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"I hate the internet." Mona scowled a bit, shaking her head. "Stupid waste of nothing, full of porn and pointlessness...." This was really the one thing that made Mona old-fashioned.
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"You have to know where to look to find good stuff. I found a video about a man who made an ocarina out of broccoli... There's a lot of online books and things you can learn. I know 25 different computer programming languages. And I can speak every dialect at least 12 human languages. I can even speak Draconic now. There's lots of movies and music on it. Of course, I've got a processor that runs faster than all but the fastest super computers, so you can't really compare to it."
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"Guh," Mona still shook her head. "I'd much rather pick up some books or learn from my family...movies bore me." She poured herself a shot of whiskey and tossed it back, smacking her snake-bitten lips after she did. Smoke bloomed out into the air, stained with alcohol.
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He had dozed off at the bar, though his head remained perfectly balanced on his palm. Bright red eyes slowly opened, blinking slowly and changing direction under their lids in order to look around. Inhaling slowly and deeply through his nose, he lowered his arm and got to his feet, turning to exit the establishment, though he didn't have anywhere else to go.
Zaitsu could feel that his body required sustenance, and stopped for a moment, glancing down at the lower half of his body for a moment in thought. |
"Leaving already?" Mona called to the man. "I didn't even get your name. At least take a bottle of something with you. The nights are still cool." She smiled gently, silver fingers digging for something under the counter.
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Vashtai shrugged and watched the strange red-eyed man as he passed. She shook her head again at his sullen silence and walked back to one of the couches before laying herself down along it's length and smiling silently while she played back the video clips she had taken of her and Nicolai when they were together. It would help her sleep, it always did. She yawned and then, eyes still closed, turned her hands towards where Mona was moving her hands in a groping motion like she was trying to will the woman closer so she could say goodnight.
"You're not going to mind if I crash on your couch for a bit, are you? I haven't really rested in a while....not that I need sleep so much as don't want my motor functions to overheat...." She left the words as they were, falling asleep without really waiting for a response. She was fairly sure of what the answer would be and she really was almost at her limit for over heating. She had been running since she left Nicolai's side to come find Mona. |
"My name isn't important," came his quiet, self-loathing words. "I don't need anything to keep me warm. If I survive the night then I survive the night; if not, then maybe I'll finally find my peace." His feet resumed walking, though the initial movement seemed hesitant. He made his way to the door and exited, then looked around the alley and tried to decide where to go from there.
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"Of course, honey," Mona said to Vashtai. "This is a place of rest for everyone. Just go ahead and crash." She nodded, the gentle smile spreading over her lips.
She turned towards the man and raised an eyebrow as he spoke and then left. Then she shrugged, grayish smoke gushing out from her mouth with a sigh. "Suit yourself, then." She shook her head and then ducked under the bar, trying to get a better grasp on what she was looking for. |
Nowhere else appealed to him, and Zaitsu found himself growing his wings right there in the alley. Large, black feathered wings wrapped around his body as he sat a ways off from the door in the shadows. His eyes slipped closed again and he sighed. The warmth of the bar called to him, but he fought the pull."
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Mona marched up the stairs later on with a glass mug of hot cider in her hands. She kicked the door open with her foot and it banged loudly against the back wall. "Whoops...damn thing is thinner than before...." She traveled the short journey to where the man was sitting and then sat down just at his left. "Brought this for ye, if you'd like," she said, raising it towards him with a smoky grin that smelled like amber and patchouli. "If not, I'll drink it. But why sit outside when you could be inside? Better company, warmer temperature and more things to demand of me." She winked.
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"Why would I want to demand things of you?" he asked quietly. "It wouldn't make me happy, so why bother with such annoyances? I don't like cider... It tastes sweet to me..."
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"Because I'm the bartender and that's what you do," she shrugged, drinking from the glass. "You can demand things more to your liking than cider since you actually know what you like and I don't have a goddam clue." She grinned. "My purpose here is to serve others, that includes you, even if it doesn't make you happy for me to give you whatever sustenance you might want. How about a cigarette, you smoke?" She pursed her lips and exhaled a cloud into the air and then waggled her eyebrows as if to say ' 'cuz I do'.
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"I would rather serve than be served," was his simple reply.
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"Then maybe you'd like to help me out, how about that?" Mona offered. "I'm staff-less at the moment but if my rejuvenation is anything like before then I'll be getting busy eventually. You any good at pouring drinks, making food, playing music and/or being sexy?" She grinned at him. "Because I'll be needing those abilities after a bit."
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"I've worked in a bar before. I know how to mix drinks, and my cooking isn't too horrible. I'm useless for the other things," he said with a sigh. "Might as well... I don't have anywhere else to go..."
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"Awesome. So yeah, you can bunk here if you want." She gulped down some of the cider and then jutted her arm up into the air. "The building above my place is an apartment complex that I own so you can just take one of the rooms up there if you want, hows that? Er...if you already have someplace then that's fine. I don't charge rent, though, and I pay for all the utilities and the taxes. And uh...feed you if you feel like it." She sucked down the rest of the mug until she was left with nothing but a steaming glass.
"What's your name? I've told you mine, right?" |
"No, you haven't told me your name, but I believe the other woman called you Mona," he said, cringing as his wings began to withdraw into his back. "My name is Zaitsu..."
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"Well glad to have you Zaitsu," Mona said, the mug in her hand vanishing. She then held that hand out for him, intending to shake his if he would. The silver ink on her black-taloned fingers glowed in a strange way.
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Zaitsu watched her hand for a moment, contemplating whether or not to shake it. He decided not to, and instead pulled himself to his feet. "I will do my best to remain quiet and not bother anyone in your establishment."
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Mona shrugged and then hopped up herself blowing smoke into the air.
"If you want, but you know, to each his own. I don't have many preferences when it comes to my workers. Just that you know what you're doing and you're not a fucking sod." She turned back towards the door and kicked it open. "After you." She bowed a bit." |
After returning inside, Zaitsu had left again to retrieve his belongings. Several hours passed, and he had moved his things into his new room. Changing his clothes into a pair of dark blue denim jeans and a red sleeveless shirt, and went into the bar to clean. It started with sweeping, then progressed to him on his hands and knees scrubbing the floor.
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Mona had spent a good bit of the afternoon in her room. She burned incense and writing letter addressed to some man named 'Tefla'. She snoozed for a bit. When she woke up, she walked back into the bar again with a black cigarette between her lips.
"Jesus, Zaitsu," she said, groggy and still a bit out of it. "What are you doing?" |
"Cleaning," he replied, still scrubbing the floor over in a corner. Though he wore a pair of steel-toed work boots, he easily kept them from touching the floor while he worked, balancing his weight entirely on one hand and his knees.
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"Huh." Mona rolled her shoulders and two large, black wings grew out from her back. They were sharp at the joints and leathery like the skin of some reptile. She hovered a few feet of the ground, reclining in the air is if it were some couch with her wings beating gently.
"Guess I shouldn't tread over your work, then." She laughed and then lit the cigarette between her lips with the silver lighter she had around her neck. She blew clove-scented smoke into the air after taking a drag. |
"I honestly don't care if you walk on the clean floor or not. It'll give me an excuse to double over."
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