Bibulous Toasts and a Drunken Celebration

[Ataraxis]

They came to unwind.

Barging through the swinging doors, a most peculiar posse made itself aware. One was a giant of a man, his swarthy skin rippling as he made his way to the counter, disheveled dreadlocks bobbing along the way. At his sides strode along a woman of smaller stature, her skin fairer than snow and wearing down her silken mane of cursive black, her lithe figure latched around the hard bulk of his biceps. Finally, tagging along was an even shorter silhouette, eyes of azure rolling as she saw the two lovebirds snuggle so shamelessly.

Following their lead, she hopped onto the circular head of a tall stool, despising the harshness of the leather. “Is this really the right way to celebrate your reunion? We could be visiting the sights, eat out at reputable restaurants!” she expelled her qualms, but rather than eliciting the attention of her partners, she had drawn the glares of many a drunken customers. Carrying on in a whisper, she finished her though. “Not such a reprehensible pub… I don’t even know why they have one in Donnalaich!”

The gruff grunt of the bartender had startled her, and she fell into a self-conscious silence. Such places made her uncomfortable. It wasn’t just the rowdy nature of the clientele, but also the willingness with which these establishments welcomed them. A place of debauch, decadence and intemperance: this was far from the intellectual intoxication of a library.

“Aiden, Alaina, are you even listening to me?”

[DarkStorm]

(I'm drunk. I'll spell check tomorrow. DEAL WITH IT.)

"Bartender! We need a bottle of whiskey here, and three shot glasses!" Aiden roared, the smile on his face marking clear his intent. Turning his emerald eyes to Lillian, he answered her easily, with the laid-back demeanor he had once again reclaimed since they had freed Alaina, and been reunited. "Little lady, there is nothing wrong with a drinking contest in a place of low expectations. Just don't pass out, or these people will rob your ass blind. And probably grope it a bit too."

Laughing, Aiden took the bottle pro-offered by the bartender and watched as the bald man sat a tray down in the center of the rickety wooden table. The quiet thump of the tin circlet settling down on the wood was lost in the general hustle of the inn's common room. Somewhere, a shout of laughter erupted, and Aiden echoed it for no greater reason than to share in the laughter. Picking up two of the glass shot glasses, Aiden tossed one to Alaina, and the other carelessly to Lillian. Excitedly, he twisted the cap off the large bottle of whiskey, and filled his glass.

"The rules!" Aiden shouted. The pub quieted around him, people taking notice of the large man, and his mane of unruly dreadlocks. "The first to puke loses!"

All around him, a great shout of jovial glee went up, and the sound of bottles clinking together filled the tavern. Without hesitation, Aiden lifted his glass, and swallowed it with ease. It burned his throat on the way down, but he didn't so much as blink. Slamming the glass back to the table, Aiden inhaled deep, savoring the warmth that spread through his stomach. "Well, ladies, now you've a head start!"

Aiden tilted the bottle above Lillian's glass, then Alaina's, slopping the foul smelling liquid into their shot glasses, then refilled his own. "Round one!" He shouted, then repeated his one-step swallow.

[Varia]

Alaina grinned already free of inhibitions. She was back with Aiden and that was plenty. Ignoring her slopping glass, she leaned forward, her rear end rising off the chair to reach and kiss Aiden's alcohol tainted mouth. The hot liquid warmed her mouth as well as Aiden's tongue, and she plopped back into her chair, already drunk with happiness. Still, she looked at her glass, took a deep breath to gather herself, and then swallowed it in two gulps. She wasn't much of a drinker. She didn't have Aiden's experience. The whiskey was hard, and sent fire down her throat. Coughing but smiling, she nodded to Lillian.

“Your turn!” she managed to whisper, still wiping the tears from her eyes.

[Ataraxis]

“I’m not drinking this aberration of a drink!” Her scowl was far from hidden, and she had hoped her obvious disapproval of such petty games would deter their will to make her one of their own. With only a few glances around her, she had bolstered he belief that she had no intention of becoming a sloppy, drooling, blubbering gibbon, like the short bald man whose lips were still stuck to the rim of a tipped mug, its golden ale emptied onto his trousers and pooling awkwardly between his feet. The whole ambiance was a noisome yellow, and she did not care much for it. Holding herself across the chest, legs crossed, she uttered a curt humph, steering her distinguished gaze to the exit.

“Why don’t you loosen up, lass? At the end of the night, when everyone’ll be merry and smilin’, you’ll feel darn sorry for not soakin’ your gullet, even just a little!” the bartender told her with a genuine chortle, his paunch jiggling with the mirthful movement. Inching the small glass closer to the girl, he gave her a coaxing wink. “What’s one drink goin’ to change? It may not be as sophisticated as that flimsy Raiaeran chardonnay, but you’ll never go wrong with a shot of Lavinia’s best!”

His cheerful demeanor had been enough to make her hesitate, but she dreaded what would happen, were she to even take too strong a whiff of that foul smelling liquor. It only took a sip… she began in her thoughts, recalling that mortifying evening in the snowy capital of Salvar. No, I’m quite certain I’d rather not–

“Just drink the damn thing, girl!” The sottish Aiden roared, clutching her by the jaw, forcing down on her cheeks to pop open her rosy lips. Strange sounds blew from the squeamish aperture as Lillian contended against his brawn, but she was clearly under the yoke of his iron grip. Across his sunburnt face was splayed a smile, much too giddy to be of sane nature. Hefting the glass, he poured the alcohol down, letting it drizzle into her mouth without a splash, wasting not one drop of the golden ambrosia. Then, he squeezed her mouth shut, leaving her no option but to ingest the fiery fluid.

“Augh, it burns!” she coughed and hacked, holding herself as she fell forward in convulsions. The silk of her mane shook madly as she tried to expectorate the bubbling poison, without much success. Lifting her head, she glared at the man with bloodshot eyes, tearing from the burning pain. “You know I’ll remember this,” she hissed, the edge of her lips curling up ever so slightly.

[DarkStorm]

"HAH! I know you won't!" He replied, sitting back in his chair.

Aiden laughed, watching the girls choke and stutter like inexperienced school girls. Lifting the whiskey bottle, Aiden used the thin neck of the bottle to mockingly salute his wife, while sticking his tongue out at her. He couldn't have found a better wife. The family that drank together, stayed together!

Looking to Lillian while she spluttered, Aiden taunted her playfully. "So, you can deal with villains, wyvern, and wyrms, but a simple shot kicks your ass? WEAK!"

Once again, Aiden turned the lip of the bottle over the shot glasses, filling them up to the rim. Lifting his shotglass toward Alaina and Lillian, Aiden bowed his head, then put the cold shot glass to his cheek, rolled it to his mouth, dropped his head back and swallowed it all in one gulp. Once more, the fluid burned his throat like liquid fire, but did little else to disturb his complexion. He simply smiled as he dropped the glass to his left hand, which hovered near his belly button.

[Varia]

Alaina watched the exchange, bemused, and when Aiden saluted her with the bottle, she nodded politely. Already she could feel the alcohol warming her belly, and she fitfully started trying to peel her trench coat off. Aiden reached over halfway through, to free her from the depths of the dark fabric, and she sat back down, adjusting her top. Staring down the full glass in front of her like a gladiator in an arena, she took in another deep breath. Grabbing it quickly, as if it would run away, she tilted her head back and swallowed it all.

Less coughing this time, but still she scrunched her face up and shook her head. After the initial nausea passed, she looked at Lillian's still scowling face and giggled.

“Oh, stop being such a prude, Lily. We're here to have a good time.”

[Ataraxis]

Her ears perked at the thinly-veiled taunts, and in a bout of defiance, wrought by her intoxicated blood, she took the bait. “Don’t you dare call me a weakling, or a prude!” she shouted in high dudgeons, sweeping the shotglass off the counter without spilling a single drop. Whiffing its contents tersely, she stared down her two comrades with a haughty air, stretching a woozy grin across her flushed lips. The burn of the divine liquor had spread across her body, warming her blood and airing out her brain. She felt the bars of inhibition yield, creaking as an unwonted wildness sought to escape from its sheepish prison. “I can handle anything you send my way!”

Her head shot back in one dry motion, the rim of the glass following her lips. In a single slug she quaffed the liquor, and with a rapid yank, she slammed it back onto the soaked wood, sending a rumble to all mugs and salted platters that sat on the counter. She was welling up, but let no cough escape, preferring to hiss as the sting subsided. Looking the girl with a worried eye, the bartender stepped forth. “I didn’t think you’d have such trouble with alcohol, lass! Maybe you should slow down a little, don’t you think?”

“Slow down? I haven’t even started!” she exclaimed, gaveling the grainy surface with her empty glass. “What’s keeping you, Heidi? What about you Allie? ‘Fraid the competition just got hotter?”

[DarkStorm]

With the flow of harsh liquid still burning his throat on the way down, Aiden turned his attention to his wife. Filling her shot glass, he smiled at her, and made a kissy face, before sliding the bottle across the table to Lillian. For that second in time, she might as well not have existed. His full attention was on his wife.

Taking his next shot a bit slower than he had the others, Aiden smiled when he was done, and lifted his foot beneath the table, and sat it on the edge of Alaina's chair, between her knees. Smirking a mischievous smirk, he pushed his toes forward against her for a second, rubbing hard. When her face turned red, he laughed heartily, and lifted his hands above his head in a facade of victory.

"Drink!" Aiden roared happily at Alaina.

[Varia]

Alaina squeaked, and blushed, eying her husband. “Aiden!” she said in a hoarse whisper, eyes wide. Just as she was scooting her chair closer to the table to hide Aiden's impropriety, the bartender tapped her on the shoulder. Turning around, certain she was about to be kicked out of the pub, she was surprised to see a smiling face.

“S'cuse me, this is from that lad over there,” the bartender said, waving off in the direction of the bar counter, and handing her a shot. Alaina took the small glass and looked back at Aiden, with anxiousness plastered over her face.

“I, I didn't..” Alaina stumbled over her words, looking at Aiden's confused face. “Wha?” she muttered.

[Ataraxis]

“My, who’s acting all prim now?” she quipped with a bumbling voice, her body quavering from a wave of light chuckles. Someone had his eye on Alaina, and Lillian would be on the front row to whatever would transgress between this most amusing of love triangles. A dour dispute or a brutish bar brawl? She asked herself in a singsong voice as she took hold of the bottle and popped the cap open with an expert thumb, pouring the liquor by herself with a quaking hand. She sipped the unpleasant stuff, before downing it in a single go.

The shroud of alcohol had changed her to the very core, bringing out an unexpected facet of her personality. More playful, outgoing and skittish than ever, she looked at the husband and wife with blaring mischief, as though knowing that whatever happened this night, they would all forget in the morning. All of them, save her. If all goes well, I’ll have some leverage over them when the going gets rough. What am I saying? I hope all goes wrong!

“Why hello, sir! Why don’t you sit here and have a nice little chat with the lady!” unmindful that she had attracted the ears and eyes of much more than Alaina’s admirer, she leaned on the hind legs of her chair, perfectly balanced as she beckoned him to come. Nudging the situation along couldn't hurt much: things already seemed to be heading to hell in a handbasket. I’m sure her husband won’t mind!

[DarkStorm]

Once more, Aiden laughed. He hadn't thought it would be possible for Lillian to shed her prudish exterior for even a second, let alone long enough to make such a feeble attempt at unsettling him. Aiden had taken the unknown man's advance on his wife in stride- he trusted his wife more than he trusted anything else, even the laws of physics. The sun might not rise the next morning, or ever again, but he knew that his wife would never, ever betray him. That was why she was his wife.

Leaning forward, Aiden grabbed the bottle from Lillian and took a large swig of it. The Whiskey burned down his throat, and into his belly, but he knew that it was nothing. The temporary discomfort would subside, and he would be left with a pleasant, if slightly disorienting buzzing in his mind. Now, it was time to show Lillian just how much she had lost this round of 'despicable-actions-are-us'.

Lifting his voice above the general hub-bub of the Inn, Aiden announced in a loud, carrying voice. "Step right up! Join the auction for your chance to have a Night of Marvels with this black-haired, blue-eyed beauty! We'll begin the bidding at 500 gold!" It was clear that he was speaking of Lillian, and not Alaina.

[Varia]

Her admirer obviously driven off by Aiden's roaring auction of Lillian, Alaina relaxed slightly and sat back in her chair. She grabbed the free drink she'd gotten, and downed it quickly. “A night of marvels.. I wonder how he knows that,” she thought sourly. “And a black-haired, blue-eyed beauty as well!”

Alaina grabbed the bottle from in front of her obviously distracted husband and pushed her shot glass aside, drinking straight from the bottle. Reclining in her chair, her throat burning and mind soured, she watched the display her husband and his friend were making.

[Ataraxis]

“What?” Lillian sputtered what little alcohol had been stewing in her mouth, slamming her palms against the coarse table. Not caring that she had soaked the dreadlocked man, his beard dripping with the foul liquid, Lillian shot anxious eyes about the rickety room, noting with much apprehension the screech of wooden legs against the floor and the slow coalescence of men around her. A few looked her from head to toe, in deep appraisal of her worth, but all grinned in sickly satisfaction, their sweaty faces nodding as they neared dangerously closer.

“550!” One called out, his toothy excuse for a smile sending shivers down her spine. Another cried out with a fifty coin increment, laughing as he tugged at the buckle of his belt. Moments ago, she had been enjoying herself, for the first time in her life relishing the tastes and effects of alcohol, but now she held herself in apprehension, shivering from a creeping, disgusting cold.

Her legs threatened to buckle, but she dared not imagine their reaction to a hapless girl, sprawled onto such grimy floorboards. The numbers rose in quick succession, and she began to smell to stench of armpits as they bumbled around, arms raised while they fought for the possession of her nubile body. “A thousand gold coins, if she’s a virgin!” roared a pig of a man, his slanted eyes and sweating forehead hiding none of his perversion, none of his twisted lust.

"Of course she's a virgin, you fat dolt. Just look at her little doll face!" The first bidder interjected, rubbing his chest and smacking his lips. "Nothing so appetizing could be damaged goods."

“Aiden!” she screamed out, her tearing eyes set in an ireful stare. She was shivering all over, but her hands had closed into white-knuckled fists. “How could you? This... This is despicable! And you!” she addressed Alaina, her voice laced with the bitterness of betrayal. The woman sat listlessly, not caring how her body was being auctioned off. That she believed it wouldn’t happen no longer mattered; she chose to ignore what any other woman knew to be ignoble, unacceptable.

“Alright then.” A chill shot across the room. No longer trembling, no longer fearful, she let her anger run amok. Pointing at Alaina, she shouted with a grin, without a thimble or remorse. “For five additional coins, she comes with me!”

[Varia]

The roaring chorus of men rose to a crescendo, and Alaina's eyes widened. Sudden anger flared behind her icy blue eyes. Never before had she felt more cheap. Kicking back her chair, she stood and faced Lillian. Alaina put her small hands on the table, leaning towards Lily. Her normally pale cheeks were flushed bright pink, and her previously relaxed stance had stiffened considerably. “How dare you!” she shouted. “A mere five coins? I'm worth a multitude more than that!”

One of the men near the table grinned. “I'd pay double!” he shouted, sending a wave of hoarse laughter through the group of men. The man then leaned forward, preparing to smack the bottom that her pose had left considerably open. Alaina straightened, a small squeak emitting from her lips. The man's hand, luckily, only met with the solid blue sparkling shield that her aura had produced. Alaina's mouth dropped open and she stared at the man in disbelief. Another man in the crowd suggested what she could do with such an open mouth. She shut it again quickly with a click of teeth.

[DarkStorm]

The moment that the hand had sought Alaina's rear end was the moment that Aiden lost all civility, his joking demeanor gone in the flash of rage that sparkled in his eyes. In the blink of an eye, he was on his feet, twisting. Though the man's hand had been halted by the glittering azure Salus aura around his wife, that was not good enough for the man. A line had been crossed, and now blood would be shed.

His fist closed around the drunk's still extended wrist, and pulled with all the strength of a Century-old Fell Human. The sound of bones snapping was lost in the ragged cheering and frolicking of the common room, but Aiden felt it clearly through his contact. As the man came nearer, Aiden's right hand lashed out like a snake, and closed around the man's throat. Taking one quick step forward, the Fell Human moved his right foot behind the man's ankle, and pushed forward with the hand gripping the drunkard's neck. There was no hope for him to resist the move.

Down the man went, crashing through the rickety table with a loud grunt. When he lay still, Aiden resisted the urge to stomp on the man's face, and instead bent down to snatch up the bag of coins tied to the drunks belt. Surprisingly, the bag didn't feel overly light. Mindlessly, Aiden tossed it to Alaina, and snatched up the nearby whiskey bottle, as it lay on it's side spinning slowly. How the glass bottle had survived the fat oaf smashing through the table it had been sitting on was beyond Aiden's intellect. But then again, who really needed to know that answer? The whiskey had endured, and that was all that mattered. Turning, Aiden shooed at the girls with his hands.

"Upstairs ladies! We'd best lock ourselves in the room where Fate and Chance are sleeping. It sounds like some local color might be brewing here." Behind him, the copyrighted sounds of a fledgling barfight were slowly becoming more pronounced.


A note for the judging mod... This thread might seem entirely hair-brained... but me and Varia were celebrating her birthday last night. We were utterly drunk when we wrote this, and it was just to have fun, which we did! So there isn't any real need to point out a bunch of mistakes we made, though if there is any advice you'd offer, please do so!

As for spoils: Whatever gold you think is appropriate, including that bag of gold Aiden ganked off the drunk man, divided between Lillian, Alaina, and Aiden.

And for Aiden Specifically: Can I keep the Shot Glass he'd been drinking from? Pwease? I have this awesome idea of doing some quest later to make an enchanted shot glass. IT NEVER RUNS DRY OF WHISKEY!

...what? You know you'd want one. >.>

[Ataraxis]

Satisfaction crossed her face, seeing the focus of attention shift to Alaina. Moreover, she knew how a pack of ruttish wolves, on the prowl for a scrumptious doe, would incur a jealous husband’s wrath. Lillian had saved herself from an unspeakable demise, or had at least precipitated the end of this inane situation. The very moment Aiden had auctioned her off, even if it were in jest, he had guaranteed the scuffles that were now breaking out. He’ll think twice before selling my innocence for a pretty penny!

A wooden disk of insane proportions had howled past her, sending powerful wafts down her raven mane. A crash resounded behind her as the chucked table jarred into a drunkard’s arm, bounced off and splintered into a whitewashed wall. Chinks of broken glass skidded across the flooring, grittily ground as a flurry of boots shuffled into wobbly stances, their owners steeling themselves for the hits that would come and go. “I think it’d be wise of me to take your advice,” she whimpered wanly, grabbing the female Salus by the wrist. “Allie, let’s go! Quick!”

“That’s it, girls, run away from the big, bad wolf.” It was the porcine man, tapping his wide, blemished lips with the greasy sausages that were his fingers. Disturbingly, his other hand was lowered, rasping against the itch of his crotch. Sickened, Lillian dashed for a way out, squeezing through the mass of men as best she could with Alaina close behind. Alas, she felt her body jerk back, podgy phalanxes creeping around her waistline. “Catching up always makes me hung–”

His words were cut short when he felt a glossy cold slip in between his crooked teeth, perfectly still upon the white stench of his tongue. Lillian had twisted in his grip to face him, the glass haft of her dirk snugly fitted inside a strangely steady palm. She yanked at it slightly, drawing blood from the corner of his lips. With an eerie blue stare, as sharp as the keenest of daggers, she coaxed him into unhanding her without even a word.

As she ran off with her friend, their little feet pounding on the stairway, the beast fell limp on his knees, swiping a fat finger across his mouth, trembling at the stains of red. Anger surged from the confines of his jutting chest, wishing for revenge. She had humiliated him, and so he would repay her as many times as there were men aroused in the ruins of this pub. “Everyone, the girls have gone u– ”

Glass shattered on the back of his head, pooling into green sparkles at his sides. The beast fell loud, shaking the foundations of the room. There, he lay limp, his viscous tongue dripping onto mud-caked floorboards, the sounds of an all-out scuffle fading in the backdrop.

I was the voice of reason in this fiasco. How unnatural is that? Though I did have a beer or two in my system, as well as a whole bottle of cough syrup!

I ask for nothing, 'cept my share of the gold pouch. Oh, and that whoever judges this doesn't kill any of us for this joyfully senseless celebration! Come on, tt was the fourth of July, and I'm Canadian. That's gotta count for something!

[Letho]

General Notes: Well, you made it quite clear of the nature of this thread and I approached it as such, not expecting something overly complex and deep. And that's pretty much what I found; a simple, laid-back thread filled with alcohol and little else. There's nothing wrong with these threads – God knows I had my share of them. I'm glad that you didn't overcomplicate it and turn the boozing into like a litany filled with personal epiphanies brought up by inebriation. However, I'm not too glad that, save the drinking, there was very little other content. When drinking itself is the main character of the story, it's not too much of a story. But onto the rubric. I know you said that there is no need for too much comments, but I’ll give some just in case.

CONTINUITY – 5

The information about the cause for this celebration was scarce. I think it was only mentioned once that Alania was saved and then it was all about the booze. I'd expect at least one of you lifting your glass to the successful rescue or something. That was why they were drinking in the first place.

SETTING – 6

One advice for DarkStorm and Ataraxis, and one for Varia. First, pay more attention to what others write. Ataraxis says in one post that she was sitting on a bar stool (which would mean that they sat at the bar, which would explain why the tender was always near) and in the next one Aiden says that they're sitting around a rickety table. It's a minor discrepancy, not surprising if you were drunk while you wrote the thread, but I'm not rating the “funness” of this thread, but its literary value. Varia, I would've liked to see more of both your writing and your character. You seemed a bit absent in this one.

PACING – 4

There’s pretty much one major reason why the score is so low here. It’s because you ended it all too soon. Just as you finally started to make more of the thread then just three people sitting around a table, getting liquored up, it ended. And without a proper conclusion as well. If you were too tired to finish it all in one day, you could’ve wrapped it up the next day.

DIALOGUE – 7

Dialogue was good, though perhaps a bit too clean for a bunch of people who drank so much. From what I gathered, Lily and Alania weren’t actually heavy drinkers. However, that which was spoken fitted your characters well; Aiden with his frivolousness, Lillian being defensive and sensible and Alania following the lead of her husband.

ACTION – 6

There’s something that’s been bugging me, and it’s somewhat related with the dialogue. Alania mentioned she wasn’t much of a drinker and Lillian obviously wasn’t one either. And yet when shit hit the fan, their hand-eye coordination was almost perfect as they ran. Now, I don’t drink often myself, but I know that if you don’t usually drink hard stuff and you drink a lot of it and try to get up suddenly, you probably won’t be able to make a clean dash for the stairs. Or pretty much anything. On the flip side, just as with dialogue, your characters acted in tune with what I could gather from their profiles, especially Ataraxis.

PERSONA – 6

How does one judge a persona of a drunken person? A drunk usually isn’t quite himself/herself, so it’s rather hard to gauge this aspect. I’ll say you did fairly well, though some other inner thoughts except “the alcohol burned its way down his/her throat” would’ve been nice to see. Not too much, but a bit more of your characters would’ve been welcome.

MECHANICS – 7

Nothing major to comment on here. All three of you are strong here, especially if you really did wrote this while tipsy. Don’t forget to edit out the OOC notes. I’m not talking about the ones at the end, but the “(I'm drunk. I'll spell check tomorrow. DEAL WITH IT.)”. I really dislike when those pop up in a thread.

TECHNIQUE – 5

There was not much finesse involved in this thread so there isn’t much to comment on. I’d like to say something to Ataraxis, though. You have a rather impressive vocabulary, but this is a blade that cuts both ways. Thread carefully so as not to overburden your writing with fancy-sounding words.

CLARITY – 7

They came, they drank, they ran from the angry mob. There’s very little that could be unclear about that.

WILD CARD – 6

I was very disappointed with the end. The best part of getting drunk is drunken fighting and trying to hit “the one in the middle”. Or just breaking a lot of shabby chairs and tables and bones. So I can’t go higher with the Wild Card score. If Lillian and Alania had gotten drunk enough to make out a bit, I would’ve surely doubled the Wild Card. Yes, I would’ve given a 12. ;)


TOTAL SCORE – 59

Congratulations!


SPOILS:

Ataraxis gets 655 EXP, 250 GP and a nice stack of letters with various offers for her virginity.
DarkStorm gets 585 EXP, 250 GP and a shot glass.
Varia gets 550, 250 GP and a pair of tight denim pantaloons that have “Can’t touch this!” written on the seat.


EXP/GP added! Ataraxis, welcome to the next level.