[F29 | SP] Alcoholics Notorious | <<One 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 12 hours 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.

Narrative

Edited 12 hours ago by Acanthus