[David Carson]

Oh God, what a night this night was turning out to be. It started out simple enough. David wanted to go out for a drink or two, maybe do a little flirting, see where the night took him. Then he met Eli. They started chatting and drinking. One drink turned to two, which turned into five. Tragically, the bar closed early, so they were left to their own devices.

Deciding they weren't nearly drunk enough, David—being the more sober of the two—went off in search of a supermarket to buy some booze. They agreed to meet back at what looked like a low security low-rise apartment building on the roof. After a fun filled, stumbling ten minutes or so, David managed to find a place, buy a couple different varieties of booze, and returned to their prearranged meeting place.

Climbing up the fire escape, he stumbled slightly every now and again. Curse you inebriated equilibrium! Quit making walking so difficult! Eventually, he managed to make it past the seventh floor and climbed onto the roof. "Hey-yo Eli! I gots the booze!" He called out, holding up the bag of liquor like a trophy. He even made the noise people make when they declare that the crowd has gone wild. You know, that muffled cheering? Yeah, that. He was very pleased with himself.

Finding a spot near the roof access door, he plopped down and started laying out his bounty of booze. Whiskey, a couple vodkas, and a set of four beers were the extent of his haul. "Dude, the guy didn't even try to stop me. I'm an amazing actor. I should totally ask to get a bigger part in my movie." He told him with a laugh. God, he was deliriously happy right now.

[Spook]

With noises in his ears that were less the usual city traffic and more the sound of someone approaching, Eli looked up (mostly over, actually) from his relaxed position on the rooftop as David ambled over the side of the fire escape. "And Casablanca returns." He grinned up at the approaching man, running on alcohol instead of common sense at this point in time. Oh, it had been a fun night already, and it was looking like the rest of it would be fun as well. There was nothing Eli liked more than entertaining people, and he had certainly found such in this David fellow.

As David found a place to plop down and share in his exploits in the liquor shoppe (the extra '-pe' was required for some reason), Eli scrambled from his 'relaxed and bored and staring at the sky' position into a seated one and worked his magic. By that, Eli meant that he teleported. Night was definitely Eli's time of choice to teleport, since even though it was practically easy as walking during the daytime, it was as easy as breathing at night. No hesitation whatsoever.

He reappeared over next to David, sitting cross-legged and looking at their haul. "Whatcha got, asere?" You see, the deal was this. They'd met at a bar, right? Pretty typical, even for Spook. Hit it off immediately. It was hard NOT to. Bar closed, they still wanted to be out - Eli spent way too much time doing nothing at the Institute to retire immediately home. So, they'd decided the less drunk and significantly more human-looking of the two was delegated booze-runner. And that's what David was returning from, with a good haul, evidently.

"Mierda, ¿qué compraste? Did you have to pull out a gun or something to get all this?" Eli chuckled, picking out one of the beers and utilizing his eccentric fashion sense. Translation - bone-shaped necklaces could in fact open beers, if used correctly. "Go get yourself a tv show. 'Man and his ability to buy alcohol'. Un serie de éxito."

[David Carson]

David grinned at the nickname. As David understood it, after bragging about being in a movie and looking as ruggedly handsome as he was, 'Casablanca' was now his name. For some reason, David felt like it fit. Certainly it was the most original nickname he ever had flung his way. It was right around when the nickname was decided that David decided he liked this guy. Eli was fun. He was also a mutant, not that that bothered David. He was pro-mutant, understanding that just like people, there are good and bad mutants. Eli was clearly one of the good ones.

So when Eli magically poofed to sit beside him, David wasn't terribly concerned. Sure, it spooked him a little bit, but that was only because it was so sudden. His reaction was reduced to a simple eyebrow-raising because of the drinking. When asked what he had gotten, he simply gestured to his haul before reading off the labels. "Les'see….Um, Jack Daniel's…Smirnoff….Grey Goose…and a set of Labatt's…" Smiling to himself, he cracked open the whiskey and took a swig. He laughed at the suggestion of using a gun to get all of it. "Nah man, I'm legit. But with a little flirting, I did manage to get a discount." He chuckled again, taking another swig of whiskey.

David smacked Eli playfully. "But seriously dude, quit speaking Spanish or I'll start throwing some French at'cha." Leaning back, he mused at the idea of getting his own TV show. "Yeah, I probably could…But if it's about my ability to buy alcohol? Then it'd have to be reality, yo." Still smiling, he took another swig of whiskey. God, he loved the taste of the stuff. Looking over to Eli, he asked him, "Hey, Eli? How long you've been doing that…" He made a wide gesture with his hands, whiskey still held by one of them. This gesture was accompanied by a 'poof' sound effect. "…thing that you do?" He was genuinely curious, but the alcohol was starting to impede his judgment and ability to use tact.

[Spook]

Eli was still chuckling to himself as David began explaining his haul. It was certainly a lot, and Eli had to wonder if David was planning on drinking this anytime soon or did he just get all the options simply to have options. Worst case scenario, Spook could help deliver the goods back to David's place of residence before poofing back home. Another worst case scenario was that they drank all of this and fell of the roof from the drunkenness, but hey, let's go with the first one here.

"The benefits of being pretty." Eli joked, grinning over at what's his face as he debating playing one-time frisbee with the bottle cap. "Does that trick get you discounts for everything? 'Cause I might just have to try it sometime." That would, of course, require that Eli suddenly stumble upon a handsomeness potion or at least find an illusionist mutant. Either way, no could do, since Eli was perfectly happy with his appearance.

With the Spanish/French jab in mind, Eli retaliated by sticking out his tongue, which in turn led to the random thought process of whether or not he should get it pierced, just because. Not tonight, or at least not yet, because Eli was about ten to twelve fluid ounces away from being drunk enough to make body alteration decisions again. He'd already gotten one tattoo that way, no need for another change so soon. "Go ahead, make my day. French isn't that far from Spanish, and it's the context that counts." The question about his teleporting distracted him for a few moments, but Eli answered quickly enough. "Aproximadamente, diez años." He made a face at the words before looking over at Casablanca with an unamused look. "And don't pretend you don't know what that means."

[David Carson]

David chuckled. "Damn straight. I get discounts from beer to…fuck, um…I dunno, mostly beer, now that I think about it." Running his hand through his hair, he took another sip of the whiskey. It was his new favourite drink, thanks to a certain purple-haired woman. He totally blamed her. But that was another time, David was far more interested in the present than the past.

He laughed at the dare. Oh, it was so on now. But before he could throw some French at him, Eli started speaking Spanish again, daring him to pretend he didn't understand. He laughed again, "Yeah, no, I figured it out. Ten years, yeah? Long time." He shrugged a little bit. "Les mutants m'ont toujours fasciné…J'avoue que je suis un peu jaloux." He smiled a little. French had always been a natural tongue for him. Now that he was intoxicated, it became that much easier to slip into it.

It was at this point David realized his whiskey was gone. "Que? Qu'est-il arrivé à mon whisky?" Turning the bottle upside down, he was disappointed that it was, in fact, empty. Pouting somewhat, he turned to Eli. "My whiskey's gone…I'm sad now…" Then an idea struck and he stood up quickly. A tad too quickly, for he wobbled a little bit. "Oh, hey! You wanna see me do a trick? Dude, I gotta show you this one thing…" He trailed off, stumbling towards the ledge of the roof. No, he wasn't planning on doing something directly on the ledge, he was thinking more beside the ledge.



Translation: The mutants have always fascinated me ... I confess I'm a little jealous.

What? What happened to my whiskey?

[Spook]

Eli gave the other man a look that was his equivalent of eye rolling (as Eli had no capability for the gesture) and went back to his beer. Though Eli would drink anything and everything, he had less love for whiskey than most other things and was perfectly happy that David had taken that for his own. Eli preferred sweet or sour things in life, and though alcohol itself didn't often offer these things, mixed together they did. Whiskey had never really appealed to him. "Good use for your handsomeness does you then, eh, asere?"

As David successfully interpreted the Spanish, Eli grinned, reaching over to pat the other man on the head. "Clever, Casablanca." The French did throw Eli for a loop, because 1) Eli didn't speak French, 2) he really hadn't expected David to rise to the dare, and 3) he was quite drunk, anyways. So, Eli just rambled in a monotone voice and gestured to the universe as he did. "Mutants, facinate, and other words I don't know. See? Not so hard."

The next bit of French didn't really need to be translated, as the tipping of the bottle was a big cue. Damn, this dude could drink. Eli just watched and chuckled as David tottered around, his attention piquing when David suggested a trick. "Hrm?" Not thinking too clearly, he disappeared into the cosmos only to reappear soundlessly next to David and looking over the man's shoulder. "What kind of trick?"

[David Carson]

David rolled his eyes, "Meh…I'm sure I'll remember more stuff I get for free when I'm sober…" He shrugged, setting the now empty bottle beside the rest of his haul. He probably should slow down, but that would ruin all his fun. That would be…not awesome. Shit, he was starting to forget words. Probably a good sign that he was very drunk. He did frown slightly at the pat on the head, but decided not to go into it. Again, it would ruin his fun. A chuckle did escape his lips as Eli had slightly less success translating his French. "Close enough…I'll teach you some French later, yeah?"

Now standing a couple feet from the ledge, he jumped a little at the sudden appearance of Eli behind his shoulder. Turning around to face him, David simply smirked. Raising his hands above his head, he stretched. "Well, see, first…It starts off with a little of this…" Hand behind his head, he started dancing and gyrating. Clearing enjoying himself, he brushed against Eli briefly returning to his initial position. "Then, we do one of these…" Turning his back to Eli, he bent over before his legs came up into the air. Now standing on his hands, he started showing off. Going up and down, standing on one hand, walking around, he clearly wasn't worried about how close he was to the ledge.

He did this for a minute or so before the blood rushing to his head started becoming a tad unbearable. Dropping his legs, he popped back up. Hand went to his head as the sudden movement made his a bit dizzy and just a tad nauseous. Stumbling backwards, his heel caught the ledge of the roof. Windmilling his arms, he struggled to regain his balance. His heart pounded in his chest as he panicked. Thankfully, though, he did right himself. Wiping his forehead, he sighed in relief. "Phew, that was close!" He declared, despite still technically standing on the ledge.

[Spook]

Eli is delightfully stupid. It's one of his particular quirks that makes him lovable, therefore when David made the "I'll teach you French" comment, he saw nothing in it except the language. (But the writer made a face, mature as she is.) French would certainly be interesting, and Eli was right that there were certain crossovers for the language. The nuances were going to be the hard thing, but then again, every language had that issue. Especially Russian. God. How many p sounds do you need?

Startling David was only part of the game, apparently, and Eli took a step or so backward when the man began stretching. This promised to be fun, if potentially stupid, but fun all the same. After all, how bad could two drunk dudes get? Apparently David was drunk enough to start dancing, and Eli, who was terrible in all things requiring coordination, was a little jealous of the other man. Being ridiculously tall had it's downsides. "What are you doing?" Eli asked, skeptical look on his face though it was still an amused look all the same. Here was the issue with being stupid again, back to haunt the spook.

He did jump a little at the touch, from surprise, but nothing else. It took a lot for Eli to notice these things, and so he thought nothing of it. And then there was more coordination stuff, and a lot more jealousy but with more grinning this time. "How do you do that?" Oh, and then things got a little dangerous. David lost his balance, and as soon as Spook's slow moving brain (blame the alcohol, kids) caught up, he poofed in and out until he was close enough to attempt to catch his friend.

By then, David had righted himself and Eli could breathe a little easier. "Tu es amiga, asere. Don't do that." He relaxed from the almost panicked state he had been in, drunkenness doing it's thing and inherent fear of everything going away. Getting drunk and being stupid was one thing - dying was another.

[David Carson]

As he was dancing, he was questioned as to why. Or rather what. "What am I doing? I'm seducing you." David chuckled to himself, adding "Is it working?" He had a feeling it wasn't. Plus, the height disadvantage made the gesture all that more awkward for him. So he ultimately gave up with the dancing, preoccupying himself with his athletic prowess which seemed to have the desired effect. David was almost surprised himself, given that he should have far less coordination given how drunk he was.

Then again, he did just nearly fall off the roof. Apparently it scared Eli just as much as it did himself. Catching his breath, he started laughing. "Yeah, okay, deal. Jeeze, that was close…" He turned his head, looking down to the ground below. They were about seven-stories up. David knew he had been lucky in the past, avoiding serious injury, but never like this. The most he had fallen was, what, one-storey? Maybe two? Both of which were fairly minor.

"Alright, I think that is enough of-" He had taken a step forward, when the ledge of the roof gave way. In an instant he went from relief of not dying to 'Holy fuck, what the hell?'. Well, he didn't actually say anything, but the look of horror on his face spoke volumes. He felt his body lurch backwards as he struggled to remain upright. Then the ground beneath his feet vanished. Wind rushed past him as he plummeted to the ground.

Then the ground hit and David's body went numb.

[Spook]

Things were going fine so far. Then other things happened.

First off, Eli functioned on a level that allowed him to joke and essentially flirt with everybody with out ever thinking of his actions as such. I mean, honestamente, he had no idea. Eli pretty regularly teased and infiltrated the personal space of everyone he met - except for those who actively stopped him - and David was no exception. So when he admitted to, deidades, ¿qué era?, "seducing" Eli... yeah. There was a brief moment of panic from Eli followed by a look that almost literally said, "wait, what?". If it helps, it involved squinting at the other man and raising an eyebrow.

The fear that Casablanca - yeah, okay, maybe Eli shouldn't have nicknamed him that - would fall off the roof was still there, just lurking behind the almost permanent state of relaxation Eli forced upon himself. If not happiness and relaxation, he would be a paranoid pollino. (Paranoid little chicken, for those back home playing along, which is super fun to say aloud in either language.) Eli's mutation simply wasn't fast enough to counteract someone falling, and he was very grateful that David wasn't planning on doing it ag-

Oh, shit.

And now we come to the second half of "how this night went from good to really weird in less than two minutes".

Eli had no time to react - he was already close enough to grab David if he'd wanted to, but things happened so fast and Eli was under the impression that David had his feet on solid ground and mierda, what just happened? After blinking, Eli darted forward to look over the side of the building, instant panic on his face. He didn't even give himself a chance to see what he was looking at before fading into the Twilight Zone and reappearing a few moments later next to... David.

Was he dead? Spook didn't know. All he knew about injured people (because Eli knew a ridiculous amount of information about dead people, but that wasn't useful at the moment) is what he got from tv, like measuring pulses and all that shit. Something about the arm and neck and, pinga, this wasn't supposed to happen. Regardless, Eli was currently leaning over David doing something. Trying to see if David was still breathing, looking for blood, generally freaking out and being useless. Spook was good at that.

[David Carson]

I'm dead. I'm totally dead.

At least, that's what David thought. He did, after all, just fall seven-stories straight down. Given that he was having conscious thoughts, he ruled out the possibility of being dead. Paralyzed, maybe? Nope, ruled that out too when he could wiggle his toes. This action, followed by him taking a deep breath told him he was, in fact, still alive. By some miracle.

Slowly opening his eyes, he saw Eli standing over him. Did he save him? No, he definitely hit the ground before Eli even got there. Wiggling his toes again, just to be extra sure he wasn't paralyzed, he moved on to his fingers. Wiggling them one at a time, he tried to figure out something. "How the hell am I still alive, Eli?" He turned his head to face him. "I mean, I just fell seven-stories…I should be dead, paralyzed even…But as clear as I can tell…I'm neither…"

Propping himself up on his elbows, he was careful to move as slowly as possible. Sitting up, he winced as he tried to roll his left shoulder. "Shit…it's dislocated…" He sighed, putting his other hand on it. He had no idea how to go about resetting a dislocated joint. Well, there was that time he broke his nose, but that was just a nose. Plus, he had use of both his hands that time. Right hand went to his side as he tried to figure out if any of his ribs were broken.

At this point in time, David was trying not to freak out. But the bug-eyed look was a dead giveaway that he was doing just that. Taking deep breathes in an effort to avoid hyperventilating, he asked Eli, "What the hell am I?"

[Spook]

Okay, whew, Casablanca was alive. Eli very easily dismissed the confusion and the curiosity to deal with later, since right now he needed to calm down and stop freaking out. Not one of Eli's strong suits, since general panic had kicked in a bout of selective mutism and silence was currently his friend. So, that being said, he let David speak.

Which proved to be useful, since David speaking meant he wasn't dead or at least that he wasn't a zombie. Everyone knew that zombies couldn't talk. Not being dead meant he wasn't human though, or at least human in the standard sense of the word. Mutant was more like it. Even though Eli didn't particularly care whether or not his friends were human or not, he was happy at this point in time that David was indeed a mutant. Not being dead, once again.

Injured was okay, because injuries could be fixed and Eli knew where to get them fixed. Unfortunately for the X-Men, Eli didn't even include hospitals in his thought processess, since they were sterile and confined and generally creepy as fuck. Plus, drunk and panicked Eli tended towards the company of a friend or at least the safety of somewhere good. Looks like they'll need a cab.

Speech came to him after David asked his question, and Eli plopped himself down to sit on the concrete next to his friend before answering. "Not dead, for one thing." That was all that mattered at the moment, and even though Eli had caught the touch of "what" in reference to inhumans, he managed to ignore it and keep the panic down. A little bit of sensibility reached him, and Eli offerred a bit of advice to David, as he pondered what to do. "Don't move if you're hurt." There was none of his usual talkativeness right now, not with the panic still lurking.

[David Carson]

With his working arm, David ran his fingers through his hair as he tried not to freak out. Not really working all that well, as he his body started shivering uncontrollably. As far as he knew, this meant he was in shock. Not the best state of mind for him to be in. He was fidgeting something awful, trying to put the pieces together.

He wasn't dead. Barely injured. His life started flashing before his eyes. All the times he escaped serious injuries. All the times he should have died, but didn't. Even his most severe injuries were hardly life threatening. How long had it been like this? At least since he was sixteen, as he figured. Oh God, he had always been pro-mutant, but he didn't expect to actually be one.

As clear as he could tell, his shoulder was the only injury he received in the fall. He couldn't speak for his legs, however, given he hadn't even tried standing up yet. Not that he was going to. Eli had suggested he not move, so he did just that, despite the fidgeting and the shivering. All his musings in his head lead him to speak aloud his shocking revelation. "I'm a mutant…aren't I?" Using the word to describe himself felt foreign, out of place. He looked positively terrified of the fact.

[Spook]

He was unsettled now. Happy in the back of his mind that David wasn't dead and wasn't dying on the ground, but just unsettled. Eli wasn't a stranger to injury or pain or even death, and he had an almost indifference to it when it came to himself, but for others? Eli cared. Strangers, friends, old, young, good, bad. Anyone. Eli cared. Though he had no caution for his own life (save that he wouldn't be the one ending it), through some person in danger or in pain in front of Eli and he wanted to fix it, even though he absolutely sucked at doing that.

Could he fix David? Eh, probably not, but he'd damn well try. Making people happy was part of Eli's game.

"S'not that bad." Eli said quietly before reaching over to pat David on the uninjured shoulder. "At least you're finding out now." Even drunk, Eli was intelligent enough to keep his own opinion out of things concerning the fact that David knew now rather than earlier. Spook had his own dark secrets, and it wouldn't do to put a downer on a scared and injured man when he was supposed to be cheering him up.

"Could be worse, asere." Eli began, a grin creeping slowly across his face. It wasn't his usual riotous expression but it was as close as he could get. "Could be a vampire, doomed to roam the night, or a zombie, who are also doomed to roam the night." He waved a hand in his face as if he were trying to move air around. "Sun and dead things don't mix well, eh? Bad smell."

[David Carson]

The sound he made was somewhere between a sigh and a laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right…Still, helluva way to find out, yeah?" The pat on his uninjured shoulder was something David found surprisingly reassuring. Seemed he found a good friend in Eli. He was glad to have a now fellow mutant to help him through this. But still, it was terrifying. He should be dead. But he wasn't. How was anyone supposed to cope with that? Still shivering, he moved so he could sit beside Eli. Leaning into Eli, so his injured shoulder was pointed away from the both of them, he tried to keep himself warm. Why did he feel so cold?

He raised a brow at the zombie/vampire comment. "Seriously? That's all you got?" He snorted a little bit. At least he was smiling a little bit now, so he supposed Eli's plan did the trick. "I dunno, maybe I am a zombie and don't even know it…I mean, I didn't know I was a mutant for…I dunno, 10, 12 years? Something like that?" He cast his gaze downwards. "I mean, I probably should have known…I've fallen from a three-storey building before…Got hit by a delivery truck…Really, a bunch of things that should have killed me." Pinching the bridge of his nose, he let out another sigh. "I feel like an idiot…"

Suddenly remembering that he had a cellphone, he reached into his pocket. Then his other pocket. Feeling around, he was surprised to find it wasn't there. He couldn't see it in the immediate vicinity either. Then he remembered where he left it and mentally smacked himself. Looking back up, he remembered he put his cellphone in the bag with the alcohol because he didn't want it falling out of his pocket by accident. Looking to Eli, he told him, "Hey, I don't know if you have a cellphone or not…But I left mine back up there with the alcohol." He gestured to the roof. "Think you could grab it for me real quick?"