they all bleed red

[alicornucopia]

Milliways is sometimes empty.

It never stays that way for long.

Comments

[callmeleo]

Leo was opening the door to his current residence, an abandoned warehouse in the Docks.

It's no longer a door to his current residence.

What the hell.

...It being empty, he creeps inside very gently. It's a bar, there's no threshold to hedge him out. What's going on?

[alicornucopia]

Exploding stars are going on. Not much else.

[callmeleo]

Yeah, he noticed the exploding stars.

Absent much else to do, he goes to sit on a barstool. Actually he pokes it first, then sits down.

[alicornucopia]

The stool has no reaction to the poking.

The bar has a reaction to the approach! Hello. Can I get you anything to drink? First one's free, says a napkin.

[callmeleo]

Leo engages in some highly dignified flailing and squeaks not at all like a little girl.

"What!" he manages, after a bit.

[alicornucopia]

I don't mean to alarm you, says a napkin. I'm the bar. I can produce beverages, and the first one's free.

[callmeleo]

"Do you do blood?"

[alicornucopia]

Certainly. Any specifications, or would you prefer to take my recommendation?

[callmeleo]

"Well, I was going to see if there's anything to that 'virgin's blood' thing, but now I'm curious. Recommend me a vintage, friend sentient bar."

[alicornucopia]

A burgundy wineglass full of blood and a little plastic umbrella appears. Virgin, male, mild tequila-based BAC introduced to a naive system, this glass is footnoted.

[callmeleo]

Leo is terribly amused by the little plastic umbrella! He tastes it.

"Oh, very nice. I'd never considered the BAC thing, I'll have to keep that in mind when I return home. Maybe I'll hit some drunk virgins next time I have a centennial."

[alicornucopia]

Bar has no comment on this possibility.

The door opens again.

The girl who opens it looks like she's in her late teens. She's very thin, but in a sort of sleek way, the sort of look you'd normally need Photoshop to get. Her skin is paper white, her hair and eyes are ink-black, and she's very heavily accessorized - there's stuff wrapped around the base of her ponytail and braided into her bangs, she's got necklaces and bracelets that don't look like they're principally for decoration, bags and wands and crystals hung from the sash around her waist. Her mouth drops open a little when she sees the place, revealing ivory fangs; the door falls shut behind her.

[callmeleo]

Leo raises his glass to her. "Well met! Nice shinies, are you some kind of enchanter?"

[alicornucopia]

"...I'm a kama," she says. She looks over her shoulder.

The door is gone.

"Where am I?"

[callmeleo]

"Did you kill the door? That's inconvenient. We're in some kind of bar with a habit of replacing doors with itself. Come on in, have a drink, apparently you don't actually have much choice, sorry about that. I've never heard of commas, what would those be?"

[alicornucopia]

She approaches the bar, frowning. "I think I'll pass on the drink. Singular kama plural kyma magic used kamai; the stuff I'm wearing is mostly kamai tools of one sort or another. Where did the door go? Why did I wind up here in the first place? I was trying to get to vi'Naav's office..."

[callmeleo]

"Sure you'll pass? Bar's very good at drinks, and the first is free. Door went somewhere probably, you wound up here for reasons, I have no idea who vi'Naav is but that's a really cool name. What's yours?"

[alicornucopia]

"I'm sure. Vi'Naav is a title; my name's Leekath." She sniffs the air. "Is... that blood?"

[callmeleo]

"Yes! Virgin's blood, in fact, apparently it really is magically delicious. Good nose there. Nice to meet you, Leekath, I'm Leo. Vampire of the Red Court and layabout aesthete."

[alicornucopia]

"You don't look like a vampire. I'm a vampire."

[callmeleo]

"Oh, there's already anywhere between four and ten different kinds of vampire depending how you count it, what's one more. I suppose you'd be, I don't know, Blue Court or something. What's your lot do?"

[alicornucopia]

"I don't know what you're talking about with courts. I'm White Line, but somehow I don't think that's what you mean. What do you mean what do we do?"

[callmeleo]

"Well, there's Red Court, which I am, we're delightful rubbery monster things in human flesh and we drink blood. There's Black Court, they're dried-up rotting corpses and they drink blood and get everybody pissed off about vampires by being generally awful. And the White Court eat emotions and sparkle and are a bunch of prissy little twats. Oh, and there's the Jade court but they stick to China and I know fuckall about them. I think their legs are stuck together or something."

[alicornucopia]

"None of those things sound like vampires except for the drinking blood part. And you're drinking it out of a glass."

[callmeleo]

"Well, usually I go for the neck, but it all goes down my throat anyway. What, do you have to use a straw or something? Bar can probably provide."