Shorts

(BATIM) Raise a Glass to...

Summary; Susie is moving on to bigger things. Alice isn't happy with this, needing to be tough in front of the boys, or needing to leave her gal pal behind. So she orders an alcoholic bevrage and chats it out with her gal pal instead.

Canon x OC. Listen this is only the second time ok this isn't a normal thINg for mE
(OC is Scarlet the Otter)

"If a woman drinking is a sin, they can have me stoned. Those guys in Hell know how to have fun."

"So, a cider on the rocks?"

Alice, who had slammed her head on the bar the moment she sat down, couldn't stop a chuckle at Scarlet's joke.

"Yeah. Then get your finest red wine ready."

"Ooh, a special day, hm?"

"Special, stressful. Take your pick."

The otter raised a brow, quickly preparing the cider and serving it to Alice; she poured a drink for herself after that, then leaned on the bar across from the angel.

"What happened, babe?"

Alice sighed, taking a swig before starting in with the bombshell.

"Susie got bought by another company."

"Well, swell for her. Never did like the girl. Too cocky. Prideful."

"Scarlet, she's taking me with her."

"... Oh."

There was an uncomfortable silence between the two. Both ladies took quite a few sips of their drinks in the gap of conversation, listening to the band playing and the chatter of other toons around them. Alice spoke again with a bit of a sigh.

"She's going to tell Joey tomorrow. How will I tell Bendy and Boris?"

"Well, what do you mean?"

Scarlet choked down the last bit of her drink before getting to work on searching out her hidden wine stash below the counter.

"The way I see it," She spoke, muffled slightly by her current location, "the only way to tell them is to be honest and up front."

"Yeah. That'll just make them hate me more."

"Well, maybe. But at least then you don't need to feel guilty about leaving them with a teary goodbye."

The club's owner resurfaced with a satisfied grunt, almost slamming the bottle on the bar and pulling out two wine glasses. Alice chugged down her cider, then put a hand to her temple and shook her head.

"... They're like brothers to me. We fight a lot, sure, but I couldn't leave them like that. Hell, there's no way to leave them."

"Now you get it."

Scarlet slid a half-filled glass to Alice, who stared at it and laughed before picking it up.

"I could always just... Not. If I never say goodbye, I never really leave."

Scarlet nodded her amen, lifting her own glass just a little with a smile.

"To never saying goodbye."

"To never saying goodbye."

They met with a soft clink, leaving both ladies to take a sip. The silence that followed was much more comfortable now, and both turned back to the club itself to observe and listen until their glasses were empty - at which point Scarlet tapped Alice's shoulder and leaned over the counter to whisper something into her ear.

Nobody saw them sneak into the upstairs living spaces, giggling like schoolgirls to say goodbye to each other in their own tipsy way.