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

[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?"

[free_dumb_ring]

Curtis pops open his beer and takes a swing before looking over at Julian again. He quirks a brow at the answer he gets from the other young man.

"Life kicking your ass?" Curtis seems a little skeptical but lets that go too. "Long night, felt the need for a drink after what I just had to deal with. Saw you, decided to come over. Nothin' special, y'know."

[ex_julianhe]

"Yeah." Julian has a flat expression, wondering what was strange about that answer. It's not like he's about to go into detail about what happened with Laura and Tom. That'd be weird, this guy probably doesn't even know either of them.

"Long night, huh? Were you working?"

[free_dumb_ring]

"Yep," Curtis replies. "Both kinds of work," he adds. "Not that I mind my more mundane job. It was just a long night and then some hero stuff after that..." he takes another swig of his drink. "needed a break, y'know?"

"So how's life kicking your ass?"

[ex_julianhe]

Julian nods. "So, the hero stuff is what's making it a long night?" He likes the heroing side of things, in truth. It's a good focus. That and, he doesn't exactly have a mundane job of any kind.

At the question, he sighs.

"A bunch of us went on a road trip to New Jersey last week," he says. "You could call this, like, the world's longest hangover?"

[free_dumb_ring]

Curtis frowns a moment then nods. "Some punks took a bunch of kids hostage. They were really gonna kill 'em if I didn't stop them," he explains, shaking his head. That bothered him more than he thought it would have.

"More booze isn't the best hangover remedy," he remarks idly. "Sucky road trip?"

[ex_julianhe]

"Killing kids." That bothers Julian too, provoking him to drain the rest of his beer and signal for another. "But you were there, you stopped them. So good."

He shakes his head. The trip itself had been cool. "No, it was cool. And I didn't exactly mean a booze hangover, but yeah. You ever had one of those days where you just wanna forget you said anything to anyone? That's my deal."

[free_dumb_ring]

"Yeah. I stopped them. Bastards are just lucky I didn't do worse than I did to them," Curtis mutters, mimicking Julian's call for another beer.

"I can understand those days," he replies simply. "Had a couple myself, he adds. There's a long pause before he looks at Julian carefully. "Girl trouble?"

[ex_julianhe]

Oh, this was a bad idea. Julian looks at him and, after a minute, shrugs.

"You could say that. Could say a lot of things, though. Point is, I'm big on wanting to forget, so." He takes another drink. "Can we talk about something else?"

[free_dumb_ring]

"I could make ya forget," Curtis remarks, taking a long swig of his drink. "Wouldn't stick though," he shrugs. "What do you wanna talk about?" he asks.

[ex_julianhe]

Let's just talk about what you meant by that. Julian raises an eyebrow.

"What do you mean, you could make me forget?" He sounds very slightly wary, but mainly interested. "You some kind of telepath?"

[free_dumb_ring]

"When I want to be," Curtis replies with a shrug. "Of course I haven't actually tried telepathic powers yet. I keep meaning to but it sorta feels creepy to just...read other people's minds like that so I've been holding off until I get a volunteer or there's an emergency," he rambles a little. There's a pause before the blond glances at Julian and smiles. "Phenomenal cosmic power."

[ex_julianhe]

Julian raises an eyebrow. With that line, he just can't help himself.

"Itty bitty living space?" His eyes are pretty focused on Curtis now though, despite the fact that he's still holding and taking occasional sips from his drink. "Seriously though, you can pick any power you want? How?"