View source for Logs:Three Dragonriders Walk Into A Bar

{{Log
|involves=High Reaches Weyr
|type=Log
| who = Aishani, Jo, Vienne
| where = The Lucky Seven, Ista Weyr
| what = Shani and Jo go for drinks, with Vienne as 'chaperone'. Family is discussed, Aishani is a buzzkill. AGAIN.
| when = Day 25, Month 10, Turn 31
|day=25
|month=10
|turn=31
|IP=Interval
|IP2=10
| gamedate = 2013.05.18
| quote = We should do this again.
| weather = 
| categories = Re-Return of the Vijays
| mentions = 
| ooc = I know it said we were at The Sandbar on +where, shut up. Also, it could also be: So, a schoolteacher, a model and a biker walk into a bar...
| icons = aishani ohai.png, jo smile.jpg, vienne lights.jpg
| log = Ista is a wet place at this time of year, with the sticky humid autumn season stretching on. It's not raining presently, but a recent storm sees the Lucky Seven busy and the floor is a bit slick from all the wet shoes. There are drinkers and gamblers and working girls, but the mood is casual tonight and the liquor is flowing. Vienne has staked out a corner table by a window open on the drippy night. Her usual sweater and heeled boots have been traded for a light, sleeveless blouse, flowy little skirt and a pair of wedge sandals, crossed neatly at the ankles as she sips a fruity looking drink with a sprig of mint in it. At the moment, she smiling politely to the attentive barmaid and explaining how her friends will be along shortly as she glances toward the door.

Warm and wet is better than cold and wet? That's the theory that's being worked with anyway - presumably - as Aishani picks her way into the bar, careful steps on the slippery floor in flat sandals and a slip of a short white dress that can't have been the only thing she came from High Reaches in. The tall dark woman seems to have been here on more than one occasion; she knows her way in and around the tables, and a few card-players might give her the side-eye. With a look behind her, to her companion, before a wave to Vienne, "Our chaperone precedes us." The bluerider doesn't look much like one, but it's still fun to say.

Warm and wet means Jo dresses accordingly, so there's no black leathers encasing this wiry body! It's her usual beige tank top and olive green cargo pants, looking like one of the guards rather than a dragonrider. A female one, at that. This bar was new territory for the bluerider, but she was striding in anyway with the air of someone that owns the place. Barmaids get her smooth greetings, the working girls definitely get her eye, and the gamblers get her interest as she trails behind Aishani towards the table where Vienne is. At the remark given, "A rather delectable one, at that," is her usual and expected response as she checks the other bluerider out. It has been awhile, after all. Then, continuing to check the place out, "Nice place," is her next comment.

Vienne's expression brightens into a wide smile as her eyes catch on the white dress -- a wry smile. "Ah, here they are now," she tells the server, as if there was ever any doubt. Maybe the bluerider has been here long enough to make them wonder if she'd been stood up or something. Now she lifts a hand, half-wave, half-I'm-over-here. It's the cargo pants that Jo's wearing that makes Vienne's eyebrows lift in surprise, her legs winding tighter beneath her chair as she shifts in her seat. "You haven't been here before?" she asks as she pushes a seat out for either of them to take. The server, lingering as the newcomers approach, asks if they need a moment or if she can fetch some drinks for the rest of this ill-matched trio: the glamorous, the prim and the casual.

The goldrider's quick enough to order a drink, quick enough that it's obvious she's been here before. Even so, Aishani tells Vienne, with a grin, "Apparently she ''hasn't''. I'm not sure how that happened." She takes her seat, crossing long legs, leaning back to let one of her sandals dangle idly off her toe; it draws some little attention after a time, but if Shani notices, she certainly doesn't pay attention. Turning to Jo, "I thought it might be your kind of bar. Were you waiting long, Vienne? I'm sorry, I just have to mind my hair so it doesn't..." She makes a little exploding motion with her fingers near her curls. Boom.

Sitting down once the Weyrwoman does, Jo's looking from Vienne to Aishani and back at their comments, then looks down at her own attire. "What?" she looks to the bluerider first. "I was suppose to wear a dress? It's one of ''those'' kinda places? Classy and shit?" Now she's looking around them at everybody else and what ''they're'' wearing. Yep, she's probably sticking out like a sore thumb, and ''now'' she's noticing. To Vienne's question belatedly as she turns back to them, "Nah, don' see no reason comin' out this way for pleasure," is her answer. As if, why else? "I mean, I've been by the docks and all that, but that certainly didn' have ''those'' there," and she's jerking her head towards the working girls before eyeing Aishani and adding, "I gotta let ya take me out more often. Whiskey, straight up, darlin'." That last is to the server waiting for them.

"Oh, not really. I tried to miss the rain." Though Vienne's hair and shirt look a touch damp anyway. "It smells so good, though." She leans a little toward the window as she draws in a long breath of that dank tropical scent. But it's Aishani's miming of her threatening hair-explosion that makes the small bluerider laugh. "I can get you something for that. I'm not sure how much you'd need it at home, though." Even in summer, High Reaches never quite gets so sticky. And for Jo, she promises, "It's not one of those places. Look." She points toward the back of the room, closer to the stairs that lead to private spaces, where a handful of unwashed trader-types are cozying up with a few brightly dressed girls. "I think you probably fit in better than I do." And with that, Vienne gives her shoulders a shy hunch. The server, however, is not so shy when she gives Jo a considering glance before she steps away to get the drinks.

As Jo's looking between her and the working girls, Aishani has to arch fine brows, asking, "Are you trying to ''imply'' something? Do you know who I ''am''?" She says that with all due haughtiness that the statement requires, but she can't be bothered to draw herself up to her full height to do so, too comfortable in her slouch in the chair. "And..." She'd explain that no, it's just her thing to overdress, but Vienne is promising there's dirtier people than the ex-con in the place, so she just leaves it at that. Though, "Even if I don't need it at home, there's Monaco, here... the South in general, yes? I'd rather be ''prepared'' than not." Her sandal swings idly.

"I'm implyin' that I just happen to be with the hottest ladies in this establishment," Jo is quick to with her silver tongue, flashing Aishani and that all-due-haughtiness her overly confident grin. "No better table I wanna sit at but here. We need to do this more often, by the way." She's even leaning back more comfortably in her seat, once again appearing as if the place is hers. Returning Vienne's shy hunch lightly, "And here ya'll are, tryin' to make me feel as if I've underdressed! But really, I could do with addin' a place like this to my travels. I spend way too much time in the Reaches." She tosses a wink the server's way as she leaves, then to the ladies, "First round's on me."

"Well, Aishani's made me feel underdressed," Vienne assures Jo, a flick of a teasing smile sent to the goldrider, whose dress might be the most eye-catching in the room, no matter how brightly Ista's 'flowers' might be done up tonight. Unwittingly, she draws her fingers through her hair, curling the damp ends. "I'll get it for your next time I'm here. It will probably be a little late to go visiting afterwards." That's for the something to prevent hair exploding in humidity. "Is this very different, Jo? From your usual places?"

With a faint smile for the compliments, Aishani notes, "It's either brave or foolish to wear white." But she does it anyway, though it's not hard to guess which one she thinks she is. With a curious look Jo's way, "All of your bar time is on business? Well, it's a good thing that you found one far enough away from home that it can be considered not-work. They're not so bad when you take their money." She aims a glance over at one cartable, with a few players eyeing her - some in a good way, some less so. A little wave. To Vienne, likewise interested, "Do you know many people around here?"

"Not all the time," Jo answers on bar time and business. "Sometimes the person I need to see is at a bar, so I can kill two birds, ya know? Other times I have to go out of my way." She follows Aishani's gaze towards the card tables with open curiosity before she adds, "Ya seem to be known here. ''There,''" she emphasizes with a look. "Yer a gamblin' lady, Shani?" She turns to Vienne then, the question on places earning a light shrug and a breezy, "Well...this place's a little more classy-lookin' at least. I've yet to see any ass-pinchin' around here. But, not too different. If this place has good drinks, I'll bring Kait and M'ron by here next time, though I suspect M'ron already has hit this place up once or twice. He can' resist a workin' girl, no matter where." Aishani's question to Vienne now gets her interest in the answer as well.

The prim bluerider might follow the glances about, to the card table with its players all enjoying the sight of Aishani, to the working girls as they're mentioned, but it's the conversation at this table she attends. "I hear it can get rowdy late at night." But she's waiting, a bit, to see if the goldrider is going to explain her familiarity. And in the meantime, both of her companions end up looking at her with interest, so she might as well answer. "Not as many as I used to," Vienne admits with a quiet laugh, an idle swirl of her mint spring in the brightly colored slush of her drink. "I was born here, though. Well, not ''here''," tacked on with a brighter chuckle as her eyes sweep around the room again. "My family is here." She lifts her chin then, as the server returns to hand over the drinks.

"Not all the time," Aishani echoes. "But every once in awhile. And Iesaryth likes the beach. She always does." It's true even now, the gold settled contentedly on the sand down by the water, watching the waves roll in eternally. With a little shrug that belies how well she might be known, she explains to the pair of blueriders, "It's far enough away and a different enough crowd that not too many people pay attention." To who she is, perhaps - less than what she looks like, if this is the sort of thing she wears. As she spies their drinks coming with a relieved sigh, "I'd ''hope'' not here." Flashing Vienne a grin, "At the Weyr? Or here too?" She eyes the working girls, then the prim bluerider seriously, as if looking for a resemblance.

Grinning a bit, "Rowdy sounds like my kinda style," Jo admits, with a nod. Then to the goldrider, "We're playin' a game sometime," she states with certainty. "I'll even promise not to play dirty." That's something! The answers being bandied about, she's listening intently, and she's showing the same expression Aishani wears when the drinks arrive. Once Vienne answers, "That's right, ya mentioned that to me! Ya still come here pretty often, then? Yer folks still see ya?" Perhaps it sounds like a foreign notion from her, since she hasn't seen her own folks in ''ages''.

"At the Weyr," Vienne specifies with another laugh, and then a nod to Jo. "Yeah, I just came from them. Otherwise..." She lets out a bit of a sigh, though her smile is still in place. Of course, then she looks between Aishani and Jo and a touch of something bashful slips into her expression. Maybe it's bad form to complain about her parents in this particular company. "My mother makes the cream," she explains, hand lifting again to her hair to specify. "She's an herbalist." Her mouth twists a little for the description but after a glance at the goldrider, Vienne just takes a hurried drink before adding, "She makes all kinds of things like that. Perfumes, and soaps and..." Her small shoulders give a shrug.

With a purse of her lips, Aishani notes to Jo, "I don't play with people I know. I have rules." A pause. "I usually leave when it starts to get too... busy. I don't like dodging." Punches, ass-pinching, whatever. She takes a slow sip from her drink, seeming the better for it - the air might be wet, but it doesn't do much for thirst - and leans back in her chair again. She offers Vienne a little smile, encouraging, and asks, "Otherwise, they bother you about not visiting first? I've heard that's common. I..." There's a flicker of a look to the other bluerider before, "I actually went home. And that sounds lovely, really. The cream, and the hobby. Better than what I do with my time." Plot, spend money, drink in bars.

"I see," Jo says when Vienne answers on her parents, regarding her with her dark gaze for a moment - even when the other bluerider turns a shade bashful. "What does yer father do?" She asks then before she takes a full taste of her drink. There's a quiet chuckle for the Weyrwoman's answer on gambling, briefly raising her glass to her as she says, "Rules. Now ya got me all curious about them..." Then there's the talk of family visiting, the ex-con perhaps noticeably silent on that particular subject, but she does meets Aishani's gaze when she mentions her going home. At the last, "Sounds less ''stressful'' than what I do with my time," right behind Aishani's.

The idea of anyone giving Aishani reason to dodge has Vienne's eyes brightening with laughter. "No, I can't see you putting up with that," she admits as her grin pulls wide." But it's the remark of a hobby that sharpens her blue eyes, quiets the smile she gives to the goldrider, shy again. "I've certainly never wanted for lotions and tonics," she chuckles quietly, looking between the two women who relax in a way that involves less flowery pursuits. As for her father, "He's a bronzerider," she explains for Jo. And while the other bluerider might not have much to say on the topic of visiting the old haunts, Vienne's attention is caught by Aishani's experience. "How was it? Going home. Was it the first time since... Iesaryth?"

Waving her hand, Aishani tells Jo, "Oh, just like - I don't play at home, or near home, I don't play with... friends or people I know..." The goldrider has either admitted to having friends, or ''being'' friends with both blueriders - either is a step. "I don't spend more than I can afford to lose. There's a few more, but they're all equally exciting. Financial responsibility is in my blood." There's something wry about that, something that quirks her lips into something of a smirk. "And you say that like it's not a big ''deal'', Vienne. Do you know how my skin looks in the dead of winter? It's not pleasant, I'll tell you that. Give them to me." She will use them. The topic of home, such as it is, sobers her a touch, but she allows, "Tense, but I brought them business and supplies, which I think helped. As did Iesaryth being a bit... away. And it was, yes. We'll... see how it goes." Another of her shrugs, an attempt at diffidence.

There's laughter in the way Aishani gives her rules, something Jo can't argue. "Were these developed before ya Impressed or after?" she muses, in light of it. "I'm the same way with affordin', at least," she admits. "I like knowin' I always have enough to get mine or someone else's current heart's desire. To gamble it all away would be a crime." That amusement lingers through the talk of creams and perfumes, the bluerider lacking both on her bare scarred arms. She nods to Vienne then when it's revealed that her father is a bronzerider then, saying with a bit of a smile, "Some out there would say ya were destined to Impress, then. Reckon they were proud that ya did." Already she's close to being done with her first drink, her gaze lingering about them for the server.

"I'll make sure you have a steady supply," Vienne promises Aishani with a cheeky bit of a grin. It stays in place as Jo remarks about her parentage and her expectations on the sands. "Something like that," she answers with a breath of a laugh. She's quiet as the barmaid comes back to offer refills, though Vienne still has her increasingly watery concoction. It's only after they're alone again that she wonders, "You were trying to prove you're still you? still one of them?" The business and supplies and all. "Do you think they're curious about Iesaryth or would she just make them uncomfortable?"

"I'd just... I couldn't be..." Aishani takes a drink while she considers, fine brows drawn together. "I won't be without again." It's said simply enough, but there's a determination to it still; it can't happen. It won't. There's something of a dark laugh when Jo says Vienne might have been 'destined' to impress - lifting her glass the other bluerider's way, "I'm more or less the counter to that theory, though." She orders a refill, finishes her second before telling the former Istan (apparently!), "Some of them still remember Iovniath that night, and not well. Not many lose it, but there's a few that can... and Iesaryth is ''big''. It's fine for now. And... I owe them something." Look at her now, not exactly hurting.

Jo snickers at Vienne's answer to her, and the lift of the glass from Aishani earns something further. Dark laughter indeed, "Yeah, well. Yer and me, both," she states wryly in agreement. She drains her glass and raises it for a refill to the waiting server, and once she's gone, she addresses the first bit. "Won' be without," she echoes that soberly, briefly looking into her glass. "Yeah. Know that feelin', darlin'." She lingers on it as she listens evenly on Aishani's trip, her gaze narrowing briefly upon the name of Tiriana's queen as Vienne questions further - questions either she is interested in the answer for, or, has asked sometime before. Either way, she looks between them both, her silence and observance a companionable one.

Oh, look. Aishani's a buzzkill again. That does tend to happen now and again, with the way she is, but at least she tries to kind of move on, flashing Vienne another quick, bright grin. "Well. Do you know a lot of traders? It's perhaps more common in that sense. Or maybe it's just my family, the way things are with us." Eyeing her fresh drink, then the window as if she's trying to gauge the time, she notes, "Too many people, yes. Too many people that other people didn't want on dragons. Unless dragons just like drama. Has anyone ever considered that, really?" A pause, before glancing between them with something akin to guilt, "How terrible is it that I don't want to be gone for long?" Despite all her efforts at looking relaxed.

"Dragons and drama. Sounds about right," Jo remarks to them both as she downs the second drink faster than the first. "Maybe yer right there. Well, I don' try to have expectations, either. Sometimes I think we need all kinds on a dragon. Not just ''one'' kind." She eyes Vienne's drink, then when Aishani mentions the time, there's an understanding grin for her and a look to the window as well. "Don' wanna stay away too long, considerin'," she says with a nod. "Suppose we should be gettin' back."

"I think they must," like drama. "Secretly, unwittingly. And then they think we're the complicated ones," Vienne adds with a smirk. It's a smile that breaks into a laugh when Aishani makes her admission. "I must have been too much of a chaperone," she says, shaking her head for the lack of trouble they've gotten into on this particular evening. But she does grin knowingly over at the other bluerider. "I bet the night is still young for Jo, though." Even so, Vienne is getting up from her seat, in some tacit agreement that heading home might not be a bad idea. "We should do this again," she proposes before the night comes to a close.





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