Do Not Cease To Drink (closed)

Normal. Mitya could be normal, or borderline normal, just for one day. His predisposition towards relative silence in the company of others was sure to come in handy, and his talent for diverting attention where possible would be a lifesaver, but maybe this was one of those occasions where neither attribute would be necessary for his survival. He was feeling somewhat confident about this, actually. The nervousness he often had to push through was at that point slight and easily waved away. Josh almost certainly had powers of some sort. Perhaps not in the sense that Mitya himself had powers. Still, there was that odd 'lucky charm' thing he had going on. Somehow, he just made the Russian feel relaxed, more like his old self. It was only because Josh had suggested he spend time in the company of absolute strangers that he’d said ‘yes’. So tonight, he was (quite secretly, obviously) Mitya's lucky charm. Or closer to a comfort blanket, without the blanket part.

As for the hurricane, he hadn’t any reason to be worried about it at all, and had decided that it really should only be brought up if someone else mentioned it first, though it had been on his mind. His parents hadn’t called, thankfully. Otherwise he’d be tensely awaiting the arrival of at least his mother or one of his sisters, most likely Aleksandra. They never failed to send the strict ones.

At the question of how their weeks had been, he immediately started chewing on his lower lip. He... didn’t really have much to say on the matter, and rather unfortunately, or so he felt, he couldn’t contribute much to any budding conversation about whoever ‘Dylan’ was. “Quiet,” he finally managed, idly scratching at the tip of his thumb with the nail of the other. “Well... quiet is not the right word. Normal? Uneventful. And yours?”

And for the briefest moment, he was pretty proud of himself for remembering the word ‘uneventful’. After that had passed, he murmured some positive remark about ordering drinks that probably sounded like little more than a vaguely interested buzzing.

Josh listened with genuine interest as the other men discussed their weeks. It seemed that none of them had anything particularly interesting going on, which of course wasn't a bad thing: interesting tended to mean things like best friends with concussions in the hospital, creepy Gestalt pairs in the woods, and mis-communicating with goat-owning midgets.

"I'm afraid I don't know who this Dylan is. Is he that bad?" He quirked an eyebrow at Levente; anyone that people went out of their way to avoid must have a sad, bitter existence. Poor Dylan. He hoped that nobody ever said such things about him.

"Mmm. My week's been fine. Sean and I spent the weekend cleaning up the yard. The intern kept his pants on all day today, so I consider that to be a success." He'd taken to spraying Vincent with a water bottle when he began dropping his pants. It wasn't the most secure method, but he couldn't very well staple pants to another human being.

He perked up at the mention of interviews from Josef. "What are you interviewing for?" That was certainly a topic worth discussing, and one with which he felt they would all be familiar.

He nodded at the comment about a pitcher of beer. "Any preferences before I flag down a server? I'm partial to Yuengling myself, but I'll drink anything."

As so many parties had proved.

Josef was also curious about this Dylan. He sounded interesting at the very least. He couldn’t picture Levente avoiding anyone. “That bad, huh?” he asked, brows rising farther at the man’s description. “Huh.”

But he was drawn back to the discussion of hiring people. He grinned, ruefully, at Levente’s wink, because he could still remember the lesson with him and Mason. He would freely admit that he’d never had adults so fixed on being a nuisance. They’d acted like they were five. But at the same time, he had to admit…it had been entertaining to watch them act like young boys, posturing and all. He clearly needed help. Or really, they did.

“I know, I know,” he said instead, waving it off. “I’m trying to hire an assistant. I’ve gotten three—four?—applications. So far, I think I’m going to hire three people. A filing clerk, a general assistant, and someone to specifically help with kickboxing, because that’s one of my more popular classes.” He sighed. “I wish I knew what I was doing. I’ve never been on this side of things. Definitely a new experience. In any case. Yuengling sounds great. Ah, Mitya?” He glanced over at the man who hadn’t said much yet. “How about you?” He hoped he’d gotten the name right. One would think with a name like Yo-zef, he would be better at this sort of thing. Well, he’d never claimed languages was his strong suit.

Josh gave an embarrassed shrug at Mitya's question regarding his intern. "I ahhhh may have made a bit of a mistake in not having interviews." He admitted ruefully. "The intern is not fond of keeping his pants on. Or doing the work assigned to him without adding poorly spelled sexual innuendos." He grimaced; Vincent caused more work rather than less. "Just make sure you actually interview your applicants." He warned Josef grimly. "It was stupid of me not to."

He was curious about Dylan now. He didn't remember Sean discussing anyone by that name. Someone allowed to work with the kids, huh? "Is he a teacher? I don't believe Sean's mentioned him before. Is he new?"

As Levi expected he didn't get the reference, instead assuming that Josef's students must be rather like Vincent. That wouldn't be a surprise; Sean complained about enough students for Josh to know that there were plenty he wouldn't want to teach.

"Your students give you a lot of trouble? What age are you teaching?" He asked, titling his head curiously.

Once everyone was in agreement upon the beer he flagged down the waiter, ordering a pitcher of Yuengling along with a plate of nachos.

Maybe he should have asked everyone if they were okay with nachos, but the beer had been far more important. They could order food later if they liked.

"I don't think I'm cut out to be a teacher, I admire those of you dealing with students." He included Levi in that; he worked for a school and therefore he surely had to deal with the students sometimes.