[SB] Dust on the Bottle

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau winced as he looked around the shop in Mexico. They'd hit land a while ago, and of course he'd headed off to take a look at the souvenirs. Most of it looked like the kind of kitsch that kind of amused Beau but didn't have him digging into his pockets to pull out cash or anything. Plus, he was fairly certain what he wanted to find: some alcohol.

For once though, he didn't want it for himself. Or, well, not totally for himself. He wanted to legally buy a bottle for the honeymoon, something he could bring out to remind Liz with when they finally got to that blessed night. First though, he needed to see if he could find something around here that looked like it wouldn't taste awful. So there he was, roaming around the stands and looking around.

It was then that he felt a little tug on his pocket. Beau turned just in time to catch the young woman walking very nervously away. The musician sighed, shook his head, and turned. "Hey, someone stop her!" he yelled, pointing and running toward her, which unfortunately meant going against the tide of the crowd. "That girl, right there... the... the seniorita! She got my money!" Or, well, some of it. The few bills Beau had in that pocket as opposed to shoved down his shoe or tucked into his underpants.

Still, it was the principle of the matter.

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan wasn't all that impressed as she walked around Mexico. She'd rather have been back on her parents' estate, or on a vacation to the Caribbean or Hawaii. Then again, it was nice for a change to spend spring break somewhere different. She looked around, and then she heard the yelling and looked towards the sound. A woman walking away and looking suspicious while a guy was fighting the crowd. Ryan, on the other hand, was walking with the crowd. The woman was coming towards her. Ryan let her metal detection radar take over and let everything but the woman blur. The woman fortunately had had surgery. A metal pin was still in there. She concentrated and put an arm out to her side, stopping the pin from moving at all. The woman stopped. Understandably. The pin was large enough that it might hurt a bit. Not enough pull to truly hurt the woman though. Not that Ryan particularly cared, but it was always comforting to others to know that.

"Give the man back his money."

[Beau LaRoux]

Some kinda pale, freaky lookin' type had stepped out and intervened. Beau actually pulled up short, staring and blinking for a few moments before realizing that he'd better hurry up and intervene. He jogged up, already feeling something slide over him. It was kind of distracting, really, some sort of strange nagging in the back of his head. He brushed it aside.

"Yep, jus' hand over the peso an' we'll be fine," he said, waving his hands again. The woman looked sort of scared, which made Beau wonder what precisely the paler girl had done. he looked over at her. She likely wasn't from around here, though Beau supposed he'd been surprised by the paleness of a few of the locals before. He couldn't quite shake that nagging feeling he usually got when he pulled near mutants, which meant that this was probably one of those.

The poor thief looked about ready to bolt with a strong word. Her eyes were flicking around, and Beau could already tell she was about to bolt. A few people were gathering to look too. Were this Kalispell, Beau would know just what to do, but here...

[Ryan Alexander]

The woman handed over the money and Ryan took a deep breath, letting go of the hold she had on the woman and letting her arm drop to her side. She smirked, moving through the crowd towards the guy who'd lost his money.

"You okay now? She had some nerve, eh?" Her Canadian accent was seeping through. It was a mix of many different accents really, but with a few distinctions. She smiled.

"People are desperate without money. Something I vow never to be. Without money, and desperate. Neither of those attributes are appealing to me." She chuckled.

[Beau LaRoux]

Well, at least it looked like Beau would get his money without anyone getting too horribly hurt. He rubbed the back of his head, wondering if he should be trying to press charges or follow the woman or apologizing or something. Hell, part of him was even starting to feel a bit guilty about making a big deal: wasn't that much money and the woman looked like she needed it.

Which was still on his mind as the girl approached, speaking in an accent that definitely wasn't local. "Eh," he said, shrugging, "probably jus' needed the money or somethin'. If I had more I wouldna worried," he waited, looking expectantly at the girl, expecting his money to be returned. The girl seemed to think at least somewhat along his lines: the woman had gotten desperate.

"Well," Beau said, grinning, "we got it better off than some o' the folks 'round here. 'course, I got some talents to fall back on myself," he turned his expectant waiting into a handshake, nodding, "Name's Beau, came in on the ship for a visit an' all. Reckon you're with the same group," based on the fact that he was getting that kind of skin crawly feeling he often got around mutants. Then again, he could just be getting that from the air, considering where he was.

[Ryan Alexander]

She handed him back the money with a smile.

"You're from the S.S. Anne too, huh? Yeah I'm from there as well. I just transferred to Bellefonte recently though. I have some certain talents to fall back on as well. They just got you your money back, in fact." Ryan smirked.

"Ryan Alexander I. Pleased to meet you. You want to get out of this crowd and go somewhere to talk? I think I saw a small cafe with some decent specials a ways back."

[Beau LaRoux]

Well, at least she handed him back the money. Beau slid it right back into his pocket, since it wasn't like he had another place to put it. It was just a portion of his income after all: essentially waiting for people to make off with it. The girl didn't seem to respond to his attempted handshake, but Beau didn't let it get to him.

He just nodded. "Yeah, you don't exactly look like you're from 'round these parts," he admitted. it did sound a bit racist, maybe, but hell: nearly everyone here had the dark skin. "An' that's a helluva name," he offered, bobbing his head again, smiling to further emphasize that he meant the comment as a compliment.

Though he had to raise his eyebrows at the other. "Well, I reckon that might be okay? I'm kinda engaged," he raised a hand to rub at the back of his head, "so I don't wanna lead you on or nothin'. Heck, I'm technically out 'cuz I was hopin' to pick up some Mexican hootch. Honest."

[Ryan Alexander]

"I don't, huh? Well that's to be expected. I was up at Acton Vale, and then St. Bethany's. I'm not really American." She shrugged. Then he mentioned about him being engaged and not wanting to lead her on. And mentioned looking for some Mexican liquor. She laughed.

"Firstly, you wouldn't be leading me on in the least. I just want to meet someone as a friend. Honest. I'm much more interested in women than in men." She wasn't about to hide anything. Ryan was an open book, really. Kind of. Where that was all concerned.

"As for the alcohol, be careful. There's a lot of peddlers out here who try to sell you the cheap stuff. Or the cheap stuff that looks like the expensive stuff. I'd suggest getting a bottle of tequila. It's what Mexico's famous for, after all. And..." She tapped her chin, but then she was distracted by a cart with burritos and bought one. Ryan unwrapped it and took a bite, swallowing before looking puzzled. What had she been talking about again? Oh YEAH.

"I didn't learn as much about tequila from my parents, but what you're probably wanting is a nice reposado or anejo. Don't go for gold. It's just made to imitate those two. I've heard that reposado and anejo are where the action's at. They're nicely aged. Especially the anejo. So...yeah. You go to Mexico for the tequila." She nodded in agreement with herself.

"Mexico for tequila, Russia for vodka and Italy or France for wine. And let me tell you, if I had the choice I'd go straight for the wine. It is divine." She wasn't drinking age, but her parents had brought alcohol home before and let her have a bit. But tequila hadn't happened. They'd just taught her about it so she'd know.

[Beau LaRoux]

"Well, you don't 'xactly look like a local," Beau pointed out. Of course he didn't either, nor did he much sound like one, though at least he was personable enough that most of the locals didn't seem to mind. It didn't seem to stop some of them from attempting to rob him, apparently, but Beau had prepared for that.

Well, probably the first time Beau had ever heard someone e that blunt, though there was something about liking women as well. That had him wincing internally, but he'd learned to keep his mouth shut about it. If she wanted to end up like that, that was her prerogative, after all. Certainly wasn't anything he had to worry about. He was tempted to mention that he'd only said the whole not interested thing because it had sounded like she'd been asking him out.

Except she'd instead simply continued talking, going on about the tequila. Beau stood there, listening, slightly impressed as she prattled off more information than he'd thought possible. There was a pause where she went to get a burrito, and Beau stood still, wondering if he should be leaving her to that and doing his thing or...

...or she was going to keep going. Well, it was all bits that Beau wanted to know, so he kept listening and nodding. He'd heard the terms before, though they'd slipped his mind. "Sounds like you know more 'bout the stuff than I do," he finally said as she rounded off. "Though I'm definitely lookin' for somethin' local. Don't wanna break the bank none either." Beau paused for a moment, eying the girl, wondering. "So, don't reckon that you happen to know some place 'round here or somethin'?"

Hey, if she knew all that, there was a good chance, after all.

[Ryan Alexander]

"No I don't. Sorry about that. My parents mostly imported the stuff. If you're not wanting to break the bank but still wanting quality, silver tequila would probably be the best. It's the basic. Before it becomes reposado or anejo, it is silver tequila. The gold colour in the others comes from the colour leaching from the barrels it's aged in. Whereas the gold tequila gets that colour from numerous artificial flavourings and colourings. Thereby making the tequila even more unhealthy than it already was." She laughed, shrugging.

"However, we could look together if you'd like. I need some alcohol myself. For an art piece I have in mind."

[Beau LaRoux]

Beau winced a little, making the motion exaggerated, as the girl mentioned breaking the bank. No, he definitely didn't want to do that. He probably could dig deep into his pockets, but he only wanted a bit of something. After all, he had a wedding to be saving up for. Though as Ryan continued, it continued being clear that she had a pretty good idea of what was going on and what wouldn't necessarily decimate Beau's wallet.

"Reckon that'll work then," he said, nodding. He gestured for her to come along and started walking. "Heard 'bout a place 'round here, figured I'd be checkin' it out an' all. Though I do gotta ask: what you gonna be usin' the booze for in your art? Need to get good an' plastered for the muse to come rearin' her head?"

She wouldn't be the first one that Beau had met which made that claim, that was for certain.

[Ryan Alexander]

Ryan heard him pose the question about her art and she couldn't help but give a light laugh. It was a sort of melodic sound.

"No no I'm fine. I'm always getting new ideas. So many I may have to consider selling the paintings soon. I need the alcohol because I'm planning on painting a bottle of empty alcohol on a canvas. Then I'm going to pour alcohol in certain places on the canvas. And light it up. And only let certain pieces of it burn. Kind of a cool thing to do with the flammable nature of the stuff. And I figured it could represent the damage alcohol can do if someone becomes too dependent on it. If they drink a whole bottle, for example." She smiled.

"Not that it will stop me, but what do you think? Think it might look okay?"

[Beau LaRoux]

Yeah, that... that definitely sounded insane. Beau had met a few temperamental artists in his time; it sort of happened when you involved yourself in a local art scene of some kind. Beau had been involved with musicians and the like for years. So yeah, this was definitely something he'd experienced before. Didn't make it sound all that less odd though.

"Sounds like an interestin' project," he said, picking his words carefully. "Don't reckon it's my sort of thing." There, that should work, right? It's not like everyone could appreciate everything, after all. Beau looked away, satisfied at the response, again orienting them to head in the direction he'd been given.

"You reckon that's a good place to look?" he asked, nodding and pointing at a place that advertised liquor in what looked to be mostly English. They were in a fairly touristy area of Mexico, after all: It only made sense that they'd want to appeal to the gringos visiting.

[Ryan Alexander]

"I don't know. I don't shop much. My parents imported." She shrugged, looking around.

"Honestly, that store looks like a tourist trap that'll rip you off. You've probably be better off with the smaller shop with the Spanish cursive script on the window. Might not understand a word they're saying, but they'll probably be loads cheaper. The tourist places know they can get away with ripping people off for the joy of seeing English. I came across places like that when my parents took me to the Caribbean."

[Beau LaRoux]

"Imported, huh?" Beau asked chuckling. He nodded though. Wasn't the first time he'd rubbed elbows with someone that wouldn't even have given him a second look back home. The Bellefontes were pretty upper class, and Erika counted among his closest friends, certainly one of Liz's.

Ryan followed it up with some solid advice. "Well, that does sound like a plan," Beau admitted. He altered their direction, heading for the store that Ryan had pointed out. "Though I don't speak the lingo," he admitted, pausing for a moment to let someone else pass in front of him. Beau nodded and smiled, raising a hand in a friendly sort of gesture while they finished walking by. He picked up as soon as the way was clear.

"So I reckon they're gonna figure out that I ain't exactly from 'round here," Beau through a bit more twang into the words, as if that was really needed at this point.