Grisly Bar
Worn wooden floors stained with ages of spilled drinks (and worse), creak under the feet of patrons as they enter the dark, disordered room. Though dust has settled over a lot of the establishment, making it appear abandoned, the flow of customers would speak differently. Dirty glasses, some with sticky yellow patches in the bottom where beer or scotch has been allowed to dry, stand on one end of the bar.
Several of the windows have been bricked up to prevent vandalism, but create a great fire-hazard. There is a tarnished mirror on the wall behind the bar with a chipped and fading Art Nouveau nymph painted across the bottom.
St. Patrick's Day festivities are already underway out in West Dallas, and have been for most of the day. For a woman who's studio just so happens to be on the parade route, Scarlett has had the place closed up all day. The time off has been spent doing typical things — haircut, facial, etc. She's even taken the time to repaint the cast on her right hand in a deep green, with lighter colored shamrocks all over it. A green tank-top and a pair of jeans is worn as she makes her way into the Grisly bar. Hair looking perfect, face looking pristine. It gets more than a few cat-calls but the female Fontane twin is choosing to ignore it for now.
Night is just settling in, the festivities of the day getting a bit more rowdy. Gaze shifting around the bar, she makes her way to a table at the back trying for some semblance of quiet while she enjoys one of those awful green beers.
-
There are some days when a man just needs to let loose and enjoy a beer with his buddies. St. Patrick's Day is one of those days. And so Ivan, not immune to the necessities of MANKIND, is out tonight with a couple of his friends from work, still considerably dressed up considering the celebration. At least he's removed his coat, undone his tie, and has left his top buttons unfastened, revealing a bit of chest to the bar.
This, in conjunction to the fact that his green, festive tie is currently fastened around his head like some sort of 80's headband proves that Ivan is, indeed, drunk. Or well on his way to being drunk. One of his buddies taps at his arm enthusiastically, letting out a low whistle. "Dude! Check out how hot she is!"
Mildly curious, though no longer brimming with enthusiasm, Ivan turns his head to the side to catch sight of the 'babe'. "Where?" Beat. "…Dude! She's my sister, you jackass!"
-
The whistle goes absolutely ignored, until she hears the admonishment that it's someone's sister. There's no way Ivan would be caught dead in a place li—
Scarlett is proven wrong, by the fact that her brother is indeed there, tie around his head, calling some poor guy a jackass. Her disgusting green beer is lift up in her left hand, and she slides out of the table. Making her way right toward the group at the bar. There's is only a tiny bit of preening, because these are people Ivan works with after all. Enough to show that the compliments were appreciated, but not outwardly being flirtatious. "Ivan! What are you doing in my neck of the woods?" In her bad location of the city.
-
More bickering follows, during which Ivan is left to give his friend a shove of the shoulders, but by the time Scarlett makes her way over all is well. Ivan casts his older sister a decidedly wry grin, his mouth lopsided sloppily. "Hey, Scar-y. Harv' wants to know if you're tired, because you've been running through his dreams all last night." Once the cheeseball pick up line has been thrown out, Harvey lets out a cry of protest and hits Ivan upside the head before shuffling off, embarrassed.
Which leaves Ivan with something of a headache. "…Ow. What'm I…uhh…" Think, Ivan! Think. "Oh! Saint Patty's day, yeah? What're you doing in…your neck of the woods?"
-
"I live here," says the delightfully sober Scarlett. "I'm maybe just a wee bit disturbed at being hit on by my own brother, even if it is on behalf of a friend." She licks her lips, brings the disgusting green beer up to her mouth and squeezes her eyes shut as she takes a sip. "No Carter?" Once another sip is swallowed, she looks through the group of coworkers. "It's okay, Harvey," she calls, "don't mind my brother, he's absolutely, completely, and totally drunk."
-
Ivan blinks once. Then twice, before looking around, mortified. "Nuh uh! I wasn't hitting on you none. You're Scar!" A thoughtful pause, followed by the purse of his lips. "'Sides, even if you weren't, you're not my type. Too…Scar." It's as if her nickname says it all for him, in his inebriated way. "Huh? Well…I guess not, eh? I don't remember where he went. I don't care! I need another beer - Scar, get me another beer?" Look at that…err…adorable baby face?
-
"Ivan Fontane, you are wasted." Scarlett holds her hand out to him. "Give me your keys, and I'll get you a cab later." Keys first, then beer will be gotten. In fact, he can have the one she was gently nursing. The green beer is handed over to him, and she orders another for herself. "Where's the girlfriend tonight?" They may disagree with things, but that doesn't mean she doesn't love her brother and care about his life at all. "Where's my hamster?" Since she got coerced into taking one, which will be given to Helen anyhow.
-
"I am soooooo not wasted, okay! Watch!" Ivan screws his expression into one of intense concentration, only so he can hold out his index finger and then expertly touch the tip of his nose with it. It is, really, quite pathetically endearing of the sloshed man. "See!" But, if it between car keys and beer…well. Scarlett is tossed the jingling metal without hesitation, just so the man can pounce on the newest bottle of Irish lager. He has to lean against the counter to keep from slipping to the floor. "Where's my wha'?"
Beat. "My Faith! She's uhh…I don't…know. S'it dark out yet? 'Cause if it is, she's at home, waitin' for me. She's my wifey." He is clearly far gone if he's resorted to slang learned from MTV and rap artists. And clearly ignorant of the fact that he might get in trouble for his accidental sans-Faith binge. "Hamsters! Ah - geez - they're still little babies! Little stinky babies. Need to wait like…time for them to grow bigger. Then I'll send it over…air mail." He finds this hilarious for some reason, giggling to himself.
-
Car keys pocketed, Scarlett relinquishes her hold on the beer, and she just blinks at him. "Your what?!?" While she waits for a new drink of her own up at the bar, she gives her brother's shoulder a shake. "Please, please for the love of everything shiny, tell me that you didn't up and get married without telling mom." Shake-shake-shake. Thoughts of the hamsters have completely left her mind. "Are you crazy?" Obviously it's not slang that this particular Fontane twin knows, or she'd not be reacting so badly.
-
Ivan is jostled rather emphatically when Scarlett shakes him, the result being that some of his beer spills over to his used-to-be-pristine dress shirt. "Stop it!" He whines, before looking down at the stain. And then, without hesitation, he shrugs his shoulders and downs another swig, only then bothering to recall the fact that she had been talking to him just moments before. "What? No! No, not wife! Wifey! Like…a baby wife or something, I dunno. I don't speak black."
She shouldn't have brought this up. She really shouldn't have. Because, borne of his impaired brain cells (the few that are still alive) is an idea so radical, so heinous, that it will only last the mug of beer. "I should be her wife too. Scarlett! Scar! I need like…a ring. I need a ring, Scar, I wanna get married! Tonight! I wanna - shit, I need a bachelor's party - I'm getting married!" He trips forward, looping his arm around his sister's shoulders with the broadest, goofiest grin on his face. "Scaaaaaaar. Will you be my best man?"
-
There is allowance for his sip of beer, and then the big sister is busily shaking him again. A lot more harshly. "No, Ivan. No. A girl doesn't want a drunken proposal or a rushed marriage thanks to a drunken idiot." Her beer arrives then, and she takes it graciously. "You can't drive anyhow, I have your keys." Thankfully, Dallas has no all night wedding chapels either. "You consider this when you're sober before you go and make a mistake, or I'll call mom." If that doesn't put a damper on things, she doesn't know what will.
Even when Ivan goes to hug her with that drunken, goofy smile, she just keeps shaking him. "Enn-Oh. No. I love you, Ivan, I love that you're an idiot when you're drunk, but I'm not going to let you do something you might regret come morning. Or do you not recall another fast engagement brought on by a ring of mine?"
-
St. Patrick's Day is a day that is just calling for at least one good drink. That's really the only reason that he's leaving the house at this point. His arm is no longer in a sling but his hand is still in a cast, a different one than the last time he encountered Ivan. The bandages on his face are gone as the bruising and swelling are healing rather well. All in all Robert appears pretty happy. He's out with a small group of his coworkers who have the night off. Drinks may be free at the Warehouse but their behavior is monitored there so they've opted to go somewhere fun. That somewhere just so happens to put the group dangerously close to the House Fontane; or at least the sexy one and the one that needs to be avoided at all costs. So as tempted as he is to go plant a huge kiss on Scarlett, Bobby simply orders a beer and prays that they don't notice him.
-
"C-cut it out!" This is not how Ivan wants to celebrate his decision to settle down. She's supposed to be hugging and congratulating him, not shaking the hell out of him. And so, with his brows furrowed darkly, he proceeds to clamp his larger hands around Scarlett's arms to serve as a dual purpose - to steady himself, and to return the favor. Hell, he can shake her too! Alot more enthusiastically and violently, too. "You don't understand! I love her, man, I need to make her mine forever! I need to now, 'afore I lose her! 'Afore someone takes her away from me…"
-
Head bobbling about from the drunken shaking, Scarlett stops her side of it. With her hand, the non-broken one, she brings it up to slap his face. Not hard, and not meanly. Just enough of a jolt to shock him out of it. "I do understand, but I want you to make the decision when you're sober and not liable to wake up, forgetting that you wanted to get married. Do you want to be that guy that wakes up and wishes he didn't do something rash?!" Generally, she'd be happy for him. Generally, she'd be overjoyed that her player of a brother is settling down. But not like this. "Sweetie, no one is going to take her from you between now and the time you wake up in the morning, and if they do? They'll have to deal with me. Scar-y, remember?" Much as she loathes that nickname, she's going to spout it back at him to again get the sense into his noggin.
Despite this sibling issue, Scarlett takes note of Robert's entrance, and his avoidance. That would sober her up if she'd had anything more than two sips of a beer.
-
Avoidance is easy when Ivan is around, especially as it appears that they are talking about marriage to a Tyler. Touchy subject, especially considering the vehicle inspection. Still, it would be sending the complete and wrong signal to Scarlett if he outright ignored her presence all night. So once his mug of green beer is handed to him, Robert begins to bridge the short distance between him and the Fontane's. It's only then that he notices the shaking and the slapping. So he stands behind Ivan, rather close but certainly not invading the man's personal space, watching. Eyes focus on Scarlett as he seeks answers, mainly if she needs help.
-
If it were anyone else, in the drunken state he is in, the slapper would have received a stunned right hook to the jaw. As it is, Ivan makes a motion - aggressive, and possibly dangerous - that looks as though he is about to hit Scarlett - but then, in that moment, the man recalls that very sentence. That very name. Jerky Ivan may be, but he has never lifted a hand against a woman. Even less so one of his sisters. Even if it is the bitchy one.
Frozen in spot, he stares at her, eyes wide and glossy. But then, he jerks away from the woman violently, escaping her range and stuttering back drunkenly. "No - no, you don't want me to get hitched. You hate that I'm happy. You hate that I'm loved and you're not. It's - it's not fair."
-
"Jesus H. Fucking Christ, Ivan. You are drunk." Scarlett is more than hurt at this point, the fact that he nearly hit her having already got her blood boiling, but his cold words? Those actually cut through her bitchy exterior. "Go ahead then, you ass." His keys are fumbled back out of her pockets and literally thrown at him as hard as she can possibly manage. "Go ahead and get drunkenly married. Go ahead and hate yourself in the morning. I was trying to do you a fucking favor." Her glass of green colored beer is then hefted up and the liquid tossed in his direction as well. The empty glass is slammed down onto the bar, and without even bothering to look at Robert, she turns on her heel so that she can collect her jacket from the table where she stashed it upon coming in.
-
This is a very bad time for him to be around. The protector in Robert just can't let this go. He can't allow the woman that he's so close to be so upset without saying anything. The splash of beer doesn't escape him but thankfully he has an Ivan shield to protect him. Thankfully he didn't have to jump him when that hand was raised. There is no sympathy as the thrown keys hit the drunk square in the head. All the same he reaches for those keys and puts them in his pocket before walking after Scarlett. "Classy," Bobby offers to Ivan as he steps by him, not at all concerned for the man's condition. "Scarlett. Scar, wait up." Despite her anger he's not afraid to reach out for her, gently touching her arm if she'll allow it.
-
"Admit it," Ivan accuses, lips pursing slightly. "You hate that I'm the one doing good now. That I'm the one who's got it together an' you're the one homewrecking." It's a drunken mistake. He'd not say such things if he was sober - but it's the truth nevertheless. "You can never jus' be happy for me, you can never jus' trust m-ow." He's been struck, in the forehead, with the keys. It prompts him to stumble back a tad bit. But when he reaches down to make a grab for them, only to have them snatched away.
By Bobby.
His entire expression darkens one hundred percent, turning feral and possibly dangerous. With a growl, he launches himself forward, digging his hand into his shoulder to stop Bobby from proceeding. "Fucktard! It's your fault she's like this! You're the dipshit that's making her fucked up - don't you DARE say her fucking name!"
-
By the time Robert reaches her, Scarlett's eyes are well on their way to being watery. She doesn't fight the touch to her arm, as she's trying her damnedest to get her emotions under control before she sets Ivan's head on fire. The words just continue to cut through her, until she finally spins around. Slugger or no Slugger holding her back, and she starts toward Ivan again. This time, she comes at him with a left hook — because her regular punching hand is in a cast.
"Don't you ever, EVER talk to me again, Ivan Fontane. You are just like grandfather. You likely called the attack on Robert's parents too. I can't fucking believe you."
-
His hand may be in a cast but he's a bouncer. There are some things that he's just trained to do. Fighting is one of them. That's why, no matter how much he is trying to be civil, it's all but impossible to fight the urge to turn around and grab Ivan by the neck. Still, in the name of civility he nearly ignores the touch, the words. What he can't ignore is Scarlett. She's crying, she's upset and she just slugged her brother? Family issue or not, Robert conveniently places himself between the twins. "You want to fight with me, fine." This is said after his beer finds a home far away from a potential fight. "I've done some things that yes, I can understand why you'd want to. But when you sober up? I hope to hell you remember how you've treated your sister tonight. It's uncalled for, Fontane, even from you. You can get your keys back when you sleep it off and apologize to Scarlett." The anger is being held back, barely, if only for her sake.
-
The strike comes. The poor drunk staggers beneath his own weight behind the force of the blow. That's twice now that she's struck him and he's refused to retaliate. That's twice now that she's hammered down the point that she has ruined his night, his mood, and his life. All over her overreaction to a drunken joke of an idea that he would have forgotten had she the presence of mind to simply drop the issue.
Happy fucking Saint Patrick's Day.
Ivan stares at Scarlett blindly. His attention then swivels over to Robert. And just like that, he's checked out. He's gone, mentally, and without hesitation he moves to get gone physically as well. Except that as he staggers out, the man collapses onto the floor, passed out.
-
An overreaction? Well he seemed fairly serious about it. She ruined his night? She's not the one spouting off that he was a homewrecker, unloved, or not worth loving. Not to mention that she's just nearly broken her other wrist as well. Shaking it out from the punch, tears streaming down her face, she marches right over to her brother's downed body and nudges it gently with her foot.
Scarlett shakes her head, frowning at Robert. "He won't apologize. He probably won't remember this at all. He's a mean, spiteful drunk and I should just roll him into the alley and leave him there for the other partiers to have their way with him." Her left hand comes up to wipe at her eyes. There goes her facial. "Can you help me get him home?" Yes, even though her brother is the world's biggest jackass, she'll do that much for him. After that? If she never sees him again, she'll be happy.
-
When it comes down to it, Bobby the Super Nice Guy will do just about anything. Helping the drunken idiot that just insulted his own twin without even caring is not on his list of priorities but she's asking him. He can't just say no. A look to where his beer is reveals that someone has snatched it up anyway. So, sober, he moves over to Ivan and hefts him up over his shoulder. It's painful, to the point where he swears he can hear and feel a pop somewhere, but Bobby doesn't say a word about that. "I didn't drive so I can take his car." One of these days he will learn to say no. A step nearly brings the man down to his knees but he steadies himself against the dead weight, pushing past the pain to at least get this much done. "If you want to just call it a night, I can take care of this."
-
There is nothing that Scarlett would love more than calling it a night, but she shakes her head. Right at Robert's side now, she places a hand on his arm. To help keep him steady. Since her brother apparently weighs a lot more than she thought. "I'll be behind you. No point in you having to walk home from his apartment when he's the one that's the idiot." Since she'll be driving alone, she can make a call along the way and let the girlfriend know what's going on, so when Robert shows up at the apartment with Ivan she won't think he was trying to kill him. "Let me get the door." She opens the door of the bar, holding it for Bobby, then gets the car door as well — the back one. "Toss him back there. Hell, toss him in the trunk. I don't care at this point."