Birthday drinks and laments

[Ari Deschain]

"Twenty-ruttin'-eight," the Lenore's mechanic muttered to herself as she fished around in the pile of things shoved under her bed in the corner of the engine room. Finally, she pulled out a large glass bottle, mostly full of a clear liquid. Unscrewing the lid, she pressed her lips to the spout and took one quick pull. Squinting and gasping a little, she grinned and screwed the cap back on. "I ain't celebratin' alone. That's just too gorram depressin'." Standing up, she pulled on some clothes that were actually not oil-stained, some brown pants and a white button-up shirt.

However, she did pull on her heavy steel-toed boots that she wore everywhere. After she was dressed, she wandered the halls of the ship, bottle in hand. She began calling out to her fellow crew as she walked, "Come out, ev'body! Let's get drinkin', it's a day ta celebrate!" Eventually she made her way to the galley, which was empty. She set her own special bottle in the center of the table, then pulled down the other various bottles she kept stocked in random places around the kitchen area.

Sitting in one of the chairs, she leaned back with a glass of her drink mixed with some juice and bit her lip. It wasn't fun to be twenty-eight. She felt like she was getting old, and her father was gone another year now. However, now she had a ship and a great crew, and she felt happier than she had since the disappearance of Stoot and Ryan from the Atlas, the last ship she'd had the pleasure of serving on. Ari didn't really care if no one wanted to celebrate her birthday; she wasn't big on pomp and circumstance, especially in her own honor. However, she just didn't feel like drinking alone. The crew had had a few rocky situations, and didn't always see eye-to-eye. It'd be good to just relax and have some fun without anyone's temper or pride getting the better of them.

[Jove Gadria]

The ceiling of that shuttle seemed to be the most interesting thing Jove Gadria could possibly watch right now. Well, part of her wouldn't mind staring at the inside of her eyelids, but apparently the idea of sleep was as far from her reach as possible. A huff sounded, hands hooking behind her head as she tried to avoid deep thought. It had been blank for at least the last five minutes and while it lacked that sense of humanly alive, it was better than sitting their reflecting on a lot of stuff that didn't need it. Or couldn't change if she did anyway. Green and blue eyes gave a slow, single blink before she'd grunt and push up, ankles unhooking and socked feet thudding softly on the floor. Always did get cold feet. But, she was in this little shuttle.

She'd sit there a moment, arms across her thighs as she leaned forwards, teeth grinding before pushing up. She appeared at a complete loss for something to get her to sleep. Even when her eyes fell on that bottle. It had been on her desk a few days, untouched. Like if she didn't drink it it'd keep something alive. A memory? Who knows.

Sentimental tzao gao aside, Jove slipped on her ankleboots, left her braces to hang off her shoulders and headed out into the main ship. A walk around would do her good. Maybe tire her out. Movement was a way of reminding her she could move, too. Her legs worked. Whilst stepping through the ship, she'd hear the call. It was the resident mechanic. And.. was that an offer of drinks? Stepping up towards the direction of the kitchen, she'd thunk into it with a hazy expression, and ruffled look about her. A bad habit on-board as of late.

"So what're we celebratin'?" Jove asked, slumping into a chair. She was pretty much just in her boots, pinstripes and a white vest. The suspenders still dangling around her legs.

[phantomseige]

Leighton rubbed his eyes as he flipped the page of his book. Medical textbooks were arguably one of the most boring things in the world - even if you were interested in the material - but it had been far too long since he had brushed up on some of the treatments and procedures he hadn't executed in a while. There was nothing more dangerous, he surmised, than an out-of-practice doctor.

As he was looking over the procedures for an appendectomy, a surgical mainstay he hadn't performed since residency, he heard the calls outside for drunken revelry. He closed the book and peeked out the door. No one was about, but he could hear footsteps, and thusly followed to the galley.

"So, what's all this about drinking and celebrating?" he asked as he entered. He saw Ari, bottle in hand, and Jove, looking somewhat disheveled. "I didn't get any memos, or else I'd have grabbed something..."

[Ari Deschain]

[ooc: I'm gonna do a little bit of power-playing here, but have your character push her away if you each want and I'll have her react accordingly. Just thought it was exactly how a smashed Ari would act with Jove and Leigh. haha!]

As Jove entered, the mechanic jumped up excitedly, promptly sloshing a little bit of her drink onto the floor. She glanced up at the other woman with a sheepish smile. "Oops. Guess I'm a li'l more pis sed than I thought." She carefully and with exaggerated slowness set her drink onto the table before walking towards Jove. Her steps were not as straight as the mechanic probably thought they were. Jove had fallen into a chair, looking a little haggard and maybe troubled, but no less pretty. At the other woman's posed question, Ari grinned. "To another year older! I'm twenty-ruttin'-eight today, and I ain't dead yet." She came closer to Jove, placing one hand on each arm of the chair, and leaned over to plant her lips right on the corner of other woman's for just a moment. Standing up straight, she said, "Thanks for comin' to celebrate wit' me!" as if nothing unusual had happened.

At that moment, she noticed that Leighton was standing there, no doubt severely confused. Ari went to him with arms outstretched. She caught him round the neck and placed a quick kiss on his cheek. "Doc! So glad you're 'ere! It's my birthday. You didn't need to bring a thing, we got all we need," she swept out an arm at the table where she had laid out various bottles. Catching sight of the glass she had put down on the table just before she had gone to Jove, she said distractedly, "Oh, my drink." Leaving Leighton, she collapsed back into her chair and held up the glass. "Everyone should be drinkin' wit' me. It's been no fun gettin' drunk by m'self." Ari winked, something she was able to do since she was not wearing her patch. If the other two were uncomfortable with her affectionate display, she didn't notice. Ari was always flirtatious with the people she was fond of, something the two of them were familiar with, and this was no different to her. Also, the alcohol was clouding any inhibitions she did have. She wasn't about to tear off her clothes and go streaking around the ship, but a kiss here and there was not too much for her.

[Jove Gadria]

The first response would be a lazy grin at the mechanic as she seemed all to excited at the businesswoman's presence. She'd suppress a chuckle at the obvious state Ari was already in, and somewhat envied her careless inebriation, ready to hop to her feet if the mechanic looked like she was about to fall. She seemed okay under her own power, though, was hardly a novice at getting drunk, she'd assume. Jove wasn't far from a master, herself. At the announcement that she'd turned a year older today, Jove looked a little surprised.

"Oh.. bugger, Ari. Shoulda said somethin' sooner. Woulda got ya somethin'!" Jove seemed a little bad about that. Maybe she could scrounge up a little gift when they next stopped. Late was better than never, after all.

"Besides, twenty-eight ain't so bad. Can still get away with misbehavin'." The businesswoman chuckled, noticing a little too late as the mechanic dipped towards her. Jove lost her train of thought momentarily before a grin broke out across her lips. Let it not be said Jove wasn't jovial. Ba-dum-tish

The shorter was aided in straightening up after, to make sure she didn't fall, Jove finding it hard not to be cheered up by all this drunken silliness. With more of such on the horizon.

"Anytime, lovey. Anytime."

When Leighton arrived, Jove gave him a little wave, pushing up out the chair as she surveyed the selection of drinks on show. Spoiled for choice, and that wasn't an understatement. Where'd the mechanic been stashing all this lovely liquor?

"I'll play barmaid this evenin'. Doc, whatcha drinkin'?" Jove asked, picking up the odd bottle and inspecting a label or two.

[Terrance Grimm]

Captain Grimm came strolling through the corridors of the Lenore with a whistle, something upbeat and happy. He hopped down into his room and went rummaging around in his things, still whistling the tune. After a few moments of whistling, he stopped to grumble about how messy things were, tossing a few things out of the way until he reached under a few blankets and removed something he'd been saving a while. Something of significance. He carefully surveyed the bottle he'd lifted up, holding it much like one would a child. He ran his thick fingers over the broken top, a cork slightly too large for the bottle stuffed in to fill the gaps made by a bullet that had taken most of the neck with it. He looked around his room with a sigh, pressing the palm of his hand against his ear to drown out the noises he was sure he was hearing.

He walked over to an old bit of string he had used to previously hold together his permits for various weapons that would be difficult to carry around Alliance planets. He hastily set down the bottle and strung up a small, lopsided bow on the bottle before surveying his work.

"...."[/i]

He immediately untied the bottle and redid the knot, just as lopsided as before.

"...better."[/i]

He snatched the bottle up and hit his ladder out onto the walkway. He resumed his whistling, now whistling the happy birthday tune as he got closer to where he could Ari happily exclaiming to the others. He stepped inside just in time to see her kiss Jove, his eyes widening a bit at this. He then watched her immediately move over to Leighton, his brow perking a bit as he watched the goings on. He didn't deter, simply walked inside and smirked to everyone there.

"Hey, folks. Looks like I'm not late."[/i]

He grinned to her and kept the bottle behind his back, watching her a few moments and then clearing his throat.

"I, uh... I got you something. I've been saving it for a long time now. I think what I said at the time was something like...'Well, if I'm going out, I'm going out drunk.' But, uh...Not important."[/i]

He cleared his throat a bit and reached out with the bottle, putting it in her hands. The old bottle of whiskey from a darker time. He hoped it meant as much to her as it had to him, saving it for all this time. He looked up to her face to judge her reaction.

"Happy birthday, Desch- eh... heh, Ari. Sorry, some habits die hard."[/i]

He looked around to the others and nodded individually to them.

"Doc, Jove. Enjoying the festivities?"[/i]

[Ari Deschain]

The mechanic waved off the assertion that Jove would've gotten her something. "The kiss was more'n enough, sugar," Ari said with a playful wink before taking another swig of her drink. Finally, she noticed who had been standing there watching as he spoke. Grimm. She tried to set down her drink on the table and ended up splashing and spilling some of it. Of course. He always did make her falter a little bit, and having alcohol in her system did not help. "Grimmmmmmmmmm!" She said with a grin, drawing his name out quite unnecessarily.

She stood up from her chair, walking towards him. Her arms spread as she neared to give him a hug, but he was talking again, and now pulling something from behind his back. When she focused on what it was, she froze in her tracks, the smile slipping from her face to be replaced with deer-in-the-headlights surprise. It seemed as if she couldn't even breathe. Grimm was speaking, repeating the words he'd said to her as they were stuck in an impossible situation, the sounds of firing echoing through her mind. She never drank anything that wasn't clear, it was a rule of hers. But that was all they'd had, and they had both taken pulls from the bottle when they'd thought they were going to die. He still had it.

Ari reached out slowly, almost reverently, and gripped the bottle in both hands. The broken neck, the over-sized cork. She looked up at him, cocking her head. Things seemed clear for just a moment, the haze of alcohol letting up a little bit. "Grimm. I forgot just how gorram charming you could be," she said softly, grinning. Her hand rose to touch his face for just a moment, gaze meeting his. He probably recognized the look in her eye just before she gripped his hand and pulled him to the table. "C'mon, Cap. Let's have us a drink." She sat back down in her own chair, patting the chair next to her for him to sit in. Fingering the bow on the bottle fondly, she smiled. Ari popped the cork with her teeth and was about to pour them a couple glasses when she realized she was still pretty drunk. Gently setting the precious bottle on the table, she slid it over to him. "Perhaps you'd better."

Leaning over to Jove, she grinned. "This bottle's got some battlescars. This man, 'ere? He kept it all this time. We almos' died." She leaned on the table, watching the captain pour the drinks. "Go on, Cap. Tell 'er how we almos' died."

[phantomseige]

Leighton slunk over to the bottles and began to inspect them himself. "I'm thinking something simple to start the night," he said to himself as Grimm and Ari greeted each other. He pulled out a bottle of a brown liquid and uncapped it. He was surprised by the smoky smell - it was a whiskey, and it was strong. Leighton smiled and poured some over ice, sipped it, added a bit more to make up for the trial sip, and then capped the bottle.

Scotch-on-the-rocks in-hand, he walked back to the table and sat down, smiling at the two and taking a sip of more of his whiskey. "Here's to stories about nearly dying," Leighton said as he lifted his glass to the captain. He then turned to Ari. "Well, almost-died stories, and mechanics turning twenty-eight." He smiled at her and took another drink of whiskey to complete the toast. "And now, I heard tell rumors of a story, Captain," he said with a small smile, curious about the story Ari seemed eager to reveal about herself, the Captain, and the bottle in front of her.

[sain]

((Long overdue. But here it is at last.))

Sain, was tired. Quite tired. As a matter of fact, he was probably a few moment's away from passing out and going to sleep. He could have slept in a comatose state roughly until the ship ran collision course into a star and not wake up. It was something that sometime's happened when one did a drug that made you drowsy. Of course, he just woke up about an hour ago, so he had better not go back to sleep. He had things to do, people to see, questions to ask, and things to familiarize himself with around the ship. And speaking of blue.

"Hmmm...I think I'm hungry." He grunted softly to himself as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. He didn't like to sleep with one leg off of his bunk. But when he was awake and laying down, it felt more comfortable. Of course, sitting up, was a pain because the damned leg had to be moved. Pun intended.

Sain looked down at his leg, and checked over the metal frame that kept him upright. He had to be strapped in just right, otherwise it would cause more pain then what he was used to.

He reached under his pillow, and pulled out a small knife that he kept on his person, or near his person at all times. Hanging around his neck was a small bag that held a very special magical bean for him. Taking one entire one at once, wasn't very healthy to do, what he had, was a little potent for someone like him.

Sain reached into the bag, and pulled one of the pills out, and set it into his hand. His hand shook just a little, not because the pill was heavy. But, because the effects of the last one were wearing off. A sharper pain then what he liked was starting to seep back into him.

For a brief moment, he stared at the pill. Toying idly with the idea that he might be better at what he does without it in his system. Of course, that idea was quickly discarded when he thought back to how he was when before he turned into a partial junkie. With that in mind, he unfolded his knife, and cut the pill in half, and tilted his head back as he let it drop into his mouth.

He tasted a slight iron-like taste along with the taste of the pill. He swallowed, and looked down at his hand. It bled softly in a thin line from where he cut the pill, and sighed softly as he tucked the other half away back into the magical bag of holding.

He closed his eyes for a moment, and settled there, sitting up in his bed as he waited for the calming, almost sleepy effects of the pill to kick in. When he opened them next, his eyes glittered softly at what only he could see. The soft aura of blue, hovering everywhere.

"I need to feast.' He said, yawning softly as he slowly pushed himself off the bed into a standing position. The ladder out of his bunk wasn't fun to step out up. It was a pain because he had to to push himself up with one leg instead of the two. But, he managed to do it all the same, with the small hint of a grunt every time. The metal frame around his leg clinking each time it hit the metal on the way up.

He reached the hallway outside of his door and looked left, then right, to see if there was anyone out there. There wasn't, which he was okay with. The mechanic was a pretty cool girl, as well as that Jove lady. He didn't much enjoy Rade's presence, and he was pretty sure that the feeling was mutual. The guy had said he would make Sain take a long walk out the airlock after all. That didn't generally promote good relations. There was the Captain, who himself seemed like he was on drugs at some points. But if he was Sain was sure that they were a little more potent then whatever he was on. And as much as Sain enjoyed bonding with other people. That experience would probably take a little more drug dosage then either of them wanted.

He went to the kitchen area. He was gorramned hungry. He felt the unholy all encompassing need to destroy and devour something, and soon-ish. He didn't even see the others as he walked into the mess area, his mind completely on food.

[Ari Deschain]

There they were, all awaiting the captain's story. Ari winked at Leighton when he toasted her, sipping along with him. Unfortunately, Grimm seemed to have spaced out. Ari's face grew concerned, then frustrated. Grimm had been acting so strange, not much like the commander he'd been before. Lately it was almost as if he were strung out on drugs or something, losing touch with reality and hearing things that weren't there. She waved off his silence and sat back in her chair. "Fine, I'll tell it, but I ain't as good a storyteller." Some sense of respect seemed to have been lost for the captain because the mechanic rested her big boots deliberately on the table in front of them as she tipped her chair back on two legs. She grabbed the bottle Grimm had brought, balancing precariously as she lifted her glass in her other hand and poured a lot more than she probably should have. Giving Grimm a look, she poured him a couple of fingers as well before setting the bottle back down safe and sound, corking it. "We was undercover, but they figured us out. So we tried to run 'cause there were too many to fight, but we couldn't escape the...place." She glanced at Grimm, unwilling to say more about the mission. Apparently some habits really did die hard. "In any case we found ourselves in the officer's quarters. Best gorram place to end up when you're runnin', right?"

The engineer laughed, finally bringing the glass to her lips. She took a long pull, closing her eyes tight. Setting the glass, now half-empty, back down, she coughed a bit and shook her head. Her eyes were watering. "Ruttin' awful stuff. Anyway, we were stuck. They'd been firin' on us and both of us were cut up somethin' awful by shrapnel and each of us caught a bullet or two. Of course, we both thought we was gonna die. So Grimm here," she glanced back at him with an affectionate smile. "Grimm finds this bottle under a desk while he was lookin' for weapons, and he just kinda gives me this look, yeah? An' he says, 'Well, if I'm going out....I'm going out drunk,' and starts drinkin'. Now me? I hate the brown stuff, only touch clear as a rule, but I'm thinkin' going out drunk is a pretty good ruttin' idea. So we're passin' this bottle back an' forth, gettin' pis sed quick as we can. All the while, we can't understand why the purple-bellies ain't burst in on us yet. There's a lot o' firin' from outside, but we assume it's ta keep us from tryin' to get back out that way. I go under first obviously, an' start stumblin' all over the place. That's when the rest o' our unit bursts in. They'd somehow found us and had brought a gorram rescue party right behind enemy lines! All the purple-bellies that had us cornered were...neutralized." The engineer laughed and mussed up her short crop of hair with her free hand. Her voice quieted, her smile growing wider as she looked off into some middle distance. "I had to be practically carried out by another of the men, an' Grimm 'ere wasn't much better."

Ari lifted her glass to the captain and drank the rest of it with the same reaction. Suddenly, she noticed Sain walking in. She set her glass down and stood up so fast, her chair was knocked backwards. Mouth forming into an 'o', she bent over to pick up the chair. Then she ran over to Sain and gave him a huge bear hug, practically lifiting him off his feet. "Sain! How are you? You should drink wit' us."

[sain]

Sain had been preoccupied with finding food when he had entered the mess hall. He was hungry, he was slightly high, and then suddenly he was floating upwards, while being crushed around the middle. There was only one thing to do when a sinner such as he was grabbed up by the tentacle of the galaxy kraken to be feasted upon for the lack of repentance of his sinning ways.

"Please! Don't eat me! I can change! I swear!" Shot out of his mouth as his eyes closed tightly, hoping that the beast had listened to him and he wasn't in fact going to be devoured.

When a lack of devouring was happening, he dared to open his eyes again, he looked around for a bit. Of course, he was only slightly startled. And it was then that Sain realized, looking down, that the tentacles around his waist were in fact not tentacles. But arms. Neither was he floating. He could smell an abundance of booze.

All it took was a casual leaning back and angling his head to to look at who was holding him in the huge bear hug, putting his face close next to her's. "He there Ari." He said cheerfully, trying to ignore the beckoning demon in his stomach telling him to feed. "what's the occasion?"

[Ari Deschain]

When the younger man began yelling, Ari's eyes widened in surprise, but then she laughed and just hugged him more tightly. Her head was beginning to feel very sluggish indeed, and it was growing quite obvious that she should not have had so much to drink in so little time. Her hug was steadily becoming her clinging to him and leaning a good bit of her body weight on him. "Whoa..." she muttered as the room spun a little bit. Laughing once more, hardly even remembering what was so funny, she returned his greeting. "Hey...there. You." Releasing him, she staggered back to her seat. Gripping the back of it as if it were a buoy in her sea of drunkenness, she came around to the front of the seat and fell into it heavily. "It's m' birthday, Sain," she answered finally, carefully pushing all of the bottles out of her reach, practically laying on top of the table to get them away from her before sliding back into her seat. She sighed heavily. "And I...should not be allowed...to drink anymore. Not anymore. For a while. A short while, but not anymore." The mechanic nodded vigorously, then stopped and closed her eyes as she made herself dizzy.

[sain]

This was one of those awkward moments you didn't quite no how to explain. Especially when one was on drugs.

He just stood there, accommodating her weight as she clung to him tighter and leaned a little more and more on him, laughing. One of three things was about to happen: Either she was going crazy, and soon was going to snap his neck, slit his throat, and then cover herself in his blood as if it were makeup. OR. She was letting her female hormones get the best of her and was finally ready to tear his clothes off and ravage him right then and there in the middle of the room. He hoped it was that one.

Of course, when she let go of him, and staggered herself back to the table, it was quite obvious that she was just drunk. With both a relieved and yet, somehow disappointed sigh, he ran a hand lightly through his hair and made his way over to the table. His rumbling stomach was going to have to wait. An invitation was offered to him, and it would be rude to refuse.

He made his way to the table, picking up a chair and sitting on the side of both her and the captain. "Cap'in." He said, with a nod as he looked at the booze on the table that she was pushing away from her. None of it was anything he was used to. And he had a bad feeling that he too would end up a bit like her if he partook too much.

"Hmmm...I'm afraid i don't know my drinks very well...what do you think i should have Ari?"

[Ari Deschain]

The mechanic looked up at him blearily, thinking hard about the question before glancing back at the bottles. She noticed she'd pushed the one with the bow on it, Grimm's bottle, back with the others. Clawing towards it, she reached out for it, grasped it carefully about its broken neck, and pulled it towards her. Cradling it for a second, she then moved to set it in front of the captain. "Dint meanta put it wit' the others..." she slurred, giving him an appealing look, as if she'd done something horribly wrong. Then she looked back at Sain and waved her hand at the bottles. "Any ovem'll do...jus' make sure not ta drink on an empty stomach..." she patted her own regretfully. "You'll get drunk fasser if ya do."

[sain]

Anyone he wanted to huh? Well. That certainly didn't help him any to at all. How was he supposed to pick which one to take? He was hungry. Hungry people weren't supposed to be expected to make choices. They were too biased. There was something wrong here.

So he just sat there, not really sure which one he was supposed to pick. He browsed through the bottles trying to pick one. He wasn't going to remain seated for long, so he might as well pick one that settled with him well before he got something to eat. "Ah-hah!" He said triumphantly, as he found one that seemed acceptable to him.

He had heard somewhere that the older the type of booze, the less punch it had because it had been sitting for so long. Or some silly such like that.

He grabbed a small glass, and poured the filled it with the alcohol. It had a strong smell too it. And he wasn't too sure, but he was almost certain that he could smell the same kind of stuff on Ari's breathe. One never knew though.

"Happy Birthday Ari." Sain said, as he tilted his head back, and took the shoot good and thorough like. Of course. He did this only rarely a few times before. As a matter of fact, this was roughly the same way that he had met Ari.

And just like then, the drink was strong, and it burned the throat a little as it went down. Sain coughed as he put the shot down. He could taste it all the way to his mouth.