Sad Songs and Beers

Mar 29th, 2014 11:24 PM

The beernuts were not to be trusted. Even after a wipedown, the bar table was still sticky. The floors could have done with a varnish a few years ago. It was a bit late for that now. The jukebox played the same tragic tracks out of a bygone era, the speakers providing a sort of background sound to drown out the silence.

A dive like this attracted a unique sort of clientele.
In some way or another, everyone within the bar was a broken human.

The military vest wearing fella beside the grimy window with the thousand yard stare...
The middle-aged lady loudly arguing with her ex down the phoneline...
Even the bartender looked like he knew the end of the shift was hardly a release...

Still, the beer was cheap, and Reef didn't really bother with the people. They just were there. Like him. So he sits, and he watches, and absorbs everything that goes on around him. And the beer jug's amber liquid slowly disappears as the hours go by.

Of all the things he'd forgotten, Reef remembered beer. He remembered the headaches, yes, but he remembered the laughter and the cheering and the feeling of comfort one got from being surrounded by friends. Tonight though, it was just the beer and him.

**Malcolm Green** · Mar 30th, 2014 02:30 AM

Malcolm Green was low. Not low as in depressed; not low as in feeling lethargic and lacking energy; this was the sweet ache that was left behind when the glamour was almost depleted. Green felt the great stones that made up his body acutely; he felt them grind against one another; he felt the spaces between the stones become voids. The feeling was not pleasant, and largely beyond the comprehension of human feelings. He felt... lacking.

Fortunately, he knew where to locate rich seams of glamour when such things were needed. And the dive fitted the bill nicely.

Planting a suitably surly look on his face (he was getting better at it) he marched into the bar. The seething pit of misery and regret made his mouth want to water. He reached the counter and ordered a jug of beer. He turned to find a suitable place to quietly loom; he did not expect to see another of his kind nursing their loneliness...

Apr 1st, 2014 09:58 PM

Reef tries to ignore it and enjoy his solitude, but the new presence further down the bar was so off-putting. Maybe it was the way his size seemed to dominate the area, or maybe it was the crisp, cold air that seemed to surround him, reminding Reef of the winter months, when the water cooled down and sustenance was hard to come by. Gradually, Reef turns to face the figure to his side.

He stares, and then stares some more. Had the sea taken this man as well? Maybe not, he was hewed of stone, unlike Reef's coral. What was he? He wipes his forehead, clearing the briny water collecting in some of the crevices.

Slowly, his hand raises in hello.

**Malcolm Green** · Apr 3rd, 2014 02:46 AM

For a long moment, Green stops and stares. He's not being deliberately rude - it takes him that long to make his face work, raising an eyebrow curiously. Casting a furtive glance around the bar and reaching out cautiously with his sixth sense, he moves closer.

Plonking his own beer jug on the table, the mountain pulls up a seat and positions it so that he is facing towards the door while still being able to chat in a friendly manner.

"Hey," he rumbled. "Need some company? You look a little Lost..." The words rolled off his tongue - it was getting easier.

As far as I'm aware this is a social thread and not linked to anything particularly plotski, so I haven't done a roll for Kenning. If an ST wants me to roll, let me know

Apr 3rd, 2014 09:53 PM

Am I lost? He looks down at himself, taking a moment to examine his hardened exterior. Normal humans didn't have this. And normal humans had jobs, and mortgages, and girfriends. I guess he was lost, wasn't he?

Reef slowly nods.

He leans over, until he is mere inches away from the man-mountain, before softly whispering.
"What are you?" His voice rumbles, the sound of waves crashing somehow emulating words as they left his mouth.

Indeed, it's just a social... Mind you, who knows what the STs shall do :P

**Malcolm Green** · Apr 4th, 2014 03:46 AM

"Same as you... er... cousin. Yeah. Cousin..." The mountain rumbled in as low a voice as he could muster. He drank from his jug and waited for the other Elemental to respond. Green was still trying to size Reef up; a process fraught with difficulty when one had the social instincts of... well... a rock.

Apr 4th, 2014 06:01 AM

Reef pauses. And considers.

Did the sea save him too? Maybe he fell off a cliff, or something. Maybe lots of them got saved from awful deaths and now they were like a big family, or something. He stares some more at the other Elemental, his face wrinkling up in confusion and his beer entirely forgotten.

"Are there more... cousins?"

Apr 4th, 2014 08:40 AM

"Too many and never enough."

The voice came from the next booth over. It's not entirely surprising that neither of the other two possibly hadn't noticed the fellow in question- he's easy to miss and what changes the Wyrd has wrought on him are nowhere near as notable as the two others. Besides which, he's simply... lessened. Less there. The traumatized soldier, the boisterous and sagging woman- even the downtrodden barkeep felt more present than this fellow. He seemed almost part of the furniture, more than another man with whom to speak. His eyes shift to his guitar case a moment, then away, leaning to face the two in the next booth. Braided rope stained dark with wetrot makes up his hair, and a faint, hot wisp of a breeze carries the scent of the sea and storms.

"Forgive the inter- ah- interruption, gentlemen." Did he stammer? It was hard to tell, hard to really lend this fellow much attention. He just couldn't hold it. "I've been wandering the dives- pardon the pun- figuring I'd run into a local sooner or later." Really, it'd just be more interesting to talk between themselves. His voice was almost lost in the noise of the bar, sparse as it was. "Could I trouble you for directions?"

**Malcolm Green** · Apr 6th, 2014 01:50 AM

"Eh? What?" Green's brow furrowed as he turned in his seat. Another one?

"Hey! Why not pull up a seat. Easier to have a chat, you know." Another chug from his jug. Wiping his lips with a sleeve, he adds for emphasis. "Uh. Yeah. I might know of a place where you can hold up."

Apr 6th, 2014 10:38 PM

Reef looks backwards at the mysterious gentleman with confusion, but remains silent as the other two kick up the dialogue. Apparently his circumstances were a bit more complicated than he'd previously imagined. Instead, he picks up his forgotten beer mug, slowly taking in a draught.

Sad Songs and Beers

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