2021-11-04 Azem's Big Break

Azem's Big Break

Participants: Khadijah

Storyteller: Lascaux

Location: Melrose District

Date and Time: November 4, 2021, evening.

Summary: A girl's gotta eat. Khadijah's a picky eater. Lucky her there's a halal Moroccan restaurant right in her Domain.

It's a Saturday night, and Casablanca Moroccan restaurant is bustling with customers and activity. Open late on weekends to serve those who've stumbled out of clubs or who work in the service industry themselves, the restaurant's staff are almost entirely Amazigh - either immigrants or the children and grandchildren. The musical sound of Maghrebi Arabic can be heard, shouted from kitchen staff to the front of house, and back again. The restaurant itself is precisely what you'd expect - pale yellow-painted stucco walls, a ceiling highlighted with cobalt blue beams, and several seating areas which are just cushions surrounding low tables set with tin lanterns.

It probably goes without saying that the place smells incredible; in fact, it smells so good that passers-by often stop in their paths to drift in its direction. A line has formed outside, with a hostess darting back and forth to take names for the waiting list. The front window proudly displays a sticker proclaiming that all ingredients used in the restaurant are halal, as well as several signs declaring the restaurant's owners' political position - BLM, Asian Lives Matter, Allah Loves All in rainbow colors.

Khadijah doesn't eat, or drink. And she freaks mortals out... So this is going to be a tricky endeavour and quite possibly won't be fruitful. Worse case it will turn bad. But she's not 'bad' looking and she can be quite intimidating when she wants to be so that's something. She also has some discipline stuff that might help, so there's that too.

The vampire approaches the busy, bustling restaurant, notes the halal sign in the window and grins. She's in the right place. Khadijah then stands in line, trying to scope out if anyone else in line is by themselves that she might strike up a conversation with. If she can't find someone alone she'll try for a group but that will be more dicey.

As Khadijah enters the line, the people around her give her a wide berth despite the fact that she's dressed fashionably...and expensively, and is definitely better-looking than the majority around. In front of her are a couple of young guys, probably in their early twenties, dressed in athleisure wear and nicely groomed, chatting to each other about soccer as they watch back a few play-by-plays on their phones. Behind her approaches a trio of women in their thirties, who are clearly tourists to Los Angeles and are very enthusiastic about their club experience here in Melrose tonight. The three are a little worse for the wear - one of them is wearing hijab, which has been set slightly askew and which she's doing her best to replace with a few rhinestoned hair clips.

As Khadijah waits, the hostess, a young woman wearing a name tag which says 'Noor,' comes to add names to her list. "Hi, how are you?" she asks Khadijah. "Can I get your name, and number of people in your party?" Her accent indicates she's obviously a native Angeleno; her tone is businesslike.

Khadijah smiles at Noor but tries to stay back and make herself the least creepy as possible, for what it's worth. "I'm Khadijah but I'm here on my own. Any chance I can sit at the bar when something comes up?" Her strategy of course being that she can try to talk to someone one on one that way, instead of trying to convince a group of wary people that she's okay. Noor glances inside, chewing her lip, and flips her long, wavy black ponytail. "You can go in and look, but I think it's full," she replies. "You can wait in there for a seat, though, if one opens up."

Indeed, the bar, which only seats probably eight people, is totally packed. Luckily there isn't anybody else waiting as the waitstaff bustles in and out of the kitchens, so if Khadijah does choose to go to the bar, she'll be the first in line for a seat.

"Oh, thank you. That's a great idea. I'll go in and wait for a seat to open up. Shouldn't take too long, I'd think." She smiles gratefully at Noor, slips out of line and walks up to find a place where she can stand and not totally be in the way of the waitstaff. And there she stands, scooting this way and that as they come in and out of the kitchen with big, heavy platters of delicious smelling food! Well, delicious if you go in for that sort of thing. Which she doesn't. Because she can't. As she dodges here and there, she's mentally sizing up everyone at the bar and trying to figure out where she hopes she'll end up.

The bar is occupied by a wide assortment of different people: a couple in their twenties who are playfully bantering back and forth over two cups of mint tea and a hummus platter; a muscular and tall man who is hard to place by age, but probably his late thirties or early forties, and who is wearing a black polo shirt which says SECURITY across the back in white letters; a group of three middle-aged men who can only be describes as giving Dad vibes, who are all having a spirited discussion in Arabic, and a pair of young women in goth club gear who have probably just come from one of the area's many nightclubs, who are poring over one of the pair's phones. They all look to be early in their meal, or perhaps they haven't gotten their food or ordered yet.

+ROLL/+DICE> Khadijah: Intelligence + Subterfuge vs. 4 -> 0 successes. (9 6 3 3 1 1)

+ROLL/+DICE> Khadijah: Manipulation + Subterfuge vs. 7 -> 3 successes. (10 10 10 10 4 2 2 1)

Khadijah is tired of waiting. It's time to get something done here. At first she tries to telepathy one of the dad guys, but he's having none of it. Intimidation it is. She walks straight up to the cute couple bantering away and stares them in the eyes before quietly saying. "I think you've had enough. Time to leave." She smiles pretty for them in a patronizing way and waits for them to vacate the chairs.

Oh. Oh yes. It is absolutely time for them to leave. Fumbling out his wallet and dropping several bills right onto the barely-touched hummus platter, the man grabs his girlfriend's arm and hauls her out of Khadijah's way. Next to them, the security guard looks up and raises an incredulous eyebrow halfway through putting a piece of grilled eggplant from a kebab into his mouth. He doesn't overtly say anything, but his expression is very much asking, 'What was that about?' Especially with the cups of tea still steaming hot.

"I'm... not sure. I think she got a text and they had to book. Maybe trouble at home? Maybe the babysitter was quitting. I don't know. But! On the flip side it gives me a chance to sit next to you." Khadijah takes this opportunity to look deep into his eyes, concentrating and attempting to dominate him. "Don't fear me, I'm very friendly and mean no trouble or harm." She has to do something to counter-act her flaw.

+ROLL/+DICE> Khadijah: Manipulation + Leadership vs. 6 -> 3 successes. (9 7 7 7 3 2 1)

The eggplant is still hovering in the air halfway up to the security guard's mouth. Slowly, he puts it back down onto the platter in front of him, and his eyebrow lowers until he's giving Khadijah a somewhat dopey look. "That's too bad," he says. He has a little bit of an accent. French, maybe? "Do you want some of my kebab? I have plenty."

"Actually, I just came for the mint tea. Watching my carbs and all." It's LA, who isn't! She waits to be addressed by the guy behind the counter and orders her tea, then leaves cash for it immediately just in case they have to leave quickly. Which they just might! "So... you must be 'SECURITY'. She reads the back of his shirt carefully, sounding it out like a goofball. A little comic relief. "Do you work close by?"

"Oh, I'm Azem," the guy says. He nods, though. "I work at this place, Pour Vous? It's a bar, and burlesque. Parisian-style. Live music sometimes. Have you been?" He glances down at his Apple Watch and says, "I'm just on my break, actually. But -" looking back up at Khadijah, "I can stay a little while longer."

"So nice to meet you Azem. I'm Khadijah, recently here from Saudi, originally from Iran." She notes the french accent. "I'm guessing you're a foreigner in a foreign land as well." She teases him a bit and nods when he says he can stay a little longer. "You know... I actually wouldn't mind checking out Pour Vous. This might seem a bit forward, but would you be willing to let me hitch a ride back with you to the club? Then I can see what it's like, maybe bring my girlfriends back with me." It's possible he walked -- that's fine too. But everyone drives in Los Angeles.

Azem sticks out a big, heavy-boned hand. He's not bad-looking at all, really - he probably gets plenty of play at the club. "I just walked," he says. "It's only a couple blocks away. Is it okay to walk? I can get a taxi -" He smiles, revealing a charmingly gap-toothed smile. "I'm from Paris originally, actually. But my mom and dad were both born in Tunisia. I moved here a few years ago, hoping to get into movies."

"Did you! Well, it's easy to see why." She refers to him not being too bad on the eyes. "Do you have a card? I know a couple people who could possibly do something for you. But walking is fine with me -- it's a nice night and I'd love some fresh air. Plus I'll feel safe walking with you." Never mind she has $2,000 Manolo Blahniks on... surely they will hold up to the Hollywood streets!

"A card?" Azem says. "Oh yeah, I have my credit card." Maybe it's easy to see why he didn't get far. After all, it's not what you know, it's who you know. He's completely forgotten about his food, to the point that he's ready to stand up and leave with Khadijah without even paying for it. Though maybe the cash she's put down is enough to cover it. "I wanted to get into doing like, the fighting, you know. Stunts, maybe. But everybody wants that."

"Obviously you would be -perfect- for that! Say, I know a guy that's super influential at 20th Century Fox. And a pretty famous filmmaker as well... if you have a card with your number on it. Your phone number that is..." She giggles but makes it clear she's laughing with him, not at him, "...I will pass it on to the people I know. Sound good?" She discreetly drops more cash on the counter to pay for the meal he's forgotten about and takes the first opportunity she can to loop her arm thru his as they make their way out of the crowded restaurant. She is acutely aware of people seeing her and physically moving out of her way to avoid her... she hopes Mr. Security is smitten enough at this point not to notice.

"Ohhh," Azem says. "I don't have a card like that, but I can give you my number." He's not really looking at anyone else as they walk back out into the cool night air, just staring at Khadijah like she hung the moon. "Wait, you know somebody at Fox Studios? Are you a famous person? Should I have recognized you? Well, you're certainly beautiful enough to be a famous person. Have you been in movies?" He almost runs into a group of kids vaping outside a music venue from which the sounds of loud punk rock emanate.

"I'm not famous... alas I'm just a simple jewelry maker. But I do know a couple people, yeah. I don't want to drop names - you know, in order to preserve their privacy, but I'll absolutely make sure your number gets to the right people." She suddenly feels a bit slimy. Like a photographer talking some poor model-wannabe into take nudes for him. She perseveres though. She walks with him, her body close, her arms and body covered to the wrists in a thicker fabric, and her hands carefully -not- touching him at all. To protect him from her other flaw (Touch of Frost). She's really not a 'mortal user friendly' vampire when it comes down to it. Makes life interesting though! "Hey. I have an idea. It won't take too long..."

Azem is oblivious to Khadijah's less flattering attributes. He's not even really looking at the rest of her, alas, the $2000 Manolos are beyond the realm of his interest. Presence is useful, but at this level the fascination it produces is much more a temporary obsession and less the depth of real love. He's like a little boy with his first crush, even though he's clearly well into his thirties. "Oh yeah?" he asks. "An idea? What is it?"

Khadijah is pretty convinced she might have this without a discipline. Worst thing that could happen is she asks, he says no, then she has to 'encourage' him a bit with magic. So, what the hell! She just goes for it. "I know this is forward..." She bats her eyelashes a few times and smiles shyly. "But... well... see that ally between those two buidlings? I have wanted to kiss you since I sat down next to you in that restaurant. You are such a handsome man. And kind and thoughtful and just... so sweet. Would you? Kiss me? if we duck in there?" She sounds hopeful, and yet confident all at the same time.

The thought seems to blow Azem's mind. "Are you serious?" he asks, his eyes big as saucers. "In the alley? I guess we could do that, but - oh, are you Muslim? My maman would kill me if she knew I was dating somebody who isn't..." Nonetheless, he lets Khadijah lead him toward the alleyway, although he seems confused about /why/ they need to do it in an alley. Like, why not just make out right on the street!

+ROLL/+DICE> Khadijah: Manipulation + Leadership vs. 6 -> 3 successes. (7 7 7 7 3 2 1)

"Don't worry okay? I'm Muslim. I'm a good girl. I just... I feel a good, safe connection with you and I don't want this night to slip through my fingers without a kiss. I can't do it out here as someone I know might see me. You understand, right?" Of course he does. She then looks deep into his eyes once more and reassures him. "Follow me between these two building and kiss me. I'm safe. I'm good. I won't hurt you. I promise." She nibbles at her lower lip to complete the non-threatening, submissive picture.

+ROLL/+DICE> Lascaux: 5 vs. 6 -> 3 successes. (8 7 6 5 4)

Azem's gaze glazes over a bit as the unnatural power of Khadijah's suggestion slips over him. His eyes stop being so big and round, and instead he gives her a docile nod and follows her into the alley. A few passers-by look curiously in their direction as they move toward the alley, but there are a /lot/ of people in Melrose on a Saturday night, and shady dealings in alleys are more something to pretend not to notice than they are actual cause for alarm. Especially since Khadijah is clearly the one in control.

Azem is very tall, and physically substantial. Khadijah is actually as weak as a mortal (strength 1) and not much way to protect herself, other than the 9mm in her purse. Still ,she's willing to roll the dice on this transaction, as it were, and give it a shot. She easily positions herself against the wall, so he has the illusion of being in control here. She stands on tip toe to reach her lips to his, and then she closes her eyes and waits for the kiss she is sure will follow.

Though he is indeed physically intimidating, Azem is truthfully a bit of a gentle giant, and the kiss he leans down to offer Khadijah is as chaste and bashful as a schoolboy's. It might not be exactly what she's expecting, but maybe that's for the best, considering how cold her lips and face are. Would Azem notice at this point? Probably not, after being Mesmerized twice, but you never know with mortals.

If Azem notices, and is repulsed, Khadijah will attempt to act quickly and mezmerize him once again. She's hoping she'll skate by though... she'll have to see. In the meantime she lets him kiss her chastely, returning his kisses equally chaste, until she gets a bit braver and let's her kisses trail down from lips to cheek to neck. And then it's all over. She lets her razor-sharp fangs descend and slips them softly into his neck, like a hot knife through butter. After the initial glimmer of pain, the man is overwhelmed with euphoric ecstasy, finding himself the victim of the Kiss and swimming through its deliciously hypnotic effects. She only takes what she politely needs (2 dots) then stops to lick the wound clean. It's like nothing ever happened.

"What are you -" Azem starts. But as soon as Khadijah's fangs puncture his skin, he slumps forward and goes silent. He'll be confused and woozy in the aftermath, especially once he realizes he didn't actually eat the dinner he ordered. But now it's just up to Khadijah to extricate herself from this situation without drawing attention, while Azem leans against the wall in a daze from the Kiss's aftereffects.

such an amazing man. I'd uh... like to see you again if I could?" She smiles sweetly at him. "You are an amazing kisser. Like, whoa." She laughs and then nods to him. "I have your number now. I will pass your info on to my friends as promised. Do you mind if I take a quick picture of you? So I can share with them?" If he allows it, she will. And then she checks the time on her phone. "Oh my goodness, I am late to get back to the shop! Good night Azem." She gives him one more spectacular kiss, then she offers him a sweet little finger wave and begins to walk away.

Azem can't do a lot more than nod in response to Khadijah's questions. Losing that much blood that fast will make anybody a bit wobbly, even a bruiser like him. "Bye," he manages to say, and then slumps down into a sitting position in the alley with his head between his knees. Recovery position! Recovery position! At least it gives Khadijah the opportunity to make her exit without any interference from him.