[1x1] Cel/Johnny - My Evolution Is To Shoot For The Stars

[Ruyail]

Cel regarded him with a serious stare. "PASS." She grinned at him cheekily. "No, not really." She leaned back and swirled her beer, considering it for a moment. "I was born in 1989. I'm 23 at the moment. I'll be 24 in September." She smiled warmly at him as she sipped her beer. He really wasn't bad to look at. Too bad she wasn't a take-him-home kinda girl.

"So are you a delivery boy by trade?"

 

[bobaTJ]

Johnny laughed and shook his head at the denial. She would, wouldn't she?! He resolved himself to a soft chuckle when she rescinded and nodded.

"For now, yes. Two. What were you doing before tending bar?"

At least it hadn't gone anywhere terrible yet.
 

[Ruyail]

Cel shifted a bit. It's not easy to say 'I was a prostitute before I ran away', but it'd be easy enough. "Traveling. It's in my blood to travel. I've been a bartender since I could legally do it. Even in some countries where it wasn't legal and I had done it in another country that was..." She smiled some and leaned her chin on her palm. "It's fun. I haven't wanted to stop yet. I've thought about settling down and getting some education, but it's not really for me, you know? I don't like the idea of staying in one place so long. It's hard enough for me to stay in Japan for as long as I have. I've moved apartments a few times now."

She smirked and leaned back some. "First impression of me before and after I opened my mouth?"  

[bobaTJ]

It seemed as if Cel was more willing to elaborate than her male counterpart. Johnny had been specifically avoiding explaining himself, and there she went. 'Nothing' would have been just as acceptable of an answer. Now he felt obligated to give her some more information with his responses. Of course, Cel followed up with one that required it.

"Before? 'Look at that girl with the blue hair, I bet she'd be helpful.' After? 'The girl with the blue hair is pretty enjoyable company'. Sorry that I'm not more combative," he laughed slightly before continuing, "Three. Hm... I'm not very good at this. Um! What was your ex's name?"

Sure, he was delving into possibly controversial waters, but there were only so many basic, unoffensive questions out there!
 

[Ruyail]

Cel blinked for a minute. "Ex?" She thought back to the bar and to her finger. She looked down at it and frowned for a minute. She considered passing, but that wasn't in the spirit of the game and she never passed before. She looked back up at him and tilted her head for a moment. She considered him, twisting her lips a bit. She honestly hadn't thought he really noticed it before. Sure something was mentioned about it, but nothing in particular. She leaned forward and shifted her weight so she could sit on her feet, to gain more height. For some reason, it made her feel more in control, though that was a farce.

"His name was Adam O'Conner and I thought he was the love of my life." She let that statement hang out there for a moment. She couldn't confess to the man in front of her how sick that statement made her feel. How uncomfortable she was. She hid it well behind a face of passive thought. She looked at her ring finger and at the block of black. She offered it to him. "When we got engaged, I got his name tattooed around my ring finger. That's how sure I was of him." She flipped her hand so she could look at the back of it. "I never got the ring and I never got him." She leaned back and sipped her beer for a moment, thinking.

She didn't want to continue the game, but she didn't want him to think he had struck such a nerve that she didn't like him anymore. This was the name of the game. She forced a grin on her face and leaned forward. "How do you feel about friends with benefits?"

 

[bobaTJ]

Johnny nodded, regretting his question and keeping his mouth shut like a champ. He had hoped that there had been some kind of happiness in Cel's memories, but it clearly bothered her.

"I told you I'm bad a this," he defended, taking her hand and seeming to only inspect the black band a moment before offering her a little squeeze. Really, he was sorry. He took a swig from his own beer, and his eyebrows shot up when Cel spoke again.

"Uh... I couldn't tell you. I've never had an opportunity. I-- hm." he looked up thoughtfully, tilted his head, and smiled awkwardly. "I really don't know. I don't think it could work without becoming romance or some kind of horrible drama, I think, unless someone involved is relatively soulless." He nodded, and decided to go easier on his companion for comfort's sake. He could handle whatever she threw at him, but he wasn't so sure that he liked watching her struggle.

"What color is your hair? Specific, brand name s**t," he said and leaned forward intensely, jabbing a finger into the table, "This s**t is serious."
 

[Ruyail]

Cel had been caught in her memories when he grabbed her hand. She looked at him, almost startled. The strangest thing came across Cel. She let him hold her hand and just.. sat there. She smiled warmly and shook her head. "You're not bad at this. Honest. I wasn't expecting it however. So know I won't take mercy on you!" She laughed softly and squeezed his hand back. This one definitely a keeper. She wouldn't let him go for the world.

She considered his statement about friends with benefits, the idea now sounding hollow in her head. She stood and moved around to sit beside him. It might of seemed like she was moving because she was interested in him, especially after the smile she just gave him, but she wanted to be close to him, next to him. He had so easily moved through so many walls so fast. She leaned her head on his shoulder and looked up at her hair. "It's Manic Panic's Atomic Turquoise and Raven. I'm kind of addicted to their products." She smiled at him and wriggled into her new seat. She took the bottle from her side and sipped it. She looked up at him and considered.

"What is the one thing you hate about yourself most?"

 

[bobaTJ]

His brows shot up as Cel grew closer, and then all he could do was laugh. He could blame timing or mark it an intentional come-on, but it didn't matter. Johnny shook his head and his brow furrowed, taking a deep drag from the bottle before him.

"That's a tough one. I hate... hm." He was honestly perplexed. You had to make peace with yourself before you could be truly happy, and he'd had years under his belt to come to terms with the various unsavory events in his life. Something he hated about himself...?

"I hate that I..."

He turned to Cel and made eye contact, his mouth mushing to one side. He had to answer honestly and to the best of his ability... he took another swig.

"I hate my utter lack of fashion sense." It was the best he could do, and he laughed at himself. "Hm-hm, number fooour~ five? Five. Number five, what is your most embarrassing memory."
 

[Ruyail]

Cel laughed some and shook her head. "That's something I suppose. She looked at him and laughed. "I never count questions. I just play until I get bored." She smirked at him and considers. "I don't really get embaressed easily. It's not something that I'm capable of. So I don't have one. And that's the honest truth. You tell me to take my shirt off, I'm drunk enough I'll do it and not really care the next day."

She eyed him and grinned. "Wanna be makeout buddies?"

 

[bobaTJ]

"What?! No!" Johnny laughed, nearly spitting a mouthful of booze across the table. The question had come so suddenly that he hadn't really had time to run his reaction through the filter before it had popped out. What in the world?!

"Sorry! Sorry. I didn't mean that-- I mean, I did, but I didn't mean to sound like such an a*****e," he said, wiping his mouth and looking Cel up and down. Was she serious? "I don't really do the casual thing."

He didn't do anything.

"To change the subject very rapidly, what's your biggest vice?" Unless, of course, her biggest vice was making out with strangers. Then he had kind of gotten himself stuck, hadn't he?
 

[Ruyail]

Cel couldn't help but laugh as he spit out his beer. She shook her head some. She poked him and raised a brow. "What, am I not pretty enough for you? Is that it?" She laughed again and shook her head.

She eyed him and smirked, putting her chin on her palm. "My vice used to be heroin. I used to be a bad user, but I quit a while ago. Now it's smoking or making out." She laughed and shook her head. "Not really making out.. or smoking. I guess my biggest vice is not letting people in as far as they think they're going in. I'm a bit of a recluse... in my head. I don't share stuff about myself. At least until I met you. Usually no one gets Sketch out of me so quickly." She shrugged some and smiled. "And besides, Make out buddies is a wonderful thing to have in your life. It's not that it's casual. It is, but it's just the ability to be close to someone and not necessarily have to deal with all the internal bullshit that some of us may or may not have."

She watched him for a moment. "Why did you move to Japan?"  

[bobaTJ]

Was that her question? That one would be easy to answe-- nope. Of course not.

"Not as in as they think they are, huh?" he asked, giving Cel a look that said that his mind had gone down a dirtier road and he was shocked that she would say such a thing. In truth, he just wanted to keep things light. A stranger had admitted a heroin habit. That was big s**t. Maybe this girl really did trust him as much as she said. "No seriously. Good on you. That's a big ********' deal."

He nodded and finished off his drink, setting it aside and knowing he shouldn't have another. Instead, he flagged their waiter down for ice water and he was granted a brief reprieve from questions as their orders were taken.

"Anyway," he finally responded, "My father deployed here when I was a kid and I fell in love with the country. Once I was discharged, I decided that it would be the best place for me to go... what are we on now, seven? Thunder storms. Love them, hate them...?"
 

[Ruyail]

Cel gave him a bit of a flat look. She smirked near the end of the pause of her confession. She shrugged some and picked at her fingers. "It's not such a big deal. It's not really something I like to talk about." She continued to pick at them while listening to his answer. She looked up at him and tilted her head. She nodded some and laughed. "I think we're on seven. Like I said. I don't pay attention to the number. I just keep playing."

Cel considered thunderstorms. "When I'm with someone else, I enjoy them more." She wasn't exactly afraid of them, but they did bring back bad memories every so often. That's something she didn't care for. It didn't seem to happen when she was with someone else, however. They kept her mind from wandering there.

"Military brat, eh? Why did you leave the service?"  

[bobaTJ]

Johnny chuckled as if what was going to follow was some rich, humor-driven story straight out of M*A*S*H. Instead of launching on a joyful narrative of brotherhood and comical relationships, though, he pushed up his right sleeve and held out an arm.

"I didn't so much leave as I took enough of an explosion that they went 'NOPE, IT'S FINE, YOU CAN GO.' I'd signed up for six years, but only made four." He rotated his arm so Cel could see what was either a surgical incision or a particularly bad blast of shrapnel. "You know how it is, though. Little boys want to be their daddies and big brothers." He chuckled again and cracked his neck, apparently unfazed but in fact a little unnerved that the questions may continue down that path. He could handle it. He could be vague.

...still, he'd rather not have to be.

"Your favorite cocktail? 'On the rocks' can count."
 

[Ruyail]

Cel looked at the scars and blinked for a moment. He was seemingly quite open about his scars. She leaned forward and touched it gently. She tilted her head and murmured. These were heroic scars, scars to be worn proudly. Hers, however, were not so much. She instinctively recoiled and rubbed the crooks of her own arms. She smiled a bit at him, chuckling. "I left my family before I could know how it was with little boys." She shrugged some. "So I really don't."

Cel considered his question for a moment. What was her favorite cocktail? That was easy. She grinned and leaned back. "My own concoction. It's called a Walk Me Down Sweet Zombie. It's a mix between a Walk Me Down and a Zombie. They're really good, but they'll put you on your a** fairly quickly." She lolled her head back a moment to look up at the ceiling. "Not many people drink those kind of drinks however. They want to take the slow road to drunkendom." She smirked at him and sipped her beer. She wondered where she should go next with this guy.

"Favorite food?"