7028/It was Jessica Fletcher, in the bar, with the typewriter...

It was Jessica Fletcher, in the bar, with the typewriter...
Date of Scene:	21 July 2021
Location:	Inspiration Hotel and Spa - Pittsburgh, PA
Synopsis:	Nick and Dazzler run into each other at the hotel bar
Cast of Characters:	Michael Hannigan, Alison Blaire

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Michael Hannigan has posed:
When one is traveling on the road, having something familiar on hand is a pretty comforting thing. Personal belongings, perhaps. But sometimes just having a familiar layout or just familiar atmosphere to relax in is fine in itself.

That's where Inspiration Hotel and Spa comes into play. While not sounding like its sister locations in Virginia Beach and Metropolis in name, the attitude amongst the employees are pretty consistent. And that not all hotels in the group share the same name is probably what makes it one of the music industry's best kept secrets for places for the traveling musician to call home.

The exterior of the building does not reveal much. It's rather unassuming, but the inside of the lobby is very well maintained and the bar towards the back of the area is still staffed. After all, who KNOWS when their clientelle's going to need a break? Case in point, one Nick Drago sans stage makeup and stage hair is taking advantage of the fact as he has acquired a seat and is having a beer. As for his more noticable security? Well, aside from his handler-ant (Thanks Hank) The others have been kind enough to not be noticable as they perform their duties. At least for now. As for the ant, well. It's an ant. He's keeping a low-profile as well.

Alison Blaire has posed:
The best kept industry secrets are the ones most treasued by performers. The little dives with the incredible chili where nobody cares who you are and where paparazzi don't even think of hitting. The small bookstore owned by the kindly elderly lady who, improbably, happens to be a fan of you and will close up the business 'for lunch' (whatever the time) so you can spend some time shopping for murder mysteries for the road like a normal person without getting swamped. The discreet hotels.

Alison Blaire is thankful for the little havens these places provide, they give her the illusion of normalcy- in and of itself a very fragile thing when you're a mutant, much less a performer in the public eye. After an exhausting, long trip, she is ready to unwind once everything is carefully unpacked and arranged. Paperback in hand, she enters the hotel lobby in her practiced Incognito look: stawberry blonde hair tied back in a tight bun, rather frumpy glasses and a decidedly un-fashionable combo of sweatpants and sweatshirts complement a pair of white sneakers that give the impression they had seen better days by the Reagan administration. Without glancing much around her surroundings and affecting a mousy, quiet demeanor in order to tone down that 'presence' thing people tell her she's got so much of, she settles on a seat not too far from Nick and instantly opens her paperback, a tactic she sometimes employs to deterr patrons of dubious intentions from approaching a lone female. It doesn't always work.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
While Mike may attempt something similar when at home. A change of atttire, different mannerisms, heck. Different name. Since he's traveling as Drago, he may as well just be OffDuty!Drago here. An arm rests upon the bar as he slings the bottle upwards once more to down a sizable percentage of the remaining liquid.

Alison's entrance is registered as the bottle sets back down upon bartop. Recognizing the woman, the previously non-commital expression on Nick's face fades as a wry smile starts to form.

"Excuse me Miss." He states, looking over to the woman with her book block set up, "But has anyone ever told you who you look a lot like...today?"

Alison Blaire has posed:
An inward groan that is not verbalized, and Alison pulls her book up just a little bit higher to hide her face. Jessica Fletcher stares back at Mike from the cover of the book she is purported to have co-written despite being completely fictional. It may be the tiredness that keeps the singer from immediately recognizing the voice, or maybe it's a learned reaction. In the book of tactics, 'I can't see you so therefore you can't see me' it's not one of the greatest hiding strategies in the world, but it does have a certain meaning in social parlance- namely 'back off, buster.' But in a very bookish, very polite way.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Nick bites his lip as he watches the book get lifted up higher, imagining the things that must be going through a musician's head when they get recognized despite efforts to lay low. The task is pretty easy to do considering his occupation. So one would think he'd be a bit sympathetic to the murder mystery wielding songstress doing her best John Cena impression.

Mike glances down, chuckling at the reaction. "Taking a break from Cabot Cove, I take it? I hear that place can be murder on the nerves."

Alison Blaire has posed:
Alison bites her lip. This guy was going to be one of /those/. The persistent types- the ones who woukd hover around you like the lone mosquito inside a movie theater that, against all odds, targets you and hums, and hums, and hums around you, but you can't try to squash it because you might end out taking out your date with flying popcorn tubs.

"Oh yeah. This one's quite interesting, actually," she says in a voice that implies it is anything but. "This one's about a nosy tourist who gets murdered in a hotel."

Not that she'd actually /do/ it, but she hopes she is conveying that This Is Not Going To Happen.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
"Oooh the book signing one." Nick replies, "With the one fan that just HAPPENED to keep running into Fletcher. That bloody typewriter REALLY got her into trouble."

He nods over to the bartender, tapping the bottle in indication. "Hell of a story."

Alison Blaire has posed:
Oh my god. Did he just- "Dude. Spoiler alert," she grouses, and then sighs, staring despondently at the page in front of her. What would Jessica do? What would Jessica do? Jessica Fletcher was always gracious to a fault, even with people who seriously pissed her off.

She takes a deep breath, and then slowly puts the book down, "You literally just rui-"

And then she stops, staring straight ahead at the man for a few seconds before her tense expression relaxes, and then she laughs. "You little asshole," she says, but with a good-humored tone, and stands up from her seat to walk towards Nick.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Alison's first view of the (kind of) older musician is not quite what one would see if looking at a Drago promotional photo. Along with the lack of stage makeup and stage hair, the squint of the eyes as Nick is biting back added laughter is, not quite dark enough of a look.

The title Alison gives him so quickly ends up bursting that dam. "I may be an asshole," Nick manages between chortles, "But I'm still taller than you."

He reaches over to slide his empty bottle away from the seat closest to Dazzler's approach. "Did I really give away the ending?" Nick asks, "Because I was making shit up." Mood very light due to the combination of alcohol and joking, Nick grins. "Good to see another familiar face around here. How're you doing?"

Alison Blaire has posed:
Waving the paperback in Nick's direction, Alison says "You better not have! If by any coincidence that happens to be the exact ending, I'm going to get my revenge on you." She pouts a little at the height remark and orders herself a beer. Turning back to Drago, she adds by way of riposte, "It's easy to be tall when you wear lifts, you know." Taking a sip of her beer, she gives him a wink that confirms it's all in the name of good-natured ribbing.

"I'm doing okay, you know how it goes on the road... you look good! How is the tour going?" she asks, and frowns a little. "I read the news about the Music Hall..."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
"If I wore lifts, you'd think I'd be ambitious enough to strive for the 6 foot mark at least." Nick replies, lobbing the joke back towards Alison. They certainly know how to get a lot of mileage out of height jokes.

He gives a slight nod, lifting up the newly opened beer set before him before setting it back down. Nodding to the bartender, tilting his head towards Alison and giving another nod. Whatever that means, who knows but the bartender's making their way over to Alison.

The smile falters a little at the mention of the Music Hall. "Yeah.. That was interesting." The smile shifts back into place. "But, it worked out. Some adjustments to the schedule. Additional security here and there. A few - changes between shows and staying arrangements. But we're going to get things done."

Alison Blaire has posed:
"That's good- maybe you can draw inspiration from the experience for a music video. It's what I did with that guy who had those creepy animated dolls..." the life of a singer in modern times is decidedly stranger than it used to be, she muses. "Maybe once we're both done with our respective tours we can collaborate on something. It was really good for my creativity." She takes a sip of her beer, and smiles a little.

"What's your next stop? I'm afraid I haven't kept up, had some problems in my own tour. Granted, nothing on your scale..." she reaches over and knocks on the bar. "Yet." Because she realizes she just invited Madame Chance to give her a reason to change that.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
"I probably will. A lot of my songs are drawn from experiences." The musician admits. "Hmm..." He moves his head side to side in thought.

"Pissed off that he hadn't won,
said he had the anger of a thousand baby suns.
But friends come in and he was done,
Ghost's on the run.
Ghost's on the run."

Mike pauses. "Hmm. Could use some work."

He turns his head looking back towards Alison, smile still in place, "Funny you should mention collaborating. I was thinking maybe we could get some guys together to do a collective seasonal album. Profits could go towards some charities."

He looks over to the bartender. "...where are we?"

"Pittsburgh, sir."

"Right." Nick is quiet for a few moments as he glances upwards in thought. "Uh. After this concert, I get a few days off and then it's- I think Billings, Montana for the next. Then- Indiana, Washington, Washington, Oregon, and ending in Sturgis for the next leg." He looks back to Alison. "What type of problems are popping up for you?"

Alison Blaire has posed:
"That's a brilliant idea- there's a couple of charities that are doing some good work with homeless mutant teens that I'd like to prop up, how about you? Your cause celebre du jour as they say in France?"

She grins and rests her chin on her hands, "My manager is thinking of doing some things over the pond. He apparently thinks I'd do well in France- but so did Jerry Lewis, so what does that say about me?"

A careful sip from her beer, and then she gestures with the neck of the bottle towards Nick, "It could work. You could even add a The Sweet refere and maybe get a cameo from some of their musicians as a collab. If you can't tell, I'm jumping at the bit for collaborations. I guess that after so much solo touring you just want to work with other people?"

He shrugs a little, "Just your usual. Anti-mutant protesters mostly. The odd stalker here and there, but not as many as other singers who can't..." she makes a finger-gun gesture.

Michael Hannigan has posed:
"There are several causes I can think of. But, of the shelters in the New York area, I tend to work with the St. Nicholas Shelter because it's close to where I live and they're pretty welcoming to just about everyone." Nick replies, "Maybe we could divide up the profits amongst a few shelters based off of need. We could probably get Boston Zombie pulled in. They're touring alongside my group."

The eyes roll at the mention of anti-mutant protesters. "Oh God. Won't those assholes just shut up? How often have you had to switch out phone numbers because of shit they pull?"

Alison Blaire has posed:
"Who uses phones nowadays?" The Dazzler says with a grin and holds up her smartphone, "Anyone I know who knows me enough to contact me does it via my DMs through my Teleg." She shows her phone, open to a messaging app. "Just buy a Gvoice phone number, tie it to an account, and then make it unfindable so only people you allow can contact you. For six dollars a month for the Gvoice, you get peace and tranquility. I even make my agent message me through it- you can do calls and everything."

She leans back a little and grins, "Anyone who tries to find out my old number to harass me is going to end up on perpetual hold while listening to Nickelback."

Her grin is positively devious. "I'll teach you how to set it up sometime if you're up for it."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Nick tilts his head at the explanation to how Alison avoids the unwanted calls, "I guess that can switch between different phones too?" The uptilt to his voice betrays it as a question instead of a statement. He pauses, "...although not all phones support apps. I just resorted to different ringtones. Or Wade just tells me stuff in person. But yeah, maybe show me when we get together to work out the collaborative project? I should be down to one phone by then."

Alison Blaire has posed:
"Why do you have more than- nevermind. I'm sure the explanation will take all night." She grins and looks thoughtful for a second before she finishes her beer.

"I have a terrible idea. Do you want to go see if there's a lookalike contest at a karaoke bar and pertend to be terrible?" she says with a bit of mischief in her voice. "I can record it all and we can upload it to social after we're gone to promote the tours. They'd love it."

Michael Hannigan has posed:
Nick grins, "That IS a terrible idea." He agrees, He glances over to the direction he last saw one of the ones who was watching him. "And tempting...But I should probably stick to the hotel for the time being." The smile fades, voice betraying a hint of disappointment. "But, I think I saw a piano on the other side of the lobby."