*Forward dated to August 2nd-close to Helen*

[lt_blade]

A full day and Sonya liked to think she was getting the hang of this place-liked to, but really it was still a whirlwind.

At the very least, she knew what to do about the kids, who it was safe to leave them with and all of that. Which was awesome, because as much as she had some experience with babysitting, it was completely different than actually having them for herself.

She'd heard that there was a club on the island, something between a jazz and an actual strip joint. Normally she wouldn't have even consider going there, but according to what she's been told, she was of age on the island, which made going to jazz clubs even more exciting. She wasn't even sure if she'd attend a performance for tonight, but she wanted to check the place out atleast.

The place was closed of course, but she wasn't so sure about going in when it was actually open. For one, it was past when the children's office closed and two..this was more for exploratory purposes anyway. Still, it didn't take much to trick the lock and open the place up.

With her was a thick short staff-really a fairly thick stick. Back home she was on drill team and they had a competition in a month and she wasn't about to slack off any time soon. This was by no means a military establishment, but hell-a stage was a stage.

Using the stick as a rifle, she began swinging the stick around: crossways, straight, tossing it up and catching it. No music with her, but then there wouldn't have been music at the time. All she had to go by was the rythym of the rest of the squad and that had to be done by memory.

Comments

[devilwoman]

As bad as she felt for the folks affected this time around, after already becoming a teenager once and a man twice, Saffron was glad she'd been skipped over. It was surely temporary, as all the other times had been, so everyone just needed to wait it out.

She'd already been planning to get in some practice time today at the club, and saw no reason to change that plan. When she got there and got out her key to unlock it, though, she found the door was already unlocked. Frowning, she went inside. "Jack?" she called, wondering what he was doing there. He had the only other key, though, and she knew she'd locked up last night.

Hearing a noise upstairs, she headed up there, wondering if Jack just hadn't heard her. When she saw the young girl on the stage, though, she frowned, striding forward with her hands on her hips. "Who the hell are you and what do you think you're doing breaking into my club?"

[lt_blade]

Sonya stopped what she was doing, nearly dropping the stick, but grabbing it before it hit the floor. It wasn't a rifle thank god but the reflex was still there.

What was she doing here? It was a good question, but her only answer was-it felt like a good idea at the time.

"Sonya Blade, ma'am." Her texan accent had faded a little since she'd been traveling with her family, but after a couple of terms back in the states-more so when she was nervous or scared-her voice usually reverted back. "I was just curious, wasn't sure when you opened or anything-honestly I wasn't here to steal or mess anything up."

That came out faster than she meant it to be, but the woman caught her by surprise and more so when she really had 'no' reason to be there-it was just because she wanted to see it.

[devilwoman]

"Sonya," Saffron said, some of the tension and annoyance going out of her. "Judging by the way you're addressing me, I'm guessing your mind got younger along with your body, since you don't seem to remember you actually used to work here and I'm not terrible fond of being called ma'am."

She took her hands off her hips and stepped up to the edge of the stage. "It's all right. I'd just appreciate you asking to be let in next time. I'm not hard to find."

[lt_blade]

It was her own turn to frown, her posture relaxing only a little.

"No, I don't remember. I also don't remember suddenly having two kids, waking up in some place not the academy..and strangers knowing me even though I've no clue who the hell they are." Though that last part was helpful, it didn't make it any less frustrating.

She set the stick so the lower end touched the floor. "I was going to wait, but then..I don't know I just wanted a look inside. I've never been to this sort of joint and yet in this place seventeen is totally legal."

Excitement battled confusion and as much as she hated not knowing much about this place (except for what people told her), the sudden idea of being legal was a very fun one.

[devilwoman]

"Believe me, I know how frustrating it is to not remember things and people you should remember," Saffron said. "I had complete amnesia for a month, about a year ago. I wouldn't recommend it."

She hopped up onto the stage. "So, now that you're here, and you know you're legal - the minimum age to get in here is sixteen, by the way - what can I do for you?"

[lt_blade]

"I just turned seventeen a month ago." She said, carefully getting off the stage.

There was some comfort in knowing that she wasn't the only one having a memory lapse..or year lapse. Frankly this whole place seemed like a twisted comic book.

"I heard this place was a jazz club and strip joint. I was more interested in looking at the jazz club, just to see what this place offered, but.." She looked around, almost embarrassed. "Also wanted to see the other show, if only because I kinda like to see what all the fuss is about."

She grew up around men after all, she sort of wanted to see what the fuss was about watching people strip.

She was tempted to twirl the stick around, just to keep her hands steady, but she didn't want to risk breaking anything.

[devilwoman]

"You heard correct," Saffron replied. "Jazz club downstairs, strip club up here. And you're welcome to stop by and check the place out while we're open. I'm a little short staffed these days, I'm afraid, so I'm the only dancer currently, unless I can talk Mike into getting up there this weekend. He's my male dancer, but he only performs once a month."

[lt_blade]

Sonya gave a slight nod. Now that the crisis was averted she was able to get a better look at the woman. Even dressed casually she had a look about her that made Sonya fully aware of her own faults-sure, she wasn't as skinny as she was a few years ago (thank god), but even so her new curves made her less confident and more self-conscious. This woman on the other hand carried herself like she was fully aware of her appearance and how to use it.

It was a little surprising how she spoke of there only being herself. She couldn't say she was an expert on such things, but usually these things were rather popular, but then..if there was no way of monetary value, maybe the motivation to strip wasn't there.

"The closest I've ever done to perform is on the academy drill team, but I doubt people will want to see that." Not that it wasn't awesome from her point, but such performances were usually only for the military crowd-she doubted a civilian based island would care about them that much.

[devilwoman]

Saffron shrugged. "Why not?" she said. "Just because it's not stripping, doesn't mean it's not entertaining. And sugar, let me tell you, I could use a little more help around here with entertaining. I don't see why you couldn't, long as you're good."

[lt_blade]

That raised a good point. After all the whole point of the show was, on some level, as entertainment.

"Suppose so, however it's not nearly as impressive as it would be with a proper rifle. People tend to pay more attention when you're tossing and catching a fully working weapon than a stick."

She carefully jumped off the stage, leaning against it afterwards. What sort of things could she do for performing..

Well, there was one thing. "I can throw knives pretty good." She managed to get one of the guys at the academy to teach her after loosing a bet. "Just not sure if I could get anyone to be a target."

For good reason, she could get a target, but she wasn't sure she had the nerve to use a human one.

"Or I could just help with auditions." That sounded easier. "Help decide which are good and which would be better left to a kid's birthday party.."

Like juggling..juggling knives was awesome, as was fire juggling, but just juggling a couple of balls was boring-even she could do that.

[devilwoman]

"I think I'm good on the auditioner side of things," Saffron replied, "but thanks for the offer. I am interested in this knife throwing thing, though. Do you think that's something you could do here, on this stage? We wouldn't necessarily need to find you a person, just a target, right?"

[lt_blade]

She nodded, glad that she didn't have to feel completely useless and awkward. "If you know of a place where I could get some knives, yeah I think I could."

There were some knives back where she woke up, along with a crap load of weapons, but not the sort for throwing.

The mention of..her home..had her frowning. "There's a problem though..the two kids? I don't suppose you know the future me well enough to enlist some baby sitting services?"

Sure, they had a wolf-direwolf-guardian, but she was pretty sure wolves couldn't do things like change diapers or feed them-unless the babies could take raw meat and she didn't know it.

[devilwoman]

"I bet we could find someone," Saffron said, wondering briefly why she'd never thought to see if Bill would have been willing to do something like what Sonia was suggesting. "Lots of folks have various weapons here. As for the babysitting, though, I'm not sure. I couldn't really tell you who older you generally has watch the babies."

[lt_blade]

She thought a moment. She hadn't really seen any shops or anything, but she did see a forge at some point in her explorations. "Maybe I could work up a trade or something, I did see a forge sometime back."

Which would be kinda cool actually. She knew of old ways of making weapons, but she'd never actually seen the process.

"Judging from the old photos, I think I had a husband that watched them at the time." Which felt strange even to say it. "I haven't seen him around though, so he's most likely gone." It would make sense, given how this place was likely to make people appear at random times. "So I've no idea who else would be willing-well, I may know someone, but he already has three kids himself."

Sonya supposed she should feel more saddened at this. After all, looking at the photos in the book, she and this man..the records showed his name was Hanzo..looked really happy together. There also weren't a lot of photos after a certain point, so it was likely his 'vanishing', but it was hard to miss someone she didn't even know.

[devilwoman]

Saffron nodded. "He disappeared," she said. "I didn't know him well, but the two of you seemed happy together."

[lt_blade]

It was hard to wrap her head around it: her being married, she had horrible luck with guys and those she did like were threatened by her dad.

"I know. Well, I gathered that much, found a photo album with the rest of her..my..things. It looked like a happy marriage."

The man himself looked like a fighter. A little solomn, but then who knows what she's like in the future.

"Anything else you can tell me?" She had plenty of clues and hints, but it felt more real for someone to tell her. "About the older me, I mean."