401/Rousing the Bar

Rousing the Bar
Date of Scene:	13 May 2017
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Summary needed
Cast of Characters:	Insect Queen (OMara), Feral, Zhao Lin, Sibilance

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Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
"So, uhm, this... this would be the place you told me about?" Asks Violet, hunched over as she emerges from the tiny door in the wall. "Absolutley!" Exclaims the tall young man in dreadlocks, wearing a woolen hat and a jersey decorated in the colors of the Jamaican flag, a pair of jeans, and sneakers. "This is where the action is at!"

At the moment, the place is not showing much action, to be sure. The walls are mostly bare, chipped in places, with some wood paneling in bad need of a fix. Mostly, but not completely, congruous tables and booths are all over the place, mostly, but not completely, arranged in some sort of order. The place is definitely not 'huge', but apparently either cheap or popular enough that the owners filled it as much as they could with tables, so much it's very hard to navigate between them. Or perhaps the labyrintine structure is on purpose, to make large brawls difficult? Unless, that is, someone is very... resourceful. The smell of smoke is present, but bearable, with clouds wafting to and fro. A large mirror, cracked in places and covered with duct tape in others, is behind the bar, which seems to be quite well furnished. A pool table is off to a corner, and the same subdued lighting, subdued but somehow welcoming in a 'we're all a bunch of seedy suspicious people, you'll fit right in' way, is all over the place.

Violet looks at her dreadlocked companion, and sinks her head into her shoulders a little, as if she was a turtle trying to retract into her carapace. "...I'm not sure, really. This place looks... dangerous." "Bah, Violet, relax! Look at me! Just stop worrying, act as if you came here every night, and everything will be peaches. Look at me, for instance! I'm sure anyone would think I'm a Reggae star straight out of Jamaica!" "...Ray, you're Asian." "Pff. I just act natural, and nobody notices!"

At first Violet did not seem very convinced, but after a while, there she is, rocking the scene. If by 'rocking the scene' one actually means sitting alone at a table, in a corner, close to the counter, with a non-acloholic drink next to her, and a sketchbook and pencil in her hands. Ray is nowhere to be seen. Seems like Violet is busy sketching the various specimens of humanity one can find in this place, completely unnoticed by anyone.

Feral has posed:
"Specimens" describe the other bar patrons well. One such regular is dressed in the animal finery of a black leather jacket and pants with a pair of loafers discarded on the floor by her chair. Her bare feet are propped on the back of another chair beside her, leaving the dark-haired woman leaned back with an arm casually draped across her table and a thin pint of beer in the other. The sunbaked tan, strong, diamond cheeks, and tapered, slightly down-turned nose make her at least a unique subject, and the orange tint of her thin sunglasses catch the yellowish overhead lights as she leans back to drain the last drops of beer.

When she comes back down Vanya squints at her empty glass with a look of betrayal and the pint hits her table with a *clunk* as she grumbles. "That didn't go as far as I thought it would... Hey! Who wants a bet?" she calls with a wide, slightly-too-friendly sweep of her arm towards the room.

Zhao Lin has posed:
There's a figure at the bar already, slumped over with a glass gripped loosely in one hand and a bottle of something with the label missing nearby. He's got his head on his arm, hat upside down on the bar beside his head like it fell off. Zhao Lin looks like he might be completely wasted, but he manages to lift his head to take another sip from his glass. Blue eyes cast towards the door when the ReggAsian man walks in with Violet, studying the two for a moment before his head drops back down to the bar. The feline man's long, fluffy snow-leopard tail sways as it hangs down off the back of his stool. He grumbles as Vanya calls out to the whole bar, and twists around to stagger to his feet. "Too early for bets, Vanya," he growls to her, as he snatches up the bottle from the bar and points towards her with the hand holding it. He staggers a few steps closer, pauses to sway unsteadily, and then walks closer. "But if you thi-hic-ink you can take me, I accept your challenge." He yanks out one of the chairs at her table, and drops heavily into it, slumping down. The cat looks like he's already had too much to drink.

Sibilance has posed:
Sibilance is here. She doesn't usually come to bars, and when she does come to social settings she tries not to stand out too much. She sits at the farthest booth from all of the doors where she can keep an eye on all of the other customers, and she keeps her tail wrapped around her waist and tucked under her coat. She's been here a while, and those that watch her long enough may notice that she has a decidedly inhuman face under that ski mask of hers, a mask she only pulls up to take a drink from the glass she has been nursing for who knows how long.

She lifts her head and peers with goggle-hidden eyes in Vanya's direction. Then she swivels her head when Zhao responds to Vanya.

"... oh no," she says, placing a hand over her face in exasperation.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Violet O'Mara suddenly perks up, and adjusts her glasses on her nose. She takes a look at the two people, and sets down the sketchbook, ready to document the epic bar awesomeness which is, undoubtedly, about to ensue. "Oh, this is going to be-" But that is when she takes notice of Sibilance's exhasperated sentence.

Violet turns to the snake person sitting at the table next to her. "Uhm... is this going to be... bad? Dangerous?" She asks. "I can't help but notice you're sitting as far away from the center of the action as possible, so, I suppose, we're both looking for a safe seedy bar expereince?" Her eyes dart to her sketchbook, where she is practicing figure drawing Vanya and Zhao Lin. Not there yet, but each sketch gets better and better. "Can I ask you for tip? It's my first time here, really." she says, and takes a sip of her orange juice.

Feral has posed:
Vanya swats a hand across her nose. "And I thought you smelled before," she cracks at the feline before looking him up and down through orange lenses. "I think I could take you all kinds of ways - you look ready to lose to your bottle... bet me a drink and a plate of chips?"

Looking around the room, she surveys the other regulars without great interest but locks eyes with the goggles in the corner of the room. Vanya smirks and stares for a moment before moving on. When she lands on the black-haired young woman trying to turtle nearby, the smirk widens and intensifies - a look that says 'hungry' more than 'happy'.

"And we've got new-comers tonight," she murmurs fondly.

Zhao Lin has posed:
Zhao Lin shifts a little to look in the direction Vanya is looking. His tail flicks behind him, and he lifts his bottle to take a swig from it directly. He actually gulps down a mouthful of whatever is in there, which has to burn because he makes a face afterwards. Must be good stuff. "Sibil!" he calls out to the goggle-clad woman, "What are you hiding in the shadows for?" He leans back precariously on the legs of his chair, to look at the snake-tailed woman past the... two large men that are approaching the table where he and Vanya are sitting. The snow leopard looks up at them, blinking a few times, still tilted back on his chair. One of them, a big fellow in a black hoodie, makes a grab for Zhao Lin! "You're comin' with us, buddy," he says. The man's hand closes on air though, as Zhao Lin's chair topples over backwards with a thud! Zhao Lin rolls out of it, a backwards summersault that ends with him rising to his feet in a drunken sway. He takes another drink, stumbling back a few steps as the men advance on him. "Why not sit down," Lin says, "We can talk about this..." That doesn't seem to be the case, because one of the men lunges for the drunken boxer. Zhao Lin is ready for him, though, and his other hand snaps up in a fist, smashing the bottle he was holding, sending a spray of glass into the thug's face! He recoils, hands clutching his face! Zhao Lin shuffles forward, twisting around to deliver a powerful spinning kick to the man's midsection, sending him flying backwards a few feet before tumbling over and landing on his back. For a moment, Zhao Lin just stands frozen in that pose, before eventually relaxing to both feet again and stumbling towards the bar. "Bartender! Another please," he calls out drunkenly.

Sibilance has posed:
Sibil regards Violet with obvious surprise, with how she tenses up when spoken to. She isn't really the type to come to bars to talk to people, clearly, and she has to regain her composure before she responds at all. But it's clearly not a dislike of people, because she does reply... after cringing when she's called out by Zhao. Her head dips a second and she looks back to Violet.

"Try to stay out of the way," is all she can say after things start getting violent over there. She shrugs helplessly at Violet. Her voice, muffled though it is, is Mexican and fairly soft-spoken. If not for the hidden bestial features, she'd be quite a beauty if one goes by voice alone. "He has a drinking problem and far more strength than a drunk should have," she explains about Zhao, "If this gets really bad there will be flying tables."

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
When Vanya's gaze land on Violet and she mentions 'newcomers', Violet goes wide eyed, breathes in and, biting her lower lip, holds her breath. She turns to Sibilance, and glances at her in a mixture of confusion and worry. Until, that is, Zhao calls over to her, at which point Violet relaxes. "Oh, thanks! I- I will do that!" Violet says, and darts to stand. "He knows your name. Good. I thought you were new too. That would have been bad. Now, to hide..." she says does a 180 degrees turn, and gets ready to scuttle away as far as possible.

And realizes she is facing the wall.

No, actually, /two/ walls. "Oh, right." She says, wincing and giving her forehead a light slap. "We're sitting in the furthermost corner of the bar. Gah! And the door is on the /opposite/ side!"

She turns again, just in time to see Zhao Lin's impressive show of mook subduing. She just stands there, finger raised, jaw dropped, as if for starting to talk but not being able to, not only through the full performance of Zhao Lin, but also a few seconds later.

"...does sitting here, and keeping very, very quiet, work?" She asks Sibilance in a whisper, as she returns to sit at the table in her mock turtle pose, and takes another sip of orange juice. If Violet has to die, she might as well finish it. She /paid/ for it, dangabit, and money is hard to rake up when you're a struggling artist!

Feral has posed:
Vanya slams her hand down and laughs at the fighting feline. "You show-off!" Slipping her shoes back on, the feral woman stands up and snaps a kick towards the second man advancing on Lin, sending her footwear rocketing towards his back. "Another for me too. This next one will be on his tab."

The second shoe follows shortly thereafter as Vanya rushes forward and aims, simply and brutishly, to pin the larger man to the bar.

Zhao Lin has posed:
Zhao Lin is grabbing a bottle of Jack Daniels from the bartender while the second man advances on him. Vanya's Flying Boot Maneuver strikes him in the back between the shoulder blades, making him turn around just as the Russian woman tackles him to the ground. The two end up in a grapple, with the man struggling to get her off of him. Zhao Lin turns around just as the first fellow is getting back to his feet, accompanied by the scrape of chairs as six or seven others rise to their feet. Zhao Lin looks around slowly, and just... up-ends the bottle, casual as ever gulping down the contents while watching the group of men advance on him. "Hhaah," he huffs out when he finishes it, letting the bottle drop to the floor with a crash.

Zhao Lin launches into action as soon as they're within fighting range, a snap kick to one man's chin sending him toppling over backwards! He blocks a few punches thrown at him, his body twisting and jerking around to avoid the blows. Zhao Lin's maneuverability is downright impressive as he ducks and waves around the group of men, fighting defensively. He gets in close with one of them, blocking a few punches aimed for his face, before Zhao Lin suddenly has his own arms inside the man's reach, and he jabs him in the eyes with his index and pinky fingers!

Meanwhile, there's three of them advancing on Vanya, while the woman grapples with the man she tackled. They try to grab hold of her in an attempt to haul her off of him, unaware of just who they might be dealing with!

Sibilance has posed:
"Sometimes. The more of a background object you are, the less likely people are to involve you in the mess. But it's best to flatten yourself to the floor when people start pulling out firearms," Sibilance explains, while she tries her very best not to speak up too loudly during the violence over there. She pulls her mask open again to take a swig out of her drink to finish it while Violet is distracted with her own, though she forgets to pull the mask back down for a moment and panics when there's another crash from the fight.

"Zhao's some kind of wandering martial artist, drunken fist, he's not necessarily a bad person but he doesn't really think sometimes," she explains, under the chaos of combat, "Not sure who the girl is. I don't actually come here that often. This... this isn't the best first impression." Wait a second, was she drinking fruit juice? She doesn't sound tipsy! Little does anyone know, she is actually too young to drink.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Violet O'Mara , on the other hand, is old enough to drink. "Oh, thanks!" Whispers Violet, and scuttles to flatten her back against the wall. And catches a glimpse of Sibilance's serpentine features. She gasps, and while holding her breath, she pulls back so hard to hit the back wall with her own back.

. o O (Don't stare at the snake... don't stare at the snake face... don't stare at the snake face... ) O o . She thinks, keeping her face ahead of herself, mouth tense in a grimace. "...all this violence is making me tense," she says, /technically/ not lying, but that is only reason number two why she's currently freaked out.

Luckily, with the spectacular fight going on on Zhao and Vanya's part, violence soon regains top place in her list of concerns, her sitting next to a freaky snake lady having been bumped down to a solid 'close second' place.

"...wait, /firearms/? That... that might actually happen?" she whispers, far too many seconds later, paling a little as she finally realies the full implication of Sibilance's words.

Feral has posed:
Vanya flashes a feral smile as she turns the tackle into a ground a pound, blocking and pinning retaliating punches while hammering her own down to turn the man's face a redder and redder shade. There aren't callouses on her knuckles for nothing.

The black-clothed woman's nostrils flare as she's grabbed and pulled partway off the man until she turns and bites onto an offending arm. Wrenching herself free, she whips around with a backfist and comes up to her feet in an unsettlingly comfortable blur of swinging and striking limbs - lashing out viciously at each man in turn that draws near.

"You made a lot of friends," she laughs between deflections and blows, clearing space around herself with a few sharp kicks before pulling down the zipper of her jacket with a brisk tug and slipping it off. The sun-glassed woman flings it over the chair she'd been using before and clenches her fists. Dense cords of muscles bulge and ligaments pop across her bare arms as her tanktop stretches across a dangerously well-honed body. Vanya smiles challengingly at the men still before her.

Her first fight? Maybe her first one today...

Zhao Lin has posed:
Zhao Lin grabs one of the men by the collar, the first man that he kicked across the room. He gives it a tug, tearing the collar and hood away and at the same time spinning the man around like a top, sending him sprawling to the floor again. Lin gets grabbed from behind, but some jerking and stomping by the martial artist loosen's the man's grip, and Zhao Lin shoves himself back into him with an arch of his back, arms held out as though he were carrying a large pot. It sends the man sprawling backwards, and Lin blocks some incoming strikes, ducking down with his arms above his head. He twists to the right, kicking out to the left to knock one man's feet out from under him, then swings around to sweep the other man off his feet as well. It's just then that this first man is getting to his feet, stumbling towards the door.

Zhao Lin catches sight of something on his neck then, a tattoo of a skull surrounded by a serpent. "Hey! You come back here!" Zhao Lin shouts, getting up to his feet and stumbling after him as the man runs out the door. Zhao Lin is quick to chase, taking a shortcut by hopping up onto a table and diving out the slim, open window! There's a crash as he lands in some junk in the alley, and then the sound of shouting as Zhao Lin chases the man down the alley. The three other men he was fighting get to their feet and follow him out the door, and just like that they're gone, leaving Vanya to mop up the remaining four.

Sibilance has posed:
"..."

Sibil frowns to herself when she 'hears' the thoughts that come from Violet. The panic that comes with it tells the snake girl that she's too scared to call it out, or that she's just trying to be polite by overlooking it. Her head lifts as she spots Zhao taking off out of the bar to chase someone, making her murmur more worrisome thoughts to herself, unhappy that he just took off after getting into a scrap like that.

The snake woman regards Violet again, weighing how much she should explain, if she does at all. If she says something about what Violet saw, it might tip her off about the mind reading or clue her in about a general weirdness. Sibil lets out a deep sigh to herself.

"Drunk gang members don't always think about who they pull a piece on," she tells Violet.

"I'm sorry for spooking you," she mentions, too, which might be odd but could be chalked up to her being perceptive.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
"It's okay," says Violet, "it's not your face-FAULT. It's not your /fault/. I-" A short pause. "Mutant, right? It's okay. I have a friend who's a mutant. Cool guy. He's got this flat head, and can make pancakes on it." She moves her hand just above her head, thumb, index and middle finger pointing downwards. "Q- quite the show." She says, her attempts at a casual conversation murdered by the voice being caught in her throat. Well, at least, it's obvious now. BOTH polite and scared. "You- You must be Sibil, right?" she asks, remembering the way Zhao Lin called the snake lady early on.

Feral has posed:
"Hey, what about my drink!" Vanya shouts after the kung-fu cat before weaving back to avoid a thrown bottle. "Watch it!" she growls, lashing back with a side kick that penetrates her target with crippling ease, sending him backwards in a heap into - and then over a chair.

The other men rush in together and the sunglassed woman crouches down before them and aims for low targets - knees, feet, jewels... the quartet devolve into a pile of shouting, screaming, and swinging limbs that upturns a nearby table. Woody thumps punctuate missed blows and body parts slamming against the bar's weathered floor, and the barefoot brawler peeks into view again as she flips one of the men over her back. He collapses upside down in a chair as the other two pile back onto her in the opening.

Around the rest of the bar, a small handful by the pool table are watching with amused and curious smiles until a loud *crack!* settles the affair.

Pushing her last two adversaries off her, Vanya climbs back to her feet with her hair pulled out of its bun and hanging in a disheveled pile on one shoulder. Her clothes are speckled with flecks of blood and nowhere near as straight as they were a minute ago.

"Anyone else!?" The feral brawler calls excitedly to the room, sweeping wild, golden eyes the width of the bar. Her sunglasses are left on the floor at her feet.

Sibilance has posed:
"Si," Sibil confirms in her soft tone of voice, "I was born with this appearance. It is difficult to be comfortable when I look like something that people are taught to avoid, that instinct fears." She pulls her tail out of her coat to hold it up. It's brown and gold and it has pale diamond-like patterns along the top, as if she were a diamondback rattlesnake. There's the rattle, too. She shakes it a couple times with her hand, somewhat playfully. Rattle rattle.

She lets it rest down against her seat and out of immediate view again, and glances aside at Vanya as she shouts, cringing in unease at her shouted challenge. The snake girl clearly doesn't enjoy violence.

"Y-yes. My name's Sibil," she answers.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Violet O'Mara looks in confusion, unsure of how to react to the whole Snake Lady strangeness. "Oh. Well, Violet here." she says. And extends one hand. And instinctively retracts it. And offers it. "It's safe to shake your hand, right? Just... just asking?"

After a moment of silence, she says, "If you are as unhappy with violence as you look, well, welcome to Team Pacifist" She gives her hand her final nudge towards Sibil. It's not easy to overcome primal instincs, but she's at least trying hard.

"Even though, I have to admit... in that case, well, it was self defense... it seems..." She says this in as low a volume as possible, afraid that Vanya might misinterpret it as volunteering for a round of being beaten.

Feral has posed:
Relative silence lapses in the bar around Vanya. With the others off chasing Lin, no one else stands up to face her. Satisfied, the gold-eyed woman huffs as spits on the men she'd just beaten. "Hmph! Cowards..."

Turning around, she heads to the bar, clothes still half-tucked and frazzled.

Sibilance has posed:
The snake woman stares down at the hand, and she can feel the discomfort rolling off of Violet every second that the hand is lifted... but she also feels the surface push of trying to be friendly with the strange and different despite instinct. It's enough to make Sibil smile behind her mask, the genuine emotion having satisfied her enough. She reaches out to grasp Violet's hand and--

Wow, she has a really strong grip. It isn't crushing, but it's clear that she has an insane amount of strength for someone her size. Just the muscle density in her fingers alone...

She pulls her hand away and nods once. "I'm not a pacifist, but... I dislike violence," she tells Violet. "It scares me." That isn't even moral, it's her skittish nature. "You were... drawing people?" she asks, leaning over to try to get a look at what Violet was drawing on, while glancing away at Vanya just once to make sure she isn't going to come over and fight one of them.

Insect Queen (OMara) has posed:
Violet O'Mara blinks. And then winces. "Oh, no! I got so scared and confused I forgot to draw the brawl!" She picks up the sketchbook and shows it to Sibil. "...well, yes. Look here. I tried to draw them, and..." And she shows Sibil her initial sketches.

The bartender clears his throat.

Well, the bartender does not /just/ clear his throat. A little known fact outside the bar-going circle is that, like physicians have mastered a written language of squiggles opaque to everyone except pharmacists (not even other physicians can read it!), bartenders have developed a fully nuanced throat-clearing language understood by the population that normally frequents bars. This particular throat-clearing, directed in Vanya's direction, can be rendered in plain English as, "Your friend ran away without paying for his drinks. What are we going to do about it?"

Feral has posed:
Vanya pinches the bridge of her nose and growls before fishing out a wad of bills and slapping them on the counter. "Spend the rest on garlic bread and another pint." Soured by the lose of money, she grumbles, "And remind me next time he's here to thread that bendy cat through the back of a chair..."