Watersong (For Bach)

[asharpertongue]

Lara liked the club before opening. The place is quiet and clean and it always makes her smile to walk around the edges of the space. Tonight was open mic night and it was always a busy night. She looked forward to it but it was still nice to have the space to herself for a little while.

Well almost to herself. The club's manager, Michael, was tidying some bottles behind the bar.

Smiling, she perched on her stool at the end. "Is everything ready for tonight? Do you need anything?"

Michael shook his head. "We're fine. The others will be in before six to have their charms inked again. I'll get Nat to do mine before that."

Lara nodded. The charms were a necessary precaution in Watersong. Enough witches and sirens frequented the club to warrant a little magical protection from spells and influence. Of course, anyone caught trying to con her staff out of drinks or...other services would have her to deal with. Normally that was enough of a deterrent but you could never be too careful. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing for some people.

"We should have a visitor before then. A young man. Bach, is his name and he's one of mine although he doesn't know it." She hesitated before going on. "Could you put off your inking for a while? Obviously i'll be present but I need a human that he can affect if i'm going to convince him."

Michael smiled and leant over the bar towards her. "Is he good looking at least?"

Laughing, Lara poked his hand. "He's to be taught, not played with."

The man winked and shrugged. "Here to help."

"Thank you." Lara said.

She tapped the bar and pulled out her sleek tablet to do some work as Michael went back to his. Hopefully Bach wouldn't be too long. She'd rather not have his education spread over the club opening if she could help it.

Comments

[bachjones]

"Sure, do so. As you wish." He stretched. "Do you serve dinner?"

[asharpertongue]

"Of course we do. We're full service educators. We'll eat and then we can try this whole thing again." She gets out her phone, smiling. "What would you like?"

[bachjones]

"We're ordering in? Or don't you dare leave the room now I'm awake?" He sat up. "And how long is this going to take? I have a lady at home who will destroy my bed if I don't feed her in time."

[asharpertongue]

Lara shrugged. "It'll take as long as it takes. And I already had someone go to your apartment to check on your cat. Apparently she's persuaded to cooperate if given vast quantities of fish. Now, tell me what you'd like to eat and I'll call for it."

[bachjones]

"You had someone go to my apartment and feed my cat?" He gnashed his teeth with so much force that it hurt his jaw. "Fucking bitch. Never mind the food, just get this over with."

[asharpertongue]

Lara looks at him sharply. "Yes I suppose it's a bit too much to expect someone that wants to be your friend to care that your pet and companion might be hungry. How stupid of me. Next time I'll allow the beast to go hungry, regardless of my intent."

She subsides and holds out her hand, bringing her scales to the surface, nails lengthening to vicious talons. "It comes from inside. If you concentrate you can feel it. It's like...a shiver waiting to happen. All you have to do is encourage it. Can you feel it?"

[bachjones]

"Oh this is how you make friends? Fucking hell women are really a whole other species. If you wanted to be friends you'd trust me to walk out and come back here later, but somehow that doesn't seem to be inside your realm of possibilities."

He looked at her hand. "But I don't want to encourage the rash, I want it gone. Because when it's gone, you're letting me out."

[asharpertongue]

Lara ignored the first part because she'd explained herself more than once. She let her skin go back to normal and waved a human hand at his. "If you keep thinking of it as an affliction, it'll never go. It's part of you. You have to treat it as such."

[bachjones]

"The rash is on my skin. As long as I don't start shedding, the skin is me."

He scratched his wrist until the skin opened. "And it's still uncomfortable, but as you have an A game in ignoring things you don't want to hear, I guess you don't give a damn."

[asharpertongue]

"And you have not listened to a single thing anyone's told you since you came to this town. I have never in my whole life met anyone so completely incapable of trusting the evidence of their own eyes." She grabbed his hands and gripped them tightly. "You are a supernatural being. You've seen that you have influence over normal humans and yet you are ignoring that fact in order to be angry with me and deny it to yourself. If you stopped for thirty seconds and actually paid attention, you'd be getting a lot further a lot quicker."

[bachjones]

The scales sunk back into his skin like they tried to avoid her touch. Bach just looked at her, huffed and sighed with disappointment.

"Let me guess, you're part time shrink and madame as well? See, fear and anger works. It's the only thing that always works. And it's clear that you like to talk about fairies, but you're the first in this town. Do you want to roll up your monologue, or will you do that after breaking into my apartment tonight or some such?"
He rolled down his sleeves. "You can even have my coat and guitar." That hurt, but both were replaceable. Kind of.

[asharpertongue]

"Madam, yes, shrink, no." She rubbed her thumbs over the back of his hands and watched the scales ripple up in their wake, pulled up by her presence without any effort from her at all. "You've met Riley, yes?" He nods. "She's a witch. So is her sister. People here don't talk about the supernatural aspect of our town with strangers. You can't blame them, can you? We've been hunted through history. We're naturally distrustful. But when we do find others of our kind we try to make them welcome."

She let his hands go and the scales stayed where they were. "I don't want anything from you except your attention to the situation at hand. I swear, if you can pull the change back," she gestured at his scales, "and you're willing to accept the charm, you can leave."

[bachjones]

Riley was a witch. That probably made Grant a fairy godmother and the Abasi woman a chimaera that ruled all of them.
Bach lied back on the couch again. "Some pho, please. Spicy crabcakes at the side."

And he thought he had been blasé about encountering crazy women. The thing that bothered him most was that she had hurt his singing. He loved to produce and now it was tainted by a nasty experience. Fucking snake.

"Do you have Japanese beer, while you're at it?" The rash would fade, she'd get bored. He'd make it up with Cinderella as soon as he was home again.

[asharpertongue]

Lara smiled and made the call to order the food. "It'll be thirty minutes. In the meantime..." She tapped the back of his hand.

[bachjones]

"Could you maybe stop touching me? It' sends very mixed signals."

[asharpertongue]

"Mixed signals? In what way?"

[bachjones]

"Well." He gestured at the ceiling. "Usually people touch me when they want something of me, because they like me or me being close to them. But you want to pull me a magic trick out of my ass before you drop the hostility and end the kidnapping.

Mixed."

[asharpertongue]

Lara sighed. "I want you to just try and believe me for thirty seconds and see what happens. I'm not being hostile. I'm laying out facts as they are."

[bachjones]

"You did something to me, I changed it, you did it to me again? How many times before you're bored with it?"
Bach met her eyes. "Were you ever even remotely interested in having me on stage or was it just a plot to lock me up? Because if it's option two, you should join up with officer James."

[asharpertongue]

"I didn't do anything to you. I just brought out what was already in there. And yes I am very interested to have you on stage. I've heard your singing and it'll attract a lot of custom, I just can't have your powers running rampant."

At the mention of James, Lara gets an idea. "I don't team up with James for anything. He doesn't like our kind. Hates us, in fact. However...I'm tired of beating my head against a brick wall, so if you want to leave without the charm, that's fine. I'll inform James that an unchecked Siren is loose in the town. He should be very interested in that. The last time he even got a hint of uncontrolled powers in the town limits, he followed the poor girl for three months."

[bachjones]

Running rampant .. He bit down on another sigh.
"I'm not not interested in your charm, it's the hoops leading up to it that make me less than thrilled. The rash already left, and you got it back again. I'm not fond of repeating myself."

Bach perked up. "He's pretty good looking, for a boy. I'm okay with this idea. Make it work."

[asharpertongue]

"The 'hoops' you're talking about are for your own benefit. I brought your scales up the first time, but now they know the way, every time you sing, every time you feel lust or arousal...they'll come up unless you know how to tell them otherwise." Shrugging, Lara crossed her legs. "The charm will prevent those accidents but of course you're welcome to do as you please." She smiled and leaned forward. "A word of warning though. If you try and manipulate James, when he comes back to himself he'll arrest you and lock you down for the rest of your supernaturally long life. And I won't stop him."

[bachjones]

"Did you ever leave this town or did you just grown so small-minded? Even your threats are dull: being locked up in Pleasantville? Oh dearie dearie me!"

He closed his eyes. "Plenty of people will appreciate sleeping with a freak. I can do without singing. Why aren't you giving me this charm yet? Do I need to take it in with some food or drink?"

[asharpertongue]

Lara didn't normally hiss. She'd managed to keep that particular trait under control since she became Matriarch but something about this man-child got under her scales in the worst way and she caught herself making a quiet hiss when he sneered at her offering.

She got up and moved around behind her desk, picking up her phone and dialling a number. "Michael. Please send Nat in and tell her to bring her inks."

Fixing Bach with a sharp stare. "Nat is a witch and she will administer your charm. It has to be painted on your over your heart so you will need to remove your shirt. If you protest or try to influence her in any way, I'll restrain you until she can finish."

A knock at the door interrupted her and a pale young woman entered. Lara smiled. "Nat, sweetheart. You look well."

Nat smiled but didn't say anything, instead casting her eyes at Bach in askance. Lara nodded. "He'll need a control charm. Restrict his latent talents completely. He doesn't wish to control them so we'll have to do it for him."

Nat nodded and went over to Bach, kneeling in front of him and started pulling out her magical inks, arranging him to her liking before setting to her work.

[bachjones]

"I feel like this could have happened earlier."
He sat up and unbuttoned his shirt. "There you go, sweetcheeks. I guess it's water resistant, whatever you're putting on me? Or do I need to return in a couple of weeks for a new shot to keep the bullshit down?"