End of Day (Matthew & Gilbert)

[Matthew Williams]

Matthew looked up, noting the sun was starting to sink on the horizon. Other stalls were closing up for the night as they finished the current deals and purchases with customers. He had spent a long day, dealing with the difficulties in getting someone's attention or keeping track of possible thefts. He felt rather trampled after a few run ins, however he was more frustrated than tired. He'd been in a slightly flustered, edgy mood since passing through the gate on his way to the markets to work and meeting up with that one particular guard that seemed to get endless enjoyment out of torturing him.

Thus it leaked through the rest of his day, often frustrating him that he had let it get to him as much as it had. And yet, he also realized that it was again the most attention he'd had all day. "Weird world..." He muttered as he put items away to put away in storage for another evening. Certainly someone was getting great amusement out of his plight, and it wasn't just that guard at the gate...

Shaking his head he gathered up the purses to deposit and divide the next day to hand off to those who provided the goods in the first place, and carefully slipped into the crowd and started on his usual route back. Matthew was the sort who kept a wary eye out when he carried the earnings, but for the most part he found he rarely had to worry about being stopped by anyone. So it never took long to get things done, and it left him with a little extra time walking home.

This was how he found himself meandering towards the local tavern, deciding that one drink couldn't hurt, and just might help the rather tense mood he was in. Going home would have probably been the better idea, but it was not only nice to still be around people to a point, he could hear the most interesting things from the lips loosened by liquor. It was just what he needed to distract him!

He entered, quietly taking a seat in the corner, in which he spent the next ten minutes trying to order a drink. Really, he should have seen that coming, but he was patient enough. It was just nice to sit down and relax a bit while he waited, opening his ears to the bustle and sound around him.

[Guest]

Gilbert was drunk.

For somebody with a fairly high tolerance who went out drinking nearly every night, this was quite an accomplishment. And so the albino was feeling quite proud of himself. He couldn't even really remember the reason he had decided tonight needed to be a drunk night. Something to do with some asshole that passed through the gate and made his head throb. He didn't really know, but it wasn't that big of a deal anymore. Because he couldn't stand straight let alone think straight right now.

And as a suddenly very drunk individual, Gilbert was about five minutes away from getting into a nasty brawl with one of the other patrons. "I'm tellin' you... that's just the stupidest thing 've ever heard!" he was saying heatedly to the man sitting next to him, who looked about ready to burst from anger. "Cat's dun talk. 's just silly."

The man opened his mouth to retort, but it was at that point that Gilbert spotted a familiar face in the crowd of faces and a sudden grin spread over his own face. "Hold on." He patted the angry man on the shoulder and quickly got up to stumble over to the corner where Matthew was sitting, flopping into the seat next to him and trying to pretend like he wasn't as drunk as he was. "'sup, awkward-man?" he greeted, holding out his half-empty beer to the other man for him to take. "Looks like you're low on alcohol. Lemme help with that."

[Matthew Williams]

Matthew tried to order a drink for what he was sure was the hundredth time for that evening, when he started to get a little miffed again. Really, how hard was it to take someone's order and move on? Apparently it was a near impossible task, though he tried to remind himself that it was quite probably not even their fault. It was busy...

And he was him after all...

In his distraction, he hardly noticed as someone walked or more precisely stumbled towards his table. Ruining the nice plans to relax and forget about the frustrating day he had, and the biggest cause for his frustration, as they sat down in the seat next to him. Clearly trying to look as sober as possible (And failing, the smell of alcohol was strong in a tavern yes, but that didn't mean he couldn't tell who had been drinking most heavily), was Gilbert.

He ground his teeth for a moment, before opening his mouth to even attempt a polite reply. He barely stopped himself from wasting his breath on a correction for his name. "G-good evening Gilbert, fancy seeing you here... There isn't much... Up at the moment." He looked at the half empty beer and blinked. "That's okay, but thank you for the gesture."

Honestly, he wasn't sure if he wanted any alcohol now. More than anything he wondered why he hadn't just gone home, there was some wine there along with silence. And Kumajiro, that would have been just as nice as an evening here, and it didn't include the maddening albino that liked to poke fun at him.

[Guest]

Gilbert frowned. What the heck was going on? He couldn't comprehend the idea of "no, I do not want alcohol." It just didn't make any sense. At all. Everybody always wanted alcohol. It was a basic instinct of life. For a few moments, he sat silently, trying to understand what was going on. But then, he suddenly laughed and shoved the beer more forcefully at Matthew.

"Good joke, awkward-man. Maybe you'll be less awkward with some beer though, ja?" Grinning now, perhaps a little stupidly, Gilbert scooted closer to the other man, trying to get him to drink. "Just drink a little. I saw you tryin' to get people to give you a drink anyway. Come oooon. You can't lie to me."

Though, at this point, Gilbert rather doubted he could actually feel the pain if somebody did lie to him. Everything was a little dull at the moment. But hell, he was sure he could tell if Matthew was lying or not without the help of his little gift. "Do it for a friend, huh?" That was a good card to play, right? Especially on an awkward guy who didn't really have any friends...

[Matthew Williams]

Matthew began to edge his chair as quietly as possible away from the table, with Gilbert being so drunk, maybe he could just slip away without the man noticing like he normally would be able to around other people... It was possible! Right?

Right?

He deflated slightly as Gilbert drew closer moments later, claiming he was joking and trying to get him to drink the beer he had. "I-I'm not joking, eh, and please refrain from calling me that. I've told you my name a few times..." He mumbled, waving the bottle away again as he tried to find an escape route. This had been a VERY bad idea on his part, he should have remembered the guard frequented taverns, sure he couldn't have known which he would be at that evening, but it would have been safer to bet he would meet him there if he wasn't careful.

Part of him wondered if perhaps he put himself into these situations simply because he was lonely, but that was silly. He was used to it, and he had Kumajiro and the servants (Such as they were) to keep him company.

And then, Gilbert's request broke through his thoughts. "A friend...?" He blinked, wondering if he heard that right. Gilbert considered him a friend? Was that how friends treated each other? He shook his head a bit to clear it. "Ah... Well..." He mumbled, not realizing Gilbert was simply playing into the fact that he was an awkward person who clearly had enough trouble getting attention to order a drink, let alone make friends. "I guess a little wouldn't hurt. Thanks a lot, um, Gilbert..." He mumbled, finally accepting the drink.

[Guest]

Gilbert suddenly looked more pleased than he had since he came to sit next to Matthew. With a hearty clap on the back, he shouted at the top of his lungs. "That's the spirit, awkward-man! Drink it good! Drink it deep!" He laughed and then waved a hand at a passing waitress, asking her to bring a few more beers and giving her a friendly smack on the ass as she walked away, smirking as she squeaked at the feeling. Ah, life was good.

"That's the way things're supposed to be when you're out in a tavern, y'know," he commented to Matthew, almost as an afterthought, turning his attention back to the very awkward man. "So what're you doing here anyway? I don't see you in the taverns much."

When the beer came, Gilbert immediately took one and started downing it. He could feel his buzz starting to ebb a little. It happened when he didn't drink for long periods of time. He was trying to keep it from going away. Because he liked the buzz. And he wasn't sure what he thought about the warm feeling in his stomach that certainly wasn't brought on by alcohol when the buzz faded even a little...

[Matthew Williams]

Matthew was startled by the sudden jar to his back as Gilbert shouted, taking a much larger gulp than he had planned to in the first place and nearly choking on it as he tried to swallow as quickly as he could, not wanting Gilbert to go to the trouble of ordering too much more. He liked to relax and have one or two, but beyond that he wasn't sure he liked being buzzed because it made it harder to remember what he heard that evening when he woke up in the morning. Plus the idea of losing his inhibitions in the slightest was rather frightening.

Because if he lost himself in the slightest, he doubted he'd have any help getting home. And if he tried to go himself, he had concerns of thieves and other things. Not to mention getting sick off of the stuff was an unpleasant idea. He could get sick on his own to begin with.

He blinked, raising an eyebrow as Gilbert slapped the poor waitress' bottom. Personally he would never have the nerve to do that, and respected those who worked too much to think to. Unless you counted the fact that she had not once noticed him trying to order. "Eh?" He mumbled as Gilbert questioned him.

"Oh, well... It was a long day working in the markets, I thought I'd uh... Come here for a drink before I go home for the evening. I like listening and watching the..." he thought about it for a moment, and decided he didn't care if it hurt a little to admit, he figured he would say it before Gilbert had the chance. "The un-awkward people." Not to mention people had plenty of interesting things to say. Sadly, he couldn't really hear any of it while in a conversation. He chewed on his cheek and stared at the remainder of the beer, taking a more careful drink this time.

[Guest]

Wow. Okay, getting Matthew to drink was going to be a bit more difficult than Gilbert had expected. "Ah, that sucks. Sorry 'bout that..." Quickly, Gilbert downed the rest of his beer and reached over to ruffle Matthew's hair. "Don't let it get you down, awkward-man. One day, I've got faith that you'll be unawkward too. I'll even pray for you or somethin'."

Laughing a little, Gilbert reached for another beer. Then he hesitated and reached over to grab Matthew's beer. "Look, you're not doin' it right. Here." With that, he lifted the beer and proceeded to attempt to force the liquid down Matthew's throat. "Friends drink a LOT when they're with each other, y'know. You have to get drunk or it's not worth it."

Alright, so maybe he wasn't the best person to be giving a talk on the benefits of drinking when he was having a little bit of trouble staying on his seat. But hey, could he help it if he wanted to see just how awkward Matthew got when he was inebriated?

[Matthew Williams]

Matthew shrugged, "It happens, everyone has good and bad days." he replied simply, before letting out a startled, "M-maple...!" As Gilbert ruffled his hair, surprising and succeeding in flustering him a bit more. He needed a fairly larger amount of alcohol in his system to begin to relax at all when in a public place like this... He only hoped Gilbert wasn't going to be stubborn about making him drink that evening, he had already done the proper thing and had one (And almost died doing so, he might have added).

"You mean there is a wrong way to drink?" He asked, sounding minutely skeptical. He wasn't sure though, seeings as he hadn't been raised in taverns to know for certain. He let out a squeak (again choked) as he was forced to swallow as much as he could without letting it down the wrong pipe and drowning. When Gilbert withdrew he took a few, deep, unsteady breaths.

Of course, it was finally going to start getting into his system, once he had caught his breath he spoke up in a still unsteady, but stronger tone. "I don't know who made up that rule, but I'd prefer to not get drunk. I don't l-like it, eh." Besides, he was sure Gilbert was only trying to accomplish so to make fun of him. That had to be it, sure he had referred to him as a friend for a second time now, but he still felt wary...

Matthew was clearly torn as he looked around the bar, he had to admit it was nice to be considered a friend, and to have the chance to interact beyond merchant/customer conversations. But still... He was trying to be cautious, not that it would work so well as his face took on a slightly more noticeable glow from the amount of beer he had just been forced to chug.

[Guest]

Now Matthew was just being ridiculous. Who in their right mind wouldn't like being drunk? Nobody, that's who! And Gilbert knew it too. So he made it suddenly his goal to make sure that Matthew got as drunk as possible tonight. Especially since it seemed like the guy hadn't gotten drunk even once in his life. And that was a very sad thing to know.

"Dun be silly. Drink more." All of that articulate thought poured forth in those two, tiny sentences. Gilbert picked up and downed the last of his beer before signalling for more to be brought. "Drinking more is better for you. Let's you forget and have fun."

And that, my friend, was a lesson that Matthew could do with learning. The having fun part, not the drinking more part. Drinking more was probably not the best idea, but nobody ever said Gilbert was some kind of super-genius or anything.

He set a beer in front of Matthew when the waitress brought them and grinned widely. "Drink. Be less awkward."

[Matthew Williams]

"I'm not being silly, and I think I've had enough, anyways..." Unless you are going to force it down my throat again, then it may be safer for me to just drink, I guess... He decided quietly, "But if you insist...!" He mumbled and looked at one empty beer bottle thoughtfully as the man explained his reasoning behind drinking so much. Really, he wondered just how much Gilbert had drunk in the first place now considering how much he was failing at acting sober by the way he was speaking.

"Well I'm sure I can think of more ways to have fun, while being completely sober..." He mumbled, though forgetting wasn't always a bad thing. But it was only a temporary fix, and seemed pointless in the long run.... "Besides, it wont be so much fun in the morning when you wake up." Matthew added, really not liking the idea of waking up ill with a head ache. He could do that without drinking some times.

As the drink was set in front of him he frowned a little bit, before picking it up and taking a slow but good sized drink. If Gilbert wanted him to drink, he would, but he was still going to try to avoid getting too drunk. However, Matthew bristled visibly as the albino directed his attention to to his awkwardness again. "That makes no sense, Gilbert!" He spoke up a little more seriously than before, one hand raised to gesture vaguely as he took a larger drink to prove he was indeed drinking, awkward or not.

Though if he thought about it, getting annoyed and making himself drink more seemed just as nonsensical as drinking more to be less awkward.

[Guest]

Gilbert looked very, very pleased to see Matthew drinking more, supposedly of his own volition. This was like some sort of giant accomplishment for Gilbert. At least, in his own mind, in that precise moment. He grinned widely and started drinking his own beer, quite a bit slower than the previous ones, but definitely not in any way that a normal person would deem as "slow".

"Hey!" he interjected at Matthew telling him that he made no sense. "I'll have you know that I make perfect sense and lots of my friends say that I do." Of course, usually they were lying or being facetious, but that's actually what Gilbert loved about them telling him that. Smirking, he tapped the side of his own head. "It's 'cause I've got all the brains, awkward man. All the brains."

After a good, long swig of his beer, Gilbert seemed to feel the need to continue his little rant. "Also! It's not always not fun in the morning!" At this point, he paused, obviously trying to make sure that what he had just said made enough sense to pass for intelligence. Nodding to himself, he continued once more. "Lots of times, you wake up with a nice little surprise in the bed next to you." He winked and then promptly finished his beer. Okay, so that might have to be the last one. He was feeling it haaard.

[Matthew Williams]

Matthew continued to drink as slowly as he could, but he still found that the amount in the bottle was disappearing at a faster rate than he would have liked. It made him want to pay more attention to that, than Gilbert, but some how he doubted he could manage something like that. Because 1: He doubted Gilbert would let anyone not pay attention to them, and 2: Matthew felt that it might be safer to keep an eye on the strange, and obviously drunk fellow.

So instead, he listened with interest as Gilbert tried to convince him of the fact that he made sense. Of course, Matthew tried to smile politely, but inside he had to wonder who on earth would say that, and if they did, it had to be in jest. He nodded occasionally between sips of his beer, not wanting to toss out a rude response, however he found he couldn't keep his lips sealed forever as Gilbert called him 'awkward man again.

"You're head must be so heavy then, what a terrible burden for you, I'm sure." He commented dryly, before pausing and wondering why he had even said it. But ah, liquor, it was the liquor. He couldn't help the sarcasm if he was going to be drunk even a little bit. In a way, it would be Gilbert's own fault.

Not that he wouldn't apologize if the albino got offended.

He almost felt a little proud of himself for feeling relaxed enough to have said anything, however the feeling didn't last long. A short while afterward his cheeks flamed up in some obvious embarrassment at the very idea that one would get so drunk as to wake up the next day with a complete stranger. It happened yes, more often than one would probably think he supposed, but the very thought was scandalous!! The blond practically choked on his beer, and he sat the bottle down rather abruptly.

[Sponsored content]