What had Isabel said? "So much more alcohol. So much." The bartender had them lined up in a neat double row for each of them. "Also so much burning." One more picture then? Ghost took one with her camera of Isabel and the spread before them. That just had to be documented. Sort of like how fishermen took pictures of their biggest catch, right?

> "You are gonna feel so awesome."

"I don't think the hangovers will be awesome, but maybe in the mean time..." That's all she wanted for now. The meantime.

Salt. Shot. Li-uuuugh. Limelimelime!

Ghost wriggled in her seat. "Tequila is... potent." It wasn't terrible, though. The lime somehow made the tequila smoother by comparison.

She took a second shot and went for the mixed drink. "Fuzzy Navel." Yes. This may be her favorite yet. Or maybe, like the lime made the tequila less awful, this super sweet drink was just awesome by comparison.

Ghost folded her legs underneath her because the floor was starting to sway. Sitting was a very good idea. She could sit and sip just fine.

Pictures seemed like a very good idea in light of the alcoholic bounty that had been set before them. Following Ghost's lead after smiling for the sudden camera, Isabel pulled her phone out of her pocket and snapped a picture of the shot glass lineup. The photo was quickly on its way to Zephyr's inbox along with a long line of the word 'tequila' with several different spellings.

Putting the phone down on the bar top she picked her shot back up, licked the salt and threw it back just in time to see Ghost trying to recover from her drink. Isabel very nearly lost the tequila through her nose when she saw the look on the other woman's face while she raced to shove a lime in her mouth. That was an entirely new type of alcohol burn and it was exceptionally unpleasant. She found herself also grabbing for a lime wedge very quickly and stuffed it between her teeth. She was caught somewhere between sputtering and laughing. It was completely unflattering but she really couldn't bring herself to care.

She managed another shot with far less difficulty. "Potent is the whole point. Not gonna get very far with watery drinks if yer tryin'a black out," she replied before ordering herself a Piña Colada to sip at in between the shots. She almost regretted the choice when the song quickly stuck in her head. Instead she flipped her phone face up and texted a series of lyrics to Zephyr instead.

"If you get a hangover you won't have time to feel bad about techno-assault," she offered matter-of-factly. She pushed the empty shot glasses off to the side to make room for the new, larger glass. Piña Coladas were much easier to drink than tequila and the icy drink felt refreshing since her face was starting to feel hot. "You can stay in bed all day and not worry 'bout anything 'cept sleeping it off." Isabel was very good at staying in bed and pretending the word didn't exist so Ghost could totally trust her judgement.

"Who're you tess..." Whoa. Hm. That wasn't right. Her lips were a bit numb feeling so Ghost smacked them together and then tried again. "Who's you texting?" That was right, right? And texting wasn't even half a bad idea. "Boy friend?"

Ghost scooted around in the booth seat so she could snoop so long as Isabel didn't look too irritated about it. She put her fingers up in a peace sign and snapped one more photo of herself before she got to Isabel. You know. For posterity. And maybe Cafas.

Cafas deserved at least one. AT LEAST. She sent him her picture. It was a good one, right? Pouty lips and a peace sign? That said 'we are friends' and 'you're a good friend to me.'

"This is such a good idea." Ghost braced herself for another Tequila and bobbled her phone until she got her fingers back around it. Did she send another message? Prolly not.

"I'm not even worried." Because laying in bed for a day sounded good too. "Nobody ever told me you get a day off after. 'ss Like a bonus!"

Isabel just barely managed to prevent the slushy drink from following the tequila up her nose when Ghost inquired about a potential boyfriend. She put the drink down to save herself from any more nasal mishaps for the time being. "Whatno. No no no no." She started shaking her head to emphasize the denial, but the motion was quickly making her dizzy so she had to abandon the attempt. "No, 'm texting Zephyr who is a jerk all th'time so I am texting him to annoy him b'cuz he is the worst."

She didn't mind if Ghost wanted to take a peek at the phone's screen. She really was texting the windbag so there was nothing to hide. Most of it was just random nonsense that she'd been sending as it popped into her head along with the few photos she'd taken so far. "You c'n have his number for texting if you wan' it. Th'more annoyance the merrier. Cuz he's the worst."

"The best idea," she agreed, braving another shot while Ghost also took one. Thankfully for her poor nose it went down without incident. She decided that the success boded well for the rest of her drinking and retrieved her other drink to continue sipping at. "You toootally get a day off. 'S like a sick day, so you ev'n get paid for it if you call yer job."

Tequila had definitely been the right choice. Isabel was feeling decidedly awesome, and Ghost seemed to have fully relaxed and was enjoying herself as well. A pleasant floaty feeling was beginning to set in. "We should do this like all th' time." Had she said that already? Whatever. They totally should.

"You like him!" Denial was the best indicator of likingness. "Denial is the BUST indicitator of linkingness." Oh. Wait. "I already have his number. He's not... I mean he's Bridsh, but he's my brother." Ghost started to take another shot, but stopped so that she could gasp with all due shock. Almost half of the tequila bobbled out onto her salted hand.

"We could be sisters!" This was the kind of thing that needed to be texted. And then celebrated with a half shot and a lick of lime and a bite of salt.

She was typing to Zephyr on Isabel's behalf when her phone buzzed a reply. She sent the first text even though she hadn't quite finished the thought and went to look. Oh. Cafabulousciousness.

"You're a pretty good friend yourself and I you face too, you ok?"

Oh. That was. Actually really sweet. Ghost put her hands on her cheeks to cool them down some. This was serious busniesss. She had to not say dumb things or he would judge her about them.

She fired off a reply and then tried to pick of the thread up their earlier conversation. What had they been talking about? "Yus. Todal denial. Issa thing. You cn look it up." Zephyr probably knew what that thing was, right? She would ask him real qwuick.

Maybe Isabel should give up on trying to drink anything for a little while. At least nothing wound up in her nose this time, but she did nearly spit in her haste to deny the new accusations. "I do not! 'nd is not!" She passed the back of her sleeve over her chin to mop up the bit of drink that had dribbled past her lips while she'd struggled to deny and swallow the mouthful all at the same time. "I juss told you he's th' worst! He's like the jerkiest jerk t'ever be a jerk."

And then there was the whole brother/sister thing. That was definitely the last thing she'd ever have expected to hear the other young woman say. It took a minute for her brain to catch up to the conversation after that little bombshell. Waitwaiwaiwait. He's yer brother? Like fr real yer brother? How did that even happ'n? He'sso terrible and you're so totally not terrible." It just didn't add up. Ghost had to be adopted or vice versa because of the whole British thing. That was the only reasonable explanation.

The meaning behind the sisters comment went right over her head, otherwise she'd have been much more flustered and eager to shoot down the idea. "We sh'totally be sisters. I would make a way better sister than Zephyr." It was probably for the best that she didn't see what kind of texts Ghost was sending. Isabel's agreement couldn't possible bode well for her later on.

She used Ghost's momentary shift of attention from the conversation to her phone as an opportunity to down the rest of the piña colada and save herself from any more potential mishaps. "No's not," she continued to deny while she rolled up her sleeves, starting to feel a little hot after drinking so much. "Look't up all you wanna. Doesn' mean it means an'thing cuz his jerk 's still a face."

A message!

It was not Zephyr ready with a proposal, much to Ghost's dismay. In fact... Ghost shot to her feet, a mistake in her current state of inebriation.

"Jude is... oh." Ghost sat while the world tilted on its axis. "I gotta go. I gotta..." Show up drunk at the Mansion after she'd already assaulted a student today? Wiiiiise choice. "I can't go back like this."

She texted Cafas back with a FURY. She realized she'd sent a threat without actually finishing the thought and amended that first text with a second that was a lot nicer.

And now all that good feeling was a wash of lame. Ghost put her head into her hands. "I wished I had a sister half as cool as you." They were running a bit low on shots at this point, but there was no way they would keep going at their current rate. Especially not when Ghost downed two in a row.

If Ghost couldn't fix the thing with Jude or the thing with Jiri, she was going to fix this ting with Isabel.

"Zephyr isuh umdenibalble prat. But he ish nice and he does things that are smart like hang out with you, right? Thas smart." So smart. Yeah. Ghost was going to talk Isabel around for suuuuuuure.

Something on Ghost's phone must have upset her judging by how quickly she'd jumped out of her seat. Isabel bet it was Zephyr since she was operating under the assuming the other woman had accepted her offer and was texting the windbag in order to annoy him. Leave it to Zephyr to be a big jerky jerk and upset her beautiful new friend so quickly. Maybe Isabel would slap him on her behalf later. Or maybe she'd just yell at him a lot. Slapping him might make her stomach do the splitting in half thing again and she definitely did not want to experience that a second time. It made her skin crawl and her tattoo ache just thinking about it.

The white haired angel seemed to decide she shouldn't leave so quickly and instead pounded back two more shots. That definitely did not seem like happy drinking anymore. "I will tot'ly be yer new sister an' I'll beat up anyone tha's mean to you so you don't hafta throw things at people anymore. Zephyr can go be sucky by 'mself." She could definitely be a body guard if she wanted to. It was like the perfect loophole for the no-public-rampages thing. She definitely couldn't get in trouble for assaulting people if it was in order to protect her pretty new friend and Zephyr could suck it. And Ghosty could be happy again because she wouldn't have to be guilty about hitting anyone with anything. It was the most perfect plan ever.

She had to consider the other woman's next choice of words for a moment. The knee-jerk reaction was of course to deny anything about the partnership her and Zephyr had, but Ghost definitely had a point. "Yess. Hangin' with me is totally a smart thing t'do." Only dumb people sided against her and dumb people usually wound up as dead people. Except Zephyr. Because he was a cheater.

"I guess he's nice sometime, but he's mos'ly a jerk," she continues, wanting to argue about the nice thing, but it was hard to disagree with a woman that was so nice and wonderful and pretty, even when it was about such a killjoy. "I guess he takes care'a me s'metimes. Like, he makes sure 'm safe an' he doesn't be mean t'me when he makes me talk 'bout my feelins, an' I guess tech'nly he sorta saved my life one time. But mos'ly he jus' tells me wha t'do all th' time an' it's suuuper boring an' he's a total smartass an a big jerk nugget."

Ghost was reading the latest Cafas update when Isabel offered to be her sister.

"Reuhlly?" She let the phone and her hands both drop to her lap as she turned to face the other woman. "Tha's pobablry the nicest thing anyones ever offered before." Because, really, assault was like jail time, right? Isabel, clearly was saying she would risk a lot for Ghost. The elemental was smiling so much that Ghost was becoming aware of how numb her cheeks and lips were. This was a most bizarre side effect. She never would have guessed alcohol would do that to a face.

Jerk nugget.

Okay. So honestly Ghost had tuned most of what Isabel had said out. It was just all good things about Zephyr, right? But jerk nugget? That had Ghost giggling. And once she started this infections kind of giggle-snort it seemed to be harder and harder to stop.

"He is totally a jark nugget." Did she already text him about that? Because he soooo needed to know. Ghost pat the booth around her until she realized that her phone was still in her hand. Ha! She sent Zephry a lovely new string of messages.

"Yuh really. I can tot'ly be an awesome sister body guard person fr you and it'll be th'best." It was the best idea. Ghost also thought it was the best idea. There was no reason for this idea not to be an actual thing. This idea was totally going to be an actual thing. But she would need to remember the thing. Isabel pulled her phone back in front of her and made a note of this awesome idea. She would totally remember it now and they could totally make it a thing.

The laughter was getting contagious. Isabel started grinning while she was trying to coherently type up her little note to self and by the time she had given up on it and decided what she'd managed was good enough she was giggling like a fool. Everything seemed awfully funny. Zephyr, the collection of shots and lime rinds, the nervous bartender, the weird club music. Everything was just so funny and absurd.

"Yus, a j'rk nugget," she repeated, picking up one of the few remaining shots and trying to drink it in between bouts of laughter. She only managed about half of the shot, the other half slopping down her chin as she grinned half way through tipping the glass. She had to pull one of her sleeves back down to dry her chin with before clumsily rolling it back up again. She also decided that unbuttoning the bottom half of her shirt and tying it under her bust was a good idea. She might accidentally get more of her shirt wet so tying it up would help it to not get wet. Also it was awfully hot in the club now that she was full of booze and the crowd had swelled during the peak hours.

"Jerk nugget, j'rk n'gget, nerk jugget," she sing-songed as she texted the same to Zephyr. She had just hit send when a very serious matter occurred to her. Her grin faded and she looked across the table to the smiling Ghost. "Ghost. Ghosty. Ghosty Ghost. I need yer phone nu'ber. Like ri'now. We can't be sisterfriends if I dun have yer n'mber. This's so super 'mportant."

Sister bodyguard had a really good ring to it. "That needs be a teeshirt: SISTER BODYGUARD. Tayking names and smashing faces." And it sounded just as funny, if not more funny, out loud as it had in hear head. Especially sine Isabel had smashed a face already once tonight.

Wow. If only Ghost was brave enough to stand up for herself like that. But! Like Isabel said, she didn't have to be so long as she had her sisterguard in tow. "I think I could make a list of people who need a good smoosh in the face. Smoosh? Smmmmmmussh." The way the m's and the sh'es felt coming out was hilarious. Was Smoosh even a word anymore?

Ghost could not give Isabel her phone number fast enough. It was, perhaps, a little difficult to get it right since the keyboard really wanted to be letters, but she did it.

"Sisterfriends sounds even better than sisterbodyguard." This was a moment when Ghost felt the need to hold both of Isabel's hands in her own chilly fingers. The whole world was spinning around this moment in time. "I never hasd a sisterfriend efore." Okay. Maybe it was a hug moment? Ghost didn't ask, she just hugged. So nice. So sister.

"I would wear that shirt everwhere ferever." She could fill her entire wardrobe with it. It could be her get out of jail free card for face smashing. Maybe she could even smash Zephyr's face and get away with it. That would be like the best, most powerful shirt in the whole world. She had to get one.

"I will take that list and I will smoosh all th' faces. All of th'm," She assured Ghost as she handed over her phone so the other woman could start struggling to input her number. That number was so important to have and now that she had it they could both relax and go back to whatever it was they were doing. A major potential crisis had been averted and that was totally a thing to celebrate.

Isabel was just starting to contemplate one of the untouched lime wedges, or maybe flagging down the bartender again when Ghost grabbed her hands. Normally she was not a touchy person and preferred to keep most people at arm's length, but this was so totally okay. Ghosty could totally hold her hands whenever she felt like it because they were best sisterfriends and that was totally a thing that sisterfriends would do all the time in between texting and drinking and face smooshing.

And then suddenly the hand holding turned into hugging. Isabel was even less of a hugger than she was a toucher, but she would allow it. Her hugging skills were probably so totally not up to par with the skills of the ghost woman and so her newest bsf5eva would have to deal with a sub-par hug. Isabel would so make it up to her by smooshing faces extra hard.

Once she managed to wriggle back out of the hug she went about setting Ghost's name in her phone and of course that name could only be 'bestsisterfriendghosty5ever' which turned out to be much harder then it should have been to get into the little box between the phone trying to auto correct and all the little letters on the keyboard floating around and being difficult. "We should totally start face smooshing with Zephyr. We should call him an' tell'm to c'mere and I will smish 'is jerk face so hard."

She was so pretty and so smart. Ghost let her know that by sisterfriend hugging Isabel. Sisterhug for life.

But Ghost could tell Isabel wasn't a hugger so the wisp took pity on her and backed away with a watery smile. She was so nice. It was so nice to have a nice, pretty sisterfriend.

Ghost also knew exactly why Isabel wanted to call Zephyr. It was like. So mush like. Such a beautiful thing, this delicate flower of like. Ghost had to foster it and shelter it and make sure the smooshing was the kind that happened between lips. Though, seeing as that was her brother... maybe she shouldn't.

"You call, I text. Jush in case he misses one. Lots of smooshing." She put her cool hands on her warm cheeks. Yesh. This was the best way to repay that kind offer of bodyguardism. With likeism. The poor, sweet Isabel wasn't even used to having a hug. She clearly needed more like in her life.

Isabel was so lucky to have a gentle Ghost on her side.

There were so many good ideas passing between the two of them. So many. They had to be setting a record of some kind for most good ideas passed between two people in one night. And the night wasn't even over yet. There were so many good idea possibilities to be had. It was totally mind-blowing.

"Ghosty yer a genius. Like f'reals. So smart." Texting and calling Zephyr at the same time. That was like Einstein levels of smartness. They should have been textcalling him this whole time. He'd have been so annoyed. The most annoyed. It would have been wonderful. They would have to do that next time. Because there would totally be a next time for drinking and sisterfriending.

The phone could not get back into her hands fast enough. She also couldn't pull up her contacts fast enough, mostly because the swipe screen and the auto-rotate were being so disobedient. But then they were cooperating and the phone was ringing and this was the best idea.

Isabel wasn't entirely sure if he'd gotten Zephyr himself or if it was a voicemail. Not that she cared all that much. As soon as there was a long enough pause and she was sure the talking on the other end was done she was yammering excitedly. "Zephyr! ZephaZephyrZeph! You gotta come an' see me. Y'gotta come t'Crimson right now. Right thi'second. Cuz I need yer face. I need you t'bring yer face here ri'now. It is so 'mportabntbye."

“Da da da-dut-dut-da, da da d-dut-dut-da” The slim silver phone danced across the leather armrest in time to the stern cadence of ‘Imperial March’ yet it fell upon deaf ears as it failed to pierce the constant thrum of running water and so the photo and accompanying text which flashed across the screen went equally unheeded.

Look I am making friends and bring social and I ha e only maimed one person d far I deserve a reward layer I ambeing so good!!

Almost as soon as the device had fallen still it surged back to life as the Sith theme song once again rang through empty living room under and a cascade of text message flashed across the screen as the phone trembled closer to the edge of the armrest...

Tequila tewuila teaila tequila tequiola tequila tquokwla tequila rwquiela tequila teula

if you like pina coladas

and etting caughjt onm the taikn

if your not uinto yoga

if you habve jalf a braaaaaaiian

..and ultimately failed in its battle against gravity and fell into the purgatory realm that exists between all seat cushions everywhere even as a brand new tune began signaled the arrival of yet more messages from a decidedly different source.

"You should tooooooootally"

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimon.

Would you be sokind as to marry Isabel so I can have a cool sister?

She likes you

Her face get red when she talks aboutyour name.

Is there a word for dEnial that's like love?

I ned to know. For a firend.>> <<

Jerk nugget

jrk nuget

nerk junget

Isrbel is soooooooo funny. She just called you a jark nugget.

Jerk nuggemt

Jerk nuggemt

you know what i mean

She's my new sister.

We are going to be bestfrnds5eva

You should smoosh her.

She wants to smoosh you. Can youcmome here?

Heeeeey. If you break her

She thins you jerk. What did youDO? YOUJERKDONBREAK HER

I will cry if you d. I will make you babysit. I need you to come here plaes.

…
…
…

“Where in the bloody hell did I leave my phone?” The dark tone in which the irritated exclamation was made could not have been better timed for at that precise the air trembled to the tune of “Da da da-dut-dut-da, da da d-dut-dut-da” before the argent device seemingly pluck itself from its place of exile and flew across the room in a manner which would have left many expecting it to emit a sudden Snap-hiss as it reached its owners hand but sadly only arrived late enough for it to deliver a final voicemail from a certain shapely soubrette.

“"Zephyr! ZephaZephyrZeph! You gotta come an' see me. Y'gotta come t'Crimson right now. Right thi'second. Cuz I need yer face. I need you t'bring yer face here ri'now. It is so 'mportabntbye."”


“…What?”

---

In a sparingly short amount of time Zephyr found himself in the near center of Order territory, issuing terse instructions into his phone as he strode up to and past the waiting line of intoxicated and impatient revelers trying to gain entrance to Crimson. All but ignoring the pair of obvious mutant bouncers after distracting them with the irritated secretary on his phone the hessian deftly slipped into the darkened club and lost no time at all homing in on the familiar essence of his sister and her buxom companion.

“Well, the two of you look to be having an interesting time.”