Drown out the Damage [[Open Log]]

[ex_julianhe]

WHO: Julian Keller and...all of you guys!
WHERE: A City bar that's not too strict on its security policy. Or its over-21s policy.
WHEN: Evening and into the night, Wednesday, July 20th.
WARNINGS: Likely drunkenness, possible angst? Potential violence if someone irritates him.
SUMMARY: Ever since the trip to New Jersey, Julian's been doing a lot of

Comments

[ex_julianhe]

It takes Julian a while to really look up at what's going on around him. People were moving around, finding seats and ordering drinks and doing the stuff that people do in bars. None of that was very interesting.

He wasn't sure what ended up drawing his attention to Raph. Maybe it was the trench coat, maybe it was the green skin underneath. Maybe it was just the fact that Raph seemed to be alone, much like Julian was. But whatever, made him look up, his eyes lit with recognition until he could place where he'd seen this guy before.

"Hey, you...were on the trip, right? In New Jersey?"

[ex_julianhe]

That mention of Laura makes the uncomfortable thoughts flare up again. Yeah, he's definitely in the right place for it tonight. He takes another drink from the pint glass in front of him and nods.

"You're a friend of hers? Same. I'm Julian."

disapproving teacher face...

[in_likeflynn]

The bar was a good find. In a similar vein to Julian, Kurt had long developed a talent for finding acceptable bars that served acceptable beers and were accepting of odd individuals. Coincidentally, this was one of a few such bars in the City, almost completely free of folks side-eying and offering a small variety of foreign beers.

He stopped by some time after supper. Having admitted openly that he now thought often of the past, of home... Ach, well. He was homesick, and he ordered a bottle with a German label and sat down and remembered various nice things. There was the occasional foray into people-watching, and then...

And then he spotting a familiar face. Rather out-of-place for the setting.

He moved, taking the bottle with him and making his way back to Julian's corner and trying to look disapproving and non-threatening at the same time. "Mr. Keller, pray tell... What are you doing?"

oops. :D It's, um. Non-alcoholic beer?

[ex_julianhe]

Julian hadn't noticed Kurt coming close to him. Actually, he wasn't noticing much of anything. He was pretty much just staring into his drink and doing his best to look like he belonged here. Which, in his mind, he kind of did.

He looked up in complete surprise when he heard his name being spoken by a voice that was both very familiar and mildly worrying.

The X-Men had never actually caught him at this before. Apparently they were more savvy about it in the City. Well, that probably wasn't a good thing. He tried to school his expression into something resembling innocence, but then dropped it. Come on, he was caught. Wouldn't do any good to play innocent at this stage.

"Mr Wagner. Uh, hey." He sat up a little straighter. "Just, you know, shooting the breeze. Could ask you the same thing?"

No dice, kiddo.

[in_likeflynn]

"You could." Really, the reaction was amusing, and that probably showed the slightest bit in his expression. He made sure to keep the overall tone one of gentle authority, though. Kurt wasn't the best disciplinarian, but he was a great guilt-tripper. "The answer would be that I am a beer snob in my thirties, which makes it all perfectly legal. You, on the other hand... You might require a more verbose explanation."

It's for science?

[ex_julianhe]

The guilt trip was probably a harder thing to deal with than anger would have been. Julian was, after all, used to answering to Cyclops if anyone, or Emma Frost if she felt like it. And they were too busy for that these days, a thought that triggered resentment in him even though it meant he could get away with more. He wavered in what he would say, wavered in how he'd react. If Kurt had been angry with him he'd probably just have shot his mouth off like usual.

"Okay," he said slowly. "I had a lot on my mind and staying at home chewing it over only gets me so far. And okay. So maybe it's not exactly legal in the strictest sense but it's not like I'm hurting anyone."

He had no idea if that argument would fly at all. At the very least it was honest.

[slayerpreferred]

Did she count as a pretty female face? She hoped not. With great tentativeness, she approached the bar, not noticing Julian at first. She felt like an alcoholic, though the beach party incident was decidedly not her fault.

She slid up on the bar after a few tries, staring up at the chalkboard and trying to work up the courage to order. What happened to the rules? No drinking? Soon she'd be cutting her hair and driving a car... Oh, the humanity. If Peter only knew.

Glancing nervously to her left as the bartender heads her way, she finally noted the familiar face. She really seemed to run into this guy everywhere. She wondered how long she could get away with pretending not to see him.

[ex_julianhe]

Well, Buffy's definitely a pretty female face. She's not one Julian would be trying his charms on though, mostly because of Dawn. He's not sure the knowledge of that would make her feel any better about it at all.

It takes him a minute to notice her. He's mainly paying attention to his drink at this stage, and glancing up at other people only occasionally. He does look up when he feels her eyes on him, though by the time he spots her she's not looking anymore.

For a minute, he considers just not saying anything, but hey. It's Buffy, and it looks like she's joining the underage drinkers' society, so what the hell. He slides off his stool and goes to lean on the bar beside her.

"Small City, this. Every corner I turn these days, I see you."

[slayerpreferred]

Slowly, she turned to him, nodding. "Seems like it." And then a lighter tone. "You're not stalking me, are you?" But inside it's a completely serious question.

[ex_julianhe]

"Stalking you?" The thought of that just made him grin. As if he'd be damned quiet enough to stalk anyone. He was way too obvious. And besides. She was the one following him. "No, though it's kinda starting to feel like it. Not that I'm complaining. Are you stalking me?"

For him it's pretty much entirely joking.

[free_dumb_ring]

Curtis normally wouldn't go to a bar on a night after his shift at work ended. But tonight, he'd gone out on a rare patrol. He run into some thugs that had taken a few kids hostage when the cops tried to stop them and after Freedom Ring stepped in to deal with them, Curtis felt the need to get a beer. So he stepped into the first bar he found and ordered a beer.

The blond sat there for a few moments, looking around the bar and waiting for his drink. He quirked a brow when he saw Julian though. He'd seen the guy on the Network before and decided to head over on a whim. Grabbing his drink once it arrived, Curtis walked over.

"Hey, this place an Import bar or do they just not stress here about carding?" he asked when he was close enough to keep his voice low.

[ex_julianhe]

Julian looked up at the newcomer. This wasn't a guy he'd met, though he'd seen a few vids from him before and pretty much figured he was an Import because of that. At the question, he just smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"No clue what you mean, man," he said. "And actually I don't know. I didn't even check the name of this place. I'm Julian. You sitting down?"

[free_dumb_ring]

Curtis considers a moment and shrugs before sitting down next to Julian. He knows other heroes might try to chase an underage guy out of the bar but he remembers his own times sneaking into bars with a fake ID so he lets it go.

"I'm Curtis. What brings you over to this dark little corner?"

[ex_julianhe]

Chasing him out would likely just have led to him finding a bar seedier than this one to hang out in, so that was probably a good call. All the same, Julian's shoulders relax a little when Curtis sits down, and he shrugs.

"You know, the usual," he said. "Life kicking my ass. You?"

[askedtobe]

Peter wasn't too entirely fond of going to bars. There was too many people, they smelled unpleasant, and there was far too much of a chance of a fight breaking out somewhere and Peter feeling the need to stop it. Not to mention, he wasn't usually all that keen on getting drunk. It made him feel stupid, desperate in ways that he shouldn't, and without too many other things to turn to

[ex_julianhe]

Julian had pretty much been concentrating on his drink, so he didn't notice Peter when he walked in. He looked up at the voice, though, giving an automatic "Hey" in return. And then he did a double take, recognising the face that voice belonged to. God, he'd had a few long and surprisingly deep conversations with Peter and this was the first time they were actually meeting face to face. Julian had seen him at the fourth of July party, but he'd spent most of that night around Dawn and as far as he'd been able to tell Peter had been around Buffy. Which kind of meant that he assumed Peter and Buffy were together, but that was beside the point.

"Hey, Peter! Where're you going?" He pushed out one of the stools near to him. "Sit down already. How are you?"

[askedtobe]

"You sure?" Peter glanced towards the empty table he had been heading for and shrugged, not being too terribly bothered about losing the opportunity to sit and mull over thoughts he'd been over what had felt like hundreds of times already. He could waste hours later, thinking about all the things he didn't want to.

Giving in and dropping down into the offered stool next to Julian's, he slid his beer up onto the table, content enough to make himself comfortable for the time being, arms crossed over his chest. It was still kind of weird to talk to people face to face after spending so much time talking to them through the comm, and he took a few moments, seemingly adjusting to the difference. "I'm okay. You?"

[ex_julianhe]

"'Course," Julian said, in response to the first question. He figured that if Peter was someone with whom he could casually discuss the nature of reality via videophone, he was also the kind of person he could stand to have a beer with. Not to mention, face to face conversation had to be preferred. Julian still wasn't used to seeing everyone around him mostly through video.

And that didn't even cover the people who didn't use video and just projected their voices or sent texts. Julian lost patience with all that very quickly.

"I'm okay." Okay was probably a relative term for both of them here. "Hey, how come you didn't come on the road trip last week? Kind of thought you might." Mainly because Buffy had been there and they seemed close.