New Barkeep, Old Stories

Posted on Sun Oct 17th, 2021 @ 11:43pm by Executive Officer Jake Ford & Evahnae Kohl & Chief Helmsman Eden Bowers

Mission: Mission 14: Holoworld
Location: Crew Bar
Timeline: Prior to MD-01
2281 words - 4.6 OF Standard Post Measure

A starship never sleeps.

It didn't seem conceivable that she could have forgotten that. Back in the days of club management aboard the Amoretto and, later on, her bigger sister Casabianca, any personal distance from the job required careful construction and heavy intent, as you certainly couldn't expect the situation on board to cater to the concept of downtime. In those days, sleep came in short shifts and then only when you absolutely needed it. Some found it impossible but those who thrived on the constant thrum of impulsive exhilaration couldn't get enough of it. Eva had prided herself in dominating the latter category.

Sleep, after all, was for the weak.

Except it wasn't, oh no. Once you walked away from the lifestyle and set yourself up in a more structured environment, with clear physical boundaries between being at work and going home, sleep found a way to creep towards the top of the priority list. With its siren song, it lulled you into a deeper appreciation for the subtle art of not getting out of bed until noon and that was fine, in moderation, because you set the opening hours and you created the staffing roster and you, in glorious control, decided when you needed to show up. Life had compartments and it was up to you how you arranged them. Everything was so very civilised.

And so very dull.

It had been sixteen hours since Eva had even seen the inside of her quarters. Aside from the need to establish immediate priorities, there had been an inquisitive crew evidently craving a place to congregate and it had already amused the brunette that, really, very few of them had been particularly interested in meeting her. It was enough that the space was functional again and that she could pour orders with minimal confusion. Far from offended, Eva found it a refreshing change from the rigor of having to earn even a measure of a patron's respect in order to coax them to return a second time. Out here, she was the best thing on offer and the collective shrug of the crew's shoulders was the closest thing to immediate acceptance she'd ever experienced. She'd take it. For now.

Reaching over her head, Eva stretched her arms back until the gentle clunk of a shoulderblade relinquishing its tension brought some relief. The place was empty again, the last pair having departed a little over twenty minutes previous. Ever since clocking into what would normally be considered overtime, Eva had set the half-hour limit with a promise to herself that, once the place had been empty for an entire 30 minutes, she'd lock up and sleep.

That had been four hours ago.

Eden had her arm entwined in Jake's. It was kind of an old fashioned gesture but she still liked doing it. As they entered the bar Eden glanced around for somewhere to sit. There was no shortage of seats but she spotted someone she really hadn't gotten to know at all. "Oooh Jakie, new person," she pointed with her free hand and began to drag him over. "Hello. Mind if we join you? I'm Eden and you probably already know him because he knows everyone and everything about this ship. I just fly the thing."

Twenty-three minutes. So close.

"Then, arguably, you know the most important things."

An easy smile made it almost impossible to gauge whether the bartender was regretting the relaxed approach to service hours, though examination of prior evidence suggested that Eva was no where close to her no-sleep capacity. What she was experiencing a current deficiency in, however, was recalling the identities of people she apparently ought to recognise.

She squinted slightly, an overexaggerated playfulness, as she did her best to live up to expectations and assign the woman's partner with a status befitting his reputed social talents. The evolution of the expression culminated in a faintly apologetic wince, though whether it was accompanied by actual chagrin was uncertain. The twinkle in the bartender's eyes suggested not.

"Eva," she turned her introduction back to the other woman, limiting her mirth to just a twitch at the corner of her lips. "Still learning names but duly noted." The brunette offered the outnumbered man a half-grin. "At least I know who to ask if I can't place a face."

"Jake. I'm the first mate. And, as she says, this is Eden." He looked over at Eden with a warm grin and a light squeeze. "She does more than just fly the thing, too. She gets us into all kinds of fun shenanigans." He looked at their host. "So you're Eva. I think the Captain mentioned something about bringing on some fresh faces. It's good to meet you - and great to have someone actually running this place for once!"

"I...can kind of tell it's been a little while since anyone organised this place."

It was a nice way to say she was still finding random experimental fermentation projects hiding at the back of storage cabinets.

"But, you know, what's space travel without a little chaos, right?"

The bartender's gaze wandered back and forth between the pair, as nonintrusive as a consummate socialite could be. If you wanted to get far in this business, you couldn't be a gossip, but taking a healthy interest in the people you served was permissible.

Besides, they were kind of ridiculously adorable.

"Can I get you both anything?"

"Kesatian Ale, if you have it, for me," Jake replied hopefuly. It was an older favourite of his, back from his bar-working days. Few places had a good stock, especially in the civilian markets they had been frequenting recently.

"Anything non alcoholic. I don't drink much," Eden replied. She had this thing about not ever losing control but in that moment she wasn't sure if she had ever talked to Jake about it. She sat there thinking on the subject. "Jake, did I ever tell you about the time my then boyfriend but future husband became possessed?"

The brief moment of eye contact Eva offered Jake had less to do with the complexity of his order than offering a moment of quiet support for whatever conversational wormhole he was about to dive into. It may have been more comforting had the glint in her eyes and the twitch of her lips not been clearly advocating amusement at his expense. Starting with Eden's vague order first, the bartender retreated several steps to examine the assortment of mixers she'd salvaged from various hiding spots and pondered on the best recipe for a survivor of spousal insanity.

"I think you started telling me that story. I don't remember how it ended," he replied. Eden's memories of Sebastian were important to her, and not ones he cared to avoid or trample on. She'd loved her former Captain, and he understood that. But it wasn't like he was in competition with someone that had been dead for over a hundred years. He met the barkeep's eyes. "If you like tall tales, Eden is the best at telling them."

A glass of bright blue crushed ice settled in front of the yarn-spinner, though Eva knew well enough not to offer too much commitment either way with her response. "I've heard my fair share, though I'm always open to fresh versions." A drizzle of bright red, poured from a small bottle without a label, sank into the mound of ice. The resulting shade of violet was scrutinised for a moment before a final dash sealed the deal. "One non-alcoholic blueberry crush. The uttaberry 'liqueur' has a tiny kick but you'll barely notice."

Turning to Jake, Eva regarded him for a moment and then drew in a deep breath. "Now, Kesatian Ale. You might be lucky if the crate I'm still working through contains what I think it does but you and I are going to have to talk breweries if you want it as regular stock." Crouching, she shuffled around a few crates and brought out the one in question. "Do you prefer their brown variant or the pale?"

"Usually the brown. It's rare we get the pale out in these parts. Think there was a brewery somewhere near a Klingon outpost where some idiot started mixing it with blood wine." He made a face. "Philistines!"

Eden smiled. "Well . . . I can sure try to tell a tale I don't know how interesting it will be. It was a hundred and fifty years ago, give or take a few years. We were tasked with finding out what happened to a large population of people on this planet. You know, I don't even remember the name now. Anyway, Sebastian, he was the Captain," she explained for Eva's benefit. "He wanted to come down to the planet too, back then you could actually do that if you were a Captain. So I brought him there, along with a couple of other men. We started exploring and I may have gotten lost at some point." She tried to look innocent. "And while I was lost they went exploring a different part of the city and these strange lights started approaching. We didn't find out until later, but we think the lights were actually life forms, some of the people that lived on the planet and had evolved. They entered the bodies of the three men but couldn't use me for some reason."

From beneath the bar, a snort interspersed the clink of glass as Eva moved bottles around searching for what she hoped she'd seen during her earlier stocktake. She lifted her head just long enough to offer a mischievous, "The herd culls its weakest first," before a final strain that put her halfway inside the cabinet at an uncomfortable angle resulted in a huffing grunt of success. Two bottles of ale plonked onto the bar, gripped by a pair of hands that used them as leverage to pull the rest of the bartender back to her feet. Capping one, Eva set the other to the side and poured until the frothing head settled.

"How cynical," Jake grunted, raising an eyebrow at the barkeep. He gratefully accepted the drink, however. He looked over at Eden. "I wonder how many stories of yours start with 'I got lost and...'?"

"Uh, a few. I'm easily distracted but I have a great sense of adventure, it's a good thing." Eden said decidedly. "Anyway, Sebastian ended up back on the ship with this other person inside him. He wasn't so nice and ended up in the brig when we figured it out. We eventually got him to leave though and I got my Sebastian back. I only like stories with happy endings and that was one."

As the pair chatted and the conversation became a series of titbits that would eventually weave together into a larger tapestry that gave the couple definition, Eva had poured herself coffee from her current brew and settled leaning against one of the preparation benches behind the bar. The art of listening was a lesson hard-learned but rarely had it not proven its worth in determining the vital undercurrents of community. She half-smiled to herself, reflective for a moment without revelation regarding exactly what had struck a cord, and then when the conversation lulled to a point where it seemed appropriate, she discovered her voice again, this time in query.

"So, the two of you obviously know the ship and its crew well enough. What do you think they need from this space?" A roaming scan of her eyes encompassed as much of the lounge as could be seen from her little nook.

Jake smiled. "A welcoming vibe and a friendly ear?" he suggested. "And definitely someone who knows their way around a case of Kesatian ale..." he added, saluting her with the glass.

"Hmm, yes. Just a warm atmosphere. A comfortable place to sit. But you know, not too warm. Don't hire any Orion belly dancers or some of us will never see our significant others." Eden joked.

"Oh, spoilsport," the bartender teased back, followed by an easy chuckle. "And I would hope all those things come as bare minimum. Nothing more adventurous though? This is a decent enough space, running a regular schedule of events ought not be that complicated."

"Well I know some of the girls have a bit of a ladies' night pretty regular. What are you thinking - karaoke? Poker evening?" Jake wondered.

"Open mic nights are definitely high on the list." Eva grinned. "Shall I put you down for the first set?"

Eden practically cringed. "Count me out on that, but we can throw Jake to the wolves. I would like to learn to play poker though!"

"Woah, one step at a time!" Jake chuckled, feigning panic. "Eden playing poker - that's one I'd love to see."

"Hey, I could play poker," she responded in mock indignation and poked him on the shoulder with one finger. "I can play a lot of things. I'm good at games."

"Poker?" For a moment, the circumspect expression on the bartender's face was mingled with slight incredulity. After all, the gambling floors had always required an even heavier security presence than her nightclub back in the day and Eva didn't know this particular crew well enough to anticipate the wisdom, or lack thereof, of inviting such competition into her space. "I mean, I can run a table if you have a group interested." She grinned suddenly. "The stakes could get interesting though."

Eden rubbed her hands together. "Interesting is my middle name."