The Luau: The Tiki Bar

Lugruk didn't rightly know what a Lūʻau was, but he did know how to serve drinks. And these Israns were definitely in need of some drinks. He could practically feel the dread radiating off of some of these sods - Naoki notwithstanding, of course. The cat had already visited his station a handful of times before the party had officially even begun - and who was he to tell her no? The orc had only arrived in Port Argentium a couple weeks ago, but it didn't take long at all to figure out that Naoki was a lady who knew how to have a good time.

At present, Lugruk had forgone his armor in favor of an open neck shirt, the green of his chest decorated with one of the leis that had been passed around earlier. He had just stopped to rip a sizable bite out of a hunk of meat he has taken from the spit (it was amazing - he would have to figure out who had hunted the bastard and thank them) when he finally spotted the miniature woman sitting at the edge of the bar.

"Shit!" Lugruk exclaimed in a gravelly voice, his mouth still full of half-chewed barbecue. "Didn't see you there. I'll have that right out for you."

Sucking the last juices of the meat from his fingers, the orc ducked behind the bar and returned with a chipped tea saucer. Lugruk set the plate on the bar and poured a few drops of rum into it, just as she had asked. Unfortunately, he was a bit at a loss for a tiny umbrella. Lugruk scratched his beard in contemplation for a moment, eventually taking a toothpick from his mouth, stabbing it into a cork, and topping it with one of the larger flowers plucked from his lei.

"Don't think we've been introduced before, miss." The orc extended his hand, thought better of it, and switched to extend only his pinky finger instead. He offered a wide, toothy grin, still decorated with strips of pork stuck between his teeth.  "Name's Lugruk, at your service."

"Can't say i'd be so quick to join either if I shared your stature. Especially the game with the net! I try not to pick fights with things that are ten times my size. Least, not anymore." Lugruk chuckled. "Anyways, thanks for understanding, Miss Indica. Wish I could roll out the red carpet for ya, but we're making do with what we have."

Without waiting for Indica to ask, the orc took a half-eaten plate from the end of the bar. It had recently been abandoned, its former patron elsewhere for the moment. Unsheathing a dagger from his belt, Lugruk stripped a sliver from a skewer resting on the plate, coiling it beside the cork where Indica sat with a wink.

At the woman's offer, Lugruk held out the palm of his hand. "Don't owe me a thing. S'all on the house, courtesy of the lady over yonder with the ears. Course, that's assuming you don't drink more than your fill - but I reckon that won't be much of a problem in your case, at least." The old orc smiled. How much could one bug-lady drink, anyway? "Ask me nicely, and I'll keep pouring your drinks 'til you can't fly straight."

The supply of booze he had to give was finite, sure. But there were worse ways to make a good first impression on a new group of people. In Lugruk's experience, it was hard to hate on the guy who rolled up to the party with a keg beneath each arm.

"A lightweight in every sense of the word, huh?" Lugruk guffawed at his own bad joke, pouring out another thimble's worth of rum into the dish. "Come find me later, i'll give you a taste of some of the good stuff I left back on the boat. Assuming you remember this conversation, of course. Got a keg o' blackberry mead that I bet you'd love - made that one m'self, as a matter of fact!" The orc beamed, grinning from ear to ear and giving an exaggerated thumbs-up. "Only reason it's not out here now is on account of how fast it would go. Tryin' to make the top shelf last, yaknow?"

Lugruk paused for a moment, a stray thought diverting his attention away from his advertisement. He scrunched up his face with curiosity, doing his best to make eye contact with Indica. "Actually, that gets me thinking. Those are bee wings, right? You, and people like you... can you make honey?"

The orc stopped himself, smiling apologetically and nervously scratching the back of his head. "Hope that isn't ignorant of me to ask! I don't know a lick about your people, so apologies if that's the case. I think I might be getting ahead of myself here."

"Well, you may not be a Captain in status, but you are a Captain in spirit!"

The Chesknight declared, seemingly to himself as he spoke to the strange pirate-like cat perched on his shoulder. Approaching the bar, he looked up at the stool he was expected to sit upon. This was his Everest. Walking one way and then the other he gauged the enemy. Only his eyes peeked over the top of the seat and with some effort he pulled himself up, his stubby legs failing uselessly as he pulled himself over the edge. Shifting he managed to sit, peering over the bar at one of the bartenders.

"My good sir, may I partake in the beverage of the evening?" he asked, boisterously, patting the bar hard enough to make it tremble unsteadily.

"Sorry, kid, you're a little young," the reply was followed by a shrug until the Chesknight laughed uproariously.

"I assure you, I'm quite a bit older than I might appear!" Satisfied with the deep, resonant tone of the voice and dissatisfied with having to work during the first party pf the new island the bartender shrugged and handed the coconut over. The Chesknight, for his part, gazed uncertainly at it. It looked like he was being served a drink from the skull of a brother. Touching it to his helmet where his mouth would be he tipped it back, the liquid inside disappearing as it made contact

Whiskers had followed Tiki to the Limbo area and happily meows at his success before following him back. Whiskers would jump over the bar after chesknight. He congratulates Chesknight "Good job!" he chirps at his nutty friend. 

The cat will glance over at the small lady. She sounds like a strange bug buzzing around. He will jump up onto the table and look closely at the strange lady. His head tilts back and fourth trying to figure out if this is friend or food

Lady Naoki, fresh off her successful limbo, meanders into the vicinity of the tiki bar. The pages have been good about keeping her supplied with tasty drinks, but she senses trouble to get into around here, and so winds her way among the crowd, casting her eyes and ears this way and that. Most of the faces are familiar, but there’s one she’s not seen in some time.

“Katiana?” As she approaches, Naoki seems disinclined to believe her eyes, and blinks several times. But it is no trick of the light, that’s Katiana Graves, returned at last from her lengthy journey with Coatl!

“Katiana — you’ve returned! And at such an auspicious time! Welcome to the festivities, to the Lūʻau!” Pronouncing the word exactly as she first heard it and bumping her hips to one side to set the grass of her skirt swaying, Naoki gestures broadly around them, seemingly quite pleased with how things are going. “Someone told me about this wonderful festival traditionally held on the beach, and it seemed a fit for Port Argentium. And by my reckoning, things are going quite well thus far!”

“But…” Trailing off, Naoki looks Katiana up and down. “You’re overdressed.” Shaking her head, Naoki tsk, tsk, tsks. “This is a strictly informal event, Ms. Graves, and I expect everyone to be dressed appropriately!” Waving one finger, it’s difficult to tell if Naoki is sincere in her chastisement.

“If you’ve only just arrived… I suppose it is excusable, but here…” Beckoning over a page boy, Naoki takes a grass skirt from his box. She then waves away the page boy guarding the door to the hut and ushers Katiana through the hanging grasses to the interior.

It’s a storage hut for alcohol. Crates are stacked up against the walls, filled with all manner of bottles of spirits. There’s space enough for them both to stand inside, but not much more than that.

Holding the grass skirt in one hand, Naoki waves dismissively toward Katiana’s clothes with the other. “Take all that off,” Naoki bids her. Occupying the doorway such as she is, it doesn’t seem as though Naoki is going to look away.