Life's Little Miseries

[Taylor McCarthy]

Taylor McCarthy was restless. He'd been restless pretty much since he'd gotten off the plane from Ireland a few weeks ago. It wasn't so much trouble in adjusting to his new life in the private sector of soldiering as that didn't rest too far away from his time in the Irish Army. Long days training followed by long nights of drinking. It was a beautifully simplistic existence he just got paid a hell of a lot more as a private contractor. Maybe it was the knowledge that a certain blonde haired, blue eyed young woman was still around Kalispell and he found himself unsettled at the thought of so many things left unsaid. Maybe he just needed a drinking partner.

Yes. That's what it was.

Dark eyes narrowed as Taylor turned his back to the bar. He wasn't in the mood to deal with the opposite sex, which should have been a strong indicator of just how restless and unsettled he truly was, and yet there still had to be someone in this craptacular bar that didn't look like a complete douche.  In a place like Matt's Hole in the Wall, that proved to be a much more interesting search than Taylor had anticipated.  Regardless, his sights settled upon a young man who looked to be about his own age sitting alone without any signs that he was waiting on anyone.  The guy looked vaguely familiar, but everyone in Kalispell did these days, didn't they?  No matter why he was sitting at a table off to the side, Taylor didn't care.  He just wanted to get drunk and forget that he didn't know what it was that had him so restless.

"You drink whiskey?"  Taylor said to Felix Nicholas  as he slipped into the opposite chair.  "Doesn't matter."  He waved off any answer before Felix could get one out and slid a shot glass filled to the brim with a dark, brown liquid.  "Tonight you do, on my tab."  And with that, Taylor downed his own shot and slapped the glass on the table.  "Name's Taylor McCarthy and you, sir, look like you could use a drinking partner."

[Felix Nicholas]

Felix Nicholas leaned forward from his chair, narrowing his eyes at his phone; The screen was was a bright glare in the dark bar, a text informing him that he was on detention duty the following day... Late. The teacher gave a soft sigh, his expression softening. the joys that came with teaching... With a quick screen swipe with his finger, the phone dulled as the screen faded to black. He ran a hand through his flicked hair, settling back in his chair, glancing over towards the bar. He hadn't quite settled on a drink just yet...

Felix didn't usually venture out into the beckoning lights of Kalispell's flourishing night life; Although was was more through necessity then choice... The young teacher was still finding his feet as a member of the educational staff at Bellefonte, and often found his lesson planning lasted into the early hours. That coupled with the radio club, his own personal musical projects, the therapy sessions... Well, Felix rarely found a moment of the day to himself.
Tonight, however, after a particularly stressful few classes... Felix had opted to take up temporary residence in Matt's Hole In The Wall. The grungy country bar was your typical small town dive, dwarfed by it's new more modern competitors that had slipped into town since the mutant announcement, saved by the locals who were far from ready to let their bar go just yet. It served decent alcohol, and usually contained a far less party hard atmosphere then the glaring lights of the night clubs, so it suited the music teacher just fine.

His quiet evening alone however was short lived, as a young man approached Felix's table. The teacher looked over at the sound of someone addressing him, blinking at the guy's question. He was about to raise his hand and answer him when the other man took the forward approach, sliding a filled glass across the table to the teacher, settling in the chair opposite him. Felix raised an eyebrow at the stranger; He was certain he recognised him... Was he an ex student from the school? The teacher chuckled a little, his trademark slightly goofy grin finding it's way onto his expression. "Well, I was never one to turn down someone in need. If you need a drinking partner..." He raised his hand. "You got one." He then offered his hand across the table to the stranger for him to shake. "I'm Felix Nicholas. Thanks for the drink." He nodded to the brimming glass of whiskey.

[Taylor McCarthy]

"Alright!"  Taylor's face lit up at Felix's response.  At this point the Irishman didn't care so much who drank with so long as they were a willing participant.  Felix was as good a choice as any.  Reaching across the table, Taylor accepted the offered hand with a firm shake of his own.  "I'll keep 'em coming then."  He agreed with a faint smirk before turning to see if he could find a waitress nearby.  He lifted a hand, waving one over.  He ordered another pair of rounds for the table before turning his attention back to Felix.

"So.  Felix."  Taylor said, a sort of loopy grin touching his features as he studied the young man sitting across from him.  "What brings you out to this shit hole tonight?"  He asked, eyes gleaming with a certain sense of mischievousness.  "If you have a date I'm afraid you're probably going home alone tonight if you brought her here."  Taylor chuckled as he leaned back in his seat and cast a sweeping glance across the bar.  "At least the booze is cheap and I've only seen a handful of fights since I've been back.  Which is more than I can say for most of the places I've been to."

[Felix Nicholas]

The poor man must have been desperate for company to seek out a stranger in a bar like Matt's... Usually the kind of situation which drove a man to do such a thing was usually an affair of the heart. Not that Felix intended to pry if the gentleman made it obvious he didn't want him to, but if he could somehow help this poor guy then he would.

His newly acquired drinking partner stated that he intended to keep the drinks pouring on his tab, and while Felix raised his hand with the intention to protest, the man had already made the next order. "Well, I must insist on getting the next round then," He smiled, taking hold of the shot glass Taylor had initially offered him; Felix wasn't a big drinker, especially not now that he'd matured a touch from his partying teenage days. Still, it would be rude to decline the drink now, so the teacher downed the searing heat of the spirit.
He breathed out as he put the glass back down on the table, the alcohol leaving a slightly uncomfortable heat down his throat. "Phew!" He sighed, before blinking at his companion, raising his eyebrows as he mocked shock. "You mean..." He looked round the bar. "This place isn't the height of Kallispell night life?!" He then chuckled warmly, waving a hand dismissively at Taylor before casually leaning back in his chair and folding his arms across his chest with a light shrug. "It properly sounds weird, but I actually kind of like it in here. People generally don't ask questions, just let you be, and it doesn't suffer with the frankly vile music streaming out of the new clubs."
He then scanned his eyes over the dank, dark bar, looking across it with some level of affection in his gaze. "Besides. Despite all of it's faults, it feels good to support something that was here before everything changed. It's like a time capsule." The teacher then drew his eyeline back to Taylor. "So... What brings you to my table? Just fancied the company?"

[Taylor McCarthy]

Taylor issued nothing less than a contemptuous snort. The bar may have had its own sort of rustic charm but Taylor wasn't having it. The crowd was still mostly the redneck cowboy types who still clung desperately to the times when Kalispell was nothing more than a sleepy, logging town and not a rapidly growing metropolitan area that had found itself at the epicenter of a seemingly worldwide conflict. "I'll never so no to someone buying a round." He said with a nod, the goofy sort of grin he'd had on his face never wavering. "Is that why you come here?" He looked on the verge of laughing as Felix explained his reasons for coming to the bar. "To be left alone? At a bar, for God's sakes?" Because that made sense. What were bars for if not to get drunk with random strangers?

When the scrutiny turned to Taylor the Irish-born young man outright laughed. There was rarely any rhyme or reason to much of anything he did. Even as he'd progressed out of his teen years and was headed directly toward his mid-20's Taylor's motives remained a mystery even to him. "It looked like your night could use a kick in the teeth." He said without missing a beat. "Just don't tell me you're here trying to drown your sorrows over some girl and we'll get along just fine."