Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down
Who; Inara Serra and Gwen Cooper + Open
What; Gwen needs a drink... A lot of them.
Where; The docks and then The Bureau
When; January 19th - after their network conversation.
Rating; Pg-13 (Language I'm sure, Gwen has a potty mouth)
Status; It's open to other characters - but no concurrent tags/threads please - just space them throughout the ( Read more... )
What; Gwen needs a drink... A lot of them.
Where; The docks and then The Bureau
When; January 19th - after their network conversation.
Rating; Pg-13 (Language I'm sure, Gwen has a potty mouth)
Status; It's open to other characters - but no concurrent tags/threads please - just space them throughout the ( Read more... )
Gwen focused on the, well the one that bothered to acknowledge their presence as Inara introduced them, feeling as though she needed to write the word 'Newbie' in black marker across her forehead. She supposed new people stuck out like a sore thumb mind. All wide-eyed and mortified.
"Nice to meet you." Gwen finding a smile for the bartender as she offered him her hand to shake. "I'll take a bourbon... assuming you have that." Then after a moments thought she added. "And I don't suppose you have pen and paper I can borrow?" A random request maybe, but that was sort of how Gwen dealt with stress. She made lists.
Reply
It was truly a sign of how off-balance the assassin was that he used his left hand, showing off the missing ring finger with startling clarity. He wasn't ashamed of it and didn't strive to hide it, but he saw no reason to flaunt the missing digit and usually attempted tasks with his right.
"You can use these." His voice was a bit hoarser than usual, and the faint accent he still had was thickened, giving away to those paying attention his Middle Eastern heritage.
Reply
"Nice to meet you Gwen. And welcome to Hell."
Inara's comment about him wasn't enough to bring color to his cheeks yet, but it did made Desmond look at his ancestor: no doubt the man would find amusing that he's been thought of as 'sweet'. As he watched the Syrian move to grab the other items Gwen asked, the bartender reached for a bottle and a small glass, letting fall in it two cubes of ice.
"I do. Single malt, 10 years. Never heard of it before, but it's pretty good." He poured the amber liquid into the brunette's glass. "On the house."
While he waited for the young woman's approval of the liquor, he filled a glass of his best wine for Inara. It was going without saying that the Companion wouldn't have to pay either, not after what had happened between him and her, even though it had been her evil clone. Desmond felt too much in debt to Inara to ever raise the issue.
When the Master Assassin finally spoke, the novice raised his gaze to him, finally noticing his haggard look and how the man had revealed in one single move who he was. At least to anyone that would know him. Desmond frowned and he couldn't help himself but to comment:
"You look terrible, man. What happened?"
Reply
Thankfully everyone's small talk snapped her out of her thoughts because she was truly beginning to wonder if she was perhaps not as skilled at reading people as she liked to think she was.
She glanced over at Gwen, her gaze darting to the paper that had been pushed to her, wondering briefly what she'd need it for. Though she hardly knew the woman enough to even begin thinking of the different possibilities. Her gaze moved to the man who had pushed the paper toward Gwen, though she found herself staring momentarily at the hand which was missing a finger. Most intriguing, though it would hardly do to be caught staring so rudely and so she quickly jerked her gaze away, watching as Desmond poured their drinks.
"Thank you, Desmond," she murmured, flashing him a warm smile. Lifting her glass, she turned toward Gwen. "A small toast perhaps? To staying safe in this odd place?"
Reply
There was a flicker of recognition in her eyes as the silent one slid her what she'd asked for, but Gwen worked to school her face into neutrality. She could at least manage to be polite enough not to stare, but the sight of the missing finger did raise a few questions. Not being able to die, that was one thing, but if something bit off a limb? Seemed like a pretty messy twist of fate if death was short-term yet maiming lasted an eternity.
“Ta muchly.” She offered a small smile and moved the pad in front of her, scribbling the word “Underworld' at the top of the page, paused, then added a question mark. It never mattered how ridiculous a situation became, Gwen always liked to deal by sorting through the facts. It added order to even the most chaotic of circumstances.
Inara's voice dragged her from her scribbling and Gwen raised her gaze to meet the assembled party (if you could really call them that.) “Sounds like something I'd drink to.” She agreed. “To not being eaten by zombies.” And there went another sentence Gwen never thought she'd hear herself say.
Reply
He was starting to take note of his surroundings once more, however, and Inara's flickering gaze didn't go unnoticed.
"I'm Altair. I don't believe we've spoken before." He nodded to Gwen in greeting as well even as he eyed what she was writing, curious as to what she was doing.
Reply
The bartender turned his attention back to the two beautiful ladies in front of him and he chuckled lightly at Gwen's toast.
"Not being eaten is pretty much a must here. Although zombies are not the only things you have to watch out for here."
He hadn't meant to scare the woman, but it wouldn't be fair to let her discover how this world was fucked on her own. The living had to stick together, right?
Reply
She looked at Gwen and then down at her paper, and bit her lip to keep from over smiling. "You should put that down: Don't get let zombies eat you." She was teasing the other woman, but... It was a good rule to go by. "Or by random creatures of hell."
Finally she turned her attention to Altair. "Altair, hěn gāoxìng jiàndào nǐ, it's nice to meet you. I'm Inara." She glanced over to Desmond and then back to him. "I'm taking it that the two of you are... related?" It was indeed obvious, but... Who really knew?
Reply
Allowing herself a smile for the others, Gwen turned back to her paper and wrote the word Creatures, adding Zombies beneath it, before spacing out a number of other headings; Where, Who, Why, Places to avoid - the usual. As she did so, she watched the two men talking to one another from beneath a veil of thick eyelashes, Gwen's brow furrowing as she tried and failed to make sense of what they were discussing. A puzzle box? She knew logically it was probably something demonic in nature but for the life of her she couldn't get the image of a children's game out of her head.
“Not likely, I just got here.” Gwen told Altair when he turned to address them, punctuating that statement by taking a long drink of her bourbon. She grimaced, not because it was bad but really, how many people could drink bourbon straight up without half-gagging? You either had to have an iron stomach or be an alcoholic, something that could very easily happen in a place like this.
Surprise registered on Gwen's face, first at whatever the hell Inara had just said, and then at the question she posed to the two men. She had assumed they were twins but she sorta figured Inara already knew that. For a moment she forgot all about greeting Altair properly, or about the notes she'd been making and looked between the two almost identical men expectantly.
Reply
He takes a moment before tapping a finger under the 'Places to Avoid' heading. "There's a labyrinth in the center filled with creatures that will do their best to kill you. I'd stay as far from it as you can."
Unable to avoid Inara's question any longer he takes a drink from the bottle in his hand, not knowing exactly how Desmond would prefer him to answer. "We are, yes. Though it is a bit complicated." He tossed Desmond a look as he finished speaking, trying to get across that the younger man had the choice of what was told to the two ladies with them.
Reply
"I heard that the caves are to be avoided too. It's apparently impossible to find your way out." He took a sip of the amber liquid in his glass before continuing on: "If you want my advice, I'd stay to the crowed places of the Underworld. That way there's always someone near to come to your help whenever this place starts to screw with us."
The novice pointed to the 'Why' column afterward. "This is easy to answer, though now it doesn't make sense at all. We were brought here to fight in a war between Hades and Hecate. But Hades died a few months ago, and we're still stuck here."
He smiled to Inara, pleased that his choice of wine was up to par with her tastes. The curl of his lips turned a bit sheepish as Altaïr answered her question about him and the Syrian. He was often forgetting that they looked exactly the same, up to a few differences. It wasn't that he didn't want people to know he was related to both Altaïr and Ezio, it was just that he wasn't used to have family around him.
He nodded at the Companion: "It's a...long story." While he was evading the subject, it wasn't because he didn't trust Inara, but simply because he thought of the bar to be too much of a public place to explain his ancestry.
Reply
She set her glass down, rested her elbow on the bartop, and then her chin in her upturned hand. Her gaze darted between Altair and Desmond for a moment and sighed. "Well, I believe complicated just happens to be the underlying theme for the Underworld." She could have pressed for more answers, but... Well it was obvious that perhaps they didn't want to speak of it in detail. Complicated but related was a good enough answer for now.
She shifted her attention back to Gwen. "It really is. I don't think one thing here has ever not been complicated by one thing or another. Though, I'm confident you'll come to see that for yourself before too long."
Reply
She arched an eyebrow at Desmond's words, finally struck by something she had yet to hear thus far, the why. Everyone told her it was random, people sucked in from all different times and places but a war? A war between a couple of pissy gods and for that she was brought to the Underworld? She stewed on that thought, tried to push it out of her mind as Inara spoke to her and yet it kept nagging at her.
“Yeah but wait a minute.” Her brow furrowing as she pieced it all together. “If the only reason we're here is for some war between those two, and one of them is dead... well then why the hell am I here? Shouldn't this have all stopped?” It seemed a logical leap for Gwen and yet she wondered, had anyone every really tried to work it all out or did you just accept this place for what it was? Hell.
Reply
Gwen's observation had him giving a brief snort even as he went to answer her. "But that would require these Gods to be smart about this entire situation. Sadly there are those here who believe that Hades was actually losing his powers before his murder. There are creatures called the Apportioners who seem to have taken over Hades' role, and they seem intent on keeping us here."
He took one last swig from the bottle before he leaned over the bar, dumping it in the trash can Desmond kept back there. Being down here and speaking with others had managed to keep his mind off the box and the stress it had caused him and Altaïr was feeling much more relaxed.
Reply
Leave a comment