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Post by Miss Jack on Jan 26, 2009 0:19:08 GMT -5
James Donovan entered the Straight and Narrow and hovered a few dramatic seconds at the doorway, looking like a harried Satan had cracked open hell and kicked out someone he couldn’t manage. All that was missing was the boom of thunder and crack of lightning (and perhaps a sinister old western score) to announce his arrival.
Dust drifted from his shirt like sulphur smoke, and he took a few steps in. Only a few patrons occupied the little café and bar, and all were too rich and thought themselves too important to be intimidated by anyone, least likely the dark and dirty new comer. A few glances were thrown his way and then activity resumed.
The wide brim of a hat wrapped a shadow around his face and veiled eyes the hazel green color of dying grass, while a ragged blue scarf covered his mouth and neck like the mask of a highwayman. The hat was a battered, dirty gray affair with a faded red cord running around it.
He approached the bar, but didn’t sit, resting gloved fingers over the counter, eyes searching for a smallish girl whom he would know only by verbal description—Cherry Clarke.
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Post by Princess Katie on Jan 26, 2009 0:31:52 GMT -5
Cherry looked only vaguely interested for only about fifteen seconds. She didn’t have time for dramatic entrances. She had a business to tend to. And magazines to read. Mostly magazines. She finished reading her article before dog-earing the page, laying it neatly on the booth’s table, and making her way casually behind the bar. Since her recent near-bullet-to-the-face, she had been slightly more weary of strangers, but Cherry found shadyness a particularly comforting trait—very familiar and calming.
“What can I get ya, sugar?” She yawned, stretching through her perpetual halo of smoke.
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Post by Jules on Jan 26, 2009 0:45:51 GMT -5
And considering Calcifer was the harried devil that would've tired of this man, he didn't exactly shiver in his boxers at the man's entrance. Instead, he finished serving his current client a jar of very expensive Fear and grinned at James.
The man looked like he had a purpose, and although he was gritty enough, he wasn't a Nightmare. So what a Dream was doing here was beyond Cal. He didn't offer a greeting however, since Cherry had beat him to the punch.
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Post by Miss Jack on Jan 26, 2009 0:57:07 GMT -5
Donovan caught the grin Calcifer sent and concluded this must be the partner he'd heard about. The Nightmare providing the fear. Even so, he didn't acknowledge the grin and looked instead to the girl.
"Cherry Clarke?" he asked, in a voice sounding like sulphurous fogs had dampened it to hoarseness, the rasp edgy and slightly animalistic.
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Post by Princess Katie on Jan 26, 2009 1:18:03 GMT -5
Well! This fella’s voice had to be the absolute, exact opposite of hers. It surprised her, and she laughed when she realized she had jumped a little.
“Ab-so-lutely. What’s it—“ she was surprised, again, to find her ‘to ya’ died on her tongue. Something unnamable made her drop her usual casually-disrespectful tone. She pretended to cough on a breath of smoke, and corrected herself in a much more delicate tone. “What can I do for yas?”
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Post by Jules on Jan 26, 2009 22:08:57 GMT -5
Almost immediately, Cal took a shine to the guy. Anyone who could cow Cherry into being kind of polite was a good guy in his books. Besides, he reminded him of himself. Cal chose to have a more sociable veneer, but he could've been all foreboding brimstone had he wanted.
He leaned over the bar and cocked a brow at the man, only to show he would stand in the way. The men that looked like him, came into the S&N and where looking for Cherry weren't usually on a cupcake delivery.
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Post by Miss Jack on Jan 26, 2009 23:10:54 GMT -5
Good. If they were both there, he wouldn't have to repeat himself.
"I'm here to invest in your business," he said simply. He produced a jar and set it on the counter in front of Cherry, the slight glow indicating the rich, top quality serving of joy inside. "This is what I'm selling."
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Post by Princess Katie on Jan 31, 2009 2:34:55 GMT -5
Cherry nudged Cal with a wink, "See that? Word gets 'round fast!" She returned her glance back across the bar at that new fella with a tight grin on her oxblood lips. "Oh, it's just swell that ya found out about our little enterprise," she began conversationally. "I'm Cherry T. Clarke, as you know. This here's Calcifer." The paused a beat.
"So what kind of percent are yas lookin ta get?"
Her cheerful demeanor dropped suddenly and without warning to be replaced with a dangerously businesslike tone. Dangerously businesslike as in 'careful I've got a shiv in my bra and if you ask for too big of a cut, I may just give you too big of a cut'.
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Post by Jules on Feb 2, 2009 0:00:56 GMT -5
Calcifer held out his hand to James to be shook. He put a hand on Cherry's shoulder and squeezed a little to get her to calm down a bit. It would be only a little less convenient for this man to go into it alone. "I think an equal split is fair. Since you are, Cherry, doing very little of the providing yourself, it is quite generous."
He was still a little miffed about her proposition. He pulled the jar up to him and tapped it with his knuckle, although he really had no idea how to test the quality of Joy. This guy didn't exactly look like the harbinger of giggles and warm fuzzy feelings.
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Post by Miss Jack on Feb 2, 2009 23:05:37 GMT -5
Not wanting to display any merit of distrust, but also detesting physical contact, Donovan shook Calcifer's hand, albeit somewhat stiffly, and retracted immediately. He also thought an equal split was fair, but greed wasn't one of his (many) vices. "I think we can work with 60-40," he said, watching Calcifer tap the glass of the jar with something akin to amusement.
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Post by Princess Katie on Feb 4, 2009 21:38:39 GMT -5
Cherry scoffed. "I am providing a warm, cozy atmosphere. And a charming hostess," she indicated to herself with a wink, "what more else do you want I should contribute?" She couldn't think of one good thing she could provide. Not a one.
She smiled at Donovan. "I think 60-40 sounds great," she said cheerily. He was a bad haggler.
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Post by Jules on Feb 4, 2009 21:51:41 GMT -5
"Dime a dozen, toots." He said a little coldly before moving briskly forward in the conversation. "Well it's a deal then, 60-40." Calcifer didn't really care about the split too much, and he thought what Cherry was accepting was unfair, but he didn't really care about that either.
"How much can you provide each week? We need a pretty steady flow, even though we get less Dreams in here asking about Joy than Nightmares. If word gets around, we might be a little more popular with the wispier Figments."
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Post by Miss Jack on Feb 4, 2009 22:32:27 GMT -5
"Dreams have less providers," he said, "Word will get around and you'll get more business. Don't worry about how much I can provide."
The relationship between Calcifer and Cherry seemed a little frosty, at best, and that might prove to be a problem to be mended, but for now, their 'business venture' would only benefit him.
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Post by Princess Katie on Feb 11, 2009 1:29:29 GMT -5
Dime a dozen? Pah! Dime a dozen?
Cherry's eyes narrowed into a glare at the floor. He was so moody, that Cal. She tried to be patient, real hard! She did! But it was hard when you were feisty like Cherry was.
She decided to save that business for another time, and turned her little powdered face up again to regard Donovan with an eye just a little bloodshot from her morning drinks. "Well, I am a little concerned, just a little worried, 'bout how much ya're goinna bring in. Ya know, a ballpark estimate would be swell."
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Post by Jules on Feb 11, 2009 1:52:02 GMT -5
"Try to remember your manners, Cherry. I know it's hard for you, drunkard that you are, but he is our business partner now." He wanted to smack Cherry on the back of the head but truth be told he was a little frightened of what would happen if he actually did it.
"Don't worry, bring in as much as you can, how much you bring in will of course directly correlate to how much you make. There's a bigger market for Joy, not so many powerful Dreams working for charity. Odd, don't you think?"
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