There's something to be said for taking some time to orient herself. It helps that Howling at the Moon is exactly her type of getaway - cozy, classy, and curious. For all the huddled groups, drinkers and diners alike, talking quietly at their tables or nursing something at the bar, this place has the feel of a building with a nightlife. Like there are rooms here where most people don't go. Or maybe she's just imagining it. Hoping to stumble upon yet another way to disappoint her family (as if she needed another one when she's found oh so many already).

But, what can she say, while her sister's friends have always been the cream of the crop, the movers and shakers of wherever she happened to be, Autumn has never really jived with all of the fake smiles and false platitudes. She's always preferred something a bit more real. And if that meant picking out people that the rest of her family wouldn't be caught dead hanging around, well, that was just an added bonus. 

No one like that here though. At least, not yet. 

Autumn is pulled from her consideration by the bartender's question. Was she having a good evening? Sitting in alone in a strange bar in a strange land, while she skipped out on facing her sister and the whole 'neither one of us wants to deal with this' discussion for a few more hours? Another quick once over, first of the bar itself, and then of him, and she's decided. "You know what, I think I am. Might have to make this place my regular haunt once I find a place of my own. Say, you wouldn't happen to know anyone with an apartment for rent on this side of the city, would you?"

Zev Harcourt Zev Harcourt

☉

"Thanks." It couldn't be that easy, could it? But there he was, jotting down names and numbers just like that. Maybe it wouldn't take that long to get out from under her sister's thumb after all. Not that Elinor seemed to want Autumn around any more than Autumn wanted to be around, and what their parents didn't know couldn't hurt them, or her monthly allowance.

"I'm Zev, the owner here."

Autumn flashes him a sly smile. "Does that mean I get to share a drink with the owner himself?" Presumptuous as ever. It's easier than admitting that she's lonely in this city full of strangers. In truth, she doesn't care whether he joins her for a drink or not. "I'm Autumn."

For a while, she'd gone by Min whenever she was out on the town. Or she had, before she'd stopped caring if word of her 'uncouth behavior' got back to her parents. Somewhere over the years, she'd stopped caring, started inviting the negative attention. In the end, attention was attention, right? Well, fuck, that sounded pathetic.

"I can't imagine I've been in the city long enough for anyone to have seen me around. I've been staying with my sister Elinor for the past few days, but I figure it's better not to impose for too long. My sister likes her routines." Without me in them, the words hang unspoken between them, curling themselves into the tight lines of her mouth. Visible in the way her gaze briefly drops to her drink before it flicks back up to Zev. There's a story there.

Zev Harcourt

☉

"Slateport. My family's from Rustboro," Autumn tells him with an off-handed shrug.

 "Old money," she continues, "so naturally they cut and run when they caught wind of the impending disaster. No reason to stick around when you've got sizeable summer homes in two other regions, right?" Neverminded the fact that they could have thrown some of that money at the problem.

Autumn's tone makes it clear that this is one of the many things that she looks down on her parents for, not that she'd been surprised by their decision to leave before the dome had gone up. They'd always preferred the chateau in Cyanwood. And had they cared that another one of their daughters had decided to go back into the belly of the beast? Not so much. Not that Autumn had given them much of an opportunity to object. They hadn't discovered her plans until she was already on the boat, already halfway back to Hoenn. And then the dome went up and that was that, the best they could do was insist that she stay with Elinor, as if she would somehow be safer in a penthouse apartment that towered over everything around it. Hell, maybe they were just trying to cut their losses. It was always hard to tell why they did what they did where Autumn and her siblings were concerned.

For the first few months, she'd disobeyed them and stayed at the main house in Rustboro, but it'd been too empty with everyone gone, and Autumn wasn't about to take on the task of keeping the damn thing maintained on her own - it was huge! She'd tried, at first. Screamed at her parents on the phone when they'd told her they were selling it - cutting their losses - and again when they'd told in her in no uncertain terms that she would be staying with Elinor in Slateport, this time with the added bonus of cutting her off if she disobeyed. 

Autumn frowns at her drink before she takes another sip. "Me, I've never been good at running, so here I am. Maybe I'll get to toast the end of the world." She doesn't mean it, but part of her wishes she did. Wishes she didn't care about any of it. That would certainly be easier, but she's made her choice. She's here now, come what may. "As for my sister, well, Elinor's always gone where she's told." Only she hadn't in the end, had she? Because she was here too and their parents were furious. "So we didn't see much of each other growing up. Staying out of each other's way is something of a family tradition." Which sure sounds a whole hell of a lot better than "nobody seemed to give a damn about anybody else so long as the family image was maintained." 

Zev Harcourt

☉

Autumn stiffens, all the ease running out of her. Not because of anything he's said, but because of the way he says it, laughter in his eyes like it doesn't fucking hurt. Probably doesn't for him. 'Must be nice.'

"Yeah, something like that." She forces a smile, but it's too tight, doesn't quite reach her eyes. What's it like to move on? Move past? Well, she'll never know if she doesn't try, right? First step: find an apartment.

With a sigh, Autumn polishes off the rest of her drink in one long gulp. Maybe it'd be easier if she could chase someone else's demons for a while. He was cute, clearly off limits, or he'd have joined her for a drink, but maybe he had a friend. Someone else with troubles that she could inhabit for a few hours. Hell, she could always ask about his brother. But she doesn't. Not because she doesn't want to pry or overstep, that's never really a concern when you're an Anderson, but because the more digging she does, the more digging he's liable to do in return, and Autumn is tired of talking about her family, thinking about her family, wishing things were --her mind won't supply the right word -- different? What would different even look like?

So," she says, angling to change the subject, tone mild "how many of these places are absolute shit holes and how many are actually worth checking out?" 

Zev Harcourt

☉

"Price won't be an issue." Which is true enough, if Autumn can find a way to ensure that Elinor's willing to keep quiet about the move when the time comes. Not that her silence on that particular matter ought to be too difficult to secure. 

No one had called ahead to warn Elinor that her sister was coming, and the ever gracious councilwoman had been quick to show Autumn that her graciousness did not, in fact, extend to family members. Or maybe it was just uninvited guests. Either way, Autumn found herself wondering what would happen if the press knew how Elinor treated the people who should have been closest to her. If that might color their perception of her. If maybe, just maybe, she might be able to at pick the the wall of perfection around her sister until the real Elinor Anderson shone through for all to see. If only.

As for the Night Market, Autumn has been meaning to check it out, if only because it's the sort of place that her sister wouldn't be caught dead frequenting. 

"Think you could fix me another drink? Something a bit less sweet this time?" And if he asks what she wants, she just shrugs and says, "surprise me," because unlike Elinor, Autumn thrives on the unexpected.

Zev Harcourt

☉