Bloodsong's Oasis: Restaurant and Speakeasy

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

Whatever the Nexus method of quantifying alcohol is, there's a hundred units of the stuff in this bottle. That's probably a lot.

The label suggests it's quite a lot.

"I dunno. The stuff that makes you drunk, I guess. I think it's quite a lot." Lucy shrugs and leans back, perplexed by the puzzling label.

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

Sam shrugs. Or double-shrugs, depending on if you wish to differentiate the gesture for those with four arms.
"Well, hit me with it, then. I mean, I've got seven hundred pounds to keep me from getting drunk in one go." he says, finding something for her to pour it into.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

Lucy came prepared with two glasses - though she's still got most of her cocktail to finish first. With a little difficulty, she manages to unscrew the lid and takes a curious sniff, then leans back and coughs awkwardly. "Uh, well it certainly smells powerful. Quite a strong, lingering earthy scent to it, but also lots and lots of alcohol coming through."

Her assessment of the liquid done, she pours a small amount into Sam's glance and passes it over to him.

The drink has quite a kick to it, when Sam takes a sip - like someone's delivered an uppercut to him with a sledgehammer.. It has a fairly bitter taste, and a persistent firey burn at the back of the throat.

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

Sam frowns. He kind of wanted to get drunk, but thinking about it, that's just not responsible. He thinks Lucy's ditsy routine might be just that, but if she's serious he can't get drunk and risk her accidentally buying a street or something. So he stops at just the one drink.
"Well....it's okay. What about yours? We can go to my place after this to sleep it off if you get a little tipsy." he suggests.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

"You worry a lot, Sam. Don't worry, it's an endearing trait. Puts a lady's mind at ease, you know?" Sam might get the feeling that Lucy pretty much knows exactly what he's thinking. "As it happens I reckon I'd have a half-decent chance at drinking you under the table, so relax a little. One drink isn't going to result in me staggering blind-drunk into an accident. And you can afford to indulge a little." She grins and downs the rest of her cocktail, reaching across to grab the bottle and pour a little into her glass.

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

"You know, you're really good at controlling a conversation, but you're really bad at not saying the kinds of things that make me think you're a magical. Especially after we just talked about it." he says with a laugh, downing the rest of his glass.
"Really it's not a problem, but like, you should really decide if you're gonna be all secret or not. Doesn't matter to me, I'm just a fat cook with a talking sword. Anyway, were we getting dessert?" he asks.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

"Oh, so any a magical lady could out-drink you, Sam?" Lucy asks with a raised eyebrow, pausing with the glass midway to her mouth. "And where's the fun in not being a little secretive? I'm free here! I can do what I want! Well, aside from...stuff. Important stuff. But, uh, y'know, less duties, nobody reminding me of the things I have to do! Freedom! Woo!"

Lucy puts the drink back down for now as she starts looking over the dessert menu. Hmm. Difficult choice. "You are clearly far more than "just a cook" with a magical sword. Please don't put yourself down so much. It's not good for you."

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

"Well, I mean, you're free from responsibility. You can't like, go out and start breaking stuff. And if you end up living here you'll get people reminding you of your responsibilities of paying taxes." he says, though he crosses his arms with a huff.

"Everyone tells me that. But I still don't know if I believe them. Well, everyone except Steve. He usually agrees with me."

[Ashen Lilies]

[Elves]

Raril settles into his chair and watches the stage his foot slowly tapping in time to the music. The drow picks up his menu and orders himself a seafood dish, something fresh from the river, along with a bottle of wine, Cormyrian Fireamber if they had it. Good for chasing away the winter's chill.

"What would you like?" He asks Cassandra.

[ELVES]

Cass orders a large bowl of Orc-style Pork Shoulder Ramen. As they're waiting for the food, she sits staring a hole in the table, fingers tapping an anxious, irregular beat on the back of the knuckles on her opposite hand.

[Bulls]

Krayger leans back with the drink. Maybe he’s just enjoying himself, or maybe he’s showing off a little himself. After all, he’s never slouched in training and unlike somebody he isn’t making a show of hiding it.
He also makes a note of the other’s hands. Mostly out of curiousity as human-pattern hands seem to be more common on variants of his race.
”Sounds like a fun job, whatever it was. And what sort of things do you like?” he says, with a smile and a raised eyebrow. Or the closest thing to an eyebrow he has.

[BULLS]

"I always enjoy trying new things," says Asterios, wiping dry another set of coupes with a clean towel.

[Deathkeeper]

[BULLS]

Krayger smiles and finishes the drink, placing the glass back to the counter with a satisfied clack.
"Well, trying new things has gone well for me so far. So I think that's a pretty decent philosophy to follow." agrees the minotaur. He checks his pocket-watch. It's later than he usually goes out drinking alone, but he supposes there's no harm.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

"You're in a fancy restaurant enjoying a fine dinner with an attractive woman." Humble much, Lucy? "So you've got to be doing something right. And I struggle to see how I could be taxed when I have no income - and a small bag is hardly much of an asset to be taxed on, wouldn't you say?" Lucy winks with a mischievous grin - this might not be the first time she's been a little sneaky about taxes.

A light, fruity cheescake is eventually selected as Lucy passes the menu across to Sam, then crosses her arms in a huff to match his. "And if Steve is agreeing with you when you put yourself down, then I don't think he's good for you either."

[Artemis97]

[Elves]

Raril rests an elbow on the table and cradles his chin in his hand, looking at Cassandra. He sighs. She obviously wasn't ok, but he couldn't force her to talk to him.

"How are you feeling?" He asks quietly.

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

Sam looks up at her and gives her a light grin. "Oh, of course he's not. That's why I keep him asleep in his sheathe most of the time." he says, opening his jacket to point out the shiny gold sword hilt sticking out of a plain leather knife-sized sheathe. Well, and his belly, but she's supposed to be looking at the sword.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

Lucy glances at the sword. Then she looks back up at Sam. Then she glares at him. "Oh sure, it's fine for you to have shiny magical things, but when I want to buy a shiny magical thing, "No Lucy! That's dangerous! Don't buy that!" Double standards much?" She grumbles and downs her drink, then pours herself another. Seems like she's actually genuinely slightly grumpy about this.

"Anyway, what dessert d'you want?" She asks with a smile, waving the menu at him. Maybe not that grumpy then.

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

"Hey, Steve isn't mysterious and doesn't have unidentified magic powers. He's a sword that changes size. Besides, I didn't buy him from a shady store; he was free.

How about the lime pie?" he suggests, happy to change the subject away from accused hypocrisy.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

Pie and cheesecake will arrive shortly.

Lucy shakes her head and wags a finger at Sam in a rather exaggerated gesture. "Uh uh, nooo way. Free stuff is far shadier than anything being sold in a legitimate store. Oh yeah, so, can I meet your boss tomorrow? Sounds neat. I wanna meet neat people." Though by no means in an inebriated state, it apparently only takes a couple of drinks to give Lucy a looser tongue and some added exuberance.

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

Sam frowns at Lucy.
"Lucy, Dipsnig is the leader of the single largest mercenary company in the Nexus. And I am his cook. I can't just bring in random people to see him. 'Yes, Mister Dipsnig, I know you have a two meter stack of papers,
but someone really wants to meet you. I don't know her full name or title, but she has money.' That's really just not how it works." he explains, trying to be sensible about this one.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

"I reckon y'could get away with it. I'm faaar more interesting than a two metre stack of papers. Is that- is that a measurement of weight, or size, or, um. I dunno. Lotta paper, right?" Lucy shrugs and leans back in her chair, rocking it slightly. "And I can't help but feel like you're trying to squeeze more information out of me. Why do you need to know more about me, Sam? D'you think I'm maybe dangerous or something?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

Sam shakes his head.
"No, I mean he's super- he sticks his head forward and makes the grumpiest face he can imagine- And I'll need to BS a reason for him to see you, and right now I've got nothin'. I can't even figure out a reason to give you an in into the base. Not unless he thinks you could be giving him a job for the company. So that's what I'm trying to say. I doubt he'll see you if he doesn't think you're important."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

Lucy frowns and rubs her chin thoughtfully, as if she were a poker player considering whether she wants to go all-in or not. "So I have to make myself seem important, you say? I could probably do it. My formal title is something of a conversation starter, I suppose. For I am the- ooh, dessert!"

Whatever was on Lucy's mind is instantly forgotten as desert arrives. She beams with delight her fancy fruity cheesecake is set down in front of her. "Looks good, right?"

[Deathkeeper]

Private Dining Room]

Sam smiles and begins eating his pie. For once he actually goes slow.
"Yeah. It does. Were you saying something?" he asks between bites.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

Lucy attacks her cheesecake ravenously. Her manners apparently vanish in the presence of a tasty dessert.

She looks up at Sam and hesitantly sets her fork aside, as if afraid the cake will escape if she stops eating it. "Oh. Y-yeah, I was, wasn't I? Well, um, my title was- is, I guess, not that it's relevant now- my title was chief spymaster." And cake eating is resumed.

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

Sam grins, stopping his pie-destroying for a moment.
"See, I can work with that. I could at least get you into the building by merit of getting you a license. Then maybe figure out a way to get you to see the boss. He has to swing by my office for lunch some time anyway."
Though really considering how often she seems to let things slip he's not sure he'd have picked her for Spymaster.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

Dessert is swiftly devoured and the plate set aside. Lucy dabs lightly round her mouth with a napkin and takes another sip of the fiery beverage she bought. "A license? For, what, spying? Do you need spying licenses around here? I-it seems like the sort of thing that might give away that you're, um, spying. Still, local customs - got to abide by them, right? Wouldn't want to get myself in trouble for unlicensed spying!"

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

"No, a license for mercenary work. MERC is a group of mercenaries. We could like, say you're interested to get you into the base at the very least." Sam suggests. And that at least might work. He's not exactly sure about the rest of it but that's why they're playing it by ear, aren't they?
"To get a license you just need to fill out a form. Name, age, race, occupation, that's mostly it."

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

Lucy picks up a spoon and twirls it contemplatively in one hand, "Well, y'know, I wouldn't be opposed to being a snoop-for-hire. Contrary to whatever impression I may have given you, I can be quite sneaky when I need to be." She says, with her "pick me out of a crowd a mile away" green hair and "identify me instantly from a police line-up" sharp teeth. "Although a hired snoop with her name, age and race on file is at least somewhat hindered, wouldn't you say?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

"Well, that's the point. You're sacrificing some personal agency in order to get the organization's help and resources. Otherwise there's no guarantee that you'd walk out with their stuff and without them having any means of knowing who you are." Sam says casually.
"I totally believe that you can be sneaky. Though you're easy to spot when standing around normally. Not as easy as me, but like, easy." he has to admit that of anyone he knows, he sticks out the most. Except maybe one or two of the MERC members.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

Lucy frowns and rubs her chin, looking more than a little irked at the thought of having to put information down in writing. "Weeeell, it's not like they could really do a background check on whatever I write down anyway, is it? There's no one to ask and nowhere to look!" She laughs, positively amused by this realisation, "So I suppose that's fine!" Though maybe she shouldn't be openly implying that she's going to be dishonest about it.

"Well, it's not like I need to not stand out at the moment, right?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Private Dining Room]

"Well, you don't. And I figure you must have had some way of not sticking out when you wanted to. So what was it?" he says, folding his hands and giving her a knowing smile. She must have some cool trick. Probably not one he could use. No amount of tricks can hide being a 2-meter tall blue pig.

[Gnrlshrimp]

[Private Dining Room]

"Hmm? My way of not standing out? Ah ah ah!" Lucy wags a finger and tuts at Sam, "A good magician never reveals their secrets. And, uh, also a spy. A spy never reveals their secrets either. They're also generally not supposed to reveal they're a spy though, s-so, ah, extenuating circumstances! Strange new world, new people, it's not like it matters if you know I can be sneaky as long as you don't know how I can be sneaky!" She nods smugly, as if what she just said made perfect sense. "A-anyway, I suppose we probably ought to settle up here and get going?"