Violet led the way in, this time, mainly because she got to the door first. She also wanted to take a quick look around to make sure that the cashier wasn't the same one as the time she'd gone and spilled her tea all over herself, because that would just make her uncomfortable. Doubtless no one remembered by now, but embarrassments like that tended to stick with Violet a little longer than they should.

Coast's clear, she thought, feeling absurdly relieved.

"So, what d'you want?" He's going to get espresso. Because if he doesn't, he's going to end up nodding off while talking to her, and that's one embarrassment that he could do without, thanks.

(The guy really shouldn't push himself so hard, but the run of the show does end next week, after which he'll take some time to actually take care of himself.)

And of course, he's buying.

"Um..." Violet frowned for a moment while she thought. "Chai tea, I think."

Yeah, she had spilled that same drink on herself last time, but that was all the more reason to get the same thing again. This time she'd be able to finish it, and that would be good. .. And,... Dave was buying? He might encounter some resistance from Violet on that, because she'd insist that it's her turn... It was only fair after all.

Dave was buying. And he would brook no argument. (Despite the effect this has on his wallet.) You don't invite a girl out and not pay, in his books. You simply don't. (If she asks him somewhere, then we'll talk about going Dutch, or her treat. Maybe.)

"'kay. You want a snack or anything with it?"

And up to the counter, and his hand's already pulling his wallet out of his pocket. Always be prepared, doncha know.

"Nope, I'm good," Violet shook her head. Then, giving a pleasant little laugh, she caught Dave's wrist.
"Nuh-uh. You know what? I think it's my turn to pay, this time. So what are you having?"

"He-ey... Thought I was the one taking you out..." But he grinned and shook his wrist loose, stuffing the wallet back in his pocket. (And inward sigh of relief, because the Bean really is rather expensive.)

"Shot of espresso, I think."

It's been a long day.

"Ah, we're just getting coffee, it's no big deal. Well, tea in my case, but whatever. Espresso it is," Violet nodded, smirking. She took care of the ordering, and the paying. Once that was all settled, she slid Dave's espresso towards him on the counter, and picked up her tea. "I guess we should have a seat?"

"Nah, I was thinking we'd stand here and block the counter for anyone else crazy enough to go out for coffee this late." Good natured sarcasm, and he's already heading towards a table.

He sort of... collapses into a booth, lifting his cup at her in a mock-toast.

"Cheers."

No yawning allowed, Dave.

"Indeed."

Violet smirked, shaking her head, and slid into the seat opposite him. "Cheers," she repeated, then took a long sip of her tea. Tea was supposed to have caffeine and everything, but it just made her drowsy. She wasn't quite sure why. She didn't feel tired right now, but she would soon after finishing her drink.
That reminded her...

"You look sleepy," she commented.

"Not 'zactly... Kinda tired, yeah, but I always am during the run of the show." A drowsy grin. "I make up for the lost sleep the week after." And he said he'd take her out for coffee, and he meant it. So she's not allowed to make any objections, not even on behalf of his health.

"Guess it's why everybody thinks theatre people are nuts."

Which he probably is, but it's in a good way, not a psychopath way.

Well, at least he did sleep.

"Is that a popular opinion...? I didn't know," Violet shrugged, warming her hands on the sides of the cup. She looked at Dave with a searching sort of look. "I don't know many theater people. But you don't strike me as being crazy, anyway."

"Well, prob'ly not mentally imbalanced kinda crazy," he conceded. "I mean, I don't need to see a shrink or anything. But the hours y'work in the theatre are nothing short of insane." The grin widened as he took a drink--not a sip, a drink--of his espresso.

"And I do ride around on a motorbike, and I can tell you that I go a hell of a lot faster when it's just me." He's nervous about having another crash with someone else on the bike, and getting them hurt or killed.

It's possible, after all.

"Yeah? Well,... that's not crazy, just reckless,.." Violet paused. That didn't sound right. "I mean, it sounds like fun. But still reckless. ... ah, geez, now I sound like my mother. Except for that 'fun' part."

She rolled her eyes, grinning. "Forget I said that. Just be careful, Evel Knievel."

"Eh, I'm pretty sure reckless and crazy are synonyms." Another drink of espresso--one more like that, and he's not going to have anything left to drink. "But nah. You don't sound like a mother. Sound like a friend."

Only he's hoping for a little more than friend in this relationship, you know? That's what he's been trying for since the start. Or almost, anyway.

And he had to chuckle, also, at the use of 'Evel Knievel.'

"I've had a lot of nicknames, but that's a new one."

"As long as you think so," she grinned, resting her chin in her hand while she took another drink of tea. Violet smiled faintly into the cup, looking at her smoky reflection in the liquid. She swirled it around a bit, just to watch the ripples.

"Never been called Evel Knievel? Heh. Well, I suppose that makes sense,... if you make a habit of jumping over burning things on your motorcycle, I haven't heard of it yet."

"Jumps, yes. When there's not a show going, I sometimes go down to the track and try my hand at stunts." Not to say that he's good at it, but he hasn't killed himself or broken anything yet, so he's at least decent. "Burning things, hell no. I'd prob'ly land in the fire, and then you'd have roast Dave."

Yes, he has a lot of nicknames, mostly by people looking to crack a joke. Friar Tuck was one of the most short-lived ones, mainly because he slugged the person who came up with it, before actually thinking about it.

"That sounds like a lot of fun to do,... me, I'd stick to watching, though. Hopefully we won't ever have to worry about a roast Dave. I still don't get how people can do the really crazy stuff, like jumping across canyons. I mean, they could die..."

This is something of a hint, in which Violet is saying, "Don't get yourself killed".

He took the hint.

"Hey, I'm never gonna do anything of the kind--I like living, thanks much, and I don't plan to do anything quite so stupid as jumping over a canyon, or through a burning hoop, or whatever. Dirt jumps and the occasional race's more than enough for me."

And they don't require as much commitment, either. He's committed to his job; he doesn't need to commit to his hobby.

"Fair enough," Violet said, with a placid expression on her face as she tilted her head towards her drink, to take another sip. "I didn't even know there was a track around here for that kind of thing. It's not just not something I'd notice right away. Oh, while still on the subject of motorcycles, - did you ever figure out what happened with that spraypaint stuff?"
She sounded completely innocent - it hadn't really been her fault, anyway.

"It's a ways outside town, not something you'd notice 'less you were looking for it." Most places like that are, to avoid disturbing the neighbors and getting chased away by the police.

As for the spraypaint... "No clue. Wish I did." He frowned a little. "I'd've thought it was me seeing things again, 'cept you saw it too."

He could have written it off as his not sleeping enough if she hadn't seen it. Oh well.

"Yeah,... that was pretty strange," she remarked, nodding.
Ha. That kind of thing has become normal, it's hardly strange to me...
Her dark eyes flicked upwards from her tea, to settle on Dave. "Seeings things again? So that means there were other times. What did you see?"

"Uh... stuff," he answered evasively.

Let's recap. He's encountered a ghost, who possessed the body of a rather cute boy--not that way--and attempted to seduce him, and he's encountered a demon, in the body of a young man named Keye that was going to do something highly unpleasant to him--he thinks--but stopped, for some reason he doesn't know.

There aren't any marks on his neck anymore, but he still rubs his neck remniscently, downing the last of his espresso with a frown.

"Stuff. What kind of stuff?" Violet inquired, raising an eyebrow. "Anything weirder than vanishing spraypaint? Strange creatures, stuff moving on its own..? Or just normal weird stuff, like thinking you heard someone knock at the door but no one's there? Do tell."

"First two," he muttered. "Ghost, an' a... thing. Dunno what it was, dun wanna know." The red cat-thing had thoroughly frightened him; he never wanted to encounter it again, because he was fairly sure he wouldn't keep his sanity after the experience. (Or maybe there wouldn't be enough left of him to try.)

"Just stuff."

"I've never seen a ghost. What'd it look like?" Violet asked.
That sounds way too conversational, she thought, afraid that he might think she was weird for finding those things not to be unusual. She accepted weird stuff so easily, now.
"Did it look like Slimer, or was it more of a Shakespeare-type ghost?" she said, trying to make a joke out of it.

"Girl. 'Bout sixteen, I guess. Long blonde hair. Kinda glowy, kinda transparent. Made a hell of a mess in the prop room." Doesn't sound like he was seeing things, you know, if it actually made a mess in the prop room. And why is he blushing like that?

(Well, of course, it's because he really doesn't like to remember how it was nice being kissed by 'Rose' in Zeke's body. Because that brings to mind all kinds of strange things, and he is very definitely not gay, or bi, or any other such thing.)

"Why'd it - she - go and do that?... I mean, what was she doing in the prop room?" Violet asked. She finished off her tea before continuing. "Is she like the theater's resident ghost or something...? That's so cliché, but so cool at the same time..."

What's he blushing for? Violet wondered. She idn't ask why, though, preferring not to call attention to it if she could help it.

He mumbled something embarrassed and blushed an even brighter cherry red.

"Dunno. Never saw her before a few weeks ago." And he doesn't want to see her ever again--he's certainly not going to take someone up to the prop room alone. There is no way that he's going to open himself to that kind of an, er, seduction attempt again.

"That's funny. Maybe she was just there all along and you'd never noticed," she mused. A girl ghost who messed up the prop room? ... Some ghost. It made her wonder why she was there... ghosts generally had some kind of tragedy attached to them, didn't they?
...
And why was Dave blushing so much? ...
"Can you show me the place sometime?" Violet asked, "It'd be interesting to meet a ghost in person... if she'd come out. I don't think ghosts come out if they know you're looking for them, but it'd be worth a try. Plus I'd like to know why she's in there in the first place."

"No!"

Okay, that was probably a little more panicked than the situation called for. But in his mind, it was justified. He liked Violet, he didn't want Rose to take her over and try to seduce him again.

It would be really hard to resist, you know. It had been hard when it was Zeke, and Zeke was a boy. With Violet, who was a girl and who he was already attracted to, resistance would be, forgive me, futile.

He was not about to put either of them in that position. No way.

She edged back from the table at his quick refusal, looking startled.

"...Why not? She can't be that scary, can she?" Violet asked timidly.
Scary, ... or else non-theater people just aren't allowed in the prop room. But still... unless she's one of those violent ghosts, I don't see why not...

"Depends on what you think's scary," he said, running a hand back through his hair and sighing.

"'s just... she's kinda..." And there was more blushing. "I think she has a crush on me. An'... don't want her to screw with you like she did with Zeke." (He's of the opinion--when he thinks about Rose, which is rarely--that the girl was a whore in life.)

And that's all he's going to say; he doesn't want to talk about it, really, at all.

"A ghost has a crush on you," Violet said, with just the tiniest bit of amusement. That was... new. She grinned at him. His embarrassment over the subject - it was cute. Of course, she didn't know what Rose had done, and if she found out... well, it wouldn't diminish the cuteness by much, but it would make her less eager to meet the ghost.
"What'd she do to this Zeke person?" she asked.
My, she was just full of questions this evening.

"Er... Tookhimoverandtriedtoseduceme." If she could understand a word of that, I shall be very impressed, and Dave shall be even more embarrassed than he already is. Which would be quite a feat.

And we haven't even touched on the demon yet.

He buried his face in his hands, and the red seemed to extend rather beyond his collar. Wonder how far down it goes.

"Sorry, what? I didn't catch that."

She leaned forwards on the table, tilting her head to one side, listening and watching him.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

He muttered something that probably wasn't very polite and looked up.

"I said. She. Took. Him. Over. And. Tried. To. Seduce. Me. Now can we please change the subject?"

If he turns much redder, he's liable to start glowing. Dave is highly embarrassed, and he really, really, really doesn't want to go into the details of that encounter with Violet. At all.

Violet edged back from the table once again. Dave didn't want to tell about it, and Violet, despite still being curious, realized that she probably didn't want to hear about it.
"Oh. Okay," she said, expressionless. "Yeah. Change of subject? ... umm... okay... What time is it?"

A glance at his watch.

"Almost midnight." And now he's feeling guilty for almost losing his temper at her. Oh, dammit. He sighed and rubbed his neck again--partially because he was upset with himself, and partially because talking about the bizarre things he'd seen... excuse me. The bizarre things he thought he'd seen reminded him of the demon and the marks it left on his neck.

"Sorry. For yelling at you."

"Almost midnight... that late already? Hm," Violet mused. "I ought to be getting back soon, then..."

She waved away his apology. "It's okay, don't worry about it." She didn't want him to think that his yelling at her (he hadn't, not really) had made her want to leave.

"Yeah, guess so." He looked thoughtful--and much less red--rubbing his chin and toying with his cup.

"D'you wanna go out again, sometime soon?" Please say yes.

Dave likes her; he would like to keep going with this relationship. She's easy to be around, she's smart, and she doesn't mind his motorcycle. All good things, as far as he's concerned.