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(Setting) The Oscar Mike Dive Bar
| >A man in blue trenchcoat enters and looks around, taking in the scenery
"Er... hello."
| >>515091
>The woman blinks her eyes as she slowly recognizes you.
"...CN?"
>She takes off the Santa hat.
"...you lost weight."
| >>515136
>The tender shrugs.
"Depends what you mean. Vanilla didn't even want to open shop..."
>She gestures around her.
"But Mint said having all these decorations up wasn't worth it if we didn't have visitors. Not that we expected anyone to find us here... but..."
>She sighs.
"Ok. How did you do it? And what do you want to drink?"
| >>515357
"I check all new water holes that open up, you never know what info you can dig up, and a Sugar Rush please."
>There's a beat
"How about Strawberry and Cocoa...?"
| >>515365
>She starts to form the sugary concoction as she speaks.
"Better, but Strawberry's recovering the slowest." >She pulls down a tall bottle of karmotrine.
"How much?"
| >>515376
"None, and what do you mean slowest? I saw them in back in Halloween so I know they're already awake..."
| >>515400
"Yes. You probably heard it in the car. A lot of us were culled from law enforcement, military, and research postings, but..."
>She covers her face with her hand moodily.
"We always suspected that she 'put on the red light' in her past life. Now, how much karmotrine do you want in this 'rush?"
| >>515422
"I didn't say that." >The tender says as she passes you your drink- a miniature santa hat sits on top of the stirrer that she had left in.
"They're out of the building right now, getting groceries. I think Mint'd like seeing you. Cocoa, too, not that she'd admit-"
| >>515445
"Yea... it's a long story. Once again, the city likes sweeping their secrets under the rug and I end up finding them."
| >>515461
>She sips her drink.
"I'm not surprised- do you hire people to take care of all those children?"
| >>515466
"Y-You took that more nonchalant than I expected. And not really no, just our team and some people we've helped before"
| >>515467
>She blinks.
"It's not a secret at this point. You've been 'adopting' the 'children' for over two years now. Maybe longer than we think. What's surprising about that?"
| >A loud and drunk woman barrel their way into the bar, laughing jovially before stopping and running up to the counter. She leans on her metal arm and gives the bartender a cheesy and drunk grin
"Heya gorgeous, how are you doing?"
| >>515472
>The tender, usually immune to this sort of affection (from Strawberry, no less), blushes at the suddenness of your intrusion!
"I-I'm fine, thanks- wait, don't I know you..."
| >>515475
>She blinks a few times, her buzzed brain not entirely functioning
"...Does it matter? even if we did know eachother that'd just mean"
>She winks playfully
"You star-struck me twice gurl!"
| "Ooo! And What's this about a weapon? Did I just so happen to intrude on some juicy info to give to ol Dahk?"
>She places both arms on the table grinning wildly
| >>515481
"The one I mentioned while I was gone for four months... like two minutes ago..."
>>515484
"Sorry to disappoint but the thing is busted now and lost."
| >>515481
"R-right-"
>>515489
"No, two minutes ago you were discussing rescuing more of our former employer's, er, 'children.'" >The tender says, utterly confused.
| "Shhh at this point, it doesn't matter what was said, Its what you say now that counts!"
>Dahk takes a deep breath and muses to herself
"Still though, thats a shame, Maaan first Tango Down, then CN's arrest, now this broken weapon thing... I keep missing all the cool stuff! Maybe i oughta retire from this whol informat gig...
>She flashes another grin at the tender
"...So i can get to work at ya full time!"
| >>515495
"Information is still good after the fact. How about this then? You know theres a district not on the map? I uh... wouldnt recommend going though."
| >>515493
>She makes a zipping motion with her lips and shakes her head.
>>515495
"Er, t-that won't be necessary..."
| >she sighs
"Yeah... Yeah i guess that's tru- Wait, are you saying that conspiracy theory anout what happened to CN is true?!"
>She jumps out of her seat
| >A downtrodden Lilim steps into the Oscar Mike, a black leather jacket over his shoulders with a red scarf covering his neck. He slowly made his way to the counter and offered the bartender a wave with his metallic hand, the Lilims yellow Irish's piercing in his passive expression.
"I'll take a piano man whenever you're free bartender."
| (The lilim's yellow iris'piercing on his passive expression* sorry for that)
| >>515625
>The tender nods to you and gets to work on your piano man. She raises an eyebrow to CN.
"Telling all your friends about us?" >She says dryly.
| >>515595
"Er... which conspiracy theory? Theres a lot of them."
>>515706
"Nope, I havent said anything."
| >>515599
"Oh you know, the one about the 'secret district' that the corporations are hiding from us. Supposedly it was am explanation to where the furag CN fucked off too, never really got any proof besides 'I done my research' so i diddn't look into it at the time"
| >The Lilim gazed at the 'conspirator'.
"A secret district? How can a whole district be kept under wraps?"
| >>515755
"It's a big world out there, and i doubt anyone gets to see it all... Same goes for this city, You're not *really* going to trust the map makers... are you Or so it goes anyway
| >>515730 >>515736 >>515755 >>515758
>The tender takes a swig of her drink.
"Secret districts? I did hear that not everything in this city is on a map..."
| >>515769 >>515736
"Well it is true, it seemed to be cause of the damage left behind from the 24 hour war."
| >The Lilim folds his arms onto the counter.
"So how is this secret district? Is it easy to access? Better yet...is it underground?"
| "Supposedly you could walk right into it so..."
>She yawns
"Why? you gonna check it out?"
| >>515868
"I was a courier in Dublin, if it's a shortcut I'll take it. Tends to help my business."
>The Lilim looked at Dahk and offered his best smile.
"Besides it does sound interesting doesn't it?"
| >>515875
>She laughs
"From what i heard, itd be a pretty shitty shortcut, and yeah it sounds fun but..."
>She stretches
"Look, i already lost 2 limbs this year, not planning on losing my fingering arm..."
| >He paused and considered her answer.
"You make it sound like it's an an actual warzone."
>Surprise reflected on his face, he allowed a silence to go by before opening his mouth again.
"My apologies, I'm still adapting to much of this city."
| >>515875
"If it's a shortcut, it shouldn't have taken geekboy here so long to get out..." >The tender says dryly.
| >>515875
"Well uh... considering the whole thing is surrounded by enough EMP emitters to not only block all surveillance, but practically fry any augs near it, I doubt you would like it as a shortcut. Plus the place is pretty dangerous even without that."
>CN muses as he sips his drink
| >The Courier scratched his finger hair and sighed.
"Yeah...no that's a sure way to commit suicide. What were you doing there?"
> He took a long sip of his piano man.
| "Trying to leave, i imagine"
| "...why do I get the impression that you weren't talking about the children...?" >The tender says.
| >just now putting 2 and 2 together, Dahk realizes it was CN sitting next to her!
>she blinks, shakes her head, and takes another swig of holiday beer
"... man that takes me back, wonder if any of the folks t hat chased you down went missing there."
| >>e15e15
> The lilim took a secondary swing of his piano man.
"Well...glad you made it out fine...why were they shooting at you?"
| >>516196
"I wouldnt know, things in there were chaos for awhile."
>>516203
"Remember the uh 'tool' your old boss had?"
| >>516300
>The tender blinks- she opens her mouth to say something and then clamps it shut, her eyes shiftily looking to the lilim and the drunk woman before she turns away.
>Just then, the door bangs open as a pair arrives- two short girls, hidden behind a mountain of grocery bags!
"Rocky! Fire up the oven!" >The first says, with a slight slur,
"We're having pizza TONIGHT!" >She says, joyously. The girl behind her groans before dumping the packages on a nearby chair.
| >The first girl has short, mint green hair and wears a ragged hoodie along with a knitted cap that is several sizes too large for her head. She absolutely reeks of cannabis, and her mouth is stuffed with part of a baguette.
>She blinks as she looks toward the bartable.
"Eyyy! Geekboy!"
>Meanwhile, the other girl, shorter still with brown hair, thick round eyeglasses, and a peacoat and scarf, stumbles as the mint-colored girl speaks.
>She turns around with a scowl.
"Geekboy."
| >>517168
>CN smiles at the pairs arrival
"Hello, you're both a sight for sore eyes. I'm glad you're alright, how are you two?"
| >>517184
>The tender groans.
"We had pizza last night... and the night before that..."
"Terribl-" >The brunette says, as she's interrupted by the stoner.
"Amazing, amazing bruh... why wouldn't we be?"
| >>517185
"Well uh... just been awhile since I saw you all and was worried given the uh... last situation I saw you all."
>He frowns at the brunettes answer
"Why terrible?"
| >>517191
>The brunette blushes and tries to scoot around the bartable, but the stoner grabs her by the scarf and pulls her over. The tender facepalms and hides a smirk.
"Hehe, told ya geekboy was worried about ya-"
"S-shaddup!"
| >>517202
"Nah geekboy, she's just flustered is all-"
>The brunette continues to struggle with her scarf- eventually she manages to squeeze underneath it and escape the stoner's chokehold! She viciously snatches the scarf and runs off!
"Oops. Ah well. Joining us for foodings, y'all?"
| "I suppose...? Though it seems I'm not going to have an actual convo with Cocoa unless its alone."
>He says, chuckling into his cup as he takes another sip
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| >Squirreled away in the deepening snow of the Uptown district, in the decidedly less wealthy-but-not-exactly-poor parts of town, one can find a set of steps that move down between the plethora of trendy cafes and ala carte sushi bars, to small family run storefronts, whose atmospheres sit astride a delicate, often unwieldy balance of obscure and comforting.
>Nestled underneath a low to mid-range condominium, there is an old looking wooden door, reinforced by iron bands that travel its length vertically. It has a vintage deadbolt locking mechanism, but with no tumblers- instead, on the side of the door is a maglock key reader, cut into the reinforced duracrete & durasteel mix that compose the condo's foundation.
>For the past two years, this door has sat locked and untouched, collecting dust and ash as its intentionally obscure location and mundanity succeeded in making it little more than an oddity.
>Until now.
>A small lamp had been switched on above the key reader- its vintage halogen bulb burns through the snow a soft white light, and the door, you find, is open.
>Within, you step upon roughly hewn wooden floors, which give way immediately to a thick shag rug. On your left are a set of coat hanging racks, the first three rungs of which are already taken by a long black pea coat, a colorful pink & orange windbreaker, and a small patchwork hoodie that reeks of cannabis.
>To your right, you see the thick shag rug snake its way around a brick and mortar fireplace, lit and crackling joyously. There are a variety of ancient looking reclining chairs here, some with stuffing leaking from their arms and headrests, but nonetheless usable. There is an enormous stuffed toy sitting on one of them- it is shaped like a giant coffee mug with a ^_^ face on its front.
>Behind these adornments there is a large table set with candles and festive tablecloths, surrounded by a dozen chairs that have been decorated with random winter paraphernalia. Further back, you see a thick granite bar table alongside some stools- these too have been festively adorned, and a four foot tall "snowman" made out of plastic cups sits flush against the wall, its wooden branch arms held outstretch.
>The bartender behind the table is an average height woman with neck length black hair. She's wearing a white blouse with suspenders and a red bowtie, with a Santa hat on her head, the fluffy ball of which keeps falling onto her face.
>As you and other patrons make your way inside, she knocks her head back, decisively removing the ball in the process.
"Welcome to the Oscar Mike," >She says warmly, as she straightens her tie,
"What may I serve you?"