erich hated hearing dustyn cry. it was almost enough to make him start as well. he didnt carry tissues in his pocket,but he offered dustyn his shirt if he needed to blow his nose or wipe his eyes. erich wouldnt mind walking around without a shirt. other than it being cold out,it wouldnt be the strangest thing one would see on the streets of london. "did you at least get checked out by a doctor? if you want to go,i am more than capable of watching " he makes a little nod towards shay's room. he doesnt want to say the child's name as kids have an uncanny knack to know when they are mentioned. at the mention of billy's name,erich presses his tongue between his bottom teeth and the area below his lip. this wasnt the first time this had happened that erich knew of and for the most part had become amicable to billy again. but the feeling of unfinished business came back with a vengeance. "you need to put that fucker away. fuck weekend. do what's best for you. " erich states,being far too worked up to sit next top dustyn. he didnt even want to know the circumstances,he only wanted something done to protect dustyn."was shay present?" erich asks as he paces.

erich lets out a little sigh of relief when its known that shay wasnt there and it didnt happen here in the house. he could understand a bit about dustyn not wanting to worry dallas at this time. but he doesnt exactly agree with it. but its dustyn's way and he wasnt going to harp on about relationship protocol. besides,erich had about as much business doling out relationship advice as he did parenting advice. "yeah. him worrying the entire plane trip back wouldnt be good..
" erich says in agreement. the world was a small place...until you were in a hurry and halfway around it. erich continues his walking around dustyn's living room. he occasionally picks up the tv remote to occupy his hands before setting it back down every time the urge to throw it comes up. and hearing about billy,the urge to throw it came up quite a few times. he sighs and shakes his head as dustyn tells the tale. erich was very short on compassion for nuts who were on meds or should be on meds. he wanted to question why dustyn was even friends with billy,much less best friends. "i think he is just an asshole. you guys should get together and drop a toaster in the tub with him. " erich says,half joking. he was planning on getting more into the incident until dustyn mentions not being able to work with billy anymore. erich stops walking and sits on the arm of the sofa near dustyn. while he certainly agreed this is the best course to take. cut billy loose and set him adrift. "thats...probably a good idea. but i'd suggest moving. hell, come out on the duke with me. i dont see billy taking this news civilly."

Erich listens as dustyn speaks and he's heard it all before. not from dustyn,but from his own childhood. his mother was quite the fan of day drinking and watching movies on lifetime. but he could also understand a little about dustyn's loyalty and bond to billy. going from rags to riches with people will either make you love them for life,or loathe their very existence. with the hesses,it was the former. the bond between the harlots and war bride was exceptionally tight. the main difference being none of them were abusive to the others. erich leans his head back and looks up at dustyn's ceiling."yeah..i kind of understand where you're coming from. maybe not to that degree. i didnt come out to erica,and lord THAT had to be hard for you. knowing what i know about your life. but yeah, i understand about being bound for life. but...at the same time, i think billy uses this against you and he knows there will not be repercussions for his actions. " erich says carefully. he didnt really know billy on a personal level. but its clear dustyn has protected him for a long time. hell,its only because of dustyn that erich doesnt still hold on to his vendetta against billy for the first time this went down. that forgiveness is out the window for erich now. billy now is back at the top of erich's list of people he hates. erich does slowly nod with agreement. "yeah...from the sounds of things,you are at the end of your rope. maybe distancing yourself from billy will help him learn there are consequences for his actions." erich starts,being rather diplomatic about his true feelings. he brings his head back level and says whats really on his mind. " dustyn, you need to do something. i dont want to get a call saying this mother fucker has killed you. hurt your son or dallas. billy needs to know how fed up you are. either he changes his fucking tune or..i dunno. you move to the moon or something." erich says in quiet anger. he didnt want to wake the hopefully sleeping shay.

erich nods slowy as dustyn talks about weekend. he knows how dustyn probably feels. he couldnt just give up atomic war bride. that was his life for the entirety of his adult life. but he would like to think if it was as bad as weekend sounds...he hopefully would know to pull the plug. "it's a lot to give up,dust. but....this whole billy thing,it probably will make its way public soon enough,and probably in an ugly manner. scott hits a wrong note on stage and billy whacks him one? i think weekend ending on its own terms would be better than falling apart on stage. " erich says,picturing just that scenario in his head. logically,he would think safety is worth more than any musical project. but as an entertainer,like the old phrase says :the show must go on. and if anything,dustyn was an entertainer. "on the weekend thing...i dont know what to say. i know how you feel when something is that big a part of your life. hell,i should have called it a day years ago. but i'm almost compelled to keep going. but....billy." erich says,saying a whole lot of nothing and feeling pretty unhelpful. it was both a simple and very complicated issue.


ooc: dont know if you have it there. lifetime is a channel famous for its abused women tv movies.

Erich listens as dustyn speaks about billy's issue that didnt make the papers. he puffs up ready to says something of the effect that its too bad billy failed in that too. but he refrains the more dustyn speaks. not out of respect for dustyn or his feelings on billy. erich liked to think he could be objective enough to tell dustyn what he needed to be told. but dustyn did make a lot of sense. indeed there was something likable about billy. there were times when erich did enjoy a bit of banter with him."yeah...i kinda get it. i've never spent all that much time with him on a personal level,but there is something likable about him. i think people said the same thing about ted bundy. also a psychopath." erich says with a little laugh. erich sighs and puts his hands together and then places them between his knees in thought. "this would be so much easier if you could be a cold bastard." he finally says with a smile and squeezes dustyn's shoulder.

"i..i think they are right,dust.this...cant go on. its the second time that i know of. its not fair to you or the rest of the boys to have to cater to one man. " erich says to dustyn,watching him stretch and wondering if it was just his lip that hurt. then he starts to laugh softly. "you think we could get billy's attention off weekend? i think he'd fit right in with donald trump. except billy does have charm." he says with a smirk.he considers dustyn's offer of a drink. he could certainly use one after all this.he probably needed more than dustyn had available. serious issues required serious drinking. erich wants to tell dustyn the same. he wasnt sure how he would react to hear billy's voice but he didnt want dustyn more upset than he already was. erich nods ."yea. to both the drink and this call."

erich hated using phones. he joked about robot overlords and rommell,but he just really just found it a very impersonal way of communicating. also,he was slightly paranoid about the surveillance state. one couldnt have done all the drugs erich has and not been affected a little bit by them. erich holds the phone momentarily and slides the answer button. "conners residence." he answers formally.

"I guess we all have that one worn teddy bear that still is rife with chicken pox or whooping cough from our childhood. Its dangerous but comforting." erich says as much as he can in support of dustyn. He really wanted to grab dustyn and shake him to his senses,metaphorically. This wasn't the time to tell dustyn he was probably handling this wrong. There probably no changing his mind anyway. If the guys in weekend couldn't do it. There was little chance for Erich to. " well,im always around if you need Me..unless you want to kick billy out of weekend and replace him with me." erich jokes to lighten things a bit.

Erich loathed talking on the phone even to people he liked. And he was certainly not a fan of billy's right now. In fact,he was done with him. Anything over a second chance was beyond his level of forgiveness. But he didn't interrupt as billy spoke. He neither wanted to be on the phone,or speak to billy. So he merely said," save it,Billy. Maybe try in a few days.dust really isn't up to speaking now."

Erica had debated with herself about going to see Joshua. What if he didn't want visitors? It was long way to go just to be turned away. But she eventually convinced herself to go. Worst case scenario she would be turned away. But hospitals usually have cafeterias and she was hungry. So it would still be a win for her. After getting directions from the nurses station,she made her way down to joshua's room. Her armload of balloons and muffins bounced bounced off the wall,and the occasional nurse or patient. Erica had purchased happy birthday balloons because get well soon balloons were depressing. There was even a happy anniversary one wedged in there.

She taps on the door with her knuckles before clearing her throat to speak. "Stripper-gram for mr grimmie. " she announces brightly. "Direct from belgium." She adds on the off chance he wouldn't recognize her voice.

Erica bats one of the balloons out of her face so that she can see joshuas face. "As a fellow short person,I feel i should defend the honor of our Lord and savior,Danny. But i also am not a member of the goblin guild like he is,so danny is on his own." She grins and attempts to place everything on a table. Some muffins fall off and roll under the bed. She leaves them in case there is a bed pan or something under there. "Yup. All for you. I don't know if any of this helps to mend you,but it couldn't hurt." She nods with a little hop. She hadn't really taken a good look at Joshua due to the fact she always felt awkward around hurt or sick people. She heard the pain when he laughed and thought perhaps she should be as dry as possible to avoid more of that. " um yeah.happy birthday,congratulations,something with spongebob, um..happy anniversary... Anything but get well soon." She says,running through the balloons she brought. " those are depressing. So...um..how are you doing?" She asks,stepping up to the bed and holding onto the rails.

Erica nods slowly and drags a chair over to sit in. It makes a scraping noise on the smooth floor. It makes her wince a little since loud noises are not conducive to healing. She wasn't going to push for details,but Joshua freely gave them. The cherry of that conversation was popped,so she felt it was ok to talk about. "You are damned lucky. Where was your guy? I hope you fired the shit out of him." Erica says,furrowing her brows. She is quiet for a second before sighing. " im sure you read the news and people are implying Payton is involved...i.." Erica trails off,letting her gesturing hands fall to her lap. She was at a loss for words. Actually seeing Joshua like this made it real. It was worse than what she had imagined. Her usual response would be an offer to rain down holy hell on those responsible,but lately the fire had left her belly." You're welcome,Joshy. Mothers think alike. Well,at least the good ones do." She beams.

Erica frowns at what Joshua says. She could sort of see where he is coming from. On the summers/Kobayashi estate she gets irked knowing security is around and she barely even sees hers. " it's a bit much to do just to go for a walk,but you could visit us. You can walk for days on our property." She jokes to him weakly. Some things muffins and balloons don't fix . Erica puts her hands between her knees in thought. "Erich...and to a lesser extent,myself think Billy could be involved. Payton strikes me as all talk. He's about as threatening as i am. " Erica scoffs. She just couldn't buy the Payton story. But her eyes widen slightly and she looks to Joshua. " wait...dont Billy and Payton have some...thing with Andrea? Billy could've put Payton up to it..." Erica suggests,wanting to magically find the missing piece to this. " there just has to be footage. I mean,where isn't there a camera these days? It sounds personal to me. Some crazy right wingers would have said something to ensure you know why and who they were ." Erica says,still looking to sleuth this out. The idea of Payton being responsible and calmly sharing awards shows with Joshua was scary. " if we're lucky,that chair throwing guy at all the awards shows will hit Payton with one. He may not be responsible,but I'd feel better now."

Erica grins widely. She may have fought the idea of living like a minor Lord at first, but she has since eased into the role. She figured it wasn't pretentious if she shared it with people she knew. "You'll love it...especially if you ever thought you'd like to walk around a vampire movie. Seriously,some parts are creepy as fuck." She giggles while wiggling her fingers. "Im not going to encourage your wacky Brit era.....but,i have an umbrella and hair Clippers in the car. " she jokes to Joshua. She wasn't a Brittney can,but she could appreciate just cracking and wielding an umbrella. Erica strikes her best tim curry and sings,"a mental mind fuck can be nice...." She,like most sensible people ,adored Tim curry as Dr frankenfurter. It was nice to see in spite of it all,Joshua was still in good spirits. Erica clenches and unclenches her toes inside her shoes. She didn't like thinking about people she knew or at least knew of could be responsible for the state of Joshua. " i mean...billy attacked dustyn and...well,i don't know how close you guys have ever been. But he and dustyn.." Erica trails off both not knowing much of joshuas personal life,or what dustyn and Billy have been to each other. It was like mariko and cara. What were they?? " have you considered hiring a private investigator to help? Then hiring help to beat the persons responsible up? I can get you a good rate on yakuza." Erica jokes to Joshua. She wasn't sure if he was the revenge sort.
Erica wanted to call for the nurse when joshua makes sounds of pain. She eyes the button but doesnt press it. She is slightly startled by Joshua asking about her. " oh i think my life really isn't that important given this situation." She laughs weakly,looking the wounded Joshua over. But she eventually comes to the decision that he might want some distraction of his mind to something other thsn his pain. " well,im taking about 9 months off the road. Be with gretch and taki for a bit. I honestly cant remember the last time i had an extended break from touring." She says optimistically before stretching and sighing. " it feels great."