Shift at the Rabbit Hole

People usually don’t go to their workplace on their day off, but then again most people don’t work as a bartender, and with Burrowgatory as it is, Astro is pretty sure most people would understand why he was stepping through the door of the Rabbit Hole even if he wasn’t scheduled for a shift that day.

Astro was actually surprised at just how full the bar was. Of course the Rabbit Hole was rarely ever not busy, when everyone is raised to indulge in vice as much as they like any place that serves alcohol has at least some business, with even the rundown shitholes attracting their own kind of crowd, but at the moment Astro couldn’t even see through the throng of bar goers, holding himself against the wall and standing on his tip-toes trying to spot Hops on the other end of the room. He briefly considered trying to shove his way through the horde of customers before deciding that he should take advantage of the fact he works here and turned back to use the back entrance instead.

It was simple enough to make his way round to the back of the building, and Astro pulling out his keys to unlock the door that was significantly less fancy than the rest of the building, even if it probably still cost a fortune with the several locks that Astro had been told were for security, but was convinced were actually just one of Angora’s subtle ways of torturing her workers. Both opening and closing the door was a pain, but it was still easier than trying to shove his way through a bunch of drunk people.

Hearing the final lock click open, he entered the building and went through the chore of locking the whole thing back up, then heading through the hallway to where the alcohol is stored rather than the main bar since it was likely that Hops was too busy to make a drink for him, let alone have a chat, so taking the risk of increasing his debt it was. Unfortunately, as he was picking out a nice bottle of whiskey, the door slammed open and Astro nearly had a heart attack before genuinely letting out a sigh of relief when he saw it was only Hops, who looked surprised to see Astro in there clutching a bottle of whiskey to his chest.

“Dear demons Hops, I can hear my own heartbeat”

The lavender-haired debtor moved past Astro as the freckled bun put away the whiskey he was holding to make sure he didn’t drop it, sinking down to sit on the floor and wait for his heart to stop hammering in his chest from the scare he just got.

“Ah, sorry, I didn’t expect you to be here today? I thought it was your day off, did Angora change that? Actually since you’re here will you help me? I can’t take all the drink orders! Get your uniform on and get to the bar!”

Astro didn’t have time to correct the harried bartender as she rushed back out with a bottle of rum, just sitting there considering the options. He could just leave, but he also actually liked Hops so that felt rude now that the other had directly asked for his help. Warring between his laziness and his need to be helpful for his friend, Astro sighed and pulled out his phone to call his boss as he made his way to the changing rooms to get into the spare uniform he kept there.

Angora picked up on the second ring, simply humming into the receiver in a tone that implied a question rather than bothering to speak.

“Can I get a shift at work today? Hops asked me to help with the bar since it’s absolutely packed right now”

“Hmm, and why would I do that? You’re off work today, if you help then that’s really your choice, isn’t it?”

“Well, I could just not come in. It would only mean a bunch of dissatisfied customers and several shelves worth of wasted alcohol as Hops rushes and drops everything she tries to pour. And you’d probably have to replace the glasses”

Astro had heard Angora muttering about how annoying the company that usually supplies the bar’s glasses had been lately, with delayed shipments full of unusable products as half the contents shattered during transport with the rest being covered in scratches and scrapes. Hopefully the mere idea of having to work with them or having a shortage of drinkware while she was in the process of switching suppliers would get him his desired result.

There was silence for at least a minute, Astro muting his end of the call and putting Angora on speaker to free up his hands and begin undressing, since either way he was going to help Hops as he didn’t actually care about his debt too much, but he didn’t like others being unfair to him, so he was prepared to bother Angora about it until she considered today an official time of working off his debt.

Eventually Angora spoke up again, the casino owner agreeing to count today as paid overtime. Unmuting himself to briefly but politely thank her, he let her hang up and got back to shimmying into the skimpy uniform of the Rabbit Hole. His outfit was similar enough to Hops’ that without looking too closely it could be described as practically identical, especially in the environment of a bar where everyone was either drunk or too busy trying to get drunk to pay attention to what the bartenders were wearing in the moody lighting.

It was actually quite different, mainly with the ruffles and bows being a nice green that complimented Astro’s fur accents rather than the pink that Hops has. He also had thigh-highs and wore chunkier shoes with shorter heels, having cringed so hard when trying to get through his first shift wearing tights that he’d ended up ripping them off to save himself from sensory hell. He didn’t know what it was about tights that made them the worst article of clothing in existence, but the thigh-highs were a good compromise that didn’t make him want to strip in public.

Astro got himself together and took a moment to apply an extra bit of sparkly highlighter to his face before heading down the hall to the main floor, instantly getting onto putting together a Shardonnay as he took over the left side of the bar, taking orders and handing out alcohol. The first couple hours were exhausting, but the chaos died down later through the night as the crowd trickled out, some being dragged out by their friends while others had the sense to have a designated driver who could actually be trusted to stay sober enough to operate a vehicle. Eventually it got down to a level that actually allowed the two bartenders to chat, Astro getting himself the drink he had originally come for in between serving the customers. He also got to have a couple nice conversations with the patrons in between the drunken rants from those doing their best to drink their way out of their problems, Astro listening to one of those more than the other, since it didn’t take much experience to fill in the blanks on anything he missed during the rants. He’d heard them before, he’ll hear them again.

Several hours, an outfit change and a taxi ride later, Astro threw himself through the door to his home, barely remembering to lock his door before throwing off his shirt and allowing himself to fall face-first into the couch, shifting into bun form mid-fall and ignoring the way the clothing he’d been wearing fell onto the floor. Any cleaning up could wait until he had the ability to care about anything other than getting some sleep.