mogget_cat | New Orleans w/Jason

From the bar, the two of them step out into the humid, New Orleans night. The clouds cover the stars and moon, leaving it up to the streetlamps to cast light upon the people who are out and about this evening.

There's the scent of rain in the air. Rain, and the scents of people, cheap hot dogs, alcohol, and the underlying scent of the city, always there.

"It's not far. Just a few blocks over," Yrael says as she looks out at Bourbon St.

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How about the sharp jab to the side?

Just hard enough to make a werewolf think twice. It'd lay a handful of bruises on a human, but she's not aiming to hurt Jason. Despite the disapproval on her face, there's amusement there too.

"Mind your language when there're ladies present, you smart-mouthed son of a bitch," she laughs.

Jack thinks better of remarking, simply setting the drinks down on the bar in front of them.

He grunts audibly and rubs his side, wincing and otherwise playing it up.

"Ow. Yes ma'am. I won't remark on how hot you are anymore." He flashes his trademark grin and snuggles in close behind her. "So since you're a lady, you want to come home with me tonight?"

Bianca, picking up her drink, is unfazed by charm. This is Jason. "Luck isn't a lady, I'll have you know, despite what she tells everyone. I, on the other hand, am."

"Currently."

Only she and Jason know how true that is.

Jason chuckles warmly in her ear. "All the more reason to take advantage of that fact."

He takes his drink, still smiling. "Unless you'd rather throw me to the wolves." He eyes the women in the crowd, shaking his head. "Would you do that to me? They look hungry..."

"They're always like that," she says, sipping her drink, "when there's a moon over Bourbon Street."

On the other side of the bar, Jack grins to himself... then winces. "You've gone and got that song stuck in my head, Bianca."

There's an unrepentant grin for Jack.

"I don't know, Jason," she says, smirking. "You might like the wolves. I hear they're pretty good in bed, if you can catch one's eye."

He glances upward. "Is there a moon tonight? That's asking for trouble isn't it? That's when the crazies come out."

His next remark is delivered to both Bianca and Jack. "They're always good in bed: the trouble comes with the after-effects."

"Lunatics, all of 'em," Bianca says, leaning comfortably on Jason. "Probably carry diseases. Makes you a wolf like them."

The girl with the clipboard is across the room, trying to get people's attention.

"And that's what you'd leave me with. Typical."

Jason looks over and curses silently, downing his drink.

"Gonna need another one of these, Jack."

He'll love the attention from the crowd...provided it's good attention.

"Like goes with like, dear," she says, giving him a cheeky peck on the cheek before turning to listen to clipboard girl. Jack grins a sympathetic grin and refills Jason's glass.

From what clipboard girl has to say, people will go in random order, their names pulled out of a hat to make things more fair.

Jason rolls his eyes and turns to his fresh drink with a tortured smile to Jack.

"Great. And here I thought I'd have awhile."

The first name drawn is obviously a stage name. 'Wik' ascends the stage with a cigarette in hand, a tall young woman with angular features and long black hair, wearing dark greens and brown, a pair of knee-high leather boots and a lopsided belt of gold discs that jingles as she walks. She has vines tattooed along her jaw and a row of black dots across her forehead, just above her eyebrows.

"This is called 'The Health-Food Diner,'" she states easily into the microphone, standing with her weight all on her left foot, hips tilted.

She looked hot, and Jason turned with an appreciative grin.

He soon turned back with a roll of his eyes at the title of her song. "Jesus Christ...she didn't look like a hippie."

Yrael nudges Jason with an elbow.

It turns out that it's not a song, but a spoken-word piece. 'Wik' puts her cigarette to her lips for a moment before beginning the poem with a brazen tone of voice, a smirking grin pulling at her lips.

"No sprouted wheat and soya shoots
And Brussels in a cake,
Carrot straw and spinach raw,
Today, I need a steak."

And never before had the word 'steak' been spoken with such relish.

An eyebrow shoots up as he glances back over his shoulder in renewed interest.

A steak? Tell me you like it raw and bloody and I'll do you right on that stage...

For the moment, his interest is on that lucky cigarette.

Another pull on the cigarette, followed by a smoke-obscured flash of a grin at the crowd.

"Not thick brown rice and rice pilaw
Or mushrooms creamed on toast,
Turnips mashed and parsnips hashed,
Mmm, I'm dreaming of a roast.

Health-food folks around the world
Are thinned by anxious zeal,"
Disdainful, "They look for help in seafood kelp.
I count on breaded veal."

I've got your roast...

He finds himself grinning at her...and also wanting to suck that smoke out of her mouth.

He watches, spellbound; hoping to God that he's not up next. He'll need a moment.

Her tone is strong, cigarette held away as she speaks derisively into the mic.

"No-smoking signs, raw mustard greens,
Zucchini by the ton,
Uncooked kale and bodies frail
Are sure to make me run!"

Pause.

"...to..."

That is one defiant grin.

"Loins of pork and chicken thighs,
And standing rib, so prime,
Pork chops brown and fresh ground round-
I crave them all the time.

Irish stews and boiled corned beef
and ribeyes by the scores,
or any place that saves a space
For smoking carnivores!"

She laughs, cigarette heading back to her grinning mouth as the audience starts its applause.

He fights back the urge to howl as his hands shoot up in applause. He turns his head to Bianca with a sly grin.

"I take back my previous statement; please throw me to the wolves. That one."

There are plenty of hoots and whistles from others around the bar.

"I haven't met Wik myself, but I'll see what I can do," she smirks, as the next performers are announced and take the stage.

"Wik, huh?"

He snickers and watches her leave the stage as he sips his drink. His eyebrow shoots up to Bianca.

"Think she'd go for a threesome?"

"You'll have to ask her that, yourself," she says with a smirk, sipping her drink. "At least I am not being passed over in favor of some girl you've never met."

Jason snickers. "Slut."

He turns back to scan for Wik. "Hey, we already agreed we'd be willing to have another go at each other. You think I'd pass that up?"

Especially if he can manage just a quickie in the bathroom.

The current performance is meh. Local meh, so it gets some support from the audience, but meh all the same.

"I don't think you're that foolish, no," she grins. "Even if it is you we're talking about."

Talking coolly with people complimenting her performance, Wik is making her way over to the bar. Many of them (most men) want her to stop and chat with them a while, but she handles them easily, not stopping for more than a moment before moving on. She's not rude to any, but none of them can keep her.

He watches her idly, taking careful note of her reaction to the scores of admirers. It won't be easy, but he does enjoy a challenge. He speaks over his shoulder to Bianca, still watching Wik.

"You got my back on this, or are you planning on submarining me?"

"I only submarine you when you ask me to," she says, taking her arm from around Jason; wouldn't want it to look like he was already taken, after all. "I got your back."

And the fact that her hand brushes across the small of his back as she says this is completely... deliberate.