Caritas, Friday Evening

[built_fjord_tough]

Another week, another shift at the bar. This week, Fjord was braced for weirdness, since it seemed as though it had been going around the place. He looked around for wayward spaghetti, tried the taps to make certain the beer was running as beer... Nah, it was all good.

It wasn't until he pulled out a glass to fill it for the first customer of the night that he had to pause to squint into it. It had been empty when he reached to pick it up, but the moment he had?

"Calamari...?"

He tried another glass, and it filled up with fried squid pieces, too. And that set off a hunt around the bar to try to find something he could fill with alcohol instead.

Fishbowls. Apparently tonight was going to be Fishbowl Friday, whether people wanted them or not.

Caritas is open. Help yourself to a nice tall glass of squid.

[OOC: Open!]

Comments

[1000yearstoolate]

Since Seivarden had made it her habit to show up at Caritas on Fridays, she did so today, arriving early. Taking a seat at the bar opposite Fjord, she said:

"So, what's going on today?"

There had to be something.

[built_fjord_tough]

Fjord, in reply, just heaved a sigh, reached for an empty glass, and set it down in front of her.

At least the calamari it filled up with along the way was fresh and hot?

"It'll be drinking from a bottle or from a fishbowl tonight," he sighed. "Help yourself to the calamari. We have plenty. It's not bad, for unexpected magic seafood."

[1000yearstoolate]

"I'll have a bottled beer, then," Seivarden said. "How does the seafood get into the glass?"

It looked tasty enough, but she really wanted to know first.

[built_fjord_tough]

"Just kind of appears whenever I pick an empty one up. Tino doesn't seem to have that problem, but--" He glanced over at Tino, who rolled his eyes and then picked up a glass off his own.

Marinara sauce. His filled up with marinara sauce.

"His results aren't much better."

[1000yearstoolate]

"I prefer these," Seivarden said after a quick look at the marinara sauce. She picked a calamari and eyed it a bit suspiciously before taking a bite.

"Not bad. It might go well with beer."

She had actually wanted whiskey tonight, but ordering a whole bottle to drink from seemed a bit excessive.

"So, how have you been?"

[built_fjord_tough]

Fjord smiled wryly as he opened the fridge to pull out a bottle for her, plucking the cap off of it with ease.

"Well enough," he replied. "Class isn't a complete disaster so far, Amaya's been teaching me new kinds of metalwork at the forge. I did stop by here on Wednesday..."

He... made a face. It was not the face of a man who had a great 'meeting the new bartender' experience.

"Probably best to just avoid that night of the week. How about yourself?"

[1000yearstoolate]

Seivarden had to admit she was pleased that they agreed about the Wednesday bartender.

"Did you try the beer?" she asked, then continued: "I met a new neighbour, other than that..."

She shrugged.

[special_rabbit]

Y'know, Amaya hadn't really talked to Seivarden much lately, for a while really, thanks, schedule, yet she saw her at the bar every Friday now, too, and that made her feel it was probably high time for them to catch up a little.

Sure, she still felt a little bad about the whole RoboCop CyborgPolice incident, but surely enough time had passed for the winds to blow over on that a little.

So she lifted her fishbowl-of-ale in a two-handed toast with a faint grin in greeting. "Hey, there, Captain," she offered. "How've you been?"

[1000yearstoolate]

At least Amaya wasn't to blame for the reaction some people had had to her opinion about that movie.

"Amaya," Seivarden said, smiling back. "Not too bad. And you?"

It was silly how nice it felt to be called Captain.

[special_rabbit]

Amaya always liked the impersonal shield of titles, anyway, and it always seemed to get a good response out of Seivarden, so she had every intention of keeping it up.

"Can't complain," she shrugged, sipping as well as one could from a fishbowl. "Or, at least, I could, but I shouldn't, as there's not too much to complain about. Just keeping myself busy, as per usual, glad the end of the year's over so things can settle into a more normal pace around here."

[1000yearstoolate]

"Yeah, I don't miss that holiday," Seivarden said, drinking from her bottle. "Fjord mentioned you're making spears."

Which wasn't much better than swords, but still.

[special_rabbit]

"Spearheads," Amaya corrected, because it was a big difference, really, spears added a whole 'nother element and everything!, but she nodded, grinning faintly. "And he made them, mostly, I just told him how to do it and left it to him. Packed them up to ship out today, as a matter of fact. Just a couple dozen, for the Guard back home."

And here, she couldn't help chuckling a little, grinning almost fondly. "They went and got all theirs pilfered by a bunch of goblins, and the guy they got to replace me's currently a newt! So even way out here, I've got King Edward paying my bills. Not a bad situation to be in, really."

[1000yearstoolate]

"Sounds good for business," Seivarden said. "I mean, I'm sure the person they replaced you with couldn't compete with even when not being a newt."

It was flattery, yes, but Seivarden guessed she was probably right, too.

"I've been meaning to ask you: do you make small objects as well? Like jewelry?"

[special_rabbit]

"'Evening, Fjord." Plenty clear-eyed this week, Amaya still thought it was wise to check the seat she sat on before she did, just in case, and knocked a grin toward her favorite bartender-slash-apprentice. "What's the good word in the bar business this week, hm?"

[built_fjord_tough]

"Calamari," Fjord replied, reaching for a glass to demonstrate this new nonstop bottomless squid situation he appeared to be in. "But we can put your ale into a fishbowl this week, if you don't mind mixing it up a little."

And getting more ale. Such hardship.

"How are you doing tonight, Amaya?"

[special_rabbit]

"Huh," seemed to be the near-grunt of a response most appropriate for the demonstration, Amaya's head tilted a little as she considered the glass of little fried squids. She considered them only a moment, though, before plucking one out of the top of the glass and popping it into her mouth.

"Bit chewy," she decided, while still chewing, of course. "But not bad! And I'm well enough. Packed up those spearheads today, got them all cozy in a crate and on their merry way. You did a real good job on them, Fjord, though, honestly, I expected no less. Not so sure about ale in a fishbowl, though."

But a vessel was a vessel.

"Only drinks I've seen served in those are those bright, fruity concoctions they serve up to the tourists down in Tanalore."

And those were drinks that could get you into some trouble...

[built_fjord_tough]

"I enjoyed the work," Fjord replied, smiling lopsidedly. "Glad to hear you approve."

He nodded toward the line of fishbowls, just waiting for alcohol.

"Not much to be done about this situation, I'm afraid. Unless you want to see how squid tastes with ale on it."

Eh, he'd try it once. And then shake his head and retreat back to whiskey.

[special_rabbit]

Amaya, so help her, considered it rather seriously for probably a bit too long.

"I think a fishbowl'll be just fine," she concluded in the end, though, nodding faintly. "Less work for you in the long run that way, too."

The last bit was said with an ironic grin, though.

[built_fjord_tough]

"And we all know how I feel about work," Fjord chuckled, shaking his head and reaching for a fishbowl to top up with ale. "But really, since apparently I have the magic squid touch today, if you want a top-up on that calamari, you just let me know."

[mages_suck]

Fenris went to the bar. Partly to see Fjord. Partly to complain to Fjord. He would have complained to any bartender there but that it happened to be his roommate just gave him a two-fer.

He plunked down on a barstool and said, "Today is a day for double whiskeys. I bought a phone."

Now that he could read and spell enough to use one.

[built_fjord_tough]

See Fjord. See Fjord immediately reach for a fishbowl.

"A phone? You?" He grinned a little. "Why, who are you and what have you done with Fenris, friend?"

[mages_suck]

"I know, I know," Fenris said glumly, "I didn't want one but you weren't home and I wanted to look up pictures of guns."

He made a face, "Unless Seivarden was making a pass at me over my upper arms, I somehow don't think those were the guns she meant. There are others that are made of metal but there are so many of them."

Shotguns, rifles, handguns, assault rifles, something called a 'derringer' that Fenris was pretty sure was a toy.

He dug into a pouch and put the shiny new smartphone on the bar. It still had the plastic film over the display. "Wake up," he ordered it. The screen came to life. "Show me the guns."

It did. An entire screen full of big handsome biceps and also firearms. "See?"

[built_fjord_tough]

"Those are quite the guns," Fjord agreed, leaning over to peer at the search results. And then just smirked a little. "I have a pair of those, myself."

Was he giving a little one-arm flex, just grinning slightly as he did so?

Absolutely. He was apparently in a good mood today.

[mages_suck]

Fenris flexed his own arm and glanced between the two curiously. "Eh. Yours are bigger." It wasn't really a surprise, Fjord was pretty much bigger in every dimension.

Fenris grinned at him, "Fjord of the mighty thews. You work in a fjorge now so they'll likely get even bigger."

[built_fjord_tough]

"No complaints if they do," Fjord chuckled, shaking his head. "Though they did get a decent head-start before I ever came here. Merchant sailing isn't a job without its share of lifting, after all."

Just not so much by way of swinging a hammer at things.