| Tonight in the Cat's Meow | ||
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| Summary: Alexa and Violet are meeting up at the Cat's Meow, and Lee happens to be there! The bartender, however, seems to be someone from Violet's distant past.    |
Lee peeks into the old warehouse cautiously after travelling through the not-so-savory neighborhood outside, but the noise and colorful crowds bring a cheerful smile back to Lee's face. Squeezing past those at the door, Lee saunters on in, looking every which way. Alexa walks into the place, having already changed out of her uniform. She walks in almost right behind Violet and smiles. "Evenin' Miss Violet." she says, trying not to startle her. She learned her lesson last time. Violet doesn't notice Lee just yet, but her attention is easily drawn by Alexa's greeting. She spins around with a smile. "Alexa! How ya doin', love?" She glances around again, frowning ever so slightly. "I always forget how loud this place can be..." She blinks, remembering where she is again, and takes off her uniform jacket and slinging it over her shoulder. A uniform in a dive like this is usually looked on with suspicion. Lee stops and cheerily bounces on their toes, looking indecisive about what to see first. Spotting someone with a spiky green mohawk, the feather-crested dino offers a grin and a thumbs-up before taking a step backwards through the crowd, almost into Alexa, as it happens. Alexa blinks as she's nearly run into by Lee, and she blinks. "Er, hey, careful there, um.. right." she chuckles kind of nervously. Still not used to the diversity of people here. She looks back to Violet. "Ain't bad. Glad to be done for the day, that's for sure." Violet laughs and nods, "Ain't that the truth." She looks over Alexa's shoulder to see who almost ran into her, and... doesn't seem particularly upset or protective of Alexa. This is, of course, because Violet actually knows the odd individual. "Hey, Lee, what's happening?" It's about a half second after she says this that her expressions falters, just a little. Lee hops ungracefully on one foot for a second before stabilizing with a wave of the tail to face the two. "Oh! Heya, Al, Vi! Good t' see you 'gain!" Lee says cheerily. "Was just jogging out a way I hadn't been before and wanted t' know why all these folks were headed into some sketchy-looking warehouse." Alexa walks over to Violet and kisses her cheek. "What's wrong, darlin'?" she slips an arm around Violet's waist. She looks at Lee. "Well, it's about a good a bar as any, I s'pose." Violet grins to Lee as Alexa kisses her cheek. "Welcome to the biggest dive in NeoTokyo, Lee. The Cat's Meow. I don't come here often... okay, this is the second time I've been here since..." She ponders how to put it for a moment, frowning again. "...I came back." With a slight sigh, she shakes her head. "Oh, Lee bein' here just reminded me of a conversation I need to have with you, uh... It's not... that important, though, I don't think..." "I'm not even much of a dancer or drinker, but this place looks really fun. Gets the blood pumping as soon as ya walk in!" Lee bobs their head to the beat, bouncing the iridescent crest. "Does this conversation have t' do with the number 'f wheels on a bicycle?" Lee asks Violet with a grin, looking to Alexa and then back to Violet. Alexa says, "Well I ain't much of a dancer, but the beer's good!" She chuckles. "And Violet, if it' concernin' you, then it's important. What's up?" Violet grins a bit weakly this time at Lee. "Yup, woke me right up again when I came in.... What? Two?" She doesn't seem to understand Lee's comment at all. She then sighs and hangs her head. "Alright. Less than great conversation... Alexa... just how much money did you spend on all that stuff for the apartment the other day?" Lee smiles and nods to Alexa. "Have 't try it," Lee says before looking back to Violet. Lee frowns a little at Violet's concern but keeps quiet and leans in a little to listen. Alexa thinks about that a moment. "Little under half a paycheck. I was livin' way under my means so I had some saved up. Plus I watched videos about how to use coupons. And sales. I'm learnin'." she chuckles. Violet lets out a bit of a sigh of releif, but still seems nervous. "It was just... It was a lot of stuff, and I kinda got worrying about how much you spent, since I didn't help with any of the purchases, and I didn't know what you were getting paid yet, and..." she pauses, biting her lower lip slightly as she finally gets herself to stop talking. "Simple life, savings, and sales- cool!" Lee remarks cheerily to Alexa, giving Violet a grin. "See, easier t' ask than worry. Like if one of y'all starts turning green, don't keep it to yourself. Maybe the other one thinks green skin is sexy!" Alexa smirks. "Well, I think green hair is sexy, but that's just me." she kisses Violet's cheek again. "Love, I've been poor too long to get back there now. I'm bein' careful. Violet sighs and nods. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry I was worrying over this..." She looks a bit guilty as Alexa kisses her cheek again. "Green skin? Uhhh..." She looks upward, trying to imagine Alexa with green skin. "I could live with that. But I think she looks better with her skin like it is." Finally she herself goes for a kiss on Alexa's cheek! Lee looks to Violet's hair with a grin, then up to their feathers. "Aww!" Lee says while clasping their hands together as Violet returns the kiss. "So, you two wanna try out that beer, or pretend to dance?" Lee adds curiously to Violet, "You got any dance skills?" Alexa grins. "I'm all for the beer. I can't dance. At all." she grins, blushing still from Violet's kiss. "That's her department. Violet laughs a bit nervously. "I can dance SOME. But if I'm not gonna get Alexa to dance with me, what's the point, really?" She shrugs, then nods. "Beer. Sure! Let's go grab a beer!" Lee raises a brow and looks to Violet as Alexa mentions the ability. "I can beer!" Lee adds, bouncing on their toes. "I wanna hear what y'all do like doing together, 's long as this third wheel isn't getting in the way." Alexa hugs Violet to her, arm still around her waist as she heads towards the bar. "Well, right now we just enjoy each others company. Soon though, we'll be explorin' the black together." Violet blushes a bit and nods to Lee as Alexa leads her on to the bar. "We're not exactly an exciting couple at the moment, I'm sure, but we really do both have a love of the stars, so to speak. We're both getting a bit... cooped up on planet, and can't wait for Phoenix to be ready. Aaaand we may need to really be saving up for that light ship we've been talking about. I'm beginning to realize 'just hoping one shows up in the badlands' is gonna make us wait way too long." She leans her head on Alexa's shoulder as they get to the bar. "But... yeah. We're really just... enjoying being around each other. Watching movies 'n TV, talking space, hoping for the future..." Lee follows along, hopping around people rather than pressing though the crowd. "Exploring the black?" Lee says curiously. "Oh, gotcha. Space exploration, and not spelunking without flashlights," Lee says with a smile. "Maybe you're actually getting antsy, but ya look pretty cozy together," Lee remarks amiably. "You thinking 'bout a personal ship for trips ya can't do with the military one?" Alexa nods at that, flagging down the bartender. "Exactly. I hate bein' dirtside, but her bein' here with me helps." she smiles at violet. As they get to the bar, the bartender raises an eyebrow. It's not someone that was here the last time Vi and Alexa were here, but there's definitely a spark of recognition in her face when she's looking at them. "So what do the three of you want tonight?" Violet nods to Lee. "Yes! Yes, exactly. A cozier ship for a cozy couple, you could say! Where we don't have to bring a crew of a couple hundred along with us." She looks up to the bartender and pauses a moment. "Dunno how I'd feel about space trips," Lee remarks thoughtfully. "I love seeing new places, but half the fun's stopping before ya get where you're going to check out someplace folks never visit. And I hear space has a whole lot 'f empty... space." Lee flashes the bartender a smile and points to Alexa, "I'll have whatever beer she's having." Lee then asks Violet with a grin, "So ya can't just find a couple hundred people from some species that can't see or hear humans?" Alexa grins. "Would you want a few hundred people in your house, regardless if you could see 'em or not?" she chuckles, then looks between Violet and the bartender. "Er, you two know each other?" The bartender nods with a light shrug. "We used to work together. Loooooong time ago." She then raises an eyebrow as she takes in all three again. "Now are you three gonna order something or not?" Violet seems to be wracking her brain as to who this person is... she's been pretty open about her fuzzy memories, afterall. Soon it seems to click, though. And she looks at the bartender a bit warily. "Radonna?" That name gets a wince from the bartender. "Just... Danielle, Violet, unless you want me calling you Arga." Violet vigorously shakes her head. "No thanks! Um, yeah, it'd be a lousey crew if the captain and helmswoman can't communicate with them..." Alexa nods to Danielle. "Beer for me please." she then looks quizzically at Violet. "Arga?" "Dunno," Lee says to Alexa. "Never tried living like that before!" Lee doesn't add anything to their first request, but does look between Violet and Danielle curiously. Violet frowns, pondering what she'd want. "Uhhh, I dunno, is there some kinda... Orange beer?" Danielle nods. "Shock Top it is for you, then." She glances at Alexa, though, still not sure of what to get her. "Just... beer? You might want to be a bit more specific than that," she says, glancing from Alexa to Lee, since they're apparently going to have the same thing. Violet winces as Alexa says 'Arga.' "Uhhhh.... remember what I said about the... stuff I was doing really, really early in my life? Uhhhh, Danielle was one of them, too. We had code names based on something or other." Alexa raises a brow. "Beer? Basic unflavored beer? Are there really that many options?" she asks, genuinely confused, then looks to Violet. "Say no more, darlin'." she kisses her cheek hopefully reassuringly. "Arga's not the thing t' call ya now, huh?" Lee remarks with a grin. "Please don't fleece us on the beer!" Lee jokes to Danielle before adding more plainly, "If she's not picky, maybe something light but not watery?" Danielle motions over to a section of wall where there are a large number of taps with various names attached to them. "Yes. And that's not counting bottles. You name it, we probably have it." She glances between the two, then shrugs. "I'll get you something nice and not something to expensive." She walks off to fulfil the order. Violet sighs and slumps slightly. "I didn't know she worked here. I didn't even know she was in the city... I'm not sure if I knew she... went civilian or not." Alexa narrows her eyes a bit at the 'not too expensive line', but says nothing of it as she hugs Violet to her. "Don't worry about it, love. Past is past, right?" "Cool," Lee says amiably, sounding more trusting of Danielle's choices. "So not a good idea to ask about childhood, right?" Lee ventures to the two. Violet nods to Alexa, then growls slightly at Lee. "What childhood?" she asks before sighing and shaking her head. "Sorry, sorry, you didn't deserve that..." Meanwhile, Danielle returns with three bottles of beer. The aforementioned orangy beer for Violet and a pair of 'Mad Dog MacGuilicutty Lite' for Lee and Alexa. Alexa nods a thanks to Danielle, then turns to Lee. "I know you mean well, friend, but ya shouldn't poke around in things ya don't know about." Lee frowns and leans back a little with Violet's reaction. "Sorry," Lee says. "I like poking around, so just wanna know where not to poke." Lee thanks the bartender and digs into one of the pouches of the splatter-painted tactical vest for the payment. "So... what's a two-person space exploration look like?" Violet shrugs to Lee. "Well... I dunno. It's what I wanted to find out, you know?" She offers Alexa a smile, but it's not her strongest one. She's still clearly a little spooked by running into Danielle again. Alexa takes her arm from around Violet's waist and laces her fingers with the other woman's, squeezing reassuringly. "And we will. They're cute. Easily flown, too." she smiles. Lee nods to Violet and sips the beer. "Guess if ya can't get out halfway there to look around," Lee says, "it's all about good destinations? Is finding someplace you can touch down without setting it on fire a tricky thing?" Violet squeezes Alexa's hand back, but only breifly since she needs that hand to open her beer. "Well, I honestly don't know with this universe, but in my mother's universe there were a ton of inhabitable worlds... But there's also a lot of places that are spectacular without leaving your ship. Getting up close to nebulae, for instance. I saw a black hole once, too, it was surprisingly pretty with the..." She frowns, struggling to find the right word. "Acre-something disk." Alexa grins, opening her own beer. "I've seen lots of planets, different people.. I can't get enough, really. Lookin' forward to more." she chuckles. "Huh..." Lee says thoughtfully as Violet explains further. "Maybe I need t' find someone taking more than two people on the ship sometime," Lee remarks. "I've seen a grand total of two planets before this one ...or maybe three different versions of one planet? Anyway, they look an awful lot alike outside the people." Lee then asks, "Is there some kinda tourist map of the galaxy you can totally ignore?" Violet takes a swig of her beer, then laughs. "Screw the tourism crap! I'm thinkin' we'll be more like explorers! Flying about when we have the time to go try to find something that no one's seen before! That one view of the nebula that no one's viewed! That one planet with it's twin suns and twin moons and the perfect double eclipse that no one's found, even if we have to stay in the ship to see it because of a bad atmosphere!" She then shakes her head. "Planets tend to look a lot alike when you stick to the populated areas. You gotta go outside to see where they're different." Alexa slowly smiles at Violet's dreams, and kisses her cheek. "That's my girl." She looks at Lee. "Honestly don't think I could have put it better myself. It'll be our real home that we get to see the 'Verse from." Lee grins at Violet's enthusiasm. "I can see the part about populated areas. A big modern city is just a city, whatever country you're in." Lee says, "But I was wondering 'bout the tourist map, 'cause I've seen folks visiting a city without doing research think they're the first person to see something really cool- which is great then, but kinda a letdown later." Lee raises a hand and admits, "Not real big on 'prior planning' here..." Lee goes on, "But if ya know where the beaten path is, might be easier t' stay off it." Violet blushes fiercely at the kiss this time. "Errr, yeah! When we get this ship, we're gonna make that our real home. Not some apartment. We can equip it with a living room, bedroom, all the things we'd want in a home!" She listens to Lee and eventually nods. "I can actually see your point there..." | |
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