The Blue Cue

[Skye]

Noticing the draw away of the arm, lightly shaking her head. Damn she really needed to let someone in and feel how wonderful it could be to have someone there, sadly such things were hard both to earn and to do.
"Ohh we could still be on duty, just meaning that we need to be ready in case something happens doesn't mean we cannot spend the time doing silly or fun things. Sometimes it's just nice to do things that makes you able to look away from all the harshness and darkness of the world just to recharge for a moment."

"It just helps tearing down walls, we would most likely feel a lot better if we learned to do that without alcohol otherwise it just becomes a crutch which can weaken us in the long term." Giving Guru a careful look whilst wondering if he had escaped something when he started his journey.

Raising her eye in confusion.
"Scratch? I thought the game were to avoid the dangerous number 8-ball and sinking that were an immediate loss or am I mistaken there?" What was scratch? Placing her hands over her chest and looking innocent. "What talent us? Now why would you think that we would have any form of talent for this?"

Giving Aurora a look.
"If you say so, never really been in a situation like that most my contests tends to either be friendly or ones that ends with a kill. Then again more than a few of the animals I hunt have had the chance to strike back."

"I think we said for" pointing towards Phoenyx not knowing what to call her "to break or did I mistake that?" Sipping a bit of her drink.

[Phoenyx]

The balls rattled around, although none fell into a pocket.

The Arrow points at Guru while still looking at Aurora. "See! It's not so strange!" Wait, did she want to be on the same side as Guru? She wasn't sure. Still, he was trying to be nice, she could see that. "You already have. I like my drink. It was a good choice," she offers. Nodding at his explanation to show understanding.

Phoenyx still flushes, a little embarrassed. "I could try. Teasing isn't something I have much experience with. None of you seem to get embarrassed about anything." She tries a smile at not being on duty, but it is clearly an uncertain one. She keeps drinking her drink, getting close to the bottom. "It's your shot. Or whichever you is going first."

She looks over at Skye. The world was harsh, but it was only a sleeping one. Still. The firebird's eyes widened as she heard the rattle of her straw sucking at an empty glass. Is that what I am doing? leaning on drinks to overcome my discomfort? She swallows a little louder than she would have liked, and turns to Skye. "Scratch is putting the cue in a pocket," Phoenyx gestures to Guru before letting out a squeak-like hiccup and clapping a hand over her mouth. "Um. -hic-... Alice..." she offers Skye as her name before tittering at the sound she just made.

[Guru]

"Nothing wrong with a little friendly ribbing and trash talk among friends." So long as it was in the right spirit and you respected folks more hard boundaries he didn't see any problems with it. If anything it brought people closer together if there wasn't any malintent involved. Though as she continued to tease him he couldn't help but break out into a wider smile, not used to this side of Aurora. So much so that he was left speechless beyond that bright smile a hint of blush at his cheeks.


"Looks like none made it in so it's our go, and since you asked I'll go." He walked around the table, cue in hand as he looked for the easiest shot the beginning of the game and setting up your future course was always the hardest part. "Thanks, glad I can be of help Alice." He said saying the name so he could try and remember it. "Skye's right, gotta relax on occasion. Lighten your burden so you don't burn yourself out. It's a marathon not a sprint."

1 success

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-01-30 10:11:17	Guru rolls 6 to Billiards (Int: 3 + Dex: 3) (10 Again)	1, 4, 4, 4, 4, 10, 2	1 success

He was talking but not able to look at anyone, the table muffling his voice a little as he bent over and lined up a shot before the crack of balls before he sank a solid colored ball. "Solids." He said as he stepped back away from the table so Mads could rotate in. He hadn't made it look easy or effortless but he'd at least got one in. "Nah you're not wrong, gotta do that until the end too. Lot of different variations for pool and don't get me started on snooker." He couldn't help but give a little tittering laugh at the word.

[Aurora]

“Eh,” she begins, “it only becomes a crutch if you let it. Having a night out, having a few drinks and letting your hair down, is just a thing. Not everyone who drinks uses it as a crutch.” Sipping her own beer. “But everyone should get to experience the fun of it.” And if not? Whatever. But calling a crutch was just dumb.

“For me, it’s using what I have to get my point across. Contests can be friendly, or they can be about showing someone they’re wrong and being a dick. Depends on the situation.” She ignores the part about killing animals cause it didn’t fit the narrative in her mind.

Pointing to the table with her beer glass, “Think she already did break.” Then looks at the beer, then back at the table, “Unless this is more than just beer and I’m imagining things. In which case, things could get interesting.” Very interesting.

Laughing, “Oh, there are things that embarrass me. The trick is not letting others see it. Something that is learned over time. And you’re smart and will be able to brush it off in no time.” She had faith in the Arrow.

Eyes catch the smile and blush and she had to laugh. She doesn’t want to say anything, but does anyways, “That’s a good color for you.” And leaves it at that.

Nodding as she puts her glass down and steps up to the table, she looks around at her various options. Maybe it was the beer, maybe it was the skirt and the confidence it gave her. Or maybe she was better than she thought. But she manages to hit a few in.

4 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-01-30 15:16:21	Aurora rolls 6 to Playing Pool(Dex+Int) (10 Again)	9, 10, 9, 6, 7, 8, 4	4 successes

[Skye]

Not being her thing perhaps but she did respond nevertheless.
"Why be embarrassed? What is there to feel such things for? If you're good at something enjoy it, if you're so bad that people laugh then have fun with it and if you don't wanna be bad then practice or just enjoy the results even a failure can be fun." Lightly smiling "Besides you know perfectly well that I am a nudist that helps remove a lot of the sense of shame or knowing why you should be embarrassed." Or perhaps she were just fooling herself, knowing fully well what things did make her feel odd it just wasn't always the same things as most people.

Sipping a little more of her drink, not taking it fast.
"Ahh thanks Alice, would never have guessed that."

Nodding with a completely lost smile towards Guru.
"Yeah better not, whatever happened to a nice old game of dart or shooting arrows with colored powder at one another. You know like paintball but with arrows." Those were games she were far more used to. "It's nice to learn new stuff though."

Spinning the cue in her hand.
"Now that's true Madison it will become one if you start over relying on it though, having fun every now and again is one thing but when you start to feel like you need it to have fun or be social then it becomes a crutch and that is the thing to avoid."

Putting some chalk on to get up and shoot her turn, clearly not being all to used to the game but still it didn't go all to bad.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-01-31 10:45:01	Skye rolls 6 to Pool dex+int-holding back (10 Again)	4, 5, 2, 2, 5, 10, 10, 2	2 successes

"Hmm not bad for a beginner but damn Maddie you're way to good at this." Finishing up her first drink. "Come on Alice win this for us now."

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx sets the empty glass down, nibbling on the strawberry, before taking her second drink. Everyone seemed determined to help her relax... it was a lot of pressure! People just didn't seem to get that.

Aurora's words helped. It wasn't a crutch. Just something to help her fit in a little better. "Contests make us stronger," the Arrow mused aloud. "Only by testing ourselves do we grow as individuals, through victory or defeat." She starts sucking on her second drink. "The trick is to find something to learn whether you win or lose. So it can be a teacher, or a way to test oneself."

The complement did make her smile and relax a little. "Thanks." She trusted Aurora. It was easier to see the Thyrsus was trying to teach her something because of that. "Oh, be quiet. It is not," she retorts, still flushing but holding back a laugh and smiling a more broad, relaxed smile.

Phoenyx rolls her eyes at Skye. "I just don't... get... things sometimes. Social rules. I have never found failing 'fun', just... necessary. Sometimes. If I have to." She looks and lines up her shot. Obrimos will and Pride went hand in hand.

2 successes

Date	Action	Roll	Result
2021-02-01 07:57:00	Phoenyx rolls 7 to Shoot some pool: Dex+Int (10 Again)	2, 1, 10, 5, 2, 8, 1, 7	2 successes

"Well.... it was better than I thought?" she says to Skye a little defiantly. "I think Madison might have tricked us." She offers Aurora a smile and sucks down some more of her second cocktail.

[Guru]

Guru stepped away from the table to let Aurora rotate in, nodding his agreement with her statement. “Only a crutch if you can’t walk without it.” Slipping back to his drink to finish off the first and start on his second, this liquid was amber in color and in a short tumbler with nothing else in it. He brought it up to his nose and took a sniff of it before relishing the first sip.

“Contests are good, friendly ones even better. Lets you practice, yea? How else can you find the limits and push through them if you never test yourself?” He was wondering if that was a Thyrsus point of view, why the Primal Wilds had called to them. Seeing Aurora clean up he pointed at the table with a smirk. “See, I knew you were a ringer!” He laughed over his glass a second sip of the amber liquid passing his lips.

“Yea, something tells me we’re the wrong people to talk to about embarrassment.” He was sure they all got embarrassed over something but there was Skye who was wild by nature, Aurora a notable public performer, and well, himself he guessed. His mind couldn’t help but flash to the time he almost shit himself in public, then it connected to the memory he was trying to repress. His blood running cold, skin going pale as he downed the rest of the contents of his glass. Going back to the game to distract himself and did his best to bury that memory again. Sometimes he envied those on the Path of Scourging and their very literal selective memory.

He wasn’t sure if Aurora’s comment had been aimed at him or at Phoenyx but he was happy to push off any embarrassment he might feel to a source outside of himself. That smile of his just widening as the color slowly returned to his countenance, letting out a short breath as he felt the tension in his chest relieve.

“Failure is a natural part of learning. Can’t do science without trial and error after all. If you’re wrong, if you fail, you adjust and shift your parameters. Failure isn’t an end but a new beginning.” He gave a one shouldered shrug as the first round came to its conclusion. “Socrates has said that the only thing he knew was that he knew nothing. I might know a lot but in the big picture of things, what do I really know? Nothing.”

Sure he’d seen the Truth of the World. He’d seen the Primal Wilds, been to the tower, saw that the rules of this world were malleable but all that did was show how ignorant he had been and how ignorant he continued to be. “Looks like the next round is on you guys. We’ll break this time and rotate to keep it fair, yea?”

[Aurora]

She had to roll her eyes, she couldn’t help it. “Or you just like the attention being naked causes?” she tosses out, finishing off her beer. Some just loved shock value.

With regards to the drinking be a crutch, “No, it won’t.” and that was that. She had years on this girl, and way more experience with life and drinking. “And it’s Madison.” No one had ever called her Maddy, she was a grown ass adult, not a kid.

Picking up the glass again, then realizing it was empty, she frowns, putting it back down.

“You’ll get them, it will take some practice, but you’ll get it. And until then, I shall keep poking at you.” She said with a nod and a wink.

Eyes widen, “I most certainly did not, I simply got lucky with that shot. All it is.” Yup. Cause she doesn’t even know Fate anymore. So it has to be pure luck.

Eyes roll playfully at Guru, “Nope, sorry to disappoint you, I just get lucky here and there.” And that was it.

“Once you realize that almost no one realizes when you’re embarrassed, it’s easier to get over. Most people don’t notice when you embarrass yourself until you bring attention to it. You become too focused on things going wrong, and that’s just not fun.” She knew Phoenyx could get past it. For fucks sake she watched her fight golems while sliding around in human/fish guts.

“Oh, we are not getting philosophical here.” Shaking her head at Guru, “Nope, we’re here to drink, play pool and whatever else.” Eyes narrowing slightly, but playfully.

“Works for me! Plus,” picking up her mug, “I’m in need of another drink.” An empty beer mug was a sin. Or something like that.

[Skye]

Finishing up her first drink.
"Nothing wrong with that, nor do I at times as they vary depending on where you are." Rules back home were a lot freer than here. "So let me teach you the one single rule you really need to follow, be yourself and try to enjoy every moment of life. Do what makes you smile, don't care if people find you odd just enjoy life in a manner that doesn't harm others. As long as that is done so have you succeeded."

Watching the final shots of the game.
"Yepp we have been hustled, anyway a wager is a wager so time for us to pay the piper. Did you enjoy the game though? That is the most important factor here."

Shaking her head towards Jay.
"Limits only exist if we allow them to exist, to shatter their illusion is the task of the ones whom are ready to forget about winning and losing in every sense that doesn't mean that death have finally won."

A soft chuckle.
"That would be my guess as well although everyone have their things might just be hard to find." To claim differently would just be a lie. "I will go get those shots."

Coming back in a little bit and handing one to Aurora and one to Guru.
"Enjoy, I hope they taste well." Handing the same drink given to Aurora to Phoenyx while slowly drinking some from her own as well, it had looked to good to not try.

"Nahh, I just find clothes restrictive. It was quite the norm to not wear much or any clothes back home if it were warm enough so just used to it." Hadn't really had a good chance to keep the code outside of home though. "Ok, you didn't mind Adi so doubted that Maddie would matter."

Sorry for the delay.

[Phoenyx]

Phoenyx shifts a little, drinking her second cocktail hurriedly. They stopped her feeling embarressed, and that was enough for her, crutch be damned. She scowled a little at the reminder that the round was on them, but sighed and nodded. She had agreed, even if she didn't have to like it.

She looks to Aurora, eyes leering a little, but with a small smile. "I suppose I should thank you for that," she remarked. The Arrow knew her friend had her best interests at heart. "I am not so sure. I think you are much better at this than you let us believe," she added with a smile. Aurora's other words were heard. It was just... hard. So many eyes.

She half-shrugs at Skye's words. "I don't think that is the case. Life cannot simply be enjoyment. We have responsibilities. Duties to fulfuill. Just... not all the time." She takes the shot and sips it delicately, wincing slightly at it's flavour. "That's... I do not like that one. I think it is the creaminess of it." She looks over. "You can start - I will get us some drinks." She offers a smile.