The Peacetime Pantomime

Jamie grinned proudly at Mackie. Apparently she was really good at drinking, and it was only her first time. She was pretty much the best at everything.

"I dunno really how it's s'pose to feel, really," she slurred. "But I'm really good at it. I'm so good at a lotta things, like yo-yo's and cards and skating. I was learning skateboarding in Boston b'fore all the creepy people chased me out. I hate them so much." A deep scowl darkened her face, but she washed it away with some of her new fuzzy navel. "One time i was in a diner and the guy told me to go away and so I did but I left my skateboard on the table, and when he went to get it I took the key to the register 'cause I knew where it was. But I never got to go back to get the money out because he was always there and he didn't let me back in. But then I lost my skateboard anyway."

Lucky finished off her first Doctor Schlager while Jamie began to speak. She tilted her head curiously at the girl and then, as she spoke, Lucky's eyes began to soften. "Oh. Ohhh...." She said, frowning at Jamie.

Mackie raised her eyebrow at Lucky's quiet muttering. "No way, Lucky." Mackie said, pounding the bar and shaking her head as she took a sharp sip from her glass. "You always get like this."

"B-But... but..." Lucky said as she reached out and patted Jamie on the back. "Jamie-san." She said. "How on Earth did you end up as a wrestler in Japan?"

"Because I'm awesome at it, durr!" Jamie blurted, as if it was painfully obvious, and Lucky would have to be a total dufus to not have known that. She should be offended. She SHOULD be offended!

She took another drink of orange juice and felt like she was really high up, so she held onto the bar with one hand. She had really good balance, anyway. She had never told anyone anything about where she came from, but these were her best friends. They were the people she was supposed to say those things to.

"Well I was in Boston, in different houses with other kids and stuff, but then the jerks came and I had to leave because... And then I went different places, all different places, and I lived in Washington DC and learned to sew and I made costumes, and then I accidentally went to Seattle and they had pro wrestlers there and I liked it, so I learned that too and came here because they were all total creeps. I was undefeated, and I had a match and the other girl touched... me, and..." She froze. Her face fell and whitened and she stared intensely at the remainder of her orange juice. "And I wasn't sure if that was okay..."

Lucky sipped on her Doctor Schlager while Jamie continued to tell her story. By the end, her face softened and she was rubbing the corner of her eye. She wasn't crying and she didn't want to hug Jamie forever and tell her it was going to be ok. Not at all! "Oh... Jamie-san..." She said. Lucky raised her finger in thought and opened her mouth. She thought about it. "Sometimes girls..." She began. She bit her lip. "Well, in the heat of battle things can sometimes get..." This was more difficult than she thought.

"Ha Ha Ha!" Macky laughed. "It's a real good time, ain't it." Macky said. "Not knowing where you're gonna sleep next. Richie Rich over here don't know shit about it!"

Lucky furrowed her brow. "M-Macky-san, p-please..." Lucky blushed. She didn't really like it that Lucky would bring up her own status.

Mackyy ignored her. "Oi," She said, slapping Jamie's back. "If some bitch is gettin in your face, or tryin to get frisky and you don't like it, you just Jamie something as hard as you can between her legs. Fist, foot, yo-yo. Who cares! Ha Ha Ha!" Macky gripped Jamie's shoulder tightly and turned her to face Macky. The big red head smiled. "Don't take any shit from anyone!" She said. "And if they're still givin you problems, send em my way and I'll make them pay big time! Ha Ha Ha!"

"Richie Rich?" Jamie was confused. Money?

"I tried! Well, I woulda, but she was holding me down. I just ran away! I'm rilly good at that. I'm the best," she said, with the rarest hint of bitter self reflection in the middle of her sea of fuzzy-feeling orange juice. She stared at her glass again and her lip curled into a dark scowl. "She was an asshole. I hate her. I hope someone kills her."

She drained the rest of her glass in one shot, and missed the bar when she put it down. It fell and broke on the floor, drawing the attention of the bartender. Jamie immediately jumped off her stool and looked for the door, and then at Lucky and Mackie. She was ready to run, though in her current state she was having some trouble staying upright.

Macky laughed at Jamie's response to her words. She then frowned when she heard what the girl did. "Heh. Yeah, bitches will get a little frisky sometimes. Maybe one day I'll be able to give her what's coming to her." Macky said, grinning at the thought. Macky could certainly show another girl what it was like to be on the receiving end of something nasty and her eyes held a flash of grim glee for a moment.

When the glass dropped Lucky gasped and Macky turned instantly. They both watched as Jamie bolted upright and when Jamie gave them a look, both of them instinctively threw out a hand and tightly gripped Jamie's arms. Macky smiled. "It's just a glass. It's no big deal!" She said.

Lucky lowered her head. "Around us, you don't have to run, Jamie-san." She said in a solemn tone. Lucky let go. Macky just relaxed her grip a bit but still held on. The blue haired girl bent down and began picking up the big chunks of glass while the bartender came around with a dust pan and broom to sweep up the rest.

Macky moved herself and Jamie a seat over and the red head stared at Jamie. "You've already had enough? Ha Ha Ha! I'm not even finished with my first drink! Don't make me feel bad about getting you shit faced now, Ha Ha Ha!" She laughed. She then grinned at Jamie. "Want another one?"

Lucky got out of the way of the bartender and scooted over to the other two. "Macky-san!" She scolded, waving a finger. "She's already breaking glasses! We don't want her to HATE drinking! If you make her drink until she pukes, she'll never come out with us again!" Macky just laughed.

Jamie jerked her arm away from Mackie as soon as she could. She moved around to the other side of Mackie, and kept her eyes trained on Lucky and the bartender as they worked, like an animal assessing a threat. The glass, all the eyes on her, Mackie and Lucky grabbing her arms, all put her on edge, and her face became increasingly distraught.

She glared at Mackie. Was this their plan all along? To get her drunk so they could get her in trouble and she couldn't do anything about it? Her eyes steeled and her jaw hardened with the sudden realization of what was really happening.

"W-why do you want that!" She raised her voice at Mackie. She stumbled over the words, and couldn't get them to say what she wanted. She breathed heavily through her nose and glimmers of tears appeared in her eyes. "Why do you want to give me stuff? Huh? What are you doing? Do you think I'm STUPID?!"

Macky raised her eyebrow at Jamie. "Want what?" She said. She was definitely a lightweight. Macky sighed as Jamie began to flip out. She took the last drink of her scotch and motioned for the bartender to fill it up again. "Tag, you're it." Macky said to Lucky as she slid off her stool. "I'm gonna go feed the jukebox." She said as she walked off. "Gonna need something smooth to deal with this shit." She muttered.

Lucky looked at Jamie with said, motherly eyes. "Oh, Jamie-san. No. No, that's not it at all." She said, begging her to sit back down. "We just wanted you to have a good time. We thought we could be friends. That's... what friends do... they enjoy each other's company... neither of us think you're stupid at all! Come on," Lucky patted the seat, "just sit back down. I'll get you something that's non-alchoholic."

Jamie closed her mouth and suspiciously eyed Mackie as she walked off to the jukebox. Her lack of attention on Lucky while she spoke betrayed a certain amount of trust that Jamie had unknowingly placed in her, if only because she suddenly distrusted Mackie. She looked back at the blue haired woman, and then moved to the stool at the very end of the bar, closest to the door.

"I'm not stupid," she said quietly. There had been more than a few people in her life that had told her they wanted to be friends, but Jamie always saw right through them. They had all looked at her like a math tutor does when the girl is struggling to understand a problem, and they had always come in groups. They had always outnumbered her. But Jamie had always proven how smart she really was by never letting them catch her. She hadn't got to where she was in life by letting people do whatever they wanted with her.

"This one time I fought this crazy Mexican-y girl, and she was a total jerk, but at first she was the nicer kind of jerk, but she flipped out on me and tried to kill me, but I won because she was so stupid." Jamie slurred on while she leaned against the bar for support. "There's a thing that I do to make it so that things don't hurt as much when you're fighting. Hey..." She picked her head up and looked directly at Lucky. "How do you get so strong like that?"

Lucky sighed as Jamie scooted over to the end of the bar. She picked up her drink and followed, sitting next to Jamie and looking at her. "Neither of us thinks your stupid, Jamie-san." Lucky said. She frowned and took another big drink from her Doctor Schlager. She was starting to feel a tingle in her belly.

Lucky's head drooped as she heard some Jazz burst from the bar's jukebox. She glanced at Macky who was still fiddling with it. Every time she went over there, she put in enough money so that it played long after they were gone. Lucky looked at Jamie. "If you don't want to be our friend because you don't trust us then after tonight, you won't have to worry about it. I can't imagine what kind of life you've had to live to make you this way but it's not my place to pry."

Lucky turned and downed her Doctor Schlager with a big gulp. She motioned to the bartender. "Something stiffer!" She demanded. "It's going to be one of those nights!" She said and sighed. She looked at Jamie and then shook her head. "You're not going to like it." She said. "It requires a lot of hard work and practice. You... should probably just stick to what you're good at. C-Committing doesn't really seem to be your thing, Jamie-ch-san."