Hazebloom Celebration: Cheers!

So…there was definitely a lot to take in here. This whole month? A lot to take in.

Like, how did one go from planting hazeblooms, to said hazeblooms mysteriously getting destroyed, to going around playing detective trying to figure out how said blooms got destroyed, to holding a stakeout, to…this.

A whole new kind of succubun that no one had been aware of… Until now.

Correction; a whole new kind of neglected and abandoned succubun that no one had been aware of…until now.

It was a lot to take in, and also kind of sad? Like, here most of them were, the buns of Burrowgatory, living it up in whatever way they pleased. Something of which Damian definitely was no exception. Not knowing that, not too far away, right under their noses, even, were buns living an entirely different kind of life. Sure, it was something that the church or whatever were working on fixing, but the fact that something like that even happened? Was possible?

It kinda made one think.

…

Okay, enough of this somber thinking. What was done was done and all they could do now was keep moving forward, so indeed–

Why not celebrate a successful hazebloom harvest – finally – and new friends? Much better than moping around. And, you know what? While Damian had initially wanted to give whoever or whatever it was that had been destroyed the hazeblooms a piece of his mind, and fist, Jackal and her crew had definitely been through more than enough as is. Was he still annoyed about all of the failed harvests that Jackal and her crew caused? Kinda, yeah. But he wasn’t going to take it out on them. He was gonna focus on the good there was right now and whatever frustrations still remained afterwards could be dealt with in the ring.

And, of course, what better place to celebrate than at the Rabbit Hole?

Yeah, sure, there were plenty of other places in Burrowgatory they could go to have fun and celebrate, but being at the Rabbit Hole right now just felt…right? For this specific scenario, at least. He could drink at any other bar any other day, and Jackal would have plenty of time to explore just what Burrowgatory had to offer afterwards. That, and the Rabbit Hole was pretty much Hops’ domain.

Anyway, enough introspection; time to party and get drunk!

“So what’ll the ladies be having, hmm~?” Damian asked once they were all seated at the bar. Would he really be himself if he didn’t offer to buy a round of drinks? At least the first one.

“What, you tellin’ me I look like a charity case? That I can’t buy my own drink?” Jackal spit back almost immediately.

Damian simply blinked. Well… That was one way to set the vibe. Now Damian was tempted to ask the envy bun if she’d rather take this out in the back if that was more her speed. Drinking and fighting? Still constituted as a good time in Damian’s book, but for some reason the pride bun had a feeling that she wasn’t exactly inviting him to a friendly sparring match.

Then again, it wasn’t as if he actually knew the bun. Not yet, anyway. He’d work on changing that soon enough. Hell, he was working on that right now, really.

Not that he needed it, but after an awkward few seconds of silence passed Hops quickly decided to interject in an attempt to lower the tension. At least from one side, anyway “Nono, of course not! You’re perfectly capable of buying your own drinks! It’s just something Damian here likes to offer to friends and the likes.”

She wasn’t wrong; Damian did really like buying people things.

Jackal still seemed pretty defensive; staring at Hops for a few seconds before looking back at him, then back at Hops again. Slowly the tension that seemed to have built up in her shoulders looked to fade away as she let herself relax a little. “Thanks…but no thanks. I can buy my own drinks.”

Damian had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Fair enough. If the punk envy bun wanted to buy her own drinks, she could buy her own drinks… For now.

Even though this was just them hanging out for fun, Hops couldn’t seem to help herself and just had to get behind the bar and had to be the one to make their drinks, which was a-okay in Damian’s books. He loved Hops’ mixes.

Despite having his generous friendliness shot down not too long ago, he still suggested they all get one of the seasonal drinks. At least for the first round.

“Aha, looking to drown yourself in glowjitos tonight?” Hops teased as she got started on making Damian’s drink, who simply just grinned.

“You know it.” Then he glanced over at Jackal, “It tastes great! You should definitely try it yourself. If you want to, of course. I ain’t gonna force nothin’ down your throat you don’t want.” …oddly timed innuendo he hadn’t actually meant for. Just wanted to avoid potentially ruffling her fur any more than he already seemed to have with his earlier offer.

For a moment it seemed like fur ruffling was exactly what was happening, but just as quickly as that seemed to be the case she calmed herself down before looking away. She muttered a soft, “...fine,” so Hops got to making two, no three, glowjitos for all of them. Though, if you listened closely, which Damian was, you could hear her mutter something like “Not like you could even force anything down my throat…” and oh…that did sound like a challenge to him.

No Damian. Bad. No fighting. This was a normal party celebration, not a fighting one. Later… He could always ask if she was actually up for a little brawl later.

Conversation with Jackal was kind of rough, but as the night went on, and she got a few drinks in her system, she did slowly seem to relax and open up a little more to the two of them, which was great. It would hopefully make future encounters with the envy bun a little easier, though at the same time Damian wasn’t exactly holding his breath about that. She just seemed like the prickly type; potentially with a soft, gooey center that he wasn’t privy to. Not yet, maybe not ever, but maybe one day…

Anyway, for now it wasn’t like Damian minded being the one doing most of the talking, with Hops coming in at a close second. Simple things, like how Damian tried suggesting something that wasn’t the glowjito to Jackal. Drinks he thought the envy bun might like. Something which she thankfully did seem receptive to. Looked like his biggest blunder was the one at the start, but he honestly was pretty incorrigible and at some point he did pull Hops towards him when the envy bun wasn’t paying attention.

“Hey, y’think you could charge Jackal a third of the usual price and bill the me the rest?” While it was phrased as a question, it was more of a request. He was pretty determined to be the one funding this night of fun.

While this didn’t surprise Hops in the least, she still couldn’t help but arch an eyebrow. “You sure? You’re not worried she’ll find out and get mad? I know I’d wonder why the prices of drinks suddenly shot up in price on any following visits.”

“And you’d still order your usual amount.”

“Damian.”

That tone of voice Hops took on at his jab simply caused him to snicker in response. He knew she knew he was just teasing, but still. He should give her a serious answer. “Nah, ‘m not worried. If she wants to duke it out in some back alley in revenge she’s free to do that. Kinda sounds like fun and now I’m kind of hoping she does.”

Hops rolled her eyes and let out an exasperated, but still playful, sigh. “Fine, I’ll figure out how to make that work, and pass it on to the next bartender if we’re still drinking by the time I call it.” She replied while shaking her head lightly.

And so a deal had been struck.

All that was left now was to, you know, have fun. Kick back, relax; get to know each other a little better. However much Jackal was willing to open up to them on this first night. There were topics that could be considered a little risky, like asking what she was planning on doing going forward, now that she and the other envy buns were properly a part of the Burrowgatory. Predictably there was a lot of uncertainty and defensiveness, but she still answered. She still talked.

Maybe it was the alcohol helping to loosen her up, or maybe she was finally getting used to their presence. Both Hops and Damian kind of hoped it was the latter.

Places were suggested for Jackal to visit, like the casino, Dan’s Dango, cool clothing stores, the place Damian worked at– Hey, maybe even consider working there for a bit if it was something she was interested in. New, fresh faces were always welcome.

Her response to that wasn’t a ‘thanks, but not thanks,’ which was enough of a win in Damian’s books.

All in all, the trio definitely had their fun hanging out together.