Lacey raised her stein of ale and cheered loudly.

"T' the glories o' alcohol an' the love o' the sea!" She said, drinking deeply and slamming the stein heavily on the table. The girls had been drinking roughly since they arrived last morning, well, they had slept too. But waking up hung over can only be cured by more alcohol, and she was determined to feel better. So far, they hadn't really asked about the spice merchant, even though they had planned to. The rum here was just very very good.

Turning, she winked at Ginny.

"Girly, can't we 'ave some music or somethin'? Surely ye 'ave a fiddle somewhare?" Her voice was loud and slightly more piratey then usual. Turning back to the other two pirates, she yar'ed and drank more ale.

"So, when are we gonna start lookin' fer this Demcay Creamy?"

Angel laughed, watching as Lacey became more intoxicated with every passing second. She, on the other hand, was only taking half-swigs of her rum, enjoy the harsh flavor and avoiding getting hammered. "Well, the way I see it, since we know where the bugger is, I think we should stake out his shop. It's not open yet, but he's probably messing around with his stock, m'I right?" She was definitely feeling better after a good day of rest. She still wore her hood over her face and casually bounced her bottle of rum against her thigh.

It had not been a good day. Every customer, down to a galdori, had been a complete and utter bastard. The tips had been nonexistent and they'd all made such mess that she'd been forced to clean up during a quiet spell. She wasn't their maid! It had been disgusting beyond measure. She wasn't sure she was ever going to get all the stains out of the carpet.

Gods, she hoped she could get them off her skirt.

To top it all off it had started bucketing down the moment she left work. Her clothes were sticking to her, Piran was spending the night and following morning with friends, she needed a drink. Fion stomped into the B&B, dress clinging to her legs, looking fit to be tied.

"Ginny!" Fion called, starting to feel desperation rise. "I need vodka! Please."

Fion looked around the bar almost petulantly, eyes landing on a trio of women in the corner. They were dressed as pirates. One was incredibly short.

Fion wondered if she hadn't gotten a knock on the head at work and was hallucinating all this.

Lacey turned at the loud female voice, pleasantly surprised to see an attractive woman drenched through to the skin, walking into the bar. She leaned back in her chair, feet on the table, to watch her.



The blonde saw the woman's eyes fall on them, and the strange look that crossed her face. Grinning, she looked at her companions.

"'Scuse me fer a moment girls." Standing up, she strode over to the drenched woman, hooking her thumbs in her belt.

"Ye poor lass, caught in the rain. Yer all soaked through. Come t' the bar, let me buy ye this vodka ye want so bad." Her grin was permanent, although her eyes wandered around a bit like a pubescent teenager.

As Lacey walked past her, Angel turned and threw an arm over the back of her chair to get a better look at what was going on. The sky pirate blew out a casual sigh and turned away, looking at the ceiling and taking another swig of her drink. Her comrade deftly intercepted the woman, it was almost... disturbing.

Her eyes glanced askance at Iale, "She's going to get us kicked out, I just know it..."

Fion blushed when the blonde-haired woman walked over to her. She wondered if she was going to start fight because Fion had been staring... Then a strange tingling sensation went up her spine and she realized that she was being checked out.

"Yes." She said, conviction and the dire need for alcohol over-riding any potential disgruntlement. "You can buy me some vodka. Lots of vodka. Great."

Fion turned around and threw herself onto a barstool. She looked over her shoulder at the pirate woman.

"You coming or what?" She said, just a tad bossily.

Lacey jogged over and plonked down beside Fion. Looking around the bar, she called out.

"Giiiinnnnyyyy? Stttuu? Can we get a bottle o'er 'ere? Vodka?" Turning to Fion she grinned and stuck out her hand.

"Lacey Lovell, piratess. Who are ye my pretty wet girly?"

Fion eyed Lacey's hand sceptically for the briefest of moments before shaking it.

"Fion." She said, voice slightly cool. "And I'm not your girl."

Fion looked pointedly over at Lacey's two friends before directing her gaze back towards her.

"What's a pirate doing in Vienda, of all places?" She asked, mild confusion apparent in her voice.

At that moment, Stu came hurrying up from the basement. He was covered in dust and a few scratches, as though he had been fighting with something.

"Blimey, last time I trust that merchant," he was muttering. "Nearly - oh, Fion."

He stopped at the foot of the stairs, his face slowly turning red. "Hi. Oh! Drinks. Right. Where's Ginny?" Hurrying to the bar, he looked around for his red-headed assistant. She was nowhere to be seen.

(Unbeknownst to the others, she was hiding on the fourth loft from Lacey's unwanted advances.)

"Now that was vodka, right? Hoxian or local?" He gave Fion a quick smile, hoping that she would stay and talk.

Iale chuckled at Angel's dire pronouncement. "By 'ells teeth, she never quits. Bloody rum that I seem to be immune, eh? She'll get started on ye soon enough, Angel. But if I know Stu here, he wouldn't turn away Hawke 'imself if he was offerin' to buy a jigger o' somethin'."

((lmao at Ginny))



Fion gripped the edge of the bar, her smile just on the right side of manic.

"As Hoxian as you can get it!" She said, voice low, gruff and now highly anticipant, "You look like your night's been as clocked as mine has, let's compare scars after I've killed at least some of my liver."

Fion watched the bottles behind the bar with a gleam in her eyes. She wasn't normally a big drinker but she had grown up in and around bars. She could handle her liquor the way blacksmiths handled steel.

Stu grinned, but winced has he felt a twinge in his jaw. "Ach," he said, rubbing it as he poured the Hoxian vodka with one hand. "I tried out Fixxle's automatic bottle sorter, but it wasn't having with any nonsense. What's the matter, Fi? You look a little..." He struggled for the words. Tired? Rattled? All seemed like insults, especially when what he really wanted to say was Beautiful, Ethereal, Heavenly...

"...a little on edge," he finished.

He was not normally an eloquent man, but Fion seemed to turn him into a troglodyte. His brain turned to sludge at the sight of her.

Fion watched Stu pour the drinks with a longing expression.

"Machine's are beyond me, I don't know how you do it." Fion said, silently wondering why he'd do it too given they gave him nothing but grief, she supposed everyone needed a private interest in life, "I spent all night stuck in the bar with a group of drunken intellectuals that couldn't hold their liquor. None of them believed in the social merits of tipping and after a half an hours solid drinking I went from 'the girl' to 'Jugs Marie'. I hate my job."

Fion slumped further onto the bar. Hands twitching a little from stress and the cold.

"Thank Alioe I'm human, if I had any magic in me at all I'd explode like a keg of powder and take the Paper Tiger with me." Fion added, in dire need of some inebriation lest she become even more hideously pessimistic.

The bartender pushed a shot glass of vodka towards her, looking concerned.

"Fi, why do you do it to yourself?" he asked quietly. "You've got enough talent to open up a dress shop Uptown, if you wanted. I bet that'd rake in the cash. Gollies pay top dollar for their clothes, but they hate going to the Dives."

Fion downed the shot, back straightening, shoulders twitching. She had needed that, the slow burn down her throat was ecstasy. She put the shot glass down on the bartop.

"Could I have another please." Fion looked over at Lacey, then back at Stu. "You know why... Even if I did give it a try... Businesses fail all the time. This is steady work, I can't afford the risk."

She also wasn't sure just how well the resistance would take it if she quit.

Iale snorted a little at Fion's pronouncement. Tipping back her drink, she flashed a knowing look at Angel and Lacey.

Lacey looked at the other two pirates and winked, before turning back to Fion.

"Drinking!" She laughed roughly and nudged Fion with her shoulder.

"Nay, I'm just messin'. We're actually looking for..."



The blonde looked at Stu with a little frown for a moment. He'd interupted her, and she didn't really like that.



Lacey perked up. Hoxian vodka? She tried to recall if she'd had that before, but her memory wouldn't commit.



Grinning, Lacey slapped the bar.

"That's the spirit! Hoxian Vodka! Yar!" Her brain switched off as she watched him pouring and they talked about machines. It was all to much for her rather drunken state to compriehend. Bottle sorter? Bottle sorder? Eventually she phased back in.



"Oooh! Ye sell clothes lassie?" She said perkily.



Lacey's smile took on a more appreciative gleam. She liked a woman that could drink. It was delicious. Turning slightly, she checked on the girls, and saw the look in Iale's eye and nodded.

"So, Fion. Whare do ye work? Somewhare close by? A lassie such as yerself must 'ave a nice setup."

Fion gave Lacey yet another speculative look.

"Why do you want to know?" She asked, right eyebrow rising. "How do I know you're not just going to turn up at my place and rob me blind."

Fion folded her arms under her chest, waiting for an answer.

"Oh, Alioe's heart, yes," said Iale sarcastically. "Ain't nothin' we lust fer quite so much as a puny pile o' land coin. That'll do us a lot of good out on the briny. Why, if some poxy dog were to board us, they might just die laughin'. Arr, tha's a worthy investment if I ever saw one."

Stu glared at the tiny woman.

"Don't listen to 'em, Fion," he growled. "They're on my last nerve already, drinkin' up all our booze like it just rained from the sky free of charge. Ent paid a lone tally yet."

He handed her the shot glass and the vodka bottle without hesitation, though, trying not to think of the epic tab he was running up from undercharging her all these years.

Lacey snorted. It wasn't a pretty sound. And then she laughed, loudly.



Grinning, the blonde nodded, still chuckling. Any pirate worth their weight in sea water knew that the coin here was worthless in their world. It was like peanuts. Worth as much too.



Lacey ignored him and huffed.

"Look, yer a pretty lass, but if I offend ye so much I'll find another pretty t' play with." She looked over at Angel and winked.

"Howe'er, since ye are a local an' all. My companions an' I are lookin' fer a man. Creamy...something. No wait, Demcay Allllccreaaam." She lingered on the name, trying to be sure she was coming across clearly.

"Ye know him?"

Fion almost hugged the bottle of vodka.

"This is mine until you pay your tab." She said to Lacey, knocking back another shot.



"Yeah right, with the way you're looking at me? My eyes are up here, by the way." Fion said sardonically, pointing at them.



Fion fumed, just a little.

"It is pronounced Demkaih Alkrim," She said, annoyed for him, "and no,I do not."

Fion sat back with her vodka, eyes daring Lacey to call her liar. No way was she selling Dem down the river to these cheapskates. Not paying their tab, the cheek. She felt Stu ought to cut them off.

((Fion, I meant that Stu owed himself money, not that he owed Fion money ))

((I know, she's talking about Lacey's tab not being paid. She doesn't know that Stu is undercharging her.))