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Pact witht he Devil (YenpointFive and tenn)

James looked a little shaken after Chuck's response and nodded just a little watching as Rachel had sidled up and slung her arm around his shoulders leaning on the man. Might as well lookt he part of a pair as everyone was going to put the two together. By the time show time rolled around her hair would be down again anyway. "Perhaps - we can get our first recruit tonight." She mused at Chuck lazily as James shifted getting to work on the bar.

"Feel free to set up." James said forcing a professional smile at the two. He liked Rachel so it wasn't to hard to Relax enough to not be ready to jump out of his skin - Chuck on the other hand made him uneasy. He'd have to warn Rachel before she left. Her taste in men if he recalled was particularly poor.

Rachel looked at Chuck. "Really - Don't go freaking out the employeers until we're famous and don't need the bar money ok?" She asked softly toying with his hair lightly. She had wanted to get her hands in that hair since she'd stupidly considered he looked better than breakfast that morning. "Come on." She said as she lifted off of him. "We need the Amp and Other goodies out of the trunk."
 
Chuck looked a little quizzical when she suggested that there might be someone worth including in their endeavors present tonight. "My guitar skills were worth my soul. Your voice is amazing and ready to become inhuman with work. If this kid isn't dripping with occult power, I sort of doubt we're bringing him along for the ride." Chuck told her.

It wasn't hard to see that James didn't like him, not a particularly big issue from Chuck's point of view. Part of Chuck sort of wanted to set himself on fire or blow his brains out in the middle of the bar just to clear the air. Admittedly, harming himself physically was annoying, but when you considered that nothing really caused physical pain or lasting damage to his immortal corpse of a body short of annihilation there wasn't a great deal of a reason to keep himself in one piece.

Chuck considered Rachel's comment for a moment before adding in. "We could rob him." It took a moment or so to realize he was actually serious about that. "I mean, cleave the register in half, take the money. I don't have the threaten anyone even. He shoots me, I crawl whatever's left of my body out and we keep any money that's relatively intact." He told her. Apparently his plans for bar robbery didn't stop him from following her out to the car and helping unload. "Anyway, he'll shut the hell up when we begin playing so it's no skin off my back if he doesn't like me yet."
 
Rachel laughed. "Ok, Ok." She waved a hand as he scolded her openions. "Though until last night I wasn't terribly deep in the occult." She reminded Chuck. Until she'd gone singing along with the book that Thyme had given her she was blissfully unfaithful. Now she was going to buy a cross the first chance she got (A pretty gold one). If only to prove to herself it wouldn't go scolding her skin.

"No we can't Rob him. I realize that you're damned one way or the other - but I rather like my employment opertunities alive and intact." She chuckled some shaking her head at him. She understood Chuck had no real qualms one way or the other but - she liked James even if the man was uneasy around Chuck. She completely understood why. "And Besides. James let me sleep above that bar in a little crossbase appartment for performing 5 nights out of the week. I'm rather fond of that particular barkeep." She popped teh trunk pulling out the Electric Guitar and set it's case up against the Bumper while she got its amp out.
 
Chuck shrugged a bit. "The difference between me, you, and other people is that other people, on the whole, aren't willing to try the sort of shit we will for our craft. Who knows though? Maybe lightning'll strike twice."

Chuck shrugged a bit. "I didn't say anything about killing him. I'd just scare him a bit and take his cash." He said. Chuck probably understood as well as anyone why he made people uneasy. Empathy didn't seem to be enough to change his behavior though, a fact that surprised exactly no one. Still, he did seem a little surprised when she mentioned that James let her sleep above the bar for a while. "A patron of the arts, huh?" He asked, taking the amp from her after she removed it from the trunk.
 
"He kicked the bastard I was dating out of his bar and wouldn't let me go with him When I had a black eye." She responded simply pulling out the other guitar and picked back up the other guitar. "Wonders of Wonders. He wasn't going to let me stick around with an Abusive asswhole who's T-shirt you're wearing." She tapped his chest lightly closing the trunk. "Though. I admit cleaned up and not talking about robbing him blind you're still cuter than the previous owner of the shirt." She mused.

She grinned slightly heading back inside. Though to practice she'd probably come back out in the sun she liked the sun. The other plugs and things James had set out for them before going back to work. It wouldn't take long for the night to get started. It never took long there was never enough hours in the day.
 
Chuck looked annoyed by that thought. "You couldn't have told me that after I wasn't wearing the bastard's shirt anymore, could you?" Clearly whatever morals Chuck did have did not involve beating women, whether or not robbery was okay. "Point taken though, I'll try to get along with him..." He begrudgingly admitted. It was, he'd have to admit, imaginable that he'd have to keep his ego in check to make this work. Being called 'cute' certainly didn't help the ego department. "'course I am." He said, as if it was common knowledge.

He clearly remembered how to set up his own gear even if towards the end he was used to having roadies to do that. He had no problem practicing outside, though he did have to stop by the bar and see if James would open a tab for him. It was a bit of a long shot considering the fact that he had neither a credit card, nor a wallet of any kind. On the up shot, if he could convince James not to require a card he wouldn't be expected to pull out the wallet he didn't have just yet.
 
Rachel grinned at him. "Nope. Because if I had you'd be... wearing nothing but a coat." She tilted her head at the thought though and got one of those Ate the cannary smiles. "Not a bad picture." She then sauntered away.

James looked at him as he came back and he examined the man. "Beer?" He asked. More because it seemed like Chuck needed it. He had wanted to talk to the man about the situation at hand anyway >Really what he wanted to know was how he kenw Rachel and why the woman had traveled with him She normally didn't. "Do you two need a place to stay?" He added as a second thought. From what he understood Rachel (Who yes did keep in touch) Hadn't even played nice with men since Matt.

While the men where at the bar, Rachel and the Acoustic had gone outside. And she'd perched herself on the trunk to watch the road while she strummed some of the notes he'd written down. It was easy to figure which was the 'human skill' part and which was not. Humming along with the music she drifted through the lyrics. She liked the set up he'd given it.
 
Chuck did his best to fake innocent when she suggested that he could be wearing nothing but the coat. "You're not asking me to strip, are you?" He asked, looking as worried by the idea as could be. Really, the question was not whether or not he was horrified (no, obviously, he wasn't), but rather whether or not he would have actually stripped in the parking lot in broad daylight.

"A man after my own heart." Chuck responded to James' question. "Something American." He added in. Part of Chuck considered whether or not it was an intelligent move giving a tab to a man who'd skipped out on the biggest debt he'd ever owed. He eventually decided that debts were only of concern to the sort of people that'd believe you about them and somehow James didn't look like the sort of guy who believed in angels and devils. He smiled when James suggested a place to stay. "We're keeping on the move right now, a tour of sorts. A place for the night would be wonderful though." He answered. It wasn't necessarily the single safest idea if anyone remembered that Rachel had played here. Then again, part of Chuck still did like James enough that he'd actually like to be here if someone came calling. The sword on his back was itching to get tried out and Chuck could tell that Thyme hadn't screwed them over. It left this sort of cool burning feeling on his back, even sheathed, which most certainly meant that it was holy.

Chuck left his six-string slung on his back, though now and then he'd briefly move his fingers as if playing an air guitar. There was some part of him, removed from all the magic and mystery that realized that there was something to actually learning guitar and that if he simply played the music that Hell had filled him with he'd forget why he'd done this in the first place, and if that happened Metal would desert him forever. Air guitar didn't prompt the magic within him to awaken, and it made sure he actually knew how to play the parts he wasn't going to let the Metal take over for.
 
Rachel just smiled at him. She shrugged. "maybe Later." Was the only answer he got.

James nodded. Pouring him a tall draft. "How'd you two meet?" He asked conversationally - knowing Rachel she'd leave them for her own devices until the actual work began. Her and that notebook. James turned his attention to the man he'd just put a beer in frontof. "No offence but she hasn't even spared a man a second look in nearly 3 years." And he damn well was going to make sure this one was halfway decent.
 
"I'll write you up a raincheck." He said in response, clearly not worried too much one way or the other about whether or not she was joking.

Jame's question prompted Chuck to look a little pensive. In Hell people were relatively willing to believe whatever you happened to tell them. They wouldn't trust you, period, but it was easier to believe lies that didn't matter than to question them. And it was also very hard to figure out when something was a lie. Plausible lies could be pretty much anything considering just how much crap went on behind the scenes in reality. "Okay..." He began slowly. "She bailed me out of a jam more or less accidentally, I've been out of town for a little while and so she's getting me back up to speed considering that we're in the same business. Whether or not she spares me a single look is more or less irrelevant. I'm looking after her for right now whether she's interested or not. Between you and me, I wouldn't mind much if she was. A blind bat could still see how cute Rachel is." He said, sort of feeling like James could have been Rachel's father or something. Either way, he happily took a swig of beer, which turned into half the glass when he realized how much he'd missed the stuff while he was dead.
 
James looked at him and nodded a few times refilling the draft. "Look after her well - the girl has the worst run of luck with men I've ever seen." He considered what he was saying and decided if the man was following Rachel around he might as well voice his concerns right? "I will throw you out you prove to be as much of a Slimeball as the last man was." He added in warning. That protective father figure showing. Rachel hadn't had a great deal of luck with men, including her real father the man had just disappeared one day. Mom wasn't much better so the woman had grown up knowing what it took to get a leg up and what to do about it.

Rachel wandered back as the two men talked again curling an arm around Chuck's shoulders. Tilting her head. "are you being over protective again?" She asked James.

"Me? I would never venture to adjust your living situations." He responded with an easy smile and Rachel grinned back.

"I love the Music you picked." She told Chuck. "And At least two of them are simple enough I can play and sing at the same time." She added lightly toying with some of his hair as she leaned against him on the stool. She had all the words tot he songs memorized for the most part so that wasn't going tob e a problem. She picked up his beer sniffing it and drank a little before setting it back down.
 
Chuck seemed relatively willing to down as much beer as was put in front of him and took the refill as soon as it was offered. "I kinda doubt I count as any sort of good luck." He said with a dark chuckle. He was, of course, painfully aware of how much bad luck it took to have Hell chasing after you. "I make few promises, and I'm not so good about keeping them anyway..." Chuck began as his eyes locked with James'. "But I can promise you that I'm not going to do anything of the sort to her and be sure I'll keep it. I might be more of a monster than most men but it sounds like the people she's been with are the sort of people I'd hesitate to call men in the first place."

Chuck's arm slipped around Rachel's waist as she walked up to the bar, resting his head none too discretely against her breasts. "The mean old man was threatening me Rachel..." He whined softly. Naturally he didn't overstay his welcome any more than he thought he could get away with and was soon sitting upright again, grinning as usual.

He nodded a little bit and gave her a smile. "I picked them just because I figured your voice could do the song justice. For the complicated ones I'll probably take lead vocal for now. My voice isn't nearly as sweet as yours but that trance makes playing the guitar pretty much effortless."
 
She chuckled some as James looked up and smiled at her. "I am not." He told her. And she shrugged.

"If you where being mean I'd have to say Chuck Deserved it." She admitted as he sat his head up. She was in a good mood. Then again music and the thought of performing always put her in a pretty good mood. "and I have a feeling he wouldnt' be whining to me about it." She added leaned against his side on the bar.

James nodded. "I can't help but agree there." He seemed satisfied witht he promise Chuck made about not being a piece of slum garbage.

Rachel looked at Chuck. "only Vocals in that collection of book I can't handle are the male covers you want to do." She had complete faith in her voice. "Any Notes you put to it I can hit. And If I can't hit I can damn well fake."
 
Chuck had to admit, she seemed to know him fairly well by now. Even he realized that just about anything said to him was at least probably partially his fault. Beyond that, she was right that he wouldn't have complained to her if James had been starting trouble. It was far more likely that this scenario would have ended with someone getting clubbed with a chair.

Chuck shrugged a bit. He hadn't been a bit worried about her voice. He was more concerned with whether she could managed to sing and still pull off some of the more complicated guitar riffs. In the end, it wasn't likely that it'd matter too much. They could easily blow this gig out of the water and if they found that they weren't ready for the big time yet there was always time for more practice.
 
Rachel smiled faintly as she tilted her head. Watching the man.He seemed content with her answer. "And, besides. You'll be handling the tough music one way or the other." She reminded him with a little tap of her finger to the back of his head. "Come on, The bar opens in 5 minutes. Lets get ready." She moved walking away from the man with ease considering she'd been in heels that would have made any other woman's feet scream at the first stop. Walking over to the stage she held out the electric to him - she wanted the acoustic.

***** ***** *****

As the night began - she waited until about half past to start playing, long enough for whoever was going to come in to come in. And she started with the less impressive music. She saw no reason to lead into the Stronger songs for 3 to 6 people. Her voice was Haunting enough with his musical abilities, and she wrote well enough even the less impressive songs were well, intriguing.
 
Chuck followed her to the stage and picked up his guitar, more than ready for the show to come. He had no problem starting off with the easy music. It wasn't hard for him to keep the trance from kicking in. This was the calm before the storm, he moved through each song with practiced perfection as Rachel's haunting voice stole the show.

He knew that as the night pushed on longer there'd be more people and the more of a crowd he had the more the Metal would be trying to force its way to the surface and once it did there'd be no stopping it till it came crashing out, louder than Hell. He was counting on it. His gifts may not have been his own but from where he was standing he'd still stolen them fair and square
 
She smiled faintly as the music began to rumble out and the songs - Easily drifting through them as people filed in and the performance got more watchers the tempo, songs, and choices kicked up a notch and more of the rock and roll tones hit the stage.

Around 9 the boy who was supposed to start at 10 wandered in, guitar in hand he hadnt' expected people to already be there and he looked particularly confused by it. Though he smiled some hearing the music as it fought for prominance on the stage. Apparently the Demonic music wasn't just for him. He had thought he was special - now there was a challenge.

Rachel was currently not playing at all - letting him play now that the music had hit more complicated notes than she wanted to play and sing at the same time. but she had come over leaning some playfully on Chuck though she was not in the way of either arm's movement. During one of the points where she wasnt' singing she said softly. "There's the second act."
 
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