[OTA] What Have You Gotten Yourself Into, Ben.

[intotherough]

Ben was not, strictly speaking, an impulsive kind of man. At least...not anymore. He'd grown out of the tendency, sometime between when he slid into the gray area between legal and illegal, back in Aberdeen, and when he'd run his way to Diamond Castle. In his old age, he'd grown more cautious. A little analytical, and certainly one to think through

Comments

[morallydefunct]

"You should probably just tear it down." Victor suggested, with a bit of a frown as he tilted his head just a touch. "Why, again, did you buy this?"

There were better buildings, honestly.

[intotherough]

"I'm not entirely sure," Ben admitted as they looked around the middle of the room. It was dark, poorly lit - but no one in their right mind wanted a well-lit bar, anyway. "There's nothing structurally wrong with it, anyway. It's all cosmetic. And it was a steal."

Some stereotypical Scot traits were stereotypical for a reason.

[morallydefunct]

"It was a steal." Really. Victor just had to give Ben a look for that one, before running a hand through his hair. "I don't think you appreciate the value of a pre-finished project."

Ben would buy a place like this, Victor thought as he kicked a can aside and drew in a slow breath. "I suppose you'll be expecting help." Which, perhaps to some peoples surprise, Victor wasn't actually terrible at fixing things. He just didn't care to deal with post of the headache involved in the process.

[intotherough]

Ben slanted a look right back at him, raising his eyebrows. "Do you know how much a pre-finished project costs?" It's not inexpensive, and then you have to deal with someone else's idea of what a good pub should look like.

Likely he was going to have a hundred questions about how much plaid was going to be in Mackinnon's. And if it already had a name, it seemed it was going to happen.

"There's nothing like demolition to relieve frustrations, you know." He paused, then. "Well, I expect there's a few things like it, just less..." He waved a hand. "Wholesome."

[likemarilynsaid]

"Perhaps a bit of an understatement, darling."

She'd really just been passing through. Not really on her way to anywhere, or from anywhere; errands done for the day, she'd just been taking a shortcut with vague ideas of finding someone to bother for an hour or two. But seeing Ben standing outside one of the buildings hurt in the blizzard, hands in his pockets, eyeing it like a new project--well. That merited a stop, didn't it?

[intotherough]

"It's mostly cosmetic." Which was a mantra he was going to be repeating throughout the process, he was sure. Even so, there was a fair bit of damage. The windows were a dead loss, for one, and the boarded up look wasn't going to attract any customers, that was certain enough.

He pushed his fingers through his hair, much the way Victor had when he'd seen the place.

He turned to look at Eden, though, a rueful expression quirking his lips. "I bought it."

[likemarilynsaid]

"Mm. Cosmetic doesn't necessarily mean minor, not that I'm--bought it?"

Hey, Ben, look at that. Two surprised faces from Eden in the last two days. You might be working towards a record, here. She gestures towards the building, a curious look on her face.

"As in, this building now belongs to Ben Mackinnon, who plans to do...what with it, exactly?"

[intotherough]

No, it wouldn't be particularly minor, but he had a few months at least to get it fixed up into something...that people would want to drink in. On that note, he waved at the scarred bar that stretched nearly the length of the front room. That he'd be keeping, because nothing was sadder than a public house with a brand new, shiny bar.

"I'm going to open a pub here," he said, and shrugged. "Might live upstairs if the damage up there isn't terrible."

Help him, Eden. He's clearly lost his mind.

[threecardmonty]

Place looked like a strong wind might blow it away. Monty rubs the back of his neck and cranes his head back to get a better view of the "roof," so to speak.

"Insanity run in your family, does it?"

[intotherough]

"On the Mackinnon side, though my father'd blame the Barries for it." And rightfully so; opening a bar's something his more gregarious Barrie cousins would fully approve of.

"It's structurally sound," he says, though, and then eyes the roof. "Other than the roof. I'll give you free drinks for at least a month if you help me replace the thing."

[threecardmonty]

Monty shoots him a look. Don't kid a kidder, Mackinnon. "You must think I down more booze than I do. Beams hold up alright? Can't rightly tell from here."

He's considering it. Gets him out from underfoot of nosy Faces.

[intotherough]

"They're good and sound. Wasn't this place that had the roof cave in," he adds. "That was over on the Hearts/Clubs border, as I recall. But the roof suffered some damage from the weight of the snow." He'd likely use Scottish building standards with the replacement, just in case another wackadoo of a storm came through anytime during the rest of his life.

He slants Monty a look. "If you helped, you'd probably have to cut back on being Master Ambassador to the Spades." You know, if that appeals any.