Donning her flight jacket, clearly depicting that this woman was a pilot of the Bretonian Armed Forces, Kaze Nelson Reidman Dagon was waiting in a corner table inside the pub for her company. She felt it was in another lifetime where she visited these kind of places just to search for merriment, or as they say, a good time. The occasion could not be better. The last engagement saw her 'loaned' Templar wrecked beyond hope. The battle near Sprague did not went well for her, as she was seriously hit by the corsair opponents. Leaving her with, at the lack of a better description, a poor taste in her mouth. A taste she expected to wash down with some decent ale. She knew her bionics would not agree with the alcohol intake, but a de-calibration was the least of her concerns right now. Hall and her new assigment were parading through her mind, as she watched the people inside the pub. Common folk, mixed with some shady looking personas. "Normal, in this neighbourhood." She thought. Bretonia, was after all, feeling the pain of two consecutive wars. Pain, sadness and a general discontent with the status quo was norm in today's Bretonia.
As the wooden door opened, she eyed her drinking companion. An eager one for it, she reminded herself.
A tall and slender man with a rugged face walked into the pub. His Bretonian Armed Forces ensign uniform felt out of place for him. His messy and unkept facial hair, begging for a proper shave, which he obviously missed in his first days as an ensign, spoke nothing of a true an dedicated BAF pilot and his demeanor was a bit nervous due to his awareness of that fact. Nonetheless, ensign Thomas Murphy had promised to the captain that they will have a drink and disappointing was not something he wished to do. His gaze quickly drifted across the place looking for his companion. Thomas had been here before, perhaps an year or two ago, and in his memory this place had not changed much, it was a good place to get drunk as any in Beckenham.
He quickly spotted the miss, after all in a place like this the bright red Bretonian uniform stuck out like a sore thumb. Being late he did not want to make her wait any longer and quickly made his way to her table. Thomas forced a nervous smile and hastily spat out the apology that he had though of on his way there. "Apologies for making you wait, captain. The admiralty refused to let me go before I gave them a detailed report of what happened in Omega-3." With that said and hopefully his transgression of making a lady wait excused he slid into his seat across from the captain.
She shook her head, dismissing the apology. "None needed, Murphy." Tapping her bionic hand on the table, Kaze got up and stopped at his side. "So, i am going to take a wild guess, but i will venture you are a pint man." With his compliant nod, she quickly went to the counter to order the pints. Black in color, the foam of the ale was creamy and something Kaze was eager to try. The men around her quickly surveyed the woman, with their eyes going up and down. Not even phased by it, Kaze finally grabbed the pint glasses and took them to the table, offering one to Thomas. As she sat, the glass was raised in a toast. "Bretonia." The name was spoken solemnly. With a silent nod in response, they both tasted the ale.
A cold pint was a good way to end the day for the ensign. The pub felt welcoming and calm so Thomas relaxed back in his seat and smirked to himself - he cheated death at the hands of the Corsairs so perhaps a career in the Bretonian Armed Forces wasn't all too bad? Taking another sip from the delicious drink his gaze could not help but lock onto his companion's bionic arm. Such things were rare to see in Bretonia, even more so in a place such as a Beckenham pub.
"Were you wounded in service, miss?", his curiosity got the better of him. Suddenly realizing this might not be a topic the lady feels comfortable talking about with a stranger he quickly tried to correct his mistake. "I'm sorry for asking, curiosity got the better of me, forget I did so." Sensing his nervousness he quickly dived in for another gulp of the black liquid to try and mask it.
Kaze raised an eyebrow at the question. She grabbed the glass with her bionic hand, and sipped it as she thought over the answer. "Not in service to Bretonia as you would think, no." She looked at the hand and remembered her past. "I was tortured by.." Kaze stopped mid-sentence for a couple of seconds. "A Gaul. For a year. By the time I was released from captivity, my arm was beyond salvation and use. So I decided that this.." She raised the arm, and looked at it. "Was the only answer." Kaze eyed Murphy and smiled sadly. "It was a long time ago, and I do not mind your question." Grabbing her glass again, the pint tasted wonderfully, and Kaze felt somewhat rejuvenated. "So, Murphy. Do tell me about you. What drove you to join our forces?" Her wrist-pad beeped, delivering a message. She gleaned it and decided to ignore it for a bit.
After all, it has been a while she actually felt this relaxed.
"Gallic bastard", Thomas muttered under his breath before taking another sip of his pint. His curiousity was satisfied, but what he heard made him far from pleased. The ensign left his glass on the table and leaned on it, resting on his elbows and crossing his hands. He gave out a short sigh, closed his eyes and smirked at the captain's question. "Six months on Newgate gave me plenty of time to think about life." Thomas looked Kaze in the eyes and smiled with a cheerful expression. "I have been a huge nuisance for Bretonia in the past, but since the admiralty sees promise in me I guess I am not a hopeless case."
He grabbed his glass for another sip, this time a bit longer than the previous. Giving a content sight and leaving the glass on the table again the ensign continued, "But what really drove me to sit on my ass and fill in the application form was actually a bad hangover." Thomas chuckled, after all he saw no point in hiding all this as it was actually written on his application form anyways. Resting his body back onto his seat he eyed the rest of the pub for a second before returning his gaze on the captain.
Her hand twirled the pint glass, almost empty. "A hangover?" One could almost see a smirk in her lips. "And Newgate?" She leaned to the front and said. "Your past seems quite colorful. Almost as mine." Her hand grabbed the pint and finished it. Putting the glass down, a satisfied sigh was heard.
"Do tell. And it is your turn."
Thomas quickly took the hint and gulped what was left of his drink. "Let me get us a refill first, captain", he said with a pointed finger and a sly smirk. Without waiting a second more he quickly stood up and grabbed the 2 empty glasses to take on his way to the bar. While making his trek to the counter he gave the people on the other tables another quick glance. The ensign seemed to have gathered the eyes of a few drunkards as well that were measuring him up, though admittedly with much less interest than how they eyed his companion.
Thomas left the glasses at the counter and nodded at the bartender there for a refill. Tapping his fingers on the wooden boards he listened to the fairly subtle music that was playing in the background, masked under the chatter of the pub's patrons. His distraction from reality was quickly disrupted by the bartender placing two fresh pints on the bar counter.
On his way back to his table he paid little attention to the rest of the pub, focusing on not spilling any of the delicious liquid from the glasses he was carrying. Thomas carefully placed them on the table and took his old seat. Eager to take a sip he quickly raised his glass in a form of toast before taking a drink. "Now, captain, are you sure a lady such as yourself really wants to listen to the misfortunes of a hoodlum such as myself?" The ensign was far from proud of his past and gave one last attempt to slip away from having to retell it to the captain.
Kaze raised the pint and they toasted."I am far from a lady, Murphy. Far from it." The foam of the pint tasted like nothing else.
"Now do regale me with the tale of the life of Thomas Murphy, Ensign of the Bretonian Armed Forces." She leaned back in the seat, visibly relaxing.
"After all, it has the makings of a very good tale." The background music was filling the room, alongside with the chatter and klink of pint glasses. Cozy to say the least, and both officers were enjoying their time here. Although, she caught the side look glances from some of the drunk patrons. She raised an eyebrow, and mentally prepared herself for the possible opportunity of ruckus and mayhem. Seems the old days of 'Crazy' Kaze Dagon were catching up, with her relaxing. She looked at Murphy and smiled, waiting for his tale.
The ensign's attempt to slip away was fruitless, as he had expected. He took another sip from his beverage and left the glass back on the table before resting his back on the seat. "I got a job in Bretonia Mining and Manufacturing back in 820." He paused for a second, trying to piece together his thoughts. "It was a bloody awful deal but at least it felt like a way to actually turn my life around." The ensign scratched his jaw nervously. "You see, captain, I had a bad reputation around Beckenham, had been in a few fights after some drinks and the BPA already had a good dossier on me and my mischief. People didn't really trust me to hire me so a job at the miners off world seemed like better than anything I already had."
Thomas leaned forward and grabbed his glass for another taste of the delicious pint. After refreshing his lips he continued. "So given the fact I had absolutely no worthwhile skills to bargain with they shipped me to Graves to process ore other more useful employees mined." The ensign paused again, letting the captain note what has been said. "It was roughly two years of hard but honest work. The fact my old man had been busted dealing with the Mollys didn't really help my reputation once word of it got around." Murphy clenched his left hand into a fist. "Then that brown nosing bastard Jones finally broke my patience by calling me a frackin' trefoil so I lost my nerve and rearranged his face." He gave out a sad sigh. "Though given his extensive licking of our superiors' boots that quickly got a lawsuit on me and with my previous long record at BPA I ended up with a 6 month sentence on Newgate to think of what I had done." Thomas took his glass for another swing, while paying attention to the captain's face, waiting to see her reaction.
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