5049/Drinkin, Josie's, TBD

Drinkin, Josie's, TBD
Date of Scene:	06 February 2021
Location:	Josie's Bar
Synopsis:	No description
Cast of Characters:	Brunnhilde, Lydia Dietrich, Carrie Kelley, Nettie Crowe

---

Brunnhilde has posed:
It's a Friday night.  Plenty of people out in the bars.  Tourists wandering into bad neighborhoods to discover something they hope is a new dive bar for them.  It's Brunnhilde's favorite night next to Saturdays.  So excited.  The regular is sitting down near the end of the bar with three empty glasses.

"I always say keep them coming, but here we are.  Bottle?" as if drinking the tender into submission.  Brunnhilde is indeed left the bottle of whiskey after she pays up in cash, naturally.  "It's enough," she says with a muted grin as she pours herself another glass.

The rest of the bar is filled with locals and some newcomers.  Brunnhilde is hardly the only customer around.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia doesn't usually go to bars, but sometimes she needs to experience these things first hand so she knows what to put in her novels. This particular bar was suggested to her so she took some time out of her very busy schedule of being unemployed to come see.

When she walks in, a lot of the patrons stare. Lydia is dressed normally: Fuzzy calf high boots to keep her feet warm, a pair of blue jeans tucked in, a matching fuzzy jacket over a burgundy sweater. What really stands out about the woman is the fact that surrounding her is a bioluminescent green mist.

She cringes at all the looks. Really she shouldn't have expected anything less. Taking a deep breath, she holds her head high, chest out, proud of her mutant status. She walks over to the bar, and after the bartender hesitantly asks her for her order, she asks for a gin martini.

Carrie Kelley has posed:
A college student. A newly minted 21 year old college student no less, glides into the bar. It's not a GREAT bar, it's a dive bar, and so, brought by youthful curiosity, Carrie Kelley glides into the place. She's dressed like your usual college girl in NYC in February: yoga pants, hoodie, clutch purse stuffed into one of the pockets of the hoodie, boots. NOT UGGS. Arriving a few feet behind Lydia, she gives the mist a wide berth, and says, "You've got a really strong aura," in passing before she looks around at the crowded bar for a moment, checks her phone, frowns darkly at whatever it is some friend of hers sent, and then heads to the bar to get something to drink.

She isn't seeking out Brunnhilde, not even a little bit, but the redhead ends up near the woman. She looks at the lady's immpressive glass collection, and then tries to flag down a bartender. It is not long until she has his attention, and she says, "Gin and tonic," over the sound of the jukebox playing songs just a little too loud.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Locals, newcomers, old comers. A gray haired young woman walks in, and she purses her lips in almost amusement at the cloud... of... green mist? That's not precisely something you see every day.

    "Dunno if it's the aura, poppet." she states quietly to herself. Unlike the preceeding young ladies, she's dressed rather smart. Dark pants. Working shoes, a decent wool coat with a hood over it in grey. She gives the two young ladies a bit of space, though sitting nearby, and she gives a brilliant smile as one with many years confidence in themselves can give, and slides over a credit card.

    "Evening!" she chipperly states, "Open a tab and get me gin an' tonic, extra lime, use the good stuff." she states -- and then when asked, gives a sort of flat face and hands over her ID.

    It says she's thirty. She doesn't look it.

Brunnhilde has posed:
Brunnhilde is dressed in a black leather jacket with a grey hoodie on underneath.  The jacket is well-loved, nothing bought off a rack any time in the last ten years.  Her jeans are dark grey.  Brown eyes sweep back to the newcomers as the bartender moves on to other customers.

Overhearing Carrie's words, Brunnhilde lifts a glass, pausing just before her hunched sip, "That's one way of saying it."  She kicks back her whole glass without seeming fazed.

"What is going on with that?" the woman asks as she tilts her head a little to look down toward Lydia before nodding to each of the other women silently.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia waves a hand dismissively, the mist leaving a trail in it's wake. "It's just harmless ectoplasm," she explains. "I wouldn't be out and about if it was going to hurt anybody." The bartender doesn't seem to be buying it, but slips her her drink anyway. Lydia nods her thanks, and hands the bartender her credit card.

Lydia catches the question and takes her drink to wander over to where Brunhilde and her companion are. "I'm a mutant," she explains simply enough, a slight challenge in her voice. "I don't bite."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley takes her gin and tonic -- a popular drink it seems tonight -- and after paying has a small sip of it. She hmms, and says, "Next time, vodka," to herself, before she looks over at Lydia as she arrives nearby, "I think it's neat, I just, sorry, I've been doing some aura readings lately and thought yours was the first one I really /saw/ you know?" As she says this, she smiles a ltitle sheepishly.

The woman holds out her hand to Lydia and says, "Carrie," by way of introduction, and then does the same with Brunnhilde. She catches sight of the flat faced Nettie not too far away, and looks at her a little more closely as if trying to place her, but failing.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    The gray-haired young woman gets her extra lime gin and tonic, and she purses her lips a moment as she looks over to Lydia and Carrie.

    "Auras and ectoplasm and mutants, oh my." she gives a bright smile.

    "What method of aura reading do you use, Red? An' ectoplasm from a living being, to my knowledge, typically means a haunting. Or possession. D'ya take issues with ghosts when you're out and about?" the gray-haired lady asks in curiosity, turning to face the three other women sitting at the bar.

Brunnhilde has posed:
"Welcome," Brunnhilde says with lift of her drink to Lydia.  "Thank you for sharing."  She smirks as she pulls her glass to her lips for a sip, "I wouldn't let anyone get hurt anyways."

"Brunnhilde," the woman says with a tilt of her head and then a nod to each and then a squint for Nettie.  She chuckles and checks the whiskey bottle to see how much she's had to drink.  There's a process of counting in her head where she looks up to the ceiling.  Able to calculate the number, Brunnhilde promptly determined that, "Not enough."  She tops herself off, doing this dance of using a glass.

Then Brunnhilde tunes back into the conversation Nettie stirs up.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods in understanding to Carrie. "I see. That's a first for me. Usually people just assume that I'm radioactive." She takes a sip of her martini and takes Carrie's hand. "Lydia." Lydia's touch is tingly, like if you had applied menthol to the skin, but it quickly fades when she releases her grip.

She shrugs at Nettie. "I can tell when they're about," she explains. "I can't communicate with them or see them or anything. Usually they leave me be."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Clearly a little embarassed by the question from Nettie, Carrie bites her lower lip and looks away, "I..y'know...the kind people do. I read it in a book in the library." She's a little red cheeked, so, clearly there's more to the story than that, but, she sips her drink through her straw quickly, trying to change the topic quickly, "Brunnhilde? That's...a really interesting name. I like it."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Ah, so you're a beginner! Iiiinteresting." she gives a bright smile, rocking in her seat a moment as she considers.

    "Well just be careful, I suppose, is the key to any mystical understanding of the mysterious workings of the weird and wild ways of energy reading! There's no shortage of charlatans who are willing to make a quick buck on someone's desire to understand..." and her face gets dour a moment "... and oddly enough teenage girls with purses deep enough to support them. Bleh." she states, giving her gin and tonic a stir with her straw, before her chipper British accent draws up again "So, out of curiosity, what sort of aura do you pick up on say... Brunnhilde over there?"

Brunnhilde has posed:
"I am told my name belongs to the queen of the Valkyries or some such," Brunnhilde says with vague amusement.  Queen.  She raises her glass for a sip long felt overdue.  Then she sits back in her stool a little more as it protests loudly.  The stools here are rather solid, even for a dive bar.

"She's right.  There's tons of cons."  Brunnhilde cradles her glass between both hands at the edge of the bar.  She just smirks softly to herself when Nettie issues the challenge at the blushing girl.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Now that the initial curiosity of her mutation has been satisfied and people have moved on to other topics of conversation, she settles down in a seat near the others and listens politely, occasionally sipping her martini.

She nods in agreement with Brunhilde. "It's really hard to find reliable information about the supernatural. Most of it is just made up, but occasionally you find a nugget of truth here and there. "

Carrie Kelley has posed:
"uh...Red. I see red. Not like a bright red, or a light red, but kinda a blood red?" Carrie says, looking a little panicked. She glances at Nettie and then back to Brunnhilde, and then hear's Lydia's comment and it comes out, "Ok! I lied! I can't see anything! I picked up the stupid book to impress this really 'spiritual' guy in my philosophy class, and he's a loser but I've invested too much to just give it up!"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Even legendry has a nugget of proof. One just has to peel back the layers in order to find it." the gray-haired woman gives a wry grin to Lydia with a gentle smile given to Carrie.

    "Aah, such I can understand. Young love." she gives a small smile, and with a flick of her fingers produces a trio of cards.

    "Annette Crowe, of Candle, Booke and Belle. It's... a new age shop and tea house on the East End." she states, offering her cards out to Brunnhilde, Lydia, and Carrie.

    "How do you do?" she gives that brilliant smile again, aquamarine eyes sparkling with a little mischeif.

Brunnhilde has posed:
"I try to stay away from the supernatural."  Resigned sigh.  There's weight behind Brunnhilde's words, a heaviness of time and life lived.  "But it always seems to find me."

Brunnhilde pours herself another drink and lets Carrie continue with her panic until she's finished.  She doesn't seem to be in a rush as Nettie comments on Carrie's admission either.  Finally though, "Blood red?  Really?"  She grins and sips on her drink before taking Annette's card and sliding it into her pocket.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia takes one of the offered cards, and studies it front and back. "I'll have to come stop by one of these days," she tells Nettie. She sets her purse in her lap and opens it, pulling out her wallet do deposit the card, before setting her purse aside again.

"I'm head deep in supernatural," she says with a grin, waving a hand around in her mist leaving whorls and eddies in the wake. "Though," she admits, "I haven't really had any trouble with it."

Carrie Kelley has posed:
Carrie Kelley downs the rest of her drink, takes the card offered by Nettie and mutters, "Thanks, I bet /Justin/ would love to go there sometime." Her phone buzzes and she picks it up. She reads the text that has arrived -- any close enough to peek over her shoulder can see it's from 'Justin xo' and says 'Hey babe mik n i in mdtwn com up' -- and she lets out a gigantic ugggggghhh. "I gotta go. My dumb boyfriend is in midtown and he's probably gonna spend all his rent money on overpriced drinks and then come crawling to me /again/ for a loan."

She turns to Brunnhilde and says, "I'm sorry, I was making it up. I don't see anything at all. You seem really amazing and I would love to hang out with you guys again but I gotta go save my wallet and some pride." Is she going to dump him? Probably not. But maybe, MAYBE she'll talk some sense into him. Maybe.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    The gray-haired woman seems amused, and nosily leans over just a tad as she murmurs "Oh? That Justin?" she frowns. "Anyone who types like that is not invited. Uncuth invitations to an obviously engaging young woman." she decides, and as Carrie goes to to gather her things and make an exit, the gray-haired woman gives a wave. "Travel safely!"

    And then turns to the remaining two.

    "I'm afraid I've no real experience with the supernatural." she blatantly lies, and she makes it clear that she's not serious when she sips her drink.

    "... except the places where I do."

Brunnhilde has posed:
Brunnhilde is /right there/, but seems about as interested in eavesdropping on Carrie's text as she is watching paint dry.  "It's fine.  Just, go take care of your dumb boyfriend," since she doesn't have anything to call him, and it's clearly true.

"Boyfriends.  Always a pain in the ass," Brunnhilde mutters once the redhead is gone.  As for the supernatural, she looks to Lydia and says, "Clearly."  And then to Nettie as well, "Clearly."  Where'd the rest of the bottle go?  She rises and lifts her glass to finish it off.  "If you ladies will excuse me.  I have used up all of my money, booze, mistakes, and it's time to go sleep it all off."  The money too?

Brunnhilde isn't slurring or showing any strong signs of intoxication.  "Goodnight."  She then walks out, lifting her hood when gets out onto the street.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia watches Carrie leave and wonders aloud, "Why does she still date him?" She shakes her head, "I just don't understand why people put up with that."

She takes another sip and turns to Nettie, "I'll have to pick your brain one of these days. I write supernatural fiction and it's good to have knowledge of how it really works." Her lips purse as she muses, "Though why anybody would want to get supernatural advice in smutty romance novels is beyond me."

She nods to Brunnhilde, "I wouldn't know anything about boyfriends. I never had one." She nods as the woman goes to depart. "Have a good night!"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Goodnight, Brunnhilde! Travel safely!" Nettie calls out after the other woman, and then turns back to Lydia with a wry grin.

    "Smutty romance novels? Are there any other types?" she grins, giving her gin and tonic another stir.

    "I could direct you to some good resources, perhaps. I have a couple terribly dry and academic books in my collection. Reading about romance and smut with the supernatural sounds a lot more interesting." she gives a bright grin. "And men are a headache."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"Fair point," concedes Lydia. "Though there are various levels of smut. Mine tend to actually have real plots between the lewd." She shakes her head. "I don't mind dry academic books. I survived four and a half years of college, and that's reading about stuff I'm not always interested in."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "I tend to boddice-rippers myself. For... some reason." Nettie gives a slight smile. "Supernatural or not, though I do write about historical inaccuracies. I'm picky on that." she gives a grin.

    "So, four and a half years of college? What was your focus, if you don't mind my inquiry?"

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia finishes off her martini. "I don't mind," she says, "English, with a minor of education." She lets out a sigh, "I was hoping that it'd help with my burgeoning writing career... and it has! But that doesn't really pay the bills so I was hoping that I could get a teaching job by now. But..." she waves a hand through the phosphorescent green mist again, as an explanation.

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Nettie considers a moment, weighing her words carefully.

    "Is it your status as a mutant, or is it the physical appearance of the ectoplasm that is the issue?" she inquires, her eyebrows rising up as she purses her lips. Her right palm is itching, and she squeezes it a bit tighter against the glass.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia considers the question. "I think it's the physical presence of the ectoplasm that puts the off," she eventually answers. "It doesn't necessarily mean that I am a mutant, and it's not something you can ask in a job interview." She shakes her head, "Clearly they find another excuse to not hire me, of course, since they'd be in trouble with the EEOC if they were to just come right out and say it."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Mmmn... not with that bill that whats-'is-face has coming." the gray-haired woman frowns, and she rubs the back of her head for a brief moment.

    "Well... could maybe get an extended certificate? Teach at a school for the blind?" she questions, with a wince. "My niece was born blind, only reason why it comes up, mind you."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia scowls when Senator Kelly's name is mentioned. "Yeah. That. I mean, how are they going to enforce it anyway? Most times you can't tell who a mutant is just by looking at them. You'd have to do a genetics test first!" She shakes her head, trying to calm herself down.

She lets out a long sigh, "I don't know anything about braille and that kind of stuff," she says. "I've got a while before my savings runs out so I'll just keep on looking."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Well... should you need anything for luck, drop on by. Even if it's just for a cuppa." the gray-haired woman replies with a sad smile, then glances down into her cup. "I'll admit... I don't know much about mutants, Science was never my strong suite ... but it never did sit right, treating someone as your better for the sake of some... difference. Skin. Names. All just constructs created by society to grant some imaginary privlages to others. Peh." she sips.

    "Now my gin tastes like politics."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia wrinkles her nose. Politics must taste awful. "I'm sorry," she says, apologizing. "I'll..." she hesitates. "I'll go. I'll come see you at your store, though! I promise!"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Oh? What are you apologizing for? I'm the one who brought it up. This Senator Kelly. Someone oughta hex him. Some serious cursery... like..." she frowns a moment "... may his socked feet always find a wet spot."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia giggles. "May your bare foot always find a lego," she adds. Getting up she says, "I'm going to get another martini. You want something?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    The shopkeep waves the bartender down. "On my tab." she gives a slight grin. "Cranberry vodka, with whatever my ectoplasmic companion desires." she gives a wry grin. "I can't possibly let you order your own on a teacher's salary. Disrespectful."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia gives Nettie a pleasant grin, "Well, I'm not a teacher /yet/." She turns to the bartender and orders another gin martini. "So how did you get to running a store like that?"

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Oh, well, a while back my brother started up a shipping service, drawing from all over the middle-to-far-east and made a pretty penny doing so." she gives a wry smile. "So, as I go, I slacked off a bit, went to school for some oddball items like tea blending and meditation and I think," she tilts her head back "... at one point I was studying mediumship in Tibet, but that was a bit of a foggy memory, an awful lot of yak butter tea was consumed." she recounts, and then turns back to Lydia. "So one day I had it in my mind that I should open a shop, and now I blend tea and sell hand-crafted insence and run an apothecary out of the same storefront over in the East Village."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia leans forward, resting her elbow on the counter, lost in the tale. "Yak butter tea," she muses. "I wonder what that tastes like...." She blinks, "I wonder if it's even kosher." She shakes her head. "It sounds like you've had an interesting life, travelling all over the place." She sighs, "I traveled, too, but that's because my mom was taking me to quack after quack to see if she could cure me." She shakes her head, "I had to put my foot down finally when she was going to take me to some spiritual healer down in Guam. Should have done it sooner."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "You can't cure what's not a problem. The way I see it -- oh, thank you!" the drinks arrive, and Nettie is quick to thank and smile at the bartender "-- your genes decided to be, oh, what's the term the kids use these days? 'Extra' -- that's it! Your genes decided they wanted to be 'extra', so they manifest some sort of ability, or physical trait, or what have you. You have no choice in the matter, it's just the way you were made." she sips her Vodka Cran, and wrinkes her nose. "... should have ordered it with /Gin/." she mutters, then looks back to Lydia.

    "-- the same as if you were black, or white, or Asian or Latin or purple. Most people can't decide the color of their skin. You don't get to decide your genes. Extra or not." she states, and gives a slight nod.

    "... noooot that it's any of my business. I'm not particularly close with any mutants."

    She pauses dramatically, and looks over at Lydia over the rim of her glass.

    "... yet, anyway."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "And, if you are wondering, yak butter tea tastes fabulous, but only after climbing a steepe with four people and you're the only one who knows all of their languages, but none of them can speak to one another, and it's raining. Best thing in the world after that situation, an earthern cup of yak butter tea."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods. "I know. I was just humoring my mom, hoping that she'd just give up one day. It doesn't bother me being a mutant. It's just what I am. Plus I can do things like this..." She takes her martini glass and holds it up in the air, and lets go. It just hangs there, in the bioluminescent mist, and Lydia leans back in satisfaction. "See? Neat!"

Lydia catches that look, and her cheeks color in a blush. She coughs and nods at the yak butter tea description. "Um. Hem. How many languages do you know? I've got three under my belt."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    Mission Accomplished. She's now made two girls blush this evening. It'll be a good night.

    "Look at you, regular poltergeist activity!" Nettie teases lightly, and she dares poke a finger at the bottom of the glass, and feels the cold, tingling sensation. "Very neat!"

    Nettie pauses a moment, and purses her lips "Ah... English, French, Italian, Spanish, Hindi, Bangledeshi, Mandarin, Japanese, and Lhasa... conversational in most. Some parlance and idioms don't quite translate well between some of the tongues." she gives a wry smile.

    "But I've got a Gift of the Gab, as one of my friends back home had put it. I pick languages up easily."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods, and plucks the martini glass from the mist, and takes a sip of it, beginning to feel a little tipsy from the alcohol. "I can do other things, too. Here, look..." She holds out her hand, and the mist condenses into it, starting to take on a shape. Her tongue pokes out as she concentrates, and soon a glowing green lifelike raven is sitting in the palm of her hand. "See?"

She nods her head at the list of language. "I only know English, Hebrew and Polish. Grew up in a multilingual household."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Ah, girl after my own heart. Always liked the corvids. Except blue jays. Pain in the butt birds." she murmurs quietly, draining the rest of her cranberry drink.

    At the mention of the languages Lydia can speak, though, she perks up.

    "Hebrew? Are you Jewish then?" Nettie questions, interested. She sits up a little straighter, not seeming very tipsy at all as she watches Lydia with a curious gaze.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
Lydia nods, letting the raven dissipate back into mist. She takes a sip of her martini and nods. "Yup. All my life. Great grandma and her husband came over here from Poland right before World War two. They saw what was coming and managed to get out before things got bad." She shakes her head sadly. "Yeah. Ended up in Brooklyn with a bunch of other Polish immigrants, so the Hebrew and the Polish just kind of stuck around."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "I remember hearing about that..." Lyda gets a look of wistful sorrow from Nettie, and she looks down into her drink. "Family of mine did the right thing. They were taken as POW's and sent to one of the camps. Managed to get out. Far as I know, married a girl he met on the train and moved her back to Bristol."

    It might be a charming family story, if it didn't seem like it was more remembering than telling a story. She gets a dark look across her face.


    "... never had the chance to learn Hebrew. Or Polish. Maybe I should make an attempt." she gives a wan smile at that.

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"If you like, I can teach you," Lydia offers without thinking, trying to brighten Nettie's sour mood. "I mean... it'll let me practice being a teacher and it's something else I can add to my CV."

Nettie Crowe has posed:
    "Heh, well, then we'll have to work out some sort of payment. I'm usually found at the shop-- the address is right on the card. Come by for a cup of tea and we'll go over some language then." the gray-haired young woman stands, and motions to the bartender. "Should she stay, keep the tab open, yeah?" she gives a smile, then a wink to Lydia.

    "It's been my absolute pleasure to make your acquaintence this evening, Miss Lydia."

Lydia Dietrich has posed:
"The pleasure's been all mine," Lydia replies. "I'll swing by sometime this week." She gives Nettie a friendly waves and turns around to watch the patrons for a bit before pulling out a notepad to do what she originally came here to do: Observe.