Kiri stood on the bow of the boat, relishing in the feel of the salt breeze in her hair. It had been far, far too long since she’d been on the ocean. Not since Sparta, in fact. She’d spent two amazing years on the pirate island, serving as crew for a captain who also became her best friend and lover. But that was entirely a different story, and was in the past now. The wanderlust she was cursed with had set in again and she’d left Sparta, and now events had led her here, to the other side of the world, to one of the last places in the world she wanted to go. Blowin, home of the wizards.
To be honest, she’d always felt more of a kinship with the scientists and inventors of C-Prime. They, after all, were the ones who designed the technology that created her beloved guns. Wizards sneered at technology, to the point of calling it heresy. Of course, scientists weren’t much better, viewing wizards as backwoods pagans with no real sense of the world. Kiri was inclined to agree.
There was a certain majesty to a ship with a sail, though, that could never be matched by the thrum of an engine. The ferry drifted peacefully up to the dock, where half of the crew leapt over to tie the lines thrown by the other half. Within seconds, they were snug and secure in port. Kiri glanced back at Renee, who was passed out asleep on a pile of sailcloth a few yards away, and Derek, leaning on the rail near her. The poor angel girl had worn herself out, first parasailing, then swimming, then shopping. Now that it was finally wearing on towards evening, Kiri was just starting to wake up and feel alert - she was definitely a night owl. Renee, on the other hand, was clearly not.
When the crew started setting up the gangplank for the passengers to disembark, Kiri decided it was time Renee woke up. With no further ado, she took Renee by the shoulders and shook her violently. She awoke with such a start that Kiri almost felt bad. Eh, it had worked at least. Derek snickered and moved closer, abandoning his post on the rail.
“C’mon, we’re here! They’re about to kick us off.” Well, that wasn’t entirely true, but it certainly got the still-drowsy angel up and moving. Moving with considerable help from Kiri, though - her arm was draped around Kiri’s shoulders and most of her weight was on her too. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think y’were still drunk, girl!” Renee just giggled and looked up at Kiri with a sleepy smile. Derek moved to take Renee’s other arm, but even so she was an awkward burden.
“Nope! Jus’ tiiiired…” She slurred then, amazingly, leaned her head on Kiri’s shoulder and started to fall asleep while stumbling along between the two of them. Kiri shook her shoulder to no avail, then resorted to shouting.
“Hey! Kid! Renee! Quit sleepwalking, dammit!” Giving an irritated sigh, she retorted to pulling out the big guns. “Renee… how would you like to find a bar?” Like magic, the angel perked up like she’d never been asleep.
“Bar? I like bars. Can we get food too?”
Derek chuckled. “I wouldn’t mind something to eat - and drink - either.”
Kiri sighed and ran a hand through her hair, laughing helplessly. “A’right, a’right. Food n’drink it is. Just, Renee, walk on yer own, ‘kay? We can’t be carryin’ ya through that.” She nodded towards the crowd flowing past the end of the dock. It was like rush hour in C-Prime, only instead of cars, it was people. Renee’s eyes were wide but happy.
“I’ve never seen this many people at one time… Port Antil is big, but it’s real spread out. Even the University isn’t like this!” she remarked with a tinge of awe in her voice.
“Yep. That’s Blowin for ya. Every person in all a’ Geonova who wants t’learn about magic crammed in this tiny island. Instead of bein’ out in th’world doin’ some good.” Far from awe, there was bitterness and sarcasm in Kiri’s voice that made Derek look at her oddly. Kiri quickly shook it off, though, and grinned again. “Well, I promised y’all a bar, and bars’re great places for info. So what are we waiting for?” Linking elbows so as not to be separated, they dove into the crowd. Kiri was used to situations like this, and plowed determinedly in the direction she wanted to go, taking advantage of each small gap between people to drive further ahead, tugging Renee and Derek along in her wake. Although she received more than a few sharp words and glares as she shoved her way past people, they did manage to make very good process.
After about ten minutes, Kiri realized that finding a bar would not be easy. Now that the situation presented itself, she did remember hearing vaguely that Blowin was a tough place to find good alcohol - or alcohol at all. Maybe even something about it being banned? She’d always just dismissed it as a rumor, so she decided not to mention it to Renee. Instead, she grabbed the arm of the first person she saw not in the robes of a wizard. “Hey, mister! Can ya tell me where the nearest bar’s at?” she said loudly over the noise of the crowd.
He chuckled and pointed back the way they’d came. “That way, second street on the left. The Blue Devil is the only bar worth visiting here. Best Discovery Beer in the city… I’m sure you’ll like it.” The man laughed again, then turned and continued on his way. Derek had a strange look on his face, like he was fighting hard either not to laugh or not to throw up. Kiri arched her eyebrow at him, then pulled Renee - who had started to drift towards the distraction of the shiny things displayed in the shop windows on the side of the street - back to them and shouldered sideways against the current of people to the other side of the street, where most of the people were heading back the opposite direction. The first street came up fairly quickly, but it was another good half hour of walking before they finally reached the second street on the left. By then it was starting to get dark, and Kiri was ready for dinner as well as something cold to drink. At least the crowd was starting to thin out as stores closed and people went home from work to their families.
The street the man had directed them to was still pretty crowded, though, which made Kiri a bit apprehensive. She hoped the bar wouldn’t be too crowded. Having secret conversations about sensitive material was difficult in a crowded bar. She needed to milk people for information, not party - as much as she enjoyed the latter. To her dismay, when they finally reached the door to The Blue Devil bar, it stood open and she could see that it was indeed very crowded. No sooner had they crossed the threshold than Renee pulled her arm free and made a beeline for one of the few empty stools at the bar. Derek also left her with a nod and a wave, heading to a table that apparently had a few people he knew at it. Kiri didn’t bother to follow either of them, settling for surveying the room instead.
It gave her quite a shock when she spotted a familiar cat and angel pair sitting at the bar a few seats down from Renee. It was even more of a shock to see a vaguely familiar but nonetheless umistakable man sitting at one of the tables. It was the bounty hunter from Onsen, who had passed up on the entirely reasonable chance to hire her. He was sitting alone, which told her that his fortunes hadn’t changed much. For a moment, she paused and reflected on the sheer chance that could have brought them all together in the same place at the same time. Then again, they were all looking for the same person, and they’d all met in or near bars before, so she supposed it made sense that they would all make their way to the only decent bar in town. Still, it was worth marvelling at.
Then again, Kiri was never one to turn down opportunity. Her crew currently consisted of an alcoholic archeologist slash researcher and a gunman she didn’t know that much about yet. It would definitely be a good idea to try to add to her firepower if she intended to take on someone as powerful as Midas had revealed himself to be. With that in mind, she joined the hunter at his table.
“Well hello again… Timmy, was it?” she said, flopping down in one of the chairs.
“Tomlyn,” he muttered, glancing up at her with a look just short of a glare. Kiri chuckled and waved at the waitress moving between the tables. She brought over a tall glass mug frosted with condensation, with a foaming head on it. The liquid inside was lovely dark brown color, the color she associated with the best of ales. She needed something to drink before she dealt with Tomlyn.
Ever so slowly, savoring the moment, she lifted the glass to her lips and took a long, slow drink. As soon as the beer hit her tongue, she knew it had no alcohol whatsoever in it. At the same time, it was good. Very good. Delicious, even. Delicious enough that it didn’t bother her as much as it should have that it was non-alcoholic. She set the mug down with a satisfied sigh. “Well… that was surprisin’.”
“Yeah. Not much good for getting drunk though,” Tomlyn grunted.
“I feel ya there. Now, why’d a strapping hunter such as y’self be wantin’ t’get drunk on a night like this?”
Tomlyn heaved a long, heavy sigh and leaned back in his chair. “Well… suffice it to say I have had absolutely zero luck on my job. I came here assuming that, since my target is a wizard, Blowin would be a good place to go. But I can’t seem to catch a break… can’t even get a decent crew together!”
Kiri listened attentively, making all the appropriate noises. “Mmm, yes. Must be rough. Y’know…” She took another drink of Discovery Beer. “I’m actually on a job as well. Lookin’ for crew, too. Wouldja be interested’n helpin’ me out? There’d be pay in it for ya.”
“Depends… what’s the job?”
“Typical bounty. Find’n catch. He’s a pretty trick target, though I’ve found a few good leads. Even found him… but y’know how it goes. Time wasn’t right.” A shadow passed over Kiri’s face as she remembered the embarassing situation she’d ended up in. Damn wizards.
“Who?” was all Tomlyn asked. Kiri leaned in close to whisper the name “Midas” in his ear. The look on his face told her all she needed to know. She’d figured Black Diamond had likely hired more than one mercenary to do the job.
“Thought so. See, we could team up. ‘Course ya’d be workin’ for me, ‘stead of the other way ‘round.” Tomlyn seemed to ponder her offer for a few long moments. The conflict was plain to see on his face. Finally he sat up and lifted his mug.
“Well… here’s to teaming up. What’s the pay?” They clicked mugs together in a toast and drank, then proceeded into the nitty gritty of bargaining back and forth. It was a time honored tradition, and both were well versed in the necessary skills. Kiri was just slightly better, and managed to get him to agree to a much lower price than either of them had anticipated. After that, she managed to convince him to socialize more, and dragged him over to the table where Derek sat. They proceeded to enjoy a delicious meal consisting of the single most tender pot roast she had ever tasted, cooked with potatoes and carrots, finished off with a fluffy white cake topped with strawberries and sweet whipped cream. Afterward, in the general good spirits that always followed a good meal, a spirited game of poker started up.
A few rounds passed. Kiri was an old hand at the game, and had decent luck. Tomlyn, on the other hand, was horrible at poker, and was soon in a considerable amount of trouble. Just as she had folded a horrible hand - off suit four and three - she looked up and spotted Renee, still at the bar. What was odd was that she was not alone. Kida and Destiny, the pair from earlier, were sitting on each side of her, talking to her. Shoving the pile of chips in front of her over to Tomlyn, who snatched them immediately - no questions asked - she stood up so quickly she knocked over her chair and almost ran over to the bar.
“Renee, good buddy, whatcha doin’?” she asked loudly, leaning on the bar pointedly directly between Kida and Renee.
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