Richie's Not Group Therapy Session

[mrsklover]

WHO: Richie and his band of depressed Losers(OTA)
WHERE: Cayde's Bar
WHAT: NOT therapy. Not therapy and not an AA meeting. Just hanging out.
WHEN: Few days after the Town Hall
WARNINGS: Probably some substance abuse/addiction talk.

Richie sent off a message to the whole network just a few hours ago:

It was for his Not Therapy session that he had proposed at the town hall meeting. Just a way for people to get together and to talk about shit happening here. Maybe get a support network that will keep some people sane. Richie knew how effective that was; his own Loser's Club had stopped him from being stupid after Eddie's death more times than they even knew about. It was important and, after learning that things around here could be just as randomly cruel, necessary, he thought. His mind kept returning to Tony at the bar with his sealed bottle of liquor. The talk of loss and all of that... 

Yeah. People around here seemed like they could use a social get-together that allowed them to talk about lost friends or loves. People came here and people left without warning. It was a hard way to live, being that powerless. But really, was it any different from where they came from? Really? 

Richie sighs as he gets to the bar early and grabs himself a drink of something strong and foul-tasting. He wants to make sure he sips it instead of slugging the whole thing down in one go. No chance of that with this. He sits down at a chair and drums his fingers on the table. Part of his brain is telling him this is stupid and pointless and that he looks stupid for even trying. He buries the thought under another sip and an off-tune humming rendition of 'I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts'.

If no one shows up he's still got his drink. That'll be just fine.
 

Comments

[mrsklover]

Richie had heard about the replicator and the little box that spits out items that may or may not be what you ask for. He made a mental note to head over and give it a shot.

At the question he looked up and gave a Press Release Smile that he'd practiced for years. The smile of 'I have no idea what my face might say and Twitter is ruthless so here. Take this.'

"I've been fine. Debating on one of those data thingies but I'm still not sure. Otherwise just getting around. Getting to know people. Getting used to a whole alien planet with people from different universes on it. So, yeah. It's all good. You?"

[heypartner]

Cobb sipped his drink as he considered Richie. Being fairly good at bullshit himself he had a feeling he wasn't being completely honest about how he felt and how he was settling in.

"This is certainly the strangest things I've ever dealt with in my life," he answered honestly. The lack of resources and hardship weren't that bad, really. The whole mess of people? The whole owned by aliens? Cobb wasn't quite happy about that.

"You got someone from your world, right?" He thought he'd seen them sitting together at the town meeting. Another man. Friendly enough but terrified about the hospital. Made an impression.

[mrsklover]

Richie nodded as he fights a complicated expression on his face. Half smile and half thousand-yard stare. It's the look he gets too often when he thinks about Eddie and the fact that he is here, now.

"Yeah. Eddie. We were friends when we were kids and lost touch for twenty years or so. Then reconnected for some frankly horrifying bullshit and. Yeah. Now we're here."

Finally he smiled a little.

"I can't say I'm upset about it even if it does mean he's part of the kidnapped party here."

[heypartner]

"Nothing like horrifying bullshit to bring people together." Cobb raised his glass in a toast. He wouldn't ask for details because then Richie might do the same but he understood how surviving awful, awful shit could bring people together.

His whole community was built around it, after all.

"It's easier to settle in when you've got someone who understands. Though, folks here ain't bad. Odd, but not bad." At the moment, Cobb wasn't sure if Richie was odd or not. He was impulsive. Cobb wanted to call him stupid but that was unfair when he didn't really know the man.

[mrsklover]

"Odd but not bad. Yeah. That is pretty much what I have been experiencing around here."

Richie rolled his glass between his palms and contemplated the whole thing.

"How long have you been here, then?" The answer would be both a comfort and a knife to the heart in some ways. The comfort would be in the answer representing how much time he might have with Eddie but the rest of it would be how long he could expect to be on this alien world, out of control of his own fate.

[heypartner]

"Not long compared to some of the others." Cobb scratched at his chin for a moment, trying to think of what he's heard others say. "I think Cayde's been here close to two years. Me? Three months or so."

The way Cobb was used to measuring time was slightly different. His home planet had longer days and nights. The little communication device kept time for him but he still felt thrown off.

One sun still seemed wrong.

"But people also come and go it seems. Disappear. Reappear. Can't predict it. That seems rare though." Another fact of this place that reminded Cobb uncomfortably of his life before freedom.