City of Heroes/Villains Fic: In All Ways an Amateur

[porkwithbones]

Writing fiction this week sounded like a good idea, and laridian obliged by sending me a few prompts. Other prompts are also welcome, if anyone cares to add a few.

Fic below the cut. Word count 236. The prompt was "Amateur night - ALATAN, WILL YOU SHINE YOUR LOVE!", so naturally this occurs a few hours after Amateur Night. Appearances by Alatan (mine) and

Comments

[laridian]

I have a story comment but is too long to paste by phone. Will post tonite.

[laridian]

"Al? There you are!" Johnny was sickeningly perky and cheerful. "Not so shiny this morning? Come on, get up, drink this. All at once now." He handed her a short glass of something that looked like tomato juice but smelled like rubbery spices. "It'll help neutralize your stomach, rev your metabolism, return electrolytes, and prevent waxy yellow buildup. All at once, I said. Sometimes the powder sinks to the bottom."

Al looked like she might bring it all back up, but managed not to.

"No more gin fizzies for you!" Johnny admonished, playfully waggling a finger at her.

[porkwithbones]

Al often found Johnny a bit overwhelming. Words she thought she understood seemed to twist when he got on a roll. Neutralize? Wasn't that a synonym for "take out" and "terminate?" The room was too bright and his voice too loud for her to puzzle it out.

She'd have preferred to remain where she was, with her face pressed to the cool tiles, but Johnny was nothing if not persistent -- and his concoctions usually worked, if you could stand the side effects -- so Al sat up and drank the vile brew. Like the drinks someone had passed her the night before, it went down easier if she gulped it. The spicy aftertaste was comforting, though.

"Thank you," she said once she was sure it was going to stay down. Her accent sounded stronger than usual in her own ears. "Just how are you so avthe-- so chipper this morning, anyway?"

Though really, the fact that she already felt markedly better probably answered that question.

[laridian]

"I can hold my liquor better?" he guessed. He put a finger to his chin and looked up at the ceiling, lips pursed. "I had a BuzzBeGone last night, so I got a good night's sleep? I isolated a nucleotide after getting up? My carniflower has five leaves which means it's thriving?"