no cover charge, come as you are...

[swedge]

CHARACTERS: Jo Harvelle & YOU
LOCATION: Space Babylon
WARNINGS: Drunken Shenanigans
SUMMARY: No special occasion here, just an open post for anybody that frequents the space bar. mix and mingle, friends. put up open threads for your characters, or talk to Wichita Jo, or. whatever. anything goes!



[ when she'd texted Wichita about asking for her job back, the last thing she'd expected was to be told to take it over for a little while. But this was Wichita, and Jo trusted her privacy enough not to ask questions. the bar will be here when you get back and that was that. So for those who frequent the bar looking for Wichita, you won't find her. Instead, you'll find this blonde here who you've probably seen walking around - she's the only other bartender at this joint, after all.

And now she's running it. Which isn't as difficult as some might thing - sure, she's used to running this place with at least one other person (even back home, at least she had her mom), but Jo's had a lot on her mind and keeping busy helps her keep her head clear. She's bustling around the room, most likely, humming along to whatever vaguely eighties mix she's been able to put together. It's either that or she's behind the bar, mixing drinks and chatting it up like all good bartenders do. Or try to do. ]

Comments

[vampirates]

[ Could be he just hails from places so backwater that diners turn into watering holes after the kitchen closes, and all they do is just dim the lights and break out tumblers for beer and hard liquor. Wine glasses are rare and only for those with a date in a small town that lacks anything classier. Just the kind of place where one can remain anonymous for a time, no questions asked.

Benny leans forward in his seat, a smile dawning over his face as he recalls the woman behind the bar from her attitude alone. He always remembers to treat ladies like ladies, and a sweet spot for those with a little fire. No wilting flowers where he's from... they make them headstrong where he comes from.

Of course, could be they're the only ones he notices. Who cares... lively company it a nice distraction from the gnawing urge to hunt. ]

I stand corrected. What would you recommend?

[swedge]

Alcohol.

[ Her smirk doesn't face, and when he leans forward a little bit Jo just ends up placing a hand on her hip. She feels a little weird, doing this. He's a vampire and she should be on monster alert, but she can't bring herself to tense up at him. Instead, she actually finds herself rolling her eyes a little, turning back and reaching under the bar to pull out one of the jars - the ship only gives them bottles and jars, very few labels. It's always fun trying to figure out which is which - and she sets it down in front of him, leaning on the counter on her elbows. ]

Try it.

[vampirates]

[ If he had even an inkling of knowledge that there were others outside of the angel and Dean who knew his vampiric nature, he would have withdrawn more into the shadows. But the light of humanity always draws him in, makes him feel that deep appreciation he has for life steel his nerves and recognize just how worthwhile a pursuit it was to fight what came naturally to his kind.

He needs humanity, and it ain't just for their blood. Living company is what keeps him human, even if it's only the memory of it in those long years in Purgatory. ]

You wanna tell me what it is?

[ He twists off the jar's cap, sniffs experimentally and wrinkles his nose as the scent almost burns off the fine dusting of hair on the inside of his sniffer. His eyes almost water at the smell. ]

...Moonshine?

[swedge]

It works.

[ because on a nightmare ship sending them further and further into the reaches of space, people don't come to drink just to have fun. Or maybe some do, but they still have a goal, still have a state of mind to reach. So when he looks at the jar then back up to her, Jo just raises both of her eyebrows at him, waits for him to take it.

She can't help but laugh a little at the reaction he has to it, leaning back up off the bar. ]

Didn't realize you had such high tastes.

[vampirates]

Darlin' -- [ Benny begins, brows lifting as if that challenge didn't at all target his masculinity, and neither did his insistence that this stuff could curl paint and god knows what it'd do to even his undead innards. ]

I ain't gonna have any taste buds left if I drink that straight up -- what do you have to mix it with?

FUCK YOU AND YOUR PERFECT FACE BENNY UGH

[swedge]

[ and she grins, just a bit, at the way he says darlin'. ]

For you? I'll have to check. [ she turns back to the bar, goes through a cabinet or two before she pulls out an empty jar and a couple of what looks like mixers. ] Guess you get a choice on this front.

WELL SAME TO YOU AND YOUR STUPID SEXY HAIR OKAY gawd so rude

[vampirates]

[ Benny's brows pull back down as he squints at the mixers, then shrugs. ]

There's only one way to find out what I got a taste for. Now come sit by me and let's try a samplin' of your mystery wares.

[ You didn't think he was going to drink alone, did you? Break out those shot glasses, girl. ]

EXCUSE YOU HIS HAIR TAKES TIME AND PATIENCE AND no okay fine they're even

[swedge]

[ Jo pauses for a moment, waiting to see if he was just joking. When it becomes obvious he's not, Jo shrugs. ]

Sure, why not.

[ As she flips her rag over her shoulder, she leans down under the bar to pull out two shot glasses - where they find them in space, she has no idea, but they're here and it'll work - and she sets them down on the counter between them. ]

Do you need me to pour them too?

[ Jo's not dumb, and while normally she might have just walked around and sat down next to him (the bar was pretty slow going anyway) - this was a vampire, so the bar would have to stay in between them. But she leans over in on her elbows, raising both her eyebrows at him expectantly. ]

SURE DOES.

[vampirates]

This ain't my first rodeo. I can pour us the first round...

[ Benny gets up from his seat, steps to the opening of the bar and stands off to the side, gesturing for her to take a load off and allow him to fix up the first round. For better or worse.

And he's keenly aware of the kind of space he should give the living. He just makes it look gentlemanly. Might be some of that old Louisiana charm at it's finest. ]

This is, of course, assuming you've got something as civilized as ice on this ship?

[swedge]

[ She watches him, gauging his steps and reactions and trying to see if she even should. In her head, it keeps coming as vampire vampire dean warned you, but at the same time... Jo stands back up, sizes him up, then shrugs - mostly at herself - and walks around to the side of the bar he's motioning towards.

If anything, she's got her knife. It's not like she can't defend herself.

So Jo goes and she sits in the seat he'd been occupying moments before, elbows back on the counter as she watches him. When he mentions ice, she rolls her eyes a little, pointing down to an ice machine right behind his left leg. ]

We're on a space ship, not a deserted island, you know.

[vampirates]

[ Benny slides in behind the bar, just as easy as you please... and smirks his way to the icebox and through the process of finding and filling a shaker of ice, the mysterious moonshine and the first of a line of equally mysterious mixers. ]

I ain't never gonna get used to this.

[ Dumping each measured shot into the shaker, he caps it off tight and gives it a firm series of shakes. ]

And don't even get me started on them device things... or the cocoons we woke up in.

[swedge]

[ She watches him work carefully, ready to call him out on the first thing he does wrong. Granted, she's a little distracted by that, so his first comment hangs in the air a bit before she finally turns his attention back to him and shrugging her shoulders a little. ]

I can't really see this place as being something you get used to, honestly. Just something you live through.

[ Jo pulls out her device when he mentions it, twirling it between her fingers a little. ] The device things aren't hard - just a big fancy phone, when you think about it. Unless you don't even know what a cell phone is. Then it might be rough. As for the pods...well. I've had cleaner travel, that's for sure, but if it's that or death I'll pick the space goo.

[vampirates]

[ Benny won't share with you the story about how he took a picture of his boot and it took the better part of two charges to figure out how to remove it as his wallpaper.

Instead, he'll just give one of those enigmatic, husky chuckles of his and start shaking up the drink. ]

Yeah, well. I've seen some strange things in my time, darlin'... but wakin' up in my skivvies suspended in that -- what you call it? Space goo? -- Yeah, I'm pretty sure that isn't anyone's idea of a good time.

[ Pouring the shots, he sets the shaker aside and gestures to them. Ladies' choice. ]

[swedge]

[ She probably wouldn't stop making fun of him, if she found out. Something to keep in mind. ]

See, you've got a point with that. But I can think of plenty of things that are less of a good time than being here, space goo and all.

[ Jo doesn't necessarily elaborate, looking over the shots for a moment before picking one and looking back up at him, waiting for him to pick up his. ]

[vampirates]

You mean like running a space bar to meet strange and potentially interestin' people over shots of equal uncertainty?

[ Benny salutes with his own mystery shot. ]

Guess that can't be too bad -- I'm here, aren't I?

[swedge]

Exactly. [ And ohhh, that was smooth, Benny. Jo's just going to keep herself from smiling bigger at that, maybe trying to shrug it off instead. ]

Like I said, could always be worse.

[ And then it's a pause, before she knocks the shot back without issue. ]

[vampirates]

[ There's a rumble of laughter before the vampire tosses back the shot. But unlike her, he winces his way through it... and with one eye still squeezed shut and perhaps a little watering of those blue eyes, he finally manages: ]

I don't think we should use that swamp water or whatever it is again.

[ He pushes that mystery substance away, and begins making his way around the bar to switch places again. You're up, Jo. ]

Tasted like mango that had been stewin' half a summer in a boot filled with mamajuana.