Barbecue and Blues, A little music never hurt anybody...

[Raquelle]

Chronological information: Before Luce gets arrested XD
Open / closed / invite only: Invite
Characters involved: Raquelle and Luce
Location / Setting: Mess-hall

Link to the song

The kitchen was generally a quiet place in the early hours of the afternoon. It was that time in between the morning and evening shifts where the servers liked to take smoke breaks in the back rooms and maybe one or two seats in the mess hall were filled…one or two at best. For that brief moment there was no one tending the bar, no one keeping an eye on the liquor cabinets and the lock box for tips.

In fact if someone was so inclined, they could have waltzed right in and made a fine mess of things out front. Fortunately- the mess hall was never a place for thieves- security cameras made sure of that. Those cameras did nothing however, from blocking the music that was blasting from behind the steel plated doors that lead to the kitchen. While the kitchen was generally a quiet place before the dinner crowds came through…it certainly wasn’t today.

Oh you know I'm the hoochie coochie man…
Everybody knows I'm him!!!

If you thought that the noise was bad from behind the kitchen doors, it was ten times as worse inside. Walking past pots and pans, bags of dehydrated meals and a dash of fresh ingredients, at the very back where all the cookware was stored…there was quite a party going on.

A cloud of smoke covered the scene as three of the day-shift servers, Kelley, Michelle, and William danced with one another, a bottle of bourbon loosely held in Kelley’s fingers. Next to them, an antique of its time, a CD player blasted the tinny blues music as all three of them laughed together with the appearance of a fourth dancer.

On the seventh hours…on the seventh day Raquelle sang as he sauntered up to the group, hips swaying. The seven doctors say...He was born for good luck…and that you'll see… he grinned, snatching the bottle from Kelley’s fingertips before she dropped the thing and belted out the final words before the chorus.

I got seven hundred dollars
Baby girl…don't you mess with me

The amusing display got all three waiters laughing again as they sang along with the chorus and Raquelle watched on with a smile. He’d been the one to start the whole thing of course, in cooking for the evening crowd he’d put on a little pulled pork spread and started playing some music. It didn’t take long for him to enjoy himself before others noticed and wanted in on his fun. And so with a bottle of liquor (which he was using for the barbecue sauce) things had gone from fun to slightly less than out of control.

The chef knew that he could calm the three kids down if necessary. But they were all at least five years younger than him- sons and daughters of the colonists that boarded the Deep. And as a result- he took pity on the bored to tears servers and showed them a good time. Besides, it wasn’t like there was anyone outside the kitchen to be waited on- the last drunk from the evening before had cleared out…what was the worst that could happen?

[Luce Jennings]

In her younger days, Luce had done her fair share of partying. Much of it had been to her father's dismay. These days however, her life was the kitchen. She took it very seriously. And that was why, today like every other day she was heading in early to get things started for the evening shift. Luce preferred working the evenings, she wasn't exactly the most pleasant of people to deal with in the morning. Well, she wasn't ever really the most pleasant of people to work with. She'd worked a double yesterday to help smoothly transist into a new food schedule, needless to say she wasn't in the mood for any surprises today.

Unfortunately, she had another thing coming. As Luce made her way into the mess hall she could hear the thumping of music coming from the kitchen area. A quick glance surveyed the one or two patrons here at the moment couldn't have given a damn. Still the blood was boiling. Luce cracked her neck slightly and buttoned up the dark blue unfiormed shirt she was so fond of wearing. If she was going to pull authority she wanted to make sure all her little ducks were in a row.

As she entered the kitchen, the music grew louder. Swearing to herself to break whatever was causing the raucous Luce proceeded to the back room where she found three servers and none other than her usually favorite (though she would never outwardly admit that) chef. Debauchery in her kitchen? There was a place for that, and it wasn't in her kitchen. Luce cleared her throat, then realized they wouldn't be able to hear her over the ancient blues music pounding forth from the speakers. Glancing around, Luce grabbed a pot and slammed it onto the ground. She didn't do much to mask the fury she was experiencing as it scared the help. Most of the help anyway. And that was what she was always going for.

"And what in the double hell is going on in here?!"

Her bellow shortly followed the clanging of the pot and she stood there, arms folded over her chest with a heavy scowl on her face, which was directed mostly at Raquelle. He really should have known better. Once she'd dealt with the servers she'd have her little steam-letting on him. But what the servers did not, and would not know, was that they were going to get the brunt end of her fury. Despite her frequent manic episodes, Luce was eerily patient when it came to awaiting a response from her subordinates.