Barmaid on Duty!

[maid_of_astolat]

Elaine comes downstairs for her shift, clad in her normal shift clothes of a T-shirt ("Milliways Barmaid--Hands Off!") and jeans, her hair braided back.

She's in a good mood, despite the anniversary of her death two days ago.

That she's still not thinking of, of course. Not a bit.

But she's here, in a good mood, and ready to take orders.

Comments

[bothbutneither]

"Elaine, right?"

She's the one who knows Spike. Slowly but surely, Gren's getting to know a few people here.

There were regulars in Blue Crow: people he saw all the time. Some came for the music and some came to have a warm place to go, and some came to drown their sorrows in drink and others just happened by.

Bars are bars, no matter where they are. And they all have a house special drink.

"Got any drink recommendations for me?"

[maid_of_astolat]

Elaine grins. "Good even, Gren. The beer is good here--all varieties of them. How have you been faring?"

[bothbutneither]

"It's been interesting times, Elaine."

I'm both at once, but I'm neither one. "Someone asked me the other night what I was. I had to stop and think about that one." Tilting his head, his smile widens a little bit. "What kind of beer is your favorite?"

[maid_of_astolat]

Elaine tilts her head to the side curiously. "What you were? Well, you're a person, aren't you?"

She's learned not to make so many distinctions about 'what' a person is since she's been here.

"I like the darkish sort of beer, myself." She grins. "The sort of stuff I used to get at home."

[bothbutneither]

"Like stout?" He asks the bar for a glass of stout and it appears, looking rich and nutty and brown. "I think she was asking if I was alive or dead. But she could have been asking a different question, I guess." Grinning, he lifts the glass to his mouth and takes a sip: it's excellent.

"This is really good beer. You were right. I'm always going to follow your recommendations."

He nods at her in thanks.

[maid_of_astolat]

Elaine laughs. "Well, the differences between alive and dead here are rather...less than they would be in our own worlds."

[bothbutneither]

"Maybe." He sets down the beer. "I never had a chance to test it out there. One minute I was on my way to Titan, dying, and the next minute I was here, dying. At least I thought I was."

Those last minutes on Callisto were pretty desperate, now that he thinks about it.

He doesn't even know if the bomb he planted in the red-eye exploded.

[maid_of_astolat]

Elaine nods. "I've been out of the bar once. I went to Los Angeles. But I don't think I can ever go back to my own world."

She grins. "Except, maybe, as a ghost."

[bothbutneither]

Laughing, he reaches for the beer again. It's served at the perfect temperature to bring out its flavor; as someone who did lots of time in a bar he appreciates that. "Think that would be fun? I'd like to try it. Think we can get a real ghost to teach us how to haunt our friends?"

[maid_of_astolat]

"Oh, that would be...rather scary. But there are a few people I'd like to haunt if I were a ghost." Her eyes sparkle with mischief.

Mab, for one. Elaine would scare her silly.

[bothbutneither]

"Tell me." His smile widens. "Tell me who you'd haunt and how you'd do it."

It's been a long time since he had a more-or-less simple conversation: everything's been heavy with meaning since he got here. He's missed the simplicity of just plain talking without sadness or heaviness.

[maid_of_astolat]

"Oh, it's too wicked." She grins at him, wrinkling her nose. "But the woman who raised me was often mean and hateful to me. What I wouldn't give to see that woman shaking in her shoes. She was there when I died, just seeing me would be enough to send her into fits."

Elaine giggles in a slightly evil way. "But, well, the crying and moaning would be even better."

It seems that Elaine had thought about this a little too much.

[bothbutneither]

Gren just laughs.

"Retribution, when it's done right, seems like it has a lot of possibilities." Reaching for the beer he takes another sip. "Can I buy you a beer? It will help us plot out nefarious ghostly havoc to wreak on those we left behind."

His eyes flash darker for just a moment, but the smile stays. There's a little revenge he wouldn't mind having. Somehow, though, he doubts that a mere ghost would be enough to disturb Vicious.

[maid_of_astolat]

Elaine pauses. "Well, I can sit for a little while. I'm waitressing tonight, after all."

[bothbutneither]

He shrugs. "I don't want to get in the way of your work." All the same, he orders another glass of stout and hands it to Elaine.

"How do you like working in a bar?"

[maid_of_astolat]

"It's a nice place to work. People are generally good here, so they don't give me much trouble. And when there is trouble, it is not of much import, and I can take care of it myself, mostly." She grins and sips her beer.

I guess Bar isn't miffed at her getting drunk anymore.