Happy Hour: I learned to love the virtues of sweet Sally Maclennane

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

As he'd told Javert, Lesgle needs to take the mandrake for a walk. The kittens have been after it, you see, so he and Joly had had to place it in a birdcage for its own protection, but he doesn't want it to feel uncomfortably confined, so...

He has the plant tucked under his arm when Bar reaches him with a napkin, but as far as Lesgle's concerned a Happy Hour shift's as good as a stroll outside. He places the flowerpot neatly on a bar towel and considers the specials board.

They say music is good for plants, don't they? Very well!

All drinks 15% 25% 50% off if you can teach me a good bar song.
Don't be shy, I'll join in as soon as I learn the chorus.

It's not just good for plants. Nothing like a drinking song to build up a communal feeling.

((Oh, you'd think a Les Mis musical reference would be the way to go, but Sally Maclennanne of course comes from the Pogues.))

((Hitting slowtimes now, but I'll be around all weekend!))

Comments

[clayforthedevil]

Bahorel regards the sign for a moment before grinning and leaning affectionately on Bar. "Let's try this one, then :

'King Stephen was a worthy peer,
His breeches cost him but a crown;
He held them sixpence all too dear,
With that he call'd the tailor lown
He was a wight of high renown,
And thou art but of low degree:
'Tis pride that pulls the country down;
Then take thine auld cloak about thee.' "

It sounds like it sounds right, anyway. With scansion, even!He watches Lesgle to see if it's translating.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Hey, you, leaning affectionately on the Bar is Bossuet's thing. But he's an open-minded man. He can share a lean, and hums a bit of the tune once he's got it.

The song does translate, but he can tell it's not in French. "English, is it?"

[clayforthedevil]

It's a difference of the variety of affection in the lean, no doubt.

Bahorel grins the grin of a man who will never have to look for his favorite authors in translation ever again. "It is in English! Shakespeare, in fact. A whole world of songs is open to us, then." He actually thinks before he tries another song. "How sensitive do you think they are about their rules here? Will a drinking song violate that ban on indecency?"

Not that that will stop him. But Lesgle might not want to head back to the cells quite so soon.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Bossuet bursts out laughing. "Just keep your trousers on while you perform, if you think you can manage that, and I'm sure no one will object."

[makesthings]

Sameth grins at the bartender as he takes off his gloves, he's in a cloak with a sword at his side, he's been out working on Charter Stones and traveling,

"I know songs from school and ones that the guards have taught me. Which would you prefer?"

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"I'm guessing the guards know some excellent drinking songs--but I admit I'm curious what you might have picked up in school!"

[makesthings]

"Songs about politicians mainly," Sam grins and starts off on one that pokes awful fun at a minister who kept falling in love and then getting into fights.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Oh, very good! Bossuet doesn't catch all the specific references, but he knows crude political parody when he hears it. Soon he's grinning widely. "Bravo. Tell me what you'll drink--and then go back to the verse about the girl with the big..."

[makesthings]

"Spiced wine, hot if you can manage it,"

He's glad to go back and notes how this man seems one of the well settled Milliways' dead.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"Indeed I can." He'll take the time to heat and mix everything himself, rather than making the Bar do any work. Anyway, he can sing while it all warms up. "...now that's got a ring to it. Is it an old song, or recent political commentary?"

[mjolnir_retriever]

Thor laughs, seeing the special. There have been some entertaining specials lately.

It's a brief laugh, not overly loud, but all the same there's a certain... heartiness going on.

He's a big (very big) man, very blond, currently wearing a garment something like a poncho made out of subtly shimmering material with a drape like good wool, over trousers and tall boots. His forearms bear vambraces of steel or something similar, though that's the only armor he's wearing right now. (This is Asgardian royal casual wear.) There's a huge hammer in one hand, and a Security badge pinned to his shoulder. The light hits him a little strangely, as if all the colors of his clothing and body are a little deeper and more saturated than those of anything around him.

"A good drinking song, eh. How long?"

There are some really, REALLY marathon drinking songs in Asgard.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

He takes in the heartiness, the clothing, the hammer, and the Security badge, in a quick cheerful glance. Well, despite what some people might think, Lesgle isn't on a personal crusade against all of Security.

He slings his towel over his shoulder and grins. "That depends on how thirsty you want to make yourself, I'd say."

[mjolnir_retriever]

Thor returns the grin. "Wisely said."

Short, then! Well, shortish. It's got to be something with a good chorus or there's no point in teaching it, and also no point in trying to get drunk people to sing it.

He drops onto a barstool (dwarfing it somewhat), and launches with no self-consciousness whatsoever into song. It is, immediately and quintessentially, a drinking song: simple and catchy tune, regularly repeated lines, a rousing chorus, and a certain amount of innuendo, plus some weird turns of phrase that are probably innuendo that doesn't quite translate. It's about an overly proud warrior who went drinking in each of the Nine Worlds, and got himself drunk under the table by the locals in every single one.

There are a couple of versions of this one. Thor sticks to the one-verse-per-world version. He's got a decent voice -- nothing special, but deep and resonant, with excellent breath support even when his pitch sidles a little off true.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Bossuet's no remarkable singer himself, but he's unself-conscious about joining in on the chorus once he gets the hang of it. "--Ah, the very type and pattern of the drinking song. May I ask where it comes from? But first, of course, name your drink of choice."

[mjolnir_retriever]

"I leave the choice to you," says Thor, with a certain air of comfortable challenge.

Do your worst, bartender. Or your best! Whichever seems more fun.

"It's from Asgard. Like me."

[ostro_goth]

"Greetings, Lesgle!"

That is Teja, turning up by the bar with a toddler (who is wearing a fox hoodie) on his arm, and all four cats in tow.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"Teja! --Before you say anything, the kittens are fine."

It's quite the family gathering Teja has with him. Bossuet gives the little boy a small wave.

[ostro_goth]

Little Egil waves back at Bossuet, using both arms.

It's good to be visible again, after he'd been all invisible to Javert earlier.

"Hello!" the little boy says, smiling widely. He has about eight teeth at this stage.

"I thought so," Teja says. "But what is that other creature I saw you with?"

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"Hello, Egil. --Would he like a cup of milk?" Milk is what very small children drink, right? He'd offer a further treat, but he's not sure what's reasonable.

"Other creature? Do you mean my mandrake?"

[ostro_goth]

"Chocolate milk!" Egil says. "Yespwease!"

He has learned some manners already. Or perhaps he thinks it's one word used for getting things.

"Is that what it is?" Teja says. "What is a mandrake?"

[athelstanthescribe]

Athelstan may have been a monk, but he was born a peasant, and he's only 23. He remembers the songs the men sang in his childhood that he wasn't supposed to listen to - and who's ever going to know if he trots one of them out here?

His voice is oddly pure for that kind of song.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

It is oddly pure. Lesgle is prepared to join in at the chorus--but finds himself listening instead, with a small wistful smile. He clears his throat when Athelstan falls silent. "Not something you learned at the monastery, I think?"

[athelstanthescribe]

"Long before that", he says with a crooked smile. "I should probably have forgotten them."

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"But why forget them? You never know when they might be needed. As, for instance, today. What can I get you?" He gestures sweepingly at the array of bottles.

[athelstanthescribe]

"And so I didn't." He peers at the bottles. "How can I choose?"