Sing a long (open)

[patrickwinter]

Pat had of had a hectic few days in Cardiff; first was the encounter with his new potential pal named Alex. She was a good lass even if lesbian, she was a good person, smart and hey, she wouldn’t have the stigma of just being a fag hag who may dream of turning him straight. Sadly this encounter had been encumbered with the whole gremlin event, not that Patrick enjoyed killing a life, none the less he had to put the poor she overgrown gremlin out of her misery.

Another factor which meant he had to stay was quite odd; to put it simply the air of the town seemed ‘odd’. It was attacking his senses, in a similar way a moth would attack a guarded night light. Something was up, and this meant his acquired journals had leaded him to the right place. Sadly he could not admit to anyone, he was just a writer of tourism to the naked eyes of the general populous. Thankfully Alex had been freaked out, enough to not want to question what happened. This was of course fine, he could fake the whole ‘drunk’ thing or to a point she believed.

Anyway now this point of his life had come to a conclusion, he needed more then a bed and breakfast for his mission. Nothing was wrong with the Bed and Breakfast, but none the less it wasn’t ideal and too expensive for his liking.

Anyway it was now at what was now his adoptive local pub, and it was early evening and he had frankly had enough of looking at papers for places to live. As events after transpired he had ended up in a bet, it was a karaoke night, and due to dumb luck Weston doubted Pats truth about his education. Over the bet for some drinks in the family bar Pat ‘may’ of placed a bet for free drinks if he could get a standing applause for performing. The risks were worth it anyway.

Getting on the stage after being choose a song and waiting his turn, he was not trying to impress, just win the bet which he guessed he could. Despite the common demeanour he glowed he could do a show man front, heck he was vocally trained. Opting for a weak song so not to show off, he stood up on stage.

His body language changed almost in a instance as the music started, he was confident and had a aura of dominance from point zero point two. Sadly but true was one condition of the bet, this being he couldn’t pick his own song to perform. Ironically as annoying as the song choice was (albeit also female in origin), it was relevant non the less. Performing ‘hand on your heart’ by Miss Kylie Minouge he was impressive, not just in a masculine way but in a striking professional way. As he finished the song , his betters face’ dropped, the better knew he had just lost.

[strix]

Seth's day had been good, surprisingly so. He had shifted into dog form early that morning, hoping it would alleviate some of that strange irritation he'd been feeling since he'd come here. Dogs had a naturally cheerful disposition that never failed to cheer him up. It had worked, almost impressively. By noon he had been chasing sticks down by the bay, courtesy of some tourists. A few hours later he was finally doing the sightseeing the owner of his hostel had been so enthusiastic about. Well, everything outdoors, anyway. His attempt at sneaking into buildings had mostly failed. His dog's personality might have been soothing, but subtle it was not. And although Seth had turned human again several hours ago, the effects had lingered, and he was--weirdly enough--craving company. Ah well, it was still better than that...thing that had been nagging at the back of his mind.

And so, Seth had entered the first pub he saw, sat down at the bar, and ordered a Guinness. He was halfway through the drink when the singing started. Oh god, karaoke. Seth winced faintly. Even without his sensitive hearing it would have been painful. He ignored it pointedly, instead focusing on the conversation of those at the booth behind him. Mocking the drunk singers, naturally. Seth gave a mental sigh. Typical humans. Not that what they were saying was untrue, oh no. Why did drunk people insist on making fools of themselves?

He was halfway through his second porter when something amazing happened. Someone was actually singing. Seth looked up from his drink, eying the man on stage. He was...good. Impressively so. Attractive, too. He continued to watch for the rest of the song, and was unsurprised when others started clapping. Not that Seth did, of course. He limited himself to an admiring glance before going back to his Guinness. Was almost tempting to go over and congratulate him. Unless...? But no. No reason to disturb him.

[patrickwinter]

Patrick looked at his won pints, opting for only taking three for the night he still had a honour against begging. He turned towards the man unknown to him called Seth for a moment, something had bugged him all the way through the karaoke song, and that was his thought patterns. They where somewhat inhuman, and not one he had felt before. Patrick was starting to wonder if he would ever get a quiet night in this town, or should he forever hide in his B and B?

Downing his second pint, he decided to take a middle ground. He wouldn’t hide this time from averting a threat; neither would he become part of it fully. He would… what was the word? Oh yes, slightly interfere. Picking up his third pint, he pulled out a smoke out of his pocket. The smoking laws had become a curse for more, but for the ultimate actor they where an easy ticket as an excuse to go outside without any questions asked. Approaching Seth without paying obvious attention he didn’t stop walking, nor did he seem to take his attention off the smoker’s area outside.

“Beware the sky my friend , its makes fools of us all,even yourself” he said almost to himself, it was one art to fake talking to yourself, but to fake talking to yourself to a near by crowd and still get the earshot of the target that was something that had to be leaned.. Leaving towards the exit seemingly ignoring the minor heckling one would get for talking to himself he made his way to the smoking garden leading car park, which was now full of smokers.

[strix]

Seth was being watched. He could feel it in the paranoid crawl along his spine, but, more importantly, he could see the singer in his peripheral vision. Nothing suspicious, as far as he could tell, just...watching. His staring hadn't been that obvious, had it? He glanced over curiously, but the other man had already looked away. Well, it was allowed. With a mental shrug he took another swig of his stout. Nothing to worry about. Company would have been nice, though.

The other man got up, and Seth looked to him. Was he coming over to--no, he was looking toward the door, cigarette in hand. Something felt odd about it, and the alien watched him intently. And, just when Seth had convinced himself he was being paranoid, he saw it. Just a flicker of a glance, but enough to confirm his suspicions. The stranger might have been heading to the door, but his attention was on him.


Seth was confused for a second. Why bother with hiding it? He wasn't trying to be unapproachable, not right now, anyway. Maybe he'd just done it for too long, and was falling into the habit. Then the guy started talking to himself, and Seth went cold. That was directed at him; it had to be, and it explained why the guy didn't want to confront him directly. It also hinted at something he really didn't want to consider. Seth gave a deceptively casual glance around, and gave himself a mental check. No weird expressions from other patrons, none of the enhanced senses that would indicate he had shifted. Good, maybe he hadn't lost control. Maybe he was still just being paranoid. Well, one way to find out. Grimly, Seth tossed back the rest of his drink, and stood up.

He took a second before heading outside, just in case someone was clever enough to connect them. Seth strolled out, deliberately casual, blending in with the flow of other patrons. It only took him a second to notice the watcher, and he noted with some amusement that, although his cigarette was in hand, it remained unlit. Seth leaned up against the wall, watching him silently for a moment. "You're good," he complimented, voice quiet but not unfriendly. It could just as easily have meant his singing ability as the other, less flashy display, and he was almost hoping the stranger would take it as such. But he had to know.

[patrickwinter]

Patrick sat well rather lent against one of the structures in the smoking area, his cigarette still unlit, but truth be told he did not smoke. He had never smoked but he had learnt in Drama to hold one like he had, a skill useful for pretending that he was just biding his time till he lit up, thus giving him an excuse to hesitate outside. Some would call this behaviour insane, but he had another term for this and that term was ‘taxes without the cancer’. He had was in truth wondering if the abnormally from the bar would follow him, it would not be a shame if that man did or did not. But if the truth was to be told Pat was hoping that he did, even If so Pat would not show all the cards in his deck just yet.

Turing to the taller man as he approached, Pat took a second to examine the man out of the crowed bar. The man had to be given an ounce of credit, he had managed to tailor himself a style that was appeasing to the eyes without sticking out like Wally from the ‘Where’s Wally book’ in a mosh pit. “Thank you sir” he said after a second in a cool impassive fashion “your senses of observation deserve credit too” he added before sauntering to a table on the out side of the smoking area giving a semi I don’t care invite for the stranger to follow if he so chose too.

Sitting down at the aging wooden bench and table combo he put the smoke back in a creaseless packet, the opened packet of smoked looked almost untouched to the quick and trained eye but at the same time like it was not brought that night. Getting into a comfy sitting position he went back to his pint. If the good looking gentleman wanted to follow, well that was now up to the stranger to decide.

[strix]

Seth had a problem. The man who had called him out--if, in fact, he had done so--was being just as careful as he was. he wasn't quite sure if this was a good or bad thing. He hated being noticed, true, but at least this one wasn't crying aliens to anyone who'd listen. On the other hand, some kind of acknowledgement would have been nice; some sort of confirmation that he wasn't going crazy. The question of his sanity had been...worrying...lately. But that was different. Wasn't it? No, he realized suddenly, that irritation in the back of his mind was back, as strong as ever. Only this time, he hadn't noticed it start. Seth shivered faintly, but it had little to do with the cool night air.

Pat's compliment was relieving, as it helped to confirm his suspicions. Seth nodded to him, acknowledging it, but remained quiet. He hesitated as the human walked off. Should he follow? After a second his curiosity got the better of him, and he trailed behind Pat, silent and almost wraithlike in spite of his size. Seth considered the man before him as they walked, sizing him up and trying to figure out what he wanted. He was a completely different person than the one on stage had been, but was still confident and poised. But...very careful. He had led them to a table out of the main crowd, but not far enough to invite eavesdropping. Seth slid into a seat across from him.

For a long moment Seth just watched the stranger, expression impassive and fingers steepled. There was also his presence indefinable but undeniable. It was easy to see why he had been labeled as a spook so many times. His companion, on the other hand, was a little harder to define. Pat looked like neither government nor alien hunter, which was comforting somewhat, but only raised more questions. Finally, he spoke. "I take it you want to talk to me?" he asked, tone mildly curious. Not that he felt such, oh no--mentally he was caught between asking the other man a hundred frantic questions, or throttling him. Both were a little frightening, more so considering he wasn't sure where they came from, and so Seth settled on the one thing he always had plenty of: control.

[patrickwinter]

Pat’s Gaze left the world of his own thoughts as the stranger approached, for a moment his gaze seemed to be on the man as if he was reading Seth for clues of identity and motivations. This was in fact true; Pat was going out on a limb on this one, and like in all cases of going out on a limb. The Gaze broke abruptly after half a second, “I thank you for your compliment on my lousy efforts on the Karaoke” Pat said to his guest, whilst he spoke that line his attentions had gone to his back pack.

“To be honest I could of done better” he paused going through his bag, mid rummage he put a book on the table entitled ‘The difference between A and B – a psychological view on travelling’. Still continuing his rummage he looked though the bag more. “Its good to get an honest compliment though thank you” he added finally looking up, with what seemed to be a mini newspaper on the desk. The newspaper was not a national paper; to be honest it was more of what appeared is a tourist publication to a place named Milestone. “So” the stranger said putting the paper on the desk near by his guest “I wanted crossword help to be honest, you seemed like the type who would be good at them.” Pat said with a calm sense of serenity that was more at home in a library not a loud pub.

The Magazine itself was dubbed the ‘Milestone Traveller’, it was not the newest looking thing, nor was it a brand new piece of publication. Still it was one of those items that seemed to have a charm with old age, sort of like the old furniture one would expect to find at a grandparent’s house the rustic timeless look seemed to fit this flimsy book. “If you are interested it is on page 14 on the puzzle page” Pat said to the stranger, his tone and facial expression indicating that this odd request was actually quite serious.

OCC: If you go look in character, here is the cross word




(Sorry I didn’t know how to make it look like it’s printed on old paper)

[strix]

Seth continued to watch the stranger as he dug through his pack. His attention seemed to be focused on the karaoke, which was a little disappointing. Not that he could blame him for being careful, but it was frustrating. And his singing had been good. Still, that wasn't what he followed him for. Seth watched the other man patiently, raising an eyebrow as he pulled out a newspaper. Really? Was that necessary? And how in the world had he been pegged as the crossword type? Hell, most people had trouble figuring out he was literate. He took the newspaper slowly, giving the man across the table a long look. This had better be relevant.

He flipped through the pages, finding the puzzle in question easily enough. And...ah, that explained things. Not what he wanted to see, however. Seth was, in fact, very tempted to tell Pat to figure out his own damned puzzle. Only problem was, he might take that as an invitation, and actually do so. His eyes narrowed, still pinned on the paper. Nosey human, maybe it would just be easier to get rid of him--ask him to talk somewhere more privately, kill him quickly--wait, what the hell was he thinking? It took some effort to shake the disturbing line of thought out of his head, and for a long few seconds he just stared down at the puzzle, not trusting himself to speak. Whatever had set him on edge was getting worse. He needed to get out of here, away from people. He didn't know what was wrong, but it wasn't safe for anyone to be nearby. That was becoming increasingly obvious.

Finally Seth looked up, expression as neutral as ever. "It looks like a difficult puzzle," he replied carefully, following the other man's cue. "...I'm not sure I'm the person to complete it for you." Not that he particularly wanted to. But...Seth had questions of his own, and it was only fair he answer some in return. And though the other man was overly cautious, it was better than the other option. He sighed faintly. "I'll do what I can."