strangetrip | No -you're- brooding (OTA)

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No -you're- brooding (OTA)

Alec sat at the bar with a bottle of Jack Daniels almost empty in front of him, though he was using a glass like a regular person. Still, despite his almost completion of an entire bottle, he looked like a man just starting on his journey of getting drunk - stupid genes.

He was trying not to dwell or let his mind wander, but he was doing a terrible job at that. Stark being here seemed to dredge up a lot of things Alec would most definitely prefer to keep bottled away - at least he hadn't disappeared to the woods?

He reached for a bottle of vodka. Round two: start.

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"Maybe we all just watch too much TV." He grinned back to her as he took one of the pancakes and ate it like a cookie with his hand. He chewed, but spoke before fully swallowing, "This is actually really good."

"You don't have to sound so surprised," she teased. She could tell the difference between acknowledgment and surprise. "I do taste what I'm cooking before giving it to other people, you know."

Since he hadn't actually poured her a drink the way she'd suggested, she reached for the bottle to do it herself. "Back home, Illyana and Piotr's brother made vodka. I could've used it for paint thinner – actually, I did at least once, when I didn't feel like going into the village or waiting on an Amazon delivery – but it was very popular, especially with the high metabolism types."

That caught his particular interest. "You're saying the cloud of sunshine in the library or metal man knows how to make liquor that might actually stick?"

It wasn't like he always needed to get drunk, but damned if he didn't want the option.

"Back home most alcohol was watered down."

"I'm saying Mikhail's homebrew was probably at least 180 proof. Or maybe that's just my very fuzzy memories getting in the way. It wasn't the kind of thing you drank for the taste. It was just for getting seriously drunk." And regretting it the next day.

"Here, though... I imagine Illyana is familiar with the process of distillation, but is it worth the risk?"

If there was a drink that could push him over the edge, it definitely made him curious.

"You're right. Illyana almost definitely doesn't like me. Would have to worry about 'accidental' poisoning." He was mostly kidding. Mostly.

The air quotes were audible, and very appropriate, and something about the combination of topics: vodka, Illyana, what she might do with people she disliked, it stirred up memories of life in the castle.

"That's definitely a concern. The Illyana back home once, well, at least once, that I know of, threatened to curse Jake's genitals, nominally because he might have besmirched her family's honor by what vodka he was or wasn't drinking. Mostly, though, it was because Jake was being Jake."

Her head tilted as she looked Alec over, considering. "He was a lot like you, actually. In some ways."

He smiled wryly. "Should I take that as a compliment or be offended?" Alec had to wonder if Jake was a friend of Emma's or someone she'd rather forget.

"Jake's okay." They weren't particularly close, but Emma didn't let many people close usually. "My cousin, and my boyfriend actually, know him a lot better than I did. Mostly we talked on the journals. Or in the kitchen; he liked my cooking."

He could also be a self-centered jerk, but he mostly hadn't aimed that at her.

"Your boyfriend... back home?" She hung around Jag a lot, though Alec himself hadn't really said much to Jag in general. "Well, I do like your cooking. If you want, we can talk more on the journal thing." He joked, but would if she wanted him to.

She nodded. "Pyro. He's a mutant too." That was maybe obvious, but it was such a part of Pyro, it felt right to say so specifically.

"And when I say journals, it wasn't like what we've got here. It was on the computer. More an intranet for the people at the castle, to share news or whatever. It usually devolved into one kind of craziness or another. I mostly used it to let people know when I was cooking something special. Or to find out how I could help, when someone else posted about a mission the team was coming back from. That kind of thing.

"Jake used it to complain about Jess using his suits for one of her crafternoons, or sending people on scavenger hunts, or something about werewolves and something called mpreg I really don't want to know which had something to do with how he couldn't be poisoned even when he eats food that's gone bad. That was when Illyana threatened to curse his genitals. I think about half the people in the castle were in that conversation at one point or another." It had been the night Sarah and Neal first introduced themselves, having just moved to Muir, which was another reason Emma remembered it so well, because just the craziness of it all.

Alec stared at her and blinked. "I never thought I'd consider my world and the crap I have to deal with as more normal than something else, but your world sounds really complicated." Though from the sounds of it, she was fond of it.

"You itching to get back?"

Emma thought about that a moment, and then shrugged. "It's normal for me. Or at least it was for a couple of years before I wound up here. And yeah, I want to go back. It's...home is people, not a place. And I left a lot of people back there."

On the other hand, "But it would hurt too, going back now. Because I'd be leaving some of the people here."

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