Author's Note: I'm so happy you can marry Griffin in DSC. He's not Takakura, but that's okay. It's as close as I think I'd ever get... Oh, speaking of our main man, someone I chat with suggested that I write a Vestakura one day. I had thought about it at sometime ago, but I'm not sure... I still think Taka/Jill is better (and more fun), so I hope you enjoy!

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Chapter 12: Pre-Game

Alcohol has always been willing to comfort me when no one else could. I suppose it works that way for a lot of folks. It can bring people together, or it can rip them apart just as well. I'm fortunate being that I have friends to share my pleasure with. Alcohol helped me stop running away while friends kept me from trying again.

I had wandered down to the Blue Bar ahead of the usual crowd. I didn't want an audience of any kind outside of the man I wished to speak with on a pressing matter. A new face lingered in the back corner. a meek business man by the look of him. However, I wasn't in the mindset for introducing myself, and he appeared to be the type I expected to return. Griffin was my objective although I wasn't hoping for a cold one at the moment.

"Takakura, you're alone this evening?" the bartender observed, cleaning a shot glass. He seemed much younger than he had in a while. In fact, he had a sheepish grin hiding beneath his mustache, and I couldn't help but hear the tune he had begun to hum. I recognized it instantly, and it quickly brought me back to another time not so long before.

"Likewise," I returned, noticing Muffy had slipped out for the time being. "Is she on a date?"

"No, she went to see Celia today. Apparently there's some big to do that's going to happen." He chuckled as he told me, "You know how women can get when one of them has someone special."

"Of course," I replied with equal amusement. It always struck me as unique that Tanya had never displayed that kind of behavior. She and I were one of a kind, I guess. According to her, her life had been the rough and tumble teenage years that I remembered in my own youth. Unlike me, though, she felt it had made her a better person in the end.

"I don't regret a single day of fighting in the streets or getting kicked in the teeth while I was down and out. Guess I didn't tell you about that. See these two in the front?" she showed me with a forced smile. "They're fake. Mum was gonna be damned if her daughter walked around with two chipped teeth given how much I show 'em. I'm still missing a molar, though..."

Then she laughed, maybe at the memory or my stunned expression. "Don't worry about it, Taka. I'm not that feisty anymore!" I doubted that very much, but I was happy to know I wouldn't have to drag her ass out of a bar fights one of these days. I may not be an old man; however, I doubt I could take her on in a drunken fist fight. She was too scrappy.

"Speaking of which," he continued, polishing another glass while bringing me back to the conversation, "I see how you've gotten yourself a lady friend, too."

Bartenders are probably the most honest folk you can find. When your liquor won't hear you all the way out, the man at the counter surely will, and maybe the barmaid will console you as she fetches you another. I surely didn't need comfort tonight, though. What I needed was one final push in the direction I was already heading. Just a last precaution for what I planned to do by the end of the next season if I timed it right...

"About that," I said gruffly, trying to hide my enthusiasm in the chance I sounded too vain, "I have a question for you."

He propped up against the bar casually, eye to eye with me, "Shoot."

"What'd do you think of me hitching up with Tanya one day?"

Griffin leaned back a bit, a stern look on his face. I faltered a little in the back of my mind, but I chose to ignore it. The man liked to appear disapproving while he thought a matter over. He couldn't hold it, and soon enough he was giving me a small grin. "I figure that's up to her, isn't it?"

"Yeah," I agreed as a held breath washed out of me. I shouldn't have fretted about my friend's judgement, but you never can tell who's going to back you up in times like these. He was a fair man, after all, and although I was certain he had heard some grumbling, he wouldn't give them a second thought. I wouldn't have to know anything more than I wanted out of him, either.

"Have you picked yourself up a blue feather yet?" he asked further. I had known that question was to be brought up, and I felt a warmth come over me as I recalled the treasure in a small shoulder satchel I carried to keep my earnings. With a brilliant flash, I showed the precious item to him. He looked rather shocked at its size and vibrance, but then it eased into a smile. "How in Goddess's name did you afford something like that?"

"Not a penny out of pocket," I replied matter-of-factly.

"The Goddess must be awake to have blessed you like that, my good man," he said with a chuckle. "You have my blessing, son."

"Thank you, father," I joked back.

"What are you two laughing about?"

I slipped the feather back in its hiding place without a single knowing glance from Tanya. The matter was still being worked over in my mind, and I wasn't going to let my one chance slip away whether for better or for worse. Even if I was guaranteed her acceptance, I didn't want to let the moment be too brief. Besides, the bar wasn't exactly my idea of a romantic setting although Marlin might be to differ...

"Are you gonna sing for us tonight?" the bemused bartender asked. He had admitted to me on another occasion that she brought the inspiration in him to pick up where he left off as a young man. There certainly had been a lot more sightings of his guitar in his hands those days.

"No," she answered to our disappointment. "I want to kick back tonight. I've got to get back into this working life again," she said leisurely. "Someone had to spoil me rotten almost two weeks ago.

"You got better, didn't you?" I snubbed playfully. Flirting in public? I was getting stranger by the day...

Tanya didn't seem to notice how flimsy a sweet-talker I was. She just cackled sneaking in a "yes, yes" in between. She probably figured I was rusty at it after all these years of straying from a scene of poorly fashioned one-liners and giggles. I wasn't for any of that really.

Soon the bar began to fill with patrons and friends alike as the early evening became the night. Nami came in first with Gustafa trailing behind after her. He'd been making some slight leeway in wooing her somewhat cold heart, but he was far from succeeding as of yet. Everyone did their best to reassure him that she simply took more time than most. Being a patient fellow, he had to agree it was going as smooth as possible.

Cody then shuffled in sometime later to his end of the bar on the other side of Nami. He had that studious look on his face, but he grunted a few replies whenever possible. if just for the sake of being polite. The twins didn't make an appearance seeing as the very reason they came was notably absent, yet I waited, stealing glances at the door, for Marlin to show.

Realizing my thoughts, Tanya shook her head. "He had a date tonight, remember? Muffy wanted the two of them to join her on her trip to the city."

"Oh, right. I forgot about that..." Then a thought happened to cross my mind, "How do you think he'll manage with Muffy tagging along?" I couldn't imagine him having any patience for the giddy barmaid, especially during a day on the town. She was far less modest than Celia, far more emotional, and I doubted he would have the tolerance to make it through the even without blowing up at least once.

She smiled broadly and replied, "I'm sure he'll be steaming by the time he comes back. He really enjoys his alone time with his girl, you know."

"Are those two getting married any time soon?"

Tanya merely gave a heavy sigh, swirling her amber Stone Oil in its glass. "I think he likes things to move nice and slow," she said at last. "Poor Celia..."

"Hmm, I think she likes it that way, too..." I disagreed, pondering it for a moment. Yes, those two certainly liked things to move at an even, steady pace.

"How about you, big man?" she asked in all seriousness.

"Me?" I asked perplexed. She nodded for me to continue, her face eerily focused. "Well, I-I don't rightfully know to be honest. I never really had to deal with that sort of thing..."

"I figured," she smirked. "That's why I had to kiss you first." Although he tried to hide it from his end of the bar, I caught Griffin raise an eyebrow only to smile to himself.

"Good thing you remembered that detail," I remarked casually. I had been having fun teasing her about drinking more than she could handle after the spring incident. Given how many times she had mocked me for my meal promises, I was having my fun while it lasted.

"Did you really think I forgot?" she interrogated me gently with those violet eyes of hers winking like stars. "I wasn't tanked unlike that girl over yonder," she noted with a thumb jerk behind her head.

Nami shot her head up like a red-hot firecracker while her cold blue eyes pierced right through the man beside her. "Gustafa, what's she talkin' about?"

The hippie just hid his face beneath his green hat, his eyes remaining sheltered behind his beatnik shades. I could practically hear the man beg in this mind for her to keep herself from becoming irate. I wouldn't look forward to that possibility, either. Loving a woman like her was difficult enough since she chose to come across frigid as ice.

She certainly was fiery then though to most folks she'd still look cool as a cucumber. It takes someone who's see her around a while to peer beneath the apathetic exterior. However, she could be rather stubborn about getting her questions resolved. Being that she couldn't get an answer out of her suddenly quiet companion, she turned to Cody with flames burning on her cheeks and in her eyes. "What is she sayin' about me?"

"Gustafa," he mumbled. No response from the gnome, who'd sunk further into his stool.

"What about him?" Nami demanded further. Griffin and I exchanged uncertain glances while Tanya roared with laughter. She had a cruel streak when it came to these events.

"A kiss," the artist tried to explain in as few words as possible.

"He kissed me?"

"No," he patiently explained, "you kissed him."

"Oh..."

Oddly, that was all she had to say on the matter, sitting back down next to Gustafa. I watched his shoulders fall into something of relief when she settled in again. It was an awkward silence, both of them just drank without another word. I can't say for the dwarf, but I knew she wasn't looking in his direction. She rested her head in her hand and questioned Cody with her eyes. He wasn't going to say anything more apparently.

"Well," Tanya frowned, "that amounted to nothing."

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Final Author's Note: You see, Tanya, not everyone burns right through relationships... Although I love pairing Gustafa and Nami, I don't ever think they'd be the type to get married. That's not to say they don't love each other, though. Nami is also probably the hardest character for me to write because I feel she's... complex, and it's easy to write her out-of-character. However, I'm probably just being too hard on myself again.