Zipper’s a day for a daydream

during fight night.

---

Somehow she had caught wind of the little event. A bit too late to feel confident signing up and not exactly the betting type. One might ask why even be here then? To socialize! She had a tight circle more than she cared to admit and work was dreadfully slow which left her with the itch for socialization.

So there she was, tucked away in one of the quieter corners (as if such a thing existed tonight!) with her gin and tonic. She watched as the room flowed with energy and all the different weres gathered for a shared evening. It was nice to be here even if she wasn’t deeply included in anything!

However she’d still be friendly and kind. A slight raise of her glass and a soft smile as someone drew near enough to warrant such a thing.

Abraham was actually on the prowl (ha, ha... ha) for Wallace, someone he'd misplaced in the crowd after disappearing for two seconds to use the bathroom. (Which he did not recommend doing here. Pissing in a trough was always the worst.)

So he followed the scent of a tiger, by now plenty able to pick that out of a crowd. Sniffing like the animal person he was, the flash of orange that greeted him in his... eye's eye rather than his mind's eye was related to the scent, and also the animal, but definitely not Wallace. Instead, this was maybe one of the stripies that Wallace had mentioned. Ashley or something?

Sidling up at the bar, he was greeted pretty quick and nodded back. Abraham would have to sneakily order something not to seem like a weirdo? Maybe a drink he could lovingly deliver to Asha as a nice surprise. Except she got free drinks? Hmmm. Don't overthink it. Start with a water, it was hot in here.

Anyway. Nothing ordered yet, he went with a real bold greeting.

"Hey."

Good start!

"Tiger?"

Bold indeed! Although there was no need to sneak around words in a place like this. Everyone was something.

"Indeed!" She chirped as her features wrinkled some with a typical Aisling smile. "And you are..." A little sniff, a little bit trying to envision. Not much that she could confidently call. Certainly not a fellow tiger and not exactly the creature that Erik was.

"Something new to me." She settled on before she took a small sip of her drink. Perhaps he’d enlighten her!

It was weird but nice to be able to approach with this kind of openness. Not trying to awkwardly work around how to ask. She was pretty, seemed nice. The former probably added to the gist of the latter?

Whatever. Anyway. Focus. You were tiger scoping, Abraham.

"Jaguar," he said. "Smaller but, you know. Fatter."

Once upon a time that had fucked him up, but now he just lived fat cat lifestyle.

A jaguar.

It was always nice to encounter other cats even if they were not the same kind! There was also something particularly charming about the idea of a smaller but fatter cat.

"Sounds like you’re well equipped to fight! Or are you just watching as well?" Surely she was not the only one who decided to sit the ring out tonight.

Abraham laughed to that. Well equipped was a word for it. Abraham could probably throw a good punch or two, but if he got matched up with royalty, he was toast. That was how these things worked.

"Just watching," he said. "Got a customer service job, so. Hard to explain bruises and all that."

He waved a hand loosely around his face before letting it fall to the bartop.

"Not a fighter?"

"I understand that all too well." A little chuckle followed her words. She imagined that looking all bruised and beat up in a flower shop would not be the best look around!

"Not tonight." She waved one free hand. "I caught wind of the event late but I figured showing up would be good for socializing anyway." Which seemed to be correct so far! Although she had not been full blown social butterfly.

"Aisling, by the way." Offered with a smile and an extended hand.

He smiled as she got it. Just hard to explain to a customer why you looked like someone had thrown you on the ground and kicked you. Because that's what happened.

"Abraham," he said, making for a quick and light handshake, if mostly so his rude-ass jaguar's immediate, intense sniffing might be less... rude.

But this was her, then. Aisling. (Not Ashley.) Time to scope things out.

"I've heard there's a few tigers nearby but just know of one myself. Well, two now." He huffed. "Wallace's the other."

Plus Reina but hahaha she didn't count!

Abraham! A lovely name and one that she would easily tie to the idea of a stocky cat. Simply because he was the first and only one she had met so far! Even if the room apparently stunk of them.

The smile would remain small and light on her face as she listened. Delighted that he seemed to know some others. However it looped back to the dreaded name. Wallace! He apparently knew everyone, didn’t he? A long sip to buy her time and burn her throat to cease from saying something immature.

"I have two with me. Not here at this very moment but..." A slight shrug. Perhaps she should have dragged Reina out to this invite.

"I’ve also met this Wallace fellow. Wonderful at laser tag." Some sort of teasing undertone to her words. All lighthearted! "How did you meet him?" Maybe he would humor her a little. If she had to keep hearing about this man then it wouldn’t hurt to know something more about him. Beyond what Reina divulged in sacred text messages.

Two with her. Like a group? What did you call tigers again? A plaid? Anyway, he heard that phrasing, latched on to it. He was interviewing, you, Aisling, you just didn't-

"Laser tag?" he huffed, funny and chill, because Abraham was funny and chill. But. What did that mean? Had Wallace gotten his ass kicked at laser tag? He was a pretty damn big target. But he'd focus on the question. He could talk about Wallace easily, okay.

"Found me right after I got turned. Sire never stuck around, so I was in a pretty rough spot," he said. "That was a couple years ago. He showed me the ropes and kept me from ending up-"

On. The news. Like Wallace. DON'T SAY THAT.

"-roadkill somewhere."

"Mhmm. Put up a good fight." Was she subtly bragging about winning at laser tag? Perhaps! It certainly made her feel a bit better about the whole thing.

She listened closely as they drifted to more serious topics. Admittedly it was all very reassuring things to hear. He was helpful, capable, able. How much of that had Reina received?

"He sounds nice to do all of that for you." She started with slowly, carefully. "Perhaps that’s why I’m always hearing about him." An almost secretive playful smile at her lips. Sure she wasn’t always hearing about him but it had been often enough. Not to mention from both of the tigers she considered her own.

Abraham listened along. It was nice of Wallace to do that. Abraham owed his fucking life to that decision to be kind and help out someone who had earned zero percent of the kindness offered.

He was caught off guard by how she continued, though. Because like. No offense! But Wallace wasn't a super popular guy?!

"You are?" he asked, faintly incredulous. Sorry, Wallace! But also, who was talking about his pal?

Was it some sort of surprise that she had? It seemed comical in a way. Surely with everyone talking about him he must know about it!

"Mhmm. There seems to be a sort of connection with his name and the word tiger." Her voice tried to be teasing but it would fall a bit flat towards the end. Oh well! She didn’t bother to try and pick it back up. "Although I suppose if he’s picking up folks and helping them out, that might be why."

That actually left Abraham a little paranoid. Because. You know his buddy Wallace?

That guy turned into a tiger on TV.

"I don't know many other tigers other than Reina, so I guess I'm less familiar," he said, vaguely chilled. "You starting a group with the rest, I think I heard?"

She supposed there wasn't many to know. At least it certainly seemed that way these days.

"That's the goal." She admitted and punctuated with a final sip of her drink. "Even if not, I plan on sticking around and helping the ones here out. So...feel free to send them my way if Wallace doesn't scoop them first." Ha.

Abraham couldn't figure out if she was jealous of Wallace or making fun of him. Either way, if he had little seashell jaguar ears on his head, they'd flop back.

For now, he huffed.

"I'll tell him it's a race," he said, standing up straight instead of performing his counter lean. "Good to meet you, Aisling. Sounds like I'll see you around."

A race. Beautiful. What sort of future encounters might that spur?

"See you around, Abraham." She offered a genuine smile to him before she'd slip back to her silent observations.