Winter's Apex : Ch2
Ch2: Let's Get This Party Started
Apex awoke with a start, his heart still fluttering, and saw Relic hovering over him. He flipped his head from side to side in rapid succession, peering through blurry eyes as he leaned up on his elbows. His gaze finally came to rest on quizzical looking Relic and he managed a drowsily confused, "What?"
"Orion and Dante are already at the dinner the lodge is hosting. We need to catch up with them, so hurry up and get ready."
Still dazed, Apex stared back blankly for a moment before responding.
"Oh, right. Yeah, yeah just give me a minute and I'll be ready." Sitting up on the side of the bed, Apex waited for his head to clear. As he sat, he thought back to his vivid dream.
Wow. That was certainly... interesting. Eh whatever, just a dream. Looking up and then around, he spotted his pass card and shoved it in his pocket. As his paw passed over his shirt, he looked down and noticed that it was rumpled from being laid on. Searching through his luggage, he flipped through shirts until he finally settled on an all-green T-shirt. Tossing the new shirt onto the bed, he pulled the rumpled one over his head. Scritching softly at his muscled stomach and chest, he retrieved the new shirt from off the bed and pulled it on. Tossing his blue, fuzzy jacket on over his shirt, he turned his attention to the patiently waiting Relic.
"Alright, I'm ready, let's head out."
With Relic leading the way, the two of them headed down the hallway toward the stairs. As they went, they passed several other guests lounging in doorways and happily conversing.
They're probably getting ready to head down to the dinner as well. Looking back, he noticed even more room doors opened, and the hall itself filled with people and jovial conversations.
I'm beginning to think this place really is as cool and friendly as Orion said it was. It's more like a dorm than a hotel. This should be quite a cool trip.
Apex grinned to himself as his attention returned to the matter at hand. As they descended the pine-slat staircase along the windowed wall, the source of the ruckus that had reached them above became readily apparent. The restaurant lay just beyond the end of the stairs to their right. It was filled, probably past capacity, and alive with the fervent chatter of vacationers. Energetic shouts and laughter came from every corner of the spacious room. Smiling faces and bright expressions could be seen everywhere. Unfortunately, through all the light-hearted commotion, Apex was unable to pick out his own friends from the other patrons.
This place really looks like an Applebee's. A bit larger, though, and with significantly less crap covering the walls. Too bad I still can't find anyone. Looking around, Apex and Relic took in the generally soft and welcoming room with its dominantly wood based interior and furniture.
"Each room is supposed to have their own table!" shouted Relic, forced to raise his voice to be heard over the boisterous conversations around them. "Give me a second and I'll ask one of the waiters where we're supposed to be." Relic wandered over to the host's podium and presumably inquired into to location of their table. Of course, with as much noise as there is in here, they could just as easily be talking about lewd acts with appliances. As Apex grinned and watched them talk, the panther host motioned toward somewhere deep in the sea of people; no doubt relaying the location of their compatriots. Nodding at the information, he weaved around some people standing in line and back over to where Apex stood.
"He said it's over this way. Follow me." Relic motioned behind himself, and with Apex trailing close they went in search of their friends. Within a few moments, they had tracked down Orion and Dante who were waving them over to a table in the midst of the bedlam. A group reunited and with menus drawn, they were quickly reveling in each other's company.
"Glad to see you finally made it," said Dante. "From the way you looked on the bed I thought you might just sleep through the weekend."
"Yeah," added Orion. "Sleep is for the weak. The strong party and get all the women."
"Yeah, and apparently the 'strong' also puke in their neighbor's pool," riposted Apex, giving a sly look while Relic giggled under his breath.
"That only happened once, and besides, I totally blame that Renden guy for it." Orion smiled weakly, trying to look defiant, though slightly embarrassed by the incident in question. "You shouldn't be giving the already drunk guy anything with Everclear in it. He was asking for chunky water." To that, they all chuckle heartily.
"Besides," continued Orion. "That's not nearly as bad as what this one guy did two months back at one of the campus parties. The guy puked while doing a keg stand. Drenched the whole keg, then got dropped in it."
"Oh, that is foul," snickered Apex. "You certainly know how to find some special party crowds and I mean short bus special."
They were all still laughing when the genial collie sauntered up to their table, brushing a bit of food off his uniform before addressing them.
"Hey guys, I'm Aaron. I'll be taking care of you tonight, and in case you didn't know, dinner's on the house. You're allowed one appetizer and one entree each. Also, there'll be an open bar upstairs in the lounge around nine."
"Damn, that's awesome," exclaimed an even more enthused Dante. "How can you guys afford to do that? There's got to be a hundred people here."
"Yeah, I know!" beamed the well-built collie. "From what I hear, the lodge is getting a huge check from ESPN2 for hosting the snow boarding competition tomorrow. This place is going to be crazy and packed to bursting."
"Oh sweet!" said Orion, excitedly addressing Apex. "See, this place is the best!"
"Wait, can anyone enter the competition?" asked Dante of Aaron.
"Oh yeah, it's open to anyone that wants in, though I think they have a limited number of spots."
"Well, kick ass! We're definitely going to have to enter. I bet between all of us at least one of us could place."
"Heh. Yeah, assuming it's not full of all pro's," interjected Relic. "If it's on ESPN2, you know they're going to have good people out there."
"Who cares?" replied Dante. "We are good, and I'm going. We've won competitions before and I'm betting we can do it again. Besides, it'll be fun even if we don't place."
"So anyway," everyone turned to look up at Aaron. "What can I get you guys?"
At Aaron's prompt, each of them took a moment to give their menus another cursory examination. Having previously perused their options, they quickly relayed their orders, and Aaron was soon off to the kitchen. They conversed lightheartedly until Aaron finally returned with their meals, assisted by another server due to its size. With portions supplied to a very hungry party, it wasn't long before they were ravenously devoured and their ravaged remains awaiting Aaron's removal. Taking a pause to let their stomachs settle after their expeditious consumption, they eased back in their chairs and continued their pleasantries.
"Damn. Not only was it free, it kicked ass. They really know how to make some good chicken strips." Everyone nodded in agreement with Orion, each considering their own savory meal.
"They've got one top notch chef back there," added Apex.
"Oh hey, that reminds me, you guys gotta hear this." Orion chuckled a bit before continuing. "So, this friend of mine, Steve, you know, the cool guy who goes to strip clubs? Well, he was with some girl, he didn't say who but it doesn't matter. The important part was she was giving him a blow job."
"Isn't it always?" said Relic, rolling his eyes.
"Yeah, yeah. Anyway, so she's giving him a BJ, really into and all. He said he was watching her go at it, and he thought to himself, 'I wonder what would happen if I did this.'" Orion made a clamping motion with his thumb and index paw finger. "So he pinches her nose so she can't breathe out it. He said she sort of sputtered for a bit, then spit him out of her muzzle and just sat there, panting and coughing." Orion erupted in laughter as the end of his story tumbled out, catching a few curious glances from surrounding tables. Everyone at the table uproariously laughed along with him. Even Relic, unable to help himself, snickered vigorously at the fanciful anecdote.
"What the hell?" chortled Dante in-between breaths. "Who would do something like that? Did she punch him in the sac or what?"
"Yeah," added Apex. "And why the hell did the chef remind you of that?"
"Nah, he said he apologized and said he just wanted to see what would happen. She even finished after it, and I dunno, just thought of it, I guess."
"No way," returned an incredulous Apex. "There's no way that's story's true. No one would talk to you again, let alone finish, if you did that to them."
"It's all true, I swear. He told me about it himself, and he's never made up stuff like that. That's just the sort of thing he would do. You've met him; you know what he's like. He would totally have done that. As for the girl, who knows? Maybe she was just too yiffy not to finish. His women are naughty like that." Orion laughed again at the thought, and Apex just shook his head abashedly, working hard to hold in his laughter as Dante cleared the tears from his eyes.
"Shouldn't we be going to some party now or something?" asked Relic as he looked to each person at the table.
"Oh, yeah, I guess so." Apex smiled wide as he addressed the table. "Alright guys, let's get going. We've a party to attend."
"Damn strait!" added Dante. "We can go out through that back door over there." Everyone looked as Dante motioned behind himself. "Before you guys got here Aaron mentioned that it led up to the lounge."
"Good stuff. Let's go." Apex and the rest of them arose from their seats, chairs scraping along the tile floor, and headed for the exit.
"You guys go ahead." They turned to see Relic heading in the opposite direction. "I need to go up to the room and get my sketch book. I'll catch up with you in a few." Relic gave a single wave and left via the front entrance.
"Man, he needs to leave that book in the room and really party for once you know?" Orion frowned as he looked to Apex and then Dante for agreement.
"Ah, let him be," soothed Apex. "We're here to have fun, let him do whatever he wants."
"Yeah, but don't you think he'd have more fun if he'd just let loose and party more?"
"Maybe, but he seems quite content doing things his way, and that's cool with me."
"Then I'm going to party twice as much to compensate for all that not parting he's planning on doing."
"You do that," chuckled Apex.
At the back of the restaurant they located the large wood and glass door that Aaron had spoken of. The door opened into an airlock, rectangular in shape and made mostly of glass, protruding from the side of the building. The stairway had clearly been built with the intent of experiencing the exterior landscape as though you were part of it.
As they ascended the wooden staircase, Apex's paw ran along the wooden railing. He peered through the glass and out onto the vast expanse of trees and snow that made up the lodge's skiing hill and extensive, uneven back country. He pointed out to the rest of them what was surely the competition area, half pipe being clearly visible. When they reached the top of the staircase, they found another wood and glass door between them and the lounge.
As they passed through the doorway, they were met with the sight of a large, energetic crowd. One, perhaps, even more sizable than the one they had initially seen in the restaurant. Surprisingly, the spacious lounge wasn't as noisy as the restaurant had been, despite its occupancy. On the far right, they could see the upper portion of what looked to be an enormous fireplace extending up to the vaulted ceiling. Their view, unfortunately, was obstructed by the dense crowd and a plethora of chairs, sofas, and coffee tables. The furniture was divided into sets, each with a pair of chairs and sofas centered on a large rug around a sizable coffee table. Against the wall, and directly ahead of them now, stood the bar. A slender husky in lodge uniform worked the bar; filling orders for his several patrons as they watched with intent interest at his elaborate drink-making and manual prowess.
"Now this is what I'm talking about," said Orion, grinning, as he rubbed his paws together with vigor and headed over to the bar.
Apex and Dante watched Orion saunter over to the bar, order a drink, and begin a conversation with a long-haired lioness who was waiting for hers.
"Well, shall we?" Apex inquired, rhetorically.
"Lets," replied Dante as they both walk to the bar.
After a bit of a wait, they had acquired their drinks from the energetic and rather comely bartender and proceeded into the crowd, looking for a suitable place to sit. As they waded through all the people, they noticed every seat they passed was packed, and nearly overflowing. Individuals and tails were hanging off every available sitting space. With so much overcrowding, they were rather surprised to find an open couch across from none other than Relic. Sitting cross-legged, with sketch book in paws and headphones on ears, Relic looked completely removed from the party despite his immersion in it. As Apex and Dante reclined onto the couch, Dante slapped Relic sharply on the knee to gain his attention over the headphones. Relic looked up with a start, then relaxed and pulled his headphones back as he recognized his assailant.
"I can't believe that with all that's going on here you can't find anything better to do than doodle and listen to music," mused Dante, shaking his head at Relic.
"Yeah really," added Apex, feeling the headphones were a bit much. "What are you listening to, anyway?"
"It's Tek Fox's new album. It's called the insurgents tail." Relic flashed the CD at them. "It's one of the best DNB CDs I've ever heard. It's topping the charts and everything, and don't worry about me." Relic looked to Dante and then Apex. "I'm having fun. This is just what I like to do." With an apathetic shrug, Relic replaced his headphones and returned his attention to his sketchbook.
Apex and Dante exchanged quizzical but resigned looks, and shrugged.
"Oh well, more for the rest of us, right?" Dante gave Apex a devious smile before rubbernecking as a rather ravishing cougar with long hair and tight jeans walked past them. With a quick rise of his eyebrows and a toothy grin, Dante arose hastily and followed after her. Apex, left laughing, shook his head as he leaned back onto the sofa with drink in paw, taking in the scene around him as Dante went on the prowl.
Looking around the room, Apex caught sight of CP, who appeared distinctly happier than he had during their first encounter.
Not really surprising. He watched as CP struggled to balance himself with a drink in one paw and a shorter, though attractive, white wolf in the other. The wolf, who had jumped into CP's arms and wrapped herself around him, smiled contently with a drink in paw as she nuzzled him affectionately. Apex beamed at their cute display, but his attention was quickly diverted by an individual approaching on his left. Ears perked, he turned at the silky and energetic voice.
"Hi, I'm Autumn." Apex looked up to find a very lovely, brown-haired vixen standing before him. As his eyes moved over her features, he met her bright, hazel gaze and smiled.
"Well hey, I'm Apex." Before he had a chance to add any more, she took a seat next to him on the arm of the couch, catching him a bit off guard. With the flaps of her lightweight jacket hanging asunder, Apex noticed the green "Nitro" shirt she had on. Glancing over the shirt, he also happened to notice how well she filled it out. Suddenly becoming self-conscious, Apex quickly returned his gaze to hers as she spoke.
"I haven't seen you here before. Did you come for the snowboarding competition?"
"Well, not exactly. Part of the reason we came here was for the snowboarding slopes, but we didn't know about the competition 'til one of the waiters downstairs told us about it."
Autumn giggled lightly. "Certainly is a nice perk to add onto your trip. So, who is 'we'?" she asked, glancing around searchingly for a moment, clearly hoping to be able to identify Apex's comrades on her own, before looking back to Apex for his reply.
"Oh, right, well..." Apex turned as he felt someone sit down on the sofa next to him. Seeing Dante with the female cougar, Apex chuckled as he turned back to Autumn.
"Well here's one of them now, Dante." Apex extended his paw in his best presenting manner, and Dante, hearing his name, turned and gave a quick "what?" Autumn smiled at the confused Dante and extended her paw in his direction.
"Hello, I'm Autumn. We were talking about who he came with," she said, nodding in Apex's direction..
"Ahh, now I see. Yeah, I'm Dante, and this is Aryana." The cougar returned the smile and exchanged congenial greetings with Apex and Autumn.
"And the introverted guy over there with the headphones on is Relic." Despite the 'praise', Apex's comment seemed to go unnoticed. "The other guy, Orion, is around here somewhere I'm sure." Apex's eyes panned the room in search of the final member of his entourage. "Well, I'll point him out if I see him. So, anything particular draw you here?"
"Oh yeah, I love this place. This will be the third time I've been here. Every year they always do something new and wonderful that makes me want to come back. The first year, they had this midnight inner tube event. They lit up the entire slope with huge strings of white Christmas lights. It was the most beautiful thing you've ever seen. The moon was out and the entire place shimmered, it was an arctic paradise. They had each room be a team and they would race two teams against each other down the slope. They even had hot chocolate and snacks for everyone set up at the bottom of the slope."
"Wow, impressive," breathed Apex. "I bet that was a blast."
"It really was. Now, last year was quite different, but just as exiting." Autumn's green eyes lit up as she recalled the events. "They put on an incredible fireworks show, just like it was the 4th of July. They had all these huge exploding ones and everything, and since the entire town is sort of in a canyon, it echoed like crazy. I had never seen or heard anything like it before, and of course the whole thing was catered." She grinned at the memory.
"They certainly do a good job at that it seems," chuckled Apex.
"I know, isn't it great? Free dinner and drinks; speaking of which, I'll be right back. I need to refill mine." Autumn stood up and Apex watched her as she headed over toward the bar, but quickly lost sight of her in the crowd. As he sat on the edge of the sofa he took a swig of his drink. Doing so, he noticed Relic across from him and just shook his head at what he saw.
"Hey," Apex elbowed Dante, who begrudgingly drew his attention away from Aryana. "Look at that." He pointed to Relic, who had managed to attract the company of three women, in spite of his complete lack of socializing. One sat on his right and two were perched over his shoulder, watching as he drew.
"Can you believe that?" muttered Apex with an incredulous look.
"I know. He doesn't even try, and just look at him, completely surrounded by good looking women. How does he do it?" Dante looked frustrated at the thought, scowling in Relic's direction.
"I don't know, but I guess he was right. We shouldn't worry about him," said Apex, smirking at Dante. Dante just rolled his eyes and turned back to Aryana. Apex returned to his drink and sat back into the couch, passively watching as various people passed by. Waiting for Autumn's return, his green eyes wandered around the room searching. Doing so, he caught sight of Orion leaning up against the far wall right next to the fireplace. True to form, he had a drink in one paw and some random attractive lioness with him. As he observed his friend, Apex noticed a slight sway in Orion's stance.
Probably had a few before that one, I don't know how he works them all in. A blank expression covered his face. Orion was talking to someone Apex assumed must have been across the room due to the level of his voice, though it was hard to tell who. After a few more shouts, both he and the lioness headed over to whoever it was they had been addressing. Apex leaned forward, trying to follow their movements, but quickly lost them to the crowd, much as he had Autumn. With a shrug, he plopped back and took another drink, letting his eyes wander again as he awaited the vixen's inevitable return.
Suddenly, he sat up with a start, ears perked, and turned to get a better look at what he thought he saw out of the corner of his eye. His heart suddenly raced and his muzzle hung slightly open as he saw that his eyes hadn't deceived him. It was indeed a wolf, though not just any wolf, it was the wolf that had been with him in his dream.
What the hell? Apex's mind raced. I've never even seen him before, what's going on?
Apex was perplexed and still rather stunned when a voice cut through his ruminations, pulling his attention away form the crimson wolf.
"Is everything okay?" Autumn's features betrayed concern as she viewed Apex's distraught expression.
"Uh, yeah, yeah, I'm okay. It's just..." Apex stole another quick glance of the wolf. "Do you have any idea who that guy is?" Autumn followed Apex's extended paw as she reclaimed her seat.
"You mean the cute red wolf over there? Yeah, I know him. He works here over the breaks, a really nice guy. Why?"
"Oh." Apex relaxed a bit and considered this new information. "I had this dream earlier when I was napping before dinner. It was rather vivid and he was in it, but I've never seen him before. A little unnerving for your dreams to come to life, you know?"
Autumn giggled at the thought. "Yeah, I see how it might be. Here, I got you another one." Apex thanked her and took the drink, placing it inside his empty cup.
"Thanks, I guess I was running a little low."
"You're welcome. Besides, I'm sure you just saw him before and just didn't realize it. What was the dream about anyway?"
"Oh, nothing really." Apex shifted uncomfortably as he spoke. "Just another dream, he just happened to be in it. So I was noticing your jacket, it looks really good on you."
Autumn beamed. "Really? Thanks a lot. I just got it from L.L. Bean. Something new for the vacation, thanks for noticing."
"Heh, sure." Apex returned her smile, feeling more at ease. "So, are you going to be in the snowboarding event tomorrow?"
"I was thinking about it. I'm probably not good enough to be competing, but I think I'll give it a shot anyway. Besides, anyone staying at the lodge has their entry fee paid for, so there's no reason not to."
"I didn't know that it was going to be free as well." Nudging Dante again, Apex soon received his slightly perturbed attention. "Did you hear that, there's no entry fee for the tournament."
"That's crazy, they usually charge like fifty bucks for these things," said Dante. "We're really making out like bandits here."
"I know, you should hear what else they've done here, but I'll tell you about it later." Both Apex and Dante turned back to their respective female companions.
"We're all going to compete, me and my friends. We might have a chance. The competition will probably be stiff, but we've won things like this before," explained Apex.
"Have you been in other competitions around here?" inquired Autumn.
"No, we don't live around here. We're all from Fresno, out in California. We go to college out there."
"Really? That's funny. I think Palmer does too."
"Who's Palmer?" asked Apex, but she had already turned and was shouting over the all the clamor, "Hey Palmer, come here a second, Hun."
The crimson wolf turned, and his ears perked up at hearing his name. When Apex saw who it was, he motioned subtly, but violently, and pleaded with her under his breath, "No, no, don't bring him over here!"
Not heeding Apex's objections in the least, she enthusiastically motioned the wolf over.
"There's no need to be scared, he's a dear."
The wolf sauntered over and gave Apex a once over before turning to Autumn who stood up to greet him.
"Autumn, I haven't seen you in forever!" The pair warmly embraced as their tails wagged happily. "How are you?"
"I've been great. Been having nothing but fun. How have you been?"
"Good as always, and who is your attractive friend here?"
Autumn giggled and turned to Apex, breaking their embrace. "This is Apex, he goes to Fresno too."
"Well, it's a shame we haven't run into each other before then. Hi, I'm Palmer." The crimson wolf extended a paw to Apex, giving him a glimpse of the wolf's muscular arm.
"Apex had a dream about you." Autumn looked to Apex with a devious smile as she said it, finding the whole situation quite amusing as Apex's cheeks burned red with embarrassment. " A rather vivid one he let me to believe."
"Oh, really?" asked Palmer with a sly smile, now intrigued. "And what exactly was this dream about, Hun?" Palmer's inquisitive and disarming gaze was met by an opened-maw Apex, struggling for words.
"Oh, it was nothing," stuttered Apex, still blushing and looking at the floor as he shook his head in reply. "You were just there in my room with me. I can't remember much else, just didn't know who you were, that's all." Apex looked back up with a sheepish grin, causing Palmer to smile wider and chuckle heartily.
"Well, if you do happen to remember any more of it I'd like to hear all about it."
With that, Autumn returned to her position on the arm of the couch, and Palmer pulled up a stray chair. He sat, straddling the back of the chair, facing Apex. His muzzle rested on his crossed arms and continued to gaze fixedly in Apex's direction with a silly grin plastered across his muzzle.
"So I take it you're here for the snowboarding competition?"
"Heh. Well, it's like I told Autumn, we didn't come here for the competition, but since we heard about it we've been planning on competing."
"That's cool, I'll be there too. Who else is with you? You said 'we,' right?"
"Yeah, me and my friends, we all came on the trip together. That's one of them over there." Apex pointed to Relic, who had taken off his headphones and actually seemed to be enjoying himself as he talked to a cute jackal who had been watching him draw earlier.
"The one behind me is Dante."
"Are you talking about me again?" Dante asked sarcastically as he turned to face the rest of them, grinning.
"Yes, ass." Apex chuckled and leaned back into Dante, elbowing him in the side.
"Alright, alright." Dante did his best to block the assault. "So who do you want me to meet this time? I don't get paid enough to talk to every new person you run into."
"Ha, ha. This is Palmer, he's a friend of Autumn's who goes to Fresno and is going to compete tomorrow."
"Hey, I'm Dante." He smiled, shook Palmer's paw, and then returned to conversing with Aryana.
"Your friends seem pretty cool, as do you," comments Palmer.
"Heh, thanks." Apex's cheeks produced another faint hint of red at the compliment. "Autumn said you work here. From what I've seen, I'm betting it's a lot of fun."
"Oh yeah, this place has given me some of the best experiences of my life. The management is just the best here. Every year they seem to make it better than the last. I wouldn't trade this place for anything. Not to mention all the... perks.
"With all that goes on here, I know you have some stories you could tell us." Autumn reached out and gripped his arm with both paws, and he turned to her. "What craziness have you seen? Tell us, please?"
"I'd love to," smiled Palmer. He took a moment to think as his free paw scratched the back of his head. "Well, there was this one time that I was on the night shift for the desk. They had me make rounds of the hotel. Routine stuff, just checking around making sure things weren't catching fire and the like. So late one night I was walking down the hall on the lower level near the gym. They have some bathrooms down there, and as I was passing one of them I heard some odd noises coming through the door. It sounded like whining and moaning, so of course I step in to see what was going on. Not, you know, that I'm looking for trouble, but it's my job. Anyway, as I'm walking in I hear a lot of banging, and the first thing I see is a really startled male rabbit peeking out from one of the stalls. He was sort of short with a small but toned build. I wasn't sure what was going on until I looked over and saw this vixen tied naked and bent over to one of the sinks. She was quite beautiful, and extremely embarrassed. She sputtered out something about how they were messing around, and how she wanted to try something different and so on. I didn't catch the rest of it as I was doubled over with laughter. I told them to take it back to their room between tears as I left."
"That's terrible!" said Autumn, giggling through her paws. "I can't even imagine how embarrassed I would be if that happened to me."
"I can't believe that anyone would do something like that," added Apex, laughing. "And the fact that they were surprised that someone walked in on them just makes it that much better."
"Yeah," agreed Palmer. "I don't know what they were thinking."
"That was great! What else have you seen in this crazy place?" pressed Autumn.
Palmer chuckled as he tried to recall another anecdote to relay. "Well, there was this one incident that I know you know about. You were there with me when it happened." He turned back to Apex and continues. "It was two years ago when we were doing this down-hill inner tube event. One team had lost all but one guy on the way down, and eventually he completely lost control of his tube. He hit the concession tables at full speed and the whole thing exploded, tossing drinks over everything and everyone. He was completely unhurt, even after taking out everything. It was quite a sight, like if the Keebler tree blew up with the Kool-Aid man inside."
Autumn giggled even more now, leaning on Palmer again. "I had forgotten about that. Everyone loved it. They must have cheered for ten minutes. I think the guy even took a bow once he'd brushed himself and half the catering off."
Apex just shook his head and snickered with a paw over his eyes. Shaking off the last of his laughter, he looked up to Palmer.
"So when you're not breaking up late night bathroom bondage and kamikaze sledders, what do you like to do?"
"All sorts of things, I guess. I like snowboarding, driving, trance, and all sorts of hands-on outdoor activities. Stuff like camping, climbing, hiking, that sort of thing."
"That's awesome!" said Apex, his tail now wagging. "I'm always doing that back home with these guys. Hey, have you ever heard of DJ Tek Fox?
"Tek Fox? I love that guy. I've heard the new album is his best yet. All the local places sold out before I could even get copy of it."
"Yeah, I think he's just amazing. Relic was listening to his new CD earlier; I'll probably get a copy when I get back home."
"Definitely. Hey, I've got all my snowboarding gear with me. Would you uh, like to come up to my room and take a look?"
"Uh, sure. Yeah, that sounds cool. Just let me..." Apex was suddenly cut off by a heavy crashing sound that made them all jump and turn to see what had happened. It didn't take much searching for them to find the source of the commotion.
Shit.
It was Orion. Through the crowd they could see that he had tripped over one of the coffee tables, and doing so he had taken it, himself, and a multitude of drinks and tabletop items down with him. He lay, half conscious, amid various spilled drinks and magazines. Apex, Dante, and Relic all jumped out of their seats and rushed past the onlookers to help him. The three of them hoisted him up off the floor while Palmer righted the downed furniture and tried to clean up some of the mess.
"How could he possibly have found the time to get this drunk?" rasped Apex in a low voice.
"The idiot probably forgot about the altitude and way over did it, and if he doesn't die I'm going to kill him" whispered Dante angrily.
"Is he going to be okay?" Palmer looked quite concerned as he watched them haul the heavily inebriated and incoherently mumbling tiger to his feet. "We've got an on-call nurse here. I could go get her, it wouldn't be any trouble."
"No, no, that's okay," reassured a flustered Dante as he held Orion up with Apex's help. "He's done this before, he'll be fine. We just need to get him some water and to the room so he can sleep it off."
"Yeah, he should be okay," added a mortified Apex. "But I think I'm just going to call it a night. It was great meeting you. Tell Autumn I'm sorry about this."
"Hey, don't worry about it." Palmer rubbed Apex's free shoulder. "It's no big deal, and I'll see you tomorrow." Giving his arm a final squeeze, he watched them slowly move through the parting crowd and out of the lounge.
As they lugged their downed compatriot back to the room, all three of the more sober party members lamented their forced early retirement from the party.
"Erf." Dante looked to Apex who was supporting the other side of Orion. "He really could have picked a better night to do this."
"Aryana and I were really hitting it off, jackass!" shouted Dante at Orion, but to no avail as the overzealous drinker was too lost in his stupor to comprehend. Realizing the futility, he turned back to Apex with a hurt expression. "She acted like she might have wanted to spend the night with me."
"I know," replied Apex. "I was having a great time with Palmer too; he was telling us the funniest stories. I just hope they'll still talk to me after this."
"What about that hot vixen you were talking to? What was her name?"
"Oh, right, Autumn. We were getting along pretty well too."
"I bet you were," said Dante before calling out to Relic who was now leading the way. "How about you, Relic, did you do as well as Apex here? You know, with that Jackal chick you were talking to?"
Relic looked back with his usual calm and languid expression, but with a slight smile. "Her name is Devin, and I really like her. She's an artist too, though she's mainly into sculpting and such. I just told her that with Orion passing out, I was going to help and see her tomorrow. She understood"
"That's cool," returned Dante with a settled look. "We all got pretty lucky, and yeah, I'm with you. We've got a tournament to prep for and we should watch him anyway." He motioned to Orion. "As soon as he's taken care of I'm going to bed. This day has been too long as is."
"Agreed," added Apex. "Even with a nap, I'm exhausted. It'll be good to get some real sleep"
Reaching their room, they placed Orion in bed, and quickly followed. Taking in a deep breath and then letting it out slowly, Apex closed his eyes and recounted the days events.
Hopefully tomorrow will go a bit smoother. If nothing else, it'll be good to see Palmer again.
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Sorry I keep having to repost this, the magical secret of spacing on this site eludes me.
Anyway, please let me know what you thought, I really wanna know. ^.^
Also, in case you were worried, I promise there will be yiffing. It'll be good, and there will be a lot of it. ;)
Ch3 : Soaring in the Snow