2020-09-30 - A Very Beaston Reunion

Tor sort of? Kind of? Knows what he's doing when it comes to the sound board? He's watched some YouTube videos and practiced a bit. There should be minimal feedback. Well. Hopefully. Hey, you only get so much when you pay someone in cheap beer. He's currently futzing with everything and adjusting the projector that's pointing at the walls for the lyrics and accompanying video. His hair's pulled back into a rough ponytail and he's wearing a Nirvana t-shirt and ripped jeans like he fell through a time portal from the 90s.

Alexander is newly cast-free, although he still has a noticeable limp when he enters the Two If By Sea. He hesitates at the sight of the people gathered for karaoke, and the stage, and...mostly the people. But after a minute's dithering at the doorway, he sidles inside and nabs an empty seat at the bar so that he can ask for his cheap beer, and give a little wave towards Bennie when he spots her. He's dressed in his usual, rundown clothes - a sweater with actual holes, under an oversized army jacket and a pair of worn jeans.

One of the things that has an almost magnetic effect on Scott is karaoke. And so he's making his way in, moving to find himself a seat. Looking around, he nods to those he sees, offering them a bit of a grin. Looks like someone's in a good mood at the moment.

Geoff manages to arrive, clad in a black zip up hoodie, a pair of worn gray jeans and a pair of vans strapped to his feet. Making his way up to the bar he takes a seat, gesturing to the bartender, and gruffly putting in an order for a corona, after all it's all the craze now right? While waiting for his drink he looks about the bar with a curious gaze.

August is relaxing at the bar in a black leather jacket, dark red, long sleeve, waffle knit Henley, denim jeans, and black suede boots. Yes, it's fall ensemble time. He looks a little tired, but otherwise in relatively good health, which is a change from the last month or so.

It can't possibly last.

Alexander notes August at the bar, and flashes him a smile. "Hey," he says, looking the man over carefully. "How's it going?" A pause as someone comes up to Alexander and, much to his surprise and even shock, compliments him on the handling of a case, then wanders away, back into the crowd. Alexander shifts, but mutters, "Better than the teacher thing, I guess. At least it's the right profession." He looks back to August. "Are you still getting...uh." A general wave at all of this.

Bennie gives an exuberant wave to Alexander, pleased as punch to see her Bestest, “Okay, so I’m going to start us out tonight. So, you know, be gentle.” Bennie usually is just a spectator at these sorts of things, Karaoke and Open-Mic night, leaving the entertaining to more skilled denizens. “I heard this song on the radio, and it kind of stuck with me.” She gives a little nod to Tor that she’s ready, and the song Memories by Maroon 5 starts playing. Sure, she might be talking more of the lyrics than singing, but her voice isn’t too bad?

“Here's to the ones that we got
Cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not
'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
Of everything we've been through
Toast to the ones here today
Toast to the ones that we lost on the way
'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

There's a time that I remember, when I did not know no pain
When I believed in forever, and everything would stay the same
Now my heart feel like December when somebody say your name
'Cause I can't reach out to call you, but I know I will one day, yeah

Everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody hurts someday, aye aye
But everything gon' be alright
Go and raise a glass and say, aye

Here's to the ones that we got
Cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not
'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
Of everything we've been through
Toast to the ones here today
Toast to the ones that we lost on the way
'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
And the memories bring back, memories bring back you

Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo
Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo, doo doo
Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo doo
Memories bring back, memories bring back you.”

August sees Alexander on the approach, gives him an upnod and raises his beer to him in a greeting. He frowns as he takes a sip, watching the people who congratulated Alexander move on. "Did they just..." It takes him a second, then a few things come together. "Did you file a complaint too? Lilith said something about that." He makes a face. "It's pretty much the same thing for Ellie and I. Or, well, since the wedding, it's more like, how could you still agree to marry him, he jilted you. And so on." He waves a hand. "She said getting her name changed was a fucking nightmare and a half." He's going to ask about the Revisionist and all of that, but now Bennie is getting up to sing, so he falls quiet.

Alison stumbles into the Twofer, stripping her jacket off at the door. T-shirt and jeans, the usual, especially since she's just on her way over from work. And somewhere between there and here, the redhead has clearly been up to some pregaming by her lonesome. She makes her way over to a stool at the bar, plopping herself down, leaning back to listen and watch as Bennie starts to sing. When a bartender swings on by, she orders a pina colada. Always with the pina coladas, this one.

Tor fiddles with the board as Bennie sings, making sure she's not clipping too much. It's a challenge, really. You never know what you're gonna get with karaoke. Even if someone is a good singer, that doesn't mean they know what to do with a mic, after all. To his credit, he does seem to be trying quite hard. Then again, anyone who has actually seen him work knows he tends to take his work seriously. It's just...his job usually means delivering things and being criminal. He swigs from his provided beer, then settles onto a stool when he's happy with the levels.

Ruiz turns up for karaoke night by his lonesome, probably having left his favourite Russian spies doing whatever Russian spies do on a rainy Friday night. He's dressed in flagrant disregard for the weather, in a zip-up black hoodie with the sleeves pushed up to his tattooed elbows, faded black jeans shoved into worn boots, and a damp looking ballcap in the process of being smooshed back atop his scruffy curls. His gaze tracks Bennie as he angles toward the bar, then slides onto the seat next to August with a grunt that seems to imply hello. It's probably intended for Alexander, too, given the direction of his too-brief smile.

Scott smiles as he listens, after moving closer to the bar to get himself something to drink. "Sounds quite nice," he remarks to nobody in particular as he orders himself something to drink.

Alexander shakes his head. "No." Then he stops and considers. "Yes. I complained. We met the Revisionist. She seems...nice? Very passionate about her work. And she likes exciting revisions, I think. I told her that a teacher didn't really fit me. You could try to see her?" He pauses as Alison stumbles to the bar, and gives the woman a cautious nod. Then his attention goes to Bennie's song, and afterwards, he bursts into enthusiastic applause. Ruiz gets the last end of the excitement with at little wave, before he subsides into silent staring at Scott. Staaare.

Bennie lifts up a glass of tequila, toasting the crowd as she continues singing,
“There's a time that I remember when I never felt so lost
When I felt all of the hatred was too powerful to stop,
Now my heart feel like an ember and it's lighting up the dark
I'll carry these torches for ya that you know I'll never drop, yeah.

Everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody hurts someday, aye aye
But everything gon' be alright
Go and raise a glass and say, aye

Here's to the ones that we got,
Cheers to the wish you were here, but you're not
'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories
Of everything we've been through.
Toast to the ones here today,
Toast to the ones that we lost on the way
'Cause the drinks bring back all the memories,
And the memories bring back, memories bring back you.
Memories bring back, memories bring back you.”

The track cuts out and Bennie’s voice seems to reverberate in the room on the last note. With a sudden (and a bit uncharacteristic blush), Bennie drops a little curtsey and says a quick, “Thanks.” Before skittering off the stage.

Vic comes in from the back room, where she has probably been hiding (or doing some blow) from the karaoke antics of the crowd. She returns with a rack of clean glasses and sets them down under the bar before wiping her hands on a towel and working on getting people their beverages of choice. She's in a white tee with the Two if By Sea logo on it, jeans, and boots, with her hair in a long braid over one shoulder to hopefully keep it out of people's drinks.

She nods to recognizable faces one and all, and spotting the police (Interim) Chief, she grabs the Patron bottle and a glass for him on the way over.

It's been a long time since she's been at the Twofer - losing another brother to the machinations of the Veil had been too much for the archaeologist, but tonight she braves it as she pushes the door open to step within, eager to meet her lover and see some familiar faces, and perhaps lift a glass to the prospect of a merciless killer finally getting some comeuppance. The relatively newly-minted Dr. Reede ventures in the lively, well-loved confines of the bar, dressed in her usual summer wear - a tanktop, jeans shorts that spent its former life as a pair of actual jeans until its legs decided to fall off due to wear and tear, sandals and an Oxford hoodie tied around her waist. Despite the hour, sunglasses are perched on the mass of chocolate locks clipped back in that halfhazard manner that would look careless and messy to some, but artful to someone with her face and eyes. Much like Alexander, her cast is gone - though there's still some soreness on her arm.

Bennie at the mic coaxes a smile on her mouth, before she winds through the crowd in an effort to get to Alexander, expression unfailingly brightening when she espies the investigator doing his best to be social at the peak of tourist season in this tiny coastal town. She looks just as enthusiastic and besotted as she has been a year ago and her pace can't help but quicken when she finds his familiar face within the sea of other familiar faces, able to pinpoint and gravitate towards him with the precision of a homing missile. There's a wink towards Bennie, and a sturdy clap of both hands on a shoulder each on Ruiz and August, seated next to one another, though Ruiz gets a delicate peck on the vacant air near his cheek. "Men," she greets - never boys, they're way past that designation, before she trots off towards Alexander with a beaming smile.

"All right," says Tor as he takes to the mic. He might be getting better with this whole tech thing. The hosting bit? That's taking some more getting used to. The scruffy trailer park kid looks a little self-conscious. "Big hand for Bennie. You all know Bennie. Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, and all that," he sort of murmurs. "Uh, up next we have..." he looks at the sign-up sheet, "West?"

Just in time to hear the second half of Bennie's pop crooning, Harper slides out of the rain and through the front entrance wearing clothing that demands summer stay longer than it is choosing to do. So what does she do? She tops a blouse and a mini-skirt and keds with a leather jacket that's meant for someone notably larger than herself. Across the back is questionably emblazoned 'Tunnel Snakes'. It's quite reasonable to assume the librarian didn't come straight from work. Still, her hair is damp, her jacket is wet and she's flinging droplets every which way as she makes her way over to the bar where Geoff is seated and just stares at him for a long moment before finally, pulling a stool much closer to him, and taking a seat. "Bennie's singing? That was worth the whole night." She claps enthusiastically when the bar owner finishes her song and leans in to ask Geoff mildly, "So what am I drinking tonight?"

August looks askance at Ruiz as he arrives, gives him the same sort of up-nod he did Alexander. Once Bennie's done singing, he winces at Alexander's suggestion. "Eh...I'd be worried at what she might come up with instead. What's exciting for her--Eleanor abandoning me and our five nonexistent kids to go on a world tour?" He shakes his head. "This is annoying, but livable." He pats his jacket pocket. "I just keep a copy of the marriage license handy."

He smiles at Isabella, sets a hand on hers briefly. "Heya Izzy. Hope you're feeling okay." After their balloon catastrophe he means.

Geoff leans over to steal a kiss from the tardy librarian when she sits down beside him "Oh Bennie is definitely singing, you already missed the best part wit hthe doo-doo-doos, perhaps we can tempt her with drinks and nacho cheese for a repeat of the best parts." A smile pulling at the corner of the ex-con's lips as he says this, "Well it's still a bit early to be breaking out the tequila, so I was thinking something fruity, girly and that definitely lowers your inhibitions." He shoots a /look/ to the bartender as he says as if placing the order then and there in an entirely round about sort of way, "I can only hope they have the backing track for that song from neon maniacs."

Alison gets her pina colada and takes a sip from it. Bennie finishes, prompting some slightly enthusiastic cheering and clapping from Alison, nearly spilling the damn drink, but hey, it's booze. You can't be wasting booze. It goes back up on the bar where it's relatively safe. At least as compared her own hands.

The waitress's eyes scan the rest of the bar, lingering a little longer on Harper's outfit than might be nominally called for, but eventually, they move on and find Ruiz. That definitely calls for another sip of the drink.

Scott pauses for a few moments as he notices the staring, turning to look back at Alexander. "Hello?" he offers, before he shrugs a little, glancing around again, then back to the man.

Alexander says, "Isabella!" Alexander's entire face lights up as the archeologist makes her way towards him, and if she allows, he reaches out and pulls her into his arms when she approaches to plant a kiss on her lips. Even though he very likely saw her just earlier that day. "Hi," he murmurs, afterwards, and releases her. A quick look over her to make sure she didn't get into any more Trouble between then and now, and he relaxes as he takes her in. "Want a beer?""

There's a flap of her hand - from her formerly wounded arm. "Better now, thank christ," Isabella tells August in a conversational fashion, squeezing his shoulder warmly at the touch of his hand on her knuckles. "Did anyone fill you in yet on our recent trip to the circus? Because that was what it was - a circus."

Alexander's expression has her grinning broadly; there's no resistance in her when he draws her in his arms, an enthusiastic kiss returned and lingering there when her arms wind around his shoulders. "You keeping out of trouble? Because if you are, I'm disappointed," she quips. He might be releasing her, but she's not releasing him, shamelessly nuzzling the hollow of his nearest cheek with her lips. "Scotch. Don't tell me you forgot." She's all mischief today, it seems.

And speaking of circuses....

It's the ozone that alerts her first, the change in the air - more attuned to strangeness in the town than most, hairs prick at the back of her neck and her eyes grow wide as survival instincts kick in. "Alexander!" She's already moving in an attempt to push him away from the counter just before the lightning strikes, plunging the bar into darkness and her arms wrapped tight around him. God knows why she insists on using her own meager athleticism to shield his broader, stronger frame, but that's what she does because she can't help it - professional adventurer might as well be printed along with her business cards.

She doesn't see Easton yet; glass is everywhere and the lights are down.

Geoff reaches over to grab and pull Harper to him when the lightning strikes the bar, sheltering her there as he looks around waiting for the danger to appear. When it turns out it is only a mostly naked, stumpy man. When you've held a man in your arms on a couch and fed him your sausage you can recognize him, even in the dim light. A myriad of emotions cross Geoff's features as he take this in, surprise, joy, and finally the one that sticks there as he calls out to the man, annoyance. Voice gruff he calls to him "Fucking hell, took you long enough. Your singing sucks, get off the stage."

Isabella's arrival, unexpected as it is, garners a slow, foxlike smile from the police captain as he's digging out a crumpled bill to pay for his tequila. If she's not careful, her cheek'll get dashed with an honest to god kiss before she manages to escape, along with a murmur of, "Es encantador verte."

Then his gaze tracks back to the blonde behind the bar, and he collects his drink from her with a hook of inked fingers- right as something shorts the electricity, and the lights go out. The sip he was in the midst of taking is inhaled, and then refunded via his nose as his ex-Marine buddy decides to make an appearance wearing nothing but a leaf skirt pretty much right in front of him. He coughs and hacks a few times, glass coming down on the bar with a thump.

The electrical explosion, or whatever the hell just happened that caused the windows to blow out, leave Alison shrieking. And there goes her precious pina colada all over the floor. Fuck. She bails on her stool, crouching down on the floor in the midst of the broken glass from her drink glass and the windows, looking up only to find the one legged dude rocking the whole caveman aesthetic. What.

August slides off his seat at the bar and ducks when the lightning hits. It's instinct; a loud explosion overhead means only three words: shelter in place. He's down like that a while, trembling, and doesn't get up until he realizes there's someone new on the scene. Or, not new.

He's not overjoyed, though, not with the twenty years of adrenaline flooding his veins. He's just wary. "Hey, Marshall," he says. He didn't bring his sidearm (stupid, stupid) but he does have his knife.

"Scotch," Alexander says, with amusement. "But I think it's only because you don't like my beer," he tells Isabella solemnly. Because his beer is one step up from water. But before he can do anything else, the lightning comes and he's pushed back against the bar by his girlfriend - who he promptly wrestles with for a moment as they each try to shield the other with their body. He finally wraps his arms around her instead, and looks towards the epicenter of the disturbance. His eyes bulge wide. "Easton? Easton!" He starts scrambling towards the man.

Vic ducks down behind the bar when the lightning hits, and she reaches for the gun nestled at the small of her back as she rises again, once the glass has stopped flying around. She blinks at the Green Man standing in their midst and blurts out, "THREE APPLES?!" Instead of 'boss'.

Harper is perfectly happy to have some fruit-n-alcohol concoction created on her behalf. She perches her feet on a rung of Geoff's stool and begins, "I think if you're going to --" Lightning. Crashing glass. Darkness that is then semi-lit in places. At some point in that chaos her hand found its way to Geoff's shoulder and grips it, at least until the man drags her closer, which seems to suit her just fine. Some truly awful Garden of Eden version of Easton appears. She stares for awhile, then flickers a sidelong glance at Geoff just before he speaks. The librarian takes the cue, "I think that look is good on him." As if he hadn't been missing and presumed gone for far too many months.

There are explosions. At karaoke. Because of course there are. No such thing as just a normal wholesome drunken activity in Gray Harbor. Tor ducks under a table and away from the mass of electrical equipment that sparks. When the generator kicks back in, it makes a horrible feedback squeal. "Aw, shit," he mutters, dusting glass off himself. He's not yet seen through the chaos to see the man of the hour.

Turning momentarily towards his drink, Scott sort of drops straight to the floor as the lightning strikes. "What the..." he begins, voice rather shakily as he glances around from the floor. Blinking again at all the stuff happening, he start to sit up, slowly. Not having noticed Easton having appeared yet.

There is a loud squeak as the lightening hits, Bennie nearly jumping out of her skin as the windows shatter. Fiddlesticks. That's got to be like, an insurance claim she has no idea how to do. "Is everyone okay?" The blonde calls out, but in a moment? She won't be. That moment arrives to the cascade of calls and startled greetings for none other than Easton-Freaking-Marshall. There is a blink. Then another at the Wildman with the unmistakeable prosthetic leg and abs that she could pick out in a police lineup.

That thud? That's Bennie hitting the floor in a straight up faint.

The wild man looks is complete with the requisite crazy eyes as Easton looks around at the bar. Everything is precisely as it should be, minus a few familiar faces that should be there. Karaoke Night feels slightly less gay than he remembers it? But all of it is wrong too. How many times has he 'come back' only for it to be a fake. How many times have they dangled this in front of him? His head snaps towards Alexander as the man comes towards him, the bone knife raised. His other hand reaches out and with an almost effortless flick he sends a table flying at Geoff and Harper. "Stay the fuck away from me!" He barks it and starts to try and back out of the room. Somebody's a little grouchy about the singing criticism maybe? Or a little crazy.

Geoff is jut on the edge of saying something sassy when that table comes hurtling towards them, the man dragging Harper to the ground and covering her body with his own and in the same movement flinging out his hand towards the wildman, heavily damaging the ankle of that prosthetic leg. With a growl of annoyance he calls back towards him "I'm going to fucking sodomize you with your own pirate leg." Looking down he checks to make sure Harper is okay before bouncing back up and leaning over the bar to grab a rail whiskey and set towards Easton with a gait that suggests he means business.

Vic grabs a bottle of whiskey from under the bar, opens it, and just takes a swig straight out of the bottle. Classy. He can charge her for it later if it's really him. She refills Ruiz's patron and hands him a bar towel to mop himself off with, the whole while her eyes never leaving the wildman.

If Geoff didn't have an arm around her ... and then there wasn't a table flying at them and Geoff dragging her down to the floor, Harper would have totally turned to check on Bennie. As it is she remains where she's held until Geoff kicks into full husband mode and is off taking alcohol in the direction of the possible figure of Easton. Bennie! Harper pushes back to her feet and scrambles over to where the blonde fainted, checking for bad bumps and straightening her out with a mini-skirt clad lap as a pillow. She murmurs low to the unconscious woman, "You're going to want to wake up pretty quick, Bennie." Fingers smooth back hair from the woman's face.

Alison finds the pole of the stool she'd been haunting a very good friend, all of a sudden, clinging onto it until she can try and get some sense of going on. Which is when a table goes flying, prompting more shrieking and earnest clinging onto the stool. Usually she has her head on pretty good, but given her lack of sobriety and the general Them-inspired shenanigans that seem to be going on, it's about all she's good for at the moment. The telltale flare of the Glimmer coming from the newly entered caveman really doesn't do anything to reassure the waitress.

By now, of course, de la Vega's gotten his priorities straight and put down the tequila and unholstered his weapon. Quick, smooth draw as he pulls to his feet; he doesn't really advertise the fact that he's carrying, so as not to cause mass panic amongst those nearby. Though with the lights out, the gun'll no doubt be hard to spot regardless. The spill's given a quick dab with the towel, a quick murmur of thanks to Vic before it's slid back across the bar.

"Long time, no see, Marshall," he pitches toward the other ex-serviceman, stepping around the turned-over table, gaze flicking toward the exit, the patio doors, the various patrons cowering under tables or edging toward the sidelines or otherwise looking like they might be about to cause harm.

There is an annoyed whine from Bennie as the touch from Harper stirs her, "Five more minutes, I was having the most...incredible dream." The blonde groans and curls towards Harper's lap, bundling herself in a ball around her friend as if they were having a sleep over and a cuddle, not huddled together on the floor of the TiBS amid flung tables and broken glass.

That kiss lands, and before she's swept up by Alexander, Isabella gives Ruiz a broad grin, and then shit hits the fan.

And does it ever. With the investigator letting her go to scramble towards Easton, Bennie's faint catches her attention. "Bennie!" the archaeologist cries; and sharp eyes catch the knife in the ex-marine's grip and the wild look on his face. "Alexander, be careful!" she exclaims - not that he will be, but she tries. And she moves over to assist the blonde paramedic. Harper's already there, though. "Is she alright?" she asks the librarian quietly, taking a knee near her friend. She starts slapping her cheeks lightly, if Harper allows.

Easton just returned after all and perhaps if there's anyone available who would know how to calm him down, it would be her.

"Alexander be careful, that might not be--"

August stops speaking the second he hears that thud. He scans the bar, sees the heap which is Bennie. Isabella and Harper are on it, though, so he shifts to put himself between Easton--or what looks like Easton--and Bennie. "Is it him?" he asks Alexander, suggesting a request for maybe the obvious thing.

Scott has at least gotten back to his feet, but he keeps a hand on the bar to steady himself. "What is going on?" It's asked to nobody in particular, as he looks around at all the things happening, looking rather unsure of what to do now.

Alexander skids to a halt when Easton brandishes the knife, and throws his hands up. If there's anyone who knows what it's like to feel surrounded by enemies wearing the faces of friends, it's him, and so his body language goes instantly submissive and careful. "Easton. Hey. It's scary. But it's us. You can test us." He reaches up and taps his temple. "Can we talk?"

Harper continues to gently brush fingertips through Bennie's hair. "Bennie, this is the dream. And you really want to open your eyes and give Geoff a little run for his money. Trust me." She lightly rubs a shoulder and nudges Bennie so that she's facing the direction of the leaf-clad man, even if her eyes are still closed. "I mean ... he's pretty surrounded, which I don't suppose is best case if it is him. But your face is probably the pivotal one in this situation."

You run through a scenario enough times and threat assessment becomes easy. Bennie already took herself out which is abnormal, for the longest time she's the one who dropped him the fastest. And the hardest. But Geoff's on the move, Alexanders too close and Ruiz is shady af at all times. Easton mentally reaches for one of the guns under the bar, he doesn't even need it in his hand to fire off two rounds at Geoff. "You're not my fuckin husband, keep yer damn hands t'yerself."

Alexander's question gets a snarl and "Stay out!" for an answer and then Clayton's shoes are suddenly needed on the ceiling it seems with a wave of his Easton's hand. But he can't locate Ruiz in the darkness and with all the bodies. "Come on Gunny, fuckin' take yer shot."

He is trying to back up and get towards the door. But something about Geoff's taunt feels wrong. It wasn't some deep cut, it was a crack, something that actually turned the corners of Easton's lips up. They might have mastered the art of torturing him, but humor? They suck at that.

Easton, newly returned from months in the veil does in fact look like he just popped out of Jumanji complete with gnarly beard but the only clothing he wears is a grass skirt of sorts, leaves woven together to kind of cover things? Mostly?

Of course Isabella is allowed to swoop in and do all sorts of things to help Bennie. She tips a smile at the woman who joins her on the floor with Bennie, glancing back frequently to keep tabs on Jumanji-Easton. Gunshots sound and Harper's brown-eyed gaze snaps up, her eyes narrowed. Who just got shot? She may briefly grip Bennie harder than she intends to.

Bennie's being slapped on the cheek by Isabella and nudged by Harper, successfully rousing the woman to start waving her hand at the pair like she's trying to ward off annoying mosquitoes ineffectually. "Staaaaahp." She attempts to just go right back to unconsciousness, but then a gun is ringing out. In her goddamn bar!

Wait.

She's in the bar.

Wait.

That gun toting maniac is missing boyfriend?!

She scrambles up to a seated position, pawing the hair out of her face. "Easton friggin-Marshall you will stop frigging shooting you frigging friends right frigging now!"

Geoff calls over to Alexander "Look at him, he's either a dream and we need to subdue him, or he's crazy and we need to subdue him." Then there's the gunshots and him getting catching one of those bullets in his arm. That stops Geoff and he looks down at his arm with astonishment before picking up his pace and now ducking low as he moves, this isn't the time for it "You son of a bitch, you go running off and leaving me alone for months and now you're back claiming that we're not married? Well guess what dipshit, Elvis married us and that's permanent, you're my husband even if you don't like it." Now that's he's closer he knocks over a table and ducks behind it "Just listen to yourself, what would /sasha/ say if she heard you talking like that. You'd break her big beautiful heart."

Karaoke isn't the reason Seth is making his way to the Twofer tonight, but it is as good excuse as any to possibly meet up with Vic and discuss some things, so into the breach of bad music Seth goes, pausing at the door to get a lay of the proverbial land and pauses.

This is not what he was expect when he walked into the club, nobody is singing and it looks as though a bomb went off...and then there are gunshots.

Instinctively Seth move for the firearm normally held in the shoulder holster under his left arm...except for tonight. He was going expecting singing, not a gunfight. Cursing to himself the large 'bouncer' makes his way for some cover. "What the fuck?!"

"So uh...everyone else is...seeing Robin Williams here, right?" Tor slowly stands up and examines the scene. He takes note of Bennie and Easton, but as he's not close to either, he isn't among those rushing to calm them. Mostly he just looks confused. And then, because he's not sure what else to do, he reaches to the sound system and hits a few buttons. And then "My Boyfriend's Back" starts to play. Hey, it's getting kinda tense in here. And who can stay tense when 60s girl groups are singing?

Vic semi crouches down to get a drinking straw from a box of them. She tears off the paper with her teeth, settles it into the neck of the whiskey bottle, and starts slurping away while watching things transpire.

Alexander says, "Son of a bitch!" Alexander shouts as his shoes are suddenly needed on the ceiling. With him still in them. The investigator yelps as he's yanked off his feet and upwards, and it's more pained than usual, because one leg JUST HEALED from getting mangled. "I KNOW THAT!" he shouts at Geoff as he flails upside down. He growls, and unties his laces with two angry yanks, and makes a startlingly good dismount to the ground, landing with a thump and a pained curse as he comes down hard on his leg. "Easton! Calm the FUCK down." It's an order, and one he tries to back up with the force of his mind."

There's guns? Of course there's guns, it's Easton.

Isabella puts her hand up in a defensive fashion, as if she has it somewhere in her own relatively crazy mind that she can stop bullets. And no - she actually can't. But what she can do is engage the god damn safety of Easton's gun long distance before he actually shoots anyone he cares about. It's for his own good. "E, come on! Bullets don't exactly go with the Aloha vibe you're trying to go for. We haven't seen you in months! Just...just....just calm down, shut up and let us love you!"

The gunshot startles August enough that he responds on instinct: guns can't shoot if you break them. He didn't know where they were before, but he does now, and each one breaks with metallic crunch.

He's not sure if this means it is Easton...or not. So he shifts to put a table between himself and Easton, like Geoff has. "Bennie, be careful," he says from his shelter.

As Easton goes to fire on Geoff, Ruiz doesn't stop to think about why. You spend enough time in this town, shit like this just fucking happens, and you shoot first, and you ask questions later. So the safety comes off on his own Sig, and a round's dropped into the chamber, and he growls at Alexander, "Behind you," a moment before he pivots into position to take the shot. It's crowded in here, and his window is tiny, and the round barely clips his friend in the thigh. But it's enough, hopefully, to stumble him and slow him down.

Harper keeps a hand lightly resting on Bennie's shoulder, until if/when the woman pushes to her feet. But just now she's glaring. Easton shot Geoff, she's quite certain. "Turner," she says slowly as if reminding him of something, but not in any way dragging his attention off Easton. Another gunshot. Harper flinches. "God damn it," she grumbles through clenched teeth, in a shockingly colorful (for her) expression. "Stop shooting each other. Easton, just take a minute and think. Notice the details."

With the gunshots going off, Scott is looking far less certain of things again. And so, he kneels down next to the bar once more, wincing a bit as he does so. "Things are under control, right?" he mutters, just as much to himself as to anyone else.

Alison isn't leaving her spot under the stool anytime soon, nope. It's comfy out here and oh god they're shooting at eachother now. Nope. Nope to this. The redhead scrambles out from under the stool, heading towards the door while trying to stay low. Or at least she thinks she's low to the ground, anyways.

Ruiz's shot doesn't surprise August so much; once the bullets start to fly they tend to keep flying. He shakes his head at Scott. "Not even close," he says, somewhat apologetic. He scans the bar. "Just stay down, maybe, until they get this under control." They. As in, people not him, because he knows a situation which needs damage control when he sees it.

Vic calls out from behind the bar, "Hey Marshall! I can almost see your smurfberries. Maybe put on some pants?"

"It's not the Veil! You're home!" Bennie stamps her foot like a five year old trying to make a point. Many a foot has fallen a victim to that stomp, but this time it's just broken glass and floor boards under foot. "And great. Now you're bleeding. And Geoff is bleeding. I know we didn't want kids, but I WILL cut off the blood flow to your testicles and make them fall off and roll out of your pants leg...or leaves, whatever...and Gunner can play fetch with them." Despite August's warning, she's stubborn enough and determined enough to end this violence, and steps around scattered furniture. "You remember him, don't you? You going to shoot your dog? You going to shoot me?"

The words from Geoff just cause Easton more confusion and it's plenty of distraction for him to get pinged by Ruiz in the leg. He stumbles down but rolls and perks up at Isabella's call of let us love you "What kind of fucked up veil thing is this?!" He shakes his head and says, "Fuck you." Not to anyone in the room in particular, more to himself? Something that he thinks is listening? It's probably best to not put too much thought into his actions just about now. The realization that his guns are useless isn't unexpected, too many healers around for them to last long. Reaching out a hand though he borrows one that still seems to be working, yoinking the gun from Ruiz's hand and turning it back on him, then sweeping the room to see who the next most iminent threat is.

The ping from Alexander draws his attention and then Harper is calling out about the details. He looks down at the gun in his hand. The Sig Sauer p220 is exactly what Ruiz took shooting with him before. The dark men don't know shit about guns. He stares at it for a moment as if waiting for it to flicker or have the wrong slide action or something. And then he closes his eyes and reaches out to the area around him. There is no topsy turvy nonsense right outside the walls. Every bottle is exactly lined up in the bar the way he diagrammed. His bottle of whiskey still sits in the bottom desk drawer in the office, not so hidden.

The gun drops to the floor, thankfully Iz flipped the safety so no one else gets shot in the process. Easton stops moving and just stares at the chaos that is his bar. His. Bar. Not some facsimile, not some twisted Arcade MurderWorld version, no, the real Twibs. Full of the real people.

"Benni-?" She was here. Right? Oh fuck it hurts to even let that little bit of hope in there. His voice cuts out and he just looks around, looking now more lost than ever. And then she's yelling at him and boy who knew that could sounds so damn good. There is a small smile as he retorts, "Yer bluffing, you'd miss 'em too much."

Easton stops to notice the details. This might please Harper if Geoff wasn't standing over there with a bottle of booze in one fist and blood streaming down his other arm. It's after Bennie gets up and stomps that foot on crunching glass, about when Easton drops the gun that Harper's attention flicks back to Geoff. His bottle. His choice. She slowly rolls to her knees and stands from there, stuffing her hands into the pockets of that oversized leather jacket. Staying in one spot seems like the best course of action, despite strong inclinations to the contrary.

Scrambling, Seth keeps low and makes his way towards the More solid protection granted by the solid bar.

With no gun, and no idea what in hell is going on he isn't about to dive into a crossfire he isn't paid to dive into, though he does take a brief moment to take in the situation...and the gun toting Robinson Crusoe cosplayer.

"This town is fuckin' strange." He mutters to himself as he crouched behind the end of the bar, reaching up on the countertop to find an abandoned glass to make his own.

Geoff calls back towards Harper "Oh great it's the dog that convinces him, he just shoots me. I'm beginning to think that he doesn't even want the welcome home whiskey I brought him." the man hoisting it up above the table to shake around so that Easton can see it while not overly exposing himself "But I don't think that's the case, I think he's gonna wanna take it. Then he can apologize to me and he can go back to sleeping on the couch." he gives the bottle another enticing shake. All the while he's been saying this he's been trying to get a bead on bullet in his arm with a frown. Glancing over towards Bennie he tells her "Hey I think I'm going to need the first aid kit and a number for a battered spouse shelter." His voice lowering to speak through grit teeth as if whispering "What's the safeword drink here?"

"I really hate guns," Alexander snaps back at Ruiz as he shoots from behind him. At EASTON. The cop is glared at for a moment, before Alexander turns back. Okay, to be fair, Easton is also shooting. But he gets a pass. And when he drops the gun, Alexander lets out a great gust of breath in relief. "You're back!"

Vic glances over at Seth and reaches to pour him some whiskey into that glass. Not from her bottle mind you. That one is still in her hand with straw-based delivery system.

With the safety off and the gun dropped, Isabella does what she can by...well. Pushing the gun under the bar, though she doesn't sweep Easton in a hug yet (and maybe whisk off the grass skirt in the process, because come on, the temptation is too strong to resist). Bennie has been waiting for this for months, so she is content to wait her turn. But her eyes might be suspiciously bright as she eases away to sidle towards Alexander and Ruiz to bear witness to this heartfelt reunion.

She'll yell at Easton later once she's drunk enough, with a belly full of carbs.

August relaxes when the gun's dropped. Since it's Ruiz's gun, which August already mangled and fixed once before, he leaves it be. He'll think about offering to fix the guns under the bar later.

For now, he gets back up, moves towards his abandoned black and tan. "Oh, this is practically normal," he assures Seth. He watches the reunions commence, glances at Tor. Brows up, he mouths, 'Reunited?'

Tor has also followed Seth's lead and started drinking. Though he reaches behind the bar for a bottle rather than picking up someone's abandoned one. He sinks into a corner out of the way of reunions, happy, chaotic and otherwise. When August makes his request, he flicks a few buttons on his phone which is connected to the sound system. Reunited starts to play. Hey, he's still 'on the clock.'

Ruiz watches Easton go down, and gets ready to fire again. He isn't shooting to kill, but to disable. To hurt and to slow his friend down, and limit his range and the damage he can inflict. Because Easton, of all people, ought to know that if a Marine scout sniper wanted him dead.. well, he'd probably be dead by now.

The gun's yanked out of his hand though, and he starts to fight it.. then relinquishes the thing with a snarl. At least he hasn't dropped a round into the chamber yet. He doesn't add to the noise in Easton's head by attempting to establish a link with the man, though he does continue to approach slowly, dark eyes steady on his friend. Palms forward, so Easton can see he's unarmed now. "Is it actually you, or am I going to have to break your fucking nose too, to be sure?" he grumbles.

"It wasn't the dog. It was Bennie mentioning the dog in her own inimitable way. Besides, the dog is what would get you to look twice, and you know it. He'll want your gift. Just give it a couple. After I strangle him for shooting you, he'll be really thirsty," Harper retorts far too mildly to Geoff as she starts searching the bar for said first aid kit. There has got to be a pretty decked out kit somewhere nearby for a bar such as TiBS.

Scott shakes his head a bit as he gets to his feet once more. "There is such a thing as normal, huh?" he asks as he hears what's said, before he turns to the bar again. "I think I need something strong..."

Alexander reaches out for Isabella as she sidles close. To Ruiz, he says, "It's him. Unless we all got pulled into a Dream. Things from over there don't usually come over here. Not like that." Usually. Even his own voice is a little tentative about that, and he looks around at people, as if there might be something to tip off whether this is the real world, or just fantasy.

"Actually they've made great medical strides, they can actually implant a balloon like device you can manually..." FOCUS BENNIE. A shake of her head to get her back on track, this is overwhelming her brain synapses, okay? "Easton...?" She says quieter, her voice taking on that squeak of disbelief, her steps forward more trepidatious but the gun clatters to the floor, and she forgets any other qualm of safe distance and to the dulcet tones of Peaches & Herb, she launches herself at him in either a full-contact hug or tackle, depending.

She tilts her head. "No, it's definitely Easton. He's the only one I know who'd show up after months' of absence in a grass skirt," Isabella tells the Chief of Police and boyfriend-investigator solemnly. There's nothing acerbic about her tone; she definitely means it. "Honestly, I'm surprised he didn't Michaelangelo's David it up."

"You can fuckin try Gunny." There is a suck in of breath right before Easton manages to crack the joke though that belies the effort it takes. He has to clench his jaw though when it comes to even looking at the blond woman across the bar. He used up his light-hearted wisecrack and now he's stuck with trying to come to grips with a whole shift in reality that he wasn't prepared for. Thankfully there is Geoff to distract him, Easton looks down at him and half shrugs, "You're the one who let himself get shot. Walk it off Turner."

The tackle hug from Bennie almost takes him down. It wouldn't be the first time. But he keeps his feet and manages to tell her earnestly, "I'm so fuckin' gross right now but I don't care." And he is, super gnarly gross. But eventually he breaks the embrace, after a moment of resting his forhead against hers (if she bends down it kind of works).

And then Easton is making his way behind the bar, pulling off the leaves around his waist as he goes. There is no need for that anymore, he's back. Yes, some might consider modesty a need but this is Easton. Eventually he's down to his bare ass and just one suspiciously large leaf covering his front bits. He looks down at it, 'how is that even staying on?' and peels that off to toss in the trash. If anyone hasn't seen Easton naked yet, and that list is probably not very long, well there's your chance as he rummages around for a half apron to wrap around himself instead. It's roughly modest, on a sliding scale of Easton.

"I'll take my bottle now Geoff."

"Surprised, or disappointed?" Alexander asks Isabella, with a quick, teasing smile. And then Easton's going ahead and peeling the grass and...large leaf off, and Alexander's eyebrows go up. "Well. Either way, you're covered." He coughs. "And Easton isn't. But that's definitely him. I agree."

"This round is on the house, to celebrate the return of our fearless leader, EASTON FUCKING MARSHALL!" Vic hollers, and begins to pour shots for everyone in the bar.

"Oh, hey," Seth mutters as he sees Vic behind the bar, "You were who I was coming to see but obviously now isn't the best time."

Whiskey is offered and Seth tosses the pilfered glass over the bar with a crash, something more for Ravn to clean in the morning, and reaches out to take the offered glass with a nod of thanks and offers a toast, "So...this kind of thing happen around here often?"

Vic grunts back at Seth, "Pretty much any day ending in 'y'."

And there it is. The fig leaf, which he pries off. Were it any other man, Isabella would not have any qualms looking at it - but it's Easton, he's like a brother to her, so the moment it comes off, there's the tiniest scream, before she quickly puts up a hand over her eyes. "Oh god, tell me when it's over!" She's not disappointed now - but how the hell is she supposed to hug him in that condition?! She buries her face in Alexander's nearest shoulder.

"I'll have one of those!" she calls out to Vic.

Hey, it's nothing de la Vega hasn't seen before. He doesn't even look particularly shocked as the leaves come off. They are pretty nasty. Tonguetip touched to a canine, he looks like he's trying really fucking hard not to smile, when Easton tells Geoff to walk it off. Maybe that's what finally convinces him the guy is real.

He bends to fetch his gun, locks the safety, shoves it back into its holster, and sends a brief glance Isabella and Alexander's way. "Yeah, seems like," he'll concede with a tired, but relieved smile. An actual smile. And then he mumbles something to Vic about the power still being out, and prowls off to go find the circuit breaker box to futz with. Because that's easier than fucking feelings, man.

And because this is Tor's thing in this touching reunion, he brings up another song when Easton strips. This time it's Hot Stuff by Donna Summer. He thumbs the volume a little higher and swigs from his stolen bottle.

Geoff pops up and makes his way over to Easton, hopping the bar before shoving the bottle into the man's hands and taking him in a crushing hug (and smearing blood on his husband as a happy byproduct of it "Good to have you back fucker." Pulling back he gestures towards the stage and says "Man you made it a fucking nightmare up there, but I'm never going to forget the pact we had to never do karaoke without at least three rounds of warm up shots." Pulling back he grunts before jumping the bar once more and taking a seat, shedding the hoodie he is wearing to allow for first aid.

"Neither do I." Easton could be rolled in Veil feces, and she'd greet him just the same. One tiny quiet moment of reunion, Bennie's forehead pressed to Easton, a scritch of nails in his unruly beard and then the man needs a drink. And apparently a wardrobe change. She, unabashedly, watches, head tilted to the side. "Definitely Easton." Identifying him not by his antics, apparently. The tension in the room dissipating, she looks a little woozy on her feet again, trailing after him almost mindlessly to get one of those shots, forgetting apparently, that she should probably be healing folks and getting the bar cleaned up.

August half-turns and raises his beer to Tor in a thank you, both for the request and the follow-up. Alexander and Ruiz's declarations are good enough for him, and he watches Bennie grab Easton with a smile. He's not surprised by Ruiz's decision to fix the lights, makes sure to set a shot aside for him. None for August; he has to drive himself and Eleanor home later, so this beer is all he gets. He starts to say something, stops, and just settles for, "It's good to have you back, Easton."

First aid kit in hand, Harper passes through all the welcoming and gawking and tackling and screaming to pull up a stool very close to Geoff's shot arm. She starts to clinically examine it, not particularly gently. "I don't see an exit wound. You wanted to keep a souvenir?" The librarian sounds some strange combination of irritated and amused. "I can wrap it, but we have to go get the bullet taken out and have someone official clean it." As she's talking she's pushed the sleeve of his tee shirt up and is doing a decent job of wrapping it well enough to staunch the blood flow to some extent. "We're not leaving just yet, I have a feeling." She reaches up to slide her hand around behind Geoff's neck to pull his ear down to where she can murmur against it.

Alexander is surprised when Isabella turns her face into his shoulder, but runs his hand over her hair, and whispers to her when Easton has the apron covering up a good portion of his lower assets. He looks around, a bit bewildered now that the surprise and violence has settled back into chaos of a different sort. He steers Isabella towards the bar, still staring at Easton.

Geoff does no favors for his wound when he reaches over to pull Harper into his lap after she's wrapped his arm up, though to his credit he doesn't show any sort of reaction to exercising that damaged arm though it has to be screaming. Wrapping his arms around Harper's waist he closes his eyes "I'm probably going to have to harass Bennie, it'd be awkward if we went to the hospital. There'd be questions about where it came from and that'll involve the police and I'm in no mood to deal with them."

The archaeologist is steered helpfully towards the bar. "Where's my shot? I want my shot," Isabella tells Alexander softly - the better to scrub that sight out of her mind. If nothing else, Easton returns just to remind her of that fateful night she nearly burned down her flat in Oxford. Alcohol first, and then hugs. Scotch, after all, is the tried and true method of lubricating pesky feelings. She's totally with Ruiz on this one.

And then there's Geoff hugs and Easton hugs him right back, regardless of any blood or the fact that he looks like a rejected pro-disability muppet and smells like a rotting corpse. He nods solemly at Geoff and says, "And no more Destiny's Child. Ever." The karaoke pact may have been a long time ago, but he hasn't forgotten. Confused Easton looks to Harper and then to Bennie and August and then points at Geoff and makes a sparkly finger movement. "Right?" Last he knew healing was just a wave of the hand and all was fine. He's been gone a while.

It's only then that his face darkens for a moment and he turns to Vic, "How the hell are you still here?" There's no malice, just genuine confusion. He nods at Seth, having no idea who that is but he hasn't lost all social graces. Just most.

And then he finally gets his first gulp of whiskey in a very long time and it's clear that he savors it. He goes back for a second before putting the bottle down and looking up again, "Iz. Alexander... Roen." He looks around the room as if expecting a few more faces but who knows. He starts to say something more but then suddenly decides he needs a glass for the whiskey, as if that were the most important thing right now. Stupid emotions. As it is he can barely look at Bennie for more than a moment, but also can't stop stealing glances at her to make sure she's still there. He's a mess, just a slightly less violent one now.

There's a thump and a flicker, another flicker and a precipitous pause before the lights flood back on again along with the hum of the cooling systems and other electronics behind the bar. The police captain ambles back out after a few moments, wiping some grime off on the thighs of his jeans, and cuts toward Geoff and Easton. "Either of you need a paramedic?" Because it's good to be the (acting) Chief of Police, dontcha know. "Or a pair of fucking pants?" That's probably to Easton. Because why let it slip that he missed his friend something fierce, when he could just be an ass to him instead?

Bennie's heavy hand drags the shot off the bar, sort of dazedly just look at the worn wooden top. She looks like she's about to toss it back, but it just gets set back on the bar's top with a shaky hand. "I'm not feeling very well." This said aside to Alexander and Isabella, as if in reaching for a lifeline, and indeed she's gone pale as adrenaline gives way to shock.

Vic snorts at Easton and the straw is removed from her mouth. "I have been an excellent bartender in your absence. Because Bennie is nice. I even have an apprentice bartender being trained." She's only slurring a little bit at the moment, but give her a break, her "boss" just reappeared from being missing in the Veil, and flashed his Gargamel and Smurfberries at everyone under the roof. Being buzzed is a requirement.

Taking a sip of his whiskey, Seth rises from behind the bar with his eyebrows raised, "Well this certainly wasn't the night I was expecting. "

Seth move around to the front of the bar, picking up and overturned stool and taking a seat as he watches the reunion, nodding to Easton and lifting his glass to the man.

"So," he asks to absolutely nobody in particular, "Did I miss 'Sweet Caroline' ?"

"He doesn't really NEED pants," Alexander puts in, very practically, as he hunts around for a shotglass and alcohol for Isabella, as well. "Pants are optional." He gives Vic a look at the 'excellent bartender', and it is filled with skepticism.

There's a pause after a swallow of scotch that Alexander helpfully gets her, looking up at Easton's comment about Destiny's Child. "But how are the ladies going to know when to leave their men at home, because the club is full of ballers and their pockets full grown?" Isabella wonders innocently.

And that's before she takes a step forward, finally, and throws her arms around the ex-marine. He is lucky that she isn't bawling embarrassingly all over him. Scotch is good for something!

Harper slides her skirt-clad behind up onto the Geoff's thigh on the non-shot side and holds the wrist of his shot arm, rubbing her thumb to and fro over the inside of his wrist. "Bennie? I don't know if she has the ability to see anything but Easy right now." She glances over at Easton with a warm-I'm-going-to-hurt-you-later smile. She catches the motion and glances from Bennie to August and back to Easton. Ruiz returns from returning the room to full illumination and for a moment she misunderstands, thinking that the man is just that talented that he's offering medical services along with everything else. Realization follows. As for pants? "We've got that covered on this end, thanks." There's then a flick of attention to Bennie and a glance at those around her to make sure someone's going to catch that impending collapse.

"She can almost pour a black and tan," August asides to Easton, "So..." He winces, shrugs. Jury's out on 'excellent', but 'trying' is acceptable, in his opinion. He doesn't have to avoid her, is the salient point. He follows Harper's look among everyone to Bennie, shifts towards her. "Hey. You need to go lie down in back, maybe? Take a breather?"

Alexander snorts for some reason at August's aside, and his eyes now find Vic, staring at her fixedly for much longer than polite. When he looks away, at last, it's back to Easton, of course. "You're gonna need some rest and recovery time."

"You'll just have to get up there and tell 'em Iz." Easton grins and is mid-hug when Bennie starts to go all woozy and he asks, "Bennie? hey!" He tries not to get all panicky but he's really not in a great place right now. He still hasn't realized that the pain from his prosthesis in his leg? Yeah, he got hit and is bleeding down quite a bit. At this point he's just so used to having to block it out and the rush of all the changes and then Bennie isn't doing well.

Easton blinks when people actually seem to speak of Vic warmly, 'what kind of nightmare realm is this?!' but he plays that off as he's still too concerned about Bennie. He hobbles out from behind the bar to join her and put a hand on her back to support her. "It's alright..." his voice gets thick as he starts to say any more than that and he looks to others helplessly hoping they can do a little better than that.

And then he looks down and realizes that's too much blood for just his usual pain and then back up at Ruiz, "I don't need pants. I need you to get yer damn bullet out of /my leg/" As if he had misplaced it. What was that about walking it off? He takes a seat at the bar next to Bennie and pushes off the nearly mangled prosthesis. The wraps underneath are the scraps of whatever clothes he was wearing when he left. So that kind of answers part of that question. Of course now they're also pretty bloody. Thankfully the bottle is still in reach so he can grab that again, forgetting about the glass he just poured and watching Bennie intently now.

Vic declares, "I only death glare at the tourist yachters who stare at my tits now!" She still not overly friendly, but she's not biting off heads anymore. It's improvement! Except at the moment because she is now very drunk after half a bottle of whiskey and whatever she was doing in the back room before. "I am so not driving home tonight," she mumbles with a snort.

Geoff mentions offhandedly to Harper as he waits there "You know I think the first thing I'm doing when we get home is ditching the pants." He gestures back towards Easton with his head "Wherever he's been he's clearly stumbled on something, life is too short to wear clothes." when he hears the man complaining about bullets in his leg he raises his voice "Oh boo hoo you took a bullet to the fake leg, you don't even get a cool scar for it." with a frown he once again looks to Harper "Babe I think we're gonna need a pair of tweezers and some one fifty one." with a thoughtful expression that turns to a frown when he flexes his injured arm he says "I heard back in 'nam they'd empty a cartridge of gun powder and light it off to cauterize it. Or at least that's what I got from Lost. Want to try it?"

"I've got a change of clothes and a first aid kid in my car," Ruiz explains to Easton, glancing at his watch like this is somehow relevant. He blows a breath out his nose, exchanges a look with Harper that's neither here nor there, and steps past Bennie with a trailing touch to her arm. The contact is warm; warmer than it ought to be, even for this man, who's like a human furnace at the best of times. He murmurs something in passing, and then he's prowling off for the door with a jangle of keys.

A smirk curves on Harper's lips as Geoff goes on his anti-clothes rant. "I like clothes," she argues just to argue. "And so do you. Just think about it. The bullet's blocking your big-picture thinking. Who knew your arm was so ..." She trails off as Geoff gives Easton a hard time. But then Geoff's making Apocalypse Now sorts of suggestions about dealing with his wound. Harper tries to make sense of Ruiz's look. Back to Geoff. Does she want to try it? "Hell no. We're going to the hospital. I'll tell them I shot you. You didn't return your books on time. They'll believe that. Just don't press charges. We're getting that looked at tonight." She's not aware that August and Bennie can help.

"I can give you a ride." Seth says to Vic with a shrug of his shoulders as he lift the glass to his lips and takes a sip, "If you are sober enough to tell me where that is anyway, otherwise you crash on the couch."

Easton waggles his abbreviated leg at Geoff, "He hit my fucking stump jackass." Yes, he's sitting on a bar stool in just an apron waggling his amputated leg, it's quite a show.

There is a whine from behind the bar, Gunner sticking his nose out from the U-shape island but seems to deem it safe as he pads out after Easton. The big dope's head gets nudged onto Bennie's lap, nudging her arm until her hand lulls over his ears. 'Emotional Support Dog' goes to the one he was trained to support, even if his backside is wedged against Easton's thigh. August gets a flicker of a smile from Bennie, the same wane one offered aside to Easton. "I'm okay." She assures, even as she lays her arms down on the bar and her head settles down on top as Ruiz' touch brushes her and she gets flooded with an industrial dose of brain Xanax. "Vic. As my last act as your boss, I order you take the soda gun and hose off E."

Hearing that, August takes his black and tan and moves away from Easton, flicking him a 'sorry bro, but I'm not gonna be collateral damage' look in the process. "Why not just let the man shower properly?"

Geoff chimes in and tells August "Man if you got any sort of juju that can help...Actually you know what." He gestures towards Easton and stimulates his natural healing to begin helping with that wound, and thus being the most effective reiki healer on earth "I got this." a bit apologetically he tells Easton "Man, you're gonna want to dig the bullet out before you heal up there. We can go to the hospital together and claim to be victims of gangland violence."

Vic's brow goes uppppp at the order from Bennie, and she barks out a short laugh. "You got it, boss lady." She pulls out the soda gun, and thankfully sets it to water, before she fires it at Stinky Smurf. The water seems to puddle and then move itself to a drain in the floor. She quips over at Seth, "I'm crashing at the other boss' place until I find another one." That would be the guest room of the Kelly House. Where she has no doubt been having interesting convos with the ghost of Joey's mother.

Gunner gets scritch on the way by but Easton doesn't stop the dog on a mission. He completely misses Ruiz's touch and what it means, but is glad to hear a first aid kit is around. Geoff's offer though brings a small smile to his face, he didn't realize how much he had come to depend on having healers around until he didn't have them. But the reality of needing to get the bullet out causes him to frown. "I'm not going to the hospital. Fuck it, I'll dig it out later. I.. I'm going home." He is very clear about that bit, not a good idea to try and stop it.

And then Bennie is ordering one shower and he nods and then realizes, "Wait what?" The spray of soda water hits him and he blows out and splutters into it. He looks at Vic and then back at Bennie, "I don't think that helped?" Ugh and now he's even stickier somehow?

"Yes! Hospital. Five minutes ago. It can be a field trip. I don't care what reason we're giving, but we're getting bullets removed or I'm going to have to start getting violent." Harper getting violent sounds (and looks) very unlikely. Geoff and Easton know differently. "Seriously. Then Easton can warm the shock out of Bennie and I can deal with you. Or I'll take care of Bennie and you husbands can play it-doesn't-hurt-that-bad all night long. On the couch in Key Lime." Harper remains where she is perched on Geoff's thigh, still brushing her thumb against the inside of his wrist as if that might rid him of some of the pain in his arm. She doesn't look particularly playful at this point.

Seth gives Vic a nod, and sits back nursing his glass of whiskey while he waits, and watches.

"Hospital doesn't sound like the worst of ideas. I don't exactly know where you've been, man, but who knows what might have gotten into that wound."

Helped? No, but that impromptu shower made Bennie smile that wide beam for the first time this evening. She's dazed thanks to the calming effects of Ruiz, but not entirely out of it. And so when Easton declares he's just going home? She finds the strength to lift her head and call out for the (acting! He swears!) Chief, "Dela la!" With some puppy dog eyes and maybe some chin wobbling, she can convince him to play escort to the rag tag bunch. Bennie can heal the boys further, and actually do her damn job as an EMT, Easton can shower, Ruiz can play bad cop and make sure the crazy stays contained. It'll be a giant sleep over. It'll be grand. And if Harper and Geoff insist on couches, they have one of those too.

"All right, I'm gonna go in back and clock out and will be out having a goddamned smoke (her first since her lung has recovered from being rendered swiss cheese a while back) and when you're ready to head out, Monaghan, grab me. If I can't give you directions to Kelly's, the couch will be fine." Vic takes off her apron and salutes the former and returned bosses before slipping into the back room.

"Man just one more thing before you go home to clean off, how many times did you off a dream me, and were any of them nearly as handsome as me?" Geoff asks of Easton with his eyebrow arching "Because I'm betting not." That said he looks to Harper and see's she is way past being able to pretend she isn't bothered by his injury, he leans in and nips at her "We'll go get his taken care of." The man seemingly unable to stop flexing even though it hurts "Fuck it is weird having something in me."

"No they never got the top lip right." Easton nods solemnly at Geoff, though he doesn't actually give a number. And at that point he realizes something Bennie said, "We have a house.." He looks to Bennie to confirm, as if he can't quite remember if that's true or something he made up. They barely even moved in before he got lost.

Seth nods to Vic, taking the glass and setting it down onto the countertop. "I'll pull the car around." Seth reaches into his jeans and produces his moneyclip, tossing a few bills on the bar before he heads for the front to slip out.

The tattooed Mexican returns with the aforementioned clothes and first aid kit, and isn't too terribly hard to convince to play escort, to ensure Bennie and her boo get home safely and nobody else gets shot. What this does mean is no more shots of tequila for him, which makes him a little cranky. Someone better make that up to him.

"We have a house. With a fully stocked medical cabinet. And booze." The last apparently as if reading Ruiz' mind. Hell, Bennie'll need a drink too, once she thinks she can stomach it. "I'll call the guy to come board up the windows on the way." She slips off the stool, not even having to tell Gunner to heel as he obediently just sticks to her hip. Easton reunion party, OUT.