Closed Hurricane Drunk [Gale McCenry]

[Roane]

67th of Spring, 514 AV
The Kelp Bar, Zeltiva

Roane had literally no reason to be at the Kelp Bar. So why was she there? The horse Kelvic asked herself this many times before deciding that she just wanted to see what everyone was like when they were dead drunk. Or close to it. Maybe she was just bored. Either way, she found herself at the entrance to a run-down tavern.

The girl wrinkled her nose at the smell of dead fish. It wasn't unlike what she smelled down by the docks, except it was older and a little more than mildly unpleasant. And it wasn't only the smell that made her slightly uncomfortable -- Roane felt like all eyes were on her the moment she entered it. The Kelvic slowly made her way to a woman who looked like she ran the establishment.

It was quite dim, the room, so she almost slipped on a pungent liquid that had been spilled on the floor. It could've been beer or vomit, or even piss. Who knew how many people drowned their sorrows here and didn't give a shyke as to what happened.

She managed to get to the bar without any embarassing incidents, and apparently judged to be alright. Heads finally turned around and conversations started back up. Roane stopped in front of the woman and clearned her throat nervously. "Could I have, um..."

Her eyes scanned the sign behind the counter before the middle-aged bartender cut in. "We only have kelp beer. It's that or nothing."

"I'll have kelp beer then, ma'am. Please." Although she came off a bit hostile and crude, the Syliran was polite since the owner had the authority to kick her out. She didn't want to start a fight in the 'fine establishment.'

A mug of flat, green liquid proved to be the source of the dead fish-smell that seemed to stick to her skin. Roane took it, paid for the concoction, and looked around the room for a seat. There was one, next to a lanky blonde man missing a couple fingers. She sat down, staring at what could maybe pass for a drink.

"Why don't they sell anything other than kelp beer? Some people don't drink... I suppose you'd just go to the World's End Grotto, then." Roane muttered to herself.

Common - Equus

[Gale Austin McCenry]

There was always a certain right in Gale's mind that specifically stated that a man, or woman, could do whatever they wanted on their birthday without there being any harm done to their established relationships. Of course, Gale has met many people over the years that didn't follow that same belief, which is why Gale ended up spending his time on his birthday with complete strangers. Others like spending time with family, but the only family that Gale had was Ricky Maze, the valiant Wave Guard who held Gale on a much higher pedestal than he really should. And Gale surely wasn't going to be the one to break the news to him, having put so much faith into him already. It would just break his heart to see his best friend for who he really was. And of course, there was Ignotus, though the utter thought of the repugnant undead being a relative by any means made Gale want to shudder if he didn't vomit first. So it only made sense that he wouldn't hang around said people on the one day that he could do whatever the petch he wanted. And therefor, that meant it would make sense that he would hang out with strangers. And what better place to hang out with strangers and do what you want and not be treated like a maniac than the Kelp Bar?

The Kelp Bar wasn't the most special place to go for your birthday, for even the Grotto was more suitable for a nice meal and a calm night, but, for once, Gale didn't want a calm, relaxing night. Despite having been hard at work scrubbing a deck all last season and up and about doing every crazy thing he could imagine besides riding a horse in the sunset, he didn't want to just sit down and have a cup a tea or read a book. He just wanted to... He just wanted to.... Aaaaugh! What DID he want to do?

Tilting his head back and chugging the last few drops in his mug, the now thirty four year old man finished off what was now his third cup of Kelp Beer. Or fourth. He wasn't paying much attention, really, but every time he finished a mug and set it down, he would look back at it to be full. But oh well, he supposed. Gale slammed the mug back down on the counter and looked to the man that was on his right. The man he had been talking to for the past two or three bells. Could be four... His name was Steve. No, Phill!

"So Gale!"

"Hm?" The blonde yanked his head to look at the sailor.

"How did ya get that?!" He hollered as if there was something he was trying to talk over. He gestured to Gale's hand that was still grasping the mug.

"The mug?" He laughed softly with his eyebrow raised.

"No, no!" He waved his hand dismissively before his eyes were brought to the front door that had been opened for the dozen and one time.

"What are you looking at?" Gale turned to look at the door as if he didn't know.

When he looked at the door, there was a woman who walked in, looking a little more nervous than one should be coming into the Kelp Bar. She stiffly made her way to the counter and sat to the seat to his left, eyeing her mug as if it was filled with Zith blood. But Gale shrugged and turned back to Phil.

"What did you say?" Gale chuckled.

"She's talking to you."

"No, No, about getting something?"

"No, Gale, she's talking to you." He pointed to the woman who sat behind him.

Gale looked at him blankly for a moment before suddenly turning around on his stool, looking fairly surprised at the woman. He had forgot she had even sat down. "Pardon me?"

[Roane]

It was unexpected, the sailor talking to her. She hadn't meant to say a word to him, or even speak loud enough so he could hear her. But it wouldn't do to simply leave him hanging. Once again, she had to be polite. Roane turned her head away from the vile-smelling mug and looked at the sailor. "What do they put in this stuff? Why don't they sell anything else?"

The Kelvic took this chance to look him over. A little scruffy, with a bit of a beard. As she noted before, some of his fingers were missing. If the conversation between them continued, she'd have to ask him about that. His hair looked fairly springy and blond, and if it were long enough it could almost cover his dark blue eyes.

A quick glance down to his feet that made its way back up decided that he wasn't overly tall. Very skinny, though. He had a certain look about him that told Roane he had lost something important. What that was, she wouldn't know until he told her. He was in mourning, in her opinion.

In her observing, Roane had fully zoned out on his words. She came back to reality with sound rushing in. "Sorry, I completely missed that. What did you say?"

No harm in trying to be polite, after all. And if the sailor had drained his mug of the beer, it couldn't be that bad, right? The girl held her breath as she raised the substance to her lips, pouring it down.

She almost spat it out. The alcohol burned her throat as it went down, a salty rotting-fish taste coating her tongue. The Kelvic's eyes bugged out, and as soon as the liquid was swallowed she began coughing madly. A good chime and a half passed before she stopped, grunting and clearing her throat. "What the petch is in that stuff!? It's disgusting!"

Common - Equus

[Gale Austin McCenry]

What is in Kelp Beer? What type of ridiculous question in that? It made no sense to question what the drink was made of, for it was there and it was delicious! If you acquired the taste for it, at least. "Do you go about asking what a fish is made of?" No. It's just a silly question! It didn't make a difference what it was made of. Whether it was made up of water and fish guts or simply alcohol with sea water, it didn't matter. Unless she was a someone who studied that sort of thing, but that wouldn't make any sense either. Why would a student come here to ask what Kelp Beer was? Especially a woman! Woman typically don't care for the drink at all. Hana didn't...She liked wine, though it was extremely expensive, given the fact that Zeltiva doesn't have a lot of wine.

Gale's free hand scratched the back of his neck as he starred at the wooden counter with a rather blank expression. Though the images of the young, braided-haired woman spitting out the green slop came to an abrupt stop when the stranger next to him asked for clarification. "What else did you want us to serve? Wine?" He said rather sarcastically even though that wasn't what he said before at all. Zeltiva wasn't exactly the land of the plenty, so if you wanted a drink and didn't want to spend a fortune on it, you got Kelp Beer.

Gale let go of his empty mug and looked over his shoulder to Phil, who had already occupied himself with another sitting at a table nearby. Gale simply shrugged and looked back at the woman as she tentatively raised the mug to her lips. She did pretty well for the most part, given that this was probably her first time. But it never lasted, and as usual, the woman swallowed and then gave the typical... womanly response. Gale of course, gave the typical bystander reaction.

With a grin overpowering his lips, the artist let out a bellowing laugh, one that covered even the woman's furious coughing and gagging. His complete hand slapped the counter as if it released some of the hysterical energy that had suddenly built up within him. Gale held the excitable smile on his face as he leaned over and patted the startled woman's back, as if she was choking on a piece of food. However, with Kelp Beer, you never know. Maybe she was. Still laughing behind his words, he commented,"That never gets old." He let his hand fall back to his side as her coughing fit dwindled down enough for her to question the sanity of the drink.

"Hey, if you don't like it, then why don't you get out of here!" He said half angrily though still with a sarcastic manner. Although Gale had no responsibility over the beer that was sold here, he somehow felt the need to defend it in some way. Probably because he had somewhat of an emotional attachment to the gooey liquid. "But the first mug is always the worst." He continued as the elderly woman slid him another mug. He starred at the slop as he went on,"Once you get past the burning it isn't so bad." The sailor starred for a few seconds more before looking at the stranger with a mysterious smirk of sorts. Whether it was simply from the beer or if he meant to do so what up for interpretation, because Gale didn't even know. He simply raised his mug to his lips and took a few big gulps, freely letting the unknown substance slither down his throat.

[Roane]

Roane shot the man a glare for his laughter. Her throat still burned, mostly from the pain of hacking up a lung. The taste of the liquid still coated her tongue, unfortunately. It was truly disgusting.

As the sailor explained that, apparently, 'the first mug is always the worst,' Roane's lips flattened into a disbelieving line. She shook her head, coughed a bit again, and mindlessly lifted the foul-smelling mug once more and ingested the drink.

And once again, the Kelvic began coughing. Her closed fist pounded the counter in an effort to control the heaving of her chest. When she managed to quiet the cough, she realized she felt a little... warm. It wasn't a bad feeling, but she felt like if she stood up, it would take a bit longer than normal for her to find her balance. Like she had been spinning slowly for a little bit.

Roane looked at the stranger, smiling slightly. He appeared to be less hostile than everyone else. What was his name? Had he told her? She didn't think so. The Syliran stuck out her hand -- the right one, so that he could shake it if he wanted to -- and introduced herself. "I'm Roane. Like the color, with an 'e' on the end."

It couldn't hurt to have a new friend, right?

Common - Equus

[Gale Austin McCenry]

Gale set his Kelp Beer down, only to have some of the substance slosh out of the cup and onto his hand. Though, he was surprisingly unaffected by it and did nothing but merely flick his hand once and leaned against the counter. He placed his jaw on his palm and the other hand on his hip, a position that seems fairly uncomfortable as he watched the Kelvic take down another sip of the 'disgusting' drink.

"My, you brave soul." His words were rather muttered, for his jaw being on his hand didn't provide for the best position to talk in any way. But once he let his arm fall to the counter, though having the rest of his body remain still, his words sounded more precise. "Having another go at it? Surely you aren't any ordinary girl." He gave a more sarcastic smirk than the last. Referring to the fact that most girls don't try to get past the first mug at least. He watched her slam her fists on the counter as if she was a child throwing a fit, all the while he continued to smile. Once again, he didn't notice he was doing so.

But it didn't take nearly as long for her to calm down from this sip, which was actually a big improvement. Good for her! She even went to introduce herself! How sweet. Gale was about to hold out his hand before he remembered the spilled Kelp Beer. He wiped the remaining liquid off his hands onto his brown pants, for he wasn't wearing a shirt, exactly. He was wearing his vest, which still covered a good portion of his torso, except for a the small amount of which where the buttons would go, if vests had buttons. But the two belts that he wore over it (one across his torso and the other slightly above his waist) did a decent job of keeping it closed. Though an observant eye would still see the pale skin and lucan underneath. If Gale sat still, that was.

But nevertheless, after wiping the beer off his hand, he took hold of her hand firmly and giving it a single, but jolting shake. "Roan? I don't recall that being a colour. Is that a type of red or brown?" He questioned. Being an artist, Gale thought he knew at least most colour mixture names,like jade and such. But Roan was completely foreign. Though, if Gale thought about it for a few seconds he could have remembered that that was a horse's coat colour. But Gale didn't know much about horses and his mind was far too cloudy with the buzz to even comprehend that horse pelts had names. Like Roan.

[Roane]

Roane gave a chuckle. "'Course I'm not an ordinary girl. Ordinary girls don't usually have mums that can turn into humans. And usually 'ordinary' girls don't have a second shape. Don't smirk at me, sailor boy." He appeared to be somewhat young, but he could be an Ethaefal or something and be fifty years old. Or a half-blooded Isur, although he was too skinny for that. Plus the light made it hard to tell.

She took two more drinks from the mug, keeping the coughing to a minimum. The warm feeling had spread to the rest of her body, and she felt almost... What was the word? Content, that was it. But it wasn't a sleepy kind of content. In fact, the more she drank, the more she felt detached.

The Kelvic giggled at his comments. "Oh yeah. It's a reddish-grey color, but it can be brownish-grey or something. Don't ask me why my parents named me that, I've no clue."

She cleared her throat before continuing, "It's got something to do with 'orse colors. I guess they thought it was funny or somethin'."

The longer she spoke, the more her prissy Syliran accent dropped into something she adopted from the gutters of her birthplace. Roane's eyes roved over the belts keeping his vest closed. She spotted a marking on his chest, right where his solar plexus would be. Her finger darted fowards, aimed straight at the footprints. "What's that?"

Her own clothes were a bit shabby. They were her travelling clothes, after all. She hadn't yet gotten to buy another pair. It was a linen shirt and trousers, with her boots. Normally she wouldn't have minded being completely nude, but humans had laws against that and she didn't want to get in trouble.

The girl tossed her hair out of her face and over her shoulder, grabbing the mug again and taking another drink. The heat had grown, and the taste wasn't as bad anymore. At least she wasn't coughing. Roane reached for the counter to push herself up and her hand slipped, thrusting the rest of her arm groundwards and hit her head. A curse burst from the Kelvic's mouth, fingers going to the hurt area.

Gingerly she felt the skin, decided it wasn't going to be bad and dropped her hand. "You haven't told me your name either, stranger. It's common courtesy to exchange names."

Common - Equus

[Gale Austin McCenry]

Moms that can turn into a human? Having a second shape? What was wrong with this girl? Was there a missing cog or a wheel that wasn't turning? Because none of this was making any sense. And that fact distinctly showed on his face. His eyebrows were furrowed in a dumbfounded manner and his mouth was a firm frown. "Hold up for just a chime!" He shook his head while waving his hand. "Back up a few ticks, what?" He would continued to stare at her in a confused manner until she completed what she said.

But once the conversation moved along, Gale would nod slowly at the talk about Roan then suddenly shudder at the mention of horses. "Ahhhhah." He should his head as if in disgust. "Horses and I don't-" His head continued to shake but his hand started to wave again,"Horses and I don't get along." With that said, he stopped shaking his head and hand to grab his mug of Kelp Beer and take another long chug.

As he was doing so, Roane seemed to notice the tattoo like marking on his sternum. Gale set the mug down and followed where her finger was point until it met his chest. "That-" he took hold of his vest and lifted it slightly,"Is a vest, darling." This girl simply didn't make any sense. First she's talking about shifting forms and now she doesn't know what a vest is? Jeez. She really wasn't an ordinary girl.

Gale turned in his stool so his back was against the counter. He propped his elbows on the wood, almost tipping over his mug, and looked around the bar. It was mainly the same old Kelp Bar, but there was a small card game going on a few tables away. Gale wasn't much of a gamblers, nor a game player, so he did nothing other than turn back to look at the strange woman as she asked for his name.

"Apologies." He said, sticking his hand out again, it being his left this time, though he didn't notice this fact,"McCenry. Gale McCenry."

[Roane]

Roane rolled her eyes. He hadn't gotten what she was talking about. She pretty much told him she was a Kelvic. Was he deaf or dumb? He didn't seem like it.

As he explained what he was wearing -- which wasn't what she had asked about -- her expression changed from displeased to downright grumpy. Now he was talking to her like she was the stupid one! And he didn't like horses, either!

The vagik turned so his back was against the wood of the counter, looking as cocky as possible. Once he heard her telling him that she still didn't have his name, he looked at her and stuck out the hand that was missing fingers. Roane hesitantly shook it, feeling slightly nauseous.

Her own hand felt almost polluted, and she wiped it on her pants. "I don't think you figured out what I was saying, McHenry. My mum's a Kelvic. I'm a Kelvic. And I'm slightly insulted about you not gettin' along with 'orses. You get along wi' me just fine. Also, McHenry, I wasn't pointin' to your vest. I was pointin' to that."

The Syliran pushed aside his belts and vest, finger pressing down on the lacun. His skin was cool to the touch, and moved in time to his breathing. She could feel the muscle shifting underneath it. Roane picked up her mug and finished it off, the alcohol's effect spreading. Her limbs were loose, and she felt like she could do anything.

OOCI misspelled Gale's last name on purpose, please don't get mad o~o

Common - Equus

[Gale Austin McCenry]

OOCMad? Why would I be mad? :| Haha! No, seriously, I think it's funny when people mispronounce his name, so go on ahead! Also! If you want me to rephrase what I said as to give you a chance to 'block' what Gale does, then don't hesitate to tell me. I don't want to power play or anything at all so if you feel like I'm doing such at anytime then just tap me on the shoulder.

Gale wasn't sure why she wiped her hand on her pants. He thought he made sure there wasn't kelp beer on his hands before shaking hers, didn't he? What, was shaking hands with someone with some missing fingers a big deal? It's not like he had the flu or some terminal, contagious disease or anything.

Gale's eyebrows furrowed, with a more cautious look than anything, but that look was wiped right off his face when she mentioned she was a Kelvic. It didn't take longer than an instant for his face to completely flip around, his previous frown flattening and hsi eyebrows raising in surprise. His face became wan as the woman next to him was suddenly dead, her hair cut short and blood smeared her throat. The soft mumble of the crowd in the bar turned into a roaring, growl, matching that with the infamous snarl of yet another Kelvic. For a moment, if the angry woman even bothered to look, would see pure terror in his eyes. But, perhaps she didn't, for she lunged at him, shoving aside his vest to press a thin finger on his chest, although he had stopped breathing entirely for the few moments she held it there.

Now, Gale didn't care what she was pointing at, because he didn't even know what he was doing until it had already happened.

Instead of responding with a verbal yell, the artist's right hand swung up, knocking her hand away from his chest. Once her hand was away from him, Gale shoved the woman as hard as he could. How hard that really was, he didn't know, but nevertheless, he stood up rashly, knocking his stool over. Then he proceeded to yell,"It's not like I asked for this!! What do you want me to do, to magically know everything about you?! To just suddenly overcome everything I've faced to like what you like?!" Outraged, Gale breathed heavily and his hands balled up into fists. It took him a few ticks to continue but he did, despite the decent crowd now watching them silently,"You think you can just walk in here and expect everyone to just be who you want them to be!?" What was he saying now? She didn't say that, did she? "Well, you can't! So stop being such a bloody bitch and get over yourself!"

The images still flashed in his mind, the teeth, the blood, the fur. It distracted him entirely, because in his mind, he wasn't even yelling at a young woman at the Kelp Bar. He was alone, yelling at all his troubles, hoping and praying they would go away. But, in reality, he really was yelling at a young girl in the Kelp Bar. And when he managed to gather at least some sense, his green eyes darted across his audience before looking back down at Roane. Hopefully she wasn't too new to drinking so that she would at least know that drinking can make one easily angered...

On second thought, maybe it wasn't the beer. Maybe it was just Gale being Gale...