The bar shook as the glass slammed into it, a defening roar following close behind as yet another challenger fell to the night's champion. Mara grinned lopsidedly, leaning awkwardly across the bar to scoop up the credit chits that formerly belonged to the very unhappy human slinking back to his uproariously laughing friends in their booth.

"Al-allright... I got... one more in me...wh-ooo is nexsht..." The effort she had to put into speaking was painfully obvious, something that didn't escape the notice of the dark-haired woman sitting next to her.

"No no, Mara... I think you're done..." Samantha waved away a Krogran who had jumped up at the chance to try and out-drink the human, drawing a darkly muttered insult as he lumbered away. "I doubt the bar could survive another contest economically, anyway. Are you sure you aren't abusing your metabolism?"

Mara giggled uncontrollibly, almost falling off her chair and just barely stabilizing herself, "My abilities wif... the drink.. have nnnothing to do wif... the nanites." She stood and posed, drawing herself to her full height (all 5'3" of it) and proclaimed bodly, "Ahts th' blood of th' Scots coursin' through mah veins!" This sudden standing must've caused her to get light-headed, Sam's quick catch saving her from falling unceremoniously onto another patron.

"Yes, well, us Brits always did view your people's affection with whisky as a rather... self destructive one." She shook her head, "You aren't exactly changing my opinion on the matter." She glanced up at the bar's clock and raised her eyebrow, "Say, Mara... remember that opera you were taking Liara to?"

Mara climbed back onto her barstool, shrugging, "Yeah... what about it?"

"What day was that on, again?"

"To-night? Yesh... tonight... later..."

"What time?"

"Uhh... shhhheven... sheven thirty." She nodded sharply, obviously pleased with herself for remembering as much as she did.

Sam raised both eyebrows and pointed to the clock, smirking as Mara slowly followed her gauze and crinkled her nose in confusion as she tried to make sense of the display. The rate at which Mara sobered up astounded her, as did the size of her eyes when the little drunk scotswoman comprehended the "6" followed by a "55" on the clock.

"Oh fuck... ohfuckohfuck..." Mara jumped to her feet, almost falling over a second time, "Sam, I'm screwed! There's no way I can get back to the house, change, and make it to the opera! Oh goddess, Liara is going to kill me."

Sam resisted the urge to laugh and spun Mara around, pushing her towards the bathrooms and handing her a toothbrush, "You go in there, brush, try to clean up as best you can. I'll be right back."

Mara didn't even question why Samantha was carrying a toothbrush around and took off as fast as her drunken state would allow her towards the bathroom, amazingly only spilling two drinks and bumping into 10 people on her way. She fiddled with the toothbrush a little, puzzling out how to work the odd layout, and brushed with one hand while her other tried to tame her hair.

The door opened and an asari tried to walk in, only to be shooed away by Samantha, who slipped in with a bag over her shoulder, "Sorry, sorry, galactic emergency, sorry." She slammed the door in the bemused asari's face and locked it, spinning and tossing a small case to Mara. "Makeup, just fix up what you have on, you look fine."

Still a little confused, Mara turned to the mirror, applying the makeup as quickly and as steadily as her inebriated hands would allow. As she finished, she turned and stared dumbfounded as Sam pulled her favorite dress and shoes out of the bag, complete with the medallion, and ran a quick portable wrinkle remover over them before handing them over with a smile.

"Sam... if I survive tonight, I'm giving you anything you want. I swear to god... anything." Mara quickly pulled her shirt, bra and pants off, grabbing the dress and carefully pulling it on and making sure it fit right. Her boots were quickly replaced by the heeled shoes, and her medallion magically appeared on the dress as Sam quickly looked her over, fixing a few makeup spots and trying with a little more success to tame the wild red hair.

"Here... these mints will remove lingering alcohol from your breath. Now c'mon, if we hurry, we can get to the house in time. Chop chop!" She popped a mint into Mara's mouth and ushered her out of the bathroom. "Thank you for your patience, ladies. You have served your galaxy well!" She pushed Mara past the line of bemused ladies and out of the bar, summoning an aircar on the balcony while she continued to fuss over Mara's hair, "I know you get... carried away in the bars... so I took a few precautions. It's up to you to mask your... inebriated state when you get there, though."

Crawling into the aircar quickly, Mara smiled up at Sam, "Don't worry... fear is an incredible detoxing agent." This drew a laugh from Sam and she pushed the door close, waving and giving her a "good luck" thumbs up as the car drifted away and quickly raced for the opera house.

Mara let out a shaky breath, stairing at her hands and mentally fighting off the fuzzy drunkeness as she popped two more mints into her mouth. The car ride lasted far too long, and at the same time not nearly enough, ending at the grandeous Shakespeare Theatre and Opera House. Mara clambered out of the aircar, knocking her head on the door, and glanced around for either Liara or a chronometer as she rushed in the front door.

"Ah-HEM." Mara froze in her tracks and turned slowly as Liara walked up to her. "7:28... you cut it a little close, sweety." To the untrained eye, one might think Liara was pleased, or at the very least only lightly miffed.

Mara, however, knew far better and bit her lower lip awkwardly, "Uhm... yeah... well... I kind of didn't leave myself enough time to get ready so... it was a rush..."

"Was it." Liara's eyes narrowed as she stepped closer, backing Mara up to the wall and analyzing her, "Or was it more a case of you having a wild night and forgetting about our date?"

"Uhm... well..." Mara rubbed the back of her neck, slouching slightly under Liara's gaze and swallowing with her suddenly desert-dry throat, "Yes?" The admission was meek and barely above a whisper.

Liara scoffed and leaned back, her eyes shriveling Mara even more, "And I'm to assume the only reason you're here on time and remotely presentable is because Samantha is a far better friend than you deserve?"

Mara simply nodded slightly, eyes wide with fear.

Letting out a loud, infuriated huff, Liara spun without a word, her stride skillfully mixing grace and fury as she made for the auditorium. Mara exhaled for the first time since the conversation started and quickly scampered to catch up, falling in a few paces behind her and looking every bit the whipped puppy she felt.