Anastasia Andrushkiv
Singer/Flapper
Totally fucked, will they mess you up? Well you know they're gonna try...
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Post by Anastasia Andrushkiv on Jun 17, 2015 1:30:12 GMT -5
The dressing room is always a bustle with activity around this time of night, Ana tend to try and block all the background noise out for the most part. She part her lips slightly as the brush ran gently along it. She had been doing this act for a few months now and it was like second natural to her. Red lips painted on and black around her eyes. And even though Anna hated the background noise that always seemed to throw her off her game a little bit as the other girls rushed around trying to get ready she wouldn't trade this for the world. Sure she had the second job to do after which she had slowly grown to like well enough as well but on the stage... that was where she belong. A few girl rushed back trying to find the garters for their stockings and she rolled her eyes. She needed to clear her head before she did what she did best.
Ana got up and walked out into the club, it was empty for the most part. The staff was getting ready, the musician warming up as she looked over at the manger and asked "Do you mind if I warm up out here?" He gave a stiff nod and she smiled some before going back to counter the liquor for the evening. A job that was tightly controlled and even she had not been given access to that information yet. Maybe in time she will or maybe not, then she could always just find out the old fashion way. But it didn't matter right now she had a job to do and she needed to focus and warm up. She walked up on to the stage and looked over at the band. Most of them have been here longer than she has been but tonight there was one new face... No wait not knew she had seen it before.
"Knight?" She looked at the Piano play, her head tilted in confusion. What was he doing all the way up here? Last time she saw him he was down in New York city playing up some of the finest clubs the city had to offer but that was years ago. Part of her was happy to see a familiar face after so long but it also made her heart jump in a slightly uncomfortable way. No one was suppose to find her working up in this sleepy wizarding town and yet here he was...
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Knight
Freelance Pianist
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Post by Knight on Jun 17, 2015 1:48:29 GMT -5
Sometimes, have a bit of a reputation was damn useful. Back in the city, he couldn't have counted the number of times he'd had to beg for gigs, or when times were tight, to even touch a piano. But out here in the sticks, at least compared to NYC, they'd practically begged him to play. Perhaps coming out here to watch his idiot cousin wasn't the career break he'd thought, but rather an opportunity to... diversify his audience. Knight ran his fingers along the keys, not touching them for the most part, but making sure the odd key was still in tune. You would think that a Speakeasy would be worse than a bar at taking care of an instrument, but clearly whoever ran this place was loaded enough to keep a good piano, and presumably a tuner in business.
And as things always go, it suddenly turned out that he was not alone in this little town. It had been a while, but he had a pretty good memory for faces. It was handy to be able to remember everyone you met when you met so many potentially useful people. Half the people in the city considered you a friend if you could recall the first letter of their first name after two weeks. She still seemed to be singing, but clearly she'd made some kind of similar decision to get away from the cutthroat jazz scene to somewhere more relaxed. And apparently, somewhere just as wealthy. Probably had something to do with the school. Or alcohol, even. The booze trade was definitely the best way to get rich quick at the moment.
"You know, I probably wouldn't have recognized you without your get up, Ana." He spun himself around so that he wasn't facing her on a weird angle anymore. She clearly had mixed feelings about seeing him, but then again, he'd hardly intended on having to dance around an old friend either. It would make integrating with the wizarding community he supposed was around the area that much harder. "I'm going to take a wild stab and say that you're the fantastic singer that the bassist was gushing about." Knight pointed over to a guy, whose immediate reaction was to blush and look away. Bumpkin. "I think they're going to be disappointed that I won't be totally blown away by your voice. I promise it's just because I've heard you before," he teased.
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Anastasia Andrushkiv
Singer/Flapper
Totally fucked, will they mess you up? Well you know they're gonna try...
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Post by Anastasia Andrushkiv on Jun 17, 2015 19:35:16 GMT -5
She couldn't believe her eyes, it really was Knight. Probably one of the best piano players she had ever seen who like her worked the NYC scene begging any club, bar or place with a stage to let her up on it to sing. And for a girl that grew up in the rich upperclass world begging for work was a scary thing but she quickly got over it. It was what it took to become a star and then some, and she really got the and then some down flat. Now she in a sleepy little town where she was pretty much the star and Knight pointing out the bass player and watching him blush just sort of confirmed that. Ana blushed herself and she shook her head. "Oh please you have played for plenty of girls more talented than me."
She moved to lean on the piano, her fingers running over the top as she smiled some. Well she might as well at least be nice, ask how he is doing and all that Jazz. "So what brings you up this way? Last time I heard from you, you were playing down in New York. Long way from the big times Knight, like way way way way off broadway." She said with a small sigh because what Star really wants to be working sleepy little speakeasy up here? Oh right she does because of the thing.... Right the thing...
Ana gave her head a small shake before fixing her dress and looking over at Knight. "Also can you be a doll and play something sweet so I can warm up a little bit. Can't do it in that dressing room. I can't even hear myself thinking in that place. All those girls screaming about lipstick and panties. Nobody understand the focus it takes anymore or the dedication."
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Knight
Freelance Pianist
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Post by Knight on Jun 17, 2015 20:05:54 GMT -5
"Maybe a few divas, but they come and go. Real talent has staying power, and you've got that in droves." Knight had a bit of a problem with compliments. It had never quite clicked, at least in regards to music, that compliments were sort of a commodity, given for reasons. Insults were usually traded in a similar way. Whereas he simply spoke his mind. Lying about a musician's ability was, in his opinion, far too cruel an act to consider. It had gotten him banned from a couple of bars after being too candid when the owner's son took a spin on the piano, and it was almost definitely why he had never had any students. He probably would have made them cry, entirely accidentally.
Way, way, way, way off Broadway. That's one way to put it. Not that he'd ever managed to play for a show, yet, but the last time that he'd been to one he'd seen a couple of important looking people eying him off. It may not be all that far away. Depending how long he stayed here, out of the spotlight, that is. "Would you believe that I have a runaway cousin that I am apparently responsible for now? Goes to a school near here, I have to stay to keep him out of trouble. Bit of a nuisance, but I think a more relaxed atmosphere might do me a bit of good. What about you, you just up and vanished one day? The grumbling from some of your regular venues was more than a bit noticeable. And, I might add, your immediate successor could sing about as well as one of the bald eagles this country is so mad about."
"Certainly, darl'." The American slang scraped against his throat as it came out, and he made a decision to not try that again. "Say, you up for a little duet? I've been working on my voice since I last saw you, but I still need rather a lot of work. You start something, and I'll just join in." Knight hit a couple of choppy notes, before launching into an upbeat tune. It wasn't any kind of recognizable song, but it could easily become any number of well-known tunes. Depending, of course, on what Ana chose to sing.
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Post by Heath Mulligan on Jun 17, 2015 20:39:13 GMT -5
With a swift pull of the front door, and then a wave of his hand to the tall, almost intimidating bouncer, Heath let himself into the main area of the familiar speak-easy that he visited almost nightly. Many of his loyal, best paying, and valuable customers practically made there homes there, so dropping by the lounge was not out of the ordinary for him. His hands guided themselves into the pockets of his pants, and he casually reached up to pull a lighted cigarette from his mouth before letting out a long, drawn-out puff. Although he hadn't planned on meeting anyone for an exchange that night, Heath knew it was always best to "dress to impress", especially when out and about. The amount of seemingly classy, well-mannered people wanting the "best stuff" possible never ceased to amaze him. Something that he had learned over the years through different collagues was that the majority of people did, in fact, have some fucking huge skeletons in their closests, and they'd do literally anything to forget about them, even if that meant resulting to the items that he himself could offer them. Most people, Heath knew, would do anything to ease their pain and stress, even if that meant risking getting in deep shit for it.
The lounge smelled of cigar smoke, whiskey, and leather; three things that he enjoyed very much. With a small, easy smirk, Heath slipped into a booth located near the front of the stage, and quickly flashed a wink at the waitress serving him before turning his attention to the two people before him. Patience, he knew, wasn't a strength of his, so after a few minutes, he snapped his fingers impatiently a few times.
"Oi!" Heath barked at the two people near the piano, "what's the fuckin' hold up?"
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Anastasia Andrushkiv
Singer/Flapper
Totally fucked, will they mess you up? Well you know they're gonna try...
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Post by Anastasia Andrushkiv on Jun 17, 2015 21:51:18 GMT -5
"Why thanks you darling, that is the best compliment I have heard in a long time. And I was just lucky that after a year or two I was able to swing a little gig like this. Not much but it pays the bills." She always thought that by now she be in one of them penthouses, singing at some uptown night club where everyone loved her. But no she was down in the slums right now a long way off from where she was born and where she wanted to be. But oh well this is where she was...
"A cousin huh?' She asked tiling her head and smiling some. Wait so if he was going to school here... He face fell into a look of confusion, should she ask? Because if he was going to Cascade then well. "So is he going to Cascade then?" She said casually as if it was a common thing, that way if she was wrong she could quickly do damage control. But then he asked about what happen to her and she swallowed some. See this is why she moved far away from the city, she didn't want anyone to know... no one could know because it might ruin everything! Everything she had worked for and tried to make right and... "I had a little run in with the law so I laid low for a few year went back to Newport for a little bit, but now I am back." He said with shrug before laughing at his comment "Aww poor thing must have been eaten alive then."
"Thanks dollface," She teased some at his little use of their American slang which seemed so second nature to her now. "Mhm A Duet huh?" She wasn't really one for duets mostly because she didn't like being upstaged by anyone "You remember that one song I would sing with Scott O'Hannigan? I believe it was call..."
But they were cut off by a loud deep voice and she rolled her eyes. Fucking Heath Mulligan... Or at least that was the name he went by. He was a thorn in her side walking in here like he own the goddamn place, which he sort of did but still. "Oh come off it Heath I was just talking to Knight here. We knew each other down in New York.. Just catching up is all and about to warm up." She said walking down to him and tossing back her hair before batting her eyelashes. "Why you wanna hear something big boy."
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Knight
Freelance Pianist
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Post by Knight on Jun 17, 2015 22:22:04 GMT -5
"You know what they say. Compliments only really mean something when you actually trust the opinion of the person saying it. And it is a nice gig. I mean, the floors aren't even covered in ash. Better than half the places we played in NYC, that's for sure." Ana got a far away look on her face that made him wonder exactly why she drifted off. It had been quite some time since Knight had lived in a small town, and he had forgotten most of the negatives of that kind of situation. For now, it still seemed relatively calm. And everyone didn't know him yet, so he still maintained some level of anonymity. Beyond his reputation, that is.
"Yeah, actually." Wait, shit. Ana knew about the magic school? There were a couple of simple explanations for this, things that made a lot of sense and didn't fuck with his worldview. Maybe Ana herself had a cousin that was a halfblood, and had been to the school. Or there had been a squib in her family that had told their descendants about the school. The chances that Ana herself was a- fuck. If there's a magical school nearby, then inevitably a magical community would spring up around it. And so, it was more than likely that whoever spent a lot of time in the town, and knew about the school... "I think I've got myself in deeper here than I initially imagined. Are there many of us around here?" Hell, all that time he had spent in the same circles with her, and she was a witch?! A nervous witch, by the looks of it. He couldn't remember her ever being one of the poor sods with stage fright, so clearly she was trying to hide something. And if a 'brush with the law' sounded good by comparison... Ana might be in some really deep shit. "Doesn't sound like a good time. And she didn't last all that long, trust me. Think she got sent back home, to some backwards farm."
"I remember the one." Knight's fingers nimbly slipped over to the tune, regardless of the brute who had just walked in. Something of a handsome brute, but that didn't exactly make him any more polite. Or bearable. "It's not wise to upset the musicians, sir. I played a bar in Ireland where the manager had the lack of sense to interrupt me during the lads' favourite ballad. Poor fella had to have a limb amputated. Never had quite the strength of mind to interrupt again, he did." Never walked again, neither. But saying that made it sound too much like a threat.
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Post by Heath Mulligan on Jun 17, 2015 22:36:07 GMT -5
Heath raised an interested, curious brow as the girl he had addressed mere seconds ago grew the balls to approach him without so much as a second thought. Normally, the only woman who approached him with such spirited personalities were the ones that both impressed and annoyed him. As much as he'd like to be sure about it, the fact was that Heath wasn't sure whether he genuinely enjoyed Anastasia or not. He clicked his tongue as she stopped in front of him, and he shook his head, letting out a dry laugh. "Why do I want to hear something?" He repeated her question, eyeing her pointedly. "Well, maybe because one, this is pretty much my place, and I want my place to be fucking lively," he paused, slowly extending a hand to lay on top of her own. "And two, because, well," Heath quickly glided his tongue over his teeth for effect, "Maybe I enjoy listening to you sing more than I enjoy listening to you talk."
The voice that filled the air between them did nothing to Heath except simply annoy him. He directed his attention to the man sitting at the piano mere seconds later, and darkened his gaze. "Awe, well, that's real fucking cute pal," Heath retorted in a challenging manner, "but I really wouldn't be threatening my employer, if I were you."
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Anastasia Andrushkiv
Singer/Flapper
Totally fucked, will they mess you up? Well you know they're gonna try...
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Post by Anastasia Andrushkiv on Jun 17, 2015 23:38:39 GMT -5
"That great, it's a good school. I should know... I went there." Okay so she was saying it without really saying it. That she was a witch and well... she didn't really need to say much more than that. He can put two and two together, he was a smart boy with those big boy pants and everything. She shrugged some when he asked if there was a lot of them around and tapped her fingers against the side of the piano. "There's decent amount. The family that controls this speakeasy are all of the magical kind, same goes for the other one across town I work at all. Two different families, always at each other's throats." He voice had dropped to a hush whisper as she leaned in close so he could hear he. Anna couldn't help it, she found her eyes wandering over Knight's body as she bit her lip. She forgot how handsome he was, how close she once got to take off all his clothes and giving him the night a night that he would never forget.
She could see the look he was giving her trying to figure out what he brush with the law was but she didn't want to talk about it. Beside with Heath here pissing her right the fuck off. And as much as she would love to continue catching with Knight she had to deal with him. Because he had been riding her ass for the last three months she had been here and not in the fun way either.
"First off I don't worry for you I work for your uncle. And neither does he, secondly tell those other cheap girls to shake a tail feather so we can run the opening ones once before we open. They are really good for nothing you know that right? Like why do you waste your time keeping them around?" She asked before leaning in to whisper. "Is it because they will suck you off? Because believe me when I say anything they can do I can do better." With a wink and a toss of her hair she headed back over to knight and took a seat onto of the Piano.
"Play that song for use babycakes? I wanna sing with you like the good old days."
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Knight
Freelance Pianist
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Post by Knight on Jun 18, 2015 0:02:40 GMT -5
"Good to know. Though from what I've gathered, there aren't that many shitty schools for our lot. Something about our kind often attracts money, and people always spend of their kids. More than their musicians, I've gathered." There was something about pianos that singers just loved- and that was before they were even being played. Pianos were singer-magnets, regardless of whether the person playing it was a magnet them-self. That was a lot of witches and wizards all in the one place, he wasn't even sure how they all managed to not blow up the town. And then Ana slightly hinted that they were in the process of blowing each other up, but doing it quietly so that no one would notice. Even mobsters had to try and keep themselves from breaking the International Statute of Secrecy, lest they want to become ex-mobsters. He was fairly sure that the Ministry here still had the death penalty, for serious breaches.
Knight caught Ana eye-tour of him, and bit back a smirk. Long years of practice meant that he had no trouble whatsoever in continuing to play the tune with his attention being pulled all over the place. It wasn't a fantastically difficult tune, either. But clearly she didn't have the time to wander backstage again at the moment, nor was her body language exactly signalling 'open'. Ana had secrets that she wanted to keep, and old friends have a way of managing to make secrets come out.
"Threatening you? Nah, you've got the wrong idea there mate. It's just that, as far as I can see, you've got two musicians in this town who are going places, and, hell have been places, and you're trying to stir shit with them. I bet your uncle won't be half upset with you if you lose the best around to the competition. After all, any fucker with half a brain knows that a bar only does as well as the musicians it's got playing, and the beer it's serving. Since you Yanks got Prohibition, all the beer is fucking piss, so all you've got left to be competitive with is us. And we aren't half fickle." As if dismissing Heath, Knight turned back to the piano and started the song in earnest. Nothing mattered more than the music. Not to him, and not to any half decent Speakeasy owner, either.
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Post by Heath Mulligan on Jun 18, 2015 20:01:49 GMT -5
If he had the time, or the energy, Heath would have actually given a shit about what the two musicians were saying, and although he didn't lash out, their words and taunts did irritate him. If there was one thing he learned about being an heir to a family name, it was how to carry himself; and he wasn't about to get into some fucking low-key, petty fight when he could have had several of his men do that for him, if he wanted them to. No, instead of giving either one of them the mere satisfaction of a reaction, Heath simply sighed in displeasure, then lifted himself to his feet, swinging his jacket back behind him in the process.
"You know, if I was low-class, homeless scum, I would have probably took a swing at both of you by now. Fortunately, for all of us," Heath paused, shooting them both a soft glare, "I'm a better man than that. Just know that my dear old uncle will know of your despicable behavior. Have a grand evening."
Without so much as another gesture or word, Heath turned on his heels and stroller confidently out of the lounge, as if he had never been in there in the first place.
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Anastasia Andrushkiv
Singer/Flapper
Totally fucked, will they mess you up? Well you know they're gonna try...
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Post by Anastasia Andrushkiv on Jun 19, 2015 1:19:56 GMT -5
"Well you know money and power go hand in hand. Not to mention I maybe hear a few rumours that the school is funded by a crime family in town." And by heard she meant slept with the right people to get that sort of information out of them. What could she say Ana was very go at what she did. "Not to mention I don't think the American government wants a bunch of untrained Wizard running around... Not good you know. So they might as well go to the best school. Luck them because most muggle school in this country are shit." She said with a shrug as Knight's eyes met her and she knew what he was thinking. Or at least she wonder if he did know what she was thinking. Because when she wasn't working she was probably sleeping with someone, which still could count as working but still.
Ugh Heath though. It was like they had this little game the two of them, trying to get under each other skin, his comment about taking a swing a both of them made her roll her eyes and she said. "Don't think your uncle would like it if you took a swing at your only stars. And you can tell him about my behaviour and I would love to see what he says." Heath left without another word and she rolled her eyes. "Now where were we?"
Ah yes once the first few notes hit her ear she remember ever last note of the song. "We've come too far to give up who we are so let's raise the bar and our cups to the stars
."
Yeah this felt good, just like old times.
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