mirage

kenny once believed she would never find good friends. it seemed, being a vitelli, that one was surrounded by evil at every turn. while that might have proven true over the years, she began realizing in her later teen years that it didn't have to affect her if she didn't want it to. she could be hands off ( though perhaps a bit too flippant ) and totally uninvolved with the family business. this pleased her father when he still lived, something she chalked up to not wanting the press discovering the maiming or killing of the vitelli's precious, broken bird of a daughter. but now, sitting across from elise, kenny knew she'd found someone decent. better than that, she made the time easier in its passing, which is all kenny could've asked for when the days drew longer than she anticipated. "well, they did an awesome job. maybe i'll have to stop by soon—i've been thinking of adding some highlights, like, pink and red and blue or something," she then offered a grin as she was complimented. "thanks. it wasn't too hard, but now i hope it'll attract some attention around here. shit's getting boring outside of work. hell, at work too, except when you're here," it was something kenny felt a little guilty about. for so long, she liked things boring, predictable. especially when she lived in a place like vegas. but now, she was slowly growing hungrier for more, a foreign sensation that confused her more than it excited her for the time being. as elise accepted the invitation, kenny dumped half the bag of gushers in her palm. "we should hang out off the clock sometimes. my house is kinda old and scary, but i make my room look fun, at least. we can eat junk and play games or read magazines. what are you into, actually?"

elise had a rather rather proud look on her face as the other continued to give her a compliment, the narcissist in her loving every second - one would have thought that she had personally done it herself from the look on her face. it had been an impulsive decision to morph into someone else, someone very specific but she was hardly going to confess that small part to the other. after someone had noticed that there were outliers in her story of being family, she had kept her distance - she knew better than to poke a sleeping bear. for someone who lived quite a sheltered life, elise james was doing surprisingly well on her own and that was down to the fact that she didn't have to answer to anyone else... eyebrows raised as the other proposed to spend time with each other. she had full intention of shutting it down but the mention of a house being 'old and scary' did intrigue her. "old and scary, you say? sounds very interesting." she nodded. "can't say i'm that interesting as i like to make the most out of our discounted rentals. i like movies, a lot-" elise always painted this as her main personality trait, it had only started since she came here and perhaps it was here to stay... "any type of movies, music... drinking but not in the 'go wild' sense, sort of refined. i'm easy really." that was a lie as boredom always met her pretty quickly but kenny didn't need to know that.

in her twenty-three years of existence, kenny had hardly ever met another individual who mirrored her so closely. while she was certainly the more laid back between them, she and elise had more in common than not. both of them had reshaped their entire appearance on a whim, were members of the younger and sprightlier crowd in vegas, and, well, they both sold and rented movies in between shooting the shit behind the counter and stealing candy from the displays. that was enough similarity for kenny, figuring if they weren't friends then, they would be eventually—what surprised her was elise seemingly thinking the same, and extending the first olive branch. after they struck up proper conversation, they never really stopped. every time they spoke ended up being an extension of the last, so they were in this pleasant loop where both always felt heard and seen by the other. that afternoon, kenny looked most unlike herself, but so did elise. while kenny had voluntarily sawed off and dyed her once bleach blonde hair, it seemed her coworker had inherited it in turn. it was a little strange, but then again, so had been both their situations. "is it just me, or do you look especially hot today?" she chimed from her spinning chair, which was doing rounds at the risk of impacting her equilibrium for when she'd have to stand again. "maybe i'm just dizzy. but i think that blonde suits you more than it ever did me. who's your stylist? i just covered my hair in brown box dye and hoped for the best. a real hail mary move," without thinking, she reached below so she could snag a box of gushers from below the counter, then dug out a buck and a half to shove inside the register. "want some?" she shook the box around with a shit-eating grin.

elise had never considered herself having friends - they seemed overrated and always resulted in someone being disappointed. she wasn't a people person to begin with but some had to earn their keep fby doing jobs that weren't meant for them (she was just lucky that she knew movies so could advise without getting fully annoyed at customers). elise was academic but couldn't stand the confines of institution - it was all so bland. now, she found herself far from what she'd ever envisaged for her future but it didn't upset her. it was a win in her eyes if at least one of her colleagues wasn't insufferable and that was kenny. there had always been unspoken nods between the two, nothing said previously when they had changed their hair. elise's intentions for it weren't at all pure but it was giving her some fun. brushing her hair back behind her ear at the compliment, elise smiled. "really? that's awfully kind of you. i just had it re-touched the other day, lainey at under the sun." with a flick of her ends, elise came to stand by the other, digging her elbows into the counter as she socked on her heels "you did it yourself? looks good - could have fooled me!" raising an eyebrow, the blonde straightened her back at looked into the distance - her idea of being sneaky and supposedly diverting her own attention. "go on, then." the two always seemed to get into some sort of mischief together.

Her index finger indicating toward herself was openly scrutinized, russet eyes narrowing to slits, the corner of his lip curling with a barely restrained sardonic comment. "You are making no sense. Why temporarily?" Actually, Boris didn't care — frankly, the query was the only intervention from glaring at her bottle blonde scalp and suggesting it was every ounce as authentic as her self-image. A hand curled around his glass of vodka, pulling it toward his chest. The woman didn't take the hint, leaning in closer, and he said stiffly, "You have cheeseburger for lunch and do not use breath mints, govnyuk." Deny, deny, deny — it was the new drug in Las Vegas, wasn't it? She was prattling on about something to do with myths and horror movies — the only television Boris watched was whatever he happened to flip onto in the dead of night and pass out in his recliner in front of it, and usually by then, he was too intoxicated to give a flying fuck what was playing. There was something... unnerving about how someone could be so blasé about missing persons. ( Maybe science was right and the painful comeuppance of slasher films was desensitizing the younger generation to blood and guts and violence... then again, his own daughter was a contracted assassin, and he didn't have a leg to stand on. ) "No one can disappear entirely. People do not care to look hard enough, report suspicious activity, crime is easy." Waving a hand, partly to shoo her out of his personal space, he hissed, "Can you sit the fuck back in your own chair? Is this why you stay in places impermanently?"

there was a slight flicker of the blonde's eyebrow at the other's judgement but not so much for her lip to curl in tandem. this was not the place for her - obsession had taken over because she was simply bored and elise would most likely go out of her way to play with fire. the downside was that she had no experiences that resulted in getting burned. "people say we're creatures of habit but i don't think i'm at that stage yet." widening her eyes, the blonde looked away and then at the insult. "i didn't..." shifting back slightly, elise widened her eyes but a shrug of her shoulders came shortly after - she really wasn't going to argue and perhaps it would be her indifference that would save her from catastrophic events. did people not really care enough? from what she'd seen from the vhs tapes, those that looked too hard got taken out far too fast to even see it to the middle of the movie. the repeat action of widening her eyes and sitting back further followed but she gave the other a gentle nod. "well, since you asked-" elise knew that he wasn't asking at all but it was the perfect gateway to set the blabbering precedent for her character. she blabbed to make sales at her job, she blabbed on about movie plots and what she liked and disliked within plot devices and she would now blab on about things she deemed mediocre in her priority list. "-i've not lived anywhere else apart from home... and university halls but that doesn't really count as it's sort of a labyrinth when you think about it... students are scary."

smiling at the other as they ordered the drinks, elise nodded. "yeah, i moved here not too long ago on a whim, actually. wasn't expecting to stay but, you know, it's a good change and i've got extended family here." it was as if they were playing two truths and a lie, the latter being a lie that rolled off the young woman's tongue oh so easily. there was a part of her that was trying to insert herself into other's business and she'd already been caught but wasn't about to stop now. at least she was consistent. "i mean, i'm still finding my footing a bit but i work at blockbuster so i get a lot of quick access to movies and it's way cooler than it sounds."

after tapping the other on the shoulder, her eyes widened and head shook. "oh no, not at all. was about to ask you what tipples your fancy." elise had never been a big drinker - people who had partied at university seemed lost and that wasn't for her and yet, she felt she'd drank more in her life than she ever had here purely for the obligatory 'social' aspect. "do you recommend that? because i'll have whatever you're having." people liked people that followed, she knew that much.

For whatever reason, he found it in him to chuckle, and humor the young lady who looked like she shouldn't be alone at the bar. She couldn't be much older than his own daughter, so perhaps he was viewing it through a distorted lens. "Are you tourist?" he countered her question with one of his own, a shot in the dark. People got quite conflated in the head when they heard tall tales of the macabre, otherwise the Manson House wouldn't have become such a spectacle and they would have left the poor deceased souls to rest, as they deserved. Boris Rogalnikov was not a superstitious man, didn't think he subscribed to the rumor mill that what was afoot in Las Vegas was something more sinister being covered up by the police — if they were hiding anything, it was their own incompetence, or maybe that there was someone in the homicide department themselves carrying out the gruesome murders. He pulled out his pack of cigarettes, removing one and sparking it, dragging an ashtray along the counter. The scraping and keening sound of the glass tray against the battered wood was drowned out by the lively crowd pandering from one of the drag queens. "What have you heard?"

tourism was the entire reason she'd ended up here. despite elise's other intentions, had it not been a hotspot for holidays in the first place, there wouldn't have ever been an excuse for her to arrive in this neon city. she had envisaged it going differently, perhaps not being sniffed out so fast but it was fun, she wasn't employed so could not be too disappointed. "me?" frowning as she pointed to herself, a swift shake of her head followed. "no. i suppose i used to be. i live here now but it doesn't feel like i have a permanent spot here or anything." did people actually have to belong anywhere? elise herself had never felt sentimental about that sort of thing and boredom found her easily. sighing, she leaned in closer. "nothing really, i watch too many horror movies but there has been talk of such a figure. never know what's out there though, not really. everything has an element of truth to it, what form it takes can be a mystery." monsters, the boogieman, they did exist just not in the depicted form. "i'm just out to experience the city a bit, the fun parts, not the going missing part. guess that's the thing about cities - people can just vanish."

"That's it! I'm just gunna take it, I'm taking it, try to fucking stop me." She takes two steps away from the register and the cashier starts threatening to call the cops, and right at their most glorious moment, seconds before snaps and reels back to throw the coffee cup at his face, the person in line behind her blissfully speaks up, drawing both her and the cashiers attention with something like surprise, as if they forgot this was an incredibly public affair.

scanning her eyes over the stock, her head perked up when she heard the other raising their voice, yelling profanities and the cashier that was just trying to do their job (it happened where she worked but never to this degree as they dabbled with movies, nor pharmaceuticals). an eyeroll as the other continued on was given until elise sighed and made her way towards the other. it was a tantrum at best, something she herself had little time for but the other was entertaining... "i'll get it." it wasn't that elise wanted to be helpful or make herself useful to the other, nor did she expect to be paid back as debt collector wasn't a role on her bucket list but she was alone, bored and it wouldn't hurt to form some connection with the other (even if it wasn't genuine). pulling out the change from the depths of her pockets, elise put it on the counter and pulled a smile to the cashier. "that should cover it."

Boris didn't care for the glitz and glamor of most of the bars that littered the city of Sin, but he had to take it or leave it most nights. He ignored the fanfare and the shows that they hosted, intoxicated bastards placated by anything shiny and luring to the eye enough to dig deep into their wallets and slap another wad of cash for another round on the table, or maybe over-tip. He saw it at the Glitter Gulch Lounge all the time — his late wife had never been the type to run credit cards and pick money out of billfolds of people in too deep to notice. The Cupid's Arrow was more muted in a criminal sense, lively and vivacious colors and unique outfits compared to the unpalatable low-effort joints. Although he didn't have much conscious interest, his eyes lingered here and there, absorbing the on-going performance with a little more subdued apathy than usual. Tapping an empty glass and sliding it forward for another refill, the happenstance of a caught eye struck up conversation. "I hear this place almost got shut down the other week. They are thinking... Night Stalker is a regular here?" Surprisingly, really, that people weren't throwing down their elan and exiting in droves.

lady of the night, she was not but her attempts at becoming one of them had petered off slightly after one of them questioning her and elise had to fill her time somehow. yes, she loved movies, they gave her a lot of inspiration (not ideas) but she couldn't deal with the mundanity of it all - it was why she had left university in the first place. a prodigy, they'd said but what was someone deemed a prodigy without an experience and more, without an experience of being something they were not? elise would argue her approach was quite revolutionary but it was brave at best. still, she was sat here donning some red lipstick and it wasn't too long before someone else's musing perked her interest. "night stalker?" elise's eyes widened as she leaned back and puffed her cheeks out. "well, i suppose it would be a good spot for tourists, no?" it wasn't that she'd do anything like that but she couldn't deny a lot of people passed through the city on the daily.

"i do. but can you believe a customer complained because they didn't like ingmar bergman?" looking down at the selection the other had made, elise chuckled. "well, we definitely have different tastes but i don't think a complaint about recommendations is warranted. if you don't like it, great, then just tell me why." peering into the selection, the blonde crossed her arms. "i watched a film recently and it's - life really imitates art..." through the glass darkly was in her mind and the stunt the supposed woman pulled at that wedding reception several months back couldn't be that far off. "can't say i've watched any of these. is there something that you recommend?"

things weren't totally shaping up how elise james liked her plans to go and that was hard for her - a straight a student, she wasn't used to a challenge and whilst she'd protest that it was exactly what she was looing for, one of the family members calling her a liar to her face had not been on one of her outcomes. the family was messy in her eyes, nothing like hers, with secrets, trauma, ghosts; they were everything her family wasn't, everything she wasn't and for some reason... she wanted in. perhaps not to actually impersonate a dead girl from up north but be that presence... maybe she'd lost it - something her family would have never seen coming before this 'vacation' to las vegas that ended up being permanent. had she actually pulled out of university? or was she still going to pass every module without even being there like the genius she was... her tendencies were beginning to solidify. looking up at the other from the bar, her eyebrows raised. "well do you? this is my first time here. i don't go out much. never cared for it really yet... here, i, am."

the job, albeit mundane, did keep her entertained and came with the perk that she knew exactly what was available for her to take back on her evenings. elise did frequent bars sometimes, the classy ones (snobbish of her when she lived in a rv) but truly loved her alone time with a movie, journal, candle and a glass of wine. elise james had reinvented herself but someone in the target family had suspected that she wasn't part of the family at all... it was disappointing as it jeopardised her plan but she had said she liked a challenge. raising her brow towards the other as she watched them, feeling a little bored with this particular shift, she put her hands behind her back and rocked on the balls of her feet. her eyebrows raised further as the other redirected their speech to her. "oh, you got me!" widening her eyes, she gave the other her customer service smile but it was one laced with a little contempt - why were others constantly clocking her when she used to feel invisible? must have being the power of being a blonde. even that felt like it was creating less impact than it had initially beecuase the mother in question had gone back to her dark hair... "well, thank you. i would say that you have to have taste to actually work here but... that would be a lie." a slight at the expense of her colleagues but the young woman had no desire to cultivate a relationship with any of them, or worse... bond. "i've seen it already, so, you're good."

"Thank you..." Should have remembered that one. An eyebrow arched, the innate tingle underneath their skin stirring, the beast come uppeth from hibernation — the blonde didn't appear as the behemoth of their troubled past, but it took on many faces, and deceived countless others. Her hands disappeared beneath the table, clutching at the underside of the chair and waited for the other to answer the question. The facts weren't adding up, but they hadn't been home to Meteora in years — could they really trust their memory? Extended family... cousins... A Greek family like theirs had cousins to the dozens, but she couldn't remember a damn one named Elise. Maybe she had changed her name after? "Whereabout from?" they asked, their tone measured — if she didn't say Greece, then, didn't that answer it all? Grey eyes flickered upward, steeling with Elise's, and their stony expression unmoving when they could compose themselves. "Sorry, but it's kind of hard to think bloodline matters if you didn't show up to any family dinners," they said dryly, perhaps a touch cold — but no one had extended a hand of kindness to them when they were trapped, so why should anyone else? "You're not here to fucking tattle about where he is to the rest of the family, are you?" The octave of their voice raised a hair, legs of the chair scraping as they shifted its position until they were practically face-to-face, because if there was one thing she wasn't going to allow to spoil the evening, it was another unwanted family member, shoving their fucking asses into their lives where they weren't wanted. If to save face, Aourora didn't grab onto her to further their point. "You better be fucking honest about it, too, or I'll make you eat shit next time I see you, cousin."

some would say that elise james was a genius, a prodigy and the others would call her a difficult girl that didn't know - or wouldn't accept - her place in the world that had been laid out for her. academia was boring to her, even if it came naturally and she definitely wanted more excitement than equations. "oh-" still, that didn't mean she hadn't done her research. "greece, i did a bit of a stint in ireland as well and it was pretty nice but a bit, well - dull, if you ask me!" it would not have been a proper project if she hadn't spent her time out of her shift collating information and constructing the world in which she'd live for the foreseeable - as an alcott. elise feigned a sense of hurt as the other doubted her loyalty the best she could - her eyes widened before her brow flickered down into a furrow and she tightened her jaw. her eyes widened further as the possibility of her being a snitch was put to her - she was a lot of things but that was never going to be one of her crimes against humanity. "oh, god no." her brow furrowed deeper as she let out a chuckle of disdain towards the other. her offenses were indeed taking over and she was fully immersed in this persona she'd created. people in the future would say that she had 'low self esteem' but what did that truly mean? some people chose a certain path willingly and she was definitely doing just that (she needed to remind herself that the conflict was all part of family dynamics, especially when estranged relatives came into the mix)... "i don't doubt that you're honest with that threat." she breathed out. "happy for you to do just that if i go against it." elise let her shoulders shrug casually. "i already like you. things in my life have been rather dull lately, why i'm here working a dull job by morning or evening, so i can have a little fun by night." she winked.

elise was blessed that she could retain information for both movies she had seen and those she hadn't - it wasn't exactly the adacemy challenge her parents had in mind for her (they thought she was still at university) but it was somewhat exciting for her. every time someone asked for recommendations, it was a fun little game for her; she did want them to like the recommendations so they would come back to blockbuster and she'd keep her job but in actuality, she really didn't care if people liked them or not. "well, if you're looking for a silly premise - have you seen dazed and confused? a kid has to choose between sports and weed... good watch." she nodded as she raised her eyebrows looking at the units before narrowing to bring it out of its place, her doing the alphabet in her head to find it at a near impossible rate (she worked fast). "or-" she stood up straight. "-if you're looking for silly yet predictable, we just got a copy of empire records in? about an independent records shop getting bought out my a big corp..." with wide eyes, she gestured around looking at the massive chain she worked her. "-or just take them both and if you don't like them, you could rent something else after." genius business model.

Romulus had taken a little intermission from snooping around the Vitelli family when it seemed like the griddle was too hot to touch, tensions arisen from their side and that of what he had determined to be a bunch of street racer adrenaline junkies of little interest to him. He had been straying back toward the Weiss side, looking for new angles that he could pick up. If he chipped away at it for long enough, he figured that eventually, one side would cave and point in a direction that would shed light on new clues to share with Remus. The puzzle would reveal itself for a future heist, sooner or later. Standing outside the convenience store for a smoke, he had been eyeing a young woman who had been lurking around the display glass for about... five minutes too long now. "You're a little obvious if you're thinking about going in there and shoplifting," he said smartly, in an effort to draw her attention — and partially because boredom had him inquisitive about her intentions. "Or are you looking for someone? I haven't seen anyone go in since I got here."

the whole charade elise had adopted had pretty much taken over her life but even that hadn't completely cured her boredom. before arriving here, her life had been banal and she would become an academic but the research for her certain field bored her immensely and she'd met little fun people on her course and certainly no fun professors - they all liked their rules and guidelines. elise's parents were indeed rule followers but not strict by any means; they would be so disappointed to learn that she'd dropped out of university but would be more worried at the fact that she'd dyed her hair and moved away from them without so much as a goodbye. her parents were sensitive people and she didn't get that. still, willow's mother, biological mother seemed far too sensitive so at least she had some sort of practice. elise caught herself admiring lainey's handiwork in the near invisible reflection of the glass pane before she heard a voice behind her. "excuse me?" she raised her eyebrows and chuckled slightly as she offered up her palms to the other. "is this your way of telling me that i look like a thief-" she was stealing many things but physical possessions didn't come into that. "- because you're mistaken." another light hum escaped her. "no. she'll find me if she needs me." pursing her lips together, elise folded her arms.