[center][color=magenta][img]https://i.imgur.com/PMI1m6n.png[/img][/color][/center]
[center][@Scarifar][@Dezuel][@AtomicNut][@Letter Bee][/center]
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Vera grunted as she finished dragging her friend onto a stool and draped her over the bar to sleep off her overdose. She'd found her all right, and her purse, with almost all of her "product" having already been consumed. What a pain in the ass, as usual when it came to this one.

Half the time she never even paid.

She looked over her shoulder in time to see someone getting punted through the crowd, only to take it out on the very crowd he'd just inadvertently assaulted.

[color=magenta]"Fuck me, of course he's here too..."[/color] The guy didn't exactly keep a low profile, sowing discord wherever he went, which at least made it easy for Vera to avoid him. In fact, she was pretty sure he barely knew she existed, if he knew at all. She watched as he and the almost literal cow of a woman who followed him around harassed Michael. She scoffed, almost turning away. Nothing more than the nosey punk deserved.

And yet something about it felt far too familiar...

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[center]Years Ago[/center]
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"Alex, right? What are you two doing?" a boy asked.

Alex's eyes popped open. It was the beginning of recess and Alex had been sitting with her friend Wolfram, using their abilities to weave together a dream world. It was far more exciting that playing on the slides for the nth time, even if it sometimes gave them a headache. 

[color=mediumspringgreen]"Making a dream world! Wanna see!?"[/color] Alex asked.

"Uhh, sure. Why not?" the other kid shrugged. Alex smiled and held out her hand. The boy did the same, but as their hands touched, Alex recoiled, trying to pull back, but the boy clamped down... and just long enough for the bit of chewed up gum he'd had concealed in his palm to stick to Alex.

[color=mediumspringgreen]"Ew, ew, ew! Why did you do that?!"[/color] Alex wailed, trying to pull it off only for it to get stuck to the fingers of her other hand as well. Tears began to brim in her eyes as the disgusting mess only grew worse the harder she tried to get rid of it.

"Pfft, you're too old to play make believe, you baby!" The boy chortled at her misery. Meanwhile, Wolfram was frantically looking around, trying to think of what he could use to get the gum off of Alex, but to no avail.

[color=magenta]"Hey,"[/color] a new voice entered the scene. Alex looked up, sniffling, but quieted down a bit. Her other friend had finally arrived, Vera. [color=magenta]"Where'd you get that? Isn't gum against the rules?"[/color]

"What, you gonna tattle?" the boy sneered.

[color=magenta]"Nah, I want some. You don't mind, do you?"[/color] Vera tilted her head. The boy looked surprised, but then shrugged, reaching into his pocket. Vera was tall for her age, and her family had money, so she naturally just fell into the "cool kid" category that let her get whatever she wanted most of the time. This poor fool just didn't know any better. He pulled out one stick to offer it, but Vera just snatched the whole rest of the pack.

"Wh- HEY! Give it back!" The boy lunged, but Vera leaned away, causing the boy to stumble forward and trip, landing face-down on the ground. Vera then stomped on his back to pin him. "St-stop it! What are you doing!?"

[color=magenta]"Teaching you a lesson,"[/color] Vera responded nonchalantly, pulling the gum out of the pack, one at a time, and popping into her mouth. Soon she was chewing on the whole pack, forming a massive wad of pink justice in her mouth as the boy struggled, but failed to claw free. When she was done, she leaned over and let the slimy, sticky mass plop down on the back of the boy's neck. It stuck to him, his hair, and the collar of his shirt. He would not be free of it easily.

Not to mention it was just about the grossest feeling in the world.

Finally Vera let him go and the boy scrambled to his feet, running away with tears in his eyes. She then held the empty gum wrappers out to Alex, [color=magenta]"Here, scrape it off onto this."[/color]

But instead, Alex just lunged at Vera, throwing her arms around the girl.

[color=magenta]"Wh- No! Stop! You're gonna get it on me! Off, off, get off!"[/color]

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Vera took a deep breath and strode over the ongoing fracas. Michael was currently KO'd on the floor, and the other guy, Suzuki or whatever his name was, had stolen his glasses. That never ended well for the glasses.

Just as his grip began to loosen, Vera swooped in, catching his wrist and snatches the glasses from him with her other hand, [color=magenta]"Give it a rest already,"[/color] Vera sighed and then let him go. [color=magenta]"And you two better hope he wakes up soon. He's still a contestant. Otherwise a bunch of very pissed off gamblers are gonna want to get to know you real well."[/color] She crossed her arms with an unimpressed frown on her face. [color=magenta]"If you need to get off that badly, I'm sure there's plenty of other people whose day you can ruin."[/color]

Not like he could ruin hers any more than it already had been. She'd been much happier thirty seconds ago when he hadn't known what she looked like.

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[@Spin The Wheel]
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Duke would find the loser of the match with a couple of people around him. They'd pulled him onto the cushioned seat of a booth at the edge of the bar where it was a little quieter and were trying to coax him back to consciousness. One couldn't even really say he'd been thrashed, so much as completely blitzed, with a massive, swelling bruise on the side of his face. The fight hadn't lasted long, and it was now abundantly clear why -- the other guy had hit him like a truck.

Finally, the loser blinked, cracking an eye open, "Wh-... ow..." Unsurprisingly, talking was a little painful for him at the moment. It was then that he noticed Duke standing nearby, "You, ugh, got something you wanna say, man?"