2012-08-22 I Love this Bar

On the one hand, Tanya's day was pretty good. 5bShe finished up work on an old Chevelle, and a job well done is always a good thing. She even managed, with a /ton/ of help from the Martian Manhunter and a woman whose name she didn't get, to defeat a giant techno-magic construct-thingy. On the other hand--that fight left the car with pock marks, broken glass, and more. She had to tell the customer all about it, and promise the man wouldn't be charged. She really should have parked further away, but--the thing /was/ huge, /and/ menacing, /and/ looking like it was going to go on a rampage.James finally had to tell her to knock off for the evening; he'd said it was because he couldn't afford to pay her to overtime, and while that was probably true, Tanya also thought it might have been to make her go home and stop stressing about the car so much. So she went home, changed clothes, and started cleaning her apartment. Nothing helps one feel better than scrubbing toilets and mopping floors. She'd just finished and looked at the clock. A bit past midnight. She /did/ feel better, truth to tell, and was thinking about going out for a beer. That's her only real vice; she doesn't drink anything worse, doesn't smoke or anything else.She was trying to think of which bar to go to--when a door suddenly appeared in a mystical haze. That's--new. One spirit--the one who doesn't like helping her teleport but does it anyway--wouldn't say anything but that it's not going to hurt her. Well, what the hell. After putting on her motorcycle boots, she opens the door and steps through.
Even if she was a physics minor. Even if she happened to live with - gods forbid - the Easy Bake Coven. Even if she now lives in LokiLand. This whole magical gate thing? Still boggles Rain a bit. Not to mention the crisis of confidence, almost getting a ring put on her by a C-list villain and what have you. She still feels a bit guilty about poor Spot. Actually, she has a book on making cupcakes with her. Guess she was serious. Rain looks lost in thought, as she sits at a table away from the bar. She turns a page and reaches for the cup in front of her. Hmmm. Sigh. At least it's pretty deserted this ev-- Blink. She looks up just in time to spot Tanya. "Huh." Someone new seems to come through that thing every time. She pauses. "..." Don't -stare-.
...a bar? "Okay, if you're going to create places based on what I want, how about a Chippendales?" Tanya says apparently to herself as she enters. She looks back as the door shuts behind her, murmuring, "And you really couldn't have told me about this--no, I'm pretty sure I'd remember--damn it, stop arguing." She huffs softly in distaste, and only then looks around the place. It's deserted, save for one young woman looking to be around her own age."Umm. Hi," she says, somewhat self-consciously as she realizes that the woman just overheard her. Oi. "I, umm--don't know exactly where I am..." She offers a small smile as she motions vaguely toward the door. "A door just appeared in my living room, so--yeah."
An owlish blink. Rain looks up from her book again. She kind of ... tilts her head. Peer. Purple eyes watch Tanya for a moment. "Um. Sorry." She looks a bit surprised. There's a distinct shyness, almost verging into awkward now. "... they don't keep strippers here. Too many wizards paid in coins," Handwave. That's like... the first dirty joke Rain's made in ever and she fought a guy named Shocker. Cough. "... that was bad." She turns red. Either way, Rain takes a moment before smiling politely and lifting a hand. "Hi. That's okay. Strictly speaking, it's hard to quantify. I don't think it's in um, our dimension. Assuming you're from a standard Earth and - uh. I guess you're not into quantum stuff," Headshake. "Long story short, think elsewhere. Mostly." Shrug."I'm told it was called the Oblivion bar. Not too sure," She admits. "Drinks are pretty good. And yeah... that happens. You just kinda find it. Magic's funny that way," She offers. Then, to balance out the moment of comprehensible speech, she falls quiet. "Are you alright? Were you arguing with someone?"
The joke actually makes Tanya grin, and even visibly relax. She really had no idea what to expect when stepping through the door. "Yeah, magic's kind'a funny that way," she agrees as she steps over to Rain's table. "And--yeah, I was, kind of," she adds, face reddening a bit. "It's--kind of--well..." She really isn't sure how to explain it, though the other woman /does/ seem to know about magic. Maybe she'd actually understand what the hell Tanya was on about. "Umm, well, it's kind--I sort of live with spirits? Like--all the time?" she says, eyes narrowing a little as she tries to think of how to explain it. It's like--they sort of live--up here, ish." She taps the side of her head with her index finger. That's close /enough/ of an explanation, really. Does that make sense?"
Rain smiles faintly. She listens, looking up to Tanya. Rain's tall, but she is sitting. She does at least, close her book to listen. "I see. That makes sense. The old German lady down the street always talked to spirits when she wasn't trying to set us on fire," This ... is perfectly normal. Somehow. "She was pretty nice, aside from the fire thing," Nod. "I take it this is your first visit?" She peers over. "You can order a drink if you want. I can get it this time," It's a polite offer. At least, she's pretty sure how that works. "Um. I don't think I've met you though...?"
"Oh, right, umm--Li. Tanya Li," she says, holding out her hand. "And yeah, this is the first time I've been here, but so far I'm liking it. No crowds of anti-mutant jerks, no one trying to 'prove' anything. Even if it's like this only in the middle of the night, I think I'll be around more often. And I'd love a beer, please and thank you." She grins and lifts her brows, there, then taps on the back of a chair. "Mind if I sit down, then?" It never hurts to be polite, especially to someone who's been so nice to her.
Oh. A handshake. Rain blinks and carefully accepts the hand with her own. "I usually go by Rain," ... the subject of name seems a bit awkward for her. And she DOESN'T give a last name. Weird, that. "Pleased to meet you," She replies. She smiles faintly at the talk of crowds. "Well. People have to be on good behavior here. And I'm always baffled by anti-mutant groups. But that's an unhappy subject." She shakes her head. "Sometimes even deities can come here. I've met some interesting faces. And nah, it's fine." Rain will stand and move to the bar to place the order. One beer, please. Yup. She brings it back over and sets it in front of Tanya. "..." She looks thoughtful a moment, hming softly. She sits down and is trying to think. "Well. Welcome aboard." Yes.
While the other woman goes to the bar, Tanya slips into her seat, leaning back and relaxing. So far, so good. Decent atmosphere, looks like they've got quite an assortment of drinks to order, and so far it's quiet. She's quite sure it's not so quiet in the middle of the day, but if people really do have to be on their best behavior here, yeah, she thinks she'll like it alright.When Rain returns, Tanya sits up in her chair a little and reaches for her mug, lifting it in something of a salute. "Thanks much," she says, then takes a considerable sip. She doesn't chug, but she doesn't sip daintily, either. "And thanks for the welcome," she says as she sets the beer back on the table. "So--this is some kind of magical--place, then?" She looks around again, one brow arched in thoughtfulness. She knew one could create entire buildings on another plane, but actually being /in/ one--something she never thought would happen, that.
Rain smiles faintly. "No problem. It's... kinda bewildering at first," She admits. "And yeah. I don't really grasp all of it. But I'm sort of a B-lister at best. Long story," She shakes her head. "It's a bit late for most folks to wander in," She shrugs. "I just figured I'd read a bit..." She considers it. Rain's talked a lot. She has to balance it with some quiet, furrowing her eyebrows. Ahem. "... that's about it really. I'm still catching up a lot." She's at a slight loss, though she seems to like the place. She just progresses slowly at socializing. Derp.
"I don't mind long stories," Tanya says with a grin. "But my own isn't that long, at least for why I'm here so late. I tend to work different shifts, and tonight's ended a few hours ago. Spent some time cleaning my place, and the door appeared." A shrug of one shoulder, then she lifts her mug to her lips again. "If you want any other stories, those'd be longer, but what the hell, right?" she says, takes another big sip of her beer. There's also an invitation, there, for Rain to open up if she wants, or ask questions if she wants. Tanya's trying to be polite about it, let the other woman chat as much as she wants to, or feels comfortable with.
Rain is a good audience. She smiles faintly at the grin. "Yeah. I do ... odd jobs," She remarks quietly. "It happens sometimes," She shrugs. "At least it was this place and not something else. If you've stories, that's cool," She offers. "Just ... ever since I apparently started doing the magic thing, I find trouble way more often." She considers. "So you speak to spirits, correct...?" And unlike the slightly grumpy old woman on her block, apparently has zero interest in setting Rain on fire.
That makes Tanya grin again, as she sets the mug back on the table. She wraps both hands around it, tracing the lip with a thumb-tip. "That's the way it goes, right? And--yeah, I speak to spirits, though it's really them speaking to /me/ that's the problem." A bit of drier humor, there, and her attention flicks to the side for a moment. "No, I'm pretty sure she doesn't care," she mutters, then looks back to Rain. "Sorry, it's--they tend to not shut up. Sometimes I can ignore them, and sometimes--they get tired of being ignored." A bit of sheepishness, there, but she clears her throat. "Anyway, right, sorry--I'm sure you don't care about that kind of nonsense." She lifts the mug again for another sip. Whatever this beer is, it's pretty good. She doesn't really consider herself a connoisseur of spirits (this sort, anyway), but she does notice the difference.
Rain sips her drink. It's clearly something sweet. "I see. That must be pretty tough," She agrees. She clearly suffers nothing of the sort. "Only time I hear someone is when I get called for," She shrugs. By whom? She's weirdly silent on that. She blinks. "Care about what?" Headtilts. "I can't tell you if you don't ask. Sadly, psychic - that I got shorted on, too," She shakes her head. "Worst case scenario, I politely say no. I suspect if I had a lot of business... this would be a bad place to sit and read cupcake books," She notes. "So ... it's no big deal if it helps or you'd like to talk..." Yeah. She nods at that. She's slowly progressing, but it seems that awkward is just a part of her.
"Well," Tanya starts, pausing to look into the mug. She swirls the liquid within a little, then looks over the rim to Rain. "Do you ever get the feeling that the universe just kind of waits for you to be able to deal with things, then throws things at you? Like--few years ago, I wouldn't have been able to deal with some of this sh--this crap, right. Then today--well, yesterday, technically--there's this huge techno-magic golem-thingy, right." She arches a brow in thought and looks down to her mug again. "So someone--one of the spirits, actually--was wondering if it just seemed--convenient, I guess, to you sometimes."
Rain glances back as Tanya peers over the rim. "And huh, a techno-magic golem..." Her eyebrows lift. "Sometimes, it feels that way. Certainly more things in the world trying to kill me these days," She considers. "I wonder if gifts come with fate," She taps her chin with a finger. "But... honestly, fate is a whole bucket of probability and that takes ages." Sigh. "No, I think it's a decent theory. It could also be you become more aware..." Hmm. She peers at her own glass and looks over. "I don't know that a college student without power would've been much use against taser ants or random villains that shoot fire and stuff... so perhaps." Smile. "You work multiple jobs and fight things...? That sounds tough. I mostly do odd jobs these days."
"Actually I work one job, but the hours change a lot," replies Tanya with a shrug of her left shoulder. "And tonight--last night, I guess--was the first /real/ fight I had--and if I'm honest, if it wasn't for the Martian Manhunter and this--woman whose name I didn't get, I'd probably be so much paste right now." Another grin, and she reaches up to rub the corner of her mouth. "Thinking about jobs, though--what do you do? If I can ask, I mean. I noticed you didn't give any details, but I'm curious. If you don't want to talk about, though, it's cool." That's said just before another sip of her beer; she is genuinely curious, though doesn't want to seem too pushy, either. Hopefully her sincerity in not minding if Rain didn't want to talk about it was clear.
"I see," Rain replies. Then a blink. "Wow, neat. I actually met an alien who wanted his autograph today..." She looks a bit boggled, and somewhat amused. Fate is funny. "I'm sure you did fine. It's hard to really think straight in a fight sometimes," She remarks quietly. "Mostly odd jobs like deliveries and healing. Sometimes people would leave food out. Granted... it's not as big of a deal, but it's hard to leave people after that." Shrug. She apparently feels obligated to tend to her regulars. "And then things get dropped in my way, like giant taser ants, disgruntled bank robbers..." A bemused look. "I study." That's a vague enough hint. Ish. "It's not too exciting. Though... I've met a lot of people I wouldn't have. Like, here." Nod.
Arching a brow in surprise, Tanya clucks her tongue and shakes her head. "Wow. I've only had to deal with a golem-thingy once. Sounds like when you deal with this sort of thing, it's just another Tuesday." She looks down to her mug again, somewhere between amused and bemused at that notion. Facing something like that so often it becomes--almost boring. Almost just another day. She's not sure she'd get to that point, really. "I have to say, I know it doesn't sound all that interesting to /you/, but it sounds like a pretty exciting life, really, from making deliveries to different people to stopping, ah, taser ants to everything else. Is that why you're here in the middle of the night, to get away from all that excitement?"
Rain shakes her head. "Only a few times, really," She notes. "There's people who do it professionally," She points out. "I just ... kinda happened to be there," She admits. "And it is interesting. I like it, even if I feel a bit dazed sometimes." Rain is slowly finding her stride, perhaps. After all, tough to accept the Easy Bake Coven didn't want her around. "I just don't think I did much." Smile. "Besides be a bad source of flying broom stick jokes," A shrug. "I don't know why. I just figured I should drop in sometimes. It's - sometimes people just come by..." She remarks. Fortunately, Rain's not to the point where stuff attacking is usual. She's just modest, mostly. Also, living where she does. "I think I may be sleepy," She admits.
"Well, it sounds interesting and exciting nonetheless," says Tanya, lifting her mug in something of a salute again. "And if you're tired, you should probably go home, I'd think. But, hey, if you or someone you know has a classic car they'd like restored, or if you just need some general work on something besides a broomstick--let me see if I've got a card." Sticking her tongue out of the corner of her mouth a little, she starts fishing through her pockets. She usually shoves cards into everything she wears, just for situations like--ah-ha, there's one. It's slipped out and slid across the table. "Mack and Co. Automotive Repair", along with the phone number, address, all that. Then "Tanya Li", and below that, "Restoration Specialist".
"It is. I'm still learning a lot," Rain states. She smiles at the mug salute. She is quiet as she listens, nodding. "Got cha. I'll keep an eye out. And um, well. The broomstick's handy even if it's..." A bit dorky. "It is hard to explain sometimes," She admits. She carefully takes the card and peers over it. "Thank you." She tucks it into her pocket. Rain picks up her book. "Be well and stay safe. Um, all of you." Yup, she didn't forget. Why not, really? And she'll drift along out.
...that was odd, but not in a bad way. Tanya just gets so few people who understands her spiritual predicament, much less someone to take it into consideration. "Thank /you/, for the company and the beer," she says, offering her hand in a wave. "Have a good night." She'll watch the other woman leave, then look around the bar. So far, this is her kind of place.
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