Dustin traced a finger around the rim of his glass of rum. The very first legal liquor he will consume. He had never been one for the drinks, but he had shared a beer or two with his dad. But right now, he wants to get literally knocked out drunk. He sighs. It had taken a full day of pickpocketing to get enough cash to splurge for a night of drinks. "Well, might as well start now as never," he murmurs, raising the glass to his lips.

The Cuppa wasn't her usual watering hole, that much was obvious by her standards. So, why was tonight any different? Zita had just been kicked out of the bar she was hanging out at. Seemed they weren't to fond of mutants, or at least the ones that set drunk-off-their-asses humans on fire. She chuckled at the memory. In her defence, he was trying to pull a move on her and didn't take 'no' for an answer. Zita, at that moment, decided that the Cuppa was the next best place to get drunk. At least around here.

When the little bells on top of the door rang, Zita realized she was a little buzzed. She frowned slightly, thinking she should be way more drunk than she already was. Shrugging, she strolled on over to the cashier and ordered a beer. Locating an empty table, she proceeded to down about a third of it before she had even sat down. Looking to the table next to her, her interest turned from getting absolutely drunk to finding a drinking partner. A young blonde guy with rum in hand and the body of a surfer. 'Damn', she thought to herself, 'young boy is fine'.

Tapping him on his shoulder, she asked him, "Hey, want some company?" She held up her beer as though to indicate her intentions.

Dustin looks up when someone taps his shoulder. He looks into the eyes of a very pretty woman "Hey, want some company? she asks.

Dustin shrugs and motions to the seat across from him. "Sure, why not?" he says. He reaches into his coat and pulls out a scarlet sheet of origami paper. He moves his hands as if he were folding it by hand, but is actually using his mutation to fold it. Finally, he presents the girl with an origami rose. "An eternal flower for a pretty lady?" he offers.

Her offer accepted, Zita got up from her seat and sat in the chair across from the young man. She had half-expected him to say no, he seemed a little grumpy. Nevertheless, Zita was pleased. When she had made herself comfortable, she took another swig of her beer. Swishing the bottle around, she realized she was more than half way done the drink already.

However, the motion of the man taking out a piece of paper from his jacket momentarily distracted her from her dissatisfaction. She watched as he folded the piece of paper and was amazed when it turned into a rose. An eternal flower for a pretty lady, he called it. This made Zita chuckle, a small smile on her face. He must fancy himself a charmer, then. Not that this bothered her at all. It was a welcome change of pace for her. She took the flower and placed it beside her drink.

Taking another sip of her beer, she told him, "The name's Zita, by the way. You?" Unfortunately for Zita, though, that last sip drained her bottle and left her without a source of alcohol. Holding up a finger to the young man to indicate she wanted him to wait, she hurried over to the cashier. After a brief chat with the woman, she returned with two beers in hand. She offered the man the other beer, telling him, "You look you want to be hammered. I told the lady to keep the rounds coming, so we should be all set." She smiled at him and began drinking her beer.

As the girl - Zita - comes back with two beers, he realizes that his rum is gone. He accepts the drink with a smile. "I'm Dustin," he replies to her earlier question.



"Yeah, i just feel like getting drunk right now. What about you? You don't look like the usual sort to come to a place like this," he says.

So, his name was Dustin? God, if he wasn't a surfer, then she didn't know who would be one anymore. Smiling as her accepted the drink, Zita took another sip of her own. She was going to have fun with this one, she just knew it. Obviously though, she would play nice. At least for Dustin's sake. Didn't want such a pretty face catching on fire.



Zita chuckled at his statement, "Yeah, I guess you could say that this isn't my usual scene." Looking around, she let out a small sigh before taking another swig of beer. "Got in a bit of a tussle in the bar I was in earlier…Yeah, they didn't care to keep me around." She let out a laugh. "Not that I give a shit. It's their loss. What about you? What's the moody backstory that brought you to drink your sorrows away?" By the cheeky smile on her face, it was obvious she was teasing him. Then again, he did seem the sort to have some sort of sob story as an excuse to drink.

Dustin raises an eyebrow at the woman. "You're quite curious about someone you just met, aren't you?' he asks. Then he shrugs. "I saw my little brother a few days ago from a distance. I haven't seen him in two years. It made me a bit melancholy, which i hate."



"So i decided to get drunk, see if that would ease the mood," he says. "And you?"

Zita let out a laugh, telling him, "Hey, I'm allowed to be curious. I don't drink with just anyone, so you know." She took another long sip as she listened to him regale her with his story. So he had a younger brother? She wondered what that would've been like. She herself was only child, so she couldn't even begin to understand what it must feel like not to see them for over two years.



Her smile faltered as he questioned her reason for getting drunk tonight. Thinking for a minute, she finally told him, "Got a guy I need to get over. He doesn't feel the same about me as I feel about him." Sighing, she took another sip of her drink. Shrugging, she added, "I don't suppose you know how it is?" Realizing she had finished her drink, she gestured to the woman behind the cash. Almost immediately, she had another beer on the table.

Dustin nods. "Had a girl once who left me for another guy," he replies. "Well, she was actually cheating on me for three months before i caught her. Then I left her. I don't deal well with cheaters." He takes a sip of his beer. "So what happened between you and this guy?"

Zita grimaced at his response. "Ouch.", was really all she could offer in way of sympathies. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to catch someone cheating on you. She herself never had a relationship last long enough to be considered more than a fling. She pitied Dustin while simultaneously being jealous of him. Jealous that he could actually hold a relationship for what she assumed to be at least three months.



She was drinking her beer when his question came. She almost did a spit take. Coughing on her beer, she struggled to get it down without choking. "Wow, okay…ahem." She coughed again, clearing her throat, then took another sip to remove the weird feeling in her throat. "Well…" She told him, "That's the thing. Nothing happened. He didn't sleep with me the first time we met…Now I can't get him out of my head." Sighing, she added, "Pathetic, right?" She laughed at herself before once again returning to her beer. It felt strange to her, being this open to a complete stranger. Must be the alcohol.

"And you sleep with every guy when you first meet them?" he asks, raising an eyebrow as he drains the last of that glass of beer. Was that the eighth? Ninth? Or was it the tenth? He's never drunk so much in his life.

She was abort to retort, looking rather insulted, when she paused. Wait, did she sleep with every guy when she first met them? She had to think about that one. Trying to wrack her brain at this point was a less than brilliant move. Her head was hurting as she tried to think. A good sign she was pretty drunk. Realizing she hadn't answered his question, she told him, "No, not every guy. I mean, it'd be nice. But generally they don't like risking…um…" She paused; she was about to state 'catching on fire'. Should she tell him? She had no idea if he was human or not and she was pretty sure she'd scare him off the second she told him what she could do. In what she believe to be a rather clever rephrasing, she told him, "Well, let's just say, I get a little too freaky for them…If you know what I mean…"



Laughing at herself, the thought occurred to her that she had had at least a dozen or so beers at this point. The cashier did brilliant work of swapping out the empty bottles for fresh ones without her even realizing it. Looking at Dustin, she could see that he was pretty drunk too. That's when the idea hit her, "Hey, you wanna fool around or something?" She nodded her head towards the door, indicating she meant…well, anywhere but there. Maybe the park. Or maybe a hotel, there were plenty of those there. She just wanted to get out of there. She's was getting all hot and bothered in the "I-need-to-sleep-with-someone" sort of way.

Dustin gets up, tossing a handful of cash onto the table and takes Zita's hand. "I know just the place," he says, winking at her with a sexy smile.