( open ) baby i like your style

[winces]

CHARACTERS: lapis (onerism), nami (weatherscience), olivia (winces), & company!
DATE: one lovely evening before the 8th
WARNINGS: nami's feminine wiles, lapis' pyro-happy ghost buddy, and olivia's hives... also extreme second-hand embarrassment and possibly some less-than-savory audience members. potential for violence?? maybe???
SUMMARY: lapis, nami, and olivia try to earn some extra $$$ by doing what they do best. chaos ensues.

Whether you've come to the Desert Flower Saloon this evening for boarding or for entertainment, you'll find the first floor practically vibrating with activity and life. On this night, unlike any other before (or so Miz Poppy will proclaim), the saloon's main stage will feature not one, not two, but three new performers, fresh (a week or so old is still fresh, right?) from the far corners of the universe to delight and excite the saloon's loyal patrons with the song and dance and magic of their alien people.

Come! Sit, watch, and enjoy!

Comments

[pummelling]

Does it really have to be a drink? [it's his stipend and his cashmoney, lady. he needs that stuff for emergencies!!! Jin casts her a dubious look, because the fact that he's been rude in blowing her off... totally doesn't occur to him. This is how he normally acts, ok.]

C'mon. Let's work out a deal. Information for information.

[He spins around on his barstool, arm resting leisurely on the bar behind him.] You tell me what I wanna hear, maybe I'll have something interesting to tell you, too.

[weatherscience]

Aren't you stingy!

[ Jin why u gotta be like this...... ]

Hmm, information, huh? Alright, that sounds good. But if you think I'm telling you first, you're wrong! How can I know the information you have is good? You tell me first what you have, and I'll see if it's worth sharing what I know.

[ If he thought this was going to be easy... he should have picked someone else for this. ]

[pummelling]

[Hey, he's always up for a challenge. And for being difficult.]

Foregoing ladies' first, huh? I'll at least let you take your pick, in that case.

You wanna know something about ALASTAIR, or about the bandits that've been hanging around Perdition's Rest?

[weatherscience]

It's only fitting, isn't it, seeing how you're foregoing being polite or generous!

[ Not mincing her words, this one... ]

I can find out enough on my own about ALASTAIR! [ Well, "on her own" meaning "with Luffy and everyone else in their crew". ] Tell me about the bandits, at least they're relevant to our mission. But remember, if the information isn't good, I'm not telling you anything!

[pummelling]

Fine.

[WOMEN!!!]

Then I'll give you this much. [Jin lowers his voice after taking a glance around the bar.] For the most part, they all used to be from around here. But they're still doing business with Perdition's Rest. Corbucci's been selling munitions to them, wholesale. Might just be an isolated incident of a greedy shopkeeper, but who knows?

[weatherscience]

[ The information, surprise of surprises, is actually something she finds interesting — she leans a little closer, to hear his voice better, chewing lightly on her lower lip as she listens. ]

Hm... I don't think it is. In a town this small, people must know about that, and if no one's saying anything —

[ Then it's more than likely some of the people in the town are in league with the bandits. ]

[pummelling]

--then it means that something fishy is going on here.

Not to mention... have you seen any of those so-called Deemers around?

[Jin, for his part, hasn't heard much of anything. He casts Nami a pointed look, eyebrows furrowed.] Pretty suspect if you ask me.

[weatherscience]

Not yet, no.

[ And her tone says she agrees — suspect, definitely. ] I don't doubt their existence, if they weren't there ALASTAIR wouldn't have sent us... but something isn't right. We just have to find out what that something is.

[pummelling]

We sure will. Knowing how things have gone around here, something's gonna go down, and soon.

[a beat. he shrugs his shoulders, nonchalant.] See, that wasn't so hard, was it? Your turn: tell me how that thing works.

[weatherscience]

Yes... we can only hope we'll be prepared when it does. [ at the very least, she'll do her best to be. ]

I never said it was hard.

[ a hmph, but a deal is a deal... ] It's called the science of the weather! I use my Sorcery Clima-Tact to manipulate things like air density and humidity to cause different manifestations of weather conditions.