I'm up in the woods,

I'm down on my mind. 022. Destin Hollis.

[anthony-palmer]

Probably the latter? [And Anto’s voice wavers as if he really doesn’t know the answer. He does of course. What it is is far closer to ‘only the cute’ ones than either of the options he’s been given. But truth be told, he’s much more comfortable letting the man think it’s something in relation to his drunken blunder.

Much the way that this also, is sort of a drunken blunder.

It doesn’t matter.]

What, have you got something against cute and open neighbors?

[Which is flirting in his book, but also hold plausible deniability if he has to tell the other that he’s just an arrogant asshole. It just depends on how the other takes it, at this point. The words are already out and —like the rest of him — open. Dissolving into the air between them, and growing stale with every new breath he takes.]

[destin-hollis]

[Des smiles, bemused, mouth slightly ajar at the others forthrightness. His fingers tightening around the neck of the bottle, like vines creeping up the side.] Last time I checked it was Aja who lived next door. Not you. 

Have you got something against being where you're not supposed to be? [Destin raises an eyebrow, his cheeks feel flushed, and the cold air seems more intoxicating than the alcohol. Warily he places the bottle beside him, gripping the edge of the seat while steading himself. If Destin closed his eyes for too long, he could have sworn he was spinning.]

  How long have you been here? [Its a loaded question and that he doesn't expect the other to answer, but Des still asks. Whether or not it was a test, or his uncontrollable curiosity he couldn't be sure.]

[anthony-palmer]

[Anthony stops for a moment to consider the response on his lips. He ought to bite it back. Should keep it buried in his throat until they’re closer — if they even get closer. It’s too overly affectionate; too fond for a near stranger. And yet, he thinks if he douses it with just the right amount of dry sarcasm, that he can pull it off.

So that it isn’t too biting, or too warm for the occasion. Anthony watches the little cat run, and almost nails his tongue with his teeth before chucking.] Why every moment I’m away from you feels like a century.

[And then he refuses to over-think it. To let it mean anything in regards to the attraction he feels to the other. The guy is cute, sue him. It doesn’t mean every word off his tongue has to be strictly platonic, or that he has to over-think every word.

He will, though.]

[destin-hollis]

[The words that fall off the others tongue have the right sort of conviction, enough satire, and flirtation to make Destin stay put, and not follow his ginger friend back inside. But he does move, only slightly to the side of where he sat, an unconscious effort to invite the other to stay, even just for a little while.  It's hard not to note the others tongue as he laughs at his own sheepishness. Destin watches tentatively, still guarded in some respects, and takes another swig of his bottle to ensure that the flush on his cheeks could be blamed on the alcohol.]

Are you always this forthcoming to strangers? Or is it just those whose houses you've broken into? 

[charmanduhh]

[anthony-palmer]

[He wants to say that the entrance to Aja’s house is cursed, but that would really just be a lie. Well, not really. Just a very specific truth. Which is to say that, Anthony is pretty sure it’s impossible for him to enter Aja’s house sober and not come out at least a little intoxicated in some way or another.

It’s not that Aja is particularly hellbent on getting him drunk, or even that he himself comes over on some sort of mission. It’s really not like that. It just sort of… happens.

And tonight is really no different, even if her house is crammed full with seven other people; splitting any and all booze between them; chain smoking through the moments when the bottle isn’t in their hand. They’re good people, even if they aren’t ones he’d necessarily call friends. Aja’s parties are always a sort of stifling reminder that, when it comes down to it, no matter how many nights he spends on her couch —

how many morning she runs her hands through his messy hair and makes him coffee to drown away both nightmares and dreams (something he’s surprisingly okay with, even if letting her close feels too much like a gamble on the heels of the last world) —

they run in different circles. Which makes it easier for him to excuse himself by the time that the second bottle of whiskey starts to make its rounds, slipping out onto Aja’s porch. He tells her he’s getting a headache (‘and he needs to breathe for a bit’), and it’s not dishonesty, but it’s not really why he’s backing away either. She sends him the sort of look that makes sure he’s entirely aware that she knows it, too, as he closes the door behind him.

The familiar figure sitting a porch over comes, rather untimely. But it doesn’t stop Anthony from making his way over towards the man, a lopsided expression in place.] Long time no see. [It’s been a few days, max.]

[destin-hollis]

[Destin is halfway through his designated bottle of wine for the night, mulling the warm liquor around his mouth before taking another gulp. It was far warmer inside, but there was always a pull to be out in the open and when Destin could afford to, why would he deny it? No amount of potted plants could keep him away from the real thing. Not that this world really contained anything he deemed "real" anyway. The last jump couldn't have happened more than a month ago. Des felt his own stomach drop, the strange sensation that uprooted him from the wastelands he had spent nearly a fortnight navigating through. Barely surviving. It always made him feel sick. Like the worlds were fighting between who got to keep his body. It didn't seem worth it.

The sound of steps on gravel alerts Des, his arms hovering slightly to allow Harold, the ginger tabby to make his escape from the stranger approaching. He was never fond of people. They had that in common.] Depends on what you consider a long time. 

[anthony-palmer]

Well, you know, it’s never too late to start. [Which is a poor joke, really. But Anthony’s lips quirk up at the edges all the same, and he has to swallow down the start of a chuckle, welling in his throat. He can’t help but think that of the things he wants to steal, the top item is hardly physical.

But he’s not about snatching kisses from strangers. It’s weird, and rude, and nothing like the movies his home world had had, made it seem to be. He settles instead for feeling satisfied that he’d managed a humor out of the other.

Maybe it won’t be so weird the next time he sees the man. Hopefully, though, it’s on better terms.

Aja’s going to laugh for hours when she hears. Anthony just hopes she doesn’t make the trip next door to say anything about it.]

Maybe my plan all along has been to feed you until you’re ready to burst, just so that you can’t outrun me when I flee with your valuables.

[destin-hollis]

[The guy was making tacky jokes already, and smiling like a god damn fool- but Destin didn't seem to mind all that much. With the cat on is lap he picked up a saucer, scooping a small portion of the meal them to enjoy.]  Right right. So I'm going to get so fat off this that I cannot move, and then you're going to take all my stuff... You realise [and Destin stops, looking around the room, at the many pot plants (but not as much as he'd like) and dogs that take up the space]

I've got jack shit... And about fourteen dogs.

You know what? Go ahead. 

[adamdrivers]

[aka-starlorde-deactivated201407]

I could crush you, you know that? 

I could crush you.

[anthony-palmer]

Uh. [Anthony pulls a face like he has to contemplate it, because yeah, he does. This is how he gets around in the universes he lands in; crashing couch to couch until he finds a face willing to keep him around until he goes. He pays them the best he can, of course. Aja had simply asked him to water the few plants she had and not leave the windows he climbed through open, lest he cat get out.

But Aja was a generous soul.] I don’t cook them breakfast.

And they’re usually not full-on strangers? Just people I met the night before.

I was pretty drunk, I’m sorry. [And Anthony cuts away a slice of his meal, raising it to his lips so he won’t have to say anything else. It’s only halfway through swallowing that he remembers he was asked his name.]

Anthony. [It’s not a shout. It’s not even loud, but it’s sudden.] I have a name. It’s Anthony.

[destin-hollis]

[Destin scoffs, at the excuse. Drunk. Fuck. Maybe that was the noise that had stirred him? Des had passed out at some point, a bit after 2am, when the radio turned to static and the dogs started starring at him with tired eyes.

Des had gotten drunk, but he didn't like it. Didn't like losing control of all the things around him. Only liked the way grapes seems to taste against his tongue and how it put him to sleep.] Not like you robbed the place. [It's then that he takes a bite, swallows, and smiles. Food. Fuck he missed food, that wasn't a carrot, or a can of beans. But the guilt lingers on his tongue and he'll be sure to do some thanks later, when the other wasn't so... distracting]

[bonanzza]

I’ve heard the strange madness long growing in your soul, in your isolation but you fortunate in your ignorance.

[anthony-palmer]

It can’t be that bad. [And he says it as he saunters off into what he assumes to be the kitchen. He assumes right, luckily, but it’s still strange having such free range of a stranger’s house. Granted, he’s sort of taking that free range more than he’s been properly granted it.

Still, he thinks the man probably would have asked him to leave by now if he fully minded.

But, then he finds out that it is that bad. It’s entirely that bad. There’s not really even cereal. Anthony doesn’t give up, though. He’s had less to work with; his mother never having been one to run to the market every three days. A family of five had been big enough, but there’d been a baby on the way too. It was just a lot.

Anthony had taught his sisters how to make the best of what was there, and in turn they had taught him  how not to burn everything he touched. It was a fair trade in his opinion.

Pulling bowls and flour that might be too old out of the cabinet, he gets to work. The measurements are hardly exact, and the man doesn’t even have eggs (who doesn’t have eggs?), but some version of crepes are ready within the half hour.]

You have something against grocery stores? [The question is possibly belated, and he asks it as he sets the plate of not-quite-crepes in front of the stranger.]

[destin-hollis]

[Destin doesn't really speak as the other cooks, as he prattles about the bare kitchen, pulling out ingredients Des had forgotten existed. He wasn't hungry, at least that was what he thought, but by the time the man has settled food on the table, his stomach is beginning to rumble. Besides the bottle of wine from the night before when was the last time he had eaten?  Reluctantly he sits, Harold jumping up onto his lap instantaneous.] You do this often? Wake up in strangers houses and cook breakfast? [Despite how hungry he had become, Des doesn't wolf down the food like he wants to. Instead he watches, waits, for the other to eat first. To respond]

 Do you even have a name?

[anthony-palmer]

Yeah. [The word is short, cut off by a bark of laughter that Anthony doesn’t mean to emit.] Kind of figuring that one out, now.

[He runs his hands over his face, and somewhere in the back of his mind he has the humility to wish he was at least still wearing a shirt. But he isn’t, and it’s late for that particular source of embarrassment, all things considered.]

I’ll make you breakfast? [It seems like a good mid-ground in his head. Like it’s the least he can do to apologize for breaking in. It seems like a good mid-ground until he says it out loud, and then it just sounds ridiculous.]

[destin-hollis]

Smart guy. [Des raises a brow, breakfast? Who the fuck was this guy? But he can't help it when he emits a small chuckle, the animals amongst them delighting at the sound, feeding off the energy as they usually did. Casually he reaches for the box sitting on the mantel above the burnt out fireplace, retrieving a cigarette and putting it to his lips, unlit.] 

Good luck with that. [He meant it, half because he wanted to eat breakfast with a half naked man, and half because his kitchen was almost always empty. Self preservation was never high of Destin's priority list.]

[anthony-palmer]

[The voice is initially what rouses him from his sleep. The unfamiliar surroundings are what take care of the rest. Anthony doesn’t remember much of last night. He doesn’t suppose he’s really supposed to, either. That’s what happens when one drinks their weight in just under three hours. But he does remember stumbling into Aja’s house; coming in through the window like a goddamned robber, because he knew that if anyone he knew in this universe wouldn’t mind, it was her.

When he’d met her, her first words to him had been that her couch was always open. Which may or may not have been a result of the amount of alcohol he had also then consumed, but that was irrelevant. What was, in fact, relevant, was that this was not her couch. It wasn’t even the right color, and the man standing in front of him probably expected an answer he didn’t rightly have.

Sitting up, Anthony takes a deep breath and tries to compose his thoughts. He can’t quite. Not yet. Too early, and there are a lot of dogs he didn’t notice last night in the room now, to add to distraction.

He processes the words at a record rate — the slowest in ages.]

Um… Well, firstly, sorry? I thought… I thought this was Aja’s couch. I thought this was Aja’s house?

[Anthony’s eyes linger confusedly on the room around him. He’s gotta get his act together.]

This is slightly weird.

[destin-hollis]

Not Aja's couch. Not Aja's house. [In fact, Des hadn't a clue who the fuck Aja was. Not that he knew his neighbours all that well. But the man could have been lying, could have been a break in that fucked up so bad he had to sleep it off.  Either way the presence makes Destin on edge. His arms coming around himself as he stares at the intruders half naked body. If he was dangerous, at least he was hot.]

[destin-hollis]

[Des had slept like a log. Or at least, how he felt they must have slept. It was the first night sleep in months that his body had become at ease. It had a lot to do with the bottle of red wine he'd downed the night before- but still, insomnia had to stop somewhere. Even if it was self medicated with booze.  Stepping along the wooden hallway, the boy can already tell something is amiss. The dogs waiting patiently at his door rather than spread across the apartment in their usual disarray. Harold -the slim ginger cat he had met since he first arrived in this world- slinked by him, meowing incessantly.  It wasn't until he had crossed the threshold that he felt the cold breeze of the open window, and an occupied couch. Des cocked his head, still in a daze of sleep. Was he dreaming? Or was there a half naked man asleep on his couch. Looking to John -The old German Shepard- he rose a brow.] What. The. Fuck. 

[desdem0na]

[neonplastictrees]

[mooie-vlinder]

prutty bae.