Meeting of a lifetime (Closed RPG CVU)

Local Bar in New York City

The scene was no different from any old bar you might find in the city. It was a small joint, a round counter, behind which a man stood and stools lined up all around it and tables sat by the tinted windows. There were people some on the stools some at the tables, talking laughing, flirting. And it was Playing a classic tune. At one corner of the bar a man sat alone at the table, staring out as people went about their daily life.

He wore a purple suit and hat and across the table lay a stick with a pink gem studded at the end of it. He wasn't talking right now, but he was waiting. He knew someone was going to come by, and sit in the very seat in front of him. You might call the guy clairvoyant. The man looked old, wrinkles on his face and wore a kind of a frown, but make no mistake, he was not frowning. The man did business in downtown New York. If you were observant, one might notice 3 girls standing across the street, on the pavement by the bus stand.

There was no day or night. Rather, these girls were offering their services 24/7. And who did the money go to? It's anyone's guess. No one cheats on John Hand. There was an incident a few weeks ago in which a man decided it was a good idea to snatch one of the woman he conducted business with, trying to take her as his woman. It did not end well. The man John had walked into the bar owned by this man and showed him why he was called "Hardback Hand,"

Today though, John was relaxing, having a coffee and waiting for the one he saw in his future. A woman to be precise. There was always room for one more in his life.

@hardbackhand:

This was someplace Katrin hadn't been in a long while. She took a deep breath in through her nose, and out through her mouth. New York. A good place to reminisce about days gone by. There was noise everywhere, the sound of people and machinery and music. Three-quarters of Katrin's existence. She passed a few girls on the street, and felt a set of eyes looking her way. She glanced at the bar. It was quite a nice little place, to be honest. The feeling was probably some interesting gentleman weighing his chances with the girls. That's what happened in the last big city she visited... a smile flickered as she changed direction. A man went in looking for a fight, and came out with a nice date. She hoped he'd thought it nice. Enki seemed to have thought so before he left.

Her violin case in one hand as she opened the door with the other, her blue eyes scanned the bar for danger. There was none. It was indeed a nice little place, the music being soft jazz accompanied by a low murmur of voices and bodies. The sound made Katrin close her eyes and take it in. Inspiration came from the best of places, she recalled someone telling her. After a moment of listening and breathing, she looked around again. A man in purple (a king's color, she found herself thinking) sat alone at a table, watching the girls across the street intently. He didn't seem to be a client. No. This must be the man paying their bills. She took a quick scan of him, but didn't allow herself to look into his past, instead just getting a feel for him as she moved towards his table. Gently, respectfully, she set her fiddle-case down and sat across from the stranger, sitting back and taking a better look around the bar, not certain whether he'd address her or he'd just continue focusing on his... women of less than reputable work. Not like she could speak, she wasn't paid when she did... things like that. But she was like them, just a bit more talented. She didn't have mouths at home to feed, nor an abusive lover.

Enki wasn't abusive, just different. She didn't know why she had grown so attached to the vampire god, she just had. She felt herself smiling gently as her eyes met those of a young man across the room who abruptly looked away, but she knew what he was. She could sense it. Not like Enki, but still a creature of darkness. She'd have a talk with him, she resolved. Just to make sure he was alright. That he wasn't attracting unnecessary attention to himself, as so many newborns of his breed could be. She knew her gaze could make him uncomfortable very quickly. But then again... what she wanted to say was a talk better had outside. And if the man across from her didn't retain her longer than needed, she'd be willing to follow him out. She didn't normally attach herself to dark creatures, but ever since that night with a blood god... perhaps it was her limited emotion, but she felt the need to help younger magical beings, be they vampires, mages, even the odd troll, if it was willing to listen. She'd have to decide, however. She supposed it would be a matter of which man moved first.

@katrin_romanoff_004:

Reality crept up funny in the eyes and minds of the one called John Hand. His eyes saw not people, but a series of events which would conclude in a person's life. His eyes saw a Bartender who in some reality would come to rule the entire universe, he saw the death of the vampire that pretended to be drinking what appeared to bee Ginger Ale. Whoever said that Vampires couldn't live in broad daylight? There were vampires who lived in lemon groves. Really fragile and sometimes naive creatures. A few hundred realities stemming from this point in time showed John the death of the man in the coming few days.

Strange thing fate. His death would be attributed to a lady that would come to the bar and sit in front of him. That's right, the death becomes attributed to him in one form or the other. Now there were those realities where he didn't die, some of them where the said girl does walk in, do talk to him and leave in due course, The resulting premise of his death depended on one subtle detail in regards to how he acted. Shifting his sight to the entrance, John waited for the inevitable to occur. Ding The customer walked in, a woman with pitch black hair holding on to her instrument case, a soul after the essence of music, something she hoped to find in the dust of mortality among the mediocrum of life.

John shifted his hat upwards and his face formed a wrinkly old smile. He considered his options. He always did. It was like shuffling cards of a deck. Should he go for the Ace, the King of Spades or the Joker. He had infinite possibilities and choices to choose from. Should he pretend to not know who she was? Because there were possibilities running for a week, within which he came to know more than just formal details and conversations about who she was. She'd attached herself to a Vampire God, something of an interesting figure. The notions shared with the young one of darkness at the counter was a hint at some sort of unnatural attraction perhaps? Was it his business to know what he now knew. Should he even be bothered?

The smile on his face never faded. "Good day Miss Katrin," He made his choice. He wasn't going to play a game of cat and mouse. He had nothing to hide. No reason to fear. The woman for all the abilities she possessed, was quite harmless to someone of his abilities. No. Stop. John didn't need to think of contingencies. Bad idea. John shook his head in discontent at his own thought process. "My name is John Hand, in case you are wondering. And let me tell you Gyal, I been fighting the urge to not meet you for two weeks. But in the end, I think I decided through a series of events that I did want to meet you. So we are here," He straightened his posture, trying hard to not look like a creep, but the fact that he had a weird smile on his face, and the knowledge that he had been incubating this idea of meeting the jetblack haired woman for two weeks was a revelation which would send anyone scurrying in alarm. But this was a reaction John had grown accustomed to. When you have lived your entire life 2 weeks ahead of time where you could choose how it went, and the choice of being a PIMP was one of them, you kind of grew accustomed to being a creep and accused of being one. "Now I assure you it hadn't been my intention, but the stupid eye of mine don't know when to stop," He admitted. "That man there. His fate is up to you to decide," John's gaze pointed towards the vampire flashing Katrin with his lustful intent.

@hardbackhand:

Katrin wasn't surprised to hear her name. There was a time when she performed quite often in cities like this. It was a while ago, most people would expect her to be older, but considering the gentleman's age he might recognize her from time gone by. She didn't take her eyes off the young vampire, even as John Hand spoke to her. She threw him a quiet sidelong glance and a soft smile, polite but not strictly so. He seemed to understand that she needed to keep an eye on the boy. One of her delicate black eyebrows raised with interest as the man mentioned the boy's fate, and everything fell into place. Her smile widened a bit.

"You're a seer, then," she murmured. "Either that or quite clairvoyant. You don't see many who dabble in the passage of time anymore. It's quite interesting." Her smirk faded. "He does have me concerned. His air is of someone planning to do something incredibly bold or incredibly stupid. The two often intertwine..." And so they did. Even as she spoke, the man pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his pocket and began heading for the door, unable to take the pressure of Katrina's gaze any more. That wasn't all, though. Katrin took a quick trajectory check. She didn't know John Hand very well, but she had a feeling he wouldn't take well to one of his girls being possibly killed. She watched the vampire approach, some sort of potion protecting his thin flesh from the late afternoon sunlight. Her face didn't change, however. She could watch him in her peripheral. If he didn't go straight for the attack - which he wouldn't in broad daylight on a busy street - he would try the seduction approach. Which could take minutes or hours, especially if he wanted to wait to eat until the shadows were long enough to protect him from hunters. She would wait until he began leading the girl away from her companions. Then she'd be able to handle the situation better.

"He's safe for now. I'll become involved before he does anything dangerous."

@katrin_romanoff_004:

Even if nothing ever surprised John, he was still elected to appear so. The disposition of the woman before him was pleasant, out of the rare scenarios that his eyes had shown him.

"You're a seer, then," she murmured. "Either that or quite clairvoyant. You don't see many who dabble in the passage of time anymore. It's quite interesting." Her smirk faded. "He does have me concerned. His air is of someone planning to do something incredibly bold or incredibly stupid. The two often intertwine..."

John had shook his head. "Well, neither of those to be very honest." John shook his head, having finally gotten the girl's attention. As for the Vampire, he never left John's attention. The boy had slipped on shades and walked out of the bar and as he had seen in many of his images of the future, he did walk on over to one of his girls. Now the girls were reluctant, scared even. None of them would easily accept his proposal, if at all. And if the boy had made up his mind then at the end of the day he would be left with little choice but to forcefully administer his will. John though did not worry. Time was a tool he could use to play at his fingertips. He wasn't going to be able to do anything that could be reversed. The fun starts after he's reversed time. "I just see through a series of infinite possibilities. I don't make the choices, and I rarely interfere, so consider this, a favor Katrin. I'm allowing you to save him. And something tells me you already know what he's up to. Anyway, minor matters," They had a lot of time before anything was supposed to happen to his business. His old eyes fell upon the case the woman had brought with her. "Do you play?" He asked.

@hardbackhand:

Katrin tuned her ears to match the frequency of the vampire's voice as he began talking to the girl, keeping a figurative eye on him as she turned to face John completely. The monster knew better than to outright ask the girl for her blood, instead beginning to flirt. Though, she had a feeling he would appreciate a little fear in his meal. That wasn't important now. "More powerful than a seer, then. Oracles see every timeline leading to one possibility. Yours seems much more powerful." She hesitated, then smiled, a little arrogant but in no more than a passing way. "Allowing me to?" she asked, brows arching again. "There are powers even beyond time, Mr. Hand. Do not assume anything about me." She controlled her tone, however, to make it just a friendly warning.

He changed the subject to her. Her eyes, slightly younger than his, softened as she looked down at her instrument. "Yes," she replied. "I play. For many different reasons."

@katrin_romanoff_004:

John laughed. The girl was more naive and assuming in person than the flashes of future he'd been experiencing. Dealing with her was going to be more fun than he would've thought. At the very least, if all she did was assume her own meanings of what he said, their interaction was going to be worth remembering. "Well," John relaxed, leaning back against the seat he sat in, "I allowed you the prospect of the future I knew of, not meaning I allowed you to do anything unwarranted. Your actions are up to you and you alone my dear," He said, attempting to clear up the confusion.

Slowly, John stood up from where he sat. "Would you give this old man the pleasure of listening to you play?" He requested. Everything around the bar, in fact the whole world itself seemed to have come to a stop as John Hand slowly stepped back towards the counter, giving Katrin the space that she needed. Everything in this world except Katrin came to a halt. This was something John had only had to do before when he wanted to talk to his most talented girl, Jelene Jackson. He didn't expected he would do the same for this young lady.

@hardbackhand:

John Hand was a curious man, Katrin realized. More curious than she originally thought. She felt a shift, a shift in time. It ceased to move, an effect similar to squashing a cube into a polygonal square. You just had to fold time to hold matter still. That was the the very simplest way to think of it, but it was enough for her mind to take. Strange, though. Strange how he could process this ability with a thought. She was curious as to the origin of his ability, but decided against asking or prying. He wanted a song, and a song he could have.

"Anything in particular?" she asked in reply, picking up her case and laying it across the table. She opened it and took in the smell of an enclosed instrument, an older, musty smell, beautiful to her no matter how often she breathed it. Gently she unstrapped the instrument from the box and fastened the shoulder rest to the side, before setting the instrument down and removing her bow and beginning to rosin it almost tenderly. Honestly she did this all the time before a performance, removing herself from time in order to have all the time in the world. She didn't care that his eyes were watching her. For however long the song lasted, it would just be Katrina and her instrument.

@katrin_romanoff_004:

She possessed a mind filled with curiosity indeed. The world around her stopped and her gaze told John what she was thinking. Intricate, the forever changing future in front of his eyes already letting on what the jet black haired beautiful woman thought of the prospect of what had transpired. John however was not the impertinent type. He simply let her mind wander as the woman chose to act, the subtlety with which she handled her piece was that of a master craftsman who adored their art. It was obvious in that moment there only existed she herself and the instrument she was playing.

John's mind though, for a very brief moment flew outside the bar, where the teasing young vampire was still going at it, frozen in time. The girls were frightened of course, John could tell that by looking at their eyes, but not of the Vampire no, they were frightened of the man who they worked for, and the actions the result of costing which cost him money. Every ounce they lost was a cost that they had to pay with punishment. These were the roles John sat out. Just as any other employment, John was at a luxury to give his girls all the benefits of a job in the modern day world, including contracts, leaves and day offs. However when they were on time, they were on time, no one was allowed to slack off. Today was a special case however, as he was in the presence of a special lady, John would spare punishment for the girls.

Today, John Hand was a reserved man, relaxed on the stool by the counter, and helped himself to the glass of whiskey the bartender had poured for another man.

"Anything in particular?"

John had no particular taste, he didn't listen to much besides what usually played at cafes and corner stores from which he concluded his businesses. "None," He replied with a smile, alluding to the devilish charms he possessed. Normally one, even he expected to be eternal, to stay young forever, however the abilities he possessed was of a peculiar sort. There was a buffer zone that existed around John, an area unaffected by his powers. When he wound time back, the time inside this area closest to John would remain constant with the natural flow of time, the same when he accelerated time. This sphere though was weird, it was almost as if John himself was immune to the effects his time manipulation had.