Loneliness...

[Till Doyle]

Till takes Laurs armly gently on his good side, still using his cane on the side of his bad leg, and begins to walk them into the building. The driver climbs back into the car, and drives it around a corner to park in the exclusive car park.

As he reaches the reception desk, the receptionist slightly bows his head towards Till, and smiles saying "Welcome back sir. Having a good day I hope?" Responding, "Indeed. My place az uzual iz free?". Smiling, "Of course sir. Would you like any assistance?"

Walking away Till shakes his head. And walks them both to an elevator and takes them up to the second floor. It's well lit, with three of the rooms sides being large windows with plenty of light entering the room. There's a long bar in one part of the room, a few sofas. Some gathered around a fire, some positioned near a television.

Till heads towards a table almost in the centre of a 'balcony' that looks just over to the lower level of the room. Till pulls out a chair for Laur to sit on. "It iz indeed a glamourouz place. I only ever come here to meet zome contactz. I thought it time to introduce you."

[Laur Doyle]

Laur takes in everything as she allows Till to lead them through to his usual place. Obviously he knew his way around and she didn't. Laur lets out a barely audible sigh after Till pulls the chair out for her. She rather liked him being nice to her, it almost made her regret her plotting against him from before.

Almost.

"Thank you"

Laur said, and moved the chair in a little closer to the table.

"Still with the secrets Till" Laur commented as she turned to watch him "why show me this now?"

[Till Doyle]

Till wonders just if Laur is trying to play games with him now. Isn't she pleased that he'd arranged to introduce her to new contacts who might just do her favours one day. "Zo inquizitive. A double edged blade Laur. Be careful how you vould vield it, yez. I bring you here now az my dutiez become more botherzome. I alzo feel zat it vould help you grazp an idea juzt how powerful ze Zociety iz.

Zat iz ze collective name for everyzing zat I own, zat I do und zat I am. You vould do vell to remember namez and facez here, a few are more influential zan zose in ze public domain. Vould you like a drink? Yez?"

[Laur Doyle]

Laurs bright blue eyes regard Till as she takes in everything he says. She had already begun to take in faces of people that were around, ever since they had gotten here. But that was besides the point. Laur nods, a little slowly, to make sure he saw she had taken in what he'd said.

"I would like a drink, thank you. But I'm afraid I don't what is offered here"

[Till Doyle]

"I know vhat you zhould like. It iz rarely made, but it iz quite an interezting drink. But, I am afraid I can only order you vone, it vould be, unzeemly for me to purchaze vone for myzelf." He gives a slight laugh as he waves over a waiter who snappily runs over with a pen and a pad already to take the orders.

"What may I get you today Sir?"
"Vone Indian Refrezher for my lady friend, and I zhall have ze bezt zingle mallt vhiskey zat you zerve if you vill?"
"Certainly Sir. You're order will be over right away." Walking back to the bar he orders the drinks from the barman.

A few seconds later a man in his 60's accompanied by a woman in her mid-twenties approaches their table. The man extends a hand smiling at Till, "It's be a short while since I've seen you old comrade. May we join you for this round. Don't worry about drinks, I've got the bill covered. Aha ha ha. How have you been?"

Till smiles and shakes the mans hand, "Yez, it haz been a vhile. I am keeping vell. It lookz like you are too. Allow me to introduce Laur, my fiancé and number vone..."

"Ah yes yes! You have spoken many good things about her. Allow me to introduce Alice, who has had been in quite a few fashion shoots, she's a model." Sitting down next to Till, he whispers to him "I'm suprised you let her do anything, you know how clumsy women can be? Or is she in position becase she's your fiancé? Aha ha ha..."

Till smiles, however much of a fake smile it may be, "Zome of uz can afford to truzt otherz yez, not all of uz like a public image, and ze unnecezzary zcandal zat it cauzez in highly publizized debatez. I find myzelf too buzy. I vould have azzumed likevise of you, no?" As he finished his sentance, a slight menacing tone let itself slip.

"Aha ha ha" Now extremely nervous looking, he tries to see if the waiter is coming over yet, "Of course, of course I've been busy. Aha ha ha. I have to break my days up sometimes, keeps me going. I've got some new contracts landing on my desk soon. It's taken me a while. Negotiations, wining and dining."

"Perhapz if you're attention vaz focuzed on ze tazk at hand, perhapz it vould be eazier? No? You'll have to zend me a few copiez of zeze contractz zoon, no?"


During their conversation, Alice had taken to talking to Laur while the men discussed business, "It's incredible all the famous people here. You can make sooo many friends. It's hard to keep track sometimes. I don't know what I'd do without my diary, organiser, phone and my personal assistants. It takes a lot of time to look after myself, and I'm not getting younger you know. I really have to keep all my appointments, you know how much everyone stares at you if a single hair is out of place, or you use the wrong brand of make-up.

I do a lot of modelling and fashion shoots, so I guess I get a chance to find out what the best things are out there to wear and use, an advantage over all those other girls. It's so hard though, because everyone wants the new girl. You really have to fight for attention. You know, if you grew your hair longer, and got yourself some nails, and wore a pretty dress like mine, not to say that your dress isn't nice. Who's it by by the way? You might have a chance of getting a few adverts or something. You should come out with the girls one day, we could really show you a thing or two, and when you've got that look, you should call me, and I'll put you in touch with someone....."

The drinks arrive, and Till takes Laurs drink first passing it to her. Almost completely see through with a yellow-orange tinge to it, a few ice cubes and served in a cross between a cocktail glass and a martini glass, it had a slice of orange on the side.

Till then takes his and sniffs it, waiting for his business associate to take his, which also appears to be a whiskey. Tapping glasses merely as a formality another figure approaches, only metres away waving as the seated man passed Alice a pink drink in a cocktail glass with ice, a straw and a cocktail umbrella with a cherry impaled by it.

[LordPsycho]

*DP finds the public setting too much as he continues to tail Laur on her date.

He reforms in the bathroom, this time with a white business suit with blackstar green accents. Deciding to test Laur's attention to detail, he chooses the same sunglasses as he wore when he pretended to be the courier.

Stepping out of his stall, he goes to the sink and washes his hands, before taking a towel from the attendant and leaving a Golden Blackstar for a tip. (Gold is gold). He then exits the bathroom and proceeds to the bar and sits down, back facing Laur's and Till's table, and orders a Martini, extra dry, from the bartender.

As he waits for his drink, he overhears Till talk of some contract. He'd definately have to shadow (possibly literally) Till later to find out about these.*

[Laur Doyle]

Laur listens closely, she'd even heard the whisper made by the older man, but Till as usual had a hold on things.

Laur relaxes a little, leaning back on her chair... Although soon afterwards she found her attention unpleasantly split between the business conversation, and the pointless meanderings of the woman who'd been introduced as Alice.

Laur moves her hair away from her eyes as she becomes ever more irritated. No wonder this business associate of Tills thought women clumsy, this one was all eye candy and no brains... and apparently no way to tell when someone wasn't interested.

"I have forgotten who did the dress"

Laur answered in the brief time she'd have managed to get a word in edgeways. This was not pleasant at all. And how was she supposed to figure out how to interact with this guy, should she come across him again, when this young airhead was constantly babbling in her ear?

Yet she couldn't say what she really wanted to say, because that might mean bad relations. Laur sighed deeply, though Alice hadn't seemed to notice much, trying to think of a way out. Or at least, a way to make her stop talking.

As their drinks arrive, Laur finally gets a little relief, 'Alice' had actually stopped talking. She was giving her a headache.

Laur ran her finger along the edge of the glass she'd been passed, and takes a slow, careful sip from it. Taking the precious time not having her ear chewed off to take in the sights around them.

There appeared to be a man in a white business suit now sat by the bar, his back to them. Laur knew he hadn't been there when they'd come up here, and she was pretty sure she hadn't seen him come in... Then again, Alice was doing a pretty good job of distracting her.

Laur removes the glass from her lips and puts the drink down. It was certainly an interesting taste, and one she hadn't come across before. Sometimes she thought Till knew her better than she would have liked.

"You seem to have a lot of free time for someone so busy. Personally I don't have all that much time, I am kept busy with important business. Nor do I want to be put anymore in the public eye, or have the time to make myself look... like you"

There was that, and there was also the fact that being made a model didn't interest her in the slightest. Not only that but forcibly putting herself in the publics eye could prove disastrous. No, she had quite enough of a public face here as it was, and was quite content not to be known in Blackstar except to those few.

[Till Doyle]

Till heard everything Laur said to Alice, and had t supress a grin as his associates face dropped as if someone had emptied all of his business accounts. Taking a slow sniff of the malt whiskey, Till temporarily closes his eyes, and opens them again. Following Laurs trail of sight, he sees the man in the white business suit. He knew that he had never seen him here before, nor had he seen him enter.

Waving over a waiter, he sends him to the DarkPsycho in order to get a drink for him on his own behalf. He'd instructed the waiter to point over to Till. Half turning back to his associate, he whipsers very quietly, "I vould deeply appreciate it if you found a, uze for your playtoy. I do not like having Laur in a bad mood, it iz bad for buzineezz underztand." He'd made sure his voice was quiet enough, but also menacing enough to convince the man to gulp.

Dropping out of his seat, he quickly run around to Alice, and whispers something into her ear, all the while slipping a piece of paper into her hand. Anyone watching extrememly closely would make out the edge of a dollar sign. Alice stood up indignantly, and stared at the man for a few seconds before storming out of the bar, passing by DP.

As the man huffs back into his chair, he laughs nervously, and Till smiles somewhat annoyed. Turning to Laur, "Pleaze, move clozer, az buzinezz vill concern you quite zoon." His eyes briefly flicker back towards DP. The man had somehow annoyed him in one way or another, or perhaps his anger for his associate was just above surface level, either way, he takes a sip of the whiskey, savouring the oak taste of it. He made a guess that it was at least 12 years old.

[LordPsycho]

DP noticed their stares at his back, as only an omnipotent being can but took little notice. He even noticed the other gentleman's playtoy storm out. Had he been mortal, DP probably would have given chase.

Thank God for Immortality.

Then the waiter came and gave him a drink. DP reached into his pocket to pay, the waiter quickly corrected him.

"The Gentleman over there has already taken care of this drink." said the waiter, in the polite-but-still-snooty way only the truely five-star waiter could pull off.

DP turned to where the waiter had pointed, and lifted the glass to his "unknown benifactor." DP was sure that if Till had known the true identity of the man at the bar, he wouldn't have been so eager to show him such generosity.

But as it was, the Martini was smooth, yet satisfyingly dry, which is a surprise when your made of pure water.

DP wasn't sure if it was the atmosphere, faintly reminesent of a speak-easy of the twenties (those were the days), or the soft playing music, but DP felt emboldened. He thought breifly about going over and greeting Till in person to thank him for the drink, but thought better of it. IF he had not been immortal, DP could have sworn the drink was getting to him. Deciding that his job here was of more priority than a little fun, he turns back to the bar, and orders another martini.

[Laur Doyle]

Laur feels intense relief wash over her as the older mans 'playtoy' leaves. She'd thought as much, Alice was rather obnoxious. Laur deliberately takes another sip of the Indian Refresher until the other man sat down, then puts it it down and briefly nods at Till before moving her seat closer.

Her eyes are caught by the man in the white suit as he turns and raises his glass, her expression minutely changing. He had sunglasses on? Inside? Was even this world going mad? Admittedly the lights were pretty bright in here but that still wasn't an excuse to wear sunglasses... those sunglasses, they were familiar...

Laur turns back to Till and the other, hiding the slight shock she'd just experienced. What were the odds of both the courier and this man having exactly the same type sunglasses, she wondered. Had to be pretty high, especially as they didn't look the same at all. Maybe they'd both had eye appointments today?

No matter what she thought, this didn't make sense to her. Any possible explanations she could come up with were highly improbable, at the very least.

[LordPsycho]

Bingo. As if looking through the back of his head, DP notices Laur subtle--but oh so telling micro-expressions as she notices the details.

If she ever snapped out of her denial, She would definately be one a great teacher of the covert arts.

DP takes another drink, then reaches down and checks that his sheath is still at his side, although cloaked in an invisibility shield. He'd hoped he wouldn't need it, but luck always favors the prepared.

[Till Doyle]

Till watched carefully as both Laur and the man in white reacted to their situations. Till had played his cards carefully, and was reaping the benefits already. The look on Laurs face was enough to tell him that how he spoke now was of utmost importance, and that his foolish business associate keep his thoughts more gaurded than he normally did.
Most of the employees hired, or those who were required when contracts were made had been forced to have a certain level of mental training, if they were unable to cope, they were disposed off, rather quickly.

Not changing his tone of voice, and regarding his associate with a sneer, "Ze ztockz muzt arrive zoon if everyzing iz to vork. Ziz vill be a ztep in ze right direczion for official training. Ze papervork I take it iz all in order? No?"

Recognizing the change in Till's wording, something that he had taken a long time to do, which had lost him a lot of ground with him. Which was unfortunate for his business plans. "Why of course. Yes. It's all in order." Now he was profuself sweating, he hadn't had the time to go over what he had organized, and had rushed the papers into the system. How he'd get away with this though, he wasn't sure. He only knew Till would have him killed if things went wrong. "I'm a trustworthy guy. I wouldn't let you down."

The sudden smile on Till's face was enough to let him know that he was in serious trouble now. Till nodded politely, which meant that he would be checking everything at a later date. He turns to Laur, "Vhen you return to vork, I azk zat you follow up file zixty vone. Az you are relaxing now, don't vorry about it. Ve zhall leave zis place zhortly."

[Laur Doyle]

"Very well"

Laur said, watching Tills associate as he began to sweat. He must've done something that he thought might be wrong, or knew was wrong. Which would get him to a lot of trouble.

Laur leant back in her chair once again, taking another mouthful of the drink, which was now about half finished.

She couldn't quite relax though, she found her eyes constantly drawn back to the man in white as she pondered the apparent coincidences. Laur noticed him reach down, checking something that was hidden to her sight.

Laur debated going up to the man to ask just who he was, although she'd order something first before initiating conversation, but thought she better not. Till was here with her after all, and he probably wouldn't appreciate it.

"I would be glad to leave as soon as we've both finished our drinks"

Laur commented to Till, although she kept her voice as even and unconcerned as she could.

[Till Doyle]

Till stands up, and watches his associate squirm out from his chair to stand up, he was about to offer his hand to shake, but before he could even move his arm, Till had moved towards Laurs chair, stepping behind the overweight fool. "I have no other buzinezz to attend to for ze day. I am going to ze vazhroom. Keep our friend occupied until I return."
Till leaves Laur to finish her drink as he carefully navigates his way towards the toilets.

The large man sits back down again and looks at Laur still sweating, albeit a little less than before. "Sooo, you're engaged to Till then. Congrats. Heh heh. When's the big date set for?" His attempt to get to know Laur is brash and loud, even though his voice is kept to a low volume, big smiles accompanying big gestures and nods.

[Laur Doyle]

Laur took another sip of her drink, drawing it out even though she did not consume all that much of it. Her bright blue eyes watched him carefully, noticing how his sweat glistened and how it appeared to have slowed now Till had left them. He repulsed her, and his attitude was something she could barely tolerate. At least he had enough sense to know when Till was unhappy.

She put the glass down, and kept her silent vigil up for a few more seconds. Being made to wait when you were this nervous was often off-putting for many people.

"I am, as I'm sure I heard him tell you earlier. We have not settled upon a date yet, we're still discussing it. Why do you ask?"