Solo Of Pans and Plates

[Jay Darkcrest]

Fall 7, 515 AV


Winona was stirring a bright orange drink in a tall glass when Jay arrived for his first day of work. After nodding a greeting, he watched as she mixed whatever had gone into the glass carefully, then removed the spoon and placed the drink on the battered counter.

“Thanks, Win. You make the best juices.” A slender hand took the glass and lifted it to bloodless lips. The man was wearing strange clothing made of grey fabric strips and sandals. His limbs seemed inhumanly long, his nails black and sharp. After a first sip, the man winked at the girl and then fixed his blood red eyes on Jay. “Are you new? Wait, let me guess… you’re a Kelvic, just like dear Winona.”

Jay figured a bartender had to be nice to all patrons, so he tried to answer as best as he could in Common. “Aye, I came two days ago by ship. Alvadas is exciting, so I stay.”

The man smiled, but Winona spoke up before he could say anything else. “And he’s offered to help me for a little pocket money, so that’s exactly what he’ll do. I hope you enjoy your drink. Please excuse us for a moment.”

“Anything, honey.” Jay caught another wink before Winona ushered him into a tiny room behind the bar. Furnished with a few shelves, a small stove and table, it seemed to serve as pantry and kitchen at the same time. The Kelvic girl gave a soft sigh and leaned against the table. “If Danisar is flirting with you, be polite and ignore it. He’s a regular.”

Their eyes met for a moment and Jay nodded. Since Winona was a Kelvic like him, she knew and understood why he tended to avoid eye contact. Her glasses were beginning to slide down her nose, so she pushed them back up and continued. “I guess that’s your first lesson. As a bartender, you have to be polite and helpful. Some people come here to eat and drink, but some also come here to talk. It makes them feel good if someone’s listening. That’s part of our job too. Do you think you can do that?”

Looking up, Jay grinned a little. “Aye, I can. I like to hear stories, so no problem.”

Winona nodded. “Our menu isn’t that extensive, so you should learn how to make everything in no time. For drinks, we have water, ale and fruit cocktails like the one I just served Danisar. They’re meant for Symenestra, but others can order them too. Got it?”

Apparently Symenestra seemed to be the word for pale humanoid people with sharp black nails and long limbs. Maybe red eyes since that color didn’t occur among humans or Kelvic. “Aye. Water, ale and fruit cocktails.”

“We also have three meals which are steak, salad and bread slices with butter. You know how to do the bread, right? Salad is fairly easy too. If someone orders steak, you have to ask them how they would like it. Rare, medium or well done. Because of that, it’s a little trickier to make, but you’ll learn in time. Is that alright?” When she cocked her head, she reminded Jay of a small cat. Other Svefra pods kept cats on their palivars because they hunted rats just like Jay had done for the Darkcrests. If Winona’s animal form was a cat, she’d probably be a cute and tame house cat though.

Smiling, he nodded once more. “Is good.”

[Jay Darkcrest]

“One last thing. Of course, patrons pay for their food and drink. Since you’re just beginning, I’ll handle that for now, but it’d be great if you could memorize all the prices as quickly as possible.” She hesitated, obviously waiting for his confirmation.

“I see. What are the prices then?” Jay tilted his head, slightly worried. He’d worked around docks and dockside taverns before, mostly heavy lifting, courier work and other odd jobs, but those had never required him to handle money. Suddenly he wondered if he’d be asked to write down sums and ingredients, but Winona’s next words dispersed his doubts.

“Water is free. Five copper mizas for a mug of ale, a silver miza for a glass of fruit cocktail. Steak is two silvers, salad one silver and a loaf of bread with butter five coppers. We’ll go through it once more after your shift, does that sound good?”

“Aye, is good.” Again he nodded, this time with more conviction. Indeed, the prices sounded simple and easy to memorize. Since Winona had said she’d handle payment for now, he didn’t have to worry about that yet.

“Since it’s your first day, why don’t we try to divide the work between us? I’ll do the juice, steak and salad, so that means you’ll serve water, ale and bread. If someone orders something you can’t make, just forward it to me. The afternoons tend to be quiet, so maybe I’ll show you how to make fruit cocktails and salad then.” She shrugged. “That’s about it. Do you have any questions?”

Humming softly, Jay went through everything she’s said so far. “Do we carry the food and drinks to tables? Or do people go to the bar?”

There was a soft nod of approval. “Good question. Yes, we bring food and drink to the tables. Anything else?”

He hesitated, trying to imagine himself doing the job and envisioning the little bar. Suddenly something occurred to him, something he’d noticed during his first visit. “There is a sign over the bar with words and a picture of a rabbit. What does it mean?”

Winona blinked, processing what he’d just told her, before she replied. “It means patrons aren’t allowed to bring their own food to the bar. I’m sure you can understand why. Some Kelvics and other races hunt or catch their food with their own hands… fangs or claws. If they brought that here, we’d probably have fights and a huge mess all the time. So that’s not allowed.”

“What if they still bring it?”

She was frowning, obviously recalling less than pleasant experiences. “You tell me and I’ll ask friends to take care of it.”

Jay wasn’t sure if he understood the last bit, but he’d already learned so much from her speech. It’d take some time to process everything, but he was confident that he could at least fulfill the task she’d given him for the first day. Serve water, ale and bread. It sounded easy enough…

[Jay Darkcrest]

It only did in theory, Jay realized soon. For the first bell or so, he did nicely. Working next to Winona proved to be easy and fun. She was sharp and could be strict when she wanted to, but she didn’t bat a lash when a customer chatted him up. That happened more often than he expected as many regulars seemed to be curious about the new waiter.

Danisar kept watching him from the bar, sipping his drink, and sometimes commented his work. “Judging from the look of them, those people like their ale nice and solid. You want to fill their mugs up all the way, believe me. Less work for you, more fun for us.”

Jay furrowed his brow, but still followed his advice. The small band of Kelvics who looked like bears to him clapped his arm in a vigorous gesture of gratitude when he served their ale. Later, Winona returned with their payment and gave him a copper miza. “They tipped me. Good work, Jay.”

When the Wolf’s Cave filled up towards midday, Danisar disappeared with a wave and a wink. “I shall leave you for my beauty sleep. See you later, darlings!”

Work had been trickling lazily throughout the morning, but during lunchtime it turned into an avalanche. Jay knew he was getting overwhelmed when he was stranded between tables, unable to remember who had ordered the plate of warm buttered bread in his hand. Thankfully, the person in question gave a shout and wave to let him know in time.

After some time, Jay stopped thinking and started relying solely on instinct. Take an order or two (depending on their scope), memorize the table, pour water or ale, serve, then rinse and repeat. He was glad that the Watering Hole only had room for about fifty people, otherwise serving all of them would’ve been a hopeless endeavor. With the place bursting at the seams, Winona and he could barely manage. Yet they did, somehow.

He made mistakes too. Once he asked Winona to prepare a salad, although the pretty girl with the golden eyes had ordered steak. Apologizing profusely (and stumbling over his lacking Common), he took the salad back and paced in front of annoyed Winona until the steak was done.

Another time he brought two mugs of ale to the wrong table and winced as the customer at the right table cursed him for serving others before him.

His arm muscles were beginning to feel sore when lunchtime faded into late afternoon and the room had emptied considerably. Winona had already scarfed down scraps of food between orders, now she pushed a plate with lukewarm steak into his hand and told him to go eat it in the pantry. It tasted better than anything he’d eaten in a long time, although he wondered how she’d guessed his animal form was a predator.

When Jay returned from what he supposed had been his break, things had quieted down again. Winona smiled at him. “Don’t worry, lunch is the busiest time of day. From now on it’s easy as pie.” Relieved, he smiled back.

[Jay Darkcrest]

Her words proved to be true. They got more air in the following bells. Winona gave Jay a brief introduction to mixing her fruit cocktails. Because they were usually served to Symenestra, they had to be rich of nutrients and cater to their eccentric taste at the same time. Jay couldn’t help but furrow his brow at that. “Why?”

“Didn’t you know? They can’t eat solid food, they usually put some kind of poison from their teeth into whatever they want to eat, then suck the juice out of them. They can only eat that way. So we offer them drinks. Of course, they can order solid food if they want, but most do prefer those cocktails.” She smiled a little, the first sign of pride she showed that day.

So they all shared Danisar’s taste. Jay hadn’t had much contact with that race before, but he guessed in a tolerant city such as Alvadas, he’d see a more diverse crowd. He watched as Winona mixed a cocktail for the quiet girl in the back, commenting as she went along. Predictably, the cocktail was made up of different kinds of fruit. Grapefruit, orange, some berries and subtle spices. Winona pointed out that she tended to switch the ingredients around every few days so customers kept coming back. She’d probably try something with banana and pineapple juice next. After finishing the cocktail, Winona described that she mostly guessed how much to add from each fruit, how she had to experiment a little to get the taste just right. Apparently Danisar frequently offered to taste and give his opinion. She told him to memorize the ingredients of the one she’d just mixed and promised to let him try the next day.

When Jay delivered the drink, the girl took a sip and flashed a shy smile. “Thank you. Tell your colleague it tastes delicious.”

He nodded, almost as proud as if he’d put it together himself. “Sure, will do.”

In the late afternoon, Winona told him to mind the bar while she went on some errands and assured him nobody would order steak or salad at that time of day. If they did, she advised him to smile, apologize and say that the cook was on break. Jay nodded and shrugged at himself.

For some time, he took care of the bar, taking orders, serving and clearing away empty plates. In absence of his superior, everything felt more important. He had to prove to Winona that he could do the work by himself without messing up. When he felt like everyone had what they needed, he went to scrub plates and wash mugs in the back so they had clean ones when people started ordering food again.

Fortunately, there were barely twenty people in the room and they’d just served everyone before she’d left. Jay mostly lingered behind the bar, watching people. Looking closely, he discovered something interesting on every single person. With some, it was their clothing, with others, it was in the way they moved their hands or their facial expressions.

He felt like going over to some of those people and asking random questions, but he also knew he had to stay put and do his job. Things got more exciting when he started listening to conversations though. In theory, Jay knew many people, even Svefra, went to bars and taverns to catch the latest news and gossip, but he’d completely forgotten about that. Until then.

[Jay Darkcrest]

He’d noticed all kinds of people on the streets of Alvadas before, although the Wolf’s Cave tended to house mostly Kelvics, Symenestra, some Dhani, a few Zith… more bestial races. There were humans too and a spattering of other races. Certain kind of people liked to hang out in the caves, he supposed, and had become regulars at the Watering Hole.

No matter what race, Jay had no reason to treat them differently. Of course, he’d heard the usual rumors about Dhani and Zith. Wild, dangerous, always hungry for raw meat and blood. But he supposed Alvadas had reasons for letting them in. As long as they didn’t threaten or attack him, Jay was fine with them staying at the Watering Hole too. That didn’t mean he wasn’t intrigued when a Zith walked in though.

She seemed to be wearing a dark cloak, proud face tilted up, reddish black hair falling down her back. When she sat down at the bar, however, the cloak folded back and turned out to be leathery batlike wings. Underneath, she was wearing skimpy clothing and her body seemed to be covered in thick black fur. Claws for fingernails, eyes like midnight. “Give me a steak. Rare.”

Jay cleared his throat. “Sorry, cook is not in right now. Will you wait and order something else until she comes back?”

“How long will it take?” the Zith snapped, revealing sharp teeth.

Jay hesitated a moment as if considering the question. “Not long. You like some ale?”

She shrugged and gestured with one clawed hand. “Why not.”

While pouring the ale, Jay watched her from the corner of his eye. Bigger and more muscled than most human women. They really seemed to live in the wilderness. Unlike most others, however, Jay didn’t particularly find that frightening. They were not so different from Kelvics in that regard. Those wings! He almost spilled the ale before returning his focus and topped it off with a thin layer of froth.

The Zith nodded and slid the coins over the counter before turning to observe the other patrons. While she sipped, eyes darting here and there, Jay was observing her in turn. She didn’t seem to be expecting anyone, so he addressed her once more. “You come from Kalea?”

Her midnight eyes bore into him. “Yes, why?”

He shrugged. “Curious. You arrived here today?”

Another confirmation. Then she tilted her head and a spark appeared in her gaze. “How long have you been here, little man?”

Jay wasn’t sure if he liked how she addressed him, but he sensed she was a predator and more powerful than him, so he kept his mouth shut about that irritation. “Not long. I came here this season. With ship.”

The spark was definitely kindled now. “You some kind of sailor? Why are you staying here, not at the port?”

Jay ran a hand through his hair, trying to find an answer for himself. “Some kind of sailor, aye. I don’t know. The city is interesting.”

The corners of her mouth quirked a little before she took another sip. “That it is.”

They talked some more which was to say the Zith asked questions and Jay answered them as best as he could. Despite her civilized manners, Jay didn’t let his guard down one moment. She was still a predator and the marten recognized that. Trusting his instinct meant staying wary and not turning her back at her. She had just introduced herself as Dread when Winona returned.

The Kelvic girl began preparing the steak and Jay went to see if anyone wanted anything else. When Dread had left and the remaining patrons were happy, Winona told Jay he’d done well and dismissed him for the day. While he had enjoyed his first shift at the Watering Hole, Jay still gave her a grateful smile before he left. Stepping outside, he decided to use the twilight bells to do some exploring. Maybe he’d even run into some of the people he’d served earlier.

[Kaleidoscope]

Jay Darkcrest

Skills:
Bartending +5,
Observation +2,
Socialisation +3

Lores:
✦ Alvadas location: The Wolf's Cave
✦ Winona Timbrel: Owner of ‘The Watering Hole’
✦ Patrons of ‘The Watering Hole’ are wilder than most
✦ Symenestras can’t eat solid food
✦ Bars: A place for people to gossip in

Notes: That was a very nice thread, and a smooth read. I liked Jay's interactions with Winona, and it was good to see you incorporating the different aspects of bartending- it's not all pouring drinks! Keep up the good work.

Enjoy your grade, and please don't forget to delete/edit out your grade request. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to send me a PM.

Stay weird,

-Beautiful boxcode credits go to Aislyn!