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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Oct 31, 2012 13:09:16 GMT -5
Boom. Boom. Boom. The bass vibrated through the dozen of swaying bodies. They were all deaf to the chorus if drunken renditions if the song being belted out. Sweat and booze was heavy in the air as a sea of young eighteen to twenty-something year olds lost their inhibitions the more they pumped their hands in the air and alcohol into their bloodstream. The DJ stood on his platform, king of the crowd, giving into the demands of all the lowly people requesting their favorite songs. The flashing lights and strobes gave everyone only mere glimpses of of their immediate company. No introductions were made, but the unspoken bond if the nightclub life made them all companions for those few hours. Until someone decided to step over the line. It was a typical weekend night for Club Corrosion,
Rachael felt like she was dead center of all the chaos, already a good three drinks in. Three drinks was enough for her to shed her usual icy composure and relax. It was the second time this week she had gone out without anyone to keep her company at the club. Lately she found it harder to tolerate her usual group of friends. They were all focused in their plans for after school and were proving to be of little fun. Why did she even need them anymore? They were just people Rachael found to be the least annoying to be around. Once they all went their separate ways Rachael would most likely cut ties with them. She was terrible at keeping correspondence so she might as well get it over with. These thoughts were too serious for her current environment.
The fire graduate came here to drink and dance where no one would judge her for it. Corrosion was always great for just that reason. Sprinkled in with the usual college crowd were some of Maple Hollow's lowlifes; dead beats, drug dealers, and shiftless low lives. Dangerous, maybe, but the thought secretly excited Rachael. Had she not been scouted by the Academy Rachael would have been just like them. Orphanages don't have the best track record when it comes to success stories. Someone near Rachael took it upon himself to invade her personal space. His second skin of sweat was an immediate turn off.
Taking this as a perfect cue to excuse herself from the dance floor, Rachael shimmed her way out of his grip. He moved onto the next girl without so much as a second thought. Rachael, with some struggle, broke through the dancing mob and relocated towards the mass crowding the bar. With the way things were run here it would seem like forever until she had a drink in her hands. It was nothing like how they ran things over at Blackjack. 'Screw them,' she thought. Working there was on her top ten list for most annoying aspects of her life. The only thing good about that Rachael liked was the lucrative tips he could get there. She's go as far as assuming most people here were too tight for cash to even consider tipping.
When she finally got to the bar, she leaned on the counter and yelled over the music. "Dry vodka martini, citron" If there was one thing Rachael could do it was order a strong drink. Tonight she felt like being a 'purest', so straight vodka, chilled of course, would be good enough for her. With her trained, yet somewhat fuzzy, eye sight she watched as the bartender mixed her drink. Rachael cringed when he reached over for the cheap alcohol.
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Post by CATERINA MELODY RAVENHILL on Oct 31, 2012 20:10:56 GMT -5
Corrosion was an all-too-familiar scene for the young teacher as she shouldered her way through the sweaty crowd and sat at the bar counter, ordering a beer and casting a cold blue gaze around the room. In college she had been one of the low-lifes slinking into the crowd after having ditched class to smoke in the courtyard, her buddies often forgetting in a drunken haze how little she appreciated them invading her personal space. Now, a teacher, she didn't feel like she was any higher above them than she'd been before. They were all here for the same reason, she assumed—to get completely and totally shit-faced and forget their variety of problems and worries. She was not what could be considered depressed, she didn't need drinking as her only escape, but she certainly appreciated the aid of alcohol when it came to spicing up a night that would otherwise be spent at home, bored and alone. She was a social creature. She hated being alone.
In contrast to the dim but atmospheric lights in Blackjack, Corrosion's coloured lights were bright and glaring as they washed over everything, especially the dancers as they pressed up against friend and stranger alike. The stage was dark tonight—apparently they had been unable to find a comedian, band, or other act to give some extra life to their establishment. Not that it needed it. Corrosion was always bound to attract a certain crowd, if only because the beer was cheap and that you had a much easier time getting in the door without being called out on a fake ID. She remembered her high school days of trying to sneak in fondly but was glad that she now had a completely legitimate driver's license to flash in their direction upon request.
It was the yell to her right that attracted her attention, red hair falling over her shoulder as she turned her head to face the woman who'd taken up the previously vacant spot at the bar. She assessed the other female with a critical, sweeping gaze and then lifted her chin in a silent greeting that she thought would be more effective than shouting until her throat was raw. "Vodka, eh? I like your taste." Rin had always been a very outgoing person who had no issues chatting up strangers in bars, no matter what kind of look they had about them. She didn't have an immediate opinion of Rachel as she might have had the other woman sat down sporting a mohawk and massive gauges but that did not make the prospect of conversation any less entertaining to the redhead. She liked to talk. "Name's Rin," she introduced. "Yours?" It was possible she'd found one of the anti-social bar patrons but it wasn't for lack of effort on her part. The Fire elemental was hot, no pun intended, and she'd caught Rin's attention. Couldn't hurt to try.
[Sorry it's a bit shorter xD]
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Oct 31, 2012 22:06:37 GMT -5
Who goes there? Rachael turned her attention to where the disembodied voice came from to see a fiery redhead to her left. Hmm, interesting. A few drinks ago Rachael probably would have tried to ignore her, no matter how hot she was looking she was. Okay, maybe she was lying to herself, hot was hot. Time to engage. ”Nothing gets the job done like a good martini,” Red heads. Can never get enough of them, especially since there weren’t that many out there. And good-looking ginger was hard to find. Got to love a ging, the underdog in the hereditary gene pool. God, how many drinks have already? It could bring on a haze, like being in a warm bubble. Or it could enhance and induce emotions, make a person feel confident and carefree. She definitely felt like the latter. Rachael looked past Rin for a moment and saw a rather intimidating Mohawk doing a number on they’re own drink. It made perfect sense that Rin would rather talk to Rachael. Her eyes fell on Rin’s drink and a bright red smirk formed. ”There’s something to be said about a woman who can stomach beer.”
The music pounded loudly inside the club, dark heavy dance beats that caused the floor to vibrate beneath her feet as she watched the bartender slide her drink over. She placed her cover for drink on the counter and waved the man away when he went to give her change. Bartender’s karma would hopefully make it’s way back to her within the week. ”Rachael,” she offered. Rachael took a moment to sip her drink, inspecting how bad it could have been. Surprisingly Rachael approved. ”Are you here with your friend,” she teased. Rachael nodded toward the tough Mohawked girl before placing her drink to her lips again. At this point the quality of vodka went unnoticed by the fire graduate. She made a mental note to follow up with a beer like Rin. Heaven forbid she had to end the night early.
The atmosphere was charged like an electrical storm. She could almost taste it as well as feel it. Excitement, anticipation, mirth, worry and desire hung heavy in the air. But the cacophony of tumultuous emotions was starting to overwhelm her. She could feel their anticipation, nerves, lust, fun and a whole host of others. It was quite astounding that so many of them were probably pretending to be having fun while internally they were choking on discomfort and self-doubt. Yet they still gave into the peer pressure and plastered a fake smile on their faces. Rachael forced back her desire to go back out and dance. When she was drunk Rachael’s energy knew no bounds. She would have easily danced all night. Rin was proving to be an enjoyable distraction.
Sitting alone at a bar in a club isn't as bad as people make it out to be. Rachael liked to people watch when she could. It's funny watching girls walk by thinking they look hot, when really they just look like they are about to throw up. She brought her attention back to Rin and gave her a more through inspection. Once she got over the fact that Rin was not only a redhead, she noticed she had some pretty intense blue eyes. Or at least that was what she guessing they were under the lights. It was a little hard to tell. Like most people, she was taller than Rachael, but she was use to it by now. In fact it wasn’t so bad for her when she was chatting up certain men. Some always get a kick out of being taller than the girl, no matter how archaic it was. ”Or did you come here by yourself as well?” she asked.
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Post by CATERINA MELODY RAVENHILL on Nov 1, 2012 0:22:49 GMT -5
Rin nodded, offering no argument to the remark. She could drink anything if she was in the right mood—beer, vodka, rum, anything, but martinis were not something that she was a stranger to. Really, she figured she'd be hard-pressed to find something she hadn't tried. Caterina liked to experiment when it came to drinking, a staple of her adventurous and often reckless nature. This experimenting had led to some rather colourful experiences in her teenage years when she got absolutely wasted and did things that even an over-confident drama teacher would regret. Still, she refused to acknowledge or learn from her mistakes. Had she learned from the curve-balls life had thrown her, Rin would be acting in Hollywood and drinking with the stars instead of sitting with a bunch of other low-lifes and failures drinking beer to forget how much she hated her job. "You can't always get what you want," how many times had she heard that? Countless, and it seems they'd turned out to be right. At least there was eye candy in bars like these. There was always a bright side, it was just a question of whether she was willing to see it.
She returned the smirk, icy blue eyes glittering. "Stomach it, sure. Stand it? Hah." It was no secret that the cheap beer at Corrosion was not the best when it came to taste. You got your money's worth at a seedy club like this and she acknowledged that upon passing the threshold. The people who turned their noses up at the beer or pulled faces when they drank were a bunch of pussies in her opinion and so the comment was more a dry hit at the usual stereotypes of the bar than a real complaint. "Their hard shit doing any better tonight?" She nodded to the dark-haired girl's drink in explanation to explain what she meant by 'hard shit', not that it really needed an explanation.
Though she already knew who was to the left of her, Caterina instinctively turned her body around to face the mohawk-sporting woman who Rachel, as she'd introduced herself, was indicating. The long green (they looked green, you never could be sure under the glaring light) spikes caught the currently-red lighting and caused a weird, washed-out effect. The light also caught the many piercings the mohawk woman sported and Rin found herself appreciating them for a moment before she'd turn her gaze back to her conversational partner. Looks like she can stand pain pretty well. I like that. Though she had no piercings of her own apart from her ears, the redhead liked them a lot on others. "Don't I wish I was with her," she remarked with a laugh, raising her brows. She then shook her head, lips forming a smirk once more as they closed. "No, I'm alone." She'd normally have asked the same of Rachel in return but the Fire had done her the courtesy of answering the question before it could be asked.
Not one for a whole lot of subtlety, Rin said plainly, "Bit surprised you're here alone, to be honest. Don't look the type." She was not insinuating that Rachel was a slut (though she supposed it could be taken that way) but that she was attractive enough for it to come as a shock that she wasn't with someone else. It was entirely possible that the woman had someone special in her life that hadn't came to this particular outing. Rin recalled a past flame who "wasn't a fan of bars". What was I thinking with that one? She asked herself that question a lot. Seven evil exes? Try seven what-the-hell-am-I-smokings, plus one. Partly because she looked the age but also to start conversation, Rin wondered, "You a college student? This place tends to get a lot of Academy traffic, myself included." Not that she was a college student, though Rin knew she could pass for one at twenty-four.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 1, 2012 11:09:07 GMT -5
Rachael glanced down at her own drink and shook her head bit. ”If you drink enough of it,” Cheers to Corrosion for providing such a cheap yet effective buzz. Who was she kidding, Rachael felt herself slowly tipping away from buzzed and heading straight towards full blown drunk. The problem was, she had no idea where Rin stood. Nothing worse than a judgmental person watching over a slowly declining sober girl sink into drunken bliss. Clearly she wasn’t judgmental about drinking, or else she wouldn’t be here, but Rachael was not going to make a fool of herself in front of her new bar buddy. She had just enough sober will in her to concentrate on Rin and not the several dozen distractions the club environment had to offer. ”As long as it gets the job done.”
Alone? Interesting. That was just one more thing the two had in common. ”Even when I come with a group I tend to do my own thing. I just like meeting new people,” Now if that wasn’t as far from the truth as possible. Rachael hated most people with a passion. She hardly gave them a chance to introduce themselves. It was miracle the girl had friends at all. She just liked meeting new hook ups. Now that was company Rachael didn’t mind going out on a limb for. Just enough company for the night before she moved onto her next target. Rachael was glad Rin came alone. The fire student was always down for the chance to better know a woman. Maple Hollow wasn’t really a hot spot when it came to ladies exploring their sexuality. And the percentage for good-looking women was even smaller. Now she could have her all to herself as she figured out what Rin’s agenda was.
”Last year at the Academy,” with that Rachael raised her glass in a mock cheers before taking a healthy amount of her martini. Good the school year couldn’t end soon enough. It wasn’t that Rachael had terrible grades or no aptitude for academia, it was the fact that this town was sucking her dry. Eight years of the same people, the same attractions, the same routine was wearing on her. Unfortunately escape wasn’t in Rachael’s future anytime soon. Her job barely covered her living expenses. Even when she did graduate she would have not have the funds necessary to relocate right away. Maybe if she took up a second job she could leave Maple Hollow in a year or two. ”You’re from the Academy?” Rin looked like Rachael’s age, but she had no recollection of ever seeing her around campus. Maybe if she normally wasn’t such a social recluse she wouldn’t have had this problem so much. Those damn Water kids always seemed to be surrounded by people. Downside was that they all acted like complete fools. ”What grade are you in?” Rachael took another sip of her martini only to see she had gotten a good half way through the drink. Not that she minded at all. The quicker it kicked in the quicker she’d finally feel comfortable. ’That sounded pretty alcoholic…nah that just sounded like fun.’
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Post by CATERINA MELODY RAVENHILL on Nov 3, 2012 15:16:13 GMT -5
Rin and alcohol had always had somewhat of a love/hate relationship. She couldn't stand the taste of most of the cheap stuff, which was all she could afford, but she kept drinking it in the hope that it would eventually taste better and she'd be too wasted to care either way. It always worked. At the expense of her liver, she could even get the 'cheap shit' at Corrosion to work in her favour. Apparently Rachael had that same mindset, a fact that brought an appreciative smirk to the lips of the redhead. "Looks like I've got some catching up to do." Some nights she enjoyed being the sober one as all of her barmates stumbled around her—you learned a lot about other people that way, as many of them were much more open and chatty once they'd had a certain number of drinks. When she took someone on as a drinking buddy, however, she liked to feel like they were on the same level. Waving the bartender over, she ordered a couple of vodka shots and drank them straight, blinking at the strong taste but otherwise handling them well. It was obvious by her behaviour that tonight was not a first. "Not drunk enough yet," she reported. Still awful. She would adjust soon enough. She'd pace herself a little, if only to ensure that she didn't go from practically sober to slithering around on the floor in a matter of minutes.
When Rin came with others, it was usually a couple of her coworkers or friends that she'd met on previous bar outings. She had plenty of friends thanks to her outgoing nature but she preferred to live in the moment and bar outings tended to be spontaneous. "I usually stick with em," she said, "but that's because drunks are a great source of entertainment." She flashed a grin as her blue eyes glittered. She had no shame when it came to laughing at the expense of others. Rin might have been judgemental and quite the bitch about certain things but she was not one to try and hide it. What you saw was what you got, take it or leave it.
Rin lifted the shot she'd just ordered with a smirk and tipped it back, letting it burn its way down her throat and assault her taste buds. Either the taste was getting better or she was just getting used to it by now—whatever the case, it was more easily handled than the last ones. "Senior, eh? So you're actually allowed to be here..." That was good. She'd been hoping that Rachael wasn't too young, looks could be deceiving after all. Being a senior meant the woman was twenty one or twenty two, close enough to Rin's age that she felt completely comfortable with their situation. At twenty-four, Rin was young for a teacher and only a couple of years older than a lot of the college students at the Academy. She didn't get the awkwardness that a lot of the teachers and professors displayed when it came to hanging around the students. Why should she? She still felt young and she hated her job. She wasn't about to start letting it dictate who she hung around.
She dipped her head in agreement, then paused at the next question. It would have been fairly easy to lie to Rachael and tell her that she was just another senior at the Academy. She was good at lying, adept at pulling bullshit out of her ass. Besides, she had went to the Academy for three years. She'd been a theatre arts major and knew a lot about the classes taken in each year, even the senior courses that she'd never actually reached. At the same time, she didn't really see the point of lying. It was more fun to tell the truth and figure out how Rachel reacted. "Grade? Ha, I dropped out in junior year." She'd flunked out, actually, but a little white lie couldn't hurt anyone. Better than a complete mask. "I work there. They needed someone to boss the theatre kiddies around and it just so happens that I know my way around a theatre." She didn't sound too enthusiastic about it but she tried not to sound too bitter. She didn't mind other people knowing that she disliked her job but knowing that she hated it was a different matter entirely. "Surprised? Bet I look pretty good for thirty." She laughed, then shook her head. "Jokes. I'm not even twenty-five yet." Hopefully the fact that she was a faculty member didn't bother Rachael too much.
[If I spell Rachael's name wrong at times I apologise! xD I've got a friend called Rachel and I'm trying to train my brain to spell it another way <3]
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 3, 2012 22:02:26 GMT -5
Rachael watched with anticipation as Rin went down shot for shot. ’Can hold her own on the battlefield of shots? Check.’ Now that’s the kind of friend Rachael needed, not all those bitches who shipped on a Cosmo all night and acted like they got a contact high from being around shots. Being a bartender did give Rachael a trained advantage. Who else but herself was better at testing her new creations out when she had the sudden urge to be creative with a mixer? Rachael actually laughed a bit at Rin’s proclamation. ”I’m starting to have faith that you’ll be up to speed in no time.” Rachael pulled back the rest of her martini and ceremoniously put it back on the bar counter. Four straight martini’s down and Rachael was in the zone. She’d wait a bit before even considering a beer to keep her up. When she first started drinking her eyes were much bigger than her stomach, or in this case liver, and learned the hard way that pacing was your friend.
”You must be good company for them,” she remarked, unlike Rachael and her flighty tendencies. Commitment on any and all levels were claustrophobic for the fire grad. She leaned in closer to Rin as if she was telling her a secret. For some reason she didn’t want anyone else behind the bar knowing what she was going to say next ”I know what you mean. I work over at Blackjack and I see all sorts of characters there,” Provided, Rachael had to be nice to their face if she ever wanted to see any tips, but it didn’t stop her from silently judging them. Knowing that she was better than them made her job somewhat bearable. It certainly wasn’t the joy of pumping booze into rich upper crust citizens that held her to the job. ”I could probably fill an entire book with stories about the people who go there.” Granted, not a very flattering book, but entertaining to boot.
Instead of leaning back, Rachael stayed put, a little closer to Rin than she would have normally been. And by normal of course she meant sober. Personal space seemed like such a foreign concept to her at this point. Plus they were chatting it up, shooting the breeze and becoming buddies. Nothing wrong with that. When Rin made a comment about her age, she scrunched up her face with a playful indignity, only to ease into a grin. ”I guess I should be flattered you thought I was younger and not the other way around,” Really though? Maybe it was her damn height that caused Rin to have doubts about her age. It seemed to be in good fun, so the senior let it go without further comment.
Rachael wasn’t one for motivational pep talks or words of encouragement, so when Rin continued on after explaining that she dropped out, Rachael let out a mental sigh of relief. Even in a drunk state Rachael refused to turn into some emotional wreck of sobs and declarations of endearment. She had far too much pride. Rachael did less than a stellar job of hiding her shock when Rin told Rachael her age. ”Thirty?” she repeated. Oh God, she was hanging out with a cougar. A hot cougar, but a cougar nonetheless. Well thirty was just on the cusp of being a cougar…right? She tried to reason with herself that there was nothing remotely strange about this, when Rin started to laugh at Rachael. ”I was going to say, you looked more than good for thirty.” Thirty wasn’t old by any means but it did put Rachael at ease that Rin was closer to her own age demographic. ”So you get to boss kids around all day huh? You’re not going to make me recite a Shakespearian monologue or put me in detention if I act up are you?”
(Drunk Rachael is Drunk.) |
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Post by CATERINA MELODY RAVENHILL on Nov 4, 2012 0:37:39 GMT -5
Rin could be quite determined if she set her mind to something and so the redhead grinned in agreement. "I'm sure I will." She was decently adept at holding her liquor, she had the blood of the Irish flowing through her veins on her mother's side, but that didn't mind she wouldn't fall victim to the booze fairy if she kept drinking. She wasn't invulnerable, after all, nor did she want to be. Imagine not being able to get drunk. That'd fucking suck. She was already a tad tipsy and her thoughts were wandering down random paths.
The woman shared a private laugh at the comment, wondering whether it would be worth it to explain why some people found her the opposite of good company. "I guess you can be the judge of my company tonight," she said instead, not wanting to spoil her own fun by pointing out that she was often a bitch who made jokes at the expense of others and had little sense of morality. Really, the friends she actually had were almost saints for putting up with her longer than a couple of weeks. She respected them a lot, even if she didn't tell them this directly.
Her brows shot up to be hidden by her bangs for a moment when Rachael leaned in. Rin appreciated the narrow gap between them, though she said nothing outright about this, merely smirked. "Blackjack, huh? Fancy." She was trying to work out in her mind whether or not she was jealous. A job's a job, I guess. Still, being a bartender in a fancy as fuck establishment such as that had to be better than teaching a bunch of brats theatre, didn't it? She felt like it would, but then she was biased considering her intense bitterness toward her job. She wouldn't treat Rachael with disdain, though, mostly because she was hot. Hey, Rin never said she wasn't shallow! "Oh really?" All bitterness vanished as she smelled the scent of potential gossip on the air. If there was something Rin loved more than anything else it was a good shit-stirring story. Drama was her one true love, at least apart from theatre. "Got anything you might want to share? I'd be interested in hearing it..." She didn't sound as hopeful as she actually was, though she certainly sounded interested as she'd said. Who could resist the juicy fountain that was the grapevine?
She chuckled. "Take it as a compliment, believe me. 'Sides, I'm not too good at the guessing game." Some who were younger looked older and vice versa. Rin tended to settle for not guessing at all and simply trying to convince her drinking buddy to tell her. It would suck to find out she was hitting on jail bait that had snuck in with a fake ID. Rin was quite glad she could say this hadn't happened to her yet.
Ah, this was precisely why Rin loved being a troll. The reactions she got from people, especially drunks, were priceless. Of course it also gained her as many enemies as friends given that some people did not respond too kindly to being made fun of but if she was truly concerned with how others saw her she would never have gotten into theatre. It was a profession meant for those of confidence. "Well I'm flattered," she laughed. "Hopefully I still look this sexy when I reach the big three-oh but I don't know if I should hold out hope." Did she age well? Rin wasn't sure. She liked to think she didn't look older than her age but did she really want to look younger? That would lead to her being mistaken as being underaged and she didn't like the thought. She already got asked for ID enough as is. Rin laughed at the theatre reference. "God, no. If I have to hear another monologue today I'll shoot myself." She shook her head and gave a wry smile. "Eh, a job's a job. What do you think of yours, then?" She was curious. Some hated theirs, some loved them. Everyone was different.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 4, 2012 14:36:16 GMT -5
Rachael usually didn’t have the time to gossip about people because in all honesty she didn’t give a shit about other people. It was not for some holy reason about karma coming around to bite her in ass. Karma was not a bitch, Rachael was. Still, there was no harm in telling a stranger about another stranger’s misfortune was there? Alcohol voted no. ”So an older man comes in this one Wednesday, clearly dressed in some designer suit and looking to blow off some stress from work. He’s taking his time with his scotch, enjoying the fact that the bar was not as packed as it usually is on the weekend,” The man had to have been at least in his mid sixties and not the typical sort of weekend patron Rachael would see. He most likely spent his weekend forced to pay attention to kids he probably didn’t want to have in the first place. She assumed he had some younger wife that wanted kids as more of a security deposit more than any urge to fill a maternal role. Made sense from a gold digger’s point of view, kids complete a divorce settlement.
Rachael flagged down a bartender and order herself a beer before continuing. ”Scotch after scotch and this guy is going on about his life like he’s trying to record his memoir. Thing is, at this point he’s moved on from me to a rather young blonde who had set herself up to the bar. I’m watching this train wreck of possible infidelity unfold, all while fueling them with the necessary tools for poor decision-making. I mean I’m sure you can imagine what happens next,” A story like this, as real as it was, practically wrote itself. She decided she have a single shred of decency and kept the gentleman’s name to herself. ”And who did that blonde snag for the night? A deputy chair for a major international bank and former Canadian politician.” It was the kind of story Rachael expected to see plastered all over the news, not experienced with her own two eyes. One of her more surreal work stories, but one of her favorites.
”Working at Blackjack is like my daily dose of penance,” Rachael was literally injected into the belly of the beast at work. The folks at Blackjack couldn’t have had a further life experience than Rachael even if they tried. Old money, businessmen, local socialites alike could never truly understand poverty, abuse, and the hardships an orphan grew up with. Some nights the patrons didn’t have to even open their mouth before Rachael cast her judgment on them. The smug bastards were guilty of ignorance and deserving of her hate. ”At the same time it’s wonderful field work for someone pursuing their Sociology degree. A bar is naturally a perfect social experiment.” Most of her real life observational research for her upcoming thesis was collected at work. Easiest part of school ever; serving drinks and getting paid at the same time, all while gathering free information from unsuspecting volunteers, how amazing was that?
With the arrival of her drink, she slid the wrinkled bill and coins across the bar counter and took the glass in her hand. She leaned her back against the counter and started to take a sip when Rin went on about the impending doom of thirty. Rachael froze, the rim of the glass just barely touching her lips. She gave Rin a once over before rolling her eyes. ”Rin, if you’re closer to the twenty five mark like you say, I don’t think thirty is going to be that much of a problem,” Rachael took a sip of her beer before considering what she was actually doing. ”Well, you’re almost pissed off your face and chatting it up with some hot teacher. Basically living out every perverted boy’s fantasy.” Well, that had yet to be seen, but something Rachael was more inclined to see come true as the time past.
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Post by CATERINA MELODY RAVENHILL on Nov 4, 2012 16:49:14 GMT -5
Icy blue eyes were bright with excitement, curiosity, and an intoxicated sheen as she leaned forward to take in all the wonders of Rachael's story. She did not bother trying to hide how much the misfortunes of others excited her. Rin had never been one for false faces. She might have been an actress—and a damn good one at that, she liked to think—but she was as good at telling the cold truth as she was at lying through her teeth. Not to say she didn't use those acting skills at all, mind you! She loved nothing more than to play up an act to get information of out someone, much like Rachael filled her patrons up with alcohol until their stories came spilling out of their mouths, fountains of infidelity and dishonour. The job of a bartender was truly sounding more and more appealing by the second as she realised how much this other woman probably heard in a day. Then again, Rin heard it too, or at least a lot of it. The only problem was that she sometimes couldn't resist the urge to drink herself and so a lot of the information she so painstakingly gathered was lost to the woes of an alcohol-afflicted brain.
Rin had never been rich. She'd never even been close to rich. There had been a nice time when she was living with her aunt away from her psychopath of a father and their income had been enough to allow the both of them to live comfortably but since her aunt's death she'd been scraping by at best. So there was a sort of sick satisfaction she she gained from hearing how the rich messed up their lives in Blackjack bar. "S'what he gets for bagging someone half his age," she snorted, smirking with unmasked glee. "Hope his wife found out. That'd be a good one." That was the right sort of punishment for cheating on your wife with someone who was probably young enough to be your daughter. Of course, Rin didn't consider it completely unforgivable. Unless someone was cheating on her, she didn't really get offended by the thought. She just liked the drama and scandal of it all. "Did he ever show his face in there again after that?" Or the girl, she thought, though she wasn't as interested in the blonde bitch.
Conversation could reveal so much about a person, like the fact that Rachael was studying sociology at the Academy. It sounded like an interesting enough major, at least to a woman who spent most of her time studying people willingly. She loved people. Not in the sense that she adored humanity and wanted everyone treated equally and with kindness, no, but in the sense that they were fascinating creatures. Some intelligent, some thicker than a brick, all with their own stories to tell. "Ever get sick of 'em all after a while?" she wondered curiously, arching her brows. "The drunks, I mean. Ever wish you worked with people who weren't falling all over themselves by the end of the night?" Rin and Rachael would be two of those very people of which the redhead spoke by the end of the night, judging by their drinking habits. Rin had downed another shot and now everything was bright and blurry and fascinating. Her tongue was a little looser, as well, and there was a lazy grin on her face. "Then again, I bet it's fun to watch everyone make fools out of themselves." That was part of the reason she spent so much of her time in bars, after all. It was fun.
She laughed, the sound higher than should have been expected from a woman who could be as cruel as she. It was feminine, almost girlish, and she was too drunk to give a shit by this point. Alcohol was wonderful for the ego. "Are you calling me old? Well, then." She didn't really think that the other woman was trying to insult her and so it was intended as a joke, made obvious by the laughter and the fact that she didn't sound the least bit offended. "I'm twenty... twenty four," she said slowly, trying not to trip over her own words. "So I've got a while to go yet." She hadn't even hit the halfway mark yet. She liked that. She liked feeling young. She might have been an egotistical bitch at time but that didn't mean she was totally immune to flattery. "Kinda... kinda sucks at my job, though," she complained. "Bunch of em think that just because I look young they can boss me around. Hah." No way that was happening. She always had them sorted out by the end of the year but then she had to start all over again with a fresh batch. Sucked. "Then again, I guess it's better than being hit on by drunk idiots all the time. Do you get hit on a lot? I bet you do." People, especially drunk people, didn't seem to be able to resist flirting with anything that was even remotely attractive. Hell, Rin was proving that herself right now.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 4, 2012 18:54:40 GMT -5
Rin seemed a bit more into her story than Rachael had anticipated. Maybe it had something to do with her apparent interest in drama. A good story had to be something worthwhile for anyone dealing with theatre. A good story is basically the skeleton for a good play, or something like that. ”He’s been around a few times since then. He usually comes alone though. If he’s still seeing the girl he’s at least being somewhat smart about it.” There aren't many things in life that get her down. The thought of someone being taken advantage off, an empty fridge, and a shortage of drinks were things that did. Rachael was generally a very enjoyable drunk, probably even more enjoyable than she was sober. A broken family was sort of a low point for her. She pushed back the thoughts by taking a sip of her drink. Instead she did her best to focus on Rin but the music was causing her to sort of bob her head a bit as she talked.
”It gets a little tiring hearing them piss and moan. All those trust fund babies living the life of Riley while I didn’t have two pennies to rub together growing up.” Acting like nothing was wrong in front of them tool more energy out her than the actual job itself. She would go home a complete zombie and pass out the minute she hit her bed. ”I actually enjoy watching them come undone as long as I’m not directly involved. It’s a sick sort of retribution I suppose. Being a bartender let’s you watch people at their best and worst. Take him for example,” Rachael pointed to the man being the bar, who was currently serving someone. ”This whole night he’s watched people go from well composed to completely exposed. We get to watch people lose their inhibitions every night. Sometimes it works out, and other times it ends up with some guy screaming his head off or a girl balling her eyes out over her ex.” She turned back towards Rin and simply shrugged her shoulder. ”Thing is, no one remembers that when they decided to order more than they can handle. They get comfortable and think a bartender is not a person capable of judging them when in reality that is all we are doing.”
Rachael laughed along with Rin. It was a comforting sound as the two fell into an easy conversation. ”Twenty four? Bring out the walker!” she teased. ”Seriously though I’m twenty one and there is only a three year difference between us,” Take that math, even drunk Rachael could solve a little subtraction every now and again. Rachael nodded along with Rin when she talked about her job. Seems like she wasn’t the only one not really into what they were doing. ”I would hate having to deal with high school kids. I would never wish that on anyone” Maybe college kids. For the most part they had their act together, or at least were on their way to it. Though just like with her patrons, she would make it clear that she was not one to fool around with. ”That’s nice of you to say. When I’m behind the bar I don’t like to give them the impression that I’m there for their own enjoyment. That doesn’t stop them sometimes.” Rachael was not going to beat around the bush with Rin. The fire graduate was aware of the effect she had on people and at times used it to her advantage. ”But I’m pretty heartless when it comes to shooting people down. I like to make it clear when I’m not interested.” Rachael titled her head a bit, a rather cocky grin set in place as she locked eyes with Rin. ”Like you don’t have the same problem yourself.”
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Post by CATERINA MELODY RAVENHILL on Nov 5, 2012 1:56:52 GMT -5
As she'd learned through watching some of her students stutter and fumble their way through presentations and performances, people had a number of different ways of dealing with embarrassment. The more confident ones would simply grin and laugh it off with their classmates where the shy kids would turn beet red and take the walk of shame back to their desks as if they'd just made fools of themselves on national television. Rin had been one of the cocky kids who didn't give a shit how others received her. Real life was a whole lot of the same. Rin was the woman who would dance on tables and sing songs terribly off-key and then laugh about it in the morning if a friend posted the video online. She wondered if this retired politician was one of the same. Did he have no shame about leaving the bar with a woman so young? Did he not worry about the judgemental stares of others? Probably not, if he still comes around. "No doubt the alcohol makes him forget any lessons learned," she said with a dry laugh. She had no sympathy for him. Rin had never been much for empathy and understanding. If you fucked up, it was your own fault.
Apparently Rachael had been poor herself in childhood, a fact that Rin took in with interest. While she had no problem taunting and teasing about a lot of things, finances and mental illness were a couple of the unsafe subjects for the redhead. Her father was crazy, she didn't think it was very funny to poke fun at those who were mentally ill. As for money... well, she knew what it meant to go hungry and she knew what it meant to panic over the rent being due and the wallet being sucked dry. "I'd swap with some of 'em any day," she said with a strong bitterness, a little more loose-lipped than usual thanks to the drink. "Sitting around on their asses and drinking their daddy's paycheck, who gives a shit if their girlfriend's a rotten bitch? At least they don't have to work to pay for shit." The growl in her tone and the malice to her blue gaze suggested her dislike for the rich in a way that not much else could. She didn't like people that had it easy when she felt that she had it rough. She wouldn't throw a pity party for herself but she sure as hell didn't want to hear the offpring of upperclass society moaning about their lives when the worst financial scare they had to deal with was misplacing their credit card.
Unfocused eyes found the bartender. "Mm, he's cute," she mused, even if that was not the point of Rachael's conversation at all. She was drunk, it was fine. Despite her observation she was listening to her drinking partner and she nodded sagely as if she'd been imparted with some priceless wisdom. "Bet the arguments are fun." There wasn't much she loved more than a good argument. Watching two people stand off and scream at one another brought to her a sick kind of joy. Drunks were even better because a lot of the time their arguments made little sense. It was hilarious. With a blink, she thought a little more on the judgemental thing and asked rather forwardly, "So are you a Thunder? I hear they're good at the judging thing." She grinned. As a Wind with the choice of which alliance she preferred, the Fire/Thunder alliance always seemed more like her people. Of course, the Waters could be really entertaining with their pranks.
Rin snorted and shot back, "Only if you're ready to buy yourself a cane!" There was a flush to her cheeks from the alcohol and she felt warm and giggly and totally drunk. It turned out that she was right in guessing Rachael's approximate age (not that it had been hard, given a grade) and it was good to know they weren't too far apart. "Neither would I," she assured the other woman. "Especially since half of them hate school and take the course for an easy-out. Can't stand those types." It was hard enough to teach kids that actually wanted to be there, it was another thing to try and teach theatre to a slacker that thought they'd spend the entire time goofing off on a stage. "Eh, I guess that's what you get stuck with if you don't get a degree. Dug my own grave." She auditioned for small roles like commercials sometimes but with no reputation and a lot of competition it wasn't as easy as she would have liked. "Least there's a lot of breaks." It was nice having a consistent schedule, if nothing else. A rare perk.
On one hand, the red haired woman liked the attention she got from others. It boosted her ego, made her feel amazing and fuelled the confidence that she then carried with her elsewhere. On the other, it disgusted her when people who were considered less than desirable showed an interest. Creepy stares from old men or ninth grade boys and their hormones were not things she was overly fond of. "Heartless," she echoed with a smirk. "I like that." She enjoyed when someone knew who they were and what they wanted. It reminded her of herself. The smirk from earlier returned in full force. "Well you could say we take the same stand on that one. If I was disinterested, you'd have known." Rin was a downright bitch if she had to be and she wasn't ashamed to admit it.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 5, 2012 20:33:53 GMT -5
Rachael nodded along thoughtfully as if Rin was providing her with some unspoken wisdom. ”Alcohol is a bitch and it’s great,” she cut in. Oh no, stage two of drunk. That didn’t even make sense. Well, when she had though it it did. Her filter was starting to fail. Rachael wasn’t really one for words and now she was pretty much saying whatever crossed her mind. She bit her lip to hold back laughing at herself. She placed a hand across her forehead and shook her head. ”Strike that last statement from your memory,” she joked. That wonderful feeling of her stomach on fire and her fingertips tingling signaled that Rachael had reached her limit for the night. Anymore to drink and that happy warm feeling would revolt against her. She had no intention of spending her night bending over the porcelain toilet seat back at her apartment.
Money did not buy happiness. Money did let people have to deal with less stress. No worries about rent, insurance, traveling, putting food on the table, paying bills. So in a sense, rich people had a much better chance at being happy. Somehow they managed to fuck it up even when they had a leg up. ”You literally wouldn’t have to worry about anything,” she agreed. ”You go around buying whatever you wanted, enjoying life without a single worry of ‘Can I afford this and still feed myself at the end of the day’ and shit like that,” Rolling in with absolute confidence in themselves; that’s what Rachael was jealous of. ”How they hell do they manage to mess that up?” she asked out loud.
The bartender was decent looking enough. Certainly the type of candidate she would consider for a one night stand if Rachael couldn’t find anyone better on a slow night. She flashed her eyes from Rin to the bartender, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively. ”He’s be stupid to say no if you went for it,” her tone revealing a little more jealously than she wanted Rin to hear. Rin was her own woman and within every right to go after him, but Rachael was hoping that her company was more than enough, even if it just was conversation. She struggled to shift her attention away from Rin as she desperately tried to focus on the topic at hand. ”Thunder? No, no. I’m a Fire. Judging has become an acquired skill not a natural one.” Did she just sound as though she was against Thunders? Was Rin a Thunder? She wasn’t even sure Rin told her what she was other than a teacher. Time to back pedal. ”Thunders are fun to be around though. They always have an opinion on everything. Are you a Thunder?” She was having a hard time pinning down what Rin might actually be. Clearly she wasn’t Water or Earth, because Rachael had yet to find one who entertained her, let alone didn’t infuriate her.
Rachael laughed along with Rin after hearing her comeback. She had to hand it to her on that one. ”At least you can come here without fear of those kids following you and cut lose. ” Rin looked like she was just as drunk as Rachael which was more than great. Corrosion was becoming Rachael’s lucky spot in terms of meeting new people she actually enjoyed. Granted most of them went to school with her, but she didn’t bother mingling there. Both seemed to pretty much hate their jobs, could hold their liquor, hated the snobby elitists and she was almost convinced that she might be into Rachael a bit.
”It’s only fair to let them know where they stand,” she teased. A small smile crept onto her lips and before she could register what she was doing, Rachael leaned forward to get closer to Rin, daring herself to test the waters. ”Do you want to dance?” she asked. Rachael was itching to get back on the floor without sacrificing time away from her new found ‘buddy.’ She pulled back, biting her lip out of nervous habit. She tried to remain neutral about it. Girls danced together all the time at clubs without it being weird. At least out there she could have a better indication of what was happening between the two.
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Post by CATERINA MELODY RAVENHILL on Nov 7, 2012 7:13:37 GMT -5
If she had been sober it might have taken her a couple of seconds to process the words that came out of Rachael's mouth. As it were, Rin would have been content to simply accept them as fact whether they made sense or not. It was the woman she found interesting right now, not necessarily how intelligent she was making herself sound. She blinked. "Consider it stricken," she said confidently, then paused. "Stricken? Striked? Struck? Oh, fuck if I know." She waved her hand in dismissal. Well, it had accomplished something important—she'd forgotten Rachael's screw up already. Now she was trying to think about grammar when her brain really wasn't in the right state for it and nothing was making sense. Alcohol was a bitch, that was for sure. But it was also great as Rin took another drink of it. Maybe her drinking partner had been making more sense than she'd thought.
Money might not have bought happiness but it certainly bought things like alcohol which were helpful in helping her keep the illusion of happiness for a while. She didn't think about the rent she still had to pay when she was sitting and chatting to a hot girl in a bar. Who would? "Could fucking... buy fame if I had money," she said with bitterness, the pause to ensure she wasn't going to royally fuck up the sentence. "Buy shit because I can. Haven't ever been able to do that..." Well, all right. She'd arguably came out to drink at Corrosion because she could but that didn't mean it had been a smart decision. She had yet to make up enough for the rent and though her paycheck was a constant thing she would have to be careful about her spending habits. Her landlord was an impatient jackass. That's what she liked to call him. Jackass. He probably wouldn't find it as hysterical as she did. "Buncha trust fund pussies, that's how. Can't handle anything worth shit." She stressed the word and giggled, shaking her head.
Would he? Rin stared at the man for longer than would be considered socially acceptable if she weren't plastered and decided that Rachael was right. She was sexy, she could bag him if she wanted to. Instead of going for it, however, she turned her unfocused blue gaze back to the woman. "I've got other things on my mind." Rachael, specifically, and she offered a smirk along with the comment.
A Fire? Good. Fire, Thunder or Wind was honestly what she'd been hoping for thanks to a personal preference for their side. She was a Wind, she was allowed to (and did) have a couple of friends everywhere but she had favourites like most people. "Fun or irritating as hell depending on the subject they're trying to go on about," she mused with a grin. She definitely didn't mind their natures, being a judgemental person herself, but they could be downright frustrating if they had an opinion that countered your own. They were stubborn as mules if they needed to be. And so was she. "Me? Ha, nah, I'm a Wind. I'm told I'm a lot like the Thunders, though, if that counts." She had a short temper but not short enough to be a Fire, she was judgemental and vindictive but also incredibly outgoing and obnoxious like a Water. "And nothing like an Earth. They're generally pussies anyway so fuck if I care." She didn't have a very fond opinion of the Earths and she didn't have a problem with sharing it, either.
Bars definitely were a bit of a sanctuary for her and Rin appreciated the connection as much as one could appreciate something when the world tilted around them. "It's not for lack of effort." Kids always seemed to think that if they wore high enough heels or looked tough enough that the bouncer wouldn't question their youthful faces. "Always love when I catch one of my twelfth graders that slip past the radar. If I dislike em enough I get em kicked out." Karma was a bitch. Well, no, Rin was the bitch, karma was an excuse to be a bitch. Not that she wanted an excuse for anything. She was proud of it.
Shameless as ever, Rin was only too eager to slide off the barstool, nearly stumbling in all her drunken grace, and nod. "Why the hell not." It was a club, after all, and she wanted the closeness and the company.
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Post by RACHAEL MARIE CALLAHAN on Nov 7, 2012 19:18:35 GMT -5
’Fuck yeah,’ Rachael’s didn’t bother holding back her triumphant grin. Of course the bartender didn’t really know what was going on, but she felt it was a victory none the lease. It was a bit sad to hear Rin hint at something pretty serious things money could offer her, but Rachael was not here to play therapist. Life was monotonous for tons of people. Everyday the damn same. People get up, take a shower –hopefully- eat a bowl of boring oatmeal, drive to work, work eight hours everyday, come home and go to the gym. Rachael made sure to stir things up as much as she could. She was a single attractive woman and live alone after all. What can you really do? Go to a bar and drink yourself stupid? Yes. And just look at what breaking the trend had brought her. Hanging out with a beautiful woman that was easy on the eyes.
”Ah, Wind. You’re one of those,” She had very few Wind acquaintances in her life. Rachael had a hard enough time connecting with people within her alliance let along those ever-friendly Wind students. Some were better than other and Rin was proving to be one of them. ”Honestly, Wind probably wouldn’t have even been my second choice.” Somehow Winds always seemed to slip her mind. What did they do when it came down to picking friends? They were like Switzerland and could tread the line between the rigid treaty lines. ”Earths? God they are so annoying,” Rachael rolled her eyes thinking about the tree hugging pussies. ”I like to watch them cry as I burn their stupid flower wreaths into the ground. Damn hippies and their drum circles and shit,” ”And you’re a teacher! You actually have to put up with all of them.” Rachael could never fairly be a teacher, even on her best day. The classes would easily be able to tell which students she favored over others.
Rachael topped off the rest of her beer before standing up and relinquishing her spot at the bar. Her hands went out to grab Rin as she stumbled a bit, but pulled back once she realized she was under control. Rachael probably wasn’t the best one to be offering support. Two drunk women who were ready to dance need to save their balance for when they actually got out on the floor. Rachael wrapped her arm around Rin’s waist, guiding them as they stumbled past strangers. Now that she was actually standing, Rachael could finally feel the physical effect her drinks were having on her.
The music hit her like a bomb just went off, a wild heat radiating from every last body that was occupying the dance floor. The lights were low; Rachael could hardly see anything, apart from the black lights and strobe light on the ceiling. So here she was, back into the lion’s den, but this time she was not alone. The music was blaring, it's so loud she can feel the beat pounding through her body as its moving in time to the beat. Its hot and sweaty and there are people everywhere, so crowded that everyone is pushed close together, skin on skin. Rachael’s hand went up in the air, and then running through her hair, eyes closed as she finally let herself cut lose. There was no half way to being drunk for her now. She hated the idea of dancing sober, too much free thought about looking stupid, but in the mist of the current environment, inhibitions were cast aside.
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