crowded streets are cleared away, one by one

[circlejerked]

Who: Anders (circlejerked) and Barry Allen (accelerate).
Where: Tea room to start. (Pity party at the bar TBD.)
When: Aug. 9th.
Rating: PG for now?
Summary: Thanks to the depowering, a mage loses his magic and a speedster loses his speed. Being normal sucks, man. It just sucks.
The Story:



Oh, come on. Why aren't you working?

_{[For a hot second, Anders had been overjoyed when the brainwashing of the last few days' had broken. A sure sign the event's power was starting to wan, he'd thought. The words "thank the Maker, it's over!" might have been used. Wrong. He should've known the worst was yet to come.]}

Work. Come on, work. Pretty please? I know you want to work, so just do it. Please? For me?

<sub>[Who is Anders begging with such heartfelt wheedling? It's more of a what. Sitting in front of him on one of the tea room's tables is a glass of water. More specifically, he's trying to coax his mana, which he's been trying to do for the past hour.

Freeze the water. It's a simple manipulation of the elements, a trick any child with magical aptitude could do. Freeze the water. Face scrunched in concentration, Anders leans in, close enough to see his distorted reflection in the glass.

He taps it with a finger. The water sloshes, mocking him.]</sub>

Augh!

_{[Throwing himself back in his chair, he puts his arm over his eyes with a groan of absolute frustration. The empty, unresponsive core of mana somewhere deep in his being hadn't scared him... for maybe the first fifteen minutes. Now it's starting to. Now he's starting to wonder if he's going to be stuck with this hollowed out feeling forever.]}

Comments

[circlejerked]

_{[Interesting choice of toast, but hey, he's not complaining. He clinks his glass against Barry's.]}

All right, I'll drink to that.

<sub>[The rum is a cool liquid burn all the way down his throat as he sips it, settling warmly in his empty stomach. He hadn't had much of an appetite when he'd found himself thrashing awake in his bed back in the mansion--probably not the best idea to be filling up an empty belly with booze.

Desperate times.

It doesn't quite replace the burn of mana he's used to feeling, but it'll do for now.]</sub>

[accelerate]

[ for the first time in two years, when barry drinks that alcohol, his throat burns and he reacts. he coughs, and it's one that sort of lingers in his throat for a little bit, burning itself in the one spot. he's not used to this type of burn — never has been, honestly — and now that he doesn't have that fast metabolism and reaction time buzzing inside of him, he's a little vulnerable to everything that had been there when he was human. ]

[ placing that glass down on the table, barry coughs a little more, feeling it shift and the burn subside slowly. ] Oh my god. That burns. I don't think I'm strong enough for the Anders Way.

[circlejerked]

You don't drink much, do you?

_{[Just a hunch. Anders smiles at Barry's grimacing with the glass halfway to his mouth.]}

When it burns, that's how you know it's working.

[accelerate]

[ barry coughs unattractively again. ] For real? [ speaking only makes him want to cough again, and he does his best to ignore the sensation. (he fails.) lifting his closed fist to his mouth, he coughs, trying to get the burn from his throat. he doesn't remember this burning sensation so vividly. when he'd been seventeen, he knows he'd tried some strong liquor from joe's cabinet in secret, and had lived to cough the tale to him. ]

[ maybe barry allen was made for high risk situations like crime-fighting and taking on metas. perhaps drinking alcohol isn't a part of his skill set. ] I feel like my throat's on fire. Like, an eternal fire.

[circlejerked]

_{[His eyebrows rise as if to say well, duh, silly! Hope you're not expecting Anders to give a real answer. He'll definitely play this up as far as he can (until Barry's just too drunk to notice or care).]}

It's common knowledge! The worse it feels going down, the better you feel later. Like medicine, only more fun and potentially embarrassing.

_{[A glass of special adult juice a day keeps the despair away? Something like that.]}

Maybe we should have watered yours down.

[accelerate]

[ his voice is still raspy, the aftermath of having his throat half burned out. ] Maybe.

[ he coughs some more before it turns into the sound one makes when clearing their throat. his hand moves to settle beneath his chin, press against his neck, before he moves it away. the eventual throat clearing stops, and barry eats a peanut like he hadn't almost choked. ]

It's been a while since I've had anything this strong. [ or ever, really, but barry's allowed a little white lie amongst his big ones, isn't he? ] Usually it doesn't really affect me.

[circlejerked]

<sub>[Is it rubbing it in if he takes another sip while he watches? The life of an apostate--or a Fereldan, for that matter--isn't exactly rich in hobbies to choose from; recreational drinking isn't so much a question as a given when you're tucked in for the night and have nothing better to do. His gullet is used to it.

And once you've tried dwarven booze--damn. Everything else is fruit juice compared to some of their gut-burning home brews.]</sub>

Why's that? Mom and dad wouldn't let you near the liquor cabinet?

_{[Because let's face it, Barry, you don't seem like the most experienced drinker in the world.]}

[accelerate]

[ barry doesn't bristle, but his entire aura seems to deflate. he doesn't look at anders, picking up his glass to hold it in his hand before he tips it back. this is what it should look like to drown your sorrows, except barry's never had the chance to do so since waking from his coma. he's never actually tried to cope with liquor before. ]

You could say that.

[ god, it still burns a little, but he thinks he's getting used to it — or maybe the focus on mom and dad has him distracted by the way it coats itself thickly along his throat and wants to literally set it on fire. ]

Usually I just run until I can't. It's free; alcohol usually isn't.