fandomtownies | Caritas, Friday Evening

If you come in early, you'll just find Tino here.

If you come in later, you'll find Tino, Mike, and waffles.

Jono had no idea which way was up, any more. Just that he was making his way to the bar, and pointing at the sign, and then pointing at the nearest bottle he could see.

"I directed that. Gimmie."

He'd pay, of course, but really.

Really.

Mike chuckled. "Ohh man, this one's on me," he said, handing the bottle over. "No offence, good show."

It was just that he didn't think the waffles and stuff had been intentional.

Jono was going to just take that bottle and cling to it for a minute. Oh, sweet, sweet... whatever was in that bottle. He was beyond caring.

"Thank you," he said, because... that's what you said when someone handed you liquor, mostly. "It's wrong of me to dread going back there, I suppose. I live in the building. But..."

He shuddered a little.

"Waffles."

He used to like those.

"That traumatizing?"

Mike hadn't been backstage, and thus could never truly understand.

(Although he'd witnessed his own fair share of problematic performances, so he could understand a bit.)

"I had to coax one of the girls back onto the stage after she took a nasty spill on account of one. I had coffee... for a short while, before a waffle fell into it."

There had been alcohol in that coffee. Life was simply unfair.

"Waffles landing on actors' heads onstage. If I ever see another waffle in my life, it'll be too bloody soon."

"Well, then it's probably for the best we already ate all the ones I brought back," Mike said. Yes, Tino had actually eaten one, too.

But he'd been giving Mike a Look the entire time. "I guess that's one of the risks that go with staging a play on this wacky island. Can't say I ever had a show jeopardized by waffles back in Tampa."

"Really, it probably could've gone far worse than it did," Jono sighed. "There were no actual casualties. That... has to be worth something."

Wasn't it? Maybe?

He was opening that bottle and taking a swig straight from it.

Yes. Yes, it was definitely worth something.

"Here? It totally is, bro." Low Fandom standards, maybe, but it paid off to be a realist! "And it wasn't that bad. It was funny."

"Really? I thought the astronaut was rather over-the-top."

Jono was at the bar because if he went to the cast party, he was going to kill somebody.

"Well, sure, maybe it wasn't really what Wilde intended," Mike allowed. Like he was more than passingly familiar with Wilde's work. "But you have to admit, it was pretty funny. And it's supposed to be a comedy, right? Sometimes you just gotta roll with it."

"People paid money to see that. Real money, out of their wallets."

Jono was going to empty this bottle in no time at this rate.

"I'm amazed nobody's shaken me down yet over this."

"Fandom," said Mike. "If anyone tries to shake you down you can point out where they are. If they didn't realize that could happen, it's not your fault."

"Fandom," Jono groaned. And then thumped his forehead against the countertop. Because this was definitely a forehead-to-countertop sort of evening. "Good lord. I suppose, if nothing else, I caught it all on video."

Oh, he'd have his revenge.

"What do you suppose a DVD of a performance like that is worth to the general public, these days?"

"If nothing else, it would probably fly as premium blackmail material." Even if that would be mean. But you know, some of the actors had clearly been ruining things on purpose, right? A chicken suit, come on. "Or just a reminder what it's like when things get really out of control."

"One of those. An educational video for me to play for my students every semester for years to come, perhaps."

It would be a fitting revenge. Gremlin bites, he could wrap his head around, but the absolute disaster that had been left in their wake...

Yeah, that video was going to see a lot of use.

"A kind of 'Fandom: This Happens'," Mike nodded. "Seriously, what was up with the chicken... thing?"

"Combination costume malfunction and gremlin bite, I think," Jono replied, bringing a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose. "Karina took all of her rehearsals so seriously," when she showed up, "I can't imagine she'd go out there and do... that, maliciously."

After all, she's the one that wound up looking ridiculous onstage as a result.

"True." Mike could say that even without knowing Karina. Because chicken. "It's a hell of a play when the people acting normal seem like the odd ones out."

Not that there'd been many of those.

"But like I said, entertaining if not entirely as intended."

There had been Natalie. Jono was going to buy Natalie a pony after this. Maybe two.

A whole pony ranch.

"Maybe in a week I'll be able to appreciate it more," he sighed, shaking his head. "Right now, I'm still trying to figure out what to do with five times my body weight in soggy waffles."

"Dump 'em and move on."

That sounded like terrible relationship advice. But these were waffles they were talking about. Mike shrugged. "'Sides, that can wait at least until the morning. You clearly need the rest of the night for unwinding."

"Rest of th'night, rest of th'week, rest of th'month..."

This week had not been Jonothon's favourite.

"I still don't know where my props girl got off to. Not that it mattered all that much. Anything that was missing, we could've just subbed in a waffle for."

"Guess I know what you won't be having for breakfast tomorrow." Mike was also not going to add he was definitely having waffles for breakfast tomorrow. He had a craving now. "You been doing the theater thing for long?"

"Performing on stage for years. Sort of. But my passion was always music. This community theatre thing is... new. A year and a half, it sort of fell into my lap when Troy left. I'd started as the musical director."

Because, again, music.

"Oh, cool." That was sincere. "So do you like what you're doing right now, or would rather just... get back to the music side of things?"

"My answer tomorrow might be different," Jono noted, "but right now I'm about to drop everything and see if I can catch a portal to back when Pearl Jam was still a relevant name, to see if they'd like a roadie."

Not hyperbole, nope.

"The Boards has a long history as a playhouse, so I'd be loathe to change that. But I might have to start looking into bringing more music in, to balance things out some. Plays, it would seem, are not my strong point."

"Well, there's always musicals," Mike shrugged. "Or stripping. Stripping has music. It features pretty heavily, even."

He was really only saying that to lighten the mood, honest.

It probably said volumes about how much alcohol Jono had in his system by this point that he actually looked like he was taking that stripping suggestion into consideration.

What? He was built well. His biceps were bigger around than his head and he was even all in one piece, these days. It's just that the colours were something he was maybe a touch awkward about.

"... Better not," he decided, sighing. "Most of the people who come through the theatre are students."

Mike looked amused. "Yeah, I figured. The adult population in this town kind of doesn't make it worth it. Also, I was kidding, even if it's something I know a bit about."

"You've been a stripper?" Jono's eyebrows were twitching upwards, if only just a little bit. "That... shouldn't actually surprise me. Why does anything around here surprise me?"

Waffles, Jono. Waffles.

"What was doing that like?"

"One of Tampa's finest, actually," Mike replied with an easy little smirk. "For six years."

And Jono was only the second person in Fandom to find out about that. With tonight's train wreck he'd kind of earned it.

"It was... money, women, and a good time. I mean, it was never part of my life plan or anything but it was good fun while it lasted. And I was good at it, too."

"Being good at it is always a bonus," Jono replied, smirking faintly. Not about the stripper thing, per se. Just... "Life seldom goes according to plan. If you can enjoy it along the way, then all the better, I suppose."

Truth be told, stripping sounded way better for one's sanity than most of the things that Jono had just wound up doing.

"Mmhmm," Mike agreed, getting himself a shot glass because he felt like it. "And there's a time for everything. Definitely not six years I regret even if right now I'm enjoying being here and working the bar and doing whatever odd jobs come my way."

"Odd jobs? Not more stripping?"

Blame it on the alcohol, Jono was kind of stuck on this stripping thing at the moment. It seemed like a far more viable life plan at this point than directing community theatre, for some reason.

Edited 2013-03-09 12:51 (UTC)

Well, maybe outside Fandom it was.

"That's the past, man," Mike said. "Nah, the club I was working at basically moved to Miami. I made the decision to not follow. I didn't wanna end up a 40-year-old male stripper, so here I am. Building bookcases and renovating my house, and serving beer."

"Bookcases," Jono echoed. And then he looked thoughtful. And then he nodded a little. Jono liked bookcases, yep. "And beer. Not the worst possible combination, really. You do carpentry, too, then? If I had known that, I might've offered you a paying job putting together sets for... whatever that thing was that happened tonight."

He was entering the denial stage.

"Custom furniture design, actually, but yeah," Mike nodded, pouring himself a shot. "I've worked a lot of construction over the years. Basically I'm just good with my hands. And definitely available for... future endeavors."

"Cheers," Jono replied with a wry smile, lifting his bottle and knocking back a swig. "With any luck, the next show won't be half the disaster that this one was."

Though, now that he'd gone and said that, he'd pretty much spoiled any chance of that ever happening.

"Even if it is, you've lived through it once already," Mike replied, ever the optimistic bartender. "So you can prepare accordingly. Even if that just means a whole lot of booze."

Someone other than me made Magic Mike icons, fuck yes.

Caritas, Friday Evening

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