This is not how healthy individuals deal with their problems.

[dorkypantsuit]

Who: Psi and Open
What: Drinking Alien Booze
Where: The Cookhouse and Around (see prompts)
When: Right after the supervisor meeting.
Warnings: People using alcohol in unhealthy ways. Drunkenness. Adult language highly likely.

He takes to the air as soon as the meeting is over, sick of looking at that weird symbol and sick of listening to everybody talk about what to do next. All the other supervisors seemed to feel like some kind of violent response was necessary. Perhaps in their minds if the carnival didn't respond it would allow the vampires a second chance to attack. The Psionic, however, didn't agree with that line of thinking. The reality was that none of them had any way of knowing if the vampires were considering a second attack or not. The Psionic really didn't see anything wrong with getting rid of sygil and leaving it at that. It was weakening the wards, so of course they needed to remove it, but so long as the wards could be fixed they were safe here.

Even as he thinks that he can't help but feel some small sense of doubt. Even if he did feel that way, everyone else seemed to disagree. Was he missing something that seemed obvious to everyone else? Maybe they knew something he didn't. It's those sorts of fears and anxieties that begin to emerge as he flies. He doesn't want to remember the first attack, but the images come unbidden as his worries grow. Would a kid as young as Bonnie be forced to defend herself from beings like that? Miko and Lars were older. They were a bit more capable and a bit more annoying, but could they truly stand up to a foe like that?

It's nights like these when the Psionic misses his Alternian companions most. They had always know what to say and do. Their absence stings tonight in a way it hasn't in a long time, so where he ends up doing really isn't much of a surprise.

I. The Cookhouse
When he finds the bottle he holds it up victoriously. The drink inside appears to be a truly distressing shade of fluorescent lavender. He smiles before twisting off the top and pouring himself a drink. It's an Alternian liquor, or at least that's what the label seems to imply.

"This stuff is the best. Here, try this." And if you're nearby he pours you a drink. Even if you're not that nearby he'll probably end up calling you over. "This is what real liquor tastes like."

II. Around the Carnival

He's just a little bit drunk right now. He isn't stumbling, but his psionics seem to be going off much more frequently then normal.

"Hey, you! You!" he shouts loudly as he see's you walking by. He rapidly waves your character over before excitedly asking them, "Truth or dare?"

III. Supervisor Grove

Now he's really really drunk. He probably should not have drank that entire bottle, but it's too late for regrets now. His head is spinning, which is annoying, and he keeps wobbling a bit as he tries to balance himself. He stumbles, tries to catch himself with his own psionics, misjudges the force and ends up pushing himself flat on his back in the opposite direction. There's the thud of his body hitting the ground before before he just starts laughing hysterically. He makes no attempt to get up whatsoever.

Comments

[dorkypantsuit]

Psi smiles proudly, thinking he has a pretty good question to ask. Today was a day to drink to feel better, so he wasn't going to ask about anything sad. He wanted to know something happy.

"How did you meet your first flush crush?" Nailed it.

No, wait, that wasn't what humans called it. "I mean, the first person you liked a lot." Okay there, boom. Nailed it.

[atouts]

Highbloods, flush crush, was he making up words or were they merely references he couldn't possibly hope to understand? Because God knew where the Psiioniic was even from. Nowhere local to where Childermass himself was from, that much was sure.

"The first girl I liked?" He restates the question a bit while frowning, looking off past Psi a moment while he thinks back. "That was a very long time ago..." It's going to take a minute to even dredge up that memory and even when he does, it's not much of one. "A young lady that worked at the fish market, back in Hull. Annie, I think. She had red hair and her father threatened to have me shot every time I spoke with her."

Ah, childhood. Let's not spend too much time remembering that part of his life.

"There. Truth or dare?"

[dorkypantsuit]

Psi frowns in distaste.

"That wasn't a story." He comments in protest. "You got to say how you meet her, that was the truth part!"

Childermass obviously didn't know how to play this game the right way, otherwise he wouldn't be saying things in such a boring way. It wasn't really worth arguing over though so he just sighs before leaning back against the trailer himself.

"Okay. Truth."

[atouts]

"At the market. Where else would it have been?"

Not apparent enough? No, apparently not.

"After her father threatened to have me shot the first time around," Childermass expands upon that with a shrug. "She thought it was funny when I dumped out an entire basket of fish to stall him and he slipped, straight into his own stall. It wasn't exactly the most romantic of first meetings."

It was mostly just full of cod.

"So is there any particular reason you've decided to get this drunk?"

[dorkypantsuit]

Oh right, he was drunk. He'd almost forgotten that fact. There was a reason for it, though. He hadn't originally planned on getting quite this tipsy, but it was too late to do anything about that now. He shrugs, figuring it couldn't hurt to tell Childermass something like that.

"When I drink I forget about things that are upsetting me." No big deal, he just wanted to forget stuff. He's sure everyone felt that way sometimes.

[atouts]

"That's a general reason, not a particular one."

If Psiioniic could point out lapses in his own answers, well, it was fair game both ways.

[dorkypantsuit]

He frowns, not sure what else Childermass wants from him here. He tries to think of all the reasons he was upset before. He remembers there was more than one, at least. Maybe if he just started at the beginning he'd remember them all.

"I was just upset because no one agreed with me. Then I thought 'maybe I'm wrong?' but I don't know because there's no one I can talk to about it. So then I missed people from home."

Wait no, it was supposed to be specific.

"I mean, I missed Signless and Disciple and the Dolorosa."

There, that was specific. Except, wait, did he remember to say why he disagreed?

"And they didn't agree with me because they think it's better to do a preemptive strike. But I think that's bullshit, and if Mari says otherwise than she's a bitch."

[atouts]

There's a lot there he could ask about there, but the words 'preemptive strike' stand out as the most important piece. While it would be kinder and no doubt safer not to pry, that isn't what's going to happen now that Psi has mentioned it. Childermass straightens up at those, away from the previously lazy lean he'd been in.

"Preemptive strike? Against what?"

It isn't even his turn to ask another question yet, but damn the game if that's what the supervisor meeting had been all about.

[dorkypantsuit]

Psi shrugs. He doesn't really consider this information anything that needs to be kept secret. After all, if he told anyone else about this they'd likely assume right from the start that any attack they made would be against the vampires. He leans back more, letting the trailer support his weight as he thinks.

"Those vampires from before. The ones that scared off all the other people that used to work here."

[atouts]

"Vampires?"

But this is the first time Childermass has heard anything about the vampires, so hopefully Psiioniic can forgive his confusion. At least this answers why the carnival had been so understaffed before.

"I am sorry, but I wasn't here 'from before'. What vampires?"

[dorkypantsuit]

Psi just scowls, red and blue sparks of electricity flash around his horns for a moment as he glares down at the ground.

"I don't want to talk about it." Those kinds of memories were exactly the ones he was hoping to forget by getting absolutely sloshed. "It's just stupid and it's Mari's fucking fault anyway."

Just thinking about Mari's stupid face had him kicking the ground in frustration.

"She thinks she's so tough, well I know tough. I'm the Psionic, okay? I can take down anyone who stands in my way!"

[atouts]

Right. Sparks mean the end of that line of questioning. Childermass holds his hands up in a placating way as if to tell Psi to calm down without having to say the words aloud.

"Alright. We don't have to talk about it," he says before going on to add, "I believe it's your turn again."

The game may as well continue, even if it's only to distract the troll from vampires and the Nightrider. What's been said has already given him enough to think about.

[dorkypantsuit]

Even with the topic changed he still feels some amount of residual aggression. He steps forward.

"No way, you think I can't do it. I can do anything." He wobbles on his feet as he talks, but doesn't manage to fall over.

"I pick dare." And he'd keep picking dare all night if he had to! Whether he misunderstood what Childermass sad, or whether he simply wants to be dared instead of asking isn't totally clear, but he seems pretty determined to prove he can do something dangerous here.

[atouts]

And so he's reached the surly stage of being drunk. When Psionic steps forward, Childermass stands his ground rather than retreating. He does lower his hands, though, choosing to clasp them behind his back instead while he deals with this.

"I do not know what you can and cannot do, sir," he'll reply, settling back to a calm neutrality. "So I do not think anything at all. Perhaps it's time for you to call it a night."