Why Would we Ever Leave? (Back-story)

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SPOILER: Click to show

I am down for people joining this thread if they happened to have found themselves in Delta City at the same time as this meeting. I don't like to make threads that are in a public location private, but this is a meeting in a shady bar, expect appropriate reactions to nosy individuals.

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He was early for the meeting. It was by design of course, he had set the time and the place, but it was in poor taste to conduct such a gathering on an empty stomach and entirely sober. He entered the bar and searched for an empty table, preferably one in a corner. They weren't too busy so it was a trivial task, before he made his way to the table he noted who was working. Valory was on duty, River and Brandy were nowhere to be seen, too bad they usually made for good company as long as you kept polite. Delmar was standing in his usual spot in front of the barrels, Jeshua gave him a wave before turning his attention back to Valory, "Val, love, could you fetch me some chips, chowder and lager? I'll be in the corner." Approaching the barmaid and passing her a two cor and a duc, winking at her as he walked away.

"It'll be right out, love." The colloquialism tinged with sarcasm, she disappeared into the kitchen area. If Jeshua noticed the sarcasm, he didn't show it. She was only gone for a few minutes when she returned with the chowder and chips, returning momentarily to the bar for his lager. "Anything else, love?"

"No, that'll do. Thank you love." Valory rolled her eyes a bit at the colloquialism, then she went to check on the inn's other patrons. Food and drink before him, Jeshua dug in making short work of quite a hearty meal. He used the dragonfruit chips to scoop up the chowder, it was an odd pairing in flavors, but Jeshua found it to be quite pleasant to his palette. Chips and chowder gone, he washed it all down with the lager.

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Relationships I 5 + Cha 15, possible threshold range of 5-45: Z8sQzyp5

Carousing 0 + End 15 - Lager 15, possible threshold range of 0-15: ·

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The lager knocked Jeshua on his ass. Perhaps he was dehydrated, or perhaps it had been spiked with something. Whatever the justification he would attempt to make at a later time, right now he was pretty schnockered. He tried to stand at one point, but quickly realized how bad of an idea that was. Instead he lay his head on the tabletop and passed out. At one point Valory came over and poked him in the face a few times before taking the dishes from his table. She shook her head and muttered "Featherweight if I've ever seen one." under her breath.

Without lifting his head from the table or even opening his eyes, he retorted with slurred speech, "I huurd thaat."

"Good, then you know I'm right. You can't hold your booze, shoulda never served you the lager." She shook her head again as she went back into the kitchen area.

A long pause before he uttered his drunken agreement, "Purhaapsh."

This was his state when Florence arrived, the first of his lieutenants to make it for their meeting. Upon seeing Jeshua, she held her hand to her face, "Not again." She went to his side, "Jesh?... Jesh?...JESH!!" slamming her fist down on the table with the last syllable.

A few moments passed before Jeshua responded, "Yew downt haavv ta be sho louwd, I hurd yew tha firsht time."

"Just how drunk are you?" Florence looked to the bar, "How much has he drank?"

Valory answered before Delmar could, "He's only had a mug of lager."

"By the dragon," Florence rolled her eyes, "can you bring him some juice, don't worry Jesh'll be paying." She turned her attention back to Jeshua, "Why in the world do you insist on drinking when you know you can't handle it?"

Another long pause then a single word said as though a lot of thought had gone into it, "Practish."

"Practice...*sigh* Lords..." Florence threw her hands up in surrender, "Lets see if we can't get you sober enough to discus what it was we came here to discus."

Valory came back shortly with the requested Dragonfruit Juice, "Two cor if ya please."

Florence sighed, looking at the leader of their enterprise, "Actually, could you start a tab, Jesh'll clear it up before we leave. Would you bring me an order of the fried brachyura and another juice? Just add it to the tab as well." She lifted Jeshua's head off the table, forcing him to sit up. "I got you some juice, now drink up before the others get here."

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Intoxication Roll: -15 lager, +5 juice: 868aeoic

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If the juice had helped, it didn't show, Jeshua dropped his head back to the table, much to Florence's dismay. "You're a real piece of work... Val, could you bring some more juice?"

"Still not sober, eh? Comin' right up."

Meanwhile the doors open and a couple walked in, or at least what appeared to be a couple to the casual observer. An attractive female of about thirty years, and a male who looked to be a bit older, but who was still handsome in his own right. Florence noticed the two, "Djorik! Djerika!" They looked her way then made their way to the table. Djerika poked Jeshua, who didn't respond.

"Drunk?"

"Yeah..."

"How mu"

"One mug of lager."

A heavy sigh from the human girl, "Lords... have you tried givin' him some dragonfruit juice?"

"Yeah..."

"Didn't work..."

"Nope..."

"Wasn't he the one who wanted everyone to meet?"

"Yeah..."

"I thought we were a bit early..."

"You are a bit early."

Djorik merely took a seat while the two women discussed Jeshua's state.

"Have you tried slapping him?"

"No... I think I'll give you the honor."

"Brother, would you mind holding him up for a second?"

Djorik got back up and lifted Jeshua up a bit, so his face was exposed. Djerika reared back and slapped the fuck out of the drunken Jeshua. "What the, why... Why'd you slap me?" Jeshua protested as he slumped back in his chair.

"With us now are ya? I slapped you because you're being a dumb fuck; drunk before you even met with us."

Jeshua looked up at Djorik, "I thought better of you man, why'd you let your sister do that?" His words still slightly slurred.

Djorik just shrugged and replied, "You can test her patients, I'd rather just do as she asks."

About this time, Valory arrived at the table with another juice. "Anything else?"

Florence didn't even glance at the other two before she ordered for them, "Triple my order will you, on Jesh's tab as well."

"Coming right up."

"Wait a minute, what tab is this? and what did you order?"

"Don't worry about it, just drink your juice and sober up."

"But..."

"I said drink your juice."

"Fine..." Jesh drank the juice.

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Intoxication: 15 stat, -15 lager, +10 juice = Threshold 10 7ifqrGF0

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"I don't think I can drink any more juice..." Jesh burped a bit, "I'm a bit full. I'll be ready by the time everyone shows up. Just let me rest my head while we wait for Daven and Mick."

"Fine. What should we discus in the meantime."

"You guys go ahead and do whatever discussing you want, I'm taking a nap."

"I wasn't talking to you."

"Than don't use the general 'we.' I'll assume it includes me."

"For the love of... just take your nap and assume for now that when I say we, I am referring to myself and the Richts."

"Fine, you don't have to be so grumpy."

Florence almost protested with indignation, but thought better of it. Jesh would do his damnedest not to let her have the last word. No the proper course of action was to just ignore him for now. "So what should we discus?"

"What do you think the meetings about?"

"Lords if I know what goes through his mind."

"Maybe we're finally going to start expanding like he promised us when we supported him as the new don."

"Nailed it."

"What happened to your nap?"

"How is a man supposed to nap with three people having a conversation over his head?"

The doors to the inn opened and an elderlyish man walked through. Florence and Djerika called out together "Daven!"

"Hello girls! and guys." he walked over to the table to join the others. He hugged Florence and Djerika, then shook Djorik's hand. "Jesh?"

Jesh didn't even bother looking up, "Hey Daven, welcome to the meeting. I'm taking a nap while we wait for Mick. Djorik already knows what the meeting is about."

Daven gave a glare his way, "Why does he get to know before the rest of us?"

Djorik replied quite defensively, "Wait. He kept it from me too, I just sarcastically guessed. It wasn't that hard to guess what the meeting was about. He claims to be making good on his promises of expansion."

"Ah. So we're finally having that meeting."

As they conversed, Val brought out the three orders of fried brachyura and juice. "Would you like anything else?"

"I'd like the same."

"Coming right up."

Jesh finally raised his head, "Thats what you ordered? the most expensive thing on the menu? AND you put it on my tab?"

"Shoulda been sober when I showed up." as she dug into her food.

Jesh sighed, defeated. Then he called out to Val, "Go ahead and add another of the same." he turned back to the table. "Might as well."

"When do you think Mick is gonna show?"

"You know him, he's never on time. We might be waiting awhile."