Caritas, Sunday

[suitably_heroic]

It was a perfectly ordinary Sunday night at Caritas.

In this case, that meant a decidedly wet Atton was behind the bar, yelling at a group of roving bunnies currently hitting the dance floor.

That kind of ordinary.

[[ open! ]]

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[intotheout]

Tip led the way in. "So. This is Caritas. There's the bar, there's the stage, and there. . . ." She pointed, making a little face. "Are the zombies."

[justice_undone]

Breq glanced around, gaze stopping at the zombie band. "How do they even play without their fingers falling off?"

She looked at Tip. "Do you go here often?"

[intotheout]

"Duct tape?" Tip guessed. "Not really. This might only be, like, my third time here. I tend to stay home and read a lot."

[justice_undone]

"You have to show me what you read some time," Breq said. She looked at the band again, then at the bar.

"Are we expected to buy something to drink before we sing?"

[intotheout]

"Probably," Tip said. "It doesn't have to be alcohol though. What are you in the mood for?"

[justice_undone]

"Something without alcohol," Breq replied. She wasn't sure how this body reacted to it, and didn't feel like experimenting. "Tea? Or what do you suggest?"

[intotheout]

"I'll probably have a soda. I doubt they have very good tea here. Maybe coffee? Or juice."

[justice_undone]

"I'll try the soda," Breq said. "I'm not sure what it is, but I'm happy to try."

She turned towards the bar and headed towards it, determined, then looked at Tino.

[intotheout]

Tip hurried to catch up. "We can order a couple different kinds," she offered. "Soda's a lot sweeter than tea, with lots of flavours." She flashed Tino an awkward smile. "I'd like a birch beer please!"

[justice_undone]

It was probably a good thing that Tip compensated for Breq not smiling.

Breq turned her head to look at Tip. "Birch is a tree, isn't it? Please, you choose."

[intotheout]

"Yup. It's kind of a Pennsylvania thing. That's where I'm from." She thought for a few moments, then looked back at Tino. "Can we have a ginger ale, too?"

[justice_undone]

"Should we stand here or find a table?" Breq asked, waiting for Tino to get the bottles.

[intotheout]

"Table," Tip decided. "Hanging out at the bar is more for when you want to talk to the bartender."

And Tino was frankly a little bit creepy.

"So what do you think you might sing?"

[justice_undone]

Breq picked up both bottles as they arrived and turned around, looking for a table.

"I don't know many songs from here. I've been listening to the CDs at work, of course."

She considered the options for a moment. "Jono played this one for me on the guitar. I found a recording with the lyrics too."

She began to sing the first few lines softly. It was sad how she was stuck with only this voice, which wasn't very pleasant.

[intotheout]

"Oh. Um." Tip nodded, reminding herself that plenty of rock singers' voices weren't great, too. "I don't think i know that one. It sounds like it might be pretty, though."

[justice_undone]

"The musicians are called Pearl Jam, Jono told me," Breq said. "Have you thought of a song?"

[intotheout]

"Well, Rihanna's my voice actor in the movie favorite, so probably one of hers." Tip took a sip of her birch beer, thinking. "There's this one I always sing along to when I listen to it." She took a deep breath and started softly singing the opening lines. It was right on the highest end of her register, and her voice was untrained, but overall, she was pretty good.

[justice_undone]

"I haven't heard it," Breq said when Tip had finished. Yes, she definitely had the better voice of the two of them. "I like it very much." She did.

[intotheout]

"Isn't it? A lot of her songs are about partying, which is fun too, but that one's my favorite. The background music has this cool driving drumbeat, too."

[justice_undone]

"I like the lyrics too," Breq said. She put the bottles on a table and sat down, glancing towards the zombie band.

[intotheout]

"Yeah, they're cool, too," Tip agreed. "Try your ginger ale. I'm curious what you think of it."

[justice_undone]

Breq took a drink from the bottle, blinking at the fizziness. "It tastes... like ginger," she said.

She wasn't used to being served anything but water, and had only recently taken up the Radchaai habit of drinking tea.

"I like it."

[intotheout]

Tip smiled. "Cool. Want to try some of my birch beer, too?"

[justice_undone]

Breq reached for the other bottle and drank from it.

"I would like to say that it tastes like birch, but I don't know what that taste like."

She added a smile here.

[intotheout]

"Pretty sure neither does anyone else," Tip agreed cheerfully. "It's kind of like root beer -- no one knows what roots are supposed to taste like either."