Independent Puppets

Episode 9: Slipping Under [Part 2]

"You were right, this does taste good." Kara said to Markus a few minutes later as she took what Andrea, Arthur, Eve and Jenna estimated to be the fifth swig of gin out of the bottle she was holding (it was an estimate due to the fact that they'd partly lost count). The only android who wasn't drinking was Alice, and the other 5 were already over halfway through their first gin bottles; by now, these 5 were slowly beginning to lose their balance and their speech was ever so slightly slurred, so evidently alcohol did indeed have an effect on them.

"Agreed. I think I'm starting to like gin." North commented in agreement, her bottle appearing to be the one that was the most empty.

"Whenever I speak it's beginning to sometimes come out sounding... distorted, and I think I'm also feeling partially disoriented... is this what it's like to be intoxicated?" Connor asked, looking at the 4 humans with his eyes giving off a look of curiosity mixed with an external reaction to this dizzy feeling he'd just mentioned.

"I only ever got drunk once, at a New Years' Eve party that my accountancy office hosted a few years ago, but I believe it is, yes. You're probably going to feel different effects later on when you continue though, I don't fully know about android physiology." Arthur replied to him.

"The hydrogen sulphide in the artificially-engineered antibodies contained in our bodies does break down the molecules of foreign fluids and evaporates those fluids completely, like Connor said on Tuesday night, but it seems that ethanol corrupts our internal systems in some way, which causes the dizziness and speech distortion that he also just mentioned." Said Markus. 

"Like that other android who North said had an ethanol experiment conducted on them." Added Ralph. 

"Exactly." 

"Mine's empty now... could you pass me another one, please?" This WR400 looked down at her bottle, which was now completely devoid of any contents, and put it down next to her in a bit of a feeble manner. 

"Coming." Said Jenna, who then swivelled around and reached inside the already open Gun Dog Gin case for another bottle, turning back around and passing it along to North via Eve and Arthur. 

"How much longer until 5?" Andrea queried to her 3 companions sat around her, to which Arthur peered down at the watch on his left wrist and responded with, 

"About an hour." This question was asked because all 3 of the girls' deadline times for when they needed to be home that day was 5 PM. 

"I'm starting to wish I'd brought a box of popcorn or something with me today." The brunette chuckled discretely to herself through the hand she'd placed over the lower half of her mouth in an attempt to conceal it. "Because I have a feeling this is probably gonna start getting crazy..." 

"You might be right there." Eve nodded her head and smiled in amusement. 

55 minutes later...

[Background score:]

"You... you- you're the best, you know why?" North slurred to Markus whilst grinning and looking like she was about to fall flat on her face at any moment. She was using one of her hands to support her weight as she was leaning towards him from where she was sat in one of the desk chairs. "Because you're just so great at resisting these effects of being drunk! How are you doing this?" 

"But I'm not. I'm not great at it, look at me." The RK200 said, his own grin spreading across his features as he held up his 3rd gin bottle - it was only a little fraction over being empty. "I'm just as drunk as you!" He struggled to speak through the laughter that was emerging from his lips. 

"No you're not, I'm more intoxicated!" 

"I think... I think I'm actually the one who's more drunk." 

"No I am!" The female with the brown eyes was also beginning to burst into laughter. 

"Let's say you're both just as drunk as each other." Kara interjected before this continuous cycle of bantering could keep on going until the end of time itself. She'd only consumed half as much gin as Markus and North, therefore meaning that as a result she wasn't showing any of the same effects as them, and Connor and Ralph had drank about 15% less than the aforementioned duo. 

"Yep, you were right earlier: things have gotten a little bit crazier." Jenna said, turning her head to look at Andrea. 

"YEEHAW!" Everyone almost leapt out of their skins when Connor yelled this at nearly the top volume his voicebox would allow after he took another swig from his still mostly full 3rd bottle.

"What was that all about...?" Eve enquired in a partially quiet volume, not fully sure whether to be amused or bewildered. 

"I don't completely know, I just did some research one time and I found out that people used to use that word a lot, especially in the United States, and people still sometimes use it to this day. So I wanted to say it too." The telekinetic male's voice was heavily slurred and it wavered between different pitches in a couple of places, like those of North and Markus. 

"Ralph likes that word - it's a fun word!" Ralph started to chuckle, in addition. "Yeehaw!" He let himself explode into full laughter, which North soon ended up joining in with before Connor did as well, and then so did Markus. 

"Are you sure this lot are just drunk and not high?" Andrea turned to Arthur. 

"Come to think of it, I don't really think I am sure." Her boyfriend shook his head fractionally in reply. 

After he'd said this, Kara began to laugh with the other 4, although hers wasn't quite as loud, and soon she was bent over in this half suppressed laughter of hers; it was followed up by Alice's mouth forming into a smile that took a grand total of no time to transform into a little laugh.

"Not you 2 as well!" The middle born one out of the 3 girls said jokingly, while next to her, Arthur placed his forehead into one of his hands and concealed the fact that he was stopping his own chuckle from escaping as all 6 of the androids continued to laugh in varying degrees.

3 minutes later...

"See you later!" Andrea called out through the open club building door as she, Arthur, Eve and Jenna were stood outside, about to start heading back to their homes, in the full reach of the soft late afternoon light. The sun wasn't as high in the sky as it was around midday, so the heat emanating from this light wasn't as warm anymore, and was still so but only by a fraction - the source of the heat and the light was setting, beginning to slowly and sneakily edge closer towards the horizon piece by piece like a chameleon which alternates between camouflaging itself and making a mad dash to safety. 

"Byyyyyyyyyyyyyeeeeee!~" Ralph exclaimed back to them as he staggered over to the door and held the handle on the other side, grinning and giving the 4 a little wave of his left hand as a farewell before he tried to pull the door shut, but he only managed to pull it halfway when he turned around for some reason, probably under the impression that he'd already completely closed it, and through the opening, he could be seen suddenly falling over onto the floor, flat on his face. 

"You think that lot are going to be alright? As in they won't end up getting into any trouble?" Arthur asked the other 3 in a slightly worried manner after fully pushing the door closed. 

"Yeah, they'll be fine! What's the worst that could happen?" The darkest haired one out of the girls, out of all 4 of them, for that matter, answered.

"I don't know, but you might end up jinxing that." He replied, to which she let out a small chuckle in response. 

"Well, if their physiology when it comes to booze is anything like humans, then I do not wanna be them in the morning, especially North or Markus." Jenna smiled and was laughing herself as she finished this sentence. They'd just reached the bottom of the steps, and the girls retrieved their bikes from the rack whilst Arthur took his car keys out of one of his jeans' back pockets.