Setting the Bar Low

Lively, chattering hubbub and the occasional cheer or laughing bout contested the heavy rain against the roof of the Steamrise Inn for the title of Rainfront's Loudest as the end of the day neared in the seaside town. You could find a little bit of everything in the bar that evening; explorers noisily celebrating a mission gone well with a toast, carefree pokémon seeming so at home and indifferent to the passage of time they'd have to either be staying at the Inn itself or someplace close, and the ever so slightly damp, miffed visitors who had just managed to find shelter from the sudden downpour. That, and Damien, former heir of the Neimad family and self-proclaimed item researcher.

The young Girafarig had a table all to himself, right next to one of the windows directly drummed at by the rain. Right beside the giraffe, suspended in mid-air, was a deep red glass of Bloody Siren, half empty already. Though he was dressed with class and did not carry a suspicious air about him, he had remained all by himself for most of the time he had sat there. All who had tried to sit down for a chat had not remained there for long. A lot of the tables near him were also oddly empty. Damien, however, did not look particularly bothered by that fact and simply continued sipping from his floating drink whilst observing the rest of the bar. Looking closely, one might even have noticed a hint of a proud smirk starting to curl up his muzzle.

"Ground rules, Alki!" Darcy cried out, leaning against the doorway of the inn. She'd purchased a small umbrella which had seemed big enough for both of the sisters. Alki, having hands, was the one responsible for holding it. Right now, however, she was mostly struggling with closing it, wrestling with the umbrella as she tried to force it shut, only for it to spring open once more, again and again. Darcy gently nudged her, before pointing at the small piece of string, dangling from one of the ribs of the umbrella's skeleton, meant to keep the thing shut. Alki gave her a smile, and an appreciative nod, before tying the umbrella shut, and holding it gently in her hands.

"Um. Ground rules," Darcy repeated once more, taking a seat on the front steps of the Steamrise inn. "Don't drink, um, weird stuff. A-Alcohol. Any weird colored drinks, or stuff like that... Don't! And don't talk to strangers! I'm sure most people in here are really nice, but sometimes there are rude people too, and then there's the fact they're... Under an influence..."

"Influence?" Alki responded, pushing the door open. "O-Ok, I mean, I don't mind any of that. Sure. Don't drink weird colored drinks, and don't talk to strangers. Sure thing!" Alki responded, giving her sister a small hug. The jigglypuff's ears wriggled with pleasure as she leaned on the Skitty, who gave her a bemused smile. "T-That's not a problem! I'll b-be sure to follow the rules."

Darcy gave her a small nudge, pushing her forward. "I'm sure you will, Alki! I'll... see you in a bit! I need to go deliver something to my older sister, so... Have fun! And stay safe! I'll be back in a bit!"

"O-Ok..." Alki said, giving Darcy a wide smile, which she reciprocated, before turning around and walking briskly through the rain, off in the direction of their sibling's house. Alki, for her part, entered the inn, the bright lights and loud cheers almost immediately spooking her. Of course, she should have expected this level of noise. She'd been here before, after all. The jigglypuff stayed at the edges of the room, looking around for a relatively empty area of the room. Soon enough, she found it, a set of tables, all empty save for a lone Girafarig. Alki took a seat nearby, before waving at him.

"Hullo," She said, a small, tentative smile on her face as she waved at him. "Is it fine if I sit here? What're you doin' all by yourself?" The girl asked, taking a seat in front of him.

Damien straightened his neck up as he spotted something moving among the conquered and abandoned tables, using a bit more telekinesis to fluff his cravat up as his eyes followed the movements. While fixing the neckwear, he let the drink he had been keeping afloat earlier take on a gentle descent toward the table, which it soon hit with a low clink noise. By now the new challenger, which he had identified as a Jigglypuff, was approaching his table after having waved at him.

He did not object when she sat down, and let that be his answer to her first question. The second, however...

"Can you not tell?" he asked smugly. With that, his glass began floating once again, entering the airspace right between the two. He rocked it from side to side briefly, making its content dance about for a little before calming. It then went down again, purposefully placed in a spot on the table where it would obstruct the shorter pokémon's view of his face. "We are in a bar, after all." He sounded amused, but it didn't sound all that good-natured. Not like something you'd hear from a friend just pulling your leg.

While it was fun to mess with the chummy social folks, this new visitor also had the Girafarig puzzled. Why was there some random kid in the bar? Well, he supposed the guest pamphlet had said something about there being children's drinks as well, but... had someone just let their little brat run wild in the Inn? He saw nobody near them who looked like a parent.

"So then, what are you doing all by yourself? Are you not a mere child? Can you even afford it here...?"

Alki shifted in her seat, watching the Girafarig's drink slosh around between them, floating in the air through some sort of telekinesis. His response seemed rather unnecessary, although she supposed her question was rather obvious. Alki drummed on the side of her seat awkwardly, as her eyes flit about the rest of the bar. She could tell that there were a lot of people on the other side of the bar. Aside from this oasis of peace that she and the Girafarig found herself, the bar seemed to be a hotbed for ruckus and mayhem. She could see a group of Pokemon in the bar area whom she could identify as explorers, although she wasn't sure if they were from grassveil or Aileron.

"Yeah, I g-guess we are, huh," Alki responded, turning her attention back to the liquid. It seemed appetizing. The Girafarig then turned his attention back to her, raising an eyebrow as he inquired into her. Alki shifted uncomfortably once more, averting her eyes as the Girafarig spoke. The jigglypuff adjusted the small bag she wore, before responding.

"M-Me? Well... I just thought it'd be fun. T-To hang out here, I mean. At the inn. D'you know if they'll let me have one of 'em drinks you're having?" Alki pointed at the other 'Mon's drink. Alki brushed it aside softly with her hidden power (She couldn't quite make her arms reach the drink without it,) so as to reveal the other Pokemon's face. "I h-have plenty of money though. You don't have to worry 'bout me affording anything, and whatnot."

The jigglypuff paused, giving the other pokemon a small smile and a courteous nod. "What's your name, anywho?"

The Girafarig's brow raised slightly at the question about drinks, and it would only elevate further as a shadow crept out of the Jigglypuff to move his glass aside. Did her species normally learn moves like that? It seemed most unfitting. Perhaps she was not a Jigglypuff at all. Damien had heard of pokémon such as Zorua, capable of fooling others into thinking they are things they're not. Those were dark-types, too, so a shadowy move like that would be right up their alley. It would explain the oddity of her being alone at a bar, asking for drinks and claiming to have "plenty of money" as well. He had heard Zorua were mischievous. Parents usually did teach their children not to drink nowadays, right? And no family competent enough to be rich would allow their child to roam in such an irresponsible way. His eyes narrowed briefly as he considered the possibility of this weird child really being an impostor out to mess with him. He would definitely have to keep an eye up for any other bizarre behaviour. Or maybe amp up the mockery to lure the tricky fox out.

"You ask for my name without giving yours first? I was not aware that is how they do things down in Rainfront," he said, his tone darkening with disapproval rather than surprise. Giving no time to correct the supposed mistake, he shrugged and continued. "Very well. My name is Damien Neimad. I hail from Aileron Village, up in the sky." With that sentence, his voice had leaped out of the disgruntled depth it had rested in and soared right up into what could only be described as sheer pride in audio form. But it would soon take a turn back for the smugness it had displayed earlier. "As for your drink inquiry... You would either have to be a fool to drink something like this at your age, or have that same brand of fools for parents if they let you have such things. Likewise, the workers of this bar would be fools if they served you a drink like that. You are aware of what it contains, yes?" With that dose of venom all done and spit out, he eyed the "Jigglypuff" with subdued anticipation.

Alki narrowed her eyes, retracting her hidden power back to it's proper place behind her. She opened her mouth to respond to his little quip, but he didn't afford her the time to. Damien, as he introduced himself, came from Aileron Village. Alki couldn't help but think it fitting. From everything she'd heard of the place, the Girafarig seemed like he'd fit right in. Of course, he lacked wings, but he certainly seemed to embody the Aileron spirit in almost every other way. Alki shifted in her seat, ears wriggling, before flattening as she decided that, yes, she very much didn't enjoy this 'Mon's tone of voice.

"Alki. From G-Grassveil. Not Rainfront. I don't know how they do things down in Rainfront." Alki responded, her own annoyance coming through clear in her voice. This annoyance only grew as the Girafarig seemed to imply that she was a fool, or her parents were fools. For his sake, he was lucky he didn't call Darcy a fool. She took a small, deep breath, reminding herself what Darcy had said before she'd entered. Don't talk to strangers. Oops. But now that she had talked to strangers, she couldn't just roll over and let him insult everyone! Alki couldn't just roll over like that.

"Y-Yeah, I k-know what it contains! It's... Um. Berries, a-and Sugar, I t-think, and alcohol. I mean. I know it's booze." Alki said softly, looking up at the drink that Damien held. "I'm not a fool. I-Is that your favorite word? F-Fool? Besides, why wouldn't they serve me? D-Don't they have to serve people? Isn't that. Y'know. Their job?" Alki crossed her arms, feeling quite proud of herself as she glared up at Damien. She had a proud smirk on her face, as if to say, Gotcha, as she waited for the response from the Girafarig.

"Who's t-the fool now, huh?"

Rainfront or Grassveil, it made little difference. Pokémon behaved similarly in the towns on the ground, didn't they? Damien could picture any of the bar's other visitors demanding an introduction the same way. Of course, she might not even be from any of those two towns to begin with. It might just have been the lie of a Zorua, thrown in on a whim. She was starting to sound angry, so perhaps he would reach a conclusion on that mystery soon.

Her list of the drink's contents only made Damien more skeptical. Not because of what she listed or the fact that she knew, but because of the way it was worded. "Booze." That had sounded way less technical than what he expected from kids like her. She sounded oddly familiar with it, like this wasn't her first time trying to get a drink like that. The Girafarig wondered if that really was the case, or if she was just trying to sound tough. It could possibly also just be the Zorua sucking at playing children.

He came to no conclusion in particular before she began her counterattack against his earlier insults. Damien kept his mouth shut for the duration, straight-faced as he took in her words. No counters, no interruptions, no nothing. Just a blank face seeming to grow blanker by the second as the remarks rolled in. All until the Jigglypuff crossed her stubby arms and smirked, looking like she believed she had won. It had one corner of his own mouth ticking up a notch, staying there for another couple seconds, before...

"EEHAHAHAHA!"

It took him a few seconds to recover after the sudden laughing bout, during which he retrieved a handkerchief from his bag on the floor to wipe the corners of his eyes.

"The fool would still be you. Why of course it is their duty to serve! But what kind of service would that be? Letting a f-" He paused for half a second. Hmm, he did say "fool" a lot. Then... "-imbecilic child drink herself silly so she can do even more imbecilic things? What if you ruin your future like that?" he ranted, voice still rickety with laughter.

Alki uncrossed her arms, ears falling as the Girafarig laughed at her. Laughed. Not in the way Darcy did when she heard a funny joke, or read an amusing story. Hers was a low, gentle giggle, and even when it was Alki who had said something silly, or done something ridiculous, it was never mocking. It was as soft and sweet as she was, but this laugh? It was something altogether different, the kind of sound one hears from someone who thinks you're the stupidest person on the planet. Was that what the Girafarig thought of her? That she was stupid?

Well, he wasn't wrong, really, but she still hated that he was mocking her for it!

"Well, I'm n-not i-imbecilic! Whatever that m-means... " Alki exclaimed, the balloon pokemon narrowing her eyes in annoyance at the Girafarig. "And I'll p-prove it!"

How was she going to prove it? Well, she needed a second to think about it, too. Alki tapped her hands against her side, ears twitching as she lowered her eyes in thought, before an idea occurred to her.

"H-How about a bet?" Alki asked, opening up the small messenger bag she carried, before extracting a few coins of Poke. She held them stacked in her hand, before placing them on the table. "Five-hundred Poke s-says I'll get some booze from one of 'em servers, just like you!"  Alki's eyes drifted off to a clock that hung from one of the walls in the room. It read the time, and she made a note of it in her mind. "How 'b-bout... in the next t-ten minutes? If I'm not back with some in the next ten minutes you g-get my money, b-but... If I a-am, I g-get yours!"

Alki grinned, a small smile on her face, before she looked up at the much taller pokemon. "T-That s-sound f-fair?"

Damien laughed some more at the offer and the grin that came with it. "Ten minutes... Do you need that long to walk over and be rejected?" She had wanted to prove herself not to be foolish this way, but he did not see how something so futile would help. Still...

Five hundred was nothing, really. He had spent more for less before. And this would certainly be worth it, seeing as if she managed this, he would finally be sure about his suspicions. Though this bar was outside of Aileron and thus did not hold its standards, he imagined its employees would still have the common sense not to serve alcohol to minors, no matter how dedicated they were to obeying customers. And how else would she get it? Cry? Just take it? As if she could outrun the bartender with those stubby legs. He reckoned it would have been hilarious to see, though. One of the bar's employees was a quick little Purrloin, right? If she managed to get booze now, without immediately getting yanked out of the bar... Yes, there was no other likely explanation, was there? Only trickery could make the staff serve her. Trickery like illusions.

Pushing his glasses up, the Girafarig smirked yet again. "Very well, we shall bet! I frankly do not need your money, but I get the feeling this will make the night less dull, so I will entertain your offer regardless. Do not disappoint me now, Alki."