Wednesday Night at The Catscratch Club

[poison_lipstick]

The day was coming to a close as they opened the club, and it was a day that had just gotten weirder and weirder by the gorram second. Saffron had woken up with a boyfriend who was suddenly gay, had come across an ex-husband who was uncommonly cheery, and had made out with Major Perfect himself (who was no longer acting near as perfect) - and that

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[spd_green]

There were a lot of people coming into the club tonight that Bridge hadn't seen coming into the club on other nights. It was kind of odd, but Bridge just took it to mean that word of the club was getting around and people were changing their mind about it. It was a great place to hang out, after all. He shrugged his shoulders as more smiling faces passed him by, taking down their names, and hummed according to a tune he heard only in his head.

[poison_lipstick]

Bridge was still himself, and for that Saffron was very grateful. She would have let him go on and on about whatever he wanted just to get a little normalcy. Well, relative normalcy, at least. A little ways into the night, she went to check on him, stretching up to kiss his cheek in greeting. "How's it going tonight, sugar?"

[spd_green]

"Pretty good," he answered with a broad smile. He still remembered his conversation with Devon from the other day, but he wasn't sure what he wanted to say or if he wanted to say anything, and even if he did he didn't want to do it at work. "A lot of people I've never seen before though. It's kind of funny that they all chose tonight to come to the club. Funny-huh, not funny-haha. Unless it's stand up comedy tonight instead of jazz and I missed it."

[poison_lipstick]

"No, it's The-Island-Makes-A-Bunch-Of-Folks-Act-Crazy night," she said with a wry smile. "All the new people are probably ones who'd never set foot in here normally. This one's happened before, though it's been a long while. The people affected are acting opposite to how they normally are."

[spd_green]

Bridge blinked, this information taking him completely by surprise. "People are acting opposite?" He turned and looked through the door, into the club, seeing the guests for the first time in a new light.

"You know, I thought that was a pretty unfunny joke on Warrick's part..."

[poison_lipstick]

"Ai ya." Saffron pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger for a moment. "I'm sorry, honey. Did he hit on you?"

[spd_green]

"No!" Bridge answered, eyes wide. "Oh, you mean flirt. No, not really," he said, his reaction calmer now as he shook his head. "He just said I was fine. I thought I deserved a 'great' or something."

[poison_lipstick]

She relaxed a little at that, relieved to hear that at least Warrick hadn't propositioned him or anything. "Fine is better than great, in the sense he used it," she explained to Bridge. "Telling you you're 'fine' is another way of saying you're hot. Or very handsome," she added when she realized he might take 'hot' literally as well.

[spd_green]

"Oh," Bridge said, nodding. "I should have known that. Usually I would, but I've never heard that from Warrick so I hadn't known to expect it. I didn't know he was sexually attracted to guys as well as women," he explained with a shrug.

[poison_lipstick]

"He's not, not usually," Saffron replied. "Usually he's as straight as straight can be. Now he's completely gay, no interest in women whatsoever. Because he's acting the opposite of his usual self."

[spd_green]

"I thought sexual orientation was sexual orientation," Bridge remarked. "Not a personality trait."

[poison_lipstick]

"Apparently this whole opposite thing isn't limited to personality traits," she said dryly. "It's been a while since the last time this happened, but I seem to recall the same thing happening then, too."

[spd_green]

"Then shouldn't he be a woman too?" Bridge pondered. "If it's not limited to personality, and seems to go into the genetic, then shouldn't he wake up the biological opposite of what he is? Blue eyes, blond hair and female? But then would he/she still be attracted to men? What's the opposite of a straight male? A gay female or a straight female? And are female and male really opposites or is that just a stereotype perpetuated by society?"

[poison_lipstick]

"Well, we do get that one all on its own, men becoming women and vice versa," Saffron pointed out, lips curving into a smile. "Maybe the island doesn't want to get too repetitive."

She hadn't really thought about it before, but she did then, partially in an attempt to make heads or tails of what Bridge had said. "I don't know. I just know some straight folks become gay and some gay folks become straight. I'm already attracted to both, so I wasn't affected in that way, last time. It seems to be sort of arbitrary, what happens to a person when they become the opposite of themselves here."

[spd_green]

"Everything has rules though," Bridge pointed out with arched brows for emphasis. "Even the times when people say there are no rules, there are rules just not rules they think they need to say out loud or want to admit to. Even when the rules of physics are broken, there are other rules to back up what happens after that. Maybe we just don't know what the rules are in this game and they're not what we expect. Maybe there's many different powers at work here with many different rules, and sometimes they conflict with each other and that's when things seem to be without rules because one rule rules out the other rule. You like guys and girls?"

[poison_lipstick]

Saffron wasn't sure she followed all of that, so she answered his question first, which was the easiest part. "I generally prefer men, but yes, I like both guys and girls," she confirmed. "If there are rules to this place, I don't think anyone knows what they are."