<span style="color: #008000">“…….. you’re right, Nev.”</span>Motto deflated a little but managed to rally.<span style="color: #008000">“It just so happens I had my eye on another place!  It’s… not exactly a bar either.”</span><br/><br/>Twenty minutes later the pair stood in the “Viking’s Den”, a run-down tavern with ancient artifacts proudly displayed on the walls.  A light flickered in the far corner where a pair a girls sat giggling, a few older men sat at the bar and watched the game, and three out of the four pool tables were in use.  It was a decent crowd and the atmosphere was markedly different; vapor mist hung in the air and there was a large glob of nacho cheese on the carpet from earlier that evening.  Giving his best friend a nudge, Motto looked to Nevile with an expectant smile.<br/><br/><span style="color: #008000">“This is another place I thought we could find a ………..”</span>The stocky cadet trailed off as he locked eyes with a white-haired woman.  She had just come from the ladies room and gazed at him with something of a smirk while retrieving a cigarette from her brazier.  Her eyes were blue and she looked older.  Motto was pretty sure she was the one he was supposed to go with.<span style="color: #008000">“…..date.”</span><br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="https://i.imgur.com/nnGDDrX.jpg">[ img ]</a><br/><br/>“Well well, looks like you two should join us~.”  The giggling pair had approached Nevile and Motto without detection.  “A game then?  Yeah?”  The other eyed Nevile with evident interest; her tongue darting out in a animal-like way as she surveyed his body.