2019-08-16 - Bar Trivia

There are many benefits to dating the owner - er - the um, head bartender, yeah. Take for instance the fact that Bennie gets to sit behind the bar on a stool tucked out of the way near the service station. Then the fact that she gets to snack on all the drink garnishes without being yelled at. Much. Her current favorite seems to be the Maraschino cherries, because she's got a bunch of stems sitting on the napkin at her elbow like a game of red-dyed pick-up sticks. Nervous eating? What's that?

August arches an eyebrow, raises his black and tan to Ignacio. "I'm gonna make you regret that," he says from his seat at the bar. He's here stag, in a black, button-down shirt, denim jeans, and brown suede boots, looking a lot better after a couple days rest. Doppelworms be damned, he's back on his feet (thanks to various people, many of whom are in attendance).

Minerva lifts her head when the talk of a Trivia contest comes on. Oh shit. She scoots herself around to the last seat at the bar and is quiet. Because she's not here for trivia, she's just here to have some fries and a beer. Because those are two simple things. She's got her table in front of her and she's focused on trying to go through files. Her face is still messed up, but it's healing. So is the rest of her, but she's in good spirits at least.

Finch sits next to Ignacio. Being the, er, 'thing' of the guy running the contest generally means she isn't going to be competing in it. She's got a coke in front of her, as well as a basket of fries. She may or may not have contributed to the questions as well, at the last minute. The short young woman is in a wine-colored tights, pink shorts, a black hoodie, and combat boots. Her hair is pink once more. "That's three rules, Ig," she murmurs to the host with a grin, before offering him a French fry.

Also behind the bar is said bartender, not at all owner, former marine and current cherry defender. Easton moves the jar away from Bennie and gives her a scowl, without much heat behind it. He is currently twinning August pretty hard in black dress shirt, rolled up to the elbows, dark jeans and brown boots, but that's literally what he wears every time he tends bar. He laughs as someone points out that it is in fact three before moving down the bar to Minerva. "Hey, sorry I didn't manage to check in with you after the other night here. How are you?"

Itzhak comes in a few minutes late, bringing Isolde along. She got to ride in his way-too-fancy muscle car. Itzhak's saying something to her, grinning, his mood out of the dumpster (for the moment anyway). When he looks around the room, his gaze is drawn to Minerva, and he smiles at her, lopsided, and raises a hand in greeting. Hi. Things are awkward but hi.

Trivia night! Why not. Isolde isn't a trivia whiz, but she enjoys games and probably learning new things at least. She was a little hesitant about coming back to Two if by Sea after the whole Billy the Ghoul incident. Especially since this was her first real outing since all that mess. However, Itzhak was here, and plenty of other familiar faces. So if anything was going to kick off, at least there would be help! Optimisim at its finest though - she was sure nothing bad would happen here tonight.

Her attire is simple - a pair of dark jeans and a pale blue tank top, flip flops, hair pulled back. Isolde rocks on her heels with an excited sort of anticipation as the pair makes their way inside. Chuckling at whatever Itzhak said. Her gaze sweeps the area, lifting a hand in a wave to the people she recognizes.

Freshly 21, Evie is glad to show her ID to anyone who asks for it. A local, the daughter of a retired detective, she's attending a nearby college. But there was a time she was all over the place in town, joining every club available and cheering on the home team guys. Being new at the drinking game, she doesn't exactly know what to order, so when she hears someone else's, she copies it. Trivia was fun, she sits back, prepared to play. Why not? She joined everything else!

Minerva gives a look up to Easton when he speaks, "I'm alright. No need for you to check up on me either." she chuckles. "You guys alright?" she asks him. "Isabella stopped in to talk. So she's out of the hospital at least." she tells him. Then there's Itzhak wondering in and he's not alone. There's a half smile given to the man and a dip of her head in greeting. She then goes back to looking at the work in front of her. Then she is called from her corner in the bar where she was sure she could hide, "12 Pints." she states.

Now and again Julia likes to change up where she gets her post shift beer. So here she is at Two If By Sea, and the first thing she does is amble her way to the bar. She's in her usual shift gear; cut-off jean shorts and a hoody sweatshirt with the Fried Fish mermaid on it.

FInch takes the dud card and holds it up to the light, turning it in various angles, as if that might help decipher the chicken scratch on it. She grunts and sets it down, putting her coke glass on it as a coaster. She noms her fries and waves to her boss, and Itzhak and Isolde, giving Itzy a sort of thumbs up for having a date with him. Go get em tiger!

"Hey!" Bennie yipes in protest as Easton takes the jar away, "You sir, are no gentleman!" She declares, flicking her latest stem at his retreating back. As the first question is asked, the blonde mumbles the answer under her breath. Her eyes go back to the jar, now out of her reach, and she extends her hand. No, not because she has that particular aspect of glimmer in her repertoire, but because she's just straight up Jedi Mind Tricking it complete with Star Wars-y sound effects and, "Cherries. I am. Your. Mother."

August gives Itzhak an upnod of greeting, followed by a sly smile when he sees Isolde with him. His glance shifts to Minerva, and he blinks a moment, eyeing her in a way that has everything to do with her lingering injuries. He toys with his beer, has a sip, disquieted and distracted from the trivia as a result.

"Good. And we're good." Easton replies quickly to Minerva and he looks relieved that Isabella is out of the hospital as well. The question about how many pints of blood makes him scrunch up his nose as if he really doesn't want to think about how much blood he's seen people lose. And of course that's how he thinks of that problem. Bennie's cries of protest only get a smile over his shoulder until she's trying to get the cherries with 'the force'. He's very, very tempted to make that actually happen but decides it's probably not worth it. "In this scenario did we have cherry babies? Did you adopt them just to eat them? I'm confused." He gets Minerva's drink and puts her order in though before moving on to chat with other patrons.

Finch snorts at Ignacio and offers him another fry between questions. Clearly this is her official duty tonight, making sure the host's food consumption stays equal with the booze consumption, so she doesn't have to carry him home. Well maybe not her, but she has a friend named Gertrude, who is totally the bush she animated to help Davida and her kitty, who can drag his ass home. She waves to Julia as she arrives.

Itzhak shoots Finch a hilarious scowl and flips his hand out at her in a classic 'whaaat?'. He sits next to August. "Hey, you know Izzy, yeah?"

Isolde looks a little caught off guard when Ignacio points her out! She barely knows who the current president of the US is! Let alone what country had the first female Prime Minister. A glance towards Itzhak to see if he knows and then laughs. "Uhm, I dunno. Britian?" A total stab in the dark, because she was pretty sure they had Prime Ministers? That was on an episode of that Doctor show once. Uh. What was that called. Doctor Where...What...Who!

Isolde is clearly not expecting to be correct, but she's grinning all the same. Claiming a seat by Itzhak, "Hello August!" The man is greeted cheerfully enough and, when Easton gets a moment, she orders 'Something colorful and fruity. With an umbrella.'

Minerva gives a look about and pushes her hat down a little bit lower. Seeming to realize that sitting here for too long would cause some discomfort. She leans in to ask Easton something quietly and then the raven haired woman finishes off her beer, slips her tablet in her bag and then stands. She gives a look to something Easton says and she smiles a bit gently as she answers him back.

"The point you're missing," Bennie tells Easton, "Is if I'm a mother. You're a mother fu- oh hey people!" Bennie waves merrily to Isolde, August and Itzhak, the latter two recognized from drunken patio dancing and the former from the diner and a little matter of saving Easton's life that one time. Then Minerva is whispering to Easton, "Hey wait, did that girl just slip you her hotel key? Oh, I'm so eating more cherries." She launches off the stool to take back the jar the old fashioned way.

Minerva gives a bit of a chuckle on the way out, but disappears out the door.

Evie laughs at the more rhetorical question for the 'friend' and reaches for her beer after paying for it. There's no guarantee she'll even like it. but she does hold on to it for a bit before giving it a tentative sip. Not bad, not bad. Cold. The next question she doesn't know so she doesn't answer, but she listens as she people watches. And orders food. Appetizers!

Drunken patio dancing is where August knows not only Bennie but also Isolde from. He raises his beer to Bennie, has a drink, nods at Isolde when she and Itzhak join him. Third wheel is go. "Yeah, from that night we were all dancing," he reminds Itzhak. Brief though their introduction was. He smiles at Isolde's order, watches Minerva go with a wince. "I didn't realize she didn't get patched up," he murmurs under his breath. Which reminds him, and he glances at Isolde. "How's Alexander doing?"

"Finch! Hola, chica!" Julia offers brightly as she waits for her bottle of beer. Subsequent waves follow for those she recognizes, and she makes her way over to wherever they're clumped together. "Is Ignacio running the trivia stuff? Igs, are you running the trivia stuff?"

"This is true!" Easton readily agrees to the charges laid against him by Bennie, even if she doesn't get to finish them. But when asked about Minerva's whispering he says, "Oh babe. You know what I say to all the girls who try to slip me their number. I'm off the market. I only have eyes for Geoff." He grins at the variation of the joke he's made far, far too many times.

"Sex on the Beach it is." Easton answers Isolde with a bit too much volume as he grins at her and Itzhak, whose name he somehow is still unaware of despite multiple run-ins. He leans over to say to Itzhak and August, "So can I finally learn your names? Or do we need to get into three more weird ass situations first? I'm Easton." He extends a hand over the bar to each in turn.

Finch takes the cards as they are passed, writing down the names of whomever answered beneath the answer. And sets them in a pile. She laughs outloud at the next question. "This is what you get for recruiting Ully for trivia questions," she notes to Ignacio. She jerks her thumb at Ig for Julia. "He put this together. Unfortunately he relied on one of our coworkers for a lot of the questions."

"He is doing okay. Still hurt some, I think. But getting better. " Isolde assured August, looking over as Ignacio announced she was right! 'Oh, hey! Do I get something for that?" It's more an idle question than anything serious. She giggles a bit at the name of the drink Easton is going to make her. "Sounds good." Shifting a touch in her seat and totally not giving Itzhak a brief side eye when she does. Because she's far too innocent for that, right? Or something. "How are you and you?" The first you- to Easton before he starts introductions and then the second to Bennie! Eyeing her briefly. "Can I have a cherry?"

August pauses in the act of turning to shake hands with Easton to call out, "Keats," then takes the other man's hand. "August, Roen. I run the garden shop just outside town." His grip is firm and friendly, the hands calloused from a fair amount of manual labor. He looks relieved to hear that report from Isolde, nods. "I owe him for driving me to Finch's, so if you can think of anything he needs..." He raises an eyebrow at her in a sort of conspiratorial 'on the off chance you can think of something so he can't tell me not to' kind of way.

"Didn't she text you?" Itzhak mutters back to August, watching Minerva go. "I let her know..." He trails off and hikes his eyebrows in a shrug, scowling again. Which is the expression Easton gets when Itz shakes his hand. "Been meaning to get a hold of you. Shit happens at the speed of light in this damn town. I'm Itzhak." He jerks his chin at Bennie, "I know your name." The drink Easton says he'll make for Izzy gets that scowl to lighten a little, at least, and Itzhak glances at Izzy with an amused huff.

"Haven't you seen the movies? A girl gives you her hotel key, then you and your girlfriend go over and get to ...Geoff." Bennie eyes him flatly with a twitch of a smile at the corner of her mouth. "Then you get to Geoff." With her prize in hand she goes to stand in front of Isolde and offer the jar across the bar. "And I get to dance with these fine people again." She has no problem using the trio against her little play spat with Easton.

"Byron!" Julia calls out over her shoulder, because she really doesn't know, but Byron would certinly try anything. "Itzhak are you buying?" Hopeful Latina is hopeful, though she already ordered herelf a beer. Isolde gets a flash of a smile. "Hey, I'm Julia."

"Keats hm?" Evie muses kind of quietly towards August. "Glad I didn't say my guess. It was Poe." Probably not her strong suit. The beer though gathers her attention well enough she takes another sip. She is also learning a lot of names as people make their introductions nearby and she glances towards them to put faces to names.

August totally gets a conspiratorial nod of confirmation at his raised brow. When Itzhak looks at her, she giggles again. "Thank you Bennie!" Taking a cherry from the jar and gently pulling it from the stem with her teeth...and then totally snagged one more. Listening to the question. This one...well she actually knows this one! But she doesn't answer because it isn't her turn. And she wants everyone to have a chance. But she does hum the tune a little bit. Blue eyes sliding over to Julia. "Hi! I'm Izzy. nice to meet you." Offering a non-cherry holding hand.

"August." Easton shakes the hand firmly and then moves down the line "Itzhak." He lets out a short laugh and says, "Agreed. Too damn fast and too damn spooky, but here we are." He makes note of the plant store and that it would be a good idea to actually catch up with more of these people when they aren't in the middle of either his shift or fighting veil creatures.

Moving to make the drink for Isolde, he laughs at Bennie's mock-furor. "Yea, pretend like you don't fantasize about that." He doesn't specify if he means taking her somewhere with a strangers motel key, or the Geoff part, but it's the second one. Totally the second one. "Can you at least shake it for me a little bit while you're out there?" It's a small request really.

Finch grins at the next question. She knows this one. At least the movie version of the broadway musical. She begins to sing it to herself, "They call you lady luck... But there is room for doubt... At times you have a very un-lady-like way... Of running out."

Ohhh! Ohh! Evie was in drama club! They did theater! She was in this one! This was one she knew! Being called on though, puts her on the spot and she widens her eyes. Then it comes to her and she blurts out a quote from it, "Is it wrong to gamble, or only to lose? Guys and Dolls!?"

Itzhak upnods at Julia, slowly unscowling further. "Hey, how's by ya?" He's about to ask if Izzy and Julia know each other, but Izzy beats him to it. "This's Izzy. Izzy, Julia." Then he snorts when Julia asks him for a drink. "Hell, why not. Only if it's got an umbrella. I'm only buying drinks that got umbrellas."

Julia shakes Isolde's hand, still eyeballing Itzhak hopefully askance, but she knows this one! "Guys and Dolls!" she yells out, fist thrust in the air. She nods approvingly at Finch, before requesting of Easton, "A mojito, please. With an umbrella." So there.

"It's only the leading cause of death for double-a batteries in this town." The response is to something Easton said, but it's faux-muttered at Isolde in conspiracy. As the name of the musical is said, Bennie straightens up with a clap of her hands, "I love that one! The guy's only doing it for some doll...." Bennie sing-songs the lyrics, giving a little wiggle waggle for Easton in a promised preview.

The handshake is easy, but brief - because Isolde is experimenting with something. It doesn't seem immediately apparent what...but then her eyes light up and she plucks the cherry stem out of her mouth. And it's knotted up in a pretty bow-like shape! "I did it!" Clearly pleased with this likely one time thing, setting the stem on the bar and wiggling a little in her seat and gives the ones singing a round of applause! Then looks to Julia to see if she knows her answer!

Ok, Finch doesn't know this one. She was out doing fieldwork when that came out and working on her masters thesis. She didn't see a whole lot of movies or tv shows because of school. She does feed Ig another fry though, watching the participants with a grin.

Itzhak, perhaps completely surprisingly, joins in singing along with Ignacio. On key and everything. "Luck if you ever were a lady to begin with..." What are friends for if not random singalongs? Then Isolde produces a neatly tied cherry stem. Itz's eyebrows go alllll the way up.

August grunts at Itzhak and Easton's exchange about too fast and too weird. He nods solemly at Isolde, confirming she and Alexander will, in fact, be inundated with extra vegetables. Lots of them. Probably fruit too, next summer. Hopefully neither is allergic to stone fruits; peaches and plums and cherries ahoy.

He watches Isolde place the knotted cherry stem down on the bar, arches an eyebrow, then turns a Look on Itzhak. He doesn't break eye contact for a solid handful of seconds, then has a drink of his beer. When he lowers the pint glass his expression is all mild nonchalance.

Making a mojito for Julia, complete with little umbrella and delivering Izzy's drink as well, Easton is completely mystified that everyone seems to know not just the musical but the lyrics as well. He sees the cherry stem, but his focus is mostly on the look that August is currently leveling at Itzhak. Easton, bastion of composure, doesn't bat an eye but his lips curl up ever so slightly at the implied elbow jostling.

Bennie's little shimmy doesn't go unnoticed though, he lets out a "Woo!" of approval, much to the chagrin of the waitress on the floor who rolls her eyes and maintains a level of professionalism that Easton has vaguely heard about.

Hey, it's Zootopia and Evie is a kid. Mostly. Well, maybe not, but she was one recently! She knows this one and she bounces a little in her seat, but she refrains from blurting out an answer to give someone else a chance. But oh, she looks ready to explode the answer if no one knows it. Certainly the cherry stem innuendos are over her head and she misses those.

Julia admits to no one in particular, "I always wanted to be in a high school musical." She sighs wistfully, and then she's eyeing Ignacio and Itzhak in pleased surprise. "The I's have it." she remarks, again absently and without target.

Isolde is either totally oblivious or really good at playing innocent because she doesn't even seem to notice all the little looks the trio of men is sharing. "Thank you Easton!" As she pulls the pretty drink closer to take a sip though the draw. She doesn't drink hard liquors very often but this is mixed up so well you barely taste it! "Mm! " She turns the straw towards Itzhak, "Want to try it? It tastes like peaches!"

Finch stacks the cards and pushes her empty coke in easy reach of Easton so he can get her a refill. She elbows Ig at the crusts comment, even though she's laughing silently about it herself.

As August levels that look at him, Itzhak slowly turns red. "Who asked you, Roen," he mutters. "OR YOU!" he yells at Ignacio. He does sample the drink, though, cupping a hand around the bowl of the glass to steady it. "Whew, that's sweet. Don't down that too fast, huh?"

Bennie's hand slaps down on the bar a little too heavily, maybe someone was secretly pre-gaming before trivia night. "She. She right there. Isolde is the winner tonight. No wait. He is." Bennie's gaze swivels to Itzhak whom Izzy came in with and she gives him the fuzzy eye. "Uh huh."

It's Clawhouser! Evie looks around to see if anyone knows the answer, but she won't blurt it out no matter how much her body language says she is going to. The beer is suddenly remembered and she busies herself with it, drinking most of the rest of it.

Julia looks back to Ignacio. "....Iunno." she shrugs. She's got a beer, she's got a mojito, and maybe she hasn't seen Zootopia.

August holds up a hand in self defense, says nothing, just smiles. Spying Julia now, he nods a greeting to her, finishes off his beer. He doesn't order another one immediately though, just leans on the bar.

Fixing up another Cuervo and Coke, Easton laughs loudly as Bennie slaps the bar and declares a winner, and even harder when she clarifies. He slides the drink to Finch before wandering down the bar to take care of other people's drinks. He returns to Bennie to ask, "You need another drink? Or you just going to continue pillaging my cherries and olives." He then looks off to the side and says to no one in particular, "It sounds like I mean my balls. But I don't."

"I make no promises." Isolde declared, about taking it slow on the drink. She takes another sip and there may be a touch of pink flaring on her skin. For various reasons. She waggles her eyebrows at Easton. "Are you sure you don't?" Then had another giggle fit before looking back over towards the trivia thing to see what the answer is to this one and what the next question will be.

"Clawhouser! He's the one that loses the donut in the folds of his neck and when he finds it, he says, 'There you are you little dickens!'" Evie knows the movie oh too well. But she doesn't continue with reciting the lines. She does order one of those. The drink Isolde ordered. Because peaches!

Finch slides Ignacio his Cuervo and sticks her straw into the fresh coke to sip it. She grins at Evie's enthusiasm and murmurs to Ig as she takes that card, "I think she should win. She's definitely the most into the game."

"It's a Sex on the Beach!" Isolde announces proudly to Evie. "Zootopia was super cute. I'm Izzy." She says to the new face. Of course she's seen Zootopia. It's got animals in it guys. Cute, adorable animals.

Itzhak has seen Zootopia probably more than most, on account of niece, but he didn't even try answering the question. He's busy over heah. "Whiskey sour," he says to Easton, with the air of a man who needs it, "make it a double, huh?"

Bennie's fingers touch at Easton's wrist and fumble for a second to find his fingers so she can hook hers into them. "How about we go to the office. And work on that 'inventory order' because you're nearly out of 'bev naps'." The blonde really needs to work on her drunken innuendo. "Join me when you get a break!"

Finch nearly snorts her soda up her nose at the final trivia question. "I really do need to read your books," she murmurs to Ignacio.

Itzhak yells back at Iggy, "Fuckin' yeah I did, and now I owe him a beer. It's Fabio by the way, up yours!"

Julia wrinkles her nose. "That's gross - no wait, what's that guy's name...Fabio? My abuelita loves him."

Squeezing Bennie's hand Easton grins at her clumsy and very much appreciated instructions. He nods and says, "First chance I get." before giving her hand a kiss and slipping his out to go pour a double whiskey sour for Itzhak. He slides it across, with umbrella of course. He nods at August, "You good boss? Or can I get you another?" Yes, he considers himself a bastion of reserves and strength that he isn't pushing people out of the way to go 'work on that inventory order' but by the way his eyes trail after Bennie and glance at the door it's clear he's not going to hold out long.

"Fabio is an actor slash model slash author?" There are important questions and important distinctions for slashies.

"You want to dance with Gazelle on it? I'd totally do it." Laughing, Evie bobs her head in a nod. A smile is given over to Isolde but there's a hint of pink in her cheeks. "Yeah one of those. Hi Izzy, I'm Evie. Evie Warner." There, now her name is added to the mix of introductions tonight. She's accomplished a lot! "It really is a good movie."

"I'm good, thanks," August says, nodding to Easton. He politely pretends to have no heard the drunken proposition, though maybe the glint in his eyes gives him away.

Isolde giggled at Itzhak's answer, listening to the others comment as well. But Fabio isn't in her repetoire of things! So she focuses on Evie instead. "Nice to meet you Evie!" She's a rather cheerful person, isn't she? Taking another healthy sip of her drink. Cheeks flushed a little more - though this is due more to the alcohol and the heat of all the people than anything else.

4 minutes. That's about all the resolve Easton apparently has. Then he looks around and declares, "I'll be right back folks" He pulls aside a waitress to cover the bar while he takes care of something in the office and to Tracy's credit she doesn't outright roll her eyes at his very poor, very see through cover story.

"Congrats, Evie!" Finch calls out, before she leans up to give Ig a kiss on the cheek. "Good job."