Skeleton City // AU

[hatesblindjokes]

[you, sir or madam, have just been transferred across dimensions to The Hanged Maiden, which is really quite an unfortunate name for a grubby-but-popular little bar on one of the higher levels of the Skeleton City Underground. it's a work night, so the place isn't packed and rowdy so much as it is buzzing and kind of hungover.

there's a guy at the bar, near the end, who kind of sicks out. he's near seven feet tall and conscious of it, seeing as he's hunched over in the way that really tall people just seem to subconsciously manage. he's got a drink with ice in it and seems perfectly content to stare vacantly and broodily down at the counter in front of him.

part of that's because he can't actually see, but that's not immediately obvious.]

Comments

[hatesblindjokes]

[he takes the shove like one of those wobbly toys. leans to the side, then leans in the other direction, then settles back to how he was sitting before she shoved him.]

Yeah, no. You sound nice. [....] Er, no. Shit, that's not the right way to say that.

[tabbytastic]

[...snerk. yeah, this guy needs to drunk more. she reaches over to nudge his glass in the direction of his face, in a little 'drink up' type motion]

Close enough.

[hatesblindjokes]

Mmf-- [oh, more booze. more booze is fine. he'll have himself a longer drink of gin than is probably wise for a normal person, which is followed by a heavy sigh and a rather bland acknowledgement.]

I can at least admit that you sound pretty hot. [he props his head up on his arm, elbow on the counter.] Do me a favor and don't shatter the illusion if you're not.

[tabbytastic]

Ha, that does make it easier on me. ...Though, I guess it also means that I got all dolled up for nothin'.

[which is pretty hilarious given what she's actually wearing]

[hatesblindjokes]

Hah... Cute.

[yeah he knows you're not dolled up, honey. :|a]

[tabbytastic]

I try.

[and hey, maybe she's an underground fashion model. he doesn't know that she's not. it could happen. :| ]

[hatesblindjokes]

[actually, it really could happen. Robin deals in that stuff in his infinite free time. but he figures she would be getting more cat-calls if that were the case.]

...Name's Vincent, by the way.

[tabbytastic]

'Vincent.' I like that.

[guess that means that she should start using his name, and not just call him 'handsome,' huh?]

It sounds... regal.

[yep.]

[hatesblindjokes]

No it don't. You just made that up.

[yep.]

[tabbytastic]

Sure it does! Sounds like something you'd name a count or a duke or something.

[pause for a thought and a fake drink]

Or maybe one of those really big dogs. The gray ones.

[hatesblindjokes]

[he makes a sound that's somewhere between a huff and a laugh.]

'D rather be a dog than a duke.

[which he sits and thinks about for a moment, while he sips his drink. pretty ironic, seeing as they're the Stray Dogs and all.]

...You're not actually drinking that, are you.

[tabbytastic]

Tch, neither are you. Man up.

[playing it off like he's not being literal about that]

[hatesblindjokes]

No, no. I'm drinkin'.

I mean literally. You. Not drinking.

[he taps the counter between them.]

That stuff gets expensive. Hand it over if you ain't gonna drink it yourself.

[tabbytastic]

The hell-- I thought you were blind.

[hatesblindjokes]

I am. [he grins to himself.] I just got tricks.

[tabbytastic]

What kind of tricks?

[not that phrases like that make her nervous or anything :\ ]

[hatesblindjokes]

Does that freak you out?

[he will try and reach over and... find her drink. because if she's not drinking it, he will. :|]

[tabbytastic]

[well, being freaked out at least gives her an excuse to let him take her drink without going "yeah sure, you caught me." She leans away a little in her seat when he reaches over]

...Until you decide to explain, yeah kinda.

[hatesblindjokes]

I just know my bar sounds. And that was not the sound of you drinking.

[only half-lying, as he finishes off his second drink himself. he's really got a bit of bizarre extra-sense, probably has to do with him being part monster and all that.]

[tabbytastic]

Shit--and you're drunk?

[welp. apparently not drunk enough, at least.]

[hatesblindjokes]

Not drunk enough. [he's on the same page, girlfriend. :|a]

[tabbytastic]

Apparently. [--the closest to being huffy or pouting that she'll ever get]

[hatesblindjokes]

[he just smiles. C: nice to see her a little less smug.]

[tabbytastic]

[she just props an elbow on the bar and drops her chin into her hand]

Oh sure, now he smiles.

[hatesblindjokes]

Guess it's all that effeminate charm of yours. Or somethin'.

[he kinda smirks before he goes back to drinking all of the things.]