of all the restrooms in all the world...

Who: Evelyn and Kess
Where: The Drake
When: Morning

Evelyn was in one of the staff restrooms, carefully trying to arrange her hair in a manner that was both respectable yet covered the bruise and healing gash on her face. Both had certainly come a long way from that dark red-purple, but they were still there enough to warrant being covered up. Scattered along the sink edge before her was her make-up, recently applied to the best of her ability in the awful lighting of the place. It wasn't just that it was a staff restroom, but it was the least frequented one that Evelyn could think of. That was why she had chosen it for the place of her last-minute work to make herself presentable.

Normally this was something done long before she stepped out of her apartment, but it had been a struggle to get out of her apartment at all. The sedatives she had taken that wouldn't kick in finally did, and Evelyn had such trouble getting out of bed that for a frightening moment she thought she was paralyzed. But even though she apparently had fallen asleep? She didn't feel like it. And, honestly, only half-way through the process of getting ready she certainly didn't look like she had. But at least she didn't look half as bad as she felt. But that wasn't giving much credit to her looks at the moment -- looking as awful as she felt was, quite frankly, impossible.

Kess was still finding her way around the Drake. She'd only been working here for a few days, and she found that at times she got real turned around in the place, especially behind the scenes, away from the public areas. Which was how she ended up walking into the bathroom, thinking that maybe it was a door to somewhere she'd recognise. It wasn't - clearly - and she'd been about to back out again when she saw Evelyn there, and caught sight of the bruise, and the gash. As a woman who'd seen her fair share of injuries in the past, she wasn't about to let something like that go, so she carried on in, making sure that she door shut behind her. "Hey - you okay?" she asked.

The unexpected arrival of someone else got Evelyn to start a little bit. Her eyes flicked over to Kess's reflection, surprised. And embarrassed. "Oh! I'm fine," she lied, adjusting a handful of hair down lower to conceal everything. Or maybe it wasn't a lie -- she assumed the injuries were what the other woman was asking about, and those were really the absolute least of her problems. And it certainly as if she could or would get into the story about last night and her lying and her brother. So Evelyn, still in the mirror, flashed a small smile over at Kess, although she was lacking her usual composure to keep the tiredness out of it.

"Right, sure you are - what happened?" Kess asked, clearly not buying the story, but in a sympathetic kind of a way, rather than one that judged. She walked over and took the liberty of pushing the other woman's hair back out of her face, eyeing the injuries, then meeting her eyes.

Evelyn probably would have felt more comfortable finding herself suddenly naked than have somebody eye the bruising like that. And she was only up for holding Kess's gaze for a second before having to tick it away. Really, she had honestly been hoping -- and doing a damn good job -- of not having to share the mugging experience. The situation just spoke too much of her own stupidity for being in it, and she really just preferred to shove the whole ordeal into the past. But there was something to be said for Kess's sympathetic tone, and Evelyn had already had a night of violently turning emotions that she just wasn't up for rising to the defensive. "Some... guy tried to mug me," she finally answered after a sigh, shrugging. Finally bringing her gaze back to Kess she took a little step back, letting the hair fall back into her face, and gave an almost self-deprecatory smile as if there was some joke there. Even if, when it came down to it, Evelyn had found absolutely nothing to laugh about in the situation.

Kess noted the pause there and automatically wondered if Evelyn had been covering for a swear word, or a name that she hadn't wanted to give away. She was really rather cynical when it came to this kind of thing. "You been to the police about it?" she asked, looking away to cast an eye over the makeup set out on the counter. Of course she'd want to hide the injury - especially in a high class place like this.

Evelyn shook her head, a small mirthless laugh escaping her, "It's was so dark--" There was a very brief pause as she felt that new uncomfortable feeling at recalling how dark it was, "--I couldn't even begin to guess at a description." She didn't want to admit that, immediately afterwards, she hadn't even thought to call the police: she had only wanted to go home. And it was only after spending a good day or so cooped up in home had calling the police entered her mind -- but even then she hadn't been up for it. Hell, the police had been far less reliable in more solvable cases. They wouldn't find the guy. She doubted anyone would. Even though Jesse seemed to think he could find the guy, or maybe he'd be too upset with her now to continue that venture -- he had been disgusted enough with her to tell her to get the fuck out of his sight. Heh, maybe something good came out of last night... even if only because Jesse might be done with her. It hurt enough to urge her to focus back on Kess. It was an awkward enough conversation, but better than thinking on losing her family, "Not really much for the police to go on, is it?"

Kess cocked a smile. "I guess not." She believed that it was a mugging a little more now - before, she hadn't been sure. The excuses people came up with, and her first thought was always the man in someone's life. She hated that that was always her first thought. "You want some help with your makeup - I'm pretty good with it and I can probably see better in this light than you could in that mirror," she suggested, casting a glance to the old mirror and back.

Evelyn considered it for a moment, but then finally nodded. She hated being a position where she couldn't do things for herself, and it bothered her even more when other people could recognize that. But honestly? Trying to do the hair and make-up largely one handed -- the wrist had certainly healed some, but the sprain still made things difficult. Especially since she still kept the bandage on now so that she can easily keep with the 'my wrist got twisted' story and not have it visible that it got twisted for her. And, even though she felt uncomfortable accepting help from anyone, there was something ironically easier about getting help from this woman who still largely a stranger. "Thanks," she finally replied. And the smile this time, though certainly still tired, was a bit more genuine.

"No problem," Kess said, moving slightly, then picking up the concealer and starting to work. "I'm Kess, by the way," she said, conversationally. She'd seen the other woman around, but it wasn't like they'd been formally introduced, and given the circumstances, it seemed polite. Anyway, she didn't like seeing people hurt, and it always ended up bringing out the mothering instinct in her.

Evelyn smiled, almost smirked, at the introduction. A part of her, despite her embarrassment and overwhelming weariness, was still able to find bemusement in such an odd introductory situation. For a split second she looked like she was about to say something, but then stopped. "Amelia," she replied. "Nice to meet you, Kess," she added a bit with some wryness. But her heart started racing a bit. Because that thing she had started to say? Was 'I'm Evelyn'. Which was bad.

Kess caught the smirk and laugh a little. "I know - I'll be your makeup artist for today," she said, with a gesture. "Wouldn't do to let the guests think that life is anything else but perfect, right?" she joked. She couldn't imagine what their lives must be like. Having the money to stay in a place like this. It was a completely different world, it really was. Sometimes she really wondered, but she made herself keep that curiosity firmly under wraps - it wasn't like she could ever ask, and one thing that working at Babylon had taught her was that you didn't ask questions - more than likely, you didn't want to know the answers.

"Not at the Drake," Evelyn agreed, stomach churning a bit as she did so. Try as she might, nothing about last night with Jesse would sit on the back-burner for long, especially about what he said about her working here. She still had trouble accepting it fully. It wasn't that she thought the DiGiovannis were upstanding citizens -- not at all. But she also knew that Jesse could be overprotective, and sometimes that part of him seemed almost paranoid about things. But she didn't want to risk her family. And, God, if getting a new job meant she'd never have to see that look on Jesse ever again... "So where do you work?" She asked Kess, since she didn't really recognize the woman. Then again, there were a lot of staff at the hotel. Evelyn certainly didn't know all of them. "I'm currently a concierge."

"I work on the front desk," Kess told her. "I've seen you around - but I've only been here for a few days, so I'm just finding my feet," she admitted. She learned fast, though. Mostly, she had her job down. She just got lost occasionally in this huge building. When she'd been working at Babylon, it had mostly just been the bar she'd been in. But here, sometimes people needed errands run and she wanted to know the hotel like the back of her hand. She needed this job - she needed to be good at it. She intended to be great at it. It was a properly legitimate job, and maybe it would help with Eugene - at the very least, it was one less bit of vitriol he could launch at her.

"Looking forward to working with you then." Not that she knew how much longer that would be, but she didn't say that. Trying to force all her focus out of her own head and onto Kess, Evelyn quirked a corner of her mouth into a smile. "So did you aim for this restroom intentionally or did somebody tell you it was the one to use?" Kess was new, and it wouldn't be surprising for somebody to have some fun with that newness by sending her to the out of the way bathroom.

"Honestly?" Kess said as she finished with the base and started setting the makeup with powder, the injuries now nicely hidden. "I got a little lost - I'm trying to make sure I know how to get to everywhere, but clearly I haven't managed that yet. I was looking for the back stairwell, and ended up in a bathroom instead.

Evelyn snickered a little at the story, even though she couldn't make it heartfelt despite trying, and worked not to move her face too much and mess up Kess's work. "I'm still trying to figure out some areas myself. I only started as a concierge Thursday. Before that I was kept away to the restaurant -- usually the bar," she amended. Although some of the other servers still there only gave her dirty looks now -- it seemed that, despite working hard and making the relationship between her and Sullivan very clear, popular opinion was that she had slept her way out of waitressing. It sucked. And that, along with knowing she would deal with some very unpleasant guests, seriously made her re-think deciding to come to work today. Really, the only reason she hadn't been crying in the bathroom was because she doubted she had anything left after last night. She didn't know if she could be up-to-par for today... and that seriously worried her.

Kess quirked a smile. "I used to tend bar - interesting job, some of the time. Still, it's all dealing with people, isn't it? Still get the nice ones and the difficult ones and the ones that are just a real pain in the ass," she chuckled, smoothing powder over the other girl's face to set the cream. Definitely looking more presentable now, if a little pale.

Although considering how pale Evelyn was naturally, being a little paler wasn't going to make much difference. Kess's comment elicited another small smirk from her. She was all too able to relate to the sentiment. Despite being such an inner mess, Evelyn was honestly striving to will herself out from the mopey-ness -- at the very least for outward appearances. She may not have been as successful as she aimed for, but she could at least smile a little as she focused on maintaining pleasant conversation. And unlike the guests and some other staff, conversing with Kess actually was proving a bit pleasant despite the odd circumstance. "People will be people," she agreed. "Whether at a bar or at the Drake. At least at the front desk I've noticed they're generally more subtle about things -- the biggest faux pas is to make a scene of course," She murmured off-handedly, the smirk widening into a wry half-smile there. "Of course that also means less is said and of what little is said usually contradicts the real meaning behind it... and I'm still trying to figure out whether I prefer that; or the forthright, if shameless, drunkenness."

"As long as nobody decides to take their 'peopleness' behind the scenes and, rather than being rude to my face, try and get me fired," Kess said, rolling her eyes. She knew very well that, often, you didn't need to have done anything actually wrong for people to try and blame you for things, but at least when they bitched to your face, you got to defend yourself. Or, alternatively, toss them out on their ass. She was good with either, really.

Normally Evelyn was much better when it came to staring. But she wasn't in a remotely normal mood and momentarily slipped into an intent stare. Even if the encounter thus far had been pretty brief, Kess seemed sharp. It wasn't an observation usually made about her co-workers, and that fact that always made her feel a bit odd. Evelyn generally prided herself in her capabilities, but she didn't like the fact that she seemed to regard most of the staff -- nice or not -- as largely, well, not so adept. It was ridiculous to assume that everyone was idiotic, especially as often as she did so here. And finding that she did so, and so often, spoke of some inflated ego to her. And Evelyn wasn't too impressed with that in others, and was even more bothered with it in herself. So finding Kess to be sharp was a relief: maybe she wasn't morphing into some belittling bitch.

Realizing she kept her gaze too long, Evelyn blinked and mentally shook it off, finally managing a smirk-free smile. "Well I hope you don't get fired," she answered genuinely, "the Drake shouldn't be down one make-up artist." She paused for a moment, teeth resting slightly on her lower lip as she tried to gauge whether she should ask Kess her question. Evelyn didn't like being intrusive, and she had only just met Kess. But Evelyn was starting to like Kess, and was therefore curious. And this was also an unsual and oddly intimate way to meet someone; so maybe she wasn't being too intrusive? "So what brought you to the Drake?"

"If I was a make up artist, I'm be working in the theatre, not up here," Kess said, smoothly, finishing off the powder and standing back a little. She pointed to the mirror. "You can probably do the rest yourself - or you won't end up looking like you," she said. Everyone did make up differently, after all. But at least the bruising was covered now. Kess was pretty proud of the job, actually - though she was sorrowful of the things that led up to her being able to do that so well. She was only glad that it wasn't the same reason that had given the other woman those bruises - one abusive bastard in the world was enough. She knew there were others, she just didn't want to experience them. Even if it were second hand. "The bar to worked at before didn't need me any more, and I needed a job. Enquired here, they had an opening and - here I am," she summarised, knowing she was being light on the details because she didn't want to mention Babylon by name. She'd been strictly bar staff there, but it had been a brothel and people did so love to make assumptions, after all.

Evelyn leaned over a bit to inspect her reflection, lightly brushing some hair away from her face to focus on the bruise there. And, yeah, she had to agree: Kess had done pretty damn well. "You did an amazing job," Evelyn murmured, pulling away from the mirror to fix another warmer smile at Kess. "Thanks, again." There was a slightly awkward pause, because it wasn't lost on Evelyn that covering a bruise like that wasn't as easy as it looked. It was a fact she wasn't aware of until she had her own bruising to cover up, and even then her work at it wasn't nearly a good a job as Kess's was -- Evelyn had been largely relying on just styling her hair in a manner that hid the worst of it. But she didn't comment on that because, unusual circumstances or not, that was definitely territory too personal to pry into right after meeting someone.

So, she moved onto another subject as she picked up a mascara tube and uncapped it. "You... before coming here, did you happen to hear of any other openings?" It was a simple enough question, one Evelyn should have been able to keep the hesitation out of, but -- like many other saving-face attempts today -- it had fallen short of that goal. She still wasn't sure what to do, exactly. The situation here, especially after her last job, had been good to her. But the way Jesse had looked at her... she'd look for a new job just to never see that expression on his face ever again. And if she could first mention that idea aloud here, maybe it'd make it more real, build her confidence in the idea so she could manage breaking the news to Sullivan. Normally the last person Evelyn would share such details with would be a fellow staff member. But she was certainly more comfortable with the idea of telling Kess than, say, Dolores. Although realizing she was betting on the discretion of a woman she still didn't know what a bit worrisome.

Kess shrugged and pulled a slight face, though she wondered at the question. She'd considered herself lucky to land this job - though she knew that possibly it came with strings attached. There were rumours about the Drake. About the people who ran it, though she'd not actually run into anything personally. She had yet to decide whether she believed in 'there's no smoke without fire'. Maybe, maybe not. She was being cautious, but not stand-offish. At the end of the day, last time she'd taken a job, it had been because the owner had turned down her offer of becoming a whore, knowing it was a last resort for her. She'd always be grateful to Eris Stockard for saving her from that final fall - though much good it did, being grateful to a woman who was six months or more dead. That's what trying to play between the families got you. Maybe it was better to be on one side or the other. Still, it didn't answer the question. "Sorry - I was out to take the first job I was offered. Bills to pay," she explained, not quite having the nerve to ask about the reasoning for the question.

A fact that Evelyn more than appreciated right now -- she really didn't want to go into her reasons -- namely, oh, how utterly disappointed and pissed off her brother was with her. Yeah. Maybe some emotional burdens lightened after sharing, but that had never really been a school of thought Evelyn had subscribed to. In her opinion, unleashing her burdens tended to just bring both people down -- and what was the point of that? "Oh well," she shrugged, moving onto the lipstick now that the mascara was done, "I'm just about done here, and then I'll head towards the front desk?" Her tone implied an offer for walking with Kess, remembering that she had only accidentally wandered into the bathroom.

Kess eyed her. "Why? Are you looking for something else?" she asked, figuring if that question was going to be asked, it should be asked here, rather than somewhere where possibly management could overhear them and question her loyalty. That never went down particularly well.

Evelyn gave herself a moment to finish her lipstick before answering. She didn't want to lie -- she had never enjoyed lying, even though she had done it so often these past couple months -- but after talking to (i.e. being yelled at by) Jesse yesterday she was more paranoid than ever about mentioning her family. And the whole truth? It involved family. "I only planned on working here temporarily," she replied, briefly smacking her lips together to even out the color, then drawing them into a small smile. "I mean, I didn't want to be a waitress forever. And a concierge? I guess it's better than waitressing, sure, but I just... I never really got excited about a future in hospitality, y'know?" And that was certainly the truth -- Evelyn had never planned on being at the Drake forever nor did a lifetime of taking care of guests make her warm and fuzzy inside.

"Well, I can definitely understand that," Kess agreed. Not that she'd ever had a really involved life plan or anything. But then so little in her life had gone the way she'd even loosely imagined it. "If it helps, I can give you an idea of who isn't hiring, but then again, if you'd be looking for something.... What do you want to do, anyhow? if you had a choice?" she asked, deciding to go with being inquisitive.

"Well, if I had a choice..." It was funny, how that was the second time fairly recently Evelyn had been asked that question. And, like last time, she wasn't sure if she was really prepared to give the answer. Not so much aloud, after pursuing it had been such a disappointment before. But, well, if they were playing the game of 'what if' and everything, "actually... something more along the lines of... engineering, I guess. Or, well, I like problem-solving, designing things," she shrugged a bit, very much aware of how very odd it was for a woman to profess such a thing, "making them better?" Up until now, she had been keeping her eyes focused onto her reflection as she pinned the last of her hair into place; but now she finally flicked it onto Kess to gauge her reaction.

Kess looked surprised, and more than a little impressed. "Wow yeah - I could see how working in a hotel would be a comedown from that," she admitted. It made her very aware of how little ambition for her own life she'd had. Of course, finding yourself pregnant unexpectedly at seventeen didn't help in that vein. And after that, there'd been Eugene. Really, things hadn't got much better from there. Arden had been the one bright spot in that, and now even she was gone.

Evelyn let out a light laugh, putting the cap back on her lipstick, although it was the kind of laugh born more from her disappointment in the matter than in actual joy. "Yeah, well... if I had a choice," she repeated, starting to collect the make-up into her purse. "But stuff like that usually involves a degree, so..." she gave a little shrug, obviously hinting that was such a thing that she didn't have. Although she didn't get into the painful fact that she had been accepted into top-notch schools, she just couldn't afford them. At all. For some reason, that always seemed harsher than the idea that she just couldn't get into the schools at all. Giving herself one last appraisal in the mirror, Evelyn turned around and faced Kess. "Well, ready to face the day?" she joked lightly, mouth half-quirked in a wry smile. Wryness and bemusement was an easier mindset to slip into than actual joy because, honestly, Evelyn didn't feel ready to face anything.

Now, lack of choice, Kess could understand. And degrees and college were equally understandably out of touch. Enough so that she didn't try and suggest that pursuing matters was any kind of a possibility. "Sure - let's face the ravaging hordes. Or, nicely turned out members of society..." she joked, her eyes sparkling. It was quite clear that as polite a face as she put on to people, she didn't hold the clientèle in any kind of awe or that much regard. People, were, as far as she was concerned, just people. Money just meant they could afford better clothes, that was all.

Evelyn let out a light laugh at that one. "Y'know," she started, moving towards the door, "you didn't hear this from me, but a friend of mine mentioned that -- if anyone gives you too much trouble -- they could always 'accidentally' get dirty towels sent up when they ask for clean ones. Or something." She smirked a little, before letting it fall into a more passive, innocent expression as she opened the door.

Kess looked at her, the door to the corridor half open, frozen for a moment and then she just burst out laughing. "Really? Oh god - that's priceless. So - do I need to know someone specific to talk to or something?" she asked.

Despite her lousy mood, it felt good to make somebody laugh like that, and for the moment Evelyn found it easier to keep up the joking, light-hearted tone, "Well," she answered a bit conspiratorially, almost grinning, "I could put in a good word with the concierge." i.e. herself.

"Really?" Kess asked with a joking grin, going with the tone of the conversation. "You know, that would be great. And I swear, wouldn't say a word to anyone," she mock-promised as they headed down the corridor.

"Good to hear then," Evelyn added with mock-solemnity, as if Kess had sworn some oath to some secret organization. And, just because it felt nice to have this moment of not feeling utterly crappy, Evelyn decided she might as well throw herself fully into the cheesy joking-ness of it with a Bogart-style, "Kess, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."