3/7/2026, 2:24 AM
It's always taken an effort to get drunk, for them. Good. Better to look that way around strangers than let it happen, but the buzz is...pleasant.
Taloka watches. Wisp at the top of the stairs, a swarm of children around her. Lyra in the middle of things, strangers one by one through the door. Interesting, how many they've gathered in so short a time. Never thought this place was too busy, game-trails or otherwise. Not much better to do in the dead of an ice age, they suppose.
They bend to drink, and something prickles uneasily at their neck. They can taste metal in the back of their throat.
Know a warning when they feel it. Taloka pauses, lifts their head in cold-eyed assessment. They're used to judging danger, in a crowd- maybe it's the smoke, but there's nothing to find. No faces that aren't distracted, no teeth flashing in warning...
There. The dancers part on a step, and a sliver of cold blue pulses between legs and tails. Taloka licks red from their lips and turns, shoulders around the edge of the bar. Nothing they've seen before. It's there, beneath the broken floorboard, sharp like ozone.
Their brow furrows. They turn their eyes on Wisp, gesture with a sweep of their muzzle. Knows more than they do, they're sure.
Taloka watches. Wisp at the top of the stairs, a swarm of children around her. Lyra in the middle of things, strangers one by one through the door. Interesting, how many they've gathered in so short a time. Never thought this place was too busy, game-trails or otherwise. Not much better to do in the dead of an ice age, they suppose.
They bend to drink, and something prickles uneasily at their neck. They can taste metal in the back of their throat.
Know a warning when they feel it. Taloka pauses, lifts their head in cold-eyed assessment. They're used to judging danger, in a crowd- maybe it's the smoke, but there's nothing to find. No faces that aren't distracted, no teeth flashing in warning...
There. The dancers part on a step, and a sliver of cold blue pulses between legs and tails. Taloka licks red from their lips and turns, shoulders around the edge of the bar. Nothing they've seen before. It's there, beneath the broken floorboard, sharp like ozone.
Their brow furrows. They turn their eyes on Wisp, gesture with a sweep of their muzzle. Knows more than they do, they're sure.
english | gujarati
