Horseshoes And Handgrenades

[Waddle]

Evan half skipped, half walked beside Anthony. It may have been 2a.m. or so, but he was fully rested and ready for something new. The Silent Rose would be a good place to satisfy Anthony's growing hunger for a cheeseburger and a good place to quench Evan's thirst for a bit of adventure. He wondered why people were staring at them. He leaned over to his friend and said, "Hey, Ant, I think those girls find you really amusing because they won't stop giggling," he said, glancing at his pajama-clad friend and gesturing to a group of giggling girls. There were about four of them, and one was cleary drunk as anything because she kept staggering and swaying on her feet. Evan knew the drunk sways when he saw them.


Hatty's grey eyes narrowed as she caught the man's gaze. She and her new friends had been laughing at the pajama guy, but mainly giggling over the one who's gaze she held. She couldn't hold the look any longer, and began to giggle drunkely. One of her friends leaned in to whisper, "He was so checking you out, girl!" Hatty shook her jumble of red hair. "Me? No... I don't fall for guys who walk around shirtless just to show their muscles, even if they actually are muscled." Her friend pushed her gently towards the two as they approached, and Hatty staggered, falling with several vivid curses.

[Anty]

Anthony was wide awake, he didn't need much sleep to keep him going . Plus he had been sleeping since around 3 p.m. which helped. He got annoyed with the sound the flip flops had been making and he took them off, then he tried to put them into his back pocket, but realized he didn't have one. He looked down and realized he was wearing pajamas, he shrugged, he wasn't one to care for his physical appearance much. He handed them over to Evan casually. Then he listened to the tapping of there feet against the warm sidewalk.

He was reawakened to reality when Evan began to talk again. He looked over to the girls and shrugged, "You're the one walking around shirtless." He looked at the red-haired girl, she was obviously drunk, and kind of cute, too. His eyes widened as the red-head approached them, but then tripped. He quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and help her readjust her balance, "You almost ran into him, you know," he said, gesturing towards Evan. He stopped where he was, studying the girl.

Quinn had been the one to push Hatty towards the shirtless guy, but she was actually into the whole shirtless thing. She studied his features, mainly the abs, though. One word coursed through her head: Hot. She pursed her lips, trying to decide what to do. They were obviously older, at least for Hatty, to be truthful, Quinn wasn't even sure if it was legal. But for Quinn, it was fine. Quinn decided she had better protect Hatty before she got herself into to much trouble. She walked up behind Hatty, putting her hand firmly onto her shoulder, "Sorry about her. Alcohol, you know," she nodded to Hatty. "Come on, we're leaving now,"she said, her teeth tightly clenched.

[Waddle]

Hatty looked up into the stranger's green eyes and felt her own widening. She stumbled back a pace, muttering a small thanks. "I didn't mean to," she protested, glancing back at Quinn.

"I'm shirtless?!" Evan shouted in confusion, looking down at himself. Indeed, he was. When had he pulled his shirt off? He couldn't remember for the life of him! He looked at the girls, seeing one watching him more attenticely than the others, and shrugged to himself. "This may be fun yet, dear Anthony," he said. He said it in a playful way, but he had no itentions to do anything to the girls. Only chat really.

"I'm not as drunk as you think I salad!" Hatty argued. It wasn't her fault Stan had gotten her into liking beer. "I be a perfect gentlesire," she had to pause to hiccup, "to the lovely lambs." She turned to the two men and locked gazes with the pajama-clad one and bowed. "May I show master to his platypus?"

Evan glanced at Ant, his mouth hanging open at the red-headed girl's drunken show. He quickly caught the other girl's arm. "Do you really have to go so soon?" he asked innocently, quickly releasing her arm to not make it seem like he was forcing her to stay. He smiled at her.

[Anty]

Anthony's stomach growled loudly muttered something about cheeseburgers. He looked over to the red-haired one, "Kiss me if I'm wrong, but is your name... " he trailed off, trying to think of a ridiculous name, "Janice?" He smiled, that had always worked when he was younger. But then when was the last time he had dated anyone? It seemed ages ago, or at least ages since he had dated anyone decent. It had been at least half a decade. He hadn't had time to see anyone through the army, and he couldn't in jail or at the mental institution, unless they were insane. He looked over at Evan, giving him a knowing wink, "Heh. You better believe it," he knew he and Evan were probably thinking two different things, but he wasn't sure.

Quinn turned around and began to walk off haughtily, but she soon spun back around as the shirtless man grabbed her arm. "Are you flirting with me?!" she asked him, she had sounded quite angry, but she was just joking with him. She hoped he knew that. She rolled her eyes at Hatty and couldn't help the smile that slid over her face, she was so stoned.

[Waddle]

Hatty smiled, gave another giggled hiccup, then stood on the tips of her toes to kiss the man on the cheek. "If you wanna guess my name, sire, we will be here all night, because I honestly doubt anyone else in the country as my name." And she was quite fine with playing the game all night. She was so stoned she didn't really know who she was with. It was times like this that a young girl got herself in serious trouble, said her instinct. She shoved it down, believing it to be some sort of weird hillusination. She crossed her arms at the grumpy-seeming Quinn. "He only wants to play a bit, Quinn. There's no harm in that, is there?" She hiccuped again, then giggled madly. Turning back to the pajama man, she put her hands on her hips and studied him. "And just who the H.E.- doublt hockey sticks are you?" Where as she might have said the real word, she found that saying it like that made it seem a lot more fun.

Evan shook his head at Anthony. He had clearly mistaken what Evan had meant by 'fun'. He turned to the girl the drunk one had called Quinn. "That's a nice name," he said, a little awkwardly. Then he glanced at the redhead and Ant again. "You might watch her. She could get herself into trouble with him. I'll keep an eye on him." This night wasn't turning out quite like he had expected. The other girls of the group stood by, probably too shallow to save their 'friend'. Well, Evan still had his brain in the right spot, and he wouldn't let Ant get away with much. Feeling more like a keeper than a friend right then, he sighed and took the cigarette he had forgotten about out of his mouth to blow smoke to the side and put it back in.

[Anty]

He looked at the girl, he wasn't really in the mood to do anything too stupid just then, but playing around with her wouldn't hurt anybody. Besides that he had no idea how old she was, though she looked at least a decade younger than he and Evan. He shrugged, "I'd really love to break your heart... " but then he realized he had said that aloud, his eyes went wide and his hand went straight to his mouth, "Shouldn't of said that," he said through his hand. He folded his arms over his chest, "Anthony. But I should like to know who you are," he said, looking down at her. But what he really wanted was a cheeseburger and some peace and quiet. "Cheeseburgers," he muttered in a determined voice, and began to walk again.

Quinn looked over at Hatty and shook her head in disbelief, "To think that innocent little Hatty would be the one to get drunk! Why, God? Why did you curse me with this? Of course I'll keep an eye on her. She's not leaving my site," she was always protective, no matter if they needed protection or not, and Hatty did. "Yes. I was born with that name... " she trailed off, thinking of her mother. She shook her head, clearing away they bad thoughts. "And who might you be?

[Waddle]

Hatty stared after Anthony, her jaw handing opened. Had he just dissed her for... what had he said? Cheeseburgers?! There was no way the man was dating a cheeseburger! He wasn't that stupid, was he? She shouted after him, "My heart is hard to break, ya know!" It was a futile attempt to bring the handsome man back. She huffed, crossing her arms and glaring after him. She looked at Quinn. "Can you BELIEVE him?! He dissed me for a hamburger! One with CHEESE!" She pulled a disgusted face and started after Anthony with full intentions on setting him straight on what kind of women he chose.

Evan stretched out a hand and grabbed the redhead by the collar of her shirt. He sighed loudly and said around the cigarette, "Leave him be, girl."

Hatty looked at the shirtless guy indigently. "Oh, I get it. You want him all to yourself, Mr. Abs!"

Evan flushed at the memory of gay chicken, and quickly answered Quinn. "Evan, Evan Ikron."

"See?!" Hatty cried in triumph. "His face is glowing! Gay love! How sweet!"

Growling angrily to himself, he tossed the redhead quite unkindly toward Quinn and stormed after Ant, chewing on end of cigarette angrily. Catching up to him, he said, "Now the drunk one will probably tail us all over the place, Ant." He sighed again. And, indeed, when he glanced back, he saw the redhead staring after them with a sly, knowing grin on her face.

[Anty]

Quinn sighed, "Hatty do you know when to SHUT UP?! You just-" she stopped herself, she didn't want to explode on Hatty. She was just drunk, after all, it happens to the best. She watched as the stormed off, which she couldn't care less about, they had met them seconds ago, though she would miss those abs... she shook her head quickly, trying to rid the mental image of the abs. She walked up silently behind Hatty and shook her by the shoulder, but none too rough, "He's too old for you, anyways," she really hoped Hatty didn't go chasing after them, though she wouldn't doubt it.

Anthony had begun to walk quickly now, and he tensed as someone walked up beside, but he sighed in relief when he realized it was Evan. "Better than an angry old man with a walking stick. Well... " he trailed off, that had always been one of his dreams. Forget it, Ant, you will never be chased by an angry old man with a walking stick, he thought in second person. "I think that dark-haired one had a thing for you, Evan," he said, looking at his friend as he walked. "Feisty. Just your type, too. Surely we must be near... " his mind went blank, he had no recollection of where they were going, "Near that place we're going to," he tried to cover it up, but failed pretty badly. He cough shook his body roughly as he retched up blood into his sleeve. Lovely.

[Waddle]

Hatty looked at Quinn and exclaimed, "AGE IS BUT A NUMBER!" Laughing, she continued, "I'm just seein' how long it takes to really annoy them." She didn't at all realize that Quinn had almost gone off on her, her brain being fuzzy and bubbly. It was like living in the fiz of a newly opened soda that's been shaken very well. "You liked the abs, didn't you?" she cackled. "You can have Mr. Abs. I get P.J. Man." Without another look over her shoulder, Hatty raced up to the two and squeezed herself between them just late enough to not notice anything more than a regular cough. She patted Anthony on the back gently. "Gotta cold?" she asked, not seeing the blood on his sleeve.

Evan groaned in his head. Stupid girl. He glacned worridly at Ant, fearing he might not be as in good a condition as Evan had frist thought. "Not far," he said, gesturing to the sign that slowly appeared out of the darkness. He noticed the pause, but said nothing about it.

"Goin' to the Rose, are we?" Hatty said excitedly. She had somehow gotten it into her head that they were all together or something. "Can I tag along? I promise I won't break anything!"

[Anty]

Quinn sighed and followed after Hatty, dragging her feet. She caught up and stepped in beside Evan, yawning. When in Rome, do as the Roman, she had often heard people saying, but not until now did she completely understand it. "If Hatty is coming, then so am I. No telling what she will try while she's this stoned."

Anthony groaned inwardly, he had never planned on this happening. He sidestepped so that he wasn't rubbing arms with Hatty, as the other girl had called her. "No, not exactly. I don't have a cold. I'm suicidal, I tried to kill myself by overdosing and now I'm like this. Evan saved my life, though I still wish he had chosen against it," he hoped that if he had just told the truth, that maybe, hopefully, the girl would realize what she was dealing with and leave them be, but he doubted it.

Quinn blinked. Suicidal? She had no idea what she was dealing with now, for all she knew they could be drug dealers. She already guessed by the smell of them and the cigarette hanging from Evan's mouth that they were smokers, heavy smokers. What were they getting into?

Anthony pulled out another cigarette, putting it between his teeth. All this nonsense was starting to stress him out, and that was normally when he pulled out a cigarette. Then he remembered Evan had taken the lighter, he sighed. "Evan, what did you do with the lighter?" he hoped he would hand it over with no fuss.

[Waddle]

Of course, however, Hatty wasn't in the least bit daunted by the revelation that Anthony was suicidal. Her mouth hung open slightly, and she looked at Anthony with pity in her eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked gently. "Did your girl leave you? Let me guess. Your girl left you for a corndog and so now you are going to meet up with an ex-girlfriend at the Rose, who just happens to be a cheeseburger to try and get her jealous." She nodded. In her mind, that made perfect sense.

Evan almost said something along the lines of "What kind of friend would I be if I let you kill yourself?" but stopped himself. He didn't want to start that up again. Checking his front pockets, then his back pockets, he didn't find the lighter. "Umm... I may've left it back at the apartment, Ant." He paused in walking to check his sock. Pulling the lighter out, he ran up to them and took his place once more, handing the lighter to Ant. "Don't ask me how it ended up there because I have no clue."

"You two share an apartment?" Hatty giggled, hiccuped, then giggled some more. "You two do know smoking is bad for you, right?" She question was meant for her mind, but it came out her mouth instead.

"Yes, and yes. We are a happy couple." Evan gave Ant a look that begged him to play along. Maybe pretending to be gay would disgust the girls or something and make them leave.

Hatty stared at Evan. "He was flirting with me!" she exclaimed. "Normally, a real man, or woman, whichever you are this this specific relationship, wouldn't stand for that!"

He shrugged, smiling. "He's gotta have a little fun every now and again, ain't that right, honey?" The last was directed to Anthony.

[Anty]

Quinn's jaw dropped. So not only were these guys heavy smokers, and possibly drug dealers, they were gay too. She was fine with this, it just came as a bit of a shock to her, they had seemed so into them at first. Anthony took the lighter from Evan, nodding a thanks. He lit up the cigarette and began puffing at it, sticking the lighter in his own pocket, "Just so ya don't lose it, ya know, again." He tilted his head back, "I remember this one time, I had a dream and I was-" he stopped himself, it wasn't very pleasant after that.

"So you guys are gay, but you flirt with girls, and you live together?" Quinn was trying to piece everything together, but it was giving her a nasty head ache. Anthony's eyes widened in surprise, but then he winked, realizing what was going on. He had started to ignore Hatty, but he answered her anyways, "No, I'm not making my girlfriend jealous, I'm... I'm... Going on a date with... him," he jerked his head around to Evan.

[Waddle]

Evan made a mental note to make sure to get his lighter back from Ant. Or buy new ones. It was his last one. "Pretty much," he answered Quinn. He put an arm over Anthony's shoulders, grinning at the girls. "And it was going to be a private date, and still is, I believe." He lost the smile and gave the girl Hatty a meaningful look. It was obvious that Quinn wouldn't be here if the redhead hadn't come. He wondered what Ant had been about to say about the dream. Probablay something about talismans. Good thing he had stopped.

Hatty looks at Quinn with an incredulous look on her face. "You hear that?" she asked, "They're tryin' to get rid o' us!" Still, even in her intoxicated state, she didn't like gay or bisexual people. They made her feel awkward, and she did think about leaving. She turned back to Anthony. "One time I had a dream, and it was a WEIRD dream! This mountain lion came from a tumble of rocks and started tellin' me all this crap about a war goin' on in this town. What a load of rubbish!" She laughed, not realizing that she had revealed something that really did scare her. "Somethin' 'bout a group of... What-cha-ma-call-'ems fighting another group of blah-blah-blahs." She hiccuped drunkenly, staring blankly at the two men, without a clue that she had made a huge mistake.

[Anty]

Anthony leaned his weight, which wasn't much, against Evan's shoulder, though he looked more like a drunk than he did a lover. "We are together and proud, isn't that right... Evan?" he looked around at his friend for confirmation. He switched the cigarette from hand to hand and then ruffled Evan's hair with the empty one, more in a friendly like fashion than anything. He was not very good at this game.

Quinn rolled her eyes at Hatty, "I think they're trying to get rid of you," she gestured towards her. Her eyes widened and there was a dangerous look upon her face. "HATTY! Why did you- You just- I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" She took a deep breath, trying to calm her self, she sighed. She began to mutter inaudibly under her breath.

Talismans, eh? They could be of use yet... he thought dryly. Anthony's eyes trailed from Quinn to Hatty, studying her carefully. "Have you decided yet?" He looked from her up to Evan, trying to read his facial expressions, but he was unable to. It was almost like reading a brick wall, Evan always had that joking look on his face, which could mean anything was racing through his brain right now.

[Waddle]

"Very right," Evan grinned. Then his eyebrows rose at Hatty. Oh, great.

Hatty started and backed a step away from Quinn as she was shouted at. "WHAT DID I DO THIS TIME?!" she demanded, dismayed. She didn't really remember what she had said, but then she did and slapped herself on the cheek. "And no!" she exclaimed, glaring at them. And I fully intend upon keeping it that way!" What if they're Hunters...? She took a step away from the men, beginning to really realize her mistake. Dang, every time she turned around, someone else had a talisman too! Did everyone have talismans? No, that would be kind of stupid.

Evan kept his face straight, not returning Ant's look. He watched the redhead interestedly. Should they try to convince her to be a Hunter? She could be useful... "What about you, Quinn? You decided?" His blue gaze went to her. This was indeed an interesting night. He took his arm off his friend's shoulders and put his hands casually in his pockets.