One bottle of whiskey on the wall, one bottle of whiskey...
Posted on Tue Sep 8th, 2020 @ 9:42am by Executive Officer Kenneth McTigue & Pilot Allegra Jennings
Mission:
The Forgotten Arm
Location: Sam's Boondoggle - Amstrong City - Luna
Timeline: About a ~month since Wulf joined up with the Tross
With the rest of the crew on their own adventure someone in Amstrong, Ken had sought out Allegra. He had found a nice bar a few nights earlier and suggested they spend a substantial amount of credits there to get sauced. He had even put one a nice clean shirt for his, thoug he couldn't hide the bruising around his throat from a few days earlier. Now he waited at the airlock for Allegra.
He'd had her at getting sauced. It sure beat the hell out of staying stuck aboard the 'Tross while the other romped off on their little adventure. Besides, it wasn't like it was that odd or out of character for the two of them to want to have a few drinks. Or more than few. Drinking seemed to just be a part of their way of life. It was that, the whiskey Allegra could already taste as she made her way to the airlock. She gave the engineer a quick once over, "No one'd ever mistake you for a mechanic." Allegra herself was dressed the same as usual, the loose cargo pants, tank top, but she had switched out her uniform jacket for a more simple one.
"Once upon a time they mistook me for a marine." Ken grinned while cycling the airlock, "Had them fooled for well over a decade too." He let her go out first before joining her. "The night is young, and my credit account is full. Want to get something to eat first, or start finding the nastiest whisky we can find?"
"Right. Though, you don't seems as uptight as most Marines. Or maybe those were just weird Martian stories." Allegra joked, flashing a quick grin before exiting. Ken was right, the night was young and hell, if his credit account was full, it was bound to be an interesting night. "Depends on how quick we want to get drunk, huh?" She laughed, "Okay...what about whiskey, food, and then more whiskey?"
"The stories I heard when I was still in was that the MMC uniform was so tight that even a light chuckle would burst the buttons." Ken secured the ship as they stepped out. "But I think I know a place that serves both whisky and steak. If you're down for that?"
"That I believe. Still don't see you as a marine. Although, you do got that 'don't touch my stuff' vibe down pat. Kudos." Not that such vibe stopped anyone from touching things. But maybe she should take some lessons to keep others from messing with her screens and things in the cockpit. "That, Kenny-boy, sounds like a solid fucking plan. Lead the way."
"Alright Legs, let's get go." Ken agreed, leading the way.
Sam's Boondoggle was a famous, or infamous, joint in the southern district of Armstrong. It wasn't owned by anyone that could reasonably be called Sam any more, but it had been open for well over a hundred years. And for an appropriate amount, you could even eat real, honest to god cow. Ken had relayed this to Allegra during their short trip down the vacuum tubes.
"And I've not had a real, walking, mooing steak since before I shipped out." Ken said, feeling his mouth water just a little.
Allegra cast a sideways glance in his direction, "By shipped out, you mean on the Albatross, right?" She asked, clearly hoping that was exactly what her shipmate meant and not all the way back to when he first joined the marines. It was just enough to distract her from the previously mentioned steak. Allegra herself hadn't had one since the night before she told her father she wasn't going to re-enlist and thus crushed his dreams. And cut her off until she decided to make the right decision.
"No, since before I enlisted. Had plenty of vat-grown steaks over the years. But there's something about the idea of eating something that has been alive that just makes the experience difference." Ken said, almost day dreaming. "So you going to get one too?"
"That's a hell of a long ass time ago." Not that she was calling him old. Because if she was, just just tease him about being an old man. "Well, when put like that..." it sounded a bit gross, "But of course. You're buyin' right?"
"If I'm buying this, you pay for the drinks." Ken countered while the doors of Sam's Boondoggle opened.
"Oh no, no, no...I'm not getting suckered into buying the drinks. I've seen how you can knock 'em back." She stated quite matter-of-fact stepping into the restaurant. Or was it considered more of a steakhouse? "I'll buy my own steak and we'll take turns with the drinks. How's that?"
"Done and done." Ken nodded before requesting an available table. The pair were guided to their seating arrangement. The waiter was even kind enough to turn the romantic light on, which made Ken grin. He handed Ken and Allegra the menu and asked for a drink. "Can I have some good quality whisky?" Ken asked
Settling into her chair, Allegra glared up at the light. Really? Did they look like they were out on the town for some fancy date? She took the menu flipping through the offerings, "Yeah, he's buying."
"Wait, now I'm buying?" Ken asked with amused confusion. "In that case, get me some proper Earth whisky, Irish if you have it, neat. And a glass for her too." The waiter nodded and stepped away before asking Allegra what she wanted.
Allegra nodded, "We're takin' turns buying the whiskey. Or have you forgotten already, old man?"
Ken shrugged, "My mind's on the meat and booze. I can be tempted into all sorts of adventures if those are included."
"I hear ya." she shifted in her seat, the thought of real steak making her mouth water in anticipation. Green eyes flashed with obvious amusement,"A good meal, more than a few drink and see what trouble we can find?"
The first round of whisky appeared and Ken clinked glasses and savoured the amber liquid as it went down. Ken wanted to take his time with the glass, but somehow he took a swallow, and another swallow, and soon it was all gone. All gone before he could even set his glass on the table.
Allegra paused, the rim of the glass resting against her bottom lip and watched as Ken downed the entire glass in one go. Green eyes rolled as she took a good long sip and sea the glass down in front of her, wrapping her hands around it like a safety net. "Damn old man, if I didn't know any better I'd like you had to get drunk to be seen out with me."
"You're Navy, you know how it's been when you get ashore and you kind of forget to savour and just consume." Ken shrugged, "I know I need to savour it, but I also really just want to drink."
She couldn't fault him there, not really. So what did she do? Well, Allegra picked her glass back up and deftly tossed back what was left. She didn't savor, or sip, no, she tossed it back like there were in a bar instead of a steakhouse. "Well, then. Can't be the wallflower. Another?"
"Yes, but I think the tops shelf stuff will be a waste." Ken grinned as Allegra matched his shot. "And a thick piece of beef."
Allegra tapped a fingernail against the side of her now empty glass, a strange gleam settling into her gaze as she studied Ken before tearing her gaze away to search out their waiter. “Yes, well, might as well enjoy a few rounds of the good stuff before settling.”
She smiled up as he returned and quickly ordered her steak, medium, with a side of what she hoped was a real baked potato and whatever mixed vegetables they had. It was a simple meal, but then again, Allegra wasn’t a high maintenance type of woman.
"A proper steak, medium rare. And bring us the bottle of whatever you just poured us. It'd be rude to keep you walking for every round." Ken grinned before turning back. "We can do a bottle, right?"
She graced him with her best 'are you serious right now' looks, "Are you sure we want a whole bottle of the good stuff?" It would most definitely taste the best with their dinner as well as intoxicate them enough to where they didn't care if they were drinking the good stuff or the bad stuff.
"Luna is about the only place where it wouldn't mean selling the 'Tross to afford a bottle of the good stuff." Ken joked, "So yes, a bottle please." The waiter turned to Allegra, looking at her expectantly for her order.
Allegra shrugged, he was right about the pricing. If Ken wanted a bottle, he was gonna get a bottle and she wasn't about to stop him. Like she could anyway. She's already given her order to the waiter so she leaned back in her chair, emerald eyes focusing on the mechanic across the table, "Where shall we head after this?"
"I was thinking Carlyle House. They have a band coming in from Mars, supposed to be good." Ken offered. "It was described as reggea via throat singing."
"Reggea through throat singing?" Allegra asked, an eyebrow cocked. "That can't be good?"
It was Ken's turn to shrug, "It's either that, or a blue grass band at the Red Door. I hate blue grass"
The conversation rolled around about a discussion of why Martian blue grass was superior to Earther blue grass, and Ken vehemently disagreeing that both styles shouldn't be counted as music at all. The topic changed when steaks appeared on their plates and their glasses were refilled with the 'good stuff'. When the first bottle was empty and they were halfway through their second bottle the topic had turned to their sexual histories, because every drunk conversation eventually stumbles onto sex.
"I was nineteen." Ken admitted with red cheeks and a slight slur. "Two weeks out of bootcamp, last day of leave before shipping back out for AIT. Preacher's daughter took pity on." Ken laughed at the thought. "She saw me striking out with every girl in the city." Ken took a sip of his whiskey, "So when I took my shot with her she smiled and we danced, kissed, and well... spent the night together."
Allegra laughed, a full belly laugh. "The preacher's daughter?! She did God's work that night indeed."
The liquor flowed until the bottle was empty. The serving staff of the Boondoggle had been glancing their way, and slowly making it clear that it was time to vacate the table. So slowly the two crewmates rose and stumbled together to Carlyle House to drink more and laugh at the stupid music.
When the night ended, Ken and Allegra were hanging off of each other. Arms draped over shoulders to find stability. Slowly they stumbled into the ship's airlock and made their way into the their quarters. Surprising everyone, nobody awoke.
When Ken opened his door he stumbled in. Allegra waited, looking at him with a drunken shimmer to her eyes. Ken, filled with liquid courage and lacking higher cognitive functions asked "Want to come in?" The door slid closed behind Allegra.
The next morning Allegra awkwardly looked around the corner of Ken's cabin while Ken was still happily snoring. As she stepped out Wulf stepped out of one of the showers and saw Allegra sneaking out of Ken's and into her own cabin.
