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(Setting) The Easy Speaker Dive Bar, Neon District
| >The nanocamo covering the walls projected a wooden wall interior, complete with the fake knots in the planks and fake splinters that at least look like they'd give you tetanus. Drinks being served in large mugs, the theme could've just as easily been a pirate theme as much as an old western, but with the name came a dark truth; something about this place definitely projected the vibe of a hidden sight behind what is there to be seen by the eyes of those who only surface glance.
| >The actual theme of the place was actually meant to project that, in a sense, as "speakeasy" was a term used to denote illegal bars in the time of the prohibition...but when was that?
>It seems like whatever theme this place was meant to have, it has taken on a theme of its own, morphing together merchandise from various years of operation, and various events that have happened in this Godsforsaken town. Laser eyes, fancy dog collars and ripped up protest shirts lined the walls.
| >Things of illicit nature seemed to also end up here, or at least things suggestive of them. One shirt hung up said "Alice_Rabbit For Presadent!" (Yes, misspelled like that.) Another said "Down with the White Knights!" Almost as if this was a reminder of a previous era, which seems far more distant than it really is, like one of those things you remember from just a little while ago, but yet is just outside of your grasp, when it occurs to you it was almost a lifetime ago now...
>?
| >Something was stirring. A crowd was getting quiet, murmuring as something was starting. What it was, seemingly everyone either knew, or were waiting with baited breath to see. What was about to occur was nothing short of magnificent.
>...*BZZAP!*
>A heavy set man suddenly goes flying into the wall, slamming against a hard metal wall, which was flashing its truth visibly through the nanocamo wooden hologram, promptly rematerializing when the man got up and ran out the door.
| >The crowd cheered as they suddenly lifted up this feminine frame, covered by a motorcycle helmet, a black leather jacket, and black jeans with black boots. The only flash of color on the individual was their hand, a bright silver Lilim hand, holding a large round club maul, a shocking electric blue sparking off of the round head. The blow had seemingly sent the man to the wall, and leaving, rather quickly after that. The crowd was appeased; this sort of action was normal here.
| >Something about this place had been changed, it was like the atmosphere had suddenly been punctured, and the music poured forth with rowdy life as people started to talk loudly again, as if they had all stopped to watch what occurred, and then went back to their usuals...
>Usuals. That was what they were, most of the folk here, recurrent customers who return here because they like how quietly loud and loudly quiet they can be here. Something about this place...just felt secret.
| >From the entrance there was a large bar on the front wall that extended and wrapped around to the left wall, with restrooms right past it in the back left corner and the security booth right in front of it at the entrance. On the right wall was a food bar with a kitchen behind it, and in the middle were pool tables, betting tables for various sports and games, with dartboards and TVs lining the back walls. Tables were also spread around to sit and eat, as well as couches.
| >One notable feature of the establishment was the lack of windows. Something about the nanocamo covering the entire wall made the place feel like the sort of place that you couldn't tell night from day in, whenever you'd walked in there and for however long you stayed. Nothing ever forced you to stay, but you always found you'd lost track of time coming here and were now severely late, or maybe the opposite, that you'd swear you'd spent far longer in here than what the clock says.
| >Either way, time doesn't matter in the Easy Speaker. You come, you sit, maybe you drink, maybe you eat, maybe you just waste away your troubles for a while. You've come here to do as the name suggests:
"Speak easy, my friends."
>The Easy Speaker awaits any who arrive here, and for some, there may be more here than meets the eye...
| >>899060
>A woman with a backpack slung around her shoulder bounces into the establishment. A dark blue boiler suit covered head to toe in stains contrasts with a perfectly clean baseball cap sporting a manatee with text that reads:
"FUCK SEAWORLD"
>She sits down at the bar and begins digging through her bag.
| >>899065
>An extremely odd sight appeared as a holographic bartender suddenly materialized forth in full color from a floating drone; like a 3D model of a real life person, dressed up as an old time "woman of pleasure", complete with curly blonde hair, extremely pale makeup and pink eye shadow, a white and black dress with a medium-short skirt, and black and white boots that went up to her knees.
| She cracked a smile and peered down at the woman sitting at the bar:
"Hello! Welcome to the Easy Speaker, what would you like to start with, a drink or a conversation?" A menu showed up on a screen inside the counter of the bar, the menu for drinks as this was the drink bar. If one wanted food, they'd have to go to the other bar. The hologram smiled with a joyful smirk of intuitive knowing. "Whichever you choose, first one's on the house if you're a new patron!"
| (>, meant to be red text, you know what it is lol)
| >A diminutive figure makes her way through the door of the bar, a cigarette hanging low on her mouth, burning down to the filter.
>She cranes her neck and spits out the cancer stick into the street before fully breaching the threshold, stuffing her hands into the large sukajan jacket in which she didn't so much fit as she did swim.
>Sharp, Mean eyes with two symetrical beauty marks and bright red hair, cut short with one side styled into a braid completed her looks
>A delinquent...
| >>899216
>The bar looked exactly like the sort of place this type of person would arrive at eventually. Something about the power of the lights, the glow, shone bright Dionysian colors, inviting one to lose their sense of prim and proper. A few people looked up at the door as it opened, and the girl walking in, before looking back down to where they were.
>There were open seats all around, and people playing all of the games about, so a variety of outcomes were plentiful.
| >Another figure makes her way into the bar after the redhead.
>A lilim dressed in a dark gray windbreaker and a matching trouser that contrasted against her pale white face, straight black hair accented with neon blue flows down to her neck and covers a part of her face. Her blue, human-like eyes glows as she looks around and makes her way to a seat at the bar.
| >>899543
>The hustle and bustle covered her mostly silent entrance as the Lilim made her way to the drink bar. People hardly noticed the door open.
>Same as for >>899065, a holographic bartender materialized before the Lilim girl, but this time, it took the form of a male Lilim figure, a tall, spiky green haired one with a dash of green lipstick on his lips, boasting a charcoal black frame and a sly smile.
"Welcome in, stranger, glad you sat down. What'll it be, drinks or a convo?"
| >>899745
>She looks up at the bartender and a hint of a grin appears on her face.
"I'm usually the 'shoot first, ask question later' kind of gal, so let's start with a drink before we move on to the convo."
>She says, before tapping her finger on the bar and looking away for a moment as if to think. Abruptly, she turns back and her grin widens as she continues.
"Let's say, how about a shot of mercury blast, then we can work from there?"
| >The woman in the dirty boiler suit looks up but her hands stay put within her bag
"Yeah uhhh...."
>She scans the drink menu so quickly its painfully obvious that she didn't read it.
"Y'know what? Just gimme somethin' good. Somethin' that burns a little."
| >The woman in the dirty boiler suit looks up but her hands stay put within her bag
"Yeah uhhh...."
>She scans the drink menu so quickly its painfully obvious that she didn't read it.
"Y'know what? Just gimme somethin' good. Somethin' that burns a little."
| >>899754
>The dark and green lilim winked one green eye and nodded his head in affirmation, pointing a finger at her.
"My kinda gal. You want it straight or double double? Right now it's girl's night, so double doubles are only 5 zenny more!"
>A small specials menu hovered behind the holographic bartender:
>"Twice the size + Twice the karmotrine! 50 zenny (Ladies night: Only 30 zenny for ladies!)"
"Up to you! The company really likes to plug their specials, you know how it is."
| >>899761
"Coming right up, miss!"
>Her blonde curls bounced as she straightened up and did a comical salute for the woman in the boiler suit, chuckling slightly and putting her finger near her lips in a comical motion.
"You look like a fellow working girl, clearly you need some stress relief! Let's get you a Cobalt Velvet, you want that straight or double double? I'm sure you heard my brother there give the Ladies Night spiel."
>She smirked and nodded her head back over to >>899920
| >>899920
>The lilim girl quickly scans the special menu behind the holographic lilim and shrugs in response.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Double double it is, then, you sure know how to convince a girl, mister."
| >>899980
"Sure thing!"
>The holographic figure snapped his finger and suddenly disappeared, as the drone which projected his appearance floated over to the wall of drinks, floating just past another as it landed at a drink mixing counter. He rematerialized, his hands glowing extremely bright blue suddenly, as they reached over and grabbed the bottles to mix the drinks by hand.
"Hard light projections, powerful enough to add just a touch of realism to our spirits! Go glow hands!"
| >>899505
>The delinquent girl looks around, a scowl on her face
>She approaches the bar and sits down into an empty seat, leaning into the counter, popping a silver case out of her pocket
>With a flick of the wrist, she popped open said case and pulled out a cigar, shoving it into her mouth without ligthing it.
"Oi, could use some service over here."
|
|
>>899923
>The woman in the boiler laughs, and flashes a huge grin.
"I'll take you up on that double, I'm fixin' to get white girl wasted tonight."
>She zips up her sack and places it on the floor beside her.
| >>899923
>After closing her bag, she looks back up and shrugs.
"And as far as work is concerned, y'know what they say: 'Love what you do' n' all that. Being 'self-employed' definitely has its perks."
>She air quotes the words "self employed"
| >>900111
>Just as the delinquent girl spoke, a drone floated over to her seat, and before her materialized another holographic bartender, this one a pale skinned male with a black vest overtop a white shirt, and black pants. His hair was a flopped medium-short black, his bangs just over his brightly grey colored eyes. His hands glowed a bright blue, and was holding a metal lighter for her cigar. He talked smoothly:
"You mind, miss? Would have to leave a woman like you waiting."
| >>900121
>Flashing a smile, the hologram Lilim danced a little as he mixed the drink, set it on his own floating drone, and dematerialized before floating back over to the woman, the two blue hands floating right alongside the drone before the hands grabbed the drink, floated up and fit back into the hands of the bartender just as he rematerialized to hand the drink to the woman.
"Double shot of Mercuryblast, let's hope the Gods are in your favor! Enjoy~"
>He spoke with a smile.
| >>900126
"Oooh! Self employed? What is it you generally do, miss?"
>As the blonde hologram bartender asked, her brown doe-eyes accompanied a sweet smile, and a second drone floated behind her and materialized at the drink counter, another hologram of the same woman, who began making her drinks. The one making the drinks turned around and winked, mouthing "white girl wasted" at the woman in the boiler suit before making her drink, while the one in front of her leaned in to listen.
| "Or should I say, what is it you 'love to do', if I may be so bold?"
>Then, subtly but noticeably, a perception shift could be felt by the girl at the counter. Even though everyone around her was still doing everything they were doing just a few moments ago, it was like the air around her suddenly got quieter, as if to give the impression that, if they had a conversation, it would be private and listened to only by the bartender, as if the sound would be muted, like the others.
| (That was unclear: that was directed at >>60f570)
| >>900131
>The lilim girl takes the drink from the bartender's 'hand' with a smile.
"Thank you, though I don't think I need gods or favor where I'm going."
>She said, taking a big gulp from the glass before setting it down on the counter.
| >>900138
"Ooh-hoo? So where *are* you going, if you don't mind me asking?"
>The Lilim's green eyes gleamed as he raised one eyebrow and 'sat down' at the counter in front of her, the drone creating a 'wooden' stool for him. Same as for the other woman, it was as if the air around them just got quieter, giving them space for a private conversation. Imagine whatever the sound version of a picture with a primary focus and a blurry background would be, it felt like that.
| >>900140
"High above the clouds, or straight back down to the floors, depending on how drunk I actually get."
>The girl says, pointing her finger up towards the roof, then back down to the counter as she does.
"Though, if it turns out to be the latter, I suppose asking for a favor is probably in order."
| >>900180
"Well, we do take good care of our patrons here, so whether you're seeking the sky or the floor, we'll make sure you land softly in a safe place...Are you just here to get drunk, then?"
>He smiled, and materialized a holographic olive on a toothpick, which he then popped in his mouth as he put the holo-toothpick in his lips.
>Another figure approached the bar...and, well, no sugar-coating it; it was a goldfish in a floating fishbowl, hovering on a drone with a black cloak.
| >It floated over the bar and behind the counter before floating down to a door at the end of the counter, past all the patrons, and a robotic hand came out from the cloak and opened the door, the floating goldfish going inside.
"Sorry, that's my manager. He's sort-of a bastard, so I try to keep my mouth shut around him. Nasty prick."
>Li-Aq gave a sneer and turned the other way in an exaggeratedly pouty pose.
"Always when I'm trying to have a good conversation with a new patron..."
| "You can call me Li-Aq. Anyway, you just here to get drunk sister?"
>He clearly tried to cheer himself back up and halfway force a smile, but anyone could tell he was clearly honestly upset by that fish in the bowl.
| >>900274
"Good to hear."
>She replies, before seeing the goldfish in the bowl. Noticing the sudden silence, she keeps quiet as she watches the goldfish disappears behind the door and until Li-Aq finishes talking.
"I'm Sabine, and we'll see where the night leads. The manager's not a talker, huh?"
| >>900130
>The girl leaned her cigar closer to the lighter without taking it out of her mouth, closing her eyes
"Ya got it down don'tcha, know how to make a lady happy"
>She smiled, although it looked more like a smirk.
|
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| >Clanking. Glass breaking. Cheesy blasting drum and bass beats playing over ragtime piano melodies, the entire place looked like a sight from the eyes of someone who hadn't seen anything good in a while, and needed something to take the edge off, and with nothing left to turn to, this was the place they ended up.
>Of course, everyone always chooses to end up here, nobody is forced. But people typically only end up here when they feel they've run out of options.
>That sort of place.