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Mondays and Sundays were the slowest of the week. Tonight, this early, it was just Vic tending bar. Only one patron sitting and chatting with her. Her two large dogs Bowie and Cohen were sprawled out near the door, greeting patrons as they came in. Vic was in a red and black checkered flannel hanging open over a black tank, and ripped black jeans. Her hair braided and cascading messily down her left shoulder.
She was in good spirits, and since moving here, one of the staples of her free time had been discovering new places. The truth was, as fond as she was of Darren, some adventures were likely not his style, and this was one of them. She'd read some reviews online, and one lyft later, she was pushing the door open with wide curious eyes. She couldn't decide if this place was going to be a hidden oasis of cool, or hipster mecca, either way drinks and music was exactly what she needed.
Music had been something she hadn't really indulged in much over the past months, save getting her violin bridge fixed, and some new strings. She was in her usual, jeans, leather jacket, wild blond curls, easing towards the bar.
Bright hazel eyes beamed over the counter towards Jo, with a grin befit to greet a long lost best friend. "Hey! Welcome in." She'd grab a menu, brand new mini clipboards made from laquered album covers with a printed piece of paper showing off the menu. "How's it going?" she drew a circle in the air towards Jo, "Loooove all this."
The dogs raised their heads to sniff at her as she walked by but otherwise were unbothered with her entrance.
She gave a little trill of sound to the dogs by way of greeting before looking back to the woman, and giving a slight flush, clearly caught off guard by the praise. "....Just wait until I get going." Waggling a brow as she settled on a stool and took the mini clip board, a playful grin settling on her lips as she looked the menu over. Wiggling in her seat a bit to the song.
"Just you tonight?" she'd squint suspecting that wasn't the case for a girl like her, but you never knew! The menu was bar food. Nothing too extravagant but it noted clearly everything was vegan. "Can I get you a drink? Or just some water to start if you'd like?" leaning on her side of the bar with wide stretched arms.
Sometimes, especially in the past few months, she forgot how she looked. The impression she could make. "Just me, I'm doing some advanced scouting to see if this is a joint my friends would like." She offers with a crooked grin. "I'll take the Stoudt's Scarlet Ale....and....the buffalo cauliflower bites unless you have a different recommendation?" Lifting a brow and looking up to her curiously.
"Oh? How's this place doing so far? Friend worthy?" she grinned like Jolene had just challenged her a bit, though happily so. "Nope, that's sounds great. Wouldn't be on the menu unless I recommended it myself," she took the clipboard back and set it aside, pulling Jo's drink from the spout and setting it in front of her. "Name's Vic." offering her hand after, rings on most of her fingers, her long nails chipped with black and sparkly blue paint.
"Oh this place is amazing." Taking a sip of her beer "The music...." She gives a dramatic groan, and presses her fingers to her lips in a chefs kiss. Before those same air kissed fingers took Vic's offered hand "Jolene, good to meet you Vic, love what you've done here..." her eyes flicking around, glittering with the simple pleasures of music, food, company, beer.
"That's what I like to hear!" she laughed shaking her hand. "It's good to meet you Jolene. "You like music then? They say its the universal language after all." writing up her ticket she put it on the wheel, "Order up Disney!" calling through the pass to the cook. Turning back, she took a pull from giant water bottle and refocused back on Jolene.
She gave a wistful sigh and nodded "It is the loveliest language...the prettiest form of math...." Taking a sip of the beer, and musing "I play a little, sing a little, but you know, just friends and family..." and family she had enough practice now not to falter saying it. "Man, I love the choices..." It was nothing she heard on the radio, and every bit the things she remembered find on her own late at night, and sharing with friends.
"Reaallllly?" she grinned. "I will stop this music right fucking now, don't joke around." she said squinting at the girl playfully. "What do you play?"
Her eyes widened "Don't you dare!....until after my second beer, 3rd beer is where the miracles are." Smirking a bit "Violin and guitar, a little piano, but I don't have one right now, so I'm probably rusty as fuck." she confesses a wolfish grin on her lips.
"Okay," she nods slowly, reconsidering the girl. "Okay. So... as someone with some talent, you think this place would benefit from an open mic night? Would you come sing?"
She blinks at the question, clearly she had not thought of any such venture in a long time, but she gave a slow nod "...yes, yes I would." She finally decides. For as much as some bits of her life were starting to fill out more and more, there hadn't really been a good outlet for what once been a big part of her life. " Of course, come third beer you might rescind that offer." Grinning.
"Maybe. I like to keep my options open though." she smiled, turning to the pass to grab Jolene's food, setting it down with a fork and napkin and a few dipping sauces. She'd take a moment to refresh the drink of the other patron and get a little cleaning done before she came around the counter looking at the seating flow, as if trying t decide where she could put a small stage.
She made a surprised sound as she tried the first cauliflower bite, The People weren't exactly known for their appreciation of Vegan food, but she decided this was pretty damn good, and she was quickly through her beer, and slipping it forward for another one, as Vic worked the room, and her imagination.
Vic came back over after a minute, "I thiiiiink I can get away with it up against the window. Might have to make most of the room SRO though.." still considering as she got Jo her second drink. "Plus... people in the window is just good advertisement."
She canted her head and consider her "Vic, this can't be the first time you've thought about live music." Lips pursed, the sprite of a girl feeling more than a little playful tonight!
"Not the firrrrst time, no. But the first time here. Well I've been thinking about it, but you sort of reminded me to get my ass in gear. I really want this place to succeed, you know? It's the sky or bust," she laughed softly, but it was still a slightly raspy thing.
She nods at that "Well, you want to start an open mic night, I'll show up." She decides right then and there "I need to get that part of my life rolling again, and that's the perfect excuse." Working through the cauliflower, she did pause to eye one bite on the end of her fork, smeared with vegan ranch, and decided this totally had to count as training food! and took the bite. "How long have you been open?" Curiously.
"Just since the 1st.." she grinned. "New Years eve technically. Had a big party that night. Was crazy fun!" she grinned. "What took music away for you?" wondering why that part of her life had come to a halt.
She thought about all the answers that were true, and decided where to settle "I traveled a lot, it was something I broke out for some busking, but not just to do, you know?" Making a thoughtful sound "Not that I mind it being work, but I think for awhile that's all it was, and now that I'm settling down, I think it gets to be fun again?" uncertain if that made sense.
"Sure, that makes total sense. Sometimes its not easy pulling things out of your soul to make a buck. I get that." she nodded. "What sort of music do you play? I want to hear this violin!"
She laughs, flushed and feeling not a buzz from the beer, but just an ease of tension. "Violin goes between classic and alternative, most of what I sing is...fuck I don't know, classic rock to alternative, though I can throw in some country or whatever, I tend to just find songs that work for me, even if they're in genres that usually don't." Worrying her lower lip a moment.
The large dogs almost made Calamity avoid the place entirely. But it's late enough to be cold, and this bar looked warm, and they had enough in their wallet for a cheap drink.
Probably.
So they put out their cigarette and shoulder the door open, hands shoved firmly into the pockets of their ratty hoodie. They look...young. Scrawny, at the very least, especially in the oversized sweatshirt, as they shuffle toward the bar. They're in faded and worn jeans, and well-used boots, and have a dark green bandanna tied loosely around their neck.
"You got raspberry Smirnoff Ice?" They ask the woman in the red and black flannel, pulling a battered wallet from their back pocket and sliding their ID across the bar.
"Violin has got some range, for sure. Now I want to see what you do. It's like the magic wand of instruments..." she'd grin, still leaning on the bar and look to the door opening. "Hey! Welcome in!" grinning as she looked over the new person. Placing a menu up on the counter, "Yeah, I've got that," squating down behind the counter and pulling out the bottle. "Bottle or over ice?" she asked happily.
She laughed at that "Violin, a beautiful instrument, that hurts everyone in proximity when we're learning." It was not a kind thing to master, and the potential to sound like a yowling cat was significant. She looked over to Calamity and lifted her glass in salute.
"Uh...bottle's fine?" They blink once or twice at the question, like it's not something they tend to be asked. They shove the hood of their sweatshirt back and run their hand briefly through their short curls, and turn to glance at Jolene.
And does the smallest double-take, before giving her a short nod and returning their attention to Vic, grabbing a few crumpled bills from their wallet to pay for the drink.
"I'd give a hard argument for drums or clarinet there." she replied to Jolene and then set the bottle down in from of Calamity, not checking to see if the cash was enough, just assuming it was and putting it on the bar. "I'm Vic by the way, and this Jolene, my new favorite singer." introducing the other woman with a hand gesture. "Whats your name?"
It took her a second as she saw Calamity, but there was a moments recognition, and a little nod of hello. "I've seen you around, but I don't think we've been introduced. And don't buy what Vic is selling, she's never even heard me sing." She insists, eyes glittering, clearly feeling pretty good tonight.
"You sing?" Calamity's eyebrows twitch upward as they take a swig of their sugary drink. "Yeah I don't think we have, I...'m Calamity." They say it to both women, and one hand slides from the bar and into their pocket, where a few quiet clinks of metal-on-metal are heard.
She grinned, "Calamity and Jolene," nodding gently. "Well fuck if that aint a bit of perfect." she smirked and poured out three shots of a dark brown booze, setting two out for each of them and lifting the third. "My shift is almost over. Indulge me, To Monday nights."
"Good to finally meet you Calamity. Name like that..." Grinning as she took the shot "Well, who am I to say no, To Monday nights." Lifting the shot in solute before tossing it back, not even asking what the booze was.
"'S on my birth certificate," Calamity shrugs, and eyes Vic a little suspiciously, but takes the shot all the same. "To Monday nights..." They mutter. They can't keep back a grimace as it goes down, though they manage to avoid coughing, and they chase it with their Smirnoff. Probably a hellishly disgusting combination.
It seemed to be just a shot of straight whiskey, and she grinned as the two took theirs, taking hers at the same time. "Okay, I gotta work to cleaning up a bit, give me a shout if you guys need anything!" she'd turned and work on a few things behind the bar before heading into the kitchen.
She nods at that "I remember reading a story once, about the misfortune of naming your children after virtues, that Felicidads were destined for sorry, that destinies for doom...but I think if their destined for things contrary to their name, but I think if those laws apply Calamity is the way to go." She muses playing with the empty shot glass.
Calamity is still wincing at the combination of whisky and smirnoff, their nose slightly wrinkled as they open and close their mouth a few times. Another swig of their bottle seems to make it slightly better, and they huff and shake their head.
"Oh nah, my parents had nothing to do with it. Or - I mean I guess they did, but not like what you're talking about..." Another shrug, and they match her movements with their own shot glass, casually spinning it on the bar.
She nods at that, but doesn't press further, her relationship to boundaries might be interesting, but there were some place she did not press or pry, and family was one of them. "I'm definitely digging this place...been here before?" It definitely wasn't the sort of place they'd crossed paths before.
"Nah. Too bougie for me, usually. But it's cold as balls out, an' it it was here, so. Here I am. Almost kept going - I don't like dogs." They gesture to the dogs by the door. "With the free drinks and the company I might come back when I've got the extra cash for a drink or two."
With literally anyone else, the casual comment about the company might be read as flirting, but that doesn't seem to be Calamity's aim. Maybe they just didn't realize how it might come across?
She gives a nod at that "My first time too, not exactly the sort of place I think Darren and his friends are likely to end up." She muses "Though if she really does an open mic night I might try and get him in here." Looking back to Calamity and nodding "Vic seems like good people, and it is nice to actually be able to relax and listen to some great music." Though she cast her eyes to the dogs "I never really had pets growing up...keep thinking about a kitten."
"Yeah, this is..." they huff in mild amusement and look around. "Not a place I'd expect any'a them to show up. 'Les the owner was in trouble, or something. But..." they trail off and take a drink. "Open mic night could be cool in a place like this. Yeah I didn't have pets either - there's a couple feral cats that live under our porch now, though. We feed 'em sometimes."
"I'd think he'd come to support me, but who knows, might give one look, say he needs a smoke, and just stay outside for an hour." smirking at the notion, she how ever perks up at the mention of the feral cats. "Do they ever let you pet them?" Clearly fascinated "I think dogs might need me a little more than I can do...but cats seem easy?" She really had no clue, her ties to spirits had always been so dominant that remembering to manage herself was tricky, let alone an animal.
"Oh fuck no," Calamity scoffs at the question about petting. "I barely even see 'em, they never eat 'til we're gone. But they're...'s not really like having a pet. Dunno how a real indoor cat would be. And depending on how crowded it'd get for an open mic night, I'd prob'ly end up hanging outside smoking, too," they admit with a small smile.
She nods a bit and looks around "...yeah, not so good at crowds these days either." In fact she normally was hypervigilant, crowds just made it all that much harder. "I should get going, I've been fixing up my house, and tomorrow I rip out the carpet in the master bedroom." Giving a whine of sound. "But it really was good finally meeting you Calamity."
"That sounds like a hell of a lot of work. But yeah, 's nice to meet you. I should prob'ly head out too, gotta get home eventually. Even if it's fucking cold..." Calamity downs the last of their drink and stands, sliding the bottle across the bar.
"See you 'round."
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