an evening with fools & tools

inside of a restaurant Organic Florist is drinking liquor and eating. Chicken Wrath and Joaquin are also eating. in the restaurant enters Alpha Purple Warrior with Doctor Middle Finger. ten minutes later Lord Golden Ass is inside of the restaurant with Ares.

while they all are eating Lord Golden Ass (Beau) asks about the others. Joaquin tells him that they all are doing their own thing. the ones who are there now are the only ones that agreed to eat as a group. ten minutes later Choco-Coco-Latte enters on the restaurant and sits with them.

"I enjoy eating with mortals. I don't know how to say it, but I will say it. being with you guys is like being close to some funny penguins that do funny things that stupid animals do. like I say funny creatures."

said Ares with honesty.

"I don't think penguin will be..."

was saying Doctor Middle Finger until he saw the facial expression on Ares and he stopped talking out of instinct, the instinct of survival.

"....like I was saying, I don't think there is a better word to describe us, funny stupid mortals that do mortal funny stupid things."

said Doctor Middle Finger as he was feeling 'Death' caressing his neck and back.

"you see there. that is what I am talking about, you guys are so adorable like some little useless cute pets that are useless for almost everything, but somehow you have that charm that makes you adorable and fun to watch."

said Ares thinking that he was being too polite.

"now I get why the Greek culture went to hell. I mean there are Greeks in the modern world but they are not the same as they were then nor is their religion the same."

whispered Joaquin to himself.

they kept eating peacefully. Chicken Wrath occasionally tells a lame joke or two. Doctor Middle Finger laughs silently. Alpha Purple Warrior laughs loudly so loud that even the people outside of the restaurant can hear him laughter.

Joaquin puts a cigar on his lips. he looks at everyone with a huge smile. he is happy to know that everyone else can relax for once and enjoy of a friendly meal with brothers of gunpowder. Joaquin looks at his meal feeling somehow melancholic by seen that he has found himself in the middle of a new family that he wishes to protect.

Chicken Wrath was telling his lame jokes when he notice the bitterness in Joaquin's gaze. he saw a tear on his friend's face. he tries to attract the attention of everyone so they don't see the shameful boss of the guild crying.

Beau laughs at the jokes while he is eating some good tacos de chicharron. Beau tries to not anger Ares but he is so hungry that he is afraid that he is going to eat a lot today. there is no way he is going to hold back with a devilish hunger like his.

"why are you crying you little mortal? are ya trying to pretend to be fine with those weeping woman like facial expressions? fear not my dear mortal, that is normal for a man to cry.... like a mortal once told me. a man has to cry when he has to, with no shame nor disgrace because that is the natural nature of a man after all."

yields Ares holding pride in his words.

"you are right we are only human. is normal for a male to cry with no shame when there is an obvious reason for the tears. the truth is that I lost my family years ago, only Chicken Wrath knew about this.... the point is that today I felt like I obtained a new family on you guys."

said Joaquin as tears are falling from his eyes.

there is an eminent feeling of sadness in the hearts of the friends who didn't know about Joaquin's loss. Joaquin tries to smile as he cleans the few tears on his eyes. he asks them to not tell the others about him crying. he doesn't want to be seem as weak on the eyes of their comrades.

Ares is drinking wine peacefully. he stands up and he lets them know that he has to go. they all listen with nothing else to say. Ares leaves feeling angry. Beau is afraid that he has eaten too much and he is going to be force tomorrow to do twice the work he has been doing so far.

Joaquin tells them that he doesn't like to drink because that reminds him of the old days. he takes a bottle of tequila and in a punch he swallows a lot of it. Joaquin puts the bottle down and he looks at the others in the table. he tells them that drinking isn't an appropriate thing to do daily, but when the time comes lets drink.

"life is full of random moments of choices that leads to one single path for each of us to walk alone. we might feel accompanied at times, but make no mistake that your path is yours alone and those moments are just temporal crossing paths that are not meant to be eternal. like someone else said before we were born alone to die alone."

said Organic Florist as he is holding a glass of wine.

"from who you all learn to be so dramatic at the moment of conversing? yo'all are so drunk in Shakespearean shit. I drink for you brothers."

said Alpha Purple Warrior as he seems to be somehow drunk already.

"I think I am leaving now. I have things to do in the base."

said Doctor Middle Finger as he stands up.

Doctor Middle Finger takes Alpha Purple Warrior with him. Chicken Wrath follows them to make sure that nothing happens to them. they had been drinking so it is obvious that none of the two are in their right minds.

Joaquin takes a packet of cigars out of his inventory. he puts a cigar on his mouth. he walks out of the restaurant to have a smoke for a moment. Choco-Coco-Latte follows him. he tells him that he also needs a smoke.

Organic Florist and Beau are left alone on the restaurant. Organic Florist was the one who drank the most jet he seems to be in a better condition than Beau. before everyone left they were all talking about many things, but now that those two are the only ones left inside they don't feel comfortable with each other.

Organic Florist asks him if he has a girlfriend. Beau tells him that he has a crush on Self-Bet. Organic Florist laughs loudly thinking that it was a joke. Organic Florist stops laughing when he sees the seriousness on Beau's face. Organic Florist looks at him.

"listen to me we are in no position to have one-sided crushes."

"why? because I don't know the real her? because I don't know how she actually looks like in real life? I don't care if I am blinded by hormones or fear, I do feel something real."

"that is not my point. half of the members of this guild are going to either die, give up or change teams before all of this is over. my point is that you don't have the time to think if what you feel is a pointless crush or love. you have to either confess your feelings to be rejected or accepted or give up on your feelings for your own good."

"I see your point. I can't prolong that inevitable when she can be gone at any moment."

"that is right. she might be strong, but don't forget that she is as human as we are. we all are mortal and we all die or give up at some point."

outside of the restaurant are Choco & Joaquin smoking. Joaquin tells him that he was too good at doing his work and too bad at taking care of his family when they were still alive. he admits that it was until they were already dead that he took breaks out of his work and he started to have time, time that was no longer needed.

Joaquin might seem normal to the eyes of those who don't know him. it is because Choco knows him that he knows how much pain is that man hiding behind that emotionless expression on his face.

Choco takes a picture of Sarah out of his inventory and he shows the picture to Joaquin. somehow he understood the meaning of the picture without asking a single question. it was evident that this was Choco's way of showing his weakness.

"is she dead? was she important to you?"

"yes she was... I feel responsible for her death in a way. I wasn't able to take the guilt out of my conscious. till this day I keep feeling guilt for many things that I did or didn't did on time."

"did you value her when she was at your side."

"more than anything. I gave my whole heart to her and I was at her side, but I wasn't able to stop her from dying nor I was able to be of any help."

"if you loved her and she knew how much you loved her. then there is no reason to feel regret when at least she died knowing that for you, she was the most especial person in the world."

Choco looks at the ground with a force smile. he wants to think that she was happy with him at her side till her last day alive. Choco looks up and he sees her in the middle of the road looking at him with a playful smile.

Choco wants to move. he wants to run towards her and hug her. when he was about to move he recovered his senses. she is not real. she is just another hallucination that comes and goes. she is no longer real but in his mind she becomes real once more.

Choco walks backwards as he pretends to not see her, to not see the phantom that torments him every once in a while. it doesn't matter if he is awake or asleep. it doesn't matter if he is in the real world or in here. he sees her ghost everywhere as a reminder of his past sins, a reminder of how drowned in guilt is his soul.

"you can see her.... don't you?"

asks Joaquin aware of what is happening.

Choco asks him how is that he knows. Joaquin keeps smoking avoiding the answer. he even tries to talk about something else. Choco asks once more.

"because I was you once. I used to see my little girl and my wife everywhere."

said Joaquin with a broken voice.

"oh I see, so we are not that different."

said Choco squeezing his fists.

"no we are not."

said Joaquin with a force smile.

"this isn't going to end.... is it?"

asked Choco trying to find solace in the words of a friend.

Joaquin with an awkward smile is also looking at the road. his wife is holding his child in her arms. both of them are waving their hands at him. Joaquin nods his head.

Joaquin asks Choco if he wants to go inside. Choco is quietly looking at the phantom that follows him everywhere. Joaquin touches his shoulder and tells to Choco that he is going to be waiting for him inside.

Joaquin enters inside of the restaurant. Beau is calling him. Beau is drunk and playing poker with other clients. Organic Florist is also drunk (he is at the moment only wearing his underwear.)

the owner of the restaurant walks in front of Joaquin and he charges him for the food and drinks that everyone had. Joaquin looks around. Beau & Organic Florist are gone. his skin changes tones when he sees the quantity of money he has to pay.

Joaquin exits the restaurant with a pale skin. Choco was waiting for him outside smoking (he was already in his fourth cigar.) Choco asks him why is his face so pale. Joaquin looks at him with two empty eyes.

Joaquin whispers the quantity of money that he had to pay. Choco is surprise when he hears those words. he asks him if they had to do anything with the two idiots in front of them. Joaquin didn't understood the question at first.

in the middle of the road are Beau & Organic Florist (both of them on their underwear.) they start to dance sexy. Joaquin almost dies in that moment for the huge quantities of second hand embarrassment that he felt on the spot.

Choco asks him if they had to take them to the Guild Building or if is better to let them. Joaquin answers by telling him that he doesn't know of who he is talking about. they keep walking quietly trying to leave unnoticed by those two drunk idiots.