2017-10-13: Shots From Hell

From Dream Chasers
Jump to navigation Jump to search 
=====================<* November City - Bunker's Lounge *>======================

Bunker's Lounge is a seedy, smoky lounge located underneath Hotel Renais. The bar here serves mixed drinks and beer, with a mustachioed man named Durlan providing too-strong drinks and cigars of middling quality to patrons. The lounge is the sort of place frequented by seedy characters -- Geohounds, gamblers, and rougher Drifters who don't quite fit into the Adventurer's Guild. A jazz band provides a steady, lively beat during the evening hours. Bunker's has the same strict no weapons policy as the lobby of Hotel Renais, and Durlan is quick to demand anyone starting a ruckus leave.

BGM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzRqtW1C0Zo

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Bunker's Lounge - a prime location for seedy folk and ne'er-do-wells of all stripes. The place was lively and the booze was strong - in other words, it was the perfect place for someone like Layna to hang out.

She's here now, having claimed an entire booth to herself. It wasn't as if she'd threatened anybody - no, there was just something about her atmosphere that made people feel it would be better to stay away.

It gave her plenty of opportunity to lean back, listen to the music, and sip her drink as she considered various things going on in the world. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied ... under the guise of Nazgul al-Rashid, rookie Drifter -- is about the farthest thing from being called 'seedy' and a 'ne'er-do-well', yet she's been here a few times, pretty much making the bouncer Durlan sigh under his breath, shake his head, and keep an eye on the weird and probably problem-attracting dragon-girl Drifter.

Though it is a disguise, Nazgul definitely isn't particularly used to the seedy sights of the Bunker, with the chain-smoking gentlemen shifting chips left and right as they lay their cards, glasses of malt whiskey drunk clean...

I say disguise, but... it's pretty easy to see that her horns, her draconic arm and leg, and her wings are very visibly still Riesenlied's. The hair is dark brown and shorter, however, and she's dressed in a prim jacket and a ruffled shirt to go with her skirt and leggings.

She's having milk. ... who drinks milk in the Bunker? 

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Money is often an object of need when you are Neriah Parringer. It's why she sometimes takes jobs that aren't excavating, or throwing around strange magicks like they're party favours. In this case, she took a few Gella from the Bunker owner and agreed to do a job.

"Fetch you a drink?" a light voice comes to one side of Layna.

Neriah is standing there in what would be called a French maid outfit if France existed on Filgaia. She's even wearing the bonnet and a pair of excessively high shoes, along with some overdone makeup. She's balancing a drink tray in her right hand, several frothy mugs of ale balanced atop it along with a little tip cup for coins in the tray's centre.

Right now she is praying to Granas that Layna doesn't make fun of her. Or that Riesenlied doesn't, for that matter, but Miss Riese actually seems polite. 

<Pose Tracker> Iskandra Grendorre has posed.

"Fancy meeting you here." Iskandra greets Layna s she comes in, and then claims a seat of her own, stretching her wings some before folding them back behind her. She glances over 'Nazgul' but doesn't recognize, so instead her eyes go to the ... peculiarly clad serving staff, and she raises a hand to kind of draw attention, and impatiently adds, "Oy, over here." 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

"The Glamorous Houndsmistress" has been slinking around. We would give you an elaborate summary of her look but it is basically this:

Take Margaret.

Add a 5-gella party mask.

Add a leather sachel with some goods and odds and ends, including several tightly-rolled wraps of red cloth.

That is the Glamorous Houndsmistress.

She approaches the card table, having seen off a shifty and slouching Drifter who apparently did not PASS AN INTERVIEW, and asks with a gusty cheerfulness, "Oh! What game is this? Is there room for another player?" 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

The milk-drinking dragon-girl definitely catches Layna's attention. It's been a while since she and Riesenlied crossed paths, and with the changes that had come over her, it isn't particularly easy for the pirate to recognize her. That arm, though, and her rather unusual choice of drink...well, she'd catch anyone's attention.

Before she can say anthing to her, though, a girl dressed like a maid approaches her. Layna looks her up and down. There was something about her that looked, familiar, but she couldn't...quite...

...Oh.

Layna smirks slightly, but doesn't actually comment on the look. Instead, she nods.

"Aye, could use another glass! In fact, why don't you bring one to the lady over there, on me?" Layna replies with a nod. In return, she slips some gella out of her coat and places it into the cup in the center of the tray.

Around this time, though, Iskandra shows up, taking a seat nearby. Layna grins and offers her a wave.

"Aye. Good to see you again, Iskandra." She greets. Her eyes go astray, landing on the woman in the party mask and the satchels full of red cloth.

There's something familiar about her, too, but she doesn't immediately place her as the woman she'd had that rather awkward encounter with in the lobby... 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied notices Iskandra from when she had her episode the other day, but it's Neriah that catches her eye with slightly widened eyes -- "O-oh, Miss Neriah?" She remembers her from when she helped her in the Krosse Caverns. "Sorry, I don't drink, but-- could I get something to nibble on?"

She gives her a bit of extra coin, tilting her head as the woman in the mask appears. She notices Layna too, and it'd been a while since she saw her... 

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

Today is a theme day, apparently, and Neriah's complexion and hair colour fit the maid outfit well. Her hair's even been curled.

Of course, that little smirk from Layna is all it takes for Neriah's lower lip to jut in a pronounced pout, and she turns her eyes on the pirate as if to silently ask 'how could you?' But deep in her heart, she knows how.

It's because she looks extremely silly.

"I think I'm going to be bringing them to many people. But I hope you've been well. And, y'know, not dead," she says in a more muted tone as she sets a mug down in front of Layna. Then she's directed towards another thirsty lass - who happens to be calling out!

Blushing a little, she turns and bustles towards Iskandra's table, balancing the beer tray expertly - apparently those Drifter reflexes are a translateable skill. "Hello! Please, take one if you like," she offers, bowing a little and holding out the tray. "Small ones are free, the full mugs are the regular price, and the pretzels are on sale at half price."r

There is, in fact, a plate of pretzels sitting on Neriah's tray.

And then Riesenlied recognizes her, and she blushes brightly as well, clearing her throat. "O-of course, Miss," she says with a little bow of her head. "Would you like a pretzel? They're delicious." 

<Pose Tracker> Iskandra Grendorre has posed.

"I'd like your strongest booze, enough of it to get a cow drunk." Iskandra orders with a straight face, and then glances towards the beer tray, "Don't bother with the light stuff. I'm here to get tipsy, not to waste time." She's at least up front about why she's here, and then takes a better look around; something about that person with the dark brown hair and the horns and wings seems familiar... maybe it's Riesenlied's sister? 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

The Glamorous Houndsmistress says, "Oh! These?" to Neriah, even as she reaches over to pluck up a small one from Neriah's tray. BY FORCE.

It tastes better when it's free.

After some crunching, her eyes flick around, because it seems the answer is 'no there is not'. "Have you been waiting?" she half-mumbles to the seated Riesenlied, because she's mid pretzel chewing. GLAMOROUS! 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"Aye, that I have. Hope the same goes for you, lass." Layna replies to Neriah with a nod. "Thanks for the drink!"

With that she grabs the handle and takes a swig before setting it down and glancing toward Iskandra again.

"So...how's life been treating you?" She asks.

The others get her attention for a moment, but she doesn't comment on them just yet. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Nazgul smiles very gently at Neriah and nods, taking one and looking at it. She hadn't eaten a pretzel before in her life, but it looked tasty... she nibbles quietly, before-- blinking to smile quietly at Margaret. "Ah, yes, the person I'm waiting to see hasn't arrived yet." A pause. "Hi, my name is Nazgul." She doesn't really sound like someone who should be hanging around a seedy bar.

It really could be Riesenlied's sister, if she had a sister. Either that, or Riesenlied is just comically bad at disguises. 

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"I've been alright. Things have been tight. It's always hard to make a living and I don't really have much of a group to travel with," Maid Neriah admits with a gentle shrug, eyes moving between Layna and Riesengul. "But at least there are pretzels."

Until there's one less. Gasping softly, Neriah widens her eyes at the Glamorous Houndsmistress. "Hey, it's not a sample tray! At least let me put it on your tab," she grumbles lightly.

Iskandra makes a daring request, then. "We have some pretty strong booze," Neriah points out as she takes mental notes, lacking a hand free to hold a notepad. "But I'll put it on your tab." She peers at her tray for a moment.

Her eyes widen. Smiling neatly, she picks up a bottle of something and a series of shot glasses. One by one, she pours them full of a clear liquid.

If there were a camera, there'd be a still shot of the glasses right about now.

ULTIMATE ALCOHOLIC SUBSTANCE OF BUNKER'S LOUNGE
TARRASQUE-FELLING MAX POWER INEBRIATOR

U N C L E K R O N O ' S D O U B L E K R O S S E V O D K A

Neriah lowers her eyelids and shoots Iskandra a sly smile, arching one eyebrow. "Let me know if you need a notary public." 

<Pose Tracker> Iskandra Grendorre has posed.

"I'll be fine, I'm sure." Iskandra just drinks down the shot in one go, and then there's a moment of pause before she feels the effect of the booz and makes an impressed sound, grips the table and takes a deep breath and finally, unsteadily. "Not bad." She then glances towards Layna, and slowly "If the lady over there wants to pay for it, I'd love another." Because Iskandra suspects this booze doesn't come cheap. 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

"Oh," says the masked woman. Then "crunch" but that's kind of inevitable. "Of course, of course. And give me something to wash it down with!"

She then claims a seat, before asking Nazgul, "Are you a Drifter? I'm sorry to be so BLUNT, I'm just trying to mix business with pleasure here, and if you were looking for one of the interview slots I have a few minutes -"

Her eyes track towards that fluid of profound distilled potency.

Her nose twitches. so do her ears.

Margaret then calls over, "Ooh, give me one of those things that I do not know what they are!" To Nazgul she asks, "Join me? First round's on me, naturally." Then she nods to Iskandra despite the fact that she's a little bit away. See, Margaret-in-disguise seems to be saying: It must just be a flavored candy drink. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna's not too familiar with that kind of trouble but, then again, she had an entire crew behind her to help keep everything going. It's not a very fair comparison.

She watches with interest as Neriah pours a series of shot-glasses full of a rather potent-looking liquid.

"Well, well...that sure looks like something." She comments with a grin. And...Iskandra is still fully conscious afterwards. Huh.

"Sure, why not? In fact, I wouldn't mind some either, aye?" Layna says with a nod towards Iskandra, readying some more gella.

"I'm curious to see how it measures up to the Goddess's Breath..." She comments with a grin. The name might be recognizable as one of the strongest drinks available on Lunar. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied looks sympathetic to Neriah's money troubles. Even with a crew, Wayside and the Ebony Wings always meant that budgets were tight; they've often had to make do with being creative. She-- widens her eyes at the sight of the drink, and as Iskandra copes with it. "I couldn't imagine..."

She looks to Margaret bashfully. "I am, but I'm just a rookie, really... I still haven't really seen or learn a lot of the sights around here." She does nod as she sits at the table with Margaret, tilting her head as she nibbles on her pretzel. "These are tasty... I'll have another, please, Miss Neriah." 

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"You sure? I can alert the morgue if you have any doubts," Neriah assures Isandra with a flutter of long lashes. Her smile has a sassiness to it, silently daring Iskandra to keep at it.

As Margaret and Layna beckon, Neriah gives her beskirted hips a little swish, setting a few more shot glasses on her tray and pouring out the lethal vodka glass by glass. "Well, I don't know about the Goddess's Breath," she admits. "That's moon things, and I've never been to the moon like a bunch of folks here have. But Uncle Krono's is pretty powerful stuff. Enough that I've seen strong men cry for their mothers from just one shot! Miss Wings here is already doing better than most." She indicates Iskandra with a jerk of her head.

Shot by shot, she begins to distribute the glasses, setting one before Iskandra, another before Layna, another before Margaret, with the tray close at hand.

Riesenlied gets something more mild. She gets a pretzel and a smile - and a bottle of something. It's a bottle of light beer with a logo etched into it. The logo resembles a proud-looking chicken. The label reads 'ETTLESBURY AND SON'S Crystal Cucco Pale Ale' in fancy font. "Of course, Miss, ah, Nazgul," she says with a little smile.

"Actually," she muses as she rests a hip against Riese's table. "There's a village called Wayside I've thought a bit about... I don't know if they'd take me, though, even if I am a bit of a misfit in some ways." 

<Pose Tracker> Iskandra Grendorre has posed.

"Be careful, this is strong stuff and I am an alchemist, I've got some exposure to things you're not supposed to be exposed to." Iskandra warns it seems like others want to follow suit. She doesn't bother mentioning that she's got a malevolence-boosted tolerance, that's not for public consumption. She takes the other shot glass, and takles it down just a tad slower, and it takes her a bit more to recover. "Ahh, that's the stuff. Now I'm good on drink, how about a pretzel, eh?" 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

Margaret's eyes snap directly towards Layna as she mentions -That Beverage-. Her lips twist a little. It's a sort of :/ rather than a scowl. She makes this face a fair bit.

Then she's given a shot. Which she downs immediately.

After this Margaret exhales with great force but neither belches nor screams. Settling back in her chair, her legs cross at the ankle and she says to 'Nazgul,' airily, "How do you feel about pirates? I mean gangsters."

Her eyes cut to Layna furtively. (She kind of meant pirates.)

Margaret


Behold, the Black Pearl of Neo-Vane, the woman known as Margaret. She is tall and carries herself energetically; her black hair is long, straight and glossy, long enough to reach her hips. The bangs are cut level and in the classical "princess cut," although the drape over her back often gets wrapped up or otherwise kept in line. Her eyes are a crystal blue and her ears sweep back to pointed curves, each about as long as her middle finger and curved like a seashell. She has an ambiguous look that could be vivacious middle age or strained youth. Hard to tell.

KEY FACTS:

* A fair complexion, which pops set against her hair. She seems to have no scars or imperfection, probably evidence of Althena's Blessing.

* A little something on her lips and a little too much around the eyes. She also wears some kind of scented oil that's half and half sandalwood and ylang-ylang.

* A long-handled wooden staff with a red silk cover on a J-crooked tip. It is almost certainly some kind of blade.

* A purple and gray one piece dress with no sleeves at all, a plunging neckline and a slit along the skirt.

* A pair of shiny black boots that go up her entire calf, with copper buttons up the back, pointed copper toes, and a gratuitious two and a half inches of copper heel each.

* A thick leather belt with a silver buckle in front and a slight cant towards the left, where there is a reinforced squared-off pouch. The buckle has a stylized mastiff-hound shape to it.

There is a recurring accent jewelry motif of silvered bird skulls, but their exact location - earrings, pendant, belt decor - vary. Their eye sockets, of course, all have what appear to be black pearls in them. She tends to be in a hurry and to laugh and shout and yell and carry on. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna sends Iskandra a grin.

"And I'm..." A pirate? A scoundrel? A dirty-rotten criminal? "...A professional. I think I can handle this."

She takes the shot glass and raises it toward Neriah in a gesture of thanks.

She feels eyes on her for a moment and glances toward Margaret, offering her an enigmatic smirk before down the glass in a swig.

For a second, nothing happens. But, in the next, if she were sitting in a regular chair and not a booth she would've knocked both it and the table over.

It takes a second for her to recover, but when she does, she laughs heartily.

"That really is potent stuff! I like it!" She says with a grin. She look like she was about to cry for her mother, at least. She'd managed to survive the suspicious, most likely not-at-all-healthy sewer-adjacent booze, after all, so it seemed like she had some durability built up.

"Wayside, aye? I've heard talk of it, but can't say I've been there, m'self." She comments. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Nazgul may be Riesenlied's disguise, but gosh, she's just so bad when it comes to stuff she cares so much about. "Oh...?" she tilts her head to Neriah. "I'm sure you'd be welcome. That's Wayside's motto, after all. Anyone who feels they have nowhere to go, no one else to turn to... we'll welcome them."

She smiles brightly and tilts her head, but-- stares at the pale ale as it's put down. "O-oh..." she wasn't sure if she could hold her drink, but-- cuccos are on the label!

Her horns wiggle up and down in consternation as she peeks at it. (They're bad at being horns.) Will it be safe...? Will the cuccos protect her?

"Pirates...? Um--" she glances to Layna. "Well, I hope I don't get harrassed by them or anything?" 

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"The pretzels are delicious as well! Though I have to say I'm impressed by your constitution. Alchemy must've done wonders for you," Neriah compliments Iskandra as she reaches for the pretzel plate. She holds the plate out, carefully tilting it to slide one of the morsels onto a small plate in front of Iskandra.

Then Margaret starts downing it too. When she doesn't die, Neriah raises her eyebrows sharply. "Impressive," she remarks, laying a hand at her cheek and flashing the woman a little smile. Layna, too, manages - not quite as well as Iskandra, to Neriah's surprise.

Perhaps moon pirates aren't used to lethal vodka.

But Layna comes up alright, and Neriah smiles impishly as she pours out another shot, sliding the glass towards the pirate woman. "You're pretty tough, too! But I've also seen you fight, so I'm not too surprised about that." Layna's one of the ones who's been relatively nice to her in recent memory, after all; there's no reason for Neriah to treat her anything but warmly.

The topic turns to villages. She can't help but be charmed by the way Riese's horns wiggle - and even moreso when the woman inadvertently reveals her true identity. "In some ways, I feel that way," she admits, brushing a few locks of curled dark hair away from her cheek. "Like I don't have many places that I can go, I mean. It might be nice to have somewhere to call home, for once. And, y'know, the people there...."

She hesitates for a second, then looks up. "...Regardless of what Miss Ida was saying, the people seem nice. Sweeter than I'm used to, yeah. But maybe that's just me."

Nicer than K.K., but at least K.K. is cool, Neriah's mind fills in. 

<Pose Tracker> Iskandra Grendorre has posed.

Iskandra looks amused when others take it less well than she did. "I warned you this stuff was potent." Is all she has left to say on the topic, taking a bite out of her pretzel and taking a good look at everyone else, "By the way, anyone know a good library? I've got a commission I'm going to need to do some research for." Beat. "Kind of complex." 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

"The reason I ask," the Glamorous Houndsmistress says to Riesenlied, even as she ends up sort of faltering and falling quiet as Wayside is discussed, indeed, as she... no, Margaret thinks, she's just quoting something.

"ahem. The reason I ASK," she continues, "is that I'm looking for a few good heroes of the wastelands to help me put crime and banditry over my knee and spank it soundly. We're leaving aside the question of pirates for now."

Her face is slowly reddening. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

"Aye, I've had a lot of practice." Layna replies to Neriah. She takes up the second glass and sends her a nod of thanks before starting to drink...

Though this one she takes a bit more slowly.

She glances toward 'Nazgul' when she answers the question about pirates. There's a hint of a smirk there, though it was hard to tell what that meant.

For Iskandra, though there was a shrug.

"Sorry, can't say I'm much one for libraries." She replies, before her attention falls on Margaret.

She laughs, perhaps not as politely as she should.

"I'm afraid you're probably in the wrong place for that. Even odds that any one of the blaggards in this place's actively contributing to that 'crime and banditry', aye?" She replies, with a sweeping gesture.

"Certainly won't find any heroes, not unless you're willing to pony up some coin." Layna downs the rest of her shotglass. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied nips on her pretzel for a bit. "I'm really proud of them... they're kind, because in part they've had to be. They only have each other to rely on, when everyone else has abandoned them." She looks apologetically to Margaret, with a tilt of her head again, as if it were some kind of tic.

"Bandits...? I certainly would help... Wayside often worries about bandits, and we've had our share of attacks both on foot and on our caravans too... so I'd be happy to help you out, Miss."

She dares to go for it, popping the cap, which doesn't so much let out the usual beer-like hiss as

...cucco...

She peers over it... then takes an experimental swig. ... ... ...

Riesenlied is intensifying ... ... ... ... !!

"... ish bitterhh..." Riesenlied whines, horns flopping to her sides. 

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

With a rueful smile, Neriah shakes her head towards Iskandra. "I wish I did. There was an ancient library I found once in an old ruin near Adlehyde, but that's a long way behind us, it feels like... maybe one of the old ruins around here might have something for you?" She tilts her head and flashes a smile.

When she glances back to Margaret, it's with a quick blink. The sight of the woman's blush leaves her, momentarily, wondering what her deal is - if she's beginning to show the effects of the liquor, or if some tawdry thought has crossed her mind!

"I don't know. I'm not sure I'm a hero of the wasteland. I'm more of a waste-o of the here-land," she deadpans.

With that gloomy self-assessment made, Neriah shifts herself, taking a seat on the edge of Riesenlied's table. She watches the woman for a moment, offering her a faint, sad little smile. "I should visit there, then," she says quietly. "I've never really been welcome anywhere in my life, because reasons. Maybe I can help them in some way. Even if it's just doing something good to protect people for once."

Then Riese's horns flop, and Neriah stifles a giggle with fingers touched to her lips. "It's okay!" she urges the horned woman. "It takes some getting used to if you're not normally a drinker! Just take your time, okay?" 

<Pose Tracker> Iskandra Grendorre has posed.

"Well, thanks for letting me know what you do, even if it ain't much." Then Iskandra turns her attention fully towards Margaret, and she gets up and approaches, with a menacing smirk on the way. "I heard a powerful monster attacked a trade caravan near Krosse not too long ago. Only because of another monster and a church knight working together did they drive it off."

And that's when she, just for a moment, allows her malevolence to leak, not much, just enough to add some metaphysical weight to her next words, "Are you sure you have what it takes to protect people? That anyone does?" Then she goes back to fully hiding once again, "If you do, I'd love to see what you've got to offer. It might be fun, or at least it'll be good practice." 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

"That's an interesting thing to say," the Glamorous Houndsmistress says as she glances back at Layna. "Most people wouldn't be taking a pro-theft-and-murder position, but I suppose you're a bold thought leader."

She puts her chin in her hand and leans forwards slightly towards Layna. "Please, go on!"

She does not mean it.

"Oh is that one of those really hop-forward ones?" she asks Riesenlied. "Let me have a sip of that. You're doing great if it's one of those hop squeezing ones, though." Riesenlied gets a comradely pat on the shoulder, before not-Margaret looks over towards Iskandra.

She says nothing, and sadly the cheap mask makes the nuances of her expression difficult to read. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna sends Margaret a frown. Well...she was a pirate. She certainly wasn't against those things, even if she was scaling back on the latter.

"Just stating the facts. I'm just saying you'd be better off looking elsewhere...though it looks like you've found at least one bleeding heart, aye?" She says, glancing in Nazgul's direction, and shrugging.

"So hey, what do I know, aye? Maybe you'll get lucky. Maybe they won't even abandon you if it turns out they're not getting paid." 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Nazgul doesn't really -- comment on whether or not pirates were amoral or approved of plunder and murder, that doesn't seem appropriate for this kind of audience. "... well, it would be nice to be paid, but..." she murmurs very gently with a finger to her cheek.

She tilts her head and hiccups a bit, cheeks a bit redder. "Alcohol really is something else..." she whispers, before tilting her head the other way. "Hop-forward? Um, you're free to try some, though..."

Iskandra comes over, and her eyes widen just a little as she snese her malevolence, shivering just a bit. "... there's nothing wrong with trying to keep the peace, even just a little..." 

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

When Iskandra lets her energy leak out just that little bit...

Nothing happens to Neriah, immediately. After a beat, though, she blinks down towards her right hand.

It hurts, somehow. She closes it, momentarily glad that her maid gloves go up to her elbows. "I think I do," she says as she lays the back of her left hand over the right, trying to ignore the subtle, pained ache twinging at the middle of her palm. "I'm not sure you'd want to fight me in practice, though. The Symbols I use don't exactly have a training setting. It's either everything explodes, or I'm fighting with my pistol...."

Her voice trails off as she watches Nazenlied reacting to Iskandra's presence. Pale eyes snap towards the woman, watching her for a few seconds, before she clears her throat.

"Did you want another shot," she asks, before sliding another glass of vodka over to the woman. She holds it in her right hand. 

<Pose Tracker> Iskandra Grendorre has posed.

Iskandra takes the shot, and looks Neriah in the eye when she looks at it, "Are you trying to get me drunk?" It's a miracle by most standards that she isn't drunk yet, and she sits back down, glancing towards Margaret and Riesenlied both, and commenting on the latter. "There's not, but it's dangerous; you have to know what you're getting into, and be sure you ask for coin to match."

Then the drink goes down, and it takes a few moments longer to recover this time, and when she speaks next there's the slighest hint of some kind of effect from the alcohol, but it's brief. "Sho. Uh. So. Why give me another?" 

<Pose Tracker> Margaret has posed.

The Glamorous Houndsmistress's eyebrows raise sharply. Inwardly she thinks: how did she know! is she able to read my thoughts!? i should think the dirtiest thing possible.

Margaret thinks an impure thought about the Dragonmaster really hard.

A few moments later, she takes the proffered beer and takes a small sip. Her lips purse. "Mm," she says, handing it back to Nazgul afterwards. "Perhaps we should have this conversation somewhere else, sometime, if we're disrupting the MOOD."

And with that she stands upright. It's a dramatic, swishy rising. Somehow. She's practiced it.

"Be seeing you!" she says as she digs a handful of gella out of a pouch and tosses it down on the table. It's quite a generous -

Margaret reclaims about twenty percent of it. Well, OK, now it's middle-of-the-road tab-clearance-and-a-tip. Barely.

With that she stomps towards the door. 

<Pose Tracker> Layna Manydays has posed.

Layna chuckles at Margaret's rather dramatic exit, taking it as a victory.

"D'you think I offended her?" She asks with a grin, and then stands from her seat. She kind of...stumbles a bit as she does so. She'd actually been drinking for a fair while before she drank the dastardly Double Krosse.

"Well, I think I've had enough to drink anyway, so I'll be headed out myself. I'm supposed to be meeting with a friend o' mine, and she'll be furious if I'm late...and too drunk. Take care, me hearties!" She says with a wave and a grin and starts to head for the door. 

<Pose Tracker> Riesenlied has posed.

Riesenlied looks a bit contrite and concerned, putting her hand to her cheek. "... hmm... I'm not sure..." she does look towards Neriah and Iskandra, though. She had a rather bad feeling, and she wasn't sure if she was particularly up to the challenge of running from a scuffle...

"Well, Miss Neriah, if you'd like to come to Wayside, we'd be happy to welcome you anytime." She bows her head, setting down a tip of her own as she slips away. 

<Pose Tracker> Neriah Parringer has posed.

"Maybe," Neriah says with a dip of her lashes towards Iskandra. "Don't worry. If you pass out, someone can find a body of water to toss you in. That should help."

As Margaret slaps down her gella, Neriah brightens a bit as she realizes how much of a tip is there --

It's not there anymore.

Neriah lowers her eyelids and makes a mental note to fucking murder that woman.

That woman whose name she realizes she never got. Plus she's in a mask. "Hnf," she huffs, folding her arms tightly and frumping into the frills of her outfit for a sullen moment.

"It was nice to see you again," she finally says, flashing a lopsided smile towards Layna and giving her a light wave. "Please take care of yourself."

Then something happens that she wouldn't expect. Riesenlied welcomes her somewhere.

The smile Neriah answers her with is wide and warm. "I will! Thank you!" she promises. "Please take care, okay?"

It's right about then that someone at the other end of the room starts bawling for a drink. "Oop!" Neriah gasps, hoisting her tray and flashing a smile to Iskandra. "Please enjoy your night!" she blurts as she bustles off to finish her maid-ing for the night.

Retrieved from "https://dreamchasers.space/index.php?title=2017-10-13:_Shots_From_Hell&oldid=4500"