The Devil's Nest, Monday, November 28, 2022

[texted3times]

Eric came into the bar to discover a six-foot tall turkey sculpture made out of stuffing and mashed potatoes and placed right on top of Lucifer's piano.

"Why," Eric asked, pointing to the sculpture. "Why?"

Tiny shrugged.

"Well, at least it'll piss off Lucifer, too," Eric decided, looking on the bright side.

The Devil's Nest was open.

Comments

[sword_chocobro]

"Well, you've got to hand it to him," said Gladio, as conciliatory as one could in the given circumstances, after having gone over and giving that attention-grabbing piece of artwork a complete 360 evaluation, "the man's got talent."

Sure. Let's call it that.

[texted3times]

"Well, food-based art pays nothing, so that explains why he's still here," Eric said dryly.

[sword_chocobro]

"It's almost making me sad that I missed his iconic Olive Period."

It was also making Gladio kind of hungry, too, but that was beside the point.

"Think he'd ever consider working with Cup Noodle^TM as a medium? I know a guy who'd might consider commissioning it."

What a lovely centerpiece it could make for Liz and Prompto's wedding, maybe!

[texted3times]

"I'm sure he'd love to work in Cup Noodle," Eric said. "The freak."

[sword_chocobro]

"Yeah, right?" Gladio couldn't keep the smirk off his face if he tried. "What a weirdo."

A weirdo he might definitely need to talk to later. What? He supported local arts!

"So. How've you been, Eric? Guy like you do anything for that holiday we just had?"

[texted3times]

Eric shook his head. "I don't eat food," he said, "so it's not really my holiday. I prefer Halloween where I can really lean into the stereotypes. How about you?"

[sword_chocobro]

"Not from this world," Gladio offered, "much less this country, but my roommate's a total gourmand and will take an excuse to take over a kitchen. So from where me and my stomach are sitting, I'm a fan of it so far."

[itsananomaly]

Cutter had had a very rough few days dealing with a future predator, nearly getting a teammate killed and being fired for a few hours as a result and after his conversation with Connor this morning he really needed a drink, “scotch, a lot of it please,” he sighed as he took a seat at the bar.

[texted3times]

Tiny brought over a scotch--not a lot of it--as Eric arched up an eyebrow. "Bad weekend?"

[itsananomaly]

“It wasn’t one of the better ones,” Cutter sighed, “I shouldn’t have gone back, it wouldn’t have turned out to be such a huge mess,”

Yes he had eventually resolved it but he should never have let it get that bad in the first place.

[texted3times]

"Why did you go back, then?" Eric asked.

[itsananomaly]

“Jenny asked,” Cutter admitted, “she …well she looks like a woman I cared about before she well …got erased by the timeline, her name was Claudia … I don’t know how but she became Jenny,” he sighed, “I could never say no to her, Claudia was the one who recruited me for the Home Office,”

[texted3times]

That was a lot of names without context for Eric, but he nodded along anyway. "So a stranger than looks like a dead coworker you loved told you to go home and everything turned to shit?"

[fates_jaye]

"He's never gonna make it in the art world unless he gets some proper training," Jaye tsked.

[texted3times]

"I'm not sending him to school," Eric said.

[fates_jaye]

"Good, it would be a waste of your money," Jaye agreed.

[texted3times]

"Plus I'd need a new bartender," Eric said.

[fates_jaye]

"What, you don't wanna pick up the slack?"

Asked Jaye, the laziest bartender.

[texted3times]

"I don't serve humans," Eric said.

Beat.

"I make exceptions for blowjobs. Occasionally."

[tellmehowstuffworks]

Yennefer stepped into the bar and...considered stepping right back out.

This. This was why she didn't get out very often.

"What," she said, still staring at the thing on the piano, "in the name of Melitele."

[texted3times]

"It's a turkey made out of leftovers," Eric said. "I didn't make it."

[tellmehowstuffworks]

"Well, that's a relief." It would be a shame if a man as pretty as Eric was also capable of something like that. "Why, though?"

[texted3times]

"My guess is that Tiny desperately needs therapy," Eric said. "Can he get you a drink?"

[tellmehowstuffworks]

"You let the person who did that serve drinks?

"...red wine." He couldn't fuck that up, could he?

[texted3times]

"He can't fuck that one up," Eric assured her. "He's actually a very good bartender. Shit at art, though."