The Modern Cocktail

Girl Talk

The 27th of June, 2015

At this point, Nicolette was sat with Moonshine at a bar that was near the Statesman property.

After coming back to see the state Nicolette was in, Moonshine offered to take her out for a drink. She had also told Nicolette that she could call her by her first name in the bar; Robin. Nicolette in turn said she could be called by one of her nicknames; Nikki.

"Was he important to you?" Robin asked.

"I guess you can say that. I knew him for most of my life, and he was there for me when I lost my father," Nicolette said, looking down at the drink in her hand, "I thought Eggsy and I were finally starting to come to terms with losing him, but then we find out he'd been alive here the whole time."

"I can't say that I know exactly what you're going through, but I can empathize; that's for sure," Robin said with a half-hearted chuckle.

"How so?" Nicolette asked, her eyebrow slightly quirked.

"Champ is an old friend of my parents, and Tequila's my drinking buddy. Champ has been my adult emotional support, and Tequila has been my support for whatever I felt I couldn't, or rather shouldn't, go to Champ for. And, I haven't had to deal with either of my parents dying, but I have been around for an agent turnover and one of my uncles dying."

"I suppose that does give grounds for empathy," Nicolette paused, looking down at her drink, a Manhattan, "Eggsy and I both lost our fathers while they were working with Kingsman. Grant it, he was significantly younger than me when he lost his father."

"So like, you're both second gen agents? And for the same agency?" Robin asked, turning to shift her body to face Nicolette, "Ain't that some stroke of luck."

"We actually managed to meet when we were twelve; before either of us knew what Kingsman really was. At that time, I still thought my father was a tailor."

"Okay, that ain't just dumb luck. That's some universe fate voo-doo shit," Robin said with a laugh, "Guess I'm not gonna be able to do what I wanted with him then."

"And what exactly was that?" Nicolette asked, remembering the subtle flirting Robin had been doing with Eggsy.

"To make Tequila jealous," Robin said with a small sigh, "I swear, the dude hardly notices when I flirt with him, so I've had to stoop to tryin' to make him jealous."

"You fancy Tequila?" Nicolette asked, a little surprised at the quick admittance, despite the two only knowing each other for no more than a day.

"Yeah. And somethin' fierce, too," Robin admitted with a chuckle before going quiet for a moment, "I was doin' some diggin' for Ginger, tryin' to see if I could find anything out 'bout what was happenin' to Tequila. 'Parently he's not the only one who's been getting a 'blue rash.' Since I'm not as good at diggin' online as she is, I sent the lead to Ginger."

Nicolette was quiet for a while, listening to Robin and taking in what she was saying.

"He's not a very 'straight-laced' agent, is he?" Nicolette asked.

"No, I s'pose not," Robin admitted, "That's somethin' he hasn't really been able to shake as long as I've known him. He's been better 'bout it, but it still happens."

Nicolette continued to think, adding in the confirmed information.

"You know, I've heard about cases where recreational drugs were laced with toxins before. If what you're saying is true and that it's becoming a common thing for people to be experiencing this 'blue rash,' one could think that a toxin would be the case. Do you know how wide spread this 'blue rash' is?" Nicolette asked.

"Unfortunately not. Like I said, I'm not that great at diggin' online; I'm better at diggin' in person. I'm sure Ginger could tell ya, though. Why?" Robin asked, her eyes a touch misty from the alcohol she'd consumed.

"Well, I don't know of any toxins that would manifest like they have on Tequila, but it'd be strange if that same 'blue rash' was appearing on a vast number of people in a wide variety of locations. It wouldn't rule out a toxin, but the larger the area, the less likely it would seem for the cause to be the same toxin," Nicolette thought aloud, a hand lightly grasping her chin.

From the corner of her eye, Nicolette could see the shift in Robin's demeanor.

"I'm sure we'll figure out what's going on with Tequila. Merlin's brilliant, as I'm sure Ginger is," Nicolette then reached out to place her left hand on Robin's right forearm, "You're not going to have to face this endeavor alone."

Robin didn't say anything at first, instead letting out a short sigh before placing her left hand over Nicolette's,

"Thanks, Nikki," Robin paused, "I'm sorry 'bout what's goin' on with your friend. Maybe we can manage to think of somethin' to help him, too."

"Thank you, Robin," Nicolette said in a soft voice, "Us three Kingsman would appreciate that, but Ginger said that it was time to let him go."

Robin started to smirk, "Well, Ginger also knows that I can be as stubborn as a mule. I bet there's somethin' that the two of us can come up with to try."

The two agents then set to discuss the idea for a while, before Nicolette had a new idea.

"I wonder," Nicolette said aloud before pulling out her phone.

"Wonder what?" Robin asked.

"Harry felt guilty about Eggsy's dad dying while they were on a mission. Maybe if I can get a picture of him from Michelle to show to Harry, then just maybe we could trigger that memory. I can ask Merlin some of the details, because he was there as well," Nicolette said as she looked at her phone, "It's a little after ten in the evening for Michelle, so she might still be up."

"Do you think that could work?" Robin asked.

"It's worth trying, isn't it?" Nicolette asked before dialing Eggsy's mother and bringing the phone to her ear.