Needing a Drink [Open]

[chriss]

Chris sighed as he walked into the bar quietly. His hands were in his black leather jacket, and he was subtley eyeing the women seated in the bar. In truth, all he really needed at the moment was a drink. Life had just been boring after graduating, especially considering he had not been assigned to a Starship.

The whole reason he had joined Starfleet, in truth, was to travel through space and see new worlds. Lately however, he was starting to wonder if that would ever happen. "Budweiser, please." He told the bartender, passing his ID to her.

He sighed, sitting on a stool at the actual bar, he did this once a week. He wasn't a alcoholic, but it was just a good way to drown out the problems of the rest of his life. And plus, it was a good way to meet girls as well. Which may have sounded sexist had he not been a ladie's man. When he was handed his drink, he muttered a soft 'thanks', and took a large sip of it.

Not too many girls here today... It always seems to tbe that way lately, doesn't it? He thought to himself silently.

He didn't think too much on the subject, because, of course, he didn't feel the need to. Just because he liked the ladies, didn't mean he thought about them all the time. No, that would have bordered on a sad obsession. Especially considering he never had a long relationship with a girl. The longest a relationship of his had lasted was, to his memory, perhaps two months, maybe even shorter.

He poured himself another glass of beer from the large bottle, and began drinking yet again. He'd probably only get through the bottle for once, he really didn't feel like getting drunk.

[kate]

Looking around her Rayne felt excitement and nervousness flood her system. This had been the first time she had explored earth off the ship. She was loving the plants and the smells she was experiencing. She gave small smiles to the people she passed by some of them started at her others looked at her with a somewhat frightful expression. That was to be expected though it wasn't everyday you saw a woman walking around with black eyes. She was glad to be outside though it was nice to stretch her legs and not see the same colored walls day after day.

Closing her eyes she let the sun gently graze her skin she felt happiness flood her system she missed the sun. On her world the sun was quite different from this one it was interesting to feel the warmth of this sun on her body she did rather enjoy it though. Spinning around she laughed softly she had felt this much joy in awhile watching as people around her starting having smiles on there faces she knew that she was projecting her emotions. but at the moment she didn't care. People deserve to feel happiness once in awhile and today would be on of those days.

Making her way to what looked liked a bar she stepped inside people looking toward the noise she gave the onlookers a small smile. Making her way to the counter she drummed her fingers against the counter. Watching while the bar tender walk over to her she gave him a small smile. " Uhh I'm not sure exactly what I would like just give me something that isn't that strong." With the bartender giving her a weird expression he stepped away then came back with a glass with a amber liquid in it. " Thank you" Waving his hand in acknowledgment the bar tender went to helping more customers

[dee]

“No way! Why would I ever even think about /talking/ to a guy like that? Let alone ask him on a date. You’re crazy, Anna. Absolutely crazy!”

“Did you see the way she looked at me? I think she wants to talk. To me, Andrew Hatters. Out of all the people in this bar!”

“He looks like a lost puppy, staring at you with those googly eyes. Come on. Go talk to him! What’ll it hurt?”

“Dude, you’re out of it. That wasn’t ‘I want to talk’. That was ‘Who’s the weirdo staring at me?’. Man, you need to sort out your girl signals.”

It wasn’t always pleasant being able to hear superior to most. Neither was it pleasant when said hearing only lead one to confusion. This was the case for T’Lae who, until only moments ago, was casually sipping on ice water at a table just far enough from the crowd of bar goers. The scene wasn’t her usual place; the mass of bodies cultivating relations amongst one another and generally being young adults, filled with hormones and alcohol. It was enough to drive the most tolerant of humans out the door, let alone a fairly intolerant Vulcan. There she sat, none the less, curiously examining the two groups peculiarly quiet compared to the rest.

Their conversations were near silent; both in pairs of the same gender, speaking on the other’s presence. The question remained why they were speaking to each other in such a volume. Given the music’s rapturous beats to the general lulling din of the crowd, it was a wonder how they were able to make out the voice that answered them. But they did, leaning close across the small tables which they were seated at and otherwise unaware that they were speaking of each other. Soon enough, the more disinterested female of the two stood from her table and made her way towards her male onlooker, striking up a conversation about the choice of music and how it pertained to their meeting. Or something along those lines, as about that same time an obviously drunken young man put a sloppy hand on T’Lae’s shoulder, slurring something about how pretty her hair was and how good she smelled.

Being a patient creature, she returned this gesture with the slightest of grins, hoping the lack of smile she painted didn’t hint to far as to what she was. Even then, she didn’t think this man could understand that she was Vulcan. An obviously disinterested Vulcan at that. Shrugging down her shoulder and moving somewhat off in the other direction from him, she attempted to dislodge his hand from her. He didn’t budge, only sloshed around his drink and chuckled darkly in her direction. Without warning he closed the space between them, now breathing acrid breath on her cheek. She tensed, facing forward to give him no leeway and stood. However, her motion upward caused him to grow angry and he shoved her back down in her seat.

This was going nowhere fast. ‘No uniform.' She realized quickly her status would mean nothing to him, and wearing no badges of rank herself, she doubted it would’ve helped. So she fell back on her next strongest option, pushing her hair on the side closest to him behind her tapered ears, giving him the coldest look she could have possibly mustered given the awkward situation. He immediately slackened his grip, moving back half a step. But he was dumb, choosing hormones above all else and offered a sleazy grin.

“I’ve never banged a Vulcan before, sweet-cheeks.”

It seemed the entire bar grew quiet at that moment. A few uniformed Cadets exchanged slack-jaw looks to one another, those in hearing distance from the Vulcan and her assailant now silent, stopping mid conversation to stare at the two. In her most authoritative voice she presented a warning.

“And I have never had the pleasure of removing an intoxicated man from my presence after I’ve shown obvious disinterest. Your advances upon me are illogical, to say the least. If you would remove your hand, sir, I would look back on this meeting as nothing but a mistake. I would think this fair, given your state and mine. Agreed?”

The man grew tired by the second word, though she kept on him, just in case. He grumbled a bit and moved off without giving a verbal answer, leaving T’Lae with a half-dozen onlookers gazing at her through the corners of their eyes. Wrapping her fingers back around her glass of water, she stared off past them, lifting the drink to her lips and wetting them as though to dim the curiosity around her. Those left staring grew tired of her, thinking there was nothing left to see, and returned to what they had been doing before, while she focused on calming the jitters that were left by the encounter.

[chriss]

"Wow, talk about getting seriously owned." Chris snickered at the guy who had tried, and horribly failed at hitting on a Vulcan.

There were many reasons why he hadn't tried, one, hitting on a Vulcan never would end well. Second, he hadn't really met a Vulcan before. And third, the way they sometimes acted sometimes just plain creeped him out. How could someone not show emotions? If it were him, he'd find that near impossible to accomplish.

However, had that guy done anything further, chances were he would have punched the guy in the face. Because quite frankly, treating a woman like that wasn't cool, it wasn't cool at all. And getting hit by Chris when something angered was like getting thrown against a wall of bricks, so one could have considered the man lucky.

He noticed the girl near him at the counter, she was pretty cute. Probably one of the few people in there who was. Thought the Vulcan was pretty cute herself. He grinned, turning on the charm within a few moments. "You know, I think I'll have whatever she's having." He smriked, then turned to Rayne briefly "And put her drink on my tab..." He said with a wink.

[kate]

Looking over she noticed a female being surrounded by males. She sensed that the female was getting annoyed and angry. With a closer looked noticed the woman was a Vulcan as well. Rayne wanted to slap her self in the past few days she had seen three Vulcan's she couldn't believe that. Not that she wasn't happy about although she hadn't really talked to any other Vulcan other then Spock. Maybe she could get to know the female at the bar.

Watching while the woman she was defending herself she didn't know if she should do anything to help. Think that it would be best that she stayed out of the conflict she was glad to watch the men walk away. Quickly sensing the Vulcan's discomfort she project a sense of calm around the bar. Hoping that it would calm down the excitement that just occurred. Rayne didn't like tense situations it caused to much havoc on her emotions which made her lose control over it somewhat.

Glad that the situation was resolved and people were back to what they were doing. Rayne made her way back to the place she was sitting looking over she heard a man say he will pay for her drink. She smiled back at him and felt a small blush come to her cheeks with his wink." Why thank you. May I ask the name of the fine man who is paying for my drink." He was pretty handsome and he knew how to charm a woman. She really wasn't looking to hook up with anyone but she didn't think that friendly conversation would hurt anyone. Taking a slower ship of her drink she let out a sigh closing her eyes she listened to the music playing in the bar. Waiting to see what the night would hold.

[dee]

Generally speaking, T’Lae would’ve left the bar after an encounter like that. She would’ve left her glass of water melting on the table and head outside, away from the thing that bothered her. But she was persistent when it came to humans, curiosity winning, yet again, over logic. She mentally reprimanded herself for it, cursing her emotions for controlling her. But that was the price to pay for her choices. Suddenly noting the lack of coverage around her ears, she tilted her head back and to the side, letting gravity wrap her hair back around them and keep her from further stares. Eyebrows aside, she looked like anyone else.

The beat picked up, young adults full of whatever shenanigans they were getting themselves into picked partners and slipped against each other. It was almost mesmerizing to the Vulcan, how they moved, drinks held high above their heads, conversations growing louder to be heard over the music. Now, this wasn’t the only thing going on in the bar. There were those who chose seats and tables over this, those who taped fingers against counters in time with the sounds. And then there were the select few, like herself, that sat in seclusion sipping at their drinks and eyeing the crowd or whatever it was that happened to have the misfortune of being in front of them.

Something calm came over her at that time; warm and comforting, her shoulders lifted at the sensation. Tossing her head to the side, ridding herself of a few stray strands of hair that were threatening to pool in her cup, she shifted her eyes around her, letting her interest fall on a pair at the bar. Lips moved and she knew there were words being exchanged between the two. She strained to hear them, though she knew there was no hope in the matter unless she were to pick herself up and sit at the counter itself. Which wasn’t something she saw herself doing simply to pry.

Growing impatient, however, at the unexpected group forming behind her and bumping into the back of her chair with every word, she decided she might as well move. Eyes locking on any prospects of available spaces, she became aware that there were close to none. One was open at a table with a rather angry looking man with his focus on his whatever was in his hands, and another by the two she had spotted earlier having words. Now, she would’ve sat back where she had been and dealt with the people behind her somehow, but they had gathered around her table the moment she stood up.

Looking down at her cup of ice water, her fingers trailed along the sides before she began to make her way towards the open seat on the other side of the girl at the counter. Slipping her legs around the stool, she thanked herself for choosing pants earlier and not her Starfleet uniform.

A rosey-cheeked woman leaned on the counter before her, head in hands and offering a sweet smile towards the fairly unidentifiable Vulcan. Her fiery hair was swept behind her shoulders in natural waves, sea-green eyes gazing down at the glass of water with a chuckle. Motioning with her chin towards the glass, T’Lae looked up, meeting her gaze with an impassive stare. This gained the slight raise of an eyebrow from the woman, who stood straighter now and folded her arms, sticking her nose in the air.

“You’ve got a weird choice in drinks, hunny. Water at a bar? Never seen that before. And I’ve been workin’ here thirteen years. Thirteen, that’s right! Sure, we’ve got the guys who want /lemon/ water. But all you got is some melty ice in a cup. First time for everything, I guess.”

This little bit of words caused the Vulcan to farther decrease any emotion she was relaying towards the situation and lift her eyes to yet again meet the woman’s, who was all smiles after she had gotten done and pouring a flat glass of vodka.

“Maybe you don’t like to look like you’re a drinker, is that it? Don’t want to attract the weirdos? But you’re still in a bar, so I dunno what’s going on in your head. But hey, if I’m some sorta crazy psychic, here you go, cutie. A shot, on the house.”

The small glass was pushed towards her, clinking against the larger glass still clasped in her hands. She slipped her water back, away from this intrusion, the ring of water on the counter growing along with it.

“I’m afraid I will have to decline, Ma’am. I doubt I would have the stomach to hold alcohol, let alone the desire to consume it. I thank you for the thought, none the less.”

Not phased by her answer, the bartendress smacked her pink, lipstick colored lips and continued chatting away at the obviously disinterested Vulcan. The lack of output didn’t seem to bother this woman.

“Did you hear about Vulcan? How those Romulans sucked it up like no tomorra’!? Boy, I dunno what I’d do if I was one of them poor Vulcans. Lemme tell ya’, it must be hard, knowin’ there’s only a handful of your kind left alive because of something like that.. that’s what I heard, anyway. All the kids here were talking about it the other day. Don’t hear much anymore. Now it’s all about the usual. Boys, sex, drugs.. whatever else. I’m gettin’ too old for this job..”

T’Lae said nothing. Of course she’d heard. Of course she knew. It was bothersome that this woman was bringing it up; giving her no chance to be recognized as one of those few left standing. She understood that she knew nothing of her blood, and that she hadn’t really spoken enough to be identified as something other than human.

“I did.” She began simply. “And I can assure you that it is difficult being a member of a species nearly wiped out for something beyond your control.”

This shut the woman up rather quickly, and with a muttered apology she moved off away from her and went back to work, leaving T’Lae to dwell on the past.

[nayari]

Sarabeth Morini did not often drink. In fact, she rarely if at all put alcohol in her system. It wasn't that she couldn't hold it, nor was it because she was a superlightweight, (which she wasn't, thank you very much). But she just didn't understand the 'fun' that came from dancing on a table naked to some Orion sex song or loudly confessing your love to someone and not even remembering it the next day. What about that was 'fun'? And what about it wasn't just 'pathetic'?

All that said and done, after the confrontation between Miles Timber, Pavel Chekov, and herself, Sarabeth knew without even asking that she needed a drink. Dearly. The emotions of the confrontation had left her feeling completely drained, and of course Miles coming on to her afterwards had been completely confusing and even a little frightening to the soft-spoken ensign.

Men. Sometimes she wondered why she bothered with them at all. Chekov clearly had no idea she was interested in him, despite her many blabbering moments, and Miles exuded sex to such a degree that Sarabeth wondered how any sane woman could remain around him for any length of time. Maybe it would be best just to back off for the time being, wait and see if any man came to her instead of going after someone who seemed so unreachable.

Except - four years of waiting and four years of an unchanged mind told her that letting go was going to be harder than she thought.

Nope. Not thinking about it tonight. Tonight she would drink. Tonight she was on shore leave and she was going to meet some new people and try to unwind before all the memories of her job and all the pressures of a security officer returned.

She strode into the bar, wearing a black bodysuit and leggings, her hair down and sexy around her shoulders, her eyes smoky and lips red. It was not very often at al that Sarabeth accentuated her beauty, but again today...she needed to feel confident and set apart. She could do that with the right clothes and the right makeup.

She came in in time to hear a Vulcan woman dismiss a potential flirt with such icy cruelty that Sarabeth actually clapped her hands. The sound might have been heard by the Vulcan's sharp hearing, but to human ears the sound was drowned out by the music and chatter. She noticed a friendly, open exotic sitting at the same, a handsome young man buying her a drink, and she tried not to smile. Her game plan laid itself out in her head. First, she would get a drink and look around. Second, when she saw someone she knew, she would approach.

Unless someone approached her first.

Sarabeth slid up to the bar and ordered a drink. She was fairly close to the Vulcan, but didn't move to engage in conversation as she assumed the Vulcan would likely wish to avoid human contact after the smackdown.