GP/EP: Check-In Day: Turning Tricks into Treats

[st_alksthroughwalls]

Instead of the remains of a raucous night of dedicated drinking, the chairs were up on the tables, the counter was cleaned, the floor had been vacuumed and mopped as appropriate. Kitty had had plenty of time to straighten up at close yesterday, since almost everyone seemed more interested in drinking in Bonesville. For her part, she'd had enough after her and Wyatt's little adventure in Funland. At least, she'd had enough for the few days it would take her to heal.

On the upside, that made opening up this morning easy and fast. On the downside, it meant she had an entire day with not much to distract her from wondering when Barrel of Fun would lock down access to the outside and why it couldn't open onto a world with higher tech. She had managed to scavenge some computer circuitry and cell phones, but she hadn't worked out how they'd solve her current tech problem yet.

If Dot were still here, she'd be baking for Halloween. Even if they'd had to explain Halloween to her, she'd be making cookies and candy and cakes, and probably sewing costumes, too. Those thoughts summoned a wistful sigh from Kitty while she took down the chairs. She was still sighing when she finished refreshing her stock of cut up fruit.

By mid-afternoon, she'd put away a pot and a half of coffee, she was practically vibrating, and a buzz-by from Caroline prompted an amazing idea. Why not spend the afternoon testing Halloween and Thanksgiving cocktails, to help turn the arrival trick of Check-In Day on the 1st into, well, a little bit of a treat? So it was that the new arrivals, two days earlier than expected, found the bar counter covered with spooky and kooky and dry-ice steamy drinks and Kitty literally spinning between her coffee cup and the next bright green, weirdly black, or pumpkin orange drink.

[ooc: find Kitty making any of these or drinking yet another cup of coffee, she's OTA]

Comments

Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

Jackson still wasn't sure he wasn't riding out the greatest hallucinogen known to man, but everything seemed real. Felt real. All too real. He'd gone on more than his fair share of drug-induced trips, and they'd never felt anything like this. Nor had any of his dreams. His thumb idly stroked the ring on his finger, and he pushed into the one place in this strange establishment that might offer him some solace: the bar.

"Please tell me you got bourbon here," he stated out as he grabbed a stool at the counter. Truth was, he'd take any kind of alcohol, but if he was going to be stuck here, bourbon would be very welcome.

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"We've got bourbon here." Kitty offered the other newcomer a friendly smile while she looked him over. Not from this century, she decided, and probably not from last. He spoke English, though, so Earth or an Earth-equivalent. Possibly from the Western states, but his accent didn't sound quite right for it, still it suggested--

"You seem like a man who wants his drinks straight up. But I've got a couple of bourbon cocktails I've been working on for Halloween, if you want to taste test them for me."

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

Jackson regarded the pretty lady behind the counter curiously. "You make special cocktails for Halloween?" That wasn't anything he'd ever heard of. "Well, darlin', I'll try anything once," he confirmed, tipping his hat at her in thanks for the offer.

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"I was bored," Kitty confessed but smiled brightly when he said he'd try some of the cocktails.

"I'm Kitty." She plucked up a Bellini glass with an orange concoction topped with a fresh sage leaf. "And this is something I'm calling Turkey and Sage. It's made with Wild Turkey, high proof."

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

"Nice to meet you, Kitty," he told her with a nod. "'m Jackson." He looked at the drink curiously when she set it in front of him. "I'd ask what's in it but bourbon and sage," he figured Wild Turkey was the name of the bourbon, "but I like to live dangerously. Here's to you, darlin'." He raised the glass at her, then took a fearless drink, and looked back at the glass curiously. "Feels like it's half liquor and half sustenance."

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"That's the lemon, pumpkin butter, and bitters, Jackson." She repeated his name mostly because it would help her remember it. Not that she was likely to forget, but good bartenders made a point of the little things.

"Try this," she suggested and pushed a rocks glass with a less creamy but still orange drink in front of him. It had cinnamon as a swizzle stick. "I'm thinking of calling it Vampire Blues." Only after she pushed the drink into his hand did she ask, "Did someone give you the bad news yet, or is it up to me?"

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

Jackson took a sip first, finding the drink to be more of the same, only less thick, less creamy than the first one. "Someone already gave me news insane enough I'm feelin' increasingly certain nothing but straight drinks will do the trick. No offense to your concoctions."

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_alksthroughwalls]

"None taken. This place has a way of stripping things down to basics." She collected the remains of the two samples with practiced ease, swiped the counter with a damp rag, and set a clean glass down in front of him. "Neat or on the rocks?"

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

"Neat, please," Jackson answered without missing a beat. Ice was luxury, and one he'd never gotten used to. He took off his hat and set it on the bar beside the glass, watching the girl pour the drink and then raising it at her before knocking it back. It was that kind of day.

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_ubby]

It wasn't a surprise when newcomers settled in the bar after getting the bad news they were stuck here for the foreseeable, and after meeting Bo, Vex noticed a second unfamiliar face justifiably working his way through a bottle. She caught Kitty at the other end of the bar first, and when she slipped onto the stool next to the new man's, she was sipping on something Kitty called Rich's Brew - a sweet, and yes rich, sparkling wine poured over ice and orange slices the color of rubies.

"I see you're a man who knows how to deal with the unexpected." Mostly she meant the drink, but she hadn't missed the gun in its holster either.

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

"I'm a man on his way to drinking himself stupid, if that's what you mean," Jackson confirmed in his own way, the slight slur to his words proving the truth of them. He didn't know if the woman was here to work him over, but then again, he couldn't tell much about this entire situation.

What would Susan make of all of this? She would be raising hell, demanding transport out of here this instant, he was certain.

He took another drink of bourbon.

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_ubby]

Vex hadn't let herself get stupid drunk her first night here, but she usually didn't in public. She'd been tempted, though. "When I got here, I had to basically drag the boys to the bar so I could get very necessary drinks. To be fair, I believe my brother was still nursing a hangover from the stupid drunk of our birthday a few days before. But really, drinking until things make sense or you don't care that they don't is the only way to cope with showing up here."

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

Probably not a prostitute, then, Jackson decided as she told him all of that about her boys and her brother and what on earth were those ears? His eyebrows raised halfway up his forehead, or so it felt, as he did a double-take after glancing at her. "What are you?"

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_ubby]

The looks and sneers and taunts of othlir were an old hurt, one Vex had learned to keep behind a mask, and when she laughed it was light and easy as the bubbles in her drink. "I take it there aren't any half-elves in your world?

"Unless you meant the far less rude who are you?, in which case, the answer's delightfully formal and official, but most people simply call me Vex."

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

"No, no, I meant the rude version," Jackson confirmed, peering at her ears curiously. He forced his (somewhat less hazy than a moment ago) gaze onto her face. "Vex. Jackson, if we're going for the informal choice. Elves?"

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_ubby]

"Elves," Vex echoed. "Pointy-eared fuckers who live so long the pompous stick works its way so far up their arsehole most of them will never get it out." What? It was true. Maybe she was working to trying to forgive their father, but elves in general were dicks.

"Our mother was human, so I don't have that problem," she added with a wink. "And my ears aren't as pointy."

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

He liked the mouth on her, that was certain. Jackson couldn't help the small smile twitching up his moustache as she told him about Elves. Although her last words made him look back at her ears in surprise. "They can get pointier?"

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_oriedqueen]

When Regina caught word of newcomers arriving early, among them an attractive dark-haired woman who seemed to know Dyson, she frowned at herself in the window glass of the office, gestured with her hand, and when the smoke cleared, she wore a little black dress, black suede boots, and a burgundy blazer. Much better. Another gesture refreshed her eye make-up and her lipstick, and she gave herself an approving smile in the glass.

Much better.

Now, she found herself another reason to be in the bar--the other newcomer, and settled herself to keep an eye on things without a repeat of the day he'd arrived and she'd thrown him away from Snow.

"For a prison, it has a surprisingly well-stocked bar," she replied, as she took the seat next to him and offered him a sloe-eyed smile of welcome. "Regina Mills."

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

Jackson's mind was already wonderfully altered, courtesy of the half empty bottle of bourbon beside him, but not altered to the point he didn't realize it was a lady sitting next to him. Proper, high-class lady, even if a prostitute wouldn't have been caught wearing that dress in most public settings. He had nothing against it himself, although in his state, it did mean his gaze lingered on her legs for a beat before he drew them up to her face. "Ma'am," he greeted her with a nod, since his hat was on the counter, beside the bottle. "Captain Homer Jackson. I s'pose that makes me the most recent inmate."

That talk, at least, made the blunt, honest sort of sense, unlike the way everybody else had been putting it. If he really was stuck here - which remained to be seen - then this place was a prison, no matter how pink it was.

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_oriedqueen]

"Regina's fine." She hardly minded the acknowledgment of something like rank or station, but if he was going to appreciate her legs, which she also didn't mind, she'd rather he did so without social status getting in the way. "After all, I'm as much an inmate as you."

She met Kitty's uplifted eyebrow with a nod, and Kitty brought her a glass of single malt. Regina acknowledged it with a thank you, and returned her attention to Captain Homer Jackson. "Have you been to your cell yet?"

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

"Nope," Jackson replied definitely. "I plan on gettin' drunk right here tonight, and bein' gone tomorrow." There was no use going to the room that had supposedly been set aside for him.

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_oriedqueen]

"Yes, I'm sure you do." If he had the skills to get them out, she'd be appropriately grateful to the tune of whatever he desired that she could provide. But he wouldn't, because there were no such skills. They left when they Inn let them leave and not before.

"You'll want to start your quest in Room 144. It's open to a town in coastal New England right now. The last time that happened, Dyson--" With a tight, pained smile, she gestured to the wolf where he still spoke to the stunning brunette. "Ran as far as he could, and when the door sealed itself, again he ended up about an hour out into the scrub without his pants."

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

"Sounds like a rowdy night," Jackson remarked, after looking over at the man she'd indicated. "Now, Regina." Latin for queen, and he couldn't say it didn't fit her. "Are you sayin' we're in New England? 'Cause I was told California not so long ago." And none of what she was saying made sense.

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_oriedqueen]

"The Madonna Inn, this place, is in San Luis Obispo, California," she explained, more patiently than she felt, but it was a reasonable question and he was being polite. "You can read about its history in the in-room guides or one of the brochures from the front desk."

She paused, sipped her single malt, and then continued, "The land around the inn for four hours in any direction, no matter your means of conveyance, looks like California scrub desert." Or so she'd been informed. Since she'd never been to California, she couldn't say for certain. But admitting that was hardly her style and not relevant even if it were.

"But every so often, this is twice since I arrived, one of the rooms turns into a portal to somewhere else. Last time it was a medieval Asian city with dinosaurs. This time, it's coastal New England."

Re: Jackson - OTA

[st_illfleshandblood]

"I ain't drunk enough for this," Jackson stated after a beat. He wasn't sure there was enough alcohol in the world for this story to make sense. There certainly wasn't in the bar.