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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Johnny's right there with him, refusing steadfast and stubborn to even think of Gabe in the past tense.

He "hums" softly, considering it. Many of his shared dream experiences have been awful, certainly, but to skip out on them entirely would almost feel like cheating, somehow. And he would never be able to see the TARDIS.

"Why are they so goddamn shady?" he asks, more or less rhetorically. "Kidnapping people and shit. I mean, I know Romac does that. I would have assumed the rebels were like, an answer to that shit, but Gabe always acts like they're no better." He shrugs. "I'm glad I didn't get picked up, anyway. Something tells me I wouldn't really fit in, with either of them."

"I think they started out better," he theorises, looking absently into the distance. "But the more power and advantages are at stake, the easier it is to bend the rules. At this point I think they're about equally bad when it comes to methods, they just have different ideas about what to do with us."

Edited 2014-06-28 17:57 (UTC)

"Yeah..." Johnny nods, mulling this over. Makes sense, comfortingly familiar in its resemblance to "The Establishment" in the sense he's always known it. He borrows another fry and raises it as if toasting. "Fuck 'em," he says brightly.

Seth smiles and raises a chip as well, mimicking the toast. "Fuck 'em," he agrees, and eats it.

"So.. Basically, you came through mid-May, lived in a hotel for a while, then befriended Gabe, and he's looked out for you since?" he asks, checking if he's got that right. "Met any other 'pretty cool' people? You know, ones that didn't try to murder you."

"Yep," Johnny confirms. "And yeah, a few. More than have tried to kill me, anyway." He gives a lopsided grin. He doesn't mention Jodie, since she still mostly likes to stay hidden, but the others are probably all right. "The TARDIS. Daine. Uhh, I met this guy named Andrew in a dream recently, he seemed all right." Better than Peter, he doesn't mention. "This total badass, Charley. Uh, Charlotte." He smiles a little and feels around in his pocket, wishing he had his phone. How much would it suck if she called him while he was locked out? A lot, is how much.

There's Lucy and Eliot, too, but Johnny's not sure his drunken hook-ups are really stories he wants to share. Anyway the mornings-after of both of those were kind of... complicated.

He shrugs. "There's a few others but those are the big ones, I guess."

Seth frowns. He's at least vaguely familiar with all except this Charley, and he still hasn't met the TARDIS, despite hearing about her now and then from Gabe. And he doesn't actually know he met Daine, considering she was a seal at the time.

"Andrew - the guy who looks like Peter and the Doctor, by any chance?" he asks. Assuming Johnny knows who either of those are. If he knows the TARDIS, he should at least know the Doctor.

"That's the one," says Johnny. "Well, except the Doctor's got a different face now. Or it's... a different Doctor? Or same Doctor but like a different version? I don't really get it," he confesses, raising his hands. "It is way over my head. Anyway, now he looks just like the guy who swings by my dreams to torture me every few nights, so..."

He shrugs. It's not the Doctor's fault, and according to Charley and the TARDIS he is a solidly good guy, but...

"I don't know if I can get used to that," he admits.

Seth continues to frown, first at the confusion over not hearing about multiple Doctors (How did he not hear about that? Well, maybe it's not widely known, and he hasn't spoken to Gabe, so.) and then even more at someone 'swinging by torture' Johnny. He's not entirely sure if he's just being flippant and hyperbolic, but given the number of dreams Johnny's been murdered in, he might actually mean actual torture.

"Who's he?" he asks, watching Johnny. He'd like to know if he could help out in some way.

Johnny chews his lip and stares at the ground for a moment. He really wants to avoid going down these dark paths, but he did bring it up, for better or for worse. He sighs.

"His name is Zagreus," he says. "He's not really a person? More like... concept made flesh." That's how Gabe had put it, anyway. "I met him in a dream and he tortured me and left his traces all the fuck over my brain, and now I can't get rid of him."

Not the first time. Johnny feels like he doesn't make that clear enough when he tells this story. This is so much like what he's already experienced, it's almost like he can cope better because of that. Nightmares living in his head, eating at him. At least this time he has people he can talk to.

"Gabe and the TARDIS try to protect me but I don't know if anyone can really do anything about him," he says, shrugging, trying to lighten his mood. "It's fine. He's just an asshole. I get the feeling maybe he'll get bored and leave me alone."

Yeah, you keep on believing that, kiddo.

Seth is not particularly good at offering emotional support beyond, well, "Sorry." Particularly not while mildly inebriated. But he has a feeling it wouldn't make much difference, so he just offers some chips again. If neither Gabe nor the TARDIS can do something, chances are Seth can't either. Short of taking Zagreus's powers, but he has a feeling if that was a viable option, he would've been asked? Perhaps he'll suggest it to Gabe later when he comes back from whatever it is he's doing.

"Lots of fucked up shit in this town," he observes. And not nearly enough being done about it, probably because no one's organised enough, and those who are are often part of doing the bad shit.

"Yeah, I'll drink to that," mutters Johnny, taking another fry. He's eager to move on. "But it's not really any more fucked up than my life before. Just a different kind. And it's not like I had anyone like Gabe where I came from."

This isn't really a lighter subject, considering the situation. But it's also true, and important for him to acknowledge.

"I'm really fuckin lucky I met him," he murmurs.

"You and me both," he agrees quietly. And now he's god-knows-where. And they don't have powers. Here's hoping the ones looking for him have lost their powers too.

He falls silent after that, contemplating.

"Yeah?" Johnny glances over at Seth, glad he understands, curious what he's been through. Johnny's shared a lot tonight, and Seth's given back very little - it doesn't bother him, really, since lately that's become his m.o., but it doesn't stop him wondering either. "What'd he get you out of?" he asks, as innocuously as he can.

Seth looks up and spots the hotel with relief. "Let's just say I'm not on great terms with the rebels - look, there we are," he answers, pointing ahead. Perhaps he'll be talkative once he's had his shot. He's just been feeling more and more withdrawal-related anxiety, which doesn't generally lead to sharing.

"I'm gonna take a shower once we get in. Wanna buy yourself something at the hotel bar while you wait?" he offers, pulling out his wallet and extracting a bill, handing it to Johnny. He's pretty sure they had a bar. It's not a big hotel, but he thinks it at least has somewhere that sells alcohol.

"Oh. Sure." Johnny blinks in surprise and takes the offered money, a little bewildered. "Thanks."

So, obviously Seth isn't ready to talk about whatever. He seems a little more antsy than he was earlier, too. Johnny's not sure what that's about. Concern for Gabriel, nervousness about revealing things about himself... something else?

It almost seems like Seth needs a fix of something. Johnny's been on enough dark paths that he knows what it looks like - and Seth's admission to being a pot dealer makes it somewhat plausible, though this would be something more serious. Johnny could be projecting, though.

"I guess, come down and get me when you're done?" Johnny shrugs. "I'll just work on getting obliterated."

"Don't work too hard," he jokes with a smirk. "Don't want to come down only to have to haul you to bed." He hands the chips off to Johnny as they enter the hotel, and splits off from him to check in. He gets two keys for them, but keeps both for the moment, just so Johnny won't walk in on him at an inopportune moment.

Once up at the room, he turns on the shower, strips off his jacket, and meticulously sets about preparing. The little bottle of medical grade morphine he brought has become room temperature a little while ago now. He's lucky he still had the kit in his pocket, hadn't taken it out before heading up to Gabe's. Although it was probably stupid, come to think of it, given Gabe doesn't know, and he berates himself for not thinking about that.

It's part of what gives him an illusion this isn't an addiction; he always keeps track of his doses, he knows his sources, he knows what's in it, and he doesn't go chasing a high. At least he's a responsible drug ~~addict~~ user. (It would be a lot more responsible to let Johnny know and ask him to keep an eye on him while he did it, in the unlikely event he should actually manage to OD despite his small doses, but...)

One who has currently injecting stuff into his veins while inebriated. He takes it slower than usual to make sure he doesn't fumble. He also uses a smaller dose this time, given he's already drunk some, and he plans to drink more. Just something to take the edge off, and he can take the rest later, when it won't make getting pissed be dangerous.

After he shoots up, he lies down on the bed and relaxes through the initial rush. It's mild and wears off ~~disappointingly~~ quickly, but he gives himself 20 minutes before he goes back down, to make sure he isn't too obvious. He cleans up everything, then splashes water in his face, and wets his hair a bit too, to make it look like he's actually been showering. He turns off the shower again, and then heads back down to the bar to find Johnny.

Johnny sits at the hotel bar slowly nursing a vodka tonic and staring numbly into the distance. Without Seth there to distract him, he's back to worrying about Gabriel, feeling less and less comfortable with the situation the longer he thinks about it. It's been days and no contact. Johnny's prayed to him a few times since the initial discovery, hoping for a change, but still, nothing. The dull ache of sadness is beginning to turn to anxiety. He jiggles his leg nervously and involuntarily.

He sees Seth approaching him out of the corner of his eye, and turns, instantly relieved. He downs the rest of his drink and slides off the stool.

"All refreshed?" he says lightly, endeavoring not to convey the trepidation he'd been feeling.

Edited 2014-06-29 23:30 (UTC)

"Yep," he answers, fishing the other set of keys from his pockets and handing them off to Johnny. Despite not actually having showed, refreshed could still describe how he's feeling. A lot more pleasant than earlier. "Decent room, too."

He looks around, assessing the bar. "Wanna stick around here or find somewhere else?" At least he would be easy to stagger up to the room from here, but it's probably also more expensive.

"I think we passed a liquor store on the way here," says Johnny, vaguely recalling. "We could just get a bottle of something and drink it upstairs?"

He's feeling the need to be somewhere private at the moment. Something about the hotel bar makes him nervous, like it's impossible to relax there - it's not a destination, but a spot between coming and going.

"Good call," Seth answers with a nod, and turns towards the exit. Cheaper, and they don't have to worry about being overheard. Seth isn't really in the mood for real socialising right now anyway, just a quiet drink, and then several more quiet drinks.

Johnny follows him out and directs them toward the nearby store, where they settle on a decent bottle of scotch. Heading back, Johnny keeps an eye on Seth, who seems... different since his "shower." Johnny's beginning to doubt he had a shower at all. It's starting to seem like his suspicion of withdrawal symptoms had been right on point.

He doesn't say anything, not sure how to approach that without sounding like a narc. Keeps quiet, following Seth up to their room. It is a nice room, that's true at least.

"Oh," says Johnny as he steps in, letting the door fall shut behind them. "Uh. Cozy."

There's just one bed. It's big enough for both of them, and ordinarily Johnny wouldn't really give a shit one way or the other, but... did Seth arrange for it on purpose? Is this going to be not-anonymous sex after all? Did Johnny miss some cue where that was agreed to?

Uncertain, he crouches down to unlace his shoes.

"It's fine, I guess," he answers, not really picking up on what Johnny's reacting to. He isn't intentionally trying to confuse Johnny, he's just not sober enough to consider it enough to comment on, because the option is not something that would generally occur to him.

He pulls off his shoes and sets them away, then pulls off his jacket and throws it over the back of a chair, unconsciously tugging at his shirtsleeves to make sure they're properly pulled down. (The warmer the city gets, the more frustrating it is to wear long sleeves.)

Then he drops down on the side of the bed closes to the window, leaning against the pillows, and opens the scotch. "Probably should've brought glasses," he comments.

"Who needs glasses?" says Johnny, keeping his tone light even though Seth totally did not make things any clearer. Anyway, fries or not, by now he's pretty properly drunk, so, what the hell, right?

He sits himself down on the other side of the bed, crossing his legs. "We can just drink from the bottle. I don't have mono."

That's fine, right? It's not flirtatious. Friends share bottles, he does it all the time. He's not even sure he WANTS to flirt with Seth. Seth isn't bad looking, but after the abortive proposition Johnny was pretty pleased to settle into casual friendship with the guy. Now, though, he's just not sure. Seth didn't actually decline the offer, as far as he can recall?

This is making it harder to relax. Johnny breathes out and holds out his hand for the bottle. "Thanks again," he says, "for putting me up."

Seth nods in agreement, taking the first wonderfully alcoholic drink before handing it off to Johnny, blithely unaware of the debate going through Johnny's head, and content to just not worry about all the shit going on for a while.

"Well, I needed a room anyway, you can't easily get singles without paying just as much," he answers, propping his hands behind his neck. "Besides, fucked up town, you need allies."

"I do," agrees Johnny enthusiastically, accepting the bottle and taking a lively swig. Oh, that hits the fuckin spot. He takes a minute to savor it, then hands it back. He looks around the room, then leans over to the bedside table, opening the drawer and rooting around. Bible, hotel stationary, pen. He pulls out the pen and the notepad and starts sketching idly, wanting something to do other than sip.

"So what happened to you, man?" he asks after a minute. Maybe Seth's loosened up, what with the bed and the scotch and the "shower." "Why were you in that room for three months?"

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[drug use warning]

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