(12DT) Rose and Crown: Pick Your Poison!

[Astrid Ambramovic]

((open thread))

Astrid walks into the bar and takes a seat, ordering a whiskey sour before taking a quick look around the bar.

[Justin Halloway]

Astrid would feel a fairly well-dressed man sitting a few stools down the bar. He had a cocktail glass that he was sipping from as he looked at something on his phone.

[Astrid Ambramovic]

Astrid glanced in his direction, sipping her drink. Feeling a bit curious, she took a quick peek psychically-wise.

[Justin Halloway]

The images flashed into her mind, apparently something along a mental track he'd been walking.

Everything was white. The white cape billowed out around him as he fought. His hand lashed out to impact with a face clad in a white skull mask, a white fedora flying back from the head from the impact. He spun around to just dodge a blow from a second, identical white-clad man who dove in to assist his partner, giving the man he'd struck time to dive for his machine gun...

[Astrid Ambramovic]

Astrid broke of contact quickly, feeling like a snoop. She finished her whiskey sour in one long drink and quickly ordered another.

[Justin Halloway]

Justin looked up from his phone, looking over at her with a smile. "Not worth drinking if you can't even taste it," he said, taking another drink from his glass before moving over to the empty seat between them.

[Astrid Ambramovic]

Astrid smiles back, "That's one opinion. Way I see it, I get to taste twice as much in the same time."

She raises the new glass in a toast and takes another drink.

[Justin Halloway]

He smiled, clinking his glass to hers. "Maybe, but slow it down and you remember it in the morning." He took a sip, then set the glass down again. "Justin. Justin Halloway."

[Astrid Ambramovic]

"Good to meet you, Justin," Astrid says, "I'm Astrid."

"So, what are you doing here?"

[Justin Halloway]

"Aside from drinking?" he said, smirking slightly. "Had an old family friend want to meet me for a drink an hour ago. Just staying around and thinking now."

[Astrid Ambramovic]

"That's a long time to think," Astrid says.

[Justin Halloway]

"I don't know of anyone who would say that thinking is a bad thing," he pointed out.

[Astrid Ambramovic]

"It can be dangerous to get too caught up in your own head," Astrid says.

[Justin Halloway]

"That sounds like something much deeper than casual bar conversation," he mused.

[Astrid Ambramovic]

"You're right," Astrid says with a smirk, "We should get back to the basics. Small talk and vague flirting."

[Justin Halloway]

"Can't have anything be too serious in a pub, right?" he said.

[Astrid Ambramovic]

"Drink your cares away and all that," Astrid says. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she lightly probes him again to find out what he's been thinking about this whole time.

[Justin Halloway]

"Problem is, they always come back in the morning," he said with a grin.

"...on't care. We're through."
"We're never through. Your grandfather started this, we're finishing it. It's a crusade."
"It's going too far is what it is."
"How can you do this! This is your grandfather's legacy! Everything we do-"
"-Is a blight on my family and his memory! We. Are. Done."
"Heh. We'll see about that, Mr. Avenger. Just remember, you're one of us. That's never going to change."

[Astrid Ambramovic]

"Then you're not doing it right," Astrid says, pushing a bit harder for more information.

[Justin Halloway]

"Maybe I need to take some lessons from you, then?" he asked, taking another drink.

The gunshot rang out, and the pain as the bullet hit his back matched the explosive sound. "Justice is served!" he barely heard with ringing ears as he fell forward...

[Astrid Ambramovic]

Astrid shivers, "I guess if there's one thing I excel at, it's letting go of the past."