8317/Dad Talk

Dad Talk
Date of Scene:	19 October 2021
Location:	The Laughing Magician
Synopsis:	Cabbie Dad and Thoth Dad have both seen terrible things today, so they both get drunk and have a discussion about Phoebe. Jon reveals something he's been hiding, but agrees to help Phoebe if anything happens to Chas.
Cast of Characters:	Jonathan Sims, Chas Chandler

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Jonathan Sims has posed:
    By the time Chas comes out of the back room, Zatanna is gone and Jon is... well, he's asleep with his head on the bar, an empty whiskey bottle and an ashtray with about six cigarette butts in it next to him. He's even still got the messenger bag slung over his shoulder; he never took it off.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas comes in, looks at Jon and frowns. "Christ..." he mutters. "One won't sleep without an angel by his side, the other will sleep anywhere he fancies."

    He moves forward and takes the bottle from the bar. He'll dispose of it proper another time, he also empties the ash tray and sets it in the washbasin for later too. Then he gently shakes the Archivist by the shoulder. "Jon. Jon wake up. Sleeping here isn't a good idea. Good way to get a stiff neck."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Martin?" Jon's voice is groggy, but somehow he infuses a single word with enough tenderness and vulnerability to wrench the heartstrings.

    Then his eyes blink open and he peers groggily at Chas. "You're too tall t'be Martin," he grumbles in a distinctly accusatory tone. "G'way."

    And he quite stubbornly closes his eyes again.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas sighs, even though the event pains him. He reaches over and shakes the man again. This time his voice firmer. "Jon... Jonathan Sims..." He doesn't like having to resort to it but it might get through. "Archivist!" he said deliberately and directly.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon blinks his eyes open again, sitting upright, his glasses falling right off his face. "Wh... huh...?!" He peers around. Oh. He's in the bar still. And there's Chas.

    He blinks again a few times. "M'drunk," he finally manages to note. "That's... been a while."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    "Since you got drunk?" Chas asks, taking the tumbler he had been using and filling it with some more of the clear liquid, which he downed in one gulp. "I can imagine. After what you went through? Don't blame you." He downed another.

    John shoving the scene of the village in his head did a number on him. It will be a while until he will be able to fully process and sleep right. But he is better equipped to handle it than others.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Mmm. S'not that. Or... not jus' that. It's... everything. It's... I dunno." Jon shrugs. "What's it matter? Doesn' matter. Should sleep. Need to... mmm. Things t'do." He eyes the bar, like he's seriously considering putting his head back down there.

    Then he blinks and turns to peer ownlishly at Chas. "What's wrong? Something... something's wrong."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas shakes his head. "Not anything you don't already know" he says. "Phoebe." He pours another glass and just holds it for a moment.

    "I'm not a full time dad to Gerldine... even less now that she's across the pond. But with Phoebe..." He frowns. "I feel this big responsibility to do right by her because she doesn't have anyone else."

    He takes a slower sip of the liquid. "What if I screw up? I mean, sure John's the one who has influence over her more than I do. But I'm her grounding agent, ya know? What if I mess that up? If she has all the power that John can give her and no solid foundation... that's... that's not something I like to think about." Wasn't he talking to Jon a few nights ago about not sweating the 'what ifs'?

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Screw up /real/ bad," Jon says with a bitter laugh, "and she might die."

    He stops. Blinks. "Th-that's... s-sorry, that's..."

    He shakes his head, like he's trying to clear it. "I... it's... hard to..." He frowns. "M'sure you'll be fine. It's normal to... worry about this stuff. Y'know?" Gods, he's no good at this while he's this drunk. "You just gotta... be there. Love her. Show it. Y'know?"

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas frowns for a moment. He winces as Jon manages to apologize. "But if I give the wrong advice? I mean, I'm not the best of role models if you can't tell..." He downs the rest of his glass. From the smell of the alcohol, whatever was in it was *potent.*

    "I just... I screwed it up with Renee and that almost took Geraldine away for good. I can't do that to Phoebe. Geraldine's still got her mom... even if her mom is sometimes a right bitch." Yeah, the alcohol was hitting him. "But no. Phoebe's got John and me..." He blinks. "And you... you gotta do right by her if I can't Jon."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon shakes his head. "She's not... I mean, I'm trying to, but she's not..." He stops, his eyes watering. "They call me /Thoth Dad/. I can't... it's not..."

    He shudders, shakes his head again like he's trying to dislodge something. Then he leans across the bar to grab Chas by the arm. "You're gonna be /fine/," he says, and his eyes have that penetrating gaze they get sometimes, like he's seeing the /entirety/ of someone, right through to their soul. He reaches up the other hand to pat at Chas' chest, clumsily. "You've a good heart, mate. Heart's... heart's the most important thing. Okay? You got this."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas frowns down at Jon's clumsy hand and then he takes it. He's got a strong grip. "You've gotta promise me, Jon" he says, his own piercing blue eyes meeting the Archivist's. "If anything... if anything happens to me... you've gotta promise me. You gotta promise me you'll keep her grounded."

    "John loves her with enough heart to kill the dinosaurs but he's not grounded enough" He's still squeezing and he hasn't lost eye contact with Jon. "She needs more than that... you... you be that in case... in the event. If something happens, okay?"

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon... stares at Chas. "I... I can't... I'm not... she's not..." There's something there, some /panic/ down in his eyes. "I can't be her /father/, Chas. That's... that's you and John. I can't... I /can't./ Not again."

    Not /again?

Chas Chandler has posed:
    The slip seems to break Chas out of his semi-drunken haze and he frowns at Jon. It's his turn to sound like the observing eye. "Jon... is there something you want to tell me?" he asks, leaning back and setting the overproofed grain-alcohol aside.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon shakes his head. "No. No. S'fine. S'not... s'fine." He drops his hands, leans back. "I'll... I'll be there. Mentor. Uncle. What... whatever she needs. Okay? That... that I can do."

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas keeps his discerning gaze on Jon. He's not got Archivist powers, but he can be almost as unescapable as a laser pointed in one's eye.

    "Jon..." he says, his tone direct and almost completely sober. "What aren't you telling us about what happened in that decade?" he asks.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon hunches his shoulders. He wants, so badly, to just... run. To pop open a portal to the House of Mystery or stumble out the door into the night... but then Chas will just pin him with it next time they meet anyway. He's not drunk enough to forget.

    Jon, it might be noted, is /never/ drunk enough to forget. Not ever.

    Finally, looking away like he's ashamed, he says, "Did... did Martin ever tell you he, umm..."

    Another pause, then, softly, "Martin had a daughter." Oh.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas blinks. "No..." he truly sets the alcohol aside and grabs a rag. "He never did."

    He starts wiping down the bar, a very stereotypical thing for a baretender to do, but Chas thought better when his hands were busy. "Before you and him got together?" he asks.

    He's not pushing for anything more. He knows to let it all come out as quickly or as slowly as the man across from him can manage. Bartender-fu was powerful but required patience.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Before we met. He was 17. S'why he was always working so much, y'know? He had a scholarship to Oxford but between his Mum and Lyra..." Jon's voice breaks and then he's suddenly sobbing, like saying her name broke a dam inside him.

    "H-her... her mum died... before we came to America," he manages between sobs. "S-she... I adopted her. And... and..."

    And he hasn't been going home at night. He hasn't been talking about a daughter he needs to get back to, or worrying about long-term care if he has to hide from Nergal, or... anything of the sort. He never even mentioned her existence.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas isn't dense. "When did it happen?" he asks. Forcing the man who was clearly grieving still to repeat the death of his adoptive daughter. He knows how he would feel if Geraldine or Phoebe were ever gone.

    He slides a box of tissues and gets a glass of water for the man as he listens to the answer.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "When the Frost Giants attacked New York," Jon says in a hollow voice. "M-Martin was at work, and we were trying to get to safety, and... and..." He stares down at his hands. "I wasn't fast enough. I wasn't strong enough. A piece of a building fell on her and I... I couldn't... I went to med school, I'm supposed t-to... to /help/ people..."

    He stops, because he's crying so hard his shoulders are shaking.

    Finally he manages, "She'd be about Phoebe's age. Maybe a little younger. Wh-when... when Phoebe was injured, I just saw..." He closes his eyes. Shudders.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas sets the rag aside and moves over to put a hand on Jon's shoulder. He has very strong, rough, and capable hands. "I understand" he says, softly. He gives Jon's shoulder a squeeze. "I'm... sorry. I didn't know. I shouldn't have put that on you. Made you..." He sighs. "I'm really sorry."

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon swallows and frowns at the bartender. "Y'want to know what happens if you screw up? A little piece of you dies. Maybe all of you. Martin and I almost didn't make it." He shudders, and pulls away. "Don't screw it up."

    He's half-stumbling off the barstool. "Don' worry," he says. "I'll be there. She's a good kid, and she's... she's..." He frowns. "Heka who existed before duality came into being..." He shakes his head. It keeps /bothering/ him. Something he's not getting, for some reason.

    "She's special," he manages finally. "M'here for a reason, and I think it's her." He laughs ruefully. "Doubt it's John. He doesn'... doesn' need me, really." He shrugs, clearly trying to shrug it off.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas frowns. "He's going through a lot man..." he says, coming to the defense of his friend. "We all are. We need to stick together, I'm hoping eventually to get that through to John as well. Eventually." He's been trying for a decade. Eventually it'll stick, right?

    "Once this is all over," he says going back to wiping the bar. "Things will be easier. And we can all sit down and... have a good time. Like a proper party, like old times." He tries to smile, but he knows that so much has happened that old times can't be so easily relived.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    "Didn't say I was mad at him. Didn't say I didn't understand." Jon straightens the messenger bag over his shoulder. "Just... said he doesn't need me. Or maybe I just don't know how to help." He shrugs. "S'fine." It's clearly not fine, clearly bothering him, but he frowns, sways a bit.

    "Mind if I stay up on your couch again? Don't... don't want to wake Phoebe with the screams." He says this matter-of-factly, like 'Jon Sims screams at night' is a thing everyone knows.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas nods. "You and John both. Go ahead and stay on the couch. Might want to stay out of the masterbedroom though. John sort of made a mess of it." He remembers that he's going to have to clean it up now but he'll deal with it eventually.

    "I'm on Phoebe watch duty again tonight. If you need me, just call. You know the number." He is grateful that the House of Mysteries at least has the decency to have a stable internet and cell service.

Jonathan Sims has posed:
    Jon waves a hand. "S'fine. Been happening since I was eight. Night terrors, I think. Spiders. Spiders /everywhere/." He shudders. "I usually don't break anything. Call you if I do."

    And then he's heading on up to the apartment above the Laughing Magician, unsteady on his feet.

Chas Chandler has posed:
    Chas watches him go for a moment and then sighs. He makes sure to wash all the tumblers and ashtrays. He then turns his attention to cleaning up the mess made in the back room. It was going to be a long time before he managed to get to the House of Mysteries.