04-12-2009, 10:50 AM
Piper quickly excused herself and stiffly headed off in a random direction in search of the bathroom. Watching her alternate between a nauseated shuffle and a stiff soldier's march, Ashe turned back to the other three tablemates with a grin. "Dude, she's going to be in there for a while," she announced, sipping on her tea quickly. The glass was nearly empty already, leaving the girl to casually turn around and look over her shoulder for the waitress that had passed by.
"You know, Ashe, until you ordered your drink, I had never heard of tea from Long Island before," Sophia mused, watching as the girl turned back to quickly drain the glass down till there was just a bit of ice left in the cup. "Is it anything like green tea or oolong tea?" she asked sincerely.
The girl gave her best innocent smile from years of practiced underage drinking when confronted by an adult. "It's great," she answered, stirring her straw around absently in the cup while waiting for a refill. "Much better than those other kinds." Glancing back in the direction that Piper had gone, Ashe rapped her knuckles on the table quickly to get everyone's attention before sliding her own chair back. "On that note, I'll be right back," she announced, quickly walking away from the table herself.
It was not the bathroom that she was headed for, however, as anyone who watched her walk the complete opposite of Piper would have surmised. She casually slid up to the bar counter and on instinct began to scope out for the perfect guy to entice into buying her a drink for those times when she had no ID. Thankfully, the bartender came over and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, you are one of those game show kids, right?" the older man grunted, comparing her with an image posted on the nearby wall.
"Uh, yeah," she replied suspiciously.
He slapped his palms down on the table and gave her a wide grin. "I knew it. You just made me thirty bucks, girl. My buddy over there didn't believe me when I said that you were that Rose girl," he laughed, leaving her to writhe uneasily at the misidentification. Before she could correct him, he jabbed a finger at the bar. "Full bar and all, so just call me over when you are ready to order something and I'll get ya taken care of in a jiffy. Mr. Demolic said it would be on the house and to fix you kids up real good."
Ashe pondered his meaning of the sentence before taking it at face value. "Sweet! Alright, so..." she trailed off, staring at his selection. "Ever made a Flaming Jesus before?" she asked, recalling her conversation with Sebastian before and hoping that this man had the right ingredients.
"Nope, what's in it?"
Thinking back in her head, she listed off the mixture. "Vodka, overproof rum, some lime juice and grenadine," she answered, tapping her fingers on the bar with each note. He had already been shaking his head no, however, halfway through her comment. "No, no, come on!" she cried, slamming her fist down in mock anger. "Ugh, man, you guys suck," she laughed, holding her head in her palms. "It's the rum, isn't it? It's always the freakin' rum," she whined, leaning back.
"We can try it with ordinary rum if you'd prefer," he apologized.
"Nah, this stuff is too awesome for that."
He shrugged, giving her a look. "Well, I mean a shot's a shot. What's so special about this one?" he asked.
She snorted embarrassingly from her nose in laughter as she corrected him. "This shot is like riding a pony, which probably doesn't sound awesome, except that in this case the pony is three hundred feet tall and covered in chainsaws, and to get on the pony you have to take an elevator with sixteen live cougars. Naked," she added, judging his reaction.
"Well, that does sound different," he agreed, not entirely sure how to take this other than to laugh. "So got any other ideas?"
"Alien Orgasm?" she asked in a hopeful manner. Staring at his dumbfounded expression, she chuckled again. "Man, you are tough. Throw me together a glass of Midori, malibu, and some pineapple juice and we'll call it even," she instructed.
"That's an Alien Secretion, not an Alien Orgasm," he corrected, turning around the computer monitor that he'd pulled the recipe up on. "The orgasm version is made kinda like a rattlesnake with blue curacao in it."
Her mouth watered. "For real? I'm going to have to hold that one over Becca's head when I get back, she's been wrong this entire time," she said, passing the blame for her teenage knowledge. "Totally make me one of those."
It was only about ten minutes later that she was stumbling her way back to the tables with only the slightest of warm tingling feelings passing through her system. She had cut herself off after drinking that one, in favor of not feeling horrible during whatever was to come. Even still, she had gotten a round for the entire table.
"Ashe?" Sage asked as she emptied her hands suddenly on the table. "Your food is getting cold," she said quietly while eyeing the girls gifts. "And what's that?" she asked, pointing.
The pink haired girl looked down at her food and then at Sage with a raised eyebrow. "That steak is only going to get cold on me if it manages to escape out of here alive," she threatened, pushing her finger into the steak to test how well it was cooked. "Well, given that it's still somewhat bleeding, we'll let that one slide."
"How'd you order it, anyway?" Sophia asked.
"Medium rare," she answered quickly before handing everyone a drink and placing one in front of Piper's place at the table. Kaden looked up from his food and gave her an odd look before holding up a finger with an attempt at swallowing his way to a comment. She cut him off at the pass by reaching over and pulling on it, catching him off guard mid-swallow. "You're welcome," she commented. "But if your stomach problems make their way over here to interfere with my food, I won't be as helpful," she added.
The priestess took a moment to look down at the drinks before her and then back at the girl. "Ashe, are you drunk?" she asked immediately, her face entirely serious.
The girl's hands came up defensively, having tried to ward them off with subtle misdirection and failing. "Hey, officer, I've only had one drink!" A moment after, she was still being stared at. "Two," she corrected meekly. Nudging her hands forward at the other drinks, she cleared her throat. "So anyways, I was thinking that we could raise a toast to bringing down Kai Demolic and kicking his butt and all that fun stuff," she mumbled, looking to Kaden for support.
"Didn't we totally do that earlier?" he asked, not catching on.
"Uh, yeah, we did," she followed. "But earlier I only had my tea and you were drinking the good stuff," she continued. "I totally didn't time this for while Piper was gone either," she finished.
"Right," Sophia spoke, somewhat amused by the girl's strong defense of the situation.
Sage looked down into her cup and then back up at Ashe. "I'm not sure if I want any of it," she said apologetically.
"I got you apple juice, to be fair," the pink haired girl comforted, sliding over one of the wine glasses before her filled with plum wine. What the girl didn't know wouldn't hurt her, she assumed, and Sage really needed something to take the edge off. Something that wasn't from a pill. Sliding an identical cup over to Sophia, she pushed it through the healer's warding hands. "Its plum wine," she answered honestly. "I figure that you said you worked for a temple or something and turn water to wine so there you go," she rambled.
"It's not exactly like that," Sophia halfheartedly remarked, accepting the glass uncomfortably.
"And for Kaden..." Ashe trailed off, giving him a look.
He was a bit red in the face, unsure of what to make of the situation. "I can't wait," he commented from behind his napkin as he wiped his mouth to buy himself some time. "What's that?" he asked as she slid a glass over to him, looking it over with curiosity. She slid a pink frizzy drink over to Piper's spot without answering him.
"I got her a Shirley Temple. Some grenadine mixed with Sprite," she explained for anyone who wasn't studying their glass with the oddest of looks. Reaching down, she picked up her own glass and held it up, a slightly green and blue drink that was a clone of Kaden's own drink. He studied her drink a moment as she cleared her throat, swirling her straw around with her other hand. It took a glance back at his own drink, still in its cleanly layered pretty colors, before stirring it up similar to the girl's.
Raising his own glass, he motioned for all to join in. "To great food?" he mused, before adding the final lines. "And to kicking Kai's ass!" Pausing a moment before everyone took a drink, he tacked on the most final line of the toast. "Also to fantastic company," he smiled, nodding at the group.
Everyone pulled back their drink and tried it. Sage immediately coughed as she grabbed for her napkin to wipe the liquid from her mouth. Noticing everyone's stares, she addressed them meekly. "I think this apply juice was made with sour apples."
I'm going to Hell, Ashe thought, somewhat amused at the situation. Even still, Sage put in an effort to finish off the drink, despite Sophia's forehead wrinkling in Ashe's direction as she pieced it together in her head.
Kaden was stifling a laugh as well, but simply commented on his drink. "This is fantastic! What's in it? I taste some pineapple juice for sure."
The student beamed at him. "I love pineapple juice," she threw in casually. Holding up one fist in the air, she made a hardcore gesture. "Pineapples rock! Anyway, it's basically a Mai Tai with some melon liquor in it in place of some of the rum. Nowhere near as strong tasting, but every bit as good."
He nodded, throwing a bite of food into his mouth before chasing it with some more of the drink. "Yeah, we don't really want to get trashed before whatever happens, well, happens."
"...I do," Ashe mumbled under her breath grimly, pushing the thoughts from her head. Glancing over at Sage, she almost felt bad. "How's it going?" she asked, testing the waters.
The girl smiled back at her. "I think it was just the first few sips. It definitely tastes a lot better now."
I am so going to Hell.
The red haired woman had finally arrived at the table, sliding into her chair as if pained before poking at her food. Kaden said it before Ashe could swallow her food to get the words out. “Did’ja fall in?” Ashe wanted to kick him under the table for beating her to it. Next time, she might not be so polite. Her eye twitched for a moment in thought, however. Maybe it was just that strong tingling that she was feeling talking for her. It definitely took the edge off, though.
Piper glanced up at him and quickly forced out a "Nope" before weakly picking up her fork and knife to cut through her chicken. Kaden was watching her carefully, but Ashe blew it off and savored her steak.
The shyer girl slid her drink forward and smiled, thanking her host for the apple juice before returning to picking at her dinner. "No problem," Ashe began, quickly taking the glass captive before Piper could inspect it. "If you want some more, just let me know," she added, so as to be a considerate host.
Kaden's chuckle nearly gave it away, leaving Piper to look up from her food gloomily. "What's so funny?" she asked, having missed the situation.
The blond haired guy tried to wave her off with his hand while placing some more food into his mouth, but she pressed him until he leaned up to see Ashe's piercing eyes staring directly at him in warning. "We uh..." he began, prying his eyes from hers before continuing on despite her optic threat. She wasn't wearing a pair of ruby sunglasses, he reasoned, looking for the words to tell the red haired medic. He leaned over closer to Piper to at least not have his words heard by the more innocent company, when suddenly Sophia sharply cried out.
"OW!" she yelped, withdrawing her leg from under the table to rub it before snatching up the tablecloth to suspiciously eye the fellowship's legs. "That wasn't funny, Kaden!" she suddenly accused, pointing a finger directly at him.
He pulled back from Piper to defend himself from her wrath. "Whoa, now..." he began.
Meanwhile, under the table, Ashe's feet unlocked themselves from their most inconspicuous position around her chair legs. Crap! she cursed mentally. How did I miss him?
"You know, Ashe, until you ordered your drink, I had never heard of tea from Long Island before," Sophia mused, watching as the girl turned back to quickly drain the glass down till there was just a bit of ice left in the cup. "Is it anything like green tea or oolong tea?" she asked sincerely.
The girl gave her best innocent smile from years of practiced underage drinking when confronted by an adult. "It's great," she answered, stirring her straw around absently in the cup while waiting for a refill. "Much better than those other kinds." Glancing back in the direction that Piper had gone, Ashe rapped her knuckles on the table quickly to get everyone's attention before sliding her own chair back. "On that note, I'll be right back," she announced, quickly walking away from the table herself.
It was not the bathroom that she was headed for, however, as anyone who watched her walk the complete opposite of Piper would have surmised. She casually slid up to the bar counter and on instinct began to scope out for the perfect guy to entice into buying her a drink for those times when she had no ID. Thankfully, the bartender came over and tapped her on the shoulder. "Hey, you are one of those game show kids, right?" the older man grunted, comparing her with an image posted on the nearby wall.
"Uh, yeah," she replied suspiciously.
He slapped his palms down on the table and gave her a wide grin. "I knew it. You just made me thirty bucks, girl. My buddy over there didn't believe me when I said that you were that Rose girl," he laughed, leaving her to writhe uneasily at the misidentification. Before she could correct him, he jabbed a finger at the bar. "Full bar and all, so just call me over when you are ready to order something and I'll get ya taken care of in a jiffy. Mr. Demolic said it would be on the house and to fix you kids up real good."
Ashe pondered his meaning of the sentence before taking it at face value. "Sweet! Alright, so..." she trailed off, staring at his selection. "Ever made a Flaming Jesus before?" she asked, recalling her conversation with Sebastian before and hoping that this man had the right ingredients.
"Nope, what's in it?"
Thinking back in her head, she listed off the mixture. "Vodka, overproof rum, some lime juice and grenadine," she answered, tapping her fingers on the bar with each note. He had already been shaking his head no, however, halfway through her comment. "No, no, come on!" she cried, slamming her fist down in mock anger. "Ugh, man, you guys suck," she laughed, holding her head in her palms. "It's the rum, isn't it? It's always the freakin' rum," she whined, leaning back.
"We can try it with ordinary rum if you'd prefer," he apologized.
"Nah, this stuff is too awesome for that."
He shrugged, giving her a look. "Well, I mean a shot's a shot. What's so special about this one?" he asked.
She snorted embarrassingly from her nose in laughter as she corrected him. "This shot is like riding a pony, which probably doesn't sound awesome, except that in this case the pony is three hundred feet tall and covered in chainsaws, and to get on the pony you have to take an elevator with sixteen live cougars. Naked," she added, judging his reaction.
"Well, that does sound different," he agreed, not entirely sure how to take this other than to laugh. "So got any other ideas?"
"Alien Orgasm?" she asked in a hopeful manner. Staring at his dumbfounded expression, she chuckled again. "Man, you are tough. Throw me together a glass of Midori, malibu, and some pineapple juice and we'll call it even," she instructed.
"That's an Alien Secretion, not an Alien Orgasm," he corrected, turning around the computer monitor that he'd pulled the recipe up on. "The orgasm version is made kinda like a rattlesnake with blue curacao in it."
Her mouth watered. "For real? I'm going to have to hold that one over Becca's head when I get back, she's been wrong this entire time," she said, passing the blame for her teenage knowledge. "Totally make me one of those."
It was only about ten minutes later that she was stumbling her way back to the tables with only the slightest of warm tingling feelings passing through her system. She had cut herself off after drinking that one, in favor of not feeling horrible during whatever was to come. Even still, she had gotten a round for the entire table.
"Ashe?" Sage asked as she emptied her hands suddenly on the table. "Your food is getting cold," she said quietly while eyeing the girls gifts. "And what's that?" she asked, pointing.
The pink haired girl looked down at her food and then at Sage with a raised eyebrow. "That steak is only going to get cold on me if it manages to escape out of here alive," she threatened, pushing her finger into the steak to test how well it was cooked. "Well, given that it's still somewhat bleeding, we'll let that one slide."
"How'd you order it, anyway?" Sophia asked.
"Medium rare," she answered quickly before handing everyone a drink and placing one in front of Piper's place at the table. Kaden looked up from his food and gave her an odd look before holding up a finger with an attempt at swallowing his way to a comment. She cut him off at the pass by reaching over and pulling on it, catching him off guard mid-swallow. "You're welcome," she commented. "But if your stomach problems make their way over here to interfere with my food, I won't be as helpful," she added.
The priestess took a moment to look down at the drinks before her and then back at the girl. "Ashe, are you drunk?" she asked immediately, her face entirely serious.
The girl's hands came up defensively, having tried to ward them off with subtle misdirection and failing. "Hey, officer, I've only had one drink!" A moment after, she was still being stared at. "Two," she corrected meekly. Nudging her hands forward at the other drinks, she cleared her throat. "So anyways, I was thinking that we could raise a toast to bringing down Kai Demolic and kicking his butt and all that fun stuff," she mumbled, looking to Kaden for support.
"Didn't we totally do that earlier?" he asked, not catching on.
"Uh, yeah, we did," she followed. "But earlier I only had my tea and you were drinking the good stuff," she continued. "I totally didn't time this for while Piper was gone either," she finished.
"Right," Sophia spoke, somewhat amused by the girl's strong defense of the situation.
Sage looked down into her cup and then back up at Ashe. "I'm not sure if I want any of it," she said apologetically.
"I got you apple juice, to be fair," the pink haired girl comforted, sliding over one of the wine glasses before her filled with plum wine. What the girl didn't know wouldn't hurt her, she assumed, and Sage really needed something to take the edge off. Something that wasn't from a pill. Sliding an identical cup over to Sophia, she pushed it through the healer's warding hands. "Its plum wine," she answered honestly. "I figure that you said you worked for a temple or something and turn water to wine so there you go," she rambled.
"It's not exactly like that," Sophia halfheartedly remarked, accepting the glass uncomfortably.
"And for Kaden..." Ashe trailed off, giving him a look.
He was a bit red in the face, unsure of what to make of the situation. "I can't wait," he commented from behind his napkin as he wiped his mouth to buy himself some time. "What's that?" he asked as she slid a glass over to him, looking it over with curiosity. She slid a pink frizzy drink over to Piper's spot without answering him.
"I got her a Shirley Temple. Some grenadine mixed with Sprite," she explained for anyone who wasn't studying their glass with the oddest of looks. Reaching down, she picked up her own glass and held it up, a slightly green and blue drink that was a clone of Kaden's own drink. He studied her drink a moment as she cleared her throat, swirling her straw around with her other hand. It took a glance back at his own drink, still in its cleanly layered pretty colors, before stirring it up similar to the girl's.
Raising his own glass, he motioned for all to join in. "To great food?" he mused, before adding the final lines. "And to kicking Kai's ass!" Pausing a moment before everyone took a drink, he tacked on the most final line of the toast. "Also to fantastic company," he smiled, nodding at the group.
Everyone pulled back their drink and tried it. Sage immediately coughed as she grabbed for her napkin to wipe the liquid from her mouth. Noticing everyone's stares, she addressed them meekly. "I think this apply juice was made with sour apples."
I'm going to Hell, Ashe thought, somewhat amused at the situation. Even still, Sage put in an effort to finish off the drink, despite Sophia's forehead wrinkling in Ashe's direction as she pieced it together in her head.
Kaden was stifling a laugh as well, but simply commented on his drink. "This is fantastic! What's in it? I taste some pineapple juice for sure."
The student beamed at him. "I love pineapple juice," she threw in casually. Holding up one fist in the air, she made a hardcore gesture. "Pineapples rock! Anyway, it's basically a Mai Tai with some melon liquor in it in place of some of the rum. Nowhere near as strong tasting, but every bit as good."
He nodded, throwing a bite of food into his mouth before chasing it with some more of the drink. "Yeah, we don't really want to get trashed before whatever happens, well, happens."
"...I do," Ashe mumbled under her breath grimly, pushing the thoughts from her head. Glancing over at Sage, she almost felt bad. "How's it going?" she asked, testing the waters.
The girl smiled back at her. "I think it was just the first few sips. It definitely tastes a lot better now."
I am so going to Hell.
The red haired woman had finally arrived at the table, sliding into her chair as if pained before poking at her food. Kaden said it before Ashe could swallow her food to get the words out. “Did’ja fall in?” Ashe wanted to kick him under the table for beating her to it. Next time, she might not be so polite. Her eye twitched for a moment in thought, however. Maybe it was just that strong tingling that she was feeling talking for her. It definitely took the edge off, though.
Piper glanced up at him and quickly forced out a "Nope" before weakly picking up her fork and knife to cut through her chicken. Kaden was watching her carefully, but Ashe blew it off and savored her steak.
The shyer girl slid her drink forward and smiled, thanking her host for the apple juice before returning to picking at her dinner. "No problem," Ashe began, quickly taking the glass captive before Piper could inspect it. "If you want some more, just let me know," she added, so as to be a considerate host.
Kaden's chuckle nearly gave it away, leaving Piper to look up from her food gloomily. "What's so funny?" she asked, having missed the situation.
The blond haired guy tried to wave her off with his hand while placing some more food into his mouth, but she pressed him until he leaned up to see Ashe's piercing eyes staring directly at him in warning. "We uh..." he began, prying his eyes from hers before continuing on despite her optic threat. She wasn't wearing a pair of ruby sunglasses, he reasoned, looking for the words to tell the red haired medic. He leaned over closer to Piper to at least not have his words heard by the more innocent company, when suddenly Sophia sharply cried out.
"OW!" she yelped, withdrawing her leg from under the table to rub it before snatching up the tablecloth to suspiciously eye the fellowship's legs. "That wasn't funny, Kaden!" she suddenly accused, pointing a finger directly at him.
He pulled back from Piper to defend himself from her wrath. "Whoa, now..." he began.
Meanwhile, under the table, Ashe's feet unlocked themselves from their most inconspicuous position around her chair legs. Crap! she cursed mentally. How did I miss him?
![[Image: Ashe.jpg]](http://i1017.photobucket.com/albums/af298/symbiosychotic/Ashe.jpg)