Participants:
| Scene Title | Drowning Our Sorrows |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Cassidy and Elisabeth go out for drinks and Cassidy tells her about Mortimer and the craziness that happened between her and Coren. |
| Date | June 22, 2009 |
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.
She wasn't suppose to be at the precinct, but that didn't keep Cassidy away. The past couple of weeks have been hell on Cassidy, as well as her partner. And recent things have only made it worse. The whole thing was taking too much time in her eyes, and she was tired of not knowing what was going on about her partner's shooting. So that's what she was going when Liz catches up with her.
"You look like shit."
"I feel like shit."
"Drinks?"
"God, yes please."
So they came to a familiar place to both of them. Cassidy is already a drink or two into the evening, the buzz feeling pretty good. Course she's occasionally getting distracted by something in her head. For the most part chit chat on her part has been mild as she explains how crappy it was being in that hospital day in and day out taking care of her partner. "Not that I minded helping him out, but the boredom and the chair were pretty crappy." Glancing towards the back of the bar, she motions to it with her head. "You realize he was shot right out back there."
"Yeah," Elisabeth says around a swallow of a bourbon and soda — yeah, yeah, she should just be drinking beer, but if you do that before you get to the hard liquor, the upset stomach is just not worth it. So she'll just start as she means to go on — maybe catch a glass of wine later in the evening, if her taste buds survive that long. "I know. I didn't realize it til we'd already decided to come here," she admits. "So tell me something," she says, lounging back in her seat. She is studiously ignoring the after-work crowd that's beginning to filter in and take notice of the two women at the table at the end of the bar. "I'm kind of surprised that the two of you are still sticking it out on the living together thing. Aren't you about ready to get back to your life?"
Another drink brought to her this time a fuzzy navel, the word flitting through her mind makes her giggle. She places her hand over her mouth and gives Elisabeth an amused look, before dropping her hand again."Well… As much as I'd like to I can't..I totally can't." She glances at her drink and smirks at it, before picking it up for a sip. "I tried to have a life… But boooooy.. let me tel you, girlie… I can't have one it's too weird for words." She shakes her head slowly and sighs. "You remember how I mentioned liking a guy.. who well… might not be on the right side of things?"
There's a bit of a smirk as Cassidy mentions it. "I remember," she tells the other woman. "Don't tell me…. Shelby found out and he's giving you shit for it?" She's not drinking quite as heavily as Cassidy, still working her way through her second drink slowly, but it's starting to look like one of those nights. Maybe she should have left her weapon at the precinct. Ah well… hindsight is 20/20.
"Ooooh worse than just finding out.. He sawww." Cassidy gives Liz a wide eyed look, and she draws out that last word like there is some major significance to it. "He found out I was seeing Mortimer.. you know.. that crazy guy who showed up in my shower but he totally didn't mean in anyway to scare me and didn't plan to hurt me?" Taking a breath after that long run on and says, "He saw me and Mortimer… " There is a pained look as she admits this, "..having sex." She grimaces at something and takes a rather good sized drink from her glass.
There are several bits of information in those statements that take a moment to parse through Liz's brain. He saw….. he walked in, he … had a vision? What? And wait…. MORTIMER? "Holy shit, Cass…. I thought my sex life was fucked up," she says with both eyebrows raised. She gestures for another drink, downs the rest of the one in her hand, tells the waitress, "Start bringing the bourbon neat, if you will… never mind. Just leave the bottle!" And then she stares at Cassidy, hissing in astonishment, "You're fucking Mortimer?? The same Mortimer who broke into your place?" The same Mortimer for whom Liz has been keeping an eye out for weeks???
Leaning back in her chair and kicking her feet up on one of the free chairs at their tables, Cassidy points at Liz and says. "Yup. That would be the man. I am screwing my stalker.. And ooooh boy is he good." She pauses.. wait.. probably shouldn't have said that much. "I visited him when he was stuck in the hospital.. and you know that who empathy… gut feeling thing… It told me a lot. So.. when he showed up at my apartment with this whole romantic dinner.. I decided to give him a chance. And well… He's the one dropping all the criminals at our doorstep. He's trying to be a good boy." She reaches over to grab the server's arms as Liz's order is brought over. "Hey, can I get some scotch." She wiggles her half empty drink at the girl. Glancing at Liz she says. "I'm trying to see if drinking makes it less likely to hear Coren.. course over here.. at least it's only like.. thoughts and feelings.. not like it is when I'm right next to him."
Blowing out a breath, Elisabeth pops up a silence bubble once the bottles and glasses show up. "Jesus fuckin' CHRIST, Cassidy — the guy's a loose cannon!" she explodes. "Look, the guys I was screwing are criminals, but they're…. they're petty thieves, the two of 'em! Not fuckin' m… stalkers! You sure your whole empathy thing isn't misfiring here??" She almost said they weren't murderers, and they're not!!, but they have been known to be killers. So to-may-to, to-mah-to. She whistles. "Shelby's going absolutely ballistic, I bet," she says. "What are you going to do?"
Cassidy just nods and let's Liz rant and sips at her drink, a small smile on her face. She's heard it all before. "I am sure on this. He wants to be good for me. No new deaths on his part. I'd know." She drops her head back and stares at the ceiling. "He was pretty damn pissed. In fact, we got into an argument after I got back from… seeing Mortimer." Her head comes forward to give the woman across from her a grim smile. "Seems he saw some of what went on from my perspective." The question of what shes gonna do is ignored for the moment.
"You're so fucked," Elisabeth says in a stunned voice. "So totally fucked." She pours herself another drink and slams it back. "Your partner can see the things you do from your eyes? That's not his power, it's gotta be yours. You are so fucked." She scrubs a hand through her hair, unsure of what to say to the other officer. "Why'd you tell me?" she asks curiously, changing the topic. Cuz well…. seems like quite a risk.
"Gets better Liz." Cassidy says holding up a hand, to stave the woman off some. "During our argument.. Something really freaky happened.. It's worse now. He and I can in a way carry on a conversation without saying anything.. Like right now.." She looks kinda to the left of the other woman, her eyes going a bit distant. "I can't hear much. But I know he's drinking just as heavy as I can and he knows I'm talking to you. He's not real happy right now." She focuses on Liz again and looks rather serious. "Just I don't know what to do… Cause I needed to talk to someone who is not intimately tied to me in one way or another. Someone I'm fairly sure will not go babbling about all this." Looking a touch bit more sober, Cassidy rubs fingers across her forehead. "And your right.. I'm totally fucked. How do I have any relationship with him in my head all the time?" Giving a weary smile she adds, "Especially, when he can see it every time I have sex with a guy."
Giving a soft whistle under her breath, Liz sits back and considers. Her eyes skim across the people starting to fill the bar, and her glare warns off a couple of men who look like they might be thinking of coming over. "Well," she says finally, pouring another drink to sip again, "I'd say that you're going to have to figure out a way to … I don't know, erect mental shields of some kind? Or at least…. divert his attention so he doesn't have to suffer through watching you have sex and stuff, at least. Cuz that's kinda wrong. And you'll be on the recieving end at some point too. Reciting math problems or something? Geez… I'm so not a psychic. I don't even know on….. " And Liz trails off, as if paging through her mental rolodex of people and their abilities. Does she know one? Let's see….
There is a slow shake of Cassidy's head at the mention of shields. "I've tried.. I pass out from the pain every time I do.. It's like trying to build a dam in a raging river." There is a wave of her hand as if dismissing it. "I try to build it up.. but the pressure is too much.. I black out and wake to a bloody nose. Coren won't let me try anymore… " She sighs. "You ever realize how much that man worries? It's constant." She sounds almost overwhelmed with it. "You, me.. Abigail… Worry worry worry…" Knocking back the rest of her drink she pours the scotch now.
Elisabeth shakes her head and mutters, "Jesus….. don't take this wrong, but I'm so glad all I got was the ability to eavesdrop, keep people from eavesdropping, and liquefying internal organs with sound waves." She mostly sounds like she's joking, but not quite. "At least I can just mute them when people start bitching at me and pretend to pay attention. Wha-wha-whawha-whawhawha," she says, imitating an old Charlie Brown cartoon.
"No offense Liz.. No offense at all." Cassidy waves it away with a sght. Wrinkling her nose a bit. "I am not looking forward to telling Mortimer. There is just…. no way. Especially, now that it's worse." She leans forward and let's her forehead thump lightly on the table. "I always wanted to know what my ability is but… This…" With her forehead resting on the table she waves a hand around above her. " This sucks… I mean… totally sucks."
There's a bit of a nod and Elisabeth is forced to laugh. "That'd be the understatement of the absolute century, m'girl," she chuckles. "Jesus… okay. So if you can't block him out, maybe you can learn to …. divert him?" she suggests, looking a bit helpless on this one.
Cassidy's head comings off the table, but she leans an arm on the table and leans over a bit peering at the woman. "Like.. how?" How the heck do you go about diverting someone. Who would know your trying to divert them. " She picks up her glass and swirls the contents around watchng it. "Fuck, Liz.. I don't know." She finishes the contents of her glass and half drops it on the table. "Please.. I'm begging you.. please, don't let this get out. I don't think anyone knows about this.." She wiggles her fingers at her temple. "..thing Coren and I got going on. I mean we've been notcing stuff, but this is pretty intense. Not sure how brass will take it. And while, I'm weirded out by being connected to him like this. I like my partner. I trust the man with my life." And now her mind.
"Giiiiirrrrrrrl," Elisabeth drawls mildly. "I'm not telling anyone this shit. Hell, no one'd believe me anyway and besides. We gotta stick together. But I'm tellin' you, this is bad news. Having your partner privy to the parts of your life that really shouldn't be his business unless he's the one you're fucking is just…. wrong. On too many levels to count. The only telepath I know of has gone walkabout, too," she says, pouring another shot to sip.
"I appreciate that. Cause I'm not sure I believe it myself. It's been a couple of days since it happened. It's crazy." Cassidy picks up the scotch bottle and frowns at it. "Never drank Scotch before.. it's Coren's drink of choice." With a shrug of her shoulders, she pours another glass. "So… beyond my fucked up Twilight Zone episode of a life, how are you doing?"
Elisabeth considers and comments, "Well….. one of my lovers is on the run from a madman. One of them's getting too overprotective and I may have to stop being his cuz there's definitely some freaky information that's come to light about him. One of them's a cop and I'm praying to high heaven that doesn't complicate my life at all — so far, it's looking good." Liz grins and shoots back the last of her bourbon. "Can't complain too much, I guess," she finishes.
Chuckling, Cassidy shakes her head slowly. "Girlie…. We are both up to our necks in shit, arn't we.. Course… I'm probably drowning in it, now that I think about it." Downing her own drink, she finally pushes her chair back. "I gotta go back to the hotel room. I think he's getting a bit antsy about me being here and getting hammered." She pushes herself to her feet and has to put her hands on the table to steady herself. She closes her eyes for a moment. "No.. I can get home on my own and your still healing." Kinda obvious she's not talking to Liz. Sighing, she straightens once she's sure she can walk. A smile is given to Liz, "Thanks for talking to me.. I needed that."
There's a grin at Cass, and Elisabeth says quietly, "Anytime. I'm sorry I can't be more help than that, Cassidy. But let me know what I can do for you, lady. Tell Coren to quit being a fuckin' worrywart. I'm goddamn sick and tired of men who think we can't hold our own in any situation — got where we are because we're fucking good at it. Have some goddamn faith in your partner, man, even when you don't agree with her." She winks at Cass. "G'wan, you… I'm gonna have a couple more of these and ask my friend Abby to pour me into a taxi."
Cassidy starts to step away and stops, turning back to Liz. "I can say one thing for Coren. He didn't run away when this thing happened.. Cause Liz… I'm been in some scary stuff, but this.. This was life changing." She smiles a touch, thoughtful. "He didn't run.. He held my hand.. and made sure I was okay. Can't really ask for a better partner in that sense." That said she gives Liz a slobby wave and heads out the door of the bar, muttering "Quit your bitchin' Coren I'm coming home."