Afterparty

[toooldforlosing]

Raylan survived an entire night of being trotted around the party as Hasi's escort without doing anything embarassing, or getting attacked because he was mistaken for someone else. On the whole, he considered this a win.

The truth was, in his work, he'd occasionally been to a fancy party, but always as the outsider. It was work. Boys from Harlan county did not get invited to that sort of party as a guest. It didn't bother him, but it left him feeling a little displaced. (Of course, with some of the people he'd met and seen at the Xanadu affair, he could have been bright green and no one would have batted an eye. It did make a bit of difference.)

Even so, he was glad enough that it was over. He'd had... quite a bit to drink, though his steps were steady enough. Hasi probably knows him well enough by now to tell he's feeling the alcohol a bit, but he's still in control. Maybe glad he's not driving home, but more or less fine. Even though he's quiet, he's relaxed, and with no idea of packing it in just yet.

"I'd ask your place or mine, but frankly, you don't want to see mine. Hell, I don't want to see mine."

Comments

[norea]

Her response to that accusation is nothing more than a very bright grin; apparently she feels no shame in this spoiling. Hasi returns with bourbon for him and a martini glass for herself, setting the former on the bedside table near Raylan.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

[toooldforlosing]

He sits up to accept the bourbon. "Thanks." Scooting back to lean against the headboard, he said, "Well. Just wondering if you can get frequent flyer miles for travel by nexus, I guess."

[norea]

She settles next to him, glass in hand.

"Wouldn't that be nice? Although- can you imagine how it would be if people back home knew about the place?" She pulls a bit of a face, and yes, indeed- imagine if some people back home where Raylan's from knew.

[toooldforlosing]

"That could get... complicated," he says, ever the master of understatement.

Someone will, eventually, wonder where he disappears to.

[norea]

She glances over at him, slyly. "The thought makes you a little apprehensive, doesn't it?"

[toooldforlosing]

"It makes me think I'll need some sort of plan, for when it does," he clarifies. "That's a lot of mess to be avoiding."

[norea]

"You sound like you think it's an inevitability," she notes.

[toooldforlosing]

"Well. I think it best to be prepared." And if he keeps coming here, it probably is, really. People talk.

[norea]

"Oh, like a Boy Scout." Immediately, back to trolling him. (Affectionately, of course.)

[toooldforlosing]

He laughs. "Yeah. Just like. Though I don't think there's a badge about visiting lady friends in London, somehow."

[norea]

"I'll make you your own special one," she threatens idly, and after downing a good half of her martini, rolls onto her stomach to sprawl next to him. She rests her chin in her hand to prop her head up, though.

"Do you ever wonder what it is we're doing here, exactly?"

[toooldforlosing]

"Been tryin' not to, especially, this evening." And generally. "Why, it been on your mind?"

[norea]

She thinks about it for a second and shrugs one shoulder, half-smiling. "I've thought about it, but I don't feel the need to get definitive."

[toooldforlosing]

He chuckles a bit, lying back and resting his bourbon on his stomach. "Probably best, really. I tend to screw up definitive things, and it seems like you've got enough of complicated anyway."

[norea]

"Yeah." She's not sure they're not complicated anyway, but she can't help grinning at the way he leaves his drink on his stomach. "And you know- what we've got right here, this is a gift. No pressure, no judgment, no demands."

[toooldforlosing]

"Just two crazy people, a fair amount of liquor, and assorted animal friends. Without the middle bit, it's almost a sitcom," he points out.

[norea]

That makes her laugh, pressing her face to her palm in a vain attempt to muffle it.

"But with me in it, it's the kind they'd only put on HBO," she says. (Or FX!)

[toooldforlosing]

"Probably just as well," he observes, with a smile. "Don't have to cut out all the cussin', that way."

[norea]

"Or the nakedness, or the sex, or the drinking..." Speaking of which, she rests a hand on his glass on his stomach (so it doesn't tip over) when she inches up to kiss Raylan on the mouth, briefly. Just because. "Why is it all the best parts of life are R-rated?"

[toooldforlosing]

"Mm. Couldn't say. Guess we don't want kids knowing that being an adult is ever fun," he speculates.

[norea]

She exhales a little laugh. "And yet most of them seem like they want to grow up immediately."

[toooldforlosing]

"Yeah. Go figure." He moves to set the bourbon on the side table. "You tired at all?" He can't see a clock, but it feels like it's gone from "late" to "early."

[norea]

"Sort of," she admits, "but I'm in that place where I'm half-being stubborn; I like the night too much."

Though they are reaching that edge of things where dawn starts to creep over the horizon.

"Why, did I wear you out?"

[toooldforlosing]

"Nah. Just been a long night, that's all." He is a bit tired, but not in the way that leads to sleep.

[norea]

"You need to unwind," she informs him, matter-of-factly, "I guess I'll be your assistant in that for this evening. I can double as a masseuse, if you like!"