Night's Omen

Holly had, after a long day, decided finally to stop and have a drink. She'd found that she could still obtain alcohol here without having too much of a problem with her ID - neither of the tenders would glance at it for more than a second, and Holly honestly believed that they didn't care. She was a Frost trainee, what, was she going to go to the cops or something? Unlikely.

She threw back a Kamikaze, wondering how envious the rest of the underworld was of mortals and their ability to get drunk. She wasn't aiming for obliteration, just a toasty sort of warm. As she slid a cigarette between her lips, she patted herself down, and then swore. No lighter. Of course. She turned around, dark brow cocked as she tried to decide who to ask for one.

Sarah was still sorta sore, and not just in her shoulder. She was pretty pissed at herself for going to fucking Onyx of all places, and tearing up their flower beds/trainees. That called for a bit of self medication. She was a little far from Hellcat's Hollow, but just a a couple blocks away from Mojo Lounge, and she knew that Papa Aristide had just what she needed in his place. She wheeled the plant killing Wrangler into a parking spot and hopped down. She loved the big jacked up thing, but it was impractical as hell in New York City. Her boots clomped on the asphalt as she strolled up to the door. She blinked a couple times in the dark smoky air and hauled ass to the bar.

She leaned across the bar and waved at Paris. She had spent enough time her that she had sorta gotten to know the bartender. She knew her well enough that Paris knew to give her the good shit. She grabbed the drink and took a good solid gulp and felt it burn all the way down. It was pretty hard to tell the difference between Sarah in working clothes, and Sarah in normal clothes, tonight was no exception. She was wearing a tight black tank top, tight black leather pants and a nice pair of combat boots with a fresh shine on them. She was kinda scary looking..sorta. And as always she had her trench spike at the center of her back. She sighed as the booze started to loosen her up. She started scoping out the bar, looking for someone to bother. A bright pink mop of hair caught her attention and she made a direct line for her.

"Hey bitch, looks like they let you out of school early today. You started learning anything useful yet? I need to get Christian to let me take your little girly ass out on a hunt with me maybe you could learn a thing or two about how to really kill some shit."

Sarah had seen Holly around the Guild House doing her trainee routine. It was boring, and at times it was just learning shit that you would forget once you got out in the field. She firmly believed that it should be in the field training from day one. Maybe she could take Holly out and teach her some real combat skills.

"I learned how to use C4 without blowing my face off," she said absently, finally snatching a cigarillo from the hand of a passing man to light her own cigarette. She handed it back to him, resisting the urge to put it out on her tongue just to freak him out simply because of the venue she was in. Holly had found she was more likely to behave in this establishment than she was anywhere else.

She looked back at Sarah. "Say, aren't you a python? Can you sink your teeth into Church, for me? I keep telling him snake skin is so in, but he won't listen." She grinned wickedly at Sarah, and swept some of her atomic-pink locks away from her pale face.

Sarah laughed when Holly jacked the guys smoke to light her own. Sarah liked the younger woman quite a bit. She seemed to be what Sarah could have turned into if life hadn't fucked her over so hard. But no sense dwell on that when she was supposed to be relaxing, and speaking of which..whoa things were getting a bit blurry. C4 sounded like fun, and Sarah was in the mood to fuck something up.

"C4 huh? You wouldn't happen to have any of that shit laying around would you? Let me get a couple more drinks in me and we can go have a fucking blast....literally. And yeah...Emerald Boa...Python, same general shit. Don't you think biting him would turn him off from the whole snake thing? Besides, I don't usually bite...I choke bitches out!"

C4...hell yeah, hopefully Holly could get her hands on some tonight.

"Hahahaha, make 'em tap!" she cheered, clinking drinks. Holly'd only been getting into MMA and UFC lately, a combination of Church's influence and random moments where she'd nothing better to do than watch old matches on the television. "And he doesn't need to be turned off by the idea of a snake. He doesn't get a say in this matter. I just think he could be more manly if he was like some eighteen foot python. Or boa. Or whatever. I'm drinking," she announced, swallowing the last drop of her alcohol and ordering more.

"I didn't escape with any C4. Leo checks my pockets before I leave, but it's probably for the best. You know how I get when I rage out, I'll end up being the next most wanted."

Sarah laughed, she made people tap alright...tap all the way out of existence. She'd noticed noticed Holly's newfound interest in MMA and found it kinda funny, the sport didn't interest her since their jobs were so much more exciting. Sarah watched as Holly signaled for another drink and followed suit. She wasn't about to let a rookie out drink her. Tonight would probably turn very interesting if the drinking kept up.

"Church as a snake? He'd probably be more like 25 feet long and eat people and shit. I'm not gonna be the one that gets blamed for starting that shit. You have to learn how to steal explosives during training...it makes the weekend go by soooo much fast. I wasn't nearly as good with them as you are, but I used to stick C4 in my boot treads and smuggle the shit out and blow up mail boxes and shit on the weekend....but you're right, you would probably be the next Unibomber if someone pissed you off bad enough!"

Despite her recent reflections on the past during her stay in the Onyx infirmary, Sarah was actually having a good time. Maybe she should get out a little more often. Maybe it was just the alcohol hitting her brain.

"Whatever," Holly said to the entire Church subject. She knew she couldn't intimidate Sarah into doing it, and that was one of her biggest methods - the shifter knew better, though. It worked on mortals a hell of a lot, which was good for her, bad for them.

"You know, you matching me drink for drink doesn't mean a shit unless she's giving you the real stuff. I've met shifters who will make money off of that sort of thing. You wouldn't be the type of girl to do something like that, now, would you?" she asked, unable to keep her lips from twitching as she posed the question to Sarah wide-eyed and innocent-sounding.

Yeah, Holly trying to intimidate her wasn't going to work. Sarah would just choke her out IN HUMAN FORM, the benefits of a full course of Frost training, plus plenty of time in the field had its advantages. But Holly was coming along well from what Sarah had heard, and her prowess with explosives was starting to freak some of the other hunters out. Sarah laughed again at the comment about her not drinking the real stuff.

"I'm in a bar dumbass..what else do you think I would be drinking? I would offer you sip so you could be sure but this shit might kill you. Ask Paris what she's giving me...you're not nearly drunk enough for me to try and switch on you yet. I need some of the real shit anyway, I just got a fucking fireplace poker stuck through my shoulder a couple days ago."

Yeah that had been a bitch. Even with shifter healing, the amount of tugging and tearing involved in removing it had been painful and still was sorta sore, whether that was real or imagined.

"No, I probably would end up having to get my stomach pumped if I had some of that," she said knowingly about Sarah's drinks. She raised her eyebrow when Sarah confessed she'd had a fire poker shoved through her shoulder, and lifted her drink to finish it before clarifying she'd heard correctly.

"A fire poker, did you say? How in the fuck did you manage that? You're supposed to be all.. fast and not-human and shit. Unless it was a vampire that stuck you, although I guess it doesn't make sense to me. It still trips me out how they're really so easy to kill," she muttered.

The more she learned about them, the more they amused her. They had a lot of power to tap into, and yet Holly could kill them with ease. Perhaps it was her natural dark aura that caught them so unaware, but she knew her luck would run out sooner or later and she'd end up with a fire poker or something else stuck through her own arm.

How did she manage it? By crashing through a damn set of French Doors a little bit too loud. Vamps are fast, and he managed to catch her. But if she walked away from a hunt unscathed she felt unfulfilled. As much as her experience in the Onyx Infirmary had sucked, she felt a hell of a rush knowing she had still killed the leech despite the poker. Holly would understand soon enough when she started hunting.

"Leeches are fast...and this one was oldish, probably a couple hundred years. He was just lucky that he had real French Doors and not those cheap fake ones.  I came through hard and fast, but those damn doors were hard. He heard me and caught me in the shoulder, and I stabbed him up good though. You'll see soon enough when they put you out in the field. The rush makes you forget about the pain and shit...and you just kill. But enough talking about work...whats up with you and Church? He seems pretty fond of you...."

Sarah let her voice trail off and lifted her drink. Yeah, she had seen the two of the eyeing each other around the guild house. Sarah swigged down the rest of her drink and waved for another. She thought, maybe she was one up on Holly. Damn, shit is spinning....but Sarah was determined to out drink the trainee.

Holly snorted as she dropped back what might as well have been her final drink. She nearly choked and had to set it down. Okay, too much. But the mention of Church had caught her by surprise. She could switch topics fast, but evidently Sarah got just as chatty as she did when she drank, so this was something else.

"Church, fond? Oh, no," she said with a laugh. "I don't know what we are. I mean... He's free to see other people." She paused, and pushed her empty glass away with a loud burp. "But... if I ever catch him with another bitch, I'll fucking cut her eyes out." Something about the way she said it, slightly slurred, but with a serious expression, would lead anyone to believe she wasn't kidding.

"I dunno how Leo feels about 'im. Never asked, and I think he knows I don't want his input in that area. We don't talk about shit like that. We talk about blowing shit up, and that makes me just fucking deliriously happy. Speaking of happy, I think if I drink anymore I'm going to yakk up all this good hard-earned drunk I've got myself, so if you want to continue to contest on your own, you're more than welcomed. I'm going to marinate in my booze."

Paris had been listening, amused, to the ongoings of the two women until one of Aristide's personal employees nearly rushed her at the counter. He told her Aristide needed to see her, and she abandoned her position at the counter ruefully, knowing Holly and Sarah both to be fabulous tippers, especially while drunk.


She came back not too long after, and paused at the doorway of the long hall, watching around the room. Finally she approached Holly. "This should look good right... here," she said. She nuzzled the stem of a black raven feather behind Holly's ear, tucking it with her bright pink splash of hair. She folded her arms and smiled to herself, a mischievous sort of smile. It reminded everyone else that Paris was not always as stupid as she seemed.

"It suits you," she said. "Really."

Holly had been engrossed in conversation with Sarah when she felt the movement behind her ear, but realizing it was Paris, stood still enough to see what she was doing. "Paris... what the hell?" she asked, looking for an explination.

Holly took a moment to admire the feather placed so carefully in her hair; admire the way that it complimented her bright pink strands, so dark against them. What a novelty. She smiled a little to Paris, and then turned back to Sarah. Before she had room to say anything further, she felt a rush of warmth cross over her, and closed her mouth.

At Sarah's raised eyebrow, she shrugged a little. "I think I'm good and drunk," she replied sagely, nodding and plunking her small bottom down into the closest thing that resembled a chair she could find. "Good and drunk," she repeated to herself, fingers caressing the feather almost absently.

Sarah raised a curious eyebrow as Paris put the feather into Holly's hair. It did look nice against her bright pink hair, if a little strange. She looked at Holly as she pronounced her state of drunkenness. Sarah was feeling the effects of her booze as well. She wasn't really all that sure when the last time was she had drank this much, it was kinda nice to be able to just relax and let it go for a little bit.

But something didn't seem quite right about that feather thing. She knew Paris was into that crazy voodoo shit with Papa, or whatever the hell it was he did. Sarah didn't want to say anything, but Holly was a Frost trainee, so Sarah felt a certain responsibility to make sure she was ok. She decided that it would probably be a good idea if she could steer Holly out of here, and head to another bar or to the Guild House or somewhere else....

"Well, since you're good and drunk, and I'm pretty sure I'm drunk..what do you say we go hit up another bar or go back to the Guild House and try to find some shit to blow up or something?"

Holly nodded slowly. "Call Jaxon, make him come get us. He's just at the gym. He doesn't need to be at the fucking gym so much, he looks like a goddamn pro wrestler," she said angrily, looking at Sarah with bleary, drunk eyes. She laughed to herself a little, and then screwed another cigarette into her lips.

"Seriously, if you don't call him I will. His truck is big enough for both of us. Plus, it's fun to ride in drunk. Who the fuck has a lifted truck in this city I don't know, but he certainly manages," she snorted, taking a drag so deep that it hurt her throat. She ignored it, totally internalizing the cough-that-would-have-been and swallowing it. She burped up a little puff of smoke, but it went mostly unnoticed.