2020-11-16 - High Times at TIBS

Since Two if By Sea started offering Uber Eats orders, Tor has taken to hanging out at the bar between deliveries. There aren't, after all, that many places to order from in town. And being on site means he's well-positioned to grab an order. It's getting a bit late and his last delivery was about 45 minutes ago, which means he calls it a night and logs off the app. The scruffy delivery boy and part-time criminal has been earning his spot with Sprite and a pile of fries, but now he stands up on the rungs of the stool to try and get a better look at the tap list.

Easton is on duty tonight, dressed in his usual black dress shirt and jeans. He's behind the bar moving around and pouring drinks with a look that is hard to read, but a clue might be in the fact that his usual booming voice isn't echoing through the bar. He's currently retreated to one side of the bar with a pint and looks at Tor amused, "You calling it a night doc?"

Bennie isn't technically 'on duty', but she's here nonetheless. If she has the spare time and the opportunity, the blonde has been stuck in glue-like fashion in Easton's general vicinity. Sure, eventually they'll get sick of each other, but the blush of Returned From The Dead has yet to wear off. She's carrying a clipboard and making faces at it like the numbers are swimming in front of her vision and are failing to line up in a sensical order. At least it will serve some good purpose, as she uses it to swat Easton on the flank as she passes. "Finished the inventory. Lost my pen again though." Which happens when you use it to secure your bun and quickly forget that's what is keeping your hair aloft. "Pizza boy!" She greet enthusiastically, unaware he was here all this time as she was stuck in the back. She belly flops up onto the bar and leeeeeans over to give his cheek a kiss, or air kiss, whatever the result may be.

Tor is, as usual, dressed like a time traveller from 1994 Seattle's grunge scene. "Doc, what's with the doc?" Well, he does heal, but that's not exactly an uncommon ability in this town. Doing it for pay is a bit more unusual, but he hasn't made that connection. "Man, you guys are a nickname factory, aren't ya?" he says when Bennie calls him pizza boy. He is taken aback by the show of affection, which means she actually gets a cheek peck in. "Uh, hey." Then he clears his throat and circles back to Easton's initial query. "Yeah. Getting kinda late for order in. Sides, I want a drink."

"Doctor Pizza Boy did not go to medical marijuana school just to be called Pizza Boy" Easton corrects the both of them, based solely on the time that Tor supplied the majority of Bennie's birthday bash. He laughs as Bennie leans over the bar and then tilts his head to checkout her butt, giving it a return swat of his own with a bare hand. "It's a good night for a drink." As if he wouldn't say that everynight owning a bar and well drinking like a fish.

There is a response squeak from Bennie at the swat, rubbing her hiney ruefully as she slides back down to her upright and locked position. "Only a nickname factory when Alexander isn't around." Bennie points out the town 'eccentric' non-licensed Personal Investigator and his penchant for voicing displeasure at such things. "Wait, did you go to school for that? That's sort of amazeballs."

"Been trying to branch out on the beer. Give me the weirdest." Normally Tor just orders cheapest, so this really is new for him. "How's life being back from the dead, Zombie Man?" He can play the nickname game too. "Shoulda kept the bushman look. Was working for you." He makes a circle in the air towards Easton. He scoffs at Bennie. "I didn't go to school for shit." Though he could have. He had the grades. Just not the will.

"We have a triple rasberry, grapfruit coffee beer that is ... kind of gross. Ashtrid insists it's wonderful, I think she's just fucking with people." Easton says of his waitress and her questionable taste in beer. But he did ask for the weirdest one. "And yeah, I don't actually know your real name." Easton deadpans at Tor before heading to get him that beer. "I woulda kept the beard but I'm pretty sure there were things living in it? And now that I don't need to eat those for sustenance, I decided to lose it." Maybe he's joking?

"Oh." Bennie blinks owlishly at Tor for a moment before swiveling a Look to Easton. "You know, I really gotta stop believing you. I've discovered a direct correlation between that and getting sworn at." She hangs up the clipboard then goes to lean against the back bar, hands braced behind her on the edge to cushion. "The lone surviving grub of the Great Hair Clipper Massacre now lives in our garden. I've named him John." Which just so happens to be her father's name. No coincidence there, nope! But two can play at the factitious yarn spinning.

"Ugh," says Tor upon learning the description of the beer. "I don't get it. Why flavour your beer to actively make you not want to get drunk? I mean, isn't that the point? So next weirdest, maybe? Seems to be money in fancy beers these days." And he's certainly an entrepreneur. He blinks, looks from Bennie over to Easton. "You don't know my name? Thought this whole fuckin' town knew my name. Tor."

Easton grins, rather proud of himself for misleading poor Bennie. But only because it's kind of amusing. He nods and says, "I fully expect him to grow into some horrible three headed flying serpent monster that will enslave us all." Of John the surviving veil grub. He does at least take his beer and slide up close to Bennie to whisper, "Sorry about those texts." Because he didn't miss that she might be upset. He then goes to get Tor a less bizarre brew coming back to say, "Wait Tor is your actual name? I thought that was just like ... some nickname? Tor. Just.. Tor?" So apparently he did know his name, just thought it was some strange townie nickname

"It's fine," Bennie assures Easton with a scritch of his cheek, fingernails light. "I just don't think Dela la's ever spoken to me like that before, in text format or no. That's what I get for trying to be one of the boys." The last is said in a sing song voice of no harm done. Look! Not even a chin wobble in sight. That goodnatured whap to his chest is just for pretending he didn't know Tor's name.

"Just Tor. My mom's family is Scandanavian or something." Clearly he takes pride in his heritage. "Astrid's my cousin." He pulls the beer towards him, sips, considers, shrugs. Hey, if it sells. He's nosy enough to keep half an ear to their conversation about texts, but not so nosy as to make note of the fact that he's keeping half an ear.

Easton says, "Yea well that also is probably my fault. I think we're okay now but I poked the bear." And for once Easton doesn't mean that in a dirty way. He laughs, "What I dunno I thought it was some neigborhood thing with some cutesy backstory!" He ohs softly and says, "Huh, still not sure which one that is." The fact that he continues to not be able to tell Ash and Astrid apart is sad considering only Astrid still works at the bar. He hands Tor the beer, and then takes a sip of his own."

"He totally is a bear, isn't he? Does that make Itzhak a bear cub, or doesn't he count because he's not that furry?" How the hell would Bennie know if Itzhak is furry or not? No mention. She ponders this as she goes to the speed well and grabs the lowest grade whiskey, motioning with the bottle as talks. "Isn't Astrid the one whose Halloween party you went to last year? Surprised you didn't end up playing spin the bottle or Seven Minutes in Heaven with them again this year."

Tor hitches his hip and digs into his pocket. He presents Easton with a Washington State driver's license with a photo that somehow makes him look more like a criminal than he does naturally. And there it is, Tor A. Lockhart. "The one who works for you, man." Then he looks at Bennie and mouths, 'is he okay?' in a very obvious way. He's not sure who they're referring to, so he doesn't offer his opinion on bearness.

"Eh. Not really. August, yes." Easton answers a little too quickly, and then shakes his head at Itzhak, "Nooo." Easton is hardly one to talk about who has or hasn't seen people naked so he doesn't even ask about Bennie and Itzhak. He leans over to check Tor's license and then 'hunh's not that he doubted it after he said it. "Oooh." And then he groans at Bennie, "Don't remind me. Though I don't know, pretty sure there was at least one other adult there."

"Aw, he's fine, sugah." Bennie pastes on a Southern accent as thick as cheap molasses and just as bad in response to Tor. "He just can't keep all the women folk straight on account a he only has eyes for my peach cobbler. But them men he can keep sorted just fine." She glances at Easton wryly for that quick response of his, just once she'd like to get a peak at that mental listing he must have. With that smirk still lingering on her lips, she pours herself a double before skirting around the bar to sit next to Tor before anyone gets the wrong idea that she might be working.

"Astrid's the same age as me and I'm not a kid," says Tor a bit defensively. "You call us kids, and I'll start calling you a fuckin' dinosaur, man." He swigs his beer. He glances over as Bennie goes to sit next to him, and the cocky thief and delivery boy looks a little awkward. There was that one pizza delivery after all, and he doesn't know if Easton's the jealous type.

"This is true. I mean are there even other women who work here? Can't tell, too blind by your-" Easton stops himself and corrects it to "Smile." He laughs at Tor and says, "Alright first of all, they actually played spin the bottle so if that made me feel old, and you think it shouldn't have then by all means, I'm Captain Dinosaur." He is obviously well aware of the fuzzy pizza boy's time with Bennie, and he doesn't think twice about it. Maybe if she rammed her tongue down his throat but even then, it's questionable.

And for his statement, corrected or not, Easton gets the full thousand watt beam in his direction with a complete set of pearly whites and a nose wrinkle for his efforts. "Love yoooou, Easton-Boo-Boo-Bunny-Boo-Boo-Bear." Bennie's been watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days lately, it seems. She's also completely oblivious to Tor's sudden uncomfortableness as she sips her cheap ass whiskey, despite the fact she probably wouldn't have gotten rapped on the wrist for reaching for top shelf. Probably. "If dinosaurs were as hot as this boy, no wonder they died from global warming." Even if that's not technically how climate change works. Or what caused their extinction.

"I...guess the globe warmed for a few seconds before the sun was blotted out," says Tor with a little head-wobble. He also pretends not to hear the pet names. Slightly caustic nicknames are more his speed. "Captain Dinosaur it is." Maybe that one'll stick. "Though, yeah. Spin the fuckin' bottle? There at least better have been some good drugs and some unexpected kissing."

"Well the good news is that wasn't emasculating at all." Easton grins back at Bennie and her horrifying nicknaming. Where's Alexander when you need him? Easton is certainly warmer to the idea of Captain Dinosaur than whatever abomination Bennie just tried to make happen. He shrugs that off and then shakes his head, "I dunno maybe they all started rolling before I got there? But sadly no. Speaking of good drugs and unexpected kissing, I was just thinking about that trippy night with Aidan and Bailee the other day." He says to Bennie, apparently reminiscing about their little trippin' balls get together.

"At least I didn't name your manly bits Princess Sophia?" Bennie offers helpfully with a completely innocent look on her eyes. Just disregard that twinkle in her eyes. "They should've called up Tor, he could've brought the real party." But Easton's trip down memory lane causes Bennie to grimace, a finger touching her eyebrow. "Um, remind me?" Because clearly nothing the man just said is ringing any bells.

"That's me. I can bring you the good weed, the best pizza and mediocre DJing." Tor sips the beer again and apparently decides it's growing on him. "Though this whole town seems to be fuckin' high for free. I went to deliver to my old science teacher and he wouldn't stop giggling as he paid for his two large pizzas and chicken wings."

"It was way back, when I was new as hell to all this and we had a couple good pills, some weed." He smirks and says, "I remember you shotgunning a joint with me?" The night also devolved into some horrific Dreams but it's best leave that out when trying to talk it up. He laughs at Tor and says, "Yeah, I'd normally be a little paranoid but apparently it's the good shit because I'm just riding it out?" He pauses a beat and adds, "And eating all the garbage food." And no, he is not going to dignify that nickname for his junk. He's just skating right past that with a grimace.

"The Poptarts!" Bennie is so proud of herself for regaining that little slice of memory that she doesn't even get the correlation to the topic of the mystical green haze and her next statement, "Man, I could crush some Poptarts right now. Babe, can we stop at the store on the way home?"

"Whole town full of amateurs, man. Easy to tell who's never toked before." Then there's people like Tor who prefer to walk around in a slightly altered state of consciousness as a rule. "Poptarts aren't as good as you remember. My recommendation? Fast food apple pie. Or a gas station danish in a toaster oven. Careful it doesn't get too hot though or you get yourself a fuckin' lava cake." He goes for his wallet again and pulls out the money to cover his beer plus his fries and Sprite from earlier. He checks his phone and opens the Uber app, but apparently decides there's not enough business to bother driving. If nothing else, the kid has work ethic.

"I have never actually loved poptarts but damn if they don't sound amazing right now." But then Tor has the real deal. The truth is that apple pies from certain fast food places are truly an amazing thing, particularly the ones that still fry them. It's horrifying to consider, but amazing to eat. Easton looks up at the clock and says, "I might need to get some tots to tide me over. And damn this needs to end soon otherwise I'm going to lose my abs and then obviously I lose Bennie." He cashes out Tor and says, "I still haven't hit you up. But I might."

"I mean, it is written into the relationship contract." And then when Easton says he might hit up Tor, apparently Bennie's mind goes straight into the gutter, express elevator style, and she does her best impression of a guppy. Mouth open, mouth closed. Mouth opened as if to say 'phrasing'. And then closing. Easton doesn't need any help from the peanut gallery on this one.

"Hit me up for what?" Apparently Tor goes the confused angle rather than...wherever Bennie's gone. He looks a little perplexed when she guppies. He looks between then both, then drains his beer. "You two are weird, man. I mean, I dig it. But, weird."

Easton looks at Tor and his face falls. As if considering if they have been having two very different conversations than the one where Easton is reminiscing about tripping balls and being told to call Tor for the good drugs. "Apple pies. Obviously." He retorts with a laugh and shake of his head. "And yeah, that is true." He agrees that he and Bennie are strange, but then he notices the gulping and tilts his head.

"That's why we work." Bennie points out to Tor, "I really can't picture just clicking with anyone else the way I do with Easton. Or anyone else that would endure my general enamormentation for throw pillows." Or made up words. She takes Tor's draining of his beer as some sort of cheers, and she clinks her glass of whiskey against his empty beer glass when he sets it back down.

"Ah, uh...well, hey man. I do have some hookups. But I'm not a dealer. Well, more like friends and family dealer. There's some other guys..." with some powerful friends. "...who do the wider hookups. I can hook you up that way." Tor knows who not to cross in this town. A benefit of growing up in a criminal family. His lane is fence and thief and he tries to stay there. He slides off the stool. "Have a good one. And remember: fast food pies, not pop-tarts. Toaster strudel if you're really stuck."