Rebecca was bored. She had bought herself another cocktail at the bar, she was rather fond of peach schnapps, it was always flavorful. The barman had looked at her a little strangely as she'd done so, normally customers didn't order a second drink if they were waiting for someone. Still, the customer was always right, and the service came quickly.  The clock struck 10. 

Looking at the usual losers at the bar, humans, lonely hearts, all trying to get some kind of pathetic connection with each other was amusing to her. She had half a mind to come into this place in her other form, just to see the looks on their faces. Would probably make their lives more interesting anyhow. She was simply waiting for the inevitable to happen. It always did. Her conservative dress sense, complete with grey jumper, nicely fitting blue jeans and shoes with just enough heel to make her look taller but not enough to be impractical, always made her look approachable. It was the way she liked it.  

"H-hey can I b-buy you a drink?"

And there it was, a  man about her age,  dressed in a suit. This one was trembling a little. Poor fellow, his friends laughing like schoolgirls in the booth just inside her vision gave her all the information she needed to know. 

Normally she'd have thrown the drink in the guy's face, declare that she had a boyfriend and leave with a smile on her face. Different bars of course, she didn't want a reputation for that! But she decided to humor this guy. Give his clearly quite sporty friends a little taste of their own medicine.

"Sure, and don't be so nervous...." She smiled in a more than friendly fashion, just so his friends could see. The scowls and looks of surprise were satisfying to watch. "I'll even give you my real number, so you can tell your friends over there to suck on it."

The man smiled at this, even laughed. "But before you ask, I'm not going to be taken home. I'm waiting for someone" this needed to come quickly, she wasn't that kind of woman. The man nodded respectfully, and they began talking. 

The conversation rolled on for as long as his friends could take it. They eventually pulled him away from her, but not before she blanked the (objectively more attractive) young men in favor of the person they'd tried to humiliate.  Not before the man had rung her number, and she had answered it , much to the horror of his "friends". Bullies and false friends sucked. Needless to say though, she was glad when they had all left. 

Now it was simply a cause of waiting, waiting for someone more interesting to turn up. The  clock struck 11. Soon it would be time to head back to her flat, it seemed fun was in  short supply around here.

It was just after 11. He had had a busy day. Setting up a drug dealer so he drew attention to a rival gang's operations had been a tightrope walk of plotting. The police had the man now. He wouldn't talk, which would just make the supposed connection of the planted evidence and the anonymous tip seem that much more incriminating. Either it would make him look like he'd tried to set up a friend, or he'd look set up, or he'd look like he was connected to someone, somewhere. Elliott could not control how the police reacted to the man, only what he had placed on the guy. And that would work right into his plans. But it had taken forever, and now, he wanted a drink.

As he entered the bar, the tall green-skinned man smoothed back his shiny black antennae, and surveyed the scene. This bar was always busy. There were a couple of women at the counter, talking to two men that looked to be their dates. The men wore nice dress clothes, had expensive-looking watches (that Elliott knew were knock-offs), and were feigning interest, with something a bit different on their minds. Elliott read them like a book. There was one woman that caught his interest. She had honey skin and dark blonde hair. He felt like he might have seen her around before, but that could simply have been wishful thinking.

Elliott sidled up to the bar, and sat down next to her. He didn't look at her. The bartender nodded at his order, Scotch, neat. The man poured the drink, and Elliott leaned forward against the counter top to mull over the liquor. He didn't speak to the woman immediately. People who did that sort of thing came off obvious. Plus, the scotch was good. Smooth. He wanted to take the moment and enjoy his drink.

Now this was a turn-up for the books, a visible mutant coming into the bar. Yes, Rebecca had noted him as he walked through. His green skin and black antennae were intriguing, and she bet that was not all he could do. Carefully dividing attention between her drink , the others in the bar and the alien-like man, she was able to avoid being too obvious.

Had she seen him somewhere before? Work maybe? She was pretty new at Jaager Worldwide, so wouldn't be surprised if she didn't know everyone yet. One thing was for sure, if she didn't remember him he couldn't be that senior, if he was from work at all. She noticed him reading the men and women at the bar, yep, their intentions were obvious, just like all humans. She didn't understand why women would want to interact with men who were so...basic.

Alien man walked up to the bar and sidled up next to her, without looking at her. Subtle. She liked that, not too obvious, gentlemanly. Clearly whoever had taught him manners had taught him well. She genuinely smiled at this, not revealing her teeth. He ordered his drink. Scotch, neat. A gentleman's drink, one that you could last for hours with and still hold a sensible conversation by the end of the night.

He took his first sip, they did a good scotch here. He seemed to enjoy it. This guy clearly knew what he wanted and when. Rebecca took another sip of Schnapps before speaking, after all, she'd come here for a nice drink if nothing else. Meeting someone interesting would simply improve the evening.

"Enjoying your drink?" She asked the alien calmly. "I've heard they do a good scotch here." She waited for a response quietly. "It's far more interesting than most of the drinks on offer here, besides Schnapps of course."

The woman spoke first. He always liked when women expressed interest that way, rather than forcing the man to make the first comment. It made it easy to pick up a thread of conversation that interested them, and it was more natural a progression than pick up lines and offers of drinks. If you caught a woman's interest, you could avoid that nonsense. Act normal, just talk, and what would be would be.

"It is a good scotch," he agreed, answering both the question of whether he was enjoying his drink, and the comment of how they made a good scotch here in one neat package. He rocked the glass gently, letting the alcohol flow against the glass's side. "Good brand. Smooth and a little smoky." Aged just the right amount. He had expensive tastes sometimes.

Since he had come from a busy job, it wasn't as if he was wearing a suit. He didn't look snobby or rich. He wore a nice blue button up shirt and good dark blue denim jeans, with a black leather belt and Chucks. Over the shirt, he wore a black leather jacket that looked smart.

"Schnapps is good, too." He agreed. "Those are both definitely more interesting than a cold beer." He smirked lopsidedly at her. "Guess we both have good taste. My name is Elliott. You?"

The woman had a look to her that struck him as a face he had seen recently in passing. It was nagging at him in the back of his mind while he spoke. He waited until she replied to his comment, then approached the subject.

"Forgive me if this is weird, but I feel like I've seen you around somewhere." He didn't think he had picked her pocket. He would have remembered that. Any other crimes, he felt the connection would have stood out as much. If she hadn't come at his throat, that meant he hadn't wronged her and if she wasn't outright throwing it in his face, it wasn't anything outstanding or important... which spun it down to make him consider the places he had been recently, and dismiss 'the street'. "I'm an intern at Jaager Worldwide. All I can think is 'work'." He left it to her to connect whatever dots there were. If she decided the question was too strange, and tossed her drink in his face, he'd have to console her over the loss of a fine glass of schnapps. But his criminal paranoia wouldn't let the thought go.

The way he was dressed wasn't in professional clothing, but it was very much a smart casual. Rebecca liked a man in a suit, but at least it looked like he'd made some kind of effort. Guys sometimes felt that it didn't matter what they looked like, and to a certain extent that was true for Rebecca. But goodness, it was nice to find someone dressed properly without looking like he'd come from an accountancy firm.

His remark about scotch made her smile. This man knew what was good when he tasted it. "I'm told they import it specially, from the UK." It was expensive too, not for those who didn't have good taste in drink. She took another sip of Schnapps as he was talking, keeping her eyes firmly on him. This was what straws were for.

She laughed at the remark about them both having good taste. "I would agree with you there" Real smooth. She held out her hand "Rebecca, pleased to make your acquaintance Eliot." Come to think of it, she'd seen him somewhere before...

Yes, he was at Worldwide! A flash of recognition came over her eyes. "Yes, I think you must have gone round with a tray of tea at some point. I'm pretty new at Worldwide so... um..." Her cheeks went slightly red. She hated admitting weakness. "I don't remember everyone yet. You'll have seen me at a desk for one of the minor managers there, handling phone calls, had to start somewhere." Hopefully he'd remember her, I mean, he had a pretty good memory right?

The bar was starting to clear slightly. Rebecca noticed that the two idiots with the fake watches were still there. Their "dates" had clearly blown them off. They were not so subtly looking at her now. Always a good idea to keep an eye on those types. She'd let them know she was unimpressed at some point.

>>"I'm told they import it specially, from the UK."

Like he'd said. Good stuff. He bobbed his head in a slight nod.

She gave her name, Rebecca. Elliott's lips pulled back in a smile that briefly revealed his jagged, zipper like teeth. "Ditto."

She confirmed his suspicion. It really was a small world. They both worked at JW. Yeah, he probably had brought her tea. He idly wondered which office she worked in. Not Jaager's. His white tiger secretary handled that. He smiled at her, lips closed, when she blushed. A minor manager, she clarified. "I see. No worries. Lot of people work for JW. Can't expect to know everyone immediately."

"How do you like it so far?" Elliott asked her. "JW's been pretty good to work for, for me. I want to make a name for myself and work my way up. Gotta start somewhere. Maybe some day, you'll work for the big guy upstairs." He poked one of his fingers up at the ceiling, leaving the other and the thumb curled in a fist.

He really did want to work his way up. Not as an intern, but as a mercenary. Something. He'd be something in the organization. Elliott was already working on setting his own pace with missions, and being his own boss. Ragnarok had better see his initiative and reward it. So long as he was getting paid, though, whatever happened didn't matter to him.

Elliott's focus was on the woman, so he didn't notice the looks the two men were giving the pair of them. Maybe they were looking at her, but it was just as likely they didn't approve of him.

Well, his smile was fascinating, those teeth looked exceedingly sharp. She smiled herself revealing extremely well kept teeth, with a slight, barely noticeable overbite. She quickly concealed her teeth once more, nervous to show her smile for too long. She still had most of her drink left , so took another sip.

"True, but if you get the name wrong of someone important, particularly the Tiger secretary, you can get a few growls." She remembered making that error on her first day, the woman was not pleased at all. Still, she turned out to be thankfully more forgiving than her reputation in that particular case.

"I enjoy working at JW, still more now Jaager is planning this Utopia project. I think it sounds wonderful, not having to deal with uninteresting people." She meant humans by this, and made that very clear. She laughed at the idea of working for Mr Jaager "I doubt the Tiger secretary would be too happy with me if that happened" she responded. "His vision though, I am extremely happy to work for".

The men were getting more agitated the more they saw her responding to what Eliott was saying. She leaned in to him. She made sure it looked like she was propositioning the Alien-like mutant from the distance the men were looking, swallowing the rest of her drink just before she spoke.  "a couple of guys don't seem to be happy that we're talking with each other" she whispered to him. "I think we can continue this conversation more... privately? Best not start a bar fight. They'll follow us out I'm sure."

That got those guys riled. One of them nearly walked up to the two of them, but was stopped by his friend. Smart move friend, too bad they were unlikely to leave well enough alone. She was going to enjoy this quite a bit.

The woman was quick to hide her smile. He couldn't see why. It was a nice smile. Elliott never noticed the imperfection of the overbite.

>>"True, but if you get the name wrong of someone important, particularly the Tiger secretary, you can get a few growls."

"Haha, yeah." Elliott agreed. That was true.

She spoke about Utopia. Elliott let her. He had no real opinion. There wasn't much he could comment on about that. He nodded about Jaager's vision, though. It was that. Though what the vision's goal was, nobody would really know until the end.

Rebecca leaned in close, and Elliott focused on her face as she spoke. It seemed a few people didn't like that she was talking to an alien. Hmmmm. He wondered who those people could be, if not the obvious awkward people nearby, staring. It wasn't his first reaction, glancing their way. He made note of it, and let it ride in the back of his mind as he listened to her.

"Sure. Let's get out of here," Elliott agreed mildly. The smile on his face wasn't one people wore when they lead others on. It was polite, not improper. There was no reason for that, based on the cues he'd received. It wouldn't do for a man to read too much into something. Elliott took a casual drink, and caught the reflection of the men watching them out of the corner of the mirror. Elliott placed a few bills on the counter, as payment, as tip. Then, he rose and nodded towards the doors. He finished his drink, tilting it back, then started, expecting Rebecca to follow.

He had a pleasant smile, she thought as the alien mutant finished his drink. Rebecca stood up quickly in response to Eliott's cues. Good, she didn't have to pay for the last drink it seemed. He was a true gent. Rebecca headed towards the doors, letting Eliott lead the way, after all, those suits looked like they were the type to hit a man from behind if they got the chance.

The cold of the winter's air became obvious as they left the bar, a light blanket of snow was forming on her exposed skin. Not a good idea. Cold. Water. She would have to be pretty quick. At least she wasn't immersed. Hurriedly, Rebecca began fiddling around in her large purse. It needed to be practical, no point in having a simple coin purse usually, unless you were really in a rush. She took a nice, woollen, conservative cardigan out, and quickly put it on. Next was a matching hat and mittens. All had distinct animal motifs, and she couldn't help but smile nostalgically at the mouse mittens. A little bit of childhood fancy never hurt anyone. She couldn't help but blush slightly of what Eliot might think of them.

"With the snow and ice around, I thought it best to put a few warmer things on..." she said, almost attempting to distance herself from what must have seemed quite immature clothing. "They're comfortable..." she turned even more scarlet if that was  possible.  He was probably going to laugh at her. That's what men normally did when they saw her "winter dress".

A gust of wind swept down the street towards them, bitter and cold. The black leather jacket helped insulate him from the cold, but even with it, New York was terrible this time of year. He turned up the jacket's collar against the wind, then reached into a pocket for a black stocking cap. He pulled it down over his bare scalp and antennae as the woman he was with pulled on her cute mouse mittens. Elliott let a lopsided smile alter his expression as he glanced at Rebecca.

"That's a good idea," he replied warmly. His voice had a hint of amusement to it, but he held back any laughter or knowing smiles. Those usually made people self conscious. It wasn't fair to make someone self conscious about doing something that was as good as common sense. "They look good, too." Elliott added, after a moment. Comfortable, and they look good too. That was how the conversation had progressed.

He kept walking, but not blindly. The reflection of the men in a passenger-side car mirror showed him what they looked like, and their expressions. Helped him keep a tab on them for the inevitable moment when they'd approach.

"Have you had a chance to visit it. Utopia, I mean. I haven't." Elliott offered, conversationally. One more comment escaped him, a mild explanation that contained no disdain at all. "Been putting it off."

Rebecca smiled genuinely at the compliments to her mittens. While not exactly fashionable, it was nice to get complements about them. One guy at her university had termed them "adorable", she still got a message from him occasionally... Such a shame he was married now, missed opportunities and all that. "Thanks, they've done quite well for me over the years. Most people laugh at them."

As they kept walking Elliot asked about Utopia "I haven't personally, though I'm told it's definitely a sight to see, they've put a lot of effort into it. I just hope it's all that we dreamed for. There have been so many disappointments for our kind." She couldn't help but stick on a poignant tone to the conversation, there had been many before Utopia, and there would be many after.

The men had started following the two of them out, they had rather nice overcoats on. Rebecca needed a new one. She leaned in to the alien mutant and whispered "so how are we going to deal with those guys? Do you have somewhere in mind?" There were plenty of back alleys about in the area, but maybe Elliot had somewhere better to conduct a fight?

Most people laugh at them, she had said. Elliott smiled at that. "I can't imagine why."

Her response about utopia made him stop walking for a fraction of a second. Just a footstep off from the rest of the walking pace of the conversation. A barely noticeable pause. But it was there. Not because of anything dramatic. Just the "our kind" comment. He hunched his shoulders down and stuffed his hands in his pockets. He wasn't a mutant. He wondered why he had even brought utopia up. He shrugged it off a second later, though. It was just a reminder of how lonely the world was when you were the only one of your kind. That was all. He felt very cold. "Yeah," he said. "I'm sure it is"

Hopefully these guys wanted to fight because he suddenly felt like kicking something. Which sucked because he'd been having a nice time.

Rebecca leaned in close to whisper to him, and Elliott strained his ears to hear her. His inner ears. The ones that were inside his head, kind of like a snakes ears. His alien ears. His antennae twitched slightly.

Well, it seemed like she wasn't opposed to them handling the guys. A crooked smile tilted on his face. "There's an alley about 100 feet away from us. When we go in, find cover. I'll jump them." Quite literally, actually. He didn't figure she wanted to be included in the fighting. It was entirely possible he was an assumption-making ass.

She laughed again at his comment. "Well, some people find mice and owls really funny I guess." She joked. It had been a running gag at university after all. The key thing however was telling which was which. Most guys couldn't tell the difference.

It seemed that her response to Utopia was somewhat uncomfortable hearing for Elliot it seemed. The short sentences, the hunched over shoulders, the hands in pockets. "Are you OK?" she said, placing a hand on his forearm, in an attempt at comforting him. Had she said something wrong? Way to go Rebecca, making a friend and then saying that, this is why you don't discuss politics, she thought to herself.

Clearly asking about how to handle the guys cheered him up slightly, as Elliot smiled at her whispers. An alleyway? That would fit very nicely. " Sounds like a good plan, I can show you a few of the things I can do there..." she raised her voice slightly with that comment.

The alleyway was coming up on their right, hopefully Elliot would let her have some of the fun. The kills she could make when she was feeling creative were often a sight to see for mutants that hadn't seen them before. 

"Yeah." Elliott said. She had asked him if he was fine. He was fine. Not mutant but fine, and anything else could come later. And they could move on! Nice of her to act concerned though.

In the alley way, he was going to let her hide, and jump down at them from a fire escape. Then he'd kick them to kingdom come. That would scare them. Or maybe he'd kick a trash can a thousand yards and spook them. Send them running and tripping over themselves, and -- wait. She wanted to show him what she could do? That sounded almost like she wanted to fight. Not that women can't fight. Hell, he had seen Aura flare up that aura, and she was the stuff of legends. Right up there with bone bikini babe Isabel. Some people had even given her the nickname, issue, on account of that bone bikini babe issue. It was kind of a stretch, but... did this woman really want to fight with him? Like, alongside him?

He hadn't stopped smiling as he had considered all of the things. "Might be a little forward but if you're going to have my back, care to tell me what you can do? I have a hell of a kick and I can jump like some kind of grasshopper. I'm not a mutant. Being up front here. Those are just things that alien me can do." He was still smiling. Like. An. Idiot. "Some people might think I'm in denial. But I've seen the space pod." Like some sort of comic book super hero from outer space. His comment would probably raise some eyebrows but it might also explain the weirdness of the utopia reaction. The green man stopped where he stood, and turned towards the alley way. He had not waited to hear her reactions, or given her the chance to say any thing. Now, he lead the way into the alley so they could finish that talk.

The two men were still a ways back, but they saw the green man duck into the alley. T-minus two minutes, and counting.

So this guy thought he was an alien? Well who was she to judge his beliefs? Could be that he was right, for all intents and purposes though he was mutant, at least for what most human supremacists would think. "That's cool, still, you're welcome with all the mutants, as you are at least...different genetically to everyone else, so it works." But to more important stuff, he wanted to know what she could do.

"I'm trained in Krav Maga, and I am a shifter, but to go through the specifics would take too much time, basically, I could take both of them on my own, but it's nicer to do these kind of things with someone" She smiled at Eliot at that last remark. No blushing required, this was going to be fun.

"I want one of their overcoats, just to say. I think it'll be warmer with one, and I need a new one anyway." Souvenirs from her attackers were always fun, she had appreciated the kitchen knife, now used for her vegetables. She was getting pretty excited at the prospect. But there was one thing she needed to ask. "One thing, how lethal do you wanna be?"