[F29 | SP] Alcoholics Notorious | <<On The House>>

[Acanthus 0]

On the House

Acanthus slammed the tavern door open. Breathless and nearly doubled over, she managed her question through half a dozen wheezing coughs.

“Where… where—are—you?”

“Where are ya goin’, Masuda?”

Haru craned her neck to look at the clock. 20:00 on the dot. She remained frozen, foot halfway out the door as the rest of her coworkers observed her like an animal in a zoo. Gingerly, her foot returned inside.

“I usually leave work around this time.” Her confidence faltered for just a moment. “I—I have all my projects finished and I’ve made sure the lab equipment is clean for tomorrow morning’s shift so I think—”

“Masuda. Calm down, girl.” Her manager gave her a relaxed smile. “I just asked where you were headed after work.”

“Oh.” Haru berated herself silently. She really should have known better. Mr. Nakatani was a kind man and usually left two hours before Haru ever did. He probably wasn’t looking to drag out her shift for no reason.

“I always go home and study. I have a test in ‘History of Japanese Government’ next week, so I’ve been working through the textbook a second time—”

“Haru.” The familiarity caught her off guard, and she stopped babbling. “I’m not trying to stress you out. I was just wondering if you’d like to come have drinks with the rest of the team tonight. We just had a killer day with all the tech scans and samples, so I’m trying to keep spirits up. It’ll be my treat.”

Haru paled at the invitation. She knew Mr. Nakatani took the team out pretty often for drinks. It was one of the reasons she tried to leave so late. It kept them from crossing paths, and that kept the errant invites away. Now that he was here, asking her directly, she couldn’t really say no. She was his boss.

He seemed to notice the delay in her response. “There’s no pressure at all. If you’d rather go home, that’s ok. Hell, it’s probably more responsible.”

“Not at all, Mr. Nakatani. I’ve really been wanting to meet up after work with everyone. Are we heading out now?”

-----

Acanthus | Lvl 71 (34/37) | No Stats (RP thread)

Edited 53 minutes ago by Acanthus
ooh I actually leveled up to Tier 8 from the last CoB threads

[Acanthus 0]

The decrepit bar greeted Acanthus with a mournful whistle as she forced the crooked door shut. Her mind was still racing. There had to be someone here. This was the exact location—she had triple checked. Her heart pounded.

—Haru’s heart pounded. Mr. Nakatani had dropped her right into the middle of the table. It was barely 20:30 and the drinks were flowing freely.

“Slow down, Eiji!” A short man in glasses playfully slapped the back of the wiry boy sitting next to him, who appeared to be halfway through his first plate already. “Gods know where you put that. I miss having your kind of appetite.”

“Sorry, Hiroshi.” Eiji wiped his mouth demurely. “I missed lunch. It was a really busy day.”

“Hey, don’t I know it. We were all there, remember? I’m just worried that you’re scaring the new girl. Haha! You even got a little bit of sushi on her.”

Sure enough, a tiny bit of nigiri slid down Haru’s petrified face. A matronly hand reached over to wipe it off.

“You ought to be ashamed of yourself, Eiji! And you didn’t even notice it. I’m so sorry.” Her coworker, Mariya, glared at the young man, who seemed quite ashamed. He stood up to offer a deep bow, but Haru tried to wave him off. Any attention was bad attention. “I’m fine, please sit down. It was an honest mistake.”

“One he makes a lot. I’m pretty sure he once sprayed me with half a bowl of ramen.” Akihiko winked playfully as he looked at Haru, who quickly averted her gaze. She found it hard to focus while she looked at pretty people. Mariya shot Akihiko the same stern glare. “Stop being such a flirt, Akihiko. She’s already nervous. It’s her first time out with us, after all.”

[Acanthus 0]

“Why is that?” Came the innocent question from Eiji. Haru’s world slowed to a halt as she scrambled for an answer. Thankfully, Mr. Nakatani stepped in. “She’s a busy girl, Eiji. Getting into the University was one thing. Now she’s dealing with classes and exams on top of a full work schedule at the hospital. You said you had an exam next week for History of Japanese Government, right? How is that going?”

Any attention was bad attention, but center of attention was the worst of all. Haru nearly fell over at the table. Maybe it wasn’t too late to leave. Or fake a heart attack.

A beer appeared in front of her. Akihiko smiled innocently, a sort of “how did that get there” grin. “She’s busy with her drink. Maybe we let her finish this one before we berate her with questions?” He looked back at her with his full, rich brown eyes. What was I thinking about anyways? She looked back down at the bright, golden beer. Thin lines of neat, orderly bubbles marched their way to the top of the glass, forming a foaming shield against the world outside.

“Poor girl’s probably never had beer. She may not even drink.” Mariya began to reach for the glass. “You don’t have to drink, Haru. Just relax and—” In a single motion, Haru jerked the mug away from Mariya and tilted it back, draining half the glass at once. Akihiko whooped; Eiji and Hiroshi looked on with admiration. Mariya gave a sort of resigned grin. “Alright then. Suit yourself.”

Once Acanthus was absolutely certain the bar was devoid of life, she stumbled behind the counter to look at the bottles. They could be described charitably as a Precambrian vintage. The labels had faded entirely, and half of them had large cracks running through the glass, barely holding back the cloudy liquid they contained. If there had been people in the bar, they would have died of thirst.

Acanthus sat heavily in the nearest stool. It shifted with a terrifying *pop* before settling about ten centimeters lower than before. Undeterred, she swiped the first foul concoction within reach and popped the cork. From the look of the bottle, it was once some kind of liquor. Now, it was a greenish-amber liquid that drooled out of the bottle like cold syrup. Battle-healing will outpace the poison. Probably.

“Kanpai.” She whispered to the wall.
 

[Acanthus 0]

“KANPAI!” Haru stood as she raised her glass, nearly knocking over the collection in front of her. Akihiko laughed. “Damn, Haru, you’re probably about half beer at this point!”

“Bbiolo gica lly imp ossible,” Haru slurred her retort as she sat back down. “P oint ffiv e blooo d alcolol content kills people. Iiam probably sitting around—” She jostled up in down in her seat, like she was weighing herself. “Point oon e four.”

Mr. Nakatani laughed. “I knew you were smart, Haru. I didn’t realize you were your own breathalyzer.” Haru shook her head, arms splayed out. “Ssmathmatics. I’ve have this many beers—” her fingers waggled up and down on every other word— “And I w ie gh this much—” more waggling— “soo were looking at point one fofur. Ma ybe five.”

“Haru!” Mariya playfully feigned shock. “You shouldn’t tell men how much you weigh!”

“No,, ‘sok. I’m using a fiv e percfen margin of error. Gotta keep em guessing.” Mariya burst out laughing as well. “You are incorrigible! I love it.” Words formed in Haru’s mind, caught by the rapidly dissolving filter to her mouth. I”m not incorigibaly. I’m ac ting normal.

[Acanthus 0]

Acanthus drank in the tense silence. Maybe if she waited a little longer, he’d show. But two and a half bottles later, she began to doubt it. With a perfectly sober hand, she reached for another bottle behind the counter and cursed the game. Old enough to die, but not old enough to get drunk doing it. Fuck Cardinal, and fuck Kayaba.

Fishing around in the dark for another bottle, her hand instead closed around something crinkly and dry, like the carcass of a large beetle. Her hand snapped back to her side as her anxiety spiked. A drink—a real one—would be perfect right about now. Slowly, she reached back and grabbed the mysterious wad from beneath the counter. It was a long strip of yellowed paper. Straightening it out, she read it.

SHIPPING MANIFEST
1x crate Rotgut’s Finest
2x crate Greyish Goose
2x crate Prolapser Absinthe
4x crate Surplus Whiskey
10x beer (yellow kind)
10x crate beer (not yellow kind)
10x crate beer (what other kind is there)

Preparing to toss the trash away, a familiar chirp startled her. A quest? She looked down and nearly dropped the paper.

Acanthus, w̴̾͜h̸̓̚͜a̶̙͒̈́t̸̪͕͒ ̴̞̈́̍ͅa̵͎͓͆͝ṛ̵̌̐ẹ̷̹͘ ̷̯̭̌͂y̷͉̏o̴̪͚̓̅u̶͇̓͊ ̸̳͒d̵͉͐̽ọ̷̓͆i̸͓̠̍n̸̢̈́g̸̘͋ ̸͚͐a̵̹̪̋f̸̟̞͒̔ṱ̷̏e̸̫̯͑̾r̷̘͕͐̚ ̴̥̘͂w̵͕͒̈ö̸̤͉́r̴̙̀k̸̤̀?̵̲̎ ̶̝̆D̵͔͒͑ṟ̵̈̈́i̵̼̲͠n̷̳̄͒k̶͕̐ș̷̢̓ ̸͎̗̀̇a̸̲̤͑̎r̵͇̃̔e̵͙̖̊̂ ̷͚͉̓̿o̸̯͐͜ń̶͓͙͗ ̸̰̏̑m̵̩̰̑e̸̥̔͋ :) -E Accept Quest <<On the House?>> ̸́̄͊ͅ

 

[Acanthus 0]

Waiting at the docks
243228 | LD 10 | You see the ship far away, on the horizon. You blink and suddenly the ship is right upon you, and much bigger than you were expecting.

“We’re heading out. Same place tonight?” Haru looked up at Eiji. He seemed excited at the prospect. Haru was unused to people being excited to socialize with her.

“Sure thing, Eiji. Just want to wrap a few things up and I’ll see you all there soon.” Eiji beamed, shot her a thumbs up, and disappeared.

Haru looked back at her desk. She had finished her work hours ago; now, she leafed through her notes on algaes of the southern hemisphere. Going out after work was not the worst, but still… Acanthus felt like she needed to prepare herself mentally. Arriving late meant people had a drink or two already in them, and buzzed people would forgive her for being herself. By the time she caught up, she’d be acting normal along with everyone else.

The automatic lights turned off, and Acanthus glanced at the overhead clock. 20:27. Fourteen minutes earlier than last time. As long as I vary my entrances by about fifteen minutes, arriving no later than forty-five minutes after the agreed start time, it should give the appearance of an organic arrival. She knew she was thinking too hard about it, but those parts of her brain wouldn’t turn off without a beer or two.
 

Edited 51 minutes ago by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Three bottles later, her nerves were still shot. It hadn’t been very long ago the frontlines had taken to this floor, looking for the labyrinth as quickly as they could manage. It was going well until some stupid, low-level players decided to let their curiosity overpower their common sense. The new floor had turned into a graveyard for some of that unlucky one-hundred. Not unlucky, she reminded herself. Stupid.

The young, defenseless boy flashed through her mind. She recalled his final whimper vividly. Or what should have been, except for Jomei. Acanthus took a tired swig from the bottle. “What does he know. Mr. Hero,” she said out loud. “Thinks he can save the world one idiot at a time.”

The quest icon pinged, reminding her of the invitation. Grabbing the dingiest bottle from the set, she sloughed off her stool and waded out into the cold drizzle. Her heart raced at the thought of seeing Edict again, but she knew he was dead. This was all some trick to get her hopes up.

[Acanthus 0]

A horseless carriage awaited her outside the bar. Acanthus slung herself up into the driver’s seat with an anxious impatience. One last bottle from the shop dangled in her fingertips. It had been the most disgusting of the beverages by far, something that had put even Oz’s most experimental elixirs to shame. “C’mon, hurry up. Go. ‘Yip yip,’ you stupid—”

The cart lurched forward with an unsteady gait. Acanthus gripped the reins with her free hand, swigging rotten battery acid with the other. If it tasted bad enough, she could pretend it was working.

-----

Waiting at the docks
243228 | LD 10 | You see the ship far away, on the horizon. You blink and suddenly the ship is right upon you, and much bigger than you were expecting.

-----

The cart rattled over the cobblestones in a way that set her teeth on edge. It wasn’t just the cobblestones, though: the dilapidated houses and eerie absence of people were a constant source of stress for her. How long would the frontlines spend on this floor. The answer was simple: too long.

Even the waters were somehow too calm and too choppy all at once. The light drizzle and biting winds churned the waters restlessly, but the depths were still in a way that beckoned death. But the quest had asked her to pick up liquor from the dock, so that’s what she had to do. The lack of anything to pick up was suspicious, though. A trap, unlikely, but maybe the quest’s glitches were finally showing. As if gently correcting her, a soft *ping* indicated a change in her quest objective. The new marker appeared halfway to the horizon, above a small ship heading towards her.
 

Edited 48 minutes ago by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

I don’t know much about boats, but at this rate, the ship is never going to—

docked right in front of her, clipping through the wooden piers. The massive galleon vibrated angrily, stuck between the textures. It promptly vanished, reappeared, zipped up into the air, came back down, did a flip, vibrated a little more. And then it settled calmly next to the dock, awaiting a player’s touch.

Acanthus eyed the object incredulously. Maybe vocalizing her anxieties would reduce them “How fucked up would it be it you did that again and catapulted me three miles out to sea to be eaten by some field boss?” The boat did not respond. She kicked it twice for good measure, which to boat took in stride. She grasped the rungs of the rope ladder up to the deck, and the boat continued to wait patiently like a grazing foal. In and out. Let’s get in and out.
 

[Acanthus 0]

Unloading the Cargo
243249 | LD 16 | You hear a voice that only you can hear. It speaks in tongues but you understand. Terrible things whispered into your ear, Once you depart from the vessel, the voice is no longer with you. (Literally I was hoping for any of the outcomes other than this one. LET ME WRITE SOMETHING THAT ISN'T VOICES)

-----

This is the part where she does things :nod:

Edited 46 minutes ago by Acanthus

[Acanthus 0]

Travel Back
2432450 | LD 9 | You, and only you, see yourself walking in front of you. They mimic your every move, before violently turning their neck to look you in the eyes. The moment you lock eyes, they are gone.

Shenanigans inbound

Edited 44 minutes ago by Acanthus