[Open]

[pullmeapint]

Finn cleared the last of the dishes from the dinner rush and carted them into the kitchen for Tandy, laughing when she asked if he'd been demoted to busser.

That chore done, he headed back into the bar to do a walk around, checking with those in the game room and those at the tables and booths scattered around the bar area. He joked with a few of the regulars and greeted the faces he couldn't remember seeing before taking his position behind the bar again.

Leaning against the back counter, he surveyed his pub and couldn't help the smile that formed. For as much flak as he'd received from his family over his choosing such a small town when he finally struck out on his own, he really did love the town. The atmosphere was open, accepting, and the sheer fact that he could use his abilities without causing the National Enquirer to drop onto his head made it perfect.

He looked up when the door opened and called out a welcome to the newcomer.

"Welcome to the Pub."

Comments

[wastelandflower]

"Ah, young, hungry labor," Rian says, pretending an evil grin as he looks over at the pair of them. "I never really baby-sat much. At least not for people younger than me."

Mostly, he'd just kept an eye on Wren.

[keirasullivan]

"You say cruel, I say... depends on who is asking." Keira replied, laughing as he made a mockery of the situation and pretended she'd thrown a knife at him. She waited for the beer patiently before shrugging her shoulders. "Not unless you consider a new shipment on books of the arcane, profane, and one strangely on propane to be entertaining. Just the usual library stuff. Still no one's managed to find the magical karma sutra yet, I really did re shelve that good and proper."

[pullmeapint]

"I've done more than my share of it from one family to another. Lived with my brother for about a year and when I wasn't mopping up the bar, I was mopping up his kids. To be honest, I'm not sure which one was my least favorite. Especially when the youngest decided his parents night out was the perfect time to get stomach flu."

Finn shuddered in memory of that fun night.

[pullmeapint]

That statement had the coffee cup stopping halfway to Finn's lips. "Wait, wait, wait. There's a magical kama sutra? Do I even want to know?"

Not that he could stop wondering now - things like whether it was sex magic, or just different positions for doing magic...or God knew what.

[aoife_coombs]

"If you really ask just a dollar for a tonic, I can imagine your peace of mind." She accepts his hand. "Aoife Coombs, and likewise."

[aoife_coombs]

"Of course I would find you in the only pub are tiny little town has."

Aoife taps her shoulder before sitting down on her right side. "Don't worry, not here for your hair."

[thediceloveme]

"Hi. Beer? I need beer." Lee said, bustling into the cosy pub. She dumped her bags on a stool and then took the one next to it. "Sorry - hello. I would like a beer please."

[pullmeapint]

Finn laughed and indicated the beer board over his head as well as the different brands he had on draft. "Going to have to narrow it down a little further than that," he replied. "Want to give me a hint?"

[thediceloveme]

"Ummm..." Lee looked over the board and although the names were all cool she had no idea what any of them meant. "Something alcoholic? Honestly I know nothing about proper beer. Just American ones and I get the feeling you'd sneer at those."

[pullmeapint]

"I don't have any deep hatred for American beer, I just think they all taste like ass, so I rarely serve them. I have a few bottled, in case the need arises, but for the most part. Ew." He pulled a comical face, scrunching up his nose.

"Why don't you tell me what you like to drink? A pale ale? One with a bit more bite to it? Sweet to the taste, maybe one where you can taste the hops, or something else?"

[thediceloveme]

"Sweet." Lee said without hesitating. "My sweet tooth is a little legendary." She said smiling a little sheepishly. "Do you have anything for someone that has three sugars on her frosted flakes?"

[pullmeapint]

Finn nodded and reached above him for a lowball and put it under the tap for the Vienna Lager and slid it across the bar towards her. "Give this a try and see what you think. Just sweet enough without rotting your teeth right out of your head."

[thediceloveme]

Lee eye'd the glass and sniffed the beer before taking a sip. She closed her eyes and groaned. "That's...Wow. There's more, right?"

[pullmeapint]

Finn laughed then pulled a proper pint glass from the shelf and drew back on the stick. "That there is. I liked the caramel taste to that one when I first tried it, and I'm glad I was on the mark for picking your pint."

He topped the glass off and slid it towards her, using his power to make sure it didn't stop short or go so far that it ended up in her lap. "I'm Finn. Welcome to the Pub."

[thediceloveme]

Grinning Lee caught the glass and toasted the barman. "Lee. Nice to meet you." She looked around her surroundings properly for the first time and smiled. "This is a great pub. It would make a great tavern for a LARPing session."

[wastelandflower]

"I was living away from my family for about ten years or so, when I was sixteen on," Rian explains, sticking with the vaguer side of the story. He gets recognized now and then and once someone catches him with Wren, some of the more musically inclined will put it together. For now, he's happy to just be Rian.

[pullmeapint]

Finn started to talk, closed his mouth, then opened it again. "Okay, you're going to have to give me a roadmap here. LARP?"

He'd heard a lot of different things in his time working in bars, but that was a new one on him.

[pullmeapint]

"That's early to head out on your own," Finn commented, "must've been rough."

He'd been tempted, maybe more than tempted, to lit out and leave his loud, interfering family behind and live his own life. He'd made it as far as the bus terminal before his grandfather had talked him back home.

[wastelandflower]

Rian shrugs. What's he going to say? That he couldn't live with the legacy of two dead brothers and the sister who'd followed them? Or that his end of Southie had fallen itself to shit when they all realized that Whitey had been a rat? They all had the same sob stories, in the end. Anyone over a certain age from Southie did.

"All the good rock shows were in the city," he says. "And then one day I made a friend and never bothered to leave."

[thediceloveme]

"Live action role playing." She said. "Like...historical recreations with the costumes and weapons and such, but fantasy stories, you know?" She explained. Normally this was the part where people glazed over or started pulling away so she watched him for a reaction.

[pullmeapint]

"No regrets about setting out on your own?" Finn asked, because that was, to his mind, the most important thing. Setting out on a difficult road was one thing, but whether or not the journey is worth it was quite another.

[pullmeapint]

Finn leaned back and considered, one hand rubbing at the scruff on his cheeks. "How often do these recreations happen? I mean, are we talking nightly or once a month?"

[thediceloveme]

"Not very often in the winter but maybe three times over the summer? Whenever we can all get time off to prepare it." Lee said enthusiastically.

[pullmeapint]

Finn turned and poured more coffee into his mug before turning back around. "Do I get to costume up as well? Or is that reserved for the players?"

[thediceloveme]

Lee laughed. "If you let us use this place as a meeting place and central hub, you can wear anything you want." She said with a bright smile that turned playful. "Maybe some nice Lederhosen?"