The Pub -- Bar

[Jax McCloud]

Time was something Jax knew they didn't all come by easily, and Jax made time for the ring, a priority in his life because it was easy money and something that he thrived at. He didn't have boxing and Jax don't know what he'd do, probably be dragging crates around the docks - he wasn't much good at hawking papers. "Ain't no shame innit," Jax mused, half to himself and half to Banshee as he sent him a crooked smile at the notion that the man had been after a bit of money. A need that Jax could understand as well, though as he'd made his way east he'd learned just how much he could manage to do without - and those things that he couldn't. And dollars were hard to come by it seemed, whether you were riding the land out West or walking the streets of New York, it was a valuable commodity no matter how you looked at it.

"Glad I could help ya out," Jax drawled, giving in to need and pulling out another cigarette, tossing the pack of them on the bar between them, an offer to Banshee to help himself. Placing it in the corner of his mouth, Jax struck a match and let the fire linger for a moment before touching it to the tip of the cigarette and shaking it out before letting it fall to the worn bartop. Natural curiosity had his mind wondering what Banshee might have needed the money for, but Jax didn't appreciate prying in his own life and knew that most others felt the same so instead he let silence lapse for a moment. "Seen you in McGinty's before," He commented, mostly by way of conversation and because Jax liked the place, good atmosphere, even if he did tend to tuck himself away at a table in the back.

[Banshee O'Hara]

Banshee returned the man’s smile with a grin of his own, nodding his agreement to the expressed sentiment. Amongst their kind, money always had a tendency to be in short supply, and as it was all he’d ever known, it never occurred to him to find shame in it. A dry chuckle escaped his lips as he regarded Jax, amusement clear in his eyes. “Gotta say, I’m glad ye could help me out too,” he admitted with an open grin. He didn’t miss the offer of a smoke, and he toyed briefly with refusing as he wasn’t without his own, but an offer made in friendship of sorts wasn’t one to toss aside lightly, not in this city, and he shrugged a little as he reached for the pack. “Thanks,” he said, taking one and placing it between his lips. Fishing a match from his pocket, he lit the cigarette, shaking out the match before dropping it beside Jax’s.

The silence was companionable, and the kind that Banshee had learned to appreciate. Still, when Jax broke it with a casual comment, he didn’t mind, and he let out a steady stream of smoke as he nodded. “Be surprised if ye hadn’t, if ye go in there at all,” he admitted with a slight smirk. Banshee had noticed him a time or two, but hadn’t paid him much mind as his attentions had always been focused elsewhere, and from what he remembered, Jax tended to favor the more out of the way corners towards the back. “Spend most o’ me evenin’s there. Got the best stew in Brooklyn, so they do,” he added, his smirk widening to a full on grin as he thought of the times he had teased Shannon about his only coming for the stew. “An’ the prettiest lasses t’ serve it…” Though only one caught his eye, he added to himself as he reached for his glass and took a drink, his thoughts lingering on her and his plan to take her out hopefully sooner rather than later.

[Jax McCloud]

"And of the two I'm sure it's the stew that keeps you goin' back night after night," Jax commented with a long look and another lazy grin as he took another long sip from his glass. He'd seen Banshee there as often as he said, hovering near the bar, oftentimes in the company of one of the girls from the borough, Jax grappled for her name for a moment and then gave up, time enough to learn names later. Last time he'd been at McGinty's Jax remembered seeing Banshee talking to a barmaid with dark red hair and wide smile that seemed to favor Banshee's attention - and Jax couldn't say he blamed the man for showing her attention.

For a brief moment Jax wondered if the money now in Banshee's pocket was perhaps to spend on the pretty barmaid, especially considering the way the man beside him seemed to drift into a sort of silence, his thoughts clearly somewhere, or perhaps with someone else. "Dark haired one has a real nice voice," Jax commented, remembering how the barmaid in question sometimes was prone to bursting out into cheery song with things were especially bustling around the pub and the crowd was urging her for it. He cast his eyes towards his companion, letting his lips curl around his cigarette and taking a long drag before drawling, "Right pretty smile too, 'nough to make a man forget a thing or two."

[Banshee O'Hara]

Banshee shrugged, the corner of his mouth quirking slightly as he brought the cigarette to his lips. Inhaling deeply, he let the smoke trickle out slowly as he pretended to consider the man’s offhanded comment. “Well, I have t’ say, they draw a decent enough pint as well,” he commented just as offhandedly, though the twinkle in his eye belied that food and drink were anywhere close to being the main draw for him. Though the stew was, in fact, good, and the pints perfectly drawn, neither was enough to keep him coming in as often as he did, and from the grin on Jax’s face, the other man well knew it.

Jax’s next comment broke into his musings, the words seeming to echo the direction of his thoughts, and he couldn’t have stopped the grin that spread across his face if he’d wanted to. “Aye…. Got a voice like an Irish linnet, she does,” he agreed. “An’ always willin’ t’ share it.” Lifting his glass in a mental toast to the lass in question, he took a long swallow, his eyes meeting Jax’s over the rim of the glass. There were a couple ways he could take his words, though the easy way the man smiled around his smoke suggested it to be a casual compliment and nothing more. Setting his glass down, he grinned again as he watched the smoke curl from the end of his cigarette. Bringing it to his lips, he took a long drag. “Prettiest this side o’ the Atlantic,” he said with a nod, laughter dancing in his eyes again. “Made me forget things often enough, so she has, an’ I’m no’ ashamed t’ be admittin’ it.”

[Jax McCloud]

Banshee's grin was willing when Jax commented on the voice of the girl in question, his eyes taking on an almost-dreamy state that had they been better acquainted, Jax might have needled him about. And had there been any questions as to his feelings, those were expunged by the admittance Banshee made with laughter, that the girl had woven his way into his thoughts and caused him to forget a thing or two. "That so?" Jax said quietly, though the good-natured grin stayed firmly in place on his lips, for he wasn't going to begrudge a man - a certainly not a possibly new found friend - on the warm of a woman, and perhaps more if that's what he was after.

Jax had never been after more than that, he wasn't a romantic at heart, finding he loved the adventure of the open lands and the mystery of what lay ahead more than any woman that had ever crossed his path. But that didn't mean he wasn't wise to their benefits, those he had experienced himself and with two brothers that had already walked down the aisle by the time he'd left Montana, Jax was well aware that there was happiness to be found if that was the direction your path took you. So he let his grin slide a little wider as he tapped out a few ashes and gazed over at Banshee with a knowing look, "She return your affection?" He asked, partly because he was rather curious and partly because women was a safe topic to discuss with a man he barely knew but felt something of a kinship with.

[Banshee O'Hara]

Banshee gave Jax a slightly lopsided grin as he studied the older man. He was well aware that he probably sounded like a besotted fool, but, he reasoned with a slight shrug, wasn’t that near enough the truth of it? Since meeting Shannon, his world had been turned upside down so many times, he’d given up trying to keep his feet on the ground where that one was concerned. Besides, Jax seemed tolerant enough of his sentiments, though something about the man’s eyes had Banshee wondering if they were mates, so to speak, what kind of ribbing he’d likely be receiving over his willing, almost eager declarations of Shannon’s charms. Nodding his head as he raised his glass to his lips, he took a healthy swallow, laughter still dancing in the depths of his eyes and the creases surrounding them. “Aye, it is,” he confirmed with unabashed certainty.

The widening of Jax’s grin and the knowing look in his eyes had Banshee bracing for a bit of good natured teasing after all, but his question caught him off guard and he stalled his answer for a long moment by taking a long drag from his cigarette. If Jax had asked him that before Sean’s death, his answer would have come quick enough, but now… A lot had happened since that night in the warehouse that had left him hopeful of a future with her, and though none of the events had in any way changed his own feelings, he had to be prepared for the possibility of her own having been altered. Letting out a slow stream of smoke as some of the laughter bled from his eyes, he regarded Jax for a moment as he considered the question. To lie would be easy enough, and he doubted that Jax would call him on it, even if somehow the man did know he’d been lied to. On the other hand… Banshee studied the worn bar as he stubbed his cigarette out on the scarred surface. “I think she does, aye, though I’ve no’ had the chance t’ talk t’ her recently on the subject,” he admitted finally, his tone conveying the slightest hint of uncertainty.

[Jax McCloud]

Jax had expected a quick response to his question, perhaps the mouthy, bragging sort that often found it's way between two young men as they discussed the fairer sex. But instead his companion grew oddly quiet, some of that laughter easing from his eyes as he seemed to consider Jax's question with the sort of quiet reflection that meant things perhaps weren't as they seemed. Jax let him muse in silence, staying quiet as Banshee seemed to watch him, as though weighing whether it was worth being honest and divulging his true feelings on the subject. Apparently Jax passed whatever inspection Banshee put him under because the next thing he knew, he was getting a bit of honesty laced into that good natured Irish accent, and Jax took that bit of sincerity to heart.

He could hear the uncertainty in Banshee's voice, as though the hopeful edge that had traced through the first part of his statement had been waylaid by something in the second half. For a few long moments, Jax let silence fill the air, the smoke from their cigarettes lifting and curling before dissipating above them into the darkness. "Somethin' happen?" He asked finally, keeping his questions simple and easy to evade if Banshee didn't feel like drifting into much detail or preferred to direct the conversation down another avenue. Jax wasn't picky, he understand a man's need to talk every now and again, and also knew when it was best to keep your nose out of someone else's business - he'd let Banshee decide one way or the other.

[Banshee O'Hara]

Banshee bit back a heavy sigh as Jax let the silence linger. Some of his excitement had abated, replaced by uncertainties that he had been doing his best to ignore, and the result was an unpleasantly unsettled feeling coupled with a new sense of urgency. If he could just get her to agree to a night out and away from everything… Not that he’d be asking her where they stood, as that wasn’t what he wanted their date, for lack of a better term, to be about. No, he wanted this to be for her, a chance at escape, distraction, maybe to talk, if that was what she wanted, and pressuring her for some sort of commitment or reassurance was the furthest thing from his mind. Still, he couldn’t help but feel that if he could just spend some time alone with her, that maybe he would be able to pick up on something that would at least ease his mind a bit until the time was right to breach the subject.

The question was a simple one, and Banshee looked up from where he was studying the pocks and scratches on the distressed surface of the bar. “Aye,” he nodded before raising his glass and taking a long swallow as he considered how to best answer without discussing Shannon’s personal life in great detail. “No’ between us, exactly,” he began finally as he set the glass back on the bar, his hand remaining curled around it as he studied the dark liquid. “We had a bit o’ a chance encounter that left me more than a little hopeful that we might reach an understandin’, but….” He shrugged as he reached into his pocket for a cigarette, though he didn’t light it right away. “Since then she’s had a rough go o’ things, an’ the time doesn’t seem right t’ be bringin’ somethin’ like that up, ya know?” He lit his smoke then, his gaze still intent on his nearly empty glass. “Right now, I just wanna know she’s alright wit’ things… The rest’ll fall int’ place, if it’s fated, an’ in the meantime….” He shrugged again, and glanced at Jax, offering the man a smile that held traces of his former buoyancy.

[Jax McCloud]

Banshee's words were laced with concern, hope and something akin to feeling as he spoke, a fondness for the girl that was weighted with the emotions that he seemed yet to have sorted out. In some ways it reminded Jax of his eldest brother Gavin, when he'd spent hours waxing poetic over Emily, the woman who had eventually become his wife - as much as Jax might have mocked his brother for the endearments, he knew there was sincerity and truth in what his brother felt. And he could sense it here now, with Banshee as he spoke of the dark haired barmaid with the pretty smile and engaging voice.

Again, Jax let silence lapse, he hardly considered himself an authority on romance, having a limited experience and desire for it himself. But he had a feeling it was more that Banshee wanted to talk, sort of sort out his own feelings, than his need for advice as to what to do that had him speaking. It sounded as though it was the passing of time that had led to uncertainty, some sort of event in the girl's life that had kept them from connecting and Jax had a feeling that with the passage of more time, things would sort themselves out as Banshee suggested. He rather hoped the worked out in his new friend's favor, especially when Banshee sent him a hopeful smile and Jax could see something of a spark returning to his eyes - oh that girl had him hooked, but good. "Seems to me if you had hope before things got...busy," Jax mused, letting his smoke burn down again before squashing it on the bar and watching the wood turn dark beneath it. "That there has to be somethin' of that left, things like that don't just go disappearin'."

[Banshee O'Hara]

Banshee’s smile widened around his cigarette as he took a drag. Letting out the smoke along with a little chuckle, he nodded slowly. “Aye, yer probably right,” he acknowledged, surprised by how much of a difference Jax’s words had made to his mood. He hadn’t said anything that Banshee hadn’t already argued to himself a thousand times, but somehow hearing them spoken aloud in the man’s slow, earnest way seemed to add credibility to them that his own wishful thinking had failed to do. “Eventually, things’ll sort themselves out, an’ maybe then…” He trailed off with a half shrug, but the hopeful twinkle was back in his eye and his good humor, for the most part, was restored. He knew grief was a personal matter, and that it was different for everyone. Shannon was welcome to whatever time she needed, he wasn’t going anywhere, and eventually they’d have a bit of a talk. But in the meantime, there was the money in his pocket and the hopes that she might come out for an evening of simply being together.

Finishing off his pint, he sat for a moment considering whether or not to order another. The temptation to do that was strong, as Jax was welcome company, and Banshee had to admit to being glad to have met him. Still, he knew the hour was getting late, and there was still the long walk back. Morning would be coming all too quickly as it was without prolonging the night even further, and he wanted to make sure he was at least a little rested just in case he was able to catch Shannon in McGinty’s tomorrow evening, as he had a tendency to linger well into the night when she was working, and falling asleep over his pint was no way to court a lady. Still, for all that, it was with some regret that he pushed back his stool in preparation to depart. “Think I’m gonna be headin’ back,” he said, giving Jax an apologetic grin. “Mornin’ edition ain’t gonna sell itself, yeah?” Though, in all honesty, he had enough money to skip selling if he chose, he didn’t want to take any more of it until after he spoke to Shannon. Though he knew she wouldn’t care, per say, where they went or what they did, he cared, and she deserved to go somewhere decent.

[Jax McCloud]

"Maybe then, indeed," Jax said with a smile, lifting a hand to rub at his beard thoughtfully as he considered how much the light returned to Banshee's eyes when he thought of the girl that might be his. For the briefest of moments he considered what that might be life, to have a feeling that was so interlaced with someone else, hung on the smile of a pretty girl, and found that he couldn't quite grasp it. But as it seemed to lighten Banshee's mood and make his new friend happy, then Jax supposed that was all he really needed to know on the matter.

He measured the few sips that remained in his glass as Banshee spoke of returning to Brooklyn and thought about the merits of another drink, another smoke, another hour sitting at the dark bar. It had it's appeal, there was no question about it, but he could grab a smoke just as easily on the walk back and while Jax held no concerns at the length or danger of the return trip, it was bound to go faster with a friend. "Should probably head on back myself," He drawled, reaching into his pocket and dropping a few coins on the bar to cover his drinks as he levered himself off the stool and smiled over at Banshee. "That is if you don't mind the company."

[Banshee O'Hara]

Banshee slid off his stool as he took the last drag of his cigarette and dropped the butt to the floor. Stubbing it out with his heel, he shrugged. “Don’t mind the company at all, mate,” he admitted with a grin, still mildly surprised by the truth of it. Then again, Jax was not the norm when it came to who he usually ran across either, and Banshee was willing to admit to hoping to spend a few more evenings in the man’s easygoing, unintrusive company.

The look on his face as he left the dingy Hell’s Kitchen pub could only be described as pleased, and had he been told so, he would have admitted to having good reasons behind the expression. In a lifestyle fraught with hardship and disappointment, simple pleasures like a little extra money, a new friend, or the possibility of an evening spent in the company of one’s love, were all ample reasons to feel at least momentarily satisfied with one’s lot, and as Banshee now found himself to have attained all three, well… Had he been asked in that moment, he might’ve said that life was as close to perfect as he would ever see.

[Baby]

~New Day~(OPEN)

A rough day was putting it mildly and Baby had the bruises to prove it. She walked into the pub without a single glance around, she truly did not care who was there or who saw her. She was in an outfit nicer than her usual newsies attire, and most would question how she had gotten such an outfit and her response would simply be if asked, that it was none of their business. She had been called upon today by her father's old superiors but this time it had not been to torture a single soul, but to simply be a pretty face and to serve drinks at some party they had had a few hours prior to her entering this pub. The man in charge had given her this outfit to wear for the event and had told her she may as well keep it for future use. The outfit was unique and from Italy she knew with its intricate designs on the black and red corset that hugged her curves to the point she could not breath. She liked how the skirt fell just passed her knees but she hated trying to walk comfortably in the heels. The rose placed in her own red hair pulled her hair from the right side of her face just right.

She listened to the sickening clicking sound of her heels before she slid into a barstool and began to contemplate on what drink to order. Finally she decided on a brandy and told the waitress her choice as she watched the girl retrieve her drink. She knew that despite what had happened, though it was a nice event and she had walked out with a decent amount of cash in her pocket now, the bruises from being pulled around all night and told what to do and scolded when she did something wrong made it less appealling. She thanked the girl when she was handed her drink before she looked down into the caramell colored liquid in the glass and she sighed wrapping a hand around the cool glass and bringing it to her lips taking a long much needed drink. She smiled in relief as the burning senesation filled her throat before she set the glass down on the bar and finally gave a glance around the pub.

Baby's Outfit: www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=39717377