OPENING CEREMONY NIGHT WILL BE ENDING SOON

Tricky Ravken the Raichu
Black Lotus - Onyx Circle
Outside The Low Blow Bar, Syngraft

Tricky wasn't thrilled she couldn't be there in person to see the Opening Ceremony, but she understood that Black Lotus couldn't have every one of their special operatives all in the same stadium all at once. But she was able to watch it on portable television while stationed at the shabby town of Syngraft, which looked like something more out of a post-apocalyptic junktown. And to the happy-go-lucky Raichu, the Low Blow Bar smelled awful in a funny way.

She had gotten a Spine Twister cocktail while her sidekick, Kust the Whimsicott, was sipping Brass Balls vodka. Tricky couldn't help but admire her drink was a lovely blend of red and pink while Kust could have been sipping water and she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference, save for the fact that whatever it was had been getting him wasted very quickly. But, rather than sit in the bar, they decided to take their drinks back to the black Ensign military personnel carrier Tricky had parked just outside. Tricky couldn't stand the smell in the bar itself. She could have sworn it stuck like a Snorlax farted out the aftermath of a greasy breakfast burrito.

"So remind me what in Murhe's name we're doing here?" Kust asked her Raichu companion, before suddenly finding it funny and laughing. "I wanted to see that assassination attempt in person! Taiya gutted that dude like a fish!"

Tricky snorted. It was obvious Kust was already well on his way toward getting wasted. To her, she had noticed the giant, oversized cotton ball really couldn't hold his liquor for the life of him.

"We're here..." Tricky told him before giggling a bit, "Oh shut up! No, we're here because I needed a drink. You obviously needed one, too. And that became... ha, ha... that became too many! Look at you! You always have that stupid smile on when you're drunk."

Tricky sat back in her seat and propped her feet up on the steering bar. At the moment, things were a bit spacey. She knew she needed to head into Jadeblossom in the morning, but the exact reasons were written down. She figured she could just review that tomorrow.

"And you've had six of those so far?" Kust asked, trying to do the basic math that was failing him at the moment. "Six or five? I think I've had six. I mean, not those, but... well, these. Or something like that. I haven't been counting. It's like that movie Raw Strut where Dubie and Olam are drinking Crazy Eights and then the camera pans away and you find out they left the bar without paying and ended up in a doctor's waiting room and-"

"No, you pissing Pichu, you're thinking of Hangover Hitchhiker," Tricky laughed, nudging the Whimsicott. "Holy Murhe, Kust, why do you keep making that mistake? I don't know what in piss name is Raw Strut, but-"

"Raw Strut," Kust laughed, snipping his vodka again, "Rawwww Strut."

He then began laughing hysterically, spilling his vodka a bit onto the black, padded floor of the Ensign truck.

"Oh piss, I knew I should have booked a hotel room before drinking this much," Tricky said anxiously just seconds before suddenly bursting into hysterical laughter again. "Unless you wanna sleep here?"

"In here?" Kust laughed again. "I mean, why not here? Hotel probably smells like pee-pee. "

"I'm too drive to drunk, custard," Tricky snorted, giggling for a few good seconds before sipping her pink and red cocktail again. "I'm enough to sleep here. Somewhere. I think I still have cash."

"I can drive," Kust nodding, pointing to the steering bar. "Or... well, it's straight until 13. Or 10? Somewhere we get off at 10. That seems kinda late if you ask me. I can't drive at that hour but I'm definitely old enough to."

"No, you'd drive us right into the Eastsplit River thinking that was the highway, custard!" Tricky laughing, shoving her paws into his chest. "I can't wet tonight, dude. I mean, I just can't. I've been working all day and there's no way in fate's name I'm cooking anything tonight."

Kust nodded, totally thinking that was the best idea he had heard all night.

"So we'll just go with my idea," Kust said in a serious tone before suddenly laughing. "It mean, it was my idea, after all. We can just sleep here, not have to pay a toll, and I'll see what the weather is like tomorrow. We're not on call anyway. We don't have to listen to that crappy music in there either."

"Yeah, I guess that's true," Tricky replied before leaning back to relax, only to pass out and suddenly drop the remainder of her cocktail on the floor in a puddle.

"Classic Trixie," Kust snorted as he took another sip, not even realizing Tricky was out like a light. "There's no way in plant's name I'm watching Raw Strut again with you. Can't stand that movie. I woke up twice before the movie was done. Shows you how bad it was."

And he spent the rest of the night talking completely to himself before drifting off to an alcohol-induced sleep.