World Tree MUSH

 Location: 
 Lylat/Solar Binary Star System 
 Planet Venom 
 Apex City 
 Downtown 

     The wash of the day's heavy cloud cover disperses some as the rotation of the planet brings daylight to a close again. The green sky grows darker but never quite allows the stars to shine through. On the surface, in areas where the dangerous and uninhabitable planet have been terraformed to allow life to flourish, are cities that have been birthed and have grown in the wake of Doctor Andross' defeat. Many parts of these cities are still encased completely and their expansion is almost always downward into and below the surface itself rather than upward. 

     Venom is already a very shady place -- it's one of the only planets in the system that doesn't have a Cornerian Alliance presence policing things. While the planet is still considered Dead and Uninhabitable, those that live on or visit the planet actually know better. Apex City is certainly not dead. While the majority of the population is made up by the planet's lizards, all sorts of people can be found inside the city's enclosed structure and 'bubbled' tunnel-like roads. While one might think the populace to be all ne'er-do-wells and thugs, that's not precisely true. Most people just try to get by; besides, not everybody in the system likes the Cornerian Alliance...even if they have a technically small amount of real power in the face of the Civilian Government that maintains Planet Corneria. 

     As such, this is also one of the few places planetside in the system that Star Wolf members are able to freely visit. Sure, the rare individual might try to start trouble or, heaven forbid, collect on a bounty, but for the most part: this is Freedom. This is what most following Andross wanted, even if Andross' motives were otherwise selfish. 

     Wolf O'Donnell and Company, accompanied by a number of his employees and associates, are in Apex City now, yet not on business. They are here for some relaxation. Standing near a shuttle station, O'Donnell produces a cigarette and has a look around. Many possibilities on places to go from here: shopping, restaurants, pubs; Apex has it all. 

     "So? Where to?" he asks of those with him nearby. They can either walk on foot or take a ground shuttle, depending!

Ah. Home away from home. Sort of, not really, always. Fionn might not have enough of a name yet to keep to his business squared and his tail out of trouble if someone is deciding to get lippy or uppity. Or so the rationalization goes when he decides to stick firmly to the buddy system. And wearing his colors on his shoulder, patch and all. 

     The Fennec looks around, ears aswivel and eyes bright as tired eyes can be. If anything, there is a twinge of -amusement- because he is far from the first or last 'traitor' to be welcomed into the halls of the planet. Well, as welcome as one gets. 

     "Waste some money, play some cards, and hopefully not remmeber half of the things I do down here." Fionn remarks cheerfully. That doesn't really narrow it down much. "Can't really tell when it's time to start with the imbibements here, either, can ya..."

The door to the bar creaks open long before the 5-foot tall figure strides in--some here might know her already, wide rodent-like ears, tail--a gas mask currently obscures most of her face while a full-length (for her) dark jacket obscures the rest of her. The bartender doesn't even have to get an order to start fixing up a vodka and orange juice screw driver, nor do the patrons near Fionn and Wolf have to be told to remove their presence to another part of the bar before she strides up to it.

Mirage Mouse reaches up and pulls the gas mask up and off her face, revealing a bucked tooth grin, brow raising as she notices it's Wolf along with... a Fennec of some sort?

"Oh my my, Wolf you dog--is this one of the new... 'recruits'?" Mirage announces from behind the two. Before she gets there, the screwdriver in a tall glass is already placed on the bartop near the two. She reaches up to brush neck-length dark hair out of her face, looking between the two.

     Fionn's suggestion seems to go over well with most of the others nearby. Cigarette lit, Wolf muses over the notion. "Wasting money? Playing cards? Heh. I know just the place." Turns out, there's a pub nearby with all sorts of sleazy alcohol-fueled games one could expect from a dive bar. It's at this point that the shuttle makes an appearance, sees people at the stop, and halts its path before opening the door to allow them on. Of course, the shuttle is apparently not needed. Exhaling some smoke, Wolf waves the shuttle on dismissively and, in annoyed retaliation, the driver gives O'Donnell and Friends the finger while driving away. 

     Wolf looks sidelong to Fionn. "Well, that was rude." 

     Moving on to the bar, the interior is precisely as one might imagine a seedy place. While there is plenty conversation, voices are mostly kept low and the music playing from a rigged-up sound system is just a bit louder than such talk. Granted, the appearance of Wolf and his Crew brings about a hush at first and some quiet piercing stares, but, like most problems, if you just ignore it it goes away! 

     The handful of Star Wolf personnel generally scatter to do their own things and their boss heads right over to a table near the bar counter where six people are already playing cards. "What's a guy gotta do to get dealt in around here?" he jokes, then immediately frowns as everybody at the table gets up to wander off. Confused, Fionn gets another look. "The heck is going on? Do I have something stuck in my teeth?" 

     And then a Mouse appears, grinning away. Fionn will have to answer for himself. Wolf responds verbally, cigarette bobbing from the side of his muzzle. "Oh, for fu-"

     "Faaantastic. You two know each other?" Fionn tips his head to the sizes, ears swinging down in Mouse's direction. There is a certain *familiarity* to the way she addresses his cap'n that makes him warm up. Or maybe that's just how he always is. 
     Pats and waves are given to those souls departing the table for now. "Nahh, they're just scared 'cause they think they're gonna lose all their money. And I'm pretty sure that one is... oh. It's not polite to say." He wiggles fingers at a, oh, who knows-- a skink?-- and pulls himself up onto a barstool. 
     "... recruits? Maybe if you pull out a photo album. I might not be new anymore, but I'm still fresh as they get." The Fennec heels a bit before snickering and tapping a palm on the table. "Shoot. Got comfy before I grabbed a drink. Well, the night is young." And bright (totally not tired) eyes are turned back to Mouse to do.. well. He'll find out.

Mirage Mouse takes ahold of the vodka and juice, tipping it back till she's obliterated over half of it, before setting it down with a sigh.

"Ahh... that's better--now, say, what do you want to drink then, doc?" Mirage looked over at Fionn, studying him curiously for a moment.

"Oh yeah, Wolf and I go way back, isn't that right O'Donnell? We even keep the same sorts of friends, you know Wolf is /quite/ the lady-killer?"

At that moment, a very blue and very gorgeous lylatian vulpine lady appears at Wolf's side, sidling up to him like arm candy. She's clad in a red cocktail dress. Yes, it looks very much like Krystal.

"Love that Wolf! Teehee!" she intones, giggling ditzily before trying to rest against Wolf's arm, curling her arms around it.

"See? The ladies love 'em~" a similar Krystal-like nestles in next to Fionn as well, bringing him a beer that's very much real as it's slid along the counter towards him.

Mirage herself seats herself, half pulling herself up into the stool and half-floating up into it, stowing her mask inside her jacket while she gets comfortable.

     "Oh, believe me..." starts O'Donnell as he turns his head to look at the figure clinging to his arm with some cross-vision using his good eye. "Nichols has been on-board with Star Wolf for long enough to know plenty about his boss. Most of my, eh, relationships tend to end in gunfire." Wolf smiles at first and half-whispers to the beauty on his arm, "But don't let that bother you. I'm really quite a nice gu-," but then gets a curious expression and looks to Mirage while pointing with his free hand to the one on his arm. "Is this supposed to be Krystal?" Good question. "Which one?" Better question. 

     "You do realize she's too young for me, right?" O'Donnell laughs, sound emphasized by his cigarette smoke. "I mean, she's pretty hot for the whole tribal princess shtick she had going on, but Poppa Wolf doesn't have time to play Sugar Daddy." Aside to his suddenly-there's-a-groupie, Wolf adds, "But I'm totally down for appreciating on a short-term basis." 

     "So you healed up well after that whole skyscraper fire-smoke-and-explosion thing?" Wolf asks of Mirage. "Figured we'd bump into each other again on a job, but I guess the cards fell differently."

     "Oh on a wolf's... softer parts it is too early and too sober for 'Which one.'" Fionn puts on a little more faux drama and squints at the Krystal-two for a moment. He smiles and accepts the drink, letting it wet and cool his paws before running a finger around the rim, licking the foam off. "You're a real charmer, that you are, boss," Fionn eventually agrees. His brushtail gives a couple tosses as he gives an amused look. Though he's paying the multi-vixens a little curiosity, it's buried under the lackadaisical tone. 
     "The long term contract has its benefits, anyway... like this bit of extra dosh I'm trying to get rid of." He gestures around. "Any of these 'lovely ladies' know how to Hold 'em? Well... if you two got a different game in mind, I'll let it go. But please." The Fennec smiles in a way that is eeeeerily too cheerful for a venom bar. "If you've got a nice night to burn?"

"Oof, I didn't know you had it in ya, Wolf," Mirage grins at Wolf's insinuation of short-term appreciation there, tilting her head. "Maybe I can heal psychokinetically, I feel fine right now," she sips at her drink again, her tail flicking about down behind her.

"...Hope this place doesn't have fleas," she mutters absent-mindedly, re-situatiing herself on the stool, before looking over at Fionn.

"Did you like her boy? would ya dance with her? course you would, we all would," she cackles, keeping the two imaginery ladies for the moment. The joke was too fun to not keep running a little longer.

"Got money to get rid of, huh? Did you two just pull down a job? How come I haven't heard from you lately, Wolf? Been too busy over there, chasing foxes again?" she griiins.

     "Yeah, well, there's a lot people think they know about me and a lot of things people get wrong about me. Story of my life. Would I dance?" Wolf shrugs a bit as if the question is rhetorical. "Sure. But it's not what I'm looking for." Doesn't mean you'd turn down a free ice cream while looking for a three star restaurant. Imaginary groupie or not, Wolf turns to slap the bartop. 

     "We're always at work. Except now, as far as anybody knows. This is...more like a work-paid vacation. I treat my gang well when they do well, and they do well when they get time to unwind. Like, seriously have a chance to let loose. My Sargasso Cantina is great and all, but... Heck, we can't be reclusive all the time." 

     The scarred-and-rugged space-biker removes his cigarette and puts it out on the counter with a twist of his clawed fingers. It'll likely join others, even if an overflowing ashtray sits nearby in arm's reach. "I actually haven't encountered either McCloud in a while, if that's who you mean. Well, not personally. The younger one is still learning to spread his wings and cutting his teeth on some of the jobs I offer him. May have to test him properly soon enough. We'll see. Was hoping to get some input from Nichols on the matter, but, hey, I'm sure you have great ideas, too. Just don't expect me to pay you for them if you want to share over cards." Because playing cards against a psychic is such a great idea, isn't it? Then again, Wolf can be a blank slate to read when he wants.

     Boy? Boy boy boy. Fionn whuff-laughs a couple times at that and wags a hand. "Care~ful, if I'm 'boy' then that makes you 'miss.' Always on the clock, though. Honestly, it's almost like we do good honest work most of the time..." 
     Which makes vacationing a bit.. odd for Fionn. The constant need to be building something, and the subsequent venting in unhealthy ways. "I will not pass up an opportunity to dance. Or play cards. Or... whatever this is." He shrugs, tipping back his drink and taking it down slow. "... 's a bit weird when you have them both there to compare. Lots of temptations to do that. Ehh, there's gotta be a fun side to this many many's." Fingers wave in the air and he leans back a bit. Oh, he'd play cards with a psychic, but he probably wouldn't bet his ship.

"Ooh, very messy there, dear Wolf," Mirage tosses back the rest of her screwdriver and plants it back against the bar top, telepathically ordering another from the bartender, before looking over at the ciggie that Wolf just crushed out. "Test him, huh? Oh my, be still my heart~" the mouse teases the wolf rather brazenly, it's true. She looks over at Fionn.

"Does it?" she eyes him for a beat longer before turning back to her empty glass, waiting for the bartender to bring her a new one.

"Vacation? You want to vacation here? Could hit the beaches I guess, if you have SPF 5000 sun-block, ahahah~" she sighs. "Anyhoo, 'hoys', was just curious what you two were up to, when I heard Wolf was here," she shrugs. "Figured since I haven't heard from you then you were busy with some sort of fox, looks like I was right," she sniggers.

     O'Donnell raises his arms to rub at his face a bit before using a hand to gesture between the other two nearest. "Okay, so it can't be said I'm a miserable person with no social skills: This is Fionn Nichols, my Chief Engineer. Turns out my rival and his are best buddies, so this was bound to happen eventually. Nichols, meet the infamous femme fatale, Mirage. Last we saw one another, I was medevacking her from a bombed-burning-and-glass-exploded skyscraper. Pretty sure she got hurt on purpose just so I had to play doctor." 

     There. Introductions. Terrible form, but introductions nonetheless! 

     "Well, you may or may not know, kitten, but Venom is pretty much the last major self-policed territory in the system and the last bastion of demilitarized freedom around. There's a lot of culture to be found, even if the atmosphere and seas are mostly acid. Sure, you can find a dive like this on nearly any trading station, but it's the people that live and work here that make it special." Strange. Wolf certainly seems to have a lot of respect for a people uplifted and introduced to the system by a Mad Doctor that wanted the genocide of all Cornerian Armed Forces in order to rule.

     "And don't think I don't have SPF 8000. Do I? I think I can whip that together..." With a drink in one hand, he fumbles for his pad for a few moments before letting it fall back in place and musing. "I don't think I want to get familiar with what civilized folk get up to out there though. Best let some things lie... but it is a fascinating little place, isn't it. Things go like this another aeon or so and this place will be well and truly lively." 
     Life finds a way. Both of his fuzzy brows go up at the mention of 'femme fatale' and his smile comes up after. "Had to play doctor, hm? I won't task." Fingertips drum along the table. "What can I say? We run the show." Star Wolf? Foxes? Uh, one of those things. "Poppa Wolf's been keeping my hands full, but I can take it. Work hard, play hard, huh?"