The woman two booths over has stopped crying. That's good. You wish that you could have been the one to check on her, but engaging with people like that has always been difficult for you. You're glad that someone took it upon themselves to talk to her, at least.

You do sort of wish it was someone other than the bartender, though. You were just working up the courage to talk to her. You need to figure out why she looks so familiar.

This is Nimue's Bar.

Kaia exits the back room with Marie in tow. She leads her up to the bar, behind which Nimue is busy mixing a drink while chatting with a customer with white glowing eyes.

“Hey, Nimue.” Kaia says, laying her head on the bar and staring up at the older woman. Nimue is in her favorite, most-used form tonight; a middle-aged, bespectacled woman with a slight frame and no pupils. “How's it going?”

Nimue finishes talking to the customer about their family before looking at Kaia. “What do you want, K?”

“Who says I want anything?” Kaia asks innocently.

Nimue rolls her eyes and tosses her hair. “I'm not an idiot, K. The only times you act like this are if you're sweet on someone, you want something, or both. Out with it.”

Kaia grits her teeth and she drops the act. “Can we find this woman a position,” she whispers, jerking a finger over her shoulder at Marie. From beneath her yellow smiley face hat, Marie smiles and flashes them a thumbs up. At the look on Nimue's face, Kaia leans forward. “Please, Nimue. She just lost her job and got kicked out of her apartment. She needs this.”

Someone at the other end of the bar begins drunkenly pounding on the piano, and Nimue sighs. “What's your name, kid?”

“Marie,” Marie says, placing her hands on her hips and displaying a bit more of the blasé confidence that Kaia expected from her.

Nimue's facial expression softens somewhat, but she shakes her head. “I'm sorry, Marie, but we don't have any availability at this time.”

Marie nods, looking disappointed, and Kaia feels a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. She can't just go. She rushes after Marie, willing to say anything to keep this woman in the bar just a little bit longer.

The door to Nimue's crashes open, filling the room with the howling of wind. A crowd of figures stumble inside and slam it shut while stripping off thick coats. One of the newcomers reveals his face, the skin of which is dull and silvery, as if he is made entirely of smoky mirrors. A shout immediately issues from somewhere across the bar, and Dirk bounds forward, transforming from cat to human as he moves, before throwing his arms around the silver man in a crushing bearhug.

“Varek! It's been ages!” Dirk yells, and the silver man claps him on the back, grinning from ear to ear.

“Dirk! How the hell have you been?” As the two begin exchanging stories, Kaia turns back to Nimue.

“Please, she's the first person I've met besides you two who can—“ she stops, becoming aware that Nimue is not listening, and her eyes are focused on the door. “Nimue, what's wrong?”

“If Varek is here...” Nimue whispers, still staring straight ahead. “Then...”

“Charming little place you've got here, Nimue,” one of the other newcomers calls, stripping off her coat and casting it carelessly onto the floor. It's soaking wet, and the sizable splatter of slush it leaves makes Kaia cringe. “Really modern décor. I've heard that giant occult eyes are very in right now.”

“Ah, Terra,” Nimue says, her voice filled with such obvious forced cheerfulness that she might as well be yelling. “It's so good of you to drop by.” The final two newcomers remove their coats as well, revealing a tiny, child with a shaved head and a hulking figure whose features and skin are entirely obscured by matted black hair. “And you brought Dary and Kumitsu. How... nice.”

The child with the shaved head looks around at the bar, an enormous grin on his face. His form shimmers, and in the space of a few seconds he disappears and reappears on a barstool. Nimue gently pushes him off without bothering to look at him, apparently unwilling to stop glaring at Terra for even a second. “Go on, Dary, run back to your Mom.”

The black mass of hair stumps across the bar and picks up Dary in their arms, before carrying him back to the doorway. He laughs and rubs the creature's head.

“Hi Kumitsu,” Dirk calls to the creature, which raises a hand in greeting.

“Come on, Dirk, we don't associate with them,” Nimue says under her breath.

The entire bar has stopped what they are doing to watch the confrontation. Kaia has been here long enough to know that Terra is the only one who can get under Nimue's skin. Her normally pleasant smile looks pasted on, and she drums her nails on the bar a bit too aggressively to be natural. Not that the woman who just walked in is much better; her narrowed eyes and distasteful gaze give away that much.

“It's been a long time since I was last here,” Terra says, flipping her white mane of hair out of her face. The motion causes her many piercings to flash in the light of the bar. “Hasn't really changed much. A lot like you, really.”

“You want to know what else hasn't changed?” Nimue asks, still smiling. “Me banning you from this place. Permanently. You've got your own bar to manage.” One of the patrons lets out a low whistle, and Dirk and Varek begin to edge away from their respective bosses, looking embarrassed. Kaia puts her head in her hands. She had thought that Nimue's feud with Terra would have died out years ago. Yet every few months, the two make an excuse to meet and start sniping at each other all over again.

“Don't worry, we won't bother you for long,” Terra says sweetly. “I just thought I would stop by, and check out what you've got going on. You know, it's really a shame.”

“What's a shame?”

“Your bar has no music,” Terra says, grinning hugely. “Ours does.”

Kaia groans audibly, causing several of the customers to turn and look at her. “Seriously, Terra? Do you really think we're this petty? Of all the contrived, inane, stupid—“

“Our bar has music,” Nimue says quickly, cutting Kaia off. “Literally everyone here is musically inclined. In fact... Ernie... plays the piano for us every night.” She points and the entire bar turns as one to look at Ernie, whose blush travels quickly from his neck all the way up to base of his horns, turning his normally green skin a remarkable shade of mauve. He looks pleadingly at Nimue. Nimue gives a not so subtle jerk of her head to the clawed, moldering piano in the corner of the bar. Ernie gingerly sits down and presses a few keys on the piano, which generates noises that could, with a lot of creativity and some earplugs, theoretically be called notes.

“Very nice,” Terra observes, as Ernie slinks back to his chair.

“I'm just kidding,” Nimue says, far too loudly and in a voice that sounds slightly manic. Kaia's heart sinks. Not this again. Please, anything but this. “But it's really funny you should mention a music group, because the staff here are actually in a band together.”

Kaia buries her face in her hands. She knew this was going to happen. Nimue can never stop herself.

“Is that so?” Terra says, raising an eyebrow. “What about this, then? We have a little contest, shall we say, one week from now. Play-off. My employees versus yours. Winner gets to choose the theme for the loser's bar.”

Before Kaia can open her mouth to tell them off, Dirk jumps in. “Sounds like a lot of fun!” She treats him to her harshest glare and he shrugs, looking slightly embarrassed.

“Deal!” Nimue calls out, and Terra and her posse begin to put their coats back on. Nimue turns to Marie. “Can you play any instruments?”

“I played the piano in middle school,” Marie says, looking utterly bewildered, but also cautiously excited.

“Good enough, you're hired. Talk to me in ten, I'll get you oriented.” Marie smiles in disbelief, and mouths a word of thanks to Kaia, which makes Kaia's stomach do a flip-flop. Nimue turns to look at Kaia, her face morphing into a pleading expression.

“No,” Kaia says, backing away. “Absolutely not. I am not amused, I am not musical, and I am not getting caught up in another one of your petty little competitions. Thank you, good night.”

“Come on, K,” Dirk cajoles, waving a goodbye to Varek. “It could be fun.”

“Yeah, how about no,” she hisses, and begins to head toward the bathroom.

“Did they get a new bartender?” Terra says loudly as she exits the bar. “They're all so forgettable here, honestly. Nothing interesting about them.”

Kaia spins on her heel and strides back to the table, where Nimue and Dirk are keeping their expressions carefully blank. “All right, I'm in. Just don't make me sing.”