UNSC Intermission

[Bippwatt]

((OOC: Is confused? Is Nikolai the nervous marine?))

Idina looks across the room, looking for her errant squadmate, only to find him sitting at a table with a Corporal and a Sergeant.

"Well, well. Who do we have here?" Idina looked to the sound in front of her. A very badly crocked Marine stood before her. She slipped her right hand behind her and put on the clever ring she had learned to carry on her. Once it was firmly on, she brought her hands forward and made sure there was no way this Marine could miss it.

"Nothing that is available.", was her firm reply.

"Aww, come on, baby. Just you and me. Maybe we could go in the back-"

She put her right hand on the man's shoulder and looked him in the eye.

"You don't want to finish that sentence." Then, just for emphasis, she squeezed on his shoulder. Hard. The man almost bent over double from the pressure she put on that joint.

Idina then walked away, slipping the ring back off and into her back pocket, which then closed with the magnetic clasp, preventing it's theft.

She walked close enough to here Nikolai.

"Nikolai Jovanovich, at your service, Ma'am." Just as she pasted out of ear shot, she saw him do his typical "Sitting Bow". Men! So eager to show off. Then she returned to her "date" with the new drinks.

[Soulstep]

(OOC: Yes, yes he is )

Sergeant Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad Emerald Hotel

Andrew had to put some considerable effort into trying not to burst out laughing at Nikolai's routine, probably making the poor bugger even more uncomfortable, if that was in any way humanly possible.

Sarah was downing the rest of her drink, and by the looks of things, she was using it to hide her sniggering. As she calmed down and put the glass back down, she asked, "A bit on the formal side, arn't you?"

Andrew noticed a few other Marines over by the bar enjoying a rousing game of 'watch the spaz'. He ignored them, instead brushing his fringe aside so he could take a gulp from his drink. He noticed the bar fights seemed to be winding down, though whether that was from people leaving or passing out from alcohol overdose, it was hard to tell.

"Hey... Where were you on Lethe? I don't remember you being in the ship," he asked Nikolai, in an attempt to ease off the heavy awkwardness.

[Bippwatt]

Nikolai rose his eyebrow.

"I have no clue what you mean, ma'am.", he said, with a completely straight face. "I'm only giving the respect due to my superiors." Even he couldn't keeping going all night. Seconds after the last word was out of his mouth, he cracked. A deep, rolling, jubilant laugh roared from his mouth, continuing on for a few seconds. Even after it was done, it still felt as thought it were in the room, hanging around and wanting to infect others with it's joyful notes.

"S-s-sorry!", he stuttered, still chuckling and wiping the laughter-induced tears from his eyes. "Anyways, I never did get an answer on that name question!" His eyes gleam. Whether with tears or joy, you can't tell.

"As for your question, sir, I was a bit late to the battle. Sniper, too, so you likely didn't see much of me anyway. Still got my share of excitement, though." His inflection gave no doubt that he didn't think that it was exciting in the least.

During all of this, he deliberately ignored the Marines with their game of "Watch the Spaz". He didn't need something else to laugh over!

[Martial Virtue]

Cassie's grin continued to widen as she watched the pitiful exchange between the hapless Marine and servicewoman. Things had become even more intriguing once the female Marine's sergeant had appeared by her side. It looked like Cassie had found her source of entertainment for the night - or at least for the moment.

She, too, had been the victim of poor pick-up attempts while in the Corps. Cassie considered it a godsend that she was already taken; usually when the guys got a good look at her engagement ring, they backed off pretty quick. This wasn't the case with all of them, though. There was always the occasional prick who thought the symbolism meant nothing to her. She wasn't the cheating type, even if she was a little put off by Mason's attitude as of late. For better or for worse she loved him, and she wasn't about to put the final huge nail in the coffin of their relationship by betraying him.

But, she reminded herself, she was here to enjoy the night. She took another long swig of her beer, noted it was already half-empty, and turned back to the corporal and private beside her. A little small talk - and maybe some harmless flirting, depending where the conversation went - never hurt anyone, and the booze was already beginning to make its presence felt in her system thanks to her empty stomach. It was just something to do while they waited to see how things turned out between the female Marine and the poor sap hitting on her.

Cassie heard the private mumble something about their squadmate making a fool of himself nearby, glanced over and snorted into her drink in amusement, and then recovered and said, "So, I don't think any of us have met yet. I'm Cassidy Thompson. Cassie for short."

[Dutch]

After accumulating and consuming a large platter of food from the buffet table, Fisher had begun to meander his way outside. Looking around the bar, he could see that things were moving from the ‘drunken fights’ phase to the ‘drunk hitting on girls’ phase. Stepping around several stumbling marines, he began to head for the outdoors when a random thought popped into his head.
Fisher had watched a good deal of movies and right now an old yearning of his surged into memory. An old action flick he’d watched and adored, Ups and Downs, had depicted the main character Arthur Garland drinking and clearing enjoying some sort of drink called scotch. Looking it up, the then-juvenile Fisher and found out it was a ‘strong alcoholic beverage.’
He had always imagined it as a strong, mint-tasting drink, icy cold with a flare of good alcohol, the sort of thing drunk by smart and professional distinguished people. Now seeing as he was in a bar and fully legal, he saw no reason why not to.
Ordering a shot of the transparent water-looking stuff, he looked at it with interest and excitement. Then, taking it in his hands, he raised it to his mouth and prepared for a taste of heaven.
The experience was akin to his mouth and throat being oh-so carefully washed in gasoline and then set on fire with thermite. One second he was sucking on scotch, the next he jumped two feet straight into the air screaming like a banshee. Desperately clawing at his mouth, he sucked down a glass of water without hesitation.
Realizing that he now looked like a complete idiot, Fisher ran outside into the night as quickly as possible with a cascade of laughs roaring behind him.
Now outside, Fisher rubbed his head, mentally berating himself for being stupid. Sliding down into nice reclining seat, he leaned back to watch the fireworks.

[masterchick]

Lance Corporal Jill Vasquez

Jill confidently trotted into the bar, easily weaving around the masses, followed by three members of her fireteam, Idelia, Ryan, and Nate. Three of the four ODSTs looked uncertainly at the woman leading them into the bar, she had only joined their fireteam a few months ago, but they knew she was reliable in combat... But they didn't know much about her otherwise. She had convinced these three to come with her, but the sergeant and tech expert of the team were both adamant about staying away from the bar. She had expected it to be Ryan who was the stick in the mud, with his wife back on Earth.
"Vasquez, this isn't making me want to stick around..." Idelia muttered to Jill, eying a group of marines laughing at some poor soldier who just ran out of the room.
"Give it a chance, chica, I won't let you end up like him." Jill responded.
"Might be funny, actually." Ryan muttered, making Jill grin and Idelia scowl. Nate looked the other way as if embarrassed. In response to this, Jill put an arm around his shoulders to ruffle his hair, or attempted to. Nate was about a half a foot taller and Jill couldn't quite reach.
"Lets go find a table" She said, giving up on embarrassing Nate further. She sprinted off into the crowd, leaving her teammates to pick their way through to get to her, muttering and cursing.
Idelia sat down next to Jill, and Nate across from her. Ryan stood and looked around.
"Looking for your girlfriend, Sypher?" Idelia said with a roll of her eyes.
"She's my WIFE. And no, I'm not. What is it with you not being able to call people by their first names anyway?" This made the other two marines bite their lips to keep from laughing. Idelia wouldn't take kindly to lower ranking officers insulting her, as a strict by the books woman. Not wanting to get involved, Jill turned an ear to the conversation going on next to her, a group of soldiers apparently trying to make smalltalk. But she found herself staring at the obviously too long hair of a marine. She found herself wondering how the hell he could even see... And how the hell it managed to stay like that. Ryan and Idelia continued arguing behind her, and Nate stayed quiet for the most part, occasionally attempting to stop the warring.

[Domoa]

The nervous marine started laughing uncontrollably out of nowhere, making Kelton and James laugh as well. The female marine looked back over at them saying, "So, I don't think any of us have met yet. I'm Cassidy Thompson. Cassie for short."

"I'm Kelton Rivers and my friend here is James Cabot." Kelton said in reply.

[Martial Virtue]

"I'm Kelton Rivers,” the corporal answered, “and my friend here is James Cabot."

Cassie stuck out her hand and shook theirs in turn, although she still couldn’t quite grip well with her right hand. The shrapnel wound she’d received in her last campaign had healed as much as it would be able to, but a doctor had told her that she’d always have a noticeably weaker grip with that arm from now on.

“Nice to meet you both,” she said. She took another drink of her beer, then made a grand sweep of the chaos-filled room with her arms. “So were you guys part of the op this is all for, or just riding the coattails? Because I’ve been stationed here a while, and honestly, this is the most exciting thing that’s happened to us in weeks.”

[Soulstep]

Sergeant Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad Emerald Hotel

Andrew felt somewhat relieved when Nikolai broke out laughing, it gave him an excuse to calm down via the method of chuckling. Sarah continued her sniggering, this time into her sleeve.

"Oh, right," Andrew said once Nikolai asked him their names, and answered, "Name's Andrew Deiran, and little miss sarcasm here is Sarah Linown," he grinned, spotting Sarah's expression in his peripheral vision. She looked like she wasn't sure whether to laugh or smack him across the head, so she compromised and grinned, while punching his arm.

After the rather painful sting went away, he looked back at Nikolai. "We were in the first wave. Saw the Welrod's strafing run firsthand. Not every day you see MAC rounds in atmosphere," he grinned, remembering the fantasic noise and adrenaline rush they had all felt when the strike was announced.

Returning to the present, Andrew noticed an ODST seemingly staring at his fringe. Hey, he had seen much weirder hair on ODSTs before, and they had somehow gotten to keep it as well...

((OOC: For anyone who wasn't here for the first half of M2, read page 9 onwards of 'Crew Expendable' in the rp archives, and witness the awesomeness XD))

[abroad]

Major Sharan Musharif & Captain Lina Gonclaves 73rd Company Emerald Hotel

With a cold mechanical stamp constantly announcing his presence, Major Musharif came in from the cold by the lake and into the warmth of the bar. The noise was drawn from the bionic limb that formed his left leg. Normally, outside of combat he would of stripped down the leg to its skeletal form, but, for the sake of not looking like his leg was withered beneath the loose dress uniform. The ODST Officer sighed and glanced about the room, various Marines and ODSTs with pretty girls hanging of their sides and here, he glanced to his side, he was stuck with the one woman he had ever known who refused to smile. The Major really wasn't sure what he had been expecting when asking his XO to accompany him to the gathering, it had just seemed, the correct thing to do, with most of the Company filtering off on their own steam it had just been him and Captain Gonclaves twiddling their thumbs on the Illustrious. The decision had been taken, as he had grown accustom to with Gonclaves, with an unspoken agreement that both of them could not stand their only company being each-other, and as neither wished to attend the gathering alone they should go together to provide themselves with an excuse to escape the awkward situation.

Of course, this had somewhat backfired, for the past two hours neither had managed to establish a polite pretence to leave the others company, and so they had trailed around the gathering as perhaps the most awkward of the pairs present. Of course, not wanting to show themselves up they were making the best pretence of it all, she was even hanging off his arm, but the entire execution was rigid, and both, though they wouldn't admit it, were privately embarrassed about being seen around the other like this. For Sharan's part it was mostly that, as a single and unattached gentlemen there were suddenly a large number of pretty females around he could talk to without the pretext of rank. It wasn't that the blond South-American girl wasn't unappealing, just that neither of them seemed to be particularly fond of the other socially.

For Lina's part, it was mostly the fact that she knew that the Company would be making jokes about the entire affair that led to her acting so tense and lifeless around the Major, less fuel for the inevitable fire. Glancing towards the bar she extricated herself from her commanding officers arm and glanced back to him, “Can I get you a drink, Sir?” it was a poor excuse for a temporary escape, but it served well enough.

Sharan was quick to agree, in their business like manner the small excuses to get away from each-other briefly were serving as the few moments they could relax, he nodded, “Thank you Captain, something strong, perhaps a whisky....no, make it a whisky and a local ale.” Those combined with whatever her order would be would buy them some time away from each-other. As she trotted off to the bar he visibly relaxed and sighed, removing his dress cap the ODST Officer glanced around the room, before sidling off a little away from where he was to provide Lina...Captain Gonclaves...the opportunity to 'loose' him.

Lina waited until she was certain he wasn't able to see her before her shoulders dropped from rigid to relaxed, carefully pushing herself through a pair of drunken Marines to get to the bar, glancing about her. Everyone else seemed to be having fun while she and the Major seemed to be having what was perhaps the most awkward night of either of their lives. She had no idea what had compelled her to hang off his arm like one of the giggling younger women – perhaps, in the same way that they hadn't wanted to be alone at the party she wanted to look like she was here with someone. Narrowing her eyes she shook her head, that couldn't be it, it was just a convenient way of getting to the party 'and not feeling bad that no-one hit on her as a senior officer – where'd that come from?' She scowled at the barman, “Three strong drinks of any variety, a whisky and a local ale.”

[masterchick]

PFC Athena Cyren

Athena froze in her place as a marine asked her if she even knew what she was drinking. She was hoping not to make her inexperience too obvious, but somehow she had managed to do just that. The marine disappeared into the crowd even before she could make a rude remark, which soured her mood further. After a few moments pondering whether to forget her 'orders' and just go upstairs and go to sleep or attempt to have fun, she simply sighed and spun around on the bar stool to watch the crowd again.

LC Jill Vasquez & Fireteam Valkyrie

Jill was caught off guard by the returned glance of the marine. She hadn't intended to stare, but she must have zoned out for a few moments because Ryan and Idelia had turned their attention to what she was looking at. Idelia snorted and waved her hand dismissively and Ryan looked at her strangely when she turned her attention back to the group sitting next to her.
"Marines, Vasquez? If you're going to get into trouble at least make it with someone worth while." Idelia said quickly. Jill could see that the other two were as confused as she was at Idelia's unusually crass comment.
"Did I really just hear you say that?" Ryan nearly stuttered.
"You were a marine before becoming an ODST, you know, there's nothing wrong with that..." Jill replied. An awkward moment of silence settled over the group. Ryan muttered something about calling his wife and slowly stood up.
"Hey, we're here to have fun, right? Not be assholes, so can we go meet some people?" Jill suggested.
The others looked at one another with irritation. Jill sighed and made her way over to the other table without them. For once, she was glad to be the one constantly talking to strangers. She recognized one of the people at the table as someone she had met briefly. Jill could hardly remember, but she did remember a few things about her, including (after a few moments of panic) what the woman's name was. Hopefully the people at the table were already drunk. Even if they weren't, it wasn't as if Jill hadn't made an ass of herself before.

She walked over, holding herself more confidently than she felt and forcing herself to smile. Her fireteam would be watching her no doubt, and if she got in trouble, she would never live it down, already being the new kid on the block. She tapped the woman on the shoulder and said what she hoped her name was. "Sarah?" She also managed to keep her confident demeanor while saying "It's been a while" Looking at Andrew, she also added the only other thing she remembered from their meeting. "You must be Adam, right?"

[Soulstep]

Sergeant Andrew Deiran Indigo Squad Emerald Hotel

Andrew noticed he had managed to catch the stares of more ODSTs, along with the one from just before. Turning away, he took a gulp of his drink, closing his eyes for a moment. Then, when he opened them, the female ODST was right beside them.

Sarah seemed surprised as he was, which was no real shock, since the ODST knew her name. Andrew racked his memory from training, trying to place her face...

Then she asked if he was Adam, and the weight he had came here to get away from, returned like a ton of bricks. Sarah became distant and slowly turned to stare at the table. Andrew looked at the ODST and quietly said slowly and carefully, "No... I'm Andrew. Adam's dead... Like the rest of our squad. They all died in the attack..."

He rubbed his face, and though he now recalled the woman's name, Jill (or something like that), all his head was filled with was his three lost friends.

[Domoa]

“Nice to meet you both,” said the female marine, “So were you guys part of the op this is all for, or just riding the coattails? Because I’ve been stationed here a while, and honestly, this is the most exciting thing that’s happened to us in weeks.”

"Just riding the coattails." said Kelton while James just nodded. He then turned back to look at the marines he was watching earlier. A female ODST was joining them.

"This is gonna be good." muttered Kelton.

[Martial Virtue]

Captain Sierra Lloyd

- Commanding Alpha Company, UNSC Marines -

Captain Sierra Lloyd stood in front of the headstone with a batch of fresh flowers, not daring to get any closer for a moment. She tried to stay strong, to rein in her emotions as training and years worth of combat experience had taught her to do. But at a certain point, she couldn’t hold back any longer. With her eyes brimming with tears, she walked up to the stone marked: “Captain Dylan Lloyd”.

She placed the flowers on the ground near its base, then got down on her knees for a moment and rested her forehead against the cool, polished rock. “Hi, honey,” she managed. Then, in a lower, more raw tone, she said, “I miss you.”

It had already been over a year since her husband had been killed in action, but not a day had gone by that she hadn’t thought of him. And although Sierra had been overjoyed at seeing their two kids again for the first time in months, it also made Dylan’s absence that much more pronounced - and painful.

When she’d gotten enough of a handle on her emotions, Sierra wiped her tear-filled eyes with her sleeve and spoke again, continuing in a soft tone, “I saw Grace and Caleb today. They’ve both gotten so big since I saw them last. Grace tries to climb everything in sight like a little monkey, driving your parents crazy,” she said with a genuine smile. “And Caleb’s just starting to walk now. It’s hard to be away from them for so long at a time, but...what the UNSC is doing is important, and I won’t give up.” She took in a deep breath. “I just wish you were still here with us, Dylan.”

She placed her hand on his picture at the top of the headstone for a moment, then let it slowly drop before she turned away. She wiped her eyes with her sleeve a second time, took in another deep breath, and was somehow able to regain her composure and steel herself for the remainder of the day. Clearly, it was going to be a long one.
---
As Captain Lloyd watched the fireworks display now, celebrating the far too rare occasion of a UNSC victory against the Covenant, she thought of the short leave she’d had just two weeks ago. It had been bittersweet, like all the visits she’d made to her in-laws’ home since her husband’s passing. She’d missed her kids more than anything and of course it was great to see them, but Dylan seemed to be everywhere in that house, and sometimes it was more than she could take.

Being their only son, Dylan’s parents had pictures of him up all over the walls. They spoke of him incessantly. And little Caleb looked more and more like his father each time Sierra managed to get the time off to see him and his slightly older sister. Sierra put on a brave face for both of her kids, glad to be in their presence, but at the same time she always felt a little relieved when she left. It made it easier for her to focus on her Marines and her duties, and not lament her fragmented family life.

Captain Lloyd was pulled from her thoughts by one of her platoon leaders.

“Captain? Are you feeling okay?”

Sierra turned to look at the young man, dressed smartly in his dress uniform like all the rest, and managed a small, reassuring smile. “Yes, Lieutenant, I’m fine.” She got up and pulled her uniform jacket taut, causing the medals on her chest to lightly clink against one another. “I think I’m going to head inside now, though. But feel free to continue watching the pyrotechnics. It’s not every day we get time to slow down and enjoy the moment.”

The young officer looked at her blankly but nodded. She knew it wasn’t out of ignorance; Second Lieutenant Gavin Fortnight was a smart kid, probably the smartest officer of all of them. But he was also still young and untested, and so had little in the way of wisdom and experience to know what she was talking about. He’d find out soon enough how much things changed when one went into combat for the first time.

Though she’d been planning on heading into the bar alone for a drink, Captain Lloyd found instead that her executive officer and other platoon leader followed suit, leaving Gavin by himself to see the rest of the fireworks.

“Permission to speak freely, ma’am?” First Lieutenant Hailey Koppre asked, coming up on the captain’s side.

Sierra eyed her mock-warily. “Go ahead. You know we’re off duty now so you don’t need to ask.”

Lieutenant Koppre slapped a hand on her commanding officer's shoulder and grinned. “No offense, but you’re wound too tight, Captain. You need to have some fun tonight.”

“I second that motion, Captain,” Sierra’s second-in-command, First Lieutenant Philippe James, added with a smile of his own. “So we’ll get you some drinks, relax, unwind, and see where the night takes us.”

As they stepped into the hotel bar, Sierra immediately frowned at the sight of several Marines – including an officer or two – already down on the floor, blacked-out drunk.

“Well, as long as you both make sure I don’t end up like him,” the captain said pointedly, staring at a passed out first lieutenant, “I’m in.”

[Jakob]

Lieutenant Jakob Zaborowski

Jakob's vision slowly cleared as the sharp smell of a warm boilo came into his nose. He soon saw Sergeant Gordon sitting over him, gently slapping his cheek trying to wake him up quickly. He saw groups of Marines, ODST, Navy and even ONI walking around or sitting down, conversing. He looked as his Sergeant, in a clean dress uniform who had obviously not been drinking much, lifted him up. He leaned on him a bit and let out a slur of a sentence, the only eligible words being ferret and pencil. Gordon tried to turn Jakob's head to look at him and spoke the words,
"Lieutenant, go get as drunk as you want, hell get in some fights."
Jakob looked at him and smiled,
"I will get into more fights princes..."
Gordon looked at him, as if that is not what he said. It was obvious that Princess Gordon was just angry because the elves were out of order again.

Jakob laughed when he began to do a jig and stumbled over to a Captain, he gave a rough salute that looked more like the middle finger then anything and tried to talk. The smell of alcohol strong on his breath.
"Hello ma'am sir, howdy due today dragon, didn't know elves came to this bar..."

[Bippwatt]

"We were in the first wave. Saw the Welrod's strafing run firsthand. Not every day you see MAC rounds in atmosphere."

Nikolai sputtered his Root Beer and nearly coughed up a lung.

"Wait. They actually did that!? I thought that was just someone pullin' my leg! Holy F*cking Sh*t! That's crazy! Insane! Committable!"

Nikolai covers his eyes with his hand for a moment then rubs them.

"Whoa. That's just....A MAC strike? From inside the atmosphere!? With marine's not even a mile away? That would take a special kind of crazy, I think!" He sighs. "Almost wish I could have seen that." He gives a lengthy pause. "Almost." Then he shakes his head. "Ten fraking meters." He picks up his drink again and looked around at the pace of the night. Maybe he could salvage tonight after all.

Then someone approached the table. An ODST. Nikolai didn't know her, but she seemed to know his new-found friends.

"You must be Adam, right?"

Nikolai knew that wasn't right. Must not know them that well. Nikolai looked at Andrew and reconsidered. The look on his face said she at least had named someone they had known. Andrew's next comment confirmed it.

"No... I'm Andrew. Adam's dead... Like the rest of our squad. They all died in the attack..."

Crap. Nikolai suddenly began trying to fight off a bout of depression and his mind reeled and rebelled at the reminder of all of the people who had died in this war. His heart cried out for the lost marines he had fought side by side with. With an effort, he pulled himself out of that downwards spiral. Really bad idea. He knocked back the last of his Root Beer. Oh, boy. He was going to need something a hell of a lot stronger. Preferably something simply with alcohol.

He looked around him and tried to cheer him self up, but he just couldn't do it. He had been cheery too long and now it was taking it's toll. When his drink came, he knocked it straight back. Once the blossom of heat from the drink hit his gut, he felt a bit better. It made him at least feel brave enough to tackle the world around him right now. No speeches, he told himself. Don't make a fool of yourself. Just numb the pain. He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"Please god, make me a stone.", he muttered.

[lancaster]

((OOC: um, so how how do i put my character's name in the middle?))

Ran walked into the bar smelling strong alcohol coming from all directions, "Christ." walking to an empty stool near a drunken marine who had passed out on the counter the bartender asked "What do you want?" scanning the back Ran replied "Just give me something you gave him" pointing to the passed out marine.

The bartender pored the drink into a small shot cup. "Here you go" the bartender placed the drink in front of Ran. The brown liquid smelled strong, swirling the drink in the cup he downed the drink in one large swig. The drink was hot going down his thought, breathing in sharply he closed his eyes and smiled "Hit me with another." as Ran downed two more he moved from the bar and stood up. "Hmm... what now?" wondering around he tried to find someone to talk to. "Being new sucks" he muttered.

[Martial Virtue]

Sierra had already plowed through her first purple haze when she noticed that the KOed first lieutenant she'd passed by earlier was walking towards their table. He seemed intent on completing his mission, whatever that might be. Before he made it over, Sierra turned to her two subordinates and grinned.

"See that El-Tee over there? He's probably still whacked out of his mind. So whatever he says, play along. This might prove interesting."

Lieutenants Koppre and James nodded, concealing their own smiles behind their drinks. Both gasped, however, when the drunk first lieutenant coming towards them gave Captain Lloyd something awfully close to a one-fingered salute instead of a real one.

Sierra had half a mind to chew him out over it, despite the fact that she was feeling a little buzzed herself now, but that was before the first lieutenant opened his mouth.

"Hello ma'am sir, howdy due today dragon, didn't know elves came to this bar..." he said intelligently.

Trying not to snicker - and giving her two platoon leaders a quick warning glare so that they didn't spoil the fun - Captain Lloyd forced herself to slap a grave expression on her face.

"The elves are here?" she said in exaggerated alarm. She narrowed her eyes theatrically. "You know what that means, Lieutenant. We must fight back! With...more drinks!"

[Jakob]

Lieutenant Jakob Zaborowski

"Aye aye mister flying monkey of Oz! I need to not get sober!" He said as if that sounded intelligent, when he saw some people at the bar turn around and snicker he quickly shot them a glare and proclaimed to the bar,
"I swear to drunk I am not god!" He stood proudly at those words and coughed a bit when several people started laughing. He looked at a passing waitress with tray full of vodka and grabbed a glass, quickly putting it on the table.
"Time to fight some elves! If only they wanted to help us against those Covie bastards..." He quickly snatched it again and downed the shot. He stood there surprisingly straight for a few seconds until he collapsed, falling down onto the table behind him that was filled with the food and drinks of a few drunken soldiers. They looked down at him and quickly stood up, obviously wanting to kill him for ruining there meal.

He looked confused and began to ask,
"Did I fall? I am not sure if I fell or not..." He quickly saw some one push the angry mob out of the way and pick him up, it was Anderson who began yelling in his ear like his old drill Sergeant from basic,
"GOD DAMN IT ZABOROWSKI! THAT IS A CAPTAIN! WITH ALL DUE RESPECT SIR YOU ARE A DUMB ASS DRUNK!" He quickly saw Gordon run over and begin trying to talk to him,
"Sir PLEASE try to stay more sober!" He then turned to the Captain and her men. "Ma'am I am so sorry for the problems my commander has caused, he lost a lot of men and got his pay cut and this is one of the few things that keep him from blowing his brains out..." he said trying his best to apologize for his CO's actions.

[tellos]

Sergeant Marcus Vintear
Location: Hotel

Standing up to get himself another drink he walks down slowly, the Sergeant before long though as he approached by him he gave small salute to the Major who had recently entered. “Good evening sir.” He said trying to keep it polite. He didn’t have anything against officers but from what he could gather he was ODST and too often they felt bigger and better in his experience than everybody else and he didn’t need an argument. First of all he had plenty of those on his record already and if he ever wanted to go higher than Sergeant he needed to appear to be able to be social with superiors. He wasn’t going to force a conversation but it left it open or gave at worst a polite way to not get on his bad side. He motioned to the bar tender for two beers.

As he waited he stood confident and relaxes not far from the Major. Marcus’s uniform showed the combat and service ribbons and medals he had though he almost never thought of any of them himself. He did have one thing he felt lucky to have in that it meant he was alive, his purple heart from being shot by a plasma pistol.

[Dutch]

Fisher had returned to the bar with high hopes that his embarrassing encounter with that hell-brew scotch would have been rubbed away by alcohol by now. Judging by the general lack of guffaws and snickers directed at him, he was convinced this was the case.
Grabbing a large tube-style thing called a burrito, a tasty treat courtesy of Earth, he wandered through the clumps of drunk and/or chatting soldiers. To his pure delight, El-tee Zaborowski was up and about, kind of.
Hanging by the bar, Fisher watched in amusement as his CO blundered about and ended up half-having a conversation with a Captain about the perils of non-existent beings. Grinning hard, he struggled to refrain from laughing and therefore blowing burrito bits all over the place.
Sadly, as soon as the humorous spectacle started it was over, ended by Anderson who opened up dead in Zaborowski face full-volume, the yelling somewhat penetrating the man’s drunken fog. As the scenario wound up and died down, Fisher sighed and rotated, scanning the bar for something else to do.
He noticed a marine from back on Lethe, who’s uniform labeled here as Private Athena Cyren. Well the other guys were making passes on girls; Fisher may as well do likewise while he was sober, nothing else to do anyway.
Ambling across the bar towards her, he casually hopped on a bar stool and spun around to face the crowd. Doing nothing for awhile, he then casually rotated around and in a friendly manner, inquired.
“So, can I buy you a drink?

[Domoa]

After watching the nervous marine make a fool of himself for awhile, Kelton decided to look around and see what else was going on. The first thing he noticed was a drunken lieutenant stumble towards a female marine captain. He heard the lieutenant say something about elves and dragons.

Then the captain said, "You know what that means, Lieutenant. We must fight back! With...more drinks!"

Kelton began bursting out laughing and eventually fell to the floor because of this comment. James quickly turned around in shock at his NCO's sudden outburst.

"You okay corporal?" he asked.

[Martial Virtue]

Captain Lloyd watched as the lieutenant she'd kidded actually took another shot at her prompting, and subsequently crashed into a table full of food and drink. Sierra winced and tried to convince herself it wasn't her fault. Note to self, she thought. Never joke around with the horribly drunk. Especially when you are in a position of authority, and the person in question can't distinguish between an order said in jest and an actual, serious order.

By the time her second drink arrived a few moments later, Sierra had tried to put the silly incident behind her. Before she could take a sip, however, one of the lieutenant's subordinates ran up to her.

"Ma'am," the sergeant said, "I am so sorry for the problems my commander has caused, he lost a lot of men and got his pay cut and this is one of the few things that keep him from blowing his brains out..."

Lloyd looked up at the NCO as he spoke. Though somewhat compelling, she mentally filed the excuses away and took a long drink from her second cocktail before answering. "When he wakes up," she said in a firm tone, "let your El-Tee know that if he'd pulled that kind of shit anywhere else, he'd be in a world of trouble. I'd personally berate his ass from here back to base." She flashed the sergeant a lopsided grin then, due very much to the alcohol she'd already ingested - and was still heartily taking in. "But tonight we came here to drink and celebrate in peace. So I'll let it go. Enjoy the rest of the festivities, Sergeant, and be sure to keep that CO of yours on a tighter leash."

[masterchick]

PFC Athena Cyren

Athena had been sitting at the bar, placidly watching people mingle. She figured if she was going to have to deal with people anyway she might as well make an effort to try and figure out how. But all she heard when she listened to the crowd was mindless, drunken chatter and exaggerated accounts of the battle she had been so useless in. It wasn't long before another marine came along and offered to buy her a drink. She was thoroughly unimpressed at the lack of originality, and after the first one, she was sure she didn't want a second.

A second from punching him in the face or cursing loudly, she noticed a few marines behind him snickering and taunting. She didn't know why they were doing that, and didn't much care, but decided to make an effort anyway. She turned to face him, glancing at the marines behind him, but shrugged.
"I'm alright." She turned her attention back to the snickering marines. The dumb look plastered onto each of their faces and the lack of space around her made her want to bash their faces in with a blunt object. But that would probably get her sent to prison. She tossed her now empty glass on the bar at one of them to get his attention, speaking after it bounced off his thick skull, dropping to the floor out of Athena's line of sight. "What's your problem?"

LC Jill Vasquez

Jill could see her fireteam watching her carefully, and she didn't want them to see that she had just made a giant mistake, causing every single person at the table to become uncomfortable, herself included. After apologizing profusely, for once in perhaps her entire life, she had no idea what she was going to do next. Anything she said would promptly be ignored by the three other people sitting near her, and she didn't want to just walk away. She looked back at Idelia with a desperate expression. The ODST rolled her eyes and said something to Ryan, who she was still arguing with. All three quickly glanced back at Jill, but then started looking at each other nervously and muttering.

As good as they were at working as a team in combat, Jill's new fireteam was not cut out for much else. She had not only screwed up the night for a group of strangers (mostly), but also made an ass of herself in front of half her new fireteam by doing so. Then again, she reasoned that because of this, she couldn't screw up any more than she already had and attempted to fix what she had figuratively plowed through with a tank.
"I didn't mean to..." She trailed off, and after a second spoke again. "I'm sure they wouldn't want you to be like this."

[Jakob]

Lieutenant Jakob Zaborowski

Jakob slowly stood up and hiccuped, a soldier pushed him and he stumbled over, tripping on something and smashing his head into the bar. He felt some blood trickle down his fore head and went unconscious. His world slowly going black, came were a slew of memories and things he wished were nightmares, the people who he once loved being wiped out as he watched on a view screen, his child hood home turning to dust in mere seconds. Everything he had grown up around, everything that had shaped him, everything that he had left being turned to ashes in his eyes, and him? His Sergeant holding him back as he tried to grab a pelican and foolishly attempt to fly back, tears in his eyes. The visions flashed on and on, until he could not keep up.

Sergeant Adrian Gorden

Adrian sighed and nodded, "Yes ma'am" he said shakily. He turned to see his Lieutenant be pushed by a marine Corporal and smash his head onto a counter. The Corporal shouted,
"SHIT!" As he hit it and ran over to his side, Adrian ran over and grabbed the Lieutenants shoulders, dragging him back to the hotel. The wound was not bad and could be fixed easily, he ignored the blabbering Marine and left.

[Martial Virtue]

Captain Sierra Lloyd

Captain Lloyd took another sip of her cocktail when the sergeant left to tend to his CO. Maybe she'd been a little harsh considering the lieutenant's circumstances, but hell, everyone had gone through something similar during the war. She knew she had. And losing her husband Dylan when she'd been four months away from giving birth to their son...shit. Sierra hadn't even had the option to drink then, so there'd been no drowning her sorrows in anything, and nothing to numb the pain.

She honestly thought she wouldn't have gotten through it if she hadn't had little Caleb a few months later. Her two kids and her Marines were what saved her - and what kept the hurt of Dylan's death at bay even now.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her XO's loud snort.

"Wow," he snickered. "Man, was that El-Tee out of it. I feel bad for his sergeant."

"Don't be so quick to judge, Frenchie," Lieutenant Koppre said with a smirk. "I've seen your ass on the ground more than once after a long drinking sesh."

Sierra couldn't help but grin a little herself, but thinking about Dylan had caused her good mood to take a sudden dive. She knew from experience that more alcohol would only make things worse, so she left her half-finished drink on the table and stood up. Her two bickering platoon leaders both paused to give her a look.

"Leaving already, Captain?" Lieutenant James asked.

Lloyd shook her head. "No, I'll be back. I'm just going to go outside for a minute and get some air. I need to call my kids to wish them goodnight before it gets too late." And before I get too buzzed, she thought as she carefully stepped out. She knew calling them and hearing their voices was the best way to get her mood back up.

Lance Corporal Cassie Thompson

While entertaining for all of two minutes, the pick-up routine going on across the bar was quickly losing its fizz, and Cassie was soon bored again. She wondered where her fireteam leader, Sergeant Greene, had gone off to, and whether or not he'd be game to leave soon. She was starting to feel guilty about the fight she’d had with Mason earlier, and thought if she got home early enough tonight, they might be able to patch things up.

Without saying a word, she downed the rest of her beer and went to look for Greene.

[lancaster]

" With...more drinks!" he heard a Marine, apparently a captain, said to another slightly more drunk Lieutenant. Ran sighed out deeply, that drink was starting to get to him "ugh."

Things were becoming a little hazy. pushing another over passed out marine to the floor off a chair, he hopped on the empty chair hoping for someone to talk to. "Just hope this isn't like high school all over again, and everyone just ignores the one guy siting alone like some disease." he whispered. Leaning back he sighed deeply again, looking around he saw no one really interested in him, no one was even looking in his direction.

[Domoa]

After calming down a bit, Kelton had another drink and leaned back. The nervous marine and his target were starting to get a little boring so he turned to look at Cassie who seemed to be leaving.

"Hey, where you going?" he asked the lance corporal.

He then noticed his speech was a little slurred. Oh shit, how many drinks have I had? he thought to himself. He realised his vision was starting to get a bit hazy as well.

[Bippwatt]

Nikolai decided the night was done and over for him. So, with a stretch and a yawn, he bid his companions a good night and went upstairs.

----------

Idina milled about the crowd. Her "companion" apparently had a meeting early tomorrow and had to go to bed early. So, she was alone. Just as a safe guard, she put her fake ring on her finger just to discourage any one. Drunken or otherwise. Mind you, all they had to do was look at her file and they would know that she wasn't married and never was. So, there was that worry.

As she moved to the outside door, she bumped into another female marine on her way out the door.

"Sorry, ma'am." Idina stepped aside and let the marine-a captain!-go first.

[Martial Virtue]

Capt. Sierra Lloyd

Walking slowly because of the crowd, Sierra meandered through to the exit, pausing only once she was standing before the doors to pull out her datapad. She bent her head for a moment when she saw she had a message, only to be nudged hard in the shoulder before she could read any of it.

Captain Lloyd glanced up to see an apologetic – and surprised – subordinate. The Marine stopped in her tracks, moving aside automatically for Sierra to pass.

“Sorry, ma’am,” she said.

Sierra gave her a slight nod of acknowledgment. “No harm, no foul, Lance Corporal. Carry on.”

Once outside, Lloyd relished the escape from the energized-yet-stifling atmosphere of the bar – along with the fact that she’d soon be speaking to her two-year-old daughter and eight-month-old son, insofar as that could be accomplished given their ages. She checked to make sure the message she’d received wasn’t urgent, then made the call.

After she’d hung up a few minutes later, feeling more at ease and in slightly higher spirits, she turned to go back inside when she noticed Lieutenant Fortnight, her other platoon leader, making his way towards her. It seemed he’d grown tired of watching the fireworks and was ready to come join the others.

Lcpl Cassie Thompson

Lance Corporal Thompson had just placed her empty beer mug on the table when Corporal Rivers noticed she was taking off.

"Hey, where you going?"

Cassie could tell by the way he said it that the corporal was pretty drunk now, or very close to it. She gave him a shrug. "Gotta go find Sarge, make sure he's not facedown on the floor somewhere." And maybe get myself one more drink before I head out, she added to herself.