[Social - Victoria & Garnet with Emperor] Three is a Crowd

It hasn't been long since Garnet had set foot in Crocus. Not that he wanted to go there in particular, but it just sort of happened. This time, however, he wanted to show Emperor a bit of the nicer side of Fiore. By going to a club. How classy. The two Inklings shared a room, much to Emperor's dismay, but even he had to agree that it was better that way. They didn't have a strict divide of space in the room, but Garnet did exchange his bed for two futons, to save some of it. Though it was incredibly nice to have somebody to talk with.

Emperor was in the Guild hall across the street to pick up some juice, when Garnet got the idea for a trip to Crocus. When he was there the last time he had read about a club named Boomslang. Locals and tourists seemed to really like the place and Garnet was willing to give it a shot. The train ride would be pretty much like a basic commute back home in Inkopolis. Garnet was happy when he earned enough money to move closer to the centre of the huge city, so he and his brother could sleep longer. The Inkling was sitting on his futon with crossed legs as he read some articles, when Emperor came back. "This one's for you." He would say as a way of greeting as he handed Garnet a cup with a straw. The Inkling looked up from his phone and took the drink with a grin on his face. "Thanks." Emperor just rolled his eyes and sat down on his own futon. Garnet was still not used to see him being dressed in full casual. A stripy t-shirt and plain jeans with trainers. And yet, Emperor had this strange aura around him. Something that just whispered respect. Emperor, on the other hand, was glad that he could let loose a little bit. While he had an image to uphold in Inkopolis, people here didn't give a damn about his achievements. Mostly because they didn't even know what Splat Battles were.

The two Inklings sipped their juices in silence, that was ocassionally broken by a slurp. It was nearing noon and Garnet felt like it was a good time to introduce Emperor to his little plan. "You wanna go somewhere tonight?" Garnet would ask, casually. Emperor raised an eyebrow. "That would depend on what you have in mind." He replied. He didn't want to leave anything to chance, even now. "There's this club that I wanted to visit, but it's in another city. Thought that you would appreciate seeing a bit more of this world." Garnet would share his idea and take a sip of the delicious orange juice. "Really? A club?" Emperor gave him a deadpan expression. "Yeah. You look like you could use some spice in your life." Garnet would smirk. "I had more than enough spice these last few days, thank you very much." Emperor would scoff. "Though I have a sneaky suspicion that you are not actually giving me a choice here." The yellow Inkling would give Garnet a piercing gaze. As expected, Emperor saw right through him. "Caught me red handed." Garnet would laugh as he held up his hands. Surprisingly, Emperor would laugh a little himself. "Sure, we can go."

A few hours later the two Inklings were standing in Crocus. Garnet had an Inkfall shirt on, that was white with a black dripping-ink-like portion around the shoulders, his signature long leggings and black slip-on shoes. It was kind of cold, but Garnet didn't mind. Emperor, on the other hand, was dressed in a black, longsleeved sweater that reached almost to his knees made by the one and only Toni Kensa, long leggings and black boots with a web pattern on them. Neither of them knew whether they needed to be dressed formally or not, but they decided to take a bit of a precaution, just in case. The train, the station and the city were as busy as ever. It was the capital, after all. And yet, still paled in comparison to Inkopolis. Garnet used his previous knowledge and his phone to guide them to their destination. Emperor was sort of helpless, as Garnet didn't have enough time to mess with his phone quite yet. He reckoned that they would have to go to Neutral Grounds, anyway.

Soon enough, the two strange beings were standing in a line to the club Boomslang. As expected, there was a lineup, but it was only a couple people strong and it seemed to be moving pretty fast. The reason for the lineup was most likely a check at the entrance. That reminded Garnet. "I hope they let us in." He would voice his worry to Emperor. "Why wouldn't they?" He would ask in return. "I don't know if they check age or not. If they do, we don't really have anything to give them. Other than our Guild marks, but those won't mean much." Garnet would explain and Emperor thought about it for a moment. "Considering that I look more mature than you, it should be enough just from a glance to let us in." Wow. "What's that supposed to mean?!" Garnet exclaimed in surprise and Emperor would laugh as the line moved forward. They were almost at the entrance.

Emperor was still laughing and Garnet couldn't help but to join him, even if it was a joke at his expense. Even though they had a common goal, they were still very much rivals, in a sense. They could only get so buddy-buddy. Garnet was quite excited about the upcoming few hours and surprisingly enough, Emperor was excited aswell. He usually preferred quieter places, but for once it wouldn't hurt to have louder kind of fun. The line moved forward a smidget and it was almost time for the Inklings to get checked out by the security and hopefully pass. An idea came to Garnet's head as he quickly pulled out his phone. He would select the front camera and outstretch his arm as far as he could to get him and Emperor into the shot. Emperor noticed what he was trying to do. "Really? A selfie?" He asked as he gave Garnet a face. "Yeah. I like taking pictures. They have memories in them that I could forget." Garnet explained to Emperor. He hummed to himself and then stood next to Garnet for the picture.

The shorter Inkling snapped the picture and quickly looked at the finished product. He grinned, knowing that he got Emperor to pose with him. However, when he looked closer, he would notice one person in particular on it. Within a moment Garnet would turn around and spot Victoria standing in the line aswell. The Inkling would wave at her with a smile as the guard at the entrance yelled. "NEXT!" Garnet jumped a little and he and Emperor walked in front of the guard. He looked them over, clearly not used to people with tentacles on their heads. The guard checked their pockets, as they had nothing else with them. He looked at his watch and then back at the Inklings. "There's still five more minutes of the special half-off promotion." He outstretched his hand for the payment. Garnet would take out his wallet and pay for the entrance fee. "Have fun, gentlemen. NEXT!" The guard would nod to them and then yell again.

Before Garnet walked inside of the club, he would motion towards the door with a grin and a thumbs up. When he entered Boomslang right after Emperor, the loud music suddenly drowned out any form of thinking that had been going on in his head. "See? We got in, no problem." Emperor would yell as Garnet waved for him to wait. "Hold up. Let's wait for a minute. I saw somebody I know in the line." Garnet would yell his request. This was going to destroy his voice. Emperor would only shrug. He wasn't the one calling the shots tonight. The interior of the club at least looked nice. It was rather dark, but modern looking with plenty of flashing lights.

The music had a good beat to it, but again, it wasn't completely Garnet's taste. Neither it was Emperor's, but he would have to live with it for a couple of hours. "I hope that whoever we are waiting for is worth it." The taller Inkling would note as he crossed his arms on his chest. "Oh I didn't know you were so eager to get into the thick of things." Garnet would tease Emperor a bit with a smirk on his face and Emperor only grimaced in return. "Jokes aside, though, I met her quite recently on a concert. She seemed alright." Emperor would nod. "Besides, it won't hurt if we have somebody with us who could order for us." The shorter Inkling would add. "I guess you do have a point there." Emperor would admit after a brief moment of thinking.

Shortly after, the duo was greeted. Well, at least one half of the duo was greeted. Garnet would turn to face the woman and Emperor would turn in her direction aswell. Garnet would wave at Victoria again, as a greeting. The shorter Inkling would quickly pull out his phone and type something into it. After a few brief moments he would look at Emperor and then at Victoria. "Emperor, meet Victoria." He would yell to Emperor and then show Victoria his phone with a message. Victoria, this is Emperor. He's a friend, to a certain extent. After she was done reading, Garnet would pull his arm back. Emperor, on the other hand only slightly nodded at Victoria with a stern expression on his face as he looked the woman over with his gaze. "Let's get going." Garnet would try to yell over the music as he waved for Victoria to follow. Emperor's gaze would linger on Victoria for a moment longer before he followed after Garnet himself. The dancefloor and the stage were living, as well as the area around the bar. The club certainly had energy flowing. It was going to be an interesting night.

The unsual trio stepped into the club, proper. The dancefloor was filled with people, jamming to a song that was currently being played. Garnet couldn't really discern the genre, other than just loud. The shorter Inkling didn't feel too confident in his dancing capabilities, so the dancefloor was a no-go for him. At least for the time being. Maybe a few drinks would change his outlook on his dancing skills. Emperor's gaze passed around the club's interior. A lot of people, waiters, alcohol and some other, less than appropriate happenings. If he had to be honest, Emperor was kind of starting to look forward to a drink or two.

Garnet and Emperor would nod to each other, confident that they knew what each other was thinking. The shorter Inkling would wave at Victoria again and then point towards the bar counter, trying to show her what he was thinking. The speech impediment would be really prominent in upcoming minutes, Garnet could feel it. The area around the bar counter had a lot of people mingling about their business with some sitting at nearby tables and some sitting at the counter itself. Most of the people were busy at the dancefloor, though. That part of the club was absolutely packed. The two Inklings would weave in between people, with Emperor being a bit of a beacon that was taller than a lot of people. He noticed some ladies giving him looks, but Emperor had no idea what kind of looks those were. His face settled into the expressionless one, for the time being. When the Inklings would make their way to the bar counter, Garnet would immediately scan the many different bottles for names and labels. "Pick something for me, while you're at it. Surprise me." Emperor would say to Garnet. Thankfully, the music was somehow a little bit quieter at the bar, than it was just a little bit ago. Emperor asking Garnet to pick out a suitable drink? The shorter Inkling would only laugh nervously as he scanned the names and labels very cautiously.

The shorter Inkling frantically read over the labels of the many different bottles on display. Some names he could understand, some names he could read but he had no idea what they meant and some he couldn't read at all, if the label was written in overly fancy font. Garnet had learned to read the letters on his own, but only the basic stuff. The fancy and swirly letterings were beyond his knowledge. Sadly, Emperor couldn't even really read the labels for himself. He recognized some of the characters, but it was not enough to form an actual name out of them. Perhaps if he was more well-versed in club and bar terminology then he would've been able to recognize something. But as it stood, Emperor had nothing to go on. That was one of the reasons as to why he had asked Garnet the little favour. He was also interested in what Garnet would come up with for him.

Garnet would give a bubbly sigh as he typed out something on his phone. He thought about just showing it to the bartenders, but he wasn't sure how they would react. Instead, the Inkling turned around, looking for Victoria. At first he didn't spot her because of the dim lighting, but once he realized that she was standing right there, he would tap the woman on her arm, to get her attention. Garnet didn't think that it would be a good idea trying to call out for her, when she was right there and the music was still at the volume when it was sometimes hard to distinguish different words being said. If Victoria reacted to the tap on her arm, Garnet would show her the message on his phone. Would you mind ordering a whiskey on the rocks for me and an Alexander for Emperor? If they don't know how to make Alexander then just get a shot of vodka. I want to make this night fun. The shorter Inkling would grin, mischievously, showing his sharp teeth. The reason for picking out Alexander was the story behind the mixed drink. It was as high class as Emperor was.

Garnet was thankful that Victoria placed their order for them. He didn't need any more awkwardness than he already had in his life. It made sense to wait for their order as the next step, but the shorter Inkling wanted to grab a seat before others got the same idea. There were some tables to the side, but he felt a bit bolder that night. And a seat at the counter was the perfect answer for that feeling. Luckily, there were still some bar seats left and Garnet would sit down at one of the nearby ones, that has two more free seats next to it. He would smile in Emperor and Victoria's direction as he patted the seat to the left of him, inviting them to have a seat.

Emperor would give a shrug and take a seat himself. He would sit down next to the shorter Inkling. "Is this a prelude to the portion of the night where we pick up fly honeys?" He would ask, nonchalantly. "Pick up fly honeys? Where did you get that?" Garnet would laugh. "But uhh.. It will really depend on how sloshed you want to get. I don't plan on doing that, myself. Mostly." Garnet would give him a proper answer. "I would like to stay within the range of public decency, personally." Emperor would reply as the greenhaired bartender set the drinks in front of them. "Cheers, boys and girl." The Inklings would both nod in unison as a thanks for the drinks.

After Victoria sat down and received her own drink, Garnet would dink his glass with the glasses of the other two. Then both Garnet and Emperor took a sip of their respective drinks. Garnet's whiskey was okay, at least it was chilled. Emperor didn't react at first to the Alexander, but then he smiled and took an another sip. The shorter Inkling was glad that he made a good choice. "I like it. I may stick to it for the rest of the night." Emperor confessed and took an another sip as Garnet's ears perked up in alarm. That decision didn't bode well for his wallet, but he didn't have the heart to tell Emperor that the mixed drinks were much more expensive. Usually, at least.

The shorter Inkling felt like Victoria was out of the loop most of the time, now that he had somebody to talk with in his own language. Garnet would take out his phone and type down a message. It reminded him that he still needed to get some materials to refurbish Emperor's phone. After he got his message ready, he would slide his phone to Victoria. The message read: Sorry for constantly talking in our language, but Emperor is a bit more handicapped than me. How are you doing, anyway? Then again, perhaps communicating thoughts through a phone screen wasn't that bad of an idea, as it was already quite tough to hear at times because of the music and people that were around.

Garnet listened to Victoria's answer and nodded. It was understandable. Thankfully, Garnet himself felt like he was financially in a good place, because of a very certain concert. Though money would be a bit more important to him, now that he wasn't living just by himself anymore. He still expected Emperor to pull his own weight, but he was sure that his frenemy was aware of that. Victoria also tossed the same question back to Garnet, as Emperor slid him back his phone. Garnet was a bit surprised. "Thanks." He would thank him and type away his reply. Emperor would only wave at the bartender and then point at the already empty fancy glass in his hand. The green haired bartender was a bit confused at first, but then understood what he wanted and gave him a thumbs up. Garnet weeped a bit on the inside after catching a glimpse of that.

Garnet's fingers flew across the screen of his phone and he then promptly slid it back to Victoria. I've been looking for my brother whenever I could, with a side of trying to pick potionmaking. Though, instead of my brother, I found Emperor. I've been also trying to learn how to speak this language, but it's quite tough without a proper tutor. That pretty much summed up the important bits of his life. He purposefully left out the bit about his presentation. It was embarrassing enough. Though he secretly hoped that he would get to see the two mages who helped him out again, someday, as he took an another sip from his glass.