13222/Blood in the Curio

Blood in the Curio
Date of Scene:	31 October 2022
Location:	The Curio
Synopsis:	Jason Blood stops in to take a gander at the occult watering hole, The Curio, in Gotham City. He makes acquaintence with Phoebe Beacon
Cast of Characters:	Phoebe Beacon, Jason Blood

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Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    The Curio Bar is making its rounds in the occult and supernatural fans and researches of Gotham City and the surrounding area. THe building apparently used to be in Liverpool, somewhere. Then made its way to New York and is now dwelling in The Cauldron neighborhood of Sheldon Park, Gotham City. Appropriate name if anything.

    Tonight the clientelle is a bit more spirited than usual, it being so close to Halloween after all. There are three bartenders at work -- a woman with bright blue hair, a man with bright red hair in a sharp undercut, and someone with green hair that's kept collar-length.

    The revellers in the bar run the gamut from sharp-dressed business people in a variety of blacks and charcoal grays, people who look like they are in a cover band for The Cure, and several people who look like they've come in for the spooky specials, only to find that the bar actually takes itself rather seriously when it comes to the supernatural.

    There is, in fact, a collection of confiscated crystal balls and ouija boards behind the bar.

Jason Blood has posed:
The door to the Curio opens, and through it steps a well dressed man. He carries himself as if he belongs there, as if he expects those there to know who he is, as if this is his lair. The man strides through the crowded, spirited room, and leans against the bar, "Gin and tonic," he says simply, with a sharp British accent. The man watches the bartender -- the green haired one -- go about making his drink, before he lets his gaze pass over the revelers and sundry dancers. He takes his drink when it's given to him, tosses a bill on the bar, and then turns to lean back against it and people watch. Nothing better than people watching on Halloween.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Nothing better than watching people on Halloween. Someone's playing the Tarot with an Italian deck in the corner, beneath some bright pinkish purple lights. Some revellers laugh and the song on the Jukebox changes to yet another cover of 'I Put a Spell On You', this one cheerily done in a poppy 1940's style.

    And another figure comes up to the bar. College-aged girl, her hair bound in knots neatly dispersed over her head, wearing the day's make up and lipgloss and a Gotham U sweatshirt, rendered in black, with the Knights symbol on it.

    "Hey Katie - can I have a Sprite?" she asks, and then she looks to the side, and pauses, and looks Jason up and down a moment.

    And then she tilts her head back, looking around, and then looks back to Jason.

    "You look familiar."

Jason Blood has posed:
"I might, I have been around the block a few times. Though, I don't think I've ever been to the Gotham branch of this particular establishment," Jason replies, before he returns the looking up and down of the girl who's stopped by him, "Do you spend much time haunting the halls of mystery and the occult?" as he asks this, he turns a little towards the girl to better give her his attention. The man bends the straws of his drink over the lip of the glass, and then takes the lime, squeezes it, and then forces it to the bottom of the glass with those selfsame bent straws, "Or just come out to gawk at all hallow's eve?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe gives a small smile as she accepts her sprite, and she looks over to Jason.

    "I used to do more last year." she states, and she gives a small wave.

    "Phoebe. I do some investigation, ghost hunting, occasional Weird Stuff exploration." she introduces herself, and she looks over the crowd. "Hang out here sometimes just to listen to what people are doing, you know? Preparing for the worst."

Jason Blood has posed:
"Jason," The man says by way of introduction. He grins at the admission that she's just here eavesdropping, and asks, "What have you discovered in your listening to these other people? Anything fun? Interesting?" he pauses, and then adds with a devilish gleam in his eye, "Salacious?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "That they're confiscating crystal balls and ouija boards on request of the owner, given last Halloween there was something about demons and summoning the dead from beyond the pale." Phoebe points out, sipping her very plain sprite. "Nothing so interesting, other than one person wishing for an incubus and getting a slap on the back of the head and a conversation about the differences between 'laying above' and 'laying below'." she replies in a friendly tone to Jason. "Latin. I'm sure you know the drill."

Jason Blood has posed:
Jason Blood hmmms, "You think they'd rather ask for a succubus," he muses, before he finishes off his first drink, sets it aside, and calls for another. "Not, that one would find one hanging around here, no, too many prying eyes for their liking..." and then he comes back to the topic at hand, "Latin you say? I may have a smattering of it, but do enlighten me as to what 'the drill' is?"

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Phoebe just gives a flat expression.

    "It turned into a debate over gender identity and whether or not you could have a male succubus because of the 'lay beneath' thing. It got weird fast, but don't think that there's not others listening that know what they're doing." she looks off in the distance.

    "And you'd be surprised what walks between these walls when it's a regular haunt."

    The green haired bartender makes another gin and tonic and hands it over to Jason Blood.

    "The drill is typically a tool used to render holes in an object by friction." she adds as a joke, her eyebrows rising up.

Jason Blood has posed:
Jason Blood reaches out and pokes the girl in the side, "Yes, I am aware of that. I meant what you meant by the expression. But it seems you've cleared that up." The comment about gender identity of succubi or incubi gets a small smirk from him, "Well, I would advise them that in all my time and all my experiences, I've never met a male succubi. Though I've met a number of handsome devils." The faintest whisper of a wink flicks over his gaze, before he asks, "Tell me then, what walks between these walls? Perhaps I will be surprised."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    Jason would find his attempted poke to be stopped short.

    The girl's friendly expression as turned a little less friendly and somewhat cooler.

    "Do you always go out and poke strange women in bars?" she inquires, her arm blocking his hand as she tenses, and she shifts away.

    "This is the Curio. After New York experienced a problem with some 'beings of love and light', bunch of supernatural types moved to Gotham. Dunno if it's because they say the Bat is actually a vampire --" she snorts.

    "But I mean, you're a demonologist, aren't you? I'm sure just by really studying the group around you can figure out who's actually encountered something supernatural, and who hasn't."

    She motions with a nod of her head. "Because the one who have aren't generally happy about it."

Jason Blood has posed:
"It is important to make sure, from time to time, the person you are speaking with is actually a person. And actually there." Jason replies to his hand being stopped. He withdraws it, "No offense. I've found in my wandering that those who know about demons, and incubi, and who hang around in shady bars eavesdropping, might not always be the most...corporeal people in existence." He then takes up his drink, and glugs down half of it in one smooth motion. The man hmms at her question, "I suppose you could say I'm a demonologist, when all's said and done." The mention of Batman being a vampire goes uncommented upon by him.

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "Full offense. Randomly poking people in Gotham is a great way to get the offending phlange removed. Some of them bite, and that's a hella bad infection." Phoebe comments to Jason, her eyes studying him a moment.

    "Generally if they're ordering at the bar, they're not going to be a ghost, though. Got enough of those in the past. Don't need them showing up at the occult bar." Phoebe's more friendly demeaner eases back, though she's a bit watchful.

Jason Blood has posed:
"You would think, but one need not just read Plato to know the world is not always as it seems." Jason says, before he downs the rest of his drink, and then sets the glass on the bar. "Next time, I think perhaps you should take off the offending phalange. It would be an interesting experience for all involved." And then, he straightens and says, "But, I must be off. The morning will come far too soon as it is. Good eve."

Phoebe Beacon has posed:
    "That would probably be a bad idea. For everyone involved. Good night, Jason. Don't be a stranger." Phoebe comments to the older man as she watches him leave.

    And she leans back, looking to the bartenders.

    "How many crystal balls are you up to now?"