|
  |
On most nights, Daire is a bouncer, keeping watch over the floor and sometimes the door, just making sure that everyone remains chill. The place is a safe space for mutants, though, and the threat is rarely from within. Still, sometimes people get foolish and drunk and things happen. Such is the nature of all people.
Tonight, however, he is up in the small lighted area playing guitar and singing along with a couple of other acquaintances that he kept playing with . It's nearing the end of the set, the small group having been playing for a little bit. He's gotten better over time, more refined the longer and more oftne he plays, and his voice is solid. His eyes scan the crowd, perhaps looking for someone in particular as the last song is winding toward a close.
Golden skinned, Josh is coming off after his shift from the Center — and clearly its been a productive shift. Still, by this point he's well known in the neighborhood, and by the time he gets to the bar to order a gin & tonic, he rarely has to buy his own drinks. An appreciative nod is offered to the woman who paid, a smile, but then he takes his drink and makes it over for a table, golden eyes seeking out Dai's and offering a smile across the room.
The moment that Daire catches sight of Josh, his smile broadens, and even moreso at the smile across the room. The song doesn't take long to finish, and there's a respectable amount of applause even as the litlte makeshift band gets up and begins to pack away their things, making their way offstage. Daire carries his guitar over to the table in its case and sets it down mostly under the table near the wall where it won't get tripped over. "Long shift?" he asks as he settles in next to Josh and bumps shoulders with him.
Josh adds in his own applause, enthusiastically, but when Dai comes to sit with him, he bumps shoulders back. He tilts his drink back, and smiles over at Daire, "Not so bad. Things have been light later what with Thea and I sharing shifts. Its not every day but its enough to just… lighten things. It lets me focus on other things." He reaches under the table to wrap fingers around Daire's hand. He's not being super secretive about it, people aren't likely to turn on him at this point, but there's no reason to rub anyone's face in it.
"Yeah, well any help is better than zero help. It's great that you have someone to give you a little bit of time off every once in a while," Daire says as he smlies, feeling that hand wrap around his, and gives it a return squeeze with his own fingers, leaning in again for another light bump of shoulders. "I like focusing on other things every once in a while," he says with a flash of a smile that is light-hearted. "I am done for the night. Did you have any plans? Want to hang out here? Walk home? Go someplace else?"
"Today, all the kids got grapes with
"Today, all the kids got grapes with their cheese sandwiches, and for breakfast? Peaches and cinnamon mixed in with their oatmeal." Josh loves to heal, but _feeding_ the kids of the area seems to be far, far more important to him, "Two servings of fresh fruit without even counting whatever they get at dinner— be it dinner at home, or at Ethel's. Its amazing, Dai. I've been monitoring a certain lasting nutrition deficit in the kids and have been trying to correct it… with power, but even I have limits. Now? This generation here might grow up whole." He hesitates, and tilts his drink back, "Let's finish this drink at least, then go… do something. I don't know what."
"Sounds good, all except the oatmeal part," Daire has never been a fan of oatmeal — something about the texture. He'd totally steal the fruit though if left to his own devices. He smiles as he listens to Josh talk about the kids and the new opportunities for better nutrition. "Can you see a benefit already with them or is it too soon to tell?" He's genuinely interested, and leans back in his chair comfortably, seeming more than content to relax and let Josh enjoy his drink.
"Wait, seriously? How do you not like oatmeal? With milk, fresh fruit and cinnamon? Ugh, we are done." Josh laughs softly, tilting his drink back for a longer sip, "Its too soon to tell. I mean I know today the kids didn't get worse, but malnutrition is slow to appear and slow to have an effect. There's likely no long term damage I can't mitigate, but I'll check the kids over individually on their next checkup. There's no real rush." He squeezes Dai's hand.
"Nope, don't like it, never have," Daire says and then chuckles, "Wait, this just means that there's more oatmeal for you and you know I'll never eat it all before you get to have some." He returns the squeeze and then says, "I figured it'd be too soon to tell but.. your abilities are pretty amazing and your ability to sense things is pretty keen. So I wasn't sure how much you could tell or not." He grins. "And sure, we can go out and do something."
"We don't have to go out and _do_ something in any sort of specific way. Sneaking into the botanical gardens for a walk counts. I mean, obviously I'm gold right now so going to a restaurant or event with a lot of baseline humans is pretty out there as far as plans go." But unlike how that once bothered him a lot, now Josh is just okay with it.
"Hey, sneaking into the gardens is a distinct possibility. Remember, I can just fly us into wherever we want to go," Daire grins again as they contemplate what to do after the drinks are done. "We can always just go for a walk, too and see what inspiration takes us." He doesn't seem too concerned about what they do or don't do. "We could drop in on the World's Faire, too, though we'd have to be careful to avoid the guards."
"I kind of like the idea of some flying." Josh admits thoughtfully, "So fly somewhere, settle down, cuddle." He finishes off his drink, and eyes the empty glass for a moment, then rises up and glances back, rolling his shuolders, "Maybe a beach? STop by the market down the road, grab a bottle of vodka and OJ. I dunno, been working so much. I just want some time with you, Dai."
"Then we'll fly somewhere," Daire says with a grin. "Once we're done here, and just spend some time together, away from work.." He glances around. "Both of our work." He smiles and gives another squeeze. "I'm going to go stow my guitar in the back so I don't have to carry it around with us and I'll grab us a bottle of something for the road, sky, whatever." He slips from the table then and is gone only for a couple of minutes to go lock up the guitar in the back before returning, giving Josh some time to enjoy his drink.
Finishing off his drink, Josh leans against the bar and waits for Daire to return with a bottle, just…relaxing. In a shiny way. When Daire returns, he smiles over to the young man and gives a nod, then turns to head outisde, outside here he offers Dai a hand for obvious reasons. "Don't drop me, that'd be owe." he teases lightly.