The raid hadn't tired her out as much as she thought it would. For all the not-so-attacky stuff this Caterpillar class was, she still felt good about it. Helping people kick a**, sending backup, feeling like nothing could take her down . . . It was a nice change in pace. Usefulness, who'd have thought!
But for now, Q wanted a little respite before going back out into the fray again. With her new little horsefly pal tucked into the folds of her coat, she entered the bar with every intent of finding out what counted for good booze here. Not to mention if any came with special effects she ought to consider . . . (which would mean, of course, trying every drink she could).
She plopped down in the nearest available seat and propped her feet up, studying her nails for any damage. "Ahhhh~" Maybe if she tipped some money the bartender's way, she'd get lucky enough to find a fragment? Hey, very little made sense here, so she had to try all the things okay . . . But her thoughts slowly turned back to the group she'd sort of kind or invited without inviting. Was that a thing? Or not a thing? Should she not have done the thing? It was just a game after all, no need to get all super friendly with everyone she met . . .
(Although Q couldn't help herself. It was either that or risk getting no allies at all.)
"What d'you think?" she asked her new friend. The minipet blinked with unfathomable wisdom in return.
OOC
My character's username: afroQueen My character's level: 3 Character's HP: 30/30 Character's Job Class: Caterpillar Current party: Current Guild: The White Rose Garrison Location: Small IC description of character: Dark skinned teen with fabulous, long, shimmering blue locks, as well as a variety of exotic markings. Walks with more swagger than is usually needed and comes with a pair of feathery wings. Character journal:xxx
Smerdle
idk starts wheeee
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 9:25 am
In a rather bold move, Big had silently accepted Q's invitation, though he had lagged behind rather than walk with her to their destination. There was only one tavern that he knew of—or rather, that his pocket card knew of—and if she didn't show due to a perceived lack of interest, he could at least get a drink for himself. Truthfully, if he didn't see her there he would probably just slowly back out of the place and return to exploring the woods. Cheerfully rowdy gathering places weren't really his thing.
Big couldn't help his curiosity regarding this matter, however. He had assumed that this dream was a product of his own imagination, but if Piper was here... Either this place was something more than he had thought, or he was inserting her into his dreams... repeatedly... which was... no. Doing that would imply a level of interest a little more obsessive than he was willing to admit to.
She was easy enough to spot once he'd stepped inside, and even though everyone around here seemed kind of simplistic and puppety when you looked directly at them, he couldn't help but dwell on her name. More than her appearance, her alias had been the thing that had given him pause from the very beginning.
"Hello," he said, awkwardly wedging himself into a nearby seat. It was close enough to speak without shouting, but far enough away to keep him from coming across as too familiar. The perfect choice of chair, if he did say so himself, or at the very least the most logical one.
"I'm sorry I just left back at the guild hall," he said, glancing down at the animal in her coat. "I think I exited the area by mistake. I did get a notice that I'd been accepted though, so that's good. Were you? Accepted?" His sudden departure had been the result of him accidentally dropping his pocket card when she'd touched his shoulder, but no one needed to know that.
Big's Stats
My character's username: BigIdeas My character's level: 4 Character's HP: 30/30 Character's Job Class: Cheshire Cat Current Party: Current Guild: The White Rose Garrison Location: Small IC description of character: A wallflower of a Cheshire Cat, you might not even notice Big is nearby until he tries to awkwardly butt in on your conversation or does something stupid. There are only a few people he's interested in out of more than scientific curiosity, so if he seems a little cold, you shouldn't let it bother you. Besides being dressed in the default outfit for his class, Big looks like the poster child for some sort of wholesome bread campaign. Character journal:x
Ol-j-man
i couldn't words last night i apologizeeee
Smerdle
Scamp
Offline
medigel
Anxious Spirit
Offline
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 11:22 am
Nails were good. That seemed to be the thing about this dreamworld: nothing chipped or went out of place. Awesome. Now if only her wings actually let her fly, everything would just be fantastic--
Q was pulled out of her shallow reverie by a familiar voice, and when she looked up a sly grin couldn't help but appear, quickly masking anything that remotely looked like she was contemplative. "Hey, look who came: Mr. Distracted-a-lot~" Dismissing the familiar, she sat up and pulled her cowl back, tossing her hair. More emphasis was being placed on her appearance than his; the small tickle of familiarity stayed at the back of her head, half-forgotten.
"Yeah, I got accepted," Q replied happily. "Didn't really stick around afterwards either, though. Whoops. I'm sort've new to all this." She made a vague gesture with her hand.
"I'm getting me a nice big ol' drink after all that fun," she went on to say, plucking up a menu to peruse their options. Q's face wrinkled into a small frown the more she read. "Or . . . maybe not. Says here the currency is memories, whatever that means." She tried to play it off as a joke, but she'd been to the Lake, and she didn't like how easily it accessed her head. The last thing she wanted to do was willingly give that same power to . . .
. . . a walrus bartender. Alrighty.
Smerdle
sokay /o/
Posted: Sun Mar 23, 2014 8:56 pm
The noise that came out of him in response to this world's Afroqueen-nickname was half amused and half exasperated. "I was only distracted because..." Wait. Big paused—only for a second—and pondered the best way to end his sentence. He'd been about to say, 'because I thought I recognized you,' but he wondered if maybe it wasn't the best idea to lay all his... cards on the table around here, as it were. He finished with, "...I'm new to this too," instead, leaning forward and bracing his elbows on the table like a much more adept virtual explorer.
"I could try to find out what it means?" he offered, casting a sidelong glance at the walrus. "If they take them from you or something similar." He had been to the Lake too, and although some of his memories hadn't been candy and moonlight, recalling them had been rather fascinating. He slid one of the menus over so that he could read it too, only the barest flicker of his brows indicating that he hadn't gone offline somehow.
"I could probably do anything but invisible," he declared confidently. "Who wants an invisible drink anyway?"
xOl-j-man
Smerdle
Scamp
Offline
medigel
Anxious Spirit
Offline
Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2014 12:00 am
Luckily for Big, she found nothing suspicious in his pause--it was all just clearly his attempts to mask his nerves around being such a fine piece of a** like herself after multiple times of botching it. Cute lil' thing, trying to be all confident~ "Maybe I want one," Q replied, but her scrunched expression said otherwise. For all she knew, it could just be a prank. "Invisible alcohol" her foot . . .
"Yeah, you know what? Let's do that." She set her menu down and copied Big, leaning forward with an inviting smile. "Try it out for me and see how it goes. If we could legit, like, get drunk here, that'd be pretty sweet." But only if it meant her memories weren't on parade.
Then again, if they could get affected . . . Just how far could this game go?
Well, only one way to find out.
"Besides, gentlemen should pay for the first date anyway," Q added as a lighthearted tease, briefly turning the menu around to try and see if they had, say, desserts. Or a nice meal. Or something other than just mead. "Jack, you'd think in this topsy turvy world they'd at least have a colorful, like, eyescream or something . . ."
Smerdle
Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2014 8:20 am
"Maybe you'll get one then," he replied, faintly mirroring her smirk. Under the guise of almost-near-pseudo anonymity, Big was beginning to feel far too self-assured far too quickly. It was probably a good thing that Q went and Godzilla'd all of that right out of his head when she uttered the word date.
It echoed through his mind—date DatE DATE date datE—but it never made it out into the open air again, at least not on his lips. The boil leaned away from the table in slow motion, largely unaware that he was doing so until his spine nudged the back of his chair. He also regained his ability to hear and found his voice again by then, though it sounded like it hadn't been used in weeks rather than seconds.
"I'll do that. And I'll look for, um, colorful food too." He cleared his throat. "Be right back."
Big nodded at the bartender as he hurried over, receiving the same vacant stare that he had from afar no matter how close he came.
"How much for a drink? I mean, I know what it says on the menu, but is there some sort of... memory relevance quota I'm expected to meet? And do they get taken from me, because I'd really rather not—"
The walrus stopped cleaning the bar in the middle of Big's litany of questions, holding out a flipper and silently staring at the boil.
"F... fine. I'll just..."
Big glanced at another nearby menu. He knew what he didn't want, but eliminating that choice still left him with four more. "Okay." There was nothing wrong with making his way down the list in order. Besides, if he lost the sort of memory required to obtain the first drink, he wouldn't particularly mourn it.
He had never been hit before, not even a friendly smack on the shoulder, and he wasn't prepared for the shock of it, the funny way his sinuses cleared as the other boil's knuckles collided with the bridge of his nose. He'd returned the favor, or tried to, fury sending his tiny fist whistling through the air in a wide, directionless arc.
His mother had pulled him out of school after that. She made no secret of the fact that her decision was less about the fight itself and more a result of his secrecy with regard to what had caused it.
He felt something heavy and cold materialize in his palm as he opened his eyes. When had he shut them? Big glanced around suspiciously, looking for signs that someone else had shared his memory. It didn't seem so, and he could still recall it himself when he tried. So far, so good.
He placed his first coin on the bar and tried again.
His mother rarely took him out of the house anymore, so he knew this was meant to be a special treat, but in reality it was little more than a harrowing mess. He'd been smiled at far too often, offered to test vibrating chairs that looked like elaborate torture devices, and spritzed with dozens of conflicting smells that left him wheezy and drippy. There had been some eyescream wedged in his day somewhere, but its taste had been forgotten right around the time he'd gotten trapped at the center of a particularly thick rack of coats.
This second coin was just as cool as the first, though he could have sworn it jittered as it appeared. Big held it tightly until it was still, and after he'd retrieved his angry coin, he handed them both over to the walrus.
"A frothy and a, um, dark, please. And a tray, if you have one. And some food?"
He returned to the table carefully, the pair of drinks balanced on a small, round tray. Between them sat a bowl of slightly used-looking peanuts which he tried to ignore as he set everything down and took his seat.
"Seems harmless enough, if you don't mind remembering," he reported. "Which one would you like?"
Ol-j-man
Smerdle
Scamp
Offline
medigel
Anxious Spirit
Offline
Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2014 8:13 pm
Oooo, he do got some confidence back there, huh? She broke into a fit of snickers nevertheless as he backed off, as pleased as a cat who had knocked something off the shelf in order to make more room for itself. "Don't keep me waiting, handsome~" Q purred after him, just to see how far she could push it, and then lounged back herself as she watched (or at least as much as her wings allowed). The avatar looked sort of like her, but Q felt more empowered like this. Like she really could do anything if she put her mind to it.
Well, assuming the game didn't throw her more curveballs, which it probably would.
From what she could pick up from the conversation, Biggie here sounded kind of fancy: memory relevance quota, she mouthed to herself with amusement. Or maybe that was just regular smart people talk?
She sat up as Big returned with the drinks, brushing a few strands of hair behind an ear as she debated. "Whyyyyyy thank ya~" Q said with an eager look as she snapped up the frothier of the two meads, assuming that the bubbly stuff meant it was better and the dark stuff made it bitter. There certainly wasn't anything contrary to her belief as she took a few sips, sighing with pleasure as it made its way through her system the way Mother's teas did.
"This one's not bad at all," she said over the lip over her mug. "What memories didja have to get for these? Something warm and fuzzy, right, 'cause this s**t's nice."
Smerdle
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 6:16 pm
Taking the mead she had left behind, Big briefly stared into its depths, examining the swirling stars that seemed to stretch far beyond the bottom of the mug. He hesitated to drink it at all, fearing that he would gag or sputter or even just make a face that would alert everyone in the tavern to the fact that the only alcohol he had ever consumed had been on his thirteenth birthday, minutes before he'd tattooed himself for the first time. Instead, he stalled, focusing on Q and her question.
"That one was a fight," he replied. Surely he didn't need to hide the drink's origin. She liked fights. She might even think they were warm and fuzzy. "I was six. I lost." He grinned. "I'm glad you like it though."
Big sniffed at his drink again, finally risking a sip and then a bigger gulp. It tasted like fire somehow, not the heat of it, but the scent of the dying embers.
"They didn't have food. I checked. Or, well, I asked and I got those for an answer." He poked at the peanuts.
Ol-j-man
Smerdle
Scamp
Offline
medigel
Anxious Spirit
Offline
Posted: Fri Mar 28, 2014 8:42 pm
"A fight, huh?" Q arched a brow. Now that was curious . . . What sort of fight did Big have to have that would make even losing still create a pretty sweet drink? Or maybe the walrus was just sadistic.
Giving the peanuts a glance, she broke into a little smile. "Sort of allergic to nuts, sadly. I-D-K if it's the same here since it's, like, not real and all, but better safe than sorry . . . I mean, how sucky'd it be if I died from some freakin' peanuts after that Jabberwocky, right?" she added with a laugh. "Thanks, though." Despite her lackadaisical approach, she was a little touched he was putting some effort into this; after all, guildmates didn't necessarily mean friends. Hell, as far as she knew, she was barely in the White Rose Garrison from how little contact she kept with the others. It was a depressing sort of parallel to her real life that she strove to drink away, embracing the soothing (and alcoholic) solution to those thoughts.
This was a cool, if weird place, and she had awesome wings, Jack damn it. Shift your priorities some, ghoulie.
"So, I gotta ask: You from Amityville?" Q mindlessly gulped down more of the sweet mead, already down to half the mug without noticing; it was really easy to miss in the haze of good feelings it was giving her. "Or, like, some other school, or . . .? 'Cuz I swear I've seen you around somewhere!"
Smerdle
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 1:25 pm
Oh. He wondered if he should move the bowl, then decided it wasn't worth it. If she hadn't already had some sort of attack due to its proximity, she wasn't likely to do so now. He almost said he was sorry too, but Q had moved on without issue, and he didn't want to be weird about it or anything. He was already being weird enough. Big took another swallow of his mead, watching as she downed half of hers. Should he urge her to slow down? She was having fun, wasn't she? What right did he have to...
Big froze at her question, carefully resting his mug between them. Maybe it was the innocent way she had asked it, but it made him feel guilty enough to hesitate. He could have easily told her who he was from the start, but he kind of liked the forward, familiarly unfamiliar way she had treated him while she hadn't known. He felt more comfortable buying her a drink, even returning her banter when he knew she wouldn't question his motives. He wondered if he should continue to lie.
"I do go to Amityville," he began. "And we have met." He glanced at her wings and smiled slightly, leaning back. "They suit you."
No. He shouldn't lie. But that didn't mean he had to tell her everything either. Not yet.
Ol-j-man
Smerdle
Scamp
Offline
medigel
Anxious Spirit
Offline
Posted: Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:37 pm
"What, these babies?" She fluttered her wings with a faint smile. "Hell yeah they do. Only problem is they don't fly, but maybe at the end of this stuff I'll get to." It was the half-hearted optimism of one who didn't fully believe what was coming out of her mouth. Only cruel irony would gift her with wings she couldn't even make use of.
Q made a musing sound. "So you gonna be mysterious, huh . . . Fine~" She couldn't say it wasn't more fun this way, although at the same time the alcohol was starting to really make its way through her system. She wracked her brains with a thoughtful frown, leaning her head against her hand as she studied Big.
"A'ight, I get it, privacy's good and all. But I'm gonna find out," she declared quite confidently. "If you've met me, y'know I always get what I want~" And what she wanted was more mead. Tilting the mug back until the last drop fell, Q sighed contentedly and slammed the table with it.
"Another~!"
But rather than make Big go be more gentlemanly again, she pulled herself up and made a gesture for him to wait; the lady could fetch herself a lil' somethin' somethin' this time.
(Even if it involved a slight use of her wings as a means to keep her balanced. She wasn't tipsy just yet, only buzzed. Happy buzzed.)
Leaning on the counter, Q waved the busy walrus over and lazily indicated that she wanted to try this so-called invisible mead. As she reached out for it, a small vision clouded her mind--
She didn't figure there was anything wrong with "spying" (she preferred "checking things out") if something unusual enough happened. After all, not many transfers happened at the Institute to begin with, let alone reapers from outside the little community surrounding it. There was hushed talk that he was actually a rich kid transferring from Hades High as punishment for getting into too many fights, but then again the ghouls and boils at the Institute liked to make wild stories out of just about anything that remotely disturbed their life. It was a peaceful place normally, in that boring sort of way.
Piper was up in the trees as usual for recess, hidden behind thick maple leafs. She didn't kid herself for a minute that she was actually able to be a ninja up there, what with being surrounded by a bright array of orange, red, and yellow, but she had noticed over time that not a lot of people looked up. She'd even made sure to climb higher than usual as a precaution.
Tucking some hair back (it wasn't quite the magnificent sight it would be later, but it was still rather thick and poofy), she peaked through the foliage. The little windswept canary she had managed to summon chirped softly at the disturbance, poking up from its blue, hairy nest with curiosity along with her.
Blond and pale. Now that was a sight here alright.
"He's a pretty boil, huh?" Piper mused with a little grin, and the canary chimed in agreement. "Won't last long here." Shame. He was cute, if you didn't mind the whole tall as a flag pole, skinny as a stick, hair in a ponytail, prim and proper schtick . . . No way he got into too many fights, looking like that. She intended to find out, one way or another.
And with a blink, the walrus took a coin from her hand and passed her a completely empty mug. Gathering her wits, Q grabbed it, turned, and made her way back carefully to their booth.
"Harmless, yeah," she grumbled as she slid back into her seat, eying the invisible mead dubiously. She could feel the weight, but her eyes kept telling her she got jipped . . . Still, she tilted it a little and slowly sipped the mead, finding that it was a little like her first drink but without that happy oomph. Licking her lips clean (although really, who could tell?), she set it back on the table and offered Big a taste. "Anyway. Watcha think of this place so far?" she asked.
My character's username: BigIdeas 