[Closed] Well-deserved Drinks

[widows_kiss]

Who: Natasha Romanoff and Dean Winchester
Where: the 4th floor bar
When: Friday evening, Oct 3rd
Rating: PG-13?
Summary: They both survived the event mostly it's time to catch up on that offer for drinks.
The Story:

She shoots him a text in the afternoon, because she'd abruptly found herself with an evening looming and the sudden craving for company, something other than sparring or training or maybe just something different. She's been feeling restless, unsettled, ever since the mirror event, and as this had been something lingering in the back of her mind for days, she figured now was as good a time as any.

She even shows up a little early, finding a little table in a corner out of the way to settle in comfortably. She orders a rum and coke for while she waits, something simple so she doesn't get too far ahead before he even gets here.

Comments

[ganking]

Their odd date for drinks has been pushed further and further off the schedule since he first mentioned buying her one sometime ago, but despite that the text he finds in his buzzing device is more than a welcome distraction. Something Dean very much needs, after everything. Natasha seems fairly neat as far as people in Wonderland standards go, as well. She seems to have her shit together, and that's becoming rarer and rarer around the place, Dean's realized...

Of course, it helps that she's anything but sore on the eyes. So making time for those long-promised drinks? Dean's all for it.

He shows up around the time they'd discussed, shooting the bar a quick look to make sure Jo isn't on duty, then finds Natasha in her secured little corner.

"Hey, hope I didn't keep you waiting too long." He sits down before waving down the bartender for a beer.

[widows_kiss]

She watches him enter and flashes a crooked smile when he wanders across to join her, curled quite contently in one of the chairs, her knee tucked up in front of her. "No, I only got here a few minutes ago myself. I figured you'd show up eventually either way."

[ganking]

"Always do, when we're talking bars and booze." Considering he spends about eighty percent of his time around booze -- and normally he'd be down to clown with a friendly face for company, too -- the bar is a sure bet to find him at sooner or later. Of course now he casts yet another quick confirming look towards the bar, just in case he'd missed any angry Harvelles.

"It's not every time I get to waltz in here knowing I damn well deserve a drink, though. We both do."

[widows_kiss]

"I can't really argue that point," she comments wryly, lifting her glass in a toast as the bartender drops off his beer for him. "The Mirror event hadn't exactly been what I was expecting, but it certainly livened things up for a bit around here." And was vastly different from what had become an unpredictable trend of puppy herds and altered memories of different lives.

She doesn't miss his frequent looks towards the bar though, and arches an eyebrow in inquiry. "Are we expecting someone else? Should I have gotten a bigger table?"

[ganking]

"No, no. Just... uh, playing the good old avoiding someone game," He fesses up easily, but after another beat there's a quite snort on his end as he shakes his head. "Sounds a lot more high school when said out loud than it did in my head."

But it is what it is-- and with the way things are, Dean seems to finally relax a little, the bar forgotten for the time being. If Jo does show up then... then she does. That's that.

"Anyway-- so what does that mean? You really like the chaos the events bring with them? I know you ain't the sittin' still type, but..."

[widows_kiss]

Considering his gaze keeps going to the bar and who's behind it - or perhaps who's not - it's not hard for her to put two and two together, especially with as often as she frequents this place herself. "On the outs with Jo, I take it?" She just gives him a wry grin at the 'highschoolishness' of it. Mostly because he'd probably know better than she would.

As for the event... "I could have done without quite a bit of that particular chaos, actually," she drawls, taking a drink. Considering there'd been too-close encounters with the Hulk, an Extremis-amplified super soldier, a werewolf alpha and a reality-bending witch, she was still somewhat amazed to be sitting here right now. And that didn't even touch on the ghost from her own past who'd sought her out.

"As for the rest of them... some are fairly interesting. The ones that affect memories are... disconcerting at times, but in general they seem relatively harmless. And can occasionally be pretty amusing. Why? You're not a fan, I take it?"

[ganking]

"Just a bit," he eventually fesses up, the smile on his face not quite right. He and Jo go way too far back to lay out the whole story, and really, he's not in the mood to go through dirty details when most of the time their silent treatments are because of him.

"Don't like getting my head messed with. Not even if half the time those events seem to create a better life for me than I could've ever dreamed up myself." It takes a lot for him to admit as much, but he knows he's hardly the only one who feels that way. She, he imagines, is one of them. Finding them amusing and interesting, and all.

"But I guess interesting is one way of puttin' it. Makes you wonder how and why they happen, y'know?" Or how this place makes them happen, whatever.

[widows_kiss]

"You're not one of the ones that accepts 'it's magic' as an answer?" she counters, her lips quirking ruefully as she studies him intently.

"I don't think anyone really likes getting their heads messed with. Although yes, they are fairly creative in the lives they make for us, aren't they? It can be quite impressive when we haven't had the option of screwing it up."

Finding that amusing is better than the alternative, after all. At least until they can do something about it.

[ganking]

"Nothing's ever just magic." Well, not back home, any way-- and Dean knows by now that those rules, the ones he's too familiar with, really don't apply here. Yet sometimes clinging to them just seems... saner. Maybe not smarter, though.

"Makes me think they're freakin'... lonely or bored coming up with that crap. I mean, high school? Seriously? What's the fun in that." Except Dean hadn't had the worst time, if he's honest. The haunted house festival thing had been kinda neat...

He raises his beer. "And there was none of this."

[widows_kiss]

"Not a fan of high school either, I take it?" She looks amused by that and taps her glass against his bottle before taking a drink. "That's surprising. One would think you'd be the popular sort. Not to borrow on cliches or anything."

She gives him a curious look about his statement on magic, however, wondering what other information she can get from his world. The companions of his she's spoken to so far have painted a pretty vivid and fascinating picture. "No? What else is it usually? I'm afraid my magical knowledge is a little limited."

[ganking]

"Didn't spend enough time there to see the positive sides," he says with an easy tone, then ends up shrugging some. "Popular though? Sure, sure-- I still managed that. Janitor's closet was the place to be, if you get what I mean."

Too proud, his tone is much too proud.

"More like what else isn't it usually. Magic's just-- one thing. Once you have to deal with a room full of gods, almost any explanation starts to be possible." A room full of gods and Lucifer. Good times, old times. Dean doesn't mind sharing some of them.

[widows_kiss]

His bragging gets a laugh from her and a playful look. "The janitor's closet? You were unusually messy, perhaps?" she teases, feigning ignorance as she taps a finger against her chin in thought.

The mention of dealing with a room full of gods gets a very different sort of laugh from her, wry and all too knowing. "Tell me about it."

[ganking]

Alright, that gets a laugh. "You could say that, too."

But as far as deities goes, she seems to know at least something about it, too. Not too surprising, he thinks, considering the places people come from here. "It's exactly how it sounds. All of them with their heads stuck so far up their own ass it's a miracle the world hadn't exploded already."

Stuck up, self-righteous assholes basically. And incredibly they'd decided to leave the apocalypse on his and Sam's shoulders instead of doing anything about it themselves.

"I don't know how much experience you have dealing with 'em, but they don't seem too fond of us mere mortals. Funny, how that's always the case."

[widows_kiss]

"Not always," she counters, looking faintly amused. "There's one or two that are quite fond of us. At least where I come from. Of course, the one that wasn't made a bigger mess than anticipated, so it's occasionally easier to forget that when looking at the aftermath. But then again, I'm sure there are as many varied versions of that tale in other universes as there are everything else."

Good job, Wonderland. Because things hadn't been complicated enough anyway.

"Which ones did you have to deal with? A particular pantheon or just a random selection from several of them?" Because she's heard references to a lot of different ones here, from Greek to Roman to Japanese and who knew what else was floating around in this place?

[ganking]

"Made a mess and you lived to tell the tale-- that's kinda impressive, y'know." No really, color him impressed. Even after months of being here, it's insane to hear about some of the other things people have seen and been through. It always feels like too much just with what he and Sam have to deal with-- and now with Wonderland in the mix, too. Being transported to one of the other worlds though, that could be just as stressful...

"It was a mix and match group. Didn't exactly have time to greet and shake hands with any of them. Like I said, nasty habit with that high and mighty attitude. Plus, their hands were full with Lucifer." And Gabriel, but it's the Devil that had really caused the problems.

Dean pauses, before snorting. "...Coming here, I definitely wasn't expecting religion to be the hot topic of the night."