Sebastian House

[Anita]

She smirked. ”Ah yes - a secret society bar, I’m assuming,” her smile that followed was disarming. She didn’t care much that he was Atharim. She was also finding Hayden easy to talk to. It was nice after a rough night.

”Cucumbers, carrots, lightbulbs, bottles. It’s an epidemic.” she laughed. ”The worst part of it - most of them are actually sober.”

Anita put her glass down on the bar and stared at the amber liquid. She gave a it a quick swirl, her expression turning a little dark. She had caught the slight pride in his voice at being called to help poor Rachel. Even if she didn’t know what it meant. ”The thing that sucks about being a paramedic. Well - one of the things - is that I never know what happens in the end. That poor girl. I’ll never forget it. The way she spoke, the fear in her eyes. I’ve seen some bad things in my life. Blood, guts, things that should be attached that aren’t. But that call hit me in a way I don’t understand.” she looked up at him somberly. ”How is she? I hope that things work out for her. There was just something about that whole call that set me on edge.”

She sighed. ”See you got me talking about depressing things now. I just got off a 24 hour shift. I have the next two days off. I need to think happy thoughts. So you tell me about Rachel - then we change the subject. How’s that sound?”

[Hayden]

Hayden raised his hand. She'd heard the bits about Atharim and mark and made a logical assumption"The bar is not any such thing. It's in the Red Light District and we don't really like when people poke their noses around. Yes, there is a safe house." Hayden pulled out a brand new business card from his wallet and handed her the Safe Harbour logo with the address and phone number on back. Wasn't his personal one, but it all went to the same place. "But it's not part of any such secret society and neither am I regardless of what you heard. No secret tattoos or handshakes or anything." Which wasn't a truth completely. It was the family business but he was not officially part of them, a contractor.

"Rachel is good. The cause has been taken care of and she's getting the help she needs." Hayden was more than happy to change the topic. Least thing he wanted on his mind was the reason all that shit had happened in the first place. "So what does, Anita, like to do in her free time? Any big plans for your two days off?"

[Anita]

Anita accepted his response to her secret society quip as readily as she accepted his business card which she pocketed after a glance and smile. . It might be a bar to check out sometime. Adrian worked over there, so she could make it. Come to think of it, she had never gone to the burlesque club. That might be a fun trip sometime.

Anita was glad for Rachel. Hopefully she’d make a full recovery from whatever malady she had. Her mind went back to the strange man that had been with her. The one who had attacked the detective. That had been odd, but she had asked to change the subject and dwelling on Rachel’s case right now wasn’t going to get her anywhere.

Hayden’s next question wasn’t unexpected, but her schedule was a 24 hour one/48 hour off schedule. She mostly had a routine. The first day was for her, and the second day was for others - friends and family. But she was malleable and willing to change the routine. Today she was kind of in that mood.

”Well it depends. Movies, reading, music, whatever. Today though, I decided to come here, have a few drinks, see if I came across anyone interesting,” she looked around the room as if looking for someone, but the glint in her eyes and the curl of her smirk showed she was teasing him - a slight flirt to see where he was. ”If I don’t find that here, well, maybe I’ll go somewhere else. See what else I can find. Sometimes - what happens happens.”

[Hayden]

Hayden chuckled. "Oh you should definitely find someone else to talk to then. I'm super boring. No sense of humor, and I don't talk at all. Total loser." He poked fun at himself all in jest.

With a grin Hayden shook his head. "i'm sure there are much better places than to find stimulating conversation than my brother's stupid fancy bar. Sure the liquor is great, but the people are so stuffy here." He looked around and it was full of men and women in suits, it was in the heart of the Business District and right under a plethora of other office above it. Very stuffy. "I'd offer to tak you to Safe Harbour but there are no seats yet, though the bar is well stocked. And you'll have to deal with just me since it's not open yet. Which means it could be filled with a bunch kids at the drop of a hat." Hayden rolled his eyes, though he enjoyed their company even if he had to shoo them from the bar proper all the time. Nox was not teaching them boundaries or rather he was teaching them to assert themselves because they never had before. Which was tiring at best.

Hayden sighed. "Not the best solution and I'm not exactly from these parts so I know of Kallisti and the Almaz." Not exactly places of repute around Moscow. He knew of Manifest but that wasn't a haunt Nox frequented. And the other haunts were hole in the wall bars not worth taking anyone too, she'd end up on duty saving some idiot's life and so would he. Not exactly what he wanted to do. "So I can offer no better solutions."

[Anita]

Anita liked the fact that he was willing to tease himself. That meant he was comfortable in his own skin, and already he was showing himself to be fun around and an interesting person. If his comment was meant to turn her away, it didn't, but there was also the veiled invite to his own bar. Although the idea of there being kids popping around there was an interesting thing. Why would a bunch of kids come to his bar in the middle of the day.

"You see, now I'm intrigued. You mention three potential places to go. Your bar - which apparently plays host to children. Almaz - a club that would have little interest for me because of obvious reasons, and Kalliisti. Yeah - maybe some day I'll go to Kallisti, but," she leaned in and spoke conspiratorially. "Today is me day - tomorrow is family day. I can't go to Kallisti today, because my twin brother is a bouncer there." She leaned back and finished her drink. "You are a mystery Hayden Sebastian, and I think I want to see this Safe Harbour of yours."

[Hayden]

Hayden pulled out his wallet and sent a text to one of the Sebastian House drivers. Being a Sebastian had a few perks even if Ethan was going to hate him for using the car. Hayden didn't really care as he finsihed last of his drink and paid the tab. Though he could have left it, he had a running one at all Sebastian House places and it would come out of his share of the profits eventually. But he didn't, Hayden didn't like to owe his father anything.

"Just so we are clear, I wasn't suggesting either of those places. I would never take a woman to a fight club, or a burlesque unless it was her idea. Just my friend works those places and they are the only places I could logically be caught dead in. Everything else is a shit hole in the wall with even shittier drinks. And as you can tell I kinda am a snob about my booze." He chuckled softly.

When the text arrived that the car had pulled up Hayden nodded towards the door. "Your chariot awaits." Hayden stood up and pointed as if he were in a Monty Python movie and grinned. "To Safe Harbour, an empty vessel with good booze and no seats." And he hoped that there were no pop ins.

Hayden offered Anita his elbow to escort her out of the bar and into the frigid air where a black SUV waited for them. The driver stood outside with a smile. "Mr. Sebatain."

"It's just Hayden."

"As you wish, sir." The driver opened the door and Hayden let Anita slip in first. Then crawled in beside her.

When the driver entered the drivers side Hayden told him where to go. "Red Light district, Safe Harbour."

The man nodded as if he knew where he was going and he probably did. His father probably had all the details sent to everyone. He really was a control freak.

"The place is still under construction, so you will have to forgive the mess. It used to be a clothing shoppe so it's needed some big renovations to make it a bar."

[Anita]

Hayden pulled out all the stops. It wasn’t really necessary, but Anita wouldn’t complain. A comfortable ride over there in a nice car would go fine. She laughed at his Monty Python reference. It was old comedy, but definitely classic. She took his offered elbow as he escorted her out and they entered the vehicle.

The ride over was easy enough. The vehicle was ice and drove smoothly through the city. ”Im not worried about a mess. Good drink and good company is all that’s necessary. Since you’re a booze snob, I’m sure the drinks will be great, and so far the company has been fun,” she gave him a smirk as they arrived.

Anita took a look at the building. ”You know what you could use outside? A shrubbery!” she said, recalling his Monty Python reference earlier.

Since Hayden had decided to be the gentleman earlier, she followed his lead on if he would continue, but she was ready to get out of the vehicle on her own. She was fully capable after all, but an offered hand would be accepted with a warm smile. ”Since you’re a booze snob, I’ll go with bartender’s suggestion for my first drink.” she said after thanking the driver and heading into the bar.

[Hayden]

Hayden snickered. It wasn't often the girls knew the references and made them too. He liked this one. "I'm not real good with keeping things alive." He knew it was a reference but alive things tended to die when you don't pay enough attention to them, and plants were boring creatures. Hayden despised boring.

The bar was mostly finished, the floors were dark hardwood. The tables were neatly set out awaiting their companion chairs. "The chairs needed to be redone. They sent hot pink like I wanted to look like a bubble gum factory or something." They'd come in in a deep red that almost looked the color of blood. Easier to hide it when it came down to it was the real reason but Hayden was going for classy in the Red Light District.

The lights were dim and gorgeous, at least to him. They hung just above each table out of reach with a red stain glass shell around them sending different shimmering lights across the room. The bar was well stocked. The bar stools were a hodgepodge of stools he'd found, mostly for his friends that stopped in for a drink. There were three none of them matched and they'd be replaced when the chairs came in.

"This is Safe Harbour, the bar. There are rooms for stay upstairs for that safe harbor and all."

Hayden went behind the bar and pulled down a couple of mid shelf bottles. It wasn't that they were cheaper just easier to reach and better for his signature drink. A little fruit and all secret. He mixed with a little show, there were no labels on the bottles in his bar. They had to trust the bartender here. It was all about being a safe place and he insured it. Even his security system insured it. And he had to admit installing Sky here too had been very helpful. Though she wasn't part of the daily grind. Only for the staff before and after hours. But it helped with security -- a lot. Specially being able to run background checks on anyone who ran into the bar for safe keeping.

Hayden presented Anita with his specialty drink and took a long sip of his own before smile. "A Hayden special."

[Anita]

Anita laughed at his comment about keeping things alive. ”Yeah, that’s exactly what I want to hear walking into your bar.”, she said teasing, and gave him a playful push on the shoulder, not even hard enough to unbalance him.

She followed him into the bar and looked around. It was a nice enough place. It had no chairs as he had said, but she could see what it would look like. The vibe here was classy, yet not pretentious. It would be a great place to have a drink sometime. There were some barstools out front that were mismatched, and Anita assumed that those would eventually match whatever chairs he planned to get.

He began to mix a drink from unmarked bottles. He mixed it with a bit of showmanship that elicited a small smile from her face and then he poured two drinks, one he kept and he handed the other to her. She raised her glass to him before taking the tentative drink that most people took when trying something new. Then she took a second, longer sip.

”That,” she said, looking at the beverage. ”Is absolutely delicious. Since this is a ‘Hayden Special’ I’m assuming it is a closely guarded secret.” she took another sip - smaller than the first for no other reason than she wanted to savor the drink. ”Glad you didn’t go with the hot pink chairs. Not really a Barbie themed establishment. But it looks good - not complete, but good. I can see it coming together.” she looked around before turning back to the bar, leaning forward on. ”So we talked about me - now I want to hear about you. You strike me as a man who doesn’t get many days off, so on the off days - what is it that you do?”

[Hayden]

This chick was fun. Hayden was enjoying himself. "Very secretive. No one knows. Well, one does. I made it for him. He watched the same as you and after his only sip; he told me exactly what was in it. He loved it, but he was past his drink limit. Very pedantic about his drinking."

But then she turned the tables on him. Wanted to know what he did in his free time. Which he hadn't actually had much of. "Free time? What's that?" He grinned and let out a soft laugh. "I'm always on call. My current job, which doesn't consist of serving drinks, comes with trouble. But I take the time when I can to woo unsuspecting people of interest and make them drinks to see where the night goes." He winked at Anita.

"But in all honesty, my free time is spent in my bar, talking with my regulars, making drinks and helping out where I can. This is my fun. My other job isn't nearly so rewarding. And I get to meet a plethora of people who are pretty interesting, or pretty stupid depending on how you look at the issues."

He grinned at her "And before you ask, sweetheart, you don't really wanna know what the other job entails. I'd rather you think of me as a cheesy bartender. Let's leave the shady parts under the shrubberry we both know I'll kill."