this killing time

[scotch_egg]

who: Alec Crowley & you
what: meeting and greeting whoever wants to say hi. Well, meeting anyway.
when: 4/14 8pm
where: Mad Maggie's Bar, Queens
warnings: Scotsman in a dour mood?



Mad Maggie's bar is packed given it's a Monday night. Maybe because there's a game on or drinks are half price. Who knows. It's so packed almost every seat is filled up-- Except for the one next to him by the end of the bar that, for some reason, people seem to want to avoid.

For his own part, he sits there, fingers clasped around a whiskey sour and glaring hard at the bar as if it might provide the answers for whatever is in his mind.

Comments

[scotch_egg]

"Right? And even the pulling up by the bootstraps is a myth. Don't want to actually help people. Don't want to give them money or healthcare or anything that'll make their lives a little easier because they're too afraid of bloody Communism."

Why was he here to begin with?

Oh, right. Anthony.

Bloody hell.

He rubbed a hand over his face.

"I'll have another I think, and get yours as well. If you want." The last part sounded as awkward as it felt and he moved on, covering it as best he could.

"Between that and this ridiculous 'Different' business, I don't know how long I want to stay in this city."

But he had to stay because if the Different bullocks was bad news, he couldn't let Anthony face it alone. Why was his cousin always in the thick of it?

[darkenedmoon]

"Or worse, Socialism," Yotsuyu said, lips curling in a bit of a sneer. "Gods forbid money rushes out of their pockets."

She knew she made good money, honestly. But she also knew that she'd been living hand to mouth in the past. Yotsuyu knew what it felt like, the struggle. So if there was extra, and she and her son did not have need? Oh, she put some away in case there were lean times, but she did her level best to give, if she had a surplus.

"If you'd like. I'm grateful." The words surprised her somewhat, even as they left her lips, but then as he spoke again, Yotsuyu nearly dropped her glass and what was left in it.

"Do not tell me you've suffered such a thing as well! I have not even seen you at a meeting!" Her startled shout could even be heard over the bar's din, and a curious glance or two was sent their way...

[scotch_egg]

He winced a bit, partly at the noise but partly too about the attention sent their way. He hunched his shoulders a little. Then waved for the barman to refill their drinks.

"Haven't been to one yet, but yes. I've-- I'm apparently part of it." He gave her a look. "And you as well? For how long?"

[darkenedmoon]

"A month, or thereabouts...it began when I came back from a business trip to Los Angeles. I touched down in Queens and once I walked into the terminal..."

Yotsuyu scowled and shook her head at that, draining the last of her first drink, giving the barman a slight glare, though she did not raise her voice again.

"My son has been involved for longer, as well. I found him at the very first meeting I went to. I do not know how many others there are, though there are certainly a number of us who do go to the meetings..."

Unsettled now, Yotsuyu spun the glass' stem between her fingers, staring down at the garnish she'd left in it. Sweet tooth or no, not even the cherry could tempt her at the moment.

[scotch_egg]

"It seems to go through families. My cousin too, before me even. And we hadn't had contact before then. Well not here anyway. And some of the fantasies are just bizarre. I don't understand the game. It's like we're all in one place, being herded together for one reason or another. It doesn't make much sense." He was so focused on his own glance he startled a little when the barman came to freshen his drink.

"What do you make of it?"

[darkenedmoon]

"Some sort of mass hallucination, at first, but now? I'm not certain." Yotsuyu could not help but scowl. "Elliott's gained some sort of marking on his hand. It is not a tattoo--while he might be the type to get one, it would not be somewhere so...prominent."

Nor would it be such a random design. Yotsuyu knew her son...at least she thought she had...

"If it is a game, it is not one I enjoy playing." She picked up the new drink as the bartender set it down, swiping the garnish from the old one and settling it in the new.

"I do not like the fact that it is running through families, either. I see no reason to involve my son. Elliott is no longer a child, but..." She bit her lip, but shook her head. She was not certain what else to say. Where would speculation get her, anyway?

[scotch_egg]

"It's sick is what it is." He shook his head. "They're playing with us. Someone is playing with us. But in such a way we can't easily go tell anyone about it." It frustrated him. Was there a crime committed? Yes. But how do you explain to police memories you shouldn't have or marks where there hadn't been before ?

"I can't even see why-- Or the benefit of all this. Unless it's some kind of twisted psychological experiment. I feel like a rat in a bloody maze." But what could he do about it? That, he didn't know. There were so many questions raging around his head and far too few answers or means to get them.

[darkenedmoon]

"Oh, we could tell that Bureau or whatever it is, but what's to say they aren't up to their necks in this? Behind it? They say they have our best interests in mind, but..."

Yotsuyu had heard that song and dance before, from her own blood. And they had only had their own best interests at heart, and she could throw herself out with the rubbish, for all that her so-called 'family' had cared.

She let out a gusty sigh. "You are not the only one, so I can sympathize, at least. I fear I have no good advice for you, however."

Though she resolved to ask Elliott just what he'd been told, when he'd contacted the Bureau...if only to salve her own curiosity.

[scotch_egg]

"Horse shit." They didn't have anyone's interests in mind but their own and very little could convince him otherwise. He waved a hand.

"Didn't expect good advice. What advice can anyone really give in a situation like this other than don't trust anyone. Anyone could be a spy for them, you know. Even you, even me. We might not even know it." He shook his head and took a drink.

"The world is a dangerous place."