A Bar in Baltimore, Saturday Evening

[myownface]

If anybody were to ask Sparkle, he'd happily tell them that the last person he ever figured he'd be going for drinks with was Seivarden. Like. Ever. He'd also admit that he'd put more time than he had ever figured he would into picking a bar they could both probably enjoy, something with live blues music on Saturdays that still didn't get too rowdy. He had no idea what kind of music Seivarden liked if she even did, admittedly. Mostly he just wanted some sort of guaranteed background noise, in case whatever drunken conversation they had turned into something weird.

They lived on Fandom Island. That was always a pretty good possibility.

"Huh," he said as he stepped in and looked around for an empty table. "Cozy."

It was that sort of bar that always kind of felt like it was being lit by the streetlights outside, with the occasional neon sign or dim lamp doing the rest of the work, though the light on the singer at the stage was doing wonders to brighten it up the slightest bit, too.

"What do you think, Seivarden? How's this for tonight's drinking establishment?"

All the other places Sparkle knew were gay bars and dance clubs. So.

[OOC: For one!]

Comments

[1000yearstoolate]

Actually, Seivarden hadn't expected to ever go out for drinks with Sparkle either, but she had suggested it, and now she realized she was actually happy she had. Not that she expected to make friends with Sparkle, but drinking was usually better in company.

One thing about spending time with people in Fandom was that it was hard to find a way to address them in a way that, to her, wasn't rude or that meant they were close friends. There were no titles to use, so Seivarden had greeted Sparkle with his name and a small bow, and decided that would have to do.

"Yes, cozy." It was, actually. "Although I don't know what to expect here, of course."

And she wouldn't have noticed if it was a gay bar anyway.

"I think you made a good choice. What kind of drinks do you suggest?"

She wasn't really going to have an opinion before they had ordered drinks.

[myownface]

Oh, if they had gone to one of the gay bars that Sparkle sometimes visited, it would've been hard not to notice.

Sparkle cast a brief glance toward the bartender. They seemed friendly enough, but, as he suspected, they weren't wearing gloves.

"Anything that you can get brought to the table in a bottle," he settled on. "That way, you can pour it yourself."

The last thing he wanted was Seivarden being rude to the person who was making their drinks, after all.

[1000yearstoolate]

It might have given Seivarden a different impression of what bars here were usually like, granted.

"That sounds good," Seivarden said, glancing at Sparkle, guessing what that was about. Not that she minded at all. "Shall we sit down, then?"

She looked around for a table, one not too close to the stage.

[myownface]

Sparkle, meanwhile, took a moment to kind of make a sulky face about the distance from the stage, but didn't actually complain, following along behind. So long as they could hear the music, that was fine.



"So," he said, sidling into a seat once it looked like Seivarden had settled on a table, "have you been to the mainland much since coming to the island? Or is this a pretty new thing for you?"

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden didn't mind the music as much as having to watch the guitarist playing with bare hands. That would be distracting, and she also chose the seat with the back to the stage, so whatever view they had of it was all Sparkle's.

"No, this is the first time." That was probably a good thing. "Do you visit often?"

[myownface]

Sparkle rather liked the view. The guitarist was cute.

"Once a week, generally," he replied, nodding. "I've got classes in Baltimore on Wednesday nights, so I need to be in town for that. It's... okay, so far as cities go."

It was no Toronto.

[1000yearstoolate]

"Oh? What do you take classes in?"

So far this was going better than last weekend, but they hadn't got to the drinking yet.

"What should we order, by the way?"

[myownface]

"Costume design," Sparkle replied, reaching for the menu and looking at it thoughtfully. "Mostly for theatrical stuff, here on the mainland, but I figure it might be useful for the island, especially."

The fact that he really liked the theatre was a definite bonus, though.

"I'm probably just getting a beer," he added. "The bartender has some mixed drinks too, but I'm aiming to not have a hangover for my shift tomorrow. We'll see if I stick to that before the evening is through."

[1000yearstoolate]

"You plan to design clothes yourself?" Seivarden wasn't that interested, but she could do polite conversation.

"And I'll have a beer then too." Perhaps she could persuade Sparkle to move on to something stronger later?

"Do you mind ordering?"

[myownface]

"Not at all," Sparkle replied, flagging the bartender down and ordering two bottles of beer from the drink menu that sounded good. When that was through, he glanced back at Seivarden. "Designing clothes is part of it," he added. "There are other things to consider, too. People coming from different realities and eras, always just asking for clothes like what they're wearing? I want to be able to get that right."

[1000yearstoolate]

"You take that seriously," Seivarden noted, reaching for the beer. "You haven't been to this particular place before though?"

Best steer the topic away from Sparkle's clothing business.

[myownface]

"Nah," Sparkle replied, shrugging and reaching for his own beer. "It came highly recommended by a few of my classmates. They usually head out here after class on Wednesday nights."

He shrugged.

"Seemed worth giving it a try, anyway."

[1000yearstoolate]

The beer wasn't too bad. Seivarden put the bottle down and began to spin it between her fingers. She cleared her throat, realizing that there was something she hadn't thought about when suggesting this.

She had no idea what to talk about. At least not until Sparkle was drunk enough that she could bring up the subject of drugs without it being too obvious.

She drank from the bottle again.

"So... apart from running the shop, what do you enjoy doing?"

[myownface]

Small talk, huh? Sparkle tilted his head at Seivarden, gauging just how close to the truth he wanted to go.

"Oh, you know, the usual Fandom stuff," he said easily. "What is it this week? Obnoxious festive cheer? A bear handed me a Coke today, that was fun."

[1000yearstoolate]

So, deliberately vague. Seivarden didn't blame Sparkle. "Yes, I've heard there's a holiday coming up," she said. "Annoying."

She paused again.

"So where are you from? Do you plan on staying in Fandom?"

[myownface]

"Canada," Sparkle replied, shrugging his shoulders. "It's the country north of America, the one Fandom is in."

It was also huge, so it wasn't like saying he was from there really gave much away.

"And... hell, I don't know. I go from wanting to stay on the island forever to wanting to leave and never look back at least three times a week. Depends on how the wind is blowing. The island isn't all bad, until it is, and then it's horrible. That's the worst thing about it."

[1000yearstoolate]

And it wasn't like Seivarden was going to look it up on a map anyway.

"I... suppose." She fell silent and drank from her bottle again.

[myownface]

Sparkle sighed and took a drink from his own bottle.

"How about you? Settling in okay?"

[1000yearstoolate]

"Yes," Seivarden said. "I'd still leave if I could, but it's... less..." she tried to find the right word that wasn't going to make this turn worse. "... frustrating. I'm not used to living in any kind of small town on a planet, though. Not since summers when I was a child, at least."

At least that was more than one sentence.

[myownface]

It was! Sparkle was almost proud of your ability to do basic socialization, Seivarden!

Almost!

"There's a lot to adjust to," he replied, nodding. "And a pretty big learning curve, I'm guessing, even beyond the whole 'small town' thing."

[1000yearstoolate]

But you weren't sharing much, Sparkle! That made it harder.

"Oh, I'll manage," she said, drinking from the flask again. "Although I have to say I'm getting a bit fed up with the food. Well, apart from all the other... things. Perhaps I've missed something interesting though. Do you have any favourite places?"

[myownface]

Sparkle was sharing plenty! In that he'd decided to attempt a conversation without lying outright, but there wasn't much he wanted to talk about that Seivarden would find terribly interesting, besides.

"Plenty," he said, pausing for a moment to think. "What sort of food do you like? Spicy? Meaty? You could pretty much just walk around the island and try each restuarant once, just to see what it's about." He paused, and then added, "It's harder to get fed up about the food if you're cooking for yourself, though. Then you can have pretty much anything you like."

He didn't get fed up with the food often, himself.

[1000yearstoolate]

"I... don't cook," Seivarden said, confused rather than insulted at the suggestion. "And people eat a lot with their hands."

"Well, I tried those things where you pour water over dried noodles, but they tasted horrible."

"There is very little nice fish, actually."

Finally a topic that she could say something about.

[myownface]

"Little fish?" Sparkle paused for a moment. "Like, sardines or something?"

He paused for a moment more before adding, "You don't cook? Why is that?"

Now he was curious about her confusion.

[1000yearstoolate]

"Sardines?"

Sparkle's other question was more unexpected though. No one among the Radchaai would ask someone with Seivarden's accent and manner a question like that.

"Because I've never had to." She made a gesture emphasizing how obvious this was.