[[PP-F29]] Time for a REAL drink <<On The House>>

[Mari 1]

POST ACTION: DRINK  ID: 244761  CD: 12 - FRUITY COCKTAIL

 

“And fully agreed. Let’s see what we manage to salvage from the wreck of this god-forsaken floor, and hope it can keep us hammered for another seventy more.”

 

“You know…that’s probably one of the smartest things you’ve ever said to me.” Mari said to Freyd - the carriage was moving now - and it wasn’t that much longer till they arrived at their destination. Mari grabbed the two extra bottles of wine she had pilfered and pushed off and out of the carriage - with Freyd following not far behind.

It was odd… to see him like this. Mari chanced a glance back at him, and when their eyes met he offered her another grin. Yeh. Odd. Not like the Freyd she remembered at all. The man she knew from her memories…was cold and calculating. BEfore then…

“Its funny…” Mari said as she followed the path to an angled cellar door on the outside of the building. “When we first met - you were in the water- fish in your mouth. You looked almost like a child. I thought you were. You kept telling me that I was in your dreams.” Those days seemed so long ago now… the tanabata festival - Mari had pleasant memories of that day. Too bad all her memories couldn’t be that way.

Kneeling down Mari managed to pull open the door to the cellar with two fingers hooked into the handle. It swung open and both her and Freyd began their descent down. The Cellar was oddly…well kept compared to the rest of the tavern. Mari continued her train of thought. “Then, you turned out to be this enigma of a person - following rumour after rumour. The Sundered Spire. The Gemini.” The last word was spat with vittrol. “Now, I’m not sure who I am looking at.”

A single bare bulb hung from the ceiling, swaying gently in the breeze the two had let in. Mari had no idea where to put their cargo, so simply placed it on the floor.

<<RETURN TO THE BAR>>

“Well…whoever you are, Freyd…just Freyd.” I think its about time we get that drink.

Mari trudged up the stairs - and to her surprise there was a very bright and colourful cocktail waiting at the bar for her. “What the…” Mari approached it apprehensively. It looked so very out of place. 

“Fuck it.”

Mari said as she pulled out the red straw from the cup and downed the entire thing in several large gulps. She just wanted to get this quest over and done with. Mari could feel her head already begin to spin - and her throat tingled with the burn of alcohol. Her stomach felt warm.  Mari set the glass back down.

Then…something unexpected happened.

 

[̸̧̡͎̗̦̺̲̦̼̯͇̪̣̗̋̔͋̓̍̂͛̃͘̕Ĥ̵̛̳͍̣͍́̇͂͗͛̐͛̏̆͋͝ave a drink, it's on the house].

 

What the…

The glass had refilled itself - that same fruity cocktail. The prompt was still there. Popping up over and over again. “Uhmmm….”  Mari glanced over to the stairs leading to the basement. Freyd must still be unloading.

“Free is free…” Mari muttered as she downed the drink again.

[̸̧̡͎̗̦̺̲̦̼̯͇̪̣̗̋̔͋̓̍̂͛̃͘̕Ĥ̵̛̳͍̣͍́̇͂͗͛̐͛̏̆͋͝ave a drink, it's on the house]. 

Edited 17 hours ago by Mari

[Freyd 0]

“You know…that’s probably one of the smartest things you’ve ever said to me.”

About to object, Freyd’s lips parted to find no rebuke, no quip, nor sarcastic remark.  He had nothing, because she was probably right, and the realization of it had left him flabbergasted.  

Grabby hands yanked back her two rescued wards, Mari cradling them like they were newborns, save the suckling went the other way around.  Actual glee glowed behind her green eyes, made extra verdant with a sudden greed and hunger for their contents.  Freyd saddled the casque up beside him, trying to set it in a way that might survive any more unexpected surprises. So, of course, there were none.

“Oh no… you actually remember that?!" He cringed - the only time she had ever seen him flush with embarrassment, and possibly the only time he ever had. “I swear,t that was the weirdest fever dream ever, save that multiple people I spoke with had shared exactly the same one.”  Groaning, his brows arched upwards, resigned to acceptance that he could ever have been such a complete and utter noob.

“You and Cord were really cool about it, as I recall, especially given how much I must have seemed like a total raving maniac.”  it took every ounce of will not to yank his cowl over his head and hide within, plus it was still soaked and glacially cold.

“Well…whoever you are, Freyd…just Freyd. I think its about time we get that drink.”

“Look,” he added, sounding more human than he’d ever felt, “you spent two years trying to forget and find peace.  I really hope you did, Mari.  I spent that time doing the same thing for myself, just along a different path.”

She had already raced up the stairs, leaving him to collect his own crate and haul it into the cellar.  By the time he made to follow, several bottles of aged single-malt whiskey were already tucked into his inventory, and he could hear hiccups and giggling from above..

“This quest seems hinky. What do you say we go finish this in the High Fields of Crossing?  They should be safe for you. I can jiffy up a shortcut, like before, but it can get a little chilly in the void, so you’ll want to hold on tight.” Eyes darting first to a conveniently sized patch of shade, his hand reaching in like he was opening some sort of celestial doorway, Freyd wasn’t expecting to find Mari already well along when he turned to offer her his other hand.

All he heard was "Yanno..." in a semi-familiar voice before a flurry of frilly drink umbrellas and freckles body checked him through the intangible hole, sending both of them hurtling though the cold, black and oppressively silent nothingness to which the Whisper in Shadow claimed uncanny access.  Her drink chilled almost instantly, ice rimming the edge for the half-second they were nowhere before Aincrad sucked them back into the material world.  Stumbling out from the castings of a lonely oak on the rocky grasslands of floor two, Freyd tumbled and fell flat on his ass, sliding to a stop near a pair of very startled kingfishers, who  promptly squawked and booked it.

Edited 15 hours ago by Freyd

[Mari 1]

Mari was getting frustrated - it didn’t seem to matter how much of the overly fruity cocktail she drank - the quest just didn’t seem to end. After the third drink her head buzzed - to the point where even shifting it from left to right seemed to make the world spin just that little bit more. 3 drinks?  Mari was never such a light weight before - then again. She supposed the quest drinks may have been  that little bit stronger.

“-so you’ll want to hold on tight.”

Before Mari really had a chance to react to his suggestion she stumbled backward, and there was an instant sting of cold - as though she had jumped into an ice bath. It was daunting, she couldn't see anything - and for a moment she couldn’t feel anything either - it reminded her of her time in that bottomless pit. The dark was suffocating and she could feel its icy claws begin to tear into her very being - the only thing that kept her grounded in those few seconds was Freyd. Feeling his hand firmly clasped over her upper arm, the other around her waist.

The two tumbled forward and the feeling was gone - Mari drew in a sharp breath. Hands and knees  shaking on that grassy knoll. “What the fuck was that…” She muttered. Talk about a sobering experience. “Y-You do that? Regularly?” 

Mari crawled over to the tree and leaned her back against it. “Dammit Freyd…those fruity drinks really aren’t my style. I was…just trying to finish the quest.”

She fell silent for a moment, thinking back to his words earlier in the basement. “I’m not entirely sure if I found peace or not…but…I think I’m better? Maybe? At least - I don’t hate myself.” Mari’s face fell into her hands with a small groan. “Too bad the rest of the world probably still does.”