Happy Hour

[janebecomes]

Jane enters Milliways with a smile, things are moving forward and grins when she gets the invitation to bartend. The bartending book is always fascinating and soon she's writing the specials up.

Specials
Captain with a Skirt
Dragonfly
Dance with a Dream
Tell me of women who have pursued their own desires upon your world and your drink will be free.

As she finishes writing the specials, Jane looks out at the Bar before waiting to see who will arrive.

Tiny silent tag: Teller
Tiny dangerous tag: Honor Harrington
Tiny vampiric tag: Lady Margolotta of Uberwald

Comments

[margolotta]

"Oh, my dear, what an excellent subject!" Lady Margolotta says, looking at the specials board, then smiling at the girl behind the bar.

[janebecomes]

"Thank you, ma'am. What may I get for you?"

Jane does a rather proper curtsy from the behind the Bar, this woman is clearly a lady.

[margolotta]

"Don't you want to hear my story first?" Margolotta says.

[janebecomes]

"I look forward to it, ma'am,"

It is the balance of being the hostess with her own curiosity.

[margolotta]

"Imagine, if you will, a lonely mountain country studded with castles, many years ago," Margolotta says. "Most of the castles belonged to powerful vampire or werewolf families, and the human rulers in the rest were even worse. People were pesants, or food, or perhaps servants. If they were lucky."

She sighs.

"The vampire lorded it, supreme, over this balance of terror. They were beautiful and stylish and ancient, using the right combination of terror and allure to make sure their victims didn't actually complain so much as to upset the balance. The werewolves pretended to give their victims a fighting chance. The human lords would reward random underlings, so everybody had something to strive for. There was much invention, and philosophers and poets would live in ivy-covered towers next to idyllic rivers and write fiendishly clever books that only other philosophers and poets ever read.

"There were visitors from distant lands, sometimes, but they mostly came to sneer at the backwardness of the mountain country, or buy some of the excellent and highly intelligent guard dogs bred there. Or to order new pipes for their organs. Sometimes, literally so, as there was an amazing medical tradition as well, run by a family collectively known as The Igors.

"Then, one day, a yong nobleman from a disctant city on the plains came on his Grand Sneer tour; he was on the run from the crazy politics of his home, but pretended not to be. He took lodging at a castle owned by a mysterious, dark-haired, stunning and secretive noblewoman. He was far too clever to fall for her ruses and become her victim; she was far too stylish to use force. Nobody knows what else happened between them, but they talked a lot. They talked about what was wrong in their respective home countries, and what 'ought to be' otherwise. And then, because they were both fiendishly clever and ruthless, they made plans about what they'd have to change to achieve it. And then, because they were both ruthless and determined, they decided to do it. And then, he left again, as a matter of course."

Long pause.

"And then, we did it. Not every last thing yet, but we got very far already. His city is now a place that breeds new ideas like bunny rabbits, and all the intelligence and strength of my country has been freed up since we vampires stopped drinking -- blood."

She can say it. She won't be so childish as to avoid the mere word, here, among strangers.

"People are no longer afraid. Humans can trust that it is moderately safe to venture out after dark. They can go to plays and concerts, and lectures by philosophers and readings by poets. People visit the hot springs, meet people there, discuss. There are news from the big city that reach us within the hour. Even the dwarves have a new, progressive Low King. We have well and truly arrived in the Century of the Anchovy, and so has the big city in the plains, which is the most important place on our world now, centre of commerce and invention. They even play football there now; I recently went to see a great game."

Pause.

"And all of it because a young nobleman and a bored vampire woman once palyed an extended game of chess with the world as the board and all its inhabitants as the chessmen, and then put it into practice. I'd like a Cellini cocktail, please, my dear, if you know how to make it."

[janebecomes]

Jane listens enraptured and nods at the cocktail request, a great lady who changed the world.

Luckily Bar has some already prepared peaches which does make it simpler for her and she smiles at the drink, it is beautiful.

[margolotta]

"You're not from our world," Margolotta says, "but you'd fit very well there. We run on young people, male and female, who think outside the usual ornate chest of what is done and has always been done."

[janebecomes]

"Thank you, ma'am. I do hope to create some change through my works."

[margolotta]

"What is your name, my dear, and what is your work?" Margolotta says, sipping her peach cocktail.

Poet or writer, she'd guess.

[doesntsaymuch]

A guy with a rather unusual t-shirt wanders up to the Bar. He stands with his head almost completely sideways as he reads the Specials Board.


He has no idea what any of these things are.

[janebecomes]

Jane blinks at his t-shirt, rather unsure of what it is meant to be,

"May I get you something, sir?"

[doesntsaymuch]

Well, it's an eyeball wearing a tuxedo and a top hat.

No one ever claimed that the image made any sense.


Teller considers her question, and then shrugs slightly.

[janebecomes]

"If you do not wish to try the specials, I am quite happy to get you anything else."

[doesntsaymuch]

Teller looks over the specials list again.

After a moment, he holds up two fingers and tilts his head questioningly.

What's in that, I wonder?

[janebecomes]

"The Dragonfly has gin, ginger ale and some lime, sir."

[doesntsaymuch]

Oh, goodness, no. Teller shakes his head.

Then he holds up three fingers. Maybe that one might be something he'd enjoy?

[janebecomes]

"Brandy, triple sec and anisette, sir. Would you prefer something perhaps that is not a cocktail? There are a number of charming teas back here."

[dame-salamander.livejournal.com]

Honor walks up to the bar in hopes that someone can tell her exactly what's happened to her. This is certainly not her parents' house on Sphinx, which is what she thought she was walking into.

"Excuse me, could you tell me where I am?"

[janebecomes]

"I would be glad to. This is Milliways at the End of the Universe. My name is Jane Austen and I am serving this evening. Can I get you anything?"

Jane is glad to be of use to the young woman.

[dame-salamander.livejournal.com]

Honor considers this information for a moment. She still has no idea where she is or what is going on.

"A mug of hot cocoa, please." The cocoa will give her time to think.

Nimitz bleeks at her. "And some celery."

[janebecomes]

Jane smiles at Nimitz as she moves to prepare things,

"Would you like any cream on your cocoa?"

[dame-salamander.livejournal.com]

"Yes." Her metabolism would appreciate the extra calories.

"Do you know how I got here?" There was nothing in her experience that explained how she got from Sphinx to a bar named Milliways.

[janebecomes]

"You entered through a magical door that will return you to the same moment and place from which you left. Might I ask, what is your pet?"

Nimitz is unlike anything Jane has seen before and she present the hot cocoa, "I am not sure how much I should cut the celery."

[dame-salamander.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I'm sorry." She gestures to Nimitz. "Miss Austen, this is Nimitz. He is a treecat. He likes his celery in stalks."

Nimitz bleeks in agreement. "And he's not my pet. He's more a companion." Honor has entirely too much information to process before she can try explaining treecat adoption bonds to anyone.

[janebecomes]

"I see. Then it is a pleasure to meet you, Nimitz,"

Jane bobs a curtsy to them both before cutting the celery into stalks.