You Know What They Say About Drinking Alone

[jamesmadrox]

Walter Anderson once said, “I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the

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[making_choices]

When he'd caught sight of Jamie in the Hub he'd almost backed out. Almost, but not quite, not when he heard his words.

Great. Drunk and pissed off. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my first chunk of time with him post-fight, but what can you do?

Maybe he was lucky that Jamie wasn't paying attention, but he made it up beside the other man, leaning onto the bar before he spoke. "Yeah, well, I think some days it hates us too. Have any of that to spare?"

[jamesmadrox]

Protectively, Jamie grabbed the bottle and held it close to his chest, turning his back to Tony.

"No."

[making_choices]

"Great. Just great." Tony pushed back from the bar, taking a step back. "Good to know."

Only I can't walk away. Not after days in the compound. Days away from this idiotic drunken man who I seem to have the misfortune of being in love with.

Slowly he leaned back against the bar. "Really? You can drink all that and not die from alcohol poisoning?"

[jamesmadrox]

"You'd be amazed at what I can do," he said, before catching himself and adding sarcastically, "No, wait! You're not amazed! You're just jealous."

[un_gloved]

Rogue had been strolling and thinking about how she had nothing to do and needed to take up some kind of hobby, when she heard a vaguely familiar sort of shout from over by the compound. She peeked into the Hub as she passed it, and paused a moment.

I've seen that look before. Paired with alcohol on one's lonesome, reckon it's not a sign of things goin' well.

"Hey, Jamie," she greeted quietly, after he'd finished his internal monologuing and subsequent external musing. She walked across the floor to pull up a seat next to him.

"You look 'bout as happy as possum hangin' from a cactus branch." That wasn't actually a southern saying. That was one she slipped into conversation just to see people react.

[jamesmadrox]

"Rogue," he greeted, offering her a small nod but not bothering to smile. "What, didja miss the cactus on the way in?"

[un_gloved]

"Wasn't lookin' for one," Rogue said, propping her jaw on her fist and watching him.

"Somethin' else caught my eye. What's doin', sugar?"

[jamesmadrox]

"I'm drunk, what's it look like?" he said, pointedly taking another swig from the bottle before he pushed it towards her. "Wanna join me?"

[dreaming_cowboy]

"I think there's a club," Spike says, folding himself onto a stool and rapping on the bar with his knuckles.

Not that there's a bartender or alcohol kept here - he's checked - but it never hurts to try.

[jamesmadrox]

Wordlessly, Jamie slid the bottle over towards Spike and slumped himself over the bar, his chin propped up in his hand.

"I'd like my membership revoked."

[dreaming_cowboy]

Spike leans over the bar to fish out a glass before resuming his seat and pouring a glass.

He takes a sip, returning the bottle to the halfway mark, and considers the contents.

"I'm pretty sure there's only two ways that happens," Spike says, tilting back the glass again. "And you don't meet the criteria for either."

[jamesmadrox]

Frowning, Jamie turned towards Spike, a questioning look on his face.

"I can fit a lot of criteria."

[squint_artist]

"If I had a nickel for every time I heard that," Angela murmured. She'd heard someone knocking around in the Hub, and being naturally curious had wandered over. Seeing it was Tony's boyfriend, she'd stopped to lean against the doorway. "Well, money doesn't count here, so I'd have a lot of change and we'd all still be miserable."

Tony'd been sleeping in the Compound. She'd noticed, but hadn't asked. Fights happened, but apparently this one had been bad. "Does the alcohol really help that much?"

[jamesmadrox]

Jamie offered the woman - Ange? Angela? - a mirthless smile before he leaned over the bar, his grip on the bottle tightening.

"You'd be surprised."

[squint_artist]

"I'd only be surprised if you said it helped more than talking to Tony," she said. They were probably going to be hard words to hear, so she didn't make them any harder by adding any sort of nasty tone. Just frank, maybe even friendly.

"Unless this isn't about him," she hedged.

[jamesmadrox]

Clearly, she doesn't know the source of our issues.

"Amazingly enough, not every problem I have revolves around that idiot," he replied before he slung his head back and took another gulp from the bottle. "Hell, this one's only partially about him."

[misformutant]

Whilst it was rather unnerving when Jamie talked to himself, it was even more unnerving when he didn't reply to himself as well. Monet walked slowly across the Hub, taking a seat next to him. Her nose wrinkled in disgust, he smelled drunk and god wouldn't the others bitch her out if she didn't at least attempt to pry the alcohol away from him.

"Are you saying my mere presence doesn't brighten your somewhat cloudy day?" Monet said, taking a hold of the neck of the bottle as she tried to loosen his grip on it. "Can I just state for the record that you smell vile?"

[jamesmadrox]

With a grunt that was far from eloquent, Jamie pulled the bottle away from her and held it close to his chest.

"Thanks, Monet," he said. "Really what I needed to hear right now."

[misformutant]

"There's something called sharing Jamie, you might want to look it up." Monet said, rubbing her fingers from where he'd pulled the bottle away from her. She would never get used to that. "What did you do?"

[jamesmadrox]

"Friend disappeared," he muttered before taking another swig from the bottle. "And Tony left."