It was still past midnight. Or maybe way past midnight, but either way people still walked the streets without caring less.

Some were still in their Halloween costumes and some in their casual wears. From where Jack stood, beside a lamp post, he could see the streets of New Orleans from a whole new point of view. He didn't seem to need the lamp to light his way, as some passersby had begun to look at him all weirdly. They also didn't seem to question him about his mask the way that girl did. Why did he fall unconscious at her place anyway? All he was doing was creep around like he always did. Observe kids that trick-or-treated. Go to any Halloween parties if he felt like, and at the end of every day, retire into the woods, or anywhere he felt like. Why was today different? He could see people around him, but... differently. He wasn't seeing them as a myth that he'd always been, but like a human. Was he human once again? How was that even possible? If he could remember correctly, he wasn't allowed into heaven because of his wicked ways. And the devil was keen on keeping his promise not to take his soul. And ever since, he'd been damned to roam the earth forever with his lamp to light his way. That was how things had been. So what changed? He stood there still, deep thoughts flooding through his mind as people passed him by, though few.

He sighed, hot air escaping his small nose holes. Then suddenly and after a very long time, he felt a burning urge to have a drink. His faint eyebrows drew together at the thought. When last had he had a drink? When he was still human, that was. Well, he was now, wasn't he. He didn't know how or why, but all that he could think of now, was that he was human again. Not completely, though, because he still had his pumpkin head and his old suit on him. But he didn't mind. And if there was one thing he loved to do when he was human, it was to drink.

He glanced up, turning left and right, looking for the nearest pub. A couple of men walked past him, and he studied them. As they disappeared from view, he retraced their steps with his eyes, and it led him to the building he'd been standing in front of all along. It turned out to be a bar. He'd seen places like this before. Hell, he'd even been in one. Fantasizing how the ale of every passing century would taste like. Now he was human. Or half-human. And now he could get to walk in, and actually drink this time. He lowered his glowing turnip beside him, and carefully lumbered into the bar.

He'd seen this before. He'd done this a thousand times before. It might be quite different in this century, but there should still be some similarities. The similarities being he'd request for a drink and the man in charge of the ale would give him. He walked up to the bartender, with people totally ignoring how he walked, how he looked or what he was even holding in his hand. For a moment there, he felt like he belonged. But that didn't last for long, as the bartender didn't seem to think so. The way Jack landed his hand on the counter sort of spooked him. He showered his breath on the whole table, that even some men at the far ends of the table had to look. They did look, but didn't care. They carried on with their drink. Current play of heavy gossip diluting the thick air that mostly smelled like alcohol and bodily sweat.

"What can I get you, sir?" The bartender asked.

He looked young, Jack could see. Too young to be working the late night shift. Jack heard him quite alright, but he didn't order yet. His eyes trailing the racks behind him, and then they stopped when they reached the barrel. The barrel was right beside the bartender on the other side of the counter, and it was quite reachable for Jack. Jack kept staring at the barrel with a grim and shuddering fascination, memories of his old day flashing through his mind. The bartender noticed his weird obsession with the lager barrel, after getting over how freakishly weird Jack's eyes were glowing, and asked.

"It's just a barrel. There's nothing in there." The bartender pushed it behind him, way beyond his reach, and Jack's eye flashed at him.

For a moment there, Jack thought he was in Ireland, and he was staring at a good old barrel of Irish whiskey.

"Would you like a beer, though?" The bartender guessed, seeing that Jack thought they stored beer in that barrel. They did have beer, but it was in those little taps that Jack seemed to have missed.

Jack gazed at him, long enough, for the bartender to take it as a response. It was as if Jack had planned it, as no one had neared the counter since he stood before it. The bartender quickly reached for a lager cup behind him, and pulled the tap before him, allowing pure lager to drip into it. He filled it to the brim, and the excitement made Jack smirk a little without the bartender noticing. He slid it over to Jack, and their eyes met. The bartender adjusted his small bow tie, waiting on what Jack would do. Jack just glared still like the bartender just gave him a wrong drink order.

"Or don't you want—"

Jack stopped him, his old and rough hand all over the glass of beer, with the bartender jerked back. The bartender swallowed hard, as he watched Jack slowly lifted the beer cup to his mouth. With slow precision, Jack opened his mouth very wide, which caused the bartender’s eyes to widen in turn, as he poured the beer down his throat. It was as if the mask on his face stretched beyond its limit as the bartender saw it, but to Jack, he just opened his mouth wide and downed a cup of beer. He slammed the cup back on the counter, and pushed it to the bartender. The bartender hadn't gotten over how Jack just drank a cup of beer in a matter of seconds. He glanced down at the empty cup, and after a few passing moments, took that as a cue to refill it. He did, and passed it to Jack. Jack grunted in ecstasy this time, as he grabbed the cup. He did the same thing again; downed the beer once like a shot, and passed the empty cup to the bartender. The bartender thought for sure, if no one intervened, which they surprisingly hadn't, Jack would empty their bar of all the beer they had in no time.