multiversallogs | i wrote this song while i was drunk

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i wrote this song while i was drunk

Who: Jae and you.
What: Sorting his head out, getting back to work.
Where: Various places around town, including bar hopping and slice of life activities in Creekside, at work at the Vault, Anarchy 99, and the radio station, and at a temple in Brock Marsh.
When: Over the next week.
Notes: Would you like to bump into Jae somewhere? Note the location/vague timeline in your tag and it shall be so.
Warnings: Unpleasant thoughts about rape culture, drug use.

In the aftermath of attempting to help Megan and his encounter with Hilmi, Jae has a difficult time processing the series of events as things that happened to him - because things haven't happened to him. Things happened to Megan. Sure, if you hit a vanity with a sledgehammer, it's not just the glass that's cracked, but he's still not the fucking mirror; Jae's reeling from the turbulence. So is everyone else who knows (well, maybe not Sonja) and everyone else who will know - and more people will react to what Jae did, and so on, and so on, like ripples, because every time anyone does something violent or cruel, the whole of their world feels it. Society didn't become soulless overnight. It took a hundred million weeks like these and now, even when people feel the backlash, they don't seem realize it.

It's normal.

(It's horrible.)

Jae buys a couple of tabs at the Vault before his shift and rolls all the way through it. If there's one thing he appreciates about Baedal, it's that so much more is perfectly legal (or at least, perfectly unregulated), and the ecstasy (or space ecstasy) he can get is pure, none of this shit cut with coke or speed like he had to worry about back at home. It's a good night for everybody, which is fortunate; it's always good when he works whether or not he uses any enchantments, but this week, he's not even letting his subconscious do anything - he feels like there's a great gaping wound somewhere intangible inside him, and the stitches keep splitting. He just doesn't want to bleed anymore.

While he's been made one of the floor staff family with ease at the Vault, his experiences at Anarchy 99 have been more - well. It caters to dwarven metal. Still, there's a fair amount of enthusiasm for his style ("Just put some more INXS on it"), and when one of the waitresses asks him what happened that one night with Hilmi (because he hasn't come back), he just shrugs. Jae isn't sure if he should be feel fortunate that she's the only one who noticed they walked out back together, but while some of the girls liked Hilmi, some of them really didn't, and she decides to interpret that shrug as him having done everybody a favor. The notion of it makes him uneasy - but it's not like he can correct her and not lie, so he just stays quiet, and thinks about the same thing he thought about that night. That if somebody comes to arrest him, he'll just go. The notion of being locked up is like a suffocating nightmare at the end of a long and dark hallway on his head, but what's even more terrifying is the idea of becoming the kind of person who wouldn't take responsibility for doing something awful. (He'll ask Ilde for Sonja's number, he decides. He'd rather apologize to her than the police, and he knows enough about the military to know speaking to someone's commanding officer is as good as.)

Too much liquor, long nights, and investing in a pill cutter; Jae almost feels human again, losing himself in work. The radio station is a hilarious disaster, but he likes his boss, as much of a lunatic as she is. That he's at the bottom of the ladder again makes him feel like even more a child, stumbling over himself and his magic and his emotions as he is in this strange place. But there, it's not as bad. He hits the bar across the way from his flat in Creekside, he buys groceries and a new pair of sunglasses, and then he comes home ("home") and lays on the floor and stares up at the ceiling and pretends his head spins because he's been drinking too much.

He doesn't sleep for two nights, and then spends the third up and reading the book that appeared in the arrival room with him. It's the first time he touched it since he shoved it in the back of his closet when he moved in. The next evening, he goes to one of Shada's temples in Brock Marsh, and doesn't do anything beside sit quietly in the back.

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"Congratulations," he laughs, because in his opinion, any time when you're feeling stable and less like shit over being sucked into a multidimensional trap city is worth being pleased about. "You didn't catch me in your way out, did you?" Indicating his water - because if Will is going to abandon him now that he's said hello, he will be disappointed.

“Nah,” Will says, taking another quick swallow of water. He's warmer than he thought. Too used to his flight suit's temperature regulating system, probably. “I'm just taking a quick break. I'm in very high demand on the dance floor,” he says, raising his eyebrows a little ridiculously.

"Do you, I guess I can feel jacked up having you over here, huh?" Jae glances over his shoulder for effect, as if there are dozens of adoring fans laying in wait. (And some eyes do drift over to them here and there; Jae is fairly used to getting attention without trying to, when he's out - Baedal's continued the tradition of spoiling him.)

“Oh, yes,” Will says, expression as serious as he can make it. “You should feel very good about yourself. I'm breaking at least three hearts right now.”

"Three isn't enough."

It's hard to tell if Jae is ever genuinely flirting - he's too laid-back to be riling anybody up but he's not insincere enough to seem like he's making fun of anyone. It's just companionable. He drains his glass, then: "Do you need another water?" He's offering, apparently, and then tilts his head floor-ward. Feeling up to heading back out there, Will?

Will laughs, finishing his water and putting the bottle back down on the bar. It's glass, which is weird to him, but kind of nice. He likes the weight of it. “You want to dance?” he asks. This is probably the first time he's fully decompressed since he got here. It won't last, but he's going to enjoy it while he can. “I'll have to warn you, I'm really god.” That's a blatant lie; he's more enthusiastic than good, but it works out.

"Get on it then, man."

Jae is not huge in the super active dancing department, but he can move to a beat, and for somebody his size and temperament, that's good enough. The kind of guy who girls love to drag out and be energetic at, because he holds still and doesn't do anything weird. But he likes it - getting energy out, feeling the music, feeling the crowd. He's buzzed enough and relaxed enough that he forgets all the bullshit.

(And Will's cute, so that doesn't suck, as far as scenery goes.)

Will's less laid back, and probably only doesn't look totally ridiculous because of the amount of control he has over his body. Someone less coordinated would probably not be able to get away with the needlessly flashy moves or the general showiness, but on Will it straddles the line between silly and suave. He's been told it's endearing, but it's mostly just his favorite way to expend excess energy that doesn't involve flying or otherwise scaling extremely tall objects. He finishes off the song with a neat pirouette and grins at Jae.

It's fun, whether or not skill is involved. At one point, a couple of girls decide to join them, and Jae obliges by slinging his arm around the shoulders of the taller one - who is positively thrilled by it. Someone attempts to direct Will by grabbing his waistband (which just makes Jae crack up), but she squeals with intoxicated laughter and his swept away by an embarrassed friend in short order. A young man with translucent skin and what looks like glow in the dark blood in his veins sidles up to Jae and asks if he works at the Vault, and they have a brief exchange that (even shouting to be heard) is mostly obscured by the music, after which he goes back to dancing.

Appropriately, Jae golf claps for Will's fancyass spin.

Will lifts his hands and shrugs, tilting his head as the next song starts. Too slow. So he slings a companionable arm around Jae's shoulders instead (he's not too much shorter, not enough to make it awkward) and steers them back toward the edge of the dance floor. He's only a tiny bit sweaty, exhilarated and pleased with himself. “Do you want to go back to the bar or do you want to get some fresh air?” he asks, not having to shout quite so loud.

"Out for a bit," he agrees - he's had enough to drink, and he doesn't particularly feel like getting sick drunk, tonight. He's got work to worry about, now, versus his first couple of weeks in the city, dealing with everything through the comforting numb haze of constantly intoxication. He'll let Will lead the way to one of the club terraces, or wherever he's got in mind.

It takes a few tries, but eventually they get out onto one of the terraces. It's cold out, but they're still crowded, and Will unobtrusively dodges stray elbows and knees while they navigate though all the bodies to a clear spot on the rail. He lets go once they get there, taking a deep breath of the cool air and turning around to lean back on his elbows. “Do you come out here a lot?” he asks Jae, eyebrows quirking.

For such a simple thing, the fact that it takes that long for Will to let go of him causes an interesting number of thoughts; he remembers Seoul and the way it was perfectly acceptable for people to hold each other hands and sleep curled up together and touch like it was nothing - sometimes it was nothing, sometimes it was seventeen year olds hiding in a crowd. He remembers how that mystified him, coming from New York, and he missed it in London. He's been touched, hung on, hugged, groped by men and women alike, but it's neither western nor eastern tonight, and Jae wonders if Will is just taking Baedal's lack of give-a-fuck to heart or if he's from some place where it doesn't matter.

Outside, he smiles.

"This club? No, I've never been." But here's here by himself, so he's either networking or looking for someone (anyone). He leans with his forearms on the railing, overlooking whatever-it-is the club borders. "But it's my professional duty to visit every one in the city."

... Sure it is, Jae.

“Is it really?” Will says, laughing, shifting his weight until he's slouching comfortably. It lets him look at Jae while they're talking, despite facing different directions. “How's this one measuring up? I mean, I know the company's good...” he brushes his shoulder off, body posture and expression curling into his lazy smile.

"I have to know what my competition is so that I can make sure I'm better than every other option," he asserts, because, well - that much is true, anyway. He has to have a niche of 50% things people aren't getting from another host, and 50% selling himself. Combing through clubs and being a person of interest helps both those things.

He smiles, a little mischievous, and tilts his head back as he gives Will an appraising look. "It's okay."

Trollin'.

“Ow,” Will says lifting a dramatic hand to his heart. He's glad he bought this shirt, even if some people he used to know would tell him that it's tacky. The fabric is nice and silky, he likes the color, and he specifically likes the way the bits of foil catch the light on the dance floor. It makes him feel something approaching normal. “I think you've broken my heart now.”

"That just means I'm in the lead."

His teasing is smooth, relaxed - Jae isn't the sort to come onto anyone openly, though he certainly leaves the door open. He has no passionate hopes in either direction, in this moment, but it's nice to have this kind of banter with someone. It's like the circle of comfortable half-drunk club hopping antics is now complete that he's hanging out on a balcony with a veritable stranger and play-flirting.

“We should start carrying a scorecard,” Will says, trying to make his expression serious. The corners of his mouth keep curling and his eyebrow-scrunching looks more silly than anything, and after a moment he gives up and laughs, straightening up enough to reach over and pat Jae's shoulder.

"Well where do you want to be? Scoring wise."

Okay, that was a terrible line, but it's said with complete knowledge of its awfulness - Jae has the spectacular innate ability to say godawful lines like that and get away with it by virtue of his magnetism. Right? You're totally buying it, right?

(Please buy it before he cracks up, Will. Alternatively, find another way to shut him up.)

Will raises his eyebrows, flipping himself around so that he can put his elbows on the rail and lean his chin faux-thoughtfully into his palm.

“How specific do you want me to get?”

He's doing a better job at seeming serious this time, at least.

"Very." When he says it, it's not a challenge, even a dare - just a companionable offer. He doesn't have a Casanova spirit, no eyes on conquests or competition, and oftentimes ends up bored by anyone who isn't entertaining him nonstop - but there's something he likes about the idea of messing around with someone else who's as stuck as he is. Something tactile and fun and not related to fuck I have to pay rent and get a job in crazytown.

“I could show you,” Will drawls, and it's still half a joke, but he means it, too. It seems weirdly normal, after everything else. Other than the collection of people who don't exist back home, this evening has been sort of a throwback to his late academy days, drinking and dancing and flirting with people he doesn't know very well. He might as well finish it off like one while he's at it.

"All right." He's still smiling. Will's cute and nice, and Jae's only buzzed versus wasted; right where he needs to be, really. He rests one hand on Will's hip, and then-

"Do you live around here? Because that lady in the corner is like, waiting for us to make out-"

Oh god now she's staring even more, help.

“I live in Mog Hill,” Will says, and he raises his eyebrows at the woman and gives her a little wave – and it seems to work, because she scurries off somewhere, but maybe she's just going to get a friend or something, so they should probably leave before she comes back with a mob. “You want to head out?”

"Yes," he says, laughing openly now and sliding his arm fully around Will, companionable and inviting at once. "Let's get out of here." He pushes off the railing and angles them towards the club's exit - he's good at weaving through crowds effortlessly, and does so now; only one person recognizes him as they leave, but Jae just motions at them with the universal Call me later hand gesture. He has stuff to do, man.

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i wrote this song while i was drunk

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I promise he's not actually trying to flirt! he is just... like this :V

HAHA that's fine, though it'd be fine if he was, too

lol, that typo. he is totally god.

loool i hadn't even noticed. O WILL.

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