cuddletalk | text: un: burninate

Entry tags:

text: un: burninate

[those in cadelle who've stopped by criminales earlier in the month may have noticed the lights off and the interior darker than usual. which is saying a lot since most of the light can't really even be seen through the grimy windows. there's been no sign of the cheerful manager in the librarian chic glasses or the grumpy owner who is as likely to be holding a lighter as he is to be holding a beer.

early on the 17th, mick goes downstairs, flipping the switch on the neon 'open' sign and begins to sweep up around the bar. he hums quietly to himself as he wipes off glasses and the bar tops. good morning, cadelle. it's good to be back. but where are his customers? he fumbles for his device and types a hurried post to the network.]

i'm running a little low on slush funds, people.
did someone else open a bar while i was gone?

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Isn’t competition a good thing?

where did you go?

[also hi. but mostly, what is going on here mr rory?]

I figured if you closed it without asking me specifically to open it, that there was a reason for that. So I didn't open it, in any case. I don't know about Kara, though.

[ When she got back, anyway. Or before she left, for that matter. ]

Are we open again?

good for who though?
definitely not for me. see empty cash drawer.

[oh hello there, mr. allen. he's home from having seen the eventful wedding of none other than barry allen and iris west...]

went home for a few days.
it was... interesting.

it's fine that you didn't. i assumed she would but guess she's still taking time off.

[text is a good thing because it doesn't transmit the grumbles that derek would likely be privy to if this was a face to face conversation. no one needs to deal with that sort of misplaced displeasure.]

hell yeah. the boss is back and it's business as usual.
you free to come in tonight?

It probably is better that I didn't anyway, since I've never tended bar anyway. Glad to see you're back and yeah, I'll come in. That works for me.

Edited (seriously DW wtf with the line breaks?! :/ ugh) 2018-01-22 01:52 (UTC)

Normally it's good for everyone.
At least I used to think so.
Maybe you should advertise?

[wait, hold up--]

you never said you were going back
WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING???

are you okay?
did anyone get hurt?
is everybody safe??

i don't know about that.
from my end, limited funds + lots of choices = less people on my barstools.
but i've never been the brains of the operation.

[if mick were hip and cool, or well, if he were barry he'd be using that ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ emoji right about now but alas he's not so...]

i guess i could do that
but my bar manager usually who handles that sort of stuff has been m.i.a.
got any other bright ideas, kevin bacon?

[barold please.]

figured it was worth a go
i'd say sorry but you know i don't do goodbyes, red.

i'm fine.
had a little stint where someone made me quit drinking cold turkey
headaches were killer
but that's all fixed now

[he knows full well that this isn't the kind of information that barry is fishing for, but with the number and extent of issues they've had with people altering the timeline. (and yes shhhh he knows he's to blame for at least some of the chaos) he's not about to immediately up and spill the beans on just what kind of messed up shit he's encountered back home.

he's especially not going to talk about alternate earths or painful memories that were trudged up or of people that he's annoyed to admit that he misses.]

pouring beer's not that hard.
if you want, i'll give you a rundown of the rest of things when you get here.

[he's not even sure that derek would want the extra responsibilities. hell he doesn't even want the work, but in case things go south and kara decides she's just never going to show up again or he leaves, he'd like to think that someone would come turn the lights on and keep the beer flowing.

his people — the regulars — deserve that much.]

True, that was often a problem we faced trying to get work.
Not everyone wants to pay the price you ask.
Can you have some kind of sale?

[ Gamora wouldn't even recognise the emoji so it's just as well. Though she had a feeling should Peter ever discover such things she would be bombarded. Lucky for her he isn't here. ]

Are you not allowed to take the initiative when it is good for business?
You are familiar with Kevin Bacon?

Wouldn't I need a liquor license or something? What about cocktails, do people ever order that stuff?

I mean, I'm willing to learn in case you need a backup, don't get me wrong. I can pour a beer and probably figure out how to run a register. How hard can it be?

[ He's never worked a day in his life before CriminALES, which means he's never used a cash register. He has legitimately no idea what he's doing when it comes to that, but if a high school kid can do it at a grocery store, Derek can at a bar, right? ]

yeah i guess i could do a sale.
did it when i first opened, actually.

[ mick is conveniently leaving out that he jacked up the prices right before the sale so he'd still make the same amount in the end. it's still a point of pride for him. probably not a good thing to be proud of. ]

more like i'm not great at it.
uh yeah. is that not normal?

Edited 2018-01-25 23:34 (UTC)

If it worked then, I'm sure it would generate interest now.
Do you have food?

[ Because that would bring Gamora to the bar more than the alcohol. Her gastronomic exploration of Cadelle is ongoing. ]

There seems to be no better time to learn.
A friend of mine told me of Kevin Bacon and the town in Footloose.
Though he seemed to think I was one of the ones with sticks up their butt.

the bar's license keeps you covered
there's this 4 hour safety class you gotta take here though.
waste of time. i could tell you what you need to know in 15 minutes

cocktails are expensive which is good
but a pain in the ass.
we don't have many.

the money thing's not that hard.
hardest bit is keeping track of how many each person's had.
but that's what the system kara put in is for.

[ if mick can manage to run a bar and not give away the farm, well, derek should be fine pushing the buttons on the pos. wait a minute, derek...]

have you never used a register before?

Oh, gotcha. I don't mind taking it, though, it's fine.

Fair enough, then I don't have to worry about being awesome at that. Good.

Right, yeah. that makes sense.

[ He pauses before responding to that last bit. ]

...no?

[ This is his first job...ever. ]

we've got bar mix?
there' these little crackers and nuts and these really spicy bits.

[all highly salted for maximum encouragement as far as drinking goes.]

oh. and a kebab guy sets up shop outside at night.
i think i'll let myself be the judge of that.
unless you're the kind of person who'll judge a bar by its windows.

no?
seriously?
no?

who hasn't ever worked a register before?

[to be fair, mick hadn't either until he'd become a bar owner, but the news that someone else hasn't is an actual surprise.]

A kebab guy is something.
I get the impression that most people want to eat and drink.
Not just drink.
Unless they are in that loud club.
Do you have music?

I tend not to judge a bar.
I will reserve judgement on the people within.

[ Well, way to make him feel self-conscious there, Mick. ]

This is my first job...

got a jukebox
plays hits from the 60s 70s and blegh 80s.
stuff like 'hooked on a feeling' and 'ebony and ivory'
danceable but none of that laser light show thump thump shit that passes for music today

can't promise that the people in the bar are all that great
it's not called a dive bar for nothing
but the drinks are pretty cheap
and we've got darts.

makes two of us.
if that makes you feel better.

well... my first honest job anyhow.

[well guess that cat's out of the bag now. at least derek's not working for a mob boss.]

[ Admittedly, that's kind of a relief. It means that Mick probably won't judge him too much for it. ]

My family was rich and when they died, I inherited a shitload. Plus, I inherited the insurance money from the fire. So...couple that with the fact that I'm not big on material possessions, I never really had to work. I kind of only ever really bought food and clothes. But my money's not here, so it seemed like as good a time as any to join the real world a little. I appreciate you guys having taken a chance on me.

...I can learn the register, Mick.

Oh! I know that one.
I like 'Hooked on a Feeling'. It was part of Quill's collection.
I do not care for the thump thump shit.
I much prefer what you have on this jukebox.

Darts? When you throw things at the target?
Cheap drinks are always a draw card.
Nothing sounds wrong with your bar other than a lack of people.

[he really isn't expecting derek's whole life story unfolding before him via text message, but he's not judging derek for his lack of work experience or for the circumstances behind it.]

most rich kids go for backpacking in spain to pick up life skills...
but if you were gonna work at a dive
i'm glad it's mine.

i think you can too.

glad you've got good taste
just make sure you've got quarters when you come
music's not free

yep. that's darts. and pool.
if you feel like gettin' the word out
i'd be willin' to save you a quarter.

I don't know how anyone would prefer the thump thump.
I will make sure I remember.

I'm not sure I know pool.
A song in exchange for word of mouth advertising?
I will do my best.
I hope your jukebox has David Bowie.

guess i'll be showing you how to play pool now.
won't i?
difficult to master, but easy to learn.

a song and a few drinks.
i think there might be a few of his.
i'll see what i can do about it if there's not.

You day that like I asked.
But if you’re offering I won’t say no.

I would appreciate the music more than the drinks.
But I won’t turn down either.
I will bring you customers.

[ Most rich kids aren't trying to run from a murderer, is all Derek can think, but he figures Mick doesn't give a shit, so he'll spare the guy. ]

If they're actually gaining life skills on those backpacking trips I'd be really shocked.

Me too. You're a good first boss to have. Thanks for that.

Edited (gdi with the line breaks, dreamwidth) 2018-01-28 23:41 (UTC)

i've just gotten used to people needing my help
comes with the territory of being a time traveling hooligan/bar owner

i'm counting on it
otherwise, you're paying for your own tunes.

[...he would probably be less surprised by that tidbit than most but those finer details would be mostly wasted on mick.]

i assume they're probably just drinking and taking side trips to amsterdam to get high, but who knows.

might want to keep the praise down.
wouldn't want people to get the wrong idea about me.
you're not so bad for someone who hasn't worked a day in his life before.

You're probably not wrong. We're assuming the same thing, in any case.

Ha, well I promise not to let anyone else overhear it. How's that?

Thanks, Mick.

[ Coming from a guy who mostly just grunts his approvals and disapprovals in Derek's general direction more often than not, that actually means a lot more to Derek than Mick probably knows. ]

You're not the only one.
You are a time traveler?
Now coming from another planet does not seem so strange.

I assume I will visit the bar more than once.
So I would of course pay for tunes in the future.
You're not about to lose business.

yeah but
this was different
what if you decided not to come back??

hold up
are you telling me you don't drink anymore??
who made you do it?
HOW DID IT HAPPEN???

[#priorities]

you'd have seen me again.
if that's what you're wondering.
we had ourselves a fun little team up when i got home.

[...really barold? what kind of drugs are in that superbooze of yours?]

nah. i said it was fixed. didn't say i quit drinking.
soon as i got here, i had a beer.
but you can thank your patron saint of ice puns for that shitty... uh... few days, i guess. i don't really remember.

yeah.
been to the future.
seen the past.
seen a few aliens too. so no, not so weird.
unless you're gonna try to take over the world... then we're gonna have a problem.

the other one i know here needs drinks that are a little stronger.
you get drunk on regular booze?

[there's a lot he could be saying in response to all that. questions he should be asking about them teaming up again. about what could possibly be bad enough that they'd need the legends to come back, or for team flash to go looking. but it's that last mention of a familiar face that has all other thoughts disappearing at once. and instead--]

it worked?
he's alive?

Wouldn't seeing the future make it impossible to do anything in the present, or past?
Doesn't it have ramifications?
Glad I'm not your first.
It's really not on my to-do list.

I don't usually drink with the intention of getting drunk.
So no, not really.
From what I can tell you might need some more of the stronger stuff.
There seems to be a couple more aliens.

[he knows that little glimmer of hope that he can practically hear in the text that comes back to him. he knew he'd get that kind of response too. mick remembers the way barry's eyes lit up when leo had come in for a hug — of his own initiation no less — because he'd felt it himself when he'd seen leo on earth x, but the honeymoon period had faded and it'd faded fast.

best rip the bandaid off before barry got too hopeful.]

don't get too excited.
you know how there's more than one earth, right?
well there's definitely more than one snart.

this one was just a disappointing other one.
you might like him though. who knows?

he goes by leo, and he's about as different from the snart we know as possible.

it does have ramif... [he's trying to speech to text here, gamora. good luck with him trying to pronounce ramifications. he's giving up.]

yeah it causes problems.
but that's the whole point.
i travel time, fixing history.
sometimes i fuck up along the way.

lather. rinse. repeat.

alright.
i'll keep a little bit of both around.
maybe get a bit more of the hard stuff.

[he should've known better than to get his hopes up. to let himself believe that maybe things had actually worked out right for once. but it's a realization that comes far too late to do him any good. so mick's reply hits hard, and for a long while, barry's lost for how to respond.

eventually, minutes later--]

okay

[WAS IT WORTH THE WAIT?]

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

text: un: burninate

text; un: footloose

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

mick you sweetheart

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject