milliways_bar | (no subject)

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It's a quiet day in Central City. No dead bodies have dropped to call Barry into his day job, and a quick zip around the city yields only a mugger and one jaywalker who would've been pancaked by a garbage truck if 'The Streak' hadn't been there to rush him to the safety of the sidewalk.

(Seriously, he needs a better superhero name.)

With things so chill at home Barry is glad when he finds Milliways in his apartment. He was looking for something to eat, but the fridge and cupboards in his place are bare.

Obviously it's time for him to join Costco or something, but in the meantime...

"Hey, Bar," he greets the counter, sliding onto a stool wearing blue jeans and a sweatshirt. "Can I get a-- "

A platter appears with deli meats and cheeses all cut down to fit on the accompanying Ritz crackers. It's the type of tray usually made to feed small armies of party guests.

"--snack."

Barry grins and while he starts assembling cracker sandwiches, Bar produces a chocolate milkshake; which earns a wary glance from Barry, but he soon discovers this one isn't a protein ruse.

[ooc: Here all day, and this will be open through the weekend.]

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"When we first arrived here, we showed up lying prone in the mud, and had a brief wrestling match in it to celebrate finding each other again," Baze says, with a quick grin. He plucks up another cracker. "Harman objected strenuously. He told us we were going to contract UTIs."

"He would bring it up every few minutes. I think we were stressing him inordinately." Chirrut giggles. "I hope he's recovered."

"UTI's?" Barry cants his head, puzzling through that one a moment before his eyes widen. "As in the infection?"

His expression and voice both shift to show confusion and that he's slightly disturbed.

"Why would he-- was he a doctor and a priest?" Or just a really weird priest.

"I... I don't know," Baze says, cocking his head to the side. "I don't think he was a doctor, but people have surprised me before. Can you actually catch a UTI from playing in the mud?"

"We didn't think so - either we have been incredibly lucky all of our lives, or..." He trails off with a shrug too big for his frame.

"I mean, I-- " Barry gives his own shrug, a bit helpless for explanation. "Maybe if you were naked? But otherwise... That's just a really weird thing to fixate on, I'm sorry."

But it seems like maybe they feel the same way.

Baze is smug as hell. He folds his arms, nodding exactly once. "I knew it," he says. A grin spoils his smugness. "It is a weird thing to fixate on. And he seemed really surprised that we were willing to go to the bathrooms to wash off, too."

"We should have walked out muddy again." Chirrut sighs, regretting a lost opportunity. "His spluttering would have been worth it."

Barry shakes his head, confused and bemused.

"When you mentioned him I thought maybe he'd gone overboard with the religion thing, I didn't think it'd be public health warnings and hygiene instead."

Technically, Baze has no idea what the urinary tract is, nor why you'd need to be naked to get an infection there. But it seems pretty serious--and weird. He grins at Barry.

"Oh, he did that, too," Baze says, laughing. "We were treated to quite the oration. It... was interesting, but I highly doubt we'll use any of the information given in a comparative religious study of Earth, you know?"

He scratches his beard. "Honestly"--as if Baze is ever not honest--"I felt kind of bad for him. He seemed to really want to talk about it, so we sort of let him go on. And on. And on."

"It seemed rude to interrupt him. Maybe he had a frustrated career in the medical field and moved on to religion?" Chirrut suggests with a shrug. "We are glad to hear we're safe, however. I'm not sure what a UTI is, but he made it sound severe."

"They can be really... passionate about what they believe," Barry says, trying to be kind to the man he hasn't met. "But yeah, I've been there."

He's been caught by a religious spiel a time or two. It comes from being too polite to shut the door on someone's face, or walk away when cornered in public.

Opening his mouth then shutting it Barry gives the impression of a fish as he waffles on the next. To explain, or not?

"It's a uh... infection to your, um... internal downstairs plumbing." He makes a vague gesture at his own lap then lifts his hand back up and coughs into it.

"Definitely not somewhere you want an infection, but I don't think rolling in the mud puts you at a huge risk." Unless of course they were naked, as he'd said before and won't be saying again.

Baze's eyes widen, and his mouth makes a little 'o' shape. "Oh! Ohhh. That... really is a weird thing to fixate on. It's... nice of him to be concerned. Yes."

Baze doesn't even know what to say to that. He flounders, accidentally mimicking Barry's fish-like gaping. "So, um, we should change the topic. Chirrut, come up with something, won't you?"

"Ahh..." Chirrut is equally gobsmacked, but valiantly attempts to rise to the occasion. "Do you... like... tea?" When in doubt, retreat to tea - it's worked for him so far.

Yes, Chirrut, please! Barry turns to him expectantly, willing to take any topic at this point.

"Ah, yeah, I drink more coffee than I do tea, but I like it okay," he answers, nodding. "Do you have a favorite?"

He doesn't have much to say on tea, but he'll try and stretch the topic as much as he can to put distance between themselves and the other.

Ah, tea! Baze could rhapsodize about tea for hours.

"Chirrut's favorite is sapir, which is delicious--it's a green tea which tastes of life and growing things," Baze says, cheerfully ordering Chirrut another cup. Bar provides. "I myself don't have a favorite, though chav is all right--it goes down smoothly, and coats the palate--but don't you dare offer me that nasty Tarine stuff. That starts out a little sweet, but then turns bitter and acidic, and the mouthfeel is weird. Lately I've been having Bar surprise me with teas, and asking for recommendations from patrons I've met here. I am always searching for the perfect cup of tea."

Edited 2017-06-05 18:39 (UTC)

"Taurine," Chirrut adds, long-sufferingly, "Is fine. It's cheap, it's plentiful, it won't poison you. Baze just hates it because it was all we could get on NiJedha some... months."

Years.

Whatever.

"Yeah, having the same thing all the time can get pretty old. It's a great thing that you've got Milliways now to give you whatever you'd like."

Barry decides then that he should try more things now that he's found Milliways, too.

"Like I said, I don't drink a lot of tea, but in the summertime Iris makes a sweet tea that's pretty great. As far as I know it's just Lipton and sugar, but she insists there's more to it than that and I can never get it the same so I guess there must be some kind of secret to it."

[ooc: AHH, I'm sorry, y'all! I thought I had replied to this and either never hit post or the internet ate my tag.]

"I'll have to try this Lipton," Baze muses, nibbling on a cracker. "I wonder if Bar can provide your friend's tea? And why does she only make it in the summer? Tea should be drunk year round."

(OOC: No worries! That happens.)

"Especially in the coldest months - any excuse for something warm." Chirrut has made tea from leaves that no longer really imparted any flavor to the water, just to have something to wrap his hands around to keep them warm.

"It's an iced tea, so it's pretty perfect for summer. Central City can get kind of hot around July," he replies.

He looks at the counter, ready to ask and smiling when Bar provides without him having to.

"I guess she can," he says with a chuckle, sliding one glass to Baze and lifting one of the others to offer to Chirrut.

"Here you go, Chirrut. It's pretty basic, but I like it." He holds out the tea, the ice tinking gently against the side of the glass.

"Iced tea?" Baze says, raising his brows. "I've never heard of such a thing. Back ho--on Jedha, ice was the purview of the very rich. I'd never tried it until we cane here, and then it came in a bucket. Which I dumped in Chirrut's lap, naturally."

Naturally.

Baze pulls the glass towards him and takes a gulp--no cautious sips for him!--of the cold tea. He lights up with a warm smile. "That's delicious! Your friend sure knows how to make a good tea. July is a month, right?"

Chirrut takes his glass with a word of thanks, though Baze earns a sour expression.

"Can you believe that, Barry? We get ice for the first time, and his reaction is to try and send me into shock."

He's only mad because Baze beat him to the punch.

Barry lifts his own glass and takes a drink, nodding in approval. Personal bias would have him believe that it isn't quite as good as Iris's, but it's still pretty tasty.

"For real?" he asks, a bit surprised. "For us ice is always just a quick trip to the kitchen away."

Barry tries not to take things for granted, but he certainly never thought of ice as a luxury.

Hearing their first encounter with it he laughs into another drink from his glass, nodding to Baze, "Yeah, July is a month. Some days it can be hot enough that you don't mind an ice bath."

"Well, the thing about Jedha was that the water... When we turned on the faucet, we had to wait until the water bled red, then black, then changed to something approximating clear. You wouldn't want to freeze that," Baze explains, cheerfully drinking his tea. "Fresh water had to be imported, and the very rich would import ice, too, I imagine. They probably had it in buckets, too--which they likely didn't dump in other people's laps."

He shakes his head. "I can't even imagine a whole bath of ice. Baths seem like something else that should be kept warm."