InsaneJournal

NQAMBI | “TEQUILA! Da-dada-da-dadada...” With his weight being supported on two dolleys and the combined strength of Bart West, Nick Tyler and Piper Evans, Nqambi is wheeled out of a Midway City bar poorly singing a song that shall never leave his mind.

Now, all they need is a taxi with a hitched trailer.

REX | A little ways down the street, Rex Stewart is walking away with Charlie Rayner. And he keeps walking even as he hears the strained grunts and a prolonged shout of Noooooo from Piper as the weight of the drunk gorilla starts to get away from them -- or more accurately, back toward them.

They’ll manage.

Rex slides his hands into the pockets of his brown leather coat and takes a blurry-eyed look around as he crosses the street with Charlie. “I tell you I was thinking of getting some people together at my place Thanksgiving weekend? Think I can get Tina there. Bart was saying that her and that firefighter guy ain’t together anymore. Guess she’s been single for months.”

CHARLIE | The sky seems like a much more interesting thing to look at to a drunken Charlie. There’s a pretty fabulous skyline here. It wasn’t quite Metropolis or Gotham or even New York, but it’s still really interesting. That’s where Charlie’s mind wanders as in his drunkenness.

“I miss stars,” Charlie muses, totally lost in his thoughts. He’s so in them that he only catches the end of what Rex says. What was that about thanking firemen? “Yeah, sound’s great. We should thank them.”

REX | ...It’s just a skyline. Rex lives here and doesn’t even find anything special about it. He squints a little and looks back at Charlie with some confusion. “Thank who?” What are they talking about? Why are they thanking some people? He doesn’t remember anything about that.

CHARLIE | “The firemen.” Charlie looks back at Rex and shrugs. Is that not what Rex was talking about? They seem like two pretty key words to what he was talking about. God Charlie needs another shot.

REX | Rex thinks for a second and then shakes his head. “Fuck the firemen!” He doesn’t owe them anything. Hell, he keeps some of them employed in this town. “I ain’t inviting them! I’m getting Tina. Or -- yeah! Tina.”

CHARLIE | “Wait you’re getting Tina? When did this happen?” Charlie’s confused now. This seems like quite a change for Rex, but hey if it works for him...

REX | ...How would this be a change for Rex?! Rex has dated nice girls before. Betty Armstrong was a nice girl. That nurse was too. And whatshername was very sweet! Wait... “You’re getting Tina! I’m getting Tina... to come to the place for you get Tina. At Thanksgiving. AFTER Thanksgiving.” How is this not clear to Charlie?

CHARLIE | Liberty Belle was...okay. For a government lackey. Who has been weaseling her way through the Justice League from Rex and now to Nick. It’s weird.

“Wait, what? You’re not getting Tina? I’m getting Tina at Thanksgiving?” Tina’s great and all, but Charlie just came out of a relationship... two months ago. He’s been getting a lot of shit from his friends about it, but he doesn’t feel very comfortable getting back into the saddle. “I don’t think I’m ready man.”

REX | “Yeah, well... you’re stupid.” So it’s a good thing Charlie has Rex to do the thinking for him. “Shit happens. You don’t fucking... sit down in it! Move on!” Rex chops his hand forward in the direction of... onward!

“Not like you owe Marina some kind of grace fucking period. Fuck. Already given her weeks. My ass got a long weekend! You’re good. You’re good. And ready.”

CHARLIE | "But you're supposed to wait like two times! And it was two years so... uh." Charlie isn't generally that great with math anyway, but trying to do it after all the drinks he's had tonight is even tougher. Two times two is...

"Four years. Oh my god." Charlie can't stay on the bench for two years. That's crazy. "I don't know... do you think she's gonna wait?" He already knows the answer to this one in his heart. Marina is a great woman. She could have any guy that she wants and probably has. There's nothing stopping her from doing so.

REX | “Two times?!” Rex shouts. “What -- who the fuck came up with that stupid shit? You didn’t have to wait two days!” Charlie is the one who was dumped. He owes nothing. He can do whatever the hell he wants, and Marina can fuck off. “You are a single man. Period! That’s fucking it! You can see who you want! When you want! When I tell you to! Which is going to be the weekend after Thanksgiving.”

CHARLIE | “I don’t know I read it on a ‘zine somewhere!” Charlie’s just going to roll with what Rex is bringing to him. It’s not like he really has much of a day here. Rex does what he does and everyone just has to deal. Besides, Tina’s a great girl, and if nothing else it’d be great to get in touch with her again after she quit the Justice League. “Okay!”

REX | And if not Tina, Rex has a backup plan of inviting Alice. Not that he knows from personal experience, but she’s usually up for a good time with no strings attached. He knows she could make Charlie feel better too. She is a doctor. But that’s only if he can’t get Tina. “Two times. What the fuck.”