PM to join An Exciting Night (Syrah)

[Dex]

Fall 2, 512 Dex lowered himself to the ground, his fur flushing against the dusty floor. Apparently, working at the library had made him more well known as a rat eradicator, allowing him to get more snacks. It was great, because any time he changed, he had to deal with these hunger pangs every time, which were easily taken care of ... as long as he had snacks. There was always two things that he'd ever need. Shiny things, and snacks. It was an easy life, yet very comfortable. Howlwing was doing her own hunting, preferring outdoors where she could fly and swoop down on her prey. For Dex though, it didn't matter if it was inside, outside, on a roof, or anywhere else, so long as they had rats there. Anyway, he was currently hunting that night in the backroom of a bar, where rats had been getting into some of the beer kegs and food. So, Dex was able to deal with their rat problem, and get some snacks he could save up for later. But, as he was about to pounce on his next target, he suddenly got this odd feeling of needing to go into the main bar room, where the bartender had told him to avoid. He still didn't understand why the big blue bottoms had such issues with his absolute adorable ferretness. The best he could figure out was that they were jealous.

[Syrah Steele]

Syrah came to this tavern so often the bartenders knew her name, she also came here so frequently she didn't bother to remember the name, all she needed was how to get here from her house. Tonight was just like any other, sitting at the bar, ordering her cheap wine that she could barely afford. It tasted exactly what it was, cheap. But after being in Riverfall for a few seasons, the taste of expensive wine from home receded from her lips and in it's place her taste-buds welcomed the cheap stuff. She didn't mind its taste anymore, but knew when to stop now.

She had walked in to find her usual seat empty as always and promptly sat down. A glass of pulsing greenish-yellow clear liquid was set down in front of her in a matter of seconds. There was no need to order, the employees already knew what she wanted. It was almost the same every day. Syrah didn't like change much.

And as usual she turned in her seat, glass in hand, to look at the inhabitants. Some people she saw everyday but had yet to know their names. She didn't bother to know them, what was the point? They were just regular alcoholics. What? Syrah an alcoholic? Try telling her that. Then there were others that didn't wander in quite as often. She had a little more interest in them because she didn't know their usual habits. Every once in a while she would see someone drinking wine and she would think about going over and talking with them. It never went any farther than that.

She turned back in her seat and began to examine the wood on the counter. She would find new faces in the wood everyday, it was a little mind-game she played with herself. Now she could see a very cliche rabbit and a mini Akalak. She smiled at the picture. Akalaks were too huge to be this small! Then she saw another face in the wood, it looked like some sort of rodent. She looked up to the bar, trying to strain her sight around, into the back. She felt like she knew someone back there, which was weird because how many friends did she have and how many of them hung out at bars?

[Dex]

Dex scurried into the main room, coming around the mostly shut door, bumping it slightly outward. Ignoring it, he continued on at his usual lopping pace, wondering what was pulling him out here. Crouching on his back legs, standing up taller to get a view, it wasn't until the scent hit his nostrils so strong that he realized that he was sitting next to Syrah, who was looking down on him. Quivering slightly in excitement, his collar jingled slightly before be flashed into his fully clothed human form. After interacting with a few people, and acquiring a ... well, not quite a fashion sense, but recognizing similar items that other people wore, he'd managed to wear clothing that made him appear mostly modest, whether he really knew why or not. Today however, he was wearing probably his favorite, a simply set of white cotton shirt and pants, very loose, allowing him easy flexibility. Never being used to shoes or socks however, any outfits he wore left him barefoot, which he was totally fine with. As he flashed into human form, he happily bounced into a seat next to Syrah with a toothy grin. "Hi Syrah! What are you doing here? I'm catching rats. Do you ever catch rats? What are you drinking? Can I try some?" Dex said all of this in, of course, one breath, while sniffing slightly at her drink.

[Syrah Steele]

Syrah was still staring around the bar when she felt something move up beside her. Looking over she was delighted with the sight of a furry friend. Lewis instantly flashed into human form when she saw him and she was surprised to see that he was dressed.

"How did you do that?" She asked, then realized he probably wouldn't get the question, "I mean, have clothes on after you changed?"

That was a new feature of him and a much better one Syrah thought. She never liked him naked, anyone naked really. But besides that she wondered what he was doing here. Did Lewis drink and Syrah not know about it?

"So what brings you here Lewis? I didn't know you liked bars." then she realized he said something about him being here, he just talked to fast for her to comprehend. "What about rats?"

Soon enough Lewis started eyeing her drink. "Oh, no. You cannot have any of this. We are in a bar, get your own drink." Silly pet, thinking she was going to share.

OOCneed a timestamp! I'm free any day except 51!

[Dex]

"The clothes? The clothes are because of my new collar! My friend gave it to me. In fact, she might show up sometime tonight if I'm out too late, but that's OK. And I love bars, they have tasty rats, except sometimes they have a funny taste. I thought you knew about rats. Rats are tasty food on four little feet with fur and a tail. Most people call them a "pest". They also call me a pest, but that would be silly because I'm not a rat." Dex frowned slightly as she put him off her drink, but smiled again when she mentioned getting his own. Bouncing out of his seat, he actually walked past the bar straight into the back, about to get himself a drink, when the bartender shouted him back out front and failingly tried to establish that Dex had to be stay infront of the bar. Eventually however, with the bartender in exasperation, Dex passed over a small handful of mizas, and took a tray of about 4 different drinks over to where he had been sitting before. "I didn't know what to drink, so I'm getting a little of everything, but the big blue dude is making me only take 4 for now. These drinks always taste funny to me, but they make me feel good. Then I generally take a little wavy walk and a nap."

[Syrah Steele]

"You're friend? Who's your friend?" Syrah wondered. She thought the clothes trick was cool, but how did this 'friend' get a hold of it? She also thought it was funny how he had a curfew, "Is this friend of yours worried about your bedtime?" Syrah laughed. Bedtime, she hasn't had one since she was 6.

She continued sipping her wine, then stopped when Lewis started talking about 'tasty' rats. She grimanced bu then smiled when she remembered the rat he caught at her house. "You are very good at that, aren't you? Catching rats. Do you remember the one at my house?" She pat Lewis on the head for that one, knowing he would like that.

When he started talking about pests Syrah remembered that sha had once thought of him as a pest. She tried to explain, "You know, most rodents, the kinds that live on the streets, like you do. The kind that steal things, like you do. They call them pests. I don't think of you like that anymore of course! But..." She stopped when she saw the blank look on his face. He wasn't understanding anything she was saying, was he? No, he wasn't. Syrah didn't understand why she always felt the need to explain these simple things to him when she knew he would never understand.

Instead she simply watched him with interest as he fetched drinks. She laughed as he argued with then examined the four drinks he brought back. He said he didn't know what to get so he got anything? Oh the fatal mistakes one can make. She knew the drinks he got were not that bad, but they could have been awful. What amused her was when he said 'big blue dude'. It reminded her of her mother, which usually wasn't a pleasant thought, but this was a rare memory. "My mother would call the Akalaks 'big blue boys' She thought it was hilarious, and she said it every time Akalaks came into the conversation. she said it so much thats what I refer to them as sometimes." But then she went onto the drinks and pointed at each one as she named them. "Riverfall Ice, regular ale, Chardonay, some weird fruity girl drink." Syrah laughed at the last one.

"The Ice is wonderful, one of my favorites," and in the next second she downed the rest of her cheap wine and grabbed the Ice. She hadn't had some good wine in a while, she was craving it. "Tell you what," Syrah muttered around a sip of Ice, "I'll pay for half this stuff and each of us can try each drink ok?" She thought it was a fair deal and even if it wasn't she knew Lewis would agree, he had a small mind, but sometimes thats what she loved about him.

[Dex]

"My friend? She's not worried about my bedtime, she just doesn't like to lose track of me for very long." When she started saying somethings about pests, he tried to listen. He really did. It's just ... it didn't make any sense. It wasn't a lack of comprehension, it was a lack of understanding of the terms, not understanding the comparisons. Dex watched as she pointed out each drink and gave it names. Many of them made no sense to Dex, except for ale, which he'd heard of very often with the sailors on the ships when he did his travelings from Thunder Bay. It always tasted great, and it made him feel wavy and floppy. He was well known for his lack of ability to hold his liquor, and still chug the drinks like they were going out of style. However, her next statement had him confused. "Pay? What's pay?" Dex said, chugging down half of the regular ale bottle in one shot before giving it to Syrah and grabbing the next one. "I drink half, you drink half, right?

[Syrah Steele]

It didn't seem like Lewis was going to give up the name of his 'friend'. She almost insisted he tell her. She felt like she had a right to know. Was she... jealous? Nah, there was no way Syrah could be jealous of one of Lewis's friends. So she dropped it.

She was about to say how much she hated ale and how he could have, when he picked up the ale and chugged half of it in almost one gulp. Syrah stared at him. Ew. Then Lewis handed her the bottle and asked what pay meant.

"Pay, you know. Mizas? Those shiny things you gave to that man, then he gave you the drinks? That is paying. Shiny things are money that you give people in exchange for other things. Thats how the world works Lewis." Syrah thought that if she explained something in 'his language' he might understand, and to him, money was 'shiny things'. Syrah knew that much.

But the he told her how they each had to drink half of each drink. Well damn. Syrah sure as hell didn't want to drink that nasty beer. Wine was more her thing. More sophisticated. More...rich. Wow, rich, really? Syrah was rich, when under her fathers support, but now? Now she was just as poor as anyone else.

Eh, what could go wrong, its just beer. So she picked up the nasty drink and took a gulp. Whoa, that was not the right thing it to. Instantly is fizzed and made her mouth feel weird. She swallowed it too fast, trying to get the nasty bitterness out of her mouth that had just been drinking pure, Ice bliss. Yuck. She still hated beer, but she was going to finish it. She picked up the bottle once again that she had slammed on the counter when she had taken the first sip and put it to her lips. Inhaled and chugged until it was drained dry. That would work. The bitterness was overwhelming. Someone once told her it was an acquired taste. Best to not drink any more then, huh?

Syrah gasped a couple of times, took a quick, last sip of Ice, smiled at herself, then handed the Ice to Lewis. He might as well enjoy something lovely if he had just drunk that sickening stuff.

[Dex]

Dex grinned as the ale's bitter taste washed down his throat, the wallop washed up to the head, and he just let it swim through him. As the buzz cleared from his ears, he listened as Syrah explained paying. "Hmmph. I suppose. That just means I need to get more round shiny things after this." He watched as Syrah took her drink of the ale, her face making funny contortions. She took a sip of the other drink, the one she called Ice, and then passed it over to him. Looking down into it, he just saw a clear liquid, without any fizz or anything. It was almost like water. So Dex took it and swigged another drink. It tasted like ... like fruit juice and salt water. But it didn't make him rock. It wasn't bitter, it wasn't tasty, it was just ... weak. So Dex chugged down the entire rest of it. Nothing. Nothing. "Yooou noww Syraaaaaaaaaa... I no think it doing much ... doo doo!" Dex said, slurred and squeeky, followed by a hiccup and a giggle.

[Syrah Steele]

Syrah was sorry to see that Lewis didn't like the Ice. She felt like she wasted a perfectly good drink on him. Ice way way more expensive than regular ale. And she didn't even like the beer. Well then Lewis kinda wasted the perfectly good ale on her then didn't he? Syrah shook it off, they both had sacrificed a favorite drink. But she was still disappointed he didn't like it.

[color=#BF00BF]"I'm sorry you don't like the wine. i didn't really like the beer that much either. Thats ok i guess."

The thing was was relived about was that he actually seemed to grasp her explanation of 'pay'. Maybe she finally knew how to get to him. She was learning about Lewis more and more now. She smiled at herself, feeling accomplished.

Syrah laughed when Lewis began to talk, saying he didn't think it was working. Clearly, with that slur in his voice, the alcohol was working. It hadn't quiet hit her yet but she knew with one more sip it would all crash down. So shed eyed the last two drinks.

One was Chardonnay, she could use some nice liquid after that horrible beer. And the last was that fruity girl drink. She had never had one before, didn't even know what they were called. It was a light pink and in a weird shaped glass. She was a little curious, so she picked it up.

Taking a sip she burst out laughing. She drank some more, laughed some more and said, "This stuff...taste like rainbows...like a bunch of colors in a glass." She laughed a bit more, to her this tasted like liquefied fruit and color and all sorts of flavors she couldn't name, it was too weird for her. She drank the rest of her part and slid it over to Lewis.

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