Her steps had carried her towards the swinging door that separated the back of the house from the front, but Sebastienne froze in its threshold, holding the door ajar with one hand as the other lifted to tuck her pale blonde hair behind her ear.  The air she breathed suddenly felt thinner in her lungs, harder to catch on her inhale, almost like the oxygen was being vacuumed from the establishment by a force much stronger than anything else occupying it.  Her direction shifted, feet pivoting as she gently released the door back to its position and her vibrant blue stare transitioned to drift over the crowd of guests.  She scanned the familiar faces until her sights landed on a man she did not recognize and by the looks of him, he appeared utterly lost.  Time hung still as she caught the enchanting shimmer of his eyes, but it was what came next that the angel had not been prepared for.<br/><br/>Fortress of protection.<br/>Tie their arms.<br/>Cover their eyes.<br/>Hold their tongues.<br/>For all the pain and suffering<br/>I ask Thee<br/>Place upon them the curse of three.<br/><br/>They were but whispers, but so clear that they could have been mistaken for her own thoughts had Sebastienne not known better.  Her lips parted in a subtle expression of shock as she had to fight against the collapse of her buckling knees.  The sound of broken prayers in her ears was a sense that had long since faded over the years she had spent tethered to earth, and as her sights fixated on the well dresses stranger, her heart thumped so heavily in her chest, she thought for certain it could be seen.<br/><br/>How long Sebastienne stood motionless she wasn't quite sure, but it would be the cook exiting the kitchen and the door colliding with her backside that ripped her from her statuesque pause.  "Shit, sorry, doll.  Didn't see ya standin' there," Kurtis apologized after realizing he had knocked into the pretty blonde.  "But what you doin'?  You know better than to post up here."<br/><br/>He was only teasing her, but Sebastienne graced him with only a half believable smile.  "I know...my bad," she replied, combing her fingers through her mane to push the locks away from her face as she glanced towards the ground before stealing another glance over her shoulder at the dark stranger.  She lingered, studying him, as the low murmur of devotion and pleading hummed softly above the crowd in her ears, jumbled and fragmented in their requests but now a quiet constant.  She wanted to cry, both in joy and in anguish, a serge of conflicting emotions running rampant inside of her that she did not do well in hiding as her gaze narrowed softly but glistened with a hope so pure it was begging.<br/><br/>Had it been him?<br/><br/>"You alright?"  Kurtis brought his large hand to rest at the cusp of her shoulder, and again Sebastienne had to shake herself back into focus.<br/><br/>"Yeah, fine, just feeling a little hair brained I guess."  Shaking her head softly, she turned to offer a gentle smile and gave the man's hand an endearing pat.  "Don't mind me," the angel dismissed herself and her mindless behavior in the same calming breath, and forgetting the mission she had set out for, Sebastienne paced away from Kurtis and the kitchen, her intention now bound for the dark haired stranger as she approached him.<br/><br/>The bar stretched between them, Sebastienne on its business end, the newcomer perched on a stool opposite her.  There was a good three feet between him any anyone else, but that didn't keep the eyes of inspection from honing in on his back.  Not only did the man stick out painfully thanks to his attire, but the fact he was unrecognizable made him untrusted, a sentiment which Sebastienne could respect, but as long as she was there, no one would bother their new friend, despite his oddities.  Standing in front of the long haired arrival, Sebastienne pressed a friendly greetng into her cheek and cocked her head softly to one side.  "What can I get you?" She asked, her sights traveling then to register the holes in the fine material that clothed him.<br/><br/>Sebastienne was sure not to stare, and her bright blue eyes lifted to meet his face again, but the angel was all too aware of what she had seen.  There were some things one didn't forget; certain sights, certain smells, certain sounds.  The remnants of bullets was one of those things.  She'd ask no prying questions however, nor would she give the details more than the glance she had already given as she went on.  "Just a heads up though, you won't find anything fancy in these parts," she warned him lightheartedly.  "But Jim, Jack, and Johnny usually make for pretty good company I have found."