|
  |
Been gone from New York for a while and only got back a week or so ago and he's already starting to feel the need to wander again. Sometimes he wonders if the need to constantly be on the move and in a new place will ever stop. Guessin' if it hasn't yet, it ain't going to. Fortunately, Logan heard about some bar in the city that caters to mutantkind and he's admittedly curious to see what a place like that's all about.
The door opens and a short mountain of a man steps inside, chewing on a cigar and peering around the place. Don't really know what he expected the place to be like, but he didn't really think it would be this… normal. It's refreshingly normal. One corner of his mouth pulling up into a slight grin, he trudges over to the bar and leans an elbow against the surface, "Cheapest whiskey ya got, bub. An' bring the bottle."
The Bartender is happy to pass on the whiskey. A bottle of whiskey isn't that weird of a request in this place, after all.
Dead Girl is already in the pool hall, leaning down near one of the pool tables with a pool stick in hand. She takes a moment and *clack!* the cue ball flies forward into a few balls, sending them bouncing. "Wait, am I stripes or solids?" she asks up suddenly, "You're stripes." he says, as a solid ball goes into the hole. "Man.. Crazy. I don't think I'm going to win."
When the bottle of whiskey is placed on the bar before him, Logan palms it and twists off the cap, pouring himself a healthy portion before turning his back to the bar, resting against it as he tugs his cigar from his teeth and pours half of the glass down his throat. The burn in his throat flashes for a fraction of a second before it's gone. A quiet sigh escapes his chest as he stuffs the cigar back into his mouth and surveys the billiards tables, his eyes casting an inquisitive gaze over to Dead Girl's table. Always entertainin' to watch someone new to the game. Or a hustler.
It's difficult to say with Dead Girl- although, even in a bar full of strange looking people, she still stands out. She certainly has confidence in abundance, but lacks all those keys that would read 'alive'. She doesn't breath. She moves with a certain stillness. When she stands still she's almost completely still- still as a corpse. Not even a pulse.
"Oh man… " Dead Girl mumbles to herself as she steps back to look over towards Logan, "Hey! You! Do you know how to play pool?" she wonders, "I could use a team partner." she notes, "We can start a new game, or you can join me where we are now." DEad Girl waves to the table- she's behind. Not unlosably behind, but pretty far behind.
Being alive for damn near 100 years, you tend to pick up certain skills. Especially when a majority of those years have been spent doing what he's doing now: drinking. Logan studies the unusual girl for a moment before reaching behind him to grab the bottle of whiskey, then pushes off the bar and walks over to the table. "I've played a couple'a times, darlin'," his voice rasps as he sets the bottle on the side of the table. A taboo in pretty much every bar on the planet but he could've give less of a shit. He grabs a cue and surveys the table for a moment to calculate a few shots. At his height, he doesn't have to bend down too much to line up a shot, tapping a stripe into the side pocket. Straightening again, he glances over at the solids guys and steps around the table to line up and sink another ball.
"Horray!" Dead Girl cheers, returning to watch carefully as Logan does his thing- studying him as if he were some kind of kung-fu master. Surely this is magic to be so good at this game!
"Oooh! I think I've, " Dead Girl stops herself, "WE've got a chance." she says with a grin.
The two other mutants look at one another. "Well, fair is fair. Two on one wasn't much fun." One with three eyes says. The other seems to have a pair of antennas that twitch from time to time. "Still ain't fair." The guy with Antennas states. "They're still way behind." STill-sinking two in a row was something of good turn for Dead Girl, so the pair of mutants look at one another for a quiet, perhaps poignant, moment.
The short, stocky man glances over at his partner and tosses her a hardly noticeable wink as he bends down to sink another ball, however he aims slightly wide and instead of pocketing it, the ball bounces away from the corner pocket and he yields his turn. He could've sankt he ball, but his parnter ain't gonna improve if he sinks every damn ball on the table. Plus, he's thirsty.
Walking to the opposite side of the table, he snatches up the whiskey bottle and pours more than enough down his throat, chasing it by clearing his throat and holding the bottle out towards Dead Girl as he wipes his mouth with the back of his other hand. "Ya just gotta try not to drift too much with yer stick hand an' you'll be fine."
Dead Girl grins wide as she's partnered up with a new friend, and possible trump card. "Okay! Cool!" she thumbs up for Logan as the two men take their turns.
It comes around to Moonbeam and she takes her turn- managing to sink one of the striped balls. "Aha! Success!" she cheers, before trying to find another avenue of attack. "So, where are you from?" she wonders of her partner. "Are you from around here?" she wonders, next, as she takes her shot- almost sinking a solid ball as her cue ball bounces off a wall.
Shoving one hand into his pocket, he idly rolls his cigar between his thumb and index finger while watching his partner sink a ball and almost sink one for the other team. She's gettin' better. He manages a smile and nod over at Dead Girl after her turn ends and the one with antennae starts to line up a shot.
"Not from here but I live close enough," he rumbles as the guy sinks a ball and the table starts to thin out ball-wise. May have to just finish them off. When its his turn, his brow furrows slightly and he lines up another shot, sinking another ball. A man of many words, he throws a quick glance at Dead Girl, "You?" He chalks the tip of his cue as he surveys the table once more, then steps around to sink another ball in a corner pocket. Only a couple stripes remain on the table.
"I'm from California." Dead Girl replies as she watches Logan almost tie it up- He's good! "You're doing really well!" Dead Girl grins wide as she claps for Logan. "I came out here to make it on broadway, right? So, that didn't go as expected- I mean, I got stabbed to death." she says with a smile, oddly comfortable with the statement.
"Dang girl- you must have picked a hustler!" One of the two mutants says- tone friendly, teasing. "I think we're going to have to play better."
Stabbed to death. Hell of a way to go. The irony of the thought brings another grin to Logan's lips. He doesn't need to look at the girl to know she's technically dead. He can smell it on her. It's not the usual scent of death but it's close enough. He glances over and studies her for a moment, wondering to himself if she'll eventually suffer the same fate as him. Unnaturally and cruelly long life. Eh, she seems cheerful enough. Maybe it'll be different for her.
The cigar rolls from one corner of his mouth to the other as he bends down to line up another shot, sinking the penultimate striped ball. "Sorry t'hear it didn't work out for ya," he says as he chalks the tip of his cue one last time, staring down the final ball. "Sorry fellas," he grumbles as he passes the two mutants on his way to line up and sink the last striped ball, leaving only the 8 ball.
"Ooh! We've almost won!" Dead Girl says with a grin, "We're going to wiiiin!" Dead Girl cheers out with a smile. All that's left is that 8-ball. "Now what? I've never gotten this far?" she wonders of the three other mutants, "Do I go? Does he go?" Dead Girl wonders next. "Do I go? Can I try the 8-ball?" she wonders next with a little grin.
Dead Girl actually floats for a moment- shifting from physical to mostly Ghosty. She slides down in line with table- head half in and half out of the felt. Just sort of getting a good look at things from ball level. Her voice resonates from inside the pool table, "This is really neat!"
Shifting a glance over at his opponents, Logan gestures towards Dead Girl and angles his head in her direction, "Mind if she deals th' killin' blow there fellas?"
The two mutants look at each other and shrug, then look back over at Logan, "Be our guest."
"Much obliged, bub," Logan offers to the 'team leader' and steps back from the table and rests against the bar as he takes another pull from the bottle of whiskey. "Bring 'er home, darlin'," he says, grinning again at Dead Girl as she somehow sits inside the table.
Dead Girl cheers again from within the table before she steps out from within the table to stand quietly. She takes her cue and grins. She leans in low to try for the 8-ball into the corner pocket. "Eight ball, corner pocket!" she announces to the bar, before carefully taking her shot.
The cue ball floats towards its target- a little slow on the shot. A little *too* careful. It clicks against the 8-ball which snails forward, imparting some force to the other ball. The 8-ball craaaaaawls forward and then, teeters on the edge before finally falling in. "HORRAY!" she cheers loudly!
Several people around the bar all turn their attention towards the cheering girl after the 8 ball sinks into the pocket before returning to their respective conversations. Logan grins and nods at his opponents and offers, "Good game," as he lifts his whiskey bottle in their direction before taking another pull. Wiping a stray drop with the back of his hand, he looks towards Dead Girl again, "Nice shot darlin."
"Thanks!" Dead Girl says as she goes to join Logan at his table, "So, that was a lot of fun! Thank you for the help, couldn't do it without you!" The two men wave as they step away to drink some more and play another game between themselves. "So, what's your thing? Does it help with winning at pool? Those guys have extra sensory abilities. Like seeing better and feeling air pressure or something."
Taking another long drink from his whiskey, Logan finally parts with the bottle, for now at least, and sets it down on the bar. He rolls the cigar between his fingers and gazes around the room. "You could say that, I s'pose," he says as he takes a long drag from the cigar. "I heal. Means I've been alive for a while an' when you live as long as I have an' spend as much time in bars, you get pretty good." He tosses his head in the general direction of the room, "Speakin' o' which, what's with this place? There ever any trouble 'round here considerin' it's a mutant bar an' all?"
"Oh yeah, I heal, too!" Dead Girl says, "I mean, like super fast. From stuff that should kill me..well..kill me again." she admits. "Being already dead makes it a bit hard to die, I guess." she says as she comes to sit with Logan with a grin. Friendly girl, despite her being dead.
"So, what do you do? I mean, like do you have a job or something?" she wonders next.
His brow arches slightly as Logan surveys the girl. Interesting concept, a dead girl that heals. Seen stranger things, he guesses. He pushes back against the bar, a dull metallic crack eminating from a vertebrae as he shifts his weight. "I teach sometimes," he says as he chews idly on the cigar perching between his teeth again, "among other things." Those other things being not so nice half the time. It's been a while since the claws have seen any action though so if you just take a look at the past few months he has only really been a teacher. The hell is this world coming to.
"Oh, that's pretty cool. What do you teach?" Dead Girl wonders then, as she pulls a cigarette out of a pocket to light up. She's not really worried about the smoking part, either. "I got a GED because school is like a total drag, you know? And I was mostly home schooled, so it's all good, I know how to read and write and do math and all the rest, you know?" Dead Girl speaks on as she takes another inhale of her cigarette- letting smoke puff into the sky.
"I'd bet you teach something like woodshop." she states, "Or automotive class. Like building hot rods or something."
"Nailed it," he says with a grin. While woodworking and auto maintenance are not necessarily his primary subjects, he does show some of the students at the institute tricks from time to time. Combat and tracking, however, are not your usual school subjects so he'll just leave that information out. "Never was one for school, m'self, but helpin' people learn isn't too bad."
"What about you? What does a dead aspiring actress do for work 'round here?" he asks with a grin.
"Oh, I'm between projects." Dead Girl admits, "I'm just sort of wandering around. You know, getting to know the city better. I don't really need to sleep or eat or anything anymore, so, I've got a lot of free time, you know? Most corpses don't really do that- so I also get a bunch of attention, most of it is okay- some of it is rather nasty." she shrugs, "People being people, you know?" She leans back and just smokes her cigarette. "I mean, I don't need anything to keep surviving."