2025-01-25 - Septuagenarian Bidding Wars & Other Cautionary Tales

It's not the first time that Trick's been to the bar -- nor will it be the last, surely. Still, as he nurses a drink with some darling whimsical name that belies the strength of the alcohol within, he stares at the charming illustrations on the walls and huffs a small laugh to himself.

He, like most of the guests, don't match the cute decor, causing a juxtaposition between the faux-natural and whimsical furniture and the modern aesthetic of twenty-first-century apparel; his, a powder-blue hoodie, gray jeans, and an NY Rangers baseball hat.

Tales and Tails isn't Lennox's regular gig, but every so often he's known to cover a shift here and there. The attire isn't all that different -- mostly black -- though with the addition of a set of animal ears on top of his head, a thing which the other servers also do -- some adding tails and actual makeup and others just sticking with the ears. He's already tall but the black rabbit ears affixed to his head make him even taller. Goth bunny Lennox, at your service.

He offers the man in the baseball cap a nod and a smile as he passes, checking on the drink levels of those gathered at the bar.

Trick lifts his glass up in a little cheers gesture, as Lennox passes by, but the next sip finds little but ice rattling in the drink once he sets it back down a moment later

"Black Rabbit," he calls, to Lennox, with a grin. He taps the rim of his drink with two fingers, twice, in a sort of hit-me gesture, if he were in a casino. "I could use a refill. What's your favorite here?" Whatever he's just finished, he's looking to change it up.

Trick also reaches up, to pat his head. "I like your ears. You make it look less cottage-core and more... I don't know. Donnie Darko. In a good way."

Charmaine comes in with a tablet in hand, teal curls bouncing with each clicky-step of her sensible black pumps. A charcoal gray skirtsuit with white pinstripes is accented by a black blouse, simple silver jewelry around her neck and at her ears, and a fancy name tag declaring her 'Charmaine Delisle - Event Planner'. She looks around the bar for several moments, taking in a few details, before approaching the bar and giving Lennox a big smile.

With the patrons a the other end of the bar seen to, Lennox turns back toward Trick at the call-out and glances down at his glass. "Fox Hunter Martini," he says when asked what his favorite is here. It's one of the specialty drinks of the bar, so something he wouldn't get over at the Spider Walk or one of the other bars around the park.

He flashes a little a sly little smile and says, "They usually only bring me out for Halloween, but guess someone called out tonight." Truth be told, Halloween was the last time he'd actually filled in here. Even if that wasn't really intentional on anyone's part. "I'll take a Donny Darko vibe. Good movie."

"Evening, Charmaine," he greets the event planner as she makes her way up to the bar. He's used to coordinating with her for events at the Spider Walk. "You on duty?" he assumes by the tablet. "Or can I get you a drink?"

"Sounds perfect. Thanks, man," Trick says, of the drink suggestion, before smirking at the thought that the goth rabbit is only allowed to come tend bar here at Halloween. "I've seen you other places, I think. In the amount of time I've been here, that is. Not so long."

He turns when teal and pinstripes pop into his periphery, nodding to Charmaine as she makes her way to the bar -- clearly known to Lennox.

"Evening," he says, lifting the glass that's empty but for some ice; this he tips back anyway to let an ice cube spill into his mouth while he awaits the martini.

."I would -love- a drink," Charmaine says to Lennox, grinning, "Of water. Hold the ice?" She hoists the tablet slightly. "On duty, I'm afraid. Pleased to find you, though! I wasn't expecting that. How have things been?"

Her attention turns to Trick with an involuntary shiver as he eats the ice - clearly, she's not a fan of being cold. "Good evening! I hope you're enjoying your stay here on the islands. Did you come for a particular event, or just a general visit?"

Behind the bar, Lennox mixes a couple of ounces of bourbon with a vintage port, some vermouth, and a dash or two of bitters before straining it into a martini glass and adding a lemon twist and a Luxardo cherry for garnish. The drink is set in front of Trick and a glass of water is set in front of Charmaine as she takes her seat.

"I work the Spider Walk, primarily," Lennox says to Trick as he leans back against the counter behind him comfortably, doing a slow scan of the bar and finding everyone tended for the moment. "But once in a while, I'll fill in." There, his attire is no less monochrome but with a few more Victorian touches, unless he's doing tarot readings or performing, then it's full costume mode.

"Neither was I," Lennox admits. But call-offs happen and extra tips don't hurt. "Things have been good, actually. How about you?"

"It's been great. Definitely one of the weirdest places on earth in a good way -- I hear the happiest has been taken, but they got nothing on this," Trick says with a flash of a smile for Charmaine. The one piece of ice is all he takes to crunch, though.

He turns back to watch as Lennox finishes the drink, nodding his thanks as it's set in front of to f him. "Thanks," he says, then adds, "That tracks. The Spider Walk, that is. I guess. I mean, just on aesthetics. I shouldn't assume."

He reaches out for the drink, taking a careful sip, tipping his head as he considers the flavors and how they meld together. The look is thoughtful, for a long moment, before he nods. "Intriguing. I like it."

Charmaine's presence is, despite a professional bearing and outfit, a bubbly one. It's hard to tell if this is how she always is or if she's just 'on' because she's guest-facing at the moment, but whichever is the case, her smile appears indelible and her voice pleasantly perky. "Oh, busy. Tis the season for -all- of the wedding prep! Though," another indication of her tablet is made, "Today? I was hoping to square some details on an upcoming birthday. I can definitely wait until tomorrow when one of the usual Tales staff is around."

"Weirdest?" She asks Trick, uncertain if she's meant to take it as a compliment. After a couple seconds, she brightens and agrees. "I'll take weird. You should definitely be sure to check out an event, if you can." Her eyes stay on the unidentified - as of yet - man as he tries the drink. Umprompted, she offers, "I like that one, but I prefer the Cottontail. It's like... a horchata something or other."

"You can assume a little," Lennox says with an amused smile. He's definitely suited for that particular aesthetic, at any rate. He gets down a couple more glasses and mixes up one or two additional drinks. Those go onto a tray for one of the servers to take out to the booths around the edge of the bar. He then checks back on Trick, and when he seems to be enjoying the drink, gives a little nod.

"If you're around for Valentine's Day week, you should consider our charity date auction. Should be good fun. And at the very least, showing up for the event and having a drink and seeing how it turns out should be entertaining." He offers this up when Charmaine mentions attending an event.

"Funny enough I was just thinking the other day of maybe having a belated thirtieth here, since I sort of quietly turned thirty and for once wasn't surrounded by a bunch of people on my birthday this year," Trick says, thoughtfully as he takes another sip of the drink. "I'm sure I'll make one eventually. Sort of staying indefinitely."

He turns to Lennox at the suggestion he come to the date auction, and he squints a little, laughing, and maybe blushing. "I might have had an embarrassing experience with one of those in the past, but maybe I'll consider it. Or at least swing by. Who's the charity for?"

"OH! That reminds me," Charmaine looks at Lennox. "I was thinking of absolutely embarrassing myself by being auctioned off, and I have been meaning to ask you about the questionnaire." Her smile goes weak for a second, but then shes sitting up a little straighter and sipping her water with good noise.

But Trick? He pulls her attention back. She pulls a card out of the little slip case attached to her tablet and slides it over to him. "Reach out if you do decide to do a birthday, and happy belated! I love the smaller events, honestly, because we can get more creative with scheduling and location." Her smile widens, "And I know all the tricks for scheduling locations."

"Do it," Lennox says when Trick muses about having a belated 30th at the park. He nods toward Charmaine when she chimes in and says, "Charmaine's part of our event management team and she's great at helping people set up.. anything. Giant corporate stuff at the castle to intimate dinners and pretty much whatever in between." Then as an after-thought he says, "Lennox, by the way." Not that it doesn't say as much on his name tag, or that he minds being addressed as Black Rabbit, but you know, since they're chatting.

"Oh yeah, I need to get those out for people. What'd you want to know?" Lennox asks her about the questionnaire. "And it's not embarrassing! It's fun! For charity!" He then tells Trick, "It's for a local organization that helps out the elderly living alone on the mainland, making sure they have heat in the winter, are checked in on, get groceries, get taken to medical appointments, that sort of thing."

"Thanks," Trick says, accepting the card and looking it over, then opening his wallet to tuck it inside. "Who said it'd be smaller?" he asks, though, with an eye-crinkling grin.

He picks up his glass again, to take another thoughtful sip of the martini. "I'm not usually a vermouth guy, to be honest, but the port and bourbon help mellow it out a bit, I think," he says with a nod. "Definitely not one you can throw back willy nilly though, which is probably a good thing."

Names and cards given, he offers his own to the mix, reaching out to shake Lennox's hand, and then Charmaine's. "Trick Barrett," he says amiably.

The answer to his query about the charity earns Lennox a narrow-eyed look. "You had to make it for a good cause? That's tough to say no to. For as much as I put myself out there as an idiot on social media, I have some things that make me a bit nervous. Getting up on stage with people bidding on me might be one of them."

Charmaine blushes as she looks at Lennox. "It'll be embarrassing if no one bids on me," she says, more withdrawn, but she shakes her head and fixes a smile back on her lips. "If you tell me what I need to fill out, I'll fill it out. I'm sure it will be a lot of fun."

She shakes Trick's hand and dips her chin politely. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Trick. And... You're right, I shouldn't have assumed it would be smaller. But as Nox said?" Her head tips toward the dark and lanky man. "Any size event, I can get them coordinated wonderfully."

Lennox gives a nod to Trick as he compliments the drink. "It's a sipping drink, and there's more bourbon and port than there is vermouth or bitters. I find wine-based drinks are somewhat uncommon and I liked this one when I first started making them here."

He glances between the pair of them and says, "You'll both get bids even if I have to do it myself." He waves that off, "Which I won't, because you both would absolutely draw interest even if it were NOT for a good cause." He seems confident enough of that. He certainly seems to genuinely think that, at any rate.

"See? She gets it," Trick says, tapping his nose and grinning over at Charmaine. "That or you start some sort of weird and lively bidding war between two septuagenarians who your Grandmère knows, and that's hella awkward, too."

He does have some experience with his. And he might wish his drink weren't a sipping drink because when he takes the next too-big swallow to hide his flushed face, he ends up coughing.

"Fine. Fine. I'll put my name in," he says, reaching for a napkin to wipe his eyes.

Charmaine presses a hand to her lips, hiding her smile as it grows a bit while Trick talks about old people making pity bids. She makes a fake cough sound. "Surely Lenox would never lie to us about it going well," she teases. Her brows list slightly after Trick takes that too-big sip. "So..." A change of subject is coming, "You mentioned social media, and an indefinite stay? What do you do, Trick? Tell me all the fun details so I can start spinning ideas for your party that you're definitely going to have me put together for you?"

Lennox pours a shot and sets that down in front of Trick. Whisky. That one, he can throw back. He flashes a little amused grin at the cough. "I have never been engaged in a septuagenarian bidding war, but I shall take your word for it." Then he considers and says, "I'm fairly safe from running into anyone that knows my grandmother here." Of course, he's probably jinxed that now.

Lennox chuckles as Charmaine gets right down to business and far be it for he to interfere when she's got game going on. So he simply slides off for a moment to take care of the other folks at the bar who need tending. Is he listening? Certainly. But for now he's making himself busy.

"Thanks," Trick says when the whiskey shot comes, and he throws that back -- it'll help burn away the tickle from the vermouth, at any rate. "Luckily, I think I'm safe from her influence here too, but you never know, to be honest. Grandmère's reach is long and graceful," he jokes.

Charmaine's questions draw his eyes back her way and he smiles, toothy and sunny. "Ah, yeah, I have a few different accounts with a pretty good number of followers. I've been doing a bit of a daily diary of time here at Spellbound, keeping them apprised of my doings and whereabouts. As far as what I do, that's pretty much it. Dumb stuff on the internet. Some free running, some giveaways to random strangers, dumb pranks, fake movie trailers, you name it."

Charmaine takes a sip of her water and then checks her tablet. She taps on the screen a few times, taking a moment to do something actually related to her work while Trick takes the time to throw back the whiskey. She looks up and smiles at the guest before flicking her attention over to Lennox - just long enough to place where he had wandered to. The smile comes back fully to Trick. "That sounds like it must be quite fun! Always a bit of variety."

There's some more tapping on the tablet screen. Then, she turns it off and sets it aside. "So, are you thinking this might be a big, open-invite kind of thing for your followers?"

Lennox chuckles at the idea of the long-arm-of-the-grandma. "I'd believe that. I think I've even seen that on the Boo'edwalk." There have been a couple of grandmas who have reached out from perhaps even beyond the grave to have an opinion, there.

When Charmaine goes looking for him, he's nearby. He tends to a couple of customers before eventually returning to the general area where they are, idly dropping eaves openly on the conversation with some curiosity.

"Not sure. It's a big trip to take for someone living, well, not here, but maybe just an open party for whoever wants to come," Trick says, pulling out his own wallet to find a 'business' card such as it is -- he does have them, since sometimes he gets sponsors or the like. He pulls one out to hand to Charmaine, and then one for Lennox as well -- it has all his socials on it, and even a (gasp) actual cell phone number.

"I'll think about it. I usually have a big bash for my birthday, a way of giving back, you know, but this year I was sort of in a limbo, so." Trick shrugs and looks back over to Lennox, then back to Charmaine. "I'm open to suggestions."

Charmaine takes the card and looks at it, flips it over, and then tucks it into the small pocket on the hip of her suit jacket. "I think..." She looks up after giving her pocket a light pat, "You should make sure you get to see all of the park. Get a feel for which part you like the best. And then?" Her hand lifts in a 'call me' signal - it's definitely the version where thumb and pinky are out like it's an actual handset from a phone that probably had a cord attached. "Get in touch. We'll plan something in the place you enjoy the most. And we can be flexible about size and scale and all of that."

Lennox reaches out to take the card when it's produced, glancing over the information on it and then tucking it away into the fold of his wallet which goes back into his back pocket.

He nods toward Charmaine when Trick says that he's open to suggestions. She's the idea person. "I mostly just host stuff at Spider Walk so unless that's your jam, I'm not likely going to be the best one to help. But if you want a séance, high tea, Victorian ballroom dancing, burlesque, or goth themed sort of thing, I can hook you up."

"That sounds like a fair plan. I've been to most of the park at this point, but kinda just vibing at the moment," the guest tells Charmaine with an easygoing grin, then turns to Lennox.

His eyes widen. "A seance could be awesome, but... like... is it a just for show seance or the real deal, given all the givens?" He looks from one Spellbound employee to the other, before he adds, "I know the magic's real, so no need to give me the company line for the people on the mainland. I'd be a little afraid of my great grandfather coming and laying into me for being a layabout wastrel or something to be honest, but it could be fun."

At that, though, he opens his wallet again, this time to pull out his credit card to pay out the tab. "Don't back out of the auction, now, Charmaine, or I'll give your resort a bad rating," Trick teases.

There's a look that Charmaine moves from Trick to Lennox at the question of whether the seance is real or just for show. "Only one way to find out, right? We could give you any line we want," she says, smiling bright as she starts to slide off of the bar stool she'd perched on. The tablet is picked up with a small sigh. "It's time for me to go plug this in and get on the ferry. But! Trick Barrett, it was lovely to meet you."

She's just turning away when the comment about a bad rating comes. She gasps -dramatically-! "Oh, oh! Lennox, I'm -in-." Her eyes widen as she looks at the bartender. "Count on it." Once again, her smile slides into a wide and bright thing and she starts to click-step away. "Good night, gentlemen!"