Belly up to the Bar (C 1.4, H 1.5)

Location: Poseidon's Belly
Time: evening

---

Helix,

After working more chores at Pall Mall's direction, including cleaning blood off of dirty clothes and gear to carrying crates of food from the dock up to the residential floor, Bristol shows up to take you to your place before you have to work. It was a difficult choice to leave before Lucky Strike returns, but Bristol assured you he'll come by the Belly tonight. When you returned to the little place you call home, you found a small plastic pail sitting by the door with something hand-written on a piece of paper on top of the pail (that you can't read). Inside were three yellow cakes with sweet white stuff in the middle - two are still in plastic wrappers.

Your apartment was just as you left it - nobody broke in and stole your dren (yet). Did you invite Bristol in or leave her outside on her jet ski? After cleaning up, you scrounged together something to eat before heading to The Belly, the place where Kiwi died. Kiwi has been rather silent, but you feel his presence near like a burr nestled under your clothes - an unpleasant reminder at the worst times when you've almost forgotten he's there.

When you arrive at The Belly, you find Dakota already there working tables at her regular sloth-like pace. Blackjack didn't let the body cool, it seems - she's hired Parcher back on to tend bar. Parcher is neither pretty like Kiwi nor thoughtful. Why did Blackjack let him go the last time?

The bar is already filling up with Boaters and Rafters. Titicaca yells for you as soon as she sees you enter, beckoning you over to take her table's order.

What do you do?

Canary,

Last night after Litch, Edmund, and Kestrel left on their jet skis, you stuck around at the Tower docks until Dinero came back out with his matching luggage crammed with "stuff we'll really need". Did you let him bring all eight bags onto the Refuge with him? Among the bags he brought on was a small container that he handed over to you, saying it was from his father. Inside the container - a cigar box - was a month's worth of jingle to pay for Dinero's passage, as promised.

How did you spend the day training Dinero? You've found him to be observant and hard-working despite outward appearances. He is also easy on the eyes but hasn't made a pass at you (other than asking you to dance last night). After a day of work on the boat, you get a line on some new work - how do you normally get notifications like this? Is it word-of-mouth at docks or via radio, or something else? The potential employer is a Vaulter named Jay Pee Morgan. He asked to meet at The Belly, which is where you're walking into now.

As you enter the seedy bar with Dinero, the smell of alcohol and cigarettes fill your nostrils. The Belly itself is run-down, with peeling wallpaper and stained carpets where it hasn't been ripped up and thrown away. The dimly lit space is crowded with people, some chatting, others playing cards, but most are huddled around the fighting pit's fences. The air is thick with tension, and the energy is palpable. The patrons in the bar are a motley crew of characters - most of them Boaters or Rafters. There are shady-looking men with scars on their faces and women in tight dresses with too much makeup. Everyone seems to be on edge, and the slightest provocation feels like it could set off a brawl. You never know what might happen in a place like this, and it's best to keep your head down and stay out of trouble.

The prettiest servers - Dakota and Helix - are working tonight. But Kiwi isn't behind the bar, sadly.

What do you do?

I convince Bristol to wait on her jet ski while I go to my apartment alone. It gives me the opportunity to be in my own space again, like I'm used to. The yellow cakes outside my door are a surprise and I tuck the note in my pocket even though I can't read it. I might have asked Kiwi, but that's not an option now, even with his presence lingering over my shoulder like a shadow I can never quite see.

The fact that there are three cakes though makes me feel safer about them. Someone leaving something nefarious wouldn't waste more than one. I take a bite of the unwrapped one and use my finger to scoop out some of the cream inside, savoring the impossibly sweet taste as much as I can while knowing Bristol is waiting on me.

While I'm home, I change out of the sunshiney yellow dress into something more myself and pack a bag with a few outfit options. Maybe I'll be back tonight, for good, but if my information isn't enough to free me, who knows when or if Bristol will bring me back again?


I go to the big square tank along the wall where my pets swim happily. I have six of them - black and brown leeches with speckled heads and ribbed bodies that grow fat when they feed. I scoop three of them into a mason jar that I store in my backpack to bring with me. They're surprisingly hearty, able to survive without food for weeks and outside of water for days. Kiwi told me you can dehydrate them in the sun and when you put them back in water, they plump right up again, but I'd never test that with these leeches. I need these ones.

Walking into the Belly is walking into my past life. Parcher is behind the bar again, despite the fact that last time he worked here, he was fixing fights in the Pit, feeding insider information to the high rollers, and pilfering the profits for himself. Either Blackjack was desperate or she found some way of making sure he wasn't going to repeat past sins.

After the long day of work, my bones are already weary when I walk in. Titicaca's touts only intensify the tiredness. I head over to stow my backpack behind the bar, too close to the place Kiwi died, don't greet Parcher, then head for the Rafters' table.

My gaze shifts from Titicaca to the rest of the Rafters at the table. "Anything else?" I ask them.

While I wait for the response, I take a moment to scan the rest of the room. Part of me is looking for Mikkie and I'm not sure if I hope he's here, or hope he's not. Part of me is looking for Wells Fargo, as if just seeing him might confirm what the Whispers told me. And part of me is alert for any sort of insanity in someone's eyes that would indicate they're about to pull out a gun and shoot one of us for no reason - for NO reason, and certainly not because I controlled the Whispers and made them issue an order.

"Stuff we really need?" I cross my arms and sarcastically stand there deliberately not helping with his things. Around when he's gotten to his fourth or fifth, bag, though, I have to say something. "You know there ain't room in the cargo hold for all that dren, right? Where do you think you're gonna be sleepin' then? You like sleepin' on deck with all that, be my guest."

I have him pare it down to a more reasonable amount of stuff... less comforts, more utility.

As far as training, yeah, with jingle in the box we can spend a little time on the basics. I plan to show him how to pilot the Refuge at some point, and tell him so, but I start with the most common issues with the engines, how to refuel, how to mount and use the fifty-cal... even though I still don't have the ammo... and how to load and unload cargo. Those hatches can be hard to open and lock.

When the weather's bad he's welcome to sleep in any covered space below-decks. I take the pilot house. And we keep it professional...even though, yeah... Dinero isn't hard on the eyes.

I get jobs through the radio often, but word of mouth at least as much. I come into port and someone or other may have work for me waiting. I to a circuit of the islands, usually, try not to go too long between visits of the more... populated... places. Been a good while since I landed at the Vault, though. Good to be back.

---

I fill Dinero in, pretty much tell him the same things. Keep it calm, don't call attention to yourself, don't get in anyone's space... there's been more than a little violence here in the recent past and we don't want to spark anything.

We walk in together and I see Helix at the bar. It's good to see her, but it feels like she again, always... has her hands full at this place. It must be exhausting. I raise my eyes to her to get her attention and walk Dinero over to the bar and tell him to hang here while I find my contact, Jay Pee.

"Helix, can you take care of my friend here while I take care of some business?" I drop a bit of jingle on the bar for her, feeling flush from my recent windfall. I wonder if she knows who he is.

Helix,
The Rafters order some munching food, but nothing much more. You notice Canary coming into The Belly with Dinero - do you know Millions' son? He's been here before, for sure. He's so frelling clean that it's odd, right?

Returning from the Rafters makes the guy at the bar with Canary seem even cleaner and less like he belongs. I study him for a moment, trying to place why he seems familiar. Then I remember - he's the one that was about to have his zok handed to him in the fighting pit when the Talons started a brawl that shut everything down for a while. I overheard someone say he was Millions' son, and that is a name I do know.

If it's true, though, what is he doing in a place like this? With Canary no less?

The jingle Canary puts down suddenly makes a lot more sense. She's always been fair when it comes to money, but this feels more than fair. Suddenly I'm more than aware of the fact that I spent my morning elbow-deep in fish guts. This guy smells like a spring day.

"Sure," I tell her, swiping up the jingle while it's still here. "As long as business doesn't involve anyone getting killed."

"You are business," I answer Dinero, little bit of a smile on my face. "Hang here, Helix knows everyone 'round these parts. You should know her, too."

If it takes more convincing than that... My eyes follow Helix's deft swipe, then up to her face, "I hope not! Seriously. It'd probably be me..." I glance over my shoulder, "you seen Jay Pee Morgan 'round? Suppose' to meet him."

Canary,

Dinero takes your direction and stays put at the bar. He does mutter, "I am business," like it's a joke.

Helix,

You have seen Jay Pee, he's seated in the VIP area with some other Vaulters - they rarely spend time outside their clique unless they're purchasing services.

"VIP area," I tell Canary. "Per usual. They might not let you in there though, unless he's expecting you." I wonder if Wells Fargo is here tonight too. "I can walk you over, if that might help."

I glance at the clean prince sitting at the bar, then catch Parcher's attention, pointing to him. "Get this one whatever he wants," I call over the din, because I'm certain if we didn't give it over willingly, this pretty person would take it like he's owed it anyway.

I consider telling Helix to treat him like... well... like a "normal" person. Like me, i guess. But that little look, I'll let it go for now.

I lean in close to Dinero for a second, "hey, it's your first day, ok? I know you can handle it but I have my own reputation to look out for... I'm who they expect to see and if you walk in there with me it changes the deal."

I leave him with that thought, "thanks Helix... I'm expected," then quietly, "appreciate if you can keep an eye on my man, here..." I realize this probably makes no sense. I silently mouth, 'tell you later.' And gesture at Dinero with a tilt of the head.

Then off to find Jay Pee.

Canary,

The VIP area is where the Vaulters relax and smoke cigars. They have a trio of muscle hired from around the way - you've seen them before. They're pros. Jay Pee is watching one of the closed-circuit TVs on the table in their seating area. It looks like he might have some jingle on one of the fighters or something.

When you step into the small area, bald and burly Truist steps to you, asking what's up.

Helix,

You break away from Parcher with a tray full of beers for the Rafters. As you move closer to them, Titicaca looks up at you expectantly. You glance to your left to the fighting pits and that's when you see Mikkie. He's not in the pit, but he's leaning against the chain-link fencing around it, watching the fight casually. Or, at least, it seems casual from his body language.

Do you serve Titicaca first, or make her wait?

I nod at Canary's silent message, but I'm worried about it too. She's not the type to be pushed around, but was this guy sent along with her by her choice, or because she felt like she had to take him along? I guess I'll find out later, assuming the Vaulters don't add another person to their kill count before then.

Seeing Mikkie over there by the pits makes my stomach tighten. Is he talking to the Whispers right now? About me? What are they telling him?

I force my focus back to the Rafters, serving Victoria first, then Titicaca second. I don't want to outright snub her again, but I'm tired of being pushed around. This seems like a safe enough rebellion.

"Food will be out in a bit," I tell them, delivering the last of the drinks and then unconsciously checking again to see if Mikkie is still there watching the fight.