"Don't you think you've had enough by now?"

It was an innocent enough question. Probably somewhere near the forefront of Thaddeus Duke's mind was concern about being Velvet Rabbit protocol or New York licencing restrictions. There was another thought, perhaps even more prominent, that held some genuine concern for the welfare of Kieran King. For his part, however, Kieran honed straight in on the more cynical option.

"I'm off the clock," he said, as he shot back the entire nip of whisky in one posted gulp. His throat burned as he asked for another. Thad considered his role here carefully. Yes, he was tending bar here at the Rabbit, as he often did on Tuesdays; all earnings donated to charity of course. But he was also the General Manager of the XWF's Madness brand, and Kieran King is one of the biggest names on his roster. When he's sober anyway.

Thad settles the bottle of Lagavulin 16 onto the bar as he pulls a clean glass from a rack down below. "Maybe sit on this one for a bit. It's your last one."

Kieran shrugged as the glass slid across the countertop. The liquor sloshed its way up the glass, but didn't spill over. Of course it didn't spill over, Kieran thought to himself; Thaddeus Duke is good at everything.

That was kind of why he was here, to be honest. Usually it's his bosses' minions, mistresses, or minstrels serving him drinks. Not the boss themselves. It feels good to have the balance of power evened out a bit more. And maybe that was a credit to Thad himself.

The titties certainly made him feel better too. If he had to be in New York - and Kieran hated New York - he may as well get plastered on good whisky and then get even better titties all up in his face. The Velvet Rabbit was the place to be for anybody who needed a little cheering up. That fit Kieran pretty well. He had taken a swing at the new XWF World Championship, crested a whole ruse to get himself the shot, and it worked. Thaddeus Duke wasn't just good at mixing up Old Fashioneds, he also knew a good moneymaking opportunity when he saw it. Kieran provided exactly that. And then… he flubbed it. There wasn't an excuse available for him to use. Myra Rivers beat him, clean as a whistle, and he knew it.

And the world keeps turning.

Myra's moved on, finding herself caught up between the new faces of Penelope and Sahara - the latter of which definitely caused Kieran to cock an eyebrow in Thad's direction again, he just didn't care enough to go any further with it. About Myra, about Penelope, about Sahara, or about Thad himself. He had bigger things to worry about.

Like his now-empty glass.

He hadn't nursed it like he was advised.

Thad heard the glass hit the bar top and sent a cautionary glance down the row. Kieran smiled innocently. Or tried to. It probably came across much different than that. A gentle shake of Thad's head confirmed that another one wasn't coming. If Kieran wanted to keep this night going, he'd have to find another way.

He coughed as he pushed himself up from the bar stool and spun around. His feet came a split second later but this wasn't his first rodeo, and he had enough wherewithal to stablise himself. Each step through the relatively busy crowd required an extra level of concentration that he was able to pull off expertly.

Until he didn't.

His brain said 'step left'. His body decided to step right.

And he crashed right into somebody.

"Watch where you're fucking going, will you?" That's what Kieran thought he said. Who knows how it actually came out as.

"That's a bit rude, sexy stubble," Adi Goldblum said. Her smile was half-slanted but not quite as turned upside down as Kieran's world was.

'Oh shit. I'm sorry, Adi,' is what he meant to say next. 'Are you having a good time? Hey, what do you think about getting out of this place, you know… together.' All of those would've been perfect.

Kieran might not know what he actually did say, but the look on Adi's face suggested it definitely wasn't any of the aforementioned.

His blurred vision didn't even get the pleasure of staring after her as she walked away. That made the situation doubly bad for him. Adi was just about one of the only people in this fucking business Kieran actually enjoyed - and not just because he wanted to 'get up in there' as he would comfortably say whenever the opportunity would arise in casual conversation (which was far more often than one would expect, begging the question as to whether it was really that casual after all or if there was some grander intent at play).

Adi's departure made Kieran's feet heavy. He felt himself begin to be sucked into the floor, as if the crowd around him were about to pour over him like some surging wave.

Having seen it play out in other people, Kieran knew too well that when one is at a low point, they often make rash decisions that do more harm than good. Unfortunately, Kieran wasn't quite able to spot that for himself as a wiry old Japanese man hobbled towards him on a cane.

"Kieran-San? My name is Sensei Abe Lincoln and I have proposal for you, mmhmm."

Kieran swayed on his feet, unable to find words.

The sensei continued anyway.

"My client believe you and he have lot to discuss.

Come, let me introduce you to Shujin Yama."