2020-01-11 - LGBT Night Out

A week and change into the New Year, it's a great time to get some good times injected into the midwinter doldrums. As the weather is legit frightful, slush and ice and freezing rain turning the roads outside of town into slip'n'slides of disaster (and the roads inside town ain't too hot, neither), nobody's going to Seattle for a while. Lucky we've got great options here, like the Twofer.

Itzhak is back from his mysterious trip, and he texted somebody who texted somebody who texted somebody and now a whole lot of LGBT types are descending on Easton's bar. Itzhak himself sails in the door damp and icy but grinning like he got laid and won the lottery at the same time.

See, Joe is not on the mysterious grapevine that links the local Friends of Dorothy. So he's arriving without a clue, wearing his navy greatcoat, black watch cap, and that snowy white silk scarf he favors. Very Snoopy, Flying Ace, that.

Just here as a semi-regular who favors the bar with a view of the harbor, the sailor promptly starts peeling out of the layers until he's got a heap of wool and silk draped over one arm, and is down to white t-shirt and jeans. Plenty warm enough in the bar for that. He turns from hanging up his coat and gear just in time to see Itz enter....and there's something faintly searching, in the poised way he looks to the musician. Trying to divine something.

The great thing is that, unlike in summer, a winter night out is the perfect temp for August to wear his favorite outfit: black leather motorcycle jacket, red silk scarf, denim jeans, and black leather boots. There's a waffle knit Henley under there, probably gray or white, but he just leaves the jacket zipped. His nails are painted a deep, dark red-black to go with the look.

He breezes in behind Itzhak. "Feel free to not tell me how amazing PCH was," he says. "Been dying to take Ellie for a drive, maybe down to Big Sur."

The Laittory.

Giada got a text from a person who got a text from a person. She was asleep somewhere, probably not somewhere she had any business being, certainly not anywhere she remembered going the night before, but that's pretty much par for the course. Most mornings (read: Afternoonish) are spent piecing together bits of what happened the night before.

To be young and dumb.

She manages a change of clothes and heads over yawning to the Twofer, blowing in her gloved hands as she backs into the door and spins around it, welcoming the relief from Gods on frost bite inducing morning breath (read: eveningish).

She's dressed as she always dresses, old leather jacket, hoodie, and slouchie with a pair of welding goggles up on her brow. Torn jeans, leggings, and dope ass slush covered sneakers. A cord runs from her back pocket to her ears, pipping into her 'freezing to death' mix.

Cole has already found himself a seat at the bar and sits there comfortably sipping a drink and watching people start to filter in. He'd closed the studio a little bit early so that he could get out and enjoy himself for once. He's in a comfortable pair of jeans, a black long-sleeved button-down, and comfortable black suede oxfords. His foot taps along with whatever music happens to be playing and he seems to be in a good mood to be out and about in the new year.

There's an unattended pint that gets re-claimed as Tor emerges from the patio side, smelling of damp cigarette smoke. He drops onto his stool and shrugs off his old military surplus jacket to reveal a cream shirt with a maroon vest overtop but undone, and dark wash jeans. It's...some kind of look, anyway, but it does seem to suit him. He watches those who come in with a lazy expression, sucking air between his teeth.

It was typical of Maggi to avoid enemy territory. The competing bar did detract from her income after all, despite that she enjoyed Easton as a person. She had already invited Mac though, and she was a keeper of her obligations. Wearing a cropped gray halter beneath her usual leather jacket with high rise leather pants and ankle boots, she is shivering as she enters. Oh the price of beauty on a night out.

She approaches the bar ordering a lemon drop for herself and a spiked cider for the soon to be arriving Bit. She watches the process carefully, assured they could not make them as well here, but opening a tab none the less. Alcohol is in fact alcohol.

Who even knows how James heard about this thing. But he's James. He hears things sometimes. And so he has shown up, side by side with Diana. He looks a little nervous- loud and proud isn't usually his style, but if he's gonna live in this goddamn town, he may as well live in it as himself, dammit. He's wearing his usual getup: jeans and a hoodie, with his supernaturally warm (thanks, Yule Cat!) and ill-fitting woolen coat draped atop it to ward off the chill. The only indication of what he might be doing here, really, is what's printed on his black hoodie: in white, purple, and gray text, it reads 'My Anaconda Might Want Some After We've Established An Intimate Emotional Connection, Hun'. (https://bit.ly/2kK0caX). As soon as he's inside, he turns to Diana. "Right. I need a drink. Do you need a drink? Because I need a drink."

Sparrow's cheeks are nearly as red as her very, very red hair when she makes her way in with a little stomp-and-shiver. After scanning the place for people she might know in a more-than-passing capacity, with a squeak of, "Gigi!" and an enthusiastic wave toward Giada, she starts toward the bar, strripping off her coat as she goes. Below, there's a black tee shirt with the words ROCK and PAPER crossed out above a larger SCISSORS across her chest, the O in rainbow colors. Paired with blue jeans strategically cut here and there to offer a glimpse of brightly colored tights beneath the expertly frayed edges and shiny red Doc Martens with glittery black laces. Darkly lined eyes are accented with rainbow hues, but her lips are blessedly just a single shade of high gloss red. Shiny red smiling lips. All the better to attract the bartender. "Hi. That yummy magenta sour?" The bartender knows which one. "Yeah, that. Thanks!" She'll start a tab. It's that kinda night.

"Ya mean how it was 68 degrees and clear and there were otters and sea lions and Santa Barbara's still all fuckin' wildflowers?" Itzhak says to August, with that cheery air of tormenting a good friend. "C'mon, I'll buy ya a drink or three. We won. I got paid."

When he slithers out of his coat and scarf and etceteras, he's wearing a very snug metallic gold t-shirt, and skinny black jeans. And the steel toe workboots he wears all the time too, of course.

This isn't the usual crowd.....and it's clearly starting to puzzle Joe. The sailor glances to whomever's behind the bar, and orders what's at least one of his usuals - a Four Horsemen. Which he'll probably nurse to the bitter end, if the general pattern holds true.

There are faces he knows - Itz, Roen, Maggi, Sparrow. But he's not greeting them, not yet. If anything, he looks increasingly uncertain. Like this is building up to a party he wasn't invited to.

Abitha is, in fact, not too long behind Maggi, slipping through the door and stopping to literally shake all over, trying to get the cold out. It was in fashion, ok? A thick, black woolen trenchcoat is peeled off on her way to the bar, waving her phone in a manner that says she had gotten the text and had showed, throwing her coat over the seat and sliding her skirt beneath her as she hops up onto the seat. Sparrow is noticed, waved to. Oh, and Joe gets a grin and a wave too! James receives a look and a snort as she has the chance to read the shirt before she's talking, reaching for the delivered cider, "I thought we didn't go here?" she asks, leaning toward Maggi a little conspiratorially.

"Three minimum, for that," August grouses. He was only in California once, for a short stint in Inyo National Forest, and if not for Gray Harbor he'd have considered a longer stay once he was ready to retire. He starts off easy with an IPA, helps Itzhak stake out some tables. His jacket stays on, though. He stretches his long legs out, settles back. God it's nice to not feel like he's freezing to death anymore.

Spying Joe, he gives him an upnod, then nods his head at the table in a 'get on over here' gesture.

It's rough weather to brave, and yet Abby is standing outside for a little while, hesitating while checking her phone for important and sudden emergencies that might come up. Since no sudden emergencies pop up, Abby goes in.

For clothes, from the top: a blue knit cap, complete with pom-pom; an oversized scarf in colorful stripes in the red-to-pink family; a sturdy denim jacket; under the jacket, a dark blue polka-dot a-line dress, looking very vintage-y; gray woolen tights, because it's really cold out there; sturdy, practcal hiking boots with the fur (with the fur) because have you looked outside? There's ice and stuff. And look, a tiny little rainbow bracelet.

Once indoors, she glances at her phone one last time, then turns on her smile and strolls in, peeking around. Oh, look, Abitha gets a wave! And August gets a mildly alarmed look!

Since returning from New York, Isolde has been here and there about town. Doing her little odd jobs and getting her new little A-Frame cabin situated. Tonight, she's taking a break from that! Partly because Itzhak technically organized it, partly because she really needed to be better about socializing! Her wardrobe isn't anything to write home about but every now and then she finds a thrift store gem like this one! So even though it sort of clashes with her wild red hair and is lacking frogs, she is wearing it! Because it's pretty! She may or may not have told Itzhak she would be here tonight. She walks in not too long after Abby, sliding off her thicker wind breaker to reveal the dress in it's entirety. "Hello everyone!" She said rather cheerfully to those she knows and strangers alike as she moves towards the bar.

No one will run tabs for Tor. So when he kills his first pint, he's got to dig out cash from his pocket and pay before he gets another. "Really, dude? Seriously? Every time." But that's kind of understandable considering the last time he was in here, he got into a fight. He spots Itzhak and company and up-nods. Then he calls out, "Ay. Kung-fu Grip. This your doing?"

Peeka Peeka.

Giada's head pops up, glancing around for the isolated sound of her name called out amidst the bar patrons, "Hey!" Waving in Sparrow's direction with a big ol unadorned grin because make is hard and she's lazy. Slipping up to the bar herself, she shows her highly sophistocated alcohol pallet, "Do you have mad dog back there?" Stepping up on the runner to look back behind the bar, frowning at the obvious response, and settling down onto a stool with a pronounced pout. "Alright, well.. uhh..."

It starts out as scratching her curly hair, but ends with her pulling off her beanie and goggles to lay them down on the bar, "Whatever, just some .. shots.. sure yeah, shots." So many people, "I'm to sober for this level of social interaction.." She use to be such a pleasant girl. Side eyeing Sparrow "You look positively luminescent." Then James, just.. uh.. James, "Oh, you survived cemetery island without getting eaten? Good on you, dude." Double thumbs up.

Javier rolls in a little late to the party. A party he didn't actually know he was invited to. Come for drinks with me, the text said. Drinks, indeed. He stomps some slush off combat boots that look to have seen actual combat. Dark, fitted jeans shoved into them, and a bulky cop shoved into those. Leather jacket and hoodie with the hood pulled up and over his head; he's just dragging off the dregs of his cigarette as he shoulders his way in, and tosses the butt into an ashtray by the door. Then proceeds to try to find Rosencrantz. Which shouldn't be hard, with that beacon of a nose he's got.

The 'tender hands off his bucket of bourbon, and Joe picks it up to come wandering over. "Roen, Rosencrantz, evenin'" he says, pleasantly. Maybe it's just that it's greater numbers than usual, or that the liquor is still on the outside, but there's an air of reserve to him that isn't generally there. Or maybe this is the real deal, and the good natured good ol' boy is just the act. A flick of a look as Javier comes in, but that's all, for the moment.

Cole smiles a little when he recognizes a couple of people he's seen before. He gives a small wave to Isolde, who he met once in a creepy house, and August and Itzhak, though he studies Itzhak a little warily. The guy does tend to run out of the room every time he sees him. There are at least familiar faces around, and that seems to be comforting, though he doesn't approach any of them directly. More liquid courage might be required first. So he orders a second of whatever he's been drinking.

Alison'd come over straight after getting off work at the Grizzly. She'd had the presence of mind to bring a change of clothes with her, despite the buzz from the evening before still clouding her mind when she left home. T-shirt, jeans, sneakers, usual look for her, though she wears a big boofy jacket over them which she promptly sheds at the door in favor of a coat rack. The redhead (well, this one, anyways) has a little bit of blush and eyeshadow on, somewhat understated as compared to the neon red lipstick she's often wearing.

Shedding her jacket, she peers at the crowd - oddly, there are almost too many people here that she recognizes. Maybe she's finally not so new in town? Can't complain about that too much, though. She waves at those she knows and heads up to the bar, ordering a pina colada. A big one. When the bartender makes a face at the order (It's the twofer, not the club), Ali promptly pulls out those big ol' puppydog eyes, and blurts out a "p-please?" Which gets her order going, and a little squeal of delight from the waitress.

Javi steps through the door and looks around for one of the few faces he might recognize. Failing to do so, he finds a place to sit at the bar at the periphery of the the forming crowd. He shrugs off his well used, gray wool coat to reveal a somewhat stereotypical outfit. He's wearing a floral leisure shirt in mostly hunter green, the top three buttons undone. He's wearing well fitting, faded black jeans and a studded brown leather belt, with matching pointed brown shoes (https://i.imgur.com/iLGHZHi.jpg). He sits down and looks around, ordering a Paloma if anyone asks.

Spying Abby's look, August hesitates, then raises his beer to her in a salute, has a drink. He grins at Isolde. "Hey you. I hope that new cabin suits. Those are nice little houses." A nod for Ruiz when he sees him, directing him at Itzhak's gold lamé self.

He considers Joe as he walks up, measuring him in a careful way. "Evening. How you holding up?" His expression says he speaking to a specific incident.

"Shots!" What Sparrow invited to do shots with Giada? Well, yeah. See. She just invited herself. Note that 'two' signaled toward the bartender. Is that two for her or two in total? Who knows! It'll work out. "I can't help it," she croons to Gigi, batting her dark lashes in the shorter woman's direction. Her attention strays toward James at the mention of cemetery island, but her focus doesn't linger there. She chirps out a cheerful, "Mac!" to Abitha. Her attention lingers for a moment on the trio of Itzhak, August and Joseph, all semi-recognizable for one reason or another, but there's a redhead heading her way to order a pina colada. She tracks Alison's approach with a wide, lazy grin, delivering a decidedly cheesy, "Fancy meeting you here," once they're finally close enough. "Do a shot with us?" Only after inviting anotehr does she as, "Do you know Gigi?"

Itzhak gets tables hauled around, some drinks and food ordered, laughing and chatting with the staff. When he forgets he's pissed off at the world he's like this, just a ray of fuckin' sunshine. "'Ey, Cavanaugh!" he calls to Joe, chipper af, and claps him on the back. Completely oblivious to any subtext in the way Joe's acting. "How's by ya." People are coming in. Lots of people. Most of whom, actually, he doesn't know, but--"Izeleh!" and he's striding across the room to scoop up Isolde and whirl her around, making her pretty dress floof out in rainbows. "Aw, you look great! I missed you!" (He's been out of town.) Ruiz gets a sly as hell half-smile before he hugs him one-armed, other arm still around Isolde. "Missed you too, Cap."

Effortlessly she slides Bit's drink to her and takes a long draw from her lemon drop. "We typically do not, but I am not in charge and the drinks aren't effed up...yet..." Maggi glares at whatever poor bartender happens to be working with entirely undeserved ire. She throws in another Lemon drop and a couple shots of vodka for some individuals she recognizes. A highly irresponsible bar tab had in fact been budgeted for this evening.

She enlists Bit's help to carry the shots about to Sparrow, James, and Alison, raising them in a cheers. Should any of these people be actively engaged the shot would still be placed before them in their drinking cue.

"Hello Cole!" Isolde seems to remember the young man from the creepy house! She waves to him in return before finally focusing on putting in her order. "Something fruity, with rum and a little umbrella!" She's perhaps only hoping for an umbrella, but certain she would get the other things.

She beamed to August. "I adore it. I'm still working on furniture though."

Anything else she might say is cut off as Itzhak sweeps her up. "Eep! Welcome back!" Is said, as she hugs him when he spins her around. "I missed you too." She stole a quick kiss and then settled against him as he roped Javier into the hug. Giving him a smile. "Hey Javier." And wiggle of fingers in the wave. "Glad you made it out tonight."

Itz's reaction or lack thereof answers some question of Joe's. He doesn't relax, exactly, but....some of the unease is gone. "All right," he says to August, a little vaguely. "No harm done, I think. Glad y'all were quick enough to figure things out, I was entirely fuckin' at sea in that situation. How 'bout you?"

Tor seems content to play people-watcher for the moment. Once he has his next drink, he swivels the stool around, hooks his ankles around the legs and slouches. He glances down the bar at Javi and upnods at his fellow barfly, but it seems he doesn't have any sparkling conversation starters. He could try some stool acrobatics or throw some punches, but that usually doesn't end too well for him.

Giada grins as Sparrow invites herself to shots and motions out to the sparkly lady, "You heard her, line those fuckers up." Slapping her fingers down against the bar, adjusting on the stool. "Thaaats mine." Yoinking one of the shots, she'll work out how she'll pay for them later, as it passes in James direction. "Never feed the gingerbeard alcohol before midnight, they turn into liprochauns." Shifting around to lean back against the bar with her arms spread out across it and her feet hooked on the rung near the base, eyeing Alison with amused grin at Sparrow's introductions, "Heya Aliroo.." To ali, then to Sparrow, "I slept on her on her couch last night. She sort of saved me from a big wheel... it's a super boring story, really." Third shot held out to Alison, "Drink with uuuus."

Itzhak, ten o'clock, shiny, skintight gold shirt. Ruiz's thought processes sort of visibly grind to a halt for a moment, and it isn't until some guy sidles up to him asking if he can buy him a drink, that he realises he's standing there stupidly. "No," he mumbles. "Sorry." Then prowls off abruptly, because he's fucking rude like that.

Instead, Rosencrantz, Roen and Cavanaugh are about to get an intruder in the form of 1 (one) Hispanic cop. He tugs his hand out of his jacket pocket long enough to clap Itzhak on the back when the man's arm is slung around him, then gives August a nod. Joe gets a lingering look, and something that could be charitably called a smile. Maybe.

A little shocked they were starting so strong, Abitha has a grimace of dread on her face as she helps carry the shots, sheepishly offering to Sparrow and... The one that was meant for herself held to the woman that the reddest head was talking to (Giada). Thankfully, it was taken. Hopefully Maggi wouldn't notice. "Apparently, Maggi is a psychic... Or just really excited to drink with everyone. Hi. Are those goggles?"

Javi take his drink and slides cash across the bar, not opening a tab when asked. "A shot of tequila too, please," he asks. He smiles at the man down the bar, giving him a nod, then quickly looking down at the floor. He takes a deep breath, nods again to himself this time, and gets up to go and talk to him. "Hey," he says, laying on his accent a little thick. "I'm Javi."

August waves to Cole, snags a tater tot when the baskets are tossed out onto the tables. "Well, let me know if you need help, I don't live too far from there," he tells Isolde.

He ehs, shrugs in response to Joe. "I wish I could say that those kinds of things weren't par for the course for me." He gives Joe a wry smile. "I've been in so many now, it's getting easier to recognize when it happens. We were lucky, Finch had it in hand. You did fine, though. You didn't get killed, and you didn't do anything stupid. That's about all anyone can ask of someone else in those constructs."

And now, they have Ruiz. He smiles, gestures at a chair. "Sit down, de la Vega, these chairs aren't here for show. Itzhak ran his mouth and California so now he owes me five drinks, you can have one on him."

"Hi Isolde," Cole says when she seems to recognize him, chuckling as he watches her get spun around by Itzhak. "Love the dress," he says to her with a warm smile, "Looks like spring in the middle of winter. How have you been?" He gives an actual smile to Itzhak then, since he seems to be safely remaining in the room. "Hey," he says to he and August in recognition. He swivels just a little bit on his bar stool, watching as the room is rapidly filling up, "Wow, this event is turning into something else. That's pretty cool."

Alison gets her drink, and then heads over towards Sparrow - an enticing thing to begin with, but when she's hanging out with the woman that she'd just met last night? Yeah, that's gonna be her first stop, at least.

"Hi, you." she says with a grin to her follow redhead. And then another similar greeting towards Giada. "Hi again." Back towards Sparrow, "Yeah, as of, like, this morning? Turns out she lives two trailers down from me. Somehow I never noticed, but usually whenever I head out I just get right in my car and goooo."

'Aliroo', as she's only recently been nicknamed, eyes the shot suspiciously, then grabs it with a grin. "Sure!" She'll wait until the other girls are set to down theirs, and then does the same, letting loose a small woooooo before taking a sip of her pina colada in her other hand.

Abby manages to make the alarmed look go away and just beam a cheery smile in August's direction (after a quick once over verifies he is not, in fact, wearing any robes with, like, stars and occult symbols on it, under the motorcycle jacket). She heads towards the bar, her hands finding themselves vanishing into her jacket pockets.

She leans an elbow on the bar and waits there, still mostly people watching. But there's a bar, so she patiently waits for an opening before leaning in. "Hello. I'll have a - you know, vodka and cola. Just a tiny bit of vodka and lots of cola, that would be fine, thank you!"

Tor sits up a little when he's approached by Javi. He has some manners, in any case. "Relax. Not gonna bite." There's a bit of a toothy grin at that. "I'm Tor." He looks around the room, then back again. "This is fuckin' weird, huh? But I guess you do what you gotta do in a town this size. And I guess it beats playing Russian roulette at the club."

Isolde shifts a little, thanking the bartender when her drink comes - umbrella included and took a sip before focusing on Cole again. "Thanks! I found it a few days ago, I like it." She fingered the material a bit and grinned. "I'm good. Better. You?" She takes the opportunity to look around as well when Cole comments. "There are! Isn't it great? Always a good thing having people together."

"Need's a strong word, but far be it from me to turn down drinkage when it's on offer," Diana says to James with amusement. For her part, she doesn't look nervous, and is dressed in high-waisted pants with leggings underneath printed with rainbows and smiling clouds, black flats, and an 'ugly Christmas sweater' top featuring a T-Rex wearing a Santa hat and sunglasses who's carrying a pride flag. "Can I have... hm." She pauses, and then noticing Alison's pick, says, "Maybe a pina colada? Sorry, feeling picky. My treat, though... yours, too!" Guess the bartender will end up making a face again. Still, she smiles, taking off her red wool trenchcoat and adding, "I'll even go with you this time, if you want company. You can't get rid of me that easily."

More shots! "You're my favorite," Sparrow croons to Maggi with a flutter of her lashes. She doesn't wait to down it, blowing a kiss toward the shot-toting pair only after she's swallowed. One down, she plucks up another and gestures with that toward Giada, index finger extended to point as her brows arch high. "Then you get their pot of gold." She's way too sober to be making that joke, but it's out there. "Aliroo," she echoes, shot glass lifted, a toast to this particular ginger, and down the second goes. "Good. All the fun people should know each other. And sleep together?" Yeah, that tracks. She nods to herself. "Was it just the heroics that were boring or...?" Is there another shot? Well, there's a beer, at least. A very dark pink beer. She'll go for that.

"I s'pose that's all you can ask for, really. No lastin' damage," Joe's tone is philosophical, as he looks to August. He's only sipping the whisky, and that without his usual enthusiasm. Ruiz gets a polite inclination of the head, "De la Vega."

Javi chuckles, his whole face lighting up as he drops his shoulders some and lets his one arms swing a bit. "Yeah, I guess it is, it's a lot at once. Is this the normal crowd for this place?" He looks Tor up and down, a half smile plastered on his face.

James beams at Diana. "Yes. Please. With me. Way too many people." He heads to the bar after receiving the affirmative from Diana, wading into the forming crowd- and then a lot of things happen at once. He spots Maggi and Abitha, and grins at that well-earned snort. And then Giada's finger-gunning him, and he double finger-guns back. "I'm like a roach that way- hey, meet Di-", he's starting to say, intending to introduce Diana, but then there's a shot in front of him. "... ooh." And then the shot is gone because alcohol please yes. Welp, guess he's a leprechaun now. The leprechaun turns to the bartender, and in a terrible fake Irish brogue, "... oy. Pina Colada for the lady. Dark and Stormy for me, yeah?"

Itzhak tilts over to smooch Isolde on the cheek, warm and bristly and smiling. "Love this dress," he tells her, hand around her waist and reluctant to let go. Then some guy tries to buy Ruiz a drink and Itzhak suddenly has to smother a laugh, crow's-feet crinkling. He squeezes Isolde and goes to say hi to Tor, "Hey!" and offer him a dap. There's also a huge flock of young women here almost none of whom he knows!

"Oh, doing alright," Cole says to Isolde with a little half-smile. "Keeping busy with the studio, teaching, trying to stay out of trouble and mostly succeeding, so I guess I decided to come out and maybe get /into/ a little trouble instead." He lifts his glass, the second one of the evening, that he is drinking a little more quickly than the first.

August smiles at Abby, plainly amused about something, then turns his attention to Cole and Isolde. "Yeah," he agrees, looking out over the milling crowd. "Might have to make it a thing, you know? Once a month or, something like that." Certainly it would beat driving all the way the hell up to Seattle for a similar experience.

He makes a low sound, nods at Joe. "Yeah." He flicks a glance at Itzhak, mood somber for a half a second. Then he clears his throat, casts whatever he was thinking aside. "So, you're sticking around. How do you spend your time?"

"Normal? Nothing normal in this town," says Tor. He sips his pint, then grins a little at Javi. "Lemme guess, new in town? Everything here sorta does double, triple duty. Not enough people for specialization, I guess?" He looks over as Itzhak approaches. He returns the dap. "How's the world's strongest mechanic? Nice shirt. This your doing?" he motions vaguely to the room. Amusement dances in his eyes. He mops a forelock of hair back from his face.

Ruiz tugs off his hood and rifles his fingers through his dark, scruffed hair. Not quite curly, but one couldn't rightly call it straight, either. "Only one? Fucking holding out on me, Roen." He does, however, drop into a chair wherever one's free. Might even be near Cavanaugh. Wouldn't that be unfortunate. "Tequila," surprises nobody, once a waitress heads over to take the table's order. "Hey there, Isolde," he does eventually greet the girl in the brightly coloured dress in Itzhak's arms. It's accompanied by something that actually approaches a warm smile, dark eyes taking in her attire appreciatively.

"Going to have to have you by to look at those trees, soon," he tells August, unzipping his jacket, then his hoodie, and shrugging out of both as the warmth of the room starts to sink in. Hey, it beats what he was going to pipe up with, when August asked how Joe likes to spend his time.

"She said something about consent, which I appreciated." Giada drains the shot with a backwards clip of her head and grabs for a second before she's gagged down the first. Drinking really isn't her bag, but.. when in Rome or something. Looking from Sparrow to Alison with a half grin, "In her defense I was ''really'' fucked up.. so..." When is that 'not' true, though? She shrugs and glances down at her goggles and back up at... did someone ask her if they were goggles? "yes, they are goggles! This is a shot! I am too sober." Down the hatch. Squinty eyeing James terrible Irish Accent. "Did you have to fight for your survival? I know it was a mad house of repressed aggression out there... Glad to see you pulled through, hopefully you leveled up?"

All the fun people should sleep together.

A forestalling finger held up at James, curly head turning back to the two with whom she's shooting the shots, "Wuzzat?" Because that's important information. Gia turns to Sparrow, then to Alison.

Maggi for her part downs the shot and blows a kiss back towards Sparrow. Leon primarily kept bourbon at his place, so the vodka was a warm hug from an old friend. There are two Lemon Drops before her and one is half empty, make that all empty. Blue eyes visibly roll at Jame's order and Maggi calls out to him teasingly. "There is no way you are ordering something that brooding with someone that lovely beside you!"

A wink is given in Diana's direction as Maggi relaxes her back against the bar. She gives a wave to Giada, whom she had not met previously, but was likely to adore given her vivacious personality. She had seen Joe somewhere abouts, but there were too many people between here and there to move over quite yet.

Javi nods to the man, "I guess it's obvious in a town this size, isn't it. I've been here about a week and this is my first taste of night life." He turns to the man who approaches and politely nods, but stays quiet to not interrupt the two.

Isolde giggled a bit, leaning into the bristly feel of Itzhak's scruff, "Good. I like you're shirt." Giving it a little pluck before he slipped away to Tor. She briefly eyed the flock of women, though less with a protective vibe and more of maybe checking them out herself for a minute. "Studio? What kind of studio is it?" Isolde asked, focusing back on Cole and August as she took another sip of her drink.

"It could totally be a thing! It would be lots of fun." She agreed. "People together like this. It's fun. Good." Repeating herself from just a short while ago. She pushes a hand through her hair, humming happily and perhaps debating on if and when she was going to find herself on the dance floor. Her drink is finished off and she happens to spy the Lemon Drops that Maggi has and points at one telling the bartender, "One of those please!"

She gives another smile to Javier when he greets her. "You have been good?"

Abby has, at least, removed her knit cap, and idly tries to tuck back some loose strands behind her ears, since they have long escaped her ponytail and refuse to behave. Her scarf also refuses to behave, but she loosens it slightly, allowing her neck, at least to breathe. After collecting her drink (light on the vodka, heavy on the cola) she takes a sip, settling in against the bar for further people-watching. Aaaaand... out comes her phone. Look, she's being social. On her phone.

"Sounds good!" Diana says to James, grinning, and waves to those she's half-introduced to. "Diana," she finishes for him. "Nice to meet you!" And as an aside to James, "What's a Dark and Stormy? That sounds so dramatic. I love it." Her eyes land on that very colorful, gorgeous dress, and it's watched for a handful of moments before she turns her gaze back to James and the others. Around then, her pina colada arrives, sans umbrella for her, and she smiles, taking an appreciative sip. "I love this."

"That would be cool, really," Cole says to August. "I wasn't sure there was a large enough population in this small town to have a turnout like this. It's really great to see, honestly." He definitely seems genuinely pleased by that fact. Then he answers Isolde, "Oh, the dance studio. I took over Dance Evolution when the folks who ran it decided to retire. I teach ballet there. I used to dance professionally."

"Goggles are the mark of a true hero." Abitha asserts once Giada had answered.

'And sleep together?' she hears.

Abitha is so stealthily sneaking back off to the bar after that comment, because, hey! There's Abby! But wait, she stops mid-step, neck ratcheting toward James, then looking up and down Diana, wisecracking at the cut off introduction, "No, she lives." She scampers off before the joke can really sink in. She hops up onto the seat next to Abby. "You're alive!" She comments excitedly to the nurse. The triangle was complete. Everyone was alive.

Once upon a time, booze, a warm bar, and time to run his mouth would've been enough to have Joe expounding on life, the universe and everything. But he's unwontedly quiet, and August's question earns him a faint shrug. "This an' that. Weather permits, I take Surprise out of the harbor. I explore, hike, things like that. Gettin' used to things, bein' on land. I still sleep aboard half the time, truth be told."

Itzhak is tall, is loud, is wearing a tight matte-metallic-gold t-shirt. He laughs at Tor's description of him. "Don't forget best mechanic." Humble too! "Yeah, hell, thought why not, we got nothin' better to do, right?" The dap gets offered to Javi, too. "Rosencrantz, how's by ya. New in town?"

Alison grins a little wider at Sparrow's suggestion. "Maaaaaaaybe?" A sly look at Giada, and then back at Sparrow. An idea pops into her head, but she's at least got enough of a mental filter in place before too much booze gets into her system to avoid saying it out loud. Doesn't stop her from giggling, though. It does, however, give her a good moment to lean closer to Sparrow and give her what's probably not the most of subtle of sniffs, nose tilted up towards her to try to put a precise finger on tonight's scent.

Maggi and Abitha together make her blink a little, having not quite expected them to both be at an evening like this, certainly not together! Maybe they aren't together? They sure as hell didn't seem that way at the pizza place a few weeks or so back.

Giada's mention of consent makes Alison grin yet even wider still. "There's not much fun in a thing if not everyone's fully on board, you know? And yeah, you seemed pretty trashed."

Javi raises his fist and connects on the dap, adding an upnod to it. "Javi and yeah, really new." He glances sideways at Tor and then back to Itzhak.

"Calling it night life is being generous. It's more like, are you in the dive, the pretty good place, the club, or the strip club? That's really what the options are." Tor glances from Javi to Itzhak and drawls, "We sure don't. But man, I don't really get what we're supposed to do here. Or how I was supposed to dress. You tell me club night, I got that. You tell me pub night, yeah. But you get this particular demographic together at the nice pub? I don't know if we're supposed to be doing ice breakers or what." He motions between his pretty subdued outfit and Itzhak's choice of getup to prove his point. "And yeah, he's a noob. So be gentle." There's something a little mischevious about that tone.

"Ohh dance studio!" Isolde looks mildly interested in this. "Maybe you can teach me some moves!" She suggests cheerfully as the bartender sets down the Lemon Drop in front of her. "I love to dance. But. I'm not great. At it." She laughed, taking up this new drink to try it out.

August sips from his beer, expression turning sympathetic. He tells Joe, "It took me a few months to get used to sleeping in an actual bed, after being out in the field for so long. I was more comfortable on the floor with a Thermarest. And," his eyes shift to Ruiz, "unlike the three of us the night is young. Stick around." He bobs his eyebrows. "And sure thing. Just tell me when, and if I need to bring a truck, or if you're looking to have them, ah, trained."

He tilts his head at Cole. "I thought the same thing about Corvalis, when I was there for college, but there was quite a few of us." He lifts one shoulder in a half-shrug, smiles. "Nice to always find out there's more than you expected."

James has somehow found himself part of the flock of women, because reasons, I guess? "Rum, ginger beer, spot of lime. Hella good.", he asides to Diana, and bumps her shoulder affectionately with his. "Want a taste?", he offers. A raised eyebrow and a 'I see what you did there' look of respect follows Abitha as she flees, then he turns back to the group. "Nah, no fighting for survival. Empanadas and three dudes of varying creepyness telling the new girl that this town's fucked up.", he tells Giada cheerfully.

Javi flushes and looks down, grinning ear to ear. "Ay, just at first. So this sort of gathering isn't normal then? It looks like a fun crowd." He turns away and looks at the crowd.

Sparrow might not know why Alison's tilting in toward her, but she tilts right back, eyes happily half-lidding as she leans toward the freckled redhead. Tonight, it's a complex blend of bay rum and honey, lilac and citrus, all rooted in a lovely white musk, all elegance and exuberance intertwined. "Ooh! Attractive!," the neon redhead croons for Alison's very sensible restraint when confronted with a cute girl on too many drugs. "But!" She's got a counterpoint. "It is way fun if all parties are in a similar state of mind. Speaking of." She levels Giada with a very serious look. "You. Me. Spongebob." Beat. "Bax." It's a question, an invitation. And probably has very, very little to do with any actual cartoons. "Once over the holidays. Once!" That she found any time to enter a pleasantly altered state. "I mean, it was with AJ, so." Cue the dopey smile. "But still." She sips at her very pink beer as she looks about the bar, taking in all the faces and flirtations. Such a lovely night.

"I'd be happy to if you want to learn," Cole says to Isolde. "It's not the only kind of dancing that I do, but it's what I'm most trained in. And I have other instructors who were teaching classes before I got here, so I kept them on after taking the place on. So there are other types offered." Smiling to August he says, "Yeah, it's a pleasant surprise. I'm not sure where Corvalis is. I grew up in Boston and that's where I was until I moved to this coast, so I was just used to the city and large numbers of people, even if Boston is a small city, comparatively."

Abby lowers her phone and looks up, blinking at Abitha with a raised brow. "Oh Em Gee! How did that happen? It's a miracle!" She glances down and starts patting herself, finger poking just to make sure. "Or is it... unholy scientific meddling?" She wonders.

Then she just gives Abitha a confused look from above a friendly smile. "Is there a reason I shouldn't be? And how are you?" She raises her tall glass and takes another brief sip, looking around the crowd again.

"Well enough," is Ruiz's low-key reply to Isolde's question, paired with another flickered smile as he settles in. Like he has to remind himself to do so. He's got a tee shirt on under the layers that have been peeled off, and most of his extensive ink crawled up both arms is visible. His dark eyes track Itzhak for a moment, bemused as he watches him being his boisterous self with a couple of younger men. Once upon a time, this would've been his jam, too. Young Marine with far too much aggression looking for an outlet; now he seems happy enough to keep to himself, though.

"Trained?" he repeats, glancing to August with some curiosity.

"Nope, I see you now!" Giada says to Abitha, double pointing in her direction, practically leaning over the bar at her, "Come back, bring more shots, but come back all the same... with shots.. I don't want it to seem like it's a ''more shots'' thing, but I definitely want more shots. I'm not a hero, but... you could be." Need. It's lubrication for her personality in lue of other, less subtle, forms. Rules, laws, whatever.

Maggi's wave is returned, Gia winking in her direction, as she turns around towards the pair of sniffing and sniffed ladies.

"Sparroo, we need to throw another party." Dropping back down on her stool with a sigh, just in time to SEE Ali-Sparrow sniffing, "Oh, that's whats up. Yeah, girl, smell that neck." Half grin/smirking. "I was fiiiiine..." Dismissive wave of a lazy moving hand, "You totally should have made a move, we'd have a better story than fucking field goal punting a big wheel."

Big brow perking at Sparrow, "Shit, you know how I do, you had me at ''You. Me.''."

"Feh, don't mind me," Itzhak says to Tor, plucking at the hem of his shirt and grinning. "Ain't worn my ho gear in forever, that's all. Anyway I kinda figure we don't really got our own place in this town," it's pretty obvious what he means by 'our', "could use gettin' together and seeing who's what. New York, you get to know who's around, here it ain't so much. Nice to meet you...Javi?" For some reason, Javi's name makes him blink, and glance at Ruiz. "Yeah, Javi, right? Buy ya a drink." Then he's ordering quite a lot of drinks himself. Among them, Patron, speaking of Ruiz.

Cole's comment apparently catches Joe's ear, for he turns in his seat to look at him, and notes, "From Boston, huh? I went to school up there. Great place to be - I miss it still." A little more animation in his voice - the accent doesn't match it, though. It's a slow Georgia drawl, a long, long way from home.

Diana belatedly winks back to Maggi with a smile, and nods her head to Abitha. "For now!" she jokes back to the woman who's heading off, lips in a broad grin. "He'll get me yet," she says, and then makes a face at his description of his drink. "Yikes, that'll probably be how. But sure!" She leans in to try for a taste anyway. Predictably, she makes an even worse face at the actual taste. "Yep, that's gross. Been nice knowing you!" she teases.

Javi takes a big gulp of his cocktail and tries to inconspicuously look Itzhak over. He takes a deep breath, clearly a bit nervous about this whole thing. "It's Javier Tomas, but no one really calls me that. It's been Javi since I was a kid." He takes another gulp and nods while chewing on an ice cube. "Tequila, por favor."

"I will stop by some time maybe." Isolde finishes off the drink in short order. "For now though..." She slips away from the bar and has little trouble twirling one of the girls out on to the makeshift dance area. Isolde...is not a great dancer, but dancing is more about having fun with it anyway right? And does it even matter if you can dance well if you're tipsy? So Isolde dances, at least for a hot minute. And she'll mingle and hang out and likely wake up hung over tomorrow. Hopefully not under the boardwalk again but, that was for future Isolde to worry about!

"Again, nothin's normal in Gray Harbor," says Tor to Javi. He rocks his stool around on its feet a bit precariously, then settles them back on the ground. He grins at Itzhak. "I grew up here. I don't got any ho gear. The closest I come is undoing the bottom few buttons of my shirt and maybe slinging my pants down a little. But sometimes that happens naturally." He looks around, then, "If I can offer a suggestion? A DJ next time? Dancing's a good way to loosen people up."

Cole smiles over at Joseph when the man turns around and offers him a hand, "Born and raised." Though his accent is nigh undetectable, having more what some might call a 'broadcast neutral' sound to it. "Where did you go to school? I miss it, too, but I kind of needed to be here right now. I'm hoping I'll eventually figure out why, but.. you know how it goes? Sometimes you just end up where you're supposed to be, but you don't know why until after." He laughs and waves to Isolde as she heads off to dance, "Definitely stop by."

At some point Cristobal slips into the crowd, looking mildly surprised at the turn out as he weave through people just to get a good look around at the attendees. He's dressed up for once, in a dark blue button down with a white paisley pattern and a contrasting pattern on the cuff and placket. It matches nicely with the mottled bruise along his jaw. He's still in jeans but he's wearing his shiny shoes. When he sees people he knows, there is a raised hand in greeting, but honestly he needs to get some social lubricant in him before he becomes even slightly personable.

James pouts a bit at Diana as she disdains his drink, then sniffs. "More for me, I suppose." He relaxes a little as he seems to be shedding conversations, leaning back against the bar and taking a long, appreciative sip of his delicious drink, because there's no accounting for taste. He looks around, taking all the beautiful people being beautiful at one another in, and gives a little sigh. ".. this is nice. I really fucking hope the ground doesn't open up and disgorge a swarm of aggressively sentient bug people intending to lay eggs in us or something.", he tells Diana. He could have stopped at 'this is nice'. He should have. But he didn't.

Javi looks down at his unbuttoned shirt and jeans riding his hips. "Eh, not ho gear, just Latino," though he still blushes a bit again. He fans himself with his free hand. "It's getting a little hot in here already."

Alison grins at Sparrow's somewhat intoxicating scent. "One of these days, I've gotta have a long chat with you about your perfume game. Jesus. But yeah, I mean, I'd gone out for a joint, and Gia here was already crawling around in a fight to the death with a trike. Not quite an even match."

"Similar mind, sure, but I don't think I could've caught up if I wanted to get to my shift at the Grizzly this morning."

The finger guns going around make Ali(roo) frown. "That's like, my thing, you guys. Dammit." She sticks her tongue out at Giada when she teases her about leaning close to the delightfully scented woman. "Don't judge me. But hey, getting to know eachother first's a good way to make sure that it's more of a series than a single story, isn't it?"

Giada's mention of a party make Alison's eyes go wide and jump a few times with excitement, her red hair bouncing all over the place. "Ooh, ooh, I wanna party! Oh man, we should all totally hang out together. Yes. This." Siiiip.

"Oregon," August clarifies for Cole. "OSU. It's kind of, western, a little north of central, on the Williamette River. Little bigger than here but not much. The university's probably half the population."

He scratches his beard. "Trained, as in," he flicks his fingers, "with the Art, instead of cut. I know, I know, Alexander would yell at me about it, but, I'm not going to learn better control without practice. So."

Then, over his shoulder to Tor, "Oh you try and bring a DJ in here and Easton will have words with you." He finishes off his IPA, moves on to a black and tan.

Maggi has spotted exactly two things since her last sip on drink. One, Bit had fled toward Abby. Two, the beauty in the soft pink gown had excellent taste in drinks. She should tell her, but speaking to people she doesn't know always took a few drinks if she wasn't working. A few dance like steps are taken towards Bit and Jame's direction. A few more vodka shots are ordered, but this time she respects the boundaries of the more low key end. Placing one before Bit, a questioning eyebrow is raised towards James.

"I'll trade you a shot for the lady's name." She smiles toward the pair and tosses another vodka shot towards Abby adding "Your cat is the best part of my insta feed!"

A slight squint, followed by a barely audible grunt, are all the reply August gets from the cop. Who proceeds to fish his phone out of a pocket of one of his many layers, and settle in with a slouch to his shoulders as he fiddles with messages. That tequila better hurry the fuck up.

Abitha pantomimes straight arms and an empty look at Abby's joke, like she were a zombie, before letting out a quick snort. Finally able to sip her spiked cider... Then looking down at it while smacking her lips. What was in this? Cinnamon? Anyhow, she looks back to Abby, "Nah, I figured you'd come out alright. Power of positive thinking and all that." Yes, she believed Abby would chipper those elves to death. "Did you ever get that thing for the kid?"

Her eyes drop as a shot is placed before her, that look of dread returning. Her eyes snap sideways to the retreating Maggi. She-devil. She takes it, grimacing and chasing with her cider.

"February." The promptness of Sparrow's answer to Giada's plea for a party suggests that, yeah, she's got that itch, too. A flicker of a look toward Alison comes with a very firm, "Yes," that she should be there too. Then another, "Yes," with a grin for, well. "We can introduce you to Spongebob. Aaaand by perfume collection. Maybe? If you're really, really nice?" There's the cheesy brow-waggle. "My bathtub." She doesn't even bother to mention how exquisite it is, letting the idea sell itself.

"Once I'm back from my conference. G." Serious face again. Full focus on the girl with the goggles. "I got a ticket to a three day psychedelics conference in Nevada for Christmas. If I could afford a ticket?" She can't. Whoever bestowed this upon her is a fucking saint. "Would totally take you with." Her grin goes dopey, all that seriousness just vanishing, as she teases, "And not just to get you in a hotel room alone for a weekend. You should see the itinerary." Beat. "For the conference." Head wobble. "Okay. And maybe for what I could do with two nights in a hotel room. Yeah. On par. Less lectures, to be sure, but not none."

"Went to MIT," says Joe, grinning. "A long-ass time ago." Then he's shifting to present his left shoulder to Cole, rolls up the sleeve of his t-shirt. There on the deltoid is a tattoo of an old warship, under full sail, done in three quarter view, with her name under her in bold print: Constitution. "An' my first duty station in the Navy was the Constitution, straight outta boot. I'll head back there some day, I reckon."

Itzhak gets distracted by Isolde luring a girl to dance. Oh, nice. He clears his throat and looks back at Tor. "I'm the frikkin' DJ, pal." Being friends with Easton comes with privileges. Often in the form of liquor. In this case, an aux cable to the stereo system. He reaches way over the bar, beckoning to one of the poor beleaguered tenders for the cable, but when he gets it, he gives it to Tor instead of plugging it in to his own phone. "You complain, you get to fix it," he tells him with a wicked smirk. Drinks start arriving, and he takes some over to August, Ruiz, and Joe. Ruiz gets the Patron, in particular, Itzhak handing it over to him and giving him this look.

Javi exhales and shakes his head, "Sorry, I've been off of my game since I've arrived. I think it's all of this fresh ocean air and feeling conspicuous everywhere I go." Javi looks down at the aux cable and bites his lower lip for a moment, struggling to keep the conversation going despite enjoying the company. "What sort of um, music do you like?"

There's no way James could've stopped at 'this is nice.' Diana knows this, no doubt, only grinning at his hope for a lack of egg-laying bugs at their nice get-together. "You and me both," she says firmly. "But on the plus side, now you know there won't be any... what, aggressively sentient bug people who want to lay eggs in us?... because you thought of it, and horrible things are more unpredictable than that. You've saved us from the bug people, dear. Thank you. My stomach thanks you for the lack of eggs." She even salutes him, then has a sip of her pina colada as Maggi approaches. "Hello again," she says to the woman, and then looks to James to see if he'll take the offer. "If he refuses to 'fess up, I'll steal that shot," she threatens-slash-promises.

Cole considers as August explains where Corvalis is and then nods, "Okay, I know where that is. Sorry, I'm really still learning PNW geography." He glances over at Tor when August makes his comment about a DJ and then he asks August, "Why's that? Something against DJs?" His expression is a little bit puzzled for a moment. When Joseph mentions MIT, he smiles, "Yeah? I went to a few concerts over at the Student Hall there, and up the street at the Middle East a lot." He glances over at the tattoo then, leaning in a little bit to see it and grins, "Oh, nice! Old Ironsides. Yeah, I've visited the Constitution a few times, and the Mayflower, well, the mock up of the Mayflower. Constitution is the real deal. I loved being on the ocean, which I guess explains why I like being here, too, even if they keep the water on the wrong side out here."

"What about just a really good set of bluetooth speakers and shoving a few tables out of the way?" Tor calls in retort to August. His tone's all, 'c'mon' man,' and he motions vaguely. But then it's Gold Lame Man (aka Itzhak) to the rescue. He grins, tongue protruding between his teeth a little as he's given the almighty power of the Aux cable. He fishes around in his pocket for his phone, sticks the cable in with a sharp 'pop' and then starts scrolling through. He glances to Javi. "Hey, see if you can nudge a couple of those tables around? Get some folks to help?" Then he's back to thumb-scrolling, searching for a playlist. The inagural song? Tainted Love. Coulda been a lot worse.

Kim and Hera enter together. Well not together together but more like a new found friend drag another out. Hera dressed in a dark blue dress with various floral pattern through with a nice pair of open shoes showing off her red painted toes. Kim dressed in a full gothic loitia dress black dress that seems custom made. Full length with frills, so many frills at the end. Black vinyl combat boots with buckles visible making the small woman a little less small. Kim points over to the bar before grabbing Hera's hand and dragging her over.

James beams at Diana. He takes a moment to marvel at her, before turning an answering brow raise at Maggi as he replies to her. "... deal. For another shot I can get you her social security number." Taking the offered shot, he grins. "This is Diana. Diana, Maggi."

"It's your funeral," August calls back to Tor. He laughs at Cole, waves a hand. "No need to apologize, that city wouldn't exist without the college."

He spreads his hands at Ruiz in a 'the offer stands' sort of way. "Just let me know when." He leans to get a look at Joe's tattoo. "Very nice line work. And MIT?" He gives Joe a look, then turns it on Itzhak. Once he has his beer in hand, he says, "I'd better never hear you call me a nerd again, with this guy around," and has a drink. "MIT," he mutters, cutting a sideways look at Joe.

"I like the way you think." Giada jerks her hand up from where it lays along the bar, lulling her head in Sparrow's direction. Her tongue clucks around the inside of her mouth, against the back of her teeth, working out time tables and figures in her head, "February, I can do that... Another text party?" Then there's all this talk of Psychedelic conferences, "Whaaaaaaat? How did I n-..." She throws her hands up in, mostly, mock exasperation, "I would kill to go to that.. if, big emphasis on if, they give out a door bag, I want one. Tell them I have cancer and it's my make a wish." She's a terrible human.

Possibly a lizard person too.

Definitely not drunk enough.

Or high.

This is horrible. Frowning, "I'm.. hold on." She leans a little and shoves a hand down in her pocket, turning to look at something in her palms beneath the bar, shifty eye glancing around. Eyes back at Alison, smirking, "Yeah, of course you'll be there." Scrunching her face up in an ''as if'' expression, she tosses a gummi bear in her mouth and settles back against the bar again, "I swear to god I thought I had more of these... what the fuck have I been doing for the last week?"

Joseph smoothes his sleeve back down. "Man, I remember the Middle East. That was there when I was. Yeah, it was a lotta fun. She didn't do much, but we got trainin' cruises on the Coasties' tall ship, the Eagle. I hear you. The idea that the sun sets over the sea and rises over the land - seems damn wrong, don't it?"

August gets a guileless look. "I sure did," he says. "Aero-astro engineering. And yes, before you say it, I literally am a rocket scientist."

Cris comes up behind Tor, leaning in close to look over the younger man's shoulder as he scrolls through music. "I fucking love this song." He slants a grin, then turns his head to flag down the bartending, ordering a whiskey with a beer back. The shot is done as soon as it's delivered and the long neck is pulled off the bar with a crook of a finger. "Play Erasure's A Little Respect for me at some point, will yah?"

It still takes Abby a moment to figure what Abitha is going on about. Then she does, eyes lighting up. "Oh! Oh, I was fine, yes. I just lost a couple of things. I /did/ get that thing - for the Switch. You weren't there but I figured you were fine, or the shop would be... closed. Probably? And I haven't run into anything like that, since." She smiles, shoulders slumping in relaxed relief.

Spotting Maggi, she raises her glass full of cola-brown booze, a laugh coming free as a smile genuinely lights up her face. "I'll let Chickpea know! Oh, God, she's insufferable, but I'll let her know, thanks!"

"Uh, sure thing..." Javi looks around for the nearest empty tables and walks over. He grabs one and pulls on it a bit, though it's giving him a hard time. Without talking to anyone in particular, he sort of calls out to whoever's nearby and listening. "Hey, uh, could you help me with these tables? It's for Tor and the music that's been promised."

Hera pauses a bit as she takes in everyone who is here. "Wow" she remarks. "I, have never been to anything like this, it's...it's HUGE." Definitely a part of some sort going on here. Of course one of her first instincts is to look around for anyone she knows. But, being a new thing for her, she looks over to Kim. "What I am wearing, is ok, isn't it? I mean, I didn't know quite how to dress." There she is high heels and all and even painted toenails. The dress is skin tight but quite girly, not unlike what she normally wears. If anything, sometimes her clothes are too feminine when she goes out. But, staying close to Kim, she almost shadows her steps. She is curious but, she doesn't go too far. Then she finally recognizes some face, "Oh wow, Maggi is here! Seems like a lot of people from the town are. There's that nice guy we were chatting with earlier today!"

"See, that I am glad to hear." Abitha tips her glass upward at Abby's avoidance of the weird. Abitha is immediately distracted when the asian in lolita moves up to the bar. Full stop. Stares. God, she was being so rude to Abby, but... C'MON! Mouth hanging open with her glass half-lifted toward her mouth. It was absolutely comical. "Holy shit!" she shouts above the bar din over at Kim, "Kawaii as fuck!"

There's a soft snort from Ruiz's vicinity when Joe mentions being a rocket scientist. Not that he's wrong. Then Itzhak arrives with his drink, and that look on his face. And it's returned, intently. "You could've warned me you were inviting half the town out for drinks, too," he tells him a bit tautly. Siiip.

Alison visibly puzzles some at 'spongebob'. "Oh-okay?" And a shrug. "I'm definitely always nice, though. I haven't even grabbed your ass yet tonight. That counts for something, doesn't it? Wait, your named your bathtub.. spongebob? I think I'm missing something here."

She nurses her drink while she listens to Sparrow go on about her 'conference' which definitely sounds like a Burning Man kinda thing, but with more drugs and less.. burning shit, probably?

"Wow, that's awful, Giada." Alison laughs all the while as she says this, though. "I mean, it doesn't sound like much of a shindig if there aren't a few freebies, though." She takes another sip from her pina colada. "Is that the one from last night? Not sure how many freebies you really need!"

Maggi squints at James momentarily, "Careful, someone from India may take you up on that during their next scam call." To Diana she gives a smile and raises her shot in cheers. "Nice to meet you officially!" The shot goes back and a sip of Lemon drop follows. Now came a small period of relaxation waiting for nerves to die down some, the constant anxiety that came with being a human being diminishing. She spots Hera and breaks her vow of a break for another greeting shot. She was going to be a mess. Good thing she had brought Bit to be the adult. To Diana and James she gives a finger motion of 'one moment', gliding over to Hera with a shot of vodka in hand.

"You look hot!" She says, passing off one vodka.

Tor glances over his shoulder when he hears a voice. He pushes hair out of his face and lifts his brows. "I was just gonna set it on a party mix and let it play, man. I didn't come here to work. But buy me a drink and maybe I can make it happen?" Then he nods to Javi. "And help him with the tables?"

Javi sighs and loudly drags a small table across the floor, pushing past people to try to get it over to Tor.

"An actual rocket scientist from MIT," August says, laughing. He shakes his head, has a drink. He overhears Ruiz's comment to Itzhak, cuts Ruiz a sly, sidelong look. "Oh did he conveniently not mention that?"

"I coulda," Itzhak tells Ruiz, with that insufferable little smirk, "but then you wouldn'ta come. Now I gotta get you drunk enough to dance." He has goals. But first he slings himself into a chair, long legs stretched out, and sips the whiskey sour he brought for himself. And up go the eyebrows when he looks at August, then Joe. "You're shitting me. You're a rocket scientist?"

"It's still there," Cole points out with a chuckle. "And still having shows." Then he asks, "Did you ever go to the Rat?" The Rathskellar. "Well yeah, they only take her out every how often? Turn her around, and put her back into port just so she can remain the longest actively commissioned vessel in the U.S." Someone was paying attention on those tours. He then nods to Joseph and says, "Still getting used to it. It makes me get my north and south messed up sometimes." His brows arch a bit when Joseph explains what he went to school for and says, "Well, damn. That's.. impressive."

When the call goes out to help with the tables, he says, "I'm going to go help them clear a dance floor. Be right back." With that, he abandons his drink and approaches Javi, "Here, I'll give you a hand." He grins.

Cris raises a hand at the bartender again, and then points down to Tor to indicate the next one is on him and he should come take the young man's order. Tor gets a slap on the ass before he moves off to grab the lip of the table that Javi is currently dragging. "Lift with your legs, not your vagina." He gives an up nod to Cole who also comes over to help make a dance floor.

"Pretty sure the door bag's gonna mostly be either very dry or very floofy literature," comes with a crinkle of Sparrow's nose. No free drugs. Wah wah. Whatever disappointment she might feel for that future let down, it lasts all of a heartbeat as she's shimmying a teensy bit closer to Alison to croon, "I consent," as flirtatiously as she can manage with a little wiggle of her rear. "And my bathtub doesn't have a name. It doesn't need a name. It is glorious without requiring any touting or titles." Which leads into a much dryer clarification of, "Spongebob is drugs, honey. Spongebob is drugs." Sip. "And I could use some freebies." Sip. "Ooh! Is there gonna be dancing?"

There's something sphinxish in Joe's expression at that. "Yep," he says, mildly, and takes a sip of his whisky. "That was my training. I figure if the Navy didn't pan out like I hoped, I'd get into aircraft design, work for Lockheed down in Atlanta, somethin' like that."

He nods. "Yeah. She only does her turn around cruises. She's the oldest commissioned warship still afloat - Royal Navy's 'Victory' is older, but they keep the Vic in drydock. I sure did. Man Ray's. All that. I was there in the late 80s, early 90s."

Javi looks up and smiles at the guy, "Thanks, it's heavier than it looks. At least to me." Without turning around, he rolls his eyes at the vagina comment, but now with help, he does exactly that. "See," he says to Cristobal, "I'll do con huevos instead."

"Ay ay ay, ass contact'll cost you more than a drink, buddy," says Tor to Cris before he goes off to play furniture mover with the others. Meanwhile, he's busy queuing up a playlist that should loosen up this mixed age crowd. It's the kind of stuff everyone knows. As Tainted Love fades out, Hips Don't Lie by Shakira comes on. He looks entirely too pleased with himself.

August rolls his eyes at Itzhak's intentional failure to mention to Ruiz it would not be the two of them in a quiet corner in the bar. A look of mild sympathy for Ruiz, then he's considering Joe again. Something flits through his eyes, a sort of reaction to the way Joe says that, there and gone in a moment. He shifts in his chair. "Yeah, I was thinking about the same. Join up, do my time, use the GI Bill if it didn't work out long term. Which was what I did, more or less."

Kim isn't the best for others as she is newer than Hera. "Oh yeah what you are wearing is great. Like super amazing, you look so good. Don't worry about it." she says to Hera "Really you couldn't have picked a better look. Well for eh...you know what best not to go into it." she gives a small giggle. "Oh yeah Javi. You know I'm not sure you did catch his name we can say hi if you want. I need /need/ some a drink. My friends always say I need to drink more. That I am more fun that way." With the shout above the general murmur of people she turns towards Abitha and overhearing her comment about being Kawaii AF throws up her hand in a V "Well thank you." she replies loud enough to be heard "I do so try at times." to those that tell the difference she is fully Japanese at least in appearance.

A friend is a friend indeed, and even though Maggi can't be blessed by Queso's presence, alcohol will be a good companion. It might have worse after effects than a cat invading your privacy but it'll be a good companion. She takes the shot offered and grins at Maggi, "Can my friend get one? The last thing I want to do is drink alone. You're such a sweetheart, I can see why my cat loves you." But, it's vodka, it's been a while since she's had straight vodka. It's much worse than wine. Still she blushes a bit at the compliments. "If I keep hearing words of praise like this, I doubt I'll ever go away." Heck, who doesn't like compliments?

Cole gives a nod to Cristobal when he joins the table-moving brigade as they begin clearing some tables out of the way to make a makeshift dance floor. He grins at Javi and says, "No problem. Between the three of us, we can make quick work of it. I'm Cole, by the way. Nice to meet you." That, he directs to both Cristobal and Javi as they continue to move furniture about.

"Hey man, don't knock the vaginas. Can your eggs take a pounding?" Like most things in life, if he's not getting paid for it, Cris is doing it half assed. He's just using one hand to lift and tote, while the other is occasionally lifting his beer to his mouth. Once they've made a significant enough space, he's going over to a random woman to coax her out for a little feet shuffle, hip sway action.

Abby glances at the shot in front of her, but sticks to her dilute booze for now. Abitha's reaction draws her eyes that way, and an eyebrow shoots up, small smile warming the corners of her mouthhe looks amused at the other woman next to her, and takes a sip. "Oh, that's, definitely, a look! Kawaii as ffff-, seriously?" She tilts her head and gives Abitha an amused look.

Hera also gets a small smile and wave from where Abby's perched at the bar, but then she drops the hand to toy with her denim jacket and - after reaching into a pocket - her phone. She needs something to keep her hands and her eyes occupied so she's just not staring at people.

Ruiz's current level of irritation may or may not have much of anything to do with Itzhak's artful deception. Either way, he's downing that tequila with a vengeance, and pretending he hasn't caught sight of Cristobal fucking Cruz over there, chatting up the same couple of guys that Itzhak was, a few minutes ago. It calls, naturally, for more booze; down the hatch, hooded gaze fixed on Itzhak, his tongue slid across his teeth in the aftermath. "Ya lo veremos," he murmurs, trailing his gaze along that slinky shirt before tipping it away again.

Giada glances down between her hands, then over her shoulder at Alison, "Nah, I took that one this morning to wake up." Because she has a problem, "Went and saw a friend about a bear though." Nudging backwards off the stool to come over closer to sparrow, probably all up in her personal space, pink gummi bear inbetween her finger, "Open up." Still chewing her own because that makes it work faster or something. It doesn't, but it's good for filling space and thematic visual. "Yeah, I think consent is implied, Aliroo. At least from me... I'm a fucking heathen paving my stairway to hell in pretentious gilded alturism. Like the devil... or a devil.. but definitely no angel."

Her other hand extends out to Alison, "You want one?"

Diana smiles warmly back at James, though it turns into a laugh (and a light-hearted thwap on his shoulder) when he offers up her social security number. "As if. And hiya, Maggi. Nice to meet you!" She smiles broadly as Tainted Love comes on, bopping her head along with the bops in the song. She grins at Maggi at the 'one minute' finger, nodding, and listens to some of the conversations floating about here and there, basking in the company of other humans and the distinct lack of egg-laying bugs. She seems content with things at present. Hips Don't Lie ALSO gets bopped to.

"I mean, I got my degree before I joined up. ROTC, went in as an officer," Joe says, quietly, as he looks down into his glass, then up again. "And it panned out like I wanted, pretty much, so I never really did do a lot of design stuff. Test work, a little, at Pax River. That was it."

Once Tor is satisfied that his playlist is sufficiently stacked with crowd-pleasing jams of today and yesterday, he downs the rest of his beer and orders a shot of tequila for his Cris-payment drink, follows the whole routine of lime and salt, tongue dragging across his hand before shooting it back. He's not a great dancer and he's definitely too white to do this song's rhythm justice, but that doesn't mean he's not gonna try.

"I mean, might be worth eating some of the paperwork, anyways. You never know." Alison grins, then shrugs. "It's not really my usual thing - mostly just booze and weed, except for a bit of experimenting in high school. I could probably stand to go for a little refresher course or two, a couple of extra shifts at the Grizzly could probably help get some of the supplies, but I don't know anyone around here."

Sparrow's presentation of her butt makes Alison grin, and she give it a sideways look before reaching out and giving it a few light pats. "You do, huh?" And maybe a little squeeze too, the natural redhead's grin going a bit wider as she leans in for another whiff of that citrus scent.

Alison pulls away, though, at mention of dancing. "Oooh! I.. I should finish my drink first, though." She brushes aside the straw and downs the rest of the whole damn thing, miraculously avoiding a brain freeze. Gia mentioning taking the bear to wake up makes her giggle softly. "Seems like one hell of a way to wake up. Depends on your plans for the day, I guess."

The waitress hesitates, just a moment, when Giada offers. She smiles with painted lips, and then says, "Please?" And she opens her mouth just so, tongue peeking out, as if expecting the same treatment as offered to Sparrow.

Vyv is... fashionably late? Stylishly late, anyway. Even if the odds are decent it has more to do with not leaving work early for drinks in a passable bar than intentionally being not-on-time. He's undoing the winter-bundling of camel coat and leather gloves and cashmere scarf as he enters and gives the place and patrons both a distinctly critical glance.

Beneath the coat, there's a peacock-blue three-piece suit, the matte wool helping to tone down the effect of the intense colour, with a tie of golden silk apparently hand-painted with large, tumbling blue feathers. Seen up close, the creamy shirt beneath these resolves into a pattern of tiny golden- and blue-tinted paisley shapes on white. A white-trimmed pocket square sprouts from the breast pocket, arranged so that the points create three neat layers, the shades shifting from the pale gold of the shirt pattern in the back to the deep gold of the tie in the front by way of a middle shade in between, and the antique gold stirrup cufflinks that peek from his cuffs now and then are set with a line of citrines also gradiate from pale to deeply golden. Brown suede chelsea boots. Hard to know if the Looks it gets from several people have to do with how it looks on him or how it looks in here, which is 'not exactly usual'. On the other hand, hey, there's full-on gothloli happening right now too, so anyone who was unaware the night might not be fully the standard crowd really ought to have caught on.

Considering he's lived here a good six or so months now, there's surprisingly few people Vyv seems to recognize. The August/Itzhak/Ruiz/Joseph group gets a slight head-inclination of greeting, though, as the chef heads toward the bar. Even if Itzhak's shirt gets a somewhat sidelong regard along the way to the claiming of a bar seat and the ordering of a whiskey. First alcohol. Then people. Maybe.

James does a little bit more than head-bop at Tainted Love, because that song is, as the kids say, a banger. He sings along here and there. In that terrible Irish brogue because he hasn't forgotten that he's a leprechaun yet. Another conversation is shed as Maggi shoos off, and he takes another long sip of his drink to commemorate the occasion before looking dubiously at the dance floor. This presents a situation. Dancing is terrible. This is an undisputable fact. But what if his date wants to dance? Worse, what if she wants to dance with him?

With the tables moved, Javi heads back over to Tor, strutting to the music along the way. "I heard some of them talking, you're a DJ, yeah?" He looks down at his feet and shakes his head. "I mean, yeah, shit. I mean is it your day job?" He lets himself get into the song to alleviate some of the awkwardness.

Can her friend get one? Abitha's hand slaps down her own cash, dug from the jacket she happened to be sitting on... That was hers? That was hers, yes... Abitha buys Kim a shot, vodka, since that's apparently what people were dying on tonight, and since the bartender was probably already handy with the bottle. "I'm just shocked to see Lolita outside of Seattle! I mean, not in a bad way. Seriously." She tosses a sheepish look over her shoulder as she feels Abby's judgement of her language, looking briefly apologetic, then waving her arms in Kim's direction in a 'Look at her! I can't help it!' kind of way. She looks back to Kim, venturing, "Kimi wa kirei."

Contrary to popular belief, Cristobal's middle name is not 'Fucking' though at this point, he should probably consider having it legally changed. He spins the Blonde around a few times, saying something close to her ear to make her laugh, and then with a wink he's going to find another victim to draw out onto the floor to get the dance party going. Eyes lock onto Itzhak, and with zero amounts of his new middle name given, he approaches that throng of men he knows and singles out that beautiful schnozz. "Rosie. Come dance with me." His half drained beer is left on the table to free both hands which are simultaneously crooked in a c'mere gesture.

"Hah, no, no, not a DJ. Imagine air quotes around DJ," Tor makes them, crooked fingers in the air and grins at Javi. "This town couldn't sustain one as a day job. Naw, I deliver pizzas. Sometimes cook 'em. An exciting and dynamic career, I know." Then, another upnod. "You?"

And then, because of course it had to come on at some point (so might as well get it overwith) Vogue by Madonna comes on.

Seeing Hera's reaction to Maggi's native drink, she is about to pass the second shot to Kim, until she hears Bit slamming things at the bar. Instead raising it to Hera's and giving her the Lemon Drop glass for a chaser. "It's not bad if you go fast, like a roller coaster." If Queso could not be in attendance, Hera was the next best thing on earth. Hearing Bit's shouts Maggi leans forward to Kim "That is Mac, you should probably talk to her, I think you speak some sort of similar vibe and I am pretty sure she has your drink. Also , Hello I am Maggi!"

'Slinky' and 'incredibly extra' are the watchwords of the night for Itzhak. Who is listening to Joe with those eyebrows way up. He keeps looking at August and Ruiz both. "Jesus," he mutters, impressed, gaze switching back to Joe. "And you want to listen to me run my mouth about violins?" When Vyv comes in, Itzhak can't help but notice that absolutely magnificent outfit and the willowy man wearing it. "'Ey, chef!" he yells at him. "S'on me, yeah?" He settles to lean a shoulder against Ruiz's--but then Cris is asking to dance, and he pops his eyebrows at him, tells Ruiz, "You're next," and grabs Cris's hands to pull himself out of the chair.

Personal space? What's that? Sparrow neither recognizes nor claims any, entirely comfortable with Giada creeping all in like that. Lips part to welcome in that pretty pink gummi, though her eyes never leave the generous devil delivering the delicacy. Which she almost chokes on, as a giggle erupts when Alison's light patting at her ass evolves into a brief squeeze. Her free hand reaches around to snag the freckled redhead's hip as she follows suit, accepting that offer in a similar manner. "You are as kind as you are cute," she croons to Giada, leaning in to press a kiss to her cheek, even if the woman might be distracted with Alison. Maybe especially when the woman's distracted with Alison. After another swig from her beer, heartier than earlier sips, she sets the glass down, wipes her hand on her jeans and looks out toward the dancefloor. "Drink up, kittens." Cuz dancing's gonna happen soon.

Cole smiles a little awkwardly for a moment, but, tables moved, he shrugs and heads back to the bar for his drink, which he puts down quickly once he returns to his seat and says to Joseph, "The Rat was gone by the time I got there, but I saw pictures. Same with Man Ray. Though I've heard of it." But then he falls quiet, turning to people watching, and motioning for a third drink.

"Oh!" August sits up. "That's right, Navy pilots have to have college degrees, and you're all officers." He taps his forehead. "Sorry, it's only been twenty-odd years since I was in. I was airborne, so, mostly worked with our own pilots." A rueful half-smile and a drink of beer. "Well, glad that worked out." He says this with careful neutrality, perhaps suggesting he's reading into 'more or less' to some degree but asking no questions.

He watches Itzhak head off with Cris, giving the pair a hooded look, has more of his beer.

Tension crawls through Ruiz's frame, visceral and hot, when Cris shows up to waltz off with Itzhak. It looks for a moment there like he might do something terrifically stupid. Like, say, laying the bouncer out with another fist to the face, to match that bruise he's already sporting. But after a hard swallow, and a glance August's way, he simply grunts something in Spanish to the tune of have a fucking blast, and finishes off his tequila. "Think I might go take a smoke break," he murmurs to the arborist, nudging him with his elbow. "Back in a minute."

Then a skreeek of his chair as he climbs to his feet and starts patting himself down for his pack of smokes, while wending his way to the outside deck.

"Ah, well," Joe says, cheerfully enough, to Cole's revelation that those names are now dust, as it were. "Lotta fun, back in the day." Then he's apparently hit his limit, for he knocks back the rest of the drink with a kind of brutal efficiency, and heaves himself up with palms on the table. "Exactly," he says to August. "Y'all have a good evenin', I'm out for the night." A little stiff in the joints, but he's not limping, as he goes to reckon up tab and tip, and then start shrugging back into those layers of wool and silk to make the walk back home.

Hera takes a deep breath and then relaxes, then another deep breath ok...now it's time. She downs the shot of vodka and just stands there frozen for a moment. Slamming down drinks like that don't happen everyday so her arms tense and then she relaxes, "Hot damn." she remarks, "Hot damn that....when you take that in it warms you all over then, your eyes act like they want to fall out of your head. I think my eyeballs are still attached...."

It's a clear and legitimate danger that James faces, as Diana watches others start to dance. Still, she hasn't asked nor moved her hips to the music yet, so maybe he's safe? She's not even tapping her feet. Yep, looks safe in all respects. ...at least until Vogue comes on. There go her feet, bouncing up and down. Oh no, and then her hips get into it, and she's lifting her non-drink hand to the music. He might think he's got a reprieve since she pauses long enough to wave at Vyv, but then... "I have no idea how to dance," she informs him. "So we should go learn!" Yes, clearly going to dance in a crowded bar full of people watching you is the optimal way to learn how to dance.

What is that music?

Why does it sound like tables are being moved?

In the office of the bar Easton clicks open a program for their reservations and doesn't see anything about a big party booked for tonight. And then something in the back of his mind tells him that maybe, just maybe he should check out Friendzone. And lo and behold someone has taken it upon themselves to post an event. At his bar. Easton reads it and then in disbelief reads it again. He takes the bottle back out, takes another 'sip'
(read glug) before replacing it and then making his way out into the bar.

The smile plastered onto his face is technically friendly, but more in the sense of he's going to be pleased as punch to tell you to go to hell. It doesn't take long to spot the nose floating above the gold lame shirt. He willfully ignores people moving tables and even manages to not let his nostrils flare with Vogue starts playing through his sound system. In his bar. Nope he heads straight for the dance floor to 'cut in' on Cris and Itz. He pulls Itzhak in for a hug / handshake whether he wants it or not to hiss something in his ear. With a rough bump he breaks contact with Itzhak, turns to Cris and growls, "He's all yours." still through the same forced smile.

Seeing a retreating Ruiz he heads after him for a smoke of his own. The rest of the patrons get the plastered on fake smile that is just a touch away from openly hostile.

Kim gracefully accepts the bought drink. Slamming the shot of vodka with her cheeks getting red as she isn't used to drinking so fast. She answers Abitha quickly "Well I'm not from Seattle. I'm from Portland. I don't take in a bad way. I mean I knew this city was on the smallish side. When I saw a LGBT event I just couldn't help coming. I mean you know as member and a ally...eh apologizes if you aren't a member of the rainbow." at the words said to her she blushes deeply "Arigatogozaimashita. Sore wa hontoni osejidesu. Watashi wa anata ga totemo suteki ni mieru koto o imi shite imasu... E e, watashi wa nomu tame ni motto hitsuyodesu." her language is flawless either a native or someone who grew up in a dual household.

Javi lifts his shoulders and shrugs, "Right, that makes sense. Like you said, there's only like, four or five places to go." He retrieves his shot of tequila from the bar, kind of surprised no one else took it. He raises it to Tor, "Salud." He drinks it quickly, but doesn't slam it back. He breathes in sharply through his mouth and continues on, "I'm looking for something regular, I've been freelancing for the last few months. I'm an illustrator of sorts, not like kids books, but like those maps in fantasy novels or a bird watching guide I'm working on now."

"Nice to meet you," Cole says to Joseph as the man gets up to leave. He then turns back to the drink in front of him, tapping his fingertips against the glass and studying the ice inside of it. He glances up in time to see Easton's expression as he comes out of the office, and perhaps looks just the slightest bit relieved that the tables were moved /before/ he came out. His eyes drop back to the drink in front of him.

Giada slides the bear in between Sparrow's lips every so red lips ever so slowly, "Boop." Dramatically drawing out the word, but breaking immediately into cackling when Alison engages in some recreational ass slapping, "See? I think Aliroo is trying to become my new spirit animal." Nudging around to lean up against her, now invading Ali's space in much the same fashion as she had Sparrow's. Her hand comes up, holding a yellow bear, wiggling it a few times on the course it's takign towards parted lips. Leaning in herself, hand up along the waitress' neck, "Let me know when you need a spirit guide." Murmured quietly, slipping back with a wink and turn just in time to catch a kiss on the cheek, "Aw, no you." Tapping the end of Sparrow's nose with the end of her finger. "Some one give me a drink to finish, then let's go dance..." Not that Gigi can dance. She cannot dance. That is not a thing she does well, not even in her dreams.

"Oh yeah?" says Tor to Javi. "Birds and shit? Cool." And as he dances, he starts to undo his shirt. Just about when Easton is friendly-stomping through the bar, he's shrugging it off. He ties it around his waist, then shrugs his vest back on. Again, it's a 'look'. Hey, at least he wears it with confidence? That's half the thing about clothes, right? Next it's time for Daft Punk and Get Lucky.

Abby holds a hand up, palm forward, in a placating gesture for Abitha. Though, really, she's just looking amused. "No, no, I understand! You pretty much had to," she concedes the point. She's sitting right next to Abitha, so, spotting Kim nearby she also raises a hand in a small wave, accompanied by a bright friendly smile. And, obviously, she doesn't actually understand a word they're saying, but she takes a sip and glances back and forward between the two for a moment. Her gaze wanders towards the improvised dance floor, and her mouth pinches into a tighter line for a moment or two, studying the crowd in thought.

Cris leads Itzhak out onto the 'floor', one hand going to the taller man's hip and a finger curled into a belt loop in a loose hitch as he starts moving to the rhythm in that naturally innate way that most latinos have. Easton's interruption is met with a mild, 'what the hell, man' look, but it turns a little wry when he realizes just who is cutting in. "See you later, Elfing." He calls to the retreating man's back as he follows Ruiz out for a smoke and then his attention goes back Itzhak as well as the touch to the hip. "Patched things up with Dante." It's the overly loud dance floor talk that gets abbreviated into as short as possible of sentences.

At Tables:
August watches Ruiz for an overlong second, nods at him. He might be hearing something different in the Spanish than Ruiz intended. Or maybe not. He raises a hand to Joe in farewell. "Take care of yourself," he says.

His eyes scan the crowd, land on--uhoh, that's Easton. Aheh. August clears his throat, is ready to intervene, maybe, except Easton doesn't actually seem to start much, just makes various discontents known. He relaxes a fraction, takes up his beer to follow Ruiz and Easton, not the least because he can tell when things are about to get real.

"Cap." The moniker's paired with a smile. An actual, honest-to-god thing with dimples and crow's feet that slant up Ruiz's dark eyes, and allow a bit of warmth to creep in to his otherwise irritated demeanor. He taps another cigarette out of his pack and offers it up to his fellow ex-Marine, and stops just under the lip of cover; the sound of rain hitting awning and roof and deck is a steady, whisper-soft thrum.

Itzhak has the grace to blush when he sees Easton blazing a warpath towards him, but he gives him a completely puzzled look when those words are growled in his ear. Oh no. He genuinely has no idea what Easton is talking about. He hugs him back, mutters something to him in turn, then he's dancing with Cris again. He's a pretty good dancer for a dude who has the proportions of a giraffe. "Did ya?" he says to him, pleased. "Five 'em," and holds up his hand for the ritual bro-five.

James had just started to relax. Diana doesn't dance either. He's just taken taken another sip of his drink, finishing it and leaning closer to Diana as if to say something, when the first signs of danger appear. She's sorta-vogeuing. He eyes this event with no small amount of skepticism, which turns to dismay as she turns excitedly to him and says they should learn to dance. Here. Now. Time freezes. Dialogue options appear in his mind's eye, hovering next to Diana. The first reads: 'Sure! Let's go dance!'. The second says: 'I'm ok, but you go dance, have fun!'. The third says: Deploy smokebomb, flee. His mind flickers between the three options several times before he just closes his eyes, mashes some mental buttons, and lets the RNG decide his fate. "Sure! Let's go dance!" escapes his lips. Somewhere in some mental plane of existence, his player throws his controller against the wall.

There's a last, lifted hand to August, and then Joe's sufficiently bundled up to brave the snowy wastes of the road that leads back down to the Harbor. Apparently he'll be spending another night aboard.

A middle finger is lifted, but probably easily missed as Easton makes his way out to the deck. It's for Cris's benefit specifically but if Itzhak happens to look, eh, close enough.

Easton's own smile fades into a scowl as soon as he's past the paying customers and then he's faced with Ruiz, who is grinning at him. He growls "Oh fuck you too." but is lighting a cigarette and not stomping off anywhere. At least once he gets a drag off his cigarette he can't help but relent a little under Ruiz's smile and give a bit of an eyeroll, because fine it's a little funny how pissed off he is.

"I should be grateful the bar's not empty but still.. " He gestures with his head back inside, "Really?"

"Well birds right now, it can be ..." He watches each button being undone with a smile. "It's not important right now." He stops talking, which he's doing a bad job of, and starts dancing. He's finally able to start relaxing as he moves to the music, trying to let the tequila and party vibe wash over him.

Hera finds a way to get another drink which, might not be a good thing. She rarely drinks this heavy too fast but now, what the hey? Might as well, at least that's what she is thinking....if much thinking is even involved. The vodka is downed and chased with a lemon drop. "Oy..." she remarks and goes to sit down somewhere, "Strong stuff."

Giggling madly, Maggi takes the glass from Hera and drags her towards Bit. "Your eyes very much are and they are lovely!" Taking Hera's wrist in one hand she moves back towards Abitha and Abby seeing Kim having moved that way. The alcohol was almost making the music selection bearable. "Bit!" She waves toward Mac, "Do you know Hera?" Empty shot glasses are moved towards the bar keep, with another glare. Maggi now has another Lemon Drop, fresh, she trades to Hera for the diminished one. Good thing she had brought her adult!

Cris smacks his palm against Itzhak's, "Followed by steamy shower scene." He'll let Rosie's imagination fill in the details surrounding the queer version of locker room talk, "He plays the piano." Because these are important things to impart while moving around to the beat of the music. Even though he's dancing with the partner of the man who gave him the nice bruise, it doesn't come up in his side of the silted conversation.

Alison finds herself all wedged in close to both Sparrow and Giada, which, really, is a lot more than she could have bargained for in a given night, even if it is an LGBT party thing, which.. well, always seem to have a tendency to go a certain way, no matter where they're held. Sparrow grabbing at her hip makes Alison lean in towards her, but then Giada's coming in close as well. There's a lot going on, all of a sudden. But those fingers in her face get her attention in a hurry. Her lips part as the woman teases the bear, but as it's finally given, her lips close around it, then pressing against Giada's fingers in a soft kiss. "Yeah, I think that might be a good time.."

Alison's cheeks are well flushed at this point, hiding the bulk of the freckles on her pale skin. A slight awkward cough, and she reaches out to grab the hands of both Giada and Sparrow. "C'mon, let's dance for a little bit." Unless otherwise stopped, the shorter of the three leads them out towards the space that was opened up.

"Been there and done that," murmurs de la Vega around his cigarette in response to the fuck you too. He lights up, gives his zippo a flick flick of his wrist, then shoves it back into his jeans pocket. It's far too fucking cold outside to be in a tee shirt, but here he is. Freezing his surly Mexican ass off. "Guessing he didn't warn you he was inviting a few friends over to your place and commandeering it tonight, yeah?" He does look a touch amused, but the smile's long, long gone. "And you should be grateful. Good business tonight." He sniffs, exhales smoke into the damp air while he contemplates something.

Kim waves to Abby in return, she still looks embarrassed from whatever Abithia said to her. Holding up her free hand in a victory symbol. When she is in cosplay she knows what to do. Turning back to Hera at the lemon drop "Oh maybe you shouldn't drink so fast. You know at the end of the night I'll have to call a cab for us. I mean unless someone offers to take us home." she bats her eyelashes at Abitha "Or at least dropping one of us off at another place." sure she isn't a flirt at all.

At Bar:
Sparrow's smile goes all dorky, dark lashes dipped low, when Giada boops her nose, as if a button that makes her all soft and silly has been pressed. "Yeah, me," she agrees, having about as much modesty as she does personal space. She nudges her magenta beer toward Giada, the sour tasting of blackberries and lemon with a faint hint of hoppiness, should she give it a try. Quickly. Because there's a blushing redhead snagging both of their hands. Oh, how wide her grin! With a happy wiggle of her hips which soon syncs with the rhythm of whatever's playing, she follows Alison onto the makeshift dancefloor without any peep of protest.

Hera blushes madly, or maybe it's the flush of the alcohol? She is easily dragged by Maggi though and being affected by the shots she just grins. "Anuther drink?" she asks the woman, "Think I can stand up straight if I take another shot? I dunno...." she laughs with many many giggles. She can't be THAT buzzed yet, right?

Through her speech, and through the slight delay of reaction, Abitha was proving herself as not quite fluent, but at least able to hold a conversation. She taps the bar again to hopefully get a bartender's attention, pointing to Kim. She needed a drink, afterall, and a strong, independent nee-san could order whatever she wanted. But then... she has to stop, suddenly remembering, through Kim's reminder what sort of event this was. Oh crap, Kim probably thought Abitha was hitting on her. Oh crap, Maggi was probably thinking she was wing-manning... womanning... Oh crap, that was flirting. She instantly blushes, she says something in Japanese, then switches back to English, "Maggi told me she was buying, so I figured free booze! Heh." Her head tips toward the approaching blonde. And then, blessed distraction, "I have not met Hera! I am Mac!" she manages, slightly robotic and awkward, but trying to be personable, offering a hand to the gallery owner.

Tor gets into the groove of the music, moving his hips. He's just getting into it when someone calls his name from across the room. He taps Javi on the shoulder. "Gonna go say hi to these guys." And then Mr. Just-a-vest disappears into a corner of the crowd.

The evening's music continues apace, with all sorts of crowd-pleasing party music. It doesn't seem to stay in one era for more than a song or two, just to make sure there's a little something for everyone. It goes as far back as the 70s, up to the things currently charting now. But everything allows some kind of dance move.

"Yeah, I know, he wants to jam," Itzhak says to Cris, still pretty red from the dressing down Easton gave him, but hey, you wanna get your gay drink on, you gotta...piss off a Marine, or something? So he sounds cheerful anyway. ....Almost like he doesn't know where that bruise came from. Note he also doesn't ask. When the song ends, he half-hugs Cris, heated up from all the movement. "Help me get the place picked up when we're done, yeah?" he says to him, and saunters back to his drink.

Diana absolutely beams at James' assent, though she does take his hand and squeeze it reassuringly. She looks a little concerned about his hesitation, but probably isn't aware just how bothered he is, judging by the fact that she still starts to head for the dance floor, hand in his. "The night of Dia De Los Muertes, I learned how to do a spin pretty good. Not sure I'll know how to lead that spin, but hey, you only live once, right?" Yes, really: YOLO. "Then again, that was like, ballroom sort of dancing." She pauses mid-stride, frowning, and then starts heading back out to the dance floor once more. "Guess we're doing the like, pick random stuff we've seen on tv move. Or, OH! We'll just try and copy what everyone else is doing!" she suggests.

Cris gives Itzhak a little half-bro hug as the song ends, patting him on the back. "If I haven't wondered off with something that has a tight ass." Six to a half dozen on the gender of said victim. "Thanks for the dance." He does that point thing, as if that conveys some meaningful sentiment before he slides back into the crowd.

"Really asshole?" Easton coughs out smoke before he manages to get those words out to Ruiz with a rueful smile. Easton's not exactly dressed for outside in a black dress shirt, but he's also from Connecticut so this is basically a warm balmly fall night to him. He confirms, "No. He did not." He blows smoke out his nose in frustration but exactly what he's frustrated about is hard for him to put his finger on so much as just generally being annoyed. Trivia Nights. Country Western Nights. LGBT events. This is not the bar he wanted. "What about you? Surprised he got you out for this?"

Javi half smiles at him. "Yeah. Yeah, sure." He watches Tor dance off, then face palms. He stops with the dancing and shuffles back to the bar. "Another tequila, por favor." He asks when the bar tender comes near and pulls his phone out of his pocket.

Hera seems that Maggi is trying to do an introduction and she stumbles over to Abitha's direction. "Nice ta meetcha." her words slurring a bit, she tries to offer her hand but, someone has clearly had too much, too fast, and there is the reaction. She looses her vertigo and instead of standing proper, she misses the handshake and passes out.

James follows along behind Diana a bit stiffly as she goes on about her general strategy, or lack thereof, in approaching the dance floor. This would be such an excellent moment for his survival instincts to activate his as-yet untapped ability to go invisible, but, mostly thanks to Diana's reassuring touch (even if her words are somewhat less than reassuring), he remains within the realm of visibility. So far. As other folks rush in to dance, he looks around at them and their moves, and then back to Diana. "I'll... ah... follow your lead, yeah?"

At Bar:
Vyv blinks with unusually visible startlement when Itzhak calls out to him, but it turns into a tiny smile and a more definite inclination of the head. "Thank you," he calls back, in that accent that doesn't sound any more meant for this place than he looks, and he settles in as if he owns the place nonetheless, turning to observe (not-)his kingdom as he takes the first sip of his drink. Diana's wave gets another faint smile and a small lift of the glass, before he's briefly distracted by the conversation in Japanese. The expression is more like someone listening to the words than the sounds, particularly given the half-smile that gets hidden by another sip of his drink near the end. Okay, the fact that he quietly says, "Useful location for it," in the same language might also be an indication.

Javi's shirt gets a considering look as the man returns to the bar, and he seems about to remark on it when Hera... collapses. He studies the woman for a moment before remarking to no one in particular, in English and an unreasonably unconcerned tone, "Someone probably ought to do something about that." Just not him.

What about him? "Said he wanted to take me out for drinks," Javier mumbles with a wry twist of his lips. Puts a bulky shoulder to the supporting wall, drags off his smoke again and exhales away from the other man. He's got manners enough, at least, for that. "I wasn't aware this was what he had in mind." Or he'd have said fuck, no, clearly. "How're things with you and Bennie?" Cautious, like he's walking on thin ice there. One misstep, and he's plunging right the hell in.

Just in time, Maggi catches Hera, managing to put her own drink on the bar as the other falls to the floor. While actually somewhat worried she checks to make sure the pulse is fine, looking toward Abby. "Uh hey Abby, Can you check out Hera for a sec while I call a car, or Leon?" Whilst she had managed to grab her before she hit the floor, Maggi was better with the conscious.

Itzhak collects his drink--and more Patron--and rolls out to join Ruiz and Easton. Ruiz gets the Patron, and Easton gets a Jewish spread of the hands and an insouciant eyebrow.

At Dancefloor:

Giada up ends the rest of Sparrow's beer, swallowing it down in several throat shifting gulps, sets it down on the bar and then takes off being led to the dance floor in Alison's hand. "Okay, alright, yeah totally.." Her hoodie and goggles tuck into her back pocket, watching the two other women move before... doing something with her body. It has rhythm at least, just not one that's intime with the music. "I have no idea what the fuck I'm doing... incase that's not painfully fucking obvious." She makes up for it by being pain stakingly close to one, both, and alternatingly either of them.

At Bar:
Cole nurses his third drink of the evening, taking his time with this one, though his eyes drift to the dance floor, as though considering just going to dance on his own at this point. Fingertips idly trace the lip of the glass as he people watches, eyes drifting from face to face. Vyv's accent draws his attention for a moment, and he glances over at the man in the peacock blue suit and studies him for a moment, then glances over when Hera passes out, a little surprised, but her friends seem to catch her. He lifts his glass and takes another small sip.

Kim doesn't seem to mind Abitha's skill at Japanese at all "Hey no worries. We didn't all grow up in a household like mine. Like my parents would give me we are disappointed in you looks when I didn't speak perfect japanese. I mean really I'm American! Okay maybe at the young age I didn't think that. But still they assimilated and didn't expect me to?" She looks at the blush "Ah okay so Maggi isn't your girlfriend? I mean if aren't poly I don't mean to eh...force myself...Agh I mean you are very cute." she say in English while rubs her chin "Are you excited about borderlands 3?" Which to most is a odd topic. Then Hera goes down she is about to move to catch her friend before other's do. "I really thought I was a little weight. Ah I know the place she should be taken back to.'

"Mmmhmmm" Easton takes the statement about Ruiz not expecting this to mean he's not the only one dealing with a bit of surprise. He looks back in and says, "It's ... a lot." Of people? To unpack? Sure that. He's a couple drinks short of yelling that it's his bar but that's probably for the best. The question about Bennie gets a full body shrug , complete with hands rotated palms up. He blows out smoke and is about to answer when Itzhak joins them. "What? He gets a drink? And I get.. what is this?" He makes the same open handed gesture but with more annoyance and frustration. "No. Fuck off. Go the fuck back inside, I'm not talking to you."

Abby sets down her unfinished, dilute drink, next to her also untouched shot. She's still just people-watching, and fidgeting with herself, legs swinging, and trying not to look too entertained by the snippets of conversation - in English - that she catches from Abitha at her side.

Then, of course, Hera seems to not be able to handle her booze too well, and Abby flinches at the collapse. "Oh boy." She looks very, very sober herself, as she hops off her seat with a brief nod for Maggi. "Sure," she nods, kneeling down to check Hera's pulse and vitals, and also annoy her in other ways in a very brief triage, phone flashlight shining into the other woman's eyes and everything. It's all very medical looking, really, like she knows what she's doing. Her smile is reassuring once she looks up. "She should be fine. You know, I can drive her there? I only know the gallery, though, I don't know if that's where she lives? But I can do that."

"Yeah, sure!" Diana seems pretty easygoing about the whole dance thing with James. Although, ogod some of the dancing is very ... intimate, and she glances at him consideringly before starting to do the snap 'n sway. Literally just... out there, on the dance floor, doin' that time-honored very dorky dance without even a blush or the good sense to be mortified at herself. "This is really great!" she notes, in case he missed what a wonderful time they're apparently having.

At Dancefloor:
A soft laugh comes from Alison as Giada complains. "You're fine." There's no small amount of dancing and wiggling around, more than a little bit of touching both Giada and Sparrow, a slight bump and grind now and again. A hand running through Giada's hair at some point. "It's not about knowing what you're doing, it's just about letting go. Wait, this seems like your kind of line, isn't it?" More laughter.

Alison gets all touchy and feely with Sparrow as well, hand going through the woman's neon red hair, though she really has to reach up to accomplish that, given the half a foot difference between them. "Something like.. letting your body say that you're afraid to say out loud, maybe."

At Bar:
Javi slides his phone back into his pocket, then grabs the shot shot glass on the bar. He raises it, to no one in particular, and says "Salud." He tips it back into his mouth and downs this one in a gulp. He breathes in sharply through his mouth, ignoring the salt and lime altogether. He sets the little glass down and wipes his mouth with his forearm.

Itzhak actually cracks the fuck up at Easton's impression of him, laughing and going totally red in the face. His black curls are sticking damply to his forehead and the jerk is practically glowing. "So whaddaya drinkin'? I'll get ya three."

Abitha was quick enough she would have at least help catch Hera, but... thankfully... Maggi managed it. She looks suitably harried and not at all relieved that this sort of distraction would likely defuse any strangely intense flirting situation she was completely unprepared for. And then Kim's well-meaning just makes it even worse. Her hand comes up in a quick wave-off, "Oh! No! Maggi is taken. Some sugar daddy dealio." Shit, that still left it unexplained... She heaves a heavy sigh, just deciding to utter a few more words in Japanese to the girl.

Of course Ruiz gets a drink. And according to the look on his face, he'll probably even put out tonight, despite Itzhak being an utter asshole and springing this on him unaware. Cigarette scissored between two fingers, he uses the same hand to accept the glass, and tips it toward his mouth for a good-sized slug of tequila. "You are, actually, talking to him," he feels the need to point out in a warm, amused murmur. The waitress passes close by right about then, and he hitches his chin toward the poor off-duty 'tender, and tells her something that sounds like whiskey. He'll even try not to make a face when he says it.

"I've got it," Ruiz tells Itzhak, nudging him with his shoulder.

"I'll take a whiskey and an apology to start, asshole." Easton is obviously not done being fired up about... whatever he's fired up about. He turns back to Ruiz who is both pointing out unhelpfully that he's talking to him and then ordering the drink for him before he even gets the chance to say it, which is both thoughtful and somehow annoying right now. "You are not helping. As ever." He is apparently grouchy tonight. Maybe because he has been back in town for a week or so and he and Bennie have managed to make time for friends, but not time to have an actual talk that they really need to have.

James also looks a bit mortified at all the more intimate dancing going on. I mean, he knows how most of the more party-esque queer events go, this isn't his first, but he's still James. What saves him is catching sight of Diana rocking the hell out of her dorky-ass dance with absolutely no shame. He laughs- not mockingly, just in a sound of relief, and after a misstep or three, joins her in her dorkyness and does the snap 'n sway just like her. "Yeah, it's... a hundred percent giant bug free so far.", he says, which isn't exactly agreeing with her, but it's also not wrong.

At Dancefloor:
"Don't overthink it." Sparrow's got more rhythm than skill, unfalteringly in time with the tempo even if she doesn't always know what to do with her arms. Once or twice, it definitely looks like she's playing airdrums before she gets properly distracted by one pretty girl or another brushing up against her. She leans in each time, fingers brushing over down Alison's back or over Giada's hip, face intermittently hidding in brown hair or red. It gives her dancing something of an ebb and flow, as she shifts between them. With a giddy bark of laughter, she shakes her head at the last of Alison's advice, even as she tips with closed eyes into the digits running through her hair. "There's not a thing I'm afraid of saying out loud," she boasts. "Like, mm. How Gigi is a fantastic kisser. And--" With a peek of one eye toward the ginger. "--how you shouldn't do that if you don't know how to follow through."

Maggi squints at Bit, but is thankful for the help. "I'm not like chained, Thank you. I have a person, whom is good for me...Shit I have to have some sort of conversation about parameters now and expectations..." Seeing Abby give the okay, she changes the subject back to her collapsed friend. "You are an absolute angel Abby, I just don't want you to feel like you have to. I can get her a car, feels like my fault anyhow." She bites her lip nervously...she wanted a cigarette that didn't turn into a shoe knife. Turning to Kim "Do you know her home address luv?"

"Why'ntcha tell me what I'm apologizin' for," Itzhak says to Easton, not brought down in the least, and in fact just apparently digging the hell out of Easton being a grouch at him. One thumb hooked in his pocket, he's leaning back on his bootheels and grinning at him, six-foot-and-change of trouble. He glances at Ruiz when he orders Easton whiskey, and hoists his eyebrows at him in thanks. That'll only be the first of many, many whiskeys. He knows from experience.

Kai is, well, never planning to walk into a bar, but it seems to happen often enough, and tonight is one of those nights. She strolls to the bar first. This is a requisite. She reaches up to rake her fingers through her hair as she strategizes how to get the bartender's attention, tiny as she is. "Whiskey sour," she just shouts out. It's a new tactic.

"I'm always fucking helpful," grouses de la Vega, with a mock dirty look sent in Easton's direction. More tequila, chased with another slug off his cigarette, exhale a warm rumbly sigh of smoke mingled with the bitterness of the liquor. Dark eyes roving between bartender and insouciant musician - though lingering a little longer on the taller man's slinkily-clad frame - he lets them work their shit out while he drinks and smokes. For now.

At Bar:
Javi picks up his coat and throws it over his shoulder. He looks around the place one more time, then turns around to head out. He's a little wobbly on his feet, but he can get to the door just fine.

Kim gives a brief and defeated looking frown. She is really awful at flirting most of the time "Oh I see. Well no worries. Just I don't know you seemed interesting." she says in Japanese before changing back to English. It seems her friend is okay just even more unused to drinks than she is "The only place I know she goes to is her shop. I am sure her security person would know, I just don't know for sure." she really feels bad as she thought Hera could handle herself.

At Bar:
Cole finishes off the remainder of his drink and motions to the bartender for his tab, pulling out his wallet to settle up and glancing out toward the dance floor one more time, thoughtfully. Once he pays for his drinks and leaves a tip on the bar, he slips from his stool and makes his way toward the dance floor by himself. There, he easily slips into the rhythm of the music. Here, at least, he seems to feel comfortable, his movements graceful, easy and practiced.

"So far," Diana confirms with amusement, gettin' her snap 'n sway on. "I'm telling you, you saved us from bug attack by worrying about it. Now if something does happen that's... unfortunate, at least it won't be that! I'm pretty sure that's how statistics works, anyway." She has a PhD. Weep for the future. She waves a hand dismissively, then goes back to snapping and swaying, swaying and snapping.

"Leave the helpful off that, then sure." Easton agrees that de la Vega is always fucking, for sure. Itzhak being not perturbed by his bad mood only causes him to get more annoyed. "If you are going to organize a damn pride parade in my bar can you at least give him a fucking heads up first?" Which obviously Easton's never been to a Pride event because this tame gathering of people just drinking at his bar is not nearly that much of a party, sorry folks. "And why here? What are you trying to force here?" He glances over at Ruiz, his face now in a full on scowl. He accepts the whiskey from the waitress who knows that look well enough to just wait, and her patience is rewarded when he downs the drink and hands her back the glass.

"If my worrying could keep weird shit from happening to this town, it'd already be a paradise.", James quips back at Diana, in perfectly awkward rhythm to her perfectly awkward dance. "But that is how statistics works, so who am I to argue with it?" He dropped out of college. Continue weeping for the future.

At Dancefloor:

"Oh shit, did you hear that?" Giada asks of Sparrow, sliding up behind the more colorfully made up of the trio as Alison wiggles around them, a hand on either of her hips, "I just got Gigi'd.. Is that what I sound like? Fuck I'm pretentious.." Grinning at Alison over Sparrow's shoulder, "I /am/ a fantatic kisser, it is a fact." There are only a few real good descriptions of Giada, but one of them is almost always socially fearless... whatever she thinks, she usually says. "Kai!" Off the tiny asian goes to the bar, "I was going to be offended, but she's going where they booze are and that totally tracks.." Sliding off Sparrow to move over to ali, "How you feeling?" Slipping in up against ht shorter redhead, fingers pushing hair back out of her face with a deliberate brush of short nails across her cheek.

Abby shakes her head and waves it off, adjusting her scarf so it's not choking Hera as she leans over the passed-out woman. "It's fine," she says with a small smile for Maggi. "Oh, no, it's fine, really. I was about to call it a night, anyway. It's not really my scene, I guess." There's that rainbow bracelet on her wrist, so - who knows exactly what she mans by that. "Wel, I know where the gallery is! I'll figure it out. Don't worry about it." That last part is said to Kim as well, with a quiet, certain, reassuring smile. Everything will be just fine. She'll figure it out. "If someone could just help me... get her out to the car? I'm parked right, right outside." And then it's really just a simple matter of helping her to Abby's car. Which the Subaru with all the... cat stickers on it.

Javier's no fount of sunshine and cheer, his own self. And Easton's insinuation that fucking is all he does? All he's good for, isn't what was said, but god knows the thought slivers through his mind like rote. Like someone's said it before, and all he has to do is dredge it up. "Yeah, go to hell," he mumbles, putting out his smoke on the doorjamb, and flicking it into an ashtray. "You want me to wait up outside for you?" he asks Itzhak, rubbing at his nose with inked knuckles. "Or you going to get home on your own?"

"Force? Force, force what?" Itzhak says, blank, eyebrows going funny. Then he snorts, amused still, and digs out cigarettes, shaking the pack to offer them to Easton and Ruiz. "Buddy, this ain't no pride parade. Nobody's even wearing a harness or body glitter, I ain't see even a single strap-on." ...Though, he casts an eye back inside, like he's wondering how long that can take to happen among the young women flirting and dancing. "Why your bar? Because the Pourhouse is a dump, love it but it's a dump, and maybe I just wanted to see some people like me havin' a fun time." Why not the Firefly? Everybody knows why not the Firefly. "Nothin' more to it. Sorry I didn't ask," he adds and finally kind of looks contrite a little but not that much. "I'll get the place squared away."

He didn't mean to, like, imply anything about the Twofer or its owner, and that he might have done that has finally occurred to him. Then he glances at Ruiz, a little concerned. "Wait for me, yeah?" Because Ruiz stalking off alone in this mood, he doesn't want.

At Dancefloor:
"You? Sure, I believe that. But you're someone unique in any given crowd." Alison's fingers in Sparrow's hair linger a little, but the little barb, if not an outright tease, at the end's enough to make the waitress smirk, and give a little tug on the woman's hair. Not enough to be overly painful, but enough to be noticed. "And what is it that makes you think I don't know how to follow through?"

With the effort of dancing, and probably whatever was in that gummie bear, Alison starts sweating before too long. Which is about when Giada gets real close, insisting on her kissing skills, if not for dancing. A brief distraction as Giada calls out to Kai, who gets a wave from Alison, but then her gaze goes back to Gia. "Good, I think.. so about that kissing, though?" At which point she'll lean in closer to the woman, planting her lips on hers in some kind of manner that might best be described as ravenous without going into overly lurid detail.

'No, no, I'm really flattered.' Abitha responds in Japanese, blushing really hard, then also switching back to English. "I own the Control Pad. You should come by sometime." she offers, smiling weakly. "It's the gaming shop. Video games, I mean." She'd offer to help with Hera, but honestly, she didn't know much about her and there were so many people bigger and able to help. "I'm still buying you a drink, regardless, sempai." she remarks to Kim, trying to save face.

Maggi sends a quick text message to Leon asking him to help on the other end to get Hera safely into the gallery before taking Hera up by the other arm. "Leon will help get her carried in, probably better a large man folk than small tipsy women. Really appreciate you Abby, you are a great person." She proceeds to help out to the feline clad car, if keys got to be an issue...well Leon was good for that too, she owed him. She would make sure Hera was in the vehicle safely before heading back inside.

Kim starts to walk over to Abby "I can help really. I don't know her home address but getting her to safe place. Really that should be my job. I mean she woouldn't have even have come if not for me." she looks very guilty. Giving Abitha I am sorry shrug. "So I should get her back home." turning her attention back to Abitha for a time "I will do so. Really...eh did you say sempai" her cheeks flush again but Abitha's words where clear. "I will look you up but I need to see my new friend home."

Ruiz telling him to go to hell gets a reflexive "Bite me." from Easton who is too annoyed in general right not to care about why that might have struck a nerve. He does not find it amusing that Itzhak snorts and chuckles at him. He does a at least grunt 'fine' at the truth that it's a pretty tame gathering of people, but still! Something! At 'getting the place squared away', Easton rolls his eyes and says, "You haven't even broken a single damn chair." As if he's mad about that? Who knows?

"Whatever. It's fine." He stubs out his cigarette and goes to find another drink before wandering off for the night.

"You didn't worry about the frogs, and then there were frogs. QED, you saved us this time with your awesome imagination." Diana gives a firm nod to emphasize her point, grinning. "Besides, you can't look at every disaster as a failure-- think of all the disasters you prevented! Sure, some are going to slip through now and then." She smiles warmly, stepping a little closer to aim a soft kiss at his lips. "Anyway. Thanks for bringing me here tonight. I'm enjoying it."

At Dancefloor:
Sparrow grinds back against Giada, her laughter for that sudden bout of pseudo-self-awareness almost certainly barely heard beneath the music and conversations, quiet as it is, quick as it is to die in a happy hum. Which sharpens quickly when Alison makes good on the threat, the giggle which follows that very clear. "Careful," she singsongs. "I've got zipties and I know how to use 'em." That comes with an entirely unnecessary wink as she slinks back just enough to let the other two get a little bit closer. And then a lot closer. The neon redhead takes the opportunity to grab both of her dance partners' asses. All to encourage them closer together. Entirely unnecessarily. That proximity encouraged, she draws back further and blows a kiss toward Kai-who-she-hardly-knows at the bar with half an eye turned toward the others still enjoying the makeshift dancefloor.

Ruiz pauses a beat, dark eyes sliding over Easton in a manner that could be suggestive, or could just be him seriously thinking about calling the guy's bluff. Not that these things are mutually exclusive. There's a little flicker of his upper lip, a sort of abbreviated baring of teeth. And then he nods wordlessly to Itzhak, goes to snag his jacket and hoodie, and slings them on with quick, sharp motions as he prowls for the door.

"Ya want me to?!" Itzhak yells at Easton's back. "I'll break a damn chair all right!" Any contrition is now over, back to being an asshole.

There's hot lesbian makeouts over to the right, but if you'll glance to the left you'll spot that rare sight: a James getting smooched, on the lips, even. A smooch returned, even, though James is blushing rather fiercely when he pulls back. "So you're saying I should get a cape?"

At Dancefloor:
Cole dances by himself for a while, content on the dancefloor to let the music move him, as well as the three drinks in his system that seem to do nothing to hinder his balance or his rhythm. But eventually one song blurs into another and he makes his way off the floor to find his wool coat and tug it back on, buttoning it back up before he turns and heads for the door and slips out into the chill of the evening outside the bar.

Oh hey look now Itzhak is getting flipped off as Easton walks away. It's apparently just that kind of night.

Abitha deflates a little as she offers a wave in goodbye to Kim, clearly disappointed, in the situation, but definitely in herself. She could have at least asked for a number. Wait, but that would just do it all over again. Well, at least she still had alcohol to answer all her difficult questions. Now alone at the bar as the others helped the gallery owner to her car, Abitha takes a larger swig of her spiked cider, again, making a face at whatever the strong cinnamon taste was in it.

Diana pulls back from that kiss just smiling up a storm, and plants one quickly on his cheek just after. She's a little red, but nowhere near his level of blush. Still, she gives him an incredibly fond look, even as she raises an eyebrow at him and asks, "What, you don't have one already? James Hecker, I am so very disappointed in you."

Itzhak then stubs his smoke out and chases Ruiz across the bar with no dignity whatsoever, jogging fast after him on dem long legs. Weaving through the people dancing (he did that, he made that happen, his musician's heart thrills in it), he catches up to him and puts an arm around his shoulders, murmuring to him.

Abby gives Kim a friendly smile as she's helping Hera out to the street. It's a Forester, green, lightly dinged, early 2000s vintage, and it's roomy enough. Once she's got Hera strapped in, she nods, "Sure. I mean, it's fine - I'd rather keep an eye on her until we get there, at least," she explains, adding a moment after. "I'm a nurse. But I can drop you off wherever after, too." Maggi gets a smile and a wave. "Thank you! And it'll be fine, don't worry about it!"

"Look, ok, I've just been trying to keep it low-key. Street-level. Like Daredevil.", James replies, still dorking along in that dance. "Once you get a cape, though, that's Justice League shit." Yes, he just mixed a Marvel reference with a DC reference, because fuck your rules this is LGBT night bitches.

At Bar:
Once Kai has her drink in hand, and only then does she answer the siren's call to the dance floor, at which point, on her way, she notices Sparrow's blown kiss. This stirs up a grin and a little wink for the near-stranger as she heads out to the group. "Alright. How much do I have to catch up, and how come I never hear about...whatever this is?" She clearly hasn't pre-gamed, an unusual move for the woman.

Kim isn't ready to trust a someone she doesn't know with a friend's safety as they out to the car. "I am sure medically you know what you are doing. Still I'd like to accompany her home if that isn't a issue." she is already looking up symptoms on her phone. Really webMD did nothing to help anyone.

At Dancefloor:

Giada is part of the hot lesbian action, but she's not so sure she qualifies in the hot part. That's just how people be feeling about themselves though! She's comfortable, at least, with proximity. Interchangably between Sparrow and Alison as it turns out, but as she's urged closer to the latter and kissed, further encouraged by the former with nudging from Sparrow, the comfort is obviously more pointedly so at Ali. "Slow down, padawan." Murmured to the red head going full on velocikisser on her, "I'm not going anywhere.." Which isn't to say she didn't return it, she absolutely did, just not as ''going for the jugglar'' and more, magic carpet ridey.

Metaphors!

Turning with a hand brushing along Ali's neck, up against her jaw, and partially in her hair, she glances back at Kai. "Not a lot... a shot, a gummi bear." Which she has held out within the time it takes to say gummi bear, wiggling it invitingly at the Asian, "And some time... you'll be right on par."

Nevermind that she's sweating profusely despite very little physical activity.

It's hot for a frigid cold winter night.

or something.

Maggi grins at Kim. "My boo is a locksmith if you guys hit trouble and do need him there." To Kim she gives a head tilt. "Bit is a little different but she is worth knowing if you give her a chance." She shuts the door and heads back inside to order another shot and take a seat beside Mac.

"I'm just saying, if you start wearing a shirt over your face, we'll have to have a talk. Because that is a level of nerdery I don't know if I can be a party to," Diana says oh so seriously, the corners of her mouth trying to turn up and being forced down again. "Cape or no cape, face-shirts are just not okay." She even rubs one finger against the other in classic 'that's a no-no' fashion. "Although I should let you know that on the classic divide that tears this country apart, I'm going to come down 'Marvel,' every time. Face shirt or no."

Abitha looks sideways as Maggi sits, takes a long sip of her cider, then theatrically buries her face in an arm she puts on the bar. She knew she was probably about to get teased.

At Dancefloor:
Sparrow's grin grows wider when she sees Kai heading this direction. Without slowing down her wiggly sorta dancing, she holds up three fingers at the question about catching up... then corrects to four at Giada's answer. Their counts might be different, but she doesn't make any further alterations. "Pretty sure this is the first of this sorta thing I've seen in town outside of June... like... ever maybe?" With an approving murmur for the pocket gummi offered out to the latest dancer, she adds, "Just gotta get that--" She points toward Maggi. "--pretty girl to get you a shot or two and you'll be good as gold."

At Dancefloor:
Alison breaks it off, huffing a little. "Uh, sorry, I guess I got kinda carried away." The shade of her cheeks approach something closer to Sparrow's hair. Sparrow's hand on Ali's butt makes her squeal, and then giggle as she comes out of whatever little overheated moment she'd found herself in. But yes, she slows down a little for a while, leaning against Giada as her hands graze her pale skin.

Eventually though, she'll stare over at Kai with eyes growing a little larger than usual. "Hey! I swear I forwarded you the text.. that definitely seems like something I'd do." And then looking over at Sparrow after the further jabbing. "See, first you suggest that I dont know how to follow through. And then you're teasing me with a good time. Silly! My leather cuffs at home are probably more comfy."

Abby nods at Kim after just a moment's surprise, waving her towards the SUV as she walks around to the driver's side. "Oh, sure! That's what I meant. We'll take Hera home first and then I can drop you off anywhere else. Or we can get you a car, too, or whatever! I'm hoping we don't have to drive her to the hospital..." She crinkles her nose up, but remains all smiles and positive attitude, waiting quietly for Kim to get in before it's time to drive off. "I'm Abby."

It's not too hard for Itzhak to catch up to the surly Mexican attempting to exit stage left. Rosencrantz has a few inches on him in height, and Ruiz isn't in a hurry. The arm slung around his shoulder is nearly shrugged off, but he pauses at whatever's said, and gives the guy a look.

Then, after a precipitously long pause, he nods once, rolls his jaw, and makes for the table they'd been seated at. Where he'll order another tequila, thank you very much.

At Tables:
August has been mingling variously, leaving the table unattended (and so the baskets of tots and fries have been duly ransacked), but now he moves that way again, seeing it once more occupied. He settles down opposite Ruiz, mostly-empty beer glass in hand. "No broken noses or black eyes, so I guess that conversation didn't go too bad." He bobs his eyebrows.

Kim nods to Abbt "Alright. I mean getting me home is of less importance. My place is hotel, but Hera has a home here. Hospital? Do think she is so far off. Oh my lord...Hera I am so sorry." really she has no idea about physical aliments.

"I am a man of all faiths- allegiance to none, and to all. For within all fandoms lie gems ripe for the stealing.", James replies to Diana, pausing in his dancing to spread his arms wide, before pausing, and pulling them back in to scratch his chin. "Well, except for Dilbert fans. Those guys I just don't get." And then he tries to go back to the dancing, too awkward to even awkward properly for a little bit. "And no face shirts. I can agree to that. I'm not sure what I'm agreeing on, but you have my agreement."

Knocking back the shot Maggi lets out a long huff before checking her phone. After a few hurried clicks she turns her attention on Mac with a reaction that may surprise her. "You might like just getting to know her Bit, seems like a good person." Shrugging off her jacket, she looks about the place before her eyes return. "You could still be like close with someone if you wanted? I just don't know the right things to do if I don't know what you want."

Itzhak bumps his forehead to Ruiz's, lets him go. "Get ya another, yeah?" he says to August, when the town's favorite silver fox reappears. A minute later he's got just that, plus another round for Ruiz and himself (and reordered bar food), and grins sheepishly at August. "I, uh, he was mad at me because...actually I don't know why." Then a shrug. People get mad at Itzhak. He just accepts it.

Grant comes rolling in late and great. Gray Harbor's resident unemployed/self-employed gigalo rolls on in. Okay maybe not, but Bax does! He really dressed up for this in a clean pair of jeans, his Ramones T-Shirt that's actually the name of the Avengers rather than the rock band. One arm is foll of black o-ring bracelets and bangles made of spun wire and found objects and hemp string and wires. Black collar covers up what looks like possibly a scratch or something, and on his feet rainbow glitter Doc Martens. Fingers push back through faded violet hair as he gets a look around with an approving nod to the volume of folks gathered.

At At Dancefloor:
"Thanks Gigi," Kai moves in to give Giada a peck on the cheek as she discreetly palms the gummy bear from the woman. "I think I may owe you a bit." She pops the bear into her mouth and gives it a good chew before washing it down with her drink. She bears a grin at Sparrow. "Have we met?" then she looks to Alison, "Hey Al. No worries. I seem to have a homing beacon for this shit I guess," or it could be the fact that she frequents bars way too often, even for a college student. She doesn't seem inclined to get dancing yet, instead content to watch the women together as she sips on her drink along the sidelines and lets the gummy bear digest enough to enter her bloodstream.

At Dancefloor:

"I'm not complaining." Giada says to Alison leaning against her, fanning herself, and by extension, Alison with the lapel of her leather jacket flapping back and forth. The breeze it creates sends goosebumps up the back of her neck, beneath her hair, or maybe it's the bead of sweat rolling down between her brows towards the tip of her nose. "Shit..." Shivering a little with her shoulders rolling. She looks over to Sparrow, blowing at a damp strand of curly brown hair hanging against her cheek, "Yeah, I have no fucking clue where they came from, but I'm not complaining /at all/." To Sparrow, nodding towards the gummi, "Cost four times as much as usual though, so this probably makes up the last of my recreational sensory altering... much the pity."

She's a sharer though.

"One of us... One of us..." Fists up in the air, temporarily relieving Ali of the touch against her neck, when Kai pops the gummi in her mouth, "You'll make it up to me, Kairoo." Both hands push all the curls back, scratching her fingers into her scalp, "I need water... or more alcohol.. or something..." Side eyeing Alison, "Several somethings maybe."

And as Maggi reads straight through her, Abitha doesn't even lift her head, stocking-clad legs kicking annoyedly below the bar stool, her voice slightly muffled by the prone pose, "No I caaaan't," she whines, "They always get the wrong idea. I just..." She finally lifts her head, having to buff her bangs up and out of the way, then sighing, "Yes, she is probably really cool and I hope she comes by the shop, cause that dress was straight fierce." She reclaims and drains her cider, pushing it across the bar to the tender, pointing to the glass, looking sideways to Maggi as if asking, 'Same?', before actually vocalizing words, propping her cheek on a palm, looking sideways at her blonde friend, "People are hard. You can't just reload from checkpoints."

At Dancefloor:
"Aww." Sparrow's eyes go wide as she blinks at Alison with playfully feigned sympathy. "You think I care about your comfort." How cute! The way she watches the redhead after that tease? She might be gauging her reaction, looking for limits and inclinations as best she can in gummi-fuzzed flirtations. But Kai's asking her a direct question. One which requires some degree of visual attention, a little bit of study. Sure, she's trying to dredge up a memory of some other booze-heavy event where numbers might've been exchanged and then forgotten, but it's just not clicking. "I'm Sparrow. You're cute. And know all the cute people. So. We really should meet." Beat. "Hi." A little sharper, she squeaks out another, "Hi!" as her arms shoot up in the air. "Baxeeeee!" All big and dramatic-like, hand to lips and loudly smacked, she blows a kiss to the purple-haired and shiny-shoed punk. "You are a hero, Gigi. To all of us. Candies and kisses and shots." The upward pitch of her brows suggests that might be a proposal, but she's not about to push too hard toward distraction from whatever other somethings she might have in store for Alison.

At Dancefloor:
Alison just eyes Sparrow, and all she can say in response to that is, "Wow." And her cheeks might just get a little blush, but her grin doesn't fade away one iota. "Usually I'm the one doing the tying up, these days. But Kai here, Kai's good people, you know?" She laughs a little at Kai's mention of a homing beacon. "I wish I had one like that. But this kinda thing seems to be when I run into you most of the time anyways."

The redhead's hands drift through Giada's hair, tickling her own skin with the woman's locks. "Am I the last person in town to meet you, or what?" The breeze from the fanning of the jacket makes her blink, stopping the whole, hand in hair thing. "Yeah, I think I could use some water." She'll pull away from Giada and start heading back towards the bar, little beads of sweat on her face amongst flushed skin.

At Tables:
August murmurs a thanks to Itzhak for the drink, has a sip. Around an amused grin, he says, "Did you maybe neglect to tell him?"

"You are in fact correct Bit, but you also loose romance options on the ones you do not interact with, or friendships. I dunno I tried a relationship novel thing once, it was fascinating. Point is you don't have to sleep with people for them to like you, I adore you. So maybe you give the cute geeky girl a chance to know how cool you are before just saying no." Maggi shrugs off her leather jacket, texting again and getting a water for herself. "I think I more than like Leon and that makes me want to vomit, so could be more complicated?" She grins and takes a couple dorky sips of H2O.

A wild G-Bax has appeared! Itzhak hollers the ritual greeting of "CROTCHBITER!" with glee. Hey, in this crowd, that might get Grant laid. "Ehhhhhh," he says to August, eyebrows tipping up. So that's a strong yes. Yes Itzhak slightly a little bit neglected to tell Easton he was getting a bunch of gays to buy alcohol for him. "I'll make it up to him. I've kinda been a real asshole to him." Then he's getting Yet More food from the bar, bringing back a basket of chicken wings and plunking them in front of Grant. "I'm obligated by Jewish law to tell you that ya too skinny, Bax."

Grant looks around and might be surfing in his own orbit or just surveying the place but his squeaky-bestie gets his attention and gives her a kiss-kiss wink from across the room. hey the music's good, The booze are good, and... he really does not know this crowd. They're probably awesome even if they may not know it. Baller! And then he's addressed by his formal title and the punk's face lights up not in offense but amusement, "EEEEEYYY! Unitzil! Why you look like Rocky Horror man? I need to get my Riff on? I miss a memo here/ Look sharp brother." He looks down at his lanky frame and he looks to ITzhak and blinks, "Well You are setting a terrible example for our youth leadin by example there. I won't tell if you won't. Fix it. Buy me a drink."

Drink in hand and well on his way to being tipsy, Ruiz is (mostly) mollified for the time being. If still a teensy bit irritated at that whole exchange with Easton. Because what the actual fuck? "Says you blueballed him," he points out to Itzhak, easing back in his chair with a flick of his eyes over the crowd on the dancefloor. "Think that might be part of it?"

At Tables:
August just about chokes on his beer when Itzhak calls that out. "Goddamnit," he mutters, giving a Itzhak a thunderous look that would be a proper glare if he weren't also smiling. "You're gonna pay for that." He takes a chicken wing, dips it in blue cheese dressing, has a bite. "Eh, when he sees his final for tonight he'll feel a little better about it." He gives Grant an up-nod, has a bit of beer. And almost chokes on that too, as Ruiz reveals this bit of information. "Fuck you both," he coughs, wiping at his beard with a napkin.

Another sip from a new drink, adult or not, and a finger is straightened from that glass-holding hand, "Don't you dare use my metaphors against me, Angel Hair." Maggi's mention has Abitha's phone out in a few little awkward tugs of the jacket she was sitting on. She hadn't actually done her research on her friend's boyfriend. "Leon... You've said that name and... Wait..." Her phone screen lights her face for a moment as it loads a webpage, and Abitha is turning it toward Maggi, face alight with amusement, interest, maybe a little teasing. Teasing was deflection, "This one?" She shows off the Locksmith's business page, "The dude that named his business after himself?"

At Dancefloor:

"Well, I've been here since I was a sperm, so... I guess." Giada holds her hands up, "Better late than never, though, right? Besides, you live like right next door, so you'll get to see me /all. the. time./" Her hand draws up beneath her hair, flopping it around to get at her neck as Alison makes her escape towards the bar. Jade green eyes follow her with a little smirk, lingering too long for it to be casual and/or unintentional, then flicker off to whoever Sparrow is shouting out.

"Fucking, Bax!" Greetings out of the way in the form of overt shouting in a crowded bar, "And to think I almost slept through this." Sweating bullets, Gigi looks around for a chair and, finding one, drops into it to brush her palms back over her forehead by way of two fingers drawn in against the side of her nose. Flinging sweat everywhere with a jerk of her wrists.

At At Dancefloor:
"Name's Kai," Kai offers to Sparrow with a nod and a grin, eyes crinkling up slightly. "No worries. I'll cover our next set of adventures," she assures generally before taking a long sip off her drink. Then she laughs slightly at Alison. "Isn't that the point of my homing beacon?"

She leaves it at that and then simply watches Alison depart toward the bar, where she just came. "I got the waters," because everyone knows water is sold at a premium. For her part, Kai gives her drink the most attention, making quick work of it. She's not blending in well yet, still not having caught up, but she reaches into her pocket and tries to discretely refresh her on drink with something less...watered down.

Itzhak grins shamelessly at Grant. Yep he's thin and lanky, all wire and tattoos. "Whaddaya havin', tateleh?" Then he laughs and LAUGHS as August gets got not once but twice, no thanks to Ruiz! Whom he smirks at. "Yeah yeah, bad decision theater starring Rosencrantz, what else is new."

At Tables:
"Not sure that was a bad decision," August says, somewhat pointedly. He favors Itzhak with one of his patented 'maybe you could choose to not make an already thorny situation worse with your dick' sort of looks.

Ruiz snorts at that, takes a swig of his drink. "You think you've got the monopoly on bad decisions, Rosencrantz?" Let's not forget that Ruiz didn't just tease him and then leave him high and dry. Oh, no. He went and slept with him, because that's how you properly fuck up a friendship. And he isn't, in point of fact, laughing along with Itzhak. Callused thumb grazing the rim of his glass, he upnods when he spots Grant, and downs another large swallow of tequila.

"Okay, point," Diana says primly. "But good. No face shirts. If you haven't seen Netflix Daredevil, well. ...you should. But face shirts are still stupid. Not that the actual costume was any better." She smiles, shaking her head, and then goes back to the dancing again. Was it snap and sway, or sway and snap? These things take effort!

If there was a way one could appear like they were dying inside, visibly outside, this would be Maggi. Now it is her turn to lay her head on the bar in shame, but she continues the conversation. "Yup, Also he is Ex-military, owns a house, and...gives me water when I drink too much." Her head turns to look at Mac. "My life is ruined, I smile now." She could also mention that he was even more of a lightning wielding badass than Mac, but not after accidentally texting the guy that she loved him. Surely this was the end.

At Bar:
Okay, that's a yell that draws Vyv's attention away from his second drink and vague observation of the drunk-girl-wrangling and general dancing and such; he looks over toward Itzhak and the dude being hailed, whose outfit gets another faint brow-quirk. The boots get eyed for an extra moment, but the table mostly gets watches as if explanations of this name might show up at any time. To be fair, if they did, one wouldn't want to miss it, surely.

At Dancefloor:
"It's good to try new things," Sparrow croons to Alison. "Or old." Yeah, she caught that qualifier. That sly smile goes all soft and sweet and slightly surprised when she looks back to the woman she's meeting for the first time for the second time. "Kai." Committing that to memory. "I'd really like that." Was the offer of adventures directed toward her? Obviously. It's a magic word, meant to capture shiny redheads like her. She does not, however, join in the exodus toward the bar, watching the girls head thattaway--complete with cheesy checking-out-their-asses head tip--then zeroes in on Grant again.

Sneak sneak. Sneak. Please ignore the neon creature creeping up on her counterpart until arms fling around Grant's shoulders from behind and she presses a big old kiss right to his cheek. "Husband." Looking up at the others nearby, she chirps, "Assorted lovelies."

A strange action for Abitha, at least those that knew her well enough to diagnose, she reaches over and playfully ruffles Maggi's curly hair. Her fingers scratch lightly, teasing, slightly affectionate, before withdrawing the hand so she can lean on her elbow again and drink, "Aww, geez. Sounds like he's terrible for you. Clearly not enough drugs or bad decisions." She rolls her eyes with exaggerated disgust, then grins and looks at Maggi. "You're the one that dropped like 4 shots in the first half hour. Speaking of which, what's in this, cause I think I need food now." The scent of wings and the drunk-munchies were hitting her full-force.

Grant slaps Ruiz on the shoulder and offers him a hand, another lifts in a wave to August, "Suuuup . Uhhhh Shit. I dunno." He looks and there of all people is Corey's boss? "I'll have what he's having. I don't trust my tastebuds, but I sure as shit trust his." He's a dipshit but a very observant one apparently. The grin holds and he wanders two steps and arches an eyebrow that reads no shit and nods. "What's up." Very formal. Taking the extra couple steps to investigate the drink, Cuuuuuurious, he looks up, "You're the one that's not killed Corey yet? Neat." There's a subdued seriousness there, but that hint of amusement that's lingering.

At At Dancefloor:
Kai watches as Alison and Sparrow split their separate ways for this brief interlude, offering them each a grin and a nod. Then she decides to trail off to where Giada escaped to nearby. She waits until the woman is done flinging sweat off of her and drags a seat along the ground next to her and sits down, straddling it backwards casually. She rests her chin on the back of the chair easily, given her stature, and feels the cold of it against her skin. "So, you met Alison," she says with a little laugh.

Itzhak shrugs elaborately at August in silent Yiddish communication along the lines of 'I know' and 'I didn't do the thing!' and 'even though I was driving straight for that cliff' and 'so don't give me that look, ROEN'. He gets a lot done when he hikes his shoulders and flips his hands out like that. The eyebrows help. Sparrow arrives and he tells her, first thing, "Ya hair is frikkin' amazing," with honest admiration. "You married this nugushtnik?" he adds, jerking a thumb at Bax and grinning at her slyly.

"Hey- you hungry? Looks like everyone's kinda doing their thing by now, and, well, I could use some pizza. Or burgers and fries. Or waffles." James replies to Diana, slowing his dancing and starting to lead her off the dancefloor. You can tell he's not terribly high at the moment because he didn't suggest a combination of all three of those.

Ruiz crinkles a smile for Grant at the shoulder slap. Blink and you'd miss it, but he sure as fuck looked almost personable for a moment there. Then he gets an eyeful of the fire-engine-redhead that's sidling up on him from behind, and tips his chin to her. "Hola, Philomena." He probably even knows, by now, that it's not what people typically refer to her as. But it's the name she gave him, so it's what he's going to call her.

Maggi props up on her elbows enough to sip her water before viciously waving someone down for the check. "Leon has bougie chips at home and might even make something if we ask nicely..." She places down cash, turning to face Mac. "DAMN IT! I have a problem..."She shrugs on her jacket and waits for Abitha to finish her drink. "Whatever, his cooking is dope..."

At Tables:
August tilts his head as Sparrow approaches, looking like he's trying to place her. Realization shifts his expression, and he smiles and nods, raises his beer to her in a greeting. Ruiz's comment gets him a sympathetic glance. Well, it's not like August hasn't been there a few times. Sure, it might have been fifteen or more years ago, but who's counting.

He responds to Itzhak's various gestures with a small smile and a nod, a gentle congratulations of 'you didn't burn down your social life, good show'.

Grant pauses and turns to look at the last moment startled by a bug??! No! Ah! The redhead. Sparrow gets the hug though, and lefts her up walking her another foot before setting her down. "Yooooou are all i coloour today. Meet new friends? Were they on a scavenger hunt card or this extra-curricular findings?" And there's the bite and a smooch to the side of her head. "Told you I'd show up. I had to psyche myself up. It was a weird day and I lost my band members." He's in a bad??! Looking up to Itzhak he blinks, "IT was a weird awesome dream a'kay? I had a tie and everything and... " he pauses and looks to Vyv. THAT IS WHERE-! "And no I'm not an officer this week. Yeah I remember now."

"Are you kidding me?" Diana asks James, "...I'm STARVING. I thought you'd never ask." She could've said, but. Apparently she's too cool to admit hunger. "Let's skedaddle!" And they do. She waves to Itzhak, of all people, as they head out.

At Dancefloor:
Alison returns from the bar, panting slightly, with a few bottles of water courtesy of the lovely Kai. Somewhere along the way, everyone's shouting something that.. is that a name? Backs? Oh, it's the guy who was climbing around on top of trailers back at Huckleberry. Cool!

She looks around, finding the dancefloor suddenly deserted. She frowns, looking a little confused, until she spots Sparrow's neon hair, hugging the dude. Okay, so she's a little busy, probably. And then she spots Giada and Kai, which she heads over to, dropping the water bottles onto the table. "I'm baaaack. But not backs. He's over there!" Point.

At Dancefloor:

Giada is leaning on her knees, elbows against her thighs really, with them rocking outward a little as Kai crosses the dance floor to where she'd taken up refuge on the outside of the square. Despite the sweating, she looks up with a grin and holds her hand out for the flask she knows the asian has on her, "I know you're carrying, give it up." Flicking fingers, following the statement by glancing across the bar towards where Alison departed. "I /did/ meet Aliroo.." Swooping hair back out of her face again. "I definitely would have texted you, but I forgot to get your number... Don't let me do that again."

Alison returns and Gigi hooks her hip with an arm to pull her down onto a knee, "Welcome baaaaack anyways." Redhead secured, Gia grabs one of the bottles and twists off the cap, pouring half in her mouth and the other half down the back of her neck so it pools beneath her leather jacket and in her hair.

Bitch is trippin'.

"And you look gorgeous in gold," Sparrow counters to Itzhak with equal sincerity. Whatever else she might've had to offer is preempted by a giggle-squeak as she's lifted bodily from the floor. She issues a quiet, "Careful," for that nip, a tone he's surely heard before, a promise of retaliation laced within those short syllables. She pauses in resituating herself at Grant's mention of a band, eyes shooting wide as she playfully declares him, "Traitor!" But, yes, there'd been questions about matrimony hadn't there? "It was a shit dream, but he was the best husband. Shared his rocket pop with me." Blink. She didn't mean anything by that, but she doesn't correct. Instead, her eyes half-lid at the greeting from Ruiz, maybe just a touch belatedly, a wide smile turned his way as she croons, "Javier," with a liquored laziness. "Still haven't seen you dance," might be an invitation.

Abitha makes a low sound to the negative as she is doing her best to finish the spiked cider, which would only help to make it hit her faster, "Uh uh. I'm not going to go back to your place to play third wheel to you and your sugar daddy." A few more gulps and the glass is plunked to the bar. She slides off the stool with a brief thought to smooth her skirt down, retrieves her jacket and slips it around herself, "You said night out, then Saturday Morning Cartoons." She smirks, giving Maggi a side-eye in a most superior manner as she asserts, "Bitch, I got Doritos." Verbal mic drop. She struts her way out toward the exit, and she only wobbles like once, guys. She'd likely have to call an Uber to get them home safely, but that's just part of Drinking Responsibly. Sparrow would likely get a text excusing herself for leaving without saying goodbye, but not to worry. Kyle is opening. The three person group text says so.

"And--" Sparrow angles a slightly indirect look August's way. "--I read one of those--" Comic. "--books you recommended." It sounds grateful even if she leaves the actual 'thank you' out of it.

At Tables:
August huffs a quiet laugh at Sparrow's comment on Ruiz dancing. "I have," he says, absently. He arches an eyebrow at her. "Yeah? How'd you like it?"

At At Dancefloor:
Kai might be confused by Alison's words, but she doesn't show it, or maybe she doesn't care if she's confused, or maybe that gummy bear is finally starting to do some dirty work. She quietly reaches into her coat to pull out a flask to pass along to Giada without a further word. "Yeah, that's a problem. Give me your phone before I get too blitzed to see straight.." She opens and closes a hand at Giada once or twice. "It's not happening again," she explains before taking one of the water bottles from Alison. She slumps back in her chair and begins to chug it, knowing by experience that she needs to get some water into her system before...she's just staring at the lights.

At Bar:
Vyv has moved on from whiskey to a Mai Tai, as it turns out! For some reason. Very appropriate to the season, somewhere that definitely isn't here. But it looks like a good one! Made with good rums and everything. Grant gets a look that might be slightly bemused, or as though something is tugging at his memory somewhere, and then a half-smile at the remark. "Corey is, mn, remarkably near the bottom of the list of employees most likely to cause me to need to seek the friendship of an accommodating pig farmer," he replies, "but yes. As yet, he lives. Unless someone else did something about that, in which case I'll be rather miffed. There are eclairs depending on him tomorrow." A sip of his drink, brow slightly furrowed as he studies Grant while the rest of the room demands the skater's attention; it's the mention of dreams that makes his brows lift in recognition. "...ah," he says quietly, "the Colonel."

Itzhak fed Grant and is even now delivering unto him a Mai Tai. He's got Grant's attention. Sparrow compliments him and he laughs, actually blushing, going over kinda bashful despite having been his loud pansexual-lighthouse self all damn night. "Hey, thanks. ...Rocket pop, huh?" He doesn't sit, but points at Ruiz and then August and then includes Grant and Sparrow. "Which one a youse is dancing with me?"

At Dancefloor:
Alison flumps in a seat near Kai and Giada, cracking open one of the water bottles. "Man. I'm adding numbers to my phone all the time, but I'm too much of a damn wimp to actually text someone to ask if they want to hang out." She shakes her head.

The sweat's damn near drenched her t-shirt at this point, though Alison only pours the water down her throat and face, not following the down the back routine as Giada'd done. If her shirt wasn't sufficiently wet before, it sure is now, as the water rolls off her face and onto her shirt. Not that it makes her look any different. Not a whole lot for it to cling to.

And, "Night's still young," might be de la Vega not shooting down that invitation to dance. He's been sufficiently lubricated with alcohol, it seems, to loosen a few inhibitions. Tequila finished off, he slides the glass onto the table and taps it away with his fingertips. Then those same fingers are woven through Itzhak's dark curls, and something muttered in his ear before the tatted up Mexican pushes to his feet. Music's shifted to something with a dense, dark beat, which seems to suit him just fine.

"Really enjoyed it," Sparrow tells August. "Was a good supplement to the Feynman I'd been reading. Have another on deck, but. Kinda in a different mindset right now. Got this book on psychedelic psychotherapy for Christmas. Supplemental to admission to a relevant conference next month? And that's kinda got the whole of my focus at the moment." But this conversation unfortunately does not, her head turning slightly toward the second utterance of her brother's name in a less familiar voice. Vyv gets a thoughtful twice-over, relevant information filed away, before she refocuses on those closer. And less likely to cause any disruption to her brother's life should she do anything untoward.

"It was very tasty," the red red redhead confirms of Grant's rocket pop, leaning into the unintentional innuendo. Whatever intention she might've had to accept or extend any dance invitations, she's more than happy to watch that exchange between Ruiz and Itzhak without comment. She knows how to watch. Look at how well she considers the women she abandoned, the way her teeth catch on her lower lip in appreciation, in thought. Interrupted thought. Seems she might've misread the situation a bit. When Ruiz approaches her, she might be caught off-guard just a touch. That color that comes to her cheeks is telling. No matter how sharp that grin, no matter how confidently she follows, that blush keeps her looking far more girlish than she'd like. Not a damned thing to be done about it.

Itzhak stays red, between Ruiz doing that and Alison finishing off whatever dry spots were on her t shirt. He says to him, grinning and flushed, "You bet," and nudges him. Then he surrenders him to Sparrow, and holds his hand out to August. "C'mon, old man. Show me whatcha got."

At Dancefloor:

Giada hikes a hip to retrieve her cheap ass phone and holds it out to Kia, after unlocking it, "Take a picture and added it to the contact." Absently, rubbing her other hand across her neck and splashing damp fingers out at Alison, "Stop being fucking shy, you know where I live, knock on my fucking window.. I don't sleep. I never, ever, sleep.." That's not completely accurate, but she doesn't sleep much. "Dreaming can fuck itself." Says someone one foot in a bad trip every day of their life.

"But you needn't worry, I'm definitely going to text you.. and I can pick locks, so... fat fucking chance ignoring me." Hands up, kind of apologetic, probably not though. She might also be kidding. Maybe. "Sleep with the light on and shit." Drugs do weird things to Gigi... That said, she pats her leg and angles it out towards Alison, "Come'ere." Curling her finger invitingly.

At Tables:
August nods at Sparrow. "Glad to hear it. If I come across anything else like it I'll let you know, you can save it for after your conference." He is, like Sparrow, similarly surprised, but not disappointed. He has a drink of beer, gets to his feet. He's even had enough to drink that he doesn't wince when he does it. "Please," he says to Itzhak, "you'll be lucky if you can still walk when I'm done with those skinny legs."

At Dancefloor:
Alison shrugs at Giada! "You might be an exception, I mean, I'd known you for five minutes and I offered you my couch? I mean, it's not my bed, but.." Another shrug.

The invitation for Aliroo to sit in Giada's lap isn't one that calls for any indecision. With a twist and a turn, the smaller (though not by much, and not as much as Kai) woman climbs into Giada's lap, wiggling against those legs once she's there. "Might get you a little wet. Sorry. I don't think my door will be locked to you anytime soon, though. And as for dreaming.." the waitress leans close, sticking her face through the woman's messy brown locks, whispering something before pulling away with a grin on her face.

Itzhak's nudge is returned in kind, a jostle of his shoulder to the leaner man's, dark eyes raking him over as he peels away. Then his attention shifts, settling firmly on the girl whose cheeks are starting to appropriate her hair colour. There's a smile, hazy-edged, could almost call it warm. Then he's off, shouldering his way through the thinning crowd that remains, hand curled around the back of Sparrow's arm to draw her along with him.

At At Dancefloor:
"You're fucked," Kai offers casually to Alison at Giada's response...as she's putting her own phone number into Gi's phone. She just takes a flash picture of her boots. Maybe she meant to use the other camera? Or thought there was one? Oh well, Giada gets boots for Kai's picture, but at least it saves and doesn't bork out, not that Kai confirmed it actually saved herself. Now, back to the lights, and the music, and the lovely intensities.

"I didn't get your couch," Kai laughs in response to overhearing Alison talking to Giada. She lets out a big laugh at something said, but doesn't reveal the source of her laughter, not that it's all that difficult to figure out.

Grant arches an eyebrow and might be one of those damn people that can find the skittles flavored rainbow in anything. Hell he looks impressed at teh answer back, "You got a friend with piggies? Awww that's awesome. They're so cute and taste amazing." He's screwing with him right. Looking back to Itzhak he says interjecting, "es it was metaphor. It was also a food group. It was entirely awesome and made my neighbors hate me. It was...amazing." Aaaaand Sparrow flies off. It's a good vibe to the room, so he doesn't even worry.

Turning he does wander up to where Vyv is sitting and invites himself to drop down with no ceremony to it and offers the Brit a hand. "Bax. Apparently also apparently Colonel, Crotchbiter, and uh, front man for a band that played in the Hall of the Mountain King." He pauses with a squint of his lower eyelids confusing himself slightly with that one. "It was a busy month. So what's with you, the Vicar, the Baker, the chocolate swan maker? Vyv yeah?" He looks over at Vyv's glass and holds up two fingers giving them and points to that glass. "Whatever that...was." His head tilts and he looks at Vyv as arms fold on the bar, "So I gotta ask," This is going to be about the employees isn't it? "iIf these people upset you that bad that you wanna feed em to pigs?" MMhmm, "Why would you feed em to those pigs if that person's your friend? I mean if they got no taste kinda doing the piggies an injustice ain't it? I mean that's your friend." He pauses and shrugs, "Chocolate covered pretzels might be a better choice." He's worried about the farmer in all of that. Like missing the baseball game to worry about astro turf manufacturers. Then the pause and the real question as he slides the twenty over and the mai tais show up. "But you got a project due tomorrow and you're out tonight. Kinda proud of ya, Vicar." The grin hangs, "Rebelling in the wake of responsibility."

At Dancefloor:

"Hah, takes more than sitting in my lap to achieve that..." Shameless cunt, Gia knew what Ali meant. Then she settled back against her chair once Alison has taken up residence in her lap. One hand settles on the redhead's hip, only leaning forward for two reason, one to grab her phone and check the picture... laughing at it, "Fucking perfect, Kai." Second is to listen to whatever it is Ali is whispering, big brown brow perking slightly as she settles back, grinning mischeviously, "Challenge accepted."

She's a sweaty mess, pulling away far more than the heat in the room should produce every time she slides her fingers back in her hair. Following Kai's example she grabs for another bottle, but refuses to move her hand off Ali's hip to open it, instead using her teeth. At least this time she pours most of it in her mouth. "Walk home is going to fucking suck, dude.."

Sparrow doesn't need to be lead, but she walks a little bit slower than necessary all the same, keeping a few steps behind. Following. Though maybe it's to give that blush a few unobserved seconds to dim a bit. Whatever the case, her hips are already swishing to that moodier music with metronomic perfection... even if her steps otherwise teeter a bit as she navigates around this pairing or that. Mm, such lovely people out tonight! Edging a little closer, she admits, "I like that we keep running into each other."

At Dancefloor:
Alison blinks for a minute in confusion, then swats Giada on the shoulder. "That's not what I meant! I kind of wish that it was, though."

Leaning back towards Kai, "Fucked? Yeah, probably, but I'm not gonna complain about having a cute girl who seems into you just down the street. Unless she sets my trailer on fire when it all goes wrong. I ran into Giada just about passed out outside my place looking like she was about to die in the face of some Fisher Price toy. I gave you a ride home one time! And invited you to, y'know. The thing? You know the one." A big wide grin towards Kai. She knows the one.

And then back towards Giada. "My dumb ass didn't realize that you OR your bears were gonna be here, so I drove, thinking I'd have one or two drinks and then be outta here. I can spring for an Uber or something, though? Walking back seems.. super stupid."

The way he moves, it's clear that the cop has no formal dance training. And equally as clear that he has an exquisite command of his body. He knows where his hands are; he knows where his feet are. He knows the rhythm, and once he finds it, he knows a little about Sparrow, too, through it. A touch here and there, nothing terribly inappropriate. He's not had enough to drink to be feeling up girls who could be his daughter. Probably. "Small town," he replies, dimpling a grin, tucking a lock of bright hair out of her eyes, and behind her ear. "Está obligado a suceder. No te parece?"

At At Dancefloor:
Kai dips her chin to Giada and chuckles a bit at the women's exchange. Then she arches her brow at Alison's storytime. "What and what?" She squints, trying to make sense of all the words before she looks to Giada, "Why were you nearly passed out?" Still, something Alison says evokes some memories which the asian woman grins ever so slightly, her cheeks flushing just a hint. "I can call a car." She shrugs. "Anyone who wants to crash at my place is welcome. I have extra room." She pushes up onto her feet and stretches. Then she heads toward the bar, for obvious reasons. She orders another drink and then starts to settle her tab as she grabs her wallet from her back pocket.

It's probably for the best that nobody thinks too hard about Sparrow's age. Far safer to keep it in that nice, vague range of legal drinking age without any consideration beyond that. She's got an excellent sense of rhythm, the way her hips and shoulders keep the beat, but the fluidity loaned to her by booze and bears isn't exactly elegant. Those little touches draw her in closer and closer, a reflexive response, an answer to his call, just like the way her head tips toward the fingers drawn back behind her ear, how her eyes lid without thinking while her smile widens again. "Yes." She hasn't the slightest idea what Ruiz has asked, but she agrees without hesitation. When she peeks a look his way, she counters, "Should I bring some wine or are you sticking with tequila?"

Probably just as well that his head's all muddled with drink. Not that, "Tequila," doesn't sound like a good enough idea at the moment. Because it does, and he didn't drive, and Sparrow's excellent sense of rhythm is infectious. Those fingertips continue to rove through her hair, around the shell of her ear, then graze her shoulder and her slinking hip as they twist and move together. Like silver-backed fish chasing each other through the shallows. "I'm not going home with you tonight," is offered in English, a husky-warm murmur tinged with warmth at the corners of his eyes. It's a tease as much a warning.

At Dancefloor:

"Because yesterday was a really shitty day and I started getting fucked up at just before noon until just after three in the morning." Giada's elbow is up on the back of her chair, palm brushing up the front of her face into her hair. Her head turns a little to face both Kia and Alison, the latter subject to a brushing hand fumbling against her flank, "I was just trying to get home and I was not at all about to pass out.. I tripped over a big wheel some fucking asshole kid left in the middle of the street.. You know how dark it is out in that trailer park? I couldn't see shit."

Her half grin is probably a vain attempt to cover up her revelation, "What'ya say, Aliroo.. want to go to Kai's place? Big ass tub... good company. After party, party?" Her palm claps the side of the waitress' ass, "Pop up, I want a shot before we leave.. so do you." Holding out a hand with her fingers spread. Shamelessly leaning to kiss/nip at the redhead's neck, "Alright, now pop up."

At Bar:
"Not yet, but I suppose perhaps I ought to find one and plan ahead," Vyv replies to Grant, and when the hand is offered... well, he shakes it, that's what one does with proffered hands and introductions. "Vyvyan Vydal," he confirms, "Generally Vyv, yes. Apparently occasional vicar, still mildly annoyed at not knowing what the story was there. And that was--" Is, actually, and he gives what remains a brief consideration and then drinks it faster, what the hell, "...a Mai Tai. A rather decent one."

He tilts his head at the question that must be asked, arching a brow, and what the question actually turns out to be gets another half-smile, with a touch of the earlier bemusement mixed right in with the amusement. "Pigs tend to be gourmands rather than gourmets," he replies, "and in any case, having bad taste doesn't necessarily mean tasting bad. I am told." A final sip, pushing the now-empty glass aside. "And as far as that, I suppose I have a project planned virtually every day if one puts it that way, and I'm not entirely devoted to becoming a hermit as yet." A flicker of a glance around the room, and he adds, "Check back next year." That flicker returns to his interlocutor's outfit, briefly, moving up to catch hair before it returns to the face. "So what do you do when you aren't retired from the military or leading bands?" he inquires, and that part of the bar dissolves into conversation and, apparently, cocktails, for the time being.

At Dancefloor:
Alison wiggles a little in Giada's lap upon having her side touched. "Hmm. Sounds like it could be fun. I like the sound of a big tub." Her eyes waggle over towards Kai. "You don't mind, do you?" A sly grin. She probably has a pretty good idea that she won't. I mean, she DID offer.

The little nibble at her neck makes Ali squeal, and she gets up as demanded, as comfy as she was. Regaining her composure, she starts off, "We should proba.." Her gaze had started shifting around the club, searching for the other redhead still in attendance tonight, finally spotting her.. with Ruiz. God damn it. The grin falls off her face for probably the first time all evening. She looks like she's about to say something, but just shrugs to herself, then turns back towards the other two woman, the grin quickly returning.

Ali leans close to Kai, a sly look on her face once more. "So, I hear you've got a big tub, huh."

Sparrow's "Mm," sounds thoughtful, like she might be taking mental stock of her liquor cabinet to pick out the perfect bottle of tequila to share. But she might just be distracted by digits drifting over skin, against denim-clad hip. Her own fingers flit in and out, brushing chest or neck or jaw when not turning artlessly through the air. On a breath of laughter, she counters, "Cuz I'm going home with you," far too confidently, the high arch of her black brows implying challenge. For a couple beats, at least, before she leans in closer, hand steadying against one shoulder as she draws her lips toward Javier's opposite ear, her cheek warm against his. This close, he might catch those notes of bay rum and honey, citrus and lilac, white musk and brass. "Not asking for anything more than this dance. Might be offering to share a bottle somewhere quieter some other time, but."

At Dancefloor:

"Don't look so glum, Aliroo." Nudging the redhead as she stands, hands first upon the back of the other womans neck, ushering her off the dancefloor, by way of right beside the dancing Ruiz and Sparrow, "Sparrow! Love your face! Nice ass, Captain!" Fucking cockblock card played face up from Giada as she reaches back to her other pocket to retrieve her beanie, tucking it down over her wet hair, and fixes her goggles back up on her brow as she nears the bar. "Three shots, Kai said she's got my tab." Stepping a foot up on the runner, leaning upon her forearms to peek up over the bar.

At At Dancefloor:
Kai looks Giada's way, but her poker face is pretty good. "Trailer park?" She reaches up to rub her forehead, wondering how much she hasn't figured out because she's been, well, out of it. Well, that's a nice way of putting it. She pulls out her phone at the bar and makes a call. "Yeah. No. Albert that was me not-See you in two." Then she looks over to the women. "No I don't mind. She laughs a little at Alison's mention of the tub. "Yeah, nice things happen in tubs. You get clean, stuff like that." She clicks off of her phone call. "I've got booze at my place if you want it." As if the tub weren't incentive enough. "I'll be outside with the driver when you guys are ready." She leaves the money for the shot on the bar and grabs the first one to kick back. "Let's gooo!" She leads the way out.

De la Vega's either oblivious to the dagger eyes Alison over there's giving him, or just doesn't give a shit. He's not just a cop, he's the fucking police captain of this podunk town. And as such, he's probably well accustomed to some people being none too pleased with his presence. Chalk it up to the undercurrent of violence that sits beneath his staid demeanor, or the tattoos that belong more on an ex-convict than an officer of the law.

When Sparrow leans in close with those soft words, his touch to her hair becomes inked fingers knotted hard in it. Which is going to make it awful hard for her to pull away, if she has any designs on personal space. Then he replies in that scratchy-warm murmur, product of the litany of abuses he's no doubt inflicted on his body in its nearly five decades of existence. "En algún lugar más tranquilo? En otro momento? Te das cuenta de dónde. Y cuando Y te daré mi respuesta."

Of course, she won't understand any of that. So he tucks what looks like a business card into the back pocket of her jeans, touch lingered and then withdrawn, along with the rest of him. The dance apparently concluded, he goes to grab his jacket and head for the door without so much as a see you later.

At Dancefloor:
Alison gives a little shrug, but calls out towards Sparrow. "Text you soon, Sparrow!" Then back towards Giada and Kai. "I'm alright. Don't worry about it."

When Giada starts peering over the bar, Alison reaches towards the woman to pull her back. "Simmer down, you. Also c'mere." She wraps an arm around the brown haired girl, then taking one of the remaining shots, downing it quickly with something approaching a growl afterwards. Tugging Giada towards the door by the wrist, the redhead grabs her jacket from the coatrack, the big boofy thing making her appear a lot bigger than she is. Sort of. Not really. But she tries.

The catch of Sparrow's breath doesn't carry beyond Ruiz's ear, but her response to the fingers tightening in her hair is otherwise all too obvious: the way she melts in against Ruiz; the way she doesn't seem to even hear the music anymore. How all she ekes out for Giada in passing is a distracted, "Barnacles," and a half-hearted, ill-placed wave or the trio. When her hand falls, it takes up a rather tense position at his side, a slight press of fingertips encouraging the continuation of what proves to be a far too brief moment of half-confounded intimacy. She really needs to pick up some Spanish. That might even be her first thought when she finds herself with nothing to hold onto, no longer held, no one to follow. Alone on the dancefloor. And fucking blushing again. Her smile shouldn't be that smug as she giggles, but her fingers fish into her rear pocket, plucking out the card that was left and relocating it to a more convenient pocket after a second of self-satisfied study. Back to the bar with her. One more drink while she conjures up a ride home.