Star Trek: Starbase 777 - supernova-bar

Ugh. Dark bar.. Maggie stumbled in, one hand on Verelan's arm and the other with their cane outstretched. Came in handy for not faceplanting.. Was there anything out of the ordinary? "I never wanna be here in the dark again. It's creepy.."

"Beh... can't see nothing..." Korozysh muttered. She repeatedly bumped into her fellow players in the dark, mumbling apologies.

"Girl, either grab someone or keep your distance, I'm fragile," Verelan called out, joking but also halfway serious. She wasn't that fragile, but stop stepping on the backs of her shoes, gah dayum!

He crawled into the bar, seemingly unbothered by the darkness. Maybe he could adjust the brightness of his vision like a camera or something... Or maybe he was just being nonchalant. "It's making me sleepy."

"Fuckin' everything makes you sleepy, doll. We're in a bar, go find something to drink." Sounds uh, malicious? But it was more like exasperated concern coming from Verelan, towards Noid specifcally. Hard to tell the difference though, with the tone Verelan was using.

He was used to the tone. It was just their vibe. He liked the use of the word 'doll', though. "You guys want anything?" He said, just going up to wherever he could see the nearest drink and grabbing it.

"Any food? Anything big? And meaty? You know I just don't wanna starve." Ignoring the fact Chalnoths starve after 3 days and not 3 hours, Korozysh was really just itching for something to chew, to fend off her jitters.

"Watch it—" warned a voice in the dark. "We're still here, you know. If you want something, ask."

He paused. "Oh? I didn't think that sort of thing mattered in an emergency situation. You got anything, uh," he held back a laugh, "Big 'n meaty, man?"

"That's what she said," Verelan offered.

"Turn the lights on, maybe?" he gruffed out, equally out of nowhere, a dark shape at the back of the group. "Poor customers will die of parched throats if they can't find the bar."

"Everyone seems awfully unbothered by this situation." She hissed looking between Noid and Verelan. "You heard what that thing said! This could go on forever!"

Maggie yelped at the sound of the voice out of Nowhere, their Vulcan senses having failed them. They chuckled nervously. "Fuck—— Hi, Mr. Lareth.." An annoyance curled around the Romulan like the dark shadow that encased them. If there was anyone they'd like to be with in this scenario, it was the beefy, friendly bartender! (edited)

There was a pat between their shoulders. A reassurance or an apology, though maybe both.

He did a little snort-snicker at Verelan's comment. "Listen, man, humour is coping or whatever," he responded to Korozysh. "I'm gonna go look for a lightswitch for mister big 'n meaty over here." He meant Rojin, because what is beef if not meat?

"Okay, I'm starting to lose track of all the meat." Verelan paused. "That's also what she said. I would appreciate a light or two, though."

The bar surged to life as soon as the lights came back on, people chatting quietly among themselves, music gently playing. The bartender leaned on the bar, smile blinding. "Oh, no worries— I would've thought we closed up, too! What can I get you folks?"

"Found the light switch," He said, as though he'd done all that. "Can I get whatever has the highest ethanol content? And whatever these guys want."

Elohae had tagged along with the group headed to somewhere, the bar as far as he'd gathered. He'd remained near the back of the group, or what he'd believed was the back of the group, mainly for his own comfort. While he'd mostly pieced together what had happened from his assistive tech PADD, which thankfully he'd carried with him. He still wanted to just hang back for a time. Well, wanted that before the lights slowly proceeded to come back up. Well that, he reckoned, made things easier. Certainly happened to mean less would be well, missed by him! Careful as he did so, Elohae proceeded to settle into a seat at the bar. He'd not been here before, but well. He wanted a drink for one and also, he wanted a wall to press himself against as he watched conversations go on. Watched, as he waved to one of the bar staff and signed. "Hello, do you know sign?"

"Proud of you, Noid," Verelan said, not paying much attention. She wondered what clues would even look like. And how would you find clues if you didn't have a body? Had anyone found a body yet? At least with the lights on it'd be a lot easier to spot things that were out of place.

"Something fruity for me. No poison, if you please," with only a bit of struggle, Maggie hopped up on a bar stool.

"Coming up." A cocktail for Maggie and something ungodly for Noid. The bartender hummed enthusiastically to herself as she did, an extra pair of arms sprouting from her shoulders to begin signing along to whatever she was saying. "Boss says it's on the house. Anything else?"

"Food, please." Korozysh asked the Q.

While, given what had been previously stated by the other Q, he regarded the Q pretty poorly in many respects. That arm trick, try as he might have to not have been impressed by it, impressed him. Caused a slight smile as he signed. "Do you have Cranberry juice?" As he added, as well fair on them at least for the fact they'd sprouted arms to sign. "Also, that arm thing's impressive."

"Wow. First time anyone's ever said that to me," He said, in reply to Verelan. He rubbed his eyes, looking at the bartender. Was that extra arms or was he really seeing double? He wasn't that low battery, was he? Ah well, there were probably weirder aliens out there. "Thanks to your boss. Speaking of poison, ever killed anyone?"

Well. This is going to be... instead of coming up with an adjective to best describe his feelings on the current situation, Rojin just used the fact the others were pestering the bartender to take a good look around the rest of the establishment. Eagle-eyed as he was in his own bar, the Romulan knew how to spot trouble, but he still decided to do a walk-around to better familiarize himself with the layout. Anything out of place? Anything suspicious? Anyone acting off?..

There was a glass left abandoned on the bar— not unusual, but everything else was so tidy, it felt odd to be there.

Offensive little thing. Rojin tilted his head to squint at it, trying to decipher if there were any obvious fingerprints, lip markings, or anything else on it he wouldn't want to accidentally smudge or erase.

Two for two, isn't that lucky? Fingerprints and a smudge of black lipstick.

"At least buy me a drink, if you're going to accuse me of things," the Bartender replied with a laugh, passing Elohae a glass of cranberry juice. "No, my record is squeaky clean.. What can I get you to eat? A burger?"

"Thank you" He smoothly signed then, the drink accepted one handed. With it in hand, Elohae allowed himself to lean into the wall as he remained upon the stool. Contented to keep one eye half on the others signed responses as he also then scanned the room for anything that seemed out of the ordinary. While he wasn't a bartender or used to bars much at all, he wanted to see what stood out to him. If any glasses had been left out and not been cleared up yet, yes. That but also, if anything else seemed amiss. Any scuffs that might have indicated a stool pushed away in a moment of high emotion. That or other signs that might have indicated something had happened or someone had departed in a hurry.

"You can have some of mine," he said, offering his drink of what was probably paint stripper. "Although you might die of alcohol poisoning. Seen anyone do that? Or of regular poisoning. Poisoned burger." (edited)

Trying not to think about the damned color too much, he tried to instead remember if the self-proclaimed victim sported something familiar, while also taking a glance at the current bartender. Seeing everyone engaged in the conversation, he decided to lean in and take a careful look at the leftovers in the glass without touching it. Poison, maybe... Though, wouldn't the body be here also, then? That being said, he was... quite personally aware, of the multitude of chemical agents that had a delayed effect on people. Rojin decided to take a cautious whiff of the contents, using his palm and all. His job(s) taught him well.

Some sort of cocktail, based on the sweet fruitiness of the smell— no obvious scent of poison, though, they could always be odorless.

"You're gonna ruin my appetite,"Maggie mumbled jokingly to Noid, though eyed their cocktail with a slight suspicion. Maybe they shouldn't drink whatever this Q gives them...

It was usually Rojin's acquaintances who carried around tools to be able to read poisons. Alas. He pondered the glass some more. A hassle, perhaps an unneeded one, but having a concrete understanding on the poison's presence - or rather, the lack of it - could be useful. But Rojin didn't see anything useful to pour the thing in and he wasn't about to endanger himself or others with potential... ... Hm. Well. "Noid," he suddenly spoke up, addressing the android by the name because of course he did. "When you drink, are you able to... let's say, parse through the ingredients of what you intake? If you can tell what's alcohol or not..."

1

"Yeah, can you test mine? I don't super trust it," they half-joked, squinting.

"Yeah, I can," he said, holding out a hand for Maggie's glass while looking at Rojin. "I have systems that analyse it and if it's not ethanol, water, or other alcoholic byproducts, I'll purge it." From which end? Maybe it's better not to know. (edited)

1

Sick. "After you do the important thing," Rojin looked like he had a plan, judging by how closely he looked at that glass.

"Do you mind tasting what is in this glass?" purposefully it was offered to Noid with the non-smudged side turned towards him. "I'm unsure that this is our murder weapon, but I'd rather have it confidently ruled out if it's not. I'll make it up to you with something from my own bar after we're done with all of this."

"Hell yeah. Bottom's ass or whatever the saying is," he said, taking a swig and waiting to see what happened.

1

The sip left was a regular cocktail, thankfully; sweet and fruity, though the ice had melted, so it was a little watered down. Boo.

When Noid didn't immediately hurl, Maggie hummed, glancing over. "Doesn't mean it isn't a clue, though. Somebody was here," they posed thoughtfully.

"Yeah, this is just regular alcohol. It's actually not bad." He sipped his paint stripper. "Someone came here and had a drink, and they..." He looked at the glass he was probably still holding, then looked at the bartender that wasn't Rojin. "Hey, what did the person with black lipstick look like? Did they say anything interesting?"

The bartender, who was wearing black lipstick, blinked. "Sorry, you'll have to be more specific than that. We've been busy— Friday night and all..." She trailed off, thinking. "Well, there was somebody odd, now that I think about it.*

Perception check: failed. He didn't notice the black lipstick. "Oh yeah? Odd how?"

The place at the bar where the empty glass had been had some scuffs on the ground— the stool had been pushed aside in a hurry, it seemed.

"Well, not really odd," she said sheepishly, leaning on the counter, twisting a rag around a glass. "Quiet type. Real polite, too. Kept to themself, mostly, but something about 'em just felt.. off. Like they were hiding something. Ain't that everybody, though?"

"You tell me, Rojin. I know I'm always chattering when I'm at your place," she grinned, sneaking a sip of Maggie's cocktail.

"Dude, I didn't even check that for poison!!" Maggie swatted her hand away, though was unsuccessful in their thwarting. Spoiler alert, no poison. But still!

Hm. "Did they happen to sit here by the bar?" he pointed at the seat where he initially found the glass. "Surely this lipstick smudge isn't yours, given the busy day and all."

"I'm way too cute to die in a filler episode." Okay confidence queen. (edited)

2

They deflated, letting the air out their cheeks. "Yeah...."

She scrunched her expression in an attempt to remember. "I think so? But I don't think they had anything to drink.. at least, I didn't make anything for them."

Elohae slipped up from the bar, a small sip of his drink indulged in, as he headed over toward the scuffs he'd spotted on the ground. Once there, Elohae dropped to his haunches and looked closer at the scuff marks. He attempted to guess at how deep the scuff marks were, the degree of force it'd needed. Looked for where they'd started too. Confirmed the place on the bar they'd related to with that and then looked from the scuffs around the bar. Did it look like other stools, tables had been disturbed, he wondered. Attempted to determine then. While he well, wasn't sure he was correct, he half suspected that someone who'd been poisoned or some such would hit things as they passed by or something. He wanted to try and get more of a picture from what he'd discovered before he attempted to alert others about it.

"Great, now we gotta look for all the quiet people with black lipstick in this place. By the way, in case anyone asks, mine's dark purple." He would smooch someone to demonstrate, but now was not the time.

Just looked like someone got up from their seat in a hurry, really. No sign of any other disturbance.

"Is anyone who was with us wearing lipstick besides her?" It was cute, too. Black and red checkered.. Maybe they'd steal that.

With that confirmed, Elohae frowned a bit and turned as he slipped back up. He then started to look around for other patrons, was someone else here other than the Bartender, he wondered. If they were, that happened to mean a potential additional witness, after all.

Why was Elohae crawling around the ground? Rojin looked down with a frown, and-- oh. Huh. "Well, it sure seems like your mysterious patron left in a hurry. What happened?" he, once again, looked up at the bartender. "What did they look like, anyways? Anything particular about them, besides the demeanor?" If it seemed that he was pressing with the questions, then, well... yeah, he absolutely was. Nevertheless, Rojin's tone and delivery of the words remained calm, if not smooth. A man just curious about the happenings around the bar. Bartender-to-bartender communication, if you will.

The bartender thought it over for a second. "They weren't very tall. Not — well, not as tall as you I mean," she glanced over Rojin before continuing, "Shorter, certainly." She smiled sheepishly. "Everything else is fuzzy, sorry..."

"Not as tall as Rojin, but would you say they were taller than myself, or Mags here?" That still gave a large gap, but it narrowed it down some, right? Probably.

"I can't be sure, sorry. I've been busy all night.." She shrugged, setting aside the glass she was working. "I know it isn't very helpful, but I can't keep an eye on everyone."

"Why's everyone here tiny or fucking huge?" Said the only average person here. "Anyway, did they say where they were going or anything like that?"

"Yes, good question. Someone leaving in a hurry like that is quite unusual," he added.

"Not particularly. I think they just .. looked over their shoulder, and left quickly. Like they had something else to do." The bartender shook her head.

"Huh. Okay. Well. Maybe we should, like, try somewhere else? I'm bored." He drank the rest of his paint stripper and put the glass back on the bartop.

"It would be good to know where our mystery person went so we can tail them, but... alas," he sighed. "We can try the closest available space, at least. It's the most likely spot to go to next, in my opinion."

"Let's go clubbiiiiing," He said, with half-assed faux enthusiasm. "That's the closest place, right?"

Having confirmed to his satisfaction that nobody else seemed to be around to chat too, Elohae turned a bit. Moved to start to sign toward the others. Well. That was before he'd noticed they'd already well, seen what he'd looked at. That was good enough for him. So, he dropped his hands. No need for him to repeat what had already been covered, after all. No. He just proceeded to shake out his legs a bit. He'd dropped to his haunches and checked a scuff, his muscles happened to be a bit sore. As he proceeded to shake out his legs a bit, Elohae just watched the conversation go on. He then nodded a bit, not aware if anyone else happened to know sign. But well. He agreed with the two people he'd caught some of the conversation of. Time to move on.

"That seems to be the case, yes," he replied to Noid, then taking a sweeping look at the rest of the group. "If we're all done here, I offer we proceed."

"Do you think anyone else has found the body? Maybe we should regroup," Maggie offered thoughtfully, though shrugged. "Dunno, though."

20:37

"We can figure that out later. Let's move!" Off they went. Taking their cocktail to-go.

Elohae nodded again then. He agreed with that proposal from the tall Romulan. Time to proceed, as far as he was concerned! At what the other person declared, Elohae nodded again. Did so before he started off as well! Off he went!

He crawled out the bar.

2

A wild Charlotte, in your area! She kept her eyes peeled for anything weird, and her ears open to listen to anyone’s conversations.

Certainly, there was something in the corner of her eye— something hastily kicked out of sight near the entrance. Small, and white.

1

Her eyes were drawn to it, out of place as it was. She crouched down (bending over was improper, after all) to pick it up, porcelain fingers brushing against the little thing to try and get an idea of what it was. She took a silk handkerchief out of her pocket and folded the little thing inside it, to protect it on the journey back to the events hall. She’d just found another clue.

With the white flower petals safely tucked in Charlotte's pocket, the bar was now empty.