The doors swung wide open, giving way for a breath of fresh air to chase away the stuffy warmth reigning inside. With her hands on her hips, Lemuel proudly stepped forward, beaming as ever. Andy hesitantly shuffled behind her.
"Heeeelloooo~?" Her voice rang out through the empty space, sure to make a few heads turn. None did. "... Hello?"
Andy took a glance over her shoulder, taking the whole place in. For what was apparently a high-profile giant of the industry, it seemed kind of empty. Entirely empty, actually.
Split into sections, cushy booths sprouting to the sides, a grand stage in the back, some lava lamps sprinkled along the walls, a bar-island in the very middle, surrounded by the many freestanding tables and fancy chairs - they all laid desolate, without a single soul drinking away their sorrows. Except for one, with her back turned towards the two, sitting by the bar, but she did not seem to pay them any mind at all.
"... It's kinda empty." He signed off, eyes running along the expensive, gold finishes that wrapped themselves up tight around the walls and furniture.
"Hm? Oh, I know. I'm trying to get Miss Ice Queen's attention~." The door slammed shut, as she took her cheery attitude further into the bar, lighting up the interior as she skipped over to the counter. "Woo-hoo, hello~? Got visitors!"
The figure perked up slightly as the angel's hands tapped her shoulders. Her fluffy Lupo ears, sticking above a waterfall of jet-black hair, shot up, picking out each soundwave carefully, letting them mix with the music blaring through her earbuds. They turned towards the source of the annoying chirping, before the woman plucked the devices out, spinning in place. Her golden eyes rose to meet Lem's, a cigarette-like stick hanging from her mouth.
"... You're being loud again." It was neither an admonishment nor a complaint. Just a simple statement, clad in a coat of indifferent calmness.
"And you're droning by the bar, all by yourself~!" Her cheery voice tore through the rampage of loud music oozing from the headphones, now lying dormant on the counter.
"It's five PM on a saturday." Her words, like a pair of scissors gliding across a fresh sheet of paper. Bland, quiet, almost irritating to the ear. "I don't need company."
"..." Lemuel exchanged a quick, awkward glance with her long-lost friend, as if to say "I swear, she's not like this, usually."
"Weeeeell… Alright. But this is some grade A company, I promise~."
"Mhm. Sit, then." She gestured to her side, eyes locked on a wide flatscreen in front.
With a little nudge, Andy took a seat to the left of the stranger, while Lem took the right. His eyes soared across the endless rainbow laid out in front of him, made entirely of bottles filled with exotic liquors. Finally, they settled on Lem's, as she shot him an encouraging smile and took in a long breath of the musky, stuffy air.
"Sooo… I'd like to introduce you t-..." Her words were quickly cut off by a flick of the Lupo's tail.
"You got cut." The woman interrupted, focused on the meaningless stream of advertisement seeping out of the TV.
"Excuse me?"
"You got cut. You've got adhesive tape on your nose." She turned towards her, leaving Andy confusedly looking at the back of her head. Has she even noticed him at all, or…?
"Ah…" Lemuel waved it off and giggled. "Yeah, that's Andy's work. He got a bit carried aw-"
"Andy?" Her monotone chatter twisted into a surprised inquiry. "Who's Andy?"
"Who's Andy…? He's, uh… He's sitting right behind you." With a confused smile, she pointed towards the angel. He gave an awkward wave, as the Lupo's piercing eyes latched onto his, immediately widening and focusing.
"... Ricketts." She hissed through her teeth, sizing him up and down like a predator ready to pounce on its prey. Andy gave a small nod, blissfully oblivious to her intentions.
"Who?" Lemuel tilted her head, with that confused smile tugging at her lips.
"Why'd you bring him here?" She stood up, circling around the ex-merc. Andy followed her with his gaze, spinning around on his barstool.
"Uh… Should I leave? I c-..." Head full of confusion, weirded out by the Lupo's antics, he didn't want to force his presence upon Lem's colleagues.
"Yes." The woman cut in, glaring down at him. "Bar's closed to non-members at this hour. To incompetent business rivals, too."
A bit bewildered, Andy began searching for any words to throw back, as Lem piped up in his defense. "Hey, c'mon, don't be like that. He's not a "work rival", or whatever, he's a friend of mine! Close one, too, we grew up together~."
The Lupo had her eyes locked in a staring contest with the poor guy, boring deep into his skull. Her ears twitched and twisted as she heard Lemuel's reasoning. "Friend? You've got friends?"
"Uh-huh~!... Wait, what?"
"..." Her ears drooped down, laying flat against her hair. "Okay, then." She sat back down, grabbing another "cigarette" and putting it in between her lips. Her noisy chewing and the sudden shift in attitude left the two slightly befuddled. Andy cleared his throat and extended his hand over to her side.
"I'm Andy, by the way." With a forced smile, his awkward attempt at introducing himself properly seemed to gather no attention from the Lupo. She gave a shrug, eyes locked on the flat screen in front.
"I know."
He glanced over at Lemuel askingly, trying to determine whether he's done something wrong or if the woman was just completely socially inept. She gave an apologetic shrug and nudged the Lupo on her side. Her ears twitched.
"So, Andy, this is my, uh… My work partner~! We usually run deliveries together and… And yeah. Could you introduce yourself, maybe…?" With a few dimming glimmers of enthusiasm, she warbled to the wolf. Her gaze rose to meet the redhead's.
"... You're compromising critical company details. To someone who runs a rivaling business, too." Once more, it was simply a statement, not a warning. She turned towards Andy, with her droopy eyes digging into his again. "You. Are you on the clock?"
"I…" He took a moment to think. What would be the correct answer? "... I am."
"Good. Means you're wasting your own time." Without hesitation, she grabbed his hand and shook, firmly. Andy felt his fingers being crushed underneath the weight of her grasp. He forced a smile and flinched.
Lemuel beamed at the two, elated by the sight of her old and new friend seemingly getting along well. She leaned against the bar, head propped up on her hand.
"Sooo… Now that we're here, how about a little reunion party, huuuh~?... We could call the boss over and have him ar-..."
"He's out." She cut in, again.
"Out?"
"With Croissant. They made a bet to survive a whole day on twenty LMD. Croissant lowered it to ten and said she'd turn it into fifty by midnight, then agreed." She mumbled, as if it was a daily occurrence. Lemuel lost her smile and frowned.
"Ah. Well, we can still have a nice party with just the three of us, right~?" She beamed again, jumping up to wrap both her arms around their shoulders. Andy felt a certain warmth invading his cheeks as the corners of his lips involuntarily twisted upwards. The Lupo simply flicked her arm off her jacket.
"Four of us." She stated, eyes locked on a live broadcast from some bloody crime scene.
"Four?..." Hints of confusion laced her voice as she asked, the silence that followed being immediately broken by a loud commotion coming from a door behind the bar, most likely leading to some sort of storage area. Thud, thud, thud. A clatter, a shatter, a whole lot of banging. Andy and Lemuel both turned towards the noise, as the Lupo simply continued watching TV, seemingly completely uninterested. A few moments of silence followed, before the door swung wide open, revealing yet another Lupo - short and blonde, face all covered in grease, fancy clothes thoroughly clad in an armor of gray dust. With a huge smile, rivaling Lemuel's, she waved a rectangular box above her head, tail wagging with excitement.
"I GOT IT! I FOUND IT, TEXAS, I FOUND IT!" She yelled towards the three, permeated with girlish excitement.
"..." The other Lupo flinched, eyes turning towards the dusty girl. She flicked the door on her way out and ran towards the three, dropping the box at the bar. It called upon a cloud of soot and filthy dust as it clattered against the surface, causing them all to cough and turn away. One team effort later, the cloud disappeared, defeated by their simultaneous hand-waving.
Cough-cough… "O-Oh, Sora, you could've warned… COUGH-COUGH… Warned us a bit." Lem spewed out, between coughs.
"Sorry! Sorry, I didn't know it was THIS filthy!" She apologized, bowing a bit towards her. Seeing little to no reaction from the other Lupo, who had already started munching on another cigarette, her smile faltered slightly. "... Sorry, Exu."
"It's alright~! Right, Andy?" She nudged him in the ribs, forcing him to comply.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, totally." Under her sudden glare, his brows furrowed, as if to ask what her problem was. The blonde Lupo gave a bright smile, eyes suddenly widening at the sight of the ex-merc.
"Hey, I don't know you! Are you a new recruit? A client?" A sudden realization struck her head, as her smile turned shocked. "OH! A FAN~?"
The dark-haired woman suddenly stood from her chair, still chewing on her edible cigarettes. She grasped the dusty box and walked off, followed by the cheery girl's gaze. She took it right up to the flatscreen and started fiddling with the cables, unpacking some strange, triangular device from inside. Andy tilted his head, giving the blonde girl a thorough look-over. Neat, small, overly girly, voice almost as chirpy as Lem's… Whoever she was, she definitely wasn't someone he'd be a fan of.
"Oh, no, I'm just Andy." He explained, with a coy smile gracing his lips. "Just, uh…"
"He's that Ricketts guy from Pacific Empire. Emperor talked about him." The black haired Lupo cut in, with her back turned towards the rest, plugging in some cables to the TV, which now displayed nothing but snowy static.
"Aaaah… So you're, like… A rival, then?" Her beam dimmed almost immediately, as her ears drooped. "Shouldn't you, um… Not be here?"
"Sora…" Lemuel lightly flicked the side of her head, which made her squeal. "He's a friend of mine, alright? A good one. As long as I'm here, he'll be docile~." She added, with a smug smirk. "Ain't that right, Mr CEO?"
"Suuuure." He grinned in response, nudging her side. Lem giggled in response, which gathered Sora's leery attention. She brushed it off almost immediately and turned back towards Andy, beaming once more.
"Well, then! If you're a friend of Exusiai, then you're a friend of mine as well!" With a little curtsy, she flashed him a stage-worthy grin. "I'm Sora, Lungmen's up and coming champion of the idol game! Or, you know, just your new buddy, in our case." Andy gave a small nod in response, smiling in confusion.
"That's… Nice. I'm not really much into idols and stuff, but-..."
"Oh, you're not?" As if someone snuffed out her candle, her entire demeanor suddenly went blank. "Not even a bit? A teeny bit? Teeny-tiny…?"
He could only sway his open hands to the sides in an awkward attempt to seem apologetic, when in reality he did not even fully understand what kind of "idols" she's been babbling about. In the back, the other Lupo, almost entirely hidden behind the TV's buzzing surface, grasped a few cables and seemingly struggled to connect them to the triangular device.
"Sora? Mind helping out?" Her voice rang out through the empty bar, with a hint of irritation crawling in between the usual calmness. The blonde girl jumped up, immediately returning to her usual cheeriness.
"Of course, Texas! Of course, coming right up~!" She shot the two a wink and skiddadled over to help. Andy and Lem exchanged a confused glance.
"... What did she call you? "Exusiai?"
"What did she call YOU? "Ricketts?"
Andy leaned against the bar, elbow on the hardwood surface, hand pressed against his cheek.
"Can we focus on one weird name at a time? What even… How did that even come to be?" His smile turned teasing, as Lemuel dismissively flicked her fingers.
"It's just a codename! For safety purposes, we all have codenames here." With her arms laid out on the counter, she tilted her head and settled her cheek against her shoulder. "But "Ricketts…?" I mean, what happened to my Andy Reiff, huh?"
"Pffff…" The angel deflated in his seat, slouching over the bar. "It's a long story. I… might've omitted a few details. It's all really… It's all sad and, y'know. Just war stuff. Sad war stuff." With a gentle frown, they stared into each other's eyes. In those deep, empty pools of gray, Lem could see a few snakes of genuine guilt and regret slithering across the surface, gathering in the corners and threatening to turn into something far more wet and runny. Her own face softened as she gave a tiny nod, indicating a deep sense of support. Not understanding in any way, no. Just blind support.
"... Sad war stuff." She let the whisper escape her lips, untethered from any teasing or sarcasm. "I get it. You don't have to tell me, alright? But if someday you feel like doing so, then…"
A warm, hopeful smile tugged at her lips, planting a deep, uncomplicated sense of warmth deep within the boy's shattered soul, almost as if grasping the pieces and melting them back together into one.
"... Then I'll be there to listen."
That's all he needed to hear. All he needed to kick-start his heart back up again, fill his head with nothing but a mass of orange and red, pushing him forward to meet the next sunrise with a wide grin on his face, to fall asleep thinking of the future, not the past. To fall asleep with the image of her in mind, not the false revenant rampaging his nightly ventures, pulling towards the treacherous crimson hallway and wooden door, alluring with her endless silence and soft touches.
His fingers reached forward, as if to grasp the air in front. His nails barely grazed the sleeve of her soft, fuzzy sweater.
"Done~!"
A loud trumpet blared across the bar, turning heads and ears towards the source. Sora and "Texas" both came back, carrying a few half-disc shaped objects in their hands. Andy and Lem broke out of their intimate little moment, as if waking up from a trance.
"Oh, you got it up and running? I forgot we still had this thing at all, haven't used it in a while." She murmured, slowly sliding off the bar and stretching her arms. Andy felt his cheeks growing a bit warm at the sight.
"Mmm. Got a few hours before we open, anyway." Texas slid one of the objects towards Lemuel, alongside a green-tinted bottle of fizzy goodness that Andy recognized almost immediately. Almost an entire pint of Victoria's finest hop-brew, the world famous "Londinium Cog Grease." She haphazardly took the bottle and flicked the cap off with an opener at hand.
"Mmm! Cheers~!" With a beaming smile, she latched onto the bottle and took a healthy swig. Andy watched in pure awe and amazement, soon joined by Sora, who hopped onto the counter, swinging her legs over the side.
"Texas" picked a bottle from underneath the bar for herself and let the fizzy insides hiss, as the cap gave out under the opener's weight. She handed it to the blondie, who happily grasped the tinted glass.
"Non-alcoholic…?" She asked, a glimmer of hope shining through, as she gazed down the bottle's neck.
"Mmmm. You know the rules." Texas threw from underneath the bar, searching for another bottle. Sora gave a slightly disappointed sight and resigned to her fate, taking a small glug. Andy kept watching Lemuel gobbling down the golden-brown substance with a blush ever so potent, spreading over his face. A cold, hard object slid against his hand.
His eyes shot up, only to be met by Texas' golden glow.
"You in, too?" Her monotone voice asked.
"In? I've gotta be "in" to have a drink?" He grasped the bottle and examined closely. No doubt, a Victorian export.
"In, as in, whether you wanna play, or not."
"Play?" With a swift move, he pressed the edge of the cap to the side of the counter and punched it down with his elbow, sending it flying. Sora let out a high-pitched whistle at the sight, still sipping her dumbed-down version of the life-giving (and mostly taking) perfection.
"Sora and I weren't expecting anyone, but we can always just do a four-person tournament. Not much of an issue, I'll still kick your asses." Just a glint of overconfidence oozed from her voice as she smirked, a sight unnaturally pleasant to the eyes. Andy smirked back, having no idea what she was talking about.
"Oh, yeah?"
"Oh, yeah. Perk of working for the better company, out of our two." She grabbed herself a bottle as well, opening it in a similar fashion Andy did. Sorra whistled again, as Lemuel had just finished downing her entire bottle. She slammed the empty husk against the table and let out a bated breath.
"Aaaah… Y-Yeah, Andy, you've gotta play! C'mon, everyone knows that the real measure of success in life isn't how much moolah you can pull from your shoes, but how good you are at Battlecraze Bladelight!" She slurred out, pulling her barstool closer to the ex-merc and nudging him on the shoulder.
"How… How good I am at what?" He blinked a few times, unsure whether the beer had started taking effect already or they had suddenly gone insane. He took a long, healthy swig, just in case.
"Battlecraze Bladelight! Platformer beat-'em-up? Coolest game ever~." Sora chirped in, as Texas leaned against the bar, holding onto the weird, half-disc and clicking away at the buttons protruding from its surface.
"Mmm. Good time waster. I like it." She threw in her own two Lungmen cents, eyes locked on the TV. A flash of bright light enveloped them all as a massive banner appeared on the screen, a patch of green embellished by the massive words, you guessed it, "BATTLECRAZE BLADELIGHT." Andy watched a few whimsical, tiny, cartoonish knights drop down from the top of the screen, landing at the very bottom. The cryptic signs "P1", "P2", "P3" and "P4" floated above their heads like the ring of light above his very own. Lem giggled in excitement as she grasped her own half-disc, followed closely by Sora. The knights soon started running across the wide, open fields drawn on screen, jumping around and swinging their heavy weaponry. Only the one dubbed "P4" remained still, as if waiting for some higher power to take them by the hand and lead forward. A puppet waiting for its master, patiently anticipating the moment its strings start moving. "P3" jumped down from a green, blooming tree and stopped next to the unmoving warrior.
Andy then watched as "P3" promptly decapitated "P4" with their zweihander, sending wild splatters of blood shooting across the screen. He blinked, as Lemuel giggled.
"Sorry~!" Her innocent little smirk melted away any and all worries, as he smiled back and chuckled.
Texas reached out towards him, the last half-disc device resting in her open palm.
"So? You in?"
Andy gave a nod, taking the weird thingamajig, holding it upside down.
"In, of course I'm in! It's just that…" He started, pace turning a bit awkward.
"That's the spirit~! Wanna team up? We'll ruin them, good 'ole Laterano versus Lungmen!" Lem perked up, grinning mischievously.
"Oh, yeah~? I'll have you know, singing isn't the only thing I do well, we'll see who ruins who!" Sora bit back, with a determined expression, eager to impress Texas.
"... I'll murder all of you. Just a fact." The black-haired Lupo stated calmly, turning her back towards Andy and focusing on the TV.
With their fingers gripping the devices, eyes locked on the battlefield, each and every bit of their wills focused on obliterating their friends, they prepared to start brawling, tearing away each other's guts and limbs, destroying utterly…
"Uh…" Andy kept staring at the strange half-disc in his hands. He let out a small cough to gather their attention.
"... I don't wanna be a spoilsport, but…"
"It's alright, Andy~! I'm not the best at this, either, but…" Lem cut in, offering a warm smile.
"Oh, no, don't worry! We're just playing for fun, after all~! Sora cut in, cutting off her cut in.
"You're playing for fun. Don't assume I do." Texas murmured, letting a smirk grace her lips.
.
Andy smiled back, awkwardly. All eyes were on him.
.
"It's not that I'm bad or anything, it's just…"
"Oh? So what's the problem~?" Sora tilted her head, letting her legs swing over the counter.
.
"... I've never played a videogame before."
.
…
.
He could pinpoint the exact moment when both Lem and Sora went pale. Their smiles washed right off their faces, as a buzzing silence took over the moment.
.
Texas, however, was left grinning almost from ear to ear.
.
"Oh, this is gonna be good."