Happy Hour!

[source_fairy]

A long journey starts with one step. A large debt is paid off from the first penny.

Which is why Sirona is behind the bar tonight, starting to pay off her tremendous tab from Mardi Gras.

Her specials board is simple:

Riesling
Kölsch
Äbbelwoi
Fanta

Of course, she'll serve you anything else you ask for, too.

Comments

[thenewblack]

"Is Fanta anything like Zesti?"

[source_fairy]

"If Zesti is a sweet and bubbly soft drink that tastes entirely of completely fake oranges, it is," Sirona says, smiling at the woman.

[thenewblack]

"Close enough," says Artemis, "It's a soft drink anyway. I'll take a Fanta then."

[source_fairy]

Sirona pours her one, in a big soft drink glass. It is very, very yellow, almost primarily.

[thenewblack]

Artemis raises an eyebrow.

"That does look pretty artificial," she allows, "I'm Artemis. Do you have a name I should call you, or is it Barkeep tonight?"

[source_fairy]

Sirona grins. "Artemis," she says. "A much more famous name than mine. I'm just Sirona, but will answer to 'barkeep' tonight as well, if you prefer."

[thenewblack]

"Sirona," tries Artemis, "And not the Artemis, just an Artemis. Even if I do know how to use a bow."

[source_fairy]

"I'm the Sirona," Sirona says. "Hampered by the fact that nobody knows who the Sirona is, except a few experts, so I could just say I'm for all practical reasons just a Sirona as well."

[thenewblack]

"Experts I'm not one of," admits Artemis, "The name kind of sent me looking at the Greeks and Romans more than any of the others."

[source_fairy]

"Celtic, from the Roman time," Sirona says. "You're not far off."

[thenewblack]

"At some point I'll get calm about the idea of a goddess serving me drinks," says Artemis, "And then the whole thing will just get stranger."

[source_fairy]

"Exactly," Sirona says. "That is just how Milliways works."

[thenewblack]

Artemis tries the Fanta before changing the topic.

"Have you been coming here long?"

[source_fairy]

"For a bit," Sirona says, "and not very often, and then I stayed away since Mardi Gras."

[thenewblack]

"Why after Mardi Gras? Did service here decide it was going to follow Lent and leave out the meat or what?"

That'd make Artemis less willing to drop in.

[source_fairy]

Sirona laughs. "It's celebrated raucously where I live," she says. "So I came in here, dressed up and good and soused, and put all the drinks until lent on my tab. Why do you think I'm working so hard here?"

[thenewblack]

Artemis's expression twitches into a smile at that.

"I thought she might have tried guilting you into it too," she admits, "Or there has to be a lot of demand for a goddess of bartending. I don't really know what you'd have as-"

Her hands sketch out a rough box in midair between them.

"-a domain, or what ever."

[source_fairy]

"Hot springs, healing, and stars," Sirona says. "It's a bit hodge-podge, I know. You know how jobs just tend to accrete."

[thenewblack]

"The reward for a job well done is a bigger job," says Artemis with an air of quoting, "And that's actually a pretty cool spread of things."

Not that it's clear where the stars come in, but the first two link tidily together.

[source_fairy]

"Snakes enter into it as well," Sirona says, showing her the silver snake bracelets she always wears, either as actual bracelets, or as tattoos on her skin. It varies.

[thenewblack]

"They go with the healing, right?"

[source_fairy]

"Yes, they do," Sirona says. "The acccreted jobs are kind of loosely adjoining, at least."

[thenewblack]

"Thought so. Same goes for the hot springs, but," she allows, "I have no idea where stars come in on that."

[source_fairy]

"Yes," Sirona says, "they were sort of tacked on. Somebody has to do it."

[thenewblack]

"Never really expected that the boiler plate would apply to deities," says Artemis, "You know the one at the bottom of the contract? 'And other duties are required.'"

[source_fairy]

"Yes, that happens," Sirona shrugs. "I don't mind. Stars aren't much work."

[thenewblack]

"I can see how they'd be, hands off," says Artemis, "More or less."

Distance. Giant balls of plasma. Tremendous lag due to light speed. All of the above really.

[source_fairy]

"Yep, but somebody has to do it," Sirona says. "At least nominally. It's like the data protection and privacy compliance officer in a small company. You never need to do anything about that, either, just sign once that it's you."

[thenewblack]

Artemis raises an eyebrow at the comparison. "That sounds like a voice of experience. Or possibly a social engineering enthusiast."

[source_fairy]

"Both, actually," Sirona grins.

[thenewblack]

"And the part where you have a few perks and way more experience compared to the competition does nothing to tilt the odds in your favor at all."

[source_fairy]

"Well, I've got to have something out of it, or I would find a reason not to sign that bit of paper, so to speak," Sirona grins.

[thenewblack]

"As long as you don't have some sort of urge to go out committing star themed crimes, being a hacker is positively normal in the grand scheme of things," says Artemis, "Give or take the details."