UptownFunk

Background

Warp Drive Dive Bar descriptions

• The Warp Drive Dive Bar just north of I-10 on McGregor Road is one of the most eclectic bars in the South. Between the city of Magnolia Bend and the sprawling campus of the McGregor Space Center, the bar is vaguely reminiscent of the Outpost Tavern in Houston, a popular spot for NASA astronauts. In this case, the ISA being as big as it is, the Warp Drive is a bit bigger, but no less popular. Thousands of pieces of space related artifacts hang on the walls, ranging from mission patches, to autographed crew portraits... to a Shuttle ACES suit hanging from the ceiling. The room is filled with a large bar, a number of tables, a number of pool tables, shuffleboard, and various other bar related finds... and astronauts and civilians alike, looking to rub elbows with them. An argument in English, French and Russian can be heard from one of the pool tables, and as a jet black female jackal with vivid blue eyes walks in, a few men at the bar applaud and congratulate her, and a bartender rings a bell a few times as she takes a seat, apparently dazed by the whole thing. "SANDRA!" "... Congratulations!" "Bring us a Moon rock, huh?" Sandra blushes a little at the pats on the back and all, and the bartender (a slim house cat) laughs and hands her a bottle of Fresca. She blinks and points to it. "Isn't it tradition around here that a newly minted astronaut gets a free beer, Jessica?" The house cat rolls her eyes. "Come back when you're legal and I don't lose my bar card, hm? Your tab's on us, though... usual?" The jackal nods a little and wags, her outfit of a pair of blue jeans and a polo with a mission patch on it looking to fit her well.

• As the 14th year of the second millennium AD starts, the day is a rather slow one. A little after lunch, most places are still closed, and the Warp Drive Dive Bar on the corner of Shuttle Road and McGregor Road appears open, but rather quiet, all told. Several cars are in the parking lot, and music drifts from the door. The interior of the bar and grill is packed to the nines with almost every piece of junk from the space program anyone could pack into a room. Space suits hang from the wall or behind glass, and photos of previous missions plaster the walls. On a corner of the room near where two Russian astronauts are playing pool is a memorial to Space Shuttles Challenger and Columbia, and near the bar is a board with all of the upcoming missions scribbled on it. And near one of the many TVs (which appear to be showing the NHL Winter Classic), is a wall with images and mission patches marked "LUNATICS"... where the previous lunar crews of the Phoenix Program have left their marks below their crew portraits. Sitting in a booth near the bar is a jackal in a polo shirt and jeans who appears to be nursing a beer while a plate of wings sits partially eaten near it.

• On Thursday night, at the corner of McGregor Road and Shuttle Road, the Warp Drive Dive Bar jams to the sounds of Shania Twain and, apparently, Public Image Ltd. The parking lot is filled with everything from Corvettes, motorcycles, minivans, to a green Ford Focus with the Louisiana plate reading "LUNATIC". As the Moon darkens in an eclipse, a few people in the room are staring at a feed from a telescope projected onto a couple of TVs in the room, the others showing sports events... and one showing a live camera feed from the International Space Station. Given that the bar and dining area are filled with every piece of random space memorabilia one could think of, this isn't too surprising. As "Don't Ask Me" starts to jam from the speakers (to the delight of at least one ESA astronaut at the bar), a jackal at a pool table wags eagerly before taking her shot. The leopard near her laughs and steps aside to let a wolf rumbling in Russian pass him as he moves to take another shot. The bar itself is filled with a lot of different furs... but given the space center down the road, it's clear that the majority of them work there... or are tourists who know the place or just stumbled on it. Sandra and Ricky Wilson, her EVA compatriot, are at one of the pool tables and mostly seem absorbed in the game, ignoring the TVs. The strange artifacts on the wall, though, ought to catch Lindsey's attention... there's a memorial to all three failed American space missions on part of a wall... Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia, with the crew portraits and American flags near them... along with a tribute to Soyuz 11. Other than that, though, there's two space suits hanging from the ceiling, and hundreds of pictures and patches and random odds and ends on the walls... and a board listing upcoming lunar and Shuttle launches, with "MARS" also stenciled on it. After a moment, the jackal looks up and sees Alexis, waving at her with a grin. "Hey, Alexis! Over here!"

Plot

Hoomiku (7/16/2015 10:32:25 PM): On July 16th, 2015, the heat continues to bake the countryside. As the sun starts to sink, it's still close to 100 degrees and the parking lot of Warp Drive starts to fill with people. Normally, karaoke is on Wednesday, and the previous night had been packed with people. Today, though, the place is doing a bit more of it in honor of Apollo 11's launch. After a lovely dinner with her parents and Adam, and after a day spent horseback riding and relaxing from work, Sandra parks her green Focus in the lot and grins. Her crew has, once again, invited her to karaoke... the previous evening apparently went okay. As she steps out and heads towards the building, the cars of the other astronauts are there, along with those for engineers, technicians and regular folks. As she wanders in, a huge 27 liter 1930 Bentley pulls up to the bar and stops. The fox at the wheel grins as the car idles and a young hoomiku hops out and blinks. "Here?"
Ian laughs. "Trust me, you'll love it! It'll freak you out, but you'll love it..."
Zach's ears dip. "...My freak out meter is being reset WAAAY higher these days..."
The fox smirks and shrugs. "Listen... I'll be back to pick you up later... don't get into too much trouble, huh kiddo? Your mom'll kill me if you do..." The hoomiku nods and wanders towards the bar as the massive car turns back onto McGregor Road. Ian honks the horn and waves to the cat before driving off, leaving the young hoomiku to follow the jackal in.

Jason Chilton: Inside, the club is already starting to show signs that tonight will be like the last in that it is packed and lively. With all the other amenities Warp Drive has to offer as well as karaoke, there is no shortage of activities as the jackal, then the hoomiku pass by an otter and a lion having a lively conversation. "So then he says to me, "If I didn't know any better, I'd have your ass sent to the brig." And stupid me, I look him dead in the eye, shrug my shoulders and say "Okay. . .whatever. Just know that if I didn't do what I did, then the majority of that squad would've came back home in bodybags." And that shut him right up..."
"Wow...that's amazing!"
"Not really...just me throwing something together and hoping it works."

Hoomiku: As soon as the jackal wanders into the room, a few whoops from the bar and pool tables ring out. Six people move over and clap her shoulders and shake her hands. A tabby cat behind the bar grins and leans over to a Great Dane manning the taps, whispering to him... and he nods before moving to the kitchen. Zach blinks and stares at the walls of the room... he's been told about it and seen images online, and seen a few memories from his girlfriend, but all the memorabilia on the walls makes him gawk a bit. Sandra finally notices him and blinks a few times, moving over after disengaging from her crew. "... Zach?"
The hoomiku mewls and looks at her, blinking. "Sandra?"
"... what the fu-... how-..." The hoomiku sighs and holds up a hand.
"Don't... you really don't wanna know."
Sandra closes her muzzle and chews on the thought a second, before sighing... loudly. "You know what? I really don't... welcome back to the land of the living, embodied people, I guess..."
"Yeah, no shit... what are you doing here, anyway?"
She grins broadly "Year older! My crew dragged me down for some karaoke. What about you, what's your excuse?"
"Happy birthday! Uh... well... Mom and Ian are going to some... charity thing in Lafayette and I seriously gotta get out of that house... it's awesome, but stir crazy? I am way over that..."

Jason Chilton: The otter finishes telling the story before walking up to the DJ table and having a word with him, while the lion - or rather, lioness - makes her way over to gaze in wonder at the mementos hung on the wall. She opens her mouth to say something, but nothing comes out right away before the otter comes back to her with a smile on his face. "Pretty neat, huh? Even though I come hang here a lot, some of this stuff still amazes me."
"I know--it's just. . .how did the owner come across all this stuff, given what it is?"
"Beats me...I've never really thought about it. . .so how 'bout a drink while I wait my turn?"

Hoomiku: Zach sticks close to the jackal as the two pass by the otter and the lioness. He blinks at a bunch of pictures of astronauts in EVA suits posing before their flights... all of them lunar... and he spots the jackal in one. "You?"
She grins and nods. "Yep... Phoenix 9."
"I still can't believe all this..."
"Oh-ho, just wait... it gets better... shoulda seen Lindsey when I told her what my mission was. Hey, come on, I'll introduce you to the gang..." She leads him over near where a few pool tables and shuffleboard tables... and the stage... are and gestures to a few folks sitting around the table. "Hey, guys, I wanna introduce y'all to a friend..."
Zach blushes a bit as the six turn to look at him... he's an awkward nerd being put on the spot... wonderful. Two of the figures are dressed in blue NASA style flight jackets... and they're the REAL ones, not the ones at the gift shop down the road. Sandra points to a veteran looking raccoon first "Commander Roger Mason..."
"Heya, kiddo." He nods and smiles warmly. Next to him is a maned wolf woman in the other blue jacket. "Sarah Engels, our pilot..."
"Hey, pleased to meet you." Next to her is a red panda laughing at a fennec wearing a leather jacket. "Yuma Tazuka and Ehud Shalom..."
The final two wave at the cat... a leopard and a Mexican wolf. "And that's Ricky Wilson and she's Sonya Alvarez."

Jason Chilton: The lioness nods and accepts the otter's proposal for a drink as she too is looking at the pictures of the astronauts in their EVA suits...and she turns and catches a glimpse of the jackal but doesn't say anything right away before going over to a table by the stage...where the otter happens to catch her and sits beside her. He says something to her but she seems to be tuned into another raccoon, who is doing a decent job on "I Like It, I Love It" by Tim McGraw as she crosses her feet. He then glances over at the crew, then back to her as she too glances, though hers lasts long enough to get a chuckle out of the otter. "If you're thinking what I think you are, I see her here a lot...the jackal. Haven't really gotten a chance to talk to her though..."

Hoomiku: Sandra sits down at an open spot and Zach grabs a chair from another table and sits down. "... and you already know me. Guys, this is Zachary... Calliden, right?"
He nods and rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah, uh... just Zach's fine, though."
Sandra nods. "He's Ian and Fractal's kid."
"...wah? Oh!" Yuma blinks and notices the hoomiku. "I heard about him... Welcome to the Warp Drive... awesome, isn't it?!"
Mason rolls his eyes a bit and Shalom chuckles. "I love that she's our RMS specialist," mutters the fennec softy.
"Shocked she still has a job after the stunt she pulled a few years a-"
Tazuka frowns and blushes. "I thought we said we weren't gonna talk about that..."
"Hey, you're the one who did it..."
Engels snorts softly. "Damn right she did and JAXA was piiiiissed..."
"Oh, for Christ's sake..."
"Um... what happened?" Zach blinks and looks from the jackal to the panda.
"OH! So, get this-..."
Yuma growls softly. "Sandra, I swear to God..."

Jason Chilton: It is at about this time the otter perks his ears just as Sandra goes into the "So get this..." routine, and curiosity getting the better of him, he wanders over in their direction, feigning the appearance of looking for someone before the lioness approaches and lets him know that she is going to use the proverbial litter box. He turns to face the stage, though one ear is perked to the conversation to the right of him as the DJ speaks up. "All right, give it up for Jason!" There is a hearty round of applause for the raccoon as he exhales and leaves the stage. "Yeah. . .next up, we have Sarah--c'mon up here, Sarah!" A young white tigress takes to the stage and readies herself as the opening riff to Eye of the Tiger belts out through the speakers. The otter shakes his head, thinking that it is too stereotypical for one of her species to do that particular song, but he says nothing of it for the time.

Hoomiku: Engels nods in approval. "Oh, yeah!"
"This is cliche..." mutters the raccoon next to her.
"Maybe, but it's good."
Sandra, meanwhile, is wrapping the story up. "...and she and he went into the Astrotech module in the payload bay and got it on, man." Yuma blushes horribly and reaches for the bottle of Kirin Ichiban on the table, muttering something in Japanese under her breath. Zach goes wide eyed and Wilson whistles softly and shakes his head.
"Daaaaaamn, Yuma."
"Oh, shut up, Ricky..."
"Wow... I-... wow... um... doesn't that... kinda... I dunno... violate some rule?"
Sandra laughs. "Well, maybe, but-..."
Yuma covers her eyes and growls. "Okay, JAXA basically told me my career was done and GOD knows what Karri got told by ESA... so I apply for just a straight ISA gig and got it. I don't know how... I thought I'd ruined my career and was grounded forever. And he's gonna be the first European to walk on MARS!" The panda shakes her head and Sandra shrugs as the hoomiku's ears perk way higher.
"Ian's weird like that, I guess," Sandra concludes.
"If I owe the guy my career? ...hell. Yours too, let's be honest? I'm not arguing."

Jason Chilton: The otter gasps, turning his attention from the tigress and her rendition of one of the 70's greatest hits; one of the guys in his platoon had told him a rumor about astronauts getting it on...for research purposes, of course...but he didn't think it really happened! So he gathered up every ounce of courage that he could muster and approached the crew, a little twitch of his rudder tail toward the end. "Hope you guys don't mind me pokin' my nose in here. . .but if what I heard actually happened, then I am in some deep, deep shit..."

Hoomiku: Yuma sighs and sinks a bit in her chair, glaring at the jackal. "See...? Chikushō..."
Sandra turns to the otter and nods. "Don't mind the wah, she's still-OW!
Sandra winces and Yuma puts on a smug smile of satisfaction. Wilson leans over to the jackal while she rubs her leg and snarls and mentions that he's signed Sandra up for karaoke while Yuma sips her beer and sighs, nodding at the otter. "... Yeah, me and Karri Litmanen... STS-6W... And it can't be any worse than what he and I got, trust me..."

Jason Chilton: The otter sighs as he turns to the panda, looking defeated already as he moves in closer. "Can't be as bad as what's gonna happen next time I see one of my old SEAL buddies...I bet him $200 that what you just told me happened did not..." He lets out another sigh before he gathers himself again. "Anyway...Troy Huxley, United States Navy..."

Hoomiku: Mason grins and laughs softly. "Sorry in advance, buddy, but you got three Air Force pilots and a guy who flew F-15s for Israel at this table."
The raccoon sips his beer as the maned wolf next to him rolls her eyes. "Stuff it "Rocket"..." Mason's ears flick a little in response.
Yuma smiles a bit at that and mumbles "soooorry"... but she grins and extends her hand. "Yuma..."
The maned wolf stands and extends her hand. "Sarah Engels, Air Force..."
"Roger Mason... also Air Force..."
The fennec next to Yuma stands and extends his hand, nodding politely. "Ehud Shalom, Israeli Air Force."
The leopard near him stands and extends his hand. "Ricky Wilson. I just pretend to fly stuff... my brother's in the Navy, though."
"Sonya Alvarez... Air Force..."
Sandra rubs her shin again and extends her hand. "Sandra Harris..." Zach stays out of the lineup, since he's not really important... he does order a Coke from the waitress, though, along with a burger and cheese sticks.

Jason Chilton: "Hey, no worries--as long as we're not trying to kill each other, then we're all brothers..." He glances at Sandra, Yuma and Sarah. "...and sisters. You guys get to fly stuff...and I'm just your typical, average Navy SEAL sniper. Delta platoon, Team 3...and before you ask, I never got the chance to meet Petty Officer Kyle. 'Sides, he was on Charlie and, well...us Delta boys gotta go in and clean up their mess."

Hoomiku: Mason nods. "Still, you guys get it done. Nothing but respect on this end..."
"Jesus, I couldn't hack it in there. Flying into space is hard enough..." Wilson shudders once and goes for his beer.
"That's 'cause you're a delicate little flower, Ricky..." Alvarez sticks her tongue out at him.
"Hey..."
"Besides, it didn't kill Sandra over here, so I think you'll do fine."
Sandra winces a bit. "Oh, no... speak for yourself, Sonya. First stage cutoff on the Jupiter? My head damn near went through the instrument panel..."
"My only claim to fame is I flew combat missions with Ilan Ramon and didn't get shot down... I'm happy." Shalom smiles and takes a bite of his chicken wings.

Jason Chilton: Troy gives a nod, smiling as he leans in and places a paw on the back of a chair. "I don't think I could ever stand going into space...think I'd end up wearing my lunch all over the suit. So I think I'll be content with driving my land rocket and being able to shoot out the spade on the ace from a half-mile away. We all got our advantages here."

Hoomiku: That nets him an impressive amount of nodding from the table. Sandra grins broadly and wags. "I'd pay good money to see that, honestly..."
Alvarez nods and grins. "I had a buddy that told me he could do that once. He was full of it, though... That said, the guy could hit a couple of lined up Coke cans with an A-10, so I dunno what that says about him..."
"Probably that we're not giving NASA enough money, but damned if we can't kick someone's ass when they deserve it." There's a few enthused nods as Sandra looks for the lioness quickly and they applaud the tigress with the rest of the bar.

Jason Chilton: That gets a nod from the otter as well as the lioness comes back, and the tigress finishes her song to the applause of the others. "So I got a text from--OH! Making new friends, I see?"
"You could say that...this is Erica, an acquaintance of mine that I met when I first came here..." The otter then introduces her to everyone, though she is mostly enamored with Sandra and Yuma as she waggles fingers and smiles. It is at about that time that the DJ speaks up.
"All right, all right...next up we have Sandra..."

Hoomiku: Sandra goes to shake hands with the lioness... right as her name is called. She gulps and flushes as Ricky grins and stands. "... oh, we're gonna make sure you pick something good this time..."
Yuma smiles at the lioness... and the grins, standing and deciding to get in on the act. "I gotta see this..."
The jackal just shakes her head and sighs, moving over to the playlist... and pausing a second. She grins and turns to the DJ, whispering something out of earshot of the mic. "...you have "Uptown Funk" on there?"

Jason Chilton: The DJ smiles and gives her a nod before going back to his laptop to enter in the song to the display. "All right...here we go with Sandra...!"

Hoomiku: Sandra grins and whispers to the two other astronauts as a few other people wander in... among them Derek Ozark. That nets a big grin from the jackal as she wanders over to the mic and grabs it. The beat kicks in and with a laugh, Yuma and Ricky start to do the backing. Sandra, though, grins and belts into the mic at the right moment, on key. "... This hit, that ice cold / Michelle Pfeiffer, that white gold / This one for them hood girls / Them good girls, straight masterpieces..." While she does it, though, she's snapping her fingers in time to the music and tapping one of her feet on the floor, her tail wagging in time to the beat.

Jason Chilton: Troy is watching as Sandra takes the stage and Derek enters, the dragon smiling when he sees everyone gathered and comes up to where Roger and Yuma are seated. "Hey guys...am I late? Got caught in traffic on the 10..."

Hoomiku: "...Got Chucks on with Saint Laurent / Got kiss myself, I'm so pretty..." Sandra makes a kissing motion and spins in place on one foot briefly with a smirk. With that she grabs the mic pole and dips it like James Brown, channeling her inner Ferris Bueller. "I'm too hot!" Behind her, both astronauts also grooving on the stage grin and shout "hot damn!" loudly as she twists the mic their way with a grin before coming back with it. "Called a police and a fireman... I'm too hot!"
"Hot damn!" She points directly to Derek and flashes a wicked grin. "Make a dragon wanna retire man! I'm too hot..."
"HOT DAMN!"
"Say my name you know who I am..."

Jason Chilton: Derek cannot help but to start laughing and claps a couple times, knowing full well that she was about to break that out as Troy turns to him with a big fish-eating grin of his own. "She like this all the time?"
"A lot of the time, yeah...but don't get any ideas. She's dating a Gator...might be the goalie but I don't mess around with hockey players, especially when they're, um...gators."
"Know what you mean there, buddy...actually got to chill with some of the Kings once. They're all pretty cool dudes and I already love the game, which might surprise you considering where I'm originally from."
"Where's that?"
"Long Beach...Cali..."

Hoomiku: The rest of the crew at the table start cheering at this and whooping them on while the rest of the house starts to notice. Zach gawks wide a few moments, the cheese stick in his hand falling back to the boat with the others. "...Girls hit your hallelujah..." She howls softly while the others behind her simply "whoo" loudly. They do that three times and Sandra grins. "...'cause uptown funk gonna give it to you... 'cause uptown funk gonna give it to you... 'cause uptown funk gonna give it to ya'..." She shuts her eyes and smiles wide. "... It's Saturday night and we're in the spot... DON'T BELIEVE ME, JUST WATCH, COME ON!" The three on stage all jump at once and start to dance in harmony as Sandra smirks and twirls once again, repeating the lyric a few times.

Jason Chilton: Erica is on the verge of roaring out as she takes back to Troy's side, while he is still chatting up Derek. "Wow, she's good!"
Derek nods quickly. "Yeah, she's got the whole place jumping before...you should've been here last night."
"I might have to come here more often then!"

Hoomiku: The jackal and her "backup dancers/singers" continue to belt out the music. Sandra, for her part, appears to just totally lose herself to it, embodying Bruno Mars and Michael Jackson at once as she adds a few more spins and kicks to the music. She grooves her shoulders to the beat with the others as they stifle a laugh. "...Come on, dance, jump on it / If you sexy, then flaunt it / If you freaky, then own it / Don't brag about it, come show me...!" At that, she flicks her hips back and forth and wags her tail to the beat while grinning.

Jason Chilton: Derek turns to the others who have not partaken with a crooked grin on his face, the dragon fanning himself a little bit. "I wanna know who put her up to this...cause this...this is something I'd pay to see!

Hoomiku: After another series of "Don't believe me, just watch!"s by Sandra she grabs the mic and howls. "... Don't believe me just watch! Hey, hey, hey, OH!" The horn section blasts out as Ricky and Yuma do a bit of their own dancing, saying "Uptown funk you up". Sandra, meanwhile, twirls and dances with the mic stand, leaning in and saying "Say what?!" now and again as she grins and lets loose with a loud howl while dancing in place a bit and as the music stops and she does one more jump, she literally does a mic drop and throws her arms up with a triumphant grin. The five people at her table jump up and howl back, clapping like mad.

Jason Chilton: By now, the entire place is howling and the DJ just stands there with a look of shock and amazement on his face as he slow-claps with a big grin on his face. "Give it up for Sandra! That had to be something planned out from the start with the choreography and all that..."
Derek is waiting for them, along with Troy and Erica as they take a moment to gather up their thoughts after that display.

Hoomiku: As soon as the jackal and the others gets back to the table, they're mobbed by the rest of the crew, who bear hug the hell out of each other and laugh. Mason claps the jackal on the shoulder and laughs. "Did you people plan that shit?!"
"Nope!" Sandra grins and points to the stage. "That shit right there is where we became a team, baby!"
Wilson grins and slaps the jackals' hand in a high five to end all high fives as Zach lets his tail swish eagerly at the sight. Someone has been recording the whole thing and is busy uploading it to YouTube. Sandra pants loudly and goes to grab a beer on the table.

Jason Chilton: Erica was thinking about recording the performance and uploading it, but she was too late and now she, and everyone else, has to sit through a tabby cat who looks as if he's already had a couple trying to sing Rio by Duran Duran, to which the lioness folds her ears back. "Is that cat drunk already? I could do better than that..." Of course she doesn't say it too loudly as Troy watches with his own grin on his face.
"Man...I don't know what else to say...aside from I don't think we ever did team building like this--holy crap!"

Hoomiku: At this, the team settle into the table and laugh a bit... any earlier ribbing between the panda and jackal looks like it's ancient history as the food arrives... along with a cake with the Earth and Moon on the top and 25 candles on it. They laugh as Jessica, the tabby from behind the bar, smirks and reminds them to have dinner before dessert.

Jason Chilton: The newcomers seem to be in a good mood as well, though Troy is still sour over the fact that he still owes his friend money over their little bet. He asks if he and Erica can join them for the time being, while Derek takes a seat if one has been left for him and starts to peek through the menu.