The Bowl'N Bones

Lisa was just about to pick up her mug to drink when Chris took the tray back to exchange it and initiated his plan. She looked first surprised... then momentarily depressed... then reluctantly thankful. "Yes, thank you for the refill," she sighed. Somewhere in the distance, the shoe-guy saw the mess, swore not quite under his breath, and grabbed a mop.

"Ha ha! How clumsy. You can't best me at pool with coordination like that," Phyra laughed leaning her elbows onto the table. Beside her, the guy in black kept drinking his coffee, looking over his cup with his usual basset hound gaze. It sure wasn't laughter there... given the nature of events, Chris could be almost sure it was suspicion. And yet, despite suspicion, no feelings of resentment.

When Chris reached the snack booth, Mundwoon was indeed drunk as a skunk. Her dual pigtails streamed back and forth in a kind of hypnotic way as her head bobbed back and forth. Either she had a head start on drinking or a remarkably low tolerance for booze. "Something like ale but not alcoholic... Decaf? No, that's coffee... How about I just pour you guys tea and pit it in some non-transparent mugs, okay? Don't say I never did anything for you?" she responded with a big, dopey smile that almost made her look young enough for her hairstyle. She did what she claimed she would and then let Chris on his way.

As he returned, he found the tall guy mopping up the earlier spill and Electra going on about something. "Fine! Even if you guys aren't going to, I will!" she complained.

"I don't even know why our navis decided on strip bowling... I'm sure not doing strip pool," Lisa explained, eagerly accepting her new mug. As she sipped, she looked momentarily disappointed, but at least she wouldn't end up as dizzy as Mundwoon.

The guy in black nodded along, and Wodin followed reluctantly. "As fun as that would be to see, I myself am roughly 38% prosthetic. I doubt you guys want to see how all of that works," he murmured.

"Phooey on everyone, I'm still stripping!" Electra finished, crossing her arms defiantly. As she did, a few hard knocks rapped at the door. "Hey kid! Check who that is, okay? Seems weird of them to knock at the door of a public bowling alley..."

"Yeah, I'm not really sure how that happened either," Chris said as he rejoined the group. "I'm sure as hell not gonna strip, though, especially considering the fact that I'm still, for all intents and purposes, a minor." Chris noticed the look he was given by the man in black, but he was sure not to call to much attention to it, lest he rouse the others suspicions.

He turned to look at the door as it was rapped on, raising an eyebrow. He was a little confused, personally, but he figured it was probably relevant to the true task at hand. "Yeah, I'll get it," Chris said to Electra. "Maybe it's the pool table guys and they need a hand with the door." Chris stood up and ventured over to the door, opening it up a bit and slipping outside to talk with whoever was outside. If it was important, it'd be better to not let the others know about it.

"Minor? Listen to yourself! If you keep getting hung up on all of the little arbitrary guidelines the law's set up, what's the point of being in the mafia?" Electra groaned. "Come on, you're the most actionable guy here. Wodin's handicapped, Simon's gay, and who knows what's wrong with that bowling shoes guy for him to want to work in this place!"

"Now now, don't pressure him. Go on, please," Wodin sighed, placing one hand on Electra's shoulder to try to calm her. Simon continued to keep hid sad eyes fixated on Chris. The oddness of special ordering pool tables was not lost on him.

The men at the door were both huge guys, dressed in long, black tailcoats and small bowlers that seemed entirely inappropriate for the weather but must have been some kind if uniform. Between their manner of dressed the fact that they were carrying a pool table, they were drenched in sweat. "Delivery," the front one remarked, then barged on in.

Phyra clapped her hands as the table came in, then again as the next arrived. "Please, place them over there!" she beckoned. "Arrange them with the corners touching, like..."

"...If they form a point like that, we can't move around them. A little space, please," Wodin interjected. Simon made a small joke that nobody bothered translating.

Lisa spoke to Chris, seeing a good opportunity. "Ferris finished up; whatever was there was cleared out a long time ago. While that might seem suspicious, it's really fairly natural that Simon would clear it out after his navi went crazy... painful memories and all. Anyways, nothing incriminating. Next house is going to be Phyra's... Oh, and you've earned 20 faction points. Please, try to keep going. I know these guys are sort of ridiculous," she explained.

"Alright, sounds good," Chris said to Lisa, as the others debated the orientation of the tables. "And it's cool, I can keep on it. They're just a bit... quirky is all. Kinda like a bunch of cartoon characters." As odd as his association seemed, he didn't doubt that things might end up reaching some level of outlandish slapstick as the night went on, especially as they drank.

Chris decided to go help out with the pool table situation. He helped coordinate the movers into spacing them far enough that they wouldn't knock each other with the cues, but they would still be able to talk as a group. As they finished up, Chris clapped his hands together. "Okay, who wants to be at what table?"

"Yes, quirky... but remember, one of them very likely murdered a large number of navis years ago. It's important to stay on your guard," Lisa reminded Chris, keeping a serious expression. "We've got a lot of very good eyes in the net right now, but I'd still make sure that Nitro knows he's in danger as well."

With that warning reissued, Lisa followed him over to the table so that they could discuss the arrangement of the game. Phyra nodded to them, then crossed her arms and raised her fist to her chin in a sort of fashionable pose, tilting her head up coquettishly. "What a perfect situation we find ourselves in! Six players means that when we split up between two tables, we have three players on each table! Perfect, perfect!" she exclaimed, looking pleased. As she saw Lisa approach, she pointed her finger dramatically. "Melissa-chan! You will become part of my triad. I must defeat you for the honor of triangles!"

"... Sure," Lisa sighed, slumping her shoulders. "If it's alright, I'd like Chr-"

"No, no good! I'm calling Chris!" Electra laughed, moving over to stand uncomfortably close to him. "I've decided that I'm going to loosen him up, even at personal expense! We'll play and if I'm beating you, I'm just going to keep taking my clothes off. If you want to hold on to your innocence and childish naivety and what not, you're just going to have to beat me~" she cooed, standing with her arms bearing onto the wall behind him so that her breasts were just about in his face.

"I... think that might make him a little uncomfortable," Lisa conjectured, not adding that it might make anyone a little uncomfortable to be treated like a little kid and a toy.

"Oh? You two are already pretty close, huh?" Electra asked, tilting her head in that eerie way she sometimes did. "You wanna be his first, do you?"

"Fine, do what you want. I"ll play with triangle nut over here," Lisa sighed. Simon commented something in that odd language, which she translated: "Simon says he would like to play with Chris too, though."

Electra laughed, holding one hand over her face. "I hope he doesn't want you too, boy! That's about how he is, you know?" she laughed ridiculously, peeking his expression through a crack in her fingers. Still, when Chris looked at Simon, there didn't seem to be any kind of perversion or even warmth there... just that cold sadness and caution.

"That table has an interesting stipulation... let's give ours one as well, Melissa-chan! Every time one of us fouls, we have to take a drink!" Phyra asserted. Melissa looked aside and nodded; it was impossible to read her expression. "Good! Now, we're going to play a standard game of Eight Ball; you're all familiar, aren't you?" Everyone nodded. "Okay, good! If you're not, just let your navi look it up for you. I say, we start now! Melissa-chan, you break the balls. I can't bear to ruin such a perfect triangle...!"

Electra pushed Christ towards the table, smiling wolfishly. "You can break ours," she offered. "Let's see how you like injecting a little disorder into an orderly system... It's a hobby of mine, but I'll let you indulge this once," the tall girl whispered. Simon nodded along silently.

((Same rules apply as in net thread))

Chris chuckled a bit nervously as Electra cornered him, getting an eyeful of her rather large breasts. It was an odd situation for him to be in, considering he was about six feet tall and could have easily avoided having to stare down Electra's chest. Perhaps Chris wasn't as childlike and naive as Electra thought? Chris looked over to Simon as he said he'd like to play at his table. Honestly, Chris would be a bit flattered if what Electra said was true, but looking at his expression, that didn't seem to be the case.

Chris looked back to Electra, and then up at her face, as she pushed off the wall. He took a step toward the table, but felt himself being pushed toward it. Retrieving a pool cue, he examined the balls before him. "Yeah, I'm fine with that," Chris said, stooping down to line up his shot. "Of course, it might be a bit hard to play 8-ball with three people. How about you and Simon against me?" Chris struck the white cue ball and sent it sailing down the table, striking the head of the triangle precisely and scattering the coloured balls all over the table.

"Tch! Two players only? That's not a very good number at all!" Phyra protested.

"But there's only two sides of the table, really, so that ought to be obvious..." Wodin sighed. "How about this; I'll sit it out, since I'm probably not going to beat you girls anyways. You three will have to decide how to play your own table, though."

Simon spoke up and Lisa nodded. "He says he'll sit out. You and Electra will play." Her frown made it clear that she'd rather have Simon and Wodin involved, so that they'd remain distracted, but neither one of them seemed too keen on working in a team. Furthermore, it was pretty clear that Simon was keeping an eye on them even more thoroughly now that he wasn't distracted by the game, so communicating about the mission was going to be impossible.

"That's fine! Honestly, I was wondering what I was going to do if he started beating both of us, anyway," Electra replied with a grin. "Now I'll have you all to myself! Goodie," she chuckled, grabbing up the triangle from below the table to begin setting up. Phyra did the same on her side, utterly enamored by the triangle. After a short wait, the table was ready. "There we are. Now, pick a cue and go ahead, Chris. Shatter them and don't hold back!"

From the other table came the sound of Lisa shattering the balls in a fairly simple, lazy way that only just met the qualifications of a break. All the same, Phyra cried out as if in physical pain. "My beautiful triangle! You'll pay for that, Melissa-chan!" she raged, readying her own cue.

Chris smirked as he scooped up a cue. He, too, noticed Wodin and Simon sitting out, silently cursing a bit. He'd rather have them engaged in the game then sitting and watching. He tried to think of something, and tossed out all he could really think of. "Alright, you guys play the winners, then." It wasn't much, but it would probably keep them sticking around for a while. And once Simon was up, he'd have more of an opportunity to talk to Lisa. Hopefully Nitro was being kept up to date, at least, so they weren't completely in the dark.

Chris grabbed his cue, and lined up his shot, striking the cue ball with decent force and sending it down the table, striking the head of the triangle and scattering the balls everywhere. None of the balls actually went in, however. Clearly he had at least some skill in the game. He backed away to let Electra take her shot, and started up some idle conversation. "Hey, anyone see any decent movies lately? I saw "Crush-It Carl" a little while ago, it was pretty good. Nitro says he wants to meet the Navi that played Carl, he probably expects him to be all about breaking things in reality, too."

Simon nodded and spoke briefly, flourishing one hand with a smile. Lisa decided to translate, since it would be awkward not to: "He says he watches everymovie released nowadays and is interested at the aspect of navi actors. Be comments that its interesting to watch beings with such carefully distinguished masks and facets take on new facets as actors." Simon had been pretty genuine, but something about his own statement made him pause and reconsider. He gave a smile that seemed almost spiteful and quieted back down.

"Navi actors! It's sort of a flawed goal from the start, right?" Electra countered. "Navis shouldn't betray emotion with their faces or gestures anyways so their acting doesn't have the same degree of faliability or risk that a human actor's does. Although I guess some do anyways. I'm a pretty good actor myself, did you know? I'm also good at telling when others are putting on an act," she boasted; her claim could mean she hada hunch of what was going on, or it could just be a topical coincidence. "I'm going to combo: 15 off 9, ending in the closest corner. Alright?"

She wasn't really asking, of course. She shifted her lollipop stick in her mouth with a grin reminiscent of her navi and leaned her very distracting (even in a labcoat) chest over the table to line up with the cue ball. As she hit, she made her shot quickly and with surprising precision. "Next, let's combo 14 with 11... opposite end corner this time," she called, then hit again.Thankfully, although both balls were hit, 14 missed its pocket. "I'm shocked! But oh well~" she sighed, shrugging and taking in some more ale.

Speaking of which, it sounded like Phyra was racking up quite a score."I'm a genius, remember? This is nothing to me!"

"If your a genius, why is your navi so stupid?" Lisa retorted irritably.

"He's also a genius, Melissa-chan! Did you not know?" Phyra asked. "We're two if a kind! Maybe I should get a genius SP so there will be three of us...? Genius!"

"Yeah, I guess Navi actors are pretty interesting when you put it like that," Chris said to Simon, shrugging a bit. He stopped to listen to Electra, and shrugged. "I dunno, I don't really think I'd make a good actor. It's not really my thing, y'know?" Chris realized the irony in saying this, but he didn't let it show. Instead he watched Electra make her move, and examined the table carefully. "Okay, 5 in the far corner," He said, delcaring his shot. He hit the cue ball and sent it across the board, and he made his target. However, said target failed to meet its destination, hitting the side to the right of it. He shrugged, taking his own mug and sipping from it, enjoying the taste of the "ale".

"Looks like you missed! That puts me at a significant advantage already, does it not?" Electra taunted her opponent, immediately reaching both hands for the buttons of her labcoat. The thing came off quickly, then fell to the floor; she kicked it away with one foot. Thankfully, she wasn't dressed like Jailbird underneath; instead, she wore a red, spaghetti-strap top and white jean pants. Both gave a full look at the outstanding shape of her body. The words "Your Treatment" were written across the top in white, cursive letters. Simon made a brief comment, which again, nobody bothered to translate. It didn't seem to hold any particular emotion and might have just been for the sake of not appearing rude by ignoring her effort.

"Next, I'll go for that pesky 14 again... from this angle, I can get it into the side pocket without comboing anything," she smirked, readying her cue. Sure enough, the cue ball hit its target and #14 flew in with no hitches. "And now I'd like to go for 13! Let's see if #11 will help me get it into the corner pocket," she declared, shuffling to the other side of the table. She leaned one hip against Chris' own as she bent for the shot; whether this contributed to her miss or not was impossible to tell, but she did miss. "I think #11's unlucky! Whatever, I'm ahead already. Now it's up to you to catch up."

It sounded like Phyra was really beating the crap out of Lisa on the other table; her voice just kept pratteling on about genius and triangles while Lisa continued muttering complaints. The complaints, however, were becoming less mutters and more loud, slurred arguments. "Oh, Melissa-chan! Are you drinking too much?" Phyra guffawed. Of course, Chris remembered swapping out Lisa's alcohol for something else, so she couldn't be getting drunk, right? "Your face is all red! It's cute! I'll bet Chris wants you to strip too! I wouldn't mind seeing that myself, Melissa-chan!"

"I wouldn't mind kickin' your ass, Phyra! Right in those stupid triangle panties!" Melissa retorted, letting on more than she ought to know.

"You-! How did you know about my underwear?! Have you been sneaking around my apartment?" the self-proclaimed genius gawked, still smiling and not seeming particularly offended. She was the type to exclaim things, no matter what.

"No, er... I just assumed, cause you're all about triangles," Lisa coughed, averting her eyes.

"Ah ha! How wise, Melissa-chan! You know me too well!" Phyra chuckled. "I am indeed wearing my finest triangles right now! I'd show you all, but... Aiya! That's too much, too much!" she cooed, pressing her hands to her cheeks girlishly and shaking her head while grinning from ear to ear. She really seemed to want to show them off... Lisa just groaned and went for her next shot, which looked like it was probably going to be even worse than her previous.

"... This is kind of entertaining, just as a spectator," Wodin chuckled; he was so quiet and still that he'd been easy to forget about entirely.

Chris smirked a bit as he saw Electra's jacket fall to the floor, looking her over appraisingly, especially as she leaned against him. If she was so keen on showing herself off, he might as well indulge her a bit, right? However, his appraisal was cut short as he heard the conversation turn to him at the other table.

"What? No, no, it's fine!" He insisted. "You don't need to do that for me. You just... focus on your game..." He paused for a moment as he noticed Melissa's face. He casually reached for his drink, sipping it again, this time trying to determine if what he was drinking was, in fact, tea. or if Mundwoon had given them ale again by mistake. She was pretty drunk when she served them...

Chris surveyed the board again, examining the layout. "...Okay, this time, I'll combo off the 6, hitting it into the side, and hit the 3 into the opposite corner." Chris aimed carefully, and took the shot, ricocheting the cue ball off the six, which was teetering on the edge anyway, easily sinking it, before hitting the three and sinking it as well. However, the cue ball continued onward, bumping off the side and hitting the unlucky 14, sending it juuuust tipping into the pocket. "...Well then, your turn I guess..." He said to his opponent.

((I'm guessing you meant unlucky 13, since that seems to make sense as an expression and also the 14 was already put in))

"No fun, Chris! I'll just have to entertain myself by polishing her off as quickly as possible," Phyra huffed, crossing her arms across her chest. She didn't seem aware that Ferris had just finished plundering the data from the black box at her house, so that was good.

"I'm going to be plenty for him to deal with... we don't need Melissa distracting us," Electra laughed, tilting her head again; it looked even more disturbing now that he could see her whole neck-line... there was no way she should be able to do that. Of course, soon, Chris was going to be looking at a lot more than her neck-line. True to her word, she went ahead and pulled off her shirt with a remarkably careless motion, revealing a red, lace top in bikini-style, showing off the massive swell of her breasts with a lot of cleavage. She looked to be in about as good shape as her navi did, only without the creepy shock-induced grin. Simon gulped and the others gasped, not seeming to have known her well enough to know that she'd actually do it. "What? I told you I was going to."

A sound came over from the concession booth as Mundwoon scampered over, looking agitated and also very drunk, so much so that it overshadowed Lisa's state... oddly, Electra wasn't acting dizzy at all, even though she'd been taking in a lot. "Ahem!" she announced, as if everyone wasn't already looking at her. "I just wanted to remind you, Chris, that I'm a person who always goes above and beyond the expected in providing for customers. So when I see Electra trying to give you such a service, it makes me feel challenged," she suggested, moving closer to her newfound adversary.

Electra crossed her arms and walked forward, grinning. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying that right now, you're giving Chris incentive only to lose! I'm going to give him incentive to win, like uh... a coach!" she explained, pressing one thumb to her chest. "If you're beating her, I'll strip instead. So you're going to try extra hard now, right?" she asked with a wink.

"No... I'm pretty sure he'll just keep handing me the match, won't he?" Electra chuckled, moving so close that their breasts pushed together. Mundwoon flinched, then rose to the challenge, surprised that her own great height and breast size was nearly overtaken. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to make my next shot," she finished, bending back over to take the shot from where she was standing. Her butt collided with Mundwoon's lap shamelessly, causing her to fall back in surprise.

"Yes this is... a good spectator sport," Wodin gulped from the sidelines.

Relentlessly, Electra continued. "I'll combo 11 off 12 this time... 12 will recoil into the side pocket and 11 will continue to the end corner," she explained, then took her shot, unfazed by her proximity to Mundwoon. It went just as she'd predicted. "And now... let's try to get 10 into the closest corner pocket!" she laughed, hitting the cue ball again as soon as it stopped rolling. It rebounded off the back of the table and hit the 10 with amazing speed... but thankfully, it failed to reach the pocket near her. "Poo. There's only so much a girl can do," she sighed, smiling back towards Chris. "Your turn!"

Mundwoon pressed both hands together, also smiling, but nervously. "Come on, you can do it! I've given you a good deal like always, so don't squander it!" she announced. One could worry if she was giving away too much, revealing that she and Chris had made deals... but then again, that just seemed to be part of Mundwoon's personality.

Chris seemed to be satisfied that he was, in fact, drinking the tea he asked for. However, it still didn't explain Lisa's behavior. His train of thought was derailed, however, when Electra laughed.

Chris watched as Electra took off her top, revealing the red bikini style top. However, once Mundwoon came stumbling over, a second challenge had been presented. As they talked, a lightbulb went on in his head when he saw their differing states of drunkeness. He decided to pay attention to exactly which mugs Electra and Lisa were drinking from.

But he'd have to do so after his turn. He examined the board, deciding which balls to go for. "...Okay, 7 in the side pocket, no combos or anything." He took the shot, and easily enough, it went in. "Okay, and now... comboing off of 4, which'll go into the corner, I'll hit 2 into the side." He took the shot, and again, the call was good. "And now... banking off the side, I'll hit 1 in the far corner." Unfortunately, this time the shot didn't meet its target, and he shrugged. His turn was done, but if he was counting right, they were now tied.

"Tied, are we? How boring," Electra sighed. "That 8 is mine, though! First things first, though... 10 and 9 are in my way. I'm going to combo 9 off 10... 9 into the back corner, 10 into the closest corner. Watch and see," she beckoned, leaning forward for another shot; it was hard for anyone to avoid staring. She hit the cue ball and achieved her shot so handily that it was hard to believe she had made any mistakes so far. "And now there's just the lonely 8 ball... Hehehe..." she smirked, lining up her shot.

For whatever reason, she missed the shot entirely. "Hmph! I need some recalibration," she muttered to herself, then took another swig of ale. "I'm beginning to feel a little buzzed! Barkeep, another, please!"

Mundwoon frowned, going to refill the giant glass. It was a little amazing that Electra ha gone through so much already without entering a stupor,unless Chris'suspicion was correct. If it was, he might find out when Mundwoon returned. Regardless, his victory seemed to be riding on him sinking the remaining balls... If he wanted to win, that is.

Surprisingly, Wodin stood up slowly and collected himself. "I'm sorry, everyone... I believe I need to head back home. I believe one of my dogs has gotten into ny study... And I would hate for him to run wild in there," he excused himself, speaking so quietly that only Simon and Chris noticed. The others were absorbed with their games. Mundwoon was at the concession counter, so there wouldn't be much she could do to help right now...

Chris grimaced a bit as Electra cleared the remainder of her balls. He examined the table, looking to clear the table quickly and win. The fact that he was here to do a job had sunken to the back of his mind. "Okay, let's see... comboing off of 1, which'll in the side pocket, I'll hit 5 into the corner,"

Chris was about to take his shot, however, when Wodin announced he intended to leave. The resulting realization that his house was currently being searched caused him to fumble his shot a bit, missing the 1 completely and even knocking the 8 precariously close to the corner pocket.

"Hey, hold up Wodin!" Chris said, lightly jogging over to him. "It's almost your turn, our games are just wrapping up," Chris said, motioning to the almost cleared tables. "Why don't you stick around for a bit longer, huh? Besides," he added, lowering his voice a bit. "With you gone, Simon and I would be the only guys here, and I can't really have any guy talk with him, considering Melissa has to translate him for me. You don't want to leave me alone with just the girls to talk to, right?"

The tall, stiff man looked at Chris with surprise. "I see your dilemma... My navi is actually telling me that he's got a reason he can't leave yet either. Still, I have some very sensitive research in my study and I'd hate-" he sighed, then stopped abruptly and looked past Chris.

Electra, seeing her victory, had already unbuttoned and peeled off her jeans, leaving her in a red bottom that was less like a bikini and more like a thong. She was still wearing her thin-toe shoes, which she may have skipped intentionally. Wodin adjusted his glasses, then slowly moved back to his seat. "I suppose waiting a bit longer won't hurt..." he mumbled. "And I would hate to miss seeing the end..."

"What's the matter, Chris? Did you have a change of heart?" Electra asked, walking shamelessly around in just her underwear and shoes. Everyone was staring now, including the other table, Mundwoon (who was returning with more ale, and even the shoe guy. The two pool table carriers had lingered at the snack bar; they were staring too. "Or maybe you thought I would go ahead and finish, then you would get out of this? No such luck... Eight ball in the corner pocket..."

She leaned over the table (even more distracting now) and let another shot go. Probably intentionally, she missed the easy sink of the eight ball. "Whoops.... Now you have a chance to catch up, don't you?"

Mundwoon gasped as she came over, looking first surprised and then offended. She put down her mugs and grabbing Chris' shoulders. "What, was that not enough incentive?! You need to win! Uh... Er... If you get the eight ball in and win, I'll let you touch my boobs!" she offered, giving her usual saleswoman smile.

"How desperate!" Electra scoffed. "You're pretty skank, aren't you?"

"Look who's talking!" Mundwoon retorted. "Come on, Chris; you know a good deal!"

"You're both skanks," Lisa complained, staggering over to the table and looking utterly drunken. Phyra had apparently finished beating her, so the three had all arrived to watch Chris struggle. "You don't have to do everything they tell you to!" It was hard to take the assurance seriously, considering how inebriated she had become following Phyra's rules.

Chris, much like everyone else, could only stare at Electra as she paraded around in nothing but her shoes and underwear. He couldn't help but wonder if Nitro was getting a similar show with their little game, though, for obvious reasons, that was just about the only thought in his head, for obvious reasons.

When Mundwoon came over and grabbed his shoulders, however, he was more or less shaken back to his senses. "Huh? Oh, uh, that's a nice offer, Mundwoon, but I never intended to lose anyway." He said with a smirk. He stooped over the table and lined up his first shot. "One, side pocket," He said, and easily made the shot. He moved and continued his turn with "Six in the corner", which, in turn was sunk with ease.

Chris then smirked at the 8 ball, seated so precariously perched on the corner. He took careful aim, lined up his shot, and... the ball stopped a couple inches shy. "Damn," Chris muttered. He shrugged, and turned to Electra. "Your turn."

Everyone let out an audible sigh of exasperation as Chris' ball stopped just short of the hole. "Oh! Too bad, Pookie. This is my turn and I'm not going to throw you another bone..." Electra laughed, contorting her neck to look at him at an angle. She moved next to him, bent over the table, and called her shot: "eight ball, corner pocket." She made it easily enough, then raised her arms in the air victoriously. Some clapped while others booed; Electra simply smiled and sat her very attractive butt up on the table, then kicked off her shoes.

Simon spoke, then chuckled quietly. Lisa didn't realize she was supposed to translate, on account of her drunkenness. She moved over to Chris and tugged him aside, Everyone was watching, but she continued to pull him out of earshot and eventually pinned him against the wall unnecessarily. "Electra's is the last house. We can't play another game without her doing something! If we do, she'll get bored figure out what's going on," she hissed in a whisper. Strangely, her breath didn't smell like alcohol at all.

"What's next? Me and Simon? That's a little dry, if you ask me," Electra inquired from her spot on the table. Everyone else was divided, either staring in shock at Electra or trying to figure out why Lisa was mugging Chris. Mundwoon was chugging her ale furiously, clearly upset and angry at Electra. Lisa let Chris down so he could talk. She didn't seem angry so much as unable to control anything she was doing.

Chris was a bit surprised as Lisa pinned him up against the wall. However, he was a bit more surprised at the quality of her breath. "...Are you drunk or not?" He asked quietly, not entirely sure whether Lisa had been putting on an act. However, Lisa's questionable state gave Chris an idea on how to keep Electra engaged. As he was let down, he heard Electra comment on her match with Simon, and quickly went over to the consession booth.

"Hey Mundwoon," Chris said. "Listen, sorry about losing. If it makes you feel any better, I was making a sincere effort." Chris leaned in slightly. "Listen, can I get a mug of ale? An actual mug of ale. And I'll be sure to tell Ferris how helpful you've been."

Once he obtained his beverage, he returned to the pool tables and lifted his mug to Electra. "Alright, Electra, since you seem so keen on destroying my youthful innocence, I'll make you another wager," he said. "Every round you keep ahead, I'll take a drink. If Simon pulls ahead, I stop drinking. How does that sound?" Chris grinned a bit. He was risking a lot with this bet, but he was sure there wouldn't be any major reprecussions from potentially getting drunk, as he was going to take the bus home, and his parents weren't going to be in when he got back. All in all, he was sure this would keep Electra interested, with minimal drawbacks.