Nowhere With You

Dance The Night Away

Under the starry night sky over the posh Halifax Waterfront, Bae, Irys, Mumei and Kaela lined up outside at the open-air Stubborn Goat Pub - a pair of opened metal container vans fenced off with elevated tree planters and wooden staircases and roof-decks that blended in with the rest of the Waterfront boardwalk. There, the placid sloshing of the waters of Halifax Harbour mingled with the din of the mixed Friday night crowds of tourists and locals and the cheerful laughter of the others who had already crossed through the narrow gates.

Mumei Nanashi watched that drunken revelry from the outside and furrowed her brow.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Mumei complained. She clenched her fists, barely able to suppress the frightening abstract painting that Bae had seen not too long ago. Seeing that made a cold sweat form on Bae's brow.

"Maybe we should look for a different place." Irys suggested.

"It's Friday night, chief." Kaela interjected, speaking while playing Minecraft on her phone as usual, "Drinking's a pastime over here. All of the pubs are gonna be packed at this hour."

"Is that so?" Bae mumbled. She glanced at Mumei and watched the otherworldly miasma gathering around the owl-girl and her body tensed up.

Before Mumei's violent harpy transformation could manifest, however, a voice cut through the din and called for Mumei. "Hey - Mumei. Is that you?"

Mumei paused. She and her colleagues all turned towards the voice. There, they saw one of the waitresses of the Stubborn Goat, a pretty girl with purple hair, two-colored eyes and the lively, swishing tail of a lunar dragon behind her waving to Mumei. Her brass nametag read 'TATSUKI'.

The owl girl's tension evaporated in an instant and her reddening eyes returned to their natural honey brown. Her bloodthirsty grin was replaced by a genuine smile.

"Selen!" Mumei waved back.

The lunar dragon waitress grinned and spoke to the other waitresses. Then, just like that, Mumei, Irys, Bae and Kaela were waved through to the front of the line. Selen bumped fists with Mumei and nodded to her companions.

"Mumei, my owl! What's cracking?" Selen asked, speaking with a lively, albeit raspy voice.

"Taking my colleagues out for a drink." Mumei answered, "We just had a rough night in the office."

"In the office...!?" Selen gasped, "Weren't you supposed to go on a d-"

"I WAS." Mumei frowned, halfway between going ballistic and breaking down into tears.

Selen regarded the volatile owl and sighed.

"Leave it to me." Selen nodded, patting Mumei's shoulder, "I'll make sure the pub treats you and your colleagues well tonight."

"We'll be in your care." Mumei mumbled.

The lunar dragon nodded, put her hands on her hips and turned to Mumei's companions with a bright smile.

"Welcome to the Stubborn Goat Gastropub, y'all!" Selen greeted, "They were making you guys line up for a table - but trust me! You don't really need a table to enjoy this place if you don't mind holding your drinks. Standing-room-only works just fine here!" Selen pointed to some of the patrons who were seated on the wooden steps of the boardwalk within the courtyard of the pub. She gestured to some of the steps by the pub's stage illuminated by a constellation of pretty, star-like hanging lanterns and grinned, "These are gonna be the best seats in the house are right here, believe me!"

"You heard the lunar dragon." Mumei spoke, now emitting flowers and rainbows instead of abyssal miasma, "C'mon! Let's go!"

Bae, Irys and Kaela looked at each other with surprise.