js || Loitering . . .[open]

[Jade Stone]

Jade was less than hospitably checked in last night by Epiphany to suite 301. A place with more room [and rooms] than she knew what to do with since she was here solo, but she'd asked for the biggest place anyway. Because if St. Louis wanted her to stay here for an indefinite amount of time on their dime she was going to spend as much dime as she could. Especially since it had to be this place, home of one of the last people she cared to spend any amount of face time with. And yes, said person happened to be the one who checked her in. Which Jade thought was just 'neat'.

That was her new word. Neat. She'd never used it before in her life but now it seemed to sum everything up just perfectly if it was used in that slightly forced, slightly sarcastic way a person could say a word. Neat. Rue the day that she ever says 'neat-o'. It won't be good.

In a way this mission was what she asked for. She was the vampire queen of insisting that she could take care of herself, even though every time she yelled that fact at someone some insurmountable force came her way blind-siding her and proving her wrong. Or maybe Noel hadn't blind-sided her. All depends on who you asked and if you asked her... Anyway. The point was They - the three wise men that had a hand in her life, Sean's, Damon's, you name it - insisted that Jade come alone. No matter how many swear words Sean spat out in between reasons why she shouldn't come alone, the verdict was the same, "Jade goes alone. Anyone who follows will put everything at risk." Including her. Neat, right?

And it had to be here. Not an inn in town, or down the street, or even directly across from this one. No, none of that was good enough. It was the Tel'Ranaemyn Inn with a short list of 'guidelines' and a blessing to spare no expense, and that was that.

Jade wondered if they'd been reading her mind. It was too coincidental. Hours before she was planning to leave St. Louis behind. She was going to visit a friend she'd met during her failed experiment to live a normal life as a college student. Gabriel was the nicest guy on the entire planet, and she couldn't wait to see him. Hanging out with nice guy would do her good, that's what she'd been telling herself. Chill out, drink his red wine and listen to him play the guitar. Away from covens away from vampires away from Saint Louis, she was going to get an East Coast break.

Until They stole it from her. John tried to make a joke out of it when he saw how upset They'd made her. "Well c'mon Jade, it's like Stretch always said - a nice guy doesn't have a chance with you. Maybe They think they're saving him from the big hurt." Okay. So maybe it was true that nice guys didn't have a chance with her. It was no secret that whomever Jade was with, they tended to get traded in for the big bad rebel upgrade because for some reason her curiosity wouldn't let her resist. Or think with her brain. A trade up of Sean for Damon is where the bad blood between those two began.

But that's not why she was going to see Gabriel. There was nothing like that between them. She just wanted a clean break from the 'nightlife' for a while. But apparently that was too much to ask. Maybe it wasn't a secret anymore that Jade was seriously regretting letting Sean take her to St. Louis in the first place. What started as a vacation was ending up like the Hotel California. She'd leave, something would happen, and they'd have to bring her back or else. The last 'or else' was that she would've died, but that was totally fixed. Totally.

She didn't like that They gave her an assignment. They'd never done that before. She'd either been in the thick of the current conflict or she'd tagged along of her own volition. This was new, sending her out like this. But even though she didn't like it for some reason she was here doing it. Pissed off that she didn't have a clue what she was supposed to be doing exactly besides the guidelines, but for some reason she was doing it. It was weird that for 'Princess' Jade the word 'no'...didn't exist, kind of. At least not as far as coming here was concerned. It bothered her but still, here she was. In her big badass suite that she had no clue what to do with besides throw a raging party with all the friends that she didn't have here, since she was solo.

But one of the guidelines was that she couldn't stay holed up in her big badass suite anyway. Another one was that she couldn't spend more than an afternoon or evening away from the inn per day. She was placed here to be present here, so that's what she was currently doing. Being present by wandering around the place. It reminded her a little of the first time she'd wandered around the St. Louis mansion. But that place was massive. This seemed small pond in comparison. Maybe that's why she was being so slow about it - she knew it wasn't going to take a lot of time and that she had a lot of time to kill.

It was just after four when she wandered into the lounge. She looked like she couldn't be any older than eighteen, but she was. The point was that she looked like a typical American cutie. Blonde hair, bright green eyes, slightly pale skin but it didn't take away from the fact she looked like great cheerleader material. Considering the time of day and the fact she didn't have her fangs out who the heck would think she was a vampire? At the most she maybe came off a little on the dark side of the cheerleader spectrum, since she was wearing all black - tight black jeans, a black tank top with some rhinestones making a rose design and black ballet flats.

She took a deep breath just so she'd have something to sigh. Looking to the first thing she laid her eyes on she said, "I have a foosball table to keep me company. Neat."

Neat.

[Donovan]

"Woul' ya be lookin' fer a partner?" Came the tenor voice at the entryway.

That was a good thing about rooms like this, they had arches. Eliminated the need to reach out and open doors. Hear them screeching and popping of latching to announce to the entire room that someone was about to enter. Let other things do the announcing like footsteps and all that.

He had footsteps to hear for he had shoes with hard soles and he wasn't the lightest guy with a step.

Was those very same shoes that brought him back in the direction of this Inn again after his time of being away. Was one of those fellas who came and went when he wanted and if there was good drink involved in the coming then he'd sure be around again. This place had a decent brew for him last time which is why he was back again.

Plenty of time for a drink he had taken to looking at what else this floor had and that was when he saw this room, came in the entry and saw the girl at the table.

He looked prim for sport playing. Physical games. White shirt, dark blue baggy jeans. He looked all the typical with his blond hair and clear blue eyes.

[Jade Stone]

Holy god. It was seriously 80% déjà vu of the last time she'd toured a place. Except when she'd been exploring St. Louis, when Damon came up behind her to introduce himself he didn't make any sound and she'd screamed in his face because he scared the hell out of her. But that was years ago. When she was younger. She was older now. Debatably wiser...but at least she was older.

She was older, this guy made elephant stampede footsteps [her ears were sensitive so they sounded pretty loud, okay?], and she could smell him coming. It all added up to him not getting a scream in his face when she turned around to face him, which was a pretty good deal for both of them. Saved her embarrassment, and saved him from bleeding ears.

The last time she was asked if she was looking for a partner for something it was in a ballroom in a mansion and she was dressed up in a nineteenth century cotillion gown. Her life was so not normal ever since she'd been turned. And that was what she was always after, wasn't it? Give the girl a normal moment or a bigger better bad guy and she was on one of those like white on rice. If it ever was a bigger better bad guy who was offering her the normal moment, well that scenario was the best thing ever.

So could it be? Was she going to get her vacation away from the nightlife after all, all thanks to accent guy here asking her to play foosball? As her green eyes looked him over she was obviously thinking his offer over. "Better," she pronounced that and tacked a nice smile on at the end that was just for him. "I'm looking for someone to teach me foosball. But there are two prerequisites. The first is that the teacher has to have an accent - check." She even made the little check mark motion as she sat on the foosball table. "Now the second - do you drink red wine?"

The third thing she was hoping wasn't a prerequisite, and she didn't say it aloud but...god was she hoping this guy was just a regular human. She adored human guys almost as much as big bad rebels. Of course a lot of the human guys she'd adored in the past ended up dead if they hung around her too long, but hey! She was seriously never ever the one who killed them and she was always really upset when they died. So it wasn't her fault.

[Donovan]

Cute.

That's what she was : cute.

Especially when it came to making that check mark as she took to sitting upon the table. It tugged a smile on his face and so did the requirements. "I come here to be throwin' back a cupla drinks, ya can be sure o' that. Wine'll do." Wine. Beer. Pot liqueur. Whatever. "Was headin' o'er to the bar I was 'fore I spotted this room."

She wasn't the only one that could have a lucky break. Not only was he going to get to have himself a drink, but he was going to have one with a cute girl and teach her to play a game.

"I can show ya how ta play. Quite simple really." Leaving the arched way and going to her perched self on the table. He took up a lean on the side of the table by her that gave him more room. A relaxed lean with the elbow bent and the rest of his body. He didn't look awkward though so it was okay. "The drinks I can be doin' 'swell. But if ya be wantin' me to teach ya this game here." He tapped on the table with his index finger.

"Well then Pretty. Ya 'ave to be gettin' off the table."

[Jade Stone]

Her striking green eyes glittered. Her grin grew. Christmas came early, that's what Jade was thinking! And unlike last night with Gwendolyn she wasn't going to play any of the vampire games. She wasn't going to try to bewitch him with her eyes, or lay the thrall on him with her voice, no sir. Not if he was her chance at having a some time as a normal girl. Right now her eyes were seriously on the normal prize, so it was downshift and downplay on anything that hinted at her being anything other than human. More than once she'd gotten into sooo much trouble in the past trying to pass as human before, but hey. When you fall off the horse gotta get back on right?

Right! Which is why she hopped smoothly off the table and turned to face him, tilting her head back to look up at him and keep flashing him that good girl grin. "Well then Hot Spot I think it's time to throw back and throw down!" That's right, Hot Spot. He gave her a nickname he got one right back - his came from him saying he'd spotted this room. And he was hot material. So why not say so?

She was totally ready to throw some back, too. Been about two years since her college buddies schooled her in the little known fact that wine could be knocked back like it was a job, but she was feeling confident and ready to drink. Would she get hungry for what she normally drank when the sun went down? Who cares! She wasn't thinking about it, because Hot Spot here was going to teach her a game. Speaking of...

"But fair warning..." She wagged her finger at him like she had a mind to poke him in the chest, rocking her weight to one hip to strike a pose of coy trash talking. "I'm a fast learner. So the better you teach the more I'm going to foos your balls!" Oh yeah. She could banter with the best of them, thanks to all the practice her last ten years had given her.

Warning given she turned in to face the table, waiting to be taught.

[Donovan]

 
Wonderful music to a guys ears. A pretty thing engaging in dalliance, and that it was with him, well didn't that just make all. She was going to 'foose' his balls but not until... "A'ter I show ya how to be handlin' the pole." Tickled with warmth and good humor was the chortle that came after his words. "E'en then may be to big fer ya 'ands."

Tag a wink on to the end of it and everything was jake. He stopped leaning with that wink as well and stood to his full height of 5'11, broad of chest with good arms. Quarterback built. Maybe he played back on earth. That's where he was from. A all around human this guy is. Nothing special about him but his good looks, charm, and his brain. Smarts and wits were essential in this realm. 

He shot her a grin and turned to the table and gripped one of the pole arms that were out on the sides and gave it a spin. The men on the pole spinning around to a *whirl* sound. Looks like he would be giving the lesson first and throwing back with her later. 

"Is not a 'ard game to be learnin'. Only 'ave to 'ave a good eye an' quick reflexes." He watched her as he spoke and then found the little white ball in the goal of the section next to him. He held the ball up in front of him on the tips of his closed fingers. "Ya take this ball an' drop it down in the mi'lle o' the table. Then the one who goes first takes a flick o' the pole to send it on down the o'hers side."

Stop for now to see if she was following so far.  "Are ya gettin' that Pretty?"
 

[Jade Stone]

He looked like a Quarterback, she looked like a cheerleader, this day of foosball was destiny! Maybe a keg was in order instead of wine? Jade could do a mean kegstand. Right now was shaping up to be Jade's idea of a good time - guy who could throw back, throw down, and do it with a hot smile on his face. And it was normal, normal, normal. Maybe this mission of hers wouldn't be so bad after all. At least it was a sign that she could find ways to make it not so bad. Starting with returning this guy's wink. "Don't you worry about my hands, Hot Spot. You just said yourself it's not a 'hard' game to be learning." That's right, she called his 'just a joke' humor and raised him a 'just a joke' right back! The cute purse of her lips was her poker face.

Then she listened. "Good eye, quick reflexes." Repeated as she chewed on her lower lip and looked just a hair hesitant. Because now she remembered why this passing as a human stuff was hard to do. Especially when there was a game involved. Duh, Jade. Duh. If she were alone she might have smacked herself on the head for not thinking. But she wasn't alone. And she wanted to play and have this normal fun afternoon, damnit. So if that meant she had to watch her reflexes to make sure she didn't go all savvy quick-and-reflexy vampire? Well she'd be careful. She could do that. Even while drinking. No prob-le-mo.

So she stood tall - well as tall as she could at 5'5'' - and watched the rest of his lesson. Nodding in reply to his question. "Got it good." To demonstrate she tested each of the poles. Flipping the men attached to them one way and then the other at various speeds. Slowly moving them back and forth to get a feel for how the game moved. "You're right, it's not hard. I mean I've seen one of these before. You know, just never played."

She dropped her hands from the poles, and turned around to lean against the table. Glancing up at him with a cheeky smile. "So I'm ready for the throw down, you're ready for the throw down...I guess that means we now all we need to do is start throwing some back!" Drinks, that is. She canted her head to the side suggestively, rocking her shoulders a bit with a sweet purse of her lips.

That body language is universal girl speak for 'pretty please, you get the drinks'.

[Donovan]

Throw back a few drinks first and then he might not notice if she did anything that was out of the ordinary as far as reflexes went. Then, if he'd play her in a game and she took to controlling it over him to make it into heavy competition of sport then that was okay too. A girl who could handle a guy in competition and not get all bent out about it was something he liked. He could handle that and Miss Pretty here seemed to be one of those types that he liked.

"If ya been seein' it played then ya 'ad an idea on playin'." Was what he said, the game wasn't difficult. You stand by and watch a round or three and the gist of the game is there. Only thing was the difference between watching and doing.

Her lean on the table he thought she was going to perch herself on the edge of it again. Alas that wasn't the case. There was time for that later. He watched her body language and the canting of her head. Then that purse of her lips making up a pout.

"I shant be seein' 'othin' but smiles on that face." Even be bold enough to reach out and tap her under the chin. Chin up and all that. "Drinks'on me."

With a wink he turned from her to leave the room and go to the bar. A bottle of good red wine was what he was after.

[Jade Stone]

A surprised little blink from Jade, and then she laughed. Silly, airy laugh. "Oh I haven't seen it played. Just seen it, kind of like I'm seeing it now." She made a little frame with her index and thumb fingers and viewed the foosball table through that, slowly lowering her fingers as she joked with a terrible attempt at a British accent, "Zoom in on a rare shot of the foosball table in its natural habitat - note this still, silent state is foosball table at 'rest'." She broke her finger frame to do the quote-fingers on the word 'rest' to make the joke even more geeky.

Then she turned towards him. Made it easy for him to tap her under the chin. One good touch deserves another, so Jade reached out to give him a light reassuring pat on the back just as he was leaving to get the drinks. "But don't worry teacher, I'll get an A+!" She called that after him with a grin. And she watched him walk out. Part of her still couldn't believe this. Him. It was too good to be true. This was normally the point when something went wrong. She had her mental fingers crossed hoping it wouldn't.

Once he left the room to go get the drinks on him, Jade let out a huge breath and collapsed back against the side of the table. She tilted her head back, looking up at the ceiling. Giving the heavens a thumbs up she mouthed, "Thank you thank you thank you!" Then with an excited hop and spin she got her hands on some poles. The foosball poles, don't think dirty! This time she picked up the ball first, tossing it down in the middle of the table like he'd said. Pulling and spinning the poles she started to get a feel for how to maneuver the ball down and up the table.

By the time he came back in, he'd see her already practicing how to shoot goals. That's right, she was seriously getting the hang of this game!

[Donovan]

Was that a fake accent she just did? It was and it was the funniest thing to - in a cute way - and the framing up a shot with her fingers was the creme. He wondered what other type of impressions she could manage and what other things she had under her sleeves. Donovan? This guy didn't have any tricks with his voice to share. With the accent he had sometimes things like that were a bit difficult. 

"Aye Pretty, ya be makin' jokes. I like a who 'as a sense o' 'umor." Got him to laugh a bit as well.  But then he was off to get them a bottle of red wine. The last time he had come here there was a party going on and he almost got a chance to share a private drink with a pretty slip of a thing. Now he was back again and bless his soul he was given another chance!

An order of red wine wasn't that hard, especially when you order a whole bottle. Whoever was tending at the time was able to get him a bottle and even gave him the couple glasss that he asked for. So, with the bottle in hand and the glasses he arrives back in the Lounge to see Pretty playing. 

"Gettin' an early start is sumtime be said to be cheatin'." Donovan wore a boyish grin. Noticing the small table by the bookshelf he sat the bottle and glasses down. 

"There are ways o' dealin' wit cheats." Did he really think that she was cheating? He could be pulling her strings.   

[Jade Stone]

“Oh it is sumtime, is it?” Now she was having a go at his accent. It was something she used to do to a British friend of hers all the time – when she wanted to mock him, that is. She was mocking Donovan now, but it was in that feisty playful way girls had when they got a little competitive. And speaking of competitive, he was back with wine and two glasses and she didn’t even look up from the foosball table. Nope not until she was done maneuvering the little ball into the little goal with a nice strong whap from one of her little plastic teammates.

“Goooal!” she pronounced with a grin, finally dropping her hands away from the game poles and taking a step towards him with her hands on her hips. “Listen Hot Spot, game time is game time. While you were off taking your sweet time with the wine the Ref blew the whistle and we’re already halfway into the first quarter.” Did foosball have quarters? No clue. She said it though and she was going to stick to it, sticking her pretty nose up in the air at him as she added with a sneaky smirk. “So the score’s already 12 – 1. You can ask the Ref yourself when he gets back from the bathroom.”

There was obviously no Ref, that was her pulling his leg. And how did Donovan get one point while he’d been off getting the wine? Early in her practice she’d totally shot the ball into his goal by accident. But at least she was honest and included it in the current score, right?

“And,” she added with a pretty purse of her lips at him as she poked him on the upper arm for emphasis, “You can also ask the Ref what he feels about your so-called ways of dealing with cheats. I sure hope those are foosball-sanctioned ‘ways’ you’re talking about or you just might get in trouble.”

She tossed her light blonde locks over her shoulder in a ‘so there’ kind of gesture, and picked up one of the empty glasses. She held it out to him, waiting for him to pour.

[Donovan]

"Looks like I need to 'ave a chat 'ith me players. Shoul' know betta than to be lettin' a game go on b'half o' a pretty smile." would you look at that, she was a little vixen wasn't she? Having let the game go into start and playing with the ball.  Donovan looked right over at the table and saw how clearly she had marked the men on his poles to give herself an easy go. Of he asked he she may say it was a coincidence. But who knows, she may fess up to the deed. 

Pretty plucked up a wine glass and he plucked up the bottle, poping the cork with a couple of fingers he grinned. Yeah he heard that he was joking with him. She had jokes, that's okay. Fact was that she was still in the room when he came back a win. Besides, she got a few up on her, he was going to return the favor. Eying the table he had been and he saw an opportunity. 

Never knock down opportunity. 

She said game time was game time, did this mean the time was over because she going for a drink? Maybe. The referee was 'out'. Either way he poured her a drink, while getting up on the table with a lean.  "S'all 'bout keepin' ya eye on the ball." Like he had when she had told him that score. 

With one hand he gave a quick turn of one of the poles near the ball on the table. The man on the pole 'kicking' that ball down the field and to the goal. "Woul' ya looka'hat. Seems like I got 'nother goal." A playful smirk on his face. 

"Oh there was a subs'tution ref that start the game a'ter I poured the drink." 

[Jade Stone]

“Well you shouldn’t be too hard on your players. I mean…” Jade just let her sentence trail off. And as he poured the wine she gave him one of those pretty smiles. The kind that said, ‘how could anyone resist l’il ole me?’ And sad but true, that unspoken question in her smile was a truthful one. Because up to this point of her life it was sheer fact – no one had been able to resist the dazzling blonde currently standing before Donovan. Or if they were one of the few that could resist Jade…enough time with her and the person in question realized they just didn’t want to resist her. She was that rare blend of brazen, vulnerable and infectious that was hard to turn your back on.

And hell, why not just get swept away by her current, come what may? What’s life without a risk like her?

Longer, probably. But certainly not as interesting!

She wasn’t the only one that was interesting though. Donovan scoring that goal while she was taking her first sip of wine…yum. Just plain yum. Her eyes snapped to the table just in time to see the ball go smoothly into the goal like it was pulled by a perfect gravitational force. Then her bright green eyes looked slowly back up at him as she swallowed the sip, the wine buzzing on her tongue and down her throat just as she remembered it from those nights with her dorm neighbors. And she grinned.

There was something to that grin. Something that said she wasn’t going to let Donovan here get away. This ticket to some good quality time as a normal girl was just too good.

So she coyly strutted to the end of the table, plucking the little ball out with ease. “Why aren’t you sporty. The Ref says that means it’s time to make the game a bit more interesting, Sporty Spot. So.” She rolled the ball in between her thumb and forefinger as she let him know what the ‘Ref’ just decreed. “You score a goal, I drain my glass. I score a goal, you drain yours.” To put the new rule into effect, she polished off her glass of wine like it was as easy a chugging a beer.

Then she put her empty glass down on the nearest flat surface, taking her game stance on her side of the table and holding the little white ball over the middle ready to drop it. “Do we have a game?” Jade asked him that with a look that said she was sure she was going to win. She already didn’t bother asking him to refill her glass. She was just that sure that the next goal that was going to be scored would be hers.

[Donovan]

Now wasn't she a bit of something. The bit of something that caused a person to do a puff of laughter and a turn and a half shake of their head at the same time. That's the bit Pretty became when she made a sudden change of rules to the game, it was suddenly a drinking game. He could run with that, nothing like raising the anty to make for an interesting game. 

Shaking out his arms and cracking his knuckles, Donovan placed both of his hands on a pole on either side of the table. Never could tell when she might use those wiles of hers and go for another goal just to make him down a glass. He never backed down from drinking games. Bottomless bellies, that's  what his Dad use to say about him and the men in his family. All of them have been drinking hard liquor since adolescence. Just something the family did and so this little rule addition didn't phase him. 

"It's a good thing we're startin' o' the drinks now, else I'd be 'aving to go get ano'her bot'el." And, if he had to go get another bottle she may make another twelve shots and that would mean another twelve shots for him.

Little Miss Pretty had her game stance  and he took his as he waited for her to drop the ball. 

"Game on then." Guard his goal, that's what it was all about and that's what he was doing with the pole. 

 

[Jade Stone]

"Oh you'll have to get another bottle..." Jade grinned, her hand that wasn't holding the ball holding a pole of her choice. Obviously she thought she had the upper hand here and that this would be a fast-paced game. Which is why she added, "and you might as well write your name on the one we've got." Because he'd be drinking it allll up if you asked her. Either the confidence coming off of this girl who'd just learned this game fifteen minutes ago was really wise or really dumb. Time to see which!

Once she dropped the ball on the table Donovan would learn one thing right off the bat - Jade was fast. She didn't go all obvious vampire quick and reflexy, but facts were facts and vampires are quick even when they're not cashing in that chip in a big way. She wasn't perfect at maneuvering her men yet, especially with him countering the kicks her small plastic men made, but whether or not she scored this first goal would be all about whether or not he could keep up with her because her eyes could easily keep up with every move the ball made. So her reaction time was pretty incredible.

Whap-whap-whap-whap, she was getting the knack of passing the ball to herself with pretty sneaky moves. Zipping the ball all over the table and then a sneak attack on his goal with a flip of the wrist. Did she score?

[Donovan]

Pretty was already writing him off to loose the match. She had herself a heaping of confidence that was not fluff. There were some people who boasted with confidence only to have their bluff called or they said things in a joking way. But Pretty here, Donovan could tell that it wasn't empty words. She meant it, he liked it. 

When she had mentioned the bottle he stole his eye away to look at it sitting there, eyes away for a fraction of a second, but it was enough time for her to drop that ball and break through his first string defensive. He didn't even know if the ball had even had a chance to hit the board before her players whacked at it. 

With the first line broken through Donovan focused on what was important: protecting his goal. Offering up a series of counter strikes he did what any good goalie would do though she was quick, reflexes seemed even unnatural. He has meet a few fast people in his life - especially when it came to sports - but this was something different. And the first goal (that he was there to see) was hers. That ball nearly popped of the table almost having been clipped by one of his men. 

Now, Donovan was not fast like her but he had a good eye for following fast action and moving play, something needed in his sport. If he hadn't had that much talent Pretty here wouldn't have had to do anything but flick her pole and in the ball would go. 

"Score goes to ya. Ya got yerself a pair o' quick 'ands." He was sincere in it too. A man who could handle not winning all the time. That's what he was and he went to get that bottle - keeping an eye on her too. "Don' try an' take a shot w'ile I be o'er 'ere makin' good on the bet."

Poured his drink and drank it before plucking that ball out of the goal. Lifting it he showed it to her before it was his turn to drop it and shot for her side. 
   

[Jade Stone]

When she scored the goal she whooped a shriek of victory. Letting go of the poles, Jade did an improvised victory dance that probably looked really silly. She wasn't a dancer in any sense, so any grace she had at any time was thanks to raw vampiric flair. This particular dance looked like a combination of the hokey pokey and the twist with maybe a little bit of the mashed potato, making for a very convoluted celebration! Hopefully Donovan wasn't paying too much attention to it and was busy drinking down his glass instead.

While he was doing his part of the bet, she was reliving what had just happened. It has been fast, action-packed and most of all fun. She was never big on games before, but there was something to this. Maybe it was that she had to keep countering Donovan's moves when she couldn't know for sure what the moves would be until they happened. Battling the unexpected, that's what this felt like! Well, a safe kind of unexpected. Which was very different than the kind of unexpected Jade usually was sucked into...

"This is exciting!" There was a hint of flush in her pale cheeks that agreed with her statement. "I won't shoot, promise." She leaned forward on the table, hoisting up onto it a little as she added with an impish sing-song, "Don't forget to refill your gla-ass!" She grinned. Still so sure that Donovan was the one who would be doing most of the bet-related drinking that centered around the foosball table. There was something to her voice when she did that sing song. A tiny something, an interesting little tug. Even that small hint of her thrall creeping into her voice was a sign that Jade was getting a little sloppy.

Then there was the fact that she didn't reply to his comment about her being fast. Was it obvious? Hopefully it wasn't obvious and it just looked like Jade being too absorbed in returning to her game stance when he retrived the ball. She crouched down a little, thinking it might help her watch the table since she'd be closer to the action. She was totally ready for more fast fast paced gaming. So when he took a shot at her goal, boy! She countered with a rocket quick pull of her pole backward and a slick 'whap!' of the defending plastic man. Preditory act-react skills, that's what made her so good at this game. She certainly didn't score a goal with the defensive maneuver, but she was sure going to put Donovan through he paces if he was looking to score one!

[Donovan]

Perhaps he should refill his glass. Just in case. So he did. Usually he would not have poured himself another shot, but the suggestion was an egging thing and it sounded as a right idea.

And, just in case, after he refilled his own he poured some in her own. "A good turn fer anot'er." Smirk. That was in case the next goal happened to be scored by him he'd save her the trouble of filling her own glass. Because now that they had gone one round he knew something of ways. A person didn't always have to be faster to win at games, they had to be strategic.

Things often moved fast in the world of sports and you had to not be distracted by the going-on around you, stay focused on your goal and what you had to do. Donovan did not have to be as fast as Jade (he didn't know that her speed was do to her supernatural ability) he only had to use a bit of strategy. Therefore he didn't try to match speed, he kept his actions tight and close to the goal, using strength in each hit to send that ball flying down to the other side. It was harder to score a goal when said thing was being guarded. It also sometimes caused the person doing the shooting to try harder to make it into the goal which left their own goal a bit open.

Click. Flick. Knock. Bash. Bang. He followed the movement and when he thought he had an opening he was sure to have his man hit the ball at the angle so it passed from one of his men to the other, then another, quickly down the field until he made a shot for her goal.

[Jade Stone]

"Ha. Ha!" That was her sardonic reply to that 'one good turn...' comment of his. And Jade was totally not strategic. She just wasn't a strategic kind of girl, even when it came to things like hunting. She was impulsive, she was ruled by instinct, and she was cute and knew how to capitalize on that fact. Those were the qualities that shaped her life. So it hadn't even occurred to her to think about this game strategically. She was being totally reactionary and the only reason that method worked so far was because of sheer luck and speed.

And her luck was about to run out. She saw it coming. Click. Flick. Knock. Bash. Bang. "CRAP!" Yelped before she could stop herself. There was one other thing hopelessly reactionary Jade did before could stop herself, in the name of defending her goal. She yanked the pole that was attached to her plastic goal defenders towards her as fast and as hard as possible.

It did more than show how quick she really could be. The force she used also rocked the table in a way that totally wasn't regulation, cracked the sides of the table around the pole and ripped the pole right through the side of the table in a way that spelled b-r-o-k-e-n. The plastic men that used to be on the pole were now officially on foosball injury leave and in pieces on the field, and Jade was holding one stripped pole in her hand.

Before she dropped it with a look of horror. Like it was made of intestines or something. The good news was, the rocking of the table made the little white ball roll its way lazily toward and into her goal. Strategy scored a point against sheer speed even around the limbs of her fallen players. Jade watched the ball plunk into her goal with a stillness that was totally impossible for a human to achieve. No one could stand that still besides statues. What was she supposed to say? What was she supposed to do? She had to do something.

Her green eyes looked at the refilled glass of wine. "Yes," said with hushed relief. She didn't mean to say that outloud but she didn't even notice she had. She was grabbing up her glass of wine and doing the one thing she knew she had to do. Drink it. A bet was a bet, right? Besides, chugging down an entire glass of wine gave her some time to think of something campy to say to downplay what had just happened.

And here it was, "Well that's got to be some kind of penalty, huh?" Ba-dum-ching! Funny how fast she could go from looking horrified to totally nonchalant. Jade was trying to play this toooootally cool.

[Donovan]

"Damn girl."

What else would someone say after seeing their opponent rip one of the poles off of the table. Now, Donovan here, he wasn't a dull boy and he was able to put a few things together since he first met her. Some things happened due to sheer luck - even if you were a beginner he believed in such a thing as 'beginners luck'. Cause of circumstance, right place at the right time, there were a few things that could be considered coincidental, but he did not think that this was one of them.

Even if he did doubt she had intended to tear apart the table he was beyond doubting that little miss Pretty here was 'typical'. Though that didn't put a nail in his coffin.

With the game brought to an end he wasn't holding on to his pole anymore or on the offensive, but he snorted and gave the table a nudge with his foot. "It be a good t'ing we were na arm wrestlin'. To bad the table was short on qual'ty. Goal was mine." He was suggesting that it wasn't by any fault of her own that the table broke, even if was her strength. Pretty didn't seem all that keen on what she had done, rather irked by it, so he wasn't going to draw attention to it and start acting odd.

He'd brush it off.

"Bot'ms up Pretty, we 'ave ta find sumtin' else to play. "

[Jade Stone]

"Oh I'm not very good at arm wrestling." A firm shake of her head back and forth when she said that. She even held her hands palm up in front of her to emphasize the 'not me' of her tone. God, considering what she did on accident to the foosball table, if she wasn't good at arm wrestling what happened during that? Good thing they weren't going to find out.

She drank her wine like a champion. Straight down and no need for a breath. When she put the empty glass back down on the nearest table, already the world was starting to feel a little fuzzy. In a way it was probably really lucky that she broke the foosball table, because if her speed and impulsive instinct weren't enough to defend against his strategizing she would have been drunk before she knew it!

She gave Hot Spot a big thankful smile. Because she was grateful. She knew what he said might totally be a pretense. That he was being polite by 'not noticing'. But unlike some people, Jade loved pretenses. Especially when they let her go on passing as normal. The pretense earned him this. "I'm Jade." Said with a cute little head cock to the side as she sauntered her way over to his side of the now broken table. Depending on how things went, she'd been considering not bothering to give him her name. So it seems she liked how things were going.

After his suggestion she nudged her arm forward, elbowing his. Her tone was playfully cautious. "I don't know Hot Spot......you got two goals in, but I still beat you 13 - 2. Sure you want risk getting slaughtered again that badly?" That's right, despite the fact she'd busted up their game in a literal way she was still talking a big talk. That was just her.

That didn't mean she didn't want to continue to hang out though, or that they couldn't play another game. Which is why her eyes drifted away from him to see what the other options were.

[Donovan]

(Sorry for the hold up, had some things that were out of my hands.)

Jade. 

Look at that, he got a name off of her and having the girls name was one step closer to doing things that having a name would helpful with. Like ordering a second round.  Or telling a tale or finding her again. He couldn't very well go about asking folks where the pretty blonde was, he'd get twenty different responses and just as many women. 

Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea then. Something to ponder over later. For the moment he watched her drink down her shot of wine like a champ. Good for her. He also found it cute that she didn't protest it. 

Once she was done with it the thought was that one good turn deserved another so out went his hand to her - he had some manners in him. "Donovan," when he said his name it sounded like 'dah-nu-vahn' and not the harsh common pronuncition of 'don-no-van' as everyone else said it. "Though I be likin' that 'Hot Spot' too." Had to be said. When you get a fitting name from a pretty lass you let her know. 

She was talking about gaming odds and he laughed as he reached and took that bottle. Poured himself a good size helping he drank it down and then another. After that second drink the glass was put down and he held the bottle by the neck and pointed at her with the first finger, uncurling it from the bottle. "We're alit'el more e'en now." 

In drink count. He was feeling the wine but it was not a deal. This was the preliminaries for him. "Game o' chess ma'be?"

[Jade Stone]

"Sure. You look like a Hot-Spot-liking kinda guy." Oh the sly little smile she was giving him then. Coy upon coy, with a little twisting rock of her shoulders back and forth to add another spoonful of coy on top. That was the kind of double-meaning comment that Jade only made once she had a couple of drinks in her and she didn't realize how loose her tongue was.

The wine also helped her have the guts to stare her pretty green eyes right into his as she said it. Maybe those guts were also why she took the bottle from him after he called them more even and poured herself a more substantial glass. "Eve-ahn, dah-nu-vahn?" Oh yeah. She was definitely buzzed if she was playing rhyme games with his name as she poured for herself. "No way. I have to win at something," she told him that with a pretty purse of her lips as she set the near-empty bottle on the table. Out drinking him was probably the wrong thing for her to try to win at, but she was brave for taking a long shot right?

Then something happened. Considering him flirtatiously made her pang. A hunger pang, and she felt the ache in her currently dull little teeth. The ache that said, 'come on, let your pretty little fangs out'. Which...no, she wouldn't. Couldn't. Shouldn't. Pick one. Instead she looked away. And he gave her an excuse to. He suggested chess. Time to go look at the chess...board, right? Chessboard. She took a nice big drink of wine as she walked over to it. Like she thought getting a closer look at it would help her understand a game that she never played and knew next to nothing about.

"Chess. Chess chess chess." She was repeating the word to try and stall for time as she stared down at the game, trying to think of something she knew about chess. Time to take a stab in the dark. "It's kind of like checkers, right? Fancy checkers?" She picked up a black pawn to try and 'king' a white pawn checker-style, and then frowned. "Weird. They made it kind of hard to king the other pieces..." Oh Jade.

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