[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

[keirasullivan]

"Look at that beautiful face, all ready to poor me a beer and everything." Keira called out, smiling as she slid into a seat at the bar. She could've taken a booth but then she wouldn't get to talk to Finn which was at least forty percent of the joy of this place. "It's like you can read my mind."

If he could it'd probably be a wonderland of him doing her on the pool table fantasies. So, it really was a good thing that he couldn't. Because that would be embarrassing.

[pullmeapint]

"Now there's the bright spot to my night," Finn called out, already drawing her pint so that it was ready and sliding across the bar seconds after she sat down. "Truth be told, I'm glad I didn't get that one. Having nightly conversations with my dead grandfather is bad enough. I really, really don't want to know what's going on in the minds of half the people in here. Especially on a Friday night when the hookups start getting planned."

He reached out with his own power when a near-drunk at the end of the bar almost missed getting his glass back on the wood surface. "So how're you doing? Still on the outs with your sister?"

[keirasullivan]

"If only you'd come home with me at the end of it, then that bright spot might be even brighter." Keira teased, reaching for the beer as it slid along the bar. Lifting it up to take a mouthful, she let out a pleased sigh before putting it back down on the bar. The first of many of the evening she hoped. "She has been putting peroxide bleach in my shampoo, lucky for me I know when my stuff has been messed with and haven't actually succombed to her childish, petty revenges yet."

Keira sighed. Having a twin was amazing, built in best friend. But it also came with the whole built in nemesis thing too.

[aoife_coombs]

Of course Aoife had heard about this newest addition to Siren Cove. And yes, she understood that pub usually meant English or Irish, and not German, but maybe this one was different. Maybe this one prided itself for its huge selection of beers from all around the world.
And even if the man had the brand, it might be a huge disappointment after all these years.

No matter what, she wanted to have a look around. "Hello", she answered his greeting with a nod. "Welcome to the community."

[pullmeapint]

"Sisters can be a blessing and a curse," Finn agreed. "Moira's favorite was to braid my hair while I slept, knowing damned well I was half-asleep when I went in to school in the mornings. I wouldn't notice until second block most of the time."

He grinned around his own drink, black coffee, and laid a hand over his heart. "I would have, but I'm terrified you'd just use me up and toss me aside when you were done and leave me nursing a shattered heart for the rest of my days."

Not that he hadn't thought about it, or her, in that way. A few times. On the pool table. In the back room. Right on this very bar. Suddenly, he was glad his brother, and his ease of tripping through people's minds, were far away from Maine.

[pullmeapint]

"Ah, thanks," Finn smiled when he looked up at the woman. "I've been pretty happy here and couldn't be more pleased with the location. Can I get you a drink? Something to eat?"

[aoife_coombs]

"That's lovely to hear." She always fell back on old fashioned niceties when a bit nervous.

"Right now I only have a question about your merchandise, if you don't mind?"

[pullmeapint]

Finn held his arms out wide to indicate the bar behind him. "Fire away, though I'll say there isn't much I have that isn't visible by looking. Is there something in particular you're after?"

[keirasullivan]

"Huh, you'd look cute with braids. I can see why she'd do it," Keira replied, a grin lingering on her lips as she reached out to playfully tug at his hair. Rolling her eyes at his comment, she took a long sigh before nodding at his assessment. "I would ruin you for other women, possibly for other men too. The nation would mourn your loss."

[pullmeapint]

"Who says you haven't already?" Finn flirted back, using his power to tug at a lock of her hair, something that wasn't as easy now that she'd shed the braids. Still, though, he managed it and kept an innocent smile on his face the whole while. "As for mourning my loss, I don't think that's anything liable to happen. I'm not exactly beating them away with a stick, you know."

He never had been, much to his teenaged dismay. He'd had his share of dates, and one nighters, but nothing like the lasting shit his parents and the rest of his family seem to have found. Not that he wants it now, but as Grandda kept reminding him, he wasn't getting any younger.

[aoife_coombs]

Aoife wasn't even going to bother trying to read all of it, it would take her hours.

"It is a German beer. Called Jever, if I pronounce it correctly. I wouldn't hold it against you if you don't have it, I have no clue about how widely its distributed."

[pullmeapint]

Finn shook his head with a sad expression on his face. "Sorry, no. We have a good selection of Irish beers, some craft ones too from local brewers, but I didn't dive too deep into the German ones. I can look into getting some if you're interested?" he offered. "I've done that for a few of my customers."

[aoife_coombs]

"Oh I don't know if I'd become a customer if- I don't drink a lot of beers. Or any, really. Jever just comes with some n-" She pursed her lips.
"It's very nice of you to support our local brewers, the county probably thinks so as well. Have you looked into getting such a thing recorded and possibly even subsidized?"

[pullmeapint]

Finn's mouth opened and closed again as he tried to find the right words. "You wouldn't have to come here to drink it or anything, but your choice. Offer's open if you want to take me up on it for whatever it comes with."

He rubbed a hand at the back of his neck. "Um. Get what recorded and subsidized? Sorry, I think I missed a step in there."

[aoife_coombs]

"Your support to local companies. There just to be files on that. It's a convenient way to create and uphold a network that can help smaller companies survive national monoliths arriving or playing on their turf."

Turns out she caught some of her father's work ethics after all.

"I wouldn't want to pressure you into things, I honestly don't know if the brand still even exists. Or that it's .. you are a company, you need to make decisions based on sellability, I'd say. Not you, but you're .." Aoife was losing control of the dialogue. "Your pub."

[pullmeapint]

"I'll look into that," Finn replies with a smile, still not entirely sure about the concept, but he's not the antagonistic type. "In the meantime, I'm happy to look into getting some of the beer you're looking for. Just let me know and I'll check my suppliers to see if it can be brought in or not. Some can, some can't. There's a complex set of rules and regulations about it that tend to make my head ache." He finished that with a wink before taking a sip from his mug.

"Can I get you anything, even though I'm woefully lacking in your beer of choice?"

[aoife_coombs]

"Oh, I don't know, to be honest. I'm really not a beer drinker, or any other alcoholic beverage. My si-" Delicate point, "- I'm often called a lightweight by family members."

"But maybe you have some tonic?"

[pullmeapint]

"Nothing wrong with being a lightweight. I can handle just about any drink, but for some reason, I can't manage so much as a half-shot of tequila without completely losing my mind."

Finn chuckled and pulled down a glass, added ice, and poured tonic water into it. He'd heard the stutter-stop of her words, but didn't push for clarification. As a bar owner, he knew that most didn't like to be pushed about what they didn't want to say.

[wastelandflower]

"Don't suppose you've got more of that Guinness lying around, eh?" Rian asks. He's stopping in a little early, Sophie chewing determinedly on her pacifier while she rides in her father's arms.

Gesturing to his daughter, he smiles a bit. "Can't stay long, but I wanted to stop in."

[pullmeapint]

Finn brightened immediately when he saw both Rian and his adorable daughter. "Just so happens I do. And I'll do you one better. I'll build you a pint if you let me spoil Sophie while you drink it. Deal?"

Finn started to build the pint, already making funny faces at Sophie. He was an uncle several times over and had long since stopped counting how many cousins he had. They were Irish, they were Catholic. And they were nothing if not traditional, no matter what special gifts they possessed.

[aoife_coombs]

"I honestly don't understand people that say that they love tequila. That would be like saying you ..love to drink gasoline? Or something else that burns like that? It's not - it's not for me."

She approached the bar. "It's a good thing I brought my wallet after all, I guess. Wouldn't want to be the first to start a ..'tab', they call it?"

[wastelandflower]

Rian can already tell that his daughter's going to grow up to be the center of attention. Once she notices Finn, she gurgles and laughs and lays on the charm right back.

"Seems to me you've got practice being an uncle." Rian knows how it is. They're from the same place, after all.

[pullmeapint]

"You'd hardly be the first and don't worry about the wallet. The tonic's on the house," Finn replied. "I'm of the opinion that tequila isn't so much alcohol as it is a mind-altering drug. I've seen perfectly normal people do some pretty crazy things during a night of tequila shots."

[pullmeapint]

Finn slid the pint across the surface of the bar then came around to the other side to tickle the little girl under her chubby chin. "I've got six nieces and nephews at last count, and God only knows how many cousins. The Finnegans are a prolific group as far as procreating goes."

[keirasullivan]

"I would have to actually do something to ruin you, at least leave my mark on you in some kind of physical way rather than intellectual." Keira drawled, reaching out to tap his neck as if to indicate where she'd leave a mark on him. "Well, they're clearly idiots. You're attractive, you own your own bar, pretty sure you've probably got a tattoo or piercing there to give you that bad boy mystique. So, their loss."