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Post by perri alexis baines on May 22, 2014 8:17:55 GMT -5
Perri liked the hours she worked at O’Malley’s. They were a little friendlier than the Marquee where she used to serve the drinks and she was more likely to snag an earlier shift if she needed one. That was the only problem with working in a nightclub when she had an exhibition to attend or plans with the friends she had in the city. At least with this change she had a little more freedom in the hours and days that she worked. Plus, the atmosphere here was a lot louder and more like the kind she had grown up with back on the London streets. She could keep up an easy conversation with the regulars and beat away the overzealous customers who repeatedly tried to flirt with her. Perri had to admit that it was nice to be able to leave work without the ringing in her ears for the next several hours, too. Not to mention she could hear the conversations without having to dangle her body half across the bar just to pick up every other spoken word. She had enjoyed the Marquee, but all good things come to an end and this next job just happened to be even better.
She didn’t mind that her resume looked like she flitted from easy job to another easy job. It kept her artwork as more of a hobby in her mind than a chore. Her agent thought differently and often called her to nag at her about some unfinished piece she had barely progressed on, but Perri never let him get under her skin. She was probably going to be the reason why he took early retirement and had the rise in his blood pressure. The London born artist always came through for him and the exhibitions or commissions she had lined up, but Perri had such a laidback personality that he frequently panicked that the day would come when she would miss a show entirely. The by-day bartender was committed to her art, but had chosen not to put a face to the pseudonym she signed in the corner of all of her pieces. She was happier to be a mystery, to avoid the harsh criticism that she had seen befall her old friends when they broke through in the art world. Perri was still a modest artist who had more of a cult following than a mainstream attraction. She was still finding herself and that reflected often in her canvases or the sculptures she experimented with. They were not her best work, but she enjoyed building and the break it gave her from getting paint in her hair.
Normally, Perri finished a shift at O’Malley’s and then made her way home only to grab a snack and then head back out to the garage space she had converted into her studio. It stopped her apartment smelling like turpentine and gave her the room to make a mess if she really wanted to. With her music playing, it wasn’t uncommon for Perri to work until the sun was peeking through the small glass panels in the door. It was home for a shower and a cat nap and then Perri could usually power through another round of daily life. She gave herself enough evenings off to make sure it wasn’t a perfect routine and some nights her inspiration just wasn’t there so it was an early night and comedy movies. Tonight, Perri didn’t know what she would do. She was drying the now-clean glasses behind the bar and thinking about it when the movement of someone caught her eye. The pub was busy enough, but the staff weren’t run off their feet. Lifting her gaze, Perri’s lips instantly twitched into a friendly grin and she put the glass down to greet the familiar face. “Well, fancy seeing you here, stranger.”
• • • TAGGED! Boston! <3 WORDS! 679! OUTFIT! Bouncing Bartender! LYRICS! The Fallout - - - Crown The Empire NOTES! <3
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Post by Deleted on May 24, 2014 11:44:10 GMT -5
now my hearts dead I FEEL SO EMPTY AND HOLLOW ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ "
The week had been hell and a very strung out Boston was having an issue making his way to the bar, walking into a few people, tripping into another and just barely avoiding walking into waitstaff. When he finally was able to make it to the bar, Boston sighed in relief. O'Malley's was better than the Marquee, it wasn't as crowded and he was able to breathe when he walked in. He'd only been to Marquee once but O'Malley's seemed calmer but still busy. Boston's tripping over people hadn't been the crowd, it was simply his own two feet and lack of coordination. His blue eyes carried pinned pupils that as he sat down at the bar top, moved from the counter to the bar keep, smiling at her familiar face. "Hey you, how's the week treated you?" He always asked about the week because more often than not he didn't get to see this face but once, maybe twice a week. Boss' scarred, dirty hands slid her exact change for his usual draft beer and the very usual five dollar tip he slid her that each week he insisted she keep. His nails were chewed down to the point they had bled and were sore. How he made his money wasn't important, all he cared for people to know was that he wasn't a thief and he didn't scam folks out of it. Boston, per usual, kept pretty quiet as he sat at the bar, he never really made a scene or pestered anyone, he just kept to himself wasting away in addiction. Thick visible scars covered his hands, knuckles, arms and there was one long one just above his collar bone. The ones you couldn't see were on his feet, ankles, chest and thighs, each one a place where a needle of toxin had pierced through his skin. Some of them were darker around the edges, a lot of them went through tattoos, the darker ones were ones he scratched, picked and pierced more than the others. The scarring above his collar bone on the left hand side was rich in dark reds and purples, looked inflamed and quite honestly was infected. It itched but he was doing all he could to avoid scratching. Boston's quiet disposition was pretty normal for a night at the bar, until someone started a fight with him but most days he avoided the others. Boston had just come from seeing Harley a dear friend of his but also the man who made his life bearable. Harley kept Boston high and he supposed that there was irony in that Harley had in the past been just as strung out and would have been sitting next to Boston. Receiving the cold tap draft beer was like a finding a puddle in the desert, the relief he felt was similar to that of exiting a loud building into the fresh quiet night air, leaving the noise behind you. Recollecting on previous thoughts, past declines and further more his reckless behavior, he smirked. His life was in shambles and he still found time to be happy. He wasn't miserable, or at least he didn't lead on if he was. The condensation from the sweating, once chilled, beer glass met his hot hands and the relief was instant. His body temperature fluctuated constantly because of his drug use, one minute he was too hot, the next he was too cold. Right now he was cooling down quickly just by holding the beverage. "This place doesn't get too busy does it?" He asked Perri as he looked around. "I suppose that could be both good n' bad for you." He spoke like a person who'd been educated well, his words were spoken with enunciation and words were used properly. He spoke a proper type of English, until you got him with his friends or another junkie then it was all code and mismatched languages. As he sipped at the beer and cooled down, his mind flipped through memories, settling quietly in one quite like his current situation. Boss was in the bar, knocking back a couple cold beers when he met Knot. Knot's eyes were as green as the emerald green of Ireland, his hair a musty blonde that in some lighting was almost a taupe colour. Knot had almost appeared from the shadows that night in the bar and if he hadn't Boston probably wouldn't be alive to see this day. Knot had been quite the card, although Boston only ever seen him the one night. Hey, Seven, what do you think it's like up there? In the stars? Knot had asked him with the utmost seriousness. Boston had laughed a little bit and responded Actually, I think it's pretty peaceful, bright but peaceful. I mean, each one of those stars is a ball of gas and each one has a lifetime of stories we wish they could tell. They're quiet though, afraid to tell their stories,kinda like us....but their company? It's worth having. Boss didn't get to see the stars much in the city, but Knot had taken him just outside the noxious bubble that is New York City, New York. Boston's memory blacks out shortly after remembering them laying in the grass outside the city, staring at the stars and kicks back in when he came too from an overdose, with a note left in his pocket Keep on Warrior, You can win this war. Boston still had the note, and he still played the message over in his head, he didn't like that Knot had left him but without Knot, Boston would have let himself die and that would have been the end of that. "You see a lot of fights here? Marquees had a few rough ones...Not that I'm looking for one I'm just curious."
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Post by perri alexis baines on May 25, 2014 15:39:08 GMT -5
Perri never felt like she lived a double life. She wasn't doing anything to hurt anyone and people didn't need to know about why she didn't always hang out after work and why she was busy. It might look suspicious to the people who could see her entering the garage unit at all hours of the night and day but she invested more money into a security system there than she had done in her own apartment. She could live in squalor so long as her hidden studio remained perfect and in tact. No one knew about it or what Perri did there and that was the whole point of her working under an alias. So she could spend time in places like O'Malley's and just laugh with the rest of society. If she didn't do that then she really would be a loner, locked in her studio with only paint and turpentine as her friends. “The week is the same old rubbish. No one has come to rescue me from this life yet.” She answered with a big grin. Perri joked around like that, but in truth she loved her life. Sure, there were things she wanted just like everyone else did, but she was happy and surviving well. “What about you? Any luck in life?” She asked, leaning over the bar once she had slid his drink over to him.
Perri made friends easy enough in places like this. She was a chatterbox and had the London accent everyone quickly recognised. Even if they didn't know her name they all knew “the Londoner” and her colleagues would tell her when people had been asking after her. She made a point of getting to know people, especially the familiar faces. More often than not people came to a bar to drink away their troubles, but she liked to try and help them in more ways than just pouring their favourite poison. Sometimes it was listening to them ramble, other times it was sharing an embarrassing story from her life, once or twice she even took her breaks with them, just hanging out like they were old friends. They appreciated it for the most part and when they didn't Perri just avoided them until they were in a better mood. She liked O'Malley's and had every intention of sticking around there for a while longer. Normally she flitted from job to job after a few months in one place, but she enjoyed the company here and more often than not she went home with her muse bubbling from some tale or scene and before long it was encrypted onto a canvas. The story was there to see in her own unique fashion with a paintbrush, but it wasn't so obvious that someone could pinpoint O'Malley's as the spot. If she wanted to keep up living two lives then she would have to make sure that nothing on those canvases were traceable back to her day job. It was sometimes a little more difficult than she had anticipated, but she was young and only just really becoming a name in the art world, so it was still safe to have one or two close calls. Glancing around, Perri shrugged. It was a little quieter than normal, but it would pick up plenty before the end of the night and there were other nights when she barely caught five minutes to herself to down a glass of water. “Nah, it'll get busier later. Still early for most people.” She said lightly, not too concerned by a quiet night.
She moved away to serve another customer with a laugh and a joke, but then she was back to loiter around the people she knew and Boston was the only one sitting at the bar. The rest were with pals in the booths that ran along the wall on the far side of the Irish pub. “We're an Irish Pub. A weekend without half a dozen fights is a cause for alarm.” Perri smirked, stepping to the kitchen hatch to grab the plate of chips Ripper sent her way. The Scottish chef was always serving her meals ever since he had noticed her stomach growling too many shifts to count. Now he made sure she always ate something while she was on the clock and Perri had learnt not to argue with the intimidating man. “Just the other night I had to jump this bar and stop two guys from tearing chunks out of each other. All over a football game, too.” She told Boston, chewing on one of the chips while she spoke. “Why so curious anyway?” Her own curiosity got the better of her more times that it ought to, but Perri had been that way since she was a child and it wasn't about to change now. Especially since she still had the heart of a big kid and called Peter Pan her soulmate. If there was any growing up to do, Perri just wasn't interested.
• • • TAGGED! Boston! <3 WORDS! 896! OUTFIT! Bouncing Bartender! LYRICS! The Fallout - - - Crown The Empire NOTES! <3
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2014 22:22:40 GMT -5
now my hearts dead I FEEL SO EMPTY AND HOLLOW ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ ✥ "
"Me? Luck?" Boston laughed, probably laughing a little harder than he should, shaking his head in reaction "No sweetie, lady luck don't roll my way." He snorted, lifting his drink to his lips and knocking it back. Lady Luck was never a friend of Boston's, something told him that no matter what he did, Karma didn't like him and if he was entirely honest; he didn't like her either. "Nah I was just wondering, I mean..." Boston's eyes wandered the bar looking around, dodging glances from others. "I just try to avoid 'em, less there is, less likely I get caught up in it." Boston smiled weakly, he tried to keep to himself most day, keeping quiet and hardly talking to the bar keep. This Londoner though, she was different, he liked talking to her. His hand shook as he set the mug down. Boston's life was in shambles most days, he'd no family to go home to other than other junkies who were usually dead by morning. Boston took it in stride though as he lived the struggle for another day. Boston wasn't sure about staying in New York again, he'd lived here a long time but had hopped trains for sometime in the past, when his friend died, he came home and that was the end of his travelling.
Sometimes he wondered if he should have continued his travels, if he'd have died sooner or if he'd still be trucking along like a stray dog. Settling in New York, in the Bronx even, seemed like a sure fire way to get himself killed or kill himself even but for some unsorted reason he'd stayed alive. Boston couldn't figure it out, his friends, roommates and fellow junk addicts were dropping dead every night and every morning he woke up to a new corpse but he and Valor remained. This morning it was Trap he woke up next to. Trap was a good kid, younger maybe seventeen. The thought sent chills up his spine, was it really fair? He didn't know the kid all too well but he'd spent a night or two with him, sometimes talking, sometimes in bed, Boston didn't really mind either way. He didn't let the predicament eat at him for too long before he kicked his beer back, emptying the mug. Boston hoped that she didn't mind he stick around for a while, he'd no where else to be and while tonight was calm, there was rain predicted for later and the longer Boston could spend in here, the less he'd have to spend in the rain. It wasn't like he lived in the streets but going back to the run down, abandoned apartment building was just depressing. The building was a gathering spot for junkies, and some nights the police actually did their job ans shoo'd them all out onto the streets. Some of the officers took pride in it, loved pulling them from the empty, falling building no one was selling, using or knocking down and putting them in the ally ways. Boston hated it only because no one had a purpose for the old building and they were just using it to have a make shift version of a normal life.
Boss' drinking wouldn't get him in trouble tonight, he couldn't afford it, he'd blown his cash on a stronger, deadlier poison. "So, pardon my curiosity but what drives a pretty young thing like you to work in a pub?" He laughed, making very brief eye contact and smiled. "Always wondered, just never asked. There's probably better stuff out there for you. I bet you've got some mad skills in som'thin right?" Boston couldn't help but chuckle at himself, what the hell was he talking about? How much more awkward could conversation get? He scratched at a line of sores and scabs on his left hand that kind of ripped open in the process, blood beading up to the surface. He dabbed at it with a napkin he ran along the condensation of the empty beer glass in front of him. It was nothing new and it wouldn't bleed for long and when it dried it would itch again later and he'd just repeat the process until it didn't scab but rather scarred over and left permanent marks on his body. He held the damp napkin on the back of his trembling left hand, this lifestyle was getting to be more and more work as the days went on. It was tiresome, being an addict, it was a fulltime job with no benefits and no pay. Getting high was a chore now, because if he didn't he got sick. Some nights, like tonight, he just wanted to go home to the family he left years ago. Not that he was sure they'd want him back.
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Post by perri alexis baines on May 26, 2014 17:24:43 GMT -5
Perri had met plenty of people down on their luck. This was New York City after all. People chased their dreams here and often found themselves feeling bitterly disappointed when their wishes didn't come true overnight. Perri counted herself lucky that hers sort of had done, but then she remembered just how much time, dedication and hard work she invested into her art career. It was a non-stop life and if her muse left her for a few days then it was more than enough to set her way behind schedule for the next gallery exhibit or personal commission. It wasn't something that happened often and she hoped it never became a regular thing for her. “You and the other half of this city.” Perri joked lightly. Working in bars had taught her that the dice rarely ever rolled in good favour. Gambling wishes on stars was hardly a way to make it through life and yet the London blonde did exactly that. She wiped up a spill in the drip tray and then returned her attention to Boston and her plate of chips. “A bar's a bar. There's always someone had one drink too many and always someone else who gets in the way.” Perri shrugged and shoved another salty chip between her lips. She might have grown up in the fancy side of London where the houses were white and the furniture inside only the best, but Perri had mixed with several crowds and had fallen in love with the rough and tumble of the city when her parents disapproved of such ventures. She had broken up fights, been in fights and seen fights. They weren't her favourite things in life but she knew enough to know that sometimes it was unavoidable.
New York was nothing like London, but Perri loved both places equally. London would always be her home, but New York looked set to be her future. Her career was there, even if her career was one very few people knew about. She loved the secrecy of it though and when her parents did their bi-monthly phone call to see if she was settling down any Perri sort of got a thrill from the thought that she was doing so great and yet they couldn't boast to their friends about it. It might seem harsh, but she kind of enjoyed tormenting them and letting them think she was some flaky dreamer who drifted from job to job simply because she didn't know what she wanted out of life. It would only make the big reveal so much better when the time eventually came for Perri to step out of the shadows and put her face against the name Orion. Until then, pub work and bar skills were going to be her front and it was a front she very much enjoyed. “'A pretty young thing' makes good money in a pub.” Perri grinned, leaning back against the back counter of the bar, folding one arm and hooking one ankle over the other while she devoured another few chips from the plate, successfully emptying it. “Plus, I love it here. Meet new people, hear stories and get free lunch from the cooks.” She said the last bit loud enough for Ripper to hear and he responded in a mumbled, gruff Scottish accent. Perri couldn't make out quite what he said, but she knew it would be something lovely and not at all sarcastic. “My skills are very few and far between. I can quote every form of Peter Pan out there, design a neat tattoo when I feel like it and I can tie a cherry stem in a knot with my tongue.” She grinned wickedly, acting like there was nothing more to her than the bubbly free spirit everyone met when they came to O'Malley's.
She always played down her love for art now and only the people who kept in contact with her from London really knew about her passion. She never boasted about her talent with a paintbrush, rarely ever mentioned her time at university even though she had gone to the prestigious Chelsea School of Art, and Perri never claimed to be the artist she really was. It made life simple, gave her something to enjoy by herself and took so much pressure off her shoulders. It was impossible for her to explain the difference an alias had made to her life, but it was something she was grateful for and not just because she loved adding that air of mystery to her work. “Plus, if I didn't work here then who would you come in and chat with? Hm?” She teased lightly, throwing in a playful wink as she rested on the bar again, dropping her chin to her hand and smirking. She was a terror when she wanted to be and an angel when the mood took her. Perri could hop from looking like she'd spent a month slumming it to looking like something stepping off the red carpet. Her mood could change with her command and working here it always seemed like something useful. When she was on the clock they usually saw the laidback, casual Perri with the slightly messy hair and sneakers. On her nights off when she came in she usually looked a lot more glammed up and not like the girl the regulars had befriended. It was the power of being a young woman in her mid-twenties, but Perri loved it. “Admit it, there would be a hole in your heart if I up and left here today.” She joked, stretching out now and feeling fidgety, like she always did when the shift was reaching its peak.
• • • TAGGED! @boston WORDS! 965! OUTFIT! Bouncing Bartender! LYRICS! The Fallout - - - Crown The Empire NOTES! <3
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