The Experience of Making a New Relationship

The place was considerably more busy when Vanessa burst through the door. Music could be heard; a tune from a guitar played by expert hands. The sound of merriment helped raise Vanessa's spirits and put her at ease. Sure, she was partly involved in the destruction of someone's home barely a half hour ago, but so what... right? It's not like that weird couple and their deranged child were going to come after her... were they?

So it was with a bit of a swagger that she sauntered up to the bar and slammed a fistful of her freshly earner jewels on the counter. "Bottle of sake again, pal," she said.

The bartender raised an eyebrow at her as he took a bottle out of the cabinet and blew the dust off it before placing it, along with a clean glass, in front of Vanessa. "How'd the job go?" he asked. "I take it you were paid well."

"Not well enough," Vanessa said darkly as she poured herself a glass and knocked it back. "I think after tonight, I'm going to steer clear of this town for some time."

"Huh, one of those..." the bartender chuckled. "Well that's a shame, I thought I had another loyal customer."

Vanessa shrugged as she started sipping at a second glass of sake. She turned around, propping herself up with her elbows on the counter as she looked at the customers. "Your place usually this busy?" she asked curiously.

"Not usually, I'm afraid," the bartender replied as he served another person.

"Huh..." Vanessa murmured, tapping her foot. Her thoughts turned to what her plans were next. Where she should go, what she should do... "Well this is just great," she thought bitterly, for the first time in her life feeling completely stumped.

It was the request for such an unusual-sounding drink that grabbed Vanessa's attention. "Star Mango smoothie with orange-flavoured rum?" she thought, looking incredulous for a split second as she glanced at the lass who sat next to her.

The woman... Canicks? At least that's what it sounded like the bartender called her. She appeared to be a similar age to Vanessa, maybe give or take a couple of years. Sometimes it was hard to tell. Blueish green eyes, long black hair, and standing an inch or so shorter than Vanessa, she looked rather more refined too. Vanessa felt scruffy in comparison. She only half listened to the woman conversing with the bartender, something about travelling to Enca, but figured that it wasn't any of her business... nor that she really cared, for that matter. She poured herself another glass, reaching the last of what remained in the bottle. To her disappointment, she still wasn't feeling any kind of buzz. She let out a sigh as she counted out enough jewels to purchase another and then realised that the lady was looking at her.

Vanessa raised an eyebrow as the lady apologised, sensing that maybe there was something in what the lady said to the bartender that just went over her head. "No problem," she said with an awkward smile and shrugged.

"So... Enca, huh?" she continued, feeling an obligation to keep up her side of the conversation. "What brought you so far?"

Vanessa listened as the lady explained her reasons for travelling so far out of the country, feeling a little disappointment that it was pretty much just a holiday. She was always eager to hear stories from other countries, but rarely did travellers have much of interest to say. It was enough to keep her content sticking around Fiore... at least for now. She took another sip from her glass as the lady asked what brought her to Magnolia, taking a moment to think about her words. "A stroke of bad luck is what brought me here," she thought, but rather than voicing that... "Just passing through, actually," she opted to say instead.

The bartender glanced over, an amused smile poorly concealed behind his expression. Vanessa glared at him. "Just passing through," she affirmed.

At that moment, the door burst open. "Hoo, I think I could do with a drink after sorting that mess out!" remarked an all too familiar, sickly sweet voice.

Vanessa froze, gripping her glass tightly as the pretentious blonde woman approached the bar. As if by a sheer stroke of blind luck, Katy didn't even notice Vanessa. She ordered a Peach Schnapps and left to find a table with her husband. Vanessa allowed herself to relax a little, but she should probably take her leave soon.