Catch 'em while they're stunned, Jabba

Participants:

jennifer_icon.gif ygraine_icon.gif zachery_icon.gif

Scene Title Catch 'em while they're stunned, Jabba
Synopsis While showing Jennifer one of her favourite places in NYC, Ygraine bumps into an old acquaintance. It's not long before Star Wars again comes up in conversation - among other things…
Date March 25 2009

The Surly Wench

A punk rock pub through and through, The Surly Wench is dim, cramped, and incredibly popular. It's a small, rectangular venue with a bar bordering one entire wall. Despite this, ordering a drink on a weekend can be an exercise in line-waiting and rib-elbowing. There are a few small tables ringed with high stools for seating, but these are prime real estate. The majority of the patrons are forced to stand shoulder-to-shoulder on any given night. Almost half of the cramped interior is devoted to a low stage for live music. There's no dance floor. If you feel the need, you'll have to thrash in place.


Sunny, dry, and actually above freezing-point? Today is a day to celebrate, as far as at least one Briton is concerned. That, or perhaps she wants to drown her sorrows and hide from the recent news stories in a place that reminds her of her homeland…. Either way, Ygraine has returned to the Surly Wench after some time away, her distinctive flag-decorated biker's jacket on her back - though this time, a somewhat shorter brunette is held in the curve of one arm.

"Welcome to my other lair", Ygraine says with a smile to Jennifer. "The place where I come to warp my brain with heavy rock and strong spirits. They even sell beer worthy of the name. Though I've mostly used it as a coffee-stop before or after courier shifts, I admit…"

Jennifer grins. "I'm still underage, so I tend to not frequent the bars so much." She looks around, and considers. "Don't have to worry about little minds here, I hope?"

There's something about the Surly Wench that makes Zachery wonder why he even goes there. It's probably partly because it is a total opposite to his job's environment, and partly because his career-appointed psychologist's voice (which he completely does not need, by the way) still rings in the back of his head. Socialize! Be among the living! Other silly arguments!

The pathologist is sitting at the bar already, quiet and unassuming apart from glances sent in seemingly random directions. Not much socialzing has been happening, apart from asking the bartender for a new glass of 'the black stuff' every now and then. Ygraine, when she enters with Jennifer, is squinted at. Hey, someone who looks vaguely familiar.

Ygraine cracks a swift, rather impish grin at Jennifer. "I suspect they've already had their suspicions about the leather-wearing woman who comes in here on her own and talks to people about cycling or biking", she observes with a slightly teasing wink. Guiding the younger woman towards the bar, she spots Zachery - and after a moment offers him a cheery smile, raising a hand in greeting as she approaches. "Hi there. Long time no see…. Zachery, this is Jennifer, my fiancee."

Jennifer gives a wave as she looks over at Zachery, given name to face. "Nice to meet you, Zachery. Call me Jen." She offers.

She knows his name! Quickly, brain, throw a name back! Zachery narrows his eyes behind his glasses, looking uncertain, before finally cracking a nervous grin and saying, "Ygraine, was it? Sorry, ah— horrible memory for names." He pauses, then looks between the two. "Fiancee." He repeats first, seeming suddenly even more nervous. "Fiancee! Well. Congratulations." That sounded more like a question than anything else. He lifts his drink to his mouth to let half of it disappear down his throat.

Ygraine chuckles softly, inclining her head. "Sorry - it's been a while since we met. And thank you." She's briefly distracted from the conversation, ordering a coffee for herself, offering the other two a questioning look, the wallet in her hands as if ready to pay.

Jennifer laughs at the doubletake. "Thanks. It's appreciated. So are you two just bar buddies?" She looks to Ygraine. "Just a Coke, hon."

Zachery sticks with the drink he already has, and gives a small shake of his head. No thanks. He rubs the back of his neck and nods. "I… I suppose? We met here, I think. I'm not sure if that qualifies as.. 'buddies'." Then again, he likely doesn't know what does.

Ygraine chuckles softly, handing over the cash for herself and Jennifer. "We've had a couple of conversations - about things like Han Solo and carbonite. But that was quite some time ago now", she explains to her fiancee before looking back to Zachery. "Norton was with you, on both occasions, if I remember right."

Jennifer blinks in surprised at the mentioned topics of discussion. "Somehow I wouldn't think of this place as the sort to have the big nerd conversation." She smiles to both, each in turn. "So how did that one roll around as a topic?"

"At least once." Zachery answers Ygraine, "I don't… usually do well in places like these, on my own." That much is clear. He turns to Jennifer, then, and his mouth opens seconds before words actually come out. "… You know, I don't remember exactly. I remember the implication that I resembled Jabba the Hutt, though." A single chuckle leaves him, though forced.

Ygraine quirks a wry smile at her fellow Briton. "Only because you told me that you kept Norton frozen in carbonite, and let him out to run around for a few weeks every decade or so", she responds cheerfully. "I think I said that you _didn't_ seem like a good match for Jabba." She passes Jennifer her coke, then props an elbow on the bar as she awaits her coffee.

Jennifer chuckles a little. "You must have really pissed her off if she said you looked like Jabba. I don't think I've ever heard an unkind word out of Ygraine." She takes the offered Coke and sips, before looking back. "Might be an interesting way to take a vacation from it all."

"I seem to have my way of pissing people off even if I'm not… actively trying to." Zachery answers, looking perhaps more amused than he should, at that. "Though yes, Ygraine here doesn't seem susceptible to that particular skills of mine."

Ygraine giggles, running a hand down Jennifer's back, before turning to accept her coffee with a nod and smile of gratitude. "Hey, he described himself as Jabba! Honest!", she protests with a grin. "And Norton seemed really rather happy about being let out of the crypt every now and then. A very well-behaved prisoner."

Jennifer laughs. "Most guys do." she tells Zachery, as if confiding a secret. "We're all just paragons of patience and all that sort of thing."

And that's when things appear to go back to going straight over Zachery's head. He blinks in confusion, then… decides to try and change the subject all together. "So! Fiancees. How… how does that work?" Subtlety? What is that? Maybe it's a good thing he didn't accept more drinks.

Ygraine cracks a swift grin, then leans over to try to plant a peck upon Jennifer's lips. "Well, technically it's inaccurate - strictly speaking, we're not getting married per se. We're set to enter into a civil partnership, in the UK, later this year. That'll be recognised in some of the States over here… but not others. Including New York. As far as the state authorities are concerned here, we'll just go and do something odd and quaintly British, then come back. But… I think she's worth the effort."

Jennifer chuckles. "What she said. At least, on the formalities." The peck is permitted. "She asked me out and I was too broadsided to say no. And it went from there." She grins.

Zachery seems… baffled. In a calm and eyebrow quirking way. About what is not exactly clear. "Well, that's— that's… that's good." He doesn't sound entirely convinced, but he's trying! "Someone to be with, all that."

Ygraine gives Jennifer a one-armed squeeze and Zachery another wry smile. "Catch 'em while they're stunned", she advises him amiably. "On an unrelated note - have you seen Norton of late? I visited him in hospital at the end of last year, and he seemed to be well on the mend… but I haven't heard a peep out of him since then…"

The younger brunette chuckles. "Oh, it's great. She cooks, she cleans, she makes cookies…" An amused look back at Ygraine. "All while I'm off at class, and I get to come home and reap the benefits."

Zachery digs at what little he knows of social interaction! Awkward times call for humor, right? Right? "… So I suppose this would be where I take a stab at a joke concerning gender roles." He mutters, lifting his drink once again and looking immediately kind of confused and a little apologetic about those words even leaving his mouth. Smooth talker, this one.

Ygraine cracks another grin, lightly stroking Jennifer's hair even as she blushes a touch. "I enjoy the chance to be domesticated. Too many years of focusing on little but training. It's nice to be able to pamper someone - and myself. But yeah… especially for the US, I'm a dreadful breaker of stereotypes. It's meant to be the shorter, curvier one who adopts the overtly feminine role. The taller one in leather's supposed to be painfully butch. Though why those stereotypes are so popular, I've never really figured out. Fortunately, they seem to be fading now."

Jennifer laughs. "So wait, I'm painfully butch? Someone forgot to give me the memo…" She grins, looking amused at all of the conversation. "Don't let it weird you out." she suggests.

"Weirded out?" Zachery repeats with a feigned look of shock. "I'm not— well—" … That look soon fades. "Maybe a little. Though, you know, it's not… incredibly hard to. As said I don't really do well without someone to focus on." He pauses, then look to Ygraine. "Speaking of, I haven't seen Trask in… in a while. I figured he'd changed jobs or something like that." Not such close friends, apparently. Or not close enough to miss or try and contact.

Ygraine giggles at Jennifer, nodding firmly in confirmation of her requirement to be overtly butch, before blinking somewhat worriedly at Zachery. "Not at all? So far as I knew, he was to return to active duty in January…. Hmmmm. Maybe I should see if I can get hold of him."

Jennifer chuckles. "I'd better get going. My next class is soon." She says, annoyed. "Nice to meet you, though!" With that, she moves to stand, and gives Ygraine a quick kiss. "See you later, love."

Pretend there's no looking away during the kissing, 'kay? Zachery's trying! But you two might as well be two giant, red, talking lobsters. "Y-yes. You too." His expression still somewhere between amused and get-me-out-of-here, he quietens again and takes his glasses off to clean them on a sleeve for no readily appart reason. Nervous habit, probably.

Ygraine gives Jennifer a warm squeeze, smiling fondly after her, before looking back to Zachery with a faintly sheepish grin. "Sorry. I don't know where to look when people kiss in front of me, either", she confesses. "So… do you have to be off to work soon yourself?"

"I… probably." Zachery answers, sounding decidedly less than enthusastic. "To be honest I'm… kind of tempted to stay here and drink myself legless, but that would be," He pauses, putting his glasses back on and focusing on Ygraine again, expression blank, "counterproductive. So I suppose I should be off, yes."

Ygraine winces, offering Zachery a distinctly sympathetic look. "Tough times, I'd imagine", she says gently. "I apologise for reminding you of it."

The sympathetic look is met with a vaguely confused one. Oh right— recent deaths in the area. Even if he's uncomfortable at work for different reasons, he nods in an attempt at gratitude. "Don't worry about it." He gets to his feet, fortunately not inebriated enough to wobble. "It was… weird seeing you again." Different than nice, but at least there's a (weak but) genuine grin now. Weird isn't always a bad thing.

Ygraine laughs softly, apparently thinking much the same thing. "Thank you. I'll take that as a compliment", she says warmly. "I hope to bump into you again soon."


September 16: Freed From Carbonite for the Han Solo conversation mentioned.


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