Antics of the Drunken Variety (Henri!)

[Samuel Rixon]

(Backdated to Friday)

Another week of classes down, and Sam was out on the town celebrating. Bundled in his winter coat, he was merrily making his way to one of the smaller, local hangout bars where most of the college students went to unwind. Beneath his jacket, he looked less like a twenty two year old, and much more like a ten year old, but he really didn’t care. Jurassic Park was always, and would always be amazing, thank you very much.

As he swung into the little bar, Sam settled right up close to the bartop. He was social by nature, and hanging out near the bartender never seemed to bother him. He had very little when it came to personal space, and he could talk about just about anything, even if he knew nothing about it. Besides, sitting closer to the bartender meant you’d get served faster, right?

“Hey!” He chirped the word happily as he sat down, glad he’d dropped his bag and school stuff off at home first. Plus he’d told his brother where he was going, so if he didn’t come home, assume he was a) dead, or b) lost. Either way, Kevin had waved him off after making him promise to behave.

Sam. Behave. Well, the world could hope.

“Beer me!” The request was given with a bright smile as the pyro slipped off his coat. The bar was plenty warm, and he didn’t feel like he needed eighteen layers to keep him from getting frostbite. Tonight was going to be good. Already his homework was forgotten about, and probably would be until Sunday night, when he was begging his brother for help, after he’d probably spent all Saturday hung over and whining. Yeah, maybe the rest of the weekend wouldn’t be so fun, but tonight? So much fun.

[Henri Rosario]

Friday, a day usually looked forward to by most, but not Henri. Not one bit. Well, not this particular Friday. Normally, Henri would have finished with his classes then have the afternoon off to just chill and relax. Today however, he had three exams and then his boss called him in. One of the other bartenders had left work earlier for a family thing and he had to finish out the rest of his shift. Not exactly the best way of starting the weekend. Mostly because the guy would rather be the one sitting there drinking instead of watching others have all the fun.

Sucking it up was all he could really do and since he was called straight in from school, he had no time to go home and change. Needless to say he didn't exactly look the part of a bartender tonight. Well, a certain type maybe. No time to dwell on coulda-shoulda-woulda's, there was a customer at the bar. A nice looking guy in an awesome shirt had just plopped down nearby. Since he wasn't drunk, and in a bad mood, Henri felt flirting was out of the question. Instead he plastered on his "work smile" and nodded. "Hey dere." His Cajun accent even catching him off guard for a moment.

"Comin' right up chief." With another smile, he spun - grabbed a bottle - popped it open with an opener attached to the bar and handed it to the guy. "Ya could have it in a glass, if you'd rather." Chuckling a little and 'playing nice', he nodded. "Name's Henri, I will be your bartender this evening. If you need anything..." He winked with that, what was the harm in a little fun flirting. "Anything at all, you let Ol' Henri know. Hear?" 

[Samuel Rixon]

Sam was just happy to have another week behind him. College was harder than he’d expected. He didn’t get to pass tests by drawing cutesy little dinosaurs for even half points to haul up his average. He actually had to study, much to his older brother’s amusement. That made nights like these that much more special. Killing a few hundred brain cells never hurt anyone, after all.

The accent of the bartender caught Sam’s limited attention span. “Hey! Cool accent! You from like... Australia or something?” Because yes, everyone with a fun accent ever was from Australia. Always.

And now he was even cooler because he had beer. Beaming, Sam took the glass and tucked it against himself happily. “Nah, bottle’s cool.” Now he had a name to go with the face, Sam held out his hand in a friendly way. “Name’s Sammy, and as long as you keep the bottles coming, I’m one happy camper.” Sam was generally easy to please. Give him heat, sugar, alcohol, or all three, and he would be content for hours. Even better was if cartoons were thrown into the mix. Cartoons weren’t happening here, but hey, maybe he’d make a new friend.

[Henri Rosario]

He shook his head with a little chuckle. "Nah man, I'm from da Big Easy. Ya know...New Orleans?" Okay, so maybe the guy assuming he was from Australia irked him just a little. It wasn't really a big deal, especially not a thing to fight or argue about. It was a simple enough mistake, especially in a crowded bar with lots of other noise to distract you. Plus, the guy seemed to be pretty cool. At least that was Henri's first impression.

When the hand was offered to him, Henri took it and shook it firmly. If the young man had taken anything away from his stepfather, it would definitely be how to give a decent and firm handshake. Even so, he managed to make it seem friendly. "Pleasure to meet ya Sammy! And as long as you tip well, Henri will be a happy camper too." Another little chuckle escaped him as he let go of the handshake. Now, he slightly busied himself cleaning a few glasses and making trays of drinks for the waiters to carry off to their respective tables, but something caught his attention.

Sammy looked familiar to him and he just had to know why. "So Sammy. You from around here? Cause you look mighty familiar." Leaning against the bar, he tried to lean in just a bit to get a better look. "Maybe you go to school? Greenview?" He offered as a possibility since he knew he would remember a face like that from his Hammel days. Not that he remembered much of them. Most of his days now where spent trying to either avoid those people, or just forget about it.

[Samuel Rixon]

Sam may have been slightly disappointed that his new friend wasn’t from somewhere more exotic, but that disappointment didn’t last long. It wasn’t in Sam’s nature to dwell on disappointment. “Still cool! Like, Australia-level cool!” He actually didn’t know where exactly in America New Orleans was. Hell, he could barely identify America as a whole on a map, let alone a state or city. But he liked to make new friends, and calling where they were from ‘cool’ was always a good way to do that.

The pyro was happy when his hand was taken, merrily shaking back. He often shook hands like a dead fish, but Henri seemed to know what he was doing, so Sam was happy to follow along. It was definitely better than the grip battled he tended to get into with his best friend. Vincent had damn near broken his hand more than once as they duked it out for who was stronger. Vin won. Every. Stupid. Time. “You too! And Sammy tips good, promise!” Sam was good at being irresponsible with money, but he liked making other people happy. That generally included bartenders, especially if they were friendly. So far, Henri was easily achieving that.

“Yeah, kinda.” He hadn’t lived back home in Michigan for a while now, to the point that he considered Vermont more home than anything else. Especially now his older brother was around to keep an eye on him. Or, you know, prevent him from dying. Kevin might have acted like their mother from time to time, but Sam was still glad he was here. “I’ve been here since I was fifteen. And I totally go to Greenview!” He didn’t know if Henri had been a Hammel student too, and he was supposed to be being quiet about that. But Greenview? Fair game. “You too? It’s a fun school!” Fun in that he’d found friends to stir up mischief with. Not the classes. Classes were lame.