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Post by demikara on Nov 2, 2019 18:08:47 GMT -6
The advantage to being cybernetically enhanced was that you didn't actually have to attend all your meetings in person. Oh some of them she still couldn't get out of, but it meant she had a lot of free time as she 'touched base' with the erutin of Terra. Who were totally there to become citizens of course. No other reason. And if you believed that, then you were a fool and hadn't been around long enough to see how the long game was played. Especially against such a short lived species. It wouldn't take long at all, not really.
And all they had to do was reproduce and wait.
Gods, she hated her empire sometimes. She only got the position because of her role in the rebellion, not out of any deep seated loyalty to anyone but her own skin. Even her own twin was more a stranger to her than not these days. It was enough to drive a woman to drink.
So she did.
She hated independence day. It was a ridiculous holiday and it called only for getting drunk and trying to forget all that she had lost thanks to the empire. It had been easier being a nobody pilot with nothing to lose. Then she had been free to live and do what she wished. Now she was beholden to an empress of an empire she couldn't believe in.
So she celebrated the day at Gambit's Bar, her old haunt. After getting a little tipsy before hand at independence day celebrations. At least she wasn't expected to be at the palace and be attendent to Wing today. The two could hardly stand each other nowadays. Hope had used to think her sweet. She knew better now.
Hope sauntered in the doors and headed straight tot he bar, planning on getting absolutely shitfaced.
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Meetings
Nov 2, 2019 19:29:54 GMT -6
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Post by Ylanne on Nov 2, 2019 19:29:54 GMT -6
Titon was the only one of those charged in the recent sweeps who was currently strolling around outside the walls of TDC Wrentham, and so that meant she needed a drink or several. Probably several. Her day today, of all days, had seen several foiled terrorist attacks, three cybernetic and two magic-tech hybrid attacks, none of which would make the news, of course, especially not after the last one still dominating the news cycle nearly day or night. At least at Gambit's, only a few people there ever really seemed to know anything about her, other than slotting her mentally as a brawler and a loner, so therefore someone to leave to drink alone in a corner or at the edge of the bar. Her bright red hair tossed over her shoulders, dimmed a bit under the light, she perched atop the barstool at the end of the counter, the one with the best view of the door and any poor sod who might stumble in.
In the last twenty minutes, it had been a gaggle of Aschen soldiers and a grizzled Coalition veteran, followed by a trio of somber witches whispering to each other with nervous looks about the room. And then Hope Anona came through the door, her gait and eyes already revealing she'd started her drinking before she'd arrived. A woman, or, well. An Erutrin after Titon's own heart. And returned to Gambit's too. How about that.
"Look what the cat fucking dragged in," Titon muttered to the barkeep, an old friend - or as much as anyone could be Titon's friend, anyway - who grunted in response. Titon kept a watchful eye on the Erutrin spymaster, calculating silently how many drinks - or "coincidental" interfering signals - it would take to overload her implant. It could be amusing. Titon downed her fifth shot, her own eyes quite clear.
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Post by demikara on Nov 2, 2019 19:40:28 GMT -6
Hope took a seat not far from Triton and smiled winningly at the bartender. "An Erutin sunrise please." She paid knowing perfectly well that one drink would be all that was needed to knock her out. It was a special she could only get here, where they didn't quite care about the proof of the alcohol. It was also guaranteed to get just about any erutin shit faced. She flashed her ID which marked her an a erutin, largely so the bartender wouldn't question if she really wanted it.
She'd probably end up spending the night in the hotel above the bar and sleeping off most of the drink. It would still be in her system in the morning, but at least the worst of it would be gone. And Wing and Frost weren't here to kick up a fuss over her drinking in public. They could suck it. It wasn't like most people immediately knew who she was.
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Meetings
Nov 2, 2019 20:22:07 GMT -6
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Post by Ylanne on Nov 2, 2019 20:22:07 GMT -6
"An Erutrin sunrise, huh," said Titon, raising an eyebrow. She tapped her shot glass on the bar counter, staring directly at Hope. "I didn't realize you were allowed to be unconscious for official shit and all. Must be nice." Or could be a new and quite entertaining tactic. Lisbeth would probably become apoplectic if Titon showed up unconscious to a briefing. That would be. Well. Highly amusing, for Titon's part. Titon smirked. She gestured to the barkeep, who slid over a sixth shot, which Titon downed in one gulp. How she loved the sweet burn down her throat. It was perfect timing, considering she had a scheduled appointment testimony before the Parliament committee overseeing the inquiry from Justice the next morning. Hungover sounded optimal.
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Post by demikara on Nov 2, 2019 20:27:01 GMT -6
"I'll sleep the worst of it off." She accepted the drink and turned to face the speaker. "Andrea Titon, right? I don't have any meetings until ten am. I'll be sober by then." Probably. Hungover like nothing else, but probably sober. She sipped at her drink. She wasn't going to down the fruity drink like a shot, that was for sure. She had some common sense in her head, hard won though it was. "Besides, if they wanted me sober, they wouldn't have scheduled it the day after I assassinated an emperor." That was a fun memory. Talon had been a creepy bastard but he had still been the emperor for her entire life. Killing him had been difficult, tricky, and something she wondered if it had even been worth it.
The lights had more freedom, yes, but there was still cultural baggage to deal with and she knew it. Freedom didn't necessarily mean something would happen, after all.
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Meetings
Nov 2, 2019 23:59:56 GMT -6
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Post by Ylanne on Nov 2, 2019 23:59:56 GMT -6
"Sounds like fun," said Titon, jutting her chin upward and out as Hope mentioned the anniversary of Talon's assassination. Titon remembered that. Led to the Erutrin Independence Day. Which was... Of fucking course it was today. Titon reached over to one of the taps, sliding an empty glass under it, and filled it with a sloshing orange liquid foaming a little on top. The bartender gave her a disapproving look, but she knew no one would be coming to enforce the food safety and sanitation regulations anytime soon. It was Gambit's, after all. As for Hope's pointed comment, Titon completely ignored the question-statement with her name. Either she knew or she didn't. Titon drank freely of the scotch. "Nice party trick, staying in power after an assassination, though," she said, staring past where Hope sat. In the dim light, Titon's green eyes gleamed. The TNG did not wish to extend that same bizarre leniency and convenient political amnesia to its own.
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Post by demikara on Nov 3, 2019 7:10:18 GMT -6
"It was sanctioned by the empress." Hope admitted. "Staying in power wasn't a question." She hadn't come up with the plan after all. She wouldn't have chosen that path at all. "Though I'd hardly call what I do a position of power." She just parsed information as far as she was concerned. It may be a position of power, but it was largely in the shadows. Most people couldn't recognize her on sight. It was a little curious this one did.
Hope took a big sip of her sunrise. "I know what I'm doing here. What are you doing here? Gambit's is a dive bar." The best sort of bar as far as she was concerned. It meant no one actually recognized her, or if they did they stayed silent.
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Meetings
Nov 3, 2019 10:19:37 GMT -6
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Post by Ylanne on Nov 3, 2019 10:19:37 GMT -6
"I like it here," said Titon with a shrug. Her body remained poised at a distance from Hope, her fingers loosely curled around the glass. It had slight stains around the bottom and the rim, she noticed, from years of past use no doubt. "Usually, people around here leave me the fuck alone." Unless they wanted a fight, like sometimes the soldiers or cops who wandered in did. Them and some overconfident mages alike. That was a different sort of encounter entirely. "I fucking hate people," she said, watching the other patrons milling about. By her count, somewhere on the order of three fights were about to break out. She smirked, lining up all six shot glasses in a perfectly straight line so each clinked once next to each other.
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Post by demikara on Nov 3, 2019 10:29:02 GMT -6
"I don't blame you. I like the anonymity." Which was ruined when Triton had recognized her. Hope drank some more of her sunrise and swayed slightly. "How'd you recognize me?" She didn't think her picture was posted anywhere and wasn't particularly pleased to be recognized. Habit kept her form the same, but it appeared to act against her this time. She'd have to change something up. Maybe her nose. She liked her nose, it was a good one, but there were other noses out there.
She didn't like when Terrans recognized her. She liked it less when Belkans did, but she didn't like it when Terrans recognized her for entirely different reasons. She considered Terra a vacation planet. Even on duty she could relax here more than she could on New Dev Eru.
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Meetings
Nov 3, 2019 10:44:35 GMT -6
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Post by Ylanne on Nov 3, 2019 10:44:35 GMT -6
Titon guzzled the last of the scotch. Now her eyes showed a bit of the drink. Her cheeks flushed but it was barely noticeable in the light and shadows and fog. "Same as the old woman," she said. "I never forget a face. Fucking weird, huh?" She tipped the edge of the glass toward Hope, then set it down on the counter. Titon pointed casually about the room. "Toren Hammond, Azrik colonel, last seen four years ago, probably wants to fucking fight someone. Moazz Sadeddin, Invictus enforcer, on the outs with Fatin. Ophelia Renault, third daughter of a minor noble house in Far Kenilworth, probably carrying on her weird fucking affair. Oh, and that one's yours. Kari." Titon's last mark was a young dark Erutrin huddled in another back corner, doing her best not to be seen. Clearly failing.
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Post by demikara on Nov 3, 2019 10:51:32 GMT -6
Hope glanced over to Kari and rolled her eyes. "The fuck is she hiding from." She definitely looked like she was hiding. Still, it was an impressive trick that Titon had pulled. Hope downed the rest of her sunrise and looked around curiously. "I'd say it's impressive you can recognize an erutin on sight, but the fucking marking give it away." she tapped the small circle on her own chin. The markings gave it away every time. They also scared the fuck out of most people. "Whoever Kari is, she's not a soldier." She was missing the spikes. Hope had the spikes, one curving under her eye as a show of her experience.
Hell, she had commanded in battles before. She had all three spikes and probably looked fierce as hell. She had a traveler's marks trailing down her cheek as well, marking her as head of the agency. "I still don't understand why you terrans don't do something similar to the markings."
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Meetings
Nov 3, 2019 11:18:01 GMT -6
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Post by Ylanne on Nov 3, 2019 11:18:01 GMT -6
"Why? It'd be so much fucking effort," said Titon, shrugging again. "Besides, I've got plenty of my own fucking up my face already." She grinned, entirely without mirth or warmth, the expression sharpening and defining her cheekbones, the slope of her forehead, her jaw, pockmarked with scars and marks from years of battles in the office and in far-flung wars alike. "I got them all be fucking accident, the way faces are supposed to work. Fucking accidents." Freak of nature, is what most called her. Alone, is what she preferred. She lived that way too. Titon reached over to the tap again, ignoring the bartender's chastising look, and poured a second glass of scotch. "Excellent shit." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Azrik starting something with one of the Aschen. Well then. "Free entertainment." Titon laughed.
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Post by demikara on Nov 3, 2019 11:22:33 GMT -6
Hope watched the fight and laughed. "That's half the fun of coming here." The free bar fights. Hope swayed slightly more violently this time and grabbed the bar so she wouldn't fall over. She giggled, not a sound heard often from her these days and held her other hand out for balance. "The downside of the erutin sunrise is the fact that you can't walk straight after one." It wasn't a level of alcohol a human liver could handle too. She was well and truly smashed. Hope looked at the other and ignored the blurred vision. "Hey, do you have a twin too?" She knew the others name and job. She didn't know fuck all past that.
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Meetings
Nov 3, 2019 11:35:21 GMT -6
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Post by Ylanne on Nov 3, 2019 11:35:21 GMT -6
"Thank fuck, no," Titon replied, watching Hope sway and stagger around her barstool with a raised eyebrow and tilted head. A twin? What the fuck was the Erutin even talking about now? Oh well. Titon raised her glass, swirling its contents then drinking more of the scotch. Only Gambit's would have harder liquors on tap. It was excellent motivation for a visit and even better motivation for a prolonged stay. That and the fact she usually could avoid seeing almost anyone from work, which was also great because it meant less chance she'd have to punch someone out. Again. She had enough of that during the day. "Siblings are fucking redundant. Not to mention fucking irritating."
"Oh ho ho," boomed a voice from their side. Titon swung her head just enough to catch sight of the grizzled man's tactical vest and the gun aimed right at her center mass, safety noticeably off. "Looks like I'm getting rich tonight. Just my lucky night, huh."
Titon's eyebrow shot so high the bartender thought it might hit the ceiling. She laughed. "Y'know, if you're trying to fucking sneak up on someone, you can do it with fewer fucking words."
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Post by demikara on Nov 3, 2019 11:39:44 GMT -6
"Be glad you don't. Mine's a bitch and a half. Overprotective idiot." Just because she was born first didn't make Hope remotely helpless. They hadn't even known each other that long given the whole separated at birth shit. Then the idiot showed up and Hope's eyebrows came together as she tried to make sense of this. What the fuck. Drunk as hell, she drew her gun and pointed it at what she assumed was a bounty hunter.
"Oi. We're trying to have a conversation here. Piss off." This may have been more threatening if she wasn't very clearly drunk.
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