I Got the Boom Boom Pow

[Needlenose]

Zigzag seems a little bewildered at the 'Dead soldier' comment. Is she... challenging him to a drinking contest?

He decides that must be it, and in response, he guzzles down his own beer before setting the glass down, raising a hand to catch the attention of the first passing waitress, and saying, "Another round. For both of us."

So yes. Zigzag thinks he's going into a drinking contest, and he's apparently buying.

This can't end well.

Sunbeam doesn't seem particularly put off when Haywire doesn't answer his question. Considering just what's going on over there... "Can't blame a dude for being distracted, I guess," he mutters, just before he catches sight of Sel heading his way.

"Hey, babeness!" he greets happily enough. "Most excellent to be layin' eyes on you again!"

[Spinister]

Singe nods, watching Mirinda walk off closely. Hmm.

Hairsplitter frowns at Aimless and says primly, "I am very good at what I do. I know that. I am, however, aware that what I do is not particularly good dinner conversation." Neither of his jobs are. Speaking of dinner... he looks his over very, very closely before picking up his solverware and polishing it with a napkin, running his thumb along the edge of the knife thoughtfully. Hairsplitter looks up at Sel uncertainly. Kayla has a twin? What is that even supposed to mean? Her twin isn't the one up on the stage dancing with knives like she knows just where to stick them... to ensure a target bleeds out fast and silently.

[Blurr]

"If you're fine with it then," and Shikoba scoots in a little closer to the table, "at least it gives us a little more time to chat." Haywire clearly has no problems with this and Sunbeam is quite handily forgotten – not by Sel, at least, who leans against his table with one hip rather than take a seat just yet – while Haywire wonders if it's appropriate to ask just what the feathers are for since they can't be for flying. Unless Shikoba's hiding a pair of wings under the bikini somewhere. "So do I keep calling you sailor?" she adds, silent laughter in her stare when he gives her a bewildered look.

"…Oh! Oh, uh," he fumbles. Should he use the only name he goes by these days? It isn't much of a name for a Nebulan who isn't partnered with a giant robot. "It's – uh… call me Wally," he says. Man, he's been hanging around on Earth too long. That isn't a very Nebulan name either!

"All right then." Shikoba suspects an alias, but if he keeps nursing that Nightfall, the truth will out itself. He looks like a lightweight and if he can lie his way out of a wet paper bag, she's a nun.

[Misfire]

Twi'la raises an eyebrow at as Zigzag downs his beer, but doesn't complain about him ordering another round. After all, that's what she wanted, and if he gets nice and snockered in the process, well- she's not on the Garden's payroll and doesn't have to worry about getting fired for rooking a patron. She smiles up at Zigzag and ruffles his hair.

There's a reason why Aimless wasn't snuggling too much with that girl, after all.

Aimless does frown at the pair, and he murmurs to Zigzag, "Watch it man. The house brew can sneak up on ya quicker than you think."

He takes a sip of his own drink and then turns turns back to Hairsplitter. "See, that's the thing. Yeah, I don't much care about the nitty gritty of what you do. But the girls that actually work here? They're paid to listen to you talk. You wanna sit down and solve quadratic equations, they'll be enchanted. They ain't hookers, mind, though some of them are rather amiable off the clock."

"Point being- you see someone you like, don't be afraid to speak up."

Kayla's dance seems to be reaching it's climax.

[Needlenose]

Hmm. Is this one of those places with the no grabbing rules? Just to be on the safe side, when Sel bumps her hip into him, Sunbeam just pushes out a seat for her. "Have a seat, chica!" he invites. "You been on your feet since I came in, you're allowed to take a break, right?"

Zigzag, meanwhile, glares at Aimless.

"Are you suggesting I can't hold my alcohol?" he demands, angrily. And then, just to show Aimless that he knows what he's doing, he guzzles down his new beer as soon as it arrives!

When Twi'la ruffles his hair, he gives her a big, goofy smile.

Sunbeam is probably going to regret the fact that Zigzag is carrying most of their money by the end of the night.

[Spinister]

Speaking up isn't exactly something Hairsplitter does. He likes to be quiet. He pokes at his dinner thoughtfully. It's good enough, even great, given that he's been eating his own cooking, but he wouldn't call it perfect. He has very exacting standards. Finally, after some thought, Hairsplitter says, "Hmm, if they are paid to put up with me, I really ought to tip rather well."

Because he's going to get talking about something criminally boring before the night is over. That's just how it goes.

Singe, elsewhere, looks dark and broody. It's what he does.

[Blurr]

The dark, brooding, well-dressed look draws many a girl's eye Singe's way. Of course, he already has someone, but the glances persist. Hopefully, he doesn't mind the attention. Mirinda doesn't let the envious stares thrown her way as she exits the kitchen bother her in the least.

"It should be ready shortly," she tells Singe once she's at his side again. Down by the stage, Sel takes Sunbeam's offer with an easy smile.

"I'm a long way from cashed, but thanks." She leans forward, resting her elbows on the table and leaving her forearms flat, and a few curls tumble against her shoulder. They practically beg to be brushed back into place, but she ignores her hair in favour of Sunbeam. "Now, it can't be the action that brought you here," she muses, eyes twinkling. She checks on Shikoba and the kid occasionally, just a flick of the gaze.

That "kid" is having the time of his life thinking of things to talk about with the lavender-skinned, feathered beauty still playing idly with his glass. Actually saying anything to her is another matter.

"…Where are you from?" Haywire finally asks. It's so lame, but he's curious. Who wouldn't be?

[Misfire]

Aimless just sighs and shakes his head at Zigzag. "Fine, fine, nevermind what I say." Fools rush in and all that.

Aimless stands and stretches. He tries to clasp Hairsplitter firmly on the shoulder before murmuring, "Good tips go a long way, buddy. But...this place, they got a really uncanny knack for finding a compatible chick for every guy. Just give 'em a bit, and don't be afraid to chat with whomever they send over."

He wanders over to the side of the stage and holds his hand out to Kayla, helping her off the stage. Another girl who looks exactly like Kayla, but with longer hair and large, wire-rimmed glasses steps out of the door next to the stage, murmurs something, then starts to make her way toward the table Aimless just left. She is actually covered almost head to toe in black leather. Imagine, if you will, the Baroness with green skin.

Twi'la just smiles into her drink as Zigzag chugs his own, then down the shooter in one gulp, like a pro, upending it next to the previous empty. "Dead solider!" she quips again, then giggles.

"Betcha can't handle what I'm drinkin,' honey. It's the good stuff." She leans in and tries to nibble on his ear.

[Needlenose]

And Sunbeam is tempted to brush those curls back... but the chickas generally don't appreciate folks getting too handy too early, and even if these chickas are paid to pretend they appreciate it doesn't mean they really appreciate.

Besides, she's pretty, but she's no wave.

At her comment, he gives a sheepish, youngish grin, then nods towards Zigzag. "Yeah. My bud dragged me here. I was tryin' to find some decent surf." He shrugs his right shoulder. "Been to long, but... eh, always next world." Sunbeam can be patient if it suits him. After all, part of being a surfer is waiting for that perfect wave!

Meanwhile, Shikoba gives 'Wally' a smile. She shrugs her right shoulder and glances towards it. "Oh, I'm Shi'ar," she says casually. She lifts her fingertips to her lips and chews on the end of her pointer. "After all, just because this place caters to Nebulans doesn't mean the clients don't appreciate a bit of variety." She winks.

Zigzag, meanwhile, looks at the girl in his arms, then looks down at her drink, then looks at the girl again, then snorts. Then he gives a goofy grin as his ear is nibbled on. "I can handle anything this place can lay down!" he says boastfully, then lifts his hand. "Another round, this time both..." he points to her shot glass.

[Spinister]

Singe has some curiosity of his own, and he just has to ask Mirinda, "Are you... are you, ah, from Nebulos?" He doesn't want to upset her, and he won't be angry if she isn't, but if she is...

...forget about the Autobot *master there. If she's from Nebulos, there are some very interesting things that he can learn.

Someone has remembered that he is spec ops, tonight.

Hairsplitter, on the other hand, is a little perplexed why everyone seems to think that he wants to talk to Kayla's twin. The dark green skin is nice (blast, is being bonded to an alien war machine making a xenophile of him?), but he's a bit waffly on the glasses and the leather. Glasses can get broken at the worst of times, and that leather's kinda shiny. Taking a crack at Aimless's advice of not being afraid to chat, he does greet politely, "Oh, uhm, hello, Miss."

[Blurr]

"Well," Sel all but chirps, leaning back in her seat now – nice and relaxed, it looks more natural on her than earlier, "if you want to hit that beach I mentioned before taking off, just let me know, huh?" She finally takes care of those errant curls on her own. "Soggy surf is the pits, but I know I couldn't leave without giving it one last shot."

Haywire tries valiantly to ignore the sudden lump in his throat when Shikoba winks at him. He likes variety.

"I… don't think I've heard of the Shi'ar," he says. "Er," he adds hastily, "but I don't get out much. Ah-heh." He's bombing this so badly. He heaves a sigh at himself and slugs back another mouthful of his drink. Nope, still not any less painful.

For her part, Mirinda looks pleasantly surprised by Singe's question and once that moment of wonderment passes, she smiles as if she's just met an old friend.

"Why, yes," she answers. "As a matter of fact, I am." Most of the girls here are, actually. Some are painted up, like that raven-haired dancer at the far side of the club with her pale blue skin and sparkling crystal garments; some actually are aliens – Shikoba wasn't lying when she said some of the clientèle like a little variety, or at least the illusion thereof – but a sweep of the club will introduce the eye to many more perfectly normal, if scantily clad, Nebulan women than anything else.

[Misfire]

The girl who brings the drinks for Zigzag and Twi'la doesn't quite frown as she sets them down. What she does do, however, is bend down and murmur something in the other girls ear, in a language that is neither common, nor Nebulan. What ever she says doesn't kill Twi'la's smile, but it does turn it a shade brittle.

"Hee, you sure know how to treat a girl, Ziggy!" she giggles, downing her drink and upending it with the rest. "So tell me, soldier, you guys visiting Pz-Zazz on leave, or you working private for one of the local bosses?"

Kayla's twin sits down next to Hairsplitter. Her leather's not nearly so shiny as one might expect, nor as stiff, and looks a lot like molded body armour on closer inspection. She arches an eyebrow at Zigzag and Twi'la before turning a not quite smile on Hairsplitter.

"They asked me to come over and talk to you, but I'm afraid it isn't part of my normal work, so let's see if I can keep from botching this up," she says, shifting her chair so that she has the widest view of the club possible. Her voice is pleasant, slightly accented, but as has a ring of command that people used to being in charge can never quite get out of their tone.

"I'm Kat. I head up security here, and they seem to think you might find that fact interesting."

Aimless and Kayla are still talking near the stage.

[Needlenose]

"Oh, sure thing, dudette," Sunbeam answers, beaming. "The sooner the better!" And then he throws back his own drink. "And yeah, I'd probably give it another shot. Or two. Or... well." He gives a sheepish grin and a shrug. "Whatever time I ain't here or on the job." He smiles at her. "You gonna show me, or just give me directions?" Then he realizes he's basically asking the girl for an off the clock date and lifts his hands. "Not that I'm hittin' on you or anything. I'm just after the waves." He pauses. "Not that you're not bodacious or anything or that I wouldn't mind spending time with you..." Finally, he snorts a laugh. "Think I'll shut up now."

Skikoba smiles. "Oh, don't worry, sweet heart. Not many in this part of the galaxy have." She leans closer to 'Wally', still smiling. Leans very, very, very close and whispers huskily, her breath against his ear, "But that's not really important, is it? Are you really here to talk... politics?"

Zigzag gives a goofy, goofy grin as he downs his drink before ordering another round. His expression is beginning to look a little vacant. "More the first one," he says unsteadily. "Just a stop on the way, a link in the chain, a drop in the bucket."

[Spinister]

Singe inquires, "I know you can't drink the hard stuff on the job, but is there's perhaps something lighter I could buy you, and we could sit down and discuss Nebulos? I've been gone a long, long time, and I'd dearly love to hear what you might have to say about the planet." He smiles, hands in his pockets, almost not looking haunted and hungry for a moment.

Hairsplitter is kind of picking at his food like a fussy child, but he does look look up at Kat, watching her almost warily. He replies evenly, "I am not sure why they would think that." He sighs and admits, "After all, the most fascinating security details are the ones that can never be mentioned, hmm?"

[Blurr]

"P-politics?" Haywire squeaks with a shiver, leaning back in his chair a little as Shikoba leans closer. "Um… no, not really interested in politics. Just–" Oh dear. Oh dear. Her breath is really warm on his skin and she smells kind of sweet and crisp at the same time. It sort of tickles his nose a little. And she's no less gorgeous up close – maybe more. Is his mouth even working? "–Never, uh. Never saw anybody, uh. Quite like you. And." That would be a no. "Did… did I mention," he tries with a sheepish grin and his cheeks turning red, hiding that scattering of freckles he has, "that I r-really like your, uh…." Stop looking down her cleavage, you boor. "…Feathers?"

Sel just laughs for a moment or two, totally unfazed by the impromptu proposition. Oh, Sunbeam's cute all right, and no poser walks into a place like this dressed like that. She likes him more already.

"It's a date then," she says with her typical casual air, smiling all the while like it's some private joke between the two of them. "Drop me a line when you're set," and of course she'll get some sort of contact info to him, "and we can meet up at that goofy tiki joint two blocks over. Head out from there. What do you say?"

Singe's offer, meanwhile, gets a faintly bashful look.

"You needn't buy me anything," Mirinda finally says, "but I'd love to talk about home." If she seems wistful for a moment, it's because she misses Nebulos dearly.