Players:
Summary: Tony meets Eris at a nightclub. He convinces her to relax a little and even gets the woman to dance.
Log Title: Taking Time for Oneself
Rating: PG (L)
NYC - Greenwich Village
The lower West Side of Manhattan is known as the Bohemian Greenwich Village or just The Village. Unlike most of Manhattan, the streets here are not in the usual gird that the rest of the island is. Most the streets here are named rather than numbered as well. The buildings here aren't as tall as high rises of Manhattan as they are the 19th century row houses and occasional one-family walk up apartments.
Scene
It being Saturday night, Club Seal is a bit more crowded than it tends to be on a weeknight. The club contains three bars located along walls with a dance floor in the center. The forth wall contains an emergency exit and restrooms. The dancefloor is lit up by disco lights and is currently filled with drunken patrons dancing to a remix of the newest Lady Gaga song.
A few patrons seem to be sticking toward the bars. One such patron Envy. She sits at the bar and idly stirs her vodka sprite, looking out at the dance floor to keep an eye on her target. For once the woman is not here to attack someone. In an attempt to get back on the good side of the reigning mafia she agreed to guard duty for one of the boss's daughters. Eris sighs and watches the girl hit on a few men, shaking her head at the disgusting mating displays of the guidos in this club. She wonders if it's even worth it. Maybe she should just kill the Don and be done with it.
The bouncer of the club that worked the front entrance was surprised when he got pulled off the door to be given a written message. His eyes widened when he read the message. Quickly he shoved the paper into his coat pocket and nodded in understanding to the messenger. Several minutes later a nondiscript car pulled into the parking lot. A lone figure emerged then the car sped off back the way it came.
Slowly the man who had been dropped off made his way to the bouncer. With a tip of his head toward the brute of a man the bouncer removed the divider allowing him to pass ahead of everyone who was waiting in line. Tony ignored all of the hatred being spewed at him by those outside and made his way into the club proper. The lights were flickering about, the music throbbing around him. He normally wasn't for this scene but he needed one hell of a change of perspective. Slowly he made his way around the outer walls towards the nearest bar where he called for a Scotch.
Eris downs the rest of her drink and sighs again. She stands and simply walks onto the dance floor, maneuvering her way over to where her mark is to usher away a particularly handsy drunk. The man sees Eris coming toward him and seems rather excited about it. Eris backs him into a corner and whispers something into his ear, causing him to decide leaving would be a good idea. She shakes her head and wanders back to the bar, seeing that a man has taken her seat. Rather than saying anything she simply stands there and stares at the man, tapping her foot with mild impatience.
The ordered drink arrived in front of Tony. He threw a tip into the tip glass. Instead of picking up the glass he turned around to see a woman standing close to him. "Do you need to budge in? I was just passing by." He turns before she can answer to pick up his glass and drain the contents. The slow burn begins, the kick of the alcohol singing in his system. It had been almost a year since his last drink and he was going to savor this.
Eris shakes her head at the man. "God, I just need another drink. Babysitting is so not my thing." She knocks on the counter and waves a hand at the bartender. "Another vodka sprite. Make it a double." She glances back at the dance floor and notices the girl she is supposed to be protecting is being hit on by another guy. "Why? Why can't they just leave her alone? Why do I have to deal with this?" She's not asking Tony directly, she's simply talking out loud at the moment.
Tony has turned back toward the bar and tapped at his glass after the keep went to make Eris' drink. "Well, no harm in it unless things turn ugly." When his next drink is poured he drains half the glass before turning around to lean up against the side of the bar. "Which one's disturbing the pond?" He asks even though he's not a bit concerned about whomever it may be. Instead he's focused on the drink he's nursing in one hand and the woman in front of him.
Eris glances back at the man and notices that her drink is waiting for her. She picks it up and stirs it once before taking a sip. She waves a hand dismissively at the group of dancers. "That one, the skanky one with the bad hair. Oh wait, that would be ALL of them." She points to a specific one. "Yellow dress. And I'll probably have to castrate the guy in the pink shirt eventually."
Tony snickers as he looks to the dance floor. Now with his back to the bar he watches as the woman in the yellow dress lives up to the description set out by Eris. Slowly he lifts his glass to his lips and drains the rest of his drink. "I think you'd get more mileage out of putting an electric collar on her and zapping it everytime she egged them on." He reaches behind him to set his empty glass down onto the bar. "Hmm, definitely not my type." Whether he's talking about Eris' particular skank or another he doesn't clarify.
Eris laughs at the idea of electrocuting the girl. "Oh I'd like nothing better. But she'd probably enjoy it too much." She takes another drink of her vodka and smirks, "Oh that's fine for you, she's apparently everyone else's type. Well, everyone here." She apparently assumes that Tony is talking about the girl in the yellow dress. She shakes her head and turns away from the girl, apparently not wanting to see what stupid thing she does next. "Whatever, if she screams I'll step in."
"See, that's the right attitude," Tony smiles. He slides to the side of the barstool and silently invites her to take it as he flags the barkeep to come back down to this side of the bar. "What's your poison?" He is offering to buy her next round along with his double shot. The lights pulse in time to the newest song which is strangely nice in Tony's book. If Eris noticed she could see him tapping the beat out on his empty glass.
Eris nods in thanks to the man. "Ah, a gentleman. Thank you." She takes a seat and points to the alcohol on the wall. "Stoli. Stoli and just about anything." She nods her head, "Name's Eris by the way." She notices the man tapping to the song and chuckles. "Fan of Britney, are you?" She glances over her shoulder to look at the girl once more before waving her hand dismissively again.
"If I admit to it will you think less of me?" Tony orders up a few drinks while considering if he's going to use his name or the one he uses when he's trying to avoid recognition. He's a little miffed that there's no chance in hell that he could drink enough to actually get a good buzz going. The advantages to his Extremis process making it nearly impossible. "Are you stuck watching over Paris Hilton out there or are you free to do as you see fit?" He lifts his refreshened drink glass off the bar in a little salute to her before draining half of it away.
Eris notes that the man did not give his name, but hers sounds almost fake. Actually it is fake. She abandoned her real name years ago for this more fitting version. "Oh I'm just watching her as a favor. Seem to have pissed off an old friend of mine and I'm trying to get back on his good side. It was either this or kill him, and honestly I didn't feel like going through the hassle.
Tony thought for a moment that he may have misheard her with all of the music and noise of people screaming their conversations at each other nearby. He leans closer to her, "In my experience people always come back wanting something from you even if you did piss them off." There's a tinge of truth in the amusement lacing his voice. He's sat his glass back down on the bar and turned his hand over, palm up. "Care to dance?" He can't read her reaction as he is only able to see her hair covering her eyes from view. "You might even get a chance to kick a few people off your charge."
Eris takes another drink from her glass and lets out a snort. "Yeah, people always tend to want something out of everyone, don't they?" When he asks her to dance Eris laughs out loud, but it's not a rude laugh so much as one of surprise. "I've never been asked to dance before, would you believe it?" She looks up at the man, then out at the dance floor. "Why not? Just don't make fun of me for being a terrible dancer, eh?" She downs the rest of her glass before taking the man's hand and standing. "I can't believe I'm doing this."
"Well, if you promise not to laugh at me, I think we'll do all right." Tony looks for a path from the bar to the dance floor. Eventually he spots it and leads Eris towards the opening. "That's some sales pitch wasn't it?" He manages to get onto the floor without having to push through people gathered at the floors edge. "I can do one thing rather well, my one trick." Tony demonstrates that he can glide around Eris in a circle before spinning her around.
Eris follows the man into the crowd, glancing for a moment at the other girl before deciding it really doesn't matter. The girl is annoyed with Eris's presence as it is, she'll probably be happy to be ignored for a few minutes. The woman stops when Tony finds a suitable dancing spot and just stands there for a moment. "Oh yes, quite convincing." She does a little bit of a twist-type dance. She'd seen it on Pulp Fiction and figured she might as well try it here. Unfortunately the dance doesn't go with the song at all. When Tony spins her she laughs again, seeming a little confused at the sound she had just made. She's been angry for so long, maybe she should get out more and do things for herself.
Tony finds himself relaxing for the first time in months. He's never really considered that dancing might be nice. Tony tends to overcompensate for any short coming by leaning heavily on what he is good at. Right now its more charm than dance skill. He turns Eris around so that she has her back to him. He takes the hand that he's holding and folds her arm in so that they are touching her stomach. "I've thought about it," he speaks next to her ear so she can hear him over the pounding beats. "Telling you my name." His free hand ghosts along her other arm. "Swear you won't give me away?" Tony turns her around and smiles when she meets his gaze.
Eris begins to ignore the people around her. She really is not a very good dancer, but people seem not to be paying much attention. The woman tenses slightly when Tony gets behind her. This is strange to her, she is used to dealing with people as opponents rather than as other people. It takes her a moment to convince herself that Tony is probably not going to try and kill her. She glances back at him when he offers to tell his name. "Promise not to tell? I promise I won't. Why, you Prince Harry in disguise?"
"Little too young to be me I'm afraid." Tony feels her tense a moment but lets it slide thinking it is more of the environment than something he's done. He deliberately keeps his hold loose to offer her the ability to move away from him. "Tony," he offers. He offers up no more than that but he's clearly Italian. His looks coming entirely from his mothers side of the family.
Eris smirks as he tells her his name. "Tony? Oh my. Not THE Tony?" She appears not to recognise the man, though she is familiar with the Stark name. "That's only the most common name in Hell's Kitchen." She shakes her head, "See, here I thought you were all famous." She shrugs and continues to dance, relaxing slowly as she becomes accustomed to this new form of social interaction.
"I'm sure you run into a lot of Anthony's in New York." He looks out towards the girl that Eris is supposed to be keeping an eye on. She seems to be like any other young woman out to experience something wild since she's on a short leash by her parents. He feels that Eris is starting to loosen up a bit whether by drinks or trust it was all means to an end. He grins as the song changes allowing him to spin her about slowly then bring her back into his chest. "How do you feel about your dancing ability now?" He's reached out to take her free hand to bring up between them. It would seem old fashioned and out of place to the younger crowd.
Eris chuckles slightly again. "I'm from Chicago actually, but yes I do run into a lot of Tonys in this city. It seems like the majority of the population here is Italian." She shakes her head, "Oh I'm probably not the best dancer in the world, but I suppose it doesn't matter." When she's spun she smirks, "You're not bad though…I suppose." What is this, a slow dance? Since when do night clubs play these? But it is. The lights change from rainbow to blues and whites as the song progresses.
Tony rests a hand to Eris' lower back and sways with her in a small circle as to not bump into the over enthusiastic people near them. "I think they play this sort of thing to make people breathe before they get a heart attack from dancing around like idiots for hours." He offers her a smile that seems to light up the space between them. "I'm part Italian. I hope that doesn't turn you off. We're getting along too well."
Eris lets Tony lead. "Oh I don't mind the slow dance, it's an easy enough one to pull off. And everyone tends to be more concerned with whoever they're….Oh hell." Eris seems to have just glanced over Tony's shoulder at the girl. She has two guys grinding against her right now. "Why? Why do people like that exist?" She does not comment on him being part Italian. She's part herself, part Italian and part Irish, but her responsibility seems to be distracting her at the moment.
"Hmm…" he questions as he follows her gaze to the girl. "Well, they're slime. The right person doing that for all the right reasons, that's different." He'd demonstrate but this situation needed some intervention. Slowly they dance their way through the crowded floor to come up next to the girl. Tony deliberately knocks into one guys side. If he stepped on the other guys foot to piss him off he'll never admit to it.
Eris follows Tony's lead as he moves her toward the problem area of the dance floor. She smirks at the man as he messes with the boys, shooting them both a terrifying look over Tony's shoulder when they turn to confront the man. They seem to recognize Eris, and their memories of the woman appear not to be good ones. They both move off for now, causing the woman to grin. "Well, that was less messy than I would have handled it, but it worked just the same." The girl Eris is watching over seems a little pissed at the situation now.
Tony could are less what the girl was doing burning holes into the back of his head. "Less messy means that you get to continue having a good time and I don't have to dry clean my clothes later." He smirks until he feels the angry tap on his shoulder from the girl. Eris would be able to feel him tense immediately even though he seems controlled and calm when he turns around. "Problem, Lindsey Lohan?" He asks the girl while leaving an arm about Eris' waist.
The girl seems furious right now. "Yes! You and that stupid bitch keep trying to ruin my good time!" Her arms are crossed and she looks like she might cry. The girl stomps her foot and glares at the two of them, "Why can't I ever have a good time? I'm pretty sure Daddy didn't want you to get drunk and dance with this jerk and ruin all my fun. I need to have fun too!" She swings at Tony, no technique, just an angry punch right toward his face.
Eris shakes her head, "Oh no. Messy tends to help me distress, but it also tends to make me unwelcome in the bars." She turns with Tony as the girl berates him, frowning the whole time. "I'm sure your father would be unhappy if he found out his daughter went home with the first piece of trash she came across." The woman moves extremely fast when the girl moves to punch Tony, coming out of Tony's arms to grab the girl's wrist in mid air. "Jessie! That is no way to act."
Tony pokes the tip of his tongue from between his lips to swipe at the corner of his mouth as he remains where he is. "Look, behave like you've got some sense. You don't want to get in over your head." Tony doesn't know if he's helping things at all but he's at least there in case the girl flips out on Eris. /Of course any good time I'd be having would get ruined somehow,/ he thinks.
The girl jerks her hand away from Eris and stomps off to one of the bars, probably to get more to drink. Eris looks a bit pissed at the moment. She turns to Tony and offers him an appologetic frown. "I'm sorry about that. I should probably take her home before she causes a scene. Her father is not the kind of person you want to get mixed up with." She pulls away from the man and bends down, pulling something from her boot. She hands the man a business card that simply reads "Envy" with a phone number. There was a mutant in the news not too long ago who referred to herself by that name. She offers another sad smile before turning and following after the problem girl.
With the girl storming off he's sad to see that Eris must go as well. He Watches her make her way over to the troublesome girl, admiring her from afar. Tony turns his attention to the card in his hand. "Envy?" He says to no one but himself. He resists the urge to look up information on her now. Instead he pockets her card and watches her until she's out of his sight. His attention turns to the two women that have danced their way over to him. He might have a little bit of fun before he heads back to the bar then back to the empty Avenger Mansion.
~ Fin ~
