A Hard Place

[Kazumaru]

((This is another location based RP, in the tradition of the Vampire and Unicorn Pub and Inn, and The Inconvenience Store. ))

Near Dojopolis' famous Giant Freakin' Rock, across an empty lot, stands a dark, gray concrete building. Above the only door, the words "A Hard Place" are spray painted. There are a few windows in the two storey building, most of which have just been boarded over.

Past the door, which looks suspiciously like it was stolen from the Notahilton down the street, there's a few chairs and tables-- also looking suspiciously like recently stolen ones from local businesses--, a nuka cola machine, a bar with some makeshift barstools, a pool table, a Grand Theft Walrus arcade game, and a few other random objects.

Behind the bar itself is a dark-haired man wearing a heavily scorched cowboy hat and an eyepatch, and behind him are the bottles of wine, beer, and various other alcoholic drinks, mounted on the side of the staircase going up to the second storey.

Up that staircase is a few cheap rooms, along with the owner's own room, which he shares with his dog.

The dog, a Husky-wolf cross, is usually seen laying near the fireplace that heats the building.

((This post brought to you by Carl Jr.'s: [bleep] off, I'm eating!))

[Arthur McCorth]

((This is my first attempt at role-playing here and whilst my trainer assures me I am ready to attempt it I remain sceptical, so if at all possible please forgive any faux pas in my performance.))

An elderly man walked slowly down the street outside, one hand on his walking stick, the other clutching a small note book with the words 'McCorths Guide to the World of Blackstar' written in pencil on the cover.

"Hmmm....now I wonder what sort of a place this could be?" he said to himself as he shuffled to a stop outside the Hard Place.

For lack of anything better to do he knocked on the door with his walking stick.

[Kazumaru]

At the sound of the knock, the dog inside started barking. The bartender walked over and opened the door.

"What can I do you for, offi-- Oh. A patron. Welcome to A Hard Place." he said, propping the door (Which bore the number 2112) open. "C'mon in."

The bartender walked back to the bar, scratching Argos behind his ears as he walked past. "My name's Karlos." he said "That's my dog, Argos. You want a drink or what?"

[Cirrial]

A shimmer in the air wavers and darts across an empty allotment, directly opposite to the building understood to be called "A Hard Place".

The blurriness slows down and seems to hop from side to side, seeming fairly anthropoid in general dimensions. It mutters to itself in a strange language. "<Damn city! Is there nothing here of any salvagable value or practical use?! Nothing but concrete everywhere! Not even so much as moss!>"

The distortion lowers down and crawls across the ground, slowly and carefully, to the entrance of "A Hard Place".

Slowly, the epheremal shimmer rises up, pressed to the side of the wall. There is a slight scraping, and a small, brown finely scaled patch of something seems to hover in the air, moving as if attached to some creature. On the wall, a patch of the sky hangs glistening, slowly dripping to the ground, before becoming either clear or concrete grey.

The patch is apparently held aloft near the top of the shimmer. Even more quietly, it curses. "<And why did I have to just scrape some of the film off?! This is going well so far!>"

The mostly-invisible figure looks to the open door. It whispers to itself. "<Well, if I'm going to be found... Rather it'd be few than the whole damned city!>"

With a single leap into the air it lands in front of the door, some of the chameleonic fluid scraping off of the bottoms of its legs in the process.

It turns to the door and very nearly runs straight into Arthur, before skidding quickly to a halt and falling backwards with a dull thud.

It quickly rolls sideways away from the door, unfortunately depositing the rest of the chameleonic fluid all over the concrete ground, leaving a city skyline residue.

Areen! No! Not good! The bipedal reptilian figure, covered in brown scales and with pale white spikes jutting at various angles from its limb joints, leaps back and presses itself against the wall, silently hoping that the barkeep and his patron were distracted by each other's company. Its tail twitches gently in stress and anxiety.

[Mitsukai]

B-B-BR-BR-BR-BRIIINNG

B-B-BR-BR-BR-BRIIINNG

B-B-BR-BR-BR-BRIIINNG

B-B-BR-BR-BR-BRIII-EEEEPPPPP!!!

Flying + Alarm Clock = Alarm Clock going EEEEPPPPP!!!

...

A talking alarm clock going EEEEPPPPP!!! Not an inanimate one silly-nilly.

It flew through the air... and hit the music player before landing unceremoniously on the ground. Loud, blaring, obnoxious music started to play just in time to drown out the equally loud, blaring, and obnoxious protests/insults/swears of the music player and the alarm clock alike.

"What the hell is wrong with you, you human?!? Every single freaking morning it's the same thing-" A string of curses flew from the invisible mouth of the machine before it was satisfied that it had said enough, and contented itself with belting out the tunes.

The alarm clock on the other hand...

"How dare you throw me like that after I wake you up every single morning without fail! How ingrateful! How thankless! You heartless human! That was evil y-y-you-" Whiny, feminine, annoying voice. Dear god, it never stopped.

"Me what?" Magarita challenged menancingly as she sat up on her bed, eyeing the clock with an evil look.

The alarm clock sighed and finally shut up. For something that's really loud... it was utterly horrid with uttering curses and dramatic to boot. A diva really.

"Now, now, now, there's no need to be so cranky in the morning," the bed said as Magarita slipped off the bed and landed on the floor with a soft thud.

Not feeling the want for a lecture, Magarita began smoothing the sheets, folding the blankets and placing them at the foot of the bed, and fluffing up the pillow.

The bed was something she had to keep happy if she wanted a good sleep; hence why she had to treat it nicely. The blankets and sheets were sleepy objects... so they never talked. Even with her influences. Thank god.

It wasn't as if she asked for this power. The power that makes usually inanimate objects talk... She wasn't even sure how it worked herself.

It just did. Unfortunately.

[Kazumaru]

The music could easily be made out downstairs.

"Margarita!" Karlos shouted. "GET DOWN HERE, WE'VE GOT A CUSTOMER FOR ONCE!"

Argos smelled something. Something strange. Something he'd never smelled before. With his tongue hanging out of his mouth, he ran out the door, narrowly avoiding the strange man who'd knocked. Outside, he sniffed around-- it was cooler out here, which was nice for a change. Finally, he saw where the smell was coming from. Some strange liquid was on the ground... it smelled nice to him, so he licked at it.

With a yipe, he ran back inside, once again narrowly avoiding the strange man, and began lapping up water from his bowl to get the bitter taste out of his mouth.

[Mitsukai]

Of course, just a few seconds before Karlos begins yelling, a poor attempt to overpower and overcome the loudness of the music, Margarita cranks the volume up and begins dancing.

And casually kicks the alarm clock underneath the bed, much to the clock's protest.

And if she couldn't hear the alarm clock shrill shrieks of indiginity, she sure as hell couldn't hear Karlos.

Thus, was the chaotic way that Magarita started her day.

[Abidusray]

"Ghhiiiive me anuther drinksh," Thresher slurred, slamming down his mug on the bar counter. A network of hairline cracks spread out from the center of the glass, radiating into the sides. Apparently unconvinced he got his point across, he repeated this process a few more times.

Dropping the crackled glass, he bent down towards a barstool and began to engage it in an earnest conversation about how doors that open both ways work.

[Kazumaru]

Karlos eyed Thresher, and filled his glass again, but this time with water... He was probably too drunk to notice.

Karlos then pulled out a shotgun, currently loaded with blanks, and fired it up at the ceiling. "GET DOWN HERE!" he shouted again.

[Mitsukai]

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

Magarita was just going through her morning stretches when she noticed the indentation in the floor. The new ones, not the ones that were already there.

Pulling out of the splits, she stepped over to the music player. She turned it off just in time to hear Karlos yell, "GET DOWN HERE!"

Scowling, she walked over to her closet, picked out a pair of jean shorts that was frayed at the ends, a red and white plaid blouse with short sleeves, a silk red scarf for a belt, and slipped all of the clothing on. Her pj's were tossed onto the bed.

Some things liked to talk. Some things didn't. Her clothing was one of them, thankfully enough.

She walked over to her vanity and grabbed a brush. Pulling it through her fiery red hair, she attempted to make her hair respectable. Sweeping her hair up into a ponytail, she tied it quickly with a red ribbon. Her hair was long enough to pull it back, but short enough so that the ends stuck out perkily.

"You look lovely darling," the vanity drawled out. If there was anything she trusted, she trusted the words of her vanity. Why? That vanity was always right when it came to clothing.

Satisfied, she left the room without a second glancing, slamming the door behind her.

"Don't get your knickers in a knot Karlos," she called out teasingly as she bounded down the stairs with surprisingly little sound. She wasn't very tall, nor very big, and she was barefoot, so her footsteps were quite light.

[Kazumaru]

Karlos grumbled, saying something about lazy kids, and began wiping a section of the bar to make it look like he actually ever wiped down the whole thing-- In fact, he didn't, and the varnish was wearing off of that one spot from how much he wiped that small part.

Finishing that, he slung his towel over his shoulder and looked at the man in the doorway. "Well? C'mon in."

[Mitsukai]

Maybe it was because she was around voices most of the time, loud and faint ones, that her hearing was quite good.

She glared at Karlos before giving the spot he was "wiping" a pointed look.

"I wouldn't be talking hun if I were you," she retorted. "At this rate, I'll have to re-varnish that spot since it's wearing off because someone never wipes off the whole thing!"

Satisfied with her rant, she crouched down, balancing her whole weight on the balls of her feet.

"Argos!" she cooed, her arms wide as she waited for the dog to approach her. While she waited, she sneaked glances at the newcomers. She'll deal with them later.

[Kazumaru]

Karlos rolled his eyes. "Well, excuuuuuuuse me, princess!" he said.

Argos looked up from lapping the last few drops of water out of his bowl, and ran over to the nice girl, jumping on her and licking her face.

[Mitsukai]

"Well, excuuuuuuuse me, princess!"

Magarita merely stuck her tongue out at him. He didn't deserve any more attention than that.

Instead, she focused on the dog who was licking her face right now.

"Stop that Argo," she giggled before sweeping him up in her arms. Holding him in her right arm, she began stroking his blue fur gently.

Turning so that she could take a better look at the newcomers, she examined them from head to toe. They didn't seem like normal customers, but then again, this wasn't a normal place.

[Cirrial]

((NOTE: A few people have mentioned that this post isn't entirely clear. In this post, Serakree is outside, and the door of the pub presumably opens from the inside out. Correct me on this if I'm wrong.))

Looking around from side to side at least a dozen times, Serakree steps forward, throwing her hands up as if the sunlight would burn her.

She takes one sidestep, still pinning herself to the wall, towards the door.

She takes another.

Then Argos struts out, entranced by the shiny chamelonic fluid on the ground.

She darts back to the corner of the concrete building, running before leaping into a conveniently placed alleyway, smashing into a trash can and sending a few alley cats running for their lives. After hissing a few more quiet areeni profanities, she jumps onto the side of the building, before falling back to the ground.

That's it. I need a better plan.

She calmly walks around to the front side of the building, carefully sidles up to the door once more, right side of her body pressed against the concrete, and gestures to herself with her left hand.

Three... two... one-

She runs in front of the door and turns sharply into it, smacking into the door. The idea that the door could have opened from the inside outwards never occured to her a minute ago. She reels backwards, arms flailing to her sides, and she falls back into the same mess of colour-changing oils that she arrived with.

"<Oh, that is IT! I have HAD it with this city and by extension everyone in it!>"

She leaps to her feet and, after brushing herself down, walks over to the door, and hammers angrily, her claws scraping at the door in the process. After a few thuds, she slowly stops, and she forms a new mental plan.

She begins hammering on the door with less force but more rapidly, with a lot more desperation. Let's hope those lexicons I borrowed from the Mertix or whatever they were called work!