InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "I've got skills"

Murphy MacManus (aequitastwin) wrote in wariscoming,
@ 2010-06-03 18:45:00

Entry tags:

connor macmanus, murphy macmanus

Who: Murphy & Connor MacManus
Where: The lobby to start, and then parts unknown
When: Yesterday! Aka: Jan 2nd
Warnings: Probably some swearing.

Murphy's mind was in a whirl, it was too much to process all at once, he'd even gone back to the informational page that he'd been given two or three times while conversing with his brother, but even breaking it down it was still a lot to take in. And then there was the prospect that somehow Connor had jumped ahead eight years, and that prospect was unsettling at best, they were twins, arguing over who was older was just what they did it was unfair for someone to go and clear that up without so much as a how d'you do.

He smoked as he walked, glad that he'd had a half pack in his coat pocket, needing something to keep himself occupied aside from trying not to look suspicious with a bag full of heavy artillery slung over his shoulder. He had to believe that no one would know what it was, after all, it might just as easily have been sports equipment. It didn't take him long to find the place, he'd gotten good directions and he was still full of nervous energy, which made him walk a little faster than usual.

He hesitated a few long moments on the front steps, finishing off his cigarette and flicking the butt end of it off into a sludgy puddle before trudging up the stairs and easing the front door open, not entirely sure what to expect, really as he slipped through, having fallen into that almost-silent movement that seemed to creep over him the same as that sense of purpose did.

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weneedrope
2010-06-16 06:03 pm UTC (link)

"Only a week." He'd spent the first day sleeping and then the next couple trying to figure out if what he was being told was true. Christmas night he'd gotten out to escape whatever had been piped through the sound system in the building when a couple of the residents had taken leave of their sanity. "I've been borrowing from the kitchen when I got hungry."

So wherever looked good, cheap, and served alcohol, it was going to be his pick. When his brother's shoulder bumped his, he gave him a light shove back. At that moment, his stomach chose the time to grumble, his hunger momentarily forgotten in the midst of flying snow.

A few blocks over, he spotted a sign swinging over the doorway to a little place advertising spirits and food. He nudged his brother in the arm, pointed up at the sign, and then headed for the door, heading inside.

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aequitastwin
2010-06-17 02:37 pm UTC (link)

"Oh I see how it is." He said, smiling crookedly once more, "Just can't bear to drag yourself outside without me." He clapped Connor's back then, "Well good for you I showed up then, otherwise you'd never get any socializing done. Wallflower." Was added as a parting shot, but it was still as gentle a tease as he ever used.

He nodded at the building, eying it almost suspiciously a moment, the same as he did with any new place, but he followed Connor inside all the same, deciding almost instantly that he liked it, it was warmly lit, almost cozy, and the best part was that there wasn't a family dinner in sight, which meant that they wouldn't have to hear someone else's unruly children while they ate, and that was always a plus.

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weneedrope
2010-06-17 07:40 pm UTC (link)

The answer came in the form of Connor's fist launching into Murphy's arm. "The hell you talking about? I have no problems being social. Wouldn't even have to leave the building to do it." There were plenty of people around to speak to and that message board thing on top of it, even if it was a form of communication Connor was still getting used to. "Wallflower." He snorted.

Inside was a welcome relief to the chill outside. He stomped his boots inside to knock loose the clumps of snow. A sign on the wall ordered that everyone seated themselves so he headed over to a nearby table and dropped into one of the chairs. Small crowd but most of them seemed to be up at the bar, watching some sports game on the television.

Grabbing the small laminated menu from the stand in the middle of the table, he took a look at what the kitchen had to offer.

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aequitastwin
2010-06-17 08:18 pm UTC (link)

"Oh fine." He said, rolling his eyes as he dropped into the other chair, kneading at his slugged arm for a moment, Connor still had the sharpest knuckles of anyone he'd met, "You're mister popular, how could I have forgotten?" Any other time the fight would have escalated, and probably wouldn't have stopped until somebody drew blood, and maybe not even then, but some things were more important, dinner being one of them.

He snapped up one of the menus himself, looking it over, it seemed to be their usual fare, and that was good for him, made him feel just a little less out of place. He shrugged then, dropping it back into the holder, "Cheeseburger sounds like it'd about hit the spot."

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weneedrope
2010-06-18 03:12 am UTC (link)

"Maybe I hit you too hard with that snowball," Connor suggested dryly as he read down the menu. Being the typical bar menu, there wasn't much of a variety, but he didn't care as long as it was a warm meal. He'd been thinking about getting the same thing when Murphy spoke up first. "That's just what I was thinking."

He glanced up at the waitress as she approached, smiling. She returned it, looking a little weary. Must have been a long day. "What can I get for you guys?" she asked, flipping to a clean page on her notepad.

"I'll have the cheeseburger and whatever you've got on tap," Connor replied, reaching over to slide the menu back into the clip as the waitress turned to his brother.

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aequitastwin
2010-06-18 03:13 pm UTC (link)

"'course. That's it, concussion." He was about to say more when the waitress arrived, he smiled at her as well, because he knew how hard they worked, and it looked like she'd been working hard all day, "I'll have the same." He said, shrugging, "We like to keep it simple."

Once she was gone again he shrugged out of his coat, hanging it over the back of his chair, it was much warmer inside than it was outside, and he didn't much need it at the moment. He gave the place another once-over before shrugging again and settling back in his seat, "Don't seem like there's a lot of trouble we can get into here." He was almost disappointed by that, but only almost.

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weneedrope
2010-06-19 10:22 pm UTC (link)

Simple was one way of putting it. Connor had never gotten why people paid thirty dollars for a meal that barely took up the center of the plate when they could pay five for a basket full of fries and a burger. Waste of good money that could be used elsewhere, like a bar tab.

He grinned at his brother's appraisal of the bar. "It doesn't look like a place for it, does it?" He glanced over his shoulder at the bar again, the patrons, the bartender, the waitress pouring their drinks after putting in the order. The place didn't seem like it saw a fight more than once every year and probably nothing more than two guys trying to settle a difference over a game. They could probably start something that would put that to shame.

"Nothing wrong with a quiet night tonight. I haven't heard any good redneck jokes in a while."

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aequitastwin
2010-06-21 02:17 pm UTC (link)

He arched a brow at that, he'd thought they were trying to stay out of trouble, at least until they had some sort of paperwork stating that they belonged there, but he was willing to roll with it however it fell down. So he shrugged, sitting back in his chair, "Well what's the last one you heard? Wouldn't want to repeat any."

He could keep an eye on the bar and the few other patrons over his brother's shoulder, which had always been his job, really, watching Connor's back when he did something potentially reckless and/or stupid. Mostly it was Murphy's job because Connor did the same for him, except when it would be funnier not to, or when Connor knew he could take care of himself.

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weneedrope
2010-06-22 09:08 pm UTC (link)

Connor stared at the table thoughtfully for a moment. As he started to recite the last one he'd heard from Romeo, the waitress returned with their drinks. He gave her another devil may care grin and waited until she had returned to the counter to start in again. "This guy Bubba, his wife passes away and he calls for someone to come take the body. While talking to the person on the other end, he's asked for his address. He tells her he's on Eucalyptus Road. So she asks for him to spell it. There's a long pause."

And that was the moment he chose to take a drink, creating his own pause. "Finally, Bubba says "How about if I drag her over to Oak Street and you pick her up there instead?"" It wasn't the worst joke he'd ever told, one of the more tame ones in comparison. But it was the only redneck joke he could come up with at the moment. He shrugged and shook his head. "Not the best one I've heard."

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aequitastwin
2010-06-23 02:47 am UTC (link)

He nodded at that, cracking a smile, "Alright, so there's this woman, bright, rich, got her whole life ahead of her, but she goes and marries the back-woodsiest redneck you've ever seen, we're talking still lives in a shack, only has six teeth to his name redneck."

He shrugged, "So either he married into money, or she married out of it, but either way, once the honeymoon was over, she was always going on about how stupid rednecks are, just little comments mostly, and one day on her way home from town, she sees their neighbor Jim-Bob out in the field, in a rowboat, rowing away like he's going to get somewhere, so she gets home and tells hubby-dear about it, and he slams his hands down on the table and says he's had enough of her trying to bring him down and how there's no way that Jim-Bob would be that dumb and he storms out of the house."

He shrugged, it was the gesture he usually used for punctuation, if he'd had a cigarette he would've taken a thoughtful drag of it, as it was he made do with a sip of his drink, "So he gets there, and sure enough, Jim-Bob's still out there, rowing away, and so he says to him: 'You're making the rest of us look bad, and if I could swim I'd come out there and kick your ass'."

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weneedrope
2010-06-23 03:20 am UTC (link)

Connor snorted in amusement. "Six teeth, eh? That must've been what drew her in." They'd known some idiots in their time and there were a few he could almost imagine doing just that. Of course, it would have taken them a couple of drinks to get to that point. "I've got one. Not a redneck but it seemed appropriate given our current situation."

He took another drink and set the glass down. "So this Flaherty comes home drunk every night about ten, flops into bed, and there he lays till morning. His wife isn't too happy about this so she decides to do somethin' about it. The next night, she hides in a cemetery that's on his way home and waits until he comes stumbling closer.

"About the time he reaches where she is, she jumps out, all dressed up and shouts 'Patrick Flaherty, if you don't give up drinkin', I'll take you back to Hell with me.' Surprised, he staggers back and says 'Who are you?' She replies: 'I'm the devil!'" Connor grinned. "To that, Flaherty holds out his hand and replied 'It's about time I finally get to meet you. I'm married to your sister.'"

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aequitastwin
2010-06-23 04:13 am UTC (link)

Murphy managed to keep a straight face for all of a few moments, but then he cracked up, shaking his head and sitting back in his seat, "How is it I haven't heard that one before?" he was fairly sure they'd both gotten the same stories from their mother, and she never called them 'jokes' it was always stories. And they were, the way she told them, they could go on all night sometimes.

He shrugged, "Well, unless you didn't get that one from ma, that might explain it." He scratched the back of his head, shrugging, "I'm fresh out for now." He said, "I'll probably remember another after I've got some food in me."

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weneedrope
2010-06-26 02:30 pm UTC (link)

"Give it a few years. You'll hear it again," Connor replied between laughs. Or he would if they ended up put back right where they were supposed to be before this seal had gotten other ideas. "Although," he added thoughtfully, "I wouldn't be surprised if that was a retelling of Uncle Sibeal's first marriage. He certainly called her the devil woman enough."

Finally shrugging out of his coat, he let it fall back against the chair and leaned against the table again, arms crossed in front of him. As he moved, his stomach let out another rumbling growl. "Christ," he murmured, rolling his eyes, "how long does it take to make a burger?" They'd only given their orders a few minutes earlier but his impatience won out for the moment.

"I tried calling Doc a few days after I got here. His number went to a pizza shop called Doc's. Even took a chance on the Boston police department. They'd never heard of our favorite detectives."

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aequitastwin
2010-06-26 11:20 pm UTC (link)

He shrugged, "Probably have to pop off out the back and kill the cow themselves, Connor, could be a while for that." He managed to make this sound matter-of-fact, which was a habit he had when he was making utterly ridiculous statements like that, which was why people tended to believe him, even when he was making things up as he went along.

A crooked little smile followed, "And uncle Sibeal was like that with all of his wives 'cept the newest one, and that's mostly on account of she still had a hefty backswing and dead-accurate aim with a rolling pin." He shook his head, "Can't even remember her name now."

He sighed at the follow up, shaking his head again and scratching the back of his neck, "Which just gives the explanation we've been told a bit more weight dunnit?" He still wasn't entirely sure this wasn't a dream, but it was starting to sink in that this was really happening, as unlikely as it seemed.

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weneedrope
2010-06-27 02:24 am UTC (link)

It had been a rhetorical question but he wasn't surprised when his brother came up with an answer. "Of course," he murmured dryly, smiling. "It would explain all those happy faces at the bar. They're probably still waiting on their burgers." They'd barely moved since they walked in, conversation a dull murmur.

Dead accurate aim was right. Connor winced at the memory of that aim when it had been directed at him. "Might've been all those times she got a hit," he replied, rubbing the back of his head. Sneaking food from the pub's kitchen had become an exercise in ducking when caught in the act.

Connor nodded slowly, picking up a salt shaker and idly turning it. "Aye, it does." It meant they had no one but each other to rely on, which was fine by him. They'd been doing it for years. But it would have been nice to know they had some allies around, familiar faces. Instead, it had just reinforced how much of a fucked up situation they were in. "Maybe they'll be showing up next." He grinned faintly, picturing the looks on the detectives' faces when they were given that explanation.

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