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Johanna Mason (district7victor) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2015-10-16 19:43:00

Who: Johanna Mason, Peeta Mellark and Annie Cresta
When: Backdated: Thursday, October 8th. Evening.
Where: A Bar
What: Drinks. Lots of drinks
Rating/Warnings: Mostly Family friendly
Status: Complete

As if life wasn't shitty enough with dreams about Panem and the Games, Gale had to go and get himself in an accident and die. For Johanna this hit particularly close to home because her parents and brother had also been killed in a car accident. She'd thought she'd never have to deal with that sort of tragedy again, but here she was reliving it all over again.

This time she at least had friends who were also dealing with Gale's passing so it was making it that little bit easier. But it wasn't simply Gale's death that had brought her, Peeta and Annie out tonight. That was one reason, but the other was that Peeta and Alyssa had broken up. Had Johanna been more like her dream counterpart she likely would have had some snarky, smart ass remark when Peeta had told her, but in the waking world she was a little more compassionate. While she felt the urge to go punch the redhead in the face for choosing the worst timing ever to break Peeta's heart, she was more concerned with being there for her friend. Maybe later she's go and give the other girl a piece of her mind.

It was basically one of the worst weeks of his life and he had a lot of issues in the past. This certainly didn’t compare to his accident, but it was interesting how much life had changed since then. Apparently when bad things happened in the OC it had to just continue to pour with bad things. The only silver lining was that he had such a good group of friends to fall back on when he needed them, despite missing one of the most important members. But that was also part of the reason why they were out drinking.

It was to drown their sorrow, but also to try and celebrate the life of a man they had grown so close to in a such a short period of time. The Hunger Games brought people together and almost numbed him to tragedy, certainly nothing in this world could be as hard. But he realized that he could still hurt when Alyssa broke the news to him. It was just another bump in the road and he would be able to make it through as long as he had people supporting him. Which was why he was buying the next round for Johanna and a Shirley Temple for Annie.

Death was strange. It never felt real, and Annie had enough problems figuring that out on her bad days. The fact that Gale had died so normally? It didn’t add up. She was struggling to make sense of it. Perhaps that was why she had initially reached out to Finnick. He wasn’t involved in the Panem drama and stress, not yet. He was someone tethered to reality. She needed to make sure she hadn’t lost him again. She needed to be able to distance herself some in order to then be there for Johanna and Peeta.

Especially since it seemed that Alyssa had chosen now of all times to end the engagement to Peeta. So really, a group outing for drink and being there for one another was exactly what was needed. Even despite her general dislike of bars, she felt safe enough with the two that it wasn’t a problem. It took a lot to make Annie want to confront someone, but there was a slight want to in this, just because of the timing. She just knew it wouldn’t do any good. So she just smiled in slight thanks once Peeta returned with the drinks.

Honestly, who broke up with someone after their friend had just died? Johanna could not believe the nerve of that girl. “You’re lucky I’m not completely like my dream self otherwise I already would have gone and punched that bitch in the face,” She said as she accepted the new drink from Peeta. Part of her wondered if they should have invited Katniss out with them, but at the same time she thought that might be a little awkward for both her and Peeta in this particular instance. She supposed there would be other chances for them to invite Katniss out in the future.

That was the main thing that had pissed Peeta off about the whole thing. The timing. At least he knew his friends felt the same way he did and he hated that wasn’t able to talk to Gale about this. He laughed at Johanna’s comment as he sat down with his drink. “I would probably pay good money to watch you do that, honestly. I’m in that kind of mood and I’m certainly not going to hit a woman,” he would never actually want anyone to get hurt in any way, but there was a part of him that was tipsy enough to be vindictive, “I’m honestly just numb to it all right now. I’m glad this happened now and not later down the road. I can find someone better.”

Annie wasn’t completely surprised by Johanna’s comment. If she were more violent, she probably would agree. Instead she just nodded. Really, even agreement was a testament to the fact at how bothered by it Annie was. The timing was… well, they couldn’t do anything about it no matter how upset they were about it on Peeta’s behalf. “I guess it’s better to have it done sooner than dragging it out. But the timing is still ridiculous. But yes. You can obviously find someone better.”

"Any one has got to be better than her." Johanna was glad that she wasn't quite as bad as her dream counterpart otherwise she probably would have already punched Alyssa or broken something deliberately when they'd gone to help Peeta move out, "Good luck to whoever she winds up with in the future. All of them." Johanna had a feeling that Alyssa's feelings changed with the seasons.

He was thankful nothing like that actually happened. It had been a quiet affair despite the outrage when he explained what happened when they all got together to help him move his things. He wanted it done as quickly as possible and back into his old apartment building he went (although a new apartment). Now they were all able to eat and drink and discuss everything that had been happening. A small smile appeared at Johanna’s comments. “I agree with you on that one,” he reached his glass out to clink it against hers, “At least I can drink to forget for a moment.”

It was always odd being around people who were drinking but not doing just that, but it was Annie and it wasn’t like she was judged for it. So while she wouldn’t drink to forget, she could understand the sentiment. Because there really was a lot to discuss with everything because in Orange County it could never be just one thing. Why would they be given that break? So for now, silence which was pretty normal for her. If she had something to say, she’d say it.

“Just don’t drink too much. Your liver will eventually rebel. Then I’ll have another reason to punch the albino.” Honestly, no one she’d ever met had been as pale as that girl was. Not even the vampires who resided in the OC now. Johanna took another sip of her drink then glanced over at Annie, “I mean, have you seen anyone paler than her?”

That earned a bit of a snort of laughter. Of all the things to pick on Alyssa for, her paleness, was the most surprising. But it was true. Alyssa did her best to stay out of the sun and Peeta did his best to just ignore that fact and continue to do what he wanted, which included enjoying the sun. “Is it terrible that I want to tell you to not be mean. It’s like ingrained inside of me and I need to retrain myself to just not give a fuck,” Peeta murmured as he took another long drink.

“No, I can’t say I’ve seen anyone in person who is that pale…” Stirring the Shirley Temple with the straw, Annie tilted her head in thought at Peeta’s comment. “No. That doesn’t make you terrible. Just because you’re hurting doesn’t mean you’re suddenly going to be callous.” Because at the root of it, Peeta was genuinely kind and didn’t seem the type to take to people being mean or insulting others. He was hurting so was feeling bitter but that didn’t erase who he was either. “You don’t need to alter your reactions to whatever you think is needed now just because she left. You’re still you.”

There were other things that Johanna could probably pick about Alyssa to talk about, but right now she was too angry to really put any real thought into it. So for now it would just be whatever came to her mind first. "You're a better person than me, Peeta." It wasn't that Johanna was completely careless or mean, but with a little more of her personality from the dream coming through each day she had a tendency to speak her mind more freely now than she had before. "For you though I'll try not to call her a bitch or anything like that." Even though as far as Johanna was concerned, Alyssa was even worse than a bitch for hurting Peeta the way she had.

That comment earned a snort of laughter, which was ill timed because he was just about to take a sip of his beer, “You can still call her a bitch if you want. I’m mad, I’m just keeping it inside. But Annie is right that I’m not going to suddenly be callous, but I’ll be grumpy. If I get to the point of using a picture of her for darts then we need to talk. But I am so very glad you two are here. It feels so strange not having Gale around, but we’ll get used to it.”

“Our concern is you that you deal with it healthily and you don’t let it fester.” Because really. Feeling like you had to act one way wasn’t healthy because it wasn’t you, but so was holding it all in because you felt that was how you had to be. “You’re allowed to feel whatever it is you feel, there is no right or wrong way.” So said Annie. And because people tended to not see those who were deemed ‘insane’ like Annie had been? Tended to be able to pick up on things because of their invisibility. “Yeah… we will. We have to.”

Johanna couldn’t help but smirk as Peeta snorted into his beer, “Smoooooth.” She laughed and took a sip of her own drink. Her mood changed quickly though when Gale was mentioned and took a longer swallow of her drink, almost draining it. “It’ll take awhile; that’s for sure.” She couldn’t help but wonder at that moment how Katniss was taking Gale’s death. They’d known one another the longest after all.

Peeta reached over to pat Annie’s hand in thanks. She explained it perfectly and Peeta would eventually figure out a proper way to let his emotions out he would try to make sure it was healthier. He stuck his tongue out playfully at Johanna when she made fun of him and nodded. “Well, let’s toast in his honor and just continue enjoying this night together. To Gale - he was a great friend and gone far too soon. But, I know he would want us to continue to be happy in his absence.” He lifted his glass up and smiled at the two friends he trust the most in the world and wouldn’t be with if it hadn’t been for the dreams. This place was a strange place, but at least he could count on them.