It starts with a step...

[Keiran Byrne]

((For the Crew of The Sticks))

Thump. thump.

“I have fifteen minutes.”

Keiran focused his eyes back on the page of the book and found where he had left off before the sound distracted him. With the fifteen minutes left on the clock he would be able to finish the chapter, but only if he wasn’t continuously distracted.

Thump, thump…scratch.

Apparently he wasn’t going to get his chapter finished. With a sigh, Keiran lifted his dark eyes from the page before him and focused on the furry form by the door. There sat Dog, whose own dark eyes were pleading to be let out. The dog knew that Keiran remained in the upstairs apartment above The Sticks until a quarter to four when he would then go get the pub ready to open, but today the beast was insisting that he could not wait until that time to go outside.

Rather than deal with the result of Dog’s inability to control himself, Keiran simply stuck his bookmark in its place and stood up, stretching the muscles that were relaxed from spending the last two hours reading. It was close enough to time that it wouldn’t be that big of a deal, and besides…Dog was too old to make him wait longer than he needed to.

“Alright, let’s go.”

The two headed downstairs to where the pub’s kitchen was located and Keiran opened the back door so Dog could go out into the back yard. Almost a year ago, Keiran had opened this same door on a rainy night and had found the mangy beast sitting on the step. For some reason the sight of the old creature, half starved and missing chunks of his now thick fur, had stirred enough pity in his heart that he had taken him in and given him a place to stay. He refused however to think of him as his own pet and therefore refused to name him. Besides, Dog seemed to think that whatever Keiran called him was just fine.

He reached into his front pocket and pulled out his pack of cigarettes, lighting one and taking a long drag off of it. The smoke filled his lungs as he held it there for a moment before releasing it slowly.

“Filthy habit.”

Keiran had been trying to quit for a little over a year, so far he had been unsuccessful. The problem with being a conjurer is whatever you want, you can get. So when the craving hits, he always found a cigarette in his hand…even if he didn’t really want it.

He flicked the ash off the end and took a few more drags before dropping it into the planter filled with sand by the door. A glance at the clock told him that his crew would be arriving soon to help get the pub ready to open. It was a Friday night so they’d all be on hand to help with the crowd. They were young, but Keiran trusted each of them to do their job and do it well.

As he moved to close the door, Dog squeezed back in and headed down the hall to where the pub was. After all this time with him, Keiran had gotten used to having the creature follow him everywhere and had given up on trying to tell him otherwise. When the pub opened, Dog would retreat to kitchen and curl up under the table there until the end of the night, but until that time, he would stick close to Keiran.

“Alright, time to get things in order.” He was getting used to talking out loud like Dog could understand him. ’Could be a sign of madness. Better keep an eye on that.’ he thought with a smile.

The lights flickered on with the low hum of old wiring, a reminder that there was history in this place. History and a sense of pride at remaining open for as long as it had. However, only in the last year had it really shown a profit. Only since Keiran took over running it was the pub consistently in the black…and one reason was the sign that now hung over the bar: “No Fighting and No Tabs.” Jeoffroi Renard had thousands in unpaid tabs from “regulars.” All that had stopped when Keiran took over.

Keiran walked to the door and flipped the lock so the crew could come in. The clock on the wall read four and that meant they had one hour to get the place in order before people started wandering in. He walked over to one of the square tables with the chairs resting on top of it and began to take them down. This was his pub now, his work. And though he had never thought that this would be his life, Keiran was fine with it. It was, after all, a lot better than being dead.

[jayden]

Jayden walked out of his house waving good-bye to his sister. He was heading off to work knowing all too well, it was that time of day again. He had his work clothes on, as he strolled down the residential streets of San. He had his hands tucked into his pants pockets and headphones in his ears. He was listening to music, again. His ipod along with his cellphone where tucked away in his pocket. He hummed along to the song that was playing.

He entered into the Village Square and headed up towards The Sticks. Walking slowly as to delay the precious seconds he had left to himself. He opened the door and walked inside, slipping off his headphones and pulling out his ipod to turn it off. He wrapped his headphones around his ipod and tucked it back into his pocket. "Hey Keiran." He said loudly, not knowing where he was. He looked up and spotted him sitting on a table. "Hey, I guess I got here first today. Does that mean I'm the unlucky victim?" He smirked. "I'll get the kitchen ready first before doing anything out here."

He walked past Keiran and into the pub's kitchen. It wasn't much of a kitchen, it was tiny. Looked more like a large house's kitchen, than anything. Nobody ordered that much food at the pub, just the ones that stayed to chat and eat rather than just get wasted. He walked over to the sink and washed his hands. He then picked up his folded apron and placed it on. Tying the straps as he looked around for the kitchen rag. He spotted in it's place in a small bucket on the counter next to the sink. He picked it up and twisted the excess water from it and started to wipe down the counters. After wiping down the counters he dunk the rag back into the bucket and checked the freezer where they kept all the meat. He picked a couple frozen sausages and slammed the freeze shut with his foot. He placed the sausages in the a bowl in the sink and turned the hot water on as it started to fill the bowl up. He turned it off when the bowl was full and left it there to thaw. He headed out to the customer area looking for Keiran. "So Keiran," He called out. "Is there anything you need me for out here?"

[thewhitelines]

Payton could feel the sun through her window when she awoke from a horrid nightmare. Her Aunt Selene was chasing her with her dentures yelling for Payton to return her car. Ugh. Mornings were the best time of the day. Payton didn't have to deal with people because she woke up too early, though she also liked waking up in Sebastian's bed or in Art's room, where she'd occasionally spend the night. Edmund was curled up in a ball on the pillow next to hers. She slowly slipped from under the covers, with the best of her ability, as to not wake Edmund, until she finally just phased through the bed and then the floor. It was easier that way. Intangibility was quite the gift.

She thought about calling Dylan but decided against it. The rest of her day involved the comfortable coach in their living room, Art, Lacy, Jez, and a mountainous pile of food. At 3 she hopped into the shower, threw on a pair of dark jeans and a white shirt and headed out the door.

There was that car her aunt wanted back so much. She'd return it, eventually. However, in all honesty, she usually walked to work, but today she wasn't up for it. In the car the car she absent mindedly listened to a play list of songs ranging from pop to heavy metal, but she couldn't hear it.

Her place of work was a truly magical place. Her boss was cute, she got to work with Art, and the shifts were aright with her. And, of course, the pay was good, especially being the bartender. The Sticks had history and substance, though. It was more than a pub, it was like home to all of San's drunks and the occasional few that soley wanted a bite to eat. Everyday was different. Everyday there was someone new. Keiran had really done wonders for that place. He was great, in that amazing-to-bad-I-can't-sleep-with-the-boss-kinda-way. He really was a great guy. The Sticks true wonders were masked by the rancid location and the loose history. The previous owner had bills sky high and no money to pay them. However, with Keiran behind the reigns The Sticks, or home to those many, would, no doubt, thrive.

The Sticks wasn't too far away. She pulled up, parked around back, and headed in through the front door. Keiran was in the front taking chairs off the table and Jayden was standing by the kitchen door.

"Hey, mister. Hey, Jayden. Keiran, you're mister," Payton said flirtatiously, slightly touching Keiran as she walked to the bar. "How are you?" she said.

[Keiran Byrne]

“Hello, Jayden.”

The two men nodded at each other as Jayden headed back towards the kitchen. Employing a cook had been one of the first things that Keiran had chosen to do when he had taken over running the pub. Mostly because he wasn’t exactly the cooking type…his specialty being beef stew and only beef stew. Luckily Jayden had a much better menu to chose from.

“Victim? Are you implying that I am some kind of monster?” There was a laugh hidden in his words. One of the best parts of having such a young staff is that they all got along. “Well, only if someone else doesn’t show up.”

And at that moment Payton wandered in, practically sauntering through the room. She had been a risk when he hired her…much younger than most managers would think about for a bartender…but she had been a wise risk as the patrons liked her. Indeed, she definitely made more money than Keiran did in a night as most of The Sticks’ clientele was male and enjoyed her flirtatious banter. He enjoyed it too, but there was a line that couldn’t be crossed between boss and employee and it always stopped at that line.

“Looks like you’ve been given a reprieve, Jayden…someone more interesting as turned up to be victim.” He gave her a wink and smiled over to Jayden, still standing in the hallway. “Oh, and if you didn’t spot it, I got those ribs you were asking for from the butcher for a decent price. If they don’t sell well, we won’t have them again so when you cook them, make them spectacular.”

Keiran continued to set the chairs on the floor around the tables. His eyes narrowed on the clock on the wall, noticing it was past four o’clock and the other girls were going to be late. ’Hopefully their excuses are good enough to keep me from being overly mad.’ He knew that he’d probably just make them come early one day to open on their own instead of docking pay, but it wouldn’t do for them to know he was a bit of a softie. He’d seen too much in life already to worry about small things.

“And Payton, if I’m a ‘mister,’ what would that make you? I swear, sometimes you make me feel very old.” He laughed, enjoying the fact that there could be such light banter. “Since you’re on time, Payton…you get to set up the bar.”

One of the best things about having a bartender with intangibility was the fact she didn’t need his key to get into the store room. He didn’t need the key either as a conjurer which meant if things were missing and the door was unlocked, he knew to suspect someone other than Payton as the thief. If things were missing and the door was locked…well, that hadn’t happened and as long as it didn’t, he wouldn’t worry about it.

“I think we’re low on some of the top shelf items, so use the checklist tonight so that I know what to buy after the weekend.”

As he turned to walk to the next table he noticed that Dog had abandoned him and wandered to the bar where Payton was. Dog might be a faithful companion most of the time, but when there was a female around, he abandoned Keiran in a flash. Not that Keiran could blame him.

[domino]

Beep.... beep.

"Oh shut up," Domino mumbled into her pillow as her hand reached out from under the covers and blindly smacked down on her nightstand. Trying to hit the snooze button. She found it, and hit it - hard. All she wanted to do was go back to sleep. And her alarm let her. For another five minutes...

Beep.... beep.

Once again she tried to hit the snooze button, but as she reached out to hit it - she fell off her bed. Tangled up in her sheets. She opened her eyes startled but she didn't get up. She didn't feel like it. But when she looked up and saw her clock, she jumped up.

"Shit."

That was all she said before she rushed to the bathroom. It was four, the time she was supposed to be at work by. Luckily, all her room mates weren't home. She had a quick shower, basically jumping in and out. She blow dried her hair as she dressed in a pair of jeans and a black tee-shirt. Then just had enough time to put on a bit of mascara and lip gloss before running out the door. She was sooo late, Keiran was going to be mad at her. It wasn't like it was her fault that she liked to sleep a bit too much. Yet Domino saw that it was sort of ridiculous for someone to be sleeping until 4 in the afternoon..... She needed to fix her sleeping habits. That was for sure. Everything seemed to go wrong whenever she woke up late. Like right now. Her car had a hard time starting and she practically had to run stop signs just so she wouldn't be that late. When she reached the place where she worked, her door wouldn't open until she kicked it with her foot. It annoyed her endlessly. With a quick glance at the clock, she saw it was only quarter after, not that bad, but not great. She was still late. She ran into the Sticks quickly, wincing mentally at the thought of her boss. He didn't tolerate tardiness, but here she was, for the fifth time in the month, late.

He was there, obviously. And Domino immediately started to apologize.

"I'm so sorry! I just woke up late, my alarm didn't go off and none of my room mates woke me up and is there any way I can make this up?" she asked quickly.

She was probably the last one there. She usually was. Nobody really liked her much, none of her co-workers were close to her at all. It wasn't like they excluded her, she just wasn't a sweet person. More or less, though she never acted like it at work, she just gave off a forbidding air. Like her brother. The two of them were never a likable bunch. Besides, Domino hardly socialized with any of them. She liked being by herself much more. Sure she flirted on and off with Keiran, it was her nature though. Artemis, Payton, Jayden, she wasn't close with. She had to admit that. It was easy to admit that. She didn't have any close friends what so ever. All her childhood friends she had dropped. Living in a broken family and being switched every six months wasn't really the best way to teach a child how to hold onto relationships.

However, Domino absolutely loved working in The Sticks. There was just something about this place...... It was the first place she visited really when she came to San so when a job opening came up, she applied. She needed to make some money to pay off her share of the rent. Her mother had left her everything, but most of that was in the bank for safe keeping. She couldn't just live off her mother's money for the rest of her life. And surprisingly, even though she was hardly likable, she got the job. She tried, she really did. But some people find solitude alone rather than surrounded by people. She plastered on the smile every time for work, put on some decent clothes, brushed her hair, put on make-up and she became perfect for work. All she did was waitress, but she got tips at least when there were people who actually came to eat and not drink.

She ran a hand through her dark hair and her pale green eyes scanned the place quickly. "Hey guys," she called out, before fixing her attention back on her boss.

"Is anyone still not here.. or am I the last... again?"

[jayden]

Jayden nodded to Keiran and walked back into the kitchen. He opened the fridge to spot where he placed the ribs. "Well I hope nobody order's those. That'd make a nice dinner for us." He chuckled to himself and closed the fridge door shut. He turned back to walk back into the bar area. Figuring nobody would be asking for food for another hour or so. Making some sausages takes only 20 minutes, tops. He might as well do something with the girls and Keiran outside.

When Jayden stepped into the bar area, he found that Domino had just arrived. He quickly looked up at the clock, it was past four but not everyone was there. He smirked, "Nah Domino, you beat Artemis here." He said jokingly. He walked over to Keiran's direction sitting on the table across from him. "So, I got sausages defrosting and nothing to do in the kitchen for now. Do you need me for anything like lifting some heavy crates of...whatever?" He knew that Keiran and the rest of the people who worked at the Sticks knew about his ability. It came in handy for things, especially when dealing with storage or breaking up an rare, but still occasional fight.

He turned his head and looked back at the bar, looking for Payton. Wondering if she needed help with anything. "Hey Payton!" He yelled out towards her direction. "Do you need help with anything? I'm gunna be bored for the next hour or so, I feel like doing something." He asked loudly, leaning back against the table. He figured he was lucky, if he was a cook in a restaurant he'd be so busy. But at a pub, he could take a break and have his personal time, enough time to check up on Claire.

He stood up slowly, stretching out his arms and letting out a big yawn. It was gunna be a long night, but he couldn't complain. Keiran paid alright, and the company was pretty decent. He rubbed the back of his neck leaning it to the left and right trying to stretch it out. He continued loosen up by cracking his knuckles, making loud snaps. Oh someone please need help, I'm bored.

[thewhitelines]

Payton knew that Keiran occasionally had his doubts about heiring her. She was young, after all. However, she also knew that Keiran wanted what was good for business, and she was good for business. Payton walked through the bar, without use of a key, and started to set up, in response to Keiran's instructions. Then she noted to get out the check list before her shift was over.

It was weird, sometimes, working with Keiran. He was such a cool guy, though such a serious boss. It had to be hard for him to maintain the two, especially when they grew closer, becoming friends. Payton knew that they'd never be more than friends, not as long as she worked at the Sticks. Before she started going out with Bryce, she wondered what would happen is she quite and tried being more than friends with Keiran. She never got around to it. Pulling out bottles and arranging them in their proper place, Payton worked quickly. It wouldn't be long till a few men came in, asking for a drink.

Suddenly Dominique walked in, looking, no doubt, a bit flustered. She was a little late. She muffled a few words to Keiran (probably about her tardiness) and greeted Payton. When she asked if she was the last in, Jayden appeared from behind the kitchen door and answered the question for her. No one really knew a lot about "Domino". No one ever really just sat down and talked with her, so naturally Payton was curious as to why she was the way she was. Payton wanted to get to know Domino better, but she didn't know how to go about doing so. Domino always seemed so cold and distant, like she didn't want to be bothered.

Payton responded with a shake of her head to Jayden's attempt at assistance. She was almost done setting up the bar. This job had done wonders for her. She had a steady pay check, and a way to keep herself preoccupied. She didn't really want to think about Dylan's death (the death that no one really knew about). She wanted to tell people but she couldn't take the constant stares and the constant attempts to console her in her grief. She was okay. She was fine. She was tired of the goddamn pain, but with time she knew her scares would heal.

Setting the last bottle on the bar, she walked through it and onto the main floor. She walked over to Keiran and stood behind him. Why was she hated so much. She had wanted so much to be with Keiran, but now it seemed she had missed her chance. She was with Bryce and he was sure to be dating someone. Dog was wagging his tail, following her. She had given him a name, something Keiran should have done. She called him Bud, a typical-not-so-original-name, but a name none the less. He always abandoned his post, next to Keiran, when she was around. She enjoyed his company. One day, she'd dog-nap him and take him home, so he could met Edmund. Edmund would love the company of another animal. He was a very friendly ferret.

Keiran was perfect, except for his smoking, a habit she was trying to get him to kick. She placed her hands on his shoulders and gently squeezed. "What now, boss man?" Payton said in a sing song manner, "I'm all yours."

[Keiran Byrne]

When Domino sauntered in, Keiran was already going over the mental speech he had prepared on the subject of ‘punctuality.’ Unfortunately the moment she stopped in front of him and apologized for being late, Keiran lost the will to give her the sound lecture. Though he was still young in years, he had already been through a lot in his life and worrying about the small things in life that got your blood pressure up just wasn’t worth it. She was sorry, and she’d do better…and that’s all Keiran really wanted to hear.

“Be in an hour early tomorrow…you’ll be scrubbing the floor on top of its normal sweep and mop.”

He motioned her off to go put her things away and continued setting up the chairs. Tonight they were supposed to have a performer come and play on the stage he recently added, but Keiran hadn’t heard from her so he wasn’t sure if she was coming or not. Her name was on the chalkboard next to the stage, but that’s not a serious scheduling so who knew if she would show up to play or not. If people really wanted music, there was still the old jukebox or the new karaoke machine he had gotten. But karaoke was only on Wednesday nights, so they were safe from the drunks who thought they could sing.

“Jayden, if you want something to do…there are some kegs setting out in the shed. Key’s in the cupboard close to the fridge and I need the kegs moved to the storage room next to the bar. I figured you’d be more than able to move them so I left them for you.”

Only one table left to get set up and Keiran was just setting the first chair down in its place when two hands settled on his shoulders and he practically jumped at the unexpected contact. His face flamed into a bright red as he realized it was Payton and that she probably didn’t know that line they had toed so often was dangerously close to being crossed. Working with such beautiful women was an occupational hazard…but Payton had an energy about her that drew others to her. It was the reason he hired her…and since she worked for him, he had to maintain that ‘boss/employee’ relationship and nothing else.

”I’m all yours.” Words most men would love to hear. But he had heard already that Payton was dating some guy named Bryce. He hoped the fellow had good sense to stay out of his pub since Payton tended to be a bit ‘hands on.’ Last thing he needed was a brawl over some of her innocent actions. And Keiran had long ago convinced himself they were perfectly innocent…there was no way the girl knew what some of her actions implied…because if she did, he’d have a whole mess of trouble on his hands.

“Erm,” he cleared his throat and willed his skin back to its normal shade. “Well then, if you’re all set at the bar I guess your next job will be to find out what’s holding up Artemis. If she’s a no-show, I’m going to have to replace her.”

He didn’t have anything against Artemis, but The Sticks always came first. If he couldn’t depend on her, he’d find someone else. There were lots of people in San who could use a job with a steady paycheck and if she didn’t want hers, he’d just give it to one of them.

[jayden]

claimage.
I WILL GET TO THIS.
very soon.