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[right][code]Current day
Interactions: Ransom x Cali
Outfit: Normal[/code][/right][hr]

Kel sat at the bar with her shoulders hunched forward.  In this moment, there was nothing she wanted more than to press herself into the bar top itself until she was one with the grain of the wood itself.  The Something Else in her mug had grown even more gross the more she threw it down, yet she still drank it.  All her sense of grace and warmth had disappeared after the last night.  Every time she blinked, the boy’s face haunted the darkness, stuck forever in the moment he had looked up in that brief, terrible instant before it was over.  Her patron had gone quiet afterwards, but even in the silence, she could tell it was more satisfied in making her think she could control the outcome than the killing itself.  And thus she found herself in the Inn, dressed in the clothes that she felt most comfortable and pretty in, with the vain hope that either the alcohol or someone could help her forget the past night, and the past week, and the past however long it had been since she went on the run.  Despite this hope, she remained alone at the bar with several empty steins in front of her.

Being alone still felt unnatural for her.  Kel traveled city to city, port to port, and she was always moving just ahead of the bounty hunters that hunted her.  Some nights, she could almost convince herself that this long trek to freedom was her choice, and every stop along the way was a freedom that Felix had wanted for her.  She blinked, and she saw the boy's face again.  

[color=D87093]“Fuck,[/color] Kel whimpered as her clawed hands dug into the stein, throwing it up to her lips and downing as much as she could consume at once.  As she finished, she took a deep breath in and out, burped, and wiped away the wet sensation from her lips.  Her eyes drifted back towards Rosa, who was already staring at her behind the bar.  Kel pointed towards the stein and held up a single finger, but for some reason her vision showed that she raised two.  She looked at it more closely, and after a second, the two fingers became one!  Kel shook her head side to side for a brief second before they returned to Rosa.

[color=D2B48C]“Oi, are ye sure you want to get another?  You seem,”[/color] Rosa grabbed three of the empty steins and placed them in the cut-through to the kitchen, [color=D2B48C]“drunker than normal.”[/color]

[color=D87093]“Is that a problem, Rowssa,[/color] Kel speech slurred just a bit as she spoke, [color=D87093]“I am fine, I’m fine.[/color]

Rosa looked towards the door and saw some fresh meat walk through the door.  She sighed.  Rosa grabbed one of the dirty steins and walked over to the various barrels, and made Kel her final drink of the night.  She quickly slid it back down the counter towards Kel.  [color=D2B48C]“Either forgive yourself or get over him.  I don’t care which one it is, but you’re cut off, love.”[/color]. Rosa stared down one troubled Tiefling before turning her attention to another one.

Kel nearly missed the stein, yet she found it in her head before long.  Forgive herself, or get over him?  Kel’s eyes dropped low as her shoulders hunched forward.  What if she needed to do both?  Felix would not be proud of the woman she had become.  While she knew he would be ecstatic that she got revenge and survived the harsh life that followed, he would never forgive her for what she had been made to do.  She blinked, and she saw the kid trying to free himself from her patron.  Her eyes looked down at the two steins in her two right hands.  Maybe one final drink would be enough for her to get enough liquid courage to make a mistake or two to feel better.  

[color=plum]“Buy a guy a drink?”[/color] 

Kel’s eyebrows rose, and she tightened her shoulders.  Her back arched ever so subtly as her tail wrapped itself around the chair.  She was prepared to look his way when his words suddenly truly hit her ears.  Why was [i]he[/i] asking [b]her[/b] for a drink?  Her shoulders slouched noticeably as her head tilted to the side.  Wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around?  Besides, even if he was cute, could she buy him a drink?  That was wrong.  Drunk Kel knew that was wrong.  Kel was going to give that man a piece of her mind.  She turned on the stool, and then she saw him.

[color=plum]“Wait, haven’t we met before? How do I know you?”[/color]

[color=D87093]“Felix,[/color] through the blurred, double image for a moment conjured the visage of her dead fiancé.  She blinked twice, the dead boy growing further and further away each time in her mind, and when her eyes opened the final time, a noticeable frown crossed her face.  Inside, her emotions threatened to spill out through her tear ducts, but she held the flood back with a sudden strength. Her eyes narrowed as she looked over the man.  He was pretty, that much was certain.  The pickings were rather slim here in Grey Hell, so if a pretty bone was thrown her way, she normally would be ready to eat it up.  Yet, with the events of yesterday still fresh on her mind, she was suddenly fussing over the nerve to ask [i]HER[/i] to buy [i]HIM[/i] a drink.  He was pretty though, so she’d let that slide.  At least for now.  They’d likely have a problem with Rosa after all.[color=D87093]“I am unsure, what city were you a prince…prince?  Princess?  Prince!   You look like a pretty prince?”[/color]. 

[color=B21A4D]”You wanna drink? Sure, it’s on me!”[/color] Kel looked towards the sliding Tiefling and marveled at how she made the air around her sparkle like a firework going off.  The slow-motion slide across the bartop was cool as well, and Kel would need to ask her later if that was something she could learn how to do![color=B21A4D]”Two something else’s, Rosa! Make ‘em extra spicy for me.”[/color]

[color=B21A4D]”Blah blah blah,[/color] Kel’s head turned sideways as the woman talked.  What language sounded like nonsense? [color=B21A4D]” Something, something-ust had to admire from afar, y’know.”[/color]  Kel focused her attention through the drunken fog and was finally able to hear what the pretty woman was saying to the pretty prince.  Though she grew slightly jealous that she wasn’t in the middle.  [color=B21A4D]”But seeing you down that bar, I knew I [i]had[/i] to finally talk to you.  Why let the opportunity slip by? Don't get many like you round these parts, after all."[/color] 

Kel’s face felt warm.  She hoped that neither would notice her pink face turning a few hues redder.  A sudden taping sound caught her attention and her head twisted quickly towards the bar, seeing the hand, and following it back to the Tiefling.  [color=B21A4D]”You alright, sweetheart? You look like you’ve had a lil too much to drink.”[/color]. Kel smiled a half smile, though her eyes drifted downward.  Was it that obvious?  She knew she could not have another drink tonight and ensured she remained safe.  But she didn’t want them to know just how drunk she was.  [color=D87093]“They were just.. so tasty the number of drinks just got away from me.[/color]