Icky Thump (Geoffrey/Brad/Vic)

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

He wasn't sure what he was thinking, or if, in fact, he was thinking at all. He'd had more than a few drinks, after all, and his head was pretty foggy. Maybe he was thinking with a certain other part of his anatomy. All he knew in that moment was that the girl in front of him was pretty, and her smile was warm.

Leaning his chair back in a precarious angle, he craned his neck and looked back at her. "Y'know, I think maybe we're gonna need another bottle soon," he said. "Maybe you could join us?"

Of course, then gravity took hold and the chair fell backwards, knocking Geoffrey to the floor. In an effort to make it look intentional, he rolled out of his chair and across the floor, stopping at her feet. "I didn't catch your name. I'm Geoff."

[Vic Alvarado]

Vic did his best to NOT burst out laughing when Geoff fell out of his chair. "Or maybe we don't need another botte?: he said quietly and mostly to himself. It looked like, from the one they were sharing, Geoffrey had drank a good half by himself. He was about to ask if his friend was alright when he saw him saunter over to the bartender.

"You think it was a good idea? Bringing him out tonight?" Vic asked the other two at the table.

[Nathalia Webb]

Nathalia didn't bother to hide the fact that she laughed. Even trying to play it off smoothly... he was still drunk. His two friends, however, said nothing about ordering another bottle, which to her meant that they weren't worried about cutting him off just yet. And she was off in a few minutes anyway...

No, she thought, looking at the other three. She wouldn't join in on their fun just because one cute guy asked her too. But he was cute... drunk, and so she wouldn't do anything with him. She'd have to be at least a little drunk herself to feel right about that.

"I'm Nathalia. But you can call me anything you like." She nodded to the table and raised her voice to catch their attention. "What do you say, boys? You want another bottle?"

[Ross Anderson]

Ross turned his head to look in Vic and Brad's direction as he laughed at Geoffrey's drunken antics. He couldn't hold it in and his friend was fairly drunk. "I think it is a good thing we brought him out, so far anyway. He's at least having fun." He wasn't sure how the rest of the night was going to go, however.

"I don't think we need another bottle," Ross answered. "We still have a bit left." He turned to Vic. "I don't really think we need to let him drink that much more than he already has, and I'm good on drinking if you two are."

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

If Geoffrey had his way, he'd polish off the bottle himself. Maybe it wasn't the smartest idea, but for the first time in a very long time, he was feeling close to normal. Well, drunk... but normal. All the stupid fears and inhibitions that were holding him back had been silenced by the firewhiskey, and he was having fun. He just wanted to let it all go, let the damaged part of him just fall away and be reborn.

Even if he didn't exactly like who he was becoming.

"Aw, come on," he said, fluttering his eyes up at Nathalia. "Come on and join us. We don't bite. Well... I can't speak for Brad, but the rest of us don't, I promise."

[Nathalia Webb]

"Geoffrey," Nathalia said, her voice soft, and still sweet, but she was prepping to let him down. It wasn't that she wasn't interested, but he was completely smashed, and she did have her boundaries. "Your friends don't seem to keen on the extra company."

She didn't want to intrude, and she didn't want to do anything with someone so knackered. "But I'll tell you what, you guys finish up the bottle you have, and then come see me in about forty five minutes when I get off, okay?" He'd sober up just enough that Nathalia felt like he could make decent decisions. Or he'd buy her a drink, and she'd end up drunk enough that she didn't care. Either way.

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Geofrey was a bit disappointed, but he was also drunk enough that he could let it roll off his back. "All right," he said. "See you in 45 minutes, then. I'll be counting the minutes. Er... if I can remember how to count, that is." At the moment, he wasn't so sure about that. He was still on the floor, after all, and he was having a little trouble getting back up again.

In the back of his mind, he knew that he was just making things worse by letting himself get drunk and out of control. Drowning one's sorrows only worked for a short time before they came back worse than ever.

He managed to get back on his feet, and he staggered back to his chair, which was still on the floor. Bending down to pick it up, however, was not a good idea, as the room began to pitch wildly in front of him. He barely kept his balance by clinging to the chair until the world stopped spinning. Setting the chair back upright, he flopped down clumsily and looked at the other three guys. "Hey, anyone wanna play pool?" he asked, nodding toward the pool tables in the corner.

[Nathalia Webb]

(Taking liberties)

It was, perhaps, a fortunate thing for Geoffrey that Nathalia had several drinks shared with other customers in the remaining 45 minutes of her shift, and she had kept an eye on Geoffrey. He seemed a bit more sober, anyway. Not that that would last for too long.

When her shift was over, she joined the boys at the pool table. "Well, here you lot are. Another bottle of firewhiskey, on the house. Just drink responsibly, yeah?" If they gave the impression that they wanted her gone, she would go.

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Geoffrey was in the middle of a rather bad joke when Nathalia approached them again. Smiling, he peered up at her. He had sobered up a little bit; just enough that he could now see her face clearly. As it turned out, she really was as pretty as she appeared.

“Isn’t that an oxymoron?” Geoffrey teased. “I mean, drinking, by its very nature, is very irresponsible, isn’t it?”

Forty-five minutes ago, it probably would have been impossible for him to say that sentence at all. It was still somewhat slurred, but at least it was coherent now.

[Nathalia Webb]

"Don't go around telling that to everyone," Nathalia replied, smiling her big, candid smile. "You'll put me out of a job."

He was more sober, and she was pretty tipsy... they were nearly on a level ground now.

"So how about it, would you mind if a girl joined your game here?" she asked, her hand gliding over the edge of the pool table.

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

"People like to be irresponsible," Geoffrey replied, shrugging. "Reality sucks, and sometimes you just have to let go of it. Too much responsibility will drive a person insane."

His tone was light, like he was joking, but he wasn't, not really. That was the whole purpose of this evening, after all. He had been wallowing in misery, unsure of what was real or what was in his head, for far too long. Well, to hell with reality, and to hell with nightmares. Tonight he was just going to let it all go.

Looking at her, and then at the pool table, he raised an eyebrow at her. "I don't know... you're not going to hustle us out of our galleons, are you? You look like a ringer to me."

[Nathalia Webb]

"Reality does suck," Nathalia agreed. She couldn't argue that one, even if her own reality was.... it was good. Right? She had a good reality. Most people did not.

His next question, and the way he looked from her to the table and back made her laugh. "Well, I spent practically the entire second half of my life in bars in learning the game... tell you what, we won't even play for galleons. Maybe just drinks?"

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Geoffrey laughed at her reply. The truth was, he was pretty good at the game as well. His uncle had a pool table among all the other games and amusements in the house, and when Geoffrey was younger, he had played quite frequently. He might be a little bit rusty... but he'd had plenty of time to practice lately.

"OK," he replied. "That sounds fair enough. Right, guys?"

But he wasn't even looking at the other guys as he spoke to them. His gaze was focused exclusively on Nathalia. And even though his conscience was screaming at him, he couldn't seem to stop himself.

[Ross Anderson]

Ross observed his friend carefully. He wasn't just going to step in and pull Geoffrey away because he knew that wouldn't go over very well. Plus, the poor bloke needed a bit of fun. He knew that if things started to get rough or anything, he would do his best to fight against Geoffrey to take him home.

He leaned against the wall as he watched Geoffrey. "Sounds good to me," he stated pushing himself off the wall. "We'll even let you break first, if you like."

[Geoffrey Montgomery]

Geoffrey grinned, taking that as a good enough answer, even though Brad and Vic hadn't said anything. He turned to Nathalia, smiling flirtatiously. He knew, in the back of his mind, that he should be feeling more guilty about the way he was acting, but he couldn't seem to muster up the ability to care. It was just a little flirtation, right? What harm could it do?

"Ladies first," he said to her, waving her on.

[Maia Whitney]

Maia and Chase didn't go out all that often these days. They had settled into a bit of a routine, and spent most nights just relaxing at home and enjoying each other's company. It didn't help that Chase was usually tired from work.

But tonight, he said he needed a few drinks, and had asked her to meet him at Stu's, because the place tended to be less crowded than The Three Broomsticks, and was a few steps up from the Hog's Head.

It was the first time Maia had been in Stu's, so she was not sure what to expect as she stepped inside. Someone was warbling off key on the makeshift stage, and a group of guys were playing pool with a blonde girl off in the corner. Rather than approach the bar, Maia sat down at a table near the door and hoped Chase would show up soon to meet her.

[Vic Alvarado]

Vic was just drunk enough, and he didn't need any more. he figured he'd have to keep an eye of Geoffery now that he was looser than they expected him to get. He followed the group to the pool table. Great, he was bloody horrible at this game.

"Yea, have at it," He said, handing Nathalia the pool stick. Hey, it was all in good fun right now, wasn't it. Nothing bad was happening. No one was vomiting in the bathroom, or falling off stools. Yes, Geoffrey already was on stage singing karaoke, but they'd just look back on that and laugh later anyway.