2020-03-15 - Bathtub Baked

Bennie's here. Her things are in the living room. Tidy. Shoes, GHFD windbreaker, purse. Gunner is using the last as a pillow where it sits on the floor by the couch. She didn't call though, or even text that she was coming over. She just invaded, and judging by the sound of music coming from the master bathroom, she's here to use the man for his tub.

She's in the big basin, having pulled in the comforter and pillows from the bed to make a nest in which she's currently nestled in one of her nightgowns she's made from upcycled mumus though only the lace straps are seen above the edge of the blanket. A joint is currently smoldering, held in place by the pop tab on the top of a diet cherry coke can.

Walking in to the apartment Easton manages to get his coat off before he realizes he's been invaded. By the time he's gotten his boots off he has managed to figure out where exactly his guest is located. He grabs a soda of his own and with a sniff at the air, he grabs a bag of chips as well.

Entering the bathroom he's a bit surprised to see the comforter and pillows, but he doesn't question it. He silently puts down his things, strips off his jeans and climbs in. He starts off facing her on the opposite side of the tub, still silent. He extends a hand, asking for the joint still without word.

"Any particular reason?"

Bennie gives Easton a muted little smile as he comes in so quietly and settles in opposite her. His presence seems a comforting thing rather than an intrusion on her quiet time and she plucks the neat roll - apparently from the dispensary instead of done by her own hand - and lulls it over. "Another headache I can't seem to chase away." Her other hand finds his prosthetic leg beneath the blanket, trailing up it until she finds the seam between fabricated and flesh, running a finger along his skin below his knee. "And another stupid nightmare about a wolf." A nightmare, not a Dream. How mundane and yet once this week Bennie's already woken Easton up in the middle of the night, by tossing and turning, scared out of her wits talking about a wolf.

The fingers along his leg get a quirked eyebrow until her hand makes it's way above the padded sleeve. He stretches out his leg to put it closer to her. He takes a drag off the joint and hold it to lean his head back against the rim of the tub and slowly exhale. He shakes his head and says, "Ugh, sorry. I'm sure that doesn't help you focus." He sits back up to pass it back, apparently wanting to take it slow. "Really?" He frowns and shakes his head about the nightmares. The only wolf he can think of is Ruiz's mental avatar. "You didn't get mixed up with Ruiz when he was all murdery, right? You were going through detox?"

Leg stretched closer, Bennie's attention turns to his knee, circling it with a lazy draw of her finger as the pen. "It came on sharp as hell at the diner. I had to take a break until I could see straight again." Her nose wrinkles until that little X appears on the bridge, which means it's her serious nose wrinkle. Her fingers slip the joint back from his fingers and she takes another toke, holding smoke into her lungs as she tucks it back into the makeshift holder and shifts the can closer on the tub's edge so he can reach it easier when he wants. "Ruiz?" Confused, she intones the man's name in echo, then releases the fragrant smoke in a little cough. "Why would you think of him and wolves?"

Opening the bag of chips, Easton munches some before pointing the bag's business end at Bennie. Yes it's a little gross to eat in the tub and with blankets on, but she has gotten him to come around on this whole smoking in the bathtub thing, and now he's all in. He winces at her having to take a break because of the headache, but then she's asking about Ruiz. He head tilts as if expecting her to know the answer, but it's clear she has no idea why he would bring up De La Vega right now. "It's nothing, just when I was trying to explain something to Gunny the other night, I mentally like.. like with Iz? Where .." he makes a two handed motion between their heads, trying to indicate a mind link. He's not even nerdy enough to come up with telepathy to explain it. "And that was how he appeared. Like this giant, flaming, growling wolf." He shrugs, realizes that sounds super odd. "Very fitting, honestly."

Bennie makes a happy little noise at the introduction of chips, apparently having smoked enough to get to the stage of munchies. She crunches on one wile he tells her of the mental manifestation of Ruiz' image, a thoughtful frown turning her lips for a second. "Yeah, I had nothing to do with that. Closest I've come to Ruiz in weeks was when we went over so I could heal Itzhak. Oh, god, salt. Whoever decided they should lick a rock and decided it would taste good ground up and sprinkled on food, I salute you."

"Thanks for doing that again, by the way, healing Itz" He gets that concerned squint and says, "I know it puts you at risk, and that sucks, but ..." He trails off, before getting a little twinkle in his eye, "Thank you for service" in the exact tone that people awkwardly thank vets that makes him annoyed but in a way that's really hard to express. Happy to change subjects he agrees, "Yea whoever figured out which part of the dirt in their food was making it taste better, absolute hero." He munches a few more chips before putting them up on the side facing her. "So. You ready to start looking at places? Or am I just going to have to claim a penthouse suite at the casino for you to stake out for awhile?" It's clear that he's joking about the last part but the thought really amuses him.

Bennie waves away the thanks with an actual flap of her hand before it dives back into the chip bag. "I don't think twice about it, I wish you wouldn't either. But it was bad Easton. I don't know how what happened, but it was a lot more extensive than I realized just walking in there. I didn't know the back of his leg was ripped out and stuck back together until I laid hands on him. But now I understand why sitting was problematic." She almost sounds apologetic about making him take a seat at the couch. A little sigh, "As much as I love being your kept woman and acknowledge I need a place of my own, we're going to still have to figure out a way to spin it. House sitting, maybe?"

"I know. I know." He grins as she waves him off. It's not like he's about to try and talk her out of helping people in need. He grimaces at the description of the leg and shakes his head, "Yea.. pretty sure that was actually Ruiz as a wolf in a Dream?" He knows little bits and pieces of the details, but not much else. He frowns and doesn't quite catch on about 'spinning it', "Spin what? To who?" Oh. There we go Easton. "Shit. Yea maybe house sitting.. maybe... fuck." She has obviously thought more about this than he has. He's just been concerned with getting her a place of her own that isn't a storage container or someone else's couch. He leans his head back up and his eyes search the ceiling, looking for a good explanation.

Bennie lifts the covers only so she can rearrange herself, turning her hip to Easton and snuggling down against his chest to pull the blankets back up underneath her chin. "Yeah." She intones quietly as to him swearing, knowing the sticky situation it puts them both in with regards to certain aspects of their lives. "It'll be alright though, it always is. Now that I'm clean though, it's time to get serious about ending this ridiculous cycle." She murmurs, starting to doodle on his chest through his shirt, the shape of a heart over his own. "So Ruiz was a wolf when he hurt Itz? And then...I healed Itz..." The conclusion she's drawing causes her to reach for the joint again.

Happily shifting around to accomodate Bennie curling up against him Easton lifts his head to take another drag off the joint. He holds in the smoke while she talks about it being time, nodding along. "Agreed." He's not really talking about what that means yet, but he's certainly ready to do what it takes to end it. He smiles at the chest doodling but then tilts his head as she makes a connection he didn't. "Oh." He shakes his head and says, "That'd be odd tho? Healing's never had any connection to the injury before right?" Unless this Peregrine douche did something they haven't encountered yet? Ugh. Stupid GH.

"I've never been this strong before." And it's not something Bennie seems particular happy? Proud? about. She genuinely seems a bit frightened about it all. "When I was at Alexander's he and I were talking and he got emotional. Upset. And I could feel how to help him. Not in the brain juju that he can do, filling someone with happy emotions. I..changed his brain chemistry, Easton. I eased his pain by making his body produce more Serotonin."

Easton isn't surprised that she doesn't sound all that happy about it. It's intense, and being able to do more means more ability to fuck up too. He puts the joint down and grabs some more chips, munching them thoughtfully. He raises an eyebrow when she talks about Alexander. "That's.. wow." He swallows and then starts to ask, "Do you.." He stops. Considering. "What if you could help me? With the boozing? And the .. I mean. I know I should talk to someone. And I'm going to see that therapist lady again. But.." He trails off again before asking abruptly, "Is that fucking cheating? Because if I need to just put in the work. I'll put in the work."

Bennie's lips press together at the question, worrying them together in thought. "If I could do it for anyone, it would be you, but I don't think it's that simple? Blanket bombing your system with feel good chemicals is one thing, I think I could even burn you sober like August did when I had my brilliant plan of doing coke. But changing your addiction? I don't think it works that way. I can't introduce chemicals into your body that aren't naturally produced to begin with, and those are the types of drugs a therapist can give you. But if it helps? Your liver is fine." She poses the last on a cheerful note compared to the rest.

"Yea, forget it. I.." He leans a cheek against the top of her head, his beard nearly already grown back. "I shouldna asked." He knows the drinking is all tied up more in his emotional state anyway, the stress and the tension and the lurking depression that he doesn't even like to acknowledge. He grins and says, "See? I knew my liver was a fighter." Yes, he's changing the subject.