2020-12-06 - Pitchforks and Flaming Torches

It's a cozy night in for Easton at the cabin. The TV in the living room is playing sports highlights and Easton has both real and fake legs propped up on the coffee table while Gunner snoozes away underneath them. There is only one bottle of beer, half drunk on the table, which is impressive for him. He's dressed in a warm hoodie and baggie sweats, clearly not planning on doing anything tonight.

It's later than Alexander wanted, but honestly? He's walking more slowly than he usually does. Limping, especially after making his way this far - it might not have been one of his brightest ideas, but here he is, standing in front of the door, looking at it, thinking. The two men are sweats friends, although they might not know it yet. He's wearing baggy Addington High sweats, and lifts his left hand to knock at the door. He looks like hell: the broken nose is on the mend, but bruises radiate out from his temple like black stains in the dark, and his right hand is wrapped up but even with that, the shape is wrong.

Gunner perks up his ears and is knocking Easton's legs off the coffee table before Alexander even knocks. He barks a couple times but is wagging his tail and more excited about people(!) than angry about a visitor. Easton gets up and takes the time to actually walk to the door since he's not actively expecting anyone. He opens it and gets "Hey A-" out before he reacts to the state that Alexander is in. "Come on in." He waits to close the door behind Alexander before going to the cabinet to get a bottle of vodka down, the freezer to get icepacks and then pulling out a pill bottle. "Sorry, Bennie's out and I didn't realize you were fighting cars on the highway.."

Alexander's face splits into a smile as the door opens. MOST of it is for Easton, but some of it is definitely for the dog. "Hello, Easton." He limps inside, and offers his good hand to Gunner. "Sorry, it's late. I should have called." He pauses when he's inside and looks around with that rude, frank curiosity. He realizes what Easton's doing, and chuckles, softly. "Most of it looks worse than it is."

"Well that's good because you look like shit. I can't imagine you feel much better?" Easton is pouring him a drink and opening the pill bottle, percocets, just in case. He puts the ice packs down with a paper towel to wrap around them. Most of this happens really without a thought that Alexander didn't ask for it. This is just what you do when your buddy shows up looking like that. Not that Easton has to do that all that frequently now a days, especially with Bennie living here. "Really. Are you okay?"

There is a cheerful ring of a bicycle bell outside, announcing Bennie's arrival home. One of these days she might consider getting a vehicle after having gotten used to driving Easton's Jeep, but she hasn't made the splurge yet now that she can actually afford a car payment. So for now, it's her happy little bicycle with it's plastic flower decorated basket. Moments later she hips through the door, swinging her purse to the floor and already stripping out of her turquoise wool coat to hang on the hook before she even notices they have company. Badly beaten company.

"Alexander Clayton, who put you in a rock tumbler?" But its not accusatory, just fond, like it's a day that ends in Y around here, she breezes around and yanks over Easton's chin to give him a quick smooch.

"I probably don't wanna dance," Alexander admits, his voice very dry. "But I've had worse." He smiles, watching Easton move around. "Thanks." He doesn't turn down the drink, but does shake his head just a little at the percocet. He might be about to say more, but that bicycle bell makes him go tense, then relax. "Hi, Bennie. Nice to see you." There's a grin as she goes off to smooch Easton. He doesn't look away, like a polite person, but he watches with fondness.

"Aww. Slow dance, you and me later when you're feeling better." Easton grins at the thought of them swaying together middle school dance style. The kiss from Bennie is happily returned, his hand reaching out to squeeze her bottom on her way past afterwards. He looks at Alexander's hand pointedly and says, "You didn't bust that punching someone else." As if he's jealous to not be the target of said punching. "And I'm afraid, I fell down the stairs just ain't gonna cut it. So .. " He pours himself a glass of that vodka, as if deciding it looks like a good plan. "What happened? Bad Dream?"

That damn Percocet lingering on the counter, unclaimed by Alexander looks mighty tempting for Bennie, so much so she has to put it out of sight and out of mind right back into the bottle that Easton got it from and then it gets tossed into a drawer a little too casually. Then she pops open another cabinet and drags down a glass to get her self some juice from the fridge. "Broken nose, a knock the the noggin but no subdural hematoma, multiple contusions, comminuted fractures of the metacarpals on the...right hand! That have started healing but haven't been treated or properly set yet. And hairline fractures of your ribs." Bennie supplies the what if not the how while she fixes herself a Screwdriver with the available vodka.

Alexander snorts at the idea of dancing with Easton. "I don't dance," he reminds the other man. It's about all the humor he can muster, though. He opens his mouth at Easton's last question, and on his expressive face, both of them can SEE him debating a lie. And then debating just trying to shut down the questioning. But, in the end, he just reaches for the vodka with his good hand and downs it. "It's complicated. I deserved it." He glances to one side as Bennie recites the list. He clears his throat. "Sounds about right. I hate to ask, but I was hoping you might take a look at the hand, Bennie? Um. I don't want it to heal wrong, and I can't set them one handed." He stares at Bennie, brow furrowed. Then says, "I tried to help someone. But it was probably wrong. Got them clean but. There were objections." He lifts the hand, wryly.

Easton sees the quick action that Bennie takes on the pills and he makes a note to stash those somewhere else later. He's doing fine with them in the house now, but is well aware of what that action felt like to him. He blinks at Bennie's list and looks at Alexander with raised eyebrows. "Dang." The talk about deserving this causes him to frown. He looks at Bennie, obviously concerned before asking, "Did Bennie catch you in a dark alley? Because usually people are grateful for the help.. even if not at first."

"Tell them to break your furniture next time, instead of breaking my BFF." Bennie says with a small frown forming at the corners of her mouth. An honest frown, a focused frown, that's not often seen. She's pulling out the big guns with that one. She moves over the the kitchenette and slips into a seat while nudging one out for Alexander and opening up her operating room with the silent offer. "It wasn't a dark alley, it was your office." She tells Easton, "Because he knows if he doesn't ask, I'll just find a way to heal him on the sly like by suckering him into a hug. This is just the lesser of two evils. Will you grab my kit, babe? I think I put it in the downstairs closet."

Alexander chuckles, again. "I really like you both," he says, abruptly. Then clears his throat, awkwardly. "But no. I don't think there's gratitude. This time. I didn't..." His expression wavers, then crumples. "I don't think I helped at all. I did the best I could, but, I was a little high because the dispensary exploded. Made bad choices." He narrows his eyes at Bennie, then. "No hugs. Right now it hurts." Then he looks from one to the other, "Promise that you won't break anything. Or anybody. If you want to know."

Looking at Bennie he grins and says, "You and your nefarious healing ways." He nods and heads off for the closet, realizing that this might be a 'get Easton out of the room' thing, he's happy to play along and go look for her kit. He does call back, "I promise all my guns will stay exactly where they are." over his shoulder as he goes. That's a big promise for him.

Bennie makes gives a crooked little smile, banishing the frown easily when Alexander says that he likes them. She's not the type to look smug, but she does look pleased with the admission, even if Alexander thinks it were awkwardly given. "I only have room in my heart for one grudge at a time, and right now my father securely owns the slot." She promises Alexander. The kit was right where she said it was, so she was just feeling lazy instead of surreptitious, but then if she needs to use her juju on Alexander's wounds, she needs to conserve energy. "Alright, you know the drill, Alexander. Strip." But this time she means for him to pull the bandages off his hand.

"I appreciate that," Alexander says to Easton, with appropriate gratitude. He moves to sit down, with a sigh. Another drink of the vodka before he nods at Bennie, and sets the glass aside to unwrap the hand. Two of the fingers are splinted and straightened, the older wounds. The rest has been worked over quite thoroughly. He offers it over. "I'm mostly worried about the metacarpals. I don't want them to heal wrong. That'll hurt like a son of a bitch forever." It's detached, just an observation. Then, after a moment, "De la Vega did some of it. Cavanaugh the rest." He shrugs again. "I fucked up."

Oh. Easton finds the kit and makes his way back, setting it up on the counter for her. "I really love it when you tell people to strip by the way. We really missed out on the couples costume this year. You in a sexy nurse outfit, me in a backless gown. We woulda killed it." He lets that banter die though when Alexander starts to get serious about his injuries and then talk about who caused them. His eyebrows shoot up, against his will. "Oh." A few beats later. "Oh." And then a final "OH" As a few things dawn on him in order. "Did he get clean? Or did he not... like your methods?" There are plenty of other questions Easton has but he holds them for now.

Bennie gives Easton a look as Alexander names off the perpetrators, her lips evening out again into a line. "Yeah, shame on you for being a good friend." She says dryly, a little bobble of her blonde head in disbelief. She gives Easton a quiet thank you for getting her kit, pulling gloves out of the pocket and snapping the blue latex on. "I'm going to need to manipulate the bones first, so when I encourage the healing they heal right. I could give you a nerve block or conscious sedation, your choice."

Alexander gives Easton a flat look. "I drugged him, kidnapped him, and tied him to a bed through the withdrawal. He wasn't a fan." There's no humor to it, and his shoulders droop. "He was clean when I let him go. Don't know if he plans to stay that way, but we had a couple of fights along the way, and," he gestures at his nose then the small fingers on the other hand. "Cavanaugh showed up a couple of nights ago. He had a taser. Woke up like this. I didn't mean to torture de la Vega. It wasn't, it wasn't something I enjoyed." He breaks off and grimaces at Bennie's options. "Nerve block? Yes. Nerve block, I think. Whatever you think is best."

Easton shoots Bennie a look of 'i know right?' about being a good friend. But that fades a little at the story. "Oh.. shit." He winces and says, "That's .. yeah, I can see how De la la might not love you for that." And he'd be fine with leaving it there but the next bit turns his brow into a deep scowl. He doesn't have any jokes for this. None. His face just hardens and he nods, saying flatly, "I see."

"Easton, will you help Alexander take off his shirt?" Bennie asks, as she ducks her head and slips away from the table. Rooting through her bag for the items she'll need to perform an infraclavicular block, but it also gives her ample opportunity to shy away from the notion that Joseph showed up well after the fact, and beat the tar out of Alexander. Disappointment, anger and sadness all playing over her features as she pulls out a needle and sorts through glass bottles of medication, reading the labels.

"/De la Vega/," Alexander mutters in response to the nickname. His head comes up at the change in Easton's tone. "You promised," he says, quietly. "Just leave it. I deserved it, and it's done now. As long as Rosencrantz doesn't drop a car on me, next, I'll heal." When Bennie speaks up, he pauses, then can't help but chuckle. "I'm not gonna ask if you've wanted to say that for a long time," he says, and winks at her. His taste for oversized clothing is helpful, at least - he doesn't need a lot of help to get out of the shirt. He's all over bruises, but someone's bound his ribs. There are numerous other old scars over his chest and shoulders, but nothing else major.

"De la Vega." For once Easton easily relents on the nickname, a sure sign that Alexander must look like absolute crap. "I did. And I promise, I'm not going to show up at his place and tase him like a little bitch." He is going to throw shade though apparently. He coughs a little and says, "But I won't. And I will talk to Itz." He sighs and helps with the shirt, "You didn't deserve that from him. I mean whatever, I'm not going to judge Gunny, that's his... whatever. I assume you expected to maybe lose a tooth or two to him going into this. But what the /fuck/ Cavanaugh?" He helps with shirt but doesn't wince at the bruises, he just takes them all in, and then looks up at Bennie over his shoulder with raised eyebrows.

"We promised not to break things. There was no guarantee given about being pissed the fuck off." Benne says in a sing song voice even as she cusses in yet another rare occurrence. "Okay, touching now." She warns Alexander as she maneuvers his arm and sterilizes the injection site. In a lot of ways this will be more draining on her, trying to do something more delicate on a minor wound than something of brute force on something major, as she uses her 'gift' again to help her locate the appropriate spot sans an ultrasound. "This is going to numb you up from the shoulder down for the next twenty minutes or so while I fix your fingers." And then she's doing the infraclavicular brachial plexus block with surety.

"Good. Thanks." A brief smile at Easton from Alexander. "And yeah. I knew there would be consequences. Like I said, I'm," he can't actually go through with saying 'okay'. He just breaks off and shrugs, instead. His eyes flick to Bennie when she actually cusses, and he grimaces. "I'm ready." He braces himself for the touch, and doesn't flinch. His doesn't hide his dismay at the thought of his arm being numb, but he slowly nods. "Okay. I trust you." It's as much to reassure himself as her. It doesn't stop him from tensing up when he feels his arm go dead, a fluttering moment of panic that he pushes back down. He licks his lips. "Thanks."

Easton smiles to himself over Alexander's shoulder as Bennie actually cusses. Yes, it's still in true Bennie fashion all cheerful but still it's there. He watches the medical actions for a bit before saying, "Okay. I'm going to grab a smoke and not think about hurting people for a bit." He looks at Bennie and says, "Please make sure you fix that well babe, he needs that to punch out his feelings on me later." And he heads out to the back patio for a smoke, snagging his beer from earlier along the way but leaving the vodka. That's solid progress. Kind of.

Bennie pats Alexander on the shoulder gently as he tenses. "It's okay, it'll fade." Surely she means the nerve block agent. The injection given, she tosses the syringe across the kitchen to the sink where it rattles around and settles as she retakes her seat. "I get the anger from Javier, I do, I've been there with the frustration and the fear. Some addicts can't take that first necessary step towards getting better and with everything that's going on this town, we need de la Vega clear headed. But Joseph? Even if your methods were flawed, that didn't warrant...this. Unless he wanted Javier to never give up whatever habit had him in there in the first place. Okay, I'm going to set the bones. Hopefully, I have what it takes to with my Juju to get the rest in place without actual surgery. Let me know if you feel anything, otherwise, I'll just play jigsaw puzzle, okay?"

"We still owe each other punching out of feelings. Once my hand is better, I'll pester you," Alexander promises Easton. "Don't hurt people. And don't spread this around? Especially not to Miss Grey." He slumps in place, then, and nods to Bennie. "I think...I don't know if he wants to be friends anymore. But that, that's what I was thinking. He needed it. But no one else could have made him. So I did. Even if we're not friends anymore. But I didn't want to hurt him. I tried to be careful. And go ahead. I know you can." A smile.

Easton grins and throws a thumbsup over his shoulder to Alexander at the raincheck for punching out feelings. Once he's outside though he can catch his breath and think and really consider what the hell just happened with some people that he cares, very, very deeply about. He lights the cigarette with a practiced steady hand and then grips the railing, hard. His back is to the house so he can mutter at himself and grumble and generally figure out what the hell he does with this information. He misses the speech about friends and doing what's needed, which is probably for the best. He could have just as easily been the one that needed Alexander to lock him in his basement. And he knows that.

Bennie starts manipulating his hand, but thankfully if the block is working he'll feel none of it. For the time being she likely knows his anatomy inside and out thanks to her Glimmer and the way she slides her gloved thumbs up his finger with just as much training as she does the mystical guided instinct. "Do you remember, Alexander. When Gohl took you over, and you exposed some things about de la Vega he told you in confidence? You worried then that you weren't going to be friends ever again, and yet you two were able to work through it because deep down, he knows your heart is in the right place. So I know the two of you will be just fine. Joseph though? He's going to have to repair more than one bridge over this, because that torch he was carrying burned more than just your friendship with him. Flex for me?"

Alexander doesn't feel it. He stares down at his hand with a reluctant fascination, because he knows it should be hurting like five kinds of hell. "I can't feel anything. That's weird." A glance out towards where Easton disappeared, then back to Bennie. Quietly, he says, "I hope so. I want to be friends with him. But I wouldn't blame him if he didn't want to be. I knew I was doing a wrong thing." He sighs. "Don't judge Cavanaugh too harshly. He thinks I abused, tortured de la Vega because I wanted him all to myself." A pause. "It's not true. I just wanted to help him."

Walking back in with a more neutral expression having either calmed down or at least settled on something Easton snorts, "All to yourself? Please don't tell me you're also fucking him. I mean first of all Izzy.." He cuts it off there though, not really having the heart to go through with a joke right now. "Right now I think a lot of things. The difference is I'm not going to show up at his house and do anything about those things. Instead I'm going to be having some very direct conversations." He shakes his head and says, "I can't say drugging and kidnapping him is a good look Clayton. I know you wanted to help but.. that's still fucked up." Easton's supportive but not going to overlook that either. "Maybe next time run that by someone?"

Bennie's gaze raises to Easton and the lingering smell of cigarette smoke that clings to him, stirring up a nic fit craving of her own, but she's working here! Her eyes are grateful though, each saying part of things that need to be said to form a whole. "To be honest, conscious sedation would have been WAY more fun. At least of me. No telling what you would have said and then had zero recollection of it when it wore off." Bennie smiles slightly, "But this way I can still gauge your function. Okay, I'm pretty confident all the pieces and parts are back to where they should be. I'll splint it, then spread the sunshine." Padded metal splints are put on and then she tapes the two worst fingers together.

"Tomorrow I'll drop by a whole hand split I'll want you to wear for a few days, but I don't have one of those in my kit." And then, possibly because he can't feel a damn thing anyways, Bennie bends over and kisses his knuckles, the warmth spreading from that contact point. Even though it's centered there, it'll hit every bruise and bump throughout his entire system.

Alexander snorts. "No. I don't want to fuck him. People can have other emotions!" There's an edge of frustration, there. "And I wouldn't do that to Isabella, even if I wanted that." He ducks his head and nods at Easton's words. "I know. It was wrong. I know that. I know that. I only know how to be an asshole." A flicker of a smile for Bennie's words. "You should have pestered me a week or so ago. I was apparently gonna go into the dessert business with Seth Monaghan. We were gonna get Easton to sell waffletacos in his bar." Which is probably the first Easton's heard of this plan. An obedient nod at the order to wear the splint.

He jumps in surprise when she bends to kiss his knuckles, even if he can't feel it. But then his whole body relaxes, in a way that only draws attention to how much he was trying to hold back on the pain he was feeling. "...it may not be instant, any more, but you're still a very good healer. Thank you, Bennie. Please be careful? You've...I know this is dangerous." Lighting her up for the Dark Men, and guilt flickers in his eyes.

"Oh come on, this isn't an asshole contest and if it were? Well I didn't see the dark horse Cavanaugh beating me or Gunny out, let me put it that way. You were a distant third." This is definitely the first that he has heard about waffle-tacos and he only says, "Please don't encourage Seth Monaghan to take an interest in my bar." With an air of annoyance that waffle tacos certainly do not deserve. He smiles as Bennie kisses his hand and then sees Alexander relax, "She is a very, very good healer. And an even better person." He appreciates the warning. It's always good to remember the drawbacks. Glimmer always has a price(?)

"Yeah," Bennie says as she slumps back in her chair, dragging her Screwdriver with her. "But the way I see it, this should be a Freebie seeming how it was just the folly of man that caused it and not the Veil." The logic is sound even if it's flawed. Taking a sip of her drink, she fixes them both with a beam of a smile. "Flattery will get you boys everywhere, but I totally vote next time we see each other, we do something fun. Like. Watching paint dry."

Alexander snorts. "I feel underestimated in this comparison." The humor rises, and dies, when Easton mentions Seth and his bar, and Alexander stares at Easton in silence, with those dark and hungry eyes that suggest the investigator has Questions that he still hasn't asked. But then he jerks his gaze away, and clears his throat. "Yeah. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking." He relaxes a little as Bennie slumps back in her chair. "Don't think it works quite like that. But things have been quiet, Veil-side. Um. Maybe everything over there was also high." He curiously pokes at his arm; his various bruises are already looking better, and his nose has lost its angry-potato-like qualities. "I would like to do a fun thing. Maybe we can drag Isabella away from work, too. It's almost Christmas. Maybe caroling? Isolde's back in town, and I promised metal caroling and cookies."

Easton sees the look and the one he returns is warning, as if to say they are absolutely not talking about that topic right now. "Metal. Caroling." Easton tries to imagine what that even means and his imagination fails him. He says, "But that's great that Isolde's back..?" Is it great? For her. I mean yay Isolde, but ... Gray Harbor being what it is. He agrees, "Fuck we could just do a classic Christmas movie night at the bar. Shut down early, project It's a Wonderful Life on a wall, eat cookies and laugh when he falls in the pond."

Bennie's never been much for holidays, but she seems endeared by both of these suggestions, "Yes. All of it. All the Christmas things of ever, hot cider and tinsel and mistletoe. I want all of it this year in spades. If I'm not vomiting from hearing Santa Baby by New Years, we did it wrong." The knuckle of her forefinger grinds into one eye as her lips split in a mighty yawn.

Alexander doesn't immediately jump in to start asking are you doing the RICO, so hey, he's learned some social skills! Instead, he looks indignant. "There are some very good metal covers of Christmas carols, you know. It's not all screaming. Just sixty percent screaming. There's nothing wrong with screaming. And, yeah. She wanted to come back. I have reservations. But she knows what she can handle." His entire expression brightens at the suggestion. "That would be fun. I've never seen It's a Wonderful Life." A bob of his head at Bennie. "Then let's do it. I can cook things. Some things." But he catches that yawn, and stands up, carefully. "I should go back home. I'm sorry for busting in without calling ahead. But. It was nice to see you both. Thanks."