The Crooked Dagger, The best place in town.

[Paine]

The Crooked Dagger. It's not exactly the most aptly named bar in the area, but it is a rather popular spot for the more angsty and carefree of the Final Fantasy world. The bar itself looks pretty welcoming, especially during the evenings, when the fire is flickering in the windows of the tavern. Inside the wooden building are numerous chairs and tables scattered about in some form of organized chaos. At the back of the bar is a large smooth counter, surrounding by swiveling stools.

There is a door near the back which leads to a small living space for the owner, Catalina, who's currently washing the left over dishes from the latest rush of customers. Derek, one of her employees, is cleaning glasses and mugs. They're both conversing with each other in low voices as they work.

[Thief]

After a while of wandering around the town, Thief came across this place. He figured that he could use a chance to relax for a bit, so he decided to walk in. Once inside, he looked around at the surroundings, while heading towards the counter. It seemed like a nice place to him.

I could get used to visiting this place every so often...

Soon enough, Thief arrived at the counter, and sat down on one of the stools. He looked over and saw that two people were taking care of some cleaning, while talking to each other about something. Thief couldn't hear what the conversation was about, but he figured that maybe it's for the best, since it was likely none of his business anyway.

[Setzer]

Seoras Metinjen stepped into The Crooked Dagger and looked around. The bar itself held a few patrons, though it seemed that the rush had passed. Seor stood at the entrance for just a bit longer, scoping out the area, taking note of who was there. The blue-haired elf...Thief, was it? Sat at the bar itself. Seor recognized him as the owner of the Pawn Shop in the area, though he'd never really visited it more than once, just so he could say he'd been there, of course.

There was also two people that were working on cleaning up; one of them looked to be Catalina, the owner of the bar, while the other was likely one of her employees.

Seor stepped up to the bar and took a seat at the counter.

"Catalina, is it? I have a proposal for you, if you'd like to listen."

[Paine]

When they heard the jingle from the door, signaling a new customer, both Cat and Derek looked back to see who it was. A blue-haired man walked up and took a seat at the counter. Derek looked over at Catalina, who nodded. He moved over to the counter and handed the man a menu.

"Welcome. What can I get for you today?" He asked.

Meanwhile, another man had come in and taken a seat at the counter. Catalina was just finishing the dishes when she heard him say her name. She leaned an arm against the counter as she slid a menu over to this new man.

A proposal, eh?

"I'm listening."

[Setzer]

Seoras grinned as Catalina slid him a menu and gave her his attention. He scanned it quickly to see if there was anything of interest, but couldn't think of anything...

"Well, you see, I'm a bit of a Bard. I was wondering if it would be quite alright with you if I came here once in awhile, during the rush, to play for the patrons. They'd be free to leave tips, of course, and if you wanted a percentage of the tips, then that'd be fine too. Currently I've only got one venue to play out of..."

He tapped the lute that was "sheathed" on the outside of his right leg.

"I could play for you before you decide, if you wanted."

[Thief]

Thief took the menu that was handed to him, then opened it up and checked the list. He thought for about a minute about what to order, looking over the list a few times.

"I'll just have some soda for now," said Thief.

[Paine]

[OOC: I wonder... Does the Final Fantasy world have Coke or Pepsi products? O.o]

Derek nodded to Thief and quickly poured a glass of soda for him. He set it in front of the blue-haired man.

"I haven't see you around before. Are you new in town?"

---

Catalina smiled at Seoras and looked thoughtful as she eyed his lute.

And here I was, half-expecting him to have some sort of mercenary-type job for me to do... This is certainly a nice change, she mused.

"Where would you like to set up?" She asked, looking around the bar for some space.

[Thief]

[Who knows. Though I have heard about a commercial somewhere involving FFIX characters advertising Coke, if I recall correctly... *Shrugs*]

"I just moved into this town a couple of weeks ago," said Thief, taking the glass of soda. "Upon arrival, I opened up a relatively new pawn shop down the street. I just hired an assistant yesterday to take care of the place when I'm out, so I can see what else this town has to offer."

Thief took a sip from the glass once he finished speaking.

[Faris]

(OOC: That commercial is so cool.)

The door flew open, and Faris strode in with all the self-confident swagger to be expected from a pirate captain with a shawl full of crystal shards. He looked the place over. Nice. Clean. Thoroughly reputable--maybe not the best place for a pirate to do business, then, but there was always the pawn shop down the street.

And Faris wasn't really looking to do any business at the moment. Not until he'd scouted the port thoroughly.

He sat himself down on one of the barstools, a couple of places away from the pointy-eared, blue-haired man and the bard. Faris eyed them both with interest--at a glance, they seemed likely fellows. Wonder if they've ever been to sea. Meanwhile, he was thirsty.

He slammed the bar with a hand. "Ahoy there, you!" he said to the man-wench. "You 'ave any decent drink here? Ale, beer, or rum'd suit me."

[Paine]

Derek grinned at Thief.

"That sounds interesting. Maybe I'll stop by there sometime," he responded, eyes briefly shifting to the door as he watched a long-haired man walk in and take a moment to observe. He then sat down at a stool and slammed the bar with his hand, causing Derek to jump a little bit.

Usually we don't get the crazy people until later... he mused silently as he handed the man a bottle of beer.

"There you are. Would you like anything else, sir?" Derek asked with a forced smile.

[Thief]

Thief nodded when the man mentioned some interest in stopping by at the pawn shop. Then, after he took another sip of his soda, the elf also jumped a bit when he heard a slam nearby. Thief looked over and watched as a purple-haired man who apparently had a pirate's accent (the only other person he remembered as having a pirate's accent was Bikke) asked for a drink.

Hmm. Seems like a nice guy.

Thief then turned back to his soda and took another sip.

[Setzer]

"Well..."

Seor deliberated for a moment.

"You've got a few options. I can take up as little space as you want, really. In fact..."

The bard stood back from the bar and slowly began to float upwards, pulling out his lute. He leaned back almost as if he were sitting in a chair.

"I could just hang out up here if you didn't mind."

[Paine]

Catalina grinned at the man floating in the air, but then she frowned a little at the sight. She wasn't sure the customers would feel comfortable with a random man hovering over them as they drink.

"Well... I'm not sure about--"

She was interrupted by the door opening again. She looked blankly at Paine, who had walked in, looking disappointed with something.

---

It took Paine a few seconds to register what was going on. First she saw customers, which was always a welcome sight. Then she saw Derek, startled with something (probably some drunk customer that became overzealous; that happened frequently), and then she looked up a little and saw a floating man with an instrument.

What...? Are we trying to pull snakes out of the floor or something?

She looked back at Catalina, who had a completely blank look on her face.

"... Hello, Cat. Business looks good," she said smoothly as she walked over to the counter and ignored every single customer as she headed straight to the dishes so she could start washing them.

---

Catalina giggled a little at Paine's reaction, then looked back up at the bard.

"Um... I think it would be better for all of us if you set up over there instead," she explained lightly, gesturing to a cozy-looking corner next to the door into the bar. There was a reasonable distance between the wall and the nearest table.

[Faris]

Faris found himself re-evaluating his impressions of the Dagger very, very quickly.

The bard began to hover. Faris knew it wasn't the drink, because he hadn't touched it yet. The bell at the door jangled, and a tall woman wearing one of the strangest outfits he'd ever seen walked in, took in the scene, and strode behind the bar and started washing dishes as though everything was perfectly normal.

Faris took a pull at the beer--the liquor was good too, damn. He'd definitely made the right decision, coming here. "Thanks, mate," he said to the wench. Bard, blue-hair, or lady--Faris decided to talk to the lady, first.

"You been washin' dishes here very long?"

[Thief]

Thief looked over when he heard the bard nearby mention something about taking up as little space as possible. Upon seeing that man suddenly floating up and into the air, the elf raised an eyebrow, as he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

Ooooookay, now I've seen it all...

Thief quickly shook his head, then once again turned back to his soda, and drank some more of it.