milliways_bar | (no subject)

Jack hasn't been in the bar for a while; to tell the truth, not since Valentine's Day and everything that followed. He hasn't been actively avoiding the bar, at least not consciously. He has found it all too easy to be too busy or too tired to come in during an evening, even though he knows very well that no time would pass and whatever needed doing would still be there until he got back to his world.

Tonight, though, he feels he has to come in for one big reason. It's his last day at the resort; early the next morning he'll put his few belongings in his truck and drive off, his contract over. The resort's owner had told him about a guy he knew that ran a vacation ranch in Texas that might need some help, and that he'd be glad to give Jack--or Bill, as the owner knew him--a reference.

Jack hasn't decided if he'll take up the offer, but he knows that when he leaves the resort, there's no guarantee of finding a door back to the bar any time soon. Last time he'd been on the move, picking up work here and there, it had been nine months before he got back into the bar. Of course he's hoping it's not so long this time, but he knows there's no guarantees.

Which is why he's sitting at the bar tonight, sipping a drink after settling up his tab while he tries to decide whether he should stay here for a few days while he figures out what to do. Either way, he's not about to leave a debt with the bar when he isn't sure when or if he's going to get back in.

[ooc: Open until Jack's next entrance. The second thread linked above is ongoing.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Carl's just come in from a bit of shooting out at the makeshift range behind the bar, and is looking to get a drink and settle in at a table to clean his weapon when he spots Jack sitting at the bar.

He heads over, announcing his approach before he takes a seat beside his friend.

"Hey, look what the cat dragged in."

Bar's usual napkin pops up, and Carl orders a coffee.

Jack gives his friend a nod. "Hey, Carl. How're you?"

"I'm doing all right," he says. "Grateful that it's warmin' up enough that I can still feel my face after awhile outside. How're you?"

"All right. Getting ready to move on from the resort I've been working at."

He doesn't exactly sound thrilled about it either.

Carl notices that Jack doesn't sound thrilled, but he also doesn't sound like this is an emergency.

"Need a change of scenery?"

"I was just covering for their regular guy while he was out with an injury. His doctor's okayed him to return to work, and he wants to come back."

Jack rubs the back of his neck. "It was only ever temporary, and that's what I was looking for. I'm not even using my real name there, anyway."

"Any idea where you'll head next?"

Jack snorts. "Somewhere warm."

There's a pause before he adds, "I'm thinking staying in one place for a while was a bad idea."

"Warm is good. Maybe you can find a resort in Cancun that needs a repair man."

Carl stirs a bit of cream into his coffee. Without looking up:

"Why do you think that?"

"'Cause I think I got a little too comfortable staying in one place for so long. I'm not exactly feeling in a hurry to move on, 'specially when I don't know where I'm headed," Jack says, taking a sip of his drink.

"Ah. Yeah...I think I'm sort of at the opposite. Traveling around for the last while has been good for me, but...I'm getting bored out there. S'why I've spent most of the time here in the bar."

"Yeah. I come in here mostly so I can relax, because...I know it's safe," Jack says, rubbing the scar on the back of his right hand. "Out there, if I'm using my name, it's hard to stay in one place too long."

"Are you still being actively pursued?"

"I don't know," Jack says, not looking at Carl. He knows there's a good chance that the idea of a threat out there, of members of the government looking for him or watching his every move is all in his head. That he's just this side of crazy, and only because he knows it could be nuts.

But telling himself that doesn't help when he's out in his world and his instincts start acting up and the panic starts to build.

"'Course there's only one way I'm going to find out if the answer to that is 'yes', and I'd rather not go down that route."

"Right. I'd rather you not go down that route either."

At least not without some backup to get rid of said threat, of course that backup being Carl.

"Yeah. So instead I just...keep looking over my shoulder."

It's not the only reason he keeps moving, but he doesn't want to have to tell Carl about how difficult he still finds it to function some days. That he can't imagine having a "normal" life any more and that so much of life in the States still seems somewhat foreign to him.

"Honestly, given what you've been though...it's probably not a bad idea for awhile. Isn't great for your head, but what can you do."

Carl drinks more of his coffee.

"You heading out tonight?"

Jack shrugs. "Probably should, but I was thinking about staying here for a couple days. I don't know when I'll be able to get back in."