OPEN BAR POST

[the_cupbearer]

The bar is open!

Anyone is welcome at 4713, and the bartenders are happy to carry on a conversation for anyone that needs company to drink with. Tiqua--the lead bartender when Ganymede's not there, and the shift manager when he is--says she makes the best Black Velvet ever...blackberry imperial stout and champagne, that is. Ganymede is more than likely there too, just look for the smiling man with long hair braided back, but there's plenty of booths and tables as well, just be careful of you you sit with. They might not always be strangers.


[ this is an open post! feel free to drop off notes or things, or just hop in to talk to Ganymede if you want ]

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[the_cupbearer]

"Now, I don't mind that at all. I have tea and coffee, sometimes fruity water too. Not everyone comes here just to drink," Ganymede chuckles, though he has to laugh and nod at the question.

"Better proof than almost anything else, yeah. I drink like a fish."

[midnightroads]

“I’d take coffee over most anything. I can be snobbish about it sometimes, but you got a decent bean here. Ethiopian?”

Okay, more a nerd than a snob if he’s honest, but Bash feels weird calling himself a nerd, considering he isn’t very smart in general.

[the_cupbearer]

"Sumatra, you were close," Ganymede chuckles. "It's got a whole spice cabinet in it, according to my staff. Everyone but Queenie says it's too fancy."

[midnightroads]

“Your staff is absolutely wrong, and I’ll pester you guys for a dirty chai latte with this shit someday.”

He laughs, and then his gaze catches on Ganymede again, his mirror image in a way he still doesn’t understand. Lost member of the family? He hopes not... “What do you prefer to drink, Ben?”

[the_cupbearer]

Ganymede would hope not as well, because the last thing he wants is for anyone else's family to have the same problem with gods interfering in their lives. "You'll have to ask Queenie for it, she and I are the only ones who drink enough coffee to know what that is. James drinks it a little, but not as much." He points out each of the staff members, getting a short wave or headnod.

"Me? A sazerac, personally. I like it a little rich and smooth."

[midnightroads]

Bash memorizes the names, flashing Queenie a warm, mildly flirty smile. Like, she's on the clock, he's not going to turn on his full charm while someone's working. But it's still there at a low simmer.

"Sazarac, sounds fancy."

[the_cupbearer]

"It's not particularly. Rye, bitters, sugar and absinthe. One day you'll see me drinking one while I'm back here, I'm sure."

Not tonight, because tonight he's sticking with the coffee, but he does like them quite a lot. More than he likes most others, anyway.

[midnightroads]

“One day. Because I’ll be back regularly, hm?” There’s some soft tease in there. “How late are you open? I do a lot of work overnight.”

[the_cupbearer]

"Well I hope so," he chuckles. "We're open until 4 most nights, but only 2 on Sundays. We're closed Mondays, because everyone needs a day off."

His staff included.

[midnightroads]

"Totally agree everyone needs a day off. But 'til 4, that's going to be good for me. I'm almost always out past two."

Because you can't just go picking up ghosts during the day; it's against a rule or something.

[the_cupbearer]

"That's a tough work schedule," Ganymede comments. "Mind if I ask what you do?"

[midnightroads]

"I drive for Uber."

Which isn't a lie, he does drive. But. That's not the Thing He's Doing Here. He looks sort of sheepish about it.

[the_cupbearer]

"Ahhh, the modern cab driver. I know a few of those, and it's not a job I could do."

[midnightroads]

"It's not for most people. I did drive a cab proper where I'm originally from, New Orleans." Alright, it's more like Nawlins in his accent, but close enough. "It's tricky there sometimes. There's parts of towns cabs don't pick up fares, because ghosts on the backroads have a habit of not paying, you know?"

[the_cupbearer]

Both eyebrows went up a little at that. "Ghosts?" he aked, leaving it open for explanation.

[midnightroads]

"That's what some people believe."

Bash meets Ganymede's eyes quietly, as if weighing his reaction, trying to see if he believes in ghosts or not. And his lips quirk into a smirk, almost a challenge.

[the_cupbearer]

"I wouldn't think they'd need a cab to begin with," he said with a quiet teasing smile dancing around the corners of his mouth. "Is that what you believe?"

[midnightroads]

"Not need a cab? How else is a ghost who's stuck supposed to get where they're going?"

His head tilts slightly to one side.

"I mean, I suppose some folk say Death rides a pale horse, but that shit would stand out most places, nowadays."

[the_cupbearer]

"Must be troubled if they're stuck, isn't the ferryman supposed to come get them?" Ganymede asks lightly, picking up a glass to rinse it out.

"I guess it depends on which Death you mean."

[midnightroads]

Ganymede mentions the ferryman, and Bash lets out a little breath that's short of being a laugh, eyes lowering to his coffee.

"I don't mean none of them, I was just talking in theory, that's all."

[the_cupbearer]

"Ah, just the little ghost stories, then," Ganymede chuckles, as if nothing mattered in this conversation, nd it had only been a theoretical discussion. So far, it had been.

"I like someone who can admit there's more than one Death."

[midnightroads]

"Of course there are. Whether we're talking the Ghede or the shinigami or banshees. Thanatos or a valkyrie or Santa Muerte." He lifts his gaze, with the tiniest hint of smile, and not one that lingers.

(Of course, the fact that he names Thanatos instead of Hades is a sign he has actual knowledge of this topic. Most people are more familiar with the god of the underworld, from basic mythology taught in school.)

[the_cupbearer]

Ganymede's mouth twists in amusement. "What, forgetting some of them?"

[midnightroads]

"If I tried to name every psychopomp figure out there, we'd be here well past closing time, and you'd probably be bored before I was half-done." Right? Right. No one wants to hear all about reapers and ferrymen and the like.

[the_cupbearer]

Ganymede just laughs at that, shaking his head. "Maybe if you named every one, but I hardly know them all." It's a lie, that, but Bash couldn't know that much. "It's not like I've ever met any, though. Not dead and all."