Educational Pursuits?

Bloody Mary's Bar

Given to irony, Bloody Mary's Bar is decorated primarily in black and varying shades of red. From the black bench seats and chairs, black tables, black walls with chilling red blood flowing down them in a continuous manner, it's quite obvious why this bar has the name it does. Deep red mahogany makes up the floor and bar. Dangling red star lights illuminate the bar, lending to it's somewhat creepy look.


It's not terribly busy for a Sunday night at Bloody Mary's — even vampires have to wind down to go back to their late shift weekday jobs, after all. Even so, Wit is here sitting down at the bar. He reaches up to run his fingers through his newly shorn hair, taking a puff from his lit cigarette. Strangely enough, in front of him is a college application. Not exactly the most traditional of places to fill one of them out, but for some reason Wit is doing it here. He exhales and takes another puff of his cigarette shortly afterwards, filling in a blank section of the application. "Why do I want to attend here?" Beat. "Bloody fucking obvious, innit."

It's a mixed blessing, getting back to work. On one hand, it's a relief to have something productive to do, something else to keep her busy and not thinking. On the other hand, coming in completely sloshed would probably not be the best way to score a promotion, so some effort had to be made to sober up. Still looking a little rough, but at least more or less in her right mind (or what passes for it), Mellie heads back towards the bar after making a quick pass through her section. Her tray carries just a few empties, the quiet night reflected in the reduced workload. As she's been doing lately, downtime is spent at the bar, with the intention of studying the bartender. The guy at the bar earns a look however - it's not too regular a sight to find someone here filling out college applications. "I wouldn't put that down," she notes with a faint grin, having caught the question and answer.

While Teddy isn't really much of a drinker - nyuk nyuk - he does tend to come to Bloody Mary's when he gets bored or wants to spend time somewhere that caters to vampires, so it should be no surprise when he shows up. He's dressed in a long tunic-style white shirt with a high, open collar and a pair of comfortable looking linen pants to match, meandering on over to the bar and choosing to plop onto the stool next to Wit. He beams easily at his friend, waving a hand slowly, "Hi," before he turns his attention to the bartender in order to get some TruBlood - type A, please. He kicks his feet idly as he waits, folding his arms on the bar and peering past Wit to Mellie, ever curious.

The dark-haired young man glances up at the waitress as she approaches, flashing her a wide, toothy grin. "Yeah, well. What the Hell sort of question is that, anyhow? What do they want me to say? So I can party on my parents' quid and maybe, if I'm lucky, get a degree to go with all the brain damage I'm going to have from the alcohol intake?" It's sad perhaps just a bit too loudly. A few of the patrons around him snicker, though Wit doesn't seem to care very much. He puts his cigarette out in a nearby ashtray. When Theodore approaches, he grins at the vampire boy. "Hey, stranger. What brings you here? Come to help me fill out applications here? It's the funniest thing in the world. Woke up and decided I'd like to lose my soul, so I did the logical thing and decided I needed to become a lawyer." Wit takes his cigarette case out of his pocket — pure silver, engraved with an 'A' in block gothic lettering on the front of it, and puts it down on the bar. "Put this man's TruBlood on my tab."

"Well, you could try that approach. Maybe they'd be impressed by your honesty?" Mellie suggests, not altogether serious, and a little amused by the idea of putting that down on an application. The grin is returned, though hers doesn't come quite so easily and carefree as it usually would. The curious Theodore gets a nod of greeting, as her dark gaze quickly flickers over him, taking him in with a bit more interest. She doesn't seem to mind the peering herself, straightening up a bit at the attention. At Wit's instruction regarding the tab, she gives another nod, this one of understanding. "You got it." She glances over to make sure the bartender is actually working on that order, before she turns her attention back to the duo, resting an arm on the bar from the inside.

Theodore props his chin on Wit's shoulder rather like a kid might do to another, peering down at the application with that same inquisitive gaze, "Hi Wit. I got hungry… A lawyer? That might be cool. It's still the fastest way to lose your soul, I heard." He flashes a quick grin at Wit, then smiles brightly when his drink is paid for, "Ah, thanks!" He wraps both hands around the bottle and looks back up at Mellie, still smiling easily as he exclaims, amiable as can be, "Hi. I'm Teddy. This is Wit. What's your name?" Ah, isn't it nice when the niceties of social interaction are entirely ignored for the sake of making friends? It apparently is for Teddy, though the young man's actions appear to be an effort to conceal a primarily shy nature, if the way he fiddles with his bottle is any indication.

"He's friendly," Wit explains, nodding a bit to Teddy. He doesn't seem to bat an eyelash when the other boy puts his chin on his shoulder, simply seeming rather amused. "I don't know. If I want to study law, something tells me I'd oughta brush up on my ass kissing and lying skills. Lawyers aren't really known for honesty, now are they, poppet?" Wit asks Mellie, winking in her direction before he puts the pen to paper again and starts to write something down, formulating his thoughts for a moment, as scary of an idea as that is. He chuckles to Teddy, grinning faintly. "If I wanted to lose my soul twice as fast, I'd become a Republican lawyer." After that follows a series of 'OoooOooo' noises from Wit. "Could I get a Shirley Temple with that TruBlood, poppet?"

"I can see that," Mellie notes with a quiet chuckle, as to Theodore's friendliness. He's certainly the overtly friendliest vampire she's met in awhile, and she's not short on meeting vampires. "I'm Mellie," she answers his question. "Good to meet you both." There's some attempt to put Teddy at ease, along with just a generally congenial attitude towards vampires in general. Her gaze goes back to Wit then, a smirk forming on her lips as she shakes her head. "Not the lawyers I've ever heard about, no. Guess maybe you'd better skip the idea of an honest answer, or they'll think you're a fraud." At the drink request, she nods again, moving away just long enough to pass this newest order along to the bartender, lingering for a moment so that she can bring it back with her.

Theodore seems about at ease as someone can get, not the sort to bother hiding his vampiric nature, whether amongst friends or not. He never liked lying in the first place. He snorts softly over the joke about Republican lawyers, grinning a little once more and wiggling his fingers at Mellie, "Like Casper, only half as much more alive." He drops his hand back to the bottle and nods sagely afterwards, watching her take the order off. While she does, he looks back to Wit, leaning against him again so he can watch how the other man fills out the application, speaking in his casual, friendly fashion, "Poppet? And I guess not. Maybe persecution lawyers are better at it, but I guess every lawyer has to lie a little. I don't know. I never really tried to be a lawyer. There are some depths of evil even vampires won't plumb."

Wit laughs at Theodores last comment, tsking at him. "If I were more of a bastard, I might just take offense to that. Lucky for you, I'm not." He reaches up to ruffle Theo's shock of white hair before he returns to writing what is assuredly not the 'honest' answer they had discussed, but rather a ribaud bullshit show. He finishes up with the question and takes in a satisfied, deep breath before he looks towards Teddy and then back to Mellie. "Well, he's right. Friendliest vampire I ever met in my whole live long life. Or rather, since they've been made public. I think he might even secretly be afraid of blood," Wit says, winking towards the waitress before he looks back to Teddy and looks down at the next question. "Qualifications? Oh. Huh. Getting kicked out of exclusive boys' schools in London, is that one?"

Mellie ventures back over the short distance, now with the Shirley Temple in hand. She fetches a coaster from under the bar, setting it down and then the drink atop it, within easy reach but some safe distance from the application forms. "Friendly is good. I think I could do with some friendly right now," she comments with a nod, giving Theodore a thoughtful smile. "Though blood isn't so bad once you're used to it." There's a shrug to that, before her gaze drops back down to eye the forms, viewing them from her upside down angle. Not that she's really trying to snoop, but Wit doesn't seem to be making any secret of it anyway. "I might skip the part about getting kicked out, but that's just me. Assuming you haven't decided to go for the honesty points."

The lie that Wit writes down gets a small laugh from Teddy, who takes a sip of his TruBlood only to blink and exclaim, "I am not! I just… don't like hurting people, or when people only get close to you because you're 'a vampire, and oo, please bite me, it's so cool and dark, oooOoOooo…'" This moment of mocking your classic stereotypical fangbanger type comes complete with falsetto voice and wiggling of fingers, though he sighs and ruffles his own hair back away from his face, "It hurts when people are like that. Being dead doesn't mean I don't have feelings." Pout. He takes another drink of his faux blood as he brushes his bangs off his forehead as best he can, the silky, fluffy locks apparently in service to whatever errant volley of breeze scoots towards his head. He considers the bit about being kicked out of school, nodding agreement with Mellie and narrowing his eyes in thought, "How about… 'has only ever single-mindedly sought the finest in education, whatever the cost'?"

The fact that there's a vampire sitting next to him complaining about his feelings seems to make Wit chortle for a moment before he hides his face in his hand, coughing. "Teddy, you should really capitalize on how many people like vampires these days. I mean, look at you. You're like… you've got the insides of a cute little rabbit and the outsides of a vampy sex god. Really, if you would just put some leather on, I bet you could have a nice fresh meal and you'd barely have to do any work at all. They cut themselves sometimes, you know." Wit just points it out nonchalantly. He's probably been around this sort of scene long enough to know all about the ins and outs of fangbangers. He takes a drink of the Shirley Temple, bringing it up in a 'cheers' motion towards the bartender. "My qualifications besides having an 'illustrious' school career is that my dad has a fuckload of money. Err, and I know about breaking the law a lot, so it's not as though it's something I don't have experience in…" Wit chuckles at Teddy's suggestion, nodding to him. "That sums it all up!"

Mellie is a little awkward at this talk of fangbangers - not that she isn't used to the bashing, of course, but still. She isn't rushing in to point out that she would quite happily be bitten, but there's really no denying those bite marks she displays so proudly. Not that she would deny them, anyway, but tonight, with everything that's happened, she's a little off her game. "I'm sorry if people hurt your feelings," she begins diplomatically, "Though I'm sure that's not what they mean to do." Quite sure, really. "And, yeah, you could totally have your pick," she adds, after considering Wit's observations. Again, quite sure of that. Back to the application, she considers the suggestion with a wry smile. "Maybe add something about, uh, extensive knowledge of the legal system? You don't have to say from which side."

Theodore rubs the back of his neck with a soft sigh, shaking his head and sucking on his lip for a few seconds before he peers up at Wit and Mellie through a fringe of white bangs, "It's just… it's like somebody liking you just because you wear certain clothes, or work at a certain place. People don't like you for who you are, just what you are. It's not like I can blame people for liking certain things - that's okay - I just have a hard time when I try to get close to someone and all they want is for me to bite them." He shrugs helplessly at the end, dropping his hands back around his bottle and taking a sip from it, "Thanks, though…" It's not bashing, not really, as much as it is a personal feeling of being put off. Like most women with big boobs tend to complain about men liking them just for having big boobs, Teddy doesn't like being sought after for his pointier assets. He brushes the back of his hand across his mouth absentmindedly, huffing at his bangs a few times only to prop his chin on Wit's shoulder again, "I wear leather sometimes… wait, vampy sex god?" Eyebrow raise, continue, "I agree with Mellie. You have extensive knowledge of the legal system and understand its inner workings."

Wit nods to Teddy's suggestion and manages to write a little more in that particular section before he turns it over and begins to fill out the more mundane information. Name, address, phone number. Strangely, it's here that he decides to get secretive, hunching over the paper so that no one else can see it. "You two have been a bunch of unexpected help. Another TruBlood for Teddy if he wants one, and…" Taking a moment to stop writing, Wit lays a twenty dollar bill down on the table for Mellie. "For you." There's silence from the intense young man as he keeps filling out his form. When it's finished, he raises his hands in the air in victory before folding the paper and slipping it into his back pocket. Miraculously, he manages not to bean Teddy in the face. "I get it. It's sort of like reverse discrimination. Sort of. And yes, vampire sex god. Kind of like Lestat, only not such a whiny pussy." This makes Wit snicker as he picks his Shirley Temple up and takes a drink, shaking his head.

Mellie considers Teddy's points with more thoughtfulness than they might have earned at a different point in her life. "Yeah, I think I get it," she finally confirms, albeit not with as much certainty. She has, after all, made it a point to be desirable pretty much just for what flows in her veins. But she isn't utterly without imagination for how it might be otherwise. "It's just that you guys are so cool," she adds, more quietly and almost sheepishly, yet enthusiastically. She isn't meaning to objectify here, but try to help him understand. Rather than the usual jaded bad girl act, the statement is young and rather genuine. Still, in case that's offended, she tacks on a hasty, "Sorry." She tries to force herself to move along before she can completely put her foot in it. "Thanks," comes a grateful reply as the twenty is put down for her, taken up smoothly as she lifts her gaze again to Teddy, eyebrows lifting to inquire if he does want another drink. "Yeah, I think you'd be much cooler than Lestat," she adds with a knowing nod.

Theodore just laughs good-naturedly at what Mellie says, though Wit's sudden secretive attitude earns his curious attentions. He obeys the silent desire for privacy, ordering himself another AB from the bartender directly, then looking back to Mellie with a small shrug, "It's okay. I mean, it can hurt, but I can understand it, too. At least you're not trying to stake me - do you know how often that happens? It's ridiculous. Do you have any idea how hard it is to actually hit one of us in the heart with a foot long piece of wood? It's not like you're firing a gun or something. It's a /giant piece of wood/." Teddy says this last with a laugh, shaking his head and sticking out the tip of his tongue in general amusement. He folds his legs up onto the stool in a show of casual balance, tilting his head, "I thought Louis was the whiny one…? Lestat was the one who wore leather. I like Anne Rice's vampires. I think she probably met a real vampire once. All of hers were /people/, at least. Not like, uh… what was it? The one with the blonde girl killing stuff? Weird, soulless monsters." He sighs at the memory, wrinkling his nose and taking another drink from his bottle, though he breaks into a sudden grin as he continues, "I think Lestat is way cooler than me. The only guitar I can really play is Guitar Hero."

"Lestat was a complete fucking wanker," Wit says, shaking his head. "The man had an Oedipal relationship with his own mother, for Chrissakes. Mama's boy to the max." He finishes off his drink and pushes it towards Mellie. "'Nother one for me, poppet." When Mellie gushes about how cool vampires are, he can't help but grin. "I think so too. It's just that most are still so secretive. Of course, it's good to have that mystery. The ones who flaunt their immortality and all sorta seem like tossers from time to time." He wraps his arm around Theo's shoulders, giving the other boy a squeeze. "But not you, mate. You're tops. Aces, even. Bully for you classy vampires." He winks at Teddy and slowly removes his arm, stretching it in the air. "I don't know. The blonde girl killing things? Claudia? Or that damned series about those witches," Wit says with a groan.

"No, never," Mellie agrees quickly, rather aghast at the idea of trying to stake a vampire - particularly this friendly and genial one. "It's sad those people will never take the time to actually get to know you and realize better." She lets out a little sigh, rather quite down about that, though she doesn't let herself linger for long. "Yeah, Anne Rice is cool. They weren't really whiny, they were tortured," she clarifies somewhat dreamily. She's almost envious of the glamorous unlives unlived by those fictional vampires. Not quite as much as the glamorous real ones though. "As for guitar, you could probably learn, right?" She figures he's probably got the time. "Though I don't think you need it." With that, she reaches out to take the empty glass, sliding down the short stretch of bar to arrange for another one for Wit.

Theodore laughs at what he's called as far as 'aces' goes, grinning at Wit easily enough and leaning his head against the man's shoulder as he flutters his lashes exaggeratedly, "You promise?" He straightens up so that he can open his new bottle of TruBlood, taking a quick gulp and licking his lips before he points his bottle at both of them, "I don't flaunt stuff, I just don't bother to hide it. We're out now, and I'm glad about that. Being a vampire before all this usually meant moving a lot and lying a whole lot." He rests his elbows on the bar, propping his chin on the back of his wrist and nodding slightly at Mellie, "Yeah, I probably could. I can already sort of play the violin. I'm mostly an artist, though, and that requires enough memorizing as it is. You have /no idea/ how much art has changed over the past, er, years." He swallows whatever he was about to say by taking another drink of his TruBlood, shaking his head at Wit afterward, "Not Claudia. The main character was a vampire slayer." He waves his hand dismissively, leaning over to set his chin on Wit's shoulder again, obviously in an affectionate mood, or at least one that lacks personal space, "I always liked Armand. He was an artist, you know. He was the most human vampire besides Louis, and super religious."

Wit merely makes a dismissive hand motion at the debate about Anne Rice's vampires. He can't help but grin at the conversation between Mellie and Teddy though, shaking his head at them for a moment. "Hey, I play bass guitar." He throws in, during a lull in conversation. The young man nods to Teddy, giving him a boy scout's signal. "Hand to God, you're classy. So suave." Wit still doesn't seem to mind the show of affection between Teddy and himself, simply laughing a little bit. And if he's noticed Mellie's bite marks, he doesn't make any comment about that either. "You mean the show Buffy?" Wit asks, looking downwards at the top of the bar. "I hate how they portray all British people on American TV as tea-drinking wankers."

Back with a refill for Wit not long after - the thin crowds not only free her up considerably, but make for quick service - Mellie sets it down for him before taking up her previous perch. "Yeah, that can't have been fun. I'm glad you guys are out now too," she agrees, though it's probably not a stretch to imagine a lot of her gladness is for her own reasons here. "Well, violin isn't exactly very rock star, but you could go for the sensitive chicks, especially with being an artist and all." Is she counting herself amongst those sensitive ones? "I draw a little sometimes myself. Nothing for real though or anything. Just for the hell of it." Wit gets a grin as he cuts in with his own accomplishments. "Ever been in a band?" She props her elbow back up on the inside of the bar, considering for a moment. "You mean you're not?" she asks with faux-innocence, unable to entirely hide her amusement. "Though, really, Giles could be pretty bad ass sometimes. He just got old and boring, like everyone. Well, everyone human," she amends.

Theodore just laughs again, reaching up to smack at the boy scout signal from Wit lightly before he folds his arms on the bar again, puffing air playfully against Wit's neck, "Suave, huh? I think you're making fun of me… and bass guitar, huh? I read once that lead guitar gets the most attention, but bass guitar gets the most shags." He grins a bit after saying this, giving another soft laugh under his breath, sort of like a sixteen year old boy saying the same thing. He nods his head somewhat when Wit remembers the name of the show, "Yeah. All the vampires in that were these psychopathic monsters. I liked Spike, though. He was cool - and he was hot. So was the younger British guy." This last is said with the bottle raised to Mellie, the name apparently having brought out a memory the vampire had let slip, "He got cooler in the one called Angel. I watched /that/. How could I not? The protagonist was a vampire. Now, let's get Wit some tea before he shrivels up in a ball of neglected Briton…" He waits for the answer to the band question, all the same, peering up at his friend curiously.

Wit reaches for his cigarette case, pulling a long black clove out of it before he takes a lighter from his pocket and does the predictable thing next. After the cigarette is lit, he takes a long puff from it and looks at Mellie, winking. "I'm way too much of a Sid Vicious for any one band. Only slightly more talented, and better looking." Upon hearing Theo's quip about bass guitar getting the most shags, he can't help but let out a laugh, clapping the other boy on the back. "Well, I'm not entirely sure about that, but. Something to put to the test!" He picks up the Shirley Temple and takes a sip of it. If it weren't something as lame as a Shirley Temple, he'd probably look badass with his smoke and drink right about now. "I am not making fun." Wit says, poking at Teddy's ribs with a finger. "If you learn to play guitar, we could form a band." Then there's a pause. "Well, I liked the psychopathic vampires. I mean, Angel, Darla, Spike, and Drusilla's back stories? Absolutely bad ass. Of course, Darla was a bit over the top, but Whedon has to keep the more sadistic viewers interested somehow. Anyway, I've always fancied myself more as a Spike than a Wesley. Or a Giles." As to finding any of these men hot, he remains mum on the subject. Though he does chortle and mutter something about Faith that may or may not be a little bit on the pervy side. Up until he hears the comment about tea. "Hey! Tea is… well, it's therapeutic sometimes, and I don't need any right now!"

"Oh, I see how it is," Mellie replies with a knowing nod to Wit, as to being too much for any one band to contain. "And if you do start a band, let me know. I'll come check it out, before Sid here inevitably breaks it up." She gestures with a nod towards Wit, these words aimed more at Teddy. "Yeah, those vampires may have been on the wrong side of evil, but they were really hot." The way she says it, it's almost like that grants them a pass on the evil thing. "And Spike was always my favourite," she adds as she straightens back up. The comment about the tea-deprived Brit shriveling up gets a grin of amusement. "What, not in need of therapy? Lucky." It's such a simple comment, said in jest when she begins it. But something about it catches on her own situation, dragging it back up to the light when she least expects to suddenly think of it. There's a pause, not unlike she's been doused with cold water, and then the smile is back in place, but fake and covering. "I should really go check on my tables… You guys need anything else?" she offers, already beginning to push away from the bar.

"I could play electric violin?" Teddy offers with a bemused expression, drawing away from Wit so he can prop his elbow on the bar and his temple on his fist, "Maybe I could learn guitar… and then wear leather hot pants. Somebody got me some once, but I don't usually find much cause to wear them." He says this thoughtfully, tilting his chin up slightly only to wrinkle his nose, "But most of us aren't psychopathic. It's just false advertising - though most of us do have bad ass backgrounds, I'll tell you that much." When Mellie has that sudden moment, he cocks his head to the side, twitching that nose of his only to open his mouth as if to speak. He closes it after a second, pressing his lips together, only to nod slightly and shift to his feet, checking his watch absentmindedly, "I should probably get inside, anyway. On Sundays, religious nuts are always hanging out in the early morning hours, hoping to see how close they can get a vampire to sunrise… hey, Wit, can I come stay at your place? It was fun last time." He peers curiously at his friend, poking him in the shoulder a couple times.

When Wit sees an opening, he takes it. Grinning, he stubs out his cigarette and reaches into his back pocket, withdrawing his college application. He rips a piece of it off and jots down his cell number, pushing it to Mellie. "No, but I think I have something you need." Wink. He wraps an arm around Teddy's shoulders as he picks his cigarette case up and pockets it, then does the same with the college application again. He finishes off his drink and then reaches into another one of his pockets, pulling a fifty out and laying it on the bar. "That oughta cover my tab." He nods to Theo a bit at the question about staying over before he steps down from his bar stool. "Okay, you can stay over. And this time I might even let you win at video games." Wit turns to wink at Mellie again before he starts heading out the door, digging his car keys out of his pocket.

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