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Gabriel and Topaz (Backdated to last night)
Topaz visits Gabriel's bar during the Great 21st Birthday Bender. It's probably the most productive conversation Topaz has had in a month.
Topaz was surprisingly steady on her feet as she showed the bouncer her ID and he let her into the bar. She was clearly drunk - her eyes were bleary, her steps not quite straight, but she managed to get herself to the bar and collapse onto a stool, and given this was her seventh bar, that was admirable she thought.
"Well, if it isn't the birthday girl." Gabriel, unseasonably clad in a muscle tank, made his way down the bar to Topaz with a smile. it was early for a gay bar — dancing didn't get started until closer to midnight on Saturdays — but there were patrons both familiar and unfamiliar, and Gabriel had been working at a reasonable pace all night. So he figured spending extra time with Topaz wouldn't be out of the question. "How we doin' tonight?" He eyed her. "You're still standing, so that's a start."
"Figured fallin' over would be the time call it a night." There was a definite slur in Topaz' voice. She rested her cheek against her fist, her elbow propped on the bar. She didn't look ready for any kind of dancing or partying. If anything, she looked ready to fall asleep.
"You seem pretty close," Gabriel pointed out. He put some napkins in front of her, then grabbed a glass and scooped in some ice with a practiced efficiency. "What happened to the rest of your crew? Surprised they let you come here alone." He reached for the soda gun.
Topaz wasn't particularly paying attention to what Gabriel was doing. She did laugh at the question, though. "Don't have a crew. Doubt anyone would want to follow me around on a pity bar crawl."
"Which explains how you got this drunk." Gabriel placed a Coke in front of her. "Here. Take a quick break." He popped a straw in the glass and tossed in a maraschino cherry for good measure. "Pity bar crawl on your birthday, though? Feels kind of like you're taking a page out of my book."
Topaz smiled a humorless smile, picking up the glass without argument and toasting Gabriel. "Cheers," she mumbled, taking a sip. Maybe the caffeine would help her wake up a bit. "Didn't mean to steal your shtick," she said before taking a longer sip. "Not particularly seeing anything worth celebrating. Stupid bloody luck kept me alive for twenty-one whole years. Woo-freaking-hoo."
"Sure, but you're not dead," Gabriel pointed out. He meant it in a very matter-of-fact way, although he'd realize a few moments later that the words carried extra meaning given what both of them had made it through. "That's something. And you seem to have a nice little life, so far as I can tell from a distance."
"Yup, still alive and still wasting everyone's time." She smiled self-deprecatingly, swishing the glass around and watching the ice cubes. She hadn't said anything like that to anyone except Amanda and Kurt, and if not for the frankly insane amount of alcohol she had consumed, she probably wouldn't have been saying it now. "Bastard at least could've given my spot to someone who deserved it."
"That's stupid," he replied without missing a beat, a slight frown on his face. "People like you. People care about you, and they like being around you, even when you're at your most... you know," he waved a hand in her general direction, "this." He decided he was thirsty and started pouring himself a ginger ale. "What's going on?"
The humorless smile stayed strong as Topaz took another sip of her soda. Talk about turning into a full-on self-pity party. "You know, usual bullshit. My father decided it was time for a grand old family reunion with me and my dead mother, tried to use the people who killed her to bring her back to life, ended up making a zombie that I had to kill because he's so far down the rabbit hole I think he actually would've taken the thing and lived with it if it didn't eat him, and the people he tried to kill swore vengeance against both of us and I'm just hoping they kill him and that satisfies them enough to leave me alone." She paused, tilting her head, and continued. "Oh, and I'm about to be kicked out of school 'cause I'm failing three classes, not entirely on speaking terms with Amanda for a bunch of bullshit reasons that are my own fault, and I asked Kurt why he let his fiancee leave him so I'm pretty sure he hates me now. Think that about covers the last month."
"Oh." Gabriel said, nodding the way bartenders often did to show that they were listening. He was doing his best to keep a neutral face, mostly because he wanted to avoid inviting any eavesdropping on their conversation. "So almost all family stuff. Well, I get drinking because of family stuff. Family stuff is all bullshit." He made a quick scan of the bar to see if anyone else needed attention, but other bartenders were handling his customers. So he squatted below the bar and grabbed two shot glasses before popping back up. "You know Sefton and the blue dude'll get over it, right? You'll figure that shit out. And school's not going anywhere, when you're ready for it."
"Yeah." There was no way to explain that she didn't want to figure that shit out, or that she honestly didn't care about school anymore. Her life was already worthless. Why keep pushing. "One of those shot glasses for me?"
"Maybe. I haven't decided if it's irresponsible to serve you yet." Gabriel sat them on the bar, contemplating them for a few seconds before looking up at her. "Your dad tried to bring your mom back to life," he finally said. "That's a new twist on an old 'dad's an asshole' story."
"He wasn't always." The caffeine was definitely waking Topaz up a bit. She was still slurring noticeably and definitely saying more than she would have said to anyone if she was sober, but looking more awake was a start. "Magic has a tendency to drive you a bit..." She waved a hand at her head, "ya know, mad, if you abuse it too much."
"I'll take your word for it." He sipped at his ginger ale. Down the bar, a gaunt young man who Gabriel instantly pegged as an art student was trying to get his attention. "One sec. Don't pass out." He left to deal with the other customer.
A minute or two later, he returned. "I don't have much experience with the big 'm,'" he said, wiggling his eyebrows to make the euphemism seem even more ridiculous. "Seems like a weird drug, though."
Topaz amused herself by playing with the ice in her drink while Gabriel was gone. "Yeah, it's something," she said, thinking about what Amanda had told her about her addiction. "Pain in the arse, mostly."
"More than anyone else's gifts? I feel like they're all more trouble than they're worth, in their ways."
"I'd still switch with anyone in a heartbeat." No more magic or empathy or telepathy for Molly's super strength, or the ability to teleport? Absolutely. "Playin' the violin now though, I know." She finished off the soda.
"It's your party," he shrugged, "and you'll whine if you want to." He stood there, studying her in attempt to appraise her drunkenness. "We all have our shit. Birthdays aren't my cup of tea either." Gabriel looked at her glass finally then looked up at her. "What've you been drinking, and what've you eaten?"
Topaz raised an eyebrow at him. He expected her to remember everything she'd drank? "I had a bagel before I left this morning," she said slowly. "Drank, um.... vodka mixed with various things, a couple shots at the last bar, dunno what they were, told the bartender to pick her favorite, rum and something, there was this really good one a few bars back, vodka and.... grenadine I think? And juice. Juice mixed with the vodka and grenadine I mean. And this." She held up the empty glass.
"Hm. Okay." He furrowed his brow and stared at her glass again. "Okay, okay. That is a lot of mixing. But mostly liquor, so we should stick with that, probably. And mostly sweet it sounds like." He crossed his arms. "Unsolicited advice here, but you'll need to eat something if you intend to carry on — which, no judgment, I'm just saying, we should get you a piece of pizza or some shit. In the meantime, we'll go light." He turned around to grab a few bottles. "And," he looked over his shoulder, "promise me you will not add tequila shots to whatever is in your stomach under any circumstance."
"I'll get something when I leave here." She'd seen a few food places and vaguely considered dinner, then figured no one wanted a drunk girl in their place. Then again it was Saturday night and they were surrounded by bars. They were probably used to it. "No tequila shots. Promise."
"Good." He came back to her, bottles in hand, and reached for a champagne glass. "This is so not the kind of place for a French 75, but we have what we need, so we're gonna make it happen anyway. Because they're good, they're reasonably light, I won't feel guilty about serving it to you, and you're basically required to sip it. And special occasions call for at least one fizzy drink. So."
"Special," Topaz repeated with a humorless laugh. "All right, I'll go with that." Fizzy didn't sound too bad.
"I'm not really giving you much of a choice," he pointed out with a small smirk. "But good."
Topaz rolled her eyes, but gave him a genuine smile. "Cheers."
Topaz was surprisingly steady on her feet as she showed the bouncer her ID and he let her into the bar. She was clearly drunk - her eyes were bleary, her steps not quite straight, but she managed to get herself to the bar and collapse onto a stool, and given this was her seventh bar, that was admirable she thought.
"Well, if it isn't the birthday girl." Gabriel, unseasonably clad in a muscle tank, made his way down the bar to Topaz with a smile. it was early for a gay bar — dancing didn't get started until closer to midnight on Saturdays — but there were patrons both familiar and unfamiliar, and Gabriel had been working at a reasonable pace all night. So he figured spending extra time with Topaz wouldn't be out of the question. "How we doin' tonight?" He eyed her. "You're still standing, so that's a start."
"Figured fallin' over would be the time call it a night." There was a definite slur in Topaz' voice. She rested her cheek against her fist, her elbow propped on the bar. She didn't look ready for any kind of dancing or partying. If anything, she looked ready to fall asleep.
"You seem pretty close," Gabriel pointed out. He put some napkins in front of her, then grabbed a glass and scooped in some ice with a practiced efficiency. "What happened to the rest of your crew? Surprised they let you come here alone." He reached for the soda gun.
Topaz wasn't particularly paying attention to what Gabriel was doing. She did laugh at the question, though. "Don't have a crew. Doubt anyone would want to follow me around on a pity bar crawl."
"Which explains how you got this drunk." Gabriel placed a Coke in front of her. "Here. Take a quick break." He popped a straw in the glass and tossed in a maraschino cherry for good measure. "Pity bar crawl on your birthday, though? Feels kind of like you're taking a page out of my book."
Topaz smiled a humorless smile, picking up the glass without argument and toasting Gabriel. "Cheers," she mumbled, taking a sip. Maybe the caffeine would help her wake up a bit. "Didn't mean to steal your shtick," she said before taking a longer sip. "Not particularly seeing anything worth celebrating. Stupid bloody luck kept me alive for twenty-one whole years. Woo-freaking-hoo."
"Sure, but you're not dead," Gabriel pointed out. He meant it in a very matter-of-fact way, although he'd realize a few moments later that the words carried extra meaning given what both of them had made it through. "That's something. And you seem to have a nice little life, so far as I can tell from a distance."
"Yup, still alive and still wasting everyone's time." She smiled self-deprecatingly, swishing the glass around and watching the ice cubes. She hadn't said anything like that to anyone except Amanda and Kurt, and if not for the frankly insane amount of alcohol she had consumed, she probably wouldn't have been saying it now. "Bastard at least could've given my spot to someone who deserved it."
"That's stupid," he replied without missing a beat, a slight frown on his face. "People like you. People care about you, and they like being around you, even when you're at your most... you know," he waved a hand in her general direction, "this." He decided he was thirsty and started pouring himself a ginger ale. "What's going on?"
The humorless smile stayed strong as Topaz took another sip of her soda. Talk about turning into a full-on self-pity party. "You know, usual bullshit. My father decided it was time for a grand old family reunion with me and my dead mother, tried to use the people who killed her to bring her back to life, ended up making a zombie that I had to kill because he's so far down the rabbit hole I think he actually would've taken the thing and lived with it if it didn't eat him, and the people he tried to kill swore vengeance against both of us and I'm just hoping they kill him and that satisfies them enough to leave me alone." She paused, tilting her head, and continued. "Oh, and I'm about to be kicked out of school 'cause I'm failing three classes, not entirely on speaking terms with Amanda for a bunch of bullshit reasons that are my own fault, and I asked Kurt why he let his fiancee leave him so I'm pretty sure he hates me now. Think that about covers the last month."
"Oh." Gabriel said, nodding the way bartenders often did to show that they were listening. He was doing his best to keep a neutral face, mostly because he wanted to avoid inviting any eavesdropping on their conversation. "So almost all family stuff. Well, I get drinking because of family stuff. Family stuff is all bullshit." He made a quick scan of the bar to see if anyone else needed attention, but other bartenders were handling his customers. So he squatted below the bar and grabbed two shot glasses before popping back up. "You know Sefton and the blue dude'll get over it, right? You'll figure that shit out. And school's not going anywhere, when you're ready for it."
"Yeah." There was no way to explain that she didn't want to figure that shit out, or that she honestly didn't care about school anymore. Her life was already worthless. Why keep pushing. "One of those shot glasses for me?"
"Maybe. I haven't decided if it's irresponsible to serve you yet." Gabriel sat them on the bar, contemplating them for a few seconds before looking up at her. "Your dad tried to bring your mom back to life," he finally said. "That's a new twist on an old 'dad's an asshole' story."
"He wasn't always." The caffeine was definitely waking Topaz up a bit. She was still slurring noticeably and definitely saying more than she would have said to anyone if she was sober, but looking more awake was a start. "Magic has a tendency to drive you a bit..." She waved a hand at her head, "ya know, mad, if you abuse it too much."
"I'll take your word for it." He sipped at his ginger ale. Down the bar, a gaunt young man who Gabriel instantly pegged as an art student was trying to get his attention. "One sec. Don't pass out." He left to deal with the other customer.
A minute or two later, he returned. "I don't have much experience with the big 'm,'" he said, wiggling his eyebrows to make the euphemism seem even more ridiculous. "Seems like a weird drug, though."
Topaz amused herself by playing with the ice in her drink while Gabriel was gone. "Yeah, it's something," she said, thinking about what Amanda had told her about her addiction. "Pain in the arse, mostly."
"More than anyone else's gifts? I feel like they're all more trouble than they're worth, in their ways."
"I'd still switch with anyone in a heartbeat." No more magic or empathy or telepathy for Molly's super strength, or the ability to teleport? Absolutely. "Playin' the violin now though, I know." She finished off the soda.
"It's your party," he shrugged, "and you'll whine if you want to." He stood there, studying her in attempt to appraise her drunkenness. "We all have our shit. Birthdays aren't my cup of tea either." Gabriel looked at her glass finally then looked up at her. "What've you been drinking, and what've you eaten?"
Topaz raised an eyebrow at him. He expected her to remember everything she'd drank? "I had a bagel before I left this morning," she said slowly. "Drank, um.... vodka mixed with various things, a couple shots at the last bar, dunno what they were, told the bartender to pick her favorite, rum and something, there was this really good one a few bars back, vodka and.... grenadine I think? And juice. Juice mixed with the vodka and grenadine I mean. And this." She held up the empty glass.
"Hm. Okay." He furrowed his brow and stared at her glass again. "Okay, okay. That is a lot of mixing. But mostly liquor, so we should stick with that, probably. And mostly sweet it sounds like." He crossed his arms. "Unsolicited advice here, but you'll need to eat something if you intend to carry on — which, no judgment, I'm just saying, we should get you a piece of pizza or some shit. In the meantime, we'll go light." He turned around to grab a few bottles. "And," he looked over his shoulder, "promise me you will not add tequila shots to whatever is in your stomach under any circumstance."
"I'll get something when I leave here." She'd seen a few food places and vaguely considered dinner, then figured no one wanted a drunk girl in their place. Then again it was Saturday night and they were surrounded by bars. They were probably used to it. "No tequila shots. Promise."
"Good." He came back to her, bottles in hand, and reached for a champagne glass. "This is so not the kind of place for a French 75, but we have what we need, so we're gonna make it happen anyway. Because they're good, they're reasonably light, I won't feel guilty about serving it to you, and you're basically required to sip it. And special occasions call for at least one fizzy drink. So."
"Special," Topaz repeated with a humorless laugh. "All right, I'll go with that." Fizzy didn't sound too bad.
"I'm not really giving you much of a choice," he pointed out with a small smirk. "But good."
Topaz rolled her eyes, but gave him a genuine smile. "Cheers."