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

I nod once at Titicaca's declaration, then step away from the table, planning to head across the bar toward where Caspian went when I notice Canary's boy toy nearly swaying out of his seat. My gaze shifts to Parcher, eyes narrowing. I'm not looking through Mikkie's technicolored vision now, but I can almost see the eager predatory orange roiling off him again.

Caspian can wait. I hurry back toward them. "Canary, I'm sorry. I was dealing with Mikkie and-" I dart a hateful glare toward Parcher, "I don't know what happened."

"Yeah, you look fine, Dinero. You barf on deck you're scrubbin' the whole boat hands'n knees," I give his shoulder a tug towards the door and then let go. Why do i feel like I'm scolding a naughty child here....

"Hey!?" I call out to whoever's behind the bar, "the hezmana is Helix? Told'er to keep an eye on..." speak of the devil, here she is.

I turn to face Helix.

My voice is raised at first, then calm down about half way through, "you don't know what happened!? Dren... I asked ya to keep an eye on him! Cause he needs eyes on 'im!" I'm suddenly full of so many doubts about this whole arrangement.

"Helix...." I shake my head and sigh, not apologizing but knowing I should, "he's a big boy... shouldn't be your problem..."

Ok, I begin to put two and two together here, turn Dinero towards me with a sharp grip on his shoulder to look him in the eye....

Canary's initial vehemence catches me off guard and I take half a step back before her voice calms halfway through. I don't feel like I deserve that though - the calming down. I did spend too long talking with Mikkie, not watching what Dinero was getting up to, not that I should have had to. She's right about that much.

While she manhandles Dinero I move up to the bar beside Dinero's stool and slap a hand against the countertop. "What did you do to him, Parcher? This never would have happened with Kiwi."

"Yeah, I wanna know, too!" I call out angrily to Parcher, "that's what you did? That's all you did?"

"I'm not delivering one more drink until you answer her question," I tell Parcher, pulling my hand back from the counter, my spine a column of stone in my back. I don't even look at Dakota when she tries to calm us down, even if she's right. "And who do you think people will blame for that? The server who's been here forever, or the new bartender who already got fired once before?" There's a strange sort of mirror between us on that point, because I'm pretty sure me trying to work with Canary was even more disastrous than Parcher's last go at the Belly. The only one of us who's been truly capable in her career is Canary herself. Parcher and I are just loser drop outs from different academies, and I'm sure this Tower Boy will be soon enough too.

My eyes dart around as I put the rest of the puzzle together.

"So he's basically a thief," I mutter quietly to myself. Figured, Dinero hasn't had to deal with this kind of thing... Dren... why'd I leave him alone... this isn't about Dinero's jingle. I doubt he'd miss it. It's about his association with me and my reputation. He drugged my employee, here... not going to let that go.

I seethe up to the bar, "you want me to take this up with Blackjack, friend? How much biz do you think I bring to this place? Huh?" I point back at Dinero, "you rip off my man here and think you can play dumb and walk away with a score? Maybe you didn't know. Maybe you thought you seen an easy mark, huh? No. No he ain't... he's with me."

I point at the bar where the jingle was set a moment ago, "let's see how much you apparently think a couple'a pours and your good-good service are worth."

Parcher's threat to actually bring this to Blackjack makes my heart skip a beat. After smashing a Sipp's hand last night and slacking on serving tonight, he could make a case against me. Plus I know I look like a pile of rags, which doesn't work in my favor considering appearances are half the reason Blackjack hires in the first place.

Before I can catch my breath, Canary swoops in, more bird of prey than songbird as she lays into Parcher. I've seen things like this before, and they don't always go down without bloodshed. Am I about to watch someone die right in front of me for the second night in a row? Is that space behind the bar cursed now?

I find myself reaching for Dakota's hand and tugging her back a couple of steps, giving Canary space to work this out.

Canary, you and Parcher jaw at each other. You feel like he's going to back down any moment now, you sense it in the way his eyes dart as if looking for some support. You catch movement from your right as Small Fry, still wearing his "cookin apron" is hustling from the kitchen to see what's what. It feels like a standoff with a coming storm, Canary. Do you weather it or decide to race out of the way?

You're weathering this storm, aren't you? You're going to tell Parcher not to mess with your crew no matter how brand-new and foolish he is. Parcher starts to reach for something under the bar, which feels not good. Is he really going to bring a weapon out?

That's when Dinero's knees buckle under him and he drops like an anchor to the floor. He's passed out and slipped from your grasp. He starts to throw up, but he's at a bad angle and he's going to choke on it.

What do you do?