"Are you okay, Amy?" Maureen asked their NatPacker friend, a bit concerned. Amy had already gone through three of Susan's mixed drinks, and seemed bent on downing a fourth.
"Whaa?" Amy seemed to be looking past Maureen rather than directly at her, but the fact that the NatPacker had even identified which direction from which the question had come was a good sign. She hoped.
"Uh, never mind." Maureen left her friend to contemplate her latest alcoholic mix, and frowned at the beernuts on the bar instead. They looked a bit...greasy. Methodically, she began laying them out on the counter and patting them with a cocktail napkin to remove the excess oil.
"Would you like a drink to go with that?" Miklos asked.
"She'll have a margarita," Jill interjected as she glided to the bar. She laid an elegant hand on the counter top. "And I'll have some of the special stock."
Miklos blinked in surprise. These War people were odd, to be sure, but really.... "I'm sorry, I don't think I quite heard you. What would you like to drink?"
Jill arched an eyebrow. "A glass of wine. From the reserve stock." At his impassive face, she hesitated. She shook her head a little, as if trying to clear it, then sighed. "Just give me a red wine."
Miklos eyed the customer carefully and then nodded.
Alora reached into a basket on the end of the bar and pulled out a book of matches with the Raven logo. "Miklos, I'd like a strawberry margarita, please."
"Make that two, please," Kelly said as she slid up on a vacant bar stool.
"How can anyone stand these?" Maureen griped. "Look how messy they look. They are just in a pile like that. Messy, messy, messy."
Kelly looked at Maureen, "How else are you supposed to serve nuts, Mo?"
Maureen didn't respond. She dumped all of the nuts into one bowl and then began carefully replacing them, one at a time, in a circular pattern.
Alora struck a match and watched as it burned down to her fingers. She blew it out quickly and then lit another. Then glancing at Mo's beernut pattern, she asked, "Do nuts stink when they burn?"
Maureen looked up and noticed the pile of burned matches in front of Alora. "I don't know. But I'll bet it makes a mess." She reached over and wiped up the small pile of ash before adding, "That is disgusting, Alora."
"What?" The most recent victim of Mo's cleanliness tirade looked at her fellow NatPackers. "Have another drink, Mo." She sighed.
Kelly giggled, "Alora, didn't you learn your lesson about those matches at the gas station?"
Alora blinked. "I don't see any gas pumps around here, Kelly."
Jill sighed, "No cheri, but there are many things that are just as flammable."
"Oh, fine." Alora tossed the near empty book of matches back in the basket.
"Well," Maureen picked up her glass, "a toast."
Her fellow NatPackers lifted their drinks together.
"To the end of another War." Jill smiled.
"To the end of some of our first War." Kelly winked at Alora.
"To an endless supply of gin!" Amy giggled.
"To the Pack!" Maureen declared.
"To the Pack!" They all echoed.