[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

[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."

[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."

[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]

"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?"

[businessorlibation]

"I don't want to feel like I'm inconveniencing my husbands and my son by making one of them hang back with me while the other gets to go be as free as the excursion allows. And I certainly don't want people to think I'm deficient."

Which. Is not the same thing as wanting to go out. But that might also be his phobia talking right now. Fear and desire interact in such interesting ways, after all. He toys with a couple of bottles behind the bar.

[crushed_pearls]

"Mm. I can dig it, but...see, back at home folks would have just come to you. If someone has needs you respect them and you don't ask rude questions if you know what's good for you. But I get not wanting to worry your loved ones, god knows that's why there's been no round two with Siffleur."

[businessorlibation]

“I don’t have needs, I have a problem. One that rudely won’t just resolve itself and be all better.” Here, the anger he didn’t show toward his husband leaches out like toxic waste into the groundwater.

[crushed_pearls]

"Yeah? For how long? I know you made a big adventurous change at least once, when you left your parents and became a self-made man."

She takes another sip at last. Erin seems content to let this drink last.