2019-08-29 - Adventures in Honesty

Bennie must be home. On top of forgetting to lock the door, the patio one is open, and her purse has been shed near the tall kitchen counter where they take their meals. Her kimono is draped over the arm of the couch and her shoes are kicked off in the hallway. All one has to do is follow the trail of the blonde's possessions. And the slight undertone of pot.

It all leads to the Master bathroom, where Bennie is sunk down - still fully clothed - in the large basin of Easton's garden tub. Her arm is draped over the side, a joint pinched close to the knuckles. She knows she shouldn't be smoking in here, and yet? It doesn't seem to matter. There is the blip of text messages and the noise of Gunner laying on the floor, decimating one of her shoes with extreme prejudice.

Entering the apartment Easton stops at the door and blinks at the signs of Bennie, and no Bennie. It's not like they have an awful lot of living space. He checks the balcony first, perhaps the whiff of pot leading him out there. He then peels off his motorcycle jacket and stops to pull off his boots and put them neatly by the door. He also picks up her shoes and puts them neatly by the door where they go.

He follows the trail into the bathroom and blinks at the scene. He pulls the shoe out of Gunner's mouth and baps him on the nose with it, growling "bad dog" and then pointing out to the living area, "crate" and thankfully the dog has learned enough to know when it's time to retreat in the face of superior forces. Easton then straightens up to ask, "Tough day?" as he climbs into the tub with her, fully clothed in his usual jeans and plain heathered tee-shirt, in this case light blue.

"Heeeey.." Bennie drawls as he comes into the room and tells the pup to go to his bed. "You know, soon his 'crate' is just going to have to be the guest room. I think he's already doubled in size." She doesn't seem overly concerned about the shoe - a woman with so few possessions - but that may just be the pot speaking.

Her legs curl up as he joins her in the tub, and the unwraps herself to fold in around his larger frame. "Yes. I mean, no. Not really. I can't find a notebook I left at the trailer but I'm trying not to think about what that means." She shrugs. "Geoff though...you talk to him?" She asks as she waggles her phone, indicating at least some of those incoming text are coming from his Bestie. At least the Bestie that's on this mortal coil.

"I know. I'm thinking I might need to pull up the carpet and just put down tile in their." Easton doesn't seem bothered by the fact that the dog is also growing alarmingly fast. He takes the joint from her and places it in his mouth. But when she brings up the notebook he actually coughs and sputters a bit. Extremely smooth.

"Shit. That's.. hard." He is glad when she moves on though to give him some time to talk. "We texted. Apparently we're going fishing this weekend?" He takes a much smoother pull off the joint and laughs.

Bennie relinquishes the joint and then sinks back against the slanted end of the tub with a languid sigh. "Yeah, it has all my records about who I've paid back what, with no earthy idea how I'd recreate it. But! It'll turn up. Only so many places it can be in the trailer." Her grin widens lazily as he talks about going fishing. "Brooo tiiime. Tell me 'fishing' isn't code some Broke Back Mountain shit, and I will call you a liar." Her bare foot is lifted, nudging his midsection with the tease.

Easton could text Baylee to return it. It wouldn't be that hard.

"I have it."

He hands the joint back to her and admits, "I took it. Because I was worried about the debts. I should have realized you need it back." He considers trying to leave Baylee out of it, but since Bennie already knows that they are all up in her business (with Jay) he adds, "It's at Baylee's."

The poke from her toe and her words about 'fishing' get a grin out of him in return, "I just can't quit him." He laughs and hopes they can maybe slide past that whole notebook thing? Maybe.

There is a straight up giggle from Bennie as he says he took it, her fingers fanning over her mouth. "Oh my god, you really are, like. The best boyfriend ever." No, it doesn't occur to her to be mad. No, it doesn't occur to her to be worried. And no, it doesn't occur to her why Baylee might have it. But then again, she's been in the tub for a least half a joint, soooo.

When he quotes the movie though, her head fully tips back with a full laugh, "So not fair! Just because I promised Geoff no questions asked, doesn't mean you are going to get off that easily. No pun intended. Be prepared to be thoroughly drilled when you get home. No pun intended."

Easton blinks at that reaction and cants his head to the side wondering to himself how on earth she got to that conclusion. Snooping is caring? He shakes his head and says, "No, you've just had apparently terrible men to compare me to." Not that he minds a low bar, it helps his self-esteem, and he's short. He realizes about then that it's the weed talking and he just smiles, "But no, you didn't lose it."

He laughs easily about being drilled, "I solemnly swear to recount any and all man love moments in horrific details."

Bennie's laughter rolls off naturally, ending with a soft hum of, "Mmm, good." Either to the notion that she didn't lose her terribly important notebook or that she'll get a full report when he gets home. Her head lulls against the rim of the tub to look at him with a different cant of her head. "And what about you." The blonde's tone suddenly sounds serious, "Are you okay? Look, I didn't really want to say anything, but you've been drinking a lot lately..."

The shift in tone has him narrowing his eyes at first in confusion, unsure of where she's going with the question. He makes a soft 'oh' sound as she asks about his drinking. His first inclination is to challenge her, they had a one sided mutal agreement not to talk about that! At least in his head. But the fact that he's at least admitted to Ruiz that he's drinking too much means that he's somehow broken that agreement too? Unspoken agreements are hard to keep track of.

"Can you do me a favor?"

That is in no way an answer to her question. But he looks and sounds very serious, almost unctuous.

"Can you go out to the counter and get the mail?"

From the look on his face it's important, and possibly scary? But he still doesn't explain what the hell this has to do with anything.

Bennie's mouth guppies for a moment, open and closed as he asks for a favor, now of all times. "Um, yeah sure, babe." She drags her foot off the prop on his thigh and curls her legs underneath her. The very deliberate way she places her hands on the side of the tub and then rises seems just a precaution to test her legs beneath her, "Be right back." Once she's sure she's not going to 'green out', she moves a little easier, stepping out of the tub and doing a little cha cha step on the way out.

Bennie's gone a little longer than necessary to just grab the stack of mail, but the fact that she's coming back with her cheek poofed out and a pile of mini Reese's peanut butter cups balanced on the envelopes and circulars means there was a sliiiight pit stop for munchies.

Easton doesn't move as she goes to get the mail. He just sits there, mentally trying to brace himself.

The stack of mail includes one particular letter from the USMC postmarked from two years ago addressed not to Easton but to a Mr & Mrs Eduardo Guiterrieze in Omaha, Nebraska. The letter has big stamps saying return to sender, address not valid.

Easton takes the stack of mail and pulls out the letter. He places the rest neatly on the floor and holds it up so she can read the front of it. He asks, "Do you want to know what it says?" He continues to hold the envelope facing her and doesn't wait for an answer before starting, "Dear Mr and Mrs Guiterrieze, I can not begin to express how sorry I am for the loss of your son. Hector was an outstanding Marine who died doing exactly what he trained to do, take the fight to the enemy and give th-" He stops. "I know what it says because I wrote it." He's not choked up. He's not angry. He's just even, his voice flat and very still. He puts the letter, unopened on the ground with the others.

"That's the fourth one."

He looks down now, not wanting to hold her gaze anymore.

"So, I'm not great."

Bennie perches on the edge of the tub as he goes through the mail, continuing to munch on her chocolatey peanut buttery snack, but the mash of her teeth starts to slow as he recites the letter without needing to so much as crack the seal on it. Is this some new kind of witchcraft he can do? No. He wrote the damn letter. Suddenly it gets very hard to swallow. "Oh, babe..." She finally manages to say, the words drifting off before she can say 'so sorry' but no doubt it's implied in her very tone and that look in her eyes.

She swings her legs back into the basin and then sinks down in his lap. Her hands go to cup his cheeks, thumbs stroking his neatly kept beard as she tries to direct his gaze back up. "I can't imagine that responsibility sitting on your shoulders. You are a good, good man. But you can't hold this weight alone. It's going to eat you up until it's me or Geoff sending a letter like that back East. About you."

Easton closes his eyes as she cups his cheeks and much like a stubborn child refuses to look up or at her. He tries to shake his head and she can not doubt feel just how tightly he's clenching his jaw right now. Finally he forces himself to look up and offer a small weak smile. "Yea, no. It's not going to be like that. You don't need to worry."

His good foot taps up and down as she presses against him. He seems to be waiting for something before he finally says, "Look over the tub. Where I put it down." He knows what shes' going to see. Either a bit of spilled booze or condensation rings from a drink.

"They want to use this against me. To hurt me with the death of my men. Well fuck them"

His voice is still not angry, but it's also clear that it's not exactly an ineffective strategy regardless of how stoic he can clench his jaw and take it. He takes a breath as if trying to push out any thoughts or feelings on the topic before saying, "And yes, I would really love a drink right now." But at least he's not actively drinking? So that's kind of good. Right? Maybe.

Bennie keeps massaging her fingers against his jaw line until he tells her to look over the edge of the tub. Both hands grip the edge to peer over and then she just...blinks. "Wait, what?" It's her turn to tense, her body rigid as she tries to figure out where the letter went, why there is just a smear of brown liquor on the tile like a glass was nudged through a puddle of booze. She's easing back to look at him, the confusion twisting up her features. "They? Wait, who? I'm sorry..." Her hand goes to her forehead, worrying her fingers across her eyebrow. "Fuck, what?"

Easton watches her reaction and he nods as she tries to process it. He tries to push out his own thoughts about if it would have been better to not tell her. He is trying to do better with telling her things. Like the notebook. And this.

"I don't know who. I'm guessing this is what Alexander would call the dolorphages." Yes, he learned that word. "The Dark Men. Things that go bump in the night that like to make people who Glimmer, suffer." He sets his jaw and says, "Well, they can suck my dick. Because it's not like this makes those men anymore dead."

He starts to stand up and says, "But you are right. I'm drinking a lot." He gingerly steps out of the tub, as if unsure of his feet but for a different reason than her earlier exit. "Do you want a drink? I'm going to get one." Yes, he's purposefully putting those two statements close together. His way of saying that he both recognizes the problem and isn't quite ready to do anything about it yet.

Bennie's hand starts flicking, that thing she does with her fingers like she's trying to get something sticky off of them she does when she's about to lose her shit. Somehow, though, she manages to rein it in, folding her fingers into a fist as she scoots back to allow him to exit the tub unfettered with the drape of her limbs. "Yeah. I think I do." Gets murmured about a drink, because this is a lot to take in and she's going to need the strength not to just pepper him with questions. Fumbling out of the tub after him, she pauses to pick up her mangled shoe and follow after him. "I was going to show you something but maybe...maybe now I shouldn't."

Easton notices the hand movement and doesn't mention it. They've been together long enough now that they are starting to talk a little bit more about actual things, hence her question tonight, but it's still slow going. He pauses and looks back at her. "Show me? Show me what?" Because now that she's mentioned it he's probably not going to let it go.

"I think...whatever I am. I'm getting stronger." Bennie says as she trails after him into the kitchen, "This shoe?" She says of the mangled bit of footwear she paid no attention to Gunner chewing up. "I...I could fix this shoe." She goes to set it on the counter while he pours them a stiff one, but thinks better of it. See? She can be somewhat domesticated to the 'finer' life, even if he does have to pick up her belongings once in a while. "I could make it look like new." Maybe she's trying to take some of the pressure off his own issues, or maybe she's just riding the wave of sharing they've got going.

Easton quirks an eyebrow but does continue on to pour two drinks. He looks off to the side and says, "Yea. I think I met someone who could do what you and Geoff do with people but with objects." The hated unnamed Alex (not Alexander) who hurt his poor gun before putting it back together. His face brightens up though and he genuinely smiles, "But that's good though! That's great babe." He notices that she isn't though and really it's probably wise. He says, "But I have a feeling these letters? I think I brought this on myself by pushing too hard. Maybe by opening that door to the veil to see Uncle Monty?" Who knows, it's not exactly a hard science. "So, just be careful. And if shit starts happening, tell me." At least he's not a complete hypocrite, he did tell her, eventually.

Bennie sort of nods as she turns the shoe over in her hands, she was going to fix it, but after he told her what he did about the letters? "I'm still not sure if I would classify what I can do as 'good'." She says softly as she walks over to the trash and just pitches it. At least she won't let Gunner wreck things now, even if it keeps him happy. "This goes beyond nightmares then, huh? You provoked these...Dark Men and now they're fucking with you in the here and now." She sniffs, but it's not because she's going to cry, it's just a 'bucking up' noise as she moves to stand by his side and take up the glass meant for her. She repeats his words from earlier as a toast, with just one small modification:

"They can suck our dick."