Issue 1 Downtime

"No, you bleedin' idiot, I told you lot not to call me while I'm workin' 'ere!" Connor hissed into the phone. "You what? Oh bloody 'ell, what were you doing getting pissed down that way? Aye? All right, all right. How much do you need to get him out? What? Oh leave it out, you wankers got 'im nicked in a brawl and you want that much when I didn't even get in on it? Ah, leave it out... fine. Fine. Have someone come by at two when I'm off and I'll give it to you. No, I can't give it any sooner. What? Look, you tossers just come by at two and get the bloody money. Now shut the bloody hell up and hope that I make enough in tips to cover all this."

Connor hung up the phone, then scowled at it for a moment before turning back to the pub. He was backup at a few bars in town, and this one was the least tolerant of his hooligan ways. Probably not the sort of place he was going to run when he had his way, but hey, you had to take what you could get while you were working your way up, right? Besides, he kind of liked being able to mix up drinks instead of just pouring ale and Guinness all night. Not that he'd ever tell any of his mates that.

Still, the place was pretty good. Pretty laid back, as far as the boss was concerned. As long as the day's take wasn't in the red (taking into account things like damage to the bar, hence none of his football club coming in), no one complained about what he did.

"Another one." Isabel said, gesturing at her empty glass.

Connor, ever the obliging bartender, picked up her glass, then got her a fresh one and started to pour the cider out. "One of those nights, eh luv? Sommat to eat, maybe?"

"This is dinner." Isabel said, not slurring her words, but speaking very deliberately.

"Uh-huh. Tell you what, I see some food go into you, I can let you have a bigger 'dinner' without the boss getting all over me arse," he said, not really confident at all about how much alcohol the relatively tiny girl could take.

"Ok, how about some fries?"

"Right, this is about where you tell me if you're alergic ta anything before I pick for you," he smirked while he turned back to the grill.

"Not that I know of." Isabel replied.

"Good," he said, doing something at the little grill around the corner, which was followed by the smell of meat cooking. He came back around the corner with a beer of his own... it was a slow night, after all, so why not. "So. Tonight a special occasion, or did getting pissed just seem like a good idea?" he asked with a little smirk.

"I've had worse ideas."

"Eh, nothing wrong with having a good piss-up," Connor said dismissively as he walked around the corner. "Can't go wrong with the pub. How's it you yanks say? Where everybody knows your name?"

"Yay" Isabel said, taking a bite of her sandwich.

"All right, all right, I get the message. Leavin' you alone," Connor chuckled, holding up a surrendering hand.

Without replying, Isabel pushed aside her sandwich, and started drinking again.

"Aw, c'mon, luv. What's wrong?" he asked, leaning back against the bar and taking a pull from his own beer.

"The short version is that my life sucks."

He shrugged. "Well, I have time for the long version," he pointed out.

"My love life sucks, my mutation sucks, being a mutant sucks, and I suck."

"Ah, hell, lot of that going around," he sighed, leaning against the bar now. Bartenders were the working-class therapists, after all. "What happened, blighter cheat on you?"

"The 'blighter' won't cheat on his girl." Isabel said "I wouldn't ask him to, but he wouldn't if I did."

Connor winced. "No answer to that one," he admitted. "'Cept to start looking again. An' that's never a fun concept."

"That is the problem. I don't want to look."

Connor considered it a minute. "Why not? I mean, wouldn't that be better than this?"

"Because he's everything I've ever wanted." Isabel said "I don't want to settle for second best."

"'Cept for him choosing someone else?" Connor pointed out with a skeptical eyebrow raised.

"He was with her when I met him." Isabel said "But...he saved my life. When I saw him...I just knew."

"So... what do you know 'bout him except that he saved your life?" Connor asked, still skeptical.

"A lot." Isabel said "He's smart and funny and kind and wonderful."

"Uh huh," Connor said. "So what you're saying is that you don't know, at all, what it's like to actually be with this bloke, but you know he'd be perfect for you."

"I know who he is, and what he's like." Isabel said "Never mind, you don't get it."

Connor scoffed. "'Course I get it," he said.

"Yeah, right."

"Sure. You met a bloke... he saved your life, and he's a decent enough bloke, so you're going to pine for him instead of looking for someone else because it's safer that way."

"What the fuck is that even supposed to mean?"

"Means that you met a 'perfect' guy that you could be all in love with who couldn't ever actually reject you, so you're going to let yourself think that he's the perfect one so you don't have to go looking and maybe get hurt. Not a bad strategy, really, long as you don't want to be happy..."

"I'm not going to be happy anyway, might as well be in love."

"Aw, leave it out, luv, there's not a person born who can't ever be happy," he said. He took another drink of his beer, then added, "Oh, and if you want to get more pissed than you are now, better eat that."

"Ok, ok." Isabel said, taking another bite "And yeah, its really fucking easy. All you have to do is have a mutation that forces you to cause pain."

Connor cocked an eyebrow. "Isn't that, like, every X-Bloke out there, hurting people with their deal? Don't see them losing much sleep over it."

"I'm not talking about punching people who deserve it. I'm talking about killing animals. Innocent animals, who trust me."