Grace Is Gone

[skyward_eyes]

WHO: Nida Nomura, Some Closed Starters, Otherwise OTA
WHAT: Drinking with Wanda, Missing Persons Announcement, Dangerous habits
WHERE: Wanda's Room, Roof of Dorms
WHEN: August 1st - 7th
WARNINGS: Drinking, Grieving, Possible mentions of death and self-harm.


One Drink To Remember - Closed to Wanda

When he wakes up, bed mostly cold, arms empty, no noise from familiar breathing, his heart aches. This hadn't happened yet, not to someone he knew. Not so far as he knew. Because it definitely hadn't been a year. Not even close. Not even...

Within an hour he's gone to the store and come back, and is knocking on another door in the dorm. Pounding really. He's got a nice tall bottle of vodka, grief in his heart, and someone that needs to know before anyone else. Especially since he couldn't find their information on the network anymore.




Then Another To Forget - OTA

This isn't what he's supposed to do. He knows that. It's not healthy, it's not smart, and it's definitely not what he should be doing, but hey, who needs good life choices? In this case the choice manifests in the form of a young man lying on the edge of the building, a bottle of vodka near at hand, claimed every few minutes for a swig as he stares up at the sky above him.

Is this a risky place to be, especially tipsy? Hell yes. Does Nida care? No. But he does flinch when the door to the roof opens? Yes. Is that possibly bad? Yes.

"Close the door," he'll call, his voice a bit uneven. "You're letting the warm out."

Which he thinks is pretty funny, leaving him chuckling.




Network Post - Audio Only

[Definitely Nida's voice, but also very clearly slurred just enough to imply someone has been drinking. Probably more than he should. Which is any at all.]

For those who would care? Billy Kaplan and Tommy Shepherd are gone.

Filtered to Seifer

Yes, I know. You're disappointed and I shouldn't be drinking. Whatever. Can I borrow Eos for a few nights?


[OOC: Nida is going to be in a bad emotional state, and mostly walking through life a bit broken. He's cool to have custom starters for anyone, just directly message me, hit me on plurk churbooseanon or discord (Churby#4290). I can have something ready rather easily.]

Comments

[notalive]

I don't know what a crocdog is, but if you want a different person to disentangle you from it and drag you out, I was thinking about going somewhere.
Or if you don't want to be dragged out, I could bring you something if you want.

[Connor, a man who wants to be helpful, but has no idea how.]

[skyward_eyes]

Give me your ideas, Connor. Let me see if it's worth dragging myself away.

[notalive]

I didn't decide yet, so:
1. There's a bar down by the boardwalk - I don't drink, but the band's good. And you do drink, so that works out.
2. You were talking about parkour, right? Hank got us a dog, Maggie - I want to see how agile she is. I won't make her jump on a moving train yet or anything, but there's a lot of other things we can find for obstacles.
3. There's an archery club downtown - I can shoot guns, so I thought I'd try it out sometime.
4. ...I didn't actually have a 4. I thought I'd think of one by the time I wrote the first three, but I don't. I'll think of something.

[skyward_eyes]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure my brothers would pummel me if I did another backslide, so one is out unless you swear that you won't let me have a drop of alcohol. And I'm a bit too off balance for the second. The third is bad because my accuracy has always been horrid.

And let me know if you're bringing the dog either way so I know whether to take allergy pills.

[notalive]

We can go and both be teetotal. They've got virgin cocktails - I didn't know what those were until I asked, by the way. It implied something really bad about all the rest.

[Connor sometimes still thinks quite literally. And a name like that is just begging for him to genuinely think this implies someone stuck their dick in the mojitos, OK?]

Anyway, I won't bring Maggie to the bar if we go, but she's an android - I'd be surprised if she set off any allergies.

[skyward_eyes]

Teewhat? And yeah, bartenders don't put their cock on stuff unless there is a back room and they really hate you.

You have an android dog? Well, bring it then.

[notalive]

Teetotal - no alcohol.
And now that you've said that, we've both got very good reasons not to drink.

Sure, I'll be there in a few minutes.

[And true to his word, when Connor knocks on Nida's door not too long after, he's brought his android dog with him, standing alert beside him.]

[skyward_eyes]

[And he'll even get a Nida who looks like he put something resembling effort into dressing today. Which mostly means he's clean and wearing clean clothes. A man that still looks nervously at the dog from the open door. Nervous enough that a real dog might growl.]

It... won't bite will it?

[notalive]

[Connor looks immaculate, because no matter who (Hank) makes fun of him, he likes looking presentable - and for an android, presentable means basically perfect. It's a blue shirt and jeans, no android uniform in sight this time. That's buried in the back of his wardrobe and he's not planning to let it see the light of day any time soon.

And then there's Maggie, who watches Nida intently as soon as he opens the door, head tilted, but doesn't growl or do anything but stand straight next to Connor, who's watching Nida carefully himself.]

No, she won't.

[And to demonstrate, he crouches down next to her and ruffles her big ears. She looks away from Nida to lick his face - he flinches comically away from it.]

See? You're safe. I promise.

[He grins up at Nida, clearly wanting him to at least be as ease with the dog he's already enamoured with, even if he can't help anything else today.]

[skyward_eyes]

[It's not that Nida's even afraid of the thing. Chocobos? He's afraid of those. Dying alone and miserable? Terrified of it. But dogs? It's years of allergies that teach him to be wary of the beasts. Even if you can sneak past them, the hair everywhere will get you to sneeze. And the runny eyes, oh the runny eyes.

But the thing neither moves to advance or to retreat. Instead she's focused on Connor. Interesting. Just like a real dog, he presumes. Still, he does move forward and offers his hand out to Maggie.]

Hey there, girl. I'm Nida.

[notalive]

[ There's a weird sort of thing growing in his chest at the sight of Maggie watching Nida reach out for her. It's not dread or worry - he trusts the Dobermann android not to hurt anybody unless there's a very good reason for it. It's...like he wants Nida to see how much Connor likes her. Or rather, that Nida sees what it is about her Connor likes and likes it too.

She sniffs his hand, very much like a real dog would, then cranes her head forward just a little more so that she can lick his fingers, the nub of her tail wiggling side to side. ]

Looks to me like she likes you.

[ He stands, brushing his pants straight, then eyes Nida critically. ]

Do you feel any...

[ He gestures around his nose. Allergies. Gross stuff. ]

[skyward_eyes]

[Oh, Nida's happy to reach out to start petting the dog, and smiles. In fact, he's giving in to all those 'who's a good dog' behaviors. Things he hasn't gotten to do almost ever.]

She's amazing. I've never gotten to do this. I mean, my allergy medication back home makes me so sleepy, so I mostly just avoid dogs in case I need to be conscious. And this? This is amazing.

[This is the best day.]

[notalive]

[If somebody didn't know Maggie was an android, she wouldn't give the game away - she's wagging her short tail and panting happily as she pushes into the hand petting her, and Connor's grinning like the proud dog-dad he's already getting used to being.]

I didn't know it could be that big of a problem.

[Which is true enough - he knows what allergies are, broadly, but that an allergy to dogs could be this bad and the medicine so inconvenient? Little things like that are the things he's still learning.]

Well, Maggie lives in the building now, if you ever want to pet a dog without oozing and passing out.

[Oozing is the only word he's got for it. It's an awful word. He need a better one.]

[skyward_eyes]

[She really is the best and Nida can't help the warmth of his smile. Yes, this almsot makes up for the pain by distracting him so very, very well. He just wants to snuggle this beast.]

It's not oozing. It's sneezing and tears and rashes sometimes. If there were dogs like this at home, I'd definitely have one.

[notalive]

That sounds worse than oozing. To me, anyway.

[Tears are one thing - androids can at least cry, so he thinks he gets that. The rest? That's the kind of thing that makes him understand the androids who think humans can be a little bit gross. Not that Connor dislikes them any for it - it's actually pretty fascinating.

Maggie is very open to snuggling. Apparently understanding already that all these two want to do is shower her in affection, she steps forward a little and cranes up at Nida, wagging her tail so her whole backside waggles and panting happily.]

Have they got any androids back where you're from?

[Nida's a mechanic, he remembers, but he's not totally certain what for.

Also, this isn't how he envisioned helping distract Nida from what's troubling him, but it's working pretty well at the moment, as it turns out. Maybe it looks like Connor's just smiling at Maggie at that moment...and he is, a little, but also at the warm feeling filling his chest.]

[skyward_eyes]

In some ways it is.

[He finally stands, his hand happily resting on the creature's head. Maybe... maybe he needs a pet of his own. Badly. He can't keep borrowing other people's pets to feel good.

At last he steps into the hall, closing the door behind him.]

No, we don't have androids. Just war robots.

[notalive]

I was going to suggest you try to jury-rig something, but...maybe not.

[Not that it wouldn't be interesting to see if somebody could reprogram some kind of walking artillery into a lap dog.]

Like I said, Hank got Maggie for us, so I don't know where she came from - but maybe there's more like her.

[Does Nida feel the enabling in the air here?]

[skyward_eyes]

I repair mechanical things, I don't build them or reprogram them. And I'm not really the sort of guy who should have pets.

[Everyone would agree that he wasn't in a place to take care of anything, not even himself. But that's what he thinks. He gestures for Connor to follow him toward the elevator. Easier on the dog.]

How long have you guys had Maggie?

[notalive]

We've had her a couple weeks.

[He knows exactly how long it's been since he first saw Maggie, down to the second, but that's not particularly interesting to humans.]

Hank mentioned he wanted a pet. I didn't mention it at the time, but I was pretty worried - I thought he meant an organic pet, but I've never had to look after a living thing before. I know the basic things they need to survive, but there's nothing in my programming for looking after them.

[He's smiling to himself as they get into the elevator, watching Maggie walk primly in with them and stand between them.]

But Hank got an android.

[skyward_eyes]

[A very well behaved android. And Nida smiles at the comment.]

He sure did, didn't he?

[Of course, he didn't mean that Maggie was the android he'd gotten. Nida knew the guy was affectionate toward Connor. But that's just Nida's opinion.]

You don't mind going to this place with me, right? I mean, you clearly offered to try and cheer me up.

[notalive]

[Connor doesn't notice the underlying meaning of what he's saying, mostly because he's too busy fondly looking at Maggie and fondly thinking about how far Hank's come since the first time Connor dragged him out of a bar to look at a murder. How far both of them have come.]

I did offer.

[He's happy to go wherever...which brings up his next question. He looks back up at Nida, suddenly looking quizzical.]

Wait, what place are we going?

[skyward_eyes]

The bar place, with the music? I mean, if we go, when we get in, you have to hold my ID, to keep me from having alcohol.

[In some ways, he feels like he can trust Connor with that request more than he could a traditional biological. They would feel bad for him and all of that. Might let him get away with what he shouldn't. But here was Connor, who would take his word hen he was sober and try and keep to it. Nida hoped.]

[notalive]

Right. Don't worry, I'll keep you away from alcohol. Promise.

[It doesn't literally appear as an objective anymore - keep Nida sober or some such thing - but he's determined to do what he's been asked all the same. Just because he's being trusted to do it...which means:]

Just so we're clear - even if you ask me later for your ID back because you want alcohol, I say no. Right?

[skyward_eyes]

Correct. I'm not allowed to have my ID back until we get back here. Or, of course, on the idea that you may be called in suddenly for work, after you walk me from the building we're in.

[That makes sense, right? Trying to make sure he has things planned properly.]

[notalive]

I'm a traffic cop, I don't think we get called in.

[Unless one of those giant late-night traffic jams totally disrupts life as they all know it.]

I repair roombas at night, but they can look after themselves.

If you want to talk about it, by the way - I'm here. And if you don't... I'm still here.

[He wanted to say that and get it out of the way. And it might not come up again this evening, but the offer's there.]