a thankless job but somebody's got to do it [closed]

[powerdealer]

Seth's not entirely sure how much he likes being called up as a newbie's guide to superpowers. Any recognition is still a bit too much for him, and he doesn't like meeting at a pre-determined time with someone he doesn't know. But Wilmot's End is just about the only place he feels is safe, neutral ground.

He'd actually showed up pretty early, thinking he might scout for other newbies with fresh powers they might like to get rid of, but he's felt far too anti-social to actually approach anyone. His anxiety's been kicking in, much earlier than he'd like. It's a worrying trend that he's trying very hard not to think about too much.

So he's sitting a little towards the back, nursing a drink and watching the door from his booth. Looking for anyone who looks a little lost and out of place, like they're searching for someone.

Comments

[powerdealer]

Seth chuckles gently into his drink. "Well, based on the evidence, it'd be amusing," he says, picking up the empty water glass and waving it at the bartender.

"Maybe I should just get you drunk on Irish coffee one day. It'd be great. You could ramble at hundred miles per hour about something posh and super old, and I could try to figure out what the hell you're talking about," he suggests, smiling. He's getting kind of drunk too, but all it really does for him is making him relaxed and more talkative.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Oh, god," says Daniel, utterly horrified. "That'd be the worst. No, hang on - the only thing worse than giving me Irish coffee is not telling me it's Irish coffee, and the next thing you know I'm trying to summarize Gödel's ontological proof in Arabic." He takes off his glasses and deposits them on the table so he can scrub at his face with both hands. "Though I think it might have been an attempt at spoken Akkadian. I don't know. No one would tell me."

[powerdealer]

"See, exactly like that," Seth answers with a lopsided grin. "No clue who the hell Gödel is or where Akkadia is, but still pretty amusing to watch." He picks up Daniel's glasses, tries to look through them, squints a bit and puts them back down again.

[peacefulexplorer]

He drops his hands in time to see Seth examining the glasses.

"Had 'em since I was little. Bad eyesight. S'genetic." It occurs to him that his diction could be better but he can't summon the wherewithal to fix it. "Really completes the studious look, though. So. You know."

[powerdealer]

"Honestly, I'd say they were about a hundred percent responsible for the studious look," Seth observes. The broad shoulders and tall, sturdy stature doesn't exactly scream 'nerd'. Another glass of water arrives and Seth pushes it in front of Daniel.

[peacefulexplorer]

This time Daniel examines the water at length before partaking, for no other reason than that it seems the logical thing to do.

"Didn't used to be. Blame the military." There's reasoning buried somewhere behind that wandering statement but Daniel can't quite search it out currently. "Used to have raging allergies but I guess death and Ascension is a cure-all for that."

[powerdealer]

Seth blames the military for enough things, he doesn't need more. Well, not so much the military as the government and the establishment, probably. Never had all that much faith in all of that shit, never had much reason to.

"Not sure I'd advertise death as a good solution for allergies," Seth answers, taking a drink, almost finished with it now. Should probably head back soon. Underneath the good mood and the alcohol, he can still feel withdrawal pulling at him.

[peacefulexplorer]

"No, no, I don't think I would either." He shakes his head, a little clumsily, god he's getting sloppy. Really must do something about this pitiful tolerance level. "Except for, um, maybe cosmic enlightenment. Maybe that. Kind of."

[powerdealer]

"Yeah, well, I'm not in a hurry for that," Seth answers, sighs, and leans back in his seat again. "You going back up to Lucy's after this?" He kind of doesn't think Daniel should wander around on his own in this state.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Yeah, I figured." He squints upward as he tries to recall the way back and...yeah, no luck there. Yet. "Assuming I can remember. It'll come to me." He waves an unconcerned hand and finishes the glass.

[powerdealer]

"Don't worry about it," he says, before draining the last of his drink and shifting out of the booth. "I'm heading the same way, come on." If Daniel had lived somewhere other than the rebel apartments, Seth might've even gone to the trouble of making sure he got all the way home safely, but yeah that's not happening.

[peacefulexplorer]

Daniel rises as Seth does, albeit with slightly less grace. It takes him longer than it should to locate the exit and start heading for it. The alcohol's made him jittery enough to be unable to hold his hands still; he keeps running his thumb over the knuckles of his fingers as if to reaffirm their existence to himself.

"Thanks," he says, earnest, because in addition to not being entirely sober he's still pretty horrible with directions in the area.

[powerdealer]

Seth smiles a bit and picks up the glasses Daniel's left on the table, handing them to him.

Then he leads the way out of the pub and around the corner, heading up Avenue B. "Have you been around this area any?" he asks. Given how new Daniel is, and how lost he seems, Seth figures he can guess the answer.

[peacefulexplorer]

It takes him a minute to realize that he actually left his glasses in the booth. Evidently more drunk than he thought, Daniel concludes, and definitely a perception error on his part. He accepts them from Seth gratefully.

"Uh, no. Don't, don't think so." The glasses go back on as he inspects his surroundings with interest. There's a possibility he has and simply can't remember, which, considering he nearly left his very necessary glasses in Wilmot's End, is a something he has to admit is feasible. Definitely drunk.

[powerdealer]

"It's nice around here. Well, not exactly here," he says, since they're kind of walking away from the interesting places just now, including the nice little park just outside Wilmot's. "But especially down around St. Mark's Place, down on 8th street. And there's a clinic for rifties a few blocks that way," he says, pointing to the west. "Plus, we're far away from the bases, and from the Rift in general."

If there's one thing he doesn't like about the apartment in Hell's Kitchen, it's that it's well within the area classified with 'frequent rift activity'. Down here it's rare, and all the way down in the Financial District where he used to live, there was practically none.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Less general weirdness, I'm guessing?" He keeps pace with Seth, observing the scenery as best as he can with a significantly reduced attention span. Then he grins a little. "And fewer strange people popping into existence in the middle of everything? That does sound nice."

[powerdealer]

Seth nods, stuffing his hands in his pockets, his eyes on the road. He's seen this area plenty. This is also the area he does a lot of his dealing in.

"And just fewer rifties. Well, not in this area, obviously, thanks to the pub. But further downtown. Far less romac and rebel agents to look out for..." Even as he says this, he glances over his shoulder, just to make sure they're not followed. Old habit.

[peacefulexplorer]

"And that's..." Daniel says slowly, gauging Seth's body language, "good, I'm guessing?" He squints at him. "You don't seem to like either of them much."

How he is managing to be comparatively perceptive is beyond him. But it's not like Seth's being subdued about it, looking over his shoulder and just generally being edgy.

It strikes him that this might not be so strange, considering how he's unable to hold himself still either. Is Daniel acting edgy? Daniel might be acting edgy.

[powerdealer]

"We don't get along, no," Seth answers, which is a pretty big understatement, on which he doesn't elaborate. He could probably write essays on all the fucked up shit he knows they've done - if he actually knew how to write essays - but really it's mostly personal.

[peacefulexplorer]

"Who? The rebels or Romac?" The silent undercurrent of or both lurks just beneath but Daniel's sort of hoping he doesn't pick that one. And he's sort of already resigned to accept that this is going to be the case.

[powerdealer]

"Both." There you go, Daniel. "But I suppose it's the rebels who get along least with me," he adds. They seem to have a vendetta against him much in the same way he has against them, even if it's been pretty quiet for a while.

[peacefulexplorer]

"I'm sorry," he says. He doesn't want to leave it at that but, then, he's not sure if now is the best time to unearth the story behind it because a) Seth doesn't seem overexcited about talking it over and b) he is having trouble focusing on walking currently and thus any advice or comfort he could dispense would likely be in poor supply.

He trips and it takes a little too long for him to right himself, wincing. Yep. Definitely would be in poor supply.

[powerdealer]

Thankfully Seth doesn't have to mull over all the terrible things the rebels have done to him, as he reflexively reaches up to stop Daniel from falling on his face.

"Well, I can see why you don't drink," he comments with a small smile, giving Daniel's shoulder a pat.

[peacefulexplorer]

"I don't, I really don't," Daniel sighs, compliant in his fate to have pitifully low tolerance despite all promises of appearance. "So of course, when I do, this happens." Another wobbly wave of a hand, though what it's meant to signify is decidedly unclear even to its owner. He's glad Seth doesn't seem to mind dealing with it; he doesn't think he could make it back to Lucy's on his own.

[powerdealer]

Seth doesn't take Daniel all the way back to Lucy's, but he does at least set him on the right path. First reaching the subway and taking the L train west, then switching to the A train. Seth gets off about halfway up, but only after making sure Daniel knows which stop to get off at, and which direction to go from there.