The Bowl'N Bones

The Bowl'N Bones is a slow-business establishment, partially the to its out of the way location and partially due to its bizarre mash of services. Best known as a bowling alley, the Bowl'N Bones also acts as a bar and, formerly, a gambling parlor. Nowadays, the extent of the gambling it sees is bingo night on Fridays, but the place is still frequented by a small group of loyal, often tipsy bowlers. The small bowling alley's electric sign, showing a rolling bowling ball with pins to each side like crossed bones, seems almost laughably appropriate for a Mafia get together.

Speaking of Mafia get-togethers, the parking lot would soon be filling up with mafioso operators. Right now, there were just two visitor cars and the employee vehicles (of which there were only two). Standing next to an absurdly vibrant green, top-down convertible, a very tall man with a green suit, wide-brimmed green Sun hat, and red hair, like a giant Amish Leprachaun, spoke to a woman who looked so similar to Jailbird that it brought back eerie memories of the mime's trickery. The girl had black hair, the same length and texture as Jailbird's but with just a hint that she might have bothered to try to comb it. Her lazy manner of frowning and keeping her hands in her pockets made her look her navi's spitting image. She was dressed in tight black jeans and a white hoodie, designed with a bar code print on the front. Her jeans showed off the same nice caboose that Jail often flaunted. The man looked like a healthy 40 years old and the girl about 20.

In all likelihood, the girl was Melissa Cage and the gentleman was Ferris McDougal. Currently, they were shooting the breeze or something, perhaps trying to look like they're at the Bowl'N Bones for a party.

Chris sat on the one of ACDC's busses, eyes focused out the window, watching for the establishment that the mission coordinator had specified.

"It was the Bowl'N Bones, right?" Chris asked, pulling out his PET.

"That's right," Tina spoke up. "We should be arriving there soon, so you should get off at the next stop." Sure enough, the establishment's neon sign could be seen out the window. Chris pulled the cord to signal that this was his stop, and hopped off the bus outside of the Bowl'N Bones.

Chris looked from the street at the pair of people in the parking lot. The most attention-drawing of the two was definitely the man in the green suit, but Chris was more baffled at the appearance of the woman talking with him.

"Hey, is it just me, or does she look exactly like Jailbird?" Chris asked.

"Yeah, but I'm sure lots of Navis look like their operators," Nitro pointed out. "Egotism, lack of creativity, ect."

"Yeah, but wasn't Jail unoperated before?" Chris conversely pointed out.

"...Yeah, that is weird," Nitro said. "Ah well, might as well go talk to them."

Chris nodded, and stowed his PET away for the moment, before crossing the parking lot and approaching the pair. "Hey," Chris said, raising a hand to the two in greeting. "I'm Chris Harper, I'm here for the, uh, party."

"Good! I'm glad you're here. Nobody else's shown up yet but Kismet assures me they're a'comin'. Relax, friend! You'be got the easy part in this, all you gotta do is bowl 'n drink!" the big guy laughed in a raucous voice, as if he was already on the drinking part himself. "No, no, I guess ya ain't ol' enough yet. Anyway, name's Ferris and it's plenty good ya meetcha." McDougal grabbed Chris's hand in a forced handshake, incredibly powerful-feeling. "This here's Melissa."

"Sup," the girl remarked, leaning against her own vehicle: a junky black mini-van that was snubbed to the point of looking like a delivery van. "Call me Lisa. I'm Jailbird's op, although she probably said she didn't have one. She's lazy, you know? A lazy jackass who makes me look bad," Lisa muttered, sounding aggravated. Her voice had a bit of quiet subtleness that helped distinguish her from her navi a bit more. "I think those RoT attacked her cause that rumor really gets around. Or maybe they planned to stuff her in a no-jack-out cell and ice her. Dunno."

"To the bus'ness at hand, chaps! We've got ta get those cases and we are rewardin' ya 20 fac'shin points for every single case that Lisa brings back. I'm gettin' ahead o meself, though," he stopped, waving one hand. "Lemme explain. You are gonna stay here with me and play nice with the ops, keep em occupied so they don't think about goin' back to their houses. Your navi, bless his soul, has gotta occ-ya-pie the atten'chins of all o their navis... Kismet and Jail will be there to help but it's not gonna be easy. They're sly dogs and they need only think to check internal security of all personal items to see that thing's missin'. I don't care what you have to do, that case has gotta be the last thing on their minds."

"Our navis will all be jacked into the party table's terminal," Lisa pitched in.

"Yepper. And dontcha know that the Bowl'NBones is me own personal bar slash alley slash money laundering racket! That is ta say that we got the employee's help if ya want it, free bowlin', free booze... even Bingo! Whateyvers gonna help ya keep em off their wits," McDougal finished with a grin. "How about it, boyo? Got any ques'shins, betta ask em up quick."

Chris nursed his arm a bit as McDougal let go. He seemed likable, sure, but Chris was pretty sure his arm had been dislocated. Shrugging it off, he turned to Melissa, or, as she preferred, Lisa.

"Huh, so she had an operator this whole time?" Chris said. "Huh, in hindsight, that's a bit of a relief." Chris shrugged a bit. He got that there could be tension between an Operator and Navi, but to pretend that you were unoperated? Chris hoped it never got like that between him and Nitro.

Chris listened to McDougal's explanation, and nodded as he finished. "Nah, no questions," Chris said. He took out his PET. "You get all that, Nitro, Tina?"

"Yeah, we got it," Nitro said.

"Alright, then, guess we're ready to start," Chris said with a grin.

"Good, good! Enjoy yeself for real and this'll be aaaall the easier," Ferris chuckled, slapping Chris on the back. "Let's get that lad'o yers in with the rest of the crowd, shall we?" he concluded, leading Nitro's op into the bowling / drinking establishment. Lisa followed along in a lazy stride that really made it hard to believe she was as different from her navi as stated.

The inside was a little dark and forlorn, giving off the atmosphere of one of those good-ol-boys bars where oldsters gather to talk about glory days. It would take a decent bit of effort to make the Teksqp ops want to avoid leaving. Many eating booths were set around, along with some other tables for players closer to the twelve bowling lanes. A shoe rental/deposit sat to the left and a snack station to the right. Both were manned, the former by a tall guy with long arms and a low browline, and the other by a busty woman with lengthy black hair done into pigtails that didn't seem to suit her. They were both dressed in green and black ensembles featuring khakis and sweatervests, the latter of which was far too snug on the snack girl.

"That's Jonas with the shoes and Mundwoon with the grub. Feel free to get some grub and shoes whenerre you like, on me! My treat," the host announced, pressing both fists to his jacket and putting out his chest proudly. "Just don't expect em to be much help with the op'ration. They're in on it and I trust em, but both have motivation problems and the age-old affliction called lazy-bonidus. Dumbs as bags o hammers, them two. But Mundwoon will do me something to make up for it in the most splendiforous manner and the boy's just a pity case."

The other operator gave him a glare, as if he shouldn't be talking about Mundwoon's splendiforous service so openly. "Nitro, I have to-"

"You know, I've got a last minute change I would like to enact. I'm gonna go off and search, and in the mean time, you'n Chris stay here ta see ta our guests. I haven't done any field work in a while and I'm achin' for it!"

"But I'm better suited for it... And furthermore I..."

"Prefer to work alone, I know. And that holds ya back, lassie! Mafia is all about your connections and gettin along wit others. If ya don't grow that ability, you and yer navi ain't gonna get nowhere," he retorted. "This will be a good chance to harvest a relationship with the boy here and also with the other Teksqp."

"Won't that pretty much be moot once they realize you broke in and stole their junk?" Lisa asked, looking irritated.

"Nonsense! If I do this right, they won't notice I won't know I was ever there?" he answered with a wink. "I'm off!"

As Ferris strolled away and whistled, Jailbird's operator turned back to Chris with a pouty face that made her look momentarily childish before she fixed it. "Well, jack your navi into one of the bowling terminals. Jail is already waiting for you, along with Kismet." She leaned against the wall near the front entrance, possibly waiting for company, possibly just being lazy.

((Topic opening soon in homepages))

Chris followed after Ferris, with a quick glance at Lisa behind him. Once he got in, he took a quick look around, taking in the environment. Despite Chris being the youngest one there, he had a bit of an appreciation for the quiet, nostalgic atmosphere about the place. Of course, whether the other operators would share that appreciation would be debatable. Chris nodded to the staff as McDougal introduced them. He'd probably get a pair of shoes after he jacked Nitro in, but he just listened to Ferris and Lisa go back and forth.

Chris gave a bit of a sheepish grin as Lisa looked back at him. "Not to sound like I'm lecturing you, but he is right, meeting the people you work with can be useful." Chris said. "I mean, at my old job, I didn't really talk to anyone, so the rumors started and I eventually just quit because they were such dicks." Chris huffed a bit. A thought occurred to him that he should see about getting a job here before he left. Money from busting and missions only went so far, he needed a better source of income.

"Anyway, it'd be great for us to get to know each other too, y'know?" Chris said as he jacked Nitro and TNT into the terminal. "I mean, our navis know each other pretty well already, it'd be kind of weird for us to not know each other." Chris stepped up to the shoe counter to collect his bowling shoes. "Elevens please. And sorry if I kinda seem like I'm rambling a bit, Lisa."

"Yeah, well, you do sound like you're lecturing me," Lisa retorted, crossing her arms and giving him a moody frown. "Font forget that I'm your senior officer, okay?" she requested, in another moment of deja vu. "I'll give you a warning too: you should be careful around McDougal. He's a good guy to know but he's not a good guy. Unless you want to get into the real dirty side of the Mafia, which maybe you do, it's good to stay away from him. His navi is fine, though."

She joined him at the shoe rental, observing with mild annoyance that he had already decided to bowl. "I will take a size eight," she requested.

The boy behind the counter raised one overly thin eyebrow, which didn't match his thick, Neanderthal browline very well. "You kids?" he asked, although they were both outside that range. "Okay, I got kid shoes." Quickly, he fetched their bowling shoes, both garish, bright colors. "We good, kid. You don't gotta pay."

His face didn't show much expression but he wasn't overly disagreeable. Lisa nodded and took her shoes. "Alright, Chris, I will try to get to know you and I will share what I can. I'm a private person though, so don't pry deeper than I want you to,"she asked, as if it was obvious what was off limits. It didn't seem like she'd given him much of an allowance. "What do you want to know about me, anyways? There's nothing to tell."

"He seems nice enough, but I'll keep that in mind," Chris said in response to Lisa's warning. "My parents don't even know I'm part of the Mafia, I'd probably be out on my ass if I got caught doing any especially shady stuff." He pondered momentarily whether destroying a NetPolice research facility and vandalizing a net-park would be considered "especially shady", but he shrugged it off.

Chris took a seat at one of the lanes as he swapped out his shoes for the ones provided at the counter. He wasn't about to start bowling immediately, he just felt he might as well swap them out now, rather than when he was supposed to be helping to entertain everyone. He grimaced a bit at how they felt; bowling shoes always seemed to fit awkwardly. "I dunno, really, it feels kind of weird to just ask stuff. I'll just find stuff out as the evening goes on, whatever happens to come up." He paused for a moment. "I might as well ask how you got into the Teksqp."

"Well, I just thought it'd be great to hang out in a mop-forsaken bowling alley and operate a navi who's supposed to be guarding a jail and sleeps in a cell instead because the bunk is more familiar to her than her homepage," Melissa answered, keeping an amazingly serious expression as she spoke. "No, but seriously, I just wanted to be in the Mafia because I wanted people's respect. I made my navi a long time ago, though, and I'm stuck with her... and she's not cut-out for gaining anybody's respect," the girl replied, again casting blame on her navi. "It's even more aggravating that I grew up to look just like her."

She took a seat near one of the bowling lanes and rested her head on her fist with a mixture of boredom, moodiness, and thoughtfulness. Finally, she turned her head back to Chris and frowned. "What about you? You don't seem crazy and you're probably not ambitious," she presumed, regardless of any damage to Chris' ego. "Why did you want to be part of the Mafia, anyways, let alone the Teksqp?"

As she asked her questions, the front door slid open, allowing in two visitors. The first was a tall man dressed in a white suit with glasses that rested very low on the bridge of his nose, like they could slide off at any second. He walked in a stiff way that quickly suggested the presence of either a medical condition or a full-blown prosthetic. Most shocking of all was his completely white hair, which was combed into a business-man's part that made him look older than he was.

The second was a woman in a white lab-coat, matching the color of the other guest's choice. What didn't match was her vibrantly light blue hair; it was held into two upward pigtails that branched in all directions like lightning, making her look more like a navi than a human. She shared proportions reminiscent of Mundwoon's, quite busty but perhaps with more sensual curves: less fatty and, dare one say, less artificial. Her eyes were bright green and a lollipop stick protruded from her mouth. She wasn't old, but it sure seemed like she'd devised a childish, roguish character for herself considering what her age must be.

The two were talking amongst themselves, approaching with recognition of neither Lisa nor Chris. The guy was very stiff but the girl was very animated; she was constantly laughing and seemed to bend every which way as she spoke, as if whatever she was saying couldn't go without explaining through pantomime.

Chris did feel a slight hit to his pride at Lisa's assumption of unambitiousness, but he did have to admit, he didn't have a lot of ambition. "Well, there were no big reasons, really," Chris said. "Just a lot of small ones: the money, the challenge, being able to meet people and navis, make connections, getting a shot at some decent chips. As for why I went with the Teksqp, it just seemed like the way to go with our skillset; Nitro and I mainly use explosives, seemed only natural to go into the Teksqp."

Chris glanced over as the first two guests arrived. Their appearances threw him off a bit, but as he thought a bit, he, Lisa, and their navis were probably some of the only "normal" people in the family. He decided he'd let Lisa handle greeting the two of them, considering she was the only actual adult between them.

Lisa understood Chris's hesitation and went to greet the two herself. "Hey guys," she started simply, not lifting her hands from her pockets.

"Hey, kids!" the blue-haired woman responded, leaning her body forward dramatically into their midst. "Lisa, new guy, good to see you!" she started; from this distance, Chris saw that she seemed to have the weird habit of keeping her teeth clinched as she spoke. "I'm Electra Blatchley. This guy here is Woden Stillinger."

"Hello, children," he offered, keeping his own hands in the pockets of his coat. Both operators seemed to view Lisa as a child too, even though she must have been a few years older than Chris.

"We're gonna Jack in Shok and TaxidermyMan right away," she continued. "Well, first, I might get some nachos... Or better yet, you could get me some! Will one of you kids give me some nachos?" she asked leaning her head further towards a ninety degree angle than ought to be possible.

This close to the door, Chris thought he could hear two more cars driving up. Lisa clearly didn't want to get Electra any nachos, though, so if that was going to happen, he'd have to do it himself.

Chris walked over as Lisa greeted the two operators, nodding to them and giving a light wave. "Hey, I'm Chris. Chris Harper," he said. He was a little put off by being called a "kid" or "child", but he noted that Lisa seemed to be in the same boat as him, in their eyes, anyway.

"Oh, and sure, I'll go get some nachos for you," Chris said to Electra. He figured Lisa could handle greeting the operators for now, and he could play errand-boy for a bit, introducing himself as he got things for them. It'd be better that way, too, because he could easily scope out anyone who seemed disinterested and head them off before they thought to leave. Chris walked over to the concession counter and ordered some nachos, eyes on the entrance to see who else was about to arrive.

"Great! Standing by for nachos!" Electra cheered, spreading her arms wide. "In the mean time, Lisa, let's catch up. How is of going watching over that awful mime, huh? Most people hate watching mimes!"

While the three discussed, Chris went to chat up Mundwoon for some nachos. "Just nachos? I'll get you some sodas too, cause I'm so generous," she responded with a wink. "You know, I can help you out with the plan too..." she whispered. "Ferris doesn't realize how smart I am! If you need anything, anything at all, come to me. Me and my navi, SellSoul, can do a lot more than he realizes..."

The cheese on the nachos was getting a little heavy as she spoke.

In the mean time, another operator came in: a regularly-sizes guy with a sharp chin and long nose. He had a very gloomy demeanor and, most notably, was dressed in black jeans and a black and white striped shirt. He wore a black scarf and beret as well, but no makeup, thankfully. He spoke in a language Chris could not place and made Woden Stillinger seem downright animated. He had been greeted by the group and was now speaking to Electra.

"Sure, that'd be great, thanks," Chris said, in response to the drinks. After stealing a quick glance towards the group, he leaned in a bit. "Any help you can give would be great too. I'll probably be coming back here at least a few times tonight, so if you know anything about the operators coming in that'd be useful, feel free to fill me in." He glanced over at the nachos. "Uh, that's plenty of cheese, thanks."

Once he retrieved the nachos, he took the plate and the drinks back over to the group, setting them at the table. "Here's the nachos, and I got some drinks too, if anyone's thirsty." Chris looked to the new operator, who was speaking to Electra. If anyone here had a connection to the mime, it'd be this guy, Chris thought. He didn't seem to recognize the language he spoke in (not that Chris was fluent in many to begin with), but he introduced himself regardless. "Hey there, I'm Chris," the operator said. "Anything I can get for you while everyone's arriving?"

"Of course! I always give people more than they ask. It's part of my business strategy," Mundwoon cackled, placing all of the concessions onto a tray for Chris. "More is better in a lot of things..." she smirked, running one finger across the unbuttoned collar of her bowling alley uniform's tee. She seemed very... comfortable, flirting with a seventeen-year-old she'd just met.

When Nitro rejoined the others, Lisa was making an effort to speak in the monotone guy's native tongue, which pleased him. All the same, when Chris spoke up, he clearly understood the words, yet couldn't respond in the same language.

"He says 'it's good to meet you,'" Melissa translated. "He also says he brought his own black coffee." The specification of the drink might not be necessary, but the Teksqp girl seemed pleased with herself for translating that one.

The final guest arrived: a woman who, thankfully, wasn't dressed like some bizarre Halloween monster. She wore a white kerchief in a triangle around her neck and a pretty, gray turtleneck sweater, along with a darker gray skirt. Her hair was black, with parted bangs and a bun held up by an unusual golden accessory, shaped like a giant triangle. He earrings were also gold triangles; the same motif accompanied the tips of her black shoes. She was perhaps a little younger even than Melissa, although her clothes made her look more mature.

"To finish up introductions, the man you just met is Simon Blackwell. That's Pytha Bermuda. He is a former Teksqp member and she is a current one," Lisa concluded. "Pytha, this is Chris Harper."

"Charmed," the operator responded,giving a pleasant smile. She looked kind of ritzy for the location, but didn't seem terribly bothered by it. "Are you eating nachos? I love-"

"Yeah, you love them because they're triangles," Lisa sighed, throwing her hands in the air. "I'll get you some. In the mean time, everyone jack in your navis. I'm going to go get Pytha her triangles," she groaned. The two of them might have some history...

The Electopian girl's brown eyes scanned the place slowly. "It's a shame they don't have pool here. What a nice sport," she pouted. "Don't you think so, Chris?"

Chris nodded to Pytha in agreement. "Yeah, it's too bad. I like to think I'm pretty good at it." It wasn't a lie, either. He was pretty damn good at pool. It was too bad there weren't any tables there, which struck him as a bit odd. Any other bowling alley place he'd been to typically had pool tables around. An idea struck him, and after excusing himself, he went back over to the snack station.

"Hey, Mundwoon," Chris said. "You wouldn't happen to know if there's a pool table or two tucked in storage or something, would you?" Whatever the answer was, he thank her for the info and return to the group, checking his PET. "Well, it looks like our navis are already getting set to bowl," Chris noted. "Did you guys want to just sit and catch up a bit or did you wanna start something up?"

Lisa swapped a glance with Chris as he walked back to Mundwoon, perhaps wondering if he'd intended to come speak to her or perhaps wanted the group ti be alone.Regardless, Phyra seemed quickly satisfied with the shape of her nachos, and that distracted the group again.

Mundwoon leaned across the counter unnecessarily to listen to Chris. "Ah huh... we don't, but again, I am very good at satisfying expectations beyond the call of reasonability! Allow me to have someone bring them here. They will be here soon! Go enjoy the party and don't worry about owing me anything," the alley worker replied, bringing her PET out of her pocket. She smiled and shooed him away, then began speaking quietly into the receiver. "Hello, SellSoul?Two pool tables to Bowl'N Bones..."

As Chris rejoined the group, Wodin smiled faintly. "Pool would be better, wouldn't it? I can still pretend to play it with my leg as it is," he commented.

The man in black spoke up again; Lisa translated as he spoke. "He says he is eager for a diversion such as balls... er, sorry, bowling or pool... he also apologizes if his navi is hard to get along with. He says feel free to give het a little... pinch? Pinch. On the nose, if she acts up." she finished.

"Snrk... Balls," the tall, blue-haired girl snickered. "Just pool is a little boring though, right? Does the alley have any prizes? Or do you have any beer?"

"The alley hasn't had beer for a long time. They do have a modest arcade with prizes, however... The prizes are with the shoes," Lisa responded.

"Kiddie prizes?" she inquired further, again tilting her head farther than it ought to go.

"Yes."

"... I like adult prizes though!"

"We don't have any."

"But we're all adults!"

"Sorry."

The pointless exchange amazingly kept going...

Chris watched as Electra and Lisa went back and forth. He figured it'd be as good a time as any to check in on Nitro and Tina. It seemed the Navis had come to the subject of Strip Bowling, which he groaned a bit at. If they were that strapped for ideas to keep them entertained already, Chris dreaded what he'd have to do to keep their operators distracted.

Setting his PET down, he figured it'd be a good time to keep things rolling. He pondered Lisa's statements for a second. Hadn't Ferris mentioned something about drinking when he got there? Lisa might've been mistaken with her statement. "I think they might have some drinks here, actually," Chris chimed in. "I mean, Mundwoon's seeing about getting some pool tables, I'm sure some drinks wouldn't be out of the question." Chris rose from his seat, and hurried back over to Mundwoon at the concession desk. "Hey, sorry to keep bothering you like this, but you wouldn't happen to have any beer or anything? For the others, I mean." Chris had no intention of drinking himself, but geting the some of the other operators tipsy might not be a bad way of keeping them there: they couldn't drive if they were drunk, right?

Lisa stiffened up, then turned back to Chris with something like a glare. Electra nodded, then gave a big grin and spread her hands. "Right, right? No way Ferris doesn't have some booze! Find it for us!" she encouraged Chris. Wodin and Phyra both nodded eagerly along. "You should have some too, right, kid? No point being Mafia if you don't break the law!"Everyone but Lisa and Simon (who didn't seem to ever smile unless it would be hurtful not to) were all smiles as Chris left for drinks.

The snack-tender rubbed her hands together and smiled. "Of course! It's free drinks all night tonight! Don't hold back yourself, okay?" Mundwoon replied, beginning to fill six mugs with some unknown, strong smelling ale. "I hope you all like ale; Ferris is particular about his ale, so it's the only really drinkable booze here... High grade and veeeery enebriating," she trailed into a whisper, adding a wink to show she knew his intentions.

Once all mugs were filled, she handed it all over on another tray. "I'm going to get drunk too, but don't be afraid to ask if you need anything else..." she chuckled, beginning to fill up another glass.

Everyone except Lisa accepted their drinks easily enough, some very eagerly. Simon wasn't really touching his, since he already had coffee, but other than him, everyone drank deeply... Except Lisa, again. She stared at the bottom of the glass distractedly with a dark look on her face. She looked very... thirsty.

"Lisa-chan! You're going to drink, aren't you? I seem to remember you being a regular fish at our parties and you're so much more fun when you're drunk!" Phyra goaded her old acquaintance.

"No, I need my mental faculties for... er, pool," Lisa lied, still staring wantingly at her ale.

"Hey, not fair! You two are going to play with an advantage? None of us are sober!" Electra gasped, ignoring Simon, who was only drinking coffee. "Both of you, drink up!"

Chris looked at the two mugs on the tray with a sort of nervous hesitation. He had never really considered drinking before, not for any sort of moral or legal reasons, but just because he'd never been overly interested in the stuff. Now that he had it sitting in front of him, though, he was a bit intimidated. The liquid within reeked of bad decisions and forgotten, inebriated adventures.

He stole a glance over at Lisa, and noticed that she seemed to be fighting every urge to grab her mug and down it in one go. He figured he might as well help her out in some way, though, and quickly thought of a way to get them both out of having to drink the stuff.
Chris grabbed his own mug, and brought it to his lips, tipping it back enough to let the ale touch his sealed lips, but not actually go into his mouth. He lowered his mug with a grimace, and set it back on the tray. He was sure to put it on the same general side as the other mug. "Ugh, too strong for my taste," Chris said. He lifted the tray in faux-absent-mindedness, and started to walk off with it, then looked to Lisa. "Oh, sorry, I thought you took-" As he spoke, he let the tray tip, and the ale filled mugs slipped off and fell to the ground, emptying their contents all over the floor.

"Oh, crap, sorry!" Chris said, frantically stooping down and collecting up the two mugs. As he did so, he shot Lisa a quick, subtle wink, before he straightened up with the empty mugs now properly balanced. "I'll get these refilled, maybe see if they have something a bit lighter for myself." He went back over to the concession and set the two mugs down, talking to Mundwoon in a bit of a hushed tone. "Hey, sorry about the mess, but it was the only way I could think to get Lisa and I out of drinking. Listen, can you get us something that looks like the ale, but isn't alcoholic? Lisa and I need our wits about us tonight."