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It's evening, and life around Mutant Town is somewhat quiet. In Club Atomic, its less with the quiet. The club isn't booming but its active this evening.
Josh is dressed up in a pair of slacks and a fitted button up short sleeve shirt that forms to his body quite well, though its not the look that draws attention to himself at the moment. It's the fact that he looks to be made out of pure gold, from spun golden hair to golden fingernails. He's leaning against the bar talking to his friend, with a martini that he's sipping.
Julie is just slipping though the doors, and apparently at the last moment notices someone coming in behind her, pausing to catch said door for them "Sorry about that," she says and smiles, "Almost didn't seeya there." She rolls a shoulder that may ache somewhat, and makes her way toward the bar. Once there, she gives Josh a wave, smiling, "Ay, howya doing It's been ages." She notices the martini there, and says to whoever's behind the bar, "That looks like a real good idea, there. I'll do a martini, two olives, how about?"
Leaning against the bar, Daire has a drink in hand, watching people come and go around him. Horns curl up and sweep back at his temple, and his eyes glow a brilliant green. When he smiles, there is the flash of sharp fangs within his mouth, and he seems to be smiling every so often during the conversation that he is holding. He is dressed in a long sleeved light shirt buttoned in the front, in a green that is a few shades darker than his eyes. He glances over toward Julie when she approaches and gives her a small smile, lifting his glass.
A moment behind Julie, Amanda thanks her for holding the door. It's rare that she has an evening off, but here we are. She looks around, taking in the atmopshere before moving too far into the club. She overhead people discussing the place, and decided to check it out herself. Bringing Danielle would've been preferrable, but this has proven to be one of the few days where their schedules are opposite. Eventually she makes her way to the bar, stepping up beside Julie.
Josh flashes a grin towards Daire, reaching a hand out to lay it on his arm and murmur something, but its brief. His attention is drawn to Julie at the wave, and he lifts a hand up to return it, "Julie." he greets, "The martini's are good. I prefer dirty myself, but I respect a traditionalist. Do you know Daire?" He nods to the horned toung man before his attention flicks over to take Amanda in and give her a nod of greeting.
Julie raises a hand to the horned fellow, and says to Josh, by way of greeting Daire, "Hey, not really, but we've sorta hung around before. Howyadoing?" She fishes out a cigarette case, one stickered with Moon Instruments googley eyes on the cover, offering one over. Then leans a bit heavily on the counter. "So, what's going on, lately? It's been a pretty weird couple weeks for me."
Daire tilts his head a little in toward Josh at the murmured words to listen to whatever is said, and then he looks over to Julie as the two of them greet one another. "We met once, I think, perhaps. It was a while ago." Very briefly, at the school, in passing. He says, "Hello, Julie." He doesn't recognize Amanda, however, but since she seems to know Julie, he lifts his glass in her direction as well before taking another swallow.
Amanda Sefton's long white coat is probably too warm for today as the weather has been warming up slightly, but she's become too fond of it. Plus she firmly believes the colour is appropriate to her. White witch and all that. She offers a hand to both Daire and Josh, smiling warmly. Oh, regulars. Or people that know each other from outside the club. "I have no idea what I'm in the mood for," she confesses to the bartender. She's long since given up hiding her accent, something weird that sounds vaguely German but isn't quite right. Close but no cigar. "Any suggestions?"
"Been working. Healing people, obviously." Josh lifts a hand to let the gold of his skin glint in the light a moment, but the hand is redirected to Amanda to offer a shake. Despite the metallic color, it feels like warm, soft skin. Like any normal hand. "I'm Josh, though around here people are starting to call me Doc Gold. I prefer Elixir, but what can you do? As for suggestions… Dai, what sayeth you?" He looks to Daire, fishing out a grin.
Julie nods, to the others, as her own martini's stirred up and delivered. She clicks a lap timer on a racing watch on her wrist, and says, "Well, the martinis is always good. They got all kinds of the good stuff here, though."Diz herself may not have the most refined of palettes when it comes to this sort of thing, herself.
Daire accepts the hand that is offered, giving it a light shake in greeting before releasing it. "Hello," he says to her, "I'm Daire. Nice to meet you." He glances over at Josh then and raises a brow. "People are actually calling you Doc Gold?" That kind of amuses him just a little bit. Suggestions for drinks though, Daire lifts his own glass and says "Bourbon, for me, but they have decent martinis here too." He just doesn't drink them that often.
Amanda Sefton doesn't drink much herself, either. And bourbon, well, that's a strange idea to her altogether. But, new experiences are always welcome so she settles on asking for a bourbon. Why not. As she waits for her drink, her gaze flickers back to the golden Josh. Curiousity, more than anything, flickering her gaze. But she's polite and certainly doesn't stare. Then again, Josh wouldn't be the most unusual thing she's seen either. Instead she moves her gaze across the crowd. "Popular place?" she asks aloud, to no one in particular. "I heard a group talking about this place during work. They insisted I should come and see it for myself."
"They do." Josh confirms for Daire with an exasperated expression, "It's not at all my favorite expression, let me tell you." He nods to Julie by way of agreement, but its Amanda's question that has him curious, "Popular? I don't know. New, different. There's not many places for mutants where we can relax and only be ourselves out in the general world, so whoever is running this place? Is doing god's work if you believe in god." Pause, "I don't, I'm more an evolution and science guy." He flashes a golden grin, turning to share it with Daire, "Don't get me wrong, I like bourbon too."
Julie hrms to Amanda, and smiles, puffing on a newly-lit ciggy. and adds to Josh, "This place? I know the guy, pretty sure you met him." She smirks to Amanda though. "Where's that kind of work they're talking about it, though? Guess word's getting around. What they saying?"
"Seems to be popular, at least for now. The novelty is still there. But yeah, without there being a lot of places for us, those few that exist can probably expect to do solid business," Daire says lifting his glass and taking another swallow from it. There's a glance of sympathy to Josh and he says, "I think Elixir sounds better, myself." He grives him a little grin and then glances back toward Amanda and Julie, listening to their exchange idly.
"Everyone deserves a space for themselves." When given her bourbon, Amanda sips at it gingerly. Not bad! Still, her sips are light and almost uncertain. It doesn't taste bad, but even what little she was given might be a bit much for her. We'll see. "'Elixir'?" she asks, eyebrows lifting. "Is that like a… call sign?"
"I used to be involved with an organization that was, let us say, very pro-mutant and anti-human, and as part of that organization, well, we rejected the ideology of our human roots." Josh shrugs a little bit, finishing off his martini, waving to the bartender and pointing at it to get a new one, "We chose to go by free names, freely chosen, not 'slave names'. Elixir — I'm the cure for what ailes you." Josh flashes a grin, lifting a hand. Golden, radiant light pulses out of his skin for a moment before it fades to being just gold skin. "I'm a healer. My thinking has evolved since then, I don't reject my roots, though my roots utterly reject me— my family won't even admit I exist— but I am okay with being Josh now. Or Elixir, either." He looks to Julie, "Hmm? Who? I don't remember meeting anyone who claimed ownership of this but I don't keep track of everyone." He grins at Daire, "We are in agreement, Dai. But that's not unusual."
Julie nods. Sips at her martini. Says, more simply, by way of explanation for Amanda, "Or, yeah, it's kind of like a callsign. A lotta mutants don't want to be known by their given names on the street, like a lotta other people, really. Also, hey, it don't mean someone hates their family just cause they picked up a moniker." She uncurls a finger from around her martini glass's stem to point to Josh. "It's Cypher's place, figured you knew."
Daire gives Josh's elbow just a slight squeeze, brief, and then he finishes off the remainder of his drink, setting his glass down. "I go by Cassiel sometimes, but usually when I'm doing something that gets attention that I don't want really getting back to my family or whatever. It's just an alias." He grins a little bit and then turns to lean back against the bar, looking out over the place. "It's a cool place. Name isnt' familiar, but if you know him, pass on my compliments," he adds to Julie.
"Oh." After a moment of thought, punctuated by a sip or two of her bourbon, Amanda nods her head. "I can understand that. A human name might be a painful reminder." There was a bit of a pause there. She almost said 'regular name', though not out of malice. "Similar to people changing their names legally to distance themselves from awful events and people."
"Oh, Cypher? I didn't know." Josh shakes his head, but he does remark to Julie, "Though sometimes it *does* mean someone hates their family. I pretty much think as little of them as is thinkable." He reaches out to snag Daire's hand and give it a squeeze, "Also, Cassiel just sounds awesome, you have to admit." He grins, but nods more soberly to Amanda, "Yeah, like that. I don't mind Josh anymore, but I've found someone from my past *as* Josh who hasn't rejected me, so its easier to hold, then. When I was going as Elixir exclusively, I didn't know anyone who knew Josh who wouldn't spit on Josh if they had the chance."
Julie smiles to Josh, swirling her martini a bit. "I think Elixir suits you. Kinda highbrow and all," she winks, mirthfully, and says to Amanda, "It's like anyone gets a nick they go by, it means you're part of a crowd sometimes, and usually it's a name you earned or you know it's people you trust enough they can ride you a bit about something or other. Ain't always about something bad, names and all. …Only means more if someone's family kicked them out for being , you know, different."
"I happen to really love my family a lot," Daire says, "Which is why I tend to use the moniker when I don't want things to possibly get back to hurt them. We had some rough times when I was younger, but.. for a while now, since the fall, we've been really working on being a family again." He grins a little bit when Josh squeezes his hand, and he squeezes it back in return. "Yeah, someone," he grins a little when Josh mentions someone who knew him as Josh.
Amanda Sefton changed her name from her birth name specifically to make it harder for her mother to track her down. She understands changing names all too well. She does not add anything about her mother or her seeming-insanity. That's not really needed. "I do like the sound of Elixir," she tells Josh. "It rolls off the tongue."
"Highbrow?" Josh asks Julie with a curious tone of voice, "I'm not sure that was intended." He nods to Daire with a warm smile, "Your family is good, great even. They might have had issues at one point but you worked them out. Being there to watch you guys resolve your differences, was… impactful. It was powerful. I don't think my whole family-drama is the right one, you're almost why I don't mind going by either name. I'm Josh and Elixir both, because I don't really reject my human parents, even if they reject me." He flashes a grin over to Amanda, "You never introduced yourself, miss. And if I may ask, are you a mutant or just one of our friends here to support us?"
Julie smirks. "Didn't say you ever intended it, ah, 'Doc.' " She winks, though. Josh is a smart guy, why try to hide it, in other words. She just gives a bit of a nod, ….she hasn't actually owned up to anything, herself, but also is pretty unsure about how her own family might react. She does look to Amanda, who may as well be the one on the spot right now.
Daire glances over at Julie and arches a brow just a little but he just taps his glass and glances to the bartender, who pours him another, for which he gives a smile of thanks as the others talk among themselves. He smiles a bit over at Josh and then he turns his attention back to Amanda when Josh asks for an introduction. He seems curious as well, but doesn't echo the question already asked.
"My name's Amanda," she answers after another sip. The glass gets placed behind her on the bar. "And I'm not a mutant, but my girlfriend is." Which is perhaps at least a munane enough explanation for why she doesn't stare. She didn't know about the callsigns, though. That was news to her.
"I'm a doctor, but don't know any doctor who liked being called Doc. It could be a Manhatten thing, though." admits Josh to Julie with a slow shake of his head, and he nods over to Daire then, lifting the horned guy's hand and pressing lips to knuckles. "Well, welcome, girlfriend-of-a-mutant. Whoever she is." He shrugs with a grin, and as it happens, his skin fades from gold to tan. As does his hair go from spun gold o blond. Lookinf down with a quick sigh, "Ah, there. Back to normal."
Julie glances over to Josh, there, and says, "You know, I'd forgotten you figured out how to do that with your looks. Hope it doesn't mean someone got hurt earlier." Amanda gets a slownod, "Well, if she don't know, this is a pretty safe place, everyone's cool as long as, you know, it ain't bringing trouble.: She pauses and sips more from the martini. "Did they really talk about this place where you ork, or whas that just something to day?"
There's a softening to Daire's expression at that kiss to his knuckles, and the faintest of blushes that touches his skin, perhaps not quite used to public displays of affection, even around other mutants. He squeezes Josh's hand and draws it to his chest, holding it there against his heart for a moment. Then he says to Amanda and Julie, "If you don't mind.. I'm owed a dance.. and I think I'm going to collect before it gets too late and I step all over Josh's toes." He then gives Josh a little tug toward the dance floor.
"A few days ago, it was mentioned," Amanda says. And it's true, there was a bit of chatter from people visiting the circus. "I asked, the people talking told me how to get here an recommended it strongly." Of coure it was the only time, but Amanda doesn't get out much. Finding someplace to hang out outside of work and home has been something of an essential search. "Why?"
"It's not a thing I do with my looks, so much as a thing that is done." Josh explains to Julie, "I've never allowed being not-gold to stop me from healing anyone." But, Daire tugs his hand, so Josh rises with the hug, and offers a slight bow to the ladiest, "A dance is owed, excuse me." And then he turns and heads to the dance floor, letting a hand rise up to slip around Daire's waist as he moves, taking the other along.
Daire goes home.
Julie ooc Okays. :)