(SE) Find me at the Bottom of Your Drink

IriS|SirI

Iris found herself spending a lot of time in the Silk Houses. The walls hugging its streets were decorated with ornate stone, saturating the eyes with twisting displays. Music echoed throughout the street, mixing in with a cacophony of voices. It was foreign and strange. Beautiful but distant.

And yet there was a familiarity there that called to her. Secrets flowed with the liquor and pretense fell off like old paint with the first show of twilight. People became more themselves when the promise of pleasure loomed around every corner.

Iris walked around leisurely, observing. Past the massive brothel houses, shops offering entertainment in tiny bottles and a myriad of bars, her feet brought her, once again, under the gentle light of luxere antlers.

Once at the bar, she found herself rather indecisive, eyeing the liquor shelves and feeling somewhat… bored. She glanced around the bar as if there was something there that would alleviate the tedium.

Nothing.

Mid resigned sigh, something caught her eye. At first she was unsure but on second glance it was unmistakable. A Torcher. Iris proceeded to stare at the long-legged, green-eyed piece of home without a hint of subtlety.

Find

Maeve

It seemed Maeve did a lot of sitting around and waiting these days. Waiting for the Skyport to be repaired, waiting for Ronin to tell her she could go home, waiting for Locke to skip out on training. So much waiting. It meant the Madame has plenty of time to herself. Time that she needed to kill.

There were worse places to do it she supposed. The White Hart was a fine bar. Good food and good drinks readily available. Sometimes ever good conversation depending on who was around. Maeve lounged in the small booth she claimed for herself, sipping slowly at her drink. Something special made just for her thanks to a couple of winks and sweet words thrown the bartender's way.

The Madame was good at picking up when someone was looking at her. It was a part of her job. How else would she know when the too shy clients that came into the Halenani wanted her attention? She looked around slowly, foot bobbing slightly as her legs remained crossed, showing off the length of them beneath the form fitting dress she wore. Finally her eyes settled on the girl who was looking at her and she arched a brow, head cocking to the side, "Can I help you with something, love?"

Long nights, daydreams
Sugar and smoke rings, I've been a fool
But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like you

IriS|SirI

While Iris was considering the dilemma that was the woman’s immaculately white skin, the stranger spoke, clearing away all doubt. She carried with her the hot Torchline air, speaking with an attitude one usually acquires on Haulani’s sand-swept streets.

Iris left the bar behind her, approaching the familiar stranger’s booth. A smile crept up on her face, a tentative excitement, like she was a kid about to receive a toy. ”Maybe. Care to have a drink with me?”, she asked, her tone light and sociable. ”I’ve noticed that when you’re in a foreign place the evenings are either exotically exciting or dreadfully dull, rarely anything in between. Is it the same for you?”

Find

Maeve

Curious. Maeve wasn't one to turn away company. Not when she was so agonizingly bored. Her brow arched and a slow smile spread on her lips as amusement seemed spark in the icy green of her eyes. "Sure. Have a seat." The Madame agreed easily, waving her hand at the empty side of the booth before motioning to a nearby waiter to come by. "Two of the house specials please." She hummed, tossing the server a wink before he disappeared back towards the bar.

Her eyes shifted back to the younger girl as she swirled what little liquid remained in her glass before tossing it back with ease, "I would argue that it is. Either people are too scared to approach because you're not the norm or fall over themselves for the same reason." She drawled, head cocking to the side as she regarded the relative stranger, "Which one is it that brought you over to my table then?"

Long nights, daydreams
Sugar and smoke rings, I've been a fool
But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like you

IriS|SirI

Iris plopped down into the seat across from the dark-haired woman, raising an eyebrow in interest. ”What’s the house special?” Iris rarely thought beyond whiskey and rum, albeit spiced. For someone so accommodated to the finer things in life, she was strangely easygoing about the sort of liquid filling her glass. As long as it had a kick to it.

She leaned back in her seat, looking quite pleased with her catch for the night. "Thankfully, I'm neither." She remarked, brushing her hair back. "I am, however, quite a patriot. And what kind of patriot would I be if I didn't share a drink or five with a fellow Torcher?" Iris spoke confidently, almost completely certain in her assumption.

Going so long without seeing a familiar face had sharpened her senses. Each semblance of the familiar either raised the hairs at the back of her neck screaming of danger or evoked a childlike nostalgia difficult to ignore.

"I'm Siri," Iris said with an easy smile and an outstretched hand. What's brought you to these shores?"

Find

Maeve

Maeve waved her hand dismissively, "Something oddly fruity and spicy. It's good. Goes down smooth and comes on slow." She explained, lifting her eyes to the other woman and looking her over with interest, trying to place if she'd ever seen her before. Maeve didn't think she had, but that was no matter to her. There were plenty of people in Torchline she'd never met before with people always coming and going from the port.

"Well then. Guess that makes you a rare commodity then." Maeve finished the last of her drink just as the waiter came by with their first round. "How you were even able to tell that I was a Torcher is beyond me. I certainly don't look the part." She huffed with a laugh, smiling at the girl from over the rim of her glass, relaxing further into her seat as she regarded the other woman.

With ease, she took her hand, giving it a shake, "Siri. Nice to meet you. I'm Maeve." She let her go, taking up her drink instead, swirling the liquid lightly in the glass before taking a sip. "Healing mostly. Visiting with some friends too and collecting someone else to come home with me. I'll be going back soon. What about you?"

Long nights, daydreams
Sugar and smoke rings, I've been a fool
But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like you

IriS|SirI

”I’m quite the specimen,” Iris responded, a quick laugh on her lips. She gave the waiter a nod and raised her glass up to the light, studying the liquid’s pinkish hue. ”Oh, you do.” Iris insisted, a finger drawing around the woman, pointing out nothing in particular and feeling quite pleased at getting it right. Maybe it was the way Meave sat, taking up space with relaxed ease, or the way she looked at no-one in particular and yet held the room in her gaze, or it was another series of tiny marks Torchline left on a person, coming together. ”Your tan is a puzzle, though,” she added, taking a sip and letting the taste roll over her tongue.

Iris shrugged, ”I haven’t made my mind up yet. I might stick around for a while.” She pensively cocked her head to the side, leaning her chin lightly against her knuckles. ”There’s still a lot in Caido to explore.” After a short pause, she perked up, eyes shooting to meet Meave's. ”Say, do you wanna play a game? What better way to get to know each other on a slow night like this?”, she asked through a playful smile.

Find

Maeve

The remark earned Siri a laugh that huffed past painted lips to press against the edge of her glass as she took a slow sip. The girl was young and tenacious. Maeve liked that. She shrugged slender shoulders, flicking her gaze back to the girl as a smirk curled on her lips, "I don't find myself outside a lot. My work mainly takes place behind closed doors." Maeve quipped, leaving her to puzzle that out herself. Her job could also account for the way she lounged with such ease, but seemed to hold command over her form, angling herself in the most appealing way. The same could be said for the almost careless way her gaze moved about the room, but held everyone at attention. She was an enigma indeed.

"How do you like it? The drink." The Madame asked as she took a sip, eyes studying her closely for a reaction before she hummed at her words. "There are worse places to linger. It's pretty here. I'll say that much." The people were a bit too uptight for Maeve's taste, but she wasn't planning on staying longer than she needed too. Not when home was so close now. A dark brow arched, intrigue coloring her features, "A game? I could be persuaded... What do you have in mind?"

Long nights, daydreams
Sugar and smoke rings, I've been a fool
But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like you

IriS|SirI

Prompted, Iris pondered the puzzle anew, inquisitive eyes taking anther look at Meave's pale, slender frame. It appeared, unless the woman spent her time holed up underground for some mysterious purpose, that she was instead a practitioner of the fine art of prostitution.

Honest work. Probably the most honest of the nighttime professions that thrive on the torch-lit shores.

In response to Meave's question, Iris gave a nod. "It's growing on me", she responded after another drink, licking the sweet liquid off her lips. Whether she picked up on Meave's restrained compliment or whether she simply needed to confide to someone her true feelings about the ancient capital, Iris leaned in slightly across the table, her voice low. "There are places in this city that aren't as tight-strung as the rest. You just have to look really hard past the zealots." With a smirk, Iris sat back in her seat, perking up as she was invited to explain the rules of her game.

"We'll call it Truth or Bullshit. Each round we take turns telling a story. The other gets to guess whether the story is true or false. If you get it wrong, you drink, if you get it right, I drink." Gently, Iris traced the rim of her glass. "To make it interesting... We'd all a little spice to the drink each round. Say, a shot of rum, gin and then vodka." She suggested innocently.

"I suggest we play three rounds, to start, and if you can still get up on your feet by then I'm buying the next batch." She finished, a trace of mischief revealing itself in her smile. "Are you game?"

Find

Maeve

Her smile is slow and easy, lighting up her eyes as she gazed at the young woman, "Good. I was hoping you would say that." She hummed in response, bringing the drink back up to her lips and taking a slow sip from it. As Siri leaned closer to her, a dark brow raised towards her hairline and she too leaned forward as if to indulge her. A quiet laugh rose in her throat, nose wrinkling as mirth sparked in her sea glass gaze, "If that isn't the truth." The Madame clinked her glass against her new drinking partner's before she straightened back up in her seat, lounging against the back of the booth.

My, my, my... It seemed that Siri was not the uptight type at all. How she found herself fitting into Stormbreak was an interesting puzzle to turn over. Probably for the same reason Maeve seemed to be fitting in. People enjoyed the taboo. Even if they won't admit it. Spirits like Maeve and Siri weren't common here, therefore they were exotic and enticing. Too bad no one every really liked to indulge. "That sounds like my kind of game. I'll let you go first. Set the tone for us, love." Maeve purred, tipping her glass to the woman opposite of her.

Long nights, daydreams
Sugar and smoke rings, I've been a fool
But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like you

IriS|SirI

Without missing a beat, Iris' hand was in the air, beckoning the waiter over. Then, she met the madam's gaze and held it when eyes narrowed in mischievous thought.

"Once, during a damp Flowerbirth month...", her voice turned low and soothing, like the calmingly familiar start to a children's tale. "... I spent a day and a half living in a tree stump in order to avoid the grizzly fate of being eaten by a murder of crows. I sustained myself on a handful of crackers and developed what seemed like a friendship with a very colorful spider." She concluded her tale by raising a glass to Meave.

"In retrospect, I think it was just preparing to eat me," she added with a shrug and took a sip, just as the waiter came to take her order. "A shot of gin, rum and vodka, each." She beamed a smile at Meave, a challenge dressed in a friendly veneer.

Find

Maeve

It was a rather good tale. Whether it was true or not was yet to be determined. Maeve pursed her lips in consideration, head cocking to the side as she studied the girl, "Bullshit. I can't fathom how anyone would ever make friends with a spider." The reasoning was sound enough as far as the Madame was concerned and thus her answer was sound. She waited for the confirmation of whether or not she was right, preparing to take her shot should she need to.

Once that is done, she began her own story, "When I was about seven, my mother took me up to the cliffs just before monsoon season was set to hit to watch the merchant ships leave. On that day I saw my very first and only ghost whale breach the water only to crush one of the ships beneath its body. I was confused for the longest time as I thought that ghost whales weren't solid. It was a gruesome way to learn that they are, in fact, fairly solid." She finished her tale, taking a sip of her drink, arching a brow as she awaited Siri's guess.

Long nights, daydreams
Sugar and smoke rings, I've been a fool
But strawberries and cigarettes always taste like you