Crack a bottle in celebration

[Sally]

Sally, soaked through n' hoarse as all get-out, hunkers down on a free stool to suck in one long breath of air. At Dr. Zinc's very reasonable orders, he downs one, and then a second bottle of water.

What. A. Weekend. After seven months of bein' cooped up like a bunch of pencil-pushers in a Cubicle Kingdom, freedom was back on the table.

As was Sally lacquered revolver, Wynona- a very special lady in dire need of some oil and a rag. Mud and blood and grit and gunk all over that beautiful finish.

"WHOOOO," Sally hollers, crunching the second bottle and hopping up on his stool.

"Friends n' Family n' Lovers all-a-bound! I do say we-all take a moment to enjoy the fact that we done scrapped side-by-side once again, shoulder ta shoulder and knickers to knees! A brother n' arms is a brother that ya got till just after ya step through them there pearly gates! A sister n' shields is the kind that can pull you by the ear and you'll tag 'long with a smile, cuz it means you ain't dyin' in a puddle of yer own innards!"

Whether or not he's got attention, Sally will ramble on, "So smoke 'em if ya gotta 'em, shoot 'em if they lined up, and gimme a che-eers to the Math that saved uss-all las' night, the family-way we done hunkered down ta da'fend ou'selves today, and the fact that we got each otha to count on tom-morrow!"

When a man says he's gonna give a cheers to college-level calculations, well, one can only reckon he's deadly serious.

[PoeticJustice]

Alice was subdued after the fight, lingering in the Diner and shifting her weight from one leg to the other as she haunted a corner wordlessly. She was bloodied, and beaten, her clothes stained with blood, some of it old but most of it fresh. The bruises were still visible on her cheek, as well as what looked like acid burns along her arm, marring her intricate tattoos.

As Sally jumped up to speak, her eyes snapped to him immediately, watching with an intensity that was sudden and bright. She stepped forward slightly as he spoke, and the more he spoke, the further out of her corner she was drawn, some might say like a moth to a flame.

Once he had finished his last hurrah, she gave a genuine smile, albeit faint, and raised the barely touched bottle in her hand up towards him.

[Hurrock]

Jan Grey downs the last of his Gatorade in a toast to Sally, then wanders back to a table near the fire to go back to sleep.

[Owle Isohos]

Kelsey was half-collapsed on a stool, her depleted medical kit on the floor by her feet. She'd fared better than the folks she'd patched up - the poison gas had stained her coat and burned her lungs, but hadn't done any lasting damage. Still, the insanity of triage piled on top of two nights of being too scared and cold to sleep had taken it's toll.

She thought she was too tired to stand. Then Sally started in on his speech.

The tired medic got to her feet, an irrepressible smile on her face. Raising her half empty water bottle in the air, she cheered for Math, for freedom, and for all of the folks who made sure she was alive to enjoy them.

"Huzzah!"

[Heather N]

Dallas was sitting over her little warm spot in the diner. As she rested her sore back up against the wall, she could help but smile at Sally's speech. His enthusiasm and positive evergy was exactly what she needed to stay positive herself. Her brush with death the night before was almost the nail on the coffin to her willpower. It was people like him and the others, who banded together to fight this and ever day, the reminded her what her real purpose was.

Dallas pushed herself off of her chair and grabbed a bottle of water. She walked over to Sally and raised the bottle to meet him in a cheer.

"Thank you, brave sir, for holding us together with your inspiring words."

[Taranis]

Tired and wounded from his ordeal, Alexandre slowly returned to the diner, but did not enter. He could smell the remnants of poisonous vapors in the air left behind from the battle that had just taken place. Having been off on his own, frustratingly attempting to contemplate what had happened to him and his companions earlier, he had missed the fighting himself.

He stood out back for a moment listening to the yelling and cheering of all those who had just defended the grounds from the noxious onslaught. Clearly it was safe to enter, but Alexandre still did not. Normally he would have walked in and subtly congratulated everyone on their victory, but he was in no mood to be interacting with anyone at the moment.

With an air of apathy about him and a scowl on his scaled face, Alexandre trudged off down Main Street.

[Sally]

With a big grin to Kelsey, Sally will add an "ooh-rah!" to her 'huzzah,' then look to Dallas and shrug,

"Darlin', I was just tryin' to do my best Gus impersonation, and Reverend Thompson was too busy Kickin' Ass for the Lord to keep up with those sermons o' his!" Sally will clink bottles with Dallas and say, "If we ain't got each other in this muddy, snowy, windy middle-o'-nowhere mess, then we ain't got nothin'!"

He'll swing his bottle towards Alice, give her a sloppy thumbs up and say to Dallas, "Now, Ms. Dallas, let's fire up this here jukebox, 'fore ya get my cheeks all pink and Dr. Zinc dunks my head again!"

[Madrigus]

Madrigus stood in a corner near the fire where he could see everything. With his arms in his sleeves and hood up he looked as if he were sleeping on his feet. In reality he scrutinized the scene before him with painfully methodical slowness.

He had managed to pass the fight unscathed, thankfully, yet he was worried nonetheless. Ryan was already two turns to the wind, and who knew how much more punishment his frail body could take. If he died then the demon would be stuck on this world. The thought of that, however, did not seem that bad.

He considered the events of the weekend, conversations he had, the people he met, the town he had helped save, and wondered where he really fit into all this mess. One hand reached down to idly trace the stitches on the binding of his tome and he thought of Zagrifel, his mentor, and what she would make of it.

When Sally hopped up and delivered his speech, Madrigus stood inexplicably enthralled, starting at the tall, charismatic man. After the speech he turned his head away to stare into the flames, thinking of a time when his whole world was nothing but.

[PoeticJustice]

Alice took a small drink from her bottle, finally managing to tear her eyes away from Sally to survey the room. Her head dipped wordlessly, the smile fading. Her brow furrowed and she rose to her feet. A hand traced over an acid burn, and she lowered the bottle, setting it on a window sil, and slipped silently out the back.

[Merana33]

Bob finishes his rounds, passing out water and Gatorade to the wounded and weary, just as Sally finishes his speech. He shucks his shredded combat vest and drops it on the floor beside a chair before collapsing into the chair in a heap.

"Hear hear." he replies, weakly toasting with an imaginary glass. "Never thought I'd hear myself say this, but I'm getting too old for this shit. 'Ey Sally! when y'all finish whoopin an hollerin an 'oo-rah'in.. pull 'yerself up a chair and take a load off."

"Feel like I'm gonna sleep for a week.." he mutters.