tampered | log; open

When; March 27, evening until the last party animal goes home.
Rating; I have no idea. I assume it would cap off around R? For language and drunken debauchery. And possible table dancing.
Characters; The staff at any of the City schools, TAs, and anyone cursed and not currently underage.
Summary; There has been a lot of talk about the teachers cutting loose after finals, and I thought it might be cool to have a general post to do it. Start a thread, tag someone else, end up backtagging like mad, whatever sounds fun. While the students are away, the teachers will play, and whatnot.
Log;

It's been an insane week, and Dawn is just ready to take a break from it all. And drink more alcohol than is probably intelligent.

She's one of the first to arrive, and after flashing a smile at one of the bartenders, she gets both an Appletini and help dragging a couple tables together; it makes one corner of the bar into a nice home base of sorts. Then Dawn sits down, puts her feet up on another chair, and starts in on her first drink of the night.

[ooc: If you'd like your thread to be closed to certain someone or someones, subject line it and all is aces. Otherwise, anywhere is jump in-able; let's have some fun.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

No surprise comes to Lockon's expression as she explains; in fact, he seems to have been expecting something like this.

"You're not a coward," he says. "I think you're probably trying to be very brave in some ways."

He allows himself a pause in which he has some of his drink, but of course it's mostly for Megumi's benefit, to give her some space to breathe. When he sets the glass down again, he looks back at her.

"Why are you marrying him?" he asks quietly.

[ ooc; MISS = MESS. FAIL, self. ]

She doesn't think she's being brave at all, but she gives him a look of gratitude, before she pauses at his next question.

It's a bit of a personal question, and she doesn't know how to answer it without delving into too much of her history. He doesn't need that, and as he drinks, she's grateful for that break to allow herself a few moments to gather her thoughts. Trailing her fingers over the side of the glass, she smiles a bit to herself, glancing at the light dancing over the surface, before she murmurs, "... Honour."

She lets the words linger for a while, before she continues, "It was an arrangement to avoid a particular scandal. A scandal that... would have harmed the name of someone I truly care for. And I couldn't do that to him."

She chuckles dryly. "...at the time, I had no other choice. But when I realized just who my grandmother had chosen... I wished I hadn't agreed."

She's quiet for a while, her hand stilling. "It's all rather complicated, I'm sorry..."

"High society, huh," Lockon says. "Not really my area of expertise." He sighs. "But that doesn't mean I won't try to help. You shouldn't have to go through with this, but if you do, don't let him cut you off from the rest of the world."

He looks away, then gives a slightly sheepish little shrug. "You did say it's complicated. I wish I could be more help. But the important thing is to find a way to keep the lines of communication open with someone other than him."

"I wish it were that easy. But there were conditions to it all." She shrugs slightly, lifting the glass and taking another drink, now halfway done with it as she lowers it.

"They don't want people to talk. As they would, really. And why not..." She turns to look up at Lockon. "I'm about to marry the father of two grown sons. It sounds bad already, doesn't it?"

She figures, anyway. She won't be here to hear the backlash of telling him this, and she isn't worried anymore. Let things be as they are, because now there are only two paths for her-- and if one of them is blocked, then the other will be inevitable.

"It wouldn't sound bad if you were doing it by choice," Lockon says dubiously. "Hey, if you can't keep in touch with your friends directly, at least leave hints with them that something's wrong. Someone who knows the situation better than I do should be able to find a way to help."

He frowns. "No deal should have conditions like this."

She'd done that to some degree, but the advice was more than welcome. After all, her best friend knew-- was willing to help her, and Cain, thankfully. The people who were important enough and who cared enough were there, and she couldn't ask for more. She didn't want to involve others when nothing could be done about things, after all-- she knew better than that.

But after giving it some thought, she nods slowly, looking up at him once more.

"I ended up saying more than I should have. What a first impression this must have made, heh." She couldn't help but remark, smiling a bit apologetically. "You're either very empathetic or you've heard this sort of thing quite often, Lockon."

He spreads his hands in a rueful gesture. "Nothing quite like this, but I have heard a lot. Well, at least it's something new."

Lockon takes a moment to finish his drink, using the time to go over other possibilities in his head. But it's like he said; this is something new, and Megumi is still essentially a stranger. There's not really much more he can do than he has already done.

"It's all right," he assures her finally. "I just hope you can find some better answers somewhere."

"At this point, all I needed was a kind word, which you provided quite nicely. I appreciate it." She nods to him with a half-smile. "Thank you. I'm sure whatever has to happen, will happen."

And if all went well, she may not have to marry at all after tomorrow. Finishing off her own drink, she laughs softly to herself, brushing her hair back and looking over at him. "After hearing all this, I hope you have a kind ear to speak to as well. It would be dreadfully unfair if you were doing all the listening all the time, you know!"

Looking over at the bartender, she sits up and motions him over for some more, before grinning over at Lockon.

"This one's on me, alright?"

log; open

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject