[OPEN] Tried on 13 different pairs of shoes

[businessorlibation]

Who: Johnny Summer and You
When: January
Where: Hurikane, Tommy Bahama
Summary: December's aftermath settles in hard. Johnny folds himself up, tucks himself away, finds distractions.
Warnings: Alcohol, maladaptive coping strategies, mental health

1. I am dented by the skies [Hurikane]
Sometimes, you just want to slot into old familiar routine, step back into what was work and just. Wear the customer service face, letting people tell you what they want of you and delivering that to the best of your ability. Johnny's behind the bar, mixing cocktails and hoping no one notices how mask-like his smile feels to him right now. Come on over, he'll just...make a drink happen for you. It's the best he can do for anyone in this moment.


2. They keep me up at night [Tommy Bahama]
And sometimes a man's feet get restless, when the end of day comes and lying down in bed feels impossible. There's no snow-covered wilderness to wander here, and that suits Johnny Summer fine. He's an indoor cat, after all, has been ever since...

...so he's at Tommy Bahama alone, taking advantage of its endlessness to go for a nice long walk to try to get the fog out of his mind. Maybe. Or maybe he'll run into a werecougar and have a fight, always possible. He does have his scissors.


3. It’s just a lack of air supply [Wildcard]
darkersolstice or darkersolstice #9463 to plot

Comments

1.

[lightconductor]

"There you are. I was wondering where you'd taken yourself off to."

He's long since passed the point that it isn't a surprise to find Johnny behind the bar mixing drinks when there's no need for it. And sometimes that's fine, but at other times the lines between hobby and coping mechanism are a little fuzzy. Watson steps behind the bar to offer a kiss, his hand on Johnny's back.

"Are you having much custom today?"

1

[be_seeing_you]

Number 6 can read the strain in that smile, and he doesn't really need to guess why it's there considering what's happened.

"Would you make me another of those, what was it? Tokyo Tea?" he requests as he takes a seat at the bar directly in front of Johnny.

"Care to join me?"

[businessorlibation]

Ah, there's his other favorite intoxicant. Husband kisses.

"Fits and starts. Sometimes it's quiet, but people come over to say hello, even if they're not drinking."

[businessorlibation]

"When you ask so nicely, how can I refuse?" He absolutely and totally makes two Tokyo teas, passing one to 6. "How's Ava?"

1. I am dented by the skies [Hurikane]

[crushed_pearls]

Ah, there's Johnny. Erin hasn't seen him since the wedding, essentially, and since she took all that time to herself...

Still. The elf takes a seat at the bar, back to at least her former level of exhaustion. Well, no, she'd been doing better, and now she looks like she did all the way back in September, running on jags of sleep that happen when they happen.

Still better than just after the murders, though.

"Johnny, my man, I have come for the kind of rainbow-colored drinks that cause a person to wake up in the gutter in another city entirely, and also to ask how those shoe organizers are working out for you."

[businessorlibation]

"How about a drink that will make you feel like you've had your brain smashed out by a slice of lemon wrapped around a gold brick?" After all, there's spirits from all kinds of worlds out here. And maybe if he gets her properly sloshed as she wishes quick enough, he can avoid the tough questions today.

(As if she won't smell the tension like a shark smelling blood...)

[crushed_pearls]

"I've read those books, Mister Summers - FUCK ME." Erin drops her head onto the countertop and makes a long Noise. "...I haven't been sleeping. I would like to sleep. If you sit here and serve me an actual Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster not only will I not sleep but Helena won't get any sleep either 'cause I'll be up all fucking night nerding it at her, so. Let's aim a bit more bachelorette party, shall we?"

[businessorlibation]

"Anything for Miss Adams' sake." He's more amused than offended by her error, and immediately works on something pink which he sets in front of her with a crooked smile.

[crushed_pearls]

Erin takes a sip and makes a pleased noise. Oh that's decadent as fuck. She's in danger.

"I took the hit pretty hard," she admits after a moment. "Can't imagine you didn't. Watson holding up? Are you holding up?"

[businessorlibation]

"I'm not, but it's hard to talk about. Do you want to play the part of therapist, friend or repairwoman today?"

That's a very important distinction.

[crushed_pearls]

"Gonna have to pass on repairwoman." Sippppp. God that's good. "Let's try therapist and see how it goes. Bars are the traditional venue for that."

1, cw for abuse

[firewalled]

Rich knows that smile is a fake one. He knows as well as he knows his own terrible attempts... Johnny is just going through the motions, setting himself on a routine via remote control so he doesn't have to think too hard about what went on.

Rich gets that. It's why he isn't begging his dad for an explanation of what went on in the trial, or why he and his husbands and been so hushed after the excursion.

He wants to know. Desperately. But what is asking going to get him? Especially with glass bottles and booze so easily accessible.

So instead, Rich sits with his own mask. He seems a little stiff, sitting up a bit straighter in the stool than should be comfortable, but that's the only indication that he's off.

"Still got the stuff for a chocolate malt, pops?"

[lightconductor]

"Well, I can certainly understand that. I think you're wonderful company, after all."

Watson kisses him again, lingering with his hands around Johnny's middle. He is extremely in the way. "And I imagine strong drink is rarely unwanted at a time like this."

[businessorlibation]

He pauses to gather his words before speaking, getting himself in order.

"I don't think I'm going to be able to get myself to leave the ship for the next excursion. I had a hard enough time for this one, and took a cricket bat to my bruised psyche, so to speak. While, consciously, I realize I have support...in the moment, I did not have my support, and that hurt me. And what I want isn't an apology, it's to feel secure again. But that's not going to just happen, not after how things fell out."

[businessorlibation]

"Always, for you." Rich showing up forces him to be present. The smile dims, but the expression that replaces it is more sincere. "Though if you're in the mood for something a little more adventurous, I've got a few drinks I've been workshopping. One of my friends is going sober, so I'm trying to find ways to keep him from getting bored."

[crushed_pearls]

"...Secure in your physical person, or emotionally?" The question is quiet, but the difference, it's so important. "I know Crabb went to check on you while I was...attending to Bash."

[businessorlibation]

He looks down at the bartop. "Cesar ran off to check on Rich, left me in the snow with Watson's corpse, alone until Crabb arrived."

He doesn't sound angry at all, at this point.

[crushed_pearls]

There is a long and wordless sound of sympathetic pain.

[businessorlibation]

He is intentionally extremely in the way, the cheeky devil (though is that not the very fundament of Johnny's type?).

"Not everyone gets to get drunk off your kisses. So they manage with booze instead."

[businessorlibation]

"Is that you playing therapist, or just bemoaning as yourself?" He has to check.

[crushed_pearls]

"Listen, even doctors are entitled to the odd 'what the fuck is that' every now and again." That needs a sip of this drink, which she takes. God it's like ice cream, this's deadly. "I'm not gonna belabor the obvious, but, yeah, nah, while I can get being worried about Rich like..." That noise again. "...Not to be an ice-cold bitch or anything but either Rich was dead or Rich was fine. You were neither dead nor fine."

[businessorlibation]

"He's aware of that being a mistake now and has apologized. It's...fine."

If she thought she was being an ice-cold bitch, there's something positively arctic about that final word.

[crushed_pearls]

"...Johnny if you think I of all people am going to let 'it's fine' go you're doing worse than I thought. You should get one of these for yourself, I think."

Erin taps her glass before pulling it closer to herself so she can ponder, fingers laced under her chin just over it.

[businessorlibation]

"I don't have half your sweet tooth. Speaking of, for your next drink--same thing, something similar or something far afield?"

Thank you for the momentary reprieve, at least.

[crushed_pearls]

"Let's go for no cream, might as well not tempt fate with the opportunity to throw my guts up." Still, that little hrmm sound. She's still on track. "You know, I never have asked how you feel about not going outside. Polite society considers it odd, of course, but...I have a bit of a different perspective on those things. Is going out and about something you even want?"