A toast! [open][nk][nr][R][RDA]

"You see this, Maggie? You said I'd never get it, but here I am. Guess you really can teach an old dog new tricks!" Dol proudly pointed to the headband around his head, the mug of beer slowly being poured. He was grinning madly towards his friend, though he was not sure if she considered him a friend. Hopefully she at least despised him less than some others. He had been in here most nights talking with her. You know how movies have those scenes where someone sulks into a bar hoping to drown their sorrows in alcohol but a wise bartender helps them realize that everything can still be OK? Well that's not how it went down. No, Dol started coming here well after he had gotten over his sadness and instead decided to act. What happened with him was that he came in, and started talking with the girl about how he was determined to become a ninja. She just laughed it off, but he knew, deep down, he would figure it out. From that day, they developed a sort of playful hatred act when interacting, though Dol was pretty sure they were just good natured friends. Of course, he didn't know, but the fact that he spent five hours doing her job while getting her to realize that her cheating boyfriend doesn't deserve her made him think it was likely. Of course, the thirty nine year age gap between them made neither even think about pursuing the other.

"I guess it is possible, Dol, though I still don't see you achieving much!" She had finished pouring the mug, nice and big for the celebration he was having tonight. Then she started cleaning out a glass as Dol was drinking. He took off the head band and stuffed it in a pocket, not wanting to spill beer on it.

It would be awhile of the two idly chit chatting when she wasn't being called by other people, until a rather rowdy table towards a wall called her over. Dol thought nothing of it at first, just some people who didn't quite know their limits. That is, of course, until he heard the scream and the sound of shattering glass. Dol was quickly standing up and walking over towards the source of the noise. He caught the sight of Maggie's skirt slowly falling back to a decent length, and the glass of alcohol was all over the floor, hiding the tiny shards of glass. A few 'woo!'s were heard from the table. Dol appeared to be the only one looking to intervene, though the handful of other patrons were watching, wondering what was about to happen.

"Maggie, just walk away."

"Dol, no, it's ok, it was just a joke."

"Just go back to the counter." This was said very authoritatively. He looked sharply to the four men boys at the table. "You should learn to treat a lady better, and not waste good alcohol." Dol bent over and began picking up pieces of glass, putting them into a napkin he grabbed from another table.

"Oh yeah, man? I think we're treating that ho just fine. She broke up with our buddy last week!" one of them said with a mild slur.

Dol froze at the word 'ho', but quickly realized what was going on. These were friends of that lowlife Maggie used to date. "Your 'buddy' cheated on her. I don't think he or anyone has a right to complain about her breaking up with him." He was standing straight up, and had placed the glass filled napkin onto an empty table. There was still much on the floor, but that would have to wait.

"He's a stud! Probably off fucking some chick right now! She ain't got no right to complain, he was doing her a favor! Not everyone gets to be his side chick."

Dol was quite angered at this. "I do suggest you remain quite. The dribble comin-"

The first one, the loud mouth, stood up and threw a punch at Dol. Of course, Dol moved with it, turning his head as the boy hit. "Got anything to say now, cocksucker?" said the loudmouthed one.

Dol merely turned his head back. "Ow," is all he said, in an incredibly monotone voice. This, of course, just made the loud mouth angrier. He signaled two his two friends, and they both approached Dol. He began backing up, directly into a corner.

"You're a dumb one, going into a corner." Dol simply signed, closed his eyes, and stood there. The three children, who were about 20 years of age most likely, began punching and kicking at Dol. Obviously none of them had ever undergone any sort of battle training, or they may have realized that Dol was standing there, not even phased by their blows.

After about thirty seconds, Dol sighed again. As one of the boys, the loud mouth, went to punch him, Dol grabbed the boy's hand. Squeezing, Dol then pulled on the arm until the body came crashing forward. He forced two fingers from his other hand into the boys armpit, pushing quite forcefully. It would be quite the shock, and rather painful, though it would fade quickly afterward.

"AH! WHAT THE FUCK DUDE!" the boy would yell as Dol released him.

"Have you had enough venting?"

The three would back away a bit. "Man, this dude's a freak, let's leave this joint. No fun without Johnny anyways." The three left right after, and Dol returned to his seat at the bar.

"Thanks for not messing up the place too badly," Maggie said.

"Never crossed my mind," Dol replied, returning to his drink.

"Could have messed them up a bit, though. Would have been fun to watch."

"No, no, let them leave acting like they won. Will make them feel even worse about losing." With one large chug, Dol finished his beer.

This was when Dol remembered that jutsu he had started training. It was... quite the dangerous technique, and Dol worried that he would need to come up with a way to make it a bit weaker. However, it was as good a starting point as any. So even while drinking in the poison known as alcohol, Dol worked on developing a poison himself: a poison mist.

[987]

Ren Sat in a corner of the bar, half covered in shadow and long flowing white hair tucked inside his long black fur coat; with the coat covering his figure most people would immediately assume he was a woman, the exact opposite of what he had intended in choosing the article. a fine bottle of whiskey sitting on the table. Perks of running the accademy meant he at least had a little bit of spending money for this sort of thing once a week, although truth be told having the money and having the time were two different things. Ren hadn't had time to sit down and relax with a drink since... Since that day he smelled the return of Xyxer. At any rate, Ren had finally managed to finish enough of his work that he could sit down and have a drink at the end of the week, Yet just as Ren was about to sit back and pull out his little journal of notes, ideas, and formule, this time filled with notes on using seals to rewrite the memory of individuals; Ren was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering; a loud group of ruffians sitting in the middle of the room seemed to be harassing the waitress. Ren already had a Kunai out under the table and was about to stand up when another man rushed over to the table, he looked vaguely familiar.

Ren was busy mulling over where he'd seen the man before when one of the trio of ruffians punched the man... 'He took that punch rather well, If I didn't know any better I'd say he was a... Thats right, He's that old man that insisted on sitting in on all the academy classes. If I remember correctly I signed a graduation form for him yesterday.' Ren's train of thought was interrupted by the loud slamming of doors as the men left the bar... 'Definitely trouble makers, I'll have to send someone to look into them' Ren thought to himself as they left, Filing their faces and any distinguishing features away in the back of his head for future reference. Letting out the breath he had been holding the whole time, Ren slid the Kunai back into his coat pocket, careful not to tear the material as he did so.

The man had gone back to the bar, and was checking on the barmaid; 'Well I certainly have nothing better to do tonight, I guess I should go see if he's okay at least.' With another sigh Ren slid the little black book back into his coat and picked up the bottle of whiskey, wandering up to the bar and taking a seat next to the man. "You seem to be handling yourself Relatively well..." Ren paused for a fraction of a second, searching his memory for the man's name 'Dol, thats it, Dol harvard if I remember correctly.' Ren thought before glancing the man over. "It's Dol Isn't it?" He said, a seemingly genuine smile plastered across his effeminate face. 'He's not showing it, but that first punch must have hurt; It's probably going to bruise too' Ren thought to himself, his medical expertise causing him to analyse the man's 'wounds'. "Here, let me get that for you" he would say, before performing the hand seals for his basic medical technique and healing the affected area

Dol saw the person approaching the bar out of the corner of his eye. A little young looking, from what he could see, but apparently they had been allowed to buy alcohol, as they held a bottle of unopened whiskey.

"That's right, Dol's the name. Dol Havard. Might I inquire yours?" Dol said it, looking over to the person who had just sat next to him.

As Ren reached over with the glowing hands towards Dol's face, he would quickly push them away. "Woah, hold on there. I think I know that one, and I don't think I'll be needing it. It's a healing thing, right? I'll pass, thanks though." Dol took the hand that had knocked away Ren's and tapped the curled knuckles against his skull, grinning madly. "Those guys aren't going to do any real damage. Not on their own."

"So, how'd you know me?"

[147->1134]

Ren smiled broadened at the man's question, "I'm the one who authorized you having that headband of yours" Ren said, nodding at the small piece of fabric sticking out of his pocket, "But if your after my name It's Ren" he said as he signaled to the waitress to bring a second glass for the man. Then reached over to tend to the man's wounds only to have his hand knocked away. Ren let a slight chuckle out of his lips before replying to the man. "We'll I would hope you'd know the technique, after all its basically a graduation requirement at this point, all the same theres no harm in looking after your body my friend" The woman brought over the two glasses and placed them on the bar for them "So I must ask, what brings you to celebrate your graduation here, on your own?" he would say as he poured out two glasses of the whiskey, and passed one to the man

Ren pointed out the little cloth sticking out of Dol's pocket. "Ha!" he laughed. "I didn't even notice that was sticking out."

As the other events transgressed, Dol looked the person over. A very fancy black fur coat, looked well out of the price range of the average bar goer. Long, flat, flowing hair, bright blue eyes, soft, pale face, everything pointed in one direction. Something was nagging at the back of Dol's mind, but he could not quite place it.

"I'm here most nights, even if I'm just the unpaid bouncer." Dol grabbed his glass and took a sip.

At the same time, Maggie spoke in their direction "It's true. Sometimes he just orders water and chats with guests and scares the jerks away." She goes back to cleaning afterwards, until someone called her away for a refill.

"This is some fine whiskey. How much did it run you?" Dol said this while reaching towards his pocket. "Oh, on me being alone, can't say I really know anyone. Closest friends... aren't here, is one way to put it. You're the first person I've really talked to outside of this bar. Except.. you're not, since you're in the bar. Crazy how that works, isn't it?" Dol took another sip of the whiskey.

[212->1346]

Ren glanced at the woman as she spoke before turning back to the man with another chuckle, "Quite the white knight aren't you?" he said taking another sip from his glass, "All the same, I can't say its not a refreshing change of pace to have some ninja of the mist willing to something more than just fight amongst themselves." Ren glanced down at the man's hand as he reached towards his pocket. "Oh you needn't worry about that, the drinks on me." Ren would say as he topped up their drinks. "I wouldn't have finished it all on my own anyway; as for how much it cost..." Ren turned back to the woman, now standing between the two of them, cleaning a glass. "How much was it? I didn't really check" he said, leaving the woman open to reply.

"I try," Dol responded with a smile. He felt very smiley today. Maybe he was just happy about becoming a ninja. Or maybe the whiskey was stronger than he thought.

...Nah.

"Is mist really that bloodthirsty? Shoot, maybe it's a good thing I don't get out further than this bar often." Dol leaned back in his chair a bit, fully taking in that fact. Maybe what he planned to do would be... looked over. Standard trial by fire gone terribly wrong.

...Nah.

Maggie responded rather quickly to Ren's inquiry. "That bottle's (in universe equivalent of fifty United States Dollars). Most expensive bottle we have here."

Dol whistled a high note, rapidly descending. "Bit on the pricey side for some whiskey. Where'd a fine lady like yourself get the cash to just blow on that, or you celebrating something too?"

[139->1485]

Ren let out a chuckle when the woman said the bottle was so cheep, maybe it was the bottle that was getting to him as well but the man seemed a rather amicable sort. "Quite good for such a cheep bottle I must say." Ren said, taking another sip of the whiskey as he spoke, a calm smile on his face, but then the man said something that soured the mood. Ren's knuckles grew white as he squeezed the glass he was holding, his smile fading as cracks appeared in the glass. "You called me a lady" Ren said, quietly; his voice taking on a rather sinister tone as he glowered at the man. "I'm a guy" He said, malice and rage bleeding through his thinly veiled attempt at keeping his composure. A resounding *CRAAACK* echoed through the room as the glass Ren was holding suddenly exploded in a shower of glass and whiskey, all over the bench.

[You totally timelined me, so now what I say changes. You'll have to redo your actions now :P (#DelayTheRage)]

"Cheap! That is most certainly not cheap! It may not be the most expensive whiskey I ever did see, but it's well more than most all of them! Where'd a little lady* like yourself get the sort of money to call (50 United States Dollars equivalent in Ryo) for whiskey cheap?" As Dol said this, right after he said 'little lady*', Maggie began to chuckle. This chuckle, while it did not interrupt his speaking, did cause him to cease the rather extravagant hand gestures he was making and instead lean over to get a better look at Maggie, trying to figure out what she was laughing about.



[*If you're over ~5'3 he would say 'fine lady' instead of 'little lady']
[107->1592]

Ren was quite enjoying the conversation with the man, the whiskey giving his cheeks a slight blush of colour and he had a genuine smile that he very rarely got to show off... that was until the man made a mistake that should never be made. "Did you just." Ren paused making his best attempt at suppressing his anger, all the same he gripped the glass in his hand tight, so tight his knuckles turned white and his eyebrow twitched ever so slightly. Taking a deep breath before continuing, his anger bleeding through his voice all the more for the time taken to suppress it. "Did you just call me a little lady?" Ren said, his voice now raised slightly, as his grip began to crack the glass he was holding. "let me make something clear little man; I AM NOT A LITTLE LADY!" Ren said, the glass finally buckling under the pressure, shards of glass, and whiskey flying all over the counter. Ren resisted the urge to punch the man "it would pay you to remember that Harvard" the man's name coming out of Ren's mouth tasted like venom.

Glancing down Ren noticed a shard of glass stuck in his hand "Oh..." as casually as one could do so after such an outburst Ren reached down and pulled the shard free, immediately concentrating medical chakra in the wound, causing it to clot and begin healing immediately.