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 ]

Comments

[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."

[midnightroads]

There's a pause. A loooong sip of coffee. And then a shrug.

"Would you know if you had met any?"

[the_cupbearer]

"It's unlikely," Ganymede chuckles, shaking his head as if thoroughly amused at the conversation. But there's something about him, some air of gentle calm at this whole line of questions, that seems to say he'd know, despite his words.

He maintains he's never met Charon--he's never been dead long enough, nor has it ever been permanent. But he does know of the man's existence, if you'd call him a man at all. Hades speaks highly of the psychopomp that brings him the dead. "But I like to err on the side of not offending anyone, anyway."

[midnightroads]

Bash purses his lips for a moment. There's a brief flicker in the lights, the shadows grow deeper and longer. Just for a moment, just to underline what he's about to say.

"Hi. My name is Bash St. Expedit, and I am of the Ghede, the lwa associated with death. When I'm not driving for Uber, I'm carrying ghosts of those who die on the road to where they're going."

And then the lights and shadows return to normal, and he sits back in his seat, watching Ganymede for his reaction.

[the_cupbearer]

Ganymede neither flinches nor stops his hands when the lights flicker, and he meets Bash's gaze equally, unbending and calm.

"Then your coffee is on the house," he says lightly, setting the glass he'd been wiping out aside. "All in fairness, my given name is Γανυμήδης, though it's a bit of a mouthful. I go by Ben now." And it has been a long, long time indeed since he's met a new one of the Iwa; he tries to stay under most divinities' radar given to do otherwise usually winds up in mildly unpleasant situations, but the loa have always been at the very least understanding of his taking his own damn life back. "Assuming you're not here to collect anyone in particular."

[midnightroads]

"Naw, I'm off the clock. Unless some shit goes down and I'm needed, but. Like you said, everyone needs time off." He shrugs, finishing his coffee. "So, you're on the Greek side of the extended family tree, huh?"

[the_cupbearer]

Ganymede chuckles a little at that, and shakes his head. "I'm actually not Greek, they were just the ones whose records survived," he says. "I was from Troy, long before the war. Third and youngest son of the king."