Ambrose: Ambrose had wished Cassidy good luck and was making his way out of the cafeteria. Even though he had just eaten before meeting up with her, he had apparently managed to eat more when he made his return trip.>

Heading out of the cafeteria, he paused by a side door that was open that he didn’t remember before. Peering inside he saw a setup of a large entertainment center, complete with racks of DVDs and books.

I wonder if we could request book from the Doctor that might help Cassidy adjust to what she's becoming... He pondered, really feeling sorry for the girl, and even more of a heel for the amount of complaining he had done when he sprouted fur.

The Dude: The Dude had just emerged from his apartment, a sour expression on his face, one hand dragging a mop, while the other was dragging a rug.

He was clearly headed for the laundry room, swearing under his breath about friggin prima donnas and their jewel encrusted rats.

Seeing Ambrose he tried to wave, but was clearly unable to do so: "Yo man!" - he used his voice instead. ""Wassup?

Ambrose: Ambrose looked over to the familiar bewhiskered face and waved back. "Hi Dude!" He immediately trotted over to him.

He stared at the mop and rug with a furrowed brow. "what..." He shook his head, then smelled the urine. "Ohhhh.... Man! What... what in the hell happened?"

The Dude: The Dude looked at Ambrose from underneath the blond dreads that were inconveniently falling into his face and complained: "Fucking pooch peed on my rug, man. This new guy, Vasiline or whatever his name was, showed up at my duplex.

Apparently Captain scratched up his dog. I wish the Captain had killed the fucking rat. I mean - look at it" - he raised the rug into the air.

"It's drenched. It's probably ruined. It was a good rug, too. It really tied the room together ..."

He looked frustrated at Ambrose and asked: "Have you seen Cassidy around? Maybe she has any clue how to get rid of the urine stench ... I mean - I can't even sleep there -.-"

Ambrose: Ambrose blinked, staring at the rug and then back to the Dude. "So... he brought his dog inside... and it urinated on your rug??" He shook his head. As fascinating as this all was - there was more imporant things.

"You haven't seen Cassidy yet, then.." Ambrose's expression and voice immediately took a serious tone.

"she's... She's started changing already. I just got back from speaking with her... If she has... I'm wondering if others have too.."

The Dude: The Dude dropped the rug onto the ground: "What?! Oh man ...How ... how is she?" - he asked, his voice full of worry.

Ambrose: Ambrose swallowed. "To be perfectly honest... She could be doing a lot better. She..." He scratched the fur on the back of his neck. "She's ... Oh man... I think she's turning into a snake."

"That bastard... he MUST have known her feelings on things like that... She... she's doing better now, relatively speaking...."

"She went to the cafeteria with me... got something to eat. She's not changed badly enough where she can't cover herself up, at least."

”I... I honest was on my way to see Greer."

The Dude: "Oh shit ... oh man ... poor girl" - the Dude had completely forgotten about his plight in the light of these new events: "She ... she doesn't like snakes, huh? And wait ... Greer?"
The Dude: "Did ... did she change too?"

Ambrose: Ambrose shook his head "She hates creepy-crawlies... we discussed it when we first met and she encountered Greer's... collection."

Ambrose: He took a breath. "I don't know... but Cassidy said it just happened last night, and they both arrived at about the same time, so..." He trailed off

The Dude: Leaning the mop on the laundry room wall and dragging the rug next to it, the Dude turned towards Ambrose: "Let's go then ... god, I hope it's not an anteater or something ..."
The Dude: He sniffed his hands then turned to Ambrose: "Hey, I don't stink, do I?"

Ambrose: Ambrose winced. He could see the Doctor's cruel humor taking that turn. "Dear lord, if he has any scruples at all, I hope he didn't."

Ambrose: Ambrose sniffed the air. His... newly sharper canine sense of smell screamed urine.... but it must just be him. Or maybe he just still smelled the nearby rug.

Ambrose: Besides, he was worried about Greer and didn't want to waste any more time.. "No... it's fine, really" He lied.

The Dude: They ran up the stairs to the duplex with a metal "4" on it and the Dude knocked on the door: "Greer? Hey, you there? It's Dude and Ambrose ..."

Greer: Greer groaned, not wanting to get up. It had taken her this long to lose herself in a dreamless sleep - couldn't she just stay in it? No, no, she recognized that voice. It was a friend.

Greer: A friend. She had those now. They'd take care of her and make it all okay. Fumbling out of her blankets she freed herself from bed, muzzily dragging herself to the door.

Greer: Pulling the portal open, she saw the Dude and Ambrose standing there, and promptly burst into tears.

Ambrose: Ambrose's smile faded as he saw her... or more accurately first saw her reaction before even noticing the sprouting feathers. "Oh Greer..." He started.

Ambrose: This was hard... this was damn hard. Not an hour or two ago Cassidy had gone through the same thing... but at least she hadn't cried.

Ambrose: Not... that he could criticize in the least. He had tried to cover up the memory of he himself bawling in his room alone... Of course she would react this way.

Ambrose: But once again, he felt as if his mouth had been stuffed with cotton, only able to repeat her name soothingly. "Greer... I'm so sorry..."

The Dude: Since Ambrose wasn't doing the obvious thing, the Dude put his flippered arms around Greer and hugged her close: "It's okey, it's okey girl. All good now. C'mon, let's go inside, talk come, eh?"
The Dude: He gently pushed her inside, motioning Ambrose to follow along and sat Greer back onto her bad. His right arm still around her shoulder, he looked at her, smiling:
The Dude: "Well, look at you - you grew some pretty feathers! Much better then Ambrose ... right?"
The Dude: He winked at Ambrose to play along here.

Greer: Greer sniffled, trying to get her tears under control. She didn't cry! She didn't know how to cry! What the hell? "Dude, Ambrose, it was so bad! My dad died, and I had to eat meat, and I can see, why? Why?"

Greer: She wiped tears from her face and frowned down at her hands. "And I'm leaking!"

Ambrose: Ambrose kicked himself. A hug. Why hadn't he thought of that?? This was the second timet he Dude had beaten him out on female-savviness.

Ambrose: He hurried in after them and sat down on the other side of Greer, quickly putting his arm around her from his side.

Ambrose: He admittedly didn't quite follow her train of sobbing, but he knew the horror that could accompany the transformation.

Ambrose: 'Your father..?" Ambrose started, but then realized after the fact that delving into that probably wasn't the best place to begin. "Shh... it's okay... You... you can see? That's... that's good - right?"

The Dude: Since Ambrose was now handling the hugging bit, the Dude patted Greer on the head and stood up to get some tissues. A bird wasn't as bad as a snake. Hopefully this bird wasn't, like, exclusively insectivorous or something ...
The Dude: He came back with a box from the bathroom and handed it to Greer: "Here, for the leaking. It's over, Greer. It's all good now, right? Calm down ..." - he smiled and sat on the floor in front both Ambrose and Greer.

Greer: She accepted the tissues, scrubbing her face and blowing her nose to eradicate all traces of her outburst. She was not the sort of person who cried damn it! Or, for that matter, the sort of person who swore, thoughts or no.

Greer: "I had to eat meat! Have to eat meat! Forever now! God, it's so disgusting..." she sniffled a bit, leaning on Ambrose. She was being pitiful. Stop it.

Ambrose: Ambrose winced, hugging her tighter, and nodding to the Dude - silently thanking him for his co-support. He wasn't sure if emotionally he could handle another situation like this in the same day.

Ambrose: And... it made him feel warm and fuzzy... helping her like this. Being someone she could lean on - literally.

Ambrose: "Meat isn't so bad..." Ambrose tried to cheer her up, smiling a fangly smile. "I'm sure there are much worse things... I mean.."

Ambrose: He remembered his conversation with The Dude. "At least you aren't hungry for your bug-friends, are you?"

The Dude: The Dude scratched his beard and thought about the meat problem. Then he looked up at Greer with a suggestion: "Well, if you don't want to eat meat ... maybe you can get away with protein shakes or something?"
The Dude: "I mean - if you as Greer don't want it, then the animal within can adjust, ya know. You are still Greer. You call the shots." He smiled at her encouragingly.

Greer: Greer smiled at both of them, inordinately glad they were here. "You're right, both of you. I am very glad not to be an insectivore - that would just be... unlivable." She shuddered, suddenly cold.

Greer: Knowing the high metabolism of birds, she was going to have temperature regulation problems for a bit. "As for meat eating... I'll do what I have to to stay healthy I guess, still me or no."

Greer: Glancing at her terrariums, she frowned. "Where has Mei Mei gotten to?"

Ambrose: Ambrose nodded, smiling enthusiastically in response to the Dude's suggestion. "Don't LET it compromise anything important to you."

Ambrose: Ambrose reiterated some of the conculsions he had drawn when doign his own soul-searching. "Figure out what about YOU is important to you. Hold onto that, and don't let it go for ANYTHING."

Ambrose: He looked around. "Mei mei...?" He swallowed, imagining some giant blood-sucking roach.

The Dude: Glad Greer had gotten ahold of herself, the Dude stood up and walked over to the terrariums, looking in. There were stick- things there. And more stick-things.
The Dude: "Which one's Mei Mei, Greer? Is this a phaser thing? Err ... I mean phalid?" - he looked back at her, one hand in the pocket, the other scratching his cheeck, looking both bemused and confused at the insectoid zoo.

Greer: "Mei Mei's my cricket. She's a real Houdini, always getting out of her cage..." There was a small chirp and Greer's head twitched to the side, eyes straning for the familiar green shape.

Greer: Seeing her pet on the floor by her desk, she leapt up and scooped the cricket on to her shoulder. "Mei Mei! There you are! Don't scare me like that."

Greer: Realizing how odd her little interaction with her pet must look to the two men, she smiled sheepishly as she petted the cricket. "Well, I clearly haven't changed THAT much..."

Greer: Looking at her friends, she realized for the first time how attractive the Dude and Ambrose were. Blinking, she mentally thwaped herself. Where had that thought come from?

Ambrose: Ambrose smiled, happy to see Greer happy and interacting with her pet - albeit a rather.. strange one.

Ambrose: "Glad you found it" Ambrose finally said, wondering how one could exactly keep a cricket as a pet without it just hopping off. They couldn't actually develop a bond wtih their owners, could they?

Ambrose: "And you being you is what's important. As... silly as that probably sounds. We have to be here to help eachother out."

The Dude: The Dude nodded to Ambrose, as in 'yeah, what he said' then walked up to Greer and stared curiously at Mei Mei: "You mean the Captain wanted to eat that? There's hardly any meat on it ..."

Greer: Greer shrugged, giving her pet one last caress before sealing her back in her cage. "Cats are funny things. Sometimes the seem to hunt just because they can. Either that or he was starving."

Greer: She sighed, looking around her messy, dark room. How had she been living alone in here for so long. "Do you think I could drink like this? I mean, I bet my metabolism is off, but still."

Ambrose: Ambrose shrugged, having honestly no idea about bird physiology. "I... don't see why not..." he commented. "Perhaps it might do you some good. You're still mostly human after all."

Ambrose: "I'd just take it easy, worst case" he smiled. "After all, they say we're not becoming completely animals."

The Dude: Chuckling about the subject of Greer's worry, the Dude put his arm around her shoulder and grinned: "Ambrose is right. Everything's cool in moderation. And ya know? there is only one way to find out."
The Dude: Nodding for both of them to follow he announced: "Let's go hit the beach bar and show off your tail feathers, Greer!"
The Dude: Then he stopped in his tracks.
The Dude: Cassidy.
The Dude: Looking back at Ambrose, he asked: "Hey ... you think Cassidy will wanna come, too?"

Greer: Greer laughed, suddenly filled with the urge to 'ahke her tailfeathers', as it were. Instead, she frowned at the Dude. "Cassidy? She's the woman below me who hates my bugs, right? Is she okay?"

Ambrose: Ambrose swallowed. "She... well... she also underwent a transformation last night...into something she was rather less than comfortable with." Ambrose started.

Ambrose: "It... appears that she got snake DNA..." He left the statement hanging.

The Dude: "Yeah. Ambrose saw her. He says she is down in the dumps. So ... err ... she refuses to face the light of day at all now? I'm sure it's not so bad ..." - he looked very worried again.
The Dude: The Dude had a soft spot in his heart for Cassidy for weird reasons. Maybe because she was just an average girl on an island full of smart and beautiful people.
The Dude: Maybe because she brought him over when he was hung over. But he was clearly worried about her.

Greer: Greer frowned, worried by the Dude's clear discomfort. "You should go check on her if you want. Ambrose can take care of me. I'm light and shouldn't fall over much."

Greer: Of course, she might need to 'accidentally trip so Ambrose caught her- Gah! Stop thinking like that!

Ambrose: Ambrose cleared his throat. "Well... she was willing to go out in 'public' to go to the cafeteria for lunch, so she's not so bad off that she won't leave her room at least... but she's understandably upset."

Ambrose: "It might very well do some good to have a social visit like this" He smiled.

Ambrose: "But I'd be happy to take you to the bar if you'd like, Greer. I'm flexible" he smiled to the Dude and Greer.

The Dude: The Dude walked down the stairs from duplex #4, waving good bye to Ambrose and Greer. Approaching the door #3, he knocked: "Cassidy? It's the Dude ..."

Cassidy: Visitors. Great. Cassidy had been deep in an Asimov novel--it was familiar, at least, when nothing else was--but she stirred at the Dude's voice and set it aside. She was definitely hiding too much... and probably Ambrose had told of her transformation. It wouldn't have surprised her. But then, Ambrose had said the Dude had started to change too. He hadn't said what. Cassidy took a deep breath to calm her nerves and went to the door. She unlocked it, and rested a hand on the knob. "Um. I should probably warn you. I look sort of... um."

The Dude: Yeah, Ambrose told me that you changed a little. I did, too. So did Greer. So don't worry about it." - he said from behind the door then opened it up.

"Oh WOW! Cassidy, your eyes look kickass!" - he grinned.

Cassidy: Cassidy grimaced. "*I* don't think so," she protested, but managed to look up and inspect the Dude properly.

Whiskers? Flippers? What had they shot him full of? Her tongue flickered out curiously on a reflex; she pretended not to notice this. "You look... pretty different," she admitted.

The Dude: The Dude hadn't expected the tongue. His eyebrows went up: "Wow."

That was quite bizarre. But for the sake of Cassidy he needed to put a positive spin on that: "Many, I bet you'd be really good at tyeing knots into cherry stems" - he grinned, putting his flipper to his face in a joking "pondering" gesture.

"Oh yeah. I'm from Hawaii now." - he grinned even wider

Cassidy: Cassidy blushed awkwardly. Cherry stems hadn't even crossed her mind. And she certainly didn't want to think up good things about her new condition. Nothing could be good when your own reflection gave you nightmares.

When in doubt, change the subject. "Er. Hawaii?"

The Dude: "Yeah!" - the Dude grinned happily, pointing at his mocha skin. "I'm brown now XD"

"So you wanna go drink with me and Greer and Ambrose to the beach bar?"

Cassidy: ”You look, well, pretty good, actually," she said, and meant it. She wanted flippers, too, dangit, not stupid scales and a face that had made her decide to cover up the mirror.

Cassidy hesitated. Going out would be good for her. And it was so nice out, though not as warm as it had been, but still worth seeing and... "All right," she agreed. "I'll come.”

The Dude: The Dude positively lit up from the compliment: "Heh, thanks Cassidy! Especially coming from a cute girl like yourself!" He grabbed her hand and dragged Casidy into sunlight, waving to Ambrose and Greer who were coming down the stairs: "Look who's joining us!"

"Let's go celebrate pretty eyes and tail feathers." - he announced and the group headed for the beach.

The Dude:

The sun was beginning to think about settling down for the night and the heat of the day had been replaced by the gentle breeze of the evening.

The group of people, each sporting a more bizarre animalistic trait then the other were walking down the beach towards a small shanty known as the beach bar.

As the Dude stepped inside, he jumped over the bar and went for the fridge to see if there was ice still left. Kickass, there was. Turning around to face the people who had come along, he smiled: "So what does everyone want today?"

Greer:

"Is there any Irish cider in there?" Greer asked, deciding to be cautious about her drinking tonight. If one grasshopper could get her that drunk that quickly... alcoholic apple juice would probably be best.

Ambrose:

Ambrose slid onto one of the barstools next to Greer.
After pondering a minute, as the array of available alcoholic beverages weren’t exactly his area of expertise, he grinned wryly. “How about a Bloody Mary.”

The Dude:

The Dude rummaged around to find a cider in the fridge. Not sure if it was Irish though. He put it in front of Greer

Then he looked around for tomato juice: "Yeah, I think I can make on of those. No celery though, but that's gay anyway. Hold on here." He got to mixing.

Greer:

Greer tried it, coughing on the swig and making a face. Ugh, English cider. Practically apple beer. Still, it was better than liquor. "Thanks! Mmm, nice and cold."

She frowned unconsciously at the Dude's mixing efforts, hands itching to take over. He was making a mess! Calm, calm Greer. Messes are okay.

Ambrose:

Ambrose smiled. “The celerey’s completely unnecessary, I assure you.” He leaned his chin on his hand. “Something tells me it wouldn’t taste right to me anyway.”

He took the glass and took a pull, smiling as he pulled it away, a little bit of a red mustache left behind on his face. “Excellent! Thank you, Dude.”
He settled into the seat and looked at his company. “You know… I have an idea. A lot of us are uncomfortable with the present… state of affairs… we should do some sort of drinking game … have to express a positive – or at least interesting – aspect.”

The Dude:

"Huh?" - the Dude was surprised by Ambrose's suggestion. "H-okey ... mmmm ... I never? I haven't played that one since high school, man."

"No weird sex shit, of course. Cuz we are on camera and all. And we have to face each other come morning" - he put the bloody mary in front of Ambrose.

Greer:

Greer cocked her head. "I Never? How do you play?"

Ambrose:

Ambrose nearly choked on the Bloody Mary as he took a sip. Then he nearly did so again at Greer's question.

“Well, I Never wasn’t exactly what I meant, but … I’m game” He smiled. Angelina had roped him into this on more than one occasion before. And as much as he complained about it, it admittedly was a great ice breaker and could be rather humerous.

“You’ve never played??” Ambrose replied to Greer, startled. “Well, you go around in a circle, and take turns saying something you haven’t done . And if one of the other people HAS done it, they take a drink.”

The Dude:

"Yeah. So you have to pay close attention. Because if someone says "I never ate crickets" and you drink - then you are telling us that you have indeed committed that cardinal sin, Greer." - the Dude smiled.

Greer:

Greer looked horrified for a moment, before getting the joke and grinning.

"That's a horrible joke and you're a mean boy for making it." She sniffed, taking anouther swig of her drink. "Okay, I'm game. Who starts?"

Ambrose:

Ambrose was already sniggering, which probably wasn’t a good start. He held up his glass. “I might as well” he smiled, and gave a sly look to their scruffy friend. “I’ve never done drugs”. He beamed, sitting down his glass.

The Dude:

The Dude smiled wide and downed his beer. Then, looking up at everyone else he shrugged: "I'm glad that ones' over with. I was afraid you'd guys get mean on me and start getting specific."

Then he put his chin on his hand and looked at Cassidy and Greer with an assanite spark in his eyes: "I've never kissed a guy." Oh, he was gonna get these girls SOOO drunk ...

Greer:

Stupid Dude. He had to bring that up, didn't he? Greer looked away, not touching her drinking and feeling very embarrassed.

Ambrose:

Ambrose smirked at the Dude. “well, There’s always room for that later” He winked. “Thanks for the suggestion.
Ambrose then, as he left his drink sit for the second question as well, boggled at Greer, who hadn’t touched hers yet. Never been kissed…? And she must be well over his age! “You… understood the rules, right, Greer?” He said, placing his foot firmly in his mouth.

Cassidy:

Cassidy had taken a small sip after the "never kissed a guy" thing, and grimaced. She wasn't sure she liked drinking games, never having done one before, and doing anything with her new tongue was terribly awkward.

"I don't see what the big deal is, if you haven't. I never kissed a guy until I was, oh, eighteen or something." She shrugged, attempting to pretend this didn't vaguely bother her.

The Dude:

Trying to make up for Ambrose's blunder, the Dude wushled Greer's hair, then replied for her to Ambrose: "Of course she understands the rules, man. Greer's our smart cookie."

And she's just holding out for the cutest bug she can find, eh Greer? Or grasshopper or girl or guy. Ya know. Whatever." - he grinned. "Your turn, Greer. C'mon, sweet revenge!"

Greer:

Greer sighed, rolling her eyes at the Dude. "I'm twenty-seven, but I never, I dunno, it just didn't occur me. When I say I've never been a social person, I am not in anyway kidding."

She thought for a moment, trying to come up with something to embarass Ambrose. "I've never lost an epee match."

Ambrose:

Ambrose had reddened as he realized that she HAD realized the rules, and gulped. "I'm sorry, Greer! I... didn't mean any offense!" Just as he was wondering if perhaps she might have kissed girls, his apology turned into a mock-sour look as he knocked back his own glass. After wiping off his mouth he spoke up. “Everyone has to start somewhere.” He sighed. “And you’ve never done an actual epee match..?”

He turned his attention to Cassidy. “That makes it your turn, if I am correct.”

Cassidy:

Cassidy wasn't really sure what epee was, but she didn't feel like admitting that fact and she was pretty sure it meant she didn't have to drink, anyway.

"Oh, my turn?" Great. Cass grimaced and looked around. "I've never... um." There were a lot of things she'd never done, actually. "I've never... I've never had a cat or dog as a pet."

*Ambrose doesn’t drink*

The Dude:

The Dude shrugged and took a sip of his beer: "I got Captain Morgan. And I had a dog when I was a kid. A black retriever mutt named Andy."

Greer:

Greer took a swig, coughing a little. "Nope, only sabre and foil. And we had a german shepard/rottweiller mix when I was little. She was my dad's."

Ambrose:

Ambrose nodded, feeling awkward again for making her spar him in a type of fencing that she had been completely unfamiliar.
“My parents didn’t like pets…. They were too concerned about the clenliness of the house to let any of us get one” A frown tugged at his mouth. “Anyway..” He chewed on the idea for the next prompt. “I have never played a musical instrument.”

*Greer doesn’t drink*

*Cassidy Drinks*

*The Dude doesn’t drink*

Cassidy:

Cassidy peers at the others over the rim of her glass, and drank. "I played piano for a few years, when I little," she said, awkwardly. "I wasn't very good. I eventually quit."

The Dude:

The Dude nodded, then looked around. Folks weren't drinking. Greer barely had a sip all night. Hmmmm ... what did these three had in common that he could nail all of them on?

"I've never went to college" - he finally announced. Which was kinda true. He had taken some class at the community college, but those were night classes.

*Ambrose scowls ruefully and takes another drink*

*Cassidy grimaces and drinks*

*Greer takes two drinks, one for undergrad and one for grad*

Greer:

Greer frowned at her nearly empty bottle. "Dude, can I have another one? Hmm, let's see, what have I never done? I've never been on a boat!" Ha ha, neener!

*Ambrose gave an overdramatic, playful sigh and polished off his Bloody Mary* "My parents' yaht"

*Cassidy took a swig of Guinness* "Rental canoe when I was a kid."

The Dude grinned wistfully and raised his glass high: "In memory of "Liberty Manatee", the bravest ship of the Marathone fleet."

He downed the White Russian, then stood up to refill for Greer, himself and Ambrose: "Hey Greer, you want the cider again or do you want the grasshopper? And another mary for you, right Ambrose?

Ambrose:

“Indeed!” Ambrose got up and grabbed from dude the second Bloody Mary and sat back down in the stool. He looked to be in a muuuch better mood than he had been since growing fur. And if one looked carefully, they might notice something wiggling back and forth in the back of his shorts.

“My turn!” Ambrose declared. “Hrmmm… I have never… gotten into a fistfight” He finished proudly, clonking his drink down on the table.

*The Dude drinks*

*Greer drinks* I was ten, and a boy in my class called me names, so I kicked his shins until he fell down.

Cassidy peered at her drink but didn't touch it. "I dunno. I never did anything like that."

The Dude:

The Dude laughed, placing the mint colored drink in front of Greer: "You go girl. Heh ... I've gotten into a few fights in my life. But i usually get clobbered."

"Damn, I still can't believe Thorn knocked me out ..." - he grinned and drunk from his glass

Cassidy:

"Oh, my turn." Cassidy pursed her lips thoughtfully. Her tongue flickered out and in, and for once, she wasn't even aware of it. "I've never... I've never eaten tofu."

*Dude drinks*

*Greer BIG drink*

*Ambrose toasts Cassidy* "Good one" *And knocks back his drink as well*

The Dude:

Wow, Cassidy's tongue was kinda creepy. In a cool kinda way ... It was the Dude's turn. He pondered: "I've never met anyone famous."

Ambrose shook his head with a smile and tipped back the drink.

*Greer doesn't drink*

*Cassidy doesn't drink*

Greer:

Greer tapped her chin. "I've never spent more than ten bucks on a shirt."

"You're doing this on purpose!" Ambrose accused, drinking a big gulp

*Cassidy drinks* "Maybe a few times. For nice shirts."

The Dude laughed and drunk from his glass: "Well, back in my youth I had to buy a suit for the Homecoming dance ... so yeah, that shirt was more then 10 bucks I think."

Ambrose:

Ambrose pondered, licking the red mustache from his lips again. Finally he shrugged with a buzzed indifferent. "I’ve never been married!”

*Cassidy doesn't drink*

The Dude:

The Dude, who was happily chuckling at Ambrose a second ago got all grim all of a sudden. He looked at his glass, swirling the milky liquid with ice cubes around in it, then looked up at everyone and took a long drink

"Heh ... been there, done that ..."

Greer:

Greer stared, not drinking. "Really?"

Ambrose:

Ambrose gave the Dude a long look. "Married..?" He felt suddenly awkward looking at the suddenly sullen look on his sealion-ish friend. "I.... I'm sorry.. I.. said something wrong, didn't I?"

Cassidy:

Cassidy blinked between the Dude and Ambrose. "...but..." She bit her lip to keep herself from saying something stupid, and then winced; stupid new teeth.

The Dude:

The Dude looked at all the shocked reactions and smiled kinda guilty: "Yep, sure was." -he swirled the ice cubes in the glass again. Why couldn't the past just leave him alone ...

Greer:

Greer recovered as quickly as she could, reaching over and placing a hand over one of the Dude's. "I'm sorry."

Ambrose:

Ambrose scratched the back of his head, feeling the tension building, and really not wanting things to get worse than they already were.... Had the marriage been that bad? Had something happened?

“Well, it’s okay, Dude…” He forced a smile “You… ah… you’ve got us?” He winced.

Cassidy:

"I... I guess you're divorced, then?" Cassidy asked, and immediately regretted it. Dumb, Cass. Dumb.

The Dude:

The Dude scratched his head and looked up at Ambrose: "Well ... actually I'm widowed. Anyway. 'S been a while" - he grinned and stood up.

"Hey guys, sorry to be a sore looser here, but I gotta go take a leak 'n stuff. Eh, be seeing you all." he walked out, hoping that the other's would just let him be for a while.

Greer:

Greer took her hand back, watching her friend leave. Poor thing! Who knew there were such downsides to relationships? "Um, should we keep going?"

Ambrose:

Ambrose shrugged helplessly. "I... geez... I wonder what happened... widower? " He swallowed. "I... had no idea.." He thought back to his own lamenting several nights ago to the Dude about lost loves… and realized just how self-centered he had been… suddenly the comment of “At least She’s alive” made much more sense.”

Ambrose looked at the half-drunk second glass. “I’m not sure…”

Cassidy:

"It does sort of ruin the mood, doesn't it?" Cassidy rubbed her forehead. "God, I'm an idiot. Me and my big mouth." Tomorrow, she'd find him, and apologize. Vehemently.

Greer:

Greer quietly downed the rest of her drink, about three-quarters of a glass full. Setting it down, she moved around to behind the bar to clean it, ignoring the alcohol induced dizzinrss. "Want anything else?"

Ambrose:

Ambrose shook his head. "No, but thank you, Greer. I'll... just finish what I've got" He gave her a smile as he finished the rest of the red liquid and then carried the glass over to the sink behind the bar.

He looked over to the two ladies that remained and suddenly felt very on-the-spot. "I... ah... is there anything I can do?" He finished lamely.

Cassidy:

"I dunno. I might just head back to my room with the last of this." Cassidy peered down at her Guinness with a shrug.

It was starting to cool down and she was feeling a bit sluggish and sleepy, and not the sort of sleepy she usually got after a pint or two.

Greer:

Drying off her glass, she went to put it away and nearly fell over, settling for stumbling into Ambrose. "Woah, sorry about that." Smiling at him, she turned to respond to Cassidy and frowned. "Are you okay?"

Ambrose:

"Whoa there!" Ambrose reached out to steady her, holding her firmly by the shoulders. A moment later he smiled and blushed a bit, steadying her and letting her go.

He nodded to Cassidy. “It’s been a…. trying day. For both of you” he smiled sympathetically. “I could walk you two back if you like” He offered with a small courtly bow.

Cassidy:

"I'm okay," Cassidy protested. "I'm just... just a bit tired." Not sleepy, or drunk, just... tired and lethargic. She shook herself. "But I wouldn't argue to an escort."

Greer:

Greer looked at Cassidy a little longer, trying to puzzle out why the other woman made her think of steak. "Yes. Home. Tis a plan!"

Ambrose:

Ambrose nodded and stepped forward between the two women. "It would be an honor." He bowed, feeling a bit buzzed despite the depressing news about the Dude, and started walking, daringly wrapping arms around each of their shoulders.

Cassidy:

Cassidy fidgeted uncomfortably a bit, but accepted the support gladly. Besides, he was all warm and stuff, and that was nice, even if it didn't make much sense.