Beyond My Grave: Nightlight

by AnnEldest

Friends Fur-ever

“Hey give me two of your finest glasses of wine,” Capper said as he handed the Bartender a hand of extra bits. “ make it special will you.”

The two cats sat at the bar. Shira had barely asked his name before he had offered to buy her a drink. She had only drank alcohol a couple of times in the past; only on rare special occasions. She wasn’t much for drinking, but she felt obligated to accept his generosity.

“You don’t mind wine do you Umm….?” Capper paused as he waited for her response.

“Shira, and no I don’t mind.”

Capper took notice of her soft elegant voice. Her eyes were quite piercing and enchanting. He took a glance at the cloak and item of her back. He saw how dirty her fur was and the sand that was embedded in it. He quickly got the idea that she was either poor or had traveled through some harsh conditions.

“You’re not from around here are you?”

“You got me there. It’s a bit of a little hike to my house.”

“More of the countryside?”

Shira nodded her head in response.

“Well, what brings you to the big city?”

Shira paused for a second as she thought of her answer. She needed to tell him the truth of why she was there and why she had traveled so far to find him, but she knew it would have to come in time. If she just blurted it out then he would just think she’s crazy.

“I wanted a new experience; I like to see a different world for a change.”

“Ahh I see, adventurous are we?” Capper said as he graved the two glasses of wine from the bartender. It was then that Capper started to draw his attention to the wrapped up item she carried. “What’s that?” He said as he took a small drink.

Shira took her glass and drank in unison with him. “It’s a gift for someone very important to me. I’ve carried it a great distance to give it to them.”

“Well, aren’t they very lucky to have you.”

“No,” Shira quickly caught on to what he was insinuating. “It’s for a family friend.”

“Ahh yes of course,” he said with a chuckle.

Shira then realized what he just did. He didn’t want to just ask her if that “someone” was her lover or not, so he got her to tell him. She smiled as she realized that she was playing his little game of “guess who”.

“I saw you at the table. You were watching our little match to the death.”

“Yes, I watched the match that you lost, mister”.

Capper held his glass before taking a drink. “Indeed I did.”

Shira squinted at his response. He seemed to calm for someone who had lost so much. “So why’d you do it?”

“Excuse me?” Capper said, putting down his glass.

“I saw a cat who didn’t lose on accident, it was intentional. So I just want to know what game you were playing.”

Capper sat back as he felt kinda exposed. His cards were always close to him, not allowing anyone to see them. Then here came this cat who seemed to know what his hand-tooled like. She had a good head on her shoulders as well.

“Well you see you win some and you lose some; it’s just the name of the game. Not every game is for the money.”

“True, but every game is for the gain. You always want to gain something. So, tell me capper, what did you gain from that game.

Capper took a long drink before putting it down. “Respect.” He held you his empty glass for the bartender to see. “Respect from the king himself.”

Shira was taken back at his answer. “Wait what? How is buying the dragon a drink and losing to him a way to gain his respect?”

She had watched him. Capper was surprised that she took note of him buying the dragon a drink. “Well, you see I lost to him, which means he’s still at the top. He’s still the “king of the table.”

“Ya and, so what. Didn’t you just prove to him that you’re a loser who isn’t worth his time.”

“What no of course not.” Capper seemed almost offended at the conclusion. “What he saw was a lower rookie who gambled and held a pretty good bluff. I impressed him if you will.”

“Wouldn’t you rather have won the money?”

“Well sure that would’ve been sweet, but then I would’ve been the center of the whole casino.” Capper took another drink. “See the point is you look down at the ones below you, but when one of them raises and challenges you but doesn’t quite beat you, you start to build a sense of respect for their skills.”

“That’s an interesting way of looking at that.”

“Well you hate the ones above you, you look down at the ones below you, but you relate to the ones on your level. It’s the name of the game.”

“How could you possibly predict that outcome?”

“That’s why it’s called gambling my darling.”

“So it’s about being good without being noticed.”

“Exactly. Kind of like you. You’re good, but you do a good job of not being noticed.”

Shira chuckled at the remark. “You have no idea Mr. Dapperpaws.”

Capper finished his second drink and stood up.” We should go.”

“Go where?” Shira asked as she finished her first drink.

“Anywhere, let's go have some fun. You said you were adventurous right?”

“You said I was?”

“And I heard no ejections.”

Capper held out his hand. She took it and got up from the chair. She still was trying to think of a way to deal with the real issue at paw. She needed to give him the item and tell him the truth of why she had traveled, but how could she just go right out and tell him.

“Actually could you lead me to a restroom? That wine seemed to have passed right through me.”

“Oh, of course, it’s just right down there,” Capper said as he pointed to a sign that said restroom.

Shira signed as she couldn’t help but feel lost in such a large place. “Could you wait right here for me?”

“Why of course Miss…?”

“Moonshine.”

“Moonshine?” Capper asked, quite amused.

“Yes, Shira moonshine.”

“Well then, I’ll be awaiting your return Miss Moonshine.”

Shira walked off as Capper sat down at one of the tables. She walked staring at the ground as she thought hard to herself. She was wasting a lot of time making small talk. At that point, she was just stalling for time until she could come up with a way to tell him the truth. She looked up to see the restroom sign right above her.

"Excuse me, Miss."

Shira turned to see a black unicorn with a black man. He wore a black suit and had unnatural dark eyes. He had a great big smile on his face as he held out his hoof. She looked at him awkwardly as she didn't recognize him.

"Umm hi, I'm sorry do I know you?"

"I hope not." The pony said as he laughed. "I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

"Excuse me?"

The walked closer to her as his smile grew larger. "I said I'm going to have to ask you to come with me."

Shira backed up a bit. She looked at the pony's uncanny smile. "Look I'm sorry but I don't even know you, and I need to get back to my boyfriend. He's been waiting for me for a while and he's going to start getting mad if I'm not back soon."

She had to think fast; the situation felt wrong somehow. She had the worst feeling about the pony and she couldn't figure out why. She decided to skip the bathroom break and just head back to Capper. She started to walk back before he put his hoof on her shoulder.

"I think you should come with me, now."

Shira froze as she felt a knife pressing against her back. The pony went right up against her and leaned close to her ear.

"Let's not do this in public. Let's take this somewhere private shall we?"

The pony grabbed her by the item on her back and started pulling her.

"Let go of me," Shira said as she knocked his hoove away.

"Shhh, we wouldn't want things to get messy in here now would we?" Shira continued to struggle as he slowly pulled her away.

"Babe is there a problem here?"

Shira and the pony looked up to see Capper standing with his arms crossed. His green eyes showed anger and aggression. Shira looked at him and then back at the pony. She caught on to Capper's game.

"No baby, this Stallion was just offering me a drink."

Capper walked closer to them and stared the pony down. "You hitting on my girl asshole?"

The pony stared into Capper's eyes looking for any deception. Once he saw no hesitation in the cat's aggression he noticed the attention their little issue was causing. The pony wasn't looking for a blood bath.

"No, of course not; I was just messing around. I'm sorry for the trouble." With that, the pony quickly hid the knife and let Shira go.

Capper grabbed Shira's paw and walked away with her. He put his arm around her waist and leaned in close to her.

"Thank you for that," Shira said as she clenched his paw.

"No problem, I'm sorry about that."

"It's fine."

"We should get a drink; I'm buying."

Shira glanced back to see the pony was trailing far behind them. "Yes, I think that's for the best."

They went to the bar counter and sat down. Capper ordered two more drinks and sat them down In front of him. He turned the glass until the light allowed him to see behind him. He could see the pony slowly walking up behind them. He turned over to Shira and grabbed her paw.

“This way my darling,” Capper said as he went straight into a crowd.

“Where are we going?”

Capper looked at Shira and then up over the crowd. “To find reinforcement. There is power in numbers.”

Capper led them to a table where the large dragon, that Capper had lost to, sat at. Capper went up next to him and showed the urgency in his eyes.

“Hey kid, back so soon are we?”

“He’s an Eager one boss,” one of the crew dragons said. “He loves the thrill of the game.”

“I’m here on Unofficial business.” Capper looked back to see the pony lost in the crowd. The pony hadn’t seen them yet. “We seem to have a certain fan of ours, and he’s not far behind.”

“Walk towards the asshole, slowly,” the dragon said as he saw who Capper was looking at. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

Capper took Shira’s paw and walked past the crowd. The pony Immediately saw them and went on their trail. The pony sped up until he was right behind them. He pulled out his knife and put it to his side. As he approached Capper and Shira, he drew it closer to his chest.

“Hey, jackass,” said the dark intimidating voice of the dragon. “Do we have a problem here?”

The pony looked beside him to see several other dragons. Capper noticed as the pony took an extra-long glance at the dragon's claws.

“Umm no, there’s no problem here. I was simply mistaken. I thought he was a different cat.”

“Well lucky for you pale, the cat you’re looking for isn’t in this casino. I suggest you leave to go fine then, and don’t come back looking for them either.”

“Yes, I can see that it’s for the best.” With that, the pony walked away and vanished into the crowd.

“Thank Tank, I owe you one,” Capper said as he signed in relief.

“Don’t worry about it kid. I’ll watch your back for assholes like that. We’ll keep an eye out for that prick.” Tank turned to Capper and gave him a pat on the back. “Now go on and have fun with your girl.”

“Thank you so much, Capper, that was incredible of you,” Shira said as she sat down at the bar.

“Don’t mention it, it’s all in good spirit. What I’m curious about is what did he want with you?”

“I don’t, I’ve never seen him before.” Shira took a drink as she signed to herself. She was running out of time to tell him the truth. “Capper we should go and do something else.”

Capper sat his drink down and chuckled. “Ya, like what?”

“I don’t know, but something fun and maybe adventurous.”

“Adventurous hmm?”

“Ya.”

Capper got up from his chair and sat a couple of bits down for a tip. “Well I’m all for getting out of here and doing something, but what exactly do you have in mind?”

Shira laughed as her mind almost drifted to an interesting place. She honestly didn’t care what they did; as long as they were away from the Dreaded creature and she could tell him the truth about himself, and the item she carried.

Comments

[toshibafox]

I have complete faith in Capper that he lost that game intentionally, he has that much charisma.