Situated in Dry Cove, the settlement just outside the base of the Black Mesa facility, Barney's Barn Bar is his pride and joy. Ever since well before the Synchronicity Resonance (or the Synchronicity Event / Resonance Cascade, 'The Events', whatever you want to call the thing leading up to the End of the Freaking World) Barney Calhoun has wanted to run a bar. Never quite satisfied by the Mesa's meager - and mostly ruined - restaurant and too-tiny club, the former security guard, ex-Combine infiltrator, current dragon rider, started making his own alcohol. (Well, he started making it in his dorm long before the Events, but shhhh.)

It was, in a word, revolting.

But he perservered. And people still drank the stuff. Thirsty refugees and scientists in need of distraction, they all went up to the top of the Mesa every couple evenings to watch the sun set and enjoy the relative peace of a Combine-free desert. As time passed, and their world began rebuilding, he retired from the whole 'fighting' scene and concentrated in earnest on his craft.

Barney was not a chemist. Nor a chef. He went to visit places once inaccessable, but now that he has friends with teleporting and 'genrehopping' dragons, a lot of different people offered to help him collect the gear he'd need for a 'real' bar. He went to Wilson's Vent nightclub and was impressed, and a little cowed. It was so huge, expansive, and - packed with people. Wilson casually explained that since it could be reached by not one or two but like, six different dimensions there was always going to be a bunch of things going on there.

"I can't manage something like that," Barney asserted. "I mean, I don't want it to be like a dive bar," he muttered under his breath about 'that place near his school', and then thought about it and added in the same whisper, 'and not like the gentrified crap downtown either', "but I don't want to have a hotel on it like the Ranch's saloon, but I do like the look of it."

His friends enjoyed having that mini-bar up at the top of the Mesa - but on the Rookery that ... wasn't really the best idea. Even if their own world had rid itself of the Combine, this one was packed with the aliens and dragons were the only thing keeping extinction at bay. They would need to hide, still, at least for a while.

Eventually he settled on opening a nice pub down under the shaped lattice and canopy of Dry Cove. For the refugees that just didn't care for life within the Mesa proper, the base of the mountain itself provided an ideal sheltered neighborhood. It was pleasantly strewn with houses that had been 'moved' - the Lanes picked up whole buildings, and apparently their plumbing, sewage lines, electrical supply... and just copy-pasted them down there. It was mainly families, couples, and a wide variety of local folk that came with the territory. Ideal for a nice pub!

Keenan was apt to keep his one eyebrow way up, as Barney described the place he wanted to build, nestled under one of the more open spots that would let down dappled sunlight or even be able to see the stars at night through the windows. They went jaunting; Barney and Hudaralak taking to the air when they were brought by the Convocation man ... He didn't even know whether this was the same Earth they were on, but there were hundreds of buildings that could suit the spot. One of them definitely caught his fancy, similar to the exteriors at the Ranch, but less... splintery.

So Keenan straightened his tie and brushed off his shoulders (there was never anything out of place on the guy, maybe it was a ritual of some kind) and his eyes glowed that intense aqua turquoise color... and the building he'd found, along with its interior intact, moved to Dry Cove on the Rookery. But Lane made him promise: make proper drinks.

Which meant he had to do more research, and that was aided by some of those Pantheon folks, and one or two ELLs to boot. Together they got ingredients listed, what kind of plants did they need to grow strong and healthy? Equipment out back for brewing and bottling. The Grounds proved of most use for the still, obviously, not just because the place was smack dab in the middle of farming territory anway, but also because of the people apt to live there - bunch of hippies? That worked perfectly.

Now, he had to figure out just the right blends. But the one thing he had going for him was also his most scrutinous critic. Keenan himself, who had tasted the 'beer' made back on the top of the Mesa and declared it unfit to be ingested at all let alone named 'beer'.

If you go through the kitchen behind the bar, there's a door. That door leads to the brewery. Sounds pretty normal. But it's anything but: this location is set outside of time, and has allowed Barney (and Winell, and several others) to monitor their booze production in a tiny fraction of the time it would normally require. There was a hook though.

"I want you to use... this water," Keenan said, and with a wave of his long fingers, the back wall of the brewery sort of wavered, and ...

"Uhh. Are you sure?" Barney scratched the back of his head.

"I am," Keenan replied. He looked away so Barney didn't see the smug smirk he had.

"Well, okaaaay," Barney said, "don't you think it'll make the drinks a little... blue?"

"It will not," Keenan said, "I can assure you."

He was correct: even with the weird Xenian water coming from the floating islands of the Border World, the beer and other liquor that Barney set about making were quite normal looking once everything was said and done. Well the sparkling soda and tonics did have a tiny bit of a glow to them, but nothing like the Nuka Quantum stuff over in the Vault! And eventually Keenan had to admit that once Barney had enough training, equipment, supplies, and ... nudging, he did make a decent enough bunch of brews.

And only after that mark of approval was given, did Keenan ask, "what are you going to name it?"

Barney's grin grew very wide indeed.

***

If you want some more silly backstory, Barney's Barn Bar has a menu that kind of says it all.

***

It was Hudaralak that nudged his friend and asked, "have you seen the cats?"

"Well of course I-... wait, what cats?" Barney had a strange sense of deja vu. There had been a long string of cats in his life, but also some... less than good results at the labs regarding live testing of their teleporters...

"Those cats," the Daemon nodded, his crest prominently raised, it was easy to see where he gestured. It was to a batch of various cats that simply were lined up literally waiting to come in to the Barn.

"Looks like I'm gonna have some barn cats!" Barney was indeed quite pleased with this turn of events.