"Perception is circumstantial"

NAME: Cora Clerval AGE: Twenty-two years old POWER: Empathy Only daughter of Dr. Richard Clerval and Sibyl Tayeb.

[griffin-fitzwilliams]

“Yeah, I remember your bitchy squealing. So next time, you pull your manipulative Jedi mind trick on the drunks, save me some work.” He whirls his finger in front of her face, matching her ‘please kindly fuck off and tell all the shits I don’t give to enjoy their vacation’ smile. He fills up the flutes, translating her bitching as ‘blah blah blah’. “Potayto, potahto. Sell your dictionary somewhere else. You are grumpy. It’s what they call easily annoyed people. I do have that kind of effect on people, though. It’s a gift, really.” When the bottle is almost empty, Griffin finishes it off by pouring what is left of champagne down his throat. Like his brother and father, his body isn’t affected by alcohol, but he likes the mood of drinking. Plus, champagne is expensive. Skimming off the bar is the perk of working as a bartender… at least for him. “Yeah. Saying ‘rat’s ass’ totally sells it.” He drawls as he puts away the bottle. He sets the tray now ready to go and get them some tips. He takes a dramatic turn to her, amused smirk resting on his face. “Is that an invitation? Oh, wow. There’s– there’s just so many options. Gosh golly, I should have brought my ‘things to criticize about Cora Clerval’ note, darn it.” He makes a grand eye roll, speaking in silly tone. He soon drops the act. “Please. I don’t care about you enough to criticize you, you should know that by now. I just happened to enjoy annoying you because you annoy me. If you can stop being judgmental and nagging for one second, I’d be happy leave you alone.”

[cora-clerval]

“Then you should remember that you only get to be such an epic asshole around me because I’m letting you” she stated, not masking her annoyance with smiles. She could turn him into the world’s greatest sweetheart if she wanted to, but it was only because of her ‘no invasion’ rule that she didn’t. Of course, she had no qualms about bending that rule when enough was enough. The Empath glared at him, becoming more and more aware that this asshole was really getting to her. It wasn’t just that she was deeply irritated by him, he actually managed to piss her off. She was usually more patient and in control of her emotions, but Griffin Fucking Fitzwilliams had a gift to push her buttons. “What a fucking great gift to have...” she said with sheer sarcasm as she continued to serve some more glasses for the clients. When she turned to them she sported her nice bartender smile once more, but she second she turned back to Griff, it was gone. “Why the bloody interest on what I think or don’t think about that silly tradition?” the girl mentioned with an arched eyebrow, still kind of glaring at the guy. “Judgmental and nagging? That’s rich coming from you. I’ve never met anyone who is so close-minded and set in his ways as you are, who just enjoys pissing off people for the kicks. You just punch people and burn shit, and think whoever isn’t in tune with your moody asshole M.O. is trying to complicate your life, when - newsflash: we’re not being judgmental or nagging, we’re just trying to be decent people unlike you. Really, weren’t you hugged enough as a kid? Or who freaking died to make you bitter?”. Cora finally caught her breath after having spoken so bluntly so fast.

[cora-clerval]

MEMORIES - Sibyl and little Cora

[griffin-fitzwilliams]

Griffin watches in amusement as the line of fire shifts toward the boss. “What? It works!” Patrick then dismisses them in defensively tone, “…just go back to work.” Griffin has no problem in this little arrangement of course, so he just stands back and watches. “I don’t see anyone else booing on their high horses.” He looks around as if he were looking for another opposition. He ponders on something for a moment, then adds, “Or you can deal with assholes from now on! That’s your hobby, right?” His voice is laden with provocation and a bit of teasing. He would pay to see drunken idiots thrown at Cora’s way. “Hmm. Heard that line before. I didn’t care back then though… Oh, wait, wait– I still don’t.” He makes a purse of lips at her snapping, utterly unaffected but his curiosity perking up. “So who kidnapped your goat and where do they live? I need to send them cards.” He asks as he sets flutes on the bar. He eyes the excited crowds. Friends, lovers, waiting for to the new year to come. Even though most of them would have the shitty year like any other years, this moment, right now, they are optimistic. Then there are bartenders, working New Year’s Eve shift. Griffin is happy to get paid extra. But does Cora? “Are you grumpy because you have to spend New Year’s Eve working? No date, no magical midnight kiss?” He teases, taking a champagne bottle from her and opening it. 

[cora-clerval]

Cora looked at her boss with complete disbelief, a look that seemed very judgy too, because what sort of jerk Patrick had to be to actully think this thing was some sort of solution. Oh right, a jerk that agreed with Griffin’s bright ideas. That explained a lot. The brunette wanted to give him -both of them, in fact- a piece of her mind, but New Year’s Eve was not a good day to fight your boss and get fired. People left a lot of tips tonight and she intended to collect those. “Yeah, I would gladly and without much trouble. If I recall correctly I handled you perfectly when we met” she smirked, the sort of ‘fuck you’ smirk that she seemed to give Fire Cracker quite often. She rolled her eyes at his comments and went on preparing the champagne glasses for the toast. “I’m not grumpy, I’m just annoyed by you. There’s a difference. Once is a general emotional state, the other one is just prompted by a certain asshole” she replied with a sweet tone and an innocent smile, a heavy contrast to what she’d just said. “I don’t give a rat’s ass about the midnight kiss” she turned to him, hands on her hips and a completely unamused expression. Yeah, okay, she had kind of been looking forward to it and being dumped by her date may or may not have prompted her higher irritability. She could just induce some apathy to herself with her power, but Cora didn’t like to mess with her own emotions when it wasn’t necessary. Feeling things and feeling them fully created character. “Anything else you’d like to critize? Come on, keep it coming. I know you want to” she challenged him.

[griffin-fitzwilliams]

Griffin crosses his arms watching the brawlers pick themselves up and move away. The crowd scatters. He turns halfway to Cora, eyebrow raised. “Eh, whacha gonna do. Bitches get stitches.” He shrugs nonchalantly. He tidies up the chairs and table knocked over. He has learned that it’s simply a waste of time to argue with Clerval. “Hey, it was bossman’s idea. I’m just doing what I’m paid to do.” He points at Patrick who is cleaning up the mess with him. The idea here is that people can’t be assholes when the bar has a residing asshole. It works surprisingly well– of course, except Cora bitching about it. Beside, it helps with his stress. After dealing with customers for hours Griffin gets frustrated. Frustration leads to overheating. Overheating leads to fire hazard. It’s better to punch some customers than burning down the entire building. After putting back the tables, Griffin walks past her deflecting the judgmental look. “Oh, don’t be such a hardass. Cheer up. It’s New Year’s. Everyone’s happy except you. Plus they give out fat tips so you should be happy.” He flashes a brazen smile then goes behind the bar. 

[cora-clerval]

The Empath could only roll her eyes at his reply, because of course he was going to say some bullshit like that. Her eyebrow arched as soon as Griffin pointed out that this ‘brilliant’ idea had in fact been Patrick’s. The brunette just turned to the owner, an ‘are you fucking kidding me?’ look on her face. She didn’t say anything to the man because arguing with her boss -more than she already did- could cost her this job. “Oh, I’m the hardass?” she asked with an arched eyebrow because he surely was kidding. Looking in a dictionary for the definition of hardass and ‘Griffin Fitzwilliams’ was the very first entry along with ‘Stubborn asshole difficult to deal with’. Of course Cora would never admit to him that perhaps she wasn’t on her best behavior and was slightly more irritable because her date had ditched for New Year’s Fucking Eve. What kind of moron did that? “I was perfectly happy until you happened, Fire cracker” she replied with annoyance before putting on the nice-and-approachable-bartender look for the clients as she went back to the bar as well. The guest band that was playing at the bar tonight announced that there was one minute left before midnight and everyone started getting all cheery. Cora pulled out a couple of bottles of champagne because after the countdown people would want to toast for sure.

[cora-clerval]

(anti)brotp: Bitchsquealer and Fire cracker → Moodboard [01/?]

Cora Clerval and Griffin Fitzwilliams

[wogoes]

[griffin-fitzwilliams]

Four months. Four fucking months gone without a major fire hazard at St. Patrick. Someone should award Griffin, really. He has been surprisingly patient and good with the customers– “GRIFF! A LITTLE HELP HERE?!” A distress call from Patrick who is desperately trying to stop a drunken brawl– …good with dealing with the drunken customers. He has become more of a security/decoration than a bartender. “…right.” Griffin reluctantly joins in the crowd. “Gentlemen, this is a family-friendly establishment. Please go measure your dicks somewhere else.” He starts off with mild insults stepping in between the troublemakers. One of them throws a punch which is his queue to say, “my old man used to say–” He turns without so much as taking a moment to register the punch, “–never throw the first punch. But if you have to throw the second,” Griffin grabs the collar and smashes the guy’s face to the floor. He moves on to kick the other guy in the flank hard enough to throw him over. “make sure they don’t get up for a third.” He dusts off his hands, turning to the crowd with a flawless smile. “Happy New Fucking Year’s, folks.”

[cora-clerval]

Cora served their drinks to the super sappy couple that were gushing about their upcoming anniversary and who knows what else lovey-dovey nonsense. Normally she’d be a little more empathetic with people, but twenty-year-olds who swore they’d find the love of their life, that shit she could barely take. For a good tip she could pretend to listen and care about it. When they finally walked away it was nice when that massive boredom paid off. Literally. Grinning, she slipped the bill in her pocket, but quickly looked up when a bit of a ruckus was heard. Sighing, she moved from behind the bar and where Fire cracker was messing with some dudes. A couple of months ago, she would have immediately assumed he was the instigator of the fight. But it turned out he was good at breaking brawls and Patrick had been smart enough to put that odd skill of Griffin’s to good use. Still, sometimes he took it too far. “That was way over the top” she stood right in front of him as the guy turned to face the crowd, hands on her hips and a somewhat judgy look on her face “I know you don’t think things through, but it’s hardly good for business to walk in and see beaten up people” she stated as she looked at the guys he’d just fought.

[wogoes]

[will-wolfe]

Well be careful alright?

Will paced across the sidewalk outside of his apartment, hair tousled, and shirtless,having had a late night drinking wine and talking with Nora. Besides, when did shirts ever come in handy?Lucy behind the wheel with Sam in the passenger seat never seemed like a good idea to him. The girls has a whole weekend planned in London, and if he wasn’t around his big brother vibes started to tingle. “Okay Will, relax. I’m a big girl now. Why don’t you go get laid or something?” Mentally, he flipped his sister off. “Yeah, okay text me when you’re there. Love you.” Will hung up his phone and turned around when he heard cat calls. “Sorry to disappoint but I’m taken.” 

[cora-clerval]

“And here I thought the cat calls were for me” the brunette mentioned with a chuckle as she was walking nearby. Cora had been cat called several times before, especially getting out of work at 2:00 a.m. from Patrick’s bar. But seeing that he was parading shirtless on the street, it was clear that she wasn’t nowhere near drawing attention as he was. “They don’t really care if you’re taken or not, they’ll keep doing it”.

[cora-clerval]

griffin-fitzwilliams:

Griff can tell that the Bitchsquealer is dying not to laugh in front of the customers. He pushes down the urge to hurl the nearest beer glass– or rather, pour himself some beer and chugs them down. His brow is raised subtly at her counterattack. Well, Griffin Fitzwilliams is not one to stand down in a challenge. Cora took the advantage by saying that he wasn’t paying attention, so he has to go along with it– “What can I say? I’m only human.” He shrugs with a cheeky smile, the same ‘fuck you kindly’ element as hers that others can’t read strong. “I’m sorry. But did you really expect me to memorize all fifteen recipes?” While admitting that she did teach him, he cleverly spun it around that it was unfair of her to handle it all right away. He maintains the good student persona as she explains. “Haitian Aged and Jamaican Dark Rum.” He repeats, memorizing the process– doesn’t hurt to learn how to actually do work around here. He pours the rum one by one, closes the shaker and shakes it quite skillfully. He may not know the specific recipes but he knows the basics. “Got it,” he pours the drink with a strain over the shaker as he nods along. “Thanks.” He says with a tiny hint of genuine thank. He would have rolled his eyes to cover it had it not been for the customers. Placing the cocktail on the bar with a smile, Griffin moves on to make the Daiquiri. He gets blueberry liqueur– which he eyed and remembered the location when Cora was working– vanilla syrup, rum and lime juice. He puts everything in the shaker with ice cubes, shakes it and strains it to a chilled glass. After serving it to the other one, Griffin turns to Cora and puts up a smirk. He doesn’t say anything but it is clear that he is being a smug.

The girl gave him a kind smile after her reply, almost challenging him to come up with something better to say. And Fire Cracker didn’t disappoint. “Yeah, of course! I had faith in you buddy. I mean, I expected good memory from an Oxford graduate” she grinned. Now she’d made him look like a brilliant Oxford fucking graduate who for some reason had failed at life and ended up working as a barman “But if you can’t keep up, I promise I’ll break it down more easily for you next time”. After explaining the recipe to him, the last thing she would have expected from this guy was a ‘thank you’. It surprised her in a good way. “You’re welcome” she replied with a light nod. When the two drinks are finished and served, she could see he was being all peacock about it. He’d done good, and didn’t break under the pressure she’d put on him, so she just rolled her eyes -more out of amusement thatn annoyance- and gave a smirk to him. So he’d gotten the work done and now had two girls drooling over him, leaving him alone with them could either be something he’d appreciate or maybe something to annoy him further. Either way, it was a good enough gamble, so Cora went away to take care other things at the bar.

[cora-clerval]

griffin-fitzwilliams:

Griffin has to bite back the curse when one of the girls reaches for his hand. Wrong move. His body has hotter temperature than average– around 45 Celsius and above, depending on his mood. Right now, he has to turn it down as low as he can which takes concentration. He places the tongue between his teeth, half-smiling. “Mm, if it’s your favorite…” His eyes roll and land on Cora, “I’m sure our senior bartender can help us out.” He flashes the nicest smile he has up his sleeve even when he is irritated by her. The customers are watching and he wouldn’t risk losing his possible huge tip. His hand slips out from the girl’s as he shrugs. “I mean, after all, this is my first day at work… At least you could teach me how?” It appears as if Cora is making him do all the work in his first day without teaching him properly, although they both know that wasn’t true. But the girls don’t know that. At any rate, Griffin at the moment seems like a good-intended but new bartender, trying to do his job.

She had to contain a laugh the moment she heard the girl insist on her cocktail. Plus getting all touchy with him didn’t seem the way to go. If she knew Fire Cracker well enough, he was having a subtle aneurysm. She had to roll her lips to avoid chuckling or even smirking. Cora turned to him and returned the smile. To anyone watching it probably seemed like good ol’ camaraderie between co-workers, but she was sending the same ‘fuck you’ smile she was getting from him. She could see what he was doing, making it sound like she hadn’t instructed him on how to prepare the drinks. But hell no, she wasn’t letting that one slide. “Aw, come on, I told you to pay attention” she responded in a friendly manner, making it sound like Griffin had been distracted while she tried to teach him. “With all the pretty girls that come in here you know how hard it is to get this guy to pay attention?” she told Megan and Lyla in a light-hearted manner, and both girls chuckled before grinning at Griffin. It did no harm to fool them into believing that perhaps he’d been distracted because of them. That sure would amp up their flirtation and in turn Griffin’s annoyance. “Here. You start with the mixing glass, remember?” she passed him the mixing glass, filling it with ice cubes first. “Now pour the Haitian Aged Rum and the Jamaican Dark Rum, then stir it” she explained as she took an orange and cut a twist of its peel. She placed in a cold cocktail glass and passed it to Griffin “Strain and serve it here and that’s it”. 

[ninfanaiade]

Visit Original Link

[cora-clerval]

Kyla La Grange | “Cut Your Teeth (Kygo Remix)”

[cora-clerval]

griffin-fitzwilliams:

Griffin clenches his fists beneath the bar where the customers can’t see. It’s been less than an hour. He can’t burn down the bar this soon. And he needs money. “Of course.” He forces a smile, swallowing his anger with the thought of the big tip. But he will scorch something if he doesn’t get paid well for this. Griffin lets out an empty chuckle that is convincing enough to sound civil. “Well, I should send a thank you note to dad for naming me Griffin.” He jokes, although he has no intention of seeing dad. “It’s an honor to serve you ladies drinks.” He says with the most charming smile he can give a damn to scrape up. Then he looks down at the wooden bar, scratching his head as if he was capable of feeling embarrassed. “But, uh, I’m afraid this is my first day as a bartender and… I’m not quite sure how to make the Sevilla. Would you care for something else?” He asks in apologetic tone, again, as if he was capable of feeling that. “I make a damn good martini?” When the girls exchange a look, distracted, Griffin turns his head to Cora and draws a line on his neck with his thumb, mouthing ‘you’re a dead meat’. Then he shifts his look immediately to ‘innocent and nice’ as the girls get back to him. Acting and lying aren’t particularly difficulties to him. It’s just that he can’t bother most of the time. But Aunt Tess taught him well, and Griffin can fit in until he gets pissed off by something.

Cora concerned herself with continuing to clean the counter, but from where she stood she could still hear perfectly what was going on between Griffin and the two customers. “Aw, thanks!” the redheaded one replied to him with a smile, daring to reach for his hand, placing it there for a moment. A light pout appreared on Megan’s lips when he confessed he didn’t know how to make the Sevilla coctail “Oh, that’s a shame, it’s my favorite. And I’m not a big fan of martinis... But, what else could you offer me?”. At that Cora  looked over her shoulder again, only to see Megan leaning close, resting her elbow on the counter and leaning her chin against her hand. If that wasn’t an obvious sign that girl wanted into Fire Cracker’s pants, she didn’t know what was. Griffin mouthed the threat to her and the brunette simply smiled, like there was not a care in the world for her. 'Bring it’ she mouthed back before winking. She had considered helping him out a little with the Sevilla coctail, but now not so much.

[cora-clerval]

griffin-fitzwilliams:

Griffin minds his own business– although this is hardly his business, technically– trying to comprehend the system of the bar. He eyes the fridge and bottles and beer taps. Then suddenly, he feels a chill run down his back. Something bad is happening. Griffin spins his head around, squints at the bitchsquealer and two customers… who are eyeing him. In returns he simply maintains a frown. When she calls– how does she know my name? Oh, right. The nametag. Hers is Cora, apparently– he approaches reluctantly. “What?” He gives her a quizzical look, then turns to the two girls staring at him. “I thought we had a deal.” He glares at her, whispering under the breath to avoid the customers overhearing. But it seems like the girls have made their minds. Groaning internally, he turns to the customers with a halfhearted, business smile– money is a strong motivator– and offers, “alright, what can I get ya two ladies?” He pledges himself to a bloody revenge.

Cora grinned at Fire Cracker, gesturing for him to approach. Honestly, she hadn’t planned to mess with him or anything, but the opportunity presented itself and what could she do about it? This could be a little payback on behalf of the guy he knocked out the other day. “Of course we have a deal. But these girls wanted to meet you, right ladies?” she smiled at the two girls, who had gotten in full flirty mode by the time Griffing approached. There were a lot of women with questionable taste out there... “Suck it up. They’ll tip you big” she whispered subtly as she moved to pick a cloth to clean the counter. It was an excuse, but a true one. “So, Griffin. Cute name” the redhead of the duo said “I’m Lyla and this is Megan”. Cora was still standing close as she cleaned the counter, looking over her shoulder the interaction between the two girls and the jerk, who was putting on a surprisingly good act. “I’ll have the Sevilla coctail” Megan said, leaning a bit closer as she gave a smile to Griff. “And I want the Blueberry Daiquiri” Lyla spoke in a semi-seductive voice, clearly wanting to steal the spotlight from her friend back to her. Well damn, they had given a rough start to Fire Cracker. Cora looked over her shoulder again to see Griffin, not sure if he’d give any signs of wanting her help or he’d try to somehow wing this.

[cora-clerval]

griffin-fitzwilliams:

Griffin rolls his eyes as she returns to her work. “Yeah, yeah.” He knows acting like this is going to help neither of them. If possible, maintaining at least non-hostile attitude between her would be the smartest move. But Griffin is not known for doing the smartest things. Leaving the place he shared with Paul is a fine example. After going around to the tables to retrieve the empty glasses and cleaning the tables, Griffin returns to the bar. He hates the feeling of water against his skin, so he keeps a weird face the whole time as he washes the glasses. When he’s done, he stays far off from her and watches her working, to learn making drinks and stuff.

In synch with him, Cora also rolled her eyes as the brat dismissed what she told him. It was going to be a fucking nightmare working with this guy... A couple of clients walked in and she began to chat with them as they were trying to pick what to order. She convinced them to try the strawberry lemonade daiquiri and the two girls agreed. It was the drink that had basically landed her the job and had since been added to the menu. “Here you go” the brunette served them their drinks with a smile. “So who is the cute bartender?” one of the girls asked, eyeing Griffin. Both girls were showing interest in her new co-worker -why the hell, she didn’t know- but it sparked a little idea in her mind. “Oh Griffin, yeah he’s a sweetheart. I’m sure he’d love to chat with you girls. And he can totally serve your next drinks if you want” she told to the pair as her smile grew, and the girls nodded excitedly like two love-struck teenagers. “Hey, Griffin” she turned to him, beckoning for him to approach them “Your clients await”.

[smichesses]

[paul-fitzwilliams]

Paul quietly looks back at her. He simply nods at her words. “An advocate.” He repeats, then adds after a contemplation. “That’s better.” He is also against unnecessary violence. But the problem is that violence has always existed and will always exist. What he can do is end it as quick as possible. But, she doesn’t need to know what he thinks or what he does. He snaps out of his thoughts at the hand reached out toward him. He stares it for a moment, hesitating. His hand is usually immensely cold. But he supposes she might not notice. “Paul.” He takes her hand and gives her a soft shake, careful not to break her fingers. “Nice to meet you.”

[cora-clerval]

Cora smiled briefly after his reply. He seemed to agree on the idea of being an ‘advocate’ against violence. The girl held her hand out before him for several seconds, starting to think he wouldn’t take. She was about to take it back when the man introduced himself and finally shook her hand. It was cool to the touch, but no in an unpleasant way. “Nice to meet you too, Paul” she smiled at him, releasing his hand after the handshake.