Cigar 003 [Audio]

[fortune_favored]

[There's the quiet scrape of something familiar, a soft sound, dull. Consistent if not exactly repetitive. Anyone familiar with bars may recognize it as glass on wood. Anyone very familiar might even pick up on the stick that says the drinker's been in his seat for some time.]

No box to blame this one on, I guess.

Least they're together.

[And

Comments

video;

[notquitegeisha]

[Inara sighs. She hasn't been able to get ahold of either Elena or Nate... But she was in a way avoiding bringing it up in hopes that she was wrong with her thoughts on them both being sent home.]

Sully, I'm so sorry. [Slight pause.] How many drinks have you had?

Re: video;

[fortune_favored]

[The video clicks on from his side and Sully glances over at it, drawing his hand away from the thing and back to his beer.] Not enough, I think. [He waves away-- the concern in her voice? his own obviousness?] Those kids need each other. Better this way than any other alternative.

video;

[notquitegeisha]

[She shakes her head a bit.] Perhaps. I'm sorry you weren't able to leave with them.

[She manages a small smile.] I hear drinking on an empty stomach is a very bad idea.

Re: video;

[fortune_favored]

[It's enough of a smile, from her, to make Sully think something stupid about launching ships. He shakes his head and doesn't answer her apology-- not her fault, even if the truth is that it hadn't mattered a goddamned bit where he was, so long as he'd had them with him.

It's something he'd never admit to anyone, so he can't fall apart now.] I'm not sure you know me very well, sweetheart. Bad Idea is my middle name. Just ask--

Shit. [He looks at the camera now.] Your place or mine? This bar stinks.

[Video]

[satangotmylungs]

I'd come poison and pickle my liver some more with you, Gramps, but it seems you got a better companion.

Re: [Video]

[fortune_favored]

[Sully gives John a dry lift of his brow.] I'd say so.

[Video]

[satangotmylungs]

[Few people can do just that: The Man With No Name, that old guy from Gran Turino-okay, Clint Eastwood can do it, maybe James Bond can do it (depending on the incarnation), some of those Dada painters...but Sully. Sully does it like nobody else. Champ Gramps of the Eyebrow Expressive Era, Victor Sully Sullivan.

John should get him a God damn major award!]

So the journalist and Nate Drake up and poofed away?

Re: [Video]

[fortune_favored]

[As much as Sully's got what some would call a "man-crush" on Clint Eastwood, he'd pop you in the mouth for that one, John.

He sits back and looks at his beer instead of the idiot on the screen.] Something like that.

[Voice]

[savedbyradishes]

...I've been told that that sort of drink isn't really something, uh, you should do, like...a lot. Or, a lot at one time kind of thing.

[Like the panda's ever been drunk boy are you kidding.]

Re: [Voice]

[fortune_favored]

[Oh, Po. The eternal voice of reason.] Panda, I've been told that guys who say that sort of crap ain't never had a drink.

[This is a bad idea. A really terrible idea.] So maybe you should come down and try it. I bet they've got... sake.

[Voice]

[savedbyradishes]

[The eternal voice of quite a few things, not all of them as pleasant as most of him.]

Uh, well...I'm kind of roughed up really badly right now-nothing, nothing too bad, I mean, just...you know, stuff. That like, I...I just don't want to, uh, you know...be seen, and I'm really bad at stealth mode I never figured it out and I couldn't like, uh...you know, show up in a disguise because it's like, SURPRISE! A panda-shaped thing here, there's so many pandas here, we can't know who it is! ...so, I mean.

I can't.

Re: [Voice]

[fortune_favored]

... Panda.

[Shut up, really. Sully looks at the kid.] Can you move?

[audio]

[flowingsong]

[she's so hesitant to reply, not wanting to bother or annoy, but she's genuinely concerned]

You all right, Sully?

Re: [audio]

[fortune_favored]

[But Sully's face does crumple into a bit of a smile for Ruka's voice, and she can probably hear it when he talks.] Hey, darlin'. I'll get there. Just feel a bit like I got my safety net yanked out from under me.

Video;

[griftering]

They? What happened, Sully?

Re: Video;

[fortune_favored]

[There's another scrape of glass on wood before the video feed turns on. Sully finishes the drink and sets it down on the bar.] Nate, Elena. Been gone four days now.

Video;

[griftering]

[He frowns.] Did you check the board?

Re: Video;

[fortune_favored]

[That gets Sully's attention and he turns eyes to Cash.] What board?