Locksley's Clubhouse [CVU: Hangout]

@katrin_romanoff_004:

Enki watches her with delight. Then he grins. "It sounds great. I like fighting and music."

He pulled her to him and squeezed a little. "You are very strong and well trained," he said in surprise. "Okay, sweetheart. Show me everything that's worth seeing in this town." He laughed and then walked with her to the night adventure.

Little shade can keep Grim City. So far I have a good time here.

...continuing in a separate thread...

At first the two assaulted the counter and the bottle in synchronicity, as though they were performing a dance that had been rehearsed for years. Soon, the poison began to take effect. As the bottom of the bottle slowly crept higher and higher into the air, the two began to fall out of synch with each other and with reality. Kaija's cheeks began to blush, and she found humor in things that... weren't even intended to be comedic. And after nearly two-thirds of the bottle had disappeared, there was an accident.

"Ooop, hahaha." Kaija laughted, the a large portion of the shot intended for her lips spilling onto her dress, "That's alright, I'll just absorb it through the skin. It'll be fine, gimme another. I'm not even tipsy yet!"

Kaija's arms swung around the air violently as she spoke, as though the movement of her limbs was supposed to enhance the words slurring from her mouth. Her posture had drifted 13 degrees away from vertical, and she felt more powerful than she ever had before. She scowled at a barkeep who attempted to take the bottle away from her, and called him insane. What could possibly go wrong giving a walking nuke alcohol and standing idly by as she slowly grew more and more intoxicated?

"How you doing over there old man?"

@kaija:

Moya watched from a distance, making a hand motion to one of her compatriots, gesturing him to go get something. In contrast to her own nothingness, Bradshaw was more calm and to himself until he actually had to do something. He wobbled and sat, still with the same expression as it'd become his default expression, but there was an increased joviality in his voice.

Controlled was yet to be seen. He felt it, being robbed of his reflexes, of his dexterity. His skill. Not that he was in such a state as to gave even the slightest of damns of how vulnerable he was, if he was on his own anyway. It was actually funny. Unarmed and intoxicated all around these metas. A year or so ago, it was pretty much unthinkable. War never changed, but people did.

Who'da thunk it.

He spins what little is in his shot glass and downs it, and even the quarter he has hits him. His expression is loose, and one eye opens wide as he speaks.

"Ha!" He points at her, holding a shot glass in his hand with a shit eating grin, not even realizing that as he points to her, he's spilling drink everywhere. "You're far ****in' gone kid. Yo-You're hammered as shit right now, ya know that?"He gets up, stumbling and wobbling as his legs struggle to catch up to his brain, almost eating shit as he gets up. Soon he gets his balance looking down at her. "Just give the guy yur bottle and accept that I won."

Darkness.

His eyes open up again and he realizes he's a ways in to falling to the ground. A loud *THUD*from his boot as his foot steps out and he catches himself. Even in this state, he realizes how far gone he is. But, he won't say it.

"Woah. Shit. Giganta. Give the man....give the man the god damn bottle."

@maverick_6:

"Moya, look! HAHA!" Kaija laughed aloud, blatantly pointing a finger at Bradshaw and completely forgetting that she may or may not have been speaking in secret with the woman, "It's a smile! Eric does have a soul after all. AND I'M NOT DRUNK! You haven't won until tap you're on the floor tappin' out. Or, wait.... what?"

With focused intent and almost complete silence, a hand slowly crept over Kaija's shoulder and began to descend. Had it not been for her gentle yet erratic swaying, she wouldn't have noticed the thief attempting to steal from her.

"Stahp man! I a'ready told you I was gud."

"Ma'am, you've had enough, just hand me the bottle and..."

"No no no no no"

"I'm not asking you Miss, I'm trying to help you out here."

"Listen man..."

"Please don't make this difficult..."

"Wait wait wait wait wait... just listen to me for a minute..."

The barkeep decided to give her a chance to speak and stood quietly. He figured that maybe if he played along that she'd cooperate with him a bit more.

"Ok, ok. Now I'm just gonna need you to listen to me for a minute. It's not gonna work if you don't listen."

"I am listening to you ma'am..." the bartender replied in annoyance

"This.... this is my bottle. And I have to drink this. This is what I'm doing, okay? Do you understand what I'm saying, mister?"

"Ok, look. I just need to..."

"IT'S CONTAMINATED! We drank from the bottle directly, man! You can't take this!"

"You two have literally poured ever glass that you drank. I watched you..."

"YOU'RE NOT GONNA MAKE A LIAR OUT OF ME!" Kaija replied proudly!

She took the bottle by the base, lifted it up to her mouth, and began one of the longest chugs that she was likely to ever experience. The barkeep simply rolled his eyes and decided that if he couldn't keep her from that bit of alcohol that he'd simply not give her anymore. Once the bottle was empty, she simply placed it back on the table by her side and began a very very brief celebration. Only moments later, she would slump down to the bar, unknowingly pushing the bottle down onto the floor and breaking it. Luckily, the barkeep had developed a great deal of patience thanks to his particular career.

"Oh no..." Kaija called out to no one, her voice muffled with her face planted onto the counter, "Bradshaw! Ugh, I messed up..."

@kaija:

"You..." He blinks his eyes weerily. "Dumbass. Yur not sapposed' to do that." His disorientation goes further, the feeling of his stomach curling as he rises. "Shit. I don't got time for this...I gotta."

Step and stumble.

"I gotta..."

Step and stumble.

"I need to get to..."

It came without warning. Perhaps, Bradshaw was near omnicompetent when it came to weaponry, but he'd seldomed trained himself, his body, to handle the aftermath of alcohol. A new sort of projectile came, and the bar became a hot firing range at that moment. Had Moya not predicted when he'd heave and placed a bucket in front of him from outside his eye, sight, he would have completely missed. Everyone recoils back at the profusely loud and almost painful yelling that accompanies his heav.

Moya's heels clack as she walks around him, eyeing him up and then slightly nudging the bucket forward as he begins to fall. Jackal appears from seemingly nowhere and catches him, both luckily evading stepping in the bucket due to her own intervention. People notice, the Lightning Lady offering them amused smiles as she absorbs their praise for that nice save. With this? She was experienced. They both set take part in setting him back down next to Kaija.

"Argh. I'm gonna be disappointed in myself when I start giving a damn, aren't I?" Bradshaw murmurs. Moya goes and casually slides over 5 G's in compensation for the bottle of whisky she'd cost the man. This was allowed to go a little too far. Moya motioned Jackal to take a seat next to Bradshaw and Moya quietly took a seat next to Kaija, not saying anything as she continues drinking a cup of water.

Someone comes by and grabs the bucket, removing the abhorrent smell from the vicinity.

@maverick_6:

"Argh. I'm gonna be disappointed in myself when I start giving a damn, aren't I?"

"You're setting the absolute worst example for a teacher right now, you know that?" Kaija asked Bradshaw, her head still resting on the bar as she gazed over at him, "I win by the way. All of your points are now lying in a bucket on the floor. High score goes to me..."

Kaija presented him with a brief, smug, wide smile, her eyes closed as she attempted to try and make sense of the illusory world around her. She would lie motionless until she felt a presence to her left, then simply roll her head to meet woman, making sure not to make any superfluous movements. Again she flashed a brief forced smile at Moya before speaking.

"Hey, before you say anything, I've been good. All of this is your fault, and I'm just a pawn in your scheme to make everyone here incompetent. I mean, look at Bradshaw, now he's disappointed in himself. You're a sick, sick lady..." Kaija explained to Moya to the best of her ability, "But would I do it again, though? Yeah prolly..."

@kaija:

"I wasn't tryna be no teacher. You get whatcha pay fur..." His words slurred,

"Well you know wat?" Bradshaw began. "I'll still can your ass in the ring any day." He crosses his arms. He smirks with an almost competitive grin, his foot catching himself as he drops his arms to lean on the counter for precious support, staying up through constant conscious effort and willpower alone, everything going black every now and again, in and out, in and out.

Jackal pats his back out of support, helping him catch himself every now and again, as he tilts his head to look at the two girls, listening in on what they're saying.

"Hey, before you say anything, I've been good. All of this is your fault, and I'm just a pawn in your scheme to make everyone here incompetent. I mean, look at Bradshaw, now he's disappointed in himself. You're a sick, sick lady..." Kaija explained to Moya to the best of her ability, "But would I do it again, though? Yeah prolly..."

Moya smiles, patting Kaija on the head. "Oh I know." Pristine and pearly white teeth made themselves known. "Oh would you...?" She couldn't keep in anymore as she turned away to blatantly laugh for a second before returning her reply to Kaija.

"So there we were, me, three Xalconius, and a Burghpall, surrounded by a hungry pack of Jalbukaries on Ghantep-IX..." The young adventurer at table four had entranced his audience, and they were patient as he took a deep drink of his Firewhiskey. As a human, he was underaged, but apparently all you had to say at the counter was that you're an "off-worlder" and you're off the hook. He took a long drink of the burning but satisfying liquid before continuing his tale. "I wasn't much use at the time, my leg being broken and all, but the other guys just wanted to quit. Now, don't laugh. You ever seen a Jalb and you'd get their terror. So anyway, they were about to quit. Just hope death would come fast. But I could allow that. I dunno, man. Something in me just snapped. I was up on my busted ankle, holding the last, dying two-handed plasma blaster. And next thing I knew all the jalbs were dead, and the rest of Rallie's crew was backing away from me like I'd turned into a monster." He finished his drink with a last tip of the cup. He shook his head. "In answer to the question, mate," he said, addressing a man with four eyes and white hair and beard, "I haven't the slightest idea what makes us humans weird. It's just a thing about us. Call it gut, call it wisdom, call it nature. But we will do the randomest, scariest stuff for our crews. Yeah, I'd recommend having a Terran on board your ship. It might save your life someday."

@j_the_toymaker:

Once a couple centuries go by whether you like it or not you turn to drinking. There's a natural limit to how much shit someone can live through and still keep going. Even if your body makes it that for there's no guarantee that your mind will. Course Silas had recently decided that the prospect of going insane wasn't that bad of a trade for power, but much like him, old habits die hard. It was more of a comfort at this point anyway, a way to calm him down and think. Now after roaming the nation for a while he had picked up where the best watering hole was in each part of the country and Locksley held that title in LA. After all, there weren't too many drinks you could buy in a bar that had as much kick as their Firewhiskey.

Taking a long swig from his cup before slamming down on the counter Silas smirked turning to the shocked patron next to him. "One pint of Firewhiskey, one swig. Now pay up." As he said that he extended his left hand, it still bearing the scar from the last deal he made. The man next to him silently shook his head in disbelief before opening his wallet and placing a crumpled fifty on the outstretched hand. "Whatever you say, old man, you're just asking to kneel over doing shit like that." With that, he got up from his seat and headed out of the bar, not wanted to get drawn into any more bets he would regret.

Grinning Silas unfurled the bill before placing it next to his glass. "I'll take another one." He asked after signaling over the bartender. Well, at least the day hadn't been all bad, he got a free drink after all. Still, though, he'd yet to make much significant progress in his search. Turned out looking for someone who you only knew as the Lady wasn't very easy. Kaedriel had mentioned something about listening to the shadows, but they weren't being too helpful. He'd expected to at least have gained a bit of magic from the ritual, but so far nothing. All he had was a voice in his head talking too much and saying too little.

@revol:

A group of college-age boys were talking and laughing boisterously in the corner. At their center was a towering, muscular youth with a buzzed grin on his face as he illustrated with his hands whatever story he was telling tonight. Some older men at other tables were listening to the interstellar Aussie, knowing his tales to be good storytelling at the very least, especially when his tongue was loosened with firewhiskey. He seemed to have a high tolerence for it, and some nights, his story got enough people buying rounds for the barkeep to give him one or two freebies. Other nights, he made bets, or his listeners payed for his drinks so he wouldn't have to stop talking. He had a high tolerance for the firewhiskey, it had been discovered. His BAC had to be through the roof, and it so far had barely phased him.

Tonight no one had offered to buy him a drink yet, so he paused his tale to approach the bar. He leaned his forearms on the counter and called, "The usual, mate," in his booming, ever-so-slightly accented voice, "And a burger and fries while you're at it." He didn't seem to notice the old man beside him, nor did he really care. He'd talk to him if addressed, but he couldn't be bothered to waste time when he had a party of listeners waiting for him to get back to them.

@j_the_toymaker:

Silas turned slightly as someone came up the bar next to him. He thought it might be the disgruntled loser coming back to try and win his money back but it was someone else. It was the "space" man he'd seen here a couple times before. Always going off on some high flying tale about Gooklygoo's or whatever else he was on about. Silas had never stopped to pay much heed to him, however, he'd caught enough from just being in the bar to give him a feel. It didn't really matter to Silas whether he was telling the truth or not, he seemed to be able to keep a large group of people entertained. He didn't believe a lick of it himself, not out of a denial of the extraterrestrial, that wasn't even possible this day and age. It was more just a natural skepticism he'd built up through the years. Just because everything was possible that didn't mean everyone was telling the truth.

As the man ordered a meal next to him Silas fully turned to face him. A faint clinking could be heard as all the ammo and guns he had strapped to him knocked into each other. "Couldn't get one of them to buy ya a drink this time?" He asked taking a sip of his freshly delivered drink.

@revol:

"Hm?" Jay turned his head towards the heavily armed man. He wasn't exactly impressed with the array of weapons; he'd faced down men far more dangerous than his initial thoughts of the old bugger read him to be. His armor was thick enough to deflect bullets with ease. He had nothing to fear from this guy. He didn't press his luck, though. Manners were important pretty much everywhere. So he smiled and allowed himself a small laugh. "Oh, you mean that. No, not yet. But the night's still young, right? And I've got a lot more stories up here." He tapped his forehead, eyes merry, tone calm.

@j_the_toymaker:

Shrugging he turned back to his drink, "If you say so, the day has dragged on more than I would have liked. If time flies when you're having fun then, I must be having a pretty shit day." He said taking another drink.As he sat there, there was something gnawing at him something he'd noticed about the boy next to him. So much that he finally decided to ask about it. "As much as I'm sure you don't wanna keep your audience waiting I've gotta ask. What the hell are you wearing.. and why?"

"Listen, I've seen you in here before and each time I can't help but think you look like a goddamn lunatic, and trust me I know how ironic this sounds. So, kid, before you bring up what I've got on. I'm just gonna say, I've been wearing this before your great-great-great-grandpappy was born. This thing is closer to a second skin to some clothes, but whatever you have on makes you look like a beetle" As he said this he gestured to the boy's whole body, pausing at the red icon in the center of his chest before raising an eyebrow.

@revol:

As soon as the stranger mentioned the suit, Jay stood up straight and looked down at it himself. There was something about the way he held himself that made him non-threatening despite his height and bulk. His hand rose to the red bird symbol on his chest, and he smiled fondly.

"I probably do look like a lunatic," he said with a half-grin. "It's my uniform-slash-armor from the Rallie. Sturdy as a rock and once you're used to it, comfortable as anything else. Easier to just wear it than look for clothes big enough for a Tarrdanian, too." The word just slipped off his tongue; it rarely occurred to him that native Terrans didn't quite know what he was talking about. He touched the red symbol again. "This was painted on her hull. Meant freedom or something in the Captain's native symbolism." He leaned back on the counter and returned his attention to the older man. "Beetle fits the bill just right, mate. Fits like a glove and tougher than steel. Wear it for the same reasons you wear that." He gestured to the man's outfit with his forehead. There was no judgment in that action. Just a simple statement of fact as his hand subconsciously caught the Firewhiskey the bartended slid to him across the counter.

@j_the_toymaker:

"I really am surrounded by crazy people," Silas muttered to himself. He couldn't help but smirk as he thought he heard the voices in his head get louder. Almost as if they were pointing out the hypocrisy of his statement. Even now as the substance had already made it into his mind, he could feel it clawing for more. Desperately wanting to be awoken and let loose the potential it stored. Fighting the urge to tell the shadows he hadn't lost his mind just yet, Silas put down his glass. "I think you're making the wrong guess at why I wear my cloak. If I wanted protection than this old thing would probably be the last thing I choose. I wouldn't catch a knife, much less a bullet of any kind. Anyway, I'm sure you have to get back to your rabid fans, just waiting to be regaled by your tales of far away lands."

@revol:

"That's not what I meant," he said quietly. "I meant as a tribute to something we can't ever have again." He looked back at the tables, where people were talking loudly. One or two listeners were waving him back over. He held up a hand for them to wait before looking back at Silas.

"Funny thing about humans, they look for danger and don't recognize what's right in front of them. Most spacers would just about die of fright at the rumble of thunder or a snowfall or the sight of a dog. Humans just accept it as a fact of life and look for shit more dangerous han their homeworld." He grabbed his drink and his burger. "Dunno what they're missing right in front of them. Bit of a shame if you ask me. See you around, mate." He picked up his food and drink, and headed back toward his audience.