Last Call

[Celestial]

Shinko

The lady takes her cocktail and takes a sip as she listens to the bartender speak. She turns her head slightly to look at the Don the man points out, though it is unclear if she got a good look at him. Nevertheless, when she turns back to the bartender, she is smiling.

"Thank you. Your help is much appreciated, and I will be careful to heed your warning," she pushes the coin towards him. "For the cocktail. Keep the change. And," off her wrist, she takes off a different bracelet: silver, with an amethyst embedded into it. "You dd not give me a full answer, but you gave me a way to persue it. I am fair; I will exchange like for like. Have a good day, sir!"

With that, the lady picks up her Mary Pickford and makes her way over to the Don. "Pardon me," she takes a seat next to him, giving him the most charming smile. "So I hear you're the owner of this place. A lovely establishment, nothing like the cheap bathtub gin and wood alcohol dive bars that are the norm these days. My compliments."

Another sip of her cocktail, and another sweet-as-sugar smile. "Whoever would want to end this party must be the scum of the earth, if I may say so."

[Shinko]

Celestial
The ghost in the pinstripes glances sideways at the lady, flipping the top of a pez dispenser and taking a bite out of one of the candies within. It crunches audibly in his mouth, the rhythmic chewing motion of his jaw the only indication that the man's face isn't made of some sort of emotionless granite.

"You mistake me for someun' who's not given the shakedown to skittish marks before," he remarks finally. "I know the game, dollface. So howsabout we be straight, hm? Ya wanna know what chopper squad gave my bar and all it's patrons a rub-out."

He pops the pez dispenser again, taking another candy. Then, he takes out a pack of playing cards, shuffling them. He dispenses two cards to each to himself and the lady before flipping up the cap of his pez dispenser again. As he does, his eyes go stark white as the bartenders did a moment before, and the pez dispenser is replaced by a cigarette lighter. The entire room seems to drain of color, and the ghosts are replaced by living patrons- visible only to the two occupants of the Don's table.

"Since you strike me as a moll who likes questions, let me ask you one of my own," the Don murmurs, picking up his two cards. "You feelin' lucky tonight?"

[Celestial]

Shinko
The lady watches the Don carefully as he chews his candy, before an expression of momentary surprise forms on her face in response to his words. However, it is soon replaced by a mischievous smile. "It would be no fun if I was just given the answer right away. I'll play your game."

She watches him like a hawk as he shuffles the cards, trying to keep a poker face, an easy task with her eyes hidden. If one could see them though, they would be gleaming. She takes her cards, examining them, before turning back to the Don. She waits patiently as his eyes go white, expecting them to turn back to normal as the bartender's did, but they do not. She looks around briefly at the patrons, but dares not turn her attention away from the man in front of her for too long.

"I feel quite lucky, thank you," she remarks, studying her cards again. "I am a dab hand at cards. So, what are we playing for? If I win, I get the story of this place, but if you win...let me guess? My soul? I join in with your dancing patrons for the rest of eternity?"

[Shinko]

Celestial
The Don laughs. "Oh you'll get your story either way," he gestures broadly to the room around them. "This is Halloween Night, 1928- the night we lost everything. You're going to see it all unfold before your very eyes, which is better than me just spinnin' a yarn. What we're playin' for is whether you live to tell the tale, or if you get a slug 'tween the eyes same as everyone else in this room."

He draws three cards from the top of the deck and lays them out in the center of the table. "So I guess in a manner of speaking you'd be joinin' the dance. All a matter of how you feel about the particulars."

In the background, the various patrons seem to be going about their business entirely as if the Don and the fortune teller are not even in the room. On woman in particular seems to be in sharper focus than the rest of the bar. She is tall, with short-cropped brown hair and a feather boa draped over her shoulders. She holds a cocktail glass in one hand- though careful observation would notice that her glass never seems to deplete, no matter how many times she brings it to her lips.

Noticing the direction of your gaze, the Don smirks. "Gams for miles on that one, aye? That tall glass of water was the moll of one o' my droppers. I didn't know where he picked her up, but she didn't have the sniff of an elephant ear, so I left it alone."

The woman stands smoothly, stopping briefly to chat with one of the bouncers off to the side of the room before heading out the entrance by the phone booth.

"You should be glad o' that drink- it's 'bout to get hot in here," the Don remarked.

[Celestial]

Shinko
The lady tilts her head slightly at the Don's words. "Well, I suppose that is only fair. I would like to get out- I have a horse waiting outside for me who would be quite annoyed if I did not return- but I would like to see what happened to this place all the more. So please, do count me in this round. It would be a pleasure to play you, Don," she smiles. "Halloween Night...I thought Valentine's Day was the popular one for massacres. This intrigues me even more."

While they play, she casts glances around the various patrons, all now going about their business as if they were alive. The lady does not tear her gaze away from the cards for very long, however, and always makes sure she checks for any discrepancies. The Mafia were known to have very strong codes of conduct but she was not sure if cheating at cards was covered by them.

The woman, nevertheless, catches her attention, if for just how much she stands out from everyone else. Lifting her glass to her lips, the fortune teller takes a sip. "Thanks for the warning," she replies sardonically. "So, I take it that "moll" as you call her, will have something to do with whatever is going to happen next?"

[Shinko]

Celestial
The Don gives no reply, only smiling lightly as he continues the poker game. With the loud jazz music playing in the background, one might almost not have noticed an escalating conversation between two of the patrons. They seem to be a little too inebriated for their own good, and one of them eventually shoves the other. The bouncers converge on the duo, looking more bored and resigned than anything- this is their job, they break up fights like this all the time. They drag the two men across the room, ignoring their loud, slurred protests. Likewise, the other patrons ignore the entire affair, paying no mind as the bouncers vanish out the exit to dispose of the belligerents.

"They never came back inside," the Don remarks. "Their spirits don't even remember leaving the room- but you won't find the ghosts of those two angry drunks amongst my revelers."

He puts a sarcastic emphasis on the phrase "angry drunks" but opts not to elaborate further. There's only one bouncer left in the room now, and after about ten minutes it's clear he's getting annoyed at his compatriot's failure to return. He slides briefly over to the bartender, sharing a hushed exchange before following his coworkers outside.

"I have more triggermen hidden elsewhere in the building, of course," the Don notes. "Would be a shoddy operation if I didn't. But you won't see any of them at this little performance. We have our own more intimate Halloween party going in the back, and she saw to it our drinks were stronger than I normally let my men sample while they're on the job."

A minute or so passes, and the bartender fidgets uneasily. His gaze is fixed on the doorframe as he continues to fill drink requests. Eventually, he moves towards a small phone behind the counter, having a hushed conversation that brings the Don- a second, alive version of him, out from a dark corner of the room.

"I was doing some paperwork," the ghostly Don puts in helpfully. "I don't normally get directly involved in the operation of the bar, but I gave my manager the night off. Which she knew I was planning to do, and she was banking I'd be the one to come out when a problem arose." He raises a brow. "So- will you watch what happens next from the front row, or from safety?"

He lays down his hand, smiling. "Flush."

[Celestial]

Shinko
The lady continues to play, though as usual, she occassionally steals glances at what is going on around her. She tilts her head slightly at the two "angry drunks" and is tempted to ask the Don to elaborate further, but stops. There are more intriguing things going on than the two drunks. Besides, given his mysterious smile, it was unlikely he would give her a straight answer. He seemed more keen to let things play out.

She is right. With the second bouncer gone, the first looks uneasy. Were the two bickering men simply a distraction, a way to get one less enforcer out? The Don's mention of the triggermen hints that was the case: she got rid of the other force that could have stopped whatever massacre was about to go down.

The appearance of the Don surprises her, and she glances back at her card partner to confirm that it is him. A grin appears on her face. "Death has certainly not been too harsh to you. You don't look too different, aside from the bullet holes."

The lady allows the Don to finish his story. "So, I take it this she was the woman you so kindly had me hyperfocus on. She certainly seems like the sort of woman to scream "trouble" when she walked in. How curious..." she leans forward, her elbow resting on her knee. "I would like to get as close to the action as I can without getting hurt. Though if my place dpeneds on the cards that I am holding in my hand..."

She reveals them. Three sixes and two queens. "I believe this is called a Full House, my dear Don. So I get to tell your tale yet, once I witness its climax."

[Shinko]

Celestial
The Don looks down at the fortune teller's cards, nodding slowly. "A wager is a wager."

He pulls out his lighter again, clicking it open and snapping it swiftly shut. The soft noise it generates heralds a shimmering glow that seems to turn the lady's body transparent, so that she is witness to the events of the past without being corporeal within them. The Don stands, beckoning for her to follow, and walks over to the entryway where the doorman stands, slouched against the wall with a bored expression.

"His ghost didn't have any bulletholes- did you notice?" the Don asks with a sideways glance. Before the lady can respond, the phone rings and after the requisite coded exchange the doorman opens the speakeasy to reveal the woman from earlier. He recoils sharply- she has a tommy gun in her hands- but before he can so much as blink, let alone cry out an alarm, she brings the butt down on his head, and he falls.

"Dry-gulch," the Don growls. "Can't be spoiling the ambush by shooting him, or risk him surviving a stabbing to cry warning. Clever broad."

The woman stands aside, allowing the entrance of three more men behind her. All armed with machine guns.

"Think that should answer yer question plenty," the Don remarks, his incorporeal form starting to waver and warp, the bulletholes in his chest bleeding more profusely now. "Coppers don't pack that much heat, and they don't bump every rando what gets in the way."

He looks away his eyes seeming to blaze white from within. He doesn't watch as the men proceed into the room with their tommy guns. But he can't silence the sounds, and the air around his body turns to ice as the Halloween Party devolves into chaos.

[Celestial]

Shinko
The lady looks down at herself, momentarily alarmed as her body shimmers, but relaxes when she realises what it is all about. She obliges the Don, following him and stopping at the entryway a short distance beind him. When he speaks about the bulletholes, something about her seems to suggest a quirked eyebrow. Perhaps she might have to look closer.

The events of the next few seconds explain his fate. Of course, a pistol-whipping with a machine gun would certainly not leave any visible marks, though she suspects the internal damage would be pretty severe. It is a good thing that ghosts only show off their external injuries, at least most of the time.

Her musings, however, turn to horror as the rival gang enter the speakeasy and begin to shoot. The lady briefly glances at the Don, seeing the bulletholes forming on his person, before slowly turning to watch the carnage. She tries to stop but cannot tear herself away from looking, not until it is all over. When everything is done, she remains frozen in place, her mouth hanging open. It is a good thing her hood masks the fear in her eyes.

"I...well...I certainly understands now," she manages to gasp out, clutching at her chest. "That woman was...certainly something."

The lady remains solemn, far more subdued than she had been before. She bows deeply to the Don. "Thank you for sharing your story with me, and for the card game. Is there anything you want in return for this, my dear Don? At least, something that I can reasonably provide. I am afraid I am not in the business of revenge, even if the woman who masterminded the shootout is still alive."

[Shinko]

Celestial
The Don shakes his head. "In the morning the patrons will lose themselves and become angry, restless spirits again- no memory of who they were, only knowin' they was cut down before their time and not a clue why or by who. It's everythin' the bartender an' I can do to keep 'em in the speako- sometimes even we lose it, if the city comes callin' tryin' to tear the place down for the dozenth time."

He clicks his lighter, which turns into a pez dispenser once more, and both he and the fortune teller are returned to the haunted speakeasy of the present. "I've lost track o' how many decades we've been livin' this hell. This one night a year's all we got. The one time when everybody's themselves again, and we can party like we used to. So have fun- have some candy, have a drink." He smirks. "Have a Happy Halloween."

[Celestial]

Shinko
The lady listens solemnly before nodding. "One night a year is better than no nights. It looks like you are having a good time, and you certainly deserve to relax sometimes. Keeping restless spirits at bay is not easy," she sounds like she speaks from experience. To try to take the edge off the horror that she just witnessed, she drowns her cocktail.

Standing from her seat, the lady bows. "Once again, thank you. I think, just for tonight, I will join your revels. As a living person, of course. But you do excellent cocktails in your establishment, and it is pretty lively, given everything," she laughs. "I'll be right back."

The lady strolls over to the bar, placing her glass down upon it. "Mind if I try the sidecar this time? I'd like to make the most of my time here."