Too early for a drink
Characters, Jeremy and Mojo, then Grace and Mojo Setting: The bar, then the store. Early morning (pre-trial)
Even the impending hassle of jury duty couldn’t slow down Mojo, it seemed. Slipping from the elevator in the basement, she had a bit of dance-ish swagger to her steps as she moved for the bar’s entrance, and why not? She was about to get her wine for the day, and if she could manage a quick stop in the store too? Bukowski Day was going to go off without a hitch, aside from potentially having to decide the punishments for friends and strangers alike.
“I’ve changed, you’ve changed, it’s not the same,” she crooned in time with her swaying steps stepping into the club, “Tell me what’s the difference if I go back to normal again?”
Jeremy hadn’t beat her there by more than a few minutes, dressed in his suit and fedora again, because considering he had jury duty himself, he might as well look nice. The suit had a nice subtle pinstripe, which had been fantastic when he found it in his things. Definitely worth the special occasion. When he heard the singing, he looked up and back at her, grinning more as she came into the bar. “Mojo?” he ventured, though he was almost sure he was right.
By comparison, Mojo looked like she should’ve been waiting in line for a basement concert with her ratty t-shirt and loose jeans, her hair clipped back sloppily with a few strands left hanging loose. By her logic, real jury duty wouldn’t merit much respect, so why dress up for pretend juries?
“The one and only,” she answered with a bright grin for Jeremy as she looked him over. He was cute, well put-together, and apparently confident based on the crisp suit and hat. She had to repress the urge to give him some grief for it, figuring that he’d said he was on the jury too. Maybe he just wanted to look presentable... “Jeremy, yeah? Thanks for opening up early, I know it’s kinda weird to be looking for booze at... what, eight in the morning?”
"I don't mind," Jeremy told her, not minding the way she looked him over. He was used to that. That was half of his goal of being the way he was. He'd been wearing a suit long before he had proper board rooms to wear it in. "I'm guessing you won't be the last who will make the request." He moved behind the bar then patted a place across from him. "What'll it be?"
Stepping right up to the bar, Mojo slipped into a seat and folded both arms across the countertop. “Two bottles of your cheapest red wine, please,” she requested playfully, “To go. I figure that’ll make this jury thing more fun, follow?” She grinned bright at that, looking away from Jeremy to check out the club around her with a bit of awe. Either this place had been set up and hidden, or the people running the facility had some insane resources to just add it on. “Kidding, I’m gonna be sober for jury detail, but I do need those to go. For later.”
“If the jury at my trial had been fed red wine, I imagine my sentence would have been far more manageable.” Not that Jeremy had been in for an awfully long time, but the extra time added for trying to escape hadn’t made the sentence all that pretty. Of course, he hadn’t planned on staying the whole time anyway. Reaching under the bar he found two bottles, neither anything fancy and set them in front of her. “What’s later that needs this?”
“That or they’d have had a lot more fun deciding it at least,” Mojo agreed, taking a bottle in each hand and making a little show of inspecting the labels. She didn’t know much about wine in general, but enough to know that this was plain, but drinkable. It’d work. “And later is Bukowski Day, like I said on the terminals?” she answered, giving one bottle the best palm-spin Mojo could manage without dropping it. “But I’ll assume you’re not up on your classic lit and just elaborate; Charles Bukowski was a severe alcoholic and an amazing writer, so today I’m gonna get absurdly drunk in his honor, read his books out loud for anyone nearby, and do my best impressions of his writing style with whatever comes to mind,” she explained brightly, “Just, y’know... after jury duty.”
Jeremy was only mildly aware of the author, but did his best to smile while she spoke, ringing her up on the register while he listened. “Sounds like quite the event,” he said, grinning more at the trick with the bottle. Maybe she should be working back here as well. “I think, if he’s anything like most drunk writers, he’d appreciate the gesture.”
She nodded zealously at Jeremy’s assessment, extending her arm to give him access to her credit chit. It was weird having money in here at all, and future QR-code money? Even weirder. But if it got Mojo access to her drinks and such, she wouldn’t complain. “I’m hoping he would,” she agreed, “And if I’m lucky it’ll be a fun distraction for the day. Come on by after court if you like, I’m posting up in the library for it.”
Jeremy held out the scanner and caught the code on her bracelet, listening to it beep before nodding that she was good. “I just might do that. Should be a good way to break up the day. Don’t want to get bored or anything.” Though he doubted this woman got bored often.
“You, sir, just shared my motto,” Mojo confided with a wink, withdrawing her wrist. “Life’s too short to wish you had something to do during it. So yeah, come on by the library later. Sit in on some good lit, I might even write you something. Maybe. Depending on how far through one of these bottles I get.” And with a grin like hers? It seemed hellishly likely that Jeremy was right; Mojo rarely got bored with the way she lived.
He couldn’t help but echo the smile, nodding towards the door. They were due in jury duty soon anyway. “Sounds good to me. Especially if there’s an offer to write something. Count me in completely.” It was something to do and at the very least, it’d be interesting.
She brightened at that, radiating some unassailable enthusiasm that seemed to go from her smile all the way to the bounce in Mojo’s step as she dropped from her seat with a bottle in each hand. “I will, so now if you don’t show? Penalties...” Mojo warned mock-ominously as she backed away from the bar. “Penalties I’ll have to think of if and when you ditch out, so don’t make me do that, cool?”
Jeremy rolled his eyes good naturedly, following after her after checking to make sure the bar was ready to be shut down. “I have a feeling you couldn’t make the penalties that bad.”
“You have no idea, dude,” Mojo warned as she walked, grinning over a shoulder at Jeremy. “All this enthusiasm just means I’m really fired up when it comes to punishing people, and I’m nothing if not creative with that shit...” Hopefully, though, Mojo wouldn’t have to prove it. Hopefully he’d be there later and jury duty would breeze right by so she could get to the important things in life. Like drinking. And after a quick trip upstairs and a stop in the store? She’d know just how long playing at being a juror was going to take.
~~~~
It was only maybe fifteen minutes before her stop at the bar was tended to and her bottles of wine were safely tucked away for later; Mojo was quick to head back down to the sub-level in search of the shop. She knew time was working against her before she and the others were expected to go play at being jurors, and after? Well, there was a lot of drinking and writing due, and starting either one would make this trip unlikely. Best to get it done now.
So it was that Mojo headed into the store with her usual disheveled look firmly in place from her ratty t-shirt and worn jeans to the slapdash job she’d done restraining her hair, leaving a few locks to spill free and get tucked behind her ears. “Anyone here?” she called, gripping her little shopping list in one hand as she moved for what she assumed was the counter.
Mojo wasn’t the only one that was going off to play jury. Still, Grace wanted to stop in and put in a little work before she headed off to the courtroom. She was amazed that they were going through so many cases today, instead of trying to spread them out a little, but probably better to get them over with rather than spacing them out too much.
Grace stood up from behind the counter that she was working around. “Hi,” she said with a smile. “Can I help you with something?”
“Um, yeah? Don’t think we’ve met yet,” Mojo said as she rolled up on the counter and offered a hand across, “I’m Mojo. And I’m not sure I need help? Like, I can probably find what I’m looking for, but I won’t turn it down if you’re offering.”
Twisting to look away with her hand still offered, Mojo scowled in observation of the store, eyes narrowing before she looked back to Grace and softened her expression. “Trying to score one of those one-cup coffee makers, a picture atlas, and the skeeviest red sweater you can find on the racks,” she shared, breaking out a bright grin.
Grace smiled and reached her hand across as well. “I’m Grace,” she said, shaking her hand. “I’m happy to help if you want it,” she told her. She couldn’t help but smile when Mojo said that she wanted the skeeviest red sweater that she could find. The younger woman seemed to have a wonderful sense of humor, at least. “Why don’t you check out the clothing racks and I’ll put the coffee maker and picture atlas together for you?” she suggested.
Shaking hands absently before she finally looked back, Mojo nodded at the suggestion as she let Grace’s hand go. “Sounds good,” she agreed as she stepped towards the clothing displays. “And Grace? I... yeah, I remember seeing your name for the governor job, right?” It helped Mojo to try and get a handle on the countless people she hadn’t met yet, at least being able to pin them to jobs they’d been up for. “Kinda weird that your options were running the place or doing this,” Mojo noted as she moved through the store.
"Well, I think they may have based it on what we did before we came here," Grace commented as she started to gather up the other things that Mojo needed. "I thought that Wu would make a better governor than I would, plus I am used to selling things." If asked, Grace would reveal why she was so used to selling things and telling others what to do, but she just wasn't the type to spit something out like that. She set the coffee maker on the counter and then went off to getting the picture atlas for her. "I remember you being up for being bartender. Did you get that?" She had to admit that she couldn't remember.
Rummaging through the hangers, Mojo had a speculative frown firmly in place as she moved past each garment in turn. She needed something specific for what she had in mind... “Yeah, I was up for it,” she confirmed for Grace, scowling at a deep blue sweater that was the right cut but wrong color entirely. “I told people not to vote for me there though; seemed like everyone was afraid of getting the cleaning crew jobs and I don’t really give two shits about shining the floors, so I figured I’d just volunteer for it.”
Hopefully it had earned her some goodwill with the others, too; Mojo figured she’d need it for some theoretical future where her lack of impulse control got her in trouble. “And some day maybe I’ll get why everyone’s so supportive of Wu,” she went on with a smirk aimed Grace’s way. “Like, you’ve got a reason, same with a few other people in here, but he got a majority vote? Shit’s crazy...”
Grace nodded at the explanation. "Wu has the experience of gaining loyalty and getting people to follow orders. That's why I suggested and thought he would be good for the job," she explained. Once she had the picture atlas, she stuck it with the coffee maker and watched as Mojo went about looking for the exact right sweater.
"I'm not sure why so many shied away from the cleaning jobs. I mean, we all have to already clean up after ourselves, and isn't that just an extension of it?" She wouldn't have minded doing the cleaning if she had been up for only that, either. Still, she was glad that she was working in the store. She felt that it suited her.
“It is and it isn’t, I guess?” Mojo mused, holding a sweater up against her chest as if gauging the fit without trying it on. “Like, what you’re saying? Sure, that’s not so bad. I cleaned the cafeteria and the halls yesterday, shit was easy and it kept me out of trouble. But like when someone trashes the laundry room? That’s my gig now.”
Honestly, it had her hoping the whole jury game was going to work, because Mojo seriously wasn’t big on cleaning up after assholes. Regular use, sure, but malice that she wasn’t causing? Nope. “And that makes sense as far as Wu. Dude spooks me, but it makes sense at least,” she added, eventually draping an overly large sweater across her arm. “Think I’ve got the closest I’m gonna get.”
"Ah, I see what you mean," Grace said with a nod. She knew that she would be angry with people if she had to clean up after the mess in the laundry room. "That would annoy the hell out of me as well." She wondered if having a police force would curb that nonsense. Probably not. They were all here because they broke the law, after all.
"Maybe the spookiness will help people respect him," Grace said, grinning slightly. He certainly had an imposing presence. It was easy for people to fall in line when they were scared of a person. She nodded at the sweater and started to ring up her purchases. "If you know how to sew, you might be able to get that to look how you want."
Shrugging, Mojo just slung the sweater over her arm as she started back towards the counter. “I do know how, but I probably don’t have time between jury duty and shit? So safety pins’ll have to do,” she decided with a little huff that didn’t actually diminish her levity any. “And yeah, I think that’s Wu’s plan so far. I know I’m not gonna cross him for that exact reason; that list he put up a while back for his crimes? That’s keeping me on my best behavior for anything i think he might notice.”
"I'm sure safety pins will work in a pinch," Grace agreed. Especially if she wore it under a jacket, no one would know the difference. "Never a good reason to cross a man who has done some of those things." She supposed that was why she got along well with him. There were both around for similar crimes, although he had a much bigger sindicate than anything she had going. It was also why she believed he knew what he was doing. If he could control that, he could control one place full of semi-former prisoners. "I'm sure you won't have a problem with him, though."
Mojo wasn’t about to argue that, not if Grace agreed with her instincts. She didn’t know the older woman’s crime, but Grace hadn’t come off like someone who was clueless about the harsher side of life, so them overlapping in opinion? It was worth trusting in. “Yeah, something weird would have to go down for there to be problems,” Mojo agreed as she laid out the sweater on the counter to uncover her QR bracelet. After the wine this morning and now these buys, she couldn’t have much to work with. But with a new ‘job’? It’d be corrected with a little time. “I should probably run back up, I want to get this thing right before I get stuck in the court bullshit.”
Grace reached forward and scanned Mojo's bracelet. It really was a neat little thing that they now had a store and money to spend at it. At least it was ways for them to feel a little more normal, actually being able to buy and sell things. She looked forward to someone wanting to sell their own wares in the store as well. Something new to look forward to. "I should be seeing you there shortly then. I'm on the jury as well." Should make for an interesting morning, she supposed.
Piling her purchases together once her bracelet had been scanned, Mojo hefted them up in both arms and smiled over the little stack at Grace, nodding zealously. “Yeah, I’m gonna run this stuff to my room and then I guess I’ll see you there,” she agreed, “Should be fun, having the fates of others in our hands. Wildly irresponsible of the people in charge, but fun.” It wasn’t always easy to tell when Mojo was making a joke, right now being no exception, but she wasn’t looking to linger and explain it either. Grace definitely seemed sharp enough to pick out that no sane person would enjoy this situation, and Mojo was trusting that impression of the other woman as she stepped back from the counter.
Grace had to bite back a snort when Mojo pointed out that it was irresponsible but fun to pick out the punishments for people who broke the rules. "I bet they think that it'll be easier to swallow when all of us make the decision of the punishment rather than it being handed out from someone up above," she remarked. She had to shut down the store now before running to the court, but she knew that she'd be on time. "Be seeing you there shortly then."