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Music is rocking in Club Atomic tonight. A band is on the stage- a local group of mutants, all obvious, who's mutations lend themselves to music. On a few tables there are Go-Go dancers pumping the crowd up as they dance on their little dias. The music is jumping. The Dancers are on the floor- which has been cleared completely for the party of the night.
Among that crowd of young mutants and cool 'hep' cats was one Dead Girl. She's dressed in clothes appropriate for the dance- one of those new mini-skirts, a pair of bright pink go-go boots, and a belly showing shirt that's all the rage in California.
Forge comes through New York City enough that a few folks here know who he is now through the Institute. And it's that way that he was approached to offer some help. And so here he is. No jacked, but a white dress shirt goes with his blue jeans, and a tool box, as he makes his way in. Mini skirts. Belly shirts. Huh.
Julie is there to check out the band, by happenstance, really, but she sits on a stool by a high table, sipping on a Martini and occasionally exchanging greetings with folks from the neighborhood.
Let's get one thing straight: Late spring and summer in general sucks when you're covered in fur and the goodly sun has decided to blast the earth after a prolonged affair with darkness and cold. If you were someone who was covered in fur and tried to hide the fact by covering yourself with illusions and then with clothing covering every surface so as not to accidentally betray yourself by the touch of fur, you were basically walking around in your own little self-contained furnace.
Keith likes coming to M-town now and again as a respite. And for fresh air.
He walks into the club in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt- one of those new tan and red-striped numbers that Levi's launched reccently, which he likes because it happens to match the exact same shade of red as his mane and stipes. He is in a very good mood, by virtue of not being in a state of suffocation at the moment, so he heads over to the bar- because some refreshment is never amiss before hitting the dance floor.
"Tom Collins for me," he tells the bartender, and then leans on the bar to take stock of the patrons and the scene, while he waits.
Dead Girl continues to jump and twist on the dancefloor- moving over towards the bar as she bounces back towards the bar, "Hey! Can I get a cigarette?" she calls out to the bartender, as she puts a couple of pennies on the bar- enough to get a single cigarette. Four cents.
"Hey!" Dead Girl offers over to Julie, "The Bar here is great, and the band is amazing!" She offers then over to Keith and Julie both. "I'm Dead Girl, nice to meet you!" she shouts over the music, a grinning pale face with glowing red eyes.
Forge glances over at Dead Girl a few times as he steps in front of the currently non-functioning jukebox at the end of the bar. He sets his tool box down with a clunk, and then he squats down, the metallic hand going behind the machine to unplug it, and start finding how to open it up. All business?
Julie smiles a bit, raises the glass a bit. "Dizzy," she introduces, and adds. "Yeah, I know the owner, he's got a way of keeping things interesting for such a classy joint," the girl says. Her accent's pretty local, New York Italian, and she's part-way through a ciggy of her own. "You new in town, or maybe following the band or something?"
"…" Everybody's clearly using Not Real Names, and it has just struck him that he's never bothered to actually come up with one of his own. Does that make him the only one in Contingency Plan who doesn't have one? He waves back at Dead Girl and approaches, Tom Collins in hand. "Hey. I'm-" think of something! He desperately looks for something in his brain. Cat? No. Stripes? No. He needed something /cool/, something sharp, rapier-wit sharp-
"Vorpal." He pauses for a second. Hmm. That fit. And it was thematic. Billy might be proud.
If Billy had ever actually read the darned book. He was going to have to check and make sure he /did/ read the book. Mybe he could give him a pop quiz.
As he approaches, he hears Julie answering to Dead Girl, and he nods. "The band's pretty cool, I didn't catch their name…?"
He hasn't asked for a cigarette. Billy's admonitions that those would kill him have stuck. Mostly because he's not sure how many lives he's got. If any.
"Nice to meetcha, Dizzy. Dead Girl." The name fits. Dead Girl looks like she walked out of the set of that new TV show with those strange people living in that weird house.
Already Dead, Dead Girl doesn't really worry that the cigarette might kill her. Indeed, she doesn't even get anything in the way of nicotine when she smokes. It's just something to do with people. Something to do with her hands.
"They're called Mutation, Baby!" Dead Girl says, giving a shout and a wave towards the band! Just another lady in the crowd.
"A real pleasure, Vorpal!" Dead Girl offers as she wiggles her hips and smokes her cigarette. "I'm sort of new in town, but not really- it's complicated!" She offers over to Julie, "I died here, but I was living here almost two years before that!"
Forge gets to work. He stands up, turns the jukebox to the side, and then pulls down the back. He then goes back up to the bar, coming up by the group talking and asks "So what's wrong with this thing?" He'll then quickly get an answer that it kept playing the same record no matter what anyone put in.
It seems a common enough tradition in Mutant Town that lots of people are known by nicknames or the like, in any event, so she doesn't seem at all surprised by the various code-names. Hers, of course, could be an entirely-casual one. "Hey, well, good to meet you, both, there. Guess there's a few cat-people in town, or something." Dead Girl's comment gets a thoughtful look. "You know, I kept hearing about these zombies in Central Park last year, something like that happen to you?"
"Oh, no. I think I'm a mutant, maybe. I mean, that's what this one guy said to me like a few months back. He's got some ability to see mutants, anyways, not important. "So. I mean, I was in the city when that happened, but I listened to it on the radio from my apartment." she explains, with a smile. "But, that's long ago. A Different life, right? New beginnings and all that stuff, what with the transition from life to death and all." She lifts her cigarette with a grin. "Do you guy's go to parties a lot?" she wonders, "Its the only thing to do around here at night!"
"I'm from very far away. As far away as you can get. But I'm also from Akron," Vorpal says, in a completely unhelpful fashion before he says, "I'm sorry to hear about your passing. But on the bright side, that doesn't seem to have stopped you at all." His foot begins to tap on the floor, and he feels the urge to dance. But not yet. Need to finish the drink first, otherwise he will get carried away and then baptize people nearby with some of Mr. Collins, and that would just be rude.
"Oh, hey, I remember that zombie thing. I fought of some of them with a wizar-" he pauses, rethinks "I mean, it was pretty frightening." He sips his drink.
"Not used to going out to parties. Didn't really have a stable location, but that's changed. So I guess I'm testing the waters now. How about you, Dizzy? Got any places like this one to recommend?"
Forge takes the answer from the employee, and looks down the bar. "Julie, good evening," he says when he sees and recognizes, her, waving to signal where he is.
Someone appears at the door, and waves, shouting a name, "Hey, Dead Girl!" Dead Girl looks up and waves, "Yo!" she shouts, "I found that kid's sister you were talking about!" DEad Girl grins, "Work calls!" She says to the group, "Great meeting all of you!" she says before out she goes.
Julie gives Forge a broad wave. "Hey, Forge, they putting youse to work already?" She ahs, to Forge. "Akron, eh? I been to some drags there a while back. Half-decent scene, there." She muses over the thoughts of 'other clubs,' "Ah, I know a few places, I guess. Usually hang in less swanky places, but there's always the Village and Soho, that's where most of the good shows are, and, let's see. Oh, hey, yeah, the Black Cat's pretty nice, and they won't mind the fur."
Keith looks over his shoulder to the one called 'Forge', and gives him an awkward wave following Dizzy's lead. "Half-decent's the best you can say about Akron. Reason I ain't there." He smirks and sips his drink, beginning to sway to the music a little. "Black cat? Hmmm, now that sounds like an interesting place. It isn't full of witches, is it?" he jokes, "Does it have a theme or wht?"
Forge smiles. "They got in touch. I offered to try. But I've never worked on a jukebox in my life, so we'll see how well this goes." Then pausing and looking back "Got some ice water for me at least?" he laughs.
Julie laughs a bit to Forge, "I guess just lemme know if you need a hand, then," she says, wiggling her fingers. Shrugs to Vorpal, "Well, I guess I wouldn't be too surprised if there were. Kinda get all types there. Well, I dunno about all, really. Kind of on the artsy side."
Forge chuckles and given his water, he downs it quickly. Then walking back over to squat in front of the machine. Tool box opens, and he pulls out a long screwdriver to get to work. "I'll holler, but this can't be broken that badly. It doesn't look beat up in a fight or anything."
Julie swirls her drink a bit, and just sort of peers at the machine, casually, seeing if anything is moving, or perhaps trying to, eventually getting curious enough to head over and check it out, with a wink to Vorpal, "I'll be back in a jiff, maybe the thing's got a favorite song or something."
"Actually…" the Cheshire cat says, looking past Julie, "I… have to head out. I may be back…" he couldn't be quite sure, but there was someone looking at him from across the room. Someone he needed to avoid… for now. "Nice meeting you, though. I hope we cross paths in the future…" he beats a hasty retreat, trying to blend into the crowd a bit before heading out. Once outside, a quick Rabbit Hole will take him safely away, in case the intention is pursuit.
Forge glances at the man leaving, and chuckles. "Quick night for some folks," he says to Julie idly, as he's pulling pieces off of the machine, getting to the gears and belts inside. "Might just be a busted belt if we're lucky. I brought some spares."
Julie hrms, "Well, I could kinda see it if it is… Something'll probably be turning way too fast, if it ain't attached to anything."
Forge grins. "We'll use that as a last resort? I don't know if I Want to power this thing back on with it open." Then man then reaches into the machine, holding something open, then grabs a flashlight from his tool box, to look. "Oh yeah that one rotted right off. Must be 20 years old."
Julie nods, sipping her drink again, "Well, there's the problem right there, any others in there look like they're about to go? "
Forge checks each. "Hmm. Just the one." He then snaps it easily with his metallic hand, and pulls out the pieces of both. "Should be no problem getting replacement fits for these… mind getting me another water? Warm evening."
Julie hrms, "Ah, yeah, sure, ..Old one coulda stretched a bit before it went fully, you see that with old belts." She starts off for the bar and says, "You know, I bet they could mix you up something without any booze in it, dunno if you go in for that sorta thing."
Forge chuckles as he finds the spare for the first of the belts to replace, and climbs well into the machine to get it in place. "Water's easier to drink, unless they've got some cold apple juice," he tries.
Julie nods, "I dunno if they got that, but if you like hanging out here, I'll let Cypher know to keep some around. He treats everyone all right that way." Then she's off for a tall glass of icewater.
Forge chuckles, and grunts as he moves his hands in the confined space, getting one belt on. Then reaching out from inside there, he grabs the second belt he prepared. And starts to stretch that in place. "Thanks, hopefully this won't take much longer."
Julie eyes her watch while she leans against the bar, tapping a toe to the band's music and returns with a couple of glasses, having exchanged her dwindling Martini with something rather fizzy with mint leaves on it. She makes her way back, while he's settling belts in. "Does seem the place is heating up with all the people in here and all," she agrees with Forge's earlier comment. She does click another lap timer, though.
Forge pulls his head out, grabbing his water to gulp it. "What's the timer for?" he asks idly, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand.
Julie winks and raises her glass. "I got bottle-to-throttle rules about the hard stuff. Promised my Uncle about it. Kind of a fair deal considering I got a lotta horsepower for a graduation present."
Forge chuckles, and downs the last bit of water before diving back in. Grunting as he gets the second band in place, finally he sighs, and pulls back to start getting all the screws back into this. "That should do it. Get this shield on and we can test it. And that's sensible. Don't want to push it."
Julie nods, and crouches a bit, picking up a couple of the screws for the cover there, holding each one in turn place with a fingertip, the things seemingly turning themselves into place of their own accord. She winks. "I think I can expedite a bit."
Sage dropped Pink Cybershades.