Drunk

"So I told him: 'If you think I'm putting that in my mouth, you've got another thing coming!'" Phil scooped up his cocktail in the uproarious laughter that followed and took a long slurp of the curious, purple-coloured liquid.
"Yeah, you should have seen his face!" Jay cackled "It was fucking priceless!"
Grinning broadly, Cass gazed at him with shining eyes.
She was drunk.
Well, maybe not completely drunk; but after six or seven thick gins (or was it nine?) she was well on the way.
"More drinks!" Jade roared, slapping a hand down on the table in front of her.
"My turn" Cass pushed herself to her feet and nudged Jay, sat next to her, with her hip "C'mon Sparky - You're helping"
"Ah, bollocks" he protested as he reluctantly manoeuvred around to clamber up off the banquette "How is it my fault that your little lady hands can't carry all the drinks in one go?"
She gave him a playful push from behind as he got to his feet, her eyes causally absorbing the taut lines of his back, before she was up and out from behind the table and hurrying to fall into step beside him.
"I'll have you know I once worked in a bierkeller in Munich" Cass had to raise her voice above the noise and chatter of the busy pub as they walked across towards the bar "Five" she slurred slightly as she held her hands up "I used to carry five steins in each hand!"
Jay squinted unsteadily at her as they arrived at the bar "I didn't know you used to live in Germany"
"Oh, I've lived all over: London then Paris, Munich, Berlin and Tokyo" she counted the cities off on the fingers of one hand, realising she was being far more forthcoming than usual, but she was drunk and this was Jay for fuck's sake
"Happy times..." she continued with a smile "Well, latterly, anyway" she paused to roll her eyes and shake her head in irritation "Or at least they were for Brittany" she finished peevishly
Jay gave her a lopsided smile "I forget that you're only a year or so old"
"Me too" Cass muttered bitterly, swaying slightly on her feet "Just seventeen months..." her face lit up "Hey," she teased "you still owe me a birthday kiss!"
"What can I get you folks?" they were interrupted by one of the large gerbils behind the bar - one of the less common English speaking Vermin
Cass threw her head back and laughed, both at the expression on Jay's face and the irony of the interruption "Gin!" she grinned, clambering up onto the foot-rail at the bar and leaning forward over the top of the counter "Whiskey. Beer, beer, beer, beer ...and one of those weird purple things – Whatever they are"
She glanced back over her shoulder in time to catch Jay quickly tearing his eyes away from her "Did I miss anything?" she smiled
"Beer chasers?"
"Yes! More beer!"
"Oh, and how about some peanuts?"
Cass favoured him with a look of mock disbelief "Eating's cheating"
"What's wrong with peanuts?"
"Bah" she slapped her hand on the bar "Peanuts! And some diet pork scratchings as well!"
Grabbing one of the beers as they were deposited on the bar in front of her, Cass clambered down from the foot rail and turned back to Jay as she took a swig "We should have stayed here instead of going down to that frigging planet" she wrinkled her nose "It's more fun here"
Jay's expression clouded "I should never have led us all into that complex" he muttered darkly
"No, no, no, no, no, no" Cass quickly deposited the beer back on the bar to catch hold of Jay's hands in hers "That's not what I meant"
"Yeah, yeah I know" he said muzzily and gave her hands a squeeze before letting them fall.
"We can both play that game" Cass shook her head "If I hadn't suggested a holiday in the first place..." she let the words hang in the air, leaving Jay to regard her pensively for a moment
"Listen, don't beat yourself up" she grinned "That's my job"
"Bugger off" he couldn't help but smile back
"Phi just got unlucky" Cass sighed "That could have been any one of us; you," her eyes searched his "me..."
They regarded each other in slightly wobbly silence for a moment before Jay shrugged "'S what I'm afraid of" he mumbled
For a few fleeting seconds, Cass drunkenly wondered if he meant that as it had sounded, or if she had badly misinterpreted it and kissing him would be a terrible mistake.
"That'll be twenty three fifty"
She glanced sharply back at the gerbil behind the bar "Your sense of timing is fucking appalling; you know that, don't you?" she grumbled, waving him off with one hand "Put it on the tab"
Tutting, the bartender turned away with a shake of its head to serve a harassed looking rat with more children than even Artemis, who were all clamouring for sweet, sugary drinks.
"They should do nomihoudai here for us" Cass grumbled, marshalling three of the beers in one hand and picking her gin up with the other
"What?" Jay frowned as he scooped up the snacks and the rest of the drinks – Phil wouldn't mind a thumb in his cocktail for a moment or two
"Japanese thing: 'all you can drink'"
"Sounds bloody dangerous to me"
She gave him an impish smile "It was"
"So what happened in Japan?" Jay asked as they strolled back with the drinks "You were there years; why did you leave? Why are you here now?"
Surprised at the question, Cass frowned in recollection "I didn't tell you this, did I?"
"Nope"
"Fuck's sake. Sorry..." she gave him an apologetic smile "My ex sold me out to the Yakuza and Interpol wanted a word with me" she stopped and snarled in exasperation "Brittany. That all happened to Brittany. Not me"
Jay grimaced "Sorry, my fault; I know you don't like discussing your past"
"It's not even my past to talk about," Cass retorted "but I care less the longer we're out here, so..." she shrugged "You know..."
"Shh" Phil nudged Jade who started and looked somewhat guiltily up at them as they arrived back at the table and began distributing the drinks
"What were you two talking about?" she asked
"Just talking about how Brittany got here" Cass said as she flopped back down onto the banquette to slide in behind the table "Long story short: She was on the run from almost everyone and bribed her way onto the first ship that'd take her a long, long way from home" she paused to take a mouthful of her gin "What were you talking about?"

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<ooc>
Think we've about time for another post or two and we'll deal with the morning after and give everyone something to do

Jox, not much to go on at the moment for you, but your former workplace is a family fun pub, full of Vermin - anthropomorphic(ish) hamsters, gerbils, rats and so on; what do you do? - do we get to see some quality pub entertainment? - do the Vermin like it?
Jade, Jay and Phil (and anyone else that fancies joining in) - how bad does it get before someone passes out?
Artemis - let's have another post from you with Kenneth , or alternatively join us in the bar - what happens when you tip vodka into your brain tank?
Jamie - feel free to wake from sedation and pitch up
Eve - having trouble sleeping? maybe a drink will help?
Everyone else... how do you spend your first night back on the Dwarf?


And finally while I'm on, I dunno where the idea came from that Cass didn't want to spend time around Jay, but to clear things up, she's keen but more than a little cautious; although enough gin will probably provide radically different results

</ooc>