Taverns are something every good universe should have

[pantsaretight.livejournal.com]

Having seen more of the 'Verse than most people would dream possible in his rather eventful life, Mal had also been a patron of just about every type of drinking establishment there was. From upscale Core World bars to shacks out on the very Rim held together with mud and prayers, it was very likely Mal had at least stepped into it for a drink, and possibly a nice fight. Bars and Taverns were where you could learn a great deal about a person, just by watching how much they chose to abandon their own restrictions and self control in the presence of others. They were also where there was information, business deals, and new contacts to be found, all present in one neat central location, one that many communities revolved around. Whenever he stopped in a new port of call, Mal always made sure to pay the bar a visit sooner rather than later.

Of course, with all his experience with watering holes, he had to admit that the Drunken Dragon was something very new. On the surface it could almost be mistaken for a Rim world bar, with its rough and almost primitive design motif, almost comical dragon decoration, and lack of all the da bian luxuries the Alliance insisted marked them as civilized. Mal had been in enough of those dives, however, to realize that the Dragon was far more well maintained than most of them could afford to be, and that the design itself was not the result of a hodgepodge of whatever materials they could scrounge. It looked more like something out of an ancient Earth That Was picture book. Setting foot inside, Mal took the time to survey the layout of the place, memorizing the locations of all the tables, staff, and exits just in case he needed to leave in a hurry.

Not that he expected to have to do so, given Kaylee and Wash's assurances about the respect the patrons paid the owner of the tavern, but old habits died hard, and if he let them die then he expected he would soon follow. Still, it seemed like he'd arrived a bit early, and with time to spare before the person he was meeting arrived he made his way across the tavern to a place where he could sit with his back to the wall and watch the door. Of course, once he sat he needed a moment to get used to the fit of his suit, as he had for the past few days. He was rather glad the ship had seen fit to save the coat that was a symbol of his continued defiance against the now dead Alliance, but he had to wonder if it would have really hurt to save his pants and shirt too.

[OOC:This thread is mostly for if characters who Mal had arraigned to meet for drinks at the tavern, but if you want to thread with him feel free to have a character run into him while he's waiting. Individual threads can be set at different times too.]

Comments

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

"I hope it soon proves a good one as well. The tavern is a pleasant enough place as one becomes accustomed to it."

[pantsaretight.livejournal.com]

"Been accustomed to taverns for a long while myself. Really about the only thing I'm accustomed to in this place."

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

"An excellent point. I take it ships of this size are not common in your facet of reality?"

[pantsaretight.livejournal.com]

"Oh, we got plenty of big ships. Alliance ship designers like to zhùsù wèi zìjǐ de xiǎo shēngzhíqì by making ships the size of city blocks floating about space, but even they haven't gone so far off the edge as to try and bring 'em to life."

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

"Ah. Understandable." Pause. "That was a human language, just now. It sounded very human, but it was not English."

[pantsaretight.livejournal.com]

"Just talk. Old Earth languages got mixed up all to hell on the ride to our new worlds. Took on the worst halves of both and mixed 'em together. Don't hardly think about it anymore."

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

"Ah. I take it there has been difficulty maintaining contact with Earth over the centuries in your facet of reality as well?"

[pantsaretight.livejournal.com]

"Nothing to talk back to," he said with a bit of dark humor. "Way we left it all used up, we knew there was no going back."

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

Then Chancellor is surprised. He's used to thinking of humankind's constant expansion as, well, adorable. It's strange to think of its destructive capabilities. "Ah."

[pantsaretight.livejournal.com]

"Trust me, don't be mourning Earth That Was. 'Least we tried to save her. Plenty of more recent crimes to condemn us for." When it came to human nature, Mal wasn't exactly an optimist. He had seen far too much of its dark side for that, even if at his core, he did still believe in it.

[ternaui.livejournal.com]

"How recent?"

[pantsaretight.livejournal.com]

"Well, I suppose that depends on how long I've been inhabiting that pod. Last war back where I'm from was a while ago, but plenty of smaller sins to fill in the gaps."

He shrugged, burning his mouth with his drink. "Some folks its a matter of survival. Others just want what different people have, and some just like breaking everything around them."