Pool tables, with one foosball table and an air hockey table hiding among them, dominate the space of the hall, hardly yielding any space for the motley crew of players chalking their sticks and eying the brandy bottle at the bar lining one wall. The dust and scratches on all surfaces save the green velvet lining the pool tables indicate this hall as skimping on maintenance and cheap on cleaners. Its lack of flashy videogames and surplus of toothless kibitzers underscores its appeal to the older crowd. No natural sunlight is permitted into the hall, its lighting provided by bulbs swinging from the ceiling.
A recent 'renovation' to the hall has caused many splinters and embedded bullet holes, adding much to the aged atmosphere. Ruddish stains, dark and ominous even under the lights, refuse to be washed out of the floor. A dart board brightens up the walls with its red-and-black scheme, and a moosehead looks down on the proceedings.
Mounted from the ceiling, a television blares its glaring brightness and noises.
A set of double doors, one locked, the other unlocked at the whims of the hall manager, lead out to the street. Unobstructive doors behind the bar undoubtedly lead to storerooms.
Currently the moon is in the waning Half (Philodox) Moon phase (58% full).
Currently in Saint Claire, it is clear outside. The temperature is 53 degrees Fahrenheit (11 degrees Celsius). The wind is calm today. The barometric pressure reading is 30.00 and rising, and the relative humidity is 74 percent. The dewpoint is 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius.) For more detail, see: http://www.wunderground.com/cgi-bin/findweather/getForecast?query=98501
Compact is the word for him: wiry, maybe 5'6" in his beat-up black combat boots, with a sense of compressed energy and imminence like a coiled spring -- or a cocked gun. Never quite still for long, balance flowing through the balls of his feet. There's a striking intensity to his narrow blue-green eyes, the colour contrasting with his fair skin and spiky copper hair; just below the left is what at first appears to be a faint mole, but closer inspection reveals as a small, long-healed scar. His features are appealing, with high cheekbones and a good jawline, but it's the confident mien and roguish smile that most often seem to draw people in.
He's in a well-worn biker jacket of the traditional sort, all fairly closely fit black leather and silvery zippers and snaps. Beneath it, he's got old black jeans with a rip in one knee and the cuffs half walked off, with a faded black band t-shirt ('Anarchy Burger - Hold the Government', parodying the In-N-Out sign) under an open dark red hawaiian shirt. There's a couple leather-and-bead bracelets on one wrist and a length of ball-chain disappearing beneath his collar; his nails were apparently painted black some time ago, since they're starting to show chips. Late teens, most likely, and when he speaks it's in a mellifluous, southern-accented baritone voice.
Thick honey-blonde hair, styled in a poofy set of curls, rings this pretty blue-eyed young woman's head. She's in her late teens, and her hair's currently left down, though it's occasionally pinned up. She stands about five and a half feet tall, and is a little on the thin side of things, though not to an extreme. She dresses mostly in informal styles, from ripped jeans and tank tops to the occasional sundress.
Currently, she wears the former, her black tank top emblazoned with a large sequined red heart, and her jeans so ripped as to be nearly indecent. About half of the heart's sequins are missing. Her feet are clad in red strappy lightly-heeled sandals that have seen better days. She wears little in the way of jewelry, just a black wooden bracelet, a stainless steel and rhinestone mood ring, and (probably fake) gold earrings. When she speaks, a fairly thick Southern accent is evident.
Andrea Jackson is a slender 5'5 with light brown hair with red and blonde highlights. She has a slightly tanned complexion. Her eyes are a deep chocolate brown. She tends to wear low-cut jeans with graphic T's of various heavy metal bands and windbreakers.
The moon's moved from gibbous to half, and Felix isn't a lot calmer than before, today, but the energy has a decidedly happier vibe. They've already been out for a while, exploring a bit, wandering stores, getting somewhat drunk at a park playground, and generally just not being in the Library or other places the rest of humanity isn't. Okay, about half of humanity in any given place they stay a while finds excuses to leave, but still! They've just dropped off the handful of things they've bought or otherwise acquired today, but the night, as they say, is still young, and there's that pool hall practically next door they haven't investigated yet...
Lilah has been a lot happier today, as well, as judged by her affectionate hand squeezes, shoulder bumps, and the like. And one can't discount the number of smiles she's bestowing, either. It's probably *almost* as much a relief to her as it is to Felix that the moon's being a little kinder right now. Today she's tried to foot the bill for anything they've paid for, though not in a pushy way; it was made clear once that she's willing to cover stuff-- probably by her pulling out her wallet-- but not repeated if he seemed opposed. She doesn't seem to mind people finding excuses to leave, if she even pays it any mind, and as they approach the pool hall, she pauses to pull him in for a quick kiss, her hand in his.
Felix seems willing to let her pay for some things, pays for others himself, and doesn't pay for the remainder at all. There doesn't seem to be a lot of rhyme of reason to which things fall into the first two categories, except that he won't let her pay for anything he's decided ought to be hers. He's quite affectionate with her as well, and really just seems amused if PDA chases away any of the people the curse doesn't -- although really, he tends to seem fairly amused about them, as well. It's easy, as usual, for her to pull him in for that kiss, and also as usual, it probably ends up less quick than she intended. And then he opens the door to the hall, still holding her hand, and gives the place a subtle but thorough scan as they step inside.
When that overly-long kiss breaks, Lilah sighs happily and squeezes his hand, then kisses his cheek. Because there hadn't been enough kissing already. Once they step into the hall, she smiles over at him, then looks over the place less subtly, but also less thoroughly. It's more of a glance, really. She doesn't say anything just yet, apparently waiting for his opinion of the place.
<OOC> Andrea_J: You guys would probably also know Andrea as Henry's sorta girlfriend.
<OOC> Felix: Oh, we've met?
<OOC> Andrea_J: Figure they would being in the pack and all.
<OOC> Felix: Or just heard the name or seen her briefly in passing or what?
<OOC> Andrea_J: She'd visit and hang out. :) She is also on the kinfolk board white pages in Val's cafe.
Felix and Lilah step in from outside, hand in hand. Felix takes in the room with a quick, fairly subtle scan, heading toward an unused table with a grin but no pause; Lilah glances around a bit more obviously. "You know how to play?" he checks, glancing over at her.
A roar of laughter can be heard from one table as a rowdy group of guys seem to be surrounding a particular game going on. The young girl with the chestnut brown hair and purple streaks woven throughout it is currently bent over the table, stick in hand, sinking the black eight ball effortlessly into a side pocket at a rather difficult angle. "HA! Josh, she just stole five hundred bucks from you! I told you not to take her up on it!" A rather large and frustrated Josh who is wearing biker colors points a meaty finger at the kinfolk. "I ain't paying you shit, bitch." "Hey man, you lost fair and square." She says cooly. "I put my money up on the table like everyone else." A puff of smoke gets blown into her face as he steps foward, looming over her. Hardly threatening, the kinfolk tonight is wearing a pair of white cut off shorts that are /hardly/ appropriate, and a baby halter that cuts off just below her breasts to reveal a pierced navel and a firm set of toned abs. Knee high shit-kickers are on her feet with dark blue socks underneath.
"Well, I ain't never played in a professional tournament or nothin'," Lilah teases, "...but I think I got the main idea. I don't s'ppose we're--" She breaks off at the sound of the laughter and what follows. Though she tries not to pay it any mind, she's definitely paying attention.
Felix doesn't even try not to pay it any mind. That's much more interesting -- the table's not going anywhere in the meantime, right? Plus... he's pretty sure he recognizes that girl. He changes the curve of their trajectory, though not the speed, to end up where he can lean against the edge of a nearby currently-empty table and watch the interaction.
"Look, let me just get my money and bounce out of here." "Yeah, you got a curfew or something little girl? You don't even look old enough to be here." "My ID says that I am, now pay up." "Why don't you suck my dick." "I don't want herpes, thanks though." Another round of laughter from the table as Josh gives a growl in his throat, then pushes her back a step with a hard shove to the shoulder. "Get the fuck out of here." "Not until I get my money."
Lilah moves with Felix, and if he's going to pay attention to it obviously, well... so is she. Bad influence! She leans up against the table as well, looking between the jerk and the kinfolk as they have their exchange. She doesn't step forward, but she does glance over at Felix curiously.
Felix gently lets go of Lilah's hand, and his position against the table adjusts slightly -- still with the more or less casual effect, but better balanced, readier to move, and just a bit farther away from the blonde kin. "Seems to me," he says in eminently reasonable, friendly tones, "either you made a bet with the lady or you didn't. Don't reckon you were aimin' not to take her money if you won. You ain't the kinda guy to welch when shit don't go his way, now are you?" Despite the fact that Josh quite obviously IS that kind of guy, there's something about the argument that makes more sense than the words alone might suggest. "I mean, 'less you ain't plannin' to bet with anyone else 'round here in the future. Reckon a man's word oughta be worth more to him than a little bettin' cash."
<OOC> Felix: ...and in case I'm subtler there than I intend, he's absolutely got Persuasion on.
Turning towards Felix, Andrea's eyes widen for a moment, then, she gains this ridiculously large grin on her face. A big, shit eating grin. "Yeah, motherfucker. Pay up!" She pipes up, suddenly full of fire and brimstone. "Don't be a bitch in front of your buddies." Josh gives another growl as he clenches up once fist, looking as if he is about to cram it down the girl's throat. There is anxious energy in the air as the rest of the bikers taste it. "Mind your own business, Seth Green." One of them calls out from the corner. A sturdy man of bravado, beard and a leather vest. Andrea holds her hand out to Josh now, expectantly. "I'm giving you three hundred, not five. Only cuz' I know you pulled one on me, /and/, I know for a fact you ain't twenty one." He slams the bills into her hand and snarls. "Now get the fuck away from my table."
As for Lilah, she nods to Felix's words, like she's just now thinking, 'Gosh, he sure does have a good point!' Beyond that, she's quiet and still, watching the altercation carefully. When the guy pays up, her posture relaxes, just slightly, but she's waiting to see what Andrea responds with.
Felix feels that energy in the air as well, and there's another faint change to his stance, though he's still aiming to cloak the readiness in nonchalance. There's a flicker of something across his eyes when the biker in the corner butts in, but anyone missing that might think he didn't even hear it. "That oughta make it clear enough to anybody," he remarks on the 'compromise' in the same general tone as his previous comment, and to Andrea, "Ain't bad for less'n an evening's work." There's the same kind of push behind that, as a suggestion to her, as to the rest.
Taking the cash, Andrea jams it into her pocket and turns, heading away from the gang and towards Felix and Lilah. She throws up a middle finger over her shoulder without a care in the world. The group of six eyes Felix for a moment before they turn back to their beers and grumblings, mostly giving 'Josh' the shit that he deserved. Once she reaches them, she blows some bangs away from her face. "I coulda handled that." She says stubbornly under her breath. "Hey. What's up?"
In response to an empathy roll from Lilah: 'Felix is annoyed, at the least, and... not worried, but on edge. He's covering it well, but he doesn't like accepting the part-thing and he doesn't like ignoring that asshole and he doesn't like not punching someone, currently.'.
Lilah looks over at Felix, giving him a fond smile once the situation's mostly resolved, and leans over to kiss his shoulder. She then turns to Andrea, giving her a smile as well, though it doesn't have that sappy nature to it. "Hey, there," she greets, and leaves the answering to the Galliard.
Felix responds to the eyeing with about the same casually pleasant expression he's been favouring them with so far, chin still up and shoulders back even in that loungy position. Not aggressive, but confident. He shrugs to Andrea when she approaches and murmurs that. "Sure," he says, "We were just thinkin' 'bout playin' some pool. Oddly enough. But now I'm thirsty. You oughta buy us a drink or somethin', seein' as I hear you just came into some money." She gets a grin, and he straightens up, taking Lilah's hand and heading over to give the bar a brief investigation.
"Hey babe." Andrea drawls to Lilah with a grin on her face, then reaches out to ruffle Felix's hair before she starts off for the bar with her typical hip sway. "Sure, sure, I'll get you a round of drinks. Even if I'm two hundred less than what I should have." Once she reaches the bar, she confidently orders three beers and passes the cash across the table without so much as a flip of the ID. It is not that type of Pool Hall. Once gathered, she trudges back. "You play pool, or you just hit balls with sticks?"
While Andrea's off getting the booze, Lilah leans against Felix comfortably. He gets a kiss to his cheek, and then Andrea's on her way back. At the question, Lilah shrugs, and then raises a hand. "I just hit balls with sticks," she says with a lopsided grin.
Felix smacks the hand away when it comes for his hair; there's not much force behind it, but it's quick, and she gets a smirk to go along with it. "Yeah, I don't think the rest of it's what you were on track for gettin' there," he says, despite the previous 'sure'. He sees Lilah's cheek kiss and raises her a brief one on the lips, sliding an arm around her waist. The beer gets a "Thanks," with a small mock-toast before he takes a drink. "I play pool. Badly," he answers, with another grin, "So I ain't makin' any bets with you. Not on that, leastways."
"It's what I told those guys as well, that I play pool badly. Real pool sharks always deny." Andrea says as she takes a sip of her beer, then loads the triangle up with the balls. "I probably can't come back here now, been sharking for a few weeks. Up to two grand now but I'm becoming a familiar face."
Lilah thanks Andrea for the beer politely, and she takes a small drink of it to start. Bits of what the two have to say get smiles from Lilah, but for now she's fairly quiet. Another drink or two of her beer, and she does pipe up to comment, "This ain't bad." Even if it's swill, she says the same thing, and probably means it.
"You'd think they ain't never watched TV," Felix muses, "I mean, you got a li'l slip of a girl in a pool hall in this kinda neighbourhood willin' to make that bet? Obviously she's gonna clean it up." A shake of his head; what were they teaching adults those days?