Off the World

If there was one moment in time that Mercy wished she did X, tonight was the night.

As the music thumped through the club, Mercy had her eyes closed and was bouncing against all of the other dancers. She let the rhythm carry her along the dance floor, barely even having to move her hips. Though she wasn't high, she was definitely drunk and her feet felt as light as her head as she drifted along.

She had been fired. Again. By Lukretia Von Creuzfeldt. Again. The woman wasn't even technically her boss anymore but Rally had been out of town so Mercy didn't have any way of pleading her case to her direct superior. Even then, she wasn't sure if she wanted to pit Rally against Lukretia, even IF she probably liked the idea of it.

Mercy sighed as she ended up on her feet near the edge of the dance floor. After being ground against by some other club going girl, Mercy was off the floor and stumbling back to the bar. She was feeling good, pretty buzzed but not wrecked. She let her hand flop on the bar, multicolored glowing bands on her wrist. She held out two fingers and leaned forward, a little bit of cleavage showing as she did. She was wearing a loose fitting light blue tank top with a chibi octopus on it. Her thin black bra straps were not being hidden at all.

She stuck her butt out so she could lean forward. She was dressed in baggy dark brown cargo pants and worn tennis shoes. "O-One morrre, uhhh..." She scrunched her nose to think and stared at the bartender, giggling a bit while her cheeks flushed. She didn't want a girly drink. One more cosmo and she might explode. She slapped her other hand down and leaned in a bit more. "Ha! Gimme a beer!" She said, holding up her two fingers.

Clyde wasn't too much of a club guy. He had been to a few dance halls before back home but he never danced. He just drank and mingled with the pretty girls in denim skirts and cowboy boots. The good ol' innocent days before a place like AFW turned his entire love life into an over complicated mess. Even though he was single now, it didn't mean things were simple again like they should be.

Didn't stop the girls though. Especially the Japanese ones who loved a young blonde haired American. One of them being a girl who worked behind the scenes at AFW. Clyde forgot what she did but they had talked before and finally she had asked him out, but instead of the typical dinner and a movie, she wanted to go dancing. Clyde would not have agreed until he realized the type of Clyde of was the type of music they played there.

The cowboy without a hat looked more dressed for business than he did for clubbing. Black and white suit with the tie. He didnt know what else to put on, on this date with Keiko Whatsherlastname. She was cute, nice... But he wasn't into her and he wished he could have been. She was a nice girl.

But the club was great too. All the bright neon lights He loved the music they were playing, it was pretty rockin and Clyde got into it almost immediately. Even a rocker like him could enjoy it.

Keiko ended up pulling him to the dance floor, and with arms around eachother they bumped and grinded to the beat while Clyde did his best to keep up, he did a decent enough job and was having a fun time, going through a few songs. (At least he thought they did?) Before over Keiko's shoulder he spotted someone over at the bar... Someone who nearly turned his face pale. The pink hair. He knew who it was and he had to hold back from tossing Keiko aside.

"Uhmmm... KEIKO!" Clyde called to her. "Yeah?" She answered. "Can Uh... You wait here or... I gotta run real quick!" Normally he wouldn't ditch her like that but this was a special circumstance. Very special. Clyde swallowed as he approached the bar. No mistake, under those baggy pants was an all too familiar booty. A booty he wanted back. Last he heard, she got fired by that bitch Lukretia. At least she wasn't thrown through a table, Clyde was still feeling a bit stiff in the shoulders after that.

He looked back over his shoulder for Keiko and she was... Dancing with another guy now. Great! Clyde didn't have to worry about her, just Mercy Wrenn.

He slicked his hair back and adjusted his tie before going up behind her as she called for a drink. That was a sight he hadn't seen since he met her.

Clyde cleared his throat, and prepared to eliminate his entire accent.

"Would you be up for a dance instead?" He said, loud enough to be heard over the music.

The beer was quickly poured and Mercy lifted up the glass. She took a sip, dainty at first but then she kept at it  and even as a little dribbled down her cheek she kept going until she was nearly half way done with it. She set it down and her eyes widened.

"Haaaaaa... ICK!"

Mercy wrinkled her nose and pushed the beer to the side as she heard someone call her name. She turned and looked out of the corner of her eye. "I'm jusst sort of bumpin tonight. Maybe if I catchaa outthere." She said, slurring a bit. She turned to wink fully at whoever was calling her and blinked when she saw it was Clyde.

"Ooooh, heeeeey Clyde!" She said and reached out to grab his tie, missing the first time before she took hold of it. "I didn't know you clubbed, eheh." She giggled sharply and blinked again before she scrubbed her eyes and peered at him. The realization began to wash over her and her rosy cheeks blanched.

"Clyde." She said as her wide smile drooped. "W-What are YOU doing herrre?" She accused and pushed a finger into his chest before her hand folded and she began petting his chest. "You know w-we broke up, right? Sso you don't have to pretend to like this stuff orr shit... M-Mister Gastin!"

Clyde was smilingly smugly when Mercy turned around, though it faltered a little when he saw that Mercy looked pretty hammered drunk. That was new.

He laughed a little when she drunkly greeted him before suddenly grabbing his tie, pulling him down a little with a sharp, unexpected tug. "Ack!" He grunted briefly as he was brought down a bit, blushing as he was closer to Mercy's cute, tipsy face.

But he'd roll his eyes subtly as she reminded him that they were broken up. No thanks to Allison or Lilly Or whoever really. He looked down at her out the corner of his eye with a reddening cheeks when she touched his chest with her finger and patted it, she might be able to feel his heart thumping rapidly as he rested his hand on her shoulder, smiling at her in amusement.

"Aw I ain't pretending. What's a young single guy ta' do besides go out an have some fun!? A... Friend invited me. But uh... I think she's a lil' busy right now. Clyde checked back over his shoulder to find his date. She was still grinding on some other dude amongst the other club goers.

"What 'bout you?" He asked her cooly as he tried to snake his hand from her shoulder to upper back.

Mercy's eyebrows danced a little as she tried to find the right expression to show Clyde. She was having a bit of trouble and just turned her head to look at the hand on her her nearly bare shoulder. It made her shiver, but she didn't push it off.

"Whaaaat?" Mercy said finally, finding a spot where she could talk. "You don't." She said and tried to shove him, a soft smile forming on her face. "Yyoouu don't even know who's playing right now." She said. "I'll only give you a little hint." She said as she swayed a bit, propped up by her hand against Clyde's chest and Clyde's hand on her shoulder. "I'sss Dee Jay...."

Mercy shrugged off Clyde's hand and began to wriggle in front of him to the beat of the song.

"Yeap." He responded, still smiling as she tried to shove him before she swayed in front of him, keeping her hand on his chest and shoulder before finally letting him go.

"Yoous Dee Jay?" He asked teasingly with a smile as watched her bounce about to the song.

"Dunno who it is but I like the beat..." He muttered. "You with anybody?" He asked.

"Noo, doiiiiyeee!"

Mercy said and shook her head. "Like, eeeeveryone knows this." She said and glanced back at her beer. She was glad she didn't finished it and turned around to look at Clyde when he spoke.

"Huh?" She said and looked at the crowd. She then looked back as Clyde spoke. She suddenly straightened up. "What? So, what if I am?" She said and looked into the dance floor again. "Are yooou!?" She said and poked his chest again. "There's no way you came here alone, Clyde. Even if you do like this music, why would you come alooone, huuh?" She teased.

"Oh..." Clyde responded, looking visibly embarrassed at not knowing what he felt should have known.

"Well..." He tried to awnser her regarding her first question but she cut him off, looking down at her finger as she poked his chest.

"I uh... I ain't come here alone... Keiko from backstage invited me." He told her simply, honestly forgetting what Keiko did backstage at AFW shows.

"She's over there... Uh... Somewhere." Clyde added as he pointed at the sea of club goers on the dance floor.

"Soooo... If you ain't with nobody, I take it ain't nobody gon mind if I ask ya ta' dance, huh?" He asked as he gave her a big cheesy, eager grin.

Mercy turned her head and squinted. She looked into the dance floor but she couldn't see anything.

"Keiko..." She said and let the word bounce around in her head. "With the tooth thing?" She asked. That girl seemed alright. She was one of the PA supervisors. She didn't know that Keiko had a thing for Clyde though. "Huh..." She squeaked.

Mercy looked back at Clyde and then gave him a shove and stumbled off towards the dance floor. It was hard to tell what kind of look she had on her face as she turned. "Keiko-chan might." She breathed as she pushed her way into the crowd and tried to get lost, turning her head enough to throw Clyde a glance, covering her mouth with her fluffy, pink locks.

"Uhh... Yeah!" Clyde really hadn't thought much of it. The tooth wasn't that bad at all and she wasn't afraid to smile a lot.

Clyde just stood there in front of Mercy with a smile as he expected her to no doubt say... Yes! And they'd dance and he'd woo her in no time and...

He felt a sudden shove to his chest that made him move off to the side, his eyes wide in surprise as he saw a pink blur stumble past him and stumble to the dance floor.

"Ah! H-Hey! Mercy!" Clyde called out for her as she left him, prompting him to desperately follow her, seeing this indistinguishable look from a few small gaps between the crowd. He couldn't make out her expression at all, let alone see her clearly.

"Wait a sec!" He called as he barreled into the crowd, bumping shoulders with the club goers. Most of the guys were about his height, so he wasn't slipping through as easily as Mercy did. 

'Was it somethin' I said...?'