Drinking Problems

Nicolas had, once upon a time, had a drinking problem. He'd stopped having a drinking problem when he'd realized that if he didn't stop drinking entirely, he was going to end up in a gutter missing one of his kidneys. He had no money to buy alcohol with, and he'd reached absolute rock bottom.

He'd been fished out of rock bottom by what could be described only as treasure. There was no other word for it. A mess of gold coins and silver finery that had been dredged up from a thousand shipwrecks. If he'd cashed it all in, he'd have had enough money to last for years. But Ulrich had promised him all that and more. If he did his job, he'd be fabulously wealthy. Ulrich had decided he would be the only guard that would serve him, and Ulrich didn't seem to have much of an idea of how money worked. In fact, Nicolas knew he didn't have much of an idea of how money worked, because Nicolas had been forced to explain the basics of money to him.

Not that it mattered. Ulrich was off in the house doing who knew what, and Nicolas had the night to himself. He'd spent the day picking a few things up at the house, trading in several gold coins for actual cash. And then, the moment he'd dropped the stuff off at the house, he'd beelined for the first bar he could find.

He wanted to drink. He wanted to drink until he'd be able to sleep properly at night. He wanted to sleep like the dead, and he could only do that when he was wasted drunk. The first bar he found wasn't bad - a bit of a hole in the wall, but nice enough he didn't feel like it was a total dive.

He didn't waste time. He was right up to the bar, his coat still shrugged over his shoulders to hide his missing arm, and straight to what he'd come for.

"Glass of Cognac. No, scratch that. Give me a bottle." A bottle sounded right.

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Tag to @"Poptart" ​

He'd come to accept that the Manta Carlos islands were weird. It hadn't taken him long to realize that some - if not most of the island was not human. Even those that were human were not quite human. They had strange powers, strange appearances, and he was starting to wonder if he wasn't literally the only one hundred percent human being on the island.

He glanced over at the man as he came in. About his age, but Nicolas's first thought when looking at a guy who was seven feet tall was not 'this guy might be the only other human on the island'. No, it was more along the lines of 'I wonder what's weird about this guy'.

Well, weird or not, he was very clearly a kindred spirit, because only a kindred spirit would go to a bar and order a bottle.

He let out a little chuckle, leaning back on the stool and kind of wishing it had an actual chair back to lean against. His balance was okay the majority of the time, but sometimes when he was drunk his body forgot he was missing a whole goddamn arm, and he ended up tipping over. Maybe he'd have to move to a booth midway through the bottle.

"You a local then?" Nicolas sure as hell wasn't.

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Tag to @"Poptart" ​

He did not, as a matter of fact, know how it went. Nicolas was one of those rare few people who had arrived on the island without an invitation, although he was vaguely aware that they existed. Something something magical academy. Something something letter of invitation. He had never gotten one, because he wasn't actually one of those lovely gifted individuals the island was made for.

"Not really." He confessed, taking his own bottle and staring at it for several long seconds before letting his eyes slide over to his new drinking partner. Apparently they were doing glasses. Well, that was fine with him, and he took the offered glass, pouring himself out a liberal dose to start.

"Few days ago. Here on a job, not... well, one of those letters." He kind of wanted to read one, just for the sake of it, but he doubted Ulrich had gotten one either. Bastard had probably invited himself, the way that people who lived like kings often did.

He took a gulp of the cognac, letting out a noise that could only be described as satisfied. It was good. Damn good, even if it burned like hell.

"Can't say I know all that much about the island, beyond that the cognac is good."

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Tag to @"Poptart" ​

The rabbit hole was not very deep, because Nicolas did not actually consider himself a mercenary. He had been a military man, and a part of him still thought of himself as a military man, and only if he was really pressed would he admit to taking 'part time work'. The word 'mercenary' would never pass his lips when discussing himself. He would use almost every word but that word.

"Overpaid tourguide." He declared. It was not a lie - while technically the word 'bodyguard' had been said, he had his doubts about his ability to do any actual guarding. No, he was really just an extremely overpaid tour guide. Someone to walk Ulrich through all that 'being a human' stuff. He wasn't going to be able to protect Ulrich from anything more than some minor harassment.

Pretty much everything the guy had said was new to him. Pirates, the current headmaster being old, the whole place being a refuge for the freaks of the world... well, he'd mostly figured out that last one. "Didn't know any of that." He took another burning gulp before topping up his glass with the bottle. He wasn't quite sold on cognac, but he was sure it was going to get him good and drunk.

"Wouldn't mind a hot babe, although I can't say I'm sold on..." He paused, his brain catching up to his mouth. "A necromancer? Like, 'raise the dead'?" Nope, definitely not sold on a 'hot necromancer babe'. "The whole thing's a bit too weird for me."

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Tag to @"Poptart" ​

Nicolas let out a laugh at the man, who was so plainly scoffing at his description. "New boss is a big... big thing." He'd said the word for what he was, but the word was completely escaping him at the moment. "Big sea monster. Doesn't understand money and all that shit, so I have to walk him through the basics. Like having to teach a child to be on their own, only the child could turn into a giant monster and eat half the island." That was about as good a summary as anyone was going to get out of him that night, because he was already starting to slip past 'pleasantly buzzed' as he finished his third glass, helping himself to his fourth. While he was certainly a pleasant drunk, Nicolas was also a particularly foul mouthed one, and time in the military had taught him more curses than most people knew existed.

"Dunno if I'm ever going to be interested in a 'hot babe' with two heads and tentacles." He protested, making little air quotes around hot babe. "I just like my women... normal. Human. Not horrible monsters that are going to fuckin' bite my legs off and eat them after sex." Always a concern.

"Just got paid for the first time in ages, needed a drink, seemed nice enough. You?" His elaboration on his status as overpaid tour guide seemed to explain his situation well enough for him.

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Tag to @"Poptart" ​