(Open Log) You gotta know when to hold 'em

[bindlestifflost]

Who: George Milton, Nick Valentine, and anybody who shows up
When: April 22, starting around 6 PM until
Where: Apartment A-3
Summary: A night for playing cards, drinking beer or b.y.o.b. if harder, snacks and unwinding. Feel free to thread jack and jump all around, at least in my threads. This is just for some relaxed down time and catching up or introductions in a smaller, casual space.
Warnings: None expected. If your characters get to discussing anything triggery or get up to anything spicy, please CW in your individual threads.



Over the past week or so, hand printed signs drawn in sharpie on plain paper have shown up taped to walls around the apartment complex and on any easily accessible bulletin boards at ADI. A couple of them were also delivered to the flophouse with the request they be displayed somewhere the residents might see them.

They read:
Cards and Beer
Friday April 22 6 PM
Apartment A 3
George and Nick's place
You want more than beer
or chips and popcorn
bring your own.
Extra decks appreciated.

The night of, the door to A 3 is propped open. In addition to the dining table, a couple of card tables and cheap folding chairs are set up for games. Two bowls on the coffee table contain chips and popcorn respectively. There's a cooler on the floor in the kitchen filled with ice and cheap beer.

George or Nick will greet people as they come in and tell them to make themselves at home.

((OOC: Feel free to top level with your own character and make whatever prompts you like. George is generally easy-going, but if he catches anyone stealing, getting too hot and heavy in a bedroom, or otherwise being a general jerk about the apartment or the other guests, he will try to throw the offender out. If you want that kind of thread or want to succeed at something nefarious, let me know so we can work it out.))

Comments

[whisperedone]

He listens, his expression one of understanding. It was a familiar feeling, what Jaeger described. He thinks a moment, but then tilts his face up a bit as he thought back. It was already starting to feel like a long time ago, even if it truly wasn't.

"When I first started traveling with my friends, I felt like that too. For a bit, I couldn't put my guard down, they rarely had theirs up or had it up in the wrong ways...but recently, they had started to become people I could rely on to watch my back for me."

His smile turns wry and he looks down again. "Not that I think I actually let them, but it was...getting there. It can be difficult to shake old habits, especially when those old habits have kept you alive upon the basis that you have usually been alone."

He couldn't say it was the same for Jaeger, but Garner knew he usually clocked how many people he could hear in a room, how many he considered 'capable' and how many were 'innocents' who might need protecting at the drop of a hat. A threat could show itself at any moment and it would be better if he knew how many people he was responsible for protecting. It could get exhausting.

[bloodalwaystells]

"I was alone for a very long time. Six years, before I was brought here." He pauses, on the edge of saying more before realizing he probably shouldn't. This is a friendly, comfortable night, not a night for spilling dark histories and accumulated pains.

Because Jaeger absolutely scans a room when he comes in, picks the best vantage point. Makes note of who he might need to protect, and who he might need to protect himself from. It's a harsh, analytical mindset that follows him into every public street, every corner grocery store or neighborhood bar, when he's walking or driving or getting ready to go to his tenuous sleep for the night.

It was indeed exhausting, and at times Jaeger feels like he's never known any other life. It's not true, but sometimes it's so deeply ingrained in him that it feels that way.

"It's good to have people," he says finally, more quietly. "I'm starting to get used to the idea, a little bit. I was on my own for a long time, because it was safer that way. But here...there are some people here I trust. Some that I like, but don't trust quite as much. It's been...eight months, now? So. It's something."

[whisperedone]

"It takes time. I don't think there's any reasonable soul who could begrudge that." Habits born of safety were nearly impossible to break without your mind rebelling and thrashing against the perceived danger in the process.

Every time he offered information, he knew it was a press against things long-ingrained. 'You're only as useful as the information you hold' The moment someone else held it, you were superfluous. Except sharing information meant other minds could work it over, could help with a problem. A team might accomplish in half the time a single mind might alone...but they'd be more fallible in the waiting. More minds meant more chance for failure or corruption. It was hard to force feelings of teamwork and trust when those feelings could be lead to danger and betrayal.

"I think nights like this will help. A chance to experience people as they are without the need for danger or...really, even, trust. Will I listen for the sound of a dagger aimed for my throat? Yes, of course, but I think it is reasonable to expect that to be less likely while playing cards with allies. Perhaps you could see it as practice."

He smiles a little wider. "Of the two of us, I'm certain you'll see it far clearer, regardless."

Argh, this notif got buried. Sorry!

[bloodalwaystells]

"I think more of us are carrying some sort of burden, than not," he muses thoughtfully. "It gives us more things in common, at least, and makes us better suited for coping with...this place." And everything that goes with it. "And we're more understanding, a little gentler with each other for having lived through some of the same sorts of things."

Trauma, mostly, though of a myriad of different flavors of awful. None of them have exactly the same past, but down at the core, the marks those horrors leave aren't so different. It's still fear and guilt and a hundred sleepless nights, the guilt of having lived and the weight of sins committed just to survive.

But that's heavy for tonight, and Jaeger wants to think about cards and beer and whether a fruit tray or a cookie platter was the better choice to bring. Things that, in their own trivial ways, feel like normal, like the world before everything came down.

That last gets a small chuckle from him. "Probably. At least, on the surface. I think it's true what they say about other senses becoming stronger to make up for a lost one, though. So I expect you 'see' plenty of things that others miss."

He's really starting to feel that way about Garner, that his perceptions are deep and honest. Not just the way he navigates the world, but the way he deals with the people around him.

No worries!!

[whisperedone]

"Perhaps."

Perhaps and yet he hadn't thought of it like that: that they were kinder for the shared knowledge of having a sordid background. Even without knowledge of that background in specific, it was clear. No one simply took up arms and stood fast against the darkness like this unless they were either an inherently divine soul or had seen darkness for themselves and knew where to look.

"I suppose we'll simply both have to keep an eye out, one for sight and one for the things that hide just out of it." That seemed a fair compromise: covering each other's blind spots, even if they weren't all so evident.

He smiles lightly at the ground and motions vaguely in the direction he's meant to be heading. "I should probably move on before it gets much later, darkness gets deeper the later the hour."

[bloodalwaystells]

"I can accept that." It comes with a small smile, weary as it might be.

Jaeger has had a lot of long and lonely nights to think about things like trauma and empathy. As calloused and jaded a soul he is at times, there's still part of him that wants to believe in the better part of people, to be able to see that trait inside himself. He does bad things, but for the best possible reasons and while it might not be the road to redemption, it's something that lets him sleep at night.

He scans the courtyard with steady, alert eyes, and gives Garner a nod before he catches himself. "The dark seems even less safe than usual, these days. Do you want company for the walk back?" He taps a fingernail against the heavy Maglight police flashlight he's started carrying, the sound carrying as a soft ting in the night air.

[whisperedone]

He thinks, head tilting as he searches his memory of observation. "Do you not live nearby? I very much appreciate your company as a whole, but I would not inconvenience you with an unnecessary walk."

Then again, perhaps he wouldn't have offered if he minded, Jaeger seemed the type to gain itchy feet. "However, if the walk pleases you, it would please me to not yet part ways."

[bloodalwaystells]

"I do, but I like to patrol when I can, make sure everything is quiet." He works the Security division as a secondary, after all, and some habits die hard. Combined with a natural tendency toward restlessness? No, Jaeger doesn't mind at all. "And after our hosts did such a good job, I'm glad to be able to help out a bit, and make sure everyone gets home safely."

And...he appreciates Garner's company, too, though it feels strange to admit. He knows the man can take care of himself, but at the same time, Jaeger is still winding down from the evening and the quiet company sounds like a good idea. He's not quite ready to go back to his own room, yet, and lingering a little longer sounds like a good plan.

"So, I would likely be out walking anyway." He's a little surprised to find how lightly the words come out, wonders if Garner can hear the slight change in his usual tone. Jaeger's only had a couple of drinks over the course of the evening, so he can't blame that, but it's something he certainly notices himself.

[whisperedone]

Garner's smile brightens. "That is very kind of you."

There is a slight shift in Jaeger's tone and it's...curious....but Garner has never been especially good at reading people, even before he lost his sight; now it was...very difficult indeed. If he had to guess, perhaps the man didn't realize he truly didn't mind because the thought hadn't yet occurred. It would make sense for someone who said he had not had much social interaction recently.

"I believe it is natural to want to cling to a bit of company after such an exciting and happy evening among friends." He offers and turns in the direction of the C-Block apartments with the expectation Jaeger would as well.

"I admit...it is perhaps part of my reasoning for wanting the leisurely walk with a friend." That and it was late enough, quiet enough...sometimes the whispers came to him then. Having someone near by kept them at bay a while longer here.

[bloodalwaystells]

Jaeger is still figuring it out himself, but a shift for the lighter isn't a bad thing in any case and right now it's just...nice to be in a pleasant mood, to relax and enjoy a peaceful night.

And of course, make sure that it stays peaceful. That little bit of watchfulness never quite goes away, but it's in the background for now, an automatic function until something more draws his attention. Jaeger follows Garner in the direction of his apartment block, still scanning the darkness idly as they walk and talk.

"I think that's exactly it. It's been a good evening, and I'm not sure that I'm quite ready to wind down yet." He's only had a couple of drinks and he's barely even buzzed, but the overall party atmosphere still sticks with him, leaving him reluctant to call it a night for a while longer.

He's spent entirely too much time alone in his room and while he doesn't mind that, a change is...nice. Garner has proved easy company thus far, and Jaeger appreciates the low pressure, the lack of need to maintain illusions quite so stringently.

"And, I'm happy to be counted as such." It only takes him a moment to realize that he's quickly coming to count the other man as a friend, as well. For someone who doesn't make connections easily, it's a little strange, but what else would it be? They get along both professionally and personally, they talk without the weight of pretense, Jaeger is starting to feel that he would trust Garner at his back when it came down to it. That? That counts as more than enough, he thinks.

"I'm glad tonight worked out as well as it did. I think we all needed the break, and the chance to spend time without a crisis looming." Or the festivities in question turning into a crisis, which has happened before, too.

[whisperedone]

He'd only had a couple drinks himself, but his alertness isn't nearly as sharp or keyed in while he's not looking for trouble. He's always passively listening to his environment simply to move through it, but with the quiet crunch of their shoes and Jaeger's breath and movements the majority of his surroundings, there's little else to take his attention.

"Morale will suffer intensely if there is only the one focus to be had, breaks and diversions of attention are necessary. Fun is necessary...and yet hard to force. George is a good man for helping to arrange this." Even Garner's community back home had encouraged the remnants to find what fun and release of tension they could, a clouded mind did not serve The Whispered One well. Fighting against things in the darkness was really no different in that regard.

"We, of course, cannot fully depend on him or any one person to provide such distractions, or the times they themselves need distracting may go unnoticed."

[bloodalwaystells]

Jaeger nods, almost absently. He was used to seeing to his own needs, and not concerning himself with social things, but, morale was important and he knew others that thrived on contact far more than he did.

And hell, sometimes even he got a little lonely, a little too lost in his own thoughts. Even just standing in a quiet corner watching others have a good time was...relaxing, in its own weird sort of way. Not quite social, not really, but something.

Maybe it was just reassuring to know that they could still have a good time, and occasionally forget everything else. Whether it be their own burdens, or the overall exhaustion that this place instilled with its general wear.

"It's good of people to step forward and do what they can, because I know some of us are better at it than others." There's no accusation in that: he knows his own limitations. "I mean, I could throw a party I'm sure, but it wouldn't be anything particularly creative or novel." A quirk of a smile goes with that, a shake of his head. His wife had always been the one to do the planning on those matters.

"I know some people aren't particularly fond of living on ADI property, but on the other hand, I do think there's something to be said for a sense of community. Day to day interactions, knowing simple things like how someone takes their coffee or when they like to work out." A quiet chuckle follows that last, because he certainly felt like Garner had been a lucky random interaction. Something worth cultivating, someone whose company he appreciated. That was rare for Jaeger, and he valued it.

[whisperedone]

His smile spreads a little brighter. "Yes, the latter can prove very useful." It was, however, how he'd run into Jaeger. He would have missed knowing there was someone he was comfortable simply enjoying quiet with otherwise.

Sometimes it was overwhelming: the thought that there were people all around him he barely knew existed, perfect strangers he couldn't even recognize as people he lived near and worked with every day simply because he hadn't yet spoken with them and learned their names. True, there were some whose voices he knew, but if they were more quiet as Jaeger was, Garner might never know they were there.

Floating alone through the rest of his life was...too much sometimes. He tried not to dwell, however. More than likely, he would find his life not so long after all and then it wouldn't be a question any longer, better to enjoy those he bumped into or had the privilege to seek out while he could.

"I'm sure there's things here they're not telling us. All large organizations are like that. It's entirely possible they're using us more than they're letting on, but it might be kinder that they're hiding it. I don't know. I don't know that I care, there's a job to be done and monsters to stop from hurting people. ADI is helping and the community it offers here is...pleasant. I know how to hunt alone, but I think, having been through both, I prefer to have the company and the friends."

There's a pause and he chuckles. "Perhaps I should host a party, but leave all the lights off. See how long it takes for someone to stub a toe."