Revealing Interruption

Who: Ash and Joey
When: really early morning, after the masque
Where: Joey's apartment

The masquerade party at Babylon had been everything Joey had hoped it would be. She had been able to have a couple of drinks, dance with Ash - and a few others - and meet new people around town that she was pretty sure she might not have been able to otherwise. Her costume had gone over well, mostly with the men, and beyond that, she had met The Mourning Star in an official capacity. Or rather, unofficially as Star seemed to simply be there for fun, which had been a huge relief for Joey.

When the time came for she and Ash to depart Babylon, Joey spent the entire ride back to her apartment deciding whether or not to invite him into her apartment. In truth, there wasn't much debate. She had been having a good time with him and wasn't quite ready to say goodnight yet. And it seemed neither was Ash, as he'd accepted her invitation. Once inside she turned on a couple of lamps, attended to her dog, Ambrosious, and then reached up to pull her devil horns off the top of her head while smiling at Ash. "Would you like a drink? Or do you think you've got your fill for the evening?"

There was really no way that Ash was going to say no to being invited up. He was still buzzed, he'd had a really good time, and Joey's ass twitching around in that little skirt was just calling to him. It was the wee hours of the morning, but he didn't really think that mattered to either of them. He let his jacket slide down over his arms and draped it on the back of a chair, shooting her a smirk. "One more couldn't hurt, right?" he said by way of acceptance. He lifted one hand to scratch with his thumbnail around his eyebrow ring. "I do think I need to use your bathroom, though, my makeup-wearin' days are over." It itched, and probably looked like ass by now.

She pointed in the direction of the bathroom. "First door on the left," she instructed, grinning over her shoulder as she headed toward the kitchen. "Don't end your make up wearing days prematurely now. You looked pretty sexy all zombie-fied." Joey remembered he had ordered a straight scotch at Babylon and disappeared into the kitchen to drag her own bottle out of her cupboard. She wasn't a huge scotch drinker, but it had been a going away gift from a friend at some point, and now she was thankful for it.

"I look sexy all the time," Ash called to her as he headed toward the the door she'd indicated. He chuckled as he flipped on the lights and closed the door. He just happened to be of the opinion that if there was going to be making out -- which he had a feeling there was going to be -- then only the woman should be rubbing makeup of everywhere. He twisted the sink on and went about thoroughly washing his face off. Once that was done and he felt refreshed, Ash dried off and headed back out to the living room.

Joey was walking into the living room just as he was, two drinks in her hand. She offered the scotch out to him, her eyes wandering over his freshly scrubbed face. "Without the make up you just look like a guy wearing bloody clothes," she said, motioning for him to sit on the couch. "I'm not sure which look was more effective." Then again without her devil horns and mask she was just some woman dressed up in a mildly slutty outfit. Thank god for Halloween. "You're a pretty good dancer, did you know that?"

Ash bit his tongue on telling her that's what he usually looked like. And was now glad that he'd had a second to slip his gun into the locked compartment on his bike. He didn't want to freak her out with that quite yet. He grinned and glanced down at himself before he sat down on the couch with the scotch. "Thanks, I've been told as much every so often," he told her with a wink. "You pretty good yourself." Even when it hadn't been dancing with him, she was definitely something to watch.

"Oh, I know," she said, flipping her hair playfully behind her shoulder before she sat with him, drawing her legs up under her. She attempted modesty by smoothing her skirt over her thighs, but it was sort of half assed. "I saw you dancing with Lady Justice," Joey added, sipping at her drink as she watched him. Despite the mischievous twinkle in her eyes, there was no possessiveness or jealousy in her tone. It hadn't bothered her at all. But The Mourning Star dancing with her zombie greasemonkey of a date? It was such a surreal, strange sight. But an interesting one. "She was lovely, wasn't she?"

He didn't even try to hide the fact that he looked at her legs. Because they were great, and they'd been awesome eye-candy all night. His eyes ticked up to her face as she mentioned Star, however, though the smile stayed in place. "Yeah, lovely for sure. She's kind of a friend of mine," he said, though there wasn't anything defensive in it. He hadn't heard anything in her tone that resembled jealousy, so he wasn't too worried. He hadn't minded her dancing with other guys either.

Joey arched an eyebrow in surprise before she managed to stop herself, but she recovered quickly and smoothed the reaction into something of mild interest. "Is that right? Where do you know her from?" She took another drink to occupy her mouth. Ash knowing Star was even more strange, or maybe it wasn't, being it was Marquette and Star had mentioned she liked the town. But it also had Josephine studying Ash a bit more closely now than she had before. She was simply curious.

Ash paused, and took a drink himself to stall for an extra second. "I've done some work for her," he answered once he'd swallowed, eyes settled on Joey's expression. That was as good an answer as any, and he though she'd probably assume he meant car-work. It was possible, right? If one didn't know the nature of The Mourning Star. "She helped me out with some other stuff. It was good to see her." He lifted his glass for another sip.

Definitely interesting. Joey didn't know how to respond to that exactly, so she didn't. Work. What kind of work? Did The Mourning Star drive? Somehow Joey doubted it. She let her eyes wander over Ash, from his face down to his legs and back up. It might have appeared as if she were checking him out, which she was in a way. Just maybe not in the way he thought. Lowering her glass to settle it on her leg, Joey rested her arm on the back of the couch and smiled. "That's interesting. What kind of work? Mechanical?"

He'd arched an eyebrow a little at her eye-roaming and gave her a bit of a teasing sideways look. "If you're askin' if I fucked her, I haven't," he said, and idly wondered if just phrasing it like that would be enough to get him into trouble, if the lady in question had heard it. Probably not, she seemed to have a good sense of humor. And knew how he was. "I did some mechanical work for her, yeah," he continued. He guessed you could call it that, in a sense. Keeping the wheels of everything turning. "She said she met you in the bathroom," he said, recalling that.

Joey stared for about two seconds before she burst into laughter. Her hand came up from the back of the couch to cover her smiling mouth casually, attempting to rein in the amusement. "No, that's not what I was asking, but I suppose it's good to know." She dropped her hand and lifted her glass to her lips, taking another drink once the laughter had subsided enough to make it possible. "I was just curious. And yes, we met in the bathroom. She was extremely pleasant to me. She has a very... earthy aura about her, doesn't she?"

Ash grinned, glad she had a sense of humor about it. Those crazy chicks who got all possessive after like five minutes really were something he wanted to avoid like hell. With the way he lived his life, it was necessary. "That's one way to put it," he said to her question, thinking it was more of an otherworldly aura, but hey. Who was he to contradict. The small detail that Star had called her Josephine rose to the surface and made him a bit curious again. "So you give out your full name to everybody but me?" he asked casually enough.

Possessive was one thing Joey generally wasn't. She wasn't a fan of a man being possessive of her, so why turn around and do the same to someone else? The question about her name caught her a bit offguard and she arched an eyebrow in his direction, leaning over to set her glass on her coffee table. She was trying to think of whom she'd given her full name too lately. Ransom, her new hire, perhaps. Brows drawn together curiously, she shook her head. "Not generally, no. Sometimes, I suppose, depending on who the person is and if I feel like revealing it. Why do you ask?"

"Because Lady Justice used it," he said, sipping some more on his drink. It might not have gotten his attention but for the fact that Star used his real name, without ever having to be told what it was. Not that he was keen on saying so, because he just generally didn't like for people to know what it was. 'Ash' was much better-suited to who he was now. But now he had a few niggling suspicions, and he wondered if Joey really knew who their Lady Justice was.

"Oh!" Right. Star had known her full name without Joey ever having to say it. "I must have told her then." She flashed Ash a smile and went back to leaning casually against the back of the couch. "As she's your friend, does Lady Justice have a real name? I don't think I managed to get hers when we were in the bathroom." And maybe there was a bit of a game going on between them now, but Joey wasn't entirely sure. It could be Ash simply knew Star in some other capacity, but she had a good read on people and she was having nagging suspicions now that there might be more to the greasemonkey than she originally thought.

He weighed his answer before he gave it. He'd never gotten any inkling that Joey was a demon, and if she was a hunter, she strayed toward the good side of things. Her karma was pretty clean, and he hadn't really suspected she was anything but a human until now. He knew that The Mourning Star pretty much knew whatever she wanted to know about whomever she wanted to, but still ... "She goes by Star," he said, watching Joey's expression still. "That's the only name she's ever given me, at least." Damn, he wished he'd asked her more questions about it at the time.

"Hmm. That's a pretty name." She stared at him with an unreadable expression, her cheek resting against her palm. She wasn't sure whether or not to assume he was lying. Really, nothing he'd said could constitute as a lie. Chances were, he was answering her truthfully, just dodging what he didn't want to tell her. Or maybe she was simply overanalyzing the entire conversation, which was a possibility. Joey shifted on the couch and crawled the few feet over the cushions toward Ash, no longer worried about modesty. She leaned into him, her nose nuzzling along his jaw line before she placed tiny kisses back to his ear. "My full name," she told him between nibbles at his earlobe. "Is Josephine Madelyn Marks. In case you were wanting to know."

He saw her coming and was faintly surprised at the shift in demeanor. Or maybe there wasn't one, he was just reading into things and being paranoid. Maybe. Or maybe she was trying to divert and distract. In which case, she did a very good job right off. His ears were pretty sensitive, in comparison to the rest of him. "Good to know, Miss Marks," he murmured, eyelids drooping down halfway. He didn't turn his head, giving her room to do whatever she wanted over there, but one hand came up to follow the line of her side and pass over the skirt until he hit thigh. Her back, maybe he could get a good look at her back.

There were several lines of thinking to Joey's shift in demeanor. She didn't really want to talk about The Mourning Star anymore, more because she didn't want to come out and say she was an angel. She would much rather know more about Ash and if his acquaintance with Star was completely innocent, or if Star was also aware of his entire name without his ever having to say it. Joey knew if she could get a decent look at his back, that would make the whole thing fairly easy because if he was something, as she was something, she would much rather he be an angel than a demon. Joey knew she was probably too nosy for her own good, but sometimes she simply couldn't help it. She bit down on his earlobe before her lips trailed lower to his neck and her hand slid down his chest. "You certainly don't smell like a zombie greasemonkey," she murmured with a lazy smile against his throat. Her hand slid down his chest to his lap. "You don't feel like one either."

Whether or not she really knew Star was pretty quickly becoming mostly irrelevant. Especially with her hand in his lap. He more or less knew for sure she wasn't a demon, and that was really his only totally off-limits species. Whatever, she could have her secrets for the moment, just like he'd hang on to his. Ash wet his lips and moved to sit forward just enough to put his glass on the coffee table. He put his hand over her's and moved it to cover the part of his jeans that was getting tighter, turning his head to brush his lips against her's. "And how do you know what they feel like?" he asked against her mouth. It wasn't quite a kiss, but it was close. The fingers of his other hand curled in the ribbon at the back of her corset.

Her hand squeezed him gently and she smirked against his mouth. "I've had my fair share of zombie greasemonkeys over the years," Joey said before closing the distance between them quickly to nip at his lower lip. As she spoke her hand slipped up to unbutton his jeans. "So I definitely know the difference." What she really wanted at that moment was to get him shirtless for various reasons. To try and see his back, and to see the rest of his tattoos. And frankly, to have Ash shirtless in her living room had been a bit of a fantasy since she'd met him and now seemed like the best, most opportune time to follow through with it.

"That's kinda creepy, that you're into dead guys," Ash said, lips brushing her's still. He didn't mind her going straight for his jeans at all, was pretty down with that plan in fact. He nipped her bottom lip back, his fingers moving to start untying and unlacing her top. He kind of wanted her to keep the skirt on, but the corset could go. He did want to see her back, because finding out he was about to get lucky with another angel would be a treat. He kissed her for real then, keeping it slow and lazy, but definitely getting a taste of her.

"Yeah, I think it was just a phase to see how badly I could piss of my mother." Joey was a fan of the lazy pace, thinking that she would most definitely prefer to enjoy the experience than to rush through it. She kept her lips locked to his and shifted again to straddle his lap, thinking that it was a good, dominant position for the time being. Her hands tugged at his shirt, indicating she wanted to get it off. All that hard muscle and tattoos... Joey was trying incredibly hard not to salivate at the mental image she was already harboring in her mind. Her corset was loosening, and she'd worn nothing underneath it. She figured it was only fair that if she was about to be bare above the waist, that he ought to be as well.

He paused in his efforts to get her corset off to let go of her and pull his shirt up and off, tossing the ripped and old-bloodied thing aside. He wasn't absolutely covered in tattoos, but it came pretty close, all of them in various styles and levels of faded colors. Some obviously covered scars, others not. His skin was just a smattering of all the places he'd been. His pierced nipples immediately hardened up with the exposure. He pulled her corset completely apart at the back and pulled it off of her, letting out a little breath as he saw that she had nothing on under it. She had a beautiful chest.

Wow. Joey stared at his chest, soaking in the details while a hint of a smile curved at her red lips. She wasn't fazed whatsoever that she was now bare in front of him as well. She didn't have the scenery that he did, so her full attention was now on him. Her hands forgot his jeans for a moment and she slid her palms over his shoulders and down his chest, around the pierced nipples. She hadn't been expecting those - or to find them so damn sexy. She was having a hard time deciding which tattoo to examine first, but she supposed there would be time for that later. Joey trailed her fingertips back up to the nape of his neck where they slid into his hair before she leaned in to kiss him fully on the mouth, her breasts pressing against his chest. She adored the contact and wanted more of it.

He watched her looking at him for a minute, and felt that weird desired feeling that he hadn't had in quite a while. Like she wasn't lusting after what he could do to her body, but him. Or maybe that was just the scotch talking. In any case, he'd take it. He kissed her hungrily when she came back for more, the nerves in his chest thrilling at the feel of warm bare breasts against them. He ran his calloused hands up and down her sides, drifting over the beautiful swells created by their chests pressed together. He was already aching to find out if she was wearing anything under that skirt. But there was something he wanted to know more, so his fingers slid around to her back, around the shoulderblades, feeling for raised lines or any other tactile proof.

There was definitely intense desire pulsating through her body and her clouded mind was more thinking about what she could do to him rather than what he could do to her. The feel of his hands on her body simply heightened everything else. She liked the way they felt - definitely a mechanic's hand with their rough exterior. Hands like that could make her body sing, she was sure of it. Her mouth affixed hotly to his, Joey wasn't even thinking when his hands moved up to her back. It felt wonderful and thrilling, and the thin, slightly raised scars down her shoulder blades were buried in the deep recesses of her mind, insignificant at that moment. She was too busy concentrating on getting his zipper pulled down and debating whether or not to suggest her bedroom down the hall, or make use of the couch right there.

The telltale lines were there. He'd gotten lucky; his were birthmarks. But there were two scars, the same length, running evenly down her back. The identifier for those who knew what they were looking for. Ash felt vindicated, surprised, and even more excited all at the same time. She was an angel, she was like him, and that suddenly opened up a whole new world in his mind. He rubbed his thumbs hard down the scars, pulling back from her mouth to catch a breath. "Avenger?" he exhaled, eyes cracking back open to take in her face again for the first time. "Guardian? Karma, what? Tell me." She definitely didn't seem like Renewal or Grace to him, though he guessed the stereotypes could be wrong.

Confusion was evident in her eyes when she opened them at the unwanted interruption. But it only took about two seconds more for her to realize what had happened. His fingers at her scars and his knowledge of angel types tipped her off and she figured she probably didn't need to look at his back. Unless he was a demon, which meant he would more than likely have a tell somewhere. Joey leaned back on his lap, modesty the last thing on her mind as she stared down at him. She was filled with anticipation and excitement and a bit of regret. Not everyone reacted favorably when they found out what she was. "Wrath," Joey said simply, eyes locked onto his as she spoke. "What are you?" Assuming he was something. Tit for tat, and she expected him to tell her.

A Wrather. She was a Wrather, of course she was. Because that was just how awesome his luck ran. All the buzzy arousal drained right out of Ash, through his boots and into the floor. His father had been a Wrather, he'd lived the first part of his life with the man, witnessing exactly what they did, and it had estranged them completely. "Karma," he said, through suddenly numb lips. And he could just kind of sit there and stare at her. He didn't see the beautiful, nubile, flirtatious and intelligent young woman at that moment, he saw earthquakes and tsunamis, levelled villages with no regard to who deserved it and who didn't. She was Pompeii and Mt. Saint Helens and Hurricane Katrina. And she couldn't help it any more than he could, but he couldn't fuck her now. "Get up, please."

His response was what she expected it to be, but for a moment she was disappointed. But her personal feelings on the situation, or his reaction, didn't matter because she couldn't change it now. All she could do was deal with it and move on. Story of her life thus far. Without question or protest, Joey slipped from his lap back onto the couch. She supposed she could have lied, but Joey didn't like to lie, and given he was Karma, he probably would have been able to tell anyway. She watched him with a calm expression. She had done very well at disguising certain emotions through her long years. "I suppose what you knew of me before doesn't matter now."

Ash sat forward to put his elbows on his knees. There were more tattoos on his back, surrounding the birthmarks that were wider versions of her own wing-markers, the ink bleeding into them in spots. He exhaled deeply and reached for his shirt. He suddenly felt all kinds of old and tired. Fuck. "Everything matters, people are ... not simple, no matter what they are," he said, aware that probably wasn't a good answer. He tugged the ripped black t-shirt down over his body again, half-looking back at her. "My father was a Wrather, and I haven't spoken to him in over a century. I just ... need a bit of time with it, I'm sorry." Because he liked her, he genuinely did. Now there was just this.

People weren't simple, that much she could agree with him on. But knowing she was a Wrather seemed to be enough to wipe out everything else he'd come to know about her. She knew it was scary and complicated for people, but Joey felt she was much more than what people automatically assumed when they heard the word 'wrath'. Surely another angel would have been able to relate. Or maybe not. It was just the way life fell sometimes. Joey nodded and reached for her discarded corset, slipping it on enough to cover herself up. "I'm not your father," she said simply, standing from the couch. "I am who I am and I've never once tried to hide that from anyone, including you." If he needed time, he could have time. It was probably best. Joey walked across the small living room to open her apartment door, her smile small and regretful. "You know where to find me should you ever want to. Goodnight, Ash."

He wanted to tell her that he didn't feel like she had. It wasn't betrayal or anything he felt, it was more a deep-rooted disappointment and sadness. She couldn't help what she was, but he couldn't help the associations he had with it either. That was just how things went sometimes, unfortunately. It just pushed him further away from everything and everyone, that was all. There was just no point in telling her all that. He'd never been the type to spill his guts all over to women, especially when they were so messy. He stood up, snagged his jacket, and headed for the door. "'Night, Joey," he murmured to her as he slipped out. He was going to need to ride for a while.