fifth; video + action (give me a shot to remember and you can take all the pain away from me)

[bekommen]

[Nick is infinitely more sober than the last time she appeared on the network, though the location is, perhaps unsurprisingly, the same. The only difference is that this time, Nick is standing behind the bar, not sitting at it with a drink in hand. She appears slightly uncomfortable, no doubt due to regret over her past broadcast. She clears her throat and nods at the camera.]

So if you didn't already know, I'm working at the bar now. Delight asked me to help out, and it's what I used to do back in Chicago, so.

[She shrugs. Obvious connection is obvious.]

I know I said a lot of shit last time I talked to everyone on this thing, but as I'm sure you all noticed, I was pretty fucking drunk. [She sighs, rolling her eyes, mildly irritated with herself.] I didn't mean most of it, and I'm not gonna, like, poison anyone's drink while I'm working. I also don't drink when I'm on the job, so you don't have to worry about any more dumb bullshit like before. I'm a professional, OK? Just so we got that out there. And yeah, that does mean I'll cut you off if I see you acting like an asshole.

[She reaches over to kill the feed, then remembers she has one more thing to say.]

Oh yeah - leave your fucking pets or whatever at home. I know we don't got health inspections to pass or anything, but that shit still ain't sanitary.

[There, now she's done. She hangs up, but will respond to any replies in between serving patrons of Delight's bar. Perhaps you're even one of them?]

Comments

[thechoiceisyours]

[Chris watches her, eyes flashing in irritation, but even with the effects of alcohol and generally poor mood he's not the type to be particularly forceful about his anger.

So instead of saying anything immediately he just stands up and hops up backwards onto the counter, swings his legs over, and slides off behind the bar. Considering Chris' usual lack of grace combined with having been drinking, the fact that the motion isn't completely awkward indicates he may or may not have done this several times before.]

Don't get all pissed off at me because you're getting called out. I'm not, you know, usually super interested in arguing with my friends for no reason, so maybe you could try actually listening to me?

[And he'll just pick the nearest bottle off the shelf that looks interesting, which happens to be filled with some sort of green liquid.]

[bekommen]

[Chris may regret his choice, as the bottle in question tastes like a mix of grass and lime candy, and it's about as strong as a diluted wine cooler. Delight clearly has a bit of a learning curve yet as far as what makes a good drink.]

Right, listen to you take it out on me because you're feeling shitty about Josh and Ash disappearing?

[Nick slams the bottle of tainted cotton candy liquor into the sink, shattering the glass. Whatever, at least it's a contained mess; she can clean it up later.]

It may shock you to learn this, Chris, but you're not the only one who's lost someone you have stupid fucking feelings about, OK?

[thechoiceisyours]

[Ohgod that's awful. Actually though he's pretty sure he's had this exact combination during a round of Every Flavor Beans in senior year, though he's barely managed to try a shot and disgustedly put the bottle on the counter when Nick slams the other bottle down and shatters it. He jumps, startled, and takes several steps back; part of him suddenly wants to abandon this whole getting drunk plan entirely, but the other part just gets angrier both from her words and from the surge of adrenaline.

He wants to argue, to deny that's why he's upset with her--and that's true; the way she acts toward Emily is a problem and has been for awhile--but now suddenly he's feeling the effects of the drinks. Or maybe he would be just as unsure of what to say and unable to sort out the tangled mess of emotions rising to the surface if he were sober.]

T-That isn't... D-Do you really think th--fucking forget it.

[It's hard to talk, he's frustrated and angry and anxious, and really regrets everything right now. It doesn't help that his vision is blurring from the beginning of overwhelmed tears because wow, as if he wasn't already being pathetic enough.

He backs up another few steps, a hand on the bar for balance but still pretty steady for going backwards after that much alcohol, and collects his phone from where he shoved it before.]

N-Nevermind. I-I'm going home.

[bekommen]

Forget it?

[Right, because that's something she's gonna be able to do. Think again, Chris.]

Right, 'cause you got what you came here for, so you can just fucking leave now. I was trying to help, OK? You're the one who turned it into a game of "pin the fuck-up on Nick Rivenna." Newsflash, Chris - I didn't make them leave!

[thechoiceisyours]

Yeah. Y-Yeah, I can fucking leave now, that's how it works.

[It's the only part he can really respond to, a mix of guilt and anger at her other comments drowned out by adrenaline that was causing him to focus more on getting out of this situation than anything else. There are so many other things he would've said if he weren't feeling more and more inebriated by the moment, or weren't so nervously on edge, but even then he might've had difficult to actually finding the correct words.

He really wishes there had been no one here.

He's backed for enough away that he reaches the front door, but undoing the lock is proving somewhat more complicated than he expected it would be before he drank that much alcohol.]

[bekommen]

[No.

No, fuck this; Nick isn't done, and she sure as hell isn't ready to let Chris walk away from this that easily. She's stone-cold sober, so she has no trouble at all crossing the room and slamming her hand against the door while Chris is still struggling with the lock.]

What the fuck is wrong with you, huh? Do you always turn into an asshole when you're drunk, or is this something special just for me?

[thechoiceisyours]

[He's half expecting it when Nick slams her hand against the door, but it still makes his stomach lurch with fear and he has to force himself to stay calm. Everything's fine. He just needs to choose a different tactic.

The response he wants to give is not going to help, and neither is demanding for her to get out of the way and let him leave. So instead he looks at her, clearly having to force the words out through his teeth when he responds.]

I-I don't know, I-I haven't drank in a long time. P-Probably shouldn't have broken the streak.

[He'd never been an angry or depressed drunk before, but that had been when the worst he had to worry about were his grades. Still, with only this one time to base off of her guess is as good as his when it comes to if this is something special for her or not.]

[bekommen]

You haven't - ?

[Nick just. Drags her hand down her face. Chris, why this.]

You haven't drank in a long time, and you decide to start with the Hadriel version of radiator fluid? Jesus, Chris, I thought you were supposed to be smart or something.

[She points to the bar.]

Go sit your ass down. You're at least gonna drink some water before you leave.

[thechoiceisyours]

[Seemingly exasperated and insulting is a big step up from angry, but not enough for him to want to spend another second here.]

I'll drink water at home.

[That's truthful--he may have been stupid about his alcohol choice but that was on purpose and he knows better than not to also drink water--but not at all his main concern right now. He really wants to go home and sleep this off and pretend it didn't happen.]

I-I just want to leave.

[bekommen]

Do you even have water at home? Last I checked, everyone had fucking Skittles and shit coming outta the faucets still.

[She frowns at him, not moving yet.]

Look, if you think I'm gonna let you go wander around in the dark while you're fucked-up drunk, you better think again, Chris. You could get eaten by a bear, or trip on something and break your neck, or pass out in a ditch somewhere and choke to death on your own vomit, OK?

[She may be angry, but he's still her friend, and he's stopped her from making a huge mistake while drunk in the past. The least she can do is attempt the same.]

[thechoiceisyours]

I-I'm not staying here, Nick, okay?

[His voice is pitched up unintentionally, strained a little from stress, and the words come out before he's even really thought about them. He knows she's right, logically, but the idea of just sitting down and drinking some water and waiting to sober up sounds like a horrific ordeal. He feels claustrophobic, suddenly, despite the size of the bar, impressions of hazy memories he can't quite grasp through the alcohol just continuing to snowball the need to get out.]

I-I'll be fine, we have water bottled and the alcohol hasn't even kicked in that much yet, so I just... Please.

[bekommen]

[There is more that she could say here but doesn't. She could try to be more honest about how the idea of Chris getting hurt because he's drunk upsets her; she could say something like please, don't leave me too, but she doesn't. Everybody leaves eventually, whether it's by the door or through death or just plain moving on with their lives and leaving you behind.

Isn't it better if she just stops trying to hold on to people?]

Fine. Leave.

[She unlocks the door and pulls it open.]

Fuck me for giving a shit.

[And she turns and walks away, back to the bar. She has a mess of broken glass to take care of in the sink.]

[thechoiceisyours]

[Chris doesn't respond or even look at her, just bolting through the gap made by the open door and out into what passes for night in the cave, then circles part of the way around the building to an out of view wall and stops to lean back against it. His heart is pounding and his hands are starting to shake, and he feels utterly ridiculous on top of everything else that's come to the surface while in the bar.

He wants to just stay right there until fake sunrise, suddenly too exhausted to want to even think about walking back home, but it really isn't that far and he needs to get there. So he walks, wishing the alcohol was doing for him what it used to instead of just making his thoughts cloudy and emotions harder to manage.

There is at least a silver lining to losing Ashley and Josh: there are less people to risk waking up when he enters the house at whatever hour it's ended up being. Fortunately he and Emily had thought to bottle water a few days earlier for whenever the candy was pouring from the faucets, and he doesn't bother to check if that's the case now and instead just forces down one of the bottles. It's not nearly enough for how much he drank, but some part of him feels he deserves the hangover and he retreats to his room.

He'll figure out what to do about all of this tomorrow.]