Valen glanced around at the others, vaguely surprised that someone had come to help. "Oh– my thanks." He said softly. "I'm rather used to dealing with it, but thanks for your assistance." He smiled a little bit, taking his glass in thanks.
"No need to thank me," Ozzie shrugged. "It's as much my place as it is Don's, and I'm not about to let him run out a customer over the color of their skin. It's asinine, if you'll pardon my language."
He glanced back at Sybil and Vera, who seemed to be hitting it off. Good. Sybil could do with a few more friends.
Mel huffed and averted his gaze, and happened to let it land on a beaming and not-so-subtly smug Emil. He curled his lip in disdain and looked away from the other man away with a gruff "Don't mention it." His eyes moved to the bartender, silently sizing him up as if gearing for a fight—whether that be picking it himself or goading him into one. However, Emil smoothly slid over and held Mel back by placing his hands on the small man's shoulders, smiling over at Valen. "Truly barbaric, really. Can't get a drink because you're not pale as a vampire? Blasphemy." He chuckled to himself at the inside joke with himself.
Valen nodded faintly, laughing just a little and taking a sip from his drink. Due to the scar causing a twist to his lips, a little bit dribbled out, and he wiped it away with his sleeve. He looked at Ozzie. "Yes. Thanks again, though. I'm Valen." He knew his name was a bit strange, but he didn't exactly feel like changing it. His eyes flicked to Emil, but didn't quite know what to make of his joke.
"I'm Ozzie. Van Arbor. Ozzie van Arbor," Ozzie stammered, holding out his hand. He cringed inwardly. Excellent. As if Don didn't have enough ammunition to use against him. "Valen, huh? Is that Latin? I never quite got the handle on Latin, but I think it's the bee's knees."
Great small-talk, van Arbor. Gushing nonsensically about a dead language. That's sure to help you make friends. He could practically hear Sybil's taunts already.
"Anyways I oughtta go help Sybil, nice to meet ya, bye," he said, the words rushed and stumbling over each other. He ducked away from the other men and returned to Sybil and Vera, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves.
Sindy was just chilling at the bar now, waiting for someone to talk to her.
She was a nice and outgoing person normally. Today, however, she just needed to rant to someone, anyone even.
Ozzie caught a glimpse of a blonde woman at the bar, her posture stiff and expression pulled into a deep frown. He made a beeline to her, figuring that Vera and Sybil could wait.
"You all right, doll?" he asked, tapping the blonde on the shoulder.
She took a deep breathe in and a deep breathe out.
"No. Not at all. I'm upset, actually. Listen, could I talk your ear off real quick? I'll be done in a jiffy!"
"So, um. Where are you from?" Vera asked. She had been avoiding asking Sybil any direct questions since Ozzie left, trying to let Sybil carry the conversation until his return. Ozzie, as it seemed, had been sidetracked.
"Where am I not from?" Sybil said, tossing her head back with a laugh. "I'm from Jersey, but I've spent so much time in boarding schools all across the country that it hardly counts. My aunt sent me to one in Britain once, can you believe it? Only brought be back due to the war." Sybil lit a cigarette, and then held one out to Vera.
"Oh, no thank you," Vera declined. "I don't smoke."
"More for me then," Sybil said with a wink. "Now, doll, where are you from? You seem too polite to be from this city."
"I'm from…" Vera began, then trailed off. How could she answer? That she was from heaven? "I'm from Kansas. A small farm town in Kansas."
"That sounds dreadful."
"It wasn't too bad," Vera said, unsure of why she felt the need to defend her false backstory. "There were, um, cows. The cows were nice."
"Sorry if I'm wasting your time, my good sir!" Sindy said to Ozzie
"Go ahead, sheba," Ozzie said. "I'm all ears."
He made a mental note of the woman's oddly colored eyes. Both were different colors, and neither was a normal one. He blinked, then looked again. Her eyes were unchanged, still red and yellow.
Maybe he'd just had too much to drink.
Virgil trailed after Heiko, who explained to them he was off to do a deal. He didn’t say what type of deal, though. Only that they would be better off just observing, not talking to anyone, especially talking about the deal. That was fair.
“As long as you tell me all about it afterwards!” They quipped, though could see the faint hesitation in his eyes. Virgil decided not to question it, they were approaching a building. A bar. Kind of cliche, isn’t it?
Virgil and the German entered, and they could already see, there was quite an assortment of people here. Not of Heiko’s importance, though, as he turned off to the side and more to the back where there was already some shady looking characters sitting down, who eyed Virgil warily as they sat down with Heiko.
And they began to speak, all in muttered voices, in German. It was like they didn’t want people knowing things, despite Virgil’s capability of understanding the language. They supposed, the other people - their eyes scanned the bar.
Heiko took the bag and placed it onto the table, sliding it across to the other three men. They turned it away from them, to where Virgil couldn’t see what was inside it, and took a peek.
Seemingly happy with the contents, the middle man shuffled through his coat and handed Heiko a fair amount of money. Virgil only smiled, watching the entire ordeal. Just like that, the three men left the bar, bag in tow.
“So, all that just for some money?”
“Pays. Pays good.” Heiko quickly pocketed it, glancing around the bar.
“So,” Virgil leaned in, catching Heiko off guard. “What was in that bag?”
"Okay, so this dewdropper decided to be absolutely upstage and piss me off! He was stressing me out, and I can't work efficently under stress, you see. And then he called me a fake tomato! Can you believe it? That wurp probably has a fucking hayburner! It's applesauce, nay, Bushwa. Can you butt me?" She said, relieved.
(This is probably confusing so Imma give you a glossary)
(Dewdropper= lazy person)
(Upstage= snobby)
(Tomato=Woman, fake tomato= fake woman)
(Wurp= wet blanket)
(Hayburner= car with poor mileage)
(Applesauce= something like Horsefeathers)
(Bushwa= Bullshit)
(Butt me= A cigarette, please.)
(If you use so much slang that you need to use a whole-ass glossary to define it…maybe tone it down a little?)
(In the future, I will)
"By the way, what's your name?" She asked, worried that she was being too forward.
"Nah, I'm fresh out," Ozzie said. "And that sounds rough, dear. My condolences."
He returned to Vera and Sybil, right as Vera said something about cows.
"What's this about cows?" he asked, hopping back onto his stool.
"Nothing much, Os," Sybil said, waving a hand. "Vera's just telling me about her time in Kansas, is all."
Vermilion strolled over to the bar, where the woman from earlier was sat. "Kansas? That's the boring state, right? Only thing interesting there is over there's that one book about the wizard." The woman chuckled, seating herself on a nearby stool. "The dog was the best part of the thing, if you ask me."
“Not in here, not in here,” he shushed them quickly, glancing around.
There was fair amount of people in the bar, Heiko realized, all engaged in their own conversations.
Virgil only stayed silent, speaking up after Heiko didn’t seem to know what to say. “Well, let’s just get a drink then.” The man looked at them, intertwining his fingers together. “You can tell me after the bar.” Heiko nodded.
They stood up and proceeded towards the front of the bar. “I should mention, I don’t exactly have any money.” Virgil whispered to Heiko. “I hope you can put that new cash of yours to this, because I can’t pay.”
Heiko mumbled something under his breath. “How did you get around without cash?”
They smiled. “I have my ways.” Many ways.
The two, in rhythm, strode up to their own empty stools and took a seat. It was there Heiko made their order - the man looked to Virgil questioning what they wanted, but they only shrugged, deciding that they’d have whatever ‘you’re having.’
"I don't think I'm familiar with that one," Vera said.
"I am," Ozzie said. "The Wizard of Oz gets quoted at me about as much as you'd expect."
"Aw, poor Ozzie," Sybil teased. "What's it like having a name that people actually know how to spell? I swear, half the time I perform they put my name as S-I-B-Y-L. It gets old fast."
(I feel for Sybil. My name is misspelled all the time)
Valen blinked as the shorter man dashed away, and he had no idea how to respond. "It's, ah, nice to meet you?" He called after Ozzie, eyebrows knitting together faintly. Was it the scar? Or the hair? He touched a smooth, silver strand, frowning a little bit. Maybe it was the hair…but he had no idea.
Emil waved off Valen's confusion, and blatantly ignored Mel's judging side glance. "Wonderful to meet you, Valen. I'm Emil, and my companion here is Victor–"
"Varhmiel."
"Gesundheit." Emil rallied with hardly a blink. "If anyone is giving you any trouble I'm sure he'd be more than happy to start a fight." He glanced over at a glowering Mel. "Certainly looks it, even if he's tiny. I didn't know people came in that size."
"I will murder you," Mel threatened with a silent snarl.
Valen glanced between the three, obviously amused by the way his lips quirked at the edges. "Ah, I see." He replied. "It's…nice to meet you as well."
Virgin put on some high heels but then cut off the heels of them because they wanted to wear toes instead
"I AM ASEXUAL!" They ejaculated loudly to ensure that everyone was aware of their sexuality
They proceeded to put on a fedora that did not match their outfit because fuck social norms
They also put on socks over top of their High ToesTM and a cat ear headband
"Nya nya bitch now tell me how objectively hot I am"
Everyone in the bar professed their love to Virgin