---Left turn ahead [Naoise]

[faye]

Faye brought down the mug of Bhujerban Madhu against the counter, a move that had made the inn-keeper wince quite a few times already, reflexively approaching the bar from the other side and opening his arms wide as if to contain destruction...with added hilarity given that was dressed as a zombie. It was the theme of the Ghost Square, from the ominous gravestones in the yard outside, the stone-carved gargoyles decorating the stairway that leaded to the inn and the realistic-looking spider-webs hanging from the corners of the roof; everything was set up like a second-rate horror movie. The inn-keeper and the staff were also dressed accordingly, as well as many of the patrons; zombies, vampires and white-sheet ghosts walked around the place carrying drinks and chatting amiably. Faye found all of this incredibly lame. First, zombies weren't pale and didn't walk around stiffly with their arms extended, they had rotten skin and were actually quite fast; second, ghosts were invisible. And everyone knew vampires didn't exist. They were a stupid urban legend, just like werewolves and male Vieras...Well, at least she hoped male Vieras were a legend. She liked Auric's version about them growing out of trees. It suited them.

And where was Auric now? Probably having a world of fun around the rest of the amusement park while Faye was stuck in that stupid inn, drinking bad alcohol served by a friggin zombie. The bastard had probably seen the whole thing and just sat there in his seat laughing; some friend he was. But that was just her luck. First she'd lost that race because her Chocobo was faulty, and then she'd been dragged away and banned from all rides after rightfully complaining that the competition had been unfair. I mean, that Joe guy's Chocobo was clearly on something, no animal could run that fast. It was even a different color, for Etro's sake; who knew what they'd given the poor animal. She'd said all that, but of course no one had listened to her. Figures they would punish her for complaining civilizedly. Well, maybe she'd yelled a little too much, and she may have tried to throw a Ruinga spell at one of the jockeys; but so what? Everyone is allowed to lose their temper once in a while. And she had been cheated up on, that had to count for something. The competition had been rigged. Probably to make her lose, specifically. Yes, she was certain.

The mug crashed against the counter, making a thunderous noise that startled near-by patrons; it was a wonder the glass didn't break. If only the alcohol was as good as the glassware - she was certain it wasn't even actual Bhujerban Madhu. Probably some crap imitation from Midgar. And they kept the real Bhujerban Madhu for the special customers. Suddenly, Faye had the distinct impression that everything was the somehow inn-keeper's fault. Yeah. Dressed in that stupid costume, all...zombie-ish. She was quite certain he was behind all of it. Stupid zombie guy. What the hell had she done to him. Looking down at her half-empty mug, she noticed him approaching her gingerly, his voice trembling slightly despite his attempt to seem commanding.

"Ehm, miss, I think you've had en-

[/i]"

The man was interrupted as Faye grabbed him by the collar, doubling him over the counter with startling force. Their faces were inches apart, Faye's yellow-colored eyes slitted dangerously, the man's wide open in alarm. She'd put in his place, she would.


"I'll have enough...when...I say...I've had enough."


Faye's own voice sounded strange to her ears, and she found she had trouble forming a coherent sentence. Mmm...it seemed that alcohol wasn't so bad after all. Her anger forgotten, Faye released the man and took a deep swig of her mug, emptying it's contents. It went down her throat like water, a wave of dizziness blurring her vision momentarily. She believed...she may be drunk. Aurelians had to drink a shit ton to get to that point, but it was possible. So far she'd drank... about four glasses? Or maybe forty. She'd lost count at some point. At any rate, it had to be really good booze to get to her like this. She looked at the inn-keeper, feeling a sudden wave of affection, and grabbed him by the collar again.

"...You're a good guy, you know that?" She looked at him very seriously for a moment, then let go and patted him on the shoulder. "Now gimme' another drink, you bastard."[/blockquote]

[naoise]

It was all rather confusing and Naoise spent most of her time nodding along dumbly to things she didn’t quite understand. She had been given no guidebook, or even a crash course on what to expect out here, apparently her fellow Aurelian’s had a great deal of trust in her ability to blend in. Unfortunately, being a chameleon didn’t make up for her being so unlearned in the frivolous fancies of these strange people, which could account for the look of sheer disbelief that crossed her face when she realised she had forgotten to dress for some kind of ghoulish occasion. She hadn’t noticed it to begin with, when first entering the amusement park (on official stalker business) but at some point in time (probably when she entered the ambiguously named Ghost Square) the greasy faced children had morphed into something even more unsavoury. Fortunately, there were scantily clad ”witches,” dotted around the area to uncurl that lip of disgust and raise those eyebrows a little higher. The freaks may have been out in droves, but Naoise was willing to overlook that fact so long as several tasty morsels occupied her line of sight. It was all about compromise and with that thought in mind, Naoise decided she might be able to handle the ridiculousness of zombies, werewolves, vampires, ghosts and queer looking boys from unnamed wizarding schools a little better with some alcohol greasing her mockingly judgemental tendencies.

The worst case scenario was that it would only make her vocalise her displeasure at such juvenile antics, but she doubted that would happen. She was rather juvenile herself, the idea of her binging on Madhu making her more sophisticated instead of less was just…well, not worth thinking about. Now! It was time to reward herself for a hard day’s work of stalking (admittedly lazily so) and this Golden Saucer establishment looked to be on par with whatever other uninspiringly glamorous bar’s she had found herself propping up in the past. Obviously her drinking there would give the place some kind of prestige, drag it up from the dregs it no doubt wallowed in. When she ducked into the place, she found more wierdo’s and built up an understanding of the places particular clientele. Uncouth creatures! Forsooth! Especially that one throttling the ill looking barman…

Waitaminute, that brute seemed familiar.

Her entrance into the place had only been noted by a small group of bewildered looking patrons by the door, mostly because she had hit one with the door accidentally. His fault entirely, who sat in doorways and got surprised when they were in the way? She’d muttered something under her breath, something he wrongly took by way of an apology but there was nothing apologetic about ”…somehow overlooked your fat arse.” What it lacked in remorse, it made up for in sincere spite. Her proficiency with mumbling kept them from exchanging further biting comments, Naoise’s gift to him. She would surely destroy him if things had gone further. She was a beast in that way, y’know? Obviously not as beastly as the woman at the bar though, whom Naoise was quickly honing in on with reckless abandon. The redhead had displayed a fickle temperament but Naoise was sure she had nothing to worry about, too certain that she knew this one. Her evidence, the stuff she was basing her flippant approach of the snarling female on, was that she’d put money on having seen that shapely derriere somewhere before. Ah yes. Naoise was a sophisticated sort, she categorised people according to their physical attributes, and she’d seen that ass back on Pulse. Aurelis to be exact.

Still, she fought the temptation to sneak up behind her, afraid she might get hit in the face out of surprise or something just as painful and problematic to Naoise’s whimsical good looks. Instead, she settled for sliding up beside her, by way of a single lunging and totally graceful step forwards that she followed with leaning against the bar all casual like.

“What a fright!” She expected a chuckle for that one, it was just genius considering the evenings theme. ”What have you come as? A harpy?” In her head she expanded on the insult “…a scolding, nagging, bad-tempered woman.” The characteristic smirk to her face wasn’t something she wanted slapped off, just yet, so she kept that part to herself. Naturally. As if just to provide her with another safety net, the bartender returned with what she assumed to be some strange home brew, it certainly didn’t smell like Bhujerban Madhu. That tiny detail didn’t stop her from intercepting its delivery to Faye and taking it for herself though, few things ever did give her pause for thought. “Fantastic! It’s almost as if you anticipated me Faye.” Almost, but not quite, it appeared as though Faye was in a bad mood, meaning Naoise would have to be doubly as charming as usual.

Brazenly (the only way she knew how to be), Naoise took a swig of Faye’s drink, it lacked the same kind of kick she’d gotten from other alcoholic beverages, any alcoholic beverages. In fact, if she were less educated about how alcohol should taste, she’d think it had been watered down. ”Are you drinking water Faye?” She slammed the mug down, in a similar fashion to how Faye had earlier, nudging it towards her whilst ushering the Bartender to get her a fresh one that hadn’t been tampered with. While he scurried about, pretending to know nothing about the watering down of Faye’s drink, Naoise noticed how inebriated the fellow Scout seemed to be and decided poking fun at that would be a good way to go. “ My my. Starting to see double? Oh ho ho! Dream scenario, eh? Two me’s!”

As she tested the new mug of brew she was offered, she made no mention of how she had been looking for her, or even what on earth she was doing here as opposed to being back where Faye had left her in Aurelis. Ignoring the important things and missing the point entirely was how Naoise generally conducted herself, seeming to just take things in her stride. This time she’d just so happened to have bumped into the exact person she had been sent to chase after, it made her stalking job easier, and Naoise wasn’t in the business of questioning her luck.

[faye]

The inn-keeper looked at Faye in puzzlement for a second, taken aback by this patron's dangerous mood-swings and paradoxical strength, then simply re-arranged the collar of his shirt and gave up on the idea of cutting her off. A smart move. No one cut her off. Faye was not to be trifled with; she was an elite warrior trained to kick ass from birth, though lately people seemed to miss out on that . They just looked at her petite, deliciously shaped body and impossibly attractive curves and thought 'oh, I can take that bitch on' and proceeded to order her around like she was crap. Well, she wasn't prepared to accept that. Not this bitch. Friggin amusement park security personnel and Chocobo jockeys and zombie barmen that thought they could walk all over her, she'd give them all a piece of her mind. That and black eyes, and broken limbs, and a whole world of 'this-will-hurt-in-the-morning' kind of stuff. Yeah. She was doing it ...right...after...she finished...this drink! Or maybe the next one. One more couldn't do wrong.

The Scout brought the mug to her lips again, then proceeded to crash it down back into the counter. Each drink went down easier than the last, the burning sensation completely gone at this point. Faye considered the fact that she may actually be drinking too much, but ruled it out for lack of precedent. Besides, she could certainly afford to drink however much she wanted to. She could buy the whole friggin' establishment if she felt like it. In her mind she would then fire all the security personnel, and toss Joe the jockey in a lonely dungeon. Or put him in a cage hanging from the roof, and have everyone poke at him with sticks while they laughed at his disgrace. That'd be fun. She was more in a mood for a good fight than playing business woman, though. Maybe she should just find Auric and randomly attack him. Then hopefully the disturbance would summon security and he'd be banned from all rides too, and she'd have someone to commiserate with.

Enhanced senses of perception were one of the goodies that came with being a Scout, what with orientating yourself and maneuvering in hostile environments and whatnot, though in her state of inebriation the sound of the door knocking one of the patrons flat on his ass barely registered at the back of her biological radar. She did notice it, however, when her fellow Scout flowed across the bar and leaned casually at her side, all raven-black hair and black leathers, cheeky smirk in all its glory, teasing remark already in the air and smelling of home. That feeling you get when you're irking for a fight got replaced by a different kind of irk, the resented scowl inside her turned into a sort of relieved smile that didn't pass on to her face. Instead she looked at her friend with a half-patronizing, half-amused smirk on her face, one eyebrow raced as she looked at her friend for the first time it what seemed like years. "Succubus," Faye answered, waving extravagantly at her physique. She wasn't waring any costume, of course, but the gesture implied she didn't need it to pass for one. "And you? I'd say crone, but those actually look like your usual clothes." Crone - stock character common in fairy tales and folklore, an old, unattractive woman who is usually disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner. They were often witches as well, which made it particularly fitting.

Faye kept looking at the other Scout, still trying to process her sudden arrival. It wasn't completely unexpected, given that she hadn't contacted Aurelis yet and her mission was far from complete. It made sense that they sent someone to aid her. She was kind of surprised that they'd sent Naoise off, though; she was cunning and talented, but also somewhat lazy and irreverent. Faye was not exactly docile, but as far as eccentricity went Naoise beat her by far. Faye liked her; she was unpredictable, quick-thinking and surprisingly smooth-tongued. The woman could probably talk a Behemoth into submission. She was also great to be around with to keep those razor-sharp sarcasm skills in condition; Faye sort of let herself drop her guard when she was around Auric. He was also pretty cunning, but not as acid as Naoise. Of course, both of her friend's bartering abilities paled miserably next to Faye's shinning wit, but in truth that was an exceptionally high standard to live up to. Her musings were interrupted as her fellow Aurelian snatched her drink.


"Wha - hey, that's MY drink! You...witchy...drink-thief." She concluded waving her hand in a vague gesture, giving up on the phrase. Alcohol was wreaking havoc on her speaking skills. She swore she'd never been this drunk in her life...not aloud, of course. She was familiar enough with taverns to know that would invite rude comments. Not that she minded them particularly, but having drunken slobs hitting on you grew old fast. Naoise's next remark puzzled her. "Water?" Faye blinked several times at the glass of supposed Bhujerban Madhu, wondering if it was possible it had been tampered with. The inn-keeper could have been watering down, replacing more water with alcohol progressively each time she ordered a new drink, though if he had it seemed to be having the opposite effect. Perhaps her own body was compensating for it...somehow. Or she'd just drank too many glasses before he started putting water into them. At any case, it was outrageous. Faye reached to throttle the barman for a third time, but ended up losing her balance, the bench she was sitting on sliding to the side slightly. She managed to prevent an embarrassing fall by clutching on to the counter with one hand, blinking puzzledly once again as her face ended very close to Naoise. She sat back up and cleared her throat, forgetting about the barman and ignoring Naoise's comment about the wonders of seeing double. "...So, ehm. Are you just stalking me for the kicks or are you on a mission?"

[naoise]

An eyebrow quirked upwards at Faye’s confident reply, a Succubus eh? Well the agreeable Naoise just couldn’t and likely wouldn’t argue with that, not just because she enjoyed her face staying as it was naturally arranged, but because she didn’t mind thinking of Faye like that. When Naoise had left Aurelis to sample the delights of the world at large, (on super serious business), she had noticed her ego eclipsing everyone else’s. She had never thought of herself as particularly egotistical, arrogant for sure, but never more so than any other Aurelian, but when she’d been given strange looks for mentioning herself in the third person, she figured it wasn’t so prevalent up here on Cocoon. Maybe they fancied a bit of modesty, or maybe they were just wise enough to avoid drawing unnecessary attention to themselves by shouting out about how they could make someone throw up their breakfast just by looking at them funny. Magic was still somewhat new and unknown to her people, which had allowed her to get away with a lot of bullshit. Once she’d threatened to recite a rather devastating incantation that would result in a person’s head literally being shoved up their own ass. The idea of it was terrifying enough that few ever let her go beyond the first three words of this mythical incantation. If they were ever brave enough for four, she’d make something else up and tag it on…and so on and so forth.

“Biting!” Despite the insult and insinuation that she was old and unattractive (the only parts she could concede to having a real issue with), her grin remained fixed. A visage of good humour and mockery that was very rarely prone to cracking beneath the sharp retorts of others. “Worse, my dear Seductress. I’ve come as a freeloader,” the admission came as easily as the flirtatious comment, which was placed there mostly to soften the blow of the statement. What blow, you ask? Well, obviously she was saying that she expected Faye to pay her way in and throughout her stay at the Golden Saucer, and likely out of the Golden Saucer, and everywhere else where it was customary to pay for things you wanted. She had a little bit of gil stashed away and clinking around in her boots, but what if she wanted to buy something nice? Psh. Couldn’t do that if she’d drank it all with Faye could she?! Of course, she figured Faye was rolling in it what with all the business she had presumably been doing to avoid doing that mission she was sent to do…in the first place. Such were the mechanics of Naoise’s mind. Twisted and distorted and generally way off the mark.

She tried to think back to how she had been given the task of locating Faye, not so much about why someone of her lacklustre track record would be entrusted with such important things, but of how it had been said to her. Despite her best efforts, she really couldn’t remember there being any urgency about it, though urgency was not a tone she could read well. Naoise was just far too caught up in irreverence to really notice when shit was going down, or even when she should make something a priority. Perhaps that was why she’d only been given a small job in finding Faye, and hadn’t been trusted to do anything grand off of her own back. N’yes, there was that small part about her having to assist Faye from now on (now that the redhead had turned up very much alive and drinking), but she’d already decided much of the hard work would be placed upon Faye’s capable shoulders. Naoise? Well…she would cheer her on and give her unwanted advice about things she didn’t really know anything about. All that good, useful shit she was good at. A sidekick, some might say, but she was sure that those trusty companions were the ones left with the grunt work. That made Faye the sidekick! Twisted and distorted little cogs churned on in her think tank, convincing her once again that she was right, about everything.

Ah yes, the witch and thief combination insult. She’d had many of those in her time, many good and many not so good, Faye’s latest was a little strung together of course but made perfect sense within the context. The context of Naoise being a witch and stealing a drink, she could see what the drunken woman had done there; such a clever sod she was. Sneaky witch thief was the norm, but who could blame Faye for being all drunk and slurry and nonsensical? Naoise rather liked it. It was endearing, but only something Faye could pull off well. A glance around confirmed such a fact, the other drunken patrons remained just as unattractive as they normally were, even with the shine of inebriation dancing around their eyes. She wasn’t sure what gave Faye the edge over the rest of the Golden Saucer’s offerings, but thought it might be something to do with that Succubus physique of hers. Hmm. She gave her the once over, the unashamed undressing with the eyes up and down look to help her reach a conclusion. Perhaps.

Well, it certainly wasn’t her grace, as could be confirmed from the flailing attempt she made at lunging for the barman. The sneaky drink cheater man! Without thinking and before her eyes had truly registered Faye’s unbalance, Naoise had steadied the bench with a foot before it was removed entirely from beneath Faye. It was of course, a testament to her cunning sneaky witch thief reactions providing her with some extensive muscle memory with how to keep benches on the ground. She’d fallen off of her fair share, watched as others had done the same, pushed some to prove gravity could not be defied and of course, Faye was not the first drunken woman she had chatted up. Instinct was defied though, as Naoise remained unflinching even as Faye got all up in her face. It was something that might terrify others, such as the barman, or cause some kind of discomfort, such as a vulnerable lady type that Faye was after, but not Naoise. Nope, Naoise could still operate as smoothly as ever, even with her bubble of personal space invaded so thoroughly. Besides, she’d been in far more intimate positions with her fellow Scout.

Still, it seemed to off balance Faye as much as the alcohol had, and as she cleared her throat in an attempt to side-line the awkwardness, Naoise’s Cheshire cat smirk only seemed to beam brighter, if it were even possible. “A few more of those and you might be one your back!” she gestured towards the Bhujerban Madhu, a look on her face that said she didn’t oppose the idea. “In which case, I’ll take care of you.” Charm such as hers couldn’t be taught and neither could it be feigned or even replicated with the same style. But then, why had her Aurelian kin sent her off on some fool’s errand? It was almost as if they wanted to get rid of her for something… oh well. Their loss was Faye’s gain. “Stalking you is the mission Faye. People were worried about you, not me, obviously, but people.” Had she been worried? Maybe a little, but grounded facts rarely passed her lips.

“It’s just as well I arrived when I did. I dare to think what kind of lechers would be preying on you if I weren’t sitting here.” Faye deserved only the best, and Naoise was the number one lecher. She should perhaps ask for an explanation as to why Faye hadn’t reported in, or completed her mission, but that was just too direct. Naoise left the blunt and to the point way of things to her betters such as Faye!