It's a Tuesday night at Club Carnivale and it's not too busy. People come and go but the bar is nowhere near full and Joel has it easily handled. He fills up a drink here and there, and when he's not doing that, he's standing and chatting a bit with the patrons that decide to linger.
She doesn't move slowly, per se: Gisa moves with that deliberateness that marks just about everything she does. She opens the door, and holds it for her current companion -- Satyr and Golem, what a pair. She rumbles, "It is a good thing that you are working for Joel, he is a kind person, from my experience, boychik." Her manner toward Sid is familial, familiar, and more than a bit warmer than she normally is with people.
Sid strolled up with his vans, his cargo shorts, t-shirt under dress shirt. That boy was everything one would expect him to be on the houtside; confident, casual, collected. Romancers didn't really get an opt-out or a casual Friday on these things. His sunglasses slid up to the top of his head as he poked around for Joel agreeing, "Yeah if Sen'ya's cool I was like well. It's weird but... good to sort of get back to my roots. Starting to come up really short on those."
Joel spots them before they reach the bar, both Sid and Gisa, and he's turning away from the conversation that he was having for a few moments. Before the two of them reach the bar he has a glass of blackberry wine set on its surface on a small white napkin for Gisa, and he does not yet know Sid's drink of choice, so he waits for the pair to arrive before he glances over to Sid and asks "What'll it be?" Then he turns his attention to Gisa and dips his head a bit. "Evening. Make yourselves comfortable."
"Shalom, Joel," Gisa answers, and she clambers up on the stool in front of the drink that he placed out. "Ah, you know me so well. Well, well enough to know my blackberry wine. I hear you know Sid already?" She leans forward, props her forearms on the bar, and picks up the glass. A sip of it, and then she makes a contented, small sound in the back of her throat. Her head tilts to the side. "Yeah, for sure," she agrees with Sid. "Whatever makes you comfortable."
Sid looked to Joel and held a fist out in greeting. He ventured what sounded like a guess, "Dirty martini?" The satyr hath spoken. "Scraps, I didn't know yous two knew one another, but when you got the hotspot I guess that happens." There was a faint curl of a smile. He fell quiet getting an idea for who and what was around. Getting ideas. Being back around people? That was kinda refreshing.
"We've met," Joel agrees with both of them, apparently, upon having met the other. He moves to mix Sid's drink, continuing to converse as he does so with the skill of one who doesn't even really need to look in order to make the drinks anymore. "Didn't know that you two knew one another." He then nods toward the lounge and says, "Going to let him join the cast of characters, wow some folks."
Her contented expression makes it clear that, indeed, she not only knows Sid but is pleased to do so. "Yes -- I know his grandmother, and we met in Israel as a result. I was delighted when he came to visit, and hope he has come to stay." Picking up her glass again, she raises it in a small salute to the barkeep, "L'chaim." And then a proper sip, followed by another small, contented sound. "Good! I am glad that he has a job."
Sid watched the drink get made and looked to Gisa, while he leaned one arm on teh abr and then back to Joel. WIth a shrug of his shoulder he added, "Yeah my last tour unexpectedly ended in the middle east sooo ya know I thought I'd have a good panic and then look her up. Met some pretty rad people out there. Wanted to come back and see if I could pick up where I left off on other projects." You know his actual real life but he was polite enough to euphamize in teh most mundane way he could.
Joel is over at the bar making drinks where Sid and Gisa seem to have recently arrived. There's a glass of blackberry wine in front of Gisa and a dirty martini is placed in front of Sid before Joel says, "Yeah, I know how that goes. The whole, picking up on projects.. thing." He seems to appreciate the fact that Sid takes into account the public nature of their locale. He's used to speaking in vagueries. He gets it. He then asks Gisa, "You seen him perform before?"
"Mmm," Gisa agrees, reaching one of her hands out to touch Sid's wrist; it's a small gesture, but for the normally unexpressive golem, in public? It's a rather big deal. Her eyeflames slide to the sides of the pits in which they flicker, toward Sid. "Not as such," she admits. "He was still getting himself sorted, in Israel, and when I am there, I am often busy. I do got get called unless there is someone -- like me -- and they are usually in need of a lot of help." The 'like me' comes with a vague gesture toward her face, and most likely toward the shin that glows on her forehead.
Sid took the martinia and seemed to find this being around normal folks thing? suiting him. He looked up from the Martini to the golem and broke into a laugh shaking his hea, ever the grin of a smart ass or a dazzling showman, take your pick. "Hey I had a lot goin on. It was a hell of a bender and I haven't seem my gram in forever either. Met some people, broadened horizons, aaaand Gisa really doesn't watch youtube. I'm trying to get her to pick up some dirty habits." He wagggled his eyebrows at her, apparently he had reference there. He didn't quantify the 'like me' part. Yup. Someone was good around vagueries and peeps. Seemed to like it that way keeping his language as oblique as his features.
Lucky comes out of the backroom, counting a stack of bills quickly. Several other men follow out behind him a few moments later, some of them looking decidedly less than happy. Which just means that, like most, they go to the bar and order things to make their troubles go away. Moving over to the bar himself, Lucky slides about half of that stack of bills over to Joel before scooting in to find himself a seat amongst the rest of the crowd, giving Gisa a little wave and Sid the kind of grin with a little upnod that suggests the two already know each other. "Sup?" he asks, entirely too cheerily.
Joel reaches over and takes the money that is passed across the bar from Lucky with a nod when he sits down. Like most others that Joel knows, the man doesn't have to order, really, unless he wants something different than the usual. Otherwise, within a moment or two, Lucky's usual appears in front of him, seated upon a small white napkin while Joel listens to the story unfold between Gisa and Sid about his ending up in Isreal. "Interesting," Joel says, and when he says it, it does seem as though he is genuinely interested. Then he glances between Sid and Lucky and says, "Guess you two are accquainted too?"
"No, I do not really watch the internets. He is trying to get me up with the times, but I am just -- I believe the term is that I am somewhat of a Luddite." The corner of Gisa's mouth pulls up just a little bit at Sid's clowning. Lucky comes out of the back, and the golem's eyeflames glitter again, sliding toward the incoming Dawn. "Holding up to your name again, Lucky?" she asks wit more than a little amusement. Her gaze slips back to Joel, and she shrugs a little bit. "It isn't easy, but it is the best place to bring a little hope."
Sid slid a glance to Lucky dubiously, though the words were given in stride, "Pfffft! Not before the two rounds he owes me." There was an amused grin that stretched on his face as he drank his dirty martini. "Drinks, not boxing. He can go all ten? Yeha we'll be acquainted. He gets to be teh newly declared Emperor of Sweeden. Who wouldn't want to be associated with that?" Scoff! Oh no, Gisa. That bet that went down in teh shop apparently stands. "After two two rounds promised than I will admit acquaintence." He gave Lucky a wink by way of greeting and asked , "How in habadashery are you doin, man?" Oh he just gave up swearing at his benefactor by way of shaking a fist at the sky early on today. He was just letting language do as it will.
Lucky slaps two twenties on the table, nodding toward the few disgruntled men who went to the bar with him. "I'll buy whatever their first round is," Lucky tells Joel easily. "They've spent enough of their own money tonight." Lucky's usual is pretty straightforward; draught beer with a side of something colorful that Joel probably has a name for but Lucky doesn't really care about. Though at Joel's question about him being acquainted with Sid, he just grins a little more brightly. "We owe each other a large-but-ultimately-undetermined number of drinks. He told me pants while drinking are optional, but I feel you might take some umbrage to that." And t then, over to Gisa at the Golem's flickering eyeflame-slit-things and her question about living up to his namesake, he replies, "Not for -them-." And then, back to Sid, "What, you're wanting to start -now-?" Followed by a question back to Joel. "How many rounds is he up on me right now? We need to fix that."
Joel glances down at the additional money that Lucky plunks down on the bar and then at the disgruntled gents and nods his head, moving over toward the group to nod in Lucky's direction and then begin taking orders. It only takes him a moment or two and then he's returning to say, "Doesn't matter to me one way or another whether you wear pants while you drink. But if you're going to strip, let me know so that I can charge a cover for that and check IDs." He glances from Lucky, to Sid, and then back over to Gisa before saying "Well then you'll have to catch his show here once we get him on stage." To Lucky he says, "That's his first one."
Gisa chortles. Wait, Gisa chortles? Apparently when she's around the people with whom she feels reasonably comfortable, she does. "My pants stay on," she points out, adding, "But I will drink with you, Sid, as I promised. I do not have anything to do tomorrow morning; it is Alonso's turn to open the shop." Her eyeflames spark and glitter again, amusement. "Ahh, well, then Lucky for you that you are not named 'Lucky For Everyone Else,' I suppose," she answers, and takes another swallow of her blackberry wine. "I will definitely have to catch his show. I will be at the opening night, if you both let me know when it is," affirms the golem.
Sid said without missing a beat. "Man Joel, I was gonna tell him I'm on number four, buddy." He sipped his martini to Lucky and chuckled, "To umbridge. then. And pants, and apparently honesty too." Both eyebrows looked up to Joel and shrugged, "You figure out how to bill it I'm down." He reached over and patted the Golem's arm. "Gisa, I've not walked this far to leave you behind now. On my word you'll know." The glass lifted slight and he finished round one. "Lucky, How in Helios you know Joel anyways?" More withthe odd word choice. He seemed to be vaguely aware of it like a bad habit.
"Just met him, actually," Lucky tells Sid in return re: Joel. "We worked out a deal. He gave me a job. And he makes good booze. That's pretty much all I need to know about him, but the guy is interesting as hell, too. He's like that bartender in the Dresden Files. There are layers there." Then, back to Gisa, "Nothing is ever as fun as it could be until the pants come off. That's why there are a few stacks of really thick books that implore you to leave them on until it's time for some -real- fun." And then, to Joel, a raised eyebrow. "What's your cut of our little striptease? Let's make a deal." With that, though, he finishes his first beer -and- the colorful thing, turning and giving a challenging grin to Sid. "Round 2?"
"You do realize we do burlesque here," Joel points out and nods back toward the lounge, "It's already billed. We'll just put you on stage." He smirks just slightly then. Then he nods to Gisa and says "We will definitely let you know." He raises an eyebrow and glances back over at Lucky and says, "Never seen the Dresden files. Not sure how to take that." He pauses to pour a couple of beers from the tap nearby and then he slides those on over to another pair of gents about halfway down the bar. When he returns he says to Lucky, "Standard cut as the other dancers. There's even a standard contract. You can review it in the office at your leisure." Before Lucky can even finish saying Round 2, there's another martini in front of Sid and a beer and colorful thing in front of Lucky. He then says to Gisa, "So do mine." He offers her thumbs up.
A sort of weird look flickers across her face at Sid's words about leaving her behind. "I know, Sid." Her throat clears. She thinks about Lucky's assertion for a time, and then answers, "Well, it is a duty within a Jewish marriage to ensure that pants-off time is enjoyable for the wife, so that is true, I suppose. Still, my pants stay on within the boundaries here. You are none of you anarchist Spaniards." One of her eyeflames flickers off and then back on again; perhaps this is Gisa's version of a wink. "Though I suppose I do not go swimming with my pants on, and that is an enjoyable activity to be shared in an appropriate group. More enjoyable without pants." A tip upward of her chin to Joel. "At least I will not be alone in this."
Sid held up 2 fingers to Lucky, "Numero dos." Curiously he looked to Joel and said "We do?" THat was new news to him. "Well Shatner. That takes all the prep owrk out of that. Good hustle." He listened to teh rest really undaunted by teh prospect, or apparently any sort of challenge. Hey new was good in his book apparently. Then it hit him. COntract. "Do we ahve to read the EULA?" He paused cond started in on martini number two conferring with Gisa, "Do I want to read the EULA?" Apparently in this the reference to the contract. "Lucky, you might wind up my very favourite enabler. And if I die? I'm so haunting your 'assets'." Really maybe he was just really polite to the sennsitivities of others? Which was odd cause he didn't carry himself as the sort to give two shits about such. He nodded though in agreement with Gisa, "Well clearly we're not spanish. We're the future emperors of Sweeden." He tink'd his glass to Lucky's. "To teh rise of a most awesome monarchy. Hey Joel, you Spanish?" He considered him for a moment and looked to Gisa, "I think your math stands. You're in the clear here."
"My dad has a little spanish in him," Lucky corrects. "Though he's not from Spain. He's from Nebraska. Which is not nearly as nice. So I guess if you're looking at nationality and not ethnicity, you're fine." He tinks his glass with Sid, grinning brightly at the Censored Satyr. "Oh, dude, you have no idea what kind of trouble I can get you into. Stick around. As far as contracts and EULA's go, I'm pretty lenient. I'm more a spirit of the law kind of guy than a letter of the law." And then, back to Joel, he says, "Well, you just let me know when you want us on stage. I don't think we're allowed to take them completely off until we're at Round 9, but we can put on an interesting show in the meantime!"
Joel shakes his head and says, "Not Spanish. Not even a little bit." He's not even sure what it's all in reference to, but it seems he doesn't mind conceding to that fact. He then looks over at Lucky and Sid and says, "We'll see how you're doing by round 6, and then maybe we'll put you both up on stage for shits and giggles." He shakes his head at that point, looking over at Giza with what might pass for sympathy if his eyes were more readable. Then he moves down the bar to pour a couple more drinks, ready to bring over round three when the two compatriots manage to finish their second.
She shakes her head in amusement, genuinely so, and then looks back at Joel as if to say 'save me!' Gisa as the herder for and 'don't let them get arrested' caretaker of the Self-Enabling Duo? Well, this should be a fun night. She takes a fairly large swallow of her sweet wine, keeping somewhat of a pace with Sid and Lucky. "I don't know what a yoo-lah is, boychik," and another swallow of wine. "I am in fact in the clear here. The Spaniard is asleep at home." One ceramic hand pats her muscular thigh through her jeans. "Pants, stay on."
Sid pulled out his phone and was one making a contact entry. he didn't even bother asking at this point and just set it down in front of Lucky. The contact didn't say 'Lucky' on it but did read 'Shoulder Devil' which was apparently the new designation. "Gisa your pants are safe, I promise you." Which one wer we drinking? 3? 5? Woot! Bring it non-Spanish Man! He looked to Joel and then to Gisa with a lopsided amused grin. "Hey this is what we call one of them win-win things. Somehow. Lucky, you even ever do this before?" Ya know now was the time to ask
Lucky takes teh phone, punching in his information with one hand while the shots and such keep coming with the other, keeping pace with Sid. He's not quite to Emperor of Sweeden yet, but he looks like he's feeling alright! Sliding the phone back to the satyr, now with his own information icnluded, he passes his own over to Sid to repeat the process. "It's a contract," Lucky tells the Golem. "Sort of. It's one that you sort of are assumed to tacitly agree to by using a thing. It's all that fine print at the end of cell phone instructions that say 'by being alive and breathing and blinking twice since you were born you hereby agree to do the following horrible things, and allow us to do whatever we want'." And then, to Joel, "THat's, like... three rounds ago," he tells the bartender, not even keeping track at this point.
The Non-Spanish bartender continues to bring the rounds, apparently content to facilitate whatever shenanigans it is that Lucky and Sid seem inclined to get up to. Eventually though, he does turn the bar over to Stella and instructs her to see to their foolishness but not to let either one drive. And with that, he takes up a drink of his own and settles back to watch idly to see what hilarity might ensue as the drinking continues. The explanation of a EULA to Gisa does seem to amuse him just a bit, the faintest flicker of a smile curving the edges of his lips. "Yes, of course, three rounds ago," he says to Lucky and then glances over at Sid and says, "Win Win as long as you make sure you amek it to the restroom before either of you pukes. Or you're both on custodian duty."
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