8177/Hit and Miss

Hit and Miss
Date of Scene:	05 July 2019
Location:	Unknown
Synopsis:	Doug and Josh have a drink, and get a better read on each other.
Cast of Characters:	Elixir, Cypher

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Elixir has posed:
Evolution is not that busy yet tonight. There are still fireworks to see and the weather is great, so a lot of people are at the outdoor venues. But the place is never empty either.

Josh is standing at the bar talking heatedly with a young woman with red hair. She points at him repeatedly while telling him off. He replies angrily. Like everything it is an easy read for Doug. Two ex's and she is jealous. The young woman, Samantha, a graduate from Xavier's, stalks off to her friends. Josh turns to the bar and takes a long draw from his beer.

Cypher has posed:
Doug isn't on tonight, he'd just come in to pick up his paycheck and get a drink, but he's been kibbitzing and talking to people. He watches Josh, but doesn't interject or interrupt him. Instead, he says to one of the attendants, a gigantic brute of a guy, "Hey. I need to unwind for a second. I'm gonna hit the piano. My apologies to the DJ."

He makes his way up to the stage, and the world's most unlikely showstopper sits at the piano on the stage, and starts playing; he seems to have an instinctive knowledge of the way the keys relate to each other... and apparently his Mutant abilities give him an instinctive sense of pitch.

"...Hey, Blackjack dealer! Hit me!"

He proceeds to launch into an enthusiastic version of 'Viva Las Vegas' a la Bruce Springsteen. "Well there's a thousand pretty women just a'waitin out there, they're all livin' just a devil may care! And I'm just a devil with loooooooooooooove to spare~"

Elixir has posed:
Josh looks over when the music stops, and then starts again with something completely different. He recognizes Doug immediately and looks faintly surprised.

"Did you know he played?" he asks Sparky.

"I never tell secrets," she says mysteriously. She walks further down the bar to help someone else. Josh is left to drink his beer and listen to Doug. He catches a look from Samantha but ignores it.

Cypher has posed:
At the end, Doug sits back at the keyboard, and huffs out a breath. He looks up, having finished an incredibly energetic and risable song, and says, simply, "Thank you."

He gets up, and walks over to the bar, near Josh, and leans in over it. "Diet coke?" He says to the bartender, before he looks up, and brushes his blond hair back. He looks over to Josh and says, simply, "Hi."

Elixir has posed:
There is clapping when Doug finishes, some enthusiastic. Josh claps as well. He turns back to the bar, checks his phone and sighs. He pockets it.

"What?" Josh says, surprised someone was there.

"Hey. Didn't know you played. Anything you can't figure out and do?" Josh is joking and clearly more preoccupied with something else than troubles with Doug. "That was pretty good."

Cypher has posed:
"...I can't cook." Doug admits. "Something always distracts me and I wind up ruining the whole thing... just can't."

Doug inhales the fizz off his diet coke before he takes a drink, and then says, "...Look. I wanted to apologize to you for that line of questioning. I was out of line. Full stop."

Elixir has posed:
"Yeah, me neither. Ramen and omelettes is it for me. And my omelettes aren't that great."

"Huh? Oh that. Yeah, you were. Still shouldn't have bitched you out," Josh says, faintly embarassed. "Forget about it. Stupid shit, you know?"

Josh holds his glass toward Doug to clink. Truce.

Cypher has posed:
Doug murmurs, "The tension gets in around the edges, and eats at everyone. Being told you should step up and being completely daunted by the prospect isn't a healthy mix." He touches his glass to Josh's, and then drinks.

"So uh." He says. "Your girl..." He gestures. "...She found out about your other girls."

Elixir has posed:
"Step up? Who's asking you to step up?" he asks curiously. He takes a drink from his beer after the clink.

"You saw that? Sam. She dumped me... Three weeks ago? I took Wanda Maximoff home from here a few nights back. Sam lost her mind. Lost it. Been getting shit since."

Cypher has posed:
Doug lets out a slow whistle. "Wanda Maximoff?" He raises his eyebrows. "As a fellow man who always aims high, I salute you sir. Just be careful, her family's a handful."

Doug has a small smile, as if he's got something on his mind there too, though he clams up. "Sam. And Scott nudged at it more than a little bit. But... I suppose I've always seen myself as the little fish in the big pond."

Elixir has posed:
Josh laughs and raises his glass in salute. "Yeah, I got no idea how that happened. Don't think I gotta worry about her family, though. Nothing since."
Josh drains his beer and waves to Sparky for another.

"Yeah, don't take it personal. Those two are /always/ pushing."

He thanks Sparky for the drink "What was that?" he asks with a bit of a grin.

Cypher has posed:
Doug shakes his head slowly. "Ah, de nada. Nothing, nothing..." Then he adds, "Yeah, the problem is, I'm of two minds about it. They're not wrong, you can't stay in the cradle forever. It's just that when I thought about the next generation of leaders, I wasn't ever one of them."

Elixir has posed:
The grin on Josh's face stays until Doug moves right along. He shrugs.

"Totally means it's someone I know..." Josh grins again. He clearly thinks he has figured it out.

"Next generation of leaders. Wow. That sounds serious," Josh jokes. "Just be good at your role. Don't worry about the slogans."

Cypher has posed:
Doug raises his eyebrows. "...And how about you?" He asks, trying to divert the subject. "What're your plans? What will you do?" He looks around, and says, "There's an air of desperation to all of this tonight. Everyone in here is trying to pretend the outside world doesn't exist. But we don't have that luxury."

Elixir has posed:
"Nope, we never do," Josh agrees dryly and glances around. "But wouldn't you hide a bit if you could?"

Josh shrugs. "Second year pre-med, it's super exciting," Josh says with a grin. "Actually, it is good, but it's fucking hard. With team stuff, work, getting asked for help in town and all that, I'm not gonna have the grades and volunteer stuff for med-school. I mean, I'm going all in, but the odds are like, less than 50/50."

Cypher has posed:
"Actually I chose to do just the opposite. I felt like..." Doug says, "If I want to be a lawyer, a really good one, I need to be out and open about being a mutant if I'm asked. It's the sort of thing where if I acted like I had something to hide, it could be used against me." He shrugs, once, and then spreads his hands out. "Besides, not everyone has that luxury." He flicks his gaze up, and says, "Take advantage of the school's resources. I can program some live medical tutorials into the Danger Room computer for you."

Elixir has posed:
"Yeah, no thanks," Josh says. "I'll do my job there, but I'm not taking anything from them. I'll do it on my own or not at all."

Josh takes another long pull from his beer. "Not everyone would have half the world beating down their door if their power got out," Josh observes. He clearly feels conflicted on that topic. "But good for you, man. That's a brave step. You'll be a big deal one day and can change some stuff."

Cypher has posed:
Doug falls silent on that topic, whatever he was thinking of apparently well-defused. "Well, we'll see what happens. I'm not thinking of being a big deal, just about what I need to do to be able to help the most people in the most ways. I don't really care about anything else." He curls his fingers against his drink.

Elixir has posed:
Josh looks over at Doug, eyes a bit glassy. He nods and looks forward again while he takes another pull.

"You're an actual, honest to God good guy, aren't you," he shakes his head. "Huh, don't meet many of those. Sorry I swore at you."

Cypher has posed:
Doug thinks about that. "I have my moments." He admits. "But the important thing is to try. I can see so much of what people feel or what they're really saying -- I suppose you might think that'd be a good excuse to be a misanthrope, but really I feel the opposite way." He shakes his head, slowly. "You're a better person than you think you are."

Elixir has posed:
Josh makes a bit of a face at that. "Can't argue with the omnipotent," he says wryly. "I don't get how you stand it. Sam used to cry about it sometimes. You don't get any illusions.... That's a lot of truth to deal with. Know what you should do though? Go down to First New Evangelical in Queens. Sit through a service. I dunno what you'd think about people then."

Cypher has posed:
"I'm not omnipotent." Doug says, "I've met beings that approached omnipotence. They're overrated." He glances up. "I've seen just as many people struggling to cling to the better angels of their nature. But it does get a little much, sometimes. It's important to me to have solitude when I need it, or to control the people I interact with sometimes, just for that reason. But sometimes I also need to drown in the signal, and open myself up to it."

Elixir has posed:
"Huh. You're like, 20 going on 50, aren't you?" Josh says with a grin. "Gimme half your wisdom, I'd get twice as far as I do. Well, you're the right guy to have your powers. It'd be scary if you were some douche that just used them to manipulate his way into everyone's pants or make millions playing poker or something."

He raises his glass to Doug and drains it.

"I gotta stop or I'm not gonna make it home. You're a good guy, Doug," Josh says and claps Doug on the back.

Cypher has posed:
Doug mutters, "There's no challenge in it. So I don't bother. Just like playing the stock market. I could be a millionaire overnight. But is it worth it?" Then he glances up at Josh and holds up his phone. "Do you want me to call you a Lyft?"

Elixir has posed:
"Oh shit, thanks. Don't want to lose that," he says and thanks Doug for scooping his phone off the bar. Josh shakes his head. "Nah, I'm good. I live like a block up."

Josh does an admirable job of not swaying much. He holds a hand out to Doug.

"Catch you later, man."

After that, Josh turns and half-stubmles his way through the crowd. When he gets to the foot of the stairs he is surrounded in a brief gold glow, and then trots up the stairs, sure-footed and stone cold sober.

Cypher has posed:
Doug watches Josh go, and then he tilts his head. "Hm." But he keeps any thoughts he has, to himself.