Scene Summary: Night Off

Night Off
Chronicle	DC Chronicle
Game Date	December 3, 2015
Real Date	April 13-18, 2016
Characters	Andres Lund Ginevra Bianchi Jonathan Stewart Sean Fallon
Locations	The Pit
Previous Scene	Nordic Fog (Andres) Lullabye for a Stormy Night (Ginevra) Don't Kiss, Do Tell (Jonathan, Sean)
Next Scene	Shaken, Not Stirred (Andres) Phone Call: Hope to Ginevra (Ginevra) The Spill: Open Mic Night (Jonathan) Phone Call: Ginevra to Sam (Sean)
Content Warnings	None
Original Scene	Night Off

Night Off is a scene from the DC Chronicle featuring Andres Lund, Ginevra Bianchi, Jonathan Stewart, and Sean Fallon. It depicts the ghouls socializing and meeting one another at The Pit.

Scene Summary

Andres arrives at The Pit, a little put off by its disreputable appearance but relieved that it means he won't have to stand on ceremony as he used to when he and Casper Iversson lived in Paris. He enters, thinking that Casper told him to collect gossip but that all he really wants to do is drink and relax. He attempts to order beer, but Sean is at the bar and there is some confusion over both their accents before he is successful. Sean, who is in a bad mood due to having missed a chance to hit on an attractive woman in the bar, gives in and begins to make small talk with him as Jonathan opens a tab for Andres.

Ginevra arrives at the Pit as well, pleased that her domitor Maeve Glaistig is out and hoping that her friendship with Hope Gutierrez will help snap her out of her depression. She greets everyone and makes conversation with Jonathan, who warns her not to eat tonight's fried foods because he suspects Pieter Van Reise may have fried something living, but gets them both apple ciders to share and orders her some barbecue. Ginevra happily tells him about Maeve's recent activities and Jonathan offers to help her celebrate, excited that she wants to spend time with him.

Andres asks Sean about his nightly work, guessing that Pieter must be a difficult boss if he makes his ghouls work at a formal job all night, with which Sean emphatically agrees. Sean explains their workload and that they also play at Limbo with Maeve sometimes, and Andres asks him if there is anyone he should watch out for in DC to avoid being in danger from the local vampires. Sean jokingly tells him to beware the man with the gold front tooth, but clarifies that the Pit is usually safe as vampires don't frequent it, only ghouls. Jonathan suggests that Sean should play for Ginevra to celebrate, but Sean refuses to do so without being bribed first.

Uninterested in the gossip around him, Andres checks his phone and discovers text messages from other Stockholm ghouls, which he answers, gossiping himself as he mentions that Casper will be meeting with the Prince soon and already has a crush on a local Toreador.

Script Summary

The script summary for this scene pares it down to only dialogue and action directions, allowing for a quicker and easier read through what was actually said and done by the characters. Click on the "Expand" tag to the right to view the entire script summary for this scene.

Night Off Script Summary

Andres checks his phone and then enters The Pit. He ducks under the doorframe and goes to the bar, where he sits down. Jonathan is at the register and Sean is behind the bar drinking beer.

ANDRES: Beer. ...Please.

SEAN: What's that now, son? You got American money?

Andres pulls a twenty-dollar bill out of his pocket and puts it on the bar.

ANDRES: Beer.

He points at a menu item.

ANDRES: This one good?

SEAN: Hey, start a tab running.

He puts the twenty on a coaster and slides it down the bar to Jonathan, who catches it and puts it in the register.

JONATHAN: Tab opened, we got a name?

Sean yells into the kitchen.

SEAN: Combo plate, try not to murder anyone with it would you? Well, normally I'd ask what you're in for, but that'd probably be a one-sided conversation, now wouldn't it?

He gives Andres a beer and Andres drinks from it, wiping foam from his face.

ANDRES: I speak. Night off. Andres Lund.

JONATHAN: Glad to meet.

SEAN: Well, that's something at least. Nice to see SOMEBODY gets a night off. You drinkin'?

Andres nods at him.

ANDRES: Beer — European if you have.

Ginevra arrives at the Pit and sighs. She waves at Jonathan and nods at Sean, then goes to the register.

GINEVRA: I see you're a little busy tonight! What do you have to eat that's good?

JONATHAN: Between you and me, lovely girl, I'm thinking to avoid anything fried tonight, I think something not strictly quite dead might've got its way in. But the sauce's good tonight. I can do you up something a little sweet if you want. I mean, we've got an apple cider got a crisp taste on it.

Ginevra makes a disgusted noise.

GINEVRA: Thank god for you to tell me, then. Yes, that sounds good — just a plate of barbecue and a cider and we can all tell each other about our week.

She waves at Andres, who nods at her.

GINEVRA: I got her out of the house, at least. Twice in one week, it's a record. And, she's spending time with someone she's seen before, I think she might actually make a friend.

JONATHAN: Hey, then, that is something worth celebrating. A cider for the lovely lady, when you have a second down there.

He puts a ticket through the back window, which is snatched out of his hand.

GINEVRA: Yes, it is! She needs friends. I mean, more than us.

JONATHAN: And one for me, too, while you're at it.

ANDRES: Boss don't let you not work? Must be hard ass. Boss make you work as bar-man?

Sean grunts, then opens a Guinness and serves it to Andres.

SEAN: You have no idea. Yeah, the boss-man has us work bar, pretty much anything else he needs. Run the tables, run his errands, not to mention playing the Limbo set once the week, and anything else he comes up with.

He slides two ciders down the bar toward Jonathan and opens another beer himself.

SEAN: Don't mind telling you I don't mind that too much, but what are you gonna do?

GINEVRA: Thank you.

She and Jonathan clink bottles.

ANDRES: Sounds rough. I am not going to do anything, except drink this beer.

He drinks from his glass and sighs.

ANDRES: It's good. Thank you. If I don't want to be dinner in DC. Anyone I watch out for?

Sean wipes down some glasses.

SEAN: Yeah, watch out for the devil with the gold front tooth. We don't see too many of them all down here, what with the eating and all, so you're usually good in here. Half the time one comes in, the boss just throws them out anyway.

GINEVRA: So how about you? Are you celebrating anything around here or just helping me out?

JONATHAN: Och, we're all about as usual. No complaints here, we've got lively company and a nice warm place to spend the evening with it. Well, don't let be said the Pit wasn't accommodating, dear heart. Don't have much in the way of candles and cake, but we could whip you up a session things die down enough for Sean to trade in his wiping rags for a guitar.

SEAN: You know the deal, I don't do no session for free. Get me a little something to smoke, then we're talking.

Andres checks his phone and sends several emails, then texts another ghoul before putting it away and returning to his beer.

Trivia

• It is uncertain who is working in the kitchen during this scene; Jonathan and Sean assume it must be their domitor, Pieter Van Reise, but no one ever appears onscreen. It could also be Pedro, Pieter's mysterious mentioned-but-never-seen cook.
  
  
• Andres misidentifies Sean's accent as being a western cowboy one, but Sean has a thick Tennessee Appalachian accent; as a Swedish immigrant who speaks little English, Andres finds regional dialects difficult and cannot tell the two apart.
  
  
• Ginevra's mention of her domitor Maeve Glaistig getting out of the house refer to the events of Scream Therapy, which occur simultaneously with this scene.
  
  
• The "guy who wielded an axe" Ginevra mentions is Casper Iversson; he was indeed using an axe last time she saw him in Nordic Fog.
  
  
• Ginevra's memory of being surprised by Andres refers to the events of Minding the Store.
  
  
• The blonde gentleman Ginevra implies she has been hoping Maeve will start dating is Chas Voyager.
  
  
• The "devil with the gold front tooth" Sean tells Andres to be wary of is his own domitor, Pieter.
  
  
• The Toreador Andres reports Casper is interested in is Maeve.