semi-open? 12/12ish

[never_very_good]

When; Probably December 12th, but essentially any evening sans curse
Rating; PG 13 (?)
Characters; Frankie Dalton [never_very_good]; Penny [anunluckypenny]; and, if you really want, YOU.
Summary; Frankie's pouring drinks at the Blue Light, as he occasionally does. Up for Penny to bump into him, but if anyone else wants an excuse to chat with him feel free to start a thread~

Log;

From a purely objective point of view, there's very little difference between work at the Blue Light and work at the Raven. He pours drinks. He makes small talk when someone wants to, and keeps his mouth shut when they don't. He cleans up when it's quiet to save time later. Granted, there's more blood downstairs, but it doesn't make much difference to him.

Which makes it a little funny, how much he'd rather be up here.

Tonight's like any other night; any night without a curse, at least. He's keeping busy. Pouring drinks, running a rag over the countertop in between customers, listening to drunken tales of woe and stories that go nowhere.

It's a living.

Comments

12/12

[anunluckypenny]

For Penny, the previous night had been crazy. She's pretty sure that a curse is responsible for all the barhopping, dancing, and kissing that went on, at least on her end. She'd worked hard all day in an attempt to make herself feel more like Penny and not a party animal. Once there wasn't anything left to do she'd headed to the Blue Light, more for a distraction from her own thoughts than anything else.

The bartender is an instant distraction. Penny might not remember the guy's name, but it's hard to forget the face of someone who tries to eat you and then murders your friend.

She considers leaving, but no. She'd forgiven him. A curse was to blame for all of the attacking and killing, not him. Penny takes a deep breath in an attempt to calm her nerves--some part of her isn't convinced that talking to this guy face-to-face is a great idea--and approaches the bar. She can do this. There are a lot of fears left over from October, and this is one fear she can face.

"Hey," she says, forcing a smile.

And forgetting to request a drink.

[never_very_good]

He's just turning back to face the room, having busied himself in the lull of an empty seat with mopping up a few stray drips, and he's not really expecting a familiar face. At least, not that (admittedly only slightly) familiar face. He doesn't jump-- it takes more than that to make Frankie startle-- but it's a bit unsettling. It shouldn't be, maybe; they did talk, they did get over with the worst of it. Still, the last time they met face to face he tried to tear her throat out. That makes small talk a little trickier.

"Penny, right?" He gives her a little nod, a tight curve of his lips that's not exactly a smile, but isn't unfriendly, either.

"What can I get you?"

[anunluckypenny]

Penny doesn't have to fight too hard to avoid the urge to run away screaming when he talks to her, which she thinks is good enough for now. He doesn't look all that threatening, no more than any other guy. There's definitely no throat-ripping-out vibe.

"That's right. I'm sorry... what was your name again?" She shifts from foot to foot and toys with the hem of her cardigan, clearly nervous.

"Oh, um. I don't know if this is a totally weird request, but is there a chance that I could get a hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps? Light on the schnapps?"

[never_very_good]

"Frankie," he answers simply, not really offended; in her place he might have tried to forget. (Admittedly, he'd have failed.) Just like how he's trying not to notice how on edge she is.

He gives her space, leaning back slightly with only the heels of his hands on the rounded edge of the counter. Now there's a faint smile, definitely. It'd be a weirder drink order if the Blue Light didn't serve so many candy-flavored cocktails.

"Sure. Be a minute to heat up, though." And he takes a step back, half-turned, still wanting to put her at ease as he starts prepping her drink.

"Doing better these days?"

[anunluckypenny]

"Frankie, right," she repeats, determined not to forget this time, even if she might have forgotten on purpose initially. Penny relaxes enough to sit and rest her forearms on the counter, hands clasped.

Frankie isn't a monster. He's just a guy who got caught up in a curse. Everything's okay. He might still feel bad about it, even.

"I've got plenty of time." She sits up a little straighter and tries to exude confidence. "Yeah, things are good now. No... people dying, or being tortured, or anything like that. How're you?"

[never_very_good]

"Good to hear," he says with a polite nod. It's only a little bit awkward. Maybe it's a saving grace that he wasn't the worst thing that happened to her in October, but that doesn't mean he's glad about the fact. Penny seems like a nice girl-- he doesn't know her well, but he's a snap judgment kind of guy-- and she definitely doesn't deserve that kind of shit.

"I'm doing all right. Haven't had it so bad with curses since October, so I can't complain, you know?"

[anunluckypenny]

In hindsight, Penny thinks that she may have over-shared. True, she had mentioned the torture to make him feel better, but after saying it out loud... maybe she'll stick to friendlier topics. Frankie might be a bartender, but he doesn't need to hear about people's woes.

"That's good to hear." She drums her fingers on the counter. "Is it... do you mind if I ask about you? Like, what do you do besides work, what your hopes and dreams are... your favorite color..."

[never_very_good]

"My favorite... I dunno, blue?" he says, with little half-huff of laughter. He didn't expect to see her at all, but he certainly didn't expect that.

"I work here now and then, other nights I run a bar Underground. The Raven. I live with my girlfriend. When I'm not working... I dunno, I run a lot," he says with a shrug. "That a start?"

[anunluckypenny]

"No, it's a good start! And blue's good. You know, you're supposed to be able to tell a lot about a person just by what color they like, and blue people are trustworthy and sensitive and thoughtful." She pauses as soon as she catches herself rambling and smiles, embarrassed.

The bar underground sounds interesting. Penny latches on to that, saying, "What's it like? The bar Underground, I mean."

[never_very_good]

"Yeah? I dunno if that's really me. But it's nice." Sensitive is not how he'd describe himself, and trustworthy is... Not how he thinks other people would describe him, though he'd like to imagine he is.

"It's all right. Vampire bar, mainly. I sorta fell into owning it, everyone else in charge left."

[anunluckypenny]

"Sorry, it's just a silly thing. You know, like palm reading or astrology or something. Don't take me too seriously." She just hopes that she didn't offend him, even if he said it's nice.

"A vampire bar?" Penny's surprised, but not horrified. She knows that vampires exist here. "That sounds like it'd be hard, or at least uncomfortable with the blood. If there's blood! I don't mean to assume."

[never_very_good]

"There's blood," he affirms, half-turning to tend to her drink. "Doesn't bother me so much. I was used to it when I started. Truth is I'd rather stay above ground, but, well."

[anunluckypenny]

"But it's good blood, right? The taken-with-permission kind?" Not that it's any of her business. "I'm sorry to have to work it. That kind of thing happens a lot, doesn't it? People leave and suddenly, wow, you have a business all your own."

I really want. So I'm throwing Jimmy on in here.

[trenchknives]

It's weird how much he manages to stay out of trouble these days. There's work, and that takes up a fair amount of his time, and there're the curses, which always require some handling, and then there're the nights where he goes out and has a couple drinks and, miraculously, manages to avoid (most) bar fights. There're still the occasional instances when he just starts throwing punches, but tonight at the Blue Light, he's in a good mood.

And it's the fact that he's in a good mood and that he actually kind of finds himself liking Frankie -- or at least, not disliking him -- despite what the guy had done to him that has him strolling up to the bar to order himself another round with a relaxed grin on his face.

"Hey."

well all right then :3

[never_very_good]

Only in the City do people deal with being eaten in such a well-adjusted manner. Frankie doesn't have a great track record with that. It's not much of a relief, but it does make life a little easier in the practical sense.

He nods in greeting. "How's it going?"

[trenchknives]

"Oh, you know, same old shit. Tryin' to entertain myself, tryin' to stay out of trouble. How're you."

Because, really, you can't hold it against the guy that he'd eaten him. It wasn't like it had been his choice, anyway. Frankie doesn't seem like the type of guy that'd just start eating people left and right if he had any say in the matter.

[never_very_good]

"Bout the same, I guess. Can't complain."

Frankie's glad to be back on the wagon as far as blood goes.

"What can I get you?"

[trenchknives]

"How 'bout an Old Fashioned? I'm still trynna get used to the fact that alcohol's actually legal and decent here."

Alcohol that he doesn't have to hide and that doesn't actually taste awful? It's kind of a novel concept, really. Maybe it shouldn't delight him as much as it does, but it's the little things in life that count, right?

[never_very_good]

"Isn't where you're from?"

Simple enough, and he busies himself fixing the drink without pausing conversation.

[trenchknives]

"Well, some of it isn't horrible, but none of it's legal. The stuff people get smuggled in is usually..."

A shrug. "Passable. Decent enough, but expensive. It's kinda nice to be in a place where I don't gotta worry about that."

[never_very_good]

"This won't make you go blind, either. Probably,"

He says, cracking a half-grin as he sets the glass on the bar.

[trenchknives]

He laughs and then takes a long drink from it, nodding his appreciation. "Well, I guess if it does make me go blind, at least I can say it tasted good, right? Thanks. You bartend here a lot?"

He doesn't recall seeing him before, but then, Jimmy alternates between which bars he goes to a whole lot, so he isn't exactly a regular anywhere.

[never_very_good]

"Not so often. Mostly I pick up shifts if someone's out, but I'm down at the Raven most nights. Used to be more split but there's no one else I trust to manage now, so."

He shrugs.

[trenchknives]

"The Raven? Not sure I'm familiar with it. Must keep you busy, havin' two jobs. I've only got the one, myself, 'n that's got me plenty busy."

Of course, there're things he does on the side, but those're so minimal these days... it's almost strange, keeping himself this on the straight and narrow.

[never_very_good]

"It's Underground. Vampire bar, mainly. Sort of fell in my lap when the people who ran it left, so..." He leans back, glances over the room. "Pays the bills, you know? What do you do?"