(Untitled)

[ff_ambassador]

Lunchtime. Thank goodness. Inara is starving, her stomach occasionally making embarrassing grumbling noises as she makes her way to an open seat at the bar.

She quickly dives in to her soup and sandwich, people-watching between bites, her favorite relaxing activity at Milliways. Come say hi!

[ooc: Mun is at work, so apologies for slow tags! Need

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[alien_bartender]

Normally I would've noticed the woman at the bar nearby as soon as she came in my orbit - she was one of those ladies who can turn all the heads in a room without trying.

Embarrassingly enough, I was preoccupied at the time because I was experimenting with my new bioluminescent translator. Specifically, I was quietly singing "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" to it and watching how it lit up.

[ff_ambassador]

Inara sees the gentleman looking at her and smiles.

"I don't believe I've seen you here before."

[alien_bartender]

"Huh?" At that one syllable, the translator in my hand flashed brightly and put on an incredible light show. (I later learned that the translator was displaying a pattern for 'inarticulate expression of confusion and surprise,' but at the time I had no idea what had made it react that way). "Oh. I've been around before, just not for a while." My last visit to the bar had been six weeks before.

[ff_ambassador]

Inara nods. "My name is Inara. It's nice to meet you, mister..."

[alien_bartender]

"Rick Schumann," I put the transparent globe down so I could offer a handshake (and so it would stop flashing whenever I said anything). "Call me Rick."

[ff_ambassador]

"A pleasure, Rick." She shakes his hand and releases it with a smile. "How did you find yourself in Milliways?"

[alien_bartender]

I shrugged. "I just kind of walked in here several months ago. Funny thing is, I was actually walking into my own bar at the time."

[ff_ambassador]

"You own a bar? How ironic." Inara grins. "I can't imagine yours could be a stranger place than this, though."

[alien_bartender]

"It's a pretty close thing, actually. My tavern is the only establishment on Earth that caters to aliens. Not that they're restricted or anything - it's just that a lot of require special food or atmospheric mixes or things like that, and it's hard to set up and maintain."

[ff_ambassador]

"That is fascinating." Inara isn't kidding - no aliens in her 'verse. She leans forward eagerly. "Do you get a lot of customers?"

[alien_bartender]

I nodded. "Yeah, but it's kind of a seasonal thing. We get really busy for a couple of weeks when a star liner comes along, two or three times a year. The rest of the time it's pretty quiet - most of the aliens aren't long-term visitors, although there's more and more of them every year. Some of those are tourists, but there are a lot of anthropologists, some businesspeople, and a couple of diplomats. One race has an official ambassador to the U.N."

[ff_ambassador]

Inara shakes her head, amazed. "Do you learn a lot from them, or are they mostly just passing through for pleasure?"

[alien_bartender]

"I do learn a lot. Sometimes I ask about things, sometimes I just incidentally pick up on something. Not just me, either - a lot of my staff are actually grad students writing their dissertations on alien species there. Sometimes entrepreneurs trade with the aliens to get new technology or materials they can sell on Earth."

[ff_ambassador]

"How incredible - to be able to interact with so many cultures." She smiles at Rick. "You are a lucky man."

[alien_bartender]

I smiled. "Luck is part of it. I was in the right place at the right time - but after that, it was mostly a matter of good business sense." That and a willingness to sink a lot of money into building a high-tech tavern in Siberia.

"That's a long story, though, and I've been doing too much of the talking up until now anyway," I prompted. Folks in Milliways tended to be pretty interesting, even if they didn't meet aliens on a regular basis.

[ff_ambassador]

Inara blushes slightly. "I'm sorry - you must feel like I'm interrogating you." She smiles. "We don't have aliens in my verse, or at least none we've encountered yet. Insane space cannibals, but no aliens."