InsaneJournal

Who: Belle Boudreaux and Huck Finn
What: drinking, angsting
When: back when people were kidnapped by Cerebus in June
Where: a dive bar
Rating: PG for shenanigans and maybe language? They're just chatting, really.
Status: complete

After her complete failure to find her boss’s daughter and grandson Belle was pretty bummed out. She’d give Winston her recommendations and left to blow off some steam. She was too upset about her failure and the probable danger Emma and Nate were in to really be a good friend to Vanille, and she wanted to drink to mellow herself out.

Which was what brought her to the slightly sleezy bar a couple miles from Frost Enterprises. These places were the best for finding and meeting interesting people who might be willing to give her a reason to kick their teeth down their throat. She ordered a vodka and coke as soon as she arrived, drinking half of it before she even turned to see what kind of bar this was.

Huck had met up with some former colleagues from the paper, coming to this particular bar upon their recommendation. It seemed more like the type of place his old man would have frequented, but what could he say? It could have been worse.

It could have been better, too. Belle made a face and randomly chose the seat next to Huck. She sipped her drink, a heavy scowl on her face. She hated failing, especially with innocent lives on the line.

Huck wasn’t sure where his friends had gone off too, whether it was the men’s room, or off to troll for chicks. Whatever the case, he was pretty sure they could fend for themselves. He glanced over at the woman who appeared beside him, noting the expression on her face. “Rough week?”

“Could say that.” Belle wasn’t doing anything to hide her accent. It was thick and heavy, but very unlike Huck’s. Her part of Louisiana had a much different sound than anywhere else in the south. “Mostly just the last couple days, really.”

“Condolences,” Huck murmured. Who didn’t know what it was like to have a rough day every now and then? He raised his glass, a hint of Missouri sliding into his words. “Here’s hoping it gets better from here out.”

She raised her glass in return, then took a large drink. “Can’t get much worse. I lost my boss’s daughter an’ grandson, can’t find ‘em t’ save my life.” Or theirs. She shook her head. “Nothin’ so frustrating as misplacin’ two whole people.”

Huck blinked. Suddenly, the stranger’s bad day seemed a heck of a lot more serious than any of his own. “I’m sorry,” he said, “That sounds awful.”

She nodded, resting her head in her hand. “It’s pretty shitty. Sorry, You probably don’t want to hear about all that.” She took another drink. She had to come up with a new strategy, some other way to find Emma and Nate.

“No, it’s fine,” Huck said, “You seem like you needed to decompress.” And it sounded like there might be a story there. Huck was a sucker for a story, even if he had no intention of publishing it. “Have you notified the authorities?”

She was the authorities. She nodded. “Yeah, people are notified, everyone’s lookin’, but nobody’s found nothing yet.” She wondered if Scott turned anything up. Maybe she should call again. She’d have to expose herself, which might lead to some awkward questions. She knew her cover mattered more to the government than a few missing people.

Of course Huck wouldn’t have known she was anything more than private security, so naturally he would ask if she’d called for backup. He nodded, and sipped his beer. “Waiting is no picnic,” he mused, shrugging his shoulders. “I hope they have better luck with more resources on the case.” He set down the bottle and offered his hand. “Name’s Finn, by the way. My friends call me Huck.”

“Huck, huh?” Belle shook his hand. “I’m Belle.” She finished her drink and sat back. “I’m gonna grab another drink, then we’ll chat like real people.”

“Yup,” he drawled, smirking a little. “It’s short for ‘Don’t call me Charles.’” He gave her a nod. “I’ll be here.”

Belle snorted and got up to get a Long Island Iced Tea. She wanted to be drunk ASAP. She made her way back to the table, drink in hand. There were a few eyes on her, but she had no time for that. Even the prospect of a fight wasn’t exciting anymore, it wouldn’t solve her core problem. “Alright, Huck, you’re not a mouth breathin’ inbred jerk so what’re you doin’ here?”

Huck shrugged his shoulders at her question, nodding toward where he had spotted his group of friends across the bar, chatting up some other mutual acquaintances. “Came to catch up with some coworkers. Stepped away to take a phone call, and decided to mingle a little. Looks like they did too. What about you? Besides work being hell.”

“This place was closest to where I was and I’m not likely to see my boss, here. I might have been lookin’ for a little trouble, but now I think I just wanna be inebriated and stagger home.” She shrugged. The thought that she could probably go home with company if she wanted to crossed her mind, but she decided against it.

"Could probably find trouble if you're really looking," Huck mused, "I've got an interview in the morning, but I'm happy to shoot the shit a while before I have to drive."

“Interview? Lookin’ for a job?” He must be pretty confident if he was drinking the night before. Or nervous.

“Not exactly,” he said, “I’m making a guest appearance on Sword and Laser, the sci-fi fantasy book-club web show, to talk about my latest book. I’ll basically be skyping with the hosts and recording the interview that way.” He shrugged. “I write steampunk novels.”

“Oooh, I didn’t know.” Belle didn’t have much downtime for hobbies like reading. “So you’re real imaginative, then.” She asked with a smile.

“Well, I hope so,” he said, “But it seems a little weird to say so myself.” He grinned. “Before I got my book deal, I was in journalism.”

“Yeah?” She looked even more interested. “What did you report on?”

“Oh, let’s see.” Huck counted of on his fingers. “Entertainment reviews. Local happening and community events. I did some time as a copy-editor and fact-checker. And I did just about every job there was to do for the school paper, back in the day.”

So nothing really interesting to her, but it was still a neat job. “Sounds like you’ve always been interested in writing, then.”

“I guess so,” Huck said, “I mean, we never really had the money to go to the movies, and there wasn’t a TV in the house after my old man busted the one we had, so books were my escape from the real world.” He shrugged. “There was a point in my life when all I was interested in was making trouble, but eventually, I realized that wasn’t going to prove anything but that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. So I started writing, and I just couldn’t seem to stop.”

Belle nodded. “Yeah, if I’d stayed back home I’d probably be married to some guy ‘cause we had a kid together, and pretty fuckin’ miserable.” She frowned, the cocked her head as a thought occurred to her. She pulled out her phone and looked for the GPS she’d put on Scott’s car to trace him. It wasn’t at his house or the ranch. She wondered what he was up to in the middle of nowhere at this time of night. “I might have just thought of somethin’, I should look into it.” She finished her drink in one big gulp, then smiled at him. “Thanks for the company.” She dialed a cab as she strode out of the bar, all business (despite the occasional wobble).

“Good luck,” he said, nodding to her as she took her leave. He’d have to give his regards to his coworkers and head home himself, before long.