Eating Crow

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SURFSIDE DINER
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--Patty
♫
 See the Pyramids along the Nile
Watch the sunrise on a tropic isle
Just remember, darling, all the while
You belong to me
♫

Patty was in full-on business mode, her mousy brown hair pulled into a puffy ponytail and her sleeves rolled up as she slings out plate after plate of hash and eggs.

"I saw that hand, you get near me you're pullin' back a stump, jerk-wad!" Her raspy contralto is a snarl as she rudely kicks a patron's chair. "Yeah? YEAH?? You want the pie, just buy the damn pie." Sweat is beading down her forehead as the shifts change and patrons come and go. Late-night student cram sessions, alcoholics in-between benders and policemen giving her a side-eye as she passes. Maybe some of that sweat was from their scrutiny. All the time Patsy Cline croons on the Wurlitzer, admonishing her love to be true.

Tossing her apron aside, she finally manages to sneak outside for a smoke, leaning against the wall and groaning, "...Jeeeeesus Mary and Joseph... what.. a fuckin' night."

--Patty
"♫ Just remember 'til you're home again, you belong to me...♫" She closes her eyes and sings the words softly to herself, letting the smoke trickle from her nose.

--Syaka
"I'd be so alone without you, maybe you'd be lonesome too in blue...♫"

That wasn't Patty's voice ompleting that verse. Not too far, near the restaurant's dumpster, a lonesome figure hummed to herself.
She wore a leather jacket and kept her hands stuffed into her pockets, a messy gust of black hair covering the sides of her face. She breathed in the tobacco in the air, relishing the ambience. It was trashy, but it was just the kind of place where she'd be if she were alive.

It was exactly what made living in the woods so difficult sometimes.

--Patty
Patty's eyes flutter open, and she smirks in the direction of the garbage, "Heey, you ain't bad, pal! You can at least carry a tune." She pushes off of the wall and strides over to the woman with the dark mop of hair, taking another drag as it illuminates her face.

Can't be more than twenty, big old hazel eyes and a potato for a nose. Under-fed and smelling strongly of engine oil and cigarette smoke. "You ever think about makin' something out of those pipes? I mean, that's what I was plannin' on doing." Her Queens accents is so thick, it's practically a caricature, but it's hard to shake where you're from.

--Syaka
She blew her hair off her face, shrugging. "Fuck no. I grew out of that shit a long time ago..." Vampirism, you know. Great at killing dreams.

The stranger didn't look much older than her, sporting a similar style, though hers was more vintage, being a mishmash of punk and 80's rock threads.

--Patty
Patty looked indignant, "Hey, fuck that!" Looks like they had the same vocabulary, "There ain't such a thing as growin' out of it if you got the fire to make it, right? Fuck yeah... that's gonna be me..." She absently hands her cigarette to Kaz, looking wistfully into the sky, "I won't be the first Patty, but I'm gonna be one of the greats. Patti, Pat, Lita, Joan, I'm gonna kick this city and rock the motherfucker." She grins wide, as if she could see her name in lights.

Then her smile falls, and she kicks a garbage can, "And I won't be wastin' my fucking time slinging hash and getting felt up by gruesome old fucks for a handout. ...I ain't out yet."

--Syaka
A faint jolt of fear coursed through her body as the small flame was handed to her, but it was nothing more than an uncomfortable scare. It was pointless to one with her condition, but she could still have some fun knowing she looked like a bit of a badass while puffing on a cigarette.

"Wait, did you say Joan?...Fuck, I love Joan Jett. Used to worship the ground she walked on back then."
She bit her tongue. Almost blew her cover. Bragging about seeing the Runaways may have been a great idea, had she not looked way too damn young to have been alive by the time the band was still together.

Smoke rolled out of her lips as she held her mouth agape, looking at her. "You're making me jealous. Wish I still had it in me to feel that way about my music."

--Patty
She takes the cigarette back and takes a drag, blowing it out in a huff. "What, your legs broke? Scared of crowds? No reason you couldn't rock the fuckin' joint, you probably ain't that much older than me. Besides, Stones still tour. I want to be the oldest fuckin' rock star in the world, and have all the young girls clambering for my leathery ass." She slaps her rump and lets out a loud guffaw, "How fuckin' great would that be??  ..what's your name, by the way. I'm Pat, if you missed it."

--Syaka
"Red... That's the name I go by. *Mama* called me Scarlet." She confessed, pronouncing the word in its spanish form.

She couldn't keep herself from grimacing and shaking her head. "Worse shit than that. Can't really talk about it." Patty's imagination pierced through her bitterness, getting a dry laugh out of Red. "Pretty fucking great. I say this shit is just God's way of keeping me from becoming a damn succubus. Fuuuck." She groaned,  holding a fist to her chest. "You're hurting me just by making me think about it."

--Patty
Patty spat angrily, "Yeah, fuckin' Patriiiicia.. I ain't fuckin' Patriiiiicia, I'm PAT! Sounds so lah-de-dah. Fuckin' skirts and dollies 'n' shit. I ain't gonna be queen of the prom.. if I had finished school, I mean." She says this last part reluctantly, "Still, didn't end up in jail or knocked up. That's good, right?"

Patty walked over and brushed Red's hair out of her face, unbidden. With a pull and a shake of her head, her curls are freed from the scrunchy, which she hands to the woman in leather. "God only get you when you're dead. We're still kickin', might as well live it up? C'mon, lemmi buy you a cup of coffee, I've still got a bit of break left before they start screamin' my name."

--Pan
Not far from the dumpster that had been Red's audience, a raven flew in lethargic circles through the night air before finally fluttering and perching atop a wall.

Or, it looked to be a raven at least. A bit small though. Raven, crow, who cares in the end, really. The trashy little bird landed nearby, lazily watching the two as it ruffled and preened its sleek black feathers.

--Syaka
Red flinched as Patty's hand came close to her face, relaxing and just as suddenly tensing back up. She looked at the scrunchy like an alien object at first, but then settled on using it to pull some of her hair into a low ponytail. "Great." She mumbled. "I did make it out of high school, but I didn't- I haven't had much shit to do since." She was so unused to interacting with mortals, even her cover story had begun to get rusty. She'd never been good at the little details, and she couldn't exactly say *'Sorry I've been in the woods for the last 20 years and I'm not sure how to cope.*'

"I'll skip out on the coffee, but I'll follow you inside if you want to bitch about this city some more, *Patricia.*" She snorted. "Fuckin' prom queen..."

--Pan
"COCK." A loud, croaking caw came from nearby.

Wait. Did that bird say "caw" or "cock"? It definitely said "cock", didn't it? But, that would be kinda dumb, why would some raven-

"BALLS."

--Patty
She narrowed her eyes at Red and then made a mirthless laugh before she startled at the raven's outburst, blinking into the darkness to confirm she heard what she thought, then looked again, "...did.. did that bird just say.. cock?"

The second outburst was enough to send the cigarette flying from her mouth, "BWAAAAH! What the fuck?? I love it! LA is full of foul-mouthed fuckin' crows and crooning bums!" She quickly added, "No offense, of course. I don't have a home neither, so hey?" She couldn't help as that hit her right in her particularly raunchy sense of humor. "...that's it, that's the sign. God has sent a bird, from ON HIGH... and he says I can have as much cock as I want, because LA is the promised land!"

--Pan
*Gwark gwark gwark...*

An odd, raspy chuckle came from the bird, making it slightly bob its head and further ruffle its feathers.

--Syaka
The Gangrel turned around, looking at the crow with a glare that could have burnt a hole through his chubby, feathered body. She knew there were other outlanders in this city, but it took a real clown to use a potent discipline just to fuck around.

She growled in a tone that was unmistakeably inhuman, baring her teeth at the bird. "Fuck off."

--Pan
"FFFF-FINE. GH-GIHVE-" The bird seemed to struggle to speak clearly enough in this fashion when it came to certain words and sounds, but it was obviously committed. "GHI-ME A CIG FIRSTT- T- T- T."

--Patty
When Red turned back round, Patty was frozen, wide-eyed. If it had been quiet enough, she could have heard her heart thumping in her throat. "...no... no no no no..." She gave a kind of broken little smile, backing away and holding her mouth, "Noooo no no no no... no not again.. not again." By now she was stumbling, then walking as fast as she could without running down the street and holding her ears, "...not again, I'm fuckin' HEARIN' things I'm fuckin' HEARING THINGS... no no no no.."

--Syaka
Red groaned, covering her face with her hand. Great, now she had a traumatized human to deal with. Wonderful. Life had a way of reminding her just why she couldn't have nice things, not even for a damn cig and a coffee.

Like a sharpened blade, she turned her attention to the unfortunate crow as she  crawled up on the trash bin, fully intent on getting her ass up on the roof. "Fucking great. Just. Amazing. You happy now, you little cunt, or are you gonna wait until the sherrif turns us to ash to shut your fuckin' beak?"

--Pan
Just as Patty reacted the way she did, the bird's little shoulders slumped down, beak hanging slightly ajar in embarrassment and surprise. He didn't mean for...

Seeing Red approach, he flapped upward with a honking *SQUAWK!* and made eye contact with his fearful, beady little eyes.

*"W-wait!"* The bird spoke through Red's eyes in a tone she recognized. *"I didn't- I was just foolin'! The fuck is a sher- Not the point- I- Jeez, stop climbin'!"* As it made higher ground, its tone got increasingly nervous, but more than anything, genuinely apologetic.

*"Wait, Red, listen! You know ravens can get taught to... C-Can you tell your friend over there that, jeez, fuck- I don't know, you know an asshole named Pan and he was making a pet raven fuck with you? That's only, like, one degree of separation from the truth, right? And, ah, tell her I owe her one- I didn't think she'd get scared, comeon man, its like if a parrot did it!"*

--Syaka
Red wasn't listening as she made a grab for the bird, putting Pan in a very familiar position with her if she was successful.

From a distance, Patty may see Red atop of the roof, choking out a bird as she cusses and bitches about some "Pan" person, the sheriff, and dying.

--Patty
Patty had rounded a corner and put her back against the stonework of an older building, sliding down to a seated position as sobs start to come unbidden. She fights to hold them in, hyperventilating, gasping. She wouldn't be able to see or hear, her hands were over her ears and she was rocking back and forth.

"No no no, It was a dream. It was a dream. You dreamed it, you dreamed this. You're cracking up, Pat. I.. I.. I..." She cupped her hand over her mouth, trying hard not to scream.

--Pan
*SQUA-HGH-KCKK* The bird choked out a terrified caw.

*"C-Come on, Red, lemme go- I'm seriously sorry, I promise, I- Wait, can I just, apologize to her? Can you please p-put me down so I can-"* The bird coughed and squawked again, not even trying to kick its little legs against Red's clenched fist. *"I seriously, I wouldn't wanna seriously scare someone, I was just- Come on, man, I know it wasn't cool of me, but-"*

--Syaka
An ugly scowl washed over her face as she let him go, flaring her nostrils and pointing at him like a bad dog. She was dead, but her body remembered the thrills of adrenaline well enough to make her pant in anger. "*Fix your shit.*" She growled through her teeth, wiping off a bit of black fluff from her fingers. The Gangrel was angry beyond words, and while empathy for the girl was part of the reason for it, the masquerade remained her firstmost concern.

--Patty
She couldn't run, she could only rock back and forth, holding her mouth and making a pitiful noise, eyes pinched shut as she tried to rationalize, ignore, anything to make it not true. She was just hearing things, it wasn't the same thing in the woods. It was just her nerves. She was just tired*, she was just, just completely, utterly nuts.

".....please God, make this shit be not real. Please.."

--Pan
The bird's body, fluffed up with fear and shock, hit the ground with a tiny, lightweight *thud.* After quickly shaking its head, it wobbled upward to a sitting position, and began to grow.

Feathers melted away into well-worn clothes, long black hair, and greyish, freckled skin. Pan now sat on the ground as a man, slightly sore from Red's rough treatment. He tried not to let any resentment show on his face, though he *did* think that treatment was a *bit* unjustified. Blegh. Fuckin' older vampires are never gonna *not* be on his case, huh.

"I'll go talk to her. I really am  sorry, y'know..." Pan winced as he rose to his feet. "Now where did she go..." He followed down the direction Patty ran, but found that she was now out of sight. Well, fuck. although... The girl *did* reek of cigarettes. The smells of the city were still difficult for Pan to sort through, as he was still re-adjusting, but it was definitely his best option to try to find her, considering his particular gifts. He tilted his head upward somewhat, sniffing at the air. Cigarettes, smog, more cigarettes, more smog- Though... Yes! One particular trail made sense to him, a path of cigarette smoke and fearful sweat. That had to be it the way the girl went.

"Hey!" Pan called out as the smell grew stronger, nearing Patty's hiding spot. He turned a corner and saw her, realizing in a moment that she was sobbing .

--Pan
"Hey!- Oh... Um, your- Your name was Patty, right?"

If Patty looked over, she would see a somewhat short man, though not as short as *she* was, with sea salt-soaked hair, a bomber jacket, and a black medical mask covering up his mouth. That latter detail was odd, of course, but at least it stopped her from seeing what he hid beneath it. Now *that* would probably ruin her night *way* worse.

Pan no longer had to run after her, but his body took a moment to  ease back down. He scratched the back of his head, thick brows furrowing together. He was *not* good at trying to comfort people, so all he could do was offer the closest thing to the truth that he *could* tell, and hope she believed that he was genuinely sorry.

"Uh, listen, I'm sorry that I- Uh, well... The thing is, I was messin' with Red. That bird back there was just taught to mimic dirty words, is all. I'm really sorry for scaring you, I didn't want that."

--Patty
She covered her face, the hazel eyes peering through her fingers as she answered in a hoarse, "...eh? What? Who the fuck are you?" She let her hands drop, and she was already bloodshot, tears streaking down her face. Her look was defiant, though. "What are you talkin' about? I... I don't give a *shit about any birds!" She sniffed, wiped her nose on her arm and got up, clearing her throat. "Just.. just thought I heard somethin' is all. I didn't fucking duck out like a pussy, I just.. just had to.." She coughs, trying not to break into sobs again, "...I'm uh... I'm not.. not feelin' too good.. right now man. You're cute 'n' all but if you're lookin' for a tumble, I'm.. I'm just not feelin' it." She tried to break into a smile, but her eyebrows knit together as she did, betraying her fear and confusion.

"I'm.. I'mma go home.. I mean.. I'mma.. find a home.. or something.. a place to stay. Just.. Pat... just go Pat, stop talking, you fuckin' fruitcake." She then beamed at him and wiped her eyes, "So... uh, catch you later, right?" Her mock cheerful tone as quickly as her attempt at levity, and she just turned and walked on down the alley muttering to herself.

"Fuckin' cracked.. fuckin' lost it, Pats.. you're fuckin' looney toons. Shut up, goddamnit. Now you're ramblin' to yourself like a real nutso. Oh Jesus,... I need a drink.. I need a drink.."

And with that she slinked off to find some shelter and a place to soothe her fractured nerves.

--Pan
"Wait! You aren't, it really was just-" Pan called after her, but he knew it was no use. *"Fuck."* He whispered curses to himself. *"Piss. Ass. Jesus, just- Fucking fuck me with a metal bat. *Shit."*

Still certain that he was the one that made Patty freak out that badly, and she just didn't believe his excuse, he resolved to find her some other night, after she's had a bit of time to calm down. He felt terrible, Patty wasn't a *funny* level of scared, she seemed downright shaken by something. He wondered for a moment if she'd seen any *other* strange occurrences... That alone would've made it worth it to check up on her.

A hand ran nervously through his hair. He couldn't go back to Red, either, because, well, he actually *liked* keeping his body intact, and didn't wanna be mauled by a mountain lion. His only option was to slink into the shadows and avoid the both of them, just for the time being.

*"Fuck, goddamn, ass-"* Pan's frustration with himself eliminated his sense of originality with his curses, evidently. "That's *how* many shitlists I've made it onto now? Ugh..."