Participants:
Scene Title | A To Z |
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Synopsis | When Adam met Zoe… |
Date | November 5, 2008 |
A Club In Manhattan
Linderman owns many clubs. And as Linderman's employee, Zoe can get into well, any of them. Thing is? She's not really one for going out and clubbing. She tends to leave the Boogie Wonderland at home, where she can feel safe doing the Electric Slide in her pj's. So the club she's in tonight is really more of an upscale Manhattan bar, althought not too terribly upscale, since she's more or less dressed in work clothes - dress and cardigan. At the moment she's people-watching through her tortoise shell glasses, nursing her mojito as she mentally catalogs the course of her day.
Bars are a great place to put one's finger on the pulse of the city - to learn (or re-learn) its culture, to get back in touch with its young people. Adam is doing just that on this particular evening, and he's leaned up against the bar of the club with a tall glass of beer held between his hands, chatting up a pair of lovely American twentysomethings who think his accent is Just So Cute. The immortal seems to be a little less than engaged in the conversation; he's quickly coming to the conclusion that most of New York's youth is vapid and mentally handicapped. Accordingly, he excuses himself - and pushes off the bar, starting to wander the club with his drink in hand.
Zoe is certainly what some might designate a Wallflower - the bowed shoulders, the sensible hair (pulled away from her face, only saved by its utter redness), the glasses. But as she continues to people watch, she suddenly blinks, and squints, and straightens her shoulders, a mildly alarmed look on her face. Like she caught someone juggling Ming vases or Faberge Eggs. Except she's peering after Adam, who is neither a vase nor an egg.
Adam might not be one of Faberge's creations, but as far as he's concerned he's the best darnedest creation set forth on the Earth by God himself. That's got to count for something, right? He's attentive, too - and it takes him no time at all to notice that he's being looked at. A tingling sense brings him to look over his shoulder, and soon the regenerator's blue eyes rivet on Zoe's face. He makes no move in her direction, but stops where he is and perks an eyebrow.
If Zoe had anything resembling a club predator's glance, it might be all come-hither, but it isn't, and she's not. When he looks at her she blinks owlishly, turns a faint red (which with the red hair, gives a momentary resemblance to a birthday candle) and does the nervous eye dart thing. Grabs for her mojito. Ahh, liquid courage. With something to warm her belly, she sneaks another look at Adam, and then slides off her barstool.
Though Adam hasn't the first clue as to what Zoe's intentions are - and they could be awful - he doesn't budge an inch from his position. He simply lifts his glass and takes a generous sip of his beer, never taking his eyes off the woman who seems to be heading his way. Dozens of possible greetings flit their ways through his mind. As it is, once the woman is close enough it becomes clear that he's settled on "Your eyes will stick like that if you stare for too long."
Zoe processes the greeting, crinkles her nose, and ignores it. "I know you." she says bluntly. "I just don't know from where." It'll click, maybe, in a few moments, and that'll be a whole 'nother round of gawk. "Do you know where I might know you from? I'm sorry to be rude. You just…stick out." She's so factual about it that it's miles from a come-on. At least in her head.
Lame come-ons are supposed to come from men and are to be delivered to women. Adam is fairly certain. It has been so for the last three-hundred-odd years. That is why he's found himself sort of staring at Zoe in something half amusement and half puzzlement. "I don't know where you think you know me from, but I am fairly certain that I don't know you."
"Well, that doesn't surprise me." she says, with a faint roll of her eyes. It's only a /little/ rueful. "Maybe I've seen you at a Linderman Group function? One of the museum benefits? I could swear…" she trails off, and she stares at him again. Like ohmygod, something hit her like lightning. Her eyes are saucers. "You're…you…" she flounders a moment, and then lifts her chin. "I know where I've seen you before."
This is a little out of the depth of normalcy; someone who has been locked away for thirty years shouldn't be recognizable at /all/, and Zoe seems to actually be serious. The mention of Linderman just makes it all the more valid. Adam frowns at her thoughtfully, knitting his brow, and folds one arm over his chest while taking another drink. "Where, pray tell, have you seen me before?"
"Italy." she says. "Or maybe it was somewhere around the Washington, Oregon area." She's watching him, not particularly catlike, but yeah, there's something of a study going on there. "Or maybe it was Japan." Somewhere, surely the Twilight Zone theme is playing. Adam was around in the 60's, after all. But the locations she's naming are earlier than that.
This is an unfinished scene that establishes a connection between Adam and Zoe. Posted with permission of staff.
November 5th: The Restaurant At The End Of The Universe |
Previously in this storyline… Next in this storyline… |
November 5th: Make A Splash |