own words, "seeing a lot of shit." "I'll be twenty eight some time in August." Abaddon's true birth date had long ago been wiped away by the sands of time, recorded on a calendar that no longer held meaning to the mortals of this world. He only knew that it laid close to the Autumn Equinox. 

As Benjamin pulled off his shirt he caught Mira appraising him and gave her a mischievous smile. "Show costs extra," he said jokingly he said, locking his fingers together and stretching his arms out before him. "Unless you're checking to see if I'm hurt. In which case, I'll say again, I'm fine. " Fingers still locked together the rested his elbows upon the table and placed hands against his chin. Benjamin rarely thought much of his physical form. Like most daemons he was designed to entice his prey adding credence to the old adage, 'evil comes in many forms.' It was so much easier to coax someone into straying from the straight and narrow when you didn't look like a leper. He would have been lying if he hadn't admired Mirabella's physique. He found himself returning the silent compliment in that moment, his light brown eyes roving over her lithe form. Daemon or human, a man was a man and if you put a beautiful woman in front of him he was going to look. Benjamin was called from his gazing at the mention of his boss. He let out a dismissive huff. 

"He'll be pissed, that's for sure. He'll rant about it and probably give me shit for the next month, but he isn't going to do much else." 

"Benny's about the only bartender in all of Brookings that's either nice enough or dumb enough to put up with Ira. I haven't exactly decided on which one. If he let's him go he's gonna have to get off of his ass and tend bar himself and he's not too keen on that idea." Dell said before whisking away.  "Always, been a good for nothing." She added loud enough for most of the bar to hear.

"Worst case scenario is that he's gonna have me put in some extra time to pay for the damages, which isn't so bad. I don't mind being here. As long as I'm not beset upon by a pack of horny wolves. Besides, it's not like I do too much when I'm not here. Probably just end up sitting around watching trashy tv shows or sleeping the day away. I'm an incredibly boring person outside of this place." He tried to say the last bit with a straight face, but something in the way his eyes lit up and his tone shifted made it obvious that it was some misplaced humbleness. When Mira laughed the humility melted away and he joined in, giving a soft chortle. He found the sound to be rather infectious. "I'll be keeping an eye out for you then. I'll try and make sure that it's on one of the days that I'm off being boring." 

As Mira dipped into a foreign language Benjamin raised a brow. Romanian, he thought to himself. It had been a long time since he'd heard the tongue spoken, longer still since he'd visited Romania. Though, back then it had still been the Kingdom of Romania and he'd gone by a very different name. "How ferocious," another playful quip as he observed the claws spring forth from her hands. They were merely a glimpse of the savage hooks that she probably possessed. "I feel like I should have been able to guess that you were a feline of some sort. There's always been something about the way that you move that reminded me of one of the big cats, relaxed but ready." he mused aloud, once more fiddling with the glass of water in his hand. "Not that I've been watching you, because that's creepy. Just something that I've noticed since you started coming here."


MIRABELLA 

[MIRABELLA]

For some reason, Mira didn’t quite believe Benjamin’s claim about turning thirty. There was a quality about him that reminded Mira of her father, and he had been nearly eighty when he died. A feat for people living in squalor most of their life. She sipped from her glass of water, turning her attention away from Ben so she could try to refocus her mind. He was distracting, in a way that she wasn’t used to. She used men mostly for sex and she didn’t generally have conversations with them that lasted more than two or three words. Mira found herself wanting to talk with him more, to unravel whatever secrets he had in his head, but knew it would all be for nothing. She wasn’t an expert in getting people to talk, she was only good at getting them drunk.

“I’ve dealt with my fair share of creepy.” She smiled as she looked down at the bar top, her finger tracing a line in the wood. “There’s nothing wrong with noticing someone, it’s when you start following them home that you enter the creepy zone.” She tapped her finger against the wood. Mira had had a few stalkers over the years; she knew just how to deal with them. A claw and a threat generally got them moving their asses, and when it didn’t she got out the big guns… Or, paws, rather. She hadn't had to use force for a long time, she was pretty good at slipping away from unwanted attention. Her thoughts went away with her again, and Mira was back in the 1960's enjoying a time when promiscuity was revered, a time when she could truly enjoy herself. She had been the life of the party most of the time, everyone had loved her, and even though she was scrutinized by prudes, most people reveled in her freedom. These days people were more sexual, and yet when she tried to flaunt herself they got all huffy. Humans. Mira rolled her eyes, remembering that she had been having a conversation with her bar mate.

“I like to be noticed, it may seem shallow, but I like the attention.” She looked up at Ben again, a smile still on her lips. “I realize that sometimes I ask for too much and get in trouble,” she glanced pointedly over her shoulder at the mess still on the floor. “But I try to keep things civil.” Mira picked up her glass and downed the rest of the water. She set it back on the bar top and swung herself around to face Ben fully. She had to admit she liked being around him, which was unusual for her. But she was bothered by the fact she couldn’t quite place his scent. There were so many scents that he carried that he couldn't be one thing. He smelled like several people wrapped up in the same toned body. For a moment she played with the thought of seducing him and figuring out what he was while he slept, but thought better of it. Whatever he was she wasn't entirely sure she'd be able to handle it.

“Are you a vampire?” The words were out before she even had a chance to really think about them. He worked in a bar, she only ever saw him at night, and the broken mug on the floor barely did any damage to his head. She concluded that he wasn’t human, and he couldn’t be a shifter, so he had to be something else. Something sturdier. She set her arm on the bar, leaning her head against her hand as she stared at him. She didn't know what else roamed the streets, or the night here in Brookings.

TAG ABADDON WORD COUNT 630