Steve is seated in a booth along the wall staring at a message displayed on his omni-tool. A few empty shot glasses sit at the edge of the table, giving explanation to the slightly glossy look in his eyes.
#Miner'sRespite – December 4, 2013
Renala descends the staircase, briefly looking over the floor as she does. She's in her usual casual wear, the only thing notable is the top being red. Spotting Steve, Renala approaches his table.
Steve taps at the omni-tool's interface upon Renala's approach, causing the screen to dissipate. He straightens up his posture and reaches up, rubbing at his tired, reddened eyes. "Evening, Ren." he says, forcing a short smile, "How's the day treating ya?"
Renala takes the seat opposite him in the booth, smiling slightly. "Good enough," she says. "Sent off an inquiry to the IT company in the morning, but I'm still waiting to hear from them." She glances towards the shot glasses with a tilt of her head, but no verbal comment follow. "How's yours?"
Steve scratches at the back of his neck uncomfortably, "Great... Great." he says, repeating it a second time as if it will suddenly be true if he says it enough, "So, how are your odds looking? Think you've got a good shot?"
Renala frowns. "I'm not sure yet," she says followed by a sigh. "I'm asking if they've got some positions open, since they advertized none on their site." She glances towards the bar, considering getting a drink. "I'm not sure about my odds, but if they have no jobs open, that won't matter too much."
Steve shrugs and slides out of his seat. "No harm in trying, right? The worst they can do is say no." he says, grabbing hold of the table to ease himself out of the booth, still seeming to favor his ribs as he does so. "How about a drink?"
Steve returns the nod and makes his way towards the bar. After placing his order, he leans against the counter and waits to be served.
Steve returns to the booth with a tray containing a couple of shots of tequila, two beers, and a bowl of pretzels. He sets the bowl in the middle of the table and places a shot and a beer in front of Renala, placing the remaining ones on the opposite side of the table. He sets the empty tray on the table of an unused booth behind them. "So..." he begins, picking their conversation right back up as he slides back into the booth, "Is this IT company the only place you're feeling out right now?"
Renala glances at the shot glass placed before her, but decides against asking what it is. "Yeah," she says. "I haven't found any other options yet, unfortunately." She looks curiously at the content of the bowl while picking her glass up with a nod, "Thanks."
Steve grabs the shot glass in front of him and looks down into it, swirling the contents. "You're not in any rush though, right? I mean that last job paid well enough." he says, holding the shot glass out in front of himself and nodding towards Renala's shot expectantly.
Renala places her glass down, and grabs the other one indicated by Steve. "I know, but it's not going to last forever." She slowly brings the glass up to her lip and takes a tiny tentative sip of it.
Steve lifts his own shot glass and empties it into his mouth before setting the glass down on the table a little harder than intended, cringing for a moment as the burn coats his throat. "There's no sipping when it comes to shots." he says, reaching out and pressing a fingertip against the bottom of Renala's shot and lifting it up, urging her empty it.
Renala let the shot be lifted and downs the content of it, evoking a small cough to clear her throat. "I know, I know," she says with a sheepish smile. "I just wanted to figure out its taste before downing it in one go."
Steve shakes his head, chuckling to himself, a genuine smile making an appearance for the first time of the night, "That's the last thing you wanna do, Ren... That stuff will knock you on your ass. Tastes like aged cleaning solution." he says, making an exaggerated face to express his dislike for the taste before tossing a few pretzels into his mouth.
Renala smirks. "Sure did," she says, "I take it you're not drinking for the taste, huh?" She reaches towards the bowl and picks up on of the pretzels, looking the peculiar thing over curiously.
Steve chomps through a mouthful of pretzels, crunching loudly, and swallows hard. "That obvious?" he asks sarcastically, glancing over the empty shot glasses, "Haven't been getting much sleep lately..." he says with a sigh, "Figured maybe a little liquid motivation might help."
Renala chuckles. "Oh," she says, acting surprised, "I thought you liked the taste of cleaning solution..." She tilts her head a little to the side sympathetically. "You sure drinking will help with that?"
Steve raises an eyebrow as he brings his beer to his lips. After a long swig, he gives a half-hearted shrug, "Certainly can't hurt." he says, and as if on cue, a twinge of pain shoots through his forehead, causing him to wince in pain. "Just need a good night's sleep is all." he adds as he reaches up to massage his temple.
Renala eats the pretzel, taking a few seconds to savour the taste of the unfamiliar baked goods. "Just remember to drink water," she says before reaching towards the bowl of pretzels and taking another.
Steve produces his familiar bottle of pills from a pocket, and pours a few into the palm of his hand, tosses them into his mouth, and washed them down with a healthy amount of beer. "And waste a perfectly good hangover? No thank you."
Renala chuckles, raising a brow. "Well, in that case, I'm not stopping you," she says, shrugging. "So," she says, turning the pretzel in her hand a little, "what are these, exactly?" She eats it, and washes it down with a long sip of her beer.
Steve reaches out and grabs a handful of the salty treats. "Baked krogan intestine." he says, staring harshly at the pretzels, "There's old mystical tales about how eating the entrails of your enemies allows you to claim their strength." he nods sagely. "I wouldn't mention it around Darsk, though. Might take offense to it."
Renala raises her brows, but laughs rather loudly. "Goddess," is pretty much all she can say for a moment before the laughter dies down. "I can't believe you could say that with a straight face."
Steve joins in on the laughter, lowering his gaze to the table and resting his forehead against the palm of his hand. "It was worth a shot." he snickers, "They're called 'pretzels'. Just baked dough... I can't believe asari don't have pretzels! What do you eat when you're getting sloppy drunk?"
Renala nods. "Well, there's other sorts of snacks," she says. "I think we've got something similar, but of a different shape and taste." She grabs another of the pretzels with a smile. "They're good, though, even if I'm not thinking of getting drunk."
Steve shrugs and helps himself to a few more pretzels as well, "Suit yourself... But I've always got room for a partner-in-crime." he teases, "I've got a one way ticket to tequilaville with your name on it, Ren."
Renala chuckles. "When you put it that way..." she says. "Okay, I'm in." She smiles, and eats the pretzel, and takes a long swig of her beer.
Steve slams his hand onto the tabletop in excitement, causing the drinks to rattle, "Now we're talking!" he says, his smile widening, "I'll be right back. Gonna set us up with a few rounds." he adds, quickly rising from his seat and making his way past Ren towards the front counter.
Renala smiles. "Alright," she says before he leaves, but remains in the booth, looking towards the bar while waiting.
Steve returns a few minutes later with another tray. Atop the tray are eight shot glasses, each filled to the brim, and two more beers. "Time to see what you're really made of, Ren." he says, a smirk present on his face as he sets the tray beside the pretzels and begins dividing the shots evenly on each side of the tray. "How often did you have nights like this back on Thessia?"
Renala considers the question for a moment. "It's been few years," she says, "but often enough back when I was a maiden." She picks up one of the shots, but doesn't drink from it yet.
Steve settles back into his seat across from Renala and grabs one of the shots for himself. "To a good nights rest." he toasts with a smile, raising the small glass up momentarily before pouring its contents into the back of his mouth and grimacing.
Renala raises her glass in turn and and downs it. "And a wonderful morning," she says jokingly. She grabs a few pretzels, which she eats along with a long sip of her beer.
Steve rubs at his forehead again and drinks the last swig of his first beer, pushing the glass aside and grabbing the fresh beer off the tray to replace it. "May as well enjoy the credits while we have it..." he says, the last shot hitting him particularly hard on top of the previous few, "It comes and goes so quickly."
Iressa descends the steps, dressed casually and yawning into her hand as she surveys the floor. Upon spotting the pair against the wall, she appears somewhat reluctant but eventually wanders over to greet them. "Good eve-" She stops, taking in the sight of the empty glasses. "...evening." Raising a brow, she looks between the two. "Am I interrupting something?"
Renala chuckles. "I can pay for my part," she says. She was still relatively sober, but at the pace, it wouldn't take long. She looks up to Iressa, and shakes her head. "Of course not, Iressa," she says with a smile as she grabs the second glass before her. "How are you?"
Steve waves a hand dismissively at Renala, "Nope... Already paid for. Tomorrow mornings headache is entirely my treat." he says with a toothy grin before turning his attention to Iressa. "Hey you. Have a seat."
Iressa looks around the bar for a moment, "Oh... oh, alright." She concedes, sliding into the booth next to Renala. "Hm? Oh, I'm quite alright. I came down for maybe a cup of that coffee, but you two... you clearly had a taste for something different." She peers the collection of glasses curiosly, giving a short laugh.
Renala downs her shot glass, grimacing a little bit at the taste. She takes the untouched beer glass from the tray and puts it before the younger asari. "There's enough for all of us," she says, seeming slightly affected by the drinks now.
Steve nods approvingly and downs a second shot. "Enough to go around..." he says, repeating Renala's sentiments.
Iressa puts up her hands between herself and the glass, "Oh, that's... uh, very kind of you." She says, pushing it away. "But I think someone here ought to stay clear-headed enough to show you back to your rooms." She smirks, looking between her two increasingly inebriated companions.
Renala cocks her head. "Come on," she says while reaching for her next shot. "I can take care of myself." She picks it up and drinks it as fast as she can, her face contorting a little at the taste.
Steve reaches out and pushes the glass towards Iressa. "Not much trouble for us to get into between here and our rooms. Relax. Loosen up." he says, playing devil's advocate as he reaches for his third shot and sets it in front of himself, "Live a little."
Iressa rubs the back of her neck, looking somewhat apprehensive. "Alright, alright." She gives in, picking up the glass. "Only a little, I mean it." She warns, hesitating before taking a sip. "What's the occasion, anyway? Are we celebrating something?"
Renala smiles, then looks thoughtful for a moment. "Wait, we need one?" she asks, not sounding too serious. She picks up one of the shot glasses, and raises it, "To being alive, I guess." She chuckles and downs it.
Steve raises his shot in turn and slugs it down. "To being alive!" he repeats, "...For however long it may last..."
Iressa clears her throat, raising her glass as well. "I suppose that's cause for celebration." She offers, taking a sip or two before setting it back down between her hands. "How long have you two been down here?" She asks with a tilt of her head, tring to gauge by the empty glasses but not having much luck.
Renala | "Not too long," she says. "Steve was already here when I got here." She wraps a hand around the fourth glass, but doesn't pick it up.
Steve tilts his head back and forth, making a show of trying to determine an exact amount of time. "Eh..." he mutters, "I came down a few hours ago." he says. Catching a glimpse of Renala's move towards her fourth shot, he does the same.
Iressa nods, "I see..." She says, grasping the glass with both hands and glancing around the bar. "Came to get a head start, I take it?" She teases, watching the two reach for another shot, and goes for another sip of her drink. "In that case, I won't try to catch up with you."
Renala holds up her glass. "I've only had four of those before this one," she says, her voice starting to sound a little slurred. "It'd be easy to catch up!" Renala smirks before drinking the shot, not minding the taste enough now to excibit it her expression.
Steve follows suit, downing the shot in one fell swig, "I'm only-... One or two..." he begins, glancing at the older empty shot glasses scattered at the end of the table, "Four or five ahead of her." he says, smiling from ear-to-ear.
Iressa laughs, thoroughly amused by the drunken pair. "I can tell. You certainly don't mess around when it comes to drinking." She says, raising her glass his way. "I hope you're prepared for a rather uncomfortable morning, though." She teases, looking down at the shots left to go.
Steve raises his beer, taking Iressa's gesture as a chance to clink his glass against hers, albeit a bit harder than intended, causing beer to slosh about and spill over the sides a bit. "To Maria!" he says.
Renala nods. "It'll...it'll be worth it," she says. "And it'll go over." Not having any stronger options, she grabs her first glass of beer. She chuckles before taking a long swig of the glass.
Iressa 's smile fades somewhat, and she echoes Steve. "To Maria." She says in a fairly respectful tone and puts the glass back down without taking a drink. Then, looking to her side, she smirks at Renala. "Yeah, let's see if you're still saying that in the morning."
Steve continues to hold his glass out. "And-... And for Karen." he says with a stern nod, taking on a somber tone before lifting the glass to his lips and taking a long swig.
Renala smirks back at her. "Don't be so short-sighted, Iressa," she says. "I turned sixt...three-hundred-and-sixty-three yesterday. What's losing one good day to a headache, hm?" She looks at Steve, tilting her head, "To who?"
Steve raises an eyebrow at Renala, completely ignoring her question as his train of thought has seemingly been thrown off course. "Three hundred and-... Damn..." he says, sounding almost impressed as he eyes her up and down, "Still look fucking fantastic!" he slurs, "To birthdays!"
Iressa chuckles, "Fair enough. I'll admit you have a fair amount of wisdom over me." She concedes with a grin. Following the other asari's gaze, she tries to recall a 'Karen', with no such luck. "Good question. Who is Karen?"
Renala raises her glass, quite a bit of purple creeping into her cheeks for a moment. "You think so?" she says. "And yeah." She proceeds to gulp down the remainder of the beer, which is about half the glass.
Steve takes a rather healthy drink from his beer as well amd sets the glass back down. "Absolutely..." he says, his eyes set on Renala. Upon hearing Iressa's question, he becomes visibly uncomfortable, the smile slowly fading from his face. "Nobody..." he says, his voice lowering almost to a whisper, "Just a-... She's nobody."
Iressa frowns slightly, looking to Renala for some kind of indication she understands. "It's alright, Steve." She offers, unsure how to respond in this situation.
Renala holds her glass, albeit just a few drops short of empty, up. "To whoever that is, then," she says with a smile, probably not the most tactful when a drink too much is in her system. As if that wasn't bad enough, she looks over the table to see if there are any shot glasses that aren't empty.
Steve nods silently, raises his beer one last time and takes another swig, emptying the glass. He sets the glass aside and places his hands flat against the table, "Yeah." he says, giving Iressa a nod and forcing a smirk back into place, "It has to be, right? Drink up!" he continues, attempting to change the subject.
Iressa looks down at her glass, smirking as she pushes it over to Renala. "Here, I think this is what you're looking for." She says with a chuckle, standing up next to the booth. "You two feel free," She directs to Steve, "I think it's about time I leave you be, provided you can still tell me where we are."
Renala picks the glass up, holding it out towards Iressa. "That one was for you," she says in a slurred speech, "drink up!"
Iressa sighs, takes the glass, and only hesitates for a moment before downing the rest of it in seconds. She drops the glass back on the table, appearing to try to shake it off. "Alright, I drank up." She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand, pulling a face as she opens and closes it in a tasting manner.
Renala claps her hands a few times in applause, though it evokes no audible sound as her coordination is a tiny bit off. "Good," she says. "Then, I'll see you... see you again."
Steve smiles, satisfied at the results. He looks across the table at Renala. "We'll turn her into an alcoholic yet!" he mutters.
Iressa chuckles, "You can certainly try." She turns to leave them, stopping after a few steps, and looking back at them skeptically. "Don't get into any fights or anything while I'm gone, alright?" She directs her pseudo-serious stare mostly at Steve.
Steve points at himself with a puzzled look on his face, as if to say 'Who? Me?', but his smile remains in place. "Think you might've-... Might've had a bit too much to drink, Iressa... You're talking crazy!"
Iressa rolls her eyes good-naturedly, smiling at the drunken pair. "I'm no mother, but you're the closest things to children I have around. You worry me, you really do." She teases, "Take care of yourselves." The asari adds for parting words, waving as she backs up and turns to return upstairs.
Steve lifts an arm into the air, waving at the departing asari. Once she's out of sight, he turns his attention back to Renala, leaning an elbow against the table and propping up his head as he looks across at her through glassy eyes, "Feeling good?"
Renala returns the wave to the leaving asari before turning back to Steve, relaxing her seat as she seems a bit tired. "Mhmmm," she says, her tone not indicating much. "Better than ever."
Steve nods thoughtfully for a moment, seeming to settle down a bit, "Sleep should come easily tonight." he muses.
Renala nods. "Yeah," she says, idly glancing over the table again for a drop of alcohol. "Speaking of, I'm getting a little tired."
Renala nods and stands up, her hands flat on the table once the lack of balance catches her a little off guard. "Yeah, let's."
Steve mimics her motions, doing his best to keep his balance as everything begins to dance in a blurry haze. "Think-... Maybe I overdid it... Just a little." he chuckles as he climbs out of the booth.
Renala follows out of the booth, one hand on the table until she has to let go of it. "Just a little," she repeats as she takes a careful step towards the staircase. "I just wish this place had an elevator right about now," she adds in a murmur as she looks towards the stairs.
Steve chuckles loudly, putting an arm around Renala in an effort at maintaining his footing as he continues towards his room. "Nah... Challenges are what make life interesting." he says, eyeing the staircase as if it's a mountain waiting to be conquered.
Renala follows beside him, glancing up at him with a smile. "When I said that about the headache," she begins, slurredly, "I didn't mean falling down the stairs." She chuckles. Her hands find the outer railing on the staircase with a bit of fumbling around and she carefully takes the first step to surmount this hindrance.
Steve continues up the stairs slowly, stumbling and catching himself a few times on their way up. "We made it out of a den of-... Of psychopaths... We can certainly handle a fucking staircase!" he jokes, "We make a good team!"
Renala keeps ascending the steps along with Steve, stumbling a few times, but managing to catch herself. "That we do, that we do," she says in nearly a mutter. As she can see the top, she says, "Third door on the left wall." She has told Steve that before, but she didn't remember doing that.
Steve nods silently and steps into the hallway, moving towards the direction indicated. Placing his free hand against the hallway wall, he sways back and forth alongside Renala as they make their way towards the door. "Stairs completed... Without-... Without incident." he boasts proudly.
Renala smirks. "We're the best," she says followed by a chuckle. She keeps going towards the door, reaching it shortly after. "I guess... thanks for tonight," she says before letting go of the wall and winding her arms around Steve in a tight hug, probably not too mindful about his injuries.
Steve wraps an arm around Renala's waist, giving her a tight squeeze as he continues to rest his other hand against the wall to stabilize himself. "We'll do it again soon, Ren... I had fun." he slurs with a smile, far too drunk to be concerned with his injuries, although he'll definitely be feeling it in the morning.
Renala smiles, resting her head on his shoulder. "Yeah, me too," she murmurs. "I'm buying next time."
Steve chuckles a bit louder than intended, causing some mutterings from the other side of a nearby door, causing him to quickly stifle his laughter, "I can't argue with that."
Renala lets go of the hug after a moment and steps back, swaying on her feet now that she isn't supported by Steve. She hums contemplatingly for a moment as she don't know what else to say. "I'll see you, then."
Renala stands still for a few seconds before turning towards her door and fumbling with the lock before it opens. She looks over her shoulder, "Good night." After that, she enters her room and the door closes behind her shortly after.