fluxscape | OPEN

Who: Everyone and anyone
What: Grand Opening/Gathering post fun
Where: Pour Judgement - Jessica's bar
When: 6-14 night

Pour Judgement is officially open!

Sure, Jessica has been at the bar pretty much every day since receiving the key and has been letting people hang out if they had stopped by but now is the grand opening. Everyone who wants to come in will be allowed to do so since the staff is in place and they are full up on everything they need. Drinks are cheaper, the music is playing, and there is even a dance floor if anyone is so inclined.

For the most part, Jessica is milling about just keeping an eye on things. She will be behind the bar if the bartenders need help or she can be found at one of the corner booths nearby. Mostly, she just wants everyone to have a good time. Except for anyone looking to cause trouble. Those people won't have a good time at all.

[ Go ahead, post your people, and tag around! If you want Jessica, I will have a thread for her below. Feel free to find her anywhere in the bar. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thank God for this bar. Malcolm generally prefers to drink alone, but he'll take any safe place to drink here. The local bar is rough. At least he doesn't feel like he has to watch his back here.

He's nursing a whiskey when a young woman sits down two stools over from him. Malcolm smiles politely at her, but doesn't start a conversation. He's not the type to hit up a woman at a bar.

Instead, he observes her for a little while. She doesn't notice because her eyes are on one of the bartenders, watching everywhere he goes and every drink he makes. Eventually, Malcolm just has to make a comment. He leans over, so she'll know he's talking to her.

"You know, most people don't come to bars to pick up the bartender."

To be honest, Lydia can't really remember the last time she had gone to a bar just to drink and hang out. It feels a bit strange even now but at least this place seems to be nicer than the local one she had passed a couple of times while walking to work. That place had screamed at her with all the bad vibes coming out of it but this place was different so far. It also helped that Shadow was there.

But she isn't so distracted that she doesn't notice when she is being watched. At one point she glances at the man who is sitting a couple of stools away but he seems to be looking elsewhere when she does. So she switches her focus back to her drink, taking another sip of the tart liquor when she realizes that he is leaning close to talk to her.

His comment makes her laugh a bit which she suppresses somewhat by pressing her lips together, drawing out the hint of a smirk dotted by a small dimple when she looks at her. "No? I thought that was kind of the popular thing to do. As if it were a challenge or something."

He shrugs. "I'm honestly not sure about bar etiquette, but you could be right. I imagine that bartenders get hit on all the time." Malcolm sips his whiskey. "The two of you are already together though aren't you?"

Lydia smiles as she glances at Shadow again, already having come to terms with the fact that he would probably get hit on a lot while he was working. She couldn't blame anyone for doing so and she trusted Shadow enough to know he would probably laugh it off but never allow it to go too far.

Then she glances at him again, looking amused. "We are. What gave it away?"

"The way he looks back at you," Malcolm says. "He's being professional, but he keeps stealing glances at you and smiling. There's also his body language. He leans in when he speaks to you. It's a gesture of familiarity."

Sometimes he can use profiling for good. It's a good party trick, at least.

There is no way she can stop her features from softening a little at his assessment, her gaze inevitably drifting back towards Shadow who glances over at the same time, meeting her gaze with a curious look and a smile. It's clear that he is trying to ask silently what is happening but she merely smiles back to let him know things are fine.

"You're good at reading people," She focuses the smile on the other man, looking at him again. "Is that because..."

"I'm psychic?" Malcolm's smile widens. "No. I'm a criminal profiler, so I study behavior for a living." Usually it's serial killers, not couples, but his skills can be used in a number of situations.

"Did you two know each other back home or did you meet here?"

"I might have believed you. Most 'psychics' are skilled in cold readings when they are around people," Lydia points out with an amused look. "But saying that you're a criminal profiler makes a lot more sense."

"We knew each other from back home and, yes, I know that is surprising. That we managed to both end up here," But it is clear that she is thankful for it when she briefly glances at Shadow again, watching him for a second before she looks at Malcolm again.

"So where did you work as a criminal profiler?"

"You're not the only ones, or so I've heard." Nobody from his home is here with him and he doesn't want to dwell too much on why that is. Maybe the powers that be don't think he needs anyone. Regardless, he wouldn't want anyone he knows to get stuck in this hellhole.

Malcolm takes another sip of his whiskey. "The FBI and then the NYPD."

[ ooc: I just realized that they both work at the bookstore so they probably already knew each other, whoops? ]

"That's interesting. I wonder how many there are that know each other," That does make her wonder then if there is a reason why both her and Shadow were brought to this place. Along with all the people who had ties to someone else.

"Wow. I'm guessing this feels a lot slower in comparison?" She knows how slow it feels to her.

[ ooc: haha whoops, I guess we can say they've worked different days and hadn't officially met yet? ]

"It might make an interesting study," Malcolm says, musing on that. He wonders if there's a pattern at all and if it can shed any light on how or why they're all here. It might be grasping at straws, but he's willing to look into anything at this point.

Malcolm nods. "It was a surprise, waking up on a train. I'd been dealing with some stuff back home."

Being framed for a murder, then his sister killing a man in front of him. That kind of stuff.

OPEN

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