Mar 30 20:53:10 106 PA.
From Chronicles
Kingsdale - The Nut And Bolt
The Nut and Bolt is a mechanic's hangout, catering specifically to those who spend the day's working hours with hands and minds buried within machines. It is a large place, with a broad central area on the ground floor that is surrounded on three sides by an upper floor that is open in the middle. This allows the patrons in the floor above to see the activity on the floor and main stage. The entire decor bears a decidedly industrial style. To this end the stairs that lead to the upper floor are metal mesh with an aluminum side rail, the floor in these upper sections being the same sort of industrial metal mesh. Black and white caution stripes are applied liberally as decorations and the drinks are served in glasses that have the appearance of having once been casings for mechanical parts. The tables and chairs of the place have been likewise made from crude steel but are padded and comfortable. A variety of seats are available in all different sizes to suit the body shapes of the bar's wide variety of visitors. The main bar itself has been made from the bent leg of a UAR-1 Enforcer Robot. The upper portion of it has been worked to a flat surface and polished, with the rest of it left as it was the day that it was severed. No effort has been made to disguise the Coalition markings upon the limb, or that it seems to have been severed just beneath the hip by the detonation of a plasma warhead. Other bits of robotic decoration hang about, seemingly having come from the same robot. Indeed, the machine's right arm is suspended by cables from the ceiling -- it's armored fist closed around the handle of a giant sized beer mug. The main stage is usually populated by a grunge band of some sorts and the population of the bar is a diverse smattering of many races -- from Elves to Men. Occupation wise they seem vary from factory workers to techno-wizards. A grunge techno-rock band, complete with pink mohawks and shotgun guitars is playing 'metallic noise' on the stage.
Often times the Nut and Bolt is the first stop for Tirzah and her coworkers after a late venture. Eager to celebrate the safe return to their homes with a rambunctious contribution to the night life. Tonight though Tirzah is alone as she steps in and walks up to the bar.
Behind the bar, Bek is like a whirlwind of energy and motion while she serves the people lined up at the counter. It's a Wednesday night and it's pretty slow, so the girl keeps herself entertained by flipping the odd glass or twirling her bottle opener while she goes about her work. She's thrown a little more flair into the mix with a pair of dangly earrings, each one with a small pink light trapped inside which pulse and flash in time with the beat of the music.
As she approaches the bar is not hard for Tirzah to take notice of its tender and her professional dexterity. Taking a seat she smiles lightly as she watches the girl, fairly impressed. Perhaps impressed by the earrings more than the display, her own flickering in the light. Patiently she waits for the tender to come around to serving her, making some glances about the place now and then.
Rebekkah serves up a beer for each of two mechanic-looking men with a smile and some comment that's lost at any distance to the music. They must be regulars; they know her and she knows them and the entire, brief exchange passes with a familiar air. She notices Tirzah as she turns, sending a bright and inviting smile down the length of the bar - a placeholder for her while she makes her own way over, wiping her hands with a rag that looks like it cleaned up motor oil in a previous life. "Hi!" she chirps once she's near enough to be heard. "What are you having?"
Tirzah decides not to get too fancy considering the type of place. "I'll have a double hot cider." She states, looking forward to a warm drink with extra warmth. "Is Rebekka working tonight?" She asks in a curious tone while her drink is made. Her expression towards the inquiry showing a bit of nervousness.
"Cider," Bek repeats, turning her head and looking over at a certain cabinet beneath a shelf of liquor behind her. Her shoulders seem to droop a little and she presses her lips together for a moment of thought. "Is that double hot or a double cider that's also hot?" As she asks the question her bubbly mood bounces back, overcoming the brief setback, and she brings her startlingly emerald gaze back to Tirzah with another smile. "We only have powdered stuff, no fresh apples or whatever, and I'm Rebekkah."
Tirzah nods to Rebekkah. "Double cider, also hot, powdered is fine." She clarifies as she takes in the tender anew given she's the one she came to find. "Well met then Rebekkah, I'm Tirzah. A merc told me I might want to talk to you about escort on a venture I'm taking." She reveals, her expression still considering the woman.
Rebekkah tips her head a bit to one side, one of her flashing, glittering earrings resting against her cheek and coloring the whole half of her face in its pink light. Whether from that light or because of a more attentive focus on her, it's hard to miss it when the irises of her eyes shift in hue from green to gold. Her lips bow into a little ring of surprise, her dark brows inching up by a few degrees, and she utters a careful, "Oh." It seems as though the whole thing has caught her completely off guard, but she's quick to recover. "Alright," she says with a decisive nod. "Let me get your drink and we can talk, okay?"
Tirzah nods, not appearing to be in any rush. "Take your time. I have all night." She insists as she takes another look around before deciding to shed her blazer to hang on the chair. A dangling fiery pendant gliniting in the light on her wrist as its uncovered. Further attention drawn to it as she leans her elbows on the bar and knits her hands to let it way below.
Rebekkah drifts off to see to the cider. Most of the time is taken up searching for the packets of powder, but after that it's a quick operation of mixing them with the steaming water. From the stuff normally kept for the coffees she even conjures up some cinnamon sprinkles and a whole cinnamon stick to drop into the glass. "Here you are," she announces her return. She sets the glass down but her eyes slide quickly from Tirzah's and fall down to the pendant at her wrist. "Oh, that's pretty!" she gushes, reaching to take the bauble up between her fingers.
Tirzah doesn't flinch away as her sign draws the woman's attention. Smiling warmly she nods. "That's my elemental sign of fire." She explains, letting it dangle still as she takes a long swallow from the steaming glass. "So are you perhaps interested in some mercenary work?" She asks Rebekkah, curious to see if she can draw attention away from the pendant.
"Fire," Bek parrots, nodding her head like it all makes complete sense. She turns the stone in he fingers, watching with wide eyes the way it plays in the light, but her curiosity is satisfied soon enough and she looks back up to catch Tirzah's gaze. "So, yes, sure I'm interested in hearing more about it anyway. I can do escort stuff. Did your friend mention my Flying Titan?" Pride in her voice, pride warming her smile.
Tirzah's eyes glow a bit as she gets tempted to show off but decides against it. Fire is a bad thing for a bar. "They did, so I feel you could be a good addition to our entrage. We have to travel a couple hundred miles to meet with an associate of mine and ask for his help finding some things." She explains,her expression clearly showing there is more to it if one is interested.
Rebekkah lets go her loose hold on the pendant and straightens herself up and away from the bar top. "That sounds pretty straight forward," she observes, assessing Tirzah with quick, wandering flicks of her eyes while her head nods. "I'd be interested in that, sure." Her smile comes back to her lips, warm and lovely, but she folds her arms below her chest and leans back against the counter behind her.
Tirzah nods in agreement as she takes another long swallow. "I hope it is that straight forward, but you know how things are these days. So were going prepared for the worst. But I'm pretty resourceful so we should be able to handle any encounter. But we could use another set of eyes above that could help us avoid encounters all together." She explains, her expression showing expectancy of casual routine. "What might you want in retrun for your services I wonder?" she then asks.
Musing, Bek purses her lips and unfurls her arms long enough to reach one hand back and draw her ponytail forward over her shoulder. "That depends," she states, her eyes melting from honeyed gold to a vibrant violet that's made all the more electric by the flashes from her earrings. "Are you expecting to make a bunch of credits on this trip? I could go in for a share of whatever we find." Her shoulders rise and fall, shrugging noncommittally.
Tirzah nods and considers some more for a moment. "My associate will be helping us find gems I hope. If we could find a local deposit of any particular type or group of gems that would be a great boon to the city. I'd don't know how many well find if any. But the man we are seeking is an expert, if they are about he will find them. We'll just have to meet his price for the services." she explains, shedding some more details in a bit quieter tone. "So if we do find a deposit paying you in gems is fine. If not, how about 5000 credits?" She asks.
"How is that going to help the city?" Bek wonders aloud, her brows knitting together uncomprehendingly. Something in the way she asks seems to imply that it's equally puzzling -why- someone would want to do something like that. She shakes off the question however, earrings dancing with the motion, blinks a couple of times to find her focus again. "Five thousand is okay. When do we want to leave?"
Tirzah ponders her answer a moment before her reply, letting out a soft breath to spin the charm. "Gemstones are the components than make technowizardry work. And a technowizard has agreed to help me create a device to benefit the populace if I find the resources. And why help the city you ask? Well not so much the city, its officials and politicians, but the populace. The dregs are in a pretty sad state after the fog." She counters, her gave now critical on Rebekkahs reply as she considers the woman's character. "I still have to contract one other, so probably one to two weeks away yet."
Rebekkah accepts the explanation with a vague, throaty utterance and doesn't press the subject any further. She turns her back to Tirzah and works her fingers across the touch display of the register for a few seconds, then rips off the slip of paper that prints out of the terminal. "That sounds fine," she decides, turning back to the other woman with a broad smile on her lips and a green hue to her gaze. She pushes the slip of paper towards Tirzah's hands. "Here's where you can reach me, whenever. And if you want to, you know, get together before we go that would be okay too."
Tirzah nods to Rebekkah. "All right I'll keep you in mind. Maybe you'd like to come to dinner one night." She suggest openly to gauge Rebekkah's social aptitude before she downs the rest of her cider with a refreshed sigh.
"Dinner would be nice," Bek agrees with a slow blink of her eyes. Absently brushing a hand through the hair laid over her shoulder, she lifts her chin towards the cider glass. "Can I get you another one? I didn't even ask you what your name is, you know." The realization brings her to snap her gaze back to Tirzah's eyes and she holds her hand out to her. "Most people usually just call me Bek."
Tirzah smiles warmly. "Tirzah, I said it earlier, you just missed it is all." She offers, her tone forgiving. "I'm sure you get dozens of introductions each day anyway Bek. But I better be off, thanks for the offer though. We'll be in touch." She promises before leaving some credits and a generous tip and making her way out.
