Pog Mahone's Irish Pub, Mainland, Maryland, Monday Afternoon

[not_every_mage]

This was quite possibly the tackiest Irish-themed tavern in America, Anders mused as he waited for the bartender to fill his order. It wasn't even a culture from his world, but he felt offended on behalf of the poor Irish whose culture was being reduced to beer posters, green lights and plastic shamrocks stuck on everything that would hold them. But the music wasn't too painful and the bartender took a lenient attitude toward the underaged, so it was where Edward and Anders had ended up.

It was still fairly quiet in the bar, though Anders suspected it wouldn't be once Happy Hour started and the drinks got cheaper. He wasn't one to complain about either cheap drinks or crowded bars, so that was hardly a negative.

He brought the round back to the table and passed a pint of something black and bitter over to his companion. "Cheers."

[OOC: For he who is named in the post.]

Comments

[doesnotkneel]

Edward was always more than happy to handle the odd - or not so odd - pint of black and bitter. He took the glass eagerly and took a great big gulp of the thing before he bothered saying anything.

"What's so Irish about this bloody place?" he wondered.

[not_every_mage]

"Dunno," Anders said, after his own gulp. He was learning to like bitter, really he was: Practicing helped.

The fact "practicing" meant "drinking more" just made it more fun.

"You tell me. We don't have Irish at home. This place looks like a couple drunk Orlesians on a budget went at it."

[doesnotkneel]

"See, I understand the drinking, if you're going to cater to that sort of exaggeration," Edward said. He made a vague gesture at all the posters with his pint. "The rest of it... I don't bloody well get it."

Something about the place was making him want to up the frequency of his use of the word 'bloody', though.

"Ah, well. Here's to the colonies and their Irish," he said easily after that, lifting his pint. "Can you read the drinks menu for me, mate?"

[not_every_mage]

"Sure, of course," Anders said, glancing down at the plastic-coated rectangle. "Not that there's much to it."

He read off the names of six or seven beers and about as many types of scotch and whiskey, plus a few hideous-sounding sweet cocktails with too many ingredients and names ending in "-tini."

"Me, I'm sticking with the ale."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward gave him a good squint. He hadn't heard most of those names... ever... but that just made him curious. "Now, where's your spirit of adventure? We can have ale at home."

[not_every_mage]

"My spirit of adventure doesn't require I drink a chocolate raspberry martini," Anders returned a bit sulkily, though he could tell he was going to give in in about ... oh, as soon as his glass was empty.

"Tell you what, if you want to pick something out I'll join you. Though I do get to say I told you so if they're terrible."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward took the rectangle from him. "That's more like it," he said. "And I wouldn't be waiting. This couldn't go that terribly."

He squinted at the menu for a long time, taking sips of his drink as he went. Finally, he said, "What's this? Irish, I get that, and car, that's simple, but..."

[not_every_mage]

"Bomb," Anders supplied. "Things that blow up. Doesn't sound like much fun to drink."

He leaned over to get a better look at the listing. "It's stout, whiskey and cream. I think the cream's a liquor. Not sure where the explosion comes in, but I reckon that's what makes it interesting."

[doesnotkneel]

"Ah, well." Edward sat back, feeling suddenly pleased about his instinctive choice. "Clearly we'll have to have that, then. Being that we're in a self-professed Irish pub and all that."

[not_every_mage]

"I can't argue with your logic," Anders said. (He was mainly happy Edward's choice hadn't involved anything that sounded like dessert.) "It's for the glory of Ireland, or something like that. Are you up for another round already?"

He still had a good quarter of his pint to go, but that could be remedied.

[doesnotkneel]

Edward held up one hand to tell him to wait.

Then he lifted his pint and, in a display of great speed, drinkmanship (that was a word, damn it) and dedication, chugged back the entire third or so of it that he had left.

He set it down on the bar. "Now I'm up for the next round," he said, already waving over the barkeep.

[not_every_mage]

Anders' eyebrows went up at the display, and he laughed and clapped a few times in recognition.

"You have talent, Edward," he said. "I've never seen somebody our age take a pint that fast."

(It was possible he needed to get out more.)

[doesnotkneel]

"I am a man of many talents," Edward assured him, grinning brightly. "Two Irish Car Bombs, if you please?"

The man gave the two of them a look that said oh you poor souls before pottering off.

[not_every_mage]

Anders frowned at the man's back. "He seems friendly," he observed dryly before turning back to Edward. "So, what have you been up to lately? Any grand adventures while I wasn't looking?"

[doesnotkneel]

"Not much, unfortunately," Edward said, giving an idle shrug. "Did a bit of sleeping, a bit of carousing, and a bit of eating. Getting a bit dull for me, hence this very important stride back into the world."

He played with his empty pint. "How about you, then?"

[not_every_mage]

"About the same. Work, eating, sleeping, spending time with Nathan, gardening for Professor Reno's class if you can believe it," Anders ticked off. "I was mad last weekend but so was half the school. Apparently we're just supposed to accept it."

[doesnotkneel]

"I did hear some odd noises that weekend," Edward mused. "Thought that was just Barry mucking about, as he does."

[not_every_mage]

"I was some" -- Anders made a face at the word -- "wizard from England. He was horribly confused, a bit of a snob, and stuck with the name Albus to boot. You're lucky it missed you."

[doesnotkneel]

"Sounds it," Edward said, his brow furling into a confused frown. "Don't sound like it makes much sense to me, to be honest. Even for the island's standards."

[not_every_mage]

"Not at all," Anders said. "I'd call it possession but possession doesn't just clear up on its own, does it? I suppose we just have to trust the people who say nothing bad's going to happen."

[doesnotkneel]

"Suppose so," Edward said, and he would have ruminated on that more had the bartender not returned with two very large pints and matching shots. "...But here we are, then."

He squinted. "I suppose we put the shots in the drinks...?"

[not_every_mage]

"I guess?" Anders looked equally mystified. "Won't it splash?"

[doesnotkneel]

The bartender rolled his eyes. Kids. "You drop the shot in the drink, mix it, then drink it as quick as you can," he said, before stomping off to brood over the other side of the bar.

Edward shrugged and lifted his shot. "You heard the man. See it as an adventure."

[not_every_mage]

"And we were just complaining about a lack of them," Anders said, and -- with a dubious look -- added the cream to the stout and swirled to get it to mix.

It looked brown and vaguely forbidding. Feeling a bit like he was back in potions class, Anders lifted the glass to his mouth and took a small neat sip.

"It's better than most potions, I'll give it that much."

[doesnotkneel]

"It's drink, of course it is," Edward said merrily. "And I don't think you're supposed to sip it, mate."

He demonstrated by taking a gulp of his own-- then he pulled a face. "Oh, that is nasty."

He didn't sound like he minded.

[not_every_mage]

"Maybe it gets better if you're used to it," Anders said, and took two larger swigs in fast succession. "No. It doesn't."

Though of course he was going to finish it either way.

[doesnotkneel]

"I think it gets better when you finish it," Edward said, which was just a good reason to keep on chugging. "I really do."

[not_every_mage]

"And even better after you finish two or three?" Anders guessed, and took a rather determined swallow of his. "Hmmm. It's not quite as bad now that I've had half."

[doesnotkneel]

"The trick is to keep going," Edward said sagely, from his great plateau of knowledge some two-thirds into his own drink. "And you might want to keep going fast before the cream curdles."

[not_every_mage]

"That would be a tragedy," Anders said, glaring at the glass as if it had personally offended him. And then he drained the rest in a single gulp and let out a long, satisfied sigh.

"I think I'm sad it's gone."

[doesnotkneel]

"It is very tragic, isn't it?" Edward said, staring sadly at his own glass. "Barkeep! Another!"

[not_every_mage]

"Make it two," Anders called, then laughed a little as he turned bacy to Edward. "If I drop dead trying to keep up with you, say good things at my funeral."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward let out a laugh of his own. "Ah, I'll try not to tell anyone about how you died because you were a lightweight," he teased. "Three pints, I won't say, three pints and poor Anders made it to the floor."

[not_every_mage]

"I was assuming you weren't going to stop at three," Anders said, a smile crinkling the corner of his eyes. "But thanks for worrying about my honor."

[doesnotkneel]

"Your honor is incredibly important to me," Edward said.

It was not.

"Four pints? Five?"

[not_every_mage]

Anders snickered.

"Once I put away a good third of a bottle of Antivan brandy," he shared. "And then puked all over a templar's boots. It was a stellar day all around."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward thought about it. "Six pints," he said at last. "My friend Anders would like to go six pints before getting sick all over the boots of someone disagreeable. I think that's fair."

[not_every_mage]

"Six is a respectable number," Anders agreed. "I could even skip the vomit this time. As I recall, the cleaning up after wasn't as fun as you'd think."

[doesnotkneel]

"Are you sure?" Edward said, grinning.

The bartender put another glass and shot glass in front of him. "I'm certain that given enough time, we'd be able to find someone disagreeable."

Anders was so going to end up puking on someone's shoes tonight. Edward's own honor depended on it.

[not_every_mage]

"I'm certain that given that many of these, we'd decide anyone around us was disagreeable," Anders said, grimacing as he mixed his second car bomb. "Probably they'd deserve it, too. A lot of people are twats."

[doesnotkneel]

"Entirely true," Edward said, dumping the shot back into his own pint. "'Course, we could also look into one of those tiny fruit drinks you were mentioning after this."

He just preferred to be drunk enough to think that was a good idea, first.

[not_every_mage]

"That really would turn my stomach," Anders said, sounding strangely pleased by the possibility. "Y'know what, though? I'll do it. 'Cause trying new things is good for you."

[doesnotkneel]

Edward grinned at him. "See?" he said, reaching out to give Anders a firm pat on the back. "That's what I like to hear! Trying new things. A whole new frontier."

Which involved half-emptying the pint he currently had down his gullet.