Apr 28 12:37:22 108 PA - Chat Over Crap Liquor
From Chronicles
Apr 28 12:37:22 108 PA.
MOE'S TAVERN
Erica is sitting at one of the tables towards the back. She has a tall glass of a mixed drink in front of her. She is leaning forward against the table her elbows on the table. Her head is tilted towards one of the vid-screens watching the murderthon that is being played with a bunch of juicers.
It may not be Gabriel's normal hangout, but Moe's Tavern is tonight. Maybe afternoon would be a better descriptor. Somewhere right on the edge between the two. Whatever is is, he walks in with a good step and looking fairly confident about himself despite the normal Juicers, Crazies, 'Borgs and such who could crush him like a bug. He hurries up to the bar - dodging various odd beings - and grabs something that *doesn't* look like a bottle of soda!
Erica turns her head from the vid-screen as she notices Gabriel coming into the bar. She raises her hand and gives him a little wave. After giving that wave she takes a sip from her tall glass and turns her attention back to the vid-screen to watch the sporting event.
The man with the graying hair slips over to Erica's side with unusual grace tonight. Like a child bringing a gift to a parent, he holds out a bottle of some kind of liquid that glows green so bright that the bottle actually has an aura about it. "Hi! Mind if I sit down? Just for you I picked a non-pussy drink."
Erica's eyes go wide as she sees the bottle that glows bright green. "Ooo that looks good. What is it?" She says as she reaches for a shot glass and moves it in front of Gabriel. "It has more of a kick then just soda right?" She asks with a grin on her face.
Gabriel slides into the bench seat across from Erica, gazing at the bottle for a moment, then simply shrugs. "I have absolutely no idea what it is. These are either just chicken scratch, or the letters of a language that I can't read." He pops the top off - is way, after all this isn't a classy place - and takes a long sip... which is almost immediately blown across the table in Erica's general direction. He wheezes, eyes wide.
Erica's grin grows wider at Gabriel's reaction to the sip of the liquid. She pours herself a shot in the glass and then breathes out before shooting down the glowing green liquid in the glass. Her own eyes grow wide and she lets out a cough. "Well that is strong. Good though I like the spiciness of it."
Gabriel continues to wheeze for moment. "Strong? STRONG? God, if lit a cigarette lighter and exhaled into it, this entire dive bar would detonate and leave a twenty-foot wide by six-foot deep crater where I'm sitting! People drink this shit all the time?" He is clearly baffled. "This makes white lightning look like an aged zinfandel! Heh, okay, let me try again, at least I know what to expect." He exhales quickly, then without breathing once more... gives a teeny, teeny sip. His face still scrunches a little. "It's... good." The last word is coughed out, and by his silly grin, probably meant to be funny.
Erica laughs loudly as Gabriel scrunches his face. "Well I have had worse stuff. I have had some pretty nasty stuff in the service. And what some Mercs drink is serious nasty or weird." She chuckles again as she picks up the bottle and pours herself another shot. She breathes out and downs the shot. Her eyes water a bit and she wheezes herself. "I might have to get a couple bottles of this for myself. Good find."
"Holy Christ! I'm sticking with my soda. Gimme a Budweiser, Coors even a Michelob or one of those smaller brews would be nice. This is... I'm sorry, this is undrinkable shit that probably rots your intestines moment by moment." Gabriel winks across at his friend who apparently does like this stuff. His eyes go somewhat wide, then. "Hey... this isn't some of that psi-cola stuff you talked about, is it? I'm damn sure not gonna get hooked on something."
Erica shakes her head as she laughs. "Well maybe you should have ordered whatever that is. I'm guessing beer. Nah psi-cola doesn't really taste good to none psionics. It looks like cola though just like any other brown cola. Sides no bar would openly serve psi-cola. It is restricted to one extent or another."
Nod nod. "Well, I have to finish this shit just to keep up appearances. I don't need everyone else *and* you laughing at me." Gabriel sticks his tongue out and screws up his eyes. He will continue to take tiny, tiny sips until the bottle is eventually empty, whatever time that takes. "Your armor that got hit with the fire. How'd it fare? You going to be able get it patched?"
"You think a military man such as yourself would be able to drink better then this." Erica says with a chuckle. She pours herself another shot of the glowing green stuff. She puts the shot in front of herself, but doesn't drink it down. "Sure my armor is all patched up, no problem. I also refilled an e-clip while I was at it. Cost me a bit, but wasn't too bad."
"Eh, you're fortunate. I need to have someone take out the thermal optics - or at least try. I'd try to do it myself, but I figure I have a better shot of ruining it than a professional would. But otherwise, the suit's gone. Just lucky that I was wearing heavy EBA." Gabriel sips. "You already patched it? That's some good work. I need to blow money to buy a whole new suit. Figure I'll just buy another set of Crusader, unless you know something better that isn't going to empty my wallet. I looked at that heavy NTI stuff, but I just don't trust their armor. I know, I use their weapons, it's a double standard." Shrug.
Erica frowns softly as she shakes her head. "I can't believe that Taz would do that to you. I would be very pissed if I got hit. I guess that is why I don't like being on the ground much. Use your jet pack is my advice." She picks up the shot glass and breathes out before she downs the shot. "Can you afford it? Cause I can loan you some money if you want to get something better. I have three different suits. One Crusader, one Triax, and one of the new coalition suits. Each of them are pretty nice."
Gabriel nods a few times. "Yeah, I have some money. I was hoping to save it, of course, but I can afford a new suit. Thanks though. I figure I'll just buy another Crusader suit. It's heavy, and it's loud, but as far as I've seen of combat these days, most people just run around in the open anyway - not that I'm about to stop taking cover and doing things that intelligent soldiers should do!." The glowing bottle is raised and he takes a dramatic... teensy tiny sip. "I would have taken my pack, but I was already in the city, I saw smoke and ran to it. Who the hell would have thought that some mad fireman would be running around with a magical flamethrower? Not me." He then nudges a chin in Erica's direction. "How'd you get that rifle in, anyway? I was told that only things like my Dragunov were allowed. Not rifles that blow through walls."
"Well I'm a licensed bounty hunter, so I get a little leeway. I was at the range in my armor when I saw the smoke, so I just went there over the walls. I didn't want to have a run in with the cops, but that wasn't likely with the chaos that was going on. I am just glad that I got all those people out alright." Erica says with a shake of her head. "Yah bursters can cause a lot of destruction. I hear the Coalition psi-stalker squads take them down regardless of their disposition. I am just glad I didn't get fried. I was worried more about the people then taking the burster down."
"You did a nice job helping out those folks. Lot more than I did until I finally had some safe range and a clear shot. How do you get licensed as a bounty hunter?" Gabriel asks politely, but also adds, "Unless you count the occasional kidnapping and extraction of a foreign national for your own sovereign and legitimate government to be a bounty hunter, or the occasional assassination under the same situations - I've never really been a bounty hunter. Does it pay well?"
"Always have to think about the innocent people first." Erica says with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "I just applied for the license. I did it to pay the bills for a while, but there aren't a lot of bounties put up in Kingsdale for some reason. It helps out the police a lot of times." She chuckles softly to herself and pours herself another shot of the glowing green liquid.
Gabriel only makes a long 'mmm' sound at Erica's reply. "Well, probably best that I don't bother then. Never been much of someone to go back to face justice that someone else decides anyway. Not that I mean to demean your profession," he says with a polite dip of his head. "An entire society agrees on something, that's different in my eyes. Never felt bad about it. But that's a long time in the past. I'd hoped that I could use some of those more urban, espionage cloak-and-dagger skills, but no. Looks like just blasting away with cannons is the way to go." He clears his throat - after a longer sip - and asks, "I really need an energy pistol. Don't want to have to depend on NIT for everything. If you could suggest one, I'd appreciate it, as you're certainly in the know. But I want the impossible, of course. I want to be able to shoot a bear and turn it into a mist of blood, but also pick off a rat at a thousand feet. Don't suppose you know anything like that?" He looks toward his friend hopefully.
"Oh I would totally get a Northern Gun LP25 Laser Pulse gun. Fantastic weapon. Has some very serious stopping power and it fits into most shoulder holsters. I think you would like it a lot." Erica says getting a little excited as she talks about weapons. She breathes out and then slams the shot of the green liquid. "Gah!" She says as her eyes water. "Best gun for you for sure."
"Laser, huh? I should be able to handle that, not one of those big sucker ion things you were talking about!" Gabriel sips and makes a face.. but it looks like he's getting used to it. Probably only for tonight, but getting used to it. "How much is one of those going to set me back? What's its ammunition consumption like? I mean, my L-20, I can pop off 30 shots or 13 bursts. The NTI piece of shit I bought barely does half that before you have to pop out a magazine and slap in another one."
"Well the list price is about nineteen thousand, and it puts out 21 shots or 7 pulses." Erica says with a chuckle as she shakes her head. "So not the best for ammo consumption. I try to use long-clips for the most part. I think they end up being a little more cost effective, but I have a lot of e-clips."
Gabriel laughs. "Yeah, I seem to be collecting energy clips like there's no tomorrow. Seems like they're the first thing I scrounge after a mission. I think I have... let's see... about thirty, full right now. Other empties just waiting to be topped off. Maybe I'm a hoarder."
Erica coughs as she looks up. "Thirty e-clips? Wow that is a lot. I have four long and five short. I usually just sell the rest for credits now." She shakes her head slightly as she pours herself another shot of the glowing green liquid. "You should sell off some of those, or try to exchange them for some armor."
"Eh, I figure I'll need 'em someday, right? Right now, they're free to me. Value neutral." Gabriel shrugs. "I mean, if you really take it to an extreme, who knows if one of the big charging reactors in the city'll go down. No one can charge clips for a month, everything has to be imported. Saving up for a rainy day, again." He laughs heartily, adding, "I guess my plan of saving up for a rainy day with cash played out rather well with the need for armor, even if that wasn't what I'd hoped for. You grow up in the Great Depression, you learn to be frugal, yes sir you do."
"Why would you need them? That sounds a little crazy to me." Erica says with a chuckle. "Yes if that happens and you go through twenty nine e-clips you sure won't feel super silly." She says in a sarcastic voice while rolling her eyes. She exhales and takes the shot down with a cough. "Well if you were really frugal you would save up credits and not random e-clips."
Gabriel finishes his bottle and sighs, pushing it *way* off to the side of the table near the wall, where it can't hurt him ever again. "Well. Thanks for the lead on that Northern Gun weapon, Erica. If I have anything left, I'll sure look into it. Try to find Galvin tomorrow, see if he can take out the optics before I trash the armor. Maybe he can even split it into some salvageable scrap. But..." he starts to slide out of the bench seat. "I oughtta be getting back home. You going to be okay with all the big, scary strong men?" He's quite obviously being sarcastic.
Erica chuckles as she nods her head while looking around the bar. "Not to worry I know how to take care of myself." She says with a nod to Gabriel. "Cool well like I said if you need to borrow some cash I would be happy to help out. Hope he can get the optics from your armor."
The older man finally stands, and thanks his friend - and suggest she avoid the glowing shit. "Take care, Erica." Then he's gone.
