Frost 12 4621¤
Sitting at a rundown bar in the middle of nowhere Miki was drunk. Izul was back in Traphole relaxing while Miki was headed to Rustbucket. She stopped here for a respite and to catch any local rumors. Having barely arrived she had immediately slammed down two beers and was jamming out to the band playing. It was a man on a fiddle and a woman on a harmonica doing a duet. The bar was nearly empty and Miki thought if these guys weren't making big tips else where she didn't know what people were thinking. It was a good time to let loose.
"Hey there! Barkeep-- Bartender!"
She drunkenly waved for the help to bring her another beer, hiccupping.
"How about that, another round?"
Came the tender with a grin. Miki tossed him a few coins,
"One more beer and a stiff whiskey."
The whiskey and beer were served warm, there was no ice in the Wastes. She drank deeply and greedily. The door swung open, a bell noting the arrival of another patron in the sardine can-dive. They were in a dark cloak, small in stature, but at first Miki payed them no mind as they sat down at the other end of the bar. The band, playing for the meager bar, kicked the tunes up a notch and Miki was compelled as if by force to get up and dance. She slurred the chorus and yelled a hearty "yee-haw" when the ditty ended. It was a terrible thing to call a dance, more like a drunken stumble, but she had got the energy out. She noticed the one in the cloak was closer to her but didn't think anything odd of it as she drank down the shot of whiskey.
It wasn't long before she was so drunk she was stumbling, sloshing her beer and proclaiming to one day own the Badlands. Her vision was black around the corners, until finally after her stupor she fell asleep at the bar.
~~~~
A band of skeletons played some raunchy tune about Bel and love as Miki twirled in a long black dress in front of them. She spun and spun until the room was nothing but a blur. Falling down on the ground like a child, in a heap, the trio of skeletons bent down into her vision shaking maracas. The maracas turned to hissing, tail shaking snakes in their hands as the skeletons crumbled around her.
Waking up was a chore. Her head was pounding, sitting up she found herself in a wagon being driven through the Badlands. A quick heave over the side of the wagon gave her a measure of wits back, but her head would not stop its constant ache.
"Wasn't sure if you would wake up, it's been two days."
Came the voice of the driver in common. It was the same person from the bar.
"Cloak!"
Miki fully realised now, unsettled. Did she know what Miki had done to her hedge?
"It would be I, I believe we left our business in flames-- did we not? How about we settle this bargain of ours."
The Moroi's eyes were locked on Cloak, not sure what to say. A sharp pain came through her head and she groaned, heaving again over the side of the wagon.
"Foul, I used too much. I have to say, I was shocked to see you. I knew exactly what to do to get you in my clutches, but unfortunately I seem to have over done it."
"Bitch."
Miki spat. Cloak laughed,
"Unsurprising you're mad at me. But I promise you I'm about to make this deal so much sweeter."
There was a moment where Miki noticed she had been neither bound nor blindfolded and was about to make a break for it, but Cloak was one for games-- that much was obvious. She decided to play a round with the woman, see her angle. Without her gun, her chariot, any of her effects she was a dead woman walking anyway. The wagon rolled through the expanse in the hot sun for hours, neither saying anything until Miki took a gander.
"You're taking me to Rustbucket, why?"
Cloak was silent for a moment, then answered.
"I'm surprised you know that, but you would be right. We're meeting up with some friends of mine. Don't worry, all of your things will be there waiting for you. You'll get them back, assuming you answer our questions correctly."
Miki snorted.
"I'm neither bound nor blindfolded, what's your game? I could leave if I wanted to."
"But you won't."
Miki had nothing to say to that.
They made it to Rustbucket and Cloak tied up her ponies, chaining the wagon nearby. Miki walked with her to their destination. She was shuffled into an alley and let in through the small sewer hole down into the clutches of the boggy drains underneath Rustbucket. It wasn't timewise a long trek to their destination but Miki was on hands and knees while Cloak crouched through the small pipe to a larger enough antechamber where both could stand. It was completely round and had blocked off pipes at intervals all the way to the top. Three other gnomes were there pissed off and grabbed Miki, tying her to a chair while Cloak pulled out a dagger. She stuck it into Miki's arm and slid it down, causing a gash big enough to bleed. Miki trilled and hissed while Cloak pointed the bloody knife in her face while gagging her.
They spoke in a language Miki didn't understand for awhile, but Miki knew her jig was up. Finally Cloak spoke.
"My rival claimed you and he were incahoots. That it was you who burned down my hedge not him. How funny you would willingly follow me here, to yet another hideout. Just the the time you came and my treasure was stolen by the Halamire. So curious in fact that I want to cut you to ribbons."
