EP: Kate Barlow | Main Bar

[ikissdhimbck]

The door opens to a golden sky, so thick with dust it looks like orange meringue.

The soft chnk of spurs precedes the cowgirl, collar turned up and hat low over her eyes. Once the door closes, she tips her hat back and takes a look around. And smiles.

As soon as she settles at the Bar, she's presented with gift after gift after gift after gift, along with a plate of Solstice sweets and a few gingerbread ... robots? She eyes everything with delight, surprised when she realizes how much time has passed. She wasn't expecting she'd be gone so long. She best start on the thank-you notes straight away.

But first, she does happen to have a few gifts of her own. She unshoulders her bag and leaves the tardy presents with Miss Bar.

Dr. Lecter receives a fine buffalo pelt, along with a small parcel of meat, and a handwritten note.

The Sandhu's receive an ornate chess set along with a fine oak board, and five parcels of candy suitable for each family member.

Mr. Tommy Gavin receives a bar of lye soap and a suggestive note on what to do with it, along with a very attractive silk teck tie wrapped in tissue.

Mr. John Marston receives a fine gentleman's hat: it's a high top Derby, and it's bulletproof. The accompanying note says: Keep your head on straight –Kate

Mr. The Kid receives a pair of chocolate brown dancing shoes and a framed picture, along with a handwritten note.

Master Elrond receives a book of poems by Lord Byron, and a jar of Kate's spiced peaches, along with a handwritten note.

Ms. Remy receives a lidded trinket box in the shape of a white cat with big blue eyes, filled with her favorite sweets. The accompanying note is signed: –Blue Eyes

Ms. Ellen receives a set of very practical gifts: a nice length of good rope, tooled leather boots, a fine set of spurs, and a pair of lambskin gloves, along with a handwritten note.

Ms. Dixie receives a set of dime novels and a pair of lambskin gloves in pink, along with a box of chocolate bonbons and a handwritten note.

Ms. Clementine receives a box of saltwater taffy, and while Kate is setting it aside she asks Miss Bar to add a pint of Peach Cobbler ice cream to the parcel.

Enzo & Dani receive a traditional engagement gift: silver spoons, along with a set of silver civil war cannon trinkets, and a gold locket. A formal note of congratulations accompanies the gifts.

Ms. Pyrrha receives a paint box set with several fine colors, and a few horsehair brushes. While Kate is at the Bar, she asks that a bushel of ripe avocados be added to the parcel.

Teja receives a pommel sword and sheath with a gold eagle head hilt and gold inlay along the blade, as well as a handwritten note.

Ratonhnhaké:ton receives a fresh set of writing tools, along with a toy stagecoach and a small parcel of sweets.

William Evans receives a new collection of books, mostly American authors as it's what she could find in Galveston, and a dime novel slipped in. They're accompanied by a small tin of caramels, and a handwritten note.

To everyone else go a jar of spiced peaches and a small parcel of sweets, nuts, and dried fruit.

That done, she settles down to write her thank-yous, occasionally admiring the clay cat and pondering a name change to 'Queen of the Bandits'. No doubt she'll soon break into the sweets, though there's far too much to eat in one sitting. It's a good turn of luck that she feels inspired to share.


[ooc: I've missed all of the fun! Feel free to catch me up and link me to anything you'd like to have tagged, I'm happy to bounce around and see all of the shenanigans. ^__^ This is open throughout the weekend and perhaps longer. Hello again.]

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[the_cupbearer]

He smiles. "Oh, I don't. I've regrettably never been very good with guns," Ganymede replies, shaking his head. "I'm better with blades, which is why I mentioned your knife."

He sits, and shrugs gently. "I don't mind talking to you, you know."

[ikissdhimbck]

Her eyes slide around to the Bowie knife on her other hip, and she chuckles under her breath. He does have an odd manner about him, doesn't he?

"Didn't think y'did. Should I have cause t'worry?"

[the_cupbearer]

"I'd sincerely hope not," he says. "I just know you don't exactly get along with my lover, or didn't when we met. I thought I would clear the suspicion. And you looked like you were in a good mood."

[ikissdhimbck]

For all her brassiness tonight, her cheeks still pink a little, gaze sweeping askance at the word 'lover'.

"The Brucolac an' I did not have the most civil exchange, but there was a good deal of error on both parts. I hold onto no ill feelin's."

Just a great deal of awkwardness.

[the_cupbearer]

"One day I will understand why so many people seem to take on such embarrassment at the notion of being lovers," he says idly, on a little sigh; it's not sarcastic, just tired.

He feels tired quite often. More often than his age allows him to show, because people who notice start asking questions, and too many questions lead to relocation. Ganymede is somewhat sick of moving.

"It's good to hear you bear him no ill intentions. I can understand where things might have gotten strained, though."

[ikissdhimbck]

She flashes her blue eyes at him, perhaps a little coolly, but not altogether cold. She's curious, mostly. It's not polite to bring the bedroom into conversation where she's from, but she don't feel the urge to say so.

"We weren't, neither one of us, ourselves that night."

One more literally than the other.

"It don't matter a lick now. I got no quarrel with you, so long as you got none with me. In the spirit of the 'belated' season, I say we let bygones be bygones."

[the_cupbearer]

"No, that I heard about," Ganymede says with a touch of humor. "He makes a very interesting woman, I will say that."

There is no line between what is private and what is suitable conversation for individuals for him; there hasn't been for a long time.

[ikissdhimbck]

She smiles briefly. She had been a lovely woman, all her piercings and jewelry and that oddly forked tongue notwithstanding.

"I don't believe you've ever told me where y'come from."

[the_cupbearer]

"I was born in Troy," he says with a gentle smile. "What is now western Turkey. But most people believe the city is just a myth; it was destroyed long ago. More than a thousand years before the birth of Christ, as most people figure it."

He does look the part, at least; tanned undertones to his skin, dark hair--he has no idea why classical artists somehow thought he'd be blonde--and eyes too dark to tell the color save in the brightest sunlight.

[ikissdhimbck]

"Troy — no, I do know the city. I've met others from there."

Though not for some time. Kate has a tendency to look things up in the libraries after meeting someone from a new place. She likes learning about different worlds and times.

"Ganymede is an uncommon name. I don't s'pose y'were named after anyone in particular?"

[the_cupbearer]

"No, I wasn't named after anyone, to my knowledge," he says. "If I was, no one ever shared the information with me. I suppose I got off better than my brother as far as given names, though not by much."

[ikissdhimbck]

She arches an eyebrow.

"Should I be askin'?"

[the_cupbearer]

"You never found the name Assaracus to be slightly strange?" he asks, considering her.

[ikissdhimbck]

She works her jaw, but decides not to comment. Other than laughing, of course, but it's soft and polite.

"I wasn't sure if you were the Ganymede. We never got down to pleasantries last time."

[the_cupbearer]

"I am," he says, after drawing in a long breath. "More or less, anyway, depending on what stories you know, and how true that version was." All of them leave something to be desired, really, just some more than others.

"And may I ask your name in return?"

[ikissdhimbck]

"T'be honest, they're few. The pantheon can be rather overwhelmin'."

However, Kate has some experience with tales being stretched about her. She can sympathize.

"You may. Kate Barlow, pleased t'make your acquaintance."

[the_cupbearer]

"And I pleased to make yours," he replies with a soft smile.

"You're likely better off. After that many years, stories change, and they're not always too truthful to begin with. The gods have far more than I, though, and no doubt they'd love for you to regain interest in them. They're greedy that way," he says, surprisingly...human. Real, for lack of a better term.

[ikissdhimbck]

Her lips quirk; she's genuinely amused.

"I'm familiar with the way that goes — both the changin' of stories an' the greed of the gods. Some of my closest friends have been gods, which is altogether very strange t'say."

That's the uniqueness of Milliways.

[the_cupbearer]

He laughs. He's always been able to, which is a gift he rarely thinks about, but still. Milliways presents him the opportunity more than anywhere else.

"I sincerely hope it hasn't been any of mine," he says. "Which is kinder to them than it sounds; they can't get in so much trouble if they're not here. I imagine certain of them wouldn't be able to exist in this place outside the cells for long," Ganymede sighs. Kate might pick up on which ones he's mentioning with that.

[ikissdhimbck]

She breathes a laugh.

"Could be. There are many I'd never heard of before I started comin' here. They make up quite the collection now, all different worlds an' civilizations. An' some of 'em have indeed gotten themselves arrested, or — somethin' along those lines."

Punishments among gods can get interesting, to say the least.

"I tend t'think of everybody as jus' folk. S'jus' easier that way."

[the_cupbearer]

"It's also insulting to some of them, insufferable superiority being what it is," he says. "Luckily he doesn't come here."

[ikissdhimbck]

"Oh, I don't treat 'em that way. Not unless they tell me to. I'm happy t'give them their due respect, an' have been scolded for bein' too polite more often than not polite enough."

She's been doe-eyed in the past, and star-struck. It's a strange thing, meeting somebody so powerful, so otherworldly.

"Ah, but which 'he' in particular do you mean?"

She could venture a guess, but wouldn't dare the assumption.

[the_cupbearer]

"Be thankful for that," he says. "It could have been much worse."

He shakes his head at the question, ignoring and not showing the bitter taste in the back of his mouth. "Zeus."

[ikissdhimbck]

She nods softly.

"Right, o'course."

Her lips twitch timidly.

"Well, the only gods I entertain with any sort of regularity y'already know. Loki, Weyland, an' their ilk. Mostly, I come by their — ah, 'significant others', for lack of a better phrase."

[the_cupbearer]

"Loki I know, yes," he says. "Weyland not as much. He seems...uncomfortably familiar in personality."

He'll leave it at that. In some places it would be a compliment; only a few people know how he truly, honestly feels about Zeus with no hedging on his part. "Who else did you think I meant?"