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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jan 21, 2017 19:41:50 GMT
It was Saturday night in Bellerouge and the sun had already gone down when the door of Bourbon Graisse opened and Anna walked in. She looked around the room and beamed, waving at several of the servers as she made her way over to the bar and took her usual seat. She had been coming to the bar every Saturday at 9pm for almost half a year and most of the staff knew her well by that point.
She was wearing a blue pleated skirt with black tights, a black long sleeve top with a mauve scarf around her neck and a set of black wedges. Her normal pigtails were held back with a sparkling headband and slung over her shoulder was a purse shaped like an ice cream cone. However unusual she looked, the staff had already gotten used to her unique tastes. One of the female waitresses even called out to her as she took her seat.
"Nice purse, Anna!"
Anna looked over her shoulder and grinned widely at the waitress.
"Thanks, Chelsea! Wait until you see the new one I just ordered!"
With that, she turned her focus to the bar and glanced down the polished wood surface, the grin still on her face.
"So where's my favorite bartender? Don't tell me they left me in the lurch tonight?" |
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Post by skyeknight on Jan 21, 2017 23:45:56 GMT
"Aw, you know I wouldn't do that to you, sweetheart." Axel said as he came out from the back. "So, usual?"
He already made to move to grab for the bottles, but sometimes Anna liked to mix it up so he would wait for her to confirm or deny. She had become quite the regular since the bar opened up. One of his favorite patrons the waitresses would giggle. Axel wouldn't argue. She didn't cause problems like other patrons and more than once his temper had been soothed just because she had been there. Even better, he was still going strong on his no-fire streak.
But Anna came in like clockwork, despite everything else about her that might have been a surprise. He had to bite back a smile over her new purse. It was... oddly cute and very much suited her. He wondered if Pascal had made an appearance or if the little guy was staying at home due to colder weather. Granted they were in the south but low of 60s and 70s might not be his favorite.
"How have you been?" he asked.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jan 22, 2017 1:51:47 GMT
"Nope. I'm feeling adventurous tonight so why don't you surprise me, cupcake."
Anna's expression turned serious for a moment before the façade cracked and she was smiling once more. Even though she really only saw him once a week, she had come to greatly enjoy the company of bartender. That, and he made some of the best drinks in all of Bellerouge. His skills were so good, she had issued herself a challenge that she would try all the different drinks he could make and only declare what her favorite was once she had tasted them all.
"Me? Pretty hinkey doory as of now."
However, as she spoke the smile fell slightly on her face. She pulled her purse onto the counter and for a time only stared at the false dairy treat. Suddenly, she roused herself and looked at Axel again.
"Some of my coworkers, on the other hand......they've been better."
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Post by skyeknight on Jan 22, 2017 2:49:24 GMT
Axel winked before grabbing some different bottles. A bottle of coconut rum, some spiced rum, some almond liqueur, a bottle of cranberry juice and pineapple juice. Only the freshest of juices for one of his best patrons. He even stuck one of the pineapple pieces with a toothpick and stuck it into her drink. Granted, for Anna, he grabbed the good stuff. He said it was because she was one of the good patrons. It probably helped that he liked her well enough.
"It's called Bayou juice." he told her.
He set the drink down in front of her. He figured she would like it. The bit of pineapple was unnecessary but if there was something he had learned about mixing her drinks was that she liked things sweet and tasty. Cranberries weren't as sweet as pineapples or at least in Axel's opinion they weren't. He figured she would like the drink regardless.
"Rough time? Does it have anything to do with the news broadcast about that idiot demon?" Axel asked. "The one who took the hostages? Or something else work related?"
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jan 22, 2017 3:16:04 GMT
"Something else."
Anna took the drink in hand and immediately pulled out the pineapple, nibbling on the fruit while she lightly swung her legs up on the bar stool. She finished off the pineapple quickly before taking a sip of the drink, her eyes closed as she let the flavors play across her tongue.
"Mmmm. Looks like I have a new drink to add to my top 10 list of your drink specialties."
For a few moments, Anna merely sipped at her drink and let her blue gaze wander around the room, taking in the other patrons and the decorations of the bar, the sports being shown on the tv and the conversations she could hear. However, eventually her focus returned to Axel.
"One of my coworkers up and vanished after.....after getting into a fight with another detective."
Yeah, that was definitely an understatement. She'd been down in the medical labs preparing for another day when she'd heard the explosion above her. Thankfully, only a few tiles had fallen off the ceiling and some equipment had been knocked around. She had gone upstairs, following the sirens and smoke and struggling with a million questions. What had caused the explosion? Had there been a gas leak? Was anyone hurt? How extensive was the damage?
She'd arrived on the scene behind Sunshine and just in time to see Pitch and Shadow in the room, the Demon looking as close to fear as she had ever seen him and Shadow disappearing in a flash of red. No one had seen a trace of the homunculus since then, and Anna was worried. And not just for him, but for the effect his disappearance was having on Sunshine.
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Post by skyeknight on Jan 22, 2017 3:21:13 GMT
"I'll add it to the list of recommendations to the customers then."
To certain customers anyways. He doubted some big guy who had a hankering for cheap beer was going to want anything as cultured as Bayou juice. But a few people would take him up on it. He liked mixing new drinks anyways. Anna always challenged him with that. It kept him on his toes. He was learning new things so that she would always be surprised when she requested a 'blind drink' as she did.
"That certainly doesn't sound good." Axel agreed. "Any reason why they argued?"
The reason why they fought might have some clue as to where that detective may have gone off to - whether to lick his own wounds (metaphorically) or police officer gone rogue an plotting his revenge on the department. Either way, this sure beat watching day time television for the fire demon. It was not good, but dramatic enough to keep him entertained.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jan 22, 2017 4:45:57 GMT
"No idea."
She made a pouty face at this admission while running a finger around the rim of her glass. She knew that both Pitch and Shadow weren't big on being open about their emotions or letting people get close to them, but she had always thought she knew them well enough despite that.
Apparently that wasn't the case, not if so much resentment had been building between the two had she hadn't noticed. Surely there must have been signs that she could have spotted but somehow missed.
"Both of them are pretty distant individuals that play things close to the chest. But this? This was completely unexpected. I don't think anyone in the unit had any idea something like this was going to happen."
With that said, she brought the glass to her lips again and finished off the last of the Bayou juice. She looked at the empty glass before pushing it towards Axel.
"Another round, please."
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Post by skyeknight on Jan 23, 2017 3:33:54 GMT
"Maybe they just need some time to work this out?" Axel suggested. "It might just be something they have to work out on their own."
He took Anna's cup back and started mixing her a second drink, the same as the first order. He didn't want to mix too many different brands of alcohol inside of her less he was trying to get her drunk. Anna knew her limits despite all that. It was a little concerning to hear there was infighting with the police department. Especially when they needed to be more unified than ever. When the media was on their every move, when they had a dangerous demon under arrest, when they had stopped a drug ring from releasing their product into the city's water supply. They needed to be of one mind.
"Here you go," he said.
He set the glass down in front of her.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jan 23, 2017 4:21:06 GMT
"I dunno......the last time I saw them......"
She paused, remembering how Pitch and Shadow had appeared standing in the debris of the offices. Both of them had always appeared so calm and collected even in the most dangerous of situations. But in those moments before Shadow disappeared, she had seen expressions on their faces that she would have never expected to see in a thousand years.
"I think that whatever is going on, its not something they can solve alone. I really think they need help."
When the refilled glass was presented to her, she frowned down at it before taking a single long sip of the liquid and then continuing as if there had been no pause.
"I'm sure of it! They're both just too stubborn to ask for it."
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Post by skyeknight on Jan 23, 2017 16:10:04 GMT
"What? You going to lock them in a room and make them talk to each other?" Axel joked.
It seemed like a very Anna-like thing to do. Along with tying them to the chair and refusing to let them out until they hugged things out. Granted, she was in the Others Unit so they were Others of some variation. He wasn't sure how much sway she could have over them in order to enact some plan that was going on through her head, but the thought was amusing to say the least. He might have been making light of the situation, but it was only to help Anna lighten up a bit. It might have been something very serious but worrying over it was only causing her a headache. It was better to deal with things as they happened, or at least that's how Axel handled them.
"Anna, if they're as good of friends as you say they are, then things will work out." he said. "Either that, or somebody transfers out of the office."
He realized that was probably a pretty harsh way of dealing with it, but he wasn't as attached to these people as Anna was. She saw them daily. She worked with them. Losing one of them at work had to be something difficult to deal with. Which was why she was probably hitting her drinks a little faster than she usually did. Not even a few sentences into a conversation and starting a second drink. Maybe starting her on rum was a bad idea on his part.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jan 24, 2017 7:38:27 GMT
"But that's just it! I don't know why, but I have this gut feeling that this is really only the tip of the iceberg, that something a lot more serious is at the root of their fight and things are gonna get worse."
Anna had stopped swinging her feet by that point and her expression had taken on a level of seriousness that was extremely unusual for her. Anyone who knew the young medical examiner was aware of her habit of finding the silver lining in almost any situation. With her happy nature, optimistic attitude and unswerving faith in the people she cared for, it was almost impossible to bring her down in any regard. However, it was clear from one look at her that this was one of those times.
She sipped silently at her drink for the next few moments, her mind trying to untangle the mess that Pitch and Shadow now presented while trying to make sense of her instincts. She had learned to rely on them greatly in her line of work and knew that they were rarely wrong, so what was it trying to tell her?
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Post by skyeknight on Jan 24, 2017 15:42:01 GMT
Axel frowned as he picked up one of the glasses, taking it over to the sink before he started washing it. Anna was determined. He would give her that. He finished up the glass and set it aside on the rack to dry. It was likely to be needed when someone else came up for a drink. It was just giving him something to do while he thought and Anna drank. He doubted she was going to let this go until she figured out exactly what was bothering the two police officers who had fought. If she later found out it was something minor, she would come back and giggle about it later.
"If you need a door busted in when you're on your little detective kick, you know where to find me." Axel said.
He didn't typically make a habit of injecting himself into other people's personal problems. He was the 'sound board'. He was used to that role. Just talk. It was what he was good at, but out of the two of them, Anna didn't have it in her to be scary.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jan 26, 2017 11:54:15 GMT
Despite her unhappiness, Anna's frown didn't stick and she smiled at the bartender.
"Thanks Axel. I know things probably aren't as bad as I think, but either way I'm gonna get those two to make up. Nothing's gonna stop Anna Castille!"
This last part she said rather loudly before banging her fist down on the bar, her expression over the top yet somehow cute. However, her antics had managed to catch the attention of a small group of men sitting back in the bar. Their eyes looked at Anna with a little too much interest over their glasses of beer, but she had her back to them and didn't notice. Her eyes were focused on Axel. She leaned forward and whispered softly to him, almost as if they were two conspirators.
"I might not look like it, but this woman is one tough cookie!"
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Post by skyeknight on Jan 26, 2017 16:46:37 GMT
"That's the spirit." Axel said.
He couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. He thought it was cute how she thought she was thought she was intimidating. She wasn't. Not really. But with the way she was acting, it was a bit concerning. Was she that bothered by her friend's predicament that she had been drinking before she had even hit his bar? Was the rum a little too strong for her? He had grabbed one of the better bottles. She wasn't normally this... lax when she was at his bar. It could have been that she really was trying to cut back and relax.
As Anna leaned forward to talk to him, Axel did the same. However, as Axel peered behind her, he could see a group of guys giving her an odd look. Axel knew what happened in his bar. He had to know what was going on at all times, even when he was talking to one patron. That table had ordered nothing but cheap beer all night, not even the good tasting cheap beer but the one with the high alcohol content that (in his humble opinion) tasted like piss. Glassy eyed dark looks traced Anna. Still, Axel stayed where he was. He had to control his temper less he burn up the bar.
"Doesn't surprise me," he told her.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jan 30, 2017 23:40:02 GMT
"Darn right!"
Anna gave one brisk nod at Axel's words. The drink was starting to make her loosen up slightly, but she was far from drunk. If anything, she was just pleasantly buzzed and that alone was enough to get her out of the small rut she had fallen into. The bartender was right, things would work themselves out. They always did at the BPD. And even if Pitch and Shadow didn't come to a solution on their own, she would be more than glad to take them both by the ear, sit them down at a table, and force them to talk it out or face her own unique brand of ass-kicking.
Suddenly, she pushed her stool back and landed on her feet, her one hand reaching into her purse and searching for a moment while her face remained focused on Axel.
"Heck, what am I sitting here for? I could be using this time to figure out where those two have snuck off to and get them to make up or face my awesome wrath!"
This last comment was somewhat marred by a little hiccup that escaped her. However, she didn't seem to notice and instead pulled a wad of cash from her purse and slammed it down on the bar between herself and Axel.
"Thanks for the drinks! Now I gotta go find those boys and get them to play nice!"
She gave the bartender a truly large smile before turning on her heel and walking out of the bar, her form turning to the left through the bar windows. She was walking with a determined yet upbeat stride. Unfortunately, the young men who had been watching her hadn't lost interest. In fact, as Anna disappeared from view the group rose to their feet, their taps already paid, and exited the bar.
Anyone else not watching closely wouldn't make anything of them leaving just after Anna. However, if they were watching closely they would have seen that they were following the same path she had taken. And the smiles on each of their faces could only have been described as predatory.
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