Beautiful Nightmare (Simplicity and Victoria)

[adrian]

Adrian kicked back his tenth shot of cheap rum and nearly gagged. It burned on its way down and just kept burning. He let his hand fall to the surface of the bar and the shot glass made a hollow thump sound on the wood. He leaned over the bar, his eyes scrunched together and his mouth in a grin of discomfort for a moment before he regained his composure.

They'd been at this for about two hours. Being guests, they figured it would have been rude to exhaust the Wesson's supply of good liquor so they'd broken out the cheap rum and had been taking shots ever since. Adrian had figured he would have been declared the winner quite a long time ago since science told them all that women simply could not outdrink men. But, two hours and a fuzzy head later, Adrian had determined that Victoria had rum running through her veins instead of blood. He hadn't figured out an excuse as to why Simplicity was still in the game that would suitably soothe his male pride but he was working on it. His mind just seemed to be going a little slower than usual.

"I think," he said turning to Simplicity and promptly made himself a liar as he just stared off into the distance, not thinking anything at all. It was much too easy to float away and it felt pretty good at this point. He narrowed his eyes and squinted at Simplicity in the medium mood lighting of the bar area of the Wesson this late at night. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. "Simplicity, I think your hair is on fire. Not actually, but the red," he said motioning with one hand towards the streaks of dyed red hair that were currently exposed across her shoulders as she leaned over the bar, the motion vaugue and lacking the precision sobriety would have normally lent it. "It's a good thing," he went on, skipping a few steps in his observation but assuming everyone would follow him.

He turned to look at the distorted figure of Victoria through the lens of the thick, empty shot glass. "You're a fish," he proclaimed, the words the only version of his complicated belief that she had rum in her body instead of blood that he could articulate at the moment.

"I want to go to bed," he said to the wall of liquor bottles behind the bar as he pushed himself up off the stool, proud of himself for only stumbling slightly as he stood up. Of course both hands were still firmly on the bar. "Want to go with me this time?" he asked. It was a bit unclear who the invitation was directed to at first since Adrian was staring at his feet and the ground underneath them and making sure everything was in proper order. Afterall, he didn't want to embarrass himself. However, when he looked up it was at Simplicity, looking for an answer.

[Simplicity]

Simplicity ran a hand over the top of her shot glass. She wasn’t even going to try and keep up with Adrian. Guy could hold his liquor and she wasn’t in the mood to have a head ache the next morning. With that thought she looked over the bar for a glass to get water and was pleasantly surprised to find a row of water bottles. One to start, but she’d drink a second to lessen the possible hang over.

“Dude,” she laughed as she twisted off the cap, “Did you slip something in your drink while I wasn’t looking?”

She took a long drink and wiped off her mouth with the back of her hand. Her lipstick caused momentary panic until she realized it was probably mostly gone by now anyway. Out of paranoia she still checked the mirror for a split second.

“Bed would be I a good idea,” she agreed, “But I’m crashing. The way Jeffy was talking we have a long day tomorrow. You should too, remember what happened last time you showed up still drunk? How loud he played the music? Damn, that gave me a migraine.” Simplicity laughed and ruffled his hair.

[adrian]

"Oh yes," Adrian said with a comical grimace. "And, on top of being loud it was truly terrible music," Adrian noted with almost scholarly detachment as he stared off into the distance. He sighed and decided to reclaim his seat at the bar. "Have a good night Sim." He managed to say it with a smile on his face despite his real disappointment at the latest turn down.

He ran a hand through his hair in an unconscious attempt to wipe her ruffling away, not because he minded it but because it wasn't really enough. The only thing the touch had done was serve as a sharp contrast to what he wanted and drove home the point that he would not be getting it. And it wasn't the first turn down, just the latest. To be fair, he'd never made any serious offers, at least offers in a serious tone, always choosing the light flirtation tone instead since it was safer. But he did that with everyone and other women managed to understand that he wasn't joking. Since he had a lot of respect for Simplicity's intelligence he had to assume she understood all that and just was just simply turning him down.

Which is fine, he told himself as he reached for the bottle of rum and poured himself another shot. Sim was his friend and she was attractive but there were no shortage of partners in the world and pursing those that didn't want you was an exercise in futility. Besides, in the case of friends, it could negatively complicate things real fast. So Adrian decided to let it go and move on.

[Simplicity]

“Polka,” She shook her head, “hip hop polka. How did he even find that? Better yet, why did he even have it?” Simplicity slide off the bar stool and stretched. She took a final sip of beer before adding, “We should totally salt and burn those tapes when we get back. Or tape over it with an exorcism. He can’t get to mad at us if we do that.”

Simplicity gave him a peck on cheek, “Don’t stay up for too long, I need all the help wrangling the kids I can.”

She gave him another pat on the head and then headed toward the stairs. Sim waved over her shoulder before disappearing up around the corner. Honestly she was looking forward to a nice long sleep. Since Vic and Chase arrived she’d felt a little drained, thankfully there were less people to deal with. Portland was cool but Portland plus all of Austin? Not only would she feel old but she would have locked herself in her room to keep from killing them. Sighing she pulled on her pajamas and collapsed gracelessly into the bed. She’d take off her make up in the morning.

[Victoria]

After her arrival in Keystone, and a rather unfortunate turn of circumstances that had caused Chase to prevent his...ability...to be there with the rest of the faction, Victoria had gladly taken the opportunity to get out of the Wesson and join Adrian and Simplicity in a little drinking. She hadn't really gotten the opportunity to be near her precious rum, save for a little sneaking of the drink while Chase had been asleep or away on their way over to South Dakota, as well as some she had stolen after breaking in the storage room at the Wesson while no one was watching her.

And then Chase...that child behaved like an annoying, overly-intrusive father, always snatching away her bottles of alcohol and her boxes of cigarettes. So what if they had been in a public area? She didn't see why she couldn't drink at least. Honestly. Of course, she always got them back. But she had become quite annoyed by his little righteous attitude. It's the "law," she told herself mockingly, Chase's voice almost loud and clear in her head. To bloody hell with that, it's not like I ever follow it anyway.

She was quite thrilled that she could find drinking partners in Sim and Adrian. The two provided a much needed sense of escape that had become impossible with Chase. They couldn't really hold their alcohol as well as she could, but she would have been surprised if they did. She drank rum like it was water, she always had. She laughed at Adrian's fish comment, her reply being, "More than you know." Indeed, a fish was quite the fitting metaphor, complete with her attachment to the sea and disgust for land and most of the people who were living on it.

Speaking of which, as a lady walked by, the shimmer of a ring on her finger caught her eye, and when she walked past again, Victoria managed to smoothly swipe the item from her. Like taking candy from a baby. Smirking to herself and making sure that no one had noticed, she put the ring in the safest possible location that a woman possessed--in her shirt, safely tucked in her bra. If anyone dared to accuse her of stealing (though she was positive they wouldn't, no one had seen), and they tried to retrieve the ring by force, she would threaten sexual harassment.

When she turned back to her faction mates, she spotted Simplicity giving Adrian a peck on the cheek, to which she then walked away. What, she was done already? So early. Ah, well, Victoria thought to herself, and then got off the bar stool to join Adrian's side. A lifetime surrounded by men had familiarized her with their expressions and the inner workings of their minds. She saw how he had stared after her, and the disappointment in his eyes when she left. It wasn't hard to guess what was on his mind.

"Well, mate," she began, placing a firm grasp on his shoulder, with a mug of rum in her free hand, "you always want what you can't have, isn't that right?"

[adrian]

Adrian watched Simplicity walk away and contemplated the dangerous situation he found himself in. He wasn't emotionally stupid or shut off. He was quite in touch with his emotions and, like any person that chose to pay attention to the world around them and the way it worked, he was aware that he was as susceptible as anyone to a crush.

In general people seemed to associated the immature and insanity inducing state of having a crush with just barely pubescent girls. The tragedy of Romeo and Juliet was not that two families had kept two lovers apart until they decided to be together in death, it was that two very young people had done what young people everywhere do, became hopelessly and most foolishly infatuated with each other, and the entire situation was so blown out of proportion because of the feud that it escalated into violence and death. It was a tragedy of errors, intolerance and inflexibility.

But people took the wrong lesson away from the play and always had. Those who watched it or read it with a critical mind were quick to point out how young Romeo and Juliet were and to think they were foolish to fall so hopelessly so quickly. It was something those teenagers did and the phenomenon of teenage love was capitalized on in every way. Every few years a new pop sensation came along to occupy the dreams of young men and women just discovering their sexuality. Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, right on down to LIndsey Lohan, Miley Cirus and Taylor Swift. On the other side there was Elvis, Michael Jackson, Marky Mark, Justin Timberlake straight through to Justin Bieber.

Adrian watched each teen idol rise and fall and listened to those that criticized and dismissed them with amusement. Did adults truly believe they had somehow "outgrown" the hormones that flooded their brain and told them to do drastic and foolish things to win the affection of someone? Oh, it leveled out a bit, that was true, but the cause of such feelings persisted unto death as it was meant to, a biological trick to get creatures to mate and produce young.

And Adrian was human so he was prey to the damn emotion as well and watching Simplicity walk away, the feeling of her lips lingering on his cheek, made him aware that he had a crush, and a pretty substantial one.

Victoria walked over and took Simplicity's place. "No," he said in response to her prepackaged words of wisdom, "I either get what I want or I stop wanting it," he said before he downed the shot he'd poured for himself. He may be aware that he was love's bitch at the moment but he certainly didn't plan to stay that way. With persistence you could change what you wanted or at least find a greater, deeper want. He may want Simplicity but he wanted to be wanted much more, or at least that is what he told himself.

"For example," Adrian said as his anger and disappointment burned through a little of the alcohol in his system but not nearly enough, "I still want company tonight. What about you Victoria," he said as he turned on his stool to face her, "what do you want?"

[Victoria]

Victoria raised an eyebrow at him. "What do I want?" she repeated the question, more to herself than anyone else, then took a sip from her mug which gave her a minute to think. She wanted a lot of things. Avarice was her sin of choice, it basically came hand in hand with piracy. Riches, attention, fame--she wanted it all. At the moment, she really wanted to go back to the ocean, and her ship too, but since that wasn't possible...she reached inside her shirt, and pulled out the item from inside. "Items such as these, mate," she smirked, then tucked it safely back in before the woman she had taken it from or anyone else could notice.

She leaned back on the stool, letting her elbows rest on the counter behind her. "And I know what's on your mind, don't even think about it," she smirked. "Not that I wouldn't mind it," she said, almost whispering in his ear. "I just have nothing to gain. I don't use this body unless I get something out of it in return, and I'm not talking about that emotional crap. I mean hard cash, diamonds, and gold, my dear. That, and I'm quite frankly too good for you," she teased. She set the rum down, then turned to Adrian, her expression becoming serious. Despite the alcohol in her system, she was thinking clearly. Or maybe it was because of the alcohol.

"In all honesty, even if I did have something to gain, I wouldn't sleep with you, and you shouldn't sleep with me either." She wondered if he was going to follow her logic here. She knew she could be rather cruel, but she wasn't completely cold-hearted. Not at all like that Asian femme had been back the Wesson. She had that girl in mind--Simplicity. "I'm a pirate, but I'm also a woman too, and a feminist at that. You shouldn't lead a girl on and then move on to someone else when you get turned down, mate. If you want her, you should go after her. The best satisfaction comes from obtaining something that you work to get."

And she spoke from experience. Okay, so she didn't work to get everything she had, at least not in the technical sense. But it took work to steal, much more work than...well, to actually work. And after years of piracy, her reputation and thieving ability was one to be praised. So yes, she knew the satisfaction of finally getting something you've been at for a while. Perhaps Adrian would too, if he would stop giving in to temptation.

[adrian]

"Woah woah woah, slow down lass," Adrian said with raised hands and a fairly good imiatation of an irish accent. Most pirates in the world, even during the age of British expansion, had not been irish. The poor irish had been too busy poking at the ground and their new-world potato crops to get into too much trouble. But somehow the irish accent seemed appropriate.

"I'm not a feminist, I'm a realist and that means I see men and women the same and when someone, anyone, turns you down it isn't polite to go creeping after them like a stalker. Besides, the offer wasn't that serious," Adrian lied, "and Sim is my friend, only my friend, there are no hearts being led on here unless its mine." Adrian put a hand over his heart as if it pained him. "I know my faction mates are out of my league but at least one of you could cut a guy a break. Besides," Adrian said, looking her straight in the eye, "you're not the only one who appreciates the finer things in life."

He smiled. He always enjoyed flirting, there was just something so natural and comforting about it to him and it pulled him out of emotional vulnerability and put him back on solid, well worn ground. "It's a shame you only use your body for work and no play."

[Victoria]

"I wasn't suggesting you literally go after her right now, of course that would come off as a bit stalkerish," she said, before taking another gulp from the rum. "I meant in the long-run. You give a stab at one girl, get turned down, then move onto another? C'mon, be a little more competitive than that, mate," she said, reaching over the counter to grab a refill. How many refills was that in total? She had lost count.

When her mug was once again full of rum, she raised the glass to take a drink. Victoria raised an eyebrow at Adrian's comment, and a smile tugged at her lips as she pressed the glass to her lips. Cheesy or not, a woman like her couldn't resist a comment like that. But ironic as it was, she had her piracy morals, and if she had nothing to gain out of the situation, then there was no reason to get involved, sadly. No need to complicate a relationship between someone like a member of a faction she was now a part of. It was like being on a ship. There was a certain code of conduct, and you could fool around with whoever you wanted if you were a nobody, but when you were a Captain...no, that just made a mess of things. And she was still Captain V underneath it all, ship or no ship.

She looked over at Adrian from above her rum. "A shame indeed," she said, right before setting the glass down.

[adrian]

"I'm not the competative type," Adrian replied after a moment. "I prefer my partners to choose me, not to have to hunt them down." He shook his head and looked at the bottles stacked up behind the bar. "I may look young but I'm old at heart and, you know, the one thing I've learned," he said looking over at Victoria. "Life is too long. I know that is the opposite of what you always hear but it's true. It feels short at the end of it, you have the oldies always talking about how they didn't have enough time," he shrugged, "but that's just a trick your memory is playing on you. Over the years your brain compresses everything, only keeping highlight moments and what's useful. It's pretty utilitarian that way. Human brains are optomized for skill retention, not perfect memory, memory is not as useful."

He turned his stool so that he was looking at his faction mate instead of the liquor that glowed in the soft lights of the Wesson at night. "But to live life, every moment, it takes time. And you can't speed it up or slow it down, you're stuck, right here, right now, so you better enjoy it and be doing something worthwhile. I'm not knocking true love or long term relationships, if you can find them then that's good. They do exist and I've seen some good ones, but those people, sweep away all the star crossed bullshit, those people choose each other day in and day out. And, at the end of the day, there is nothing that replaces that choice and no one can make it for you. So Simplicity made hers, I make mine. But the great thing is there is always a tomorrow, always more choices to be made so maybe we'll see," he said shrugging and smiling. "But that's for tomorrow, it's still tonight and we still have to live in this moment, so I'm going to make the most of it." He looked her in the eye for a moment but he was serious about what he'd said, he wasn't the type to try to change other people's choices, Simplicity's or her's.

"Well Victoria," Adrian said as he turned back to the bar and put his shot glass down behind it near the professional dishwasher, "it's been a pleasure and if you ever want it to be more pleasurable in the future let me know but I'm gonna get out of here. It may be late but I'm guessing there are more than a few bars around here that are still open and, if I'm lucky, and I tend to be, I will find a kindred spirit to share this beautiful night with."

Adrian stood up and grabbed his jacket from the back of the stool. He swung it around his shoulders and the well worn piece of clothing slipped on easily and comfortably. He grabbed his keys from his jacket pocket and tried to convince himself that he would be fine while trying to drive in this condition. He knew it was a lie but he had a riduculous amount of lives and he figured he could take the risk. At least he decided to take it slow, fifteen mph's down every road. Still, no reason to risk more than his life. He fingered the lighter in his other pocket, making sure it was with him and easy to reach.

"Have a good night luv," he said, momentarily returning to the Irish brogue but then he switched back to his own, slightly accented English, "and, just because I feel a bit sorry for it, don't be so hard on your own body. Giving into a craving every once and a while or doing something just for the fun of it won't kill ya." He nodded in her direction before turning and heading towards the door of the hotel. He was proud of the fact that he only swerved a little.

[Simplicity]

Walking down stairs in bare feet was something Simplicity enjoyed doing in the morning. At times she thought she could do it all day, just relax and feel the grass between her toes. That feeling usually ended at about one o’ clock in the afternoon and she couldn’t fall asleep with dirty feet. So she made an effort to enjoy it while it lasted. It helped that the Wesson was relatively clean.

So far no one else was up except the bartender and his geeky little brother. Both of whom were cute, for totally different reasons. She ruffed the kid’s hair and he didn’t even look up from his book. Given his dedication she pecked over his shoulder to see why he was so dedicated and put a hand on his back. After a second he looked up with a question in his eyes and an eyebrow raise.

“Just seeing what’s worth your attention,” she smiled. He nodded before yawning. The kid closed the book in a way to keep his place and showed her the cover, which was in Latin.

“Don’t try too hard with him,” the bartender, Deacon, joked, “It’s too early for Art to handle basic conversations and he hasn’t had his coffee yet,” the kid’s head bobbed in agreement, “Want some breakfast? You can have your pick before the rest of the army descends.” He tilted his head toward the door of the kitchen

“Thanks,” Sim smiled and gave him a friendly peck on the cheek, her reward for someone giving her food. Jeff had a strange reaction to that one, Adrian just tended to smile. Simplicity padded off to the door and said as she entered, “Art I’m counting on that conversation later.”

She didn’t see what his reaction was. Probably another slow head bang like motion. Deacon just muttered about how he wasn’t a cook and that someone else was in charge of it next faction meeting. His tone was light however and it made Simplicity smile as she piled bacon, hash browns and a slice of eggs in a basket on her plate. One thing she liked about staying in the bar was the economy sized container of O.J. Despite the temptation she didn’t make a screwdriver and instead walked back out to the bar and plopped down right in the middle. She chewed happily on her food and waited for someone else to come down stairs as Deacon finished cleaning some glasses.

After after a few bites she paused and chewed slowly. What time did that idiot go to bed? she thought and chuckled. It wasn't her nicest thought but she asked Deacon to watch her food as she headed back to the kitchen. Deacon told her, her food was her's to guard. When she came back out with another plate and orange juice she saw Art smack way his brother's hand away from her bacon. Yeah, the kid was a keeper. Simplicity hummed quietly to herself as she climbed back up the stairs toward her friend's room.

"Wakey wakey, Eggs and Bakey," she laughed as he knocked on the with a knuckle, "You're not vegan right Adrian?" Unless he had a wicked hang over he probably wouldn't mind being woken up with food, or so she thought.

[adrian]

The day he'd been born his mother had been out in the fields harvesting their family's crop. She'd been trying to get them in before the fall storms drowned them and she hadn't been due for another two weeks. According to his mother he'd come as quickly as the storm that had accompanied his birth. She'd named him "Lightning." At least that was his name in English but hardly anyone bothered to translate and just called him Blyds. Since then he seemed to be going in and out of people's lives, disrupting them along the way.

Blyds yawned and rolled over, his tongue passing over his teeth and the terrible taste that alcohol leaves the morning after. Besides for the taste he felt pretty good. He had never had much trouble with hangovers, especially when he had gotten sleep. He cracked open one eyelid and glanced over at Adrian but his friend-with-benefits was still snoring. Adrian was one of the few men that actually knew what Blyds' name was and why he'd gotten it. He was also one of, at most, five people in the world that Blyds trusted. There was a relaxed vibe that Adrian gave off that made him easy to talk to and he seemed genuinely interested in people's stories. Blyds had never felt judged around him, something that he looked for in friends.

Blyds buried his head back in the pillow for a second before rolling out of bed. He looked around the room, trying to spot his clothing without turning on the lights since Adrian was still sleeping. He finally spotted his boxers and pulled them on before going on a search for the rest of his clothing.

When he heard someone in the hallway he didn't pay much attention. He knew they were in a hotel and that other people were here, he'd been hearing them pass by all morning, but this one didn't pass by. There was a knock on the door and then a friendly female voice accompanied an attractive woman into the room.

Blyds looked over his shoulder as he pulled on a t-shirt. "I think he's still sleeping," he said quietly.

[Simplicity]

Simplicity waited patiently outside Adrian’s room still humming to herself. The only reason she didn’t knock again was the sound of someone moving around on the other side of the door. Given how unsteady the steps were and the pauses she assumed he wasn’t in the best mental state. The thought she woke him up gave her a small smile as she tapped a finger against the juice in time with the song she was humming.

When the door opened she looked where she was accustomed to Adrian’s eyes being. However, she was looking at some dude’s chest and one of a much darker complexion. Her morning brain triggered a series of rapid fire blinks as it tried to figure out why the universe wasn’t in order. Finally she looked up to meet the guy’s eyes.

“Sorry,” she blinked again, “You weren’t who I was expecting. I, uh, brought him some breakfast.” Simplicity lifted the plate and glass to prove she had in fact brought the obvious food and wasn’t just a stalker or something. She paused and held them out to the mystery man with at, would you mind? expression.

“Uh, would you like me to bring you something?” Sim was proud of her mild shock induced politeness. So much worse things could have come out her mouth from the surprise. Guess her momma got one good thing implanted in her head.

[adrian]

Blyds took the food from the woman but he wasn't exactly sure what he should do with it. he was still in his boxers and the plate and orange juice required two hands. He looked over his shoulder at Adrian. The guy had never seemed to mind nudity before and, besides, he was decent under his sheet so Blyds turneed back to Sim and invited her in.

"Would you like to come in," he said, turning around and walking over to the small table that the hotel room came equipped with and setting the plate down. "And thank you for the offer but I think I'll fore-go food for a bit."

[Simplicity]

“Thanks for the offer,” She said with an honest smile, “But I got a man downstairs who’s makin’ eyes for my piggy. I think Art can only hold him off for so long, especially with hold the coffee from what I hear.”

Simplicity turned to leave but stopped half way to look at the guy again, “Maybe we can talk some later, name’s Simplicity case you’re wondering.”

She headed back down the stairs in half daze. When she got down, her plate actually had more stripes of bacon and Deacon was rubbing the back of his hand occasionally. The kid also had his coffee. Note to self: Don’t piss off morning Art. Part of her wished she’d seen what transpired but alas she doubted she ever would find out. Simplicity sat down and picked up her fork eating in a steady rhythm.

“Well this has turned out to be a very interesting morning,” she said to no one in particular. Art was now aware enough to look at her when she spoke but said nothing in response.

Deacon also seemed to pick up on the not right but don’t ask vibe. Instead he asked, “What happened to that song you were humming earlier? What was it?”

“It was Black Velvet,” she responded before going back to her hash browns. For a second she was thankful she wasn’t one of those girls who couldn’t eat when she was upset. The thought left as quickly as it came.