Frontier Town Nina's Place

[AdamArtDraws]

Felin hummed a tune to herself, one she'd picked up during one of her adventures. She'd made herself comfortable on a wobbly chair that caught a lot of the warm chandelier light. The first thing she'd ordered was a bottle of whiskey, followed by a jug of milk. A moment later, she mixed the two into half a glass to form a curdled mixture. Felin spared no hesitation and took a huge gulp. It tasted about as good as one would expect. Yet Felin brought her glass back down with a satisfied sigh.

"I must say, the drinks here have a taste I very much fancy," she said with a chuckle and refilled her glass with more of her unusual cocktail. The sweetened scent in the air tingled her senses. She took a deep breath, delighting in it. "Something tells me I'll be coming here next time. Don't know about you, but consider me a regular."

 

[Virgil134]

Over the last couple of days, Rodion had made a habit of visiting the Sun Stone Saloon every evening to have some drinks with Lyle. He and Lyle had ended up getting along surprisingly quick, and Rodion wondered if perhaps he and the Cyndaquil had more in common than he initially thought. But that was something to think about some other day, as during this evening Rodion and Lyle had decided to change things up and try out the drinks at Nina's Place. After bumping into Silver along the way, they convinced him to join them, and before they knew the three were all seated at a table at Nina's Place. Rodion took a sip from the beer he had ordered, and after a moment to savor the taste, shot Lyle and Silver a small smile.

"You know, this place ain't too bad. The seats are alright and the beer's almost as good as the Sun Stone Saloon, despite being a lot cheaper."

Rodion's nose wrinkled upon noticing the smell of tobacco coming from the table next to him. He narrowed his eyes and briefly looked over in disgust to see a few Pokémon smoking, before turning back to Lyle and Silver.

"Even if they'll have to do something about the smell before I'd consider coming here regularly," the Buizel said. "I'll never understand why Pokémon in Forlas like smoking this 'tobacco' when it smells so disgusting."

 

[kyeugh]

Drinking was a funny game on Forlas. While Prim was not so prodigious a drinker as Lauchs, she was known back home to put back a drink or two. In this world, though, the drinks were more fire than they were water, and this puny body couldn't hold as much as she was used to.

Prim, of course, discovered this entirely too late. By the time she was approaching the barkeep to trade her "strong stuff" for a tall glass of water—a fine beverage for a growing plant—her vision was swimming, and the shouting of the weathered old fucks playing cards at the table in the corner seemed to fill her whole world.

Well, lesson learned. There were a lot of lessons to learn on Forlas, and that—in Prim's estimation—was part of the thrill of being young. Again.

How very lucky she was for the chance to miss her glass and dribble water all down her chin.

 

[Phoenixsong]

Technically, the distraction Leaf had been hoping for when she'd left the Haus that afternoon had been lunch. Not that Nidoran and his mystery button hadn't been a very welcome alternative! She actually hadn't even pressed the button yet, which was very cool and good of her and she deserved a medal for it. Trouble was, the very unfair stress of that herculean act of resistance, combined with her concern about Nidoran himself, just opened up space for the earlier tornado of frustrating thoughts to come high-speed waltzing right back in. This was not as cool and good as the other thing.

So! Lunch. Lunch made lots of things good again. Nina's Place wasn't too far off, thankfully, and wasn't even that busy in between the big meal rushes, so she was able to find an unoccupied booth and get right to digging in. Nina's really did have the best food in town, she thought, even nodding to herself a little as she ate. Easily worth at least a good thirty minutes of not worrying about magic disappearing pokémon or wagon-eating monsters or things like that. Twenty minutes, at least. Or...

...know what, maybe she just wouldn't even go there and enjoy the sandwich instead, hm?

 

[Jackie Cat]

"I dunno, I might've been in town before, but it would've been a while ago. I was travelling in the frontier about a decade back, if I recall right."

The Monferno sat at Nina's bar was getting long in the limb, his white ruff spreading across his upper body as he grew closer to evolution from age alone. He wore a somewhat battered burgundy derby hat – something like a bowler with a wider brim – and a smart waistcoat.

An Emolga, perched on a seat of her own that hung from the rafters, looked down at the stranger. "And, pray tell, why is it that you find yourself here once more, sir monferno?" she asked, before going back to chewing on her salted nuts.

"Same thing that brought me here last time," he said, with a weary smile. "I'm chasing rumours of humans in this town."

 

[HelloYellow17]

Wes had far too much on his mind to relax properly, so he figured a drink might do him some good. A tiny voice in the back of his mind wondered if this new pattern of seeking out bars to decompress should be a worrying one or not…but he was quick to silence it. Without Neo and Novo, Wes was going to make do with what he had, and if that turned out to be a glass or two of mead or ale or whatever the hell was their equivalent here, then so be it, dammit.

He pushed through the doors of Nina’s Place and instantly decided he liked this joint. It wasn’t quite as home-y as the Zera, which was comparable to Orre’s Outskirt Stand, but it was quaint and humble enough, and above all, not too noisy or crowded. Certainly not as uppity as the Snob Stone Saloon or whatever.

He greeted the hostess, no doubt Nina herself, with a polite nod and requested a glass of something sweet, keeping his voice down so others wouldn’t hear. He wasn’t sure why he cared, really—it wasn’t like he had a reputation to uphold. But he wasn’t keen on broadcasting it, regardless.

Wes was content to sit quietly and enjoy his drink, a similar concoction to Gerome’s one that he liked, until he caught sight of a familiar face—a bandaged face—entering the bar.

His stomach dropped. Oh, scorching hells.

He turned back to his drink with a disgruntled sigh and deliberated, with no small amount of churning guilt, over whether he should greet her or ignore her.

 

[Cresselia92]

As per usual, Nina’s Place was packed with ‘mons and customers of all kinds, engaged in lively chatters and conversations and taking their time to decompress and relax with some good company.

And truthfully, Silver could really use a nice break after working so hard to help with the organization of the expedition, especially with resources and training. It’s not like he has a problem with writing checklists and scheduling stuff, but not even a meticulous and constantly energized now-Sneasel like him was immune to burnout and tiredness. Hence, he didn’t object when Rodion suggested spending the afternoon together, so that they could simply chill and relax before their long journey away from town.

“So, tomorrow we’re gonna leave for that abbey, huh? Are you excited ‘bout that?” he asked to his friend, grinning as he did so. “I dunno why, but I’ve been itching to reach those mountains and climb ‘em! Maybe it’s because of my new Sneasel instincts and whatever, or maybe because there’s nothing more thrilling than embarking in a long journey into unknown and mysterious lands.”

 

[Inkedust]

Practice took on many forms. Whether it be a physical spar, a quite meditation or the building of a skill. Often, it was in a zoroark's best interest to use their illusion ability regularly lest they become unconvincing and there was no better way than attempting to mass-fool an audience.

And that was exactly what Bellatrix was doing this evening in one of the local saloons. Though she was never exactly one for drinking, drunkards provided a far more generous margin for error. Picking the locale was also a rather simple process of elimination: Odette, working for Sun Stone, would've probably blown her cover and she felt that Gerome, having built enough of a rapport with the Wayfarers, would have likely noticed her rather quickly as well. Bellatrix wasn't familiar with Nina, Nina didn't know her, so Nina's it was.

The form Bellatrix had settled on was that of a meowstic who sat near the bar with a simple order of cider and food; quite pleased that she had managed the order without so much as a raise of the brow or any comments regarding underage drinking. So pleased, in fact, that she had failed to notice that a couple of her characteristic red gems were beginning to show on her arms...

 

[Tetra]

Of all the places in Frontier Town to eat, he found he liked Nina's Place the most. Sun Stone was too fancy for his taste, and the Wandering Zera always made him feel slighty uneasy and out of his element. He'd ordered himself a plate of food of some berries and fish, and a small cup of coffee, which he'd begun to develop a taste for once he'd added plenty of cream and sugar.

The day was still early, and he was considering heading out later and picking up a few supplies and preparing to see if he could visit the monastery. But for now, at least, he could enjoy a meal in peace. No dreadful lingering fear of Alex, and no looming fear of some upcoming fight with Cipher. Just a pleasant day.

 

[Ambyssin]

(Takes place before Nova/Sybil.)

Having left the Haus, Nova's growling stomach won out and kept him from returning to the abandoned cabin. With his shabby appearance, the Zera seemed more appropriate to visit, but that place was more for drinking than proper food. So, he trudged over to Nina's.

Naturally he got a lot of bewildered looks from the customers as he headed for the table. "Y'should see the other guys," he quipped, adding a strained chuckle for good measure.

Once seated, he didn't even open the menu. Instead asking for a suitable amount of beer for a 'mon his size. He slumped over, resting his beak on the table and watching the entrance.

What a day this had turned into. Between the Cipher raid, torching the Fiends' camp, and now this... it really was like Nova had picked the rebel life right back up where he'd left it. And he wasn't sure if that was a good thing, given how that ended back home...

 

[Chibi Pika]

Some time after the battle with Moltres...​

"So like, that was pretty much the end of it. We were obviously exhausted, and I don't know how much longer we could've kept it up, but Moltres was actually willing to come along with us afterward, so... I guess it worked out."

Jade and Laura were seated on a pair of mismatched chairs at a table off to the side of the dining area, near the window to ensure a steady stream of fresh air (it was getting to be the time of year where the outside air was actually temperate). The usual bar patrons were the sort to mind their own business and the atmosphere was quiet enough that they could talk without fear of interruption.

Jade had just spent the past fifteen minutes or so relaying an abridged version of the battle with Moltres, from the initial destruction of the watchtower, to the final showdown at the railyard, occasionally punctuated with asides like "you probably already heard this bit" where news had already come up over Betel's network.

"So like yeah. Fighting Legendaries," she finished awkwardly, taking a sip of berry juice after having talked too much. "Didn't think that was something that'd happen here." It was at once so familiar and so distant at the same time. It'd been several months since the last Legendary battle back home. She never would have expected her next one would've involved herself doing the battling.

 

[Chibi Pika]

Jade leaned back in her seat, glancing out the window at the darkening shades of dusk creeping over Frontier Town. And only a few hours past noon, too. Why'd it have to get dark so early? She found herself cursing it every year. At least it didn't snow in the Soja, so that was at least one good thing.

"Feels weird that it's winter now," Jade said, finally taking a sip from her mug after letting the heat saturate her paws for the last few minutes. "I know it's like, obviously time was gonna pass while we were here. I guess it's just a reminder that we have a life here now, and it's not just some one-and-done mission." She took another cautious sip, letting the warm-spiced berry juice fill her mouth.