A Stranger in the Bar

Wasp looks up at the bar, its dark presence looming over her. A quaint place, nothing special about it, cozy atmosphere. The wood was a nice touch. She scoffs, glancing over her shoulder, though the streets behind her were clear of any passerbys. After all, who’d be loitering around a bar at this time of day? It’s an excellent place to lay low for the time being, at least. He grasps the door handle and enters the bar, the worker bee on his back softly clicking and whirring with every step.

The man behind the counter seemed to not at all take note of the fact someone had actually walked in, his back still facing everything around him.. He stared at his reflection in the glass that he was cleaning for an awfully long time, perhaps a distraction of some sort ? Or simply, boredom. Yet even now his gaze seemed so intense... 'Snap back to reality' Cyber heard in his head, glancing to the side to see someone actually walking in.. At such a time ?.. Whoever this is, clearly it's worth his attention. He put down the clean glass but didn't turn around fully just yet - he just carefully paid attention to the person's movement for now.

Wasp stalks towards the counter, taking note of her surroundings. Nice ambience, he notes, taking a seat at the counter and leaning onto the counter in an effort to adjust to the elevated seat and make up for her height. "A tequila honey bee. On the rockzzz." She buzzes curtly, shifting in her seat as the bee on her back clumsily clambers down her arm and onto the counter. It settled down, chirping quietly. He examines the bartender, lazily blinking, his face unreadable from behind his mask.

The bartender's watching would keep up until Wasp was close enough by the counter, turning around at last to face the stranger by the time she sat down and got comfortable. His expression eased a bit, though it was nothing but a simple deception, after all he couldn't help the constant vigilance he'd feel constantly. Listening to the way he spoke, he quickly took note of one thing '... This is going to get real irritating isn't it.. Well, unless he keeps mostly quiet... Who am I kidding, that never happens.' Though of course, he wouldn't say such a thing out loud.. Even if he was capable.*

".. Coming right up." 

With a quick response he got to making the actual drink itself, with great precision even if he watched the bee settle down on the counter during it. Cyber took one more glance at the masked stranger before serving the drink in front of her, admittedly awaiting some sort of a reaction.

She lifts the bottom of her mask up to take a sip of the drink, lifting the glass up to her face, his mandibles reaching out to support it. He takes a long drink before setting it back on the counter, nodding and humming in approval. A second worker bee shuffles up and onto the counter, dragging along a couple banknotes and coins to pay for the drink. Or at least, she hoped so. Sure, being a mercenary paid well, but it wasn’t the most consistent job. “How much.” She rasps, tapping on the side of the glass with a single finger.

Cyber by then had moved a bit to the side, polishing another glass quickly to keep himself busy instead of just waiting around. He leaned back against the bar, slightly raising his brow at the mandibles hidden behind her mask in surprise. Once he saw that another bee had gotten on the counter he quickly scanned through the money that had been left on there by it.

".. Will that be all ?.. Awfully strange for someone to show up at a bar at such an hour, for only one drink... Surely it's not that much effort to make such a thing yourself."

He couldn't help but say the rather snarky comment that came to his mind.. One would expect it would be to get more money out of him, but that was far from the truth. Really, he just found the entire thing quite odd and was quite curious on one would bother. Honestly, the thought kinda slipped out and once he did catch his own words, he didn't really see the point of taking them back.. He thought it was only fair to ask even if the familiar voice in his mind disagreed.

He shrugs, taking another sip of the drink.

“From out of town. Needed to take a break.” He hums. “Wanted some peazzze and quiet.”

One of the bees rolls over with a thunk, as well as a rectangular bee could roll over, and she rests her hand on its stomach, tracing the grooves of the metal plates that made up its exterior. 

The taller of the two looks at the other, her antennae twitching in slight annoyance, though mostly from curiosity. 

“If you didn’t want anyone zzhowing up here at thizzz time of day, why would you have it open?” 

She shifts in her seat, resting her chin on her hand. There was no way she was gonna let this pipsqueak bartender judge her for drinking whenever she wanted.

“Beezzzidezz, izzz too early to be drinking too much.”

Still leaning against the bar, Cyber crossed his arms yet his rather aloof expression remained unchanged.. But really he didn't expect much of a response - in fact his first thought was that she'd get quite defensive over him 'daring' to say much. Or perhaps, she was simply composing herself.. He had no way of knowing through that mask either way. He looked over at the two bees, examining the metal plates he was able to notice before finally making eye contact with Wasp.

".. No wonder-.. Hm, so that's all there is to it ?.. I suppose I get it. Still, seeking a bar of all places for peace and quiet ?.. Haven't heard of anyone consider that an option."

"I don't open the place, I'm just meant to show up when it's needed. I don't exactly get the thought process behind it, but questioning it would be a waste of my time... Besides, it's not that I don't want people showing up, I simply find it unusual for someone to actually appear... Surely the curiosity can't be too surprising, no ?... It's not as if you see an armored person with mechanical bees for helpers every day."

There was no response on the last thing Wasp said because really, he didn't exactly disagree with the sentence. He still found the accent for lack of a better word to be an eventual bother however if he was willing to speak to him.. Perhaps he'll learn something worth of note.. Or at the very least, be able to relax again if he realizes that its just his paranoia acting up again. Besides now it was too late to just go back on all his words, it would be a waste of an opportunity.

She snorts. Meant to show up when it’s needed, huh? Fancy way of saying he’s a slave to the wage. Or maybe he just likes doing weird shifts, it wasn’t her business.

“Well izzz obviouzzz that there ain’t many people around here at thizzz time. You said it yourzzzelf, izzz strange for zzzomeone to be at a bar during the day. Zzzeemzzz like plenty of peazzze and quiet to me.”

She waves off the last comment. She knew she had the tendency to stick out like a sore thumb, being so tall and wearing bright yellow. Some fancy pants bartender wasn’t going to change that.

“Yeah yeah. I get that a lot. Didn’t bring many changezzz of clothezzz with me. Thizz’ll have to do. Pluzzz, I’m zzzure you’ve zzzeen plenty of more unuzzual folkzzz here. You’re the one working at the bar, after all.”

The more he would hear from Wasp, the less concern he'd be feeling as it really just seemed like a case of someone rather strange.. Showing up at bars at unusual times just to get a single drink, nothing more. His stare would turn away for a moment, seemingly spacing out to think for a bit, but of course the reality was.. Bit more complicated than just keeping thoughts at bay. However it only lasted a short time before he looked back over at her and the bees on the counter.

"... At this time you could compare it to that.. Though it still seems like a rather strange way of thinking, there's much better spots for such a thing, ones you don't have to spend money at either.. But I suppose that is just up to preference in the end... Not that I'm exactly complaining, it is business after all."

".. That would be the case yes, a bar tends to attract the most bizarre of people really. Especially once they start telling too much for their own good.. Though I learned to recognize most of them so of course if there's someone new, It is a bit more worth my attention."

He truly wasn't wrong about the statement that the most unusual people will tend to be by a bar. After all, he was no exception even if those he spoke to wouldn't really figure such a thing out so easily.. Well, at least outside of his rather cold demeanor.

Damn, this guy liked to talk, huh? She couldn’t blame him, though, it’d be weird not to say anything, considering they were the only people in the bar. Honestly, she was surprised he hadn’t kicked her out yet. A customer that shows up at a weird time, with no one else around, and orders only one drink? Hell, she’d kick herself out if she was this guy. Oh well, that was his problem, not hers. She takes a small sip of her drink, the glass almost empty.

“No harm in getting a little buzzzzed. Helpzzz me relax a bit. ‘zzzzznot like I’m zzztarting my day off by getting pizzzz drunk.”

“Bizzzzarre people, eh? Got any good zzzztoriezzz go tell? I’d be surprizzzed if you *didn’t* have talezzz of wacky hijinkzzzz or zzzhenaniganzzzz. Drunk people make great entertainment.”

Cyber took a moment to glance at the door.. Still no one huh. Well at least he isn't standing here for nothing. Admittedly he always found talking to be rather draining, but he learned to pretend well from behind the bar.. And he'd rather take the deal of possibly learning something new than just stand around awkwardly till people would actually start showing up. He seemingly cracked his knuckles before continuing to respond.

"... We can agree on that then. But I suppose it would be odd of me to work here if I didn't think so as well."

"... Entertaining for only a bit however they never fail to be irritating.. Especially those who like to overshare their burdens. As if I care... But of course, there's always stories to tell, though from what I notice, we don't seem to have that kind of time." He gestured at the glass.

“Fair enough.”

She rasps, swirling the remainder drink around in the glass before draining it of its contents. Wasn’t much of a people person herself. Chatting it up with Mister Suit and Tie over here already reached her social limit for the day and all this polite small talk was starting to grate at her nerves. 

She slides the empty glass over to the bartender, rapping her knuckles against the stomach of the worker bee she had been resting her hand on. The two bees get up, creaking and clinking, before Wasp herself stands up. She twists from side to side and stretches her arms out in front of her. She composed herself, taking one last look at the bartender.

“I zzzzhould get going then. Nizzze talking to you.”

Seeing Wasp head off, he sighed to himself once he couldn't see her out of the windows anymore. The conversation was rather short, sure, but it still felt like more effort than usual.. How odd. Thinking about it though.. Usually when speaking to customers it was rather a time for him to gain some sort of information, something to keep in mind. In a way, it was like an interrogation the other person wouldn't be aware of at all. But this time he didn't really much learn at least not that could be useful... 'Makes sense..' he thought, 'He wasn't from around these parts.. And with barely much to drink, it would be too obvious..'.

Whoever this was, she was definitely memorable at the very least and not necessarily in a bad way for once.. But in such a short time, it's not too difficult to keep up a decent impression on the other person, he knew that well. Roaming in such armor ? Clearly there's way more to him and whatever it may be, it could potentially be a danger to worry about.. 'Surely as long as you keep up this act of being an average bartender if you ever see her, we don't have much to concern about. Don't overthink it.'  the voice claimed and really, he was right.. There was no point in thinking too hard on it. Yet admittedly, he was more curious than concerned at the moment.

With all that in mind.. Definitely someone to keep an eye out for, just don't let your guard slip. Perhaps this way he really will learn something next time.. And if not, then even better - he won't have the constant anxiety in his head reminding him that all can go terribly wrong if he doesn't think about his choice of words.. And other than that, this small talk was definitely more entertaining than talking to the usual drunk people, even if draining.

... But he definitely won't be missing that "accent" any time soon... Feels like there's still buzzing in his head..

Wasp strides out of the bar, her bees clinging onto her. What a curious little guy that bartender was. Short stack sure liked to talk, at the very least. Hopefully at this time, the busier streets of this town would’ve cleared out a bit by now, she didn’t need to be drawing more attention than she already did. In hindsight, maybe entering and exiting a bar so early would’ve been more suspicious to bystanders if anyone had seen her. Oh well, too late to do anything about that now, and there hadn’t been anyone else around as far as she could tell. And besides, she got a good drink out of it and some decent relaxation time. 

Maybe she should’ve asked Fancypants back at the bar for some sightseeing suggestions, make the most of her time here. Though there probably wasn’t anything particularly notable here, considering that bartender had to time to sit in a mostly empty bar doing nothing but mix a drink or two. Jeez, now that she thought about it, what the hell would that guy have done if she hadn’t gone for a drink? Polished glasses all day? What a loser, guy needed to get a hobby.

She shrugs to herself, adjusting her bees. Wasn’t her beeswax anyway. It wasn’t like she’d see him ever again…