cian_oneill (cian_oneill) wrote in birthrightrpg, @ 2020-10-21 16:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | gabe santorini, ~cian o'neill |
Catching up over beers
Who: Cian, & Gabe
What: Drinks
When: 20th October
Where: Lucky’s Saloon Bar
Ratings
The strange machine was still in the bar at Lucky’s and Gabe pointed it out to Cian as the two men arrived. “Keep your money in your pocket,” he told his friend as they reached the bar, the two of them looking over their shoulders as another patron paused in front of it and stared into the glass case.
“Yeah, heard they can’t get rid of it, and don’t know where it came from,” the were replied as they watched the other man feed some coins into the slot.
“Damn,” Gabe muttered under his breath. “Hang on.” As the machine ground through its bells and whistles routine Gabe slipped his hand into his pocket, his thumb spinning his signet ring once. The card that was delivered out of the machine behaved as if caught in a gust of wind, flicking up from where it arrived in the tray and fluttering off to land in a puddle that had not been there before. The ink that formed the writing on the face of it ran, and by the time the patron picked it up it became illegible. He tossed it in an ashtray and muttered to himself as he walked out of the bar. Gabe exhaled slowly, the letters reforming into a legible script again. He was relieved the man hadn’t taken the card with him.
As his companion had been so focused Cian ordered their usual beers, turning to see the small black nose and whiskers of Bilson withdrawing back beneath Gabe’s jacket as the wizard pulled his hand free of his pocket and scratched his forehead. “All sorted?” he asked, glancing across as the door swung closed behind the departing patron.
“Yeah, don’t know what it is with the machine, no-one here does. Brian said they’ve tried everything to get rid of it, short of setting some explosives off, and it still keeps reappearing.” He shook his head and chuckled. “Pity someone doesn’t use that sort of power to do something useful, like making sure hospital air con units always keep the right temp, or …”
“... motors keep running even when people forget to refuel!” Cian added, laughing.
“Exactly!” Gabe returned, nodding thanks to the bar tender who delivered their beers. “Here’s to refuelling at sea from a tender loaded with 44s and a hand pump!”
“And here’s to the bloke who kept that sea calm as we did!” Cian raised his beer to Gabe and the two bottles clinked before both were and wizard took long swallows from them.
“So how was Lima?” Cian asked as he lowered the bottle.
“About what I expected,” Gabe sighed, “Aunt Jacqueline still refuses to divorce the silly bastard, he acts all defeated and sorry and remorseful but we know he has no spine and will cheat on her again as soon as someone sees him as an easy mark.” He shook his head, giving his beer a wry smile before looking at Cian. “I don’t understand some people. Thirty two years of marriage, four good kids, a woman who loves him, and he falls victim to these damned leeches!” He shook his head again, lifting his beer to take another swig after saying, “I’ve suggested he be recalled from the task, it’s not fair on him, or Tante.”
Cian nodded, knowing that would mean Gabe would have to travel a lot more. “Isn’t there anyone else who could go down there, take his place?” Gabe shook his head. “Only our cousin, but he’s still too young. Only seventeen.”
The two men fell silent for a moment before Gabe turned to look around. “At least there’s not much in the way of leads down there right now, so hopefully that doesn’t mean we’re just not hearing about them,” he added wryly, resting back, hooking the heel of his boot back against the bar and leaning his elbows on the surface. “How’s things at the marina?”
“All pretty good,” Cian replied, leaning on one elbow, facing his friend. “At least now we’ve had all the gas tanks replaced and checked,” he grinned. He shook his head, still secretly amazed at what he’d seen Gabe do that night, and what it had felt like.
Gabe gave him a sideways look and sly grin. “Yeah, sorry about that, they were just… you know… handy.”
“Yeah, kinda managed to explain it away, fortunately having Mikey and Abbs there to help cover it meant Sean didn’t ask too many questions. He was just glad the twins were safe and sound, and the vehicles’ owners all had insurance, so it didn’t come out of the marina’s cover.”
Gabe nodded, also relieved it hadn’t ended up costing the Marks family. It had been bad enough to hear that there had been fatalities, which made him take a little more seriously what had caused the creatures, and what the intention was. He’d completely understood why Cian had wanted the protections around the family’s secret canyon in Spirit Mountain strengthened if this was the sort of thing that was going on in the area. Whatever was causing these events didn’t seem to have much pattern or plan, but it was clear it also wasn’t too concerned if people died.
“So how’s Rhiannon?” he asked, wanting to get away from thinking about those things.
“Good,” Cian replied, “working up at the gym in Vegas, so doing a few miles on 95. Seems she’s finally found another hunter, done a few patrols with her. Now summer’s rush is over and we’ve almost finished bring the extra boats up to go into storage for winter I’m hoping to be able to spend some time with her up there too.”
“Yeah? Is that instead of going to that club?” Gabe asked. He’d seen Cian fight at Seventh Circle, and had been a little impressed with the man’s abilities in the cage.
Cian shrugged. “Depends on what we come across when patrolling I guess,” he replied, the corner of his mouth twitching into a grin. “Can always let off steam there, if needed.”
Gabe nodded. After working for, and with the were for more than three years he knew his needs, especially around the full moon. “Here’s to letting off steam,” he grinned in return, reaching over with his beer and the two men clinking the glass necks together before taking a swig, emptying the bottles and ordering another round.