By the time Beatrix is on her second drink, Tedros knows basically everything about everyone in the club.
After the show, he and the rest of the flappers had changed and headed out to the bar for a drink as the club wound down for the night, leaving a much quieter, less rowdy bar for them to sit in.
"Sometimes we go out still in costume, but I figured you'd not wanna do that tonight." Kiko had said to him as they'd traipsed out of Beatrix's dressing room.
"That's Captain Manders." Beatrix is saying from over the top of her glass. "He's a total sap, but apparently he could singlehandedly keep us in business, the amount he drinks. He's here almost every night..."
Kiko peers at the man with interest.
"He buys the pricey stuff, right?"
"Yeah." Beatrix grins. "Real considerate of him."
Tedros isn't actually drinking anything- mostly, he's just listening to the three girls gossiping, and trying to ignore the constant thrum of anxiety in his chest, that he's had since the very second Nicola turned to him earlier on. He's not been able to get rid of it since, and-
He realises the other three are staring at him and starts, but luckily, they're not waiting for a response, just scrutinising.
"-they've got a fella at Bartleby's, and he's nice enough, but apparently he's a flour-lover and dances like he's bent." Says Reena thoughtfully. "Teddy is good at make-up though, and you're probably a better dancer, aren't you?"
Tedros makes a vague noise of agreement, knowing that she's not really wanting an answer. He's right- Reena looks satisfied and gets a refill on her drink.
Beatrix raises her eyebrows.
"I guess the boss doesn't care too much for Bartleby's, huh? Who's running it now?"
"Radley." Replies Kiko promptly. "He's not actually any good at gettin' or organisin' any performers, mind, but he sells the drink well enough, and people will go just for that, right?"
The girls make noises of agreement. Beatrix catches Tedros's confused expression and her eyes widen.
"Ohhh, you don't know about the boss?"
"...I've been here for less than a week." Tedros reminds them. He hardly knows anyone, apart from Sophie, Chaddick, the other flappers, and Silkima in the kitchen, who'd aggressively declared that he was too skinny and piled him with food.
"She hasn't been in town, I suppose, you won't have met her yet..." muses Reena. "Well, we actually don't know a lot about her either, gotta say. She's Sophie's sister, though they don't look anything alike, so I'm not sure they're actually related by blood, but, whatever. She owns this club, Gavaldon, Bartley's, and Graves, plus another few I don't remember... but we don't see her too often, she's pretty elusive. When we do, though, we really gotta make sure everything's runnin' right."
"What if it's not?" asks Tedros. Beatrix grins.
"Never happened yet, baby. Say what you want 'bout Sophie- and I do, regularly- but she knows how to run a show. Or maybe she just knows how to impress her sister, because I don't think you can actually run a show effectively, and also be such a shit singer."
Tedros blinks at her. Beatrix nods, grinning.
"Oh, yeah, one time she got bent at Christmas and got up on one of the tables-"
"And now, I'm scarred for life." Interrupts Reena, apparently not wanting to relieve that particular event. Kiko, who has been looking around anxiously this whole time, apparently in case the not-currently-present Sophie came swooping down upon them to enact vengeance, now leaps in to change the subject;
"I'm not sure I even know the boss's name, y'know."
Beatrix sighs at her changing of the subject but accepts it anyway.
"Well, you won't. I was here before all of you, and I've only met her three, maybe four times. Chatted to her even fewer."
Kiko's eyes widen. Even Reena looks surprised. Tedros doesn't really know what there is to be surprised about, but clearly, he's about to find out.
"You've talked to her? You never told me that! What'd you talk about?"
"Never needed to." Mutters Beatrix. "And like I'd tell you. It was nothin' much, anyway. And she keeps so much herself, and shows up rarely, so, obviously, there's t thirty billion different rumours 'bout her. Not that anyone knows anything for sure, but there's definitely somethin' funny about her. Everyone knows to keep their heads down when she's around. She disappears all the time, goes out of town. " Beatrix pauses contemplatively. "But she's back in the city now, anyhow."
"How'd you know that?" demands Reena. Beatrix jerks her head to her left.
"'cause the Coven are back."
Tedros follows her gaze to a group of three black-suited women sat further down the bar, with their heads together, muttering to the bartender.
"Who are they?"
"They follow the boss 'round." Murmurs Beatrix, watching them out of the corner of her eye. "Basically her lackeys, for want of a better word. Some say that they do her dirty work for her. The one with all the tattoos is Hester, she's the boss's right hand man. The pale one is Anadil, she and the short one, Dot, gather loads of information, and Anadil is decent pickpocket, as well-"
"Uh, Bea? They're coming over here..." peeps Reena. Beatrix, however, looks unbothered.
"No worries, I know 'em well enough." She says airily, and turns to meet them. "Hi, Hes. Where've you three been?"
Hester has slid from her stool and come sauntering over, eyeing the four of them in a very guarded manner, the other two flanking her silently. Kiko looks as if she'd like to disappear, and Tedros has to admit that he feels similar. There's something in Hester's black gaze that makes his skin prickle, and gives him the uncomfortable feeling that he's done something wrong. Not that he has.
(He has?)
("Where're you from, Meredith?")
Tedros desperately shoves the thought away, and struggles to refocus on the conversation-
Just as Reena points at him. Tedros feels vaguely sick as the attention of the group turns to him.
"This is our new fella, Tedros, Tedros Meredith- and, well, we don't really know much about him, but that's alright. He's real good, ain't you, Teddy?"
Tedros has a momentary fantasy of barricading himself in his dressing room for a solid twenty-four hours, but instead, he forces a (fake) smile, and physically drags his head up in order to get himself to look into those black, cold eyes, shadowed under the brim of her hat, which she hasn't bothered to take off.
"Don't know much, huh?" she muses. Tedros tries for a grin, that feels so fake, even as he does it, that he drops it seconds later.
"Private person, y'know?"
She lifts her eyebrows a little but otherwise doesn't respond. She's probably about his height, and her tattoos peek out of her cuffs and her collar- most notably, a scarlet, buck-horned demon crests the starched white of her collar, a contrast to her immaculate appearance. Heavy rings adorn her hands, several earrings and piercings glint on her face and her ears, and even as Tedros takes in her appearance, Hester stares steadily back at him-
And the second her eyes meet his, properly, something glimmers in her eyes that's almost... almost recognition?Something so dark and harsh that it almost makes Tedros physically recoil, slithering behind her gaze, and her jaw twitches-
And then it's gone and any other time, any other place, Tedros would have thought he'd imagined it, but for some reason, he can't shake the dreadful, creeping feeling that she knows him, knows who he is and hates him for it, even though he's certain that he's never seen Hester before in his life.
("See, I ain't ever seen you around before, an' you talk like a rich kid.")
"You a new performer, then?" asks Anadil from behind Hester, propping her elbow on the other woman's shoulder, and Tedros has never been so relieved to turn to talk to her, even though meeting her emotionless gaze and staring into those red, unnatural eyes is hardly better than looking at Hester. But he can still feel Hester's gaze burning into him, and later, he won't remember how he replied at all, only that he answered Anadil's questions robotically and smiled mechanically, his skin crawling the whole time.
So when he turns to answer Dot's question ("How do you get your eyeliner to do what you want? Mine goes everywhere-"), to say that he's somewhat surprised would be an understatement. She's short and chubby, with a round, almost sweet, face which looks utterly out of place next to Hester and Anadil, who are both sharp-faced and grim-eyed. She's surprisingly friendly, too.
It doesn't serve to make him feel much better, though, not with Hester breathing down his neck, and for the rest of the conversation, he sits there silently, avoiding her gaze and trying to pay more attention to the other flappers. The heavy thrum of anxiety has swollen, squeezing his throat. How could she have known?
She can't have. There's no way that Hester could have found out.
Is there?
("I ain't never heard of any Meredith family before.")
Feeling ill, he stands and excuses himself, and makes for the dressing rooms.
He knows that Hester's eyes follow him all the way, though.
---
"Who've you hired?"
Sophie jumps about a foot as Hester comes stalking into the office, eyes ablaze, Anadil and Dot trotting behind. Both look similarly mutinous.
"What?" Sophie splutters, bewildered. Not even a hello, even though they haven't seen one another for weeks, maybe months? Then again, Hester never was big on manners-
"That kid! The new one! What the hell are you playing at?"
"Tedros? Why, what's wrong with him?" the apprehension Sophie had dismissed earlier comes flooding back. She finds herself suddenly wishing she hadn't dismissed it quite so quickly. "His surname is Meredith, I didn't think he was connected to anyone, was I wrong-?"
"That's what he told you, huh?" Hester interrupts, seething. "Meredith? Oh, no, I knew the second I saw him. That's not his surname. I dunno how you didn't notice-"
"Who- who is he?" stammers Sophie, unused to seeing Hester this furious. "I don't-"
"So he just turned up out of nowhere when the boss was out of town, has no qualms about the job, and tells you basically nothing about his family, where he's from, or anything?"
"Well, yes, but-"
"You've looked him in the eye?" asks Dot, and even she looks shaken, which is rare beyond belief. Sophie has a very bad feeling about this.
"Of course-" she begins but Anadil cuts her off.
"Then you don't realise whose they're the same as?" rasps Anadil.
"No, I-" Sophie thinks about that clear, intense blue, trying to work out if she's ever seen it before. It was a fairly rare colour, and she-
Sophie goes cold.
"No. It's just an eye-colour, it's not..."
But Tedros's reluctance to answer any questions about his background, and the resemblance, make it a weak argument. Hester must see it on her face.
"What's he said?" she demands. "Reena says that they don't know much 'bout him."
"He... Nicola asked him where he was from, he didn't answer properly, I just thought maybe he..."
She stops, horrified.
"Chaddick defended him. Chaddick stopped Nicola from interrogating him."
Hester's eyes darken, and her hand drifts to her jacket pocket, eyes flitting to the floor below, where the speakeasy is hidden. Sophie knows full well what's stored in that pocket.
Dot and Anadil exchange meaningful glances.
"Always thought there was something funny 'bout that guy." Said Hester coldly.
"Stop lettin' him hang around with you." Dot urges Sophie. "Until we know whether he can be trusted or not-"
Behind them, the door opens, and Sophie really isn't sure she could have felt worse if she'd tried.
This was definitely not how she'd wanted to see her sister again.
"Boss." Says Hester, turning towards the woman in her dark coat and hat, silhouetted in the doorway. "We got a problem."