Caritas | Wednesday

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie had arrived at Caritas much, much earlier than she usually did on Wednesday – so early, in fact, that Tino had initially tried to shoo her out before Annie had instead shoved an armload of pink birthday decorations at him and told him to make himself useful.

And thus, by the time Caritas approached its normal opening time, the bar had been fairly covered – haphazardly in spots, and tackily over the top – in pink fringe, pink birthday balloons, a truly silly amount of pink glitter scattered around (thankfully, they still had that vacuum), and a banner draped above the bar.

The specials were a little different from what most people were probably used to, too.

Wednesday Cocktail Specials

First one free for a karaoke song, or participation in the Wednesday Activity!
(ALL drinks free if you are the Birthday Queen)

Pink Lady
Twenty-Three
Cosmopolitan
The Summer Smith (Red Bull, strawberry vodka, rosé, edible glitter, served in red solo cup)
Smoker's Cough

Birthday Cake Pudding Shots
(vegan/virgin available)

Summer Smith-Crafted JELLO SHOTS
Birthday Cake
Pink Lemonade
Chocolate*
Tomato Aspic (???)



Caritas was open, even if it was a little pinker than usual, and at least one of the bartenders might not be who you expected to see back there!

Comments

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

Steven, who actually had Summer's birthday in mind when planning on going to Caritas, was happy to see the decor that was in honor of it.

(Though he did check his phone and watch to confirm it was Wednesday and that Summer's actual birthday had been Monday, yes.)

Steven took a seat at the bar and looked around to admire it all.

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Hey Steven!" Annie was going to credit having Marc sit at her bar during her shift every week for how fast she knew who this was. She'd come so far! "Can I get you a drink with both strawberry vodka and rosé, or would you like a good drink?"

She kidded, she kidded. (She did not really kid.)

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

"Annie, hello!" Steven said. "This all you then? It's lovely! And I'll try a vegan birthday cake if it's available and a pint of Guinness please."

Quietly Steven did have a moment of appreciation for how Summer always knew his drink order because he was a regular here. (Annie, of course, knew Marc's. Which was also nice of her even if Marc would never think to say so.)

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[defenderofdesmoines]

Indeed, Annie had unconsciously drifted towards the whiskey just out of habit.

"You got it, dude," Annie replied brightly, plunking a birthday shot made with vegan Cool Whip in front of him as she grabbed a beer glass. (It was an Annie-made shot, so it was perhaps a little looser than something Summer's expert hands might have crafted, but it still tasted good, she thought! The virgin ones did, anyway!) "And yeah, this is all me. And Tino. I made him get up on a chair to hang the banner."

But not without a little, 'Are you kidding, Tino? I'm pregnant,' argument, first.

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

Steven blinked. As far as he could remember he'd never been called "dude" before. He thought it was rather fun, actually.

"This works out nicely for me," Steven admitted. "I was planning on wishing her happy birthday today anyway. Now I'm on theme with the rest of the night."

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[defenderofdesmoines]

"She deserves as many people wishing her happy birthday as we can get," Annie told Steven with a firm nod as she pulled his pint and set it before him. "I kinda figured most people would turn out for her birthday tonight if they knew about it, since she was occupado on the day itself."

And you know what was bullshit? Working on your pseudo-birthday, too.

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

"Cheers," Steven said when she put his pint down. "Ended up busy on Monday myself. Bit of an unpleasant surprise in Lana's class. No one's fault but it did throw a spanner into the works as far as the rest of the day."

Was Steven still occasionally sending worried looks Llewellyn's way? Yes.

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Well, I had an appointment on Monday, myself, and I think even Summer was busy, anyway. But I knew she'd show up for work today," Annie replied, snagging a virgin pink lemonade shot for herself and raising her eyebrows.

She had a vague idea that Lana was the woman who looked a weird amount like her former costar, Charlize, but otherwise wasn't terribly aware of what she was teaching, or anything. "What happened with class?"

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

"She does work hard," Steven agreed. "And there was an accident with the portal. We ended up in a casino with all sorts of shady types. Marc popped in to keep an eye on things. Not how we planned for him to join in on one of those trips but there we are."

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, jeez," Annie said, eyes widening. "I'm always scared of that happening."

Not just with portals, but she had also always harbored a little fear that Five might accidentally pitch them all back to the dinosaurs one of these days. (And America had, for a second, amidst the paint and cubing of themselves!)

"But that sounds...my perception's skewed, but that sounds kind of fun to me," Annie admitted. "Doesn't sound like it was in your case."

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

"Much more Marc's sort of place than mine," Steven admitted. "And Llewellyn - it wasn't particularly fun for him, no."

Steven knew Llewellyn felt self-conscious about the various reasons why a casino was an unpleasant surprise, so he left those details for Llewellyn to tell Annie himself if he cared to.

"We spent the entire time at the bar, the three of us."

Steven not physically there, but there all the same.

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, not a bad way to go," Annie noted, privately thinking that she could not picture Marc having any fun at a casino, anyway. "I've never been to one I wasn't performing at, actually. Not much of a card player." She shot a slightly-mischievous little smile over. "Now, slots, I could work with...."

Because Annie had finally embraced her morally-greyish period, and she could cheat like the Dickens at slots!

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

"Marc did meet someone at least," Steven said. So yet again point in favor of getting Marc out in public places. "Atton? Are you familiar with him at all?"

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[stykera]

He couldn't only talk to Summer all night so at some point Stark made his way over to Steven, giving a little wave as he did so with his free hand. The other was holding a drink, of course.

"Hello, Steven!"

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

"Hello, Stark!" Steven replied in kind. He smiled at his friend. "I heard Monday went brilliantly."

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[stykera]

Stark grinned and ducked his head a little. "She seemed very happy with everything," he said. "Very happy."

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

"She certainly did when talking to me about it," Steven said, since he knew information like that could be helpful when you worried about someone's opinion. "Said it was a spa?"

Actually Summer had said it was a spaaaa but it was best for everyone if Steven didn't try to attempt Summer's accent.

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[stykera]

"She took me there once before," Stark said, nodding and glancing down at his very fancy color-changing nails with a smile.

"To the spa. With Rey. And Annie. She talks about it often so I thought...I thought she'd like to go again. To do whatever she liked. She seemed happy, when she talked to you? What did she say?"

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

"Very happy," Steven assured him. He knew what it was like. Someone might tell you that they liked something but it was possible they were being polite. Saying they were happy to someone else made it more real. "Not too many details I'm afraid but if I had to guess she thought it was absolutely wonderful."

She'd also mentioned that Stark worried too much but Steven knew being told that sort of thing only made a person worry more. So Steven was going to keep that detail to himself.

"But it was just the two of you?" Steven asked to be sure. Annie had indicated she hadn't been along for the trip, so he assumed Rey might not have been either.

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[stykera]

Oh, Stark knew that he worried too much. He'd been told that often enough.

"Just us," he confirmed. "Summer, and me. I wanted her to...to have other people taking care of everything for her for the day. So she could just relax and do whatever she liked the whole day."

And night.

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

"Sounds lovely," Steven said. He made himself comfortable so the two of them could have a proper chat. "Was it the whole day then? Just the two of you?"

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[stykera]

"The whole day," Stark told him, another smile slowly spreading across his face. "Just us. We had massages and manicures...and a very nice room."

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

"A room for the massages and manicures?" Steven asked. "That sounds nice and private. Extra relaxing, I'd wager."

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[stykera]

"I didn't mean to book a room for two for the massages but I booked two and they thought it was meant to be for a couple and we're not..."

They weren't not though.

"But I did book a room. For the night. It was very nice. A very nice room. With room service food and the most amazing cake. It floated."

Re: Bar | 6/21/23

[hasaknightjob]

"The cake floated?" Steven asked, because it was possible the room was the thing that floated. Stranger things in the multiverse had happened.

(Or... well maybe rather mundane things if the spa was located on a boat.)

"However do you eat it?"