(SE) it's called freefall

hide your secrets, disguise your weakness

and lose yourself inside your busy head

Business had picked up, but not entirely to the status it had been to, once before. At least it was something and he hadn’t run out of liquor yet, another good sign. The shelves are somewhat empty, the bar top etched with claw marks and scars from lightning. It wasn’t a good look, per say, but it was certainly a look.

A few people filter in and out, drinks given and trades taken, before settling in along his end, cataloguing whatever remains of the stock he’d had. A sad excuse to pass the time, but an excuse nonetheless. A few bruises line the collarbone peeking out from beneath the sleeveless shirt he wears, along with the tattoos that drift along shoulders, bite marks from the Ascended dotted here and there along neck and wrist.

He pours a glass for himself, before settling in.

burn your bridges, and leave no witnesses

all alone inside your busy head

SuNJATA

NERON

show me how defenceless you really are

Neron had gotten in a fight with a bull. The bull was on the losing end, eventually, but it had left him with a marvellous set of broken ribs. He had come to the bar as there had been the promise of something exquisitely strong that might numb the pain a bit, but upon entering... well, either it was under renovation or something very interesting had happened recently. The Warden had not frequented taverns even back in Northaven as a lawyer, so he likely stuck out like a sore thumb. Today though, he didn't give a damn.

Setting himself down gingerly at the bar, wearing less than was his Halo custom (but what he did wear was still almost entirely black), there were bruises snaking colourfully out near his collarbones, too. That, he felt, gave him a very good connection to the barman. A fantastic starting point. "What have you got that makes you forget you've got cracked ribs?" he asked, getting right to the point. His injury left little space for ettiquette.

hide your secrets, disguise your weakness

and lose yourself inside your busy head

He has no idea who’s walked into the bar. All he knows is that the man looks like hell, and yet with the heat of Longheat seems quite out of place with all the black fabric covering his body. He’s acutely aware of when the man nears the bar, sitting gingerly, and Sunjata’s gaze flits over the bruises snaking out from his collarbones. But his attention is drawn when Neron speaks, some small amount of surprise flickering through him as he goes to stand and move the pad he’d been writing on somewhere else and out of the way.

“Well, I’ve got a lot. Depends on how much more than that you want to forget.” Pulling a glass from beneath the bar, he reaches for one of the stronger whiskeys that remains, pouring a glass more than he typically did before sliding it over toward Neron and leaning against the bar with his arms folded in front of him, holding him up as he surveys the man. “Hope you gave whatever gave you that a nice bit of payback.” A brief smirk hints at the corners of his lips.

burn your bridges, and leave no witnesses

all alone inside your busy head

SuNJATA

NERON

show me how defenceless you really are

"I suppose I ought to go for moderate forgetfulness. I'd like to find my way home, just without feeling like my chest is caved in," Neron said brightly, pleased to note that the barman was attentive at the very least. Accepting the glass and lifting it in a gesture of cheers, Neron took and experimental sip and gingerly recoiled. Not unpleasantly so - it was a balm to have that warm fire radiating through his throat and chest, but damn if it didn't pack a punch. "I imagine you are quite popular, if that's what your customers get to look forward to every day."

Taking another sip of his drink and wincing appreciatively, Neron let out a snort. "It was a bull, and I put it to sleep. Regrettably one cannot deliver payback to something that belongs to other people." At least here anyway, when he was meant to be making a good impression. "How about you? What kind of payback did you give to whatever bit you?" He raised an eyebrow.

hide your secrets, disguise your weakness

and lose yourself inside your busy head

A wry smirk is sent toward Neron at the answer, as well as a knowing nod once the man’s drank the glass he’d poured. “Quite popular, actually.” A bright enough response that causes him to chuckle lightly. But he focuses on the appreciative wincing of the whiskey as the man sips from it, a far better result than Samuel had been when the Ascended had tried to swallow it all in one gulp.

He perks up at the mention of a bull, however, head tilting slightly though the smirk blossoms along his face at that. “Hmm, I’m sure there’s got to be a way…” He trails off, glancing around the bar briefly before his gaze snaps back to Neron at the question and he leans against the bar a bit. “Well, considering it was a person,” leaning in closely as though he’s telling a secret. “Wasn't so much payback as it was a good fuck.” Winking, Sunjata withdraws to grab his own glass to sip from.

burn your bridges, and leave no witnesses

all alone inside your busy head

SuNJATA

NERON

show me how defenceless you really are

The whisky in his glass would not last long, and whilst Neron had no intention of getting himself blackout drunk, he would likely order another (just to really, really make sure he was staving away the pain from his ribs, y'know?). "What do people normally trade you for this?" he asked; whilst it would be easy to play the Warden-invited-by-the-Queen card, Neron's rule over Halo had thus far been marked by a fierce independence, and he didn't want to break that habit.

Laughing at the other man's remark, he raised an eyebrow, enjoying his line of thinking. "That might be the case, but it wouldn't do me any favours," he said; a dead bull would mean nothing to him at the end of things, but the farmers would feel the loss keenly. Taking another sip of his drink, he found he didn't have to lean forward to appear part of the barman's imagined conspiracy (yay broken ribs), though his eyes did narrow mischievously at his words.

"What kind of person bites you in quite so many pl-- ah. I see - say no more." He let out a dark laugh. "I am Neron, by the way."

hide your secrets, disguise your weakness

and lose yourself inside your busy head

Honestly, they paid a variety of ways. “Sometimes items, sometimes favors.” He shrugs with a small smirk. “Sometimes a bit of both, depending on what I have they don’t.” He steps aside somewhat to gesture to the counter behind him, littered and stacked with anything from weapons to baskets to food. But he focuses on Neron again, letting the comment of the bull die off for favor of revealing just a shadow of his own marked appearance, a hint at what it had come from.

At least he’d gotten Neron to laugh in the end. He smirks from his glass as he hears Neron decide against asking more, offering his name instead and Sunjata sets his glass on the table to lean against the top and look the man over with a smirk. “Neron…” He muses. “Warden of Halo, right?” He’d heard it from Wessex, believed it to be true. “I’m Sunjata.” Reaching for the bottle, he goes to fill Neron’s glass again.

And with a wry smirk sent toward Neron, he can’t help but add the answer to the question of before. “They’re Ascended bites, if you were truly wondering.” A wink granted, an amused chuckle leaving him after.

burn your bridges, and leave no witnesses

all alone inside your busy head

SuNJATA

NERON

show me how defenceless you really are

"Honestly, favours would be my preference. I don't make a habit of carting around much with me - and everything I did bring was given to your Queen to distribute, as you can well imagine." Neron smiled lopsidedly, glancing around the bar and noting, alongside all of the alcohol, a few woven baskets stacked up. Once upon a timeline where Rex hadn't already given him one, he needed to acquire something very similar.

"In the interest of this catching the sun ritual, along with another drink, would a favour cover one of those baskets?" he asked, before his attention returned to the freshly named Sunjata. "That's me in a nutshell, yes," he confirmed, before arching an eyebrow and looking at the bites again in a new light. "Enjoy making yourself a meal?"

hide your secrets, disguise your weakness

and lose yourself inside your busy head

Favors were a favorite, and it lights along Sunjata’s face in what he might ask of the man as the Warden suggests a favor for the basket. His smile grows somewhat feline as he steps away from the bar to grab the basket as well as a bottle of the same thing he’d filled Neron’s glass with. Setting them down in front of him, he considers Neron for a brief moment.

His voice drops low, leaning forward a small amount toward Neron with a conspirator smile. “A favor to build a bar like this one in Halo...” An avian tilt of his head. “And you’ll have yourself a deal, Warden.” It falls perfectly with his plan with Weaver, another branch, an expanse, the beginnings of something nice in Halo that doesn’t serve piss.

The question of making himself a meal does cause a deep chuckle to leave him, however. “Oh absolutely. Nothing quite like it.” That feline smirk returns, opening the bottle to pour the Warden another glass.

burn your bridges, and leave no witnesses

all alone inside your busy head

SuNJATA

NERON

show me how defenceless you really are

A basket and a bottle? Wonderful. However as Sunjata leaned in and stated his cost, the Warden's eyes widened a fraction. "That is a very steep bargain, sir, in exchange for these two items," he said, for all the world looking as though he wasn't even going to consider it. And yet, after a moment or so, he shrugged. "Why not? There's plenty of space and the citizens of Halo would be thrilled for another place to warm their toes. And with stories aplenty from you Outlanders? I'd be a fool not to."

Sliding the basket and bottle forward, he nodded his head. "You've got yourself a deal, sir." He watched the bottle rather than the man as he was poured another drink, long fingers dancing around the rim of the glass as he considered the other man's words. "I can see that by their frequency," he noted. "Ascended Queen or not, however, I've heard of the Voice's rocky reputation. You must be quite the thrill seeker, putting your life in another's hands in exchange for a bit of pleasure."

hide your secrets, disguise your weakness

and lose yourself inside your busy head

A snort is granted toward Neron for the initial comment – it was a steep bargain, but one that Sunjata thought might at least be viable, important, needed even if he chose to use it for other personal reasons beneath the surface. But he waits, watching as Neron shrugs, agreeing and Sunjata nods his head in his own small part of agreement for the deal. “Of course we can help whenever you might need something in return, since it is a rather large favor.” A feline smirk to that.

The glass is handed to Neron and Sunjata grabs his own, offering a small toast to the deal made, before settling in and listening at the mention of the Ascended Queen and thrill seeking, when that smirk grows a bit wider. “I’ve learned that to have a fun life, you always go toward the danger.” He tilts his head a small amount. “And even if it kills you, at least there’s hopefully a good story to go with it.”

burn your bridges, and leave no witnesses

all alone inside your busy head

SuNJATA

NERON

show me how defenceless you really are

Now that was more like it, and Neron's eyes lit up at the prospect of a favour in return, particularly when it came from a future establishment in Halo. "I have no doubt that something will come up that I might need a hand with," he agreed, sitting up a fraction and taking another sip of his drink after toasting to Sunjata in return. To new ventures, and all that. And baskets, he supposed.

The barman's story drew a dark laugh from his throat, Neron's eyebrows raising though he far from denied Sunjata's point. "What is the point in living if there's no one to talk about you afterwards?" he said with a grin, knocking back the rest of his drink and feeling already that his ribs had grown comfortably numb. It wasn't pain free by any sense of the word, but it was in that pleasant I don't really know if they exist anymore stage.

"If your wares are even half as good as this in Halo, you'll be a popular man," he said.

hide your secrets, disguise your weakness

and lose yourself inside your busy head

A chuckle leaves the bartender, a small shrug granted in response to that. “Hope you have friends to talk you up.” An easy grin crosses his face, taking another sip of his own drink – already mostly distracted by the idea of speaking with Weaver and picking a place to put the new bar in the icy kingdom. But that can wait, seeing as he’s enjoying the warmth of the sun and the heat of the Grounds far too much in comparison to delving into the cold and the chill. And besides, he’s heading there soon for Safrin anyway.

His gaze remains on Neron with a crooked smirk, a dip of his head. “Can certainly work out making trips here and there to ensure it.” And just like that, someone else requires something, and Sunjata’s gaze sweeps from the Warden toward their request, offering a slight nod in response before he looks back to Neron. “Well, I’m glad we struck our little deal. I’ll come see you when the time comes for the new bar.” A wink, before he moves down the bar to take care of the next patron.

- FIN!

burn your bridges, and leave no witnesses

all alone inside your busy head

SuNJATA