AN: YAY FLUFF
Katherine hated her job. She hated her job. She knew that her parents weren't exactly thrilled about it either. Their daughter, the daughter of Joseph and Kate Pulitzer, a bartender? At family gatherings, they basically pretended that she was just unemployed, because apparently that was so much better. It wasn't as if it was her fault, though. Journalism wasn't exactly the easiest profession in the world, especially for a woman, and she wasn't going to move back in with her parents, so this was the best way to stay in her apartment. Besides, she got great tips, drunk men loved to flirt with her.
Katherine sighed inwardly as a man sat on a barstool in front of her. They'd been going through a lull in business, but apparently it was that time of day again. The man tersely gave her his order and she retrieved it with a slight pang of sympathy. The look in his eyes was different from most people who came in, he looked almost... broken.
"Bad day?" She asked as she handed him the drink, trying to sound more compassionate than she usually did.
"Yeah." He muttered, not making eye contact with her
"Want to talk about it?"
"Nope." And just like that, Katherine stopped asking. If he talked, she would listen, but otherwise it was better to ignore him, as she knew from experience.
oOo
"So, now, just cause I had the stupid idea of goin' on strike - which wasn't really even my idea, that was Davey, now... now Crutchie, he's in the refuge, a bunch of the other kids are hurt, the way they was pummeled at least a few of em' gotta have broken bones, and the strike's failed an' it's all my fault." Jack Kelly (Katherine had learned his name a while ago) rambled drunkenly as Katherine listened, actually interested in what he was saying. What she could understand anyway, he was slurring his words quite a bit. Other customers had come and gone already, but Jack was still here. "Gimme another one." It was phrased as a statement, but Katherine could tell that, if anything, it was out of drunkenness and not rudeness. She sighed.
"I told you that I have to cut you off after that last one, remember?"
"What? How come?"
"Because I don't want you to get sick... actually, I don't want you to have to go to the hospital, you'll definitely be sick tomorrow."
"One more'll be fine. Just one more?"
"No."
"Ugh." Jack groaned. "I can stay anyway though, right?"
"I... I suppose." Katherine hadn't expected him to want to stay. "Want me to get you some water? It's free."
"Why not?" He shrugged, and she quickly got him a glass of water and leaned against the bar as he started talking once more. "So there's this place called Santa Fe, out in Mexico... I mean, New Mexico. I'm gonna make it there someday, that's the only thing keeping me goin' right now, with everything that's happening... Crutchie's in the refuge, y'know? He got caught cause of me, and I -"
"I'm sure it wasn't your fault." She assured him, not wanting to feel worse about himself than he already did, and not wanting him to repeat the same story over and over again. He scoffed.
"Yeah it was." He was silent for a minute. "You ever been to Santa Fe?" She shook her head.
"I haven't."
"It's real nice, out west, lots of wide open spaces, friendliest people around, green grass, horses, buildings made out of clay and sunsets..."
"Sunsets?" To Katherine, it sounded like Jack had just told her that there were buildings made partially out of sunsets, and she was worried that he was actually becoming more incoherent. "The buildings are... made of sunsets?"
