2022-12-31: Where Nobody Knows Your Name
- Log: Where Nobody Knows Your Name
- Cast: Sayla Mass, Faye Valentine
- Where: Tsutsujidai Shopping District
- OOC - IC Date: 12-31-0096
- Summary: Sayla and Faye both need a break from the stress of Tsutsujidai's collapse. It's fun to play the game.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Things are getting rougher as the weeks go on- supplies are starting to run low, people are burning out, BioNet are getting bolder and bolder and the Britannians are getting belligerent. To top it all off, now Sayla Mass is in posession of someone's secrets that she shouldn't have- and someone else has the same of her.
And once again, at this late evening, Sayla is walking around Tsutsujidai in the rain, holding an umbrella looking for somewhere to indulge her primary vice. Her feet take her to a familiar spot- a semi-classy streetside bar in the shopping district. The doors are locked but... that's a problem for someone else.
Sayla reaches for her lockpicks, not worrying about alarms- remote alarms and prominent lately and those seem to go nowhere the same way phones do. Adjusting her hat, then folding her umbrella, she moves to unlock the doors. Maybe the booze will taste like booze this time.
<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
Faye Valentine is high-maintenance at the best of times. And these are far from it. It's not that she can't get by...
It's that she has nowhere to go.
At least today, she's doing alright. Her jacket pocket has a handful of grubby coins, rewards from a day of dishonest shogi -- though, being perfectly honest, she's pretty sure the old guys there are letting her win. It's not the ugliest way she's ever made a living.
Problem is, there's nowhere much to spend it. She's got about half of a plastic liter of genmaicha and about three cigarettes from the last time she saw a convenience store that wasn't already stripped bare, but...
None of that's a substitute for a real drink. So she'd also found her way to this little street bar.
"Don't worry," she sighs, pressing herself to the wall and giving a little knock against the door. "I won't tell. Who's to know, anyway?"
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla's alert enough to hear someone coming- but she's not as active as a working cowboy. Her eyes flit to Faye, who confirms it. "...works for me. Better than drinking alone." She pops the lock, and slides the shutter up. "Let's just consider it opening a tab. I'm happy to pay it off when the cards are working."
She steps into the bar, pulling out a torch. Fridges are still running, bar's a little dusty, register's open and cleaned out. Must have pulled up stakes early. But the wall is still running, and there's water.
"You'll excuse me if ask you to go self-service," she says, walking behind the bar, grabbing a glass and opening the ice hopper. Then she grabs a notepad and a pen, and writes down some details. She's serious about it being a tab, and not a robbery, taping it to the till.
"Just a heads up, the last time I was here, everything was all bite, no flavour. Might be different now but consider yourself warned." She reaches up, pulling down a 15 year old bottle of Tsukidoor Shirodama 15 Year Old Single Malt.
"Still, rude of me not to ask, who am I drinking with?"
<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
"Oh, lucky me! You're such a peach." She means it, too - after the weeks she's had, this is the sweetest offer she's gotten. She slips in behind the blonde, stretching back to slip the jacket off her shoulders and shaking her hair out a bit before pressing it back into place. God, she must look a wreck... (Or so she thinks. It's Faye Valentine, though - her 6 is a lot of folks' 9.)
"Oh, that's fine by me, honestly." She steps gingerly around Sayla, picking up a glass for herself. "Everything worth doing is~" She's still grabbing ice for herself when she peers up and spots Sayla reaching for that whisky. "Almost everything. You're a woman with taste, I see! Go ahead and pass that here when you're done..."
Well, no point in standing on delicacy. Faye leans back onto her hands, and... hup! Sets herself on the bar, throwing one leg over the other and slipping her chin into her hand so she can get a better look at her new drinking companion.
"Mm, I know what you mean... this town's got a bad attitude." She sighs a little, but slips back into that sunny getting-to-know-you smile. "I'm Faye. A lonesome drifter, out of her depth in this cold, crueeel world~!" Her tone's as teasing as they come, and she gives her glass a little tink-tink shake. "But my heart's warming already, thanks to you and that fancy label~"
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Faye's earnestness surprises Sayla a little, but it's... kind of welcome. "In that case, be my guest. I don't mind paying for two." She smirks, taking her hat off, and shaking her hair out into that famous blonde wedge.
"I try. These bottles have been rare since the invasion. I wonder if it holds up." She pours the whisky over the ice, letting it melt down and kill a little of the bite. She passes it to Faye calmly, and takes a sip. She blinks, and smiles. "Oh... That is definitely the real stuff." So... what does this mean for Tsutsujidai? It feels like it's... becoming more real. Like Ramo, and Rikka and Utsumi...
This thought is interrupted when she sees Faye sitting on the bar. "It didn't always, this change is... much more recent. Sayla, nice to meet you." She doesn't fill out details. She can be friendly while giving away little. She holds up her glass. "To a good drink on a cold night with with an amiable stranger, then."
<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
Faye fills her own glass, and takes an experimental sip - and grimaces ever so slightly. Sayla had the right idea. She lets it settle with the ice a bit. "Sure is. Well, I'm inclined to like anyone who can actually cover a night out. The cowboy business is full of bums."
She raises her own glass in turn when Sayla does, and smiles. "Sayla, hmm? That's a nice name. Cheers, then." Those dark green eyes twinkle. "Recent, hmm? So it's not just this bar you've been to before... Well, I won't pry. Women are allowed to have secrets."
Now that it's going down a little easier, Faye tosses back the glass a little more aggressively. Another of those little sighs as she finishes, looking around the bar. "Don't know what I'm in such a rush for, anyway. I really should just take the chance to take it easy, don't you think?"
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"A bounty hunter, then?" Sayla raises an eyebrow. "Risky work- caught in the collapse going after someone is a rough way to get caught in this." Sayla's drinking... rather quickly. After the initial savouring, Sayla seems to be focused more on getting it down.
A nice name... It's so rare she isn't recognized, let alone vaguely flirted with. A smile starts to sneak onto her lips. "Oh, it's nothing so secret. Business takes me out here sometimes. You know how it is." She's emboldened by the booze tasting like booze. "Too true. It's not like anyone's going to bother us except maybe BioNet, and if they come knocking we may as well have had a good night first."
Sayla starts running her finger across the top shelf. She hadn't intended to play bartender but... "You a gin woman, Faye? Or maybe more vodka?" She grabs both down, and grabs a shotglass for her own vodka, letting Faye pick her poison. But an idea is forming.
The sort of idea that leads to getting drunk faster and having a much easier time of it.
<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
"Oh, I do a little of everything. When you live like I do, it's that or become some rich young thing's trophy wife, and I just don't have the patience~" She grins over the rim of her glass. But she sees how Sayla's going at it, and there's a little rattle of ice when she sets the glass down empty. "But bounty hunting is steady work. There's no shortage of lousy crooks in this world of ours, after all." Idly, she drags a finger through the dust of the bar, scribbling a loose little 'S' and then wiping it away with a couple fingers.
"Business that takes you all the way out here, and those expensive tastes of yours... Well! For hardworking women like us, you're absolutely right - now's the time to take a break from it all." Sayla asks her what she's in the mood for, and she tilts up towards that top shelf. "It's gin for me. At least on nice nights."
In fact... before long she's joining Sayla at exploring the bar, slipping a nice looking champagne off the shelf. As long as she's being treated, she might as well treat herself, right? She can mix up something nice while Sayla works herself through that vodka.
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla downs a shot of vodka in one casually. She needed that. The second she pours she actually bothers to taste. Decent. Decent enough but... "I mean, nothing says you can't do both right?" Sayla sips a little more. "True, but the federation aren't going to pay for the ones that matter." She shrugs. "But if it's thrill you're going for, it's hard to beat short of joining 3G or something."
"Honestly I get so few opportunities to relax, and even then I tend not to take them. Let alone with company that can properly enjoy it." She flashes a roguish smile to Faye, having finished her second vodka.
She turns back to the shelves. "Oh, a very nice choice. Bubbles can be fun, but that's more a party drink for me." And then her eyes spark on something. She grasps it, and smiles, teeth showing. "Now we're talking." A couple of flourishes gets her a mixing glass, and a jar of olives- and two martini glasses.
"How do you feel about a classic?" Sayla's third drink is definitely starting to kick in. "I mean, if you're going to lounge on the bar looking fantastic, you may as well get the full effect, right?"
<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
"Wow. In the market? And tell me about it - you put in a week of work for a day of fun. Might as well get an office job, but at least this way I pick my own hours." Two down while she was still putting everything together. She grins up at Sayla, seeing that roguish smile. "Oh, that's a shame - you seem like a woman who knows how to have fun. Ought to let yourself enjoy it more often."
She's nowhere near feeling it like Sayla is - yet - but the mood is nice, and being spoiled on someone else's dime is intoxicating in its own right. She laughs a bit when Sayla comments on the champagne. "The trick is, you fill it up with champagne the first time..." She winks. "And then you only add a little more if the gin's not bubbly anymore."
Still, Sayla's got ideas of her own, and Faye can't complain. Especially after a comment like that. "Oh, well. If you're offering, I guess I have no reason to refuse." She grins, lifting herself back onto the bar and waving a hand at the prepared glasses. "It's nice to be appreciated for all the work I do."
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
Sayla laughs, if a little tiredly. "Could be. Can't rush into something like that, though. If I'm going to do something scandalous, well, it has to be the right kind of scandal." Sayla adds ice, then starts pouring the gin into the cup by eye, and then grabs the vermouth off the wall. 5:1, a non-standard ratio for a Martini- but that's what she's going for, before tipping in just a dash of the olive brine and stirring dirty martinis for two.
"Unfortunately I'm also a bit of a workaholic. Recent events have tipped my hand and forced me to take it easy." She smirks. "Gives it a little fizz. A bit like the cheat's iced tea." She hands a martini to Faye- before pulling herself up on the bar- a little clumsier than Faye but not inelegantly yet. She sips, and closes her eyes. "Mmmm."
Sayla's quiet for a while. "You're right though, I probably should." She looks over to Faye, pulling one of her knees up. "I don't mind giving someone a night out, especially under the circumstances." She sighs. "Still, though, you seem a woman with plenty of things to appreciate. Taste, for one." Another sip. Sayla might be formulating a bad idea. A very bad idea.
"Discretion might be another."
<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
"Oh, you must be something really special." Faye smirks a little, though she takes that martini and joins in. "This is taking it easy for you, huh?"
She watches Sayla hop up onto the bar, and leans back on her other hand, rolling out her shoulders and taking another easy sip. Things are quiet for a bit - just the two of them, enjoying the drinks and a bit of warmth. Women are allowed to keep secrets, after all. Eventually Sayla pipes up, and Faye gives her another of those warm, thin smiles. "I bet you hear that kind of thing a lot, hmm? Well, I won't insist - but it does wonders for me, don't you think?"
Wow. The drink is good, and it's going faster than Faye was expecting. So when Sayla gives her that look over the glass, she's deep enough in herself to just slowly peer over the rim, batting her eyes. "That's sweet of you to say. Are you thinking of being indiscrete?"
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"More of a... forced break." Sayla sighs. "Cutting loose, even." She takes another sip. There's something freeing about talking to someone who doesn't know her. And playing the guessing game. The warmth, the casual flirting. It hasn't been an option for so long. Dancing the dance, playing the game.
"Not as often as I might like. Most of the eligible people in my circles are a little too in relationships to tell me as much." She pauses. "Or they're after something I'm not." Sayla's smile is... actually kind of earnest, for her. "Though I'd imagine you'd get a fair bit of that too."
Sayla drains more of her drink, the bat of Faye's eyes getting a playful wink back. Sayla's a touch red already, but she's on her fourth... maybe fifth drink. That martini had... a lot. "I think I might be, but only if you're thinking the same." She smiles. "And if you aren't, I have no problems with an excellent drinking companion- or a chance encounter with a companionable stranger on a rainy night."
Sayla drains the rest of her martini. "What do you think? Another drink... or shall we break for the night?"
<Pose Tracker> Faye Valentine has posed.
Faye tosses back the rest of her martini, smiling. "You're right. I do know what that's like. Lucky us..." She gives a little sigh, but the smile doesn't leave her eyes.
It is nice. Not having to explain yourself. Not being asked questions you don't have answers for. Filling the silence with nothing much.
She slips her legs over the bar, kicking them a little as Sayla works her way through it. "I think I probably am thinking the same thing, yeah. I appreciate the night out, and... I'd like to see you cut loose." She slips down, landing with only the slightest stumble - the advantage of only getting through two drinks, even if one of them was pretty strong - and moves towards where Sayla is sitting on the bar, holding out an arm for the blonde to slip down and join her.
"I think you could use the break."
<Pose Tracker> Sayla Mass has posed.
"Lucky us." Sayla repeats, but her face seems a little lighter. A little less lonely. She listens to Faye's response and just watches the way she moves, watching the woman who is here and now, over someone else projected on top of her.
She takes Faye's offered hand- and she needs it, stumbling into her a little as she gets down. "Sorry." She says, with a bit of embarrassment. "I think you might be right. Alright then."
She loops her arm around Faye's, for support more than anything. "Let's take a break."