Match of the Millennium

Description: Velvet Blue and Jace Timmons meet to discuss what had happened during the events of The Droste Box, Jace curious about the supernatural happenings he found himself involved in.

[JACE]
The call placed to Skeeter Brown, manager of the retired pop singer named Jace Timmons, leads to a very terse call. He knows something happened, evidently, but isn't entirely sure what at this point. The call seemed expected though, and Velvet Blue was told that Jace Timmons would be incognito at Beat Square in Metro City. Upon confirmation, there were more exact directions and a time in the afternoon given.

True to the word, there's a man in a hoodie and dark sunglasses standing not too far from the entrance to the subway. In one hand, he holds a cellphone that he watches carefully. In the other, there's a bag from one of the many stores that surround the square. Every so often, he tears his eyes away from the cellphone to look up, around, up to the billboards, then back down again.

[VELVET BLUE]
Velvet Blue was wearing a jacket over their normal gear, so they might be just a tad more harder to spot--even though that Jace would be able to notice the funny-eared half-fae probably from a good distance away--walking between more normal folks who seemingly had no idea the person walking next to them was not entirely human. Metro had experienced attacks from Darkstalkers in recent times, so non-humans tended to get a level of heat--thankfully, whatever Velvet had talked about Jace being able to 'see' him was true, as opposed to others that couldn't.

"Hello," Velvet approached slowly, the long quarter-length dark jacket covering most of their body, sliding a dark-nailed hand free from the jacket to give a little wave, before tilting their head. "Did you want to walk and talk, or go somewhere? I figured we had a bit to talk about."

[JACE]
As he is greeted, Jace looks up towards Velvet Blue. He regards the half-fae from behind the hater blockers for a time, and then deposits his cellphone into his pocket. With the same hand that just dropped the phone into his pocket, he reaches out to offer his hand for a shake, "Heya."

Whether his hand is shaken or not, Jace returns it to the pocket of his hoodie. He takes a look around and the comments, "A bit, yeah. Let's walk and talk. A conversation in one place for too long can be overheard, and I don't think I want what we're talking about over."

He takes a look left and right, then turns, beginning to walk down the edge of Beat Square. After a few moments, he takes a look back to check if Velvet followed him. If so, he'll simply ask, "So what was that, exactly? I don't think it was a bad trip anymore. Skeeter talked me out of that."

[VELVET BLUE]
The half-fae, or half-darkstalkers, whatever you'd term them--does indeed take the offered handshake, returning a warm, strong one with a smile. Velvet still seemed to be apologetic about the previous events between them, if the look on their face had been any indication. The greeting seemed to help.

"Evening... alright," Velvet would indeed follow along, the tip of the blue spaded tail visible trailing behind him beneath the hem of the jacket, if Jace turned his head to look.

"Talked you out of what...? also, how do you feel? I realize being subjected to a entity like what we did could be a bit traumatic, to say the least," he looked back at Jace, stepping a bit more quickly to keep pace with him. Yes, Vel was still wearing the huge chunky boots, but seemed to be pretty adept in them.

"/What/ was it is a little hard to describe--sometimes a place can develope a presence, sometimes this is just replaying past events on a loop, most people who aren't sensitive to such don't even notice it--but sometimes they can acquire a certain... presence, or can be cursed--I think what that was was more similar to the latter--it was a trap, of some kind."

[JACE]
Jace seems to be handling the entire ordeal with a certain level on non-chalance or unscrutability. He looks back towards Velvet for a moment, shaking his head, "He talked me out of thinking what had happened had anything to do with drugs of any kind." His shoulders rise and fall, as he adds, "That's never been a problem though, so why would it have been? It was just the only logical explanation."

After a moment's consideration, Jace shakes his head, "I feel fine, bro. It wasn't my worst whatever day it was ever." He there is a pause before the former pop star continues, "It wasn't even the first time someplace has tried to kill me. Just..." He concludes with a shrug, "That was the first time it was so overt about it."

Jace considers what was said for a moment before he asks, "Was it a trap for you, me, or someone else?"

[VELVET BLUE]
"It definitely was not drugs, or anything of that sort, no," Velvet sighed a little bit. "It's not fine for me, I'm not supposed to hurt people," he paused a little bit, staring at Jace, before continuing to walk again, shaking his head. "I don't know if it was due to stress of the situation, or what--it's complicated for me..." Velvet brushed their hair back behind their ears, tucking it away for the moment.

"A trap for anyone, it was a pocket dimension, someone oe something wanted to represent the house the way it used to be, maybe the house itself, wanting people to /be/ there, I don't know... it was difficult for me to figure out how to break it's hold, but I guess we stumbled into that ourselves," Vel gestured. "The space was tied to the painting, so when we ruined the house we ruined the painting."

[JACE]
With an arching of his eyebrow, Jace replies with a simple, "Huh?" He then shakes his head, "You can't let that worry you. If it had worried me, that fight would have been a lot different in tone and technique." He trails off, his eyebrows knitting together, "People hurt each other. For profit, sport, or just because it's a day ending with 'Y'. I don't think I can say it's the human condition anymore, but it's a mortal one."

"So yeah," he begins, with a shake of his head, "Stop taking your shoes so seriously."

He takes the words into consideration, then his eyes narrow, "So can I film a series there now without the crew getting stuck in a pocket dimension?"

[VELVET BLUE]
"Darkstalkers... and the fae, hurt humans, they steal things, kidnap people--I hold myself to a higher standard, I have to--otherwise sooner or later I'll wind up like them," Velvet sighs. "At least, that's the idea, it's not just like... having a fight with your friend, or something--at least, not for me," he just sort of looks at the man, when the joke about his shoes are made, before he slowly starts to smile again.

"I don't have worry about them, I know they're fabulous already," he says that with a mainly deadpan kind of tone, though, before they shrug a little.

"Wait... what, you'd want to go back in there and searched for more cursed shit?" Velvet raises his brows, as if this seemed ridiculous of an idea. "After what we went through...? How is the arm, by the way," he asks offhandedly, as if distracted.

[JACE]
Jace listens, but his head is certainly on a swivel as they make their way through crowds. He nods his head slowly as he processes the information. His head tilts, "Is that the way it is across the board though? For all darkstalkers or fae? I mean... Humans hurt humans, too, but some don't."

Shooting Velvet a quick grin, "I don't know. I only implied that wherever you bought them also didn't offer options for designer colognes and you took it personal."

He then waves a hand, "My arm's fine, and maybe yeah. Wouldn't you watch a show where someone goes in, cleans out all the magical ick, then all the normal ick too, then renovates it and sells it for an obscene profit considering the actual effort put in?"

He raises his hands up to the billboards, wiping to the side as if he sees the name in lights already, "Occult Overhauls."

[VELVET BLUE]
"A lot of them it's nature--like vampires, werewolves, other creatures that can't really control it, or themselves--not every vampire I've run into has been able to talk, for example, those are the really grisly cases," Velvet just continues walking, his tone a bit more casual here, clinical. "Those that can well--who would you trust with supernatural powers, or immunity to bullets? some of them just do what they do because they can, or don't give a shit," he glanced at Jace again, raising just one brow this time, and a bit more subtly.

"Well, it sounded like you were calling me basic, couldn't help it," he grinned, then seemed transfixed about what Jace said next.

"So... you wanna try and make a reality TV show out of poking at things like that? I know you've got some kinda energy power, but..." he seemed to think it over, for a moment. "Sounds like a spooky autobody shop, hon," the half-fae smiled a little again, rubbing their chin.

"Still, you're probably gonna try to do it whether I try to talk you out of it or not, and I did say I'd try to help..."

[JACE]
Jace scrunches up his nose as he listens, then nods his head, "Yeah, I guess you're right. When I was a kid, I was a good martial artist and an incredible asshole because of it. I can't imagine how I would have behaved with supernatural powers." He finally shrugs, "Yeah, you're right. Fair enough."

With a laugh, Jace shakes his head, "Not at all. Shoes like that are a specialty item, I think. You don't get them at your every day discount shoe store. Don't they even have to be custom fitted? Why would shoe stores sell cologne." He then goes on the explain, "I was insulting you, to be clear, buy not for your shoes. In fairness, you had just called me sleazy and washed up."

He them stops, frowning slightly. He looks around, as if trying to find something somewhere. At last, he just grunts, "Damn it, you're right. I might as well film a show called Occult Oil Change. Just drive your car in and we'll give it 4 more quarts and an exorcism. Except coal-rolling pickup trucks. Fuck them."

"Damn."

He continues walking, "I wouldn't mind making a TV show about that, no. There's not a lot of that, ligitimately, out there right now. We could geurilla market it. Film the main series, cut a deal with a streaming service for content distribution, monetize ancillary streams through filming interstitials that cater to certain ad revenue streams for a value added experience. Synergy."

[VELVET BLUE]
"I can tell you were aspiring to be something greater, at least from what I felt about you the first time," Velvet spoke softly, not wanting to offend. "My kind of fae are more... sensitive to human emotions, but not for the reasons you might think," Vel waggled a finger, as if warning a little. "Some of us draw power from emotional run off, like humans experiencing certain things," he looked up again, a bit more positively. "For me, it's desire--but we'll get into that later--and it's more... any kind of strong feeling for something you want."

"You've been thinking a lot about this, haven't you--" Vel seems almost a little lost in all of that. Granted, he used to be more into computers before--well, before a lot of things had happened to him.

"You believe I wanted to do theater when I was younger? Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde... well," he grinned at that, shrugging--brightening a little. "I suppose I could try it, beats driving across the US and staking biters and getting trapped in paintings."

[JACE]
"That's..." Jace trails off, tilting his head from side to side while he concludes, "accurate."

He listens as he walks, squinting his eyes as he Velvet's explanation of his kind. He then nods his head, "I get that. I've been likened to an emotional vampire, but it's more of a convoluted pathway to it than 'I was born that way', y'know?"

Jace is quick to not in agreement with Velvet's assertion, "It's been on my mind a lot, lately. I want to start entertaining and fighting again. Someone told me six years ago that I have enough money to never have to work again, and I took him too seriously. Lost my wife because I was just sitting around too much."

With a twist of his head and an evil grin, Jace peers towards Velvet Blue, "You? Theater? I never would have guessed." He then waves a hand, "You really struck me more as a win the big game by Friday, get drunk by Saturday, be absolved of your sins by Sunday, enter parenthood by Monday sort of high school kid, Velvet."

"Why didn't you?"

[VELVET BLUE]
"Mm, sorry to hear that," Velvet responds to the news of his separation. "I understand how that can be tough for someone..." Vel then looked up at Jace again, a little surprised by their question. "And here I was thinking you'd make a joke about--nevermind," he shook his head. The bat-eared performer however stopped and had to look away for a moment.

"It's kind of personal--but..." he began, gesturing to themselves as they walked a little closer to Jace to try to make it more confidental.

"When I was in college I got 'noticed' and kidnapped, sold on a market to one of the lords, demon world lords--this is where all this comes from--" Vel gestured to their eyes and ears. "Bit of a long story, and it's personal--but they like to change their pets, improve them," a beat, "I suppose I didn't get that bad of a deal out of it, but--I wasn't letting them have their way about it," the half-fae's mood seemed to brighten a bit, after getting that out there. "Not the best thing for the mood we had going, I know."

[JACE]
As Velvet looks at him with a surprised expression, Jace lifts an eyebrow as he replies archly, "Please, I'm a reformed asshole. Thank you."

For a moment, an actual look of disgust crosses Jace's face, "That really sucks. I'm sorry that happened to you. Nobody deserves having something like that happen to them."

Jace takes a moment to stop at a crosswalk, letting cars pass as he turns towards Velvet and nods his head in agreement, "It definitely impacted the witty banter we had going, for sure." He takes a moment and then adds, "I've never seen a pair of shoes that could be improved by velcro until I met you in a pocket dimension."

He shrugs, adding with a quick grin, "Just saying."

[VELVET BLUE]
"I can't really describe what it feels like or how I was able to get through it, but it definitely shows people can go through a lot," Velvet peered back over at Jace again as they sat there, stopped, not seeming to mind sharing this moment.

"Velcro...? Please, these zip up the back," Velvet closed his eyes and grinned a little, head bowing just a little bit. "The heels are also reinforced with titanium rods and the boots themselves I try to line with kevlar sheets if I can--protects against things like knives or claws but not against ice picks," Vel added, more conversationally. Which... probably seemed a bit odd, since it was oddly specific.

"I've had to test their construction here and there, not that like ruining nice things, but..." he gestured as if 'watcha gonna do', before continuing, "It's a thing with me, all this stuff--the costume--is armor--in figurative and literal ways--also used it as a disguise, I don't need anyone recognizing me and tracking down people I know, so I go out like this even if I'm not gonna be on stage," he probably hasn't gone over the whole 'cabaret performer' thing with Jace yet...

[JACE]
Listening to the reply regarding Velvet's boots, Jace looks down to peer at them and then nods, "Yeah, that's better."

He listens further, nodding his head, "That makes sense." He then comments, "It reminds me of a costume designer we had one of my larger tours. He liked to talk about the three F's. Functional and fucking fabulous."

Jace reaches up, scratching his head beneath his hoodie as he considers Velvet, "Yeah. We can do this. Do you have an agent?"

[VELVET BLUE]
"Anyway... sorry to bore you with all that, I don't have an agent though, but I do have some... associates of mine that I can be reached at, I'll give you their number, they handle my club when I'm not there," Velvet hadn't even told Jace about the club yet. Gasp. Now it's time for Velvet to slide Jace a card--though this isn't a nicely customized one like his--in fact it's just a phone number.

"If you call and want to speak to me, I'll get back to you--or if you need to find me in person, well... they can give you the directions, I like to rotate the entrance every so often," Velvet asided casually, but what the heck did that even mean?

"I'll catch you later, Jace... sorry again, but I'll be around," Velvet smiled at the man and gave him a little wave, before heading off their own way.

[JACE]
Squinting, Jace shoots Velvet a confused look, "Bored?" The question is asked, but Jace continues on as if not really expecting an answer, "Well, if you're going to be involved in the show, you really gotta' have someone familiar with the ins and outs of negotiating an industry deal to protect your interests and get you the best rate possible."

He drops the card in his pocket and grins, "I'm going to have Skeeter reach out to you. I can't recommend enough that you make the meetings with the people he introduces you to. He's good people, and that's a rarity."

There is an expression of confusion passing over his face at the mention of a rotating entrace to a club, but the week Jace has had? That's not the highest thing on his list.

Jace lifts a hand to offer a wave back to Velvet before he turns, looks both ways, and crosses the street to carry on with his walk. As soon as he's safely across the street, the phone is in his hand and he's making a call, "Hey, can you bring the car around? I'm at..."

His voice trails off as he disappears into the crowd.

Log created on 18:19:00 12/20/2023 by Jace, and last modified on 23:41:41 12/20/2023.