Welcome Back

[Autumn Skye Vista]

picture yourself in a boat on a river
with tangerine trees and marmalade skies
somebody calls you, answer quite slowly a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.
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autumn wasn't particularly sure what was delaying her visit to the latest clubs. ever since she had scored a dream job with a fashion designer as a chance to motel some of the most priceless designer clothes of them all, she had found herself lacking the necessary time to drop by the clubs. after all, it probably wasn't ideal for her to be wasting away her free times with some booze, and wasting the occasional glance from one of her bosses or coworkers - straddling somebody's lap. not that she was the one that fancied any of those pasttimes, she just liked her liquor, and liked the occasional bed to warm. nothing much more than that. at the same time, she continued to be stuck in a society where nothing ever changed - and by that it was intended to represent the different people, the faces, they never ceased to be anything but the particular or glamorous faces that you saw on the cover of People magazine. That was why Miss Vista wasn't showing up at a high and notorious club this evening, she was hanging out at one of the more 'dirtier' and reputed clubs down - close to avenue b. it wasn't exactly one of the finest, but at the same time, she doubted something would be slipped into her liquor with a misglance.

autumn's hair was braided in a fashion that she admired. her evening attire was compromised of some tight leather pants, and an aquamarine top that barely skirted her elbows. it suited nicely with her tan complection, and with her black hair draping over her shoulders and back. the girl's eyes were anything but subtle, drapped in black eyeliner and other assorted but colorful eye makeup. with a devilish grin pinned on her face, and an outfit that was to die for, she found herself doing anything but blending into the crowd in this particular club. many of the other faces were much more eclectic and unusual than she was used to observing. a couple faces looked like they were straight off of the streets, but had managed to score a couple dollars from a generous passerby. an additional couple seemed to be one that she had spotted out in central park a few days back, a couple artists. it was interesting to observe such a different brand of people. and it was refreshing. now it was time to truly attract some attention, and for something other than her appearance. once passing the bouncers of the club, whom looked hardly more qualified than a regular drunkard off the coasts of the catscratch, she found herself being caught gliding over towards the dance floor. the liquor would come later. and anyways, she wanted to adjust herself to this differnt type of atmosphere. the music blaring techno beats at full blast, and the colorful lights making it seem like one was on an lsd trip or something of the sort. people were grinding one another, or merely dancing by themselves - warding off others around them in those particular scenarios. but for the most part, it was a bit of the stereotyped club - with sweaty bodies grinding up against one another and colorful lights.

autumn decided to step it up a notch, tired of dancing by herself, and walking behind a particular individual that looked to be a good foot taller than her. smiling seductively, she waltzed up towards him, and rubbed her arm casually against his - and feeling their skin touch - took a step back to observe the reaction that was to occur.

[Benjamin Caden Slater]

Today was Tuesday. Okay, there was nothing really special about Tuesday except for the fact that it wasn't one of the six other days of the week. But hey, if anyone asked why a guy like him was there, Benji could just say that it was Tuesday and people would think that Tuesday had some sort of importance and then stop asking questions. These were the thoughts running through Benji's head as he locked his apartment with a pad lock, slipping the key in his pocket. Not exactly glamorous in any way, but it was more important to keep his apartment locked. Quietly, he made his way down the stairs and outside the apartment. His landlady kept bothering him about paying his rent, so he didn't want to wake her up as he was going out. Of course, Benji really had no idea where he was going. He wasn't the type to really plan ahead and think about things before doing them. What fun would life be if it was all scripted? He kept walking around the street, squinting his eyes whenever he saw a pair of headlights from a car that would pass him bye. For the past week or so, Benji had been reclusive, avoiding the city life in order to keep him sober and clean. Of course that didn't work and made him restless, hence why he was really going out.

A few blocks down from where he was Benji could see the lights coming from the Catscratch Club. It was a disgusting place to be if you didn't know it, but fortunately Benji had spent so many nights drinking, shooting up, and sleeping his money away. Prostitution was illegal in the country, but it seemed like the Catscratch Club was exempted from all sorts of laws and rules. One time he had seen a kid who couldn't have been older than sixteen walk into the club and then leave at three in the morning, completely and utterly wasted. Benji didn't understand how someone so young could just waste their life away like that. They would only end up like him, which sadly wasn't a good thing. But that didn't really stop him from coming back here though. Before entering however, he leaned against the exterior wall and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. It was a dirty habit really, and he had been trying to quit. Then again, he had tried to quit everything. He didn't have a lot of willpower to stop any of his habits.

After taking the last drag from his cigarette, he walked into the club. He immediately headed towards the bar, not wanting to risk getting stuck in the mass of sweaty bodies dancing on the floor. Benji was skinny and pale, and through some weird logic could not dance to save his life. He ordered a drink and leaned against the bar, swirling the contents in the cup. It was kind of sad that he preferred to drink alone than to be like everyone else in the club. After being in recluse for a week, he seemed more antisocial than usual. It would only take a few drinks before he would start to loosen up. Tilting his head back and bringing his glass to his lips, he drank the entire glass down. For a couple of moments he just stood there, staring at the crowd and getting lost in his own thoughts. He jumped back when he felt skin rub against his own. He had to look down (this was pretty normal for him) in order to see who abruptly stopped his thoughts. "Um..... hi," he said, not knowing what else to say to the petite girl standing in front of him.

[Autumn Skye Vista]

picture yourself in a boat on a river
with tangerine trees and marmalade skies
somebody calls you, answer quite slowly a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

autumn, if truth be told, probably didn't even recognize that it was tuesday - she wasn't good at keeping track of things like what days were what. then again, when your schedule didn't generally revolve merely around week days or weekend days it was something that was easy to do. other people may look at her as a ditzy sort of person, but honesty, she was much more intelligent than she let on. not every model attended college, or graduated as valevictorian and all those other flying colors. it was something that she was proud of - her education, at least. she wasn't a ditz and never would be. that, my friend, is besides the point though. back to subject - normally she would only hang out on fridays and saturdays at various clubs, never a monday or a tuesday - the beginning days of the week - and typically the longest additionally. but seeing as she had nothing else to do on this particular evening, or tommorow - since she planned to 'be sick,' and take the day off as it was - was probably going to turn out the same way. if truth be told, one would expect a girl like her to have some mancandy to preoccupy her days with - but really, she never did and never had - outside of one night stands. it was a rarity to find her without alcohol, or some other sort of vice to preoccupy her time with.

She was enjoying herself for the remainder of the period she decided to spend on the dance floor - something that was a suprising feat. Autumn knew how to cherish even the most broadening of times into something entertaining and fun, and typically she could manage to brighten anyone's day. Therefore, seeing a lone face in the crowd, as well as one that was a good bit taller than her - she had been keen on getting the person that was Benji to mingle a bit more. Why the hell were you at a club, or bar for that matter, if you had no intentions to socialize or dance or mingle? The idea seemed absolutely ridiculous if you asked her, one that was always keen on making conversation. Noticing his rather abrupt and strange turn of glance he gave her, she raised an eyebrow.

"Hiya stranger,"Autumn managed to return, without even a thought put into the words before replacing her expression with one resembling a purse. "Now, I can't understand why a person comes to the bar or even a club, such as this and doesn't mingle with the others around them..."

[Benjamin Caden Slater]

Her query seemed almost rude to him and also pretty random. Why would you just randomly walk up to someone and ask them that? Couldn't he go into a public place and be antisocial if he wanted to? As mentioned before, he wasn't in the right mood to be socializing or dancing yet. He needed a little bit more alcohol in his system before he would loosen up. Scowling slightly at her, he wondered if he should respond to her comment. It seemed though that he had lost his ability to speak. Then again, he hadn't spoken to anyone in a while. He wasn't always that antisocial though. Finally, after figuring out how to speak again, he said "I can do what I want, right?". Okay, that was slightly rude on his part too, but he was still crabby from staying inside of his apartment for a week, going through fits of withdrawal. Who could blame him? Pulling yourself from your vices was a hard thing to do.

Benji stood up straighter and pulled on his sleeve. Both were nervous habits. He was never the type to speak coherently in front of strangers, and beautiful strangers were even worse. He now felt bad about his previous comment and blushed slightly. It was dark in the club, so luckily she couldn't see his cheeks slowly start turning red. Just in case she would have seen, he turned around and ordered another drink for himself. Pondering for a moment, he ordered a drink for her too. This stranger didn't seem to be the type to abstain from alcohol, since she did just walk up to him randomly in the Catscratch Club. When the bartender gave them their drinks, he handed her one of them and looked again at the contents of his glass. Benji was kind of paranoid about eye contact. Eye contact meant that you had to have a conversation with someone or it meant that the other person could read every emotion you tried to hide. At the moment, he didn't want someone to learn about all of his emotional baggage. The most he wanted was maybe a quick fuck, and that was his limit at the moment.

"So..." he said, still not looking up at her. He tried to think of a question to ask her that didn't seem too personal or seemed intrusive. Since most questions were personal or seemed intrusive, there was a moment of silcence between the two of them before he could come up with a question. "What are you doing down here at the Catscratch Club?" he asked. Hopefully he didn't sound like she wasn't welcome here. But seriously, what the hell was a woman that beautiful doing down here in this shitty excuse of a club where there were worse men than he? It didn't make much sense to him

[Autumn Skye Vista]

picture yourself in a boat on a river
with tangerine trees and marmalade skies
somebody calls you, answer quite slowly a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

"I suppose so, yes, I didn't mean to come out of my place," she replied simply, arching her eyebrows even further. It was rather odd for her to find a stranger that was uninterested in talking to her.....but she supposed that was mainly a superficial reason behind that explanation at least. autumn didn't really think about her words enough to know if they were rude or not, and well, she never was good at putting herself into other people's shoes. if truth be known it had been a while since she had lived on the streets, nearly a decade, and there had been much that had changed - very much so. and she had built her life much higher than it had been to start with, when her parents died, it was now something that was merely in her past. she believed in the philosophy that what was in the past was in the past, and not to allow ghosts of the past haunt herself for the rest of her life. her parents were included in that.

Even as he rose higher above her, him already when slumped a good head taller than her, and when he stood up straight - well, you can imagine. He was like a walking skyscraper to her, even with her stilletos as they were. "I decided to take a change from all the other clubs around here. This is one that I haven't been to, and one of the managers offered me a job here. I'm not sure where he is, or what it exactly is though,"she said absentmindedly, finding herself rambling and not really trying to silence herself. For some reason, Autumn was extraodinarily overconfident in the place of strangers. She could ramble on and on, without being the slightest embarrassed with herself. It was probably clear from the way that she spoke that this wasn't a place where she would ordinarily inhabit, as she had never visited here, nor really...heard of it outside of the occasional gossip or the occasional article in the back of the newspaper announcing a firing or a hiring of a new manager. "You know, I'm obligated to pay you back for that one," she commented as he was able to somehow exchange money with a bartender in return for two drinks - for either of them from the sound of it - before she had had a chance to bat an eye. The young woman became easily aggravated from being in debt to somebody, she always repaid the person in some form or another.

Just then a tall man came from behind the counter. "Hey, you're Vista, eh? The one model from the Gucci handbags ad and the one I talked to about the job? Well, we need a fill in tonight so you're on, come behind and I'll show you what to do and when to begin," he told her quickly, taking her by the arm and leaving a dumbstruck Autumn to follow him and nervously look at Benji. She lipped a few words to him i want to you later.

[Benjamin Caden Slater]

Benji shook her head when she said she needed to pay him back. It wasn't that hard to see that Benji wasn't the type to hold someone against something. Like a stick, he was tall and skinny. Also like a stick, his bones could be easily broken and his skin easily bruised. It was obvious that he wasn't that much of a threat. When she mentioned getting a job here, he only raised his eyebrows. He had enough common sense to know that no one should want to get a job here. Sleazy guys watching you and feeling you up..... it made even him shudder. Well, common sense wasn't so common anymore he guessed, and didn't say anything about it. He was finishing his shot when the manager came up and took her away. He didn't know what to do. It seemed obvious that she had no clue what she signed up for and was about to get probably the shock of her life. According to the manager she was a Gucci model, and Gucci models didn't do the kinds of things the girls here were made to do. Biting his lip, he nodded to her and shifted his weight on to one leg.

After a couple of minutes of thinking about it, he started to feel like a horrible person. If she didn't know what she was getting into, why didn't he stop and tell her? It was probably too late to go backstage and try to inform her and then rescue her. Benji knew he was a horrible person, but he didn't know he was that horrible. When it came to women, he thought that they should be treated in the best way possible, no matter how slutty or gross they sometimes were. That was probably why he never had a steady girlfriend. Benji knew that his drugs and all the shit he was involved with would be more important than a woman. At least he knew that and didn't hurt anyone but himself in the process. So right then, his guts seemed to be twisted around, making him feel queasy and disgusted. Benji ordered another drink and downed it to give him some courage and headed over to where the manager had taken poor Autumn.

He never expected it to be easy to get backstage though. Of course, there was a sleazy looking bouncer stationed at the door, pushing him away whenever Benji tried to get past him. Rolling his eyes, Benji headed over to the main stage, somehow managing to get into the front. Maybe she would see him and walk over to him, and then he could "kidnap" her and take her out of the club. He didn't care if the manager demanded he payed for her, he just knew that this stranger shouldn't have to go through with something as awful as this. Benji gulped as the live band started to play.

[Autumn Skye Vista]

picture yourself in a boat on a river
with tangerine trees and marmalade skies
somebody calls you, answer quite slowly a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

autumn was suprised with the fact that she had been in midconversation with a boy that she hadn't gotten the name of. typically she would always ask the name the first time she saw or spoke to a person, never wanting to not know someone's name in case she would have to reference about them or talk to them in the future. she hated to be the silly person that would always have to ask 'what's your name?' a thousand times before actually figuring it out. so she was thinking more about that than what the job was going to be. the person had become interested in her taking the position once she had given him her reseme, which featured gucci ads and twelve years of dancing lessons. too bad that she hadn't really thought any harder than a couple seconds pause before agreeing to come to the club and check out what the job had to offer. what she hadn't counted on was this, being expected to....well, that's for a seperate paragraph of explanation on its own accord.

the manager had taken her backstage to inform her that she was to dance in front of the crowd, and rest assured she would be well paid depending on how much she pleased the audience. she arched her eyebrows at that, shrugged her shoulders, until the manager revealed the sole catch. she was to wear only a slinky outfit that seemed to bare almost everything except her breasts and her womanlihood that she'd liked to at least keep to herself. even though sometimes she lacked modesty, typically she wasn't one to flaunt anything or much of it below the waist or whatnot. "Are you..serious?"She inquired, stammering, but quickly watching as many women adjusted her makeup and started to undress and redress her - in front of the man himself - watching as his eyes glanced down as that occured. "Yes, tonight, a'mour, you will become the star act," he raised his hands, clapped, and the curtains opened widely, leaving her in her outfit, and only a small - but see through jacket to the enjoyment of the rest of the outfit. Arabian sounding music seemed to only egg the audience on more, as they ooh la la'd as she made her ways towards the beginning of the stage. Yes, she hadn't even had enough time to honestly take in what she was supposed to do and how she was to earn her "large" seemingly paycheck for the evening.

[Benjamin Caden Slater]

He immediately bit his lip when she walked on stage. He couldn't deny that she was beautiful, and he also couldn't deny that it made his male parts..... well, "excited". This made him blush a bright shade of red, and he tried to ignore his manly needs. It was hard to when you were tipsy though, and it took a lot of concentration and thinking to make him stop thinking dirty, naughty thoughts about the woman on the stage in front of him. It was obvious though that she looked awkward and out of place on the stage. Since he came to the club often (and even dated one of the dancers at one point), he felt that he should help her. Benji still felt awful about letting her go with the manager. To try to get her attention, he waved, his long, pale, stick thin arm visible above everyone's head. Unfortunately his coordination wasn't so great and he accidentally hit two men in the head. Luckily for him however, they seemed to be in a worse state of mind and basically ignored him. Benji could also see that the girl on stage was distracting them by the way their pants seemed to be growing tighter by the minute. Benji didn't know why he found himself observing how tight their pants were, since he didn't swing that way.

He stoop on his toes to try to make himself even more taller than the men in front of him. "Dance over this way to me," he yelled to her. Benji doubted that she could hear him, but hopefully he had caught her attention and she could read his lips. Benji regretted saying that aloud because all the men started to say similar things, but their intentions were intirely different. Biting his lip, he looked up at the girl and gave her an apologetic look. She didn't seem to be the type of girl to be treated this way. None of the girls that had this job deserved it. There was nothing Benji could do now though. All he could do was hope that she would come over to him and then he could sneak her out of the club. Where he would take her, he didn't know, but as long as it was far away from here.

[Autumn Skye Vista]

picture yourself in a boat on a river
with tangerine trees and marmalade skies
somebody calls you, answer quite slowly a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

To be pushed into a bunch of bright lights without a second's warning was more of the thing that bothered Autumn than anything else, even though she was practically standing in something even less fabricated than her underwear at the moment. Autumn, as I said before, was not so modest that she would start blushing or anything about this time - but she was still in shock that she had gotten herself into this scenario. She wasn't even thinking about getting out of it, just getting it over with at this point, knowing it would be an act of cowardice on her part if she just walked out in the job. Even if the job wasn't exactly one she thought fond of, or had been alerted of, sometimes you had to deal with whatever came your way - or in otherwise allow things to 'come what may,' like s he had been doing for the past several years of her existance. Within seconds though, remarkably fast, she managed to refrain from choking or even getting stage fright and closed her eyes; taking a couple spins around the silver pole in front of her and tilting her head and her body backwards as if she was going to do a backbend on the stage. However, when her hair nearly touched the ground, and the rest of her remained at the pole, she stood up, shook her hair out and continued to walk and twist her way around towards the front of the stage. There were many guys that were already trying to shove wads of bills at her, and she hastily picked up a cup that somebody offered her; downing it with ease and taking the bill in return. A sour taste emerged, but she ignored it, instantly realizing that it was just beer - not date-raped or anything.

That was when she caught site of the tall, pale, skinny guy from earlier; and they managed to make eye contact for more than a good split second. Autumn was forced to put some of her attention, due to the manager's directing, towards one of the 'best clients,' at the front of the stage which about groped her before she had pulled away to leave him dissapointed. Her face was getting about rosy at this particular act, but thankfully the spotlight had yet to catch up with her as she made her way over towards Benji. Thankfully, for both her and for his concious's sake - she could read lips fairly well. But something wasn't right, she could feel it in her bones, and it wasn't just the fact that she was standing barely clothed on a place where there were a bountiful of disgusting, perverted, middle aged men with nothing better to do. Her legs were trembling beneath her and despite her full on confidence at this point, there was nothing she could do but to to wait it out - hope she wouldn't make a complete full of herself on stage if she collapsed and....No, the thoughts drifted away as a wave of hope washed over her as she nearly had made it over to where Benjamin - to her, the unnamed stranger still, was waiting. There was something about him that made her feel like she ought to trust him, she wasn't sure what it was about him, but there was something that set him apart from nearly every other male inside the Catscratch Club this evening.

[Benjamin Caden Slater]

He flashed her a small smile as she made her way towards him. The lights made it difficult to see that she nearly had a seizure, so all he really cared about was her making her way toward him. Wrapping his arms around her bare waist, he managed to lift her off the stage and place him next to her. Because all of the men crowded around the two, they were pressed together. He really hoped that she either couldn't feel his boner that was getting harder due to the physical contact or that she was too preoccupied to even think about that. Those kind of man things were completely out of his control, especially when slightly intoxicated. I mean, no man wouldn't get one from looking at this girl, who was currently in next to nothing, unless he was gay. Even then, Benji figured he'd at least be slightly turned on. Keeping one arm around her waist, Benji turned her around so he was facing her back and gently started grinding up against her. "Pretend that this is part of your act or something," he said in her ear. Since the music was still playing, he doubted that anyone else could hear what he was saying and he knew that she wouldn't hear him if she whispered.

So being the type of guy he was, Benji didn't really think of a well formulated plan to help her escape. They seemed to be surrounded by men that wern't going to let either one of them out of the crowd unless they separated. The sleazy men were also trying to pull her away from him, so Benji placed his arm on her exposed midrift, not only pulling her closer but making it look more sexy. Plus, he couldn't really help doing it if he tried. He was tipsy and he was a man after all, and no matter how much of a gentleman he was, he still needed some pleasure. But that kind of thinking seemed to be more in the back of his head, and right now he was still trying to figure out a way to get them out of the crowd of men. Leaning to her ear, it seemed as if he were biting her ear but he only moved to talk in her ear again. "Any idea how to get out?" he asked her, hoping she'd come up with some brilliant idea.

[Autumn Skye Vista]

picture yourself in a boat on a river
with tangerine trees and marmalade skies
somebody calls you, answer quite slowly a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

Autumn was still trembling and it took every single brain cell in her body to focus on the fact that she couldn't tremor, or collapse. When she got back to her apartment or somewhere isolated, then yes, she could - but not now - not in front of this many people. She took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly, but making it seem for a completely different reason rather than merely to calm both her nerves physically and emotionally at the moment. Taking a ciggerate from a nearby middle aged man, she brought it to her lips, before pulling away, and then exhaling a complete circular ring of smoke. She wasn't an everyday smoker or anything, but she had learned a few things with help from a couple acquaintances on her day to day jobs. What was wrong with a little exotic pleasure every now and then? Or taking a few risks? In her mind, nothing was wrong with that picture; she was always up for a little bit of something different - which she had betted on rightly when coming here. But she hadn't bet on the fact that she was supposed to be doing a stripper act. "Alright, lets see if those acting lessons a kid payed off," she joked, somehow managing to only murmur, and yet keep herself cool and collected. It was amazing about the fact that she wasn't completely over the top flipping out at the moment, judging from the fact that practically a hundred guys were having boners over her midriff - and probably daydreaming about other things to this woman.

Autumn wrapped her arms around his waist, and lightly prodded another man in the crotch with her foot absentmindedly, trying to make it seem to others around her that she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. Even if that was exactly the opposite hope of what she intended to happen. She wanted to get the hell out of here, and get the hell out of here fast. There were minutes left at the maximum until she would collapse, and until something else would happen, something she least of all wanted to expose in front of....this stranger that she still had to learn's name. But he was attractive, she thought absentmindedly, shrugging. And he was seemingly different. Miss Vista was pretty good at reading people after all, and their personalities through things such as the way they make eye contact and the way their posture is. "How about, run for it?" She giggled, and started to push guys with as much force as she could - which didn't take much, seeing as many were drunk or high - and took Benji by his hand, and pulled him towards the back exit of the club. Thankfully, the fact that the place was so packed managed to conceal them pretty damn well, that and the darkness outside. But unfortunately for her, it was starting to snow, and well...she was in next to nothing. Trembling even further, she looked at Benji with a somewhat serious expression. "T-T-Thank you, that's twice you've either saved my ass or bought me a drink," she remarked simply, looking at him peculiarly. It was strange how fate brought people together as it was. "I'm Autumn, by the way."

[Benjamin Caden Slater]

Stumbling and nearly tripping over himself and other people, Benji somehow made it outside with her. Looking up at the sky, he saw small flakes of snow falling to the ground, some of them sticking in his hair. He looked back over at Autumn and saw her shivering. In the club when they were dancing, it seemed like she wasn't feeling well and he was starting to get worried about her. It was weird to get worried for a stranger, but Benji had a feeling that it seemed sort of planned that they would meet. Benji took off his jacket and handed it to her, picking up some of the objects that fell out of the pocket. His lighter, a pack of cigarettes, his stash... the last one he quickly picked up first and jammed it into the pocket of his jeans before she could see it. He didn't want her to even think that he was on the same level of sleaziness as the men that were trying to grope her in the club. He wrinkled his nose and sniffed, already feeling colder even though he had been exposed for only a couple of minutes. He hoped that his jacket didn't smell or anything. It probably smelled like cigarettes and vodka and he blushed, hoping she didn't complain.

"I'm Benji," he said. He didn't bother introducing himself as Benjamin and then asking her to call him his preferred nickname. All the first born men in his family had the same name, and he despised his family, especially his father. He didn't like the name Caden either, so it was easier to deal with Benji. "So, do you want me to take you anywhere? I don't have a car, but I can hail a cab for you if you want. We could go to my place as well, but that's kind of awkward. But you can if you want to, and it doesn't have to be.... yeah," he said, sort of rambling on. He bit his lip again when he realized he was rambling. Of course a perfect stranger didn't want to go to his apartment. First off, it was the shittiest apartment anyone could imagine living in, and he was pretty sure that his landlady cut his heat and electricity again. Secondly, normal people wouldn't go home with someone they met at the Catscratch Club, even if he had saved her. Hopefully she knew that he didn't expect her to sleep with him. He just wanted to get her away from the club and out of the club.

[Autumn Skye Vista]

picture yourself in a boat on a river
with tangerine trees and marmalade skies
somebody calls you, answer quite slowly a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

She smiled as he handed her his jacket. "You don't have to do that you know, just to prove that you're more of a gentleman t han any of those men in the club. It's quite obvious to me that you are by now," Autumn looked at him inquiringly making a silent nod towards him that told him he didn't have to offer her his jacket. She could see he was as cold as she was, anyways. Noticing a few things fell out, she helped pick up the lighter and the ciggerate pack, not noticing the stash of drugs that had fallen o ut. Which...was probably for the best as it was, anyways. Either way, she wasn't one to judge loftily. Instinctively, the brunette hugged the jacket modestly around her figure, not wanting a police man to catch them walking together and think the wrong thing - after all, that probably wouldn't be a pretty picture. Either the policeman would try to hit on her and arrest him for 'drugging her,' or arrest both of them on suspicions of falsely trumped up charges of prostitution. She knew how policemen around New York City worked and ran things, they were all corrupted and bribed officials that were stringent on anything less than mobs or gangs.

Autumn smiled at his offer, pleased to know that her instincts had been right when she had kinda instinctly thought that she should trust him. He seemed like a pretty likeable person to boot, as well as considerate, at least much more so than any of the people back at the Catscratch Club. Hopefully that wasn't a horrible understatement, though, seeing as most of those men were sleazy. "Come to my place, it'd probably be nice for me to have some company, particularly after...tonight," she managed to sputter some sort of mixture between sheer amusement and...sarcasm. Who knew that there could be a median beween those two? "Seriously, I can either force you, or you can come willingly. My apartment's not terribly far away anyhow, come on," she smiled, there was no need for a taxi even; she could bear the cold for about a five minute walk or so. And anyways, this scenario was of her own doing. She closed her eyes, turning the other way for a moment, and placing her fingers on her temples, before lightly stretching her joint muscles - hoping that that would delay what she could feel through her veins was coming. Over the years, she had gotten into the habit of recognizing the symptoms and sensations she would have before falling into a fit or a seizure. After a few minutes of pulling Benji by his sleeve and arm towards her apartment which was on lower Manhattan, not terribly shabby and not without heat, but it wasn't like some of the things that you saw in the upper manhattan condos. It was somewhere in between those, but it was good enough for her. A small two bedroom, bath apartment, and with a kitchen and parlor was good enough for any bachelorette - at least in her good opinion. As she turned on the hall lights, and felt herself automatically adjust to the heating; she turned around to look at him almost wistfully. "I"m warning you, a lot of stuff's out and about my apartment, now that I just moved in. I know it's a mess," the young woman laughed, glancing about quickly to make sure everything was as it should be. A lot of stray canvases were around, as well as a feel empty and partially filled portfolios where she had been attempting to sketch and paint a little. Autumn always had a fascination with the arts.

[Benjamin Caden Slater]

He frowned when she rubbed her temples. Something was obviously not okay with her. Maybe she was getting a migrane from the cold like he often did, but he had a feeling it was something worse. He wasn't the type to really pry information from people though and followed her to her apartment. Suddenly he felt really out of place. He had grown up in rich, white suburbia and then ran away to the City and now lived in basically the scummy part of it. This inbetween world was kind of new to him. Sighing, he looked around the apartment and saw some papers and sketches. Fascinated by art, he walked over to them and examined them. He badly wanted to smudge one thing on one of the sketches, but didn't dare to. Being an artist himself, he knew she'd be utterly pissed if someone else modified her work. Well, that's how he was. "This is pretty good," he commented, looking at another one. Out of the corner of his eye he saw some portfolios, but again, didn't dare to look through them. He imagined that she'd get mad if he looked through them without her permission. No one looked through his small sketchbook without asking him first, and he'd probably say no anyways.

"I'm used to mess, and besides, its fine," he said. He saw a few boxes laying around, but it was nowhere near as messy as his apartment. Clothes, cigarette butts, over used candles, empty bottles of vodka, and the occasional needle lay hapazardly on his floor, waiting for someone to trip over. He looked down at her couch, not wanting to mess it up by sitting down on it. "So how do you afford this kind of apartment in the City without having any roommates?" he asked her. He barely managed to survive without roommates in that shitty apartment, it was hard for him to imagine someone his age living alone in a decent apartment.

[Autumn Skye Vista]

picture yourself in a boat on a river
with tangerine trees and marmalade skies
somebody calls you, answer quite slowly a girl with kaleidoscope eyes.

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Autumn was glad that he hadn't appeared to notice when she stretched out a little ways, and rubbed her temples. Well, that much was good. The bad news was that she wasn't sure if she could manage to get to the bathroom or something of the sort before she would collapse in a fit. Thankfully, she was back at the apartment anyways, which means that somewhere around this pile of mess in the medicine cabinet was her medicine. The medicine that managed to at least retain her shaking for a while, and for the most part, aside from the worst of seizures; cease them for quite some time. She hadn't had one in nearly a week, and they were pretty spread apart and predictable as she was able to feel when they were coming on. So far there hadn't been any public incidents. "Oh, it's nothing. I've been trying to take up some new hobbies now that I have a new job downtown and some more free time on my hands," she explained with a smile. She often felt uncomfortable having tons of free time on ehr hands which was the reason that when someone had inquired about the dancing position, she had bothered to respond. And usually jobs were one ability of taking up time, and a pretty damn good one too. "Are you an artist or something? You seem almost mesmerized, but like someone that knows what he's doing," she allowed herself to once again retain a quiet chuckle, before heading off towards the bathroom which was by the living room parlor. In a couple minutes, after taking a couple pills for her oncoming shakiness, and a painkiller of sorts for the headache that would likely occur - she returned.

"I've been on my own for a few years now. Over the years I've hopped from job to job, earned enough money to go through college on a full scholarship, and earn enough pay through jobs to afford this. I get a discount rate, too, because I happen to know one of the landlords, which is a bonus, but shhh," she put her finger over her mouth like she was revealing some sort of dirty secret - which she wasn't - she was just mocking that impression. "It's strange how you can know somebody for but a couple hours, and already feel completely comfortable around them. I only know your first name, and the fact that you have a brown jacket with a disclosed ciggerate lighter and buds. Tell me more about yourself, where you came from, why you were at the Catscratch," she offered a few suggestions for a conversation starter; looking at him innocently and batting her eyelashes a little bit.

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