you came on your own, that's how you'll leave

[boughtabookstore]

Date & Time: 8/13-ish?
Location: some bar somewhere in the Hold
Characters: Roslyn & Tony
Summary: So how about that drinking as a method of coping with being forced to relive bad memories, huh.
Warnings: discussion of violence I imagine.

[ She hasn't been drinking constantly. But at night, heading to one of the quieter bars, the ones that the other transports don't seem to frequent - well, it's easier. Easier than sleeping, easier than not sleeping, a faster way to forgetfulness.

And that's what she wants. This entire place, this entire thing with the Initiative and the constant fuck-ups - as far as she's concerned, right now it can all just go to hell.

She sees Stark nearly as soon as he comes in the door - he's kind of hard to miss - and sighs and orders another drink for herself. Part of the point of being here was that she wouldn't have to talk to or look at anyone else who knew about that whole utter mess.

It's possible he won't notice her, and at the moment that's what she's hoping for. ]

Comments

[boughtabookstore]

[ Her drink comes, and for a moment she just picks it up and looks at it before taking a long swallow. ]

Just meeting in the middle.

You're touring?

[fe_male]

Touring our new sovereignish nation's wonderful conglomerate of bars, pubs, and whatever the hell else you want to call dimly-lit long rooms where you can gradually purchase the specific hangover you'd like the next day.

[ His own arrives fairly promptly, he pays for them both - if she's paid for hers already then he's just paid for whatever she's getting next; he really couldn't give a shit less. He got tired of the allotment and hacked the system within days of arriving. ]

Kind of nice, no responsibilities. Here.

[boughtabookstore]

I generally stick to calling them bars.

[ But she relaxes just a bit, shrugs. He's buying her a drink, she can at least hold small talk. ]

It is. It can get boring, but if you let it be it's relaxing.

[fe_male]

Well, yeah, you can do that too. That's totally fine. Bars, yeah.

[ shrug. like he cares about the word choice as long as the scotch is good. or, what did she have, whiskey? almost the same thing. Whatever. He nods to the server as they place his own drink in front of him. Excellent. ]

Yeah, exactly. All this bullshit about how we need to fight them so we don't fight their war, I mean, what the hell, that's still fighting. Who gives a shit.

[boughtabookstore]

[ well he definitely knows how to use his words, and she gives an almost amused smile for a moment. until he gets back on to the topic of the initiative and all this and she does her best to finish off the rest of her drink in one go. ]

It's not worth the time or effort.

Training is slightly more useful. At least then you have a lower chance of dying on the next mission you're forced to go on.

[fe_male]

[ He listens to her, then downs his own drink. All gone. Gestures for another. ]

Training. Is so they can see how we're going with all of the stress and the missions and the freaky deaky weapon shit they gave us. Your chances of dying aren't any higher than if you kept doing what you'd been doing at home. That's what's helpful. You have like, CQB training, right? Martial shit? You want to beat me up a little? Tomorr- not tomorrow, I'm aiming to feel like shit tomorrow and float out some of these memories. Maybe... what is it, monday? Thursday? Teach me specifically how you're beating me up on thursday. Sound fun?

[boughtabookstore]

[ She lifts her own hand to second that. More alcohol right now sounds good. ]

I'd stopped before I came here. But yes, I have CQB training. Standard Navy and FBI, familiarity with other styles.

If you really care to volunteer, all right. What training do you have? Any?

[fe_male]

[ New drinks for everybody. Round up! ]

Uhh, mixed. Boxing, classical. Instincts. So no. How bad am I gonna be hurting Friday?

[boughtabookstore]

[ you're a good guy, Tony. ]

Your instincts looked good. [ that's about the only concession she's going to make to having seen him in that memory mix-up. ]

But quite a bit. I don't take it easy on people.

[fe_male]

[ some would disagree ]

Yeah? They didn't the first time. [ That's bitter. Oh, that was bitter. But he's sweet just before and after, so it clearly wasn't directed at you. ]

Meet you...?

[boughtabookstore]

[ there's alcohol, it's good.

And she's just going to shift a little uncomfortably at that, she doesn't want to do emotions. She'd have to be a lot drunker than this to think about emotions. ]

How early can you be at the training center?

[fe_male]

Before it opens, technically.

[ Sleep is for functioning adults. Bah. ]

[boughtabookstore]

Eight am, then.

I'd avoid drinking the night before. You'll want your reflexes sharp.

[fe_male]

Eight am, got it. No drinking.

[ Have yourself a merry little mock salute, as he returns to finish his drink. The next thing, it's a question, but the way it's stated means that he's not actually looking to get a conversation out of it. Simply sating some curious thought. ] So, drinking. VR thing?

[boughtabookstore]

[ There's a motion of her hand as if she was about to return that salute before she stops it. Reflexive, an indication that she's definitely not sober anymore.

That sort-of-question gets a slightly owlish blink out of her, her mouth twitching in the direction of a frown. ]

It was an exercise in relearning the extent of the Initiative's margin of error.

Too wide.

[fe_male]

Too fucking right it's too wide. Inaccurate to twelve standard deviations, and I don't even like stats. Shit's fucking unacceptable.

[boughtabookstore]

At least they're maintaining a consistent level of unacceptability.

[ She drains her glass, lifts it in a mocking gesture. ]

They're reliable.

[fe_male]

[ He'd already finished his and now she's done hers so he gestures for another round to the barkeep. ]

I wonder how bitchy they'd get if they couldn't even be reliably fucking up our lives here.

[boughtabookstore]

[ zero objections to more alcohol from her side. ]

It would leak through universes simply so they could continue to affect our lives.

I'd rather have a mission than this level of incompetence.

[fe_male]

[ That makes him laugh a little as the new round of drinks appears in front of them. ]

Yeah. That would be fun. I wonder if it's altering the life of any of those alternate versions of myself that everyone here seemed to already know. That would... honestly just make me laugh.

[boughtabookstore]

[ Wait, she hasn't heard that one before. She doesn't think. ]

Alternate versions of yourself? What do you mean?

[fe_male]

[ Come on that seemed pretty straightforward. ]

All the people who knew me already when I first got here. Things I didn't do, people I didn't actually know, that sort of crap. I either have some sort of freaky amnesia, or there's alternates, and at least one of those two options has some scientific back-up and gives me a few less jeebies.

[boughtabookstore]

[ she's drunk and not into comics enough to know about alternate dimensions being a whole thing, okay ]

Huhhh. That's another piece to add to the -- the overall picture.

I hadn't heard we had that yet.

[fe_male]

Lucky you. [ mock glass raise and everything ] It's more than a little unsettling, on top of the whole gangpress thing.

[boughtabookstore]

Lucky, lucky me. [ lip curling in distaste ] If there's a part of this that isn't unsettling, I've yet to find it.