"Another beer, buddy!" Athena called out across the bar, already tipsy from the few bottles she'd drunk before. The drink dispensing robot had been borrowed by The Third Rail for the night, Charlie the usual bartender being overrun with demands due to Magnolia performing a new song she'd released a few days prior. Giggling to herself as she watched the robot waddle across the bar and over to where she was sat by the stage, Athena thanked the machine with a courteous bow, trying to hold in her laughter as she opened the ice cold beer with her teeth.
"You're such a lightweight, yet you drink so much." Hancock laughed at the girl as he watched her spill half the beer down her chin, taking a quick hit of his Jet as Magnolia came from the VIP rooms, clothed in her signature red dress that sparkled in under light. Both Athena and Hancock started cheering the lady on with bubbly smiles, jumping up from their seats to make themselves more visible in the crowd but almost falling over eachothers' feet in the process.
"Pull yourselves together, you two." Charlie warned as he collected as many of the empty bottles his robotic arms could carry and took them back to the trash pile behind the bar. Magnolia gently slid her hands onto the stand of the microphone, taking in a deep breath as the music began to blast through the speakers. Athena was too drunk to make sense of whatever the lady was singing, but instead found herself staring at the sight of an unfamiliar man she saw while looking around the room.
"Who's that?" She slurred her words, shouting to Hancock over the music as she pointed to the man who was walking from the entrance stairs down to the VIP rooms.
"Why don't you find out for yourself?" Hancock replied in his usual hoarse voice, not paying much attention to who ever Athena was pointing at, instead way more focused on the way Magnolia moved to the song. Scratching the back of her head, Athena stumbled towards the room at the other side of the bar, somehow not falling over the chipped coffee table that was kicked into the middle of the room.
The music began to fade into a blur as she walked through the small hallway that led to the backroom, peeking around the door frame to find that very man sitting in a ruined red chair that was pushed against a wall. She stared as he slid down the chair a little, getting himself more comfortable while he rested what looked to be his personal long-scoped rifle against the arm of the seat.
"Why am I being stared down like I'm a synth?" The man murmured with closed eyes, bringing both arms up to cross the over his chest.
"Who are you?" Athena blurted out, her cheeks red from the alcohol as she took her eyes off the man to look around the room. After all the time she's spent in Goodneighbour, she'd usually been way too drunk to realise anything was even here.
With a cocky chuckle, he opened his eyes and tilted his head to get a good look at the girl before taking a deep breath in. "A hired gun that's worth the money, that's who I am. Now care to introduce yourself after you ever so politely intruded into my private room?" He said, his calming yet sarcastic tone not matching how dangerous he looked.
A confused look came onto Athena's face, copying the man and crossing her arms too but instead trying to look more intimidating. "Well 'a hired gun that's worth the money', I'm Athena and I'm pretty sure that's not your real name."
He furrowed his eyebrows as he sat up straight, picking up the sniper and setting it across his lap, "It's Maccready, now do you want someone to be shot or are you just another drunk wasting my time?" He began to sound impatient as Athena took her time to respond, the amount of alcohol she drank only now catching up with her.
"I uh- I need to lie down." Her insides began to turn upside down, dragging herself to the left where a decent looking sofa was, laying down on the couch where only a few springs were sticking out. "Just give.. give me a minute or two." She could hear Maccready sighing across the room before getting up and walking over to get something, the sound of his heavy boots hitting the tile floor making her incoming headache worse.
"Look, Daisy helped convince Hancock to let me set up shop in here and I'm not risking being kicked out because of some idiot lightweight like you that can't handle their drink decided to throw their guts up everywhere." He mentioned with an angry tone, setting down a metal bucket beside the couch Athena was laying down on, her face shoved into the cushion as she let out a muffled "thank you".
It wasn't long until Athena took in what Maccready had said, turning her head to smile at the man who had gone back to sitting down on his chair. "Daisy? Oh, I love Daisy!" She said softly, her eyes starting to close by themselves, "I cleared out the uh.. library the other day, just for Daisy! Just a couple mutants was all.." Athena shut her eyes once again, shuffling around until she was comfortable on the sofa and didn't feel like she was going to throw up anymore.
