InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I write in purple crayon."

Justin Taylor (sunshine_taylor) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2012-01-19 21:53:00

Entry tags:

arthur, justin taylor

Who: Justin Taylor and Arthur
What: Arthur needs someone to talk to or risk getting extremely drunk
Where: Eden
When: Thursday, January 19th. After 11:00pm.
Rating: PG-13 for some language
Status: In Progress

There were still nights when Justin couldn't believe that he was really working as a waiter in a casino. Sure, other than the fact that it was a casino and he was serving alcohol instead of diner food, it wasn't all that different from the Liberty Diner. After all, he had friends there; Arthur, Caroline, Parker. The clientele were mostly good people, with the exception of the time the natives had gone restless and he'd ended up wearing more drinks then he had served and his boss was rather unconventional, much like Debbie. So all in all, Justin enjoyed working at the casino even if there were times when he couldn't believe that this was really his life now. Other nights he could just imagine what it would be like if Brian were there. No doubt he'd spend a lot of time at the casino since there really wasn't anything like Babylon in Colligo so chances were that Eden would become Brian's new Babylon.

Turning away from the roulette table where he'd just dropped off three drinks, Justin headed back towards the bar as he counted the chips the drinks recipients had given him as a tip. That was another perk to working in the casino; he made a lot more in tips then he ever did at the diner. Reaching the bar, he cleared his tray and put the chips in their designated place so that he'd get paid out for them at the end of his shift and was just about to go back around to see if anyone was ready for another drink when he spotted Arthur sitting at the end of the bar, playing with, what to anyone else would look like just a regular die, but Justin knew that it was no normal die. The more he watched Arthur, the more clear it became that he needed to talk about something. Justin was usually pretty good at recognizing when someone had something they needed to talk about and Arthur definitely had something on his mind. Walking to the end of the bar, Justin leaned over, elbows on the bar top, "Hey. What're you doing still here? Shouldn't you have left already?" It wasn't like Arthur to hang around after his shifts ended.

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the_pointman
2012-01-20 04:20 am UTC (link)

Arthur had gotten off an hour earlier, but he had no intention of going home. He hadn't decided yet if it was him not going home at all or in a few hours time. For now he'd boggled his mind with things he didn't want to think about, and past regrets were coming to haunt him.

There were very good reasons why Arthur never told Cobb about Eames and himself. The main one being that he had a feeling their work relationship would have been non existent. That was the time Arthur saw Eames the most, when they were on a job with one another. The last thing he needed was Cobb telling him he'd be too close to a job because Eames was involved. He was never ashamed, but he was worried as to what his relationship would entail. Another was that it was no one else's business but their own. Who he was with really wasn't news that should be broadcast. Bottom line was that he didn't want anyone hurt.

That plan seemed to have backfired. And he had a feeling he knew why.

Arthur's logical mind found his reasons sound. Though when he looked through it all at a more emotional standpoint, he could see how Eames saw it all. That conclusion that followed was the farthest from the truth. Arthur would have defended Eames to the end of days, and more importantly told people about their relationship if it would have made Eames happy. He just never really saw it as imperative information. At least that's what he thought might have been the problem.

Rolling his die between his fingers, Arthur slipped a little bit more into self loathing. He hated himself for being the way he was. When he didn't have control of the situation, he felt out of synch, flailing through an open sky with no ground or walls to cling to. There was no structure, the thing Arthur craved the most. He'd learned to balance himself out with the way the city ran for the most part, but there had been elements that had made things difficult for him. And now with the introduction of a Cobb that knew nothing, just as he'd left it at home, it made things unsteady.

Justin's voice barely registered in his mind, it wasn't until the shadow in his peripheral vision shifted a little more, "Oh...Justin, sorry. What's up?"

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sunshine_taylor
2012-01-20 04:34 am UTC (link)

Yeah, there was definitely something on Arthur's mind and Justin being the persistent little twat, as Brian tended to call him, wasn't about to let it drop. Besides, Justin knew that look well, because he'd worn it more times then he could count in his five years with Brian. So he'd either gotten into some sort of fight with Eames or Ariadne or something else had happened to cause it, "I said, shouldn't you have left already?" Justin glanced at his watch then back at Arthur, "Your shift ended, didn't it? Shouldn't you be at home? I mean, if I had two people waiting at home for me I'd be out of here so fucking fast." He knew he probably should have been on the floor, doing his job, but Arthur was his friend and anyone who knew Arthur could tell that he was upset about something, "Is there something on your mind?" If there was one thing Justin had learned from Brian, it was how to be anything, but subtle. After all, no one ever found out anything by being subtle.

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the_pointman
2012-01-20 05:45 am UTC (link)

It took a moment to get the answer out, but Arthur finally gave in, "I fucked up." Shaking his head, he emptied his half full glass and ordered himself another. All he wanted to do right now was forget why he was here, and hope that the whole day had just been a bad dream he hadn't had the pleasure of having in years.

"Ended an hour ago." He left it at that as soon as the bartender came back with his third drink for the night. "Not sure what my plans are for tonight though. When I'm hammered enough I'll let you know though." Well that was a bit dickish by him, even by his standards. Turning and giving Justin an apologetic look, "I...I made things complicated."

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sunshine_taylor
2012-01-20 06:28 am UTC (link)

Justin was used to dickish behavior, after all, he'd spent five years with Brian who was the king of dickish behavior so he was barely phased by Arthur's. "How did you fuck up? Wait, hold that thought." Grabbing his tray, Justin wandered back over to the roulette tables he'd been serving, got a few more drinks then headed back to Arthur, "Okay, what happened? Did you have a fight with Ariadne or Eames?" Justin couldn't really figure out what he could have fought with either of the two about, considering he'd never seen any of them upset with one another unless there was some crazy event going on that altered their personalities.

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the_pointman
2012-01-24 06:36 am UTC (link)

"I can't do this anymore. I can't do this to them." Arthur knew he wasn't making sense, but he'd come to the realization that he'd waited far too long. That he'd be hurting people other then himself by doing what he knew he needed to do. "Eames...Ariadne...I just..."

If he'd been more sober he would have hit himself in the head, but the drinks were clouding his mind quite well. His voice dropped as he finally looked up at his friend. "I can't do it anymore."

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sunshine_taylor
2012-01-24 08:48 am UTC (link)

Justin frowned as Arthur spoke, trying to figure out exactly what he was talking about cause it couldn't be what he thought he was talking about, "Arthur, you're not talking about..." It was obvious that Arthur was struggling with whatever was going on and he wished that he knew exactly what it was while at the same time hoping it wasn't what he thought.

Unfortunately, Justin had was very familiar with that look because it was often on him. It was the look that meant that everything you loved was about to go to hell and you were torn between wanting to it to wanting to figure out a way to fix it. It was the look he'd always had whenever things were going south with Brian.

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