The Lethal Spoon

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Although Zephyr instigated the "take it easy on the booze" rule, he was not following his own advice very well as the party went on. He even went as far as to down two glasses of Maelstrom sake to enter the boat race. Of course, he was handling it a whole lot better than a regular person, but to say Zeph was tipsy was an understatement.

Marina, in the mean time, was sipping on a light fruity concoction and enjoying the copious amounts of food.

"Isn't this fun Pyrrha?" she asked with a giggle. She had found Pyrrha not too long after arriving, and decided to spend time with her. The other girl did not seem nearly as enthusiastic. Marina had spotted earlier Leon throwing a fit and knocking out a gentleman she believed was the general store owner, and sighed. As much progress as he had made in adapting to civilized life, he still hadn't let go of that wildness. She had also spotted Mei and Roland being equally as unsocial. She sighed inwardly at her friends. She munched on a marinated chicken wing and observed as many people were already losing their bearings and stumbling around drunk. She noticed a few of the council members sitting at Granny's counter, including her own father, even grinning and laughing the night away. An unusual sight indeed.

"It's almost time. I bet Zeph will be giving the signal soon-" she was abruptly cut off by a loud familiar shout coming from the Boat Pool.

"Allrigh! Who wants ta see me race?" he slurred. Zephyr was shakily standing up in his gondola ready to race across the large pool set up in the Spoon. Several cheers resounded from the crowd. Zephyr grinned struggling to maintain his balance in the boat. He suddenly frowned as if something was severely wrong. Within the blink of an eye, Zephyr had pulled off his shirt and tossed it toward the surrounding crowd. Marina ran over to the pool as quickly as she could as soon as she had seen him enter only to have a shirt land on her face. The females squealed in delight at the sight of Zephyr's lean muscled torso; his clan tattoo clearly visible between his shoulder blades. Marina balled Zephyr's shirt between her fists as she fumed.

"He said go easy on the booze! Ugh!" she screamed inwardly. Of course he'd get drunk. Why was she not surprised... Although, the good news was that she could use her Aquamancy to purge the alcohol from his system and clear his head, but that would have to be after the race...

"Ah, much bedder.." he stated stretching his now bare arms. For the umpteenth time, Zeph stumbled in the boat, but this time had lost his grip on his Manara causing the boat to spin in circles. While he struggled to regain control over his vessel, a large gong was banged initiating the race. Cursing, Zephyr propelled the boat forward, or at least attempted to push it forward, but was using too much force causing it to zigzag. Despite his lack of control and navigation, Zephyr was still fairing far better than many of the other drunks. He was halfway across when a boat soared past him. He was too dazed to tell who it was, but, not wanting to lose, propelled himself forward. Close to the finish line, Zephyr knocked his gondola hard into his competitor's to waddle back and forth and drive them off course. It was a long enough distraction for Zephyr to pull ahead and win the race. Part of the crowd cheered wildly while others groaned and yelled in defeat over their lost bets.

"Ah yeah! I am so good!" he stumbled back onto solid ground and was handed a medal for his victory. His celebrating and boasting was quickly cut short by an enraged Marina latching on to his ear and dragging him back to the table she occupied with Pyrrha.

"You imbecile! Did you forget that we were supposed to stay sober?" she whisper-screamed into his ear. Marina quickly got to work discreetly placing her hands on his back to purge the haze from his mind.

"No, I didn forget.. I can handle it.. I'm fine..." Even sitting down he was wobbling back and forth. Marina snorted and instead of draining the alcohol slowly, she did it fast with a lot of force causing it to sting quite a bit.

"Ow! What was that for? Is that really necessary?" Zephyr blinked a few times realizing he could think straight and sit still with out losing his balance. He grinned at Marina.

"Thanks, babe. What would I do without you?"

"You would be dead or in a jail cell." she deadpanned. "So, is it time yet?" Zephyr glanced around and noticed that many people were laughing loudly obviously not thinking clearly while others were passed out. Zeph even spotted his Granny giggling like a school girl latched onto the arm of his grandpa.

"Oh it is definitely time." Zephyr sent out a light four note whistle into the minds of his friends being careful not to send anything that would incriminate them, but still act as a clear signal.

"Let's get moving." Marina nodded in response her previous anger dissolving into excitement. She was still horrifically nervous about the whole ordeal, but the idea of getting to explore something no one else has even seen before had her giddy. Marina and Zephyr discreetly slipped out the back careful to not draw any attention to themselves, and made their way over to the staircase. She picked up her medical bag and secured the strap tightly across her chest while they waited for the others to show up and grab their own gear. When everyone seemed ready, Zephyr gave a quick pep talk.

"Alright everyone let's go! Onward!" He led the way to the back gate out of Caelfall. There weren't any guards posted there right now, so the group was able to slip out unnoticed. Having never traveled down to Onryx, Zephyr didn't realize how steep the trail truly was. The path was only wide enough for one person to walk through having thick trees and shrubbery on either side forcing the group to walk single file. There was even one point where everyone had to shuffle along the edge with their back against a cliff lest they fall hundreds of feet below into the Eye of Cael. Finally after an hour, they reached the end of the trail and the tunnel leading down to Onryx's entrance could be seen.

"Alright! There it is! Let's go everyone- Damn it!" he cut himself off with a string of curses as he spotted a guard at the gate.