[center][h3]Collab between [@Raylah] and [@Irredeemable][/h3][/center]

The Undefeated were completely out of their element. The normally brave and dauntless soldiers stood grouped up in one of the hallways, having no idea what to do. The beautiful armchairs and sofas invited them to burrow into the cozy cushions, but they look so fragile and incredibly expensive none of the Reapers dared to even touch them. 

“Guys, I think I have it.” Janice was finally done studying the leaflet some little girl handed them at the entrance. Once she got past all the art, music, theatre, poetry and god knows what other exhibitions they had in the program, she discovered something that sounded interesting. “They have a distillery here.”

“Ugh, I bet it’s one of those fancy places where you drink tiny glasses of priceless liquor with your little finger sticking into the air.”

“Who cares,” Janice rolled her eyes. “Booze is booze. And it’s free. What do you think, Lieutenant?”

Alfonso sighed. “It doesn’t seem like there is much else to do for normal people. Just don’t get wasted like last time, dumbasses. Remember what Kelsie said.” He looked around. He had no problems navigating in thick jungles or vast empty deserts, but how does one establish orientation points here? All the hallways looked the same, red velvet carpets, gold lining, some artsy things on wobbly pedestals just waiting for someone to bump into them. Fancy dressed people holding tall glasses and talking about super-important stuff, shaping the future of the universe or something. There was no “ALCOHOL THIS WAY” arrow sign.

Finally, his eye caught a familiar sight - a uniform. It was one of the young recruits that welcomed the guests and handed out brochures. Alfonso headed towards the boy, patiently waited till he finished talking to some Xandalian diplomats about different kinds of music the Matuvistans favored, and then approached him. “Hello, young man. Would you be so kind and direct us to this distillery?” He pointed to the right spot in the brochure, just to make sure they were on the same page.

“Of course, I would be honored!” the boy replied excitedly. “The first distillery on Matuvista…”

“Uhh,” Alfonso interrupted him quietly, “we are not really that interested in history lessons, if that is okay. If you could just point us in the right direction, please?”

The boy looked a bit shamefaced, but the smile didn’t disappear from his face as he carefully explained how to get to the distillery. Alfonso thanked him and the Reapers headed off. “You do know we are not supposed to cause any incidents, right?” Janice hissed into his ear.

“I don’t think we are obliged to listen to every lecture in here. Especially when I only asked for directions.”

“Fine, fine,” Janice raised her hands. 

The bar looked almost normal. Yes, there was still a lot of fancy stuff, but no golden statues or crimson red carpets. The Reapers sat around one large round table and a waiter appeared almost immediately. He bowed slightly and handed them large menus bound in leather. “What can I get you, ladies and gentlemen? We have a large selection of various rums, [i]Nuevo Porto[/i], beers and ales, both classic and exotic, plenty of hard liquor, and of course a variety of non-alcoholic beverages.”

“I think we can skip those,” one of the men blurted and Janice looked at him with a piercing stare. 

“Hmm, they all sound very interesting. Could you perhaps bring us some tasting samples of the rums? We will leave the selection to the professionals,” she smiled at the waiter. “Could you behave less like some club-swinging backwater idiots?” she growled at the men when the waiter left. 

“What good is a party when you can’t have fun at it?”

“I don’t think you are supposed to have fun at this kind of party,” Alfonso sighed. “I don’t think I’ll be drinking at all tonight.” 

A couple of men and women appeared with large trays, bringing several bottles of variously colored liquor, each provided with a label with a name and short description, lots of glasses, pitchers with water and even a few plates of deliciously-looking salty snacks. “We have tried to include rums from the most famous brands and eras with the most popular flavors, as well as a few I personally think are slightly under-appreciated. If you require more or have any questions whatsoever, do not hesitate to contact me or any of the other personnel. Please, enjoy,” the waiter bowed to them and left them alone.

“Wow.” Janice stared at the intimidating pile of food and drinks in front of them. “Well, the Undefeated don’t back away from a fight,” she shrugged and grabbed a random bottle. The name didn’t really tell her anything. “... with a hint of pineapple. Pineapple? These people are really weird.” She poured a bit into one of the glasses and took a careful sip, her eyes widening in a surprise. “Huh, this actually isn’t half bad. Here, try it.” Alfonso just shook his head and Janice frowned at him. “Alfonso Rodriguez, I will keep these idiots in line. You live a little for once.”

“If you insist,” he grinned at her and tasted the liquor. “Bah, it’s too sweet. What about that black one? With black pepper,” he squinted at the label, “that sounds like a drink for a real man, not this girly thing.”

Several figures approached the group of soldiers- the security for the event. These were the marines, two ISOCs hanging near the back. Looking at the group of Reapers, the leading man glanced around at all of the Undefeated soldiers, cleared his throat, and asked a simple question.

“Shore leave, eh?” The marine raised an eyebrow. “I hope we can expect a more tempered sort of behaviour than the regular?”

Alfonso raised an eyebrow, looking at the soldiers who approached them. He didn’t exactly appreciate that they expected the Reapers to cause trouble, but then again, a group like theirs getting drunk on such a fancy event… No surprise the security wanted to be careful. “No worries, we’re just sampling these fine beverages of yours. We’ll stay away from your fancy guests and won’t cause any trouble, if that's what you’re worried about.” Alfonso sighed and sipped from his drink. These people might have been weird and a bit rude, but they sure as hell knew how to make alcohol. “Soldier to soldier, we know we don’t really belong here. That’s why we’ve found this little hideout and we intend to stay here ‘till the whole thing is over.”

“Good to hear. Just making sure. The last thing any of us want to do is our actual jobs, I can assure you.” The lead soldier extended a hand. “Sergeant Castille, at your service.”

“Yes, that certainly is the last thing we want,” Alfonso replied with a slight sad tone in his voice. No, he didn’t miss the war and killing and dying. But they had been stuck at the Meeting Place for so long it was driving them crazy, longing for some action. “Lieutenant Alfonso Rodriguez,” he bowed his head slightly and then gestured towards Janice. “This is Sergeant Springer and the rest of the Reapers. So, did you encounter any problems yet? No evil robots gone on a killing spree?” he smirked.

“Alfonzo Rodriguez?” Castille paused for a moment, glancing to one of the soldiers by his side. “Hey, Marco, is your mother so much of a slut she’s managed to fuck someone off-world too?” The other soldier scowled and gave Castille a hard tap on the shoulder, the rest of the marines chuckling to themselves.

“Anyway, no problems for us. And… Evil robots? That’s a real problem out here?”

“Yes, I noticed my name is somewhat common among your people,” Alfonso smirked. “Who knows, maybe we do have some common great-great-great-something-great mother who lived on Earth hundreds of years ago.” He smiled at the idea of being related to some of these people. But then again, they were all originally from Earth, didn’t that make them all technically related?

“And yes, evil robots are a real problem here. You didn’t hear about the Zetans and the war? Right, I forgot you are quite new to this place. If I were you, I’d be extra careful around them. They might look human, but they’re not.”

“We heard about some kind of war that happened before our portal opened, but nothing specific. All I’ve heard about Zetans is that we’ve got some people from a ‘Zetan Consciousness’ aboard tonight. Just thought they were another nation.” Castille shrugged. “But hey, they don’t fuck with us, we don’t fuck with them. We got bigger issues than folks with robots.”

“They might call themselves a nation, but that doesn't really make them human.” Alfonso frowned and looked like he wanted to continue the debate, but Janice interjected.

“Let’s not bother our hosts with philosophical debates. I have heard that your nation is in a war with some alien invaders. It must be hard to live in such a constant threat,” she said and Alfonso raised an eyebrow. He had no idea about any aliens. When did she even find that out? “Is that the reason you start training the new recruits so young? I know some nations around here would disagree with such practice, but there is nothing wrong with teaching the kids some discipline early on.”

“Not just aliens. Fucking rebels.” Castille shook his head, clearly frustrated. “Pirates as well, but the rebels are the real pains in the ass. And, nah, [i]we[/i] don’t train kids young. That’s a blue-blood thing. The regular forces start at 16.” He paused for a moment. “Signed up the day after my birthday, but I’d been in the cadets as well.”  

“Hmm, rebels? We don’t really have those. I mean someone speaks against the government from time to time, but a couple of public executions and things quiet down. I think people are quite content. We are all equal, all have the same chances of moving up through the ranks.” That of course wasn’t entirely true, having friends in high places always helped. “Can’t imagine someone could give orders just because they were born in the right family.” Alfonso shook his head over such an idea.

“But of course whatever works for you guys, we don’t mean to judge,” Janice added quickly and kicked Alfonso’s leg under the table.

“Yes,” he flinched. “Perhaps your way is better, what do we know? I mean, we are just common grunts, we try to stay away from politics.”

“Public executions?” The soldiers looked at each other, wary. “What is this, 2053?” The soldier that had spoken their mind had his boot quickly stomped on, Castille glaring at them. 

“Equally, we try staying away from politics as well. We’re just plebs, we don’t have all the fancy upper senate positions and all that.”

Alfonso laughed. “Yes, it might seem a bit medieval, but it’s highly efficient. It’s not like it is a weekly event though, it is a very rare occasion. To staying away from politics!” He raised his glass and took a long sip. “Mmm, you guys really know how to make rum. I don’t suppose you could join us for a few minutes? You could at least give us your personal recommendations, the selection is so large we can’t really taste it all.”

“Speak for yourself,” one of the men murmured and Janice’s sharp elbow punched his ribcage. “Uh,” he groaned. “Yes, of course we won’t taste it all.”

“To staying away from politics,” Castille agreed with a wry smile, before waving the other soldiers off. “Well, I certainly can’t be drinking whilst on duty, but I could give a few recommendations.” He took one of the drink menus and glanced down at the list, whistling. “Brought out the big guns here. Half of these would cost more than I make in a month.”

“Well then it’s really a shame that you can’t have a drink with us. Perhaps we can sneak one of these bottles out for later,” Alfonso winked at the Matuvistan Sargeant. 

“Well…” Castille paused for a moment. “I’ll tell you what. We’ll be done in a few hours. If you’re still interested after that, you can come down to the barracks. Bring some of these bottles, we’ll bring some of ours...  Let’s make it a party.” He returned the wink.

Finally they had something to look forward to. “Deal. Good luck, I hope you have a calm night. You know where to find us if you need an extra hand.” From what it seemed the Matuvistans had more than enough hands to go around and the offer was just rhetorical, but Alfonso was trying to be friendly. 

When Castille left, Janice raised her glass and gave Alfonso an optimistic smile. “See? They aren’t so bad.”