Drowning Sorrows

Participants:

helena_icon.gif isabelle_icon.gif teo_icon.gif

Scene Title Drowning Sorrows
Synopsis Helena opts to drown her sorrows in rum and coke. Isabelle lends an ear, and Teo comes to the rescue.
Date January 1, 2009

Old Lucy's

Old Lucy's has a vibrant and lively feel to it, from the dark wooden floors to the shady crimson walls lit up by neon lights and many times, the flashing of cameras from the oft-crowded floor. The mirror behind the bar reflects prices of various drinks, bottles lined up, as well as the entire saloon as seen from the bartenders; bolted-down stools line the other side, and there are loose tables and chairs placed all around, though many times they find themselves pushed back for more space within the center of the saloon. A few speakers are placed at strategic places and around a raised stage to the far corner from the bar. Above the counter, an obviously well-used bar is hung; it is this that the girls working will use should there be dancing, which is one reason many patrons choose to come aside from the drinks. Across the bar and near the back, there is a door that leads to the owner's office and just inside a stairwell that leads a apartment on the floor above the bar.


There's no point in describing Helena's New Year's Day. It can be summed up in three words: It was shit. The fact that it was shit is what leads her to Old Lucy's rather than the Surly Wench; she doesn't want to deal with familiar faces, and doesn't realize familiar faces work here. Fortunately, the thundercloud over her head is only metaphorical as she heads for the bar and takes a seat on one of the stools, patiently waiting for the bartender's attention.

Things at Old Lucy's are much calmer than they were the previous night. No Abby feeding men alcohol by pouring down their throats. Isabelle Ashford the owner of this place has just exited the back room and she looks around as she wipes a part of the bar down, coming to where Helena is seated. "What can I get ya this evening?" she asks with a faint smile at the woman. She looks troubled but Izzy doesn't make any mention of that.

Helena considers a moment. She wants to get as drunk as possible, but while she drinks socially she's not a hardcore lush. "Rum and coke." she decides, her fingers running along the edge of the bar top before she leans one elbow against it and slides her hand through her hair.

Isabelle quickly makes the drink and slides it over to Helena, because there is not that many people in Old Lucy's tonight Izzy decides to stay and talk to Helena. "So, you're in here alone.. and you don't seem to happy about something. Something fucked up must have happened." She says as she leans against the bar and tilts her head at the other woman.

Helena lets out something somewhere between a laugh and a sob, and she takes the drink, downing her first few droughts of it in big gulps. This is perhaps not the most healthy reaction, but she's of an age where stupid is generally something to deal with. "I just…someone isn't who I thought he was."

"I'll get you another, on the house." Isabelle says to Helena and sets the drink down when she gets done making it so that if Helena wants it she can have it. "That always suck, being lied too. Did you ever see any signs to point towards this? Or did you not want to believe it?" she looks at the young woman with a sympathetic gaze. She doesn't usually care about how others feel but today she is feeling in a pretty good mood.

"Thanks." This one is more slowly sipped, gulping the initial glass so fast has given her at least a bit of a buzz. "I - I don't know. Maybe. I hoped - it doesn't matter." She's not going to start sobbing in the middle of a strange bar.

The older woman looks at Helena, "I don't normally pry into people's business if they don't want to talk but after working at a bar for so many years, you tend to gain the ability to read people and right now, something is telling me that you need to talk about this. That is if you want to start to move on with whatever the situation is." Isabelle nods her head at Helena and looks around the bar, she then centers her gaze back onto Helena. "What do ya say?"

That is when the TV that is mouted in the corner of the bar is playing some news report of Evolved doing /bad/ things. "Turn that shit off! The media paints em all in a bad light anyway!" she yells at one of the bartenders and then puts her gaze on Hel. "Sorry, the news hasn't been very nice to the Evolved lately." Izzy explains and runs a hand through her hair.

Helena looks up at the tv. "Never ends." she says blearily. Then, "I'm not ready to talk about it, and I'm not ready to move on. I just want to get drunk enough to not feel so bad."

"Been there, done that. Since this seems like a relatively new deal. I can cut you slack on being a wreck about it all." Izzy says and adds, "Just don't let this consume your life. If that happens.. well then you'll start losing more than a guy." Wise words from Isabelle the pyrokinetic.

Helena blinks a bit. "I'm not new to drinking. I've just never tried to get drunk before. Scuse me a minute." She totters off the stool and moves to the hall leading to the bathrooms. Which is where she gets a little sobbing done, as well as an inarticulate phone call to someone before she comes back and resumes her place, taking another swig of her drink. "It won't go to shit." Helena says. "Won't let it. We can do good things. People just have to remember."

Long distance to Bolivar: Helena blinks a bit. "I'm not new to drinking. I've just never tried to get drunk before. Scuse me a minute." She totters off the stool and moves to the hall leading to the bathrooms. Which is where she gets a little sobbing done, as well as an inarticulate phone call to someone before she comes back and resumes her place, taking another swig of her drink. "It won't go to shit." Helena says. "Won't let it. We can do good things. People just have to remember."

Isabelle nods her head and then waits for the woman to get back and says, "I see." Isabelle glares at the bartenders as they /finally/ shut the TV off. "You didn't need to watch that trash. They /don't/ tell the truth, about all of the Evolved. Makes it seem like they are all horrible people!" Isabelle sighs and scratches her head, "Sorry about that, it just ticks me off. Not all of the Evolved are bad or evil. They are just people." Izzy says and returns to Helena's problem.

"Just remember, everyone makes their own decision and you can't make someone change their mind once they are determined to carry it out. SSo if this guy doesn't want to be with you anymore.. you can't change it. Sucks I know." This is at least what Izzy is /assuming/ this is what Helena is going through.

"He doesn't want to be with anyone, he - he's in jail." Helena shakes her head. She's never going to be so drunk she'll let everything go, but her tongue's loosened a little. "He shouldn't be there, but he thinks it's what he deserves. I did so much because I have - had faith in him, and he's a coward."

"Oh sugar, you can have plenty of faith in someone but it doesn't matter unless they believe in themselves." The bartender fixes Helena with a stare. "He apparently thinks whatever he has done is bad enough that he has to actually stay in jail."
"Yeah, I - yeah." Helena drains her glass. "Another, please? He wants forgiveness. He won't find it where he's at. He could do so much better." There's a sniff, and she wipes at her eyes like she's four.

Isabelle supplies another drink, "Perhaps he needs to forgive himself /first/ and then worry about forgiveness of others." The pyro leans against the bar with her hands on the edges of the counter. "Hun, you like you've been shouldered with something nobody your age should have to deal with." Isabelle shakes her head, "Let it out. It only destroys your insides if you contain it all."

"Can't." says Helena blearily. "I've got people counting on me. No offense, but I can't just spill my guts in the middle of a bar. T'someone I don't know."

"None taken. Let it out to someone, preferably someone that has lost a guy they cared about the way you are losing yours." Isabelle smiles softly at Helena, "If you don't take care of yourself. You will surely let the people down. That is a true fact." Izzy is just full of nice advice tonight.

"I think they'll all forgive me one night of completely self indulgent misery." Helena's tone is better. "Except for maybe one." Claude would undoubtedly tell her to suck it up and get on with things. But Helena's feeling ninety-nine instead of nineteen, and by now her spine is curving her over her drink like she's an old woman. She's on her third bourbon and coke, and if she were a driver, Isabelle would have been well advised to take her keys away.

"Tell that one to fuck off. They should understand that everyone has at least /one/ time that they need to take care of themselves emotionally." Izzy then takes a drink for herself, a shot of tequila as she refocuses on Helena, "What's your name by the way? I'm Isabelle, owner of this here bar." She offers a hand.

Helena reaches out her own across the bar. "Helena." she says, and offers Izzy a credible shake despite her current plastered state. "Nah, he'd mean well. He just has the empathy of a hairbrush."

"Well Helena, as your bartender tonight. I am giving you one order, don't wallow and try your best to not be depressed." Isabelle smiles at the woman as she takes her hand back and wipes a part of the bar down next to Helena. "This must be some guy." If only Izzy knew that this is the same guy that was suppose to come get a free drink and come to Isabelle's apartment and.. stuff.
"S'kinda hard." Helena gulps. "He is - was, um, amazing. The things he could do. He wanted to be a hero, so badly. He just…he got off course. Everything was too much for him."

The door to Lucy's clanks in under the brunt of Teo's shoulder, the man himself slightly off-balance as he tries to kick a bit of sloppy-clingy snow off his pant leg before entering. He isn't even sure how he got that on him. He hadn't fallen, or anything. Stamping his feet on the floor, he sheds another pip and scattering of slush and ice, before glancing through the bar.

He is expecting shouting hordes of New Year's patrons because he's forgotten how late it is, is greeted instead with the sight of one reasonably notorious pyromancer cleaning up and Hel almost alone. Fielding the older woman a good-naturedly wary look, he nevertheless approaches without hesitation. "Hel." There's a hand on one shoulder, an arm over both.

"Hero huh? Well sounds like a good guy." When Teo enters and walks over, Izzy blinks, "Well I'll be. You know some fuckhead asked me did I know you and damnit Teo, why the hell was he asking me about how I feel about Pro-Evolved and the like. His name was Miles, and then the fucker wanted to fuck me! I'm sure you know /why/ I wouldn't do that."

Isabelle puts her hands on her hips and leans forward, "And since I know your damn name then you might as well know mine. Name's Izzy or Isabelle." The bartender doesn't look to worried about people hearing because the other bartenders are in the back and the only other person there is a drunk who is passed out on a table. "I'm so sorry if I sound upset but why the hell, did he ask me about you?"

Helena is completely oblivious to Isabelle, because when she feels that hand, she crumples a little, and oh dear, there goes the waterworks again. "Teo - " she turns on the stool, and then more or less flops herself into Teo's arms, sobbing piteously. "It - he - Peter, I saw Peter."

Despite the armload of distraught blonde, who now sounds exactly like the blithering voicemail Teo had heard twenty minutes ago, he hears Isabelle. He is instantly dismayed by both women, but having caught Helena, the circle of his arms doesn't look like it's going to inadvertently break anytime soon. His attention divided between the two, the first thing he thinks to cover verbally is, "Um." The next thing he does is give himself a little shake, assessing the situation, recognizing that Helena probably isn't going to be able to make a lot of sentences very soon.

He lets his hands talk to her first, a palm on the back of her head, thumbing bright hair over her ear, a solid grip around her waist. It transliterates roughly to It's okay. It'll be okay. Let it out. Just, preferably not with too much verbal detail; Isabelle apparently isn't the sort to enjoy being out of the loop, and he isn't sure that Hel wants a new acquaintance learning that Homeland Security has her boyfriend with visitation hours. "He gave Abby a scare a few weeks ago," he tells Isabelle from over Hel's head. "Made her think he was Midtown's walking bomb. I got in the way.

"Are you… did he— I hope he didn't do something to you." Snatch her body, he'd say, but that seems like something you should talk around unless you can't.

"No he didn't /do/ anything to me. Because I offered to burn his pecker off he did try to do anything to me." Izzy rolls her eyes, "Fucking weirdo." She doesn't admit that she kissed him to tease him a little. That's besides the point! Izzy looks sadly at Helena and says to Teo, "Girl is pretty tore up. Been hitting these drinks pretty hard."

Helena isn't really processing the words being exchanged, she's too busy making Teo's shirt wet. And later she'll be mortified that she stood in the middle of the bar and cried like a baby, but for now she'll accept what comfort she can get. "I did - I made a deal to see him." she sobs. Even in her distress, she keeps her word choice vague. "He's given up. Everything. He's a coward, Teo!" And it breaks her heart.

From behind the atmokinetic's head, Teo offers the bar owner an extremely leery thumbs-up, and a rueful half a smile. Awesome. Offered to burn his pecker off. Indicates that, whomever Miles' current host is, they still have their dick. Very awesome. He exudes a difficult sigh the next moment, his hand falling out of its curl to ruffle the tumble of Helena's halo. He can hear what she's saying, careful word choice and all, muffled by the fabric of his clothes and the bulk of his shoulder. He lacks concern for the former; anything he wears out to Manhattan in this season can take far worse.

"Maybe," he murmurs, chagrined, reassurance from the least reliable source on the planet, "maybe he just needs time to rest. This can't be the easy thing for him. He loves you." The sun is yellow, the moon is white.

It took Isabelle a few minutes to realize that Helena said the name Peter. While she has no indication that it is /that/ Peter she becomes suspicious. "Wait.. /Peter/?" Her eyes wide, "He did disapper.." she trails off and scratches her head. Then shakes it, "Couldn't be.. could it?" Peter is in jail? Her eyes travel from Helena to Teo and then back to Helena. It /couldn't/ be that Peter. There are /tons/ of Peter's in New York. "Um, about when did this Peter go to jail?"

The sobbing has subsided somewhat, at least in frequency. Those remaining come out in waves that wrack Helena's skeleton. She shakes her head, though what she's denying isn't exactly clear. Maybe Teo's words, maybe her own thoughts. And then Isabelle's asking questions. Helena turns her head in Teo's arms. She looks at Isabelle now, her face hot and eyes gone flat and careful. "Beginning of December." she says in a croak.

The Sicilian's features have emptied. Teo looks at Isabelle with something neutral, akin to curiosity. There's tension in his frame but, perhaps oddly, his arms loosen around Helena's dainty figure, freeing her on the off-chance they discover that they are not entirely among friends here. In the simplest of terms, she has bigger guns than he does.

"Son of a bitch. Is this Peter /Petrelli/?" Izzy looks at Helena and Teo with shock. "I know him, we.. worked together briefly." Isabelle shakes her head and puts both hands on the bar.

Helena's gaze continues to be flat, hot. "We should go." she murmurs suddenly, and starts to dig into her jacket pocket. Isabelle may even recognize it - it's a duplicate of the one the Peter who maintained relations with PARIAH often wore. Helena places a crumpled $20 on the bar, hoping it's enough as she moves to hook arms with Teo.

The assumptions would be easy to make. Teo goes with a tentative deduction instead, his eyes flitting haphazard across the pyrokinetic's face, the twenty unwrinkling in his peripheral vision. It's a fleeting thought, light on the heels of a recent news story and the recent recollection of Isabelle's preferred method of dealing with problems. He thinks: Good to see somebody made it out. For all that the burning bird and the terrorists have moved their separate directions — and for such very practical reasons, he could find a few things to admire in those they had left behind.

He wouldn't be here without them, and though the world may be no worse off than if they were gone, he could say the same for a lot of people. "Buona notte, signora." The arm hooked through Helena's tightens fractionally, and the rough flat of his palm finds a curl over the back of her smaller hand. He takes his first step out, a grating of ice on meltwater.

"You two be safe out there and if you need me then ya know where I am." Isabelle shakes her head as she cleans out the glasses that Helena used that night. The twenty is scooped up and she chuckles softly, "Cheer up Helena, it'll get better." Izzy assures the younger woman as they leave the bar.

Looks like the news is on again and Isabelle growls as she hears the start of a news reporter's voice. "Goddamn! That's it! No more fucking TV!" Isabelle opens her palm wide and flames gather into a ball, she throws the fireball with dead accuracy and the TV in the far corner of the bar explodes. Good thing the ladies are in the back. The sleeping patron, Charlie wakes up with a start. "Wha-" he starts and then quickly wipes his face and leaves the bar quickly, obviously he had somewhere to be and the only people that would have witnessed Isabelle's angry outburst would have been Teo and Helena. "See yall later." Izzy says cheerfully as the Tv smokes in the background. Damn televisions.

Helena lets out a yelp at the explosion, at this point she's actually fairly grateful to get out of there with her life. She'd be a cooller head if she hadn't had three generous helpings of rum and coke, and all but pulls Teo out the door.


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January 1st: Firestarter?
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January 2nd: The Stages
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