It had been a few weeks since Aeryn had met Marianna's spark of a brother and while most would consider their first meeting a disaster, for Aeryn it had been the start of an interesting friendship. After being all but fired from his job at the club where the two of them had brawled he had taken up a job at a local casino, guarding the door and keeping watch over anyone who seemed to be getting more luck than seemed to be owed to them. The job was mostly a means to an end but it had allowed him to save a considerable amount, with little other expense than rent, the nephilim had been able to squirrel away a fair amount towards his dream of owning his own club or more realistically now, co-owning his own club.

Aeryn laid his head sideways on the table as he watched Mikael talk, the Ailward Guard seemed to know far more about running a business than he did and had been running him through all the risks they were going to face for the past hour or so. The two of them found themselves here often now and what originally had been a joke between the two had developed into a very real and very possible idea. "You do enjoy sucking the fun out of my dreams don't you" he jested as he sat up, finally tiring of all the serious talk, he for one, was one for imagining.

Climbing to his feet he started to spool his ideas, moving around his apartment as if it was a much larger space capable of housing an entire club "The dancefloor will cover most of the floor, optimizing for the main reason people are there and around it will be the booths and tables for those who need a break if you know what I mean" he winked and chuckled before waving his arms again "Then there's the bar which lines up along the south wall, best and strongest cocktails in town" he smirked.

Now that he was done mapping out the layout he stopped to lean against the counter turning to face the blue eyed nephilim with a shrug "We'll need some kind of theme to help us stand out though, the city's got enough of the simple already" the dark eyed nephilim pondered some ideas over in his head but nothing seemed to feel quite unique or relevant enough to him, he wanted something that would wow people and make them choose to come here over all other places, including the club the asshole had fired him from.

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The idea of owning a club had been something in the back of his mind for a long time. He remembered the roaring 20's when women in drop-waist dresses and men in suits moved to the tunes of jazz with a glass of champagne in their hands. Since then he had always entertained the idea of owning a joint as lively as that himself, but his duty to the Guard often kept him roaming around the world and thus, unable to bring his dream to life. And with time, as the club scene evolved into loud, thumping beats and bodies wildly gyrating to songs with little meaning, Mikael realised it was not something he actively sought out.

As the two sat at the table in Aeryn's apartment, Mikael twirled a pen along his fingers, scribbling down the business part of the idea onto a notebook and explaining the logistics of it all to the older Nephilim. "So if we want profit, we have to make sure most of the money is invested in the evenings and the leftover in the afternoons." He said from his centuries of experience in business. "But we also have to make sure that the customers know we value their lunch time being spent here, so maybe serve a special platter with an attractive discount."

Mikael chuckled with a roll of his eyes as Aeryn finally spoke out about how boring all this was. While in some instances the Nephilim would agree, he knew that the numbers were important to keep a successful club running. "There will be no dreams to work on if we're not careful from the start." He reminded, before watching the male stand up, realising Aeryn had reached his capacity for business talk for the day.

The guard listened carefully to the male's ideas, his gaze trailing along to the directions he was pointing at and imagining the set up. It was good, and since the two had a silent agreement that Mikael would handle the business aspect while Aeryn would work on the structure and layout, he simply nodded in agreement. "No, Constantine. I don't know what you mean." He spoke, teasingly raising his eyebrows as if confused by the modern lingo.

Finally as the discussion moved to having a theme, Mikael rolled his shoulders back, resting his elbow on the table as he turned to face the other male. "Well I was thinking..." He started, rising to his feet in a grand gesture, "A retro-bar." He then proceeded to walk towards his business partner, explaining his idea, "With a weekly decade dance for people to dress up and attend." It was something Mikael was sure he would come to, reliving the golden age was a great idea, especially for other immortals and supernaturals that resided in the city. But he wasn't sure how the idea would sit with Aeryn, or the modern society.

Despite his teasing Aeryn was actually pretty glad to have someone with so much knowledge about running a business on side, businesses hadn’t really been the same concept 100 years ago and he was still figuring out the ins and outs of the modern world. He was sure Mikael was right about most of these things, he seemed to right about a lot of things. “With focus on Friday and Saturday nights right?” he chimed in noting that those always were the busiest nights of the week and to make a point that he hadn’t been completely blanking what the other male had been saying.

Aeryn chuckled at Mikael’s words, he was right obviously but he hadn’t realized at first quite how tedious a lot of this felt, the vision and ideas Aeryn was pretty good at, his imagination liked to run wild more often than not, but the smart business decisions he had no idea about. “So you have told me 20 different times already” he rolled his eyes the same way the Ailward guard had done at him. The two of them were very different in some ways, but similar in others, he was slowly learning how far he could push the jokes before the other male got annoyed.

Aeryn could already picture the place in his mind, he had done his best not to go crazy, the focus being on the important parts first,  they could add the nice to haves down the line once they figured out what kind of crowd they were drawing and adapt from there. Aeryn pulled a face at Mikael’s teasing however, well he certainly wasn’t spelling that one out for him “I was dead to the world for 100 years and even I’m not that dense, d’Amecourt” it wasn’t exactly a secret that a lot of people came to clubs because it was a good place to meet people.

Now they had was done with his show and tell type presentation he settled himself back onto one of the stools he had pulled up. The dark haired male listened as Mikael spoke his idea, he could see from the way he came to life as he said it that it was something the other male was passionate about, perhaps it held good memories. Aeryn’s brows raised at the thought of it “You do realize I wasn’t awake for any of those decades right?” he pointed out with a chuckle, then again bars hadn’t really been a major thing back then either so it wasn’t a reason not to do it.

“I’d have to do some research but it’d be cool to be able to change the theme over time, keep things fresh instead of the same every day” which would keep people coming back to see what came next, plus the opportunity to dress up seemed to be pretty popular in Evermore, he’d seen a lot of costume parties and comic cons come and go. “But would the main decor be from a certain decade or a mix of all of them?” he had seen a little of the 1910s but aside from that, he had no idea where to even start.

Setting up a club wasn't easy and Mikael was well prepared for what was to come. More than simple business, it was a passion project for the Warrior guard as he sat at the table, jotting down numbers and figures in front of his business partner. "Indeed. I'm glad to know your brain can register what others are saying." He teased, chuckling at his new and perhaps the only friend.

The two had an odd relationship - having nothing in common except for their species - yet a similar mindset of someone who had survived through a lot. The two had bonded over having younger siblings, and the old world and soon Mikael found himself moderately enjoying someone else's presence who was not his sister or Ophelia.

However, as he teased the male, feigning that he had no idea what he was talking about, Mikael rolled his shoulders back, forcing a smirk off his face, "Really, Constantine. I have nooo idea what you're talking about." He spoke, trying his best to keep a straight face, "Do you mean for easier access if someone sprains their ankle?" He asked, raising his brow tauntingly.

Once the conversation moved to the interior and the design aspect of their business, Mikael sat back and watched Aeryn present his ideas, occasionally offering some of his own until they stumbled upon the idea of decade-themed nights. "Well, good for you, you get to experience it once again." He replied with a chuckle, "And that helps cause if you enjoy it, then we know the younger generations might enjoy it too."

Coming to his question, the male sat up forward, thinking for a bit before responding, "Maybe we can go with a general vintage look, I'm not the most creative person in this room." He said, shaking his head, "Do you think we could have a special menu and drinks to celebrate each decade? Or maybe," He paused, bits of ideas popping into his head. "Just put a giant whiskey fountain in the middle of the room and call it a day."

Aeryn rolled his eyes at his baiting, sure he wasn’t exactly the most business savvy person and would almost definitely waste his money if he were to ever invest in stocks but it didn’t take a degree in business to know the more customers they managed to get the quicker they would find their way to profit “You’re lucky I like your sense of humor d’Amecourt” he jested back, Mikael came off quite standoffish at times but he’d gotten the hang of picking up when the other nephilim was joking.

It was strange, how the two of them were so very different and yet so very similar at the same time. He found himself at ease around the other male, he was easygoing the same way that Aeryn was and he didn’t expect Aeryn to act any other way than the person he was. Aeryn had a met a lot of people who only wanted to get close to him because they wanted something so it was refreshing to find a friend by quite literally punching them in the face.

Aeryn pulled a dumbfounded face that spoke the words ‘I can’t even handle you right now’ to the other male “I am not spelling it out for your own amusement” he chuckled shaking his head “I’ll sprain your ankle in a moment” he teased back pretending to run at him before pulling back and skidding along the floor and coming to a stop on the other side.

Aeryn sighed, he didn’t think Mikael was quite getting the message that the one of them giving all the design ideas had never lived through the times they were supposed to be representing but he shrugged it off, he supposed he would have to properly learn to use a computer so that he could do some research about what was popular in those eras “Man you do like to create work for me” he huffed a little but figured it would be a good challenge for him and like he said, he’d get to experience those decades for himself.

Aeryn laughed at thought of the fountain but shook his head “That’s a surefire way to get us shut down before we even start” he admitted with a gentle laugh “But drinks themed after each decade sure, whatever was most popular back then mixed to taste nice” she chuckled “Cause you know, people do love to order drinks they’ve never even heard of” it was funny what ridiculous things people would say in public for a cocktail. “And then there’s entertainment” he pondered thinking about what would match the theme they were going for “I’d guess local acts who are willing to perform older songs?” they weren’t going to be able to afford too much buy paying local talent for gigs seemed like a fair shot.

"I'm quite likeable," The male teased back, though quite uncharacteristic for him. Mikael was not used to having a lot of friends, at least none that were close to him so behaving the way he did was a new experience that he was slowly embracing. Aeryn surely was making him open up more.

He grinned as Aeryn launched himself at the younger Angel-Child, flailing his arms out as if ready to fight him as he slid by his side. "Hey now, not my fault you go to clubs to hook up with people more than I do." He pointed out. "Though I hear you've been disappointing ladies the past few days."

Chuckling as Aeryn complained about work, Mikael rolled his shoulders back and shrugged, "Hey you're going to have to work if you want a successful club." He pointed out, "I can't be the only one doing actual things."

As the conversation moved to gigs, Mikael nodded his head, jotting it down on the notepad, "That's a good place to start. Maybe we can do the whole..." He trailed off, trying to remember the word, "Remixes." He finally said, looking at the male for his opinion. "We also need a name. Mikael and Aeryn's Club does not have a good ring to it."

“You’re…” Aeryn trailed off trying to find a nonoffensive word for what he wanted to say “Something” he commented failing to find anything that wasn’t along the lines of prickly or standoffish. Mikael wasn’t really the kind of person who had friends Aeryn had noticed, he seemed to spend majority of his time in his apartment alone “We may have to work on your humor before we put you anywhere near customers” he teased with a laugh, though he imagined Mikael was planning to take more of a back room office role.

Aeryn did like the Nephilim guard though, he was witty in his own way and he was way more observant than most people seemed to give him credit for, Aeryn in response raised his hands in a fighting stance as if the two of them were about to throw hands...again. He went quiet when the blue-eyed male mentioned his lack of prowl lately, Aeryn grumbled softly “That is beyond complicated” he cursed shaking his head a little. His life had been so easy in Evermore up until he met Harper Adler and all sense and rationale went out the window.

“I am aware I will have to do work genius” Aeryn commented with a shake of his head nudging the guard with his elbow as he walked past, Aeryn was still pacing the floors, for the most part, he didn’t like staying still when his mind was full of ideas “But authentically recreating a decade that I was in a coma during, that’s a lot of work” he rolled his eyes but his expression showed he was up for the challenge.

At least the two of them seemed to bounce ideas off one another well though, generally, they were in agreement about what the place needed to be and the kind of vibe they were going for. Aeryn didn’t want anything too tacky, there was plenty of that in town already and if they were going to do this he wanted to do it right, do something great so to speak. At the mention of a name he wrinkled his nose “I knew you were going to mention that” he commented and clicked his tongue “One thing I’ve never been good at are words” he admitted “I feel like we need some kind of Nephilim related pun in there though” he chuckled and leaned against his hand while pondering ideas.

"Hey!" Mikael protested as Aeryn commented on his sense of humour, "My humour is top notch, thank you very much." He grumbled, though his head bowing in defeat, knowing he was actually terrible at the joking department. "Okay maybe a few classes a week would help." He countered with a defeated sigh, rolling his shoulders back in a shrug.

Mikael and Aeryn's friendship was different from what the younger male had experienced before. The Ailwards were his only friends, if that's what you could even call it, so trying to balance between being an inherent loner and communicating with someone who perhaps had friends everywhere with his loud and charming personality was difficult for the Warrior Guard. However, this was a unique experience and Mikael would be lying if he said he didn't enjoy being around the other male, even though he would never admit it in front of him.

Mikael chuckled as he spoke about his complication, shaking his head slightly, "Does it have to be complicated?" He queried, though trying not to press if Aeryn didn't want to share his love life. It was understandable, Mikael was hiding one of the most important part of his life from him, and the rest of the world - Ophelia, but for them, it had to be this way. Mikael would've done anything to untangle the mess that was his relationship but it also made him realise the worth of relationships in general, not complicating things and taking the plunge.

Mikael was pleased to see Aeryn up for the challenge. This whole idea was something the male had dreamt of for decades and seeing it finally come to life with someone as enthusiastic about it was an absolute relief. He almost thanked the asshole owner of the other bar for existing, because if it weren't for him the two would have never ventured out on this path. "Good thing we have the Interweb." Mikael reminded, though pausing slightly when he realised the word didn't sound correct, "Or whatever they call it."

At the mention of club names, Mikael tapped his chin for a second, pacing across the room to the kitchen to pour them both a glass of whiskey each as his mind churned out an idea, "How about.." He started, picking the two glasses off the counter and offering one to Aeryn, "95 Wings." It was a reference to the club address, 95 Park Avenue, as well as an ode to their species, Nephilim. "Or maybe Immortal and Co."

Aeryn laughed at Mikael’s touchiness about his comment on humor but he quickly backtracked himself which made the curly-haired male give him a triumphant smile “It’s okay, stay around me long enough and the jokes will quite literally be coming out of your ears” Aeryn chuckled, he was always joking around with people, it was how he dealt with the very dark and serious world they lived in, if Aeryn wasn’t making jokes, something was probably very wrong with him “Besides one of us has to be the scary one when some thugs decide to kick off in a bar fight” he gave an amused look towards the other male because they had quite literally been those thugs.

Aeryn usually found Mikael pretty hard to read, he didn’t really know that much about him and he didn’t let on much, it seemed he lived his life surrounded in secrets. Aeryn didn’t really know him well enough yet to pry them out but he got the feeling there were a lot of people in his life that let him down. He could understand the life Mikael might have had to lead, considering he was also an immortal Nephilim who had lived a long and complicated life. Aeryn imitated the scowl Mikael was pulling as he scowled within his thoughts “It’s very hard, being a brooding immortal with a very secret life” he teased making a half attempt to mock Mikael’s accent. He didn’t mind Mikael not telling him things but he did like to remind him to lighten up every so often.

Aeryn parted his lips for a moment when Mikael asked him whether it had to be complicated, that was a hard question to answer but it did make him stop and think for a moment. Ryn didn’t have an issue bringing up his love life or past with Mikael though, for some stupid reason he trusted him. “I met...someone” he spoke, she was definitely a someone that’s for sure, always standing out in his mind “But I guess I’m worried she’s looking for the perfect love story and I’m not that” he’d wanted that for himself at one time but then said person had died right in front of his eyes and he wasn’t sure how you started again knowing that “She deserves much better than someone who won’t commit” he grimaced slightly and shrugged, that’s what made it complicated, because he wanted to but also knew he shouldn’t.

Aeryn was all in when it came to this bar though, he’d always had this dream of actually doing something with his existence that wasn’t constantly running from place to place, using fake names and essentially being a shell of a person. He could be with his sister here in Evermore, he’d made a few friends and honestly, he found himself wanting to stay for the first time in a very long time. It was almost a foreign feeling for the male who had spent so much of his life alone but he had always been so driven by people. When Mikael mentioned the interweb Aeryn ran his tongue over his bottom lip “Yeah...I still haven’t figured that one out...nor most of the modern devices the humans have invented” give him a break, it had been 100 missed years and only q2 to catch up, he was lucky he was able to work a phone properly.

As soon as Mikael passed out the glass of whiskey Aeryn gave him an appreciative smile before he grabbed it and raised it to his lips, taking a long drink. The curly-haired male raised his brows at the suggestions “See I knew you were the quiet but smart one” he commented as he pictured each of the two suggestions up on the sign outside “95 Wings sounds free-spirited and it sets our roots with this place, which you know, was quite the feat to secure” property in downtown Evermore was not cheap to come by after all “I like it” he spoke with an amused quirk of his brow whilst grabbing the notepad he’d brought with him and sketching out the shape of a wing on its side cradling the numbers before he pushed it over to Mikael “Something like this?” Aeryn was quite a visual person so drawing and sketching helped him to rationalize.

Mikael dug into his pockets for a quick second as the male spoke about his presence enhancing the Guard's sense of humour. "But I'd rather..." He reached out to pluck a coin from behind Aeryn's ears in a neat but old-fashioned trick, "Money come out of our ears. At least that'll help our business." He chuckled, proud of his humorous statement, not considering whether the other guy thought the same of his joke. At the mention of the bar fight, Mikael couldn't help but smirk a little, "Yeah we don't want them breaking furnitures right?" He mused, remembering when they had done the exact same thing which was ironically how their friendship started, "But yes, we must protect the Whiskey Fountain from thugs." He chuckled, recalling the initial idea he had.

As Aeryn mocked him with a fake accent, Mikael squinted his gaze in clear annoyance, when suddenly he felt the buzzing of his phone on the inside pocket of his jacket. Smacking the male in the chest, he answered the call to find his sister on the other end of the line wanting to go out for dinner cause she was bored. "I'll be late tonight, Mari. You go on without me." He said, remembering he had wanted to surprise Ophelia with something special after the meeting with Aeryn. Diverting his attention back to the club, the male hung up and continued the discussion nonchalantly.

As the topic moved to Aeryn's love life, Mikael raised a brow in curiosity as he explained how he had met someone. Tilting his head, he listened quietly to all he had to say before giving him a small smile, extending his hand to place it on the male's shoulder, "Don't let your fear to commit cost you the love of your life." He said before retracting his hand, "You don't get to decide what she deserves, she does. And she's decided on you." It was true that Mikael knew very little about relationships but he had seen the love his parents shared, he knew what it was like and perhaps all those years he had spent alone, he was simply waiting for the epic love that only Ophelia could give him.

Taking a sip from the glass of whiskey, Mikael watched Aeryn ponder over the two names he had suggested. Personally, 95 Wings had a great ring to it so he was quite overjoyed when Aeryn also thought the same. "My bank balance still hurts from that one." He chuckled, patting his back pocket where he would usually keep his wallet. With a raised brow, Mikael watched Aeryn sketch something a smile quickly turning up the corners of his lips as he saw the final design. "I love that." He chuckled, taking the last gulp out of his drink before placing it on the counter table. "Maybe." He started, letting his index roam around the paper and trace the outline of the sketch, "We can do neon lights for the outline and change colours occasionally."

Aeryn laughed at Mikael’s joke, though he was pretty impressed at how smoothly he managed to pull that coin out of the air, he’d seen the trick before but it was completely unexpected and made the curly-haired male chuckle “Well we’d all like that” despite being immortal he’d always been the struggling to just about get by type, guess he never really got to the successful part. Maybe this lifetime would be different, it was the first time he could stay in one place for a long time after all, while the stone he carried remained a secret anyway “No that’s our job” he teased with a laugh remembering the night they met and how their friendship has developed since then, he never even imagined they’d be business partners but there was something about the two of them that just clicked.

Aeryn made a grunting noise when Mikael shoved him on the chest and then went off to take a phone call, Ryn poked his tongue out at the other male in defiance of his actions before looking around the room once more. It looked empty and messy right now but in Aeryn’s mind, he could imagine the placement of everything, even down to where the bathrooms would be placed and where the room that Mikael could use to hide from the customers would be. He imagined the retro type theme with decor lining each wall and cabinets which lined the wall, decorated with different collections of things which represented each era in question. After Mikael was done with his call, Aeryn sat himself back down on one of the chairs “I hope you told Marianna I said hello” he stated with a smirk, it hadn’t escaped Aeryn’s notice that Mikael didn’t have many friends after all and he was sure he would have left the room to speak to his secret lover that Aeryn wasn’t supposed to know he had.

Aeryn was a little surprised when he felt Mikael’s hand on his shoulder and he lifted his dark gaze to meet the other Nephilim’s, it wasn’t like the guard to be touchy so he instantly recognized it meaning he was being serious. He pursed his lips as he took in the words he spoke and then he needed “Yeah well she chose someone who watched his last love die before his very eyes so” he hadn’t meant to say it so bluntly so he widened his eyes a little. He blinked a few seconds and then gave a slightly awkward chuckle “Sorry, way too heavy for a friendly afternoon” he cleared his throat as though he desperately wanted to change the subject because he had no idea how to handle his feelings about what happened to his previous wife-to-be.

He was glad when the subject moved back to the bar and he sipped at the glass of his drink and sighed softly, “We’ll make it back, I have a good feeling” he laughed softly “And I don’t get a lot of those lately” he admitted, he hadn’t really had the best run of luck in the last century but it finally felt like things were turning around and that he actually had some control over his own life. Aeryn smiled when Mikael complimented his little sketch “Obviously we’ll need a graphic designer to make it less….you know but you get the idea” he nodded thinking about it lit up with neon colors behind to make it pop “I can picture it already, quite the stand out piece in this drab street” it was mostly shops and a few small dive bars, a great location for a new club to liven up the place “Do we wanna do anything special for the supernatural types?” he questioned with a furrowed brows, some catered to those with a higher tolerance “High volume alcohols and the sorts” he tucked his pen behind his ear as he glanced up at the other Nephilim.

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