Trax Tavern {Storm's a-brewin': Check events}

[DarkWolfLove]

Larka yawned as she stretched, her arms high above her head. She shook out her fur and padded towards her closet. She pulled out her usual attire: tight, black leather corset, pants, boots, and gloves. She brushed her violet-tipped hair and growled at her reflection. Her ******** hair never cooperated. It sprung out in various places and seemed to laugh in her face. She flicked off the 'do and adjusted her corset. A quick once over and she was ready.

Closing her bedroom door behind her, the she-Wolf grabbed a glass of milk as she passed through the kitchen and into the bar. She drank down half before setting it on the bar's counter and set herself to tidying up a bit before opening for the day.

After the whole fiasco with her previous lover, the Tavern had been closed down for a while. Most of the old workers were scared off from her bad moods and the customers stopped bothering her about when she'd open. She could open whenever she damn-well pleased. Another gulp of milk and she wiped down the last table. Looking over her quick work, Larka smirked and wagged her tail. Not bad. Not bad at all, old girl.

She sashayed to the front doors, proud of herself, glass in hand, and propped open the two doors. She placed an "OPEN" sign in the window and waited for the folks to roll in. She strolled back to the bar, sat on a stool behind the counter, and propped her feet up. Life was gonna be good again.

 

[shruikan]

The smell of soft spring breeze blew into the tavern. The smell and touch of it roused Square who was currently curled up under one of Trax's many tables. She opened a slitted pupil and growled. "Is it morning already? Damn, feels like I just went to sleep..."

Square crawled out from under the table, gator-style, and stretched like a big cat, popping her back in the process. She purred happily at that then stood, re-streching her back. "Morning, Larka. Sorry, I crashed on your floor again. Finding housing in this district can be such a pain..."

Square yawned, revealing rows of sharp teeth while scratching her head. Her hair was a scruffy mess and she wasnt wearing any shoes. Her outfit looked a tad rumpled from sleeping in it. The goggles she usually wore on her head were around her neck. "Got any plans for breakfast?" She asked brightly as she grabbed a stool at the bar and promptly sat, gator tail swaying back and forth.  

[DarkWolfLove]

Larka's purple and silver eyes glanced over at Square before they fixed themselves back on the open doors. "No need to apologize. All strange surfaces are practically yours. You've stuck around, so why not," she chuckled and finished off her milk. She clunked it down and licked away the excess milk on her furry lips. Not like anyone would see it because of her white fur, but it would stink after a while. No one would want that.

She shrugged at the Gator's question and stretched her arms before lacing her fingers behind her head. "We got a fresh catch this morning, so I'm having fish. Gotta feed Shrui. I'll assume you and I are gonna fight over the tuna, yeah," she joked. She shrugged again and looked at Square again. "Whatever you'd like to prepare otherwise. I'm fine with cuttin' up fish, but the customers might not want, so have to feed them. If some arrive..." A quick glare at the open doors showed her displeasure at no one waltzing through them, throwing money on the table, and making ridiculously easy demands.

 

[shruikan]

Square's ears perked at the mention of fish. Fish was her favorite food. "Well, you know me, I do love tuna but any fish will do really." She turned and leaned against the bar. "Feed Shrui? What for? That lazy squid hasn't had to do jack in weeks!" While Trax was closed there had been no customers so there had been no bar fights and no one to quarantine. But that also didnt mean that there wasnt work to be done. While Trax was closed Square had been kept busy by keeping the large tavern clean.

She grinned, "Maybe we should make her do some tricks for her meal. Or at least have her scrub some floors, she's got 6 arms." Square was only joking. Shrui had pulled her a** out of the fire several times, figuratively and once literally during a wild New Years party. Shrui also left Trax occasionally to go travel to the ocean and visit family. She wasn't around much when Trax was closed but she was back now. Probably in her large salt water tank kept in the basement near the cages where rowdy customers were kept.

Square shrugged, "Whatever, its your tavern." She slid off the stool and came around to the back of the bar. "S'cuse me boss, gonna make myself a little drinky-drink for breakfast."  

[DarkWolfLove]

Larka shook her head and chuckled. "Just because nothing was done doesn't mean she doesn't need to be fed. You gotta eat too, don't you? Or should I keep meals from you too?" Joking with Square was always great fun. A nice way to boost one's spirits too.

The she-Wolf let her feet drop from the bar's counter to let the Chimera Gator pass. She had a feeling she knew what it was. She'd never catch Square getting drunk, that's for sure. She stood herself and grabbed her empty glass, depositing it in the bar's sink. "Wash that for me, could ya'? I'll get the fish goin'." Scaling, gutting, filleting, all sorts of things to be done. But the pay off was deliciously fresh tuna. She could already taste and feel it in her mouth as she began the prep. Her trusty knife in one hand and the fish's tail in another. Today's catch was mostly salmon, but there were some choice tuna and yellowtail in there. A huge catfish and a bass too.

 

[shruikan]

Square just chuckled to herself and grabbed some fruit to make some orange juice. It was too early to drink, not that she was much of a drinker. Kind of ironic, having a non drinker be a bartender but it had been working out well so far.

She eyed the catch Larka had set out to clean. "Ooh, I will definitely being having some of that salmon." The smell of fish usually off-put a lot of people but it only made Square salivate hungrily. Sometimes she wished she could just go out and hunt like her gator ancestors (well one quarter gator) did. But she had already been accused of being some sort of lake monster twice and there was only so many times Larka would tolerate an angry mob in her Tavern.

Sighing and dreaming about live fish, Square set out the fruit for her drink. It took a lot of oranges but they got them cheap from the orchard located just a little ways down the road. "Want some orange juice Boss? Squeezing it fresh~" she sang the last part to make it more inviting.  

[DarkWolfLove]

Larka nodded and added briefly, "Only a little. This early in the morning I'll get heartburn." With deft strokes and small flicks of her wrist, three salmon out of seven were already scaled. She'd clean all the fish, but only use some of them for breakfast. The others would go in the ice filled closet to be kept for the day.

Fish was hardly ordered, but with herself, Square, and Shrui, it was a meal or two for each. They could all make short work of the fish if there was some leftover by dinner time.

The violet tip of her white tail twitched as she worked. Her eyes moved with the knife and her tongue stuck out slightly as she concentrated. After years of this, she hardly ever got nicked by the knife. Sharp bones however were a different story.

 

[Zeren the Morph]

The incubus had an odd habit of showing up without notice. Silent feet and a quiet demeanor despite his occasional boisterousness helped quite a bit with that. This time, Zeren had popped up behind the bar. It had been a while since he tended to the counter, but it was like coming back to home to him. He stereotypically wiped the surface down with a clean dishrag, feeling the contours of the countertop. Every nick had it's own story to tell, most of them boring. Then there was ones that inevitably begun with kingdom politics and ended with Larka's boot up their asses. People argue over the silliest bullshit.

The demon looked up from under his striped bangs. He enjoyed variation in regards to himself. Even his original form he then bore had odd changes. A spaded tail was replaced by something more draconian, his eyes black and yellow heterocromia to match his hair. His apparel was skimpy. Always skimpy. Not just because he was slutty by nature, but shapeshifting is less of an issue when he's not covered head to toe in clothes that may or may not fit his new form.

"Larka. Square." He finally said cordially before resuming his buffing, his accent thick of someone from the Southern Archipelago. Slow, low, and somewhat halting.  

[DarkWolfLove]

Larka's knife slipped and nearly found itself in her palm. She swiftly turned at the sudden voice and appearance of Zeren. "********, Z. Nice to see ya' man, but gods be damned you pop in at the worst times." She touched her palm, glad that it was uninjured and whole. She shook her head and wiped the dangling hair out of her face with her shoulder.

She noticed his reptilian tail and smirked. Trying to soothe her own rapidly beating heart, she cracked a joke, "Going for Square's look today, Z? Flattery will get you everywhere, just don't know how far with her..." Everyone's tried their hand at Square, but just like with the she-Wolf, they never get far. The women of the Tavern were tough it seemed.

 

[shruikan]

"Alrighty, Boss."Square grinned one of her big gator grins and started to slice the oranges.
She got into her usual rhythm, her dark purple tongue flicking out occasionally. She could taste the citrus and it was delicious. She grabbed half an orange when Zeren suddenly appeared. Startling Square, she squeezed the orange out of shock, effectively ruining it and spraying juice all over the counter."Awww...." Square frowned at her ruined orange half. Seeing the mess she caused she reached down under the counter, grabbing for a rag.

"G'Morning Zeren. Someone should really put a bell on you."She wasn't upset at him. He had popped up like that quite often enough you would think she would have gotten used to it.

"Going for Square's look today, Z? Flattery will get you everywhere, just don't know how far with her..."
"Hmm? What now?" From where she was leaned down it was an easy glance at the incubii's toned butt. Square noticed the tail. "My my.... Very nice, Mr. Z, very nice indeed." She grabbed a towel and wetted it."Trying something new today? Or do you know someone with a fetish?" She winked and tapped her tail against his thigh playfully.

 

[DarkWolfLove]

Larka snickered at Square's crack and continued to clean the fish. "What do you think Shrui has a preference for today, Square? We've got more salmon than anything, so I'm tempted to give her some of that..." She finished five salmon now and was gutting the sixth one as she spoke. "And what are you hungerin' for, Z? Wanna join us in feasting on fish, or do you get enough of that with your lady friends," she teased. "We've also got a nice cow for the stew today out back. Haven't killed her yet. Farmer just brought her in last night. Poor old girl. I'd keep her, but she looks awfully tasty."

The she-Wolf got the last salmon done and took a quick break to get another glass of milk, after washing her hands of course. Her tail waved contentedly behind her as she leaned her butt against a counter. The short canid felt so at home with her friends close. With her recent heartbreak, she needed the company. She gave a soft smile, hidden behind the glass.

 

[shruikan]

"Hmmmm..... What would Shrui like?" Square tapped a claw to her snout, thinking. "Hrm, I'm not sure, I dont know her tastes very well." She shrugged. "Well, I do know that I want quite a healthy portion of that salmon." She looked back through the fish pile. "Uhhh.... give her the bass. Oh wait. Those are freshwater... hmm better make it salmon then."

She wrinkled her nose at Larka's joke but grinned. At the mention of the cow, Square's ears perked again. She had seen it out back and had wanted to death roll it. But when she heard Larka wanted to keep it she went back to work, ears drooping back to normal, her daydream staying just that.
((for some reason, Square is in a really murderous mood >.> ))

Square finished making her juice, three glasses. She slid one down to Wolf. "Drink up! Get that vitamin C, prevent that scurvy and all that crap." Squared took a big gulp of hers "Ahhh, that's the stuff."  

[DarkWolfLove]

Larka nodded in thanks to Square for the juice. She looked at her milk and looked at the citrus drink, torn. "Too bad I can't have both..." She gulped down the rest of the milk and set the juice aside for drinking later. "Salmon it is then. I can give you two equal portions. Plenty of salmon for the both of you. And they aren't small," she chuckled. Such hearty appetites, but they weren't the only ones to blame. She'd have to be strict on herself with the tuna otherwise she'd be "sampling" the fish as she prepared it. She always ends up with at least one tuna stripped clean before she's even done.

She sipped the juice slowly while she pulled the innards from the catfish. She chopped this fish into small chunks for battering later. The bass would be good in fillets. The tuna would be served raw or seared at the most. The yellowtail she preferred to do only raw. The salmon could be served just about any way, but Shrui and Square were gonna finish it off quickly, so the she-Wolf left it raw.

Scraping guts and scales to one side, Larka turned to Square. "Do you wanna take the cow down, or shall I once I feed everyone?"

 

[shruikan]

((crap I read that too fast, I thought Larka *was* going to keep the cow, whoops!))

"Do you want to take the cow down, or shall I once I feed everyone?" Larka asked. Square nearly choked on her juice. Coughing, she sputtered, "W-whuh? Cow? We have a cow?" she blushed but you couldn't tell due to her reptilian features. "Uh...whatever you want to do with it is fine by me... heh heh..." She said, trying to play it off cool and taking another big swig of her orange juice. The truth was, Square was feeling rather murderous and would tear the cow apart. She didnt want Larka to know. Square was starting to get a reputation around town. You could only blame foxes for killing chickens for so long before some of the evidence starts to lead to yourself. Being cooped up in the tavern wasn't helping either. She knew she would have to leave soon and take care of these...urges.... secretly and above all, quietly.  

[Zeren the Morph]

That never gets old.

"Oh, please. I have far too much respect for the fine people of this establishment to go as far as try to woo either one of you. But my apologies, ma'am. Tommorow, I'll just wear a bell upon my neck, hmm?" The slight tone of playful sarcasm betrayed his deadpan delivery. He looked to Square, chuckling a bit. "Why, thank you! But nope. As many... Uses something like this would have in that manner, I prefer it for it's prehensile nature. A lot more elegant than growing a third hand." His tail wrapped around the neck of a bottle of cleaning solution, both as to demonstrate and to speed up his current task. "My gods, can this thing possibly get more dusty..." He muttered mostly to himself as he poured a little soap and scrubbed.