West took a long drag off his cigarette before the woman seemed to lock eyes onto him. From the look on her face and her disheveled appearance, he thought she must have been lost and having an awfully rough night, similar to him but probably without the potential murder involved. She spoke in a soft, sweet voice that carried a polite tone; it was no surprise that her first words were an apology just for bothering him. His face softened ever so slightly, and this effect only increased when her hand came into contact with his. But when her words made their way past her beautiful appearance, he tensed up again.<br/><br/>She was looking for the Elf Shelf, and worse yet, she somehow knew that<i>he</i>knew about the magical beings here. West did his best not to come off as rude, but he did grow somewhat closed off. He put out his spent butt and tossed it in a conveniently placed ash tray before inhaling a deep breath of the fresh night air. By now she'd spooked, it seemed and turned to walk off, but he caught her hand, "Wait."<br/><br/>Realizing that she might have just shied from touch for some magical reason, he dropped his hand and sighed, looking either way. "I work there, and let me tell you now, you'd better turn around and walk back in the opposite direction." If the wrong people heard him saying this, he was sure he'd regret it. But this girl looked so innocent and sweet… she didn't deserve to get stuck in the same hellhole he was in now. "Let's just say I'm pretty sure another job will be opening up over there after today…."<br/><br/>Damn it all. He had no clue for certain what was going on. By now the mere sight of the blood was so hazy he could hardly tell it from a dream. It frustrated him to wonder if there were other things he'd seen that he just… forgot. It was the magic, and it seemed a lot more powerful at the bar. But he shook these thoughts away as he tried to focus on this girl. Maybe he could save this one girl from making a mistake that everyone else who walked into that bar seemed to make. "Just… don't do it, alright? No amount of money is worth going there. I'd quit if I didn't think it would make someone suspicious of me. I know the job market here is rough, but seriously."<br/><br/>He shook his head and held out his hand in offering to shake, "I'm West."