Bar Crowd

Kaylee dashed off to get back into the game in the privacy of her apartment, even though Dithers offered to let her sit there and play while he had another beer. But with her gone, he just ended up having another anyways. The waitress seemed to grow a heart after Dithers’ date scurried off, but quickly lost it when he paid for the meal with a coupon. “This doesn’t include tip,” she said unpolitely. Dithers had to have that explained to him as well, but told her that he was going up to the bar and would throw her some cash after that. She grew a heart again. There were only a few people up at the bar drinking. Dithers found it odd that they all clustered together with people they knew. In the game when people were at the pub they cavorted around to every group, introducing themselves and borrowing cash without a second thought. “You could meet anyone at the Goblin Whore,” Kaylee used to say. Yeah, and she’ll say it again in four weeks when I’m back. Dithers sat alone at the bar and nursed his beer to death, then ordered a second. It felt strange to get drunk outside of the game, wild and unfiltered. It also was beginning to sink in that he was actually drunk and their would be no sobering-up program to run so he could get home. He had spent so long faking a life in his body that when he attempted the real thing the results were unsettling. Dithers blinked at the thought of this. He ordered another beer and got a shot of whiskey for good measure. He wanted to get real drunk.