apocalypsehowcomm

Entry tags:

► LOG

Who: addison montgomery + you
When: the rest of may
Where: a bar, the library
Summary: tdm prompts, getting her feet, losing her feet (alcohol)
Warnings: drunken disaster addie

► THE LIBRARY

Is this on yours too?

( she'd made them do a printout of the list, grabbing a pen from one of the desks and scribbling notes on it. it was weird, having a list that had her name attached to it but without any memory of having read any of the books. not that she'd had time to read a book lately, her last vacation had gotten sidetracked and well-- apparently she was now in gloucester.

so she was ignoring it, analysing lists and trying to do something that felt fine and normal when nothing really felt fine and normal. as if her life was normal anymore anyway )

I can't say I recognise the name... Which is weird, right? Reading a book you don't know you've read and probably haven't actually read? Right?

[ copied from her tdm ]

► A BAR

( she'd found a bar, she'd found wine. more than one glass if addison was counting (she wasn't). there had been some very nice men that had tried to explain this place to her, had been gentle about it but it was hard to accept. they'd seemed nice, believable and something had wanted to believe them. but she couldn't.

it didn't help that even before coming here her head had been reeling, that her emotions had been blown up and focusing on anything else when there were answers that she needed was hard. answers that she couldn't get. her brother was sick, her could die and... she could do nothing.

so wine had been the good answer. wine had been the only answer. lots of wine was the answer because addison really didn't want to be able to think of anything )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

( she frowns )

You work for them?

( she assumes that if he was a local and someone from adi he'd know whether she was local, right? which means she assumes he isn't a local )

They brought you here and you work for them? Why?

[He glances around. Some of this conversation will be much better in the more relative privacy of a table. He grabs his drink and slides off the stool, pointing to the small table just now clearing out.]

Mind? Ain't the kind of talk to have elbow t' elbow with jes' anybody. Only thing I can say to that right this minute is they didn't bring me here. Nobody knows who or how, and I been here long enough I believe that much.

( she almost wants to say no, she just came here to get unbelievably drunk, but she's here now. and follows him towards the table )

I still think it's drugs. They drugged us, kidnapped us, told us some crazy story.

( because she can't wrap her head around another world, can't wrap her head around what they've told her.

but then why don't her calls connect? why hasn't she tried to leave? )

[His grunt to that could mean literally anything. He's not prepared to go poking at anyone else's way to cope.

Once the table is cleared, he almost takes his seat before remembering his manners and feeling a little out of his element for it. He quickly moves to pull out her chair.]

So you asked me why I decided to stick around and work for 'em.

[It isn't until they're both seated that he sloshes his glass as though looking to the clear liquid for inspiration.]

It's that or drift somewhere I ain't got no people, no connections, and no knowledge about how to do much a' anything. Disadvantage a' coming out of 1936.

[He's just getting that out of the way right now. Preferable to have it on his terms than dragged out or found out when he doesn't know something people think he should. He polishes off the gin in a go and sets the glass down with a solid thunk to the table top.]

( well that's a level of politeness that addison doesn't expect and it makes the seating more awkward than it should be before she finally gets sat down )

Wait wait wait-- 1936?

( she smiles a smile of disbelief. that was crazy. or something was medically wrong with him. brain tumour, personality disorder? none of it was her specialty but... it couldn't be true )

It's not 1936. You know that, right?

Yeah. It's 2022. I'm from 1936.

[His stare is open and level. Some degree of disbelief he expects, but he's not about to let anybody treat him like he's cuckoo when he knows what he knows.]

NorCal. Migrant farm laborer. I went all up an' down most a' my life before whatever it was brung me here.

[Now he's regretting the modern clothes. If she'd seen his work get-up, all of this would be a lot easier of a sell.]

No, no it's not.

( that was an explanation that addison had had missed or she'd blanked it out from being overwhelmed. it being a different year and him believing it not once but twice? there was something else wrong )

It's 2009. It's not 1936 or 2022. It's 2009.

( there are times when addison has grace and tact but this isn't one of them )

Have you even been through orientation?

[He's concerned. They weren't supposed to be letting people out of the compound completely unprepared. If he has found one, then he probably ought to be getting her back, sooner rather than later.

Instead of arguing, he takes out his phone and shows her the lock screen with the time and the date.]

They give you one a' these at least? Look at yours. The date.

No. Nu uh. I am getting drunk and not doing that.

( she had a phone, also had her phone. but she hadn't used the one they'd given her yet. or found a newspaper. just a bar and a strong need to drink )

Are you drinking with me or not?

[He falls quiet for a bit, his look part searching, part introspective, before he slowly tucks the phone back away and shifts in his seat to catch the attention of a waitress for refills.]

Yeah. Yeah, we can drink.

[Getting drunk for him is right out the window now, but he'll sit with her a spell and talk about anything she wants to. Or not. People have to come around to all this shit in their own ways. At least she'll do it with a friendly pair of eyes on her and somebody actually invested in her getting back to her apartment in one piece.]

Good.

( that slightly more defensive edge that had appeared isn't yet dropping but she's happy enough for him to stay. she's getting drunk (she is drunk) and the company is nice )

Now why don't you tell me something about where you're from. Specifically.

( and she's really only hoping for a where )

NorCal. Kinda...all up and down the place, I guess, followin' the work. Migrant farm work and ranches, mostly. Big country. Mountains always off in the distance. Prob'ly look closer than they is.

[He places his order for the gin when the waitress comes around and stays quiet while she takes care of her, too. For now, he just holds his empty glass and turns it a little, contemplative.]

You? Name's George, by the by.

Addison.

( she stays with her wine, ordering another glass of it )

I'm from Connecticut but I've moved around. I'm living in LA now.

Been to LA a couple times. Never stuck around long. Too loud and expensive.

[Bread lines all around the blocks for a long time, and even though the worst of that is past, he'll always mistrust big cities to some extent.]

Sacramento ain't too bad. Last place I hit was Soledad.

[The place name tastes bad on his tongue, like gin and ash, and he'd love it if the waitress would come back with his drink.]

What'd you do in LA?

I'm a surgeon, I run a practice.

( and her trade was at least something she could do anywhere.

she also had money so the expensive part in la didn't matter to her )

Moving there was good for me.

That's a mighty impressive skill.

[Makes him feel more than a little awkward sitting there now, intensely aware that he's usually the kind of person doctors and the like pass by on the street quick as they can without a second glance.

Maybe tossing a coin like that asshole Owen.]

Glad it worked out for you.

[Thank God, the gin. He takes the glass and sits back to let her remove the empty. He drains half of it before reminding himself he's the sober one tonight and setting it down and a little to the side.]

I didn't know if it would. I had friends there so I went, not for the reason I stayed for but... it was good. I'm glad I tried.

( she wasn't running away but picking up and walking, trying something for herself that wasn't surrounded in tragedy or mess and conflicted feelings )

Fresh starts can be nice. Somewhere no one really knows you.

It was a little like that all the time with my line a' work. Get to know the fellas, bunk with 'em for a season, and some you'd see again, but some you never did.

[Can he say it's better here where no one knows him? Yes and no, not for reasons he'd expect most to understand.]

Sounds like you're good at landing on your feet. Ain't never a bad skill.

It's not a skill I wish I had.

( she'd only had to learn it from the pain in her life. and who really wants to have that with them? )

I'd like to be settled somewhere, to have something easier.

You and everybody I ever met.

[Himself included. He takes another more measured sip of the gin, kind of wishing he didn't have to, but he traveled with Lennie too long for some behaviors not to just be a second skin.]

Some people manage to have it, to make it work and last. It means it's possible.

( but addie's too doubtful, has screwed up too many times in her life to fully believe in nice things. she always ends up looking for the bad that will happen to try and protect herself )

Right?

Yeah, some.

[He feels unease under his skin, juddering his knee in a silent bounce under the table. He's not completely sure what she's asking him. His idea of making it work was never more than a stake and somewhere Lennie could be safe. He doubts they look toward some future dream and see the same sorts of things.

He polishes off the glass.]

( she sighs, ordering another drink, though as much as 'get so drunk and remember none of this' was her goal there's something more half-hearted about this order )

What are we even doing here? If they just wanted our skills... hiring someone would be easier.

( and less confusing )

They don't know why we're here.

[He has come to believe this. Too much of it wouldn't make sense if they did. He twists his empty glass, staring down into the depths and how it distorts the wood grain at the thicker base.]

I think they's...keepin' us around in one place because 'a that.

[He lifts blue eyes briefly, a quick, keen look.]

An' paying and training us, because otherwise...that's jes' kidnappin', right?

We can leave. You got anywhere to go that makes sense to you here? I sure don't.

None of it makes sense, nothing.

( she's a little louder than intended, bringing a hand to her mouth to try and reign herself in. it's hard, not thinking clearly, and she has a habit of letting her emotional words get the best of her on a good day )

Paying us doesn't make it better. Bribery at its best.

( still kidnapping in some way at its worst. because she hasn't really thought of the worst )

► LOG

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