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(Setting) The Midnight Drifter
| >The door presses open to reveal a short girl in a ragged plaid hoodie. She has mint green hair and a worn beanie, and is breathing hard.
>She looks down at a phone in her hand in expectation, before stuffing it in her pocket and heading to the counter, disheartened. From this distance, she clearly reeks of marijuana.
>She looks up.
"Er... don't figure y'all have any pizza?"
| >The tender lets out a yelp at the sudden arrival and places a hand on her chest
"Y-You scared me there..."
>She breathes in
"No, we don't serve pizza here, we're a bar first and foremost... are you lost perhaps?"
>The other, taller woman looks at the new arrival with half open eyes, before suddenly gasping and getting up from her seat
"You... I know you. You're the one who put a bag on my head at the tango down aren't you"
>Her body tenses up
"Here to start another fire is it?"
| >>552495
"You have quite the gall not to remember, don't you? I remember quite well, how could I not..."
>The tall woman with the glowing green eyes says with a low voice, but as she notices the confusion and unruliness of the girl she was talking to she simply makes a complex expression and sighs.
"Whatever, just try and not pull off some bullshit again"
>She sits back down
>The bar tender simply shows a cramped smile
"Elena... you didn't have to scare the poor girl"
| >The girl squints as she looks up at the lady. As her eyes glow green, a metaphorical light bulb appears over her head.
"You're that ninja!"
| >>552502
>Elena, or OS just sighs even louder
"Listen here kid, i'm not a ninja, i'm an investigator, an agent of sorts"
>She looks annoyed, but she can't bring herself to just shut down a child
| >>552505
>OS just glares
"You have quite the mouth don't you, you brat"
>She says
"And no; I work for AUCR, carve that into your brain why don't you"
>Emily just stares off into space, having been left out of the loop
| >The door opens and a man in a suit and tie enters, it's Arable
"Darn.. I should start wearing something else other than these.."
>He sits down at a table
"Anything special tonight, barkeep..?"
| (oh shit the drifter is open. I'm gonna barkeep, just phone me in. I'm preoccupied in uptown right now with the bbq but working in the drifter way cooler. Phone me boss!
-Tomato)
| >>552507
"Chaucer?" >The girl says, scratching her head. She pulls out her phone and begins tapping on it again. She replaces it in her pocket and sighs.
| >on her way home, tomato passes the drifter. Noticing that the bar was open, she hit the brakes and pulled up in the driveway.
>Through the door, a young woman with curly red hair fashioned into a wild ponytail came in
"Oh thank god things aren't on fire here. You okay boss?"
| >>552669
"I give up kid, seems like that laser cabbage made your brain go bad"
>OS says as she slumps back
>>552755
>Emily turns around and notices Tomato
"Oh! Tomato! I was wondering what happened to you since I hadn't seen you around... I thought you hated me or something..."
>She seems to have been worried, but what's with that last part, it's barely audible.
| >tomato sighed and came behind the counter to give emily a big hug
"I'm sorry, I got kinda busy with my whole mom business...."
>She said, sounding kind of sad
| >>552764
"Oh no don't worry about it!"
>Emily says, blushing from the sudden hug
"Did you find anything yet..."
| "Wellllll...."
>She says, rolling her eyes
"First I should either get changed or get a drink, I think"
| >a boy wearing a blue jacket and a strange headset walks in
>there is an acoustic guitar strapped on his back
"Uuggghhhh finally its over.."
>the a girl with black and white hair follows shortly after
>she uh...oh dear she is wearing one of those ahegao hoodies with matching skirt and garterbelt thigh highs
"That was a long day..."
>they take their seats by the bar
| >Tomato turns around to great the newcomers
"Welcome to the Drif-
Wait. Were you following me?"
>Tomato said surprised to see IA and Gemini walk in
| >>552796
"Your outfit is still in the back, same as last time"
>Emily says before turning to the new arrival
>She sees Gemini's shirt and her face has a complicated expression on it...
"... Is that what's been popular in fashion"
| "uhm..."
>tomato blinked at IA in confusion
"Tomato? We just met in uptown? At your BBQ?"
>She pulls out her phone, showing a picture of Gemini and Tomato posing
"Like???? Ringing any bells????"
| >>552807
"Ooohhhh *that* lady that was yesterday. Are you feeling Alright?"
>it shifts from confusion to concern
>>552804
"No. No thats just gem"
>he chuckles
"Uhhh should i change?"
>the girl now looks confused
| >>552808
"Whatever. At least you remember me somewhat"
>Tomato rolls her eyes, then directs her attention to gem
"That was direct at me. I should get changed. Gimme a sec."
>She says, going to the back room.
>After a few minutes, Tomato emerges again wearing a barkeeper outfit. Vest, Pencil Skirt, white blouse, the works.
>Without another word, she got behind the counter and directed her attention back to emily
"This girl looks cute in a maid dress"
>She states, showing evidence
| "Ah"
>Tomato remembered something
"It was also my birthday recently. Sadly the bar was closed at the time or I would have loved to spend it with you boss."
>she told to emily with a smile
| >>552814
"A maid is it? that reminds me, I haven't seen Uni in a while now haven't I?"
>Emily nods at the picture shown to her
>>552815
"A-A birthday d-date?"
>Emily stammers with her face red
| >Tomato turns red as emily says the word 'date'
>She didn't even consider this could be called a date
"hahaha, I- I guess you could call it that"
>tomato laughs the akward situation off, being clearly flustered
"An-anyways"
>She directs her attention to the newcomers
"What can we bring you?"
| >>552823
"Well miss harem portag ill take anything sour and classy."
>the boy responds
"Oh umm a blue fairy for me please!"
>she says as she strips
>WAIT JUST A MOMENT WHY IS SHE STRIPPING?!?!
| "Okay, one Mercury Blast and... one blue fairy"
>Tomato says, getting into the bartender headspace right away
"fucking calling me a harem protag what the fucking fuck man"
>she mumbles to herself, barely audible
>After a few moments of mixing, she puts one tall glass of mecury blast and an other with a blue fairy. She placed them infrom of the two and then looked up
"There you g-"
>Right as she opened her mouth, she noticed Gem, promptly falling over with a red face
"WHAT THE FUCK"
| >Two men enter the bar, blue collar workers dressed in ratty clothing. One has a bright reflector vest with a polished new yellow construction helmet, while the other is dressed in overalls and carries a backpack on their back. He's wearing a thick trucker jacket.
>They sit on either side of the mint haired girl.
| >>552831
"Cuz you strike me as a harem portag"
>he chuckles, taking a sip of his mercury blast
>he seems to not care that the girl is stripping
"Is there something wrong?"
>she says mid strip
| >>552827
"Huh, miss i'll have to ask to refrain from stripping in the bar..."
>Emily says with a cramped smile
>>552832
>OS watches the men carefully but not so much as to blatantly expose herself
| >>552836
"Stripping?"
>when the clothes are of they reveal...more clothes?
>a hoodie being a hoodie she was obviously wearing something underneath
>huh, white frilled shirt and a black skirt
>even the the thigh highs change from a pattern to pure snow white
>the change is amazing actually
>she went from ahegao chick to springtime maiden just by taking off a hoodie!
>she looks pretty cute in it to boot!
| ( le meme https://i.imgur.com/QpnBp7G.jpg )
| >The beanie-wearing girl, having lost OS's attention, waves her feet idly from the barstool and hums to herself.
>She turns to the bartender.
"Er, may I have a... uh, brandy... 'n coke?"
>She folds both of her hands in front of her and places them on the counter.
| >>552848
>The mint haired girl smiles weakly.
"Um, thanks... u-uh, how much does that, uh, cost?" >She says, putting one of her hands inside her coat and rooting around for something.
| >The construction worker idly unhooks a large monkey wrench from his belt and plays with the screw which raises and lowers its jaws.
>The man with the overalls shrugs his shoulders and adjusts the backpack and his thick jacket. He puts a hand in one of the pockets.
| >>552851
"It's 100 zenny for this drink, if you'd preffer I can put up a tab though?"
>Emily says calmly
>OS is eyeing that bag, her eyes glowing with a green sheen
| >>552865
>She smiles weakly.
"Er, ok?" >She brings the drink to her lips and barely takes a sip.
"S-sorry, I don't really drink, uh..." >She pulls out her hand... it now has a smushed up roll of pot.
"D-don't mind if I smoke, do you? I- I really need a hit."
| >>552874
"T-thanks..." >The girl sets the glass of brandy and coke to her left side and brings the joint to her lips. She inhales deeply, feeling the high course through her weary veins...
| >Shaking the previous situation off, tomato turns to the two guys that just arrived
"What can I bring you two?"
| >>552880
>The man in the overalls looks up at you and smiles warmly. The bulge in his coat where his hand had reached into his pocket presses against the counter, making a metallic noise...
"I'll have a gin martini..."
| >>552886
>The joint still in her mouth, the mint-haired girl reaches over in a flash, and attempts to grab the back of the man in the overall's head! She forces her weight into it, aiming for the glass of alcohol!
| >OS jumps up over, aiming for the small mint haired girl
"GET THE FUCK DOW-"
| >>552888
>The man pulls back, and a shot rings out, going through his jacket pocket and into the mint haired girl's chest!
>The "construction worker" swings the monkey wrench violently into the girl's face, "jaws" facing her!
| >>552890
>Mint just barely has time to react to being shot at point blank... when the monkey wrench hits her at full force in the face, both jaws sinking into her eyes.
>Her joint falls out of her mouth as she's sent flying to the ground.
| >>552889
>The man in overalls sees you lunge and gets up, trying to focus their hidden weapon on you next!
| >>552890
>OS clenches her teeth and lets out every nano-machine in her blood, her eyes glowing furiously
"BASTARD!"
>She pulls back all of her weight, going in for a punch on the backpacked man
| >>552894
>The man's coat pocket lights up as two more rounds fire from it- but nothing stops your attack from sinking into his face at FULL FORCE.
| >OS waits for the hit to connect, feeling a dull pain as a bullet strikes her, but then simply pulls back and unleashes machine gun fire from within her coat, aiming for the other man. Fire unleashed at 1200 RPM washes over the man, shredding him with 30 .308 ACP rounds in about five second.
| >Mint gurgles on the ground, struggling to crawl away, despite blood running down her face and belly.
| >as the attack begin, tomato grabs her own gun, a moded KRISS Vector, from under her vest and opens fire on the man with the monkeywrench, spraying him with .45 bullets
| >>552904
>OS rushed over to her and turns her on her back
"Kid, calm down, they're down!"
>She sees the terrible state of things and bites down on her lips
"Goddamnit! Emi, call the ambulance! and bring me a stim NOW!"
"Stay with me kid!"
| >And so Emily does, calmly, almost like she's used to this
| >>552907
>Mint reaches up and touches your arm, feeling for your face.
"V-vanny?" >She says weakly.
| "Shits on fire right now, pretty much all hospitals are at max capacity because of the stupid Blackout! Damnit!
I only have my bike her or I'd get her to the ER ASAP myself!"
>tomato exclaimed, rushing over
| >>552909
"... Sorry kid, it's Elaine Suravosky Douji"
>She says painfully, using the stim on her arm, she remembers the name, didnt she hear it in that tango down incident... Vanilla, just who were those people.
"You stick with me kid, and i'll bring you to her, a saint never breaks a promise"
| >>552912
"N-no..." >Mint says, gripping you tightly,
"T-they'll find her... them..." >She gulps.
"P-please... t-tell her, if you see her..."
"I'm sorry that I'm... such a..."
| "GODDAMNIT, STAY RIGHT HERE AND TELL HER YOURSELF!"
>OS says with passion as she looks around for anything to help out, but of course she can't find anything
| "If we have a way to strap her to my back, I can drive her. We gotta make it quick thou"
>tomato interjects, kneeling down next to OS
| >>552934
"Thank you, Emily and you take care of her, I got some people to get in contact with"
>She stands up and looks at the girl, where ever this vanilla was, she would find her and tell her, she would also stop this madness going on into the city, it was not the time avert one's eyes now
| "Do we have a rope or something Boss?"
>Tomato said to Emily
| >>5b7468 >>218545
>The man in a suit and tie who was sitting there ignored sighs
"And then theres me.. ignored and forgotten.."
>Arable gets up to the injured mint, removes the bullet and closes the wound with some type of crystal
"Lie down.. and don't move too much, these crystals are as easy to apply as they're easy to break.."
>Arable turns to tomato
"Also excuse me barkeep.. I would like a brandy please.."
| >>553182
"oh huh, sure!"
>Emily brings over a rope and then turns to arable
"Now isnt the time for drinks I think..."
| "Hear! I am to offer assistance immediately!"
> A woman storms into the bar. Her one eye glows as she scans the situation. A smudge of surprise runs over her.
"Make haste. Outside is chaotic, and everyone is at panic. If she is to be helped, then we must hurry."
> She said, with the slightest hint of commandeering voice.
| >>553398 >>553460
>Arable remembers something
"Wait!! I have a lab outside GC and I can bring you there for recovery since we have medical equipments and the hospitals are full.."
| >>553481
>Emily shakes her head
"Are you crazy? If we move someone that much the risks are aay higher, we have to apply first aid and make sure she's steady, then she can move"
>She says firmly
| "Correct."
> Uni moves closer to the collapsed girl. She frowns at the wound, and can clearly guess what had made it so.
"—Curses."
> Behind her is a bag; belted to her waist. The bag is modest in size, but as she digs around it, she takes out a hefty first aid kit.
"I am not a paramedic. We must take her to a hospital still."
> From the first aid kit, a cleaning cloth was taken out. She pulls the sleeve of the girl, cleaning the bare skin below.
| > Once it's as clean as the cloth can be, she sees the first aid kit again. The anaesthetic she takes is that contained in a syringe; of which she injects carefully to the cleaned area.
"Is there any functioning water heater?"
> She said, to no one in particular.
| >>553495
"T-the power just came back up, so its all in the back, it should all work!"
>Emily points to the curtain behind the bar
| >>553496
"I will need more than a glass full."
> Her eye glows once again. Though the light is now focused on the girl.
"Bring me three glasses worth of warm water. Warm; not hot."
> She brings out a new cleaning cloth, throwing the old one despite its entirety looking clean still.
"Those idle, ping any nearby hospitals! We must not waste time!"
| >>c1db39
"Don't worry, I worked as a field medic before.. I can move patients without killing them in the process.."
>>d2c6ec
>Arable turns to the women
"We can either take her to the hospital and wait.. or we can take her to my lab, I already have some people recovering there since the hospitals are kind of full since the blackout.. unless you don't trust me which is perfectly understandable, considering the circumstances.."
| >>553501
"It's not about trust, Worldline Traveller. It's about saving someone. Carrying a severely wounded body outside, at risk of being shot at; it's suboptimal."
> Uni doesn't let her attention fade from the mint-haired girl. Her conversation weren't pushing her mind away.
"If you are a medic, make use of that and lend me a hand."
> She gesture towards the first aid kit she has been using.
| (Oh shi wat i miss?)
>gem emerges from the bathroom
"What the-"
>and IA comes back from outside after taking a phonecall.
"Hell?!?"
| >Tomato is kind of overwhelmed by the situation
"If... if we need to drive her, I worked years as a courier. I'm your girl"
>She then turns to Arable
"I'll get you your Brandi in the meantime"
>she says, vanishing behind the bar right after
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| >The drifter was calm tonight, even more calm than usual, in the surrounding chaos. It had open lights, being able to operate on a seperate circuit with a backup generator was one of the building's main functions, as for why that was, the tender Emily didn't know; it was another one of her grandpa's wild ploys.
>And so tonight she waited, reading a news report behind her counter while a tall woman with black hair sat in front of her