St. John Bovinesque Jr.'s Story

A large, muscular man with a bull's head walked into Gambit's bar at that moment. He was covered in brown fuzz, especially around his chest, which people could see as he kept his ripped work shirt open at the front so everyone could see his giant rippling abs.
He walked over to the nearest person and announced in a clear, loud and proud voice: "Does anyone know where I can go to be hired as a bouncer at this place?"

From nearby, a man wearing a fur jacket walked into Gambits bar. He had an expression of utter nonchalance, thought it was unclear if he was fearless or if he simply cared little for the events that went on around him. One of the first thing he noticed was a large minotaur asking for a bouncer job, finding the idea amusing if a little fitting.

The minotaur turned to face the person, and walked over. "You there!" He shouted heartily. "Would you kindly tell me where I could get a job at this place, my good man?"

Zeden would look at the minotaur practically shouting in his ear, not with an expression of annoyance but with a smile. "No I don't believe I would know where, I'm a mercenary by trade." He would look up at him and hold out his hand, which notably looked like he just recently got it wet with water.

John plopped down on the seat next to Ben Wheatley. "Good morning, my dear fellow!" he boomed brightly. "Would you at all know where I could find someone to hire me for a job here?"

Between the weird robed robot lurking next to the heroine addict and an overly friendly Minotaur deciding to roll up right next to him, Ben was quickly reaching a breaking point with the "atmosphere" of Gambit's. He swiveled to face away from the latter, fishing into a rear pocket to produce a wallet and settle up.

"Nah man," he motioned the bartnder over, tossing him a wad of cash. "First time here, but uh.."

Ben cast an awkward, buzzed glance around the bar, praying for a flashing neon EXIT sign. "Try the preacher-mouse, or something. Seems like an important guy, or some shit."

Ductu's silty voice replied monotone to the beastkind as a waitress delivered a bowl of mixed fruit from the kitchen, "An anomalous arctic area has evinced itself on Genesis in an area our overbeing cannot yet extend to directly. Food, housing, ammunition, and weaponry is provided for purposes of subordinates. Compensation is 200kilomoles of carbon bonded psimass. Completion is satisfied by extermination of any hostiles or aetherkind or satisfactory reconnaissance returned by a provided observer to areas reachable by our overbeing. You can get to Genesis from northern wing street."

At the table Becca's patina cybernetic eyes looked up some market references to figure out how much that was from the AR interface. Myrkul's Vein took to the idea of contractors well after Becca's own completed sooner than it expected. The thing crawling around in her head hadn't a good grasp on pricing however. Much less in credits as Becca's eyebrow raised at the notion after checking the market to see Myrkul was paying a bit under a gold bar worth of psimass a contractor. Around 600k credits if they made gold from it but a heck of a lot more if they found an alchemist like Titus to sell the vaults to. Or it didn't like a non-grassy area just outside its reach. Becca rubbed her temples as she felt an AR interface open across the neural chip somewhere she couldn't define or see. The things were starting to connect to the cybernetics chips. The worm must be trying to figure her visual cortical implants out from inside.

Becca winced while commenting to Ductu returning with fruit as the weird feeling went away, "Big daddy worm must not like someone freezing the endless lawn. I can feel it keep looking away while monkeying around with my implants."

One hand went to the arriving bowl to bite clean through an apple. Alarmed at the ease she instinctively gagged for a moment but nothing came out. Something stole the fruit out of her damn mouth and carried it down her throat. Ductu simply nodded and watched impassively being satisfied that Becca was still breathing.

St. John Bovinesque Jr. rushed between the red-haired woman and the angry sergeant. "Everyone, stop!" He bellowed. "I'm not going to have any sort of fighting in this here bar! If you want to fight each other, do it out in the alleyway!"
Technically, John wasn't a bouncer yet, but he'd be damned before he wouldn't play the part. Besides, this might count as work experience, which might lead to him getting hired. At least, he hoped so.
Okay, John, that's enough about that. Focus on the crazy Taiyou chick and her soldiers, he thought to himself.

"Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," muttered Ben from behind the brim of a pint. He could only hold his tongue so long with all the downright shenaniganry evolving around him. "Ya'll don't have much in the way of a sense of hunor, so ya?" His comment was directed to the "Taiyou" rabble as a hole - them being the only reason he'd sat back down after evading the bull guy who was turning out to be pretty alright.

Alyssa


The addict shrank back into her chair even more, her face turning an interesting color between off-white and ash-gray. There were too many people and very little chance of her getting the drugs that she wanted---no, needed.

Another shudder made it's way down the woman's body, and she clenched onto the table for a moment, teeth gritted against the pain as need tore through her. She turned back to the male, making a move to grab his arm, her voice hardly a whisper.

"Hey, do you still got that number because I---I think we should leave."

Her dark eyes danced back and forth between the scene in the middle (was it enough to hide what they had just been talking about) and the -creatures?!- that had made the table their spot.

As sudden as she grabbed his arm she would drop it and, instead, reach for a doughnut that had been placed on the table. She bit into it, spilling crumbs of sugar onto her shirt as she hastily crammed it between her lips. Sugar would help until she could get some of what she really needed...

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Princess" Loli

Thankfully her impeding death was interrupted by someone else flinging the door open. She could hardly get that sound out of her head - the sound of a bullet being loaded just for her, all because she couldn't keep her stupid mouth shut -- though she had just been about to say even more damning words. If she was to die at least she would do her best to insult the one about to send her to her grave...

But she hadn't wanted to die and she was so, so thankful for the woman and man who demanded it to stop. Would one of them be her saviors?

The small woman looked like a child, tears having started to flow down her face, clad in that ludicrous onsie, pressed against a table as if it could save her from the angered Emperor. One of these two would surly.. Would help, right?

Irritation filled every inch of her lithe frame as she strode out of the backroom to see what the commotion was all about. She had come to the bar to see if her younger sibling was there and while she could tell that Gabby had been there earlier, the fact that she had disappeared was not a good thing. The only thing the barkeep told her was that she left with another woman, but wasn’t under distress, so left on her on. Shutting the door behind her and locking it, Renee pocketed the key in her black pants and slid her fingers through her long black strands, pushing them out of her face. Piercing red eyes took in the scene and she swept the red duster she was wearing out of her way in order to get to one of her weapons, if necessary. Sure, she had been gone for a while, but she didn’t expect things to get like this again. Then again, that was how Gambit’s had always been. Still, she didn’t want to have to clean up blood and a dead body.

“HEY! If you’re going to kill anyone, go outside! The floor was JUST redone, yenno!” Her voice was loud enough to be heard over the ruckus and if anyone took a look, they would see that bits and pieces of her looked just like Gambit, though she rarely spoke with the accent he had. “I mean it, get out or I will have you thrown out.” She added for good measure.

Oh crap, John thought. This must be one of the owners of the bar.
He quickly backed down and walked over to her. "Those guys over there are having some sort of feud," he said, nodding towards the Taiyou folks and Loli. "One of them wants to shoot the girl with the redhead. Oh, and does it count as job experience if I tried to act like a bouncer and kick them out?"

Ben bristled a bit when the woman touched him; compared to his skin she was artic, like most humanoids thanks to the overdriven metabolism he sported. It served as a constant reminder of just how "human" he wasn't.

"Huh, sure, yeah.." Ben only half registered her question as what he presumed to be an owner of some sort strode out. Her attitude and readiness to flash a piece set him on edge immediately.

"Oh boy," he grumbled, downing his pint in one long chug. "Thrown out for sittin', you heard the lady folks!" Ben knew that anyone - rightful owner or not - trying to out authority this "Emperor" guy was a bad idea.

He got up from his stool slowly, carefully reaching out for Aylssa's hand so as not to crush it. "Closin' time for us customers."

The Sergeant had closed the distance, slinging his weapon and preparing to carry out the order, with trepidation of course, but as the heat slowly began to ramp up, Shimizu raised his right hand.

"Yameru." He said cooly, and the Umibozu Sergeant stopped, slinging his weapon back across his back, while the Emperor turned his attention briefly to the redhead; he said nothing. "My sincere apologies, how unprofessional of me." He said, glancing briefly back to Kayabuki, and Aeka.

He inclined his head briefly towards Renee, and the other patrons inside the bar.

His eyes first moved towards St. John, he offered the man a wry smile, before he pulled Kurata close to him. "Sergeant..." He whispered in Taiyou.

"That man, I want his family killed, be discreet, I'll send the orders through Umibozu channels when we return to Niihama." He said, patting the sergeant on the back, as the man offered an affirmative nod.

"This strip club..." He whispered. "Find it, torch it." He ordered quietly, grasping the Umibozu by his shoulder firmly. The Sergeant nodded. "Ryōkai." He replied in the affirmative.

Shimizu then offered Renee a nod, and an assuring smile. "Again, my apologies... we were just leaving." He said, inclining his head once more, turning back to Aeka and Kayabuki.

"Let's go."

Flat yellow eyes of the faceless Ductu looked over at the red eyed woman for a moment then returned to the focused mission of occupying the weapons fire lane toward Becca. The female humankind implied that she was the owner of some stripe however and the Almanac was duly updated.

Two Jinhai in the locality noticed whom both immediately turn away from repairing the city to dispatch to genesis. An empty psistone vault could be provided to ease manifestation and resource transfer. Two robed humanoid creatures pour from a sewer drain making their way across the city to Genesis.

Becca, whom was busy trying to avoid the rest of her utensil being eaten with the steak, just side-eyed the commotion going on and hunkered over her plate. The hunger just started to hit her and she was starting to jones for more like the junkie lady at the table. Though maybe her and the big guy had the right idea. Hastily stuffing a third of the remainder of one she realized she was totally carrying the other steak with her if she left. The stuff inside her really was starving.

She looked at Ben and nodded, "They seem to be going. I kind of want to eat the other steak though. So hungry."

Ductu turned around to ask the three bluntly, "What social organization do those humankind represent?"

Her gaze briefly towards someone nearing her location, though she quickly returned her eyes to the potential shooting that was about to happen. However, she did listen and exhaled softly, not sure why anyone wanted to shoot the girl that was with the redhead, but it wasn’t really her business. She wasn’t a counselor or anything after all. Musing a moment, she shifted her attention again towards the male speaking to her and just blinked at him, noticing he was a Minotaur. Granted, they got a lot of different species in the bar, so she wasn’t really taken aback by his appearance. No, it was his words that caught her off-guard. Job experience. Just holding up a finger to indicate she would talk with him in a second, Renee slowly glanced around at the customers, especially the one that said they were being thrown out for sitting.

“Err… I didn’t mean everyone had to leave. Just the ones about to shoot.” Squeezing the bridge of her nose, Renee seriously wanted to clear things up before they lost customers. “Everyone is welcome to stay as long as things go back to being mostly peaceful. I just didn’t want blood on the floor and walls and a dead body lying about.” She hoped that cleared things up, but if it didn’t… there would be other customers soon to replace those that left. That was how Gambit’s was it seemed.

Returning her gaze back to the brewing situation at hand, she was glad when the fuse seemed to be blown out, at least for now. She was briefly reminded of something familiar, but couldn’t quite place it and just nodded back when she was apologized to, though something told her it was just being done to temporarily appease her.

“Apology accepted.” Renee smiled a little before finally returning her attention back to the Minotaur. “Alright, back to you. What did you mean job experience? Did my sister Gabrielle hire you or something?” It was likely since the two hadn’t seen each other in quite a long time.

"No, I've been looking around for the boss of this place. I want to be hired as a bouncer here. You seemed to have a bit of an... air of command around you, so I thought you were the owner. Are you?" asked the minotaur.

"I mean, I guess you could say I am the owner. The name is Renee LeBeau. Gambit, the person who the bar is named after is my father. As he's currently away on business, my younger sister, Gabrielle and I are the current owners of the place until he returns." Renee did a quick introduction, not really wanting to spill too much, but also making sure he understood that she was definitely the one in charge. Even when Gabby was with her, Renee tended to take charge of things, but that was because she was older and had more experience with rough patrons.

"Other than what you did earlier, do you have any bouncer experience? We certainly could use one for the times the other security people are busy. How much could you work? Any job experience at all?" She fired off a few questions before motioning him over towards a table that was away from people, but where she could still see the entire bar.

He went to the table with Renee. "Um, I don't really have much job experience," John admitted, "though I do take boxing lessons. Not really sure if that counts. But I could work pretty much any time. I don't really have a lot going on in my life."

Renee listened carefully to the potential employee, not quite sure what to think. While she was glad that Gabrielle hadn't gone all willy-nilly in hiring, she knew that the two would have to do separate interviews since they weren't currently around at the same time. Exhaling deeply when he said he didn't have a lot of job experience, she found herself chewing a little on the inside of her lip. Well, at least he was taking boxing lessons.

"Tell you what..." She started, trying to put her words together in her mind before speaking them, not wanting to blubber or anything. "I will hire you on a probationary status. We'll see how it goes and if you do well, you will have a chance to become a full-time employee. How's that sound?" Renee smiled and put her hand out in order to have him shake if he was in agreement of her terms.

"Sounds good to me! I'll do my best!" he laughed heartily and shook Renee's hand. "When can I start?"

"Your best is all I ask. Don't be afraid to kick out those that need it, no matter who they are." Renee cautioned softly, knowing that they tended to get some hoity-toity people occasionally, but everyone needed to follow the rules of the bar. Sliding her fingers through her hair to shove the strands out of her eyes, she finally leaned back, relaxing just a little.

"You can start immediately."

John stood up, nodding his head to Renee, and stood solemnly at the door, arms folded. He took out some sunglasses from his pocket and put them on.

"Excellent. You don't always have to stand at the door. You can relax and act when it's needed." Renee called out to John before waving and moving back to the bar counter. Grabbing a fresh Mountain Dew from the barkeep, she headed to the back room. As she moved, she couldn't help but realize that everyone in the family except Tayrn drank Dew's, but her mother was always an odd duck. Exhaling, she closed and locked the door behind her and did what paperwork needed before moving back out of the backroom, the drink empty. Nodding a goodbye towards the 'tender and the new employee, she headed out of the bar and into the street, deciding to go back home for the time until Gabby showed back up,

Gabrielle had smelt her sister, the knowledge of which immediately sobering Akshasha, and her left eye began twitching wildly. The newest scent trail could have indeed led up to the bar, however where it led afterwards, was really anyone's guess, and she wasn't willing to go on a snipe hunt if she didn't need to.

"T-t-the valley, leads out to a couple different places, it ends in a small orchard. It could, however, lead you to the ruins of an ancient monastery, it's sort of kind of haunted, and a popular hangout for certain Kindred; which may be a promising lead. Or it could lead to a cavernous maw, opening into the core of Terra. However..." The Drow walked in a circle around Gabrielle, breathing in the scent of her deeply, leaning slightly too close as she did.

With a slight sigh, and closed eyes, the words flowed quietly out of her mouth, "Sanguis et Sanguis, Sancti Vitae, ties that bind, open my eyes." Finishing the chant, her eyes shot open suddenly, grabbing Gabby's wrist as she began to bolt into the Gambit Building, running into the bar; armor and weaponry rasping against each other as she did.

She called back over her shoulder, only slightly dragging Gabby along, "I think I smelt her too! Someone had to have seen her, it's time to twist some arms." The scent trail led her to a table, mingled with the pungent odor of another. The odor was strong enough, fresh enough, to immediately lead to its owner. A large Minotaur, wearing sunglasses and a shirt with cut-off sleeves.

"Quaint... You, bull-man," Akshasha addressed the stranger curtly; locking eyes with his sunglasses. "You sat at this table." The hand that had been locked around Gabby's wrist gestured towards a table that overlooked the rest of bar, "There was a girl who sat with you, her name was LeBeau, was it not? Where did she go? What are you doing here?"