Jenny was given a glass tied with a neat little red ribbon. The liquid inside the cup itself looked a fiery, glowing orange, almost giving it the appearance of magma. Jeremy accepted his own glass, following along with the others in the crowd as they all raised it up in preparation for the toast.
A knot suddenly rose in Jenny’s throat as she began feeling the alcohol from her previous shots. The young woman hesitated for a second as she realized something was happening that she was not prepared for. Nothing left to do, she lifted her glass along with the others.
Everyone’s eyes were turned on the man who was, apparently, having a birthday. Despite his drunkenness, he patiently waited for everyone to be given a shot before he lifted his own cup. “Th- thank you alllll, verymuch!” he slurred. “Hai deval!” he cheered. Jeremy yelled the cheers back, and Jenny muttered incoherently in attempt to keep up the facade, and suddenly everyone was drinking. Freezing in sudden drunken shock as everyone began eating their cups and tying bows, she watched out of the corner of her eye as Jeremy swallowed the shot, slipped the ribbon from the glass, and held the cup in his teeth while he retied the ribbon with his fingers. He was halfway through the retied knot before he seemed to realize that Jenny may not have participated in a traditional Cassian birthday shot before. His eyes widened, he shoot her a look - glass still in his teeth as he tried to show her what he was doing.
She shot a rare, fleeting look of panic back at Jeremy. What the hell was she supposed to be doing?
Jeremy’s knot now tied, he made a hasty grab for the ribbon on her glass - quickly undoing the bow. He shoved his own knot into her hands as she downed the contents of her glass, and scrambled to tie the new bow on time. He managed, juuust fast enough to snag the glass out of his teeth and drop the bow inside. He watched Jenny to make sure she was doing the same with her bow.
To their advantage, the birthday crowd was politely drunk enough to not notice the awkward exchange. Everyone whooped and hollered. Jeremy, relieved, shot Jenny a reckless grin and joined in. Jenny laughed and offered up her own whoop with the others. They had gotten away with it! A new song kicked in to reverberate through the Dominion only club, and ‘Helen’ leaned to ‘Jemias’ to whisper something.
Neither of them noticed the draken at the end of the bar, who was now storming forward, vibrant eyes trained on Jenny. The draken roughly grabbed the wrist of Jenny’s that was holding her glass and spun her to face him. “I knew it! I could smell it on you,” he growled loudly, startling most of the crowd that had huddled around the bar, including a now very-wide-eyed Jeremy. The draken pulled Jenny closer and sniffed the air around her in demonstration.
Jeremy meanwhile hastily stepped forward even as the eyes of the gathering at the bar remained fixed on the commotion. “Hey hey! You get your fuckin’ hands off her!”
Jenny tensed and for the moment resisted the urge to not hit the draken. She instead moved to pull away, twisting her wrist sharply in attempt to break it's grasp. “Hoooold it, big guy. Let’s not ruin the atmosphere.”
The draken’s grip only tightened, and he ended his sniffling with a loud snort. “You are the one inviting ruin, Exile,” he spat, baring sharp teeth. He pulled her close enough that Jenny could smell his breath.
Adopting a drunken, saucy smirk, Jenny took the glass from her caught fist and handed it off to a passing drink bot. “Good job, cutie!” she praised, losing the practiced Cassian accent and giving a rich chuckle. There was no bluffing their way out now. “Now why don’ we take this outside t’ talk like adults. Unless ya gotta find yer purse t’ get a breath mint first.”
Jeremy’s mouth drops open a little. In contrast to Jenny, his confidence seemed shaken, but still he stepped forward, trying to get himself between Jenny and the Draken. “She doesn’t mean that,” he assured. “You don’t mean that,” he turned to Jenny with smile that was both nervous and panicked.
The draken snarled. He did not release Jenny, but used his free arm to attempt to backhand Jeremy away.
Jenny tensed as the draken raised his hand to strike Jeremy. Her free hand flashed forward to punch the draken in the throat… and did absolutely nothing as it struck a ridge of hardened scale.
Jeremy deftly dodged the fist, and with an unanticipated amount of grace, dipped around behind the draken. Thinking quickly, he raised a boot and kicked the draken in the back of the knee. The draken’s leg buckled and he let out a humorously surprised, and undoubtedly furious snarl.
Stumbling as she found herself suddenly free, Jenny leapt forward without a second thought to slam her fist into the drakens face as he turned on Jeremy. This time her punch actually did something, and she ignored the sting of her scraped knuckles in favor of the triumph she felt as the draken staggered from the hit. “Jer, slip! Go!”
It didn’t take much prompting. The moment he heard Jenny’s words Jeremy stood himself up, took in a breath, shot the draken a nasty little gesture and a toothy smile, and let himself be tugged into the Void. It had been a while - enough so that Jeremy was a little surprised to still find greenish tendrils following behind him as he dashed back around to the place that would allegedly be behind the draken. And then… he lingered, not daring to run until he knew Jenny was following.
Jenny shot a finger gun at the birthday boy and vanished after Jeremy. Stumbling into a run as she hit the Void, an extra swirl of the golden light and electric sparks fell from her in a flurry, and she reached a hand for him as she dashed for the hatch. “Let’s get outta here!”
His hand clasped tightly around hers, his run began with a drunken sort of stumble before yanking her in the direction of the hatch - or rather, the direction he thought the hatch was in. He wasn’t sure, and the blood rushing through his veins only seemed to usher the alcohol through his system faster. Suddenly he was rather dizzy. “Ffffuck - which friggin’ way was it?” he asked, trying not to sound panicked.
Jenny fumbled after him, reaching out her free hand hand to push aside something that wasn’t there. “Follow the wall! Follow the wall! The wall will show us!”
Though normally his navigation of the Void was careful and calculated, the same couldn’t be said for how he did it drunk. Free hand slapping against the wood panels once they approached the wall, they skirted along it together. It seemed like they were going an awfully long way. “Shouldn’t we have hit it by now?” he called out, way more loudly than he needed to seeing as they were no longer technically ‘in the bar’.
“Keep going!” she called back just as loudly, kicking awkwardly at the wall as they went to be helpful. “It’ll be 'ere! If you find… a big dent! In the wall! There are stars – stairs! There are things that go up!”
Despite himself, Jeremy chuckled at Jenny’s words. “I know! Up is definitely what we want, I just -” Any ghost of a smile dropped as he heard a sound. Hand still on the wall, he spun. He wasn’t even quite sure what he heard, if he heard anything at all. Uneasily he ignored it and turned back, hand smacking at the next panel. “It’s got to be somewhere…” he strained to think through the drunken haze. “The Void just… put it in a different place.”
Jenny stared at him in awed disbelief. “Can it do tha’? I didn’t know the Void could do that!” She then followed the wall further, whistling as she went. “Damn, my hand hurts! Here hatch! C'mon Void, we just wanna leave the nice club! Heeeere hatch, hatch, hatch! Uugh! Why are draken faces so hard?!”
“Shiiit, did you hurt yourself?” he was distracted from their mission a little too easily. He turned to make a gentle examination of her hand, fingers quickly massaging at her palm as he examined it for… he wasn’t sure. “We’ll get it looked at if we gotta,” he assured, speaking in a confused mash of both accents. “But we need to find the door. Maybe shit got flipped - inverted! Inside bits always go funnier than outside bits!” he explained as though he was being perfectly clear.
She giggled as he inspected her hand. “You-hooo said bits!” Three of her knuckles were scratched from impact with the draken’s scales. “But door! Door, door. Yes it’s… down and in. You’re so smart.” She squinted her eyes and looked around and pointed to the far side of the room where a shadow of a hall showed. “Ooh! I see it! Jeremy!” She tugged on his hand and headed that way as a distant sound that might have been a screech echoed from their right beyond the confines of the bunker.
The screech made him flinch. His hand tightened around Jenny’s, perhaps almost a little too hard, and he turned their pace into a jog. His heart was pounding, he felt so dizzy, and suddenly several sharp sounds popped off behind them. The air seemed to ripple around them as bullets whizzed past them. “Shit! Shit shit!” Jeremy cursed. He didn’t bother turning around, just picked up his pace and led their jog into an all out run for the door.
Jenny sprinted with him, eyes wide as several bullets came within inches of hitting her before hitting an invisible wall that shimmered blue and sparked gold at each impact. Realizing in her drunken stupor what was happening, she pushed Jeremy ahead of her towards the way up to make sure he wasn’t hit. “Shit! Fuck! Dammit! Fun killers! Climb! Climb!”
His free hand went for one of his pistols, but he didn’t take it out of his holster. Shooting was a bad choice, running was way better. Nearly tripping as he was pushed forward, Jeremy was swallowed into the shadow of the hallway that would lead them upward.
Now, he turned - he needed to make sure Jenny was behind him, but he was quickly distracted by the three blurred shapes that were running towards them across the room. The crack of gunfire sounded again - so loud in the enclosed space, and he grabbed for Jenny to pull her inside the hall with him.
Jenny stumbled against Jeremy, and there was an oily shimmer as the shield that encased her slipped around him as well. “I’m 'ere! I’m 'ere!” She assured him, clinging to his arm as they made a drunken dash for the ladder at the end of the hall, and glanced back at the running shapes. “Go up! Go up! They can’t hit me so I’ll follow b'hind t’ cover yer back!”
He didn’t like it, but there was little time to argue. Hands leaving her to find the rungs behind him, Jeremy slid from the shield and up the ladder as he heard the vicious metallic tings of bullets missing their marks. Whether it was due to lack of sobriety, or due to the Void’s adaptation of the bar, the climb seemed long, and exceedingly dark. His arms were tired, and suddenly he found his head colliding with the hatch at the top. Lightning went off behind his eyes and he let out a sharp yelp - he simply hadn’t seen it coming.
Jenny climbed as fast as she could to keep up with him. The further they went the harder it was to grip the bar and the shooting left a ring in her ears. But several bullets fell useless after hitting the shield behind her and it spurred her on. She jumped at his yep and leaned a little to try and peer past him. “Jer? What’s wrong? Ya okay?”
“Fine!” he called down below him, voice wavering slightly. “The hatch! I found the hatch!” his hands groped upward and he swung the door open with a forceful push and a loud grunt. Golden light spewed through the opening, and Jeremy let out a little whine as his eyes strained to adjust. The sound of bullets starting up again, Jeremy scrambled through the hole and reached back behind him to help Jenny up.
Scrambling up after him, Jenny grasped his hand and let him haul her up the rest of the way. As soon as she was out she turned and with all her inebriated might she slammed the hatch shut. “Shit, tha’ was close! We better haul ass outta 'ere.”
Drunkenly stumbling, recklessly skirting through the plains of the Void until they were both out of breath, Jenny and Jeremy did indeed haul ass out of there. Still within the relative safety of the Void, Jeremy in particular slowed to a halt as they rounded a dully glowing brick building. He bent, resting his hands on his knees as he gasped for air. “Shit,” he panted, voice cracking. “Shit I’m bad at running.”
Jenny skidded to a stop, breathing heavily but seeming as if she could keep going. “Ooph! Hell,” she huffed between breaths, glancing behind them with a teetering lean to make sure they weren’t being followed. “Can’ be good a’ e'erthin’,” she finished with a wink. “Ya ain’ shot are ya?”
Jeremy performed an ancillary pat down of himself as he continued to bend over. “No, I don’t think so,” he panted. “Are you? How are you?” He looked back at her, hands reaching out for hers.
Jenny stumbled a step towards him, her chest heaving as she struggled to catch her breath. “I’m – fine! I’m in one piece,” she breathed, offering out her hands. “Ya were – You were amazin’! I didn’ know ya could pull a stunt like tha’.”
Taking her hands in his own, he looked her over quickly, eyes not knowing where to settle. He turned one of her hands over, noting the scrapes on her knuckles. “Just working with what I had,” he answered through his breaths as he started to chuckle. “Fucking shit, did you punch him?” He blurted out the question with a mix of elation and disbelief.
“Yeah, I punched him!” she replied with a rich, breathless laugh as if it had really been the only solution. “Twice, actually! Holy shit, I can’ b'lieve we got away with it!”
“Shit!” a delighted laugh escaped him, “Dude I’ve never punched a Draken, no one like - ever does that!” His breath continued to buckled with laughter and he leaned against the brick, pulling her with him into a hug. His head was spinning and he didn’t care. “Fuck, I love you,” he half-sighed, half-laughed.
Everything was a wonderful, golden haze… but then again they were in the Void. Huffing an elated chuckle she gladly leaned against him and returned the embrace. “I love you too,” she replied, beaming as she rested her face against his chest. “Ugh, how much alcohol was in all tha’? I’m so-hohoho drunk,” she practically giggled.
"Really? You mean all that excitement didn’t sober you up?” Jeremy asked in mock disbelief. He too, was quite drunk, and now that they had stopped running it was just a matter of getting the world to stop tilting. Still holding on to Jenny, he slowly began to slide down the wall. “How… How long… We should slip back, I think,” he suggested while trying to keep his thoughts in order.
“Ya think… ya think it’s safe to?” she wondered. “Did we e'en run tha’ far?” Jenny lifted her head from him as he scooted down the wall to look around at the glowing dimension.
“I don’t… I don’t know,” he was still trying to gulp air into his lungs as he slid further down, knees starting to bend. He let her go just enough that he wasn’t actively dragging her down with him, though his arms stayed hugged around her as he went. Soon enough he was resting in a crouch, back against the wall, arms wrapped around Jenny’s legs as he rested his head against her hips. “It feels like we’ve been in here so long. Can we just stay?”
Jenny smiled, looking down at Jeremy as she combed his hair back. “Not we – We shouldn’, not too much longer, anyways,” she mumbled, fumbling her words. “Let’s rest another minute b'fore goin’ a few more blocks 'n fadin’ back, eh?”
“Mmmkay,” he agreed easily, attempting to both nod against her and lean into the touch of her fingers at the same time. His eyes closed. For several moments he slipped into a contented silence, and had one not known any better, they could have perhaps wondered if Jeremy had managed to pass out while still being wrapped around her legs. “Thank you,” he finally said, voice muffled due to the fact that his face was pressed against her thigh.
Jenny’s eyes had also somehow managed to drift shut. A fact which surprised her when she opened them to look down at Jeremy. Her hands continued combing through his hair, though she lifted one to press against the wall to steady herself as she swayed. “Wha’ ya thankin’ me for?” she asked in a soft, drunkenly thick murmur.
His eyes closed again and he sighed contentedly, arms squeezing her a little tighter. “For this. For you,” he mumbled out. “Just thank you.”
A tender smile on her lips, she kept her hand on the wall to steady herself as the other combed through his hair to rest at the back of his head. “Yer welcome, Jeremy.” Her eyes closed again for a moment before she suddenly shook her head to open them. "C'mon. Let’s get goin’. Fallin’ asleep against a wall in a Dominion town ain half as good as yer bed.”
“Oh fuck, home sounds so nice,” he moaned, the concept seeming to relax him further. He didn’t move. “Can we get pizza?” Though his eyes stayed closed his eyebrows skewed a little in an accompanying plea.
Jenny smirked, and a delighted laugh erupted from her. “Yeah, we’ll ge’ all the cubacon an’ pineapple pizza! 'n taco pizza, 'n tha’ macaroni pizza.” She grinned and reached down to pull at his arm. “Let’s go home. Bu’ ya gotta get up first. I can’t carry ya.”
