xp_logs | Amanda and Garrison - Drinking Companions

Backdated to February 16. Totally not avoiding Topaz, Amanda comes across Garrison at Harry's and they wind up talking about Adrienne.

Amanda wasn't hiding from Topaz after their last hellishly awkward encounter. She was just taking a break. And she couldn't do it in the mansion, where fate ensured you ran into exactly the last person you wanted to see. So Harry's it was, where the beer was sufficiently international, the jukebox programmed with an eclectic range of music and where no-one knew you were a mutant or, if they did, they didn't care as long as you paid your tab, tipped well and didn't destroy the place. Amanda nodded at Harry and climbed onto a barstool, apparently unaware of the sandy-haired Canadian next to her, and ordered a beer. It was only once it was set in front of her that she nodded to Garrison:

"Evenin'."

"Yo. That's American right? Yo." Kane said, focused on his drink. Even the Toronto Maple Leafs doing well didn't earn his attention. He was trying to read a book that Adrienne had recommended to him, but he didn't have the energy.

Amanda shrugged. "It'll do for a general greeting," she replied. "TGIF, yeah?"

"I hate Friday. Monday means purpose. Friday is.. fuck. Fuck Friday," Kane killed his pint.

Amanda raised her eyebrows. She'd heard things were bad with Kane, but she'd yet to witness it. Then again, he had a bloody good reason - girlfriend in a probably-not-curable coma wasn't exactly something you got over in a week. "Any word on how Adri's doing?" she asked, instead of making with the platitudes.

"No change. Moira is working on some new ways to approach it with existing methods. After that, we go right into utterly experimental because we're officially off of the existing medical map."

"At least they're still trying. Moira isn't the sort to give up, even when it seems impossible." Frankenberry World version of Moira or not, Amanda had the utmost faith in her. "I'd say I know how you feel, but I don't, not really." She sipped at her drink and indicated to Harry she'd pay for Garrison's next one. "With Manuel, we'd broken up and I brain damaged him on my way out. But it was still hard, knowing he was there. That there was fuck all I could do to help him."

"Read about that. Made Adrienne and my relationship look almost healthy in comparison." He said wryly.

Wryness was better than despondency. Amanda snorted a little. "Manny and me were a whole world of messed up," she replied. "But he sort of got himself together at the end." She didn't mention the possibility of him still being out there; it didn't need to be said. "What was it about Adrienne that you were interested in first?" she asked instead. "Not how she looks, since she's hotness personified. Who she is."

"I don't know. I mean, when we first met, I wasn't thinking anything romantic. She was... fun. We argued about baseball while we drank beer. We swapped insults. And she was willing to trust me with something she'd been hiding for a long time. At most, I was fantasizing a semi-regular friendly lay." Kane took his new pint, staring into the amber liquid. "Hell, it was actually Morgan that I thought might go somewhere first."

"What changed?"

"I dunno. Just one day the importance of the time we spent together increased. The talks meant more than just friends over a beer. Also, she jumped me in the Basement Beach."

Amanda giggled. "Sounds like her, that's for sure. You didn't wind up having anyone walk in, did you?"

"She very deliberately locked the door. I will remember that specific metal click until the end of my days."

"Thank heavens for small mercies, then. Manuel and I..." Amanda shook her head and snorted again. "'S good, that you have that friendship base. Passion and fucking's all well and good, but eventually you have to talk to each other, and then you find out just what kind of people you are."

"We've been shipwrecked adrift in the Pacific together, manipulated a bunch of super-rich and supposedly clever as fuck assholes into firebombing their own fortunes and been banned from a half dozen motels in Florida that just happen to be close to Spring Training camps. We've kind of gotten the measure of each other." He leaned back and rested his chin on the heel of his hand. "And now... yeah."

"Yeah." Amanda nodded, dropping into a sympathetic quiet before saying, softly. "She's tough, is Adri. If there's anyone who can get through this, it'll be her."

"I don't want that. I don't want if she can't, it means she was too weak to." Kane said, almost at a growl.

Amanda winced. "No, of course. I didn't mean it like that." She sighed and took refuge in her pint. "I just... I miss her too. Wish I could do something. All of that."

"Sorry. I've gotten a lot of 'she'll beat this' right after Moira tells me that the most recent therapy failed and their back to square one. I know if it comes down to being tough, she'll come through. Unfortunately, I don't think that's the way out."

"I should know better than the platitudes. There's a reason I always hated 'em and here I am spouting them at you." The witch grimaced.

"It's a fucked up situation. I think you get a pass this one time."

"Thanks." It wasn't said sarcastically. "Is there anything I can do? For you, I mean? I don't expect to make everything better, but if I can make things easier for just a bit..."

"Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs. Sefton?" Kane said in a halfway decent Hoffman impression.

"Do you want me to?" she replied, giving him a look he knew well.

"Maybe tomorrow. Not that I don't always appreciate it, but... I could use a drinking companion more than sex right now. Wait, did I actually just say that?"

"Apparently you did. I'm as shocked as you are," Amanda deadpanned, but held up a finger to indicate they needed another round. "I'd suggest shots, but I can't keep up with a healing factor without New York to back me up."

"Yeah, emotions do seem a little out of character, eh?" Kane tipped back the rest of his current pint. "Seriously, it's just that... I've been avoiding thinking and talking about what's happened to Adrienne in pretty much every way. And using a relationship with a friend to hide from things when they think they're helping isn't really fair a way to treat a good friend."

Two fresh pints were set in front of them, but Amanda ignored hers for the moment, her expression hard to read. "Thanks," she said at last. "I appreciate it. Really. And I meant it - if there's anything I can do to help you out, I'm here. And not just a distraction shag. You need an ear, I'll listen." That said, she reached for her pint and raised it to him. "Or just keeping you company while you sort yourself out."

"I'm glad. You've always been there for me, Amanda, and the last thing I want to do is use you. Correction, I always want to use you, but not as a friend." He took his pint and clinked it against hers. "I could use someone who's been through it too. For tonight. In the morning, I'll likely beg for sex, as is my way in this world."

"Tomorrow's always another day," was her reply.