Gift of Bacchus[Luxord/Axel]

[Nothingness]

July 17th

The all-too familiar sound of a Corridor of Darkness opening reverberated against the close alley walls of Traverse Town. The Gambler of Fate stepped out and scratched his chin. He could smell a sort of energy in the air here--an energy he liked to call Lady Luck. Oh yes, he'd definitely have some good luck here, no question about that. Now, to find out what shape that luck would take.

Casually strolling down the streets, Luxord scanned the bright neon-signs for the name of one of his favorite places. "Ah, there you are, my dear mistress." Quickly walking forward, he pushed open the glass door into his bar of choice: The White Rabbit. As he entered, half of the patrons and all of the staff greeted him, and he returned the favor with quick fist-pump. As he sat down at his usual seat in the middle of the bar, and ordered his usual opening drink--a very dirty martini--he swiveled his chair and and watched the door, delicately sipping his drink. "Oh yes, they'll be arriving any moment now."

[Axel]

As Luck Would Have It...

After such a successful killing, the Flurry of Dancing Flames thought a little celebration was in order. Saix would have made a terrible drinking partner, and besides, they couldn't afford to spend time together for such an extended period and risk being seen by another Organization member. So, he had decided to go it alone. And what better place to find bars than Traverse Town?

I'm starting to spend more time here than I do in Twilight Town.

Only a couple of days ago, he had met Vexen in this town. Hopefully, he wouldn't run into the Chilly Academic yet again. He wasn't sure he could take more dullness for the slim possibility of some entertainment.

Wandering the streets, he came across an establishment with a neon sign that identified it as The White Rabbit. He could smell the booze from all the way out here, so naturally, he was drawn inside. Yeah. If Saix had been here, he would have just given the Flame a stare and continued on. Well, while the moon was away, the sun was going to play.

Oh, man. Just perfect.

The first person his eyes settled on when he walked inside was Luxord sitting at a table in the center of the room. At this point, he had already been seen, so there was no use running or trying to pretend he wasn't here. So, instead, he walked over to the table.

"Yo, Gambler. You look about as bored as I do. Is there room at this table?"

[Nothingness]

Three Cheers!

Luxord's face lit up at the arrival of the new guest. "Ah, Flame, how good to see you! I hope you don't mind my not attempting to eliminate you. I'm quite fond of this establishment, and would hate to see it burnt down." Kicking out a chair from under the table with his foot, he gestured towards it. "Please sit--drinks are on me." Calling over a waitress, he asked her to get them to mugs of their best beer. He'd had his warm-up, and now it was time for the fun to begin.

Downing the rest of his martini, he looked at Axel, taking in what he could from the emotionless being. "If you don't mind my saying, you seem rather happy at the moment. I hope you don't mind my asking your reason?" Out of all of the other members, Luxord always saw Axel as much more forthcoming than the others. That would make for an excellent drinking partner, that much was certain. Plus, any reason to get more alcohol in his system was never bad.

[Axel]

I Found a Drinking Buddy

Well, this was an unexpected yet very appealing turn of events. Luxord actually looked--or acted, rather--happy to see him. Axel grinned and plopped down in the offered chair. "Oh, you're buying? Might regret that later." He grabbed the mug of beer that showed up and took a long gulp. It was quite refreshing. "Oh, wow. Excellent flavor."

He wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his cloak and chuckled. "Why am I in such a good mood, you ask?" He wasn't sure how much he should tell the Gambler. Unlike with Saix, he had no previous connection with Luxord on which to build even shaky trust. He also wasn't sure what story Saix would tell Xemnas about Axas' death. Probably that he had seen Axel kill the annoyance outright when Axas was foolish enough to attack.

"Oh, I just spent a little time burning a few unnecessary things." He took another sip of his drink. "What's new for the Gambler of Fate?"

[Nothingness]

Coinciding

Taking a deep drink from his own mug, he answered rather irritatedly, "Well, our newest member, uh, Asax? Saxa? Something like that, hasn't shown up in over a day. He keeps trying to one up my card tricks. MY card tricks. I mean, I'm the goddamn Gambler of Fate! I use cards as a weapon!" Clearly, the best alcohol was much too good for Luxord. As if to prove his skill, he pulled out three cards, and with a flick of the wrist, made them disappear. Reaching a hand out, he pulled one of the cards out from a nearby waitress' belt, another from underneath his mug of beer, and the third from between two of Axel's hair spikes. "I'd love to see him do that if he ever comes back. I'm almost wishing you burnt him."

Draining the rest of his beer, he ordered two more straight away. Luckily for him, he had no problem picking up the massive tab he was about to run up. Being the Gambler of Fate certainly had it's perks: loads of cash, a lot of free time, and practically any woman he could get. Heck, he could take care of all three tonight if he wanted too. Maybe he could even get Axel a nice girl before the night was over. Wait, what was he thinking--Axel's the wingman, and the first rule of the wingman is that they don't get the chicks. There, that was decided. Now, time to put the plan into action...sort of.

"You know, I should have followed your lead. I mean, I don't even LIKE One through Six, well, except Two--he's always fun to work with. But, you, my dear Flame, you!" Luxord reached out and grabbed Axel's shoulder, gesturing around the bar with the other. "You had the right idea all along. Freedom! Do whatever you want, when you want. I can only get a tantalizing taste of it, you know? Times like this. How do you do it?"

[Axel]

Similar Interests

Axel drained the rest of his first glass and immediately called for another. It had been a long time since he had been able to relax like this, and he wasn't going to waste the opportunity. In another five seconds, half of his new mug of beer was gone.

"Oh, wait." He slapped a hand to his forehead, as if just remembering something. "Was that the guy...? I think he said his name was Axas. What a ripoff, right? And he looked nothing like me."

Rubbing a hand against his chin, he paused for a long, long moment, then continued. "Yeah, he was definitely wearing the cloak, now that I think about it. He tried to kill me." With a louder chuckle, he shook his head. "Not the sharpest tool in the shed. How'd he get into the Organization, anyway?"

Almost as an afterthought, he added, "Oh, and yeah. I burned him up good. Most satisfying exercise I've had in a good while."

Now his second glass stood empty. A third was called for. Luxord was touching his shoulder, but Axel didn't mind right now. There was a sufficient amount of alcohol in his system. "Heh. Yeah, freedom. It's great. There isn't a great secret to it. You just... leave, man. Sure, Xemnas will order everybody to hunt you down, but most of the guys don't care all that much, I think. I probably wouldn't care about killing you if our positions were reversed."

He shrugged. "I mean, doing this, being free, not answering to anybody, it sure as hell beats having to listen to Xemmy monologue all... the... time."

[Nothingness]

You're Just Great, You Know That?

Luxord was overjoyed to hear of the new member's demise. So overjoyed, in fact, that he downed the rest of his drink in one gulp and orders two pitchers instead of two mugs. "That's the best news I've heard in months! And of course he would be fool enough to fight you. He was fool enough to challenge my card playing skills, so why should he challenge you and think he could win, right?" Using both hands, he lifted the pitcher and took yet another hearty drink. As Axel asked, rhetorically more likely than not, about how they even let Axas into the Organization, Luxord gave his best inebriated answer. "I really don't know. I mean, after you and Axel--I mean, Saix--joined, they just dropped their standards. Demyx is a nice guy, a really nice guy and all, that Nocturne, but he's just not up to snuff like you are. I mean, I know that I'm not up to par with you or any of the others as far as combat goes. I'll admit it--I'm a lover, not a fighter."

As Luxord was saying all of this, he caught the eye of the waitress serving them and gave her one of his many "looks." This one said, "You so fiiiiine~". She smiled at him, but a sort of creeped out kind of smile. Of course, Luxord was getting far too tipsy to notice something like that, and turned back to his wingman. He sort of half-heard the stuff about being free. "Well, if I were to be hunted down, Fate would decree my life! She does already, and always will!" Luxord was truly touched to hear that Axel wouldn't kill him if their positions were reversed. So much so that he ordered two additional pitchers of beer. "That's just great--it means so much to hear that from you. And the Superior and his dialogues. 'Hearts' this, and 'power' that. You know, I don't mind being a Nobody, really. This non-existence thing is rather enjoyable. I don't feel bad about taking a person for all they're worth, I've got a great poker face" (He tried his best to give Axel a straight face, but in his current state it just looked like he'd got smacked across the face by his grandmother) "And I've got all these cool powers."

Taking another heaping drink he started whispering to Axel, although the whisper was actually a raspy, normal volume voice. "I think we should work together. You know, like, oh, what were their names. Sundance Cassidy and Butch the Sundance...Cassidy of Kid. Or something. Just without the bad ending." He had officially gone past his limit.

[Axel]

What Kind of Drunk Are You?

Oh, man. Oh, man, could Luxord ever put away some alcohol. As the Gambler leaned in to whisper, Axel was hit with the stench of beer breath. But strangely enough, he didn't flinch or shy away in the slightest. "You know, you're like... the booze version of Roxas. I never got him drunk--I mean... never let him try alcohol, but he definitely took a liking to ice cream. He could just eat it and eat it and eat it! I can't even..."

He trailed off suddenly, then looked straight at Luxord. "But he's gone, man! He's gone! No more ice cream... clock towers... Stupid... Sora..." He was completely on a ramble now, whether Luxord wanted to hear it or not. "I've just gotta get him back, man! I've just gotta!"

The fact that Luxord didn't mind being a Nobody struck Axel as odd. The Flame wanted his heart back more than anything, but he also really wanted Roxas back. It was that connection they had had that he needed. They had been... friends. Real and true friends, right? "Hey, y'know... if you don't care, just leave Old Rambling Monotone behind. All those first six... WHO. THE HELL. NEEDS 'EM?!" Well, Zexion was Number Six but didn't really count. Not really. Maybe.

"They're just a little secret club, anyway. They probably have a hidden playhouse somewhere in the castle only they know about, y'know. They probably get together and eat snacks and gossip about the rest of us behind our backs. BEHIND OUR BACKS, MAN!"

By now, he was probably on his fifth or sixth mug and was now taking a page out of the Gambler's book and drinking straight from the pitcher. "Well, we can make our own secret club, and ours will be much cooler! Except let's not include Demyx. Or Marluxia. Please, no Marluxia."

[Nothingness]

What Should Our Name Be?

If Luxord had been slightly more sober, he probably would've noticed that Axel had been hitting the sauce a little harder than himself, and the sauce had been hitting him a little harder as well. Axel had started talking about good ol' Roxas--the Organization's rogue trump card--and all the time they spent together. Luxord really felt for the man, he really did. So much so that he raised his almost-empty pitcher in a toast to Roxas and drank it all in one gulp. "You were a good friend--not letting him drink. He was so young, just, so young! And now he's gone! The good one's always die so young."

His voice was more or less a whimper at that point--probably the closest a Nobody could get to drowning their sorrows into alcohol--and he was starting to get a little wobbly. And now Axel was going on that Luxord really SHOULD leave the Organization, and how they should be making a club. That gave the Gambler a totally AWESOME idea. "We should, we should, like, call ourselves, "The Heater!" 'Cause, you know, in gambling, when you're doing really good, like really good, hot, you know, you say that you're on a heater...or something. And I'm," he dramatically gestured to himself, "a gambler, and you," he jabbed his full pitcher towards Axel, "are just hot! Like, like the SUN, man. We'll be the most awesome club ever!" Luxord took a heaping helping of beer, and started to, quite dangerously, wobble in his chair.

[Axel]

Let's Totally Hang Out

Axel opened his mouth to object to Roxas being dead, but then he decided against it. It was just so damn complicated to explain. Especially when full of beer. "Yeah, Roxas... He was so good, man. We talked about, like... everything. Well... no, not everything, I guess. Actually, we didn't talk about much at all, except how salty yet sweet sea-salt ice cream is and how the sun sets--OH MY GOD, WHY DID I SAY THAT? I THINK MY INTELLIGENCE LOWERED WHENEVER I WAS AROUND HIM!"

Suddenly, his forehead hit the table, one arm wrapped around his empty pitcher of beer, almost cuddling it like a teddy bear. "Why, why, why? Why did the guy who talks about ice cream like a broken record have to be the one who made me feel like I had a heart? AND I SAID THAT TO SORA, TOO. WHY?!" He banged his head repeatedly against the table. "Stupid, stupid, stupid!"

Hugging the pitcher closer, he muttered incomprehensibly to himself for a moment or two. The Gambler could have fallen out of his chair right then, and Axel wouldn't have noticed. He was swimming through memories now, picking them apart as best he could while inebriated. That really had been the extent of their conversations. Ice cream. And sunsets. Really? But it had been that feeling, or at least the echoes of a feeling, that had kept Axel from discarding Roxas like he had everyone else in the Organization. Even Saix eventually. For a while.

Then, just like that, the Flame's head popped up. Luxord wanted to be in a club with him! "Hell, we'll be more than awesome. We'll be, like... double awesome. TRIPLE awesome! We'll be so awesome that the Original Six will explode from the awesome awesomeness of our awesome!" That was quite a mouthful to say, and it probably came out much more slurred than he wanted it to. "We'll totally need a clubhouse! But not at the castle... I can't go back there. They don't like me there!" He sat up, hugged the pitcher to his chest, and pouted like a little kid. "They're all mean and stuff! We should go somewhere else!"

[Nothingness]

I Have the Best Idea You've Never Heard Of!

Clearly Roxas was a sensitive issue for the Flame, not that Luxord was particularly sober enough to notice. For while Axel was rambling (and shouting) about Roxas, Luxord was busy hitting on the same waitress he gave "the look" too. Of course, she was repulsed by both his terrible smelling breath and his slurred, incoherent speech. On the upside, Luxord knew that she was digging the accent--they ALWAYS fell for the accent. He didn't even need to make any card playing jokes around women, the accent was all he needed.

Of course, after about two minutes of her trying to leave, Luxord completely ignored her and turned back to Axel, who was in complete ecstasy over the two of them teaming up. He even thought that they should get a clubhouse. The Flame was going on about them not never ever never coming back to the Castle, when Luxord had what he thought to be the most epicly epic thought of epicness in the history of epic thoughts. "Why don't we just take over the castle! That'll show those jerks! We'll be like 'PEW PEW!' and 'KAPOW!'" He stood up and started flailing his arms around like he was fighting. With each punch, a mess of cards shot out of his sleeves. Lowering his voice to a certain someone's deep monotone, he continued the display, "And Xemnas' will be like, "I'm not awesome enough to handle you guys!" and throw himself off the castle like, "AHHHHH!" And we can be laughing and have that awesome castle as our clubhouse!" Luxord literally fell back into his seat, his knees hitting the bottom of the table violently and making a few of the empty mugs fall over. What he intended to have come out as a whisper was more like shouting. "It'll be our little secret, you know? None of those others losers will know."

[Axel]

I Challenge You to a Children's-- Well, Maybe More Like an Adult's Card Game!

This had to be more than just luck, though Luxord would disagree. Everything was luck to him. Everything. "Duuuude! That is like... the best idea... EVER! I mean, seriously..." He stumbled over that last word. "You are an awesome genius! Yeah, yeah, you are!"

Perfection. Pure perfection. Luxord wanted to take over the castle, too! AND he wanted Xemnas to kill himself. If Axel could be truly happy, he would have been in that moment. "Yeah, dumb Xemmy can throw himself off a roof for all I care. And I'll push him--"

The sight of a King of Hearts fluttering to the ground caught his attention and held it like his eyes and the card were magnets. It was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen in his life. And he wanted to touch it.

Unfortunately, as he leaned forward to grab at the card, he lost his balance and sprawled out on the floor. This was followed by much hysterical laughter on his part. Then he noticed all the other cards laying around.

A brilliant idea popped into his head.

"Hey! Luxord! We should play... a card game! Yeah! You like card games, don't you? And the LOSER has to, um... um..." He thought for a long moment. "Well, I dunno what the loser has to do, but it's gotta be something really TERRIBLE." He looked up at Luxord, hoping maybe the Gambler had a good idea.

[Nothingness]

DID YOU SAY CARD GAME!?

Relfection Room

A card game? A CARD GAME!? HELL YES! That was the only thing that could make this any more enjoyable. Luxord mulled over what kind of game they should play while Axel returned himself to his chair as best he could. "Alright, alright, I've got an amazing idea! Here's-here's what we do!" He called all of the cards back, although they were apparently as wasted as he was since they flew around the bar for a few seconds before coming back to him. Since they were all on the floor, he figured that that would be shuffled up enough.

Handing Axel five cards and taking five of his own, he started his explanation. "Okay, so, you've got those cards, right? And I have these cards. Well, we try to guess each others cards, like, mind-reading, you know? And every time we guess wrong, we take a drink!" He pushed one of the two full pitchers of beer towards Axel and drew the other close to himself. "The one with the most cards, or the least beer at the end, LOSES! Yeah! And the loser has to..." He started looking around the room for something. What that something was, however, not even an actual mind-reader could figure out, Luxord's thoughts were so muddled. "The loser has to take THAT!" He pointed to a rather large keg of beer. "You've gotta steal THAT and just go. Like...GO! And when we take over, we can celebrate with THAT! It's going to be awesome!"

Taking a few deep breaths, Luxord focused on the cards in his hand (the end result was him bug-eyeing the cards). It was an Ace of upside down black hearts, a Clover of fours, a Four-Nine thing of rhombuses, a smoking hot queen of something red, and a Seven of right-side up red hearts. "Okay, okay, focussssssss. You've got...a ten of reds!"

[Axel]

What Rules?

Axel examined the cards in his hand, then held them closer so he could see better. It was still pretty hard to make out what these were, now that he thought about it. But it looked like he had a lot of black cards. No, wait! There was one red one hiding behind some king of... something. He didn't know what it was king of. But he had a crown and stuff. Kings had those kinds of things.

He plucked the red card out of his hand and turned it upside down, then back upright again. Woah! It looked the same both ways! So, weird!

"Let's see... you said you think I have a ten of reds? Naaaaah. This isn't like any ten I ever seen... Think this little sucker is an eight! Woooo! Eight beats ten! Eight beats ten! I win! ...Right?" He thrust the card toward Luxord so he could look at it. "Seeeee? I'm not lying!"

He put down the rest of his cards and took a long drink from his pitcher, anyway, having completely forgotten what the rules of this game were supposed to be. In fact, he just kept drinking for a while, until he finally had to come up for air.

"Man, that stuff is good! It's like... medicine for the soul, you know what I'm saying, bro?"

[Nothingness]

There's a Plot?

Clearly, losing the plot came naturally to both Luxord and Axel. They hadn't even really started the card game before both Nobodies forgot the rules. Luxord looked at Axel's Eighty of Squiggles and realized that he'd been wrong. "Ah, maaaaan! DOWN THE HATCH!" Luxord lifted up the pitcher and began inhaling the translucent, brown ambrosia. And he just had yet another (absolutely terrible) idea. "I have a challenge for you! Let's see who can drink ALL of their pitcher the fastest!" They both had, relatively, the same amount in their pitchers.

"Ready, set , go!" That actually came out something more akin to, "RegyetOOOO!" with both how quickly he tried to say it and with how ridiculously slurred his speech had become. Lifting his glass, he started to try his best to drink Axel so far under the table that...well, sufficed to say, it was pretty far under.