Description: Walter and Alexis meet in a bar. Much gabbing and drunken dragons ensues.
Southtown is full of many businesses, businesspeople, and the associated social lubricant stations that keep such places hopping. After seeing that his fellow Knight Amy is at least alive and kicking, he's off to drink away his anger and wrath. Not truly a good idea for the brave Priest Walter, but a dragon has his vices. And judging by the amount of beer bottles in the dingy dive-bar complete with questionable waitresses, dragons have one hell of a liver.
One of said waitresses is stuck with the job of cleaning up the two dozen bottles of beer being carted away as the Priest leans on the wobbly, scuffed up table. In the darkness here, he looks almost normal, his draconic eyes for once uncovered. It's enough that most keep their distance. Walter's mostly unmolested aside from the occasional visit from the wait staff to deposit even /more/ alcohol.
"...Bloody foxes!" Grumbles the priest aloud suddenly as he downs beer number twenty five.
"Bloody dragons!"
An impetuous and possibly inebriated reply comes from behind the priest as he downs his drink. It may not be immediately recognizable as belonging to his Canadian acquaintance Alexis, what with the impression that she's making of his own voice, but it is none other. Wearing a red dress and carrying a drink in one hand and hugging her presently pink-haired friend Kim 'Penetrable' Steele with the other arm, she's leering toward the draconic clergyman with a grin on her face ready, should he turn around to see her.
"Heeey, Walter! How's it going, eh?" she asks before plopping down on the stool next to the one that the dragon is seated on, some of her beer sloshing out of the bottle as inertia takes its toll.
"Hiii, Walter! Remember me? I hope you're not bottling up anymore good puns!" Kim says with a giggle as she slips out from her friend's arm and takes a seat flanking the priest from the other side.
"Uuuuugh, Kim, if you make another pun I'm gonna pop my top," Alexis groans before taking a swig from her drink.
"Uhh, are you making another beer pun, or are you saying you're gonna have a 'wardrobe malfunction?" Kim asks, making air quotes with her fingers. "'Cause we both remember last time that happened. Or, well, I do anyway, I think you probably -"
"Shhhhhhhhh, there's a priest listening," Alexis shushes Kim, putting a finger to her own lips as she leans forward against the bar to see across to her. It's hard to tell whether she's being serious or not. "So, you planning on making one of those pyramids?" she asks of Walter, sweeping her eyes over the bottles before him.
Walter blinks a bit, shooting up from his semi-leaning perch upon the bar. Turning about, looking as though he's readying some good old English fisticuffs, he suddenly calms as he realizes just who the pair are.
Walter's usually warm, but the sudden hug he tries to favor the two with might be evidence of just /how/ much he's drank today if the bottles aren't enough. One of the waitresses shoots an envious glance at the two.
"God's blessings my two /favorite/ musicians in the entire bloody world!" Squeeeeze!
Then they're let go, and all are about their barstools. Walter raises a finger, however, as he notes the beer in Alexis' hand.
"/Miss Lovell/, you are..." He starts, then looks to his own drink pile.
"...I suppose I'm in no position to lecture tonight. Oh well. Delinquency charges are the smallest of my problems. BARTENDER! Drinks for the lot of us, and keep them coming. I want to not be able to remember who I am or where I am by the end of the night."
Then Kim is getting a poke to the nose.
"I am /ever/ at the ready with a sharp tongue and quick pun! But a gentleman reserves his ammo, as it were." Then, a glance to Alexis.
"And /you/ are utterly overdressed. Good! We need some class in this little dive, and i fear I'm doing a poor job of that. You look lovely in that dress. Did I say that last time? Bollocks."
Then he's blushing a bit at 'wardrobe malfunction'. Eyes pointedly look away from Alexis as he tries to not imagine just /what/ they're talking about.
"No doubt Miss Lovell is a respectable young Lady." Somehow he gets that out with a straight face.
"Bah, I did one of those three hours ago. No, Alexis, I am going to get piss drunk until I cannot think. When prayer fails, good old liquid ambrosia solves that which troubles a man, at least until the next morning. Just don't get into my habits, hmm? You..."
Pause. His voice lowers. "Dragon livers are amazing things."
"So what brings you two here? Something more than a drunk English priest I assume?"
When it comes to the hug, Alexis' reaction is tolerant, while Kim's is closer to jubilant. It's not that Alexis minds; the bassist is simply a bit warmer than the frontwoman. "Aww, Walter, you're almost as sweet as Steve!" Kim beams at the priest's words, turning her back to the bar and leaning back against it.
Alexis just smiles a little at that, covering her mouth to stifle a snicker, then shifts her eyes to Walter. When he compliments her on her dress, her smile broadens to a grin. "If I'm overdressed, it's your fault, eh?" she says, poking a finger at the dragon's sleeve before taking another sip from her drink. "And yes, Miss Lovell is a respectable lady, who is certainly old enough to be drinking here, and also likes being called Miss Lovell." She arches her back as she stretches her arms behind her.
"Anywaaay, we're here celebrating me kicking ass! And also having my own ass kicked. Check it out!"
Lifting one knee up over the bar, she clasps her hands under the sole of her boot as she shows off her badly bruised shin to the priest - and, indirectly, most of the rest of her leg as well. "I got this at the circus the other night. They had this challenge where you fight one of the people there up on a platform, and if you win, you get a hundred thousand yen. And I won! It hurt like a bitch when I got this, though."
Lowering her leg again, Alexis takes another drink. "So, how come you're getting shitfaced in a place like this, huh? Me and Kim are just here 'cause the beers are cheap."
"And they took our fake IDs!" Kim pipes up. Luckily, the staff either doesn't hear or doesn't care.
As seems to be par for the course, Kim 'Penetrable' is bloody adorable. Walter can't help but chuckle a bit good naturedly as Kim's reaction, and ruffles that horridly pink hair.
"My dear, I could /never/ reach good Sir Steve's manners or demeanor. Good man, really." That's right, Steve has a quite literal wingman.
A tongue is flicked at the far more stoic rockess.
"Why of course! And remind me to get you tea and scones my lady~" Comes Walter in a faux-aristocratic-english voice. He doesn't even cringe. Walter has no shame sometimes.
Then there's that shin. Frooown.
Rifling through his things, there's a halting hand on Alexis' knee. Is he really /that/ drunk?
Not quite yet. A medical kit slaps down on the bar, and he'll try to go to work cleaning up that bruised shin and slapping a bandage on it.
"I can bloody well imagine. Now hold still. Congratulations. A...circus." A shake of the head.
"Always hated tournaments like that. Too much 'limelight'. I am but a humble man! And well...given my 'oddities', it'd be bad for me to get caught up in the public like that. A shame, I'd like to..."
A mental sigh as he thinks back to their original meeting.
"Challenge you again some time." With less embarrassing circumstances.
Then his draconic eyes squint at Kim.
"Honesty is a virtue my dear." Deadpans Walter. /Sigh/.
"Just don't go home with any strange men from here, alright?" Really, Walter would be one heck of a father if he ever settled down.
Kim bursts out in giggle fits at Walter's impression of aristocracy. Alexis shares in the sounding of the sentiment, though with a considerably greater deal of reservation; it's less 'giggle fits' and more 'modest but sincere snickering' from her.
Alexis stops short when the hand is suddenly placed on her knee, blinking a couple of times. She hasn't had that many drinks, either. Kim, however, still seems amused, letting out a whistle as her eyes go wide. Alexis frowns tersely at Kim when it turns out that the priest is making the medical rather than making a move before sticking her tongue out at her bandmate.
"I don't really have any problems with the limelight thing," Alexis tells Walter as she allows him to bandage her shin. Even with the alcohol in her, she gives a bit of a grimace at the contact with the still-sore surface. "So, you're saying you'd still wanna fight me again, even though you know I fight dirty, huh?" Alexis queries quizzically, before her tone becomes more teasing. "I didn't know priests were supposed to like fighting. And don't worry, Kim won't be going home with any strangers."
"Nope! I'm going home with Lexi, like always!" Kim agrees brightly, apparently completely missing the implications, looking confused when Alexis starts to snicker.
"So what is it about foxes, anyway?" Alexis asks as a way of changing the subject after clearing her throat in exaggerated fashion, raising her bottle to her lips.
There's something scarily tail-like that reaches up to gently bonk Kim on the top of the head!
"Mind out of the bloody gutter my dear!" He offers, nodding as it seems good 'lexis' injury is taken care of.
"Alexis is bloody cute, but I have some class you know? Err, that's not to say Alexis doesn't have class, I..." Someone give Walter a backhoe at this point. He swiftly changes the topic by devouring more beer. Always a good stalling tactic.
"Absolutely my dear! I need to become stronger, and while I don't do the whole fighting circuit thing, part of my job is protecting people. And not everyone fights honorably."
Then, he sighs. "Though if you could go easy on the old bag-n-stalk that would be appreciated. I'd like to settle down with a cute wife and have a gaggle of kids some day."
Then, cue a poke on Alexis' nose with said tail.
"And we're also not supposed to like drinking, hang out in dingy bars, or end up in fights with rocker-women. Bloody worst priest ever, eh?" There's a playful wink. Not /all/ of his black sheep reputation is due to his race, after all.
And then Walter is looking from Kim, to Alexis, and back to Kim with a growing blush on his face. After far too much time pondering, he's burying his head in some booze and crossing his legs suddenly.
Thankfully, Walter's just drunk enough to talk. "Someone...like me hurt a dear friend. Badly. This someone happened to be a mentor of mine. So I'm a touch conflicted. I need her knowledge, but right now? I want to drive my spear down her God-damned throat, Lord forgive me!"
"Ow!" Kim says, reaching up to protect her head with her hands and sloshing her beer in the process. She looks to and fro for the source of the bonking, but doesn't find it.
"Damn straight I have class," says Alexis self-assuredly as she uses one hand to lift her foot up so she can examine the bandage - exposing the full length of her leg again - while taking a swig from the beer in her other hand. Satisfied, she relaxes her leg again, letting it dangle over the side of the stool and swinging both her legs at the knee casually. "So, easy on the crotch shots, eh? I guess I can do that. I, uhh... didn't think that priests settled down and had kids, though." Alexis' face scrunches up as her nose is poked. "I definitely wouldn't say you're the worst priest ever, though. You're a lot cooler than most of the priests I've met. I mean, if I was going to start going to confession again, I'd totally pick you."
A beat.
"Don't worry, though. I won't be doing that any time soon. I haven't been since I was fifteen, and there'd be a loooot of catching up to do," Alexis adds, taking another drink to repress the memories the subject brings up.
"So, you're feeling pretty Old Testament about this, uhh... mentor, huh? She sounds like kind of a shitty mentor if she hurts people you care about." Alexis' expression is bemused. "Like you...? So is she, like... a nun or something?"
"We very much can! Wouldn't make for many priests without it, eh? Perhaps a bookish, shy librarian that I can save from her evil captors in a far-off land, take her off to be my bride! Or a battle-hardened soldier rescued from the brink of death, confessing her life's story to me before we find love upon the battlefield! Or a wonderful delinquent with a heart of gold, rescued from sin and debauchery by my sage wisdom!" Comes the priest in a burst of romantic utter ham. His voice is just as corney as it sounds right now.
Then he's blushing to the neck. He desperately turns to the bartender.
"BARTENDER! I AM NOT DRUNK ENOUGH FOR THE WORDS COMING OUT OF MY MOUTH SIR!"
Pause. "GIVE ME RUM!"
The bartender rolls his eyes and deposits an entire bottle of cheap rum, to which Walter busily begins to chug. There's only a third of it left when he slams it down.
He's also listing heavily to the side by now. Dragon-livers have their limits.
Then he's /grinning/. "My dear you do me too much honor! I would hear your confessions any day...and you no doubt have a bloody backlog of that my dear favorite delinquent musician...and you shall have the forgiveness of..."
The priest visibly deflates, and gives the best dragon-priest-man pout he can.
"/Oh/. W...well, the offer is the same. Or just advice." He's smiling again, kindly if obscenely drunk.
"We might have our differences, but you and all of your bandmates..." A smile particularly beamed at Kim here. Such a sweetheart!
"Are good people. Rare thing, that, these days. So if any of you need anything, just ask. Or a drinking buddy if we're leaving the frock at the door." Walter /never/ leaves the frock at the door. He has approximately two outfits that aren't his current attire. Maybe Alexis needs to take /him/ shopping.
"It's a little complicated, admittedly. And I can't tell you too much without putting you and your friends in danger. But let's just say I am a part of a very, very old conflict where things like that happen all the time. Doesn't make it any less angering. But let's just say the knowledge she has is quite literally a manner of life or death in the long run for me. Or worse." Here, he sighs heavily, and finishes off that bottle. By now, hopefully Kim and/or Alexis can support the dragon-priest.
A tail squeezes Alexis' ankle discretely.
"Like /ME/." He emphasizes quietly.
Alexis just stares, seemingly a bit flabbergasted by the priest's words. The romanticized notions strike the girl as very un-priest-like. 'What kind of priest is Walter, anyway?' her expression seems to ask as one eyebrow creeps steadily upward, her head propped up by a hand as she rests an elbow on the bar.
Kim, on the other hand, is dead chuffed. "Aww, that's so romantic! I vote for the soldier one! But, wait, wouldn't you have to join the Army for that?"
"Maybe he'll be a chaplain," Alexis offers supportively.
"I don't think they make those movies anymore," Kim replies, brow scrunching.
"Don't make...?" Alexis looks even more confused, but soon shrugs it off, returning her attention to Walter as he ends up leaning against her in his drunken state.
"So, you /want/ to hear my confessions, huh? I dunno, after how that one shopping trip went, I wouldn't think you'd be too enthused about the idea," she says with a bit of a plastered playfulness in her tone.
"I heard one priest who listened to Lexi's confessions got stuck in a mental institute," Kim pipes up.
"He was schiznophrenic /before/ that," Alexis replies with an annoyed grunt.
The issue of the mentor isn't pressed further, for the moment. Alexis has an inkling of a notion of what he actually means - he's not the only person like himself that she's encountered. She's sober enough to know that she's too drunk to have a discreet discussion on the subject at the moment, though.
Walter tries to ignore Alexis pointedly. He ends up just pouting more. No shame in this one when there's booze involved!
Walter pumps a fist!
"Or I could become a Knight! That would be the same thing, right?" He beams at Kim proudly! Clearly he's not a real knight. The Templar and the Holy Order of Sacred Knights don't exist. Surely.
Cue more scarlet in poor Walter's visage.
"I...I assure you, I will pray for strength and guidance and, erm.../longevity/ that I can listen to your confessions my dear." Oh /God/ he's going to have weird dreams tonight.
A brow rises. "Well luck for you I'm already half crazy anyway, so I doubt a mere rock-girl can manage the same on me!" That almost sounds like a challenge, really.
But the poor dragon-priest's endurance finally ends. The man starts to mumble something about soft beds, and soon, has his head in Alexis' lap as he quite literally hugs her. Cue much snuggling and a tail-hug at Alexis' feet! Kim is going to need to help here if the two have any hope of detaching the dragon-priest from his new Alexis-perch. It might actually be pretty cute though. Hopefully no one takes any pictures for blackmail purposes.
Walter's assertion really does sound like a challenge to Alexis, bringing a wicked grin to her features. Unfortunately - or perhaps fortunately, depending on one's perspective - the priest is out on her lap before she has the chance to rise to the occasion. Alexis tilts her head to one side before shooting a glance across Walter at Kim.
"Aww, he's so cute!" Kim fawns before returning Alexis' gaze. "Did he, uhh... pay for his drinks yet?"
Alexis frowns, then gives the priest a brief shake - to no avail. "Oh, crap. Where's his - I don't even know where he keeps a wallet in those robes, and I'm not reaching in to find out."
"I'll do it!" Kim chirps, leaning over Walter. Before Alexis can mount a protest, she's fished out what looks to be the priest's wallet and is flipping through it. "Hmmm. How much did he actually drink...?"
It turns out, upon questioning the servers, that the amount in Walter's wallet is about half of what the priest owes the bar - not even including the tip. Fortunately for the priest, Alexis is in a generous mood - generous enough that she'll probably make him pay her back later, but at least she's willing to cover the tab for the moment, letting the priest keep what's in his wallet.
And fortunately for Walter, neither of the girls who end up carrying him out of the bar are likely to try and blackmail him - though someone might end up taking a picture of the priest leaving a bar with two young women under his arms!
Log created on 21:58:11 03/11/2015 by Walter, and last modified on 00:04:24 03/15/2015.