For Good Times and Bad

Calloway

Calloway stared blankly at the man, who seemed to be a little more sloshed than was wise, and wondered idly if it was really such a great idea to be accepting drinks from drunk strangers. The girl -yes, girl. No matter how old she really was, Calloway would continue to think of her as such- appeared to have taken to him readily enough for some reason. The unfortunate implications of the situation seemed to be glaringly obvious but that could have just been the doctor's natural instinct for picking out the worst bits of every model.

But if this man wanted to go ahead and pay for Calloway's single glass, well then fine. There really was no use in sticking around after that, though. Drunks made poor company, as did children.

"I suppose I'll tell my story first," the man started to Calloway's exasperation. Yes, please tell me your life story. I am sure it is the most fascinating and original thing ever.

Thankfully, it wasn't a story at all. Even better, it wasn't some kind of sob story because that would have warranted retaliation. What did grab Calloway's attention, however, was the mention that this man was a teacher at the Academy. Thinking back on it, the name Jacob did have familiar ring to it. It took a moment longer to place it. Jacob, Jacob -I don't believe I know any other people with this name- Cunningham -What. What kind of name is that?. But the pieces fell together after that.

Oh, yes, the doctor remember. That would be the math teacher. Miss Mordrake had mentioned him in passing a few times. There hadn't been too much information provided but Calloway also had better things to worry about than details of a young girl's academic life.

"How nice for you," Calloway said absentmindedly, taking drink from the glass. "I don't have a story. I'm only here to run some tests on sea water samples. It's quite interesting, really. Even on a molecular level, everything wants to kill you."

She laughed a bit, hearing there not-so-interesting stories. It was at least nice to hear what other people had to say. Everyone here so far had been shutting her out. They had been portending that she was a nobody. It was true though, as for some reason she hadn't been sticking her neck out to meet other people as much as she would like to.

"Thank you." She thanked the man that was paying for her drinks, and wondered why he was being so generous to her. As she thought for a second, she would probably do the same thing, just not with strangers. She smiled a bit, and grabbed her beer to sip it. Their two stories were barely any story at all.

They didn't give any details, or even really any indication as to what they wanted from here. Because of that, she decided to do the same. "I came here to just get away from everything, to just start over, or at least try something new." Things were going slow, even for her standards. She quickly chugged down half of the beer, wiping her face when she was done. "This is just weird. I meant there has to be something...." She quickly shook her head. "Never mind."

Calloway

Calloway blinked calmly as the man threw over a disgustingly bright smile. Oh, yes, the doctor thought. Somebody at this counter is certainly drunk right now. The observation only served to reinforce the fact one drink was more than enough for the night.

"So we would all like to think," Calloway said dismissively in response, staring off into a random direction. "Some people's existences are merely blights on the rest of humanity. Having to suffer through it all doesn't exactly fit my definition of a miracle."

For example... No, that would be a mistake. Don't even think the name. The doctor took another sip of wine, frowning mildly. That person can go straight to hell for all I care.

"Issues with a former colleague," the doctor said in way of explanation, with a small, sharp smile. Hm...Saying too much, yet? Probably not. This wasn't even Calloway's world. "I refuse to go before that person does."

Kiyana quickly looked at both of them, giving the a serious glance, then drinking again. She didn't feel so good, but to her knowledge it was just the nervousness of the situation, as she felt that these two men were eyeing her down every time she wasn't looking."I just had a hard time leaving everything. Though it's not like anyone liked me really." She looked over at the man n her left, and lightly nodded. "There isn't much to say really."

What was she supposed to say? That she left her best friend and family for a chance at a pipe dream of a possibility that this school would be any different then her past experiences? That was literally exactly what she should have said, but she didn't want to at the time. She shut up and heard as the two men talked either as what it sounded like to themselves, or trying to make witty remarks to one another. She was defiantly the third wheel in this position.

Calloway

Instinctively, Calloway jerked to the right as the math teacher suddenly hugged the girl sitting between them. It was a sloppy gesture that seemed like borderline sexual harassment, and so out of the blue that the doctor couldn't help but let out a quick bark of laughter. It was cut short almost immediately but not before going on long enough to show listeners that there was quite a difference in tones. For one, it was a bit more feminine sounding than the voice Calloway had chosen to use for the time. Sometimes it was useful having a voice that resembled Joanne's. This was not one of those times.

"Had enough to drink yet?" the doctor asked the man dryly. I think I certainly have. Calloway went on pretending that the laugh hadn't happened, ignoring the lapse by covering it up with the sound of Gabriel's modified voice.

"I am reasonably certain that Miss Kiyana could file charges for that if she wanted to." She probably wouldn't but if she did, Calloway would like some kind of advance notice to get out of the area as soon as possible before being trapped as a witness. No need to come into the eye of proper authorities so soon. Or at all.

The doctor pushed the mostly empty wineglass aside. Calloway wasn't even feeling slightly tipsy yet, which was good. I would hate to make a fool of myself like Mister Cunningham. Speaking of whom, the doctor informed in deadpan, "I hate everybody equally. It's no big secret. I just happen to hate several people more than others, for certain periods of time which may or may not go on for years." And as an afterthought, added, "And which may or may not continue into the present."

Kiyana quickly turned her gaze over tho the guy that was hugging her, weirded out by what exactly e was trying to do. "Uh..." She looked around and tried to brace him on something, as she was too tiny to have his entire weight on her if he decided to fall over. "Shit." Kiyana took one of his arms and pushed it away from her. "No thanks." She leaned over to the other guy and quickly whispered. "This is why I hate bars."

Kiyana moved back in the middle, watching the drunk guy to her left, making sure that the little nudge she gave him would keep him up and off her. She took her glass and drank about half of it, wanting to just calm herself down a bit, even though she wasn't freaking out in the first place. "Well." She blinked a few times and felt a bit strange, as if the room was lightly spinning. She shook her head though, and it quickly went away. She looked back at the man to her left and hoped that he wouldn't fall over.

Calloway

Clearly this was the point when Calloway ought to go. The doctor had a strong feeling that this little episode was going to turn into some kind of sob fest where they talked about emotional nonsense. It might have been amusing to hear on some incidences but chances were that this was going to become something just plain sentimental and Calloway wanted nothing of that. And if the girl had any sense, she wouldn’t either.

The doctor got up from the stool, looking at the drunk man distastefully. “I think,” Calloway said, “that we are passing the point of sensible conversation.” Not that there had been much point in anything which had been said up to that point anyways. There might have been more incentive to stay if there had been.

And they trust this man to teach children, Calloway thought. Irrational but most people were. In this case however, no, there didn’t seem much to Jacob Cunningham at all. Such a pity. Only for the lost time. The rest, not so much.

“I don’t care what you do but I hope you do realize that you’re making a fool of yourself,” the doctor said to the drunk, gathering up personal possessions. Calloway made a last minute check to be sure that the entire thing hadn’t been some kind of scheme to steal information. It probably hadn’t been. It certainly hadn’t been interesting enough to have been one.

To the girl, Calloway advised, “I would leave him here if I were you. He’ll most likely get himself into some sort of trouble, no doubt, and I’m sure I’ve all got more important things to be doing.”

And with that, the doctor made an exit, not bothering to see if the girl was following or not. It didn’t really matter that much to Calloway. Kiyana was surely old enough to suffer through her own mistakes.