Die Hafen

It was a cold night in the outer areas of Berlin, and the Russians had already moved beyond this point by now. Or well, for now, at least. The battle that raged through the capital of Germany appeared to Friedrich as if it would never cease, and he'd started to get bored of it. He got up from his bed inside his personal chamber behind the bar, and entered the saloon to greet his guests and to check if there was any trouble.

There wasn't many people there that night; only a few divines, others, and undead had gathered here. This night began quite calmly.
The show was going to start any time now, and Friedrich had invited one of the very finest performers to tonights show; Lady Y'selle, an elder angel who sang as astoundingly beautiful as no other. Friedrich quickly made his way through the room to check in backstage, and to adjust the speakers one final time. Behind the scene, he met with Y'selle, who, by her bodylanguage, told him she was ready and wanted to get started.

Friedrich nodded to her and added "Jaja, ich bin jetzt vertich, Y'selle mein liebling. Ein moment mal, bitte." He checked the speakers, who seemed to be alright, and then he entered the stage and grabed the microphone:

"Good evening, guten Abend, and welcome to Die Hafen, my ladies and gentlemen! Tonight, we give you the very best of entertainment, I assure you! Lady Y'selle, I bid you welcome!"

He strode aside from the microphone and walked down from the stage, clapping his hands as a sign to the rest of the club to do so, and then made his way for the bar.

 

R'Nasht, also known as Katarine, applauds politely for Y'selle but pays very little heed to the actual performance, instead attracting Friedrich's attention with a wave of her slender hand.

"Do you have any more of that marvellous Riesling?" she asks in frostily accented English. Her smile belies the coldness in her voice - good wine is one of her favourite vices, along with the cigarette she now lights.

 

Drachenmurane scanned Die Hafen, surveying his audience, seeing how he might best play for them. Then, he was hit with a small thirst.
"Schankellner, kohnen Sie das Fassbier geben?"
Waits
"AH, danke, Sie sint einer Lebenshelfer."
Being the polite gent he is, Drach often gets many a strange look in the local pubs and meadhalls.
He's very interested in Y'selle's performance, not because he LIKES it, but because he wants to know how best to show her up.

 

Friedrich spun around at the spot when someone called on him from the audience. He looked around for only a moment before noticing the hand of N'Rasht. He strode to her as quickly as he could.

"Yes, my darling N'Rasht, what was it that you wanted?"

 

"Reisling, dear Friedrich. I cannot sit here with a dry throat all night!"

She chuckles, and her smile widens slightly.

"The lady, she is on form tonight, no?"

 

Drach sat, enjoying his drink.
"Awfully polite for one such as yourself."
Drach turned to face his addressor. "One such as myself? I see no problem addressing others with respect. Who are you to ask me, anyway?"
"I'm Gerald Nimms, an angel. We all have our roles to play, and I suggest you play yours, demon."
"Come now, Gerald! We're in the one place any of us are really welcome, and you want to start hostilities. You should know that's one of Friedrich's rules."
"I merely remarked on what I saw, and I saw someone who doesn't know his place."
A fire burned within Drach, but quickly subsided. "Sir, with respect, I'm going to ask you to leave me to my drink; I have a performance to get ready for. Now, if you please, get the hell away from me."
Drach said those words in such a way it seemed they burst into flames as they left his mouth. As flustered as he still was, he didn't know how ready he would be for his set.

 

Friedrich was just about to answer Katarine when he heard an agressive tone behind him, and he quickly turned around to see who the troublemaker was. He quickly laid his eyes upon two individuals, one sitting and one standing next to him. He focused and cast the spell of revealing within his mind. It was a demon and an angel.
'Of course,' he thought, 'what else?'

He stepped over to the arguing couple and stopped right behind the angel. Ha tapped the angels shoulder with his stick and stepped back as the angel turned to see who just tapped him.
"What seems to be the problem, gentlemen? I do hope that none of you intend to disturb Y'selles performance, for you both know the rule and the punishment."

 

Drach answered for Gerald, "Oh, I hope I wasn't disturbing anyone, Friedrich. I just had a minor argument with the gent you see here, a question of morality, if you will. You needn't resort to such drastic measures, as I believe he was just leaving."
Gerald looked at Drach, then back towards Friedrich, saying, "Yes, of course, I was just about to leave." Obviously flustered, Gerald left the bar towards a group more akin to his type.
Drach looked at the departing angel, then to Friedrich, saying, "Again, I apologize, Friedrich. I'm a bit eager to perform my set."

 

Friedrich smiled. Good old Drach, always knowing how to handle the situation.
"I see." he said, "I believe Y'selle will be done soon enough, so you should perhaps get ready backstage. If you need me, just ask somebody for me, ok?"
And with that, he turned again to Katarine.
"Ah, the Reisling, of course. Just one moment, dear."

Friedrich went back to the bar to get the bottle of Reisling.

 

Drach let out a sigh of relief. He knew exactly what could happen to those who broke the rules of Die Hafen, and Friedrich was not a man one could take lightly. After he finished his drink, he picked up his trumpet case and walked backstage. He then found a seat, and began cleaning and oiling the the tool of his trade.
"Shouldn't be long now," he said. Few things excited him as much as playing for a crowd. Well, that and a fight to the death. But he wasn't about to start one now.
"Hey, Drach!" said one of the barmaids,"Five minutes left in Y'selle's set. Go ahead and start warming up, but try to keep it quiet, you know how things work around here."
"Oh, don't worry about me, miss; I can keep very quiet when I need to..."
Taken aback by his response, she simply nodded in reply, and went back out onto the floor.

 

R'Nasht watches the confrontation between Drach and Gerald with quiet curiousity. So few people were willing to risk angering Friedrich that any kind of arguement was interesting to her.

"Joder," she mutters, slipping into Spanish. "Is that fool trying to get us killed?"

She turns and smiles a disconcertingly perfect smile at the person sitting next to her, to disguise the irritation she feels. Mayhap she'll leav early tonight... the war is enough to put her on edge, despite her combatative ways, and damned (Hah!) if she's getting involved in anything that could get her kicked out of the only true safe haven she knows.

 

Friedrich found the wine and went back to Katarine, picking a glass from the bar on the way. He put down the glass on the table in front of Katarine and poured some wine into it.
"There you are, my dear Katarine. Should I leave the bottle here with you?"

 

"As always, dear Friedrich, leave the bottle."

A good dose of mind-numbing alcohol is what R'Nasht needs, but even when she's killing off (easily replacable) brain cells, she does everything with style.

She sips the wine gently, a faint smile gracing her face as the taste washes across her tongue. Ah, these humans. So good at making things that would kill them but bring great pleasure to her kind.

She couldn't have asked for a more compliant race to feed off.

 

Friedrich smiled to Katarine.
"Of course."
He replied, and then he looked at his watch. The time was getting late now, and Y'selle was just about to finish her performance, meaning that it was Drachs' turn next. Friedrich waited until Y'selle had finished before he went onto the stage and thanked her. He then went backstage and greeted Drach.
"You're up in two, Drach. I'm just going to do the usual introduction, and then you're on. Good luck."
He turned to his audience.
"Thank you again, Y'selle, for your wonderful performance! And now, my dear friends, I bid you welcome our next performant this evening! I give you Drachenmurane Flammentodd!"
He clapped his hands and quickly got off the stage, and then went and sat down by Katarine.
"So, dear Katarine, how are things these days? I don't get to see much of the world any more, you know, as I've got this place to run. What news can you give me? Has anything changed at all?"

 

”I’m intrigued,”, the voice said.
A long pause followed. So long that the listener was just about to ask for the continuation when the voice did, in fact, continue:
”How come Angels, who have a home in the heavens filled with all of God’s love and Demons, who have a home in the fiery pits of hell filled with all of Satan’s hatred, choose to spend their time in a place like this? On earth?”
The listener was baffled by a newcomer asking such a question. However, he reasoned that it was logical that a newcomer would ask a question like it. And he was just about to respond when the voice once again cut him off before he had even uttered a breath.
”Maybe it is to hide? To hide from the dull, routinely existence which both kinds find in their home?”
The owner of the voice slowly stood up. The listener still sat in one of the dark red leather-chairs. And the voice walked away, further in between the angels and demons and the others, who weren’t quite one or the other.
The listener was left in the comfy chair, but he didn’t feel comfortable. Actually he felt filthy. Dirty on the inside. He left hastily. Even the burn of hellfire was better than that feeling. He would seek refuge in the cleansing light of the heavens.

 

"Hello, and Guten Nacht, everyone! I'd like to hear some applause for our great host, and the owner of Die Hafen, Friedrich! Excellent! Well, tonight I'm going to start off with some Dizzy Gillespie, amble on over to a few classics by Freddie Keppard, then end my set with a piece very near and dear to my heart, my original, "Meiner Einfacheit" [OOC]not sure with the grammar on that one[/OOC]. So, just sit back, relax, and try to enjoy yourselves."
With that, Drach began to play.

 

"Ah, dear Friedrich, this world is constantly changing, and getting faster no less. The war accellerates day by day - although I doubt the obvious result will come to pass."

She smirks, suggesting that she knows exactly how the war will end.

"Mankind is getting stronger, it seems that they are a race that thrives on adversity. I cannot help but admire their tenacity, if not their common sense."

A throaty chuckle escapes her, a twinkle in her eye suggesting that she might actually be perversely proud of mankind.

 

Friedrich smiled back at Katarine. He, too, knew exactly how this war was going to end, if not some divine force would intercept to change the outcome to it's own personal favour. But the chances of such a thing was of course minimal; it could be the trigger to a divine war, and this world would probably not survive such a conflict. This was a scilent agreement between Jahwe and Ismael themselves, and was not to be taken lightly. Those who did dumb things deserved nothing but a dumb fate. The divine policy.
"Yes, it is as you say. The world is changing, and the old ways are passing more and more into the unknown. I can't help to feel a little sad about it, though. It means Die Hafen won't have as much guests as we once had. And I..."

But Friedrich never got to end his sentance. The door was litteraly torn from it's stead and flew away across the room in a blazing explosion, and hit Friedrich where he sat in his chair. He flew backstage into the far wall and disapeared in the turmoil.
Then, Die Hafen fell scilent as the smoke spread and laid itself as a thick mist all over the place.

 

Drach was really enjoying being up on stage, and he sometimes caught glances of the patrons to see how they responded to his playing. Everyone seemed relaxed, and generally enjoyed the atmosphere presented by the tones he was able to produce. Eventually, however, things turned sour, because midway through his first Freddie Keppard song, Drach was shocked to see a door flying through Die Hafen. It struck Friedrich with such force that he flew from his chair to a wall backstage, right behind Drach.
"What the hell is this?!" Drach thought to himself.
As the smoke filled Die Hafen, Drach rushed to find Friedrich, and helped him up from the floor.
"Friedrich! Can you stand? I'm not sure what's going on, but there seems to be panic spreading through your establishment," then Drach said jovially, "Not to mention, I think my set was just cut short."

 

The horrible sound of song faded and Liz, as she had come to call herself, was relieved. She loathed music. It was completely useless. It appealed to the emotions, which were another completely useless and insanely stupid thing. With the exception of rage of course.
However, it would not last long. Suddenly the worst sound Liz had ever heard filled Die Hafen. She had to struggle not to cover her ears. She tried to hide in the back, to escape most of the sound. Her rage increased. Luckily, the sound did not last long. A door was blown of it's hinges and flew through the room hitting a man on the way, sending him flying backstage. As chaos erupted, Liz stepped back and "hid".