Invisible Parties — 29 of 31

Book - Cocktail Bar

DoubleTwisted is a challenging party in tangle. DoubleTwisted is north of hotrock and east of mutualslump. The printed name of DoubleTwisted is "Double and Twisted". Understand "double" or "twisted" or "bar" or "cocktail" as doubletwisted.

['Double and twisted' is an Appalachian moonshining term, referring to the higher-quality, fusel-oil-free liquor produced by running the shine through the still a second time. If I ever get around to making a moonshiner game, that'll be the title.]

The description of DoubleTwisted is "A long cocktail bar, with a certain degree of wood-panelling but not all stuffy about it. Populated, but not crowded: it's late[one of], but not yet that desperate hour of the black morning when all is ruin[or][stopping]. Windows overlook a rain-soaked street."

[The image I had in mind was of the Bookstore Bar in downtown Seattle, though there's little here to identify it. Or so I thought, until Emily Short and Jacqueline Lott, the people with whom I most regularly frequented the Bookstore, independently identified it.]

the cocktail bar is an unimplement in doubletwisted. The description of cocktail bar is "A long slab of dark-chocolate wood, with the usual assembly of taps, nozzles, drip-trays and implements on your side."

the wood-panelling is an unimplement in doubletwisted. Understand "wood" or "paneling" or "panels" or "panel" or "panelling" as wood-panelling. The description of wood-panelling is "Pale, stripped wood. This plainly isn't an old gentleman's club, but it's trying to evoke that general flavour."

the DT windows are an unimplement in doubletwisted. The description of DT windows is "Ceiling-to-floor windows overlook a broad, rain-spattered street, sloping gently." The printed name of DT windows is "windows".

the rain-soaked street is an unimplement in doubletwisted. The description of rain-soaked street is "It's a hard rain; you can endure most kinds, but this is a full-on deluge. The buildings on the other side of the street, the neon of another bar, are smeared by water pouring down the glass."

the barflies are a crowd in DoubleTwisted. The description of barflies is "Professional-looking types, on the whole, if not particularly dressy. Not a place to get your cocktails cheap." Understand "patrons" as barflies.

The tsadesc of DoubleTwisted is "Black dress shirt, black pants, waistcoat and tie; androgyne-going-on-femme. Maybe a little taller than you were. Hair black, slicked-back."

The listendesc of DoubleTwisted is "Jazz played at a speed suitable for dancing, probably from around the 40s."

The threshold of DoubleTwisted is 2.

The closeclue of DoubleTwisted is "There's an empty martini glass on the bar, holding down a fifty and a scrawled-on napkin."

the napkin is a clue. the javeclue of DoubleTwisted is napkin. The description of napkin is "The martini is just a martini. (She has a near-religious aversion to lipstick, to the point of avoiding lip balm because it's kind of like gloss, and it's adorable when she bites her lip but not so much when it results in [i]scabbing.[/i]) The handwriting unambiguously hers, though, although it's so hastily-scrawled as to be illegible." Understand "martini" or "fifty" as napkin.

Instead of drinking napkin: say "The martini glass is empty, with just a faint aroma of top-shelf gin.";

Instead of smelling napkin: try drinking napkin.

Instead of using Textual Critic in the presence of napkin: say "If you can't make out the letters, there's not much analysis that can be done. It's Jave's handwriting, no question, and it was hastily written. Contextually it has to have been intended for you. Under the circumstances, she wouldn't waste time on anything but crucial instructions: where to wait for her, how to deal with something. But that's all you're getting."

The boozedesc of DoubleTwisted is "The bar goes beyond full and makes a very close run at comprehensive; it towers so high that ladders are required. The actual guests, however, seem to mostly be drinking the dozen-or-so proper classic cocktails.[p]But on closer inspection, the bottles are all labeled in an incomprehensible alphabet, one that you're inexplicably unable to comprehend."

The javeinit of DoubleTwisted is "Jave leans against the bar, toying with a martini on its last legs. Her hair has shrunk to a flapper bob, and she's wearing an arresting red-gold dress of some shimmery, perilously-thin material."

The shortbooze of DoubleTwisted is "You pour a shot from a random bottle - it tastes of [one of]aniseed[or]raspberries[or]gym stank[or]old paperback glue[or]oak barrels[or]ammonia[or]acrid herbs[or]pepper[or]sardines[or]burning[or]marijuana smoke[or]freshly cured leather[or]fresh rain[or]stinkbugs[or]cleaning products[or]steel[or]lavender[at random]."

The javedesc of DoubleTwisted is "You suspect the tangle of having set this entire scenario up to show Jave off to good effect. The art-deco-y dress is a natural match for her long neck and boyish torso, and if the designer was thinking of someone a little, well, twiggier, she's only improved on the original intent. She's near the end of her martini, and has her eyes locked on you."

The javecostume of DoubleTwisted is "Jave has thrown a trenchcoat over the cocktail dress, which will do for now."

The rivdesc of DoubleTwisted is "Rivka sits at the end of the bar in full-on suit-and-tie drag, a sharp-angled fedora, lipstick the colour of falling ashes."

The rivcostume of DoubleTwisted is "Rivka's suit is more 30s menswear than anything: loose pants with a razor-edge crease, broad high lapels, high waist and broad shoulders, tie with a dark lavender pattern. The fedora doesn't match the aviator glasses at all, and the corpse-white lipstick also doesn't fit, and it's all quite conscious. She has a Mason jar full of muddled lemon and clear spirits at one elbow, a pack of cigarettes, a Zippo."

The rivweapon of DoubleTwisted is "an oversized revolver".

The desolation of DoubleTwisted is "The high windows explode inwards: a second later, the chatter of automatic fire from the street. Reflex takes you [if Jave is in the location]and Jave[end if] to the floor behind the bar - [i] useless as cover, find a supporting wall[/i] - and spares you the sight of whatever's happening to the patrons. One gun cuts off, another two start up, rhythms mismatched - [i]Uzi, AR, AK. Irregulars. There were... two, maybe three vehicles pulled up outside, big SUVs, different colours. Gang? Militia?[/i] Shattered glass is raining down from above. [i]No equivalent weapon, no allies, no position of advantage. Get the fuck out.[/i]"

Instead of using warrior in DoubleTwisted when DoubleTwisted is doomed:

say the demise of DoubleTwisted;

end the story;

The demise of DoubleTwisted is "If you're going to stay here, you'll need a weapon. They have weapons, QED. More immediately, you need some real hard cover, somewhere to mount an ambush. There's a supporting pillar over by the doorway. You pick a break in the fire and hurl yourself up and over the bar, sprinting low and hard. They spot you, and the gunfire gets a lot heavier very quickly. But somehow you make it, cannoning into the little corner of blessedly solid brick. You roll over, bruised and scraped, to catch your breath, and this enables you to see the grenade's final bounce."

Carry out using critic in DoubleTwisted:

say "There's not enough text on the labels for you to bring an interpretation together. And something's preventing you from reading any of them, which you should normally be able to do.";

Carry out using forager in DoubleTwisted:

say "You don't understand any of the labels, but if you [i]sample[/i] - you grab a shot glass and fill a larger one with water.[p]What does she like? So much of your time together was spent in places where food was just fuel. Coffee, absolutely. Citrus: in Masdita she ate grapefruit and oranges at every chance she could. Otherwise, usually not sweet things. Awful beer, let's not go down that road [i]just[/i] this moment. Something cold. As you're thinking, you're popping open every bottle in sequence, pouring just a few drops: sniff, sip, rinse and spit. (If anyone objects to your indecorous use of a spare bus tray as a spitoon, they can go fuck themselves.) The first three taste of... nothing you've had before, definitely acquired tastes. The fourth is a sickly fake-hazelnut thing. You wrinkle your nose and spit with gusto.[p]Before you've moved more than three feet down the rows, your tastebuds are no longer to be trusted, but an idea's formed: a couple of fingers of the crisp, faintly-fruity clear stuff, one of the golden thing that [i]might[/i] be pear brandy, a lemon's worth of juice, a muddle of those aromatic herbs, stir in ice, strain. Not going to win any awards for originality, but hopefully not something you'd send back. You place it lightly before her.[p]Her eyes go hooded for a moment after the first sip, then go to you, smiling. 'Yeah, that should do it.'";

wait for any key;

say "[p]Her hand's lying, palm-up, on the bar. You move to touch it.";

ruin everything;

Carry out using antinominalist in DoubleTwisted:

say "Well, if she wants a drink, her guess is probably as good as yours. You extend a hand. 'Here, come and get your own.'[p]She takes your hand, steps out of her shoes, and hops up onto the bar and down onto your side, cat-smooth. She evidently follows these names better than you do, somehow, because she darts from bottle to bottle, hand fluttering along the row before snatching up something as though she recognises it. Something starts coming together in a shaker, something milky-green and aromatic. She stirs once, strains it into a teacup, and boosts herself up to sit on the bar and drink it.[p]You haven't seen her cross her legs in a dress before, and you would have liked a lot more time to appreciate the effect.";

ruin everything;

Carry out using warrior in DoubleTwisted:

say "Barfights are a lot less romantic than generally assumed. You don't care to start any.";

Carry out using commander in DoubleTwisted:

say "Lead whom? To what end?"

Carry out using troublemaker in DoubleTwisted:

say "A bartender's meant to defuse conflict, not start it. That, and provide drinks."

Carry out using laughing one in DoubleTwisted:

say "You smile and raise your eyebrows at Jave. She returns the smile, with rather more teeth and eyelashes than you expected, and raises a finger above her empty glass.";

Carry out using abider in DoubleTwisted:

say "Well, you're sure she could endure not getting another drink, but that would defeat the purpose rather.";