Karim practically falls out of his Waran's cockpit from exhaustion, shaking himself awake on the ground he heads for the pub. He casually does some slight of hand with his dagger, flips and tricks that slightly bemuse both himself and the guard as he hands it over with his handgun. The two nod in mutual agreement, and Karim enters the bar, scanning the place. 'Huh. Coalition. How strange,' he thinks to himself, casually leaning over to the bar and tapping his finger for the usual.
"Whiskey, neat....Actually, to hell with it, just gimme a glass and the whole damn bottle." He flashes a smirk at the bartender and trades his card loaded with entirely too much money for the bottle of spirits. The whiskey flows easily from the bottle, and as it pours he looks around the room once more, and notices an elderly gentleman talking to two younger folks he'd never seen before. He noticed the woman drinking gin was also pregnant, a rare sight for him. Karim strolled over to the booth they were at and sat next to the old man.
"Hello friends! I was just minding my own business when I noticed this gent's glass was getting low, and I just thought I'd share some of my bottle!" He downs what's left of his already third glass, then proceeds to fill his and the older man's glass before he could turn down his offer. His jolly mood and smile slowly creep away as his tone becomes more serious, his eyes fixed on the woman. "You know, miss, you shouldn't drink while you're carrying. It's very unhealthy for your child. You wouldn't want them ending up as someone like me, now would you?" He remarks with a slight smile at the end. His tone, however, remains cold, stifled, and all too serious. The deep, brown eyes that otherwise are unremarkable seem oddly intense, the low bar light reflecting slightly off of them. His gaze pierces the air and seems to create a chilled tension, a stare that could only come from a man who has faced death itself. "The clan of bandits that took care of me as a child used to fancy themselves gin. Bunch of pragmatic twits, if you ask me. I've come to learn the smell of that drink, the taste of it," Karim continues rambling, swinging his glass in one hand, eyes still locked on the woman. He only temporarily takes them off to inspect his glass before downing another swig, closing them in relief and keeping them closed as he continued speaking. "...The burn of it on fresh wounds. The sensation of it waking you in the middle of the night as your head is dunked in it. The pain of it sinking into your eyes as they hold them open." His eyes open slowly and briefly, still fixed on his drink, which he fills and drinks as he continues. "Anyways. I did eventually manage to leave them, find my way around a ship and take off. But it cost me." Karim lifts his drink into the light, drawing attention to his lack of a fifth finger, before returning the glass to his mouth. He places the empty glass on the table and remains silent for a moment, as if letting his story sink into the conscious of the people around him, the woman in particular.
"I digress. My good sir," his attention turns to the older man next to him, "please tell me I've finally met someone who appreciates whiskey as much as I do?" Karim's characteristic grin returns, and while sincere, it has a hint of insanity to it, giving a subtle, unsettling feeling to it.
George seemed to take no notice of man. "My good sir, my sister is fully aware of the implications that drinking alcohol when with child therefore she drinks non-alcoholic gin, it is I who is drinking alcoholic gin and tonic water." His upper class New London accent is heard in full force. "Now if you don't mind we are having a private conversation regarding matters that involve my sister, Good day."
The Junker suddenly realized he wouldn't learn much from talking to the bartender, so he decided to direct his efforts elsewhere. "I'll be back in a short while Bartender, thanks for the drinks".
The Junker noticed a group of people sitting at a booth over in the corner.
He approached the booth and waved a hand. "Greetings, one and all" He said kindly, his words sounding sincere and meaningful. "Isn't this a wonderful establishment? I'm certainly enjoying myself here". He quickly observed each patron with extreme speed, not giving an opportunity for his suspicious gaze to be traced. He eyed up each patron, judging their possessions and sizing up their wealth. He cut his spying short, as he felt none of these patrons would be worth the time. Rather, it'd be better to socialize. "Who are you all anyway? I'm new in the area and wish to meet the residents" He said, smiling.
"Non-alcoholic gin? Love, I advise you don't drink whatever's in that glass."Karim eyes the glass as if it were pisswater. His puzzled stare into the glass is interrupted by a grime covered man approaching. "Aye there friend! Good on you to come to the fun table!" He nudges the elderly man slightly with his elbow as he laughs at his own joke "My name's Karim, Karim Callanan, pilot for the Vagrant Raiders. Welcome to the neighborhood!" Karim takes the man's hand in a handshake and slaps it with the other, making a sincere introduction with a stupid smile on his face. "These are my new friends- Well, I don't know about that bloke over there," he points to the man across from him and uses one hand to shield his mouth from him, a fruitless effort since he's lost all control of his volume to the whiskey, "He's a bit promiscuous, if you know what I mean, and I don't think he likes me too much!" Karim breaks into laughter at the last bit, his head falling he slaps his knee to the humor. There's an audible shout from someone distant in the bar, "That's not how you use promiscuous!" But Karim simply waves in a flush towards the voice's direction paying little attention to the correction, and subtly pauses his drunk stupor to dig some multi-colored pills from his pocket and down them with his whiskey. "But enough about us merry men and woman, what's your name friend?"
Garviel walks into the pub, having just returned from new westminster where he was inspecting the land where SAI will be operating.
"Hey, Bartender!. A round of drinks on me."
He stops by the bar, getting a glass of whiskey before wandering over to where Karim is quite possibly scaring the life out of a few people.
"Karim, you bugger. who are your new friends?." He turns to the elderly man and the girl. "Garviel Loken, also of the Vagrant Raiders. i see the welcome wagon has come to say hello." Garvi tops up Karim's glass with whiskey. "Well this is amusing". he thinks
"Garvi! My friend," Karim practically tosses himself out of the booth to throw an arm around Garvi, spilling most of his whiskey in the process and nearly smacking him in the face with his bottle."I am so glad to see you! It's good to see a familiar face. As for my friends, this is... actually, I've just realized I don't know any of their names..." He pauses puzzled momentarily, studying the small band of people he was recently so friendly with. "...All the more reason to party with them! I was actually just about to get a name out of this character before you came over and said hi," he casually gestures towards the Junker. Karim slips off of Garvi's shoulder and plops back into his seat at the booth. "These three I have absolutely no clue who they are!" His face is almost completely overtaken by a seriously creepy grin, looking very unnatural and at the same time almost too natural. For a moment, it seems like Karim's face twists from his drunken, insane grin into a seriously sober nod, however, it's more likely than not just the light playing on his face. He sloshes some more whiskey from his seemingly endless bottle into his glass and downs the whole thing in one go as he sits back in his seat at the booth, looking content with more whiskey in his gut.
"But enough about us merry men and woman, what's your name friend?" "I am..." He paused for a moment. "Call me George. Pleasure to meet you Karim".
He spots Garviel ands nods in his direction. He reaches for his orange juice and takes a sip.
Meanwhile, person wearing black cloak opened door slowly, entered Season's pub and looked around for a known faces. It was young woman with long blond hair hidden under her cloak... She came to the bartender and bought some drink. She took glass and went to the dark corner of the Pub, where she sat down on the chair. Sometimes she looked at people here, but she couldn't find friendly face, but she could find strangers drinking alcohol and speaking about some things.
"Well... I met two Raiders... Both told me I can visit Season's base... But I don't see them... Well I may ask people here, maybe they know more about this base"
Lucy stormed into the pub with a thunder under her boots. She left the guard to fumble in an attempt to catch her side arm as she tossed it carelessly, her focus elsewhere. She stopped momentarily to scan the bar, her brow furrowing as she did. 'Where is that son of a...' she thought to herself, her eyes narrowing further as she spotted Karim laughing with a group in a booth. The thunder returned as she made her way over, giving him little time to react. "A pleasure to meet you George! I... Oh shi-" His words were cut off as Lucy gruffly grabbed him by the shoulder, her nails managing to dig through his pilot's jacket. "You. Come with me. Now.""Ow, ow, ow, Lucy, c'mon, stop!" Karim bleated his pleas for mercy as he was being dragged by the lady much smaller than himself, but to no avail. Lucy dragged him to a dark corner in the bar and threw him up against the wall. "What the hell do you think you're doing? Are you trying to get yourself kicked out of here, like the last place? Did you forget what it was like last time we had to live on our own?" "Lucy, I was just having a little fun- Agch!" Pain cuts off Karim's words once again as Lucy stomps on his foot with all her weight. "Fun? Fun? You think that we can afford to have fun? Do you think living off what we can find in dumpsters and eating out of a dead guy's ship is fun? Do you really want to risk what we have here and go back to that, for what, a little fun? What the hell are you thinking?" Lucy's breathing is short, her eyes furrowed and fixed on Karim, slowly watching his expression fade. She drops him abruptly and turns away from him, too disgusted to face him. Karim's head remains lowered as he remains on his hands and knees, bearing his shame. The lofty brown mane on his head bobs slightly as he turns to speak to Lucy. "I understand what you're feeling. I remember how bad it was living like that, and I'm sorry to threaten the life we've made for ourselves. But I ask you, what is the point of living when you have to make every decision with hesitation, and turn every corner with fear? What kind of a life have we crafted when we cannot relax and reflect on our hard work?" Karim raises his head more as he speaks to Lucy's back, her head barely turned to hear him. Her arm's unfolded too quickly for him once again as she whirls around and raises her boot into his gut. Caught off-guard, Karim flips over onto his side, his eyes barely able to catch the tears swelling in Lucy's eyes. "I'll tell you what kind of life we've crafted. One where we are kicking and breathing." She storms off without another word, leaving Karim on his side gasping for breath. Her shoulder catches the guard's roughly as she lifts her side arm from him on her way out, not looking back. Karim groans and slowly pulls himself up with a table, hobbling to his previous booth. "Sorry mates, I think I'm going to have to take a bit of a breather for now outside the pub. The rest of that bottle's on me. Cheers." He nods to the bottle of whiskey and slowly winces on his last words, making his way for the entrance. The guard, brushing his shoulder off from a rough encounter with Lucy sizes Karim up suspiciously, and upon seeing he's been on the same receiving side, he relaxes to his usual stance and returns Karim's weapons. They nod mutually as Karim continues on towards docking bays, leaning up against the wall in view of his Waran and sliding a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it up and resting his head against the wall with slight relief, smoke bellowing low from the corner of his mouth.
After much deliberation, George decides he'd rather seek other ventures. "Goodbye everyone" He says before leaving the bar, he collects his items on his way out.