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Post by Jo Harvelle on Nov 25, 2011 18:12:29 GMT -5
Jo Harvelle walked into The Bank Nightclub in L.A, her body vibrating with the vibrations of the loud bass music playing from huge grounded speakers. Strobe lights gave the entire club a colorful neon look and people danced around every inch of the lower floors, even along the top balconies when they werent in the VIP rooms. She smiled. She was dressed differently than usual. Her long hair was crimped, a black rose clip in her hair near her ear, and she wasnt wearing her usual tank top and cowboy boots. It was surprising.
When she walked into the club, she smiled when she saw that she had caught the eye of a few guys in the club, and headed to the bar counter, ordering a Pilsner. When the cool, dew covered bottle slipped into her hand, she sighed in relief. She'd snuck away from Dean for a while to relax and not have to concentrate on hunting. She liked just spending the night in a good nightclub with a bottle of booze and dancing with a bunch of people she didnt know. It was the beauty of being in such a big city as Las Vegas. And since she knew how to protect herself, she could go anywhere.
Turning so her back was to the bar, she leaned back and took a sip of her beer, her eyes surveying the crowd like only a hunters eyes could do. No creatures, demons or angels so far as she could see. Perfect. So long as they stayed away for tonight, or stayed away from her more like, she could just relax and dance the night away. She finished her drink and moved, making her way into the crowd of dancers nearly to the middle, her body moving to the music, hips swaying, eyes closed. She just hoped no one tried to bother her. If they danced with her she wouldnt mind, but if they bothered her or irritated her or whatever, she'd leave and go back to Dean.
Dean... She sighed. The two of them were still figuring things out. He had his own issues what with Lisa and she, well, she had just come back from the dead. It was hard to figure out a relationship when they had problems like that. She just didnt know what to do now and maybe that was the problem. She didnt know what she wanted and she didnt know what he wanted. But the worst of it was not knowing if he still felt the same about her, or if his feelings had changed all together. Pushing the thoughts back, she continued to dance, her body moving in time with the other dancers, just trying to enjoy her time there and not think about more serious things. |
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Post by Edra Ogunlana on Dec 11, 2011 19:29:36 GMT -5
  Show me a barrel and watch me scrape it Faced with the music, as always I'll face it
Trouble loves me, Seeks and finds me Oh, please fulfill me, Otherwise, kill me
She rubbed at her face, feeling the permanent five o’ clock shadow grate against the part of her hands not covered by fingerless gloves. Her hair hung down in a tangle of jaw-length dark curls, a subtle curtain through which to study the other patrons crowding the bar. She watched a pretty blonde girl with a black rose in her hair order a beer and lean back with the bottle in a way that was refreshingly out of place. Most of the tarts tottering around The Bank were busy trying to look suitably ladylike while sipping their vodka tonics. Eyes drifting to the other side of the bar she noticed a body-building bear a good few inches taller than everyone else in the room, who had squeezed himself into a clean pair of slacks and a shirt she could see a variety of tattoos through. He was already staring back at Eddie and winked when their eyes met. Men like that didn’t interest her but he looked like an interesting template to build a new fake identity on.
Licking the trace of sugary whiskey from her lips she decided the alcohol sitting in her system clearly wasn’t going to kick in until she’d shaken it up a bit. There was more than one way to do that but dancing was a good place to start.
She moved through the crowd; found a good spot not too crowded, not too close to the speakers. Unlike most men on the dance floor, Eddie moved with a fluid style devoid of self-consciousness. The booze helped but she loved to loose herself in music no matter what state she was in or what form she was wearing. It took her several songs to realise there was someone pressed up against her. She turned to find herself looking up at the giant from the bar again. With a diplomatic smile she turned back and took a few steps to distance herself. But a couple of songs later that same pressure was back, and this time there was no mistaking what part of his anatomy was squashed into her rear. In retrospect, she could understand how her eyeballing him followed by licking her lips and heading onto the main floor might look like an invitation.
Instinct told her to knee him where it would hurt but The Bank was a classy venue, not some grubby dive bar where a bit of unnecessary roughness was par for the course - She didn’t want to get herself kicked out. She could always dart into the toilets and shift into another form but that was difficult to do in a little cubicle and she liked having a face the staff knew. She’d be damned before she left early altogether. Looking across the dance floor she noticed the blonde from the bar and decided on plan D.
She waltzed up with a smile and vague beckoning gesture to catch the girl’s attention before leaning in to try and make herself heard over the music. “Hey, can I ask you a favour? There’s a man-mountain over there thinks I’m batting for the same team. I need a fake girlfriend ‘till he gets the message...” She pulled back and gave the girl her best pleading puppy-dog eyes.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Temporary Face: Aidan Turner Music: LMFAO - Sexy and I Know It Clothes: Something like thisNotes: Because Jo is made of win Word Count: Around 710 Credit: Coding was quite heavily modified from its original template but may the fleas of a thousand camels still infest the crotch of anyone who steals credit from Ixi Stix of CAUTION!! |
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Post by Jo Harvelle on Dec 14, 2011 18:33:45 GMT -5
When Jo noticed a man studying her from across ther oom, she felt all the more need to get into the crowd and dance the night away. She wasnt about to get into anything with a guy when she already had someone in mind. Of course, if she and Dean never worked out then fine, she'd move on. But for now, she just wanted to spend some alone time on the floor. Actually, it was looking to her more and more like she and Dean wouldnt work. They fought constantly about stupid things, made stupid agreements, hid things from each other... She didnt know what kind of relationship it would be if they did date. Clearly not a solid one.
So, yeah, she let herself go for the night. She couldnt help it. All she wanted for a few hours was to forget all about Dean, forget about the job. Be a little stupid and reckless for once in her life instead of following the hunter code. She'd seen some body-builder guy practically grinding on the guy who'd been eyeing her up before and almost laughed, the corners of her mouth quirking up before she turned away. Pray god, that the guy wouldnt come over here. She'd have to tell him his admirerer seemed to know more about which team he played for than she did.
And then he walked over to her, and... asked her to be his fake girlfriend? Jo just blinked, looking at him quizzically for a moment, her body still moving to the beat of a Basshunter song that was playing. He couldnt be serious. Since when had she ever played fake girlfriend to anyone? Hell she hadnt even had a boyfriend in years... But then again, it could be interesting. Just another thing to use to get her mind off of... Dont think about him. You'll make things worse if you think about him.
"Guess it wouldnt hurt. I'm all for helping people out of things, though I usually have to fight my way out." she laughed, "This'll be a challenge..." Looking over at the big guy, she sized him up, "So how you wanna play this?" she asked, pulling Eddie closer to her so they could dance together. At least make it look like they were busy doing something, "It was almost entertaining watching you squirm when he was bothering you." she teased, "Maybe I shoulda thrown you to the sharks." she smiled, but it was obvious she wouldnt. |
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Post by Edra Ogunlana on Dec 18, 2011 19:54:45 GMT -5
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>"Guess it wouldn’t hurt. I'm all for helping people out of things, though I usually have to fight my way out." she laughed.
Seeing Jo laugh was infectious, like seeing someone yawn, and Eddie found herself beaming back, dimples forming on her borrowed face. The words that should have alerted the shapeshifter to the fact that she was dancing with a hunter merely skimmed her awareness and then they were forgotten.
"This'll be a challenge..."
Eddie glanced over her shoulder again. “No kidding! Looks like he’s been on steroids since he was a bloody toddler.”
"So, how you wanna play this?" the girl asked, pulling Eddie closer to her so they could dance together. Spoken like a true grifter. Eddie couldn’t help but grin even wider, happily letting herself be pulled. Suddenly the shirt-over-vest combo she was wearing felt a little too hot.
“Well, considering he’s probably only functioning with a caveman brain I’d say obvious. Real obvious.” A copycat by nature, it was easy for Eddie’s dancing to fall in perfect synch with her newfound alibi. She let one hand rest on Jo’s hip in a way that hopefully wouldn’t cause offense but would look like an easy familiarity.
"It was almost entertaining watching you squirm when he was bothering you." she teased, "Maybe I shoulda thrown you to the sharks.”
“Aw, but it’d be like throwing Flipper in a paddling pool with Jaws.” Eddie countered, pulling an over-the-top sad face. “Sounds funny ‘til you do it, then it just ends up weird and gruesome.”
In terms of size, Eddie was definitely the dolphin to the body-builder’s shark, but out of the two she wouldn’t be the one who ended up bloody. Eddie wasn’t a killer but, after her time with Crowley, the shapeshifter was born-again tough. And the thoughts of the vampire she was imitating kept creeping into her consciousness. Wherever he was the bastard was feeding again, in earnest, giving Eddie an odd phantom-limb feeling of a missing set of teeth. Ultimately, dancing with Jo helped to keep her feeling normal. She had come to The Bank to remind herself that she was a person, not just a thing to be paid for or hunted.
“Thanks for this, princess. I think I’d be screwed otherwise.” Eddie glanced back and smirked. “In every sense.”
Spinning on a tempo change she ended up behind the blonde. She wasn’t proud to admit it was a slightly defensive tactic, allowing her to stare down the dance floor stalker while hiding behind her little human shield. The glare she shot out was accentuated by a flash of her pale yellow eyes. The body-builder didn’t look scared like she’d hoped but he did stare at the two of them quizzically. Probably thought it was a trick of the lighting or whatever chemical cocktail he was on.
Eddie leaned in closer, letting her right hand take up its former position on Jo’s hip. “Feel free to act like I’m whispering sweet nothings here but, um, what’s your name?” she asked, hoping it didn’t sound like the lead into a cheesy pick up line. “I need to thank my knight in not-so-shiny armour.”<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Temporary Face: Still Aidan Turner Music: Basshunter - Angel In The Night Clothes: Something like thisNotes: Eddie's trying very hard to behave herself Word Count: Around 455 are my own
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Post by Jo Harvelle on Dec 24, 2011 22:23:41 GMT -5
Jo smiled when Eddie's hand went to her hip and moved her body in synch with her newfound partners, "Well, I'd say I'm far from the princess type, sweetheart. You have no idea what a pretty little blonde like me is capable of." she winked and glanced at the body builder, her eyes moving over him in a speculative and analytical look, "Mmm.. I'd say well over six feet, body building since he was probably in his early twenties, big guy, clearly playing for the other team. Late twenties to early thirties. Probably two hundred pounds worth of muscle only." she shrugged, "Nothing I cant handle."
She grinned when Eddie asked for her name and considered telling her dance partner her real name. But would it be safe? There had to be plenty of demons and creatures in the world who knew the name Jo Harvelle was acquainted with the Winchesters. What if Eddie was one of them? But the other person certainly didnt look like it, or he would have dealt with the body builder on his own, "I'm Jo." she shrugged, "Jo Harvelle. What about you? You havent told me your name either?"
Jo was working it pretty well on the floor in the arms of this total stranger. She was as good an actor as any hunter and it helped well enough, pretending as though she were hitting on her dancing partner, giggling in a girlish way that didnt even remotely resemble her. Her eyes flickered to the body builder and she smirked coyly, a smile that said "He's mine, get lost" without any question. |
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Post by Edra Ogunlana on Jan 3, 2012 22:22:43 GMT -5
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>"Well, I'd say I'm far from the princess type, sweetheart.”
“Sweetheart?” Eddie smirked. Out of place nicknames all-round then. Despite the mocking she rather liked the sound of it.
“You have no idea what a pretty little blonde like me is capable of.”
Eddie let her hand run over the small of Jo’s back as she turned away from the man-mountain again. The girl was small compared to her, soft, feminine and yet clearly built around a core of iron. She couldn’t resist reaching up and pushing back a strand of blonde hair that the clip had missed. “Oh I dare say you’d get away with murder if you really wanted to.” The shapeshifter was only half joking. “Think you could take on that guy?”
“Mmm.. I'd say well over six feet, body building since he was probably in his early twenties, big guy, clearly playing for the other team. Late twenties to early thirties. Probably two hundred pounds worth of muscle only.”
“And probably a real handful when he’s been knocking back a Jäger-train…”
The girl shrugged, still eerily unruffled. “Nothing I can’t handle.”
And goddamn it if Eddie wasn’t impressed. “Feel free to act like I’m whispering sweet nothings here but, um, what’s your name? I need to thank my knight in not-so-shiny armour.”
“I'm Jo.” she shrugged, “Jo Harvelle.” That sounded familiar. It was on the tip of her tongue, she just knew it. Harvelle… A road or a place name or something… “What about you? You haven’t told me your name either?”
“I thought we already decided my name was Sweetheart." Something about the beat of the music and the booze in her belly made the shifter feel even more mischievous than usual. She paused to pull off the shirt that had gotten way too hot and tie the sleeves around her waist, offering Jo a little bow in the process.
"Eddie Lane. Misplaced Londoner and apparently a gay wrestler magnet.” Eddie Lane was near enough. Her real first name was the wrong gender and a Nigerian surname didn’t really fit the Celtic face she was wearing. Even in her default form she probably would’ve lied. Probably. She decided she liked the blonde firecracker enough to offer a phone number if she asked though.
Jo seemed to be having far too much fun glaring daggers at the body builder. It began to bother Eddie that despite their oscar-worthy performance, and even her trademark creepy-eye flash, he still hadn’t backed off. Maybe he was just too boozed up to take the hint. Or maybe there was something else going on. Eddie didn’t miss a beat but her hands tightened nervously on Jo, pulling her closer as they moved.
“I’m gonna take a wild guess and assume you’re not local either. Here for business or pleasure?”<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Temporary Face: Still Aidan Turner Music: Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child Clothes: This minus shirt = black vest & jeans Notes: I've started picturing the man-mountain as a Jarko Grimwood look-alike. All he needs is a vampire Pomeranian... Word Count: Around 390 are my own
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Post by Jo Harvelle on Jan 4, 2012 13:05:34 GMT -5
Something was off about the body builder. Even from as far from him as Jo was she could tell. She had to keep an eye on him. Of all the pretty faces in the bar, why was he going after this man, who'd taken safe refuge in dancing with her? What was so special about Eddie that she wasnt seeing? Watching the body builder closely, she watched how he moved. He didnt have the deadly grace of a vampire... Couldnt be a demon or his dirty work probably would've been done ages ago, unless he was too busy toying with Eddie to bother with his original plan. Even if he was a demon, what would he want with this guy? He was human from what she could tell.
In this light, she couldnt see his eyes properly. They looked like normal human eyes but he was facing away from the lights that were shining in his direction so she couldnt tell properly. He could be a shifter. But again, what would a shifter want with Eddie? Even vampires have alterior motives. Looking up at Eddie when he spoke, she smirked, "Sure I can handle him. Believe me, I've dealt with far worse than a drunk, gay body builder." And he might be worse than just that. Thinking about it now, Jo realized that coming to a nightclub as dark as this one, where it was easy to hide from strobe lights shining in your eyes and no one could tell if you were a supernatural being, was the worst idea she'd come up with.
Smiling when Eddie introduced himself and asked about if she was a local, she shrugged, "I come round here every once in a while, but I dont really live anywhere outside of my car. I move around a lot." she said, smiling, "At the moment, I'm here hiding from personal problems. So drinking as much vodka as I can possibly handle sounded like a great idea when I was trying to figure out what to do."
Glancing back at the body builder, she frowned, "Any idea why he hasnt backed off at all? He doesnt look nearly as drunk as some of the other people here." |
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Post by Edra Ogunlana on Jan 8, 2012 14:40:42 GMT -5
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>"I come round here every once in a while, but I don’t really live anywhere outside of my car. I move around a lot." she said, smiling.
“Ditto! Except I‘m a tightwad so I drive a bike ‘cause the petrol‘s cheaper.” Eddie was intrigued by the parallels their lives seemed to run in. “Anything fun planned while you’re around?”
"At the moment, I'm here hiding from personal problems. So drinking as much vodka as I can possibly handle sounded like a great idea when I was trying to figure out what to do."
“I’ll drink to that!” Eddie found it best not to prod people when it came to the reasons why someone was drinking. Given enough alcohol anything that needed to be said usually found its own way out. She wondered how deep their similarities ran, whether Jo had made her drinking money from any of the same soul-crushing things Eddie did. Peering up and over her new ally like a Meercat in hipster jeans, the shifter noted her stalker was still focused on them. “Lemme buy you a pitcher Jo, whatever you want’s on me; see if the bastard son of Hulk Hogan there follows us to the bar...”
Taking the hunter’s hand she lead her away from the dance floor, weaving between the other groups dotted in their own little couples and circles. She didn’t know whether to be grateful or annoyed with the laidback vibe The Bank had. The crowded clubs back in London she’d grown up with were normally packed full of E-trippers too high to know what was going on or speed freaks and alkies too drunk to get out the way. You needed sharp elbows and a sure footing to get about there, whereas in the Bellagio a gentle nudge and the occasional smile worked just fine. It made it easier to move about but conversely it wasn’t easy to just ditch someone in the crowd either. And it only made the blonde man’s unrelenting pursuit seem all the more out of place. With a sinking feeling in her gut, Eddie saw that he hadn’t given up. She tried desperately to think of any other time she might have seen him but nothing sprang to mind.
Glancing back at the body builder, Jo frowned, "Any idea why he hasn’t backed off at all?”
“Ideas sure, but nothing that holds up to logic.” Despite the unsettled feeling she couldn’t help but try to make light of the situation. “Pretty face like this, maybe it‘s just too much for one drunk slob to handle.” She sucked in her cheeks and pulled her best ‘Blue Steel’ face before draping herself over the bar and beckoning Álvaro over to take their order.
“He doesn’t look nearly as drunk as some of the other people here."
“You reckon? Hm. Well I'm not drunk enough yet.” She gestured for Jo to order whatever she wanted from the bar. “I’ll have what you’re havin’.” Fiddling with an abandoned beer mat she tried once more to figure out who the man was. “There’s a loan shark in Reno I owe a few quid to…” she admitted. “None of his toadies came in extra-large like that though, otherwise I wouldn‘t have risked skipping a payment. And he winked at me, when he caught me checkin’ out the tatts through his shirt. I mean, what the fuck was that about? I‘ve never seen him before!”
The man was hovering at a small table built around one of the supporting pillars. Some clueless redhead girl had started talking to him and he seemed pleasant enough but only feigning an interest because every now and then his eyes were pulled back to Jo and Eddie. The lights occasionally splashed across his torso, showing off the tattoos through his shirt that Eddie was referring to. There was a curly dragon design of some sort across his back and what looked like a mixture of abstract lines and runes running down the arm in view. Thinking about it, Eddie got a sense of déjà vu - similar patterns on a similarly muscled bicep. “Something about those tattoos though...” she offered to Jo. “I swear I’ve never seen him but the more I look the more familiar those marks are. It’s buggin’ the Hell out’ve me!”
The fact that she didn’t recognise the guy was infuriating now. Especially since he seemed to know her. But not really her per se, because the Eddie everyone saw was a him. The face was stolen from Mitch, a vampire who hadn’t set foot in the states for ten years, so he wasn‘t likely a friend or enemy of the ex. Eddie started using the vampire’s form about five years ago, when she’d first started coming to the Bellagio. His face was strictly reserved for rest and recreation because his looks invariably seemed to draw in those who were more than happy to show Eddie a good time. Mitch’s form was just the shapeshifter’s equivalent to a slinky evening dress. When would the urban Viking have seen her in that setting?
Wait… Viking. It was then that the penny started to drop. “Oh… shit.” Her face went impossibly pale as she turned slowly back to the bar. “There’s a chance he’s a friend of this massive tool I screwed over a few months ago…”
After Crowley had cut her down and let her wounds heal, the demon had given Eddie her first hunt or die ultimatum - bring him back a Jotunn. That was the Norse name for Giants, the kind Jack and the Beanstalk was loosely based on. Except the Jotunn came in extra-fun frost or fire varieties, using built in abilities to freeze people solid or burn them to a crisp before grinding their bones to make bread, or whatever the fairytale was. Crowley only needed her to lure out one from a tribe of two dozen living in San Jacinto. She’d tried walking around as all kinds of suitably sluttish women but it wasn’t until she’d thrown on a male form out of desperation that one of the Jotunn had surprisingly taken an interest. Was it Mitch’s face she’d used? The giant had downed every glass put in front of him, gotten pickled enough to gulp down enough disguised tranquilizer to fell an elephant without a fuss. It must have been the vamp’s face he fell for. Was that why the man-mountain behind her had winked? A good handful of the giants would’ve seen Eddie prowling about before she’d left with… what was his name? Steel? No, Steinn.
Eddie shivered at the memory of his freezing hands all over her, patches of her skin instantly blackening with frostbite, Norse runes tattooed on each icy finger clawing at her. She remembered the bone-deep cold of being pinned under Steinn’s bulk when the tranqs finally kicked in and he passed out on top of her, the slurred threats that his comrades would avenge him when she’d packed his drugged ass into a van (under Samuel Campbell’s withering glare - as if working for the demon who’d bankrupted and tortured her hadn‘t made the shifter feel crappy enough already).
She slumped over the bar, letting her forearms cushion her head. As far as getting away from her problems went, her night at the Bank was now officially an epic disaster. “Fucking Crowley.” she wailed into the wooden veneer of the bar. “Whatever I do, that little bastard’s gonna be the death of me!” Sucking in a deep breath she peeled herself up to meet Jo‘s gaze. She had to make an effort just to keep her retinal flare in check, and despite a forced smile she couldn’t hide the miserable, bloodshot look in her eyes or the fact that the colour was still draining from her face. “Jo, you’ve been ace. Another night I’d be sure to take your mind off any problem but… I think I‘m about to get my head torn off…”
The girl was a tough cookie, she got that. But how much help could any human be against something that turned people into meat popsicles or roast long-pig?<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<Temporary Face: Still Aidan Turner Music: New Order - Confusion (Pump Panel remix) Clothes: Still black vest and jeans Notes: Idea for the Giants' tattoos based loosley on this and thisWord Count: Around 1270
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