bigapplesauce | [closed] Temporarily powerless and homeless

Current Location: Gabe's apartment building and neighbourhood
Current Music: June 28th

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[closed] Temporarily powerless and homeless

It seems every day is more monotone than the last, like he's walking around in a zombie haze - though thankfully without any real zombies, he'd prefer not to do that again. But you'd think a city as weird as this would have more going on. That's what he gets for staying out of trouble.

He sighs as he unlocks the door to his apartment, dropping the keys on a table and running a hand down his face. He sits down in front of the telly, but gets bored almost immediately. Perhaps he should simply go out. Or perhaps he should go hang out with Gabe. He hasn't seen him for almost a week, he realises with a small pang.

Usually Gabe shoots him a text or something if he wants to hang out, or Seth just heads upstairs, but that hasn't happened lately. Probably he's just been busy. Yeah, that's what he'll do, maybe that will shake him out of this funk.

Not bothering with the keys just now, he heads for the door again, simply walking through it before heading upstairs. He knocks twice, but there's no reply. Guess not, then. He's about to leave, but then decides if Gabe's out, he might as well check if Scout's there and if he needs something, so he steps through the door.

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May, that's not terrible long, then. Trying to stay out of trouble seems familiar, though. He's known a fair few self-destructive people, and isn't exactly great at self-care himself, and he appreciates Johnny's candor, just nodding thoughtfully in reply.

"I take it there were no powers back where you came from, then?" he asks, heading across the street towards the only bar in the area that sells acceptable lager.

"Not so much," says Johnny, suppressing a laugh at the idea. Hell, maybe Seth comes from a place where powers are common. He doesn't seem like any of the people he's met so far - time travelers, gods, or Daine, who seems to have risen out of a fantasy novel. So far Seth just seems like a regular guy.

"What about you?" he asks. He keeps it vague intentionally, so Seth can interpret it how it likes.

"Few years back, my home universe - pretty similar to this one - there was a storm wot gave loads of people superpowers." He shrugs. "And I've been here since October." Not the most elaborate of recounts, but Seth's not one to share easily.

He pauses as something occurs to him. "May, you said, so, before or after Godzilla?"

So, just like a comic book, then. Maybe comic books don't exist in a universe that is like a comic book? Johnny is debating how to ask for more details, or if he should, when the next question comes, and he barks out a laugh.

"Right before," he says. "That's where I met Gabe. He took me somewhere safe, gave me advice and a neck massage, offered me a place to live, and hit on me, and then like a month later I found out it wasn't really him. An illusion, the whole time." He laughs. He was sort of mad about it at the time, but now it's just funny. Ridiculous. Typical of Gabriel. So not at the top of the list of his questionable actions. And Johnny would fucking forgive it all if he would just come back.

"I'm gonna assume you knew it was all fake?" he says, glancing at Seth. "He's a piece of work, isn't he?"

"Didn't know till after. He made me fight it," he answers, glancing over at Johnny with a grin.

"Teleported us top a building, had me shoot this giant lizard with a fucking... celestial, glowing bow and arrow," he explains with a laugh, gesturing vaguely. "And not just that, he pretended to fall from the building, with a dramatic pre-death speech, all..."

He straightens a little, imitating Gabe's voice unconvincingly. "There's a reason I chose you, Seth. You're a good man." He shakes his head at Gabe's ridiculousness. "And then he plummets, and I think for sure he's dead. And then I kill the giant thing, and he reappears, applauding. I was furious." It's fairly obvious he no longer holds a grudge for it, though. In retrospect, it's more cool and less terrifying.

Johnny cracks up at the imitation and the mental image, doubling over slightly as they walk. "God, of course he did, what a fucking asshole!" He pushes his hand through his hair, straightening back up. He hasn't laughed this much - like really laughed - in a long damn time. Feels good. "And he just thinks the whole thing is like a, an arcade game or something. Jesus."

And then, just like that, the laugther stops. It's like they're talking about a friend who's died. He feels sick to his stomach at the thought of it.

He almost wants to ask. Could Gabe die from something like that? Can anything kill Gabe? But no, fuck that, fuck giving life to that kind of supposition by speaking it.

"I miss him," he admits instead. Daine was so... bitter about it, and the TARDIS so beyond his level, approaching the situation so differently... it's a relief, in a sad way, to find someone else who's just... lost, confused, fucked up about it.

The same thought process more or less goes through Seth's mind, and he sobers. All of a sudden it feels like they're off to a post-funeral drink. But they don't know anything for sure, and Gabe's a tough nut to crack. Seth seems to have built of quite a bit of faith in him without noticing.

"Yeah..." he answers sympathetically. He's barely found out he's gone, and he still misses him. Hopefully it's just Gabe being Gabe, doing something ridiculous and not considering how it might affects other people's emotions.

"C'mon," he adds, nodding and leading the way into the pub, up to the bartender. "Pint o' lager, and..." He looks expectantly at Johnny.

"Whiskey, straight," Johnny says immediately. His go-to starter of late. Maybe he'll work his way down to beer, depending on where this wanders.

He glances around the place. "You want to sit here or a table?"

Edited 2014-06-27 07:00 (UTC)

"Table's probably best," he says, nodding at one of the booths. Considering they're likely to continue discussing subjects best not overheard. At least in a place like this, despite people being more disturbed at what they hear, there's less prying ears who can make use of it than at Wilmot's.

He pays for the drinks, grabs his beer when it arrives, and heads towards a booth.

Johnny slides into the booth and sips at his whiskey, careful not to down it like he might be inclined. For a moment there's a fantastically awkward silence - the first time since they've met that they haven't been in motion.

He sets down his glass and makes a vague gesture at his own face. "How's the nose?"

Seth smiles and reaches up to touch it gingerly. "Bit sore," he admits. Though honestly he's got more trouble from the headache of banging his head, and the muscle pain from withdrawal slowly setting in.

It reminds him why he got hurt in the first place, though. Their power loss, and Johnny's less bothered attitude towards it.

"Did Gabe ever mention there's ways to get rid of your power?" he asks suddenly.

Johnny hesitates at the abrupt subject shift. So out of left field.

"You mean like apart from whatever's happening now?" He smirks faintly and takes another sip, then sits up a little straighter as a few things come back to him. "Wait - yeah, he told me, like, back when I found out about it, he said he knew someone who... Is that you?" It was so long ago, so entrenched in other things (not the least of which was their first time sleeping together), that detail was sort of left behind. He'd more or less given up hope that he'd ever shake this beast.

Seth gives an affirming nod. He's glad Gabe doesn't name him or anything, just says he knows someone.

"If this current thing blows over, or someone fixes it or whatever, I can help you lose it," he explains, taking a drink. "Only be sure about it, yeah? Don't want him thinking I'm preying on you or something. There's no rush, neither."

Johnny can't really keep himself from looking thrilled. From where he's sitting this is the best news ever.

"Oh my god," he says, "yes. I mean - you don't understand, I have thought about it, I hope it never fucking comes back."

Ooookay. He sits back, tries to rein himself in a bit. Sips more whiskey. "Would he really think that?" he asks, raising an eyebrow.

Seth shrugs. He has the impression Gabe doesn't exactly trust him implicitly. Some of it for good reasons, some of it because Seth's just not very good at giving people reason to like or trust him.

"When he found out I could do it, he told me if I ever tried to take one of his powers, he'd snap me neck," he answers. "Mind you, this was after he saved my life." A bit inaccurate - saved his freedom, more like, but he doesn't want to get into that whole thing right now.

What the fuck? Johnny can't even imagine Gabe saying something like that. Even when he tried to kill Topher, he was almost - tender about it. Ugh, wrong thing to think about. He feels disgusted by the memory, and even worse now that he knows Gabe says shit like that.

"I guess..." He struggles to find a way to justify that. He's only just met Seth, and finding him immediately relatable certainly doesn't mean he's infallible. If anything, relatability to Johnny is suspect. He waves a hand. "Fuck, I mean, he's got insane god powers, could you even take something like that?"

"Dunno, never tried, hence," he gestures at his intact neck. "I wasn't the shining beacon of trustworthiness at the time, I don't blame him for wanting to impress upon me he's not to be trifled with. And I mean, it's moot anyway, he's helped me out a lot since then, I'd never do something like that."

It probably also shows how desensitized Seth is to violence and murder. He himself has buried a couple bodies, though there were pretty extenuating circumstances. And he was fresh out of being locked up - his compass for these things was a bit messed up.

Johnny nods thoughtfully. Seth's casual attitude toward it is not lost on him, though he's really starting to realize how different Gabriel is with absolutely everyone. What he did to Topher, the way he treated Daine - the way he seems to be with the TARDIS - it's all starting to make a little bit more sense. It's not exactly comforting, but at least it's coming together.

He nurses his whiskey. "Well, anyway," he says, "this power is a fucking disease. If you want to take it I'd be... really grateful."

And what if the power does come back and Seth sees it in action and decides he doesn't want it? So far everyone seems to think it's really great and useful, but they're only seeing it from the utilitarian angle. The superhero angle. Sure, making portals, it's definitely practical. But it's not just opening up a wormhole or something.

"I should clarify," he says after a minute. "It only applies to buildings. Houses, apartments... well, any enclosed structure, I guess. It doesn't have to be residential. I haven't tested it on like a train car or anything but somehow I doubt that would work."

Seth nods thoughtfully. "Well, we're hardly lacking in buildings in this city, so." He takes another drink, leaning back in his seat. It could definitely be useful. He's often been envious of Gabe's teleportation. And he'd so enjoyed having Peter's power for a while, but of course that didn't stick.

"So, what did you do back in LA?" he asks, looking for a lighter subject. Powers aren't a big issue until, well, they actually get them back.

"You know that's some really nice ink you've got there," says Johnny, pointing out the dragon on Seth's neck. He's been eyeing it for a while now. Not the kind of thing he'd draw, necessarily, but it's a nice piece of work. "So I usually say I'm a tattoo artist but... if you want the truth, I was more of a tattoo parlor bitch. Filling caps and sweeping floors and shit." He chuckles and finishes off the whiskey, a little quicker than is called for, but what the hell.

"Gabe has been... sort of 'sponsoring my craft.'" This in finger quotes. He can't seem to keep away from Gabriel in this conversation. So much of his life here is wrapped up in his relationship with Gabriel, it's almost impossible to steer away from it, much as he would like to. "He got me supplies and a desk and shit. He lets me work on him sometimes."

He rolls up the sleeve of his t-shirt to show the half-finished design on his left shoulder. "I didn't do this one, but I sort of designed it. I did this one." He shows the little swirl of branches on his right wrist. "It's nicer now, than it was. Rift did that, I have no fucking clue why."

He's never admitted that. Not to anyone. Not even to Gabe. Seth is so neutral, so... drinking buddy. This stuff just comes out. Or maybe it's for the lack of anyone else to fucking talk to lately.

"And this one." He draws his finger up the line of Latin on his left forearm, standing out dark against his warped mess of burn scars. "Just recently."

He drops his chin into his palm and looks at Seth thoughtfully. "Are you in the market for more, by any chance?"

Seth smiles with interest as Johnny goes on, amused at his enthusiasm. They are nice tattoos though, so clearly the kid's got some skill. He laughs a little as his admittance to the rift changing his work. At least the rift's never changed Seth's tattoos, that's another thing to be grateful for.

It's not particularly uncommon to have a bunch of tattoos, but Seth hadn't really paid attention to his scars earlier. Makes him wonder about Johnny's past -- well, self-destructive, that says something right there. Probably not the most well-adjusted overall, but Seth really isn't one to talk.

"Haven't really thought about it," he answers, finishing his beer and gesturing at the bartender to give them refills. "Not sure what I'd get. This one wasn't the most thought-through decision of my life." He doesn't regret the tattoo, and he is fond of reptiles, but he'd probably choose something a bit less cheesy.

"Well if you think of something you know where to find me," says Johnny with a grin. He eyes the second round as it comes to the table.

"Could we like... order some fries maybe?" he asks a little sheepishly. "I haven't eaten since lunch. Probably best if you didn't have to drag me to a hotel. People might get the wrong idea."

Seth snorts gently and waves the guy over again to order some chips for the both of them. He might as well try to eat something too.

"How about we finish this, then head over to a hotel. Don't really wanna be stumblin' round completely pissed, middle of the night, only to find every hotel we try is fully booked," he suggests, getting out his phone and seeing if he can look for availability online. The freshly cracked screen makes browsing a little tricky, but it works.

"Yeah, sure." Johnny smiles into his whiskey. What a lucky fucker he is, that this relative stranger's willing to pay and put him up. He wants to pay it back - it's not like with Gabe, where it's all understood as part of their whole "thing", this is more like charity. Generosity, maybe, but Johnny does not want to get in the habit of just blithely accepting that shit. He used to have such intense pride that he wouldn't ask anyone for help, he'd live on the streets first. He's maturing, maybe, or he's losing his edge.

He watches Seth browse while sipping at his drink. "So this storm thing," he ventures after a moment. "Did it affect everybody or just like, a handful?"

It's not just to be friendly - making people feel like they owe ya makes them a lot more likely to be helpful to you in the future. And money is currently not really an issue for him.

"Not everybody, but a bit more than a handful. Just in the London area," he answers, still flipping through pages on his phone. "Wasn't common knowledge or anything, but I saw hundreds of people with powers."

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