Devil's Nest, Monday, Feb. 11

[bitten_notshy]

Someone had ordered enough heart-shaped chocolates on post-Valentine's Day sale for every booth and table in the lounge to get a bowl brimming with them, with extras scattered along the bar and plenty left over. Tiny swore he knew nothing about it, but the ring of candy around his mouth and the conversation heart dust on his hands suggested otherwise.

Jack popped a Reese's heart into his mouth and went back to bar paperwork.

[OOC: Open club, no OCD.]

Comments

[not_a_whiner]

"Remind me to make sure there's no speed dating going on next time I walk into Caritas," Kaidan said ruefully, sitting down by the bar.

[bitten_notshy]

"I will. Come here instead," Jack said cheerfully, moving around toward the beer taps,. "We don't force anyone to socialize. And we have approximately enough candy to get us through summer."

[not_a_whiner]

"Someone throw someone else a big Valentine's party around here?" Kaidan asked, finally registering all the candy.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack shook his head. "We got an enormous shipment of the sale stuff in this morning. I didn't order it and I know it wasn't Eric."

Was that a glare at Tiny's back? Yes, it was.

[not_a_whiner]

Kaidan's eyebrows went up-- at Tiny, yeah. Who else could it be? "You could start passing it around as... after-drinks candy, maybe."

[bitten_notshy]

"Or I could announce a special on dessert drinks and use the hearts for garnish," Jack said. "There is such a thing as a chocolate martini. Did you know that?"

Jack liked chocolate and martinis, but was not convinced any drink made with candy had much business being called a martini.

[not_a_whiner]

"I... did," Kaidan admitted after a brief silence, almost as if he didn't want to admit it. "Can't say I've ever wanted to go near one, though. Seems..."

What was the right word?

"Sugary."

[bitten_notshy]

"I would have gone with absolutely wrong," Jack told him. "But -- I just mix drinks. I don't have to try them all."

[not_a_whiner]

"You probably wouldn't make it very far if you tried," Kaidan offered. "There's, uh. A lot of alcohol here."

[bitten_notshy]

"A lot of everything. We stock things from other worlds when we can, and sodas for the students," Jack said. "... not that they come in here much when there's a Caritas."

[not_a_whiner]

"As long as your boss actually keeps to his liquor license, you won't be seeing a lot of people under twenty-one around here," Kaidan agreed. "But I can't see that as a bad thing. And I'm also not objecting to your drinks collection... of course."

[bitten_notshy]

Jack nodded his agreement. "Did you want anything?" he asked. "And how bad was speed dating? Allie said her three minutes with you wasn't completely terrible."

[not_a_whiner]

"It was... uh, educational." In the sense that Kaidan had been sharply reminded that he wasn't in any state to date right now. "I met some nice people, and some... confusing people." Jaye, Navaan...

[bitten_notshy]

"That sounds about typical. Island's full of the confusing," Jack said. "I swung by after to see April and got treated to a display of ... flexibility."

Navaaan stuck in one's mind.

[not_a_whiner]

"Do I want to ask?" Kaidan wondered. "...Okay, I'm asking."

[bitten_notshy]

"Navaan," Jack said, sounding bemused. "She started things by suggesting her thighs as earmuffs and did a backbend after I turned her down. Then she saw something shiny and wandered off. She's not like any vampire I've ever met."

[not_a_whiner]

"...Yeah, I remember her," Kaidan said, after a short pause. Because that had been... bewildering. "She kicked off our date by making a pun about me having 'nice buns'."

[bitten_notshy]

Kaidan did have unquestionably nice buns, but Jack understood why that was not normally the first thing one said to him.

"I think she left with Starsmore," he said. "So she must just keep trying until someone bites." A pause. "I wasn't going for a pun."

[not_a_whiner]

"Well, she's definitely up front about what she wants, I guess," Kaidan said.

Just thinking about Navaan made him sound mildly nonplussed again.

[bitten_notshy]

"She is. And you can't blame someone for trying," Jack said. Nonplussed wasn't a bad way to describe his reaction, either.

[not_a_whiner]

"Sure," Kaidan said, rubbing at the back of his neck. "But don't judge me for wanting a beer all of a sudden. I mean..."

[bitten_notshy]

"No judgement here," Jack said, putting his hands up. "I know you're a little more restrained."

[not_a_whiner]

"I don't mind flirting," Kaidan hedged. "Really, I don't."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'm sure, but I don't think I've ever seen you do it," Jack pointed out in a tone that suggested he found this unusual but not a character defect.

[not_a_whiner]

Sigh. "Okay, maybe I'm a little out of practice," Kaidan admitted. "I could really use that beer, though."

[bitten_notshy]

"I missed that was a request," Jack said, feeling his point had been made. He went to draw the beer anyhow and passed it across the bar. "There you are."

[not_a_whiner]

"Thanks," Kaidan said, lifting the beer in mock-toast. "To surviving five rounds of almost complete strangers." Beat. "Or, I guess, getting to provide therapy for us afterwards."

[bitten_notshy]

"I'll get my own beer for that one," Jack laughed, and did just that.