Re: Meanwhile, in The GrouchClub...
A reply to Lita is trying to crawl past his defenses but Sarge nips that impulse in the bud, knowing full well that he will weird her out when he replies to it in about a year from now when he decided that she'll stick around long enough to be spoken to. If she sticks around long enough. Going by the holes in Rodeo's walls he's been patching whenever there was woman trouble warranting some venting she is a bigger deal than others, whether that helps or not he doesn't know. Sarge is still new to navigating this particular minefield and picking ex-fiancés limbs off the ground has done a number on his ability to try.
So he glares at that damn door with Addie, muttering damn near inaudible profanities, for the benefit of young ears at the table that he is pretty sure he caught trying to vocalize "shit" the other day, as far as those attempts go at that age, and he's been making at least somewhat of a conscious effort to tone it down ever since. Which means that most of his cursing has been muttered in low tones like just now, because he doubts he could just up and quit altogether.
"Aisle 3 is light fixtures, Doctor Quinn." It's said mainly for Addie's benefit, of course, and he can't quite bring himself to lift a corner of his mouth to go with it but he trusts her to know that he would be sort-of-smiling under different circumstances. And that is what he has decided makes this whole thing, whatever that thing is now, a lot easier, all things considered. Instead of someone having to stick around to build up trust for years, not to mention the translation skills necessary, he has known her all her life and, more importantly, she has known him. Knows him. It is scary, but he also likes it. Kind of. And this perceived intrusion of an outsider just helps fortify this kind of mentality, their three people family unit against the rest of the world. Four, but Charlie is an extension of Addie and a family member, also not quite a person yet, so he doesn't really count yet. The feelings came all on their own, but it helps him make sense of the situation - even if he still feels like a semi ran him over.
Sarge eyes the soup suspiciously, luckily he didn't see her put that alien substance in there because he would insist she is trying to poison him. With grass. Like he's some sort of cow. But his stomach churns and he frowns at the food, doubting that he will ever want to eat again. And that thought right there is plain scary because Sarge is never not hungry and "just a little hungry" is the prelude to eating more than most people would when dangerously near starvation. The urge to wrap his arm around Adelaide is disturbingly strong, this sort of impulse is new to him. When he feels down and hurt like this his first instinct is to lash out and drive everyone away, not to draw anyone closer. But Rodeo is in the next room with Lita and that is enough to stop him, but he leans in just a little bit closer. "Any funny noise comin' from that room 'n I'm gonna light this fu... damn trailer on fire."