(no subject)

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Alain is on the couch, cigarette in hand.

Pensive, and a little distant. He's trying not to look broody as well, because he is in the main bar. He's mostly succeeding, anyway.

He's also facing away from the front door. This is deliberate.

He can feel where it is anyway.

Comments

[gonna_live]

Kaylee...really isn't broody. Sorry, Alain.

"Wei." She grins at him.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

He smiles back. Not so bright as usual, but it's a smile.

"Wèi."

[gonna_live]

"Haven't seen you around so much lately -- how's things goin'?" She's got her hands in her pockets. An easy expression.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

"All right." There's a smile to go with the words, but it's the kind of 'all right' that means 'not all that great, but thanks.'

The Serenity folken deserve to know this.

He really, really doesn't want to tell someone else, after how well the last one went.

This is one of those situations where wants and shoulds don't matter.

[gonna_live]

Her head tilts a little bit.

"The kind of all right where I ask if you want a beer and maybe we talk about somethin' to take your mind off of what ain't all right, or maybe we talk about it anyhow if that's what you want to do?"

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

A breath of laughter.

"Sure." He stubs out his cigarette. It's down to the butt anyway. "To either, I suppose, but I'd tell you now or later. It'll touch your tet." The ruefulness -- or wistfulness, maybe, or faint sadness -- has crept back, by the end of that.

[gonna_live]

Her expression falters a little, and she nods. "Sure. I...I guess it's better to know sooner. Whatever it is." And then, with an effort at brightness: "So. You want a beer?"

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Seeing smile after smile falter for the next... however long it will be is not something he's looking forward to.

He hides that, and matches her effort. Damped down several notches, because he is not Kaylee. "Sure. Xiexie."

[gonna_live]

Sam Adams is what Jayne likes; it's what Kaylee orders. It hasn't occurred to her to ask for the local pale from home, though right now she thinks to herself that she could do with something familiar. Something deeply familiar.

Because Alain has never done 'bothered' really well, in terms of emotion. Rather, Alain has always been the one to hold it -- hold her -- together. After their first big talk with the gunslingers. After the bad dream, where the girl who looked like her but was really the Beam appeared mauled in everybody's head. After Mikage and the black rose, when Roland looked horrible and Simon looked horrified.

Something familiar -- something home -- would be nice, Kaylee thinks. But she asks for Sam Adams, because it's what Jayne asks for.

They've got bottles; Kaylee is still making an effort to be cheerful. "Want to go out back?"

It's probably quieter out there.

[highking.livejournal.com]

Peter doesn't know Alain well enough to tell the difference between normal pensive, distant, and broody and the sort that comes when something is actually wrong.

So there's a Peter joining him, with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.

"Hullo, Alain. How goes it?"

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

"Evening."

A smile at Peter, and then a slightly wider one with a small nod, in appreciation for the whiskey.

"Say thankya."

[highking.livejournal.com]

"You're very welcome," Peter says, pouring some into each glass.

If he notices that Alain didn't really answer his question, he doesn't mention it.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Alain raises the glass to Peter slightly, and sips.

He approves.

"How are your tricks?"

[highking.livejournal.com]

"My... tricks?"

Peter thinks about this for a moment.

"...alright, I suppose?"

He really hopes that was the right answer.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Alain's lips twitch.

It's the right answer.

"Good to hear."

[highking.livejournal.com]

"Good," Peter says, sounding rather relieved. "The bloody slang here... some of it's intuitive, and some of it really, really isn't."

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

He laughs.

"You say true. Some of it..."

He shakes his head.

Like a lot of what Lilly uses.

It's a good thing Alain has a lot of practice in keeping masks up.

[obligatoryass]

"What's up?" Logan says. He's not all that perceptive, so he's really not picking up on anything unusual here. "Haven't seen you around lately."

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

"No?"

Alain is, surprisingly enough, not exactly upset that his girlfriend's ex-boyfriend does not immediately ask him what's wrong.

"Must have missed each other, I wot."

[obligatoryass]

Total shocker, that. Can't imagine why he wouldn't be.

"You missed a hell of a weekend," he says, settling himself on a nearby chair. "The Bar made me wear a pep squad outfit. If you've seen Lilly-the-ghost, you've seen the look. Not my best style."

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

He's seen Lilly-the-ghost. It's not a happy thought in any case, and rather less so now.

Eyebrows raised.

Gee, I'm sorry I missed that, his face says. In the way where he's really not sorry at all.

[obligatoryass]

"Yeah, can't blame you on that," Logan says, catching at least part of the drift, though not thinking of the gaping head wound that accompanied Lilly's cheerleader look.

"So, where were you?" he asks. Subtle? Who's subtle?

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Alain shrugs. "Out in the woods. Camping with some friends."

[obligatoryass]

Logan gives him a sharp look. "Isn't it a little cold for that kind of outward bound adventure?" he asks.

[honest-johns.livejournal.com]

Faint amusement, though not mocking. "Done it in winter, often enough. It's all right, if you've warm clothes and blankets."