[SE] Break the rules, cross a line, make a mess

Thalassa

Unaware that Colt thinks it was a stationary tree, Thal simply nods her head, trying hard not to crack a smile at the statement. 

But the effort doesn't last long before she's failing, the grin spreading wide at the insult. "I know." The chuckle that follows is low and more carefree than she might have allowed earlier. She expects Colt to decline, to throw down the shot and follow it with another just to prove her annoyance. Surprisingly, the rancher stalks across the bar with purpose, thrusting her mouth on his with such an abruptness that she draws the attention of more than just the man whose lips she's claimed. The goat boys from earlier are especially shocked, mouths gaping as they look between the two of us and the utter chaos they've incited. 

Thal has to admit she's impressed. She's not sure she would have been willing to kiss that ugly mug, and when Colt returns, it's to a new level of amused appreciation. The grin doesn't leave her face this time, alcohol loosening her control on her laughter enough to bubble forth again when the dare is presented. "I deserve that one." And whether it's because she really hates the idea of sticking her tongue in the nice lady's ears, or as a sign of respect for the rancher, Thal lifts another flaming shot in a quiet salute then tosses it back. 

Her tolerance for liquor is pretty high, but her vision is starting to swim more, and she's concerned for her balance when she eventually needs to stand. Luckily, she's never been one to slur or stutter, so her voice comes out clear when she leans mischievously towards Colt. "Tell me a secret you don't want me to know."

The glint in her eyes is slightly glassy when she makes her next pick. "Truth."

---

Thal takes a shot.
She demands Colt tell her a secret she doesn't want her to know.
Thal picks truth.

Never been the type to
Let someone see right through

Colt is not content with just the shot Thal downs, her own belly heat still rising and swimming, the edges of the world softened by the fringe of inebriation and all sense with it. Colt just laaaaaughs instead as Thal declines, the triumph of besting her like a high she could ride the night out on. Each push and pull between then seeming to fortify some manner of foundation for a friendship, as liable to spark smiles as flames given their natures.

"Uh uh," she insists, clucking her tongue like Thal should have seen this misstep. "No more passing and getting only more drunker than we are. That's sssome pussy shit." She doesn't slur everything, but she's more shots deep than usual now, and on an empty stomach, so it's starting to hit with full force now (if the bald head wasnt already an indicator of that). "And I dunno why pussy has to be seen as weak when balls is what drops a man with barely a tap," she huffs, rolling her eyes as if this is a massive annoyance for her. With how many hands wince after hitting the saddle wrong, sometimes it is. "Summore male buuullsssshit," she declares with a frown and a wave of her hand.

Getting back on topic, Colt points towards the shady tattoo parlor towards the back of the bar. "Go get some real ink. Sumthin stupid," she grins.

---

Round 7: Thal doesn't do her dare and loses 150MP, gains 1 drunk
Thal passed on her choice | Thal: 0 MP, 2 drunk
Colt did her choice | Colt: 0 MP, 2 drunk

Thal rolls a 4 so must get a stupid tattoo, content and location are her choosing.

We've agreed to drop die roll trigger down to 1 drunk moving forward (because the drunk is cumulative)

Colt

Hole in your heart with some good aim

code by sky

Thalassa

She should have known better than to think she'd get away that easily, especially when she's looking at Colt's shaved head. There's still a bit of guilt there, although it's getting funnier the more alcohol she drinks. The hairs stick up in random places, the blonde hairs nearly see-through without their usual density. She looks almost bald, and Thal has to bite her lip to keep from laughing during the rant on sexism. "It's all male bullshit."

Her eyes follow Colt's finger to the sketchy sign on the back wall advertising 'Tattoos' in a script that doesn't give her hope that they're very artistic. But fair is fair, and she can deal with a stupid tattoo (at least that's what her drunk mind says).

Sighing loudly, she pushes off slowly from the bar, trying not to fall over in the process. "Fine, but if I die of an infection, I'm going to haunt you." There's a dark gleam in her eyes, the threat landing better than her feet as she weaves to the back, pushing through the curtain and into a small room with a single light source.

The man inside startles awake when she sways to look at the options on the wall. He yawns and rubs his eyes when she laughs at one of the pictures, probably baffled by waking up to a laughing predator with a dick on her forehead. But if this isn't stupid (and strangely ironic), she doesn't know what is. "Give me that one."

---

A little over an hour later, Thal is already starting to regret her decision. She emerges from the back room, stumbling slightly after being still for so long, and still wishing desperately for another drink. Snagging Colt's drink, she downs it and runs her tongue over her fangs and dry lips. It smacks against the counter as she turns around. Her fingers expose her lower back, and just above where her dark blue-black scaled tail connects with her spine, there's a palm-sized fish head with human legs. The legs are covered in fishnet stockings, spread to straddle the base of her tail, which whips sharply behind her.

Thal glances over her shoulder at Colt, raising an eyebrow. "Stupid enough?"

---

Thal gets a reverse mermaid tattoo with fishnets like this on her lower back with its legs split around her tail.

Never been the type to
Let someone see right through

"Oh my GODS!" Colt all but squeals, getting a smidge more white girl wasted while waiting a whole hour for the tattoo to finish. She'd leaned in to get a real good look at it, but now throws herself back into her chair with a full-bodied laugh that threatens to make her pee a little. Firelight gleams merrily off the curve of her nude head.

It takes her a moment to recover fully, but when she does, she leans back in, hand slapping on the counter as much for balance as loud emphasis. Everything about Colt gets louder as she becomes more twisted. "I ain't telling you something I don't wanna tell ya," she declares, memory holding up better now than in other occasions. Like men, and cats, memory is a fickle bitch and arrives and stays on her own terms. "So, I'm drinking," and she motions to their good buddy Lou for another flaming shot, having decided a bit ago that it's no fun letting the fire burn out while waiting to see if they're drink or not. It arrives quick enough, and with a blow around the blue fire, Colt downs it, shaking her head with a scrunch to her face. Still tastes like shit compared to tequila. "AND," she shouts, holding up a finger. "I'm gettin' a tattootoo. A tatt2. A...I'm also going."

She fumbles as she rises, the chair threatening to clatter out from under her, but she steadies. The tattoo parlor readily takes her too, and some time later, she's sporting a reverse centaur on her left hand. The legs of a man, the head of a horse, drawn so the legs run down her pointer and middle finger. As she sits back down with Thal, she 'walks' it across the table at her. "Matchy matchy."

Grinning, and sipping at the water Lou slides their way, she leans back to toss her hair out from beuind her shoulers, forgetting. "Sho, what it be? Truths or dare?"

---

Round 8: Colt doesn't do her truth and loses 100MP, gains 1 drunk
Thal passed on her choice | Thal: +100 MP, 2 drunk
Colt passed on her choice | Colt: -100 MP, 3 drunk

Colt rolled a 4 so got a stupid tattoo

Colt

Hole in your heart with some good aim

code by sky

Thalassa

If she was less drunk, Thal would probably be angry at the laughter pointed her way, but she isn't, and the tattoo really is funny; so she lowers her hand, letting the tattoo hide beneath her clothes as she clumsily props herself on a stool and reaches for another drink. She can regret it in the morning, but for now she laughs along with Colt, not really minding how stupid it looks. 

Grinning in victory at another round won, she dangles a fresh glass of bourbon in her fingers. It's apparent that Colt has gotten ahead in their race of inebriation - not that Thal minds. The smile on her face is refusing to leave, a stubborn expression now that it's been freed from captivity. It's easy when worries are washing away in the current of liquor and humor, spurred on by decisions that will certainly look worse when the sun rises. 

Her elbow slips to find purchase on the counter, trying to look smug as Colt declares her intent for a tattoo. "It better be just as stupid!" she calls as the woman books it to the parlor in the back, chuckling to herself and anyone in the proximity as she does her best to catch up. 

Thal takes a gulp of bourbon (her third glass since her wait has begun), nearly spitting it out when Colt's fingers come prancing up to the bar. Smacking a hand against her chest, she coughs out a laugh that makes her eyes water, too amused to hold back. She raises her own fingers and playfully sticks out her tongue. "Oh ho ho. I hope those aren't the fingers you use to masturbate." Her eyebrows and fingers wiggle suggestively, although subtlety left this party hours ago. 

Ignoring the boring water, she leans forward (nearly tipping out of her chair). There's a challenge in her hazy eyes, a fluidity to her smile. "Give me truth. You haven't even gotten to the juicy stuff." And Thal is nearly begging to spill it all at this point. What's another secret spilled when they probably won't even remember tonight?

---

Thal chooses truth.

Never been the type to
Let someone see right through

Not quite so open about her process as the (affectionately deemed) manwhores she tends to keep company with, Colt is still unruffled by most things bedroom oriented, but Thal's question brings color to her cheeks just the same. Not because she's dismayed Thal is going there, but because shit, she's going to be wearing this centaur out at this rate, man will be jumping himself to fitness, especially now that she's got no demi-god to summon for the task (or is there...). She just shakes her head with a bark of a laugh, not committing to answer, which is proof enough.

"Ohhhh?" Colt nearly croons, chasing the straw of her water for a minute before catching it, tongue doing some wild work in the air. "Okay then, who was better in bed, Pierce or Vesper?" She thinks she can guess at the answer, or at least has one she knows ought to be right, but she slumps expectantly into her hand, her centaur laying flat beneath her chin. With added interest she says, "did he ever, you know," and Colt gestures with one hand making a circle and the centaurs legs from her other hand jumping in and out of it, "with his shadows on you?" Her brows lift expectantly, and then a thoughtful hum comes out. "Did the Family have anything fun?" A tentacle, maybe.

Colt

Hole in your heart with some good aim

code by sky

Thalassa

Thal doesn't miss the blush, and she gives a hearty laugh, shaking her head to draw another sip from her glass. She wouldn't have expected the woman who waltzed up to kiss a disgusting old man would balk at the mention of masturbation. 

She also would not have expected the conersation to go this direction, and if she weren't so deep in her cups, Thal might have actually sobered up. As it is, the smile slips from her race, the laughter gone in a flicker of a moment. But her mind is addled enough that she actually answers with the truth, wanting desparately for someone to know, and not much caring who right now. Colt asked for it after all.  

"It's hard to say. The only time I was with Piece while not infected and," she makes circles by her ear like her brains are being scrambled - or rather, they were scrambled, "he was annoyingly good, but Vesper has the edge with his dominance and shadows, especially that thing." She makes the same motion with her fingers, although it's not teasing or playful, flat with honesty. 

She shrugs her shoulders. "Pierce wasn't anything special. Just a distraction." A means to a toxic end that she'll never stop paying for. "But while infected..." Thal pauses, a furrow forming between her eyes as she stares intensely into her glass. "It was like his every touch was a toxin, another dose dragging me deeper, and I couldn't stay away." Swallowing the saliva pooling in her dry mouth, she can't stop the confession that flows. "In my mind, he was the best sex ever. I needed to be close to him. I needed his approval. I needed him." Her breathing has quickened, the intoxicated flush making her look like a child trying on makeup for the first time, using foundation that's three shades too light and smearing the blush comically across her cheeks. Nausea twists in her stomach, quick and brutal. Memories of desire and desperation and utter obsession that she couldn't control run rampant through her mind, highlighting every horrid truth of how powerless she was. 

It was like being cured all over again, the reality of the manipulation hitting her unguarded mind with such force that she stumbles from the chair and reaches for the trash at the end of the counter. Vomit is purged from her body, the putrid scent of bile and alcohol hitting her nose, making her eyes water. She should be embarrassed, should swing around and light the place on fire to erase the evidence of her weakness, torch the people who are chuckling at the woman who can't hold her liquor, but the room is still spinning, her thoughts too heavy with disgust to leave room for much more than a desire for escape. 

When she straightens from the garbage, she moves to swipe her sleeve across her mouth, but pauses when she spots a napkin next to her, presumably thanks to Lou. Discretely fixing herself with a napkin and an unprompted shot, Thal sits lower in her chair, smaller, relying on the counter to keep her upright as she shakes her head, not looking at Colt when she mumbles halfheartedly, "Doesn't matter. They're both assholes either way."

After taking a moment to collect herself and wash down the foul taste in her mouth, Thal finally looks up again, the mood having soured her stomach enough that she asks a question she really doesn't want to know the answer to, but it's out before she can stop it. "Do you think I deserved it?" Whether that's being infected, Vesper rejecting her, or a slew of other questionable consequences for her actions, she's not sure, yet Thal looks at her intensely, waiting to see if Colt will tell her the truth or choose to swallow her opinions with another drink.

Never been the type to
Let someone see right through

She realizes she might have stepped past juicy and straight into bleeding out the moment Thal’s smile slips. Her mistake, for bringing up the thing that keeps chafing. She only meant to force Thal's hand to pass, to see her bald too by the end of the night, not crack something open and watch it spill. Colt exhales slowly through her nose, leaning back as the ancient dives headlong into the hurt anyway.

Admittedly, she is morbidly curious about what fucking the Family had been like. To hear Thal put Pierce on the same level as Vesper, an orange compared to an apple, her eyebrows don't bother hiding her surprise. "Annoyingly good's always trouble," she admits with a knowing sigh, as exasperated as it is fond. Much as she'd like to condemn Thal, call her reckless, stupid, out of her damn mind, Colt has sunken into the feels right alongside Thal now. She knows what it's like to fight yourself and wind up losing, then be left holding the consequences of exactly what you expected but chose anyway against better judgement. Hearing Pierce described like a toxin, a quite literal one for Thal, echoes with more familiarity than she'd like.

Sitting up straighter as Thal suddenly dives off for a trashcan, emptying herself over it, Colt can't untangle herself from her chair in time to help. Almost falling, she grabs the counter to steady herself, and by the time she's kept herself from the floor Thal's already staggering back. Colt rightens her seat again and slides a water pointedly towards the ancient. Thal takes a new shot instead, and Colt isn't her mother, but at least she's led the horse to water more or less.

Nodding sagely with the decree of them being assholes, Colt drawls out a long, "yuuuuuP." She's not expecting the turn that follows then, Thal woman swinging between anger and grief like a pendulum, and the shape of its motion is one Colt recognizes. Colt leans suddenly towards Thal over the counter, quietly furious as she jabs a finger at the table for emphasis. "Hell no!" she snaps. "No one deserves to be fucked over." She blinks, and it doesn't happen across both eyes at the same time. "YOU deserve love," again her volume creeps up, but if other tables are looking she doesn't notice, or care. "Maybe a punch now and then," she adds gruffly, smirking briefly. "But not fucked over." Generally, Colt has a live and let live mentality, but has certainly made a point to end the things that pose a risk to her. The Family had been one such thing she didn't think could be left alive. Even now, the thought of what they did, what they were, settles cold and heavy in her gut.

“But,” she goes on, voice lower, steadier, “you shouldn’ta messed with the Family. Not the second time. Not once you knew.” Colt shrugs, not cruel, just honest, and because what's done is done now. "Heart’ll outsmart your head every damn time annoyingly good comes along." Well, maybe that's not the heart, but close enough. “That’s why you don’t make those calls alone.” Her gaze fixes on Thal, firm but not unkind. “You need someone with no heart in it to tell you when to walk away.” Advice she could have done a better job swallowing herself, and she sighs as the reminder of Thorn's hurt wells up fresh in her mind. "Always listen to them," she adds slow and soft as she hunches over her water.

---

Round 9: no change
Thal did her choice | Thal: +100 MP, 2 drunk
Colt did her choice | Colt: -100 MP, 3 drunk

Colt

Hole in your heart with some good aim

code by sky

Thalassa

She breathes out a quiet sigh, the tension in her chest releasing when the verdict is passed. It's a confirmation she's been starving for, to hear someone other than her biased friend tell her she didn't deserve to have her autonomy ripped from her, that no one deserves that. But deserving love. Thal would laugh if she wasn't still trembling, managing no more than a light scoff. At least she can throw a shocked expression Colt's way, her smile crooked at the absurdity. "I don't want love. It just leads to stupid decisions and heartbreak." 

The second suggestion is more believable, her amusement cracking through the melancholy as she finally reaches for a sip of something clear that isn't alcohol (she thinks some people call it 'water'). "You might have to get in line for that one." It's no secret that more than a few people want to do more than punch her, but the rancher might be one of the few she'd give a free shot to - if it's warranted. 

Her arms cross, considering the 'sage advice' that doesn't quite fit the narrative. Colt doesn't need to ask a question this time, the information flowing despite the returning stubbornness. "My heart wasn't what led me to Pierce - at least, not in that way. I never loved him." She needs to make that clear if nothing else, needs everyone to know she didn't love a monster like that. Thal might be self-destructive, but she isn't as liberal with her heart as she is her body. 

Like a mantra she's told herself a thousand times, she purses her lips and repeats, "I needed a distraction, so the danger and sex seemed like a good way to get my mind off things. I didn't think..." Her voice fades. Because that's just the point, isn't it? She hadn't thought. Not about the consequences or the reason she'd sought him out in the first place or if there was a healthier way to deal with her emotions. And she definitely didn't think the only person who would find out - the same person threatening to breach her walls - would decide she should suffer such a cruel fate. 

A loud sigh raises her shoulders, dark hair fluttering around her face as she looks to Colt, her smile turning flat and tired. "Anything else you want to know?" She might as well get it all out of her system. She's come this far. 

---

Thal picks truth again.

Never been the type to
Let someone see right through

Colt rises from the shape she's built over her water, giving up on gargoyling hydration and instead sinking into a messy slouch against the back of her chair. She tips her head back, a dangerous game with how much liquor she's downed, and smiles upside down at Lou. "Baked alaska for the ladies?" she suggests to him, batting her eyelashes as a please before tilting back towards the ancient before her. One hand slides into her boot while Lou confirms the order, pulling out her cigarettes with a quiet ritual as she cocks an ear towards Thal.

The pack is fresh, requiring her to tap the top of it against her palm in a series of slaps that punctuate Thal nicely. Colt tosses the pack back around with a flick of her hand, thumb pushing the top open in a deft slide of motion. She plucks a stick from the bundle, sliding it between two fingers like it's always been an extension of her hand, and slips the pack back into her boot. The process isn't long, but the dessert has arrived in a flourish of fire and sugar by the time she's done, and she readily leans in to light the end on the cake's show.

Leaning back with a plume of smoke, Colt regards Thalassa with a newfound eye, her smile lazy as it drifts back into place. "Sugar, everyone wants love." Even her, much as she'd claim not to, and it's only this deep in a shot glass she might say so out loud, worried it might curse her otherwise. "A happy ending, that's what we're all chasin' at the end of the day, and someone to share it with." She draws on her filter, the end glowing cherry, Thal's drunken penis face looming over it. "Not sure there's anything worse than being lonely," she exhales, sighing with a certain relief as the nicotine hits. It idles in her hand, slung over the back of her chair in consideration."Sex is just getting' yer toes wet in the whole thing. Lot easier than diving in all the way to the deep end." An attempt to feel something besides alone. To feel, however brief, wanted and cherished, pleasure promised in more ways than one.

Leaning back over the counter, the dessert's fire starting to smolder out, Colt's chin rests in her palm, cigarette angled to the side in her other hand. She stares openly at Thal, tracing familiar fault lines with her eyes as if she's running her hand against her own worries. "Mm," she muses, still willing to see if she could get Thal bald, or something else at least, but not certain how much more she wants to leaf through pages that feel like she has no right reading, not with the way the woman's used to cradling them against her spine. "What really happened that night, at the festival? That something this place," Colt gestures with her free hand to, well, everything around them, smoke arcing behind the motion with a delayed wisp before dispersing. "Something the Grounds does, or what? Because no offense, but I didn't intend to kiss you, until suddenly I did, like it wasn't my call anymore."

Then, some tit for tat, Colt offers up truth for herself too. "What truth can I offer you?"

---

Round 10: no change
Thal did her choice | Thal: +100 MP, 2 drunk
Colt did her choice | Colt: -100 MP, 3 drunk

Colt

Hole in your heart with some good aim

code by sky

Thalassa

It's not something she's told Colt (or many people in general), but Thal survives almost purely off blood, meat, alcohol, and sugar, she she's immediately interested when the rancher convinces Lou to put them together a dessert. Her mouth is already watering, the edge falling away from her drunken thoughts as she sits a little straighter, leaning eagerly against the bar top. 

Watching the bartender move to retrieve their baked alaska, she flicks a hand towards the sappy sentiments. "Sex is practical, a physical necessity. Anyone who wants more - like love - is a masochist." The smoke billows towards her, but her eyes are on the mound of meringue drawing near, her words flowing with a heartless nonchalance. "Very few people are lucky enough to find another masochist willing to put up with the pain, and I'm not one of them." The few times she has, she's been tricked into becoming an Ancient, and too infected to know that it wasn't real. And she won't even bother wondering about how close she'd been with a shadowy demigod - how lucky she is to have dodged that frozen arrow.

The dessert lands in front of them, and Thal forgets alcohol and manners (not that she has any). It takes a second for the bartender to torch the exterior, and even then, she throws a little extra flames in to crisp the white meringue to a golden brown. Grabbing a fork for herself, she dives straight in, barely waiting for the fire to clear. "Pity. I was impressed by your unusual battle tactics," she says of Colt's 'unintentional' kiss. 

A smile curls around the mouthful of baked cake she shoves in her mouth. Her shoulders shrug as she answers the question, more invested in the dessert than something she doesn't know - or care to know - the answer to. "Not sure. I've never experienced anything like that on a regular day in the Grounds. I think it just had to do with the Blood Moon. There were plenty of people doing stupid stuff. Starting fights, throwing shoes, that kind of stuff." Tilting her head, she hums a melodic note of satisfaction for the sugar exploding on her tongue. "Sometimes, you just have to go with the chaos and laugh it off." With a wink to Colt, she reaches for another bite. 

Her grins have begun to make their appearance again, sharp and teasing. "Tell me something embarrassing about yourself that no one knows. Do you pick your nose and eat it? Did you sleepwalk naked in a field as a kid? Are you secretly obsessed with a cheesy boy band?" What's something the tough rancher would even find embarrassing? She's bald through an offer she made. Thal would be surprised if anything shakes her. 

Like a pleased cat, her tail swishes behind her, enough alcohol still swimming in her system to wash away the worries of recent events. Around another bite of cake, she says playfully, "I'll give you one more dare. Make it count."

---

Thal asks Colt to tell her something embarrassing that no one knows.
Thal picks dare.

Never been the type to
Let someone see right through

She can't help the slow smirk that spreads into one side of his features as Thal doubles down on the idea she doesn't want love. It sounds like someone claiming they don't like water, that they can only drink teas and sodas, and all the while their body's pulling out the bits of water it can from those beverages with a quiet need that screams for something less diluted. "I'm just sayin'," Colt drawls with a tilt of her head, fingers spreading across her cheek as she leans into her hand. "Fuckin', fightin', and lovin', they're all on the same spectrum." She takes the ashtray Lou slides her way, tapping the ash into it with an excess of care, gaze lifting slowly back to Thal.

"It all still means depending on others to give you what you need. Make you feel good." The centaur's legs pinch the cigarette back to her lips, looking like a very bastardized version of a half-horse creature riding some malformed hobby horse, and there's surely some level of social commentary to be had on that. "Otherwise, you'd be holed up in your room trying to set your clit on fire all alone." She can agree that getting off is practical, necessary even, but sex? Sex is looking for something a little more than just the relief, whether she realizes it or not. Colt isn't advocating that you love everyone you fuck, and she sure as shit isn't nearly as talented as the sex workers that can fully compartmentalize their job, but she does think the only way to get off the spectrum of feelings for others is indifference and masturbation. She knows she can't manage that, but maybe she could firmly keep herself on the one end going forward, the F end (fighting and fucking, to be clear) and leave the L end well and good alone. Not the first attempt at it, but practice makes perfect as they say.

Exhaling with a sigh of smoke, Colt is happy enough to move on to the topic of the blood moon, which given how well it's fucked with her head, is saying something about the topic of love. Keeping the centaur and it's ride off to the side, Colt uses her free hand to grab a spoon and dig into the flaming dessert herself, not nearly as motivated by the sweet as Thal is. She'd mostly been drawn to the look of every one she kept seeing get walked out to the other tables, and she had needed a light. "Can't say I've ever had my kiss called a battle tactic before," she laughs, the sound a delighted trill at the idea that simmers into a low hum around a bite of cake. "So, not the usual, but not unexpected. Got it." Seems to align with Thorn's vague undertansing too, in that the blood moon in particular had done some fucky shit.

When it comes to embarrassing things, Colt's brows lift with surprise at the query. Immediately, she's inclined to say feeling one way about Vesper when he clearly doesn't reciprocate, but he's already peppered holes through their evening and time enough. Although she's not sure there's anything worse than thinking you're in something with someone only to find out you've been standing alone, Colt leans in to take another spoonful of dessert and think. "I hate skyships," she admits with a wave of her spoon, setting it down with a clink of platware. "Don't really trust 'em. Much prefer my horses or my own two feet." She gathers a breath, nerves roaring up into her ears for a moment. "As a kid, used to have tantrums about getting on them, always caused a big scene, so my dad used to have to blindfold me and keep me on his shoulders, and he'd always hum a tune my mother used to sing. That worked fine enough until I got bigger, so then I'd hum it myself and keep my eyes on the floor the whole time." Given it's the main method of transportation between regions, it's no easy thing to feign ease with it, everyone else completely unbothered while she's trying to keep herself from spiraling the whole trip.

"It's a bit better now, but it's one of the reasons I tend to stay in King's End much as I can." Her work keeps her there too, but there's plenty of things she could do herself rather than send Wyatt out to do on her behalf. Things she probably should, and she might be out a bad way if she ever lost Wyatt. "It's not the flyin'," she clarifies, like it's an important distinction. "Don't really love sailin' either. Something about putting my well-being in the hands of wood and nails and a captain who isn't me? Don't sit the best." Not so much arrogance as a lack of agency, and the fact she can't read a ship the way she can a horse.

Flicking away more ash before bringing her smoking stick back to her lips, Colt sips in the chemicals and smiles. "Ask that man over there to drag you around by the tail. Do a whole lap around the bar, bet Lou would appreciate the help moppin'." She's still angling to get Thal bald, or worse. Not one to be shown up, when it suits her at least, Colt adds in her own, "I'll match ya. One last dare for me too."

---

Round 11: no change
Thal did her choice | Thal: +100 MP, 2 drunk
Colt did her choice | Colt: -100 MP, 3 drunk

Colt

Hole in your heart with some good aim

code by sky

Thalassa

The cake has the majority of her attention, but she manages to cast a doubtful look Colt's way, shrugging her shoulders dismissively. "I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree for now." Because as much as she's seen the logic of the rancher's words - and felt them time and time again - she refuses to admit that love is something she wants when all it's brought her is devastation. Nodding her head, she gives a low chuckle. "But let me know how that works out for you." Then she slips another bite of cake in her mouth. 

Letting the conversation shift to Colt's wrong opinion on sailing and ships in general, Thal scoffs indignantly. She can't argue on skyships since they're not her expertise, but she's quick to correct on the water variation. "You just haven't been on a ship with the right captain." The cocky confidence in her voice makes it very clear that she is a better captain than all of the losers Colt shouldn't trust. Pointing her fork at the woman, she punctuates the pride and the generous offer. "As long as you don't bring horses, you're welcome on my ship. We'll show you what real sailing looks like, and why life on the ocean is superior." The wide-open ocean, home of her heart, reflection of her eyes. The place that sings in her dreams and fills her lungs, that embraces her with every meeting and waves longingly with every departure. She wouldn't trade it for the world. Other people are crazy not to see its beauty.  

The dare makes Thal grimace, her tail twisting to wrap around her leg protectively. She doesn't even have to look at the man to know she's not doing it, a tingling phantom pain running up her spine at the thought. Tempted to reach for her tail in case Colt decides she doesn't need the other guy, Thal quickly shakes her head. "Uhhh, no. You realize that's like asking him to drag me around by my nipple - maybe even my clit - right? Not a pleasant experience, way too many nerves. I don't think anyone wants to hear the screaming." There's also the chance he breaks a few vertebrae, or - gods forbid - rips it from her body. 

Just the thought sends a shiver down her spine, brokering no arguments as she throws back the shot. The flames are warm, mixing with the sweetness of the baked alaska. "Pick something else. I'll do that. No complaints." Tilting her head with a conniving grin, she adds, "But you have to stalk around the bar like a cat and knock every drink off the table. No offering to pay for them. You can only respond by hissing." She wonders how a few of the patrons would appreciate having their full tankards splashed across the floor - or Lou for the mess he'll have to clean up - but she'd like to find out.

---

Thal refuses the dare.
She dares Colt to act like a cat and knock every drink off the table.

Never been the type to
Let someone see right through

Colt smirks a touch at the idea that she hasn't been with the right captain. "Pretty sure all the skyships around Caido? One of 'em had to have had a decent captain by now. Don't think it's their fault, s'all me." Something she isn't sure she'd ever get over, or is inclined to try unless she learns how to sail herself. Maybe get some horses special horseshoes that let 'em walk on water and then she'll never have to board another ship, or just find a way to wrangle that pegasus dream into reality. One day.

"Tella ya what," Colt drawls around smoke, leaning over to put her cigarette out in the tray. "I'll admit the ocean's superior the same day you admit ranchin' is. I'll play at first mate for a week or so and you can come be a ranch hand for a week in return." Her brows rise with the challenge, absolutely expecting there'd be no agreement. Because how could either of them leave what they love so long, certainly not to admit the other's lifestyle is better.

That's not her alternative dare to Thal's decline, to be clear, but her features do sharpen the moment the ancient rejects it. "Listen I don't know what you do with your nipples and your clit. No judgment from me sugar." She holds up her hands around the edge of a laugh. "Let me think, but you're definitely not gettin' out of something," she promises, clambering out of her chair and onto the bartop with a less than graceful maneuver that speaks to the amount of shots she's had. The water and cake and the length of time they've been here (is it already almost last call?) have helped bring her back a touch from the earlier height of bad decisions, but she's still on the edge of drunk to embrace the idea of being a cougar again.

With an exaggerated dip to back that she definitely thinks is haughty and sexy (it's not), Colt prowls down the bar lane on her hands and knees like a cat. A hairless cat. It's more of a sad, wobbly shuffle, liquor the only thing completely hiding her age from her joints as she mrrows and yowls and swats at anything and anyone in her path. Lou definitely has had enough, and with an exasperated roll of his eyes and some cursing, he flags down the bouncer who hauls Colt off roughly. Lou gestures at Thalassa too, deciding they're both done at this point. They'd fucked around plenty all night and now it's just gotten annoying.

Staggering out of the bar at their insistence, Colt whirls around, a laugh bursting free as she leans against the exterior wall. "Alright, alright. Might be time for bed. But first, your hair needs to take a hit too." Colt taps her chin, finding mercy now that the night is ending. "Bleach it blonde."

---

Round 12: Thal passes on her choice and loses 100MP, gains 1 drunk
Thal passes on her choice | Thal: 0 MP, 3 drunk
Colt did her choice | Colt: 0 MP, 3 drunk

Thal rolled to dye her hair

No more rounds!

Colt

Hole in your heart with some good aim

code by sky