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]

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.

[myownface]

"Somehow, I'm not surprised." Sparkle shook his head a little. "You know, nobody who isn't from where you're from has any way to know that, right? I mean... You can just tell me without gesturing around as if I'm stupid."

[1000yearstoolate]

Here we go again.

"The question surprised me, that's all," Seivarden said, making an effort not to turn this into an argument.

"My family had servants, and I've spent most of my live serving as an officer on a ship. I haven't had much opportunity."

She took another drink from her bottle.

[myownface]

Sparkle just raised an eyebrow, but let it slide.

"Well, it's a good skill to have," he noted. "Especially in a small town like Fandom."

And sort of just in general.

[1000yearstoolate]

"I... see your point."

And she had noticed Hannibal Lecter cooked his own food, which was also delicious. It had surprised her at first that he did, considering that he was obviously wealthy.

"You cook then, I take it?"

[myownface]

"Sure do," Sparkle confirmed, shrugging. "Heck, that was pretty much my rent for the first little while when I moved here."

[1000yearstoolate]

Paying that kind of rent wouldn't work for Seivarden, for more reasons than her cooking skills.

"It's a good thing to know for several reasons, then," she said, amused, then added: "Do you want me to get you another one of those?"

She gestured at the beer. She wasn't going to let Sparkle pay for all the drinks, after all.

[myownface]

"Hey, sure, thanks," Sparkle replied with a little grin. "You have any interest in learning to cook, then?"

Not that he was necessarily volunteering, but it was something to talk about.

[1000yearstoolate]

"I suppose I should," Seivarden said. "Since I'm stuck on the island."

Which wasn't the same as being interested.

She left to get the beers and returned a short while later with two bottles each for them.

"Perhaps I should ask you to teach me," she said lightly as she sat down again, not quite sure if she was being serious.

[myownface]

"I mean, I could," Sparkle noted, blinking at her as she sat. "It isn't like I have so much to do with myself that I can't manage a few cooking lessons, you know?"

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden could hardly turn him down now, and really, she didn't want to. She knew some knowledge of cooking would be necessary eventually, and there were worse things than awkward conversation with Sparkle.

"That is very kind of you," she said. "I have figured out how to boil water but not much else." She added with a laugh: "I'm thinking about finding somewhere else to stay, so maybe I should try to make it pay the rent too."

Seivarden knew that wasn't going to happen.

[myownface]

"Well, the first step there is to move in with somebody that you've been friends with for years," Sparkle noted, grinning. "But hey, even if you can't pay rent with food, it's still good to know, right? If there's an afternoon sometime that works for you, let me know."

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden looked at Sparkle: "I haven't been friends with anyone for... oh, you meant to pay rent by cooking."

The thought that Sparkle would be the perfect person to share an apartment with did strike her, although she then reminded herself that they were only recently on speaking terms.

"Then I'm sure we can find a time that suits us both. I'm not terribly busy."

She reached for one of the new bottles. The getting drunk part wasn't going very well.

"Is there anything stronger than beer or the mixed drinks?"

[myownface]

"Sure," Sparkle replied, reaching for the drink list. "They've got stuff like whiskey, if that's your sort of thing. All that good stuff that burns going down, you know?"

[1000yearstoolate]

"I haven't heard of it, but it sounds good. Should we order a bottle of that?"

Seivarden knew Sparkle had said he didn't want a hangover, but why go out drinking if you didn't? She should at least try to persuade him. Hopefully Sparkle when drunk wasn't going to start a fight and leave here here. She wasn't sure how to get home even when sober.