[open] Just drink your cares away.

[mr_haulage]

Who Rhys and anyone who wants to have a drink with him... or buy him one.
What Rhys is having a drink to sort things out. A lot of things.
When Sometime after July 1st.
Where A bar. Rhys has no idea where

Comments

[idolstolemylook]

Spike wasn't sure why he kept showing up in bars, when he could just steal a fifth. But he guessed it was the ambiance. People around, noise, that sort of thing. Couldn't eat them, but he liked the smell. Like a caffeine addict hanging about at Starbucks.

He ordered a shot of whiskey at the bar, and informed the barkeep to keep 'em coming. The bloke next to him had the nervous scent of a newcomer, and Spike kept an eye on him as he drank, just out of curiosity.

[mr_haulage]

Rhys had been to enough bars to know when someone had an air about them. The guy that had taken a seat next to him was no exception. He felt dangerous, but the look in his eye was somehow more playful than anything. It was a bit disconcerting, but he didn't pay it much heed. Of course, he kept his wits about him as he sipped his beer gingerly. He may have been comfortable, but he didn't want to get stabbed all the same.

Perhaps, talking would make him seem less nervous and out of sorts.

"Kind of a muggy night, eh mate?" He instantly regretted talking about the weather, but he let it hang out there, hoping he didn't sound like too much of a tool bag.

[idolstolemylook]

Spike stared at him a moment, with a full sidelong "you're a tool" look in his eyes. "Yeah," he said flatly. "An' I'm a Leo, to get that bit out of the way."

[mr_haulage]

Rhys chuckled nervously.

"Cancer, myself." Just what the hell was he doing? There's no way this guy wasn't thinking about stabbing him now. He'd just have to play it off and go back to drinking by himself. Only problem was, now he could feel the stranger's eyes on him, like daggers in the night, piercing right through his veil of anonymity. At least, whatever was left of said veil.

[idolstolemylook]

The man was afraid, but playing along, and Spike couldn't tell if he was playing dumb or not. And then the accent registered, and he laughed.

"Oh, it's you," he said. "New kind in town, misses the football."

[mr_haulage]

Somehow, despite the uncomfortable situation, Rhys was now subjected to a bout of painful embarrassment. He knew this guy from somewhere, and to be more specific, he knew him from somewhere very recently.

"Misses it? God, I bloody crave it, mate." Rhys laughed, suddenly at ease with situation, completely removed from his previous worries. "They really have none here? Not even rugby?"

[idolstolemylook]

He was really too good to be true. Spike could just eat him up--except for how he couldn't, of course. Damn shame. Really was a mundane, wasn't he?

"Not exactly a team sort of mindset," Spike said. "Plenty of porn, though."

[mr_haulage]

"Oh," Rhys said absentmindedly. He was surprised by how quickly that lifted his spirits. "Nothing wrong with a bit of booze and some lad's mags. Guess all is not lost after all."

He felt like laughing a bit, but he was quickly realizing being too jovial wasn't fitting the atmosphere in the bar. He picked up his drink and slammed it back. Before he could even set the bottle down he was signalling to the barkeep for another. He glanced over at his "drinking buddy" cautiously.

"So... Spike, was it?"

[idolstolemylook]

"Yeah," Spike said, "though I didn't catch yours. Gotta say, mate. You seem a bit lost, here."

[mr_haulage]

"It's Rhys, and yeah, I'm a bit out of place, you could say that." He looked at his near empty bottle of beer. "I went for a walk one night after my wife went to bed and before I even realized it I was here. No way back, at that."

[idolstolemylook]

"Yeah," Spike said, knocking the last of his drink back. "Seems to happen a fair bit, 'round here. One way, at least. Shame about your wife, though. She a catch?"

He smirked over his glass, and set it down.

[mr_haulage]

"Oh, better believe it, mate." Rhys' smile was as wide as it could get, ear to ear you might say. He polished off the tiniest bit left of his beer and glanced back at Spike. "Great ass, my wife."

[idolstolemylook]

"No doubt," Spike said. He shook his head, wondering. "You're gonna get eaten alive here, mate."

[mr_haulage]

"{Yeah..." Rhys stopped and looked hard at the bar in front of him.

His empty glass seemed just as snide as the guy sitting next to him. He had heard that sort of thing before, and his life since Gwen joined Torchwood was just one big mess that he assumed he was happy in as long as he had her. Now he didn't, and he also had no choice. He was stuck in this place for god knows how long, and he was going to have to bite the bullet and just survive.

"You sound just like her, you know. Telling me how I'll do before I even do something. I'm not cut out for a place like this, I know that. But maybe I'm not a complete slob at it either."

[idolstolemylook]

Spike eyed him for a moment, amused.

"Maybe not," he said, though he didn't believe it. "But I'm an evil, soulless, bloodsucking nasty. What's her excuse?"

[mr_haulage]

"She's a woman, mate." Rhys busted out laughing. He just couldn't help it, not even after the few beers he'd had.