Ever since she had gotten back from the mission Clarice had remembered and then forgotten her promise to celebrate Lauren’s birthday about a dozen times. This was important; call it projecting, but Lauren was here without her family, and Clarice hadn’t celebrated her birthday in years and years, and so obviously Lauren deserved better. The next time she remembered, she had to act on it; this meant that around 8pm, Clarice was dressing up for a fun night out (which meant pretty much the same as dressing herself always) and leaving to go bang on Lauren’s door.
Some time later, they were out and about, and Clarice looked at Lauren. “So, where do you wanna go? Birthday girl’s choice.”
All in all Lauren’s birthday had been one of the better birthdays she’d ever had, everyone had put so much effort into it and she found herself out a few weeks later still celebrating. She never thought turning 18 would make her feel like an adult or anything but in Atlantis, it did have a little bit more freedom to it.
“Um,” she pondered. “I’ve never been to a dive bar, I hear they’re actually a lot more fun than they look, or we should go dancing.”
“We can do both!” Clarice pointed out excitedly. “Start at Dive, which is appropriately named, then head on to Trocution.”
Assuming Lauren agreed, Clarice guided her through the streets and into Dive, heading straight for the counter. She ordered two beers, her lack of knowledge leading her to add ‘any beer will do’ before the bartender could ask, and then she turned to Lauren “Alright so the floor’s sticky, there’s a ton of normal beers, a pool table and no food. Welcome to your first dive bar.”
Lauren nodded her agreement and took a moment to run her fingers through her hair to make sure it was still flowing the way she wanted it to. Just because they were starting at Dive didn't mean she didn't want to look good!
As the sat down she laughed looking at the floor. "So, is there like some kind of rule about these places having really crappy cleaning practices?" She was enthusiastic about it. Taking her first sip of beer she looked at the bartender and shrugged. It was different from the crappy kegs she'd tried at parties in high school before.
“I don’t know, actually, but they always have a certain… code violation charm about them. That’s what makes a dive a dive!” Clarice replied. “Some have disgusting peanuts. Never eat the peanuts. A lot of dudes don’t wash their hands after going to the bathroom but don’t mind shoving them down a bowl of peanuts anyway. You’ll get sick and that would be bad.”
It was a little weird to be the responsible, experienced adult introducing the young-adult to a couple of firsts, but Clarice thought she was doing okay. Even if in her mind Lauren’s parents were shaking their heads in stern disapproval… because they would.
Wrinkling her nose up Lauren didn’t hide her disgust. “That’s horrible!” She was horrified by the idea. "What is wrong with boys?!" She didn't actually expect Clarice to have an answer about that because who knew why boys did what they did.
"I will never touch the peanuts, no matter what!" She agreed taking another drink of her beer. "So, what have you been up to lately? How's your team? Are you finding training as intense as I am?"
The question made Clarice laugh, and then she waved her arms around, shrugging. A lot was wrong with boys and men but Lauren was probably a little too young to be told outright all of what Clarice thought and then made a cynic in one fell swoop. Then again, at least she knew something was wrong with most if not all of them. She had a dad and a younger brother. She had to know.
“Okay, good. Actually be careful touching pretty much any surface in places like this, cleanliness isn’t exactly an urgent thought, you know?” Taking a sip of her beer, she smiled. “Well I went to space with a bunch of wizards, so there was that thing I thought I’d never have to say… But yeah it’s super intense. But a different kind of intense than being on the run or underground, you know? I’m liking it. This place is bananas, sometimes I want it to have a body so I can punch it, but yeah the training’s going okay. You? You’re on John’s team, right?”
“They’re going for the dirty attempt of grudge, and they’re doing a good job,” Lauren commented on the surface, the decor, everything about it. Seriously, did Dive bars have some kind of dirty manual? She was starting to wonder.
“Space with wizards, you know that sounds like a bad Disney Channel kids show.” Smirking she took another sip of her beer. She could get used to talking to friends over beer. “It’s totally different from being on the run, or wondering when some creepy evil government run agency is going to come for you.” She shrugged, she shivered slightly thinking back on all of it. “My friend Adrian got a little live dragon rock thing named Hooper a couple of weeks ago, yeah, this place is insane!” She did know the little thing came from his homeworld but it had come from a leprechaun.
“Yup, John is my team leader, which is awesome, at least it has some similarity to home, but the good parts, not the bad parts and I’ve got a girl named Keller on the team too, she’s my age, kinda overly serious but she’s nice too. She’s best friends with the really bubbly girl Illiana. You’re with Melinda May and James Potter right? That has to be so weird actually being on a team with a famous wizard!”
“You’re just jealous.” Clarice retorted over another gulp of beer. But Lauren had a point; it was completely different, which she had contemplated many times since arriving here. It was all weird, sometimes annoying and infuriating but safe. Clarice had gone dancing, made… well, ‘friends’ and even gained weight since she had gotten here, and she regretted nothing. “I have no idea what that is but sounds better than a pet rock.”
She smiled at knowing Lauren was made to feel safe and a little more at home with John as her team leader, and it was kind of funny to have John responsible for two teenagers. Plus, Clarice had no idea who Illiana even was. She nodded, then snickered. “Yeah and when we went to space, Harry Potter came along too. And there’s PJ, who’s the kid of a Charmed One. So I was surrounded by wizards and one asskicking powerhouse.”
Looking around and seeing nothing interesting, Clarice turned back to Lauren. “How’s your beer?”
"It is sort of Harry Freaking Potter, so probably!" She admitted with a laugh and shrug. Nodding she thought about pet rocks. "I remember those, you know, elementary school picking out a rock and painting it and naming it and everything. I think I named mine Pouches because I wanted it to be a kangaroo."
Lauren had to think for a second what Charmed was, she'd heard of it but she was a little young for it too. "Oh, the one about the three sister witches and The Power and three and stuff? I don't remember any PJ though." Lauren tried to remember but nothing was coming to mind.
"It's beer? I mean, it's good, but I don't have a lot to go off of, but we should totally move on after we finish these because this place while very divey, we could use a little more fun!"
“Awww! That’s cute. You know, you could probably maybe have a teacup kangaroo pet here. Feels like the sort of thing this place might be able to spit out.” Clarice grinned and downed her first beer, almost ordering another but stopping when Lauren asked things about the Charmed Ones. “Yep that’s the one. She’s the youngest sister’s daughter. I guess the story continued somewhere off the TV.”
Lauren’s reaction to beer made Clarice snort. “Yeah beer is… I mean it’s cheap. That’s about it. I’m done with mine, so I’m ready when you are!”
Laughing she shrugged. “You know, here that does seem kind of possible, I guess I’d have to name it Pouches to stick with my once very loved rock pet!” She teased.
“Paige?” She frowned trying to remember the names of the insane number of P names on that show. Honestly, a little variety in names wasn't bad!
“Yup, I’m good, let’s go somewhere where our shoes aren’t likely to fall apart by touching the floor.”
“If I ever get the chance, I’ll get you a tiny kangaroo.” Clarice vowed, then blinked in confusion at Lauren’s question. She had confused the first trio of sisters with the second. “Uh, no. Sorry, I meant the middle one. She used to be the youngest one.”
Grinning, Clarice left the beer money on the table and pulled herself up from her seat. It wasn’t such a long walk from Dive all the way to Trocution, certainly not for people who were used to run around every day. When they finally got there Clarice let Lauren take the lead. “Go on birthday girl, lead and I’ll follow!”
Grinning Lauren skip stepped as she headed straight for the bar.