[sylvanSpider]

Friday night, summer of 1995, and the bar of Corner Pocket was dead. They were staffed for a busy night of course, scheduling two bartenders to the usual one, and the bar was overstocked, fresh lemons and limes cut to make the alcohol for customers go down a little bit easier to encourage further business and excellent tips. Setsi, known as Seth, sat down on a stool behind the bar and sighed. Sidework was done before the rush was expected, and he was bored.

Raphael, the other of the two bartenders, poured himself a drink. He drank from the well, so it wasn't as if Corner Pocket lost much by his passing the time. Besides, Seth wasn't much for conversation anyway. He always seemed angry, like he wanted to be anywhere else. Like he deserved to be anywhere else. But, he was a wage slave just like his coworker. The sooner Seth realized that there was nothing in this world for the poor except misery and woe, the sooner he could start to just numb himself like everyone else did. Never saw the guy touch a drop of booze. He didn't know how he did it.

The life of humans is a miserable one, Seth thought as he idled the time away, We'll be doing them a favor. They have miserable careers, miserable lives, and they listen to terrible music. The Backstreet Boys? N'Sync? And these pass as music? If we don't turn them into slaves or pets, they are honestly all better off dead... His head perked up when the door opened, an out of breath looking woman stepped through the door wearing a tank top with a beanie suction cupped to her head despite the summer's heat. He got to his feet, noting that Raphael was already seated with his drink GameBoy in hand, rolled his eyes at his coworker, and approached the side of the counter. "What can I get for you today?"

The first thing he noted about the woman was her eyes. Two different colors. It was a rare trait for humans to have but he had heard of it happening. "Uhmmmm hmmmm how abouuuuut~ a mimosa! That sounds good right now. Uhm....where is everyone?"

Seth looked about the empty bar and sighed, "Your guess is as good as mine."

[Koah]

Kay-Bee sighed, her wig was getting itchy and her high heels were poking into her heels. She stared down the isle of a million videos. what to watch...what to watch.... She tapped her chin, with an eyebrow raised. She heaved an over exaggerated sigh and slumped.
"Stuck Again, KayBee?" The ever annoying Surgas was fast approaching. KayBee put on her best warrior face.
"No!" She slammed back. A sigh followed, "yeeessss…"
"Here, This movie just came out on VHS, you'll love it." Surgas did his best impression of a superman stance, grin and all. If not for his hat, he could have flipped his hair. A hair flip would have definitely completed his heroic act. KayBee purced her lips together. "Water-World?" She looked at the cover, it looked a tad bit cheesy.

"HEY, Don't judge a Movie by it's Cover!" Surgas flipped the case to the backside. "See! Action!" He looked thrilled enough.
KayBee made a benign grin. "I guess That will be my pick for tonight." She slumped her shoulders and grabbed the movie from Surgas's hand. Her feet worse than 2 minutes ago.
"Are you okay? You look worse tonight than most days?"
The concern on his face was almost precious. "Yeeeah, yeah. Just a long day at the office." She stuck her tongue out.
"Ahh, well, I've been meaning to ask you.." He looked at his watch for a moment. "Do you want to try the bar down the block with me?"
KayBee looked at his face, he was pretty sure of himself. She tried her best of a dead-pan expression but he didn't waver. A sigh broke out of her. He's harmless and she knew it. "Fine.. But it's not a date! and your treating me to a cocktail. Not a beer!" His grin was almost cute.
He walked her to the counter, put the new VHS through the scanner, got her loyatly discount and Surgas followed her out.
The walk to the bar was slightly awkward, her legs were starting to hurt along with her toes.
"Don't judge me." She took her shoes off, suddenly Surgas was 4 inches taller than her, she pulled her wig off and shoved it into her purse. Her hair a hot-blonde mess.
"I like it!" The sparkles danced in his eyes. KayBee raised her eyebrow at him. "don't joke with me, I know what I look like at the end of the night- Makeup astray, smelly feet and," She motioned with her hands. "My hair is out of this world."
Surgas opened the door for Kaybee to enter the bar first.

[sylvanSpider]

Stephanie sat down at the bar, having to hop a little to actually plant herself on the seat as Seth prepared her drink. Seth looked over at his human coworker who still hadn't bothered to get up and sighed. He couldn't even have the satisfaction of having all of the tips for his work at the end of the night. The nightly tips were split right down the middle between the two of them, and right now the only occupant at the bar ordered what was possibly one of the cheapest cocktails there was. At this point, he'd be walking out with pennies. Granted, all of his living expenses were covered somehow by his cell unit (he'd never bothered to ask how they procured so much human money, never really cared to), but it was the principle of the matter.

The only benefit to his working was the fact that the girl before him seemed pleasant enough. She offered him a broad smile as he set the drink down in front of her. She took a large gulp and sighed, content, “Much appreciated, friend!” Looking back in hindsight, he probably should have asked for her id according to human custom, but if this was a bust she would have done it the second the drink was served. As it stood, she sat, continuing to kick her feet.

Stephanie was generally easy going. She was content enough going to college, gathering information on human culture to help formulate an attempt at cohabitation. The bar emanated different scents, but the strangest came from her bartender. He wasn't human, but he wasn't her species either. She'd heard rumours of other spacenoids looking at the blue-green planet for habitation and wondered if he was one of those, on a similar mission to hers. She hoped his sense of smell wasn't as good as hers, or he'd know what she was right away. Still, it was worth noting that she should be aware of him.

The door opened once more, a couple walking through the door. Raphael sighed, getting to his feet. Seth had taken the last one, it made sense that he would take these. “Welcome to Corner Pocket,” he said, mustering a smile that seemed to not fit on his face, “What can I get the two of you this evening?”

[Koah]

Surgas promptly held the door open until KayBee was totally in the bar. The atmosphere wasn't bad. It was a bit dim for her liking, but that was normal for bars. She looked at Surgas as he stepped up to her, he itched his nose subtly and looked at everyone in the room. She did the same, minus the nose itch.
The two guys behind the bar were pretty good looking. One attempted a smile and asked for their orders. She dropped her shoes on the ground next to a bar stool and sat the closest seat in front of the bartender that addressed them. Surgas cautiously sat in the seat next to KayBee.
"I'd like a cocktail please! Just make it blue, and I'll be happy." Kaybee gave the bartender an energetic grin.
Surgas sighed, How does she always have this kind of energy..even when she's damned tired. Surgas turned his attention back to the girl sitting by herself.

[sylvanSpider]

Stephanie lifted her head, a waft of scent from one of her own species - no, her own variant - greeted her nose. She knew which of the two was her own kind immediately, Surgas was one of the others that she'd seen prepping for this trip. Offering a smile and a head nod, she looked back down at her drink assuming that he had other business here. He was here with a human, it would be best to leave him to his own devices unless he came over to talk to her.

Raphael raised his eyebrow and snickered, "Only condition is that it must be blue? I got just the one. It's called "Blue Lagoon" and it features citrus flavors through the blue caracao and lemonade." He got out the respective ingredients then went all the way to make a show of pouring the drink, pulling out any of the tricks he'd learned in the trade. When he was finished, he set the glass in front of her, "Enjoy." Then, turning to the man that came in with her he said, "And for you?"

[Koah]

"OOOH fantastic! " Kaybee gleefully took the drink. Unfortunetaly she had it gone before Surgas was done talking to the bartender.
"A local beer for me-" he looked at his not date for tonight. "Ah... probably another one of those for the lady." He'd have to reconsider how often he could take Kaybee out in the future. Human money didn't go nearly as far as his own home currencies. He took another look at the girl a few spots away, he remembered her from orientation classes. She chose an interesting look for turning human. Two different color eyes definitely stood out a bit.
A scent hit his senses. The one following him for the last few days finally made an appearance. Somewhere.
He brought his attention to the bartender serving them, he had a similar scent. It couldn't be human. At work, so many types of humans walked through the Movie store, all emitting different food smells, nothing causing him alarm.
~
he found himself a human counterpart, how very interesting she pushed off the wall, she blended in so well, no human bothered her. Her position was three store fronts from the video rental from which another species was pretending Human. Story scoffed as she watched the male alien smile and laugh with the girl. The girl pulled her hair off-revealing more hair. What an odd human woman. Story couldn't help but crinkle her nose at the two. their offspring would be disgusting. She managed to follow them undetected all the way to a bar, one block from the video store and 2 buildings from the other type's living abode. Convenient location if he planned to bed the human.

[sylvanSpider]

Raphael blinked and looked down at the remainder of the woman's drink, now reduced to naught but a blue liquid ring lining the inside of the bottom of her glass. After clearing his throat, he looked to the gentleman he hadn't yet served, “Local beer, let's see. We've got I.P.A's, A.P.A's, dark beers, light beers – I need a bit of your taste. What are you feeling?” he gestured to the tabs in front of him. There were many options, and he knew that if “local beer” was all he had to go off of, there was a chance that there would be an unsatisfied customer – of course, leading to fewer tips.

Stephanie's eyes didn't leave her mimosa, the comforting orange liquid too quickly becoming sparse, and it wasn't long before she was tipping the glass back to get the last few drops. As she tipped her head back, attention momentarily diverted, Seth's eyes went to a corner of the room. Someone was there – one of his own – but she did not wish to make herself known. He would give no hints that she was there, but he wondered as to her methods. Was she there studying the culture and delving into the modern thought processes like he was? Watching from the outside seemed like a questionable method, but then, she could be from a different division as well. From Seth's view, his job was pointless. What was the reason they wanted to figure out the culture anyway? They had the firepower to wipe them out, but they seemed more interested in tearing it apart from the inside, which was where Setsi, or Seth, would come in.

Now, he was stuck serving to some weird girl in a bumpy hat with a lazy piece of shit as a coworker, and those that said coworker was dealing with didn't look much better. If anything, they looked worse. Seth found himself wishing that whoever this woman was, she would make himself known so that he could have some solace in the company he kept.

[Koah]

Story leaned against the brick wall of the bar. She pulled a cigarette out of her breast pocket. Took a drag. why do humans make such addicting things? After a good minute, she took a walk around the bar.
-
"I'll take an I.P.A." Surgas finally replied. The hairs were sticking up on the back of his neck. Something here didn't feel right. [I]I hope KayBee and I are safe here.." He plastered on a smile. "How's business? I haven't been to this bar yet, I imagine you have busy nights?" He chuckled to himself, trying to start small talk.

Kaybee swirled her cocktail glass around the coaster on the bar-top, bringing her eyes to the attractive bartender Surgas began talking to. "My name is Ms.Beyha. What's your name?"

[sylvanSpider]

Raphael, despite his intimidating appearance, was quite happy. Easy to please and easy to smile, the man was laid back and simply happy to be alive. He was smiling now as he poured the blondish haired man his drink and mixed the eccentric woman hers, “Well, as you can see, at the moment it kind of sucks, you know? I've gotta split the tips of three customers with my coworker. Night's young though. We might pick up later. The rush isn't due for another couple hours, so I suppose I can keep my hopes up, yeah?” Once the drinks were mixed and placed in front of the respective customers, he picked up his own and sipped from it. He knew the rules. No getting drunk while on shift, but if he sipped, he couldn't very well get drunk, now could he? “Actually, recently, it's been picking up. A lot of new faces in town it seems, yours included. My name is Raphael, Ms. Beyha. You can call me Raff; everyone else does. Ehm, except Seth,” he said

Seth barely paid attention to the patron he served. As far as he was concerned, his job stopped once the drink was served, and so long as liquid was in its receptacle, his job was put on pause. Without saying a word, he picked up an ashtray and stepped out from behind the bar and made his way to the woman who shared his species, setting the ashtray down. “You can smoke in here, but try not to ash on the floor. My name here is Seth. If you're here to observe, I'm afraid there's little to nothing to look at, except for maybe my idiot coworker.”

[Koah]

KayBee grinned as the bartender, Raff introduced himself. She couldn't help smiling. Not only was smiling her job at work, but this was the highlight of her awful day. She looked at Surgas, he was strangely stiff, and they had only just arrived. "I've definitely noticed the influx of new people in town." She sighed and looked down at her drink. "I hope it's a good thing.. But i've only experienced the bad.. The house I've been saving up for just jumped up in price and sold this week." She took a large gulp of her new drink. She brought her smile back. "Nice to meet you Seth." She gave him her best Elvis grin, which probably looked kind of strange on her petite feminine face.
Surgus put his hand on KayBee's shoulder, an honest comfort touch, however, her side glance made him peel his hand off and put it on his beer. "I work down the block from here at BlockBuster. My name is Surgus." He put his hand out to shake hands with Raff.

--
Story put out her cigarette. She found herself standing at the back entrance to the bar. She flicked the cigarette in the grass and cracked the door open. She glanced around, she was the only person in the alleyway, she slipped her body through the crack of the door. She helped the door close as quietly as possible. The hallway was brick, photos of drunken shenanigans taken with a Polaroid camera tacked to a cork board. [i]toe, heel, toe, heel..[i] She walked passed bathrooms which were labeled for male humans and female humans. strange how humans can't use the same facility. Story took a step back, her reflection stared back at her. A mirror. She took her ponytail down, her hair fell down passed her breasts. She unbuttoned the top 3 buttons of her shirt, showing a slight amount of cleavage and bra. She pulled out a deep red lipstick and applied it. Now she looked like someone who was ready to be talked to at a bar. She continued down the hall and entered the main area. 3 people sat at the bar, empty chairs, bar tables and a billiard table decorated the rest of the room.

[sylvanSpider]

Caught in a cycle of smiling, Raff laughed and scratched the back of his head, “Well, at least you have enough money to be considering buying a house. I'm stuck renting an apartment with el groucho over there. Gotta look at the bright side in times like this yeah?” He sipped from his own drink and could almost feel the mentioned one's eyes boring into him and, sipping from his drink, dared a glance. Seth's head wasn't even in an angle that he could feasibly look at him, and Raff almost sighed with relief. “Blockbuster, huh? That place is all that and a bag of chips. Go there every Friday. I thought you looked familiar!” Raff's appearance was one that showed a tough exterior only until you got him to talking. After that, once you remotely got to get to know him, he had an infectious smile and only the most optimistic of attitudes.

Down the bar, E'fie could sense it. She liked him exponentially more than her own bar tender, but perhaps it was best she got the one that she did. He smelled, and the scent wasn't one of body odor. It wasn't human, and he certainly wasn't one of her own. She wondered if the humans were able to pick up on it or not and quietly decided that they could not.

Seth was aware of the other presence in the room immediately. He lifted his head, followed by his eyebrows, recognizing a comrade when he saw her. The skin she chose to wear was hypnotizing, even for a human. She'd done well. He wouldn't make an effort to talk to her, however. She would have to come to him. It wasn't normal for a bartender to leave the bar, he'd told himself.