milliways_bar | Barmaid on Duty!

Barmaid on Duty!

Elaine is very glad she slept for most of the day tonight.

She's got a very bad headache, and the room still looks...fuzzy.

Also, she's not really with it.

Yeah, she's a tad hungover.

But she'll deal with it. It's better for her to work, anyway.

Even if she does look like hell.

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A small white hand comes to lay an arrangement of fall flowers and brightly colored leaves on the bar's syrface by her, and Anne smiles at her.

"Hello, Elaine."

Elaine smiles a little. "Good even, Anne. What lovely flowers."

"Thank you," she says, returning the smile with a warm and cheerful one of her own. "I thought I'd get some to brighten my room, and for you, if you'd like."

"That is very sweet of you." Elaine rubs her eyes. "We should make plans for our outing. Not for a couple of days, mind. I did something rather stupid last night and now I'm paying for it."

"Please don't worry about it," Anne says, laying her small hand on Elaine's. "We plenty of time, don't we?"

Her gray eyes are warm, but there is concern for her friend underneath.

"How are you, dearest?"

"Aye, yes, plenty of time." Elaine pats Anne's hand. "I am feeling rather horrible, actually. I drank rather more than I was wont last night. I ended up maudlin and being sick half the night. Not a fun thing, I definitely would not recommend it."

"Oh, dear."

Anne bites her lip.

"I'm sorry you don't feel well. I--" She hesitates before telling the story, but her mouth quirks into a wry smile. "I accidentally got my best friend in all the world very drunk, when we were still quite young. I thought I was giving her raspberry cordial, but it was really currant wine. Poor Diana was so ill, and her mother forbade me to see her again."

"Oh, dear! You did get to see her again, didn't you?" Elaine knows that even in her time, it was frowned upon for a woman to drink to excess.

"Yes," Anne says, thinking back.

"Mrs. Barry forgave me when I took care of her youngest daughter, Minnie May, who was really terribly sick with croup, and Diana and I have been inseperable ever since."

A pause. "Well, until I came here, anyway."

Elaine pats Anne's shoulder gently. "You'll get back someday, I'm sure. I would hate being seperated from all of my friends, I know that."

"I know I will," Anne says, firmly, and smiles at Elaine.

"And it's such a comfort to have Gil here, you know. Well." She hesitates. "Most of the time, anyway. You'll have to meet him, Elaine! I've told him all about you."

Elaine grins back. "Oh, I should love to meet him, Anne. He's obviously a very special friend to you. I hope you've only told him good things, of course."

"I only have good things to say," she says, earnestly. "I told him that you were my first friend here, after all."

Elaine smiles. "I'm glad of that, Anne. How is Gil settling in around here?"

"I think he's doing well," she says, but there's a tiny frown between her eyebrows.

"Truthfully, I think he's a bit bored. There was so much work to do in Avonlea, at the schools and on the farms, that it was nice to have a bit of time in the evening, but I think Gil is getting a bit tired of having nothing to do at all."

"Yes," she says quietly. "For a man used to being active, it can be quite difficult to have so much free time."

Elaine pauses. "He could start tutoring, maybe...I know I could not read when I first came here. Maybe there are others like that here, as well."

Anne's eyes light up, and she gives Elaine an impromptu hug.

"That's a lovely idea! I'll tell him that, and we'll see what he says."

Elaine laughs in surprise and hugs Anne back. "I'm glad you approve. I do hope we can give him something to do."

She knows Ryan was often very bored here, after all.

She hopes desperately that he's at peace, wherever he is.

Anne hugs her tightly for a moment, before pulling away.

"I'm sure he'd appreciate any ideas at all, really," she says, earnestly. "I don't think he's feeling quite at home enough to introduce himself to people he doesn't already know yet, and this will help."

She sits nearby, and looks up at Elaine.

"Would you like to go apple-picking, when we have our outing?"

She laughs, and it's genuine. "I didn't even know we had an orchard after all this time! That would be lovely, and I should show you the flowers I grow."

"Oh," Anne laughs, "I don't know if there's an orchard, but I thought there might be a few apple trees along the edges of the woods, grown from apple cores people have tossed aside. It'll be an adventure to find, won't it?"

And she smiles, at the thought. "You grow flowers, Elaine? Oh, I'd love to see them!"

Elaine laughs. She has wonderful friends. "Yes, it certainly shall be a pleasant sort of adventure. And I think you'd like my flowers--and I think they'd like you as well."

"The flowers would like me?"

Anne's smile turns wistful.

"Oh, Elaine, what a beautiful thought. What kind of flowers are they? Lilies?"

"I've got lilies, yes. And orchids and dasies and poppies. Oh, violets and stephanotis, too. It's lovely in there."

"And do they live all through the winter?" Anne asks, interested.

"I would so love to be able to go among fresh flowers when it's cold outside."

"Yes, the greenhouse is quite snug and warm, even in the winter. It gets quite cold around here."

"I'm sure it does," she says, and doesn't let herself think about still being here when winter comes around.

"Well, dear, I should get these up to the room before they start to wilt, I think, but I'm so glad I caught you for a moment."

She stands to give Elaine another hug, and smiles at her.

"I'll look forward to our outing, alright? And I'll be sure to tell Gilbert what you said."

"Wonderful, Anne. I hope you have a most pleasant evening, dear." She hugs Anne warmly.

It was good to have friends.

"Greetings, and good evening."

Hank McCoy eyes her and surreptiously scans her before approaching, then nods.

"Good even, Hank. And how are you faring this fine evening?"

"Tired, but somewhat alive, I think."

he grins ruefully at her.

"Nothing a good night's sleep wouldnt cure. And you?"

"Unwell, but I suspect the same." She grins ruefully back.

[OOC: sorry, I had to get to bed last night!]

"I wil hope so then. Your good health is a important thing."

He smiled.

"What have you been up to this week?"

"Well, not very much. I've been rather unhappy, of late. My lover has left the bar and I do not think he will be coming back." She sighs.

"My deepest sympathies. I cannot even imagine if such a thing happenned to me, what I would feel."

He shakes his head ruefully.

"I will hope, for your sake that something good comes and happens."

"I am not expecting it. Though I would not look askance at it if it happens."

He smiles ruefully and nods.

"Then I will hope."

He rises.

"I should go. I hope you will have better days."

"Thank you. I hope you are right."

Elaine sighs and rubs at her eyes.

"Until next we meet, be well."

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Barmaid on Duty!

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