Another Round of Drinks

Who: Nic and Lina
Where: The Billiards Room
When: Night

By the end of the day, Nic was more than ready for a drink. He needed one, especially after talking to Matt earlier. If there was ever a man to make him feel like their future was bleak, it was Matt, at least at the moment. He hated the change he saw in his friend, from happy-go-lucky to pessimistic and depressed. And he blamed the scientists for that, for taking Jacie away from him. It still blew his mind that Matt had no way of contacting her, that they hadn't set up something so that they'd be together when they got out. If he lost Dan in a similar manner, he suspected he'd be much worse off himself. It was why they'd talked about it, prepared themselves as best they could. Still, nothing worked out exactly as suspected, at least in this house. Planning ahead was futile, it seemed, but they had to keep trying.

Lina was glad she'd made plans with Nic to finally have that drink, and had to stop herself from showing up in the billiards room early. Lina was in a bad place, and unfortunately, it wasn't something she saw the chance for a possible improvement in. Her mind was a dark, cruel place at the moment, and all she wanted to do was escape it for a little while at a time. This happened a lot in Lina's life, and whenever it did, she hit the booze a little harder than normal. In theory, if she was hanging out with Nic, she wouldn't get totally wrecked. In theory.

Nic wasn't the best person to slow Lina down, but he did have a boyfriend to get back to, and it took four flights of stairs to get there. His rule of thumb was that he had to be able to climb stairs. "Evening," Nic said, offering a small smile. "This feels way past due, and I'm sure it's only a few days late." It'd been suggested after he'd helped Hannah get back to the house, but that had been on the first. Tons had happened since then, but he never really expected it to stay quiet. "Another bad day?"

Thankfully, Lina hadn't beaten him there by much, though she had snuck in a couple of shots before she heard Nic coming. "I think we're stuck on nothing but bad days." she commented to him, as she poured herself a whiskey. "Long ones, too." Though wonderfully enough, what was bothering her wasn't so much the house stuff. It was all the bullshit she'd never say to anybody. "How's yours been?"

"Occasionally I get good ones," Nic said, making his way around to the back of the bar. "Though that's usually due to the people that surround me, not the scientists own motives. And if that weren't enough, there's the idiots in the house..." Nic poured himself a shot, starting off stronger than he'd planned to, but oh well. Thoughts like that deserved a shot to go with them. "Today's been good. I've been here a month today. Met you a month today, in here, if I recall." And Dan, a few hours earlier. And Rebekah... Now she was an odd duck.

Lina gave a small, short-lived smirk. "Sounds about right." she agreed. "I don't remember what we talked about, but I'm sure I was a cunt." She was good at that. "And speaking of, how did you like your bonding session with Hannah?"

"I don't remember what we talked about, but you were a bitch," Nic smirked. Lina had probably been drunk that day, but Nic had been a little oblivious at the time. There was a lot going on and he didn't understand even half of it then. Now he didn't blame her. "I'm not exactly fond of dealing with newbies myself though, so I don't blame you. It's never a good day to try to welcome someone to the house when they don't have a fucking clue what they've signed themselves up for." And Nic hadn't. Not at all. "Hannah. Oh, God," Nic said, rolling his eyes. "Someone needs to sew her mouth closed. Seriously. I think she eventually realized that she needed to shut the fuck up or I was going to leave her ass."

"It's gotten worse, the newbies." Lina said, shaking her head after taking a drink. "With this damn position I've become the official go-to girl. I get to be the lucky bastard that tells them all they're fucked." Yeah, that was way fun. And only one of a million things currently fucking with her head. Hannah was a much better topic - for once. She smirked a bit again. "She's awful. I think anyone else would have left her."

"We should write a letter telling them just how fucked they are," Nic said. "Then, when they come to you, you don't have to give them the run down. Just hand them the letter and let them deal." Yeah, so that was fucking cold, but there were times when he really felt like it would be easier than telling them in person, especially with the number of newbies that seemed to be showing up lately. But he was good with a change of subject. That was nice, actually, since Hannah had been dealt with. "There was yelling," Nic said with a small smile. "I think she's the first person that's really pushed me since I've been here. On some level, it was nice to yell at someone who really deserves it."

Lina snorted at that. "Probably therapudic." she agreed. "Something's gonna have to be done about that girl, and I still have no idea how the fuck that's going to go down." Gee, even this subject wasn't safe. Awesome. "How's Zhen?"

"Yes," Nic chuckled, taking a drink. "I try to avoid her. It's not that hard in a house this big." It was, in fact, the first time he'd been stuck with her, so he knew it could be done. "I think she's okay," Nic said, frowning a bit as he spoke of Zhen. "A little more mistrustful, I think, but she's not going to lock herself away in her room either. That whole ordeal bothers me."

"Everyone needs to be a little more mistrustful." Lina said with a small snort. "Do you know how much easier my job would be if everyone in this house was even just ten fucking percent more mistrustful? The newbies never believe me when I tell them how bad it's going to get, they still think they're on fucking vacation."

"That's because they don't have a clue until they experience it for themselves. No amount of explaining will make it real," Nic said, finger running around the edge of his drink. "And then there's the part where they think they can leave. They don't believe it until they really get a taste of what's going on here. Course, I think it takes a while to start building up the paranoia. Unless something happens to you."

And Nic sure as hell knew how that worked out, didn't he? Yeah. Lina didn't say anything right away, just poured herself another drink and knocked half of it back. "Nic, what happened to Zhen? And Calvin and Laila. Looking into the logistics, there's no way anyone in the house did it. At least not without help from the scientists. I don't think there's anything I can do."

"I've been thinking about that," Nic said, deciding he needed another drink himself. "I didn't hear all the clues, but it seemed like whomever set it up knew an awful lot about what had gone on in the house. There aren't a lot of people that have been here from the beginning. And then there's just getting every one of them out of the house without anyone noticing..." He hated them for this. Fucking hated them. "What's your take on it?"

Lina wasn't sure how to answer that. Honestly, at least. With what was going on with Dave and Jason, she wasn't so sure she wanted to be opening up to anybody. "I don't know." she finally answered. "If I gather everyone in the house and tell them that's how it is, and that the scientists had to have helped, it could cause a panic. Or a million other fucked up things. People could that to mean they can get away with more shit. People could just get angry with me and think I'm being lazy. So the alternative is... what?" Lina shrugged and took another drink. "I'm fucked."

"People are happier thinking there's hope, that it's someone in the house that they can catch and punish. If it's the scientists, if they know they can get away with it, then you're right. It seems better not to announce it," Nic said, but he didn't like that at all. In fact, it made him even more paranoid that it had before. "Are we sure no one could have accomplished it?" he asked, just in case. "Even if working with another person?" He didn't think so, based on what everyone had said, but he just wanted to be sure.

"At this point? I wish." Lina admitted, shaking her head. "Here's the thing," she said, and now she lowered her voice out of respect. "You weren't here for it, so I don't know if you know what happened to Emma. I know you read up on shit and you're a smart guy, but end of the line? When we found her out in the woods after what happened, it was five of us: me, Kales, Dave, Ev, and some guy named Kyle. Kyle's not here anymore to tell anyone. Ev, despite what he did and didn't do when he had my job, wouldn't do it. I trust him, even if I'm pissed with how things went down. Dave, Kales, and I sure as fuck weren't talkin'. I don't even bring that shit up with the newbies. And I sincerely doubt Emma was givin' anyone tours to the location. And whoever did this new it well enough to leave someone else there. There's a difference between reading up on the journals and knowin' someone was left in the woods in month two, and where they were left. If you look at that, and you start looking at the people that have actually been in the house long enough to know how she was found, let alone know Kyle - who maybe, big fucking maybe told someone..." Lina shook her head and took another drink. "And why would you show someone somethin' like that anyway? 'Hey, wanna see where we found her?' Fuck, man. Whoever did this new too much. They had to help." Lina was definitely talking a lot, but she was just going to go ahead and blame the alcohol. She was really feeling it, and damn grateful for it.

"I met Kyle. It seems unlikely..." Nic said, his words drifting off as he was forced to really look at the situation with new evidence. He'd known something had happened to Emma, but not exactly what, and certainly not where. And he'd been pretty thorough in his back-reading through the journals. There wasn't enough evidence there for someone to come up with that on their own, that was for sure. "Fuck," he said angrily, then shouted it again as he threw his shot glass against the wall. Immediately realizing that a temper tantrum wouldn't help anything, he looked up at the ceiling and drummed his fingers on the counter. "Sorry. I just... It would have been nice if we weren't being played from all sides."

Lina hardly even flinched, just kind of watched Nic with a blank sort of look. After a minute she shrugged and looked down. "Figured you'd kind of take that like a kick to the balls. Figured you'd wanna know though." she said. She vaguely realized that perhaps she should consider apologizing, but she didn't. She was in too dark a state for that kind of thing. "So you see how fucked we are." she said, as if Nic hadn't had a temper tantrum or anything.

"I'd rather know," Nic said, almost apologetically. He didn't want her to keep things like this from him, like he couldn't handle it. "I'd rather be prepared, if that's possible. I'm not sure if is, if the scientists are willing to help people kill us... or whatever that was supposed to be. Do you think it was entirely scientist run? Or that someone here with us had a part in it?" That meant a lot to him, even if it shouldn't. If there was someone there in the house, there was someone to catch, someone to stop. It meant that, if they could stop him or her, then things would calm down... well, except for the part the scientists did on their own. In Nic's opinion, they didn't need help.

Lina shook her head and contemplated her drink. "I don't know." she admitted. She didn't have anything that prepared her for this sort of thing. She wasn't a cop, she was a mechanic. "In the beginning I thought it was all someone here. People have been talking about a mole, and I bought that, and then that tack shit that happened? The scientists would have had to tell someone how to cut the wire. And then this... I don't have a single suspect. I couldn't even begin to speculate who would have been in on it. The scientists were in on it either way, but if it was just them? They wouldn't take me out with a club to the head, they'd just drug me." She paused for only a second. "On the other hand, if they want to make people paranoid, they'd just make it look like someone in the house was helping and make it look like an amateur job. Like any fuckin' part of that was amateur." She was so spectacularly helpful.

"Zhen woke up. She fought," Nic pointed out. "She could have potentially seen who it was, and if it hadn't been someone in the house? I don't think the scientists would take that chance. I don't really know what we'd do with that kind of evidence, but..." Would they revolt? Could they? Would enough people give a shit? Unfortunately, probably not. Which sucked ass. "I think, and maybe this is hopeful, maybe it's not, but I think someone in the house had a part in it. I don't know how much of a part, but just the idea of one of us aiding in this really... really..." Nic shook his head with a bitter little laugh. "There's no words for it. And if that person got caught, I'm not sure we could handle it either."

"I'd probably be forced to choose whether or not I protect them, or let the rest of the house lynch 'em." Lina said, as conversationally as if she were talking about the weather. Yeah, okay, she was edging drunk. "And I have no idea what I would choose. Wouldn't that be fun?" Ugh. Just the thought made Lina want to do... well, exactly what she was doing, so that worked out nicely. "I still can't tell the house anything."

"I wouldn't want to be in your position," Nic said, pulling out a new shot glass to pour himself another drink. "And it's not really your fault you can't tell us anything. You've got nothing to tell. They're not exactly providing you with any leads, and as long as the scientists are helping? We're not gonna find out on accident." Which sucked, big time, but Nic was starting to get used to the suckage, or go numb possibly. "So is there anything else in the house going on that I should know about? I mean, beside the possible rat and the scavenger hunts of death?"

Oh there was plenty going on that Lina was stuck on, but none of it she was mentioning. Well, both of my friends that encouraged me to take this job in the first place are leaving me. I don't know if they'll even be able to come back, and I get to stay here and hold down the fort. While waiting for the house to turn against me the way they did Everett, only worse. A lot worse. And really? The thought that Dave and Jason are going to leave is so much worse than any of the rest of it. Yeah, it didn't matter how much she drank, that was staying with her. "No, I think the scavenger hunts of death and rats about sum it up. You?"

"Me?" Nic asked, because he hadn't really expected to talk about himself for some reason. He could, of course, but he and Lina usually stuck to less personal matters unless it was related to Nic being attacked, in which case he couldn't help it. "Um. Things are good, I guess, if you subtract the scientist inflicted drama. I think Dan and I are going camping in the greenhouse, or I'm trying to set that up. I guess I should let someone else know when we do that, just in case there's another emergency and someone calls for us. Otherwise... it really feels wrong to say things are good, but they're not as bad as they could be, you know?"

Lina vaguely noticed the surprise, and realized she probably wouldn't have thought to ask sober. Whoops. "Let someone know if you do." she said, with a slight nod. She remembered what Zania had shown her this morning. "Some chick slept in the library last night and woke up to a somewhat threatening note." How threatening it was was open to interpretation. Lina wasn't sure. And in this house, if someone was going to threaten someone, they'd generally do it in a much more... bloody fashion. "Freaked her the fuck out."

"Dan may install a lock on the door, but I've got no issues sleeping with a baseball bat or a golf club," Nic said casually, as if he wasn't referencing the fact that he might beat someone to a pulp if they tried to attack him. It would be self defense, or so he assumed, though he really hoped nothing like that happened. "Why was she sleeping in the library?" he asked. "Was this before people got pulled from their beds and tied up? Or after?"

"There are metal baseball bats out in the shed." Lina added just as casually. If something was worth doing, it was worth doing right. And if Nic had to beat some ass out of self defense? Well maybe she'd finally have a suspect. One that didn't get strung up outside, thus absolving themselves. "This was this morning." she said. "I think she'd given up her room or something? Fucked if I don't know why she didn't just stay with someone else. But she moved back in her room now."

"Thanks. I'll run out and get one. It just seems like something good to have, you know?" Nic said, thinking that everyone in the house should have some form of self defense after the other day, but then they might start hitting each other at every turn. Nic knew he needed to not jump to conclusions. He'd done that once with Twitch and still regretted it. "And that's weird. She should stay in her room. Random." Why did people do things like that? Maybe he just didn't understand because he already had someone to room with.

"It seemed like a kind of fucked up thing to do?" Lina admitted. "But she was kind of distraught, and I wasn't going to ask questions. It's not like I can ask people if they saw anyone suspicious enter a public room, so I didn't need to go unhelpful bitch on her ass."

"It's kind of random. With everything else that's been going on, a note is almost tame. Like, it's barely worse than taunting on the journals," Nic said, though he wouldn't consider the notes that had been left for him to be non-threatening. In fact, those had hit him right where it hurt. It was with those in mind that he spoke up again. "I think... when I remember the vandalism and the notes that went with that... that whomever does that knows just where to poke us. It would seem like nothing to anyone else, but when it's you, it's somehow threatening."

"Which is another screaming hint at a mole." Lina pointed out, after knocking back another drink. "Could be. Could have hit some personal thread with her and I never would have known. First time I even met her."

Nic nodded, throwing back another drink himself. The idea of a mole... really pissed him off, but it was pretty much a fact at this point, at least in his mind. "Probably," he said, about to pour himself another drink when he realized he'd finished off the bottle he was using to pour from. "So, I'm cutting myself off now, otherwise I won't be able to make it to the attic, and I refuse to call Dan to come carry me up," he said, pushing his shot glass away. He'd definitely had too much to drink if he was talking about Dan carrying him anywhere. "So are things cool with you? Anything I can help with? I'm not really qualified to do shit here, but I can try."

Snickering briefly, Lina shook her head, though it was unclear as to what. "I'll let you know." she said. "I think it's just going to be a frustrating couple of days." Until, you know, something else happened and made everything worse, of course. "Good luck getting to the attic though."

"Thanks," he smiled. "This is when you luck out on being here on the first floor." Nic stood straight, pushing off from the counter. He thought about telling her not to stay and get drunk alone, but from what he knew about Lina, that was her vice. While he shouldn't promote it, he wasn't going to mother her over it when it was a well deserved drink. "I'll see you around. Thanks for having a drink with me, and call if you need anything."

Lina turned to watch him go, raising her drink in salute as she did. Normally she might try to hide her vices a bit better, but she just couldn't be bothered tonight. She'd make it over to the couch later, that'd be good enough. Nevermind the fact that they'd just been talking about being careful in public rooms. Hurray double standard! "Anytime man." That was at least one thing she was good for.