[Seasonal Event] Burning Out Fast [Open]

A week of darkness was a grim kind of event to have to get through in any place, but Caiside had managed to underestimate quite how intense Longnight was actually going to be. He had been in high spirits when it began, despite the grimness of everyone else in the bar. He had been chatting with Bastien, soaking up the attention the man was so eager to give him, when the first tragedy came, and a woman he had never had the chance to meet was gone. He had excused himself after that, retreating to a quiet lonely corner and watching the crowd. It was easier to be alone, he reasoned, especially in times like this. He wouldn’t be pulled into any drama, though plenty seemed to unfold before him. Two more knocks came at the door, the crowd deciding to open it only once, a decision Caiside couldn’t support, not after what had happened the first time. Things had quieted down somewhat since then, the tension moving inwards, and becoming harder for him to follow. He hasn’t had the chance to grow close with anyone here, and began drifting instead, swatches of time lost to blank day dreaming. Night dreaming? Caiside couldn’t even tell how long had passed, much less what time of day it might be. This was unbearable. Caiside did everything he could to stave off the restless feeling building up in his chest; he fiddled with the rings on his fingers, picked short divots into the wooden table with his nail, and wrote some in his journal, but everything was all so temporary. The door looked more and more tempting, despite the monsters lurking outside. He could shift, and outrun, he was sure, and then it was simply a matter of being clever, staying one step ahead of the danger, or perhaps mingling with the herd of luxere. Something needed to happen. With his eyes locked on the door, Caiside stood up. His hand dragged on the table as he stepped forward, stopping when his fingers reached the edge of it, hesitation, or something else stalling his movement. Caiside a light to burn all the empires

"You got a death wish, old man?" Edy snarked from behind the bar. She too had been clawing at things, biting and chewing on scraps of leather, harassing Bobi and Chunk, drinking far too much, pretending to clean shit up and any number of other tasks that could keep her mind occupied. Edy was one for the outdoors and open motherfucking spaces. This forced socialization with a bunch of scared morons was fairly close to her version of hell. The only thing that could make it worse was, well, some asshole making it worse. Like this kid, walking towards the door. Well not a kid. Another old man like Bastien was. "How about instead of getting us all killed, you sit your ass back down and I'll pour you some more of whatever the fuck you've been mulling over, mmm?" Edy's normal brand of brassy sass had tarnished significantly. The smirk normally plastered on her face had wilted, and in its place was something like tempestuous neediness. The need to do something, or she was bound to get punchy real quick. Bobi however, completely immune to her bonded's inner turmoil, jumped to the ground and began to curl her youthful (but growing) body around Caiside's legs.

At first, the words meant nothing to Caiside, another voice in the crowd, that he could ignore. The sharpness of them did manage to rouse him some, his brows knitting and distaste curling his lip. Old? What kind of impudent brat would say that, to him of all people? He turned, burning eyes finding the girl behind the bar, a curse already waiting on his lips and- oh. She really was just a girl. With a considerable, and visible, struggle, Caiside swallowed back his vitriol, caging his tongue behind his teeth and forcing a smile across his lips instead. ”Not a death wish, just a wish to be out of here, though I could settle for a drink of something dark.” He didn’t want to be the peacekeeper, never did, but it was a duty he knew well enough to find ease in it. And a conversation, even one with a mouthy child, was a distraction. Turning towards the bar properly, Caiside was waylaid before he could take a step, a warm strip of fur curling between his legs. He had kept his eye on the big cat before, admiring it from his seat, and now, with it so close, he couldn’t help kneeling down, holding his hand out as if asking for permission to stroke her. Caiside a light to burn all the empires

"We all wanna be out of here." Edy sassed back with a not so subtle puff of displeased air snorting from her nose. Leaning antagonizingly against the bar, she raised a brow wondering if this fucker was going to be stupid enough to keep going for the door. She was stir crazy and could almost feel the satisfaction of tugging at his life force with her magic. But the curve of her lips, Edy gave the stranger a rather salacious grin. "Something dark, mmm?" She purred with a dazzlingly white smile. "Happy to oblige." The teenager trilled, though for a moment she didn't move, keeping up the happy pretense that she was to be the drink of something dark that he'd requested. After a moment however she spun with athletic grace, grabbing two shot glasses and a bottle of something which was indeed dark. Bobi sniffed delicately at Caiside's offered hand before rubbing her whiskered face into his palm. Though she couldn't quite purr, the way her tufted ears seemed to relax downwards was as good an indication as any that for now at least she was happy being touched. "That's Bobi." Edy quipped, having poured them each a shot. She resisted the obvious like my pussy joke, and instead just sipped at the whiskey before her.

Caiside’s forced grin grew sincerely bemused, his eyebrows lifting as he seemed to parse Edy’s implication. It wasn’t exactly an offer he would consider, but anything was better than the thinly... obvious threat of violence she had slung before. She turned after a moment, Caiside barely managing to contain a snort of laughter just as  she did. It had been a while since he’d been caught off guard, and Edy deserved at least. Even if it was becaue he’d been driven loopy by cabin fever. Stretching to reach for his drink with his free hand, Caiside ran his fingers through Bobi’s fur, delighting at the feel of it. ”You’re lovely.” He said softly, speaking just to Bobi, then looking up at her master. ”She’s lovely.” His body followed his gaze, and he stood, closing the last few steps of distance between him and a seat at the bar. A pet of him hoped Bobi would slink back into his reach, but he wasn’t going to make a fool of himself trying to coax her. ”So...” Caiside began, pausing to empty the small glass, his face twisting at the burn. “How does a nice girl like you, and her big cat, end up in a place like this?” It wasn’t necessarily the best opener he’d ever had, but Caiside needed a conversation like he needed air, and if Edy was willing to humour him then so be it. He lowered his glass to the counter again, and leaned forward with his chin in hand. Caiside a light to burn all the empires

Bobi stared up at the attuned with wide eyes, as if to say I know I am, before pressing her head into his hand once again. As he rose to take a seat, the kitten easily leaped from the floor to the stool next to him, and then onto the bar herself. Hygiene be damned, his fingers were strong and warm and he smelled of the woods. The teenager grinned as he said big cat, reaching and refilling both of their glasses. That done, she leaned against the bar and placed her chin into one of her hands. "Step one, be transported here from where I was before. Step two, come into this place looking for a drink and, finding no one to serve it to me, hop behind the bar and pour it myself." Winking, Edy emptied her glass, put the back of her head against her lips to stifle the burn, before allowing her shit-eating grin to resurface. "Step three, accidentally serve some beer to Vai who owns the place, and voila. Hired." Glancing towards Bobi, Edy grinned and shrugged. "As for Bobi, I found her in the infirmary before we cleaned it up. It was pretty fucked up, she was trapped in there with her mom—who was dead already—and a bunch of bodies." Shaking her head, the teenager whistled out a low note to indicate her displeasure.

A smile spread across Caisides face, though t was hard to tell if it was because Bobi had followed him to the counter or because his drink was promptly refilled. ”Well, it takes a special kind of person to do something so well you convince others you can do it too.” He threw his second drink back, inhaling sharply after it to help ease it down. ”And, you even managed to avoid getting in trouble for trespassing.” Causides fingers still worked through Bobis fur, though they slowed as he considered Edy’s words. “I had thought there were already people here? Didn’t they have an infirmary?” It seemed like an oversight to him, but then again, he wasn’t from this place. One only needed to glance towards the window to see just how different Caico was from anywhere else. ”Wait...” Caiside frowned, ”you said bodies? Why was there bodies?” He glanced up, like he could somehow see through the floor and time to catch a glimpse of what Edy had seen. He was sure there was a simple explanation, half the buildings around looked like they were in some state of collapse, but he could dream of better circumstances than the mundane. Even an interesting theory could be fun, if spun right. Caiside a light to burn all the empires

"Awwww, did you just call me special?" The teenager echoed with a laugh and playful bounce of her eyebrows. Shrugging her bony shoulders, Edy leaned lazily against the bar. "Between you and me, getting out of trouble is something that I am surprisingly good at." As Caiside's fingers slowed, Bobi flopped, rolling over to paw at his hands, using the universally understood language for: more scratches. "Dunno. If there were, they let it go to shit." Edy observed with another shrug. "I know a couple set themselves up in the housing-area and ... I dunno, maybe the rest just figured they didn't need a proper infirmary." For a moment, Edy gave the long-haired man a blank stare, her dark eyes mischievous and amused. "Why the fuck would I know that? It was like..our second day here. I was still thinking we were all gonna get zapped back home, so I wasn't exactly playing detective in the haunted hospital, y'know?" Again she shrugged. "I think Isla thought it was some sort of ...weird infection maybe? Some of the bodies were ... like gross and congealed. Others were just straight up torn to shreds."