i've got my pride [RIP]

[rikubean]

The place was a bit too tame for her liking, but Red had been curious about the karaoke nights. She enjoyed the small pleasures in life, among that being a good gin and tonic and the opportunity to showcase talent while laughing at others who thought they could sing well.

She cackled openly at the last performer, some shy pimply little boy who squeakily chirped out some song about how he would one day rule the world. Or something. Red hadn't actually been paying attention to the lyrics. She'd been too preoccupied with the tone of voice.

The boy, however, wasn't quite as nervous and squirrel-y as he appeared. He glared at her, and openly challenged her over the microphone. Red stood, and marched over to the stage, wrenched the mic from his hand, and boldly announced her song to the pianist.

"Small pleasures, small pleasures, who would deny us these?"

Red danced and twirled around the stage as she sang. If she was off-key at points or laughed in the middle of a phrase, she didn't notice. In her opinion, if you stepped onto a stage, you adopted a character. The point was more on entertainment, not actual performance quality, though the two weren't mutually exclusive elements.

"Not for me, the happy home.... Mine's a fine... fine life!"

She held the ending note a bit too long, curtsied, and skipped straight back to the bar for another round. A fine life, indeed.

[rapunzel]

If you were to ask Rip why she went to this place at the moment, she'd say she had no idea. Sure, there was the allure of a margarita or tequila shots, but that didn't seem like enough to make her want to attend this sort of kitchy bar for something a bit darker around the edges. Luckily, most of their drinks were way cheaper than Rip was used to paying for so she just kept them on ordering like them as if there was no tomorrow. Which was really okay with her.

And it made the whole karaoke thing sooooooo much funnier.

She wasn't that drunk - just enough to have a good old buzz going. Enough where she would heckle or applaud or whatever the situation demanded. It was sort of nice to have the edge taken off and for her to have the opportunity to relax. Sitting at the bar with a bunch of empty shot glasses and a glass constantly filled with margarita was actually a pretty good way to end the night.

One woman just finished singing a song in some sort of retaliation to a challenge came and sat a couple seats away at the bar. Rip flagged down the bartender with a single finger and pointed it at the woman. "One for her on me." Rip turned toward the woman. "For one-upping the pain in the butt that was on stage."

[rikubean]

Red flashed a grin to the girl a few stools down. She'd never turn down a free drink, especially not one so rightfully earned, in her opinion. "You should be careful with your charity, love," she cautioned playfully. "You never can right know to what end your money's going."

Once she had the drink in hand, she relocated to the stool next to the girl. One of the students here? The girl looked vaguely familiar, behind the fuzzy haze of alcohol on Red's senses. There were just so many students it was difficult to keep track of them.

"In this case," she continued her earlier point, "you've gotten yourself a partner for conversation, for at least as long as this lasts me." She shook the glass a bit, managing to keep it from sloshing over her hand. That would have been a tragic waste of good alcohol.

Now that she thought of it, wasn't Red supposed to be policing the bars to watch for underage students? Or something? There was some sort of goody-two-shoes clause in her teaching contract. That wasn't to say she was too keen on being a snub-nosed spoilsport, anyway. Just a passing thought.

Instead, she gestured at the margarita. "Fine choice. Long lasting, easily refilled, and doesn't burn quite as much on the way down. You a regular here?"

[rapunzel]

"Well, I don't have much of an issue with my money going to another drink. So it's fine by me." Oh. It seemed that Rip inadvertently made a little friend. She had just meant to praise the girl for shutting that whiny brat up but no matter - Rip would be done soon and she was pretty sure this chick would be too.

She lifted the stemmed glass towards the sudden company and considered her point. True, it didn't go down as bitter as other drinks. But Rip liked bitter. She liked that hard, harsh taste that burned all the way down to the pit of your stomach. The margaritas were really more to keep her buzz going while cooling off after each shot - one could not be throwing back tequila all night and expect to tell the tale, after all.

"Regular? Nah. I work down the street at the casino and I saw the sign boasting half-priced shots and decided it was worth an investigation." Rip downed whatever lime concoction was still her glass and signaled to the bartender for another of the blended drink. "Assumin you are, chicky? A regular?"

[rikubean]

Red had to laugh at the reply, tossing her head back to give a full, boisterous guffaw rather than a "polite, ladylike" giggle. She didn't believe in doing things halfway. Especially not after a few drinks. "That's a right good way to think about things. Money spent on drink is not money wasted."

She shook her head a bit too vehemently and made herself dizzy for a brief moment. "I work at the school, but I spend a lot of time over at the Stab Wound. It's not quite as.... family friendly, we'll say, but the karaoke sounded terrible enough to be interesting. An' I was right, wasn't I?"

Although Red's original plan hadn't included joining in the singing personally, she couldn't say she was altogether upset about that particular change of events. It got her a free drink out of it, along with meeting a fellow non-moron to swap conversation with.

All in all not bad for one night out. "Name's Red, by the way," Red added. "Short for a nickname, but you don't care much about that now, do you?"

[rapunzel]

The Stab Wound. Rip had been there a couple of times and she sort of enjoyed the place. It was a bit darker than most of the places around here, darker than the casino even, but Rip was sort of into that scene. She liked the idea of people picking fights in bars - it was a good way to add entertainment when you were sucking down some scotch. But Rip had recently gotten into it with the bartender over at the Wound when she accused them of watering down drinks. It would be forgotten soon enough but Rip figured she would avoid the potential of being turned away and just go to this place instead.

"Family friendly is sort of the perfect description for this place. And you were most definitely right about the singing..."

She ignored the second part of the woman's statement - Rip didn't usually take the easier shots at someone, even if she was drunk. Plus, she had taken all of the bite out of the statement by saying it herself. "Rip. Short for a ridiculous name." Rip didn't extend her hand or any other courtesies. It would appear that neither of them cared much for the whole polite culture.

"So, you work at the school? I go to the Uni. Whattya do on campus?"

[rikubean]

Red laughed, tossing her head as she did so. Sure, she was mildly intoxicated and that was adding to the hilarity of the situation, but what was the harm in that? She wasn't so far gone that she'd forget this entire meeting, and that was what counted.

"My pleasure to meet you, Miss Rip, and in such a fine, pleasurable place." She chuckled at her private joke. Red cared little for pleasantries or a pleasant atmosphere to a place. What was life without a drop of danger now and again?

She took a deep drink from her glass, almost triumphantly throwing it back and slamming it back down. "Now whattya think I do on campus? I teach, of course. Home ec, cooking, baking..." Red considered waving a finger in some kind of reprimand but decided against it. That would just make her a stuck up educator, and Red definitely wasn't one of those.

Instead, she added, "My culinary skills are not to be questioned." Pause. "At least sober when my judgment isn't hampered by a delightful fuzziness in my head." She had no idea why she'd just said that. Now she felt a bit foolish.

[rapunzel]

"Hey, don't get snippy Miss Red." Rip's tone was as playful as it ever became and the accompanying finger wag drove home the point that she was playing anger more than actually feeling it. "Just cause I figured you were a teacher didn't mean that I would be able to figure that you were a home ec teacher. And, I can safely say, I did not. You seem way too relaxed for all that uptight bull crap."

Rip had a long history of being forced to do the things that girls (and guy, she supposed) were taught in home economics. She knew how to sew and do needlework and sing and pluck a harp. She was taught all of this and more in coaching to be a proper young woman. So, naturally, Rip rebelled against all that around the same time she chopped all her hair off. She felt that only sissies spent actual time doing that sort of stuff.

But Red definitely didn't seem like a sissy.

Rip smiled a rare, bright smile. "But who doesn't love that fuzzy feeling from alcohol?" She lifted her hand to the bartender and signaled for two more drinks.