That Little Bar.

[darkhairedangel]

[continued from a brief interlude]

Something in Johnny's words were comforting and yet, more often the look he had, was almost hilarious. But she didn't laugh, it wouldn't have been polite after all, and anyway, it was only a look perhaps he had remembered something funny.

She entered the bar and took a seat ordering herself a bottle of whatever she saw first. Taste didn't really matter as far as liquor went for Reverence, it was an acquired taste after all. Then she waited for Johnny to join her, drinking deeply, though she knew, she might have to stop soon. She had absolutely no tolerance for alcohol. Still, it was nice to enjoy herself, for the first time in ages.

She stretched again, reminding herself that she really needed to stop falling asleep at the computer. Not only was it hell on her keyboard, but it was even more hell on her neck. No matter she'd just have to force herself to sleep decently tonight, no working out of the office now. Just wasn't good for her.

[Johnny Delacroix]

Alcohol always was a good sleep-aid. As soon as Johnny stepped into the bar, he took two minor side-steps as he followed her to the bar. He finally paused there to brush a few strands of hair from his eyes while peering over the various liquors thoughtfully. He could always be a nuisance and order chilled champagne served in a size nine lady's pump with an olive. That thought brought a mild grin to those soft lips. Right. He didn't know how people drank out of shoes, it must be disgusting. -Feet- were in them. Perhaps a glass slipper freshly washed. Wonder if prince charming ever had his beer that way.

He ordered a beer.

Plunking his bag down onto the stool next to Rev, he noted the stretch, canting his head slightly to the left. After placing his card down on the table to pay for both of their drinks, he moved around behind her deftly. "So what d'you do outside of work, eh?"

Without thought so much to ask, he placed his hands on her shoulders, long fingers gently but firmly massaging. Couldn't be a doctor in his field without having studied anatomy, he knew how all of the muscles ran and just how to press and rub to get the knots out. And he noted she had a lot of them. All of that computer work, he was sure she might end up with carpal tunnel next.

Grey-blue eyes flickered upward to the bar. He had no intentions in the massage except that she looked sore, of course. Not that he would even consider one might take it the wrong way. At least Motley Crue was safely outside, and he had 'Ladytron' running through his head. Which caused a little side-to-side sway while he worked at the back of her neck. He missed having his headphones on, it drown out the chatter going on under the real-world chatter.

[darkhairedangel]

Normally, Reverence would have definitely stopped him. She would have definitely objected, but right about now, she was in heaven. Whatever heaven was, she was pretty close, and this was most certainly a sign she needed to relax more often and stop working so hard.

She set down her beer and glanced up at him. "Outside work? Well," She laughed a little feeling much better now that her aches were leaving her. "on the off chance that I get time off, I usually just sleep- I guess. Not much I find all that interesting anymore, save cracking down codes and figuring out bypasses. Boring huh? But its not like its fun, just interesting."

Fun, was something Reverence seldom had anymore. She never really had known fun, even as a child, she had found few things enjoyable enough to make her happy or laugh. This, seemed quite nice though, enough to make a smile grace her normally stern or exasperated face.

"What about you? What's your hobby?"

[Johnny Delacroix]

Head canted slightly, Johnny studied the back of her neck with a thoughtful kind of look as his hands continued to work at it. He wouldn't keep it up too long, just until he felt the knots go away. Though it was kinda fun he had to admit, her skin was soft and it felt kinda like molding putty. Hee. Johnny grinned a bit. He listened to her the entire time, very intently, to add. He found focusing on her made the rest of the sounds and random non-real things to fade into the background. Except for his own thoughts, of course. But he was always babbling on endlessly in his head about something or another.

"My hobbies? I listen to music and mix chemicals. And use myself as a lab-rat. You think -your- life's excitin'.." He snickered, lightly brushing a bit of her hair that had gotten in the way toward the front before continuing with her shoulders. "So let's have fun tonight! We can make it a ritual or somethin' if you're not sick of me by the end of the night. How's that sound? Like.. Once a week or once every other week we go somewhere and act crazy for a night. So we don't really go crazy."

"I propose you drink more, missy." Pausing one hand's massage, he reached over her shoulder to take hold of his own drink. While he took a long drink from it, he glanced at his stool to make sure it was unoccupied before plunking the emptied bottle down upon it. He ordered another then, and resumed working toward the ends of her shoulders.

[darkhairedangel]

Rev drank deeply and listened to him laugh about his own, apparently boring life, so she supposed, it was the same for most DPS nerds... Not that she thought Johnny was nerd, if he was, he was the damn coolest nerd she'd ever known.

"Y'know, that sounds like a pretty good Idea, they have to give me a day or two off every week anyhow, maybe I'll start using them." She said thoughtfully, smile still playing placidly across her lips. "And I probably could stand to loosen up a bit, you have a point there. Its just a pain, cause most of my superiors only ask me to do the extra stuff half the time."

And the other half, she failed to mention, she was thinking about maxwell's latest show off. That was on her mind a lot, he was- Because deep down, she hated the fact, that she had once been so close to the nut job she knew of now. She hated, not knowing what he would do next, and not knowing how to stop him. Reverence, hated feeling helpless. Solitary working, pushing herself so hard and isolating herself, hadn't been too good for that mentality.

But right now, Maxwell, wasn't on her mind, and that was a miracle in disguise, because obsession never is, a healthy thing.

[Johnny Delacroix]

Johnny had heard a lot about Maxwell since this whole thing started affecting his work. There were always deaths he'd found connected to Stoneage, so he had to study as much about that Max bloke as he possibly could with their limited resources. In his professional opinion, Maxwell wasn't crazy at all. He had a perfectly intelligent and level head on his shoulders. Perhaps not -perfectly-.. He didn't know -why- Maxwell was doing these things. But for the most part, he didn't seem stupid or crazy. Johnny deviated away from psychiatry's PHD for a reason, though. Chemicals, he understood. Physical things rooted in fact, even though his entire little world was as far from reality as conceivably possible. He didn't understand people's minds, and didn't really care to. The fact alone that he understood his own completely aside from what the drugs had done to it was enough for him.

"Don't make any excuses, fun can't be denied! It must live!" Grinning, he finished his massage by running his hands gently over her shoulders and leaning over to plant a playful kiss atop her head. He had to make sure he'd moved the bottle out of the way before he sat back down on his stool. That would be embarrassing to sit down on. The empty was sat next to the full one he paid for, then wrapped those slender fingers around to lift for a long drink. He kept his gaze intentionally away from the mirror on the wall at all times, though out of the corner of his eye he'd see the dancing.

"I wonder if there's a skating rink somewhere around here, that'd be fun wouldn't it? Do you ice skate?" Blue-grey eyes stayed on Rev, he was focused at that moment. When the dancing stopped he'd be comfortable enough to look around again.

[darkhairedangel]

It was most certainly this bar, was quite dimly lit.

Reverence took a drink, to buy herself a moment of thought, before she spoke. It turned out to be quite a long drink. Finally however, she was able to speak clearly.

"Ice skating?" The expression on her face, was slightly laughable for a moment. "I am afraid I don't think I'd have the balance necessary." She said with a laugh.

God, she felt so relaxed now. Maybe that was the alcohol talking, or maybe she had finally found someone, who was what she wasn't. She needed that nudge, to enjoy life. Not a shove, just a light, playful nudge that sent her sliding into an enjoyable time. Her parents, had never understood that. Few people ever did, but for Reverence, fun wasn't an event, it was time spent well.

Apparently, she had been waisting time all along.

[Johnny Delacroix]

"The beautiful thing about ice skating is that if you fall down, the ice for your poor wounded head is right there." Johnny spoke absently while he lifted his beer for another drink, holding onto it's neck with all the care of holding onto something possibly diseased that also happens to be slippery. It was a wonder he never dropped things. He never was one to crack actual funny jokes, but he wasn't ever socially adept, either. He and Rev had that much in common. But look at them! They were out, they were drinking, conversing, if that's not friendship what is.

A small smile played across his lips as he finally sat his beer back down, half empty. He was considering going for the harder stuff next. "Well we don't have to go skating, there's bowling, we could go bowling." His semi-glazed eyes flickered off thoughtfully for a minute before turning back to her. "I've never bowled a day in my life, but it'll be a hoot trying, won't it?" His smile widened into a mild grin. "Come on, you've gotta have a skill in -some- recreational activity, if we go drinking every weekend we might look like a couple alcoholics."

He stared off again blankly with a mild half-shrug of one shoulder. "Though it might be a little more pleasant than some of my other past misnomers and closely accurate titles." Johnny was a weird one with his language, sometimes he talked like a backwater hillbilly, then other times a small glimmer of his true intelligence would shine through. But he was never one that could be pinned down exactly.

Fingertips toyed absently with the neck of his bottle as grey blue eyes turned back to it. He was having fun, but there weren't a lot of times he didn't have fun. It was mostly attributed to the little unreality he lived in, of course. But he could always find the bright side to everything, even if that bright side was something only bright to him. He wasn't on any grand mission to make Rev break out of her little workaholic shell, but she was fun when she let loose a little.

[darkhairedangel]

To get Reverence to come out of her workaholic shell, would seem like a miracle to anyone else. They might begin proclaiming him the messiah, if he accomplished that much. Regardless, he seemed to be doing a good job so far.

"Bowling, well I went once with some co-workers, I think I bowled a six or something?" She laughed, so it was an exaggeration. She certainly hadn't been good at it either. "But it was sort of fun. I've went inlining too, turned out to be great exercise, though I'd still kill myself ice skating I think. Plus, I'd rather have the cement below me and wheels instead of sharp blades and ice."

Opening up to Johnny, was surprisingly easy right about now, and that was her cue to slow down on the drinking. Well, maybe it was the alcohol, maybe not. Normally when anyone asked her this sort of stuff, she pretended to be really busy, well most of the time it wasn't pretending, but it was still, accurately avoiding the need to answer.

"Closely accurate titles?" She grinned slightly. "Not sure I want to know, at least you didn't spend you're first six months as 'hey you', at the DPS. I was ready to play darts with my superior's head after the first week."

She smiled pleasantly, and it was clear that Reverence had no problem with most forms of violence, provided they stayed ideas, and not took physical form. She had a sort of dislike, for guns, let alone violence. She had no tolerance for any criminals, who used it. She'd have them locked up faster than it took them to attempt an excuse. Regardless, it was ok to think about it, amusing, and a good stress relief.

[Johnny Delacroix]

Johnny laughed lightly as he pictured her supervisor sitting there clueless with half a dozen darts sticking out of the back of his head. That was really an amusing thought. He wasn't a huge fan of violence either, but he never really thought about violence. If he ever had amusing little thoughts that involved mild violence, he didn't have an awareness of it enough so if someone asked him 'do you ever imagine kicking someone in the ass', he wouldn't have a clue.

He had to contemplate the comment about rather having cement under her if she fell, though. It had it's rewards, no chance of accidentally getting a blade to the face, but at the same time, that had to really hurt. Fingertips still toyed absently with his bottle, his body half-turned toward her. Finally after a few moments of a blank stare into the distance, his gaze settled upon her with an arched brow. "I'd think falling on cement like that would take off a few layers of skin, you'd prefer that? Sounds like it'd really hurt." One can tell from this he hadn't ever gone inline skating before. In truth, he hadn't even gone ice skating since the hallucinations began. Sometimes it was rather distracting, hence why he didn't drive. He could discern reality from hallucination very well, but he didn't trust himself driving and apparently -his- doctor didn't either.

"Maybe bowling would be best." A slow grin curled full lips. He wasn't looking at her at that moment, but something closer to looking -through- her while acknowledging her presence there. "Then we can still drink but not be alcoholic, we can both suck at it since I never bowled a day in my life, and the only chance for injury is accidentally droppin' one of those heavy bowling balls on our feet." He focused on her at the end of that, his grin bright and actually he was a little proud of himself for having come up with such a marvelous idea. Even if she was the one who'd originally mentioned it.

Finally as he remembered what she'd said about 'hey you', he squinted vaguely, dropping his head. "You know, I don't actually remember if anyone bothered keeping my name in their heads. It kind of surprised me when you knew who I was. How did you know?" He glanced back over at her before plucking his bottle back up for a sip.

[darkhairedangel]

"How?"

The question provoked an irresistible urge.

"I hacked into you're DPS worker file and read everything about you." She laughed. "No, actually I've seen you around. You apparently," She had a coy smile flickering in an absolutely lovely way, across her face. "have quite a flare for what you do, if not a few admirers as well. You know these interns, fresh out of high school and still hormonal."

Not the sort of jokes, Reverence would normally make under regular circumstances, but exactly they type she made when thoroughly relaxed. And, when she was greatly enjoying herself.

"And as for a few layers of skin, well thats why you wear pants for the first few tries. Or else, have damn good balance to start out with. Ice skates can cut veins anyway, it'll take quite a few layers."

Her smile lingered and she leaned back in her chair, rather than sitting with good posture and drank, just a little more.

[Johnny Delacroix]

"Admirers? Me? Naaaw." Though a faint rosy blush did reach his cheeks as he turned back to face the bar, picking up another fresh beer. They were keeping 'em coming, apparently. "I don't get admirers, I'm just the weird little doctor. It's people like Eric who get admirers. You know, the brave strong rugged ones." A grin curled his lips before he took another drink, swallowing as he set it down. Johnny actually had a high respect for Eric, even before he met him personally. There was no jealousy in his tone. Only lightheartedness. He had thoughts involving Eric and a bear that were just hilarious.

He must have been on his third or fourth beer by then, he was feeling pleasantly warm in the way only people who don't spend a wealth of time drinking did after so few. He wasn't drunk, but the hallucinations -- the bright colors, the little faeries floating about.. Though sometimes he couldn't be sure if they were real or hallucinations so he just didn't bother them.

"Ice skates -could- possibly open an artery. But then you've gotta wonder how many times that's actually happened. 'Cause parents let their kids ice skate.." Johnny paused, fingertips touching the neck of his bottle still. Blue-grey eyes settled upon her with a serious look. "Come to think of it, they let their kids rollerblade too. Parents let their kids do a lot of things that'll get 'em hurt." Smirking vaguely, he snickered, dropping his head to a folded arm atop the bar. "Our parents were tryin' to kill us!"

[darkhairedangel]

Reverence laughed lightly, she too, felt quite warm, and she was just finishing her first bottle. A real sign, of just how often, she actually drank. Not a problem though.

"Latner? Nah, I never really liked the big, scary, military types... Honestly don't see what other people do in them. Just cause you can fire a gun doesn't make you a better person." She said pointedly. "My teachers always told me nerds rule the world." She snorted. "I never believed them."

The comment about parents trying to kill there kids? Highly amusing right about now. But she didn't laugh too much, really it was just funny because she realized how right he was.

"Hey at least they can't hand their kid a gun and tell them to go play in traffic. Well, at least they can't hand their kid a gun anyway."

[Maxwell Conner]

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