Role Play Pool Party V.2

Leaning over the bar, Nigel saw Crystal literally dying of laughter on the tavern floor. With a chuckle, he shook his head and went back to cleaning out bar mugs with a white cloth that he pulled from his apron. Looking up at Bubbles for a moment, he flashed an evil grin. "Come on, clown", he said with a glint in his eye. "You must of gotten worse ones than that.."

Murcury looked to the see-saw and then back to Xiuhcoatl, who was just sitting in the chair. "Hey Xiuhcoatl", he said with a smile as he whipped a wave of blue hair out of his eyes, "sit on the see-saw and I'll ride on it with you."

Standing by one end of the see-saw, he tapped his foot patiently. "A slow, gentle ride couldn't hurt us."

As soon as he was done scrubbing his mouth out, Bubbles answered the Reznor.

"Yeah, I guess I have been pranked worse than that. One time, somebody tricked me into blowing a hole in my own foot!" He seemed to look back at that prank fondly, even though it wasn't something most other people would consider good. "It was the circus master... We were having a "prank-off," and he won by switching my real gun and my fake gun and then he dared me to pretend to shoot myself with the fake one." He giggled. "Anyway, sorry if I caused any major trouble, I couldn't help myself! How about a real beer?"

L.J. nodded in agreement with Bubbles as he took a sip from one of the two beers he ordered. Seeing that the clown was seemingly a good sport, he slid the other one down to him.

"My ex-wife Vera is a shot in the foot.", he said as he took yet another sip. "Now if I can remember who Vera was.."

Nigel, seeing L.J. slide the extra mug of cold beer down to the crazed clown, went back to cleaning out the mugs with his white cloth. "What do I look like?", he asked L.J. as he turned his head towards him. "I'm no mental doctor."

"...No." Chugami got back on his feet. "I'm better than this. Running away from it constantly is no better than it having a hold one me. I'm stronger than this... I'm stronger than this..."

With that, he reshouldered his pot and headed towards the entrance of the bar.

...Upon noticing the large vehicle through the front wall, he began to suspect drinking would be the least of his problems in the immediate future as he headed inside.

(Sorry about the long absence, I forgot about this when this place appeared to have died.)


Clive finished his drink and noticing all the strangers coming in observed them one by one wondering who each of them were.

"Thanks, mate!" Bubbles said, taking up the mug and grinning at L.J. He took two gulps of the stuff and smacked his lips loudly. "Ah, that hits the spot..." He sighed.

After a few minutes, the room began to spin around like a merry-go-round at carnival (or, at least it did so in Bubbles' head). "There'sh two a ya'!?" He said, pointing at L.J. "And the unicorn that's hanging over your head... Where'd he come from?" Bubbles asked drunkenly.

Quickly putting the mug he had been wiping out back onto the counter, Nigel looked to Bubbles and then looked to L.J. "Hurry up and catch him before he hurts himself.", he said as he then looked over the bar at Crystal. The poor girl was still laughing away. "How can one little thing be so funny..", he muttered as he just leaned against the side of the bar, watching her.

"Unicorns?!", L.J. asked in a worried voice. Looking straight up at the ceiling, his eyes frantically looked for the things Bubbles just called out. Shaking the thoughts out of his head, he saw Bubbles looking disoriented. Leaping down from the stool he was sitting on, he extended a furry paw to the intoxicated clown. "Grab on", he said in a stern voice. "We don't want you getting hurt here. Apparently you're a lightweight on the drinking end, eh?"

Clive walked over to Bubbles and the others next to him and introced himself.

"Hi guys, I'm Clive Koopa, a resident koopa troopa and long serving member of the koopa empire. Pleased to meet you."

It wasn't like Chugami to keep a low profile or be uncomfortable in a crowd; indeed, being a performer, he enjoyed grabbing others' attentions. However, something about the "Bloody Hell," the sign the first thing he saw after the vehicle (that for some reason he couldn't think of a word to describe as anything other than a "vehicle") embedded in the wall, was off-putting to him; he chalked it up to his nervousness from being in an establishment serving alcohol for the first time in what felt like ages. Could've also been the name.

The patrons, most of them gathered around the bar, were also interesting, and had he not be so emotionally pressed he might have attempted to greet them and find out what stories they had. The massive Koopa-tanooki hybrid that looked an awful lot like Bowser was certainly the most intriguing. A female Toad was lying passed out in the corner; certainly not the place he'd expect to find one, wonder what her story is? Tending bar was a Reznor walking on its hind legs, certainly didn't see that coming. ...The clown was unexpected too, in this setting. As was what appeared to be a Koopaling embedded in the far wall.

He then noticed one of the more normal-looking ones, a female Koopa with long hair, a pink shell, and... little silver wings, man he needed a new definition of normal... was sitting at the end of the crowd with a free stool to her left. She looked much like the safe beacon of a lighthouse with his conflicted emotions. His mind made up, he skittered over to the stool next to Crystal, sitting his pot down next to it before hopping on.

"E-Excuse me?" he tried to address her, though he could feel his voice's volume being slightly throttled. "Is this seat taken?"

Crystal had just picked herself up off the floor and began climbing back onto the bar stool she had sat on when Chugami sat down on the stool next to her. Brushing hair out of her eyes, which was a wild mess, she nervously looked at him and smiled. She had never seen this visitor before in Dinosaur Land, nonetheless come across anything that looked like him. She blushed at the stranger's words and wanted to turn away to avoid letting Chugami see how shy she was, but she did not.

"It isn't taken", she said in a soft voice, any softer it could of been made of clouds in the heavens. "My name is Crystal." Looking into his eyes, she saw that Chugami was quite nervous to the point where he was on the verge of shivering. "What's yours?"

Oh god, her voice sounded even better than he expected; he could almost swore he heard a harp somewhere. She definitely felt like the safest person to be around.

It took a moment to regain his senses and register she asked him a question, she was such a breath of fresh air. "M-Me? I-I'm Chugami, master storyteller. Pleasure t-to meet you, Crystal, and I must say, y-your beauty certainly matches your name."

He wasn't sure where that last bit came from, it just seemed to come out. It only seems polite or... something... to compliment a nice young lady like this, he rationalized to himself.

Crystal giggled as she began to blush at the storyteller's kind words. "Thank you", she said softly as she motioned to the two mugs of beer in front of her. "I ordered one more than I could handle.. it's all yours if you'd like."

After a brief moment of silence, she began to trail her fingertips along the glass handle of the beer mug in front of her. Finally getting the courage to talk to the mysterious stranger again, she scooted herself closer to Chugami and noticed his beautiful fur that covered his body. "What kind of stories do you tell?", she asked in a bit of wonder. "I'm guessing you aren't from around here."

Looking to the koopa troopa with the blue shell, Nigel nodded to him. "The name is Nigel", he said in a gruff voice as he leaned over the bar towards him. "Don't let a Reznor standing on its hind legs bother you, I do this all the time."

Putting the cloth back into the front pouch of the apron he was wearing, he began to look at the bottles of alcohol on the shelves around him. "So what can I do you for, mate?", he asked Clive, as his back was now turned to him.

Bubbles stumbled around for a few moments, before managing to stumble out the hole in the wall.

"I'll be sheeyin' ya'!" He called back, grinning as he wandered away.

Now, after a certain amount of time, Bubbles wandered his way to Koopa Kastle. He entered through the doors and wandered through to the throne room. It appeared that nobody was inside of the throne room at that moment, so, Bubbles decided to try King Bowser's royal throne out. He sat in it. It was made of gold and it had a soft plushy cushion. Soon, he was asleep, snoozing off the effects of the liquor.

Chugami eyed the spare beer on the counter and felt an extra bit of dread hit him. He could feel himself tensing more at the sight of the orange-yellow liquid, with all the little bubbles in it, tasty little bubbles, not as tasty as sake but it stilled made him feel so- He managed to tear his gaze away from it. "I-I'd rather not..." he replied meekly.

Thankfully, he was a lot more comfortable with the questions following. "I-Indeed I'm not. I'm a nomad; I live on the road. And I tell all sorts of stories; fables, myth, legends... In fact, I have made it my goal to gather all the stories of the world, and record them on scrolls in my pot." He gestured over to his large pot, at least twice his size.

He couldn't see a reason to object or react to her moving closer.

Pushing both mugs of beer down to the far end of the bar, well out of the reach of herself and Chugami, Crystal smiled and admired the large pot in awe. She observed it being quite tattered, telling a story within itself of great travels and adventures that it must of been on with the furry stranger it accompanied.

"Dinosaur Land here, is full of stories", she said as she smiled gently to Chugami. "Ghost houses, hidden passageways and forests full of mystery and wonder." Studying the pot for a moment more, she then focused her attention back onto Chugami, looked deep into the furry stranger's eyes. "I'd love to hear some of your stories", she said softly, her voice almost a whisper, as she brushed a hand loosely through her hair, untangling a knot from it. "Please share some, if you do not mind."

"Nothing really, I'm bored. I just thought I'd come over and talk to someone," Clive replied.

"Some stuff actually came up and I've been trying to get my head round it. Firstly, I found this letter this morning addressed to Bowser, what appears to be dated over two to three years ago. Then I find this wand not too far from the throne room. I disposed of the letter as it is not important but the wand is right here under my shell."

He could swear those eyes were making him melt or something, they seemed to hold a radiating comfort that seemed to cause a good amount of his worry to simply fall off. His self-confidence seemed to be restoring itself to replace it as well. After all, he did turn down the drink earlier; who's to say he didn't have the willpower to keep himself sober in a tavern without needing to feel all defensive?

His voice had lost most of its nervousness, giving it some sort of vigor, when he replied. "I certainly wouldn't mind. Any particular sort of tale that you have in mind? A title, a genre, something? Also, do you mind an audience or would you prefer a private reading?"

"Anything will do.", she said as she pulled a hair ribbon from out of her shell. Getting her hair into a quick bun, she wrapped the ribbon around the designated knot and tightened it. "I love stories of any type. I'm around spirits a good portion of the time, the stories that they share are remarkable."

Waving over to the Reznor behind the bar, she smiled. "A pitcher of ice water over here, please." She noticed that Chugami had become significantly calmer since their first encounter, just minutes ago. Wiping a speck of dust off from her pink shell with the back of her left hand, she smiled to Chugami. "It is your writings, whatever you are most comfortable with doing is up to you on how you choose to share them."

Just as he was going to respond to Clive, Nigel heard Crystal calling for a pitcher of ice water. Holding up a finger to let Clive know to hold that thought, he kneeled down and opened the refrigerator under the bar, exposing a glass pitcher loaded with cold water. Putting it on top of the bar, he got a bag of ice cubes from inside the freezer and dumped the whole bag inside of the pitcher. Shutting the fridge door, he walked over to where Crystal and her newly found friend were sitting and set it down between them and then set two glasses down in front of them. "Water is free, ma'am.", he said with a smile. He then walked back over to where he had been standing, talking with Clive.

"I'd be interested in hearing about that letter.", he said to him. "I find the wand story fairly unbelievable, the koopa king would never leave that lying around or go leaving it behind him."

Clive paused for a moment before beginning to speak.

"Okay, well last night I found a letter while cleaning my room. How it got there, I don't know. Anyway it appears to be from some human wanting to join the Koopa Empire. The letter itself seems dated and was quite dusty. I dismissed it and disposed of it. As for the wand, it is right here," Clive said and showed Nigel the wand he had found.

"Do you recognise this?" he added.

Chugami was quite glad to have some water; it was rather warm down here, though he supposed it invigorated the more reptilian Koopas. ...Which actually explained quite a bit. He helped himself to a glass as he pondered what story to share with her. He supposed he could start telling it to her and let others join in if they wanted, which is how it usually went. The water would even form a decent substitute for the sake he would often sip while storytelling.

He was still contemplating, however, when his sharp ears overheard the conversation between the bartender and the most normal-looking Koopa Troopa at the bar, the latter holding a magic wand. He felt his nose twitch. "Hang on, my dear," he said to Crystal in a hushed done as he tried to peek around, focusing. "I smell a story in the air..."