The Twelfth Moon || ✔️

44. The Drunken Escapade

Lotta, Vince and I had gone to a bar called 'The Rotten Captain', where Lotta and Vince both seemed to be familiar faces. They were greeted by name as we walked in, but the tone of the bartender wasn't as enthusiastic as I'd  thought.

Why he wasn't so hell-bend on seeing the comical duo walk into his bar, became clear after a few rounds of drinks.

I had trouble getting the words out in the way I intended them to. Still, the bartender seemed to understand perfectly fine when I wanted to order a new round of drinks.

Vince shared my troubles , but we all understood each other well enough to keep playing some dumb drinking games that would only worsen the hangover that was sure to await us in the morning.

It was after our fifth game, and the third glass we'd smashed on the ground, when the bartender had decided enough was enough, and he had kicked us out.

I'd seen Talek kick out customers almost every evening. It was odd being on the other end of the stick – being the one protesting, and promising to do better, begging for one last ale to go.

Luckily, with company like Lotta and Vince, getting kicked out of a bar didn't mean the night had ended.

We had entered a second one, where we got kicked out of again after Lotta and Vince insisted on finishing their game which involved the glass shattering. Since Vince and Lotta had also left more than double the amount of coin whenever they'd shatter a glass, we were now out of coin for the evening.

We were just stumbling around, when we found a nice looking square, abandoned and calm, with some lanterns lighting up the empty space in that familiar, white light, a small fountain filling the middle of the charming little square.

We sat down in front of the little fountain.

But I didn't want to sit down.

"Less go running," I exhaled enthusiastically.

After a short silence, Vince answered confused, "Now?"

Lotta giggled.

"Now's time-" No, that was not how that saying went. "Now's as good as any!"

"Sari, my legs are wobbly, I don't want to run," Lotta protested.

"No, running... As wolves," I explained, emphasizing the last part of my sentence. It was bizarre I even had to explain it. Obviously, I wouldn't want to go for a random jog at this odd hour.

Vince made a horrible sounding howl, before he burst out laughing.

We all did. "Vince," Lotta practically screamed out. "A child could do better!"

I had to get their attention back – we needed to go running. "No, guys, I'm ssserious. We need... To go running... As wolves."

"Lalies first," Vince sputtered, his eyes barely open but his eyebrows raised all the way.

"Lalies," Lotta shrieked and she died of laughter again.

Looks like it was just one laly who would have to go first. I got up, and immediately fell back down on my buttocks. Lotta and Vince cried out laughing, but I didn't laugh along. This was serious, I needed to concentrate.

I tried to get myself back up again, and even though I was still wobbly, this time I succeeded.

As I readied myself, Lotta and Vince still recovering from their hysterics, I couldn't believe I was actually going to do it. I was about to change, and then run.

I was about to run!

I took a deep breath, and tried closing my eyes. But as soon as my eyelids shut, my balance got lost, so I quickly decided to keep them open.