Parthenope (throughseaglass) wrote in summerview, @ 2019-02-28 08:19:00 |
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February 27th
Clara ✦ Parthenope
Blue Drinks/Song Challenge PG Placeholder |
Parthenope was very fond of the Long Way Down, not for the atmosphere necessarily--though she did like that it had a cozy, lived in feeling to it--nor for the alcoholic beverages, since she had a horribly low tolerance for the stuff herself. No, mostly she was there for the food. Most of the times she went out, she and her sister hit the Vale Diner for the onion rings and fries (not that they couldn’t be found here either, but there was a certain, extra special quality to those at the diner that kept her returning for them), but ever since the pub had begun serving Sea Nettle Stew, and a few other very under-water-familiar dishes, she’d been ordering takeout from them while at work at the arcade. But, speaking of the arcade, since she’d first set foot in there, she’d become hooked on blue slushies. She was now on a journey to find if other blue beverages stood up to the delightfulness of the one she loved so much at work. She didn’t know where the journey would end, but she knew where to start. A bar seemed a good a place as any. She’d seen people with big, blue, crazy cocktails before while getting her stew on. Today was the day curiosity got the best of her. It was her day off anyway, so why not? If Peisinoê could have her experiments, why couldn’t she? She breezed into the pub in her usual fashion, and hopped up onto the stool with bright smile at the bartender--she was new! How delightful!--and a wave. “What can you make that would be blue?” She asked, immediately getting down to business, hands folded in front of her patiently. Clara had been working for a while now and had the hang of things behind the bar. Maeve was a great boss and Cohen a good colleague. She was generally kept busy by the regulars that she was getting to know and on most nights, if she was working the closing shift, Sam was at the door five minutes before closing to walk her home. Not necessary, she thought, but she appreciated it all the same. And working when she did still left plenty of time for her to explore Summerview and get to know the people, that lived there. Not that she’d been doing a great job of the latter. Lips curling into a smile at the cheerful greeting, Clara moved over to the edge of the bar and tilted her head. “Blue?” she asked, “Food or drink wise?” She quickly started thinking about their drinks roster, what she might be able to cook up cocktail wise. “And how blue are we talkin’ here?” There were options? Not just one blue drink, but many? Parthenope let out a low whistle, drumming her fingers on the counter. “Not too light, not too dark. A bright blue. And maybe something that is a little sweet, but also sour?” Like a blue slushie, essentially. “Does that make sense?” She’d taken to asking that around new people. It usually helped put people at ease enough to ask questions when she’d said something other people might consider bizarre, which, ever since they’d made a home on land, had been often. “You’re new here, aren’t you? I’m Parthenope van der Zee.” It was probably not usual to introduce oneself to one's bartender but it felt like the polite thing to do when someone was new in town, and also going out of their way to accomodate a strange request. “New as someone can be after bein’ here for a few weeks,” Clara replied with a smile. “Nice to meet you. Still tryna learn who all the folk here are, it’s takin’ more time than I thought.” Summerview wasn’t a large town, but it was still a lot bigger than the one she’d grown up in. She liked it. She tipped her head, running through the drinks she knew how to make. Cocktails weren’t really her speciality, there were a few other bartenders that were better at those than she was but she made a few good ones. “Pretty sure I can fix you somethin’ up, any specific reason behind it needin’ to be blue? Just for curiosity’s sake.” “I’ve almost been here a year, and I still feel new,” Parthenope replied with a shrug. Though, to be fair she had a disadvantage considering the land was not her natural habitat, so everything continuously felt new no matter how long she’d been above sea level. “There seem to be more and more new people every day, I don’t think anyone would blame you for having trouble keeping up.” It wasn’t like she was a school teacher with a classroom of 30 kids! This was a bustling island. Some people were here one day and not the rest, living in Atlantic City, or just passing through. It was a lot to take in. Her lips curled in amusement. “I’ve been informed blue is a flavor. I’m trying out as many blue things as possible.” Clara snorted, it didn’t bode well for her if someone who had been here for a year was still finding it hard to get to grips with. “I ain’t good with names even at the best of times,” she confessed, “used to have a habit of givin’ people nicknames in my head based on traits an’ often that stuck more’n their names did when I finally learned ‘em.” She blinked, realising after a moment that Parthenope had given her name, but Clara hadn’t responded in kind. “My momma would have my hide,” heh, horse joke, “for bein’ so rude. I’m Clara, Clara Archer.” Her eyebrow lifted again. “I think whoever told you blue was a flavour was havin’ you on,” she shared, “but I think I got just the drink. You hold tight for a sec, okay?” She turned and started drawing together the ingredients to make a Blue Hawaiian, the pinapple gave the sweetness, while the alcohol was well placed to offset that. With little flourish - that wasn’t really her style, nor was it the style of the pub - she made the drink and then passed it over. “Blue enough?” To be fair, it was a lot to take in. Meeting new people of new species she’d only heard about in story books and from tutors when she was younger. That alone was a lot to keep track of, but she had the added disadvantage of the Sight which often gave her too much information. That was more than most people had to keep track of. Still, she had sympathy for anyone who struggled to keep track of names. Some people just didn’t have the head for it. “Maybe you could use a mnemonic device of some kind? Choose a trait that begins with the first letter of their name when you’re giving them a nickname? It might help.” She often had to employ similar tactics when meeting dignitaries for the first time back when she was still underwater running diplomacy missions. “Lovely to meet you Clara,” Parthenope replied with a nod. “I’ll try to remember that, but I won’t fault you a bit if you can’t remember mine. It’s a mouthful.” And unlike her sister, no one had managed to shorten it into anything resembling a nickname. “I don’t know, I’ve tested it on candy, and I’m pretty sure it’s been true so far.” Blue raspberry someone had said, but it didn’t taste like raspberries, and it wasn’t always exactly the same but whenever she came across a blue flavored thing it always tasted blue even if it wasn’t the same blue flavor. It was hard to explain. She watched intently as Clara fashioned the drink, hoping she could learn something and possibly recreate it at home, but it was no use. Ah well, the Long Way Down would continue to receive her hard earned money. “Very blue!” She said delightedly when the drink was set in front of her. She pulled the straw around to her lips for a tasted and found that once again, it did indeed taste blue. “How wonderful. It’s not like the slushies at work at all, but somehow it still tastes like blue. A different blue, but still. Blue.” Clara hummed, considering the use of specific nicknames to help her remember people by, but she was sort of hoping that familiarity would wake up her ability to remember names and faces. She’d travelled for so long that her inability to remember names wasn’t much of an issue. “Mouthful it may be,” she shared honestly with a little smile, “But it’s lovely. Real interestin’. Never met anyone with that name before.” Tilting her head, Clara wondered if there was something else going on that she couldn’t understand. She’d tried a variety of coloured things in her (admittedly, compared to some of the species here, short) life but didn’t think she could attribute a specific flavour to the colour blue. She was, however, intensely curious. “How did y’all work out that out? Just… tried a loada blue things an’ compared them?” She leaned forward a little, arms braced on the bar. She didn’t anything to pass her by while she still had so much to learn and discover. The flavour ‘blue’ was evidently one of those things. “It’s old,” she explained automatically, which was usually the easiest response to anything having to do with her name. “Older than me, for sure. Sometimes I wish my parents chose something a little less ostentatious, but it’s a little more common back home.” It was definitely not strange to come across other Parthenopes or Peisinoes, or anyone else with mythologically adjacent names in the undersea realms at all. But all mortals wanted to hear was that your name was Ariel or Ursula. And she couldn’t blame them. They were much easier names to pronounce, that was for sure. “But thank you,” she added, “It’s the only one I have so I suppose I like it.” Parthenope nodded in response to the question, still sipping at the drink perhaps a bit more quickly than she should considering her miserably low tolerance for alcohol. “I did. I started with blue slushies and then worked my way into blue candy and blue fruit. It’s too bad there aren’t more blue fruits, actually.” A lot of red and purple but not so many blue. “I mean, a lemon tastes yellow, why shouldn’t a blueberry taste blue?” Clara laughed and nodded, “I’m gonna haveta start thinkin’ more deeply about what colour my food tastes like,” she said. “Ain’t never really considered it before.” She tipped her head, watching Parthenope sipping enthusiastically at the drink. “You gonna want somethin’ to eat, too? Just to make sure you ain’t swallowin’ all that on an empty stomach?” “I have a feeling most people don’t. That’s probably the normal way of things.” As in, her way of thinking was definitely odd, but that wasn’t news to her. “I might not have thought much of it either if it weren’t for blue slushies at the arcade. I had never tried such a thing before. That’s what launched this investigation,” she explained, taking another long sip from her glass. Ah, hmm. While that sort of defeated the purpose of blueness, Clara made a good point. Parthenope had no head for alcohol, it was probably best to get a good heavy base of something in her stomach. “Hmm. You’re probably right. What do you think? Some fries, maybe?” Crisp golden french fries with some very yellow mustard might be a nice counterpoint to the blue drink she was sipping on. “I do like slushies,” Clara agreed, “I like mixin’ the red and blue together until it’s kinda purple.” Though she’d never think to describe the taste as blue. Though she had to admit she was curious now; maybe she’d take a trip to the arcade and pick up a slushie with this new information in mind. “But hey, if you’re testin’ the colour blue lemme know if I can help any more.” Fries were a good idea. She nodded. “‘S a good idea, I can stick an order of fries in for you. Y’all can either eat it here or grab a table, what’d you prefer?” “Oh, yes. That is wonderful, isn’t it?” Strangely though, the combination didn’t actually taste purple. Just like a cross between red and blue. It was perplexing. “Do you know more blue things I could try? Or should I move to another color? Oh! Or would you like to make this journey with me? It’s a very interesting way to test new foods, I must admit.” There were, of course, several things she would never eat because there was a certain ick factor--meat from land creatures was just bizarre to her and she didn’t like it, even if she’d gorge herself on fish--but there were still plenty of things to try. “I’m not bothering you, sitting here, am I? I have to confess, no one ever takes me this seriously, so I’m rather enjoying our conversation.” How many people would really humor a conversation on the different flavors of colors, after all? “You ain’t botherin’ me none,” Clara admitted, “but I’m enjoyin’ talkin’ to you and I’m probably gonna have to go serve other folk and that ain’t gonna help me help you explore anythin’ else today.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and smiled. “But if you’d wanna drop your number, I think I’d enjoy tryin’ foods in new colours.” She grabbed a small piece of paper from the register and slid it across the counter with a pen, following the action by running the order for fries through the register. “I ain’t always workin’, so I’m sure we’d have free time that coincided?” Despite the fact that she had one, Parthenope often forgot how jobs actually worked. Partly because hers was fairly lax and somewhat ridiculous most of the time (though incredibly fun), but also because having a real job was also sort of… New. She nodded and accepted the pen and paper, scribbling out her number, and then just because she knew it was often a struggle for everyone, her name as well. “I mostly work nights, but I assume that you probably do to, so maybe we can work something out during the day?” She suggested, passing the paper back to Clara and taking another sip from her drink. “Yeah,” Clara said, attention returning to Parthenope and pulling the paper towards herself, sticking it in her back pocket to stick into her phone when she got a chance. “Durin’ the day sounds good to me.” She smiled and nodded her head in the direction of a table. “I’ve set your table up over there, go take a seat, your fries’ll be out shortly. And, I think I’ve got an idea of another blue drink I can make you when y’all’re done with that one.” |