(no subject)

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

Date: May 30, evening
Location: Bar
Status: Public! Come and arrive, we're playing.
Summary: Truth or Dare?


Following up on an idea she had had a few days ago, Kirby had slipped small notes into people's rooms before she had goen down to the bar, inviting them to join her in the bar for drinks and a game to better get to know each other - considering they were living in the same place, after all.

Now she was sitting at the bar over a glass of beer, playing with the empty bottle. Jan sat across from her at the table. She had not informed him of the game she had planned, but simply invited him for a drink. He didn't seem the type that would purposefully seek entertaiment.

Comments

[jan-skovasja.livejournal.com]

Jan was getting over his unease at entering the bar - at least as long as he had company. With the Sergeant around he could almost relax and the beer was surprisingly good considering they were in England.

He still preferred to keep an eye on the door, though and tensed whenever somebody entered.

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

Raphael happily made his way to the bar, wanting to be there when Rose showed up. He couldn't wait to tell her about Venice and give her the Italian meatballs he had very carefully picked out for her, the best pieces of meat he could find. He saw Jan and immediately remembered how upset he had been when Raphael last saw him.

Trying to appear unthreatening, he gave a gentle smile as he approached. "Hello."

[cattygabriel]

Technically Gabriel had been off duty for half an hour, but he wanted to finish cleaning.

He ran a finger along the last shelf and held it up, satisfied to see that there was no hint of dust, before replacing the equally dust-free books. There.

Standing back, he admired the spick-and-span library for a moment before making his final rounds to push in all the chairs and switch off the lights.

As he entered his room, he noticed some pieces of paper on the floor and sighed, picking them up and piecing them together as best as he could. He didn't bother chastising the cats; Ta-Miu would ignore him and Earl Grey would give him the sort of look that made him feel guilty for doing so.

Drinks and a game? It sounded like fun, after spending almost the entire day surrounded by books and puffs of dust. He refilled the cats' food and water dishes, changed their litter tray, washed up and changed into a clean T-shirt and jeans before heading down to the bar.

"I hope I'm not too late," he smiled as he entered.

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

Raphael turned, smiling when he saw his brother as if it were for the first time. Since his arrival from Venice seeing everybody again just felt like the first time. It may have been four days away, but Raphael felt as if an entire lifetime had passed. "Late for what?" he asked. Was there a party going on he hadnt known about? He could always see if Rose wanted to talk outside instead...

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

Kirby waved to Gabriel. "Nope, Horatio," she said. "Not late. There's plenty of time. Look, most people aren't even here yet."

She took in the red-haired man and wondered if she'd missed a room or if he'd simply not been there since she left the note. "We're going to have a night fo games, Coppercurls," she told him. "Why don't you join us? It's going to be fun!"

[feuerschlucker.livejournal.com]

By when they came to the bar, Dustfinger's mood had improved. The fire being's presence made him feel much better. Gwinn was lying around his neck liky a scarf and also seemed to have nothing against a visit to the bar again.

Dustfinger smiled when he pushed open the door to let Loki in before him. When he saw how many people were there, his face changed automatically. He was a travelling juggler and fire-dancer after all. People did not want to look at performers with gloomy faces, and so he always looked as happy as he could when he was in the company of many others from habit.

[norseloki.livejournal.com]

Loki just caught the words "spoilsport and liar" as he entered. He looked at the speaker and grinned widely. "You aren't by any chance talking about my family, are you?"

[cattygabriel]

Gabriel sighed. "I won't abuse it. I give my word."

He smiled a little as Loki and Dustfinger entered, glad to see Dustfinger apparently looking better.

[halosphere.livejournal.com]

Raphael turned and gave her a reassuring smile. "It sounds like fun! Won't you stay and play too, Rose?" He blinked at her, the equivilant to Baby Doe Eyes.

[tadfieldphantom.livejournal.com]

Erik watched from above, hidden in shadows and easily blocked from view. The inhabitants were certainly unique and he found that this game would perhaps prove advantageous for him.

He leaned back comfortably and began reading his novel as he waited for their game to start.

[jan-skovasja.livejournal.com]

Jan looked Gabriel up and down. The young librarian hadn't seemed at all insane up until now, but surely he couldn't mistake Jan for a child.

He glanced towards Russel and the Sergeant, then over to McLeod and the winged lunatic in the door. Well, that last one had seemed harmless enough so far and was probably no threat to an Immortal, even if he wasn't.

McLeod, though ...

And then there were the other lunatic and Belial. Belial was amusing to him, but he might be dangerous to the uninitiated, especially to women, though the Sergeant was far from helpless and probably well experienced in dealing with Belial's kind.

Was it proper to abandon his drinking companions like this, though?

[beachbunnykirby.livejournal.com]

"Come on, Rambo," Kirby repeated. "I'll even cover your drinks. Promised."

[roseheerkens.livejournal.com]

Rose wasn't paying that much attention to the conversation at the moment. It was Mr Skovasja's decision after all if he wanted to join in or not. She just kept an eye on Raphael to make sure her friend didn't get hurt.

Then her nose caught a scent and she frowned. She knew that scent, knew who it belonged to, but that man wasn't in the room. Was he? Could he hide like Belial? Or had she just missed him enter?

She slowly turned around once, looking at everyone in the room. No, that man wasn't here. But his scent was. And his scent couldn't walk in without him.

The next moment her ears twitched minutely and she could have sworn she'd heard a very quiet noise, a rustling like someone turning a page in a book.

She looked around again, kept her eyes on every single person in the room long enough to ascertain that none of them was reading a book. Her hackles rose. Something most definitely wasn't right here and her shoulders tensed.

And yet she couldn't alert anyone to the situation without giving away her secret. If she and Raphael had been alone in here she would have whispered into his ear what she had smelled and heard, but she couldn't do anything here and now. She could only wait what would happen...

[feuerschlucker.livejournal.com]

Dustfinger twitched his shoulders to tell Gwin to get off there and down his arm.

The marten did so.

"Stroke Gwin." he said.

It was supposed to be daring, wasn't it? Gwin would probably bite or scratch the man a bit.

[kristallprinz.livejournal.com]

Atlan liked animals in general. A lot. The only animal he did not like were dogs. Dogs were smelly, clingy, loud nuisances that kept begging for food and left their offal in the streets for unsuspecting passers-by to step into.

The little creature called Gwin, looked rather like a feral animal than like a pet.

He took a very small piece of the cake Raphael had brought and went down on one knee to be on eye level with the animal.

He started by offering the creature some cake.

[feuerschlucker.livejournal.com]

Gwin stared at the man for a second but his greed for the sweet food was stronger than anything else. He grabbed for the piece of cake.

[kristallprinz.livejournal.com]

Atlan carefully moved his hand up to scratch the animal's head.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_silverfox/]

"Truth," Duncan said, deciding to be the brave one here to put a stop to the string of dares.

Loki leaned back comfortably. "What was your most embarrassing moment ever?" he asked.

"That would have been a production of Romeo and Juliet," Duncan said. "Quite a while ago. It was an old-fashioned production. All roles played by men. My role was that of Juliet."

He cleared his throat. "I may be a Scot and used to wearing a kilt, but those skirts and petticoats were..."

He trailed off.

Grinning slightly, Loki indicated for Duncan to spin the bottle.

Duncan spun the bottle obediently. It ended up pointing at Atlan again.

"Truth or Dare?"

"Truth," Atlan decided this time around.

"What's that egg thing you wear around your neck?" Duncan asked.

What else would he ask...

"It's called a cell activator," Atlan said. "It's keeping me from aging, makes me immune to poison and sickness, makes wounds heal faster, I can do with less sleep..."

He decided that was enough information and spun the bottle. It pointed at Murdoc.

"Dare." He wasn't quite ready yet to say truth... Maybe in another round, when he had a bit of an idea of what truths they required.

Though it wasn't like the white-haired man's answer seemed all that truthful... or likely.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_silverfox/]

Let's try for somethigna bit more daring, he thought.

"Get up on that table and strip for the ladies," he said.

"This isn't going to be precisely what you'll expect to see," Murdoc cautioned as he slowly got up from this chair.

"Trying to get out of it?" Atlan asked, one eyebrow raised.

"That'd be against the rules, now, wouldn't it?" Murdoc said as he slipped out of his shoes and socks before climbing on the table.

At least Kirby knew what she was going to get to see now... He hoped the girl Rose wouldn't be too shocked at the sight.

He turned around once, then started unbuttoning the cuffs of his shirt, letting the sleeves slide back to his elbows before unbuttoning the shirt down the front.

He studiously avoided looking at anyone as he shed the shirt. The left side of his torso and parts of his left arm were covered in old burn scars. His right shoulder sported an old gunshot scar, and both arms bore the telltale marks of bones surgically set and pieced together with steel. More scars of a similar kind ran down along his spine, complemented by those left by luckily successful attempts at repairing internal damage done by some misfortune or other.

His jeans fell, revealing more scarring down his left hip and thigh, marks that raised questions about how he was walking evenly - let alone engaging in unarmed combat - criss-crossing the other leg.

Turning once, keeping his eyes fixed above everyone's heads, he asked: "Good enough?"

"Good enough," Atlan agreed. He would have liked to ask what in all the world had happened to that man, but he assumed that would have to wait for another round and a "truth".

Murdoc spun the bottle wordlessly after getting properly dressed again.

IT pointed at Rose.

It took Rose a moment to notice that Mr. Murdoc had spun the bottle and that it pointed right at her now, so distracted had she been by Raphael's scent and behaviour.

She eyed the bottle for a moment like it was a dangerous thing and then told Mr Murdoc

"Dare."

Truth was just too dangerous...

[http://users.livejournal.com/_silverfox/]

He tried to think of something sufficiently juvenile for the game and yet not too lame.

"Go and kiss..." he started, looking around the table, then settling on the oldest man present. "Joe."

Rose looked confusedly at Mr. Murdoc. Why did he want her to kiss Mr. Dawson? She knew of course what kissing was thanks to having gone to school and having listened to her classmates. But that didn't mean she understood.

Well, a game was a game, she guessed. So she shrugged, got up and walked over to Mr. Dawson. Rose gave him a quick peck on the lips and then straightened up again, thinking of several things that would taste much better on her lips. A frehsly killed rabbit. Or maybe a nice twitching rat. Or even a juicy, wet frog fresh from the pond...

She shot Mr Murdoc a questioning look, wanting to know if she had fulfilled the dare now and could go back to her seat.

"Okay," Murdoc grinned. "Your turn with the bottle now!"

Good, dare completed. Rose spun the bottle enthusiastically. She had absolutely no idea what she could ask one of the others or make them do, but she had agreed to try out this game so try it out she would.

The bottle spun and spun before it finally slowed down and pointed straight at... Mr. Dawson. Rose hoped he hadn't minded the kiss too much and smiled at him.

"Truth or dare, Mr. Dawson?"

"Truth."

Dare, he thought, was a bit too risky. Who knew what she'd set as a task for him.

Rose didn't have to think about a question for long. She was curious by nature after all.

"What happened to your legs?"

"Got torn off when I stepped on a landmine in Vietnam, back when I was nineteen," Joe explained matter-of-factly. "How much detail do you want?"

Well, 'as much detail as you're willing to give' would most probably be inpolite in human society, as much as it was the truth. Her brain was already whirling with questions like why did he go to Vietnam, can't one avoid landmines and how could a landmine rip off his legs but leave him alive?

Rose reigned in her curiosity and contented herself with

"I'm glad you survived such an injury, Mr. Dawson. Your turn, I think."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_silverfox/]

"Thank you, Rose," Joe said. "So am I."

He spun the bottle, which ended up pointing at Loki.

"Truth or Dare?"

"Why, Dare!" Loki said.

Truth was boring.

"Show us your least-liked gymnastics exercise," Joe said.

"Don't have one," Loki said, truthfully. "I never tried gymnastics."

"Okay," Joe said, considering for a moment and looking around at the people present, trying to decide who was most likely to be familiar with some unpleasant exercises. "Then show use Rose's most unliked one. Rose? Could you give instructions?"

Rose looked from Mr. Dawson to Loki and back. Why her least liked gymnastics exercise? She didn't exactly have one, being more flexible than humans. Then she thought back to school and told Loki

"Then do a handstand please"

because she had never gotten the use of that particular exercise. Who in their right mind wanted to stand on their hands??

"You heard the lady," Joe said. "Go ahead."

"How boring," Loki said as he stepped away from the table and obliged.

Upside-down, he continued: "Couldn't you at least have made it a BIT more difficult? Like, 'stand on your head in the shape of a fly' or 'strip while standing on your head', or something like that?"

"Yes," Joe commented. "I can see this is too easy for you. Well, I'll do better next time. Your turn on the bottle."

[josephdawson]

Joe caught McLeod's eyes. "I'm counting, Mac," he said with a grin that boardered on malicious.

[mcleod1592]

"A bit over fourhundred," Duncan said with a grin, waiting for someone to call him a liar.

[featheredhugs]

Raphael pricked up, a grin on his face. "Wow, it's great to see humans living longer these days!"

[quickandneat]

"Actually," Murdoc said with an undertone, "we don't. I think he meant forty."