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Post by Markise Sterling on Mar 7, 2009 17:59:18 GMT -5
"For what?" Markise asked. "So I can sit in the shop every day alone? If I go home-- when I go home, I'll have friends there, and when I'm at home I won't have to be someone I'm not. I'm out there, and my friends know, even if I never told them." He wouldn't be able to use magic while he was out with his friends, but that was nothing. One of his friends knew anyway, so it wasn't the enormous secret that his sexual preference was out here.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Mar 7, 2009 18:04:09 GMT -5
"Well, you don't have to be alone, I mean...you can hire someone. And you would get your name known. You wouldn't do well to be known as the guy that's only open when there's a rush." Ariel couldn't imagine that people would want to go to some guy that was obviously only open when there was a lot of money to be made. If he had any thoughts of helping Markise with it, they were buried deep in his subconscious.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Mar 7, 2009 18:13:30 GMT -5
"Hire someone to keep me company," Markise repeated incredulously. That better not have been a proposition. "I prefer to get my company the old-fashioned way." With heavy flirting and a drink or two. "Besides, If I hired someone, it'd just make it that much easier to go home. I could wait those extra two weeks before I came back." He wouldn't hire an employee, of course. That would eat into the money Larten had invested, and he wanted to pay it back, not use it.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Mar 7, 2009 18:20:14 GMT -5
Ariel glanced over at Markise, then let it drop. It wasn't like he had any right to tell Markise what to do anyway, right? He turned his eyes back to the crowd without really seeing anything but a writhing mass. Even so, his eyes lit on a particular person and widened before he jerked them away. He hoped that the guy wouldn't see him and would just walk on by them.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Mar 7, 2009 18:30:31 GMT -5
Ariel hadn't said a word. Not that it really surprised Markise, even if he had been hoping for a reaction, whether he wanted to admit it to himself or not. He only just saw Ariel's reaction to something in the club instead. He mentally rolled his eyes, then turned back toward the bar so he didn't have to see whatever it was. He didn't bother trying to fill the silence. He lifted his water and set himself to drinking it.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Mar 7, 2009 18:41:55 GMT -5
Ariel blinked and looked down at the multi-colored floor in front of him. He didn't think about his words, they were more thoughts than anything, really. He didn't even realize he spoke the words that he had thought so many times during late-night walks back to the Leaky Cauldron. "Is it worse to pay for it or to be paid for it?" It didn't register that he had spoken, and the words were quiet enough to be easily overlooked.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Mar 7, 2009 18:47:59 GMT -5
Markise wrinkled his nose at the question and only just kept himself from choking on his water. He set the bottle down and glanced aside at Ariel with slightly narrowed eyebrows. "It's horrible either way," he said. You couldn't blame one party and not blame the other. One was renting a human being and the other was selling himself. Markise started looking around the bar for a savior now. He'd been sober long enough and one drink wouldn't kill him.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Mar 7, 2009 18:52:01 GMT -5
Ariel processed the answer, even if he didn't really think it was all that true. Then he looked over at Markise. "If there was no one willing to pay, then there wouldn't be any need for those that are paid," he said. An easy explanation that had been his comfort for some nights. Even so... "These people that pay..." he started, then he never finished. He looked out into the club instead.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Mar 7, 2009 19:16:52 GMT -5
Markise let out a low sound of disgust and finished off his water in one gulp. It took him a moment to wipe the antipathy off his face, but his discomfort lingered, and it had to be showing. His eyes caught on a very muscular man with dark hair, a goatee, and a black mesh shirt. Markise didn't usually go for guys that big, and he avoided men with smiles that wicked until he'd had a few drinks, but right now, he looked fun. Thank God he wasn't hairy or Markise would have kept looking. A wink and a smile later, the bartender was mixing a drink for him.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Mar 7, 2009 19:20:30 GMT -5
Ariel's eyes caught on the man and he eyed him for a moment before leaning in to Markise. "I wouldn't take anything from him," he said, then averted his gaze before the man caught him staring. He hoped that maybe with his hair away from his face the man wouldn't recognize him immediately. So technically he had taken something from the man before, but that didn't mean he would recommend him to Markise.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Mar 7, 2009 19:24:37 GMT -5
Markise rolled his eyes, then looked away from the man to Ariel. "I'm going to have a drink and dance with him, not let him take me home," he said. He knew what he was doing, and he didn't want to know what Ariel's problem was. He didn't care if it was that ridiculous jealousy that flared up for no apparent reason or, sickening thought, if Ariel knew the man, but he was determined to have some fun. "I'm not spending my whole night drinking water at the bar."
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Mar 7, 2009 19:29:35 GMT -5
"If you want a drink that badly, I'll get you one," Ariel said, flicking another glance toward the man before looking levelly at Markise. "But considering I know what size bed he sleeps in and what color his sheets are, I wouldn't think you would want to do anything with him." Besides the fact that the man was strong. Ariel knew that Markise wasn't weak, but he had the feeling that if Markise wasn't willing, the man would take.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Mar 7, 2009 19:38:17 GMT -5
Markise made another sound of disgust, not bothering to stifle it this time. "I don't need to hear this," he snapped, his stomach squirming in continued discomfort. "I don't want to know who you've f~d, because honest to God Ariel, there'd probably be no one left to dance with." He shuddered lightly as a ticklish shiver raced up his spine, but all the same, he waved the bartender off with his apologies and a momentary annoyed glare at Ariel. As much as he wanted to dance with the guy just to spite Ariel, he wouldn't be able to stomach it thinking about that.
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Post by Ariel Logan Callahan on Mar 7, 2009 19:42:28 GMT -5
Ariel snorted, "I can guarantee it's not that many." He debated whether or not to point out that Markise would dance with him, so what made any of the others different? "I've only seen one other person this hole night, anyway, other than you." It didn't even even out to one a week since they had broken up. Only recently had he started coming more than a couple times a month. "Besides, I had to be out by seven the next morning because his girlfriend was going to be there." He wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
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Post by Markise Sterling on Mar 7, 2009 19:47:23 GMT -5
"Ew. Just ew, Ariel." Markise stood up, trying to get that feeling of filth off him from having to listen to this. "There are some things I just don't want to know, and any details about your... whatever euphemism you have for that, is too much." He smoothed his hands down his trousers to get them to settle right, then tugged at his vest, more than ready to head back onto the dance floor. Maybe after another dance or two he'd be able to come back and get a drink.
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