ᴄʟᴇᴀɴᴇʀ (garcian) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-10-06 14:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, garcian smith, rose tyler |
Who: Garcian & Rose
What: Meeting for a drink after the week of fuckery
When: Recently
Where: A brewery slash watering hole
Rating/Warnings: Pretty tame!
Status: Complete
For her first melee with the strangeness of the OC and the network, Rose felt like she had come out on top. Sure, she had stayed at Baxter’s the whole time, but she had been able to help people as they came in for coffee and pastries or to get away from the crazy that was going on outside. Rose stayed on top of everything that was happening through the Valarnet, happy she wasn’t venturing out. It seemed that every day brought something new and strange to it and for awhile, Rose was beginning to wonder if it would end. At that point she would have to go out and she didn’t like that thought. But end it did and she thanked Audrey for giving her a safe haven before heading back to her tiny flat. She was pleasantly surprised to find everything the way she had left it a week before and flopped down on her bed, her phone out in front of her. Because of everything that had happened Audrey had given her a couple days off to recoop, something she was thankful for. She never would have gotten that type of treatment from Starbucks; they would have expected her back early the next morning. She scrolled through her text messages, her eyes landing on a conversation she had with Garcian during the ridiculous week. >> Hey did you survive? >> If you did, wanna grab a pint this evening? Garcian was over it. Over it. It took a lot to really get him irritated - he was ice cold a good portion of the time, never lost that cool either - but after the last week or so? That was enough to annoy even the most steady of individuals. He wasn’t familiar with the dreamscape all that shit came from, but he didn’t like it - he didn’t like his own either, all these puzzle pieces and metaphors and vignettes that were pure nightmare fuel. War, religion, politics, all weaving together into a humongous mindfuck and wrapping around each other like bondage straps. There was no safeword in Garcian’s dreamworld. But whatever. He had a night to himself now, he didn’t have to work. He didn’t have to do anything but stay awake and drink coffee, maybe catch up on some reading he’d been meaning to do for ages. Yeah, he did like to read sometimes, he wasn’t some illiterate thug. Then his phone buzzing interrupted his thoughts. >> I always survive, girl >> And sure >> What are you in the mood for? If it was a pint Rose was after, he knew a good place with board games and a different food truck nearby every night. People usually spilled out the door carrying their sampler glasses, and while Garcian would usually avoid that sort of thing the social interaction might actually be invigorating for once. When his text came back, Rose had moved further onto the bed, one arm draped dramatically over her eyes. She was half asleep when it vibrated in her hand and it startled her awake. Bleary eyes looked at the response and she grinned. >>Good cause I still have that birthday circled on my calendar >> No preference, something good but cheap >> Do you have a local watering hole? She pressed send before rolling (literally) out of bed and moved to the shower. If she was going out it would probably do to clean herself up. She was able to use the facilities at Baxter’s but there was something much more satisfying about taking the time in your own bathroom...might have to do with comfortability. Did he have a local watering hole? By now, Garcian had many. However, he texted Rose the name and address of the brewery he had in mind - he would have gone with The Double Tap, since supporting the business of someone who was unfortunate enough to share the same fucked up acid trip of a dreamscape as he did was important, but it had sustained some damage during the events with the weird-ass temples. Garcian could at least assist Dan in repairing things, though. He planned to help out. Then he put on a t-shirt and pressed slacks, heading to the watering hole he had in mind. He’d arrived before she did, so he ordered one of those tasty craft brews and picked a table - a couple was just vacating, and sometimes sporting the natural look of someone who would fuck your shit up helped. No one else would run over and try to steal it, so he staked the claim and waited. It may have taken her a bit of time to show up. After jumping out of the shower, she did a quick change and blow dry before she hauled a taxi to meet up with him. It would be their first meeting in person and she was giddy with excitement. She had been able to meet some brilliant people because of the network and she was hoping Garcian would end up being the same. So far they seemed to get along. Tipping the driver, Rose stepped out realizing she didn't know what he looked like. She stepped into the bar and glanced around but no one seemed to stand out for her. She pulled out her phone, sending him a quick text before glancing around again for anyone who might be looking down at their phone. >>Here! >> Where ya be? Garcian’s phone buzzed, and he saw the text - well, it was pretty crowded, and they’d never met in person before, so, he probably should have given Rose a descriptor or something. He simply texted back, table by the board game shelf, grey t-shirt and she’d be able to pick him out from there. Hopefully he didn’t disappoint. He was aware he wasn’t exactly model material (probably too old for it), but hey. At least he had beer - it was robust, kinda spicy and nutty. No complaints. He had a feeling she’d go for one of the chocolate ones though, now those were damn delicious. Glancing down at her phone, she looked around and saw where he indicated. She grinned, making her way towards him, scooting around other tables and patrons as they milled around. As she approached the table, she was taken aback merely by how he didn’t look anything like she would have thought. She hadn’t guessed he was much older, but as she thought about their conversations, he did seem to write differently than other people her age. It didn’t bother her, he was actually quite handsome. She just hoped he wasn’t as surprised at her own age. “Hey,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. “Sorry, it took a bit for my ride to get here.” She gave him an apologetic smile. “What did you get? Worth a go?” “It’s called Hoppy Ending,” Garcian chuckled - yeah, a play on words, get it? Hops? Sort of caused an eyeroll, but it tasted good so he wasn’t complaining. Some of the names for craft beers were way out there, though. “I definitely recommend it, but if you want one of the chocolate kinds you can’t go wrong there. Here, have a seat - “ Once Rose was at the booth, he caught the eye of a waitress who came over to take her order, and possibly refill Garcian’s. Which he did (order another, that is) and added, “whatever she wants,” about Rose, since he was buying. After the week they’d just had it was the right thing to do. “Amazing how life just kinda gets back to normal, huh?” he observed once the waitress had left. “People are resilient.” And dumb, but also resilient. Rose slid into the booth and grinned as the waitress came over. Where to begin? “I’ll take what he’s having,” she said with a nod at Garcian and his drink. She grinned at him. “What better to get then a Hoppy Ending after that whole ordeal?” The waitress made to go but Rose reached out, as if to stop her. “Do you guys have chips here? Uh, I mean fries? What kind are they?” The waitress looked at her like she was mental and at a loss on how to describe them. “I mean, are they like...oh, what do you call them? Steak fries? Yeah? Can I have an order of those too please? Cheers!” She looked at Garcian and shrugged. “Sorry. A bit snackish and I have a weakness for chips.” Rose thought about what he and said smiled. “What else do you do after a week long attack? Laugh it off and have a drink, happy that you survived.” Well, it seemed funny to laugh about now that the sun was the same, there were no new temples sprouting up here and there, and no strange looking mercenaries come to destroy you. It was the best Rose could do at the moment, but she felt pretty proud at how she had handled it all. “Did you have to do any work this week?” It was Rose’s roundabout way to ask if he knew of any casualties that had happened. This place actually had pretty good pub grub - though Garcian lifted an eyebrow at the waitresses’ confusion. Of course there were different types of fries, it wasn’t out of left field to ask what kind they were - fat ones, waffle ones, skinny ones, sweet potato ones. But at least Rose got what she wanted. Beer and fries were a good combo. “Get whatever you feel like,” he insisted, picking up his glass for another sip. “But yeah, I always got work to do. This week there were a number of crimes committed.” The legit crime scene cleanup company he worked for would be busy. Try as they might, the good guys couldn’t be everywhere at once. And there were a lot of those weird-ass armor-clad soldiers running around. Though apparently the excuse on the news, that the general public was supposed to swallow, was two competing tech companies were testing equipment. Like any tech company would test equipment that was all about mass-murdering soldiers, but alright. He didn’t mention that he always had work no matter what, since he also did murder scene cleanups for organized crime circles. Rose was a nice girl. She didn’t need to hear about that, and besides, she might think less of him for it but hell, it paid well. “You missin’ England right about now, or?” Rose made a face, but it seemed to make sense. With all the chaos happening around this area, not only would he have to deal with that aftermath, but she was sure others chose to take advantage of the situation for their own gain. And that usually lead to stupid mistakes. “Sorry mate. At least you were preoccupied and not stuck in one spot, waiting for it all to be over.” She tried to see a positive side to it, but it was a bit hard in this situation. The waitress brought their drinks over, telling them it would be a minute for the chips to come out. “To surviving my first adventure. May I survive all the others to come.” Rose held her glass out in a cheers and waited for Garcian to cheers as well. She grinned after, taking a long draught from hers. “Yeah, this’ll do.” She looked at her glass as if she were pleased in seeing an old friend. She put it down, considering his question. “I dunno. I mean, last week was completely mental, but I think I might prefer it over back home.” She glanced at him, wondering if he now thought she was mental. “I mean, it’s kind of like an adventure, yeah? Not your usual kind of life where you just go to work every day and come home to your mum and boring boyfriend and do the same thing every day.” She took a long drink of her beer before she could ramble on some more. Nah, he didn’t think Rose was a few screws loose for preferring the OC over wherever she came from. Some people craved adventure. Thrived on it. Everyone was wired differently, Garcian didn’t judge. “There’s definitely a thing of...feeling like you belong here,” he observed. “So I can see the adventure side of it.” The way Rose described her former life, back in England, was amusing - it made him chuckle. “Hope you dumped the boring boyfriend though?” he guessed. Might be harder to dump the mother, but all baby birds had to leave the nest sometime. Rose was likely keeping in touch with her family while she figured her life out an ocean away. At least here? It wouldn’t be the same thing everyday. Not with new crises every fuckin’ month or whatever. Rose felt herself relax at his understanding and grinned. “Yeah, maybe that’s it. You’re way more eloquent than I would have thought! No offense.” She gave him an apologetic look and a small shrug of her shoulders. “I’ve never been on an adventure like that before though. I wanted to do more, but what could I do? Probably just get in the way....get hurt. Give you more work to do. That wouldn’t have been a fun first meeting.” No, she was much happier being able to grab a drink with him instead. She laughed, nodding her head. “Yeah, he’s long gone. Is it bad that moving was part of the reason? He was a nice enough guy, but he just always wanted to watch football matches. He wasn’t really amounting to anything either…” Well, that wasn’t really fair. Rose was in the same situation as him, but she at least had made a move to come out here. “Anyway, how long have you been here? Do you have any regrets?” More eloquent than she would have thought? So he gave off the appearance of someone who couldn’t articulate? The eyebrow quirked up again, but he wasn’t going to ask Rose to elaborate because it would open Pandora’s box and unleash the Kraken. Sounded like a backhanded compliment to him, but whatever. He’d heard worse. “You don’t have to be out there shooting fireballs to be helpful,” he said, right as the waitress came back with those ‘chips.’ Garcian made sure the basket was right by Rose; he was content with his beer. “Crowd control and protecting people’s important too.” Personally, he wasn’t sure where he was meant to be when shit hit the fan - he wasn’t the superhero type, and he wasn’t all that good either. More like a shade of grey. So he supposed he’d have to see. Did he have any regrets? That was an interesting question. “I’ve been here a few months, not long at all. No regrets though,” he shrugged. “It is what it is.” Rose immediately perked up as the chips were delivered and happily picked up a fork to tuck in. She stabbed one and held it out as if to offer it to Garcian. “I hope these are delicious,” she said, looking at the chip as if it were the most important thing in the world right then. As if to answer her own question, she popped one in her mouth and savored the deliciousness. “Bloody hell, these are delicious. Finally!” These almost made last week worthwhile; if the craziness hadn’t happened, she wouldn’t be here with Garcian. “Yeah, that’s true. I just...never been in that kind of situation. Like, what do you do when there are these military men that have no feelings and just one mission? Or the next thing that happens is more...supernatural?” She had heard of zombies and she couldn’t begin to think of how she could handle that. It was her turn to raise an eyebrow at his response. No regrets, but it was what it was. It sounded like someone who had given in to fate. “So you’re pretty new too. I didn’t realize we got here around the same time.” It was kind of nice to have someone be fairly new to this as well. “Have you been on the network this whole time?” “What you do is you learn to roll with it,” Garcian stated. That was why he didn’t have any regrets about moving here or settling down - because he knew what he was getting into, he’d been warned by Dan (crazy as those warnings sounded at first), and yet he made the decision to stay regardless. Maybe he was meant to be here, maybe it would all be worth it in the end - no way to know now, he just had to let the story play out. He decided to try those fries, taking one to have a bite. Hmm, not bad. Good and crunchy. Still hot too. “I ran into an old friend at his bar and he told me about the network, so I signed on to see what it was all about. Been on it the whole time.” And he wouldn’t leave either; it did make for a decent support group when the dreams downward spiraled. “Turns out we share a dreamscape, me and him. And they’re not anything happy, but...this is me.” He wasn’t anything happy, he wasn’t sunshine and cheer and good spirits. Garcian was guarded, he was difficult to get close to because he not only put up vaults but he surrounded those vaults with brambles. Take it or leave it. “A dreamscape...like you share the same kind of dreams?” This was new for Rose. She hadn’t thought that you might be able to meet the people who popped up in your dreams. “I’ve been here the same amount of time as you but only recently went on the network. I guess that’s the key to all the weirdness?” Stuffing a few more chips in her mouth she gave him an inquisitive look. “So you’re saying you’re not happy but you’re content?” He was probably neither, quite honestly. But given what he did for a living, and what he’d experienced growing up, it made sense for Garcian to be unimpressed by humanity in general. For the most part, he didn’t think he was unfriendly - but he always kept himself at arm’s length from people. Maybe here, he’d learn that it was okay to let the right folks in. “I’m alright with how things are,” he amended. “I don’t know about happy.” But it wasn’t like he wanted to talk much about that - feelings and him didn’t go hand-in-hand; the most he’d felt recently was a whirlwind of confusing, conflicting emotions regarding Kenzi. He couldn’t let her die, he wanted her to live and so he’d saved her - now she was moving away, and while he understood why she needed to go (being dead for a little bit changed your perspective on things) he knew that he’d miss her, and it was weird for him. Well, anyway. “But yeah, me and Dan have the same dreamworld. We’re both in the same syndicate. The Killer 7. You still haven’t had any dreams yet?” Rose opened her mouth to ask how and why he couldn’t be happy, but closed it, deciding against that type of conversation. It was a bit personal and from what she’d seen of Garcian, he didn’t seem like the opening up kind of guy. Maybe that would come with time, but for now, she was content to talk on lighter matters while enjoying a drink and some chips. “How did you guys find each other?” The more Rose thought she was learning about the dreams, the more information seemed to pop up. She wondered what it would be like, to see someone walking down the street that you knew you had met before. Because that’s exactly what the dreams had felt like. She shook her head to his question. “No, not yet. I’m actually really looking forward to it! I mean...just to see what it’s like. Listening to everyone talk about it, I want to know what it’s like.” “We knew each other from before,” Garcian replied. “Ran in the same circles. Turns out he owned a bar here, and I happened to walk in one day.” He knew of Dan’s reputation as a man-for-hire, murder not above his pay grade in the slightest, and Garcian had cleaned up a lot of murder scenes. Not Dan’s specifically, but word spread in the criminal underworld. He’d been there after Dan took out the fucker who killed his father, in fact - it was a little personal. Getting used to the dreams (and looking forward to them) was something else, that was for sure. An odd way to live but humans were some resilient creatures, able to bend and change - looking at it from the outside though, he would have to laugh. What a crazy world. “Well, I hope they go okay for you,” he chuckled. “Don’t hesitate to give me a call if you need.” Just to talk (he was a good listener at least, that Garcian) or whatever else. Going at it alone wasn’t any fun and he would know. He’d been in that position. “Thanks,” she said with a grin. “Hopefully nothing that could be bad or need your professional help. Still, I guess it helps to have a good support system, yeah?” She grinned, taking another drink, realizing she was almost done. “Round two?” It’d be round three for him, but hey, why not. Garcian was built like a tank - he could hold his liquor. “Sounds good to me,” he nodded. Bring it on, he was having a good time. No need to stop the flow of actual fun, anyway. |